In Constantinople there lived a poor man; Poor people always followed him through the streets, and he never refused anyone. One day he was asked why he was so merciful. And he said the following: “I was 10 years old, in church I heard a priest’s sermon in which he said that whoever gives to a beggar gives Christ Himself into the hands. I didn’t believe it, I was walking home and thinking, and suddenly I saw a beggar in rags on the way, and above him the Face of the Savior. Some kind man was giving bread to the beggar; but at that moment, as he extended his hand, the Image of the Savior extended His hands to the giver and accepted the bread, blessed the merciful man. Seeing this, I believed that he who gives to the poor gives to Christ Himself. And to this day I see the Face of Christ above the heads of the poor and with love I hasten to give to them as best I can.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru