DEPARTMENT OF STEWARDSHIP
ALMSGIVING
THE THIRD PILLAR OF ORTHODOX SPIRITUALITY PART 2
0 THE SECTION OF THIS ARTICLE ADDRESSES SOME PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT ALMSGIVING. IT IS WORTHWHILE TO BEGIN THIS DISCUSSION WITH A CLEAR RECOGNITION OF THE EPHEMERAL NATURE OF EARTHLY WEALTH. AS PAUL WROTE, “FOR WE BROUGHT NOTHING INTO THIS WORLD, AND IT IS CERTAIN WE CAN CARRY NOTHING OUT” (1 TIMOTHY 6:7). AFTER LOSING HIS EARTHLY WEALTH, JOB SAID, ““NAKED I CAME FROM MY MOTHER’S WOMB, AND NAKED SHALL I RETURN THERE” (JOB 1:21).
t the moment of death, everyone’s net worth becomes zero. Depending on one’s situation in life, one may experience this as either a great tragedy or a great boon. For those who have worked hard over the course of many years in order to achieve significant wealth and social status, the sudden loss of nice homes, luxury cars, and personal recognition may be a painful experience. For those, however, who have lived for many years with grinding poverty, physical suffering, and social scorn, the moment
of death may feel like a blessed release. The Orthodox Funeral service plainly describes the great equalization that occurs at death by noting that, in the grave “kings and beggars dwell together.” From the perspective of eternity, therefore, only during the relatively brief interval between birth and death does anyone have control over any money. Even this control is somewhat illusory. John Chrysostom once personified a parcel of land, and as such ruminated about the many people who had claimed to “own” it over the preceding centuries, and the many who would do so in the future. Ultimately, the land concluded, any such claim of “ownership” required a preposterous The Word
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