In his practical approach, Saint John Cassian spoke about the sin of greed after speaking about gluttony or gluttony, then lusts. If a person is not overcome by his stomach or the desires of his body, the enemy of goodness presents him with a dangerous god Love of money.

            While we were talking about the writings of Saint John Cassian, we previously talked about this book, and we saw that it presents us with three dangerous examples of greed: Gehazi A disciple of the prophet Elisha, Ananias and Sapphira who lied to the Holy Spirit out of greed, And Judas Who betrayed his master for thirty pieces of silver.

            This article explains the following principles:

1. Despite the seriousness of the sin of greed, which has enslaved many, it is easy to treat, because it is not like gluttony and desires that come from within us through the cries of the stomach and the movements of the body, but rather from the outside through temptations. It is the root of all evil, but it fights from outside the soul until a person opens his heart to it and it possesses and enslaves.

2. The cure for greed is very easy as long as sin fights us from the outside, but if it dominates our will, it is difficult to get rid of it.

3. The war begins with anxiety and fear for the future, so the person loses his confidence in God, the One who manages his affairs, so that money takes center stage.

4. When greed creeps into the heart, it destroys many virtues such as humility, love, obedience, and gratitude, making it ungrateful, complaining, rigid, and selfish, and it also makes the soul lose its inner stability.

5. For the monk, greed drives him to many mistakes.

a. Having a friendship with the opposite sex, perhaps to preserve what they have in common.

B. Savings.

H. The love of possessing even things that one had previously given up.

Dr.. A dull mind due to his confusion with material things, and his loss of faith in God who cares about him.

H. Being preoccupied with many social services under the guise of “it is more blessed to give than to receive,” makes the monk lose his divine contemplation.

6. It is appropriate for us to imitate the apostles who worked with their hands to live and did not collect anything, just as the people gave everything they had so that everyone could live in a spirit of fellowship, and no one collected anything for himself.

7. Saint John Cassian warns us against rejecting the world and everything in it from the outside, while keeping the heart burning with the lust for possession, as the sin of greed is an inner desire, selfishness, and the love of possession.

8. If Gehazi, Elisha’s student, was afflicted with leprosy because of his greed, then whoever’s heart is afflicted with this disease will suffer from internal leprosy, and his soul will become unclean.

            Thus, the article reveals the soul's need for humility in order for the Savior to heal it from the leprosy of greed, giving it the spirit of true self-giving love.

Father Tadros Yacoub Malti

 

Chapter one

 

How our fight with greed is something foreign to us, and that this fall is not innate in humans, like other falls.

            Our third battle is the one we wage against greed, which we can describe as “the love of money,” and it is a battle that is foreign to us and outside the scope of our nature. For any monk, it is only generated by a corrupt and dull mind, a false attempt to renounce the world, and a love for God that is fundamentally lukewarm. This is because the rest of the temptations of sin that are implanted in human nature seem as if they had their beginnings since our birth, and their roots are deep in our body, and are almost contemporary. For our birth. It already realizes the extent of our abilities to distinguish between good and evil, and although it attacks one very early, it overpowers it after a long struggle.

Chapter II

How dangerous is the disease of greed?

            This disease does not strike us except at a late stage, and it invades the human soul from the outside, and therefore it is easy for a person to be careful of it and resist it. But if it is neglected and allowed to enter the heart, it becomes more dangerous and very difficult to remove, as it becomes “the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10), and then works to increase the temptations of sin.

Chapter III

 

What is the use of those innate vices to us?

Do we not see, for example, that the natural inclinations of the body are not only in children, whose simplicity helps them to distinguish between good and evil, but even in young children and infants who are completely far from sexual desire, but that the inclinations of the body are present in them and subject to innate arousal?

Do we not also see that the deadly pangs of anger are present in full force in young children? Before they learn the virtue of patience and tolerance, we find that injustices arouse them, and they feel humiliated, even if it is a joke. They may seek revenge, despite their weakness, when anger overwhelms them?!

I do not say this to blame their innate condition, but to show that some of these tendencies that emanate from us are implanted in us for a beneficial purpose, while others have been introduced from without, due to negligence or laxity, and the lust of the evil will. Because these physical inclinations, which we talked about above, were implanted by the Creator, with his divine providence, in us for a beneficial purpose, such as the survival of the species and raising children, and not to commit forms of adultery and debauchery, which fall under the penalty of both the law and the law.. Likewise, the pangs of anger were given to us with great wisdom, so that when we become angry at our sins and mistakes, it will be possible for us to practice virtues and spiritual exercises, showing all the love of God and being kind to our brothers..

            Well we know that Sadness has great benefits. However, it is considered a vice if we use it in an opposite way. On the one hand, if it comes in accordance with the fear of the Lord, we become in dire need of it, and on the other hand, if it comes in accordance with the vanities of the world, it results in widespread evil, as the Apostle taught us when he said that “sorrow that is according to the will of God produces repentance for salvation without regret.” The sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

the fourth chapter

 

In that we can say that we have some flaws

Innate without offending the Creator

            If we say, then, that these tendencies were instilled in us by the Creator, this does not mean that we should blame Him, as long as we have made the wrong choice by misusing them, perverting them for harmful purposes, and welcoming the rebellious, destructive sorrows of Cain and not the sorrow that corrects our crookedness and produces repentance for salvation without regret.

In a few cases, when we get angry, we do not direct the anger at ourselves (for the sake of gain), but at our brothers, thus violating God’s commandment. How similar we are to using the iron we have acquired for good and beneficial purposes. A deviant person may use it to kill innocent people, and this does not cause us to blame the metal maker because someone used it to harm others what was intended for good, useful purposes, and happy living.

Chapter V

In the defects that insert themselves into us without innate tendencies

            But we affirm that some defects grow without any natural opportunity for their birth, but rather they occur simply through the free choice of a corrupt and evil will, such as envy, and in particular this sin of greed. These two sins enter the heart from the outside, because they have no basis in innate instincts. It is easy for one to be careful of them and avoid them relatively. They corrupt the mind they dominate and tyrannize, and therefore it is impossible to prepare medicines to cure it of them...

Chapter six

 

It is impossible to eradicate the scourge of greed as long as it enters the heart

            Why not make this scourge become as if it were of no weight, or of little importance, to any human being? This is because while it is easy to avoid her, once she has control over him, she rarely allows him to prepare medicines to cure him of her. It is a permanent den of sins, and it is “the root of all evil, and it is extremely persistent in its temptation to evil, as the Apostle says about “greed”... or in other words, the love of money... “the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).

Chapter VII

In the source from which greed emerges, and the evils that arise from it

            When this vice takes possession of the lukewarm, lethargic soul of a monk, it begins to tempt him with a small sum of money, presenting him with wonderful excuses that the mind can hardly accept, to justify his keeping some money for himself. He complains that what the monastery provides him with is insufficient, and can barely meet the needs of a healthy, strong body... What should he do if his health deteriorates, and he does not have any special savings to support him in case he becomes weak?... He says that his salary from the monastery is minimal and that the sick in the monastery are not taken care of at all. And unless he buys something for himself, so that he can take care of his body, he will inevitably perish! The garment that is given to him is not enough, unless he has achieved something with which to obtain another garment... Finally, he says that it is likely that he will not be able to stay long in the same place or monastery, and that unless he has saved money for his journey and the costs of his transportation across the sea, he will not He can move wherever he wants. As long as the compelling need prevents him from making this move, misery and boredom will overwhelm his life, and he will be unable to make the slightest progress, because he feels that he will not be able, without wasting his dignity, to derive help from others, as if he were a beggar or one of the needy. Thus, after deceiving himself with such ideas, he strains his mind to find a way by which he can obtain even a single penny, then he eagerly searches for any profitable work to do without the knowledge of the abbot, and secretly sells what he produces. Thus, he obtains the piece of currency that he desired, and after obtaining it, he continues to torment himself, and torment it to excess, in order to double his savings, and to think about the place in which he will deposit it or the person who will entrust it to him. After that, he is bothered by heavier concerns related to what he should buy with his savings, or how to invest them in order to double them. If everything is achieved according to his desires, his eagerness to hoard gold increases. The more he accumulated it, the more his eagerness and emotions increased, as with the increase of wealth, the madness of greed and the love of money worsens. After that, disturbing thoughts come to him, with which he expects that his life will be prolonged, and his body will weaken as he grows older, and diseases of all kinds will befall him, and as he continues to live with it until he is unable to bear it. In his old age, he had not prepared for this by saving a large sum of money in his youth. Thus, this wretched soul is shaken, and the dragon of greed surrounds it, and it is unable to break free, while it tries hard to double the pile of money that it has achieved through illegal means and hateful attention, accompanied by disasters that do not reduce the intensity of this soul’s greed, but rather increase its flame, blinding it to everything except running after gain. And get money, and escape from submission to the monastery regulations as quickly as possible, and devoid of faith, whenever he finds a glimmer of hope of making money. Therefore, he will not hesitate to commit the crime of lying, perjury, theft, breaking a promise, or launching into violent outbursts of rage. Also, if he loses hope in obtaining gain, he will not hesitate to go beyond the limits of decency and humility, and in all of this gold and the love of ugly profit become his god, just like those who worship their stomachs, and for this reason the blessed Messenger, when he looked at the deadly poison of this scourge Not only did He say that it is the root of all evil, but He also called it “idolatry,” saying: “And covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). Then you see the extent of the fall to which this madness leads, step by step, until the Messenger utters a loud cry That he is Worship of false idolsThis is because, by transcending the image and likeness of God (which are what everyone who worships God in spirit and truth must keep deep within himself without falsification), he chose to love and cling to images engraved on gold instead of God.

Chapter Eight

 

How greed hinders all virtues

            With such great steps, descending downwards, he goes from bad to worse, and finally he does not care to retain for himself neither the virtues of humility, love, and obedience, nor even their shadow, and besides, he becomes dissatisfied with anything, and grumbles and complains about every action. Then, with all reverence, he struck the wall, like a wild horse, rushing headlong and unleashed, depriving himself of his daily food and usual clothing, declaring that he was fed up with them, and that God was not only in the monastery, and that his salvation was not limited to that place which he must quickly leave. Very much, otherwise the time will come when he will mourn for himself because he will inevitably perish.

Chapter Nine

 

How a monk who makes money cannot stay in the monastery

            Thus, when he acquires money that enables him to roam, under the illusion that he has sprouted wings to help him fly, he becomes fully prepared to move, and then he responds to all commands in a dry manner far from the subject, and he behaves as if he were a stranger or a visitor, and he behaves in the face of everything he finds. In need of reform with belittlement and contempt. Despite the presence of his savings, which he secretly keeps in a hidden place, he complains that he needs shoes and clothes, and is angry that they are given to him after a long time and effort. If, by order of the president, some of these necessities were given to someone who was in dire need of them before him, the fires of anger would flare up in him, believing that he had been treated with contempt as if he were a stranger. He is also not willing to lend his hand to any work, but rather finds mistakes in everything that needs to be done in the monastery. He also seeks, based on a deliberate goal, opportunities to become angry that he has been insulted, lest it appear that he has violated the order of the monastery for a trivial reason. And while he is not satisfied with his leaving the monastery alone, lest it be thought that he has departed because of a mistake he has committed, he does not stop inciting and corrupting as many people as possible. From his colleagues deliberating in secret... But if the bad weather disrupts his journey and travels, he remains anxious and preoccupied all the time, and does not stop for a moment from sowing discord and stirring up discontent and complaining, under the illusion that he will not find solace for not leaving, and an excuse for his fluctuation, except by attributing the deficiency to the monastery. And poor management.

Chapter Ten

 

In the pains and trials that a person who breaks the vow of the monastery is exposed to because of greed, even though he was previously accustomed to complaining for the most trivial reasons.

            This is how the monk gets carried away and his unbridled attachment to money increases, which he will never let him, after acquiring it, be satisfied with staying in the monastery or living under any regime or under any authority. When it is separated, as a wild animal, from the rest of the herd, it turns, due to its need for its owners, into an animal that is vulnerable to predation, and even easily. Deprived of fellow residents, he, who was above performing the lightest duties of the monastery, was forced to toil day and night without stopping in pursuit of earning a living. This would make him unable to maintain the rituals of worship, the fasting regime, or the rules of staying up late, and would even distance him from the rules of proper intercession as long as he was able to respond to the call of the madness of greed and meet his daily needs. This increases the fire of greed, while he imagines that he is extinguishing it through acquisition.

Chapter Eleven

 

In claiming that in order to preserve and manage money, one must look for women to live with them

            Many are led to death along a rugged slope, with a fall from which there is no resurrection. Not only do they have money that they have never had before, or they are keeping it from a bad start, but they are looking for women to live with them, to preserve what they have gathered or withheld illegally, and they involve themselves in many dangerous and harmful matters, which leads to He plunges them into the depths of hell, while they refuse to comply with the words of the Messenger: “If they have food and clothing, let them be content with them,” which are what the monastery provided them within the limits of its capacity, but because of their desire to be rich, they fall into temptation and a trap and many stupid and harmful desires that drown people in Damage and destruction, because the love of money - in other words, “greed” - is the root of all evil, “which by coveting some have strayed from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 8:6-10).

Chapter Twelve

 

An example of a lukewarm monk who fell into the net of greed

            I know someone who thinks he is a monk, and worse yet, flatters himself with perfection. He was accepted into a monastery. And when the abbot of the monastery preached to him not to return his thoughts to those things that he had abandoned and rejected, but rather to free himself from greed, or the love of money, which is the root of all evil, and from earthly traps, and that if he wanted to purify himself of his previous tendencies, which he found were exhausting him, And he distressed himself from time to time, so he had to stop caring about those things, which did not even belong to him before, but since he was still bound by the shackles that he certainly could not break due to his inability to achieve any success in purging himself of his faults, he did not hesitate to He responded indignantly, saying: “If you have acquired what you can support others with, why do you prohibit me from acquiring it like you?”

Chapter thirteen

 

What do the elders tell the events about ordinary sins?

            But don't let this seem superficial or objectionable to someone else. This is because unless the various types of sins are first revealed, and the origins and causes of diseases are investigated, it will not be possible to prescribe the correct curative medicines for the sick, nor will it be possible for the healthy to maintain their complete well-being. Because both of these matters, and many other matters, are generally presented to guide the younger brothers from the elders in their meetings, because of the experience they have achieved in countless failures, and the devastation that has befallen all ranks of people.

We have often noticed many of these things in ourselves, which the elders show and explain to us, as men who themselves suffered from the same tendencies. We were treated and healed without shame or confusion on our part, because without declaring anything we were learning the methods of treatment, and discovering the causes of the sins that were burdening us, which we overlooked and did not say anything about, not for fear of the brothers, but for fear that this book would fall into the hands of Some people lack guidance in this path of life. They may declare to the unexperienced that it should only be taught by those who strive and strive to reach the highest levels of perfection.

Chapter fourteen

 

Examples show that the disease of greed is triangular

            This disease or unhealthy condition is threefold, and all the fathers described it with equal curse and abhorrence.

We have previously described the corrupt image of one of these landmarks, which deceives the miserable flock It encourages them to saveEven though they had nothing when they were in the world.

The other is to push them to Craving and possessing those things that they abandoned in the first days of their asceticism and abandonment of the worlddid not.

The third picture is done with a false harmful start. Characterize their owners With a lukewarm mind and wavering opinion, they were unable to renounce all their earthly possessions, for fear of poverty and their lack of faith.And those who hold back money and property, which they should have given up and abandoned, can never achieve the fullness of the Gospel.

            And we find in the Holy Scriptures examples of these three disasters, for which a punishment is not easy, so when he wanted Gehazi - The servant of the Prophet Elisha - to acquire what he had never possessed before, not only did he fail to obtain the gift of prophecy, which he had the right to receive from his teacher through hereditary succession, but on the contrary, the curse of the Prophet Elisha left him with permanent leprosy.

As for Judah If he wanted to regain possession of the wealth that he had previously lost when he followed Christ, he not only fell into the crime of betraying his master and lost his apostolic rank, but he was also not allowed to end his life normally, but ended it with a violent death.

As for Ananias and Sapphira As they withheld a portion of what had previously belonged to them, they were punished with death according to the word of the Apostle.

Chapter fifteen

 

In the difference between a person who rejects the world in a bad way and another who does not reject it at all

There is an accusation leveled, in a subtle way, in the Book of Deuteronomy, at those who say they have renounced this world, and then are defeated by want of faith, as they fear the loss of their earthly possessions, which reads as follows: “Who is the fearful and faint-hearted man, that he should go and return to his own house? lest the hearts of his brothers melt like his heart” (Deuteronomy 20:8)... What testimony does one need more clear than this?... Is it not clear that the Holy Bible prefers that they do not make this covenant, even in its first stages, or bear his name, lest they become... A bad example tempts others to deviate from the perfection of the Holy Gospel, and weakens them with their fear and lack of faith.

Therefore, the command is explicitly directed to them to withdraw from the battle and return to their homes, because no one can participate in the Lord’s battle with two opinions, because “a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8). It is necessary to think about the parable mentioned in the Gospel (Luke 14:30, 31). As for the one who goes with ten thousand men against a king who comes with twenty thousand, who may not be able to fight him, he must - as long as that is far away - ask what is for the good. Meaning that it is better for them not to take even the first step on the path to abandoning the world, rather than to involve themselves in greater dangers, after leaving this path lax and unmotivated, because “it is not better to vow than to vow and not fulfill it” (Ecclesiastes 5:4). . The most accurate text is the one that describes someone who comes with ten thousand to meet another with twenty thousand, because the number of sins that attack us is greater than the virtues that fight on our behalf. The reality is that “no man can serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24), and similarly, “no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

Chapter sixteen

 

In the power under which it protects those who object to giving up their property

These people then try to make a case for their inherent greed, using some biblical texts, which they interpret with malicious ingenuity. To fulfill their own desires, they adapt and distort one saying of the Messenger or another of the Lord Himself, and they do not shape their lives and understanding of the Bible, but rather they make the meaning of the Book be shaped according to the desires of their lusts, and in accordance with their point of view. They say that it is written: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35), and with a very wrong interpretation of this text, they think that they can weaken the power of the Lord’s words: “If you want to be perfect, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” And come, follow me” (Matthew 19:20). They think that under this shadow they do not need to deprive themselves of their wealth, declaring that they would undoubtedly be more happy, as they would give from their leftovers, from what is already theirs, and would be proud to have manual labor and eat the humble monastery food. Such people should know that they are deceiving themselves. They have not truly renounced the world, as long as they still cling to their riches. But if they truly and sincerely want to practice the monastic life, they must renounce and forsake all these things and not keep for themselves anything that they have renounced, so that they may be glorified with the Apostle “in hunger and thirst and in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11:27).

Chapter seventeen

 

In abandoning the apostles and the early church to the vanities of the world

It seems that he (by asserting that he had the privileges of a Roman citizen from birth, testified that he was not a lowly person according to the conditions of this world) was not able to procure the possessions that he had previously!...And those who owned lands and houses in Jerusalem They sold everything without keeping anything for themselves at all, and they brought the price and placed it at the feet of the apostles. They were not able to meet the demands of their bodies from their possessions!…

But the reality is that the apostles considered this to be the ideal plan for life, and preferred it to everything else. They immediately abandoned all their possessions, and preferred to support themselves from the fruits of their work.Among the aids to the Gentiles, which the holy Apostle spoke about collecting, in his letter to the Romans, revealing to them his position on this matter. He urged them to do this gathering, saying: “But now I am going to Jerusalem to serve the saints, because the people of Macedonia and Achaia found it good to make distributions for the poor saints who are in Jerusalem. They found it good and are indebted to them, because if the Gentiles had joined (with the believers of Jerusalem) in Their spiritual needs, they must serve them in the carnal matters” (Romans 15:25-27).

He shows the same concern for the Corinthians, and urges them more diligently to prepare before his arrival what they are collecting, which he intended to send to meet their needs, saying: “Concerning the collection for the saints, just as I have commanded the churches of Galatia, so you must also do, on the first day of the week, let each one of you put in He has in store what he may have, so that when you come there will be no crowd. And when you come, send letters to those whom you approve of to carry your good deeds to Jerusalem” (1 Corinthians 16:1-4). In order to encourage them to increase the crowd, he adds, saying: “And if it is worthy for me to go too, then they will go with me,” meaning to say that he is ready to participate in carrying their offering and traveling with it with the accompanying delegation if it is so abundant that it requires it.

He also testifies to the Galatians that when he began to share the ministry of preaching with the apostles, he arranged the matter with James, Peter, and John to preach among the nations, but he should not neglect caring for the poor in Jerusalem and managing their affairs, those who gave up all their possessions and chose voluntary poverty for the sake of Christ. He said in his letter to the Galatians in this regard: “When James, Cephas, and John, who were considered to be pillars, learned of the grace given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we might be Gentiles, and they should be circumcised, except that we should mention the poor. And this also I was careful to do” (Galatians 9:2). -10)…

Who, then, are more deserving of grace, are those who were not gathered from among the pagans until late and due to their inability to rise to the levels of the perfection of the Gospel, so they clung to their possessions and the Apostle contented himself with forbidding them from worshiping idols and abstaining from fornication, blood, and things strangled (Acts 15:20). And they embraced faith in Christ while retaining all their possessions, or those who live according to the commandments of the Gospel, and carry the cross of the Lord every day, and do not want to also retain any of their possessions for their own benefit?…

If the blessed Apostle was bound by chains and shackles, or was hindered by the hardships of travel, and for these reasons it was not possible for him to support himself with his own hands, as he always did, then he declared that he received what would meet his needs from the brothers who came from Macedonia. Saying: “For my need was met by the brothers who came from Macedonia” (2 Corinthians 11:9). He also says to the Philippians: “And you also know, O Philippians, that at the beginning of the Gospel, when I left Macedonia, not a single church shared with me in the calculation of giving and receiving except you alone, for in Thessalonica you also sent to me once and twice for my need” (Philippians 4:15-16). (And as long as this is the case) then, according to the idea of these men, which they formed in the coldness of their hearts, these people become more deserving of grace than the great Messenger, because it has become clear that they served him with their money! No one dares to say this, even if it is extremely foolish!

Chapter eighteen

 

If we wish to imitate the Apostles, we must not live according to our own gifts, but rather follow their example.

             If we wish to obey the commandments of the Gospel, and to show ourselves as followers of the Apostle and the entire early Church, or of the Fathers who in our day have attained their virtue and perfection, we must not yield to our own notions, promising ourselves to be perfected from this lukewarm and wretched condition of ours, but, following in their footsteps, we must We do not aim to pay attention to our thoughts in any way, but rather we adhere to the regulations and orders of the monastery, so that we can truly renounce the vanities of this world, not retaining any of those things that we despised, not yielding to the temptation of lack of faith, but rather striving to obtain our daily food, Not from our hoarded money, but from the toil of our hands.

Chapter nineteen

The statement of Saint Bishop Basil is directed against Syncletus

            There is a saying uttered by Saint Basil, Bishop of Caesarea, against a man named Syncletus, who was indifferent and a little apathetic, which we talked about. Although he affirmed that he had renounced the vanities of this world, he kept some of his possessions for himself, unwilling to support himself from the work of his hands, and to attain true humility through his renunciation, hard struggle, and submission to the monastery. Then the saint said to him: “You have become corrupt, Sincletus, and have not become a monk.”

Chapter twentieth

 

How despicable is he who is overcome by greed

             If we want to struggle legally in our spiritual struggle, we must also expel this dangerous enemy from our hearts, because our victory over him is not as virtuous as his victory over us is shameful and humiliating. Because if a strong person defeats you, despite the grief that defeat results in, and the pain that losing victory causes, there is some solace that you may find in your feeling that the one who defeated you is strong. But if the enemy is weak, and the conflict is trivial and insignificant, then besides the sorrow that defeat creates, there is a more humiliating shame, a shame worse than loss.

Chapter twenty-one

How can greed be conquered?

            The greatest victory and most immortal victory will be achieved if the monk's conscience is not defiled, as they say, by the possession of the smallest coin. This is because he who is oppressed by less property allows the roots of evil lust to penetrate his heart. It is impossible for such a person not to ignite after that with even greater fires of lust. The soldier of Christ is victorious and enjoys security, tranquility, and freedom from all attacks of desire, as long as this spirit that is deeply rooted in evil does not plant the seed of this desire in his heart. Thus, while we are usually required in all sins to watch for the head of the dragon (Genesis 3:15), all we need to do regarding this sin is to be more careful and more cautious, because if we accept it, it will grow as it feeds itself and kindles for itself a more dangerous fire. Hence, we must not only be careful about possessing money, but also remove from our souls our longing for it, as it is our duty, not to avoid the results of greed, but rather to eradicate the roots of every inclination towards it, since not having money does not benefit us as long as it is within us. Lust to get it.

Chapter twenty-two

 

In that he may stigmatize someone who has no money as greedy

            It is possible that a person who does not own anything is enslaved to the cause of greed, and the blessing of extreme poverty is of no use to him, because he was unable to eradicate from himself the roots of the sin of gluttony, accepting the advantages of poverty not because of his good virtues, and being satisfied with the burden of need but in the lukewarmness of the heart.. This is because just as the word of the Gospel declares that those who are not defiled by the body may commit adultery in the heart, and that those who are not burdened with the burden of money are likely to be cursed by the tendency and intent of greed because what they lacked was the “opportunity” to possess and not its “will,” because the second is Which God directs without force, so we must use all immunity, lest the fruits of our struggle be wasted in what is not beneficial. Because it is sad for a person to bear the effects of poverty or want, but lose its fruits, due to the fall of a destabilizing will.

Chapter twenty-three

 

A proverb taken from the case of Judas

            Do you want to know how dangerous this temptation is and how harmful it is, unless it is carefully uprooted, to its owner and the destruction it causes to him, and the branches of various sins that arise from it? Look at Judas, who was numbered among the disciples, and consider how, because he decided to crush the head of this deadly dragon, he was destroyed by its poison, and how when he fell into the net of this lust, it cast him into sin and into a quick fall, so much so that it tempted him to sell the Redeemer of humanity and the author of salvation. man for thirty pieces of silver, and that it was not possible to push him to this heinous sin, the sin of betraying his master, unless he had stained him. The sin of greed. Likewise, he would not have been led into committing crimes against his master in this heinous manner, unless he had accustomed himself to stealing from the bag deposited with him.

Chapter twenty-four

That greed cannot be conquered unless one strips oneself of everything

            This is a clear and terrible example of this tyranny, which, if the mind falls captive, will break all rules of honesty and will not be satisfied with any further profits. This is because we have to put an end to this madness, not by getting rich, but by stripping ourselves of it. Finally, when Judas received the bag designated for distribution to the poor, and deposited in his possession for this purpose, so that he could at least be able to satisfy himself with a lot of money, and put an end to his greed, this much that was under his hand pushed him to more greed and avarice, to the point that he was no longer limited to Stealing secretly from the sack, he actually sold his master, because the madness of this greed cannot be satisfied by any amount of wealth.

Chapter twenty-five

 

In the deaths that befell Ananias, Sapphira, and Judah because of the lust of greed

            Finally, the great among the apostles, having learned from these examples, and knowing that one who is afflicted with any amount of greed cannot be restrained, and that it is not possible to put an end to it with a sum of money, whether large or small, but with the virtue of renunciation of everything, punished Ananias and Sapphira with death, because they They kept part of its price for their king, so that the death that Judas obediently met for committing the sin of betraying his master must befall them because they fell into the sin of lying due to their greed. How strong is the connection between the sin and the punishment in both cases! Thus, the result of greed in the first case was betrayal, and in the second case, lying. In the first case, the truth was wasted and betrayed, and in the second case, the sin of lying was committed. Although the results of their actions may seem different, they agree in the unity and similarity of the goal. One of them, wanting to escape poverty, wanted to recover what he had previously abandoned, while the other two, fearing that they would become poor, tried to keep part of the price of their property that they had sold, which was their duty either to hand it over to the Messenger in firm faith and pure intention, or to give it to the brothers. entire. Thus, in both cases, the death penalty followed, because each sin grew from the roots of greed. If such severe punishment was imposed on those who did not covet the property of others, but rather who only tried to take care of what they possessed, and who did not aim at possession and possession, but rather merely withholding and keeping, then what do we think about the fate of those who wish to accumulate and hoard wealth, without having They have a dirham or a dinar in it, and those who pretend to be poor in front of people, but before God are condemned to false wealth due to the lust of greed?

Chapter twenty-six

 

That greed afflicts the soul with spiritual leprosy

            And those who appear to be crippled in spirit and heart, like Gehazi, who, when he desired the uncertain wealth of this world, was struck by the hateful disease of leprosy. Thus, he left us a clear example in that every soul defiled by the stain of gluttony is afflicted with the spiritual leprosy of sin and is considered permanently defiled before God.

Chapter twenty-seven

 

            If, out of your desire for perfection, you have abandoned all things and followed Christ, who says to you: “Go, sell your possessions, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21)... why, after putting your hand to the plough, do you look back, even The Lord Himself declares you unfit for the kingdom of heaven? (Luke 9:62)... And why, after you were safe on top of the roof of the Gospel, did you go down to the house to carry some of the things in it that you had previously despised?... And why, after you went out to the field and began to practice the virtues, did you quickly return and try to put on this man’s clothes again? The world that you took away from you when you rejected him? (Luke 17:31)... But if poverty has prevented you from possessing something that you would give up, you should rather not hoard what you never had before, because by the grace of the Lord you were prepared for this purpose so that you can rush to it and you are more prepared as long as the nets of wealth do not hinder you. I wish no one would grieve and fail because he lacks something to give up, because there is no one who does not have something to give up.

            He has renounced all the possessions of this world, any man who has completely eradicated from his heart the desire to possess and possess them.

Chapter twenty-eight

 

That victory over greed cannot be achieved unless a person strips himself of everything

            This, then, is the complete victory over greed. We do not allow a flash of its smallest waste to remain in our hearts, as we know that we will not have any ability to extinguish it if we keep the smallest spark of it deep within us.

Chapter twenty-nine

 

How can a monk maintain his poverty?

            We can preserve this virtue without prejudice if we remain residing in a monastery, and as the Apostle says: “If we have food and clothing, let us be content with them” (1 Timothy 6:8).

Chapter Thirty

 

Ways to prevent greed

            As we always remember the fate of Ananias and Sapphira, we must be alarmed and avoid retaining also something that we abandoned and vowed to abandon. Let us learn from the bad example of Gehazi. Because of the sin of greed, he was punished with permanent leprosy. Therefore, let us be careful not to acquire wealth that we have never possessed before. In addition to this, we must fear the fall and death of Judas, and from there we must avoid with all our might to recover any part of that wealth that we had previously disposed of, and above all, we must, while watching our weak and changing nature, be freed, lest the day of the Lord come upon us like a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:4). ). Our conscience finds it defiled With a penny One, because that deprives us of all the fruits of our renunciation of the world, and directs to us the words of the Lord to the rich man, which came in the Gospel: “You fool, this night your life is required of you. Whose will these things which you have prepared be?” (Luke 12:20) Since we do not care about tomorrow, we must never allow ourselves to be seduced from the rules of detachment and asceticism.

Chapter Thirty-One

That no one can conquer greed

Unless he resides in the privacy of the monastery, and how can he reside there?

But it is certain that we will not be allowed to do this, or even to remain under the authority of a regime, unless it is first established in us and the virtue of patience and endurance is strengthened, which can only emerge from Humility As a source of it, because one teaches us not to bother anyone else, and the other teaches us to tolerate others' insults to us with tolerance and openness.

Translated by: Monk Basil the Syrian (former).