Nothing New

Estne verum de quo dicatur, vide hoc novum est: jam fuit in saeculis, quae fuerunt ante nos. Apertius hoc Symmachus transtulit: Putasne est, qui possit dicere: Vide hoc novum est, et jam factum est in saeculo, quod fuit ante nos. Cum superioribus autem congruit quod nihil novum in mundo fiat: nec sit aliquis, qui possit existere, et dicere, ecce hoc novum est: siquidem omne quod se putaverit novum ostendere, jam in prioribus saeculis fuit. Nec putemus signa, atque prodigia, et multa, quae arbitrio Dei nova in mundo fiunt in prioribus saeculis esse jam facta, et locum invenire Epicurum, qui asserit per innumerabiles periodos eadam, et eisdem in locis, et per eosdem fieri. Alioquin et Judas crebro prodidit, et Christus passes est saepe pro nobis, et caetera quae facta sunt, et futura, in easdem similiter periodos revolventur. Sed dicendum, quod ex praescientia et praedestinatione Dei jam ea facta sint, quae futura sunt. Qui enim electi sunt in Christo ante constitutionem mundi, in prioribus saeculis jam fuerunt. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentarius In Ecclesiasten, Caput I Source: Migne PL 23.1019b-1020a

It is not true, when it is said of something, 'See, this is new,' for it already was in the past which is behind us. 1 Symmachus more broadly translates this as: 'Do not think someone can say, 'See, this is new,' for it was done in the past, which is behind us.' This harmonises with what has been said, that there is nothing new in the world, nor is there someone who can consider it and say 'Behold, this is new,' because everything he claims to be new has been in the past. But let us not think that the signs and wonders, indeed very many of them, which the will of God has made in the world were already done in the past, turning to that passage in Epicurus which asserts that there are innumerable identical ages, and that things are done in the same place and by the same people, so that Judas has frequently betrayed, and Christ has often suffered for us, and so on with the rest of the things that were done, which likewise occur with the revolution of the ages. But it must be said that because of the prescience and predestination of God, these things were done which are yet in the future. For they who have been chosen in Christ before the beginning of the world, 2 were already so in the past. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 1 1 Eccles 1.10 Vetus Latina 2 Mt 7.3-5

Philosophy And Happiness

Quidam autem Epicurei et Stoici philosophi, disserebant cum eo... Epicurei praeceptoris sui tarditatem secuti, felicitatem hominis in sola corporis voluptate, Stoici vero in sola animi virtute posuerunt. Qui inter se quidem dissidentes, Apostolum tamen unanimiter impugnant, eo quod hominem sicut ex anima et corpore subsistere, ita in utroque doceret beatum esse debere; sed hoc nec tempore praesenti, nec virtute humana, sed gratia Dei per Jesum Christum in resurrectionis gloria perficiendum. Sanctus Beda,Super acta Apostolorum Expositio, Caput XVII Source: Migne PL 92.979c

Certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers entered into discussion with him... 1 The Epicureans, following the dullness of their teacher, placed the happiness of man in the pleasures of the body alone, but the Stoics only in the virtue of the soul, and because of this they disagreed among themselves. However the Apostle fought against both, for since man is constituted of soul and body, so he taught he should be blessed in both, and not in the present time, nor by human virtue, but by being perfected by the grace of God through Jesus Christ in the glory of the resurrection. Saint Bede, from the Commentary on the Acts of The Apostles, Chapter 17 1 Acts 17.18

An Epicurean Warned

Ἐπίκουρος μὲν ό ποιμὴν τῆς ἀγέλης σου, αύτοσχεδίως πάντα γεγενῆσθαι, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ὡς οὐχ ὑπάρξαντα ἔσεσθαι ἀσεβῶς ἀπεφήνατο. Χριστὸς δὲ ὁ πάνατων ποιητὴς καὶ Πατὴρ καὶ Θεὸς καὶ Σωτὴρ, ἤξειν ἐν δόξῃ ἐπηγγείλατο, καὶ ἀποδοῦναι ἐκάστῳ ὡς ἔπραξεν. Εἰ τοίνυν ἀξιόπιστος οὕτος μᾶλλον ἐκείνου, τῆς σῆς ἐστι συνιδεῖν δυσκατανύκτου καρδίας, μήποτε φθασθῆς καταφρονῶν, καὶ τότε μεταμέλεσθαι ζητῇς, ὅτε τόπος μεταμέλῳ οὐκ ἔστι. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΥΞ', Μαρτινιανῳ Source:  Migne PG 78.436b

Epicurus, the pastor of your flock, he who ventured to produce all things by chance and after that reduces them to nothing, has spoken impiously. Christ is the Creator of all things and Father and God and Saviour, who will come in glory, and has promised to return to each according to his works. If then He is more worthy of faith than the other, admit knowledge into your benighted heart, lest you be found contemptuous, for after that you will seek penitence in a place where there is no penitence. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 460, To Martianus

After Death

Quae enim vita vestra? Vapor est ad modicum apparens et deinceps exterminabitur.    Non ait quae est vita nostra, sed quae, inquit, vita vestra? Quia justi tunc verius vivere incipiunt, cum ad hjus vitae finem pervenerunt. Inimici autem Domini mox cum honorificati et exaltati fuerint, deficientes ut fumus deficient. Non autem putandam est hanc eadem sententiam esse quam apud se impii in libro Sapientiae dixisse perhibentur: Quia ex nihilo nati sumus, et post haec erimus tanquam non fuerimus. Quoniam fumus afflatus in naribus et sermo scintillae ad commovendum cor nostrum. Qua exstincta cinis erit corpus, et spiritus diffundetur tanquam mollis aer. Haec enim illis ratiocinabatur, qui nullam vitam, nisi istam esse credebant, dicentes cum Epicuro: Post mortem nihil est, et mors ipsa nihil est. Illud autem beatus Jacobus intulit, ut doceat quia vita pravorum bravis est praesenti, quam tamen in futuro mors sequitur aeterna, juxta illud beati Job: Ducunt in bonis dies suos, et in puncto ad inferna descendunt. Sanctus Beda, Super Divi Jacobi Epistolam, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 93 35b-c

What is your life? It is a mist appearing for a moment and in the next disappearing. 1 He does not say here 'our life' but 'what is your life,' because the righteous truly begin to live when they come to the end of this life. 'The enemies of the Lord were quickly honoured and exalted and they passed away like smoke passes away.' 2 It should not be thought that this has the same meaning as what the impious say concerning themselves in the book of Wisdom: 'Because we are born from nothing, and after we shall be as if we were not. Because smoke is blown out our nostrils and reason is a spark caused by the beating of the heart, and when it stops the body becomes ash and the spirit passes away into the air. 3 They indeed think these things to themselves, believing that they have no life but this one, and saying with Epicurus: 'There is nothing after death and death itself is nothing.' Which the blessed James brings forth so that he might teach that the life of the depraved is brief in the present, which yet in the future shall receive eternal death, according to which the blessed Job says, 'They spent their days among good things, and in a moment they fell into hell.' 4 Saint Bede, from the Commentary on the Letter of Saint James, Chapter 4   1Jam 4.14 2 Ps 36.20 3 Wis 2.3,2 4 Job 21.13

Against the Philosophers

Atque utinam nullas haereses oportuisset existere, ut probabiles quique emicarent. Nihil omnino cum philosophis super anima quoque experiremur, patriarchis, ut ita dixerim, haereticorum, siquidem et ab apostolo iam tunc philosophia concussio ueritatis prouidebatur; Athenis enim expertus linguatam ciuitatem cum omnes illic sapientiae atque facundiae caupones degustasset, inde concepit praemonitorium illud edictum.  Proinde enim et animae ratio per philosophatas doctrinas hominum miscentes aquas uino: alii immortalem negant animam, alii plus quam immortalem adfirmant, alii de substantia, alii de forma, alii de unaquaque dispositione disceptant; hi statum eius aliunde deducunt, hi exitum aliorsum abducunt, prout aut Platonis honor aut Zenonis uigor aut Aristotelis tenor aut Epicuri stupor aut Heracliti maeror aut Empedoclis furor persuaserunt. Deliquit, opinor, diuina doctrina ex Iudaea potius quam ex Graecia oriens. Errauit et Christus piscatores citius quam sophistam ad praeconium emittens. Si qua igitur in hunc modum de nidoribus philosophiae candidum et purum aerem ueritatis infuscant, ea erunt Christianis enubilanda et percutientibus argumentationes originales, id est philosophicas, et opponentibus definitiones caelestes, id est dominicas, ut et illa quibus ethnici a philosophia capiuntur, destruantur, et haec quibus fideles ab haeresi concutiuntur, retundantur.  Tertullianus, De Anima

Would to God that no heresies had existed that the approved might be made manifest. We should then never about the soul have to grapple with philosophers, those patriarchs, for so they may be entitled, of heretics. The Apostle in his own time foresaw that philosophy would do injury to the truth. Having experienced that chattering city of Athens, having tasted all its wisdom and the hawkers of it he coined that monitory edict. This is the account of the soul according to the doctrines of such philosophical men, who mix water with wine: some deny the immortality of the soul, others affirm that it is more than immortal, others give judgement about its substance, others about its form, others about its faculties. One group draws it forth from various sources, while another leads it off to different destinations.In so far as they honour Plato, or the vigour of Zeno, or the way of Aristotle, or the stupor of Epicurus, or the mourning of Heraclitus, or the madness of Empedocles, so are they persuaded. The Divine doctrine errs, I suppose, because it arose in Judea rather than Greece. And Christ made a mistake in sending forth fishermen to preach rather than intellectuals. Therefore whatever fumes of philosophy obscure the bright and pure air of truth, it will be for Christians to clear the clouds by piercing the original arguments, that is, the philosophical ones, and by opposing to them heavenly definitions, that is, those of the Lord, thus that by which philosophy captivates the Gentiles may be destroyed, and that by which the faithful are shaken by heretics may be blunted. Tertullian, On the Soul

Epicurus, Faith and Understanding

Ναι μὴν και ὁ ᾽Επικουρος, ὁ μάλιστα τῆς ἀληθειας προτιμήσας τὴν ἡδονὴν, προληψιν ειναι διανοιας τὴν πιστιν ὑπολαμβανει· προληψιν δὲ ἀποδιδωσιν, επιβολὴν ἐπι τι ἐναργες, και ἐπι τὴν ἐναργῆ τοῦ πράγματος ἐπινοιαν· μὴ δύνασθαι δὲ μηδένα μήτε ζητῆσαι μήτε ἀπορῆσαι, μηδὲ μην δοξᾶσαι, ἀλλ οὐδε ἐλεγξαι χωρις προλήψεως. Πῶς ὁ ἀν, μὴ ἐχων τις πρόληψιν οὗ ἐφιεται, μάθοι περι οὗ ζητει; ῾Ο μαθὼν δὲ ἣδη καταληψιν ποιει τὴν πρόληψιν. Ει δὲ ὁ μανθάνων οὐκ ἄνευ προλήψεως μανθανει τῆς των λεγομένων παραδεκτικῆς, αὐτὸς μὲν ὦτα ἔχει τα ἀκουστικα τῆς ἀληθειας· μακάριος δὲ ὁ λέγων εiς ὦτα ἀκουότων· ὤσπερ ἀμέλει μακάριος και αὐτος ὁ τῆς ὑπακοῆς. Τὸ δὲ κατακοῦσαι συνειναι ἐστιν. Ει τοινυν ἡ πιστις οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ πρόληψις ἐστι διανοιας περι τὰ λεγόμενα, και τοῦτο ὑπακοή τε εἰρηται, σύνεσις τε πειθὼ, οὐ μὴν μαθήσεται τις ἄνευ πιστεως· ἐπει μηδὲ ἄνευ προλήψεως, ᾽Αληθὲς δ᾽ οὖν ὄν πάντως μᾶλλον ἀποδεικνυται τὸ ὐπὸ τοῦ προφήτου εἰρημενον· ᾽Εαν μὴ πιστευσητε, οὐδὲ μὴ συνῆτε.  Κλημεντος του Αλεξανδρεως, Στρωματεων.

Why even Epicurus, who greatly preferred pleasure to truth, supposes faith to be a preconception of the mind; and defines preconception to be a grasping at something evident, at the clear understanding of the thing; and that no one can either inquire, or doubt, or judge, or even argue in the absence of preconception, for how, without a preconceived idea of what he is aiming at, does he learn about that which he inquiries? He who has learned has already turned his preconception into comprehension. And if he who learns is learning with a preconception which takes in what is expressed, that man has ears for the hearing of truth; and happy the man who is speaking to the ears of those who hear, as happy certainly also is he who listens. Now to hear plainly is to understand. If, then, faith is nothing else than a preconception of the mind in regard to things said, and this is called attention, understanding and persuasion, no one shall learn anything without faith, since it cannot be without preconception. Truly then here is a more ample demonstration of what was spoken by the prophet, 'Unless you believe, nor will you understand.' 1 Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book 2, Ch 4.  1 Is 7.9