St. Basil took the radical position. God had given us all things in common, and he had specifically instructed the rich to give their possessions to the poor. The communism of the Apostles—who pooled all their wealth and took freely what they needed—was thus the only proper model for a truly Christian society.105 Few of the other Christian Fathers were willing to take things this far. True, they admitted, communism was the ideal, but in this fallen and temporary world, it was simply unrealistic. The Church must accept existing property arrangements, but also come up with spiritual arguments to
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