Evil and Free Will

Aug: Cum igitur eisdem rebus alius male, alius bene utatur; et is quidem qui male, amore his inhaereat atque implicetur, scilicet subditus eis rebus quas ei subditas esse oportebat, et ea bona sibi constituens, quibus ordinandis beneque tractandis ipse esse utique deberet bonum: ille autem qui recte his utitur, ostendat quidem bona esse, sed non sibi; non enim eum bonum melioremve faciunt, sed ab eo potius fiunt: et ideo non eis amore agglutinetur, neque velut membra sui animi faciat, quod fit amando, ne cum resecari coeperint, eum cruciatu ac tabe foedent; sed eis totus superferatur, et habere illa atque regere, cum opus est, paratus, et amittere ac non habere paratior: cum ergo haec ita sint, num aut argentum et aurum propter avaros accusandum putas, aut cibos propter voraces, aut vinum propter ebriosos, aut muliebres formas propter scortatores et adulteros, atque hoc modo caetera, cum praesertim videas et igne bene uti medicum, et pane scelerate veneficum?  Ev: Verissimum est, non res ipsas, sed homines qui eis male utuntur esse culpandos.  Aug: Recte: sed quoniam et quid valeat aeterna lex, ut opinor, videre iam coepimus, et quantum lex temporalis in vindicando progredi possit, inventum est; et rerum duo genera, aeternarum et temporalium, duoque rursus hominum, aliorum aeternas, aliorum temporales sequentium et diligentium, satis aperteque distincta sunt: quid autem quisque sectandum et amplectendum eligat, in voluntate esse positum constitit; nullaque re de arce dominandi, rectoque ordine mentem deponi, nisi voluntate: et est manifestum, non rem ullam, cum ea quisque male utitur, sed ipsum male utentem esse arguendum: referamus nos, si placet, ad quaestionem in exordio huius sermonis propositam, et videamus utrum soluta sit; nam quaerere institueramus quid sit male facere, et propter hoc omnia quae dicta sunt, diximus. Quocirca licet nunc animadvertere et considerare, utrum sit aliud male facere, quam neglectis rebus aeternis, quibus per seipsam mens fruitur, et per seipsam percipit, et quae amans amittere non potest, temporalia et quaeque per corpus hominis partem vilissimam sentiuntur, et nunquam esse certa possunt, quasi magna et miranda sectari. Nam hoc uno genere omnia malefacta, id est peccata, mihi videntur includi. Tibi autem quid videatur, exspecto cognoscere.  Ev: Est ita ut dicis, et assentior, omnia peccata hoc uno genere contineri, cum quisque avertitur a divinis vereque manentibus, et ad mutabilia atque incerta convertitur. Quae quamquam in ordine suo recte locata sint, et suam quamdam pulchritudinem peragant; perversi tamen animi est et inordinati, eis sequendis subici, quibus ad nutum suum ducendis potius divino ordine ac iure praelatus est. Et illud simul mihi videre iam videor absolutum atque compertum, quod post illam quaestionem, quid sit male facere, deinceps quaerere institueramus, unde male facimus. Nisi enim fallor, ut ratio tractata monstravit, id facimus ex libero voluntatis arbitrio.   Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, De Libero Arbitrio

Augustine: Thus the same things are used by one badly and by another well and the one who uses them badly cleaves to them and becomes ensnared by them, for he serves that which should serve him, attaching himself to those goods which he cannot use properly because he is not good. For those things do not make the user good or better, in truth, they become good by being used, and so someone who uses them well does not become attached to them, and they are not made, as it were, limbs of his soul, which happens in loving them, so that when they are cut off, he is not disfigured by pain or loss; but he is far above such things, ready to possess and make use of them as the need arises, and even readier for loss and to be without them. Since this is so, you should realise that we should not fault silver and gold because of the avaricious, or food because of gluttons, or wine because of drunkards, or female beauty because of fornicators and adulterers, and so on, especially since you know fire can be used to heal and bread to poison. Evodius: Clearly it is not the things themselves but the evil use that men make of them that is culpable. Augustine: Correct. But now we have begun to see what eternal law can do and we have found out how far temporal law can go in punishing evildoing, we have clearly and carefully distinguished between two sorts of things, eternal and temporal, and in turn between two sorts of human beings, those who pursue and love eternal things and those who pursue and love temporal things. We have determined that the choice to follow and embrace one or the other lies in the will and that only the will can depose the mind from its stronghold of power and deprive it of right order. And it has become clear that we should not blame a thing when someone uses it wrongly, we should blame the one who uses it wrongly. Given that, why don't we return to the question we posed at the beginning of this discussion and see whether it has been answered? We set out to discover what evildoing is. This whole discussion was aimed at answering that question, and we are now in a position to ask whether evildoing is anything other than neglecting eternal things, which the mind perceives and enjoys by means of itself and which it cannot lose if it loves them, and instead of pursuing temporal things as if they were great and marvelous things, things perceived by means of the body, that least valuable part of a human being, and which can never be certain, and so it seems to me that all evil deeds, that is, all sin, fall into this category. But I would know how it seems to you. Evodius: It is as you say and I agree; all sins are contained in one class, that is, when someone turns from Divine things which truly persist and turns toward changeable and uncertain things. These things do have their proper place and they have a certain beauty of their own but when a perverse and disordered soul pursues them it becomes enslaved to the very things that Divine law and order command it to rule over. And I think we have answered another question. After we asked what evildoing is, we set out to discover the source of our evildoing and, unless I err, our argument has showed that we do evil by the free choice of the will. Saint Augustine of Hippo, On Free Will

Thinking of Oneself

Εἰπεν ὁ ἀββᾶς Νισθερῶς, ὅτι ὀφείλει ὁ μοναχὸς καθ' ἑσπέραν καὶ πρωιας λόγον ποιείν. Τί ὧν θέλει ὁ Θεὸς ἐποιήσαμεν, καὶ τί ὦν οὐ θέλει οὐκ ἐποιήσαμεν; καὶ οὕτως τρακτεύοντες ἑαυτῶν τὴν πᾶσαν ζωήν. Οὕτως γὰρ ἔζησεν ὁ ἀββᾶς Ἀρσένιος. Σπούδαζε ἑκάστην ἡμέραν παρεστάναι τῷ Θεῷ χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας. Οὕτω προσεύχου τῷ Θεῷ, ὡς παρὼν παρόντι· καὶ γὰρ ἀληθῶς πάρεστι. Μὴ νομοθέτει ἑαυτόν· κρῖνε δὲ μηδένα. Μοναχοῦ ἀλλότριον ὑπάρχει τὸ ὀμνύειν, ἐπιορκεῖν, ψεύδεσθαι, καταρᾶσθαι, ὑβρίζειν, γελᾷν. Ὁ δὲ πλέον τῆς ἀξίας τιμώμενος ἥ ἐπαιρούμενος, πολὺ ζημιοῦται. ᾽Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

Father Nisteros said that every day a monk should, morning and evening, say to himself, 'Of what God wishes, what have I done? And what of those things which do not please Him have I not done?' And thus he examines his whole life. This indeed is how Father Arsenius lived. Be diligent, then, that every day you stand before God without sin, so that when you pray to God, He shall be present, for truly He is near. Do not compose laws for yourself and condemn no one. It should be foreign to a monk to denounce, to lie, to curse, to be proud, to mock. He who honours himself, or elevates himself above his worth, he shall be damned. Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

Resurrection and Nature

Aspice nunc ad ipsa quoque exempla divinae potestatis. Dies moritur in noctem et tenebris usquequaque sepelitur; funestatur mundi honor, omnis substantia denigratur: sordent silent stupent cuncta: ubique iustitium est, quies rerum: ita lux amissa lugetur. Et tamen rursus cum suo cultu cum dote cum sole eadem et integra et tota universo orbi revivescit, interficiens mortem suam noctem, rescindens sepulturam suam tenebras, heres sibimet existens,  donec et nox revivescat cum suo et illa suggestu. Redaccenduntur enim et stellarum radii quos matutina succensio extinxerat, reducuntur et siderum absentiae quas temporalis distinctio exemerat, redornantur et specula lunae quae menstruus numerus adtriverat. Revolvuntur hiemes et aestates, verna et autumna, cum suis viribus moribus fructibus. Quippe etiam terrae de caelo disciplina est, arbores vestire post spolia, flores denuo colorare, herbas rursus imponere, exhibere eadem quae absumpta sunt semina, nec prius exhibere quam absumpta. Mira ratio: de fraudatrice servatrix, ut reddat intercipit, ut custodiat perdit, interficit ut vivificet, ut integret vitiat, ut etiam ampliet prius decoquit, siquidem et uberiora et cultiora restituit quam exterminavit, re vera fenore interitu et iniuria usura et lucro damno. Semel  dixerim, universa conditio recidiva est: quodcumque conveneris fuit, quodcumque amiseris erit: nihil non iterum est: omnia in statum redeunt cum abscesserint, omnia incipiunt cum desierint:ideo finiuntur ut fiant: nihil deperit nisi in salutem. Totus igitur hic ordo revolubilis rerum testatio est resurrectionis mortuorum:operibus eam praescripsit Deus ante quam litteris, viribus praedicavit ante quam vocibus. Praemisit tibi naturam magistram, submissurus et prophetiam, quo facilius credas prophetiae discipulus ante naturae, quo statim admittas cum audieris quod ubique iam videris, nec dubites Deum carnis etiam resuscitatorem quem omnium noveris restitutorem. Tertullianus, De Resurrectione Carnis

Attend now to those very analogies of the Divine power. Day dies into night and is buried everywhere in darkness, the glory of the world is slain, its entire substance is tarnished, all things become dark, silent, numb, everywhere activity ceases, all is quiet, and so over light's loss there is mourning. But again it revives, with its own splendour, its own glory, is own sun, the same as ever, whole and entire, throughout all the world, slaying its own night of death, tearing away the darkness from its own sepulchre, coming forth the heir of itself, until the night revives, it, too, being accompanied with its own attendants. The rays of the stars are rekindled, which had been quenched by morning's rise, and the different shapes of the stars  return which an interval of time had removed, the mirrors of the moon are readorned which her monthly count had worn away. Winters and summers return, and spring and autumn, with their powers, their ways, their fruits, and since earth is the pupil of heaven trees which had been stripped bare are clothed, flowers are coloured anew, grass is spread again, seed is produced which had been consumed and not produced until consumed. Wondrous method, from a fraudster to a handmaid; that it might restore, it steals away, that it might guard, it destroys, it kills that it might revivify, that it might make whole, it wounds, that it may enlarge, it first decreases, and indeed it gives back what it had destroyed richer and fuller by a privation which is profit, by an injury which is advantage, and by a loss which is gain. In short I say that the instinct of renewal is in everything: whatever you may meet with has already existed, whatever you have lost shall be again, nothing is without reoccurrence. All things return to their former state when they pass away, all things begin after they have ceased, they end that they might be. Nothing perishes unless for salvation. Thus the whole of this revolving order of things witnesses to the resurrection of the dead. In His works God wrote it before He wrote it in letters, He proclaimed it with power before he gave it voice. He first sent nature to you as a teacher, sending prophecy as reinforcement, that you may more easily believe prophecy being nature's pupil and forthwith admit what you hear when you have already seen it everywhere, nor will you doubt that God is the revivier of the flesh whom you have found to be the restorer of all things. Tertullian, On The Resurrection of the Flesh

Sheep and Shepherds

Ὡς πρόβατα ἐν ᾅδῃ ἔθετο, θάνατος ποιμανεῐ αὐτούς. Τοὺς δὲ κτηνώδεις καὶ παρασυμβληθέντας τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, ὡς πρόβατα οὔτε σύνεσιν ἔχοντα, οὔτε τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν, ἐχθρὸς ὤν, ἥδη κατέβαλεν εἰς τὸ ἴδιον αὐτοῦ ὀχύρωμα, καὶ παρέδωκε τῷ θανάτῳ ποιμαίνειν. Ἐποίμεινε γὰρ ὁ θάνατος ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ μέχρι τῆς κατὰ Μωῦσέα πολιτείας, ἕως οὖ ἦλθεν ὁ ἀληθινὸς ποιμὴν, ὁ θεὶς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων, καὶ οὕτως ἑαυτῷ συναναστήσας καὶ ἐξαγαγὼν ἐκ τῆς φυλακῆς τοῦ ᾅδου εἰς τὴν τῆς ἀναστάσεως πρωίαν, παρέδωκε τοῖς εὐθέσι, τουτέστι, τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ ἀγγέλοις, εἰς τὸ ποιμαίνειν αὐτούς. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ΜΗ'

Like sheep they are placed in hell and death shall be their shepherd. Thus they were they established and constituted, like mindless sheep that have no understanding, nor were they capable of defending themselves against him who will seize them when he comes, and throw them into his domain and hand them to death for a shepherd. Death has been the shepherd since Adam, and through the Mosaic administration, until the true shepherd came, He who laid down His own soul for the sheep and so roused them, and drew them forth from the abyssal prison to the dawn of resurrection, handing them over to the righteous, that is, His holy angels, that they shepherd them. Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 48

The Lesson Of The Cry

Inde est quod caput nostrum Dominus Jesus Christus omnia in se corporis sui membra transformans, quod olim in psalmo eructaverat, id in supplicio crucis sub redemptorum suorum voce clamabat: Deus, Deus meus, respice in me: quare me dereliquisti? Vox ista, dilectissimi, doctrina est, non querela. Nam cum in Christo Dei et hominis una persona sit, nec ab eo potuerit relinqui a quo non poterat separari, pro nobis trepidis et infirmis interrogat cur caro pati metuens exaudita non fuerit. Instante enim passione ad sanandum et corrigendum nostrae fragilitatis metum dixerat: Pater, si possibile est, transeat a me calix iste; verumtamen non sicut ego volo, sed sicut tu, et iterum: Pater, si non potest hic calix transire, nisi bibam illum, fiat voluntas tua. Qui ergo trepidatione carnis evicta, jam in paternam transierat voluntatem, et toto mortis terrore calcato, opus suae constitutionis implebat, cur in ipso tantae victoriae exaltatus triumpho, causam et rationem qua sit relictus, id est non exauditus, inquirit, nisi ut ostendat alium esse illum affectum, quem ad humanae formidinis excusationem recepit, alium illum quem ex aeterno placito Patris pro mundi reconciliatione praeelegit? Unde ipsa vox non exauditi, magni est expositio sacramenti, quod nihil humano generi conferret Redemptoris potestas, si quod petebat nostra obtineret infirmitas. Sanctus Leo Magnus, Sermo LXVII

Hence it is that the our head Lord Jesus Christ, in himself shaping all the members of His body in Himself, for those whom He was redeeming in the punishment of the cross, cried out that which He had once called out in the psalm, 'O God, My God, look upon Me, why have You forsaken Me?' That cry, dearly beloved, is a lesson, not a complaint. For since in Christ there is one person of God and man, and He could not have been forsaken by Him from Whom He could not be separated, it is for us, trembling and infirm, that He asks why the flesh fearing to suffer has not been heard. Indeed at the beginning of the Passion, to cure and correct our weak fear, He had said, 'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless not as I will but as You.' And again, 'Father, if this cup cannot pass except I drink it, Your will be done.' As therefore He had conquered the trembling of the flesh, and had conformed to the Father's will, trampling down all terror of death, fulfilling the work of His design, why in His triumph, with such a victory, does He ask for the cause and reason of why He is forsaken, that is, not heard, unless to show that the feeling which He received in excuse of His human fears is quite different from the deliberate choice which, in accordance with the Father's eternal decree, He had made for the reconciliation of the world? And thus the very cry unheard is the exposition of a great mystery, that the Redeemer's power would have conferred nothing on the human race if our infirmity had obtained what it sought. Pope Leo the Great, Sermon 67

A Problem of Tradition

Non est ergo, frater charissime, quod aliquis existimet sequendam esse quorumdam consuetudinem, si qui in praeteritum in calice Dominico aquam solam offerendam putaverunt. Quaerendum est enim ipsi quem sint secuti. Nam, si in sacrifico quod Christus obtulit, non nisi Christus sequendus est, utique id nos obaudire et facere oportet quod Christus fecit et quod feciendum esse mandavit, quando ipse in Evangelico dicat: Si feceitis quod  mando vobis, iam non dico vos servos, sed amicos. Et quod Christus debeat solus audiri, Pater etiam de coelo contestatur dicens: Hic est filius meus dilectissimus in quo bene sensi, ipsum audite. Quare, si solus Christus audiendus est, non debemus attendere quid alius ante nos faciendum esse putaverit, sed quid qui ante omnes est Christus feceit. Neque enim hominis consuetudinem sequi oportet, sed Dei veritatem, cum per Esaiam prophetam Deus loquatur et dicat: Sine causa autem colunt me, mandata et doctrinas hominum docentes. Et iterum Dominus in Evangelico hoc idem repetat dicens: Rejicitis mandatum Dei, ut traditionem vestram statuatis. Sed et alio in loco ponit et dicit: Qui solverit unum ex mandatis istis minimis, et sic docuerit homines, minimus vocabitur in regno coelorum. Quod si nec minima de mandatis Dominicis licet solvere, quanto magis tam magna, tam grandia, tam ad ipsum Dominicae passionis et nostrae redemptionis sacramentum pertinentia fas non est infringere, aut in aliud quam quod divinitus institutum sit humana traditione mutare? Nam si Jesus Christus Dominus et Deus noster ipse et summus sacerdos Dei Patris, et sacrificium Patri se ipsum primus obtulit et hoc fieri in sui commemorationem praecepit, utique ille sacerdos vice Christi vere fungitur qui id quod Christus fecit imitatur, et sacrificium verum et plenum tunc offert in Ecclesia Deo Patri, si sic incipiat offerre secundum quod ipsum Christum videat obtulisse. Sanctus Cyprianus, Epistola LXIII, Ad Caecilium

There is then no reason, dearest brother, for any one to think that the custom of certain persons should be followed who in the past have thought to offer water alone in the cup of the Lord. Certainly we must inquire whom they have followed. For if in the sacrifice which Christ offered no one is to be followed but Christ, assuredly it is fitting that we obey and do that which Christ did and what He commanded to be done, since He Himself says in the Gospel, 'If you do what I command you, henceforth I call you not servants but friends.'  And that it should be that Christ alone should be heard the Father also testifies from heaven, saying, 'This is my well-beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, listen to Him.'  Thus if Christ alone must be heard we ought not to give heed to what another before us may have  thought was to be done but rather what Christ, who is before all, first did. Neither is it right to follow the practice of man but rather the truth of God, since God speaks by Isaiah the prophet, and says, 'In vain do they worship me, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men.'  And again the Lord in the Gospel repeats this same and says, 'You reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition.' Moreover, in another place He establishes it, saying, 'Whosoever shall break the least of these commandments and shall teach men to do so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.'  But if we may not break even the least of the Lord's commandments, how much more is it forbidden to infringe such important ones, so great, so pertaining to the very sacrament of our Lord's passion and our own redemption, or to change it by human tradition into anything else than what was divinely appointed? For if Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, is Himself the chief priest of God the Father, and has first offered Himself a sacrifice to the Father, and has commanded this to be done in commemoration of Himself, certainly that priest truly discharges the office of Christ who imitates that which Christ did, and he then offers a true and full sacrifice in the Church to God the Father when he proceeds to offer it according to what he sees Christ Himself to have offered. Saint Cyprian, Letter 63, To Caecilius

God And Leisure

Σκολάσατε καὶ γνῶτε, ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Θεος.  Ἐφ' ὅσον μὲν τοις ἔξω Θεοῦ σχολάζομεν πράγμασιν, οὐ δυνάμεθα χωρῆσαι γνῶσιν Θεοῦ. Τίς γὰρ μεριμνῶν τὰ τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ ἐμβαθύνων τοῖς περισπασμοῖς τῆς σαρκὸς, δύναται τοῖς περὶ Θεοῦ λόγοις προσέχειν, καὶ τῇ ἀκριβείᾳ τῶν τηλικούτων θεωρημάτων ἀρκεῖν; Οὐκ ὀρᾷς ὅτι ὁ εἰς τὰς ἀκάνθας ἐμπεσὼν λόγος ὑπὸ τῶν ἀκανθῶν συμπνίγεται; Ἄκανθαι δέ εἰσιν ἡδοναὶ σαρκὰς, καὶ πλοῦτος καὶ δοξα, καὶ βιωτικαὶ μέριμναι. Πάντα δὲ τούτων ἔξω δεήσει γενέσθαι τὸν ἐπιδεόμενον τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ σχολάσαντα ἀπὸ τῶν παθῶν, οὕτως ἀναλαβεῖν τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Πῶς γὰρ εἰσέλθῃ εἰς ψυχὺν στενοχωρουμένην ὑπὸ τῶν προκαταλαβόντων αὐτὴν διαλογισμῶν ἡ περὶ Θεοῦ ἔννοια; Οἶδε δὲ καὶ Φαραὼ, ὅτι ἴδιόν ἐστι τοῦ σχολάζοντος ἐκζητεῖν τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὀνειδίζει τὸν Ἰσραήλ· Σκολάζετε, σχολασταί ἐστε, καὶ λέγετε· Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν προσευξόμεθα. Αὔτη μὲν οὖν ἡ σχολὴ ἀγαθὴ τῷ σχολάζοντι καὶ ὠφέλιμος, ἠσυχίαν ἐμποιοῦσα πρὸς τὴν τῶν σωτηρίων διδαγμάτων ἀνάληψιν· πονηρὰ δὲ σχολὴ ἡ τῶν Ἀθηναίων, οἶς Εἰς οὐδὲν ἄλλο εὐκαίρουν ἢ λέγειν τι καὶ ἀκούειν καινότερον· ἤν καὶ νῦν τινες μιμοῦνται, τῇ τοῦ βίου σχολῇ πρὸς τὴν ἀεί τινος καινοτέρου δόγμα. τος εὕρεσιν ἀποχρώμενοι. Ἡ τοιαύτη σχολὴ φίλη ἐστὶν ἀκαθάρτοις καὶ πονηροῖς πνεύμασιν. Ὅταν ἐξέλθῃ, φησὶ, τὸ ἀκάθαρτον πνεῦμα ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, λέγει, Πορεύσομαι εἰς τὸν τόπον ὅθεν ἐξῆλθον. Καὶ ἐλθὸν εὑρίσκει τὸν οἶκον ἐκεῖνον σχολάζοντα καὶ σεσαρωμένον. Μὴ γένοιτο οὖν ἡμᾶς σχολὴν ποιῆσαι τῷ ἀντικειμένῳ πρὸς τὴν εἴσοδον, ἀλλὰ ἀσχολήσωμεν ἡμῶν τὸν ἔσω οἶκον, προενοικίσαντες ἐν ἑαυτοῖς διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος τὸν Χριστόν. Μετὰ οῦν τὸ χαρίσασθαι τὴν εἰρήνην τοῖς τέως ταρασομένοις ὐπὸ τῶν περισπώντων ὑμᾶς ἐχθρῶν, ἵνα ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ τοὺς περὶ τῆς ἀληθείας θεωρήσητε λόγους. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Κύριος, Πᾶς ὅστις οὐκ ἀποτάσσεται, φησὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ὑπάρχουσιν, οὐ δύναταί μου εἶναι μαθητής. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ΜΕ'

Be free and see that I am God. 1 That is, that we should free ourselves from things alien to God, for else we shall not be able to obtain knowledge of God. Who in his care for things of the world and immersed in corporeal affairs is able to attend to the words of God, and to ponder carefully and diligently the ageless Divine words? Do you not see that the word has fallen among thorns that strangle it? And the thorns are excessive care for corporeal pleasures and wealth and fame and glory. Apart from all things foreign one should be, desiring knowledge of God, and when one is free from such passions thus is gained the knowledge of God. How indeed does the soul come into confinement by such preoccupations of the mind impeding the entrance of the knowledge of God? Even Pharaoh knew that leisure is required to seek God, and this was the cause of him railing against Israel: 'You are at leisure, you are lazy, and you say 'We must make a vow to the Lord.' 2 And this is the good and beneficial leisure, that quiet which brings one to the gain of salutary teachings. However, the leisure of the Athenians is bad, those who did nothing with their leisure unless to speak and to hear something new, which even now not a few imitate, those who in their leisure hours must always be fashioning some new teaching. Such leisure is a friend of an unclean and depraved spirit. For 'When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he says, 'I shall return to the place whence I came,' and coming he discovers his house empty and swept clean.' 3 May it not be that by use of leisure we are attacked at the entrance; but rather let our house be occupied with the foreknowledge of Christ through the Spirit. After then there will be peace to those who have been troubled by enemies and so in quiet they will contemplate the words of truth. So the Lord says,  'Everyone who does not renounce everything which he has, he cannot be my disciple.' 4 Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 45 1 Ps 45.11 2 Ex 5.17 3 Mt 12.43-44  4 Lk 14.33

Against the Philosophers

Atque utinam nullas haereses oportuisset existere, ut probabiles quique emicarent. Nihil omnino cum philosophis super anima quoque experiremur, patriarchis, ut ita dixerim, haereticorum, siquidem et ab apostolo iam tunc philosophia concussio ueritatis prouidebatur; Athenis enim expertus linguatam ciuitatem cum omnes illic sapientiae atque facundiae caupones degustasset, inde concepit praemonitorium illud edictum.  Proinde enim et animae ratio per philosophatas doctrinas hominum miscentes aquas uino: alii immortalem negant animam, alii plus quam immortalem adfirmant, alii de substantia, alii de forma, alii de unaquaque dispositione disceptant; hi statum eius aliunde deducunt, hi exitum aliorsum abducunt, prout aut Platonis honor aut Zenonis uigor aut Aristotelis tenor aut Epicuri stupor aut Heracliti maeror aut Empedoclis furor persuaserunt. Deliquit, opinor, diuina doctrina ex Iudaea potius quam ex Graecia oriens. Errauit et Christus piscatores citius quam sophistam ad praeconium emittens. Si qua igitur in hunc modum de nidoribus philosophiae candidum et purum aerem ueritatis infuscant, ea erunt Christianis enubilanda et percutientibus argumentationes originales, id est philosophicas, et opponentibus definitiones caelestes, id est dominicas, ut et illa quibus ethnici a philosophia capiuntur, destruantur, et haec quibus fideles ab haeresi concutiuntur, retundantur.  Tertullianus, De Anima

Would to God that no heresies had existed that the approved might be made manifest. We should then never about the soul have to grapple with philosophers, those patriarchs, for so they may be entitled, of heretics. The Apostle in his own time foresaw that philosophy would do injury to the truth. Having experienced that chattering city of Athens, having tasted all its wisdom and the hawkers of it he coined that monitory edict. This is the account of the soul according to the doctrines of such philosophical men, who mix water with wine: some deny the immortality of the soul, others affirm that it is more than immortal, others give judgement about its substance, others about its form, others about its faculties. One group draws it forth from various sources, while another leads it off to different destinations.In so far as they honour Plato, or the vigour of Zeno, or the way of Aristotle, or the stupor of Epicurus, or the mourning of Heraclitus, or the madness of Empedocles, so are they persuaded. The Divine doctrine errs, I suppose, because it arose in Judea rather than Greece. And Christ made a mistake in sending forth fishermen to preach rather than intellectuals. Therefore whatever fumes of philosophy obscure the bright and pure air of truth, it will be for Christians to clear the clouds by piercing the original arguments, that is, the philosophical ones, and by opposing to them heavenly definitions, that is, those of the Lord, thus that by which philosophy captivates the Gentiles may be destroyed, and that by which the faithful are shaken by heretics may be blunted. Tertullian, On the Soul

The Unwise Wise

Quomodo dicitis, sapientes sumus, et Lex Domini nobiscum est? Vere mendacium operatus est stylus mendax scribarum.   Ad scribas loquitur et Pharisaees, qui Legis jactant notitiam et scribentes scribunt inquitatem. Quodque ait: Confusi sunt sapientes, perterriti et capti sunt. Verbum enim Domini projecerunt et sapientia nulla est in eis:   Non quo sapientes sint qui ista faciunt; sed sapientes vocat, ut sub judicio condemnentur: et e contrario sapientia eorum convincatur stultitia, dicente Paulo apostolo: Qui doces alium, teipsum non doces? Et quia verbum Domini projecerunt: ideo nulla sapientia est in eis. Frustra igitur jactant Legis scientiam, qui doctrinam operibus destruunt. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Jeremiam Propheta, Lib II

How can you say, 'We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us?' Truly the deceitful pen of the scribes has made it a lie. He speaks to the scribes and the Pharisees who boast of the knowledge of the Law and write iniquity when they write. And he says: The wise shall be shamed, they shall be dismayed and seized. The word of the Lord they have thrown aside and wisdom is not in them. Not that those who do such things are wise but he calls them wise that they might be condemned by their judgement and that foolishness might overcome their wisdom, which the Apostle Paul says: 'You who teach another will you not teach yourself?' And because they have thrown aside the Word of the Lord, therefore no wisdom is in them. Vainly do they boast of knowledge of the Law who destroy teaching with works. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah, Book 2

Pondering Disagreement

Numquid sine Deo vel secundum carnem Hiberione veni? Quis me compulit? alligatus sum spiritu, ut non videam aliquem de cognatione mea. Nunquid piam misericordiam ago erga gentem illam quae me aliquando ceperunt, et devastaverunt servos et ancillas domus partis mei? Ingenuus fui secundam carnem: decorione patre nascor. Vendidi enim nobilitatem meam, non erubesco, neque me poenitet, pro utilitate aliorum. Denique servus sum in Christo Jesu Domino nostro, etsi mei me non cognoscunt. Propheta in patria sua honorem non habet. Forte non sumus ex uno ovili, neque unum Deum patrem habemus, sicut ait: Qui non est mecum contra me est, et qui non congregat mecum spargit. Non convenit, Unus destruit, alter aedificat. Sanctus Patricius Hibernorum Apostolus, Epistola Ad Coroticum

Was it without God, or according to the flesh that I came to Ireland? Who compelled me? I have been bound by the Spirit, that I may not see any of my family. Do I not perform acts of holy mercy among a people who once captured me and destroyed the servants and handmaids of my father's house? According to the flesh I am a freeman, born of a decurion father, but I have sold my nobility, and I am not ashamed, nor do I regret that it might have been to the profit of others. In short, I am a servant in Jesus Christ Our Lord, even if my own people do not acknowledge me. 'A prophet has no honor in his own country.'1 Perhaps we are not from the same sheepfold, nor do we do have one and the same Father for our God. As He says, 'He who is not with me, is against me'2 and 'He who does not gather with me, scatters.'2 We are not in harmony: 'One destroys; another builds.' Saint Patrick Apostle of the Irish, Letter to Coroticus 1 Mk 6.4  2 Mt 12.30

Inclining to Virtue

Εἶπε πάλιν, ὅτι Πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὀρέγονται μὲν ἀρετῆς, τὴν δὲ ἐπ' αὐτὴν φέρουσαν ὁδὸν ὀκνοῦσιν ἰέναι· ἄλλοι δὲ οὐδὲ ἀρετὴν εἶναι ἡγοῦνται. Χρὴ οὖν τοὺς μὲν πείσαι, τὸν ὄκνον ἀποθέσθαι· τοὺς δὲ διδάξαι ὅτι ὄντως ἀρετή ἐστιν ἡ ἀρετή. ᾽ Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

Again Father Isidore of Pelusium said, 'Many men desire virtue, but some delay to set forth upon the way and others do not recognise virtue. One must, then, persuade some to be done with delay and teach others what virtue truly is.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

Capturing Pupils

Συνδήσασθαι πάντα τρόπον ἐμηχανήσατο· πάντας λόγους στρέφων, καὶ πάντα κάλων, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ τοῦ λόγου, κινῶν, καὶ πάσας τὰς δυνάμεις αὐτοῦ προχειριζόμενος· ἐπαινῶν μὲν φιλοσοφίας ἐραστὰς, μακροῖς τοῖς ἐπαίνοις καὶ πολλοῖς τοῖς τε προσήκουσι· τούτους μόνους ζῇν ὅντως τὸν λογικοῖς προσήκοντα βίον, λέγων, τοὺς ὀρθῶς βιοῦν ἐπιτηδεύοντας, ἑαυτούς τε γινώσκοντας, πρῶτον οἴτινές εἰσι, κὰπειτα τὰ ὅντως ἀγαθὰ ἂ μεταδιώκειν ἄνθρωπον χρὴ καὶ τὰ ἀληθῶς κακὰ ὦν ἀποτρέχειν δεῖ ψέγωεν δὲ τὴν ἀμαθίαν, καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἀμαθεῖς· πολλοὶ δὲ οὖτοι ὅσοι θρεμμάτων δίκην τυφλώττοντες τὸν νοῦν, οὐδ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο ὅπερ εἰσὶν ἐγνωκότες, ὥσπερ ἄλογοι πεπλανημένοι, ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακὸν ὅ τί ποτέ ἐστιν, ὅλως οὔτε εἰδότες αὐτοὶ, οὐτε μαθεῖν θέλοντες, ὡς ἐπὶ ἀγαθὸν ᾄττουσι καὶ ἐπτόηνται, χρήματα καὶ δόξας καὶ τιμὰς τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν πολλῶν καὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος εὐεξίαν· αὐτά τε περὶ πολλοῦ καὶ τοῦ παντὸς τιθέμενοι, καὶ τῶν τεχνῶν ὅσαι ταῦτα ἐκπορίζεσθαι δύνανται, καὶ ρῶν βίων ὅσοι ταῦτα παρέξονται, στρατιὰς καὶ τὴν δικανικὴν καὶ ἐκμάθησιν τὴν τῶν νόμων· ταῦθ' ἄπερ ἡμᾶς ἀνέσειε, μάλιστα λέγων καὶ μάλα τεχνικῶς, τοῦ κυριωτάτου, φησὶ, τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν λόγον ἀμελήσαντας. Οὐκ ἔχω νῦν ἐγὼ λέγειν, ὅσας τοιαύτας ἐξήχει φωνὰς, προτρέπων φιλοσοφεῖν· οὐ μιᾶς ἡμέρας μόνης, ἀλλὰ καὶ πλειόνων ὅσωεν αὐτῷ προσήειμεν τῶν πρώτων, βεβλημένοι μὲν ὥσπερ τινὶ βέλει τῷ παρ' αὐτοῦ λόγῳ καὶ ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας, ἥν γάρ πως καὶ ἡδείᾳ τινὶ χάριτι καὶ πειθοῖ καὶ τινι ἀναγκῃ μεμιγμένος, στρεφόμενοι δέ πως ἔτι καὶ λογιζόμενοι· καὶ φιλοσοφεῖν μὲν προσκαρτερήσαντες οὐδέπω πάντη πεπεισμένοι, ἀφίστασθαι δὲ πάλιν οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως, οὐ δυνάμενοι· ἀεὶ δὲ ὥσπερ ὑπό τισιν ἀνάγκαις μείζοσι τοῖς λόγοις αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐλκόμενοι.   Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ θαυματουργός, Εἰς Ὀριγένην Προσφώνητικος

He strove by all means to associate us with him, turning to all arguments, and putting every rope in motion, as the saying goes, and bringing all his powers to bear. He praised the lovers of philosophy with many long speeches, praising those only who live truly a reasonable life, those who pursue an upright life and knowledge of themselves, saying first what sort of persons they are and then the things that are truly good which man should pursue and then the the things that are truly evil which one should flee, and ignorance and all the unlearned, the many who are blind in their minds like cattle, not knowing who they are, like those who wander lacking reason,  knowing not what is good and what is evil, nor do they wish to know, but for their good they strive for riches and glory and glory and honour from the crowd, and the comforts of the body, for they place great value on all such things, or even deem them worth everything, and also the arts by which these things can be acquired, and the ways of life which bring them: the military, the juridical, and the study of law. With pressing and skilful words he said to us that such things would ruin us when we have no care for the reason which should be master of us. I cannot tell now all the speeches like this with which he inclined us to philosophy, nor was it only for a day but for many days that he dealt with us so, as often as we went to him from the first, and we were transfixed as by a shaft by his reasoning from the beginning, for he was possessed of a mix of sweetness and grace and persuasiveness and restraint, and though we still wavered and pondered the matter, not being fully persuaded to be attached to philosophy, yet we were not able to draw ourselves away, for we were always drawn towards him, as by some necessity, by the greatness of his reasons. Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, Oration to Origen

Faith and Understanding

Φησὶ δὲ, τινὰς, μηδὲ βουλομένος διδόναι ἢ λαμβᾴνειν λόγον περὶ ὦν πιστεύουσι, χρῆσθαι τῷ, Μὴ ἐξέταζε, ἀλλὰ πίστευσον· καὶ, Ἡ πίστις σου σώσει σε. Καὶ φησιν αὐτοὺς λέγειν· Κακὸν ἡ ἐν τῷ Βιῳ σοφία, ἀγαθὸν δ' ἡ μωρία. Λεκτέον δὲ πρὸς τοῦτο, ὅτι, εἰ μὲν οἴόν τω πάντας καταλιπόντας τὰ τοῦ βίου πράγματα σχολάζειν τῷ φιλοσοφεῖν, ἄλλην ὁδὸν οὐ μεταδιωκτέον οὐδενὶ ἢ ταύτην μόνην· εὑρεθήσεται ηὰρ καὶ ἐν τῷ Χριστιανισμῷ οὐκ ἐλάττων, ἴνα μὴ φορτικόν τι εἴπω, ἐξέτασις τῶν πεπιστευμένων, καὶ διήγησις τῶν ἐν τοῖς προφήταις αἰνιγμάτων, καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις παραβολῶν, καὶ ἄλλων μυρίων συμβολικως γεγενημένων ἢ νενομοθετημενων. Εἰ δὲ τοῠτ' ἀμήχανον, πὴ μὲν διὰ τὰς τοῦ Βίου ἀνάγκας, πὴ δὲ καὶ διὰ τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀσθένειαν, σφόδρα ὀλίγων ἐπὶ τὸν λόγον ᾀττόντων· ποία ἂν ἂλλη βελτίων μέθοδος πρὸς τὸ τοῖς πολλοῖς βοηθῆσαι εὑρεθείη τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῖς ἔθνεσι παραδοθείσης; Καὶ πυνθανόμεθά γε περὶ τοῠ πλήθους τῶν πιστευόντων, τὴν πολλὴν χύσιν τῆς κακίας ἀποθεμένων, ἐν ᾔ πρότερον ἐκαλινδοῦντο· πότερον βέλτιόν ἐστιν αὐτοῖς ἀλόγως πιστεύουσι κατεστάλθαι πως τὰ ἥθη καὶ ὠφελῆσθαι, διὰ τὴν περὶ τῶν κολαζομένων ἐπὶ ἁμαρτίαις καὶ τιμωμένων ἐπὶ ἔρςοις χρηστοῖς πίστιν, ἢ μὴ προσίεσθαι αὐτῶν τὴν ἐπιστροφὴν μετὰ φιλῆς πίστεως, ἒως ἄν ἐπιδῶσιν ἑαυτοὺς ἐξετασει λόγων; Φανερῶς, γὰρ οἱ πάντες παρ' ἐλαχίστους οὐδὲ ψοῦτο λήψονται, ὅπερ εἰλήφασιν, ἐκ τοῦ ἁπλῶς πεπιστευκέναι, ἀλλὰ μενοῦσιν ἐν κακίστῳ βιῳ. Ὠριγένης, Κατα Κελσου, Τόμος Πρῶτος

And he says that some, not wishing to give or receive a reason for their belief, keep repeating, 'Do not examine, but believe,' and, 'Your faith will save you.' And he also reports that they say, 'The wisdom of this life is bad and foolishness is good.' It should be said concerning this that if it were possible for everyone, having abandoned the affairs of life, to have time for philosophy, no other way should be pursued, and, not to boast, it will be found in Christianity that there is not less investigation of the reasons of faith and explanation of difficulties in the prophetical writings and in the parables of the Gospels, and in many other things, which either happened or were enacted with a symbolic signification, but since it is not feasible that all study, partly on account of the exigences of life, partly on account of the weakness of men, with only a very few individuals excelling in such studies, what better method could there be to assist the multitude, than that which was given by Jesus to the Gentile? And let us inquire concerning the multitude of believers who have washed off the welter of wickedness in which they formerly wallowed, whether it were better for them to believe without a reason, and to have been reformed and improved in their conduct through the belief that men are chastised for sins and honoured for good works, or not to have allowed themselves to be converted on the appeal of mere faith, not until they had given themselves to a thorough examination of the reasons? It is obvious that only a few would obtain what many have obtained through a simple faith but rather many would remain in a wicked life. Origen, Against Celsus, Book I

Against False Teaching

Quia non omnium est fides, et insidiosus ille tentator nullis magis corda hominum gaudet sauciare vulneribus, quam ut incautas mentes his inficiat erroribus, qui sint evangelicae veritatis inimici, magna sancti Spiritus eruditione nitendum est ut diabolicis falsitibus nequeat intelligentia Christiana violari. Contra quod periculum praecipue convenit vigilare Ecclesiarum rectores, et quadam verisimilitudune colorata mendacia ab animis simplicis plebis avertere. Angusta enim et ardua via est quae ducit ad vitam. Nec tantum laquerorum in actionum observantia, quantum inter discrimina sensuum latet, dum vis sententiarum brevissima adjectione aut commutatione corrumpitur et confessio quae operabatur salutem, subtili nonnumquam transitu vergit in mortem. Cum autem dicat Apostolus: Oportet haereses esse ut probati manifesti fiant in vobis, ad totius Ecclesiae tendit profectum, quoties contrariorum sensuum se prodit impietas, ne quae sunt noxia sint occulta et aliorum laedant incolumitatem, quae revocari non poterunt ad salutem. Unde sibi impudent ruinas et obcaecationes suas, qui imprudenti pertinacia jacere in reatu suo, quam oblatum remedium sumere, maluerunt. Sanctus Leo Magnus, ex Epistola CXXIX Proterio Episcopo Alexandrino

Because all do not have faith and the crafty Tempter delights in nothing more than wounding the hearts of men as when he can poison their unwary minds with errors that are inimical to the true gospel, we must strive by the mighty teaching of the Holy Spirit to prevent Christian knowledge from being perverted by the devil's falsehoods. And against this danger it is the especial duty of the rulers of the churches to guard and to avert from the minds of simple folk lies which are coloured by a certain show of truth.  Narrow and difficult is the way which leads to life. And they seek to entrap men not so much by watching their actions as by nice distinctions of meaning, corrupting the force of sentences by some very slight addition or alteration, whereby sometimes a statement, which was made for salvation, by a subtle change is turned to destruction. But since the Apostle says, 'There must be heresies that they who are approved may be made manifest among you,'1 it tends to the progress of the whole Church, that, whenever wickedness reveals itself in setting forth wrong opinions, the things which are harmful are not concealed, and that what will inevitably end in ruin may not injure the innocence of others. Thus they must attribute to themselves their ruin and blindness, they who with reckless obstinacy prefer to glory in their shame than to receive the offered remedy. Pope Leo the Great, from Letter 129 to Protetius Bishop of Alexandria 1 1 Cor 11.19

An Argument over Teachers

Illud autem minimum quidem est, et responsione vix dignum, quod enumerans doctores suos, quos se de synagoga dicit esse mercatum, stimulans nos, subjungit: Neque enim, inquit, ipse me docui, sicut quidam; nos sine dubio intuens, in quos omne ab initio lacertionis suae pondus invexit. Et miror hoc eum dicere voluisse, cum majorem in me et veriorem haberet obtrecrandi materiam, quod magis inter multos et praeclaros magistros diu moratus, nihil dignum eorum, vel magistero, vel institutionibus habeam. Caeterum iste qui in tota vita sua non totos triginta dies Alexandriae, ubi erat, Didymus commoratus est, per totos pene libellos suos longe lateque se jactat. Didymi videntis esse dicipulum, et katheghten, id est praeceptorem, in scripturis sanctis habuisse Didymum. Et omnis ista jactantia in uno mense quaesita est. Ego qui sex annis Dei causa commoratus sum, et iterum post intervallum aliquod, aliis duobus, ubi Didymus, de quo tu solo te jactas, et ubi alii nihilominus illo non inferiores, quos tu ne facie tenus quidem nosti, Serapion et Menites, viri natura et moribus et eruditione germani: ubi Paulus senex Petri Martyris discipulus: et ut ad eremi magistros veniam, quibus et attentius et frequentius vacabamus, ubi Macarius Antonii discipulus et alter Macarius et Isidorus et Pambas, omnes amici Dei, qui nos haec docebant, quae ipsi a Deo discebant: quantum ego, si hoc ita deceret, aut expediret, de his omnibus habere jactantiae materiam possem? Sed erubesco, haec etiam retexens, dum volo tibi ostendere, non, ut tu dicis, nostro ingenio magistros, sed quod plus doleo, magistris defuisse magis ingenium nostrum. Rufinus Aquileiensis, Apologiae In Hieronimum

It is a trivial thing and scarcely worthy of response, that, relating the various teachers whom he hired from the synagogue, he concludes, thus to needle me, 'Indeed I have not been my own teacher, like some,' without doubt meaning me, for he brings the whole weight of his assault against me from beginning to end. But I am amazed that he should have chosen to speak of this when he had available a more grave and more fearful matter to disparage me, that though I tarried for so long among many eminent teachers I possess nothing worthy of their teaching or their training. He indeed has not in his whole life stayed more than thirty days at Alexandria, when he dwelt with Didymus, yet through almost all his books he boasts, at length and at large, of it, that he was seen to be the pupil of Didymus the blind and that for his preceptor in the Holy Scriptures he had Didymus. And the material for all this boasting was acquired in a single month. But I, for the cause of God, stayed six years, and again, after a certain interval, for two more, where Didymus lived, of whom alone you boast, and where others also lived who were in no way inferior to him, but whom you did not know even the faces of, Serapion and Menites, men like twins in nature and conduct and learning, and there was Paul the Old, pupil of Peter the Martyr, and, to come to the teachers of the desert, to whom I listened frequently and attentively, Macarius the disciple of Anthony, and the other Macarius, and Isidore and Pambas, all friends of God, who taught me those things which they had learned from God. How much material, if I thought it decent or expedient to boast, would I have from all these men? But I blush even while I weave these things together, which I do wishing to show you, not, as you say, my masters' talents, but, what I grieve over, that my talents fell short of my masters. Rufinus of Aquileia, Apology against Jerome

Man and Other Things of Nature

Καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἐν τιμῇ ὤν, οὐ συνῆκε· παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, καὶ ὠμοιώθη αὐτοῖς. Μεγα ἄνθρωπος, καὶ τίμιον ἀνὴρ ἐλεήμων, τὸ τίμιον ἐν τῇ φυσικῇ κατασκευῇ ἔχων. Τί γὰρ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ἄλλο κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος γέγονε; Τίνι ἡ κατὰ πάντων ἀπχὴ καὶ ἐξουσία τῶν τε χερσαίων καὶ ἐνύδρων καὶ ἐναερίων ζώων κεχάρισται; Βραχὺ μὲν ὑποβέβηκε τὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων ἀξίαν διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ γεῶδες σῶμα συγάφειαν· τὸν μὲν οὖν ἄνθρωπον ἐποίησεν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, 'καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὺς φλόγα'· ἀλλ' ὄμως ἤ γε τοῦ νοεῖν καὶ συνιέναι τὸν ἑαυτῶν Κτίστην καὶ Δημιουργὸν δύναμις καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὑπάρχει. Ἐνεφύσησε γὰρ εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον· τουτέστι, μοῖράν τινα τῆς ἰδίας χάριστος ἐναπέθετο τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, ἵνα τῷ ὁμοίῳ ἐπιγινώσκῃ τὸ ὅμοιον. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐν τιμῇ ὤν τηλικαύτῃ, ἐκ τοῦ δεδημιουργῆσθαι κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος, ὑπὲρ οὐρανὸν, ὑπὲρ ἥλιον, ὑπὲρ τὰς τῶν ἀστέρων χορείας τετιμημένος (τις γὰρ τῶν οὐρανῶν εἰκὼν εἴρηται τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου; ποίαν δὲ ἥλιος εἰκόνα σώζει τοῦ κτίσαντος; τί ἡ σελήνη; τί οἱ λιοποὶ ἀστέπες; ἄψυχα μὲν καὶ ὑλικὰ, διαφανῆ δὲ μόνον τὰ σώματα κεκτημένοι, ἐν οἶς οὐδαμοῦ διάνοια, οὐ προαιρετικαὶ κινήσεις, οὐκ αὐτεξουσιότητος ἐλευθερία· ἀλλὰ δοῦλά ἔστι τῆς ἐπικειμένης ἀνάγκης, καθ' ἢν ἀπαραλλάκτως ἀεὶ περὶ τὰ αὐτὰ ἀναστρέφεταἰ)· ὑπὲρ οὖν ταῦτα ταῖς τιμαῖς προηγμένος ὁ ἄνθρωπος, οὐ συνῆκεν, ἀλλὰ καταλιπὼν τὸ ἔπεσθαι Θεῷ, καὶ ὁμοιοῦσθαι τῷ κτίσαντι, δοῦλος γενόμενος τῶν παθῶν τῆς σαρκὸς, 'Παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, καὶ ὠμοιωθη αὐτοῐς.' Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ΜΗ'

And a man when he is in honour, he does not understand, he is fashioned like the irrational beasts and is similar to them. A great thing is a man and honourable the man of mercy, having honour in his natural state. What else indeed is there on the earth that is the image of the Creator? To whom was given first place and power among all the terrestrial animals, and those in the water and the creatures of the air? Certainly he is a little inferior to the angels in worth, because when he was joined to his earthly body, for though indeed man was made from earth, and 'His servants are flame of fire'1, certainly that power of intellect and knowing The Creator made inhere in him, that is, some part of his own grace he mixed in man, that he might know he was like him. So when in such honour he is, when he conducts himself as an image of his Creator, greater is his honour than the sky, the sun and the chorus of the stars, for what in the heavens is said to be an image of the most high God? Does the sun serve as an image of the Creator? The moon? The stars? They are inanimate bodies made from matter granted brightness in which is no mind at all, no motion of will, no intrinsic freedom, but on them is imposed slavish service of necessity, and ever without change they turn on their courses. A man, I say, is more honorable than that, yet when a man does not understand, it follows that he neglects to be similar to his Creator, and he is made a slave of the desires of the flesh, and so 'He is fashioned like the irrational beasts and is similar to them.' Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 48 1 Ps 103.4

Understanding Suffering

Ὁ ἀββᾶς Ἰσίδωρος εἶπεν· Ἡ σύνεσις τῶν ἅγίων ἅυτη ἐστὶ, τὸ ἐπιγνῶναι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ. Πάντων γὰρ περιγίνεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐν τῇ ὑπακυῇ τῆς ἀληθείας, ὅτι εἰκὼν καὶ ὁμοίωμα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστι. Πάντων δὲ πνεύματων δεινόν ἐστι τὸ ἀκολουθεῖν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ καρδίᾳ, τουέστι τῷ ἰδίῳ λογισμῷ, καὶ μὴ τῷ νομῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ· καὶ ὕστερον γίνεται αὐτῷ εἰς πένθος, ὅτι οὐκ ἔγνω τὸ μυστήριον, οὐδὲ εὖρε τὴν ὁδὸν τῶν ἁγίων ἐργάζεσθαι ἐν αὐτῇ. Νῦν οὖν καιρὸς τοῦ ποιῆσαι τῷ Κυρίῳ, ὅτι σωτηρία ἐν καιρῳ θλιψεως· οτι γέγραπται· Ἐν τῇ ὑπομονῇ ὑμῶν κτήσασθε τὰς ψυχὰς ὑμῶν. ᾽Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

Father Isidore said, 'This is the understanding of the saints: to know the will of God. A man may prevail over everything in obedience to truth, for then he is like an image and likeness of God. But it is of every wretched spirit to follow his own heart, that is, his own thought and not the law of God, and afterward he comes to grief, for he did not know the mystery nor was the way of the saints found to be fashioned in him. Now is the time to work for the Lord, for salvation is in the time of suffering. Thus it is written: ' In your suffering you will find your souls.' 1 Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia  1 Lk 21.19

A Chastisement Of Clergy

Sacerdotes habet Britannia sed insipienties; quamplurimos ministros, sed imprudentes; clericos, sed raptores subdolos; pastores, ut dicuntur, sed occisioni animarum lupos paratos; quippe non commoda plebi providentes, sed proprii plenitudinem ventris quaerentes: ecclesiae domus habentes, sed turpis lucri gratia eas adeuntes; populos docentes, sed praebendo pessima exampla, vitia malosque mores; raro sacrificantes, et nunquam puro corde inter altaria stantes; plebem ob peccata non corripientes, nimirum eadem agentes; praecepta Christi spernentes, et suas libidines modis omnibus implere curantes; sedem Petri apsotoli immundis pedibus usurpantes, sed merito cupiditatis in Judae traditoris pestilentem cathedram decidentes; veritatem pro inimico odientes, et mendaciis ac si charissimis fratribus faventes; justos inopes immanes quasi angues torvis vultibus conspicantes, et sceleratos divites absque ullo verecundiae respectu sicut coelestes angelos venerantes; egenis eleemosynam esse dandam summis e labiis praedicentes, sed ipsi vel obolum non dantes; nefanda populi scelera tacentes, et euas injurias quasi Christo irrogatas amplificantes; religiosam forte matrem seu soroes domo pellentes, et externas veluti secretiori ministerio familiares indecenter levantes, vel potius, ut vera dicam, licet inepta non tam mihi quam talia agentibus, humiliantes; ecclesiasticos post haec gradus propensius quam regna coelorum ambientes, et tyrannico ritu acceptos defendentes, nec tamen legitimis moribus illustrantes; ad praecepta sanctorum, si aliquando duntaxat audierient quae ab illis saepissime audienda erant, oscitantes ac stupidos, et ad ludicra et ineptas saecularium hominum fabulas, ac si iter viae quae mortis pandunt, strenuos et intentos. Sanctus Gildas Sapiens, De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae Migne PL 69 367-368

Britain has priests, but they are fools; very many ministers, but they are ignorant; clerics, but they are deceitful thieves; pastors, as they are called, but they are rather wolves ready for the killing of souls since they do not look to the good of the people but seek the fullness of their own stomachs; they have the houses of the church, but they enter them for the sake of base gain; they teach the people but they present to them the worst examples, vices, and evil conduct; they rarely sacrifice and then never with pure hearts do they stand among the altars; they do not rebuke the people for their sins, for they do the very same things; they disregard the precepts of Christ and are in a rush to indulge every one of their own desires; they usurp with unclean feet the seat of the apostle Peter but on account of their covetousness they tumble into the pestilent chair of the traitor Judas; they hate truth as an enemy and they favour lies as their most beloved brothers; they look on the righteous, the poor and the powerless with savage countenances, as if they were pitiless serpents, and they reverence villainous rich men, without any hint of shame, as if such men were heavenly angels; they preach with outward lips that alms are to be given to the needy but they themselves do not give a penny; they are silent about the crimes of the people and shout loudly about their own injuries as if they were done to Christ; they drive out of house a religious mother, perhaps, or sisters, and as if it were some secret office they indecently welcome others, or rather, to speak truly, not of myself but of those who do such things, they degrade themselves by such deeds; after these things they are ambitious for ecclesiastical dignities rather than for the kingdom of heaven; they protect in tyrannical fashion what office they have gained, not however adorning such with rightful conduct; they yawn and are unmoved by the precepts of the saints, if indeed they have at some time heard what they should hear most often, but to the ludicrous and foolish fables of worldly men, as if such things were the way of life which lead to death, they are eager and intent.  Saint Gildas the Wise, On The Destruction and Ruin of Britain,