St. John Chrysostom

St. Macarius the Great

Well done, good and faithful servant! You are faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your Master

The little things are the promises that are given to those who believe in Him to receive in this age; the many things are the gifts of the eternal and imperishable age.

Collection of manuscripts type III. Lesson 13.

St. Hesychius of Jerusalem

His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master

Christ, according to Scripture, died for our sins and grants freedom to slaves who work well for Him, for He says: Good, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful for a little, I will set you over many: enter into the joy of your Lord (Matt. 25:21). But a faithful servant is not the one who relies on bare knowledge (of the debt of slavery), but the one who shows loyalty by obedience to Christ, who gave the commandments.

Rev. Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, to Theodulus, a soul-helping and saving word about sobriety and prayer.

St. Justin (Popovich)

His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master

The answer is worthy of God: Well done, good and faithful servant! for you understood that human earthly life is service to God and the Divine, worship; faithful servant, for you understood that human life on earth is one continuous feat of faithfulness to God through the Gospel sacraments and holy virtues. You were faithful in small things: in the small earthly world, where in a small measure you can embrace God and God, and in a small measure live by God and God. I will put you over many things: behind my earthly gifts and talents there are endless and immeasurable perfections of My Truth, and My Truth, and My Grace, and My Wisdom: all this will forever be yours, and never "will not be taken away" from you (Luke 10:42); this is what "never stops"(1 Cor. 13:8), and in which a human being remains forever, remains alive. And all these perfections are joy upon joy, endless, immortal joy: enter for the joy of his lord. This is the eternal joy that "no one can take it away" the followers of Christ have neither this nor the other world (John 16:22).

Blzh. Hieronymus of Stridonsky

Art. 21-23 His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master. The one who had received two talents also came up and said: Master! you gave me two talents; behold, I acquired the other two talents with them. His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master

To both the servant, as I have already said, that is, to the one who made ten talents from five talents, and to the one who made the other two talents from two, the same word of praise is addressed. It should be noted that what we have in this life, although it seems great and numerous, is small and not numerous in comparison with the future. " Login, - speaks, - for the joy of your Master“And receive what eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and what has not entered into the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9). But what more can be given to a faithful servant if not to be with the Lord and see the joy of His Lord?

Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew.

Blzh. Theophylact of Bulgaria

His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master

Origen

His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master

Evfimy Zigaben

His Lord said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant: you have been faithful for a little, but I will set you over many: enter into the joy of your Lord.

His Lord said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant: you have been faithful for a little, I will put you over many.

I will honor you with many graces. I will make you a participant in many benefits.

...enter into the joy of your Lord

The name of joy designated all bliss.

Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew.

Archim. Sophrony (Sakharov)

His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master

See Interpretation at

The Lord told the following parable: one man, going to a foreign country, called his servants and entrusted them with his property: and to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his strength; and immediately set off. He who received five talents went and put them to work and acquired another five talents; in the same way, the one who received two talents acquired the other two; He who received one talent went and buried it in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time, the master of those slaves comes and demands an account from them. And the one who had received five talents came and brought another five talents and said: Master! you gave me five talents; Behold, I acquired another five talents with them. His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master. The one who had received two talents also came up and said: Master! you gave me two talents; behold, I acquired the other two talents with them. His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master. The one who had received one talent came up and said: Master! I knew you that you were a cruel man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter, and, being afraid, I went and hid your talent in the ground; here's yours. His master answered him: “You wicked and lazy servant!” You knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter; Therefore, you should have given my silver to the merchants, and when I came, I would have received mine with profit; So, take the talent from him and give to the one who has ten talents, for to everyone who has it will be given and he will have an abundance, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away; and throw the worthless slave into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Having said this, he exclaimed: whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!

The Lord gave us talents and entrusted us with work. He doesn't want us to be idle. Everything we have we received from Him. We have nothing of our own that belongs to us except sin.

Today's Gospel says that Christ deals with us like a man who, going to a distant country, called his servants and entrusted them with his property. When Christ ascended into heaven, He was like this man. When He set out on His journey, He took care to provide His Church with everything necessary during His absence. Christ entrusted her with everything He had, and to one He gave five talents, to another two, to another one - to each according to his strength.

People have different gifts, different obediences in the Church. And all the gifts of Christ are innumerably precious - they were purchased by His Blood. One talent is enough to live on this wealth all your life and all eternity. But this talent should not be buried in the ground. With diligence and labor - the Lord tells us today - you can achieve a lot in spiritual life. And the greater gifts a person has, the more he must work. From those who received two talents, the Lord expects the use of two. If they do according to the strength of what is given to them, they will be accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven, although they have not done as much as others.

The unfaithful slave was the one who had only one talent. Undoubtedly, there are many people who, having two talents or five talents, bury them in the ground. They would have O greater talents and b O Greater opportunities. And if someone who had one talent is punished like this, no matter how much O Those who had a lot and did not take advantage of it will receive greater punishment! However, it has long been observed that those who have the least gifts for the service of God do the least of what they should do.

Some justify themselves by saying that they do not have the opportunity to do what they would like to do. At the same time, they do not want to do what they undoubtedly could do. And so they sit and do nothing. Truly, their situation is sad, because, having only one talent, about which they should take the greatest care, they neglect this talent.

However, every gift implies responsibility. When the time comes for results, the lazy slave justifies himself. Although he received only one talent, he must give an account for it. No one is required to answer for more than he received. But for what we have been given, we must give an account.

“Here is yours,” says this slave, returning his talent to the Lord. “Although I did not increase it as others did, I still did not decrease it.” It was as if he didn't have to work hard. He admits that he buried his talent in the ground, buried it. He presents it as if it was not his fault, but on the contrary, he deserves praise for his caution, for avoiding any risk. This person has the psychology of a low slave. “I was scared,” he says, “so I didn’t do anything.” This is not the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom and which gladdens the heart and inspires to work for the glory of God. This is a dull fear that paralyzes the mind and will.

False concepts about God lead to an ungodly attitude towards Him. Anyone who thinks that it is impossible to please God and therefore has no point in serving Him will do nothing in their spiritual life. Everything he says about God is a lie. “I knew,” he says, “that you are a cruel man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter,” while the whole earth is filled with His mercy. It’s not that He reaps where He did not sow, He often sows where He reaps nothing. For He shines as the sun and rains rain on the ungrateful and evil, who in response to this say to Him like the Gadarenes: “Get away from us.” So usually evil people blame God for their sins and for their misfortunes, rejecting His grace.

The Lord calls him a wicked and lazy servant. Lazy slaves are crafty slaves. Not only the one who does evil will be condemned, but also the one who does not do good. The Apostle James says that if anyone knows to do good and does not do it, it is sin for him (James 4:17). Those who neglect God's work become close to those who do the work of the enemy.

The strategy and tactics of the devil in relation to the human race is to first create a void so that later it can be filled with blackness. Due to the fact that there was so much only external piety in the Church, with the psychology of a slave having one talent, God allowed the invasion of godless ideology in our Fatherland with all its horrors. And when people were fed up with communism and a void formed again, what we are witnessing today happened: in the place of atheism comes Satanism with the establishment of sin as the norm. Look what is happening to our youth! Idleness opens the way to wickedness. When the house is empty, the unclean spirit with the seven evil spirits occupies it. When a person sleeps, the enemy comes and sows tares.

The lazy slave is sentenced by God's court to be deprived of his talent. “Take the talent from him,” says the Lord, “and give to the one who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Monk Seraphim of Sarov, in his famous conversation with Nikolai Alexandrovich Motovilov, during which his face shone like the sun, likens human life to a spiritual purchase. Talent is the weight of silver, it is money, which is just pieces of paper on which something is drawn. Or even if it's real silver or gold, it's just a pile of shiny metal and doesn't mean anything. It lies like a dead weight until it is put into commercial and economic circulation. The same thing happens with spiritual gifts. He who does not have - that is, who has everything as if he did not have it, without using it for the purposes intended by God - even what he has will be taken away from him. This can apply to a person's entire life, when he lives as if he is not living, as if life does not belong to him. And those who diligently take advantage of the opportunities they have will be even more favored by God. The more we do, the more we can do in spiritual life. But whoever does not warm up the gift he has received loses it. It goes out like an unsupported fire.

No one lacks talent, at least one. The Holy Fathers say that one talent is life. And even without, as it were, any special talents, we can give it to others. “Why didn’t you give your talent to others? - asks the Lord. “Then you would receive no less than the one who has the most talents.”

In the end, only God knows who is given how many talents. Imagine a person who is smarter than everyone in the world and more brilliant than everyone in all areas, and his life is full of the most vibrant activity. But in fact, he does nothing else except bury his talent in the ground if he devotes it to purely earthly goals. And the widow of the Gospel, who put the least into the treasury of the temple, the Lord testifies, put in the most, because in her last two mites she brought her whole life to the Lord. And many last will become first. Everything is determined not by our success, but by our loyalty, our sincerity, our dedication. And what do the greatest external gifts mean in comparison with internal ones - with humility, with meekness, with purity and, finally, with grace, which immediately changes everything.

God! - the man says with joyful gratitude to God and trust in Him. “You gave me five talents, here are the other five talents.” Truly, the more we do for God, the greater the debt we have towards Him for what He has given us, the more we are filled with gratitude to Him.

We see the joy of those who come to the Lord and the joy of the Lord. This is the Passover of the Lord and the joy of the saints. Christ's martyrs, saints and all saints show the Lord their wounds and labors as evidence of faithfulness to Him. “Show me faith by your works,” says the Lord, and He rewards them with love.

Soon, soon the day of the Lord will come, and we will approach Him one by one, as described in the vision of nun Lyubov about the Venerable Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth and Father Mitrofan of Srebryansky. Those who are marked by the light of the Lord’s face will be forever alive from these His words: “Well done, good and faithful servant. I was faithful in little things, I will put you over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord."

The work we do for God in the world is small, very small, compared with the joy prepared for us. Truly, the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard, and the heart of man has not entered into what God has prepared for those who love Him. This joy is the joy of the Lord, which He acquired for us at the cost of great labor and great sorrow. Whatever our talents, this joy, if we love the Lord, will belong to us in full.

“Time passes quickly, like a river flows,” says the recently glorified Serbian saint Nikolaj Velimirović, “and soon, I repeat,” he says, “soon the end of everything will come.” No one can come back from Eternity to take what he forgot here on earth and do what he did not do. Therefore, let us hasten to use the gifts we have received from God to acquire eternal life.

Reading at home the day before...

Saint Theophan the Recluse. Thoughts for every day of the year

The parable of the talents conveys the idea that life is a time of bargaining. It means we must hurry to take advantage of this time, just as at a bargain everyone rushes to bargain for what they can. Even if someone brought only bast shoes or bast, he does not sit idly by, but manages to invite buyers to sell his own and then buy what he needs. Of those who have received life from the Lord, no one can say that he does not have a single talent; Everyone has something, and more than one thing: everyone, therefore, has something to trade and make a profit. Don’t look around and don’t consider what others have received, but take a good look at yourself and more precisely determine what you have and what you can acquire with what you have, and then act according to this plan without laziness. At the trial they will not ask why you did not acquire ten talents when you had only one, and they will not even ask why you acquired only one talent with your one talent, but they will say that you acquired a talent, half a talent or a tenth of it. And the reward will be not because you received, but because you acquired. It will be impossible to justify anything - neither nobility, nor poverty, nor lack of education. When this is not given and there will be no demand for it. But you had arms and legs, tell me, they will ask what you acquired with them? Was there a language that they acquired? This is how the inequalities of earthly conditions are equalized at the judgment of God.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

The Lord gives His servants talents, each according to his strength. He gives them rich opportunities to the extent that they can accommodate, and He will never ask them for more than He Himself has given them. And after that He gives us freedom; we are not abandoned, not forgotten, but we are not constrained in any way in our actions: we can freely be ourselves and act accordingly. But someday the time for reporting will come, the time to sum up our entire life. What have we done with all our capabilities? Have you become what you could become? Did they bear all the fruit they could? Why did we not justify God’s faith in us and deceive His hopes?

A number of parables answer these questions. From the one we are now discussing, the following is clear. Instead of putting his talents to work, that is, using them, even at some risk, the unfaithful slave went and buried his only talent (his life, his being, himself) in the ground. Why did he do this? Firstly, because he turned out to be cowardly and indecisive, he was afraid of risk. He could not cope with the fear of loss and its consequences, the fear of responsibility. But at the same time, you can’t gain anything without risk. In our life, cowardice applies not only to material things on which we sit like a hen on eggs, and even then, unlike her, we do not hatch anything! Cowardice can embrace everything in our lives, life itself.

Trying to get through life unharmed, we hide in an ivory tower, close our minds, suppress our imagination, become hard in our hearts, and as insensitive as possible, because what we fear most is that we might be hurt or wounded. As a result, we become like fragile and easily vulnerable sea creatures that create a hard covering around themselves. It ensures their safety, but keeps them, as if in a prison, in a hard coral shell that gradually suffocates them. Security and death are interconnected. Only risk and insecurity are compatible with life.

So, the first enemy of the unfaithful slave - and ours - is cowardice, cowardice. But doesn’t Christ Himself call us in two parables (Luke 14: 28-32) to be prudent and not undertake what we cannot do? What is the difference between, on the one hand, the unprofitable slave and us - and the wise, prudent people that He would like us to be? The difference is in two points. The people Christ describes were willing to take risks. They were endowed with a bold spirit of enterprise, not stifled by prudent and fearful indecision; they only measured their strength against possible obstacles and acted in accordance with the real state of affairs, which is also, in essence, a manifestation of obedience and humility. They rushed upward in spirit, they were ready to join those who take the Kingdom of Heaven by force, who lay down their lives for their neighbors or for the sake of God. And the slave, whom the master cast out, did not want to risk anything; he chose not to use what he received in any way, so as not to run the risk of losing what he received.

Here we are faced with another moment of the parable: why is he (we!) so scary? Because we view God and life the same way he saw his master. I knew you that you were a cruel man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter; and being afraid, you went and hid your talent in the ground; here's yours. He defames his master, just as we defame God and life. “I knew you were cruel; What’s the point of trying?.. Take what’s yours!” But what belongs to God? The answer, as I said, can be found in the parable of the tax. We belong entirely to God. Whether we ourselves return to Him, or whether He takes His own, nothing remains with us, nor of ourselves.

This is expressed in the Gospel like this: Take his talent and give it to him who has ten talents... and throw the unprofitable servant into outer darkness... for from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. That is, his very being, existence, or, as Luke says, what he thinks he has (8:18), namely, the talent that he hid, left unused, and thereby took away from both God and people. Here what Christ said is tragically fulfilled: By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. Did not the servant say, do we not say: “I knew you that you were a cruel master”? In this case, there is nothing to hope for?.. - There is hope! It is based on the word of the Lord, which contains both a warning and a promise: With whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged, and: Judge not, lest you be judged.

The Apostle Paul explains it this way: Who are you, judging another man's servant? Before his Lord he stands, or he falls (Rom. 14:4). All these passages are clearly explained by another parable of Christ about the Unmerciful Lender (Matthew 28:23-35): Evil servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me; Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your companion, just as I had mercy on you?.. So will My Heavenly Father do to you, if each of you does not forgive your brother his sins from the heart.

The Lord gave us talents and entrusted us with work. He doesn't want us to be idle. Everything we have we received from Him. We have nothing of our own that belongs to us except sin.

Today's Gospel says that Christ deals with us like a man who, going to a distant country, called his servants and entrusted them with his property. When Christ ascended into heaven, He was like this man. When He set out on His journey, He took care to provide His Church with everything necessary during His absence. Christ entrusted her with everything He had, and to one He gave five talents, to another two, to another one - to each according to his strength.

People have different gifts, different obediences in the Church. And all the gifts of Christ are innumerably precious - they were purchased by His Blood. One talent is enough to live on this wealth all your life and all eternity. But this talent should not be buried in the ground. With diligence and labor - the Lord tells us today - you can achieve a lot in spiritual life. And the greater gifts a person has, the more he must work. From those who received two talents, the Lord expects the use of two. If they do according to the strength of what is given to them, they will be accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven, although they have not done as much as others.

The unfaithful slave was the one who had only one talent. Undoubtedly, there are many people who, having two talents or five talents, bury them in the ground. They have great talents and great opportunities. And if the one who had one talent is punished like this, how much more punishment will those who had a lot and did not use it receive! However, it has long been observed that those who have the least gifts for the service of God do the least of what they should do.

Some justify themselves by saying that they do not have the opportunity to do what they would like to do. At the same time, they do not want to do what they undoubtedly could do. And so they sit and do nothing. Truly, their situation is sad, because, having only one talent, about which they should take the greatest care, they neglect this talent.

However, every gift implies responsibility. When the time comes for results, the lazy slave justifies himself. Although he received only one talent, he must give an account for it. No one is required to answer for more than he received. But for what we have been given, we must give an account.

“Here is yours,” says this slave, returning his talent to the Lord. “Although I did not increase it as others did, I still did not decrease it.” It was as if he didn't have to work hard. He admits that he buried his talent in the ground, buried it. He presents it as if it was not his fault, but on the contrary, he deserves praise for his caution, for avoiding any risk. This person has the psychology of a low slave. “I was scared,” he says, “so I didn’t do anything.” This is not the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom and which gladdens the heart and inspires to work for the glory of God. This is a dull fear that paralyzes the mind and will.

False concepts about God lead to an ungodly attitude towards Him. Anyone who thinks that it is impossible to please God and therefore has no point in serving Him will do nothing in their spiritual life. Everything he says about God is a lie. “I knew,” he says, “that you are a cruel man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter,” while the whole earth is filled with His mercy. It’s not that He reaps where He did not sow, He often sows where He reaps nothing. For He shines as the sun and rains rain on the ungrateful and evil, who in response to this say to Him like the Gadarenes: “Get away from us.” So usually evil people blame God for their sins and for their misfortunes, rejecting His grace.

The Lord calls him a wicked and lazy servant. Lazy slaves are crafty slaves. Not only the one who does evil will be condemned, but also the one who does not do good. The Apostle James says that if anyone knows to do good and does not do it, it is sin for him (James 4:17). Those who neglect God's work become close to those who do the work of the enemy.

The strategy and tactics of the devil in relation to the human race is to first create a void so that later it can be filled with blackness. Due to the fact that there was so much only external piety in the Church, with the psychology of a slave having one talent, God allowed the invasion of godless ideology in our Fatherland with all its horrors. And when people were fed up with communism and a void formed again, what we are witnessing today happened: in the place of atheism comes Satanism with the establishment of sin as the norm. Look what is happening to our youth! Idleness opens the way to wickedness. When the house is empty, the unclean spirit with the seven evil spirits occupies it. When a person sleeps, the enemy comes and sows tares.

The lazy slave is sentenced by God's court to be deprived of his talent. “Take the talent from him,” says the Lord, “and give to the one who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Monk Seraphim of Sarov, in his famous conversation with Nikolai Alexandrovich Motovilov, during which his face shone like the sun, likens human life to a spiritual purchase. Talent is the weight of silver, it is money, which is just pieces of paper on which something is drawn. Or even if it's real silver or gold, it's just a pile of shiny metal and doesn't mean anything. It lies like a dead weight until it is put into commercial and economic circulation. The same thing happens with spiritual gifts. He who does not have - that is, who has everything as if he did not have it, without using it for the purposes intended by God - even what he has will be taken away from him. This can apply to a person's entire life, when he lives as if he is not living, as if life does not belong to him. And those who diligently take advantage of the opportunities they have will be even more favored by God. The more we do, the more we can do in spiritual life. But whoever does not warm up the gift he has received loses it. It goes out like an unsupported fire.

No one lacks talent, at least one. The Holy Fathers say that one talent is life. And even without, as it were, any special talents, we can give it to others. “Why didn’t you give your talent to others? - asks the Lord. “Then you would receive no less than the one who has the most talents.”

In the end, only God knows who is given how many talents. Imagine a person who is smarter than everyone in the world and more brilliant than everyone in all areas, and his life is full of the most vibrant activity. But in fact, he does nothing else except bury his talent in the ground if he devotes it to purely earthly goals. And the widow of the Gospel, who put the least into the treasury of the temple, the Lord testifies, put in the most, because in her last two mites she brought her whole life to the Lord. And many last will become first. Everything is determined not by our success, but by our loyalty, our sincerity, our dedication. And what do the greatest external gifts mean in comparison with internal ones - with humility, with meekness, with purity and, finally, with grace, which immediately changes everything.

God! - the man says with joyful gratitude to God and trust in Him. “You gave me five talents, here are the other five talents.” Truly, the more we do for God, the greater the debt we have towards Him for what He has given us, the more we are filled with gratitude to Him.

We see the joy of those who come to the Lord and the joy of the Lord. This is the Passover of the Lord and the joy of the saints. Christ's martyrs, saints and all saints show the Lord their wounds and labors as evidence of faithfulness to Him. “Show me faith by your works,” says the Lord, and He rewards them with love.

Soon, soon the day of the Lord will come, and we will approach Him one by one, as described in the vision of nun Lyubov about the Venerable Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth and Father Mitrofan of Srebryansky. Those who are marked by the light of the Lord’s face will be forever alive from these His words: “Well done, good and faithful servant. I was faithful in little things, I will put you over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord."

The work we do for God in the world is small, very small, compared with the joy prepared for us. Truly, the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard, and the heart of man has not entered into what God has prepared for those who love Him. This joy is the joy of the Lord, which He acquired for us at the cost of great labor and great sorrow. Whatever our talents, this joy, if we love the Lord, will belong to us in full.

“Time passes quickly, like a river flows,” says the recently glorified Serbian saint Nikolaj Velimirović, “and soon, I repeat,” he says, “soon the end of everything will come.” No one can come back from Eternity to take what he forgot here on earth and do what he did not do. Therefore, let us hasten to use the gifts we have received from God to acquire eternal life.

Archpriest Alexander Shargunov

We read the Gospel together with the Church.

Thus, dear brothers and sisters, is the parable of the talents. Talent was a monetary unit, not a coin, but a measure of weight, and accordingly its value depended on whether it was gold, silver or copper. Most often it was silver.

Attention is drawn primarily to the lazy slave, who buried his talent in the ground, so that later he could hand it over to his master in exactly the same form. There can be no doubt that he symbolizes the scribes and Pharisees, whose goal was simply to preserve the law, disguising it with many unnecessary traditions and traditions.

But in this parable the Lord also addresses the people of the present age. Thus, in the words of St. Justin of Chelia: “The evil servant hid his master’s silver, that is, he hid everything of God from himself; everything that reminds of God, or reveals God. This is a type of atheist, and above all: soulless. For the atheist is, first of all, always soulless: he denies first the soul, and then God.”

The soul is that important talent that the Lord gives to every person. It gives not just to preserve it in our body, which we inherited from Adam, created from the earth, but for the acquisition by this soul of new talents - virtues.

God never demands from us what we do not have. But as Saint Luke of Crimea (Voino-Yasinetsky) says: “God gave everyone according to their strength and reason. Just as from a rich man the first slave received five talents, the second - two, the third - one, so the Lord gave us the gifts of His grace, to each according to his strength and understanding, and from everyone he will ask for an answer at His Last Judgment, as this rich man demanded an answer. a man from his servants."

The grace of God is the germ of virtues that we must cultivate in our hearts through godly deeds. The Lord reveals to us that what is important to God in a person is not virtue itself, but how we use it. And if our talent is directed toward serving the Lord, then He gives us even more opportunity to work for the glory of God. For whoever has, more will be given to him, and whoever does not have will lose even what he has. The meaning of this rule of life is this: if we have a talent that we use well, we will be able to do more and more all the time. But if we have a talent that we do not use in life, we inevitably lose it.

The desire to increase the grace of God, to acquire virtues - this is what the Lord calls us to today in the parable of the talents.

Help us in this, Lord!

Hieromonk Pimen (Shevchenko)

The Lord told the following parable: one man, going to a foreign country, called his servants and entrusted them with his property: and to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his strength; and immediately set off. He who received five talents went and put them to work and acquired another five talents; in the same way, the one who received two talents acquired the other two; He who received one talent went and buried it in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time, the master of those slaves comes and demands an account from them. And the one who had received five talents came and brought another five talents and said: Master! you gave me five talents; Behold, I acquired another five talents with them. His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master. The one who had received two talents also came up and said: Master! you gave me two talents; behold, I acquired the other two talents with them. His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master. The one who had received one talent came up and said: Master! I knew you that you were a cruel man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter, and, being afraid, I went and hid your talent in the ground; here's yours. His master answered him: “You wicked and lazy servant!” You knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter; Therefore, you should have given my silver to the merchants, and when I came, I would have received mine with profit; So, take the talent from him and give to the one who has ten talents, for to everyone who has it will be given and he will have an abundance, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away; and throw the worthless slave into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Having said this, he exclaimed: whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!

God creates inequality, people complain about inequality. Are people wiser than God? If God creates inequality, then inequality is wiser and better than equality.

God creates inequality for the benefit of people; people cannot see their own good in inequality.

God creates inequality for the sake of the beauty of inequality, people cannot see beauty in inequality.

God creates inequality for the sake of love, which is kindled and supported by inequality; people cannot see love in inequality.

This is the ancient human revolt of blindness against insight, madness against wisdom, evil against good, ugliness against beauty, hatred against love. Even Eve and Adam gave themselves over to Satan in order to become equal to God. Cain also killed his brother Abel, because God did not equally despise their sacrifices. From then until now, the struggle of sinful people against inequality has continued. And until then and to this day, God creates inequality. We say “until those times,” for God created even the angels unequal.

God wants people not to be equal in everything external: in wealth, strength, rank, education, position, etc., and He does not order them to compete in any way in this. Don't sit in first place- Our Lord commanded. God wants people to compete in increasing internal goods: faith, kindness, mercy, love, meekness and goodness, humility and obedience. God has given both external and internal blessings. But He considers the external goods of man to be cheaper and more insignificant than the internal goods. He makes external goods available not only to people, but also to animals. But He reveals a rich treasury of internal, spiritual blessings only for human souls. God gave man something more than animals, which is why He demands more from people than from animals. This “more” is made up of spiritual things.

God gave external goods to man so that they could serve internal ones. For everything external serves the internal man as a means. Everything temporal is predestined for the service of the eternal, and everything mortal is predestined for the service of the immortal. A person who follows the opposite path and spends his spiritual gifts exclusively to acquire external, temporary goods, wealth, power, rank, worldly glory, is like a son who inherited a lot of gold from his father and squandered it by buying ashes.

For people who have felt in their soul the gifts of God invested in it, everything external becomes insignificant: like an elementary school for someone who has entered a higher school.

It is the ignorant, not the wise, who fight for external goods alone. The sages wage a harder and more valuable struggle - the struggle to increase internal goods.

Those who do not know how or do not dare to look into themselves and get to work on the internal, main field of their human existence are fighting for external equality.

God does not look at what a person does in this world, what he has, how he is dressed, fed, educated, whether people respect him - God looks at a person’s heart. In other words: God does not look at the external state and position of a person, but at his internal development, growth and enrichment in spirit and truth. Today's Gospel reading speaks about this. about talents, or about spiritual gifts that God puts into the soul of every person, shows the enormous internal inequality of people by their very nature. But it also shows much more. With its eagle gaze it covers the entire history of the human soul, from beginning to end. The one who fully understood this one parable of the Savior and fulfilled the command contained in it with his life, he would have gained eternity in the Kingdom of God.

For He will act like a man who, going to a foreign country, called his servants and entrusted them with his property: and to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his strength; and immediately set off. By man we must understand the Almighty God, the Giver of all good gifts. By slaves we mean angels and people. Traveling to a foreign country signifies God's patience. Talents are spiritual gifts that God bestows on His intelligent creatures. The greatness of all these gifts is shown by the fact that they are deliberately called talents. For one talent was a large coin, the value of which was equal to five hundred gold chervonets. As was said, the Lord deliberately called the gifts of God talents in order to show the greatness of these gifts; to show how generously the Most Good Creator bestowed His creations. So great are these gifts that the one who accepted one talent received quite enough. By man is meant our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as can be seen from the words of the Evangelist Luke: some person of high birth. This Man of high birth is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Only Begotten, the Son of the Most High. And this is also clearly evident from the subsequent words of the same evangelist: went to a distant country to get a kingdom for himself and return(Luke 19:12). After His ascension, our Lord Jesus Christ went to heaven to receive the Kingdom for Himself, giving the world a promise to come to earth once again - as a Judge. Since by man is meant our Lord Jesus Christ, that means by His servants - bishops, priests and all the faithful. On each of them the Holy Spirit poured out many gifts - good, but different and unequal, so that believers, complementing each other, would thus all together morally improve and grow spiritually. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and the services are different, but the Lord is the same; and the actions are different, but God is one and the same, producing everything in everyone. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for the benefit... Yet the same Spirit does all this, distributing it to everyone separately, as He pleases.(1 Cor. 12:4-11). In the sacrament of baptism, all the faithful receive an abundance of these gifts, and in other church sacraments God strengthens and multiplies these gifts. By five talents, some interpreters understand the five senses of man, by two - soul and body, and by one - the unity of human nature. The five bodily senses are given to man so that they serve the spirit and salvation. With body and soul, a person must work diligently for God, enrich himself with the knowledge of God and good deeds. And a person must devote himself entirely to serving God. In childhood, a person lives with five senses, a full sensual life. At a more mature age, he feels duality and struggle between flesh and spirit. And in a mature spiritual age, a person realizes himself as a single spirit, defeating the internal division into five and two. But it is precisely at this mature age, when a person considers himself a winner, that he faces the greatest danger of disobedience to God. Having reached the greatest heights, he then falls into the deepest abyss and buries his talent.

God gives gifts to everyone according to his strength, that is, in accordance with how much a person can bear and use. Of course, God bestows gifts on people according to the plan of the holy economy. So those who build a house do not have the same abilities and do not do the same work: they have different abilities and different tasks, and each of them works according to his own strength!

And he set off immediately. These words mean the speed of God's creation. And when the Creator created the world, He created it quickly. And when our Lord Jesus Christ came to earth for the sake of a new creation, for the sake of the renewal of the world, he quickly accomplished His work: calling the slaves, distributing gifts to them and immediately setting off.

So what did the slaves do with the talents they received?

He who received five talents went and put them to work and acquired another five talents; in the same way, the one who received two talents acquired the other two; He who received one talent went and buried it in the ground and hid his master’s money. All labor activity and all trade that exists among people are an image of what happens - or what should happen - in the souls of men. From anyone who has inherited any property, people expect that he will increase this property. Anyone who has acquired a field is expected to work that field. Anyone who has learned a trade is expected to practice it both for his own benefit and for the benefit of his neighbors. Anyone who knows any handicraft is expected to show his knowledge. Anyone who has invested money in trade is expected to multiply that money. People move, work, improve things, collect, exchange, sell and buy. Everyone tries to obtain what they need for bodily life, everyone tries to improve their health, satisfy their daily needs and ensure their bodily existence for as long and as long as possible. And all this is just an image of what a person should do for his soul. Because that’s the main thing. All our external needs are images of our spiritual needs, reminders and lessons that we need to work for our soul, hungry and thirsty, naked and sick, unclean and miserable. Therefore, each of us, who has received from God five, two, or one measure of faith, wisdom, love of mankind, fear of God, meekness, obedience to God or longing for spiritual purity and strength, is obliged to work to at least double this measure, as we did the first and second slave and as people engaged in trade and crafts usually do. He who does not increase the talent given to him - whatever this talent may be - will be cut down, like a tree that does not bear good fruit, and thrown into the fire. What every owner does with a barren fig tree, which he dug up, grafted and fenced in vain, but which still did not bear him any fruit, the Supreme Householder of the universal garden will do the same, where people are His most precious trees. See for yourself what bewilderment and contempt arouses in people the one who, having inherited an estate from his father, does nothing but wastes the inheritance on bodily needs and pleasures! Even the lowest beggar is not as despised by people as such a selfish sloth. Such a person is a true image of a spiritual sloth who, having received from God one talent of faith, wisdom, eloquence or some other virtue, buries it without using it in the dirt of his body, does not increase it through labor, and out of pride and selfishness does not bring it to anyone. benefits.

After a long time, the master of those slaves comes and demands an account from them. God does not move away from people for a single moment, much less for a long time. His help to people flows like a deep river day after day, but His Judgment, His demand for an account from people occurs over a long period of time. The Quick Helper to everyone who calls on Him for help, God is slow to reward those who insult Him and wantonly squander His gifts. Here we are talking about the last, Last Judgment, when the hour comes and all workers will be called to accept their wages.

And the one who had received five talents came and brought another five talents and said: Master! you gave me five talents; Behold, I acquired another five talents with them. His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master. The one who had received two talents also came up and said: Master! you gave me two talents; behold, I acquired the other two talents with them. His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master. One by one, the slaves approach their master and give an account of what they have received and what they have earned with the help of what they have received. One by one, we will be forced to approach the Lord of heaven and earth and, before millions of witnesses, account for what we have received and what we have earned. At this hour, nothing can be hidden or corrected. For the Lord’s radiance will so illuminate those present that everyone will know the truth about everyone. If in this life we ​​manage to double our talents, then we will appear before the Lord with a clear face and a pure heart, just like these two good and faithful servants. And we will be forever quickened by His words: good and faithful servant! But alas for us if we appear empty-handed before the Lord and His holy angels, like the third, wicked and lazy servant!

But what do the words mean: You were faithful in little things, I will put you over many things? They mean that all the gifts that we receive from God in this world, no matter how many there are, are small compared to the treasures that await the faithful in the next world. For it is written: The eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, and it has not entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him.(1 Cor. 2:9). The smallest work for the sake of God’s love is rewarded from God with generous royal gifts. For the little that the faithful will endure in this life out of obedience to God and for the little that they do while working on their souls, God will crown them with glory, which none of the kings of this world has ever known or had.

Now let's see what happens to wicked and unfaithful slaves:

The one who had received one talent came up and said: Master! I knew you that you were a cruel man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter, and, being afraid, I went and hid your talent in the ground; here's yours. This is how this third servant justifies his wickedness and laziness before the Master! But he is not alone in this. How many of us are there who shift the blame to God for their malice, negligence, idleness and selfishness! Without recognizing their sinfulness and not recognizing the humane ways of God, they grumble at God for their weaknesses, illnesses, poverty, and failures. First of all, every word spoken by a lazy slave to the Master is a real lie. Does God reap where he did not sow? And does He gather where He has not scattered? Is there any good seed in this world that was not sown by God? And are there any good fruits in the entire universe that are not the results of God’s work? The wicked and unfaithful complain, for example, when God takes their children away from them, saying: “Behold, what cruelty - He untimely takes our children away from us!” Who said these children are yours? Did they not belong to Him before you called them yours? And why is it untimely? Doesn’t He who created times and seasons know when the time is for something? Not a single owner on earth puts off cutting his forest, waiting until all the trees in it grow old, but in accordance with his needs, he cuts both old and young, those that have been standing for a long time, and those that have just sprouted, depending on the what he needs for his farm. Instead of grumbling against God and blaspheming Him, on Whom all their breath depends, it would be better to say like the righteous Job: The Lord gave, the Lord also took away; as the Lord pleased, so it was done; Blessed be the name of the Lord! And how the wicked and unfaithful grumble against God, when a hailstorm destroys their bread, or when their ship with its cargo sinks into the sea, or when illnesses and infirmities attack them - they grumble and accuse God of cruelty! And this happens only because they either do not remember their sins, or cannot learn a lesson from this to save their soul.

To the false justification of His servant, the Master responds: His master answered him: “You wicked and lazy servant!” You knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter; Therefore, you should have given my silver to the merchants, and when I came, I would have received mine with profit. People involved in money transactions are also called money changers. These are those who exchange one type of money for another and thus make a profit as a result of the exchange. But all this has its own figurative meaning. By traders we should understand those who do good, by silver - the gifts of God, and by profit - the salvation of the human soul. You see: in this world, everything that happens to people externally is only an image of what happens - or should happen - in the spiritual realm. Even money changers are used as an image of the spiritual reality that takes place inside, in the people themselves! The Lord wants to say to the lazy servant: “You have received one gift from God; you didn’t want to use it yourself for your own salvation; Why didn’t you at least give it to some virtuous person, some kind-hearted person who would want and be able to give that gift to other people who need it, so that it would be easier for them to be saved? And I, having come, would have found more saved souls on earth: more faithful, more ennobled, more merciful and meek. Instead, you hid your talent in the soil of your body, which decayed in the grave (for the Lord will say this at the Last Judgment) and which now cannot help you in any way!”

Oh, how clear and how terrible is the lesson for those who, having great wealth, do not distribute it to the poor; or, having a lot of wisdom, keeps it closed in himself, as in a grave; or, having many good and useful abilities, does not show them to anyone; or, having great power, does not protect the suffering and oppressed; or, having a great name and glory, does not want to illuminate those in darkness with a single ray! The kindest word that can be said about all of them is thieves. For they consider the gift of God to be theirs: they appropriated what belonged to others and hid what was given. However, they are not only thieves, but also murderers. For they did not help to save those who could have been saved. Their sin is no less than the sin of a man who, standing on the bank of a river with a rope in his hands and seeing someone drowning, did not throw him a rope to save him.

Truly, the Lord will say to such people what he said to the wicked servant in this parable.

So, take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents, for to everyone who has it will be given and he will have an abundance, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. and throw the worthless slave into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And in this life it usually happens that it is taken away from those who have little and given to those who have much. And this is only an image of what is happening in the spiritual realm. Doesn't a father take money from a dissolute son and give it to a wise son who can use it profitably? Doesn't a military commander take away ammunition from an irresponsible soldier and give it to a good and reliable soldier? God takes away His gifts from unfaithful slaves in this life: hard-hearted rich people usually go bankrupt and die in poverty; selfish wise men end up in extreme stupidity or madness; proud ascetics indulge in sin and end their lives as great sinners; despotic rulers experience reproach, shame and impotence; priests who did not instruct others either by word or by example fall into more and more serious sins until they part with this life in terrible agony; hands that did not want to do the work that they knew how to do begin to tremble or lose mobility; the tongue, which did not want to speak the truth that it could speak, swells or becomes mute; and in general, everyone who hides God’s gifts die as mediocre beggars. Anyone who did not know how to give while he had it will be forced to learn to beg when his property is taken away from him. Even if the gift given to him is not taken away from some cruel and stingy selfish person just before his death, it will be taken away by his closest descendants or relatives who received this gift as an inheritance. The main thing is that the talent given to him is taken away from the infidel, and after that he is condemned. For God will not condemn a person as long as the gift of God’s grace remains in him. Before the sentence is carried out on him, a person convicted by an earthly court is stripped of his clothes and dressed in prison clothes, clothes of condemnation and shame. So every unrepentant sinner will first be stripped of all that is Divine on him, and then thrown away into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth..

This parable clearly teaches us that not only those who have done evil will be condemned, but also those who have not done good. And the apostle teaches us: whoever knows to do good and does not do it is sin(James 4:17). All of Christ’s teaching, as well as His example, direct us to do good. Avoidance of evil is the starting point, but the entire life path of a Christian should be strewn with good deeds, like flowers. Doing good deeds provides immeasurable help in avoiding evil deeds. For it is unlikely that anyone can evade evil without doing good, and remain without sin without practicing virtue.

And this parable also confirms to us that God is equally merciful to all people; for He endows every created person with a certain gift, indeed, some with a greater gift, some with a lesser one, which does not change the matter at all, since He asks more from the one to whom he gave more, and less from the one to whom he gave less. But He gives enough to everyone so that a person can save himself and help save others. Therefore, it would be a mistake to think that in this parable the Lord speaks only about the rich people of various types who exist in this world. No, He is talking about all people without exception. Everyone, without exception, comes into this world with some gift. The widow who deposited her last two mites in the Temple of Jerusalem was very poor in money, but she was not poor in the gifts of donation and the fear of God. On the contrary, having wisely disposed of these gifts, albeit through two miserable mites, she received the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Truly I tell you, this poor widow has given more than anyone else.(Mark 12:42-44).

But let's take the worst and most mysterious case. Imagine a blind and deaf-mute man who, in this situation, lived his entire life on earth, from birth to death. Some of you will ask: “What gift did such a person receive from God? And how can he be saved? He has a gift, and a great one. He doesn't see people - but people see him. He does not give alms - but awakens in other people. He cannot remind of God with the help of words, but he himself is a living reminder for people. He does not preach with words - but serves as proof of the sermon about God. Truly, he can lead many to salvation, and through that he can save himself. But know that the blind, deaf and dumb are not usually among those who bury their talent. They don't hide from people, and that's enough. For everything they can show, they show. Themselves! And this is silver, which they put into circulation and return to the Master with a profit. They are God's servants, God's reminder, God's call. They fill human hearts with fear and mercy. They represent the terrible and clear preaching of God, revealed in the flesh. It is those who have eyes, ears, and tongues who most often bury their talent in the ground. They have been given much, and when much is asked of them, they will be unable to give anything.

Thus, inequality lies at the very basis of the created world. But this inequality should cause joy, not rebellion. For he was affirmed by love, not hatred, reason, not madness. Human life is ugly not because of the presence of inequality in it, but because of the lack of love and spiritual intelligence in people. Bring in more Divine love and spiritual understanding of life, and you will see that even twice the inequality will not in the least interfere with the bliss of people.

This parable of the talents brings light, reason and understanding into our souls. But it also prompts us to action and urges us so that we are not late to complete the work for which we were sent by the Lord to the marketplace of this world. Time flows faster than the fastest river. And soon the end of time will come. I repeat: time will soon end. And no one will be able to return from eternity to take what was forgotten and do what was undone. Therefore, let us hasten to use the gift of God given to us, a talent borrowed from the Lord of lords. To our Lord Jesus Christ, about this Divine teaching, as about everything else, is due honor and glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit - the Trinity, Consubstantial and Indivisible, now and ever, at all times and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Saint Nicholas of Serbia (Velimirović). Conversations. - M.: “Lodya”, 2001, pp. 236-250.