Ascetical Works

Homily 21: On Detachment from Worldly Goods

HOMILY 21 On Detachment from Worldly Goods and Concerning the Conflagration Which Occurred in the Environs of the Church IITHOUGHT, well-beloved, that, inasmuch as I had so vigorously plied you with the goad of my words on every and all occasions, you regarded me as a troublesome fellow, overbold for a stranger and for a man who is himself guilty on similar charges. Yet, by my rebukes you were moved to kindliness and the blows of my tongue you transformed into incentives to greater zeal. This, of course, is not a matter for surprise, since you are wise in the things of the spirit. Solomon says somewhere in his writings: 'Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee.'l Therefore, my brethren, I now again employ the same kind of exhortation in my desire to rescue you, insofar as I am able, from the snares of the Devil. Dearly beloved, it is a long and varied warfare which the Enemy of truth daily wages against us. He attacks us, as you know, by turnil1g our own desires as arrows against ourselves and ever draws from our own selves the power to do us harm. Since, however, the Lord greatly limited his power by inviolable laws and did not permit him to destroy our race at once by his attacks, the malicious demon, taking advantage of our folly, wins his victories by stealth. Wicked and avaricious men whose business and deliberate policy it is to become rich at others' expense, but who have not the power to make use of open violence, are wont to lie in wait along the highways , and, if they espy any region nearby that is either cleft by deep ravines or shaded by a thick growth of bushes, they I l'rov. 9.8. 487 488 SAINT BASIL hide therein and, screened by such coverts from the traveler's range of vision, they suddenly leap upon him. Thus, no one is able to see the perilous traps before he falls into them. In the same way, our Enemy, hostile to us from the beginning, sneaks into the shadows of worldly pleasures which grow thickly enough about the road of life to hide the Brigand while he plots against us. There he lurks in secret and spreads his nets for our destruction. If, then, we would safely traverse the road of life lying before us, and offer to Christ our body and soul alike free from the shame of wounds, and receive the crown for this victory, we must always and everywhere keep the eyes of our soul wide open, holding in suspicion everything that gives pleasure. We must unhesitatingly pass by such things, without allowing our thoughts to rest in them, even if we think that we see gold lying before us in heaps, ready to be picked up by any who so desire. ('If riches abound,' says the Scripture, 'set not your heart upon them.'~) We must pay no heed, even if the earth bud forth every kind of delicacy and offer luxurious dwellings to our gaze (for 'our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ') 3; nor should we take notice when dancing and merry-making and reveling and banquets ringing with the sound of the flute are offered for our enjoyment (for the Scripture says: 'Vanity of vanities and all is vanity.'4). Pay no attention, either, if there be placed before you beautiful bodies wherein dwell wicked souls ('Flee from the face of a woman as from the face of a serpent,' says the Wise Man.5 ) Heed it not even if you are offered powers and sovereignties, throngs of attendants and flatterers, or a high and splendid throne which holds cities and nations in voluntary servitude 2 Ps. 61.l1. 3 Phil. 3.20. 4 Ecde. 1.2. 5 Eccli. 21.2. ON DETACHMENT 489 (for 'all flesh is grass and all the glory of man as the flower of the field. The grass is withered and the flower is fallen.'6 ) • Beneath all these pleasures which are so delightful lurks our common Enemy, waiting to see whether we will swerve from the straight path and fall into his lair, captivated by the enticements our eyes behold. Indeed, it is greatly to be feared that, by running recklessly after these delights and regarding the pleasure derived from their...