Homily to the Rich · §7 · Basil of Caesarea

Wealth is stones, a snare, and no excuse

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Basil is directly addressing the rich hearer, urging him to see the true nature of wealth and to reject the excuse of providing for children.

Look hard, man, at the nature of wealth. Why have you been so agitated about gold? A stone is gold, a stone is silver, a stone is the pearl, a stone is each of the stones: chrysolite, and beryl, and agate, and hyacinth, and amethyst, and jasper. These are the flowers of wealth. Some of them you store away, hiding them, and you cover the transparent stones with darkness; others you carry around, taking pride in the gleam of the costly ones. Tell me, what good is it to you to turn your hand around glittering with stones? Are you not ashamed of craving pebbles, like women when they are pregnant? For those women nibble on little stones, and you greedily desire the flowers of stones, seeking sardonyxes, and jaspers, and amethysts. What jeweler has ever been able to add a single day to life? Whom has death spared because of wealth? From whom has sickness kept away because of riches? How long will gold be the noose of souls, the hook of death, the bait of sin? How long will wealth be the cause of war, for which weapons are forged, for which swords are sharpened? Because of it relatives ignore nature, brothers look murderously at one another. Because of wealth the deserts feed murderers, the sea feeds pirates, the cities feed false accusers. Who is the father of lying? Who is the craftsman of forgery? Who gave birth to perjury? Is it not wealth? Is it not the eagerness for it? What is wrong with you, people? Who has turned your own possessions into a plot against you? “A partner for living.” For were riches given as supplies for evils? “A ransom for the soul.” For were they given as an occasion for destruction? “But wealth is necessary because of the children.” This is a fine-looking excuse for greed. For you put forward the children, but you fill up your own heart. Do not blame the blameless one. The child has his own master, his own steward. From another he received his life, from him he awaits the resources of life. Were the Gospels not written for those who have married? “If you wish to be perfect, sell your possessions, and give to the poor” (Matthew 19:21). When you asked the Lord for children, when you thought it right to become a father of children, did you add this: “Give me children, so that I may disobey your commandments? Give me children, so that I may not reach the kingdom of heaven?” And who will be the guarantor of the child’s choice, that he will use what is given to him as he ought? For to many people wealth has become a servant of licentiousness. Or do you not hear Ecclesiastes saying: “I saw a grievous sickness, wealth kept by its owner to his own harm” (Ecclesiastes 5:13)? And again: “I am leaving it to the man who comes after me” (Ecclesiastes 2:18). “And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool?” (Ecclesiastes 2:19). See to it, then, that after gathering wealth with countless labors, you do not prepare material of sins for others, and then be found punished doubly: for the wrongs you yourself committed, and for the wrongs you supplied to another. Is not your soul more closely related to you than every child? Does it not draw nearer to you in kinship than all others? Give to it first the privileges of the inheritance; provide for it rich resources for life. And then you will divide your livelihood among your children. Children who do not inherit from their parents have often made houses for themselves. But the soul, abandoned by you, by whom will it be shown mercy?

Greek

–Διάβλεψον, ἄνθρωπε, πρὸς τὴν φύσιν τοῦ πλούτου. Τί τοσοῦτον ἐπτόησαι περὶ τὸν χρυσόν; Λίθος ἐστὶν ὁ χρυσὸς, λίθος ὁ ἄργυρος, λίθος ὁ μαργαρίτης, λίθος τῶν λίθων ἕκαστος· χρυσόλιθον, καὶ βηρύλλιον, καὶ ἀχάτης, καὶ ὑάκινθος, καὶ ἀμέθυσος, καὶ ἴασπις. Ταῦτα δὴ τοῦ πλούτου τὰ ἄνθη· ὧν σὺ τὰ μὲν ἀποτίθεσαι κατακρύπτων, καὶ τοὺς διαφανεῖς τῶν λίθων σκότῳ κατακαλύπτων· τοὺς δὲ περιφέρεις, τῶν βαρυτίμων ἐναβρυνόμενος αὐτῶν τῇ αὐγῇ. Εἰπὲ, τί ὄφελός σοι λίθοις λαμπομένην περιστρέφειν τὴν χεῖρα; Οὐκ ἐρυθριᾷς λιθιδίων κισσῶν ὡς αἱ γυναῖκες, ὅταν κύωσιν; Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖναι λιθίδια περιτρώγουσι, καὶ σὺ λίχνως ἔχεις περὶ τὰ ἄνθη τῶν λίθων, σαρδόνυχας, καὶ ἰάσπιδας, καὶ ἀμεθύσους ἐπιζητῶν. Τίς καλ λωπιστὴς μίαν ἡμέραν ἠδυνήθη τῷ βίῳ προσθεῖναι; τίνος ἐφείσατο θάνατος διὰ τὸν πλοῦτον; τίνος ἀπέσχετο νόσος διὰ τὰ χρήματα; Ἕως πότε χρυ σὸς, τῶν ψυχῶν ἡ ἀγχόνη, τὸ τοῦ θανάτου ἄγκιστρον, τὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας δέλεαρ; Ἕως πότε πλοῦτος, ἡ τοῦ πολέμου ὑπόθεσις, δι' ὃν χαλκεύεται ὅπλα, δι' ὃν ἀκονᾶται ξίφη; Διὰ τοῦτον συγγενεῖς ἀγνοοῦσι τὴν φύσιν, ἀδελφοὶ κατ' ἀλλήλων φονικὸν βλέπουσι· διὰ τὸν πλοῦτον αἱ ἐρημίαι τοὺς φονευτὰς τρέφουσιν, ἡ θάλασσα τοὺς καταποντιστὰς, αἱ πόλεις τοὺς συκοφάντας. Τίς ἐστιν ὁ ψεύδους πατήρ; τίς ὁ πλαστογραφίας δημιουργός; τίς ὁ τὴν ἐπιορκίαν γεννήσας; Οὐχ ὁ πλοῦτος; οὐχ ἡ περὶ τοῦτον σπουδή; Τί πάσχετε, ἄνθρωποι; τίς ὑμῖν τὰ ὑμέτερα εἰς τὴν καθ' ὑμῶν ἐπιβουλὴν περιέτρεψε; Συνεργία πρὸς τὸ ζῇν. Μὴ γὰρ ἐφόδια κακῶν ἐδόθη τὰ χρή ματα; Λύτρον ψυχῆς. Μὴ γὰρ ἀφορμὴ ἀπωλείας; Ἀλλ' ἀναγκαῖος ὁ πλοῦτος διὰ τοὺς παῖδας. Εὐπρόσωπος ἀφορμὴ πλεονεξίας αὕτη· τοὺς γὰρ παῖδας προβάλλεσθε, τὴν δὲ καρδίαν πληροφορεῖτε. Μὴ αἰτιῶ τὸν ἀναίτιον· ἴδιον ἔχει δεσπότην, ἴδιον οἰκονόμον· παρ' ἄλλου τὴν ζωὴν ἐδέξατο, παρ' αὐτοῦ τὰς ἀφορμὰς ἀναμένει τοῦ βίου. Μὴ τοῖς γεγαμηκόσιν οὐκ ἐγράφη τὰ Εὐαγγέλια· Εἰ θέλεις τέλειος εἶναι, πώλησόν σου τὰ ὑπάρ χοντα, καὶ δὸς πτωχοῖς; Ὅτε ᾔτεις παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου τὴν εὐπαιδίαν, ὅτε ἠξίους γενέσθαι τέκνων πατὴρ, ἆρα προσέθηκας τοῦτο· Δός μοι τέκνα, ἵνα παρακούσω τῶν ἐντολῶν σου; δός μοι τέκνα, ἵνα μὴ φθάσω εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν; Τίς δὲ καὶ ἐγγυητὴς ἔσται τῆς τοῦ παιδὸς προ αιρέσεως, ὅτι εἰς δέον χρήσεται τοῖς δοθεῖσι; Πολλοῖς γὰρ ὁ πλοῦτος ὑπηρέτης ἀκολασίας ἐγένετο. Ἢ οὐκ ἀκούεις τοῦ Ἐκκλησιαστοῦ λέγοντος· Εἶδον ἀῤῥωστίαν δεινὴν, πλοῦτον φυλασσόμενον τῷ παρ' αὐτοῦ εἰς κακίαν αὐτῷ; καὶ πάλιν, ὅτι· Ἀφίω ἐγὼ αὐτὸν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τῷ μετ' ἐμέ. Καὶ τίς οἶδεν εἰ σοφὸς ἔσται ἢ ἄφρων; Ὅρα δὴ οὖν μὴ, μετὰ μυρίων πόνων τὸν πλοῦτον ἀθροίσας, ὕλην ἁμαρτημάτων ἑτέροις παρασκευάσῃς, εἶτα εὑρεθῇς διπλᾶ τιμωρούμενος, ὧν τε αὐτὸς ἠδίκησας, καὶ ὧν ἕτερον ἐφωδίασας. Μὴ οὐχὶ παντὸς τέκνου οἰκειοτέρα σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή; Μὴ οὐχὶ πάντων μᾶλλον εἰς οἰκειότητα προσεγγίζει; Πρώτῃ αὐτῇ ἀπόδος τὰ πρεσβεῖα τῆς κληρονομίας, πλουσίας αὐτῇ παράσχου τὰς ἀφορμὰς τῆς ζωῆς· καὶ τότε τοῖς παισὶ διαιρήσεις τὸν βίον. Οἱ μέν γε παῖδες παρὰ γονέων μὴ διαδεξάμενοι, ἑαυτοῖς πολλάκις οἴκους ἐποίησαν· ἡ ψυχὴ δὲ, παρὰ σοῦ ἐγκαταλειφθεῖσα, παρὰ τίνος ἐλεηθήσεται;

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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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