Throughout the film version of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, the image of the “Eye of Sauron,” a tower with a great fiery eye burning at its peak, is an abiding threat overhanging every moment of conflict, every chance encounter. It threatens to interrupt the quest to destroy the Ring of Power. It is an effective cinematic feature that reminds the viewer of what is at stake.
“I, too, have seen it,” Galadriel the elf-queen whispers to Frodo. No one is immune.
It is interesting that Tolkien chose an eye to express the presence of active evil in his fantasy world. It has a Biblical precedent:
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:22–23)
In popular usage, the ancient cultures of Orthodoxy speak of the “evil eye” with various explanations attached as its meaning. Indeed, the prayers of the Church, in certain settings, include mention of the “evil eye” with specific prayers for protection. What is this that Christ Himself describes as the “eye of evil” (ὁ ὀφθαλμός πονηρὸς)?
There is such a thing – and it lives outside of us – but it also lives within us, which is the place described by Christ in His warning. The “eye of evil” is nothing other than the voice of envy, the thought that takes pleasure and satisfaction at the misfortune of another (“he had it coming to him”). It is the voice of envy that we hear taunting Christ on the Cross. The gospels tell us that Christ was handed over to the Romans “on account of envy” (Matt. 27:18; Mark 15:10).
There is an “eye of evil” outside of us – the envious looks of the demons who delight themselves in our every stumble and whose taunting can be heard in the echo of our thoughts: “Look what you did!”
However, the true danger is within our own eye. It is a darkening of thoughts, the breeding of envy, as we respond to various injuries, insults, and even injustices around us. The quiet desire that takes delight in the misfortune of others. I suspect that almost all of us would have at least a short-list of people who dwell on such a list. We find it impossible to speak well of them or to believe that anything good dwells within them. This is already a symptom of an eye of evil growing within us.
When we think of the consuming power of this indwelling darkness we can see Christ’s commandments regarding forgiveness in their very essence. We do not forgive in order to be moral or polite. We forgive lest we be consumed by the darkness.
Our culture is largely blind to envy’s eye of evil. Indeed, wishing ill to our enemies is marketed to us again and again. The passions make the best sales-bait. Our enemies are legion (yes, that reference is intentional). They are wrong, dangerous, unrelenting, and hateful. Of course, we may very well have to see the legion of our enemies face-to-face when we reach heaven.
St. Anthony the Great once wondered if there was anyone who had done greater works towards salvation than himself. God led him to a cobbler in the nearby city. Anthony observed him and, at last, asked him to describe his rule of life.
“Elder, I don’t know if I have ever done anything good. Every morning after waking up, I pray and then I start work. First, I think to myself how every person in this city, from the smallest to the greatest will be saved, and only I will be condemned due to my countless transgressions. And in the evening when I go to sleep I have the same thoughts.”
The Elder rose with wonder and embraced and kissed him and said with deep emotion:
“You, my brother, like a good merchant, have gained the priceless pearl without toil. I have grown old in the desert, sweated and toiled but have not reached your level of humility.”
In a person of such humility, the eye of evil has been extinguished.
The root of envy is found in our experience of shame. Shame (in its many forms) provokes negative feelings and thoughts about ourselves. In some cases, it is a minor thing. In others, however, it can create a cascade of emotions and passions that overwhelm. We push back with anger, sadness, and, often enough, with envy. An angry person is likely an envious person as well.
In the Scriptures, the story of the first sin is met with an experience of shame. Adam and Eve seek to hide, to cover their nakedness. The second sin recorded in the Scriptures is the product of envy – and its outcome is murder (Cain and Abel). The cycle of shame-envy-murder has been continuous ever since.
However, since the cycle begins in our own heart, it is in our own heart that the battle must be fought and won. The interior voice whispers our thoughts of envy (they frequently mask the silence of shame). “He had it coming to him…” or “It’s about time!” Living in a deeply divided culture, we swim in an ocean of envy. Indeed, envy is nurtured in everything from politics to sports. We do not wish our opponents well – and we seem to have ever so many of them.
Inasmuch as envy has become a major cultural element, the result is a darkening of the “eye” of which Jesus speaks across a wide swath of the population. This “eye” is the spiritual lens through which we see the world. Christ’s warning, “If your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness,” is fulfilled as a cultural state of being.
St. John echoes the words of Christ:
“He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:9–11)
The medicine for this profound illness is a serious undertaking. Its diagnosis is quite straightforward: whenever you find yourself wishing dark outcomes for someone else, or when you take pleasure in their misfortune, the disease of envy is at work. It requires repentance on the deepest level.
Christ sounds radical when He says:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matt. 5:43–45)
Christ makes it clear that this is more than a “moral” teaching – it is an action that transforms (“that you may be sons of your Father in heaven…”). It is the healing of the spiritual “eye.”
To “bear a little shame” in order to find true healing of the soul is the very heart of the virtue of humility. The humility of Christ can be seen on the Cross where He not only bears a shame that was falsely thrust upon Him, but asks forgiveness for those who have done this terrible thing: “For they know not what they do.”
I recognize that this is a most difficult practice, though I also know that Christ-within-us makes it possible. Understanding the nature of the darkness that infects our souls, that creates the “eye of evil” within us should encourage us to make a beginning.
It is sometimes suggested that we pray for our enemies in this manner if we can do nothing else: “Father, on the day of judgment, do not hold this against my enemy on my account.”
May He have mercy on us all!
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Photo by Heather Wilde on Unsplash
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