The word “envy” means the wish that good and grace departs from the envied person to the envious.
In this meaning envy is a double sin.
The wish that the grace departs from the envied person is the first sin, because such wish is contrary to against love, for love does not rejoice in iniquity (1 Cor 13: 6). Moreover the Scripture says, “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles.” (Prov 24: 17) How much more if the person whom you wish evil is not an enemy and has done you no evil!!
The second sin is the wish that the good of the envied be transferred to him who envies. It is an evil wish that contradicts the Tenth Commandment that one should not covet anything that belongs to one##s neighbor (Ex 20: 17). Therefore St. James the Apostle calls it “bitter envy” (Jas 3: 14), and St. Paul counts it among the works of the flesh and those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God (Gal 5).
The Scripture warns us against another kind of envy:
It says, “Do not be envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them.” (Prov 24: 1) Here envy combines with the desire to sin when one envies those who commit it being himself unable to do! It is a sign of lack of purity in the heart and lack of God##s love within that can protect against envying the wicked for their wickedness.
Love does not envy:
Who loves somebody cannot envy him, but rather wishes that God##s grace increase for him, prefers that person to his own self, is ready to give oneself for his sake, and never wishes that good departs from him. Love builds and does not destroy. A mother who loves her daughter cannot envy her for a successful marriage but rather feels happy for her, does everything possible to make her happy and shining on her wedding day. A father likewise rejoices at the success of his child, not envy him!
King David was glad to see his son sit on his throne all his life.
He arranged for that and commanded his assistants to fulfill it. He was happy when his servants congratulated him saying, “May God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and may He make his throne greater than your throne.” And David bowed on the bed and said, “Blessed be the Lord … who has given one to sit on my throne this day, while my eyes see it.” (1 Kgs 1: 47, 48) Jacob, as well, rejoiced at seeing his son Joseph a prince in Egypt and blessed him and his sons (Gen 48: 20).
A wonderful example of love that does not envy is that of John the Baptist for the Lord Christ.
John was the greatest preacher of his days. Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the regions around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him, confessing their sins (Mt 3: 5- 7), but when Christ began his ministry He attracted everybody including those who had been with John. Nevertheless, because of John##s love for Christ, such love that does not envy, no envy entered his heart, but he was rather glad. He said his everlasting words, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom##s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from heaven is above all.” (Jn 3: 29- 31) His love was mingled with faith and humbleness, whereas envy lacks love in every act.
Zeal:
Zeal is not always a type of sinful envy, nor always against love.
Of such zeal the apostle says, “It is good to be zealous in a good thing always.” (Gal 4: 18) Therefore when we hear about some virtues of the saints, whether those who departed or those who are still alive, we try to imitate them out of zeal not out of envy and desire that the grace depart from them! We rather rejoice when we know about new virtues they have acquired.
Who loves virtue will love the virtuous … and who loves the virtuous will not envy them but imitate them …
The fathers in the wilderness did not envy each other, but the growth of one of them in the spirit often encouraged and strengthened the others, and they glorified God for it, became zealous, and imitated him requesting his blessing and prayers for them.
That was the case in the apostolic era and the martyrdom epoch. There was zeal not envy, for people loved the kingdom and those working for it, and they blessed them instead of envying them.
Does envy cause harm?
First – Envy causes harm to the envious not to the envied.
The envious is in trouble because of envy, because of the feeling of inferiority, because of the glory of the envied, and because of his own wrong feelings, as a poet once said:
Longsuffering toward the envious … will kill him
For fire consumes itself … if it finds nothing to consume
The envious also is tired of his inner thoughts and attempts to cause harm to the envied. And if he fails and the envied prospers more, the wrath of the envious will increase. Certainly a heart void of love is always in trouble.
Sometimes the envious clashes with the envied and insults him, but when he sees the envied acting with gentleness and meekness, he becomes more annoyed. Failure to arouse the envied annoys the envious and kindles fire more within him!
Second – Envy in itself is not harmful, but the plotting of the envious may sometimes cause harm.
Joseph##s brothers envied him for his father##s love and for his dreams, but this caused him no harm until they plotted to do him harm. They conspired to kill him, stripped him of his tunic, cast him into a pit, and finally sold him to the Ishmaelites as a slave (Gen 37: 18). Joseph##s troubles did not come from the envious eyes of his brothers that focused on him day and night or at least on his colored tunic, for the tunic was not torn up by their looks, but the troubles began when they conspired against him.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram envied Moses and Aaron for their priesthood, but no harm befell Moses and Aaron because of their looks. They made much clamor and noise, but that availed them nothing, for at the end God, blessed be His name, commanded the earth to open its mouth and swallow them up with their households and all their goods (Num 16: 31- 32).
The priests and chiefs of the Jews envied Christ and conspired against Him.
They accused Him falsely, tried Him in their synagogue, and brought false witnesses who gave different testimonies, raised the people against Him, and delivered Him as an evildoer to the Roman Praetorium who found no fault in Him. Yet they insisted on crucifying Him, and it happened. So the evil of envy lies in the conspiracies involved in it, and its cause is the selfishness and lack of love.
Envy is an emotion in the heart, not an eye stroke. So we pray God in the Thanksgiving Prayer and in other prayers to remove away from us the conspiracies of the envious and not let us envy the others.
The envy of the devils:
The first envious being was Satan, who envied our forefather for his purity which Satan himself had lost, for his good relationship with God, which he likewise had lost. He envied man because of his being created in God##s image and likeness and for the blessing and authority man enjoyed in the Garden of Eden. Therefore Satan wanted to strip man of all that, and he did that through deceit, lying, and temptation. He made man fall in sin and be under death sentence as we say in the Holy Mass: [The death which entered into the world by the envy of Satan, You have destroyed it.]
It was then conspiracy and deceit from the devil, not an eye stroke.
Satan does not love people nor love any good for them. His heart has not such love that does not envy but rather enmity and hatred, and naturally envy as a consequence. In his envy he likes to do harm and to deprive people of any good, even though that good does not go to him! Mere hatred makes him rejoice at the fall of man.
He envied Job the Righteous, but could not do him harm until God gave him permission (Job 1, 2).
That permission was within the limits that God saw Job could endure. Then God restored Job##s losses and gave him twice as much as he had before. Satan##s plot failed because God the Almighty holds everything in His right hand, turning everything into good, as He had done to Joseph when his brothers envied him.
If Satan with all his strong envy cannot do harm except with permission, can any human eye do any harm?
However strong a human eye may be, it can do nothing against God the Almighty and His protection. For who gave the eyes of the envious such strong power? Is it not God? And is it reasonable that God gives them such power to do harm without control or reason to destroy people? It is unreasonable and not supported by any text.
If the eye stroke had been true, all those with talents, high positions and distinctions would have been destroyed!
What about the Nobel Prize winners? Is there none to envy them? Can the stroke of their eyes befall them and the world loses the greatest scholars, scientists, and peace makers? The sports champions, winners of the golden cups and medals, the excellent in arts and music, and the beauty queens of the world, are they not envied? Or take for instance the outstanding graduates of universities and schools, or those who win in elections or promote to high posts, are there none to envy them? Do they fail because of envy? Or shall we say that we are only safe from envy in case of the blind or weak-sighted whose eyes cannot split stone?! I do not agree at all that envy is able to strike a person and cause him harm, for it is mere sinful emotions in the heart expressed in conspiracies against the envied that may or may not do him harm.
The Lord Christ concealed His divinity, not out of fear of the devil##s envy, but lest he hinder the redemption, for had they known, they would have not crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2: 8). The saints likewise used to conceal their virtues, not for fear of envy, but in humbleness, for Satan actually was aware of their virtues. No doubt Satan knew that St. Marina was a woman and can never beget a child from another woman, but she endured shame in humbleness. The same can be said about St. Makarius the Great, for Satan knew quite well that he had not sinned with that young woman, because it was he who tempted her to commit adultery with some young man and convinced her to accuse St. Makarius who accepted the accusation in humbleness. Moreover the saints used to conceal their virtues to avoid praise from others.