Capitalism and the Spirit of the Church Fathers

by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Saint Vlassios
Deification of money, hedonism and easy living are the things that prevail in the age we are living in. The utilization and exploitation of money came to be developed within Protestant circles, within a morality that presumed money to be God’s blessing and the rich as those blessed by God. This topic has been expounded in detail by Max Weber in his widely-known classic, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. In it, he maintains that Capitalism, the rationalized utilization of money and life, are the result of all the principles that were developed by the various Protestant groups in Europe.

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The holy anarchists

As of the 4th century A.D., the desert lands of Egypt saw the beginning of the longestliving anarchic society of all timethat of the Christian anachorites. These were people who had chosen to live there, in order to find the tranquility that was necessary for their praying. Comparatively speaking: when we want to listen very attentively to some very subtle music, we usually shut doors and windows and isolate ourselves in our quietest corner (according to fr. Sophrony of Essex). The same applies when you want to hear the voice of God – you isolate yourself in the quietest place you can find. You don’t do it out of spite or aversion to the world, or to your body or to the joys of life etc.. This has been made clear innumerable times in the history of Christianity; quite simply, the quietest place on earth that enables one to hear is the desert.

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