St. Basil on theft:
“When someone strips a man of his clothes we call him a thief. And one who might clothe the naked and does not — should he not be given the same name? The bread in your board belongs to the hungry: the cloak in your wardrobe belongs to the naked, the shoes you let rot belong to the barefoot; the money in your vaults belongs to the destitute.”
St. Basil has some harsh words for the Christians of today. Is it not our very nature as humans to horde? Don’t I want to make sure that I have enough for today and tommorow? And yet Basil is telling me no, that not only should I not store up things, but that doing so is theft. That I’m stealing from the poor. Oh what a challenge this is! I am by no means wealthy. I’m a college student who relies on his parents in order to get by. But I still feel St. Basil is talking to me, challenging me to act more Christ like.
On a political scale this call grows louder in supporting Socialism. How can Christians justify investments, profits, interest, and wages in light of this? Why have we, as a Church, not sold our property, given away our belongings, divided our money, and fasted until all were fed?
St. John Chrysostom said it best,
“It is not for lack of miracles that the church is stagnant; it is because we have forsaken the angelic life of Pentecost, and fallen back on private property. If we lived as they did, with all things common, we should soon convert the whole world without any need of miracles at all.”
“For ‘mine’ and ‘thine’ — those chilly words which introduce innumerable wars into the world — should be eliminated from that holy Church . . .The poor would not envy the rich because there would be no rich. Neither would the poor be despised by the rich, for there would be no poor. All things would be in common.”
Christ have mercy on me, a sinner. For I have stolen from the poor, and I have therefore stolen from you.
