Was St Basil Woke? Basil the Great On Social Justice, Homily To the Rich

Why did St Basil the Great deliver several homilies on
Social Justice?
What advice does St Basil offer to the wealthy
Christians? Should all Christians give alms to the
poor? What excuses are excusable?
What does St Basil say about women who love
expensive perfumes?
Was St Basil’s advice for fellow monks applicable for
laypeople today?

Please, we welcome interesting questions in the
comments. Let us learn and reflect together!
At the end of our talk, we will discuss the sources
used for this video.
Please feel free to follow along in the PowerPoint
script we uploaded to SlideShare, which includes
illustrations. Our sister blog includes footnotes, both
include our Amazon book links.

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footnote.
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St Basil’s name means “royal,” and although we are not sure if
his family had senatorial rank, he was indeed born into a noble
family who owned multiple family estates, likely with numerous
slaves. St Basil’s homily To the Rich includes “an impressive
description of the leisurely pursuits of the landed aristocracy:
hunting, horseback riding, baths in the city and countryside,”
which he undoubtedly enjoyed in his youth when he was living in
the world. When he describes the “houses, dress, occupations
and mannerisms” of the wealthy, he speaks from experience.

St Basil’s wealth and social status opened to him the best educational
opportunities in the ancient world, studying first in Caesarea and
Constantinople, and then at the university at Athens. There he met and
became best friends with St Gregory of Nazianzus, together they resolved
to pursue the true philosophy of the Christian life. Together with St Basil’s
brother, St Gregory of Nyssa, they are known as the Cappadocian Church
Fathers. St Basil distributes a large portion of his inheritance to the poor,
and then he visited recently organized monastic communities. His mother
and sister had already organized a convent on one of their estates, he
founded a small monastic community there also.

Cappadocian
Church
Fathers

We have already reflected on the elegant
translations of the works of St Gregory of Nyssa on
the Sermon on the Mount and another work by St
Basil. We look forward to reflecting on St Gregory’s
Life of Moses, which inspired Dionysius the
Areopagite.

https://youtu.be/wuqwy3GyO_4
https://youtu.be/XnFUrFKoF7s
https://youtu.be/xaqFTPgoDI0

What led St Basil to compose his four
homilies on Social Justice? Our editor
notes that “in 369 AD, within a few years
of his ordination to the priesthood, major
catastrophe struck Caesarea and the
surrounding area, a drought followed by
a severe famine. Rivers and springs dried
up and crops failed, resulting in an acute
food shortage throughout the region.”
St Basil the Great and St Gregory of Nazianzus

Whenever we comment on the teachings of the
Eastern Church Fathers, we often face a simple
problem: How can we improve and comment on
their message, which they so ably express? Quite
often, we merely repeat what we think are their
most quotable teachings. We encourage you to read
these works for yourself.

St Basil the Great: Homily To the Rich
This homily is based on this
story from Matthew:
“And behold, one came up
to Jesus, saying, “Teacher,
what good deed must I do,
to have eternal life?” And he
said to him, “Why do you
ask me about what is good?
One there is who is good. If
you would enter life, keep
the commandments.”
Christ and the Rich Young Ruler, by AN Mironov

He said to him, “Which?” And Jesus
said, “You shall not kill, You shall not
commit adultery, You shall not steal,
You shall not bear false witness, Honor
your father and mother, and, You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.” The
young man said to him, “All these I
have observed; what do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you would be
perfect, go, sell what you possess and
give to the poor, and you will have
treasure in heaven; and come, follow
me.” When the young man heard this,
he went away sorrowful; for he had
great possessions.Rich Young Man Went Away Sorrowful, James Tissot, 1894

St Basil first praises this
rich young man for posing
this key question not to
the Pharisees but to Jesus
himself, the Teacher of
Truth, asking what he
should do to inherit
eternal life.” But he
cannot part from his great
possessions, because “he
does not focus on what is
truly good, but rather
looks to what pleases
most people.”
Christ and the Rich Young Ruler, by Heinrich Hofmann, 1889

St Basil speaks to the Rich Young
Man: “It is thus evident that you
are far from fulfilling the
commandment, and that you bear
false witness within your own soul
that you have loved your neighbor
as yourself. Look, the Lord’s offer
shows just how distant you are
from true love! For if what you say
is true, that you have kept from
your youth the commandment of
love and have given to everyone
the same as to yourself, then how
did you come by this abundance
of wealth?”Christ and Rich Young Man , St Gabriel Church, Glendale, Ohio

St Basil continues: “The more you
abound in wealth, the more you
lack in love. If you had truly loved
your neighbor, it would have
occurred to you long ago to divest
yourself of this wealth. But now
your possessions are more a part of
you than the members of your own
body, and separation from them is
as painful as the amputation of one
of your limbs.”

St Basil warns the wealthy: If you have “sound
judgment, you should should recognize that you have
received wealth as a stewardship, and not for your
own enjoyment; thus, when you are parted from it,
you rejoice as those who relinquish what is not really
theirs, instead of becoming downcast like those who
are stripped of their own.”
“When you have the opportunity to exchange
corruptible things for the Kingdom of Heaven, you
shed tears, spurning the one who asks of you and
refusing to give anything, while contriving a million
excuses for your own expenditures,” and if St Basil
were alive today, he would also ask how you cannot
give to the poor but yet afford annual European
vacations while staying in four-star hotels.St Basil, by Spyridon Romas, 1764

St John Chrysostom is even more
direct: When we do “not share our
own wealth with the poor, we steal
from the poor, depriving them of their
means of life. We do not possess our
own wealth but theirs. If we have this
attitude, we will certainly offer our
money; and by nourishing Christ in
poverty here and laying up great profit
hereafter, we will be able to attain the
good things which are to come.”
St John Chrysostom, early 11th century, Hosios
Loukas Monastery, Boeotia, Greece

I worked in several restaurants in high school and
college, these memories return when I listen to
Kacey Musgrave’s country song, Blowing Smoke,
which accurately describes the quiet desperation of
Southern waitresses trying to scrape together a
living. Kacey must have worked as a waitress herself.
Why would you want to stiff one of these sweet
waitresses?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEsEUpk5rU8

St Basil would tell you to never stiff your waitresses.
Maybe they are having a bad day, or if they are really
struggling, maybe your church has a ministry that helps to
feed the poor. If they are not sweet, you must assume
they are living a hard life. Don’t stiff the waitresses, God is
punishing them enough, because they are waitresses! God
hasn’t given everyone the brains to go to college! Very few
waitresses can become country music stars. Some
waitresses wait tables because God did not give them the
ability to be successful in a professional career!

Waitress during the Great Depression

If you don’t want St Basil to fuss at you when you go to sing with
Elvis, you especially should not refuse to pay the recommended
gratuities to cruise ships. If you don’t tip, their workers don’t get
paid much! If you don’t trust the cruise ship to pay the waiters,
then tip them extra, because the standard tip is also split
between the housekeeping staff. If you ask the cruise ship
waiters, you will likely discover that none of the cruise ship
employees have any 401K or other retirement plans. They don’t
pay these waiters squat, yet they expect them to sing and dance
and pretend to their customers that they love their jobs!

St Basil teaches us: “When
wealth is scattered in the
manner which our Lord
directed, it naturally returns,
but when it is gathered, it
naturally disperses. If you
try to keep it, you will not
have it; if you scatter it, you
will not lose it.”
Basil the Great, cathedral of Ohrid, 11
th
Century

This may be true for members of the upper class like St Basil, but
it is not dependably true for ordinary schmucks like me. St Basil
also counsels those monks who have renounced the world and
their riches to work part-time so they can give alms to the poor.
How can you be a Christian and refuse to give to the beggars
begging for food in a hot sunbeaten intersection? Are you
worried that they will go back to the grocery store for refunds for
drugs and booze? Then buy cans of fish they can easily eat with
their fingers. Or buy small sandwiches at the deli, if there are four
in the pack, Jesus will let you eat one so the bums can’t ask for a
refund for the other three sandwiches.

The Rich Man
and Lazarus, the
beggar, Rila
Monastery,
Bulgaria

St Basil comments on the futile
plans of the wealthy to retain their
wealth. “There should be,” they say,
“some wealth for spending, and
some held in reserve, while the
allowance for daily provisions should
exceed the level of mere necessities.
Some will be for comforts within the
house, and some for outward
display; some to make traveling
comfortable, and some to make life
splendid and luxurious at home.”
St Basil, Church of St. Nicholas, Prague, Czech Republic.

If St Basil were alive today, he would ask: How many
of us who are well-off look forward to our annual
European vacation? How many of us spend tens of
thousands of dollars on vacation, yet give little more
than a few hundred dollars in alms to the poor? How
many give more to the church than they spend on
fancy vacations?

St Basil rues: “I know
many who fast, pray,
sigh, and demonstrate
every manner of piety,
so long as it costs them
nothing, yet would not
part with a penny to
help those in distress.”
St Basil Dictating His Doctrine, by Francisco
Herrera the Elder, 1639

When I was active in the divorce support ministry, on rare
occasion some dead broke single mother would attend whose
husband had left them, and they could not afford to pay the
attorney a retainer to compel their ex-husband to pay child
support. Sometimes thoughts and prayers are not enough,
sometimes someone just needs to take the risk and loan them a
few thousand dollars so they can hire an attorney. This is like
lending to family, you cannot get upset if they never pay you
back. Until these mothers can quit worrying about how they will
feed their children, thoughts and prayers don’t mean squat.

https://www.divorcecare.org/
Please, if you anyone who is facing divorce, let them know support is available.

https://www.catholicsdivorce.com/
Please, if you anyone who is facing divorce, let them know support is available.

As St James exhorts us in his
Epistle: “If a brother or sister
is ill-clad and in lack of daily
food, and one of you says to
them, ‘Go in peace, be
warmed and filled,’ without
giving them the things
needed for the body, what
does it profit?”

St Basil & St John of Cross: Virtuous Wives

St Basil warns the men that they should choose their
wives wisely, they should marry women who in
increase in them their Love of God and neighbor.

St Basil warns the men: “If your wife happens to
be a money-loving person, then the disease is
doubled in its effects. She stirs up the love of
luxury and inflames the craving for pleasure,
spurring on fruitless pursuits.”
St Basil continues: “No amount of wealth, even
if rivers should run with gold, can support the
desires of a woman who buys imported
perfume as though it were common olive oil
from the marketplace, and chooses porphyry
and sea silk, the flowers of the ocean, over
ordinary wool from sheep.” “Indeed, those who
love gold do not mind being bound with
manacles, so long as their chains are of gold.”

St John of the Cross teaches us that Christians should
only choose close friends who increase in their
hearts their Love of God, who will better enable
them to love their neighbor as themselves. This is
especially true for who should be the closest friend
we have: our spouse.

https://youtu.be/DgL7Y5pIFAU

St Basil teaches us not to be tempted
to find excuses not to give alms to our
poorer neighbor. “But you claim you
are yourself a pauper, and I concur.
Now a pauper is someone who lacks
many things, and the insatiability of
your desire makes you lack many
things indeed. You diligently strive to
add ten more talents to ten you
receive, and when you have twenty,
you seek to add twenty more.”

St Basil would describe this as
the rat race: “The wealthy do
not rejoice in what they have,
no matter how much it is, so
much as they lament what
they still lack, or think they
lack. Their soul is eaten away
with cares as they compete in
the struggle for success.”

In another homily, St Basil warns us that hoarding wealth,
not giving to the poor, only saving for yourself leads to the
sin of covetousness and envy. We also discuss how envy
drove King Ahab to accept the gift of Naboth’s vineyard.
His evil wife Jezebel had slandered Naboth’s reputation to
have him executed without cause to gain control of his
vineyard. We also reflect on the sordid tale of the evil
pagan Queen Jezebel and King Ahab In our reflection on St
John of the Cross.

https://youtu.be/XnFUrFKoF7s
https://youtu.be/_LIwHZCzDfg
https://youtu.be/Pmu6hzU5RaQ

St Basil asks us: “What well-dressed
person has ever been granted even
one additional day of life? Has death
ever spared anyone on account of
wealth? Has sickness departed from
anyone on account of possessions?
How long shall gold be the
oppression of souls, the hook of
death, the lure of sin? How long
shall wealth be the cause of war?”

What depresses me about his reflection is how the sin of theft
infects each round of religious persecution and the struggles
surrounding the Protestant Reformation. Quite often the desire
to seize the wealth of the wealthy Jews sparked anti-Semitic
pogroms over the ages, from medieval times to Nazi Germany.
And the politics surrounding the Protestant Reformation in both
Europe and England meant that Catholic Church assets were
seized, which helped solidify the Protestant Reformation,
because if the nobles and kings were to revert back to
Catholicism, they would have to return the property they stole
from the church.

Tintern Abbey, Wales, founded in 1131, was subsequently dissolved, possibly during the Reformation.

Can You Be Less Charitable With Children?
St Basil ponders: “But wealth is necessary
for rearing children, someone will say. This
is a specious excuse for greed; although
you speak as though children were your
concern, you betray the inclinations of
your own heart. Do not impute guilt to the
guiltless! They have their own Master who
cares for their needs. They received their
being from God, and God will provide
what they need to live.”

St Basil here is also revealing that he is
a celibate monk who has no children. St
John Climacus, author of the classic
Ladder of Divine Ascent, offers kinder
advice to laymen. He tells us that “some
people living carelessly in the world
have asked me:
‘We have wives and are beset with
social cares, and how can we lead the
solitary life?’”

St John Climacus replied to them: “Do
all the good you can; do not speak
evil of anyone; do not steal from
anyone; do not lie to anyone; do not
be arrogant to anyone; do not hate
anyone; do not be absent from the
Divine Services; be compassionate to
the needy; do not offend anyone; do
not wreck another man’s domestic
happiness, and be content with what
your own wives can give you. If you
behave in this way, you will not be far
from the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Laymen can and should read the monastic classics
like the Ladder of Divine Ascent and the writings of
the Cappadocian and Early Church Fathers, because
living the married life is itself a type of monastic
calling. But since laymen are not monks, you need to
use common sense when applying the advice to your
life situation, some minor allegorizing is needed.

https://youtu.be/Fco0W3bt5GA

But St Basil cautions parents: “Was the
command found in the Gospel, ‘If you wish
to be perfect, sell your possessions and
give the money to the poor,’ not written
for the married? After seeking the blessing
of children from the Lord, and being found
worthy to become parents, did you at
once add the following: ‘Give me children,
that I might disobey our commandments;
give me children, that I might not attain
the Kingdom of Heaven?’”
Basil the Great, cathedral of Ohrid, 11
th
Century

Jesus was perfect, and our monk and abbot St Basil
is far more perfect than I, and neither of them
married.

Timothy does exhort us: “A
woman will be saved through
bearing children, if she
continues in faith and love
and holiness, with modesty,”
but how can parents teach
their children how to love all
their neighbors, if they never
encounter their poorer
neighbors?
Apostle Paul, by Rembrandt, 1633

Older children should have some contact with the
poor lest their hearts harden out of ignorance. Our
family life should encourage us to love our neighbors
who are our acquaintances, or whom we hear about
on television. It would be good to join a church that
has many active ministries that reach out to the
community. Likewise, our church should have some
outreach to the poor, if they wish to be like the early
church.

St Martin and the
Beggar, by
Anonymous after
El Greco, 1614
The Blind Beggar,
by Lawrence
Alma-Tadema,
1856

St Basil warns that many of you
who are wealthy may say, “’I will
enjoy all these things during my
life, but after my death I will
leave my goods to the poor,
making them beneficiaries of my
will and granting them all my
possessions.’ When you are no
longer among your fellow human
beings, then you will become a
philanthropist! When I see you
dead, then I will call you a lover
of your brothers and sisters.”St Basil with a Donor, 1515, Metropolitan Museum of Art

St Basil may be a bit harsh, but he speaks wisely in
that you should give to the poor something first now,
and then in your will if you wish.

Perhaps St Basil is being sarcastic when he says,
“You deserve great thanks for your magnanimity,
since you have become so generous and noble-
hearted after you were laid in the grave and your
body had dissolved in the earth.”
St Basil argues that generosity while you are living
counts more than after you die: “When you were
still alive, squandering your years in luxury and
wasting them on frivolous pursuits, you never
bothered to consider the plight of the needy.”
Mass of St Basil, by Pierre Subleyras, 1743

Christianity, Social Justice, and Wokeness

Our editor notes that as many as one-third of the
population was enslaved, though in a footnote he admits
that reliable demographic statistics just do not exist for
the ancient world, we are always guessing. St Basil may
not include the enslaved in his descriptions of the poor
since their masters clothe and feed them. But he does
remind us in his homily “Against Those Who Lend at
Interest,” that indigent parents sometimes sold their
children into slavery if they could not afford to support
them and feed them.

Although slaves in ancient Greece, Rome, and Israel under the monarchs
were chattel slaves, or slaves that were the property of their master, as
opposed to servants, they were often seen as part of the family, unless
they were unfortunate to work on the large agricultural plantations or
the mines. Many slaves in the ancient world were analogous to today’s
minimum-wage employees or field workers.
If St Basil were alive today, what would he say about the wage slaves,
those who try to make a living earning minimum wage? Jordan Peterson
reminds us that many people don’t have the ability to excel in college,
that there are some people whose abilities trap them in lower-rung jobs.

https://youtu.be/O67cmVRvBtA https://youtu.be/poyvJajCXnE
https://youtu.be/9hgSbcgbCJw
https://youtu.be/vl8KGL5Yx2w

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1179940885731527
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Kn5p7TP_Y
Excerpted from:

In our reflection on Woke Bible Verses, we are defining the woke
as those who Love God and love their neighbor, as Jesus and
Deuteronomy exhort us. St Augustine is my favorite Catholic
saint because in every major work he explicitly repeats this two-
fold love of God and neighbor that is the cornerstone of
Christianity. And St Augustine teaches us that we should
interpret Scriptures in light of this two-fold Love, and that if any
story in the Bible appears to violate this two-fold love, then it
should be interpreted spiritually and allegorically. And Anders
Nygren book on Christian Love: Eros and Agape, as seen through
the ages is simply outstanding.

https://youtu.be/576TYemgA8o https://youtu.be/ygxn2qqGnOI
https://youtu.be/uQCnAJMPoos https://youtu.be/KniBalQMemM

We will also reflect on St Basil’s homilies on the
parable, I Will Tear Down My Barns, and In Time of
Famine and Drought, and Against Those Who Lend at
Interest.

Conclusion
St Basil of Caesarea, St John Chrysostom,
St Gregorius of Nazianzus, 17th century,
Historic Museum in Sanok, Poland
St Basil challenges us: “What neighbor,
what confidant, what friend is not swept
away? Nothing withstands the influence of
wealth. Everything submits to its tyranny;
everything cowers at its dominion.”
“Wherever you turn your gaze, you will
clearly behold the apparitions of your evil
acts: here the tears of the orphan, there the
groaning of the widow, elsewhere the poor
whom you have trampled down, the
servant whom you have brutalized, the
neighbor whom you have treated
outrageously.”

St Basil, if he lived today, would add to these evil acts
those who lay off their hard-working employees
simply so the business can meet its quarterly
earnings pronouncements, while the top executives
earn twenty or fifty or hundreds of times more than
their average employees, not counting the immense
wealth created from stock options granted for free.

Discussing the Sources

This writing by St Basil the Great, On Social Justice, is part
of the Popular Patristic Series of St Vladimir’s Seminary
Press. Usually these are excellent translations, some
volumes also have the Greek, but not this volume. And the
introduction and footnotes were excellent. They didn’t
discuss how many ancient manuscripts survived, but likely
multiple copies survived, since the Cappadocian Church
Fathers were beloved by the early church.

YouTube Channel (click to subscribe):
Reflections on Morality, Philosophy, and History:
St Basil, On Social Justice, To The Rich
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https://www.youtube.com/@ReflectionsMPH/?sub_confirmation=1
https://amzn.to/3BgIkeQ
© Copyright 2024 Become a patron:
https://youtu.be/PT_I5IrZGzY

To find the source of any direct
quotes in this blog, please type in
the phrase to the search box in
my blog to see the referenced
footnote.
YouTube Description has links for:
•Script PDF file
•Blog
•Amazon Bookstore
© Copyright 2024
Blog and YouTube Description
include links for Amazon books
and lectures mentioned, please
support our channel with these
affiliate commissions.
Blog:https://wp.me/pachSU-1hh

https://www.patreon.com/seekingvirtueandwisdom
https://www.meetup.com/Reflections/

https://www.patreon.com/seekingvirtueandwisdom

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLqDkfFbWhXOnzdjp__YZtg/

Was St Basil Woke? Basil the Great On Social Justice, Homily To the Rich

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