Saint John Cassian
On The Eight Vices 

On Avarice

Our third struggle is against the demon of avarice, a demon clearly foreign to our nature, who only gains entry into a monk because he is lacking in faith. The other passions, such as anger and desire, seem to be occasioned by the body and in some sense implanted in us at birth. Hence they are conquered only after a long time. The sickness of avarice, on the contrary, can with diligence and attention be cut off more readily, because it enters from outside. If neglected, however, it becomes even harder to get rid of and more destructive than the other passions, for according to the Apostle it is 'the root of all evil' (1 Tim. 6:10).

Avarice is a passion deriving not from our nature, but solely from an evil and perverted use of our free will. When this sickness finds the soul lukewarm and lacking in faith at the start of the ascetic path, it suggests to us various apparently justifiable and sensible reasons for keeping back something of what we possess. It conjures up in a monk's mind a picture of a lengthy old age and bodily illness; and it persuades him that the necessities of life provided by the monastery are insufficient to sustain a healthy man, much less an ill one; that in the monastery the sick, instead of receiving proper attention, are hardly cared for at all; and that unless he has some money tucked away, he will die a miserable death. Finally, it convinces him that he will not be able to remain long in the monastery because of the load of his work and the strictness of the abbot. When with thoughts like these it has seduced his mind with the idea of concealing any sum, however trifling, it persuades him to learn, unknown to the abbot, some handicraft through which he can increase his cherished hoardings. Then it deceives the wretched monk with secret expectations, making him imagine what he will earn from his handicraft, and the comfort and security which will result from it.

Now completely given over to the thought of gain, he notices none of the evil passions which attack him: his raging fury when he happens to sustain a loss, his gloom and dejection when he falls short of the gain he hoped for. Just as for other people the belly is a god, so for him is money. That is why the Apostle, knowing this, calls avarice not only 'the root of all evil' but 'idolatry' as well (Col. 3:5).

How is it that this sickness can so pervert a man that he ends up as an idolater? It is because he now fixes his intellect on the love, not of God, but of the images of men stamped on gold. A monk darkened by such thoughts and launched on the downward path can no longer be obedient. He is irritable and resentful, and grumbles about every task. He answers back and, having lost his sense of respect, behaves like a stubborn, uncontrollable horse. He is not satisfied with the day's ration of food and complains that he cannot put up with such conditions for ever. Neither God's presence, he says, nor the possibility of his own salvation is confined to the monastery; and, he concludes, he will perish if he does not leave it. He is so excited and encouraged in these perverse thoughts by his secret hoardings that he even plans to quit the monastery. Then he replies proudly and harshly no matter what he is told to do, and pays no heed if he sees something in the monastery that needs to be set right, considering himself a stranger and outsider and finding fault with all that takes place. Then he seeks excuses for being angry or injured, so that he will not appear to be leaving the monastery frivolously and without cause. He does not even shrink from trying through gossip and idle talk to seduce someone else into leaving with him, wishing to have an accomplice in his sinful action.

Because the avaricious monk is so fired with desire for private wealth he will never be able to live at peace in a monastery or under a rule. When like a wolf the demon has snatched him from the fold and separated him from the flock, he makes ready to devour him; he sets-him to work day and night in his cell on the very tasks which he complained of doing at fixed times in the monastery. But the demon does not allow him to keep the regular prayers or norms of fasting or orders of vigil. Having bound him fast in the madness of avarice, he persuades him to devote all his effort to his handicraft.

There are three forms of this sickness, all of which are equally condemned by the Holy Scriptures and the teaching of the Fathers. The first induces those who were poor to acquire and save the goods they lacked in the world. The second compels those who have renounced worldly goods by offering them to God, to have regrets and to seek after them again. A third infects a monk from the start with lack of faith and ardor, so preventing his complete detachment from worldly things, producing in him a fear of poverty and distrust in God's providence and leading him to break the promises he made when he renounced the world.

Examples of these three forms of avarice are, as I have said, condemned in Holy Scripture. Gehazi wanted to acquire property which he did not previously possess, and therefore never received the prophetic grace which his teacher had wished to leave him in the place of an inheritance. Because of the prophet's curse he inherited incurable leprosy instead of a blessing (cf. 2 Kgs. 5:27). And Judas, who wished to acquire money which he had previously abandoned on following Christ, not only lapsed so far as to betray the Master and lose his place in the circle of the apostles; he also put an end to his life in the flesh through a violent death (cf. Matt. 27:5). Thirdly, Ananias and Sapphira were condemned to death by the Apostle's word when they kept back something of what they had acquired (cf. Acts 5:1-10). Again, in Deuteronomy Moses is indirectly exhorting those who promise to renounce the world, and who then retain their earthly possessions because of the fear that comes from lack of faith, when he says: 'What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? He shall not go out to do battle; let him return to his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart' (cf. Deut. 20:8). Could anything be clearer or more certain than this testimony? Should not we who have left the world learn from these examples to renounce it completely and in this state go forth to do battle? We should not turn others from the perfection taught in the Gospels and make them cowardly because of our own hesitant and feeble start.

Some, impelled by their own deceit and avarice, distort the meaning of the scriptural statement, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive' (Acts 20:35). They do the same with the Lord's words when He says, 'If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me' (Matt. 19:21). They judge that it is more blessed to have control over one's personal wealth, and to give from this to those in need, than to possess nothing at all. They should know, however, that they have not yet renounced the world or achieved monastic perfection so long as they are ashamed to accept for Christ's sake the poverty of the Apostle and to provide for themselves and the needy through the labor of their hands (cf. Acts 20:34); for only in this way will they fulfill the monastic profession and be glorified with the Apostle. Having distributed their former wealth, let them fight the good fight with Paul 'in hunger and thirst . . . in cold and nakedness' (2 Cor. 11:27). Had the Apostle thought that the possession of one's former wealth was more necessary for perfection, he would not have despised his official status as a Roman citizen (cf. Acts 22:25). Nor would those in Jerusalem have sold their houses and fields and given the money they got from them to the apostles (cf. Acts 4: 34-35), had they felt that the apostles considered it more blessed to live off one's own possessions than from one's labor and the offerings of the Gentiles.

The Apostle gives us a clear lesson in this matter when he writes to the Romans in the passage beginning, 'But now I go to Jerusalem to minister to the saints', and ending: 'They were pleased to do it, and indeed they are in debt to them' (Rom. 15:25-27). He himself was often in chains, in prison or on fatiguing travel, and so was usually prevented from providing for himself with his own hands. He tells us that he accepted the necessities of life from the brethren who came to him from Macedonia (cf. 2 Cor. 11:9); and writing to the Philippians he says: 'Now you Philippians know also that . . . when I departed from Macedonia no church except you helped me with gifts of money. For even in Thessalonica you sent me help, not once but twice' (Phil. 4:15-16). Are, then, the avaricious right and are these men more blessed than the Apostle himself, because they satisfied his wants from their own resources? Surely no one would be so foolish as to say this.

If we want to follow the gospel commandment and the practice of the whole Church as it was founded initially upon the apostles, we should not follow our own notions or give wrong meanings to things rightly said. We must discard faint-hearted, faithless opinion and recover the strictness of the Gospel; In this way we shall be able to follow also in the footsteps of the Fathers, adhering to the discipline of the cenobitic life and truly renouncing this world.

It is good here to recall the words of St Basil, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia. He is reported once to have said to a senator, who had renounced the world in a half-hearted manner and was keeping back some of his personal fortune: 'You have lost the senator and failed to make a monk.' We should therefore make every effort to cut out from our souls this root of all evils, avarice, in the certain knowledge that if the root remains the branches will sprout freely.

This uprooting is difficult to achieve unless we are living in a monastery, for in a monastery we cease to worry about even our most basic needs. With the fate of Ananias and Sapphira in mind, we should shudder at the thought of keeping to ourselves anything of our former possessions. Similarly, frightened by the example of Gehazi who was afflicted with incurable leprosy because of his avarice, let us guard against piling up money which we did not have while in the world. Finally, recalling Judas' death by hanging, let us beware of acquiring again any of the things which we have already renounced. In all this we should remember how uncertain is the hour of our death, so that our Lord does not come unexpectedly and, finding our conscience soiled with avarice, say to us what God says to the rich man in the Gospel: 'You fool, this night your soul will be required of you: who then will be the owner of what you have stored up?' (Luke 12: 20).

(II Corinthians 3:4-9)

And such confidence we have, through Christ, towards God.

5 Not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God.

6 Who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter, but in the spirit. For the letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth.

7 Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was glorious; so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which is made void:

8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather in glory?

9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more the ministration of justice aboundeth in glory.

In recent years it has become popular amongst the Christian world out side of the Church to ask the question, “What would Jesus do?” And as often happens with catchphrases, it has been taken to extremes—everything from “What would Jesus eat?” to “What kind of SUV would Jesus drive?”

At first glance it might seem worthwhile to ask what Jesus would do in a particular circumstance, but the question has an inherent flaw: it opens the door to speculation. The answer becomes open-ended so that people can make up whatever “Jesus” they want to fit anything they would like to do.

For example, they would say, “What would Jesus do? I’ll tell you what He wouldn’t do. He wouldn’t condemn people because they want an abortion, and He wouldn’t go around ramming religion down people’s throats!” Or “He wouldn’t go around judging people, and telling them that they are ‘sinners’!”

The better question to ask is, “What did Jesus do?” This confines our answers to the safe and reliable boundaries of the scriptures and the fathers of the Church. What did Jesus do when He confronted sinners? As we see from Scripture, He made the issue one of justice rather than happiness. He said: “that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20).

He used the Ten Commandments to show sinners the just standard of God in (Matthew 5:17-37). In Mark 10:17-21, a man came running to Jesus, knelt before Him, and asked how he could obtain everlasting life. It would seem that his earnest and humble heart made him a prime candidate as a potential convert to the faith. Yet Jesus didn’t give him the message of God’s grace. He didn’t even mention the love of God. Neither did He tell him of an abundant, wonderful new life. Instead, Jesus used the Law of God to expose the man’s hidden sin. This man was a transgressor of the first of the Ten Commandments. His money was his god, and one cannot serve both God and money. Then the Scriptures reveal that it was love that motivated Jesus to speak in this way to this rich young man. Every time we witness to someone, we should examine our motives. Do we love the sinner enough to make sure his conversion is genuine? If Jesus had accepted at face value the rich young man’s profession of justification, He might have led him into a false conversion. Instead, Jesus used the Moral Law to reveal the man’s hidden sin—his love of money above all else.

Why did Jesus use the Ten Commandments? Because A gospel which merely says “Come to Jesus,” and offers Him as a Friend, and offers a marvelous new life, without convincing them of there sin, is not true Catholic evangelism. The essence of evangelism is to start by proclaiming the Law. True evangelism … must always start by proclaiming the Law.

When you use the Law to show lost sinners their true state, they will for the first time in their lives, see the Catholic message as expressing love and concern for their eternal welfare rather than merely proselytizing for a better lifestyle while on this earth. They will begin to understand why they should be concerned about their eternal salvation. The Law shows them that they are condemned by God. It even makes them a little fearful. Both the Psalms and the Proverbs says “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”.

The second use [of the Law] is to bring him unto life, unto Christ that he may live.

Perhaps you are tempted to say that we should never condemn sinners. However, St. John tells us that “He that believes not is condemned already” (John 3:18). All the Law does is show them their true state. If you dust a table in your living room and think it is dust-free, once you pull back the curtains and let in the sunlight. You will more than likely see dust still sitting on the table. The sunlight didn’t create the dust; it merely exposed it. When we take the time to draw back the high and heavy curtains of the Holy of Holies and let the light of God’s Law shine upon the sinner’s heart, the Law merely shows him his true state before God.

Proverbs 6:23 tells us, “Because the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:”

If we understand sin in its true light as enmity with God, and we grasp the urgency of the situation—that our unregenerate friend could die tonight and face God’s justice—would we not be motivated to show our friend his or her depravity in relationship to the Law, and to use the Law to appeal to their conscience in order to bring them to repentance and salvation?

We may not think that sin is terrible, but God certainly does—and the only way to understand sin from His perspective is to view it through the eyes of the Law.

Sin is so serious in His sight that He calls for the death sentence. Therefore, the issue we should address is the sinner’s guilt. You may say, “But we can’t convince him of his guilt. Only the Holy Spirit can do that!” That’s true; all we need to do is shine the light of the Law on the sinner’s heart.

It was the wrath of the Law that showed the adulterous woman in John 8:3-11 that she was condemned. She literally found herself between a rock and a hard place. Without those heavy rocks waiting to pound her sinful flesh, she may have died in her sins and gone to Hell. I doubt if she would have fallen at the feet of Jesus without the terror of the Law having driven her there. The Law awakened her and caused her to flee to the Savior. Most people believe they are rich in virtue, but the Law shows them they are morally bankrupt. If they do not declare bankruptcy, the Law will mercilessly call for their last drop of blood.

Timothy tells us that, “We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully:” For what purpose was God’s Law designed? The following verse tells us: “the law is not made for the just man, but ….for sinners, ” (1 Timothy 1:9). It even lists the sinners for us: the disobedient, the ungodly, murderers, fornicators, homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, etc. The Law’s main design is not for the saved, but for the unsaved. St. Paul says that it was given as a schoolmaster or tutor to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24) The Law can only drive a man to the Cross and know further. It is an unlawful use of the Law to use it for justification. No one will make it to Heaven by keeping the Law. The Scriptures make that very clear: “Knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16). The Law’s rightful purpose is simply to act as a mirror to show us that we need cleansing. Those who seek to be justified by the Law are taking the mirror off the wall and trying to wash themselves with it. Obviously, Christians refrain from lawlessness. In the same epistle that says we are not justified by the works of the law but by faith of Jesus Christ, Paul continues by saying a few verses down that we die to the law so that we can live for God. We have been nailed to the cross with Christ. So we are not the ones living now—it is Christ living in us. We still live in our body', but we live by the faith of the Son of God. He is the one who loved us and gave himself to save us.

I am not promoting the ideal that we now break the ten commandments. Let us understand that even thou we are not justified by the law “without holiness no man shall see God.” (Hebrews 12:14). However, a Christian’s motivation for holy living isn’t one of legalism imposed on them by the Law.

Why do they refrain from sin? To gain God’s favor? No. They already have that in Christ. Instead, Christians live lives that are pleasing to God because they want to do all they can to show God gratitude for the incredible mercy they have received through the gospel. Their gratitude isn’t driven by guilt—to somehow try to pay God back for the Cross. No, their motive is pure. It’s like the one leper who, when he saw that he was healed, was overwhelmed with gratitude. He turned back to Jesus and “And with a loud voice glorified God.” (Luke 17:15). The motive for gratitude is love, not legalism. Why then would any Christian stray into legalism? Why would they begin telling other believers what they can and cannot do in Christ? This happens simply because the Law hasn’t been used lawfully in the first place.

Let us keep in memory Saint Pauls' words in todays epistle. “We can say this, because through Christ we have confidence before God. I don’t mean that we are sufficient in ourselves to do anything good. It is God who makes us sufficient to do all that we do. He made us fit to be servants of a new testament. not in the letter, but in the spirit. The letter or written law brings death, but the spirit of the law gives life.”

In conclusion here the words of St. Augustine and Ambrosiaster:

“The spirit, who is the law of faith which is not written but which is contained in the rational soul, is life-giving, drawing to himself those who are guilty of mortal sin, so that they may be made just and cease altogether from sinning.” “Therefore it rests not in our own human power but on God's power to make us sons of God. We receive it from Him who inspires in the human heart devout thoughts, through which it possesses faith which works by love. For acquiring and retaining this good, and for progressing perseveringly in it to the end, we are not sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, in who power are our heart and our thoughts.”

READ MORE FROM THE TRADITIONAL CATECHISM AT THE WEBSITE: https://www.traditionalcatechism.com

There are 4 Steps to Maturity

1. Principles of Life

What are Principles? 

A fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.

Where should we find correct Principles/Truth?

• We find it in the Church.

(I Timothy 3:15) That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

•   We find it also in Scripture. With the guidance of the Church.

(II Timothy 3:16-17) All scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, That the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work.

2. Life is affected by our Principles.

• When a principle of life is violated or neglected, breakdowns result in one or more of these basic areas in life.
• Our response to God in different areas of our life.
• Acceptance of who we are.
• Harmony with in the Family.
• Having purpose for the future.
• Having healthy friendships.
• Harmony in courtship and marriage.
• Our Management of financial affairs.

(Proverbs 10:17) The way of life, to him that observeth correction: but he that forsaketh reproofs goeth astray.

(Proverbs 15:31) The ear that heareth the reproofs of life, shall abide in the midst of the wise. He that rejecteth instruction, despiseth his own soul: but he that yieldeth to reproof possesseth understanding.

(Proverbs 6:23) Because the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

Steps to Correct Violations of Principles

Once a breakdown in life has been traced to a violation of a principle given by the church and scripture, clear and logical steps of action are required to reconstruct thinking and direction.

(Proverbs 1:23) Turn ye at my reproof: behold I will utter my spirit to you, and will shew you my words.

(I Corinthians 11:28,31) But let a man prove himself:.........But if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

Look at what happens when we go against the principles of the Church and scripture.

(Proverbs 1:24-30) Because I called, and you refused: I stretched out my hand, and there was none that regarded. You have despised all my counsel, and have neglected my reprehensions. I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared. When sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand: when tribulation and distress shall come upon you: Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear: they shall rise in the morning and shall not find me: Because they have hated instruction and received not the fear of the Lord, Nor consented to my counsel, but despised all my reproof.

In Conclusion:

Correction may produce an immediate solution, but further guidance of discipline from the Church and in Scripture is essential to strengthen and reaffirm the importance of the steps which were taken.