Natural Inequality

Ex corporalibus consideremus spiritualia. Alius velox est pedibus, sed non fortis manu. Ille tardus incessu, sed stabilis in praelio est. Hic pulchram habet faciem, sed raucae vocis est. Alius tetram, sed dulci modulatione cantat. Illum ingeniosum, sed obliviosum: hunc memorem, sed tardi videmus ingenii. In ipsis controversiis, in quibus quondam pueri lusimus, non omnes similiter vel in prooemiis, vel in narrationibus, vel in excessibus, vel in argumentis, aut exemplorum copia, et epilogorum dulcedine se agunt: sed eloquentiae suae alia atque alia in parte dissimiles sunt. De viris magis ecclesiasticis loquar. Multi super Evangelia bene disserunt, sed in explanatione Apostoli impares sui sunt. Alii cum in Instrumento novo optime senserint, in Psalmis et veteri Testamento muti sunt. Hoc totum dico, quod non omnia possumus omnes: rarusque aut nullus est divitum, qui in omni substantia sua paria universa possideat. Sanctus Hieronymus, Dialogus Adversus Pelagianos, Liber I Source: Migne PL 23.517b-c

From corporeal things let us consider spiritual things. One man is swift-footed, but weak of grip. That man moves slowly but is immovable in battle. This man has a handsome face, but his voice grates. Another is ugly but sings sweetly. That man we see to be one of great ability yet he is forgetful, this one has a fine memory but he is slow of wit. In those rhetorical disputes we amused ourselves when we were boys, not all were alike in their introductions, or in the narrative, or in digressions, or in argument, or in wealth of illustrations, or in charm of peroration, but eloquence was dissimilar in this part and that. Of men of the Church I will say more. Many discourse well on the Gospels, but in explaining the Apostle's meaning are unequal to themselves. Others, although they excel in the New Testament, are mute when it comes to the Psalms and the Old Testament. Here I tell it all: 'Not everyone is able to do everything.' 1 Seldom or never is there found a rich man who in all his wealth has everything in equal amount. Saint Jerome, Dialogue Against the Pelagians, Book 1 1 cf Verg Ecl 7.23

Equality And Exchange

Oὐ γὰρ ἵνα ἄλλοις ἄνεσις, ὑμῖν θλῖψις, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἰσότητος Οὐκ ἀναγκάζει ὁ τῆς εὐσεβείας λόγος μεταδιδόναι ὃ μὴ ἔχει τις, ἀλλ' ὃ ἔχει παρέχεσθαι προθύμως. κατορθωθήσεται δὲ τοῦτο ῥᾷστα σκοπήσασι τίνες οἱ κοινωνούμενοι· ἅγιοι δέ εἰσι καὶ θεοῦ θεραπευταὶ οὗτοι. διὸ καὶ ἐλπίζομεν ἀντίδοσιν ἔσεσθαι· ἱκανοὶ γὰρ ἀνθ' ὧν δέχονται αἰσθητῶν νοητὰ παρασχεῖν. οὕτω γὰρ ἰσότης καὶ ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ ἔσται, ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς δόσεως τοῦ μάννα γεγένηται, οὐδὲ τοῦ τὸ ὀλίγον ἔχοντος ἐλαττουμένου οὐδὲ πλεονάζοντος τοῦ πολὺ ἔχοντος· ἀνισότης γὰρ μένει, ὅταν τῶν ἁγίων ἐπουράνια ἐχόντων, ὑμῶν δὲ ἐπίγεια κεκτημένων, ἀντίδοσις μὴ γίνηται. ὅθεν σπείρατε σαρκικὰ ταῖς χρείαις τῶν ἁγίων κοινωνοῦντες, ἵνα θερίσητε ἐξ αὐτῶν τὰ πνευματικά· οὕτω γὰρ ἰσότης ἔσται προσλαμβανόντων ὑμῶν τῶν μεγάλων, κἀκείνων τῶν μικρῶν· ἕξετε γὰρ μετὰ τῶν μικρῶν τὰ μεγάλα, κἀκεῖνοι μετὰ τῶν μεγάλων τὰ μικρά. αὕτη δὲ ἰσότης ὑπαρχθήσεται κατὰ τὸ ἐπανορθωτικὸν δίκαιον. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Τὴν Δευτέραν Ἐπιστολήν Παύλου Πρὸς Κορινθίους Source: Migne PG 39.1716b

For others are not at leisure while you toil, but there is equality... 1 Pious teaching does not insist that a man give what he does not have, but that he give gladly what he does have. This may be easier to demonstrate correctly if one looks to those who are sharing in it, they who are holy and servants of God. Certainly we may hope for a reward there, because for the material things they receive they can return spiritual things. Thus equality shall be found in the present, as happened in the giving of manna, when there was not one who had too little, nor one who abounded with too much. But there may be inequality when with the holy possessing heavenly things, and you clinging to worldly things, there can be no exchange. Whence sow in the flesh, attending to the needs of the holy, that you reap from them in the spirit. 2 So there will be equality, when you receive great things and they little things, for then with little things you have great things, and they with great things have little things. This is equality according to correct justice. Didymus the Blind, On The Second Letter of Saint Paul to The Corinthians, Fragment 1 2 Cor 8.13 2 cf Gal 6.8

Thoughts And Deeds

Ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν τὰς μετεμπλοκὰς ὁμαλῷ λογισμῷ ὑποδέχου· καὶ οὕτως ἀνατρέπει ὁ Θεὸς τῆς ἀνωμαλίας τὰ πράγματα. Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Νόμου Πνευματικοῦ  Source: Migne PG 65 9

The entanglement of goods and evils grasp with equable thought, and thus God will avert inequitable deeds. Saint Mark The Ascetic, from On The Spiritual Law.

Master And Slave

Fortisan enim idcirco secessit ad horam, ut in aeternam illum reciperes: non jam velut servum, sed pro servo delictum fratrem, maxime mihi; quanto autem magis tibi et in carne et in Domino? Onesimus, offenso domino proprio, confugit longa peregrinatione ad Apostolum; ut ostenderet se non ad hoc recessise, ut delicti esset obnoxius, sed ut obliteratis peccatis, utilis reverteretur in tantum, ut non solum domino suo aequalis fieret meritis, sed et ipsi magistrio frater. Et ne Philemon aliquod, ut assolet, quasi dominus adversum servum, fastidium inflationis pateretur, humiliat illum, cum dicit illum fratrem et in carne et in Domine; ut subalata humanae conditionis causa, quia omnes ex uno sumus Adam, fratres nos cognoscamus: maxime cum fides accedit media, quae omnem superbiam amputat. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, in Epistolam ad Philemon Migne PL 17 505-506

Perhaps then he had withdrawn from you to this time that in eternity you might receive him, not now as a slave, but for a slave a brother, and as much as it is so to me, how much more to you in the flesh and in the Lord? 1 Onesimus, to his own lord's offense, fled by long journey to the Apostle, that he show himself not to have withdrawn, as one guilty of a crime, but that with sin removed, he be turned to use, not only to his lord becoming of equal merit, but even a brother to that same master. And lest Philemon, as is the custom, as a lord against his servant, suffer to be puffed up with some contempt, he humbles him, when he says that he is a brother both in the flesh and in the Lord, asserting the state of the human condition, that all being from the one Adam we know ourselves brothers, and much more so having the same share of faith which cuts off all pride. Saint Ambrose, On the Epistle To Philemon 1 Philemon 15-16

A Martyress On Equality

Ὡς δὲ πολλάκις ἐρωτωμένη, πολλάκις τὴν αὐτὴν ἠφίει φωνὴν, δούλην ἑαυτὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγουσα, καὶ κατηρᾶτο τοῖς πρὸς τὴν ἄρνησιν προκαλουμένοις· τότε δὴ ὁ κριτὴς τῆς ἀδικίας οὐ μόνον τὰ κτήματα, ὦν ἀδίκως καὶ παρὰ τοὺς νόμους ἀφῄρητο, ἀπεστέρησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ζωὴν αὐτὴν προσεζημίωσεν ὡς ἐνόμιζε, πυρὶ παραδοὺς αὐτήν. Ἡ δὲ πρὸς οὐδὲν οὕτω τὼν κατὰ τὸν βίον τερπνῶν ἠπειγμένως ἔδραμεν, ὡς ἐπὶ τὴν φλὸγα ἦλθεν ἐκείνην, προσώπῳ καὶ σχὴματι, καὶ οἰς ἐφθεγγετο, καὶ τῇ ἐπανθούσῃ φαιδρότητι, τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ περιχαρὲς ἐμφαίνουσα· παρακαλοῦσα τὰς παρεστηκυίας τῶν γυναικῶν, μὴ καταμαλακίζεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας πόνους, μηδὲ τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἀσθένειαν προφασίζεσθαι. Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ φυράματος, λέγουσα, τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἐσμὲν. Κατ’ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ γεγόναμεν, ὡς καὶ οὖτοι. Ἀρετῆς δεκτικὸν τὸ θῆλυ ὁμοτίμως τῷ ἄῥῥενι παρὰ τοῦ κτίσαντος γέγονε. Καὶ τί γὰρ ἤ συγγενεῖς τοῖς ἀνδράσι διά πάντων ἐσμέν; Οὐ γὰρ σὰρξ μόνον ἐλήφθη πρὸς γυναικὸς κατασκευὴν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὀστοῦν ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων. Ὥστε τὸ στεῥῥὸν, καὶ εὔτονον, καὶ ὑπομονητικὸν, ἐξ ἴσου τοῖς ἀνδράσι καὶ παρ’ ἡμῶν ὀφείλεται τῷ Δεσπότῃ. Ταῦτα εἰποῦσα, πρὸς τὴν πυρὰν ἢλατο· ἡ δὲ περισχοῦσα τῆς ἀγίας τὸ σῶμα, ὥσπερ τις θάλαμος φωτεινὸς, τὴν μὲν ψυχὴν ἐπὶ τὴν οὐρνιον χώραν. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Εἰς Την Μαρτῦρα Ἰουλίτταν Source: Migne PG 31.240c-241a

And as often as she was asked, so she replied with the same answer, 'I am a handmaid of Christ,' and she cursed those who offered a denial; then the unrighteous judge not only stripped of her substantial property, which was in contravention of the law, but besides that he thought to punish her by giving her life to the flames. But she who did not delight in the things of life made haste to come to the flames, and with face and garments and words blooming in the firelight and her soul shining with joy, she addressed the women standing nearby, saying, 'Do not let your piety be softened by suffering, nor seek excuses in a weak nature. We are fashioned from the same thing as men are. We, as they are, are made in the image of God. The female, being made from the same material, is as capable of virtue. For are we not of the same kind in everything as man? Not from flesh alone was woman formed, but bone from bone. Thus from us, as from the male, constancy, strength and endurance is required by the Lord.' Having said these things, she leaped onto the pyre and with the flames surrounding the body of the blessed one, like a bright chamber, her soul passed to the heavenly realm. Saint Basil of Caesarea, from A Homily on the Martyr Julitta