Equality And Exchange

Oὐ γὰρ ἵνα ἄλλοις ἄνεσις, ὑμῖν θλῖψις, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἰσότητος Οὐκ ἀναγκάζει ὁ τῆς εὐσεβείας λόγος μεταδιδόναι ὃ μὴ ἔχει τις, ἀλλ' ὃ ἔχει παρέχεσθαι προθύμως. κατορθωθήσεται δὲ τοῦτο ῥᾷστα σκοπήσασι τίνες οἱ κοινωνούμενοι· ἅγιοι δέ εἰσι καὶ θεοῦ θεραπευταὶ οὗτοι. διὸ καὶ ἐλπίζομεν ἀντίδοσιν ἔσεσθαι· ἱκανοὶ γὰρ ἀνθ' ὧν δέχονται αἰσθητῶν νοητὰ παρασχεῖν. οὕτω γὰρ ἰσότης καὶ ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ ἔσται, ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς δόσεως τοῦ μάννα γεγένηται, οὐδὲ τοῦ τὸ ὀλίγον ἔχοντος ἐλαττουμένου οὐδὲ πλεονάζοντος τοῦ πολὺ ἔχοντος· ἀνισότης γὰρ μένει, ὅταν τῶν ἁγίων ἐπουράνια ἐχόντων, ὑμῶν δὲ ἐπίγεια κεκτημένων, ἀντίδοσις μὴ γίνηται. ὅθεν σπείρατε σαρκικὰ ταῖς χρείαις τῶν ἁγίων κοινωνοῦντες, ἵνα θερίσητε ἐξ αὐτῶν τὰ πνευματικά· οὕτω γὰρ ἰσότης ἔσται προσλαμβανόντων ὑμῶν τῶν μεγάλων, κἀκείνων τῶν μικρῶν· ἕξετε γὰρ μετὰ τῶν μικρῶν τὰ μεγάλα, κἀκεῖνοι μετὰ τῶν μεγάλων τὰ μικρά. αὕτη δὲ ἰσότης ὑπαρχθήσεται κατὰ τὸ ἐπανορθωτικὸν δίκαιον. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Τὴν Δευτέραν Ἐπιστολήν Παύλου Πρὸς Κορινθίους Source: Migne PG 39.1716b

For others are not at leisure while you toil, but there is equality... 1 Pious teaching does not insist that a man give what he does not have, but that he give gladly what he does have. This may be easier to demonstrate correctly if one looks to those who are sharing in it, they who are holy and servants of God. Certainly we may hope for a reward there, because for the material things they receive they can return spiritual things. Thus equality shall be found in the present, as happened in the giving of manna, when there was not one who had too little, nor one who abounded with too much. But there may be inequality when with the holy possessing heavenly things, and you clinging to worldly things, there can be no exchange. Whence sow in the flesh, attending to the needs of the holy, that you reap from them in the spirit. 2 So there will be equality, when you receive great things and they little things, for then with little things you have great things, and they with great things have little things. This is equality according to correct justice. Didymus the Blind, On The Second Letter of Saint Paul to The Corinthians, Fragment 1 2 Cor 8.13 2 cf Gal 6.8