State super vias et videte et interrogate de semitis antiquis quae sit via bona et ambulate in ea et invenietis refrigerium animabus vestris

29 May 2015

A Humble Counsel


Ταπεινοφρονήσωμεν οὖν, ἀδελφοί, ἀποθέμενοι πᾶσαν ἀλαζονείαν καὶ τῦφος καὶ ἀφροσύνην καὶ ὀργάς, καὶ ποιήσωμεν τὸ γεγραμμένον· λέγει γὰρ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον· Μὴ καυχάσθω ὁ σοφὸς ἐν τῇ σοφίᾳ αὐτοῦ μηδὲ ὁ ἰσχυρὸς ἐν τῇ ἰσχύϊ αὐτοῦ μηδὲ ὁ πλούσιος ἐν τῷ πλούτῳ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ’ ὁ καυχώμενος ἐν κυρίῳ καυχάσθω, τοῦ ἐκζητεῖν αὐτὸν καὶ ποιεῖν κρίμα καὶ δικαιοσύνην· μάλιστα μεμνημένοι τῶν λόγων τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ, οὓς ἐλάλησεν διδάσκων ἐπιείκειαν καὶ μακροθυμίαν· Οὕτως γὰρ εἶπεν· Ἐλεᾶτε, ἵνα ἐλεηθῆτε· ἀφίετε, ἵνα ἀφεθῇ ὑμῖν· ὡς ποιεῖτε, οὕτω ποιηθήσεται ὑμῖν· ὡς δίδοτε, οὕτως δοθήσεται ὑμῖν· ὡς κρίνετε, οὕτως κριθήσεσθε· ὡς χρηστεύεσθε, οὕτως χρηστευθήσεται ὑμῖν· ᾧ μέτρῳ μετρεῖτε, ἐν αὐτῷ μετρηθήσεται ὑμῖν.Ταύτῃ τῇ ἐντολῇ καὶ τοῖς παραγγέλμασιν τούτοις στηρίξωμεν ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὸ πορεύεσθαι ὑπηκόους ὄντας τοῖς ἁγιοπρεπέσι λόγοις αὐτοῦ, ταπεινοφρονοῦντες· φησὶν γὰρ ὁ ἅγιος λόγος· Ἐπὶ τίνα ἐπιβλέψω, ἀλλ’ ἢ ἐπὶ τὸν πραῢν καὶ ἡσύχιον καὶ τρέμοντά μου τὰ λόγια;

πιστολή πρὸς Κορινθίους, Ἅγιος Κλήμης Ῥώμης


Let us be humble then, brethren, putting aside all boasting, and pride, and foolishness, and delusion, and let us do what is written; for the Holy Spirit says, 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches; but he that would glory let him glory in the Lord, in seeking Him, and doing judgment and righteousness, being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus, those which He spoke to teach us meekness and patience; for thus He spoke: 'Be merciful, that you may receive mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven you; as you do, so shall it be done to you; as you give, so it shall be given to you; as you judge, so shall you be judged; as you are kind, so shall you receive kindness; with the measure you measure, you shall be measured.' By this command and by these rules let us establish ourselves so that we walk with all humility in obedience to His holy words; for the Holy Word says, 'On whom shall I look, but on him that is meek and quiet, and who trembles at my words?'

Letter to the Corinthians, Saint Clement of Rome

27 May 2015

Flight And Sin

Hoc est autem fugere, abstinere a peccatis, ad similitudinem et imaginem Dei formam virtutum assumere, extendere vires nostras ad imitationem Dei secundum mensuram nostrae possibilitatis. Vir enim perfectus imago et gloria est Dei. Unde Dominus ait: Perfecti estote, sicut et Pater vester qui in coelis est, perfectus est. Hoc est igitur similem esse Dei, habere justitiam, habere sapientiam, et in virtute esse perfectum. Deus enim est sine peccato. Et ideo qui peccatum fugit, ad imaginem est Dei.

Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Fuga Saeculi

Source: Migne PL 14.578c
This is what it is to flee: to abstain from sin, to take up the form of the virtues to a likeness and image of God, to increase our strength, according to the measure of our potential, to the imitation of God. The perfect man is an image and the glory of God. Whence the Lord says, 'Be perfect, as your Father who in heaven is perfect.' 1 This, therefore, is to be like God: to have righteousness and wisdom and to be perfect in virtue. God is without sin. Therefore he who flees sin is like an image of God.

Saint Ambrose, On Flight from the World.

1 Mt 5.48

25 May 2015

A Warning To Would Be Martyrs

Ἐπὰν δ’ ἔμπαλιν εἴπῃ· Ὅταν διώκωσιν ὑμᾶς ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ, φεύγετε εἰς τὴν ἄλλην· οὐχ ὡς κακὸν τὸ διώκεσθαι παραινεῖ φεύγειν, οὐδ’ ὡς θάνατον φοβουμένους, διὰ φυγῆς ἐκκλίνειν προστάττει τοῦτον, βοὺλεται δὲ ἡμᾶς μηδενὶ αἰτίους μηδὲ συναιτίους κακοῦ τινος γίνεσθαι, σφίσιν τε αὐτοῖς, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τῷ διώκοντι καὶ τῷ ἀναιροῦντι· τρόπον γάρ τινα προσαγγέλλει ἑαυτὸν περιίστασθαι· ὁ δὲ παρακούων, τολμηρὸς καὶ ῥιψοκὶνδυνος. Εἰ δὲ ὁ ἀναιρῶν ἀνθρωπον Θεοῦ, εἰς Θεόν ἀμαρτάνει, καὶ τοῦ ἀποκτινύντος αὐτὸν ἔνοχος καθίσταται ὁ ἑαυτὸν προσάγων τῷ δικαστηρίῳ· οὐτος δ’ ἄν εἴη ὁ μὴ περιστελλόμενος τὸν διωγμὸν, ἀλώσιμον διά θράσος παρέχων ἑαυτόν· οὖτός ἐστι, τὸ ὀσον ἐφ’ ἑαυτῷ, ὁ συνεργὸς γινόμενος τῇ τοῦ διώκοντος πονηρίᾳ. Εἰ δὲ καὶ προσερεθίζοι, τέλεον αἴτος, ἐκκαλούμενος τὸ θηρίον. Ὡς δ’ αὔτως, κᾶν αἰτίαν μάχης παράσχῃ τινὰ, ἠ ζημίας, ἠ δίκης, ἠ ἔχθρας, ἀφορμὴν ἐγέννησε διωγμοῦ. Διὰ τοῦτ’ οὔν μηδενὸς ἀντέχεσθαι τῶν ἐν τῷ βιῷ προστέτακται ἡμῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ, τῷ αἴροντι τὸ ἱμάτιον καὶ τὸν χιτῶνα προσδιδόναι· οὑχ ἵνα ἀπροσπαθεῖς διαμένωμεν μόνον, ἀλλ’ ὡς μὴ, ἀντιποιούμενοι, τοὺς ἐπιδικαζομένους ἐφ’ ἑαυτοὺς ἀγριαίνωμεν, καὶ δι’ ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ ὀνόματος διακινῶμεν βλασφημίαν.

Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Στρωματεων
And again when He says, 'When they persecute you in this city, flee to the other,'1 He does not counsel flight as if to be persecuted were evil; nor by fear of death does He order them to take to flight, but He wishes us neither to be the cause nor the accomplice of any evil, either to ourselves or to them, to the persecuted or to the destroyers. For, in a way, He exhorts us care for ourselves, and he who does not listen is rash and foolhardy. If he who destroys a man of God sins against God, he also is guilty of death who presents himself before the tribunal. And this is also so with him who does not avoid persecution, but out of daring presents himself for capture. Such a man, insofar as he is responsible, becomes a fellow worker in the wickedness of the persecutor. And if he provokes another, his is the whole guilt, for he is calling forth the beast. And likewise if he is any cause for conflict or penalty or retribution or hatred, he is the occasion for persecution. Therefore we are commanded not to cling to any of those things of this life, but even 'to him that takes our cloak to give our coat,'2 not only that we may be without passion, but that we may not by our demands for justice make others wild, and stir them up to blaspheme the name.

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book 4, Ch 10. 

1 Mt 10.23 

2 Lk  6.29

23 May 2015

A Fruit Of Forgiveness


'Certare quidem fortiter volui, et, sacramenti mei memor, devotionis ac fidei arma suscepi; sed me in congressione pugnantem cruciamenta varia et supplicia longa vicerunt. Stetit meus stabilis et fides fortis, et cum torquentibus poenis immobilis diu anima luctata est: sed, cum, durissimi judicis recrudescente saevitia, jam fatigatum, nunc flagella scinderent, nunc contunderent fustes, nunc equuleus extenderet, nunc ungula effuderet, nunc flamma torreret, caro me in colluctatione deseruit, infirmitas viscerum cessit, nec animus sed corpus in dolore defecit.' Potest cito proficere ad veniam causa talis. Potest ejusmodi excusatio esse miserabilis. Sic hic Casto et Aemilio aliquando Dominus ignovit; sic, in prima congressione devictos, victores in secundo praelio reddidit, ut fortiores ignibus fierent qui ignibus ante cessissent, et unde superati essent, inde superarent.

Sanctus Cyprianus, Liber De Lapsis



Migne PL 4.476
'Indeed I wished to contend strongly, and, mindful of my vow, I took up the arms of devotion and faith; but having struggled in the encounter, I was conquered by the varied tortures and long suffering. My mind stood firm, and faith was strong, and my soul was unmoved through torturing pains, but when the most cruel judge renewed barbarity, now exhausted, now scourged with whips, now bruised with clubs, now drawn on the rack, now rent by the claws, now scorched by fire, my flesh abandoned me in the struggle and the infirmity of it yielded. Not my soul but my body in suffering fell.' Such a plea may readily obtain pardon for such things; such an excuse may gain compassion. So it was that the Lord once forgave Castus and Aemilius, so it was that these men who were defeated in the first encounter became victors in the second battle, so it was that these men who had formerly surrendered to the fires became stronger than the fires, and so it was that they overcame that which had overcome.

St Cyprian of Carthage, from On the Lapse, Chap 13

21 May 2015

A Warning To Those Who Would Flee


'Sed quod meum est', inquit, 'fugio, ne peream,si negavero; illius est, si voluerit, etiam fugientem me reducere in medium.' Hoc mihi prius responde: certus es te negaturum, si non fugeris, an incertus? Si enim certus, iam negasti, quia praesumendo te negaturum id despopondisti, de quo praesumpsisti, et vane iam fugis, ne neges, qui, si negaturus es,iam negasti; si vero incertus es, cur non ex aequalitate incerti metus inter utrumque eventum etiam confiteri te posse praesumis et salvum magis fieri, quominus fugias, sicut negaturum te praesumis, ut fugias? Iam nunc aut in nobis est utrumque aut totum in deo; si in nobis aut confiteri aut negare,cur non id praesumimus, quod est melius, id est confessuros nos? nisi si vis confiteri, ne patiaris; nolle autem confiteri negare est; si vero in deo totum est, cur non totum relinquimus arbitrio eius, agnoscentes virtutem et potestatem, quod possit nos sicut fugientes educere in medium, ita et non fugientes, immo et in medio populo conversantes obumbrare? Quale est, ut ad fugiendum deo honorem reddas, qui possit te etiam fugientem producere in medium, ad constandum autem inhonores illum desperans potentiam protectionis ab illo? Quanto magis ex hac parte, constantiae et fiduciae in deum, dicis: 'Ego quod meum est facio: non discedo; deus si voluerit, ipse me proteget'! Hoc potius nostrum est, stare sub dei arbitrium quam fugere sub nostro. Rutilius sanctissimus martyr cum totiens fugisset persecutionem de loco in locum, etiam periculum, ut putabat, nummis redemisset, post totam securitatem, quam sibi prospexerat, ex inopinato apprehensus et praesidi oblatus, tormentis dissipatus credo pro fugae castigatione, dehinc ignibus datus passionem, quam vitarat, misericordiae dei rettulit. Quid aliud voluit dominus nobis demonstrare hoc documento quam fugiendum non esse, quia nihil fuga prosit, si deus nolit?

Tertullianus, De Fuga in Persecutione
'But it is for me to flee,' he says, 'that I may not perish if I deny the Lord. And it is for Him, if He should so will, to bring me back into their midst.' First tell me this: Are you certain you will deny Him if you do not flee, or are you uncertain? If you are certain, you have already denied Him, because by presuming that you will deny Him, you have given yourself over to that which you have presumed, and in vain you would flee so as not to deny Him, for you have denied Him already. But if you are in doubt about the matter, why not in the uncertainty of your fear that wavers between the two outcomes presume that you are able to confess Him, and so be more secure, that you may not flee, as the presumption of denial would have you flee? Now either both outcomes are in our own power, or they wholly lie with God. If it is ours to confess or to deny, why do we not presume the better thing, that is, that we shall confess? If you are not willing to confess, nor to suffer; to be unwilling to confess is to deny. But if the matter wholly lies with God, why do we not leave it to His will, recognising His might and power, that just as He can bring back those who flee, so is He able to hide us when we do not flee, even when living in the midst of people? Is it that you give honour to God in this matter of flight because He is able to return you from flight into their midst, but as for constancy you dishonour Him by despairing of the power of his protection? Rather should you take up the part of constancy and trust in God and say, 'I do what is mine to do, I do not depart; God, if He wills, will Himself protect me.' This is better for us, that we stand in submission to the will of God, than we flee by our own will. Rutilius, a saintly martyr, after having always fled persecution from place to place, even buying himself out of peril, or so he thought, notwithstanding the complete security he had provided for himself, was then unexpectedly seized, and brought before the governor, was torn apart by torture, and I believe this was punishment for his flight, and then sent to the flames, and so he gave to the mercy of God the suffering he had avoided. What else did the Lord mean to show us by this example, than we should not flee because flight will not profit if God does not will it?

Tertullian, On Flight during Persecution

19 May 2015

Educational Breadth


Οἴμαι δὲ πᾶσιν ἀνωμολογῆσθαι τὸν νοῦν ἐχόντων, παίδευσιν τῶν παρ’ ἡμιν ἀγαθῶν εἶναι τὸ πρῶτον· οὐ ταύτην μόνην τὴν εὐγενεστέραν, καὶ ἡμετέραν, ἢ πὰν τὸ έν λόγοις κομψὸν καὶ φιλότιμον ἀτιμάζουσα, μόνης ἔχεται τῆς σωτηρίας, καὶ τοῦ κάλλους τῶν νοουμένων· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἔξωθεν, ἤν οἱ πολλοὶ Χριστιανῶν διαπτύουσιν, ὡς ἐπίβουλον καὶ σφαλερὰν, καὶ Θεοῦ πόῥῥω βάλλουσαν, κακῶς εἰδοτες. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐρανὸν, καὶ γῆν, καὶ ἀέρα, καὶ ὅσα τούτων, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ κακῶς τινες ἐξειλήφασιν, ἀντὶ Θεοῦ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ σέβοντες, διὰ τοῦτο περιφρονητέον· ἀλλ’ ὅσον χρήσιμον αὐτῶν καρπούμενοι πρός τε ζωὴν καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν, ὅσον ἐπικίνδυνον διαφεύγομεν· οὐ τῷ Κτίστῃ τὴν κτίσιν ἐπανιστάντες κατά τοὺς ἄφρονας, ἀλλ’ ἐκ τῶν δημιουργημάρων τὸν Δημιουργὸν καταλαμβάνοντες, καὶ, ὅ φησιν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, αἰχμαλωτίζοντες πᾶν νόημα εἰς χριστόν· ὡς δέ καὶ πυρὸς, καὶ τροφῆς, καὶ σιδήρου, καὶ τῶν ἄλων, οὐδὲν καθ’ ἑαυτὸ χρησιμώτατον ἵσμεν, ἢ βλαβερώτατον, ἀλλ’ ὅπως ἄν δοκῇ τοῖς χρωμένοις· ἥδη δὲ καὶ τῶν ἑρπυστικῶν θηρίων ἔστιν, ἂ τοῖς πρὸς σωτηρίαν φαρμάκοις συνεκεράσαμεν· οὔτω καὶ τούτων, τὸ μὲν ἐξεταστικόν τε καὶ θεωρητικὸν, ἐδεξάμεθα· ὅσον δὲ εἰς δαίμονας φέρει, κα πλάνην, καὶ ἀπωλείας βυθὸν, διεπτύσαμεν· ὅτι μὴ κὰκ τούτων πρός θεοσέβεαιν ὠφελήμεθα ἐκ τοῦ χείρονος τὸ κρεῖττον καταμαθόντες, καὶ τὴν ἀσθένειαν ἐκείνων, ἰσχὺν τοῦ καθ’ ἡμᾶς παίδευσιν, ὅτι τοῦτο δοκεῖ τισιν· ἀλλὰ σκαιοὺς καὶ ἀπαιδεύτους ὑποληπτέον τοὺς οὔτως ἔχοντας, οἱ βούλοιντ’ ἂν ἄπαντας εἶναι καθ’ ἑαυτοὺς, ἵν’ ἐν τῷ κοινῷ τὸ κατ’ αὐτοὺς κρύπτηται, καὶ τοὺς τῆς ἀπαιδευσίας ἐλέγχους διαδιδράσκωσιν.  

Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός, Λόγος ΜΓ’

I think it would be confessed by all men of sense that education is the first of our goods, and it is more noble, as ours is, when it disdains rhetorical ornaments and glory, and holds only to salvation and the beauty of things of the mind; but it is so even with learning external to us, which many Christians in despising it as a thing treacherous and dangerous, and casting us far from God, judge poorly. For as the heavens and earth and air, and all such things, have been wrongly grasped and the works of God in place of God honoured, the more we should reap what advantage we can from them for our life and enjoyment, while we avoid their dangers, not lifting up creation, as the mindless do, against the Creator, but from the works apprehending the Worker, and, as the divine Apostle says, 'bringing into captivity every thought to Christ.'1 And so as we know that neither fire, nor food, nor iron, nor any other thing, is in itself most useful, or most harmful, except according to the intent of the user, and as medicines have been fashioned even from reptiles, so from learning apart from us we have received insights while spurning idolatry, terror and the pit of destruction. And yet even those latter things have been of aid to us in our religion, for by our contemplation of the worse and the better, their weaknesses strengthen our teaching. So let it be understood that the uncouth and uneducated folk who wish all to be as they themselves are do so only that they may thus hide among the many and avoid detection of their ignorance.

Saint Gregory Nazianzus, Oration 43 

1 2 Cor 10.5

17 May 2015

A Literary Inheritance

Quod autem quaeris in calce epsitolae tuae, cur in opusculis nostris saecularium litterarum interdum ponamus exempla, et candorem Ecclesiae, Ethnicorum sordibus polluamus; breviter responsum habeto. Nunquam hoc quaeres, nisi te totum Tullius possideret; si Scripturas sanctas legeres, si Interpretes earum, omissio Volcatio, evolveres. Quis enim nesciat et in Moyse et in Prophetarum voluminibus quaedam assumpat de Gentilium libris, et Salomonem Philosophis Tyri et nonnulla proposuisse, et aliqua repondisse? Unde in exordio Proverbiorum commonet, ut intelligamus sermones prudentiae, versutiasque verborum, parabolas, et obscurum sermonem, dicta sapientum, et aenigmata, quae proprie dialecticorum et philosophorum sunt. Sed et Paulus Apostolus Epimenidis Poetae abusus versiculo est, scribens ad Titum: Cretenses semper mendacos, malae bestiae, ventres pigria. Cujus heroici hemistichium postea Callimachus usurpavit. Nec mirum si apud Latinos metrum non servet ad verbum expressa translatio, cum Homerus eadem linguam versus in prosam, vix cohaereat. In alia quoque Epistola, Menandri ponit senarium: Corrumpunt mores bonos confabulationes pessimae. Et apud Athenienses in Martis curia disputans, Aratum testem vocat. Ipsius enim et genus sumus, quod Graece dicitur: τοῦ γάρ και γένος ἐσμεν; et est clausula versus heroici. Ac ne parum hoc esset, ductor Christiani exercitus, et orator invictus pro Christo causam agens, etiam inscriptionem fortuitam, arte torquet in argumentum fidei. Didicerat enim a vero David, extorquere de manibus hostium gladium, et Goliae superbissimi caput proprio mucrone truncare. Legerat in Deuteromonio Domini voce praeceptum, mulieris captivae radendum caput, supercilia, omnes pilos, et ungues corporis amputandus, et sic eam habendem in coniugio. Quid ergo mirum, si et ego sapientiam saecularem propter eloquii venustatem, et membrorum pulchritudinem, de ancilla atque captiva Israelitidem facere capio? et si quidquid in ea mortuum est, idololatriae, voluptatis, erroris, libidinum, vel praecidio, vel rado; et mixtus purissimo corpori vernaculos ex ea genero Domino Sabaoth. Labor meus in familiam Christi proficit; stuprum in alienam, auget numerum conservorum.

Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistola LXX, Ad Magnum Oratorem Urbis Romae

Source: Migne PL 22 665-666
To what you ask at the end of your letter, that is, why it is that in my little works I sometimes place excerpts from secular literature and pollute the whiteness of the Church with the filth of the heathen, let me briefly respond. You would never have asked had not Cicero completely possessed you, if you had read the Scriptures, and turning to the interpreters of them, had ignored Volcatius. Who does not know that both in Moses and in the Prophets there are certain things taken from Gentile books, and that Solomon not only proposed questions to the philosophers of Tyre but even answered them? At the beginning of Proverbs he exhorts us to understand prudent speech and shrewd words, parables and obscure discourse, the words of the wise and their mysteries, all of which are proper to the dialecticians and the philosophers. And the Apostle Paul, writing to Titus, makes use of a line of the poet Epimenides: 'The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, sluggish in their bellies.'1 A Hemistych of which line was afterwards employed by Callimachus. It is no surprise that a literal rendering of the words into Latin should fail to preserve the metre, since Homer translated into the same tongue is barely coherent even in prose. In another letter Paul includes a line of Menander: 'Evil communications corrupt good manners.' 2 And when disputing with the Athenians on the Areopagus he calls as witness Aratus: 'For we are also his offspring' 1 which in Greek is τοῦ γάρ και γένος ἐσμεν, the close of a heroic verse. And as if this were not enough, that leader of the Christian army, that unconquered orator for the cause of Christ, skilfully turns a chance inscription into an argument of the faith. Indeed he had learned from the true David to wrest the sword of the enemy out of his hand and with that very same blade to cut off the head of the proud Goliath. He had read in Deuteronomy the precept given by the voice of the Lord that when a captive woman had had her head, her eyebrows and all her hair shaved, and her nails pared, she might then be taken in marriage. Is it then to be wondered if I, on account of the charm of the eloquence of the wisdom of the world, desire to make it a captive and a handmaid of Israel? And if whatever in her is dead, such as idolatry, pleasure, error, or lust, has been cut away or shaved off, and having mingled with this handmaid of purest body, I beget by her a generation for the Lord of Sabaoth? My labour profits Christ's family; by breeding with a foreigner the number of my fellow servants is increased.

Saint Jerome, from Letter 70, To Magnus an Orator of Rome


1 Titus 1.12
2 1 Cor 15.33
3 Acts 17.28

16 May 2015

The Inheritance Of The Wise

Itaque sicut iis quae in quodam censu imprudentiae atque intemperantiae sunt, abdicat se prudentia, abdicat continentia: ita eorum exsors omnis insipiens est atque incontinens, quae in bonis atque in haerediatet sapientis viri sunt et continentis. Denique santae illae tali conjugio Lia et Rachel, una laboriosa, altera aspirato fortis, refugientes non generis necessitudinem, sed morum discrepantiam; cum viri exerciti Jacob sermone edocatae essent, quod vellet discedere, ut Laban et filiorum ejus invidiam declinaret atque ignaviam, responderunt: Numquid est nobis portio aut haereditas in domo patris nostri? Nonne sicut alienae aestimamur ei? Vendidit enim nos, et devoravit pretium nostrum. Ecce primum, quia ignavus et invidus laboriosam et disciplinae tenacem alienart a se ac defugit, seseque cupit separare; quoniam eas oneri esse cernit sibi, putat se lucrum fecisse, quod alienavit eas, et hoc esse suum pretium judicat, eumque fructum voluptatis. Nunc audiamus quomodo quae habet virtus, non habeat ignavia; aiunt enim: Omnes divitiae et gloria, quam tulit Deus petri nostro, nobis erit, et filiis nostris. Merito, Deo arbitro, dicunt esse sublata, quia ipse est auctor bonorum, cujus gratia ignavi exuuntur; quia decorem haereditatis divinae capere improbi atque infirmi non queunt: succedit autem intentus, et spiritum in se fortis habens.

Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Epistola XXVII, Ad Irenaeum

Source: Migne PL 16.1047b-1048a
Thus as wisdom and continence are removed from those who are found in the register of imprudence and intemperance, so the foolish and incontinent man is without a share in the inheritance of the wise and continent. Again, those women sanctified by their marriage, Leah and Rachel, the one name meaning laborious, the other strong breath, not shrinking from family ties but averse to a difference of manners, when taught by the much tried Jacob that he wished to depart that he avoid the envy and sloth of Laban and his sons, answered, 'Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not judged to be strangers by him? He has sold us and devoured our money.' 1 Behold first that the slothful and envious man alienates himself from strict discipline and flies from it, desiring to separate himself from it, because he sees that it will be a burden to him, and he judges he has profited to do so, and it is the fruit of his pleasure. Now let us hear how virtue has what sloth has not: they say, 'All the riches which God has taken from our father, shall be ours, and our children's.' 2 Rightly do they say that they were removed by God's judgement, for He is the creator of the good, for the sake of which slothful men are deprived; for immoral and weak men do not seek to grasp the beauty of the Divine inheritance; it is the resolute man who succeeds, he who has in himself a strong spirit.

Saint Ambrose, from Letter 27, To Ireneaus.

1 Gen 31.14-15
2 Gen 31.26

15 May 2015

An Inheritance Problem


Εἰπε πάλιν ἀββᾶς Κασιανὸς, ὅτι ἡν τις μοναχὸς οἰκῶν ἐν σπηλαίῷ ἐν ἐρήμῳ· καὶ ἐδηλώθη αὐτῷ ὑπὸ τῶν συγγενῶν κατὰ σάρκα, ὅτι Ὁ πατήρ σου ἰσχυρῶς ἐνοχλεὶται, καὶ μέλλει τελευτᾀν, ἐλθὲ ἵνα κληρονομήσῃς αὐτόν. Ὁ δέ ἀπεκρίθη πρὸς αὐτούς· Ἐγὼ πρὸ εκείνου ἀπέθανον τῷ κόσμῳ· νεκρὸς ζῶντα οὐ κληρονομεὶ  

᾽Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

Again Father Casianus said, ' There was a certain monk dwelling in a cave in the desert and it was revealed by a family relative that his father had fallen gravely ill and was to die and that he should thus come to take his inheritance. The monk said, ' Before him I died to the world; the dead do not inherit from the living.'

Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

13 May 2015

Endless Desires


Τὸ δ τὸν ἄπαντα χρόνον ὑποκεῖσθαι τῇ τῆς γαστρὸς λειτουργίᾳ, ποίας τιμωρίας οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνιαρώτερον; Ὂρᾶτε γάρ τοῦτον τὸν διηνεκῆ φορολόγον, τὴν γαστέρα λέγω, ὅσην ἐπάγει καθ’ ἡμέραν τὴν ἀνάγκην τῆς ἀπαιτήσεως; Ὡ κᾶν ποτε πλέον τοῦ τεταγμένου προκαταβάλωμεν, οὐδὲν τοῦ ἐφεξῆς χρέους προεξετίσαμεν· καθ’ ὁμοιότητα τῶν ἐν τῷ μυλωνι ταλαιπωρούντων ζώων κεκαλυμμένοις τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, τὴν τοῦ βίου μύλην περιερχόμεθα, ἀεὶ διὰ τῶν ὁμοίων περιχωροῦντες, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ αὐτὰ ἀναστρέφοντες. Εἴπε σοι τὴν κυκλικὴν ταύτην περίοδον, ὅρεξις, κόρος, ὕπνος, ἐγρήγορσις, κένωσις, πλήρωσις. Ἀεὶ ἀπ’ ἐκείνων ταῦτα, καὶ πάλιν ταῦτα, καὶ οὐδέποτε κύκλῳ περιιόντες παυόμεθα, ἔως ἄν ἔξω τοῦ μύλωνος γενώμεθα. Καλῶς ὁ Σολομὼν πίθον τετρημένον καὶ οἰκον ἀλλότριον ὀνομάζει τὸν ὥδε βίον. Ὄντως γὰρ ἀλλότριος οἶκος, καὶ οὐχ ἡμέτερος, ὅτι οὐκ ἐφ’ ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἤ ὅτε βουλόμεθα, ἤ ἐφ’ ὅσον ἐπιποθοῦμεν ἐν αὐτῷ εἶναι· ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰσαγὀμεθα ὡς οὐκ οἴδαμεν, καὶ ἐξοικιζόμεθα ὅτε οὐκ οἴδαμεν. Τὸ δὲ τοῦ πίθου αἴνιγμα νοήσεις, ἐὰν εἰς τὸ ἀπλήρωτον τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν ἀποβλέψῃς. Ὀρᾷς πῶς ἐπαντλοῦσιν ἑαυτοίς οἱ ἄνθρωποι τὰς τιμὰς, τὰς δυναστείας, τὰς δόξας, καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα; ἀλλ’ ὑποῥῥεῖ τὸ βαλλόμενον, καὶ οὐ παραμένει τῷ ἔχοντι· ἡ μὲν γὰρ περὶ τὴν δόξαν, καὶ τὴν δυσατείαν καὶ τὴν τιμὴν σπουδὴ πάντοτε ἐνεργεῖτε· ὁ δὲ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας πίθος μένει ἀπλήρωτος. Τί δὲ ἡ φιλοχρηματία; οὐκ ἀληθῶς πίθος τετρημένος ἐστὶν, ὅλῳ τῷ πυθμένει ῥεων, ᾦ κᾶν πᾶσαν ἐπαντλήσῃς τὴν θάλασσαν, πληρωθῆναι φύσιν οὐκ ἔχει;   

Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης , Ἐπιτάφιος Λόγος Εἰς Πλακιλλαν Βασίλισσαν
What is more unpleasant than the exactions of the stomach, the vengeance of which is not less troubling? Do you see the ceaseless demands of its daily tribute ever slacken? What is more regularly cast down than us, nothing advanced by insistent debts; like those beasts of the mill hidden from view, tramping around the mill of life, always going round the same way, turning in the same place. I shall tell you about this circular way: it is hunger, satisfaction, sleep, wakefulness, movement, satiety. Always the same things succeeding one other, and never do we pause on this circle until we are out of the mill. Solomon well names life a deep pit and a foreign house. It is a foreign house, and not ours, because it is not ours when we wish it, nor is it when we desire to be in it. We enter ignorant and we are ignorant of the time of out exit. You will understand the symbol of a pit if you turn away from desire as a thing insatiable. Do you see how men pour over themselves honors, power, glory and all such things? But that given flows away and it is not a permanent possession. In that one who is always zealously striving after glory, power and honor, is an unfilled pit of desire. What about avarice? Truly is not the pit's bottom now pierced, the whole emptying out which not even all the seas can fill?

Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Funeral Oration for the Empress Flacilla,

12 May 2015

The Death of an Empress


Τὴν βασιλίδα ζητείς; Ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις τὴν διαγωγὴν ἔχει. Ἀλλ᾽ ὀφθαλμῷ γνῶναι τοῦτο ποθείς; Οὐκ ἔξεστί σοι βασιλιδος θέαν περιεργάζεσθαι. Φοβερὰ περί αὐτήν ἡ τῶν δορυφόρων φρουρά· οὐ τούτων λέγω τῶν δορυφόρων, οἰς σίδηρος τὸ ὅπλον ἐστὶν. ἀλλὰ τῶν τῇ φλογίνῃ ῥομφαίᾳ καθωπλισμένων, ὠν τὸ εἰδος ἀνθρώπων ὅψεις οὐχ ὑποδέχεται. Ἐν οἶς ἀποῥῥήτοις τῆς βασιλείας ἡ οἴκησις, τότε ὅψει, ὅταν καὶ σὺ προκύψῃς τοῦ σώματος· οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἄλλως ἐντὸς τῶν ἀδύτων τῆς βασιλείας γενέσθαι, μὴ διασχόντα τὸ τῆς σαρκὸς παραπέτασμα. Ἥ κρεὶττον οἴει τὸ σαρκὸς μετέχειν τοῦ βίου;  Οὐκοῦν παιδευσάτω σε ὁ θείος Ἀπόστολος, ὁ τῶν ἀῥῥήτων τοῦ παραδείσου μετεσχηκὼς μυστηρίων. Τί λέγει περὶ τῆς ὦδε ζωῆς, τάχα ἐκ τοῦ κοινοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φθεγγόμενος; Ταλαίπωρος ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος. Τις με ῥύσεται ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου; Διὰ τί τοῦτο λέγει; Ὅτι τὸ ἀναλῦσαι, καὶ σὺν χριστῷ εἶναι, πολλῷ κρεῖττόν φησιν. Τί δὲ ὁ μέγας Δαβὶδ, ὁ τοσαύτῃ δυναστείᾳ κομῶν, ὁ πάντα πρὸς ἡδονὴν καὶ κατ’ ἐξουσίαν εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν ἔχων; Οὐ στενοχωρείται τῷ βίῳ; Οὐ φυλακὴν ὀνομάζει τὴν ὧδε ζωήν; Οὐ βοᾷ πρὸς τὸν Κύριον. Ἐξάγατε ἐκ φυλακῆς τὴν ψυκήν μου; Οὐ πρὸς τὴν παράτασιν τῆς ζωῆς δυσχεραίνει, Οἰμοι, λέγων, δει ἡ παροιμία μου ἐμακρύνθη. Ἥ οὐκ ἤδεισαν διακρῖναι οἱ ἅγιοι τὸ καλὸν ἐκ τοῦ χειρονος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο προτιμοτέραν ὤοντο τῇ ψυχῇ τὴν ἀπὸ σώματος ἔδοξον;

Ἐπιτάφιος Λόγος Εἰς Πλακιλλαν Βασίλισσαν,Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης
Do you seek the Empress? She has passed into the royal palaces. But you desire to know this with the eye? It is not permitted that you should trouble a Queen. Around her are a fearful guard equipped not with iron but bearing flashing blades, a sight which men cannot endure to see. The Empress' dwelling is inaccessible; and though you may look forward from the body, you cannot otherwise be in the Empress' inner chamber unless stripped of the flesh. Do you think it better when flesh partakes of life? Let the divine Apostle teach you about participating in the hidden mysteries of paradise. What does he say about life? Of the common way of men he announces ' I am a wretched man. Who will release me from this body of death?' Why does he say this? ' To be dissolved and to be with Christ is much better.' What does the great David say who was adorned with such power that he had access to all pleasures and joys? Does he not groan in life? Does he not call this life a prison? Does he not cry out to the Lord, 'Lead my soul out of this prison?' Is he not vexed by extension of life when he says 'Alas, because my exile is prolonged?' Did not the holy ones know how to discern good from evil and by this did they not judge the soul's going from the body superior?

Funeral Oration for the Empress Flacilla, Saint Gregory of Nyssa

11 May 2015

The Work of an Empress


Ἐἰκε δέ καὶ ἀλλην ἀφορμὴν ὠφελείας ὁ Βασιλεύς. Ἡ γὰρ τοῦ γάμου τὸν ζυγὸν μετ’ αὐτοῦ δεξαμένη, τῶν θείων αυτῷ συνεχῶς ἀνεμίμνησκε νόμων, ἑαυτὴν τούτους πρῶτον ἀκριβῶς ἐκπαιδεύσασα. Οὐ γὰρ ἑπῆρεν αὐτὴν τῆς βασιλείας ἡ δυναστεία, ἀλλὰ τὸν θεῖον πλέον ἐπύρσευσε πόθον. Τῆς γάρ εὐεργεσίας τὸ μέγεθος μεῖζον τὸ περὶ τὸν εὐεργέτην εἰργάζετο φίλτρον. Αὐτίκα γοῦν καὶ τῶν τὸ σῶμα πεπηρωμένων, καὶ ἀπαντα τὰ μέλη λελωβημένη, παντοδαπὴν ἐποιεῖτο φροντίδα, οὐκ οἰκέταις, οὐδὲ δορυφόποις ὑπουργοῖς κεχρημένη, ἀλλ’ αὐτουργός γιγνομένη, καὶ εἰς τὰς τούτων καταγωράς ἀφικνουμένη, καὶ ἐκαστῳ τὴν χρείαν πορίζουσα. Οὐτω καὶ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν τοὺς ξενῶνας περινοστοῦσα τοὺς κλινουπετεῖς δι’ ἐαυτῆς ἑνοσήλευεν, ἀῦτη καὶ χύτρας ἀπτομένη, καὶ ζωμοῦ γευομένη, καὶ τρύβλιον προσφέρουσα, καὶ ἄρτον κλῶσα, καὶ ψωμοὺς ὀρέγουσα, καὶ κύλικα ἀποκλύζουσα, καὶ τάλλα πάντα ἐργαζομένη, ὄσα οἰκετῶν καὶ θεραπαινίσων ἔργα νενόμισται. Καὶ τοῖς τὴν αὐτοργίαν ἐπέχειν πειρωμένοις ἐπέλεγεν, ὡς Τὸ μὲν χρυσίον διανέμειν τῇ βασιλείᾳ προσήκει· ἐγὼ δὲ ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς γε βασιλείας τὴν αὐτουργίαν τᾡ δεδωκότι προσφέρω.  

Θεοδωρητος Ἐπισκοπος Κυρρος, Ἐκκλησιαστίκη Ἱστορία
And the Emperor had another occasion for improvement, for Flacilla, she given to the yoke of marriage with him, often reminded him of the Divine laws, a matter in which she had first carefully educated herself. For she was not exalted by the royal power, but she was rather inflamed by it with longing for the Divine; the magnitude of the greatness given to her making the love for Him who gave it all the greater. To the maimed and the mutilated she directed her attention, and not requiring assistance from her household and guards, she herself went to the resting houses, bringing what each one there needed. She also went around the guest chambers of the churches and herself nursed those laying therein, herself handling pots and pans, tasting soup, bringing in bowls, breaking bread, offering morsels, washing cups, and doing all such work which is proper to servants and maids. And to those who attempted to stop her doing these things she would say, ' As it befits a sovereign to hand out gold; I, on account of the sovereign power that has been given me, bring my service to He who gave it.'

Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Ecclesiastical History

10 May 2015

Educating an Empress


Reginam te orbis Romanus suspicit: et quia jam nihil est, quo amplius crescere debeas in rebus humanis, sublimitatibus non contenta terrenis, sacra in Deum fide coelestia desideras possidere, quae verus Filius Dei, in se pie credentibus pollicetur, quae haec quasi una de sapientissimus elaboras, intelligans omnem hanc regni sublitatem nihil profuturam, si non ad coelestem gloriam consequendam verae fidei cognitione et defensione contendas. Et tamen apparet, quam grata sis in Christo Deo et Domino nostro, qui vobis hoc regnum tribuit; cum sollicita interrogatione perquiris, quomodo capitula illa solvantur, quae ab Arianis adversus Catholicos sacrae legis interpretationibus opponuntur. Habens affectum verae fidei, cupis, prout possibile est, intelligere, quod fideliter credis. Quia est tunc magis anima religosa, velut divinis epulis pascitur, cum quod credit, intelligit. Sed et cum exsecreris impias voces haereticorum, tamen religioso studio instrui adversus eos desideras, ut et rationem jam respuas: ne hoc quod exsecraris, quasi ex regni potentia, praesumptionis videatur esse, non probationis.  

De Trinitate, Sive de Fide Contra Arianos, Ad Augustam Flaccillam, Faustinus Presbyter

He has taken you up to the queenship of the Roman world, and since there is now nothing by which you can grow any more in human things, not content with the heights of the earth, you should desire to possess with faith the heavenly realms in God, which the true Son of God, in his own piety to the faithful promises, by which you may ponder like one of the most wise, understanding that this regal height will not profit if it not bring to celestial glory in the true knowledge of faith and that you may strive in its defence. And though it may appear that you may have grace with Christ God and our Lord, who has given to you this kingdom, you should with careful questioning seek after how those writings may be resolved, which the Arians, by interpretation of sacred law, employ against Catholics. Having the feeling of the true faith, you should desire, in so far as it is possible, to understand what you faithfully believe. Because it is then that the religious soul, as it were, feasts at the divine banquet, when it understands what it believes. Even when you execrate the impious voices of heretics, you should desire religious instruction, that you may with reason denounce, unless when you abhor, even with the royal power, it seem to be by presumption not prudence.

On the Trinity, or On the Faith Against the Arians, To the Empress Flacilla, Faustinus the Presbyter

9 May 2015

Separation from the World


Exinde segregati estis ab ipso mundo, quanto magis a saeculo rebusque eius? Nec hoc vos consternet, quod segregati estis a mundo. Si enim recogitemus ipsum magis mundum carcerem esse, exisse vos e carcere, quam in carcerem introisse, intellegemus. Maiores tenebras habet mundus, quae hominum praecordia excaecant. Graviores catenas induit mundus, quae ipsas animas hominum constringunt. Peiores immunditias exspirat mundus, libidines hominum. Plures postremo mundus reos continet, scilicet universum hominum genus. Iudicia denique non proconsulis, sed Dei sustinet.Quo vos, benedicti, de carcere in custodiarium, si forte, translatos existimetis. Habet tenebras, sed lumen estis ipsi; habet vincula, sed vos soluti Deo estis. Triste illic exspirat, sed vos odor estis suavitatis. Iudex exspectatur, sed vos estis de iudicibus ipsis iudicaturi. Contristetur illic qui fructum saeculi suspirat. Christianus etiam extra carcerem saeculo renuntiavit, in carcere autem etiam carceri. Nihil interest, ubi sitis in saeculo, qui extra saeculum estis. Et si aliqua amisistis vitae gaudia: negotiatio est aliquid amittere, ut maiora lucreris.

Tertullianus, Ad Martyres
So you have been separated from the world itself; how much more from the age and its affairs? Nor should it dismay you that you are separated from the world. If we recognise that the world itself is a greater prison we shall understand that you have rather gone out of prison than gone into prison. Greater darkness has the world which blinds the hearts of men. The world heaps on heaver chains which bind the very souls of men. A worse stench the world emits, the desires of men. More criminals the world contains, that is, the whole race of man. And it awaits the judgment, not of a proconsul, but of God. Therefore, blessed men, consider that you have been translated from a prison to a place, if you will, of safe keeping. It has darkness, but you yourselves are light. It has chains, but you have been released by God. From there a fetor comes forth, but you are a sweet scent. A judge is expected but you shall judge the judges themselves. Let him be sad there who sighs for the enjoyment of the world. The Christian, even when out of prison, has renounced the world; but, when in prison, the prison also. It matters not where you are in the world who are without the world. And if you have lost any of the joys of life, it is of this business that you part with something so that you may gain more.

Tertullian, To the Martyrs

8 May 2015

Education And Virtue

Ἐιπέ τις τῷ μακαρίῳ Ἀρσενίῳ· Πῶς ἡμεὶς ἀπὸ τοσαύτης παιδεύσεως καὶ σοφίας οὐδὲν ἔχομεν, οὖτοι δὲ οἱ ἀγροῖκοι καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι τοσαύτας ἀρετὰς κέκτηνται; Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ ἀββᾶς Ἀρσένιος· Ἡμεὶς ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου παιδεύσεως οὐδὲν ἔχομεν· οὖτοι δὲ οἱ ἀγροὶκοι καὶ Αἰγύπτοι ἀπὸ τῶν ἰδίων πόνων ἐκτήσαντο τὰς ἀρετὰς.

᾽Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

Source: Migne PG 65.88d-89a
Someone said to the blessed Arsenius, 'How is it that we for all our education and knowledge have nothing, yet these peasants and Egyptians have acquired such virtue?' Father Arsenius said to him, 'We have nothing from our worldly education, but these peasants and Egyptians by their own travails have acquired virtue.'

Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

6 May 2015

A Gift And A Loan

Ἀκούετε, οἱ πλοὺσιοι, ὁποῖα συμβουλεύομεν τοῖς πτωχοῖς διὰ τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀπανθρωπίαν· ἐκαρτερεῖν μᾶλλον τοῖς δεινοῖς, ἢ τὰς ἐκ τῶν τὸκων συμφορὰς ὑποδέχεσθαι. Εἰ δὲ ἐπείθεσθε τῷ Κυριῳ, τίς χρεία τῶν λόγων τούτων; Τίς δέ ἐστιν ἡ συμβουλὴ τοῦ Δεσπότου; Δανείζετε παρ’ ὦν οὐκ ἐλπίζετε ἀπολαβεῖν. Καὶ ποῖον, φησὶ, τοῦτο δάνεισμα, ὦ τῆς ἀποδόσεως ἐλπὶς οὐ συνέζευκται; Νόησον τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ῥητοῦ, καὶ θαυμάσεις τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν τοῦ νομοθετου. Ὅταν πτωχῷ παρέχειν μέλλυς διὰ τὸν Κύριον, τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ δῶρόν ἐστι καὶ δάνεισμα· δῶρόν μὲν διὰ τὴν ἀνελμιστίαν τῆς ἀπολήψεως, δάνεισμα δὲ διὰ τὴν μεγαλοδωρεὰν τοῦ Δεσπότου τοῦ ἀποτιννύντος ὑπερ αὐτοῦ, ὃς, μικρὰ λαβὼν διὰ τοῦ πένητος, μεγάλα ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀποδώσει. Ὁ γάρ ἐλεῶν πτωχόν δανείζει Θεῷ.  

Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ΙΔ'
Listen, you rich folk, to the counsel we give to the poor on account of your inhumanity: better for you to persevere in wretchedness than to welcome the sufferings of usury. But if you are obedient to the Lord, what need of these words? What is the counsel of the Master? Lend to those from whom you do not hope to receive. 'And what sort of loan is it,' you may say, ' to which there is no hope of return attached?' Consider the power of the statement and you will wonder at the kindness of the lawmaker. Whenever you intend to provide for a poor man for the Lord's sake, the same thing is a gift and a loan; a gift because repayment is not sought, but a loan because of the great gift of the Master who pays in his place, He who, receiving a little thing through a needy man, will give great things for it. He that has mercy on the poor, gives to God.

Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 14


5 May 2015

Lost Books


Quod vero sequitur: Sicut scriptum est in libro justorum, ipsum librum hodie nusquam, neque apud ipsos Hebraeos inveniri posse asseverant, sicut nec librum bellorum Domini, cujus in libro Numeroorum mentio est; neque carmina Salomonis, neque disputationes ejus sapientissimas de lignorum, herbarumque omnium, item jumentorum, volucrum, reptilium, piscium; vel quo in libro Verborum dierum dicitur: Reliqua vero operum Salomonis priorum et novissimorum scripta sunt in verbis Nathan prophetae, et in libris Abiae Silonitis. In visione quoque Addo videntis contra Jeroboam filium Nabath, et multa hujusmodi volumina, quae Scriptura quidem fuisse probat, sed hodie constat non esse. 

Sanctus Beda, In Libros Regum, Quaestionum XXX

And it follows: 'As it is written in the Book of the Righteous,'1 which book no longer exists today, nor indeed can it be found among the Hebrews, and likewise with the Book of the Wars of the Lord which is mentioned in Numbers, and neither is to be found the Odes of Solomon, nor his wise discussions of trees and every herb and beast and bird and reptile and fish, nor that book of which it is said in Chronicles, 'The rest of the first and later deeds of Solomon are written in the words of the prophet Nathan in the books of Ahia the Silonite and in the vision of seer Addo against Jeroboam son of Nabat,' and so with many other volumes which were once deemed Scripture but today do not exist.

Saint Bede, On the Books of Kings, Thirty Questions

1 2 Kings 1.18

3 May 2015

Advice to a Community

Melius est enim Deum habere in corde, quam nummos in sacculo. Lectionis sacrae studia inter labores obedientiae vestrae diligentissime exercete, ita ut vel opus, vel libellus in manibus semper videatur vestris, quia in libris sanctis deus loquitur ad hominem, et in orationibus suis homo loquitur ad Deum. Quid dulcius debet esse quam Deum audire loquentem? In his enim et solatia peccator et gaudia benefactor inveniet. Sicut lux laetificat oculos, ita lectio corda. Custodiam oris diligenter observate: verba quae ad aedificationem audientibus faciant semper proferte, quia aliorum salus vestra est retributio.

Alcuinus, Epistola LI, Ad Monachos Vedastinos

Source: Migne PL 100.216b-c
It is better to have God in the heart than money in the purse. Between your works of obedience exert yourself most diligently in the study of Sacred Scripture, and thus either be at work or always be seen with a book in your hand, for in the holy books God speaks to man and in his prayers man speaks to God. What should be sweeter than to hear the speech of God? In such things the sinner may discover consolation and the benefactor joy. As light is a joy to the eyes, so is reading to the heart. Observe custody of the mouth with all care; let your words be for the profitable edification of they who listen, because the salvation of others is your reward.

Alcuin of York, from Letter 51, To the Monks of Vedastinus,

2 May 2015

No Excuses


Μηδεὶς βάρος καὶ πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν προφασιζόμενος ἀνάξιον ἑαυτὸν τοῦ μοναχικοῦ ἐπαγγέλματος ἀποκα λοῖτο· καὶ διὰ ἡδυπάθειαν ἑαυτὸν εὐτελίζειν νομιζετω, προφασιζόμενος προφάσεις ἐν ἁμαρτίαις. Ὅπου γὰρ πολλὴ ἠ σηπεδών, ἐκαῖ καὶ μεγάλης ἰατρείας χρεία, ἴνα τὸν ῥύπον ἀπόθηται. Οἱ γὰρ ὑγιαίνοντες ἐν ἰατρείω οὐ παραγίνονται. Εἰ βασιλέως ἐπιγείου καλέσαντος, καὶ εἰς τὴν κατὰ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ δουλείαν στρατεῦσαι θελήσαντος, οὐκ ἀναμένομεν, οὐ προφασιζόμεθα· ἀλλὰ πάντα καταλείψανρες προθύμως αὐτὸν καταφθάνομεν· πρόσχωμεν ἑαυτοῖς, μή πως τοῦ Βασιλέως τῶν βασιλέων, καὶ Κυρίου τῶν κυρίων, καὶ Θεοῦ τῶν θεῶν καλοῦντος ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν οὐράνιον ταύτην τάξιν, ἐξ ὀκνηρὶας, καὶ ῥᾳθυμίας παραιτησώμεθα, καὶ ἐν τῶ μεγαλῳ βήματι εὑρεθῶμεν ἀναπολόγητοι· δυνατὸν μὲν γὰρ καὶ δεδεμένον τοῖς τοῦ βίου πράγμασι, καὶ σιδηραῖς φροντίσι Βαδίζειν, άλλὰ δυσχερῶς. Ἐπεὶ καὶ οἱ σίδηρα περικείμενοι ἐν τοῖς ποσὶν πολλάκις βαδίζουσιν. Ἀλλὰ συνεχῶς προσκόπτουσι, καὶ τραύματα ἐκ τούτου δέχονται.  

Ἅγιος Ἰωάννης τῆς Κλίμακος, ἡ Κλίμαξ

Let no one on the account of the weight and multitude of his sins declare himself unworthy of the monastic vow, and because of a delight in pleasures disqualify himself, excusing himself in his sins. For where there is much putrefaction, major treatment is required to draw out the impurity. The healthy do not call on a physician. If a king of this world were to summon us and request us to serve him, we should not delay nor should we make excuses, but we should leave everything and with zeal hurry to him. Let us be alert, then, lest when the King of kings and Lord of lords and God of gods summons us to heavenly office, we because of reluctance and indolence avoid it, and so find ourselves without excuse at the Last Judgment. Yes, it is possible to walk even when weighed down with worldly affairs and heavy cares, but only with difficulty. Even those with their feet bound by irons can often walk, but frequently they stumble and suffer injury.

Saint John Climacus, The Ladder

1 May 2015

A Bishop's Pride Chastised


Quid enim fratres tui omnes universalis Ecclessiae episcopi, nisi astra coeli sunt? quorum vita simul et lingua inter peccata erroresque hominum quasi inter loctis tenebras lucent. Quibus dum cupis temetipsum vocabulo elato praeponere, eorumque nomen tui comparatione calcare, quid aliud dicis, nisi: In caelo conscendam, super astra coeli exaltabo solium meum? An non universi episcopi nubes sunt, qui et verbis praedicationis pluunt, et bonorum operum luce coruscant? Quos dum vestra fraternitas despiciens, sub se premere conatur, quid aliud dicit nisi hoc, quod ab antiquo hoste dicitur: Ascendam super altitudinem nubium? Quae cuncta ego cum flens conspicio, et occulta Dei judicia pertimesco, augentur lacryme, gemitus se in meo corde non capiunt, quod ille vir sanctissimus dominus Joannes, tantae abstinentiae atque humilitatis, familiarium seductione linguarum ad tantam superbiam erupit, ut in appetitu perversi nominis illi esse conetur similis, qui dum superbe esse similis Deo voluit, etiam donatae similitudinis gratiam amisit; et ideo veram beatitudinem perdidit, quia falsam gloriam quaesivit.  

Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, Registri Epistolarum, Liber V, Epistola XVIII, Ad Joannem Episcopum

What indeed are all your brethren, the bishops of the universal Church, but the stars of heaven? Those whose life and speech shine among the sins and errors of men as if amid the darkness. And when you desire to elevate yourself by a proud title and to tread down their name in comparison with yours, what do you say but ' I will ascend into heaven, above the stars of heaven I will exalt my seat?' Are not all the bishops clouds, who rain with words of preaching and who flash with the light of good works? And when your Fraternity despises them, and you would try to press them down beneath yourself, what do say you but what is said by the ancient enemy, ' I will ascend above the heights of the clouds?' All these things I gaze on weeping, and shuddering at the hidden judgments of God, tears flood, and my heart cannot contain its groans, that the most holy man, the lord John, of so great abstinence and humility, has, through the seduction of familiar tongues, burst out into such a pitch of pride that he tries, in desire of that wrongful name, to be like him who, while proudly wishing to be like God, lost even the grace of the likeness granted to him, and thus true blessedness was destroyed because he sought false glory.

Saint Gregory the Great, Registry of Letters, Book V, Letter 18, To the Bishop John