Homily to the Rich · §6 · Basil of Caesarea

The final judgment exposes the rich man's injustice

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Basil is directly addressing the rich hearer, calling him to pause from his unjust labors and imagine the day of Christ's judgment, when his victims will surround him and his deeds will testify against him.

I wish you would take a brief breather from your works of injustice and give your own thoughts some leisure, so that you might consider toward what end the pursuit of all these things is stretched. You have so many plethra of arable land, so many more of planted land, mountains, plains, wooded valleys, rivers, meadows. What comes after all this? Do not three cubits await you, like all the rest? Will not the weight of a few stones be enough to guard your wretched flesh? For whom do you labor? For whom do you act lawlessly? Why do you gather unfruitfulness with your hands? If only it were unfruitfulness and not fuel for the eternal fire. Will you never sober up from this drunkenness? Will you not make your thoughts healthy? Will you not come to yourself? Will you not set the judgment seat of Christ before your eyes? What will you say in your defense when those you have wronged stand around you in a circle and cry out against you before the righteous judge? What will you do then? What advocates will you hire? What witnesses will you produce? How will you persuade the judge who cannot be reasoned with? There is no orator there; there is no persuasiveness of words able to steal the truth from the judge. No flatterers follow you, no wealth, no bulk of dignity. Bereft of friends, bereft of helpers, without an advocate, without a defense, covered in shame you will be taken away—gloomy, downcast, alone, without boldness. For wherever you turn your eye, you will see vivid images of your evils: here the tears of the orphan, there the groaning of the widow, elsewhere the poor you beat with your fists, the servants you wore out, the neighbors you provoked to anger. Everything will rise up against you. A wicked chorus of your evil deeds will surround you. For just as a shadow follows the body, so sins follow souls, vividly imaging the deeds. Therefore there is no denial there, but the mouth is stopped, and shamelessness with it. For each person's own deeds testify against him, uttering no voice but appearing exactly as they were prepared by us. How can I bring the dreadful things before your eyes? If you will listen, if you will yield, remember that day on which wrath is revealed from heaven. Remember the glorious coming of Christ, when those who have done good will rise to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:29). Then there will be eternal shame for sinners, and the zeal of fire about to devour the adversaries (Isaiah 26:11 LXX). Let those things grieve you, and do not let the commandment grieve you. How shall I move you to shame? What shall I say? Do you not desire the kingdom? Do you not fear hell? From where will healing be found for your soul? For if the dreadful things do not terrify you, and the bright things do not urge you on, we are speaking to a stony heart.

Greek

–Ἐβουλόμην σε μικρὸν ἀναπνεῦσαι τῶν ἔργων τῆς ἀδικίας, καὶ δοῦναι σχολὴν τοῖς σεαυτοῦ λογισμοῖς, ὥστε ἐνθυμηθῆναι πρὸς ποῖον πέρας ἡ σπουδὴ τῶν γινομένων συντέταται. Ἔχεις γῆς ἀροσίμης πλέθρα τόσα καὶ τόσα, γῆς πεφυτευμένης τοσαῦτα ἕτερα, ὄρη, πεδία, νάπας, ποταμοὺς, λιβάδας. Τί οὖν μετὰ ταῦτα; Οὐχὶ τρεῖς σε πήχεις ἀναμένουσιν οἱ πάντες; Οὐχὶ λίθων ὀλίγων βάρος ἀρκέσει πρὸς φυλακὴν τῇ δυστήνῳ σαρκί; Ὑπὲρ τίνος μοχθεῖς; ὑπὲρ τίνος παρανομεῖς; Τί συνάγεις χερσὶν ἀκαρπίαν; Εἴθε ἀκαρπίαν καὶ μὴ ὕλην τῷ αἰωνίῳ πυρί. Οὐ νήψεις ποτὲ ἀπὸ τῆς μέθης ταύτης; Οὐχ ὑγιανεῖς τοὺς λογισμούς; Οὐ σεαυτοῦ γενήσῃ; Οὐ πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν λήψῃ τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ δικαστήριον; Τί ἀπολογήσῃ, ἐπειδάν σε κύκλῳ περιστάντες οἱ ἠδικημένοι καταβοῶσί σου ἐπὶ τοῦ δικαίου κριτοῦ; Τί οὖν ποιήσεις; ποίους συνηγόρους μισθώσῃ; ποίους μάρτυρας παραστήσῃ; πῶς παραπείσεις τὸν ἀπαραλόγιστον δικαστήν; Οὐκ ἔνι ῥήτωρ ἐκεῖ· οὐκ ἔνι πιθανότης ῥημάτων, κλέψαι δυναμένη τοῦ δικαστοῦ τὴν ἀλήθειαν· οὐκ ἀκολουθοῦσιν οἱ κόλακες, οὐ τὰ χρήματα, οὐχ ὁ ὄγκος τοῦ ἀξιώματος· ἔρημος φίλων, ἔρημος βοηθῶν, ἀσυνηγόρητος, ἀναπολόγητος, κατῃσχυμμένος παραληφθήσῃ, σκυθρωπὸς, κατηφὴς, μεμονωμένος, ἀπαῤῥησίαστος. Ὅπου γὰρ ἂν περιαγάγῃς τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν, ἐναργεῖς ὄψει τῶν κακῶν τὰς εἰκόνας· ἔνθεν τοῦ ὀρφανοῦ τὰ δάκρυα, ἐκεῖθεν τῆς χήρας τὸν στεναγμὸν, ἑτέρωθεν τοὺς κατακονδυλισθέντας ὑπό σου πένητας· τοὺς οἰκέτας, οὓς κατέξαινες· τοὺς γείτονας, οὓς παρώργιζες· πάντα σοι ἐπαναστήσεται· πονηρὸς χορὸς τῶν κακῶν σου πράξεων περιστοιχίσεταί σε. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ σκιὰ τῷ σώματι, οὕτω ταῖς ψυχαῖς αἱ ἁμαρτίαι παρέπονται, ἐναργῶς τὰς πράξεις ἐξεικονίζουσαι. Διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔστιν ἄρνησις ἐκεῖ, ἀλλ' ἐμφράσσεται στόμα καὶ τὸ ἀναίσχυντον. Αὐτὰ γὰρ ἑκάστου καταμαρτυρεῖ τὰ πράγ ματα, οὐ φωνὴν ἀφιέντα, ἀλλὰ τοιαῦτα φαινόμενα οἷα ὑφ' ἡμῶν κατεσ κεύασται. Πῶς σοι δυνηθῶ ὑπ' ὄψιν ἀγαγεῖν τὰ φρικτά; Ἐὰν ἄρα ἀκούσῃς, ἐὰν ἄρα ἐνδῷς, μνήσθητι τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης ἐν ᾗ· Ἀποκαλύπτεται ὀργὴ ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ· Μνήσθητι τῆς ἐνδόξου τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας, ὅτε ἀναστήσονται· Οἱ μὲν τὰ ἀγαθὰ πράξαντες εἰς ἀνάστασιν ζωῆς, οἱ δὲ τὰ φαῦλα εἰς ἀνάστασιν κρίσεως· Τότε αἰσχύνη αἰώνιος τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς· Καὶ πυρὸς ζῆλος ἐσθίειν μέλλων τοὺς ὑπεναντίους· Ἐκεῖνα λυπείτω σε, καὶ μὴ λυπείτω ἡ ἐντολή. Πῶς σε δυσωπήσω; τί φθέγξομαι; Βασιλείας οὐκ ἐπιθυμεῖς; γέενναν οὐ φοβῇ; πόθεν εὑρεθῇ ἴασις τῇ ψυχῇ σου; Εἰ γὰρ τὰ φρικτὰ οὐ πτοεῖ, τὰ φαιδρὰ οὐ προτρέπεται, λιθίνῃ καρδίᾳ διαλεγόμεθα.

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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.

No published English used as wording.

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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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