In one monastery in Greece there was a custom: to give the brethren a little money for difficult work.
The monks in the monastery are called brethren, because they live like a big family. Many monks wanted to work harder and give the money they received to the poor. Only one monk acted differently. No one had ever seen him give alms to even one poor person. And they called him Greedy. Years passed. Everything remained the same.
- What a stingy fellow! - thought the other monks. But the time came for the monk, nicknamed Greedy, to move on to another life, and he died.
When the surrounding villages learned about Greedy’s death, all the residents began to flock to the monastery to say goodbye to the deceased. They mourned Greedy and regretted his death.
And the brothers were very surprised.
- What good did this man do to you? Why are you mourning him so much? - they asked.
One peasant said:
- He saved me!
And another added:
- And me!
The peasants worked from morning to evening to feed their children. But without an ox it is difficult to plow the land. If there was an ox in the family, then the children no longer sat without bread.
And so the monk, who was nicknamed Greedy, saved money and bought oxen for the poorest.
This is how he saved them from hunger and poverty.
How surprised were all those who considered the monk greedy!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru