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Q&A Home > E > Envy In his book "So Many Years With The Problems Of People" Part III Spiritual And General Problems, His Holiness Pope Shenouda writes convincingly about the "envious eye":"Some people believe that there are individuals who are envious by nature such that if they should cast their envious eye on someone, some accident will befall that person, so they are fearful of envy and of those who might be envious, whom they believe have the power to do evil. Sometimes they conceal the blessings which God bestows so generously on them for fear of envy, and they make up stories of this kind of envy that amount to little more than superstitious nonsense. This kind of envy, we don't believe in, and we regard it as a kind of intimidation and unhealthy suspicion" (12-13). However, when I look back at the blessings which I did reveal, and how I was inflicted after revealing them; I begin to wonder. What is the biblical interpretation of that? His Holiness did adequately differentiate between envy and the envious eye. There are envious people who would harm the people they envy as His Holiness has given the example of Cain, Joseph's brothers and the Chief priests and the Jews. Of those the Holy Bible says, "For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there" (James 3:16). However, this is different from the situations you are referring to which are a result of the work and envy of the devil. The devil does not like us to be happy and reveal our blessings, for in doing so we are actually glorifying God. This is why, some bad thing occurs and you loose the blessing you have revealed. This is not the fault of the person to whom you revealed your blessing, but it is the work of the devil who heard you glorifying God and was therefore envious. In the Divine Liturgy, the priest prays saying, "and death, which entered into the world through the envy of the devil." The devil could not bear to see Adam and Eve, the creation of God, happy and blessed in the Garden of Eden. His envy had led him to tempt them and so death entered the world.
However, this should not discourage us from sharing our blessings with others so that they may join us in praising God for His mighty acts "Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, And I will declare Your greatness. They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, And shall sing of Your righteousness" (Ps 145:6-7) and "Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion! Declare His deeds among the people" (Ps 9:11). We should pray God to protect us from the envy of the devil and not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen
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