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Before speaking of the sinfulness of consumerism, it is important to understand: consumption in itself is not evil. Consumption is a natural element of our human life. Man is a dependent and needy being; therefore it is natural for him to take and consume, especially in childhood. But as he matures, man increasingly begins to give to others—to create, to help, to care. A mature person is a responsible, creative personality who loves God and his neighbor and is guided by the apostolic commandment: It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).
The evil lies not in consumption itself, but in its immoderation and perversion, in its absolutization. The more perfect a person is, the higher his spiritual and mental needs, the less egoistic consumption there is in him and the more creation and creativity. The absolutization of consumption leads to degradation and childishness, whereas the primacy of self-giving promotes personal growth, strength of the family, and the well-being of society.
Consumerism in the Gospel
When the Lord went out to preach, performed His miracles, and above all the miracles of the conversion and healing of human souls, bringing them to repentance, humility, and love, He thereby satisfied all of people’s pressing needs—both spiritual and bodily. His mercies were so full and open that people began to hope. They thought, now nothing more needs to be done; just be with Christ, and He will do everything, will grant everyone well-being.
Here is the root of the problem: we seek not Christ, but services; not the Savior, but a free benefactor.
Therefore the people surrounding Him listened but did not hear His warnings that He and they after Him must suffer, be killed, and rise again. Their consumerist consciousness simply could not accept this. Then, as today, people do not want this from God—not effort, responsibility, or ascetic labors (podvig). They want everything to be good for them without giving anything in return. They want to use and consume, not to suffer and give. Let us recall the words of the Lord: Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled (Jn. 6:26). Here is the root of the problem: We seek not Christ, but services; not the Savior, but a free benefactor.
Two Principles of Consumerist Consciousness
The consumerist mindset persists as long as there is even a small share of pride and egoism in a person. Behind a consumerist attitude toward God, neighbor, and the world there always stands egocentrism—the placing of oneself at the center of the universe, when even God is turned into a means of serving my Ego.
In consumerist consciousness man is the consumer, the customer who is always right; God is the service provider, obligated to do as man wants; the Church is the company providing these services; faith, the sacraments, and prayers are means. Two principles operate here: the first is “I want”; the second is “Everyone owes me.”
Consumer Society as a Nourishing Environment
Today’s capitalist society is rightly called a consumer society. The economy, the arts, education, upbringing, and culture are arranged so that people constantly consume something: goods and services, information, impressions—and see in this the meaning of their life. Here everyone lives exclusively for himself, for the satisfaction of his own needs. Man becomes a buyer, and the world a huge supermarket. The Apostle John the Theologian warned:
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (1 Jn. 2:16).
Consumer society is the triumph of this “pride of life,” realized through the “lust of the flesh” and the “lust of the eyes.” The chief sin here is not murder or theft, but insufficient consumption.
The Spirit of Consumerism in the Church
It may seem that such consumerism concerns only secular society, the world. Alas, it has penetrated and metastasized into the consciousness and life of Christians. We come into the Church from a consumerist world and do not automatically emerge from its cultural and values cocoon, even by confessing and receiving Communion. Often we bring into the church that same spirit of consumption, only reorienting it from material things to the holy. People begin to relate to God, faith, and the Church as to services. They seek faith “for themselves,” according to their tastes, so that it would be convenient and comfortable. They choose a church as they would a store—where the “service” is more pleasant, the priest kinder, the choir more beautiful, the candles cheaper, the sermons shorter. They even choose saints according to the principle of “who will give me what”: one for headaches, another for passing exams. This is no longer faith, but religious consumption. The Lord says: No man can serve two masters… Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Mt. 6:24). But modern man sincerely believes that it is possible; let God be on the list of service providers along with the bank, the hairdresser, and the internet provider.
A person comes in order to receive: health, security, well-being, the solution to an unbearable problem.
Most often people come to the Church not from a good life, but from need. They seek not dogmas, but solutions: how to save a dying husband, pull a son out of narcotic bondage, preserve a family, or at least find a roof over their head. A person comes in order to receive: health, security, well-being, the solution of an unbearable problem. And the Lord does not slam the door in the face of such a “petitioner.” He receives him, knowing the true price of this impulse—fear, pain, or calculation.
Why does God accept consumers? Because this is how the path of religious life begins. As the holy fathers write, the soul passes through three stages: slave, hireling, and son.
The stage of the slave—a person does not yet love God, but fears hell. He keeps the commandments because he has been horrified by the description of fiery gehenna. This is faith expressing the religious instinct of self-preservation.
The stage of the hireling—a person already hopes for reward. He fasts in order to receive the Kingdom of Heaven, prays for God’s gifts both in this life and the next. This is a deal: “I give You a candle; You give me a successful operation.”
The stage of the son—perfection, when a person serves God and neighbor simply out of love, forgetting about punishment and reward.
At the first two stages the Christian remains a consumer. He labors not for Christ’s sake, but in order to avoid pain (the slave) or receive dividends (the hireling). People say of such an attitude: “Not for the sake of Christ, but for the sake of a crust of bread.”
But here is the paradox of holiness: the Lord accepts even such distorted service. Just as a mother breastfeeds an infant who is not yet able to love her but is only able to take milk (to consume), so too God nourishes the soul with grace through fear and hope of reward. Gradually, by His Providence, He leads man from the egoistic “give” to the filial “I thank You.” The problem of contemporary church life is that many grow complacent and remain stuck at the first two stages, unwilling to move on to the third—to love wholly and truly.
Choice: Consumption or Service
Every Christian today faces a clear choice: egoistic consumption or sacrificial service. Hardened consumers even regard one another as commodities. They relate to other people exclusively as means of satisfying their own needs. Another person has no intrinsic value; he is valued only insofar as he can be useful, pleasant, or profitable. Thus people unwittingly reduce themselves to the level of goods that have a monetary price. “How much are you worth?” is the main question of the consumer world. Man believes that his dignity is measured by his salary, brands, and status. In this world everything is bought and sold: the body, talents, time, conscience, love, friendship—even a place in paradise (as it seems to those who order forty-day Liturgies without repentance). But Christ reminds us:
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matt. 16:26).
The soul has no price, for it is the image of God. He who looks upon his neighbor as a commodity first of all devalues himself, for according to the word of the Lord:
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again (Matt. 7:2).
Two Types of Consumerism
The most terrible thing is that this plague also strikes fully churched Christians. In the depths of our souls we often relate to Christ as to a source of well-being. While everything is going well—health, prosperity, peace in the family—we willingly go to church, pray, and commune. But as soon as trouble comes, a person falls into despondency, abandons prayer, stops going to church, and grumbles: “Why? I served You so much!” This is pure consumerism: I give God my religious observance—and He is obligated to give me a comfortable life. The Lord warned:
But that on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away (Lk. 8:13).
This is pure consumerism: I give God my religious observance—and He is obligated to give me a comfortable life.
Church life without the root of humility and readiness to bear the cross inevitably turns into a transaction.
Paradoxically, worldly people exhibit consumerism in exactly the opposite way. While everything is going well for them—health, money, success—they do not even want to think about church, considering faith the lot of the weak. But as soon as trouble comes—illness, collapse, the death of loved ones—they “remember” God and run to church to light a candle, order forty-day Liturgies, confess, and commune, relating to God as to an anti-crisis manager. Folk wisdom has accurately noted: “Unless the thunder rumbles, a man won't cross himself.”
In both the first and the second case there is one and the same consumerist consciousness: God is needed not as Father and Lord, but as a fire brigade or service personnel. The only difference is that the “church-going” person is accustomed to “service” in good times, while the less church-going one turns to it only in bad times. But they do not both want the same thing: to be with God always—in joy and in sorrow, in health and in sickness, in prosperity and in poverty—serving Him not for something, but out of humble, grateful love for His own sake.
False Picture of the World and Correct Attitudes
Consumerism today poisons and perverts not only church life, but all spheres of society: education, upbringing, science, art—leading them to vulgarization and degradation. People imagine the world as a supermarket of goods and services. But this is a completely false picture.
The foundation of life should be set on attitudes opposite to pride and consumerism: “I owe others,” “No one owes me anything,” “It is necessary to give more and take less,” “Not to demand and not to take for granted, but to ask (to pray) and to give thanks for everything as for an undeserved gift.” The Liturgy teaches us this as a common work, and the Eucharist as thanksgiving. The Lord Himself is the highest example; He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28).
From Passivity to Synergy and the Cross
Consumerism presupposes passivity, work on the receiving end rather than on giving. The opposite attitude—creation—calls for active cooperation with God, for synergy with His grace. As Scripture says:
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also (Jas. 2:26).
Folk wisdom echoes it: “Moss does not grow on a rolling stone.” Without our will and active participation, God cannot save us. The path of the Christian is hard labor. Its weight consists in the effort to overcome the spirit of pride and consumerism, in rooting them out of the soul and heart.
Consumerism presupposes passivity, work on the receiving end rather than on giving. The opposite attitude—creation—calls for active cooperation with God.
After our conversion, God first abundantly pours out His mercy, clearly showing care and openly demonstrating His presence. The newly converted may think that it will always be this way. But then the Lord “withdraws” and “releases” the person onto the free path, pushing him toward independent cooperation and the bearing of his own cross. He does this so that man would not become a spiritual consumer, would not become rooted in laziness and pride, but would become a co-worker and cross-bearer, a builder of his own salvation and the salvation of his neighbors. It is said:
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force (Matt. 11:12).
Christ Himself calls:
And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me (Mk. 8:34).
Selfless service to God and neighbor, and not in the demand that others serve you—this is the true Christian life.
