One man had three friends. He loved the first two very much and sacrificed for them everything that was good for him, but he gave little affection to the third friend. It happened that this man had a significant debt to pay. Having no money of his own, he went to his friends. So he comes to the first one and asks for a loan. But the friend he so hoped for refused to help the poor man out. “I’m not your friend now, I have more important friends than you, and if these don’t exist, then there will be even better ones.” Here, however, is two rags for you, but don’t expect more from me. The distressed debtor went to his second friend. “My friend,” he said, “remember how I always appreciated you and valued your friendship, now I am in misfortune, help me.” “I’m very busy today,” answered the second friend, “and I don’t have time for you at all.” All I can do for you is to escort you to the king, and don’t expect anything more from me. So the debtor returned from his beloved friends with nothing. Then he decided to go to the third friend. Coming to him with a sad face, he spoke in a barely audible voice: “I don’t even dare open my lips to express my request to you. I have always paid so little attention to you, but now great grief has come to me and I have no one to turn to for help except you.” -Why did you get tanned so early? - answered the third friend. “I consider you a close person, although you knew me little.” Don't worry my dear, I will help you. This is a parable... What does it mean and what does it teach us?... The first friend is our greed for profit and the very wealth that a person collects in life. It gives him only two rags for burial - a shirt and a shroud. The second friend is family and acquaintances whom we often love to the point of forgetting God. But even in death, they are of little use: they carry you to the grave, and then, amid their worries, they forget. The third friend is our good deeds, which, after the separation of the soul from the body, act as intercessors for us before God. They are our true friends, helping a Christian to inherit bliss in the afterlife.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru