The Works Of Patience

Nos autem, fratres dilectissimi, qui philosophi non verbis sed factis sumus, nec vestitu sapientiam, sed veritate praeferimus, qui virtutum conscientiam magis quam jactantiam novimus, qui non loquimur magna sed vivimus, quasi servi et cultores Dei, patientiam quam magisteriis coelestibus discimus obsequiis spiritalibus praebeamus. Est enim nobis cum Deo virtus ista communis. Inde patientia incipit, inde claritas ejus et dignitas caput sumit. Origo et magnitudo patientiae Deo auctore procedit. Diligenda res homini quae Deo chara est: bonum quod amat majestas divina commendat. Si dominus nobis et pater Deus est, sectemur patientiam domini pariter et patris: quia et servos oportet esse obsequentes, et filios non decet esse degeneres. Qualis vero in Deo et quanta patientia, quod, in contumeliam suae majestatis et honoris instituta ab hominibus profana templa et terrena figmenta et sacra sacrilega patientissime sustinens, super bonos et malos aequaliter facit diem nasci et lumen solis oboriri, et cum imbribus terras rigat, nemo a beneficiis ejus excluditur quominus justis similiter et injustis indiscretas pluvias largiatur. Videmus inseparabili aequalitate patientiae nocentibus et innnoxiis, religiosis et impiis, gratia agentibus et ingratis, Dei nutu tempora obsequi, elementa famulari, spirare ventos, fontes fluere, grandescere copias messium, fructus maturescere vinearum, exuberare pomis arbusta, nemora frondescere, prata florere. Et cum crebris immo continuis exacerbetur offensis Deus, indignationem suam temperat, et praestitutum semel retributionis diem patienter exspectat. Cunque habeat in potestate vindictam, mavult diu tenere patientiam, sustinens scilicet clementer et differens, ita, si fieri potest, multum malitia protracta aliquando mutetur, et homo in errorum et scelerum contagione volutatus vel sero ad Deum convertatur, ipso monente et dicente: Nolo mortem morientis, quantum ut revertatur et vivat. Sanctus Cyprianus, De Bono Patientiae

But for us, dearest brethren, who are philosophers, not in words, but in deeds, and do not display our wisdom in our garments, but in truth, who are more acquainted with the consciousness than the boast of the virtues, who do not speak great things, but live them, let us, as servants and worshippers of God, exhibit in our spiritual obedience the patience which we learn from the heavenly teachings. We have this virtue in common with God. From Him patience begins, from Him its glory and its dignity arise. The origin and greatness of patience proceeds from God as its author. Men should love that which is dear to God; for the good the Divine Majesty loves, He commends. If God is our Lord and Father, let us cleave to the patience of our Lord as well as our Father; because it befits servants to be obedient, and it is not fitting for sons to be degenerates. But how great is the patience in God that, most patiently enduring the contempt of His majesty in the profane temples and images of earth, and the sacrilegious rites instituted by men, He makes the day begin and the light of the sun rise equally over the good and the wicked, and when He waters the earth with showers, no one is excluded from His benefits, but similarly upon the righteous and the unrighteous He bestows His undiscriminating rains. We see that at God's command, with equality of patience, the seasons minister to the guilty and the guiltless, to the religious and the impious, to those who give thanks and the thankless; we see that the elements serve them, that the winds blow, the springs flow, the abundance of the harvests grows, the fruits of the vineyards ripen, the orchards abound with apples, the woods put forth their leaves, the meadows their flowers; and while God is provoked with frequent, or rather with continual offenses, He tempers His indignation and in patience waits for the day of retribution, once and for all determined; for though He has revenge in His power, He prefers to keep patience for a long while, bearing mercifully, that is to say, and deferring, so that, if it might be possible, long protracted wickedness may at some time be changed, and man, embroiled in the contagion of errors and crimes, may, even though late, be converted to God, as He Himself warns, saying, 'I do not wish the death of him that dies, but rather that he might return and live.' 1 Saint Cyprian, from On The Good of Patience 1 cf Ez 18.32