The Perils Of The Baptised

Protexisti me a conventu malignantium, a multitudine operantium iniquitatem qui exacuerunt ut gladium linguas suas, intenderunt arcum rem amaram, ut sagittent in obscuro immaculatum. Non hic propheta arma bellica, nec enses, aut jacula, aut tormenta arcum pertimescit. Omnis enim ei in lingua timor est: hujus gladios, hujus spicula metuit. Ab his quidem fide sua tutus est; ait enim: Protexisti me a conventu malignantium: sed arcus homicidae linguae semper intentus est, et acumen gladii in lingua ejus praesto est. Volant autem letales ejus sagittae, et non ambiguum est, quid efficiant: scilicet ut sagittent in obscuro immaculatum. Et proprietas verbi intelligenda est. Non sanctum, non fidelem, non justum, sed immaculatum sagittant, eum cui per sacramentum Baptismi sordes et maculae veterum criminum recens ablutae sunt, nondum tamen firmatae fidei, nondum doctrinis spiritalibus eruditum, nondum contra haec pugnacis linguae arma certantem, sed simplicem, et ex novae nativitatis infantia tenerum. Hunc ergo sine metua contradictionis alicujus, intento jam pridem arcu, per rerum ignorantiam in obscuro positum vulnerabunt. Ait enim, Subito sagittabunt eum, et non timebunt: naturam simplicem, et immaculati novitate imperitam. Hanc enim fallunt, huic occultos laqueos praetendunt, insidiarum secretis latentibus gloriantes. Sequitur enim: Firmaverunt sibi verbum malum, disputaverunt ut absconderent laqueos: dixerunt: Quis videbit eos? Tempus discernitur, et inferendi vulneris, et consilii firmati. Nam eum dicitur: Subito sagittabunt, futuri temporis opus docetur: cum autem: Firmaverunt verbum malum, jam ex praeterito consilium firmatae pridem voluntatis ostenditur. Semper enim excidia adversus fidem praesto sunt, et occultis ac fallentibus insidiis pestiferae adhortationis doli adjacent, quos a raris quibusque conspici opinantur. Et ideo dictum: Absconderunt laqueos , et dixerunt: Quis videbit eos? Si enim haereticus pervertere fidem tentet, incredibile est quantis eam dolis subvertere contendat; si spem aeternitatis nostrae philosophus impugnet, mirum in modum omne bonum praesentis vitae ponet in corpore: omni ingenii sui alacritate ea, quibus doctrinae coelestis institutio subrui possit, uterque scrutantes. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis,Tractatus Super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum LXIII Source: Migne PL 9.410b-411b

'You have protected me from the gathering of the wicked, from the multitude of the workers of iniquity, they who sharpen their tongues like swords, and bend the bow to wound, that unseen they transfix the immaculate man.' 1 Here the Prophet does not fear arms of war, neither swords, nor spears, nor the wounds of the bow. All his fear is in the tongue: this is the sword and shaft he feared. And from these his faith has kept him secure, for he says: 'You have protected me from the gathering of the wicked,' but the bow of the murderous tongue is ever bent, and the tip of the sword on the tongue is ever prepared. For its arrows fly for death and it is not hidden how they work, for 'unseen they transfix the immaculate man.' And let this be understood properly. It is not the holy man, the faithful man, the righteous man, but the immaculate man they shoot, he who by the sacrament of Baptism has recently washed off the dirt and stains of old crimes but is not yet of firm faith, not yet instructed in spiritual teaching, not yet armed for the struggle against the blows of the tongue, but simple from his new birth is like a delicate infant. For this one, then, without fear of reprisal,they have bent the bow, and will wound him by his ignorance of things which are obscure. For it then says: 'Suddenly they will shoot him and they will not fear.' 2 Because of the simple nature and inexperience of the immaculate novice. This one they deceive and for him they have prepared hidden traps, glorying in their snares in secret places. So it follows: 'They have strengthened themselves with wicked speech, they have plotted how to set their traps, they have said: 'Who shall see us?' 3 Time is distinguished, both in the giving of wounds, and in the strengthing by counsel. For when it says, 'Suddenly they will shoot,' it teaches the deed is of a future time, and when it says, 'They have strengthened themselves with wicked speech,' it reveals that in the past they confirmed their wish for the present. For they are always prepared for the ruin of faith and have set nearby hidden and deceiving snares of vile and cunning exhortation, which they think will rarely be perceived. And so it is said: 'The have set their traps, they have said: 'Who shall see us?' For if a heretic is intent on overthrowing the faith, incredible is the amount of cunning with which he strives to subvert it, and if a philosopher impugns the hope of our eternity, wonderous it is how he places every good of the present life in the body, with all his ingenuity swiftly undermining the foundation of the heavenly teaching. One must watch out for both of these. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 63 1 Ps 63.3-5 2 Ps 63.6 3 Ps 63.8

Scripture And Ignorance

Ἐπιφάνιος εἶπε πάλιν, ὅτι μεγάλη ἀσφάλεια πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν, τῶν Γραγῶν ἡ ἀνάγνωσις.  Εἶπε πάλιν, ὅτι μέγας κρημνὸς καὶ βαθὺ βάραθρον, τῶν Γραφῶν ἡ ἄγνοια. Ἄποφθέγματα των Αγίων Γερόντων, Παλλάδιος Ελενουπόλεως Source: Migne PG 65.165b

Epiphanios said, 'A grave fault inclining to sin is ignorance of the Scriptures.'  Again he said, 'A great cliff and a deep pit is ignorance of the Scriptures.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

Learning And Peril

Gentilis quidam est, ad fidem tendit: catechumenus est, majorem vult accipere doctrinae et fidei plenitudinem; caveat ne dum vult discere, male discat, et discat a Photino, discat ab Ario, discat a Sabellio: tradat se hujusmodi magistris quorum quaedam eum teneat auctoritas; et inductus quadam magistrorum praesumptione, teneris sensibus impressa dijudicare non noverit. Prius igitur oculis mentis perspiciat quid sequatur: videat ubi vita sit: tangat denique divinarum vitalia lectionum, ut nullo pravo offendatur interprete. Legit illi Sabellius: Ego in Patre, et Pater in me, et dicit unam esse personam. Legit Photinus: Quia mediator Dei et hominum homo Christus Jesus. Et alibi: Quid me vultis occidere hominem? Legit etiam Arius quia dixit: Quoniam Pater major me est. Legitur quidem manifestum: sed qua ratione dictum sit, debet ante pertractare secum, ut rationem dictorum possit advertere. Ducitur quadam magistrorum auctoritate; et profuisset ei non quaesisse, quam talem invenisse doctorem. Sed etiam gentilis si quis Scripturas accipiat, legit: Oculum pro oculo, dentem pro dente. Legit etiam: Si scandalizaverit te dextera tua, abscinde illam; non intelligit sensum, non advertit divini arcana sermonis, pejus labitur, quam si non legisset. Et ideo docuit quemadmodum Dei Verbum investigare deberent, non perfunctorie, non improvide, sed diligenter atque sollicite: Quod erat, inquit, ab initio, quod audivimus, et quod vidimus, oculis nostris perspeximus, et manus nostrae perscrutatae sunt de Verbo vitae: et vidimus et testamur, et annuntiamus vobis. Vides quod ante velut manibus quibusdam perscrutatus sit Dei verbum, et postea annuntiaverit: et ideo nihil Adae et Evae fortasse nocuisset verbum, si pertractantibus diligenter mentis quibusdam manibus ante tetigissent. Infirmi enim pertractando, et diligentius requirendo, uniuscujusque quam non intelligunt, possunt investigare naturam. Certe illi infirmi id lignum in quo scientiam mali esse cognoverant, ante quemadmodum tangerent, debuerant perscrutari. Nam et mali saepe nobis potest prodesse cognitio. Et ideo diaboli fraudes vel in hac legimus lectione, vel in prophetia, ut discamus quemadmodum artes ejus cavere possimus. Cognoscenda sunt enim tentamenta ejus, non ut sequamur, sed ut docti instructique caveamus. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Paradiso, Caput XII

Some of the Gentiles, one who inclines to the faith and becomes a catechumen, who wishes to receive a greater fullness of the teachings and the faith, should be wary lest while he wishes to learn, he learns evil, from Photinus and Arius and Sabellius, so that he gives himself over to such teachers and their authority rules over him, and he is beholden to the assumption of these teachers, with tender senses so impressed, because he does not know how to judge. Before such a thing, then, let him discern with the eyes of the mind what he should follow, let him see where life is, then let him touch the vivifying things of Scripture, that he is not corrupted by a depraved interpretation. Sabellius reads to him: 'I am in the Father and the Father is in me' 1 and says that the person is one. Photinus reads, 'Because the mediator of God and of men, the man Jesus Christ,' 2 and elsewhere 'Why do you wish to kill me a man?' 3 And Arius reads: 'Because the Father is greater than me.' 4 The reading is easy, but the reason why it is said, a man should ponder to himself, that he be able to grasp the meaning of the words. He is led by the authority of certain teachers and not what he sought is given him when he has such teachers. But even the Gentile if he read the Scriptures, saying 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,' 5 and he reads, 'If your right hand scandalises you, cut it off' 6 he does not understand the meaning, he does not perceive the secrets of the Divine speech, and he falls further than if he had not read at all. And therefore this teaches that we should investigate the word of God, not hastily, nor improvidently, but with love and care, 'What was, 'he says, 'from the beginning, whom we heard, and whom we saw, and gazed upon with our own eyes, and our hands  examined, the word of life, this we saw and give witness, and we announce it to you.' 7 You see that before with the hands, as it were, he examined, if he might be the word of God, and after announced it, and therefore perhaps no harm would have come to Adam and Eve by that speech if, as with the examination with the hands, with the mind they had they examined. Even the weak by pondering, which requires great diligence, that which they are not able to understand, are able to investigate the nature of a thing. Certainly those weak ones should have first thought how they were to touch the tree in which they knew there was knowledge of evil. For even the knowledge of evil is able to profit us. And therefore we have the deceits of the devil which we may read in scripture, or in prophecy, 8 by which we learn what his art is and what we should beware. For let his snares be known, that we not fall into them, but being learned and instructed we be wary of them. Saint Ambrose, On Paradise, Chap 12 1 Jn 1.10 2 1 tim 2.5  3 Jn 8.40  4 Jn 14.28  5 Lev 24.20  6 Mt 5.30  7 1 Jn 1, 1,2  8 Ez 27.18

Advice on Seeking

Nobis etsi quaerendum esset adhuc et semper, ubi tamen quaeri oportet? Apud haereticos? Ubi omnia extranea et adversaria nostrae veritatis ad quos vetamur accedere? Quis servus cibaria ab extraneo, ne dicam ab inimico domini sui sperat? Quis miles ab infoederatis, ne dicam ab hostibus regibus donatiuum et stipendium captat nisi plane desertor et transfuga et rebellis?  Etiam anus illa intra tectum suum dragmam requirebat, etiam pulsator ille vicini ianuam tundebat, etiam vidua illa non inimicum licet durum iudicem interpellabat. Nemo inde instrui potest unde destruitur; nemo ab eo inluminatur a quo contenebratur. Quaeramus ergo in nostro et a nostris et de nostro: idque dumtaxat quod salva regula fidei potest in quaestionem devenire. Tertullianus, De Praescriptione Haereticorum

Even if we must still seek, and always, yet where should one seek? Amongst the heretics, where all things are foreign and opposed to our own truth, and to whom we are forbidden to draw near? What servant looks for food from a stranger, or hopes for it from an enemy of his master? What soldier expects to obtain bounty and pay from kings who are unallied, I might  say hostile, unless he be a deserter, and a runaway and a rebel? Even that old woman searched for the drachma beneath her own roof, 1 that knocker kept knocking at his neighbour's door, 2 that widow made appeal to a stern but not a hostile judge. 3 No one is able to be instructed by that by which he is destroyed, no man is illuminated by that which is wrapped in darkness. Let us seek, therefore in that which is ours and from ours and by ours:  only insofar as that which is in question preserves the rule of faith. Tertullian, Prescription against Heretics 1 Lk 15.8 2 Lk 11 5-13 3 Lk 18 1-8

The Usefulness Of Frights

Οὐδὲ οἱ φόβοι τοῖς εὐφρονοῦσιν ἄρχηστοι· ὡς δὲ ἐψω φημι, καὶ λίαν καλοὶ, καὶ σωτήριοι. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ γίνεσθαι αὐτοὺς ἀπευχόμεθα, γινομένοις γε παιδευόμεθα. Κάμνουσα γὰρ ψυχὴ, ἐγγυς ἐστι Θεοῦ, φησί που Θαυμασιώτατα λέγων ὁ Πετρος· καὶ παντὶ διαφυγόντι κίνδυνον, πλείων οἰκείωσις περὶ τὸν περισώσαντα. Μὴ οὖν ὅτι μετεσχήκαμεν τοῦ κακοῦ δυσχεραίνωμεν· ἀλλ' ὅτι διαπεφεύγαμεν, εὐχαριστήσωμεν. Μηδὲ ἄλλοι φανῶμεν τῷ Θεῷ παρὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῶν κινδύνων, καὶ ἄλλοι μετὰ τοὺς κινδύνους· ἀλλὰ βουληθῶμεν εἴτε ἐνδημοῦντες, εἴτε ἐκδημοῦντες, εἴτε ἰδιωτεύοντες, εἴτε τὰ κοινὰ πράττοντες, δεὶ γὰρ οὔτω λέγειν, καὶ μὴ λείπειν, τῷ σώσαντι κατακολουθεῖν, καὶ γίνεσθαι τῆς ἐκείνου μοίρας, μικρὰ τῶν μικρῶν καὶ χαμαὶ ἐρχομένων φροντίσαντες, Καὶ δῶμέν τι διήγημα τοῖς εἰς ὕστερον, μέγα μὲν εἰς δόξαν ἡμῶν, μέγα δὲ εἰς ὠφέλειαν ψυχῆς· τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ καὶ παίδευμα τοῖς πολλοῖς χρησιμώτατον, ὅτι κρείττων ἀσφαλείας κίνυδνος, καὶ συμφορὰ εὐημερίας αἱρετωτέρα· εἴ γε πρὸ μὲν τῶν φόβων ἥμεν τοῦ κόσμου, μετὰ δὲ τοὺς φόβους τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγενήμεθα. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός, Ἐπιστολή Κ' , Καισαριῳ

Not even frights are without usefulness to the wise, or, as I should say, they are extremely valuable and salutary. For even if we wish that they might not occur, when they do happen they instruct us. For the troubled soul is near to God, as the most admirable Peter somewhere says,1 and everyone who escapes a danger is brought into nearer relation to the one who saved him. Let us not then be annoyed that we had a share of some evil but let us give thanks that we are delivered. And let us not show ourselves one thing to God in time of dangers, and another after the danger, but let us resolve, whether at home or abroad, whether we are in private or involved in public matters, for I must say this and not pass over it, that we follow the one who has preserved us, and that we be a part of that one, coming to think little of the little concerns of earth, and let us be a tale to those who come after, great for our glory and great for the benefit of our soul, and with that a very useful lesson to many, that danger is better than security and that misfortune is preferable to success, at least if before with our fears we were of the world but after them we become God's. Saint Gregory Nazianzus, Letter 20,to his brother Caesarius 1 Source unknown but cf Ps 34.19