Leaving The Humble Way

Καὶ ὁδὸν ταπεινῶν ἐξέκλιναν... Τοῦτο νοήσεις δίχα. Ἤ γὰρ ἐκεῖνό φησιν, ὅτι πεφρονήκασιν ὑπέροψκα, καὶ θεοστυγμοῦς ἁλαζονείας εἰς τοῦτο ἢκουσιν τὸ μέτρον, ὡς παραιτεῖσθαι καὶ ἀδελφοὺς, εἰ μὴ πλούτῳ περιχέοιντο, καὶ λαμπρὰς ἔχοιεν τὰς περιουσίας, μισεῖν δὲ ὥσπερ ἰέναι καὶ κατὰ ταυτὸ τοῖς οὐκ ἄγαν ἐξησκηκόσι τὸ φιλοχρήματον πάθος, οἵ καὶ εἰσὶ ταπεινοὶ, τὸν εἰκαῖον τοῦ βίου διωθοὺμενοι σάλον. Ἤγουν ὅτι καθηγηταὶ γεγονότες, καὶ λαῶν ἠγούμενοι, παρευθύνουσι τὴν ὁδὸν τῶν ἀσθενεστέρων, ἤτοι τῶν ταπεινῶν, δῆλον δὲ ὅτι τῶν οἴκοθεν μὲν οὐκ ἐχόντων τὴν τοῦ συμφέροντο, εἰδησιν ἀκριβῆ, προσκειμένων δὲ μᾶλλον ταῖς τῶν παιδαγωγούντων φωναῖς. Πλείστη δὲ ὅση πληθὺς ἡ τοιάδε. Ζῶσι μὲν γὰρ ἀπεριεργότερον καὶ ἐν ἀπλότητί τινες, ἀπήρτηνται δὲ τῆς τῶν διδασκόντων φωνῆς, ἤτοι παιδαγωγίας, καὶ ἤνπερ ἂν μάθοιεν εὖ ἔχειν ὁδὸν, ἀγαπῶσι λίαν. Οὐκοῦν οἱ μὲν σοφοὶ καὶ θεοφιλεῖς τῶν καθηγεισθαι λαχόντων, τὴν ἐπ' εὐθὺ δεικνύουσι τρίβον, δι' ἧς μάλα διᾴττοντες, τὴν ἀνδάνουσαν Θεῷ κατορθοῦσι ζωήν. Οἱ δὲ δὴ μακρὰν τοῦ θείου πεφρονηκοντες νόμου, παρευθύνουσι τῶν ταπεινῶν τὴν ὁδὸν, ἔξω τοῦ εἰκότος καὶ τοῦ πρέποντος ἀληθῶς γενέσθαι παρασκευάζοντες, ὁποῖόν τι δέδρακεν Ἰεροβοὰμ ἀναπεπεικὼς προσκυνεὶν ταῖς χιεροτεύκτοις δαμάλεσι, καὶ ἀποστήσαντες ὁδοῦ τὴς εἰς εὐθύ τε κιὰ ἀγαθὸν, τοῦ προσκεῖσθαι, φημὶ, τῷ φύσει Θεῷ. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Ἐξὴγησις Εἰς Τον Προφήτην Ἀμώς, Κεφ' Β' Source: Migne PG 71.441b-d

And they have left the way of the humble... 1 This can be understood in two ways. Either it is said that they were puffed up beyond measure and by their arrogance they came to abhor God, so that they despised their brothers unless they were surrounded with wealth and possessed a splendor of the abundance of things, and because of this they hated those who did not have an excessive passion for adorning themselves with wealth, even the humble, who thus thrust away the wild turmoils of life. Or because being instructors and leaders of the people they left the way of the weak, or the humble, that is, they did not take from their stores that which was of benefit to them, but rather they devoted themselves to the voices of the erudite. And such a thing is far from the many. For they live incurious and in simplicity, and they depend on the voices of teachers and instructors that they might learn of the good way, and love it vehemently. The wise who are lovers of God do not lead the way in possessions, but they show the way which is right, which is composed of deeds in the pursuit of the upright life that is pleasing to God. But those whose thoughts are far from the law of God, they pervert the way of the humble, and they do that which is neither fair nor beffiting, as Jeroboam did, who persauded the people to revere idols, taking them away from the way of the right and good, and from revering, I say, the Divine nature. Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary On The Prophet Amos, Chapter 2 1 Amos 2.7

Many Ascensions

Qui aedificat in caelo ascensionem suam, et fasciculum suum super terram fundavit: qui vocat aquas maris, et effundit faciem terrae: Dominus nomen ejus. LXX: Qui aedificat in caelo ascensionem suam, et promissionem suam super terram fundat, qui vocat aquas maris, et effundit faciem terrae: Dominus nomen ejus. Dominus Deus omnipotens, qui respicit, sive tangit terram, et commovet eam, ipse est qui quotidie aedificat in coelo ascensionem suam, et dicit in Evangelio: Pater meus usque modo operatur, et ego operor. Et non solum de costa Adam in typum Ecclesiae semel aedificavit Evam, sed quotidie credentes et membra corporis sui aedificat, et de terris ad coelum levat, ut in illis ipse conscendat. Ascendit Dominus in coelum cum Enoch, ascendit cum Elia, ascendit cum Moyse, cujus sepulturae locus, quia in coelum ascenderat, in terra non potuit inveniri. Ascendit cum Paulo qui vas electionis, in apostolum de persecutore mutatus est, er de humilibus raptus in sublimia, ita ut ascenderet in coelum tertium, et per Spiritum sanctum et Filium perveniret ad Patrem, et audiret verba ineffabilia, mysterii Trinitatis, quae hominibus audire non licitum est. Iste ergo qui quotidie ascendit in sanctis, fasciculum suum fundavit super terram, de quo in Evangelio loquitur: Ne timeas, grex parvule, quia complacuit Patri meo habitare in te. Iste fasciculus una Domini religione constrictus est. Unde et ipsa religio a religando, et in fascem Domini vinciendo nomen accepit. Porro juxta Septuaginta, repromissionem suam fundat super terram, ut omnes illius repromissiones quas sancti prophetae suo ore cecinerunt, non inanem sonum habeant, et cassa solius tropologiae nomina; sed fundentur in terra. Et cum historiae habuerint fundamenta, tunc spiritualis intelligentiae culem accipiant: ut vere Christus de Virgine natus sit, vere Lazarum mortuum suscitarit, vere ad tactum ejus a)imorrousa sanata sit, vere in adventu Domini caeci viderint, claudi cucurrerint, contractae manus extensae sint, lepra mundata sit; licet secundum tropoligiam quotidie de anima virginali nascatur sermo divinus, quotidie peccato mortui, et vitiorum funibus alligati, de sepulcro scelerum suorum jubeantur exire, quotidie sangunis opera constringantur, caeci in fidelitate Christi lumen ascpiciant, claudicantes prius fide, currant in via Domini, et aridae manus avaritia, extendantur ad eleemosynam, et lepra Mariae, quae contaminat quidquid attigerit, recipiat pristinam puritatem. Iste autem Dominus amarissimas quoque aquas maris vocat, et effudit eas super eos, qui faciem suam verterunt ad Dominum. Ideo autem vocat amaras aquas, ut dulces faciat et educat ventos de thesauris suis, et graves salsugine aquas sua in altum jussione suspendat, eliquansque eas, et aethero calore decoquens, dispenset in pluvias, et emittat super faciem terrae, ut arentia quaeque rigentur imbribus, et ubi abundavit peccatum, superabundet gratia. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentariorum In Amos Prophetam, Lib III, Cap IX Source: Migne PL 25.1089c-1890c

He who builds His ascension in heaven and has founded His bundle on the earth, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth, the Lord is his name. The Septuagint has: He who builds His ascension in heaven and has founded His promise on the earth, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them on the face of the land.' 1 The Lord God Almighty is He who looks on, or touches, the earth, and moves it. He is the one who every day builds His ascension in heaven, and He says in the Gospel, 'My father even now works, and I work.' 2 And not only did He once make Eve from the rib of Adam as a type of the Church, 3 but every day He makes the faithful into members of His own body, and He lifts them up from earth to heaven, that He rise up in them. The Lord ascends into heaven with Enoch 4 He ascends with Elijah 5 He ascends with Moses, he who because he ascended into heaven has no place on earth where his tomb can be found. 6 He ascends with Paul, that vessel of election, who was changed from a persecutor to an Apostle and from low things was translated to high things, so that he ascended to the third heaven, and through the Holy Spirit and Son came to the Father and heard ineffable words, the mystery of the Trinity, which men are not permitted to hear. 7 He, then, is the one who ascends every day in His holy ones, 'He has established His bundle on the earth,' concerning which it is said in the Gospel, 'Do not fear, little flock, because it has pleased the Father to dwell among you.' 8 And this bundle of the Lord is bound up with religion, whence the name religion is from 'religio', 'to tie up', and with the fasces of the Lord He receives the name of conquerer. However, according to the Septuagint we have: 'He establishes His promise', all His promises which the mouths of the prophets sang, which were not an empty cry, nor the inane name of a mere trope, but established on the earth, and when they had the foundations of the history, then they received the point of spiritual understanding, that truly Christ was born from a Virgin, that truly He rose up Lazarus from the dead, that truly He healed the bleeding woman with His touch, that truly with the advent of the Lord the blind saw, the lame walked, the withdrawn hand was extended, leprosy was cleansed, and, according to the tropological sense, that every day from the virginial soul the Divine word shall be born, that every day where there is death from sin and binding with the bonds of the vices, even from the tomb of crimes they shall be ordered to come out, that every day the works of blood shall be fettered, and the blind in the faith of Christ shall see the light, and those who were cripples by faith shall run in the way of the Lord, and the hand that was withered with avarice shall be held out with alms, and the leprous Miriam who contaminated everything she touched, shall receive her former purity. 9 This Lord also calls the waters of the sea most bitter, and He has poured them out over those who have turned their faces toward the Lord. Therefore He calls the waters bitter which He will make sweet, and He will release His winds from his treasury, and the heavy salty waters shall hang in the heights by His command, and He shall cleanse them and with heavenly heat boil them, and He shall distribute them as rain, and send them forth upon the face of the earth, that aridity be moistened with rain, and where sin abounds, grace be superabundant. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Amos, Book 3, Chap 9 1 Amos 9.6 2 Jn 5.17 3 Gen 2.21-23 4 Gen 5.24 5 4 Kings 12.11-12 6 Deut 34.6 7 2 Cor 12.1-4 8 Lk 12.32 9 Num 12

Knowing And Known

Audite verbum, quod locutus est Dominus super vos, filii Israel; super omni cognatione, quam eduxi de terra Aegypti dicens: tantummodo vos cognovi ex omnibus cognationibus terrae, idcirco visitabo super vos omnes iniquitates vestras. LXX: Audite, verbum hoc quod locutus est Dominus super vos, domus israel, et contra omnem tribum quam eduxi de terra Aegypti, dicens: Verumtamen vos cognovi de universis tribubus terrae, idcirco ulciscar super vos omnes malitias vestras. Ad filios Israel prophetalis sermo dirigitur, et qui sint isti filii Israel sequens versus ostendit: super omni, inquit, cognatione, quam eduxi de terra Aegypti, quod non solum in decem tribubus, sed in omnibus duodecim, addentes Iudam et Beniamin, debemus accipere. Omnes enim de terra Aegypti eduxit, et ait: tantummodo, sive, ut Symmachus interpretatus est: solos, vos cognovi ex omnibus cognationibus terrae. Et quia solos vos cognovi, qui Creator sum omnium, et vos habui peculiarem populum meum, idcirco super solos vos omnia vestra peccata restituam: potentes enim potenter tormenta patientur; qui autem minimus est, dignus est misericordia. Et in Ezechiele legimus: A sanctis meis incipite. Et iudicium Dei de domo eius dicitur habere principium. Hoc interim iuxta historiam dictum sit. Ceterum quia auditus in Scripturis Sanctis, non solum iste accipitur quem auribus carnis excipimus, sed etiam ille, de quo Dominus ait: qui habet aures audiendi audiat. Unde et omnis populus videbat vocem Dei, proprie ad eos sermo fit Domini, qui sensu vident Dominum, quos eduxit de terra Aegypti; et de potestate Pharaonis, ut nequaquam luto et paleis deservirent exstruentes Aegyptias civitates, et quos ex omnibus tribubus terrae cognovit, dicente Apostolo: nunc autem cognoscentes Deum, magis autem cogniti ab eo. et in alio loco: qui ignorat, ignorabitur. Non ergo omnes cognoscit Dominus, sed eos, qui eius cognitione sunt digni, loquens in Evangelio: recedite a me, operarii iniquitatis, nescio vos. In eo enim quod operarii iniquitatis sunt, ignorantur a Domino. Idcirco inquit quia solos vos cognovi, et meos habui, visitabo super vos omnes iniquitates vestras. Quem diligit Dominus, corripit, et castigat omnem filium quem recipit. Et pulchre dixit: visitabo, et non percutiam, quia plaga Dei visitatio est, atque curatio. Et omnes, inquit, iniquitates sive peccata vestra visitabo, ne quid impercussum remaneat, ne quid non recipiat sanitatem. Hieronymous, Commentariorum In Amos Prophetam, Liber I, Cap III Source: Migne PL 25.1013d-1014c

Hear the word the Lord speaks over you, sons of Israel, over all the people whom I led from the land of Egypt, saying: Only you I have known from all the peoples of the earth, therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities. The Septuagint has: 'Hear the word the Lord has spoken over you, house of Israel, and against every tribe which I led up from the land of Egypt, saying: Only you I have known from all the tribes of the earth, therefore I will have vengeance on you for all your wickedness.' 1 The prophetic word is directed to the sons of Israel, and who the sons of Israel are the following verse makes clear: 'Over all the people,' He says, 'which I led from the land of Egypt,' which means that we should understand not only the ten tribes here, but all the twelve, adding Judah and Benjamin. For He led them all from the land of Egypt, and He says, 'Only', or according to Symmachus 'Alone', 'you I have known from all the peoples of the earth.' And because I have known you alone, I who am the Creator of all things, I have you as my special people, therefore against you alone I shall return all your sins. 'The stronger shall suffer stronger torments.' 2 He who is least shall be worthy of mercy. And in Ezekiel we read: 'Begin with my holy ones.' 3 And the judgement of God is said to begin with His house. 4 This, then, was said in the historical sense. But there is another hearing in the Holy Scriptures, not only a receiving which is the taking up with the ears of flesh, but indeed that concerning which the Lord says: 'He who has ears let him hear.' 5 Whence all the people saw the voice of God, 6 but especially those to whom the word of the Lord comes, who see God with understanding, those whom He led from the land of Egypt, and from the power of the Pharaoh, that they no more slave with mud and straw to raise the cities of Egypt, and He knew them from all the tribes of the earth, as the Apostle says: 'Now even knowing God, or rather known by God.' 7 And in another place, 'He who does not know, shall not be known.' 8 Therefore not all know God, but those who are worthy of knowing Him, as it is said in the Gospel: 'Begone from me, you workers of iniquity, I do not know you.' 9 For in that they are workers of iniquity, they do not know God. Therefore He says: 'Because I have known you alone, and I have you as mine, I shall visit on you all your iniquities.' He whom the Lord loves He corrects, and He reproves every son whom he receives. 10 And well it is said, 'I shall visit upon you,' and not 'I shall strike', because the visitation of God is a blow and also a cure. And all your iniquities or sins, He says, I shall visit upon you, lest you remain unpunished, lest you lack all health. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Amos, Book 1, Chap 3 1 Amos 6.1 2 Wisdom 6.7 3 Ezek 9.6 4 1 Pet 4.17 5 Lk 8.8 6 Exod 20.18 7 Galat 4.9 8 1 Cor 14.38 9 Lk 13.27 10 Hebr 12.7-11

Leaders And Rich Men

Vae qui opulenti estis in Sion, et confiditis in monte Samariae, optimates, capita populorum, ingredientes pompatice domum Israel. LXX: Vae qui despiciunt Sion, et confidunt in monte Samariae: vindemiarunt primitias gentium, et ingressi sunt sibi. Ad Sion, ut supra diximus, et ad montem Samariae, id est, ad duas tribus, quae appellabantur, Juda, et ad decem, quae Israelis nomine vocabantur, prophetae sermo confertur, maxime ad eos, qui in utroque populo optimates sunt et principes, et vacant deliciis in exemplum illius divitis purpurati, qui laetabatur in convivio, et in tantam erigebatur superbiam, ut Lazarum ante ostium suum plenum ulceribus indigaretur aspicere, et ne hoc quidem ei tribueret, quod periturum esset ex mensa. Isti sunt capita populorum, qui confidunt in divitiis, et opulenti sunt in Sion, et habent fiduciam in monte Samariae, et ingrediuntur pompatice domum Israel, ut tumorem animi corpus ostendat, et pomparum ferculis similes esse videntur. Juxta leges autem tropologiae et Septuaginta interpretes, Sion refertur ad Ecclesiam, de qua scriptum legimus: Qui exaltat me de porta mortis, ut annuntiem omnes laudationes tuas in portis filiae Sion. Mons vero Samariae, propter superbiam et jactantiam custodiae mandatorum Dei, intelligitur super haereticis, qui despiciunt Ecclesiam; quia infirma mundi elegit Deus, ut confundat fortia, et stulta, ut perdat sapientiam sapientium, et intelligentiam prudentium repobet. Isti vindemiaverunt primitias gentium, ut sub nomine Christiano introducerent eos in torcularia sua, ubi non calcatur uva, sed perditur: ubi non mustum exprimitur, sed venenum. Et ingressi sunt sibi. Pulchre dixit, sibi: non enim ingressi sunt Deo, sed sibi ingressi sunt. Alioquin Deo magis egressi sunt, dum recedunt de Ecclesia. Hieronymous, Commentariorum In Amos Prophetam, Liber II Source: Migne PL 1057a-1058b

'Woe to you who rich in Zion and assured on the mount of Samaria, rich men, leaders of the people, entering in with pomp into the house of Israel.' The Septuagint: 'Woe to you who look down on Zion, and are assured on the mount of Samaria; they reap the first fruits of the peoples, and they have entered into themselves.' 1 The speech of the Prophet is addressed to Zion, as we have said above, and to the mount of Samaria, that is, to the two tribes who are called Judah, and to the ten who are called by the name of Israel, especially to those who are rich and leaders among both peoples, who are at ease in pleasures and whose example is to be rich in purple, who have rejoiced in feasts, and have been elevated in such pride that they balk to look upon Lazarus at the door covered in sores, nor do they give to him anything which has fallen from their tables. 2 These are the heads of the peoples, who are confident in their wealth, and who are rich in Sion, and who trust in the mount of Samaria, and who enter with pomp into the house of Israel. So the body shows the bloated nature of the soul, and they seem to be like frames for pomp. According to the law of tropology and the translation of the Septuagint, Zion refers to the Church, concerning which it is written: 'Who shall lift me up from the gates of death, that I might proclaim all your praises in the gates of your daughter Zion.' 3 But the mount of Samaria, on account of its pride and its boasting that it keeps the laws of God, is to be understood as speaking of heretics, who look down on the Church, 'because God has chosen the weak of the world, that he might confound the strong, and the foolish that he might destroy the wisdom of the wise and reprove the understanding of the prudent.' 4 They have harvested the first fruits of the peoples who under the name of Christian have brought in their own winepress, where the grape is not been pressed but destroyed, and where wine is not squeezed out, but poison. And they have entered into themselves. And well it is said, 'into themselves', for they have not entered into God, but into themselves. Rather they have gone out from God, since they have withdrawn from the Church. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Amos, Book 2, Chap 4 1 Amos 6.1 2 Lk 16.19-21 3 Ps 9.15 4 1 Cor 1.27

Naked Flight

Ὁ γυμνὸς φεύξεται ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρα, φησὶν ὁ προφήτης. Προχείρως μὲν τὰ ἐν τῷ πάθει τοῦ Κυρίου συμβάντα προθεωρῶν, καὶ τὸν γυμνὸν πεφευγότα δηλῶν, ὅς σινδόνα περιβεβλημένος ἐπὶ γυμνῆς, τὴν πεῖραν τῶν Κυριοκτόνων ἀπέφυγε, καταλιπὼν αὐτοῖς τὴν σινδόνα. Ἡ δὲ κεκρυμμένη τούτου καὶ παρακεκαλυμμένη διάνοια, σημαίνει τὸν ἰσχνὸν καὶ ἀπέριττον, καὶ τῶν βαρῶν τῆς σαρκὸς ἀμέτοχον, μηδὲν κώλυμα πρὸς τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἀνάνασιν ἔχοντα· κοῦφον καὶ εὐπάλλακτον τῆς θνητῆς ἀναχωροῦντα ἰλύος, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἄφθαρτον ζωὴν, πτηνὸν ἀπαντῶντα. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΝΓ' Θεοδουλῳ Source: Migne PG 78.216b

'Naked let him flee on that day,' says the Prophet. 1 By which he points to the things which happened during the passion of the Lord, and that one who fled naked clearly is the one who was wrapped in a linen cloth and cast it off to nakedness, and leaving it behind, fled the murderous trial of the Lord. 2 And if you consider the hidden and veiled sense here, it means that one should be stripped and unencumbered, having no burden of the flesh, having no impediment to ascent, and then with lightness and swiftness one may go forth from the filth of mortal things and fly on wings to the immortal life. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 53, To Theodoulos 1 Amos 2.16 2 Mk 14.52

A Poverty of Scripture

Debemus enim Scripturam sanctam, primum secundum litteram intelligere, facientes in ethica quaecumque praecepta sunt. Secundo juxta allegoriam, id est, intelligentiam spiritualem. Tertio secundum futurorum beatitudinem. Vos autem primam, inquit, et secundam contemnentes diem, spiritualia vobis quaedam figmenta componitis sine fundamento, et parietibus tectum desuper imponentes. Nec hoc sunt haeretici, de quibus, et ad quos dicitur, impietatis fine contenti: sed legerunt foris legem Dei de Ecclesia recedentes, et singulis dogmatibus suis, quae perverso corde simularent, confessiones et testimonia sociare conati sunt: sive sacrificaverunt de fermento, super quo in Evangelio dicitur: 'Cavete vobis a fermento,' id est, doctrina Pharisaeorum. Et haec fecerunt non errore, sed studio: non fortuita voluntate, sed majorum charitate plenissima. Unde ultionem super his comminatur Dominus: 'Dabo' inquiens, 'vobis stuporem dentium,' qui Graece γομφιασμὸς dicitur. Si quis enim secundum Ezechiel, uvam acerbam comederit, stupebunt dentes ejus: ut non bene Scripturarum sanctarum testimoniis abutentes, comedentesque ea immatura et absque sua dulcedine, perdant robur dentium: ne possint dura commolere, et in alvum toto corpori profutura transmittere. Hunc stuporem dentium ciborumque penuriam dabo et in cunctis urbibus, atque in omnibus locis vestris, ut patiamini famem sermonis Dei, et ejus panis qui de coelo descendit , et de quo in Psalmis scriptum est: 'Panem angelorum manducavit homo'  Quae universa feci, non ob crudenlitatem et saevitiam, ut haeretici calumniantur, truculenti et tristis judicii, sed ut converteremini ad me, juxta illud quod scriptum est: 'Frustra percussi filios vestros, disciplinam non recepistis' Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentariorum In Amos Prophetam, Liber II Cap IV

For we should first understand Sacred Scripture according to the letter, attending to whatever ethical precepts we find there. Secondly according to the allegorical sense, that is, the spiritual understanding. Thirdly according to the future state of beatitude. You disdaining the daylight of the first and the second, it says, have arranged certain spiritual parts  without foundation, and from above you would place a roof on such walls. And not here are heretics, concerning which, and to whom this is said, content to end their impiety, but they read outside the law of God, withdrawing from the Church, and to each of their own teachings, which their perverse hearts imitate, they try to associate confessions and witness, as if they offer in sacrifice the leaven 1 concerning which in the Gospel it says, 'Beware the leaven,' that is, 'of the Pharisees.' 2 And these things they do not by error but with a will, not by accident, but full of great zeal. Whence the Lord threatens vengeance on them. 'I shall give,' He says, 'to you numbness of teeth.' 3 which in Greek is γομφιασμὸς. For, according to Ezekiel, if someone eats the bitter grape his teeth are numbed, 4 and since they have made poor use of the witness of Sacred Scripture, eating indeed things immature and without sweetness, destroying the sense of their teeth, so they are not able to chew hard things, which should be sent into the stomach for the sake of the future body. This stupor of teeth and food is a poverty I shall give into every city, it says, and into every one of your places 3 that you suffer the famine of the word of God, and His bread which descends from heaven, 5 of which in the Psalms is written, 'Man ate the bread of angels'. 6 Which things I did, not out of cruelty and savagery, as the heretics calumniate, truculent and fearful of judgement, but that you be converted to me, according to what is written, 'Vainly I have struck your sons, discipline you have not received.'7 Saint Jerome, Commentary on Amos, Book 2, Chap 4   1 Amos 4.4 2 Mt 16.6 3 Amos 4.6 4 Ez 18  5 Jn 6.35 6 Ps 77.15  7 Jer 2.30

Seeking and Doing Good

'Quaerite bonum et non malum ut vivatis et erit Dominus Deus exercituum vobiscum sicut dixistis: Odite malum et diligite bonum et constituite in portis judicium, si forte misereatur Dominus Deus exercituum reliquiis Joesph. LXX: Quaerite bonum et non malum ut vivatis et erit sic Dominus Deus omnipotens vobiscum, sicut dixistis: Odio habuimus mala et diliximus bona et reddite in portis judicium, ut misereatur Dominus Deus his qui reliqui sunt de Joesph.' Dicitis Deum esse vobiscum, quia sitis filii Abraham, audite quod sequitur: 'Si filii estis Abrahae, opera patris vestri facite.' Quae sunt opera patris vestri Abrahae? 'Diligite bonum et non malum.' Grande peccatum est, non solum facere malum, sed et diligere. Multi peccant, et expleto voluptatos ardore, mordentur conscientia sua, et poenitet eos peccati sui. Qui autem non solum non dolet se fecisse quod malum est, sed in suo scelere gloriatur, iste implet illud quod scriptum est: Peccator cum venerit in profundum impietatis, contemnit. Quaerite ergo bonum et non malum. Si enim quaesieritis bonum, in eo quod quaeritis bonum, statim repellitis malum. Numquam autem quaeritis bonum, nisi prius repelleretis malum, implentes verba Psalmistae dicentis: Declina a malo et fac bonum. Cumque quaesieritis bonum et vitaveritis malum, tunc vivetis in eo qui dicit: 'Ego sum vita.' Bonum quaerit, qui credit in eum qui in Evangelio loquitur: Ego sum pastor bonus. Repellit malum, qui fugit eum de quo scriptum est: Mundus in maligno positus est. Et in oratione Dominica dicit: 'Libera nos a malo.' Cumque quaesieritis, inquit bonum et non malum, et vixeritis, tunc erit Dominus Deus exercituum vobiscum, sicut dixeratis ideo eum esse vobiscum quia nati essetis de Abraham. Nec sufficit bonum quaerere, malumque non quaerere, nisi ἐπίτασις habeatis in utroque, ut primum oderitis malum, deinde diligatis bonum. Odit malum, qui non solum voluptate non vincitur sed odit opera voluptatis: et diligit bonum qui non invitus, aut necessitate, aut metu legum facit quod bonum est; sed idcirco quia bonum est, ut mercedem boni operis habeat conscientiam suam, et dilectionem quam erga bonum possidet. Unde et Apostolus: Hilarem, inquit, datorem diligit Deus. Non enim omnis eleemosyna placet Deo, nisi quae cum hilaritate profertur. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentariorum In Amos Prophetam, Liber II

'Seek good and not evil that you might live and the Lord God of hosts shall be with you like you say: Hate evil and love good and establish in the gates righteousness that perhaps The Lord God of Hosts will be merciful to a remnant of Joseph.'   The Septuagint has: 'Seek good and not evil that you might live and The Lord God Almighty shall be with you, as you have said, ' We have hated evil and we have loved good and restored righteousness in the gates that The Lord God may be merciful to those who are a remnant from Joseph.'   You who say God is with you because you are the sons of Abraham, hear what follows, ' If you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of your father.' What are the works of Abraham? 'Love good and not evil' Grave is the sin not only to do evil but to delight in it. Many commit sin and are filled with pleasure and yet, bitten in their conscience, even they do penance for the sin. He who does not only not grieve for that evil he has done but glories in the crime, this one fulfills what is written: 'The sinner has come into the depths of impiety, he is scornful.' Seek therefore good and not evil. If indeed you seek good, in that very seeking of the good, instantly you shall drive out evil but never shall you seek good unless you have expelled evil, fulfilling the words of the Psalmist who says, 'Decline from evil and do good.' And when you seek the good you shall have driven out evil, and then you shall live in Him who said, 'I am the life.' He seeks the good who believes in Him who says in the Gospel, ' I am the good shepherd.' He drives away evil who flees the one concerning whom it is written, ' I have placed the earth in wickedness.' And in the Lord's prayer He says, 'Free us from evil.' And when you seek, he says, good and not evil, and you have lived, then the Lord God of hosts shall be with you as you have said Him to be with those who are born of Abraham. It is not enough to seek the good and not to seek evil unless you exert yourself in both, that first you detest evil and then love the good. He hates evil who not only is unconquered by pleasure but detests the works of pleasure, and he loves the good who not unwillingly, or by necessity, or through fear of the law does good, but he does it because it is good, that his conscience have the reward of the good and that the delight of the good he might possess. Whence the Apostle says, 'God loves a joyful giver,' For not every act of mercy pleases God unless it is given with joy.   Saint Jerome, Commentary on Amos, Book 2

The Blood Drinkers

'Super tribus sceleribus Damasci, et super quatour non convertam eum,' et secundum Septuaginta, 'non adversabor eum,'  Id est, Damasci populum, sive Aram, id est, Syrum, hunc sensum juxta historiam habere potest: Si semel meum esset popoulum persecutus, aut secundo, darem veniam; nunc vero cum tertio et quarto crudelis exstiterit, ut captivam multitudienm plaustris ferreis fereret: nonne debeo eum plagis corripere? nonne clementiae meas vultum avesare ab eo? Juxta tropologiam vero hoc possumus dicere: Primum peccatum est, cogitasse quae mala sunt. Secundum, cogitationibus acquievisse perversis. Tertium, quod mente decreveris, opere complesse. Quartum, post peccatum non agere poenitentiam, et in suo sibi complacere delicto. Hoc omnes faciunt haeretici, qui non solum cogitant, et faciunt mala, sed doctrina sua quosque simplices decipiunt, et in morem Damascenorum, qui interpretantur, sanguinem bibentes, eorum quos deceperint, sanguinem bibunt. Super hujuscemodi, inquit, peccatis Dominus: nonne dignum est, ut eos plagis corripiam, et avertam ab eis faciem meam? ut qui veritatem dogmatum meorum non vident, aversione vultus mei tenebris obruantur. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentariorum In Amos Prophetam

'For the crimes of the tribe of Damascus and because of four, shall I not oppose him?' or as the Septuagint has it, 'shall I not be averse to him?'  That is, the people of Damascus, or Aram, that is, Syria. In the historical sense the meaning of this is: If once my people you had persecuted, or twice, I could have forgiven it, but now indeed three and four times you have cruelly oppressed so that a captive multitude in iron bonds is made, and should I not then correct with blows? Should I not turn the clemency of my face from them? In a figurative sense we are able the meaning is this: The first sin is to have thought some evil, the second is to acquiesce in perverse thoughts, the third is that the mind resolves the work is to be done, the fourth is a lack of penitence after sin and pleasure in the crime. This is what heretics do, who not only think and do evil but even deceive the simple with their own teachings and in the manner of the Damascenes, who are interpreted drinkers of blood, they are the drinkers of the blood of those who they deceive. On account of such sins, says the Lord, is it not right that I should correct them with blows and avert my face from them? Thus they who did not see the truth of my teaching, by the turning away of my face, are overwhelmed by darkness.  Saint Jerome, Commentary on Amos.