Improving Men

Dimitte illic munus tuum, et vade reconciliari prius fratri tuo. Vide misericordiam Dei, quomodo hominum utilitates amplius aspicit, quam suos honores. Si enim suos honores magis aspiceret, sic dixisset: Interim offer munus tuum et postea vade, et reconciliare. Nunc autem dicit: Primum, et reconciliare, et sic veniens offeres. Tamquam si dicat ad illum: Vade. Ego libenter contemnor, libenter honoris mei patior damnum, libenter exspecto Dominus servos tantummodo ut vos in amicitiam veniatis. Vade ergo, ut scias quia plus diligo concordiam fidelium meroum, quam munera: quia munera hominum nullum Deo faciunt lucrum; caritas enim illorum Dei gloriam operatur. Ne dicas, Ille mihi nocuit, non ego illi: ille mihi satisfacere debet, non ego illi. Si pro gloria salutis tuae jubet te Dominus amicitiam facere, magis nocitus debes rogare, ut duplicem gloriam consequaris: unam, quia nocitus es, alteram, quia prior rogasti. Si enim in illum nocuisti, et ideo rogasti, parcet tibi Deus quod nocuisti, quia prior rogasti: tamen nullam habes mercedem, quia reus constitutus rogasti. Si autem ille te laeserit et prior rogaveris, magnam habebis mercedem. Festina ergo inimicum tuum praevenire ad amicitias, ne forte, te tardante, ille praeveniat te ad rogandum, et rapiat de manibus tuis pietatis mercedem. Nam si ille te nocuit, et ille te rogat, infructuosa est amicitia tua. Quam enim justitiam fecisti ante Deum, si rogatus te placaveris? Non enim volens te Deus substernere sub pedibus ejus, jubet te prius rogare, sed volens tibi humilitatis gloriam praetendere. Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, Homilia XI Source:  Migne PG 56.692

'Leave your gift and go be reconciled to your brother...' 1 Observe the mercy of God, who looks more to the improvement of man than His own regard. For if He had looked to His own honour, so He would have said: 'Give your gift and then after go and be reconciled.' But now He says: 'First be reconciled and then come and give your offering.' As if he were to say:' Go. Gladly I am scorned. Gladly I suffer loss of my honour. Gladly as Lord I hope only for my servants that they might be friends. Go, therefore, that you know that I love more the concord of my faithful ones than gifts, because the gifts of men add nothing to the richness of God, but their love works the glory of the Lord.' Do not say, 'He did harm to me, not I to him. He should give satisfaction to me, not I to him.' If, for the glory of your salvation, God commands you to repair your friendship, more as the one harmed should you entreat it, that a twofold glory follow: one, because you are the one who have been harmed, two, because you asked first. For if you had harmed him, and therefore you asked, God would indeed forgive you the harm done because you asked first, however you would have no reward, since you asked as the guilty one. So if he has wounded you and you have asked first, great reward you shall have. Swiftly, then, go seek friendship with your enemy, lest perhaps, by your delay, he comes to you to ask for it and he takes from your hands the reward of piety. For if he has harmed you and he entreats you, fruitless is your friendship. What righteousness do you work before God if he entreats you, and you are placated? For God not wishing you to be prostrate before his feet, exhorts you to ask first, since He wishes you to grasp first the glory of humility. Opus Imperfectum on Matthew, from The Eleventh Homily 1  Mt 5.24

Philosophy And Retirement

Φιλοσοφοῦμεν ἐφ' ἠσυχίας· τοῦτο οἱ μισοῦντες ἡμᾶς ἠδίκησαν, ὡς εἴθε τι καὶ ἄλλο τοιοῦτον, ἳνα μᾶλλον εύεργέτας αὐτοὺς γινώσκωμεν. Πολλὰ γάρ ἐστι καὶ ἀδικουμένους εὖ πάσχειν, καὶ καλῶς πάσχοντας ἀδικεῖσθαι. Τὰ μὲν οὖν ἠμέτερα τοιαῦτα. Καὶ εἰ μὴ τοὺς ἄλλους πείθομεν, αὐτόν γέ σε ἀντὶ πάντων εἰδέναι βουλόμεθα, ᾦ λόγον ὑπέχομεν ἡδέως τῶν ἡμετέρων, μᾶλλον δὲ, εἰδέναι πεπείσμεθα, καὶ πείθειν τοὺς ἀγνοοῦντας. Ὑμῖν δὲ, παρακαλῶ, πᾶσα σπουδὴ γενέσθω νῦν γοῦν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πρότερον, συμφωνῆσαι καὶ εἰς ἔν ἐλθεῖν τὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης τμήματα κακῶς διεστῶτα, καὶ μάλιστα, εἰ λάβοιτε αὐτοὺς οὐχ ὑπὲρ τοῦ χιῶν διεστῶτας, ὅπερ ἐγω τετήρηκα. Τοῦτο καὶ ὑμῖν ἔμμισθον, ἄν εἴη τὸ δύνασθαι· καὶ ἡμῖν ἠ ἀναχώρησις ἀλυποτέρα, εἰ φανείημεν μὴ κενῶς ταύτην ἀρπάσαντες, ἀλλ' ἐκοντὶ ῥίψαντες ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς κατὰ πελάγους, ὥσπερ ὁ Ἰωνᾶς ἐκεῖνος ἵν' ὁ κλύδων παύσηται, καὶ σωθῶσιν ἀσφαλῶς οἱ ἐμπλέοντες. Εί δὲ οὐδὲν ἥττον χειμάζονται, τόγε ἡμέτερον εἰσενήνεκται. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός, Ἐπιστολή Σωφρονιῳ Ὑπαρχῳ

We are philosophizing at leisure. That is the harm those who hate us have inflicted on us, and if they would do more of the same, we would know them still more as benefactors. For it often happens that it goes well with those who are treated unjustly, while those who are treated well suffer injustices. That then is how things are with us. But if I cannot persuade others, I wish that you above all others, to whom I gladly give an account of my affairs, should know this, or rather I am persuaded that you do know it, and can persuade those who do not. But I beg you to give all diligence now, if you have not done so before, to bring together the woefully divided sections of the world, above all if you should understand, as I noted, that they are divided because of  petty interests. This would gain you reward, if you are able to accomplish it, and my retirement would have less to lament if I could see that I did not take to it in vain, but had willingly cast myself into the sea like Jonah that the storm might cease and sailors be saved. If, however, they do no better in the storm, I have done what I could. Saint Gregory Nazianzus, from a Letter to To the Prefect Sophronius

Seeking Reconciliation

Ad Castorinam materteram Iohannes idem apostolus et evangelista in epistula sua ait: quicumque odit fratrem suum, homicida est, et recte. Cum homicidium ex odio saepe nascatur, quicumque odit, etiam si gladio necdum percusserit, animo tamen homicida est. “cur,” ais, “tale principium?” Sicilicet ut veteri rancore deposito mundum pectoris deo paremus habitaculum. Irascimini, inquit David, et nolite peccare. hoc quid velit intellegi, apostolus plenius interpretatur: sol non occidat super iracundiam vestram. Quid agimus nos in die iudicii, super quorum ira non unius diei, sed tantorum annorum sol testis occubuit? Dominus loquitur in evangelios: si offeres munus tuum ad altare ibique rememoratus fueris, quia frater tuus habet aliquid adversum te, relinque ibi munus tuum ante altare et vade prius reconciliari fratri tuo, et sic offeres munus tuum. Vae mihi misero, ne dicam et tibi, qui tanto tempore aut non obtuli munus ad altare aut ira permanente sine causa obtuli! Quomodo in cotidiana prece umquam diximus: Dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris, animo discordante cum verbis, oratione dissidente cum factis? Precor itaque, quod et ante annum prioribus litteris rogaveram, ut pacem, quam nobis dominus reliquit, habeamus, et meum desiderium et tuam mentem Christus intuetur: in brevi ante tribunal eius reconciliata seu scissa concordia aut praemium recuperabit aut poenam. quod si tu, quod procul absit, nolueris, ego libero ero; epistula me haec, cum lecta fuerit, absolvet. Santus Hieronymus, Epistola XIII Source: Migne PL 22 346-7

To Aunt Castorina John the Apostle and Evangelist in his Epistle says: 'Whoever hates his brother is a murderer.' 1 And rightly. Since murder often springs from hate, he who hates, even though he has not yet struck with the sword, is a murderer in his soul. 'Why', you ask, 'do you begin so?' Simply that we might dispose of old rancor and cleanse our hearts to be a habitation for God. David says, 'Be angry and sin not. 2 That which he wishes understood the Apostle more fully expresses: 'Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.' 3 What then shall we do in the day of judgment, upon whose wrath the sun has gone down on not one day but many years? The Lord says in the Gospel: 'If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you; leave there your gift before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.' 4 Woe to me, wretch that I am; woe, I had almost said, to you also. This long time past we have either offered no gift at the altar, or we have offered it while cherishing anger without a cause. How have we been able in our daily prayers to say: 'Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,' 5 while our feelings have been at variance with our words, and our petition inconsistent with our actions? Therefore I pray for that which I have asked in letters of previous years, that we might have that peace which the Lord left us, and that Christ might look down on my wishes and your mind. Soon we shall be brought together before his tribunal to receive the reward of reconciliation or to taste punishment for harmony broken. If you should be unwilling in this, and may it not be so, I for my part shall be free. For this letter, when it is read, will absolve me. Saint Jerome, Letter 13 1 1 Jn 3.15 2 Ps 4.4 3 Ephes 4.26 4 Mt 5.23 5 Mt 6.12