One old man became a hermit and for ten years prayed to God for one thing: to find out why on Earth some are born and become rich, while others become poor. Especially when most often creatively gifted people are poor, and rich people are the most ordinary individuals who were simply born into a successful family. Why is such injustice happening??? And so God had mercy and sent an Angel to him. The angel said: “I won’t explain anything. First, just close your eyes.” The old man closed his eyes, and when he opened them he found himself in a tree, in a hollow. The angel continued: “You will stay here for three days. Watch what is happening.” And the monk began to observe... On the first day, a rider rode on a black horse, wearing shiny armor. Near a tree, a bag accidentally came untied from the saddle and fell to the ground. On the second day, a farmer approached the tree, unrolled the tablecloth, laid it with food and began to eat, but suddenly noticed a bag. He saw that there was gold in the bag, was terribly happy and ran further with the bag, leaving lunch under the tree. On the third day, a poor wanderer passed by, saw food and attacked it greedily. Before he had time to finish his meal, the rider on a black horse returned and began to demand his money back. He began to torture him, and then killed him, realizing that it was useless. And then the monk could not stand it and began to shout in anger: “YOU PROMISED TO GIVE ME ANSWERS TO MY QUESTIONS, BUT I SAW ANOTHER SCENE OF INJUSTICE!!!” “Wait,” the Angel answered him. “I’ll now explain to you the meaning of what I saw: That horseman is a rich man. He rode around his estates and collected taxes. He still has plenty of the same bags that he lost. It’s just that greed did not allow him to stop - he has no other valuables except gold. That farmer went bankrupt and mortgaged his property. Yesterday was the last day to return the money, and if he had not found this bag, he would have been left without everything and would have gone to prison. But he paid off found gold and saved himself and his family. That poor wanderer, in his youth, killed a man. After that, he suffered all his life, distributed his property to the poor and prayed to God for martyrdom in order to atone for his sin. Yesterday his desire was fulfilled, and now he not only atoned for his sin, but also became a Holy Martyr. Now he will be haunted by nightmares.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru