11 quotes
How will he see to cast out the mote from his brother's eye, who has the beam of anger in his own eye?
Institutes of the Coenobia (420)
Having laid the foundations badly, they [covetous souls] are unworthy to raise an edifice of virtue and reach the summit of perfection.
Institutes of the Coenobia (420)
Wrath that is nursed in the heart, although it may not injure men who stand by, yet excludes the splendour of the radiance of the Holy Ghost, equally with wrath that is openly manifested.
Institutes of the Coenobia (420)
It is possible that those who are in no way pressed down with the weight of money may be condemned with the covetous in disposition and intent. For it was the opportunity of possessing which was wanting in their case, and not the will for it.
Institutes of the Coenobia (420)
With the increase of wealth the mania of covetousness increases.
Institutes of the Coenobia (420)
For it was in the desert that he appeared to Moses and spoke to Elijah.
Conferences of the Desert Fathers (420)
Covetousness ... chooses to love and care for images stamped on gold instead of God.
It is an impossibility for him who, overcome in the matter of a small possession, has once admitted into his heart a root of evil desire, not to be inflamed presently with the heat of a still greater desire.
Institutes of the Coenobia (420)
The mind which does not have a place to turn or any stable base will undergo change from hour to hour and from minute to minute due to the variety of its distractions. ... By the things that come to it from outside it will be continually transformed.
We must not only guard against the possession of money, but also must expel from our souls the desire for it. For we should not so much avoid the results of covetousness, as cut off by the roots all disposition towards it. For it will do no good not to possess money, if there exists in us the desire for getting it.
Institutes of the Coenobia (420)
For the rest, Jesus is also seen by those who dwell in cities and towns and villages—that is, by those who have an active way of life and its obligations—but not with that brightness with which he appears to those who are able to climb with him the aforesaid mount of the virtues—namely, to Peter, James, and John. For it was in the desert that he appeared to Moses and spoke to Elijah.
Conferences of the Desert Fathers (420)