On Jealousy and Envy

​Hence the devil, right at the beginning of the world, both perished first himself and destroyed [others]. He, supported by angelic majesty, he, accepted and beloved by God, after he beheld man made in the image of God, broke out into jealousy with malevolent envy, not casting down another by the impulse of jealousy before he himself was first cast down by jealousy, a captive before capturing, ruined before ruining, while, with envy stimulating him, he snatched from man the grace of given immortality, he himself also lost what he had previously been. What kind of evil is this, beloved brethren, by which an angel fell, by which that lofty and illustrious sublimity could be circumvented and subverted, by which he himself was deceived who deceived! Thereafter envy rages on earth, while he who is to perish through envy obeys the master of perdition, while he imitates the devil who is jealous, as it is written: ‘But by the envy of the devil, death entered into the world.’ Therefore, they imitate him who are on his side.

​Hence finally the first hatreds of the new brotherhood, hence unspeakable fratricides began, while the unjust Cain envies the just Abel, while the evil persecutes the good with envy and jealousy. So much did the fury of rivalry avail to the consummation of the crime, that neither the love of a brother, nor the enormity of the crime, nor the fear of God, nor the punishment of the transgression was thought of. Unjustly was he oppressed who had first shown justice, hatred did he suffer who knew not how to hate, impiously was he slain who while dying did not resist. And that Esau became an enemy to his brother Jacob was jealousy; for because the one had received the father’s blessing, the other burned with the torches of envy into the hatred of persecution. And that Joseph’s brothers sold him, the cause of selling descended from rivalry: after he, as a brother to his brothers, simply explained what had been shown to him as prosperous in visions, their malevolent mind broke out into envy. What else than the stimulus of jealousy provoked King Saul to hate David, so that with frequently repeated persecutions he desired to kill the innocent, merciful, patient with mild gentleness man? Because when Goliath was killed, and by divine help and favor so great an enemy was destroyed, the admiring people broke forth into the praises of David with the suffrage of acclamation, Saul conceived the furies of animosity and persecution from envy. And lest I should make it long by reviewing them individually, let us attend to the destruction of a people perishing once for all. Did not the Jews perish thence, while they preferred to envy Christ rather than to believe in Him? Disparaging the great works which He was doing, they were deceived by blinding jealousy, nor could they open the eyes of their heart to know divine things.

​Considering which things now, beloved brethren, let us vigilantly and strongly fortify our hearts dedicated to God against so great a destruction of evil. Let the death of others profit to our salvation; let the punishment of the imprudent confer health upon the provident. But there is no reason why anyone should think that this evil is contained in one form, or concluded within short limits and a narrow boundary. The manifold and fertile destruction of jealousy lies open wide. It is the root of all evils, the source of disasters, the nursery of transgressions, the material of faults. Thence hatred rises, thence animosity proceeds. Jealousy inflames avarice, while one cannot be content with his own, seeing another richer. Jealousy excites ambition, while one perceives another greater in honors. While jealousy blinds our senses and reduces the secrets of the mind into its own dominion, the fear of God is despised, the teaching of Christ is neglected, the day of judgment is not anticipated. Pride puffs up, cruelty exasperates, faithlessness prevaricates, impatience shakes, discord rages, anger boils, nor can he now restrain or govern himself who has become subject to another’s power. Hence the bond of the Lord’s peace is broken, hence brotherly charity is violated, hence truth is adulterated, unity is cleft, there is a plunge into heresies and schisms, while priests are disparaged, while bishops are envied, while one either complains that he himself was not ordained rather, or disdains to bear another placed over him. Hence he kicks back, hence he rebels, proud from jealousy, perverse from rivalry, by animosity and envy an enemy not of the man but of the honor.