Wrath And Treasure

Secundum duritiam autem tuam, et cor impoenitens, theasurizas tibi ipsi iram in die irae, et revelationis justi judicii Dei, qui reddet unicuique secundum opera ejus. Cor durum in Scripturis dici videtur, cum mens humana velut cera frigore iniquitais obstricta signaculum imaginis divinae non recipit. Hoc idem alibi cor crassum appellatur, sicut cum dicitur: Incrassatum est cor populi hujus. Contrarium vero est duro molle,quod in Scripturis cor carneum nominatur; et crasso subtile, vel tenue, quod Apostolus spiritalem hominem vocat eum qui examinat omnia. Igitur cum quis scit quae bona sunt,et non agit bona,per duritiam cordis contemptum omnium bonorum habere credendus est. Crassitudo vero cordis est, ubi subtilis et spiritalis intelligentiae non recipitur sensus; et ita  cor impoenitens effectum thesaurizat sibi ipsi iram in die irae, et revelationis justi judicii Dei, dum bonum opus non agitur per duritiam; intellectus vero bonus per crassitudinem is excluditur. De ira autem Dei et superius, quantum res pati voluit, et in aliis locis saepe dissertum est. Quod vero dicit, Thesaurus tibi ipsia iram in die irae, considerandum est. Thesaurus appelatur, quo diversi generis opes, et divitiae congregantur. Hujus in Scripturis significantiam triplicem legimus. Dicitur enim in Evangelio thesaurus esse quidam in terris, in quo prohibet Dominus thesaurizari: et alius thesaurus in coelo, in quo jubet fideles quosque opes suas recondere: et hic nunc Apostolus dicit irae thesauros. Omnes ergo homines per haec quae agunt in hoc mundo, in uno aliquo ex istis tribus congregant thesauros. Aut enim infidelis est quis et iniquus, et per duritiam cordis, et cor impoenitens in thesauro irae actus suos recondit. Aut terrenus est, et de terra sapit, ac de terra loquitur, et cum ei attulerit ager fructus uberes, destruit horrea sua, et majora aedificat, et theasaurizat in terra. Et ille quidem durus, hic autem stultus appellatur. Dicitur enim ad eum, Stulte, hac nocte repetent abs te animam tuam, et quae parasti, cujus erunt? Aut sapiens est, et in Deum dives, et in terris ambulans conversationem habet in coelis, atque omnia quae agit digna sunt regno coelorum: et iste talis divitiarum suarum thesauros condit in coelis. Ita igitur uniuscujusque thesauri possessor et conditor potest alius quidem carnalis, alius vero animalis homo, alius autem spiritualis appellatur. Origenes, Commentariorum In Epistolam Beati Pauli Ad Romanos, Liber II, Interprete Rufino Aquileiense Source: Migne PG 14.875a-876a

According to your hardness and an impenitent heart, you have heaped up the treasure of anger for yourself on the day of wrath and the revelation of the just judgement of God, who shall return to each one according to his works. 1 It seems that a hard heart is spoken of in the Scriptures when the human mind like wax inured by the frost of wickedness does not receive the impress of the Divine image. Elsewhere this same thing is called a dull heart, as when it is said, 'The heart of this people has become dull.' 2 On the contrary, however, hardness is softened when in the Scriptures the heart is named fleshly, and dullness becomes a light or tenuous weight, which the Apostle calls the spiritual man who examines all things. 3 Therefore when someone knows what good things are and does not do those goods things because of hardness of heart, he should be thought to have contempt for all goods. But dullness of heart is when the mind does not receive the subtle and spiritual understanding. And thus the impenitent heart heaps up for itself wrath on the day of wrath and the revelation of the just judgement of God while it does not perform good works because of hardness, but good understanding is prevented by dullness. Regarding the anger of God above, how great are the things ordained to be suffered has often been spoken of in other places, but what is said with 'a treasure of wrath for yourself on the day of wrath,' must be considered. What is named a treasure is something in which there are different types of wealth and a gathering of riches. We read a threefold meaning of this in the Scriptures. For it is said in the Gospel that there is a certain treasure on the earth that the Lord prohibits us to heap up, and another treasure in heaven, which He commands the faithful to store up, 4 and here the Apostle speaks of a treasure of anger. Therefore because of what they do in the world all men gather their treasure in one of these three ways. For either a man is faithless and wicked and through hardness and impenitence of heart he heaps up a treasure of wrath with his deeds. Or he is a worldly fellow and knows the things of the earth and speaks of the things of the earth, 5 and when he has gathered up the rich yield of his field he tears down his barns and makes bigger ones, and his treasure is on the earth, and that man is hardened, but he is called a dull fellow, for it is said to him, 'Fool, this night your soul is asked of you, and what you have prepared, whose shall it be?' 6 Now the wise man is rich in God, and walking on the earth he has his conversation with heaven, 7 and everything which he does is worthy of the kingdom of heaven, and he is the one who stores up the treasure of his riches in heaven. Thus one may call each one of these a possessor and founder of his treasure, and one is a carnal man, and one is an animal man, and one is a spiritual man. Origen, from the Commentary on the Letter of Paul to the Romans, Book 2, Translated by Rufinus of Aquileia. 1 Rom 2.5-6 2 Mt 13.15, Isaiah 6.10 3 Ezek 11.19, 36.26, 1 Cor 2.15 4 Mt 6.19-20 5 Jn 3.31 6 Lk 12.16-18 7 Phil 3.20

Deaf Ears, Hard Hearts

...Et aures suas aggravaverunt ne audirent. Et cor suum posuerunt ut adamantem, ne audirent legem, et verba quæ misit Dominus exercituum in spiritu suo per manum prophetarum priorum: et facta est indignatio magna a Domino exercituum. Et factum est sicut locutus est, et non audierunt: sic clamabunt et non exaudiam, dicit Dominus exercituum. Et aures, inquit, suas aggravaverunt ne audirent, sicut aspidis, surdae obturantis aures suas, quae non audiet vocem incantantium, et venefici incantantis sapienter. Ingravaverunt enim aures sua ut non audirent, et cor suum posuerunt, ut non acquiescerent legi Dei. Unde Isaias ad eos comminans loquitur: Incrassatum est cor populi hujus, et auribus suis graviter audierunt, et oculos suos clauserunt, ne forte viderent oculis suis, et audirent auribus, et corde intelligerent, et converterentur, et ego sanarem eos. Porro quod dicitur juxta Hebraicum: Et cor suum posuerunt adamentem, duritiam cordis ostendit, et cor lapideum, quod noluerint verba Dei suscipere. Adamas enim lapis fortissimus, qui Hebraice dicitur שׁמי־ intantum durus est, ut omnia metalla confringat, et ipse non confringatur ab ullo. Unde a Graecis indomabilis dicitur. Ab hoc adamante induratum est cor Pharaonis, ne dimitterent populum Dei. Et quia habuerunt, immo posuerunt cor suum adamantem, propria voluntate cordis duritiam suscipientes, ne audirent verba Domini, quae misit in spiritu suo, id est, in Spiritu sancto per manum prophetarum priorum, Isaiae, Osee, et caeterorum, qui mundas habuerunt manus, quos ante captivitatem fuisse manifestum est: idcirco ad magna peccata, magna facta est indignatio, et Domini verba completa sunt, par pari referentis, it sicut illi ambulaverunt ad eum perversi, et ipse adversum eos perversus incederet, et non audiret verba inclamantium, quia et illi verba Domini surda aure contempserint. Sanctus Hieronymous, Commentariorum In Zachariam Prophetam, Liber II Cap VII Source: Migne PL 25.1462c- 1463b

...They made their ears made heavy lest they hear, and they set their hearts like adamant lest they hear the Law, even the words which the Lord of hosts sent with His spirit through the hands of the prophets in times before, and the indignation of the Lord of hosts was great. And it was done as was said, they did not hear. So when they shall cry out I shall not attend to them, says the Lord of hosts. 1 They have made their ears heavy, he says, lest they hear,  just like the asp, which closes up its ears, that it not hear the voice of the singer clearly, nor the song of the enchanter. 2 They have made their ears heavy so that they shall not hear, and their hearts they have set so that they shall not obey the law of God. Whence Isaiah admonishing them, says: 'The heart of this people is bloated, and with their ears they hear dully, and they close up their eyes, lest perhaps they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and they turn and I heal them.' 3 In the Hebrew it is said: 'And they have set their hearts as adamant,' which shows the hardness of the heart, the stony heart, which does not wish to receive the words of God. Adamant is the strongest stone, which in Hebrew is called 'Samir,' and it is so hard that it shatters every metal, and it is not broken by anything. Whence in Greek it is called 'unbreakable.' With this adamant the heart of Pharaoh was made hard, lest he let the people of God go. 4 And because they have set their hearts as adamant, by their own will adopting this hardness of heart, lest they hear the words of the Lord, which He sent by His spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit working through the Prophets who came before, like Isaiah and Hosea, and the rest, who had clean hands, those who came forth before the captivity, therefore because of their grave sins, His indignation is great, and the word of the Lord is fulfilled, a part referring to a part, that as they had walked to Him in perversity, He would thus perversely set Himself against them and not hear the words of those who cry out to Him, because in scorn they turned a deaf ear to the word of the Lord. Saint Jerome, Commentary on The Prophet Zechariah, Book 2, Chapter 7 1 Zech 7.11-13 2 Ps 57.5-6 3 Isaiah 6.9-10, Acts 18.27 4 Exod 7

A Strong Heart

Καὶ κατίσχυσεν ἡ καρδία Φαραὼ, καὶ οὐκ εἰσήκουσεν αὐτῶν, καθάπερ ἐνετείλατο αὐτοῖς Κύριος. Εἶπε δὲ Κύριος πρὸς Μωϋσῆν· Βεβάρυται ἡ καρδία Φαραὼ, τοῦ μὴ ἐξαποστεῖλαι τὸν λαόν. Τὸ, Βεβάρυται ἡ καρδία Φαραὼ, λεγόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου, μετὰ τὴν μεταβαλοῦσαν εἰς δράκοντα ῥάβδον τοῦ Ἀαρὼν, καὶ καταπιοῦσαν τὰς τῶν Μάγων ῥάβδους, ἄξιον ἰδεῖν, εἰ ἕτερόν ἐστι τοῦ, ἐσκληρύνθαι τὴν καρδίαν Φαραώ, λεγομένου πολλάκις, καὶ τοῦ, κατισχυσεν ἡ καρδία Φαραὼ, καὶ οὐκ εἰσήκουσεν αὐτῶν καθὼς ἐλάλησε Κύριος. Δοκεῖ δέ μοι ἡ μὲν ἐνδιδοῦσα καρδία πρὸς τὰ θεῖα, ἀπαλύνεσθαι καὶ μὴ ἰσχύειν ἀνθίστασθαι τῇ θειότητι, καὶ μὴ βαρύνεσθαι, μηδὲ ἔλκεσθαι κάτω εἰς γῆ καὶ ὕλην, ἡ δὲ ἀντιτείνουσα καὶ ἐναντιουμένη τῷ θείῳ βουλήματι, σκληρύεσθαι καὶ ἀντιτυπεῖν δίκην λίθου, καὶ ἀποκρούεσθαι τὸν λόγον, καὶ κατ' ἀπόνοιαν ἀνθίστασθι μετά τινος ψευδωνύμου ἰσχύος. Ἀνάγκη δὲ τὴν τοιαύτην καρδίαν καθελκομένον ὑπὸ τῆς κακίας οὔσης κατωφεροῦς, βαρύνεσθαι. Οὐ μὴν κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν διάνοιαν ταῦτα τῇ καρδίᾳ συμβαίνει, εἰ καὶ μιᾷ καὶ τῇ αὐτῇ συμβέβηκε φαύλῃ οὔσῃ τὸ κατισχύειν καὶ τὸ βαρύνεσθαι. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ, ὡς εἴρηταί που, λιθίνη γίνεται ἡ καρδία καὶ σκληρύνεται· ἡ δὲ οὐ παραχωρεῖ ὡς κρείττονι τῇ θείᾳ φύσει· ἀλλὰ θεομαχεῖν ἰσταμένη κατ' αὐτῆς καὶ ἰσχύειν λέγεται. Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαὶ Εἰς Την Ἐξοδον Source: Migne PG 12.281c-283a

And the heart of Pharaoh was strengthened and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had commanded. 1 And the Lord said to Moses: 'The heart of Pharaoh has grown heavy, he will not let the people go.' 2 And the Lord says this, 'The heart of Pharaoh has grown heavy' after the transformation of the rod of Aaron into a serpent which devoured the rods of the seers, whence it is worthy to see if there is something here, in this which is often said, that the heart of Pharaoh was made hard and grew strong. For it is also said: 'And the heart of Pharaoh grew strong against them and he would not hear them, as the Lord had said.' 3 It seems to me that a heart which yields, is not able to resist the Divine, nor to be heavy, nor to incline to the lower things of earth and matter, and that to be opposed and adverse to the Divine will is to be hardened and to resist, as befits a stone, and the refusal of the word is by a certain pride given the false name of strength because of its resistance. Necessary it is that a heart which by its wickedness is drawn down is called heavy. And it is not for the same reason that this happens to a heart, that there is one way by which it comes to wickedness which makes it strong and heavy. For as said elsewhere, in the way a heart is made stone and hardened, in that way it does not yield to the superior Divine nature, but standing and fighting against God is named strong. Origen, On Exodus, Fragment 1 Exod 7.13 2 Exod 7.14 3 Exod 7.22

Opening The Gate

Σιδηρᾶ πύλη ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ἀπάγουσα, ἐστὶ σκληρὰ καρδὶα. Τῷ δὲ κακοπαθοῦντι καὶ τεθλιμμένῳ αὐτομάτη ἀνοιχθήσεται, καθὼς καὶ τῷ μακαρίῳ Πέτρῳ. Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Νόμου Πνευματικοῦ  Source: Migne PG 65 9 08

An iron gate leading into a city is a hard heart. But to him who suffers evils and tribulations of his own will, it shall be opened, as with the blessed Peter. 1 Saint Mark The Ascetic, from On The Spiritual Law. 1 Acts 12 9-10

Lessons in Health

Πρὸς σκληρὰν καὶ ἀπειθῆ καρδίαν λόγος ὑγιής οἰα εἰσερχεται, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἀντιτυπούμενος εἰς ἑαυτὴν ἐπανέρχεται.      Ὡς δὲ σώματος ἀγαθὸν ὑγεία, οὕτω ψυχῆς ἀγαθη γνῶσις, ὑγεία τις οὖσα ψυχῆς, καθ' πρὸς Θεὸν ὁμοίωσις γίνεται. Άγιος Ιωάννης ο Δαμασκηνός, Τὰ Ιἐρα Παραλληλα

To a hard and unfeeling heart teaching can bring no health but as something repelled by a hard body it returns to itself. 1 As health is the good of the body so knowledge is of the soul, which health being of the soul makes a likeness unto God. 1 Saint John of Damascus, from the Sacred Parallels 1. Attributed to Saint Justin Martyr

Dead Souls

Vides fratrem indigna patientera, nihil commouetur animus, modo tua res sit incolumis. Cur nihil hic sentit anima? Nempe quia mortua. Quare mortua? Quia non adest illius uita, deus. Siquidem ubi deus, ibi caritas. Deus enim caritas est. Alioqui si uiuam es membrum, cur ulla pars corporis dolet te non modo non dolente uerum ne sentiente quidem? Accipe signum non paulo etiam certius: Defraudasti amicum, commisisti adulterium, capitale uulnus accepit anima, et tamen adeo tibi non dolet, ut etiam quasi de lucro gaudeas iactesque, quod turpiter admisisti. Certum habe mortuam iacere animam. Non uiuit corpus, si punctionem aciculae non sentiat, et uiuet anima, quae tanti uulneris sensu uacat? Audis quempiam sermones impios, tumidos, maledicos, impudicos, obscoenos proferentem, uerbis rabiosis in proximum debacchantem, caue putes isti homini uiuam esse animam. lacet in sepulcro pectoris putre cadauer, unde eiusmodi foetores exhalantur et proximum quemque inficiunt. Christus Pharisaeos sepulcra dealbata uocat. Quid ita? Nempe quia mortuam animam secum circumferebant. Et regius ille propheta: Sepulcrum, inquit, patens guttur eorum, linguis suis dolose agebant. Piorum corpora templa sunt spiritus sancti, impiorum sepulcra cadauerum, ut potissimum in eos quadret illa grammaticorum etymologia: soma quasi sèma. Sepulcrum pectus, guttur et os hiatus sepulcri. Neque ullum corpus tam mortuam est destitutum anima, quam mortua est anima relicta a deo. Enchiridion Militis Christiani, Desiderius Erasmus

You see your brother suffering disgrace, your soul is not troubled, you are uninjured. Why does the soul feel nothing here? Certainly because it is dead. Why dead? Because its life is not present, that is, God.  Where God is, there is love. God is love. If you were a living member, how could any part of your body ache and you not sense the pain? Take a more certain sign. You deceived a friend, you committed adultery, your soul has received a fatal wound, and yet you feel no pain; indeed you are happy as if you have made a profit, and you boast of what you have shamefully done. For certain your soul lies dead. A body is not alive if it does not feel the pricking of a pin, and is a soul alive which has no feeling of such a wound? You hear evil speech, malevolent, perverted, filthy, words raging wildly against a neighbour: think not the soul of that man to be alive. There lies a corpse in the sepulchre from whence such stench rises that it infects any man who comes near. Christ called the Pharisees whitened sepulchres. Why so? Because they carry dead souls about with them. And that prophetic king said, Their throat is an open sepulchre, since they spoke deceitfully with their tongues. The bodies of the good are temples of the Holy Ghost; the bodies of the wicked are the tombs of corpses, that it might be as the etymology of the grammarians say, σῶμα quasi σῆμα. The breast is the sepulchre, the throat is the gaping of the sepulchre. And yet that body deprived of the soul is not so dead as is the soul forsaken by God. Handbook of the Christian Soldier, Desiderius Erasmus

A Hard Heart

Solum est cor durum, quod semetipsum non exhorret, quia nec sentit. Quid me interrogas? Interroga Pharaonem. Nemo duri cordis salutem unquam adeptus est, nisi quem forte miserans Deus, abstulit ab eo, juxta prophetam, cor lapideum, et dedit cor carneum. Quid ergo cor durum? Ipsum est quod nec compunctione scinditur, nec pietate mollitur, nec movetur precibus: minis non cedit, flagellis duratur. Ingratum ad beneficia est, ad consilia infidum, ad judicia saevum, inverecundum ad turpia, impavidum ad pericula, inhumanum ad humana, temerarium in divina, praeteritorum obliviscens, praesentia negligens, futura non providens. Ipsum est cui praeteritorum, praeter solas injurias, nihil omnino non praeterit; praesentium nihil non perit; futurorum nulla, nisi forte ad ulciscendum, prospectio seu praeparatio est. Et ut brevi cuncta horribilis mali mala complectar, ipsum est quod nec Deum timet, nec hominem reveretur. Sanctus Bernadus Calaraevallensis, De Consideratione

The only hard heart is the one that is not horrified that it does not feel. Why question me? Ask Pharaoh. No one with a hard heart attained salvation unless perhaps that one whom God pitied, and for a stone heart, according to the Prophet, gave a heart of flesh. What therefore is a hard heart? It is one that is not split by compunction, nor softened by piety, nor moved by prayers. It does not yield to threats and scourging hardens it all the more. It is ungrateful for benefits, faithless in counsel, cruel in judgement, shameless in immorality, fearless in risk, inhuman to humanity and reckless in the matters of heaven. Forgetful of the past it neglects the present and is ever improvident. Of the past it holds onto nothing apart from its injuries, the present it destroys, and it has no future unless perhaps for the prospect of or the preparation for revenge. To embrace briefly all that this horrible evil is: it is neither in awe of God nor has respect for man. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, On Consideration