Should we look to kings and princes to put right
the inequalities between rich and poor? Should we require soldiers to come and
seize the rich person’s gold and distribute it among his destitute neighbors? Should
we beg the emperor to impose a tax on the rich so great that it reduces them to
the level of the poor and then to share the proceeds of that tax among
everyone? Equality imposed by force would achieve nothing, and do much harm.
Those who combined both cruel hearts and sharp minds would soon find ways of
making themselves rich again. Worse still, the rich whose gold was taken away
would feel bitter and resentful; while the poor who received the gold from the
hands of soldiers would feel no gratitude, because no generosity would have
prompted the gift. Far from bringing moral benefit to society, it would
actually do moral harm. Material justice cannot be accomplished by compulsion,
a change of heart will not follow. The only way to achieve true justice is to
change people’s hearts first – and then they will joyfully share their wealth.
+St. John Chryostom (AD 347–407)
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1 comment:
I hate to have to say this, but this quote apparently has no good provenance. It seems to come from this book, but as you can see from the one review, there's no citation given. It seems all too convenient in its phrasing. Unless someone can come up with a checkable citation for the passage, I'm going to have to conclude that it's either mistranslated or entirely fake.
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