Greed that profits from the invasion
Gregory condemns those who treated the invasion as a time to seize other people's goods, rules that they be excommunicated, and supports the ruling with Scripture on greed and the wrath it brings.
Greed is a terrible thing. It is not possible in a single letter to set out the divine Scriptures, in which not only robbery is denounced as something to flee from and shudder at, but greed of every kind and every grasping at what belongs to others for shameful gain; and anyone of that kind is cast out of the Church of God. But that, at the time of the invasion, amid so much wailing and so many laments, some should dare to think that a time bringing ruin to all was for them a time of gain—that is the mark of impious men, hateful to God, whose outrageousness nothing could surpass. So it has been decided to excommunicate such people altogether, lest the wrath come upon the whole people, and first upon the very leaders who fail to look into these things.
For I fear, as the Scripture says, that the impious man may destroy the righteous along with himself (Genesis 18:23). “For fornication,” it says, “and greed—on account of these the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Colossians 3:5–6; Ephesians 5:3, 6). “Do not, then, become partners with them; for once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light—for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth—testing what is pleasing to the Lord. And take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For the things they do in secret are shameful even to speak of; but everything that is exposed by the light is made plain” (Ephesians 5:7–13). So says the apostle.
And if some, while paying the penalty for their earlier greed, committed in time of peace, turn back to greed in the very time of wrath, profiting from the blood and ruin of people who have been driven from their homes, taken captive, or killed, what else is to be expected but that, pressing on still harder in their greed, they will heap up wrath both on themselves and on the whole people?
Greek
Δεινὴ ἡ πλεονεξία καὶ οὐκ ἔστι δι᾿ ἐπιστολῆς μιᾶς παραθέσθαι τὰ θεῖα γράμματα, ἐν οἷς οὐ τὸ λῃστεύειν μόνον φευκτὸν καὶ φρικῶδες καταγγέλλεται, ἀλλὰ καθόλου τὸ πλεονεκτεῖν καὶ ἀλλοτρίων ἐφάπτεσθαι ἐπὶ αἰσχροκερδείᾳ, καὶ πᾶς τοιοῦτος ἐκκήρυκτος Ἐκκλησίας Θεοῦ. Τὸ δὲ ἐν καιρῷ τῆς καταδρομῆς, ἐν τοσαύτῃ οἰμωγῇ καὶ τοσούτοις θρήνοις, τολμῆσαί τινας τὸν καιρὸν τὸν πᾶσιν ὄλεθρον φέροντα νομίσαι ἑαυτοῖς καιρὸν εἶναι κέρδους, ἀνθρώπων ἐστὶν ἀσεβῶν καὶ θεοστυγῶν, οὐδὲ ὑπερβολὴν ἀτοπίας ἐχόντων. Ὅθεν ἔδοξε τοὺς τοιούτους πάντα ἐκκηρύξαι, μήποτε ἐφ᾿ ὅλον ἔλθῃ τὸν λαὸν ἡ ὀργὴ καὶ ἐπ᾿ αὐτοὺς πρῶτον τοὺς προεστῶτας, τοὺς μὴ ἐπιζητοῦντας. Φοβοῦμαι γάρ, ὡς ἡ Γραφὴ λέγει, μὴ συναπολέσῃ ἀσεβὴς τὸν δίκαιον· πορνεία γάρ, φησί, καὶ πλεονεξία, δι᾿ ἃ ἔρχεται ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας. Μὴ οὖν γίνεσθε συμμέτοχοι αὐτῶν· ἦτε γάρ ποτε σκότος, νῦν δὲ φῶς ἐν Κυρίῳ· ὡς τέκνα φωτὸς περιπατεῖτε, ὁ γὰρ καρπὸς τοῦ φωτὸς ἐν πάσῃ ἀγαθοσύνῃ καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ, δοκιμάζοντες τί ἐστιν εὐάρεστον τῷ Κυρίῳ καὶ μὴ συγκοινωνεῖτε τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς ἀκάρποις τοῦ σκότους, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἐλέγχετε. Τὰ γὰρ κρυφῇ γινόμενα ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν, αἰσχρόν ἐστι καὶ λέγειν, τὰ δὲ πάντα ἐλεγχόμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ φωτὸς φανεροῦται. Τοιαῦτα μὲν ὁ ἀπόστολος. Ἐὰν δὲ διὰ τὴν προτέραν πλεονεξίαν, τὴν ἐν τῇ εἰρήνῃ γενομένην, δίκην τιννύντες, ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ὀργῆς πάλιν πρὸς τὴν πλεονεξίαν ἐκτραπῶσί τινες, κερδαίνοντες ἐξ αἵματος καὶ ὀλέθρου ἀνθρώπων ἀναστάτων γενομένων ἢ αἰχμαλώτων ἢ πεφονευμένων, τί ἕτερον χρὴ προσδοκᾶν ἤ ὡς ἐπαγωνιζομένους τῇ πλεονεξίᾳ, ἐπισωρεῦσαι ὀργήν καὶ ἑαυτοῖς καὶ παντὶ τῷ λαῷ;