The Way To Greatness

Tollite iugum meum super vos, et discite a me:  non mundum fabricare, non cuncta visibilia et invisibilia creare, non in ipso mundo miracula facere, et mortuos suscitare; sed quoniam mitis sum et humilis corde. Magnus esse vis, a minimo incipe. Cogitas magnam fabricam construere celsitudinis, de fundamento prius cogita humilitatis. Et quantam quisque vult et disponit superimponere molem aedificii, quanto erit maius aedificium, tanto altius fodit fundamentum. Et fabrica quidem cum construitur, in superna consurgit: qui autem fodit fundamentum, ad ima deprimitur. Ergo et fabrica ante celsitudinem humiliatur, et fastigium post humiliationem erigitur. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, Sermo LXIX,Caput I, De verbis Evangelii Matthaei, 'Venite ad me, omnes qui laboratis et onerati estis.' Source: Migne PL 38.441

'Take up my yoke upon you and learn from me.' 1 Not to make the world, not to create all things visible and visible, not to perform miracles in this world and raise the dead, but because, 'I am meek and humble in heart.' 1 You wish to be great? Begin from the least. You think to raise a great building to the heavens? For the foundation first turn your thoughts to humility. And as much as any man wishes and is disposed to lay down a foundation for his building, so much more will he raise a better building the more deeply he establishes his foundation. And the maker who when he constructs will rise into the heights, is who digs deep his foundation and into the depths drives it. Therefore the maker is humbled before heaven, and after humiliation he is raised up to the heights. Saint Augustine of Hippo, from Sermon 69, Chapter 1, On The Words of the Gospel of Matthew, 'Come to me all you who labour and are burdened.' 1 Mt 11.29

Attending To The Heart

Κατὰ διάνοιαν σεαυτὸν ἐπιδείκνυε τῳ Δεσπότῂ· Ἄνθρωπος γὰρ εἰς πρόσωπον, ὁ δὲ Θεὸς εἰς καρδίαν ὁρᾷ. Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Νόμου Πνευματικοῦ  Source: Migne PG 65.912c

According to your self understanding present yourself to the Lord, 'For man judges by appearance, but God looks into the heart.' 1 Saint Mark The Ascetic, On The Spiritual Law. 1 1 Kings 16.7

Goods And Understanding

Ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς τὰ ενταῦθα λέγει καλὰ ἡ Γραφὴ, κατὰ μετουσίαν τῶν μελλόντῶν συνωνυμοῦντα· παιδαγωγοῦντος τὴν ἀσθένειαν ἡμῶν πανσόφως τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ διὰ τῶν αἰσθητῶν χειραγωγοῦντος πρὸς τὰ νοούμενα. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Ἐπιστολὴ ΥΞΘ' Ἱεραξ Source: Migne PG 78.440b

By goods of the earth 1 Scripture understands things that are fair here, and the participation with which acquires a like name in the future; that is, our lowliness is educated to the height of wisdom by God, and by our understanding of sensible things we are led by the hand to the contemplation of intellectual things. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Letter 419, to Hierax 1  Isai 1.19

Stones And Understanding

Quaedam autem ceciderunt super petrosam... Petra autem in se duas habet proprietates naturae, fortitudinis et duritiae. Ideo homines aut propter constantiam fidei petra dicuntur, aut propter duritiam cordis. Ideo propheta dicit: Et auferam ab illis cor lapideum. Quid ergo terra? Intellectus carnalis, et non rationabilis super animam duram et fidelem. Nam intellectum bonum multi habent secundum naturam, animam autem fidelem non multi; quia intellectus hominis est ex Deo, anima autem fidelis ex voluntate. Sunt ergo homines, quibus si loquutus fueris de gloria sanctorum, et de beatitudine gloriae rengi caelestis, statim gaudent, et audientes delectantur, quoniam sapientes secundum naturam etiam facile suscipiunt verbum; sed ne credas gaudio eorum: carnaliter enim gaudent, et carnaliter delectantur. Sciunt enim naturaliter, quia bonum est regnum, vel lumen. Ideo cum audierint lumen sanctorum, quasi de lumine gaudent. Sciunt etiam naturaliter, quia bonum est regnum caeleste, quasi de audito regno laetantur: et non ideo credunt, quia sic est quomodo laetantur, anima autem eorum non credit. Sed dicis, Quomodo gaudere poterant, nisi crederent? Hoc ipso enim quod gaudent, credunt; ideo credunt. Non est ita: omnis enim, qui credit, verum est, quod gaudet; non tamen omnis, qui gaudet, credit. Nam quod gaudet in nobis, sensus et rationabilis: quod autem credit, spiritus animae, qui non in gaudio, sed in sollicitudine et compunctione cordis cognoscitur. Quoniam non omnis, qui gaudet, et credit, tuo te docebo exemplo. Ecce cum tibi exposuero de gloria sanctorum, de jucunditate paradisi, gaudes et exsultas, si tamen non habes etiam carnalem intellectum jam captum et induratum in malis, et quasi terra secus viam. Sed si dixero tibi: Vide qualis est jucunditas sanctorum: ergo vende omnia tua quae habes, et da pauperibus, et haec omnia possidebus, ecce, non facis, sed tristis recedis, sicut adolescens ille a Christo: non ergo credidisti firmiter de quibus gaudebas. Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, Homilia XV Source:  Migne PG 56.793

Some fell on rocky ground... 1 A stone in itself has two properties of its nature, durability and hardness. Thus men are called stones either because of the constancy of their faith, or on account of their hardness of heart. Thus the Prophet says: 'I shall take from them their heart of stone.' 2 What, then, is the earth? The carnal understanding, and it is not rational over the soul which is strong and faithful. For many have a good understanding according to nature, but not many have a faithful soul, because the understanding of a man is from God, and the faithful soul is from choice. So there are men who when they are told of the glory of the saints and the blessings of the glory of the heavenly kingdom, instantly rejoice, and hearing they delight, because being wise according to their nature they easily grasp the word; but trust not in their joy, for they rejoice carnally, and carnal is their joy. For they know by nature, that the kingdom is good, or light. Therefore when they hear about the light of the saints, they rejoice concerning the light. For they know naturally that the heavenly kingdom is good, since they rejoice in the hearing of it, and thus they do not believe, because such is the manner in which they rejoice that their souls do not believe. But you may say: 'How can they rejoice unless they believe? That in which they rejoice, they believe, and thus they do believe.' It is not so; for everyone who believes is true, for which reason he rejoices, not everyone however who rejoices believes. For what rejoices in us is the understanding and reason, that which believes is the spirit of the soul, which is not known in joy  but in concern and compunction of heart. I shall give an example that not everyone who rejoices believes. Behold, when I reveal to you the glory of the saints and the bliss of paradise, you rejoice and exult; if however you have a carnal understanding, already you are taken and hardened by evils, as the earth beside the way. For if I say to you: 'See the nature of the bliss of the holy, and so go sell all you have and give it to the poor that you may possess all these things,' and behold, you do not do it, but you withdraw sorrowfully, like that young man from Christ. 3 Therefore you do not have a firm faith in that in which you rejoice. Opus Imperfectum on Matthew, from The Fifteenth Homily 1 Mt 13.5 2 Ezek 36.26 3 Mt 19. 16-22

Preserving Oneself

Μεγαλόφρων ἐν ὕβρει θρασυκάρδιος λαμπτὴρ δὲ ἀσεβῶν ἁμαρτία  Εἰ ἁγνὰ καὶ ὀρθὰ ἔργα Κυρίου, ἔν δὲ τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ ἐστι καὶ ὁ νοῦς, ὀρθὸς ἄρα ἐκτίσθη καὶ ἀγνὸς παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ νοῦς, καὶ ὀρθὸν ὀφείλομεν διαφυλάττειν αὐτὸν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐκ τῶν ἐπερχομένων ἡμῖν παρὰ τοῦ πονηροῦ κακῶν. Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαὶ Εἰς Παροιμίας Source: Migne PG 17.213c-d

Lofty thoughts are from the pride of a puffed up heart; the lamp of the impious is at fault. 1 If holy and right are the works of the Lord, and one of His works is the mind; then the mind is rightly created and made holy by the Lord, and right it is that we should guard it against the evils of the wicked one. Origen, On Proverbs, Fragment 1 Prov 21.4

A Type Of Murder

Petilianus dixit: Falsidicos et mendaces sic identidem obiurgat:  Filii diaboli estis, et ab initio enim ille accusator fuit, et in veritate non stetit. Augustinus respondit: Non solemus legere: Ille accusator fuit; sed: Ille homicida fuit. Quaerimus autem unde fuerit diabolus homicida ab initio; et invenimus, quod primum hominem occiderit, non gladium stringendo, aut aliquam vim corporaliter inferendo; sed persuadendo peccatum, et a paradisi felicitate deiiciendo. Quod tunc paradisus, hoc nunc Ecclesia. Diaboli ergo filii sunt, qui homines ab Ecclesia seducendo interficiunt. Sicut autem per verba Dei novimus ubi sit plantatus paradisus, sic per verba Christi ubi sit Ecclesia didicimus: Per omnes, inquit, gentes, incipiens ab Ierusalem. Ab isto universo ad partem quamlibet quisquis separat hominem, ille diaboli filius et homicida convincitur. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, Contra Litteras Petiliani Donatistae, Liber II, Caput XIII Source: Migne PL 24.266

Petilianus said: Again and again the Lord reproaches false speakers and liars: 'You are the children of the devil, for he also was a slanderer from the beginning, and did not remain in the truth.' Augustine answered: We are not accustomed to say, 'He was a slanderer,' but 'He was a murderer.' 1 But we ask how it was that the devil was a murderer from the beginning; and we find that he killed the first man, not by drawing a blade, or by bringing upon him any physical violence, but by persuading him to sin, and so casting him out from the happiness of Paradise. What then was Paradise is now the Church. Therefore they are the sons of the devil who kill men by seducing them from the Church. But as by the words of God we know how things were in Paradise, so now by the words of Christ we have learned where the Church is: 'Throughout all nations,' He says, 'beginning at Jerusalem.' 2 Because of this whoever separates a man from that complete whole to place him in any single part, is proved to be a son of the devil and a murderer. Saint Augustine of Hippo, Against Petilianus The Donatist, Book 2, Chapter 13 1 John 8.44 2 Lk 24.47

The Serpent’s Bite

Qui fodit foveam, in ipsam incidet, et qui dissipat sepem, mordebit eum serpens. Ex parte simplex et ex parte mysticus intellectus est. Siquidem et alibi ipse Salomon ait: Qui statuet laqueum, capietur in illo. Et in psalmo septimo: Lacum aperuit, et effodit eum, et incidit in foveam quam fecit. Sepis autem maceriaeque convulsio, ecclesiastica dogmata sunt, et institutio ab apostolis pophetisque fundata, quae qui dissolverit, et voluerit praeterire, in eo ipso quo negligit, a serpente percutitur. De quo serpente et in Amos scriptum est: Si descenderit in infernum, mandabo serpenti, et mordebit eos. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentarius Ecclesiasten, Cap X Source: Migne PL 23.1094a-b

He who digs a pit shall fall into it, and he who breaks down a wall the serpent shall bite. 1 This is able to be understood in a simple and a spiritual manner. Firstly, as elsewhere Solomon said: 'He who sets a trap shall be caught in it.' 2 And in the seventieth Psalm: 'He opens up a pit, and he digs it, and he falls into it who made it.' Yet, also, the fences and the enclosures broken down are the teachings of the Church and the Apostolic canons and the Prophetic foundations, which he who would ruin or would wish gone, on account of which he has no care for them, is struck by the serpent. Concerning which serpent it is written in Amos: 'If they descend into hell, I shall command the serpent and it shall bite them.' 3 Saint Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chap 10 1 Eccle 10.8 2 Sirach 27.26 3 Amos 9.3

Attending To The Voice

Neque enim vocem ejus audistis unquam, neque speciem ejus vidistis; et verbum ejus non habetis in vobis manens. Dicit Apostolus: Non enim auditores legis justificati sunt, sed factores verbi Dei. Id est Filius Dei non manet in eorum cordibus, quia non servant quae audiunt. Quod vero ait: Neque vocem ejus audistis, neque speciem ejus vidistis. In hoc ostendit substantiam divinitatis incomprehensibilem esse, et invisibilem, et vocem ejus non carnarlibus audire potuisse auribus, sed spiritali intelligentia per gratiam sancti Spiritus intelligere vel amare, secundum quod unicuique datum erit. Alcuinus, Commentariorum in Joannem, Lib III Source: Migne PL 100.810d-811b

None of you have heard His voice, nor have you seen His face, and His word you do not have dwelling in you. 1 The Apostle says, 'The hearers of the law are not justified, but the doers of the word of God.' 2 That is, the Son of God does not remain in the hearts of those who do not attend to what they hear. Whence He said, 'You have neither heard His voice, nor seen His face.' In this is shown that the Divine substance is incomprehensible and invisible, and His voice is not able to be heard with ears of flesh, but only with spiritual understanding by the grace of the Holy Spirit is it understood and loved, according as it is given to each one. Alcuin of York, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint John, Book 3 1 Jn 5.37-38 2 Rom 2.13

The Beginning Of Virtue

Πάσης ἀρετῆς κατάρχει Θεὸς, καὶ τοῦ μεθημερινοῦ φωτὸς ὁ ἥλιος. Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Νόμου Πνευματικοῦ  Source: Migne PG 65.912a

The beginning of every virtue is God, as every day begins with the light of the sun. Saint Mark The Ascetic, On The Spiritual Law.

Life And A Day

Εἶπε πάλιν· Ὅλος ὁ βίος ἀνθρώπου, ἡμέρα μία, τοῖς πόθῳ κάμνουσιν. Ἄποφθέγματα των Αγίων Γερόντων, Παλλάδιος Source: Migne PG 65.145b

Again Father Gregory said, 'The whole life of a man is but a day for those who are exerting themselves with longing.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

Substance and Nothingness

Καὶ ὑπόστασίς μου ὡσει οὐθὲν ἐνωπιόν σου. Ἥ καὶ οὕτως· Ἡ ὑπόστασίς μου ὡσει οὐθὲν ἐνωπιόν σου, ὅτι χίλια ἕτη ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς σου ὡσεὶ ἡμέρα ἡ ἐχθὲς ἢτις παρὴλθεν, ἢ φυλακὴ ἐν νυκτὶ, τουτέστιν ὥραι τρεῖς ἢ τέσσαρες. Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδήπερ αὐτὸς μὲν ὑπάρχεις ἀεὶ, ἡ δ' ἐμὴ ὑπόστασίς ὀλίγη παντελῶς ἐστιν καὶ συνεσταλμένη, καὶ ὡς οὐδὲν ὅλως ἐν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, μὴ ἀφῇς κολάζεσθαι μακρὰ τὸν ἐξ ἀσθενείας ὠλισθηκότα, μήτε μὴν τῷ παντὶ τοῦ βίου μήκει σύνδρομον ἔχοιμι τὴν πληγήν. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ ὑπόστασίς, ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας κατάδυσις εἴπεν· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος βίωσις. Ὁ γαρ ἀνθρώπινος βίος οὐδεν ἐστιν, ὡς πρὸς τὴν θείαν ἀϊδιότητα· καψὰ τὸ, Σὺ δὲ αὐτὸς εἶ· ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσα ἡ παρ' ἀνθρώποις σπουδὴ, ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Εἰς Τον Ψαλμον ΛΗ' Source: Migne PG 69.973c-976a

And my substance is nothing before you. 1 So he says that his substance is nothing before you, because a thousand years before your eyes are like a day which has passed, or a watch in the night 2 that is, three or four hours. When, then, you are eternal my existence is contracted to a tiny thing, and it is as nothing in your sight, and that lest you give long length for punishment to him who in his weakness errs, and all through such life he have a flood of blows. Now for substance, the translator Aquila writes 'depths', and Symmachus has 'life'. For human life is nothing before the eternity of God, according to which, 'You yourself are, and every concern of man is a vanity of vanities.' 3 Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Psalm 38 1 Ps 38.6 2  Ps 89.4 3 Ps 101.28

Declining Judgment

Et non intres in judicium cum servo tuo: quia non justificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis vivens. Quid enim sepi est, si judicare nos secundum se Deus velit, si ad comparationem sui vitae nostrae innocentiam postulabit. Justificari autem in conspectu Dei quis viventium potest? Cui ira, cui dolor, cui cupiditas, cui ignoratio, cui oblivio, cui caus, cui necessitas vel per naturam corporis, vel per motum animae semper fluctuantis admixta sit: cui et quotidie gravissimus hostis immineat, diabolus videlicet animae viri fidelis insidians, eamque ad interitum persequens? Hanc enim esse causam docet, qua nemo vivens justificari in conspectu Dei possit. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis,Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum CXLII Source: Migne PL 9 839

And do not enter into judgement with your servant, because no one living shall be justified in your sight. 1 How can there be hope, if God wishes to judge us according to Himself, if by the measure of innocence He enquires into our lives? Who among the living will be justified in the sight of God? Of whom is anger, and offence, and cupidity and ignorance and forgetfulness and error, and who in either the necessities of the body or the tribulations of the soul is ever caught up in fluctuations, and whom every day the most fearful enemy threatens. On account of this he teaches that no one living can be justified in the sight of God. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 142 1 Ps 142.2

Declining Company

Εἴπεν ὁ ἀββᾶς Μάρκος τῷ ἀββᾷ  Ἀρσενίῳ· Διατί φεύγεις ἡμᾶς; Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ γέρων· Ὁ Θεὸς οἴδεν, ὅτι ἀγαπῶ ὑμᾶς· ἀλλ' οὐ δύναμαι εἴναι μετὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Αἱ ἄνω χιλιάδες καὶ μυριάδες ἔν θέλημα ἔχουσιν, οἱ δὲ ἄνθρωποι πολλὰ θελήματα ἔχουσιν. Οὐ δύναμαι οὖν ἀφεῖναι τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ἐλεῖν μετὰ ἀνθρώπων. Ἀποφθεγματα Των Ἁγίων Γερόντων, Παλλαδιος Source: Migne PG 65.92a

Abba Mark said to Abba Arsenius, 'Why do you keep away from us?' The elder said to him, 'God knows that I love you, but I cannot live with God and with men. The thousands and ten thousands above have one will, while men have many. Thus I  cannot leave God and come among men.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

Receiving A Friend

Si ergo habes me socium, assume illum sicut me. Tantum se affectum habere circa Onesimum ostendit, ut tunc Philemonem, quem superius laudat, participem suum dicat, si istum sic susceperit, sicut Apostolum. Hoc est enim quod dixit Salomon: Servo sapienti liberi servient. Quod dictum terrori est Philemoni, ut saltem vel hac causa assumeret eum, si charitate flecti non posset. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam Beati Pauli Ad Philomenem Source: Migne PL 17.506a-b

'If, therefore, you have me as a friend, receive him as you would me.' 1  Such affection he shows for Onesimus  that he asks Philemon, whom he praised above, to be a sharer in it, by receiving Onesimus like an Apostle. For it is as Solomon said: 'Free sons shall serve the wise slave.' 2 Which is spoken to trouble  Philemon, that at least for that reason he should receive him, if he is not able to be inclined by love. Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The Epistle of Saint Paul To Philemon 1 Philemon 17 2 Sirach 10.25

Hope Of Better

Χριστὸς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Δεσπότης τῶν ὅλων, σαφῶς καὶ διαῥῥήδην ἐν τοϊς Εὐαγγελίοις ἀνακαλεῖ τοὺς ἀπὸ παντοίας κακίας βεβαρημένους· Δεῦτε πρός με, κραυγάζων, κὰψὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς. Τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ τῆς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καθόδου τὸ αἴτιον γεγενῆσθαι διεβεβαιώσατο· Οὐ γαρ ἦλθον δικαίους καλέσαι, φησὶν ἀλλὰ ἁμαρτωλοὺς πρὸς τὸ μετανοῆσαι. Καὶ Οἱ ἰσχύοντες οὐ χρῄζουσιν ἰατροῦ, ἀλλ' οἱ κακῶς ἔχοντες. Εἰ τοίνυν ταῦθ' οὕτως ἔχει, μηδαμῶς ἀπογίνωσκε, μᾶλλον δὲ ῥώννυσο ταῖς χρηστοτέραις ἐλπίσιν.  Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΤϚ', Καλοκυρῳ Source: Migne PG 79.193a-b

Christ who is God and Lord of all clearly and openly in the Gospels called all those who were weighed down with every sort of evil. 'Come to me,' He cried out, 'and I shall give you rest.' 1 For this He asserted was why He descended from heaven: 'For I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.' 2 And, 'He who is well does not need a physician but rather he who is sick.' 3 If, then, you understand this things, you should never despair but rather be confirmed in hope of better. Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 306, to Calocyrus 1 Mt 11.27 2 Mt 9.13 3. Mt 9.12

Actions Against Acedia

Εἰ δὲ τὴν ἀκηδίαν θέλεις νικῆσαι, κάμνε τί ποτε μικρὸν ἐργόχειρον, καὶ ἀναγίνωσκε, καὶ προσεύχου πυκνῶς μετ' ἐλπίδος βεβαίας τῶν καλῶν· ἐννόει τούς τε ψυχοῥῥαγοῦντας, καὶ τὴν βίαν καὶ τὸν πνιγνὸν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν, πῶς ἀνηλεῶς τιμωροῦνται καὶ βασανίζονται, καὶ οὕτω τοῦ πάθους ἔξεις ἀνάπαυσιν. Άγιος Ιωάννης ο Δαμασκηνός, Περι Των Ὀκτώ Τῆς Πονηρίας Πνευμάτων Source: Migne PG 95 82c

If you wish to conquer acedia, weary yourself for a time with manual labour, and read, and pray frequently with confident hope of attaining goods, for so are souls torn from the power and suffocation of sins, by which they are bent and twisted without mercy; thus you will have respite from your troubles. Saint John of Damascus, from On The Eight Wicked Spirits

Bearing The Commandments

Et mandata ejus gravia non sunt. Et ipse Dominus dicit: Jugum meum suave est et onus meum leve. Neque his vel Domini vel beati Joannis verbis debet videri adversum, quod et ipse Dominus alibi dicit, quia angusta porta et arcta via est quae ducit ad vitam; et Propheta ad eum: Propter verba, inquit, labiorum tuorum ego custodivi vias duras; at Apostolus: Quia per multas tribulationes oportet nos introire in regnum Dei. Quae enim natura sua dura sunt et aspera, spes coelestium praemiorum et amor Christi facit esse levia. Durum namque est persecutiones pati propter justitiam, sed et hoc facit suave, quod ipsorum qui sic patiuntur est regnum coelorum. Unde bene subditur: Quoniam omne quod natum est ex Deo, vincit mundum. Ideo namque mandata divina non sunt gravia, quia omnes qui vera devotione his mancipantur, et adversa mundi ejus et blandimenta pari mente contemnunt, ipsam quoque mortem velut ingressum patriae coelestis amantes. Et ne quis sua virtute mundi vel luxus vel labores se posse superare confideret, consulte subjungit: Et haec et victoria quae vincit mundum, fides nostra. Illa nimirum fides, quae per dilectionem operatur; illa fides qua ejus humiliter auxilium flagitamus qui ait: In mundo pressuras habebitis, sed confidete, ego vici mundum. Sanctus Beda, In I Epistolam Sancti Joannis Source: Migne PL 93.113a-d

And His commandments are not heavy. 1 And the Lord Himself says: 'My yoke is sweet and my burden light.' 2 Nor with these words should the Lord or the blessed John seem to be at variance with what the Lord said elsewhere: 'The gate is narrow and the way hard that leads to life.' 3 And the Prophet says to Him: 'On account of the words of your lips I have guarded the hard ways.' 4 And the Apostle: 'Because through many tribulations we should enter into the kingdom of God.' 5 For what is by its own nature hard and bitter, the hope of heavenly rewards and the love of Christ makes light. Hard it is to suffer persecution on account of righteousness, but even this is made sweet, because to those who so suffer belongs the kingdom of heaven. 6 Whence well it follows: Because everyone who is born from God conquers the world. 7 Therefore because the Divine commandments are not heavy, because all who posses true devotion are liberated by them, with an unshaken soul they condemn the troubles of the world and its allurements, and also love death as an entry into the fatherland of heaven. But lest someone be too confident that he is able overcome by his own strength or wealth or labours, wisely the Apostle adds: And this is the victory which conquers the world, our faith. 7 Certainly that faith which works through love, that faith by which we humbly entreat His help, who said: 'In the world you will have trials, but be confident, because I have conquered the world.' 8 Saint Bede, Commentary On The First Letter of Saint John 1 1 Jn 5.3 2 Mt 11.30 3 Mt 7.14 4 Ps 16.4 5 Acts 14.22 6 Mt 5.10 7 1 Jn 5.4 8 Jn 16.33

Prayer And Tribulation

Decima utilitas tribulationis est, quod orationes tuas facit exaudiri, et offerri ante Deum ; quia non est consuetudo in conspectu Dei quod repellat orationem tribulati, sed eam potius exaudiat. Unde Salomon, Deprecationem laesi exaudiet Dominus. Ideo enim multoties Deus verberat homines et tribulaliones eis immittit, ut eos misericordiam postulare compellat, ut aperiat os eorum ad petendum eum in tribulatione, quia clausum ilbid habuerunt in prosperitate. Unde Augustinus: Deus immittit tribulationes aliquibus, ut excitentur in tribulatione, et petant illud a Deo quod ipse vult illis conferre. In persona talium dicit Psalmista : Ad Dominum cum tribularer clamavi, et exaudivit me. Et si forte contingat quod tu Deum in prosperitate invoces, ut prosperitas te totaliter dormire non faciat, tamen te somnolentum aliquando reddit, ita clamor tuus in prosperitate non fit ita efficax sicut in adversitate. Et si forte adeo adversitas occupaverit cor tuum, quod non sit ita intentum orationi in adversitate sicut in prosperitate, tamen ipsa adversitas orationem pretiosiorem facit. Si vero tantum tribulatio te oppresserit, quod non potes aperire os ad clamandum ad Dominum, tribulatio tamen orat pro te, dum tu patientiam habes : Dicit enim magister Petrus Lombardus de Lazaro, quod quot habebat vulnera, tot habebat ora clamantia ad Deum : quia quando Lazarus ore suo tacebat, vulnera sua pro se clamabant. Unde Dominus dicit ad Cain de Abel fratre suo quem occidit: Vox sanguinis fratris tui clamat ad me de terra. Sic ergo patet quod tribulatio orationem pretiosiorem reddit et acceptabiliorem. Tribulationes enim sunt quasi solutio pro una bullata littera liberationis sese. Unde Job dicit: Quis mihi det ut veniat mihi petitio mea, et quod expecto tribuat mihi Deus ; qui coepit, ipse me conterat, solvat manum suam et scindat me, et haec mihi sit consolatio, ut affligens me dolore non parcat. Nota, quod Job, qui possessiones suas, filios et filias amiserat, percussus est vulnere pessimo a planta pedis usque ad verticem, afflictus ab amicis, vituperatus ab uxore, tamen videbatur quod Deus parum eum affligeret, nec in alio consolationem quaerebat, nisi tantum in hoc quod Deus ei non parceret. Sed si quaeris, quid pertinet ad liberationem afflictionis suae ; ad hoc responderi potest, quod afflictio ejus est solutio litterarum suarum. Sicut quando pauper bibit vinum in taberna, et non habet unde solvat escotum suum, petit ut verberetur, et sic dimittatur. Si autem, in quo erat ipsius Job consolatio quando petebat affligiat hoc responderi potest secundum quod Deus aliquibus in praesenti non parcit, ut in futuro parcat eis. Consolatio Job in hoc erat, quod in praesenti tribulatione sciebat se evasurum futurara. Consolare ergo, quia si in praesenti fueris afflictus, patienter sufferens in futuro parcet tibi Deus. Nam dicitur quod non judicabit Deus bis idipsum. Unde Job, qui petebat ne sibi parceret Deus in praesenti, alibi petit ut sibi parcat Dominus in futuro, dicens: Parce mihi Domine, nihil enim sunt dies mei. Ut ergo in futuro parcat tibi Deus, sustine in praesenti tribulationem ; quia tribulatio animam sanat, sicut dicit Job, ipse vulnerat et medetur; vulnerat enim corpus, immittendo tribulationem, sed sanat animam. Petrus Blenensis, De Utilitate Tribulationum Source: Migne PL 207.1003b-1004c

The tenth usefulness of tribulation is that it makes your prayers heard and to be offered before God, because it is not the way of God to dismiss the prayer of one who is troubled, but rather He more keenly attends to it. Whence Solomon says, 'The Lord shall hear the prayer of the wounded.' 1 Therefore as many times as God strikes men and sends tribulations upon them, it is so that they be driven to ask for His mercy, that they open their mouths to seeking Him in tribulation which have been closed in prosperity. So Augustine says, 'God sends tribulations on some that He rouse them by tribulation and that they seek from God that which He wishes to give them.' The Psalmist speaks of such things, saying, 'I cried out to the Lord when I was troubled and He hearkened to me.' 2 And if perhaps it happens that you call on God in prosperity, if your prosperity has not utterly lulled you to sleep, yet only sometimes and drowsily do you turn to it, and so your cry in prosperity is not as efficacious as it is in adversity. And if perhaps adversity has occupied your heart to such an extent that you are not as intent on prayer in adversity as in prosperity, yet the adversity makes the prayer more precious. If, however, tribulation oppresses you so, that you do not open your mouth to cry out to the Lord, yet tribulation prays for you as long as you endure. For the master Peter Lombard said concerning the beggar Lazarus that as many were his wounds, so as many were the cries to God from his mouth, for even when the mouth of Lazarus was silent, his wounds cried out for him. 3 Whence the Lord says to Cain concerning Abel his brother whom he murdered, 'The voice of the blood of your brother cries out to me from the earth.' 4 So, then, it is obvious that tribulation offers a more precious and more acceptable prayer. For tribulations are as the revealing of the words of release from a  sealed letter. Whence Job says, 'Who shall give to me that my petition may come to me and that what I hope God gives to me, that what He has begun, He crush me with, dissolving all my strength and tearing me apart, and that this be my consolation, that afflicting me with suffering, He give no quarter.' 5 Note that Job who lost his possessions and his sons and his daughters, and was struck with the wost of wounds, from the sole of his foot to the top of his head, and was afflicted by his friends, and abused by his wife, yet perceived that God had afflicted him but lightly, nor did he seek consolation in anything else, unless that in this God not spare him. But if you ask, how his affliction pertains to his liberation, to this one is able to say that his affliction is the opening of his letter. As when a poor man drinks wine in a tavern, and has no money to pay his bill, and so he seeks to be beaten and cast out. Or indeed one may say that Job's consolation when he sought to be afflicted is that those who God does not spare in the present, He shall in the future. The consolation of Job was in this, that in present tribulation he knew that he would escape future chastisement. Therefore be comforted, that in the present afflicted, patiently suffering, in the future God shall be merciful to you. For it is said that God will not judge us twice for the same thing. Whence Job, who prayed that God not spare him in the present, sought that God be merciful to him in the future, saying, 'Spare me, O Lord, my days are nothing.' 6 And so that in the future God spare you, endure present tribulation, because tribulations heal the soul, as Job said, 'He wounds and He heals'; 7 for He wounds the body in the sending of tribulation, but He heals the soul. Peter of Blois, On The Usefulness of Tribulations 1 Sirach 35.16 2 Ps 119.1 3 Lk 16.19-31 4 Gen 4.10 5 Job 6.8-10 6 Job 7.16 7 Job 5.18

The Four Troubles

Residuum erucae comedit locusta, et residuum locustae comedit bruchus, et residuum bruchi comedit rubigo.   Quator esse perturbationes, quibus animarum sanitas subvertatur, omnes philosophorum scholae conclamant. Duae praesentes sibique contrariae, duae futurae mutuo dissidentes. Praesentes, aegritudo et gaudium. Aegritudinem animi dicimus, alioquin corporis non aegritudo, sed aegrotatio nominatur. Aut igitur tristes sumus, et moerore conficimur, statusque nostrae mentis evertitur: unde at Apostolus monet, ne abundantiori tristitia absordbeatur frater. Aut econtrario gaudemus, gestimusque laetitia, et bona nostra moderantur ferre non possumus; justique et fortis viri est, nec adversis frangi, nec prosperis sublevari, sed in utroque esse moderatum. Diximus de perturbatione praesentium; dicamus et de futurorum, in quibus metus, aut spes est. Adversa timemus, prospera praestolamur; et quod aegritudo et gaudium operantur in praesenti, metus et spes faciunt de futuro, dum aut adversa plus quam decet timemus esse ventura, aut prospera quae speramus intantum nos faciunt exsultare, ut non teneamus modum, maxime in his quae incerta sunt, quia futura sperantur potius quam tenentur. Has perturbationes uno et nec pleno versiculo illustris poeta comprehendit. Hi metuunt cupiunt, dolent gaudentque neque auras, Respiciunt, clausi tenebris et carcere caeco Qui enim perturbationum tenebris obvolvuntur, clarum sapientiae lumen non valent intueri. Cavendum est igitur ne aegritudo, quasi eruca, nos comedat; ne locusta vastet in gaudio, huc illucque volitans, et gestiente laetitia, per diversa se jactans: ne bruchus, id est, pavor et futurorum metus, radices sapientiae devoret, ne rubigo et desiderium futurorum res inutiles concupiscat, et nos perferat ad ruinam. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentarium in Joelem Prophetam, Caput I Source: Migne PL 25.952b-953a

What the worm leaves the locust eats, and what the locust leaves the swarm eats, and what the swarm leaves the blight devours. 1 All the schools of philosophy declare that there are four troubles by which the health of the soul is overthrown. Two are adversities of the present and two are disturbances regarding the future. The ones of the present are grief and joy. And we speak of the griefs of the soul, and not a discomfort of the body when we speak of grief. Either, then, we are sorrowful and consumed by woe and our firmness of mind is overturned, about which the Apostle warns us: lest an abundance of grief overwhelm our brother; 2 or on the contrary, we are joyous and we exult in our joy and we are hardly able to be moderate regarding our goods. It is of the just and virtuous man neither to be crushed by adversity nor puffed up in prosperity, but in both to exercise moderation. Thus we have spoken about the troubles of the present, and so let us now speak of the future, concerning which there is fear and hope. We are worried by adverse things and wish for prosperity, and what grief and joy do in the present, fear and hope do regarding the future, that either we fear coming adversities more than we should, or the mere hope of prosperity makes us exult, something which we have yet to acquire, in which there is great uncertainty, because future things are hoped for rather than possessed. These troubles the famous poet in a few verses understands: These things they fear desiring, and lament rejoicing,  Seeing not the skies, shut in darkness and in prison blind. 3 For he who is overturned by troubles is in darkness, unable to see with the clear light of wisdom. Let us be wary, then, that neither grief, like the worm, consumes us, nor the locust lays waste to us with joy, for this and that one flittering about us, even when it bears joy, may cast us down by various means. Nor let the swarm, that is, fear and distress regarding the future, devour the roots of wisdom, nor the blight fill us with desires for worthless things in the future, and so bear us off to ruin. Saint Jerome, Commentary on The Prophet Joel, Chapter 1 1 Joel 1.4 2 2 Cor 2.7 3 Aeneid 6.733-4

The Troubled Eye

Ἐταράχθη ἀπὸ θυμοῦ ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου. Οὐ μόνον δὲ θυμὸς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπιθυμία, καὶ δειλία, καὶ φθόνος ὀφθλαμὸν ψυχῆς ἐκταράσει· καὶ ἀπαξατλῶς πάντα τὰ πάθη συγχυτικὰ καὶ ἐκταρακτικὰ τοῦ διορατικοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐστι. Καὶ ὡς οὐ δυνατὸν τεθολωμένῳ ὀφθαλμῷ ἀκριβῆ λαβεῖν τῶν ὁρατῶν τὴν κατάληψιν, οὕτως οὐδὲ τεθολωμένῃ καρδίᾳ τῇ κατανοήσει τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπιβαλεῖν. Ἀναχωρῆσαι οὖν δεῖ τῶν τοῦ κόσμου πραγμάτων, καὶ μήτε δι' ὀφθαλμῶν, μήτε δι' ὤτων, μήτε δι' ἄλλης τινὸς αἰσθήσεως ἐπεισάγειν ἀλλοτρίους λογισμοὺς τῄ ψυχῇ. Θορύβων γὰρ ἀσιγήτων καὶ στάσεων ἀδιαλλάκτων ἀναπιμπλῶσι τὰ ἔνδον οἱ τοῦ φρονήματος τῆς σαρκὸς ἐπανιστάμενοι πόλεμοι. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Εἰς Τον ΛΓ' Ψαλμον Source: Migne PG 29.357b-c

My eye is troubled by anger. 1 And not with anger alone, but lust and timidity and envy the eye of the soul is troubled, and by all things which confound and perturb the perception of the eye of the soul with any commotion. And as the troubled eye is not able to accurately grasp visible things, so it is with the troubled heart, for it is not able to apply itself to the contemplation of truth. It must therefore withdraw from worldly things, and not have any foreign thoughts enter through either the eye or the ear or any of the senses. What conflicts arise from the care of the flesh, raucous tumult and irrepressible uprisings filling the interior. Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 33 1 Ps 6.8

A Bad Report

Sed cum contemplantur eos qui nuper cuncta quae mundi sunt, cum magno fervore contempserant, nunc ad saecularium negotiorum turbinem inhianter redigi, et in ejusdem, quam evaserant, coenosa volutabri faece versari, stupor mirantibus oritur, suspirium ab imis visceribus trahitur, et in eorum mentibus desperatio generatur. In semetipsum namque unusquisque hujusmodi querelam deponit, dicens: Vae, vae, ubi ego propriae salutis spem posui? Cur autem capitis mei periculo ad ordinem illum transire decrevi? Paulo minus brevi puncto corpus simul et animam perdidi. Pene me in ignem apertis oculis propria voluntate conjeci. Quis enim illo ferventior aliquando monasterium petiit? Quis, ut videbatur, animosiori constantia ad Christi militiam properavit? Nunc autem omnium, quae promisit, oblitus, in terrenis se negotiis jugiter versat, saeculum tractat, saeculum spirat: et quem mihi mortificationis habitus dissimiliter vivit. Plane, ut perspicuum est, mutare corpus exteriorem speciem potuit, sed mens in eo, quo fuerat statu, male fixa permansit. Quid mihi conversionis ejus incentores accusare? In rebus siquidem bellicis solummodo commilitonem perdidi, sed in reliquis terrenis actibus socium non amisi. Mecum certe forenses lites agitat, mecum in tribulalibus judicum perorare non cessat, mecum importunus atria principum penetrat, mecum simul eorum auribus consilia terrenae profunditatis instillat. Sanctus Peter Damianus, De Contemptu Saeculi, Caput X Source: Migne PL 145.260d-261b

But when they observe those who have recently been cleansed of everything, they are contemptuous of them with great passion now that they have been driven back lusting into the storm of worldly affairs, and when they see them rolling about in what they should avoid as in the filthy swill of a sty, with wonder their mouths gape, and they gasp from the depths of their soul, and in their minds despair is generated. For in himself, as if giving up in a struggle, he says, 'Alas, alas, where shall I find my own salvation? Why would I escape peril by entering that order? In a moment both body and soul will be destroyed together. Certainly by my own will I should cast myself into the fire with open eyes. Who indeed more fervently than him at any time sought a monastery? Who, so it seemed, with more zeal hastened to be a soldier of Christ? Now indeed all the things which he vowed are forgotten while he is embroiled in worldly business, grasping at transient things, desiring the world, he whom mortified does not live differently from me. Certainly it is easy to change the outward appearance of the body, but in the soul he remains fixed in the evil state he was in. Why should I not find fault with the guides of his conduct? I have lost alone a fellow soldier in strife, but in the rest of earthly deeds I have not lost a friend. With me he pursues cases in court, with me he does not cease to give speeches for the judgement of the magistrates, with me he pushes into the courtyards of princes, with me he instills worldly counsels deeply into their ears.' Saint Peter Damian, On Contempt For The World, Chapter 10

Teaching And Learning

Docere autem Dominum eam, et sapientiam, et disciplinam Scriptura testatur. De temperantia in lege: de ceteris in libro Job, in quo scriptum est: Nonne Dominus est qui docet intellectum et disciplinam: Et in Evangelio Dominus ipse ait: Discite a me quia mitis sum et humilis corde. Et alibi ad  discipulos ait: Ite, docete omnes gentes, baptizantes eas in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti. Unde autem discipuli  dicti? Aut quid aliud a Christo nisi virtutum operari praecepta discebant? Denique David ait: Venite, filii, audite me, timorem Domini docebo vos. Utique timor Dei de numero virtutum est, quia initium sapientiae timor Domini, per quem asciscitur piae forma doctrinae, de qua Paulus ait: Gratias autem Deo quod fuistis servi peccati, sed obedistis ex corde in eam formam doctrinae, in qua traditi estis: liberati autem a peccato, servi facti estis justitiae. Doctrinam igitur facit ut possimus pervenire ad justitiam. Potest igitur acquiri justitia discendo. Itendamus igitur studio in formam Evangelicae doctinae. Minimum studii plerumque pro maximo habetur obedientia, quae in utramlibet partem propenderit, aut culpam adjungit, aut gratiam. Haec nos in primo Adam traxit ad mortem, haec nos in Adam secundo ad vitam vocavit. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Jacob et Vita Beata, Liber I, Caput III Source:  Migne PL 14.602b-d

To the teaching of the Lord, and wisdom and discipline, Scripture bears witness. Concerning temperance in the law, and otherwise in the book of Job in which it is written: 'Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and discipline?' 1 And in the Gospel the Lord Himself says, 'Learn from me for I am meek and humble in heart.' 2 And elsewhere he says to the disciples: 'Go, teach all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.' 3 From where are  the words of the disciples? Or what did they have from Christ unless they learn to practise the teachings of the virtues. David says: 'Come, sons, hear me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord.' 4 For the fear of the Lord is accounted among the number of the virtues, because the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord, 5 by which is acquired the beauty of pious teaching, concerning which Paul said: 'Thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you received in the obedience of your hearts that fair teaching into which you were brought, being freed from sin, made servants of righteousness.' 6 Therefore teaching makes it possible that one may come to righteousness. Therefore is is possible to acquire righteousness by learning. Let us attend then with diligence to the beauty of the Gospel's teaching. The least and the greatest obedience in this learning is of greatest consequence, for it will incline to one of two things, either to fault, or to grace. This is what dragged off the first Adam to death, this is what calls us to life in the second Adam. Saint Ambrose, from On Jacob and the Good Life, Book 1, Chapter 3 1 Job 33.16 2 Mt 11.29 3 Mt. 28.19 4 Ps 33.12 5. Ps 110.10 6. Rom 6.17-18

Counsel For Battle

Καλὸν μὲν τὸ πρό κινδύδνων ἐζῶσθαι τὴν ὀσφὸν, καὶ Θεῷ διακονεῖσθαι, καὶ βαλλειν τὰς ἐναντῖας φάλαγγας πίστει, ἀλλὰ μὴ ῥᾳθυμοῦντας καὶ ἐχθροῖς καὶ πολεμίοις ἐκκεῖσθαι· ἐπειδὴ εἰς τοῦτο προήλθομεν ἀβουλίας, ὥστε μηδὲ καιρὸν ἔχειν Θεῷ ἰερατεύειν, τῶν κυκλούντων κακῶν οὐ διδόν των ἄψασθαι τῶν μυντηρίων ὀργάνων· ἐπεὶ καὶ Φινεὲς σειρομάστῃ ἐχρήσατο, ὅτε Θεὸς παρωργίζετο.  Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Ἐπιστολὴ ΣΛΒ' Συνεσιῳ Ἐπισκοπῳ  Source: Migne PG 78.326c

Right it is to gird one's loins before dangers and to throw oneself into the opposing ranks with faith, but do not by thoughtlessness be exposed to a warring enemy, which one will advance to if one has not the good counsel and holy assistance of God, which does not allow an opening to the evils that encircle a servant in possession of his arms. Phineas was able to made good use of his weapon when God was scorned. 1 Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Letter 232, to the Bishop Synesius 1 Numb 25.6-8

The Tentmakers

...et inveniens quemdam Judæum nomine Aquilam, Ponticum genere, qui nuper venerat ab Italia, et Priscillam uxorem ejus, eo quod præcepisset Claudius discedere omnes Judæos a Roma, accessit ad eos. Et quia ejusdem erat artis, manebat apud eos, et operabatur. Erant autem scenofactoriæ artis. Quasi exsules in terra et peregrini, tentoria sibi, quibus in via utantur, aedificant; σκῆναι Graece tabernacula dicuntur, etymologiam ab obumbrando ducentia, apid quous umbra σκία dicitur, σκῆναι  autem vel σκήνωματα, quasi umbracula sonant, quae sagis laneis vel ligneis aut cilicinis, sive ex arborum frondibus aut virgultis veteres componebant. Mystice autem, sicut Petrus piscando, nos a fluctibus saeculi per retia fidei extrabit, ita Paulus umbracula protectionis erigendo, ab imbre nos criminum, ab ardore tentationum, et a ventis insidiarum verbo factisque defendit. Sanctus Beda, Super Acta Apostolorum Expositio, Caput XVIII Source:  Migne PL 92.981c

'...and Paul discovering a Jew named Aquila, who was born in Pontus, and who, with his wife Priscilla, had lately come from Italy, when Claudius decreed that all Jews should leave Rome, he paid them a visit, and since they practiced the same craft he stayed and worked with them. For they were tentmakers.' 1 As exiles and wanderers on the earth they constructed tents for themselves, which are useful on the way. Tents in Greek is 'skeenai', and etymologically the word is derived from 'giving shade', for shadow is 'skia 'in Greek, and 'skeenai' or 'skeenomata' means that which gives shade, things which in the past were made with strips of wool or wood or animal hides or from the leaves of trees and branches. Now mystically, as Peter was a fisherman who draws us up from the waves of the world with the net of faith, so Paul raises up a place of shade, that he may protect us from the rains of errors and the heat of trials and the winds of the deceitful, both in words and deeds. Saint Bede, Commentary on the Acts of The Apostles, Chap 18 1 Acts 18.2-3

Love And Truth

Ἰδου γὰρ ἀλήθειαν ἠγάπησας. Ὁ νοῦς οὖτος· Σὺ, φησὶ, Κύριε, ἀληθὴς ὦν καὶ ἀλήθειαν ἀγαπῶν, Βουλόμενος ἡμᾶς ἐν ἀληθείᾳ διάγειν, ἀποκαθαριεῖς ἡμᾶς τῆς ἀρχαίας ἁμαρτίας· καὶ οὗτως ἀποκαθαρίσεις ὡς ὑπὲρ χιόνα λευκανθῆναι· ἡ δὲ ἀποκάθαρσις ἡμῖν δι' ὑσσώπου γενήσεται· ὑσσώπῳ δὲ ἡ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐνέργεια ἀφομοιοῦται, θερμαίνουσα καὶ πάντα τὸν ἐν ἡμῖν ῥύπον ἀποσμήχουσα· ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἀποταξαμένου μου τῷ Σατανᾷ. Ἡγάπσηας. Σοφία μὲν τοῦ Πατρὸς δηλονότι ὁ Λόγος· ἅδηλα δὲ καὶ κρύφια τοῦ Λόγοῦ, ὁ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως Λόγος· καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις πᾶσιν ἀμελήσας ὠλίσθησα και κατέπεσον. Οὕτω δὲ, φησὶ, κρινεῖς· καὶ τοὺς μὲν κολάσεις, τοὺς δὲ στεφανώσεις, ἐπειδὴ τὴν ἀλήθειαν στέργεις· τὴν δὲ ἀλήθειαν στέργων, καὶ τῆς φύσεως εἰδὼς τὴν ἀσθέβειαν, μετάδος συγγνώμην τοῖς αἰτοῦσι τὰ φάρμακα· ὅτι σοφιστικῶς ἔξει γεγομνασμένος ἐπὶ θεωρίᾳ τῆς ἀληθείας· τὸ μέγεθος αὐτῆς γνοὺς, ἀγάπην πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἔσχε τελείαν· οἱ μὴ γὰρ τοῖς ψεύδεσιν ἐγγυμνασάμενοι, διορατικώτεροι γεγενημένοι καθορῶσι τῆς ἀληθείας τὸ ἀξιάγαστον κάλλος· οἶός ἐστι Μωῦσῆς καὶ Δανιήλ· μετὰ  γὰρ τὸ πειρασθῆναι σοφιστικῶν λόγων, ἐπ' αὐτὴν τὴν ἀληθῆ σοφίαν ἀναβάντες, ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ μαρτυρίαν ἔσχον, ὡς ὄντες τέλειοι σοφοί· δηλώσαντος αὐτοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ ἄδηλα καὶ κρύφια τῆς σοφίας αὐτοῦ, ὡς μνδὲν αῦτοῖς ἀσαφὲς ἢ ἀπεσκιασμένον εἶναι· ταύτης τῆς ἔξεως καὶ ὁ Δαυϊδ τυγχάνειν ... δια τοῦ προκειμένου στοίχου· Οὐ γὰρ μόνον με τοῖς βιωτικοῖς ἐνίδρυσας θώκοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ προφητικῆς ἡξίωσας χάριτος, καὶ τὰ μικρὸν ἐσόμενα προδεδήλωκας, καὶ τὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀπόῥῥητα ἐμοι δῆλα πεποίηκας, τήν τε τοῦ Μονογενοῦς σου ἐνανθρώπησιν, καὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐκεῖθεν τὴν σωτηρίαν.  Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαί Εἰς Εἰς Ψαλμους, Ψαλμός Ν' Source: Migne PG 17.137b-d

Behold, for you have loved truth 1 The meaning is this: You, he says, O Lord, since you are true, and a lover of truth, wishing us to live in truth, purify us from original sin and so purified we are whiter than snow, for our purification is done with hyssop, and hyssop is as the power of the Holy Spirit, a thing that warms, and all uncleanliness in us is cleansed: for, behold, you loved my renunciation of Satan. The wisdom of the Father is clearly the Son, and the uncertain and hidden things of the Word, the Incarnation of the Word, and neglecting these things,  slipping down, I have fallen. So indeed, he says, you make judgement, and some you castigate and some you crown, because you delight in the truth, and delighting in the truth, observing the infirmity of nature, you give the remedy of forgiveness to those who seek it, for sophisms are overturned by the insight of truth and when a man knows its greatness, he will love it perfectly; for a man will not be overturned by lies when he has been made clear sighted contemplating the wondrous beauty of truth, as were Moses and Daniel after they made trial of sophistic words, rising up to true wisdom, receiving witness from God that they were perfected in wisdom, God manifesting to them the uncertain and hidden things of His wisdom, that nothing be obscure to them, nor any covering of darkness remain; David discovered this extraordinary faculty ... in vile condition; for not only on a throne of the world have you placed me but you have even honoured me with the prophetic gift, and things to come you have made manifest, and things unknown to others you have made clear, like the Incarnation of the Only Begotten, and by that the salvation of the world. Origen, Fragments On the Psalms, Psalm 50 1 Ps 50.8

Salt And Teachers

Quod si sal evanuerit in quo salietur? Ac si aperte dicatur, si doctor erraverit, a quo doctore emendabitur? Vos estis, inquit, sal terrae. Quod si vos metu temporalium rerum aut concupiscentiarum affectu, emiseritis saporem sapientiae, qui erunt per quos vestrae fatuitatis insipientia et vitiorum error auferatur? Et notandum quod hujus sententiae propositio quasi solis apostolis dirigitur; sequens autem assumptio de cunctis qui magisterii censentur nomine, pronuntiatur, et in fine de universis concluditur. Nec dubium quin sal terrae vocentur per doctinae virtutem, qui saliendi officium susceperunt ad condiendas fidelium mentes, et corpora aeternae vitae verbo eruditionis servanda. Unde necesse est ut audiant temerarii, absque ullo falsitatis emolumento, hoc in loco quam terribilis evanescentibus in doctrina sacri officii sententia concluditur. Ad nihilum valet ultra, nisi ut mittatur foras, et conclucetur ab hominibus. Foras autem extra Ecclesiam, vel forte extra officium docendi, quia saporem non retinuit gratiae, mittendum significat. Quia, si vera comparatio salis secundum generis sui naturam pensatur, rigorem emolliendi, nulla manet argumentatio, eo quod, si evanuerit a sapore, nullis usibis ulterius aptus esse convincitur. Sed utrum de vita doctoris, an solum de doctrina, vel simul de utroque dicatur, non temere judicandum puto. Praesertim, cum alibi dictum sit: Super cathedram Moysi sederunt Scribae et Pharisaei. Omnia, inquit, quaecunque dixerint vobis servate et facite, secundum opera vero illorum nolite facere. Ecce hoc loco sanam eorum doctrinam commendat; agentibus ergo quis negat illa proficere, dum veritatis magister operibus quae praecipiuntur jubet servari? Verumtamen opera mandat non imitari, doctrinam vero eorum exsequi. Haud dubium quin deterrentis exemplo veritatis magistris Novi Testamenti, sicut et de justitia sensim Pharisaeorum ista conclusit: ne moribus impugnent quae verbis docuerint. Alioquin, licet habeat condimentum sanae doctrinae, et saporem verae sapientiae, tamen periculose ad docendum praesumit qui, sibi factus insulsus, alios vitiorum suorum fetore corrumpit; qui, etsi non ejiciatur foras, jam utique conculcatur ab omnibus, dum ejus vita contemnitur. Contemnitur autem recte, si talis est ut ad nihilum ultra valeat. Imo amisso saliendi sapore ne possit condire corrupta, proteritur pedibus subditorem. Caeterum sanctus et verus minister Christi, quamvis in terris multa sustineat et derideant eum mali, tamen conculcari non potest, quod mente fixus in coelo manet. Unde signanter apostolos Veritas praestruit, ne perceptam exinaniant in se sapientiam, ullius rei gratia aut timore aut concupiscentia aut torpore, sed maneant in soliditate salis semper reminiscentes hujus naturae sint, et quid ab opifice receperunt. Sanctus Paschasius Radbertus Corbeiensis, Expositio In Evangelium Matthaei, Liber III Cap V Source: Migne PL 120.232b-233b

'If the salt has lost its taste, how shall it be restored?' 1   As if it were openly said: if a teacher errs, by which teacher shall he be corrected? 'You are,' He said, 'the salt of the earth.' So if you lose the flavour of wisdom by care for transient things or by passion of desire, who are there by whom the unwisdom of your foolishness and the error of your faults shall be taken away? And let it be observed that the meaning of this passage, though given for the direction of the Apostles, may be taken as directed to all those who are referred to by the name of teacher and in the boundaries of that term enclosed. No doubt it is that they are called the salt of the earth on account of the virtue of their teaching, who take up the office of dispensing the salt for the flavouring of the souls of the faithful and the guarding of the body for eternal life by the learned word. Whence it is necessary that those who are reckless hear, apart from any deceitful advantage, in this place, how terrible it is to lose flavour in the teaching of the sacred office It has no use anymore, but to be cast out and crushed under the feet of men. 1 This casting out signifies outside the Church, or perhaps outside the office of teaching, and because a man has not held on to the flavour of grace. For if we consider this comparison with salt according to its nature, it adds nothing with its piquancy removed, and if it has lost its taste it has no other use. Now whether this is said concerning the life of the teacher, or only the teaching, or both of them together, I do not think I should be too bold to judge. Certainly, when it is said in another place: 'Upon the seat of Moses sit the Scribes and Pharisees. Everything which they say to you to keep and do, they do not do.' 2 Observe that in this passage the goodness of their teaching is commended, and therefore who will deny that the deeds of it are beneficial, when the teacher of truth commands that one keep the works which they bid? However, He commands that their works not be imitated, even if their teaching should be followed. By no means doubt that here is an example of a warning from the teacher of truth of the New Testament, when He speaks concerning the righteousness of the Pharisees, lest the disciples with their conduct impugn the words they teach. Indeed it is good to have the condiment of good teaching and the flavour of true wisdom, yet perilous it is that a man presumes to go to teaching who takes to foolish deeds, thus corrupting others with the fetor of his vices, he who even if he is not cast outside, is already trodden under foot by all, since his life is scorned. And rightly it is scorned, if he has no use anymore. For without the flavour of the salt he is not able to restore the corrupt and he is crushed under the feet of the inferior. On the other hand, the holy and true servant of Christ, although in the world he endures many things and he is mocked by the wicked, yet he is not able to be crushed, since his mind remains fixed in heaven. Whence as a matter of importance the Truth fortifies the Apostles beforehand, lest they invalidate the wise teaching in themselves by their pleasure for other things, or by fear, or by desire, or by indolence, but that they always maintain the unimpaired nature of the salt, mindful of their nature which they have received from their Maker. Saint Paschasius Radbertus, from the Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 3, Chap 5 1 Mt 5.13 2 Mt 23.2