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

30 Nov 2021

Looking From The Height

Κύκλῳ οἱ ἀσεβεῖς περιπατοῦσαι, κατὰ τὸ ὕψος σου ἐπολυώρησας τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων.

Οἱ μὲν οὖν δυσσεβείᾳ συζῶντες, τὴν θείαν καταλιπόντες ὁδὸν, τῇδε κἀκεῖσε περιπλανῶνται, κυκλοῦν καὶ οἰονεὶ πολιορκεῖν τοὺς ἐπιεκεστέρους πειρώμενοι. Σὺ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ τῆς φύσεως ὕψους φαινόμενος τῆς σῆς ἀξιοῖς κηδεμονίας τοὺς ὑπ' ἐκείνων πολεμουμένους, νῦν μὲν ψυχαγῶν ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσι, μετὰ βραχὺ δὲ τελείαν τὴν σωτηρίαν δωρούμενος.

Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Ἑρμηνεία εἰς Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ΙΑ'

Source: Migne PG 80.944c-d
In a circle the impious walk, according to your height you have looked on the sons of men. 1

Those who live impiously have forsaken the Divine way, and wander about here and there, thinking to surround and lay seige to the meek. But you, appearing from the height of nature, have care for those worthy to be assailed by them, now refreshing them in their trials, and a little after rewarding them with eternal salvation.

Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Interpretation of the Psalms, from Psalm 11

1 Ps 11.9 Septuagint

29 Nov 2021

Heights And Falls

Τί ξενίζῃ βλέπων πονηρότατόν τε καὶ ἀνοσιώτατον ὑπερευφημούμενον, καὶ ἐνδοξαζόμενον παρανόμως, καὶ μεγάλα ἰσχύοντα παρὰ τοῖς δυναστεύουσιν; Μνήσθητι τῆς Γραφῆς ἐμβοώσης, ὅτι Ἐδόθη ὁ ἀσεβὴς ἐν ὕψεσι μεγάλοις· τουτέστι, συνεχωρήθη ὑψωθῆναι κατὰ τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον. Συγκεχώρηται δὲ οὐκ ἀκρίτως, ἀλλ' ἵνα λίαν μετάρσιος ἐκφανθεὶς, κἀκεῖθειν καταπεσὼν ἀνίατον συντριβὴν ὑπομείνῃ.

Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΟΔ' Πομπηιῳ Διακονῳ

Source: Migne PG 79.113d-116a
Why do you gleefully welcome the sight of the celebration of grave wickedness and impiety, and the lawless glorification of great might by the powerful? Remember that the Scriptures cry out that 'Ungodliness is given to great heights.' 1 that is, it is possessed by those who are exalted according to this world. Which association will not be without judgement, but he who has appeared exceedingly exalted, falling from that, shall suffer a shattering without repair.

Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 74, to Pompeius the Deacon

1. Eccle 10.6

28 Nov 2021

Wealth And Death

Ut autem de temporalium divitiarum et deliciarum umbratili, et peremptoria felicitate causa exempli aliqua inducamus, et quod ad beatitudinem, quae a caritate est, ea liqueat esse penitus aliena: vide imprimis quanta circa pecuniam molestiarum turba versetur. Pecunia cum labore acquirirur, acquisita cum timore servatur, et tandem cum dolore amittitur. Ex proventu pecuniae potest aestimari miseriae incrementum: hydropici enim more, qui plus bibendo, plus sitit, pecuniae cupiditas ex multiplicatione grandescit. Timetur primo potens ne auferat, servus ne furto surripiat. Et frequenter impletur verbum illud Sapientis, ut sint divitiae conservatae in malum Domini sui. Melius est ergo pauperi, quia nec metuit potentem, nec proditorem formidat aut furem. Pauper cantat, dives plorat. Nam juxta criticum:

Ploratur lacrymis amissa pecunia veris.

Verbum Salomonis est: Avarus non satiabitur pecunia, et qui amat divitias fructum non capiet ex eis. Circumspecte dictum est, qui amat divitias; potest enim homo sic amare divitias, ut non habeat, ubi cor suum divitiis, si affluant, non apponat. Propterea praecipit Apostolus praedicandum divitibus non superbe sapere, non sperare in incremento divitiarum, sed ut facile tribuant et communicent, et thesaurisent sibi bonum fundamentum, ut apprehendant veram vitam, Ipso teste: Non qui divites sunt, sed qui divites esee volunt, incidunt in tentationem et laqueum diaboli, sibique thesaurizant iram in die irae. Quod insinuans Abacuc dicit: Vae qui congregat non sua. Usquequo et aggravat contra se densum lutum? Sanctos etiam inter divitias, nec sollicitudo servandi, nec timor amittendi sollicitat. Hanc enim sollicitudinem Dominus interdicit: Nolite, inquiens, solliciti esse dicentes: Quid manducanimus aut quid bibemus? Et paulo post: Quaerite primum regnum Dei et justitiam ejus, et haec omnia adjicientur vobis. Isti, sicut nunquam de divitiis gloriantur, sic nec murmurant de amissione illarum: imo rapinam bonorum suorum cum gaudio suscipiunt, considerantes se habere meliorem et manentem substantiam. Perversis denique totum in contrarium cedit; dum enim rationalis animae appetitum, cui solus Deus sufficere potest, satiari existimant vili affluentia mundialium rerum, nihil ex quantalibet rerum ingestione proficiunt, nec sitim sibi infelicibus exinde subtrahunt, nec a labore quiescunt, et quod miserabilius est, talium vana delectatione tumescunt. Talium dico, gloria in confusione est, quorum finis interitus, quorum vita in continuo labore, quorum exitus in miseria sine fine. Quocirca nugatoria et fallaci temporalium divitiarum felicitate delusi, praeteritae vitae fructum convertunt in materiam lacrymarum. Miseriam siquidem talium sacra Scriptura patenter exprimit ac describit: Dicentes, inquit, intra se poenitentiam agentes, et prae angustia spiritus gementes: Lassati sumus in via iniquitatis et perditionis, ambulavimus vias difficiles, viam autem Domini ignoravimus. Quid nobis profuit superbia, et divitiarum jactantia quid contulit nobis? Transierunt omnia velut umbra, et tanquam nuntius praecurrens, tanquam navis quae praeterit fluctuantes aquas, cujus, quum transit, non est vestigium invenire: ita et nos nati continuo desivimus esse, et virtutis quidem nullum signum valuimus ostendere; in malignitate nostra consumpti sumus. Talia dixerunt in inferno qui peccaverunt, quoniam spes impii tanquam lango est, quae a vento tollitur, et tanquam spuma gracilis, quae a procella disperigitur, et tanquam fumus, qui a vento diffusus est, et tanquam memoria hospitis unus diei praetereuntis.

Petrus Blenensis, De Caritate Dei et Proximi, Cap. V-VI

Source: Migne PL 207.901a-902a
Concerning the matter of temporal wealth and ephemeral delights, for the sake of example, we shall present something regarding transient happiness, and something which leads to beatitude, which is from love, to which the former is clearly utterly foreign. Consider first the host of troubles which money stirs up. It is acquired by toil, and what is acquired is guarded in fear, until at last it is lost. With foresight it is possible to judge the increase of this wretchedness, for in the manner of a man with dropsy, who the more he drinks the more he thirsts, so the desire for wealth grows with the multiplication of riches. First there is fear lest a powerful man take it away, then lest a servant turn thief and steal it. And often fulfilled is the word of that wisdom, that riches are preserved to evil against their master. 1 Better then it is for the poor man, because he neither fears the powerful, nor trembles at the traitor or the thief. The poor man sings, the rich man sobs. For according to the critic:

With sincere tears he weeps the loss of coin. 2

The word of Solomon says, 'The avaricous man shall not be satisfied with money, and he who loves wealth shall gather no fruit from it.' 3 Attend to what is said: 'He who loves wealth,' For it is possible that a man love wealth as if he did not have it, when his own heart is amid wealth, and if it overflows, he does not treasure it. 4 Whence the Apostle in his preaching commands the rich not to think proudly, nor to hope in an increase of riches, but that they might easily give and share it and gather as treasure for themselves a good foundation, so that they might seize on the true life. He who also said, 'It is not he who is rich but they who wish to be rich who fall into the temptations and snares of the devil, heaping up for themselves wrath on the day of wrath.' 5 Which Habakkuk counsels saying, 'Alas to those who gather what is not theirs. How long will you burden yourself with such heavy filth?' 6 The holy, when they are among riches, neither care to guard them, nor fear to lose them. For from this anxiety the Lord prohibited us, saying, 'Do not, being troubled, have care to say, 'What shall we eat, or what shall we drink?' And after a little: 'Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you.' 7 These never glory in wealth, so neither do they grumble to lose it; however they do take to seizing on their own goods with joy, considering themselves to have a better and lasting substance. Finally the perverse fall into the opposite, for while God alone is able to satisfy the desire of the rational soul, they think to satisfy themselves with a vile affluence of worldly things, nothing from the pouring in of which, whatever the amount, profits, nor does it remove the thirst of unhappiness, nor does it give rest from toil, and what is even more wretched is that it puffs up with such vain delight. I say of such, that their glory is their confusion, of which the end is ruin, their life is continual labor and their death into misery without end. For they are deluded by such worthless things, the deceitful happiness of temporal riches, which with the passing away of life are turned into the fruit which is a matter of tears. Certainly Sacred Scripture speaks openly of such things and describes them: They say among themselves, wracked with regret, and with anguish of spirit groaning: 'We have been worn out in the way of iniquity and ruin, we have walked on obstinate ways, for we ignored the way of the Lord. What did our pride profit us, and what did our boasts of riches bring to us? All have passed away like a shadow, and as a herald hastening on, as a ship passing over the rolling waves, of which, when it passes, there is no trace to be found; thus we being born have swiftly passed away, and we are not able to show any sign of virtue; in our wickedness we are consumed.' 8 Such things they say in hell who have sinned, because the hope of the impious is a fragile thing, which is borne away by the wind, as delicate sea foam which a gust scatters, as smoke which is dispersed by a breeze, as the memory of a visitor who is gone in a day.

Peter of Blois, On Love Of God And One's Neighbour, Chap 5-6

1 Eccles 5.12
2 Juvenal Sat 13.134
3 Eccles 5.9
4 Ps 61.11
5 1 Tim 6.17-19, 6.9
6 Hab 2.6
7 Mt 6.31,33
8 Wisdom 5.7-10,3

27 Nov 2021

Guilty Of Death

Aliter admonendi sunt qui cum praedicare digne valeant, prae nimia humilitate formidant; atque aliter admonendi sunt quos a praedicatione imperfectio vel aetas prohibet, et tamen praecipitatio impellit. Admonendi namque sunt qui cum praedicare utiliter possunt, immoderata tamen humilitate refugiunt; ut ex minori consideratione colligant quantum in majoribus rebus derelinquant. Si enim indigentibus proximis ipsi quas haberent pecunias absconderent, adjutores proculdubio calamitatis exstitissent. Quo ergo reatu constringantur aspiciant, qui dum peccantibus fratribus verbum praedicationis subtrahant, morientibus mentibus vitae remedia abscondunt. Unde et bene quidam sapiens dicit: Sapientia abscondita et thesaurus invisus, quae utilitas in utrisque? Si populos fames attereret, et occulta frumenta ipsi servarent, auctores procul dubio mortis existerent. Qua itaque plectendi sunt poena considerent, qui cum fame  verbi animae pereant, ipsi panem perceptae gratiae non ministrant. Unde et bene per Salomonem dicitur: Qui asbscondit frumenta, maledicetur in populis. Frumenta quippe abscondere, et praedicationis sanctae apud se verba retinere. In populis autem talis quisque maledicitur, quia in solius culpa silentii pro multorum quos corrigere potuit poena damnatur. Si medicinalis artis minime ignari secandum vulnus cernerent, et tamen secare recusarent, profecto peccatum fraternae mortis ex solo torpore committerent. Quanta ergo culpa involvantur aspiciant, qui dum cognoscunt vulnera mentium, curare ea negligunt sectione verborum. Unde et bene per prophetam dicitur: Maledictus qui prohibet gladium suum a sanguine. Gladium quippe a sanguine prohibere, est praedictionis verbum a carnalis vitae interfectione retinere. De quo rursum gladio dicitur: Et gladius meus manducabit carnes. Hi itaque cum apud se sermonem praedicationis occultant, divinas contra se sententias terribiliter audiant, quatenus ab eorum cordibus timorem timor expellat. Audiant quod talentum qui erogare noluit, cum sententia damnationis amisit. Audiant quod Paulus eo se a proximorum sanguine mundum credidit, quo feriendis eorum vitiis non pepercit, dicens, Contestor vos hodierna die, quia mundus sum a sanguine omnium: non enim subterfugi quominus annuntiarem omne consilium Dei vobis. Audiant quod voce angelica Joannes admonetur, cum dicitur: Qui audit, dicat: Veni. Ut nimirum cui se vox interna insinuat, illuc etiam clamando alios quo ipse rapitur trahat; ne clausas fores etiam vocatus inveniat, si vocanti vacuus appropinquat.

Gregorius Papa I, Regulae Pastoralis Liber, Pars Tertia, Caput XXV

Source: Migne PL 77.95a-d
To be admonished in a different manner are those who when they are able to preach worthily, fear to do so on account of excessive humility, and those whom inability or age prohibits and yet rashness impels. For they are to be admonished, who though able to preach usefully by an immoderate humility withdraw, by consideration of a lesser matter, from which they will grasp how they err in a greater one. For if they were to conceal from poor neighbours money which they possessed, they would undoubtedly stand forth as promoters of their ruin. Let them thus see in what guilt they are implicated who, withdrawing the word of preaching from the sinful, conceal the remedies of life from dying souls. Whence also a certain wise man says well, 'Wisdom hidden, and treasure unseen, what good in either?' 1 If the people were wasted by famine, and they had kept grain hidden from them, undoubtedly they would stand forth as the authors of death. Let them therefore consider what punishment will strike when souls are perishing from a famine of the word and they do not supply the bread of grace which they have themselves received. Whence also it is well said by Solomon, 'He that hides grain shall be cursed among the people.'2 For to hide grain is to keep within oneself the words of sacred preaching. And any such fellow is cursed among the people because by his fault of silence only he is condemned in the punishment of the many whom he might have corrected. If they who are by no means ignorant of the medicinal art were to see a wound that required cutting, and yet refused to do it, certainly by their neglect alone they would commit the crime of a brother's death. Let them see, then, in how great guilt they are embroiled who knowing the wounds of souls, neglect to cure them with the cutting of words. Whence also it is well said through the Prophet: 'Cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.' 3 Since to keep back the sword from blood is to hold back the word of preaching from the slaying of the carnal life. Of which sword it is said again, 'And my sword shall devour flesh.' 4 Let these, then, when they hide in themselves the word of preaching, let them hear with terror the Divine sentences against them, so that from their hearts fear may expel fear. Let them hear how he that would not use his talent lost it with a sentence of condemnation. 5 Let them hear how Paul believed himself to be pure from the blood of his neighbours in this, that their vices which needed to be struck he did not spare, saying, 'This day I call you to witness that I am pure from the blood of all, for I have not avoided declaring to you all the counsel of God.' 6 Let them hear how John is admonished by the angelic voice, when it is said, 'Let him that hears say, Come' 7; doubtless that he into whose heart the internal voice has come might cry out to draw others to that place to which he himself is carried, lest, even though called, he should find the doors shut, if empty he approaches Him who calls.

Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 25

1 Sir 20.32
2 Prov 11.26
3 Jer 48.10
4 Deut 32.42
5 Mt 25.24
6 Acts 20.26-27
7 Apoc 22.17

26 Nov 2021

Disgrace And Satisfaction

Non condundentur in tempore malo, et in diebus famis saturabuntur.

Malum tempus significat diem judicii, quando omnis caro sollicita actuum suorum retributionem compensationemque formidat, sicut alibi dicit: In die mala liberabit eum Dominus. In isto ergo tempore non confundentur immaculati, quibus per gratiam satisfactionis peccata dimissa sunt. Sequitur, et in diebus famis saturabuntur. Dies famis, tempus hujus mundi significant, quando beati esurient et sitiunt justitiam. Nam in resurrectione justis non est tempus famis, sed bonorum omnium aeterna satietas. Ergo in hoc mundo, ubi justi possunt esurire, vel quaerere justitiam, saturabuntur, scilicet, per Scriptures sanctas, per exampla Dominica, per retributiones saepissime repromissas, quibus epulis fideles satiat Christianos. Quapropter devotis promittitur perfecta securitas, ut in futuro judicio non erubescant, et in hoc mundo competentia dona percipiant.

Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus XXXVI

Source: Migne PG 70.263a-b
They shall not be confounded in the time of evil, and in the days of hunger they shall be satisfied. 1

The evil time signifies the day of judgement, when all anxious flesh shall fear regarding retribution and reward for their acts, as he says elsewhere: 'In the day of evil the Lord shall free him.' 2 Therefore in this time the immaculate shall not be confounded, they who though the grace of satisfaction have had their sins forgiven. It follows: 'and in the days of hunger they shall be satisfied'. The day of hunger signifies the time of this world, when the blessed hunger and thirst for righteousness. 3 For in the resurrection there is no time of hunger for the righteous, but they are sated with an eternity of every good. Therefore in this world, where the righteous thirst or seek righteousness, they are satisfied, that is, by the Sacred Scriptures, by the example of the Lord, by the rewards frequently promised, by which He satisfies the faithful Christians with feasts. Whence perfect security is promised to the devout, that they shall not suffer disgrace in the future judgement, and that in this world they will receive appropriate gifts.

Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, Psalm 36

1 Ps 36.20
2 Ps 40.2
3 Mt 5.6

25 Nov 2021

Classes Of Judgement

Teste vero Apostolo, cum quod sine fide agitur peccatum sit, ipsa vero sine operibus fides cum otiosa vel mortua sit deceptores illos praeterire nullatenus animarum debemus, qui contra confirmationem catholicae fidei in qua contineur, quod venturus sit Domnus judicare vivos et mortuos, et saeculum per ignem, et: Qui bona egerunt, ituri in vitam aeternam, qui vero mala, in ignem aeternum, impunitatem omnibus baptizatis promittunt miserrimi scelerum. Ita, inquiunt, pius est Deus et misericors, ut neminem Christianum permittat intrare in infernum. Quanquam verum dicerent, si Christianum fore illum solummodo, qui Christi voluntatem facit, credere possent. Cum vero Peturm audiant dicentem Apostolum: Melius fuerat eis non cognoscere viam veritatis, quam post cognitionem retrosum converti; de quibus, quaeso, dictum conjiciunt? Et cum ordines quatuor sacra teneat auctoritas in judicio extremo futuros: unum scilicet, qui judicet cum Domino; alterum, qui per judicium remuneretur; tertium, qui per judicium damnetur; quartum; qui neque per judicium illum remuneretur, neque damnetur, cum scriptum in Evangelio sit: Qui autem non credit, jam judicatus est; et Psalmistae verbum dicatur: Ideo non resurgent impii in judicio, quasi apertius dicat: Et si quidem resurgunt, non ideo resurgunt ut judicentur, quia jam sint judicati, sed ideo resurgent, ut, receptis corporibus, illuc eant ubi ante saecula sunt destinati, impios autem istos intelligere solummodo debemus incredulos, et minime bapstizatos; quis ergo damnatus tertius ordo tibi videtur, nisi credentium, id est baptizatorum existere, qui pro eo quod fidem habuerunt, sed operibus fidei, quae illic requiruntur, caruerunt, juste damnati in ignem aeternum, qui absque dubio infernus est, ituri.

Ratherius Veronensis, Sermo II

Source:Migne PL 136.700c-701b
When the Apostle bears witness that without faith there is sin, 1 and yet without works faith is worthless or dead, 2 we should certainly not pass over those deceivers of souls who against the assertion of the Catholic faith, in which it is found that the Lord will come to judge the living and the dead and the world through fire, and 'He who has done good shall enter into eternal life, and he who does evil into eternal fire,' 3 promise that by mercy impunity for crimes is given to all those baptised. 'Thus,' they say, 'since God is pious and compassionate, no Christian shall be allowed to enter hell.' Which truth they would speak if they thought that only of him who was a Christian who made the will of Christ. Let them however hear Peter the Apostle saying: 'Better for them not to know the way of truth, than to have known it and turned back,' 4 concerning which, I ask, what can one think? Sacred authority holds that there are four classes in the last judgement to come. One shall judge with the Lord, 5 another by judgement shall receive its reward, the third by judgement shall be damned, the fourth will neither be rewarded nor be damned by that judgement, since it is written in the Gospel: 'He who does not believe is already judged.' 6 And the Psalmist says: 'Therefore the impious shall not rise in judgement.' 7 As if he openly said: And if they rise, so they will not rise to be judged because they have already been judged, but they rise so that receiving bodies, they go to where they have be destined before the ages. For we should understand the impious to be those who do not believe, even if at least baptised. Who, then, does it seem to you is this third class who are damned, unless believers, who though baptised, though they had faith, yet lacking the works of faith, which are required of them, are justly damned to eternal fire and who without doubt will go to hell.

Ratherius Of Verona, from Sermon 2

1 Rom 14.24
2 Jam 2.20
3 Jn 5.29
4 2 Pet 2.21
5 cf 1 Cor 6.3
6 Jn 3.10
7 Ps 1.5

24 Nov 2021

Accounts And Evils

Ὁ μὴ προσδοκῶν εὐθύνας ὑφέξειν τῶν πεπραγμένων αὐτῷ, πάντως πάσης κακίας ἀνθέξεται.

Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΣΛΖ' Σοφιανῳ Σκολαριῳ

Source: Migne PG 79.169c
He who does not expect that he shall be called to account for his deeds, he shall certainly embrace every evil.

Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 237 to Sophianus the Scholarius

23 Nov 2021

Universalism Denounced

Πρόσχωμεν πάντες, ἐπὶ πλείω δε οἱ πεπτωκότες, μὴ νοῆσαι ἐν καρδὶᾳ τὴν τοῦ Ὠριγένους τοῦ ἀθέου νόσον· τὴν γὰρ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν, ἡ μιαρὰ προβαλλομένη, εὐπαράδεκτος ἐν τοῖς φιληδόνως γίνεται.

Ἅγιος Ἰωάννης τῆς Κλίμακος, ἡ Κλίμαξ, Λογος Ε'


Source: Migne PG 88.780d
Let us be wary of all men, and above all those who have fallen, lest we are made sick to the heart by the disease of the godless Origen. For God's love of man, foully used, is eagely received by the lovers of pleasure.

Saint John Climacus, The Ladder, from Step 5

22 Nov 2021

Corrections And Burnings

Kρείσσων ἀνὴρ ἐλέγχων ἀνδρὸς σκληροτραχήλου ἐξαπίνης γὰρ φλεγομένου αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν ἴασις

Κρείσσων γὰρ ἀνὴρ ὁ ἐν παιδείᾳ καὶ νουθεσίᾳ Κυρίου ἐλέγωεν, ἢ ὁ ἐν σκληρᾷ καρδίᾳ παραινῶν καὶ ὑπισχνούμενος συναπολαῦσαι αὐτῷ τῶν ἐν κακίᾳ· ἐξαπίνης γὰρ φλεγομένου αὐτοῦ ἑν τῇ ὁρέξει τῶν παθῶν, ὁ ἐπὶ πάντας θάνατος, ἐπελθὼν ἐπὶ τοὺς κατ' αὐτῶν συμπράκτορας, οὐκ ἔστιν ἴασις τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτῶν· οὐκ εἴπεν δὲ, ὅτι παυσαμένης τῆς φλογὸς οὐκ ἔσται ἴασις, ἀλλὰ φλεγομένου αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔσται ἴασις, ὡς ἔχοντος δηλονότι τὰ τῶν παθῶν ὑπεκκαύματα ξύλα, χόρτον, καλάμην· εἴπερ καὶ τοῖς καιομένοις μετὰ τὸν καυτῆρα πέφυκεν ἡ ὑγίεια προσγίνεσθαι.

Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαὶ Εἰς Παροιμίας, Κεφ ΚΘ'

Source: Migne PG 17.245b
Better a man corrected than a man who has a hard heart, for suddenly he shall burn and there is no remedy. 1

For better is a man who is corrected in the teaching and chastisement of the Lord, than he who with a hard heart counsels and affirms himself to ruin in evils, for suddenly while he flames up in the appetites of his passions, that death which comes to all shall come upon him embroiled in his deeds, for which there is no cure for the soul. For he does not say: 'if the flames subside there shall be no cure,' but that while they are ablaze there is no cure, that is, when the passions have their fuel for burning, wood, hay, and straw. It is after burning for cauterisation that health comes forth.

Origen, On Proverbs, Fragment

1 Prov 29.1

21 Nov 2021

Eager For Death

Nolite zelare mortem in errorem vitae vestrae, neque acquiratis perditionem in operibus manuum vestrarum.

Nolite zelare etc, quasi dicat: quia mendacium occidit, nolite zelare, id est diligere vel appetere affectu, mortem, scilicet animae, quam per culpam incurrit, secundum illud Augustini: Vera mors est quam homines non timent; separatio videlicet animae a Deo, qui est beata vita animarum, sicut mors corporalis est separatio corporis ab anima. Mortem, dico, in errorem vitae vestrae, causaliter constitutam , secundum illud Proverbiorum decimo quarto': Errant qui operantur malum, omnis enim malus errans, secundum Philosophum. Neque acquiratis, in effectu, perditionem, poenae aeternae; quod est in nostra potestate, secundum illud Osee decimo tertio: Perditio tua Israel; tantummodo auxilium tuum ex me. In operibus manuum vestrarum, causaliter, id est merito operum vestrorum.

Sed obiicitur, quod, secundum Augustinum, omnes appetunt vitam et beatitudinem : ergo nullus mortem vel perditionem.

Dicendum, quod verum est per se; sed per accidens et ex consequenti dicuntur eam appetere qui appetunt actum, qui est causa mortis et perditionis. Unde ponit consequens pro antecedente, subdens: Bene dixi, errorem causam mortis esse, et opera mala causam perditionis.

Sanctus Boneventura, Commentarius In Sapientiam Cap I

Source: Here
Do not be eager to invite death by the error of your life, nor seize on ruin by the works of your own hands. 1

Do not be eager, as if he said: the lie kills, do not be eager, that is, to be moved by love or desire to death, that is, of the soul, which fault brings in, according to Augustine: 'The true death is what men do not fear, that is, the separation of the soul from God, who is the blessed life of souls, just as the bodily death is the separation of the body from the soul.' 2 'Death,' I say, 'by the error of your life,' establishes the cause, according to the fourteenth chapter of the Proverbs: 'They who wander work evil.' 3 All who wander are wicked, according to the Philosopher. 4 'Nor bring on destruction' that is, to incur eternal punishment, which indeed is in our own power, according to which the thirteenth chapter of Hosea says: 'Your ruin is your own, Israel, your help from me alone.' 4 'By the work of your own hands' is the cause, that is, by the fruit of your works.

But it is objected that, according to Augustine, everyone desires life and beatitude, therefore none death and ruin. 6

It must be said that it is true in itself, but by accident and the end, they are said to desire it who desire the act which is the cause of death and ruin. Whence he places the consequent before the antecedent, which may be expressed: Well I have said that error is the cause of death and evils works are the cause of ruin.

Saint Bonaventura, Commentary on Wisdom, Chap 1

1 Wisdom 1.12
2 Augus Enarrat Ps 48.2
3 Prov 14.22
4 Aristotle Ethic 3.1
5 Hosea 13.9
6 Augustine, de Moribus Eccles 3

20 Nov 2021

Held In Hell

Omnia quae invenit manus tua, ut facias, in virtute tua fac: quia non est opus, et cogitatio, et scientia, et sapientia in inferno quo tu vadis illuc.

Fac quodcunque nunc potes, et labora: quia cum ad infernum descenderis, locus non erit poenitentiae. Huic quid simile a Salvatore praecipitur: Operamimi, dum dies est, veniet nox, quando nemo poterit operari. Quod autem ait: In inferno quo tu vadis illuc, nota ut Samuelem quoque vere in inferno credas fuisse: et ante adventum Christi, quamvis sanctos, omnes inferni lege detentus. Porro quod sancti post resurrectionem Domini nequauqam teneantur in interno, testatur Apostolus, dicens: Melius est dissolvi, et esse cum Christo. Qui autem cum Christo est, utique non tenetur in inferno.

Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentarius Ecclesiasten, Cap IX

Source: Migne PL 23.1086a-b
Everything which your hand finds to do, do it as you are able, because there is no work, or thought, or knowledge, or wisdom in hell, to which you are going. 1

Do now what you can, and labour, because when you have gone to hell, there is no place of penitence. To this similarly the Saviour exhorts: 'Work while it is day, when night comes no man can work.' 2 When he says here: 'In hell, to which you are going,' observe that you should yet accept that Samuel was in hell, 3 and that this was before the coming of Christ, for though there were holy men before, all by the Law were held in hell. However, after the resurrection of the Lord, none of the holy were held in hell, as the Apostle bears witness, saying. 'Better to perish and be with Christ.' 4 For he who is with Christ shall not be held in hell.

Saint Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chap 9

1 Eccles 9.10
2 Jn 11.4
3 1 Kings 28.7-20
4 Philip 1.23

19 Nov 2021

Crooked And Straight

Διεστραμμένον γὰρ φησὶν οὐ δυνήσεται ἐπικοσμηθῆναι

Tουτέστιν, οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο τῇ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ κοσμηθείσῃ κτίσει οἰκεῖον τὸ ἐνδιάστροφον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ τεχνίτης ὁ κατὰ πρόθεσίν τι ἑαυτῷ τεκταινόμενος, κανόνι καὶ σπάρτῳ διευθύνει τὰ μέρη τὰ τὴν ἐπεργασίαν τοῦ σκεύους διὰ τῆς τεχνικῆς πρὸς ἄλληλασχέσεως συμπεραίνοντα· εἰ δέ τι τούτων μὴ κατὰ τὴν σπάρτην διευθυνθέι, οὐ παραδέχεται πάντως τὴν διαστροφὴν ἡ εὐθὴς ἁρμονία, ἀλλὰ χρὴ κακεῖνο ὑπαχθῆναι τῇ σπάρτῇ καὶ εὐθὺ γενέσθαι, εἰ μέλλοι τῷ εὐθεῖ συναρμόζεσθαι· οὕτω φησὶν ὁ Ἐκκλησιατὴς, ὅτι ἡ παρὰ τῆς κακίας διαστραφεῖσα φύσις τῇ κεκοσμημένῃ ὑπὸ ὀρθοῦ λόγου κτίσει ἐγγενέσθαι οὐ δύνατα. Καὶ ὑστέρημα, φησὶν, οὐ δυνήσεται ἀριθμηθῆναι. Ὑστερεῖσθαι τὸ λείπεσθαι, ἡ γραφικὴ συνήθεια νοεῖν διδάσκει· καὶ τοῦτο ἑκ πολλῶν ἔστι πιστώσασθια. Ὁ γὰρ ἐν πατνὶ καὶ ἐν πᾶσι μεμνημένος Παῦλος, οἴδε καὶ ὑστερεῐσθαι καὶ περισσεύειν· καὶ ὁ διὰ τῆς ἀσωτίας τὴν πατρικὴν δαπανήσας οὐσίαν, λιμοῦ κατασχόντος, ἤρξατο τοῦ ὑστερεῖσθαι· καὶ περὶ τῶν ἁγίῶν ὁ Παῦλος διεξιὼν, τὰ τε ἄλλα φησὶ περὶ αὐτῶν ἐν οἴς ἐκακοπάθουν τῷ σώματι, καὶ τοῦτο προστίθησιν, ὅτι ὑστερούμενοι καὶ θλιβόμενοι. Οὐκοῦν καὶ ἐνταῦθα ὑστέρημα ὁ λόγος εἰπὼν, τὸ λεῖπον διὰ τῆς φωνῆς ἐνεδείξατο· τὸ δὲ λεῖπον ἐναρίθμιον τοῖς οὖσι γενέσθαι οὐ δυναταυ. Καὶ γὰρ οἱ μαθηταὶ, ἕως μὲν πάντες ἦσαν ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ πληρώματι, δυοκαίδεκα ἧσαν τὸν ἀριθμόν· ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀπώλετο ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας, ἐκολοβώθη ὁ ἀριθμὸς, τῷ μή συναριθμεῖσθαι τοῖς οὔσι τὸ λεῖπον· ἕνδεκα γὰρ μετὰ τὸν Ἰούδαν καὶ ἧσαν καὶ ὠνομάζοντο. Τὸ οὖν ὑστέρημα, φησὶν, οὐ δυνήσεται τοῦ ἀριθμηθῆναι. Τί τοῦτο σημαίνει διὰ τοῦ λόγου; Ὅτι ἧν ποτε καὶ τὸ καθ' ἡμας τῷ παντὶ ἐναρίθμιον· συνετελοῦμεν γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς τὴν ἱερὰν τῶν λογικῶν προβάτων ἑκατοντάδα. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀπεβουκολήθη τῆς ὀρείου διαγωγῆς τὸ ἕν πρόβατον, ἡ ἡμετέρα φύσις, διὰ κακίας πρὸς τὸν ἀλμῶντα τοῦτον καὶ αὐχμηρὸν τόπον κατασπασθεῖσα, οὐκέτι ὁ αὐτὸς ἀριθμὸς ἐπὶ τοῦ ποιμνίου τῶν ἀπλανῶν μνημονεύεται, ἀλλ' ἐνενήκοντα καὶ ἐννέα κατονομάζονται· τὸ γὰρ μάταιον ἔξω τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ τῶν ὑφεστώτων γίνεται, διότι ὑστέρημα οὐ δυνήσεται τοῦ ἀριθμηθῆναι. Ἤλθεν οὖν ζητῆσαι καὶ σῶσαι τὸ ἀπολωλὸς, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων ἀναλαβὼν ἀποκαταστῆσαι τοῖς οὖσι τὸ τῇ ματαιότητι τῶν ἀνυπάρκτῶν ἐναπολλύμενον, ἵνα πάλιν ἄρτιος γένεηται ὁ τῆς κτίσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀριθμὸς, ἀποσωθέντος τοῦ ἀπολωλότος τοῖς μὴ ἀπολλυμένοις.

Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Εἰς Τον Ἐκκλησιασην, Ὁμιλια Β'

Source: Migne PG 44.640c-641c
'That which is crooked,' he says, 'cannot be made straight.' 1

That is, nothing crooked befits a creature arranged by God. For as the Creator, who designed everything for Himself, set aright with a ruler and measuring line the parts which contribute towards the whole by having each part carefully related to the others, so if any part is not set right by a measuring line, the measured harmony does not admit that which is crooked, for it is necessary that it conform to the measure if all is to be in harmony. Thus Ecclesiastes says that nature made crooked by evil cannot be arranged to right reason: 'Deficiency,' he says, 'cannot be numbered.' 1 To be deficient is to lack, Scripture is accustomed to teach, and it is confirmed by many examples. One among the many is the celebrated Paul who knows what it is to be deficient and what it is to abound; 2 and also that one who having consumed his inheritance was seized by hunger, suffering deficiency, 3 and speaking of the saints, Paul, along with bodily affliction, adds that they were destitute and afflicted. 4 Therefore, when Scripture speaks of deficiency, it means lack, though lack is not mentioned. For the disciples in their fullness numbered twelve but when the son of perdition perished, 5 their number was incomplete, for their lack was him who was not counted among them, and so a twelfth disciple was named to take the place of Judas. 6 Thus he says: 'deficiency cannot be numbered.' What does he mean by this? That we were once counted with the full group, that is, among the holy one hundred rational sheep. 7 When one sheep strayed from the heavenly way of life, our nature by evil was led to an arid uncultivated place; no longer does that number pertain to the flock which have not wandered but they are reckoned ninety-nine, for vanity does not belong to the number who are included, and so: 'deficiency cannot be numbered.' Therefore He comes to seek and save the one who is lost, and lifting him up on his shoulders he restores that which was lost in the vanity of insubstantial things, that again the whole number of God's creation be made whole, by the saving of the lost along with those who have not been destroyed.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On Ecclesiastes, from Homily 2

1 Eccles 1.15
2 Phil 4.12
3 Lk 15.14
4 Heb 11.37
5 Jn 17.12
6 Acts 1.15-26
7 Mt 18.12

18 Nov 2021

Planted Together In Death

Si enim complantati facti sumus similitudini mortis ejus, simul et resurrectionis erimus.

Omnia haec ad illam respiciunt quaestionem, ne videatur locum peccandi dedisse, in eo quod dixit. Ubi abundavit peccatum, superabundavit gratia. Ideo in Christi morte nos dicit baptizatos, et commortuos, et consepultos, et complantatos, addens insuper spem simul resurrectionis. Mors enim Christi in Ecclesia lignum vitae est plantatum in medio paradisi. Cui complantatur, qui ei commoritur, ut mortificando membra sua quae sunt super terram, mittat, sicut dicit Propheta, radices deorsum, ut faciat fructum sursum, fructum reflorentis carnis, et innovationis spiritus, in resurrectionis gloria, et germine, et fecunditate sanctarum virtutum.

Guillelmus S Theodorici Abbas, Expositio In Epistolam Ad Romanos, Liber III

Source: Migne PG 180.606a-b
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, likewise will be our resurrection. 1

All this looks to that question, lest it seems to have given a space to sin, in which he said: 'Where sin abounded, grace abounded.' 2 Therefore he says we are baptized into the death of Christ, and are dead with Him, and buried with Him, and planted together with Him, then adds the hope of the resurrection. For the death of Christ in the Church is the tree of life planted in the midst of paradise. 3 With whom he is planted who dies with Him, that in the mortifying of his members which are on the earth, he sends, as the Prophet says, deep roots down, so that he might make fruit above, 4 the fruit of the reflourishing of the flesh and the renewal of the spirit, in the glory of the resurrection, and with the seed and fecundity of the holy virtues.

William of St Thierry, Commentary on Romans, Book 3

1 Rom 6.5
2 Rom 6.1, 5.20
3 Gen 2.9
4 Isaiah 37.31

17 Nov 2021

Salvation And Correction

Ἐὰν θέλῃς σωθῆναι, ἀληθῆ λόγον ἀγάπηπον,καὶ μηδέποτε ἀκρίτωη ἔλεγχον ἀποστραφῇς.

Λόγος ἀληθὴς μετέβαλε γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, καὶ ὑπέδειχεν αὐτοῖς φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς

Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Νόμου Πνευματικοῦ

Source: Migne PG 65.921b
If you would be saved, love the true word, and never turn away unjudged by reproof.

A true word changed a nest of vipers, showing them that they should flee the wrath to come. 1

Saint Mark The Ascetic, On The Spiritual Law.

1 Mt 3.7

16 Nov 2021

Considering Salvation

Frequenter admonui vos, fratres, ut, dum licet, dum in spatio est, saluti vestrae omnibus modis consuleretis, et in hac vita brevi vitam vobis provideretis aeternam. Sapiens enim quisque intelligit quod haec vita hominum non ad quietem data, sed ad laborem, hoc est, ut hic laboret et in posterum requiescat. Hic autem requies nulla: tantis enim malis haec vita repleta est, ut comparatione ejus mors remedio putetur esse, non poena; nam ideo brevem illam fecit Deus, ut molestiae ejus, quia prosperitate non poterant, temporis exiguitate finirentur. Denqiue sanctus Job dicit: Piraterium est vita hominis super terram; hoc est, sive quod homines in hac vita omnia experiantur mala; piraterium enim Latine experimentum dici potest; seu certe piraterium, quod in hac vita circa homines diabolus, tanquam pirata desaeviat; piraterium enim habitaculum piratarum est. Tandiu ergo in piraterio sumus, quandiu in hac carne positi praedonum spiritualium tentationibus subjacemus; quamvis in hac ipsa vita etiam carnales nobis, qui sunt barbari, piratae non desunt; minus tamen eos timeo qui, etsi auferunt partimonia, non possunt auferre justitiam; si aurum tollunt, Christum certe tollere non possunt; si diripiunt argentum non possunt diripere Salvatorem. Quis igitur non festinat habere sibi Christum, quem non possit ab eo nec praedo diripere, nec hostis auferre, nec captivitas separare? Qui enim habet Christum, hominem non veretur inimicum. Quid enim facturus savienti? Pecora ejus abducet? Hoc etiam morbi lues facere consuevit. Armenta diripiet? Istud damnum abactores tolerando jam didicit. Ipsum fortassis non illi admovet taedia, sed removet; hoc enim illi intulit, quod majore cum molestia febris afferret, praesertim cum dicat Dominus: Nolite timere eos qui occidunt corpus, animam autem non possunt occidere. Illi igitur spirituales plus metuendi piratae sunt, qui non solum corpora hominum, sed et animas spoliare consueverunt; qui non tam aurum mundi quam aurum fidei auferre nituntur; qui non tam saeculi substantiam quam Christi sapientiam depraedantur. Nam ipsi nobis spirituales hostes hos carnales immittuntur, ut probemur in tribulatione positi quam simus confidentes in Deo, qui de solo ipso remedium postulemus. Sunt enim quidam qui, in tribulatione positi, dicant malis artibus hostes vincere, iisdem eos artibus debere superari, desperantes de Deo, a daemonibus victoriam flagitantes; miseri homines nesciunt quid faciunt, quid loquantur. Dum enim rebus suis metuunt, obliti sunt religionis ac fidei, qui res quidem suas forte non perdunt, sed quod est amplius suas animas perdiderunt.

Sanctus Maximus Taurinensis, Homilia LXXXVIII, De non timendis hostibus carnalibus

Source: Migne PL 57.453b-455b
I have frequently admonished you, brothers, that while it is permitted, while there is time, that you consider your salvation in every way, and that in this brief life you look toward eternal life. Wise is he who understands that this life of man is not given to leisure, but to toil, that is, that here a man labours and in the end he has rest. Here there is no rest, for this life is full with such evils, so that in comparison with it death may be thought a remedy, not a punishment; therefore God makes it short, so that its troubles which permit no prosperity have an end after a small time. Job says that life is a lair of bandits on the earth, 1 that is, that all men in this life experience evil, for the trial is to be understood as experience, for certainly a trial it is that in this life the devil surrounds men, and as a bandit rages against them, for indeed this is a dwelling place of bandits. Therefore, as long as we are in the lair, as long as we are in this flesh, so we are subject to the spiritual trials of brigands, and in this life which is carnal to us, we are not spared those who are barbarians and bandits. However I fear them less, who even if there are able to bear off possessions, are not able to carry off righteousness, who if they take away gold, certainly are not able to take away Christ, who if they steal silver are not able to steal the Saviour. Who, then does not hurry to have Christ, He who is not able to be taken by a brigand or borne off by an enemy, nor is He separated by captivity? Indeed he who has Christ does not fear any hostile man. What savagery will be done? Will cattle be driven away? This indeed is the custom of a plague. A herd will be seized? He has already taught that those who take must be suffered. And this perhaps does not drive one to weariness but removes it, for this instilled takes away a far worse trouble than sickness, certainly when the Lord says: 'Do not fear those who kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul.' 2 Therefore the spiritual bandits are more to be feared, who not only kill the bodies of men but are accustomed to despoil the soul, who do not so much exert themselves for the gold of the world, but to bear off faith, who do not so much destroy the things of this age, but ruin the knowledge of Christ. Yet these carnal foes do give admittance to our spiritual enemies, so that being placed in tribulation, rather than being confident in God, we seek a remedy from ourselves. They are those who when placed in tribulation would speak of conquering foes with evil deeds, that they should be overcome with their same arts, despairing of God, counseled by demons to victory, wretched men not knowing what they do, nor what they say. For while they fear for their own things, they have forgotten their religion and faith, they who would perhaps not lose their own things, but have already lost their souls.

Saint Maximus of Turin, from Homily 88, That One Should Not Fear Carnal Enemies

1 Job 7.1
2 Mt 10.28

15 Nov 2021

Life And Good Days

Τὶς ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος ὁ θέλων ζωὴν, ἀγαπῶν ἡμέρας ἰδεῖν ἁγαθὰς;

Εἴ τις θέλει, φησὶ, ζωὴν, οὐ τὴν κοινὴν ταύτην ἤν καὶ τὰ ἄλογα ζῇ, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὄντως ζωὴν τὴν θανάτῳ μὴ διακοπτομένην. Νῦν γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀποθνήσκετε, Καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἡμῶν κέκρυπται σὺν τῷ Κριστῷ ἐν τῷ Θεῷ· ὅταν δὲ ὁ Χριστὸς φανερωθῇ, ἡ ζωὴ ἡμῶν, τότε καὶ ὑμεις σὺν αὐτῷ φανερωθήσεσθε ἐν δόξῃ. Οὐκοῦν καὶ ἡ ὄντως ζωὴ ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ ἡ ἡμετερα ἐν αὐτῷ διαγωγὴ ζωή ἐστιν ἀληθινή. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ αἱ ἡμέραι ἄλλαι εἰσὶν ἀγαθαὶ, ἂς ἐν ἐπαγγελίᾳ προτίθησιν ὁ Προσφήτης. Τὶς ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος ὁ θέλων ζωὴν, ἀγαπῶν ἡμέρας ἰδεῖν ἁγαθὰς; Αἱ γὰρ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἡμέραι πονηραὶ, ἐπειδή καὶ ὁ αἱὼν οὗτος, τοῦ κόσμου μέτρον ὑπάρχων, περὶ οὗ εἴρηται, ὅτι Ὁ κόσμος ὅλος ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ κεῖται, συναφομοιοῦται τῇ φύσει τοῦ κόσμου ὄν ἐκμετρεῖ. Μέρη δὲ τοῦ χρόνου τούτου αἱ ἡμέραι αὖται. Διὰ τοῦτο φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος· Ἐξαγοραζόμενοι τὸν καιρὸν, ὅτι αἱ ἡμέραι πονεραί εἰσι. Καὶ ὁ Ἰακὼβ δὲ, Αἱ ἡμέραι, φησὶ, τῶν ἐτῶν μου μικραὶ καὶ πονηραί. Οὐκοῦν νῦν μὲν οὐκ ἐσμεν ἐν ζωῇ, ἀλλ' ἐν θανάτῳ. Διὸ καὶ ηὔχετο ὁ Απόστολος, λέγων· Τις με ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῠ σώματος τοῦ Θανὰτου τούτου; Ἄλλη δέ τίς ἐστι ζωὴ, πρὸς ἤν καλεῖ ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος· καὶ νῦν μὲν αἱ ἡμέραι ἡμῶν πονηραὶ, ἄλλαι δέ τινές εἰσιν ἀγαθαὶ, ἂς νὺξ οὐ διακόπτει· ἔσται γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς αὐτῶν φῶς αἰώνιον, καταλάμπων αὐτὰς τῷ φωτὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ δόξης. Μὴ τοίνυν, ὅταν ἀκούσῃς ἡμερῶν ἀγαθῶν, τὴν ἐνταῦθα σοι νομίσῃς ζωὴν ἐν ἐπαγγελίαις προκεῖσθαι. Φθαρταὶ γάρ εἰσιν αὖται, ἂς ὁ αἰσθητὸς ἥλιος ἀπεργάζεται· οὐδὲν δὲ φθαρτὸν ἁρμοζόντως ἂν δῶρον γένοιτο τῷ ἀφθάρτῷ. Εἰ γὰρ ἄφθαρτος ἡ ψυχὴ, ἄφθαρτα αὐτῆς καὶ τὰ χαρίσματα. Καὶ Παράγει τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου. Εἰ δὲ σκιὰν ἔχει ὁ νόμος τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν, νόει μοί τινα Σαββατα τρυφερὰ, ἅγια, ἐκ τῶν αἰωνίων ἡμερῶν, νεομηνίας, ἑορτάς· καὶ νόει μοι ἀξίως τοῦ πνευματικοῦ νόμου.

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


Source: Migne PG 29.372c-373b
Who is the man who wants life, and desires to know good days? 1

If someone wants life, he says, but not this common life, which even beasts live, but that one which is the true life and is not destroyed by death. For now he says, you are dead, 'and our life is hidden with Christ in God, but when Christ appears, our life, then even you shall appear with Him in glory.' 2 Therefore the true life is Christ and our true life is in association with Him. Likewise different are the days which are good, which the Prophet proposed as a promise: 'Who is the man who wants life and desires to know good days?' For the days of this world are evil, since this age is a measure of this world, concerning which it is said: 'The whole world is in wicked state set,' 3 for to the nature of the world which it measures it is akin. And these days are part of this time. Whence the Apostle says: 'Redeem the time, because the days are evil.' 4 And Jacob: 'The days of my years are few and evil.' 5 Thus now we are not in life but in death. Therefore the Apostle prayed, saying, 'Who shall liberate me from this body of death?' 6 But there is another life, to which the words here call us. And now, though our days are evil, others are good, which night does not destroy. For their God is light eternal and they are illuminated with the light of His glory. Do not, then, when you hear 'good days' think that something of this present life is what is proposed by these promises. For those days are corruptible and perish beneath this material sun, and nothing corruptible is befitting as a gift for a state of incorruption. For if the soul does not perish, even so its gifts. 'And the figure of this world will pass away.' 7 Just as the Law is a shadow of future goods, 8 think with me of some joyful Sabbath, holy, of eternal days, new moons, feasts, but think with me of what befits the spiritual law.

Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 33

1 Ps 33.13
2 Coloss 3.3-4
3 1 Jn 5.19
4 Ephes 5.16
5 Gen 47.9
6 Rom 7.24
7 1 Cor 7.31
8 Heb 10.1

14 Nov 2021

Sacrifice and Last Judgement

Τὰ γυμνὰ καὶ τετραχηλισμένα ἐκ μεταφορᾶς τῶν ἱερείων, τῶν ἐις θυσίαν προσαγομένων, τῷ πολύφρονι γέγραπται Παύλῳ. Ὥωπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνα τῶν δορῶν ἀφαιρούμενα, πάσης τῆς φαινομένη; ἀπογυμνοῦται περιβολῆς, καὶ τῶν κεκρυμμένων ἔνδοθεν ἐπιδείκνυται τὴν διάθεσιν, καὶ τραχηλίζεται εἰς ἔρευναν παντὸς ὀστεου καὶ μέλους, πρὸς τὸ πάντα ἐκκαθαρθῆναι, διὰ τὴν τοῦ πράγματος ᾧ προσαγονται καθαρότητα· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς μεγάλης τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμέρας ἡ τῶν ἀδήλων καὶ ἀφανῶν ἡμῶν πράξεων ἀνακάλυψις, ἀπογυμνώσει καὶ τραχηλισμῷ ἐοικυῖα φανήσεται, οὐδενὸς λαθεῖν δυναμένου, ἀλλὰ πάντῶν εἰς τὸ ἐμφανὲς ἀγομένων.

Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου,Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ϟΔ' Πανσοφιῳ Διακονῳ

Source: Migne PG 78.248a-b
'Things naked and open' 1 is written by the most thoughtful Paul in reference to the offering of the holy victims which are used for sacrifice, for as those, when they are stripped of pelts, are despoiled of what is overtly worn and the state of things hidden within is revealed, even to every bone and member being broken open, that everything, for which reason it is brought, is purified, in like manner on the great day of the Lord there will be a revelation of our hidden and unknown deeds, which stripping shall appear similar to a dissection. For nothing will be able to be hidden when everything is brought into the open.

Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 94 To Pansophius the Deacon


1 Heb 4.13

13 Nov 2021

Dragged Off To Hell

Verutamen ad infernum detraheris in profundum laci. LXX: Nunc autem in infernum descendes, et ad fundamenta terrae.

Non ad infernum sponte descendes, hoc enim Domini Salvatoris est, ut vinctos de inferis liberet, sed ad infernum detraheris invitus, ut qui per virtutes poteras ad excelsa conscendere, per vitia detraharis ad poenas. Sancti pennas habent aquilae, et pennas columbae, et possunt dicere: Volabo et requiescam. Impii autem et Aegyptiorum similes, dermersi sunt quasi plumbum in aquis vehementissimis, et demersi sunt in profundum sicut lapis. Unde et iniquitas, sive ut melius habetur in Hebraeo, impietas super talentum plumbi sedere conspicitur. Ergo illud quod alibi legimus: Omnis qui se exltat, humiliabitur, etiam rex confusionis passus est, ut detraheretur in fundamenta terrae, sive ut verius in Hebraeo habetur, in profundum laci. De fundamentis terrae in Deuteronomio scribitur: Ignus succensus est in furore meo, ardebit usque ad infernum novissimum. Devorabit terram, et fundamenta ejus, eos videlict qui terreni sunt. De lacu quoque, quod per eum profunda significentur inferni, illa sunt testimonis: Assimlatus sum cum descendentibus in lacum. Et Posuerunt me in lacum novissimum. Sicut enim lacus aquas ad se descendentes, ita infernus animas suscipit: ad quem lacum descendit Banaias tempore nivis et frigoris et interfecti in eo leonem. Unde et haeretici relinquunt fontem aquae viventis Dominum, et fodiunt sibi lacus contritos qui aquam non valeant continere. De his lacis, qui fervorem non habent Spiritus sancti; nec Jeremiae prophetae similes sunt, qui juxta Septuaginta interpretes loquebatur: Inveni aquam calidam in deserto; sed refrigescente charitate, calorem Sancti Spiritus perdiderunt: ille est lacus, de quo idem Jeremias loquitur: Sicut refrigerat lacus aquam, sic refrigerat malitia habentes se. Qui utinam, juxta Apocalypsim Joannis, aut calidi essent, aut frigidi, id est, aut crederent, aut omnino non crederent, ne per teporem, et simulationem fidei a Domino rejicerentur.

Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Isaiam Prophetam, Lib VI, Cap XIV

Source Migne PL 24.221b-222a
'But you are dragged off to hell, into the depths of the pit.' The Septuagint reads: 'But now you have fallen into hell, and to the foundations of the earth.' 1

Not willingly do you descend to hell, as indeed did the Lord our Saviour, so that He liberate those captive from hell, but you have been dragged off unwillingly, you who by virtue were able to climb to the heights, so by vice are dragged off to punishment. The holy have the wings of the eagle, and the wings of the dove, and they are able to say, 'I shall fly away and rest.' 2 But the impious are like the Egyptians: they have sunk down utterly like lead in the waters. 3 Whence iniquity, or better, as it in the Hebrew, impiety, is seen to sit upon the talent of lead. 4 Therefore, that which elsewhere we read: 'All who exalt themselves shall be humbled,' even a king suffering confusion as he is dragged away to the foundations of the earth, or more accurately, as it reads in the Hebrew: 'into the depths of the pit.' Concerning the foundations of the earth it is written in Deuteronomy: 'Fire has been kindled in my fury, it burns even to the furthest reaches of hell. It shall devour the earth and its foundations,' 5 that is, those who are worldly. And concerning the pit, by which the depths of hell are signified, there are these testimonies: 'I am made one with those who have fallen into the pit.' And: 'They placed me in the furthest reaches of the pit.' 6 As a pit receives the waters falling into it, so hell receives souls, to which pit Banaiah descended in a time of snow and cold, and in it he killed a lion. 7 Whence even the heretics who abandon the Lord, the fount of living waters, dig for themselves ragged pits which are not able to hold water. Like these pits are those who do not have the fervour of the Holy Spirit, who are not like those of the prophet Jeremiah, who according to the translation of the Septuagint, said: 'I found cold water in the desert,' 8 but they are cold in love, having lost the heat of the Holy Spirit, which is that pit of which Jeremiah says: 'As a pit keeps water fresh, so in them evil is kept fresh.' 9 They who should be, according to the Apocalypse of John, either warm or cold, that is, they should either believe or not, lest because of tepidity and a pretence of faith they are cast out by the Lord. 10

Saint Jerome, Commentary On The Prophet Isaiah, Book 6, Chapter 14

1 Isai 14.15
2 Ps 54.6
3 Exod 15.5
4 Zach 5.8
5 Deut 32.22
6 Ps 87.5,7
7 2 Kings 33.20, 1 Par 11.22
8 Jerem 2.6
9 Jerem 6.7
10 Apoc 3.15-16, Mt 7.21-23

12 Nov 2021

Passing Away And Persisting

Quoniam malignantes dicunt: si enim coelum thronus Dei est thronus est, et terra suppedaneum ejus, dictum est autem praeterire coleum et terram hisque praetereuntibus oportere etiam hunc Deum, qui super sedeat, praeterire; et ideo non hunc esse Deum qui sit super omnia; primo quidem nesciunt quid sit coelum thronus, et terra suppedaneum. Nec enim sciunt quid sit Deus, sed putant eum more hominis sedere, et contineri, non autem continere. Sed et praeteritionem coeli et terrae ignorant; Paulus autem non ignoravit, dicens: Praeterit enim figura hujus mundi. Deinde quaestionem ipsorum solvit David. Figura enim hujus mundi praetereunte, non solum Deum ait perseverare, sed et servos ejus, in centesimo primo psalmo dicens ita: Initio terram tu fundasti, Domine, et opera manuum tuarum sunt caeli, Ipsi peribunt, tu autem perseverabis, et omnes sicut vestimentum veterascent et sicut cooperimentum mutabis eos, et mutabuntur. Tu autem idem ipse es et anni tui non deficient. Filii servorum tuorum inhabitabunt et semen eorum in aeternum dirigetur; manifeste ostendens quae sint quae praetereunt, et quis est qui semper perseverat, Deus cum servis suis. Et Esaias autem similiter: Allevate, inquit, oculos vestros vestros in coelum, et attendite in terram deorsum, quoniam coelum sicut fumus confirmatum est, terra autem sicut vestimentum veterascet: qui autem inhabitant in eis, quemadmodum haec morientur. Salutare autem meum in aeternum erit, justitia autem mea non deficiet.

Sanctus Ireneaus Lugdunensis, Adversus Haereses, Liber IV, Caput III

Source: Migne PG 7.802b-803a
They malignantly say: 'If heaven is the throne of God, and earth His footstool, and it is declared that heaven and earth shall pass away, 1 then when these pass away the God who sits above must also pass away, and therefore He cannot be the God who is over all.' Let it be said that firstly they do not know what it is that heaven is the throne and earth the footstool. For they do not know what God is, but they think He sits like a man, and thatHe is contained within bounds, who is boundless. And they are also ignorant of the passing away of the heaven and earth, but Paul was not ignorant, who says: 'For the figure of this world passes away.' 2 Then David gives answer to their question, for he says that when the form of this world passes away, not only shall God remain, but even His servants, saying in the hundred and first Psalm: 'In the beginning, You, O Lord, founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands. They shall perish, but you shall remain, and all shall wear out as a garment, and as clothing you will change them, and they will be changed, but you are the same, and your years shall not fail. The children of your servants shall persist, and their seed shall be established for ever.' 3 Manifestly revealing what passes away and what persists forever, that is, God with His servants. And Isaiah likewise says: 'Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth below. For the heaven has been set together as smoke, and the earth shall wear old like a garment, and they who dwell there shall perish in like manner. But my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not pass away.' 4

Saint Ireneaus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book 4, Chapter 3

1 Mt 5.34-35, Isaiah 66.1 Lk 21.33
2 1 Cor 7.31
3 Ps 101.26-29
4 Isaiah 51.6

11 Nov 2021

The Light Of Heaven

Dominae Eximiae Et Merito Praestantissimae, atque in Christi Caritate Honorandae Filiae Italicae, Augustinus Episcopus, In Domino Salutem

Non solum litteris tuis, verum etiam ipso referente qui pertulit, comperi multum te flagitare litteras meas, credentem quod ex eis consolationem habere plurimam possis. Tu itaque videris quid exinde capias, ego tamen eas negare vel differre non debui. Consoletur autem te fides et spes tua, et ipsa caritas quae diffunditur in cordibus piorum per Spiritum sanctum, cuius nunc aliquid pro pignore accepimus, ut ipsam plenitudinem desiderare noverimus. Non enim te desolatam putare debes, cum in interiore homine habeas praesentem Christum per fidem in corde tuo; aut sic te contristari oportet, quemadmodum gentes quae spem non habent, cum veracissima promissione speremus nos de hac vita, unde migraturi quosdam nostros migrantes non amisimus, sed praemisimus, ad eam vitam esse venturos, ubi nobis erunt quanto notiores, tanto utique cariores, et sine timore ullius discessionis amabiles. Hic autem etsi coniux tuus, cuius abscessu vidua diceris, tibi notissimus erat, sibi tamen notior erat quam tibi. Et unde hoc, cum tu eius corporalem faciem videres, quam ipse utique non videbat, nisi quia notitia nostri certior intus est, ubi nemo scit quae sunt hominis, nisi spiritus hominis qui in ipso est: sed cum venerit Dominus, et illuminaverit abscondita tenebrarum, et manifestaverit cogitationes cordis, tunc nihil latebit proximum in proximo, nec erit quod suis quisque aperiat, abscondat alienis, ubi nullus erit alienus. Lux vero ipsa, qua illuminabuntur haec omnia quae modo in cordibus reconduntur, qualis aut quanta sit, quis lingua proferat, quis saltem infirma mente contingat? Profecto lux illa Deus ipse est, quoniam Deus lux est, et tenebrae in eo non sunt ullae; sed lux mentium purgatarum, non istorum corporis oculorum. Erit ergo tunc mens idonea quae illam lucem videat, quod nunc nondum est.

Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, ex Epistula XCII, Italica

Source: Migne PL 33.316
To the Noble and Rightly Distinguished, and in the Love of Christ a Daughter Worthy of Honour, Lady Italica, Bishop Augustine Sends Greeting in the Lord.

Not only by your letter, but also by the statements of him who brought it to me, I have learned that you have zealously requested a letter from me, believing that you might acquire from it much consolation. You will see what you may gain from that, I however felt that I should neither refuse nor delay. May your faith and hope console you, and that love which is diffused in the hearts of the pious by the Holy Spirit, 1 of which we now receive a portion as a pledge, so that we may learn to desire its fullness. For you should not consider yourself desolate while you have Christ dwelling within your heart by faith, nor should you sorrow as those folk who have no hope, when by a most sure promise we have hope in this life that we have not lost those who have gone away earlier than ourselves to the country where we shall come, in which they shall be more beloved to us as they shall be better known, and where without any fear of separation we shall love. Even if your husband, by whose passing you are now a widow, was most well known to you, yet he was better known to himself than to you. And how so, when you looked on his face, which he himself did not see, unless because the inner knowledge which we have of ourselves is more certain, since no man 'knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in man.' 2 But when the Lord comes, 'who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the thoughts of the hearts,' 3 then nothing shall be hidden in any one from his neighbour, nor shall there be anything which any one might reveal to his own, but hide from strangers, for there shall be no stranger there. But that light which shall illuminate all those things yet hidden in the heart, what tongue could tell its nature and greatness? Who can with our weak minds even approach it? Truly that Light is God Himself, because 'God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all,' 4 but He is the light of purified minds, not of these bodily eyes. And thus then the mind shall be able to see that light which now it cannot.


Saint Augustine of Hippo, from Letter 92, to Italica

1 Rom 5.5
2 1 Cor 2.11
3 1 Cor 4.5
4 1 Jn 1.5

10 Nov 2021

Peace And Peacemakers

Beati pacifici, quoniam filii Dei vocabuntur.

Beatitudo ista, dilectissimi, non cujuslibet consensionis, nec qualiscumque concordiae est, sed illius de qua dicit Apostolus: Pacem habete ad Deum: et de qua dicit propheta David: Pax multa diligentibus legem tuam, et non est illis scandalum. Hanc pacem etiam arctissima amicitiarum vincula, et indiscretae similitudines animorum non veraciter sibi vindicant, si non cum Dei voluntate concordant. Extra dignitatem hujus pacis sunt improbarum parilitates cupiditatum, foedera scelerum et pacta vitiorum. Amor mundi cum Dei amore non congruit, nec ad societatem filiorum Dei pervenit, qui se a carnali generatione non dividit. Qui autem semper cum Deo mente sunt solliciti servare unitatem spiritus in vinculo pacis, numquam ab aeterna lege dissentiunt, fideli oratione dicentes: Fiat voluntas tua sicut in coelo et in terra. Hi sunt pacifici, hi bene unanimes, sancteque concordes, vocandi aeterno nomine filii Dei, cohaeredes autem Christi: quia hoc merebitur dilectio Dei et dilectio proximi, ut nullas jam adversitates sentiat, nulla scandala pertimescat; sed finito omnium tentationum certamine, in tranquillissima Dei pace requiescat, per Dominum nostrum, qui cum Patre et Spiritu sancto vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Sanctus Leo Magnus, Sermo XCV, De Gradibus Ascensionis Ad Beatitudinem

Source: Migne PL 54.465b-466a
'Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the sons of God.' 1

This blessedness, most beloved, belongs not to any type agreement or harmony, but is that of which the Apostle speaks: 'have peace towards God.' 2 And concerning which the Prophet David speaks: 'Much peace have those who love your law, and they have no scandal. 3 This peace even the closest bonds of friendship and the most exact similarity of mind do not truly achieve, if they do not accord with God's will. Outside the dignity of this peace are similarity of shameful desires, association in crimes, pacts in vice. The love of the world does not agree with the love of God, nor does he enter into the alliance of the sons of God who will not separate himself from the carnal generation. However they who always have God in mind, 'anxious to guard the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,' 4 never dissent from the eternal law, speaking that prayer of the faithul: 'Your will be done as in heaven so on earth.' 5These are the peacemakers, these are rightly of one mind and in sacred harmony, who are to be called 'sons of God and fellow heirs with Christ,' 6 because this love of God and the love of neighbour shall merit that we shall feel no calamities now, and fear no scandals, but when comes the end of all trials, there is rest in God's most undisturbed peace, through our Lord, who, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

Pope Leo the Great, from Sermon 95, On The Steps Of Ascension to Blessedness

1 Mt 5.9
2 Rom 5.1, 2 Cor 13.11
3 Ps 118.16
4 Ephes 4.3
5 Mt 6.10
6 Rom 8.17

9 Nov 2021

Confession After Death

Quoniam non est in morte qui memor sit tui: in inferno autem quis confitebitur tibi?

Movere potest quare dicat, in morte, nullum esse memorem Dei, dum vicina possit amplius ira judicis contremisci? Sed bene perfidos dicimus immemores Dei, de quibus et Isaias ait: Non enim qui in inferno sunt laudabunt te; neque qui mortui sunt benedicent te. Nam cum dicit Apostolus: in nomine Jesu omne genu flectatur coelestium, terrestrium et infernorum, hic de solis infidelibus ac pertinacibus debet accipi dictum, qui nullam fiduciam confessionis suae habere promerentur. Merito ergo sibi festinat dimitti: quia post lucis occasum, non restat nisi sola retributio meritorum. In inferno autem quis confitebitur tibi. Subaudiendum ad veniam; sicut et Salomon de impiis dicit: Quia dicent inter se, poenitentiam habentes, et prae angustia spiritus gementes, etc. Nam et dives qui Lazarum videbat in requie constitutum, mala sua probatur esse confessus, sed non est ad votum supplicationis auditus: quia in hoc mundo proprie confessio dicitur, ubi et venia reperitur. Et ut aliquam divisionem in his verbis intelligi debeamus, in morte, significat transitum vitae; in inferno vero custodiam locorum quam pro suis meritis animae sustinere noscuntur. In utroque tamen negatur absolute suscipienda confessio.

Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus VI

Source: Migne PG 70.62d-63b
Because in death there is no one who is mindful of you. In hell who confesses you? 1

Why is he able to be so troubled that he says that in death there is no memory of God, when he has just been more deeply distressed by the anger of judgement? 2 But we speak well when we say that the faithless are not mindful of God, concerning whom Isaiah said: 'In hell there are none who praise you, nor do any of the dead bless you.' 3 For when the Apostle says: 'In the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of heaven and of earth and of hell,' 4 then here only of the faithless and obstinate should it be understood as spoken, who have no hope that their confession will profit them. Rightly then he makes haste to absolve himself, because after the passing of the light, there remains nothing but the reward for goods. 'In hell who confesses you.' Hear in this a reference to forgiveness, as even Solomon spoke of the impious: 'Because they will speak to one another of repentance, and because of the anguish of the spirit they will groan.' 5 For even the rich man who looked on Lazarus established in rest is known to have confessed his evils, 6 but there is no hearing for the vow of his prayer, because only in this world it is proper to make confesssion, where forgiveness is obtained. And a certain division in these words should be understood, 'in death' signifes the passing out of life, 'in hell' is the confinement in places which for their reward their souls are known to suffer. And in both these states confession is utterly refused.

Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, Psalm 6

1 Ps 6.6
2 Ps 6.1-2
3 Isaiah 38.18
4 Philip 2.10
5 Wisd 5.3
6 Lk 16.23

8 Nov 2021

Ignorance And Resurrection

Et repondens Iesus ait illis: nonne ideo erratis, non scientes Scripturas, neque virtutem Dei?

Incipit istius tentationis solutio: habet autem tres particulas, scilicet, ignorantiae increpationem, erroris eorum ostensionem, et resurrectionis mortuorum probationem. Dicit igitur increpando etiam humano iudicio de resurrectione mortuorum loquentem, quam putatis carnaliter debere intelligi, dicentes illud, Quomodo resurgent mortui? quali autem corpore venient? Quia enim Pharisei dicunt quod animali corpore venient cibis egentes, et sexus permiscentes: et quia vobis hoc videtur impossible, ideo negatis resurrectionem, nescientes quid scriptura loquitur, quod resurgent mortui cum corporibus immortalibus: qui cibis non egent, et sexus non permiscent: et ideo erratis nescientes scripturas. Ideo captivus ductus est populus meus: quia non habuit scientiam Erit vobis visio omnium quasi visio libri signati, quem si dederis scienti literas, et dicas lege, dicet: non possum, signatus est enim. Et si dederis eum nescienti literas, et dicas lege,dicet: non possum, quia nescio literas. Obscuratum est insipiens cor eorum. Usque in hodiernum diem cum legitur Moyses, velamen est positum super cor eorum quia infirmitatem morientium intuentes, non putabant mortuos posse resurgere, non intelligentes quod virtute Dei erit resurrectio communis. Erratis nescientes scripturas, neque virtutem Dei. Virtus enim Dei resuscitabit mortuos. Mortui audient vocem filii Dei: et qui audierint, vivent: quia etiam insensibilia Deo, cui omnia obediunt, sensibilia efficiuntur. Ante Deum cui credidisti: quia vivificat mortuos, qui vocat ea quae non sunt tamquam ea quae sunt. Haec enim est virtue Dei quam Saducaeu ignoraverunt. Evigilate iusti: ignorantiam enim Dei quidam habent. Haec cogitaverunt et erraverunt, excaecavit enim illis malitia ipsorum. Et nescierunt sacramenta Dei: et non iudicaverunt honorem animarum sanctarum.

Sanctus Albertus Magnus Commentarium In Evangelium Divi Marci, Caput XII



Source: Volumen 9, p146 pdf 393
And Jesus answering said to them: 'Therefore do you not err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God?' 1

He begins the solution of this testing, and it has three parts, that is, chastisement of ignorance, revelation of error, and the proof of the resurrection of the dead. Therefore He says in chastisement of human judgement, speaking of the resurrecton of the dead, which you think to understand carnally, saying: 'How shall the dead rise? With what body shall they come?' 2 Because indeed the Pharisees say that they shall be animal bodies in need of food, and of either sex, and because this seems impossible to you, so you deny the resurrection, not knowing what Scripture speaks, that when they rise with immortal bodies, they will not need food, and will be sexless, and so you err in ignorance of the Scriptures. 'Therefore my people were led away captive, because they did not have knowledge.' 3 'A vision shall be yours of all things, as the vision of a sealed book, which if you shall give to one who knows letters, and you tell him to read, he shall say: 'I cannot, it is sealed.' And if you give it to one who is ignorant of letters, and you tell him to read, he shall say, 'I cannot because I do not know letters.' 4 'Their foolish hearts are darkened.' 5 'Even until today when the Moses is read, a veil is placed over their hearts,' 6 because observing the powerlessness of the dead they do not think it to be possible that they arise, not understanding the common resurrection shall be by the power of God. 'You err not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.' 7 For the power of God revives the dead. 'The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they who hear, shall live,' 8 because even insensible to God, to whom everything is obedient, they shall be made sensible. 'Before the God in whom you have believed, because He gives life to the dead, He calls forth things which are not as things which are.' 9 This indeed is the power of God of which the Sadducees were ignorant. 'Be watchful, you righteous ones, for some are ignorant of God.' '10 'They have thought on these things and they have erred, they have been blinded by their evils. They did not know the mysteries of God, they did not discern the honour of holy souls.' 11

Saint Albert The Great, Commentary On The Gospel of St Mark, Chapter 12

1 Mk 12.24
2 1 Cor 15.35
3 Isaiah 5.13
4 Isaiah 29.11-12
5 Rom 1.21
6 2 Cor 3.15
7 Matt 22.29
8 Jn 5.25
9 Rom 4.17
10 1 Cor 15.34
11 Wisd 2.21-22