Envy and Jealousy
Envy and Jealousy¹
Envy in its linguistic meaning is wishing for the removal of a blessing or goodness from the envied person, and for this blessing and goodness to be transferred to the envier. In this sense, envy is a double sin. For wishing the removal of a blessing from the envied person is a sin, because that is against love, and love does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth, and Solomon the Wise says: “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles.” How much more if the person for whom the envier wishes a fall is not an enemy and has done him no harm!! Likewise, wishing that his goodness be transferred to the envier carries another sin, since it is a sinful desire.
There is another type of envy, warned against by the wise one, who says: “Do not envy the evildoers, nor desire to be with them.” Here, envy is connected to the desire for sin, so he envies those who commit it when he himself cannot.
And this indicates the absence of purity in the heart, and that the heart has neither love for God nor love for goodness.
And envy in general is against love. For the one who loves a person cannot envy him. And if you love a person, you wish that God’s grace increases upon him, not that it be taken away from him. And if you love a person, you prefer him over yourself, even giving yourself for his sake. Thus it is impossible to desire that the good be transferred from him to you. For love builds and does not destroy.
Thus, the mother who loves her daughter cannot envy her for a successful marriage. Rather, she rejoices in her joy and serves her on her wedding day. She exerts her effort so that her daughter may appear in the most beautiful image and the most beautiful adornment.
Likewise, the father rejoices in his son’s success. He cannot envy him for his success or excellence, nor for obtaining a degree higher than that of this father.
As for jealousy, not all jealousy is a form of sinful envy. Not all jealousy is against love. For “blessed is jealousy for the good.” It is the jealousy that does not envy but rather imitates, and becomes enthusiastic for goodness. For we hear about the virtues of the righteous, whether those who have left our present world or those still living. So we become jealous of them with a jealousy that makes us emulate their deeds, not envy them or wish that their grace be taken from them to us!! Rather, we rejoice whenever we learn something new of their virtues.
The one who loves virtue does not envy the virtuous. And the one who loves the virtuous does not envy them but imitates them. The saints did not envy one another in the life of the spirit. Rather, the rising of one among them in the spiritual path encouraged the others and strengthened them, so they glorified God because of him. Holy jealousy filled them, so they did as he did, seeking his prayers for them and his blessing for them.
Here we ask an important question: Does envy harm? We say first that envy harms the envier, not the envied. For jealousy tires the envier, and the feeling of inadequacy tires him. The sight of the envied in glory tires him. His wrongful feelings tire him. And as the poet said:
Be patient with the malice of the envier, for your patience is his killer;
For fire consumes itself if it does not find something to consume.
Likewise, the envier is wearied by his thinking and striving to harm the envied. He may not succeed in that, and the envied may increase in elevation, so his rage increases… The heart devoid of love must suffer. And the envier may attempt to provoke or insult the envied. The envied responds with gentleness and kindness, and his gentleness and kindness exhaust him.
His failure to provoke him tires him, and the fire within him increases in flame.
Another point is that although envy in itself does no harm, the schemes plotted by enviers may sometimes harm. And the harm is not a “blow of the evil eye,” as some think! Rather, it is trouble resulting from the schemes of the enviers. Envy is the wrongful feeling of the heart, not an evil eye. And when we ask God in our prayers to deliver us from envy, we never mean deliverance from the evil eye, but from the conspiracies of the enviers. And we also ask God to remove from our hearts our envy toward others.
Many people try to hide every good thing that comes to them out of fear of people envying them! But this fear is based on ignorance, thinking that the knowledge of the enviers about their good will cause them harm! Or that some evil eye will affect them, making them lose the good they have!
If the evil eye were real, then all owners of talents, positions, and excellence would perish… Those who win the Nobel Prize every year—do they not have enviers? And do those enviers not have eyes?… So does the world lose its greatest scientists, writers, and peacemakers because of the envy of others!! And also the athletes who win golden cups, medals, and those who excel in art and music, and the beauty queens of the world… Do not all these have enviers, and do not the enviers have eyes… And those who win elections, or hold positions and leadership at all levels and in all countries—do they not have enviers? And the top students in high school, and perhaps the first surpasses the second by only half a mark—do not all of these have enviers with eyes “that crack stone”?!!
We move to another point: the envy of demons. There is no doubt that the devil envies the righteous person for his righteousness, virtues, and purity of heart, while the devil has lost that purity and all that pertains to righteousness. He also envies him for his good relationship with God—blessed be His name—while the devil has lost that relationship. And he envies him for the grace and blessing he enjoys, while the devil is deprived of all this. And he envies him for what awaits him in eternity of bliss and joy, while the devil fears that eternity.
Therefore, if the devil finds a person on his way to performing a certain virtue, he tries to turn him away from doing it by all means. And if he finds a person righteous, he tries to make him fall from his righteousness. But God does not permit him in all this, and sends His protection to this person.
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An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III published in Al-Ahram newspaper on 7-3-2010 AD
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