Homily to the Rich · §3 · Basil of Caesarea

Buried wealth buries the heart

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Basil continues his description of the rich man's excess, now turning to the surplus wealth that is buried in the ground and the spiritual damage this causes.

But when wealth is split into a thousand uses and still remains over, it is pushed down into the earth and kept in hidden places. For the future is uncertain, they say, in case some unforeseen need should overtake us. It is uncertain whether you will ever come to need that buried gold, but the loss of your humanity is not uncertain. When you could not spend your wealth completely even with a thousand devices, then you hid it in the ground. A terrible madness: while the gold was still in the mines, you searched the earth for it; once it was brought to light, you made it disappear into the earth again. And then, I think, when you bury your wealth, you bury your heart along with it. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21). That is why the commandments grieve you; such people count life not worth living, unless they are busy with useless expenses. It seems to me that the young man's passion, and of those like him, is like a traveler who eagerly desires some city and presses hard along the road to reach it, but then stops at an inn just outside the walls. By shrinking from one small movement, he wastes all his previous labor and shuts himself out from seeing the city's beauties. Such are those who agree to do everything else but resist giving up their possessions. I know many who fast, pray, groan, and display every kind of piety that costs nothing, but do not let go one obol for the afflicted. What good is the rest of their virtue to them? The kingdom of heaven does not receive them, because it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:24). The verdict is that clear, and the one who spoke it does not lie; but those who obey are rare. "And how will we live," someone says, "if we dispose of everything? What will the shape of life be, if everyone sells and everyone disposes of their possessions?" Do not ask me for the reasoning behind the Master's commands. The one who gave the law knows how to join what is possible to the law. Your heart is being tested as on a balance, to see whether it inclines toward true life or toward present enjoyment. Those who reason soundly ought to regard the use of wealth as a stewardship, not as a means of enjoyment; and when they give it away, they should rejoice as people parting with what belongs to others, not grieve as people losing what is their own. Why then are you grieved? Why do you mourn in your soul when you hear, "Sell your possessions" (Matthew 19:21)? If they could follow you into the age to come, they would not even then be worth clinging to, since they would be eclipsed by the precious things there. But if they must remain here, why not sell them and carry away the profit from them? You are not troubled when you give gold and acquire a horse; but when you give up perishable things and receive the kingdom of heaven in return, you weep, refuse the one who asks, and turn away from the gift, inventing a thousand excuses for spending.

Greek

–Ἐπειδὰν δὲ εἰς μυρία διασπώμενος ὁ πλοῦτος ἔτι περιττεύει, κατὰ γῆς ὠθεῖται, καὶ ἐν ἀποῤῥήτοις φυλάσσεται. Ἄδηλον γὰρ τὸ μέλλον, μήπου τινὲς ἡμᾶς ἀδόκητοι καταλάβωσι χρεῖαι. Ἄδηλον μὲν οὖν, εἰ ἥξεις πρὸς τὴν χρείαν τοῦ κατορωρυγμένου χρυσίου· οὐκ ἄδηλος δὲ ἡ ζημία τῆς ἀπανθρωπίας τῶν τρόπων. Ὅτε γὰρ οὐκ ἠδυνήθης ταῖς μυρίαις ἐπινοίαις ἐκδαπανῆσαι τὸν πλοῦτον, τότε αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν γῆν ἀπεκρύψω. Μανία δεινὴ, ἕως μὲν ἐν μετάλλοις ἦν ὁ χρυσὸς, ἀνερευνᾷν τὴν γῆν· ὅτε δὲ φανερὸς ἐγένετο, πάλιν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ γῇ ἀφανίζειν. Εἶτα, οἶμαι, συμβαίνει σοι κατορύσσοντι τὸν πλοῦτον συγκατορύσσειν καὶ τὴν καρδίαν· Ὅπου γὰρ ὁ θησαυρός σου, φησὶν, ἐκεῖ καὶ ἡ καρδία· Διὰ τοῦτο λυποῦσιν αἱ ἐντολαί· ἀβίω τον γὰρ ἑαυτοῖς τὸν βίον τίθενται, μὴ ταῖς ἀνωφελέσι δαπάναις ἐνασχολούμενοι. Καί μοι δοκεῖ τὸ πάθος τοῦ νεανίσκου, ἢ καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων αὐτῷ, παρόμοιον εἶναι, ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις ὁδοιπόρος ἐπιθυμίᾳ πόλεώς τινος συντόνως τὴν μέχρις αὐτῆς ὁδὸν διανύσας, εἶτα αὐτοῦ που περὶ τὰ πρὸ τῶν τειχῶν καταλύσειεν πανδοχεῖα, ὄκνῳ μικρᾶς κινήσεως τόν τε προϋπάρξαντα πόνον ἀχρειῶν, καὶ τῆς ἱστορίας τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει καλῶν ἑαυτὸν ἀποκλείων. Τοιοῦτοί εἰσιν οἱ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ποιεῖν καταδεχόμενοι, ἀντιβαίνοντες δὲ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ἀπόθεσιν. Οἶδα πολλοὺς νηστεύοντας, προσευχομένους, στενάζοντας, πᾶσαν τὴν ἀδάπανον εὐλάβειαν ἐνδεικνυμένους, ὀβολὸν δὲ ἕνα μὴ προϊεμένους τοῖς θλιβομένοις. Τί ὄφελος τούτοις τῆς λοιπῆς ἀρετῆς; Οὐ γὰρ παραδέχεται αὐτοὺς ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν· διότι· Εὐκοπώτερον, φησὶν, κάμηλον διὰ τρυμαλιᾶς ῥαφίδος διελθεῖν, ἢ πλούσιον εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν· Ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν ἀπόφασις οὕτως ἐναργὴς, καὶ ὁ εἰπὼν ἀψευδής· οἱ δὲ πειθόμενοι σπάνιοι. Καὶ πῶς βιωσόμεθα πάντα ἀποκ τησάμενοι; φησίν· τί δὲ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ βίου ἔσται, πάντων πωλούντων καὶ πάντων ἀποκτωμένων; Μὴ ἐρώτα με διάνοιαν δεσποτικῶν προσταγμάτων. Οἶδεν ὁ νομοθετήσας καὶ τὸ δυνατὸν συναρμόσαι τῷ νόμῳ. Σοῦ δὲ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τρυτάνης δοκιμάζεται ἡ καρδία, πότερον πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν τὴν ἀληθι νὴν ἢ πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν ἀπόλαυσιν καταῤῥέπει. Οἰκονομικὴν τοῦ πλούτου τὴν χρῆσιν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀπολαυστικὴν τοὺς σωφρόνως λογιζομένους νομίζειν προσῆκεν· καὶ ἀποτιθεμένους, χαίρειν ὡς ἀλλοτρίων χωριζομένους, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ δυσχεραίνειν ὡς τῶν οἰκείων ἐκπίπτοντας. Τί οὖν λυπῇ; τί καταπενθεῖς τῇ ψυχῇ, ἀκούων· Πώλησόν σου τὰ ὑπάρχοντα; Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἠκολούθει σοι πρὸς τὸ μέλλον, οὐδ' οὕτως ἂν ἦν περισπούδαστα, ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκεῖ τιμίων ἐπισκοτούμενα· εἰ δὲ ἀνάγκη μένειν ἐνταῦθα, τί μὴ, πωλήσαντες, τὸ ἀπ' αὐτῶν κέρδος ἀπενεγκώμεθα; Σὺ δὲ, χρυσὸν μὲν διδοὺς, καὶ ἵππον κτώμενος, οὐκ ἀθυμεῖς· φθαρτὰ δὲ προϊέμενος, καὶ βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν ἀντιλαμβάνων, δακρύεις, ἀρνῇ τὸν αἰτοῦντα, καὶ ἀνανεύεις τὴν δόσιν, μυρίας προφάσεις ἀναλωμάτων ἐπινοῶν.

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About this text

Basil of Caesarea (c. 330–379) wrote this homily for wealthy Christians, especially those who resist selling their possessions and giving to the poor. He follows up an earlier sermon on the rich young man in the Gospels to press his hearers to obey Christ's command to sell possessions and give to the poor rather than cling to wealth.

Basil argues that the young man's refusal to sell shows a failure to love his neighbor as himself, since true love would have shared surplus wealth with the poor. He teaches that wealth is meant to be managed for others, not kept for luxury, and warns that love of wealth feeds the ways of the greedy, oppression of neighbors and neglect of the poor, which the judge will expose at the final judgment. He rejects excuses based on children and on life's needs, urges giving now while alive, and calls the rich to make wealth their own by giving it away, following Christ who became poor for humanity. The reader will meet the rich young man who went away sorrowful, Jesus Christ the Lord and true teacher, Ahab whose desire for the vineyard led to murder, Naboth the owner of that vineyard, and Abraham. Basil quotes Scripture throughout and argues against the objections of an imagined rich speaker, and he also gives words to Abraham and to servants or heirs who lecture the rich.

Wealth here means surplus possessions that should be given to the poor, and commandment means Christ's command to sell possessions and give to the poor. Eternal life is the promised goal and kingdom of heaven its inheritance, while love means love of neighbor, the greedy are those who always want more, and the judge is Christ at the final judgment. Naboth the Jezreelite is the owner of the vineyard coveted by Ahab. Basil quotes the Gospels and the Greek Old Testament, especially the Psalms and Ecclesiastes, and Psalm numbers follow the Greek version and differ at points from the Hebrew numbering.

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Translated from Migne PG text (Aegean University Digital Patrology, via (Greek)
Also checked Migne PG 31, archive.org scan patrologiae_cursus_completus_gr_vol_031 (Greek machine-read text) (Greek · check (same print; machine-read text compared word by word))

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