Greed

The last of the Ten Commandments forbids coveting: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house” (Exodus 20:17), nor anything else that belongs to a neighbor. Jesus warned, “Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15), and told of a rich man who tore down his barns to build bigger ones. Paul wrote that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10); his Greek word, philargyria, means “love of silver”. Evagrius used it for this thought, and from it comes the Church Slavonic name, srebroljubie.

Two stories became its classic examples. Achan took silver and gold from the spoils of Jericho and confessed, “I coveted them and took them” (Joshua 7:21). Judas asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” (Matthew 26:15), and John calls him a thief who took from the money bag (John 12:6). Later lists set generosity against greed. Dante’s greedy lie face down in the dust on the fifth terrace, and artists drew Greed as an old woman counting coins beside full sacks, or blindfolded among her money.