Homily to the Rich · §8 · Basil of Caesarea

Deathbed generosity is no generosity

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Basil is addressing the rich who put off giving until after death, and now he turns to their excuse that they must keep their possessions for life's necessities.

What has been said to fathers has been said. But what plausible excuse for stinginess do the childless put forward to us? "I am not selling my possessions, and I am not giving to the poor, because of the necessary needs of life." So then the Lord is not your teacher, and the Gospel does not order your life—you make laws for yourself. But see what danger you fall into by thinking this way. For if the Lord commanded these things as necessary for us, and you write them off as impossible, you are saying nothing other than that you are wiser than the lawgiver.

"But after enjoying them all my life long, after the end of my life I will make the poor heirs of what belongs to me, proving them owners of my property by documents and wills." When you are no longer among human beings, then you will become a lover of humanity; when I see you a corpse, then I will call you a lover of your brother. Many thanks to you for your generosity—that lying in the tomb and dissolved into earth, you have become lavish in your spending and great-souled.

Tell me, for which season will you demand the rewards—those in life, or those after death? But during the time you lived, luxuriating in life and flowing with softness, you could not bear even to look at the poor. And once you are dead, what action is there? What wage is owed for work? Show the deeds, and demand the returns. No one does business after the festival has broken up; no one is crowned after arriving when the contests are over; no one plays the hero after the wars are done. So clearly no one practices piety after life either.

In ink and letters you promise your good deeds. Who then will announce to you the hour of your departure? Who will guarantee the manner of your death? How many have been snatched away by violent misfortunes, not even permitted by their suffering to utter a sound? How many has fever driven out of their minds? Why then do you wait for a time when you will often not even be master of your own thoughts?

Deep night, and heavy sickness, and no one anywhere to help; and the one lying in wait for the inheritance is ready, arranging everything for his own advantage and making your plans useless. Then, looking around this way and that and seeing the desolation surrounding you, you will at last perceive your folly; then you will groan at your foolishness—at what a time you stored up the commandment, when your tongue is paralyzed and your hand is already trembling, shaken by convulsions, so that neither by voice nor by writing can you make your intention known.

And yet even if everything had been written clearly and every word had been proclaimed aloud, one inserted letter was enough to alter the whole intention; one forged seal, two or three unjust witnesses, could have transferred the entire inheritance to others.

Greek

–Εἴρηται πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας ἃ εἴρηται· οἱ ἄτεκνοι τίνα ἡμῖν εὐπρόσωπον αἰτίαν τῆς φειδωλίας προβάλλονται; Οὐ πωλῶ τὰ ὑπάρχοντα, οὐδὲ δίδωμι τοῖς πτωχοῖς, διὰ τὰς ἀναγκαίας τοῦ βίου χρείας. Οὐκοῦν οὐχ ὁ Κύριός σου διδάσκαλος, οὐδὲ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον ῥυθμίζει σου τὸν βίον, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς σὺ νομοθετεῖς σεαυτῷ. Βλέπε δὲ εἰς οἷον κίνδυνον ἐμπίπτεις οὕτω διανοούμενος. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ μὲν Κύριος ὡς ἀναγκαῖα ἡμῖν διετάξατο, σὺ δὲ ὡς ἀδύνατα παραγράφῃ, οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ φρονιμώτερον σεαυτὸν εἶναι λέγεις τοῦ νομοθέτου. Ἀλλ' ἀπολαύσας αὐτῶν παρὰ πᾶσάν μου τὴν ζωὴν, μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ βίου διαδόχους ποιήσομαι τῶν ἐμοὶ προσόντων τοὺς πένη τας, γράμμασι καὶ διαθήκαις κυρίους αὐτοὺς τῶν ἐμῶν ἀποδείξας. Ὅτε οὐκέτι ἔσῃ ἐν ἀνθρώποις, τότε γενήσῃ φιλάνθρωπος· ὅταν νεκρόν σε ἴδω, τότε σε εἴπω φιλάδελφον. Πολλή σοι χάρις τῆς φιλοτιμίας, ὅτι ἐν τῷ μνήματι κείμενος, καὶ εἰς γῆν διαλυθεὶς, ἁδρὸς γέγονας ταῖς δαπάναις καὶ μεγαλόψυχος. Ποίων, εἰπέ μοι, καιρῶν τοὺς μισθοὺς ἀπαιτήσεις, τῶν ἐν τῇ ζωῇ, ἢ τῶν μετὰ τὴν ἀποβίωσιν; Ἀλλ' ὃν μὲν ἔζης χρόνον, καθηδυπαθῶν τοῦ βίου καὶ τῇ τρυφῇ διαῤῥέων, οὐδὲ προσβλέπειν ἠνείχου τοὺς πένητας· ἀποθανόντος δὲ ποία μὲν πρᾶξις; ποῖος δὲ μισθὸς ἐργασίας ὀφεί λεται; Δεῖξον τὰ ἔργα, καὶ ἀπαίτει τὰς ἀντιδόσεις. Οὐδεὶς μετὰ τὸ λυθῆναι τὴν πανήγυριν πραγματεύεται· οὐδὲ μετὰ τοὺς ἀγῶνας ἐπελθὼν στεφανοῦ ται· οὐδὲ μετὰ τοὺς πολέμους ἀνδραγαθίζεται· οὐ τοίνυν οὐδὲ μετὰ τὴν ζωὴν εὐσεβεῖ δηλονότι. Ἐν μέλανι καὶ γράμμασι κατεπαγγέλλῃ τὰς εὐποιίας. Τίς οὖν ἀναγγελεῖ σοι τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἐξόδου; τίς ἐγγυητὴς ἔσται τοῦ τρόπου τῆς τελευτῆς; Πόσοι ὑπὸ βιαίων ἀνηρπάσθησαν συμπτωμάτων, οὐδὲ φωνὴν ῥῆξαι συγχωρηθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους; Πόσους πυρετὸς ἐποίησεν ἔκφρονας; Τί οὖν ἀναμένεις καιρὸν, ἐν ᾧ πολλάκις οὐδὲ τῶν λογισμῶν τῶν σεαυτοῦ ἔσῃ κύριος; Νὺξ βαθεῖα, καὶ νόσος βαρεῖα, καὶ ὁ βοηθῶν οὐδαμοῦ· καὶ ὁ ἐφεδρεύων τῷ κλήρῳ ἕτοιμος, πάντα πρὸς τὸ ἑαυτοῦ χρήσιμον διοικούμενος, ἄπρακτά σοι ποιῶν τὰ βουλεύματα. Εἶτα περιβλεψάμενος ὧδε καὶ ὧδε, καὶ ἰδὼν τὴν περιεστῶσάν σε ἐρημίαν, τότε αἰσθήσῃ τῆς ἀβουλίας· τότε στενάξεις τὴν ἄνοιαν, εἰς οἷον καιρὸν ἐταμιεύου τὴν ἐντολὴν, ὅτε ἡ μὲν γλῶσσα παρεῖται, ἡ δὲ χεὶρ ὑπότρομος ἤδη κλονουμένη ταῖς συνολκαῖς, ὡς μήτε φωνῇ μήτε γράμματι διασημάναι τὴν γνώμην. Καίτοι εἰ καὶ πάντα φανερῶς ἐγέγραπτο, καὶ πᾶσα φωνὴ διαῤῥήδην κεκήρυκτο, ἓν γράμμα παρεντεθὲν ἱκανὸν ἦν πᾶσαν μεταποιῆσαι τὴν γνώμην· μία σφραγὶς παραποιηθεῖσα, δύο ἢ τρεῖς μάρτυρες ἄδικοι, ὅλον ἂν τὸν κλῆρον ἐφ' ἑτέρους μετήνεγκαν.

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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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