What do the Fathers say about those refuse to give?

First: They accuse them of stealing. St. Augustine says, “But to our prayers we must add, by almsgiving and fasting, the wings of loving kindness, so that they may fly the more easily to God and reach him. From this the Christian mind can readily understand how far

1128 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Select Orations 14.39 (FOTC 107:70–71).

1129 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew 48.9 (NPNF I/10:293).

1130 St. Cyprian of Carthage, Epistles 59.1–2 (ANF 5:355).

1131 St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament , 87.2 (NPNF I/6:517)

1132 Origen of Alexandria, Homilies on Genesis 4.1 – 2 (FOTC 71:104–106).

1133 St. Justin Martyr, First Apology 14 (ANF 1:167).

removed we should be from the fraudulent filching of other people’s property; when it perceives how similar it is to fraud when you don’t give to the needy what you don’t need yourself.”¹¹³⁴

St. John Chrysostom says, “not only robbery of other men’s goods, but also the not imparting of our own good things to others,—that this also is robbery … God, rebuking the Jews, speaks thus … you have robbed the poor. This is said in order to show to the rich that they possess things which belong to the poor, even if their property be gained by inheritance,—in fact, from whatever source their substance might be derived. And, again, in another place, it is said, ‘Do not deprive the poor of life’ (Sir. 4:1).”¹¹³⁵

St. Jerome says, “You must also avoid the sin of covetousness, and this not merely by refusing to seize upon what belongs to others, for that is punished by the laws of the state, but also by not keeping your own property, which has now become no longer yours. ‘If you have not been faithful,’ the Lord says, ‘in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?’ (Luke 16:12) ‘That which is another man’s’ is a quantity of gold or of silver, while ‘that which is our own’ is the spiritual heritage.”¹¹³⁶

St. Basil the Great says, “If one possessed the goods of the poor; you caught him and made him a part of your abundance. You have shown yourself more unjust than the unjust, and more miserly than the miser.”¹¹³⁷

Second: They deem them unjust. St. Basil the Great says, “Who are the greedy? Those who are not satisfied with what suffices for their own needs. Who are the robbers? Those who take for themselves what rightfully belongs to everyone. And you, are you not greedy? Are you not a robber? The things you received in trust as a stewardship, have you not appropriated them for yourself? Is not the person who strips another of clothing called a thief? And those who do not clothe the naked when they have the power to do so, should they not be called the same? The bread you are holding back is for the hungry, the clothes you keep put away are for the naked, the shoes that are rotting away with disuse are for those who have none, the silver you keep buried in the earth is for the needy. You are thus guilty of injustice toward as many as you might have aided, and did not.”¹¹³⁸

“Nothing, if it were bad in itself, would have been created by God. ‘For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected’ (1 Tim. 4:4). So also the commandment of the Lord does not teach us to avoid or cast away possessions as evil things in themselves, but to

1134 St. Augustine of Hippo, The Works of St. Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century: Part III— Sermons; Volume VI: Sermons 184–229Z , trans., Edmund Hill, ed., John E. Rotelle (New City Press, 1993) 206.2: p. 107.

1135 St. John Chrysostom, Four discourses of Chrysostom, chiefly on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus trans., F. Allen (London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1869) 2.4: p. 50–51 amended.

1136 St. Jerome, Letters 22.31 (NPNF II/6:36).

1137 St. Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 7.3 (NPNF II/8:91).

1138 St. Basil of Caesarea, “I Will Tear Down My Barns” 7 in On Social Justice (PP 38:69–70).

manage them rightly. One who is judged, is not blamed for possessing things, but for misusing them. For earthly possessions are not rejected if managed by a wise will.”¹¹³⁹