Слово 11. О богатстве и бедности

When you see that someone is undeservedly enjoying wealth, do not call him happy, do not consider him worthy of competition, do not condemn God’s Providence, do not think that real life flows without cause and purpose. Remember about the rich man and Lazarus - how the first reached the final limits of wealth and luxury, being cruel, fierce, inhuman and fiercer than all dogs - and in fact, the latter pitied the poor man and served him, not being lazy to lick with their tongue the wounds that covered his entire body, and he did not even give him a crumb - while poor Lazarus, this truly rich, truly living in contentment, fell into extreme poverty, deprived of even the most necessary food, and struggled with illness and constant hunger. One had more than he needed, while the other did not even use the means corresponding to the necessary needs. And, however, he did not complain, did not blame God and blame Providence. So, isn’t it unreasonable that while those who suffer disasters themselves bless the Lord for everything, you, who stand outside the exploits, blaspheme God for what others endure with thanksgiving? The one who suffers misfortunes, even if he says some heavy and cruel word, still deserves leniency, although not the same as the other, but less; but the one who stands outside of disasters and destroys his soul because of others, will he be worthy of any forgiveness, blaspheming God for what he himself who suffers disasters thanks Him and never ceases to praise? Why does wealth seem desirable to you, man? Undoubtedly, due to the pleasure received from a good table, due to the honor and the crowd of bodyguards, consisting of people who serve you for the sake of wealth, due to the fact that you can take revenge on offenders and be terrible for everyone - and you cannot specify other reasons except pleasure and flattery, fear and revenge. In fact, wealth usually does not make you wiser, more temperate, kind, or philanthropic; does not introduce or instill in the soul any other virtue. And you cannot say that it is desirable and desirable for you for the sake of any of these benefits, because it not only cannot plant and cultivate any of them, but, on the contrary, it even harms and interferes with them if it finds them already present, and some even completely purges and introduces what is opposite to them. But I will not talk about this, because those captivated by this illness are not able to hear how they are accused and denounced, being completely devoted to pleasure and thereby becoming slaves. So, tell me, is it because wealth seems desirable and highly valuable to you because it feeds the gravest passions in you, bringing anger to action, inflating the bubbles of sick ambition to enormous proportions and inciting you to pride? Therefore, you yourself need to run away from it without any backward glance, because it settles wild and ferocious animals in our soul, through which it deprives it of the honor recognized by everyone, and, coloring the colors of the latter with a false honor, presents it in such a way as deceived and inspires that the latter is greater than the first, although it is not such by nature, but appears only in appearance. Just as the beauty of dissolute women, induced by rubbing and touching up, is in fact devoid of beauty, but an ugly and ugly face in reality seems beautiful and plausible to the deceived, so too, wealth reveals dishonor instead of honor. Do not look at those praises that are squandered openly due to fear and flattery, but open the conscience of each of those who so flatter you, and you will see thousands of accusers who cry out against you in their souls, turn away from you and hate you worse than your worst enemies and enemies. And if someday a change of circumstances should remove and expose the mask formed by fear, just as a bright ray of sun reveals painted faces, then you will clearly see that in the previous time you were in extreme dishonor among those who served you, and enjoyed, as you thought, honor from the people who hated you most of all and wanted to see you in extreme misfortune. Just as man is an insignificant animal, subject to destruction and short-lived, so wealth is the same; or rather, it’s even more insignificant. Often it dies not even with the person, but even before the person; and you all know how many examples of the premature destruction of wealth you have seen here. And often the owner remains alive, but the fortune perishes; and, oh, if only it perished, and did not destroy the owner along with it. That is why the one who calls wealth an ungrateful slave, a bloodthirsty and murderous slave, a slave who repays his master in gratitude with murder, will not sin; and what is most difficult is that it exposes him to danger not only at the time when it leaves him, but even before leaving, it gives him anxiety and anxiety. Who, for example, was higher than Eutropius? Didn't he surpass the entire universe in his wealth? Have you not reached the highest honors? Didn't everyone tremble and fear him? But now, he has become more miserable than even the prisoners in prison, more pitiful than the slaves, needs worse than the beggars tormented by hunger, sees every day in front of him sharpened swords, a pit, executioners and being taken to execution; he does not even know whether he has ever enjoyed those pleasures, and does not even feel the very rays of the sun, but, as if surrounded by an impenetrable night, he is deprived of the ability to see at noon. However, no matter how hard we try, we will not be able to depict the suffering that he must experience, waiting every hour for his head to be cut off. I see his face, yellow as a beech, looking no better than that of someone who has already been deprived of life forever; to this is added the chattering and gnashing of teeth, trembling of the whole body, an intermittent voice, a barely babbling tongue and an appearance that only a person with a petrified soul can have. Have I not always told you that wealth is fleeting? But you couldn't stand my words. Did I not say that it is an ungrateful slave? But you didn't want to believe it. But experience has actually shown that it is not only a runaway and ungrateful slave, but also a murderer, since it is now that it has made you tremble and fear. Did I not tell you, while you constantly reproached me for speaking the truth, that I love you more than your flatterers? That I, the accuser, care about you more than those who please you? Did I not add to these words that “sincere reproaches” of friends and “deceitful kisses” (Prov. 27:6)? If you had suffered my wounds, their kisses would not have caused you this death, because wounds bring health, and their kisses produce incurable disease. Really, where does this come from? Because you did not think about the vicissitudes of human affairs. If you were afraid of betrayal of happiness, you would not tolerate betrayal. But since you did not become better either by yourself or by others, you actually experienced what was said in words. I always say that wealth betrays those who use it badly; Now the time comes and shows the truth of these words. Why do you keep it if it does not benefit you during temptation? If it has power, then let it be with you when you fall into need; if it then runs away, then why do you need it? I say, and I will not stop saying this, although many reproach me (saying): he always says, he bothers the rich. However, even those always bother the poor. And I bother the rich, or rather, not the rich, but those who make bad use of wealth. I always say that I blame not the rich man, but the predator. It’s another thing to be rich, another thing to be a predator; distinguish between these two things, do not merge the incompatible. Are you rich? I don't forbid it. Kidnapping? I accuse you. Do you have your own? Use it. Are you taking someone else's? I won't keep silent. Do you want to kill me? I’m ready to shed my blood just to keep you from sin. I don't pay attention to hatred, I don't pay attention to enmity; I only care about one thing - the success of my listeners. And the poor are my children, and the rich are my children; the same womb was sick with both, in the same pains both were born. Let him kill whoever wants; let him hate whoever he wants; let him plot whoever he wants! For me, intrigues are the guarantee of crowns, wounds are the count of rewards. I am not afraid of intrigues; I am afraid of only one thing - sin. If only no one would convict me of sin, and at least let the whole universe fight with me. Do you see the insignificance of human affairs? Do you see the weakness of power? Do you see that wealth, which I have always called a fugitive, is not only a fugitive, but also a murderer? It not only leaves its owners, but also kills them. When someone cares about him, then it is he who betrays him and betrays him. Why do you care about wealth that can never be protected? Do you want to save it? Don't bury it, but give it into the hands of the poor. Wealth is a wild beast; if it is held, it runs away; if they drive you away, you stay. Spend your wealth so that it remains; Don’t bury it so it doesn’t run away. Where is the wealth? I would love to ask the dead: where is the wealth? I say this not as a reproach, no, and not in order to reopen the wounds; but in order to make for you a quiet haven from the ruins of others. In fact, whoever is rich today becomes poor tomorrow. That is why I often laughed when reading such agreements: the ownership of the fields or the house should belong to one, and the use to another. We all just use, and no one owns. Even though wealth remained with us throughout our entire life, without being subject to any accident, we willy-nilly at death give it up to others, having only benefited from it, but without gaining power over it, and move into the afterlife, naked and having nothing. From this it is clear that only those who own wealth are those who despised the use of it and laughed at the enjoyment of it. The one who rejected wealth and distributed it to the poor, used it in the proper way, and departs from here, retaining full power over it. Thus, if anyone wants to own, and use, and have full power over his property, let him renounce all property; and the one who does not do this will lose it all at death, and sometimes even before death he will lose it, having suffered countless disasters and dangers. And the trouble is not only that with wealth misfortunes happen, and unexpectedly, but also that the rich person turns out to be completely unprepared to endure poverty. Why do you consider wealth worthy of effort and consider those who have acquired it happy and envy them? What is the difference between rich and poor? Is he not clothed with one body? Isn’t it the only thing that feeds the stomach? Why do you have many servants? Just as in clothing and food one should look only for what is absolutely necessary, so it is in servants. One master should have only one servant; or rather, to two or three masters - one servant. If this seems difficult, then remember those who do not have a single servant and use the easiest services. This is why God gave us arms and legs, so that we would not need servants. In fact, it was not for the sake of need that servants were introduced into the world - otherwise a slave would have been created along with Adam - but as retribution and punishment for sin and disobedience. But if it is already necessary to have a slave, then perhaps only one, or, at most, two. Indeed, why do you need to have a crowd of servants and perform with importance in the square? Do you walk among the animals that you drive away those you meet? Don't be afraid; none of those who approach and walk near you bite. Or maybe you consider it an insult to yourself to go along with everyone else? But what madness is it to think that a horse, if it walks alongside, does not cause an insult, but a man, if he is not driven away a thousand miles, causes dishonor? What could be more incongruous than pushing and driving people aside to make way for cattle? So, in the first city, the city of the rich, there will not be a single craftsman, architect, carpenter, shoemaker, baker, farmer, blacksmith, ropemaker, or anything else like that. Who, indeed, among the rich will ever want to take up such matters, if those who do them themselves, when they become rich, cannot bear the severity of these works? How will this city exist for us? The rich, you say, having given silver, will buy it from the poor. But how will they build houses? Or will they buy this too? But this, by the very essence of the matter, is impossible. It is necessary, therefore, to call upon the masters there; and thus break the law which we established at the beginning in building the city. Let us now look at the city of the poor, whether it will also suffer shortages in the same way, being deprived of the rich. Let us first define wealth precisely, meaning by it exactly gold, silver, precious stones, silk, purple and gold-woven clothing. What then? If we remove all this from the city of the poor, will it, tell me, become insufficient as a result? No way. Indeed, whether it is necessary to build a house, or forge iron, or weave clothing, this requires not gold, or silver, or pearls, but art and hands. Likewise, if there is a need to plow or dig, are the rich or the poor required for it? It is obvious to everyone that they are poor. Where, finally, will we need the rich, except in the event that we need to ruin this city? So, when you see someone shining with clothes and a crowd of bodyguards, open his conscience and you will find a lot of dust there. Remember Paul, Peter; remember John, Elijah, and above all, the Son of God Himself, who had “no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20); imitate Him and His servants and imagine in your mind their ineffable wealth. If you, having regained your sight a little, are then darkened again, as if during a crash from a rushing gust of a storm, then listen to the saying of Christ, which says that it is impossible “for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 19:23). To this saying add the mountains, the earth and the sea, and if you want, make everything in your mind into gold, and you will see that nothing can compare with the harm that will come from here for you. In fact, if each of the rich men owned the whole world, each had as many people as there are now in the entire universe - on land and sea, each owned land and sea, and all existing buildings, cities and peoples, and gold flowed to him from everywhere instead of water and springs, then I would say that such rich men are not worth three pennies if they have lost the Kingdom of Heaven. If now, striving to possess money that is perishing, they experience torment when they do not have time in this, then what will be able to give them consolation when they receive a sense of the blessings there? Tell me, if someone brought you into the royal palace, gave you the opportunity to talk with the king in the presence of everyone, and made you his table companion and roommate, would you not call yourself the happiest of all? Meanwhile, when you have to ascend to Heaven, stand before the King of all, shine before the Angels and enjoy the unapproachable glory there, you doubt whether you need to sacrifice money, whereas, even if you had to give up life itself, you should rejoice, have fun and be inspired by joy. In order to gain power, which gives you the opportunity to steal (I wouldn’t call this kind of thing acquisition), you spend your own money and borrow from others, and, if necessary, you don’t even think about mortgaging your wife and children; and when the Kingdom of Heaven is presented to you, which has no successor to power, do you hesitate, hesitate and spare money? But alas, what great insensitivity! While such blessings await us, we are still addicted to the present and do not think about the cunning of the devil, who through small things deprives us of great things; gives dirt to steal Heaven; shows the shadow to turn away from the truth; deceives with dreams (and nothing else is real wealth), so that when the day comes, he will show us the poorest of all. In fact, is there any other enemy as constant and insatiable as wealth? When we live, he destroys our soul, and when we die, he dishonors our body, not allowing us to bury it in the ground, which is the fate that befalls the condemned. At the same time, the law-makers, having subjected the latter to the death penalty, do nothing further with them, while wealth subjects its owners even after death to the most severe punishment, exposing them naked and unburied. A terrible and pitiable sight! Truly, they suffer a more severe fate than criminals from the angry verdict of a judge. The latter, remaining unburied for the first and second days, are then buried; the rich, after they are buried, are exposed and dishonored by grave robbers. If at the same time the latter do not carry away the coffin, then here we need to thank not wealth, but poverty, because if we entrusted him to wealth, and, having stopped making him from stone, forged him from gold, then we would destroy him too. So, what could be more miserable than a rich man, when even death does not bring him safety, and his pitiful body, even devoid of life, does not get rid of the evils of this life, being subjected to robbery and stripping by villains and grave robbers, prompted by the greedy love of money to fight with dust and ashes, and with much greater cruelty than during the life of the rich man. In fact, then, having entered the storeroom, they emptied the boxes, but did not touch the bodies, and they could not carry away enough to expose even the body; now they do not spare him either, but touch and turn him in all directions, and inflict a cruel insult on him. After committing him to the ground, depriving him of both earth cover and clothing, they leave him to lie there without any protection. And while nature then reconciles even enemies with it, wealth, on the contrary, arms those who have nothing against it, and so arouses and enrages the fury of villains against the dead and immovable that they would not even spare the body itself if its members were of any use to them. Let us not, therefore, consider wealth a great blessing. The greatest good is not to have money, but to have the fear of God. Now, if there were some righteous person who had great boldness towards God, he could, even if he was the poorest of all, stop the real disasters; It would be enough for him to just raise his hands to the sky and call on God, and this cloud would pass by; and there is so much gold in reserve and it turns out to be more useless than any rubbish for stopping the disasters that befall us. And not only in this danger, but also in other cases - whether illness, or death, or something else similar - the power of money is put to shame, finding itself unable to provide any relief in the misfortunes that happen. Where are the rich now, calculating interest and interest on interest, taking everything from everyone and never getting enough? Have you heard the voice of Peter, who shows that poverty is the mother of wealth, who had nothing and was richer than those wearing the diadem? In fact, he, having nothing, raised the dead, healed the lame, drove out demons, and delivered such benefits that neither those clothed in purple nor the leaders of the great and terrible armies were ever able to give. What is he saying? “I have no silver or gold” (Acts 3:6). What could be more worthy than these words? What could be more blissful and contented? While others boast of the opposite, saying: I have so many talents of gold, countless acres of land, houses and slaves, he boasts of being deprived of everything, and not only is not embarrassed or ashamed of his poverty, but is even proud of it. This is how someone who has nothing can own everything, and this is how he can have the goods of everyone; if we possess the blessings of everyone, we will lose everything. So, the one who considers his property not his own, but common, will use not only his own, but also someone else’s property, as if he were his own; the one who separates himself and makes himself the master of only his own property will not be his master either. He who has nothing at all - no house, no table, no extra clothes, but has lost everything for the sake of God, uses the common property as his own, and will receive from everyone everything he wants. He who has nothing, therefore, has the goods of all. Meanwhile, the one who has something will not be the master of this property, because no one will give it to the one who has it, and his property will rather be the prey of robbers, thieves, slanderers, unfortunate circumstances, in a word, it will belong to everyone rather than to him. And, if you want, I will introduce you to the very one who said this and carried it out in practice, the screen-maker, a Cilician, about whom it is not even known where he was from. So, he walked through the entire universe, enduring hunger, thirst and nakedness, carrying absolutely nothing with him, moreover, going not to a friend, not to close people - because at the beginning he was the common enemy of everyone - and yet he had everything when he came. Meanwhile, Ananias and Sapphira, because they owned a small part of their estate, lost everything, even their very lives. So, part with your property in order to use someone else’s as if it were your own. Just as a person who feels remorse, even if he had all the wealth, is the most unhappy of all people, so, on the contrary, he who has a clear conscience, even if he was dressed in rags and suffered from hunger, is happier than people who live in complete pleasure. You have money in order to alleviate poverty, and not in order to trade in poverty; and you, under the guise of relief, cause even greater disaster and sell philanthropy for money. Sell, I don’t forbid it, but only for the Kingdom of Heaven. Do not take a small price for such a great feat - a hundredfold profit, but future eternal life. Why do you remain poor and needy and busy yourself with trifles, selling great things for little things—for money that is perishing? Why are you, having left God, engaged in the acquisition of human gain? Why, bypassing the rich, do you burden the poor, and, leaving the one who repays the debt, do you deal with the ungrateful? This one wants to pay the debt, and this one even grumbles while paying it; This one barely pays even a hundredth part, but He repays a hundredfold and eternal life; this one with reproaches and abuse, and that one with thanksgiving and praise; this one is envious of you, and that one weaves crowns for you; This one is barely here (rewarding), but He is both there and here. So, isn’t it extreme foolishness not to even be able to acquire profits? Money should be owned as befits masters, not slaves, so that one can rule over them, rather than them ruling over us. Money (χρήματα) is called that so that we use (χρωμεθα) it for necessary needs, and not put it in storage. After all, it is the nature of a slave to save, but to spend is the nature of a master and one who has full power. That is why there is nothing more unreasonable than a slave of money: being possessed, he thinks that he possesses; being a slave, he thinks that he is the master; Having put chains on himself, he magnifies himself as if he rules over everyone; irritating the beast against himself, he has fun and rejoices, becoming his captive; seeing a mad dog attacking his soul, instead of tying him up and starving him, he supplies him with plenty of food so that he will attack even more and be even more terrible. So, do not think that any pleasure comes to you from the possession of great wealth; on the contrary, it comes from not wanting to be rich. In fact, if you want to be rich, you will never stop tormenting, because the love of wealth is endless, and the further you go, the further you will be from the end, and the more you desire the things of others, the more the torment will increase. Likewise, when we are thirsty, we only get satisfaction when we drink as much as we want; and while the thirst remains, then, even if we have exhausted all the sources, our torment only increases. And just as you consider a prisoner especially unhappy when you see him with chains on his back and on his arms, and often on his legs, so you consider a rich man, when you see him owning countless estates, therefore consider him not rich, and for that reason consider him unhappy. Along with these bonds, he also has a cruel jailer - the unhappy love of money, who does not allow him to cross the threshold of this prison, but invents countless bonds and guards, doors and locks, and, throwing him into the inner prison, convinces him to enjoy these bonds, so that he does not even find any hope of liberation from oppressive evils. Truly, it is not so much the poor who desires what is necessary, as the rich who desires what is unnecessary; in the same way, the first does not have the same power to do evil as the last has the same ability. If he both wants and can do more, then it is obvious that he will do more sooner and more. God made you rich so that you could help those in need, so that you could atone for your sins by saving others; I gave you money not so that you would lock it up to your destruction, but so that you would squander it for your salvation. For this reason, He made their possession doubtful and fragile, in order to weaken the power of crazy love for them. If now, when those who have money cannot safely rely on it, even see how many evil intrigues arise because of it, they are so strongly inflamed by the passion for money, then who would they spare, what would they give up, if strength and security were added to wealth? Who was, tell me, poorer than Elijah? But precisely because he was poor, he defeated all the rich; and he chose this very poverty from the wealth of his soul, and considered any monetary wealth to be lower than the greatness of his soul and unworthy of his wisdom. Indeed, if he considered real blessings to be great, he would not have owned only the mantle. He despised the vanity of real life so much that he looked at gold as if it were discarded rubbish. That is why the king himself needed this poor man, and, having a lot of gold, looked with surprise at the lips of one who had nothing but mantle. How much more glorious was the mantle than the purple, and the cave of the righteous than the royal palaces! That is why, when ascending to Heaven, he left the disciple nothing else but mantle. With her, he says, I fought against the devil; Having received it, you will arm yourself with it against him; non-covetousness is a strong weapon and irresistible defense. And Elisha accepted this mantle as the greatest inheritance; and truly it was the greatest inheritance, more valuable than any gold. And that Elijah was pure - Elijah was above, and Elijah was below. I know that you please this righteous man and would each wish to be Elijah. But what if I prove to you that we all received something much greater than it. In fact, Elijah left the disciple a mantle; Meanwhile, the Son of Man, ascending to Heaven, left us His flesh. So, when we hear about the destruction of our money, let us not be embarrassed, but say: blessed be God, and we will find much greater wealth. Truly, you will not receive as much if you spend wealth on the needy, go around and look for the poor, and squander your wealth on the hungry, as you will gain through this word. That is why I am not so surprised at Job when he opened his home to those in need, as I am amazed and glorified for the fact that he endured the theft of his property with thanksgiving. The one who, having calmed the excitement of his nature, can say without tears in the words of Job: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away” (Job 1:21), for this one word he will stand with Abraham, will be glorified along with Job. So, when the devil deprives you of gold, either through robbers, or through some other trick, give glory to the Lord, and you will gain more and deal a double blow to the enemy - by not complaining, and by being grateful. If he sees that the loss of money upsets you and prompts you to grumble against the Lord, he will never stop doing this; If he sees that you not only do not blaspheme the God who created you, but even thank Him for every disaster that befalls you, then you will stop bringing temptations, knowing that the disasters that befall you are a reason for thanksgiving and only make your crowns more brilliant. So it was with Job. Having deprived him of his property and struck his body, and seeing that this had prompted him to even greater gratitude, the devil no longer dared to attack further and withdrew, suffering a shameful and complete defeat, and making the fighter of God more glorious. And Job, after being crowned with all the crowns of patience and courage, again received everything he had lost twice; and if you endure it courageously, you will receive everything, not even double or triple, but a hundredfold, and you will inherit eternal life, which may we all be worthy to receive by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Ἐκλογαί άπό διαφόρων λόγων . Under this name are known collections of conversations compiled by various persons after the death of Chrysostom on certain topics, from those related to the topics and especially liked by the compilers of the works of the saint. The passages are given partly in a literal presentation, partly in a free retelling and are borrowed both from the original works of Chrysostom, and from works only attributed to Chrysostom, which have not only survived to this day, but have also been lost. These Eclogues (selections) were widespread and were used by both private individuals and kings. Known, for example, is the luxurious collection of Eclogues, owned by the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros Botaniatus (1078–1081), registered among the codices of the Koalene Library under No. LXXIX. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: