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

31 Aug 2020

Prayer And Mercy

Apostoli: Obsecro vos per misericordiam Dei, etc.

Mira pietas, quae ut precetur, ut largiatur, exorat. Hodie namque beatus Apostolus non humana petenes, sed divina conferens, sic precatur: Obsecro vos, per misericordiam Dei. Medicus austeria remediae cum recipere persuadet aegrotos, agit preceibus, non compelllit imprerio, sciens infirmitatis, non voluntatis esse, quod salutaria respuit, quoties profutura repellit, infirmus. Et filium pater non potestate, sed amore ad rigorem pretrahit, disciplinae, non ignorans quam sit aspera immaturis sensibus disciplina. Et si corporalis infirmitas ad curam prceibus sic movetur, et si sic puerilis animus vix ad prudentiam ducitur blandimentis, quid mirum si Apostolus, qui semper est et meidcus et pater, humanas mentes morbis carnalibus sauciatas, ut ad remedia divina subrigat, sic precatur: Obsecro vos, per misericordiam Dei. Novum genus obsecrationis inducit. Quare non per virtutem? quare non per majestatem, non per gloriam Dei, sed per misericordiam Dei? Quia per ipsam solam Paulus et crimen persecutoris evasit, et apostolatus tanti adeptus est dignitatem: sicut ipse fatetur, dicens: Qui prius fui blasphemus et persecutor: et injuriosus, sed misericordiam Dei consecutus sum: Et iterum: Fidelis sermo et omni acceptione dignus: quia Christus in hunc mundum venit peccatores salvos facere quorum primus ego sum, sed misericordiam sum consecutus, ad exemplum omnium, qui credituri sunt illi in vitam aeternam. Obsecro, inquit, vos per misericordiam Dei. Rogat Pauus, immo per Paulum rogat Deus, quia plus amari bult quam timeri. Rogat Deus quia non tam Dominus esse vult quam pater. Rogat Deus per misericordiam, ne vindicet per rigorem. Audi rogantem Dominum: Tota die, inquit, expandi manus meas. Nonne qui expandit manus ipse habitu rogat? Expandu manus meas. Ad quem? ad populum. Et ad quem populum? Non tantum non credentem, sed contradicentem. Expandi manus meas. Distendit membra, dilatat viscera, pectus porrigit, offert sinum, gemium pandit, ut patrem se tantae obsecrationis demonstret affectu.

Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo Sermo CVIII

Source: Migne PL 52.499a-c
The Apostle says: 'I beg you by the mercy of God...' 1

Wondrous is the piety that pleads that it pray, that it give. For today the blessed Apostle does not seek human things, but bearing Divine things, so prays: 'I beg you by the mercy of God.' A physician, when he would have the sick receive a bitter medicine, pleads with them; he does not compel by command, knowing the unwillingness of their infirmity, that it will spit out salvation, as many times as weakness revolts at what benefits. And a father does not attract a son to the rigours of discipline by power but by love, aware that discipline is bitter to the immature mind. And if bodily infirmity is so moved to a cure by pleas, and if a youth's soul is led to prudence by blandishments, why wonder if the Apostle, who is always a physician and father, so prepares wounded souls for the Divine medicine as is done with bodily sickness, and so prays: 'I beg you by the mercy of God.' He introduces a new type of prayer. Why not by virtue? Why not by the majesty and the glory of God, but by the mercy of God? Because by that alone Paul escaped the crime of the persecutor and was made worthy of the Apostolic dignity. So he admits, saying: 'I who was once a blasphemer and persecutor and harmful, but the mercy of God came upon me.' And again: 'Faithful is the word and worthy of all reception, because Christ came into this world to save sinners, of which I was the foremost, but His mercy came upon me, to be an example to all, who shall be believers in Him unto eternal life.' 2 'I beg you,' he says, 'by the mercy of God.' Paul asks, or rather God asks through Paul, because He wishes to be loved more than feared. God asks because He wishes not so much to be a 'lord' as to be a father. God asks through mercy, that he not strike with severity. Hear the request of the Lord: 'All day,' He says, 'I have opened my hands.' 3 And is it not that he who opens his hand adopts the form of requesting? 'I opened my hands.' To whom? To the people. And to which people? Not only to those who believe but to those who do not. I opened my hands, I stretched out my arms, I exposed my chest, I offered my heart, I gave my lap, I released my groans, that He show Himself by such a prayer to have the love of a father.

Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 108

1 Rom 12.1
2 1 Tim 1.13-16
3 Isaiah 65.2

30 Aug 2020

Man's Freedom


Illud autem, quod ait: Quoties volui colligere filios tuos et noluisti? veterem legem libertatis hominis manifestavit: quia liberum eum Deus fecit ab initio, habentem suam potestatem, sicut et suam animam ad utendum sententia Dei voluntarie, et non coactum a Deo. Vis enim a Deo non fit, sed bona sententia adest illi semper. Et propter hoc consilium quidem bonum dat omnibus. Posuit autem in homine potestatem electionis, quemadmodum et in angelis, etenim angeli rationabiles; uti hi quidem qui obedissent, juste bonum sint possidentes, datum quidem a Deo, servatum vero ab ipsis. Qui autem non obedierunt, juste non invenientur cum bono, et meritam poenam percipient: quoniam Deus quidem dedit benigne bonum, ipsi vero non custodierunt diligenter illud, neque pretiosum arbitrati sunt, sed supereminentiam bonitatis contempserunt. Abjicientes igitur bonum, et quasi respuentes, merito omnes justum judicium incident Dei quemadmodum et apostolus Paulus in ae epistola quae est ad Romanos, testificatus est dicens ita: An divitas bonitatis ejus, et patientiae, et longanimitatis contemnnis, ignorans quoniam bonitas Dei ad poenitentiam te adducit? Secundum autem durititiam tuam et cor impoenitens thesaurizas tibimetipsi iram in die irae, et revelationis justi judicii Dei. Gloria autem et honor, inquit, omni operanti bonum. Dedit ergo Deus bonum, quemadmodum et Apostolus testificatur in eadem epistola: et qui operantur quidem illud, gloriam et honorem percipient, quoniam operati sunt bonum, cum possint non operari illud; hi autem qui illud non operantur, judicium justum excipient Dei, quoniam non sunt operati bonum, cum possint operari illud. Si autem naturaliter quidam boni, quidam vero mali facti fuissent, neque hi laudabiles essent qui boni sunt, tales enim facti fuerant; sed neque illi vituperabiles, et ipsi enim tales fuerant instituti. Sed quoniam omnes ejusdem sunt naturae, et potentes retinere et operari bonum, et potentes rursum amittere id, et non facere, juste etiam apud homines sensatos, quanto magis apud Deum, alii quidem percipiunt testimonium electionis bonae et perserverantiae; alii vero accusantur, et dignum percipiunt damnum, eo quod justum et bonum reprobaverint. Et ideo prophetae quidem hortatur homines justitiam agere, bonumque operari, sicut per multa ostendimus: quia in nobis sit hoc, et propter multam negligentiam in oblivionem inciderimus, et consilio egeamus bono, propter quod bonus Deus praestavit bonum consilium per prophetas. Propter hoc autem et Dominus: Luceat lumen vestrum, dicebet, coram hominibus, ut videant bona facta vestra, et clarificent Patrem vestrum qui in coelis est. Et: Attendite vobis, ne forte graventur corda vestra in crapula, et ebrietate, et sollicitudinibus saecularibus. Et: Sint lumbi vestri praecincti, et lucernae ardentes, et bos similis hominibus exspectandibus dominum suum, quando revertatur a nuptiis, ut cum venerit et pulsaverit, aperiant ei. Beatus servus ille, quem, cum venerit dominus ejus, inverit ita facientem. Et iterum: Servus qui scit voluntatem domini sui, et non facit, vapulabit multas. Et: Quid mihi dicitis: Domine, Domine, et non facitis quae dico? Et iterum: Si autem dicat servus in corde suo: Tardat dominus meus: et incipiat caedere conservos, et manducare, et bibere, et inebriari; veniet dominus ejus in die qua non sperat, et dividet eum, et partem ejus cum hypocritis ponet. Et omnes talia, quae liberum et suae potestatis ostendunt hominem, et quia consilio instruat Deus, adhortans nos ad subjectionem sibi et avertens ab incredulitate, non tamen de violentia cogens.

Sanctus Ireneaus Lugdunensis, Adversus Haereses, Lib IV Caput XXXVII

Source: Migne PG 7.1099b-1101c

That which the Lord said, 'How often would I have gathered your children together, and you would not,' 1 exhibited the ancient law of human liberty, because God made man free from the beginning, having his own power, even as he has his own soul, to obey the counsels of God voluntarily, and not by compulsion of God. For there is no coercion with God, but good counsel is present with Him continually. And on account of this He gives good counsel to all. And He has placed the power of choice in man, as well as in angels, for angels are rational beings, so that those who had been obedient might justly be possessors of what is good, given certainly by God, but preserved by themselves. But they who have not obeyed, who are not found to be in possession of the good, shall with justice receive worthy punishment: for God did kindly give them a good, but they  did not diligently guard it, nor judge it precious, but were contemptuous of His super-eminent goodness. Rejecting, therefore, the good, and as it were spitting it out, they shall all deservedly incur the just judgment of God, to which things the Apostle Paul also testifies to in his letter to the Romans, saying, 'But do you despise the riches of His goodness, and patience, and long-suffering, being ignorant that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? For according to your hardness and impenitent heart, you store for yourself wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.'  2 'But glory and honour,' he then says, 'to every one that does good.' 3 God therefore has given that which is good, as the Apostle bears witness in this Epistle, and they who do it shall receive glory and honour, because they have done good when they were able not to do it; but those who do not do it, shall receive the just judgment of God, because they did not do good when they were able to do so. For if some had been made by nature good, and some wicked, neither would the former be deserving of praise for being good, for so were they created, nor would the latter be reprehensible, for so they were made. But since all men are of the same nature and able both to adhere to the good and to do it, and, again to cast it from them and not to do it, some justly receive praise even among civilised men, and much more from God, and obtain deserved testimony of their choice of good in general and of perseverance; but the others are blamed and receive a just condemnation because of their rejection of what is just and good. And therefore the Prophets used to exhort men to what was good, to act righteously and to do good, as we have amply demonstrated, because it is in him to do it, and because by excessive negligence we might fall into forgetfulness, and thus be in need of that good counsel which the good God has fulfilled by means of the Prophets. For this reason the Lord also said, 'Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.' 4 And, 'Have care for yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts be weighed down with overindulgence, and drunkenness, and worldly cares.' 5 And, 'Let your loins be girded, and your lamps lit, and be like men who wait for their Lord, when He is to come from a wedding, that when He comes and knocks, they may open to Him. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He comes, shall find so doing.' 6 And again, 'The servant who knows his Lord's will and does not do it, shall be beaten with many blows.' 7 And, 'Why say to me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not the things I say?' 8 And again, 'But if the servant say in his heart: The Lord delays, and he begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat, and drink, and to be drunken, his Lord will come on a day on which he does not expect, and He shall cut him off and appoint his portion with the hypocrites.' 9 All such passages exhibit that the will of man is of his own power, and that God gives counsel, exhorting us to submit ourselves to Him, and to turn us away from disbelief, without, however, by violence forcing us.
 
Saint Ireneaus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book 4, Chapter 37

1 Mt 23.37
2 Rom 2.4-5
3 Rom 2.7
4 Mt 5.16
5 Lk 21.34
6 Lk 12.35-36
7 Lk 12.47
8 Lk 6.46
9 Lk 12.45-46, Mt 24.48-51
 

29 Aug 2020

Hope's Source


Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, ἐπὶ σοὶ ἤλπισα, σῶσόν με.

Νομιζόμενον ἁπλοῦν εἶναι καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ τυχόντος ὑγιῶς ἀναφέρεσθαι δύνασαθαι τὸ, Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, ἐπὶ σοὶ ἤλπισα, σῶσόν με, τάχα οὐ τοιοῦτον ἐστιν. Ὁ γὰρ ἐπ' ἄνθρωπον ἐλπίζων, ἢ ἐπ' ἄλλο τι τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον μετεωρὶζόμενος, οἷον ἐπὶ δυναστείαν, ἤ χρήματα, ἤ τι τῶν παρὰ τοϊς πολλοῖς νομιζομένων εἶναι λαμπρῶν, οὐ δύναται εῑπεῖν· Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, ἐπὶ σοὶ ἤλπισα. Παράγγελμα γάρ ἐστι, μὴ ἐλπίζειν ἐπ' ἄρχοντας· και, Ἐπικατάρατος ἄνθρωπος, ὂς τὴν ἐλπιδα ἔχει ἐπ' ἄνθρωπον. Ὥσπερ οὐδὲ σέβειν ἄλλο τι παρὰ τὸν Θεὸν προσῆκεν, οὕτως οὐδὲ ἐπὶ ἄλλον ἐλπίζειν ἤ ἐπὶ τὸν Θεὸν τῶν πάντων Κύριον. Ἐλπὶς γάρ μου, φησὶ, καὶ ὕμνησίς μου ὁ Κύριος.


Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Εἰς Τον Ζ' Ψαλμον

Source: Migne PG 29.232a-b

'O Lord, my God, in you I have hoped, save me.' 1

It may be thought that this is a simple matter and that at any time a man can raise up his voice with: 'O Lord, my God, in you I have hoped, save me,' yet perhaps it is not so. For he who hopes in men, or who is borne up by something of this life, on account of power, or wealth, or some other thing like this, which are deemed estimable things by many, is not able to say, 'Lord, my God, in you I have hoped.' For it is commanded that we should not hope in princes 2 and that cursed is the man who trusts in man. 3 Thus just as nothing but God should be worshipped, so in nothing else but in God the Lord of all things should one's hope repose. 'My hope,' he said, 'and my song is the Lord.' 4


Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 7

1 Ps 7.2
2 Ps 145.2

3 Jer 17.5
4 Ps 70. 5,6

28 Aug 2020

Hope And Preparation


De hoc audistis modo Evangelium, quid monuerit nos, cautos nos faciens, et volens esse expeditos et paratos ad exspectanda novissima: ut post novissima, quae sunt in hoc saeculo metuenda, succedat requies, quae non habet finem. Beati qui participes facti fuerint. Erunt autem tunc securi, qui modo non sunt securi: et iterum tunc timebunt, qui modo timere nolunt. Ad hanc exspectationem et propter hanc spem christiani facti sumus. Nonne spes nostra est de hoc saeculo? Non amemus saeculum. Ab amore saeculi huius vocati sumus, ut aliud saeculum speremus et diligamus. In hoc abstinere nos debemus ab omnibus illicitis concupiscentiis, hoc est, lumbos accinctos habere debemus: et fervere et lucere in operibus bonis, hoc est, lucernas ardentes habere. Dixit enim ipse Dominus discipulis suis alio loco Evangelii: Nemo accendit lucernam, et ponit eam sub modio, sed super candelabrum, ut luceat omnibus qui in domo sunt. Et ut ostenderet unde dicebat, subiecit et ait: Sic luceat lumen vestrum coram hominibus, ut videant bona facta vestra, et glorificent Patrem vestrum qui in coelis est.  Ideo lumbos nostros accinctos esse voluit, et lucernas ardentes. Quid est, lumbos accinctos? Declina a malo. Quid est lucere? quid est lucernas ardentes habere? Hoc est: Et fac bonum. Quid est quod adiunxit et ait: Et vos similes estote hominibus exspectantibus dominum suum quando veniat a nuptiis: nisi quod in illo psalmo sequitur: Inquire pacem, et sequere eam ? Haec tria, hoc est, abstinentia a malo, et operatio boni, et spes praemii aeterni, commemorata sunt in Actibus Apostolorum, ubi scriptum est, Quia docebat eos Paulus de continentia, de iustitia, et spe vitae aeternae. Ad continentiam pertinet: Sint lumbi vestri accincti. Ad iustitiam pertinet: Et lucernae ardentes. Ad exspectationem Domini pertinet, quae est spes vitae aeternae. Ergo: Declina a malo, haec est continentia, hi sunt lumbi accincti: Et fac bonum, haec est iustitia, hae sunt lucernae ardentes: Quaere pacem et sequere eam, haec est exspectatio futuri saeculi: ergo: Similes estote hominibus expectantibus dominum suum quando veniat a nuptiis.

Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, Sermo CIX, De Verbis Evangelii 'Sint lumbi vestri accincti et Lucernae Ardentes'

Source: Migne PL 38.441
Concerning the words of the Gospel, 'Let your loins be girded and your lamps lit', 1 the reason He has warned us to be cautious, even wishing us to be eager and prepared for the expectation of last things, is that after them, which in this world must be feared, we may come to the peace which has no end. Blessed are they who are made sharers of this. They indeed shall be secure who were not yet secure, but they shall fear who had not yet feared. To this expectation and on account of this hope we are made Christians. Is our hope in this world? Let us not love the world. 2 From the love of this world we are called, that we hope for and love another world. Because of this we should withdraw ourselves from every unlawful desire, that is, we should have our loins girded, and be fervent and bright in good deeds, that is, we should have our lamps lit. For the Lord said to His disciples in another place in the Gospel, 'No one lights a lamp and places it beneath a bushel, but on a stand, that it give light to everything in the house. ' 3 And that He might show why He said it, He then adds, 'That your light shine out before men, and they see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is heaven.' 4 So he wanted our loins to be girded and our lamps to be lit. And what is it to have the loins girded? 'To decline from evil.' 3 And what is it to shrine? What is it to have lamps lit? It is: 'to do good'. 5 And why did He then say, 'And you be like men waiting for their lord when he is to come from a wedding.' 6 unless for that which follows in the Psalm: 'Seek peace and follow it.' 5 These three, that is, abstinence from evil, and the doing of good, and the hope of eternal reward, are commemorated in the Acts of the Apostles when it is written: 'Because Paul taught them continence, righteousness and hope of eternal life.' 7 Now to continence pertains: 'Gird your loins.' To righteousness pertains: 'Lamps lit.' To waiting for the Lord pertains: 'hope of eternal life.' Therefore, decline from evil, that is, be continent, gird your lions. And do good, that is, be righteous, and have the lamp lit. And seek peace and follow it, which is the expectation of the coming world. Thus be like men awaiting their lord when he comes from the wedding feast.

Saint Augustine of Hippo, from Sermon 108, On The Words of the Gospel, 'Let your loins be girded and your lamps lit.'

1 Lk 12.35 
2 1 Jn 2.15
3 Mt 5.15
4 Mt 5.16
5 Ps 33.15
6 Lk 12.36
7 Acts 24.25

27 Aug 2020

The Giving Of Faith




Fides igitiur et inchoata, et perfecta, donum Dei est, et hoc donum quibusdam dari, quibusdam non dari dubitet qui non vult manifestissimis sacis litteris repugnare.

Hoc qui non recipit, cujus videtur esse sententiae, nisi dicentis: Fides per quam justificor, ex me est; et hoc bonum, ex quo justus vivit, non accepit per gratiam, sed habeo naturam? Si ergo fides donum Dei non est, frustra Ecclesia pro non credentibus orat, ut credant, et sufficit impiis magisterium legis adhiberi, de qua dictum est, Si ex lege justitiia, ergo Christus gratis mortuus est: quod similiter dici potest etiam de natura. Frustra etiam Apostolus gratias agit Deo pro his qui Evangelium receperunt, cum hoc secundum Pelagianos non Dei est praesitum munere, sed ex sola habeatur hominum voluntate; et frustra quibusdam precatur idem Apostolus, ut sit eis pax et charitas sum fide, a Deo Patre et Domino Jesu Christo, ut jam non solum de fide, sed etiam pace et charitate, superbia haereticorum convincatur dicere, de propiro se has habere virtutes, Quod si haec ex homine sunt, quid obest ut non ex semetipso habeat et caetera bona quae inferiora sunt; cum audeat sibi deputare quae summa sunt, et sine quibus alia, quamvis multa et clara, non prosunt? Non potest itaque merito refutari quod dictum est: Fides igitur et inchoata, et perfecta, donum Dei est: quia eadam et Apostoli vox est dicentis: Gratia salvi facti estis per fidem; et hoc non ex vobis, Dei enim donum est, non ex operibus, ne forte quis extollatur; et: Vobis donatum est pro Christo, non solum ut in eum credatis, sed etiam ut patiamini pro eo: et iterum: Per patientiam curramus ad propositum nobis certamen, aspicientes in auctorem fidei, et consummatorem Jesum. Quibus et plurimis aliis testimoniis divinarum Scripturarum indubitanter agnoscitur quoniam, sicut ab hoc viro definitum est, Fides et inchoata, et perfecta, donum Dei est, et hoc donum, inquit, quibusdam dari, quibusdam non dari dubitat qui non vult manifestissimis sacis litteris repugnare; non putemus hoc veraciter dictum, si omnes homines fideles sunt: sed cum alii credant, aliis vero non credant, dicatque Apostolus, Non enim omnium est fides; quis non videat fidem, quam acceperunt qui habent, non accepisse qui non habent?


Prosperus Aquitanus, Pro Augustino Responsiones


Source: Migne PL 51.193b-194a
Faith therefore in its beginning and in its perfection is a gift of God, and that this gift is given someone, or not given, let no one doubt if he wishes not to be in most manifest opposition to the Sacred Scriptures.' 1 

He who does not receive this, does he not seems to be of the opinion, that he says: 'The faith by which I am justified is from me, and this good by which the righteous man lives 1 is not received through grace but I have it in my nature?' If therefore faith is not a gift of God, vainly does the Church pray for those who do not believe, that they believe, and it suffices that the impious adhere to the teaching of the Law, concerning which is is said: 'If righteousness is from the law, therefore Christ died for nothing,' 3 which is similar to say that it is from nature. Vainly indeed the Apostle gave thanks to God for those who have received the Gospel,4 when according to the Pelagians is it not of God to give the gift, but it comes to be from the will of man alone; and vainly the same Apostle prays for them that they may have peace and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 5 as already not only concerning faith, but even peace and love, the pride of the heretics is convicted to say that they have these virtues form themselves. For if these things are from man, what prevents that he not possess from himself other goods which are inferior, when he would dare assert that the things that are greatest, and without which the others, although great and fair, do not profit? It is not possible, therefore, for it to be worthily refuted, when it is said, 'Faith therefore in its beginning and its perfection is the gift of God,' because the same voice of the Apostle says: 'By grace you are saved through faith and this is not from us but it is a gift of God; not from works, lest perhaps someone praise himself.' 6 And: To you a gift is given for Christ, not only that you believe in Him but even that you suffer for Him.' 7 And again, 'By endurance we run to the contest set for us, our eyes on the author of faith and the perfect Jesus.' 8 By which, and by other testimonies, the Divine Scriptures undoubtedly acknowledge that, as by this man it is defined, 'Faith in its beginning and perfection is a gift of God, and this gift, he says, given to someone or not given, let not anyone doubt at all who does not wish to be in most manifest opposition to the Sacred Scriptures,' which we may not think correctly said if all men are faithful; but that some believe and some do not believe, let the Apostle tell: 'For not all are faithful.' 9 Who may not see the faith which they have received who have it, and which they have not received do not have it?

Saint Prosper of Aquitaine, Answers For Augustine

1 Aug Predestination of the Saints 1.8
2 Habac 2.4
3 Gal 2.21
4 2 Thes 2.12
5 Ephes 6.23
6 Ephes 2.28
7 Philip 1.29
8 Hebr 12.1
9 2 Thes 3.2

26 Aug 2020

The Grace of Flight


Τοσαύτην χάριν ὁ Θεὸς καὶ πρὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος τοῦ μέλλοντος τοῖς μοναχοῖς ἐδωρήσατο, ὥστε τούτους μὲν μὴ θέλειν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην δόξαν, μήτ' ἐπιθυμεῖν τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ παντοίων ἀξιωμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ κρύπτεσθαι πολλάκις, καὶ σπουδάζειν μᾶλλον λανθάνειν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους διὰ τὸ ἐγκαταμίξαι ἐκουσίως ἑαυτοὺς τοῖς εὐτελέσι καὶ ἐξουδενωμένοις τῶν ἀδελφῶν· πολλοὺς δὲ μεγιστᾰνας, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ἐν κόσμῳ ἀξίαν, εἴθ' ἑκουσίως, εἴτ' ἀβουλήτως διά τινος περιστατάσεως προσφεύγειν τοῖς ταπεινοῐς μοναχοῖς, καὶ λυροῦσθαι μὲν κινδύνων θανατηφόρων, σωτηρίας δὲ, καὶ προσκαίρου, καὶ αἰωνίου τυγχάνειν. Ἡ γὰρ θεία πρόνοια συνωθεϊ τοὺς δυνάστας, ἑκόντας τε καὶ ἄκοντας, προσφεύγειν τοῖς ἐλαχίστοις, καὶ σώζεσθαι.

Ἅγιος Νειλος,Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ Α', Πτολεμαιῳ Συνκλητικῳ

Source: Migne PG 79.81a-b
Such grace before the future age God has given to monks that neither do they wish for human glory, nor desire any honour in the world, but to be often hidden and to be eager rather to be forgotten by men, mixing of their own free will with the vile and most despicable brothers. And yet many great men, conspicuous with worldly glories, either by their own will, or unwillingly on account of something that they must flee, fly to humble monks, and so are ransomed from fatal dangers unto salvation, both now and forever. For the Divine providence compels the powerful, the willing and the unwilling, to flee to the least, that they be saved.

Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 1, To Ptolemaeus 


25 Aug 2020

Fear And Service



Subjecti invicem in timore Christi

Audiant haec episcopi, audiant presbyteri, audiat omnis ordo doctorum: subjectis suis se esse subjectos, et imitentur dicentem Apostloum: Cum enim essem liber ex omnibus meipsum servum feci, ut omnes lucrifacerem. Et in alio loco: Per charitatem servite invicem. Unde et ipse eadem charitate omnibus gentium servivit Ecclesiis. Salvator quoque formam servi accepit, ut serviret discipulis suis, et pedes eorum lavit. Hoc interest inter Gentium principes et Christianorum, quod illi dominantur subditis, nos servimus, et in eo majores sumus, si minimi omnium fuerimus. Sed et hoc quod ait: In timore Christi, sic accipiendum, ut ipsa subjectio non propter hominum gloriam, sed propter timorem Christi fiat, dum illum, timemus offendere. Alius vero sic interpretabitur: subjecti invicem in timore Christi: ut hanc sententiam generalem in consequentibus dividi dicat atque partiri: Mulieres viris suis subditae sint; et: Filii, obedite parentibus; et: Servi, obedite dominis carnalibus cum timore et tremore: ut non solum uxor viro, et filii parentibus, et servi dominis; sed etiam viri  mulieribus, juxta officium quod praeceptum est; et patres filiis, ne illos ad iracundiam provocent: et domini servis, ut remittant minas, et praebeant his quae habent necessaria, invicem sint subjecti: et hoc ex Christi timore faciant: ita quomodo servis suis fuit ille subjectus: sic et hi qui majores videntur, subjiciantur minoribus suis reddendo officia quae jubentur. Possumus hic timorem et pro εὐλαβεία, id est, reverentia accipere, quae magis vicina est charitati. Nequaquam enim convenit Ephesiis, ut timore quid faciant, et non dilectione Christi.


Sanctus Hieronimus, Commentarius In Epistolam Ad Ephesios, Lib III, Cap V

Source Migne PL 26 530a-c 
Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. 1

Let bishops hear this, let priests hear this, let every type of teacher hear this: be subject to your subjects and imitate the saying of the Apostle, 'For when I was free from everything I made myself a servant that I might profit all.' 2 And in other place, 'In love serve one another.' 3 Whence even he with the same charity served the churches of every nation. The Saviour also took on the form of a servant, that he serve His disciples, and He washed their feet. Let this be of concern to the princes of of the nations and Christians, they who rule over their subjects: we serve, and in that we are greater, if we are the least of all. And then when it is said, 'In the fear of Christ,' it should be understood that this subjection is not on account of the greatness of men but of the fear of Christ, that we fear to offend him. However, it may be understood in another manner: be subject to one another in the fear of Christ, and that this in a general sense pertains to dividing and sharing. Let women be subject to their husbands, and let sons be obedient to their fathers, and let servants be obedient to their worldly masters in fear and trembling, and not only a wife to a husband, and children to parents, and servants to masters, but even husbands to wives, according to the duty which is commanded them, and fathers to sons, lest they provoke them to anger, and masters to servants, that they be done with threats and give to them the needed things that they have. Thus are they subject to one another, and this from the fear of Christ, that as He was subject to His servants, so even these who seem greater are subject to their inferiors, returning the duties which are commanded. We can here understand fear as 'eulabeia', that is, reverence, which is nearer to love. For by no means does it befit the Ephesians that they should act in fear, and not in the love of Christ.



Saint Jerome, Commentary on The Letter to the Ephesians, Book 3, Chapter 5

1 Ephes 5.21

2 1 Cor 9.19
3 Gal 5.13
4 cf Ephes 5.22-6.9

24 Aug 2020

An Absence Of Priests


Sed nec in illo, fratres dilectissimi, aliqua potest aut religionis, aut fidei jactura sentiri, quod illic nunc sacerdotibus Dei datur offerendi et celebrandi sacrificia divina. Celebratis imo atque offertis sacrificium Deo et pretiosum pariter et gloriosum, et plurimum vobis ad retributionem praemiorum coelestium; cum scriptura divina loquatur et dicat: Sacrificium contribulatus, cor contritum et humiliatum Deus non despicit. Hoc vos sacrificium Deo offertis, hoc sacrificium sine intermissione die ac nocte celebratis, hostiae facti Deo, et vosmetipsos sanctas atque immaculatas victimas exhibentes, sicut Apostolus adhortatur et dicit: Oro ergo vos fratres per misericordiam Dei, ut constituatis  corpora vestra hostiam vivam, sanctam, placentem Deo; nec configuremini seculo huic, sed transformamini in renovatione sensus, ad probandum quae sit voluntas Dei  bona et placens, et perfecta. Hoc est enim quod praecipue Deo placeat: hoc est, in quo majoribus meritis ad promerendam voluntatem Dei opera nostra proveniant: hoc est, quod solum Domino de beneficiis ejus grandibus et salutaribus fidei ac devotionis nostrae obsequia retribuant, praedicante in Psalmis et contestante Spiritu sancto: Quid retribuam, inquit,  Domino pro omnibus quae tribuit mihi? Calicem salutaris accipiam, et nomen Domini invocabo. Pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors justorum ejus. Quis non libenter et promte calicem salutis accipiat? Quis non appetat gaudibundus et laetus, in quo aliquid et ipse Domino suo retribuat? Quis non pretiosam in conspectu Domini mortem fortiter et constanter excipiat; placiturus ejus oculis, qui nos in congressione nominis sui desuper spectans, volentes comprobat, adjuvat dimicantes, vincentes coronat, retributione bonitatis ac pietatis paternae remunerans in nobis quidquid ipse praestitit, et honorans quod ipse perfecit?

Sanctus Cyprianus, Epistola LXXVII Ad Nemesianum et Caeteros Martyras in Metallo Constitutos

Source: Migne PL 4.417a-418a
But not in that, beloved brethren, can there be felt any loss of either religion or faith, because now there is no opportunity for God's priests to celebrate the divine sacrifices; rather you celebrate and offer a sacrifice to God equally precious and glorious, and which will greatly profit you in the giving of heavenly rewards, since the sacred Scripture speaks, saying, 'The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God does not despise.' 1 You offer this sacrifice to God; you celebrate this sacrifice without pause day and night, being made victims to God, and exhibiting yourselves as holy and unspotted offerings, as the Apostle exhorts and says, 'I beseech you, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. Do not conform to this world, but be transformed in the renewal of your mind, that you know what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.' 2 For this is that which is especially pleasing to God; this is that in which our works attain to the earning of God's good will with greater rewards; this is that which alone the obedience of our faith and devotion can return to the Lord for His great and saving benefits, as in the Psalms the Holy Spirit declares and witnesses: 'What shall I return,' He says, 'to the Lord for all His benefits to me? I will take up the cup of salvation, and I will invoke the name of the Lord. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His righteous ones.'3 Who would not gladly and readily receive the cup of salvation? Who would not with joy and gladness desire that by which he himself may return something to His Lord? Who would not bravely and without flinching receive a death precious in the sight of the Lord, to please His eyes, who, looking down from above on us who are placed in the conflict for His name, approves the willing, assists those who struggle, and crowns the conquering with the recompense of patience, goodness, and affection, rewarding in us whatever He has given, and honouring what He has accomplished?


Saint Cyprian of Carthage, from Letter 76, to Nemesianus and the Other Martyrs in the Mines


1 Ps 50.18
2 Rom 12.1, Phil 3.21

3 Ps 115.12, 13,15 

23 Aug 2020

A Bishop And His People


Deberem, fratres, post hos complures dies aliquid uberius praedicare, et revertens a tanto examine sacerdotum, dulci nos sermone reficere. Bene dixi examine sacerdotum; quia sicut apes de divinarum Scripturarum flosculis suavia mella conficiunt, et quidquid ad medicinam perinet animarum oris sui arte componunt; recte comparantur apibus sacerdotes; quia sicut apes castitatem corporis praeferunt, cibum vitae coelestis exhibent, aculeum legis exercent; puri enim ad sanctification, suaves ad refectionem, serveri sunt ad ultionem. Apibus plane sunt comparandi, qui velut alveario quodam gratia matris Ecclesiae continentur, in qua diversorum meritorm cellulas dulcissimus praedicationibus componentes, de uno Salvatoris examine Christianorum examine multa producunt. Cum semper, fratres, non cessaverim vos paterna pietate corripere, miror nihil vos meis commonitionibus profecisse, et doleo quod frequens praedicato mea non vos profecto aliquo salutis corrigat, sed quadam contestationis poena constringat. Praedication enim sacerdotis in plebe salvandis est correctio, et contestatio judicandis; contestamur enim illis ante judicium, quod illos maneat in ipse judicio, ut tunc omni excusatione submota, et rei sint de peccatis et obnoxii de contemptu. Unde et ego interdum parcens vobis tacere velim: sed malo vos contumaciae causas reddere, quam me negligentiae sustinere judicium. Comperi enim, fratres, quod per absentiam meam ita rari quique ad ecclesiam veniatus, ita pauci admodum procedatis, quasi me proficiscente, mecum pariter veneritis, et quasi cum necessitatibus ego pertrahor, vos mecum traxerit ipsa necessitas. Pariter a domo Dei absentes summus; sed hoc interest, quod me absentem necessitas efficit, vos voluntas. Nescitis quia etsi ego  ab ecclesia desum, Christus ab Ecclesia sua, qui est ubique, non deest? Venis, frater, ad ecclesiam, non invenis ibi episcoporum Episcopum Salvatorem? Nam Christianus qui tunc tantum procedit ad ecclesiam quando episcopus praesens est, non tam Dei causa videtur processisse quam hominis; nec implesse Christiani timentibus officium, sed amici deferentis obsequium. Quid ergo, vos arguo, cum possitis me uno sermo convicere? Convincor enim, cum in hac parte clericus vobis magis video negligentes. Quomodo enim possum corrigere filios, cum fratres, emendare non possim? Aut qua fiducia succenseam laicis, cum a consortibus pudoris verecundia continesca. Ego autem, fratres, non de omnibus loquor. Sunt certe quidam devoti, sunt et alii negligentes: ego neminem nomino, conscientia sua unumquemque conveniat.

Sanctus Maximus Taurinensis, Homilia CXII, Increpatio ad Populum de Absentia Sua ab Ecclesia

Source: Migne PL 57.515a -516b
I should, brothers, after these many days, preach to you something fruitful, and returning from a great swarm of priests, refresh us with sweet speech. And well have I said a swarm of priests, because like bees they make sweet honey from the flowers of Divine Scriptures, and whatever pertains to the medicine of souls they compose with the art of their mouths. And rightly are priests compared to bees, because like bees they prefer chastity of body, and exhibit the food of heavenly life, and exert themselves with the sting of the law. For purity is for sanctification and sweetness for refreshment and severity for punishment. And clearly they are compared to bees because their cells contain the grace of mother church, in which are established cells of different merits for sweet preaching, concerning the one swarm of the Saviour which produced the many swarms of Christians. When I do not cease, brothers, to correct you in paternal piety, I wonder that you have not be improved by my chastisements, and I grieve that my frequent preaching does not set you straight to improvement for salvation but it binds you with a certain penalty of witness. For the preaching of the priest is for the correction of the people for salvation, and witness is for judgement, and we bear witness to them before judgement, which shall remain with them in the same judgement when every excuse is removed and they are exposed concerning sin and contempt. From which I have sometimes spared you, choosing to be silent,  but to return to the causes of the evil of your contumacy, which imposes on me the judgement of negligence, know, brothers, that during my absence rare was attendance at church, thus few of you advanced to any extent, as at my departure you came so far with me, and as by necessities I am driven, the same necessity dragged you along with me. We were equally absent from the house of God, but with this difference, that my absence was on account of necessity, yours by your own will. Do you not know that even if I am absent from the Church, Christ is not absent from His Church, He who is everywhere? You come, brother, to Church and do not find the saving shepherd of the shepherds? The Christian who goes to church only when the bishop is present, seems to come not on account of God but man, nor does he fulfill the duty of the reverent Christian who defers to the demands of friendship. Why, then, do I dispute with you, when you can convict me with a word? And I am convicted, when in this place, a cleric among you, I mostly see negligence. How indeed I am able to correct sons, when I am not able to improve my brothers? Or how will I kindle faith in the lay when modesty is besieged by consorts of shamelessness? I do not speak of everyone here, brothers. Certainly some are devout, and others are negligent; I name no one, let each one's conscience be enough for him.

Saint Maximus of Turin, Homily 112, A Crying Out to the People concerning his Absence from the Church.

22 Aug 2020

A Bishop And Church Builder Chastised


Κτίζεις, ὡς φασιν, ἐκκλησίαν ἐν Πηλπυσίῳ, λαμπρὰν μὲν τοῖς μηχανήμασι, πονηροῖς δὲ τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασι, χειροτονιῶν τιμήμασι, καὶ ἀδικίαις, καὶ ὕβρεσιν καὶ πενήτωμ ἐκπιεσμοῖς, καὶ πτωχικοῖς δαπανήμασιν, ὅπερ οὐδέν ἐστιν ἕτερον, ἤ οἰκοδμεῖν Σιὼν ἐν αἱμασι καὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἐν ἀδικίαις. Οὐ χρῇζει δὲ Θεὸς ἐξ ἀλλοτρίων θυσίαν, ἀλλὰ ταύτην ὡς θυόμενον κύνα μυσαττετει· παῠσαι τοίνυν καὶ κτίζων καὶ ἀδικῶν, ἵνα μὴ εἰς ἔλεγχον σοι ὑπὸ Θεοῦ ὁ οἴκος ἐκεῖνος εὑρεθῇ· μετέωρος μὲν ἰστέμενος, καταβοῶν δέ σου αἰώνια, ἐξ οἴων ἐκτισθη κακῶν, καὶ τοὺς ἐστερημένους μισθοὺς ἀπαντῶν, καὶ τὴν ἄμυνεν τῶν βλαβέντων ζητῶν

Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Ἐπιστολὴ ΛΖ' Εὐσεβιῳ Ἐπισκοπῳ

Source: Migne PG 78.206a-b
You are building, they say, a church in Pelusium, fair indeed in the eyes of builders, but on account of evil doing, simony and injustice and violence and the oppression of the needy and the fleecing of the poor, this is nothing but to build Sion in blood and Jerusalem in unrighteousness. 1 God, however, will have nothing to do with the sacrifice of the goods of others, for he who sacrifices a dog is cursed. 2 Stop, then, your building and your injustice lest you find that house made for God is your condemnation. High it may stand, your denunciation will be forever, and for the works of such evil, those from who you have stolen, shall seek the return of harms done.

Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 37, To The Bishop Eusebius

1 Mich 3.10
2 cf Isa 66.3-4



21 Aug 2020

A Chastisment Of Priests


Convenio vos, O prolectarii, uxorii, ac mulierum dominantium ditionibus inserviti, ut quid canonicae santionis jura confundtiis, et a sanctis Patribus institutam puritatis ecclesiasticae regulam violatis? Proh pudor! libidinis vestrae legibus colla submittitis, et promulgata per ora doctorum sancti Spiritus edicta calcatis. Ecce per vos apostolorum labour evertitur, et aedificium, quod doctores Ecclesiae fundaverunt, liquet quod, vobis impugnantibus, obruatur. Et ita fit, ut lex Ecclesiae quam clericalis ordo constituisse dignoscitur, per eumdem rursus ordinem e contrario destruatur. Amnon et Absalon fratres fuerunt, quos unus quidem pater genuit, sed alterum alter exstinguit. Cain trucidavit Abel, malus scilict justum; saepius etiam adulterinus legitimum perimit, sicut Jugurtha, perhibente Crispo, Hiempsal et Adherbal occidit; ita quodammodo spurii fratres legitimos perimuni, cum ii qui se solo nomine clericos prefitentur, sanctorum Patrum judicia destruunt, Et tamquam ipsos videntur exstinguere, quorum non metuunt sententias annullare. Quos videlicet apte significare videtur Abimelech filius Jerobaal, quem Scriptura genitum refert de concubina, quam habuerat in Sichem. Hic enim occidit fratres suos filios Jerobaal, septuaginta viros, super lapidem unum. Quid enim per septuaginta viros, nisi praedictorum Ecclesiae libra signatur? De quibus ait Lucas Evangelista: Quia designavit Dominus  septuaginta, et misit illos binos ante faciem suam in omnem civitatem, et locum, quo erat ipse venturus.

Sanctus Peter Damianus, Contra Intemperantes Clericos


Source: Migne PL 145.388c-389a
I call you to gather around, charmers, wife takers, servants of powerful women with wealth, and ask you why you cast from you the laws of canonical sanction, and violate the rules instituted by the fathers for the purity of the Church? For shame! You submit your necks to the laws of lust and tread under foot the laws of the teachers spoken through the mouth of the Holy Spirit. Behold, by you the labours of the Apostles are overturned, and the building, which the teachers of the Church founded, you dissolve, which by your battering has been overwhelmed. And thus it is that the ecclesiastical law which was established to distinguish clerics, by the opposition of the same order is destroyed. Amnon and Absalom were brothers and one father sired them, but the one slew the other. 1 Cain murdered Abel, the evil man the righteous man; and indeed more often the adulterous one destroys the law abiding one, so Jugurtha, as Sallust bears witness, killed Hiempsal and Adherbal; 2 and thus the spurious bothers destroy the legitimate ones, when those who are clerics only in name, destroy the laws of the holy fathers. And as they seem to have destroyed them, they do not fear to annul the sentences. Which openly seems to signify Abimelec the son of Jerobaal, whom Scripture tells was born from a concubine, which he had in Sichem. 3 He killed his brothers, the sons of Jerobaal, seventy men, over one stone. Why indeed seventy men, unless it signifies the scales of the  preachers of the church? Concerning which Luke said, 'The Lord chose seventy, and sent them in twos before his face into every city and place, which He was to come.' 4

Saint Peter Damian, Against Intemperate Clerics


1 2 Kings 13
2 cf Sallust, De Bello Jugurth 9-13
3 Judges 9
4 Lk 10.1 

20 Aug 2020

Priests And Bridges


Cur igitur Pontifices dicemus, qui se caeteris pontes non faciunt ? Pontifex vero dicitur, qui supra mare hujus mundi factus est pons, usque ad Deum et proximum pertingens. Usque ad Deum pertingit, ex fiducia qua non suam sed illius gloriam quaerit. Usque ad proximum, ex pietate qua ipsi non soli sibi prodesse desiderat. Sed numquid tales isti? Quis insensatus dicit pontem, quem nullae juvant bases, quem mare cadentem recipit, et se profundius involvit. 

Petrus Blenensis, Tractatus Quales Sunt, Caput XIV

Source:  Migne PL 207.1014a
Why, therefore, shall we call them priests (pontifices) who do not make themselves bridges (pontes) for others? Truly he is a 'Pontifex' who over the sea of this world builds a bridge, stretching to God and to his neighbour. He reaches to God by the faith which does not seek its own glory but God's. He reaches to his neighbour by the piety which does not desire to profit itself alone. But are there such men? Who is so foolish to name something a bridge, the foundations of which offer no support, which the sea receives in its falling, and drags it down into its depths?

Peter of Blois, Tractate On What Sort of Things They Are, Chapter 14

19 Aug 2020

Love And Letters

Breves brevibus reddidi litteras, occasionem utique breviter rescribendi de tuarum brevitate libenter accipiens. Et vere quid juvat veras, et, ut veraciter loqueris, aeternas amicitias vanis atque transitoriis jacitare verbulis? Quantalibet versuum diversitate, verborum multiplicitate, scriptorum varietate tuam mihi charitatem ostentare seu commendare coneris, minus certe sentio et exprimare quam diligis, idemque tu de me sentiendo non falleris. Cum tuae litterae in manus nostras venerunt, te in corde nostro qui eas miseras, invenerunt. Has quoque nostras nec me sine te scribere certus sum, nec te sine me confido lecturum. Laboramus quidem uterque ad alterutrum scriptitando, fatigantur et nuntii alterius ad alterum scripta protando: sed nunquid spiritus gravantur amando? Cessent igitur quae absque labore non possunt aetitari: et illud frequentetur, quod quanto attentius satagitur, tanto minus constat laborari. Quiescant, inquam, a dictando ingenia, labia a confabulando, a scribendo digiti, a discurredno nuntii: non autem quiescant corda die ac nocte meditari in lege Domini, quae est charitas. A quo negotio quanto quietiores sumus, tanto minus quiescimus: quantoque occupatiores sumus in illo, tanto nos quietiores sentimus ex illo. Amemus, et amemur: in altero nobis, in altero nostris consulentes. Nam quos amamus, in ipsis profecto requiescimus; a quibus autem amamur, ipsis nos in nobis requiem paramus. Porro amare in Deo, charitatem habere est: studere vero propter Deum amari, charitati servire est.

Sanctus Bernardus Clarae Vallensis, Epistola XC Ad Ogerum Canonicum Regularem

Source: Migne PL 182.221d-222b
I have replied briefly to your brief letter, gladly seizing on an occasion to match your brevity. And truly what does true, and as you truly say, eternal friendship gain from the casting about of vain and fleeting words? However you vary the phrases and multiply the words with which you strive to exhibit and commend your love to me, I have the firm impression that you express less than what you feel, and you would not err to think the same of me. When your letter came into my hands, it found you who had sent it already in my heart. And writing mine, I am certain I am not without you nor will you be without me when you come to read it. We labour over the letters we write to one another, we weary messengers who bear our writing to the other; yet is the spirit ever burdened by loving? Let us cease to do what cannot be done without toil, and turn to that which, as much as we give our attention to it, becomes so much less laborious. Let us rest our minds from composition, our lips from speaking, our hands from writings, and our messengers from their journeys, but let hearts not rest from meditating day and night on the law of the Lord, 1 which is love. For the more we rest from that activity, the less at rest we are, and the more occupied in that respect, the more at peace in all others. Let us love and let us be loved, on the one hand benefiting ourselves, on the other benefiting those for whom we care. For certainly in those we love we rest, and for those who love us we prepare a place of rest in ourselves. Moreover, to love someone in God is to have charity and to exert oneself to be loved for the sake of God is to serve charity.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, from Letter 90, to the Canon Regular Oger

1 Ps 1.2

18 Aug 2020

Knowledge And The Flesh


Qui enim in carne sunt, Deo placere non possunt.

Sapientes mundi in carne sunt, quia mundi sapientiae student, per quam Dei legi repugnent. Quidquid enim contra legem Dei est, carnale est; quia ex mundo est; totus enim mundus caro est: omne enim visibile carni deputatur; cognata enim sunt carnis immo elementa carnis. Ideoque qui mundanis rebus obtemprat, in carne est.

Vos autem non estis in carne, sed in spiritu.

In carne positi, dicuntur non esse in carne, si asseutientes Joanni apostolo, mundana non diligant; sententia enim hominis suam quasi fingit naturam; ut hoc appelletur, quod sentit.


Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam Ad Romanos, Caput VIII

Source: Migne PL 17.120 a-b
They who are in the flesh, cannot please God...' 1

The wise of the world are in the flesh, because they seek the wisdom of the world, by which they oppose the law of God. For whoever is opposed to the law of God is of the flesh, since he is from the world; all the world is flesh, everything visible may be thought of as flesh, for they are known to be of the flesh, or more correctly to be elements of the flesh. Therefore he who obeys the things of the world, is in the flesh.
 

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the spirit. 2

In the flesh, they are yet told they are not in the flesh, if in harmony with John the Apostle, they do not love the world. 3 For the knowledge of man fashions his own nature, that he is called what he knows.


Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The Epistle of Saint Paul To The Romans, Chapter 8

1 Rom 8.8
2 Rom 8.9
3 1 Jn 2.15

17 Aug 2020

Wisdom's Embrace

Περιχαράκωσον αὐτήν καὶ ὑψώσει σε τίμησον αὐτήν ἵνα σε περιλάβῃ

Τιμὴ σοφίας, ἡ τήρησις τῶν ἐντολῶν· σοφία δὲ ὁ Χριστὸς, οὕ νύμφη ἡ διὰ τῶν ἀρετῶν τιμῶσα αὐτὸν ψυχὴ, ἥτις ὑπ' αὐτοῦ περιληφθήσεται.

Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Παροιμιας

Source: Migne PG 39.1627b
Seize wisdom and she shall exalt you, she shall glorify you that she embrace you ... 1

The glory of wisdom is the observance of the commandments, but the wisdom that is Christ glorifies the soul with the virtues which shall then be embraced by Him.

Didymus the Blind, On Proverbs, fragment

1 Prov 4.8

16 Aug 2020

Love And The Commandments


Haec enim est charitas Dei, ut mandata ejus custodiamus. 

Hoc et ipse Dominus dicit: Si quis diligit me, sermonem meum servabit. Probatio ergo dilectionis, exhibitio est operis. Vere enim diligmus, si ad mandata ejus a nostris nos voluntatibus coarctamus. Nam qui adhuc per illicita desideria defluit, profecto Deum non amat, quia ei in sua voluntate contradicit.

Sanctus Beda, In I Epistolam Sancti Joannis

Source: Migne PL 93.113a

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. 1

And indeed the Lord says this: 'If someone loves me, he keeps my commandments.' 2 Therefore the proof of love is the manifestation of the deed. For we love truly if we bind our will to His commandments. For he who yet falls away by illicit desires certainly does not love God, for He cries out against Him with his own will.


Saint Bede, Commentary On The First Letter of Saint John

1 1 Jn 5.3
2 Jn 14.15


15 Aug 2020

Driving From The Way Of Truth



Tota die exprobrabant mihi inimici mei, et qui laudabant me, adversum me jurabant. 

Ore laudabant et corde insidias praeparabant. Laudabant, ut deciperent; praedicabant, ut subverterent: et hoc a diabolo, qui si publicis peccatis servum Christi subvertere non poterit, opprobriis et reprehensionibus circumhabitantium a via veritas eum deterrere nititur. Sunt plurimi bona facere erubescentes, ne dissimiles sint multitudini mala facientium.

Alcuinus, Expositio In Psalmos Poenitentiales

Source: Migne PL 100.589a
All day long my enemy cursed me, and they who praised me, they swore against me. 1

With their mouths they praised and in their hearts they prepared snares. They praised that they might deceive; they spoke that they might overthrow. And this is from the devil, who if he cannot overthrow a servant of Christ with public sins, surrounds him with shame and reproof, striving to deter him from the way of truth. There are indeed many who blush to do good things, lest they be unlike the multitude who do evil.


Alcuin of York, Commentary On The Penitential Psalms

1 Ps 101.9

14 Aug 2020

Opposed Powers



Sed sunt principatus aerii, et potestates mundi, qui nos velut de muro dejicere animae, vel impedire recte gradientes, vel ad altiora tendentes quaerunt deponere, et ad terrena revocare. Sed nos multo magis ad sublimia mentem erigamus, Verum sequentes Dei. Illi principatus saecularia offundunt, quibus tuam mentem incurvent: tunc magis ad Christum, anima, dirige gressus tuos. Injiciunt cupiditatem auri, argenti, vicinae possessionis, ut acquirendae ejus gratia excuses te a coaena illius qui ad nuptias Verbi te invitavit; tu cave ne excuses, sed vestem te indue nuptialem, et utere convivio divitis, ne dives qui te invitaverat, cum excusaveris te, dum es saecularibus occupatus, alios invitet, et tu excludaris. Injiciunt etiam honoris appetentiam potestates mundi, ut te extollas sicut Adam, et dum vis adaequare Deum similitudine potestatis, divina praecepta despicias, et quae habebas, incipiat amittere. Qui enim non habet, et quod habet auferetur ab eo. Quoties in oratione nobis, qua maxime Deo appropinquamus, offunduntur ea quae plena sunt opprobii alicujus aut sceleris, quo nos a studio precationis avertant! Quoties inimicus cordi nostro conatur inserere, quo nos reflectat a sanctitatis proposito et piis votis! Quoties corpereos inflammat ardores! Quoties occursare facit oculos meretricios, quibus castum justi tentet affectum, ut improviso amoris spiculo feriat imparatum. Quoties inserit animo tuo verbum iniquum, et cogitationes cordis absconditas! De quo tibi dicit lex: Attende tibi, ne fiat verbum absconditum in corde tuo iniquum , et dicat tibi Dominus: Quid cogitas mala in corde tuo. Neve cum abundaveris auro et argento, et opimis agrorum fructibus, vel honoribus dicas: Virtus mea dedit mihi haec: et obliviscaris Dominum Deum tuum.

Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Bono Mortis, Cap VIII


Source: Migne PL 14.551a-c

But there are princes of the air, and powers of the world, 1 who will throw us down from the wall of the soul, or obstruct the right way of walking, or seek to drag down our inclination for the heights, and recall us to the earth. But we then much more must direct our minds to high things, following the Word of God. When these secular princes pour forth things by which your mind is abased, then more to Christ, with the soul, direct your steps. They cast into you desire for gold and silver, the possessions of your neighbour, that your excuse yourself from the acquiring of His grace, the feast of that one who invites you to nuptials of the Word. Be wary of excuse; rather put on the nuptial garment and attend the feast of the rich man, lest the rich man who invites you, when you excuse yourself because you are occupied by worldly matters, invites others, and excludes you. 2 The powers of the world throw in desire for honour, that you become puffed up like Adam, and while you wish to equal God in likeness of power, you scorn the Divine teaching, and what you did possess you begin to lose. For he who does not have, even that which he has shall be taken from him. 3 How often in our prayers, when we would most near to God, do those powers pour forth things with which they are full, disgrace and crime, by which they would turn us from our zeal for prayer! How often the enemy tries to insert in our hearts that by which we will be deflected from our sacred intent and our pious vows. How many times corporeal desires inflame! How many times he makes lustful visions rush before us, by which he snares the chaste disposition of the righteous, by which the unprepared are slain by the unexpected shaft of desire. How many times he inserts in our soul an iniquitous word, and steals away the thoughts of the heart. Concerning which the law says to you, 'Look to yourselves, lest there be hidden in your heart an iniquitous word.' 4 And the Lord says to you, 'Why do you think evil in your heart?' 5 Nor when you abound in gold and silver and with fields for harvest, or with honour, should you say, 'My own effort has given me these things, and you forget the Lord your God.' 6

Saint Ambrose, On the Good of Death, Chap 8


1 Ephes 6.12
2 Mt  22. 2- 14. Lk 14. 16-24
3 Mt 13.12. 25.29
4 Deut 15.9
5 Mt 9.4
6 Deut 8.17

13 Aug 2020

The Shield Of Faith


Super omnia accipientes scutum fidei, in quo possitis omnia jacula maligni ignita exstingere.

Quasi dixerit: In omni opere portate clypeum fidei, ut possitis tecti atque moniti excipere venientes sagittas, et hic atque illuc arte eas bellica declinare. Haec est fides super qua et Abraham post multa opera atque virtutues vix potuit promereri, ita de eo Scriptura diceret: Credidit autem Abraham Deo, et reputatum est illi ad justitiam. Perspicua sunt autem jacula maligni, quae vult mittere in corda nostra per cogitationes pessimas: de quibus unum jecit in cor Judae, ut traderet Salvatorem. Itaque ne principium quidem habere poterit inimicus animae vulnerandae, si tenuerimus scutum fidei: in quo non solum venientia tela franguntur, sed etiam telorum ipse ignis exstinguitur, de quo et propheta complorat dicens: Omnes adulterantes, quasi clibanus corda eorum. Qui hunc umbonem fidei manu forti tenuerit, et confisus in Domino, scierit se a venientibus jaculis esse securum, loquetur intepidus: In Domino confido: quomodo dicitis animae meae: Transmigra in montem sicut passer? Quoniam ecce peccatores intenderunt arcum, paraverunt sagittas in pahretis , ut sagittent in obscuro rectos corde. Cum ergo, inquit, confidem in Domino, qua mihi datis ratione consilium, ut non stem adversum inimicoruum impetus, et jacula quae contra me in pharetris praepararunt, volentes non solum me, sed etiam omnes rectos corde percutere? Ecce sto super petram, et non transmigro in montes tenebricosos: et omnia tela hostium repulsa, in ipsos qui dirigunt, convertuntur


Sanctus Hieronymus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Liber III, Cap VI


Source: Migne PL 26.551c-552a
Over all taking up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the blazing  shafts of the wicked one. 1 

As if he said: In all things bear the shield of faith, that you are able to be covered and wary for the reception of coming arrows, and on this side and on that side with martial skull repel them. This is the faith which Abraham, after many deeds and virtues was able to earn, thus concerning which Scripture says, 'Abraham believed in God and it was reputed to him as righteousness.' 2 Easily seen are the wicked shafts which he wishes to send into our hearts by the worst thoughts, which he cast into the heart of Judas, that he betray the Saviour. Thus the enemy is not able to have any chance of wounding souls, if we have taken hold of the shield of faith, in which not only are the coming shafts shattered, but even the fire of burning arrows extinguished, concerning which the Prophet, bewailing, says: 'All adulterers, as ovens their hearts.' 3 He who thus is able to take hold of the shield of faith in the strong hand, and is confident in the Lord, he knows how to make himself secure against the coming shafts, saying bravely: 'In the Lord I confide, how do you say to my soul, fly off to the mountains like a sparrow? Behold, the sinners bend the bow, and they have prepared their arrows in the quiver, that they shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.' 4 When, then, it says, I trust in the Lord, do you give me this sort of counsel, that I should not stand against the onset on the enemy, who have prepared against me their shafts in the quiver, wishing not only me but even all who are righteous in heart, to pierce? Behold, I stand on the rock, and I do not fly off into the dark mountains. I repulse all the shafts of the enemy, turning them back against those who cast them.

Saint Jerome, Commentary On The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, Book 3, Chap 6

1 Ephes 6.16
2 Gen 15.8
3 Hosea 7.4
4 Ps 10.1-2