Loving the poor, not just pitying them: Saint John the Merciful's example

Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol speaks on the significance of almsgiving, stating that it is almsgiving that will present us before God. He illustrates this through the life of Saint John the Merciful. As a child, John experienced a vision in which a young girl appeared to him.

She told him that if he loved her, she would lead him to the king. When John asked her identity, she replied, "I am Almsgiving." The saint embraced almsgiving, and his life became a reflection of God's own mercy, earning him the title "the Merciful."

The metropolitan then draws attention to the wording of the saint's apolytikion, which in Greek says "τούς πτωχούς ἀγαπήσας", "you loved the poor", rather than "τούς πτωχούς ελεήσας," which would mean "you had mercy on the poor." He emphasizes that loving the poor is a far greater and more transformative act than merely pitying them.

To love the poor, he explains, is to become one with them, entering into their condition and sharing their life. The metropolitan stresses that the saint did not simply perform acts of charity from a distance; he became one with the poor, loving them directly. He notes that just as God is merciful, so John became merciful, but the apolytikion highlights love, not mercy, as the defining virtue.

Mercy can remain at a distance, while love requires union. The saint's love for the poor meant he shared their life, becoming poor with them. This, the metropolitan suggests, is the standard for all Christians: almsgiving that presents us before God is not measured by the amount given but by the love that unites the giver with the receiver.