Demons And Madness

Dicebant autem multi ex ipsis: Dæmonium habet, et insanit: quid eum auditis? Alii dicebant: Haec verba non sunt dæmonium habentis: numquid dæmonium potest cæcorum oculos aperire? Daemonium habet... In Beelzebub, principe daemoniorum, ejicit daemonia. Occasionem autem isti acceperunt ex hoc quod dicit : Potestatem habeo ponendi eam, scilicet animam meam, et potestatem habeo iterum sumendi eam. Haec enim reputabant verba obsessi, et impossibile, esse, quod aliquis compos rationis hoc diceret. Nonne bene dicimus nos quia Samaritanus es tu, et daemonium habes? Signa enim attribuebant daemoni, et verba dixerunt esse insaniae. Et insanit... Sicut dictum est de David, qui se et suos per insaniae formam liberavit. Vidistis hominem insanum: quare adduxistis eum ad me ... ut fureret me praesente? Sic dictum est de Propheta qui venit ungere Jehu, ultorem iniquitatis domus. Quid venit insanus iste ad te? Sic dictum est de Paulo qui summae sapientiae verba praedicavit, Insanis, Paule: multae te litterae ad insaniam convertunt. Quid eum auditis? Hoc dictum fuit Pharisaeorum qui illis consenserunt. Dicunt videntibus: Nolite videre: et adspicienlibus: Nolite adspicere nobis ea quae recta sunt: loquimini nobis placentia. Domus Israel nolunt audire te, quia nolunt audire me. Alii dicebant: Haec verba... Alii dicebant, devoti, verbis ejus illuminati, et operibus confirmati: Haec verba non sunt daemonium habentis: quin potius sunt daemonis imperium et potestatem evacuantis. Daemon enim non est contrarius daemoni. Si Satanas Satanam ejicit, adversus se divisus est: quomodo ergo stabit regnum ejus? Numquam sic locutus est homo, sicut hic homo. Numquid daemonium... Quod homini nocet, et caecitati studet, et homini est inimicum, ...potest caecorum, a nativitate, oculos aperire? Impotentiam enim habet. Et si posset, mala voluntate non faceret, sed potius excaecaret. In hoc feriam vobiscum foedus, ut eruam omnium vestrum oculos dextros, ponamque vos opprobrium in universo Israel. Nasum tuum et aures tuas praecident, et quae remanserint, gladio concident. Beneficium ergo tale daemones nec possunt, nec volunt praestare. Sanctus Albertus Magnus, Commentarium in Joannem, Caput X Source: Here, p198

But many said among themselves, 'He has a demon and he is mad, why do you listen to him?' The others said, 'These words are not of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?' 1 'He has a demon...' 'By Beelezebub, prince of demons, he casts out demons.' 2 The reason they seized on this was because He said: 'I have power to place down my soul, and I have power to take it up again.' 3 They understood these words to be of one who was disturbed, for it was impossible that someone who was healthy in his mind would say this. 'Do we not speak well to say that you are a Samaritan and that you have a demon?' 4 For they attributed His signs to be from demons and the words He spoke to be from madness. 'And He is mad...' As was said about David who freed himself by a sort of madness. 'You see he is a madman, why have you led him to me...that he should stand before me?' 5 So it was spoken about the prophet who came to anoint Jehu as the one to take revenge on the house of Ahab, 'Why did this mad man come to me?' 6 So it was said of Paul who preached words of the highest wisdom: 'You are mad, Paul, many books have turned you to madness.' 7 'Why do you listen to him?' This was said to the Pharisees who associated with them. 'They say to those who see, 'Do not see,' and to those who have visions, 'Do not have visions which are truly right for us, but tell us what pleases us.' 8 'The house of Israel does not wish to hear you, because it does not wish to hear me.' 9 Others said, 'These words...' 'Others said...' the devoted, who were enlightened by His words, and which His works confirmed, '...are not of one who has a demon.' Rather they are what casts out the power and rule of demons. A demon is not an adversary to a demon. 'If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself, how then will his kingdom stand?' 10 'No man spoke like this man.' 11 'Can a demon...' Because a demon harms a man, and desires blindness, and is an enemy of mankind. '...open the eyes of the blind?' The blind from birth. A demon does not have the power. And if it did, it would not do it, on account of malevolence, but rather it would make a man blind. 'Regarding this I will make a treaty with you, that I pluck out all your right eyes and I set you as a disgrace among all Israel.' 12 'They will cut off your noses and your ears, and what remains they will cut to pieces with the sword.' 13 Therefore demons are not able to perform such benefactions, nor do they have any wish to help. Saint Albert The Great, Commentary On The Gospel of St John, Chapter 10 1 Jn 10.20 2 Mt 12.27 3 Jn 10.18 4 Jn 8.48 5 1 Kings 21.14-15 6 4 Kings 9.11 7 Acts 26.24 8 Isaiah 30.10 9 Ezek 3.7 10 Mt 12.26 11 Jn 7.46 12 1 Kings 11.2 13 Ezek 23.25

Anger And The Devil

Sol non occidat super iracundiam vestram: nolite locum dare diabolo... Iram transire vult, nec retineri in pectore, ut die orta, cum die decidat, quia si in animo manserit, dat occasionem diabolo gloriandi. Necesse est enim iratus animus mala cogitet, quod cupit diabolus; invenit enim mentem paratam ad malum, cui se inserens, affectu suo decipit hominem factum ad vitam; quia hominis cogitare est diaboli implere. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam ad Ephesios, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 17.392b

Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Do not give a space to the devil. 1 He wants anger to pass away, not to be retained in the heart, that having risen in the day, it is cut off in the day, because if it remains in the soul, it gives occasion for the devil to glory. The soul which is angry must think on evil, which is what the devil desires. He finds a mind prepared for evil, and inserting himself in it, with his own passion he deludes a man to act in life, for then it is of the man to think, the devil to fulfil. Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The Letter of Saint Paul To The Ephesians, Chapter 4 1 Ephes 4.27

Possession And The Winds

Quid est quod ait: Qui conturbat domum suam, possidebit ventos? quomodo potest aliquis possidere ventos? Domum in hoc loco mentem appellat, id est qua unusquisque veluti in domo habitat per cogitationes, ventos, immundos spiritus vocat. Qui ergo domum, id est mentem, malis et noxiis cogitationibus perturbare non timet, iste nimirum possidebit ventos, quia per malas cogitationes viam facit daemonibus, ut ingrediantur et inhabitent in ipso. Honorius Augustodunensis, Quaestiones Et Ad Easdem Responsiones In Duos Salomonis Libros, Caput XI Source: Migne PL 172.319a-b

Why is it said: 'He who troubles his own house, shall possess the winds?' 1 How can someone possess the winds? In this passage he calls the mind the house, that is, that in which everyone dwells with his thoughts, as in a house. The winds are unclean spirits. Therefore he who does not fear to trouble his house, that is, his mind, with wicked and vile thoughts, he certainly possesses the winds, because by wicked thoughts he makes a way for demons, so that they enter in and dwell in him. Honorius of Autun, Questions and Answers on Two Books of Solomon, Chapter 11 1 Prov 11.29

The Strangers

Alienum autem non sequuntur, sed fugiunt ab eo: quia non noverunt vocem alienorum. Dicit ergo: Alienum. Glossa: Alienus est in quo non est vox Christi, etiamsi bonus videatur: et iste est haereticus habens typum pastoris, et non veritatem: et iste est alienus voce. Alienus autem vita est, qui non habet conformitatem in virtute cum Christo. De primis dicitur: Nec sint alieni participes tui. Filii alieni mentiti sunt mihi, filii alieni inveterati sunt, et claudicaverunt a semitis suis. De alienis vita dicitur: Vae pastoribus qui disperdunt et dilacerant gregem pascuae meae, dicit Dominus. Illi enim quaerunt utilitatem propriam, et non ovium. Lac comedebatis, et lanis operiebamini, et quod crassum erat, occidebatis: gregem autem meum non pascebatis. Hic ergo est alienus de quo dicit: Alienum autem. Non sequuntur, quia verba eorum inducunt ad errorem, exemplum ad malum, via ad interitum, praeventio eorum ad mortem aeternam. De verbis dicitur: Evigilate, justi. Et supra: Corrumpunt mores bonos colloquia mala. Dominus solus dux ejus fuit: et non erat cum eo deus alienus. De malitia autem exempli, Nolite ire post eos. Fili mi, ne ambules cum eis: pedes enim illorum ad malum currunt. De viis eorum: Fiat via illorum tenebrae, et lubricum: et angelus Domini persequens eos. De perditione finali dicitur: Est via quae videtur homini justa, novissima autem ejus deducunt ad mortem. Propter haec et pastores isti sunt subdoli, aut in voce, aut in vita, aut in via, aut in fine ad quem ducunt suas conventiculas et congregationes. Ejusmodi pseudoapostoli sunt operarii subdoli, transfigurantes se in Apostolos Christi, hoc est, in officium apostolicum. Talis fuit Judas Galilaeus: talis fuit et Theodas: qui ambo perierunt, et omnes qui secuti fuerant eos perierunt cum ipsis. Sanctus Albertus Magnus, Commentarium in Joannem, Caput X Source: Here, p185

They do not follow the stranger, but they flee from Him, because they do not know the voice of strangers. 1 He says, 'the stranger' The gloss 'That which is strange is what is not the voice of Christ, even if it seems to be good.' And this is the heretic who has the form of the shepherd, and not the truth. This is the voice of the stranger. But the life is strange which does not conform to Christ in virtue. Concerning the first it is said: 'Nor let strangers be partakers with you.' 2 'Strange sons have lied about me, strange sons have withered away, they have hobbled on their paths.' 3 Concerning the strange life it is said 'Woe to you shepherds who scatter and wound the flock of my pasture, ' says the Lord. 'They seek their own advantage and not the sheep's.' 4 'You consumed the milk, you made use of the wool, and what was fat you slew, but you did not feed my flock.' 5 This, then, is the stranger concerning which he says, 'They do not follow the stranger...' 'They do not follow,' because their words lead to error, their example to evil, their way to ruin, their leadership to eternal death. Concerning which it is said: 'Be watchful, you righteous ones,' and before that: 'Evil speech corrupts good manners.' 6 'The Lord alone was his leader, and there was no strange god with him.' 7 Concerning the wickedness of example: 'Do not go after them.' 'My son, do not walk with them, for their feet hurry to evil.' 8 Concerning their ways: 'Let their ways be dark and slippery and let the angel of the Lord pursue them.' 9 Concerning their final ruin: 'There is a way that seems right to a man that at last leads to death.' 10 And because of such things these shepherds are cunning, either in voice, or in life, or in their ways, or in the end to which they lead their groups and congregations. 'Such false apostles are cunning workers, transforming themselves into Apostles of Christ,' 11 that is, for the apostolic office. Such was Judas the Galilean and Theodas, who both perished, and all who followed them perished with them. 12 Saint Albert The Great, Commentary On The Gospel of St John, Chapter 10 1 Jn 10.5 2 Prov 5.17 3 Ps 17.46 4 Jerem 23.1 5 Ezek 34.3 6 1 Cor 15.33-34 7 Deut 32.12 8 Lk 21.8, Prov 1.15-16 9 Ps 34.6 10 Prov 14.12 11 2 Cor 11.13 12 Acts 5.36-37

Solitude And Society

Melius est ergo duos esse... Quaeritur hic de vita solitaria, utrum sit praeeligenda societati. Quod sic, videtur: 1. Quia dicitur Threnorum tertio de bono adolescente: Sedebit solilarius et tacebit: ergo bonum est esse solum. 2. Praeterea, Bernardus dicit: Quoties fui inter homines, minus homo redii: non est ergo bonum esse inter homines. 3. Item , qui est in societate , necesse est , quod sit sollicitus, quomodo se conformet societati; sed Apostolus dicit primae ad Corinthios septimo', quod bonum est non nubere propter vitandam sollicitudinem de placendo uxori: ergo similiter bonum est omnem societatem fugere. CONTRA: 1. Genesis secundo: Non est bonum, hominem esse solum: ergo solitudo est vituperabilis, et per oppositum societas laudabilis. 2. Item, Matthaei decimo octavo: Ubi sunt duo vel tres congregati in nomine meo, ibi in medio eorum sum; non dicit: ubi unus, sed ubi duo vel tres: ergo melior est vita in congregatione quam solitaria. 3. Item, hoc probatur per litteram istam, quia societas fulcit, fovet et defendit, quae sunt tria bona, quibus solitarii privantur. Respondeo: dicendum, quod triplex est solitarium: unum per inopiam dilectionis, sicut avarus non vult habere consortem in divitiis, nec invidus in bonis, nec superbus in magnis; et solitudo haec mala omnino est. Alia solitudo per defectum consolationis, sicut dicitur in Psalmo: Unicus et pauper sum ego, et haec misera est. Est et alia solitudo per quietem contemplationis, et haec laudabilis et honesta. Similiter triplici modo est societas: quaedam scilicet turbans et impediens, sicut societas malorum; quaedam subsidio et solatio indigens, sicut societas uxorum et infirmorum; et quaedam adiuvans et promovens, sicut societas perfectorum. Prima est fugienda, secunda toleranda, sed tertia appetenda; et haec est in religione. Quando igitur Scriptura commendat societatem, intelligitur de hac; et haec non repugnat solitudini contemplationis , quia Bernardus in Canticis: Inter multos solus potest esse homo omnino, si curiositatem fugiat. Sanctus Bonaventura, Commentarius In Ecclesiasten, Cap IV Source: Here, p 40

Therefore two are better than one... 1 It may be asked here concerning the solitary life, whether it is preferable to society. It seems it is: 1 Because it is said in the third chapter of Lamentations concerning the good youth: 'He shall sit alone and be silent.' 2 Therefore it is good to be alone. 2 Moreover Bernard says: 'As often as I was with men, I returned a lesser man.' 3 Therefore it is not good to be among men. 3 Similarly, for him who is in society, it is necessary that he shall have care for how he may accommodate himself to that society, but the Apostle says in the seventh chapter of the first letter to the Corinthians that it is good not to marry on account of the avoidance of care in pleasing one's wife. 4 Therefore it is a similar good to flee all society. On The contrary 1. The second chapter of Genesis says: 'It is not good that man be alone.' 5 Therefore solitude is to be despised and by opposition society is to be praised. 2 Likewise in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew: 'Where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.' 6 He does not say where one is, but where two are, or three. Therefore life in a congregation is better than as a solitary. 3 Likewise it is proved in what follows this passage that society gives support, and preserves and defends, 7 of which three goods the solitary is deprived. I respond that it must be said that the solitary life is threefold. One is because of a poverty of love, as a miser does not wish to have an associate in in his wealth, nor does an envious man in his goods, nor does a proud man in his greatness, and this solitude is indeed an evil. Another solitude is because of a lack of consolation, as it is says in the Psalm: 'I am alone and needy, and it is wretched.' 8 But quiet contemplation is a different solitude, and it is praiseworthy and upright. Likewise society is threefold, a certain kind is troublesome and burdensome, as association with wicked men, and there is one that requires one's support and comfort, as an association with a wife, or with the infirm, and there is one that helps and promotes, which is the society of the perfect. One must flee the first, endure the second, desire the third, which is the religious life. When, therefore, Scripture commends society, it must be understood in this way, and that it is not hostile to the solitude of contemplation, because as Bernard says in his commentary on the Song of Songs, 'Among many men it is only possible to truly be a man, if one flees distraction.'9 Saint Bonaventura, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 4 1 Eccle 4.9 2 Lament 2.28 3 Bern In Cantic 40.4-5 4 1 Cor 7.32 5 Gen 2.18 6 Mt 18.20 7 Eccles 4.9-12 8 Ps 24.16 9 Bern In Cant 40.5

Good Conduct

In his ergo state et domini exemplar sequimini, firmi in fide et immutabiles, fraternitatis amatores, diligentes invicem, in veritate sociati, mansuetudine domini alterutri praestolantes, nullum despicientes. Cum possitis benefacere, nolite differre, quia eleëmosyna de morte liberat. Omnes vobis invicem subiecti estote, conversationem vestram irreprehensibilem habentes in gentibus, ut ex bonis operibus vestris et vos laudem accipiatis et dominus in vobis non blasphemetur. Vae autem per quem nomen domini blasphematur. Sobrietatem ergo docete omnes in qua et vos conversamini. Sanctus Polycarpus, Epistola Ad Philippenses Source: Migne PG 5.1013

In these things stand, and follow the Lord as example, firm and immovable in faith, lovers of fraternity, delighting in one another, companions in truth, giving way to one another in the meekness of the Lord, despising no one. When you are able to be of benefit, do not delay, because alms-giving delivers from death. 1 Let everyone be subject to one another, having behaviour that is creditable among the Gentiles, so that from your good works you will receive praise and the Lord will not be blasphemed because of you. Woe to him through whom the name of the Lord is blasphemed. 2 Therefore teach everyone to be sensible, even by the way you conduct yourselves. Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, Letter to the Phillipians. 1 Tob 12.9 2 Rom 2.24, Isaiah 52.5, Ezek 36.22

The Serpent And The Woman

Non autem inimicitiae ponuntur inter ipsum et virum, sed inter ipsum et mulierem. Numquid quia viros non decipit et tentat? Sed manifestum est quod decipit. An quia ipsum Adam non decepit, sed mulierem eius? Sed numquid propterea non est inimicus eius, ad quem pervenit per mulierem suam illa deceptio, maxime quia de futuro iam dicitur: Inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem? Si autem quod non deinceps decepit Adam, nec ipsam Evam deinceps decepit. Quare ergo ita dicitur, nisi quia hic manifeste ostenditur non posse nos a diabolo tentari, nisi per illam animalem partem, quae quasi mulieris imaginem vel exemplum in uno ipso homine ostendit, de qua superius iam multa diximus? Quod autem etiam inter semen diaboli, et semen mulieris ponuntur inimicitiae, significatur semine diaboli perversa suggestio; semine autem mulieris, fructus boni operis, quo perversae suggestioni resistit. Et ideo observat ipse plantam mulieris, ut si quando in illicita labitur delectatio, tunc illam capiat: et illa observat caput eius, ut eum in ipso initio malae suasionis excludat. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, De Genesi Contra Manichaeos, Liber Secundus, Caput XVIII Source: Migne PL 34.210

But hostility was not set between the serpent and the man but between it and the woman. 1 Is it that he does not deceive and tempt men? It is manifest that he does deceive them. But he did not deceive Adam though he did deceive his woman? But is he not his enemy to whom deception came through his woman, especially because concerning the future it is now said: 'I shall place hostility between you and the woman?' But if he did not deceive Adam, then he did not deceive Eve. Why therefore is it said, unless that it manifestly shows that it is not possible for us to be tempted but through our animal parts, which is shown by the image or example of the woman to the one man, concerning which we have spoken much above? Because that hostility which is placed between the seed of the devil and the seed of the woman shows that the seed of the devil is perverse suggestion, but the seed of the woman is the fruit of good works, which resists perverse suggestion. And therefore he observes the heel of the woman, that if there is any time delight falls into forbidden things, then it seizes her, and she observes its head, that she stop him at the beginning of his wicked persuasion. Saint Augustine of Hippo, On Genesis Against the Manichees, Book 2, Chap 18 1 Genes 3.15

Doubt And Error

Dominus dixit: in quacumque die comederis ex eo morte morieris. Mulier dixit: Ne forte moriamur. Diabolus dixit: Nequaquam moriemini. Dominus affirmavit, mulier dubitavit diabolus negavit. Qui ergo dubitavit, ab affirmante recessit, et neganti appropinquavit. Si mulier non dubitasset, forte diabolus non negasset. Sed dedit audaciam, quae incohavit malitiam. Hugo De Sancte Victore, Miscellanea, Liber I, Tit LXXXIX, De Dei, mulieris, et diaboli, de mortis incurrenda assertione Source: Migne PL 177.520a-b

The Lord said, 'On whatever day you shall eat of it, you shall die the death.' The woman said, 'Lest perhaps we shall die.' The devil said, 'You shall not die.' 1 The Lord asserted, the woman doubted, the devil denied. Therefore he who has doubted has withdraw from assertion and come near denial. If the woman had not doubted, perhaps the devil would not have denied. But he became bold when the woman began to err. Hugh Of Saint Victor, Miscellanea, Book 1, Chap 89, On God, the Woman, and the Devil, and the Assertion of Impending Death 1 Gen 2.17, 3.3-4

Remembering The Past

Quia persecutus est inimicus animam meam; humiliavit in terra vitam meam; collocavit me in obscuris, sicut mortuos saeculi. Et anxiatus est super me spiritus meus; in me turbatum est cor meum. Memor fui dierum antiquorum et meditatus sum in omnibus operibus tuis et in factis manuum tuarum meditabor. Scit Adam a diabolo captum; et idcirco memor est antiquorum dierum. Scit eum per transgressionem legis constitutae et a promissionibus Dei et ab incolatu paradisi excidisse, et ideo memor est operum Dei. Scit non sufficere ex praeterito innocentiam, sed beatum esse qui usque in finem innocens esse permanserit; et ideo in factis Dei manuum meditabitur. Facta manuum Dei homo ipse est: qui postquam peccavit, peccati servus effectus est. Talis igitur esse meditatur, qualis ille, qui a Deo factus est, fuit ante peccatum. Per quod quia non mortuus saeculi, sed tamquam mortuus saeculi in obscuris est collocatus, meditabitur semper; et meditabitur semper, quia antiquorum dierum memor, scit per transgressionem legis mortem introisse peccati. In eo autem quod et memor antiquorum dierum, et in operibus Dei meditatus est, atque meditabitur, quamquam per fidem suam coeperit, tamen non propium suum esse, ne insolens existimetur, sed per auxilium Dei ad quem oravit sibi indultum esse demonstrat, dicens: Expandi manus meas ad te, anima sicut terra sine aqua. Terra sine aqua arida et infecunda est, et irrigari sese semper imbre pluviae coelestis exspectat: ita et sancti anima natutae suae conscia, immadescere se dono divini eloquii desiderat: de quo Moses ait: Exspectetur sicut pluvia dictum meum, et descendant sicut ros verba mea, ut pluvia super gramen, et ut nives super foenum. Arens ergo et sitiens anima, tali propheticae doctrinae imbre perfunditur: ut mortua et jejuna ariditate naturae, in uberes fructus praeceptorum Dei cognitione revirescat. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum CXLII Source: Migne PL 9.839c-840b

'The enemy has chased down my soul, he has crushed down my life into the earth, he has gathered me into darkness, like the dead of long ago. My spirit was anxious within me, my heart was troubled. I was mindful of the days of old, and I meditated on all your works, and on the works of your hands I will meditate.' 1 He knows that Adam was ensnared by the devil, and therefore he is mindful of the days of old. He knows that he was expelled from dwelling in paradise because of the transgression of the established law and the promises of God. He knows he cannot depend on former innocence, but that blessed is he who remains innocent until the end. And therefore on the deeds of the hands of God he will meditate. Man was made by God, who after he sinned was made a servant of sin. On such things he meditates, on what he was like who was made by God before he sinned. Because of which, since he is not the dead of long ago, but like the dead of long ago, gathered into darkness, he shall always meditate, and he shall always meditate because he is mindful of the days of old. He knows that man entered into the death of sin by transgression of the law. In that he is mindful of the days of old and he has meditated on the works of God, and he shall meditate on them, whatever through his faith he shall begin, but it is not only he who does it, lest he be judged proud, but it is by the help of God to whom he prays to show kindness to him, saying: 'I stretched out my hands to you, my soul like a land without water.' 2 Earth without water is dry and fruitless and it always hopes to be watered by the moisture of heaven's rain, so even the soul of the holy man is conscious of his nature, so that he desires to water himself with the gift of Divine speech. Concerning which Moses said: 'Let my speech be like the rain, let my words fall as the dew, as a shower on herbs, and as snow on the grass.' 3 Therefore the burning and thirsting soul is watered with the rain of prophetic teaching, so that the dead and withered aridity of nature might be revived by the knowledge of God's commands to the yielding of fruit. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 142 1 Ps 142.3-5 2 Ps 142.6 3 Deut 32.2

The Order Of Temptations

Nota, quod Lucas ponit istam tentationem ultimam, et tentationem de monte secundam, quod videtur magis secundum historiam esse. Natura enim exigit, quod diabolus tentet prius de concupiscentia carnis, deinde de concupiscentia exteriorum, tandem de superbia bonae vitae. Sed Matthaeus refert secundum hoc, quod in Adam factae sunt, et per eas victus est, ut in eodem ordine quo homo prius est victus, secundus Adam vicisse ostendatur. Dicitur enim Adam prius tentatus per gulam, dum dicitur: Et videns lignum, quod esset pulchrum visu, et ad vescendum suave; postea per inanem gloriam, dum dicitur: Eritis sicut dii, Quod superbia erat, transire scilicet ultra se, et velle Domino suo parificari; denique, per avaritiam, dum dicitur: Scientes bonum et malum. Tam bene est enim avaritia cupiditas scientiae, sicut pecuniae, et iste ordo factus est tunc secundum hoc quod diabolo convenientius visum est. Postquam vero corrupta est natura, alius ordo supradictus a natura constitutus est. Prius per concupiscentiam carnis, deinde exteriorum, etc. In Adam enim nullus ordo naturaliter erat, cum nullam concupiscentiam sentiret. Anselmus Laudunensis, Enarrationes In Matthaeum, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 162.1272d-1273b

Note that Luke puts the second temptation in Matthew last, and the temptation on the mountain second, which seems to be more in line with the history. 1 For nature demands that the devil first test us with the desires of the flesh, and then with the desire for exterior things, and finally concerning the pride of the good life. But Matthew refers to it in his way, because so it was done to Adam and in that way he was conquered. So in the same order that the first man was overthrown, it is revealed that the second Adam overthrew. For it is said that Adam was first tempted by greed, when it is said, 'And seeing the tree, which was fair to look at, and sweet for the eating...' Then after by vainglory, when it is said, 'You shall be like Gods,' because it was by pride that he would pass beyond himself and wish to be equal to the Lord. And finally through avarice, when he said, 'Knowing good and evil.' 2 For it is well done that avarice is a desire for knowledge, just as for money. And thus it is set down in such an order so that the devil is more appropriately exhibited. However after nature was corrupted, the other order mentioned is established by that nature. First is the desire of the flesh, then for exterior things, and so on. Anselm of Laon, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 4 1 Lk 4.3-13, Mt 4.3 2 Genes 3.5-6

Various Fasts

...et humiliabam in ieiunio animam meam et oratio mea in sinu meo convertebatur. Jejunium Domini fuit, quando nefanda obstinatione duratos non inveniebat, quos in epulas spirituales assumeret. Haec enim fuit sterilitas animae ipsius, quod et ieiunium. Ieiunium enim dictum est quasi inedium, quod abstinentes diutius ad inediam usque perducat. Ieiunavit ergo Dominus, quia se ei incredula turba subtraxerat. Potest etiam et ieiunium corporale Domino convenire, quoniam quadraginta diebus et noctibus ieiunavit in monte; sed illo perfecto ieiunio de quo Isaias dicit: Solve omne vinculum iniquitatis, dissolve obligationes vehementium commutationum, dimitte afflictos in remissione, et omnem retributionem iniquam disrumpe; frange esurienti panem tuum, et pauperes sine tecto induc in domum tuam. Si videris nudum, cooperi, et domesticos seminis tui non despicies. Tunc erumpet matutinum lumen tuum, et sanitas tua cito orietur. Et praecedet ante te iustitia tua, et maiestas Domini circumdabit te. Et tunc clamabis, et Deus exaudiet te, adhuc te loquente dicet: Ecce adsum, et caetera, quae textus ille mirabilis coelesti munere pollicetur. Ita Magister bonus, quod prophetarum praedixerat libris, humanitus evidentibus monstravit exemplis. Addidit quoque secretiorem causam quae bene evangelica similitudine reseratur. Dicit enim Dominus discipulis suis: Intrantes autem in domum salutate eam dicentes: Pax huic domui. Et si quidem fuerit domus illa digna, veniet pax vestra super eam; sin autem non fuerit digna, pax vestra ad vos revertetur. Talis est et ista oratio quae fundebatur a Domino. Nam dum eam detestabiles Iudaei minime suscipere mererentur, in sinu eius, id est in secreto pectoris, unde fuerat egressa, remeabat. Si enim in pectoribus fuisset operata, non conversa utique, sed diceretur effusa. Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus XXXIV Source: Migne PL 70.246a-d

...And I humbled my soul in fasting, and I turned over my prayer in my lap. 1 It was a fast of the Lord when He did not find among those hardened in obstinacy those He could take up to spiritual feasts. This was the barrenness of His soul which is even a fast, for a fast is spoken of as a matter of not eating, and He endured long without eating. Therefore the Lord fasted because He withdrew Himself from the incredulous crowd. But it is possible that a corporeal fast befits the Lord, because He fasted for forty days and nights, 2 yet Isaiah speaks of the perfect fast when he says: 'Break all the bonds of iniquity, dissolve all the burdens that gravely oppress, allow the afflicted rest, and cast away every wicked debt. Break bread with the hungry and lead into your house the poor man who has no shelter. If you see someone in rags, clothe him, and do not sneer at servants as you walk. Then your morning light shall blaze forth, and your healing shall swiftly arise. Your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall surround you. Then you shall cry out and the Lord shall hear you, and while you speak He shall say to you: Here I am,' 3 and the rest, which speech promises heavenly reward. So the good teacher, who is foretold in the books of the Prophets, shows His benevolence by evident examples. Also He adds a more secret reason which is revealed in a parable of the Gospel. 'The Lord said to His disciples, When you enter a house, greet it, saying, 'Peace to this house.' And if the house seems worthy, let your peace be upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 4 Such is the prayer that is turned over in the lap by the Lord. Because when the opposing Jews hardly merited being taken up, in His lap, that is, in the secret place of the heart, what went out, returned. For if it had begun to work in their hearts, it would not have been 'turned over' in such a way, but it would have been said to have been 'poured out.' Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, from Psalm 34 1 Ps 34.13 2 Mt 4.2 3 Isaiah 58.6-9 4 Mt 10.12-13

Fasting And Conflict

Neque cautos, vigilantes, sobrios, diabolus perturbare suis superventionibus praevalebit; certe neque nos taliter armatos publico conflictu provocare audebit: dolis appetere non praesumet. Animus in coelesti speculo perseveret; diaboli fraudulentas et occultas deprimat et declinet insidias. Est quidem diabolus per se nequam, fit tamen nequior provocatus. Audi Apostolum dicentem: Diabolus sicut leo rugiens circuit, quaerens quem devoret. Jejunantibus nobis, diabolus esurit, qui nostris semper saturatur ex culpis. Ille cibum nostrum deducit in crapulam: potum nostrum in ebrietatem diffundit, ut mentem faciat amentem, carnem luteam reddat, corpus animi domicilium, animae vas, murum spiritus, virtutum scholam, Dei templum, in scenam criminum, in vitiorum pompam, voluptatem redigat in theatrum. Capit ille satietatem, voluptatem percipit, expletur epulis, quando nos luxus solvit, libido stimulat, pompa rapit, impellit ambitio, urget ira, furor implet, succendit invidia, cupiditas inflammat, curae sollicitant, lites vexant, lucra capiunt, usurae vinciunt, chirographa ligant, premunt sacculi, elidit aurum. Quando moriuntur virtutes, vivunt vitia, voluptas effluit, honestas perit, misericordia deficit, abundat avaritia, regnat confusio, succumbit ordo, prosternitur disciplina. Ista militant adversum militem Christi; istae sunt satanae cohortes, istae diaboli legiones, ista sunt quae mundum sepulcris obsederunt, debellaverunt populos, vastarunt gentes, orbem totum duxere captivum. Ista sunt quibus nullus per se potuit obviare mortalis: et ideo ad vincenda ista Deus venit ipse, coeli rex ipse descendit, ipse victor singularis advenit, jejunium quadragesimae statuens in procinctu, ut quaterna decade jejunii quadraturam mundi totam muro inexpugnabili communiret. Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo XII, De Jejunio Et Tentationibus Christi Source: Migne PL 52.223b-224c

With the trouble of his coming, the devil shall not overthrow the cautious or the vigilant or the sober. Certainly he does not dare provoke us who are so armed to open conflict, but rather he seeks to seize us with trickery. Let the mind persevere in looking to heaven and it shall crush down the hidden deceits of the devil and undo his plots. Certainly the devil is wicked on his own but he is more wicked when he is summoned. Hear the Apostle saying: 'The devil is like a roaring lion that goes about in search of someone to devour.' 1 While we fast, the devil hungers, he who is always filled by our sins. He brings our eating to excess and extends our drinking to drunkenness, so that he might make the mind mindless, and fashion the flesh as good for nothing, and reduce the body, the house of the soul and its vessel, the walls of our spirit, the school of the virtues, the temple of God, to a stage of crimes, a spectacle of vice, a theatre of pleasure. He is filled to satiety when he receives pleasure, gorged with a feast when luxury undoes us, and lust excites, and extravagance seizes, and ambition drives, and anger compels, and fury possesses, and envy incenses, and desire inflames, and cares trouble, and disputes vex, and profits take hold, and usury conquers, and contracts bind, and money burdens, and gold crushes. When the virtues die, the vices live, pleasure bursts forth, uprightness perishes, mercy withers, avarice abounds, confusion reigns, order collapses, discipline is cast down. These war against the soldier of Christ, these are the companies of Satan, the legions of the devil, these have laid siege to the world with tombs, have destroyed peoples, lay waste nations, have led the whole world into captivity. Against these no mortal can stand on his own, and therefore God Himself came to conquer them, the king of heaven descended, the only conqueror approached, establishing the forty day fast as a preparation for battle, that the four decades of the days of fasting might fortify with an impregnable wall the four corners of the world. Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 12, On Fasting And The Temptations of Christ 1 1 Pet 5.8

Fasting And Trials

Jejunavit autem ideo quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus, ut indicaret nos ab illicitis debere jejunare, sive in tempore prosperitatis, quod per dies designatur, sive in tempore adversitatis, quod per noctes notatur. Et accedens tentator. Visa esurie, accessit tentator, quia non putabat Deum, quem fragilem videbat. Viderat stellas, viderat magos, audierat Joannem clamantem: Hic est Agnus Dei. Audierat forsitan de coelo vocem Patris, sed putavit eum vocari filium adoptivum, sicut et alios sanctos. Audierat prophetas, sciebat Christum venturum. Sed quum omnia ista vidisset signa, non tamen credidit esse Deum, et hoc faciebat ejus superbia. Credidit enim, quod sicut ipse nunquam voluit pati infirmitatem, sed voluit etiam super omnia exaltari, sic non credidit Deum velle ullam pati infirmitatem, judicans eum ex animo suo; et ideo visa infirmitate in Christo, eum esse Deum nullo modo credidit, et tamen explorat, quum dicit: Si Filius Dei es. Et tentat, cum dicit: Dic ut lapides isti panes fiant. Volebat enim per panem visum gulam incitare. Qui enim esurit, viso cibo plus cupit. Volebat enim per mutationem tentare potentiam, et tamen si miraculum videret, non ideo crederet quia etiam prophetas viderat majora fecisse, sed hominem per panem illudere volebat. Satis convenienter lapides offert, qui durus est et impoenitens; et quia scriptum audierat: Ipse dixit, et facta sunt, quasi per potentiam blanditur, dicens: Dic solummodo et fiet, si Filius Dei es. Qui respondens dixit. Docet nos contra tentationem clypeum Scripturarum opponere. Non utitur divina potestate, cum posset tamen eum, ut Deus fugare, quia veritatem suae divinae potentiae noluit ostendere, ut qui incertus venerat, incertus rediret. Non in solo pane. Ista auctoritas sumpta est de Deuteronomio; Moyses enim videns quod homo de gemina substantia factus est, videlicet corpore et anima, et neutrum sine sustentamento posse subsistere; corpus enim petit terreno cibo sustentari; anima vero, quae est substantia spiritualis, pane coelesti; ait: Non in solo pane vivit homo, etc. Deus est panis angelorum, sed homo Deum non potest comedere, nisi factum lac, ideo per figuras ei ostenditur, id est per verba, et per alias ostensiones quae omnia verba dicuntur, et ideo dicit, quod homo vivit, in omni verbo, id est in omni genere locutionum, Dei, id est in quibus Deus ostenditur. Quaeritur quomodo haec responsio tentationi supradictae repugnet? Solutio: Hoc sonat quasi diceret, persuasio tua patet, quia tentantis est. De cibo enim corporis agis, qui communis est cum pecoribus, non de cibo mentis, qui est nobis communis cum angelis. Si enim amice ageres, de meliori cibo prius me admoneres, sine quo nemo vere vivere potest: Non enim in solo pane, etc. Anselmus Laudunensis, Enarrationes In Matthaeum, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 162.1272a-d

Therefore He fasted forty days and forty nights to indicate that we should fast from what is forbidden, either in times of prosperity, which the days signify, or in times of adversity which the nights declare. 'And the tempter approached.' 1 He saw Him hunger, and the tempter approached, because he did not think that he could be God whom he saw was fragile. He had seen the star, the wise men, he heard John crying out, 'Behold the Lamb of God,' perhaps he heard the voice of the Father from heaven, but he thought Him called a son by adoption, like the other saints. He had heard the prophets, he knew Christ was to come, but he who had seen all these signs did not believe that He was God. And this was the work of his pride, for he believed that just as he was never willing to suffer weakness, but wished to be exalted over all things, so God would not be willing to suffer infirmity, measuring him by his own mind. Therefore seeing infirmity in Christ, he in no way believed Him to be God, and so he tested Him, saying to Him, 'If you are the Son of God.' And he tempted Him when he said, 'Tell these stones to become bread.' For by the sight of bread he wished to incite greed. He who hungers does so more by the sight of food. And by this transformation he wished to test His power, and yet if he had seen a miracle, he would have not thus believed, because he had seen the prophets do greater things, but he wished to trick man through bread. Very appropriately he who was hard and impenitent brought forth stones. And because he had heard it was written: 'He spoke and it was done,' 2 and as coaxing out his power, he says, 'Just speak and it shall be so, if you are the Son of God.' And in response He spoke, and that to teach us to oppose temptation with the shield of the Scripture. He does not use His divine power, though it was possible, as if fleeing from Godhood, because He did not wish to show the truth of His Divine power, so that he who came in uncertainty should also depart in it. 'Not on bread alone.' He takes up this authority from Deuteronomy, for Moses, seeing that man was made from two substances, obviously body and soul, and that neither are able to exist without sustenance, and that the body sustains itself from the earth, but the soul from spiritual substance which is the bread of heaven, says, 'Man does not live on bread alone.' 3 God is the bread of angels, but man is not able to receive Him, unless he is made milk, and therefore God is shown to him through figures, that is, through words, and through other revelations which are told with every word, and therefore he says that a man lives by every word, that is, in every type of speaking about God in which God is revealed. Is it asked how this answer repulsed the aforementioned temptation? Here is the solution: He speaks as if He said, 'Your persuasion is obvious, because it is a test. For you ask for the bread of the body, which is common to beasts, not the bread of the mind, which we have in common with angels. If you were a friend, you would first admonish me concerning the better food, without which one cannot truly live. 'Not on bread alone.' Anselm of Laon, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 4 1 Mt 4.3 2 Ps 32.9 3 Deut 8.3

Humility And Penitence

Christus hodie in schola eruditionis evangelicae per filium prodigum nobis comptetentissime proponit poenitentiae et humilitatis exemplum. Qui cum afficeretur gravissima fame, cogitavit redire ad patrem, et inter mercenarios unus esse. Quis est qui dilapidat omnia bona vivendo luxuriose, nisi peccator quilibet, qui bona gratuita et naturalia peccando corrumpit, et perdit? Sed reversus ad cor, et justitiam incipiens esurire, humiliat se in oculis suis: et de filiali dignitate ad mercenarii sortem devota humilitate descendit. Beati quidem sunt, qui esuriunt justitiam; quoniam ipsi saturabuntur. Esurientes, inquit, implevit bonis. Qui enim divitias temporales appetunt, non satiabuntur eis. Haec est aqua de puteo Samariae: de qua qui biberit, sitiet iterum. Haec aqua non reficit, quia non sufficit. Divites eguerunt, et esurierunt: inquirentes autem Dominum non minuentur omni bono. Cibus autem justitiae dum plus appetitur, plus dulcescit. Unde et ille qui factus est nobis a Deo sapientia et justitia dicit: Qui edunt me adhuc esurient: et qui bibunt me, adhuc sitient. Non est tamen ita insatiabilis appetitus justitiae, sicut amor pecuniae: nam in istis est appetitus sine satietate: in illa est satietas sine attaediatione. Unde propheta: Ego in justitia apparebo in conspectu tuo: satiabor dum apparuerit gloria tua. Qui ergo esurit in praesenti, satiabitur in futuro. Sed nunquid omnes illi esuriunt justitiam, qui desiderant esse justi? nequaquam. Sunt enim plerique mali, qui desiderant esse justi: sed victi et vincti pec candi consuetudine adhuc pascunt porcos, nec revertuntur ad patrem, desiderant et suspirant non amare quod amant: et compuncti ad justitiam, delectationem peccati amplectuntur: nec recedunt a malo qui ad bonum desiderio fervent. Quod compunguntur ad bonum, quaedam gratia est vocationis, non justificationis. Justitia enim non affectu aestimanda est, sed effectu et consensu. Quae, inquit Apostolus, participatio est justitiae cum iniquitate, aut quis consensus templo Dei cum idolis? Siquis deplorat vitam quam perdidit, et justitiae consentit: jam justitiam esurit, jam ad patrem reverti proponit, jam pedem in viam rectam posuit, et ad meliora suspirans dicit: Utinam dirigantur viae meae ad custodiendas justificationes tuas. Et licet desideret, amplius tamen appetit dicens: Concupivit anima mea desiderare justificationes tuas in omni tempore. Laborat ad profectum, ut veniat ad perfectum. Videt enim pater suus a longe, quoniam longe a peccatoribus salus: sed venienti et laetabundus accedenti occurrit. De tali cursu loquitur Isaias: Occurristi, inquit, laetanti, et facienti justitiam, in viis tuis recordabitur tui. Pius pater si juxta meritum responderet, oculos suos declinaret ab eo: ad preces illius obsurdesceret: et ei turpitudinem praeteritae conversations objiciens, ipsum graviter objurgaret. Sed humilitate filii fractus et victus, deponit duritiam, induit misericordiam: et rigorem, quem meruerat filius, convertit in gratiam. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XV De Facienda Poenitentia Source: Migne PL 207.603b-604b

Today in the school of evangelical teaching Christ proposes with the prodigal son a most fitting example of humility and penitence. 1 He who when he was afflicted with grave hunger, thought to return to the father and become one of his hired labourers. Who is he who dissipates all his goods on luxurious living, if not the sinner who corrupts and ruins every natural and gratuitous good in sin? But here he turns to his heart, and he begins to hunger for righteousness, and he humbles himself in his own eyes, and from the dignity of a son he lowers himself with sincere humility to the lot of a hireling. Certainly they are blessed who hunger for righteousness because they shall be satisfied, 2 'He has filled with good things,' she says, 'those who hunger.' 3 For those who desire temporal things, they shall not be satisfied by them. That is the water from the well of the Samaritan woman, from which he who drinks will thirst again. 4 This water does not refresh because it does not satisfy. 'The rich hunger and thirst, those who seek the Lord do not lack any good.' 5 The more the food of righteousness is desired, the more it satisfies. Whence even He who was made wisdom and righteousness for us by God says, 'They who eat me, shall yet hunger, and they who drink of me, shall yet thirst.' 6 However it is not that the appetite for righteousness is insatiable, like the love of money in which the appetite cannot be sated, but in the former the satiety never becomes jaded. Whence the prophet says, 'In righteousness I shall appear in your sight. I shall be satisfied when your glory shall appear.' 7 Therefore he who hungers in the present, he shall be satisfied in the future. But is it not that all who hunger for righteousness, desire to be righteous? Not at all. They are very many wicked folk who desire to be righteous, but overthrown and bound by the habit of sinning they are yet feeding the pigs. They do not return to the father. They desire and sigh that it were not that they love what they do love and they are distressed for righteousness, but they embrace the pleasures of sin. They do not withdraw from evil who have a keen desire for the good. That they are troubled for the good, shows a certain grace of calling, not justification. Righteousness is not to be thought a feeling, but an act and agreement. The Apostle says, 'What part has righteousness with wickedness, or what agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?' 8 If someone deplores the life which ruins, and he consents to righteousness, then he hungers for justice, now he proposes to return to the father, now he has placed his foot on the right way, and sighing for better things he says; 'That my ways were directed to the guarding of your justifications.' 9 And as one has desired, one hungers more, saying, 'My soul has conceived a desire for your justifications all the time.' 10 He labours to advance, so that he might come to perfection. Then his father sees him from afar, because 'salvation is far from sinners,' 11 But at his coming the father is overjoyed and hurries to meet with him. And concerning such a journey Isaiah says: 'You have come rejoicing, you have made righteousness, in your ways he shall remember you.' 12 If a pious father responded according to merit, his eyes would turn from this son, he would dismiss his pleas, he would cast before him the vileness of his former way of living, and vehemently rebuke him. But he is touched and conquered by the humility of the son. He lays aside hardness, he endows himself with mercy, and the rigor which the son deserved, he turns into favour. Peter of Blois, from Sermon 15, On Penitence 1 Lk 15.11-32 2 Mt 5.6 3 Lk 1.53 4 Jn 4.13 5 Ps 33.11 6 Eccle 24.29 Vulg 7 Ps 16.15 8 2 Cor 6.16 9 Ps 118.5 10 Ps 118.20 11 Ps 118.155 12 Isiaah 64.5

How Long?

Καὶ σὺ, Κύριε, ἕως πότε; Τὴν ἐπὶ μακρῷ χρόνῳ παράτασιν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ μετανοίας ἐμφαίνει Ὁ γὰρ τοι σοφὸς τῶν ψυχῶν ἰατρὸς οὐ παραχρῆμα κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ἐπιστροφὴν ἐπακούει τοῦ δεομένου, ὡς ἐν ἔξει παραμόνῳ γένηται τάγαθοῦ, βεβαίαν δείξας μετάνοιαν· καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἰκανὴν καρτερίαν τὴν ἐν ἐξομολογήσει· φησὶν ἐνέπεισας· καιρῷ δεκτῷ ἐπήκουσὰ σου. Τοῖς γὰρ μὴ ἐξ ἁμαρτίας αὐτὸν ἐπικαλουμένοις ἐρεῖ· Ἔτι λαλοῦντος σου, Ἰδοὺ πάρειμι. Εὐσέβιος ὁ Καισάρειος, Ὑπομνηματα Ἐις Τους Ψαλμους, Ψαλμὸς Ϛ´ Source: Migne PG 23.119c-d

And you, O Lord, how long? 1 He speaks of the long duration of his penance. For indeed the wise physician of souls does not instantly, at the first supplication, attend to the entreaty, and that so that the state of goodness might remain for a long time, which comes from the showing of firm unshakeable penitence. But after a fitting perseverance in confession, He says to the one who pleads, 'At an acceptable time I have heard you.' 2 For to those who do not cry out to Him in a state of sin, He says, 'Even now I am speaking to you, 'Behold I am with you.' 3 Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 6 1 Ps 6.4 2 2 Cor 6.2, Isaiah 49.8 3 Isaiah 58.9

Nothing More Precious

Οὐδὲν οὕτως Θεῷ περισπούδαστον, ὡς ἀγάπη· δι' ἥν καὶ ἄνθρωπος γέγονε, καὶ μέχρι θανάτου ὑπήκοος. Διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ἡ πρώτη κλῆσις τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ, ἀδελφοὶ δύο γεγόνασιν, ἐνδειξαμένου διά τῶν προοιμίων εὐθὺς τοῦ πανσόφου Σωτῆρος, ὅτι πάντας τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ ἀδελφικῶς συνάπτεσθαι βούλεται. Ἀγάπης τοίνυν μηδὲν ἡγώμεθα προτιμότερον, ἥπερ συνδεῖ πάντα, καὶ ἐν ὀμονοίᾳ συμφερούσῃ φυλάττει. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ Ι' Εὐσεβιῳ Πρεσβυτερῳ Source: Migne PG 78.185b-c

Nothing is so precious before God as love, because of which He was made man and was obedient to death. 1 And this is also the reason why two sets of brothers were the first to be called by Him. 2 Whence immediately, in the beginning, the most wise Saviour shows that He wishes all His disciples to be joined together like brothers. 3 Therefore let us not put anything before love, so that it rules over everything, and preserves that harmony which unites. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 10, To the Priest Eusebius 1 Philipp 2.7-8 2 Mt 4.18-22, Mk 1.16-20 3 Jn 13.35

Two Perfections Of Love

Duobus modis charitas perfecta dicitur: constantia et devotione. Constantia perfecta charitas, quando fortis est ad omnia adversa toleranda; devotione perfecta est, quando plene succensa est ad ea quae recta sunt appetenda. Constantia perfecta est, quando sic viget ut non possit superari: devotione perfecta est, quando sic ardet ut amplius non debeat inflammari. Prima perfectio aliquando huic vitae conceditur; secunda vero ad futuram reservatur. Constantia in Petro, ardor in Joanne. Constanti dicitur: Confirma fratres tuos; tenero: Sic eum volo manere, donc veniam. Hugo De Sancte Victore, Miscellanea, Liber I, Tit CLVI De Duplici Perfectione Charitatis Source: Migne PL 177.556a-b

Love is said to be perfected in two ways, by constancy and by devotion. Constancy is perfect love when it is strong in the endurance of every adversity. Devotion is perfect when it is wholly enflamed with the desire for the things which are right. Constancy is perfect when it so vigorous that it cannot be overcome, devotion is perfect when it is ardent for nothing but that for which it should be enflamed. The first perfection is sometimes allowed in this life, but the second perfection is reserved for the future life. There is constancy in Peter, ardor in John. It is said of constancy: 'Strengthen your brothers.' 1 It is said of devotion: 'So I wish him to remain until I come.' 2 Hugh Of Saint Victor, Miscellanea, Book 1, Chap 156, On The Twofold Perfection Of Love 1 Lk 22.32 2 Jn 21.22

Loving Wisdom

Concupiscite ergo sermones meos, et diligite illos, et habebitis disciplinam. Verum est quod qui diligit sapientiam et assiduus est illius in meditatione, conservet disciplinam in moribus, nec aliter potest amator probari sapientiae nisi conservator sit disciplinae. Unde ipsa Veritas ait: Si diligitis me, mandata mea servate. Et iterum: Si quis diligit me sermonem meum servabit. Hinc et Jacobus ait: Estote ergo factores verbi et non auditores tantum fallentes vosmetipsos, quia non auditores legis justificabuntur apud Dominum, sed factores legis. Clara est, et quae nunquam marcescit sapientia; et facile videtur ab his qi diligunt eam, et invenitur ab his qui quaerunt illam. Decor sapientiae immarcescibilis est, et his solis patet qui eam in veritate diligunt, et studiose requirunt. Qui autem eam ficte quaerunt nollo modo ad eam pertingent, quia, sicut superius dictum est, Spiritus sanctus disciplinae effugiet fictum, et in malevolam animam non introibit sapientia. Unde in Proverbiis sapientia dicit: Ego diligentes me diligo, et qui mane vigilant ad me invenient me. Et iterum: Beatus homo qui audit me, qui vigilat ad fores meas quotidie, et observat ad postes ostii mei. Qui me invenerit inveniet vitam, et hauriet salutem a Domino. Qui autem in me peccaverit laedet animam suam. Omnes qui oderunt me, diligunt mortem. Rabanus Maurus, Commentariorum In Librum Sapientiae Wisdom, Liber I, Caput XIII Source: Migne PL 109.694c-d

Therefore desire my words, and love them, and you shall have discipline. 1 It is true that he who loves wisdom and is assiduous in its meditation, maintains discipline in his conduct, for it is not possible otherwise that a lover shall be approved by Wisdom unless he is a keeper of discipline. Whence the Truth Himself says: 'If you love me, keep my commandments.' 2 And again, 'If someone loves me He shall keep my word.' 3 Whence James also says: 'Be, then, brothers, doers of the word and not only hearers, deceiving yourselves.' 4 'It is not the hearers of the law who shall be justified before God, but the doers.' 5 Bright she is, and wisdom bears no spot, and easily she is seen by those who love her, and she is found by those who seek her. 6 The beauty of wisdom is spotless and to these alone she shows herself: they who love her in truth and devotedly seek her. He who is not true in the search for her has no chance of reaching her, because as it was said before, 'The Holy Spirit flees the fiction of discipline, and Wisdom does not come into a wicked soul.' 7 Whence in Proverbs Wisdom says: 'I love those who love me, and he who watches in the morning shall come to me.' 8 And again, 'Blessed the man who hears me, who watches at my doors every day, and looks toward the posts of my gate. He who finds me, shall find life, and he shall drink salvation from the Lord. But he who sins against me, he wounds his own soul. All who hate me love death. 9 Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On Wisdom Book 1, Chapter 13 1 Wisd 6.12 2 Jn 14.15 3 Jn 14.23 4 James 1.22 5 Rom 2.13 6 Wisd 6.13 7 Wisd 1.4-5 8 Prov 8.17 9 Prov 8.34-36

Love And Riches

Probatissimo amico Damoetae Albinus salutem. Nimium mihi longum videtur tempus, quod tuae dilectionis faciem non vidi, verba non audivi. Et tantum ex praesentia tui gaudebat animus, quantum in absentia contristatur. Quid faciet mens, nisi lugeat, dum paucos habet amicos? Proh dolor! sed illi semper absentes. Tamen quod valeo faciam, te memorans apud Dominum, tibi prospera semper illius concedere clementiam deprecans, cujus dilectione tuum semper impleatur pectus. Hae sunt verae divitiae, quae nunquam decipiunt habentem, 56 nec in ipsa morte amittuntur, sed plus abundant, dum cernitur quod amatur. Inter temporalia et aeterna hoc interest [quod temporale] aliquid plus diligitur antequam habeatur, vilescit autem cum advenerit. Aeternum autem ardentius diligitur adeptum quam desideratum. Ideo plus amemus aeterna quam temporalia, ut in aeternitate beate et feliciter vivere mereamur. Valeto in saecula. Alcuinus, Epistola XLV, ad Damoetam Source: Migne PL 100.211b-c

To a most upright friend Damoetas, 1 greetings from Albinus. 2 So very long seems to me the time that I have not seen the face of one I love, nor heard a word. And as much as the soul took joy in your presence, so much is it grieved by its absence. What shall the mind do, unless groan while it has so few friends? For shame! But always because of those absent. However, what I can do I shall, remembering you before the Lord, praying that His mercy shall always be given to you so that you prosper, and that His love shall always fill your heart. These are true riches, and no one who possesses them is deceived, nor are they lost in death, but they abound more when what is loved is seen. Between temporal and eternal things there is this difference, one is more loved before it is possessed, but it is cheapened when it comes. But an eternal thing is more ardently loved when it is obtained than when it is desired. Therefore let us have more love for eternal things than temporal things, so that we merit to live happily in eternal bliss. May you be well in the world. Alcuin, Letter 45, to Damoetas 1 Damoetas, a nickname from the schoolroom taken from a shepherd in Virgil's Eclogues 2 and 3 2 Albinus, a nickname for Alcuin, taken from Horace's name Quintus Horatius Flaccus.

The Acceptable

Ἐν παντὶ ἔθνει ὁ φοβούμενος τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ἐργαζόμενος δικαιοσύνην, δεκτὸς αὐτῷ ἐστιν· δῆλον δὲ ὅτι δεκτὸς τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ οὐκ ἀπόβλητός ἐστιν ὁ τοιοῦτος, τῷ ἰδίῳ καιρῳ καταφεύγων ἐπὶ τὸ σέβας τῆς μακαριωτάτης θεογνωσίας· οὐ γὰρ μὴ καταλείπῃ τοῦτον ὁ Θεὸς συναποθανεῖν τῇ ἀγνωσίᾳ, ἀλλ' ὁδηγήσει αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν, καὶ καταλάμψει τῷ φωτὶ τῆς γνώσεως, ὥσπερ τὸν Κορνήλιον, περὶ οὗ καὶ τὸν λόγον τὸν προῥῥηθέντα εἴρηκεν ὁ μακάριος Πέτρος. Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΡΗΔ’ Μαξιμιανῳ Source: Migne PG 79.145c

'In every nation, he who reveres God and works His righteousness is acceptable to Him.' 1 It is clear that such a man is acceptable to God and is not rejected by Him, who at the opportune time withdraws to the reverence of the blessed Divinity. For God shall not forsake him and leave him to perish in ignorance, but He shall lead him to the truth, illuminating him with the light of knowledge, as with Cornelius, concerning whom the words quoted were spoken by the blessed Peter. Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 154 to Maximianus 1 Acts 10.35

Entering The House

Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐν τῷ πλήθει τοῦ ἐλέους σου εἰσελεύσομαι εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου· προσκυνήσω πρὸς ναὸν ἅγιόν σου ἐν φόβῳ σου... Τῶν πονηρευομένων καὶ παρανόμων οὐ παροικούντων σοι, οὐδὲ διαμενόντων ὑπὸ τὴν θεωρίαν σου, ἐγὼ ἐλέῳ τῷ σῷ εἰσελεύσομαι εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ εἰπεῖν δυνήσομαι· Τὸ πρωῒ παραστήσομαί σοι, καὶ ἐπόψει με. Καὶ ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἄλλως ἢ ἐλέῳ τῷ σῷ εἰσελεύσομαι εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου, σὺν εὐλαβείᾳ πολλῇ ὀνομα ζομένῃ φόβῳ σου προσκυνήσω σοι πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ, ἐλθὼν πρὸς τὸν ἅγιόν σου ναόν. Ναὸς δὲ καὶ οἶκος Θεοῦ ἡ ἁγία καὶ ἐνάρετος κατάστασις, ἣν οἱ ἔχοντες μετὰ παῤῥησίας φασίν. Χριστὸς δὲ ὡς υἱὸς ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον αὑτοῦ, οὗ οἶκός ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς. Ἀλλὰ καὶ προσφωνοῦσιν ἑτέροις πιστοῖς γράφοντες· Ναὸς ἅγιός ἐστε, καὶ τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν ναὸς τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματός ἐστιν, οὗ ἔχετε ὑπὸ Θεοῦ. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ οἶκος καὶ ναὸς Θεοῦ ὁ τηρῶν τὸν Ἰησοῦ λόγον, πρὸς ὃν ὁ Υἱὸς καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ μονὴν ποιοῦνται; Δυνατὸν καὶ τὴν ἐκκλησιαστικὴν γνώμην καὶ διδασκαλίαν οἶκον Κυρίου φάναι καὶ ναὸν αὐτοῦ. Δηλοῦται τοῦτο ἐκ τῶν γραφομένων Τιμοθέῳ· Ἵνα εἰδῇς πῶς δεῖ σε ἐν οἴκῳ Κυρίου ἀναστρέφεσθαι, ἥτις ἐστὶν Ἐκκλησία Θεοῦ ζῶντος. Ὠριγένης, Εἰς Ψαλμοὺς, Ψαλμός E' Source: Migne PG 12.1169c-1172a

For in the abundance of your mercy I shall enter into your house. I shall adore in your holy temple, in awe of you... 1 Since the wicked and inquitious do not dwell with you, nor do they remain in your sight, it is in your mercy that I shall enter into your house. For thus I shall be able to say: 'In the dawn I shall stand with you and you shall see me.' 2 Because I shall not enter into your house but by your mercy, and then with that great piety that is called 'awe of you,' I shall adore in spirit and truth, having entered into your holy temple. And the temple of God is holiness and the endowment of virtue, which he who has may speak with confidence. But Christ as the Son comes to the house and we are His house. So other faithful folk are told in the epistle: 'You are a holy temple and your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, which you have from God.' 3 For how is he not the house and temple of God, who keeps the word of Jesus and with whom the Father and the Son make their dwelling? 4 And then it is possible to call the law of the Church and its teaching the house of the Lord and His temple. This is made manifest from what is written to Timothy: 'That you know how you should conduct yourself in the Church of the living God.' 5 Origen, Selecta On the Psalms, from Psalm 5 1 Ps 5.8-9 2 Ps 5.5-6 3 1 Cor 6.19 4 Jn 14.23 5 2 Tim 3.15

Understanding And Virtue

Ὁδὸν δικαιωμάτων σου συνέτισόν με, καὶ ἀδολεσχήσω ἐν τοῖς θαυμασίοις σου. Θείας ἡμῖν συνέσεως δεῖ, ὥστε κατὰ τὸν θεῖον νόμον τὴν ἀρετὴν μετελθεῖν, καὶ τὸν φιλανθρωπίᾳ χρώμενον μὴ πρὸς κενοδοξίαν ἰδὲῖν, καὶ τὸν ἀσκητικὸν μὴ θηρᾶσαι τὸν ἀνθρώπειον ἔπαινον, τὸν σώφρονα μὴ δὶα τὴν τῆς ἀκολασίας αἰσχύνυν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν πόθον τῆς ἀρετῆς, μετειέναι τὴν σωφροσύνην. Εἰκότως τοίνυν ὁ Προσφήτης ἀντιβολεῖ συνέσεως θείας μεταλαχεῖν, ὡς διαγνῶμαι τὴν τῆς δικαιοσύνην ὁδὸν. Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Ἑρμηνεία εἰς Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ΡΙΗ´ Source: Migne PG 80.1829c

Give me understanding of the way of your justifications and I shall think upon your wonders... 1 The Divine understanding is needed for us to partake of virtue according to the Divine law, so that he who has a share of the love of men knows nothing of vainglory, and he who is ascetic does not look for the praises of man, and he who is continent is not disgraced by intemperance, but because of the desire for virtue he attains continence. Rightly, therefore, the Prophet entreats that he may partake of the Divine understanding, so that he may know the way of righteousness. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 118 1 Ps 118.27

Different Lights

Λύχνος τοῖς ποσίν μου ὁ λόγος σου καὶ φῶς ταῖς τρίβοις μου... Λύκνος ὁ νόμος ἐστὶ τοῖς πρὸ τῆς ἀνατολῆς τοῦ ἡλίου τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἐν νυκτὶ βαδίζουσι, τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς οὐ λύχνου ὄντος, ἀλλ' ἡλίου φωτίζοντος ἐκείνους, οἶς προέκοψεν ἡ νύξ· εγγισάσης τῆς ἡμέρας εὐσχημόνως περιπατειν ἐστιν. Δυδύμος του Ἀλεξανδρέως, Εἰς Ψαλμοὺς, Ψαλμός ΡΙΗ’ Source: Migne PG 39.1575b

Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my paths... 1 The law is a lamp for those who walk in the night, on whom the sun of righteousness has yet to rise. The true light is not a lamp, but it is the sun enlightening those for whom the night is passing away, and they walk as befits those for whom the day nears. 2 Didymus the Blind, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 118 1 Ps 118.105 2 Rom 13.12-13

The Hearers

Πᾶν ῥῆμα Χριστοῦ ἔλεον, καὶ δικαιοσύνην, καὶ σοφίαν ἐμφαινει Θεοῦ, καὶ τὴν τούτων δύναμιν διὰ τῆς ἀκοῆς ἐμβάλλει τοῖς ἠδέως ἀκούουσιν. Ὅθεν οἱ ἀνελεήμονες, καὶ ἄδικοι, ἀηδῶς ἀκουοντες τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίαν, γνῶμαι οὐκ ἐδυνήθησαν· ἀλλὰ καὶ λαλοῦντες ἐσταύρωσαν. Καὶ ἡμεῖς οὖν ἶδωμεν εἰ ἡδέως αὐτοῦ ἀκούομεν. Αὐτὸς γὰρ εἴρηκεν· Ὁ ἀγαπῶν με τὰς ἐντολάς μου τηρήσει, καὶ ἀγαπηθήσεται ὑπὸ τοῦ Πατρός μου κὰγὼ ἀγαπήσω αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐμφαίνσω αὐτῷ ἑμαυτόν. Βλέπεις, πῶς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐμφάνειαν ἐν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς ἐνέκρυψε; Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Τῶν Οἰομένων Ἐξ Ἔργων Δικαιοῦσθαι Source: Migne PG 65.964a

Every word of Christ shows the mercy and righteousness and wisdom of God, and by hearing their power passes into those who gladly hear. Whence the merciless and unrighteous are unwilling hearers and unable to know the wisdom of God, but rather word of it torments. Thus it is for us to look to whether we hear Him willingly. For He himself said, 'He who loves me, he will keep my commandments, and he will be loved by my Father and I shall love him, and I shall show myself to him.' 1 You see how His showing is hidden in His commandments? Saint Mark The Ascetic, On Those Who Think Themselves Justified By Works 1 Jn 14.21

Rivers And Watering

Ἐπῆραν οἱ ποταμοὶ, Κύριε, ἐπῆραν οἱ ποταμοὶ φωνὰς αὐτῶν, ἀροῦσιν οἱ ποταμοὶ ἐπιτρίψεις αὐτῶν... Ποταμοὺς τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἀποστόλους καλεῖ, καὶ τοὺς μετ' ἐκείνους δεξαμένους τὸ κήρυγμα. Οὗτοι γὰρ ποταμῶν δίκην ἅπασαν ἀνθρώποις τὴν ἀρδείαν προσήνεγκαν. Οὕτως αὐτοὺς καὶ ὁ μακάριος προσηγόρευσεν Ἀββακούμ· Ποταμῶν ῥαγήσεται γῆ, τουτέστι διαιρεθήσεται, καὶ τὴν ἀρδείαν δέξεται. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἔφη· Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ, καθὼς εἶπεν ἡ Γραφὴ, ποταμοὶ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος. Οὗ τοι τοίνυν οἱ ποταμοὶ ἐπῆραν αὐτῶν τὴν φωνὴν, τὰ θεῖα κηρύττοντες δόγματα, καὶ τὰς οἰκείας πορείας ποιούμενοι. Τρίψεις γὰρ τὰς τρίβους ἐκάλε σεν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πέφυκε τῶν ὑδάτων ἡ φύσις τρίβειν τὴν ὑποκειμένην γῆν, καὶ πορείαν ἐργάζεσθαι, εἰκότως τρίψιν τῶν ποταμῶν τὴν πορείαν ἐκάλεσεν· οἱ γὰρ πρῶτοι πιστευθέντες τὸ κήρυγμα τὴν ὁδὸν δευτέροις ηὐτρέπισαν, καὶ ἄπονον αὐτοῖς καὶ ἀταλαίπωρον τὴν διδασκαλίαν ἐπραγματεύσαντο. Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Ἑρμηνεία εἰς Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ϟΒ´ Source: Migne PG 80.1625c-1628a

The rivers have risen up, O Lord, their voices have risen up, the rivers raised up their beating waters... 1 He calls the holy Apostles rivers, and those after them who took up the preaching of the Gospel. For these like rivers bring water to all men. So Habakkuk names all these blessed: 'The earth will be cut through with rivers.' 2 that is, it will be divided and irrigated. So indeed the Lord says, 'He who believes in me, as Scripture says, there shall flow out from his bosom rivers of living waters.' 3 Therefore these rivers have raised up their voices in the preaching of the Divine teachings, and in the making of their own ways. By the beating waters he speaks of paths. Because the nature of water is to wear away the earth which is subject to it, and by that it makes paths. Rightly, then, he calls the way the wearing away of the waters, because those to whom the Divine preaching was first entrusted, they prepared a way for those who came second, fashioning for them a less laborious and less painful way for teaching. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 92 1 Ps 92.3 2 Habak 3.10 3 Jn 7.38