May 27
(A discourse of Saint John Chrysostom concerning those who take garments from orphans.)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
People driven by greed do not distinguish whether the means by which they increase their wealth are sinful or not. Their only goal is to obtain money, and everything else means nothing to them. And because of this, orphans are often left hungry because of them, widows suffer distress, and debtors robbed by them weep. Yet the hard-hearted rich pay no attention to this and continue their work. What do you think, brethren? Will all the evil that greedy men do pass without punishment or not? Will the Lord require from them the tears of the unfortunate, or will He not require them? How should we look upon this?
“How long,” says Saint Chrysostom, “will you not be satisfied, you extortioners who heap fire upon your own heads? What the Holy Apostles rejected in their writings, extortioners do with boasting. They entered into the possessions of the innocent, took the oxen of widows as pledges, and turned the weak aside from the right path. Woe to you who gather what belongs to others, for by this you acquire for yourselves a grievous sickness. By the Spirit of the wrath of the Lord you shall perish without a trace, and there will be no place where you who commit lawlessness may hide. In vain and to no purpose do those labor who gather unrighteous wealth for themselves, and there will be no help for those who do not know how to possess riches rightly. They destroyed the homes of many weak people, and therefore they shall not be saved by their wealth. And when they hope to increase their riches even more, they will die a sudden death, and complete disaster will overtake them, and they will receive according to their deeds, because they stripped the last garment from the poor, gave no water to the thirsty, offered no piece of bread to the hungry, gave no help to widows, and oppressed orphans. And they shall become entangled in snares, and warfare and disorder shall come upon them, and every unrighteous man shall be crushed. And woe and destruction shall come upon the unrighteous, because the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. And the Lord will wipe out their memory from the earth.”
Therefore, brethren, the evil done by extortioners will not pass unpunished, and the Lord will require from them the tears of the unfortunate whom they wronged, and the sighs and lamentations of the debtors whom they robbed will not pass without consequence for them. You heard what Saint Chrysostom said. They may die a sudden death, complete disaster may overtake them, and they will receive what is fitting for their evil deeds. And what Saint Chrysostom said is also confirmed by the word of God. It says: extortioners shall not inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10). Woe to him who multiplies what is not his own; woe to extortioners! And we shall add to this the words of the Lord: woe to those who gather treasures for themselves, but are not rich toward God (Luke 12:21). Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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