Leo Tolstoy on church

A landlord had a worker. The worker lived in the same house with the owner and they met many times during the day. The employee worked less and less and in the end he got so lazy that he didn't do anything. The landlord saw this but did not say anything and only turned away from the worker every time they met. The worker saw that the landlord was dissatisfied with him, and decided, without attempting to work harder, to obtain owners benevolence. He went to the landlord's relatives and friends and asked them to do so that the owner would not be angry on him.

The owner found out about this, called the worker and said: "Why do you ask people to intercede for you? After all, you yourself are always here and you can tell me yourself what you need.” And the employee did not know what to say and just left. Then the worker came up with something else: he collected the landlord’s eggs, caught his chicken and brought it all, like a present, to the landlord so that the landlord would stop being angry on him. Then the owner said: "First you ask my friends to intercede for you, while you can speak to me directly. And now you have decided to appease me with gifts. After all, everything that you brought to me is all mine already. And even if you would bring me your own gifts, I would not take them because I don't need your gifts. "

Then the worker invented another solution: he composed poems to the glory of the landlord and began to walk under the windows of the landlord and shout loudly and sing poetry, calling the landlord great, omnipresent, almighty, father, merciful, benefactor. Then the master called him again and said: "First you wanted to please me through other people, then you gave to me my own goods, and now you invented it even more wonderful: you took it into your head to shout and sing about me that I am omnipotent, merciful and everything else. You shout and sing about me that I am such and such, but you do not even know me and do not want to know me. I don't need any intercession for you of other people, neither your gifts, nor your praise for whom you cannot know - I only need your work from you. "

The same thing that this worker does do the people who pray to the saints, asking them to intercede for them before God. The people also do the same when they want to appease God with songs and all kinds of sacrifices, the construction of temples and praises of Him.

From L. Tolstoy "Way of Life".