The Teaching of Christ Narrated for Children

Chapter 52
And when Jesus was already hanging on the cross, people surrounded him and cursed him. People came to him, nodded to him, and told: “Well, you wanted to destroy the Temple in Jerusalem in three days, and in three days to build the new one. Come on now, rescue yourself, come down from the cross!” And the chief priests and the scribes stood nearby and also laughed at him and told: “You saved others, but cannot save yourself. Show us now that you are the Christ, come down from the cross, and then we will believe you.” “He said that he is the son of God, and said that God would not leave him. What about now – has God left him?” And people, and the chief priests, and soldiers laughed at him. And one of the robbers crucified next to him, told the same: “If you are the Christ, then save yourself and us as well.” But another robber heard this and said: “Aren’t you’re afraid of God, you are hanging on the cross yoursel... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 51
Pilate wanted to release Jesus so much that he again began to speak to people and said: “How come you want to crucify your king?” But the Jews said to him: “If you'll let Jesus go, then by doing this you’ll show that you are a bad servant to Cesar, because the one who makes himself a king is the enemy of Cesar. We have one Cesar, so crucify this king.” And when Pilate heard these words, he realized that he could no longer avoid executing Jesus. Then Pilate went out to the Jews, poured water on his hands in front of them and said: “I’m washing my hands from the blood of this innocent man.” And the people shouted: “Let his blood be on us and on our children.” And then Pilate commanded first to whip Jesus out. When they whipped him, the soldiers who did that put a wreath on his head and gave a stick into his hands and put a red cloak on his back and began to mock him. Mocking him, they bowed to him and told: "Hail, the king... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 50
And they have brought Jesus to Herod. Herod heard a lot about Jesus and was now glad to see him. Herod called Jesus to come closer and began to question him about all he wanted to know. But Jesus didn’t answer him anything. And the chief priests and scribes, just like they did before Pilate, and now before Herod, accused Jesus in all crimes and told that he was a rebel. But Herod took Jesus for an empty person, and to make fun of him, ordered to put a red dress on him, and in that clown dress sent him back to Pilate. When the second time they brought Jesus to Pilate, Pilate again called the leaders of Jews and said to them: “You have already brought this man to me for agitating the people, and I interrogated him in front of you, and I do not see him being a rebel. I sent him with you to Herod, and here you can see that nothing dangerous was found about him. And, in my opinion, there is nothing to execute him to death for, wouldn't it be better to whip him up and let hi... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 49
After that, they took Jesus to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. When they brought him to Pilate, the governor came out on the porch and said those who bought him: “What do you accuse this man for?” They said: “He is a villain, that’s why we brought him to you.” Pilate said to them: “But if he's a villain according to you, then punish him according to your law.” And they said: “We brought him to you so that you execute him, as we are not allowed to execute anyone to death.” Then Pilate asked them again what they accused him for. They said that he agitates people, forbids them to pay taxes to Cesar, and calls himself the king of Jews. Pilate listened to them and told them to bring Jesus to his judgment hall. When Jesus entered, Pilate asked him: “Are you the king of Jews?” Jesus said to him: “Are you are asking this on your own or are you repeating what was told?” Pilate said: “I am not a Jew, but... (From : Wikisource.org.)

Chapter 48
And the elders and the scribes gathered at the high priest’s place. And when everyone has gathered, they brought Jesus there, and the high priest asked him what his teaching was about and who were his disciples. Jesus said: “I have always spoken before everyone and hided nothing from anyone. What do you ask me about? Ask those who have heard and understood my teaching, they will tell you.” When Jesus said that, one of the guards struck Jesus on his face and said: “To whom are you talking? Is this the way to respond to the high priest?” Jesus said: “If I said something bad, tell me, what’s wrong with what I said. And if I didn’t say anything wrong, then why did you hit me?” The high priest and the elders tried to accuse Jesus, but did not find enough evidences to prosecute him. Then they found two false witnesses, and those witnesses said about Jesus as if he told that he would destroy the temple and build it again for three day... (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 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.)

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.)

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.)

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.)