“Avarice is, according to John Climacus, “a worship of idols and is the offspring of unbelief.” If a person has practiced renunciation on the way to humility, then such a one is sure to be generous. To strive against avarice and for poverty is described by John Climacus as a contest, an agonia. Accordingly, to acquire poverty or detachment is … “the fruit of practicing mourning over one’s self as the source of life and of rejoicing in the riches of God.”
John Climacus (c. 525-606) in The Fellowship of Life: Virtue Ethics and Orthodox Christianity by Joseph Woodill (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2011) 44.