Teaching And Reproof

Εἴπεν ὁ ἀββᾰς Ποιμὴν, ὅτι ὁ διδάξαι τὸν πλησίον, ὅμοιόν ἐστι τοῦ ἐλέγξαι Ἀποφθέγματα Των Ἁγίων Γερόντων, Παλλάδιος Γαλατίας Source: Migne PG 65.360d

Abba Poemen said, 'He who teaches a neighbour is like he who reproves him.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

Admonishments And Sacrifice

Deus autem spei repleat vos omni gaudio et pace in credendo; ut abundetis in spe et virtute Spiritus sancti. Certus sum autem, fratres, et ego ipse de vobis, quia et ipsi pleni estis dilectione, repleti omni scientia; ita ut possitis alterutrum monere. Haec exhortationis sunt: per laudem enim provocat eos ad meliorem et intellectum et vitam. Qui enim videt se laudari, data opera elaborat ut vera sint quae dicuntur. Ideo non dixit, ut invicem se doceant, sed admoneant; hoc enim solet moneri, quod cum sciatur, aliquando subterfugit animo. Caetera non sunt obscura, ut indigeant explanatione. Audacius autem scripsi vobis fratres ex parte, tamquam in memoriam vos reducens : propter gratiam, quae data est mihi a Deo, ut sim minister Christi Jesu in gentibus: sanctificans Evangelium Dei, ut fiat oblatio gentium accepta, et sanctificata in Spiritu Sancto. Non enim temere se scripisse significat, auctoritatem enim sibi datam per Dei gratiam dicens, , ut omnibus gentibus audeat scribere, admonens et confirmans propositum eorum in Christo; ut sollicitudinem suam ostendat in ministerio Evangelii, quasi magister gentium, et sacrificium eorum possit acceptum fieri sanctificationis causa in Spiritu sancto. Quidquid enim fide integra, et mente sobria offertur, a Spiritu sancto purificatur. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam ad Romanos, Caput XV Source: Migne PL 17.175a-b

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope and in the power of the Holy Spirit. And I am certain, brethren, that you also are full of love and filled with all knowledge, so that you are able to admonish one another. 1 This is the manner of this exhortation, to provoke them through praise to a better understanding and life. For he who considers himself praised, gives thought to his works, that what is said might be true. Therefore he does not say, 'that you teach one another,' but that you admonish, when it is known that something is lacking in the soul. The other things here are not so obscure that they need explaining. But I have written to you, brethren, more boldly in a way, as it were putting you in mind, because of the grace that has been given to me from God, that I am a servant of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles, sanctifying the gospel of God, that the oblation of the Gentiles may be made acceptable and sanctified in the Holy Spirit. 2 He does not mean he has written recklessly, for he says he has been given grace from God so he might venture to write to all the peoples, admonishing them and confirming them in their intentions in Christ, which care for them shows in his service of the Gospel, as a teacher of the nations, even that he is able to make their cause of sanctification acceptable in the Holy Spirit, for whatever is offered with pure faith and a sober mind is purified by the Holy Spirit Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The Letter of Saint Paul To The Romans, Chapter 15 1 Rom 15.13-14 2 Rom 15.15-16

A Troubling Deed

Ο δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν· ῎Αφετε αὐτήν. Τί αὐτῇ κόπους παρέχετε; Καλὸν ἔργον εἰργάσατο ἐν ἐμοί. Πάντοτε γὰρ τοὺς πτωχοὺς ἔχετε μεθ' ἑαυτῶν, καὶ ὅταν θέλητε, δύνασθε αὐτοὺς εὖ ποιῆσαι, ἐμὲ δὲ οὐ πάντοτε έχετε . Ὁ ἔσχεν αὕτη , ἐποίησε, προέλαβε μυρίσαι μου τὸ σῶμα εἰς τὸν ἐνταφιασμόν. 'Αμὴν δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅπου ἂν κηρυχθῇ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον τοῦτο εἰς ὅλον τὸν κόσμον, καὶ ὁ ἐποίησεν αὕτη λαληθήσεται εἰς μνημόσυνον αὐτῆς. Μέμφεται ὁ Κύριος τοῖς ἀποστόλοις, ὡς ἀκαίρως ἐμποδίζουσι τῇ προθυμίᾳ τῆς γυναικός. Τἱ γὰρ, φησὶν, αὐτῇ κόπους παρέχετε; μεθ' ὁ προσέφερε τὸ δῶρον, ἀποστρέφοντες αὐτὴν διὰ τοῦ ὀνειδισμοῦ; Αμα δὲ καὶ πλήττει τὸν προδότην, εν τῷ λέγειν, ὅτι Εἰς τὸν ἐνταφιασμόν μου τοῦτο ἐποίησε , καὶ ὡς ἀσυνείδητον ἐλέγχει. Μονονουχὶ τοῦτο λέγων αὐτῷ, ὅτι Σὺ μὲν εἰς θάνατόν με προδιδοὺς, οὐκ ἐλέγχεις σεαυτόν. Αὕτη δὲ εἰς τὸν ἐνταφιασμόν μου τὸ μύρον φέρουσα, ὡσανεὶ ὑπὸ Θεοῦ κινηθεῖσα , ἀξία ἐστὶν ἐλέγχεσθαι ὑπὸ σοῦ; Προφητεύει δὲ ἐνταῦθα ὁ Κύριος δύο προφητείας, ὅτι τε τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον κηρυχθήσεται ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ, καὶ ὅτι τὸ ἔργον τῆς γυναικὸς συγκηρυχθήσεται. Αἰσχυνέσθωσαν οὖν ἐντεῦθεν οἱ τοὺς πτωχοὺς προτιμῶντες τοῦ Χριστοῦ . Ἡκουσα γὰρ ἐγὼ χρυσοχόων λεγόντων, ὅτι Ἐὰν τὸ ἱερὸν σκεῦος καταλύσας δῶ πτωχοῖς , καὶ ἐγὼ ζήσω, οὐκ ἔστι κρίμα. Ἀκουέτωσαν οὖν πῶς ὁ Χριστὸς προτιμᾷ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θεραπείαν, τῶν πτωχῶν. Χριστοῦ δὲ σῶμα κυείως, τὸ ἐν τῷ δίσκῳ τῷ χρυσῷ, καὶ αἷμα τὸ ἐν τῷ ποτηρίῳ. Ὁ γοῦν ἀφαιρούμενος τὸν δίσκον τὸν πολύτιμον, καὶ ἀναγκάζων τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν εὐτελεστέρῳ τίθεσθαι , προφασιζόμενος δὲ τοὺς πτωχοὺς , γινωσκέτω ποίας μερίδος ἐστίν. Θεοφύλακτος Αχρίδος, Ἑρμηνεία Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Μάρκον, Κεφαλὴ AB' Source: Migne PG 123.645c-648a

And Jesus said, 'Allow her. Why do you trouble her? She has a performed a good deed for me. You shall always have the poor with you, and as much as you wish you can do good to them, but you shall not always have me. What she was able to do, she did; she came to anoint my body for the tomb. Truly I say to you that wherever the Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, even this which she has done shall be spoken of in memory of her. 1 The Lord reproves the disciples, who intemperately opposed the zeal of the woman. For why, He says, do you make it your business and why are you troubled by it, and after she has brought her gift turn against her in disapproval? And He strikes out at the traitor in saying that she does this for His burial. Clearly He disputes the judgement of his conscience, as if He said to him, 'You shall hand me over to death, but you will not reproach yourself? This woman brings ointment for my burial, who as one moved by God is worthy of me, and you reprove her?' Then in this passage the Lord makes prophecy of two things, that the Gospel shall be preached in the whole world and that likewise what the woman has done shall be told. And this passage confounds those who prefer the poor to Christ. I myself have heard of the melting down of the holy vessels and that is a holy thing to give of them to the poor, and I should live so as not to be condemned, but let them hear that Christ would have Himself preferred to care for the poor. It is fitting that the body of Christ should be on a dish of gold and His blood in a golden cup. Therefore he who would cast away a precious dish and force the body of Christ to be put on a cheap plate, that is, on the excuse of poverty, let it known whose side he takes. Theophylact of Ochrid, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint Mark, Chapter 12 1 Mk 14.6-9

A True Word

Ἐὰν θέλῃς σωθῆναι, ἀληθῆ λόγον ἀγάπησον, καὶ μηδέποτε ἀκρίτως ἔλεγχον ἀποστραφῇς. Λόγος ἀληθὴς μετέβαλε γεννήματα ἐχκιδῶν, καὶ ὑπέδειξεν αὐτοῖς φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς. Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Νόμου Πνευματικοῦ Source: Migne PG 65.921a-b

If you wish to be saved, love a true word and never foolishly avoid correction. A true word can transform a brood of vipers and show them how to flee the coming wrath. 1 Saint Mark The Ascetic, On The Spiritual Law. 1 Mt 3.7

Mourning And Healing

Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται. Ἔστι μὲν οὖν ἐκ τοῦ προχείρου μακαριστὸν ὑπο λαβεῖν ἐκεῖνο τὸ πένθος, τὸ ἐπὶ πλημμελήμασι καὶ ἁμαρτίαις γινόμενον, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Παύλου περὶ τῆς λύπης διδασκαλίαν, τοῦ φήσαντος, μὴ ἒν εἶναι λύπης εἶδος, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν κοσμικὸν, τὸ δὲ κατὰ Θεὸν ἐνερ γούμενον. Καὶ τῆς μὲν κοσμικῆς λύπης, θάνατον εἶναι τὸ ἔργον· τὴν δὲ ἑτέραν, σωτηρίαν ἐκ μετανοίας τοῖς λυπουμένοις ἐργάζεσθαι. Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ μακαρίζεσθαι τὸ τοιοῦτον τῆς ψυχῆς πάθος ἐστὶν, ὅταν ἐν αἰσθήσει γενομένη τοῦ χείρονος, τὸν ἐν κακίᾳ βίον ἀπολοφύρηται. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν σωματικῶν ἀῤῥωστημάτων, οἷς ἂν πάρετον ἐξ ἐπηρείας τινὸς γένηταί τι μέρος τοῦ σώματος, σημεῖον τοῦ νενεκρῶσθαι τὸ παρειμένον ἡ ἀναλγησία γίνεται· εἰ δὲ κατά τινα τέχνην ἰατρικὴν ἡ ζωτικὴ πάλιν αἴσθησις ἐπαναχθείη τῷ σώματι, χαίρουσιν ἤδη πονοῦντος τοῦ μέρους, αὐτός τε ὁ κάμνων καὶ οἱ τὴν θεραπείαν προσάγοντες, τεκμηρίῳ χρώμενοι τοῦ πρὸς ὑγίειαν τρέψαι τὸ πάθος, τὸ ἐν αἰσθήσει τῶν δριμυσσόντων ἤδη γενέσθαι τὸ μέλος· οὕτως ἐπειδὰν, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ἀπηλγηκότες τινὲς παραδῶσι τῷ καθ' ἁμαρτίαν βίῳ ἑαυτοὺς, νεκροί τινες ὄντως καὶ πάρετοι τοῦ κατ' ἀρετὴν βίου γενόμενοι, οὐδεμίαν ἔχουσιν ὧν ποιοῦσιν τὴν αἴσθησιν. Εἰ δὲ καθάψαιτό τις αὐτῶν ὁ ἰατρεύων λόγος, οἷον διά τινων θερμῶν τε καὶ διακαιόντων φαρμάκων, λέγω δὲ τῶν σκυθρωπῶν τῆς μελλούσης κρίσεως ἀπειλῶν, καὶ διὰ βάθους τὴν καρδίαν τῷ φόβῳ τῶν προσδοκωμένων δριμύξειεν, γεέννης φόβον, καὶ πῦρ μὴ σβεννύμενον, καὶ ἀτελεύτητον σκώληκα, καὶ βρυγμὸν ὀδόντων, καὶ κλαυθμὸν ἀδιάλειπτον, καὶ σκότος ἐξώτερον, καὶ ἅπαντα τὰ τοιαῦτα, οἷόν τινα θερμὰ καὶ δριμέα φάρμακα τῷ νεναρκηκότι διὰ τῶν καθ' ἡδονὴν παθημάτων ἐντρίβων καὶ ἀναθάλπων, εἰς αἴσθησιν αὐτὸν ἀγάγοι τοῦ ἐν ᾧ ἦν βίου, μακαριστὸν αὐτὸν ἀπεργάσηται, τὴν ὀδυνηρὰν αἴσθησιν τῇ ψυχῇ ἐμποιήσας. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Εἰς Τους Μακαρισμους, Logos Γ', Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται Source: Migne PG 44.1220d-1221b

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted 1 Firstly, then, one can take that mourning to be blessed which follows the errors of sins, according to the teaching of Paul on sorrow, which says that there is not just one kind of sorrow, but there is one of the world and one that is brought about by God, and the work of the worldly sorrow is death, but the other in those mourning works salvation through repentance. 2 For truly such suffering cannot be excluded from the sorrow that is called blessed when a soul bewails its wicked life because it feels its badness. It is as with bodily disorders, so that if because of some accident a limb of the body has become paralysed, then a lack of a sense of pain is a sign that the afflicted limb has gone dead, but if the physician's art restores to the body the sensation of life, there is gladness over the suffering of the part because it is a sign that health is being restored since the limb can now sense that which causes pain. Thus, as the Apostle says, if people give themselves to sin because they no longer feel pain in it, then they have become truly paralyzed and are dead to the virtuous life, for they have no feeling for what they are doing. But if a healing word lays hold of them like some bitter medicine, and I speak here of the fierce threats of the judgement to come, and it pierces the heart to its depths with the fear of the things that are to be expected, the terror of hell, and the unquenchable fire, and the worm that does not die, and the gnashing of teeth, and the perpetual weeping, and the outer darkness, all these things are administered like bitter medicines so that the man who has died by the passions and pleasures is revived again and senses the sort of life he had been leading, and he is made blessed by the pain he feels in his soul. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On The Beatitudes, from the Third Oration, on 'Blessed are they who weep for they shall be comforted.' 1 Mt 5.4 2 2 Cor 7.10

Monks Warned

Πολλὰς ἐνηχούμενοι περὶ ὑμων καταβοήσεις, πολλας ὑμῖν ἀπαντλοῠμεν καθ' ἡμέραν τὰς παρακλήσεις. Ἄνδρες Νινευῗται ἀναστήσονται ἐν τῇ κρίσει μετὰ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης, καὶ κατακρινοῠσιν αὐτὴν, εἴπεν ὁ Κύριος. Ὅτι οἱ μὲν ἀνήκοοι τοῦ νόμου γεγονότες, τὴν τοῦ προφήτου ἀπειλὴν κατεπλάγησαν, καὶ τύπον καὶ σκιὰν τῆς Δεσποτικῆς ταφῆς ἀκηκοότες, ἔδεισαν πρὸς τὸ τοῦ συμβάντος παράδοξον. Ἡμεῖς δὲ αὐτὸν ἰδόντες τὸν προφητευθέντα, καὶ ψηλαφήσαντες, αγνίομονες μένομεν πρὸς αὐτὸν, καὶ ἀνένδοτοι πρὸς μετάγνωσιν. Μὴ τοίνυν, ἀδελφοὶ, καὶ ἐθνῶν φανῶμεν ἀπιστότεροι, καὶ ὄν ἐκεῖνοι ἔφυγον ὄλεθρον επισπώμενοι. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΡΝΔ’, Πηλουσιωταις Εἰς Το Κοινοβιον Source: Migne PG 78.285c

It is because many complaints about you have come to us that we daily exhort you with the warning, 'The men of Nineveh will rise up in judgement against this generation and condemn it,' as the Lord says. 1 For they who had hardly even heard of the law were shaken by the threat of the prophet, and having heard of a type and shadow of the Lord's sepulchre they were fearful because of a troubling future. But we who have seen and touched the one prophesised 2 remain opposed to Him, and are inflexible against correction. Do not, brothers, be surpassed by pagans and the faithless who fled destruction. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 154, to the Coenobites of Pelusium 1 Mt 12.41 2 1 Jn 1.1

A Great Commotion

Bene autem subditur: Et audivi post me vocem commotionis magnae. Propheta, sancto Spiritu repletus, quasi transacta narrat, quae facienda praevidet, quia et in praedestinatione jam facta sunt, quae adhuc in opere sequuntur. Unde et in translatione veteri per Isaiam dicitur: Qui fecit quae futura sunt. Quid est ergo quod post se propheta vocem audivit commotionis magnae, nisi quod post sermonem praedicationis, qui fit ad corda peccantium, lamenta poenitentium sequuntur? Perversi etenim quique dum prava agunt, et a justis recta non audiunt, nesciunt quam sint gravia quae committunt, atque ex ipsa sua ignorantia, in suo stupore securi sunt; et jacentes in culpis, quasi molliter quiescunt, sicut de quodam peccatore et securo populo dicitur: Requievit in faecibus suis, quia securus jacuit in peccatis. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Primus, Homilia X Source: Migne PL 76.896c-897a

Well it is added, 'And I heard the sound of a great commotion behind me. 1 The prophet, filled with the Holy Spirit, speaks of things having happened which he foresees shall be, because in predestination things are already done that are to follow from the deed. Whence in an old translation of Isaiah it is said: 'He who made the things that will be.' 2 What, then, is the sound of a great commotion that the prophet hears behind himself, unless what happens after the act of preaching, which strikes the hearts of sinners so that the lamentations of penance follow? They who do not hear the right things of the righteous while they do vile things are perverse, and they do not know how grave are the things that they do, and because of their own ignorance they are confident in their foolishness and they exult in faults, as if they were happily at peace. So it was said of a certain sinner and a people who felt secure, 'He rested in his own filth,' 3 because as one confident he exulted in his sins. Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 1, from Homily 10 1 Ezek 3.12 2 Isaiah 45.11 translation from the Septuagint 3 Jerem 48.11

Heat and Blows

Διεσώθη ἀπὸ καύματος υἱὸς νοήμων ἀνεμόφθορος δὲ γίνεται ἐν ἀμήτῳ υἱὸς παράνομος. Ἀκούει ὁ φυσικὸς νοήμων, Ἡμέρας ὁ ἥλιος οὐ συγκαύσει σε, οὐδὲ ἡ σελήνη τὴν νύκτα. Τὰς βιωτικὰς φροντίδας καῦμα καλεῖ· τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ δὲ ξηραινομένους καλεῖ χόρτον· ὁ δὲ Σωτὴρ διὰ τῆς παραβολῆς τὰς θλίψεις δηλοῖ· τὰς κατὰ τοῦ λόγου δὲ καὶ τοὺς διωγμοὺς ἐκάλεσε καῦμα. Ὃς ἐκ χειλέων προφέρει σοφίαν ῥάβδῳ τύπτει ἄνδρα ἀκάρδιον Ὁ σοφὸς ἐπιτιμητικῷ λόγῳ εἰς αἴσθησιν ἄγει τὸν βαρυκάρδιον. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Παροιμιας, Κεφ' I’ Source: Migne PG 39.1633b

It is a son of ruinous thoughts who keeps himself from the heat, and in the harvest he is worthless. 1 Hear what the physician of the soul says, 'During the day the sun shall not scorch you, nor shall the moon at night.' 2 He calls worldly cares 'heat', and he who burns up in them 'grass'. And the Saviour in the parable speaks of tribulations, and He calls 'heat' those who are persecutors opposed to the sacred teaching. 3 He who sends forth wisdom from his lips strikes the thoughtless man with a rod. 4 With a word of rebuke the wise man drives a dull hearted man to sense. Didymus the Blind, Commentary On Proverbs, Chapter 10 1 Prov 10.5 LXX 2 Ps 120.6 3 Mt 13.5-6, 20-21 4 Prov 10.13 LXX

Appearances Corrected

Εἰ καὶ κρύπτεις τὸ ἤττημα, ἀλλὰ φαίνῃ φυσώμενος πέρα καὶ τοῦ γένους, καὶ τῆς ἰσχύος, καὶ τῆς ἀξίας σου φρυαττόμενος. Ἢ τοίνυν σύμμετρον σαυτῷ κτῆσαι φρόνημα, ἢ ἴσθι παρὰ πάντων γελώμενος. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΙΒ’ Ἄμμονιῳ Source: Migne PG 78.188a

Even if you hide what is worst, yet you appear puffed up because of your lineage and your strength and your lofty arrogance. Either, then, have a mind that is appropriate to yourself, or be ridiculous to everyone. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 12 To Ammonius 1 Levit 23.3

The Words Of The Wise

Quare verba sapientium stimulis et clavis assimilantur? Sic enim dicit Salomon: Verba sapientium sicut stimuli, et quasi clavi in altum defixi? Aptissime verba sapientium, stimuis et clavis comparantur, qui peccatorum culpas nesciunt palpare, sed pungere. Qui enim sunt veraciter sapients, eorum procul dubio verba clavi sunt et stimuli, qui peccatores non blandimentis fovent, sed aspera increpatione redarguut, et secretas eorum conscientias quasi pungendo, ad lamenta et ad laborem excitant ut corrigantur. Honorius Augustodunensis, Quaestiones Et Ad Easdem Responsiones In Duos Salomonis Libros, In Ecclesiasten, Caput XII Source: Migne PL 172.345b-c

Why are the words of the wise compared to nails and goads, so that Solomon says, 'The words of the wise are like goads, and as nails hammered deeply within.'? 1 Most aptly are the words of the wise compared to goads and nails because they do not know how to indulge the faults of sinners, but they strike them. Without doubt the words of those who are truly wise are nails and goads, since they do not delight sinners with pleasant speech, but bitterly dispute with them, and as if striking the secrets of their conscience, they drive them to laments and toil so that they might improve themselves. Honorius of Autun, Questions and Answers on Two Books of Solomon, On Ecclesiastes, Chapter 12 1 Eccl 12.11

Corruption And Cleansing

Nescitis quia modicum fermentum totam massam corrumpit? Ita et peccatum unius, quod cognitum non arguitur, multos contaminat; immo omnes qui norunt, et non devitant, aut cum possint arguere, dissimulant. Non enim sibi videtur peccare, quando a nullo corripitur aut vitatur. Expurgate vetus fermentum, ut sitis nova conspersio. Hoc duplici genere accipiendum est, quia est et fermentum humana doctrina, dicente Salvatore: Cavete a fermento Pharisaeorum, id est a doctrina. Et ad malam ergo doctrinam cavendam, et ad hanc causam dictum est, quia eiecto fornicatore, vetus fermentum eiicitur. Ideo autem vetus quia antiqui erroris peccatum est. Nova autem compositio, Christi doctrina est. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam Beati Pauli Ad Corinthios Primam, Caput V Source: Migne PL 17.209a-c

Do you not know that a little leaven corrupts the whole mass? 1 Thus even one sin, which is known and not disputed, infects many. Indeed all who know and do not admonish it or dispute it when they are able to do so, they lie. For it does not seem a sin to a man when he is not corrected nor condemned by anyone. Clean out the old leaven that you may be a new lump. This must be understood in two ways, because there is a leaven of human teaching, concerning which the Saviour says: 'Beware the leaven of the Pharisees.' 1 That is, beware their teaching, and therefore it is a warning against wicked teaching, and for this reason it was said, because with the ejection of the fornicator, the old leaven is ejected. Therefore it is old because it is the sin of the old error. But the new lump is the teaching of Christ. Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The First Letter of Saint Paul To The Corinthians, Chapter 5 1 1 Cor 5.6 2 Mt 16.11

Care And Correction

Quod si emendare neglegis cum videas emendandum, adversus caritatem facis: si autem tibi emendandus propterea non videtur, quia putas eum recte ista sensisse; adversus veritatem sapis. Et ideo ille melior, qui emendari est paratior, si non defuerit emendator, quam tu, si vel sciens irridenter contemnis errantem, vel nesciens pariter sectaris errorem. Omnia itaque in eisdem libris ad te scriptis et tibi traditis sobrie vigilanterque considera, et plura quam ego invenies fortasse culpanda. Et quaecumque ibi sunt approbanda atque laudanda, si quid in eis revera forsitan ignorabas, atque isto disserente didicisti, evidenter profitere quid illud sit; ut de hoc te gratias egisse, non de his quae illic improbanda tam multa sunt, omnes noverint, qui vel recitante illo tecum simul audierunt, vel eosdem postea libros legerunt: ne in eius ornato eloquio tamquam in pretioso poculo te invitante, etsi non bibente, venenum bibant, si tu quid inde biberis, et quid non biberis nesciunt, et propter laudem tuam omnia illic bibenda salubriter arbitrantur. Quamvis et audire, et legere, et quae dicta sunt haurire memoria, quid est nisi bibere? Sed praedixit Dominus de fidelibus suis, quod et si mortiferum quid biberint, non eis nocebit. Ac per hoc qui cum iudicio legunt, et secundum regulam fidei approbanda approbant, et improbant improbanda; etiamsi commendant memoriae quae improbanda dicuntur, nulla venenata sententiarum pravitate laeduntur. Haec me Gravitatem et Religionem tuam, sive mutua, sive praevia caritate monuisse vel commonuisse minime poenitebit, Domino miserante, quomodolibet accipias, quod tibi praerogandum putavi. Agam vero ei uberes gratias, de cuius misericordia saluberrimum est fidere, si ab his pravitatibus et erroribus, quos ex libris huius hominis ostendere his litteris potui, alienam atque integram fidem tuam, vel invenerit epistola ista, vel fecerit. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, De Anima et eius Origine, Liber II, Caput XXIII Source: Migne PL 44.510

If you neglect to correct another when you see something that requires amendment, you act in opposition to love, but if it does not appear to you that another requires correction because you think that he is right in his understanding, you are wise against the truth. And thus he is a better man than you who is prepared to be corrected if a corrector is not lacking, if either aware that he errs you scorn him in derision, or being ignorant you also follow after the error. Therefore with sobriety and vigilance consider everything in the books another addressed and sent to you, and you will perhaps find more things there that are flawed than I have. And as for whatever is approvable and praiseworthy, if perhaps by his instruction you have learnt something in them that you did not know, openly declare what it is, so that all may know it was for this you thanked him and it was not for the many things which are worthy of reproof, things which many heard spoken at the time, or later read in the same books, lest because of his ornate style it be as if they drink poison from a precious goblet which you offer to them, even if you do not partake, those who do not know if you have tasted it or not, but because of your good character judge that they shall be drinking for the good of their health. Hearing and reading and drawing things once said from the memory, what are they but drinking? But the Lord foretold to his faithful ones that even if they drank something fatal it would not harm them. 1 Because of this, they who read with discernment and according to the rule of faith give their approval to what is approvable and disapprove of what is not, and even if they commit to memory what is not approved, they suffer no harm from the depraved poison of such things. That I have given your earnest and pious self warning and counsel because of our mutual and long standing love, which I have thought to be my first duty to you, by the Lord's mercy I shall not regret however you should receive it. But I shall give abundant thanks to Him in whose mercy it is most salutary to trust, if from these depravities and errors which I have been able to show in this man's books, this letter finds your faith far distant and unharmed by them, or it makes it so. Saint Augustine of Hippo, On the Soul and its Origin Book 2, Chapter 23 1 Mk 16.18

Poor Correction

Quid autem vides festucam in oculo fratris tui, usque, Et trabem in oculo tuo non vides? Multi, superbia et odio praeventi, acerrime corripiunt eos quos subita ira vident turbatos, oculum mentis a solito puritatis statu quasi festuca irruente mutasse, atque hinc eos magis amant vituperare quam emendare, et ideo impossibile illis dicitur ut festucam fratris oculo quis demat, qui suo trabem in oculo gestat. Qui fieri potest ut si irasceris homini, velis eum corrigi; si autem oderis, non potes eum velle corrigere. Quantum inter trabem et festucam distat, tantum inter odium et iram. Sanctus Beda, In Matthaei Evangelium Expositio, Lib I, Caput VII Source: Migne PL 92.36c

Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye, and not the plank in your own eye? 1 Many, possessed by pride and hatred, bitterly reprove those who they see suddenly troubled with anger, when the eye of the mind has been changed from its accustomed state of purity by the entrance of a speck of dust, and they love more to denounce them than to correct them, and thus it is impossible to say to these that he should take out the speck from his brother's eye, who in his own bears a plank. It is possible that if you are angry with a man you may wish to correct him, but if you hate him, you cannot wish to correct him. For as great as the distance is between a speck of dust and a plank, so it is between hated and anger. Saint Bede, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Book 1, Chapter 7 1 Mt 7.3

Counsel For Correction

Si autem peccaverit in te frater tuus, vade et corripe eum inter te et ipsum solum. Si te audierit, lucratus eris fratrem tuum. Hic tangit correctionis et revocationis modum: et dicuntur duo, quorum primum est revocatio: secundum autem est confirmatio sententiae contra obstinatum. In primo tres inducit gradus, correptionis convictionis, accusationis, vel denuntiationis. De gradu correptionis, dicit duo, quis debet corripi, et qualiter. Quis? Si peccaverit. Tria dicit si peccaverit quia non corripitur, nisi qui peccavit, non est autem peccatum, nisi mortale peccatum: de aliis enim venialibus non est correptio. Quia Iac 3 dicitur In multis offendimus omnes. 1 Ioan 1 Si dixerimus, quia peccatum non habemnus, nosipsos seducimus, et veritas in nobis non est. 'In te...' Secundum est, quod dicit: In te. Et in hoc notantur tria secundum Glossam: Primum notatur ex discretione naturae: In te enim peccare, est in hominem peccare, et non in Deum. Si enim in Deum solum peccat: tunc aut peccatum ejus in nullum omnino nocumentum proximi procedit, aut ita est principaliter in Deum, quod etiam per accidens nocet proximo. Primo modo est peccatum occultum, quod nemo scit, nisi solus Deus: et tu ut Deus: et tunc, ut dicit Glossa, Non est nostri arbitrii aliquid facere de peccato illo, nisi forte admonendo in " secreto, sicut Deus monet: sed non " possumus procedere ad publicum adhibendo unum, vel plures, ut prodamus. Alio modo est in Deum principaliter, et secundario in proximum, sicut est blasphemia, vel retractio a sacrificio, vel laude Dei: et de hoc, in quantum est contra proximum, debet fieri correctio: sed de offensa et emenda non est nostri arbitrii aestimare secundum satisfactionem proximi, sed potius secundum injuriam illatam Deo. 1 Reg. 2: Si peccaverit vir in virum, placari ei potest Deus: si autem in Dominum peccaverit vir, quis orabit pro eo? Alio modo, in te, notat discretionem personae: et hoc duobus modis. Uno modo, quantum ad peccati nocumentum quod in te est, et non in alium: sicut si contumeliam, vel damnum irrogat tibi: tunc enim tui arbitrii est remittere injuriam, et monere de correctione peccati, sicut inferius habetur, quod peccanti in nos septuagies septies dimittendum est, si veniam petat. Alio modo in te peccat, sicut dicit Augustinus, quando te sciente peccat. Sed tunc distinguendum est : quia te sciente intelligitur, te sciente tua scientia, quae scientia humana est, hoc est, quando signo, vel facto prodit in tuam notitiam, quod signum, vel factum est infallibilis nuntius peccati: quia tunc fit te sciente, et non temerario judicio tuo. Si autem venit ad te scientia Dei, hoc est, cordis secreti revelatione, non hoc est te sciente, sed. potius Deo sciente, et te ut Deo sciente: et sive ita revelet tibi in forma confessionis, sive sine forma confessionis, non debes procedere ad correctionem. Adhuc, si fallaci nuntio veniat ad te, non fit te sciente: sicut si dicatur tibi, et nullum aliud extet indicium: tunc enim nisi valde confirmetur verbum dicentis, non debes credere: et ideo non ad correctionem procedere. Sed quando visus probat, vel alia certa indicia, tunc Sit te sciente humana scientia, et tunc fit in te, hoc est, contra te : quia te scandalizat, quantum in ipso est: et fit contra cordis tui dilectionem, qua diligis fratrem sicut teipsum : et ideo debes procedere ad correctionem : et hoc est quod dicitur, 1 ad Corinth 7: Sic peccantes in fratres, ei percutientes conscientiam eorum infirmam, in Christum peccatis. Frater Tuus... Deinde tangit, quis peccat, quem debes diligere sicut teipsum: et ideo dicit Augustinus, quod hoc non fit crudeliter, sed misericorditer, ne contagione pestifera plurimos perdat. 2 Machab 6: Multo tempore non sinere peccatoribus ex sententia agere, sed statim ultiones adhibere, magni beneficii est indicium. Levit. 19: Diliges amicum tuum sicut teipsum. Et ideo sicut in meipso volo emendari peccatum sine confusione, si fieri potest, ita volo in proximo. Vade... Sed si prope me est, aequaliter ibo? Responsio. Vade duobus pedibus, compassionis, et charitatis: tunc enim non indignabitur. Jerem. 10: Corripe me, Domine ... verumtamen non in furore tuo, ne forte ad nihilium redigas me. Psal. 6: Domine, ne in furore tuo arguas me, neque in ira tua corripias me. Corripe eum... Proverb. 17: Plus proficit correptio apud prudentem, quam centum plagae apud stultum. Proverb. 29: Virga atque correctio tribuit sapientiam. 2 ad Thessal. 3: Nolite quasi inimicum existimare, eum scilicet qui non obedit verbo nostro, sed corripite ut fratrem. Inter te et ipsum solum... Ne forte publicatus, humanam amittat verecundiam: et tunc non curet corrigi. Jerem. 3: Frons mulieris meretricis facta est tibi, noluisti erubescere. Si te audierit... Corrigendo vitium, lucratus es fratrem tuum. Jacob 5: Qui converti fecerit peccatorem ab errore viae suae, salvabit animam ejus a morte, et operiet multitudinem peccatorum. Sanctus Albertus Magnus Commentarium In Evangelium Mattheum, Caput XVIII Source: Here p322

If your brother sins against you, go and correct him, just you and him alone, and if he hears you, you shall have profited your brother. 1 Here He touches on the way of correction and recalling, and they are spoken of in two ways, of which the first is recalling, and the second is the confirmation of sentence against the obstinate. Firstly He introduces three steps, the conviction of correction, the accusation, and the denunciation. Regarding the step of correction He says two things, who should be corrected and how. Who? He who shall have sinned. And He says three things about him who shall have sinned, that a man is not corrected unless he has sinned, but it is not a sin unless a mortal sin, for concerning the other venial sins there is no correction, since in the third chapter of James it is said, 'We all offend in many things.' In the first chapter of John, 'If we say that we do not sin we delude ourselves and the truth is not in us.' 2 'Against you...' Secondly He says, if he sins 'Against you...' And in this the gloss notes three things: First the discrimination of nature, for to sin 'Against you' is to sin against a man, and not against God. For if he sinned only against God, then either his sin did no harm to a neighbour, or it was principally against God and accidently to the injury of a neighbour. In the first case the sin is hidden, and no one knows of it but God, and you like God. Then, as the Gloss says, 'It is not for us to do something about that sin,' unless perhaps to admonish in secret, as God does, but we are not able to bring it into public view, before one or many, so that we might expose it. There is another way in which there is sin principally against God and secondarily against a neighbour, as in blasphemy, or withdrawal from sacrifice, or praise of God, and concerning this, in much as it is troubles a neighbour, it should be corrected, but it is not of our will to judge for the satisfaction of a neighbour concerning the offense and recompense, but rather according to the injury perpetrated against God. In the second chapter of the first book of Kings: 'If a man sins against a man, it is possible for him to placate God, but if he sins against the Lord, who shall pray for him?' 3 In another way this 'Against you' signifies discrimination of persons, and this in two ways. In one way, as much as the harm of the sin was directed at you and not at another, as with contumely, or some loss inflicted on you, and then it is of your own will to forgive the injury and to admonish so that sin might be corrected, as it is given below, when he who sins against us seventy seven times should be forgiven, if he seeks forgiveness. A man sins against you in another way, as Augustine says, when he knowingly sins against you, but here one must distinguish, because knowingly is understood as you knowing with your knowledge, which is human knowledge, that is, when a sign or thing is set before your awareness, which sign or thing is an infallible proclaimer of sin, since then it is done with your knowledge, and there is no recklessness in your judgment. But if it comes to you through the knowledge of God, that is, by some secret revelation of the heart, this is not with your knowledge but rather God's knowledge, and you thus know like God, and thus when it is revealed in the form of confession, or without the form of confession, you should not proceed to correction. Yet if by a false report it comes to you, it is not by your knowledge, as if it was said to you, 'There is no sign of it,' and then if there is no strong confirmation of what is spoken, you should not believe it, and therefore not proceed to correction. But when sight confirms it, or there are other sure indications, then you know according to human knowledge, and then it is done to you, that is, against you, because you are scandalised, as much as it is against you, and against the love of your heart, by which you love your brother as yourself, and therefore you should proceed to correction, and this is spoken of in the seventh chapter of the first letter to the Corinthians, 'So sinning against brothers, you strike the conscience of those who are weak, sinning against Christ.' 4 'You brother...' Next He touches on the one who sins, whom you should love as yourself, and therefore Augustine says, 'This is not cruel but merciful, lest a corrupting contagion ruin many.' And in the second book of Maccabees: 'That sinners are not allowed to act as they will for a long time but instantly reproof is administered, is a sign of great goodness.' In the nineteenth chapter of Leviticus, 'You shall love your friend as yourself.' 5 Therefore as I would wish to amend my fault without confusion, so as far as it possible I wish act with my neighbour. 'Go...' But if he is close to me, shall I go in justice? Go with two feet, with compassion and charity, then you shall not go resentfully. In the tenth chapter of Jeremiah, 'Correct me, Lord ... but not in your wrath, lest perhaps you reduce me to nothing.' In the sixth Psalm, 'O Lord, do not dispute with me in your wrath, nor correct me in your anger.' 6 'Correct him...' In the seventeenth chapter of Proverbs, 'Correction with prudence profits more than a hundred blows with a fool.' In the twenty nineth chapter, 'A rod and correction gives wisdom.' In the third chapter of the second letter to the Thessalonians, 'Do not judge him as an enemy,' that is, the one who is not obedient to your word, 'but correct him like a brother.' 7 'Just you and him alone...' Lest in public he lacks human modesty and he cares not for correction. In the third chapter of Jeremiah, 'The brow of the harlot woman was yours, you would not blush.' 8 'If he will hear you...' For the correction of fault, '...you have profited your brother.' In the fifth chapter of the letter of James, 'He who turns a sinner from the way of his error, saves his soul from death, and covers a multitude of sins.' 9 Saint Albert The Great, Commentary On The Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 18 1 Mt 18.15 2 James 3.2, 1 Jn 1.8 3 1 Kings 2.25 4 1 Cor 8.12 5 2 Mac 6.13, Levit 19.18 6 Jerem 10.24, Ps 6.2 7 Prov 17.10, Prov 29.15, 2 Thes 3.15 8 Jerem 3.3 9 James 5.20

Profitless Correction

Μὴ πειρῶ ἐλέγχων ὠφελεῖν τὸν ἐν ἀρεταῖς καυχώμενον, διότι ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ φιλενδείκτης καὶ φιλαλήθης εἶναι οὐ δύναται. Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Τῶν Οἰομένων Ἐξ Ἔργων Δικαιοῦσθαι Source: Migne PG 65.964a

It does not profit to upbraid one who is boastful of his virtues, since he can neither suffer correction nor love the truth. Saint Mark The Ascetic, On Those Who Think Themselves Justified By Works

Correcting Correction

Si ad me tantum epistolam scribis, ut me commoneas, et emendatum velis, ne caeteris scandalum facias, et aliis furentibus, jugulentur alii: cur libros contra me scribis ad alios, et legendos per satellites tuos toto orbe dispergis? Ubi est syllogismus tuus, quo me irretire conaris, et loqueris? Quem in hoc, magister optime, emendare cupiebas? si illos, ad quos scribis, nihil deliquerant; si me quem arguis, non ad me scripseras. Et ego tuis respondebo tibi sermonibus: Quem emendare cupiebas, magister indocte? eosne, qui non peccaverant? an me, ad quem non scripseras? Brutos putas esse lectores, et omnes non intelligere prudentiam tuam, immo malitiam, qua et serpens prudentior fuit cunctis bestiis in paradiso: ut a me secretam admonitionem flagites, quem publica accusatione persequeris; et non te pudet accusationem tuam Apologiam vocare? Quererisque cur opponam clypeum pugioni tuo, et tibi quasi religiosulus et sanctulus personam humilitatis imponis et dicis: Si erraveram, quare scribis aliis, et non meipsum redarguis? Hoc ipsum in te retorquebo: Quidquid enim me non fecisse causaris, quare non ipse fecisti? Velut si quis pugnis aliquem calcibusque collidens, si resistere voluerit, dicat ei: Nonne tibi praeceptum est: Qui te percusserit in maxillam, praebe illi et alteram? Quid enim, bone vir, tibi praeceptum est, ut me verberes; oculum mihi effodias; et si paululum me commovero, Evangelii mihi praecepta cantabis. Vis scire totas argutiarum tuarum strophas, et vulpecularum insidias, quae habitant in parietinis, de quibus Ezechiel loquitur: Quasi vulpes in deserto Prophetae tui, Israel? Ausculta quid feceris. Ita me in tua Praefatione laudasti, ut objicerentur mihi laudes tuae, et nisi me alienum a tanto laudatore dixissem, haereticus judicarer. Postquam repuli crimina, id est laudes tuas, et absque invidia tui nominis, respondi criminibus, non criminatori: atque ut me catholicum a te infamatus probarem, invectus sum in haereticos; irasceris, furis, et luculentissimos libros contra me cudis: quos quum legendos et cantandos omnibus tradidisses, certatim ad me de Italia, et urbe Roma, atque Dalmatia scripta venerunt, quibus me laudator pristinus ornasses praeconiis. Sanctus Hieronymus, Apologia Adversus Libros Rufini, Liber Tertius Source: Migne PL 23.462d-463c

If it is true that to me alone you write a letter so that you might admonish me, and, because you wish that I alone should be corrected and you do not want to scandalise others so that some will be enraged and some struck down, then why do you write books against me and send them to others, and indeed through your associates scatter them far and wide for the whole world to read? Where is your dilemma, with which you try to entangle me? 'Whom, best teacher, did you desire to correct with this correction? If it was those to whom you wrote, they did not err; if it was me whom you accuse, you did not write to me.' I will even reply to you in your own words: 'Whom did you wish to correct, unlearned master? Those who had done no wrong? Or me to whom you did not write?' Do you think your readers such brutes that none of them are capable of understanding your cleverness, or rather your wickedness, by which the serpent was more clever than all the beasts in paradise, 1 in insisting that my admonishment of you should be private, while you pursue a public accusation, and you do not even blush to call your accusation 'An Apology?' Then you complain that I oppose a shield to your dagger, and with much religiosity and sanctimoniousness you sport the mask of humility, and say: 'If I had erred, why did you write to others, and not refute me?' I will retort to you on this very point. What you complain I did not do, why did you not do yourself? It is as if a man is assaulting another with kicks and fists, and if the other should dare to resist, he will say to him: 'Do you not know the teaching, 'If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn the other one to him'? 2 What is this teaching to you, good fellow, but that when you would deal me a blow and strike out my eye, if I rouse myself a little, you sing to me the teachings of the Gospel. Do you wish to know all the windings of your cunning, and the plots of the foxes who dwell among the ruins, concerning which Ezekiel says, 'Like foxes in the desert are your prophets, O Israel.' 3 Listen to what you have done. You lauded me in your preface in such a way that your praises are made a ground of accusation against me, and if I had not said that I was stranger to such an admirer, I would have been judged a heretic. After I repelled your charges, that is, your praise, and that without ill will to you personally, for I addressed the accusations and not the accuser, and having inveighed against heretics to show that I was Catholic, though I was defamed by you, you became angry and were maddened, and you threw together the most magnificent works against me, which works when you had handed them over for everyone to read and announce, then writings came to me from Italy and Rome and Dalmatia, in which you, my old adulator, had adorned me with public acclaim. Saint Jerome, from the Apology Against The Books Of Rufinus, Book 3 1 Gen 3.1 2 Mt 5.39 3 Ezek 13.4

Forewarning and Improvement

Ἐτοίμασεν ἐν κρίσει τὸν θρόνον αὐτοῦ, καὶ αὐτὸς κρινεῖ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐν διακαιοσύνῃ· κρινεῖ λαοὺς εν εὐθύτητι. Προτρέπει τὰ προκείμενα ἀναχωρῆσαι μὲν κακίας καὶ δυσσεβείας, προσελθεῖν δὲ ἀρετῇ καὶ εὐσεβείᾳ. Τίς γὰρ νοῦν ἔχων, πιστεύσας τοῖς οὕτως εἰρημένοις, οὐ φοβηθήσεται μὴ ὑποπέσῃ τῷ κρίνοντι ἐν δυκαιοσύνῃ καὶ εὐθύττι, διὰ πράξεις ψεκτὰς καὶ φρόνημα ἀσεβές; Οὕτω γὰρ κρίνοντος αὐτοῦ, ἀναπόδραστον τὸ κρῖμα ἔσται. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμος Θ’ Source: Migne PG 39.1192c

He has prepared His throne for judgement, and He shall judge the orb of the earth fairly, He shall judge the people rightly. 1 He gives warning of these things so that we might turn from wickedness and impiety and seek the virtues. For he who is reasonable, if he believes in these things, shall he not fear that he might fall into a just and righteous hand for judgement of his vile deeds and wicked thoughts? For when He judges, the judgement will be inescapable. Didymus the Blind, Commentary on The Psalms, from Psalm 9 1 Ps 9.8

Making The Face Firm

Fili hominis, obfirma faciem tuam super filias populi tui quae prophetant de corde suo... Primum de eo quod dicitur: Obfirma faciem tuam, requirendum. Deinde si Dominus dederit, investigare debemus filias populi prophetantes de corde suo, et facientes ea, in quibus eas Dei sermo corripiat. Et quod sit alia facies praeter hanc corporis nostri faciem, licet ex multis manifestum sit, attamen et ex his, quae Apostolus memorat, indicatur: Nos vero omnes revelata facie gloriam Domini speculantes, in eamdem imaginem transformamur a gloria in gloriam, quasi a Domini spiritu. Hanc faciem corporalem omnes homines habemus revelatam, nisi forte calamitatibus et angustiis premimur. Vultus autem ille, de quo sermo Apostoli est, in multis tectus est, et in paucis revelatus. Qui enim fiduciam habet in vita immaculata, in sensu sano, in fide vera, iste tantummodo non habet confessionis, fraudulentiae, peccatique velamen; sed propter puram conscientiam, revelata facie gloriam Domini contemplatur. Procul autem absit a nobis, ut velatam habeamus hanc faciem. Haec pauca de facie, ut possimus intelligere quid sit, quod sequitur: Obfirma faciem tuam super filias populi tui. Ista facies, id est, principale ( ἡγεμονικὸν) cordis nostri, nisi obfirmata fuerit super eo, quod intelligendum est, ut quomodo videt, sic annuntiet gentibus, illud quod aspicitur, non videtur. Impossibile quippe est, ut aliquis sine obfirmatione vultus, vagus, fluctuabundus, circumlatus omni vento doctrinae, videat quod debet, videat ut debet. Oportet enim volentem intelligere habere faciem, in eo quod intelligere nititur, obfirmatam: ob hanc semper causam prophetaturis primum jubetur, ut faciem suam obfirment; ut nostram autem et nos possimus obfirmare faciem in Evangelio, in Lege, in Prophetis, in apostolis, obfirma eam super Christo, et non super saeculi negotiis. Sed cum in mundialibus curis anima nostra versetur, cum semper ardeat habendi fame, non obfirmamus faciem nostram super ea, quae imperavit Deus, sed super ea, quae Dei sunt adversa praeceptis. Quis, putas, in nobis immundus est ob obfirmationem faciei super his, quae interdicta sunt? Quis in tantum sollicitus et cautus, ut diebus ac noctibus in ea obfirmet cordis sui faciem, quae jubentur? Nunc quoque si intellecturi fuimus praesentem scripturam quomodo prophetae dicatur: Obfirma faciem tuam super filias populi tui, ut videat ea quae dicturus est, debemus obfirmare intelligentiam, plenum in intentatione cordis habere tractatum, quod sit hoc, quod significetur, ut tandem ratione superati, recedamus a littera. Ac secundum communem quidem intellectum, videntur quaedam filiae populi prophetantes hoc quod sequitur admisisse peccatum. Assumentes cervicalia consuebant; consuentes non ponebant ea sub capite, sed sub cubito audientium, et velaminibus quibusdam tegebant capita universae aetatis. Haec sunt, quae prophetantibus filiabus populi reputantur quasi magna peccata. Quis autem potest in verbo consistens dicere, quia si quis cervicalia consuat, et consuta sub cubito ponat alterius, delinquat, et a Deo corripiatur? Quis potest asserere, quia si quis velamina faciat ad tegendum caput universae aetatis, impie agat? Invitis nobis ab ipsa Scriptura necessitas imponitur, ut ab apicibus litterae recedentes, verbum, et sapientiam, et voluntatem ejus requiramus ad aperienda peccata, quae clausa sunt, ad illuminanda quae caligant, ut possimus a maledicto extranei fieri, omni cubito manuum, sive manus. Qui in victu corporis occupati sunt, et ne per somnium quidem spirituales videre delicias, quas nos habere vult sermo divinus dicens: Delectare in Domino, et dabit tibi petitiones cordis tui; qui non noverunt voluntatem beatorum, de qua scribitur: Torrente voluptatis tuae potabis eos: requirunt quasi amatores luxuriae, et non amatores Dei, semper in corporalibus esse deliciis. Signum autem mihi videtur voluptatis carneae, sub cubito manuum cervical assutum. Quia enim in tempore discumbendi ad beneficia corporalia videmur uti consutis quibusdam, et acu pictis sub cubito manuum nostrarum, forsitan sermo divinus per istius modi figuram et argumentum eos culpat magistros, qui per vaniloquentiam, et beatas quasque repromissiones, multitudinem audientium libidini, vitiis, voluptatique permittunt. Debet enim Dei verbum, et Deus homo ea proferre, quae saluti sunt audienti, quae illum hortentur ad continentiam, ad conversationem sanorum actuum, ad cuncta, quae homo studiosus laborum, et non libidinum, debet incumbere, ut possit ea consequi, quae a Deo sunt repromissa. Cum ergo aliquis aptus moribus populi, ut placeat eis, quibus aures pruriunt, loquitur quae gratanter accipiant, loquitur quae vicina sunt voluptati, talis magister consuit cervicalia sub omni cubito manus. Sequitur hoc peccatum habentem, ut faciat etiam amictus ad velandum caput omnis aetatis. Cujus autem rei figura sit etiam velamen, cautius consideremus. Qui fiduciam habet, et vere vir est, velamen non habet super caput suum, sed intecto capite orat Dominum, intecto capite prophetat: per signum corporalis rei etiam spiritalem latenter ostendens, ut quomodo non habet velamen super caput carnis suae, ita non habeat velamen super principale cordis sui. Si quis vero confusionis velamen gerit, et peccati, iste quasi muliebria velamina habet super caput suum. Itaque cum aliquis docuerit ea, quae aurem populi mulceant, et strepitum potius laudatorum, quam gemitum moveant, si blandus inimicus palpaverit potius quam secuerit vulnera, talis homo amictus contexit in capite. Cum autem in luxuriosam orationem dicentis se sermo fuderit, et in lascivum persultaverit eloquium, contexit velamen super caput omnis aetatis; non modo puerorum et juvenum, verum et senum. Quomodo enim faciat signa et portenta ad decipiendos, si fieri potest, etiam electos falsus Christus, et falsus propheta: similiter et hi, qui ad voluptatem meditata deportant, et ista semper inquirunt, quae delectent potius audientes, quam convertant a vitiis, faciunt velamina super caput non modo puerorum et juvenum, sed, si fieri potest, senum quoque et patrum, intantum ut etiam eos decipiant, qui juxta laborem animae in spiritali aetate et senio processerunt Origenes, Homila Tertia Ezekial, Interprete Hieronymo Source Migne PG 13.687c-690a

Make firm your face over the daughters of your people who prophesy from their own hearts... 1 First we shall look into that which is said, 'Make firm your face,' and then, if the Lord allows, we shall investigate the daughters of the people who prophesy from their own hearts, and do things for which the word of the Lord corrects them. Now what the other faces might be apart for this bodily face we possess has been made manifest in many places, but from these, let what the Apostle mentions be declared: 'But we all with uncovered face looking on the glory of the Lord, being transformed into that image, from glory to glory, as by the spirit of the Lord.' 2 This bodily face which all of us men have is uncovered, unless perhaps because of calamity and distress we hide it away, but the face of which the Apostle speaks is hidden in many ways and is rarely revealed. For he who has confidence in the immaculate way, in good sense, in true faith, he alone does not wear the veil of guilt and deceit and sin, but because of a pure conscience he contemplates the glory of the Lord with the face uncovered. May it be far from us that we should have this face covered. And with these things briefly said about the face, so we may understand what follows: 'Make firm your face over the daughters of your people.' The face, then, that is the ruling part of the heart, which unless it has been been made firm about what should be understood, it does not appear how it may see what it should that it might announce it to the people. For it is impossible that someone who does not have a firm face, but a wandering one that shifts about, and is tossed about by the winds of teaching, 3 shall see what he should and shall see as he should. It is necessary to understand the will as the face, which is made firm by the struggle to understand, because of which, for the cause of prophesying, it is always first commanded that the face be made firm. And so even we can make our face firm, in the Gospel and the Law and the Prophets and in the Apostles, making it firm concerning Christ, and not about worldly affairs. For when our soul is turned to worldly cares, when it is always burning with a hunger for things there, we do not make our face firm in what God has commanded, but for those things which are inimical to His teaching. Do you not think that he who has been made unclean among us is he who strengthens his face over those things which are prohibited? And who is the man so intently concerned and prudent over those things which are commanded, so that day and night he makes firm the face of his heart concerning those things? Now also, if we are to understand this present passage of Scripture, how it was said to the prophet: 'Make firm your face over the daughters of your people,' we should make firm our understanding, so that it might look on the things which are to be said, having the intent of our heart fully taut about what this may be and what it means, so that with elevated reason, we pass beyond the letter. According to a certain sort of common understanding, these daughters of the people who prophesy appear to be those who have permitted sin. They embroider the cushions, and do not place them under the head but beneath the arm of the hearer, and they cover the head with a covering that endures. 4 These things, which the prophesying daughters of the people did, are reputed to be weighty sins. But who is able to speak a word about what they are? Because if someone embroiders a cushion, and places it beneath the arm of someone else, should they be corrected by God? And will insist that because someone makes a covering to cover the head for all time, he acts wickedly? Even to those who are unwilling among us, this Scripture imposes the necessity of withdrawing from the sense of the letter to seek its word and wisdom and will for the uncovering of sins which are hidden, and the illumination of what is obscure, so that we can remove ourselves from the exterior curse of every arm or hand. Those who have been seized by the conquest of the body, and in a dream do not look on spiritual joys, which the Divine word wishes us to have, saying, 'Delight in the Lord, and He shall give to you the petition of your heart,' they who do not know the wish of those who are blessed, when it is written: 'A torrent of your joy you shall give them to drink,' 5 they seek as lovers of luxury, and not lovers of God, since they always have their pleasures in the body. Now to place the cushion beneath the arm seems to me to be a sign of carnal pleasure. For when for a time we recline for the sake of corporeal goods, we appear as having something embroidered and decorated with the needle beneath the arm, so perhaps the Divine word by the manner of this figure and argument reproves those teachers who through vain eloquence and certain pleasing promises, permit a multitude of lusts and vices and pleasures to those who listen to them. For it is of the word of God and the God man to offer those things which save to those who hear, which exhort them to continence and to their conversation to a sound life, and to everything which belongs to a studious man of labour, and not of lust, whence the things that are required are those that lead to what has been promised by God. When, then, someone is aware of the ways of people, and so that he might gratify them who have vile ears he speaks what may please them, that is, he speaks of things which lead to pleasure, such a teacher embroiders the cushion to be placed under the arm. It then says that with this sin there is also made a covering that veils the head forever. Let us carefully consider what this veil could be a figure of. He who has faith, and truly is a man, he has no veil upon his head, but with his head uncovered he prays to the Lord, and with his head uncovered he makes prophecy. By the corporeal sign the hidden spiritual thing of the matter is revealed, so that he who does not have a veil upon the head is he who does not have a veil upon the principle part of his heart. If, however, someone bears the veil of confusion, and sin, he is as one who has a woman's veil upon his head. Thus when someone teaches things which softly caress the ears of the people, and he incites a clamour of praise rather than groans, and he strokes rather than cauterises wounds, such a man weaves a covering for the head. And when with luxurious rhetoric he pours out his speech and he makes his eloquence dance about in pleasure, he weaves an enduring veil for the head, and not only for boys and youths, but truly even for the old. For as the false Christ and the false prophet shall make signs and portents for deceiving, if it were possible, even the elect, 6 so likewise these have meditated to carry off with pleasure, and so always seeking what delights those who listen, rather than what turns them from evil, they make a veil for the head, and not only for boys and youths, but even, if it is possible, for the old, even for fathers, inasmuch as they can deceive those who because of the labour of the soul have advanced in spiritual age and seniority. Origen, from the Third Homily on Ezekiel, translated by Jerome 1 Ezek 13.17 2 2 Cor 3.18 3 Ephes 4.14 4 Ezek 3.18 5 Ps 36.4, Ps 35.9 6 Mt 24.24

Correction From On High

Ὁ Θρόνος σου, ὁ Θεὸς, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος· ῥάβδος εὐθύτητος, ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου.  Ἐπειδὴ πολλὰ πρὸς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ἀνατεινόμενος διελέχθη, ἐπανάγει νῦν ἐπὶ τὰ ὕψη τῆς περὶ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς δόξης τὸν λόγον. Ὁ Θρόνος σου, φησὶν, ὁ Θεὸς, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος· τουτέστιν, ἡ βασιλεία σου ἐπέκεινα τῶν αἰώνων, καὶ ἐννοίας πάσης ἐστὶ πρεσβυτέρα. Καὶ καλῶς μετὰ τὴν τῶν λαῶν ὑποταγὴν τὸ μεγαλοπρεπὲς τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀνυμνεῖ. Ῥάβδος εὐθύτητος, ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἀπέδωκεν αὐτῷ τὴν ἰδίαν προσηγορίαν, σαφῶς αὐτὸν ἀναγορεύσας Θεόν· Ὁ Θρόνος σου, ὁ Θεὸς. Παιδευτική τίς ἐστιν ἡ ῥάβδος τοῦ Θεοῦ· παιδεύουσα δὲ, εὐθείας καὶ οὐ παρατετραμμένας ἐπάγει τὰς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ προσηγόρευται. Ἐὰν γὰρ ἐγκαταλίπωσιν οἱ υἱοὶ αύτοῦ τὸν νόμον μου, καὶ τοῖς κρίμασι μου μὴ πορευθῶσιν, ἐπισκέψομαι ἐν ῥάβδῳ τὰς ἀνομίας αὐτῶν. Ὁρᾷς τὴν δικαίαν κρίσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ; Οὐκ ἐπὶ τῶν τυχόντων χρῆται, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων. Αὔτη δὲ καὶ παρακλήσεως λέγεται ῥάβδος· Ἡ ῥάβδος γάρ σου, φησὶ, καὶ ἡ βακτηρία σου, αὖταί με παρεκάλεσαν. Αὔτη καὶ συντριμμοῦ ἐστι ῥάβδος. Ποιμανεῖς γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἐν ῥάβδῳ σιδηρᾷ ὡς σκεῦος κεραμέως συντρίψεις αὐτούς. Συντρίβεται δὲ τὰ χοῖὰ καὶ πήλινα ἐπ' εὐεργεσίᾳ τῶν ποιμαινομένων· καθὸ καὶ παραδίδοται Εἰς ὅλεθρον τῆς σαρκὸς, ἵνα τὸ πνεῦμα σωθῇ. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Εἰς Τον ΜΔ' Ψαλμον Source: Migne PG 29.404b-d

'Your throne, O God, is forever, the rod of correction is the rod of your kingdom.' 1 After concerning itself with human nature and having expended many words about it, now the prayer returns to the glorious height of the Only Begotten. 'Your throne, O God is forever,' it says. That is, your kingdom is established beyond the ages and is most ancient in every understanding. And wondrously, when your people have become obedient, they shall celebrate the magnificence of your kingdom. 'A rod of correction is the rod of your kingdom.' Whatever is the title given to Him, it is clearly calling Him God. 'Your throne, O God.' The rod is that which corrects and while it corrects it improves, and since it does not bring about perverse judgement, it is proclaimed to be of His kingdom. 'For if his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgements, I shall requite their iniquities with a rod.' 2 You see the just judgement of God? He does not act against just anyone but against sinners. And this same rod is  said to be one of consolation, 'For your rod and staff,' he says,'are my consolation.' 3 'You shall rule them with a rod of iron, as an earthen vessel you will shatter them.' 4 For earth and mud will be shattered because of the pleasures which rule over them, whoever is given over 'to the dissolutions of the flesh,' and 'that they might be saved.' 5 Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 44 1 Ps 44.7 2 Ps 88.31,33 3 Ps 22.4 4 Ps 2.9 5 1 Cor 5.5

Judging And Judgement

Existimas autem hic, O homo omnis qui judicas eos qui talia agunt, et facis illa, quia tu effugies judicium Dei? Si omnia quae Lex loquitur, his qui in lege sunt loquitur; et quae Evangelium, vel Apostolus nunc loquitur, non principibus saeculi, nec regibus mundi, sed Ecclesiarum rectoribus et principibus loquitur, his videlicet qui judicant eos qui intus sunt, id est episcopis, vel presbyteris et diaconibus. His ergo dicit ne existiment se effugere judicium Dei, si ea commitant ipsi, de quibus alios judicant et condemnant. Et ideo oportet unumquemque de sua prius conscientia judicate, et tunc ejus quem judicat, gesta discutere. Quod si fieret, omnis penitus adeundi honoris ecclesiastici abscinderetur ambitio, si se judicandos potius quam judicatoros hi qui praeesse volunt populis cogitarent. Nemo ergo existimet quod effugere possit judicium Dei, sicut et Propheta dicit: Quo ibo a spiritu tuo, et a facie tua quo fugiam? Et quia haec ad eos maxime dicuntur qui praesunt judiciis populorum, idcirco et alibi dicit, quod de domo Dei incipiet judicium. Et item alibi Dominus dicit: In his qui approximent mihi sanctificabor; sicut in Nadab et Abiud gestum est, cum alienum ignem, id est non sacrum, divinis altaribus obtulerunt. Incipit ergo judicium a filiis prius. Flagellat enim Deus omnem quem in numerum recipit filiorum. Verum, ut ego existimo, nec, si posset quis, deberet velle effugere judicium Dei. Non venire enim ad judicium Dei, hoc est ad emendationem, vel ad sanitatem, et remedium non venire. Origenes, Commentariorum In Epistolam Beati Pauli Ad Romanos, Liber II, Interprete Rufino Aquileiense Source: Migne PG 14.873c-874b

Do you think, O man, that when you judge those who do such things and then you do them, that you will escape the judgement of God? 1 If everything which the Law speaks is spoken for those who are in the Law, then what the Gospel or the Apostle speaks is not for the rulers of the age, nor the kings of the world, but speaks to the leaders and rulers of the Churches, obviously those who judge those who are within, that is, the bishops, or priests, or deacons. To these, therefore, he speaks, that they should not think that they might escape the judgement of God if they do those things for which they judge and condemn others. And therefore it is necessary that everyone should first judge himself by his own conscience, and then cut himself off from what he convicts himself. For if it should be that every ambition for the obtaining of ecclesiastical honours should be cut off, let those who wish to be preeminent among the people think that they should judge themselves rather than be those who judge. Therefore let no one think that he can escape the judgement of God, as even the prophet says: 'Where shall I go from your spirit, and where shall I flee from your face?' 2 And because these things are said especially to those who are preeminent in judgement among the people, therefore it says elsewhere that 'judgement begins from the house of God.' 3 And again in another place the Lord says: 'I shall be holy to those who come near me.' As happened with Nadab and Abiud, when they brought foreign fire to the holy altars, that is, when they brought that which was not sacred. 4 Therefore judgement first begins with the sons. 'For God tries all who wish to be reckoned as sons.' 5 Truly I think that even if it were possible to do so, no one should flee the judgement of God. For not to come to the judgement of God is not to come to improvement and healing and cure. Origen, from the Commentary on the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans, Book 2, Translated by Rufinus of Aquileia 1 Rom 2.3 2 Ps 138.7 3 1 Pet 4.17 4 Levit 10.1-3 5 Prov 3.12