ЗАВИСТЬ

Take away from me, Lord, every evil thought of this visible life. How constantly I am tired of this whole evil thought of the visible (there is the invisible) of this life, distracting us from the real, invisible, eternal life. We constantly notice in the world greed for what is visible, passionate desire, envy of the rich, and more and more, endlessly acquiring for themselves and not giving from their wealth to the poor or even taking away from them. Be rich in God and do not envy those who enrich themselves to the point of madness and oblivion of God (4). A person who is envious of someone else’s wealth or the convenience of life, himself reveals his addiction to it and the wrong direction of his mind and heart, and his heart departs from God and becomes an idolater. Look better at the peasant: the drink there is water, sometimes not everyone has tea, only according to everyone’s income, the estate is two or three cattle, a horse and several sheep for food and clothing. And if you take into account the constant fires that burn everything in the village to the ground, you are amazed at how poor peasants are still alive. The townspeople are drowning in wealth, the village is drowning in fire and poverty. Villagers are martyrs, eternally mournful people. These last many will be the first in the next century. Do not envy the stingy and hard-hearted rich people who wrongly got rich at the expense of the poor people. They perish in their vanity and enrichment and do not have God and have completely fallen away from Him. Remember that “the earth and everything that is in it will be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10). Do not be jealous of those who are enriched by the body, but do not care about the immortal soul, and pray for them who are perishing, darkened by their souls, and always have God in your heart - the true wealth of a believer (4). He who envies the wealth of others thereby reveals a hidden desire to take possession of their industry and wealth, and at the same time the emptiness of his mind and heart and lack of faith in God, by whom every person lives, and love for his weak neighbor. If God were the wealth of his heart, he would never envy the earthly and perishable wealth of his neighbors, considering it vain and greatly hindering the salvation of his soul. For it is extremely difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God, and it is easy to perish, like the merry rich man of the Gospel or the rich man who “had a good harvest in the field; and he reasoned with himself: what should I do? I have nowhere to gather my fruits” (Luke 12:16, 17). Read the Gospel and look for where the wisdom of a true Christian lies: is it not in poverty of spirit and self-sacrifice? “We have nothing, but we possess everything” (2 Cor. 6:10), says the apostle (4). Envy in a Christian is madness. In Christ we have all received infinitely great blessings, we have all been deified, we have all become heirs of the ineffable and eternal blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven; and we are promised contentment in earthly blessings under the condition of seeking the righteousness of God and the Kingdom of God: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33); we are commanded to be content with what we have and not to be lovers of money: “Have a disposition that does not love money, being content with what you have,” and it is added: “For He (the Lord) Himself said: I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). Isn’t it crazy after this to envy your neighbor in anything, for example, his honors, his wealth, a luxurious table, a magnificent clothing, a beautiful home, and so on? Isn’t all this dust in comparison with what is given to us in the image and likeness of God, in whom we are created, in the redemption of us by the Son of God from sin, curse and death, in the granting to us again of the blessing of the Heavenly Father and the eternal joys associated with him in heaven? So, let us acquire mutual love, goodwill and contentment with our condition, friendship, hospitality, love of poverty, love of hobbies and the height of virtues - humility, kindness, meekness, holiness. Let us respect in each other the image of God, the members of Christ God, His Body, the sonship of God, citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, cohabitants and fellow angels. May we all be one (cf. John 17:22), just as our God, worshiped in the Trinity, is One and created our hearts in oneness (in unity), that is, simple, united (6). How unworthy of the human soul, created in the image of God, is every earthly passion that humiliates it and chains it to the earth and decay, instead of allowing it to ascend to its God, the First Source and Eternal Life, and separating it from God and making it alien to Him! How envious is the human eye, wanting to take possession of the whole world and envying those who own earthly goods, although he already has enough of them! What a desecration of one’s spiritual nature, which must strive for spiritual, eternal blessings! (9) There are several other types of quiet, silent or slanderous demons: this is the demons of envious people who are consumed by other people’s happiness or well-being and who either suffer in silence in their souls, seeing the happiness of their neighbors, or blaspheme and slander those they envy (9). You might be interested in: