This book examines the views of Greek Church Fathers on hoarding saving and management of
economic surplus and their development primarily in urban centres of the Eastern Mediterranean
from the late first to the fifth century. The study shows how the approaches of Greek Fathers
such as Clement of Alexandria Basil of Caesarea John Chrysostom Isidore of Pelusium and
Theodoret of Cyrrhus to hoarding and saving intertwined with stances toward the moral and
social obligations of the wealthy. It also demonstrates how these Fathers responded to
conditions and practices in urban economic environments characterized by sharp inequalities.
Their attitudes reflect the gradual widening of Christian congregations but also the
consequences of the socio-economic evolution of the late antique Eastern Roman Empire. Among
the issues discussed in the book are the justification of wealth alternatives to hoarding and
the reception of patristic views by contemporaries.
