👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾“#Be careful not to do your #alms before #men, to be #seen by them.” (#Matthew 6:1)
Dear beloved followers of the Orthodox faith, greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today’s teaching is based on the sacred command of our Lord concerning almsgiving, which is one of the greatest Christian virtues.
The Meaning of “Alms”(mitswat)
The Geʿez word for alms means gift, offering, or act of mercy.
As a Christian virtue, almsgiving must be done with faith and humility.
There are two main forms of almsgiving:
👉🏾Monetary offerings given in the Church.
👉🏾Material aid such as food, clothing, or shelter provided to those in need.
The Christian Duty of Giving
As faithful Christians, we are called to:
👉🏾Feed the hungry,
👉🏾Give drink to the thirsty,
👉🏾Clothe the naked, and
👉🏾Comfort the afflicted.
The Spiritual Meaning of Almsgiving
👉🏾 God gives with those who give,
👉🏾 He receives with those who receive,
👉🏾 Through both giving and receiving,
👉🏾 Compassion and understanding are established among people.
Wealth is given to the rich not for pride, but so that they may extend help to those who are less fortunate. In this way, God uses one person’s abundance to heal another’s need, teaching humanity to share in divine love.
✍🏾 Blatten Geta Hiruy Welde silase explains almsgiving in this way:
“almsgiving means giving money for daily food and yearly clothing to the needy; it also includes giving counsel to those who lack wisdom and offering education to those in need. This too is charity.”(Goha tsibah, p. 24)
Thus, true almsgiving is not limited to money or possessions. It is every act of love, guidance, and knowledge given freely for the sake of another, with faith that God Himself is present in both the giver and the receiver.
When you give to a person in need, you are giving directly to God.
✍🏾 “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for what he has done.”
— Proverbs 19
✍🏾Almsgiving as a Sacred Trust
Almsgiving is a holy trust that the wise place in the hands of God.
When you give to the poor, you are not losing, but entrusting your gift to the Lord, who will surely repay in due time.
True almsgiving is not only about money.It includes every act of help and mercy:
👉🏾Strengthening the weak with your strength,
👉🏾Guiding the ignorant with your knowledge,
👉🏾Supporting the needy with your skills.
👉🏾Such deeds are all forms of almsgiving before God.
The Holy Scriptures repeat the command to care for the poor:
“You shall open wide your hand to your poor brother, for the poor will never cease from the land.” Deuteronomy 15:11
“If your brother becomes poor and weak, support him as a stranger and a sojourner.” Leviticus 25:35
The Most High, through His prophets, declared that He loves almsgiving more than sacrifice.
“Is not this the fast that I have chosen to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor to your house, and to clothe the naked when you see them?” Isaiah 58:6–7
Even Saint John the Baptist taught that repentance must bear fruit through almsgiving:
“He who has two tunics should share with the one who has none, and he who has food should do likewise.” Luke 3:11
✍🏾The Spirit of True Almsgiving
A true Christian gives not from ownership, but from stewardship.
Everything we have is from God, and we give from what belongs to Him.
Almsgiving is a pillar of Christian life, a key that opens mercy.
But many hearts are bound by the love of money, which the Apostle calls the root of all evil.
We often think almsgiving means dropping a few coins into a stranger’s hand, yet real almsgiving flows from faith and compassion.
Our Lord warns that the act must be free from hypocrisy and vain praise.Those who give to be seen by men already have their reward on earth.
Continues 👇🏾