Weeping the World

Beati qui lugent. Quamvis fidelis res mundi abdicavit, quamvis de injuriis non doluit, tamen in multa incidit aliquando, et ideo necessariae sunt lacrymae quae semper abluant, quia semper peccamus, et in miseriis hujus mundi nos esse videmus. Dolemus etiam de peccatis proximorum. Duo sunt genera compunctionis, quando pro miseriis hujus mundi et peccatis nostris gemimus, et pro desiderio coelestium. Unde filia Caleph petivit a parte irriguum superius et irriguum inferius, quia anima petit compunctionem a Deo, et pro peccatis, et pro desiderio patriae coelestis. Luctum autem pro miseriis hujus vitae et desiderio supernae patriae, non habet nisi solus pauper et mitis, qui mundum non diligit, sed miserum se recognoscit, et ideo coelum concupiscit. His lugentibus pro suis et aliorum peccatis convenit postulare: Debita nostra nobis dimitte, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Haec virtus quae mundi miseriam sentit, et a coelesti patria discernit, descendit a spiritu scientiae. Scientia enim de terrenis est, ut sciamus quae sit ista habitatio terrena, quam gravis, quam misera. Quod autem cogitamus de coelesti patria, hoc ideo fit, ut per comparationem miseriam hujus vitae intelligamus. Anselmus Laudunensis, Enarrationes In Matthaeum, Caput V Source: Migne PL 162.1286a-c

Blessed are those who weep... 1 Although the faithful man has forsaken the things of the world, although he has not been grieved because of injuries, however from time to time and in many things he falls, and therefore cleansing tears are always necessary, because we always sin, and we see ourselves among the wretched things of this world, and then we also grieve for the sins of our neighbours. There are two types of compunction, one when we groan for the wretchedness of this world and for our sins, and one in our desire for heavenly things. Hence the daughter of Caleb sought a part of both the higher land and the lower land, 2 because the soul seeks forgiveness from God both because of sin and with a desire for the heavenly fatherland. A man does not groan over the miseries of this life and with the desire for the supernal fatherland unless he is poor and meek, unless he is one who does not love the world but recognises his own wretchedness, and therefore desires heaven. With this groaning over himself, it also befits him to petition for the sins of others, 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.' 3 This virtue which feels the wretchedness of the world is learned from the heavenly fatherland and descends from the spirit of knowledge. For it is a knowledge of worldly things, so that we might know the things of this terrestrial dwelling, which are burdensome and which are wretched, and because we think of the heavenly fatherland, so it is that compared to it we understand the wretchedness of this life. Anselm of Laon, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 5 1 Mt 5.5 2 Jud 1.12-15 3 Mt 6.12

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

A Threefold Sorrow

Triformis est sanctorum dolor, quia distant de paradiso, quia detinentur in exsilio, qui differuntur a regno. Hugo De Sancte Victore, Miscellanea, Liber V, Tit LXXXIX, De triplici sanctorum dolore Source: Migne PL 177.802a

The sorrow of the holy is threefold, that they are distant from paradise, that they are detained in exile, that they are separated from the kingdom. Hugh Of Saint Victor, Miscellanea, Book 5, from Chapter 89, On the threefold sorrow of the holy

Knowledge, Sorrow, And Improvement

Scientia autem ista in primo gradu operatur poenitudinem et dolorem, ut risum in luctum, cantum in planctum, gaudium in moerorem convertat, et incipiant tibi displicere quae vehementer ante placuerant; et illa specialiter horreas quae specialiter appetebas. Sic enim scriptum est, Quia qui addit scientiam, addit et dolorem, ut veracis et sanctae scientiae sit dolor subsequens argumentum. In secundo vero gradu operatur correctionem, ut jam non exhibeas membra tua arma iniquitatis peccato, sed coerceas gulam, jugules luxuriam, superbiam deprimas, et facias servire corpus sanctitati, quod iniquitati ante servierat. Poenitudo enim sine correctione non proderit, sicut Sapiens ait: Unus aedificans, et unus destruens quid prodest eis nisi labor? Unus orans, et unus maledicens; cujus vocem exaudiet Deus? Qui enim baptizatur a mortuo, et iterum tangit eum, nihil proficit lavatio ejus, sed, juxta Salvatoris sententiam, verendum est ne ei aliquid deterius contingat. Sed quia haec diutius haberi non possunt, nisi circa se multa circumspectione mens indefessa vigilet et attendat; in tertio gradu operatur sollicitudinem, ut jam sollicitus incipiat ambulare cum Deo suo, et ex omni parte scrutetur, ne vel in levissima re tremendae illius majestatis offendat aspectus. In poenitudine accenditur, in correctione ardet, in sollicitudine lucet, ut interius et exterius renovetur. Sanctus Bernardus Clarae Vallensis, Sermones De Tempore, In Vigilia Nativitatis Domini, Sermo II Source: Migne PL 183.96b-d

But for its first step such knowledge brings forth penance and sorrow, so that laughter becomes sorrow, singing becomes groaning, and joy is turned into grief, and what very much pleased you previously begins to displease you, and that which was especially desired becomes particularly horrid. For so it is written, 'He who adds to knowledge, adds to sorrow,' 1 and thus the consequent sorrow is the proof of true and holy knowledge. Now in the second step correction is performed, so that you no longer exhibit your members as arms of iniquity for sin, but you grasp the throat, throttling luxury and choking off pride, in order to make your body a servant of sanctity, that which before had served wickedness. For penance without correction does not profit, as Wisdom says, 'One man builds up, another casts down, and what is the gain for them but the toil of it? One prays and another curses, whose voice does the Lord hear? For he who is washed after touching a corpse, and again he touches it, his washing profits not at all.' 2 And according to understanding of the Lord, one must fear lest something worse befall. 3 But because men shall not able to hold to these things for a long time unless the mind shall be unwearyingly circumspect in watchfulness and attention, so the third step is the work of concern, in which with great care a man begins to walk with His God, for every part must be scrutinised, unless even something which is most light offend the sight of His wondrous majesty. In penance a man is kindled, in correction he catches flame, in concern he gives light, so that the interior and exterior is renewed. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons For The Year, On the Vigil of the Nativity of the Lord, from Sermon 2 1 Eccl 1.18 2 Sirach 34. 23-25 3 Jn 5.14

Mourning And Comfort

Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται. Οἱ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασι πενθοῦντες, οὐχὶ ἐπὶ τινι τῶν βιωτικῶν· πενθοῦντες δὲ εἴπε, τουτέστιν, ἀεὶ καὶ οὐχ ἅπαξ· καὶ οὐχ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἁμαρτημάτων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν τοῦ πλησίον. Παρακληθήσονται δὲ καὶ ἐνταῦθα· ὁ γὰρ πενθῶν δι' ἁμαρτίαν, χαίρει πνευματικῶς· καὶ ἐκεῖ δὲ πολλῳ μᾶλλον. Θεοφύλακτος Αχρίδος, Ἑρμηνεία Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Ματθαιον, Κεφαλὴ E' Source: Migne PG 123.188b

Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 1 They who mourn sins, not temporal things. And He speaks of mourning here as something that is being done continually and not just once, and that this is not only for our own sins but even for the sins of our neighbours. And 'they shall be comforted' even here, for he who mourns on account of sin, he rejoices spiritually, and there shall much more. Theophylact of Ochrid, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint Matthew, Chapter 5 1 Mt 5.5

Stephen's Loss

Συνεκόμισαν δὲ τὸν Στέφανον ἄνδρες εὐλαβεῖς καὶ ἐποίησαν κοπετὸν μέγαν ἐπ' αὐτῷ... Ὥωπερ οὗν πᾶν κέρδος ἀποδέχεσθαι δεῖ ἢ μόνον τὸ πρὸς τὴν κυρίως ὠφελεαιν συντελοῦν· οὕτως οὐκ ἐπὶ πάσῃ ζημίᾳ ἢ συμορᾷ δυσχεραίνειν χρὴ, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ μόνων τῶν βλαπτόντων ψυχήν. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν καὶ ὁ Στέφανος, συνὼν ἀνθρώποις, πρὸς θεοσέβειαν τοῖς ποθεοῦσιν αὐτῆς πολὺ συνεβάλετο, ἀκόλουθον ἦν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀναιρέσει αὐτοῦ ἀνιαρῶς φέρειν, στερηθέντες ἀνδρὸς τοιούτου τῶν ὑστερησάντῶν αὐτοῦ. Ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι καὶ ἐπὶ θανάτῳ τῶν τυχόντῶν, κἂν ἄλλως φίλτατοι ὦσιν, ὀλοφύρεσθαι λυπουμένους πέρα τοῦ μέτρου. Τύπον γὰρ καὶ περὶ τούτων δίδωσιν ὁ Σωτὴρ, ὃς μέχρι τοῦ δακρῦσαι ἐπὶ τῷ ἀγαπωμένῳ Λαζάρῳ τεθνηκότι ἔφθασεν. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Ἐις Τάς Πράξεις Τῶν Ἀποστόλων, Ἐκλογή Source: Migne PG 39.1668c

Stephen was buried by devout men, who mourned greatly over him... 1 As then with every gain it is necessary to receive only that which is truly beneficial, thus no loss or misfortune should upset us, but only as it concerns those things which harm the soul. So it was with Stephen, when men coming together were much afflicted because of the loss of his piety, and it followed that they lamented his killing, bereaved of such a man and in want of him. And when the death of acquaintances may weigh heavily on one, then certainly it will with close friends, and there mourning is allowed, if the grief is not beyond measure. The Saviour gives an example of this, He who over the dead Lazarus, whom He loved, was inclined to tears. 2 Didymus the Blind, Commentary on The Acts of the Apostles, Fragment 1 Acts 8.2 2 Jn 11.33

Mourning And Hope

Τὸ ἀπαρηγορήτως λυπεῖσθαι, καὶ θρηνεῖν, καὶ νηστεύειν ἐπὶ τῷ τελευτήσαντι συγγενεῖ, ἔλεγχός ἐστι τῆς ἀπιστίας καὶ τῆς ἀνελπιστίας. Ὁ πιστεύων ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστήσεσθαι τὸν ἄρτι τεθαμμένον, ἐλπίοι ῥωσθήσεται, Θεῷ εὐχαριστήσει, εἰς εὐθυμίαν μετασκευάσεται τοὺς θρήνους, εὔξεται ἐλέους αἰωνίου τυχεῖν τὸν κοιμηθέντα, πρὸς διόρθωσιν ῥεψει τῶν οἰκείων πταισμάτων. Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΤΙΑ´ Θεωνᾳ Πολιτευομενῳ Source: Migne PG 79.196b

To grieve and to lament without consolation, and to refuse food because of the death of a relation, is an indication of a lack of belief and hopelessness. He who believes that the one who is now buried shall be raised from the dead, he shall be strengthened by hope, he shall give thanks to God, he shall change his sighs to joy, he shall pray that the one who sleeps shall partake of the eternal mercy, and he shall turn to the correction of his own errors. Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 311, to Theona The Statesman

Death And Mourning

Ordiamur igitur ab eo, ut lugendum nobis nostrorum obitum non esse doceamus. Quid enim absurdius, quam ut id quod scias omnibus esse praescriptum, quasi speciale deplores? Hoc est animum supra conditionem extollere, legem non recipere communem, naturae consortium recusare, mentem carnis inflari, et carnis ipsius nescire mensuram. Quid absurdius, quam nescire qui sis, affectare quod non sis? Aut quid imprudentius, quam quod futurum scias, id cum acciderit, ferre non posse? Natura ipsa nos revocat, et ab hujuscemodi moeroribus quadam sui consolatione subducit. Quis est enim tam gravis luctus, aut tam acerbus dolor, in quo non interdum relaxetur animus? Habet hoc natura, ut quamvis homines in tristibus rebus sint; tamen si modo homines sunt, a moerore mentem paulisper abducant. Fuisse etiam quidam feruntur populi, qui ortus hominum lugerent, obitusque celebrarent. Nec imprudenter; eos enim qui in hoc vitae salum venissent, moerendos putabant: eos vero qui ex istius mundi procellis et fluctibus emersissent, non injusto gaudio prosequendos arbitrabantur. Nos quoque ipsi natales dies defunctorum obliviscimur, et eum quo obierunt diem, celebri solemnitate renovamus. Non est ergo gravis subeundus moeror secundum naturam; ne aut excellentiorem aliquam naturae exceptionem nobis arrogare videamur, aut communem recusare. Etenim mors aequalis est omnibus, indiscreta pauperibus, inexcepta divitibus. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De excessu fratris sui Satyri, Liber II Source: Migne PL 16.1316b-1317a

Let us then begin from this, that we teach that the death of our loved ones should not be mourned by us. For what is more absurd than to deplore what you know is appointed to all as if it were something special? This is to lift up the mind above our state, not to accept the common law, to reject association with nature, to be puffed up in a fleshly mind, and to be ignorant of the measure of the flesh. What is more absurd than not to know what one is and to pretend to be what one is not? Or what is more imprudent than to be unable to bear what one knew would happen when it has happened? Nature herself calls us back and draws us away from this kind of sorrow by a certain consolation of her own. For what mourning is so deep or grief so bitter in which at times the soul may not have relief? Nature is so, that though men may be amid grievous things, yet if they are but men, they sometimes withdraw their thoughts a little apart from grief. Indeed it is said that there were certain peoples who lamented the birth of men and celebrated their deaths. This was not without reason, for they thought that those who had entered upon this sea of life should be mourned, but judged that those who had escaped from the storms and the waves of this world should rightly be accompanied by joy. 1 We also forget the birthdays of the dead and recall with solemn celebrations the day they died. Therefore it is in accordance with nature that one should not fall to excessive grief, lest either we seem to claim for ourselves either an exceptional excellence beyond nature, or we reject what is common. For death is the same for all, without difference for the poor, without exception for the rich. Saint Ambrose, On the Death of His Brother Satyrus, from Book 2 1 cf Herodotus Hist 5.4.1-2

The Mourners

Beati qui lugent, quoniam ipsi consolabuntur. Ac si diceret: Ad gaudium via est luctus, ad consolationem desolatio, ad inveniendam animam perditio, ad possidendam abjectio, ad amandam odium, ad servandam contemptus. Si vis teipsum cognoscere, te possidere, intra ad teipsum, nec te quaesieris extra. Aliud tu, aliud tui, aliud circa te. Circa te mundus, tui corpus, tu ad imaginem et similitudnem Dei factus intus. Redi igitur, praevaricator ad cor. Foris pecus es, ad imaginem mundi: unde et minor mundus dicitur homo: intus modo ad imaginem Dei, unde potes deificari. Itaque in semetipsum homo reversus, sicut junior ille prodigus filius, ubi se invenit, nisi in regione longinqua, in regione dissimilitudinis, in terra aliena, ubi sedeat et fleat, dum recordetur patris et patriae? Si porcos pascit, et esurit, nonne lugendi materiam in se reperit? Si multi mercenarii in domo patris sui abundant panibus, et ipse filius exsul et pauper fustra ventri siliquas quaerit, nonne facile oculis lacrymas invenit? O Adam, ubi es? Forte sub umbra adhuc, ut teipsum non videas, folia fatuitatis consuis, ut pudenda tegas: quae foris sunt circa te, et quae tui sunt videns; aperti enim tibi sunt oculi tales. Intus conspice, te vide; ibi sunt, quae magis pudeant quae exteriora pudere te faciant. Redi intus, praevaricator, ad animam; vide et plange eam subjectam vanitati et iniquitati: et ne possit emergere, captivitati. Exi foras ad carnem: vide et luge eam sunjectam corruptioni, mortalitati, et ne possit exsurgere, infirmitati. Et ne longum faciam, dilectissimi, nemo intrans in semetipso, nemo seipsum, agnoscens, nemo abyssum suae miseriae, suae ignorantiae, suae difficultatis, suarum passionum, penetrans, suam conscientiam metiens, magis, ubi facile lugent homines, in alicujus propinqui sui funere afficitur ad lacrymas, compungitur ad luctum, movetur ad planctum, quam in ipsius sui, eo maxime propinquo, quo intimo. Cur alterius miseretur, qui sui non miseretur? Constat ergo, fratres, foris non? esse a nobis, retro quoque, et non ante, nostri demum vel oblitos, vel prosus ignaros, quoties ridemus, jocamur, otiosis delectamur, pascimur fabulis, et verbis moventibus risum indulgemus, comessationibus et ebriatatibus crapulamur, caeterisque corporis mollitiis effluimus. Unde semper sobriae sapientiae curae fuit, ad domus luctus, potius quam ad domum convivii invitate, hic est in se, qui erat extra se, hominem revocare, dicens: Beati qui lugent. Isaac, Cisterciensis Abbas, Sermo II, In Festo Omnium Sanctorum Source: Migne PL 194.1695c-1696b

Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be consoled. 1 As if he said: The way to joy is grief, to consolation desolation, to the soul's finding ruin, to its possession abjection, to its love hate, to its guarding contempt. If you wish to know yourself, to possess yourself, go within yourself, lest you seek yourself outside. You are one thing, what is yours another, what is outside is something else. Around you is the world, yours is the body, within you are made to an image and likeness of God. 2 Return, then, sinner to the heart. Outside you are cattle, an image of the world, whence man is said to be a 'little world,' within you are an image of God, by which you are able to deified. Thus returning into himself a man is like that younger son, the prodigal; and where did he find himself, but in a land far off, in a region of dissimilarity, in a foreign place, where he sat and wept while he remembered his father and his fatherland? If you pasture pigs, and hunger, is it not that the matter which gives rise to grief is found in yourself? If many hired servants abound with the bread of the father, and the son himself, an exile and pauper, vainly seeks swill for his stomach, is it not that he finds tears come easily to his eyes. 3 O Adam, where are you? Likely beneath the shadows still, that you do not see yourself, sporting leaves of foolishness, that you obscure modesty, 4 looking at the things which are outside you and are of you, for your eyes are open to such things. Look within, see yourself, there you are, which should ashame you more than that which without makes you blush. Return within, sinner, to your soul; see and weep that it is subject to vanity and iniquity, and that it is not able to emerge from its captivity. Go outside to the flesh, see and weep that it is subject to corruption, death and it is not able to rise up from infirmity. And lest I go on too long, beloved, no one enters into himself, no one knows himself, no one penetrates to the abyss of his wretchedness, of ignorance or difficulties, or passions, no one grasps his conscience, more than when he freely weeps over men, some kinsman at whose funeral he is struck with tears, he is driven to grief, he is moved to groans, in himself, and the more near the man, so the more deeply. Why do you have pity for another when you will not pity yourself? Be firm, brothers; be not outside yourself, or behind, nor before, nor eventually forgetful, or utterly negligent, as often as we laugh and joke and delight in idleness, and feed on fables, and by words allow ourselves to moved to smiles, when we stuff ourselves with food and drink, and drift away on account of softness of the body. Whence it was always the care of sober wisdom to call to the house of tears rather than to the house of feasting, 5 He who is in Himself, who was outside, calling out to man, saying: 'Blessed are those who weep.' Isaac of Stella, from the Second Sermon for the Feast of All Saints 1 Mt 5.5 2 Gen 1.26 3 Lk 15.11-32 4 Gen 3.7-9 5 Eccles 7.2

Grief And Joy

Haec dies, fratres charissimi, quam fecit Dominus, ait Propheta sanctissimus: exsultemus et laetemur in ea. Nunquid, fratres, non et hesternam diem similiter Dominus fecit? Plane, sed illam jejunio, istam laetitiae consecravit; illa discipulis luctum, haec maximum intulit gaudium. Quid ergo, fratres, agendum? Nimirum, ut ratio docet, si heri luximus cum apostolis, gaudeamus hodie cum illis, et omnibus sanctis. Neque vereamur, ne nobis dicatur: Vae vobis qui ridetis nunc, quia lugebitis ac flebitis, cum propter praeteritam abstinentiam atque tristitam, ejusdem refoveamur consolatione dicentis, ut apostolis vero ante passionem, ita nobis ante resurrectionis Dominicae diem: Et vos igitur nunc quidem tristitiam habetis: iterum autem videbo vos, et gaudebit cor vestrum, et gaudium vestrum nemo tollet a vobis. Hoc dictum est apostolis, hoc dicitur et nobis: lucerunt apostoli pro morte, quanquam illis nimium necessaria, Christi, de cujus resurrectione gaudio inaestimabili, et immensa sunt gratulatione laetati; imitati sumus hesterno luctum illorum, imitemur hodie gaudium. Sed si eos volumus imitari, ab eisdem normam sumamus, moneo, gaudii. Dic igitur, sancte Apostole, post omnes quidem vocate, sed usque ad tertium coelum modo quem ipse melius nostri divinitus rapte; dic, inquam satisfac interrogantibus, unde debeamus gaudere. Pascha, inquit, pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus. Non ob aliud? Immolationem nam nos ipsam intellexeramus eamdem, quam Apostoli luxerant mortem, quorum et hesterno sumus imitati moerorem. Rogamus igitur, prosequere quid debeamus hodie vel qualiter agere. Subjungit atque ait: Itaque epulemur, id est, carnem Domini manducemus, et sanguinem ipsius bibamus: Non in fermento tamen veteri, neque in fermento malitiae et nequitiae; sed in azymis sinceritatis et vertitatis. Et veritatis, inquam. Quare hoc? Quia et alibi idem dicit Apostolus: Consepulti sumus Christo per baptismum in mortem: ut quomodo surrexit Christus a mortuis per gloriam Patris, ita et nos in novitate vitae ambulemus. Si enim complantati sumus similitudini mortis ejus, simul et resurrectionis erimus. Hoc igitur sensus, fratres charissimi, servamus operando quod credimus, in Christo renati, in Christo passi, in Christo mortui, in Christo sumus a mortuis suscitati, ac per hoc maxima nobis est ratio gaudi. Hanc ergo diem non sibi solum, sed et nobis quia fecit Dominus, fratres, exsultemus et laetemur in ea. Ratherius Veronensis Sermo IV, De Pascha Source:Migne PL 136.719c-720c

'This day,' dear brothers, 'which the Lord made,' says the most holy Prophet, 'let us exult and let us rejoice in it.' 1 But did not, brothers, the Lord make yesterday as well? Certainly, but that was consecrated for fasting, this day is for joy; that day was for sorrow with the disciples, this day brings in great joy. What, then, brothers, should we do? Without doubt reason teaches that if yesterday we sorrowed with the Apostles, today we rejoice with them, and with all the saints. Let us not fear, let it not be said to us: 'Woe to you who smile now, because you shall lament and weep,' 2 when on account of prior abstinence and grief, His words of consolation shall blaze forth, just as they did to the Apostles before the passion, so to us before the day of the resurrection of the Lord: 'Even you now have a certain sorrow, but again I will see you, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.' 3 This which was said to the Apostles is also said to us. The Apostles grieved for the death of Christ, certainly necessary for them, and in His resurrection they rejoiced with immeasurable joy and immense thanks. Yesterday we imitated their grief, today let us imitate their joy. But if we wish to imitate them, I bid that we take from them our measure of our joy. So speak, holy Apostle, you who were called after the others, but who was swept up to the third heaven by our Divinity for our betterment; speak, I say, and satisfy those who ask: why should we rejoice? 'Christ our Paschal lamb has been sacrificed.' 4 For nothing else? That same sacrifice we have understood, which death grieved the Apostles, the sorrow of whom we imitated yesterday. Let us ask, therefore, what we should do today, or how we should do it. He says a little after: 'Thus let us feast, that is, let us eat the flesh of the Lord, and let us drink His blood. Not, however, with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of wickedness and malice, but with the leaven of sincerety and truth.' 5 Of truth, I say. Why? Because elsewhere the Apostle says: 'We have been buried with Christ in baptism to death, so that as Christ rose from the dead by the glory of the Father, thus even we shall walk in the new life. If indeed we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall be resurrected like Him.' 6 Let us guard this understanding, dearest brothers, in the doing of what we believe, in Christ reborn, in Christ suffering, in Christ dying, in Christ being raised from the dead, and in this the great reason for our joy. Thus this day which the Lord made, not only for Himself, but even for us, brothers, let us exult and rejoice in it. Ratherius Of Verona, from Sermon 4, On The Pasch 1 Ps 117.24 2 Lk 6.25 3 Jn 16.22 4 1 Cor 5.7 5 1 Cor 5.8 6 Rom 6.4-5

Patience and Bereavement

Ne illa quidem inpatientiae species excusatur in amissione nostrorum, ubi aliqua doloris patrocinatur adsertio. Praeponendus est enim respectus denuntiationis apostoli, qui ait: Ne contristemini dormitione cuiusquam sicut nationes quae spe carent.  Et merito: credentes enim resurrectionem Christi, in nostram quoque credimus, propter quos ille et obiit et resurrexit. Ergo cum constet de resurrectione mortuorum, uacat dolor mortis, uacat et inpatientia doloris.  Cur enim doleas, si perisse non credis? Cur inpatienter feras subductum interim quem credis reversurum? Profectio est quam putas mortem. Non est lugendus qui antecedit, sed plane desiderandus. Id quoque desiderium patientia temperandum: cur enim inmoderate feras abisse quem mox subsequeris? Ceterum inpatientia in huiusmodi et spei nostrae male ominatur et fidem praevaricatur, et Christum laedimus cum evocatos quosque ab illo quasi miserandos non aequanimiter accipimus. Cupio, inquit Apostolus, recipi iam et esse cum Domino. Quanto melius ostendit votum! Christianorum ergo votum, si alios consecutos inpatienter dolemus, ipsi consequi nolumus! Tertullianus, De Patientia Source: Migne PL 1.1263b-1264a

Not even that type of impatience on account of the loss of our own is excused, where some assertion of grief acts as patron of it. For the consideration of the Apostle's declaration must be put before us, which says, 'Be not saddened by the falling asleep of any one, like the peoples who are without hope.' 1 And rightly, for believing in the resurrection of Christ, we also believe in our own, for whose sake He both died and rose. Since, then, there is certainty concerning the resurrection of the dead, there is no room for grief for death, there is no room for the impatience of grief. For why should you grieve if you believe that he has not perished? Why should you bear impatiently for a time the withdrawal of him who you believe will return? That which you think to be death is departure. He who goes before is not to be lamented, though certainly wanted. That longing also must be tempered with patience, for why should you bear without moderation the going away of him whom you will soon follow? Besides, impatience in matters of this kind bodes ill for our hope, and fails in its duty to the faith, and we wound Christ when those called away by him we deem as ones to be pitied, not accepting it with equanimity. 'I desire,' says the Apostle, 'to be received now, and to be with the Lord.' 2 How far better a wish does he exhibit! If, then, we grieve impatiently over others who attain the wish of Christians, we ourselves are unwilling to attain it. Tertullian, On Patience 1 1 Thes 4.13 2 Philip 1.23

Grief And Blessings

Ἐκάθισεν Ἰερεμίας κλαίων. Τὸν ἐξ ἀγάπης κλαυθμὸν μακαριζόμενον. Τοῦ γὰρ ἀγίου ἐστὶ, κλααιειν μετὰ κλαιόντων, καὶ χαίρειν μετὰ χαιρόντων. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ  Ἐγγίζων τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὁ Κύριος ἔκλαυσε καὶ εἴπεν·  Ἰερουσαλὴμ Ἰερουσαλήμ ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτήν, ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου, ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγει τὰ νοσσία αὐτῆς ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ.  Εἰ τοίνυν μακάριοι οἱ κλαίοντες, ὅτι γελάσετε, ἔδει Ἰερεμίαν τὸν μυστικὸν τοῦτον κλαῦσαι κλαυθμὸν, καὶ κατὰ τὸ Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, πενθῆσαι τοὺς τοῦ πενθεῖσθαι ἀξίους. Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαι Εἰς Θρηνους Source: Migne PG 13 608c-d

Jeremiah sat and wept. 1 He who grieves on account of love is blessed. It is of the holy man to weep when others weep, to rejoice when they rejoice. 2 On the same:  Nearing Jerusalem the Lord wept and said, 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, still murdering the prophets, and stoning those sent out to her, how often have I wished to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings; and you did not wish it.' 3 If they are blessed who grieve because they will laugh, 4 thus it befits Jeremiah to bring forth this holy weeping, and according to 'Blessed are those who weep,' so it is to lament those things worth lamenting. Origen, Commentary On Lamentations, Fragment 1 Lam 1.Prologue 2 Rom 12.13 3 Mt 23. 37 4 Lk 6.21

Grief And Sin

Ὁ ἐφ᾽ ἁμαρτίας γινόμενος ὀδυρμὸς, γλυκεῖαν κέκτηται τὴν ἀνίαν, καὶ μελιτῶδες αὐτοῦ τὸ πικρὸν εὑρίσκεται, ἐλπίδι ἀγαθῇ καὶ χρηστῇ φαρματτόμενον, διὰ τοῦτο τρέφει τὴν ψυχὴν, γανοῖ τὸ φρόνημα, λιπαῖνει τὴν καρδίαν, εὐθαλὲς ἐργάζεται τὸ τοῦ σώματος σύγκριμα. Καὶ καλῶς ὁ Δαυῗδ ἐμελῷδει· Ἐγενήθη μοι τὰ δάκρυα ἄρτος ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός. Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΣΚ' Ἀριστοτελει Προτευοντι Source: Migne PG 79 164

He who grieves on account of sin  makes sweet his sorrow, and the bitterness of it he discovers is honey, receiving the medicines of good and sweet hope, by which the soul is nourished, the mind made bright, the heart made strong, and the body flourishes. Fairly David sang, 'My tears were my bread day and night.' 1 Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 220, To Aristotles The Primate 1 Ps 41.4

A Way of Correction

Πᾶσα κεφαλὴ εἰς πόνον, φησὶν ὁ Ἡσαὶς, καὶ πᾶσα καρδία εἰς λύπην ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· Ἡ γῆ καὶ ὑμῶν ἕρημος, τὴν χώραν ὑμῶν ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν ἀλλότριοι κατεσθίουσιν.'  Δὶα μὲν τῶν ποδῶν τοὺς ὑποτεταγμένους, διὰ δὲ τῆς καφαλῆς τοὺς καθηγουμένους αἰνιττόμενος, πονηρίας ἀπάσης ἐμπεπλησμένους· πᾶσα γὰρ κεγαλὴ εἰς πόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ πόδες αὐτῶν εἰς πονηρίαν τρέχουσιν, ὠς ἐν ἑτέρῳ τόπῳ εἴρηκεν ὁ Προφήτης. Πόνον τοιγάρτοι τὴν πονηρείαν νόει, καθὼς λέγει ὁ Δαυῒδ περὶ ψυχῆς βεβήλου, ὅτι Συνέλαβες πόνον, καὶ ἕτεκες ἀνομίαν. Ἡ γὰρ πονηρεία τὴν ἀνομίαν πέφυκεν ἀποτίκτειν. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἐν τῷ καταφρονεῖν, καὶ ἀγαπᾷν τὰ φαῦλα, πολλάκις κρίσει Θεοῦ τὸ σκυθρωπα καὶ λυπηρὰ ἔπεται, πρὸς διόρθωσιν ἐκκαλούμενα τοὺς ἐξαμαρτάνοντας, διὰ τοῦτο εἴρηκε· Καὶ πᾶσα καρδία εἰς λύπην. Λυποῦνται γὰρ Ἰουδαῖοι ὑπὸ Θεοῦ, δι' ἀνθρωπίνης χειρὸς τιμωρούμενοι καὶ καταθλιβόμενοι.  Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΝΕ' Ζωσαριῳ Τριβουνῳ

'Every head in grief,' says Isaiah 'and every heart mournful from the foot to the head.' 1 And a little after, 'Your land a  waste and foreigners devouring your county before your eyes.' 2 And by feet they are subdued, and with nodding heads led away, with wickedness spread everywhere; for every head is in grief because their feet bore them rapidly on a course of wickedness, as the Prophet says also in another place. 3 So the grief of wickedness is to be understood, which David speaks of concerning the profane soul, 'You conceived grief and you birthed iniquity.'  4 Wickedness by its own nature births iniquity. And then when a man has become contemptuous and a lover of evils, there often follows the troublesome and tearful judgement of God for the cause of the correction of sinners, since it is said 'And every heart in sorrow.' For by God the Hebrews are joined to grief, while the human hand castigates and oppresses. Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 55 to Zosarius the Tribune 1 Isa 1.5  2 Isa 1.7  3 Is 59.7  4 Ps 7.15

A Fallen Priest

Nimis contristatus sum pro Valente, qui presbyter factus est aliquando apud vos, quod sic ignoret is locum qui datus est ei. Moneo itaque ut abstinete vos ab omni malo.  Qui autem non potest se in his gubernare, quomodo alii pronuntiat hoc?  Si quis non se abstinuerit ab avaritia, ab idolotatria conquinabitur et tamquam inter gentes iudicabitur, qui ignorant iudicium domini. Aut nescimus, quia sancti mundum iudicabunt? sicut Paulus docet.  Ego autem nihil tale sensi in vobis vel audivi, in quibus laboravit beatus Paulus, qui estis in principio episulae eius. De vobis etenim gloriatur in omnibus ecclesiis, quae dominum solae tunc cognoverant; nos autem nondum cognoveramus.  Valde ergo, fratres, constristor pro illo et pro coniuge eius, quibus det dominus paenitentiam veram. Sobrii ergo estote et vos in hoc; et non sicut inimicos tales existimetis, sed sicut passibilia membra et errantia eos revocate, ut omnium vestrum corpus salvetis. Hoc enim agentes vos ipsos aedificatis. Ἅγιος Πολύκαρπος Σμύρνης, Πρὸς Φιλιππήσιους Έπιστολή Source: Migne PG 5.1013

I am greatly grieved for Valens, who was at one time a priest among you, because he is so ignorant of the place that was given him. I exhort you, therefore that 'you abstain from every evil.' 1 For if a man cannot govern himself in such things, how shall he enjoin them on others? If a man does not keep himself from avarice, he shall be defiled by idolatry and shall be judged as one of the gentiles who are ignorant of the judgment of the Lord. 'Do we not know that the saints shall judge the world?' 2 as Paul teaches. But I have seen no such thing among you, nor heard of it, in the midst of whom the blessed Paul laboured, you who are commended in the beginning of his letter to you. 3 For he glories in you of all the Churches which alone then knew the Lord; but we had not yet known Him. I am greatly grieved, therefore, brethren, for him and his wife, to whom may the Lord grant repentance. And be then moderate in this, and 'do not regard such folk as enemies,' 4 but call them back as suffering and straying members, that you may save your whole body. For by acting so you shall edify yourselves. 5 Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, from the Letter to the Phillipians. 1 1 Thes 5.22 2 1 Cor 6.2 3 cf Phil 2-6 4 2 Thes 3.15 5 1 Cor 12.26

Consoling A Widow

Εἰ μὲν μόνην τοῦ συμβεβηκότος ὑμῖν πάθους ἐλογιζόμην τὴν φύσιν, τῶν ψυχαγωγούτων ἄν ἐδεήθην κἀγὼ, οὐ μόνον τῷ τὰ ὑμέτερα οἰκεῖα κρίνειν, καὶ τὰ θυμήρη, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὁποῖά ποτ' ἂν ᾗ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ τὴν θαυμασίαν ἐκείνην καὶ ὅντως αξιέπαινον κεφαλήν διαφερόντως ἠγαπηκέναι. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὅπος αὐτὸν θεῖος ἐνθένδε μετέστησε, καὶ εἰς τὴν ἀμείνω μετέθηκε βιοτὴν, καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἑμαυτοῦ ψυχῆς ἀποσκεδάννυμι τῆς ἀθυμίας τὸ νέφος, καὶ τὴν σὴν παρακαλῶ σεμνοπρέπειαν νικῆσαι τῆς ἀθυμίας τὸ πάθος τῷ λογισμῷ, καὶ εἰς καιρὸν προσενεγκεῖν τῇ ψυχῇ τῶν θείων λόγων τὴν ἐπῳδήν· τούτου γὰρ δὴ χάριν εὐθὺς ἐκ σπαργάνων οἶόν τινα θηλὴν ἔλκομεν τῆς ἱερᾶς Γραφῆς τὴν μελέτην, ἴν' ὅταν ἡμῖν προσπέσῃ πάθος, προσενέγκωμεν ἀλεξίκακον φάρμακον τὴν διδασκαλίαν τοῦ Πνεύματος. Οἴδαμεν δὲ ὡς παγχάλεπον, καὶ λίαν ἐστὶν ἀλγεινὸν, ἀξιεράστου τινὸς ἐν πείρᾳ γεγενημένον ἔρημον ἐξαπίνης τοῦ ποθουμένου γενέσθαι, καὶ ἐν εὐκληρίᾳ γενόμενον δυσκληρίᾳ περιπεσεῖν. Ἀλλὰ τοῖς γε νοῦν ἔχουσι, καὶ σώφρονι λογισῷ κεχρημένοις, οὐδὲν τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἀδόκητον· οὐδὲν γὰρ τούτων σταθερὸν, ούδε βέβαιον ού καλλος, οὐ πλοῦτος, οὐκ εὐεξία σώματος, οὐκ ἀξιώματος ὅγκος· οὐκ ἄλλο τι τῶν παρὰ τοῖς πλείστοις θαυμαζομένων. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἄκρας εὐπορίας εἰς πενίαν ἐσχάτην μετέπεσον· οἱ δὲ τὴν ὑγίειαν ἀποβαλόντες, παντοδαποῖς παλαίουσι πάθεσιν· ἀλλοι περιφανείᾳ συμνυνόμενοι γένους, τὸν βαρύτατον ἔλκουσι τῆς δουλείας ζυγόν. Τῷ δὲ κάλλει τοῦ σώματος καὶ νόσος λωβᾶται, καὶ γῆρας λυμαίνεται. Μάλα δὲ σοφῶς τῶν ὅλων ὁ Πρύτανις οὐδὲν τούτων εασε διαρκὲς, οὐδὲ μόνιμον· ἵνα τὰς μεταβολὰς δεδιότες οἱ τούτων τετυχηκότες, καταστέλλωσι τὴν ὀφρὺν, καὶ τὸν τούτων εὔριπον ἐπιστάμενοι, μὴ τοῖς προσκαίροις θαῥῥῶσιν, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸν τῶν ἀγαθῶν χορηγὸν ἔγωσι τὰς ἐλπίδας. Ταῦτα τὴν σὴν εἰδῦαν θαυμασιότητα, τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν καταμαθεῖν αξιῶ· εὐρήσεις γὰρ αὐτὴν θνητὴν οὔσαν, καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς δεξαμένην τοῦ θανάτου τὸν ὅρον. Πρὸς γὰρ τὸν Ἀδὰμ ὁ τῶν ὅλων ἔφη Θεος· 'Γη εἴ καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ.' Ἀψευδὴς δὲ ὁ τὴν ψῆφον ἐξενεγκὼν, καὶ μάρτυς ἡ πεῖρα. Μία γὰρ πάντων εἴσοδος εἰς τὸν βίον, κατὰ τὴν  θείαν Γραφὴν, ἔξοδός τε ἴση, καὶ πᾶς γεννώμενος προσμένει τὸν τάφον. Καὶ οὐδὲ ἴσον ἂπαντες βιοτεύουσι χρόνον· ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν πρόωροι τελευτῶσιν, οἱ δὲ εἰς ἄνδρας τελέσαντες, οἱ δὲ καὶ τῶν τοῦ γήρως ἀνιαρῶν πειραθέντες· οὕτω καὶ οἱ τοῦ γάμου δεξάμενοι τὸν ζυγὸν διαζεύγνυνται· ἀνάγκη γὰρ ἢ τὸν ἂνδρα προαπελθεῖν, ἢ τὴν γυναῖκα προτέραν δέξασθαι τοῦ βίου τὸ τέλος. Καὶ οἱ μὲν εὐθὺς μετὰ τὴν παστάδα τοὺς θρήνους ἐδέξαντο· οἱ δὲ ὀλιγον συμβιώσαντες χρόνον. Ἀπόχρη τοίνυν καὶ τὸ κοινὸν τοῦ πάθους ἀφορμὴν τῷ λογισμῳ παρασχεῖν εἰς τὸ νικῆσαι τὸ πάθος. Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Ἐπιστολή ΙΔ', Ἀλεξάνδρᾳ Source: Migne PG 83.1185d-1188d

If I had only considered the character of your suffering, I also would have been in need of consolation, not only because I think that what concerns you, be it agreeable or otherwise, concerns me, but because I dearly loved that worthy and wonderful man. But since the Divine decree has taken him from here and translated him to the better life, I therefore scatter the cloud of sorrow from my soul, and call on you to vanquish grief's pain by the power of reason, and in this hour to bring your soul under the spell of God's word; for why from the very cradle do we suck the instruction of the Sacred Scriptures, like milk from the breast, but that when suffering falls on us we may be able to apply the teaching of the Spirit as a balm for our pain? I know how sad and how very grievous it is when one has experienced the worth of some loved object, suddenly to be deprived of it, and in a moment to fall from happiness to misery. But to them who have good good sense, and employ prudent reason, no human event is unexpected; for nothing human is stable, nothing lasting; neither beauty, nor wealth, nor health, nor high dignity; nor any of all those things that most consider wonderful. Some tumble from height of opulence to lowest poverty, and some lose their health and struggle with various forms of disease, and some proud of the splendour of their lineage come to drag the crushing yoke of slavery. Sickness mars the beauty of the body and old age destroys it, and very wisely has the supreme Ruler not allowed any of these things to continue nor be stable forever, so that their possessors, in fear of change, may restrain proud looks, and, knowing how all such things flow away, may cease to put their confidence in what is transient, and found their hopes upon the One who gives all that is good. These things knowing, most excellent lady, consider human nature; for you will find that it is mortal and from the beginning received the doom of death . It was to Adam the God of all said 'Dust you are and to dust you shall return.' 1 Truthful is He who gave the sentence, and experience is witness. 'All have one entrance into life and one is the exit,' 2 Divine Scripture tells us, and for every one born the grave waits. And all do not live an equal length of time; some men come to an end too soon; some in their manhood, and some after they have experienced the trials of old age; and likewise they who have taken on the marriage yoke are released from it, and it must be that either husband depart first or wife reach life's end before him. And some have just entered the bridal chamber when comes lamentation, and some live together a little while. Enough, then, to remember that the grief is common to give reason space to conquer grief. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Letter 14, To Alexandra 1 Gen 3.19 2 Wis 7.6

Turning Weeping Into Joy

Ἤκουσε Κύριος, καὶ ἠλέησέ με· Κύριος ἐγένήθη βοηθός μου. Μετὰ τὸ διηγήσασθαι τίνα ἧν ἂ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἐκέκραξεν, εὐθὺς αἰσθόμενος τῆς ἀντιλήψεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, παρομῶν ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὁμοίων αἴτησιν, Ἤκουσε, φησὶ, Κὺριος, καὶ ἠλέησέ με· Κύριος ἐγένήθη βοηθός μου. Εὐχώμεθα οὖν καὶ ἡμεῖς, καὶ κράζωμεν τὴν πνευματικὴν βοὴν, αἰτούμενοι τὰ μεγάλα, μὴ ἀντιποιούμενοι τῆς σαρκὸς, Οἱ γὰρ ἐν σαρκὶ ὄντες, Θεῷ ἀρέσαι ού δύνανται, ἵνα καὶ ἡμῶν ἐπακούσῃ ὁ Κύριος, ἐλεήσας ἡμῶν τὸ ἀσθενὲς, καὶ της θείας βοηθείας ἀπολαύσαντες καὶ ἡμεῖς εἴπωμεν· Ἔστρεψας τὸν κοπετόν μου εἰς χαρὰν ἐμοι. Οὐ τῇ τυχούσῃ ψυχῇ ἡ ἀπὸ Θεοῦ χαρὰ ἐγγίνεται, ἀλλ' εἴ τις πολλὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀπεκλαύσατο, ἰσχυροϊς ὀδυρμοϊς καὶ θρήνοις διηνεκέσιν, ὡς ἐπὶ τεθνεῶτι ἑαυτῷ κοπετὸν ἐποιήσατο, τοῦ τοιούτου ὁ κοπετὸς εἰς χαρὰν στρέφεται. Ὅτι δέ ἐστιν ἐπαινετῶς κόψασθαι, δηλοῦσιν οἱ ἐν ταῖς ἀγοραῖς καθήμενοι παῖδες, οἱ λέγοντες· Ἐθρηνήσαμεν ὑμῖν, καὶ οὐκ έκόψασθε· ηὐλήσαμεν ὐμῖν, καὶ οὐκ ὠρχήσασθε. Ἔστι δὲ ὁ αὐλὸς ὄργανον μουσικὸν πνεύματι συνεργῷ πρὸς τὴν μελῳδίαν χρώμενον. Διόπερ οἶμαο πάντα ἅγιον προφήτην αὐλὸν τροπικῶς ὀνομάζεσθαι διὰ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος κίνησιν. Διόπερ, φησὶν, ηὐλήσαμεν ὑμῖν, καὶ οὐκ ὠρχήσασθε. Οἱ γὰρ προφητικοὶ λόγοι προτρέπονται ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τὴν εὔρύθμον τῆς ἁγίας προφητείας ἐνέργειαν, ἤτις εἴρηται ὄρχησις. Ἀλλὰ καὶ θρηνοῦιν ἡμῖν οἱ προφῆται, εἰς κοπετὸν ἡμᾶς προκαλούμενοι, ἵνα, εἰς συναίσθησιν ἐλθόντες ἐκ τῶν προφητικῶν λόγων ἐπὶ τοῖς ἑαυτῶν ἁμαρτήμασι, καταπενθήσωμεν ἡμῶν τὴν ἀπώλειαν, ἐν κόποις καὶ μόχθοις τὴν σάρκα ἡμῶν καταπιέσαντες. Τῷ τοιούτῳ τοίνυν περιῥῥήγνυται μὲν τὸ μενθικὸν ἕνδυμα, ὅ καταπενθῶν ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἁναρτίαν περιεβάλετο. Περιτίθεται δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ χιτὼν τῆς εὐφροσύνης, καὶ τὸ ἱμάτιον τοῦ σωτηρίου, τὰ φαιδρὰ ταῦτα καὶ γαμικὰ ἐνδύματα, οἶς ὁ κεκοσμημένος ἐκ τοῦ νυμφῶνος οὐκ ἐκβληθήσεται. Διέῥῥηξας τὸν σάκκον μου, καὶ περιέζωσας με εὐφροσύνην. Συνεργὸς εἰς μετάνοιαν ὁ σάκκος, ταπεινώσεως ὑπάρχων σύμβολον· Πάλαι γὰρ ἂν ἐν σάκκῳ, φησὶ, καὶ σποδῷ καθήμενοι μετενόησαν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ Απόστολος ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ τὴν αὐτὴν εἰκόνα μεταμορφοῦται ἀπὸ δόξης εἰς δόξαν, τὴν δοθεῖσαν αὐτῷ χάριν ἀπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου ἰδίαν λέγει δόξα. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Εἰς Τον ΚΘ' Ψαλμον

The Lord heard and He was merciful to me; the Lord was my help. 1 After telling of things he had cried out to the Lord, immediately sensing the help of God, he exhorts us to do the same. 'The Lord heard,' he said,' and He was merciful to me; and the Lord was my help.' Let us pray then that we cry out with spiritual clamour, seeking not base things, nor caring for the flesh, for those who are in the flesh are not able to be pleasing to God, 2 that God hear us, having mercy on our weakness, and that with gift of divine help we might say, 'You have turned my weeping into joy.'  3 The joy of God does not inhere in just any soul but if a man lament his sin vehemently with groans and with heavy sighs, as if he himself we mourning himself dead, this is the grief which is turned into joy. And that it is even praiseworthy grief,  the children sitting in the marketplace show, saying, ' We lamented to you and you did not weep, we sang with flutes and you did not dance.' 4 The musical instrument of the flute is made to work with breath for the production of melody, and therefore I think that every holy prophecy is the playing of the flute through the movement of the Holy Spirit and that when it says that we played to you and you did not dance, we have the prophetic words exhorting us to motion pleasing to sacred prophecy. And for our sake the prophets lamented, exhorting us to our own grief, that through prophetic words we become conscious of our sins, that we weep our deaths, laboring and groaning in the castigation of the flesh. And from such men is the mourning garb cut off, that which in grief for his sin he had put on. Then he is surrounded with a tunic of joy and a cloak of salvation and the splendid garb of the wedding guest, which if he does not wear will have him expelled from the nuptial chambers. 5 'You cut off my sackcloth and surrounded me with joy.' 6 The sackcloth is help to penance, and a sign of humility. For he says 'Sitting in sackcloth and ash they made penance' 7 And then the Apostle says: With face revealed, to the same image transformed, from glory into glory 8,' the grace given to him by the Lord he names glory. Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 29 1 Ps 29.11 2 Rom 8.8 3 Ps 29.12  4 Lk 7.32 5 Mt 22.11-13 6 Ps 29.12 7 Lk 10.13 8 2 Cor 3.18

Mercy and Discipline

Cyprianus fratribus in plebe consistentibus salutem.  Ingemiscere vos et dolere ruinas fratrum nostrorum ex me scio, fratres charissimi, qui et ipse vobiscum pro singulis ingemisco pariter et dolet, et patior ac sentio quod beatus Apostolus dixit : ' Quis infirmatur,' inquit, et ego non infirmor ? quis scandalizatur, et ego non uror? Et iterum posuit in Epistola sua dicens : Si patitur membrum unum,  compatiuntur et caetera membra; et si laetatur membrum unum, collaetantur et caetera membra. Compatior ergo et condoleo de fratribus nostris qui, lapsi et persecutionis infestione prostrati, partem nostrorum viscerum secum trahentes, parem dolorem nobis suis vulneribus intulerunt; quibus potens est divina misericordia medelam dare. Properandum tamen non puto, nec incaute aliquid et festinanter gerendum, ne, dum temere pax usurpatur, divinae indignationis offensa gravius provocetur. Fecerunt ad nos quibusdam beati martyes litteras, petentes examinari desideria sua. Cum, pace nobis omnibus a Domino prius data, ad Ecclesiam regredi coeperimus, tunc examinabuntur singula praesentibus et judicantibus vobis. Audio tamen quosdam de presbyteris nec, Evangelii memores, nec quid ad nos martyres scripserint cogitantes, nec episcopo honorem sacerdotii sui et cathedrae reservantes, jam cum lapsis communicare coepisse et offerre pro illis et Eucharistiam dare, quando oporteat ad haec per ordinem perveniri. Nam, cum in minoribus delictis quae non in Deum commituntur poenitentia, agatur justo tempore, et exomologesis fiat inspecta vita ejus qui agit poenitentiam, nec ad communicationem venire quis possit nisi prius illi ab episcopo et clero manus fuerit imposita, quanto magis in his gravissimis et extremis delictis caute omnia et moderate, secundum disciplinam Domini, observari oportet? Quod quidem nostri presbyteri et diaconi monere debuerant, ut commendatas sibi oves foverent et divino magisterio ad viam deprecandae salutis instruerent. Ego plebis nostrae et quietem novi pariter et timorem, qui satisfactione Dei et deprecatione vigilarent, nisi illos quidam de presbyteris gratificantes decepissent. Vel vos itaque singulos regite, et consilio ac moderatione vestra, secundum divina praecepta, lapsorum animos temperate. Nemo adhuc importuno tempore acerba poma decerpat. Nemo navem suam quassatam et perforatam fluctibus, priusquam diligenter refecerit, in altum denuo committat. Nemo tunicam scissam accipere et induere properet, nisi eam ab artifice perito sartam viderit et a fullone curatam receperit. Audiant, quaeso, patienter consilium nostrum; expectant regressionem nostram, ut, cum ad vos per Dei misericordiam venerimus, convocati coepiscopi plures, secundum Domini disciplinam et confessorum praesentiam et vestram quoque sententiam, beatorum martyrum litteras et desideria examinare possimus. De hoc et ad clerum et ad martyres et confessores litteras feci, quae utrasque legi vobis mandavi. Opto vos, fratres charissimi ac desiderantissimi, in Domino semper bene valere et nostri meminisse. Valete. Sanctus Cyprianus, Epistula XI, Ad Plebem

Cyprian to his steadfast brethren among the people, greeting. That you lament and grieve over the downfall of our brethren I know from myself, beloved brethren, who also lament with you and grieve for each one, and suffer and feel what the blessed Apostle said: 'Who is weak," said he, "and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?' 1 And again he has set it down in his letter, saying, 'If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; and if one member rejoice, all the other members rejoice with it.' 2 Therefore I sympathize with you and feel your pain for our brethren, who, having fallen, lie prostrate under the hostility of the persecution, have drawn out a part of our insides with them, imposing on us a like pain by their wounds, to whom the Divine mercy is able to bring healing. However, I do not think that there must be any haste, nor that anything must be done incautiously and hurriedly, lest, while peace is wildly snatched at, the Divine indignation be more gravely incurred. The blessed martyrs have written to me about certain persons, seeking that their wishes may be examined. When, as soon as peace is given to us all by the Lord, we shall begin to return to the Church, then  each one shall be looked into in your presence and with your judgment. Yet I hear that certain presbyters, neither mindful of the Gospel nor thinking of what the martyrs have written to me, nor reserving to the bishop the honour of his priesthood and of his office, have already begun to communicate with the lapsed and to offer on their behalf, and to give them the Eucharist, when it was fitting that they should come to these things in due order. For as in lesser sins which are not committed against God penitence may be done in a set time, and confession may be made with investigation of the life of him who does penitence, and no one can come to communion unless the hands of the bishop and clergy be first imposed upon him, how much more should all  these things be observed in these gravest and extremest sins with caution and moderation, according to the discipline of the Lord? Certainly our presbyters and deacons should have warned you, that they might cherish the sheep committed to their care, and by the divine authority  instruct them in the way of prayer for salvation. I am aware of the peacefulness as well as the fear of our people, who would be vigilant in the satisfaction and the aversion of God's anger, unless some of the presbyters, gratifying them, had deceived them.  Even you, therefore, yourselves, watch over each one, and by counsel and by your own moderation, according to the divine precepts, restrain the minds of the lapsed.  Let no one pick the unripe fruit in an unseasonable time. Let no one commit his ship, shattered and broken with the waves, anew to the deep, before he has diligently repaired it. Let no one rush to accept and to put on a torn tunic, unless he has seen it mended by a skilful workman. and has received it treated by the fuller. Let them hear, I beg, our advice with patience. Let them look for my return, that when by God's mercy I come to you, with many of my co-bishops, called together according to the Lord's discipline, in the presence of the confessors and with your opinion also, we may be able to examine the letters and the wishes of the blessed martyrs. Concerning this I have written both to the clergy and to the martyrs and confessors, both of which letters I have ordered to be read to you. I wish, brethren, beloved and most desired, that you be ever well in the Lord, and that you be mindful of me. Farewell. Saint Cyprian, Letter 11, To the People 1 2 Cor 11:29 2 1 Cor 12:26

Epitaph for Paccius and Germilla

Paccius hic ego sum Germilla compare gaudens. viximus heu nimium frugi, dum iussa tulerunt, atque per emensum spatiis transegimus aevum, coniuge cum sancta suscepta prole potitus, per senos iterumque decem sat fecimus annos. tristia sunt natis, sed multum grata parenti, ut prior in pacem cedat subolemque relinquet. Epitaphios Paccio et Germillae

Here I Paccius rejoice to be joined with Germilla. We lived very frugally while the commands we bore, And our service done we passed from the world. Sacred marriage undertaken we obtained a child, For sixteen years we did what was required. Grief to offspring, but much happiness to parents, That before passing into peace they left a child. Epitaph for Paccius and Germilla

Epitaph for Paulina

Paulina hic posita est clarissima femina mater quae meruit miserante deo ut funus acerbum nesciret natae, quae mox in pace secuta est. Epitaphios Paulinae

Here is placed Paulina, an eminent woman and mother, Who merited by the mercy of God that she would not know The bitter funeral of a daughter, she who soon followed her into peace. Epitaph for Paulina