Dialogue with St John Climacus: The dark side of business – lie and avarice

Business, especially in sales, has firmly entered every sphere of human life. On popular job-search sites, most vacancies are offered precisely in this niche. Among today’s youth there are more and more various “managers” than trained specialists.

Every day we buy and sell something – from household trifles to major real estate. Every seller is interested in a lucrative deal, even if the quality of his product leaves much to be desired. For that sake he is ready to invest large sums in advertising his “unique” product. And the fact that the item may fall apart the very next day after purchase hardly concerns him. It is no accident people say: “You can’t sell without deceiving.”

Lying in business is not considered shameful, since profit and revenue are always placed first.

This does not mean there are no honorable people among entrepreneurs. A person may realize he is speaking untruth. He may not even wish to speak it, yet management demands strict fulfillment of sales targets, for which even honest salespeople are forced to compromise with their conscience.

Falsehood as the destruction of love

Be that as it may, a believer strives with all his might to avoid deceit. But without spiritual guidance it can be difficult to take steps toward freedom from this passion. However trivial this sin may seem to us, before God the responsibility for committing it will be great. We learn this from the Psalter: “The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes. You hate all evildoers. You will destroy those who speak lies” (Ps. 5:6–7). The author of Proverbs is even more categorical: “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 12:22).

Today we will speak about the perniciousness of falsehood with the Sinai abbot – St John Climacus. The elder begins his admonition with a brief yet utterly comprehensive phrase:

“Falsehood is the destruction of love.

Love presupposes honesty. If a husband swears fidelity to his wife yet, without a pang of conscience, betrays her, then of course there is no love left in such a union. If someone “milks” relatives or friends for money under the pretext of poverty or some “good cause,” planning to spend it on alcohol or entertainment – then there is no love for one’s neighbor here either. Where truth disappears, love disappears.

Not everyone lies of his own free will. Sometimes it happens out of “work necessity,” at the instruction of superiors. How should one act in such a case? St John replies:

“As in all passions, so also in falsehood we discern various degrees of harm. One judgment awaits him who lies out of fear of punishment, and another him who lies when no danger lies before him.”

Thus, lying is sinful in any case. But the Lord, Knower of hearts, looks not only at deeds but also at intentions. Everyone must earn a living. And if, by the nature of his work, a person is compelled to lie and has not yet the opportunity to change his job (which is highly desirable), the Lord will not judge him as He might judge one who lies deliberately in pursuit of gain. Yet one should always strive as quickly as possible to be freed from the yoke of this passion.

“How do we fight falsehood?” we ask the desert ascetic. And we hear his valuable counsel:

“He who has acquired the fear of God has put away falsehood, having within himself an incorrupt judge – his own conscience.”

Very often the elder speaks of the fear of God as a universal means of overcoming sins. Indeed, we sin when we forget God. Only prayer can restore such remembrance. Among elders there is a saying: “As we pray, so we live. As we live, so we pray.” Regularly compelling ourselves to attentive prayer returns to us the sense of God’s presence at every moment of life. And in the presence of the Creator, sinning becomes not only undesirable but frightening.

Love of money – modern idolatry

Hand in hand with lying goes the passion of love of money. When this or that business “venture” promises an entrepreneur “mountains of gold,” it becomes ever harder to remain faithful to Christian principles. Not for nothing did the Apostle Paul instruct his disciple Timothy: “The love of money is a root of all evils” (1 Tim. 6:10). It is often precisely love of money that drives a person to various crimes – from petty theft to bloodshed. In our time, when incomes plummet and prices soar, this treacherous passion raises its head ever more often.

Let us learn what St John Climacus says about the destructive love of money. In his sayings on this passion he is especially stern.

“Love of money is idolatry, the daughter of unbelief. The money-lover is a blasphemer of the Gospel and a voluntary apostate,” the elder insists.

It is telling that the abba likens money to an idol to which people pay greater honor than to God. In the modern world everyone has his “icons,” but money – especially in foreign-currency form – has become an idol for the majority. Such virtues as almsgiving, service, and self-sacrifice have receded to the background, eclipsed by a showy lust for enrichment.

The holy abbot warns that love of money is two-faced, skillfully masquerading as mercy.

“Love of money begins under the guise of almsgiving and ends in hatred of the poor. The money-lover is merciful while he is gathering money. But when he has amassed it, his hands close,” the saint underscores.

The elder’s words find vivid confirmation in the world around us. Probably everyone has met people whose way of life and way of thinking changed drastically after enrichment.

Let a person become more “established” – and all the dark sides of his soul are laid bare. The one who once helped selflessly when he stood on equal footing with us suddenly becomes extremely sparing of help once his income has grown. One would think new possibilities for charity would open in such a case. But the soul has already been infected with love of money and is no longer capable of bearing spiritual fruit.

This brings today’s conversation with St John to a close. Next time we agreed to speak with the elder about the passions that lead the soul to final ruin – pride and vainglory. Returning to our daily affairs – which in one way or another will be connected with the circulation of money – let us remember all the abba’s counsels and keep ourselves from mercenary deceit and mindless hoarding. And let our example be the Gospel widow, whose income amounted to just two mites, yet she devoted it wholly to God and received a blessing from Christ Himself.