The Mercy for Beggars

Well, I'd like to answer first to Oroles, and then for any other reader of this thread.
Ummm, I don't know if this post is well started in the Orthodoxy classroom, as this is not (well, could be) a lesson for newcomers and enthusiasts, but for the sake of the discussion, let's leave it here.

So, for Oroles:
În primul rând, trebuie să te gândeşti că cititorii noştri din Occident nu sunt deloc familiarizaţi cu o astfel de situaţie. Pentru ei, chiar şi simpla vedere a unui cerşetor pe stradă (şi aici nu mă refer la Simply Orthodox, căci în Grecia mai vezi din ăştia, ci la Vlad sau James sau Daniel - în Canada sau Marea Britanie nu vezi aşa ceva) este ceva pur şi simplu exotic.
Ceea ce vezi tu la noi pe stradă, asta trebuie să ţii la inimă, nu sunt cerşetori. Asta este mai mult decât clar. M-am convins de mii de ori de acest fapt (în Sâmbăta morţilor, după Liturghie, îi dai cuiva, mai ponosit, un păhărel cu colivă şi unul de vin, apoi, când pleci acasă, vezi păhărelele aruncate în pridvorul bisericii; eu însumi am "ajutat" pe unul care cerea apă de băut, tot la biserică: i-am zis că îi dau apă, mi-a dat sticla, m-am dus şi i-am umplut-o de la cişmeaua bisericii, i-am dat-o înapoi şi mi-a zis că nu-i destul de rece - era vară - şi a vărsat-o pe stradă; dacă îţi cere unul un leu pentru pâine, şi îi zici că îi iei tu pâine, ori nu mai vrea, ori îţi ia pâinea, după care se duce să o schimbe pe bani, ca să ia banii, ca să-şi ia ţigări sau băutură.). Deci ce vezi tu pe stradă nu sunt săraci. Barem, în Bucureşti, sunt absolut sigur că nu există cerşetor sau câine care să moară de foame - într-un fel sau altul, tot îşi găseşte ceva de mâncare.
Poziţia Bisericii ai surprins-o foarte corect şi foarte clar. Nu-i mare lucru de adăugat aici, doar că nu încurajezi numai lenea, ci şi imoralitatea, căderea economiei, ş.a.m.d.

Eu am hotărât ca de acum înainte, să nu mai dau nimic, nimănui (mai ales de pe stradă). Nu câştigi nimic în ceruri, şi nu numai tu pierzi. Dacă vrea cineva bani pentru mâncare (aşa cum am zis, văd că nimeni nu moare de foame în ţara asta), n-are decât să muncească cinstit, la fel ca toţi ceilalţi. De fapt, eu câştig mai puţin, în momentul de faţă, decât un om al străzii, având în vedere că nu mai am loc de muncă.


Now, for all the others (a translation of those stated above):
First of all, you must think that our readers from the West aren't familiar at all with such a situation. For them, even the simple encounter with a beggar on the street (and I don't refer to Simply Orthodox, because in Greece you see beggars, but I refer to Vlad or James or Daniel - in Canada or Great Britain you don't see such a thing) is something exotic, pure and simple.
The people you see in our country, on the street, and this you should retain, aren't beggars. This is more than crystal clear. I have convinced myself a thousand times (at the Saturday of the Dead, after the Liturgy, you give someone who wears some old clothes, a little glass of koliva and one of wine, and then, when you go home, you see the two little glasses discarded in the verandah of the church; I myself have "helped" a guy who asked for water, to drink, at the church: I told him that I give him water, he gave me his bottle, I went and refilled it from the tap in the yard of the church, I gave it back and he told me the water wasn't cold enough - it was during the summer - and he spilled it on the street; if someone asks you for money for bread, and you tell him that you will buy him bread, he either won't take the money anymore, ori he'll take the bread, and then go and change it for money, in order to buy cigarettes or alcohol). So the people you see on the street aren't poor people (homeless / beggars). In Bucharest, in any case, I am absolutely certain that there is no beggar or stray dog who or which dies of hunger - one way or the other, he / it still finds something to eat.
You have written very well and clear the position of the Church. There's nothing to add here, in general; only that you don't encourage laziness only, but also imorality, the fall of the economy and so on.

I have decided that, from now on, I won't give anybody, anything (especially on the street). You don't gain anything in heavens, and you're not the only one who loses. If someone wants money for food (like I said, I see that nobody dies of hunger in Romania), let him work in an honest manner, just like everybody else. Actually, I earn fewer, in this moment, that a homeless man, taking into account that I'm unemployed.

Yes Andrei I understand now, and i totally agree with what you just said.
But I'll add that sometimes, in rare occasions (and I do really mean rare occasions) some have asked for food or money for food(I saw him buying it) and when I gave it, thanked me.It wasn't that much but they were happy.But folks like these are really rare(never met one again for a long time), so in the vast majority of cases there are only charlatans.

And yes James children are exploited by parents to begg, but sometimes they ask for money to buy things like sweets.I know because there are some girls in front of my block, but I never give money just sweets sometimes.

I always carry change to give people on the street. (Andrei: Here in London we cannot go 50ft without passing someone lying in the street, especially in the city centre) I always make sure I have a few pounds spare, sometimes even out of the offering for candles or my tithe from church.

I know the the a metropolitan here also gives whenever he can. One time when he had brought money to a service to give me (as I had ordered a large box of incense for the church from a church supply store near my house) he gave some of it to a man in the street since the man had asked. He did not stop to check the man's story, he just gave him some change.

Also my Spiritual father and me used to give some of the Antidoron to a local homeless man who we passed on the way to the church every week when I lived on the South Coast. The man would take the bread if hungry but if he did not, I would take it for my family. At times he even said "no thanks but do you have change" then Fr Simon would give him change which he used to buy a coffee with. I know the man smoked, so wasted money on cigarettes, but if I could afford to help I would.

In my own situation there is a man who spends all day outside the shop near my work asking for change, every time I go to get lunch he says hello and asks for change, if I have some I will always give as much as I can. He does not look homeless or ill but for all I know he could be fatally ill. I do not judge. I have change spare and this man needs it. If I can spare it, why not?

I personally do not stop to judge whether they are real, fake, alcoholic or just lazy. I believe that when I am in an economic situation which allows me to give to those who are lesser, I have a duty to do so. My country am have the means to help these people if they actually tried to look after themselves but I do not think it means I should neglect them, otherwise I am like the rich man who neglected Lazarus in the Bible. If I have money and he does not, it means I should help.