The love of money is a sin that destroys the spiritual life of society

The purpose of man is to develop all those virtues that are implanted in his soul by the Creator. But how difficult this task is. After all, our nature is damaged and the tendency to evil is revealed from early childhood. Sins turn over time into passions that are very difficult to eradicate. And slavery to evil in this case cannot be avoided. One of these sins is the love of money, what kind of sin this is, how to recognize it in yourself and fight it, we will learn from the following article.

What is love of money

The virtue of non-covetousness was implanted in us from the very beginning by the Creator. When Adam and Eve lived in paradise, everything was arranged by God so that they did not need anything. There was everything they needed for life. After expulsion from paradise, the natural virtue of non-covetousness for us was transformed into the opposite moral quality - a passion for money as the source of all earthly goods.

The love of money refers to all of a person’s property. And, accordingly, money, real estate, and even an extra shirt - everything can become an object of passion.

In nature, animals also exhibit evidence of hoarding. But they are not determined by insane acquisitiveness or passionate enslavement, but are caused by vital necessity and have an adaptive nature.

But a person possessed by the spirit of gathering seeks not only what is necessary for life, but also tries to have more than that. And then, as vivid examples of stinginess, miserliness, and other manifestations of the love of money, characters like the famous Gogol heroes are born. Who doesn’t remember Plyushkin from Dead Souls, who became one of the most recognizable examples of this passion.

Origin of the word

In the New Testament, God warns believers to strive diligently for Him and turn away from the love of mammon (wealth): “You cannot serve two Lords...”. Why is sinful attachment to material goods not called “love of gold” or something else, but precisely love of money?

Here again there is a connection with the events of the Gospel history. God did not just admonish Christians about the harmfulness of this passion. On the pages of the New Testament we can find a clear example of how love for mammon has a destructive effect on a person’s soul and his life.

One of the apostles of Christ, Judas, was hopelessly overwhelmed by a passion for profit. At that time, banknotes were called silver coins. This, apparently, is where the name sin comes from. Perhaps the origin of the word has other roots. The Slavs in ancient times always called money “silver”.

The image of Judas served as an eloquent sermon that the Lord is betrayed by people because of money and the benefits that can be purchased for it.

For the sake of perishable material pleasures, many of us lose the opportunity to receive eternal life and spiritual joy, which is immeasurably higher than all carnal pleasures.

Meaning of the concept

In Orthodoxy, the love of money is such a state of a person’s soul that pushes him to violate all Divine and moral human laws in the pursuit of acquiring wealth. This is based on a strong preference for material values ​​to the detriment of spiritual ones.

Money lovers, having allowed destructive passion into their hearts, automatically violate all biblical commandments:

1. The first and second are like idolatry, deifying the “golden calf.”
2. The third (...the Lord's name is in vain...) is trampled upon by businessmen who falsely swear that their product (services) are the best, and the price corresponds to the declared quality.
3. Fourth, they work on Sunday instead of devoting the seventh day to God.
4. Fifth (honoring parents) - they spare money in order to adequately support their aged father and mother and help them financially.
5. Sixth (about the value of human life) - every day there are many murders for profit.
6. Seventh (about fornication)—trade in the body and sinful love flourishes widely.
7. Eighth (thou shalt not steal) - theft is widespread as an illegal way to take possession of material goods.
8. The ninth (about perjury) is violated in courts and other instances, where justice is trampled underfoot for money, and the weak and poor are offended.
9. Tenth (about envy) - in the heart there is an irrepressible desire to possess all earthly blessings.

A person subject to passion is capable of many vile acts. A doctor who makes an incorrect diagnosis or prescribes ineffective treatment in the hope of “extorting a bribe” from a patient is one of the most common examples in our lives.

People infected with a passion for wealth can now be found at every step. Everyone strives to meet the “gold standard”. And they do everything in order to break out from the general gray mass of “losers” by any available means and ways. Where can we remember about God? He only interferes with their lives.

Mention in the Bible

The Holy Scriptures repeatedly mention the passion for wealth and profit. The Lord Jesus Christ himself spoke about the destructiveness of the love of money in his teachings, that “...it is difficult for those who rely on wealth to enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” The Apostle Paul argued in his sermons that the love of money is the basis of any sin.

Everyone knows the story of Judas' betrayal. Another striking example of the destructive love of money is the sad fate of the married couple, Ananias and Sapphira. The passion that settled in their hearts prompted them to lie. And they tried to deceive God himself in the person of the apostles. This eloquently demonstrates their unbelief. What brought the husband and wife to the Christian community remains unknown.

The passion of acquisitiveness is an attempt to live on this earth on your own, without God. In the Gospel there is a parable about a rich man who had a good, rich harvest. This man was delighted, broke down his old barns, created new ones and said: “Eat, drink, soul, be merry for many years to come...”. Here the basis of passion is also very well shown - how without God you want to receive and achieve a lot.

The reason for the sin of love of money

The reasons for the emergence of a passion for enrichment among Christians are:

• uncertainty about the future;
• lack of feeling of security;
• distrust of the Creator;
• the desire to become recognized and respected.

The Apostle Paul describes the love of money as the root of all sins (1 Tim. 6:10), on the basis of which pride and exaltation grow.

Lucifer, possessing everything, being near God, became proud, wanting more, and was thrown to earth and hell.

Adam and Eve were given the whole world except the tree of knowledge. This turned out to be not enough for them, and they lost everything.

A proud heart, which is born from the love of money, is the cause of the fall of many Christians. Not all proud people are lovers of money, but all lovers of money become proud.

Important! The desire to acquire, accumulate wealth by any means can drive love out of the most faithful heart, and open the doors to hatred, uncertainty and fear.

Historical reference

The love of money (or self-interest), the love of fame (self-aggrandizement) and the love of voluptuousness (love of pleasures) are passions that serve as a source of the appearance of other vices, the extinction of reason, and the weakening of faith. At the core is self-love.

Their existence and leading role in the formation of other sins was testified to by such holy fathers as St. Abba Dorotheos, Elder Leo of Optina, Venerable. Theodore of Edessa.

Sources and causes of appearance

Even the Apostle John the Theologian cited the division of the sin of acquisitiveness into: “... the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life...”. The Holy Fathers developed and improved the teaching about types of passion, recognition and fight against them. They believed that the love of money is the most dangerous, and is the basis of all other sins. It is eradicated by having hope in God with all your heart and soul.

Development and future fate

Over the centuries of Christianity, holy ascetics experienced the difficult path of struggling with their passions. They left many books of spiritual content, from which we see how Orthodox asceticism became and developed. The Holy Fathers thoroughly studied all the intricacies of spiritual work, including telling us about the passion of love of money.

For example, Theodore of Edessa outlined in detail the path of the emergence of passions in the human soul. He said that the three main ones - love of money, love of fame, love of voluptuousness - are invariably followed by the following five sinful habits, from which all types of vices are generated. The person who defeats the first ones invariably gets the opportunity to cut off all the others.

Current situation

The theologian of our time, Professor A. Osipov, like many other clergy and preachers, develops the doctrine of Orthodox asceticism. In his opinion, this passion underlies the pagan worldview that now infects most people, and is also the central core of scientific and technological progress.

What did Judas Iscariot's greed lead to?

Judas Iscariot was one of the 12 apostles close to Jesus. He was the treasurer of the community and stole. Those who wished brought money to the apostles’ treasury; with these funds they ate and drank, and also distributed a significant portion to the needy. Judas was not required to report on the funds spent, and large sums of money were a temptation for him. Like the other apostles, Judas Iscariot cast out demons, healed the sick and performed signs, but after his betrayal he lost the opportunity to enter God's kingdom.

The name Judas has already become a common noun, and the expression “Kiss of Judas” has become an idiom. The main version of why the student betrayed his beloved Teacher was a conspiracy with Satan. Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (with this money in those days you could buy a plot of land or a slave).

Kiss of Judas

Finally, on the fateful night in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas pointed to Jesus and kissed him. Thus, the guards learned who was proclaimed to be the Messiah and who obeys only God (and not an earthly king) and were very proud of themselves for capturing him. Having learned that Jesus was sentenced to death, Judas went to the high priests and elders, deciding to give back the 30 pieces of silver, but they did not accept. Then he threw them on the floor right in the temple and left, and then hanged himself. This is what the mastery of the human soul by passions leads to. According to the Gospels, Satan is able to seduce into sinful actions someone who is already involved in sinful thoughts and actions. If an Orthodox believer prays and understands the meaning of the biblical commandments, it will be difficult to lead him astray.

Types of love of money

Sinful love for wealth manifests itself in different forms, sometimes the most unexpected. People of different incomes and social levels are susceptible to this passion. And it would be wrong to consider only the rich and successful as such, as if their condition were an indicator of this passion. A poor man sometimes clings more tightly to his last coin than another to his millions. And that is why the contribution of the poor widow from the Gospel stories, who gave everything she had, was so dear to the Lord.

The love of money includes a whole bunch of varieties of sin:

• covetousness;
• selfishness;
• stinginess;
• greed;
• extortion;
• fraud;
• perverse gain;
• self-interest;
• greed;
• selfish benefit;
• speculation;
• other.

Each of the listed points means a specific manifestation of sin, but all these definitions are related.

Stinginess

This is an extreme manifestation of greed, a painful reluctance to part with anything that goes beyond normal generally accepted norms. Greed is the insatiable desire to get as much as possible, while stinginess is aimed at spending as little as possible.

Covetousness

The sin of idolatry is when all worries are aimed at acquiring property, leaving no time and energy for God. It leads to the violation of almost all of His commandments, when the interests and benefits of other people are betrayed for the sake of profit, and the law of love for one’s neighbors is violated.

Mshelomystvo

It is used primarily in cases when we are talking about bribes, love of gifts, collecting, the presence of unnecessary things in everyday life, and the like. The reason often lies in pride, vanity, and lack of faith.

Selfishness

It is used when it comes to individuals who do nothing for others without their own benefit. Such people will not lift a finger for the benefit of another person for free. They are distinguished by the desire to obtain profit in any way, indiscriminateness in the means of profit, which leads to violation of civil and Divine laws.

Sin of greed (greed)

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“ The Psychology of Greed ” - scientific article.

Chapter 2.6 Greed

Greedy . 1. Greedy, selfish. 2. Passionately desiring something, expressing such a desire (dictionary of Ozhegov and Shvedov).

The word greed has two main meanings. Firstly, it is extreme greed, selfishness, and, secondly, a passionate desire, a desire for something. It is clear that the first meaning of this word is considered sin. If a person very much strives not for money, but, for example, for knowledge or new impressions, this can hardly be blamed on him. However, the terms “greed” and “greedy” are now rarely used; instead, the words “greed” and “greedy” are used.

Greed - 1. Stinginess, selfishness, 2. Excessive desire to satisfy one's desire.3 . Persistence in striving to satisfy one's desire. (Ozh.)

One clarification is worth making here. Explanatory dictionaries define greed as greed, and greed as stinginess, thus, greed is actually equated with stinginess, which is not entirely true. There is a fundamental difference between these terms.

Greed is the desire to get as much as possible, and stinginess is the desire to spend as little as possible. A greedy person cares more about increasing income, while a stingy person cares more about reducing expenses. True, in the end, the effect is similar - increasing wealth, but the ways to achieve the result are different. The term "greed" combines the first and second meanings. This personality trait includes both the desire to learn more and more new benefits, and the reluctance to part with accumulated wealth. Greed in a figurative sense can mean a strong desire, passion - “greed for life”, “drink greedily”, etc. Close to stinginess (but a positive quality) are the terms “thrift”, “frugality” and “thrift ” , which can turn into stinginess if they cross the line of reason and become an obsession.

Greed is not only a character trait, but also a feeling (that is, an emotion that is objective in nature and conditioned by the cultural traditions of a particular society). All people experience this feeling more or less often, although few people admit to this weakness. This feeling, like other emotions, is difficult to describe in words, but it is important to note that greed is accompanied by both emotional experiences and vegetative manifestations: a person experiencing greed has a stronger heart beat, more intense breathing, his muscles tense and his blood pressure rises . Frequent repetition of this feeling has a negative impact on health, but more on that below.

In life there are different styles in relation to getting and spending money, and we can identify seven main strategies:

1. Greed – the desire to get more.

2. Stinginess is the desire not to give away anything from what you already have.

3. Greed – the desire to receive more and give less.

4. Breadth of scope (playing for big money) – the desire to get more in order to then invest these funds in new projects

5. Thrift (thrift, thrift) - spending money only on what is necessary, absolutely necessary.

6. Generosity - ease of spending your own money to help other people

7. Extravagance (wastefulness) – reluctance to save money, desire to spend it easily.

If we turn to the history of mankind, we will see that all these methods of handling money have been encountered many times before, and they can be observed in different countries and eras. The most reasonable is the “golden balance”, when a person strives to both earn money and spend it usefully. Such abilities were possessed by such rulers as Julius Caesar and Vespasian. As for extremes - both in the area of ​​stinginess and wastefulness, they can only cause condemnation and contempt. Let's take for example two Roman Caesars - Tiberius and Caligula. What they had in common was that they were distinguished by extreme, bordering on sadism, cruelty and a penchant for debauchery. But their attitude towards money was diametrically opposed. Tiberius was a complete miser. He spared and saved every penny, while Guy Caligula, on the contrary, easily squandered all the treasures of Rome.

Here is what the Roman historian Suetonius writes about Caligula: “In luxury, he surpassed the most unrestrained spendthrifts in his spending. He invented unheard-of ablutions, outlandish dishes and feasts - he bathed in fragrant oils, hot and cold, drank precious pearls dissolved in vinegar, distributed bread and snacks on pure gold to his diners, saying: “you need to live either as a modest person or as a Caesar!” Constructing villas and country houses, he forgot about all common sense, trying only to build what seemed impossible to build. Without going into details, it is enough to say that he squandered enormous fortunes, including the entire inheritance of Tiberius Caesar - two billion seven hundred million sesterces - in less than a year.

Caligula

The origins of greed go back to very distant times in human history, when primitive people constantly lacked food and other resources. Therefore, we can say that, to some extent, elements of greed are inherent in a person at the genetic level. Later, with the advent of money, the nature of this feeling changed - it concentrated on money, for which you can buy almost everything in the world. In literature, this human quality is quite accurately depicted by A.S. Pushkin in the work “The Miserly Knight”, and by Gogol in “Dead Souls” (Plyushkin). These writers showed how the passion for wealth from a completely understandable desire can turn into an obsessive overvalued idea (mania), which does not help, but only harms a person in his life, replacing reason with blind passion.

Since the origins of greed in humans seem to be programmed at the DNA level, this quality manifests itself in children from an early age. From an early age, you can see how children take toys and candies from each other and do not like to share their small valuables with other children or adults. Later, teenagers try to control their greed (since being greedy in adolescence is not prestigious), but greed does not go away. She, like the sexual instinct, just hides deeper in the soul or takes on new forms. People manifest it by trying to earn more and more money, pursuing a career or unnecessary purchases, or saving money “for a rainy day” (thus turning all their days into one gray mass).

Many crimes are caused by human greed: burglary, robbery, fraud and murder for personal gain - all these are the fruits of uncontrolled greed. Submitting to this passion, people commit arranged marriages, abandon their children and parents, and spoil relationships with their best friends. No wonder they say: “If you start a joint business with your best friend, you will lose both the first and the second.” Greed is found in many areas of human activity. Doctors prescribe unjustified treatment to their patients or prescribe them unnecessary medications, lawyers deliberately delay the trial, officials put a spoke in the wheels of entrepreneurs by extorting bribes from them, sellers cheat customers and force them to buy things they do not need - this list could be continued indefinitely.

Even if greed is not of a pronounced or criminal nature, grains of it still appear every now and then in the life of every person. If you monitor yourself carefully and honestly, you will notice that you pay off debts with noticeable effort, even if you have the money to do so. Maybe you once did not help a friend, sparing money, or did you deny yourself or your loved ones some small pleasure, calling yourself “frugal”, “thrifty” or “thrifty”? People are genuinely offended when they are called “greedy” or “stingy” when in fact they exhibit this character trait.

The ancient Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca remarked two thousand years ago: “The poor want something, the rich want a lot, the greedy want everything.” Every now and then, notes appear in the media and the Internet about the stinginess and greed of people with millions of dollars. So the handsome man and Hollywood favorite George Clooney, who easily spends thousands of dollars in films, turns out to be very tight-fisted in life. The ubiquitous journalists found out that in nightlife establishments he only orders a $10 non-alcoholic cocktail, and then grumbles for a long time at the waiters that everything in their establishment is terribly expensive.

Former robot terminator, and now millionaire and governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in reality, if not a complete miser, then certainly not prone to extravagance. For example, he carefully monitors that his wife does not buy unnecessary things, and if he thinks that she bought something in vain, he forces her to return the packaged goods back to the store.

Another multimillionaire, the founder of the IKEA chain of stores, Ingvar Kamprad, went even further in his frugality, turning into a complete miser: with his fortune of almost thirty billion dollars, he flies only economy class, stays in 3-star hotels, often uses public transport, and even presents a pensioner's ID entitling him to a discount.

One could also recall the richest man on the planet, Bill Gates, who spends every cent very prudently. Its representatives claim that the owner of the computer giant is not saving money for himself, but is going to spend it on charitable purposes. In the meantime, it is clear that he spends money hundreds of thousands of times less than he earns. The answer to the question “Why save them then?” only he himself knows.

When we see a person acquiring more and more wealth, this does not always indicate that he is mired in the sin of greed. It happens that greed masks another vice that rules in the soul of such a person, and the money that he collects is just a means that feeds a more significant sin for him. As an illustration of such a situation, we can cite Julius Caesar, who put all his virtues and minor sins at the service of the sin of pride.

Here is what the historian Suetonius writes about Caesar: “He showed no selflessness either in military or in civilian positions. As proconsul in Spain, according to the recollections of some contemporaries, he, like a beggar, begged money from his allies to pay his debts, and among the Lusitanians he ruined several cities, as in war, although they agreed to his demands and opened the gates for him. In Gaul, he devastated the temples and temples of the gods, full of offerings, and destroyed cities more often for the sake of booty than as punishment. That is why he had so much gold that he sold it all over Italy and the provinces by weight, at three thousand sesterces per pound. During his first consulate, he stole three thousand pounds of gold from the Capitoline Temple, replacing it with the same amount of gilded copper. He traded in alliances and kingdoms: from Ptolemy alone he received about six thousand talents, for himself and for Pompey. And subsequently, only naked robberies and sacrilege allowed him to endure the costs of civil wars, triumphs and spectacles.”

It would seem - greed in its most unsightly form. But along with these actions, Suetonius cites other facts indicating that Julius Caesar knew how to be very generous - when it was necessary to gain power. The money itself meant nothing to Caesar; it was only a means to his main goal - autocracy. And Julius Caesar understood perfectly well that becoming emperor in Republican Rome was incredibly difficult. This requires support from both senators and horsemen, and the common people - the plebs. And Caesar quite reasonably realized that the simplest and most effective way to enlist the support of his fellow citizens was with the help of gold, which he began to extract by hook or by crook. But the gold he received did not inspire him in itself; he needed it to provide political support and wage a civil war. But when he received what he so strived for - sole power in Rome, he immediately moderated his greed.

Julius Caesar

YOU CAN TAKE THE TEST FOR THE SIN OF GREED HERE.

Why is the love of money a sin?

The passion for accumulation is closely related to two other sins - gluttony and fornication. After all, in order to please your belly, eating expensive gourmet foods in large quantities, you need money. Therefore, such a person will inevitably develop a love for gold. Satisfying lustful passion often requires considerable resources.

The desire to possess wealth, in turn, gives rise to sadness and anger, as well as sinful passions that destroy a person’s personality and his life. A money lover experiences the loss of property very hard, falls into anger and despondency.

The sin of love of money is equal to distrust of God

Trust in the Creator is based on faith, hope and love.

By acquiring wealth, which the sinner is afraid of losing, he loses hope in the Savior, and trusts only in money, with which he hopes to solve everything, but at the same time:

• faith in the Almighty disappears that He can come to the rescue at any moment;
• the recognition of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He paid for all our needs, completely evaporates;
• love for one’s neighbor, from whom there is no self-interest, dissolves in gold.

How to identify in yourself

To discover the passion lurking in the depths of the soul, you need to be well aware of the signs of its external manifestation.

The Holy Fathers identified the following characteristic properties of this spiritual illness:

• the desire to live in comfort and luxury;
• love for expensive and rare things (collecting);
• theft, robbery and kleptomania;
• cruelty, greed and contempt towards the poor;
• envy;
• slander;
• insolence;
• impudence;
• perfidy;
• ingratitude;
• tendency to take oaths;
• dreams and thoughts about wealth;
• fear of old age, poverty, disease;
• love of gifts;
• passion for vain, perishable objects and affairs;
• a lot of worries and concerns;
• cruelty towards all those in need.

The confessors claim that one who has attached his whole heart to wealth cannot love his brother, since he always wants to take something away from him. Such people, as a rule, are lonely because they are hostile towards everyone, even towards friends, close relatives and themselves, exhausting the soul with excessive worries.

Modern Orthodox psychologists, having conducted a series of studies, have come to certain conclusions in this area. Scientists believe that if a person could not part with part of his funds to save the life of another person, he is definitely enslaved by a sinful passion for money.

Definition

The word covetousness is occasionally replaced by the synonym covetousness, because the Greek word “πλεονεξία” or pleonexia is translated that way. This can be seen in the text of the Holy Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 6:10, Romans 1:29 and Colossians 3:5. So there is no mistake in using both words.

The Bible Condemns the Sin of Covetousness

There are several interpretations of this concept:

• St. Theophanes explains covetousness as an addiction to property and trust in it;
• The dictionary of terms explains the phenomenon as an excessive concern for wealth and a passionate desire to increase it.

Covetousness is a passionate desire not only to have wealth, but also to increase it, without regard to the morality or legality of the methods. Moreover, we are not talking about the goods necessary for human life (food, a minimum of clothing or shoes), but about wealth “beyond measure,” i.e. certain capital. A person begins to love to “pull” to himself everything he can reach.

Read about other sins in Orthodoxy:

• Sin of idle talk
• Sin of slander
• Sin of laziness

The problem of such a person is that wealth has filled all his thoughts, he passionately desires enrichment and this passion drives him crazy. He neglects the life of loved ones and their feelings, God and Christian morality; his only desire is to have as much money or property as possible. Despite the synonymy of the concepts of covetousness and covetousness, they have a slight semantic difference:

• covetousness - passion for property:
• covetousness - specific bad deeds for the sake of one’s own enrichment.

That is, the covetous person has just begun to accumulate property, and the covetous person is already deceiving people for this. The semantic difference between these concepts is small, so there is no mistake in using them synonymously. This sin (regardless of its definition) relates to idolatry, since a person deliberately chooses passion for material objects rather than for the Lord.

An idol is an object that evokes a feeling of worship and adoration in a person. And when money comes first and evokes a passionate desire to possess it, this is worship. Man serves wealth rather than his Creator and thereby becomes an idolater.

The Apostle Paul clearly defines covetousness as idolatry (Colossians, chapter three) and compares such a person to a fornicator and an unclean person. Christ also speaks about this, mentioning in the Gospel of Matthew (chapter 6) that one cannot serve wealth and the Lord at the same time, because serving one of them will be superficial.

How to deal with sin

The holy ascetics left Christians a rich heritage of their spiritual experience. From their books and teachings, we can easily learn those methods and techniques using which, with God's help, we can cope with any sin.

To eradicate the love of money from the soul, Orthodox confessors advise using:

• alms;
• non-acquisitiveness;
• memory of death;
• faith in God's Providence.

Non-covetousness becomes the most powerful means in this struggle. Monks build their entire lives on his principles, like on a stone. Although arbitrary poverty brings sorrow to the flesh, it gives peace and tranquility to the soul, so necessary for the Christian life. Another effective technique is almsgiving. First, you should accustom yourself to give what is in abundance. Then it will be easier to share with the poor the last thing you have in your soul.

As the holy fathers say, the love of money is the daughter of unbelief. Therefore, you should try with all your might to strengthen your faith in God’s Providence in order to overcome the harmful habit of relying solely on the power of money and power.