what he had, he lost. Therefore, God also, upbraiding him and mocking his folly, said: "Behold, Adam has become as one of us." And in the case of blessed Job, if the devil, having received slight permission, razed his house to the ground, devoured his body, wrought such a tragedy, destroyed his substance, overwhelmed his children, pierced his flesh, sent his wife, and prepared his friends, B his enemies, and his servants to say such things: if he had not been held by ten thousand bonds, how would he not have ravaged everyone? For this beast is wicked and insatiable; and if it were not continually bridled, it would destroy and turn everything upside down. For this reason, the Master, being a lover of mankind, does not give it a place against everyone; to whom belongs glory and power, now and always, and for the ages of ages. Amen.
Homily XVII. Concerning Envy.
C Nothing is so accustomed to divide and tear us apart from one another as envy and jealousy, that grievous disease, deprived of every excuse, and much more grievous than the root of all evils, avarice. For the avaricious man is pleased when he himself receives; but the envious man is pleased when another does not receive, considering the misfortune of others to be his own benefit: what could be more insane than this? For, neglecting his own evils, he pines away at the prosperity of others, making heaven inaccessible to himself, and even before heaven, the present life insupportable. For neither is a moth sitting upon wood and wool accustomed to eat them away as does the fever of envy, which consumes the very bones of the envious and corrupts the sobriety of the soul. No one would err in calling the envious worse than beasts and demons. For the former, whether needing food or previously provoked by us, then arm themselves against us; but the latter, even having been treated well, often behave as those who injure their benefactors. And while the demons cherish an implacable hatred toward us, they do not plot against those of the same kind; but these people neither respect the kinship of nature, nor spare their own salvation, but before those who are envied they punish their own souls, filling them with all tumult and despondency for no reason and in vain. Such is envy, than which no wickedness could be worse. For the adulterer both reaps a certain pleasure and in a brief time completes his sin; but the envious man punishes and torments himself before the envied, and never ceases from sin, but is continuous in the committing of it. D For just as a pig rejoices in the mire, and a demon in our injury, so too does this man rejoice in the evils of his neighbor; and if anything unpleasant happens, then he rests and breathes, considering the calamities of others his own pleasure, and the goods of others his own evils. And just as beetles are nourished by dung, so too are these nourished by the misfortunes of others, being common enemies and foes of nature. And while others pity an irrational animal being slaughtered, these, seeing a human being treated well, become hostile and tremble and turn pale. And what could be worse than this madness? Why do you turn pale, tell me, and tremble, and stand in terror? What terrible thing has happened? That your brother is illustrious, renowned, and esteemed? Therefore you ought to be crowned and to rejoice and to glorify God, because you see your own member illustrious and renowned. But you are pained because God is being glorified? See where the war tends. "It is not this that grieves me," he says, "but I wished for God to be glorified through me." Therefore, rejoice that your brother is esteemed, and God is again glorified through you. For if he were even an enemy and a foe, but God were glorified through him, for this reason you ought to have made him a friend; but you make a friend an enemy, because God is glorified through the prosperity of that man. And how else could you show your war against Christ? Therefore, even if someone works signs, even if acts of virginity, even if fasts, even if sleeping on the ground he displays, and through this virtue reaches even to the angels, yet if he be subject to the passion of envy, he is more accursed than all. For if loving those who love us leaves us with nothing more than the Gentiles, where will he who envies those who love him stand? For indeed, it is worse to envy than to make war. For he who makes war, the cause being resolved for which there was war, has also dissolved the enmity; but the envious man could never become a friend. And the one displays the battle openly, but the other [does so] shadowed; and the one often has a reasonable cause to state for the war, but the other [has] nothing other than madness and a satanic mind. And just as he who does injustice does not commit injustice, but is treated unjustly; so too, he who plots against his neighbor destroys himself. And just as, if we treat our neighbors unjustly, we treat ourselves unjustly, so too, treating them well, we treat ourselves well. For he who hears false things about himself, not only has he not been treated unjustly, but he also has the greatest reward. For not the one suffering, but the one doing evil, this is the one worthy of punishment, unless that one provides reasonable handles for the accusation. And just as it is impossible for the virtuous man to be well spoken of by everyone, so it is impossible to be ill spoken of by everyone, unless he himself provides the occasions for himself from many places. But public accusations often make people more brazen and shameless. For as long as many of the sinners see that it is possible to escape notice, they readily choose to return; but when they lose their reputation among the many, they fall into despair and slip into shamelessness. But you were treated unjustly by him; why then do you treat yourself unjustly? For he who seeks revenge thrusts the sword against himself. If, therefore, you wish both to benefit yourself and to take revenge on him, speak well of the one who did you injustice; but if you speak ill, you will not be believed, receiving the suspicion of hostility. For enmity, encountering the minds of the hearers, does not allow what is said to be inserted into their hearing. Therefore, do not speak ill, lest you also defile yourself; nor weave mire.
A or bricks, but weave crowns from roses and violets and other flowers; nor bring dung from your mouth, like beetles: for such are those who speak ill; they are the first to perceive the stench. For all turn away from a slanderer, as from someone smelling of something rotten, like a leech or a beetle fed on dung, whose deeds are those of others; but the one who has a mouth that gives praise, and a tongue that speaks good words, him they receive as a common member and as a true brother. For what harm did Cain do to Abel? Did he not, against his will, send him more swiftly to the kingdom, while sinking himself into countless evils? What damage did Esau bring to Jacob? Was not the latter rich and enjoying countless goods, while the former was cast out of his father's house, and after that treachery wandered in foreign lands? Moreover, the brothers of Joseph, what worse evil did they inflict upon him, even when they proceeded to the point of bloodshed? Did they not suffer famine and face extreme dangers, while he became king of all Egypt? For the more you envy, the greater the goods you procure for the one you envy. For God is the one who sees all things; and if He sees that the one who offers no injury to anyone is being injured, He raises him up all the more and renders him illustrious, and in this way punishes you. And if He does not allow those who insult their enemies to pass unpunished B, much less so those who envy those who have done no harm. For if he who loves his friend has nothing more than the tax collectors, what mercy shall he experience who persecutes the innocent with hatred? Why, therefore, do you grieve, O man, at the good fortune of your neighbor? For if it were right to grieve, it should have been for the evils we ourselves suffer, not because we see others illustrious in virtue. Do you not know that this sin alone is devoid of any excuse? And deservedly so. For the fornicator may feign desire, the thief poverty, and the homicide anger; cold reasons, indeed, and by no means just, yet they have something to say: but you, tell me, what reason will you mention? None, except your own immense wickedness. For if we are commanded to love our enemies, what punishment shall we pay if we persecute even our friends with hatred? For if he who loves those who love him is no better than the Gentiles, what pardon will he have who vexes those who offer no injury? The demon envies, indeed, but men; to no demon, however, does he bear envy. And you, being a man, envy men? And what pardon shall you obtain? Envy is a bad thing, a terrible bad thing, and it commands one to despise his own salvation. Thus did Saul summon a bad demon against his own soul; C and after he had summoned him, he pursued the physician with envy. For such a thing is envy: he knew that he was healed, and he preferred to perish rather than see the one who had healed him being celebrated. And, if you wish, I will tell you what benefits David bestowed upon Saul, and how the latter subsequently remunerated him. When a most grievous war once occupied the Jews, and everyone was dismayed and in fear, and no one dared to look ahead; but the whole city was in the final extremities, and each man saw death before his eyes, and thought they would die every day, this one entered from his sheep to the battle line, and took upon himself the war that stood before all; and this, seeing no necessity incumbent upon him; nay, having many standing in his way: for his brother was rebuking him, and the king was holding him back, looking to his immature age, and was ordering him to remain: but he, burning with zeal, ran forward to the barbarians of his own accord, and displayed such care for the king that even before the war and the victory he raised him up as he laid on his face, saying: "Let not the heart of my lord fail because of him; for your servant will go, and fight with this alien" (1 Kings xvii. 32). Is this a small thing, I ask? That one who was urged by no necessity would spend his own soul, and for the sake of those from whom he had never received any benefit, would leap into the midst of enemies? Should he not after these things have been honored with the title of lord, and called the common savior of the city, as one who had preserved the life of all after the grace of God? For what other greater benefit was there than this? For it was not in money, nor in honor and power, but in his very soul that he bestowed this benefit, and recalled him from the very gates of death; and through him, the king lived D and enjoyed his kingdom from then on. With what, therefore, did he subsequently remunerate him? For if one were to look at the magnitude of the deeds, even if he had taken the crown from his own head and placed it upon David's head, he would not yet have rendered a just reward, but would have owed more. For the latter bestowed upon him life and kingdom; the former ought to have yielded only the kingdom. Let us see, however, what his remunerations were. After he had taken off the head of the barbarian, and had returned bearing spoils, the choirs of women went out singing and saying: "Saul struck a thousand, and David ten thousand" (1 Kings xviii. 7). And Saul was angry, and looked askance at David from that day. For what favor, I ask? For if one must say the wonderful thing, it was a favor to Saul rather than to David that they stated these things; and he ought to have been content that they had at least given him thousands. Why, therefore, is he indignant that they gave ten thousands to the other? For if he had done something towards this war, and had contributed at least some small part, these words would rightly be spoken, that Saul struck a thousand, and David ten thousand: but when he himself sat inside fearing and trembling, thinking he would die each day, and David accomplished it all: how was it not absurd for him who had contributed nothing to the repelling of the dangers to be indignant that he had not carried off the greater part of the acclamation? For if one ought to be indignant, it certainly ought to have been David, because, while he himself had performed the whole worthily, he had another as a sharer of the praise. But of such a kind is envy: it cannot bear to look upon the prosperity of others with kindness, but considers its neighbor's success to be its own misfortune.
became. And truly he was more powerful, having aid from above in all things, and being guarded by the right hand of God. Where then do you drive the righteous man away? Do you not know that wherever it may happen that he goes, he is of necessity in the domain of his own Master? For even if you force him to depart into the very desert, he has such a resourceful Master that He will show him to be much more manifest even there. For He often manages matters through opposites, most especially by the opposites themselves. To Him befits glory, power, honor, and adoration, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto the ages. Amen.
On Hatred and Enmity. Homily XVIII.
If anyone has been injured by his neighbor, let him take David into his memory and let him cast him into his mind, so that, while the heart is still alive, he may be able, by the memory of this most meek and long-suffering man, to dissolve the sea of wrath. For why is your brother an enemy to you? Did he do you injury? But he has done no wrong. But are you overlooking him because he is hostile on account of money? Do not, I beseech you, do not delay in severing the ropes of wrath; for delays produce procrastinations. If you put it off today, you will blush all the more; and if you add tomorrow, the shame is greater; and if the third day, you will be all the more ashamed by having prolonged the delay. Give me, I beseech you, the willingness to say these things; cause me to hear that we have accomplished something from this continuous teaching; that someone went away and immediately threw both arms around his enemy, was poured over him, embraced him, kissed him, wept. For even if he is a beast, even if he is stone, or whatever he may be, he will be tamed by being softened by such friendliness; and you will indeed rid yourself of grievances, and by drawing him toward goodwill, you will have gained him. B And do not say to me, "I have a defiled enemy, wicked, depraved, incorrigible, and I cannot reconcile him." For whatever you may say, he is not worse than Saul, who, having been saved by David once and twice and many times, plotted against him ten thousand times, and then, having been benefited in return for these things, remained keeping his own wickedness. For what do you have to say? That he cut off land, and did wrong in a field, and crossed the boundaries of a house, and snatched slaves, and insulted, and coveted C and led to poverty? But he did not strive to take away his soul, not twice and three times and many times, nor even after being benefited so much, nor even after falling into your hands many times and being saved. But if it is even this, and thus David again takes the advantage, that, being nurtured in less perfect laws, and requiring no such thing, he reached the very summit that is in grace. And you, indeed, are often angry and bear grudges over past things; but this man, fearing even for the future, and knowing precisely that the city would be uninhabitable for him, and life unlivable if he saved the enemy, did not desist from the concern for him, but did everything while feeding the foe against himself. What in the world is it, tell me, that you are complaining about to the enemy that you do not want to be reconciled? For what did he harm you so much? Did he take away your money? But if you bear the robbery nobly, you will receive as much reward as if you had deposited it in the hands of the poor. For he who has given to the poor, and he who has not plotted against the one who has defrauded him, or even D prayed for him on account of God, have performed the same things. When, therefore, the cause of the expenditure is the same, it is evident that the crown also is one. But did he plot against your soul and attempt to kill you? The matter is reckoned as martyrdom for you if you count the plotter and the one who has brought the enmity to such a point among your benefactors, and continue praying for him, and entreating God to be propitious. And let us not see this, that God prevented David from being slaughtered while pursued by Saul, but that he put on a double, and triple, and quadruple crown of martyrdom because of his plotting. For he who, for God's sake, saved the enemy, who once and twice and many times threw the spear against his own head, and became master to kill him, then spared him, and this while knowing that after this sparing he would again set upon him; it is evident that he was slaughtered ten thousand times in his intent, and being slaughtered ten thousand times for the sake of God, he has many crowns of martyrdom. And what Paul was saying, this he also reckoned, and died daily for the sake of God. For being able to kill the one plotting, he did not want to for the sake of God, but chose rather to be in danger every day than, by committing a just slaughter, to be rid of so many deaths. But if one ought neither to avenge nor to hate even the one plotting against his very life, much more so the one acting unjustly toward you in any other of the things that are external. Do you want to learn that it is possible, if we wish, to reconcile every person who is hostilely disposed toward us, even if he is wicked and depraved and incorrigible? What is more savage than a lion? Yet humans tame this, and art forces nature, and he who is the most savage and most kingly of all wild beasts becomes more tame and gentle than any sheep, and walks through the marketplace frightening no one with his tameness. What apology then shall we have, what excuse, when taming wild beasts, saying that we are unable to soften men, nor to have them be pleasantly disposed toward us? Although indeed, for the beast, tameness is against nature, but for the human, wildness is against nature. When, therefore, we overcome nature, what apology shall we have, saying that we are unable to correct a disposition? But if he is also suffering from incurable diseases, to you the labor is greater, and to that extent your reward is also [greater] for remaining and healing the one suffering incurably. But what has been sinned so much by the enemy that you draw back from reconciling with him? Did he speak ill of you, and call you an adulterer and a fornicator? And what of this? If he speaks the truth, be corrected; but if false, laugh at it. If you are cognizant of the things said, be self-controlled; if you are not cognizant, be contemptuous; or rather, do not...