27Februaryфевраля · 27-е февраля
Благотворение только тогда благотворение, когда оно жертва.
Charity is charity only when it is a sacrifice.
Translation note. The Jubilee text breaks the italics at the comma Russian requires before «когда»; the English sets the line as one.
1. Золото ваше и серебро изоржавело, и ржавчина их будет свидетельством против вас и съест плоть вашу, как огонь: вы собрали себе сокровища на последние дни.
1. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire: you have gathered treasures for yourselves for the last days.
From James · close to the original .
The Russian Bible (Synodal translation)Золото ваше и серебро изоржавело, и ржавчина их будет свидетельством против вас и съест плоть вашу, как огонь: вы собрали себе сокровище на последние дни.
Source text: ru.wikisource.orgIn English · King James Version, 1611Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. James, 5:3.
The Synodal text, with "сокровища" (plural) for "сокровище".
2. В деньгах, в самых деньгах, в обладании ими есть что-то безнравственное.
2. In money, in money itself, in the possession of it, there is something immoral.
3. Если хочешь милости божьей, покажи дела. Но, может быть, и теперь кто-нибудь, как богатый юноша, скажет: «Я всё исполнил: не крал, не убивал, не любодействовал». Но Христос сказал, что нужно не это только, а еще что-то другое. Что же такое? «Продай, — говорит, — имение твое и дай нищим, и иди за мною» (Мф. гл. 19, ст. 21). Идти же за ним значит — подражать ему в делах. В каких делах? В любви к ближнему. А если юноша, живя в таком изобилии, мог не раздать свое имение бедным, то как же он мог сказать, что любит ближнего? Если любовь сильна и не на одних словах, то она покажет себя на деле. А богатому показать любовь на деле значит — отказаться от богатства.
3. If you want God’s mercy, show your deeds. But perhaps even now someone, like the rich young man, will say: “I have fulfilled it all: I have not stolen, I have not killed, I have not committed adultery.” But Christ said that not this alone is needed, but something else besides. What, then? “Sell,” he says, “your possessions, and give to the poor, and follow me” (Matthew 19:21). And to follow him means to imitate him in deeds. In what deeds? In love for one’s neighbor. And if the young man, living in such abundance, could refrain from giving away his possessions to the poor, then how could he say that he loved his neighbor? If love is strong, and not in words alone, it will show itself in deed. And for a rich man, to show love in deed means to give up his wealth.
From Homilies on the Gospel of John · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedAdds an opening, “If you want God’s mercy, show your deeds,” and a close: for a rich man, to show love in deed “means to give up his wealth.”
In English · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, ser. 1, vol. 14 (ed. Philip Schaff), 1889Perhaps like that rich man some of my hearers will say, "that we also have kept these, for we neither have robbed, nor killed, nor committed adultery"; yet assuredly thou wilt not be able to say this, that thou hast loved thy neighbor as thou oughtest to have loved him.
Now Christ hath commanded not only this, but something besides. What then is this?
… for one who lived in such superfluity, and regarded not others living in poverty, …
Source text: ccel.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homily XXXIX (on John 5:23–24), close.
Kept: hearers who say like the rich young man "we have not stolen, killed, or committed adultery"; Christ commanded something more, "Sell what thou hast"; following him means imitating him in deeds; one who lived in such plenty and gave nothing could not love his neighbor. Tolstoy adds the opening ("If you want God's mercy, show deeds") and the close ("for the rich to show love in deed is to give up wealth"), and drops the clause on envy and slander. The Greek was not saved.
Translation note. The rich young man: Matthew 19:16–22. In verse 21 the KJV has “go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”
4. Жалостливый не бывает богат; богатый — наверное не жалостлив.
4. A tender-hearted man is never rich; a rich man is surely not tender-hearted.
From Ming hian dsi · close to the original .
What Tolstoy read · Julius Klaproth, Chrestomathie mandchou, ou Recueil de textes mandchouMING HIAN DSI, OU COLLECTION DE PROVERBES ET DE MAXIMES, TRADUITS DU CHINOIS EN MANDCHOU.
Le compatissant ne sera jamais riche, et le riche jamais compatissant.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Ming hian dsi (Mingxian ji), a collection of Chinese proverbs and maxims, in its Manchu translation, no. 72; Klaproth, Chrestomathie mandchou (Paris, 1828), Traduction, p. 200 (Manchu text, pp. 5-23).
Klaproth's French, closely: no. 72 of the Ming hian dsi (名賢集, 'Collection of famous sages'), a Chinese collection of proverbs and maxims in its Manchu translation, which Julius Klaproth printed in Manchu with a French version in his Chrestomathie mandchou (Paris, 1828): «Le compatissant ne sera jamais riche, et le riche jamais compatissant» (the compassionate man will never be rich, and the rich man never compassionate). Tolstoy's «Жалостливый не бывает богат» (the compassionate man is not rich) follows the first half; in the second, «наверное не жалостлив» (is surely not compassionate) stands for «jamais compatissant» (never compassionate). The French translates Klaproth's Manchu, which translates the Chinese line 為仁不富矣，為富不仁矣 ('who practises benevolence will not be rich; who seeks riches will not be benevolent'). It is the saying of Yang Hu that Mencius quotes (Mencius III.A.3: 陽虎曰：『為富不仁矣；為仁不富矣。』), with its two halves in the other order. The collection's lines just before it on Wikisource are Klaproth's nos. 70 and 71 (地有三江水，人無四海心; 有錢便使用，死后一場空, «Si tu as de l'argent emploie-le; car après la mort tout tombe dans le néant»). October's «Манчжурская пословица» (10-21.1) is no. 51 of the same collection, which places this one. Whether Tolstoy read Klaproth himself or a book that copied him was not found. Legge translated Mencius (The Chinese Classics, vol. II, 1861), but no saved text of his III.A.3 was reached, so no English is given. Found 2026-10-29 while tracing October 21.
5. Богатые благотворители не видят того, что то, чем они благодетельствуют бедного, они вырвали из рук часто еще более бедных.
5. Rich benefactors do not see that what they bestow on a poor person they have wrenched from the hands of people who are often poorer still.
6. Если богатые и дают милостыню бедным, то они все-таки делают великий вред народу тем, что они богаты и живут роскошно. Они не думают о том, что их обожание богатства, их роскошь жизни, их презрение к бедности и серой жизни развращают бедных и внушают им ту мысль, что на свете есть только одно благо — богатство, и что надо прежде всего добиваться его.
6. Even if the rich do give alms to the poor, they still do the people great harm by being rich and living in luxury. They do not consider that their worship of wealth, their luxurious living, their contempt for poverty and for a drab life corrupt the poor and instill in them the thought that there is only one good in the world — wealth — and that one must strive for it before all else.
From Discourse on the Ministry for the Poor · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedThe rich who “satisfy themselves with giving alms” still do harm by being rich, and the poor, taught that property is the one good “in which the poor have no share,” are taught to strive for wealth “before all else.”
After Channing’s own wordsThe rich satisfy themselves with giving alms to the needy.
They think little that their spirit and lives, their self-indulgence and earthliness, their idolatry of outward prosperity, and their contempt of inferior conditions, are …
… perpetually teaching the destitute that there is but one good on earth, namely, property — the very good in which the poor have no share.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Discourse on the Ministry for the Poor (Boston, 1835), in The Complete Works of William Ellery Channing (London, 1884), pp. 104-105.
Channing's 'The rich satisfy themselves with giving alms to the needy' becomes 'though the rich give alms to the poor, they still do the people great harm by being rich and living luxuriously'. His 'self-indulgence and earthliness, their idolatry of outward prosperity, and their contempt of inferior conditions' becomes 'their worship of wealth, their luxury of life, their contempt of poverty and plain life'. The ending changes in sense: Channing's poor learn that property is the one good, 'the very good in which the poor have no share', which embitters them ('to inflame, embitter, and degrade'); Tolstoy's learn that wealth must be sought before all else, which corrupts them. Broadbent's selection (1903), Tolstoy's likely source, is not online.
7. Трудно богатому войти в царство небесное! Легче верблюду пройти сквозь игольные уши, нежели богатому войти в царство божие.
7. It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
From Matthew · shortened by Tolstoy .
The Russian Bible (Synodal translation)… трудно богатому войти в Царство Небесное; …
… удобнее верблюду пройти сквозь игольные уши, нежели богатому войти в Царство Божие.
Source text: ru.wikisource.orgIn English · King James Version, 1611… a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Matthew, 19:23–24.
The Synodal text without its introductions ("Jesus said to his disciples: verily I say unto you", "and again I say unto you"); the first clause becomes an exclamation, and "легче" stands for "удобнее".
Translation note. Tolstoy’s wording leaves out the KJV’s “Verily I say unto you” and “And again I say unto you”; where Tolstoy has “It is hard for a rich man to enter”, the KJV has “a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Богатством нельзя делать добро. Для того, чтобы богатый мог делать добро, он должен прежде всего освободиться от богатства.
Good cannot be done with wealth. For the rich to be able to do good, they must first of all free themselves from wealth.
Tolstoy TodayТолстой сегодня · tolstoytoday.org/february/27