At the Feet of the Fathers: St. John Chrysostom on Using What You Have Been Given for Good

At the Feet of the Fathers

Monday, November 6, 2023

St. John Chrysostom

John Chrysostom (c. AD  347 – September 14 AD 407) was an important early Church father who served as archbishop of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey). He is known for his preaching, public speaking, his stand against abuses both among secular authorities and in the church, and his Divine Liturgy used to this day in Eastern Orthodoxy. The name Chrysostom means "golden-mouthed" in Greek and was given to him for his celebrated eloquence. Chrysostom was one of the most prolific authors in the early Christian Church.

Use What You Have Been Given for Good

Now listen carefully to what I am about to say because it will help you gain knowledge of religion, and get rid of invalid reasoning, and make the right decisions about the truth of things.

Some things are morally good by nature; others the opposite; and still others neither good nor evil but in a middle position. Piety is a good thing by nature, and impiety is evil. Virtue is a good thing by nature, and wickedness is evil.

But wealth and poverty are neither good nor evil in themselves. They become either good or evil from the will of those who use them.

If you use your wealth for the purposes of philanthropy, the thing becomes the foundation of good. But if you use it for robbery and greed and insolence, you turn the use of it to the direct opposite.

The same is true of poverty. If you bear it nobly by giving thanks to the Master, what has happened becomes a cause of your winning crowns. But if because of your poverty you blaspheme the Creator, and accuse him for his providence, then you are using the thing for an evil purpose.

St. John Chrysostom, Homily Against Publishing the Errors of the Brethren, 2