The spark of inspiration for this short essay came from a conversation on our forum, and a misunderstanding regarding the concept of kharis that is currently spreading through some “Hellenic polytheist” online groups. Subsequently, I provided a list of quotes (here) from several scholarly sources explaining this concept, and now would like to meld those thoughts into a coherent statement regarding this essential concept.
First, the basic translation of the word kharis is “grace,” “favor felt,” “charm,” and “divine reward,” and extends to concepts of kindness and benevolence. Often the liturgical understanding of sacrifice and votive offering is described as a “gift for a gift,” but this basic description can be misleading to the uneducated outsider. Walter Burkert states, in his book Greek Religion (page 55), that “however much the Greeks may hope that good things will flow from pious acts, they are nevertheless always aware that fulfillment is not guaranteed, but lies in the lap of the gods.” This is in agreement with other scholarly works, such as Reciprocity in Ancient Greece by Christopher Gill et al, that state kharis is the doing of a favor or kindness “without the expectation of a return, and without any self-interest.” (page 79) Therefore, while kharis is a component of reciprocity, reciprocity is not a component of or consideration with kharis itself.
In very basic terms, a gift is given knowing that the obligation to reciprocate exists, but the gift (to be valid) must be given without the expectation of that return, even when a return is asked for. Think of it this way, several years ago I gave my brother a large sum of money to help him through a tough financial time. It wasn’t a loan; it was a gift or favor. It was given from the heart to help him in his time of need, without any strings or expectations, but still knowing he would do the same if I ever needed him. That is one way of describing kharis, an act of selfless kindness.
“That is to say, the ideas of reciprocity and repayment are associated with khari- words, but not in a direct semantic way. One gift or act endowed with kharis, power to please, will call forth another, which will in turn evoke yet another; but a kharis even when given in return for a kharis is not in meaning a recompense, however much it may be so in function. The English expressions ‘favour’ and ‘good turn’ work in a similar way: good turns and favours should be repaid in kind, but the words themselves express the sense not of recompense but of benefit.” (Gill, page 109)
Underlying all this talk of kharis, benevolence, favor, gifts, and even reciprocity is a concept one can identify as a “Prosperity Theology,” a system where the “correct action” (orthopraxy) of a person will result in their prosperity, good fortune, and happiness. It is a commonly stated phrase that “kharis begets kharis” or “kharis must repay kharis.” As Jon D. Mikalson stated, “The reward of pious behaviors was to maintain the [kharis] of the gods, a favor which might result in material success and favorable opportunities for the pious individual.” (page 187)
Commonsense acknowledges doing good attracts good into our lives, but we must also understand doing bad attracts negativity. We must “acknowledgment that the gods react, indeed, to mortal doings, just as worshippers hope they will when they appeal to kharis, but often in ways that are quite unlike what those worshippers hope for: crimes, as well as sacrifices, evoke a response.” (Gill, page 79) Wrongs attract their own “reward” in what may be called ‘violent kharis,’ the negative counterpart to the reciprocal exchange of favor. (Belfiore, 112)
We have discussed this in the past regarding virtue, vice, ethics, morality, and happiness. One cannot expect prosperity if they get some sick thrill or ego boost by acting immature, intentionally creating disharmony, practicing deception, and overall working contrary to virtue. Creating harm, mischief, and disharmony causes misfortune and suffering, and provides for a negative return. While horded wealth is vice, poverty is no virtue, and while poverty may not be a telltale sign of vice, discontentment and unhappiness are red-flags a soul is in need of healing through change and positive action.
Hellenic Polytheism is a religion of piety and virtue. We can state that by maintaining the Seven Pillars of Hellenismos (Ethike Arete, Eusebia, Hagneia, Nomos Arkhaios, Sophia, Sophrosune, and Xenia) we attract Good Fortune (Agathe Tykhe) into our lives, and the Fates (Moirai) will be on our side. Virtue is a universal doctrine which can be shown to be true, time and time again, because of the tangible results and benefits they provide independent of any religious belief. As Sallustius so clearly sourced from Platonic teachings, “virtue itself, and the joy and glory of virtue, and the life that is subject to no grief and no master are enough to make happy those who have set themselves to live according to virtue and have achieved it.”
Bibliography
- Ancient Greek Religion by Jon D. Mikalson
- Aristotle: On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse by George Alexander Kennedy
- Greek Religion by Walter Burkert
- Greek Religion and Society by P. E. Easterling and J. V. Muir
- Moral Codes and Social Structure in Ancient Greece by Joseph M. Bryant
- Murder Among Friends: Violation of Philia in Greek Tragedy by Elizabeth S. Belfiore
- On the Gods and the Cosmos by Sallustius
- Reciprocity in Ancient Greece by Christopher Gill, et al
Additional Reading
- Greeks Bearing Gifts by Lynette G. Mitchell
- Handbook of Greek Archaeology by Alexander Stuart Murray
- The Best of the Achaeans by Gregory Nagy
- The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks by David Konstan
- The Rhetoric of Manhood by Joseph Roisman
- Women on the Edge by Ruby Blundell, et al
