Question:
Does Christianity believe in the existence of envy?

Answer:
Envy—as a feeling—does exist. We know that Cain envied his brother Abel. And Joseph was envied by his brothers. And the Lord Christ was delivered to death by the Jewish priests out of envy.

And in the final Thanksgiving Prayer, we say: “Every envy, every temptation, every work of Satan… remove it from us.”

Therefore, envy exists, but we do not believe in the existence of the “evil eye.” Some people believe that there are envious individuals who, if they cast an eye of envy upon someone, cause them a certain harm. Therefore, they fear envy and envious people and their evil, and sometimes they hide the good that God grants them out of fear of envy. They tell stories about this type of envy that are almost mythical.

This kind of envy we do not believe in, and we see it as a form of fear and obsessive thought.

Envy does not harm the one who is envied, but rather exhausts the envier himself:

It does not harm the envied; otherwise, all the ممتازين and top achievers would be subject to envy and ruin. Likewise, all those who obtain prestigious positions or state awards would be subject to envy and harm.

We see the opposite, which is that the envier lives in misery and fatigue because of his envy and inner wretchedness. As the poet said:

Be patient with the scheming of the envious, for your patience will kill him.
For fire consumes itself if it finds nothing else to consume.

But why do we pray for the removal of envy, as long as it does not harm?

We do not pray out of fear of the alleged “evil eye,” but rather we pray that God may prevent the evils, plots, and conspiracies that the envious may carry out because of their evil hearts.

For Joseph’s brothers, when they envied him, threw him into the well, then sold him as a slave, and they were about to kill him.
And Cain killed his brother Abel out of envy. And the leaders of the Jews, when they envied Christ, conspired against Him and delivered Him to be crucified.

Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Year Eight (Issue Forty-Four) 4-11-1977

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