Basic Learning

Commendi sunt fideles ut generaliter omnes, a minimo usque ad maximum, orationem Dominicam et symbolum discant; et dicendum eis, quod in his duabas sententiis omne fidei Christianae fundamentum incumbit, et nisi quis has duas sententias et memoriter tenuerit, et ex toto corde crediderit, et in oratione saepissime frequentaverit, catholicus esse non poterit. Constitutum namque est ut nullus chrismetur, neque baptizetur, neque a lavacro fontis illius suscipiatur, neque coram episcopo ad confirmandum quemlibet teneat, nisi symbolum et orationem Dominicam memoriter tenuerit, exceptis his quos ad loquendum aetas minime perduxit. Theodulfus Aurelianensis, Capitula ad Presbyteros Parochiae Suae, Capitula XXII Source: Migne PL 105.198a-b

The faithful are to be exhorted, that is, all in general, from the least to the greatest, that they should learn the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed, and let it be told to them that in these two works is found the complete foundation of the Christian faith, and unless someone commits these two works to his memory, and believes them with his whole heart, and frequently takes to them in prayer, he cannot be a Catholic. For it is established that no one is to be anointed, nor baptised, nor shall he receive cleansing from the font, nor shall anyone be allowed confirmation by the Bishop, unless he holds in his memory the Apostles' Creed and the Our Father, excepting those whose age utterly precludes the articulation of them. Theodulf of Orleans, Chapters For His Local Priests, Chapter 22

The Narrow Gate

Intrate per angustam portam... Hic ultimo inducit profectum virtutis quoad seipsum: quia enim aliquis diceret: omnia gravia sunt, quae imperas: Ideo dicit, quod hoc verum est: quia per angustam portam oportet ingredi ad vitam. Tangit enim duo, primo ponit admonitionem; et secundo inducit suae admonitionis rationem. Ibi in admonitione tria sunt notanda, scilicet, quae fit porta, qualiter angusta, et qualis introitus. Porta autem est hic introitus ad vitam, sicut inferius dicetur: et multiplicatur porta, scilicet, introitus ad vitam. Est autem introitus ad vitam redemptionis Ecclesiae: et est introitus ad vitam gratiae: et est introitus ad vitam gloriae. Et primus quidem introitus duplex est, unus est, per Christum redimentem: et alter per Sacramenta, per quae gratiam redemptionis accipemus. Primo modo dicitur secundum quandam glossa: Christus porta. Ego sum ostium: per me si quis introierit, salvabitur. Secundo modo vulnus lateris, ex quo fluxerunt Sacramenta, aqua expiationis et sanguis redemptionis, dicitur porta: unde glossa dicit Quid angustius illo foramine, quod lancea militis fecit in latere Christi: per quod tamen fere totus intravit mundus: Haec porta Domini: iusti intrabunt per eam. Ad vitam autem gratiae non intravit nisi per portam virtutis: de qua in Psalm Aperite mihi portas iustitiae. Non est hic aliud nisi domus Dei, et porta caeli. Erit Dominus fortitudo revertentibus de bello ad portam. Introitus autem iste in vitam gratiae specialiter est per charitatem: et ideo charitas dicitur porta. Haec est enim porta orientalis, per quam oriens ex alto Princeps Iesus ad nos ingressus est, et per quam etiam egressus est in coelum, et clausa omnibus non pertinentibus ad membra corporis eius: nec unquam alicui nisi sibi in intregritate membrorum suorum aperietur. Porta orientlis clausa est, et non aperitetur: quia Dominis Deus Israel ingressus est per eam: eritque clausa Principi. Haec dicitur arcta. Angustum enim est inimicos diligere, nullum iudicare, ad unum contendere, nil nisi Christum amare, et huiusmodi. Introitus autem ad gloriam est per portam perserverantiae, quae datur in fine ominum bonorum ad viam pertinentium: et inchoatur a principio, eorum in propositi permanendi cum Christo. Et haec est porta, de qua dicitur in Psalm: Beatus vir qui implevit desiderum suum ex ipsis: non confundetur, cum loquetur inimicis suis in porta. Omnes istae portae angustae sunt valde: ita quod foramini acus comparantur. Sed litera specialiter videtur intelligi de porta virtutus, et antonomastice de porta charitatis: et per effectum intradnai, de porta perseverantiae. unde forte melius, dicitur, quod porta est virtus: apertura, charitas: introductio, perserverantia: Nobilis in portis vir eius, quando sederit cum senatoribus terrae. Sanctus Albertus Magnus, Commentarium in Mattheum, Caput VII Source: Here

Enter through the narrow gate... 1 Here finally He announces the progress of virtue, as far as it may go, because indeed someone might say: 'All these things are difficult which you command,' and therefore He says 'That indeed is true, because to enter into life one must go through the narrow gate.' This touches on two things, first He gives warning and secondly He brings forth the reason for the warning. In the warning three things should be noted, that is, what the gate is, how narrow it is, and the manner of entry. This gate is the entry to life, which is afterward said, and then the gate is manifold, that is, for entry into life. For it is an entry to the life of redemption of the Church, and it is an entry to the life of grace, and it is an entry to the life of glory. And the first entry is twofold, one is through Christ the Redeemer, and another through the Sacraments, through which we receive the life of redemption. In the first way it is said according to a certain gloss: 'Christ is the gate.' 'I am the door, if a man enters through me, he shall be saved.' 2 The second is in the way of the wound to the side, from which flowed the Sacraments, the water of expiation and the blood of redemption, which is called a gate, whence the gloss says: 'Narrower than that hole the soldier made with his spear in the side of Christ,' 3 through which, however, nearly all the world may enter. 'This is the gate of the Lord: the righteous shall enter through it.' 4 For to the life of grace no one enters unless through the gate of virtue, concerning which it says in the Psalm: 'Open to me the gates of righteousness.' 5 'This is nothing but the house of God and the gate of heaven.' 6 'The Lord is strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.' 7 For this entry into the life of grace is especially by love, and therefore the gate is called love, and this is the gate which faces east, through which, rising in the east from on high, the prince Jesus enters into us, and through which He goes out to heaven, and it is closed to all who are not parts of the members of His body. It is not open to just anyone, but only to him who is one of His healthy members, 'The east facing gate is closed and it shall not be opened, because the Lord God of Israel has entered through it, and it shall remained closed.' 8 This is the narrow gate. Hard it is to love enemies, not to judge, to strive for one, to love nothing but Christ, and so on. The entry to glory is through the gate of perseverance, which is given in the end of all goods to the way of those who hold to it. And it begins from their beginning, in the proposition that one will remain with Christ. And this is the gate, concerning which it is said in the Psalm: 'Blessed the man who fulfills his desire from it, he shall not be confounded when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.' 9 All these gates are very narrow, thus they are compared to the eye of a needle. But by the letter especially it seems to be understood of the gate of virtue, and by antonomasia of the gate of love, and by achievement of entry by the gate of perseverance. Whence perhaps better it is said that the gate is virtue, the opening charity, and the entry perseverance. 'A noble one in the gates is her man, when he sits among the elders of the land.' 10 Saint Albert The Great, Commentary On The Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 7 1 Mt 7.13 2 Jn 10.7 3 Jn 19.34 4 Ps 117.20 5 Ps 117.19 6 Gen 28.17 7 Isaiah 28.6 8 Ezek 44.1-2 9 Ps 126.5 10 Prov 31.23

Expulsion And Excommunication

Et nunc, inquit Deus, ne aliquando extendat manum, et sumat de ligno vitae, et edat, et vivat in aeternum. Et dimisit illum Dominus Deus de paradiso voluptatis operari terram, ex qua sumptus est. Superiora verba Dei sunt; hoc autem factum propter ipsa verba secutum est. Alienatus enim a vita, non solum quam fuerat, si praeceptum servasset, cum Angelis accepturus, sed ab illa etiam quam ducebat in paradiso, felici quondam corporis statu, separari utique debuit a ligno vitae: sive quod ex ipso illi subsisteret felix ille ipse status corporis, ex re visibili, virtute invisibili, sive quod in eo esset et sacramentum visibile invisibilis sapientiae; alienandus inde utique fuerat, vel iam moriturus, vel etiam tamquam excommunicatus: sicut etiam in hoc paradiso, id est Ecclesia, solent a Sacramentis altaris visibilibus homines disciplina ecclesiastica removeri. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, De Genesi Ad Litteram, Liber XI, Caput XL Source: Migne PL 34.451

And now said God: 'Lest at some time he reach out his hand and take from the tree of life and eat and live forever. And God sent him from the paradise of delight to work the earth from which he came.' 1 The words of God above are that this was done on account of what had happened. For he was estranged from life, not only from what he would be, if he had kept the commandment, that he would be received with angels, but even from how he was in paradise, that once happy state of body, and thus he was separated from the tree of life, whether because he subsisted on it for his happy state of body, from a thing visible, virtue invisible, or that by it was the visible sacrament of invisible wisdom; thus he was estranged, as now already dead, or as one excommunicated, as even in this paradise which is the Church, they are accustomed by ecclesiastical discipline to remove men from the visible sacraments of the altar.   Saint Augustine of Hippo, On Genesis To The Letter, Book 11, Chap 40 1 Gen 3.22

The Flesh And Rest

Oportet autem cognosci quidem quomodo in requiem, quam impii non adibunt, pii et Deo subjecti poterunt introire: necesse est enim spem, quae malis negata est, bonis relinqui. Sed si Christus Dei requies est, ergo hi qui in Christo erunt, erunt in Dei requie. In Christo autem velle esse se Apostlous clamat, dicens, Sequor autem si apprehendam, in quo et apprehensus sum: et rursum, Omnia autem detrimenta esse duxi, et arbitror stercora, ut Christum lucrifaciam: et rursum, Benedictus Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui benedixit nos in omni benedictione spiritali in coelestibus in Christo, in quo elegit nos ante mundi constitutione in ipso, ut simus sancti et immaculati in consepectu ejus in charitate: qui ante praedestinavit nos in adoptionem per christum in ipso; quia Verbum caro factum est; quia cum aliquando essemus alienati et inimici sensus ejus in factis malis, nunc autem reconciliati sumus corpore carnis ejus. Ergo per conjunctionem carnis assumptae sumus in Christo: et hoc est sacramentum Dei absconditum a saeculis et generationibus in Deo, quod nunc revelatum est sanctis ejus, esse nos cohaeredes et concorporales et comparticipes pollicitationis ejus in Christo. Patet ergo universis aditus in Christo per conjunctionem carnis, si exuant veteram hominem, et cruci ejus affigant, et ab his, quae ante gesserunt, in baptismo ejus consepeliantur ad vitam; et ut in consortium Christi carnis introeant, carnem cum vitiis et concupiscentiis affigant. Istius modi enim corpora configurabit in transformatione corporis sui, et horum humilitatem in gloriam carnis suae transferet, qui contundentes omnes cupiditatum aculeos, et voluptatum sordes abluentes per novae nativitatis sacramentum, meminerinsse non suam carnem habere, sed Christi. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis,Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum XCI Source: Migne PL 9.499b-d

It should be known how into rest, into which the impious does not enter, the pious, subject to God, can enter. Hope is necessary, by which evils have been refused, goods left behind. But if the Divine Christ is rest, then they shall go into Christ who go into the rest of God. In Christ indeed the Apostle wished to be who cries out, saying, 'I follow that I might understand in the way that I have been understood.' 1 and again, 'I have lost everything, and I judge it trash, that I might profit Christ.' 2 and again, 'Blessed the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ, by which He chose us before the establishment of the world in Himself, that we be holy and immaculate in His sight in love, He who has predestined us for adoption through Christ in Himself; 3 whence the Word was made flesh because we were alienated and enemies of His understanding by evil deeds, and are now reconciled in his flesh. Therefore by the joining of flesh we are taken up in Christ, and this is the mystery of God hidden from the ages and generations in God, which has now been revealed to His holy ones, we who are coheirs and the fellow-bodied and fellow participants of His promise in Christ. The way is open, therefore, to everyone who has come into Christ through the conjunction of flesh, if they slough off the old man, 4 and are fixed to His cross, 5 and from those things which before they bore, in His baptism are buried with Him to life; even that into the fellowship of the flesh of Christ they may enter, the vices and the desires of flesh transfixed. In this manner the body is configured into the transformation into His body, all the dirt of pleasures washed away by the sacrament of new birth, mindful that he does not have his own flesh, but Christ's. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 91 1 Phil 3.12 2 Phil 3.8 3 Ephes 1.3-5 4 Ephes 4.22, Col 3.9 5 Galat 2.20

Purgation and Feasts

Οἱ τὰς ψυχὰς ἑαυτῶν ἁγνίζειν σπουδάζοντες, οὐ μόνον ἄρτον καὶ ὕδατος νοητοῦ εὐπορήσουσιν, ἀλλα γὰρ καὶ κρεῶν ἐπιτεύξονται· τέλειον γάρ ἐστιν ἡ στερεὰ τροφὴ, ὥς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος· καὶ προαναφωνεῖ Μωῦσῆς τῷ λαῷ λέγων· Ἁγνίσασθε εἰς τὴν αὔριον, καὶ φάγεσθε κρέα· κρέα νοήσας τό τε θεϊον σῶμα, ὥσπερ οὖν ἐσθίουσιν οἱ πιστοὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, καὶ τὴν γνῶσιν Χριστιανῶν τὴν μακαριωτάτην, καὶ πασῶν ὑπερτέραν τῶν γνώσεων. Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ϟΘ', Σιλβανῳ Ἐπισκοπῳ

Those who have troubled to purge their souls, will not only abound in intellectual bread and water, but they will even have flesh. Solid food is for the perfect as the Apostle says, 1 and Moses preaches to the people, 'Sanctify yourselves for the morrow, and you shall eat flesh.' 2 Understand the flesh as the Divine body, which the faithful of the Church eat, the most blessed knowledge of Christians exceeding the knowledge of everything. Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 99, To the Bishop Silvanus 1 Heb 5.14 2 Num 11.18

Feasts And Wisdom

Ἔσφαξεν τὰ ἑαυτῆς θύματα ἐκέρασεν εἰς κρατῆρα τὸν ἑαυτῆς οἶνον καὶ ἡτοιμάσατο τὴν ἑαυτῆς τράπεζαν. Ἐκκλινάτω, ἵνα φρόνησιν λάβῃ· ῥώννυται γὰρ ὁ ἀτελής ὑπὸ τῶν τῆς σοφίας λόγων καὶ μυστηρίων. Ἔλθατε φάγετε τῶν ἐμῶν ἄρτων καὶ πίετε οἶνον ὃν ἐκέρασα ὑμῖν. Ἡ αὑτὴ τροφὴ καὶ κρέα ὀνομάζεται καὶ ἄρτος καὶ γάλα καὶ οἶνος. Πλὴν οἱ ἄφρονες ὡς ἄρτου αὐτῶν μεταλαμβάνειν λέγονται καὶ ὡς οἴνου κεκερασμένου· εἰ δὲ τοῦτο πῶς νοήσομεν· Ἄρτον ἀγγέλων ἔφαγεν ἄνθρωπος; Ἄρτον δέ μοι νόει τὰς στερεὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ οἶνον, τὴν ἐκ μελέτης τῶν θείων Γραφῶν ἐπιγνωσιν αὐτοῦ· ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τὸ θεῖον σῶμα καὶ τίμιον αἷμα αυτοῦ. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Παροιμιας

Her sacrifices prepared, her wine mixed in bowls, her table spread. 1 Let him turn aside, I say, who would partake of wisdom; for the imperfect are strengthened by words of wisdom and the mysteries. Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mixed for you;  2  The same food is named flesh and bread and milk and wine. Truly the unwise, they say, take to their own bread and mix their own wine. And if this is so, how do we understand: 'Man ate the bread of angels?' 3 Now grasp my bread as the lasting commands of God, and the wine as the knowledge of God from meditation on the Divine Scriptures, and likewise with his divine body and precious blood. Didymus the Blind, On Proverbs, fragment  1 Prov 9.2  2 Prov 9.5  3 Ps 77.25

The Lord and Bread

Ἄρτος ὁ Κύριος κέκληται, αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν τούτῳ καλῶν τῷ ὀνόματι. Κατὰ μὲν τὴν πρόχειρον ἔκληψιν, ὡς πᾶσι τροφὴ σωτηρίας γενόμενος· κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἀπόῥῥητον ἔννοιαν, τὴν ζύμην τοῦ ἀνθρωπείου φυράματος ἐνώσας καὶ καθάρας, καὶ ὥσπερ ἐξοπτήσας τῷ οἰκείῳ πυρὶ τῆς θεότητος, καὶ εἰς ἔν σὺν αὐτῇ γεγονὼς πρόσωπον καὶ μίαν προσκυνουμένην ὑπόστασιν. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, ἘπιστολήΤΞ' Θεωνι

The Lord was named bread, He referring to Himself by this name. 1 And with this sense He was so named, that to everyone He be the food of salvation; but according to a more mystical sense: He mixed the yeast with human dough and purged it, even with fire of His own divinity, that it be made one with His person and adorable hypostasis. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 360, To Theon 1 Jn 6.35

Communion and Error

Idem contumacibus et pervicacibus comminatur et denuntiat dicens, Quicumque ederit panem aut biberit calicem Domini indigne, reus erit corporis et sanguinis Domini. Spretis his omnibus atque contemptis, ante expiata delicta , ante exomologesin factam criminis, ante purgatam conscientiam sacrificio et manu sacerdotis, ante offensam placatam indignantis Domini et minantis, vis infertur corpori ejus sanguini, et plus modo cum Dominum negaverunt. Pacem putant esse quam quidam verbis  fallacibus venditant. Non est pax illa, sed bellum; nec Ecclesiae jungitur qui ab Evangelio separatur. Quid injuriam beneficium vocant? Quid impietatem vocabulo pietatis appelant? Quid eis qui flere jugiter et rogare Dominum suum debent, intercepta poenitentiae lamentatione, communicare se simulant? Hoc sunt ejusmodi lapsis quod grando frugibus, quod turbidum sidus arboribus, quod armentis pestilens vastitas, quod navigiis saeva tempestas. Solatium aeternae spei adimunt, arborem a radice subvertunt, sermone morbido ad lethale contagium serpunt, navem scopulis, ne in portum perveniat, illidunt. Non concedit pacem facilitas ista sed tollit, nec communicationem tribuit, sed impedit ad salutem. Persecutio est haec alia et alia tentatio, per quam subtilis inimicus impugnandis adhuc lapsis occulta populatione grassatur, ut lamentatio conquiescat, ut dolor sileat, ut delicti memoria evanescat, ut comprimatur pectorum gemitus, statuatur fletus oculorum, nec Dominum, graviter offensum, longa et plena poenitentia deprecetur, cum scriptum sit: Momento unde cecideris, et age poenitentiam. Sanctus Cyprianus, Liber De Lapsis, Cap XV - XVI

The same Paul threatens the defiant and stubborn, and denounces them, saying, 'Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.'  1 And if all these things are scorned and disdained before expiation of sin, before crime's confession, before the conscience is purged by sacrifice and hand of the priest, before the offense of an angry and threatening Lord has been appeased, violence is done to His body and blood, and they sin now more  than when they denied the Lord. They think it is peace which some with deceitful words are selling. It is not peace, but war; and he is not joined to the Church who is separated from the Gospel. Why do they call an injury a kindness? Why do they call impiety by the name of piety? Why do they interrupt the penitential lamentations of those who should weep continually and entreat their Lord, and feign to give communion to them? This is the same kind of thing to the lapsed as hail to crops, as storm to trees, as a pestilence ravaging herds, as wild tempest to ships. They snatch away the consolation of eternal hope, they overturn the tree from the roots, they with unwholesome words creep toward a fatal contagion, they dash the ship on the rocks lest it reach the harbour. Such laxity does not grant peace, but bears it away; nor does it give communion, but it hinders salvation. This is another persecution and temptation, by which the cunning enemy still further assaults the lapsed, assailing them with an unseen devastation, that lamentation be hushed, that grief be silent, that the memory of sin pass away, that the groaning of the heart be repressed, that the weeping of eyes be quenched, that the Lord so grievously offended not be entreated by long and full penitence, although it is written, 'Remember whence you have fallen, and do penance.' 2 St Cyprian of Carthage, On the Lapsed, Chaps 15–16  1 1 Cor. 11:27 2 Rev 2:5

Eucharistic Disputers

Εὐχαριστίας καὶ προσευχῆς ἀπέχονται, διὰ τὸ μὴ ὁμολογεῖν τὴν εὐχαριστίαν σάρκα εἶναι τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν παθοῦσαν, ἣν τῇ χρηστότητι ὁ θεοῦ συζητοῦντες ἀποθνήσουσιν· συνέφερεν δὲ αὐτοῖς ἀγαπᾶν, ἵνα καὶ ἀναστῶσιν. Πρέπον ἐστὶν ἀπέχθαι τῶν τοιούτων καὶ μήτε κατ’ ἰδίαν περὶ αὐτῶν λαλεῖν μήτε κοινῇ, προσέχειν δὲ τοῖς προφήταις, ἐξαιρέτως δὲ τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ, ἐν ᾧ τὸ πάθος ἡμῖν δεδήλωται καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις τετελείωται. Τοὺς δὲ μερισμοὺς φεύγετε ὡς ἀρχὴν κακῶν. Ἅγιος Ἰγνάτιος Ἀντιοχείας, Ἐπιστολή Προς Σμύρναιοις

From the Eucharist and from prayer they abstain, because they do not confess the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ which suffered for our sins, in which  goodness of God disputing they die. Better it would be for them to love that they might rise. And better it is that one abstain from such people and not speak about them in private or in public, but give heed to the Prophets, and above all, to the Gospel, in which the passion has been revealed to us, and the resurrection achieved. Flee all divisions as the beginning of evil. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, from the Letter to the Smyrneans

Resurrection and Eucharist

Ἡ καθαρὰ σινδὼν ἡ ὑφαπλουμένη τῇ τῶν θείων δώρων διακονίᾳ, ἡ τοῦ Ἀριμαθέως ἐστὶν Ἰωσὴφ λειτουργία. Ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖνος τὸ τοῦ Κυρίου σῶμα σινδόνι ἐνειλήσας τῷ τάφῷ παρὲπεμψε, δι' οὖ ἄπαν τὸ γένος ἡμῶν τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἐκαρπώσατο· οὕτως ἡμεῖς ἐπὶ σινδόνος τὸν ἄρτον τῆς προθέσεως ἁγιάζοντες, σῶμα Χριστοῦ ἀδιστάκτως εὑρίσκομεν, ἐκείνην ἡμῖν πηγάζον τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν, ἤν ὁ παρὰ Ἰωσὴφ μὲν κηδευθεὶς, ἐκ νεκρῶν δὲ ἀναστὰς Ἰησοῦς ὁ Σωτὴρ ἐχαρίσατο.   Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΡΚΓ', Δωροθεῳ Κομητι

The clean cloth which is spread beneath the divine gifts by the minister, is of the service of Joseph of Arimathea. For like him he sends the body of the Lord with the cloth wrapped to the tomb,1 from which our resurrection springs, and so the bread of offering having sanctified, the body of Christ without doubt we find, which to us is a fount of immortality, which from the service of Joseph, the Saviour Jesus rising, has given. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 123, To Count Dorotheus  1 Mt 27.59

Resurrection and Sacraments

Cujus quidem diem paschalis resurrectionis mysticum non solum pro eo celebramus, quod in eodem a mortuis resurrexit, sed etiam et pro aliis sacramentis. Quia enim, sicut dicit Apostolus, mortuus est propter delicta nostra, et resurrexit propter justificationem nostram, transitus quidem de morte ad vitam in illa passione Domini et resurrectione sacratas est. Nam et vocabulum ipsum, quod pascha dicitur, non Graecum sed Hebraeum est; necque a passione, quoniam παθειν Graece dicitur pati sed a transitu Hebraeo verbo pascha appellata est,. Quod et maxime evangelista expressit, cum celebraretur a Domino pascha cum discipulis: 'Cum vidisset,' inquit, 'Iesus quia venit hora ut transiret de mundo ad Patrem.' Transitus ergo de hac vita mortali in aliam vitam immortalem, hoc est, de morte ad vitam, in passione et resurrectione Domini commendatur. Hic transitus a nobis modo agitur per fidem, quae nobis datur in remissione peccatorum, quando consepelimur cum Christo per baptismum, quasi a mortuis transeuntes de pejoribus ad meliora, de corporalibus ad spiritualia, de conversatione hujus vitae ad spem futurae resurrectionis et gloriae. Propter ipsum ergo initium novae vitae, ad quam transimus, et propter novum hominem quem jubemur induere, et exuere veteram, expurgantes vetus fermentum, ut simus nova conspersio, quoniam pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus; propter hanc ergo viate novitatem primus mensis in anni mensibus celebrationi huic attributus est, nam et ipse dicitur mensis novorum. Quia vero in toto tempore saeculi nunc tertium tempus apparuit, ideo resurrectio Domini triduana est. Primum enim tempus est ante legum secundum sub lege, tertium sub gratia; ubi iam manifestatum est sacramentum  quod erat ante in prophetico aenigmate occultum. Hoc ergo et in lunari numero significatur. Quia enim septenarius numerus solet in Scripturis ad quamdam perfectionem mysticus apparere, in tertia hebdomada lunae pascha celebratur, id est, qui dies occurrerit a quarta decima in vicesimam primam. Sed et non solum propter tempus tertium quia inde incipit hebdomada tertia, sed etiam propter ipsam conversionem lunae. Tunc enim illa ab inferioribus ad superiora converitur, et haec nobis de luna similitudo assumitur, de visibilibus ad invisibilia, et de corporalibus ad spiritualia sacramenta transire, ut magis magisque huic saeculo moriamur, et vita nostra abscondatur cum Christo, omnemque lucem studii nostri, quae ad inferiora vergebat, ad superiora convertamus, ad illam scilicet aeternam contemplationem immutabilis veritatis. Usque ad vicesimam vero primam ideo Pascha observatur, propter septenarium numerum, quo universitatis significatio saepe figuratur, qui etiam ipsi Ecclesiae tribuitur, propter instar universitatis; ideoque et Joannes apostolus, in Apocalypsi, septem scripsit Ecclesiis. Ecclesia vero adhuc in ista mortalitatis carne constituta propter ipsam mutabilitatem lunae nomine in Scripturis saepe vocatur. Sanctus Isidorus Hispalensis, De Ecclesiasticis Officiis, Cap XXXII

The day of His paschal resurrection we celebrate not only for that, that He rose from the dead that day, but also for the other sacraments. Because, as the Apostle said, 'He died for our sins and was raised for our justification' 1, the passing from death to life having in that passion and resurrection of the Lord been made sacred. For the word itself which is spoken 'Pascha' is not Greek but Hebrew, and it is not named from 'passion' because the Greek 'pathein' means to suffer but from the Hebrew word that means to pass over. Certainly the evangelist announced this when the Passover was celebrated by the Lord with his disciples, when it says: 'Whence Jesus saw that the hour had come that He pass from the world to the Father.' 2 Therefore the passing over is from this mortal life into another immortal life, that is, from death to life, being honored in the passion and resurrection of the Lord. This passing over is now done by us through faith which is given to us in the remission of sins when we are buried with Christ in baptism, 3 as passing from the dead, from the worse to the better, from bodies to spirits, from the state of this life to the hope of the future resurrection and glory. Therefore, on account of this beginning of the new life to which we are passing over and because of that new person we are ordered to put on, and to take off the old, cleaning off the old grain so that we may be a new scattering, our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed 4. Therefore on account of this newness of life, the first month of the year is assigned to this celebration, 5 and it is called the month of new things. Because in the whole time of the age the third time period has appeared, therefore the resurrection of the Lord is a three day period. The first time is before the law, the second under the law, the third under grace when is now made manifest the mystery was once hidden in prophetic obscurity. This, then, is also signified in the lunar number, for since seven is accustomed to appear in Scripture as a mystical number for a kind of perfection, The Pasch is celebrated during the third week of the lunar cycle, that is, a day falling from the fourteenth to the twenty first. But it is not only because it is the third time period that it begins the third week but even on account of the turning of the moon. For then it is changing from lesser to greater. This fact about the moon seems to us to be a similitude concerning the passing over from visible things to invisible, and from the body to the spiritual sacraments that more and more we might die to this world and our life be hidden with Christ, 6 and every light of our struggles which was turned to lower things we should turn to higher things, to that eternal contemplation of immutable truth. Until the twenty first, then, the Pasch is observed on account of the number seven, by which the meaning of completeness is often signified, and this is also attributed to the Church herself on account of the mark of universality, and therefore John the Apostle in the Apocalypse wrote to the seven churches. 7 And the Church still yet in this mortal flesh established, on account on the same mutability, by the name of the moon is often signified in the Scriptures. Saint Isidore of Seville, On Ecclesiastical Duties, Chap 32 1 Rom 4.25 2 John 13.1 3 Rom 6.4  4 1 Cor 5.7 5 Exod 12.2 6 Col3.3 7 Rev 1.4

Forgiving a Son

Neque enim Apostolus contra evidentem Christi doctrinam veniret, qui de peccatore poenitentiam agente comparationem posuit eo quod peregre profectus acceptam a patre omnem substantiam devoraverit vivendo luxuriose, et postea panem patris desideraverit, cum vesceretur siliquis; et meruit stolam, annuum, calceamentum, immolationem quoque vituli, quae speciem habet passionis Dominicae, per quam coeleste sacramentum nobis donatur. Bene dicitur quia peregre profectus est, qui erat a sacris altaribus separatus; hoc est enim ab Jerusalem illa quae in coelo est, civico quodam et domestico sanctorum separari domicilo. Unde et apostolus ait: Ergo jam non estis advenae atque peregrini, sed cives sanctorum et domestici Dei. Et consumpsit, inquit, substantiam suam. Merito consumpsit eam, cujus fides in operibus claudicabat: Fides, enim, eorum quae sperantur, substantia est, rerum argumentum non apparentium. Et bona substantia fides, in quae spei est nostrae patrimonium. Nec mirum si fame peribat, qui divino alimento egebat; cujus desiderio compulsus: Surgam, inquit, et ibo ad patrem meum, et dicam illi: Pater, peccavi in coelum, et coram te. Nonne advertitis id evidenter nobis expositum, quod emerendi gratia sacramenti ad precandum impellimur; et hoc auferre vultis, propter quod agitur poenitentia? Tolle gubernatori perveniendi spem, et in mediis fluctibus incertus errabit. Tolle luctatori coronam, lentus jacebit in stadio. Tolle piscatori capiendi efficaciam, desinit jactare retia. Quomodo ergo potest qui famen patitur animae suae, studiosius Deum percari, si sacram desperet alimoniam? Paccavi, inquit, in coelum et coram te. Fatetur utique peccatum ad mortem, ne quem vos agentem cujuslibet criminis poenitentiam jure excludi putaretis; quando is qui in coelum peccavit, vel in regnum coeleste, vel in animam suam, quod est peccatum ad mortem; et peccavit coram Deo, cui soli dicitur: Tibi soli peccavi et malum coram te feci. Tam cito veniam meretur, ut venienti et adhuc longe posito occurrat pater, osculum tribuat, quod insigne est sacrae pacis: stolam proferri jubeat, quae vestis est nuptialis, quam si quis non habuerit, a convivio nuptiali excluditur: det annulum in manu ejus, quod est fidei pignus, et sancti spiritus signaculum: calceamenta deferri praecipiat; celebraturus enim pascha Domini, epulaturus agnum, tectum debet adversus omnes incursus bestiarum spiritalium, morsusque serpentis habere vestigium: vitulum praecipiat occidi; quia Pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus . Etenim quotiescumque sanguinem Domini sumimus, mortem Domini annuntiamus. Sicut ergo semel pro omnibus immolatus est, ita quotiescumque peccata donantur, corporis ejus sacramentum sumimus, ut per sanguinem ejus fiat peccatorum remissio. Ergo evidentissime Domini praedicatione mandatum est etiam gravissimi criminis reis, si ex toto corde, et manifesta confessione peccati poenitentiam gerant, sacramenti coelestis refundendam gratiam. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Paenitentia, Liber II, Cap III

And nor does the Apostle set himself against the plain teaching of Christ, who concerning the repentance of sin gave as a comparison one who having received all his inheritance from his father went off and consumed it in luxurious living and later when feeding on husks longed for his father's bread, and then was worthy of the robe and the ring and the shoes and the slaying of the calf, 1 which has a likeness of the passion of the Lord, by which the heavenly sacrament is given to us. Well is it said that he went abroad of him who is separated from the sacred altar, for this is to be separated  from that Jerusalem which is in heaven, from the citizenship and home of the saints, for which reason the Apostle says: 'Therefore now you are not strangers and foreigners, but citizens with the saints and of the household of God.' 2 And it is said that he wasted his inheritance. And certainly he does consume it whose faith limps in works. For, 'faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' 3 And faith is a good substance, the inheritance of our hope. And no wonder that he was dying of hunger, he who lacked Divine nourishment, and driven by desire for it said, 'I will arise and go to my father, and I shall say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.' Do you not note that it is plainly revealed to us that we are urged to pray for the sake of earning the sacrament, and do you wish to bear off that for the sake of which penance is done? Take from the pilot the hope of arrival, and in the midst of the waves he will wander uncertainly. Take away the crown from him who struggles, and slowly he will sink down into the dust. Take from the fisherman the ability of catching fish, and he will no more cast out the nets. How, then, can he who suffers hunger in his soul pray more fervently to God, if he despair of the sacred food? 'I have sinned,' he says, 'against heaven, and before you.' He confesses what is certainly a sin to death, lest you think that any one doing penance is rightly excluded; for he who has sinned against heaven has sinned either against the kingdom of heaven, or against his own soul, which is a sin to death, and he has sinned before God, to whom alone it is said: 'Against You only have I sinned, and done evil before You.' 4 So quickly does he gain forgiveness, that, as he is coming, and is still a great way off, his father comes to him, gives him a kiss, which is the sign of sacred peace, orders the robe to be brought out, which is the wedding garment, which if any one does not have he shall be excluded from the wedding feast, 5 places the ring on his hand, which is the pledge of faith and the seal of the Holy Spirit, commands the shoes to be brought out, 6 for he who is about to celebrate the Lord's Passover, that is, about to feast on the Lamb, should  have for feet a covering against all attacks of spiritual wild beasts and the bite of the serpent, and orders the calf slain, for 'Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.' 7 For as often as we receive the Blood of the Lord, we proclaim the death of the Lord. 8 As, then, He was slain once for all, so whenever forgiveness of sins is granted, we receive the Sacrament of His Body, that through His Blood there may be remission of sins. Therefore most evidently are we commanded by the preaching of the Lord that on those guilty even of the greatest sins, if they with open confession bear the penance due to their sin, we confer again the grace of the heavenly sacrament. Saint Ambrose, On Repentance, Book 2, Ch. 3 1 Lk 15. 13 2 Eph 2:19  3 Heb 11:1  4 Ps 50.6  5 Lk 14.7-14] 6 Exodus 12:11 7 1 Cor 5:7 8 1 Cor 11:26

Warned from Communion

Φασι σέ τινες πάντα μὲν ἀπηγορευμένα, τινὰ δὲ πράττειν καὶ ἄθεσμα, τοϊς δὲ Θείοις μυστηρίοις τὰς χεῖρας προτείνειν συνεχῶς, καὶ μετέχειν τολμηρῶς τῶν ἀψαύστων σοι. Καὶ μοι λίαν ἐπῆλθε θαυμάσαι σου τὴν ἀναίδειαν, ὅτι ταῖς τῶν δαιμόνων τραπέζαις εἰς κόρον κοινωνῶν, καὶ τραπέζης Κυρίοι μετέχειν οὐ φοβῇ. Ἅρα οὖν μή τίς σε βρόχος καταλάβῃ, ὡς τὸν Ἰούδαν ἐπὶ τῇ προπετείᾳ ἑαυτοῦ ἀπογνόντα, καὶ τὴν προδοσίαν ἐνεργοῦντα, καὶ τὴν κοινωνίαν ἀπαιτοῦντα. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΡΟ' Χαιρημονι

It is said that you do everything prohibited and unlawful and yet you are content to stretch forth hands for the Divine mysteries and dare partake of that which is forbidden to you. Such utter shamelessness strikes me with amazement, that taking your fill at the table of demons, you also do not fear to partake of the table of the Lord. See then lest you are caught in a snare, as Judas was, he whose recklessness drove him to despair, he who acted treacherously, he who demanded communion. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 170, To Chairemon

Real Communion

Unde nec illi in perditis et damnabilibus moribus debent esse securi, qui usque in finem quidem velut in communione Ecclesiae catholicae perseverant, intuentes quod dictum est: 'Qui perseveraverit usque in finem, hic salvus erit', et per vitae iniquitatem ipsam vitae iustitiam, quod eis Christus est, deserunt, sive fornicando sive alias immunditias flagitiorum, quas nec exprimere Apostolus voluit, in suo corpore perpetrando, sive turpitudine luxuriae diffluendo sive aliquid aliud eorum agendo, de quibus ait: 'Quoniam qui talia agunt, regnum Dei non possidebunt'; ac per hoc, quicumque agunt talia, nisi in sempiterno supplicio non erunt, quia in Dei regno esse non poterunt. In his enim perseverando usque in huius vitae finem non utique dicendi sunt in Christo perseverasse usque in finem, quia in Christo perseverare est in eius fide perseverare; quae fides, ut eam definit idem Apostolus, 'per dilectionem operatur'; 'dilectio' autem, sicut ipse alibi dicit, 'malum non operatur'. Nec isti ergo dicendi sunt manducare corpus Christi, quoniam nec in membris computandi sunt Christi. Ut enim alia taceam, non possunt simul esse et membra Christi et membra meretricis. Denique ipse dicit: 'Qui manducat carnem meam et bibit sanguinem meum, in me manet, et ego in eo.' Ostendit quid sit non sacramento tenus, sed re vera corpus Christi manducare et eius sanguinem bibere; hoc est enim in Christo manere, ut in illo maneat et Christus. Sic enim hoc dixit, tamquam diceret: 'Qui non in me manet, et in quo non maneo, non se dicat aut existimet manducare corpus meum aut bibere sanguinem meum'. Non itaque manent in Christo, qui non sunt membra eius. Non sunt autem membra Christi, qui se faciunt membra meretricis, nisi malum illud paenitendo esse destiterint et ad hoc bonum reconciliatione redierint. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, De Civitate Dei, Lib. XXI

So those of depraved and damnable behaviour should not be secure, though they persevere to the end in the communion of the Catholic Church, and to comfort themselves say, 'He that endures to the end shall be saved.'1 for by the iniquity of their life they have deserted that very righteousness of life which Christ is to them, whether it be by fornication, or by perpetrating in their body the other uncleanness which the Apostle would not mention, or by a dissolute luxury, or by doing any one of those things of which he says, 'They who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.'2 They who do such things shall not exist anywhere but in eternal punishment, since they cannot be in the kingdom of God. While they persevere in doing such things to the very end of their lives, they cannot be said to persevere in Christ to the end, for to persevere in Him is to persevere in the faith of Him. And this faith, as the Apostle's definition of it is: 'though love worked.'3 And 'love,' as he elsewhere says, 'does not work evil.'4  Nor can these be said to eat the body of Christ, for they cannot even be numbered among the members of Christ. Even passing over other things, they cannot be at once the members of Christ and the members of a whore. He Himself, when He says, 'He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, remains in me, and I in him,'5 shows what it is in reality, and not sacramentally, to eat His body and drink His blood; for this is to remain in Christ, that He also in us might remain. So that it is as if He had said: He who does not remain in me and in whom I do not remain, let him not say or think that he eats my body or drinks my blood.' Therefore, they who are not Christ's members do not remain in Him. And they are not members of Christ who have made themselves members of a whore, unless they have penitently abandoned that evil, and have returned to this good to be reconciled to it. Saint Augustine of Hippo, from The City of God, Book 21 1 Mt 24.13 2. Gal 5.21  3. Gal 5.6  4 Rom 13.10  5 Jo. 6.57

The Real Presence

Διηγήσατο ὁ ἀββᾶς Δανιὴλ ὁ Φαρανίτης, ὅτι εἶπεν ὁ Πατὴρ ἡμῶν ἀββᾶς Ἀρσένιος περί τινος Σκητιώτου, ὅτι ἧν πρακτικὸς μέγας, ἀφελὴς δὲ εἰς τὴν πίστιν· καὶ ἐσφὰλλετο διὰ ἰδιωτείαν· καὶ ἔλεγεν· Οὐκ ἔστι φύσει ὁ ἄρτος ὄν λαμβάνομεν σῶμα Χριστοῦ, ἀλλ' ἀντίτυπον. Καὶ ἤκουσαν δύο γέροντες ὅτι λέγει τὸν λόγον τοῦτον, καὶ γινώσκοντες μέγαν αὐτὸν ὄντα τῷ Βιῳ, ἐλογίσαντο ὅτι ἐν ἀκακίᾳ καὶ ἀφελότητι λέγει, καὶ ἦλθον πρὸς αὐτὸν, καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῳ· Ἀββᾶ, λόγον ἠκούσαμεν περὶ τινὸς ἄπιστον, ὅτι λέγει ὅτι ὁ ἄρτος ὄν μεταλαμβάνομεν, οὐκ ἔστι φύσει σῶμα Χριστοῦ, ἀλλ' ἀντίτυπόν ἐστι. Λέγει ὁ γέρων· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ τοῦτο λέγων. Οἱ δὲ παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν λέγοντες· Μὴ οὕτως κρατήσῃς, ἀββᾶ, ἀλλ' ὡς παρέδωκεν ἡ καθολικὴ Ἐκκλησία. Ἡμεῖς γὰρ πιστεύομεν, ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ ἄρτος σῶμα ἐστι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ τὸ ποτήριον αὐτό ἐστι τὸ αἶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, κατὰ ἀλήθειαν, καὶ οὐ κατ' ἀντίτυπον. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐν ἀρχῇ χοῦν λαβὼν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἔπλασε τὸν ἀνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐδεὶς δύναται εἰπεῖν ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν εἰκὼν Θεοῦ, εἰ καὶ ἀκατάληπτος· οὕτως πιστεύομεν ὅτι κατὰ ἀλήθειαν σῶμα ἐστι Χριστοῦ. Ὁ δὲ γέρων ἔφη· Ἐὰν μὴ πεισθῶ ἀπὸ πράγματος, οὐ πληροφοροῦμαι. Οἱ δὲ εἴπον πρὸς αὐτόν· Δεηθῶμεν τοῠ Θεοῦ τὴν ἑβδομαδα ταύτην περὶ τοῦ μυστηρίου τούτου, καὶ πιστεύομεν ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ἀποκαλύπτει ἡμῖν. Ὁ δὲ γέρων μετὰ χαρᾶς ἐδέξατο τὸν λόγον· καὶ ἐδέετο τοῦ Θεοῦ, λέγων· Κύριε, σὺ γινώσκεις ὅτι οὐ κατὰ κακίαν ἀπιστῶ· ἀλλ' ὅπως μὴ ἐν ἀγνωσίᾳ πλανηθῶ, ἀποκάλυψόν μοι, Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστὲ. Ἀπελθόντεσς δὲ οἱ γέροντες εἰς τὰ κελλία ἑαυτῶν, παρεκάλουν τὸν Θεὸν καὶ αὐτοὶ, λέγοντες· Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστὲ, ἀποκάλυψον τῷ γέροντι τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο, ἵνα πιστεύσῃ, καὶ μὴ ἀπολέσῃ τὸν κόπον αὐτοῦ. Καὶ εἰσήκουσεν ὁ Θεὸς ἀμφοτέρων. Καὶ πληρωθείσης τῆς ἑβδομάδος, ἦλθον τῇ Κυριακῇ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ ἔστησαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ οἱ τρεῖς μόνοις ὡς παιδίον. Καὶ ὡς ἐξέτεινεν ὁ πρεσβύτερος τὴν χεῖρα κλάσαι τὸν ἄρτον, ἰδοὺ ἄγγελος Κυρίου κατῆλθεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἔχων μάχαιραν, καὶ ἔθυσε τὸ παιδίον, καὶ ἐκένωσε  τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ ποτήριον. Ὡς δὲ ἔκλασεν ὁ πρεσβύτερος εἰς μικρὰ μέρη τὸν ἄρτον, καὶ ὁ ἀγγελος ἔκοπτεν ἐκ τοῦ παιδίου μικρὰ μέρη. Καὶ ὡς προσῆλθον λαβεῖν ἐκ τῶν ἁγίων, ἐδόθη τῷ γέροντι μόνῳ κρέας ἡματωμένον· καὶ ἔκραξε λέγων· Πιστεύω, Κύριε, ὁτι ὁ ἄρτος σῶμα σού ἐστι, καὶ τὸ ποτήριον αἷμά σού ἐστι. Καὶ εὐθέως ἐγένετο τὸ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ κρέας, ἄρτος κατὰ τὸ μυστήριον· καὶ μετέλαβεν εὐχαριστῶν τῷ Θεῷ. Καὶ λέγουσιν αύτῷ οἱ γέροντες· Ὁ Θεὸς οἶδε τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν, ὅτι οὐ δύναται φαγεῖν κρέα ὠμὰ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μετεποίησε τὸ σῶμα εἰς ἄρτον, καὶ τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ εἰς οἶνον, τοῖς πίστει δεχομένοις. Καὶ ηὐχαρίστησαν τῷ Θεῷ περὶ τοῦ γεροντος, ὅτι οὐκ ἀφῆκεν ἀπολέσθαι τοὺς κόπους αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀπῆλθον οἱ τρεῖς μετὰ χαρᾶς εἰς τὰ κελλία αὐτῶν. ᾽Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

Father Daniel the Pharanite said, 'Our Father Arsenius told us of a man of Scetis, one of great deeds and simple faith, and yet on account of his naivete he was deceived, for he said, 'The bread is not really the body of Christ, but a symbol.’ Two elders hearing he had said this and aware that he was upright in his way of life reasoned that he had not spoken this through malice but through simplicity, and they came to him and said to him, 'Father, we have heard a faithless proposition from someone who says that the bread which we receive is not really the body of Christ, but a symbol.' The old man said, 'It is I who said that.' And the old men exhorted him saying, 'Do not hold to this, Father, but rather to what the Catholic Church hands down. We believe that the bread itself is the body of Christ and that the cup itself is the blood of Christ, that is it real and not a symbol. For as in the beginning He took dust from the earth and formed man in His image, no one being able to say that it is not the image of God, even if it is incomprehensible, thus we believe the bread is really the body of Christ.' The old man said, 'If i am not been persuaded by the deed, I shall not be fully assured.' So they said to him, 'Let us pray to God about this mystery throughout the whole of this week and we believe that God will reveal it to us.' The old man received this saying with joy and he prayed to God saying, 'Lord, you know that this is not on account of malice, so that I may not err through ignorance, reveal it to me, Lord Jesus Christ.' The old men went away to their own cells and they also called on God, saying, 'Lord Jesus Christ, reveal the mystery to the old man, that he may believe and not lose his labours.' And God heard the prayers of both. At the end of the week, on Sunday, they came to church and they there appeared to these three alone, as it were, a little child. And when the priest stretched out his hand to break the bread, behold an angel of the Lord came down from heaven with a sword and pierced the child and poured the child’s blood into the chalice. And when the priest broke the bread into small pieces, the angel also cut the little child into pieces. When they approached to receive the sacraments, to the old man only was given the bloody flesh, and he cried out saying, ' I believe, Lord, that this bread is your body and this cup is your blood.' Immediately the flesh which was in his hand became bread, according to the mystery, and he took it, giving thanks to God. The old men said to him, 'God knows human nature, that man cannot eat raw flesh and that is why he has changed his body into bread and his blood into wine, for those who receive it in faith.' And they gave thanks to God for the old man, because he had not been allowed to lose his labours, and the three went away with joy to their own cells.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

Flesh and Blood

Non est humano aut saeculi sensu in Dei rebus loquendum, neque per violentam atque imprudentem praedictionem; coelestium dictorum sanitati, alienae atque impiae intelligentiae extorquenda perversitas est. Quae scripta sunt legamus, et quae legerimus intelligamus: et tum perfectae fidei officio fungemur. De naturali enim in nobis Christi veritate quae dicimus, nisi ab eo didicimus, stulte atque impie dicimus. Ipse enim ait, Caro mea vere est esca, et sanguis meus vere est potus. Qui edit carnem meam et bibet sanguinem meum, in me manet, et ego in eo. De veritate carnis et sanguinis non relictus est ambigendi locus. Nunc enim et ipsius Domini professione, et fide nostra vere caro est, et vere sanguis est. Et haec accepta atque hausta id efficiunt, ut et nos in Christo, et Christus in nobis sit. Anne hoc veritas non est? Contingat plane his verum non esse, qui Christum Jesum verum esse Deum denegant. Est ergo in nobis ipse per carnem, et summus in eo: dum secum hoc, quod nos sumus, in Deo est. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, De Trinitate, Liber VIII

Not in a human or worldly sense must we speak of  the things of God, nor must violent and unwise preaching extort from the soundness of celestial words perversites of impious understanding. Let us read what has been written, let us understand what we have read, and so let us fulfill the office of perfect faith. For concerning what we say of the reality of Christ's nature within us, unless we have been taught by Him, we speak foolishly and impiously. For He says, 'My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.'1 Concerning the truth of the flesh and blood there is no room for ambiguity. For now from both the declaration of the Lord Himself and our own faith, it is true flesh and true blood. And these, eaten and drunk, make it so that both we are in Christ and Christ in us. Is not this true? Certainly it may strike them not to be  true who deny that Christ Jesus is truly God. He therefore Himself is in us through the flesh and we in Him, while together with Him our own selves are in God. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, On The Trinity, Book 8 1 Jn 6.56

Blood and Spirit

Φυσικὸν μὲν οὖν καὶ νηφάλιον ποτὸν ἀναγκαῖον διψῶσιν ἐστιν ὕδωρ. Τοῦτο ἐκ τῆς ἀκροτόμου πέτρας κατειβόμενον τοῖς παλαιοῖς τῶν Ἑβραίων, μονότροπον σωφροσύνης ὁ Κύριος ἐχορήγει ποτόν· νηφειν δὲ μάλιστα ἐχρῆν τοὺς ἐπιπλανωμένους. Ἔπειτα ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἁγία τὸν βότρυν ἐβάλστησε τὸν προφητικόν. Τοὺτο συμεῖον τοῖς εἰς ἀνάπαυσιν ἐκ τῆς πλάνης πεπαιδαγωγημένοις, ὁ μέγας βότρυς, ὁ Λόγος ὁ ὑπὲρ ἡμων θλινεὶς, τοῦ αἵματος τῆς σταφυλῆς ὕδατι κίρνασθαι ἐθελήσαντος τοῦ Λόγου, ὡς καὶ τὸ αἵμα αὐτοῦ σωτηρίᾳ κίρναται. Διττὸν δὲ τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Κυρίου· τὸ μὲν γάρ ἐστιν αὐτοῦ σαρκικὸν, ᾦ τῆς φθορᾶς λελυτρώμεθα· τὸ δὲ πνευματικὸν, τοτέστιν ᾦ κεχρίσμεθα. Καὶ τοῦτ' ἔστι πιεῖν τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τῆς κυρικακῆς μεταλαβεὶν ἀφθαρσίας· ἰσχὺς δὲ τοῦ Λόγου τὸ Πνεῦμα, ὡς αἱμα σαρκός. Ἀναλόγως τοίνυν κίρναται, ὁ οἶνος τῷ ὕδατι, τῷ δὲ ἀνθρώπῳ τὸ Πνεῠμα· · καὶ τὸ μὲν εἰς πίστιν εὐωχεῖ, τὸ δὲ εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν ὁδηγεῖ, τὸ Πνεῦμα ἡ δὲ ἀμφοῖν αὖθις κρᾶσις, ποτοῦ τε καὶ Λόγου, εὐχαριστία κέκληται, χάρις ἐπαινουμένη καὶ καλή· ἥς οἱ κατὰ πίστιν μεταλαμβάνοντες ἁγιάζονται καὶ σῶμα καὶ ψυχήν· τὸ Θεῖον κρᾶμα, τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τοῦ Πατρικοῦ Βουλήματος Πνεύματι καὶ Λόγῳ συγκίρναντος μυστικῶς. Κλημεντος του Αλεξανδρεως, Παιδαγωγος, Λογος Δευτερος

The natural, temperate and necessary drink for the thirsty is water. This flowed out of the split rock to the ancient Hebrews, the solitary drink of sobriety being supplied by the Lord, for temperance was most necessary in their wanderings. Later the sacred vine sent forth the prophetic cluster. This was a sign to them who had been schooled in their wandering to rest, the great cluster, the Word bruised for us, for the blood of the grape, which is the Word, wished to be blended with water, as His blood is mingled with salvation. The Blood of the Lord is twofold; there is His corporeal blood by which we are redeemed from corruption, and His spiritual blood by which we are anointed. And so it is that to drink the blood of Jesus is to share in His immortality, and the strength of the Word is the Spirit, just as the blood of the body. Likewise as wine is blended with water so is the Spirit with man, and the one nourishes in faith, and the other, the Spirit, leads us on to immortality, the union of both the drink and of the Word being called the Eucharist, a praiseworthy and excellent gift. Those who partake of it in faith are sanctified in body and in soul, a Divine blending by the will of the Father of man mystically united to the Spirit and to the Word. Clement of Alexandria, The Teacher, Book 2

Baptism and Sin

Ἐι οὖν ἡ ἄνωθεν γέννησις ἀναστοιχείωσις τε τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γίνεται, ταῦτα δὲ τὴν μεταβολὴν οὐ προσίεται, σκεπτέον τίνος μεταποιηθέντος, ἐντελὴς τῆς ἀναγεννήσεως ἡ χάρις ἐστί. Δηλονότι τῶν πονηρῶν γνωρισμάτων ἐξαλειφθέντων τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν, ἡ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον μετάστασις γίνεται. Οὐκοῦν εἰ, καθώς φησιν ὁ προφήτης, λουσάμενοι τῷ μυστικῷ τούτῳ λουτρῷ, καθαροὶ τὰς προαιρέσεις γινοίμεθα, τὰς πονηρίας τῶν ψυχῶν ἀποκλύσαντες, κρείττους γεγόναμεν, καὶ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον μεταπεποιήμεθα. Εἰ δὲ τὸ λουτρὸν μὲν ἐπαχθείν τῷ σώματι, ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ τὰς ἐμπαθεῖς κηλίδας μὴ ἀποῥῥίψοιτο· ἀλλ' ὁ μετὰ τὴν μύησιν βίος συμβαίνει τῷ ἀμυήτῳ Βίῳ, κᾶν τολμηρὸν εἰπεῖν ᾕ, λέξω, καὶ οὐκ ἀποτραπήσομαι, ὅτι ἐπὶ τούτων τὸ ὕδωρ, ὕδωρ ἐστὶν, οὐδαμοῦ τῆς δωρεᾶς τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐπιφανίστης τῷ γινομένῳ, ὅταν μὴ μὸνον τὸν θυμὸν αισχρος ὑβριζῃ τὴν θείαν μορφὴν, ἢ το κατὰ πλεονεξίαν πάθος, καὶ ἡ ακόλαστος καὶ ἡ ἀσχήμων διάναοια, καὶ τύφος, καὶ φθόνος, καὶ ὑπερηφανία· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐξ ἀδικίας κέρδη παραμένῃ αὐτῷ καὶ ἡ ἐκ μοιχείας αὐτῷ κτηθεῖσα γυνὴ ταῖς ἡδοναῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ μετὰ τοῠτο ὑπηρετεῖται. Ἐὰν ταῦτα περὶ τὸν Βίον τοῦ βαπτισθέντος ῇ, το μεταπεποίηται ἰδεῖν οὐκ ἔνι· τὸν αὐτὸν Βλέπων ὅνπερ καὶ πρότερον, ὁ ἠδικημένος, ὁ σεσυκοφαντημενος, ὁ τῶν ἰδίων ἀπωσθεὶς, οὐδεμίαν ὁρῶσιν εφ' ἑαυτῶν τὴν τοῦ λεγομένου μεταβολήν. Οὐκ ἥκουσαι καὶ παρὰ τούτου τὴν Ζακχαίου φωνήν, ὅτι Εἰ τινός τι ἐσυκοφάντησα, ἀποδίδωμι τετραπλασίονα. Ἄ πρὸ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἔλεγον, τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ νῦν περὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ διεξέρχοντι, ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν ὀνομάτων κατονομάζουσι, πλεονέκτην, τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἐπιθυμη τὴν, ἀπὸ συμφορῶν ἀνθρωπίνων τρυφῶντα. Ὁ τοί  νυν ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὤν, ἔπειτα ἐπιθρυλλῶν ἑαυτῷ δια τοῦ βαπτίσματος τὴν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβολὴν ἀκουσάτω τῆς Παύλου φωνῆς· ὅτι εἰ γὰρ δοκεῖ τις εἶναί τι μηδὲν ὤν, φρεναπατᾷ ἑαυτόν. Ὅ γὰρ μὴ γέγονας οὐκ εἰ. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Λόγος Κατήχητικος Ὁ Μέγας,

If, then, the birth from above is a refashioning of the man, and yet his properties do not allow change, it should be sought by what sort of change the grace of rebirth is perfected. It is clear that when the evil features of our nature have been obliterated there is a change to the better. If, then, as the Prophet says, being washed in that mystic bath we become clean in our will and set aside the evil of our souls, we become better persons being changed to a better state. But if, the bathing having been applied to the body, the soul has not washed off from itself the stains of its passions, but the life after initiation is as the life of initiated, though it be a bold thing to say, yet I will say it and will not shrink from it, in these cases the water is but water, for the gift of the Holy Ghost in no way appears in him; when, that is, not only the pride deforms the divine form of the soul, or the passion of greed, or unbridled and disgusting thoughts, with envy, and arrogance, but the gains of injustice also stay with him, and the woman he has bought by adultery still even after that attends to his pleasures. If these things are present in the life of the baptized I cannot see how he has been changed, for I see the same man as he was before. The one treated unjustly by him, the one falsely accused by him, the one who has had his property taken him, these,  see nothing in him which could called change. They do not hear the cry of Zacchaeus from him: 'If I have by false accusation taken anything from a man, I restore it fourfold.'1  The things they said of him before his baptism, the very same things they now relate, calling him the same names: a covetous person, one who desires what belongs to others, one who lives luxuriously at the cost of  the sufferings of other men. Let the man, therefore, who is the same as before, proclaiming loudly to himself of the beneficial change of his baptism, hear the voice of Paul: 'If a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.'2 For what you have not become, you are not. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism 1 Lk 19.8  2 Gal 6.3

On Communion

Κοινωνία κέκληται ἡ τῶν θείων μυστηρίων μετάληψις, διὰ τὸ τὴν πρὸς Χριστὸν ἡμῖν χαρίζεσθαι ἒνωσιν, καὶ κοινωνοὺς ἡμᾶς τῆς αὐτοῦ ποιεῖν βασιλείας.   Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΣΚΗ', Σωραννῳ

Participation in one of the Divine Mysteries has received the name of Communion, that through which we are able to be joined to Christ, making us partakers in his kingdom. Saint Isidore of Pelusium,  Book 1, Letter 228, to Sorannus

Epitaph for Theodosius

Insegnem genetum cruces munimene septum, insontem nulla peccati sorde fucatum, Theodosium parvum, quem pura mente parentes optabat sacro fontes baptesmate tingui, improba mors rapuet.set summi rector Olimpi praestabet requiem membris, ubi nobele signum praefixum est cruces, Christique vocavetor eres. Epitaphios Theodosios

Weak at birth with defence of crosses walled, Guiltless of any dark stain of sin, Little Theodosius, who with pure mind parents Chose to dip in the sacred baptismal font Cruel death seized. May the ruler of Olympus' height Give rest to these members with the noble sign Of the cross marked, proclaiming an heir of Christ. Epitaph for Theodosius