Day And Night, Men And Beasts

De die ista, dilectissimi,quae mane tertia, sexta, nona, undecima, et vespera, in evangelica parabola distinguitur ad laborem laborisque mercedem, quod heri diximus, nequaquam hodie permutamus, videlicet conversionem ad Deum sensu et affectu diem accipi, sicut aversionem noctem, qua nemo potest operari. Sunt enim in hominibus sensus et appetitus, secundum quos animalia dicuntur, nec a bestiis ulla per hos eminentia secernuntur: quibus tamen si supponitur ratio, ut utrique principetur, existent quidem simul sensu et affectu animalia, ac mente rationali, mortalitateque poenali, homines necessario post peccatum, ac pro peccato morituri: qui ante peccatum, et sine peccato poterant non mori. In quibus ergo sensus vel affectus rationem nondum sequitur, sed reluctatur, et ut, proh pudor, in nonnullis obtingit, ipsa contra ipsam ratione abutitur: hi nimirum, quamlibet astuti, callidi, sensati, gratiosi, placidive, nondum homines sunt: aut si ob rationem dicendi homines asseruntur, utique quia capite deorsum gradiuntur, non tam homines quam de hominibus monstra esse convincuntur. Os, inquit poeta, homini sublime dedit.  In talibus, dilectissimi, aliquando reluctatur quidem, sed tamen superatur, ac trahitur captiva, quae sola est ratio. Vae enim soli, quia si ceciderit, non est qui sublevet eum. Aliquando vero sponte enervis, effracta, et evirata sequitur, succumbuit, a omni spurcitiae libenter se contradit. Primi ergo mali, secundi pessimi: utrique noctis et tenbrarum filii, sed alii noctem suam amant, alii diem desiderant, alii nihil habentes hominis, alii parum, alii soluti, alii vincti. Utrique in tenebris sunt, in tenebris ambulant, bestiis silvae, id est carnalibus passionibus, ac saecularibus desideriis: et catulis leonum, id est spiritualibus nequitiis in coelestibus nocturna praeda effecti, sicut scriptum est: Posuisti tenebras, et facta est nox, in ipsa pertransibunt omnes bestiae silvae, catuli leonum, etc. Dum igitur ad seipsum advertitur homo, sive ad suum sensum, sive ad viluntatem, sive etiam ad rationem, licet eo usque profecerit, ut jumentum exuens, hominem induat: utique nec noctem evadit, nec in diem vadit. Ad meipsum, ait Videns, contrubata est anima mea: propterae memor coepit esse Dei tanquam diei. Deus enim totus lux est, et in eo solo tenebrae non sunt ulla. Nam sancti angeli etsi in ipso mane inveniant, in se tamen vespere offendunt: quibus verpere sui, et mane Dei, perficitur dies unus, seu primus. In se ergo solus Deus diem invenit: qui dum menti rationali praeveniente gratia illucere incipit, ei mane facit; et inter tenbras ac lcuem dividit. Est itaque spiritualis diei antelucanam mane gratia, quae rationem praevenit, et a se ad Deum convertit; ac de tenebris ignorantiae, vel ut dictum est, impotentiae, seu etiam malitiae, in die sapientiae, virtutis ac justitiae, id est Christi Domini, inducit. Isaac, Cisterciensis Abbas, Sermo XVII, In Septuagesima II Source: Migne PL 194.1745b-1746a

Concerning that day which the parable divides into the morning, and the third hour and the sixth hour and the ninth hour and the eleventh hour and the evening, for labour and the reward of labour, 1 which we spoke of yesterday, we shall not dismiss today, that is, turning to God with the mind and with the heart will still be understood as the day and turning away as the night 'in which no one is able to work.' 2 Men possess sense and appetite, according to which they are said to be animals, and by which they cannot be distinguished from beasts, but if reason is added so that it rules both, with animal senses and appetite existing at the same time with the rational mind, then with the penalty of death men perish after sin and because of sin, who before sin and without sin did not die. 3 In those, then, who possess sense and appetite, yet who do not follow reason but rather fight against it, as, alas, happens in many, reason is used against itself. These sort, however clever they are, however learned, however sensible, however charming or gentle, are not human, or if by a habit of speech they are called men, yet because they walk with their heads thrust down, so they are convicted of being men who are monsters among men. 'Man was given a face for the heights,' as a poet says. 4 In such folk, dearest brothers, forsaken reason is dragged off to captivity, for though they may sometimes struggle yet they are overthrown. 'Alas for the man who is alone, because if he falls there is no one to lift him up.' 5 Then sometimes reason is so enervated, daunted, and unmanned, that of its own accord it follows, succumbs to, and happily gives itself to any sort of vileness. The former sort are wicked, the latter worse, and both are children of the night and of the darkness. The latter love the night and the former desire the day. The latter have nothing human about them, the former retain a little. The former wear loose bonds, the latter are utterly conquered. But both are in darkness, and 'in darkness they walk,' 6 beasts of the wood, that is, they walk in the carnal passions and in worldly desires, and are made the prey of the whelps of the lion, that is, of 'the wicked spirits of the heavens.' 7 As it is written, 'You have placed the darkness and night falls, in which pass all the beasts of the wood, the whelps of lions.' 8 When, therefore, a man turns to himself, or even to reason, so that he might improve himself by stripping off the animal and putting on the man, he neither escapes the night nor does he come to the light of the day. 'My soul has troubled me,' he says looking about himself, and because of this he begins to think of God as of the day. 'For God is all light and there is no darkness at all in Him.' 9 For even if the holy angels find the morning in Him, yet in themselves they stumble in the evening, which evening of theirs and the morning of God make one day, the first day. 10 Therefore God alone has the day in Himself, and when He begins to shine grace into rational minds, He creates the morning and separates the light from the darkness. 11 Thus grace is the dawn of the spiritual day, which not only precedes reason but turns it from itself to God and leads it from the darkness of ignorance or, as has been said, of impenitence, and even of wickedness, into the daylight of wisdom, and virtue, and righteousness, that is, into the day of Christ our Lord. Isaac of Stella, from Sermon 17, The Second Sermon for Septuagesima 1 Mt 20.1-16 2 Jn 9.4 3 Rom 8.10 4 Ovid Meta 1.84 5 Eccl 4.10 6 Ps 81.5 7 Ephes 6.12 8 Ps 103.20-21 9 Ps 41.7, 1 Jn 1.5 10 Gen 1.5 11 Gen 1.4

Lovers And Beloveds

Indica mihi quem diligit anima mea.... Alter est dilectus animae et dilector animae; alter dilectus carnis et dilector carnis. Christus dilectus animae est et dilector. Mundus dilectus carnis est et dilector. Dilector qui diligit; dilectus qui diligitur. In hoc probatur quod Christus dilector animae est, quia in oculis ejus nihil interest qualis species carnis, ubi anima pulchra est. Dilectus autem animae ideo ipse est, quia in perfruendo ipso anima delectatur. Tale etenim bonum est sapientia, quo perfrui nisi rationalis natura non potest. Sicut caro mundo perfruitur et delectatur, et oculus carnis hoc diligit quod capit; et qui amat speciem, amat et illa quae speciem commendant. Hugo De Sancte Victore, Miscellanea, Liber I, Tit CXXXI, De dilectore et dilecto duplici Source: Migne PL 177.549b-c

Show me the one whom my soul loves... 1 The beloved of the soul and the lover of the soul is one thing, and the beloved of the flesh and the lover of the flesh is another. Christ is the beloved of the soul and the lover. The world is the beloved of the flesh and its lover. The lover is he who loves, the beloved what is loved. In this it is proved that Christ is the lover of the soul, because in His eyes there is no value in the state of the flesh when the soul is beautiful. And He is the beloved of the soul because in Him the soul delights to have joy. Such a good is wisdom, which is enjoyed only if a rational nature is present. And the flesh takes joy in the world and it is charmed, and the eye of the flesh loves what it grasps, and he who loves appearance, loves those things which commend appearance. Hugh Of Saint Victor, Miscellanea, Book 1, Chapter 131, On The Two Types of Lover And Beloved 1 Song 1.6

Wisdom And Foolishness

Scriptum est: Quia mundus in Dei sapientia, per sapientiam Deum non congnovit: placuit Deo per stultitiam praedicationis salvos facere credentes. Mundus sapientiam habuit, per quam Deum non potuit cognoscere positum in sapientia sua. Sapientia mundi fuit ratio humana, secundum visibilium rerum naturam et elementa hujus mundi formata. Sapientia Dei fuit ejus ineffabilis majestas, et incomprehensibilis bonitas. Erat et prudentia mundi circa commoda carnis diligens circumspectio. Sapientia ergo mundi quae humana ratione incedit, negat fidem; prudentia autem mundi quae carnis tantum commoda quaere docet, et vitare incommoda, destruit bonam operationem. Propterea sapientiam mundi stultam reputat Deus, et prudentiam judicat inimicam, quoniam illa veritati adversatur, ista dilectioni. Propterea utramque destruxit Deus: sapientiam, per stultitiam; prudentiam, per insaniam. Quasi enim, stultitam quaedem Dei fuit secundum humanum sensum, quod ad abjecta et indigna sibi se humiliavit. Insania autem reputata, quod sine necessitate tam dura susinuit. Et tamen qui in sapientia sua cognosci non potuit, quasi in stultitia agnita est, quoniam qui in sua celesitudine manes non potuit comprehendi, in sua humilitatione coepit agnosci. Quasi enim in sua sapientia Deus fuit, quando in eo quod ipsum decere videbatur, permansit; sed ibi agnitus non est, donec quasi desipuit et indigna suscepit. Ibi autem sapientiam mundi destruxit, ubi se in eo quod stultum mundo videtur, demonstravit, ut disceret homo supra rationem mundi esse quod videbat in natura hominis Deum apparere. Deinde autem quasi per insania Deus prudentiam carnis evacuavit, quando contra ejus existimationem agens carnem suam, sine retractione ad poenas et tormenta exposuit, et sic eam ad incorruptionem resurrectionis eduxit, ostendens quod non parcendo, sed castigando et persequendo carnem servare oportet. Sic ergo quia in sapientia sua per sapientiam mundus non cognovit Deum, placuit Deo per stultitiam praedicationis salvos facere credentes. Stulta enim videbantur quae dicebantur, sed tamen per haec demonstrata magis sunt stulta quae probabantur et amabantur. Quae probabantur ratione stulta, et quae amabantur dilectione insana; illa sine veritate, ist sine utilitate. Stultum enim fuit supra carnis sensum veritatem Dei pertinaciter non recipere, et insania fruit propter carnis commodum detrimentum animae patienter sustinere. Hugo De Sancte Victore, Miscellanea, Liber I, Tit CXCVII De sapientia Dei et mundi Source: Migne PL 177.586a-587a

It is written, 'Because in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save believers.' 1 The world had its wisdom, through which, established in it own wisdom, it was unable to know God. The wisdom of the world was human reason which was fashioned for visible things and the elements of this world. The wisdom of God was His ineffable majesty and incomprehensible goodness. The prudence of the world was for the affectionate care of the flesh. Therefore the wisdom of the world that is given to human reason denies faith, for the prudence of the world teaches that one should seek only the comforts of the flesh and avoid its harm, whence it ruins good work. Therefore God reckons the wisdom of the world foolishness and judges prudence to be an enemy, since the former is averse to truth, the latter to love. Whence God overthrew both, wisdom by foolishness and prudence by madness. For according to human understanding it was by a certain foolishness of God that He lowered Himself to an abject and unworthy state. And it was reputed madness that without necessity He endured such trials as He did. And yet He who was not able to be known in His own wisdom, was as by foolishness known, because He who  in His heaven cannot be comprehended began to be known in His humiliation. For He was as God in His own wisdom when He seemed to do what befitted Him, but because of that He was not known, until He, as one acting unreasonably, took up an unworthy state. And thereby He destroyed the wisdom of the world when in what seemed foolish to the world He revealed Himself, so that man might learn of the reason beyond the world, since He saw God appear in the nature of man. Finally as by madness God emptied the flesh of prudence when against its judgement He took up the flesh and exposed Himself without excuse to punishment and torment, yet by that He led it to the incorruption of resurrection, showing that it is not by being spared but by beatings and persecution that one should care for the flesh. Therefore because in its own wisdom the world did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save believers. For what the preachers say seems foolish, yet by these things the things that men have approved and loved were demonstrated to be more foolish. What they approved in reason was foolish, and what they loved with delight was madness, for the former was without truth, the latter without usefulness. For it was foolish under the understanding of the flesh to stubbornly refuse the truth of God, and insane because of the advantage to the flesh to patiently suffer the ruin of the soul. Hugh Of Saint Victor, Miscellanea, Book 1, Chapter 197, On The Wisdom of God and the World 1 1 Cor 1.21

Honey And Salt

Nec quidquam fermenti aut mellis adolebitur in sacrificiis; sed in omni sacrificio offeres sal. Mel in sacrificio prohibetur offerri, quai nihil voluptuosum et suave hujus mundi apud Deum placet, nihil quo non habeat aliquid mordacis veritatis. Unde paschalis agnus cum lactucis agrestibus et amaris manducabatur. Sal vero in omni sacrifico offertur, quia sale rationis et discretionis omnia debent condiri. Hugo De Sancte Victore, Miscellanea, Liber IV, Tit XVIII, Sal discretionis, non mel adulationis nec voluptatis, esse sacris adhibendum Source: Migne PL 177.708a

Neither leaven nor honey shall be burnt with the sacrifices, but with every sacrifice you shall offer salt. 1 Honey is forbidden to be offered in sacrifice, because nothing pleasurable and sweet of this world pleases God, nothing that does not have the bite of truth. Whence the Paschal lamb was eaten with wild and bitter herbs. 1 But salt is offered with every sacrifice, because everything should be established with the salt of reason and discretion. Hugh Of Saint Victor, Miscellanea, Book 4, Chapter 18, On the salt of discretion, and that the honey of adulation and pleasure is not to be allowed in sacred things 1 Levit 2.11,13 2 Exod 12.8

Animals And Passions

Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ Θεία Γραφὴ πρὸς τὰ πάθη τὰ ἐνοχλοῦντα οὕτω και τάς τῶν ἀλόγων προσηγορίας, πολλαχοῦ δὲ καὶ τῶν θηρέων τοῖς λόγῳ τετιμημένοις ἐπιτίθησι· ποτὲ μὲν κύνας καλοῦσα διὰ τὸ ἀναίσχυτον καὶ ἰταμόν· Κύνες γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐνεοὶ, οὐ δυνάμενοι ὑλακτεῖν· ποτὲ δὲ ἵππους διὰ τὸ λάγνον· Ἵπποι γὰρ θηλυμανεῖς ἐγένοντο, ἔκαστος ἐπὶ τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πλησίον χρεμετίζοντες· ποτὲ δὲ ὄνους, διὰ τὴν ἀγνωμοσύνην καὶ τὴν ἂνοιαν· Παρασυνεβλήθη γὰρ, φησὶ, τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοὴτοις, καὶ ὡμοιώθη αὐτοῖς· ποτὲ δὲ λέοντας καὶ παρδάλεις, διὰ τὸ ἁρπακτικὸν καὶ πλεονεκτικόν· ποτὲ δὲ ἀσπίδας, διὰ τὸ δολερόν· Ἰὸς γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν· ποτὲ δὲ ὄφεις καὶ ἔχεις, διὰ τὸν ἰὸν καὶ τὴν πονηρίαν, καθὼς καὶ ὁ μακάριος Ἰωάννης ἐβόα, λέγων· Ὄφεις, γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, τίς ὑπέδειξεν ὑμῖν φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς; καὶ ἕτερα δὲ κατάλληλα τοῖς πάθεσιν ὀνόματα ἐπάγει, ἵνα κἂν οὕτως αἰδεσθέντες ὀψέ ποτε πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν εὐγένειαν ἐπανέλθωσι, καὶ σπείσωνται πρὸς τὸ ὁμογενὲς, καὶ τοὺς τοὐ Θεοῦ νόμους προτιμοτέρους ἡγήσωνται τῶν οἰκείων παθῶν, οἴς διὰ ῥᾳθυμίαν ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδεδώκασιν. Ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος, Εἰς Την Γενεσιν, Ὁμιλια ΙΒ' Source: Migne PG 53.102

Because of this Scripture refers to the various passions that trouble as irrational things, often as beasts which oppress those honoured with reason, sometimes naming them dogs for shamelessness and recklessness: 'Dumb dogs,' it says, 'unable to bark;' 1 sometimes horses for lust: 'They have become like horses mad for females, each one neighing after the wife of his neighbour,' 2 sometimes donkeys for senselessness and stupidity: 'Man is like the irrational beasts, and he is made like them;' 3 sometimes lions and leopards for their grasping and overreaching appetites, and sometimes asps because of deceit: 'The poison of asps,' it says, 'is beneath their lips;' 4 sometimes the serpent and viper, because of their venom and malignancy, as the blessed John cried out, saying: 'Serpents, brood of vipers, who showed you to flee from the coming wrath?' 5 And other names are given to describe different passions, so that men might be ashamed at last and return to their good birth and make treaty with their origin, and make choice for the laws of God against the occupations of the passions, by which they so carelessly cast themselves down. Saint John Chrysostom, On Genesis, from the Twelfth Homily 1 Isaiah 56.10 2 Jerem 5.8 3 Ps 48.13 4 Ps 139.4 5 Mt 3.7

Moonstruck

Et ipsi videtis, fratres, quod mea non cessat humilitas omni circa vos sollicitudine laborare, et ad frugem bonam vos tota festinatione convertere: sed quanto plus laboro vobiscum, tanto amplius confundor in vobis. Cum enim video tot commonitionibus meis nullum vos habere profectum, labor meus jam non gratulationi est, sed rubori. Dicit Apostolis: Quis plantavit vineam, et de fructru ejus non edit? Quis pascit gregem, et de lacte gregis non percipit? Ecce ego pasco gregem Christi, et gregis fructum extorquere non valeo; pasco gregem Domini, et nulla ex eo religiositatis alimenta percipio. Nulla enim me fidei ejus dulcedo laetifcat; sed quidquid ex eo profluit asperum et amarum est; tunc enim pastor Christiani gregis lacte reficitur, quando bonorum operum ejus candore laetatur. Quis enim, fratres, in vobis, non graviter ferat (non tamen de omnibus dico, sunt enim inter vos quos ad religionis cultum debeatis habere exemplo,) quis, inquam, non moleste ferat, sic vos esse vestrae salutis immemores, ut etiam coelo teste peccetis? Nam cum ante dies plerosque de vestrae avaritiae cupiditate pulsaverim, ipse die circa vesperum tanta vociferatio populi exstitit, ut irreligiositas ejus penetraret ad coelum. Quod cum requirerem quid sibi clamor hic velit? dixerunt mihi quod laboranti lunae vestra vociferatio subveniret, et defectum ejus suis clamoribus adjuvaret. Risi equidem, et miratus sum vanitatem, quod quasi devotii Christiani Deo ferebatis auxilium. Clamabatis enim ne, tacentibus vobis, perderet elementum: tanquam infirmus enim et imbecillis, nisi vestris adjuvaretur vocibus, non posset luminaria delendere quae creavit; bene igitur facitis, qui Divinitati exhibetis solatium, ut vobis juvantibus possit coelum regere. Sed si vultis hoc plenius facere, cunctis et totis noctibus pervigilare debetis: nam quoties putatis, vobis dormientibus, luna vim passa est; et tamen de coelo non corruit? Aut numquid semper circa vesperum defectum patitur, non aliquando et circa lucem laborat? Sed apud vos vespertinis tantum horis laborare consuevit, quando copiosa coena venter distenditur, quando majoribus poculis caput movetur. Tunc igitur apud vos laborat luna, quando laborat et vinum, tunc, inquam, apud vos turbatur carminibus globus lunae, quando calicibus turbantur et oculi. Quomodo igitur, ebrius, videre potes circa lunam quid agatur in coelo, qui circa te non vides quod agatur in terra? Hoc est plane, quod ait Salomon dicens: Stultus ut luna mutatur. Mutaris enim, sicut luna, dum stultus et insipiens ad motum ejus, qui Christianus fueras, incipis esse sacrilegus. Sacrilegium enim Creatori committitur, dum imbecillitas ascribitur creaturae. Mutaris ergo, sicut luna, ut qui paulo ante fidei devotione fulgebas, postea perfidiae infirmitate deficias; mutaris, sicut luna, dum cerebrum tuum ita exinanitur sapientia, sicut lunae obscuritas; te vero teterrimae tenebrae mentis invadunt. Atque utinam, o stulte, sicut luna muteris! Illa enim cito ad plenitudinem suam redit; tu ad sapientiam nec sero converteris; illa velociter colligit quod amiserat lumen, tu nec tarde fidem recipis quam negasti gravior ergo tua quam lunae mutatio est; luna defectum luminis patitur, tu salutis. Quam bene scriptum est de sapiente: Et permanebit cum sole; permanet enim sapiens cum sole, cum constantia fidei permanet cum Salvatore. Sed dicet aliquis: Luna igitur non laborat? Laborat plane, negare non possumus; sed laborat cum caeteris creaturis, sicut Apostolus dicit: Quia omnis creatura ingemiscit, et parturit usque adhuc; et infra: Quoniam et ipsa creatura liberabitur a servitute corruptionis, et reliqua. Liberabitur, inquit, a servitute; vides ergo, quoniam luna non laborat carminibus, sed laborat obsequiis; non laborat periculis, sed laborat serviat. Vanitati enim creatura subjecta est non sponte, et reliqua. Ergo luna a statu suo non sponte mutatur, te de sensu tuo sponte mutaris; illa in diminutionem sui conditione deducitur, tu in detrimentum tui voluntate pertraheris. Nolo igitur, frater, ita sis, sicut luna, cum deficit; sed esto, sicut quando est plena atque perfecta; scriptum est enim de justo: Sicut luna in aeternum, et testis in coelo fidelis. Sanctus Maximus Taurinensis, Homilia C, De defectione lunae I Source: Migne PL 57.483c-486c

And you see, brothers, that my humility does not cease to have care for you in everything, even that you would turn to good fruit with all haste; but the more I labour for you, the more I am confounded by you. When I see that none of you are improved by my admonishments, my labour has no thanks but only blushes. The Apostle says: 'Who plants the vine and does not eat of its fruit? Who pastures the flock and does not drink of its milk?' 1 Behold, I pasture a flock of Christ and I am not able to partake of the fruit. I pasture the flock of the Lord, and I acquire from it no sustenance of piety. For nothing pleases me in the sweetness of its faith, but whatever from it is produced is sharp and bitter. Then indeed the shepherd of the Christian flock is refreshed by milk when he rejoices in the splendour of good works. Who among you, brothers, is not burdened? I do not speak of everyone, for they are some of you who give witness to the reverence of religion which you should have. Who, I say, is not troubled, so that you are forgetful of your salvation, so even with witness of heaven you sin? For a few days before I was intending to chide you for avarious desires, in the evening, there was such a clamour from the people, that its impiety reached even to heaven. And what happened when I sought what this noise might be? They said to me that your crying out came about because of the diminishing of the moon, and that with your cries you sought to bring aid to its lessening. Well, I laughed, and I wondered at your vanity, that as devout Christians you would give aid to God. You cried out lest because of your silence  that element perish. He is so weak and foolish that unless your cries aid, He is not able to preserve the luminary which He created. You do well, then, you who exhibit such concern for the Deity, that by your help He is able to rule heaven. But if you wish to do this fully, every night and through the whole night you should keep watch, for think how many times, while you sleep, the moon loses its strength, and yet from heaven it does not fall? Or is it that it is always around evening that it suffers its diminuation and its light never fades at any other time? But with you only the evening hours befit, when your bellies are swollen with heavy meals, when your heads spin after many drinks. Then you fall into decline like the moon, when you bend over cups. Then, I say, you spin about with songs for the sphere of the moon, when your eyes spin about on account of drinking. How, being drunk, are you able to see that moon is changed in heaven when you are not able to see what is happening around you on the earth? This is plain, what Solomon says: 'A fool changes like the moon.' 2 Thus you are changed, like the moon, when you are moved to stupidity and foolishness by its changes. You who were Christians begin to be sacrilegious. For he commits sacrifledge against the Creator while he ascribes foolishness to that which is created. You are changed, then, like the moon, so that he who a little while ago shone with the devotion of faith, diminishes into the treachery of faithlessness. You are changed like the moon when your heads having been emptied of wisdom are as the darkening of the moon, you who are possessed by the monstrous darkness of your minds. And that it might be, O fool, that you changed like the moon! She quickly returns to fullness, you, however, do not come back to your senses in the evening. She quickly gathers up the light she has lost, you are slow to regain the faith which you have denied. Worse, then, is your change than the moon's. The moon is afflicted with the loss of its light, you lose salvation. How well it has been written concerning wisdom: 'And she will remain with the sun.' 3 For wisdom remains with the sun when the constancy of faith remains with the Saviour. But let someone say: 'Does the moon, then, not diminish?' Certainly it does, I do not deny it, but it suffers with other created things, as the Apostle says: 'Because all creation groans and would birth even yet.' And after this: 'For creation will be liberated from the servitude of corruption.' and the rest. It shall be liberated, he says, from servitude. Thus you see that the moon does not diminish because it is need of songs, but in service; it does not decline on account of some danger, but as its duty. 'For creation is subject to vanity not of its own will etc' 4 Thus the moon does not change state on its own accord, as you change from a sensible state. She is lead to the lessening of her condition, you by your own will drag yourself off to worse. I do not want you to be, brothers, like the moon when she diminishes. But be as when she is full and perfect, as it is written of the righteous man: 'Like the moon in eternity, and a faithful witness in heaven.' 5 Saint Maximus of Turin, Homily 100, On an Eclipse of the Moon 1 Mt 19.24 2 Sirach 27.11 3 Ps 71.5 4 Rom 8.22,21,20 5 Ps 88.38

Light And Apostles

Ἔλεγεν οὖν ἑαυτὸν εἶναι φῶς τοῦ κόσμου· καὶ τὰ παρακείμενα ταύτῃ τῇ ὀνομασίᾳ συνεκπιαστέον, δόξαντα ἂν τισιν οὐχὶ παρακείμενα μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ τυγχάνειν. Ἔστι δὲ τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν καὶ φῶς ἐθνῶν· φῶς μὲν ἀνθρώπων ἐν τῇ τοῦ προκειμένου εὐαγγελίου ἀρχῇ· Ὃ γέγονε, γάρ φησιν, έν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων· καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβε· φῶς δὲ ἀληθινὸν ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς τῆς αὐτῆς γραφῆς ἐπιγέγραπται· Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον, φῶς δὲ ἐθνῶν, ἐν τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ, ὡς προείπομεν παρατιθέμενοι τὸ Ἰδοὺ τέθεικά σε εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν, τοῦ εἶναί σε εἰς σωτηρίαν ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς. Φῶς δὴ κόσμου αἰσθητὸν ὁ ἥλιός ἐστιν, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτον οὐκ ἀπᾳδόντως ἡ σελήνη καὶ οἱ ἀστέρες τώ αὐτῷ ὀνόματι προσαγορευθήσονται. Ἀλλὰ φῶς μὲν αἐσθητὸν τυγχάνοντες οἱ γεγονέναι παρὰ Μωσεῖ λεγόμενοι τῇ τετάρτῃ ἡμέρα, καθὸ φωτίζουσι τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς, οὐκ εἰσὶ φῶς ἀληθινόν. Ὁ δὲ σωτὴρ ἐλλάμπων τοῖς λογικοῖς καὶ ἡγεμονικοῖς, ἵνα αὐτῶν ὁ νοῦς τὰ ἴδια ὁρατὰ βλέπῃ, τοῦ νοητοῦ κόσμου ἐστὶ φῶς· λέγω δὲ τῶν λογικῶν ψυχῶν τῶν ἐν τῷ αἰσθητικῷ κόσμῳ καὶ εἴ τι παρὰ ταῦτα συμπληροῖ τὸν κόσμον, ἀφ’ οὗ ὁ σωτὴρ εἶναι ἡμᾶς διδάσκει, τάχα μέρος αὐτοῦ τὸ κυριώτατον καὶ διαφέρον τυγχάνων καί, ὡς ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ἥλιος ἡμέρας μεγάλης Kυρίου ποιητής. Δι’ ἣν ἡμέραν φησὶ τοῖς τοῦ φωτὸς αὐτοῦ μεταλαμβάνουσιν· Ἐργάζεσθε ἕως ἡμέρα ἐστίν· ἔρχεται νὺξ ὅτε οὐκέτι οὐδεὶς δύναται ἐργάζεσθαι. Ὅταν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ὡ, φῶς εἰμι τοῦ κόσμου, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοῖς μαθηταῖς φησιν· Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου καὶ Λαμψάτω τὸ φῶς ὑμῶν ἔμπροσθε τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Tὸ δ’ ἀνάλογον σελήνῃ καὶ ἄστροις ὑπολαμβάνομεν εἶναι περὶ τὴν νύμφην ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τοὺς μαθητάς, ἔχοντας οἰκεῖον φῶς ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ ἡλίου ἐπίκτητον, ἵνα φωτίσωσι μὴ δεδυνημένους πηγὴν ἐν αὑτοῖς κατασκευάσαι φωτός. Ὠριγένης, Των Εῑς Το Κατά Ιὠάννην Εὐαγγέλιον Εξηγητικόν, Τομός Α', Κεφ Κ' Source: Migne PG 14.65d-68c

He called Himself, then, the light of the world, 1 and this title must be considered with those which are parallel to it, and which, indeed, are thought by some to be not merely parallel, but identical. He is the light of men, and the true light, and the light of the Gentiles. He is the light of men in the beginning of the Gospel before us: 'That which was made,' it says, 'was life in Him, and the life was the light of men; and the light shone in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.' 2 And He is the true light a little further on in the same passage: 'The true light which enlightens every man was coming into the world.' 3 And He is the light of the Gentiles in Isaiah, as we said before: 'Behold, I have set you as a light of the nations, that You should be salvation to the ends of the earth.' 4 Now the sensible light of the world is the sun, and after, not without its worth, is the moon, and the same title may be given to the stars. But those material lights of the world are said by Moses to have been made on the fourth day, 5 and as they give light to the things on the earth, they are not the true light. For the Saviour shines on rational creatures which are guided by intellect, that their minds may behold their proper objects of vision. So He is the light of the intellectual world, by which I mean, of rational souls in the sensible world, and if there be anything beyond these in the world, by which He teaches that He is our Saviour and the most noble and distinguished part, and, as one may say, the sun which makes the great day of the Lord. Concerning which day He says to those who share in His light: 'Work while it is day; the night comes when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.' Then He says to His disciples, 'You are the light of the world,' and 'Let your light shine before men.' 6 Thus we understand that the Church, the bride, is analogous to the moon and stars, and that the disciples have their light, or it is acquired from the true sun, so that they might illuminate those who have no source of light in themselves. Origen, from the Commentary on The Gospel Of Saint John, Book 1, Chap 20 1 Jn 8.12 2 Jn 1.3-5 3 Jn 1.9 4 Isaiah 49.6 5 Gen 1.16-19 6 Jn 9.4-5

To Whom It Is Given

Οὐ πάντες, φησὶ, χωροῦσι τὸν λόγον τοῦτον, ἀλλ' οἷς δέδοται. Τὸ, δέδοται, ὅταν ἀκούσῃς, μηδὲν αἱρετικὸν πάθῃς, μὴ τὰς φύσεις εἰσαγάγῃς, μὴ τοὺς χοϊκοὺς, καὶ τοὺς πνευματικοὺς, καὶ τοὺς μέσους. Εἰσὶ γὰρ οὕτω τινὲς διακείμενοι κακῶς, ὥστε οἴεσθαι, τοὺς μὲν πάντη ἀπολλυμένης εἶναι φύσεως, τοὺς δὲ σωζομένης, τοὺς δὲ οὕτως ἔχειν, ὅπως ἂν ἡ προαίρεσις ἄγῃ πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον, ἢ βέλτιον. Ἐπιτηδειότητα μὲν γὰρ ἄλλον ἄλλου μᾶλλον, ἢ ἔλαττον ἔχειν, κἀγὼ δέχομαι·οὐκ ἀρκεῖν δὲ μόνην τὴν ἐπιτηδειότητα πρὸς τελείωσιν· λογισμὸν δὲ εἶναι τὸν ταύτην ἐκκαλούμενον, ἵνα ἡ φύσις εἰς ἔργον προέλθῃ, καθάπερ λίθος πυρίτης σιδήρῳ κρουσθεὶς, καὶ οὕτω πῦρ γένηται. Ὅταν ἀκούσῃς, Οἷς δέδοται, πρόσθες, δέδοται μὲν τοῖς καλουμένοις καὶ τοῖς οὕτω νεύουσι. Καὶ γὰρ ὅταν ἀκούσῃς, οὐ τοῦ θέλοντος, οὐδὲ τοῦ τρέχοντος, ἀλλὰ τοῦ ἐλεοῦντος Θεοῦ, συμβουλεύω σοι ταυτὸν ὑπολαβεῖν. Ἐπειδὴ γάρ εἰσί τινες οἱ τοσοῦτον μεγαλοφρονοῦντες ἐπὶ τοῖς κατορθώμασιν, ὥστε τὸ πᾶν ἑαυτοῖς διδόναι, καὶ μηδὲν τῷ ποιήσαντι, καὶ σοφίσαντι, καὶ χορηγῷ τῶν καλῶν, διδάσκει τούτους ὁ λόγος, ὅτι καὶ τὸ βούλεσθαι καλῶς, δεῖται τῆς παρὰ Θεοῦ βοηθείας· μᾶλλον δὲ, αὐτὸ τὸ προαιρεῖσθαι τὰ δέοντα, θεῖόν τι καὶ ἐκ Θεοῦ δῶρον φιλανθρωπίας· δεῖ γὰρ, καὶ τὸ ἐφ' ἡμῖν εἶναι, καὶ τὸ ἐκ Θεοῦ σώζεσθαι. Διὰ τοῦτό φησιν· Οὐ τοῦ θέλοντος· τοῦτ' ἔστιν, οὐ μόνον τοῦ θέλοντος, οὐδὲ τοῦ τρέχοντος μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ ἐλεοῦντος Θεοῦ. Εἶτα, ἐπειδὴ καὶ τὸ βούλεσθαι παρὰ Θεοῦ, τὸ πᾶν εἰκότως ἀνέθηκε τῷ Θεῷ. Ὅσον ἂν δράμῃς, ὅσον ἂν ἀγωνίσῃ, χρῄζης τοῦ διδόντος τὸν στέφανον. Ἐὰν μὴ Κύριος οἰκοδομή σῃοἶκον, εἰς μάτην ἐκοπίασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες αὐτόν. Ἐὰν μὴ Κύριος φυλάξῃ πόλιν, εἰς μάτην ἠγρύπνησαν οἱ φυλάσσοντες αὐτήν. Οἶδα, φησὶν, ὅτι οὐ τοῖς κούφοις ὁ δρόμος, οὐδὲ τοῖς δυνατοῖς ὁ πόλεμος, οὐδὲ τῶν μαχομένων ἡ νίκη, οὔτε τῶν εὐπλούντων οἱ λιμένες· ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ, καὶ νίκην ἀπεργάσασθαι, καὶ εἰς λιμένας ἀποσῶσαι τὸ σκάφος. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός, Λογός ΛΖ' Source: Migne PG 35.297b-300a

'Not all,' He says, 'can receive this saying, but they to whom it is given.'1 When you hear this, 'It is given,' do not receive it in a heretical way, and bring in different natures, the earthly and the spiritual and the mixed. For there are those who are so wickedly constituted that they think some people have an utterly ruined nature, and some are saved, and others are of such a disposition as their will may lead them, to better or to worse. For that one man has a certain aptitude more than another, and another less, I do admit, but it does not please that aptitude alone tends to perfection, but rather it is reason which calls to that, that nature may advance to action, just as fire when flint is struck with iron. When you hear 'To whom it is given,' add, 'And it is given to those who are called and to those who incline so.' For when you hear, 'Not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of the mercy of God,' 2 I counsel you to think the same. For since there are some who being proud of their successes attribute it all to themselves and nothing at all to Him that made them, and gave them intellect, and supplied them with good, such folk are taught by this passage that even to wish well needs God's aid, or rather that even to choose things which are right is Divine and a gift of God's charity. For it is necessary that we should be our own masters and also that salvation is from God. This is why He says 'not of him that wills,' that is, not of him that wills only, nor of him that runs only, but also of the mercy of God. And then, since to will is also from God, he has reasonably attributed the whole to God. However much you run, however much you may struggle, yet you have need of Him who gives the crown. 'Unless the Lord build the house, in vain have laboured who build it; unless the Lord guard the city, in vain they have watched who guard it.' 3 'I know,' He says, 'that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,' 4 nor the victory to the fighters, nor the harbours to the good sailors, but to God it belongs both to work victory, and to bring the boat safe to to port. Saint Gregory Nazianzus, from Oration 37 1 Mt 19.11 2 Rom 9.16 3 Ps 126.1 4 Eccl 9.11 4 Isaiah 53.8 4 Gen 14

Problems Of Following

Καὶ πορευομένων αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ εἶπέν τις πρὸς αὐτόν, ἀκολουθήσω σοι ὅπου ἐὰν ἀπέρχῃ. καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς: αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεοὺς ἔχουσιν καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνώσεις, ὁ δὲ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνῃ. Δὶο καὶ τὸν γραμματέα τοῦτον ἐπαγγελλόμενον ἀκολουθήσειν αὐτῷ, καὶ τῷ μὲν ῥήματι βοῶντα, τῇ δὲ διανοίᾳ μὴ σχολάζοντα, ἀλλ' ἐν ἑτέροις ἀφελκόμενον ὁρῶν ὁ Κύριος, ἐδυσώπει διὰ τοῦ ἐλέγχου· καὶ οὔτε ὡς ἀπορεπόμενος τοῦτον ἐδίωκεν, οὔτε ὡς ἀγνοῶν ἐπλανᾶτο ὑπὸ τῶν τούτου ῥημάτων· ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς εἰδὼς ἤλεγχε, καὶ ὡς παιδεύων διωρθοῦτο. Μονονουχὶ γὰρ τοῦτο λέγων ἐδίδασκεν, ὡς ἅρα οὐδεὶς δύναται τῷ Λόγῳ ἀκολουθεῖν ἀναπαυόμενος ἐν ἀλόγοις, οὐδὲ τῶν ἀλόγων ὁ φίλος δύναται τὸν Λόγον δεχεσθαι, οὐδὲ ὁ τὰ ἄλογα φανταζόμενος δύναται τοῦ Λόγου μεταλαμβάνειν ἔννοιαν. Ἀμέλει ἐκ τῆς τόλμης τὸ γνώρισμα τῆς προπετείας καὶ ἀπαιδευσίας ἔξεστιν αὐτοῦ καταμαθεῖν. Εἰ γὰρ ἠπίστατο τοῦ Λόγου τὴν δύναμιν, οὐκ ἂν ὅλως φαντασίαν εἰλήφει πνευματικοῦ Λόγου, οὐκ ἂν ἄνθρωπος ὤν ἐξισοῦν ἑαυτὸν ἐτόλμα τῇ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἀκαταλήπτῳ δυνάμει λέγων·Ἀκολουθεῖν μὲν γὰρ ἁπλούστερον τῷ Σωτῆρι πρὸς τὸ τῆς διδασκαλίας αὐτοῦ ἀκούειν δυνατὸν τῇ ανθρωπίνῃ φύσει, καὶ τοῦτο κατὰ τὴν αὐτου φιλανθρωπίαν· συνεκτείνεσθαι δὲ καὶ συντρέχειν αὐτῷ πανταχοῦ, τοῦτο καὶ ἀδύνατον καὶ τολμηρὸν τῷ ἐπαγγελλομένῳ. Οὔτε γὰρ ἀναπαυομένῳ αὐτῷ παρὰ τῷ Πατρὶ συνεῖναι δυνάμεθα· πῶς γὰρ, ἄλλης φύσεως τυγχάνοντες; οὔτε πανταχοῦ αὐτῷ ὄντι συνδραμεῖν οἷον τε. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀχώρητος, οἱ δὲ χωρητοί· καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐν τῷ παντὶ μεμετρημένην ἔχομεν τὴν σύστασιν· καὶ ὁ μὲν Κύριος ἀκινήτως καὶ ἀμεταβάτως κινεῖ τὰ πανταχοῦ , καὶ τὰ ὅλα διοικεῖ· ἄνθρωποι δὲ, μεταβαίνοντες ἁφ' οὖ κινούμεθα, λειπόμεθα τῇ ἀπολείψει τοῦ τόπου πρὸς τὴν ἀμετάβατον πανταχοῦ τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν. Ἀλλ' ὁ Κύριος κατ' ἀμφότερα τοῦτον διορθοῦται, καὶ τὸ μὲν ἀνέτοιμον τῆς προθέσεως διελέγχει, τὴν δὲ τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ μεγαλειότητα παιδεύει, λέγων· Αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεοὺς ἔχουσι, καὶ τὰ ἐξῆς. Ἴσον δὲ τούτῳ εἰπεῖν ἐστι, τὰ μὲν γενητὰ πάντα χωρητὰ τυγχάνει, καὶ τόποις διίστατι, ὁ δὲ Λόγος ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀχώρητον ἔχει τὴν δύναμιν· ὥστε τοῦ μεν λέγειν, ὅτι Ὅπου ἐὰν ἀπέρχῃ ἀκολουθήσε σοι, παῦσαι· εἰ δὲ μαθητεύεσθαι θέλεις, ἀπόστα τῶν ἀλόγων, οἰκειώθητι δὲ τῷ Λόγῳ· ἀδύνατον γὰρ τὸν ἀλογίᾳ συνόντα Λόγου γενέσθαι μαθητήν. Ἅγιος Ἀθανάσιος, Τὸ Κατὰ Λουκαν Ἐπαγγελιον Source: Migne PG 26.1400d-1401c

It happened that He was walking with them in the way and someone said to Him, 'I shall follow you wherever you may go.' Jesus said to him: 'Foxes have their holes, and the birds the dwelling places of the sky, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest His head.' 1 As the passage says, this fellow promised to follow Him, but as one crying out to Him with words and with no sense in the mind, for the Lord observing him being dragged away into other things, He shamed him with reproof, and that not as one turning away and driving him off, nor as one bewildered by the ignorance of his words, but He reproved as one with knowledge, and corrected as one with learning. For when He said these things, He taught that no one is able to follow the Word if they are resting in irrational things, nor is it possible that the lover of irrational things receive the Word, nor may the one who mixes with irrational things come to knowledge of the Word. Certainly the man's statement came from recklessness, and temerity and ignorance. For if the power of the Word is doubted, one has not at all grasped the understanding of the spiritual Word, nor when he was a man, would he have dared to say that he by himself was going to equal the incomprehensible power of the Saviour, saying ' I will follow you wherever you may go.' To follow the Saviour simply by attendance to His teaching is certainly possible for human nature, and this on account of His mercy, but when this is extended to a going with Him everywhere, that certainly is not possible, and it exhibits the recklessness of the promise. One is not able to repose with Him in the lap of the Father. For how does one acquire that different nature? Nor are we able to go with Him who is everywhere. He is not circumscribed by anything, and we are. He is in everything and outside everything; we however in everything have a certain set measure. He, the Lord, is immovable and immutable, and moves all things, and rules over all things; but being men we are changed by what moves us, and by this are certainly inferior to Him whose deity is present everywhere and changeless. So the Lord concerning both of these things corrects him, and reproves the low and uninformed promise. Teaching the greatness of His deity, He says, 'Foxes have their holes, etc' And perhaps by these things He means all things that come to be are contained in a place and set apart in a place, but the power of the Word of God is not contained by any place, so that when such a thing is said as 'I will follow you wherever you may go,' it must be restrained. Thus if you wish to learn, restrain yourself from irrational things and apply yourself to the Word. It is not possible that he who dwells with irrational things walks as a pupil of the Word. Saint Athanasius, On the Gospel of St Luke, Fragment 1 Lk 9.57-58

Reason And The Serpent

Ερώτησις ΛΒ' Ἄλογος ὤν ὄφις πῶς διελέχθη τῇ Εὔα; Ὄργανον ἦν αὐτὸς τοῦ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐχθροῦ. Καὶ τοῦτο δεδήλωκεν ὁ Κύριος ἐν τοῖς θείοις Εὐαγγελίοις. Εἰρηκὼς γὰρ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις· Ὑμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστε, ἐπήγαγεν· Ἐκεῖνος ἀνθρωποκτόνος ἦν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς. Οὕτος τοίνυν διὰ τοῦ ὄφεως διελέχθη τῇ Εὔ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τῶν ἀλόγων ἀπάντων παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν εἰλήφεισαν, δι' ἑνὸς αὐτῇ τῶν ὑπηκόων τὴν παγίδα προσήνεγκε, πιθανωτέραν οὕτω τὴν ἀπάτην κατασκευάζων. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν διὰ τοῦ ὄφεως ἐνεργήσαντα, ὄφιν ἡ θεία προσαγορεύει Γραφὴ, μάρτυς Ἠσαῗας ὁ προφήτης βοῶν, τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐπάξει ὁ θεὸς τὴν μάχαιραν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἁγίαν, τὴν μεγάλην, καὶ τὴν ἰσχυρόν, ἐπὶ τὸν δράκοντα τὸν ὄφιν τὸν φεύγοντα, τὸν ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ. Καὶ ὁ Κύριος δὲ τοῖς ἱεροῖς εἴρηκε μαθηταῖς· Ιδοὺ δέδωκα ὑμῖν τὴν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ πατεῖν ἐπάνω ὄφεων, καὶ σκορπίων, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ. Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Εἰς Την Γένεσιν Source: Migne PG 80.129a-b

Question 32 A serpent is irrational, so how did it speak to Eve? The serpent was an instrument of the enemy of truth. The Lord declares this in the holy Gospel when He says to the Jews: 'You are of your father the devil.' and after: 'He was a murderer from the beginning.' 1 Therefore the devil spoke to Eve through the serpent. For when from God they received rule over all irrational things, 2 the devil by use of one of these prepared his trap and by way of persuasion arranged his beguiling plots. And because of this use of the serpent for his minister Divine Scripture names him a serpent, with the Prophet Isaiah bearing witness, saying: 'On that day the Lord shall draw His holy, great and strong sword against the dragon serpent, coiled and mighty, against the the dragon serpent fleeing, who is in the sea. ' 3 And the Lord says to His blessed disciples: 'Behold I shall give you power to trample on serpents and scorpions, and on every power of the enemy.' 4 Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Questions On Genesis 1 Jn 8.42 2 Gen 1.26 3 Isaiah 27.1 4 Lk 10.19

Reasons Of Heaven And The World

Ac primum oportuerat homines religiosam divinarum rerum scientiam praeferentes, ubi evangelicae atque apostolicae praedicationis veritas praeferebat, callidae philosophiae tortuosas quaestiones abjicere, et sectari potius fidem quae in Deo est: quia sensum infirmum facile fidei suae praesidio sophisma syllogisticae interrogationis exueret, cum captiosa propositio responsionem simplicem, sibique secundum interrogationem rerum obsecundantem, ad ultimum jam sensus sui interrogatione spoliaret; ut quod professione amisisset, id jam conscientia non teneret. Quid enim tam necessario interrogationi obsecundabit, quam ut cum a nobis quaeratur, Esne aliquid antequam nascitur? In professione nostra sit, non fuisse ante quod nascitur? Neque enim aut in natura aut in necessitate est, ut quod est nascatur: cum nasci quid ob id tantum ut sit, non quia erat, necesse sit. Quod cum concessum fuerit a nobis, quia recte conceditur; exuti fidei conscientia capti jam impiis atque alienis studiis acquiescimus. Quod providens ante beatus Apostolus Paulus, sicuti frequenter ostendimus, ut caveremus admonuit, dicens: 'Videte ne quis vos spoliet per philosophiam et inanem deceptionem, secundnum traditionem hominum, secundum elementa mundi, et non secundum Christum, in quo inhabitat omnis plenitudo divinitatis corporaliter.' Cavendum igitur adversum philosophiam est, et humanarum traditionem non tam evitanda sunt studia, quam refutanda. Neque enim his ita concedendum est, quasi vincant potius quam fallant: quia nos Christum Dei virtutem et Dei sapientiam praedicantes, aequum est humanas doctrinas non tam diffugerem, quam refellere; et simpliciores, ne ab his spolientur, et obstruere et instruere. Nam cum possit omnia, in ea ipsa omnia sapienter Deus possit, nec virtuti ejus ratio, nec rationi virtus absistat; oportet eos, qui Christum praedicant mundo, irreligiosis mundi imperfectisque doctrinis per scientiam sapientis omnipotentiae contraire, secundum illud beati Apostoli dictum: Nostra enim arma non sunt carnalia, sed potentia Deo, ad destructionem munitionum, rationes destruentia; et omnem altitudinem elevatam adversus cognitionem Dei. Fidem non nudam Apostolus atque inopem rationis reliquit: quae quamvis potissima ad salutem sit, tamen nisi per doctrinam instruatur, habebit quidem inter adversa tutum refugiendi recessum, non etiam retinebit constantem obnitendi securitatem; eritque ut infirmibus sunt post fugam casta, non etiam ut castra habentibus adest interrita fortitudo. Contundendae sunt ergo insolentes adversum Deum disputationes, et destruenda rationum fallacium munimenta, et elevata ad impietatem ingenia conterenda nec carnalibus armis, sed spiritalibus; nec terrena doctrina, sed coelesti sapientia: ut quanta rerum divinarum humanarumque discretio est, tanta ultra terrena studia ratio coelestis excedat. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, De Trinitate, Liber XII Source: Migne PL 10.444b-445c

And first, men choosing a religious knowledge of Divine things, preferring the truth of the preaching of the Evangelists and Apostles, should have thrown aside the intricate questions of crafty philosophy and rather followed the faith which is in God, because the sophistry of a syllogistical question easily tears down from a weak mind the guard of faith, when with captious assertion the simple defender, inquiring into obscure things, is finally stripped by his own questioning of his meaning, so that he is obliged to profess what his mind no long holds. For what necessarily suits so well, when it is asked of us, 'Does anything exist before it is comes to be,' than the response by us that a thing was not before it came to be? For it is contrary both to nature and the necessities of reason that what is should then come to be, when a thing must come to be that it then exist, and not come to be because it was. But when we have admitted this, because it is rightly done, seized in the conscience of our faith we acquiesce in impious and strange pursuits. But the blessed Apostle Paul, foreseeing this, as we have often shown, warned us to be on our guard, saying: 'Take care lest any man despoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ, in whom dwells bodily all the fullness of the Godhead.' 1 Therefore we must be on our guard against philosophy and the traditions of men, not that we avoid such learning, but that we refute it. For it must not be conceded to these that we are conquered rather than deceived, for we who preach the power of Christ and the wisdom of God should not flee from the teachings of men, but rather refute them. And the more simple among us, lest they be despoiled by adversaries, we must hold back and teach. For when God is able to do all things, in His wisdom able to do all things wisely, since neither does His reason lack power nor his power reason, it befits those who preach Christ to the world that they face the irreligious and false teachings of the world with the knowledge of omnipotent wisdom, according to the saying of the blessed Apostle: 'For our weapons are not carnal but the power of God, for the destruction of strongholds, the pulling down of arguments and every high thing lifted up against the knowledge of God.' 2 The Apostle did not leave us a faith naked and poor of reason, yet although it may be most powerful for the attainment of salvation, even so, unless it is instilled by teaching, though it will have indeed a secure retreat to withdraw to among adversaries, it will not be a constantly secure resistance, it will be like a camp for the weak after flight, not like the undaunted courage of those who have a camp to hold. Thus we must crush the insolent arguments opposed to God, and cast down the strongholds of fallacious reasoning, and grind down the minds lifted up to impiety, with arms not carnal but spiritual, not with earthly teaching but with heavenly wisdom, for as much as Divine things differ from human, so much the reason of heaven exceeds earthly learning. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, Book 12 1 Colos 2.8-9 2 2 Cor 10.4-5

The Merit Of Temperance

Passionum autem velut duces naturales delectatio et dolor, quas sequuntur caeterae. Illae enim complectuntur universas, quarum utraque non solum corporis, sed etiam secundum animam passiones sunt. Et quia diximus subesse his alias passiones, ante delectationem concupiscentia, post delectationem gratulatio est: ante dolorem autem est timor, post dolorem tristita. Commotio autem animi communis passio, et delectationis et doloris est. Transcurram alias, id est, superbiam, avaritiam, ambitionem, contentionem, invidiam, quae sunt secundum animam passiones: transcurram etiam inexplebilem vorandi libidinem, effusionemque luxuriae atque lasciviae, quae vitia nexa sunt corpori, et secundum illud operantur. Meritoque temperantia quam maxime istarum passionum restinguit ardorem, quae primum sobrietate atque moderamine animum temperat, mentem informat, deinde etiam deliciarum abstinentia restringit habenas corporalis ferocitatis. Ideo lex recidit ciborum licentiam, epularum copias, non solum ut resecaret luxuriam, verum tractationi rationis aperiret, quae irritamenta gulae caeterasque recideret cupiditates, corporeas passiones motusque cohiberet. Temperantia est igitur correctionis praevia, disciplinae magistra. Ab hac profectus Jacob sanctus, primatus a fratre quos non habebat, accepit, ejusque praelatus assensu docuit in reliquum in temperantes proprio sibi viles esse judicio. Ab hac profectus Joseph, et calorem juventutis edomuit, et tentatum adulterinis animum illecebris rectae rationis inductione firmavit. Denique quamvis fortis esset et validus, tamen tractatu rationis fulcire se maluit, dicens uxori domini sui: Si dominus meus non scit praeter me aliquid in domo sua, et omnia quaecunque habet, dedit in manus meas, neque subtractum est a me quidquam praeter te quae uxor illius es: et quomodo faciam verbum hoc malum, et peccabo coram Deo. Haec est igitur rectae rationis tractatio quam Graeci λογισμὸν nuncupant, qua mens sapientiae intenta solidatur. Pulchra enim ratio, quod nec beneficiis domini esse deberet ingratus, nec occultum posset esse peccatum, quod, Deo teste, commmitteret, quem latere non posset. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Jacob et Vita Beata, Lib I Source:  Migne PL 14 630-31

Pleasure and pain are the natural leaders of the passions, which the rest follow. For they indeed embrace everything, both of them not only the passions of the body, but also of the soul. And indeed we have said that there are other passions attendant to these, before pleasure desire, after pleasure happiness, before pain fear, after pain sorrow. A common commotion, then, of the soul is a passion, and it is of pleasure or pain. I shall pass over other things, that is, pride and avarice and ambition, contention, envy, which are passions according to the soul; I shall even pass over devouring insatiable lust, and the flood of luxury and lascivity, which are vices bound to the body and which work according to it. With merit temperance greatly extinguishes the fire of these passions, first soothing the soul with sobriety and moderation, then shaping the mind, and then with abstinence it binds back the corporeal wildness from such pleasures. Thus the law curtails licence in foodstuffs, 1 excess in feasting, not only that it bind back lust, but that it open up the practice of reason, which the distractions of gluttony and the rest of the desires occlude, and it represses the disturbances of corporeal passions. Temperance is therefore the beginning of correction, a teacher of discipline. By this the holy Jacob profited, receiving the birthright which he did not have from his brother, whose assent to the exchange teaches how vile the judgement is when there is a lack of temperance. 2 And by this Joseph profited, taming the heat of youth and strengthening the soul to right reason in the snare of adultery. Then, although he was robust and healthy, he preferred to support himself by the counsel of reason, saying to the wife of his master, 'If my master does not know without me the things of his house and everything which he has, if he has given it into my hands and nothing is withheld from me, apart from you who are his wife; how then might I agree to this evil proposal and sin before God?' 3 This, then, is that management of reason which the Greeks name 'logismos', which fortifies the mind with wisdom. Reason is beautiful, that it can neither be ungrateful for the goods of the Lord, nor is it able to hide what is at fault, which, with God as witness, should it commit, it would not able to conceal. Saint Ambrose, from On Jacob and the Good Life, Book 1 1.Levit 11.4,23 2 Gen 25.35 3 Gen 39.7-9

Fasting, Reason And Peace

Τῆς σαρκὸς τὸ σκίρτημα, καὶ τὴν αἰσχρὰν ἔφεσιν, τῷ τῆς νηστείας ἱμάντι μαστίξαντες, καὶ τῷ λόγῳ πείσωμεν ἡσυχάζειν. Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΡΞΗ' , Σωφρονι Τριβουνῳ Source: Migne PG 79.149b

The unruly flesh and shameful appetites are beaten down with the whip of fasting, and thus in possession of reason we may enter into peace. Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 168, to Sophron the Tribune

Faith And Reason

Parati semper ad satisfactionem omni poscenti vos rationem... Duobus modis de spe et fide nostra rationem poscentibus reddere debemus, ut et justas spei ac fidei nostrae causas omnibus intimemus sive fideliter sive infideliter quaerentibus, et ipsam fidei ac spei nostrae professionem illibatam semper teneamus, etiam inter pressuras adversantium, ostendentes per patientiam quam rationabiliter eam servandam didicerimus, pro cujus amore nec adversa pati nec mortem subire formidemus. Sancta Beda, In Primam Epistolam Sancti Petri, Caput III Source: Migne PL 93.57a-b

Always be prepared to give satisfactory reason to all who question you... 1 In two ways we should give reason for our faith and hope to those who question us, that we make known the just causes of our hope and faith, whether the questioners be of the faithful or the faithless, and the same profession of our faith and hope we should hold to unshakably even amid adverse pressures, demonstrating by endurance how reasonably we have learned to guard it, for the love of it fearing neither to suffer, nor to undergo death. Saint Bede, from the Commentary on the First Letter of Peter, Chap 3 1 1 Pet 3.15

Dogs And Men

Λόγου μὲν ἄμοιρος ὁ κύων, ἰσοδυναμοῦσαν δὲ ὅμως τῷ λόγῳ αἴσθησιν ἔχει. Ἃ γὰρ οἱ κατὰ πολλὴν σχολὴν τοῦ βίου καθεζόμενοι μόλις ἐξεῦρον οἱ τοῦ κόσμου σοφοὶ, τὰς τῶν συλλογισμῶν λέγω πλοκὰς, ταῦτα δείκνυται παρὰ τῆς φύσεως ὁ κύων πεπαιδευμένος. Τὸ γὰρ ἴχνος τοῦ θηρίου διερευνώμενος, ἐπειδὰν εὕρῃ αὐτὸ πολυτρόπως σχιζόμενον, τὰς ἑκασταχοῦ φερούσας ἐκτροπὰς ἐπελθών, μονονουχὶ τὴν συλλογιστικὴν φωνὴν ἀφίησι δι᾿ ὧν πράσσει· ἢ τήνδε, φησίν, ἐτράπη τὸ θηρίον, ἢ τήνδε, ἢ ἐπὶ τόδε τὸ μέρος· ἀλλὰ μὴν οὔτε τήνδε, οὔτε τήνδε, λειπόμενόν ἐστι τῇδε ὡρμῆσθαι αὐτό· καὶ οὕτως τῇ ἀναιρέσει τῶν ψευδῶν εὑρίσκει τὸ ἀληθές. Τί περισσότερον ποιοῦσιν οἱ ἐπὶ τῶν διαγραμμάτων σεμνῶς καθεζόμενοι, καὶ τὴν κόνιν καταχαράσσοντες, τριῶν προτάσεων ἀναιροῦντες τὰς δύο, καὶ ἐν τῇ λειπομένῃ τὸ ἀληθὲς ἐξευρίσκοντες; Τὸ δὲ μνημονικὸν τῆς χάριτος τοῦ ζῴου, τίνα τῶν ἀχαρίστων πρὸς εὐεργέτας οὐ καταισχύνει; Ὅπου γε καὶ φονευθεῖσι δεσπόταις κατ᾿ ἐρημίαν, πολλοὶ τῶν κυνῶν ἐπαποθανόντες μνημονεύονται. Ἤδη δέ τινες ἐπὶ θερμῷ τῷ πάθει καὶ ὁδηγοὶ τοῖς ἐκζητοῦσι τοὺς φονέας ἐγένοντο, καὶ ὑπὸ τὴν δίκην ἀχθῆναι τοὺς κακούργους ἐποίησαν. Τί εἴπωσιν οἱ τὸν ποιήσαντα αὐτοὺς καὶ τρέφοντα Κύριον οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἀγαπῶντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ φίλοις κεχρημένοι τοῖς λαλοῦσι κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀδικίαν, καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς αὐτοῖς τραπέζης μετέχοντες, καὶ παρ᾿ αὐτὴν τὴν τροφὴν τῶν κατὰ τοῦ τρέφοντος βλασφημιῶν ἀνεχόμενοι; Ἅγιος Βασιλειος Καισαρείας, Εις Την ῾Εξαημερον, Ὁμιλὶα Θ' Source Migne PG 29.197c-200a

The dog lacks a share of reason but he has instinct, which has a similar power to reason. Elaborate syllogisms which the wise of the world after long years of study have hardly been able to disentangle, the dog shows himself educated in by nature. For when he is on the track of prey and he finds that the prey has gone off in different directions, he applies himself to examination of the different paths, and only lack of speech fails to declare his reasoning. The creature, he says, is gone here, or there, or in another direction, but since it is neither here nor there, it is therefore in the third direction; and thus dismissing the false tracks he finds the true one. What more is done by those who, deeply occupied in demonstrating theories, trace lines in the dust and reject two propositions to reveal that the remaining one is the true one? And shall it not be thought that the gratitude of this animal disgraces all those who are ungrateful to their benefactors? Many have been told to have remained until death by murdered masters in deserted places. And some, when a crime has been committed, have been guides of those searching for the murderers, and have been the cause of the evil doers being brought to justice. What will say of those who have for friends not only those who do not love the Master who has created and nourished them, but have those at table with them those whose mouth speaks vilely against the Lord, and while taking food blaspheme Him who maintains them? Saint Basil of Caesarea, Hexameron, from Homily 9

Man Obedient And Disobedient

In obedientia autem quare? Istud Quare primum adinvenit diabolus. Diabolus enim obedientiae praeceptum primus discutere coepit: quare, inquit, praecepit vobis Deus non comedere de ligno scientiae boni et mali? Antehac homo simplex simpliciter obedierat, non tam propter praecepti rationem, quae ob praecipientis auctoritatem. Sicut enim fides non habet meritum, cui humana ratio praebet experimentum, sic obedientia a virtute humilitatis evacuatur, cum ei ratio praecepti astipulatur. Vis tamen audire, quare ad alienum aut laboramus, aut pausamus arbitrium et imperium? Quia in hoc nimirium imitatores sumus Christi, sicut filii charissimi, et ambulamus in dilectione, qua dilexit nos, qui ad omnia factus est obediens propter nos, non solum ad remedium, sed ad exemplum, ut quemadmodam ille fuit, sic et nos simus in hoc mundo. In hoc enim, ut beatus ait Joannes, et fiducia. Factus est ergo obediens per omnia, non solum Patri usque ad mortem, sed Mariae et Joseph, usque ad praelationem. Cum enim paterna vocatione dicente: Hic est Filius meus dilectus, in quo mihi bene complacuit: ipsum audite, ad praelationem vocaretur, tunc primum coepit aliis praeesse, qui diu didicerat aliis subesse; coepit jubere, qui didicit obedire. Praeterea recompensatio iusta videtur, ut qui in paradiso dedignatus est regnare dominus sub Domino, in exsilio jam serviat servus conservo. Conditio enim naturae statuit hominem sub Domino: transgressio obedientiae subjugavit cum inimico; reconciliatio vero gratiae supposuit fratri conservo. Natura subdidit eum Deo, culpa diabolo, reconciliatio vero homini amico. Isaac, Cisterciensis Abbas, Sermo L, In Natali Apostolorum Petri et Pauli Source: Migne PL 194.1859b-1860a

And why obedience? This 'why' the devil first brought. For the devil first began to shake the command of obedience. 'Why,' he said, 'does He command you not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil?' 1 Before this simple man simply obeyed, not because of the reason of the command but because of it's authority. So even as faith for which human reason gives demonstration has no value, so is obedience detached from the virtue of humility, when it demands reason for the command. You wish, however, to hear why we go out to labour or we rest by judgement and command? Because in this especially we are imitators of Christ, like beloved sons, and we walk in love, with which He loved us, He who in everything was made obedient for us, 2 not only as a remedy, but as an example, that even as He was, we are in this world. For in this, said the blessed John, is faith. He was made then obedient in all things, not only to the Father unto death, but to Mary and Joseph, 3 even to the preferring of it. For when the paternal voice declared: 'This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased,' 4 you will hear the same when you have been called to the preferring of it, for then he first begins to excel others who subjects himself to learning from others, then he begins to command who learns to obey. Besides the righteous reward shall appear, which in paradise is prepared for those who will rule, a lord beneath the Lord, who in exile now are serving, a servant to a fellow servant. The state of our nature places man beneath the Lord, the transgression of obedience subjugates us beneath the enemy, but the reconciliation of grace establishes one beneath a fellow servant. Nature subjects man to God, sin to the devil, reconciliation, however, to a good man. Isaac of Stella, from Sermon 50, On the Feast of Peter and Paul 1 Gen 3.1 2 Phillip 2.8 3 Lk 2.51 4 Mt 17.5

Man With The Animals

Similitudo autem vultus eorum, facies hominis, et facies leonis a dextris ipsorum quatuor; facies autem bovis a sinistris ipsorum quatuor; et facies aquilae desuper ipsorum quatuor. Omnis etenim electus atque in via Dei perfectus, et homo, et vitulus, et leo simul et aquila est. Homo enim rationale est animal. Vitulus autem in sacrificio mactari solet. Leo fortis est bestia, sicut scriptum est: Leo vero fortissimus bestiarum, ad nullius pavebit occursum. Aquila ad sublimia evolat, et irreverberatis oculis solis radiis intendit. Omnis itaque qui in ratione perfectus est, homo est. Et quoniam semetipsum ab hujus mundi voluptate mortificat, vitulus est. Quia vero ipsa sua spontanea mortificatione contra adversa omnia fortitudinem securitatis habet, unde scriptum est: Justus autem quasi leo confidens absque terrore erit, leo est. Quia vero sublimiter contemplatur ea quae coelestia atque aeterna sunt, aquila est. Igitur quoniam justus quisque per rationem homo, per sacrificium mortificationis suae vitulus, per fortitudinem securitas leo, per contemplationem vero efficitur aquila, recte per haec sancta animalia signari unusquisque perfectus potest. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Primus, Homilia IV Source: Migne PL 76 815c-816a

For the appearance of their faces was the face of a man, yet each of the four looked like a lion seen from the right, like an ox seen from the left, like an eagle seen from above. 1 Indeed every elect one perfected in the way of God is at the same time a man and a ox and a lion and an eagle. Man is a rational animal. The ox is accustomed to be slain in sacrifice. The lion is a strong creature, as it is written: 'Truly the lion is mightiest of the beasts, and shall not fear the approach of any.' 2 The eagle flies to the heights, and with untroubled eyes gazes at the rays of the sun. Thus everyone who has been perfected in reason is a man. And because he has mortified himself to the pleasure of this world he is an ox. And because of his own will mortified he has secure power against everything, whence it is written: 'The righteous one shall be as a lion confident against every fear.' 3 And so he is a lion. And because he contemplates high things which are heavenly and eternal, he is an eagle. Therefore because the righteous one is by reason a man, by the sacrifice of his mortification an ox, by the security of his power a lion, and by contemplation an eagle, rightly by these holy animals is signified anyone who is perfect. Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 1, from Homily 4 1 Ezekiel 1.10 2 Prov 30.30 3 Prov 28.1

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

Creation And Consciousness

Tunc surgens imperavit ventis, et mari, et facta est tranquillitas magna. Porro homines mirati sunt, dicentes: Qualis est hic, quia venti et mare obediunt ei? Ex hoc autem loco intelligimus quod omnes creaturae sentiant creatorem: quibus enim imperatur, sentiunt imperantem: non errore haereticorum, qui omnia putant animantia sensibilia esse; sed maiestate conditoris, quae apud nos insensibilia sunt, illi sensibilia sunt. Non discipuli, sed nautae, et caeteri qui in navi erant, mirabantur. Sin autem quis contentiose voluerit eos, qui mirabantur, fuisse discipulos, respondebimus, recet homines appelatos, qui necdum noverant potentiam Salvatoris. Sanctus Hieronymus, In Evangelium Matthaei Commentarius, Lib I, Cap IX Migne PL 26 53-54

Then He arose and commanded the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?' 1 From this we understand that all creation is conscious of its Creator; for that which is commanded is conscious of He who commands. Not by the error of the heretics who think that everything animate is conscious, but by the majesty of the Maker things which to us have no consciousness, do so to Him. And not the disciples, but the sailors and the rest who were in the boat marvelled. However, if someone wishes to contend that they who marvelled were the disciples, yet rightly they are named men who do not yet understand the power of the Saviour. Saint Jerome, from the Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Book 1, Chapter 9 1 Mt 8.26-27

Movements Of The Soul

Timor, amor, laetitia, tristitia, libido, concupiscentia, ira, miseratio, zelus, admiratio, hi motus animi vel affectus a Domino ab initio hominis exsistunt conditi, et naturae humanae utiliter et salubriter sunt inserti, ut per eos ordinate et rationabiliter regendo se homo, virtutes bonas viriliter agendo exercere possit, per quas a Domino perpetuam accipere vitam juste meruisset. Hi namque animi motus intra fines proprios coarctati, hoc est in bona parte positi, in praesenti virtutes bonas et in futuro aeterna praemia parant; extra metas vero suas affluentes, hoc est in malam partem declinantes, vitia et iniquitates exsistunt et aeternas poenas pariunt. Lactantius, Fragmentum Source: Migne PL 7.275

Fear, love, joy, grief, lust, desire, anger, pity, zeal, admiration, these movements or promptings of the soul were established by the Lord from the beginning of man, and usefully and profitably inserted in human nature, that with them ordered and rationally guided a man is able to exert himself in the performance of good virtues, by which he may justly merit to receive from the Lord eternal life. For these movements of the soul kept within their proper limits and set to proper function are in the present good virtues preparing in the future eternal reward, but when they go beyond their measure they fall into evil works and as iniquitous vices prepare eternal punishments. Lactantius, Fragment