Fr. John Santor posted a question yesterday to my translation of St. Basil’s Sermon to the Rich, asking if I could direct him to the passage where Basil says something like the following, “You with a second coat in your closet, it does not belong to you. You have stolen it from the poor man […]
St. Basil on stealing from the poor
So many of us are blessed with abundance today. Yet, how many sermons like this do we hear preached?
St. Basil is speaking nonsense. Acquiring wealth through legitimate means is no theft. If it were, then charity would really be restitution. God loves a cheerful giver. “A workers wages are counted as his due,” as St. Paul says. Proverbs would like a word with St. Basil.
Hi Brad, I think you’ve inverted the meaning of Romans 4:4 but thank you for sharing your thoughts.