第六堂補充資料

1.「慈惠」(tsedakah)一字指「義行」。
猶太傳統的慈惠要求：
a.留下田角給窮人(利十九9-10;參申廿四19-22;利十九18;太廿二37-40)

「9 在你們的地收割莊稼，不可割盡田角，也不可拾取所遺落的。10 不可摘盡葡萄園的果子，也不可拾取葡萄園所掉的果子；要留給窮人和寄居的。我是耶和華你們的神。」

b.安息年(出廿三10-11)

「10 六年你要耕種田地，收藏土產，11 只是第七年要叫地歇息，不耕不種，使你民中的窮人有吃的；他們所剩下的，野獸可以吃。你的葡萄園和橄欖園也要照樣辦理。」

c. 昆蘭群體每月收集捐獻作慈惠工作：

"they shall assist the poor and the needy, the aged sick and the homeless, the captives taken by a foreign people, the virgin with no near kin, and the ma[iden for] whom no man cares. (CD 14:12-16)"

2.初期教會的慈惠工作：
a.二世紀初護教者哲學家Aristides─

"...they love one another, and from widows they do not turn away their esteem; and they deliver the orphan from him who treats him harshly. And he, who has, gives to him who has not, without boasting. And when they see a stranger, they take him in to their homes and rejoice over him as a very brother; for they do not call them brethren after the flesh, but brethren after the spirit and in God. And whenever one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them according to his ability gives heed to him and carefully sees to his burial. And if they hear that one of their number is imprisoned or afflicted on account of the name of their Messiah, all of them anxiously minister to his necessity, and if it is possible to redeem him they set him free. And if there is among them any that is poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food.(Apology 15)"

 b.二世紀中小說，關於Peregrinus騙取基督徒的善心─

"You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws.(Lucian, Peregr. 13)"

 c.二世紀晚期護教者哲學家特土良的描述─

"every one puts a little to the public stock, commonly once a month, or when he pleases, and only upon condition that he is both willing and able; for there is no compulsion upon any. All here is a free-will offering, and all these collections are deposited in a common bank for charitable uses, not for the support of merry meetings, for drinking and gormandizing, but for feeding the poor and burying the dead, and providing for girls and boys who have neither parents nor provisions left to support them, for relieving old people worn out in the service of the saints, or those who have suffered by shipwreck, or are condemned to the mines, or islands, or prisons only for the faith of Christ; these may be said to live upon their profession, for while they suffer for professing the name of Christ, they are fed with the collections of His Church.(Apology 39.5-6; 另參Loeb Classical Library譯本)"