Last year I have set up a small school of peasant children, ten to thirteen years old. I wanted to pass onto them the teaching of Christ in a way that would be clear to them and would have an impact on their life, and I told them, in my own words, those passages from the four Gospels that seemed to me the most comprehensible and easy for children to understand, and, at the same time, which are the most necessary for the moral guidance in their life. I observed children’s restatements and the questions they asked. And the more I worked with them, the clearer it became to me which of the passages from the teaching they perceived easier and got attracted to. Based on that experience, I have composed this book. I think that the reading of... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Jesus Christ, through his teaching and his own life example, taught people that the spirit of God dwells in every person. According to the teaching of Jesus Christ, all people’s troubles arise because they focus their lives on their bodies, and not on the spirit of God. Because of that, they fight with each other, suffer in soul, and because of that they fear death.
The spirit of God is love. And love lives in the soul of every human being. If people focus their lives on the spirit of God – on love – then there will be no hatred, no mental torments, no fear of death. All people wish well-being for themselves. The teachings of Christ opens to people that the well-being comes to them through love, and that this well-being... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Jesus was born from Maria, wife of Joseph. Until the age of 30, Jesus lived in Nazareth with his mother, father, and brothers, and, when he grew up, he helped his father with his carpentry work. When Jesus was 30, he heard that people went to listen to the sermons of a holy hermit. The hermit’s name was John. And Jesus went with people into the desert to listen to the preaching of John. John told that a time has come for the kingdom of God, a time when all people will understand that they are all equal, that there is no one higher or lower, and that everyone should live in love and harmony with one another. He said that this time is close, but it will really come only when people will stop doing untruth. When ordinary people asked Joh... (From: Wikisource.org.)
John told that, in order for the kingdom of God to come, people needed to purify themselves with the spirit of God. “What does it mean to purify yourself with the spirit of God?” - Jesus thought. – “If to cleanse by the spirit means to live not for your body, but for the spirit of God,” - Jesus thought, - “then truly the kingdom of God would come, if people lived by the spirit of God; because the spirit of God is one and the same in all people. And having all the people lived by the spirit, all people would be united, and the kingdom of God would come true. But people cannot live only for the spirit, people have to live for their bodies, also. But if they will live for their bodies, will serve body, take ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
And rumors about Jesus spread in the area, and a lot of people began to walk behind him and listen to him. And he told people: “Remember, you went to listen John in the desert, why did you go to see him? People go watch someone in rich clothes, but those live in palaces, and there was nothing like this in the desert. Then why did you go to John, in the wilderness? You went there to listen to someone who taught you a good life, didn’t you? What did he teach you? He taught you that the kingdom of God must come, but that for it to come, so that there is no evil in the world, all people need to live not apart, each for himself, but so that everybody would be together, and so that all would love each other. So in order for the kingdo... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Jesus clarified his teaching clearer and clearer. And once, when a lot of people gathered around him, he began telling them about how people should live, in order for the kingdom of God to come. He told: “The kingdom of God is totally different from the worldly kingdoms. It’s not the proud or the rich who will enter the kingdom of God. The proud and the rich reign now. They are having fun now, and now are praised and respected by everybody. But for as long as they stay proud and rich, and there won’t be the kingdom of God in their souls, they will not enter the kingdom of God. It is not the proud but the humble, not the rich but the poor who will enter the kingdom of God. But the humble and the poor will enter the kingdom ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
And Jesus said: “Here is the first commandment. The old law said: you shall not kill, and he who kills is sinful. But I say to you that if a man is angry with his brother, he is already sinful before God; he even more sinful when he says to his brother a rude, dirty word. So if you started to pray and remembered that you are angry at your brother, then, before you pray, go make peace with him, and if by some reason you cannot accomplish that, then extinguish the grudge in your soul against your brother. This is the first commandment.
Another commandment is this. It is said in the old law: you shall not commit adultery, and if you are separated with your wife, then give her a divorce. But I say unto you, that not only a person shoul... (From: Wikisource.org.)
And Jesus told all the listeners about what will happen when they will follow his commandments. – “Do not think,” he said, “that if you won’t get angry at the people, if you will put up with everybody, will live with one woman, will not swear an oath or an allegiance to anyone, will fight against those who offend you, will give everything that will be asked of you, will love your enemies, - do not think that if you will live like that, then your life will be difficult or worse than you are living now. Don't think that way - your life will not be worse but will become a lot better than now. Our heavenly father gave us his law not to make our life worse, but so that we could have true life. Live by this teaching,... (From: Wikisource.org.)
After that, Jesus began to convey to all the people in parables how they should understand the kingdom of God. The first parable he told was this. After a man sown seeds in his field, he is not thinking about them, and sleeps at night, and rises during the day, and does his work without worrying about how the seeds come up and grow. The seeds by themselves get swollen, sprout, turn to greens, grow to tube, to ear, ripe grain. And only when the harvest is ready, the master sends reapers to harvest the grains. The same way God does to establish the kingdom of God among people by force, but entrusted the people themselves to do this.
The second parable Jesus told was that if there is no kingdom of God within a person, then God will not acce... (From: Wikisource.org.)
In addition to those parables, Jesus also told a parable about the kingdom of God. He told: - When the seeds are sown in the field, not all seeds grow in the same way. But what happens with the seeds is: some seeds fall on the road, and birds fly in and peck them; there are seeds that fall on stony ground, and these seeds germinate, but not for long: there is no soil to give roots in, and their sprouts soon wither; and there are seeds that fall into the grass, and the grass chocks them. And there are those that fall into the good soil, and grow, and bring from one grain 30 or 60 grains. Similarly, there are people who don't accept the kingdom of God into their heart, the temptations of the flesh come to them and steal what was sown – ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
And, having heard these words, one Pharisee named Nicodemus came to Jesus and asked him: “How to understand that the kingdom of God is within us?” And Jesus said: “The kingdom of God is within us means that every person, in order to enter the kingdom of God, must be born again.” And Nicodemus asked: “How can a person be born again? How can man enter the belly of the mother again and be born?” Jesus said to him: “Be born again means to be born not by a fleshly birth, as a child is born from the mother, but to be born in spirit. And to be born in spirit means to understand that the spirit of God dwells in a person, and beside that every person is born from mother, he is also born from the spirit of Go... (From: Wikisource.org.)
More and more people went after Jesus and listened to his teaching. And the Pharisees did not like it, and they started to think how to accuse Jesus before people. One Saturday Jesus went with his disciples across a field. The disciples plucked ears of wheat along the road, crushed them with their hands, and ate the grains. And according to the teaching of Jews God established a covenant with Moses so that people should not work on Saturdays at all, but should only pray to God. The Pharisees saw that Jesus' disciples plucked the ears of wheat on Saturday, stopped his disciples, and said to them: “You are not supposed to do that on Saturday. On Saturday you are not allowed to work, but you crush the wheat ears. It is stated in the law ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Once Jesus left the disciples and began to pray. And when he finished, the disciples approached him and asked, “Teacher, teach us to pray.” And he said to them: “First of all, make sure you pray not as it is often done – for people to see you and praise for it. If it is done that way, it is done for people, and so the reward comes from people. But there is no benefit for your soul from such prayer. However, if you want to pray, go to such place where nobody would see you, and there pray to your Father, and your Father will give you what you need for your soul. And when you pray, do not tell more than you need to. Your Father knows what you need, and even if you won’t say everything, he will give you everything ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Once it happened that Jesus came to have lunch with a Pharisee. And while he was sitting at the Pharisee’s home, a woman came from the city. She was infidel. She learned that Jesus is in the house of the Pharisee, and she came there, and brought a bottle with perfume. And she knelt down at Jesus’ feet, and burst into tears, and poured her tears over his feet, and wiped them with her hair, and poured the perfume from the bottle. Having seen that, the Pharisee was tempted and thought about Jesus: ‘If this man were truly a prophet, he would know that this woman was infidel and dissolute, and would not allow her to touch himself.’ Jesus understood what the Pharisee thought, turned to him and said: ‘Should I tell yo... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Another time, Jesus went through Samaria . He got tired and sat down by the well. And his disciples went to town went to get some bread. And a woman from the village comes to get water. Jesus asked her to drink. And the woman says to him: “How come you, the Jews, do not communicate with us, Samaritans, but you ask me for a drink?” – And Jesus said to her: "If you would know me and what I teach, you would not say that, but would give me a drink, and I would give you to drink the water of life.
The woman didn't understand him and said: “Where will you take some other water? The only water here is in this well, of our father Jacob.” And he said to her: “Who will drink your water, he will get thirsty again... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Jesus went and preached in the towns and villages himself, but, in addition, he sent his disciples in those places where he wanted to go himself. He said to them: “Many people don't know the blessing of real life, and I feel sorry for all of them, and would like to open what I know to everyone. As a master is not able to handle the entire field and gets workers to harvest it, so do I. Go to different cities and proclaim the teaching of the kingdom of God everywhere. Tell people the commandments of the kingdom, and fulfill these commandments yourself. I am sending you like sheep amid wolves. Be wise as serpents, and pure as doves. First of all, have nothing of your own, do not take anything with you: neither bag nor bread nor money, ha... (From: Wikisource.org.)
The disciples he sent went one way, and Jesus with the rest of his students went to other towns and villages. And it happened that he came in one village. And one woman, called Martha, invited him into her house. He went in and began to talk, and Mary, the sister of Martha, sat by his feet and listened to him. And Martha hustled about food. And she saw that her sister Martha sits by Jesus’ feet and listens to him. And she approached Jesus and said: “I am alone hustling around, but my sister sits and listens to you. Tell her to work with me. And Jesus said: “Martha, Martha! You care and hustle about many things, but only one is need. And Mary has chosen the one that is needed, which no one can take away from her. True life... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Once Jesus heard people telling that Pilate had killed the Galileans, and also that a tower has collapsed and crushed 18 people. In regards to that, Jesus told people: “What do you think, were those people especially guilty in something? We all know that those people were not worse than then we are. And what happened to them can at any moment happen to us. We all can die today or tomorrow. We cannot avoid death, so we should not treasure our carnal life, because we know that it will end soon anyway. We must preserve what never dies – the life of the spirit. And to that Jesus told this parable. A master had an apple tree in his garden. And the master says to his gardener: ‘I watch it for three years already, but this apple ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
And on another occasion, Jesus told people a parable about what human life is like. He said: “There was a rich man, and he had to leave his house. And before leaving, he called his servants and gave each of them by ten pounds of silver, and said: ‘Work, each of you, on what I gave you while I'm away.’ He said so and left. And when he left, the servants were free and lived as they wanted. And so, when this rich man had returned, he called his servants and ordered them to tell what each of them did with his silver. The first one came and said: ‘Here, master, out of your pound of silver I made 10.’ And the master told him: ‘Well done, good servant, you had been faithful in small thing, I will put you over a ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Once they brought children to Jesus. The disciples began to drive the children away. Jesus saw that and said: “Why do you chase the children away? You should not chase them away but to learn from them, because they are closer than adults to the kingdom of God. Kids don't swear, don't hold grudges, not have sex, not swear, don’t sue anyone, and don’t know the differences between their own nation and the others. Kids are closer than adults to the kingdom of Heaven. We must not drive the children away, but make sure we do not to get them into temptations. Temptations ruin people by having lured them, under the guise of kindness and pleasantness, into the most harmful acts. Once a person yields to a temptation, he ruins both h... (From: Wikisource.org.)
And also Jesus said that of all the temptations, the most harmful is temptation of anger. Man gets angry with his brother for his sins and thinks that he, with this anger, can rescue his brother from his sins, but he forgets that no one can be the judge of a brother, because each of us is full of sins; and that before correcting brother, one should correct himself. Because we see the mote in the eye of brother, and see no chips in our own. And therefore, if you think that your brother has acted badly, then approach him, choose time and place to talk with him face-to-face, and tell him briefly what you have against him. If he listens to you, then he, instead of being your enemy, will become your friend. If he won’t listen, take pity on... (From: Wikisource.org.)
And also Jesus told about that this parable. He said: “One rich man began reckoning with his debtors. And a debtor who owed him thousands of rubles was brought to him. And he wasn’t able to pay the rich man. And for that the rich man could decide to sell the debtor's property, and his wife, and his children, and the debtor himself. But the debtor began to beg for mercy from the rich man. And the rich man pardoned him and forgave him the whole debt. And then this man’s debtor, a poor man, came to him and began to ask him to forgive his debt. But the debtor, whom the rich man has pardoned, did not have mercy on his own debtor, but demanded the immediate payment of the whole debt. And no matter how the poor man bowed or begge... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Another time Pharisees came to Jesus and began to ask him whether a husband can leave his wife and take another wife. And Jesus said to them: “You know that a child can have only one father and one mother. That is established by God. And therefore people must not violate what was established by God. If a person violates what was established by God, and lets his wife go, and moves in with another, he does the triple evil – to himself, to his wife, and to other people. He does evil to himself by getting used to lewdness. He does evil to his wife when he leaves her by driving her to sin. He does evil to other people by seducing them through setting a bad example of the adultery.” And the disciples said to Jesus: “It is ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Once the collectors of church donations approached Peter and asked him: “What about your teacher, will he pay what is expected?” Peter said that he will pay. And, Jesus, having heard that, said to Peter: “What do you think, Peter, from whom does the king take dues – from his sons or from strangers?” Peter said “From strangers.” “So, if we are the sons of God, then we don't have to pay dues. But in order not to temp them, give it to them, but not because we have to pay, but only to avoid driving them into sin.”
Another time the Pharisees got together with royal officials and came to Jesus to take him at his word, whether he would refuse from the obligations before the king. They said t... (From: Wikisource.org.)
It happened once that Jesus’ disciples entered a village and asked for a permission to stay there overnight. But no one let them in. And the disciples returned to Jesus and told him about that and said: “Such evil people deserve to be killed by thunder.” And Jesus got upset and said: “You still don’t understand what spirit you are of. I teach not how to ruin, but how to save people. How is it possible to desire evil to a closed one? The same spirit of God lives in every person, the same as in you, and therefore you should not desire evil to happen to that very same which in yourselves.
Another time scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman taken in adultery, put her in front of him and said, “Teac... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Jesus taught people that all people are the children of one Father, and therefore the entire law of God is in the love for God and for the closed one. And one law maker, knowing this, wanted to take Jesus at his word and to show him that not all people are the same and that people of different nations cannot equally be the children of God. And he asked Jesus: "You teach that we need to love our neighbor. But who is my neighbor?” And Jesus answered him by this parable. He said: “There was a rich Jew. And it so happened that when this Jew this was returning home, he was attacked by robbers; they have beaten him, robbed and dumped him on the road. A Jew priest passed by; he saw the beaten Jew, but did not stop and walked past. A Je... (From: Wikisource.org.)
And Jesus' teaching was spreading further and further. And Pharisees got angrier and angrier at him. They told people: “Don't listen to him. He deceives you. If all will live by his commandments, there will be more evil than it is now.” Jesus heard that and said to them: “You're saying that if I teach people not to seek wealth but to be poor, not to get angry, not to repay an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but to endure everything and love everybody, that I drive evil by evil, and that if people would follow my teaching then their life will be worse than before. You’re saying that in place of previous evil there will be new evil. But this is not true. I do not replace one evil with another, instead, it is yo... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Once Jesus’ mother and brothers came and they could not come close to Jesus because there was a lot of people around him. And one person saw them, came to Jesus and said: “Your family, your mother and brothers, are standing outside, wanting to see you.” And Jesus said: “My mother and my brothers are those who know the will of the Father and follow it. For every human being, the will of our Father, God, should be more important than the father and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, and all of the property, and the fleshly life. Because, in worldly matters, every reasonable person, when he starts anything, will count whether it is profitable what he does, and if it is profitable, he does it, and... (From: Wikisource.org.)
Once a man came to Jesus, fell on his knees before him and said: “Blessed teacher, tell me, what should I do to get eternal life?” Jesus said: “Why do you call me blessed? No one is blessed except God alone. You know the commandments, follow them.” And the man said: “Commandments are many. Which ones?” And Jesus said: “Do not kill, do not have lust for sex, don’t lie, don’t hurt anyone, honor your father and mother.” And the man said: "These commandments I follow from my youth.” Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said: “There is one thing that you lack - sell all you have, sell and give that to the poor.” And the man got confused and walked away in silence, becau... (From: Wikisource.org.)
And Jesus added: “You cannot serve two masters at once: God and wealth, the will of the Father and your own volition. It must be one of two: serve one or the other.” And the Pharisees heard that, - and the Pharisees loved the wealth and laughed at these words of Jesus. And Jesus said to them: “You think because people revere you for your wealth, that you are indeed honorable. No, God does not look at what is outside, but He looks at the heart. That what is high before people, an abomination before God. There are not the rich who enter the kingdom of God but the poor.”
Jesus knew that the Pharisees believed that after death some people go to hell, the others - in heaven, and told them this parable about the riches. ... (From: Wikisource.org.)
