And rightly so, for the envious suffers not so much from his own misfortune as from the happiness of others, he is tormented by his heart when he sees his neighbor above himself, in happiness and honor. And it was not so bitter to Cain that God had rejected his sacrifice, as that He was pleased to accept his brother's sacrifice; he did not grieve over his loss, but grieved, looking at his brother's happiness; he did not think to correct himself by the example of his brother's virtue, but because of this he became even worse. And as much as he abounded before God in good, so much did he harden in evil; this one was exalted in the eyes of God's mercy, and this one descended into the depths of perdition. Oh, what a great evil envy is! Let us listen to what the Holy Fathers say about it. St. Gregory of Nyssa says: "Envy is the beginning of malice, the mother of death, the first door of sin, the root of all evil." Basil the Great exhorts: "Let us, brethren, avoid the intolerable evil of envy; it is the commandment of the tempting serpent, the invention of the devil, the seed of the enemy, the pledge of God's punishment, the obstacle to pleasing God, the path to hell, the deprivation of the Kingdom of Heaven." And St. Chrysostom says that if someone were a very virtuous person, and even a miracle-worker, but is overcome by envy, he will not receive any benefit from his works, moreover, he is reckoned with great sinners by the Judgment of God. Here are the words of this Father of the Church: "Whoever works miracles, preserves virginity, observes the fast, makes prostrations to the ground and is compared to the angels in virtue, but has this defect (i.e. envy), he is the most impious, the most lawless of all, and the adulter, and the fornicator, and the digger of graves."

To whom God reveals His blessings, human envy is not indifferent to him. Evil people begin to harm him in order to drive him away from them, out of sight, for the envious eye cannot tolerate seeing the happiness and well-being of another. St. David, having said of the righteous that "his horn shall be lifted up in glory" (Psalm 111:9), immediately adds: "The sinner shall see, and shall be angry, he shall gnash his teeth, and shall melt." The horn of glory and prosperity pierces the eyes of the envious, for whom the happiness of others is a torment. He aches in his heart and is tormented when he sees that his neighbor is prospering. He would be glad to swallow such a person alive. The Egyptians tortured the Israelites, whom they hated, but they themselves were no less tormented by envy, for the more they oppressed the Jews, the more they multiplied and strengthened. For the people of God it was a torment to do the work of Egypt, and for the Egyptians it was a torment that the people of God should so rapidly multiply and be strengthened. But the people of God remained invincible, they came out of Egypt with glory, and the Egyptians were given over to complete destruction for their envy, for envy destroys the one in whose heart it dwells. Envy is like a moth in clothes: this one eats up the clothes, and this one eats the heart in which it is born. The holy Prophet Isaiah, glorifying the great mercy which he received from God before his enemies, addresses them with the following speech: "All of you," he says, "as a robe you promise, and as a moth you have been taken away" (Isaiah 5:9). Envy eats you up, and it will destroy you completely: the moth is not great, but it spoils all your clothes; Envy hidden in the heart is not visible either, but it is very harmful to both bodily health and spiritual salvation. It harms health, for the envious person, who is consumed and tormented in his heart by envy of the happiness of his neighbor, also weakens his body, and it happens that he becomes ill from excessive envy. It harms salvation, for if the envious person remains in his dispensation to the end of his life and does not repent, he cannot be saved. According to the testimony of the holy Apostle, who, counting evil deeds (impurity, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, rage, heresy, etc.), placed envy among them — next to murder, and so on.

How to defeat envy? Meekness, patience and gentleness. They will intimidate without fury, they will win without weapons, they will drive out their enemies without military regiments! By this Christ the Saviour also conquered His enemies; He "was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before his shearer was silent" (Isaiah 53:7). He says: "We reproach us against us not to reproach, we do not forgive suffering" (1 Pet. 2:23). What did His gentle and long-suffering meekness not do? What cruel beasts in human form did she not tame? Read in the Holy Gospel and you will see... Therefore, whoever wants to conquer his envious people without weapons and have an advantage over them, let him be meek, patient, quiet, not malicious, like a lamb, and you will conquer them, you will tame them, and you will subdue them. St. John Chrysostom gives good hope in this, he says: "If we remain sheep, then we will conquer not by our own strength, but by the Divine help that protects us; for as a shepherd feeds his sheep, so God feeds and protects us, so that our enemies like wolves may not harm us. And on the contrary, if we cease to be sheep, but, resisting those who are hostile to us, we are moved by anger and bitterness, we rise up to avenge, repaying evil for evil and vexation for vexation, then we ourselves will become wolves, having lost our kindness and meekness, and then we will not be able to overcome our enemies, because then the help and protection of our shepherd, God, who is the Shepherd of only meek sheep, will be taken away from us. and not wolves," as the same St. Chrysostom testifies, saying: "If we are wolves, then we will be defeated by our enemies, for then the help of the Shepherd will depart from us: He feeds not wolves, but sheep, leaves the wolves to enmity with one another, and withdraws."

Thus, God helps only the one who is meek, like a lamb, and not the one who becomes a wolf, wanting to tear his enemy to pieces. God is the Shepherd only of those who are not malicious, and not of those who repay evil with evil. He avenges those who do not avenge themselves, and not those who want to repay their enemy with evil. There is such a story in the "Otechnik" (or "Patericon"). One brother, offended by another brother, came to the Monk Sisoy of the Thebaid and said: "My brother has vexed me, and I want to take revenge on him." The elder began to persuade him: "No, child, do not avenge yourself, leave this matter to the will of God, He Himself will avenge you." But he insisted on his own: "I will not leave it like this, I will take revenge on him." Then the elder said: "Let us pray to God, brother," and getting up, he began to pray: "God, we no longer trust in You, therefore, abandon care for us, do not take revenge on those who offend us: we will avenge ourselves on them!" "Believe me, child, whoever endures vexation will be saved without difficulty, but whoever is angry with his brother destroys all his virtue and becomes a slave of the devil."

(From the works of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov)

33. Do not argue with God

"Do not give me riches and poverty, but arrange for me what is necessary and self-satisfied, so that I may not be filled with lies, or steal impoverished." (Proverbs 30:8-9).

"Blessed is the rich man, who is found without blemish, and who does not follow gold. Who is this, and let us bless him, make him wondrous among men..." (Sir. 31:8-9).

Abba Daniel once came to the village to sell his needlework. He was about to return to his skete, when a man met him, surrounded by beggars and wanderers, and invited him to his place for supper. It was a stonecutter, named Eulogius, who was busy working all day, eating nothing; When evening came, he led all those of the poor whom he met on the way into the house, and spent everything he had worked out for supper, even the crumbs that remained from the table, he threw to the neighboring dogs.

The elder, marveling at his virtues, thought: "Eulogius, the poor, feeds so many beggars every day, what would the rich Eulogius do! Oh! he would be food to all who hunger, clothing to all who are naked!" And he began day and night to ask God that Eulogius, for the happiness of others, would become rich; combining his prayer with fasting, he became so exhausted that he was barely alive. Three weeks passed, and finally God heard the prayer of the elder: he fell asleep, suddenly he saw himself in the Church of the Resurrection, he saw a certain God-like Youth, sitting on a holy stone. Eulogius stood beside Him. Then the Lad said: "If you give yourself up as a guarantee for Eulogius, then I will give him wealth." "From my hands demand his soul," answered the elder, and saw that two of those who were present began to pour gold into the bosom of Eulogius. Then the elder awoke from his sleep, thanking God that his prayer had been heard.

Meanwhile, Eulogius lived as before. But one morning, when I went to work, I struck a stone with a pickaxe and felt that it was empty, I struck another time and saw a hole, I struck a third time, and gold fell from the stone... Eulogius was horrified and did not know what to do with the treasure! On that day, not a single beggar at Eulogius, and not even Eulogius himself, partook of food. The next day he bought horses and brought home gold under the guise of transporting stones, and dined alone.

For a long time Eulogius was in restless thoughts... Finally, he hired a ship and went to Constantinople; there he gave gifts to all the nobles, and he himself became a nobleman; he bought a huge, magnificent house and began to live in luxury, treating every day those who were close to the king.

Abba Daniel knew nothing about this, but two years later he again saw the Holy Lad in a dream and thought: where is Eulogius? "And suddenly he saw: someone evil was banishing Eulogius from the face of the Lad... The elder awoke from his sleep and, sighing, said to himself: "Alas! I have lost my soul!" — He took his outer garment and went to the place where Eulogius had lived before. For a long time he waited for the nourisher of the poor to come and invite him into his house, but in vain! Finally, seeing an old woman, he said to her: "Do me a favor, bring me a piece of bread, I have not eaten today." She fulfilled his request and entered into a spiritually beneficial conversation with him. Then he asked her: "Is there anyone here who receives strangers?" — "No," answered the old woman with a heavy sigh, "there was a stonemason among us, who loved hospitality most of all, but God, seeing his deeds, gave him His grace, and now he is a nobleman in Constantinople..." — Hearing this, the elder said to himself: "I have committed murder!" — and went to the capital. There he learned where Eulogius lived, sat down at the gate of his house and waited for him to come out... Finally, Eulogius appears with pride on his face, with pride in his gait, accompanied by slaves. "Have mercy on me," the elder exclaimed, "I want to tell you something..." But Eulogius did not even look at the elder; and the slaves pushed him away. The unfortunate guarantor preceded Eulogius by another street, met him again and called out to him, but having received several blows, he was forced to retire. Thus the elder sat for four weeks before the gates of Evlogiev's house, overwhelmed by snow and rain, and had no opportunity to talk to him. Finally, the elder despaired of the salvation of Eulogius, and, prostrating himself on the ground, asked God to release him from his commission. And then he dozed off, and saw in a dream the Most Holy Mother of God: "Have mercy on me, Lady?" he cried.