The Living Tradition An Orthodox Archive of the Church Fathers and Early Church

Orthodox worship and spiritual life — lesson 5

The moral life

Wealth, forgiveness, honesty and the shape of Christian conduct in the earliest sources.

  • Received Orthodox teachingTaught consistently and received throughout the Orthodox Church, though not necessarily formulated in a conciliar definition. This is not a claim that no Father ever wrote differently.
  • Pastoral applicationHow a teaching is ordinarily applied in practice, under the guidance of a priest and bishop. Never a substitute for that guidance.

Primary evidence verified Content last reviewed 2026-08-29

What still needs checking (1)
  • Confirm the Orthodox moral teaching summary against the OCA's The Orthodox Faith.

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What this lesson covers

  • State the moral teaching of the earliest Christian sources.
  • Describe Chrysostom's account of wealth.
  • Explain how the canons handled money.

About 7 minutes to read.

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The Didache opens with the Two Ways, a way of life and a way of death, and the moral teaching of the early Church is strikingly consistent across regions: care for the poor, refusal of revenge, sexual restraint, honesty in business, hospitality to strangers, and no exposure of infants.

What is notable is how practical it is. The Didache tells you to give to everyone who asks, and then addresses what to do about a travelling teacher who stays three days — the moral vision and the awkward practicalities sit in the same document.

Wealth

Chrysostom's treatment is the sharpest in the tradition. His position is that what is superfluous to you belongs to the poor, so that almsgiving is restitution rather than generosity. That is not a modern reading projected onto him; it is what the homilies say, at length, to congregations that included wealthy people who did not enjoy hearing it.

Canon XVII of Nicaea forbids clergy to lend at interest, in a world where the rates named in the canon could destroy a household. Reading it well means asking what it was protecting rather than only what it prohibited.

Forgiveness

The refusal of revenge runs through the earliest sources and is the point at which Christian moral teaching was most visibly different from its surroundings. The Didache's instruction to bless those who curse you and to pray for enemies is quoted almost verbatim from the Sermon on the Mount.

Key Scripture

  • Matthew 5:38-48 — The refusal of revenge and love of enemies.
  • Matthew 25:31-46 — The criterion of the judgement.
  • Luke 12:16-21 — The rich fool.
  • James 2:14-17 — Faith without works.

On Scripture references. References are given so you can read the passage in the translation your parish uses. This site does not reproduce a modern copyrighted Bible text.

Patristic and liturgical witnesses

There are two ways, one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two ways.

The Didache, Chapter I Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VII, trans. M. B. Riddle — public domain Read this work in the archive

Council and canon connections

  • Canon XVII of Nicaea, on usury among the clergy.

Why this matters in lived Orthodoxy

Almsgiving is one of the three disciplines the Church keeps together with prayer and fasting, and it is the one most easily allowed to lapse. Parishes generally have a means of giving that does not depend on the giver being identified.

Review

What is the Two Ways?
The moral scheme that opens the Didache, contrasting a way of life with a way of death, with parallels in Jewish literature.
How does Chrysostom describe almsgiving?
As restitution rather than generosity: what is superfluous to you belongs to the poor.

Your notes

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Going deeper

Sources for this page

  1. Tier C The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (eds.); A. Cleveland Coxe (American ed.) The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Chapters I-VI translated edition of primary texts Source record
  2. Tier C The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church Henry R. Percival (ed.); Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (series eds.) The Canons of the 318 Holy Fathers, Canon XVII annotated edition of conciliar texts Source record
  3. Tier C The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church Henry R. Percival (ed.); Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (series eds.) Excursus on Usury annotated edition of conciliar texts Source record

Tiers are explained in the methodology. No page on this site has been reviewed or approved by any bishop, priest, synod or seminary.