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Gospel of Luke, chapter 18

10 Two men went into the temple to pray: one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: God! I thank You that I am not like other people, robbers, offenders, adulterers, or like this tax collector:
12 I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of everything I acquire.
13 But the publican, standing afar off, did not even dare to raise his eyes to heaven; but, striking himself on the chest, he said: God! be merciful to me, a sinner!
14 I tell you that this one went to his house justified more than the other: for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.

(Luke 18:10-14)

Methodological material

On this day, the liturgy reads the Gospel of Luke, conception 89 (Luke 18:10-14), the parable of the publican and the Pharisee, which is where the name of this day comes from (in Church Slavonic “week” this is resurrection). The parable tells about two people who entered the temple. One of them was a zealous Pharisee who carefully followed the requirements of the Law of Moses; Having entered the temple, the Pharisee listed his external virtues, and at the end of the prayer, in his thoughts he humiliated the publican standing next to him. And the other one who entered was a publican, that is, a tribute collector for the Roman emperor. Publicans very often abused their position and took excess, offending the Jews (for example, Zacchaeus the tax collector); Therefore, among the Jews, tax collectors were known as selfish and sinful people. While denouncing the Pharisees, Jesus Christ in his conversations put tax collectors on a par with harlots. The publican did not dare to raise his head, but beat himself on the chest and offered sincere, heartfelt repentance, reading his own prayer: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” At the end of the parable it is said that the publican’s prayer was more pleasing to God, and he left the temple more justified than the self-exalting Pharisee.

This is the first preparatory week for Lent. This week is also called “foreshadowing” - preparation begins for the great battle with one’s own passions and sins, which awaits everyone who fasts.

The parable of the publican and the Pharisee, which is heard at the service at the beginning of the week - on Sunday, the Church shows us true paths to cleansing the heart:

. destruction of pride and pharisaical conceit - the worst of passions
desire for humility and repentance
rooting in the heart of the publican’s cry of repentance: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

Features of the week

The week is “continuous”, that is, fasting on Wednesday and Friday is canceled. Therefore, in common parlance, the week of the publican and the Pharisee is called “omnivorous week.”
The statutory fast is canceled this week to warn against pharisaical complacency. When a person devotes a lot of energy to the formal instructions of the Church (fasting, visiting church, reading prayer rules). And for this reason he allows himself to look down on others and condemn them. Forgetting that the Lord looks not only at bows in the temple, but also in a person’s heart.
Using the example of the publican and the Pharisee, the Holy Church teaches believers humility and repentance. Teaches not to boast about fulfilling the rules of the Charter and the commandments of the Lord. Shows that fasting and prayer are saving only when they are not clouded by narcissism.

Who were the Pharisees? The Pharisees among the Jews constituted an ancient and famous sect: they boasted of the knowledge and fulfillment of the oral law, which, according to them, was given to them by Moses along with the written one: they were distinguished by the careful fulfillment of external rituals and especially extreme hypocrisy, “but they did all the deeds so that people would be visible "(Matt. 23:5). Therefore, by many people they were revered as virtuous righteous people and, due to the visible holiness of their lives, different from other people: which is what the name Pharisee means. On the contrary, publicans, collectors of royal taxes, did a lot of oppression and injustice to people, and therefore everyone considered them sinners and unrighteous.

Text comprehension questions

• Who are the Pharisees, who are the tax collectors?
• Did the Pharisee and the publican evaluate themselves objectively?
• Does what the Pharisee brags about matter to God? What does God expect from us?
• What was wrong with the Pharisee’s prayer and thoughts?
• What is the correctness of the publican’s prayer?
• How does the publican relate to God?
• Why will he who exalts himself be humiliated, and he who humiliates himself will be exalted?
• How could this parable be perceived by the Jews listening to Christ? (see cultural and historical comments)

Questions for Individual Reflection

• Who do I associate myself with more – a publican or a Pharisee? Whose position is internally closer to me?
• Which people do I despise, consider bad and believe that I do not commit their mistakes and sins?
• How can I change my attitude towards them and myself?
• If the position of a publican is closer to me, then what do I expect from God?
• Can you remember cases where a person exalting himself was humiliated, and a person humiliating himself was exalted?
• Do you often boast about good deeds, feeling your dignity and superiority?
• Do you flaunt your piety so that others will praise you more often and hold you up as an example?

Write it down your answers in a notepad. If you like, share your thoughts. .
Read the interpretations

And this Pharisee, praying and thanking God for his virtues, did not lie, but spoke the truth, and was not condemned for that; for we must thank God when we are deemed worthy to do something good, because He helped and assisted us in this. For this the Pharisee was not condemned, as I said, that he thanked God, counting his virtues, and he was not condemned for this, that he said: I'm not like other people ; but when he turned to the publican and said: or like this publican , then he was condemned, for he condemned his very face, the very disposition of his soul and, in short, his whole life. Therefore the publican went out justified... more than onago (Luke 18:11).

Read the interpretations

Yesterday the Gospel taught us persistence in prayer, and now it teaches us humility or a sense of powerlessness to be heard. Do not arrogate to yourself the right to be heard, but begin to pray, as if you are unworthy of any attention, and give yourself the boldness to open your lips and offer prayer to God, according to the Lord’s boundless condescension towards us poor people. And don’t let the thought occur to you: I did this and that; give me something. Whatever you do, consider it due; you had to do all that. If you hadn’t done it, you would have been punished, but what you did, there’s nothing to reward, you didn’t show anything special. There the Pharisee listed his rights to be heard, and left the church with nothing. The bad thing is not that he did as he said; That’s what he should have done, but the bad thing is that he presented it as something special, when having done it he shouldn’t have even thought about it. - Deliver us, Lord, from this Pharisee sin! Rarely does anyone say this in words, but in the feeling of the heart it is rare that no one is not like this. For why do they pray poorly? Because they feel that they are already in order before God.

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18:11. The Jews felt it was their duty to thank God for their righteousness and not to take it for granted. The first listeners of this parable perceived the Pharisee not as a boaster, but as a man grateful to God for his piety. 18:12. The most pious fasted - without water, to the detriment of their health - two days a week (Monday and Thursday), at least during the dry season. ""The Pharisees scrupulously paid tithes on everything - in fulfillment of the law (several different tithes ultimately amounted to more than 20 percent of a person's personal income).
18:13. The standing posture with arms raised and eyes turned to the sky was a typical prayer posture. Hitting one's chest was an expression of mourning or grief, in this case - ""repentance for sin. The publican's prayer for mercy was not a deliberate act of regeneration, and therefore many of Jesus' contemporaries may have considered it ineffective.
18:14. The conclusion that Jesus drew from this parable could simply shock His first listeners (see commentary on 18:11); today it is not perceived so sharply because modern Christians are accustomed to it. On the future change in life roles, compare: 14:11 and 16:25.

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Saint Nicholas of Serbia

Biblical Topics (book)

A Word for the Week about the Publican and the Pharisee

If I must boast, then I will boast in my weakness.
2 Cor. 11, 30

The common people were accustomed to listening to the pompous and obscure sermons of their proud teachers, scribes and Pharisees. But the purpose of the preaching of the Pharisees was the desire not so much to instruct and teach the people, but to show them the huge abyss separating the class of scribes from the people, so that from the depths of their ignorance they would look at them as a heavenly radiance, so that they would consider them prophets through whose mouth the Lord Himself speaks. Oh, how gloomy and stern God must have seemed to these poor people, seeing such His chosen ones! The world was filled with false preaching that was not supported by deeds. The world was hungry for truth. And Christ came into the world. In contrast to the arrogant teachings of the scribes, far from the vainglorious aspirations of the Pharisees, He began to speak to the people simply and clearly, with the only desire to instruct them. His speech was clear to the ears and spirit of the common people, like a life-giving balm it lay on the heart, like clean air, refreshing and strengthening the soul. The Lord Jesus Christ touched the most sensitive strings of the soul of the people. He spoke to him in parables, for seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, and they do not understand (Matthew 13:13). The parables presented clear and beautiful images that were etched in the memory of those who heard them forever. The sermons of the scribes divided the people, rigidly separated them from the upper class, poured fear into their souls, and confused them with their allegories. Christ's sermons united people, brought them closer to God, and allowed them to taste the joy of being children of one Father, for Christ was their Friend. The parables of Christ are just as powerful today; they act on human souls like a bolt of lightning. And today the power of God works in them, opening the eyes of the blind and the hearing of the deaf, and today they comfort, heal and strengthen; Everyone whose enemy the world became became friends of Christ.

The Gospel gives us one of those parables that work miracles, unfolds one of the living and most beautiful paintings, which is so fresh, as if only today the hand of a master put the finishing touch on it. We have seen it more than once - and every time you read the Gospel, it again appears before your eyes as a work of the greatest Artist, as a masterpiece of the Savior; The more you look at her, the more she surprises and delights. A person should look at this picture all his life, so that when he dies, he can say that he has penetrated into it in all its depth. The Jewish temple is empty. There is complete silence under its arches, the Cherubim spread their wings over the Ark of the Covenant. But what disturbs this solemn heavenly peace? Whose hoarse voice tears apart the wonderful harmony of the house of the Lord? Because of whom did the Cherubim frown their faces? A man with a sad face makes his way through the crowd, hunched over; he walks as if he considers himself unworthy to walk on the ground; having picked up the tails of his clothes and pulled his head into his shoulders, he presses his hands to his body, trying to take up as little space as possible, looks around cautiously so as not to hurt or push anyone, greets everyone with a low bow, smiling humbly. So this man, before whom all the people made way and to whom they showed signs of high respect, entered the temple. But what kind of change suddenly happened to him? Now he straightened up, his silk clothes straightened out and rustled, the sadly humble expression on his face became bold and commanding, his timid steps became firm and confident. He steps so hard, as if the earth had done something wrong to him; quickly crossed the temple and stopped in front of the Holy of Holies. He raised his head with his arms akimbo, and it was from his lips that that same creaky voice came that broke the silence of the temple. It was a Pharisee who came to the temple to pray to God: Lord, I fast twice a week, I give tithes from my property, I thank You that I am not like other people, robbers, offenders, adulterers, or like this tax collector. This is how the Pharisee prayed. What am I saying? No, he didn’t pray - he blasphemed God and people and the holy place on which he stood. I am not like this publican. Meanwhile, a man stood at the entrance, increasing the divine silence of the temple with his humility, until the Pharisee entered it. Small and insignificant, like an ant before a giant, the publican stood before the Lord. He was one of those whom the Pharisees despised as sinners, and who, along with the rest of the people, bowed down in the street to the hypocritical chosen ones. He bashfully hid in the far corner of the temple, crushed by the feeling of his own sinfulness, and the awe of the presence of God poured horror and shame into his soul; repentance, the most sincere repentance permeated his entire being. The only thing he could allow himself at that moment were the words that he uttered, hanging his head low and hitting himself on the chest: God! be merciful to me, a sinner! . Here is a pale copy of this incomparable gospel picture. Here is a parable in which Christ briefly, but beautifully and exhaustively described two types of people inhabiting the world, with whom not only Jewish, but any human society is replete. This is just one fleeting episode in the lives of both, the moment when they, outside the bustle of the day and everyday worries, stand face to face with God. On one side stands the majestic and powerful one, one of those who are called the blind leaders of the blind; who love the seats at feasts and the chairs in synagogues, who seem to embody wisdom and strength, which a simple person does not dare to approach, for they seem to sting with hellish fire; who are called shepherds of the flock of God, who see the speck in someone else's eye, but do not notice the beam in their own; coffins are painted, beautiful and shiny on the outside, but inside are full of uncleanness; hypocrites turning the flock of God into a herd of dumb ones, the sons of light into miserable slaves, the house of God into a cave of robbers. On the other side are the poor in spirit and the poor in hypocrisy. The people of God, persecuted and oppressed, who only know how to listen and believe, whose trust is so easy to deceive, who are so easy to seduce, rob, enslave; who walks a thorny path in this world to pave the way for those in power and strew their path with roses; who fights without weapons against those who are armed, without knowledge and wisdom - against those who possess them; whose life is devoid of pleasures and who finds the only sweetness of life in hope in God. Some teachers - other students. Some are masters, others are slaves. Some are deceivers, others are deceived. Some are robbers, others are robbed. One is a Pharisee, the other is a tax collector.

Both prayed and left the temple. The publican is comforted by prayer and strengthened by hope, with a light heart and a bright face, on which the words of Christ seem to shine: of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. Pharisee - with the same measure of pride and arrogance towards God and people, with the same feeling of contempt for everyone, with a gloomy brow on which one could write: “Citizen of Hell”! In this parable, Christ embraced the whole world. There is not a person on earth who would not recognize himself in one of them. Don't we meet both of them every day? In court, on the road, in villages, in cities, on the streets, in church - only they are everywhere. They are born together and die together. They breathe the same air, warm themselves by the same sun, always together, everywhere together - and yet separately, for some are publicans, and others are Pharisees. I know more Pharisees than tax collectors. And, looking at them, I see that even today they do not differ at all from their gospel predecessor, whom Jesus Christ portrayed. And today they are busy with the same thing. Those who were the first condemned and crucified Christ; modern Pharisees are doing the same thing: they are preparing the Calvary of innocence. Even today, under the mask of humility and modesty, they hide an abyss of personal ambitions and vain aspirations. Even today they seduce the gullible world with their cunning, and seduce the foolish with their poisonous smiles. And today, with false self-praise, they pour poison into the air, and by the way of their existence they break the harmony of the world. They are clever defenders of untruth, outstanding advocates of darkness, successive heirs of Annas and Caiaphas. You will easily recognize them. You don’t have to look for them: they are forcibly imposed on you, they crawl into your eyes. Wherever you turn, you will see them; they grow like weeds; they stand on tiptoes just to be noticed, squeal just to be heard. Just not to remain in the shadows is the motto of their life. They impose their friendship on you, shake your hand, look tenderly into your eyes, and from time to time they praise you along with themselves. But their friendship is bitter, and their enmity is terrible; their love is a veil for an evil and poisonous heart, and hatred knows no bounds. If there were no such people in the world, then Christ would not have needed to come to earth. If it were not for them, the descendants of the Eden serpent, whose wickedness and poisonous envy they allowed into their blood, the Divine Blood would not have been shed on the earth. But in order to strangle Pharisaism, in order to cleanse this poison from the human heart, in order to set an example of true friendship, in order to make tax collectors out of the Pharisees, the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world. Publicans are sons of light who seek the will of God more than that of man, who do not expect praise from people, for they know: what is high among people is an abomination to God (Luke 16:15). These people are only ants in the temple before the face of God, but among people they are giants, against whom the Pharisees’ malice is broken. These are the lights of people, the pioneers of human happiness, although people sometimes do not even notice them and do not give them honor! They do not expect gratitude from the world, for they know that the world, with the same lips, praises both good and evil, both Pharisees and tax collectors. I tell you that this one is more justified than that one,” Jesus ended His parable with these words. The Pharisee boasted before God about virtues that he did not have, so he left the temple gloomy, for he knew that he had not found praise from God. And he again put on the clothes of hypocrisy, in order to at least flatter his vanity in front of people. The publican, who confessed only his weaknesses before God, received justification, so now he goes through life, not caring about what they will say or think about him: he is justified by God and human judgment has no meaning for him. The publican walks freely, for he is confident that God’s help is with him. He knows his weaknesses, but he also knows his virtues. He is well aware of human ignorance and God's omniscience, therefore he does not boast before people, not having anything to say to God that is unknown to Him. Therefore, the entire prayer of the publican comes down to the words: God! be merciful to me, a sinner. He understands that he is standing before the Creator, Who knows him better than he knows himself. Realizing the greatness of God and his weakness before Him, following the Apostle Paul, he repeats a hundred times: If I should boast, then I will boast in my weakness.

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Archpriest Alexander Sorokin

Christ and the Church in the New Testament (book)

Pharisees

It is one thing to know both the written and oral Law, and another thing to fulfill it in every detail. The scribes succeeded in the first; the Pharisees embodied the second in their lives. The first evoked respect and reverence, the second ensured the unquestionable authority of a standard and example to follow. And although fulfilling the Law was the sacred duty of every Jew, only a few saw this as the main matter of life and faith. This was the Pharisees' movement. In terms of their genealogical and social origins, they belonged to a variety of segments of the population, but traced their ideological and spiritual background to the famous “Hasidim” who opposed the Hellenization of Judaism since the persecution of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (see above). The theological leadership of the Pharisaic movement was carried out by the scribes. For the most part, this movement consisted of ordinary people - traders and artisans. A combination of various factors: a patriotic position, practical piety and a low level in the class hierarchy - explain the great popularity of the Pharisees among the Jewish people. They were a kind of standard of righteousness.

Their numbers have always been small. According to Josephus, during the time of Herod the Great in Palestine, with a population of almost half a million, there were only about 6,000 Pharisees. Throughout the country they united in secret meetings. There were two chief duties which were imposed on the members of the Pharisaic assemblies, and the observance of which served as a test for applicants before they were accepted after a probationary period: scrupulous fulfillment of the popularly neglected duty of paying tithes, and conscientious adherence to the injunctions of purity. Moreover, they were distinguished by their charity, through which they hoped to win the favor of God, and by their punctual observance of the rule of three daily one-hour prayers and two weekly fasts [cf. Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, Lk. 18, 12 - A.S.], which was allegedly done on behalf of Israel. The task of the Pharisaic movement is most clearly visible in the light of one of the regulations of purity that all its members were required to observe - the obligatory washing of hands before eating (Mark 7: 1-5). Ablutions were not just a hygienic measure; originally it was a ritual duty imposed only on priests - whenever they ate the priestly share. Being laymen, but imposing upon themselves the obligation to observe the priestly regulations of purity, the Pharisees thereby showed that they (in accordance with Exodus 19:6) wanted to present themselves as a people of priests, saved at the end of times. Their self-names are eloquent: pious, righteous, God-fearing, poor, and especially Pharisees. The latter is a Greekized (sing. farisai/oj) Hebrew word meaning “set apart” and is understood as a synonym for “holy.” It should be noted that it is in this sense that the word “holy” is used in the Old Testament, where we are talking about the sacred sphere (for example, Exodus 19, 23, etc.), and in Jewish literature (in the Tannaitic Midrash) the words parus (“ separated") and qados ("holy") are used interchangeably. In other words, the Pharisees wanted to be that same holy people, that is, separated from the rest of the unclean, pagan, sinful world, the true Israel, the people of priests with whom God entered into a Covenant (see Ex. 19, 6; 22, 31; 23, 22; Lev. 19, 2). All that is outside the Law, and all who do not know the Law, are unclean, cursed (cf. John 7:49).

A clear distinction should be made between the Pharisees and the scribes, which, however, is not done everywhere in the New Testament. The confusion arose primarily due to the fact that Matthew, in the collection of seven proclamations of grief in ch. 23 everywhere, with the exception of Art. 26, they are addressed simultaneously to the scribes and Pharisees; thereby he obscures the differences between the two groups (which, in his view, is partly justified, since after 70 AD the Pharisaic scribes took over the leadership of the people). Fortunately, a parallel tradition presented in Luke helps to understand this. He divides the same material compositionally into two parts, in one of which woe is proclaimed to the scribes (11, 46-52; here 20, 46 ff.), and in the other to the Pharisees (11, 39-44). Moreover, only in one place, in 11:43, did Luke introduce an error into the tradition: the vanity attributed here to the Pharisees was in fact characteristic of the scribes, as Luke himself correctly points out in another place (20, 46 and par.; Mark 12, 38 ff.). Based on this division of material in Luke, the material in Matthew should also be divided into two parts. 23: Art. 1-13. 16-22. 29-36 are directed against theologians, vv. 23-28 (and probably also v. 15) - against the Pharisees. A similar division can be made in the Sermon on the Mount: in Matt. 5:21-48 speaks of the scribes, 6:1-18 - of the Pharisees.”

In their piety, the Pharisees were guided by the oral Torah - in Matt. and Mk. “the tradition of the elders” or simply “tradition” (Matthew 15, 2. 6; Mark 7, 9. 13) - no less than the written one (see above). It would be more correct to say that the oral Torah had a more specific and particular, and therefore frequent, application. However, the Pharisees were convinced that when God gave Moses the Law, “He also gave him an oral tradition explaining exactly how the laws should be carried out. For example, although the Torah requires tit-for-tat, the Pharisees believed that God could never demand physical retribution. Rather, the person who blinded another had to pay the victim the price of the lost eye.” The reverence with which the Pharisees understood the oral Torah (as well as the written one) was to be treated was a correct intuition. The same one that inevitably and quickly led to the appearance of its own oral tradition in the Christian Church. We call this oral tradition of the Church Sacred Tradition with a capital letter. In fact, Scripture is perceived as the Word of the Living God, that is, the Word addressed to His people always, just as the Torah was for the Pharisees - people, undoubtedly, believers. And at the same time, Scripture cannot provide answers to all questions related to the diversity of life. From this it automatically follows that there is a need for some kind of commentary that would concretize the meaning of the written Word in connection with a particular current situation. Moreover, such a commentary cannot but be authoritative (otherwise why is it needed?), and its authority is co-natural, equivalent to the authority of the written text being interpreted. The Pharisees also believed in what also constituted and, by the way, constitutes in the Orthodox Church the content of Tradition, and not Scripture (more precisely, even in the Orthodox Church this partly became Scripture - the New Testament): in the resurrection of the dead, in the reward of the righteous and the punishment of sinners, in the doctrine of angels, etc. They believed in both the Coming of the Messiah and the gathering of Israel at the end of time.

Politically, the Pharisees most often represented a passive, and sometimes very active opposition to the ruling regime. For example, during the Hasmonean dynasty (see § 3) they believed that royal power, although national, should not combine political and priestly functions. During the time of the Romans, rejection was dictated at least by the fact that the Romans were pagans. The Pharisees for the most part (probably in the same proportion as the whole society) were ideological opponents of Jesus. However, unlike the Sadducees (see below), He directed against them, so to speak, “constructive” criticism, hoping at least for a fruitful debate, dialogue (cf. Lk. 7:36) or even sympathy (cf. Lk. . 13, 31). There were also cases of direct conversion: Nicodemus (see John 3:1; 19:39), apparently, was not the only exception (see Acts 15:5). It was among the Pharisees that the first Christians could find at least some kind of, if not understanding, then at least a restrained, wary desire to “do no harm.” Thus, Gamaliel, a prominent Pharisaic authority in the Sanhedrin, proclaimed the principle that saved Christians from persecution at that moment: 38 If this enterprise and this work are of men, then it will be destroyed, 39 but if of God, then you cannot destroy it; Beware lest you also turn out to be enemies of God (Acts 5:38-39). It is also worth remembering that when the Pharisees were faced with a choice of which side to take in the dispute between the Sadducees and Christians, they chose the latter (see Acts 23:6-9). True, with the skillful presentation of the former Pharisee Paul, experienced in the intricacies of Pharisee-Sadducee relations.

Who are the Pharisees, who are the tax collectors?
Publicans

It is necessary to emphasize here the difference between tax collectors (gabbaja) and toll collectors or publicans (mokesa). Tax collectors, whose duty it was to collect direct taxes (poll and land), were government officials in New Testament times who were traditionally drawn from respected families and were required to distribute taxes to taxable residents; at the same time, they were responsible for non-receipt of taxes with their property. Publicans were subtenants of wealthy tax farmers (Luke 19:2, senior publican), who bought the right to collect duties in a given territory at an auction. The custom of renting tolls appears to have been widespread throughout Palestine, both in the areas ruled by the Herodian kings and in those areas colonized by the Romans. It is clear why the hatred of the population was directed specifically at the tax collectors. There is no doubt that the tax collectors allowed the policemen who guarded and protected them to exceed their authority (Luke 3:14). However, publicans were incomparably more susceptible to the temptation to deceive, since under any circumstances they had to extract the rent plus additional profit. They took advantage of the fact that the population did not know customs tariffs and shamelessly lined their pockets.” - Jeremias I. S.131-2.

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Metropolitan Athanasius of Limassol

Weekly Conversation about the Publican and the Pharisee

The main condition necessary for a person to love is to have humility. The parable of the publican and the Pharisee, on the one hand, reveals to us the tragedy of a man who seemed to be right according to the letter of the law. From this point of view, the Pharisee was a very good person, a good religious person, because he fulfilled all his duties, did everything prescribed by the law. However, it was here that he made a mistake, it was here that he stumbled, for he realized that the time had come when the commandments would fall away. Even faith will fall away, says the holy Apostle Paul, both faith and hope. What remains? Love, which means the perfection of the human person. Therefore, as a unique and highest commandment, the Lord gave us love - for God and neighbor.

It is at this point that I would like to focus my attention, since we Christians often experience the following: we try to fulfill our duties, do what we can, try to live in the Church, but at the same time we continue to remain fruitless and like a tree that is planted and lives, but has only leaves, no fruits.

The other day I was in one temple, I won’t tell you exactly which one, because the people of Limassol are so easy to offend. So, I was in one church, where a certain pious, good gentleman helps at the altar. He has been in the church for many years, he is the right hand of the priest, he serves him and, when I am there, he does not forget to remind me how long he has been helping and serving the Church here. I, of course, say “bravo” to him, since he wants to hear it.

That day I served there, and there were small children in the altar. Naturally, they will do something. He grabbed one and pushed him into the corner of the altar. Well, I put up with it, anyway. In principle, I get nervous when I see something like this, but now I said nothing. After 5-6 minutes the same thing happens to the second one - he kicked him out too. I said to myself: “Today we will have a fight with this gentleman!” When he grabbed the third child, I intervened:

- Why do you do this to children?

“They need to be thrown out, they’re making noise!”

“I think someone else should come out of the altar, not the children!”

He got offended, went and sat in another corner and didn’t talk to me anymore. What should I do, I’ll try to make sure that we make peace before Easter... But I want to say the following and I often repeat this to my priests: can you imagine such a person who actually lives in church, keeps God’s word, goes to all the liturgies - and Is his heart so cruel that even children cannot touch him? Where is the fruit of the Gospel, God's commandments? What are these years spent in the Church leading us to in the end? To cruelty, barbarism, insensitivity, to such rudeness that you cannot say a few words to a child.

I'm not saying that children can do whatever they want. I am against children not knowing any boundaries, doing whatever they want in the temple, and setting it on fire. But, of course, the solution is not to throw them out, so that the poor child, knowing that the ruler is in the temple, would be ready to fall into the ground out of shame. Will he ever go to church again? Of course not. And you don’t care whether he returns or not.

True observance of the commandments of God, the law and what is said in the prophets cannot lead us to the autonomy of the commandments; on the contrary, it leads us to become an imitator of Christ in everything, to acquire a merciful heart, to become merciful, like our Father. If you don't have this, then why do you keep the commandments? It's like a sick person who always takes his medicine at a certain time, never misses anything, but never gets better. He only takes medications and drinks them on time, but to no avail. Such is the religious man who keeps all the commandments, but never achieves O th purpose of the commandments, and the goal of all our deeds is one - love for God, love. If you do not come to her, then how will you become like God and a true child of God?

This is what happened to the unfortunate Pharisee. He autonomized the commandments, and when he appeared before God, he, in essence, turned to himself, to his virtues. He really had them, but these virtues did not become the graces of the Holy Spirit. They were the leaves of a tree, but no matter how good the tree was, it had no fruit. Christ commanded that the fig tree dry up because he found only leaves on it. A virtuous person, the fathers say, is like a withered fig tree. This is a person who does everything, but has no fruit, only leaves. He stood up, examined himself and saw that he was self-sufficient, that he lacked nothing.

Sometimes they say: “Examine yourself.” To tell you the truth, I don’t conduct self-observation on myself, I confess. I say to myself: why should I conduct self-observation if I am damned from top to bottom? Examine myself to discover what good I have done? As scouts: what good deeds have we done today and what bad deeds?

Elder Paisios and young father Afanasy

One day Elder Paisius was returning to the Holy Mountain after one absence. I went to see him and he was laughing. Speaks:

– Should I tell you what happened to us on the road?

- What happened to you?

- I left here with something...

This was his novice, a virtuous one, I won’t mention his name, he is a good ascetic, but he stumbled a little regarding the law. For years he did not go out into the world. And so he went out with the elder. They sat side by side in the boat, and the novice groaned from time to time and said:

- Oh, now we are going out into the world, and if we had anything, we will lose it!

A little later he sighs again:

- Oh, what’s happening to us, we’re going out into the world! If we had anything, we'll lose it!

As soon as we arrived in Ouranoupolis:

- Ah, here comes Ouranoupolis! What is happening to us! Haven’t left the Holy Mountain for so many years! Now, if we have achieved anything, we will lose it!

Elder Paisios finally said to him:

“Listen, I’ll tell you, father, this: I had nothing, and I didn’t lose anything.” And you, who have something, be careful!

But really, who do you think you are? I don't feel that way. And what do I have that I should lose? When I have nothing? I was completely lost. What can I say that I had it and lost it? What did I have?

Elder Paisios said to the novice: “I had nothing, and I did not lose anything. And you, who have something, be careful!”

Abba Isaac the Syrian says something magnificent: “Whoever is lowest, where should he fall?” That is, whoever puts himself below everyone, since he has nowhere to go lower, then he is below everyone, and everyone is above him.

So, a person, seeing virtues and good deeds in himself, begins to base himself on them, and this results in tragedy, because such a person suffers from the Pharisee syndrome. And then what does he do? He feels the need to thank God. You see, he is a pious man and says: “I thank you, God, that I am not like other people or like this tax collector.” And then he points to the poor publican.

So, “I thank You, God, that I am not like other people, You have given me so many virtues, and glory to God! Of course I’m a good person!”

Some people sometimes say:

- I am so pleased, may the Lord be alive and well: whatever we ask, He gives us everything!

Yes, I say, may He be alive and well, no matter what happens to Him, because in this case... This God, who gives us everything, is good, but if the hour comes when He does not give us what we we want, then He will no longer be kind! And then we will begin to reproach Him, to say: “God, aren’t You ashamed? We go to church, we are such good people, we have done so many good deeds, and instead of being kind to us, you are kind to sinners and detractors, and treat us, the righteous, badly?!” Because we, in fact, believe that our good deeds oblige God, and this feeling of having good deeds really spoils every person, especially us who go to church.

Therefore, Christ uttered those words that we do not like, but they are true: “Publicans and harlots go ahead of you into the Kingdom of God”! Why? Not for the sake of their deeds, not because of them, but in spite of them. For their humility. The proof is in today's Gospel reading.

The publican was not acquitted because he was a publican. Let no one say: “I’ll go and become a publican!” I will collect taxes, I will become a robber, evil, if the publican entered heaven!” After all, the publican did not enter because he was a publican. He was acquitted not for this reason, but for others. And the Pharisee was not condemned for keeping the law either. No. Christ, after all, also kept the law very precisely, and all the saints kept the commandments of God exactly. He was condemned because he separated the law from the purpose of life, did not understand and did not want to accept that he had to take another step and that love is the end and purpose of the law.

Therefore, he could not go further, and how could he move further, how could he love, if he was a slave to egoism? A selfish person can never love: he does not love anyone, because he loves only himself; does not hear anyone, because he listens only to himself; does not heal anyone, because he becomes his own doctor, and does not communicate with others, because he speaks only to himself, and worst of all, he does not even see what is happening to him, because he is blind and does not see his nakedness, illness and wounds . That is why the Pharisee was condemned because he did not allow God’s treatment to work and bring results.

While the other, the publican, was a sinner, a villain and a cursed one, but was justified by God, however, not because he was a publican, sinful and bad, but because he found the “secret of success.” What did he do? He stood behind him, bowed his head down, cried, beat his chest and said: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” And this opened the doors of the Kingdom of God, and so the publican entered.

Therefore, publicans and sinners are ahead of you in the Kingdom of Heaven - not for the sake of their deeds, which are deplorable and which we should avoid, but for the sake of their ethos, because they had a healthy ethos before God and did not present their good deeds as justification. They were not closed in their egoism, there was not a trace of pride in them, they never considered themselves worthy of the Kingdom of God.

Avva Tikhon, Russian, said:

– I saw heaven and hell, and oh, what happens there! Hell is full of saints, but proud ones, and heaven is full of sinners, but humble sinners!

This is important, namely that hell is full of proud saints, people who do good deeds but never repent because they were always good people. They never even suspected that they were missing something.

Want to test yourself? This is very easy: let each of you see if he repents before God. Notice that I didn't say we should go to church and tear our hair out and cry—I didn't say that. This can be difficult even in front of a confessor and may not work out. And we ourselves before God - do we cry about the loss of our salvation? Are we crying about our distance from God? Is spiritual life really a place of crying, sorrow, pain and almost despair for us because we cannot be saved, and this will happen only by God’s grace? If we do this and cry in our prayer, seeking God's mercy and forgiveness, then we have hope. But if we have never felt pain, cried or cried because of it, this means that there is something that, unfortunately, burdens our soul and does not allow it to function correctly.

Abba Tikhon said: “I saw heaven and hell, and oh, what is happening there! Hell is full of saints, but proud ones, and heaven is full of sinners, but humble sinners!”

When I was on the Holy Mountain, in the New Skete, in the first or second year after I became a confessor - don’t ask me at what age it was, because you will be disappointed - one very spiritual man came - a layman, he was not cleric, from Chalkidiki. He was truly a man of the Holy Spirit, very strong spiritually. I remember how he cried and sobbed during his first confession with me, so much so that I even thought: “Holy Mother of God! What will I hear from him? So much crying and sobbing! He certainly committed murder!” And I was seized with anxiety in anticipation of what I would hear from him! Because this was the first time I had seen such crying.

That day he again came to confess to the monastery where we lived. It was Saturday, there were other visitors, and he said to me:

- Father, I want to confess!

And I asked him:

– When are you leaving home?

– I’ll stay for five or six days.

- Well, okay, then let me confess those who are leaving tomorrow, and if I have time, I will confess you too.

He answered me:

- Okay, father, as you wish.

And this man waited for a certain time in front of the temple. Time has passed:

“You see, we won’t have time now, let’s go rest,” I told him, since the service in the monastery began at three o’clock in the morning. “If you stay here longer, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

- As you bless, father, no problem!

In the morning we went to the service, served the liturgy, it was Sunday, and the service was long - 6-7 hours. He stood in the corner behind. Do you know who he worked then? He had a car, and in the summer he used it to sell sandwiches on a coastal street - where, you can imagine, what he saw there and what happened there. And in winter he worked as a miner on the island of Halkidiki. He stood behind and prayed, bowing his head and crying. When the liturgy ended, he went into the altar and said to me:

– I want to tell you something.

- But I can’t now - I haven’t consumed Holy Communion yet. - Come back later!

But he said:

- Father, please! I want to tell you something very serious! Something great has happened, I don’t know what it is!

-What happened to you?

– You know, during the holy liturgy I stood behind and thought that I was unworthy to receive communion, because I told myself that if I were worthy to receive communion, then God would have enlightened me yesterday to confess, and today, on Sunday, to receive communion. And I looked at the fathers, the monks, everyone was taking communion except me. I told myself: “For the sake of my sins, God did not allow me to receive communion.” And I ask myself: “What do you think? Are you worthy to receive communion? God did everything this way for the sake of your sins!”

Look at the humble disposition and spirit this man had. When I went out with the Holy Chalice to give communion to the fathers and laity, the poor fellow said to himself: “I cannot come today, on Sunday, to the Holy Mountain and take communion. But at least to see You from afar - and that will be enough for me!” He looked at the Holy Chalice, saw inside the Body and Blood of Christ, with which people received communion. So he fell into great emotion, closed his eyes, and tears flowed from them. In this state, he suddenly felt his mouth being filled with the Holy Communion and became embarrassed. And what was it? Unknown how, a particle of the Body and Blood of Christ appeared in his mouth, which he swallowed; since he did not take communion with others, nor eat anything, nothing. So, in this state of prayer... After that, trembling, he came to the altar to tell what had happened.

Of course, I didn’t explain very many things to him, because these things are not explained to those who experience them, but I said to myself: “Look what humility means.” We all took communion on this day. But who really took communion? This humble man, who did not consider himself worthy of receiving communion, who was despised, we did not even confess him and left him standing in the corner. God Himself communed him, and he accepted the Body and Blood of Christ through the grace of the Holy Spirit; there is no other way to explain it. He was not in prelest, nor was there even room for prelest in this humble man.

I remember one story from Patericon. In a certain monastery there were many fathers and one ordinary man, to whom the monks did not pay attention and kept him with them so that he would put wood under the boiler, that is, in the summer kitchen. They considered him despicable and outcast and did not even tonsure him as a monk. He wore some old clothes, and they kept him as if out of mercy. The poor fellow worked in the church when there was a service, but he also put wood in the summer kitchen so that the fire would not go out, and was constantly smeared with soot, dirty, despicable, and no one paid attention to him.

One day, when he was in church, the Holy Liturgy was being served and the monks were singing, he admired and was captured by the whole atmosphere of the liturgy. The brew in the cauldron began to boil, began to overflow, and a fire started in the summer kitchen. Then they shouted: “We’re burning! Fire!" When he realized what had happened, this man said to himself: “Holy Mother of God! It's because of me! If the fire doesn’t go out, a big fire could break out!” He threw himself into the fire, without thinking about it, began stirring the brew, throwing away wood, the fire began to subside and finally went out.

The monks were amazed because they saw that he was standing in the fire and not being burned. The abbot of the monastery said:

– Fathers, God was in the summer kitchen, not in the church! We church members could not get close to the fire at all! For so many years he came to hear at least a word of what we said. He was always covered in soot and dirty, we didn’t even tonsure him as a monk, he never came into the temple with us. We kept him here so that he could add firewood to the summer kitchen. But ultimately God was there with him, not with us.

God is where humility is. God is there, and in that, and with those who have never considered or thought that God is his debtor, since “I do something, because I pray, I am awake, I fast, I give alms,” and a lot more. And we believe that if we do something, it means that we are no longer completely subject to destruction and rejection. “And I, too, represent something!” God, however, is never with a person who has even a trace of conceit, vanity and pride.

Therefore, brethren, today the Fathers of the Church placed humility and the ethos of a publican at the foundation of the spiritual path in Christ. Not the deeds of the publican, but his ethos, to show us how to begin the journey to find God, to find the Resurrection.

Many people ask:

– How can I acquire God’s grace?

And we begin to say a lot of good and useful things. But I think the following words from the “Paterikon” will be the most suitable for all of us.

One monk, who wanted to become a hermit in the desert, went and found one great abba and said to him:

- Father, tell me how to be saved? Tell me a word from the Holy Spirit on how to be saved!

The elder replied:

- Go, sit in your cell, and when you are hungry, eat. When you want to drink, drink. If you want to sleep, sleep. But just constantly keep the words of the publican in your heart, and you will be saved!

A person who has truly achieved the spiritual disposition of the publican, expressed in the cry: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” has already entered the Kingdom of God. He achieved the goal of the Gospel, God's commandments, as well as the goal for which God Himself became Man.

I pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit to enlighten us all, for indeed even ordinary logic tells us about the need for humility. The proud is reckless, he is insane, but, unfortunately, we are all reckless and insane in our pride. I pray that God will enlighten us, and we will always, especially during this blessed period of Triodion, find the treasure of the publican in our hearts. And may God honor us with that great freedom that a person feels who has placed himself below all people.

This material was prepared by
Tatiana Zaitseva

You can answer questions in the comments

The parable of the publican and the Pharisee, as befits a parable, is simple, unpretentious and filled with deep meaning. And it also has the amazing property of not losing relevance, despite the times and eras that have flown by since this short but heart-tugging story was told. And then recorded. And then... But let's take it in order.

Preparation for a feat of arms

Have you tried entering the boxing ring? How about fighting extra pounds or the habit of putting cigarette after cigarette into your mouth? What about throwing yourself into a furious battle with weeds that have taken over an area that you haven’t touched for a month? Agree, it’s difficult to count on winning without preparation. The gardener will stock up on gardening tools, thick gloves and a thermos of tea. A fighter against bad inclinations will try to outline a plan of action and isolate possible temptations. The boxer will double his efforts in training...

What about fasting? This is also a battle, and one of the most difficult in a person’s life - a battle with oneself! It is unwise to enter it unprepared. Especially when it comes to the strict and long Lent! It's like that. That is why the Orthodox Church has established a clearly defined period of preparation for the upcoming test: four weeks, the first of which is the week of the publican and the Pharisee. The same ones from the parable once told by Jesus Christ to the people. Let's remember her?..

The biblical story does not become outdated over time

Two people entered a certain temple: a Pharisee, clothed with power, learned knowledge and respect of people, and a despised publican, a tax collector. And the first, standing with his head held high - for he had nothing to be ashamed of - thanked the Lord for the fact that he, a Pharisee, was not created a sinner. He fasts for the prescribed time, donates part of his income to the temple, and leads a pure and righteous life. Not like this publican!.. The publican, aware of his sinfulness, stood aside, not having the courage to raise his eyes, and asked for one thing: “God! Be merciful to me, a sinner!

However, it was not the righteous man full of virtues who left the temple more justified before God, but the humble sinner.

What does the parable teach us, and why, among many others, it, along with the story of the prodigal son, was awarded a separate period in the Calendar of Great Lent, which is called the week of the publican and the Pharisee?

God opposes the proud...

Why did the Pharisee, who undoubtedly had reason to consider himself a zealous servant of God, return home less justified for his sins? Because he didn’t repent of them. He considered them too small and insignificant compared to the great merits that he was so proud of, or he did not notice them at all. Filled with self-satisfaction, he even managed to turn his prayer into a pompous enumeration of his own merits: “Look, Lord, how good I am! I fast... I sacrifice..."

Lent is a time to eradicate Pharisaic pride in oneself

At the same time - note! – history does not say that the righteous did not do good deeds. He probably did. Surely enough to be known as both generous and kind. But a coin given to a needy person not out of compassion, but for the sake of service, lost in value. Good done for show was of no use to the Pharisee. And the prayer of gratitude distanced him more from God than brought him closer. There was no heart in her, only narcissism...

And an attempt to interpret the parable of the publican and the Pharisee inevitably leads us to the conclusion: do not be proud of your merits, for, done for the sake of self-aggrandizement, they are nothing.

You do righteous things when you go to church for the sake of fellowship with God; you fast to become better; you do good out of mercy and love for your neighbor. But virtues suddenly become devalued as soon as you allow the thought in your heart that they elevate you above others. The righteous man turns into a Pharisee, curling his lips contemptuously at the sight of a man timidly entering the church and not really knowing where to put the candle. He becomes a fasting man, nagging his relatives for a long time and tediously for eating a meat pie. Each of us falls into the sin of pharisaism, beginning to extol our merits and expect recognition for them.

Such actions are not pleasing to God. If it were otherwise, the morning rule prescribed for reading by every Orthodox Christian would not have included the words of repentance: “Lord! Be merciful to me, a sinner!

...And he gives grace to the humble

Sometimes the prayer of a sinner is heard before the words of the righteous

What about the second hero of the parable? Did he really have nothing to justify himself before God? Most likely it was. A publican could occasionally give a coin to a beggar, and a piece of bread to a hungry person. Bringing a heavy bucket of water to an old neighbor. Be a respectful son and a faithful husband. Maybe. There are few people in the world who have not committed a single good deed.

But the difference between the tax collector and the Pharisee is that the tax collector did not think of scrupulously giving himself “pluses” for godly deeds - he did them at the behest of his soul - but bitterly lamented the bad ones. I wanted to fix my life. He humbly asked for forgiveness of sins - without excuses, without pretense, without conditions... And he left the temple more justified than his pompous neighbor.

And it is no coincidence that during the week dedicated to the memory of the prayers of the tax collector and the Pharisee, which in 2019 will last from February 18 to 23, there are no fast days. We are reminded once again: do not focus on external, ostentatious signs of faith! They are only a means, not an end. Look deeper into your own soul.

Video: About the Publican and the Pharisee

“The Publican and the Pharisee”: interpretation of the parable from the “Gospel Readings” project.

The Week of the Publican and the Pharisee has begun and will last until February 23. This is preparation before the beginning of Lent, when all Orthodox Christians remember the famous Gospel parable and reflect on true righteousness. Years have flown by, eras have changed, and the Publican and the Pharisee, the parable about them and the interpretation of this parable still cause discussion among believers. Let's try to figure out what the deep meaning of Christ's parable is?

All Christians know about the Publican and Pharisee mentioned in the parable in the Gospel of Luke. It is short, simple, but incredibly wise. Two people came to the temple to pray. One of them, a Pharisee, an influential representative of the top of the religious and social movement, appeared with his head held high. He came to thank the Lord for saving him from an inglorious path.

The Pharisee began to list his virtues: he fasts regularly and donates part of his income to charity. In a word, no match for any swindlers and thieves, as well as adulterers.

Two people came to the temple to pray

The Pharisee could not help but notice the Publican not far from him. And he also spoke disparagingly about him. They say, what a sinner this tax collector is. Here I am…

The publican had no choice but to stand with his eyes downcast and beat his chest. He asked for God's mercy because he recognized himself as a sinner.

The Gospel says that it was the tax collector who returned home, justified by God. It would seem, why did the Lord show mercy to him? After all, it is not he who observes the fast and puts aside a tithe from his income. Here it’s time to think about the interpretation of this wise parable.

The meaning of the parable

To understand the meaning of the parable, let us remember the Gospel episode about the adulterous woman. They wanted to throw stones at her for her dissolute behavior, and Jesus told the people that only those who are without sin can throw the first stone at her.

People are sinners, they must understand this and sincerely repent of their sins

People are sinners, they must understand this and sincerely repent of their sins, think about the purity and salvation of their soul. The Pharisee didn't think about it. He came to the temple not to pray, but to show off, as he was focused on listing his own merits and praising himself.

He looked down on other “sinners”, confident in his absolute righteousness. In a way, he took upon himself the responsibility of deciding for God who is bad and who is good.

He looked down on other “sinners”

Let us remember another of Christ’s sermons, in which he said: “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” Do we have the right to judge others? Is it right to do this? Or is it better to focus on yourself and think: what am I like and why do I so clearly see the bad in others? Ultimately, there is only God's judgment and only God has the right to decide who is right and who is wrong.

Believers who desire God’s mercy should remember the Publican and the Pharisee, the parable about them and the interpretation of the parable more often. The Lord likes humble and meek people. Every person must pacify pride. You should not put yourself above other people, compare yourself with someone, or engage in narcissism. This is especially important to understand now, during the preparatory period before Great Lent. Without this understanding, without true love for God, Fasting and prayer have no meaning.

Parable for children

Today it is very important to convey to children the meaning of the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. After all, we live in a time when it is customary to label people, to compare who has what and who has achieved what.

Look at the pictures of the parable with your child. Explain to him that when a person looks down on others, he seems to rise above them. He stops growing and developing spiritually, because he has reached his limit. When a person, on the contrary, humiliates himself, he has an incentive to grow and improve. You should not separate yourself from others, like the Pharisee.

Today it is very important to convey to children the meaning of the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee

It is more correct to cultivate involvement in other people, to cultivate love for them. How to cultivate humility in yourself? After all, without it, neither awareness of the meaning of the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, nor prayers in front of the icons will have meaning. Teach your children that every action, every word spoken must always be compared with Christ...

Among those who listened to Jesus Christ there were people who thought of themselves that they were righteous, were exalted and humiliated others. Jesus told them the following parable:

Two people came to the church to pray: one was a Pharisee, the other a publican.

The Pharisee, standing, prayed to himself like this: “God! I thank You that I am not like other people, robbers, offenders, libertines, or like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of everything I receive to the church.”

The publican, standing in the distance, did not even dare to raise his eyes to heaven; but, striking his chest, he said: “God, be merciful: be to me, a sinner!” “I tell you,” Jesus added, that it was the publican, and not the Pharisee, who went from the church forgiven to his home, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Pride is disgusting to God; There is no vice that would be more harmful to us than pride. It prevents us from noticing our own weaknesses and shortcomings, and who doesn’t have them? Even the best person has them, and therefore we should all repeat with contrition of heart the words of the publican: God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

The parable of the publican and the Pharisee is read in church several times before Lent to remind us of humility, without which there can be no repentance and correction. At the same time, the following church hymn or stichera is sung:

Let us flee from the lofty speech of the Pharisees, and let us learn from the publicans the lofty verb of the humble, crying out in repentance: O Savior of the world, purify Thy servants.

The Pharisee was not only proud of his own virtues, but also despised his neighbor. And this is a very big sin and disgusting to God. How can we despise a brother when the Lord Jesus Christ died for him? In addition, we all have many of our own shortcomings, and we do not know whether our brother is not atone for his shortcomings with virtues unknown to us.” Let us be lenient in our judgments about our neighbor, remembering and forgiving our own sins and how much we ourselves need leniency and mercy.

“Why do you look at the spoke in your brother’s eye,” Jesus once said, “but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?”, that is, that you condemn a small defect in your neighbor, while you do not notice your own great vice?

“Or,” Jesus continues, “how can you say to your brother: Let me take the knitting needle out of your eye, while there is a plank in your eye?” “First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the knitting needle out of your brother’s eye.” (Matt. 7:3–5).

Reprinted from the book: Stories for children about the earthly life of the Savior and Lord our God Jesus Christ. Comp. A.N. Bakhmeteva. M., 1894.

The parable of the publican and the Pharisee is well known, but let us quote it again. “He also spoke to some who were confident in themselves that they were righteous, and humiliated others, the following parable: two men entered the temple to pray: one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: God! I thank You that I am not like other people, robbers, offenders, adulterers, or like this publican: I fast twice a week, I give a tenth of everything I acquire. The publican, standing in the distance, did not even dare to raise his eyes to heaven; but, striking himself on the chest, he said: God! be merciful to me, a sinner! I tell you that this one went to his house justified more than that one: for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” ().

For us, modern readers, the publican is “good”, the Pharisee is “bad”. The Pharisees are proud, arrogant, soulless religious formalists, but the publicans are humble people, it is not surprising that the Lord approves of them. For us this is something quite obvious. But the contemporaries of the Lord Jesus were probably outraged and offended by this parable.

Because for the people of that time it was the other way around. The Pharisees were good people. The best people among the people. The most religiously alive and active part of it. They carefully studied the revealed Law of Moses to implement it in every detail. What seems to us like stupid pettiness was actually a desire to do everything as it should be, so that everything in life - cooking, work, rest, and trade - would be subject to the Law of God. The Pharisees loved the law and sought to teach it to the people.

But the publicans were bad people, morally lost. Actually, a publican is a “tax collector,” but today it is difficult for us to understand all the negative connotations of this word. In ancient times, publicans were required to deliver a certain amount to the treasury - and their reward was everything else that they could squeeze out of people. Therefore, publicans were characterized by the most gross and cruel abuses.

The word “publican” was synonymous with an unscrupulous and heartless extortionist, often taking away the last piece of bread. In addition, publicans worked for the hated pagan occupiers - the Romans. These were both morally and religiously defiled people - the complete opposite of the Pharisees. How is it that the publican goes to his house “more justified”?

Isn't this outrageous? Isn't this immoral? How can God choose an outright scoundrel over an honest, moral, deeply religious person? This question probably arose among the listeners of the Lord Jesus, and it also arose among many others - Jews and pagans. As the most famous of the ancient critics of Christianity, Celsus, wrote: “According to their teaching, it turns out that the wicked, if he humbles himself under the weight of disaster, God will accept, but the righteous, if he, possessing virtue from the very beginning, turns his gaze upward, He will not accept! »

This question is still asked: what, a decent, honest person, if he dies unrepentantly, will lose the Kingdom, and some scoundrel, thief and scoundrel, if he repents and believes, will be saved? Why not? It's just a shame! Because all people are sinners and need salvation: both those who lead a clearly immoral and shameful life, and those who, by social standards, are quite prosperous, moral, even religious. We are all poor sinners who have no other hope except the mercy of God. Some of us have an easier time understanding this—and those are the ones whose lives are clearly not good.

“The parable of the publican and the Pharisee is a consolation for the unrighteous”

In the lives of saints there are many stories about very bad people: robbers, thieves, prostitutes, who were touched by the grace of God. With horror, with disgust, with indignation, they saw what their life was like, and they rushed to God, seeking salvation. Now the Church honors them as great saints.

Sometimes a person reaches the bottom, the edge - and from there turns to salvation. I knew people who were alcoholics and drug addicts (some combined both) - one day it became piercingly clear to them that in another couple of days, maybe hours, they would die under the fence. They began to cry out to God for mercy - and found it.

The problem with the Pharisee is that there is nothing wrong with him—at least in his eyes. Yes, this publican is an example of moral failure, and the Pharisee is a good person who knows about this. He does not seek God's mercy - he seeks recognition of his merits. But the reality is that although he may well be a respected and prosperous member of society, before God he is a miserable sinner. The Prophet Isaiah, a moral, deeply religious man, having experienced a vision of God in the Temple, exclaimed: “Woe is me! I'm dead! for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people also of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” ().

As the Lord says in Revelation: “You say: “I am rich, I have become rich, and I have need of nothing”; but you don’t know that you are unhappy, and pitiful, and poor, and blind, and naked” ().

When we, like that Pharisee, try to list our merits and point out that we are better than others, we close ourselves off from the grace of God. When we come to the Lord as we are—poor, blind and naked, guilty and wicked—and reveal our sins to Him, we receive mercy and forgiveness. We discover that we are accepted, loved, forgiven, encouraged - and we see that foolish pretensions to self-righteousness should have been abandoned long ago.

Sergey Khudiev