Ways Of Denial

Solent quaedam, cum futuram virginem spoponderint, pulla tunica eam induere, et furvo operire pallio, auferre linteamina: nihil in collo, nihil in capite auri sinere: revera bono consilio, ne habere discat in tenero, quod postea ponere compellatur. Aliis vero e contra videtur. Quid enim, aiunt, si ipsa non habuerit, habentes alias non videbit? φιλόκοσμον genus femineum est; multasque etiam insignis pudicitiae, quamvis nulli virorum, tamen sibi scimus libenter ornari. Quin potius habendo satietur; et cernat laudari alias, quae ista non habeant. Meliusque est, ut satiata contemnat, quam non habendo, habere desideret. Tale vero quid et Israelitico fecisse populo Dominum, ut cupientibus aegyptias carnes, usque ad nauseam, et vomitum praeberet examina coturnicum: multosque saeculi prius homines, facilius carere experta corporis voluptate, quam eos qui a pueritia libidinem nesciant. Ab alii enim nota calcari, ab aliis ignota appeti. Illos vitare poenitendo suavitatis insidias, quas fugerunt: hos carnis illecebras, dulci titillatione corporis blandientes dum mella putant, venena noxia reperire. Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistola CXXVIII, Ad Gaudentium Source: Migne PL 22.1096

Some mothers when they have vowed a daughter to virginity clothe her in sombre garments and cover her in a dark cloak, and do not allow her to have linen or golden ornaments for her neck or head. With wise understanding they will not have her learn in tender years what she will afterwards be compelled to set aside. To others the opposite is true. 'Why may she not have these things', they say, 'when she will see them on other women? It is of the nature of women to be 'philokosmos,' that is, lovers of finery, and we know of many of excellent chastity who adorn themselves for themselves and not for men. Let her have what she will, but let her see that they who do not need such things are praiseworthy. It is better that she scorns what she has enjoyed than having lacked such things she should have a desire for them. This is what the Lord did to the people of Israel, for when they longed for the feasts of Egypt he gave them the quails even to satiation and sickness. 1 Many men who have lived worldly lives more easily cast off the pleasures of the flesh than those who have known nothing of pleasure from their boyhood. For the former trample on what they know but the latter are drawn to what they do not know. In penitence the former shun the subtle allures which they have fled, the latter dally with the attractions of the flesh and think the alluring delights of the body to be sweet as honey, only to find them a fatal poison. Saint Jerome, from Letter 128, To Gaudentius 1 Exod 16, Numb 11

Advancing In Wisdom

Νόμιζε μοι τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίαν μητέρα τινὰ εἶναι, καὶ νῦν μὲν τῷ νηπίῳ τὸν μαστὸν ἐπιδιδοῦσαν, καὶ βοῶσαν, Καλὸν, καλον, τοῦτό γε, εἶθ' ὕστερον πρὸς τὴν στερεὰν τροφὴν τὸν παῖδα ἐλαύνουσαν, καὶ χολῇ τὸν μαστὸν περιχρίουσαν, καὶ κράζουσαν συνεχῶς, Σαπρὸν, σαπρὸν τοῦτό γε. Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΡΚϚ, Βενιαμιν Ἑβραιῳ Source: Migne PG 79.137a

Think, as I do, that the wisdom of God is something like a mother, who now gives her breast to the infant, saying, 'Good, this is good,' and later, so that the growing boy may take to solid food, she smears a bitter herb on the breast, and says to him, 'Bad, this is bad.' 1 Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 126, To Benjamin the Hebrew 1 cf 1 Cor 3.1-2

Becoming A Mother

Extendens manum in discipulos ait: Ecce mater et fratres. Quicumque enim fecerit voluntatem Patris mei, qui in cælis est, ipse meus frater, et soror, et mater est. Cum is qui voluntatem Dei fecerit, soror et frater Domini dicitur, propter utrumque sexum, qui ad fidem colligitur, mirum non est. Mirandum enim valde est, quomodo et mater dicatur. Fideles etenim discipulos fratres vocare dignatus est, dicens: Ite, nuntiate fratribus meis. Qui ergo frater Domini veniendo ad fidem fieri potuerit, quaerendum est quomodo et mater potest esse? Sed sciendum nobis est, quia qui est frater et soror Jesu credendo, mater efficitur praedicando, quasi enim parit Dominum, qui eum cordi audientis infuderit, et mater ejus efficitur, si per ejus vocem amor Dei in mente proximi generatur. Anselmus Laudunensis, Enarrationes In Matthaeum, Cap XII Source: Migne PL 162.1368c-d

Stretching out a hand to His disciples He said: 'Behold my mother and my brothers. Whoever shall make the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.' 1 When it is said that he who shall make the will of God is a sister and a brother of the Lord, it is not a wonder, since both sexes are gathered to the faith, but what certainly is to be wondered at is how it might be said that one is a mother. The faithful disciples were worthy to be called brothers, when it was said, 'Go, announce it to my brothers...' 2 Therefore when a man shall become a brother of the Lord by coming to the faith, it must be asked: how is he able to be a mother? But let it be known to us that he who is a brother and sister by believing in Jesus, is made a mother by preaching, as if he brings forth the Lord who pours Him into the heart of the hearer, and is made his mother if by his voice the love of God is generated in the mind of a neighbour. Anselm of Laon, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 12 1 Mt 12.49-50 2 Mt 28.10

Raising Children

Ὥσπερ διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας σωθήσεται ἡ τῶν γονέων ξυνωρὶς, εἰ τῆς τῶν τέκνων ἐπιμελοῖτο ζωῆς· οὕτω καὶ ἐνατίων πειραθήσεται, εἰ ἀμελοίη τῆς ἐκεῖνων φυλακῆς. Γελοῖον γὰρ ἂν εἴη τοὺς μὲν πώλους εὐθὺς ἐκ νεότητος πολλῆς ἀξιοῦσθαι φροντίδπς, καὶ βαδίσματος ἕνεκα καὶ βρώσεως καὶ πόσεως καὶ πάσης εὐθύτητος· ὦν καὶ ἡ τιμὴ εὔωνος, καὶ ἡ χρῆσις σύμμετρος, καὶ ἡ φθορὰ σύντομος· ἀνθρώπους δὲ, οὔς ὁ Θεὸς διέπλασε, καὶ εἰκόνι οἰκείᾳ ἐτίμησε, καὶ πάλιν ἰν' ἑαυτῷ ἀνεπλάσατο καταλιμπάνειν ἀγερώχους, καὶ ὡς ἂν τύχῃ φέρεσθαι πρὸςἂ βούλονται, καὶ ἡ εὐόλισθος νεότης οὐ νοεῖ. Εἰ ταῦτα σοι φαίνεται χρήσιμα, πάσῃ φυλακῇ σεμνότητος ἀσφαλίζου τὰ τέκνα σου. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΤΙϚ Καλλιμακῳ Κομητι Source: Migne PG 78.365b

As by the procreation of children salvation follows for the parents, if they have care for the life of their children, in the same manner the opposite befalls if they neglect such care and guarding. It would be ridiculous that one should hold to every correctness with young horses, in their walking, and then with their food and water, expending great care and anxiety from their first age, for which, however, there is but trivial reward, and common use, and swiftly it perishes, but then one should neglect men to wildness and shamelessness, men whom God shapes and adorns with his own image, and again which He in Himself renews and restores, so that they blindly go to whatever they wish, with no undertsanding of the errors of youth. If these things seem profitable to you, firmly adorn your children with every guard. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 316, To Count Callimachos

Children And The Last Hour

'Pueri, novissima hora est.' In hac lectione pueros alloquitur; ut festinent crescere, quia novissima hora est. Aetas corporis non est in voluntate. Ita nullus secundum carnem crescit quando vult; sicut nullus quando vult nascitur: ubi autem nativitas in voluntate est, et crementum in voluntate est. Nemo ex aqua et Spiritu nascitur nisi volens. Ergo si vult, crescit: si vult, decrescit. Quid est crescere? Proficere. Quid est decrescere? Deficere. Quisquis novit natum se esse, audiat quia puer est et infans; avide inhiet uberibus matris, et cito crescit. Est autem mater Ecclesia; et ubera eius duo Testamenta Scripturarum divinarum. Hinc sugatur lac omnium sacramentorum temporaliter pro aeterna salute nostra gestorum, ut nutritus atque roboratus perveniat ad manducandum cibum, quod est: In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum. Lac nostrum Christus humilis est; cibus noster, idem ipse Christus aequalis Patri. Lacte te nutrit, ut pane pascat: nam corde contingere Iesum spiritaliter, hoc est cognoscere quia aequalis est Patri. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis,In Evangelium Ionannis, Tractatus III Source: Migne PL 35.1997-1998

Children, it is the last hour. 1 In this passage he addresses the children that they may make haste to grow, because 'it is the last hour.' The age of the body is not determined by one's own will. Thus no one grows in respect of the flesh when he will, just as no one is born when he will, but where being born is a matter of the will, the growth also is with the will. No one is 'born of water and the Spirit,' 2 unless he wills it. Therefore if he will, he increases; if he will, he decreases. What is it to grow? To advance. What is it to decrease? To go back. Whoever knows that he is born, let him hear that he is a child; let him eagerly cling to the breasts of his mother, and he grows quickly. The mother is the Church, and her breasts are the two Testaments of the Divine Scriptures. Hence let him suck the milk of all the the mysteries which were done in time for our eternal salvation, that nourished and strengthened he may attain to the eating of solid food, which is, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' 3 Our milk is Christ who is humble, our solid food the same Christ equal with the Father. With milk He nourishes you, that He may feed you with bread, for to touch Christ spiritually in the heart is to know that He is equal with the Father. Saint Augustine of Hippo, from the Third Tractate on the First Letter of John 1 1 Jn 2.18 2 Jn 3.5 3 Jn 1.1

Mothers And Children

Οὐκοῦν οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι παντες, ὡς ἔφην, εἴεν ἄν καὶ μάλα εἰκότως δια τὸ κεχρίσθαι χριστοὶ, μόνος δὲ χριστὸς Θεὸς ἁληθινὸς ὁ Ἐμμανουήλ. Καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι τάλαηθοῦς, εἴ τις ἂν ἔλοιτο λέγειν ὡς αἱ τῶν ἄλλων μητέρες χριστοτόκοι μὲν, οὐ μὴν ἔτι καὶ θεοτόκοι. Μόνη δὲ παρ' ἐκείνας ἡ ἁγία Παρθένος χριστοτόκος τε ὁμοῦ αὶ Θεοτόκος νοεῖται τε καὶ λέγεται· γεγέννηκε γὰρ οὐ ψιλὸν ἄνθρωπον, καθ' ἡμᾶς, σαρκωθέντα δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσαντα τὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγον. Ὤνομάσμεθα μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς κατὰ χάριν θεοῖ· πλὴν οὐχ οὕτως Θεὸς ὁ Υἱὸς φύσει δὲ μᾰλλον καὶ ἀληθείᾳ κἂν εἰ γέγονε σάρξ. Ἀλλα' ἴσως ἐκεῖνο ἐρεῖς· Ἄρ οὖν, εἰπέ μοι, θεότητος μήτηρ γέγονεν ἡ Παρθένος; Καὶ πρός γε τοῦτό φαμεν ὅτι γεγέννηται μὲν ὁμολογουμένως ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ Πατρὸς ὁ ζῶν τε καὶ ἐνυπόστατος Λόγος αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἄναρχον ἐν χρόνῳ τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἔχει, ἀεὶ συνυφεστηκὼς τᾡ γεγεννηκότι, ἐν αὐτῷ τε καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ συνυπάρχων καὶ συννοούμενος· ἐν ἐσχάτοις δὲ τοῦ αἰῶνος καιροῖς, ἐπειδὴ γέγονε σὰρξ, τουτέστιν ἡνώθη σαρκὶ ψυχὴν ἐχούσῃ τὴν λογικὴν, γεγεννῆσθαι λέγεται καὶ σαρκικῶς διὰ γυναικός. Ἔοικε δέ πως τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς τόκῳ τὸ ἐπ' αὐτῷ μυστήριον. Αἱ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς μητέρες ὑπηρετοῦσαι τῇ φύσει πρὸς γέννησιν, ἔχουσι μὲν ἐν μήτρᾳ πηγυμένην κατὰ βραχὴ τὴν σάρκα, καὶ ἀφράστοις τισὶν ἐνεργρείαις Θεοῦ προῖοῦσαν καὶ τελειουμένην εἰς εἴδος τὸ ἀνθρώπινον· ἐνίησι δὲ τῷ ζώῳ τὸ πνεῦμα ὁ Θεὸς, καθ' ὄν οἶδε τρόπον· Πλάττει γὰρ τὸ πνεῦμα ἀνθρώπου ἐν αὐτῷ, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ προφήτου φωνὴν. Ἕτερος δὲ σαρκὸς, καὶ ὁμοίως ἕτερος ὁ ψυχῆς ἐστι λόγος. Ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ γεγόνασι μόνον αὗται τῶν ἀπὸ γης σωμάτων μητέρες, ἀλλ' οὖν ὅλον ἀποτεκοῦσαι τὸ ζῶον, τὸ ἐκ ψυχῆς δὴ λέγω καὶ σώματος, οὐχὶ μέρος λέγονται τεκεῖν.Οὐδ' ἂν εἴποι τις, φέρε εἰπεῖν, τὴν Ἐλισάβετ σαρκοτόκον μὲν, οὐ μὴν ἔτι καὶ ψυχοτόκον· ἐκτέτοκε γὰρ ψυχωθέντα τὸν Βαπτιστὴν, καὶ ὡς ἔν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν, τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ψυχῆς δὴ λέγω καὶ σώματος· τοιοῦτόν τι πεπρᾶχθαι παρδεξόμεθα καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ γεννήσει τοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ. Γεγέννηται μὲν γὰρ, ὡς ἔφην, ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς οὐσίας ὁ μονογενὴς αὐτοῦ Λόγος· ἐπειδὴ δὲ σάρκα λαβὼν καὶ ἰδίαν αὐτὴν ποιησάμενος, κεχρημάτικε καὶ Υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου, καὶ γέγονε καθ' ἡμᾶς, οὐδὲν, οἴμαι, τὶ ἄτοπον εἰπεῖν, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἀναγκαῖον ὁμολογεῖν ὅτι καὶ γεγέννηται κατὰ σάρκα διὰ γυναικὸς. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Ἐπιστoλή Α' Source:Migne PG 77.20d-21c

So all other children may be, as Nestorius says, indeed 'christs' on account of an anointing , but only Emmanuel is Christ the true God. Whence he would not err who called other mothers 'bearers of christ' but in no way are they bearers of God. For only she among all women, the Blessed Virgin, is to be thought and named both bearer of Christ and bearer of God, for she bore not a mere man, as we are, but rather the Incarnate Word of God the Father made man. Now we also on account of the grace of God may be named 'gods', 1 but not at all 'God the Son' which He is by nature and in truth, even if being flesh. But perhaps you ask, 'Tell me, do you think the Virgin was made the mother of His Divinity?' To this we say that it should be understood that the Word was born from her of the very substance of God Himself, and is the living and substantial Word of the Father without beginning in time, eternally coexisting with Him, always being in Him and with Him, but in these recent times made flesh, that is united to flesh with a rational soul, according to which flesh he was born of woman. As the mothers of earthly children impart to them their nature in generation which gradually grows in time, so in this work of mystery the Creator took up, He grew bit by bit to the perfection of the human form, but God gives the spirit, as He knows how, in the animal, 'He forms the spirt of man in him,' 2 as the Prophet says. For the flesh is one thing and the rational soul is another. But though these are mothers of the earthly body only, when they give birth, they are said to give birth to the whole, that is, to both the body and soul, and not merely a part. For no one, for sake of example, would say that Elisabeth gave birth to the flesh only and not the soul, but she birthed the Baptist as a creature with soul and a man, as one thing from two, that is, flesh and soul. So do we think it to have happened in the birth of Emmanuel. For the only begotten Word of God was generated from the substance of His Father; but after He took on flesh, making it His own, and was made the Son of Man, endowed with our nature; and so, I think, without any absurdity it is necessary to confess that He was born of a woman according to the flesh. Saint Cyril of Alexandria, from the First Letter 1 Ps 81.6 2 Zachar 12.1

Guarding And Feeding

Undecima utilitas tribulationis est, quod custodit et nutrit cor. Sicut ignis custoditur et nutritur incinere : sic cor amici Dei custoditur in tribulatione. Ideo praecepit Deus Exod quod tabernaculum sagis cilicinis cooperiretur. Saga cilicina pretiosas curtinas et omnia vasa aurea et argentea contra ventos et pluvias protegebant; ad significandum, quod in adversitate tribulationis pretiosae virtutes Sanctorum, et praecipue humilitas conservantur. Tribulatio enim cogit hominem, humilari, quem forte humana prosperitas ultra terminos suae infirmitatis exuberat in excessum. Jam tribulatio nutrit cor, sicut nutrix nutrit puerum. Nam sicut mater durum cibum, quem masticare non potest parvulus, masticat et in ventrem suum trahit, ut illic cibus convertatur in lac ad nutrimentum pueri; sic Christus in Scriptura appellatur mater nostra propter vehementiam caritatis, quam habet ad nos, et propter amaritudines, quas habuit in cruce, ubi poenas, dura verbera et opprobria masticavit nobis, ut nos nutriret et fortificaret spiritualiter ad sustinendum ejus exemplo tribulationes hujus mundi. Sicut enim vinum colatum per succum plenum speciebus, sic homo tribulationes sustinens debet eas colare per corpus dominicum, considerando scilicet tribulationem et passionem quam pro se sustinuit; et sic indulcorabuntur ut tolerabiles fiant, quae prius intolerabiles videbantur. Petrus Blenensis, De Utilitate Tribulationum Source:  Migne PL 207.1004c-1005a

The eleventh usefulness of tribulation is that it guards and feeds the heart. As a fire is guarded and fed that it burn, so the heart of the friend of God is guarded in tribulation. Therefore God commands in Exodus that the tabernacle be covered with a covering of goat's hair. 1 The goat's hair protects the precious curtains and all the gold and silver vases against wind and rain, and with this significance, that in the adversity of tribulations the precious virtues of the saints, especially humility, preserve. For tribulation drives a man to be humble, he who perhaps before in the prosperity of human things was exalting himself excessively beyond the bounds of his weakness. Tribulation nourishes the heart, like a nurse nourishes an infant. For as a mother chews up tough food, which the infant is not able to chew, and sends it into the stomach so that it be turned into milk for the nourishment of the child, so Christ in Scripture is named our mother according to the intensity of the love which He has for us, 2 and on account of bitterness, which He had on the cross, when punishment, hard blows and shame He chewed up for us, that He nourish us and fortify us spiritually to be able to endure by His example the tribulations of this world. For as wine is cultivated until the appearance of the full juice, so a man undergoing tribulations should cultivate them by the body of the Lord, that is, by consideration of the tribulations and passion which He suffered for us, for so they will be sweetened that they become tolerable, which once seemed intolerable. Peter of Blois, On The Usefulness of Tribulations 1 Exod 26.7 2 Mt 23.37, Lk 13.34

Son Of The Handmaid

Ὦ Κύριε, ἐγὼ ὁ δοῦλος σὸς, ἐγὼ δοῦλὸς σὸς καὶ υἱὸς τῆς παιδίσκης σου. Διέῥῥηξας τοὺς δεσμούς μου. Υἱὸν παιδίσκης φησὶν ἐαυτὸν, τῆς Ἐκκλησίας. Δεσμοὺς δὲ οἷς σειραἶς τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτημάτων κατεσφίγγετο. Ἐλευθερωθεὶς δὲ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ υἱὸς τῆς σῆς παιδίσκης γινόμενος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τῶν προτέρον ἀνέθην ἁμαρτημάτων διὰ τῆς σῆς χάριτος. Εὐσέβιος ὁ Καισάρειος, Ὑπομνηματα Ἐις Τους ψαλμους, ψαλμος ΡΙΕ' Source:  Migne PG 23.1360d-1361a

O Lord, I am your servant, I am your servant and son of your handmaid. You have broken my chains. 1 He calls himself the son of a handmaid, that is, of the Church. And the chains by which he was bound were the sins that constrained him. But freed from sin, he is made the son of the handmaid, that is, the Church, liberated from old sins by grace. Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 115 1 Ps 115.16

A Mother's Teaching

Καὶ μὴ ἀπώσῃ θεσμοὺς μητρός σου Τὴν μητέρα ἐπάγεσθαι προστάσει, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἡ σοφία γεννῶσα, ἡ μὲν κατὰ Θεόν· καίτοι ἐρχῆν αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν τὸν πατέρα· οὗτος γὰρ πρὸς τὸ συνεῖναι τῷ υἱῷ μᾶλλον ἐπιτηδειότερος· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ οὐ δυνατὸν, αὐτὸν γνῶναι τὸν Θεὸν πρὸ τῆς τῶν γεγονότων θεωρίας, τούτου χάριν τὴν μητέρα καὶ οὐ τὸν πατέρα προστάσσει ἐπάγεσθαι· ἵνα διὰ τῆς μητρὸς ὁ υἱὸς ἴδῃ τὸν πατέρα· ἐὰν γὰρ αὑτὴ μὴ γεννήσῃ, οὐ βλέπει τὸ φῶς, ὅπερ ἐστι γνῶσις αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαὶ Εἰς Παροιμίας, Κεφ Ϛ' Source: Migne PG 17.185a

And forsake not your mother's teaching. 1 He commands that he has a mother with him, which is the wisdom that brings forth according to God. And this befits rather than a father, for this is more fitting for the understanding of the child, since he is unable to know God before beholding things which are; therefore he is commanded to have with him the mother rather than the father, that through the mother the son might know the father. For unless she has given birth to him, he does not see the light, which is to say, the knowledge of God. Origen, On Proverbs, Chap 6, Fragment 1 Prov 6.20

Mother Of The Living

Vocatur dehinc mater vivorum, id est, recte factorum, quibus contraria sunt peccata, quae nomine mortuorum significantur. Jam vero per sententiam quae in virum infertur, ratio nostra arguitur, quae et super peccati concupiscentia seducta, et a paradiso beatitudinis remota, habet maledictiones terrenae operationis, habet et dolores temporalium curarum, quasi spinas et tribulos. Sic tamen dimittitur de paradiso beatitudinis, ut operetur terram, id est, ut in corpore isto laboret, et collocet sibi meritum redeundi ad vitam beatam, quae paradisi nomine significatur, possitque aliquando manum porrigere ad arborem vitae, et vivere in aeternum. Manus autem porrectio bene significat crucem, vel cruciatum poenitentiae, per quem vita aeterna recuperatur. Accipit etiam tunicam pelliceam divino judicio, quo nomine corporis mortalitas significatur in historia. In allegoria autem de carnalibus sensibus abstractae voluptates, quae carnaliter viventem divina lege consequuntur, et contegunt. Qui si aliquando ad Deum convertitur per flammeam frameam, id est, per temporales tribulationes, peccata sua agnoscendo et gemendo, et per cherubim, id est, per plenitudinem scientiae, quod est charitas, perveniet ad arborem vitae Christum, et vivet in aeternum. Sanctus Isidorus Hispalensis,Mysticorum Expositiones Sacramentorum Seu Quaestiones In Vetus Testamentum, In Genesin, Caput VIII Source:Migne PL 83.222a-b

Whence she is called the mother of the living, 1 that is, of right deeds, to which sins are contrary, which are signified by the name of the dead. Now, however, because of the sentence brought against the man, our reason is convicted, which is seduced on account of the desire for sin, and far from the paradise of blessedness it has the curse of worldly labours and the grief of temporal cares, as thistles and thorns. So although he is dismissed from the paradise of beatitude, it is that he work the earth, that is, that he labour in this body and gather to himself merit for the return to the blessed life, which is signified by the name of paradise, and at some time he be able to stretch out his hand to the tree of life and live in eternity. For the hand stretched out signifies the cross, or the trials of penitence, through which eternal life is restored. And he receives a garment of skin in the Divine judgement, by which in the narrative bodily mortality is signified. And allegorically this is being led away by the pleasures of the carnal senses, which carnal life draws one away from the Divine law and obscures it. Yet he may, if at some time he turn to God by the flaming blade, that is, through temporal tribulations, recognising and lamenting his own sin, and through the Cherubim, that is, through a plenitude of knowledge, which is charity, come to Christ, the tree of life, and live in eternity. Saint Isidore of Seville, Expositions of Sacred Mysteries or Questions on the Old Testament, On Genesis, Chap 8 1 Gen 3.20

Parents And Adornments

Ἄκουε υἱέ παιδείαν πατρός σου καὶ μὴ ἀπώσῃ θεσμοὺς μητρός σου, στέφανον γὰρ χαρίτων δέξῃ σῇ κορυφῇ καὶ κλοιὸν χρύσεον περὶ σῷ τραχήλῳ...   Πατὴρ μὲν δικαίων, ὁ Θεός. Πᾶς γὰρ ὁ ποιῶν τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγένηται. Μήτηρ δὲ ἡμῶν, ἡ Ἐκκλησία, ἦς νυμφίος ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. Θεσμοὶ δὲ, αἱ ἀποστολικαὶ διατάξεις. Εἰ καὶ ἀναγωγὴν ἔχει τὰ προκείμενα, ἀλλ' ἐφαρμόζονται καὶ τοῖς κατὰ φύσιν γονεῦσιν, ὅταν θεοσεβεῖς ὄντες ἀνατρέφωσι τὰ τέκνα. Ὄντες δὲ ἀνδρὸς  τοῦ διδασκάλου, τοῦ γεννήσαντος διὰ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου τοὺς παιδευομένους, σύζυγος τούτῳ καὶ μήτηρ τῶν τεχθέντων ἐστὶν ἡ Ἐκκλησία μᾶλλον δὲ ἡ ἐκκλησιαστικὴ γνώμη καὶ πολιτεία. Ἤν τοίνυν ἐμοῦ, φησὶ, τοῦ παροιμιαστοῦ, νῦν ὡς καθηγητοῦ καὶ πατρὸς, νῦν δὲ σοφίας καὶ ἀρετῆς ἀντὶ μητρὸς κατακούσῃς, στρεφθήσῃ χαρίτων στεφάνῳ, καὶ τὸν τράχηλον κοσμηθήσῃ κλοιῷ, ἐκ νοητοῦ χρυσοῦ καὶ κόσμου κατεσκευασμένῳ. Ὕλη γὰρ στεφάνου  ὄν ἀναδεῖται ἡ τοῦ ἔσω ἀνθρώπου κεφαλὴ, ἡ τῶν ἀρετῶν περιοχὴ, χάριτες ὀνομαζόμεναι τυγχάνουσι Συμφώνως τῷ στρεφάνῳ, νοητῷ ὄντι, ἐκληπεόν καὶ τὸν χρυσοῦν κλοιὸν ἐπιβαλλόμενον τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς τραχήλῳ, τουτέστι τῷ ὑποτακτικῷ αὐτῆς.  Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Παροιμιας Source: Migne PG 39.1624c-d

Hear, O son, the teaching of your father and reject not the rules of your mother, for so your head will be given a crown of graces and around your neck a golden necklace... 1   The father of the righteous is God. For whoever exerts himself in righteousness is born from God. Our mother is the Church of whom the bridegroom is our Lord Jesus Christ. The rules are the Apostolic constitutions. And even if what is said is a figure it will accommodate even natural parents when they raise their own children in piety to God. A man is a teacher who raises his children in the Gospel, and his wife, the mother of his young, is the Church, living according to the ecclesiastical doctrines and reason. If then, you have me, says the author of Proverbs, as a teacher and a father, and you attend to the wisdom and virtue of the mother, you thus make for yourself a crown of graces and you adorn your neck with a necklace of golden thought. The material of the crown which is placed on the head is the virtues which surround one, which they call graces, and the understanding of the intellect is a golden necklace around the neck of the soul, that is, obedience. Didymus the Blind, On Proverbs, fragment 1 Prov 1.8-9

Tears And Healing

Si ad unius viduae lacrymas temporales sic motus est Christus, ut occurreret in via, ut ex oculis stillantia dolorum fluenta restingueret, ut recuteret mortem, reduceret hominem, ut resuscitaret corpus, vitam reduceret, planctum verteret in gaudium, et exsequias lugubres in festivitatem natalitiam commutaret, et feretro datum matri vivum redderet ex morte; quid modo faciet quando inardescet viribus suis ad Ecclesiae suae lacrymas diuturnas, ad sponsae suae sanguineos sudores? Nam per supplicantem Ecclesiam lacrymas fundit juges, per martyres sacrum sanguinem sudat, donec unicum suum, hoc est populum Christianum, quem tot ad mortem ferunt tempora, occurrens Christus de mortali feretro perpetuae vitae reddat in supernae matris gaudium sempiternum. Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo CIII, De Filio Viduae Excitato a Mortuis, deque Corporum Resurrectione Source: Migne PL 52 col 489a-b

If Christ was so moved by the tears one widow shed at a certain time that He came to meet her on the road, 1 that He dried the streams of grief flowing from her eyes, that He beat back death, that He brought back a man, that He revived a body, that He restored life, that he turned mourning into joy, and that he transformed funereal grief into a celebration of birth and He returned living from the dead one given to the bier to a mother; what will He do now when will he is inflamed for men at constant tears of his Church, at the blood and sweat of his Bride? For by supplication the Church pours forth continual tears and through her martyrs she sweats sacred blood, until her only one, that is the Christian people, whom the many ages bear off to death, with Christ's coming, is taken from the mortal bier to everlasting life amid the eternal joy of this heavenly mother. Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 103, On The Son of the Widow Raised from the Dead and the Resurrection of the Body 1 Lk 7.11-17

A Philosophical Mother

Atque ego rursus exordiens: Beatos esse nos volumus, inquam? Vix hoc effuderam, occurrerunt una voce consentientes. Videturne vobis, inquam, beatus esse qui quod vult non habet? Negaverunt. Quid? omnis qui quod vult habet, beatus est? Tum mater: Si bona, inquit, velit et habeat, beatus est; si autem mala velit, quamvis habeat, miser est. Cui ego arridens atque gestiens: Ipsam, inquam, prorsus, mater, arcem philosophiae tenuisti. Nam tibi procul dubio verba defuerunt, ut non sicut Tullius te modo panderes, cuius de hac sententia verba ista sunt. Nam in Hortensio, quem de laude ac defensione philosophiae librum fecit: Ecce autem, ait, non philosophi quidem, sed prompti tamen ad disputandum, omnes aiunt esse beatos qui vivant ut ipsi velint. Falsum id quidem: Velle enim quod non deceat, id est ipsum miserrimum. Nec tam miserum est non adipisci quod velis, quam adipisci velle quod non oporteat. Plus enim mali pravitas voluntatis affert, quam fortuna cuiquam boni. In quibus verbis illa sic exclamabat, ut obliti penitus sexus eius, magnum aliquem virum considere nobiscum crederemus, me interim, quantum poteram, intellegente ex quo illa, et quam divino fonte manarent. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, De Beata Vita

And again I began: 'Shall I say that we all wish to be happy?' Scarcely had I spoken, than they all agreed with one voice. 'And does it seem to you,' I said, 'that he is happy who does not have what he wishes?' They denied it. 'Why, then,' I said, 'is everyone who has what he wishes happy?' My mother said, 'If he wants good things and he has them, he is happy, if however he wants bad things, although he has them, he is wretched.' And I smiling and gesturing at her said, 'Swiftly you have taken up the bow of philosophy, mother. For far from you was want of words for doubt, and so not in the manner of Cicero did you reveal what you did, but far more concisely than him. In the Hortensius, which is a book he composed in praise and defense of philosophy, he said, 'It is not the philosophical man but the one too hasty in discussion who says that all are happy who live as they wish. It is false, for a man may wish for what is indecent, that is, most wretched. For not so wretched is that one who does not obtain what he wants, than he who acquires what he wishes to have but should not have. The depravity of the will brings more evils to a man than fortune goods.' 1 And so because of the words she spoke, we utterly forgot her sex, and we believed that we were in the presence of a great man, and I meanwhile, as much as I was able, contemplated what she said as that which pours forth from a Divine spring.   Saint Augustine of Hippo, from On The Blessed Life 1 Cicero Hortensius, fragment 39

A Mother's Martydom

In civitate vero Culusitana non valeo quae gesta sunt nuntiare, quia et ipsam quantitatem martyrum vel etiam confessorum impossibile est homini supputtare. Ubi quaedam matrona, auctrix sui nominis Victoria, dum in conspectu vulgi continuato suspendio cremaretur, a marito jam perdito filiis praesentibus taliter rogabatur: Quid pateris conjunx? Si me despicis, vel horum miserere quos genuisti, impia, parvulorum. Quare oblivisceris uteri tui, et pro nihilo ducis quos cum gemitu peperisti? Ubi sunt foedera conjugalis amoris? ubi societatis vincula, quae inter nos dudum honestatis jure tabulae conscriptae fecerunt? Respice, quaeso, filios ac maritum, et regiae jussionis implere festina praeceptum, ut et imminentia adhuc tormenta lucreris, simul et mihi doneris et liberis nostris. Sed illa nec filiorum fletus, nec serpentis audiens blandimenta, affectum multo altius elevans a terra, mundum cum suis desideriis contemnebat. Quam cum jam continuatione suspendi avulsis humeris, etiam qui cruciabant conspicerent mortuam, deposuerunt prorsus omni parte exanimatam. Quae postea retulit quamdam sibi virginem astitisse, atque tetigisse membra singula, et illico fuisse sanatam. Victor Vitensis, Historia Persecutionis Africae Provinciae, Liber V Source: Migne PL 58.243b-244a

However I cannot tell all that happened in the city of Culusitana, because it is impossible for any man to recount even the amount of martyrs or confessors. But I shall say that there was a certain woman, a mother by the name of Victoria, who having been hung up to burn in the presence of the crowd, was asked by her husband, a man who was already ruined, with their children present: 'Why do you suffer, O wife? If you scorn me, at least have mercy on these to whom you have given birth, wicked woman. Why have no care for the fruit of your womb and reckon as nothing these whom you bore amid groans? Where are the bonds of conjugal love? Where that bond of association between us that the honourable written tablets once rightly made? I beseech you, look on your children and your husband, and make haste to fulfill the command of the king, 1 so that you may yet acquire relief from your imminent torment and give a gift to me and your children.' But that woman wept not for her children, nor listened to the charms of the serpent, but with as much passion as she hung above the earth, so she condemned the world and its desires. Then when her shoulder bones had been wrenched out by continual suspension, and those who were torturing her suspected she had expired, they took her down and found that she was indeed dead. It is told that afterwards a certain virgin was brought near and healed by touching every member of her body. Victor Vitensis, History of the Persecution of the African Province, Book 5 1 King Huneric, who commanded adoption of Arianism

A Humble Child

Εἰ μὴ ἐταπεινοφρόνουν, ἀλλὰ ὕψωσα τὴν καρδίαν μου, ὡς τὸ ἀπογεγαλακτισμένον ἐπὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ, ὡς ἀνταποδώσεις ἐπὶ τὴν ψυχὴν μου. Ἄλλος, Οὕτος ἀνταποδοθείη τῃ ψυχῇ μου. Καθ' ὑπερβατόν, ἐστι τὸ εἰρημένον, οἶον, Εἰ μὴ ἐταπεινοφρόνουν, ὡς τὸ ἀπογεγαλακτισμένον ἐπὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' ὕψωσα τὴν καρδίαν μου, οὕτως ἀνταποδοθείη τῇ ψυχῇ. Ὅ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτον ἐστιν· οὐ μόνον τῆς κακίας καθαρὸς ἥμην, τῆς ἀλαζονείας λέγω, οὐδὲ μόνον τῶν ἐχόντων αὑτὴν ἀλλότριος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν τὴν ἐναντίαν αὐτῇ μετὰ πολλῆς ἐδεξάμην τῆς ὑπερβολῆς, τὴν ταπεινοφροσύνην, τὸ μετριάζειν, τὸ συντετρίφθαι. Τοῦτο ἐκεῖνο ὅ τοῖς μαθηταῖς ὁ Χριστὸς ἐκέλευσε λέγων· Ἐαν μὴ στραφητε, καὶ γένησθε ὡς τὰ παιδία, οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. Τοιαύτην, φησὶν, ἑκτησαμην ταπεινοφροσύνην, ὡς τὸ  ὑπομάζιον παιδίον. Ὥσωπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνο ἔχεται τῆς μητρὸς, τεταπείνωται, ἀλαζονείας ἀπάσης ἐστὶ καθαρὸν, ἀφελείᾳ συζῇ καὶ ἁπλότητι· οὕτω καὶ ἐγὼ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἥμην, ἐχόμενος αὐτοῦ διηνεκῶς. Ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος, Εἰς Τον ΡΛ' Ψαλμον Source: Migne PG 55.378

'If I have not been humble in my thoughts, but lifted up my heart, like a weaned child over his mother, return it to my soul.' 1 Or otherwise: 'may it be returned to my soul.' And this is said using the trope of hyperbaton and so one may rearrange it: 'If I have not thought humbly like a weaned child over its mother but I have lifted up my heart, thus may it be returned to my soul.' What he says is this: Not only was I unstained by vice, I speak of vaunting, not only was I foreign to it as a possession, but truly its opposing virtue I took up over it, that is, humility, moderation, contrition. And this Christ commands his disciples, saying, 'Unless you turn and become as little children you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.' 2 With such humility, he says, as an infant at the breast of his mother. For the humble one is like a child clinging to his mother, free from all pride, living in consummate innocence and simplicity, thus I was to God, clinging to him continually. Saint John Chrysostom, Exposition of the Psalms, from Psalm 130 1 Ps 130.2-3 2 Mt 18.3

Labour and Reward

Τὴν αἴτησιν τῆς μητέρος τῶν υἱων Ζεβεδαίου οὐχ ὡς ἀδύνατον αὐτῳ παραιτ εἶται  ὁ Κύριος· ὁ γὰρ βούλεται δύναται· ἀλλ' ὡς ἄτοπον ἀπεπέμψατο. Εἰπὲ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἵνα οἱ δύο υἱοι μου καθίσωσιν, εἶς ἐκ δεξιῶν σοι, καὶ εἶς ἐξ εὐωνύμων σου ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου. Ὁ δὲ δίκαιος μισθαποδότης, εὐλόγῳ τινὶ κρίσει σωφρονίζει τὸ ἄτοπον. Οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμον δοῠναι ἁπλῶς τοῖς αἰτοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ παρασχεῖν μισωὸν τοῖς καμοῦσιν· οὐκ ἔστι γὰρ δικαίου κριτοῦ τοὺς ἱδρῶτας παριδεῖν, καὶ ῥᾳθύμοις παρασχεῖν. Εἰ τοίνυν τῆς καθέδρας ἐρῶσι, τοὺς ἀγῶνας οὐκ ἀγνοοῦσιν, ὦν ἐκείνη βραβεῖον τοῖς νομίμως ἀθλοῦσιν ἠτοίμασται. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΡΑΖ' Νειλῳ

The question of the mother of the sons of Zebedee was not for something that exceeded the power of the Lord, since had He wished He was able, but it was refused as something absurd. 'For say,' she said, 'that my two sons will sit with you, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.'  1 But that righteous one who gives reward with reasonable judgement chides the absurdity. It is not mine to give what you have asked, but to furnish reward to those who have toiled, for it is not of correct judgement to have contempt for the sweat stained righteous and to reward those who are indolent. If then it is so for those who love to sit in seats, ignorant of struggle, so He has ready the prize for those whose custom it is to run the race. Saint Isidore of Pelustium, Book 1, Letter 137 To Nilus 1 Mt 20.21

Mothers and Brothers

Μήτηρ μου καὶ ἀδελφοί μου οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀκούοντες καὶ ποιοῦντες αὐτόν. Ὁ διὰ τῆς Μωϋσέως νομοθεσίας εἰπὼν, Τίμα τὴν πατέρα σου καὶ τὴν μητέρα σου, ἵνα εὖ σοι γένηται· ἡμῖν δὲ ἐπιτάξας καὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἀγαπᾷν, ἆρα αὐτὸς ὠλιγώρει τῆς εἰς τὴν μητέρα τιμῆς, καὶ ἀπωθεῖται τὴν εἰς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ἀγάπην; Οὐδαμῶς. Τί οὖν ἄρα διδάξαι βούλεται; Εἰς ὕψος αἴρει μέγα τὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἀγάπην, οἵπερ ἂν ἐθέλοιεν τοῖς αὐτοῦ πείθεσθαι νόμοις· καὶ τὰς ἀνωτάτω τιμὰς ὀφείλειν ἡμῖν βούλεται, ὡς μητράσι καὶ ἀδελφοῖς. Εἰ γὰρ μητέρα καὶ ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοῦ εἶναί φησι τοὺς ἀκούοντας τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ποιοῦντας αὐτὸν, πῶς οὐχ ἅπασιν ἐναργὲς, ὡς ἐκκεκριμένην καὶ ἀξιόληπτον χαρίζεται τὴν ἀγάπην τοῖς ἑπομένοις αὐτῷ; Οὕτω γὰρ ἦν πεῖσαι πάντας ἥκειν ἐπὶ τὸ βούλεσθαι τοῖς αὐτοῦ καταπείθεσθαι λόγοις. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Ἐξὴγησις Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Λούκαν Εὐάγγελιον, Κεφ. Η'

'My mother and my brothers they are who hear the word of God and do it.' 1 He who in the Mosaic law says, 'Honor your mother and father that it go well for you.' 2 commands us that we love our enemies; and it is because of care for this that He would have us cast aside honour for a mother and love of brothers? Not at all. What therefore does He wish to teach? On the heights He sets love to men that by that they are inclined to his laws. And the greatest honours he wishes to give to us, as mothers and brothers. For if He calls them His mothers and brothers who hear the word of God, in the doing of it, how would it not be that He rejoices in the abundant and worthy love of His followers for Him? So indeed He wished to persuade all to conduct themselves in the reception of His words. Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Chapter 8 1 Lk 8 21. 2 Deut 5.16

Two Testaments, Two Mothers, Two Sons

Haec enim sunt duo testamenta, unum quidem a monte Sina, in servitutem generans, quae est Agar. Sina enim mons est in Arabia, qui conterminus est ei, quae nunc est Jerusalem, et servit cum filiis suis. Illa autem quae sursum est Jerusalem, libera est, quae est mater omnium nostrum. Pene cunctorum super hoc loco ista est explanatio, ut Agar ancillam, interpretentur in Lege, et in populo Judaeorum: Saram autem liberam, in Ecclesia, quae de gentibus congregata est, quae mater sanctorum sit, Paulo dicente: Quae est mater omnium nostrum. Haec diu non peperit, antequam Christus de Virgine nasceretur, et sterilis fuit, necdum risu mundi Isaace de electo patre cum voce sublimium dogmatum resonante: siquidem et Abraham in nostra lingua, pater electus cum sonitu refertur. Agar autem quae interpretatur παροικία, id est, incolatus, sive peregrinatio, sive mora, generat Ismael, qui tantum audiat Dei praecepta, nec faciat hominem rusticum, sanguinarium, deserta sectantem: qui universis fratribus suis de libera procreatis inimicus sit, et adversa eis fronte resistat. Nec mirum vetus Testamentum, quod in monte Sina, qui est in Arabia, et confinis est ei, quae nunc est Jerusalem, constitutum est atque conscriptum, non esse perpetuum: cum et incolatus a perpetua possessione diversus sit, et Sina montis nomen tentationem sonet: et Arabia significet occasum: et econtrario quae sursum est Jerusalem, quae est libera materque sanctorum, demonstret hanc Jerusalem, quae in praesenti est, deo sum esse, et in humili infirmoque demersam. Sunt qui duo Testamenta et aliter intelligant: ut Scripturam divinam, tam veterem quam novam, juxta diversitatem sensus eorumque sententiam qui legunt, aut ancillam interpretentur, aut liberam, et eos, qui adhuc litterae serviant, et spiritum timoris habeant in servitutem, de Agar Aegyptia velint esse generatos: eos autem qui ad superiora conscendant, et allegorice velint sentire quae scripta sunt, filios esse Sarae, quae in lingua nostra, ἄρχουσα, id est, princeps, interpretatur, genere feminino. Et hoc ob illam necessitatem se asserunt usurpare: quia iniquum sit Moysen, et cunctos prophetas de ancilla, quoslibet vero gentilium de libera intelligere procreatos. Unde melius esse, ita non solum de his qui in Ecclesia sunt, pro diversitate, ut suprae diximus intellectuum, alios servus, alios liberos arbitremur: sed etiam de uno eodemque homine quamdiu sequitur historiam, ancillae eum es e filium: cum autem aperitente Jesu Scripturas, incensum fuerit cor ejus, et in fractione panis inspexerit eum quem antea non videbat: tunc et ipsum Sarae filium nominari.  Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum in Epistolam ad Galatas, Liber II, Cap IV

For there are two testaments, one from Mount Sinai, birthing in servitude, which is Hagar. For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia, and it borders upon that which is now Jerusalem. and she serves with her sons. The latter is the Jerusalem which is above, free she is, and the mother of all of us. 1  Nearly everything about this passage has been explained, that Hagar is a slave girl, understood in the law and in the people of the Jews, and the free woman Sarah is the Church from which the Gentiles are gathered, she who is the mother of the saints, with Paul saying that she is the mother of all of us. 2 She did not give birth before Christ was born from the Virgin, sterile she was, not yet was the smile of Isaac in the world from the chosen father with voice resounding with sublime teaching; Abraham in our tongue meaning chosen father with a cry. And Hagar is translated as alien, or wanderer, or delayer, she who birthed Ismael, who may only hear the commandments of God, who cannot become a farming man, but he is a killer, cut off in the desert, an enemy to every brother  born free, and against them he thrusts his head. 3 It is not to be wondered that the Old Testament which was given and written on Mount Sinai which is in Arabia, bordering on that which is now Jerusalem, is not forever, when it was far from the perpetual possession. And Mount Sinai resounds with the name of temptation, and Arabia signifies murder, and on the contrary that which is the Jerusalem above, which is the free mother of the saints,  this Jerusalem declares which is in the present, with God I am, and amid the humble and lowest. But there are those who understand the two Testaments in a different manner, that the Divine Scripture, the old and the new, on account of the differing understanding of those who read, may be interpreted as the slave or the free woman, and those who are still servants of the letter and have the spirit of fear in servitude, they would have as children of Egyptian Hagar, and those who rise to the things above and wish in allegory to grasp what is written, they are the sons of Sarah, which in our tongue is princess, that is prince of the feminine class. And on account of this they must assert themselves superior, that Moses was inferior and all the Prophets were from the slave woman, and the children of the gentiles are from the free woman. Whence better it is, I think, that not only concerning those who are in the Church is there difference, as we have given the understanding above, with some slaves and some free, but that even the same man while he alone follows the narrative is the son of the slave woman, but when he does so with Jesus there is an opening of the Scriptures, his heart is on fire, and in the breaking of bread, he looks on him whom he did not see, 4 and then the same man is named a son of Sarah. Saint Jerome, Commentary on St Paul's Letter to the Galatians, Book 2 Chap 4 1 Gal 4. 24-26 2 Gal 4. 26  3 cf Gen 16. 11-12 3 Lk 24.30-32

Two Mothers

Τυπικῶς ἡ πρώτη Εὖα ζωὴ ἐκλήθη, ἴνα σημάνῃ τὴν δευτέραν, τουτέεστι, τὴν ἁγίαν Μαρίαν τὴν γεννήσασαν τὴν ζωὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων Χριστὸν τὸν Κύριον τῆς δόξης. Αὕτη γὰρ ἀληθῶς μήτηρ δείκνυται πάντων τῶν εὐαγγελικῶς ζώντων, καὶ μὴ ἀποθνησκόντων τὰς ψυχὰς διὰ τῆς ἀπιστίας. Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΣΞϚ' Κυριλλῳ Προτευοντι

As a figure the first Eve life was named, 1 by which may be shown the second, that is, the Holy Mary who birthed the life of men Christ, the Lord of Glory. For she truly is a mother of all those who live according to the Gospel, and not of those whose souls have perished on account of lack of faith. Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 266, To the Primate Cyrllius 1 Gen 2.19

Raising a Daughter

Sextus femineus suo jungatur sexui: nesciat, imo timeat cum pueris ludere. Nullum impudicum verbum noverit; et si forte in tumultu familiae discurrentis aliquid audiat, non intelligat. Matris nutum pro verbis ac monitis et pro imperio habeat. Amet ut parentem, subjiciatur ut dominae, timeat ut magistram. Cum autem virgunculam rudem et edentulam, septimus aetatis annus exceperit, et ceperit erubescere, scire quid taceat, dubitare quid dicat: discat memoriter Psalterium, et usque ad annos pubertatis, libros Salomonis: Evangelia, Apostolos, et Prophetas sui cordis thesaurum faciat. Nec liberius procedat ad publicum, nec semper ecclesiarum quaerat celebritatem. In cubiculo suo totas delicias habeat. Nunmquam juvenculos, nunquam cincinnatos videat, vocis dulcedines per aurem animam vulnerantes, puellerumque lacivia repellantur. Quae quanto licentius adeunt, tanto difficilius evitantur: et quod didicerunt, secreto doceat, inclusamque Danaem vulgi sermonibus violant. Sit ei magistra comes, paedagoga custos: non multo vina dedita: non, juxta Apostolum, otiosa atque verbosa; sed sobria, gravis, lanifica, et ea tantum loquens, quae animum puellarem ad virtutem instituant, Ut enim aqua in areola digitum sequitur praecedentem, ita aetas mollis, et tenera in utramque partem flexibilis est, et quocumque duxeris, trahitur. Solent lascivi et comptuli juvenes blandimentis, affabilitate, munusculis, aditum sibi per nutrices aut alumnas quaerere; et cum clementer intraverit, de scintillis incendia concitare, paulatimque peroficere ad impudentiam: et nequaquam posse prohiberi, illo in se versiculo comprobato: 'Aegre reprehendas, quod sinis consuescere.' Pudet dicere: et tamen dicendum est: Nobiles feminae, quae nobiliores habuere neglectui procos, vilissimae conditionis hominibus, et servulis copulantur; ac sub nomine religionis, et umbra continentiae, interdum deserunt viros, Helenae sequuntur Alexandros, nec Menelaos pertimescunt. Videntur haec, plaguntur, et non vindicantur: quia multitudo peccantium peccandi licentiam subministrat. Proh nefas, orbis terrarum ruit, in nobis peccata non ruunt. Sanctus Hieronymus, ex Epistola CXXVIII, Ad Gaudentium

A girl should associate with her own sex, she should not know boys, indeed she should fear to play with them. She should never hear an unclean word, and if amid the bustle of the house she should hear one, she should not understand it. Her mother's nod should suffice for words and warnings and commands. She should love her as a parent, obey her as a mistress, and reverence her as a teacher. She is now a toothless raw little girl, but with seven years passing, she should take to blushing knowing what she should not say and doubtful as to what she should say. Let her learn the Psalter by heart and in the years of adolescence the books of Solomon. The Gospels, the Apostles and the Prophets should be made the treasure of her heart. She should not go out in public too freely, nor always seek out crowded churches. In her own room should be all her pleasure. She must never look at young men, never at fashionable types, and the sweet voices which wound the soul through the ears and loose behaviour of young women must be driven away. The more freedom of access such women possess, so much harder is it to avoid them and what they have learned they will teach in secret, and our secluded Dana will be violated by vulgar talk. Let her have for guardians a companion a mistress and a governess, one not much given to wine, or in the Apostle's words idle and a gossip, but sober, grave, a spinner of wool, one who will establish a girl's soul in virtue. For as water follows a finger drawn through sand, so one of soft and tender years can be bent in two ways, and wherever you lead she is drawn. It is customary for impudent and well groomed young men to seek access for themselves by nurses or dependants with blandishments, friendliness, little gifts, and when they have thus gently effected their approach they blow up fire from the sparks and little by little advance to shamelessness, and it is impossible to stop it then, the verse being proved true: 'It is ill rebuking what you have allowed to become a habit.' I am ashamed to say it and yet it must be said: noble ladies who have rejected more noble suitors join themselves to men of the lowest condition and even with slaves, and sometimes in the name of religion and under the cloak of continence they abandon their husbands, Helen follows Paris without any fear of Menelaus. These things are seen, lamented, and not punished, for the multitude of sinners grants tolerance to it. For shame, the world goes to ruin, but in us sin does not. Saint Jerome, from Letter 128, To Gaudentius