Author: Aaron Dailey
October 4th, 2023
Article Contributed by: John DelHousay
Symbiosis was discovered in the field of biology. Inside ecosystems, species are necessarily in symbiotic relationship. The underlying Greek word symbiōsis (συμβίωσις) means “living together.” There are four primary relationships: competition, parasitism, commensalism, and mutualism. With competition, there is no immediate benefit to either species grasping for the same limited resource (-/-). The commensal takes from another without harm but no benefit either (+/0); the parasite takes what the host needs (+/-). But with mutualism there is sharing with mutual benefit (+/+). The discovery was almost immediately appropriated for understanding relationships between human beings with significant differences like wealth or class.
The Holy Spirit created a symbiotic mutuality between wealthy and poor Christians. Inspired by the Gospels, particularly Jesus’s failed summons with the rich, young ruler, many disciples have given away their possessions for a life of prayer in the wilderness. Without glorifying the suffering of poverty that could be ameliorated through generosity, they recognized the healing power of detachment from wealth, opening a path that must be re-explored today. After defining symbiotic mutuality, I will illustrate the relationship with Anthony of Egypt (251–356) and Arsenius the Roman (c. 350–445).
In the present, inaugurated form of God’s kingdom, in which wealth and poverty persist, all human relationships, as individual members of Christ’s body, the church, are intended to be mutual. The apostle Paul writes:
For the body does not consist of one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.” Instead, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our private parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (1 Corinthians 12:14–26)
Other symbiotic relationships fall outside redemption and the leading of the Spirit. Competition from scarcity unjustly favors the powerful.4 Commensalism is selfish, whereas Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Parasitism is theft and violence, which is not the way of the kingdom (Matthew 11:12).
In early Christian monastic literature, we read of the wealthy and powerful leaving the city to go out into the desert to receive a “word of life” from a father or mother.5 Symbiotic mutuality is created from the pain of the seeker’s necessary attachment, duty to the common good, and the teacher’s detachment from the same thing. One had to go, the other must stay. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers relates:
It was revealed to Abba Anthony in his desert that there was one who was his equal in the city. He was a doctor by profession and whatever he had beyond his needs he gave to the poor, and every day he sang the Sanctus with the angels.
This worshipful doctor was well compensated for good work, having more than enough for his needs, that he might also care for the poor. (In Second Temple Judaism, the parent of Christianity, a person’s wealth was contingent on the needs of the community.) Anthony was “well born and prosperous” though not especially wealthy; after hearing the invitation to sell everything and give to the poor to be free of anxiety, he did so and departed into the desert.This anecdote shows, however, that Anthony’s journey is not normative for every Christian.
We find a starker contrast with Abbas Arsenius, who came from senatorial rank and tutored princes before coming to the desert. The Collection offers a rather lengthy memory but is worth quoting in full:
It was said of Abba Arsenius that once when he was ill at Scetis, the priest came to take him to church and put him on a bed with a small pillow under his head. Now behold an old man who was coming to see him, saw him lying on a bed with a little pillow under his head and he was shocked and said, “Is this really Abba Arsenius, this man lying down like this?” Then the priest took him aside and said to him, “In the village where you lived, what was your trade?” “I was a shepherd,” he replied. “And how did you live?” “I had a very hard life.” Then the priest said, “And how do you live in your cell now?” The other replied, “I am more comfortable.” Then he said to him, “Do you see this Abba Arsenius? When he was in the world he was the father of the emperor, surrounded by thousands of slaves with golden girdles, all wearing collars of gold and garments of silk. Beneath him were spread rich coverings. While you were in the world as a shepherd you did not enjoy even the comforts you now have but he no longer enjoys the delicate life he led in the world. So you are comforted while he is afflicted.” At these words the old man was filled with compunction and prostrated himself saying, “Father, forgive me, for I have sinned. Truly the way this man follows is the way of truth, for it leads to humility, while mine leads to comfort.” So the old man withdrew, edified.
The perspective communicated in the anecdote may not be satisfactory to modern ears. I am reminded of a friend serving an international church who discovered that he was paid less than European pastors because he came from poverty. But the story addresses an unavoidable social reality when wealthy and poor attempt to live together, accounting for human frailty. In this teaching, we find a path of maturation concerning attachment to wealth. How much is enough? Paul speaks of “contentment” (αὐτάρκεια), which inspired Anthony who “lived as a child in relative affluence” but did not pester his parents for food of various and luxurious kinds, nor did he seek the pleasures associated with food, but with merely the things he found before him he was satisfied, and he looked for nothing more.
His attachment to pleasure was already weakened before departing in the desert, but there he found greater freedom. The scripture goes on to say:
For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering [clothing and/or shelter],11 with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love-of-money is a root of all sorts of evil. And some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. (1 Tim 6:7–10 my translation)
Symbiosis occurs when the wealthy see the strength of such freedom in the poor:
Someone said to blessed Arsenius, ‘How is it that we, with all our education and our wide knowledge get no-where, while these Egyptian peasants acquire so many virtues?’ Abba Arsenius said to him, ‘We indeed get nothing from our secular education, but these Egyptian peasants acquire the virtues by hard work.’
Arsenius had come to see Jesus in the peasants. The Romans did not value “hard work” but leisure. Jesus labored as a “builder.” He also chided the wealthy for their “softness”:
Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to behold: A reed being shaken by wind? But what did you go out to see: A human being dressed in soft clothing? Look: those who wear soft clothing are in the houses of kings. (Matt 11:7–8)
Soft clothing” suggests a weakly gluttonous lifestyle. His description would appeal to those Romans suspicious of elegance (luxuria), who built their empire on hardened manliness (firmitas). In contrast, the Baptist embodies the cardinal virtues of “moderation” (sōphrosunē, σωφροσύνη) and “courage” (andreia, ἀνδρεία) and therefore is more fit to rule than Herod Antipas or Pilate. The old man saw remnants of this in Arsenius and was quick to judge.
Jesus fittingly compares wealth to an idol (Mammon) because it demands attention while meeting many needs like a god (Matthew 6:24). Stripped of such assurance, the poor are immediately aware of their dependence on God. To use the language of James, the brother of Jesus, they are “rich in faith” (2:5), leading to effective intercession: “The prayer of a righteous person has great (power) when it is exercised” (5:16). Therefore, in the medieval church, the wealthy often provided the poor with basic needs while the poor would pray on their behalf. By grace, they were able to heal one another’s wounds.
Today, most wealthy know they need the poor but as consumers of their goods, services, or brand. But this relationship actually deepens and creates wounds and taxes the ecosystem.15 The poor lose their power when they covet the wealthy. Charles Elliott, dean of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, notes, “Richer has for us [in the West] meant poorer in the deepest dimensions of life”—spirit, compassion, vision, and justice.16 Rather, the gospel invites the poor and wealthy to friendship. Poverty and wealth foster their own loneliness. The poor often lack connections to people with wealth and capital and are ignored by those who believe they have nothing to offer. The wealthy suffer from commensal and parasitic relationships. In creation, most symbiotic mutualisms “involve the supply of energy from one partner to the other, which can be translated to sharing the Spirit’s grace,” which has been distributed to every member
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