Love, Life and Eternity

Σαφῶς ἐν τούτοις παρίσταται ἡ κατὰ τὸν δημιουργὸν τοῦ κόσμου Θεὸν καὶ τὰς αὐτοῦ Γραφὰς κηρυσσομένη ζωὴ αἰώνιος, ἤν κὶα ὁ Σωτὴρ καταγγέλλει. Πυθομένου οὖν τοῦ νομικοῦ· Τί ποιήσας ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομήσω; ἐπὶ τὸν νόμον ἀναπέμπει, ἐκεῖθεν συνάγῃ ἐντολὰς τὰς προσαγούσας τὸν ποιοῦντα αὐτὰς τῇ αἰωνίῳ ζωῇ. Μαρτυρεῖ γοῦν τῷ εἰληθότι ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ Δευτρονομίου τὸ Ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου· ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ Λευῖτικοῦ τὸ, Τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτὸν, Ὁρθῶς ἀπεκρίθης, καὶ προστίθησι· Τοῦτο ποίει, καὶ ζήσῃ, δηλονότι τὴν ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον, περὶ ἦς κάκεῖνός τε ἐπύθετο, καὶ ὁ Σωτὴρ διδάσκει. Ταῦτα δὲ εἴρηται πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ Οὐαλεντίνου, καὶ Βασιλίδου, καὶ τούς ἀπὸ Μαρκίωνος. Ἔχουσι γὰρ καὶ αὐτοὶ τὰς λέξεις ἐν τῷ καθ' ἑαυτοὺς Εὐαγγελίῳ· καὶ φήσομεν πρὸς αὐτούς· Ὁ μαρτυρήσας τῷ, ὅτι Ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου, τὴν ἐντολὴν ἀπὸ Νόμου εἰρηκότι, οὐ παρὰ τινος ἄλλου ἤ του δυμιουργοῦ εἰρημένην, καὶ φήσας ἐπὶ τούτοις αὐτῷ, Ὀρθῶς ἀπεκρίθης, τί ἄλλὸ βούλεται ἡμᾶς πράττειν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ζῆσαι τὴν αἰώνιον ζωὴν, ἤ ἀγαπᾷν τὸν Θεὸν, τὸν ἐν νομῳ καὶ προφήταις, ἐν ὅλῃ καρδίᾳ; Ὁ Σωτὴρ δὲ ψοῦν ἀπεφήνατο περὶ τῶν δύο ἐντολῶν λέγων· Καὶ ἐν αὐταῖς ὅλος ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται κρέμανται. Ὠριγένης, Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Λουκαν Ἐπαγγελιον Source : Migne PG 13.1904c-d

According to God the creator of the world and the things preached in the Scriptures and as the Saviour declares, eternal life is manifestly offered in these things, whence being questioned by the lawyer, 'What shall I do to have eternal life,' 1 He directs him to the Law, there to gather from the commandments what shall grant eternal life. He gives witness, therefore, to that which is found in Deuteronomy: 'Love the Lord your God,' and in Leviticus: 'Love your neighbour as yourself,' 2 saying, 'You have answered correctly,' then adding, 'Do this and live,' that is, the life that is eternal, about which the man questioned Him, and the Saviour taught. And these things said are opposed to the sectarians of Valentinus and Basilides and Marcion, for they have these same words in their own Gospel, and we say to them, the commandment 'Love the Lord your God,' is quoted from the Law and He does not commend it as anything else but as something said by the Creator, and therefore He says, 'You have answered correctly,' because what else does He wish us to do so that we might live the eternal life but to love God with the whole heart, which is likewise found in the Law and in the prophets? Then the Saviour gives His judgement regarding these two commandments, 'And from these hang all the Law and the prophets.' 3 Origen, On the Gospel of St Luke, Fragment from the Orations of Macarius Chrysocephalus on Luke 1 Lk 10.25 2 Deut 6.5, Levit 19.18 3 Mt 22.40

Grace And Salvation

Et vos cum essetis mortui delictis et peccatis vestris, in quibus aliquando ambulastis secundum saeculum hujus mundi... Totus hic sensus jugendus est, et de Ephesiis quod in peccatis fuerint, et de se ipso quod Paulus in desideriis carnis et in consiliis carnalibus fuerit. Illis, inquam, omnibus, jugendum est illud quod Deus, qui dives in misericordia, salvos omnes fecerit, et ipsum Paulum, et Ephesios. Sic enim concludit, cujus gratia estis salvi facti, cum ambularetis mortui delicitis; et vos cum ambulaveritis mortui delictis et peccatis vestris. Frequenter monui, mortem duplici modo accipi, illam unam notam, cum fine vivendi in mundo anima separatur a copore; aliam, cum in ipso corpore constituta, desideria carnis agit atque in peccatis vivit. Vos, inquit, cum essetis mortui: et designavit mortis genus, delictis et peccatis vestrs, in quibus aliqunado ambulastis secundum saeculum hujus mundi. Ostendit quae sunt peccata, scilicet desideria in mundo, de mundo, divitiarum, vel voluntatis vel scientiae mundanae, vel religionis de mundo, et caetera hujus mundi quae animam perdunt errantam a scientia veritatis. Quod autem dixit saeculum hujus mundi, sunt enim et superiora, et illa saecula aeterna, quae quomodo intelligantur, et quam significantiam habeant, aliis a me libris est replicatum. Saeculum hujus mundi autem omnis regio mundana, vel omnis mundus, in mundo motus rerum tempus faciens et involvens. Non eodem modo saeculum in aeternis est: esse autem aeternorum saecula, etiam Paulus declaravit, et omnes prophetae: siquidem dicitur et frequentur dicitur benedictus Deus in saecula saeculorum. Etenim saeculum finitur; saecula autem saeculorum, et de aeternis et in aeternum sunt. Victorinus Afrus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Liber I, Cap II Source: Migne PL 8.1252d-1253b

And you when you were dead in your errors and in your sins, in which you walked according to the age of this world... 1 One should join together all the meaning here, both regarding the Ephesians, that they were in sin, and concerning Paul who was in the desires of the flesh and the counsel of it. Then to all these one must join God, who is rich in mercy and would save everyone, 2 Paul himself and the Ephesians. So indeed it concludes that by His grace you have been saved, 3 when you were walking dead in your errors, and when you had walked dead in your errors and sins. I have frequently given the warning that death should be understood in two ways, that one is to be noted in the separation of the soul from the body at the end of this life in the world, and the other is when in the body a man works the desires of the flesh and lives in sin. 'You,' he says, 'when you were dead,' and then specifies the type of death, 'in your errors and your sins, in which you were walking according to the age of this world,' He reveals what sins are, that is, the desires of the world, and for the world, the wealth of it, either the wish for or the knowledge of worldly things, or for the cults of the world, and the rest of the things of this world which ruin the soul, which is a wandering from the knowledge of the truth. Whence he says 'the age of this world', for there are greater things, even the eternal ages, and how they should be understood, and what signficance they have, I have treated in other books. For the age of this world is every part of the world, or the whole world, in which world time makes and unmakes amid the changes of things. But in no way is it the age of eternity. And what the ages of eternity are, even Paul has declared and all the prophets, as it is said, and frequently, 'Blessed be God in the age of the ages.' Indeed the age ends, but the age of the ages speaks of eternal things which are in eternity. Victorinus Afrus, On the Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, Book One, Chapter Two 1 Ephes 5.13 2 cf Ephes 1.7 3 Ephes 2.4-5

Love And Riches

Probatissimo amico Damoetae Albinus salutem. Nimium mihi longum videtur tempus, quod tuae dilectionis faciem non vidi, verba non audivi. Et tantum ex praesentia tui gaudebat animus, quantum in absentia contristatur. Quid faciet mens, nisi lugeat, dum paucos habet amicos? Proh dolor! sed illi semper absentes. Tamen quod valeo faciam, te memorans apud Dominum, tibi prospera semper illius concedere clementiam deprecans, cujus dilectione tuum semper impleatur pectus. Hae sunt verae divitiae, quae nunquam decipiunt habentem, 56 nec in ipsa morte amittuntur, sed plus abundant, dum cernitur quod amatur. Inter temporalia et aeterna hoc interest [quod temporale] aliquid plus diligitur antequam habeatur, vilescit autem cum advenerit. Aeternum autem ardentius diligitur adeptum quam desideratum. Ideo plus amemus aeterna quam temporalia, ut in aeternitate beate et feliciter vivere mereamur. Valeto in saecula. Alcuinus, Epistola XLV, ad Damoetam Source: Migne PL 100.211b-c

To a most upright friend Damoetas, 1 greetings from Albinus. 2 So very long seems to me the time that I have not seen the face of one I love, nor heard a word. And as much as the soul took joy in your presence, so much is it grieved by its absence. What shall the mind do, unless groan while it has so few friends? For shame! But always because of those absent. However, what I can do I shall, remembering you before the Lord, praying that His mercy shall always be given to you so that you prosper, and that His love shall always fill your heart. These are true riches, and no one who possesses them is deceived, nor are they lost in death, but they abound more when what is loved is seen. Between temporal and eternal things there is this difference, one is more loved before it is possessed, but it is cheapened when it comes. But an eternal thing is more ardently loved when it is obtained than when it is desired. Therefore let us have more love for eternal things than temporal things, so that we merit to live happily in eternal bliss. May you be well in the world. Alcuin, Letter 45, to Damoetas 1 Damoetas, a nickname from the schoolroom taken from a shepherd in Virgil's Eclogues 2 and 3 2 Albinus, a nickname for Alcuin, taken from Horace's name Quintus Horatius Flaccus.

Today And Forever

Ego hodei genui te. Hoc jam nihil habet commune cum caeteris, sed totum est unigeniti Filii proprium, quod ipsum designare atque inculcare rerum potuisset auctorem. Dicendo enim, hodie, enim apud Deum nullo initio incipit, nullo fine concluditur. Non est enim ibi, fuit, neque erit; sed semper manet, semper est; et quidquid dixeris, ille hodie est, sicut in Exodo Moysi praecepit ut de ipso diceret: Vade, inquit, et dic filiis Israel: Ego sum qui sum; et qui est misit me ad vos. Quapropter aeternitatem suam voluit appellatione praesentis temporis indicari. Praesens enim tempus, quod ait, hodie, pro perpetuitate poni, Scripturarum divinarum proprium esse cognoscitur. Genui te, nativitatem illam significat de qua Isaias dicit: Generationem autem ejus quis enarrabit. Lumen ex lumine, omnipotens de omnipotente, Deus verus de Deo vero: Ex quo omnia, per quem omnia, in quo omnia; de quo ad Hebraeos scribens, ait Apostolus: Splendor gloriae, et figura substantiae ejus, gerens quoque omnia verbo virtutis suae, purgationem peccatorum faciens, sedet ad dexteram majestatis in exclesis: tanto melior angelis effectus, quanto differentius prae illis nomen haereditavit. Cui enim angelorum dixit aliquando: Filius meus es tu, ego hodie genui te. Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus II Source: Migne PL 70.38c-39a

Today I have begotten you. 1 This 'today' has nothing in common with the others, but is wholly the Only Begotten Son's own, by which He was able to designate Him and emphasise Him as the creator of things. For when He says, 'today,' with God there is no beginning which begins and no end which ends. Nor is there past or future there, but always it persists, always it is, and whatever you may say, that today is as in Exodus when He commanded Moses that concerning Himself he should say, 'Go and say to the sons of Israel: 'I am who I am, it is He who has sent me to you.' 2 Thus He chose to name His eternity with the name of the present time. For that the present, which he speaks as 'today,' is given for perpetuity, is known to be a property of the Divine Scriptures. 'I have begotten you,' signifies the nativity concerning which Isaiah says: 'Who shall tell of his generation?' 3 Light from light, almighty from almighty, true God from true God, 'From whom is everything, through whom is everything, in whom is everything.' 4 And writing to the Hebrews the Apostle says: 'The splendour of His glory and the figure of His substance, even upholding everything by the word of His power, who making a purification for our sins, sits at the right hand of the Father on High, being made so much better than angels, as the much more greater is the name He has acquired over them. To whom among the angels did He ever say: 'You are my son, today I have begotten you'? 5 Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, Psalm 2 1 Ps 2.7 2 Exod 3.14 3 Isaiah 53.8 4 Rom 11.36 5 Heb 1.3-5

Grace And Salvation

Σὺ, Κύριε, φυλάξεις ἡμᾶς, καὶ διατηρήσεις ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης, καὶ εἰς τὸν αιῶνα. Ὑπὸ γὰρ τῆς σῆς φρουρούμενοι χάριτος οὐ μόνον τῆς παρούσης γενεᾶς τὰς πάγας διαφευξόμεθα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς αἰωνίου σωτηρίας τευξόμεθα. Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Ἑρμηνεία εἰς Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ΙΑ' Source: Migne PG 80.944c

You, O Lord, protect us, and guard us, from this generation into eternity. 1 For the guardianship of your grace is that not only do we escape the snares of this present generation, but that we come into the possession of eternal salvation. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Interpretation of the Psalms, from Psalm 11 1 Ps 11.8

Substance and Nothingness

Καὶ ὑπόστασίς μου ὡσει οὐθὲν ἐνωπιόν σου. Ἥ καὶ οὕτως· Ἡ ὑπόστασίς μου ὡσει οὐθὲν ἐνωπιόν σου, ὅτι χίλια ἕτη ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς σου ὡσεὶ ἡμέρα ἡ ἐχθὲς ἢτις παρὴλθεν, ἢ φυλακὴ ἐν νυκτὶ, τουτέστιν ὥραι τρεῖς ἢ τέσσαρες. Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδήπερ αὐτὸς μὲν ὑπάρχεις ἀεὶ, ἡ δ' ἐμὴ ὑπόστασίς ὀλίγη παντελῶς ἐστιν καὶ συνεσταλμένη, καὶ ὡς οὐδὲν ὅλως ἐν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, μὴ ἀφῇς κολάζεσθαι μακρὰ τὸν ἐξ ἀσθενείας ὠλισθηκότα, μήτε μὴν τῷ παντὶ τοῦ βίου μήκει σύνδρομον ἔχοιμι τὴν πληγήν. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ ὑπόστασίς, ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας κατάδυσις εἴπεν· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος βίωσις. Ὁ γαρ ἀνθρώπινος βίος οὐδεν ἐστιν, ὡς πρὸς τὴν θείαν ἀϊδιότητα· καψὰ τὸ, Σὺ δὲ αὐτὸς εἶ· ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσα ἡ παρ' ἀνθρώποις σπουδὴ, ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Εἰς Τον Ψαλμον ΛΗ' Source: Migne PG 69.973c-976a

And my substance is nothing before you. 1 So he says that his substance is nothing before you, because a thousand years before your eyes are like a day which has passed, or a watch in the night 2 that is, three or four hours. When, then, you are eternal my existence is contracted to a tiny thing, and it is as nothing in your sight, and that lest you give long length for punishment to him who in his weakness errs, and all through such life he have a flood of blows. Now for substance, the translator Aquila writes 'depths', and Symmachus has 'life'. For human life is nothing before the eternity of God, according to which, 'You yourself are, and every concern of man is a vanity of vanities.' 3 Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Psalm 38 1 Ps 38.6 2  Ps 89.4 3 Ps 101.28

A Certain Sight

Καὶ ἀφελῶ τὴν χεῖρα καὶ τὸτε ὅψει τὰ ὁπίσω μου· τὸ δὲ πρόσωπόν μου οὐκ ὀφθήσεται σοι. Ἡ μὲν προκόσμιος ὕπαρξίς τε και θειότης δηλοῦται διὰ τοῦ προσώπου· ἡ δὲ δημιουργία καὶ πρόνοια διὰ τῶν ὀπίσω. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Ἐκλογαὶ Εἰς Την Ἐξοδον Source: Migne PG 39.1116a

'I shall remove my hand and you shall see behind me, but my face you shall not see.' 1 The Divine nature which has existed from before the beginning of the world, is what 'face' indicates, and creation and providence is what 'behind' signifies. Didymus the Blind, Commentary on Exodus, Fragment 1 Exod 33.23

Healing The Blind

Ab Jericho egreditur Dominus, jam de ista terra resurrectione discedens.  Sequuntur eum turbae multae; credunt in eum populi et gentes. Duo caeci sedentes iuxta viam significant de utroque populo quosdam iam cohaerentes per fidem dispensationi temporali secundum quam Christus via est, et desiderantes illuminari; id est, aliquid de verbi aeternitate intelligere: quod transeunte domino impetrare cupiebant, idest, per meritum fidei, qua creditur filius Dei, et natus homo, et passus propter nos: per hanc enim dispensationem quasi transit Iesus, quia actio temporalis est. Oportebat autem ut tantum clamarent donec resistentis sibi turbae strepitum vincerent; id est, tam perseverando animum intenderent orando atque pulsando, quousque consuetudinem desideriorum carnalium, quae tamquam turba obstrepit cognitioni lucem veritatis aeternae videre conanti, vel ipsam hominum carnalium turbam, studia spiritualia impedientem, fortissima intensione superarent. Itaque audiens Jesus qui ait, Petenti dabitur,et quaerens inveniet, et pulsanti aperietur, venientes ad se, ipso scilicet desiderii ardore perevenientes ad id quod desiderant, stans eos tangit, atque illuminat. Non enim sicut illa dispensatio temporalis, ita etiam Verbi aeternitas transit, quae in seipsa manens omnia innovat. Quapropter quia fides incarnantionis temporalis ad aeterna intelligenda nos praeparat, transeunte Jesu admoniti sunt ut illuminarentur, et ab stante illuminati sunt. Temporalia enim transeunt, aeterna stant. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, Questiones in Evangelium secundum Matthaeum, Liber Primus, XXVIII Source: Migne PL 35 1328

From Jericho the Lord goes out, 1 already going out from this earth with the resurrection. A great crowd follows him, the people and the gentiles believe in him. The two blind men sitting by the way signify certain folk of both nations already by faith coming to that temporal dispensation, according to which Christ is the way, and seeking to be enlightened, that is, to understand something of the eternity of the Word. This they desired to obtain from the Lord passing by, by the merit of that faith by which He is believed to be the Son of God, to have been born man, and to have suffered for us, for in this dispensation, Jesus, as it were, passes by, for all action is temporal. Also it was fitting that they should cry out until they overcame the din of the crowd that opposed them, that is, that they exert the soul by striving and prayer, and for as long as spiritual zeal was impeded by the habit of carnal desires, which as a crowd cry out against those who try to see the light of eternal truth, and so are like a crowd of carnal men, which with great striving they overcame. Thus Jesus hears, He who said, 'To him who asks it shall be given, and he who seeks shall find, and to him who knocks it shall be opened,' 1 and so they come to Him, approaching by the flame of desire in them to come to what they desire, and standing still He touches them and they see. For not as a temporal arrangement does the eternal Word pass by, that which in itself persisting makes all things new. 3 Whence since faith in the temporal incarnation prepares us for the understanding of eternity, so with Jesus passing by they were stirred that they be enlightened, and by Him standing still they were enlightened. Temporal things are transient, eternal things stand. Saint Augustine of Hippo, Questions on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 1, 28 1 Mt 20. 29 2 Mt 7.7 3 Wisdom 7.27

An Eternal Possession

Dabo tibi et semini tuo post te terram in qua habitas, omnem terram cultam in possessionem aeternam.  Quaestio est quomodo dixerit aeternam, cum Israelitis temporaliter data sit; utrum secundum hoc saeculum dicta sit aeterna, ut ab eo quod est αἰὼν graece, quod est saeculum significat, dictum sit: αἰώνιον, tamquam si latine dici posset saeculare ; an ex hoc aliquid secundum spiritalem promissionem hic intellegere cogamur, ut aeternum dictum sit, ideo quia hinc aeternum aliquid significatur; an potius locutionis est Scripturarum, ut aeternum appellent, cuius rei finis non constituitur; aut non ita fit ut deinceps non sit faciendum, quantum pertinet ad curam vel potestatem facientis; sicut ait Horatius: Serviet aeternum, qui parvo nesciet uti. Non enim potest in aeternum servire, cuius ipsa vita, qua servit, aeterna esse non potest. Quod testimonium non adhiberem, nisi locutionis esset. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, Quaestionum in Heptateuchum, Liber I, Cap XXXI

'I give to you and your seed after you that land in which you dwell, all the cultivated earth as an eternal possession.' 1  The question is: how does it say 'eternal' when it was given to the Israelites but for a time? Can it be that this age is called an eternity and that which the Greek have as αἰὼν and our 'age' signifies may have been meant? As again the Greeks say αἰώνιον and we say 'for the age.' But this is something we are obliged to understand as a spiritual promise, that was spoken as eternal, because by it something eternal is signified, or rather it is a way of speaking in Scripture that things are called eternal of which the end is not established, or what is to happen may not be done, as much as it pertains to the care or the ability to do it, and so Horace says, 'He shall be a slave for eternity who does not know how to live on little.' And yet he is not able to be a slave in eternity whose life in which he is a slave is not eternal. So likewise that passage I would not admit, unless it is a way of speaking. Saint Augustine of Hippo, Questions on the Heptateuch, Book 1, Chap 31 1 Gen 17.8 2 Horace Epis 1.10. 41

Three Eternities

Sed sciendum est quod aeternam tribus modis in sancta Scriptura legi solet. Primo, quod vere et proprie aeternum dicitur, omni mutabilitate carens, sicut solus Deus est. Alter vero modus est, eum ea res aeterna dicitur, quae ipsa quidem per se aeterna non est, sed quod significat, aeternum est; veluti hoc quod Abrahae dicitur: Dabo tibi et semini tuo terram hanc in possessionem aeternam. Cum nec ipsa terra, nec ejus habitatores aeterni esse potuissent, sed terra viventium, quae per hanc terram significatur, aeterna est; et habitatores illius aeterni, de quibus dicitur: Beati mites, quoniam ipsi possidebunt terram. Tertius modus est, quando ea res aeterna appelantur, cui finis non constituitur, aut ita fit ut deinceps non sit facienda, quantum ad curam val ad potestatem facientis, aut dicentis pertinet, eo genere locutionis, quo quidam Poeta dicit: Serviet aeternum, quo parvo nesciet uti. Non enim potest aeternum servire, cujus ipsa vita aeterna esse non potest. Sed magis quaedam differentia est inter essentiam omnipotentis Dei, et volventia humanae vitae tempora. Legimus enim tria tempora esse, id est, praeteritum, praesens, et futurum; sed ita ut pene nihil nobis praesens sit, sed omnia praeterita et futura. Verbum enim dum dico priorem dum dixi syllabam, posterior futura fuit: et dum posteriorem dico, praeteriit prior. Deo vero nihil praeteritum et futurum, sed omnia praesentia sunt, qui servo suo Moysi ait: Ego sum qui sum. Et Dices filiis Isreal: qui est, misit me ad vos. Alcuinus, Epistola CLXII, Ad Carolum Magnum Source: Migne PL 100.421b-d

But it should known that eternity is spoken of in three ways in Scripture. The first, which is the true and proper eternity, lacking any change, is God alone. Another way is when something is spoken of as eternal which is not in itself eternal, that is, it signifies something which is eternal, as when it is said to Abraham, 'I shall give to you and your seed this land as an eternal possession.' 1 And yet neither the land nor its inhabitants were eternal, but it is the 'land of the living,' 2 that is signified by this land, that which is eternal, and the inhabitants of it are also eternal, concerning which it is said, 'Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth' 3 The third way is when things are called eternal of which the end is not established, or that perhaps might not come to be on account of care of power to do it, which is signified by the words of that way of speaking, as a certain poet says, 'He shall be a slave for eternity who does not know how to live on little.' 4 For he cannot be a slave in eternity who does not have a life that is eternal. But certainly there is a great difference between the being of the almighty God and the fleeting times of human life. For we read there are three times, that is, the past, the present and the future, but almost nothing to us is able to be present, but everything is past or future. For a mere word which I speak, before I have said a syllable, it is in the future and then that moment after I have spoken it is of the past. But to God nothing is past or future but all things are present, which He declared to his servant Moses when He said, 'I am He who is.' And say to the sons of Israel, 'He who is sent me to you.' 5 Alcuin of York, from Letter 162, To Charlemagne 1 Gen 18.8 2 Ps 26.13 3 Mt 5.4 4 Horace Epis 1.10.41 5 Exod 3.14

Mercy and Eternity

Ἐξομολογεῖσθε τῷ Κυρίῳ ὅτι ἀγαθός ὅτι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ ̓ Επεὶ ἀγαθὸς ων ὁ θεὸς βούλεται τὴν μετάνοιαν τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ η τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ, οσοι ὑπεύθυνοι ἁμαρτίας ἐστέ, τὴν ἐκ μετανοίας ἐξομολόγησιν ἐπ' αὐτῷ ποιούμενοι εξετε αὐτὸν ἀφιέντα τὰ ὑπὲρ ων ἐξομολογεῖσθε. τὸ γὰρ ελεος αὐτοῦ ἀχώριστον αὐτοῦ τυγχάνον εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ειη, ἐπείπερ καὶ ην ἀεί, ἐλεοῦντος αὐτοῦ οὐ νῦν πρότερον ἀλλὰ καὶ πάλαι ανωθεν, ἐξομολογουμένων αὐτῷ πάντων τῶν πεῖραν ἐχόντων τῆς ἀγαθότητος αὐτοῦ. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Ψαλμους, Ψαλμος ΡΙΖ'

'Confess to the Lord, for His mercy is forever.' 1 Since God is good He wishes for the repentance of the sinner rather than his death, and so being aware of sins and repenting the doing of them in confession, one shall receive forgiveness on account of confession. For His mercy, which cannot be separated from Him, remains for ever and it always was; now is not the first time, but from of old all confess to him who have knowledge of His goodness. Didymus the Blind, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 117 1 Ps 117.1

The Eighth Day

In diebus octo assumpsit, et duxit in montem. Quid est quod iste dicit: In diebus octo post haec verba. Ne forte quia is qui verna Christi audit et credit, resurrectionis tempore gloriam Christi videbit; octava enim die facta est resurrectio; unde et plerique psalmi in octavam inscribuntur. Aut forte ut ostenderet nobis quia dixerat quod is qui propter Dei verbum perdiderit animam suam, salvam faciet eam; quoniam promissa sua in resurrectione restituat. Sed Matthaeus et Marcus post dies sex assumptos hos esse memorarunt  De quo possemus dicere, post sex millia annorum, Mille enim anni in conspectu Dei tamquam dies una: sed plures quam sex millia computantur anni: et malumus sex dies per symbolum intelligere, quod sex diebus mundi opera sunt creata; ut per tempus opera, per opera mundum intelligamus. Et ideo mundi temporibus impletis, resurrectio futura monstratur: aut quia is qui supra mundum ascenderit, et hujus saeculi momenta transcenderit, velut in sublimi locatus, futurae resurrectionis expectabit aeternum. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Evangelii secundum Lucam, Liber VII

On the eighth day he took them up and led them on to the mountain. 1 What is the meaning of him saying, 'On the eighth day after these words' unless perhaps that he who is a servant of Christ, who hears and believes, shall see in time the glory of the resurrection of Christ. For the eighth day is the resurrection, whence many Psalms are written in eight sections. 2 Or perhaps that it might be shown to us that he said that he who for the word of God gives his own soul, that he will save it, because His promise will restore in the resurrection. But Matthew and Mark recall that he took them up on the sixth day. 3 Concerning which we are able to say, after six thousand years, 'For a thousand years are as a day in the sight of God ' 4 but more than six thousand years are reckoned, and we prefer to understand the six days as a figure, that in six days the things of the world were created, that through time the works were done, and through the works we might understand the world. And therefore with the fullness of the time of the earth, the future resurrection will be shown. Or because this is of the one who has risen above the world, and this age transcended, and as in sublime place, is expecting the eternity of the future resurrection. Saint Ambrose, On The Gospel of Luke, Book 7 1 Lk 9.28 2 cf Ps 6 and 11 3 Mt 17.1 , Mk 9.1 4 Ps 89.4