78. "Envy is sorrow for the well-being of one's neighbor," says Basil the Great in his Sermon on Envy. Cain was grieved, and his face drooped. And why? For he saw that his brother Abel was commended by the Lord of all for offering gifts, but he was rejected because of his laziness. The elder brother of the prodigal son, as he was coming from the field, heard rejoicing and singing in his father's house, and learned that the joy was because of his brother, whom the gracious father had regained his health, and was angry and would not enter into his father's house, and be a partaker of that rejoicing (Luke 15:25-30). Righteous is the reason for rejoicing: his brother "was dead and is alive again, he was lost and was found." But he does not look at this, then he does not like that for the sake of his brother the fat calf is slaughtered, and for the sake of his well-being his father rejoices with the whole house. Thus envy grieves for the good of its neighbor and considers the well-being of its brother to be its own misfortune! St. Chrysostom also ascribes this useless sorrow to envy, saying: "Envy considers the well-being of its neighbor to be its own misfortune" (Discourse 52 on the Book of Genesis).

79. Envy is the root and beginning of pride. The proud, because he wants to be exalted above others, cannot tolerate that anyone is equal to him, much less higher in well-being, and therefore he is indignant at his exaltation. But the humble cannot envy, because he sees and acknowledges his own unworthiness, but considers himself more worthy than others; therefore he has no indignation about their gifts. This passion is present only in those who think of themselves as something in the world, and dreaming so highly of themselves, they impute others to nothing. So indignant is the proud Saul with the meek and humble David, that the exultant wives ascribed more praise to him, as Saul himself admitted and said: "To David they gave tens of thousands, and to me thousands" (1 Samuel 18:8). That's why he began to drive the innocent.

80. The purpose of envy is to see the one whom it envies in misfortune. It is born when the other's well-being begins; then he ceases when his well-being ceases and misfortune begins. Thus, through envy, our forefathers were cast from high bliss into a state of misery. Cain's envy taught him to rise up against his brother Abel and kill him. Envy is the fact that Joseph was sold into Egypt. It is to envy that the Jews lifted up Christ, their Lord and Benefactor, to the Cross. Thus envy begins from pride, hatred from envy, malice from hatred; malice leads to the most unfortunate end. That is why St. Chrysostom also says: "The root of murder is envy" (Discourse 54 on Genesis).

81. Envy is a tormenting passion, and laughter, or rather weeping, is worthy of laughter, for the human heart is infected with such devilish poison. Other passions have a certain pleasure, although imaginary, but the envious one sins, and at the same time suffers. Haman, the enemy of Judah, as he himself admits, is displeased neither with the glory with which the king magnified him, nor with the riches with which he abounded, nor with the honor that he was invited to the queen and the king to a feast; this, he says, "Everything is not enough for me." What is the reason for this? Has anyone offended you, Haman? Has someone stolen your belongings? Or has not anyone slandered you before the king? Are you healthy yourself, or your household? Or are you not troubled by the fear of the enemy? No! There is nothing like that. What then? Why is your heart troubled? Why do you grieve in the midst of such glory and wealth? Why do you bow your head? Why are you decrepit and dull? Why is your face darkening? What do you, the king's first counselor, lack? You do not have only a scepter and a royal orb. "No," says Haman, "all this is not enough for me, for I see Mordecai in prosperity. All this is not enough for me, when I see Mordecai the Judean in the king's court. Nothing, neither glory, nor honor, nor riches, rejoiceth me, for I see Mordecai in favor with the king" (Est. 5). Thus the envious sins and at the same time accepts punishment, iniquities and torments! And from this one can see how vile the vice of envy is and worthy of ridicule! To grieve that one's neighbor is rejoicing; To complain and eat that a brother is blossoming in prosperity - isn't laughter a worthy deed? Everyone can admit this, only the devil is characterized by such a thing: the devil is sad and intolerable that Christians are saved and receive eternal glory, from which he is cast down into eternal perdition and dishonor.

82. From what has been said above, everyone can see how pernicious this passion is. For: 1) His own sin is the devil, who with this plague of our forefathers, and with them also killed us. For the devil's work is to rejoice over the destruction of mankind and to grieve over salvation, which is characteristic of envy. 2) The demon does not envy such a demon, but a person; but man to man, brother to brother, kindred to kindred, like like, envies, who should "rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep," as the Apostle teaches (Romans 12:15); which cannot but be surprised, or, moreover, what is worthily impossible to mourn. Thus Satan infected our heart with his poison! 3) Envy, as it is said in 78, leads to every unfortunate end of those against whom it arms. 4) Envy also envies those from whom it receives a good deed; even the well-wisher does not like her, she persecutes the benefactor. Who was a greater benefactor to the Jews than Christ, the Savior of the world? He raised them from the dead, enlightened the blind, cleansed the lepers, and performed other wonderful blessings. But envy does not look at this. She advises: "What should we do? This Man works many miracles. If we leave Him thus, then all shall believe in Him" (John 11:47-48). She does not reason, does not revere the high good, but learns to kill her benefactor. Nourish, clothe, protect, enrich, console the envious as you wish, it is unpleasant for him. Because you are well-off, everyone loves, praises, and honors you. This wounds his heart, which your love and beneficence cannot heal. And he will wound you until he sees you in distress. 3) Envy of those which he possesses leads to a calamitous end. For besides making them guilty of eternal torment, and subjecting them to temporal calamity. Thus Cain groans and trembles; Haman, who was lifted up on the tree which he prepared for Mordecai the Israelite, perishes. That is why St. Chrysostom says: "He who is envious, desiring to destroy another, destroys himself also" (Discourse 55 on the Evangelist John). But even if there is no other external calamity for the envious, the internal one is enough for him, it is enough for him to be eaten, tormented, and tormented by his own tormentor.

83. The remedy for this evil and pernicious disease is as follows: 1) Pride, from which envy, as it is said, is born, must be laid aside with the help of God, and so, without an evil root, there will be no evil fruit. "Envy," says Augustine, "is the daughter of pride: kill the mother, and her daughter will perish." 2) To learn in the love of one's neighbor - so envy will fall. For "love does not envy," says the Apostle (1 Corinthians 13:4). And although this pernicious arrow will strike the heart, it will resist its action with the spirit of love and urge itself, and the unwilling, to thank God that the neighbor is in well-being. In this way, every inner evil is healed and, as they say, wedge by wedge is knocked out. We must compel ourselves to do every good and do not what the evil heart wants, but what the Christian faith and conscience require: "Those who use force take away the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 11:12). Thus we resist malice and vengeance, murmuring and blasphemy, and other passions, and we force ourselves to patience and other piety. That at first not without difficulty, but later, with God's help, it will be convenient. 3) To think and believe without doubt that in this world there is nothing great and wonderful, and there is no true bliss except eternal and heavenly. And when we are in this opinion, then envy will weaken and will be invalid. For envy is born of the well-being of one's neighbor; but when we do not consider temporary well-being, that is, honor, wealth, etc., to be true well-being, then we will not envy it. If, despising earthly things, you seek heavenly things, then you will envy neither honor, nor glory, nor praise, nor riches, nor nobility, for you desire incomparably better. A prince and a nobleman does not envy the praise of a shoemaker, tailor, carpenter, and other craftsmen, because he has a much better one. In the same way, the temporary, the miserable, and, so to speak, the imaginary is not envied by the one who seeks permanent and true eternal bliss. Do you want not to be eaten and damaged by this painful ulcer? Consider temporary everything as nothing, and so it will have no place in you.

Chapter 3: On Anger and Malice

"Whosoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to judgment; Whoever says to his brother, 'Raka,' shall be liable to the Sanhedrin; but whosoever shall say, 'Fool,' shall be liable to hell fire" (Matt. 5:22).

"But now put away all things: wrath, wrath, malice, slander, foul language in your mouth" (Col. 3:8).

84. Anger is the feeling of a heart disease born of resentment, which is expressed either in deed or in word.

85. Anger is a painful and fierce passion and cannot be hidden. Other passions are conveniently hidden, but anger cannot be hidden. The heart, filled with anger, like a boiling cauldron, spews out various signs of anger, which appear in the various members of the body. Eyes blush and sparkle like sparks with anger; the veins swell from anger, the eyebrows and hair rise; gnashing our teeth with anger, foaming with our lips, nodding our heads, turning and turning our heads. His face darkens with anger. The action of anger is that we squeeze our hands and clap them, we strike our feet on the ground; in anger we strike at the breast, we tear our hair and clothes; filled with anger, he shouts, screams, sheds tears, complains, blasphemes and often vomits out, which he later regrets. In a word, the whole man is changed in anger, the whole appearance is like a demoniac appears. If such vile external signs are shown, if the body is so ugly from anger, what is already inside, in the heart, which spews out such a stinking smell? How vile and ugly is the soul of the angry, how vile it is in the sight of God, when only the sight of the angry one seems unbearable to us, who ourselves bear the same evil inside! In a word, it is impossible to depict the vile state of the poor soul. And this can be noticed not only in an adult, but also in a small child and infant: how he screams, rages, turns away from everything, until his anger is quenched! From this we can see what a great poison from the devil the human heart is filled with, what a great evil is hidden within us, which we cannot mourn enough. And this teaches us to sigh unceasingly and pray to God that our heart, so cruelly corrupted, may be corrected and renewed. "Build up a pure heart in me, O God, and renew the spirit of righteousness in my womb" (Psalm 50:12). But when it is corrected and good, then its fruits will also be good, that is, deeds, words, and thoughts.

86. Anger turns into malice and rancor if it is long restrained and nourished in the heart. Therefore we are commanded to cut it short quickly, so that it does not grow into hatred and malice, and so the greater evil is not added to evil. "Let not the sun go down on your anger; and give no place to the devil," says the Apostle (Ephesians 4:26-27). As a fire, if it is not extinguished quickly, eats up many houses, so anger, if it is not soon stopped, causes much evil and is the cause of many misfortunes. Therefore, according to the admonition of the Apostle, anger must soon be expelled from the heart, when it begins, so that, having intensified, both we who are angry and those against whom we are angry will no longer harm and destroy.

87. Both anger and malice are born of immeasurable self-love. For the self-lover seeks his own gain, glory and honor in everything; and when he sees something in an obstacle to his intention and desire, he is troubled, sad and angry with the one who hinders, therefore he tries to bring his anger into action, that is, to take revenge, which is characteristic of malice.