To the Most Rev'd Nun Xenia [Ch. 32-33] Philokalia (p. 305)


The truth is that people are frightened of being poor because they have no faith in Him who promised to provide all things needed to those who seek the kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33). It is this fear which spurs them even when they are endowed with all things, and it prevents them from ever freeing themselves from this sickly and baneful desire. They go on amassing wealth, loading themselves with a worthless burden or, rather, enclosing themselves while still living in a most absurd kind of tomb. Dead men are simply buried in the earth, but the intellect of a living miser is buried in the dust of the earth of gold.