A certain man was rich, dressed in purple and fine linen, and feasted brilliantly every day. There was also a certain beggar named Lazarus, who lay at his gate covered in scabs and wanted to feed on the crumbs falling from the rich man’s table, and the dogs came and licked his scabs.
The beggar died and was carried by the Angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell, being in torment, he raised his eyes, saw Abraham in the distance and Lazarus in his bosom, and cried out and said:
- Father Abraham! Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.
But Abraham said:
- Child! Remember that you have already received your good in your life, but Lazarus received your evil. Now he is consoled here, and you suffer. And above all this, a great gulf has been established between us and you, so that those who want to cross from here to you cannot, nor can they cross from there to us.
Then he said:
“So I ask you, father, send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers; let him testify to them, so that they too do not come to this place of torment.
Abraham said to him:
“They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to them.
He also said:
- No, Father Abraham, but if someone from the dead comes to them, they will repent.
Then Abraham said to him:
“If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, then even if someone were to rise from the dead, they wouldn’t believe it.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru