Casting Off The Skin

Inter prudentias ejus illa nos spiritualiter erudit et informat; quia, cum sibi videt imminere tempora senectutis, inter angustissimos lapides ingrediens ibi deponit vetestae pellis exuvias. Sed et nos si volumus veterem hominem deponere cum actibus suis, oportet nos ingredi angustias poenitentiae, angustias viae illius quae ducit ad vitam, et sic induere novum hominem, qui secundum Deum creatus est. Sane illic benedictus apostolus, cujus hodie memoria in benedictione est, pellem vetustatis, pellem mortis deposuit; ut pellem gloriae et jucunditatis indueret. Pellem, inquit, pro pelle, et omnia quae habet homo, dabit pro anima sua. Dat homo pellem mortificationis pro pelle glorificationis. Pellem hanc deponemus, cum corruptibile hoc induet incorruptionem, et mortale hoc immortalitatem. Aliamque pellem sumemus, cum Christus reformabit corpus humilitatis nostrae configuratum corpori claritatis suae, et superinduar ego pelle nova, et in pelle mea videbo Deum Salvatorem meum. Juxta verbum Jeremiae, hodie deponit Aethiops pellem suam, et pardus varietates suas. Erat pellis quam hodie deponit Apostlous pellis mortalitatis, et ideo Aethiopis; hodie, apostole Dei, renovatur ut aquila juventas tua. De hac pelle dicit Job: Numquid implebis sagenas pelle ejus, et gurgustium piscium capite illius? Haec est pellis caprina, quae ponitur in lectulo David, ut innocens manus persecutoris evadat. Hodie, Domine, conscidisti saccum apostoli, et circumdedisti eum laetitia. Vetus Adam incidit in latrones, qui spoliaverunt eum tunica innocentiae et gloriae; hanc hodie fortiter recuperat miles et athleta Christi fortissimus. O malitia daemonum! O crudelitas hominum! O virtus Dei! O constantia martyrum, ubi erat cor apostoli, quando has angustias tolerabat? Certe in Christo, in cruce Christi et in doloribus ejus. Memoriam passionis Christi ipsum propriae passionis immemorem faciebat. Si quaereretur ab eo utrum pellem suam, utrum carnem suam diligeret, responderet: Diligo; nemo carnem suam odio habuit, sed magis diligo Christum quam me ipsum. Si modo spolior, Christus me superinduet; pondusque hoc tribulationis meae immensum gloriae pondus operabitur in me. Scio cui credidi, et certus sum, non mentietur quia Veritas est. Sed pro Christo patior, et conregnabo, et pro brevi, et transitoria tribulatione coronam immarcescibilem, et interminabilem jucunditatem, et exsultationem securus exspecto. Quam nobis praestare dignetur, per meritabeati Bartholomaei, Jesus Christus, cui est honor et gloria in saecula saeculorum. Amen. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XXXVII,De Sancto Bartholomaeo Source: Migne PL 207.671c-672c

The prudence of the snake spiritually teaches and informs us, because when he sees himself nearing the time of old age, he goes among close set stones and there casts off the strips of his old skin. And we, if we wish to put off the old man with his acts, 1 we should enter into the narrows of penitence, those narrow ways which lead to life, and so endow ourselves with the new man, who is created according to God. Certainly the holy Apostle whom we hold in blessed memory today, cast off the old skin, the skin of death, that he might put on the skin of glory and of happiness. 'Skin for skin,' it says, 'and everything which the man has, he shall give for his soul.' 2 A man gives the skin of mortification for the skin of glorification. We put this skin off when this corruption is endowed with incorruptibility, and this mortality for immortality. 3 We shall take up another skin when Christ refashions the body of our humility into conformance with the body of His brightness, and I shall be superendowed with a new skin, and in my new skin I shall see God my Saviour. According to the word of Jeremiah, today the Ethiopian puts off his skin, and the leopard his spots. 4 The skin which the Apostle put off this day was the skin of mortality, and therefore the Ethiopian. Today the Apostle of God is renewed as the eagle's youth. 5 Concerning this skin Job says: 'Will you fill nets with his skin and the cabins of fishes with his head?' 6 This is the skin of the goat which is placed on the bed of David, that an innocent man might escape the hands of his persecutors. 7 Today, Lord, you tore off the covering of the Apostle, and you surrounded him with joy. The old Adam fell among thieves, who despoiled him of the tunic of innocence and glory, today a stronger solider recovers, a most sturdy athlete of Christ. O wickedness of demons! O cruelty of men! O power of God! O constancy of martyrdom, where was the heart of the Apostle when he suffered these torments? Certainly in Christ, on the cross of Christ and with His sorrows. Mindful of the passion of Christ he made his own passion unforgettable. If it should be asked of him whether he loved his own skin or his own flesh, he would answer: 'I love. No man hates his own flesh, 8 but I love Christ more than what is mine. If I am stripped, Christ endows me, and the burden of my tribulation shall work for me an immense weight of glory. I know Him whom I have believed in, and I am certain, because He does not lie who is the truth. I suffer for Christ and I shall reign with Him, and for a little while, with a temporary trial, I am secure in the hope of an incorruptible crown, and endless joy and exaltation.' Which may we be worthy to be given, through the merits of the blessed Bartholomew. Peter of Blois, from Sermon 37, On Saint Bartholomew 1 Ephes 4.22 2 Job 2.4 3 1 Cor 15.53 4 Jerem 13.23 5 Ps 102.5 6 Job 40.26 7 1 Kings 19.9-16 8 Ephes 5.29