wrongly, and by your own self demand an account of your words and deeds which you have uttered wickedly and performed shamefully. But now you leave yourself without excuse, while you sit in judgment on God and add sins to your sins. And how are these things not deserving of punishment? Which may we all escape, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
Homily XI. Concerning Wealth and Poverty.
When you see someone wealthy undeservedly, do not call him blessed, do not consider him enviable, do not condemn the providence of God, do not think that things here are carried about by chance and at random. Remember Lazarus and the rich man; how the one had arrived at the peak of prosperity and luxury, being cruel and harsh and inhuman and more savage than any dogs—yet they used to pity the beggar and tend to him, not hesitating to touch with their tongues the sores that covered his whole body; but the other did not even share crumbs with him. And that beggar, the truly rich, the truly prosperous [man], fell into the very extreme of poverty, and lacked even the necessary food, and struggled continuously with disease and hunger. And the one had more than he needed, while the other did not even enjoy what is proportional; yet B nevertheless he did not resent it, he did not accuse God, he did not blame Providence. How, then, is it not absurd, when the very ones who are suffering evil thus bless the Master in all things, that you, who stand outside these wrestlings, should blaspheme God on their behalf, for whom others endure with thanksgiving? For the one who is suffering terribly, even if he speaks some burdensome and heavy word, even if not of such great weight as another, yet still he shares in some forgiveness; but the one who stands outside these terrors, and on behalf of others destroys his own soul, of what forgiveness would he be worthy, blaspheming God on behalf of those for whom the one who has suffered evil gives thanks and, praising Him, does not cease throughout all time?
For why, O man, does wealth seem to you to be worth striving for? Is it for the sake of the pleasure from the tables, for the sake of the honor and the bodyguard provided by those who court you for this reason, for the sake of being able to avenge those who grieve you and to be formidable to all? For you could not name any other reason, but rather pleasure and flattery and fear and punishment. For wealth is not accustomed to make one wiser or more temperate, it does not introduce nor transplant into the soul any other part of virtue. And you would not be able to say that it is for this reason that this is desirable and sought after by you; for not only does it know nothing of transplanting or cultivating these good things, but if it finds them already laid up, it ruins and hinders them, and some it even pulls up and introduces the opposites of these. But I shall not speak of these things; for those who have been caught by this disease would not endure to hear, being entirely of pleasure, and for this very reason having become its slaves, now that they are being accused and convicted at the same time. For this reason, then, tell me, does wealth seem to you desirable and worth struggling for, because it nurtures the most grievous passions within you, bringing anger into action, and raising the bubbles of the love of glory into a greater bulk, and exciting [the soul] toward arrogance?
C For these reasons, therefore, one ought most of all to flee from it without turning back, because it settles as an inhabitant in our mind certain wild and cruel beasts, through which it deprives one of the honor from all, and smears the opposite of that [honor] with its own colors, and thus brings it before the deceived and persuades them that this is greater than that—not being so by nature, but rather seeming to be so to the sight. For just as the beauty of women who act as harlots, composed of makeup and paints, is stripped of beauty, and yet the shameful and ugly appearance seems to the deceived to be beautiful and seemly; so too does wealth show honor to be rather an indignity. For do not look upon the praises that come to pass in public out of fear and flattery, but unfold the conscience of each of those who flatter you with such things, and you will see myriads of accusers crying out against you within, and turning away from you and hating you more than your greatest enemies and foes. And if ever a change of affairs were to come about and banish and convict the mask composed of this fear, just as the sun does to those appearances when it sends forth a hotter ray, then you will see clearly that during the preceding time you were in the deepest indignity among those who courted you, while you thought you were enjoying honor at the hands of those who hated you most and D were desiring to see you in the extreme of calamities. For just as man is a base, fragile, short-lived animal, such also is wealth; or rather, not such, but even weaker. For it does not die with the man, but often dies even before the man; and you all know how you have learned here ten thousand examples of base wealth. And the one who possesses it lives, but the possession has perished; and would that it had perished alone, and did not also cause the possessor to perish along with it. Therefore one would not be wrong to call wealth an ungrateful servant, a bloodthirsty and murderous servant, a servant returning to its master his wages in the form of slaughter; and, what is more grievous, not only when it abandons him does it surround him with dangers, but even before it leaves him, it disturbs and confuses him.
Who could have fared as Eutropius did by his wealth? Had he not reached higher than the dignities themselves? Had he not exceeded the summits of the whole inhabited world? Did not everyone tremble before him and fear him? But behold, he has become more wretched than prisoners, and more pitiable than slaves, and more needy than the beggars wasted by hunger, seeing every day swords sharpened, and a chasm, and executioners, and the leading away to death; and he has never known the enjoyment of that pleasure, nor does he perceive the ray as if surrounded in the thickest night; but in the middle of noon, he has had his sight blinded; or rather, however much one might contend,
he is not able to express in words the suffering he is B likely to endure, since it is lopped off every hour. For I see his countenance, and he is no better off than one who has already died once. The chattering of his teeth, and the pounding, and the trembling of his whole body are present, and his voice is interrupted, and his tongue is failing; and his condition is such as one would expect a soul of stone to have. Did I not continually tell you that wealth is a fugitive? And you did not bear with us. Did I not say that wealth is a wicked servant? And you did not wish to believe it. Behold, experience has shown in the very events that it is not only a fugitive and wicked, but even a murderer; for these things have now made you tremble and fear. Did I not tell you, when you were constantly rebuking me for saying the truth, that I love you more than do those who flatter you? Do I, who rebuke you, care [for you] more than those who flatter [you]? And did I not add to these words, "The wounds of friends are more faithful than the involuntary kisses of enemies" (Prov. 27:6)? If you had endured my wounds, their kisses would not have brought forth this death for you; for my wounds produce health, but their kisses have caused an incurable disease. Whence is this? From the fact that you did not give thought to the changes of human affairs. For if you had feared a change, you would not have suffered a change. But since you were not made better by yourself, nor by others, therefore you experienced the proof of those things which were said in words by the events themselves. I always say that wealth betrays those who use it poorly, and the time has come C showing the truth of these things by the events themselves. Why do you keep that which is of no benefit to you in trial? If it has strength, let it be with you when you fall into necessity; but if then it flees, what need do you have of it? I say these things, and I will not cease to say them, although many find fault with us. He always says, he clings to the rich. And indeed, they also always cling to the poor. I, however, cling to the rich; or rather, not to the rich, but to those who use wealth poorly. I always say, not accusing the rich man, but the plunderer. A rich man is one thing, a plunderer is another; distinguish the things, do not confuse that which is unconfused. Are you rich? I do not forbid it. Are you a plunderer? I accuse you. Have you your own? Enjoy it. Do you take away the property of others? I do not remain silent. Do you wish to stone me? I am ready even to pour out my blood, only so that I may keep back your sin; I do not care for hatred, nor do I care for war; one thing I care about, that those who hear may profit. And the poor are my children, and the rich are my children; the same womb brought both forth; the same birth-pangs brought both forth. Let him stone who wants to, let him hate who wants to; the pledges of crowns are my snares, and the number of rewards are my wounds. I do not fear snares; I fear only one thing: sin. Provided that no one charges me with sinning, even if the world wages war against me. Do you see the baseness of human things? Do you see the weakness of power? Do you see wealth, which I always called fugitive—not only fugitive, but also a murderer? For it does not leave its possessors; it even slaughters them. When someone D cultivates it, then it most betrays him. Why do you cultivate wealth, which can nowhere be retained? Do you wish to retain it? Do not bury it, but give it into the hands of the poor. Wealth is a wild beast: if it is kept, it flees; if it is scattered, it remains. Distribute it so that it may remain; do not bury it, so that it may not flee. Where is wealth? I would gladly ask those who have departed: Where is wealth? I say these things, not to reproach, nor to irritate ulcers, but to provide us a harbor from the shipwrecks of others. For he who is rich today will be a pauper tomorrow. And for this reason, I have often laughed reading testaments saying: Let this person have the lordship of the fields or the house, and another the use; for we all have the use, but none has the lordship. For even though wealth might remain with us for the whole time of our life, admitting no change, willing or unwilling, upon dying we shall cede it to others; having taken away the use, and that with difficulty, not even the lordship; but we shall depart naked and empty to that life. Whence it is clear that they have the lordship who have despised both their use and their enjoyment. For he who has cast away his riches and given them to the poor, he has used his things as he ought, and departed having the lordship of them. If anyone, therefore, wishes to have both the possession and the use and the lordship of them, let him dismiss all his riches; for he who does not do this, upon dying he will indeed yield them all; but often even before death he will cast them away with countless evils and dangers. And it is not only this that is so grave, that a change occurs and suddenly, but that instead, the rich man goes forth not at all prepared to endure poverty. For what reason, therefore, do you think that wealth is to be desired, and do you deem those who possess it blessed and do you envy them? In what does the rich man differ from the poor? Does he not clothe one body? Does he not feed one belly? Why, however, do you also have many slaves? For as in garments it is fitting to pursue only the use, and in the table the same, so also in slaves. For it was fitting for one master to use only one servant; indeed, even two or three masters for one servant. But if this is grievous, consider those who have none, and enjoy a freer way of life. For this reason, God gave us hands and feet, that we might not be in need of slaves. For neither was the class of slaves introduced because of necessity; for since even with Adam a slave had been formed, but this is the penalty and chastisement of sin and disobedience. But if it is most necessary to have a slave, then just one or another. For what is the point of a multitude of slaves for you, and to march insolently in the forum? Do you walk among wild beasts, since you drive away those you meet? Do not fear: no one of those who approach and walk near you bites. But you lead it as an insult, to walk alongside everyone? How great, however, is this madness, to not think it an insult for a horse to be following near, but to consider it a disgrace for a man, if he is not driven away by ten thousand stadia? What is worse than this foolishness, to drive away and push men, so that a beast may pass more spaciously? For such a necessity of mutual use among ourselves has been established by God with skillful providence, that if even one were the richest of all men, he would not be released from this connection, nor would he not have need of one who is poorer. For the poor are not only in need of the rich, but the rich are in need of the poor, and the latter more than the former. And so that you may see this more clearly, let us, if you will, make two cities, and one...
the other of the poor; and let there be no poor man in the city of the rich, and no rich man in the city of the poor; and let us see which will better be able to suffice for itself. In that of the wealthy, there will be no artisan, no builder, no carpenter, no shoemaker, no baker, no farmer, no coppersmith, no rope-maker, nor anything of that sort A. For who among the wealthy would ever choose to engage in these things, where even those who do carry them out, when they become prosperous, do not endure the toil of these tasks? How then will this city of ours stand? They say that the wealthy, by giving money, will buy these things from the poor. But how will they build houses, or will they buy that too? But that would not have any natural basis. Therefore, it is necessary to call the artisans there, and to destroy the law we established at the beginning when we were settling the city. Let us also look at the city of the poor, and see if it likewise will be in need, being deprived of the wealthy; clearing away first with our speech such things as wealth—gold, silver, precious stones, and 506 silken and purple garments, and those woven with gold—and having driven this out from there; what then? Because of this, will the affairs of this city be in need, tell me? By no means. For whether there is a need to build, or to forge iron, or to weave a garment, there is no need for gold and silver and pearls, but for skill and hands. What then? If there is a need to farm and to dig the earth, is there a need for the wealthy or the poor? It is clear to everyone that there is a need for the poor. Where then shall we have need of the wealthy hereafter, unless there is a need to demolish this city? B Whenever, therefore, you see someone shining on the outside from his garments and his numerous guards, unfold his conscience, and you will find much dust. Think of Paul, of Peter; think of John, of Elias, or rather of the very Son of God, who had no place to lay his head; become a follower of Him and of His servants, and imagine the invisible wealth of these. But if, having looked slightly, you should be darkened again from this, just as in some shipwreck when a storm has come, hear the judgment of Christ saying that it is impossible for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven; and against this judgment place the mountains and the earth and the sea, and if you wish, make everything gold by your speech, and you will see nothing equal to the damage coming to you from that quarter. For if each of you wealthy ones possessed the whole world, and each of them had as many men as are now everywhere on earth and sea and the inhabited world, and each had possessed the earth and sea and the buildings and cities and nations everywhere, and from every side instead of water, instead of springs, gold flowed to him, I would say that those who are so wealthy would not be worth three obols, C having fallen from the kingdom. For if now, longing for money that is perishing, when they do not succeed, they are tormented; if they were to receive a perception of those goods, what then will suffice for their consolation? Tell me then, if someone brought you into a palace, and prepared the king to speak to you in the presence of everyone, and made you share his table and board, would you not say that you were more blessed than everyone? But when you are about to be raised to heaven, and to stand by the King of all Himself, and to shine in response to the angels, and to enjoy that unapproachable glory, do you hesitate if it is necessary to spend money, when even if it were necessary to cast off this life itself, you should leap and rejoice and be winged by the pleasure? But you, so that you do not take a beginning that provides you with occasions for theft (for I do not call such a thing gain), even throw away what you have, and having borrowed from others, if necessary, you do not hesitate to stake your wife and children; yet when the kingdom of heaven is set before you, a sovereignty having no successor, you hesitate and draw back and gape after money? D But alas for the great lack of perception! That with such good things awaited, we still gape after present things, and we do not consider the craftiness of the devil, who through small things takes away the great ones from us and gives mud, so that he may snatch heaven, and shows a shadow, so that he may cast us out of the truth, and makes a show in dreams (for this is present wealth) 507 so that, when day has come, he may show us poorer than everyone. For who has proven to be such a constant and insatiable enemy as wealth, destroying us while we are living and in our soul, and insulting our body when we are dead, since it does not even allow it to be hidden in the earth, which is common even to criminals? For those, the lawmakers, having demanded the penalty of death, inquire no further; but wealth demands a most bitter penalty from its possessors even after death, exposing them naked and unburied, a terrible and pitiful sight. For they suffer things more grievous than those who suffer this from judgment and the anger of a judge. For those, having remained unburied for the first and second day, are surrendered to the earth; but these, when they are surrendered to the earth, then they are stripped and insulted by the tomb-robbers. And if they do not also take away [the contents of] the coffin, there is no longer grace for wealth, but for poverty even there; for if we had entrusted even this to wealth, and having abandoned making it from stone, we had forged it from gold, we would have lost this too. What then could be more wretched than the wealthy man, when not even death provides him with safety, but that pitiful body of his, not even having been stripped of life, has been released from the evils in life, being robbed and plundered because of the love of money by those who are spoilers and tomb-robbers, who are eager to fight over the dust and ash, and much more grievously than when he was living? For then, when they entered the storehouse, they would empty the boxes, but they would spare the body, and would not have taken so much as to strip the body itself; but now they do not even spare this, but they move it and turn it around, and insult it with much cruelty. For after it is surrendered to the earth, having made it naked both of its covering and of its garments, thus they leave it cast away in much solitude. And nature indeed reconciles even enemies to him then; but wealth makes even those who have nothing that they could reproach, enemies, and thus their inhuman madness against the dead and
A inanimate, as if they would not abstain even from their own flesh if those limbs were of any use to them. Let us not, therefore, deem wealth to be a great good; for the great good is not to possess wealth, but to possess the fear of God. Behold now, if a man were righteous, and had much confidence in God, even if he were the poorest of all, it would suffice B to dissolve the present evils; for it would be enough for him merely to stretch forth his hands to heaven and invoke God, and immediately this cloud would pass away. But so much gold is stored up, and it is more useless than any mud for the solution of the pressing evils. And it is not only in this danger, but even if sickness lays hold, or death, or any other thing of that sort, the power of wealth is convicted, having no solace for those who are suffering to show from itself. Where now are the rich, who count up interest and the interest of interest, who take the goods of all and are never satisfied? Have you heard C Peter's voice, pointing out that poverty is the mother of wealth; that she who has nothing is richer than those who are surrounded by the diadem? For this is she who, having nothing, raised the dead, and made the lame walk, and cast out demons, and bestowed such things as those who are wrapped in purple and lead large and terrible armies never could. What then does he say? "Silver and gold have I none" (Acts 3:6). What is more weighty than this voice? What could be more blessed and more opulent? Others, indeed, boast in the opposites, saying, "I have so many talents of gold, and infinite acres of land, D and houses, and slaves"; but this man, in being the poorest of all, is neither confounded because of poverty nor is he ashamed, but is pleased with it. Thus, truly, he who has nothing is able to possess all things; thus he is able to acquire the goods of all: but if we possess the goods of all, we are deprived of all. He who therefore deems his own possessions as common, and not as if they were his own, will use not only his own, but also those that belong to others, as if they were his own; but he who separates himself and makes himself the master of his own goods only, he will not be master even of these. But to him who has nothing, neither house, nor table, nor superfluous garment, but all has been taken away for God's sake, he will use common resources as if they were his own, and will take whatever he desires, so that having nothing he obtains the possessions of all. But he who possesses anything will not be the master of these either; for no one will give to him who possesses: and they will belong to robbers, and thieves, and calumniators, and to the vicissitudes of affairs, and to all rather than to him. And if you wish, I will bring into the midst him who said and did these things, that tentmaker, the Cilician, whose homeland is not clear. He therefore traversed the whole world, in hunger and thirst and nakedness, carrying nothing at all with him, not going to a friend, not to acquaintances—for in the beginning he was a common adversary to all—but yet he had everything wherever he entered. But indeed Ananias and Sapphira, that they might possess a little of their own, fell out of all, and at the same time lost their very lives. Give away your own, therefore, that you may use other people's as if they were your own. Just as he who is conscious of evil in himself, even if he has obtained the wealth of all, is the most miserable of all; so he who has a purified conscience, even if he is clothed in worn-out rags and struggles with hunger, is of a more equitable mind than those who abound greatly in luxury. Therefore you have money so that you may relieve poverty, not so that you might make a profit of it; you, however, under the pretext of relief, effect greater misery, and sell benevolence for money. Sell it—I do not forbid—but for the price of the kingdom of heaven. Do not accept a small price for so great an office, namely interest of one percent, but that eternal life. Why are you a beggar and poor and sordid, selling great things for a little, that is, for perishing money? Why, having left God, do you gain human things? Why, running past the rich man, are you irksome to him who has nothing; and deserting him who returns thanks, do you thrust yourself upon the ungrateful? He desires to return thanks, but this man returns them grudgingly; the latter returns one percent with difficulty, the former a hundredfold and eternal life; the latter with insults and revilings, the former with praises and approbation; the latter stirs up envy for you, the former even weaves crowns for you; the latter barely here, the former both there and here. Is it not, therefore, of extreme madness, not even to know how to profit? One ought to possess money as masters, not as slaves; so that it is in our power, not we in its. For on this account are these things called "possessions" [chrēmata], that we might use them for necessary ministrations, not that we might deposit them for safekeeping. For it is the part of a slave to save; but to spend, that of a master and of one who has great power. Wherefore nothing is more insensate than the slave of money: he seems to himself to hold it, when he himself is held; he seems to himself to be the master, when he is a slave; and when he has surrounded himself with chains, as if having authority over all, he exults; and, making a fiercer beast against himself, he rejoices and dances while he becomes a captive; and seeing a dog stirred by madness and leaping upon his soul, when he ought to bind and macerate it with hunger, he offers to it abundant food, so that it might leap more fiercely and be more formidable. Do not therefore think that because you acquire many things for yourself, any pleasure comes to you, but if you do not desire to be rich. For if you desire to become rich, you will never cease being goaded; for this love is infinite; and by how much further you have progressed along the way, by so much further will you be from the end; and by how many more things that belong to others you have coveted, by so much more grievous does the torture become. For we refresh ourselves when we are thirsty when we drink as much as we wish, but as long as we are thirsty, even if we exhaust all the fountains, the torment nevertheless becomes greater for us. And just as when you see a man bound, and on his back and on his hands, and often also in his feet constricted with iron, you call him most miserable for this reason, so also, when you have looked upon a rich man surrounded by innumerable things, do not for that reason say he is rich, but on account of it think him even most miserable. For with these chains he has also a molesting jailer of his prison, the love of money, of course, which does not permit him to transcend this prison, but prepares for him innumerable fetters and guards and doors and bars; and when it has cast him into the inner ward, it persuades him even to take delight in these chains, so that he may not find even a hope of escape from the pressing evils.