The Passion of the Love of Money
And who has fallen into this disease, and after them rose easily?
That Zacchaeus mentioned by the evangelist.
Who could be more money-loving than the tax collector?
But behold, without knowing it, he became a philosopher and extinguished all the flame of lust. But he also quickly got rid of this passion, quenched his thirst for money and was worthy of spiritual asceticism. Therefore, considering these and others like them, you too should not despair, for if you want, then you will be able to rise quickly. And if you want, then we will prescribe to you, according to the rule of doctors, the recipe for what you must do with the greatest accuracy. Therefore, before anything else, you must succeed in these, so that you do not despair and do not diminish yourself for your salvation, and after them, do not consider only the examples of those who were saved, but also the sufferings of those who persisted in sin. Just as we must think of Zacchaeus and Matthew, so we must also think of Judas the traitor and Gehazi and Achar and Ahab and Ananias and Sapphira. So that through the first we may remove despair from our soul, and through the second we may cut off our laziness and our soul may not fall down, facing the advice set before it. And let us teach ourselves to ask, what those Jews who had approached Peter and asked him: “What must we do to be saved” (Acts 2:37) were saying? And we will hear then what we must do.
And what must we do?
Let us know the vanity of human things and how wealth is like a servant who flees and is ungrateful, and that it plunges those who have it into a thousand evils. Let us tell us these and other things together. And just as doctors comfort sick people who ask for cold water, telling them that they will give it to them, but first they make excuses that the spring is far away, that the vessel is missing, or that time does not allow it at the moment, or other things of the kind - for if they immediately granted their request, they would thereby further arouse their desire - so let us also act towards lovers of silver.
For example, when they say: "We want to get rich", we should not immediately tell them that wealth is a great evil, but let us agree with them, telling them that we also want this, but at the right time and that we want true wealth "which carries with it imperishable pleasure for you who have gathered it, and not for others, but often even for your enemies". Then let us also bring in words about true philosophy, saying that we do not command that someone should not get rich, but only that they should not get rich badly, because someone can get rich without greed and without kidnapping or raping their neighbor and without hearing curses from everyone. With such words, comforting them beforehand, let us not speak to them at all about hell, for he who is afflicted with this disease would not suddenly suffer such words. Therefore, let us bring all the words only to the circumstances of this life and say to them:
“Why do you want to get rich from greed? Do you want to collect gold and silver for others, and for yourself, thousands of curses and accusations? For he who is stripped of his troubles by you, being deprived of the necessities, complains against you and attracts thousands of accusers to you, and when evening comes, he wanders through the market, to the right and to the left, and wanders along all the paths, not knowing where he will shelter his body during the night. And how will he sleep, having worked and tormented by his stomach, surrounded by hunger and want, often waking up because of the cold or the rain falling on him? You, after bathing, return home, wearing soft clothes, cheerful and delighted, and running quickly to the luxurious dinner that has been prepared for you, while that one wanders through the market, driven by cold and hunger, walks on the road with his head down and his hands stretched out in front of him, and does not even dare to address a few words to the full and satiated one, for the food he needs, and even being mocked many times, he leaves before he even opens his mouth. So when you go home and lie down on your bed, when you have a bright light in your house, when your table is ready and loaded with everything, then remember that poor and miserable man, who like dogs wanders the streets, through the noise and darkness, and who often does not go from there to his house, nor to his wife, nor to his bed, but to a straw bed like the rabid dogs that we see wandering at night. If you saw even a small drop of water passing through the roof of the house, you would stir up the whole house, calling the servants and stirring them all up, while that one, sitting in straw or in a sack, wrapped in rags, endures the harshest cold”!
But what wild beast would not be moved in such circumstances?
Who is so cruel and inhuman that he would not be gentle with such unfortunates?
And yet some reach such savagery that they say that these unfortunates suffer what they deserve. They should weep and pity these unfortunates, seeking to alleviate their misfortunes, and not accuse them of cruelty and inhumanity. Of these, I ask: why do they suffer what they deserve? Because they want to feed, and are you not starving?
“No,” they say, “but because they are lazy and do not work.”
And are you not wasting away without working?
But what? Are you not doing a much worse job than any idleness, kidnapping, raping, and insulting others? It would have been better if you had been idle in this way, because idleness is much better than stealing someone else’s property. But now you also intervene in other people’s misfortunes, not only as if you were doing nothing, but also by blaming those unfortunate people.
Then let us tell them about other people’s misfortunes, about those orphans left without any support, about those who are in prison, about those who are struggling in the court, about those who are afraid in life, about the unexpected widowhood of women, about the unexpected transformations and changes of the rich, but with this fear let us soften them. their conscience. In the stories that we will tell them about others, we will convince them to fear, lest such things happen to them too. For when we hear from them that the son of a certain man was greedy and a robber, that the woman of a certain man who committed many tyrannical acts, after the death of her husband suffered a thousand evils, that the wronged ones rebelled against the woman and the children of that robber and that all declared war on them from all sides, even if they were among the most insensitive, in the end they will fear lest they themselves suffer in the same way and will become wiser, fearing lest their own people also suffer from these things after their death.
When we say these things, let us not say them as if we were advising or admonishing them, lest our words seem too burdensome, but let them take them as in the form of a story. Even in other In our conversations we should always step towards such a discussion and constantly bring them to such stories, not allowing ourselves to talk about anything else but these: how the splendid house of a certain robber fell, how it remained deserted, how everything inside fell into foreign hands, how many judgments are held every day over that man's wealth, how many unfortunate circumstances, how many of his servants have now come to beg for alms and how many have died in poverty. And we should tell them all this, pitying the deceased, at the same time despising the present, so that with pity and fear we may soften their hardened conscience. Finally, we will see that they have become frightened by those stories, then we will be able to introduce the word of hell, but not as if we were frightening them, but as if we were pitying and pitying the those unfortunate ones who have fallen into this sin. Let us then say to them: “And what is there to speak of the present? – for ours does not remain only here – and such people will also receive the most terrible punishment, when they go to the other life, where they will find rivers of fire, the sleepless worm, endless darkness and eternal punishments”.
If we whisper such stories to them together, together with them, we will correct ourselves, freeing ourselves from such a disease, and on that day we will have our praiser, even God himself, as Paul says: “and then each one’s praise will be from God.” Praise from men flows quickly and often does not even proceed from a pure conscience, while praise from God remains forever and shines brightly. For when the one who knows everything praises you even before your birth, and when this praise is devoid of any passion, then it is the most incontestable proof of your virtue. Therefore, knowing this, let us act in such a way that we may be praised by God and enjoy the greatest goods. May we all be made worthy of them, through the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom together with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory forever. Amen.
Saint John Chrysostom
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