08/25/2026
A Reflection from the Prologue of Ochrid, by St. Nikolai of Zica and South Canaan.
If you were to ask many people why they do not go to church to pray, they will generally answer you: I have not time, I have to work! Look at those people who only work and do not go to church, placing their whole trust in their work; and compare them with those who set aside time for both work and prayer - and you will quickly be convinced that the latter are more well-off, and, what is more important, more content. Here is a story about two neighboring tailors who were very different in their respective approaches to work and prayer, and very different in their wealth and satisfaction. One of them had a large family, and the other was a bachelor. The first had the habit of going to church every morning for prayer, but the bachelor never went to church. Not only did the first work less, but he was also a less skillful tailor than the other. Yet he had enough of everything - the other lacked everything. The bachelor asked the other how it was that he had everything, though he worked less. His prayerful neighbor answered him, saying that he attended church every day, and found lost gold along the way! He invited the bachelor to go to prayer with him - and they would share the discovered gold. Both neighbors began to attend church regularly, and soon they became equal in abundance in satisfaction. Naturally, they found no gold on the road, but found the true gold of the blessing of God, which multiplies the abundance of truly devout men. To those who 'seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness' (Matthew 6:31), God adds and gives increase, for all that is necessary for their physical life.
