Choosing The Better Part

Ταῖς παντόλμοις καὶ θρασέσι γνώμαις κίνδυνοι καὶ φοβοι διηνεκεῖς ἀκολουθοῦσι, ταῖς δὲ πραέσι καὶ ἠμέροις ἔπαινοι καὶ τιμαὶ καὶ εὐτολμίαι. Εἰ τοίνυν μὴ τὴν ὀρθὴν τῶν πραγμάτων ἀνοίᾳ ἐζημίωσαι κρίσιν, τῆς κρείττονος μοίρας γενοῦ, ἀφέμενος τῆς κακίστης. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΣΛΑ', Κερκυριῳ

It is mark of the all daring and reckless that continual dangers and fears follow them, but to the meek and gentle there is praise and honour and confidence. If then you would not be mindlessly deprived of right judgement, choose the better part and dismiss the worse. 1 Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 231, to Cercyrius 1 cf Lk 10.42

Kings of the World

Quid valeat apud homines saeculi eloquentia et sapientia saecularis, testes sunt Demosthenes, Tullius, Plato, Xenophon, Theophrastus, Aristoteles, et caeteri oratores ac philosophi, qui velut reges habentur hominum, et praecepta eorum non ut praecepta mortalium, sed quasi oracula accipuntur deorum. Unde et Plato dicit: Felices fore respublicas, si aut philosophi regnent, aut reges philosophentur. Quam autem difficile istiusmodi homines credant in Deum, ut quotidana exempla praeteream, et sileam de veteribus historiis ethnicorum, sufficit nobis Apostoli testimonium, qui ad Corinthios scribens, ait: ' Videte, frates, vocationem vestram, quia non sunt multi sapientes secundum carnem non multi potentes, non multi nobiles: sed stulta mundi elegit Deus, ut confundant sapientes, et infirma mundi elegit Deus, ut confundant fortia, et ignobilia mundi, et ea quae erant contemptibilia elegit Deus,' et caetera. Unde rursum dicit: 'Perdam sapientiam sapientium, et intelligentiam prudentium reprobabo.' Et: 'Videte, ne quis vos spoliet per philosophiam et inanem seductionem.' Ex quo perspicuum est, praedicationem Christi reges mundi audire novissimos, et deposito fulgore eloquentiae et ornamentis ac decore verborum, totos se simplicitati et rusticitati tradere, et in plebeium cultum redactos sedere in sordibus, et destruere quod ante praedicaverant. Proponamus nobis beatum Cyprianum (qui prius idololatriae assertor fuit, et in tantam gloriam venit eloquentiae, ut oratoriam quoque doceret Carthagini) audisse tandem sermonem Jonae et ad poenitentiam conversum, in tantam venisse virtutem, ut Christum publice praedicaret, et pro illo cervicem gladio flecteret. Profecto intelligimus regem Ninive descendiise de solio suo, et purpuram sacco, unquenta luto, munditias sordibus commutasse: non sordibus sensuum, sed verborum. Unde et de Babylone in Jeremia dicitur: Calix aureus Babylon inebrians omnem terram. Quem non inebriavit eloquentia saecularis? cujus non animos compositione verborum et disertitudinis suae fulgore perstrinxit? Difficile homines potentes et nobiles et divites, et multo his difficilius eloquentes credunt Deo: obcaecatur enim mens eorum divitiis et opibus atque luxuria et circumdati vitiis, non possunt videre virtutes simplicitatemque Scripturae sanctae, non ex majestate sensuum, sed ex verborum judicant vilitate. Cum autem ipsi qui prius mala docuerant, versi ad poenitentiam, docere coeperint bona, tunc videbimus Niniviticos populos una praedicatione converti, et fieri illud quod in Isaia legimus: Si nata est gens semel. Homines quoque et jumenta operta saccis, et clamantia ad Dominum, eodem sensu intellige: quod et rationabiles, et irrationabiles, et prudentes ac simplices ad pradicationem Jonae agant poenitentiam juxta illud, quod et alibi dicitur: 'Homines et jumenta salvabis, Domine.' Possumus autem jumenta operta saccis et aliter interpretari, de his maxime testimoniis, in quibus legimus: Sol et luna induentur sacco. Et in alio loco: Induam coelum sacco, pro lugubri sicilicet habitu et moerore atque moestitia, quae μεταφορικως saccus nominantur. Illud quoque quod dicitur: Quis scit si converatur et ignoscat Deus? Ideo ambiguum ponitur et incertum: ut dum homines dubii sunt de salute, fortius agant poenitentiam, et magis ad misericordiam provocent Deum. Sanctus Hieronimus, Commentarius In Jonam Prophetem

Worldly eloquence and wisdom, the heads of which are Demosthenes, Cicero, Plato, Xenophon, Theophrastus, Aristotle and other orators and philosophers, prevail over men in such a way that they are like kings over men and their precepts are not mortal precepts but they are received like the oracles of the gods. Whence Plato said: States would be happy if either philosophers ruled or kings philosophised. To show how difficult indeed it is for such men to believe in God I shall provide a common example and leave silent the ancient histories of the pagans, for it suffices for us the testimony of the Apostle who writing to the Corinthians said, 'See, brothers, your vocation, because not many of you are wise according to the flesh, nor many powerful, nor many noble, but God chose the stupid of the world to confound the wise, and the weak to confound the strong, and God chose the ignoble of the world and those who are contemptible.' and so on. Again he says, ' I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise and the I shall reprove the intelligence of the prudent.' And: 'Watch lest you are carried off by philosophy and inane seduction.' From all of which it is easy to see that it is most rare for the kings of the world to hear the preaching of Christ, that which, stripped of the blaze of eloquence and the ornamentation and decoration of words, taking to itself all things simple and rustic, sits down among the commoners amid squalor, to destroy what has been preached before. We propose to ourselves blessed Cyprian, he who once was an idolator and who came to such renown in the art of rhetoric that he taught oratory at Carthage, he who hearing a sermon of Jonah was converted to penance and came to such virtue that he preached Christ publicly, for which he was beheaded. This is how we understand the king of Nineveh coming down off his throne, changing his purple for sackcloth, his anointing oils for mud, his elegance for filth, that is, not the filth of meaning but of words. Whence concerning Babylon in Jeremiah it is said:' A golden cup made drunk all the land of Babylon. Who is not made drunk by the eloquence of the world? Whose souls are not touched by such arrangement of words and such brilliance of style? Difficult it is for the powerful and the rich and the noble to believe in God, and more difficult it is for the eloquent, for their minds are blinded by wealth and luxury and they are surrounded by vices so that they are not able to see the virtues and simplicity of the Holy Scriptures, not judging by the majesty by the sense but by the commonness of the words. When those who taught evil turn to penance they have begun to teach the good, so we see the people of Nineveh convert by the preaching of one man and they become that which in Isaiah reads: 'If a nation is born at once.'  That men and animals also put on sackcloth and cried out to the Lord, we understand in the same sense, that even rational and irrational, clever and simple were brought to penance by the preaching of Jonah, so in the Psalms it is said, ' You save men and animals, O Lord.' We are even able to interpret the animals donning sackcloth in the light of other passages in which it is written: Sun and earth put on sackcloth' and in another place, 'The sky shall put on sackcloth' as meaning grieving and weeping and sadness, since sackcloth is used here in a figurative sense. It is also said, ' Who knows if God shall turn and forgive?'  Thus ambiguity and uncertainty are proposed so that while men are doubtful of salvation they might more strongly take to penance and greater provoke the mercy of God. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Jonah

Sickness and Cure

Πρόσεχε οὔν σεαυτῷ, ἵνα κατὰ ἀναλογίαν τοῦ πλημμελήματος καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς θεραπείας βοήθειαν καταδέξῃ. Μέγα καὶ χαλεπὸν τὸ ἁμάρτημα· πολλῆς σοι χρεία τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως, δακρύων πικρῶν, συντόνου τῆς ἀγρυπυίας, ἀδιαλείπτου τῆς νηστείας. Κοῦφον καὶ φορητὸν τὸ παράπτωμα· ἐξισαζεσθω καὶ ἡ μετάνοια. Μόνον πρόσεχε σεαυτῳ, ἵνα γνωρίζῃς ψυχῆς εὐρωστίαν καὶ νόσον. Πολλοὶ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς ἄγαν ἀπροσεξίας μεγάλα καὶ ἀνίατα νουσοῠντες, οὐδὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἵσασιν, ὅτι νοσοῦσι. Μέγα δὲ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ παραγγέλματος ὄφελος καὶ τοῖς ἐῥῥωμένοις περὶ τὰς πράξεις· ὥστε τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ νοσοῦντας ἰᾶται, καὶ ὑγιαίνοντας τελειοῖ. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Το, Πρόσεχε Σεαυτῷ

'Look to yourself,' that the cause of your error and the cure of it be known. Great is the sin: much for you then is there in words of confession and bitter tears and earnest vigilance and ceaseless fasting. A light thing and bearable is the error: this also demands penitence. Only look to yourself that you might know the health and sickness of your soul. On account of inconsideration many are gravely sick and distressed, not knowing the cure for their sickness. Great is the benefit of the commandment to attend to those who err that thus even the sick be cured and the healthy be perfect. Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homily on 'Look to Yourself'

The End of Penitence

Pinufius: Poenitentiae plena et perfecta definitio est, ut peccata pro quibus poenitudinem gerimus, vel quibus nostra conscientia remordetur, nequaquam ulterius admittamus. Indicium vero satisfactionis et indulgentiae est affectus quoque eorum de nostris cordibus expulisse. Noverit enim unusquisque nec dum se peccatis pristinis absolutum, quamdiu sibi satisfactioni et gemitibus incubanti vel illorum quae egit vel similium criminum ante oculos imago praeluserit, eorumque non dicam oblectatio, sed vel recordatio infestaverit mentis arcana. Itaque tunc se is qui pro satisfactione pervigilat a criminibus absolutum, ac de praeteritis admissis veniam percepisse cognoscat, cum nequaquam cor suum eorumdem vitiorum illecebris senserit imaginatione perstringi. Quamobrem verissimus quidam examintor poenitentiae et indulgentiae in conscientia residet nostra, qui absolutionem reatus nostri ante cognitionis et judicii diem adhuc nobis in hac carne commorantibus detegit et finem satisfactionis ac remissionis gratiam pandit. Et ut haec eadem quae dicta sunt, signifcantius exprimantur, tum demum praeterita nobis vitiorum contagia remissa esse credenda sunt, cum fuerint de corde nostro praesentium voluptatum desideria pariter passionque depulsae. Sanctus Ioannes Cassianus, Collationes, Col XX

Pinufius: The full and perfect description of penitence is: for the sins we do penance, or for which our conscience is pricked, that we never again yield to those sins. The sign of satisfaction and pardon is for us to have expelled from our hearts any inclination for them. For anyone may know that he is not yet released from former sins, even while he is attending to satisfaction for them with groaning, as long as that which he has done either plays before the eyes or, if not with a delight of it but even a memory infests the innermost soul. Thus one who is on the watch to be sure that he is freed from sins and that he has obtained pardon for past errors may know that he has obtained it when he never feels his heart stirred by the allurements and imaginations of those vices. So the truest test of penitence and pardon resides in our own conscience, which even before the day of knowledge and judgment, while we are still in the flesh, reveals our acquittal from guilt and reveals the end of satisfaction and the grace of forgiveness. And these things said may be more significantly expressed by saying that should we should trust that the stains of past vices have been forgiven us when the desire for their pleasures together with the passion have been expelled from the heart. Saint John Cassian, Conferences, Conference 20

The Return of the Penitent

Vox in viis, sive in labiis, audita est, ploratus et ululatus filiorum Israel, quoniam iniquam fecerunt viam suam, obliti sunt Domini Dei sui. Convertimini, filii revertentes, et sanabo aversiones, sive contritiones, vestras, pro quo Symmachus transtulit, conversiones.  Libenter Deus suscipit poenitentes, et occurrit filio inopia et squalore confecto, statimque induit pristinis vestibus, et reddit gloriam revertenti, ita dumtaxat ut revertatur in ploratu et ululatu. Suo enim vitio fecit iniquam viam suam, et oblitus est Domini Dei et Patris sui, ad quos prophetali sermone loquitur: Convertimini, filii revertentes. Quos idcirco filios voco, quia intellectis peccatis vestris, in ploratu atque ululatu revertimini ad parentem. Cumque vos, ait, reversi fuertis ad Dominum, sanabit omnes contritiones vestras, sive aversiones, quibus a Domino recesseratis, vel certe conversiones, Quamvis enim propria voluntate ad Dominum revertamur: tamen nisi ille nos traxerit, et cupiditatem nostram suo roboraverit praesidio, salvi esse non poterimus. Intelligamus hoc et de Judaeorum populo ad Dominum revertente: et de haereticis qui Dominum dereliquerunt. Ecce nos venimus ad te, tu enim es Dominus Deus noster. Vere mendaces erant colles, et multitudo, sive fortitudo, montium, vere in Domino Deo nostro salus Israel.   Dicat hoc poenitens, et omnem superniam derelinquens, et multitudinem sive altitudinem montium et collium, per quam superiebat contra Deum: et humilitae prostratus loquatur: Vere in Domino Deo nostro salus Israel. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Jeremiam Propheta, Lib I

A voice in the ways, or on the lips, is heard, the weeping and crying of Israel's sons because they have made their way iniquitous, they have forgotten the Lord their God. ' Come back, O returning sons, and I will heal your hostility, or grief'. and here Symmachus translates 'backsliding' God gladly receives penitents and He runs toward the son overwhelmed by poverty and filth, and immediately He clothes with former garments and restores to glory the one who returns, insofar that he returns weeping and crying. To the one who with vice has made his way iniquitous and has forgotten the Lord his God and his Father, it is to him that the prophetic word speaks: 'Come back, O returning sons,' And I call you sons because you have understood your sins and so with weeping and crying are returning to your parent. And when you, he says, have returned to the Lord, He will heal all your grief, or hostility, by which you departed from God; or else, he will heal your backsliding. For although we return to the Lord by our own will, unless He drew us we could not be saved, for He strengthened our desire with his own assistance. Let us understand this passage both with reference to the people of the Jews returning to the Lord and of the heretics who have forsaken the Lord. Behold, we come to you, for you are the Lord our God. Truly the hills are a delusion and the multitude, or strength, of the mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. Let the penitent say this, he who has forsaken all haughtiness, the multitude or heights of the mountains and hills by which he was exalting himself against God, and prostrate let him say with humility, ' Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.' Saint Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah, Book 1

Praising And Judging Women

Rideat forsan infidelis lector, me in muliercularum laudibus immorari, qui, si recordetur sanctas feminas, comites Domini Salvatoris, quae ministrabant ei de sua substantia, et tres Marias stantes ante crucem, Mariamque proprie Magdalenen, quae ob sedulitatem et ardorem fidei, turritae nomen accepit, et prima ante Apostolos, Christum videre meruit resurgentem, se potius superbiae, quam nos condemnabit ineptiarum: qui virtutes non sexu, sed animo judicamus, contemptaeque nobilitatis ac divitiarum majorem gloriam ducimus. Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistula CXXVII, Ad Principiam Virginem Migne PL 22 1090

Perhaps the unbelieving reader laughs at me for dwelling on the praises of mere women, he who, if he will but remember holy women, the companions of the Lord and Saviour, who ministered to Him of their substance, and the three Marys standing before the cross, especially Mary Magdalen, who on account of her diligence and the fire of her faith received the name 'the tower' and who first before the Apostles was worthy to see the risen Christ, he will condemn himself for pride rather than me for folly. We judge virtue not by sex but by the soul, and contempt of status and wealth we account the greater glory. St Jerome, from Letter 127, To The Nun Principia

A Penitent Soldier

Ἠρωτήθη ὁ ἀββᾶς Μιὼς ὑπὸ στρατευμένου, εἰ ἄρα δέχεται μετάνοιαν ὁ Θεος. Ὁ δὲ μετὰ τὸ κατηχῆσαι αὐτὸν ἐν πολλοῖς λόγοις, λέγει πρὸς αὐτόν· Εἰπε μοι, ἀγαπητέ· ἐὰν σχισθῇ σου τὸ χλανίδεον, βάλλεις τοῦτο ἔξω; Λέγει· Οὖ ἀλλὰ ῥάπτω αὐτὸ, καὶ χρῶμαι αὐτῷ. Λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ γέρων· Εἰ οὖν σὺ τοῦ ἱματίου φείδῇ, ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ ἰδίου πλάσματος οὐ φείσεται; ᾽Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

Father Mios was asked by a soldier if God received the penitent. After educating him in many words, he said to him, 'Tell me, beloved, if your cloak was torn, would you throw it aside?' He said, ' No, but I would repair it and make use of it.' The elder said to him, ' If then you would care so much for a piece of cloth, will not God care for you?' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

The Feast Of A Pentitent Woman

Phariseus ad manducandum vocat Christum: quid ibi quaerit mulier non vocata? Claustra domus non prorumpit extraneus, convivii secretum non praesumit non invitatus intrare, cibos paratos relaxandis mentibus post laborem perturbare non audet arbiter luxuriosus; et quid est qoud haec mulier ignota, immo male nota, onusta luctibus, plena lacrymis, clamosa planctu, nescio janitore, nullo conscio, ipso ignorante pastore, domus aditus percurrit omnes, transit totas ministerorum catervas, ipsum convivii pervolat ad secretum, et facit domum laetitiae domum lamentationis et planctus? Fratres, non rogata venit illa, sed jussa; intravit exhibita, non praesumens: ipse sic fecit eam sisti sibi, qui illam coelesti sententia jussit absolvi. Denique dum Pharisaeus veste clarus, primus in sigmate, in ipsis oculis Christi lumens, epulis homini, non Deo placiturus, festivus infunditur, venit mulier, et venit retro, quia reus animus post tergum stat ad veniam, quia per culpam novit se vultus fiduciam perdidisse; venit satisfacura Deo, non homini placitura cum venit; venit pietatis illa, non voluptatis exhibitura convivium. Denique et paenitentiae ponit mensam, fercula compuncitonis apponit, panem doloris infert; potum lacrymis temperat in mensura, et ad delicias deitatis totas pulsat cordis sui et corporis symphoniam.  Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo CXLVI

The Pharisee called Christ to dine; what did the woman who was not called seek there? A stranger does not burst into a closed house, one uninvited does not presume to enter into inner rooms, some self indulgent observer does not dare disturb food prepared to relax minds after labour; why then does this unknown women, or rather this woman of ill repute, weighed down with grief, full of tears, crying aloud, with the doorkeeper unaware, with no one knowing, even the shepherd himself, why does she run through the doors of the house, pass through the groups of servants, fly to the inner room itself, and make of a joyful house one of lamentation and groaning? Brethren, she did not come unasked, she was ordered. She did not enter to be presented by presumption. And he who made her present to himself is he who ordered her to be forgiven by heavenly judgement. While the Pharisee in bright clothes reclined in the first seat, shining in the very eyes of Christ, taking his pleasure in the feast of men and not God, utterly absorbed in it, the woman came, and she came behind, because a guilty soul stands behind for pardon because by guilt it knows it has lost the confidence to stand before the face, and when she came she came to make satisfaction to God. She did not come to please men, she came on account of piety, and not to serve a meal of pleasure. Thus she set a table of repentance, served dishes of compunction, watered drinks with tears in right measure, and to the full delight of God struck music from her own heart and body. Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 146

Repentance And Old Age

Εἰ τῶν κακῶν αἴτιόν ἐστι τὸ Θεῖον, πῶς ἐπὶ σὲ ὕει, καὶ ἥλιον ἀνατέλλει, καὶ μέχρι γήρως σε παρέτεινειν ἐνταῦθα, πολλῶν μὲν ἄξιον ὄντα θανάτων, καὶ πρὸ πλείονος χρόνου, δι' εὐσπλαγχίαν δὲ αὐτοῦ φυλαχθέντα εἰς τοῦτο ἡλικίας πρὸς μετάγνωσιν καὶ νῆψιν;   Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΣΜ', Κυρηνιῳ

If the Divine is the cause of evils, how is it that He who rains on you and makes the sun rise, has kept you here until old age, you worthy of many deaths, and through long length of time, by His shelter and protection, has brought you to this age for repentance and sober living? Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 240, to Cyrenius

Repentance and Reluctance

Quid si praeter pudorem, quem potiorem putant, etiam incommoda corporis reformident, quod inlotos, quod sordulentos, quod extra laetitiam oportet deversari in asperitudine sacci et horrore cineris et oris de ieiunio vanitate? Num ergo in coccino et Tyrio pro delictis supplicare nos condecet? 'Cedo acum crinibus distinguendis et pulverem dentibus elimandis et bisulcum aliquid ferri vel aeris unguibus repastinandis! Si quid ficti nitoris, si quid coacti ruboris in labia aut genas urgeat?' Praeterea exquirito balneas laetiores hortulani maritimive secessus, adicito ad sumptum, conquirito altilium enormem saginam, defaecato senectutem quamque vini: si quis interrogarit, cur animae largiaris: 'Deliqui', dicito, 'in dominum et periclitor in aeternum perire: itaque nunc pendeo et maceror et excrucior, ut Deum reconciliem mihi, quem delinquendo laesi'! Sed enim illos qui ambitus obeunt capessendi magistratus neque pudet neque piget iucommodis animae et corporis, nec incommodis tantum verum etiam contumeliis omnibus eniti in causa votorum suorum. Quas non ignobilitates vestium adfectant, quae non atria nocturnis et crudis salutationibus occupant, ad omnem occursum maioris cuiusque personae decrescentes, nullis conviviis celebres, nullis commes sationibus congreges, sed exules a libertatis et laetitiae felicitate, itaque totum propter unius anni volaticum gau- dium! nos, quod securium virgarumve petitio sustinet, in periculo aeternitatis tolerare dubitamus et castigationem victus atque cultus offenso domino praestare cessabimus quae gentes nemine omnino laeso sibi inrogant? Hi sunt,de quibus scriptura commemorat: Vae illis, qui delicta sua velut procero fune nectunt!  Tertullianus, De Paenitentiae

What if, besides the shame of which they take most thought, they also fear the bodily discomforts, that, unwashed, that estranged from joy, they should spend time in rough sackcloth and the horror of ashes, and by fasting have empty mouths? Does it then befit us to supplicate for our sins in scarlet and Tyrian purple? Why, walk with your hair carefully arranged, and teeth polished, and some forked contraptions of iron and bronze for cleaning your nails. If it enchances brightness, if it encourages a healthy red glow, should it not be applied to lips or cheeks? Furthermore let a man seek out pleasant baths in some secluded garden or seaside place,  let it consume his coin, let him hunt for the rarest delicacy of fatted fowls, let him fall asleep over vintage wine, and if someone asks, 'Why are you treating yourself so?' let him say, 'I have sinned against the Lord and am in peril of eternally perishing, and so now I am drooping and wasting away and torturing myself that I may reconcile God to myself whom by sinning I have offended.' But even they who go about canvassing for civil office feel neither ashamed nor revolted by the discomforts of body and soul it causes, and not such discomforts only, but they suffer verbal abuse of all kinds that they may gain votes. What lowness of dress do they not affect? What houses do they not visit morning and night? They bow whenever they meet any high person, they forgo all feasts, nor shall they attend entertainments, but voluntarily they exile themselves from happiness of freedom and festivity, and all for the the fleeting joy of a single year! Do we hesitate to endure what the competitor for the rods of office sustains, when eternity is at stake, and shall we be tardy in offering to the offended Lord a self-chastisement in food and raiment which pagans impose upon themselves when they have offended no one? Such are they of whom Scripture makes mention: 'Woe to them who fashion their own sins into a long rope.'1 Tertullian, On Repentance 1 Isa 5.18

We Do Not Wish The Death Of Sinners

Adjectum est etiam, quosdam Christianos ad apostasiam, quod dici nefas est, transeuntes, et idolorum cultu ac sacrificiorum contaminatione profanatos, quos a Christi corpore et sanguine, quo dudum redempti fuerant renascendo, jubemus abscindi. Et si resipiscentes forte aliquando fuerint ad lamenta conversi, his, quandiu vivunt agenda poenitentia est, et in ultimo fine suo reconciliationis gratia tribuenda, quia, docente Domino, nolumus mortem peccatoris, sed tantum ut convertatur, et vivat. Papa Siricius, Epistola Himerio Episcopo Tarraconensi, Epistola Decretalis

It was also added that certain Christians, having passed over into apostasy, which is wicked just to say, are profaned by the worship of idols and the pollution of sacrifices, and these from the body and blood of Christ, by which formerly they were redeemed in new birth, we order  cut off. And if recognising their error at some point perhaps they turn to lament, they should then do penance as long as they live, and in their final moment the grace of reconciliation should be given, because, as the Lord teaches, we do not wish the death of a sinner, only that he be converted and live. Pope Siricius, Letter to Himerius Bishop of Tarraconensis, The Decretal

The Gates Of Hell

Πύλας ᾅδου ὁ Θεῖοσ Λόγος ἐκάλεσε, τὰς τῶν ἀθέων τιμωρίας, τὰς τῶν αἱρέσεων βλασφημίας, αἶστισι πάσαις ἀνθεστῶσα ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησία, τὰς μὲν καταγωνίζεται, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν οὐ κατακοριεύεται. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΣΛΗ', Σερηνῳ Source: Migne PG 78.329b

The Divine Word calls the gates of hell things which promote impiety, the blasphemies of heretics, all those things unseen which assail the Church of God, which it prevails against, for it shall never be ruled by these things Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 238, to Serenus

The Blindness of the Sodomites

Sodmitae ergo angelos conantur violenter irrumpere, cum homines ad Deum tentant per sacri ordinis officia propinquare. Sed hi profecto caecitate percutiuntur, quia justo Dei judicio in tenebras interiores cadunt; ita ut nec ostium invenire praevaleant, quia a Deo peccando divisi, unde ad eum revertuntur ignorant. Qui enim per humilitatis, sed per arrogantiae, et tumoris anfractus ad Deum accedere gestiunt, patet profecto, quia unde ingressionis aditus pateat non agnoscunt; vel etiam quia ostium Christus est, sicut ipse dicit: 'Ego sum ostium.' Qui Christum peccatis exigentibus amittunt, quasi intrare coelestium civium habitaculum non possint, ostium non invenient.In reprobum ergo sensum traditi sunt, quia dum reatus sui pondus in propriae mentis statera non trutinant, gravissimam plumbi massam, poenarum inanium levitatem putant. Quod ergo illic dicitut: Percusserunt eos, qui foris erant caecitate. hoc Apostulus manifeste declarat, cum dicit, 'Tradidit eos Deus in reprobum sensum,' et quod illic subjungitur, 'Ut ostium invenitre non possent. Sanctus Petrus Damianus, Liber Gomorrhianus

Therefore as the Sodomites try to break in violently upon the angels, so it may be with men who attempt to draw near to sacred office. But these are certainly struck with blindness by the just judgement of God and they fall into interior darkness so they are not able to discover the door, because they are separated from God by sin, whence they are ignorant where to turn for it. Indeed those who not though humility but by arrogance and conceited twisting ways try to come near God do not know the way of access, though it certainly be obtainable, or even that Christ is the door, for as he said, ' I am the door.'  By pressing sins they have lost Christ and they are not able to enter a dwelling of the celestial city, for they have not found the entrance. Thus they are given to a depraved mind because while guilt weighs on their mind they dare not weigh the scales with such a large mass of heavy lead and they think lightly of empty punishments. Whence it is said, 'They struck those who were outside with blindness.' This also the Apostle declares openly when he says, ' God has given them over to a depraved mind' and by this they are ruled so that the they are not able to find the door. Saint Peter Damian. Book of Gomorrah

Present And Future

Ἀγνοεῖς μὲν τὴν ἀνταπόδοσιν, ὡς ἀβλεπτῶν πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα. Οὐ μόνον δὲ ἐν τῷ μέλλονται κριτηρίῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ τίνουσι δίκας οἱ βάσκανοι. Καὶ πειθέτο σε ἡ τοῦ Ἀχαὰβ Ἰεζάβελ, ἐπιμανεῖσα τῷ τοῦ Ναβουθὰ ἀμπελῶνι, καὶ νῦν μὲν βορὰ κυσὶ γενομένη, μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ τῷ αἰωνίῳ τηρουμένη. Ἅγιος Ἰσιδορου Του Πηλουσιωτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΣΛΖ', Ἡρμοκιανῳ

You do not know what you shall be given, so blind to the future. But not only in the future is there judgement, for even in this present life punishments hang over those who envy. Let the fate of Jezebel queen of Ahab persuade you, she who craved the vineyard of Naboath and swiftly become food for dogs, and afterwards in eternal fire she was placed. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 237, to Hermocianos

Seeking and Doing Good

'Quaerite bonum et non malum ut vivatis et erit Dominus Deus exercituum vobiscum sicut dixistis: Odite malum et diligite bonum et constituite in portis judicium, si forte misereatur Dominus Deus exercituum reliquiis Joesph. LXX: Quaerite bonum et non malum ut vivatis et erit sic Dominus Deus omnipotens vobiscum, sicut dixistis: Odio habuimus mala et diliximus bona et reddite in portis judicium, ut misereatur Dominus Deus his qui reliqui sunt de Joesph.' Dicitis Deum esse vobiscum, quia sitis filii Abraham, audite quod sequitur: 'Si filii estis Abrahae, opera patris vestri facite.' Quae sunt opera patris vestri Abrahae? 'Diligite bonum et non malum.' Grande peccatum est, non solum facere malum, sed et diligere. Multi peccant, et expleto voluptatos ardore, mordentur conscientia sua, et poenitet eos peccati sui. Qui autem non solum non dolet se fecisse quod malum est, sed in suo scelere gloriatur, iste implet illud quod scriptum est: Peccator cum venerit in profundum impietatis, contemnit. Quaerite ergo bonum et non malum. Si enim quaesieritis bonum, in eo quod quaeritis bonum, statim repellitis malum. Numquam autem quaeritis bonum, nisi prius repelleretis malum, implentes verba Psalmistae dicentis: Declina a malo et fac bonum. Cumque quaesieritis bonum et vitaveritis malum, tunc vivetis in eo qui dicit: 'Ego sum vita.' Bonum quaerit, qui credit in eum qui in Evangelio loquitur: Ego sum pastor bonus. Repellit malum, qui fugit eum de quo scriptum est: Mundus in maligno positus est. Et in oratione Dominica dicit: 'Libera nos a malo.' Cumque quaesieritis, inquit bonum et non malum, et vixeritis, tunc erit Dominus Deus exercituum vobiscum, sicut dixeratis ideo eum esse vobiscum quia nati essetis de Abraham. Nec sufficit bonum quaerere, malumque non quaerere, nisi ἐπίτασις habeatis in utroque, ut primum oderitis malum, deinde diligatis bonum. Odit malum, qui non solum voluptate non vincitur sed odit opera voluptatis: et diligit bonum qui non invitus, aut necessitate, aut metu legum facit quod bonum est; sed idcirco quia bonum est, ut mercedem boni operis habeat conscientiam suam, et dilectionem quam erga bonum possidet. Unde et Apostolus: Hilarem, inquit, datorem diligit Deus. Non enim omnis eleemosyna placet Deo, nisi quae cum hilaritate profertur. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentariorum In Amos Prophetam, Liber II

'Seek good and not evil that you might live and the Lord God of hosts shall be with you like you say: Hate evil and love good and establish in the gates righteousness that perhaps The Lord God of Hosts will be merciful to a remnant of Joseph.'   The Septuagint has: 'Seek good and not evil that you might live and The Lord God Almighty shall be with you, as you have said, ' We have hated evil and we have loved good and restored righteousness in the gates that The Lord God may be merciful to those who are a remnant from Joseph.'   You who say God is with you because you are the sons of Abraham, hear what follows, ' If you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of your father.' What are the works of Abraham? 'Love good and not evil' Grave is the sin not only to do evil but to delight in it. Many commit sin and are filled with pleasure and yet, bitten in their conscience, even they do penance for the sin. He who does not only not grieve for that evil he has done but glories in the crime, this one fulfills what is written: 'The sinner has come into the depths of impiety, he is scornful.' Seek therefore good and not evil. If indeed you seek good, in that very seeking of the good, instantly you shall drive out evil but never shall you seek good unless you have expelled evil, fulfilling the words of the Psalmist who says, 'Decline from evil and do good.' And when you seek the good you shall have driven out evil, and then you shall live in Him who said, 'I am the life.' He seeks the good who believes in Him who says in the Gospel, ' I am the good shepherd.' He drives away evil who flees the one concerning whom it is written, ' I have placed the earth in wickedness.' And in the Lord's prayer He says, 'Free us from evil.' And when you seek, he says, good and not evil, and you have lived, then the Lord God of hosts shall be with you as you have said Him to be with those who are born of Abraham. It is not enough to seek the good and not to seek evil unless you exert yourself in both, that first you detest evil and then love the good. He hates evil who not only is unconquered by pleasure but detests the works of pleasure, and he loves the good who not unwillingly, or by necessity, or through fear of the law does good, but he does it because it is good, that his conscience have the reward of the good and that the delight of the good he might possess. Whence the Apostle says, 'God loves a joyful giver,' For not every act of mercy pleases God unless it is given with joy.   Saint Jerome, Commentary on Amos, Book 2

Action and Intention

At enim Dominus ait: Nolite solliciti esse animae quid manducetis, neque corpori quid vestiamini. Recte, quoniam supra dixerat: Non potestis Deo servire et mammonae. Qui enim propter hoc Evangelium praedicat, ut habeat unde manducet, et unde vestiatur, simul se putat et Deo servire, quia Evangelium praedicat; et mammonae, quia propter ista necessaria praedicat: quod Dominus dicit fieri non posse. Ac per hoc ille qui propter ista Evangelium praedicat, non Deo, sed mammonae servire convincitur; etsi Deus illo ad aliorum provectum, quomodo ipse nescit, utatur. Nam huic sententiae subiungit, dicens: Ideo dico vobis, nolite solliciti esse animae quid manducetis, neque corpori quid vestiamini: non ut ista non procurent, quantum necessitatis satis est, unde honeste potuerint; sed ut non ista intueantur, et propter ista faciant quidquid in Evangelii praedicatione facere iubentur. Eam quippe intentionem quare quid fiat, oculum vocat: unde paulo superius loquebatur, ut ad hoc descenderet, et dicebat: Lucerna corporis tui est oculus tuus; si oculus tuus simplex fuerit, totum corpus tuum lucidum erit; si verooculus tuus nequam fuerit, totum corpus tuum tenebrosum erit; id est, talia erunt facta tua, qualis fuerit intentio tua cur ea facias. Et ad hoc enim ut veniret, supra de eleemosynis praeceperat, dicens: Nolite condere vobis thesauros in terris, ubi aerugo et tinea exterminat, et ubi fures effodiunt et furantur. Recondite vero vobis thesauros in coelo, ubi neque tinea neque rubigo exterminat, et ubi fures non perfodiunt et furantur. Ubi enim erit thesaurus tuus, ibi erit et cor tuum. Deinde subiunxit: Lucerna corporis tui est oculus tuus: ut illi scilicet qui eleemosynas faciunt, non ea faciant intentione, ut vel hominibus velint placere, vel in terra sibi quaerant rependi quod faciunt. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, De Opere Monachorum

But the Lord says, 'Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor for the body, what you shall wear.'1 And rightly, because He had said before, 'You cannot serve God and mammon.'2 For he who preaches the Gospel on account of this, that he may have something to eat and something to wear, thinks that he can at the same time serve both God, because he preaches the Gospel, and mammon, because he preaches on account of these necessaries, which the Lord says to be impossible. And because of this he who does for these things preach the Gospel is convicted of serving mammon and not God, even if God may use him, though he knows not how, to profit other men. For to this sentence He adds, saying 'Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life what you shall eat, nor for your body what you shall put on,'3 not that they should not procure these things, as much as satisfies need, when they can do so honestly, but that they should not look to these things and for these things do whatever in the preaching of the Gospel they are commanded to do. The intention for which something is done, He calls the eye, of which a little above He was speaking that He might come down to this and say, 'The light of your body is your eye: if your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of light; but if your eye be evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness,'4 that is, such will be your deeds as your intention why you do them. And indeed that He might come to this, He had above given instruction about alms, saying, 'Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where rust and moth destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Truly lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure shall be, there will your heart be also.' Then He added, 'The light of your body is your eye,' that they who give alms do not do so with an intention that they should wish to please men or that they seek to have repayment on earth for what they do. Saint Augustine of Hippo, On The Work of Monks 1 Mt 6.25 2 Mt 6.24  3 Mt 6.31  4 Mt 6.22   5 Mt 6.19

The Bonds Of Wisdom

Mi Licenti, etiam atque etiam recusantem et formidantem compedes sapientiae, timeo te rebus mortalibus validissime et perniciosissime compediri. Nam sapientia quos primo alligaverit, et exercitatoriis quibusdam laboribus edomuerit, solvet postea, liberatisque sese donat ad fruendum; et quos primo temporalibus nexibus erudiverit, post aeternis amplexibus alligabit; quo vinculo nec iucundius nec solidius cogitari quidquam potest. Prima haec aliquantulum dura esse confiteor; illa vero ultima nec dura dixerim, quia dolcissima sunt; nec mollia, quia firmissima; quid igitur nisi quod dici non potest, sed credi tamen et sperari et amari potest? Vincula vero huius mundi asperitatem habent veram, iucunditatem falsam; certum dolorem, incertam voluptatem; durum laborem, timidam quietem; rem plenam miseriae, spem beatitudinis inanem. Hisne tu inseris et collum et manus et pedes, cum et honoribus huiuscemodi subiugari affectas, et facta tua non aliter fructuosa existimas, et ambis inhaerere, quo non modo invitatus, sed nec compulsus quidem ire debuisti? Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, ex Epistula XXVI, Licentio Source: Migne PL 33.103-4

Dear Licentius, while you repeatedly decline and dread the bonds of wisdom, I fear that you are becoming firmly and most ruinously bound to mortal things. For wisdom, though at first it binds men and tames them by the labours of discipline, afterwards it frees them and gives itself to those liberated for their enrichment, and though at first it educates them by the help of temporary restraints, afterwards it holds them in eternal embraces, to which bond there is no other so happy or so sure. I admit that these initial bonds are somewhat difficult, but the ultimate bonds I would not call difficult because they are most sweet, nor can I call them easy because they are most firm, that is, they have that which cannot be spoken of but which can be trusted and hoped for and loved. The chains of this world, on the other hand, have a real bitterness and a delusive charm, certain pain, uncertain pleasure, hard toil, fearful rest, a thing full of misery and a hope lacking happiness. Are you submitting neck and hands and feet to these, desiring to be subject to honours of this kind, judging your labours fruitless if they are not thus rewarded, and do you love to cleave to that which neither by invitation nor by force you should go? Saint Augustine of Hippo, from Letter 26, to Licentius

The Mark of a Monk

Εἴπε πάλιν, ὅτι Τὸ σνημεῖον τοῦ μοναχοῦ ἐν τοῖς περιασμοῖς φαίνεται. Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

Again Father Poemen said, 'It is the mark of a monk that he appears in the midst of trials.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

The Devil Arises

Ascendit leo de cubili suo, et praede gentium se levavit: egressus est de foco suo, ut ponat terram tuam in solitudinem. Civitates tuae vastabuntur remanentes absque habitatore. Iste est ut diximus, verus Nabuchodonosor, de quo et beatus Petrus Apostolus loquitur: 'Adversarius noster diabolus quasi leo rugiens circuit quaerens quem devoret.' Ascendit autem vel de abyssis in quas religandus est, et ne mittatur exorat: et praedo sive vastator gentium se elevavit, de quo dictum est: Omnium inimicorum suorum dominabitur, et qui gloriatur in conspectu Domini: Circuivi omnem terram, et conculcavi eam. Quis est enim quem diaboli venena non tangant, nisi ille solus qui potest dicere: Ecce venit princeps mundi istius, et invenit in me nihil? Iste crebro ponit omnem terram Ecclesiam, ut egressi de Ecclesia pugnent contra Ecclesiam De quibus loquitur Joannes Evangelista: Ex nobis exierunt, sed non fuerunt ex nobis, si enim fuissent ex nobis, permansissent utique nobiscum. Civitates vastantur terrae Judaeae, et haereticorim florent conciliabula. Si quis ergo fautor et auctor est perversorum dogmatum, hoc dici potest: Ascendit leo de cubili suo, et praedo gentium se levavit. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Jeremiam Propheta, Liber I

A lion has has gone up from his lair and a destroyer of nations has arisen, he has left his home that he might make your land a wasteland. Your cities shall be raised, left without inhabitant.' This is, as we said, the true Nebuchadnezzar, concerning whom the blessed Apostle Peter speaks: 'Our adversary the devil like a roaring lion roams around seeking whom he might devour.' He has gone up from the abyss in which he shall be bound and has entreated lest he be sent back, and so as a destroyer and devastator of nations he has arisen, about whom it is written, 'He shall rule over all his enemies.' And he glories in the presence of the Lord, ' I was roaming about the whole earth, tampling upon it.' Who indeed is not touched by the venom of the devil except the one who can say, 'Behold, the prince of this world comes and he discovers nothing in me'? This one is constantly oppressing all the land of the Church so that those who leave it fight against the Church. Of these John the Evangelist spoke: 'They have gone out from us, but they were not from us; if they were from us they would have remained with us.' The cities of the land of Judah are laid waste and the councils of the heretics flourish. And so if a man is a patron or author of perverse teachings one may say of him: 'A lion has has gone up from his lair and a destroyer of nations has arisen.' Saint Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah, Book 1