Poverty and Wealth

The Christian response to poverty

Americans are witnessing the widest gap between the highest and lowest income families since officials began tracking the data a decade ago. As many conservative members of Congress continue to press for cutbacks in programs, such as food stamps, medical coverage, and housings subsidies, all of which have been a lifeline for countless poor families, it would be prudent for us to examine the words of some of the greatest Early Church Fathers, spoken with the Mind of the Church, regarding the poor among us, and our responsibility to them as Christians.

Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Teachings of the Early Church Fathers
on Poverty and Wealth

You are not making a gift of your possession to the poor person. You are handing over to him what is his. Saint Ambrose of Milan, 340-397.

The property of the wealthy holds them in chains . . . which shackle their courage and choke their faith and hamper their judgment and throttle their souls. They think of themselves as owners, whereas it is they rather who are owned: enslaved as they are to their own property, they are not the masters of their money but its slaves. Saint Cyprian, 300 A.D.

The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry man; the coat hanging in your closet belongs to the man who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the man who has no shoes; the money which you put into the bank belongs to the poor. You do wrong to everyone you could help but fail to help. Saint Basil of Caesarea, 330-370 A.D.

Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours but theirs. Saint John Chrysostom, 347-407 AD

Instead of the tithes which the law commanded, the Lord said to divide everything we have with the poor. And he said to love not only our neighbors but also our enemies, and to be givers and sharers not only with the good but also to be liberal givers toward those who take away our possessions. Saint Irenaeus, 130-200 AD

The rich are in possession of the goods of the poor, even if they have acquired them honestly or inherited them legally. Saint John Chrysostom, 347-407

Share everything with your brother. Do not say, “It is private property.” If you share what is everlasting, you should be that much more willing to share things which do not last. The Didache

Let the strong take care of the weak; let the weak respect the strong. Let the rich man minister to the poor man; let the poor man give thanks to God that he gave him one through whom his need might be satisfied. Saint Clement of Rome, 1st Century

Christians love one another. They do not overlook the widow, and they save the orphan. The one who has ministers ungrudgingly to the one who does not have. When they see a stranger, they take him under their own roof and rejoice over him as a true brother, for they do not call themselves brothers according to the flesh but according to the soul. Aristides, early 2nd century

How can I make you realize the misery of the poor? How can I make you understand that your wealth comes from their weeping? Saint Basil of Caesarea, 330-370 A.D.

When you are weary of praying and do not receive, consider how often you have heard a poor man calling, and have not listened to him. Saint John Chrysostom, 347-407

Photos: 1) We celebrated the Feast of the Annunciation with a Vesperal Liturgy on Thursday morning.  2) Reader Moses and his son Gabriel have been spending a few days with us. I met Reader Moses when I spoke at Saint Barnabas Orthodox Church in Costa Mesa, CA., in December.

Friday April 8, 2016 / March 26, 2016
Fourth Week of the Great Lent: Adoration of Cross. Tone three.
Great Lent. By Monastic Charter: Strict Fast (Bread, Vegetables, Fruits)

Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel.
Martyr Parasceva (1939).
Hieromartyr Irenaeus, bishop of Srem (Sirmium), Serbia (304).
Martyrs Bathusius and Bercus presbyters, monk Arpilus, laymen Abibus, Agnus, Reasus, Igathrax, Iscoeus (Iskous, Escoes), Silas, Signicus, Sonerilas, Suimbalus, Thermus, Phillus (Philgas), and the women Anna, Alia, Larissa, Monco (Manca), Mamica, Uirko (Virko), Animais (Animaida), Gaatha, and Duklida, in Crimea (375).
Venerable Malchus of Chalcis in Syria (4th c.).
Venerable Basil the Younger, anchorite near Constantinople (944).
Hieromartyr Eusebius, bishop of Kival, and Martyr Pullius the Reader.
St. Braulio of Saragossa in Iberia (646).
Martyr Codratus (Quadratus), and with him 40 Martyrs, who suffered under Diocletian.
St. Ludger, bishop of Munster (809).
Martyr Montanus the priest, and his wife Maxima at Sirmium (beginning of 4th c.).
St. Eutychius, subdeacon of Alexandria (356).
New Martyr George of Adrianople (1437).
Venerable Stephen the Wonderworker, abbot of Tryglia (815).
St. Govan, hermit of Pembrokeshire.

Scripture Readings

Isaiah 29:13-23

13 Therefore the Lord said:

“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths
And honor Me with their lips,
But have removed their hearts far from Me,
And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
14 Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work
Among this people,
A marvelous work and a wonder;
For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.”

15 Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord,
And their works are in the dark;
They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?”
16 Surely you have things turned around!
Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay;
For shall the thing made say of him who made it,
“He did not make me”?
Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?

Future Recovery of Wisdom

17 Is it not yet a very little while
Till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest?
18 In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book,
And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
19 The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord,
And the poor among men shall rejoice
In the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the terrible one is brought to nothing,
The scornful one is consumed,
And all who watch for iniquity are cut off—
21 Who make a man an offender by a word,
And lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
And turn aside the just by empty words.

22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob shall not now be ashamed,
Nor shall his face now grow pale;
23 But when he sees his children,
The work of My hands, in his midst,
They will hallow My name,
And hallow the Holy One of Jacob,
And fear the God of Israel.

Genesis 12:1-7

Promises to Abram

12 Now the Lord had said to Abram:

“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites werethen in the land.

7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Proverbs 14:15-26

15 The simple believes every word,
But the prudent considers well his steps.
16 A wise man fears and departs from evil,
But a fool rages and is self-confident.
17 A quick-tempered man acts foolishly,
And a man of wicked intentions is hated.
18 The simple inherit folly,
But the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
19 The evil will bow before the good,
And the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

20 The poor man is hated even by his own neighbor,
But the rich has many friends.
21 He who despises his neighbor sins;
But he who has mercy on the poor, happy is he.

22 Do they not go astray who devise evil?
But mercy and truth belong to those who devise good.

23 In all labor there is profit,
But idle chatter leads only to poverty.

24 The crown of the wise is their riches,
But the foolishness of fools is folly.

25 A true witness delivers souls,
But a deceitful witness speaks lies.

26 In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence,
And His children will have a place of refuge.