The Russians' Secret: What Christians Today Would ... - GOD'S WORD

for the cold.Russians did not look down on people who handled their money recklessly,particularly not if they did so because of Christ. The wayward son of Christ’sparable was not described as prodigal (something that did not seem evil to them)but as profligate in their Slavonic Bibles. An early example of this attitude wasFyodor Pechersky.Fyodor, born into a family of boyars did not care for senseless games and thediversions of the wealthy. He put on sim­ple clothes and worked with his father’sserfs in the fields. When his friends and family made fun of him he said, “OurLord Jesus Christ humbled himself and allowed others to degrade him. Shall wenot follow his example?” After his father died (he was only thir­teen) he escapedfrom home and set out to be a wandering pilgrim. But his mother caught him andput him into chains.Even then, Fyodor could not be restrained. As soon as he was on his own he wentto live in caves the Varangians had dug for a hideout years before in chalkyheights above the Dnepr, south of Kiev. A friend, Nikon, and others joined him.Over the years, Christian celibates had lived in the caves, digging them deeper andadding tunnels until they become like the catacombs. Fyodor liked living there,but he strongly disapproved of Christians hiding away and not serving others.“Remembering Christ’s com­mand,” he told the cave dwellers, “I tell you that it isgood for us to feed the hungry and care for the homeless with the fruits of ourlabour. . . . If God were not to lift us up and feed us through the poor, of whatvalue would be our work?”Fyodor got the cave dwellers to live together in community. Together they built aguest house for travelers, a hospital for the sick, and set up a soup kitchen for thehungry. Fyodor established a pattern by being the first to volunteer to chopfirewood, peel onions for the soup, or weed the community garden. Nikon (withmany eager helpers) began to translate, copy books by hand, and bind them fordistribution. The community’s members baked bread for the hungry in prison andwhen they heard of people in trouble anywhere, they risked their lives, ifnecessary, to assist or intercede. To explain their actions, Fyodor wrote:Should the words of the Gospel not cause our hearts to burn? . . . What did we dofor Christ that he chose us? What motivated him to rescued us from ourprecarious situation? Have we not all strayed from the way and become useless to