Avarice And Murder

Dona iniquorum reprobat Altissimus. Qui offert sacrificium ex substantiam pauperum, quasi qui victimat filium in conspectu patris sui. Divitiae, inquit, quas congregabit injustus, evometur de ventre ejus; trahit illum angelus mortis: ira draconum multabitur: interficiet illum lingua colubri. Comedet autem eum ignis inexstinguibilis. Ideoque vae qui replent se quae non sunt sua. Vel, quid prodest homini, ut totum mundum lucretur, et animae suae detrimentum patiatur? Longum est per singula discutere vel insinuare, per totam legem carpere testimonia de tali cupiditate. Avaritia mortale crimen. Non concupisces rem proximi tui. Non occides. Homicidia non potest esse cum Christo. Qui odit fratrem suum, homicida ascribitur; vel, qui non diligit fratrem suum in morte manet. Quanto magis reus est qui manus suas coinqiunavit in sanguine filiorum Dei, quos nuper acquisivit in ultimis terrae, per exhortationem parvitatis nostrae? Sanctus Patricius Hibernorum Apostolus, Epistola Ad Coroticum Source: Migne PL 53.815c-816a

'The Most High rejects the gifts of the iniquitous. He who offers a sacrifice taken from the belongings of the poor is like one who sacrifices a son in the sight of his father.' 1 'Riches,' it says, 'which the unrighteous man gathers, will be vomited out of his stomach. The angel of death will drag him away, the rage of dragons will be his punishment; the tongue of the serpent will kill him.' 2 Indeed the unquenchable fire will consume him. And so woe to those who fill themselves with what is not theirs. And likewise: 'What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his soul?' 3 Long it would be to discuss or refer to the testimonies throughout the whole law that speak out against such greed. Avarice is a deadly crime. 'Do not covet your neighbour's goods. Do not kill.' 4 The murderer can not be with Christ. 'Whoever hates his brother is a murderer,' and likewise, 'Whoever does not love his brother remains in death.' 5 How much more guilty is he who has stained his hands with the blood of the children of God, those who He only recently acquired at the ends of the earth through the encouragement of our insignificance? Saint Patrick Apostle of the Irish, from The Letter to Coroticus 1 Sirach 34.23-24 2 Job 20. 15-16 3 Mt 16.26 4 Exod 20.17,13 5 1 Jn 3.14-15

Treasure Hunters

Et ideo addidit Dominus, dicens: Ubi fuerit thesaurus tuus, ibi erit et cor tuum Qui in coelo semper bonis operibus thesaurizamus, ubi omnis spes et salus est nostra, ubi nobis vita aeterna reposita est, in terra licet positi, cor tamen in coelo semper habemus. Verum, non potest cor in coelis habere qui, cupiditate saeculi captus, thesaurizare sibi magis in terra maluerit. Merito et sanctus Apostolus etiam divites saeculi, quemadmodum hunc thesaurum coelestem consequi possint, hortatur, dicens: Divitibus hujus saeculi praecipe, non superbe sapere, neque ponere in incertum divitarum spem suam, sed in Deum vivum, qui praestat nobis omnia abundanter ad fruendum: bene faciant, divites sint in operibus bonis, facile tribuant, communicent, thesaurizent sibi in futurum, ut apprehendant veram vitam ab eo qui auctor est vitae et immortalitatis aeternae. Sanctus Chromatius Aquileiensis, Tactatus XVI in Evangelium Sancti Matthaei Migne PL 20 366

And the Lord continued saying, 'Where your treasure is, there is your heart.' 1 He who ever heaps up treasure in heaven, where is all our hope and salvation, where eternal life for us awaits, though placed in the world, yet has his heart ever in heaven. Truly he is not able to have his heart is heaven, who is seized by some desire for the world, but he will much more prefer to heap up treasure in the world. And rightly the holy Apostle exhorts concerning the wealth of the world, that they might be able to seek the celestial treasury: 'Especially do not proudly seek to know the wealth of the world, nor place your hope on uncertain riches, but hope in the living God, who gives to us everything in abundance to enjoy. Let them do good and so be rich in good works, giving easily and sharing, that they heap up treasure in the future age,' 2 that is, that they seize on true life, which is from Him who is the creator of life and eternal immortality. Saint Chromatius of Aquileia, from Tractate 16 on the Gospel of Saint Matthew 1. Mt 6.21 2 1 Tim 6.17-19

Sin And Friendship

Οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ἡ φιλία τοῦ κόσμου ἔχθρα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν; ὃς ἐὰν οὖν βουληθῇ φίλος εἶναι τοῦ κόσμου, ἐχθρὸς τοῦ θεοῦ καθίσταται Ὁ γὰρ δια τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν φιλῶν  τὸν κόσμον, ἐχθρὸς ἀποδείκνυται τοῦ Θεοῦ· ὡσαύτως καὶ ὁ τὴν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν φιλίαν δι' εὐσεβείας βεβαιῶν εὐθέως ἐχθρὸς εὐρισκεται τοῦ κόσμου. Ὅθεν ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν, ὥσπερ δουλεύειν Θεῷ καὶ Μαμμωνᾷ οὕτω φιλιάζειν Θεῷ καὶ κόσμῳ. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Την Ἰάκωβου Ἐπιστολὴ Source: Migne PG 39.1754b-c

'Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? He who then wishes to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.' 1 He who on account of sin loves the world is proved to be an enemy of God, as much as he who has friendship with God through firm piety is found to be in continual conflict with the world. Whence just as it is impossible to serve God and Mammon, 2 so it is to have friendship with God and the world. Didymus the Blind, Commentary on The Letter of James, fragment 1 Jam 4.4 2 Mt 6.24

Reasons For Rejoicing

Μὴ χαῖρε ὅταν εὖ ποίσῆς τινὶ, ἀλλ' ὅταν ἀμνησικάκως ὑπομείνῃς τὴν παρεπομένην ἐναντιότητα. Ὄν γὰρ τρόπον αἱ νύκτες τὰς ἡμέρας, οὕτω αἱ κακίαι τὰς ἀρετὰς διαδέχονται. Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Τῶν Οἰομένων Ἐξ Ἔργων Δικαιοῦσθαι Migne PG 65 949

Do not rejoice when you have done a good to another but rather when you have no memory of injuries received by an adversary, for so nights pass into days and vices into virtues. Saint Mark The Ascetic, On Those Who Think Themselves Justified By Works.

Mourning And Rejoicing

Ὡς λυπούμενοι, ἀεὶ δὲ χαίροντες Ἔτι ὑπονοούμενοι λυπεῐσθαι, καὶ πτωχοὶ καὶ μηδὲν ἔχοντες, δι' ἥν κατορθοῦμεν ἀκρημοσύνην χαίρομεν, πλουτοῦντες ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς, καὶ παντὶ λόγῳ, καὶ πάσῃ γνώσει· ὡς καὶ ἄλλους πλουτίζειν κατὰ τὸν πλοῦτον τὸν ὀξὺ βλέποντα. Ὁ γὰρ τοῦτον ἔχων, πάντων ἐγκρατής ἐστιν, κατέχων αὐτά. Δυδύμος του Ἀλεξανδρέως, Εἰς Την Δευτεραν Ἐπιστολήν Προς Κορινθίους, Ἐκλογή,  Κεφ Ϛ' Migne PG 39 1709

'As those mourning, but always rejoicing.' 1 That is, being suspected of grieving because of poverty and having nothing, yet on account of which we profit rejoicing in poverty, because with good works we are made rich, and with every word and thought, and thus others we enrich with this type of wealth, which acutely the Apostle perceives, for he who has this, having mastery over all things, abstains from everything else. Didymus the Blind, Fragment from a Commentary On The Second Epistle to the  Corinthians, Chap 6 1 2 Cor 6. 10

Builders And Bearers

Super quem erat quasi aedificium civitatis vergentis ad Austrum.  Notandum est quod non dicitur, Super quem erat aedificium, sed quasi aedificium, ut videlicet ostenderetur quod non de corporalis, sed de spiritalis civitatis aedificio cuncta dicerentur. Qui enim non se aedificium, sed quasi aedificium vidisse perhibet, cor audientium ad spiritalem fabricam mittit, sicut per Psalmistam dicitur: Jerusalem quae aedificatur ut civitas. Quia etenim illa internae pacis visio ex sanctorum civium congregatione construitur, Jerusalem coelestis ut civitas aedificatur. Quae tamen in hac peregrinationis terra dum flagellis percutitur, tribulationibus tunditur, ejus lapides quotidie quadrantur. Et ipsa est civitas, scilicet sancta Ecclesia, quae regnatura in coelo adhuc laborat in terra. Cujus civibus Petrus dicit: Et vos tanquam lapides vivi superaedificamini. Et Paulus ait: Dei agricultura, Dei aedificatio estis. Quae videlicet civitas habet hic in sanctorum moribus magnum jam aedificium suum. In aedificio quippe lapis lapidem portat, quia lapis super lapidem ponitur; et qui portat alterum, portatur ab altero. Sic itaque, sic in sancta Ecclesia unusquisque et portat alterum, et portatur ab altero. Nam vicissim se proximi tolerant, ut per eos aedificium charitatis surgat. Hinc enim Paulus admonet, dicens: Invicem onera vestra portate, et sic adimplebitis legem Christi. Cujus legis virtutem denuntians, ait: Plenitudo legis charitas. Si enim ego vos portare negligo in moribus vestris, et vos me tolerare contemnitis in moribus meis, charitatis aedificium inter nos unde surgit, quos vicaria dilectio per patientiam non conjungit? In aedificio autem, ut praediximus, lapis qui portat portatur, quia sicut ego jam mores eorum tolero qui adhuc in conversatione boni operis rudes sunt, ita ego quoque ab illis toleratus sum, qui me in timore Domini praecesserunt et portaverunt, ut portatus portare discerem. Sed ipsi quoque a majoribus suis portati sunt. Lapides vero qui in summitate atque extremitate fabricae ponuntur, ipsi quidem portantur ab aliis, sed alios nequaquam portant, quia et hi qui in fine Ecclesiae, id est in extremitate mundi nascituri sunt, tolerantur quidem a majoribus, ut eorum mores ad bona opera componantur; sed cum non eos sequuntur qui per illos proficiant, nullos super se fidelis fabricae jam  lapides portant. Nunc itaque alii portantur a nobis, nos vero portati sumus ab aliis. Omne autem pondus fabricae fundamentum portat, quia mores simul omnium solus Redemptor noster tolerat. De quo Paulus ait: Fundamentum enim aliud nemo potest ponere praeter id quod positum est, quod est Christus Jesus. Portat fundamentum lapides, et a lapidibus non portatur, quia Redemptor noster omnia nostra tolerat, sed in ipso malum non fuit quod tolerari debuisset. Unde bene nunc dicitur: Dimisit me super montem excelsum nimis, super quem erat quasi aedificium civitatis, quia mores et culpas nostras solus ille sustinet, qui totam sanctae Ecclesiae fabricam portat. Qui per prophetae vocem de perverse adhuc viventibus dicit: Laboravi sustinens. Non autem sustinendo Dominus laborat, cujus divinitatis potentiam nulla fatigatio contingit; sed, verbis humanis loquens, ipsam suam circa nos patientiam laborem vocat. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Secundus, Homilia I Migne PL 76 938-939

'On which there was as a city built situated to the south.' 1  It should be noted that it does not say, 'On which there was a city built,' but 'as a city built', that it evidently be shown that it speaks not of a material but of a spiritual building of a city. For not as a thing built, but as if built it is presented, that the heart of the hearers be turned to spiritual building, as it said by the Psalmist: 'Jerusalem which is built up like a city'. 2 Since because that vision of eternal peace is made from the gathering of the holy, the heavenly Jerusalem is 'like' a city built up. Which though on its journey on this earth it is struck with whips, and buffeted by tribulations, its stones are lain down everyday. And this city is the Church which shall reign in heaven while it labours on earth. Concerning which city Peter says, 'And you are as living stones built up,' 3 And Paul says, 'Cultivated by God, you are the building of God.' 4 And certainly the city has already had here by the ways of the saints a great building up. For in a building a stone bears a stone, for stone is placed on stone, and that which bears another, is borne by another. And as it is, so it is in the holy Church that everyone bears another, and he is borne by another. For each must bear his neighbours that through them rises up the building of love. Whence Paul admonishes, saying, 'Bear one another's faults, and so you fulfill the law of Christ.' 5 And announcing the virtue of the law, he says, 'The Fullness of the law is love.' 6 For if I bear you in overlooking your ways, and you bear me in contempt of my ways, how does the building of love between us rise, which by mutual diligence though patience is bound together? In the building, however, as we have said, he who bears a stone is borne, because as I bear their ways who are yet reluctant to turn to good works, so I was borne by them who preceded me in the fear of the Lord and bore me, that borne we learn to bear. But they also were by their elders borne. Yet the stones which are placed at the heights and at the extremities are borne by another but do not bear anyone else, because these are they who are on the borders of the Church, that is, those who are born far out in the world should be borne by the greater, that the ways of them might be composed to good works, but when they do not follow those by whom they would be improved, they do not bear stones for the building of faith. So now others are borne by us, and we are borne by others, but the whole weight of the building the foundation bears, because the Redeemer alone bears the ways of all. Concerning which Paul says, 'No other foundation is anyone able to place apart from the one that has been placed, which is Jesus Christ.' 7 The foundation bears the stones, and by the stones it is not borne, because our Redeemer bears all, but in Him there was no evil that he would bear. Whence it is well said above: 'He placed me on an excessively high mountain, on which there was as a city built up,' because our ways and faults He alone bears, He who bears the whole fabric of the Holy Church. He who through the voice of the Prophet concerning the error of the living says, 'I have laboured bearing.' 8 However the Lord does not labour in His bearing, for no weariness touches the power of His Divinity, but since this is spoken of in human words, he speaks of it in the manner of the weariness of our labour. Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 2, from Homily 1 1 Ezek 40.2 2 Ps 121.3 3 1 Pet 2.5 4 1 Cor 3.9 5 Galat 6.2 6 Rom 13.10 7 1 Cor 3.11 8 Jerem 6.11

The Captive Woman

Si, inquit, exieris ad bellum contra inimicos tuos et videris mulierem decora specie, et concupieris eam, rades omnes pilos capitis ejus, et ungulas ejus, et indues eam vestimentis lugubribus, et sedebit in domo, lugens patrem suum et matrem suam et domum paternam, et post triginta dies erit tibi uxor. Docant ergo Judaei quomodo apud eos ista serventur, quid causae, quid rationis est decalvare mulierem, et ungulas ejus abscindi? Verbi causa, ponamus quod ita invenerit eam is qui dicitur invenisse, ut neque capillos, neque ungulas habeat, quid habuit, quod secundum legem demere videretur? Nos vero, quibus militia spiritualis est, et arma non carnalia, sed potentia Deo, si decoram mulierem, id est, animam, quae a Deo pulchra creata est, in gentili conversatione invenerimus, et sociare voluerimus eam corpori Christi, deposito idololatriae cultu, induitur lugubribus poenitentiae indumentis, et deplorat patrem, et matrem, hoc est, omnem memoriam mundi, ejusque illecebras. Deinde verbi Dei novacula et doctrina omne peccatum infideliatis ejus, quod mortuum est et inane, abraditur; hoc enim sunt capilli capitis et ungulae mulieris. Atque ita demum salutaris lavacri unda purificata conjungitur sanctis Dei, scilicet, cum jam nihil in capite mortuum, nihil in manibus ex illis quae per infidelitatem mortua dicuntur habuerit, ut neque sensibus, neque actibus immundum aliquid aut mortuum gerat. Quod vero post triginta dies jubet eam duci uxorem, feminae quippe sanguinus purgationem post mensem habere solent. Post purgationem ergo peccatorum, anima jam effecta munda et purgata ab immunditia sua sociatur viro Israelitae, corpori scilicet Christi. Sanctus Isidorus Hispalensis,Mysticorum Expositiones Sacramentorum Seu Quaestiones In Vetus Testamentum, In Deuteronomium, Caput XVIII Migne PL 83.362-363

If you go out to war against your enemies and you see a beautiful woman and you desire her, cut off all the hair of her head, and her nails, and clothe her in vestments of mourning and sit her in your house, grieving for her father and mother and her paternal home, and after thirty days she shall be your wife. 1 So the Hebrews teach how this woman should be treated by them, but for what cause, what reason is a woman shaved and her nails cut off? What means this passage that we may understand how it may be found that it is said that neither hair nor nails she should have, which she did have, and that seem pleasing to the law? We truly to whom warfare is spiritual, and arms not carnal but the virtue of God, if a woman is fair, have the soul, which by God is created beautiful, and if we should find it among the Gentiles and we should wish to associate it with the body of Christ, stripping away the worship of idols, we should clothe it with the grieving garments of penitence and so let it lament its father and mother, that is, all its memory of the world and its allures. Then with the razor of the word of God and His teaching every sin of of its unfaithfulness, which is dead and useless, is shaved off, that which is the hair and nails of the woman. And so at last washed, with the laver of salvation it is purified to be joined with the holy ones of God, that is, when now nothing on the head is dead, nor in the hands, which through unfaithfulness are said to be dead, that neither thoughts nor deeds bear uncleanliness, nor death. And that truly after thirty days he is commanded to make her his wife is because women are accustomed after a month to have their purgation of blood, and therefore after the purgation of sin, the soul now clean from its uncleanliness, may be joined to a man of Israel, which means to the body of Christ. Saint Isidore of Seville, Expositions of Sacred Mysteries or Questions on the Old Testament, On Deuteronomy, Chap 18 1 Deut 21. 10-13

War And Peace

Ἐκεῖ συνέτριψε τὰ κράτη τῶν τόξων, ὅπλον καὶ ῥομφαίαν καὶ πόλεμον.    Καὶ ἐνταῦτα πέπρακτο, οὐδὲ ἔδει φθονεῖν Ἰουδαίοις οὕτως ἐνδέχεσθαι βουλομένοις· εἰ δὲ πᾶν ποὺναντίον ἐξ αὐτῶν ὁρᾶται τῶν πραγμάτων, διὰ τὸ ἠρημῶσθαι τὴν Σιὼν ἐκ τῆς τῶν πολεμίων πολιορκίας, ἀνάγκη τῇ ἀποδοθείσῃ εἰρήνῃ καταλλήλως καὶ τὴν Σιὼν ἐκλαμβάνειν, ἥτοι τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἢ τὴν ἐπουράνιον, ἢν ὁ Θεῖος Ἀπόστολος παρίστη λέγων· Προσεληλύθατε Σιὼν ὅρει, καὶ πόλει Θεοῦ ζῶντος Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἐπουρανίῳ, καὶ μυριάσιν ἀγγέλων πανηγύρει, καὶ Ἐκκλησίᾳ πρωτοτόκων ἀπογεγραμμένων ἐν οὐρανοῖς. Ἐνταῦθα γὰρ μηδεμιᾶς ἁμαρτίας ἐνεργούσης, μηδέ τινος ὑφεστῶτος ψυχῶν πολεμίου, συντέτριπται τὰ κράτη τῶν τόξων, ἀνήρηταί τε ὅπλον καὶ ῥομφαία· ὡς λέγεσθαι περὶ τῶν καταξιομένων τῆς ἐκεῖ διατριβῆς· Ἀπέδρα ὀδύνη καὶ στεναγμός. Εὐσέβιος ὁ Καισάρειος, Ὑπομνηματα Ἐις Τους ψαλμους, ψαλμος ΟΕ' Source Migne PG 23.880-1

There He broke the strength of the archers, the spear and the sword and war. 1 Here again though these things were done in the sensible and terrestrial Zion, there should be no wish to understand them according to the manner of the Hebrews, lest the very opposite appear by these deeds, because in the ruinous siege of Zion by the enemy they indeed were, and so necessary here it is to understand this Sion, to which peace befits, as the Church of God, or indeed that celestial city, 2 concerning which the blessed Apostle says, 'You have come to mount Zion and the city of the living God, and amid a great throng of thousands of angels and the assembly of the first ones who are written in heaven.' 3 Here indeed there is no power of sin, no mighty struggle of souls, the strength of the archers is broken and the spear and sword are blunted, and so concerning this place of rest it is worthy to say, 'Grief has been cut off and groaning.' 4 Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 75 1 Psalm 75.4 2 Galat 4.26 3 Hebr 12.22 4 Isai 51.11

Arms Of God, Arms Of Satan

Ῥομφαίαν ἐσπάσαντο οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί· ἐνετείναντο τόξον αὐτῶν, τοῦ καταβαλεῖν πτωχὸν καὶ πένητα, τοῦ σφάξαι τοὺς εὐθεῖς τῇ καρδίᾳ. Ὥσπερ ἐστὶ πανοπλία Θεοῦ τις, οὕτως ἐστί τις πανοπλία τοῦ διαβόλου, ἣν ὁ αὐτοῦ στρατιώτης ἐνδέδυται· τὸν θώρακα τῆς ἀδικίας, τὴν περικεφαλαίαν τῆς ἀπωλείας, τὸν θυρεὸν τῆς ἀπιστίας, τὴν μάχαιραν τοῦ πονηροῦ πνεύματος, ἣν σπᾶται ἁμαρτωλὸς, οὗ οἱ πόδες ἐπʼ ἀδικίαν τρέχουσιν. Ἔστι τις ἑτοιμασία τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου, ἕστι καὶ ὑπόδημα ἑτοιμότατου εἰς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. Ἐνταῦθα οὖν ῥομφαίαν ἐσπάσαντο· ὅτι πρόχειρον ἔχουσι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ ἕτοιμοί εἰσιν ἐπὶ τὸ ποιεῖν αὐτήν· οἱ κρύπτοντες ἐν τῷ κουλεῷ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν ῥομφαίαν τοῦ πονηροῦ πνεύματος. Βέλος τῶν δικαίων, Χριστός ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς. Ἔθηκας ὡς βέλος ἐκλεκτόν. Ὁ λόγος τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν βέλος ἐστίν· ἁμαρτίας ἰὸν ἔχει· τιτρώσκει τὸν μὴ καθωπλισμένον τῷ τῆς πίστεως θυρεῷ. Οἴδασιν, ὅτι οὐ δύνανται καταβαλεῖν πλούσιον πλουτοῦντα ἐν σοφίᾳ, ἐν ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς. Διὰ τοῦτο τὴν ἀρχὴν οὐδὲ ἐπιβάλλουσιν αὐτῷ. Ἀλλʼ ἡ πᾶσα ἐπιβουλή ἐστι κατὰ τοῦ πτωχοῦ· ἐπεὶ λύτρον ψυχῆς ἀνδρὸς ὁ ἴδιος πλοῦτος· πτωχός δὲ οὐχ ὑφίσταται ἀπειλήν. Καλὸν μὲν οὖν μὴ ἔχειν ῥομφαίαν ἁμαρτίας· δεύτερον δὲ, ἔχοντα. μὴ σπᾶσθαι αὐτὴν, ἀλλὰ ποιεῖν αὐτὴν ἡσυχάζειν. Ἀργοῦσα γὰῤ, οὐ μόνον ἰοῦται, οὐδὲ ἀμβλύνεται, ἀλλὰ τέλεον ἐξαφανίζεται. Καὶ οὐ χρείαν ἔχομεν πυρὸς, ὅπου ἑκάστου τὸ ἔργον δοκιμάζεται· ὃ Πέτρου μὲν οὐχ ἅπτεται, ἀλλ᾿ ἀκούει, Κἂν διέλθῃ διὰ πυρός, φλὸξ οὐ κατακαύσεισε· ἁμαρτωλῶν δὲ ἅπτεται ἡ λίμνη τοῦ πυρὸς, ὡς ἡ Ἐρυθρὰ Αἰγυπτίων, οὐ μὴν καὶ Ἑβραίων. Ὥσπερ μέντοι ὁ Σωτὴρ βέλος ἐκλεκτὸν, καὶ ἀνάλογα τῷ Σωτῆρι βέλη τοῦ Θεοῦ οἱ ἅγιοι τιτρώσκοντες βέλει ἐκλεκτῷ, ἵνα ὁ τετρωμένος λέγω· Τετρωμένη ἀγάπης ἐγώ· οὕτως ὁ Ἀντίχριστος βέλος τοῦ πονηροῦ. Καὶ πάντες οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ βέλη τοῦ διαβόλου, οἷς κατὰ τῶν δικαίων χρᾶται. Ἴδε γυναῖκα, καὶ ἐπεβούλευσάν σοι. Εἰ μὴ βέλος ἐστὶ πεπυρωμένον, πῦρ ἔχουσα ἐν στόματι, ἵνα λαλήσῃ καὶ καύσῃ σε, ἐν χειρὶ, ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ σώματι, ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ ψυχῇ; Καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ Θεὸς τίθησι τόξον ἐν τῇ νεφέλῃ, ἵνα παύσῃ χειμῶνα, καὶ μὴ γίνηται κατακλυσμός· οὕτω, κατὰ τὸ ἀντικείμενον, ὁ πονηρὸς χρᾶται· τόξῳ, ἵνα παύσῃ γαλήνην ἀπὸ ψυχῆς, καὶ εἰρήνην σβέσῃ, καὶ πόλεμον ἐγείρῃ, καὶ χειμῶνα ποιήσῃ. Μήποτε δὲ οἱ πτωχοὶ καὶ πένητες ἀδελφοί εἰσι τῶν εὐθέων τῇ καρδίᾳ, οἱ πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύματι. οὓς ζητοῦσι καταβαλεῖν οἱ δαίμονες. Ἐὰν ἵδῃς σκανδαλιζόμενον, καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας κεκρατημένον, βλέπε, ὅτι οὗτος ἔσφακται, καὶ τὸ οἷμα αὐτοῦ ῥεῖ, ὃ ἐκζητεῖ Θεός. Ἀπὡλετο γὰρ ἡ ζωτικὴ δύναμις αὐτοὺ· ἐκζητεῖ δὲ αὐτὸ ἀπὸ ἀδελφοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ θηρίου· ἀπὸ πιστοῦ σκανδαλίζοντος, καὶ ἀπὸ ἀλλοτρίου τῆς πίστεως, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς χερὸς τοῦ σκοποῦ. Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαί Εἰς Ψαλμους, Ψαλμος ΛϚ' Source: Migne PG 17.128-129

'Sinners have drawn out the sword, they have bent their bow, that they strike down the poor and needy, that they slay the righteous in heart.' 1 As there is a certain armour of God, so there is a certain armour of the devil with which his soldiers are equipped, that is, the breastplate of unrighteousness, the helm of murder, the shield of faithlessness, the sword of a malignant spirit, which the sinner draws out, and his feet race to wickedness. As there is a certain preparation of the Gospel, there is also a putting on of boots for sin. Here then the sword is drawn out, because swiftly they go to sin, and they are ready for the doing of it, they who hide in the scabbard of sin the sword of the malignant spirit. The shaft of the righteous is Jesus Christ. 'You placed me as a chosen shaft.' 2 The speech of sinners is a shaft, having been envenomed with sin which wounds the one not armed with the shield of faith. They know that they are not able to strike down the one whose wealth is an abundance of wisdom and good works and on account of this they never advance against him, but they ever turn against the poor one, because 'The ransom of the soul of a man is his own wealth, the groans of poor man will not sustain him.' 3 Good then it is not to have the sword of sin, and then, if one does have it, not to draw it, but to keep it quiet; but it is a quietness that in no way gathers rust and blunts sharpness, but straightaway unworn it reappears. And no need have we for fire, when the work of each is examined, who by Peter is not touched; 4 but hear, 'Even if you pass through fire, the flame shall not burn you.' 5 Sinners, however, are indeed touched by the lake of fire, as the Red Sea overwhelmed the Egyptians and not the Hebrews. As however the Saviour is a chosen shaft, even similar to the Saviour are the holy ones of God, those wounded with the elect shaft, concerning which wounding it is said, 'I am wounded by love.' 6 Thus the malignant shaft is of the Antichrist, and all the sinners are shafts of the devil, which are used against the righteous. Gaze at a woman, and they have plotted against you. And if that shaft is not lit, will fire not be found in the mouth, that they speak and burn you, on the hand, and in the whole body, and in the whole soul? And as God has placed the bow in the cloud, 7 that the storm subside, nor shall there be a flood, so on the contrary, the malignant bow is used that tranquility be stripped from the soul, and peace extinguished, and war aroused, and the tempest summoned. And perhaps the poor and needy are the brothers of the righteous in heart, those poor in spirit, whom the demons seek to overwhelm. If you see someone scandalised and by that wounded by sin, know that this one has been slain, and his blood flows, and God shall demand it. He has slain his life's power, and it shall be demanded from a brother and from a beast, 8 that is, from the faithful one who scandalizes and from the one outside the faith, and indeed from the hand of the watchman. 9 Origen, Excerpta On the Psalms, from Psalm 36 1 Ps 36.14 2 Isai 49.2 LXX 3 Prov 13.8 4 Mt 26 51-52, Lk 22 49-51 5 Isai 43.2 6 Song 2.3; 5.8 7 Gen 9.13 8 Gen 9.5 9 Ezek 33.6

Prayers And Men And Demons

Ὁ ἀδικούντων ἀνθρώπων ὑπερευχόμενος καταράσσει τοὺς δαίμονας· ὁ δὲ τοῖς πρώτοις ἀντιτασσόμενος, ὑπὸ τῶν δευτέρων τιτρώσκεται. Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Νόμου Πνευματικοῦ Migne PG 65 911

He who prays for unrighteous men curses demons; but he who sets himself against the former is wounded by the latter. Saint Mark The Ascetic, On The Spiritual Law.

A Lady's Mirror

Κάτοπτρον κάλλιστον τῇ σεμνοτάτῃ καὶ εὐειδεῖ παρθένῳ τὸ νηστεύιν, ἐν τούτῳ γὰρ καὶ Θεὸν κατοπτρίζεται ἡ παρθένος, καθόσον ἐνδέχεται, καὶ λουτῆρα χαλκεύει, καὶ βάσιν στερέμνιον, ἀκράδαντον, καὶ ἀμετακίνητον κτησαμένη τὸ ἀπαθὲς φρόνημα. Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΡΞΓ'  Ἰουλιανῃ Παρθενῳ Source: Migne PG 79 148

The fairest mirror for a chaste and beautiful virgin is fasting, for in this the virgin may gaze on God in so far as she is able, and so the passionless mind will make the copper washing tub and an elegant and firm and unshakeable stand. 1 Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 163, To Juliana the Virgin 1 Exodus 38.8

Earth And Dust

Illud quod ait Danihel,   Et ego Danihel langui et aegrotavi per dies. Hoc est illud quod in Genesi de Abraham legimus, quod postquam Deum audiverit loquentum sibi, terram et cinerem esse se dixerit Petrus Archidiaconus  Liber De Diversis Quaestiunculis, Questiones In Danielem Migne 96 1356

What does it mean that Daniel said, 'And I Daniel, languished and was sick for days? 1 This is what we read about Abraham in Genesis, who after he had heard the Lord speaking to him, named himself earth and dust. 2 Peter of Pisa, The Book of Diverse Questions, Questions On Daniel 1 Dan 8.27 2 Gen 18.27

Kids And Discipline

Non coques haedem in lacte martis suae. Haedus hic sub peccatoris figura introducitur. Proinde peccans graviter non est coquendus in lacte matris suae, id est, non est purgandus mediocribus tenerrimisque Ecclesiae disciplinis, sed austerioribus praeceptis ejus sunt excoquenda peccata, cujus magna sunt crimina, ut qui per lasciviae blandimentum se perdidit, fortiori disciplina se redimat. Sanctus Isidorus Hispalensis,Mysticorum Expositiones Sacramentorum Seu Quaestiones In Vetus Testamentum, In Deuteronomium, Caput VIII Migne PL 83.362

Do not cook a kid in his mother's milk. 1 The kid is given here as a figure of the sinner. Whence he who sins gravely should not be cooked in the milk of his mother, because he will not be cleansed with some moderate and tender ecclesiastical discipline, but rather with severe instruction the sins must be boiled out of him, that he who has destroyed himself by lascivious blandishments, by firmer discipline be saved. Saint Isidore of Seville, Expositions of Sacred Mysteries or Questions on the Old Testament, On Deuteronomy, Chap 8 1 Deut 14.21

Blessings And Chastisement

Μακάριος δὲ ἄνθρωπος ὄν ἢλεγξεν ὁ Κύριος· νουθέτημα δὲ Παντοκράτορος μὴ ἀπαναίνου. Αὐτὸς γὰρ ἀλγεῖν ποιεῖ, καὶ πάλιν ἀποκαθίστησιν· ἔπαισε, καὶ αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ ἰάσαντο. Ἐλέγχει Θεὸς, καὶ τὴν τῆς μάστιγος ἐπάγει νουθεσίαν, οὐχ ἵνα ἀπολέσῃ, ἀλλ' ἵνα σώσῃ τὸν παιδευόμενον· καὶ σὺ τοίνυν μὴ καθυφεὶς τοῦ φρονήματος, μετ' εὐχαριστίας δέχου τὸν ἔλεγχον Δυδύμος του Ἀλεξανδρέως, Ἐκλογαι Εἰς Τον Ιὠβ, Κεφ Δ' Source: Migne PG 39.1133b

Blessed the man whom the Lord reproves; an admonishment of the Lord is not rejection. For He causes pain and again He restores, He strikes and His hands heal. 1 God refutes and applies the whip of admonishment, not that He might destroy, but that He might improve the one whom He corrects. And so do not lose heart, but with thanks accept your refutation. Didymus the Blind, On Job, Chapter 4 1 Job 4.17

Shamelessness And Hardness

Omnis quippe domus Israel attrita fronte est, et duro corde. Cum domus Israel attrita fronte esse perhibetur, quid aliud sentiendum, quidve cogitandum est, nisi quod frontem cordis in impudentia atterit culpa frequens, ut quo crebrius committitur, eo de illa committentis animus minus verecundetur? Atque ideo ad tantam cordis duritiam quandoque peccator pervenit, ut jam in correptione sensibilis non sit, quia qui usu peccandi induruit nullo modo corripientis verbum, id est manum palpantis, sentit, sicut Judaeae quoque crebrius delinquenti dicitur: Frons mulieris meretricis facta est tibi, noluisti erubescere. Vel certe attrita frons est in hujus mundi actibus assueta, quia sicut sunt nonnulli qui quietem cunctis mundi praemiis atque honoribus praeponunt, ita nonnulli ut in hoc mundo aliquid esse videantur terrenis laboribus insudant, insistunt causis, permiscentur jurgiis. Et quamvis se corpore deficere inter labores sentiant, amore tamen terrenarum rerum devicti, delectabiliter fatigantur. Quibus per prophetam dicitur: Ephraim vitula docta diligere trituram. Vitula etenim in tritura areae assueta, etiam si relaxatur a labore, sponte redit. Sic quibusdam pravis mentibus nihil est laboriosius quam si eis praecipitur ut in hujus mundi actibus non laborent. Nam saepe quidam repulsi ab actione terrena deprecantur ut redeant, rogant ut premantur, grave se incurrisse periculum quietem putant. Attrita ergo fronte sunt, qui non solum labores non fugiunt, sed neque importuni videri in laboribus qui sibi negantur erubescunt. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Primus, Homilia X Migne PL 76 891-892

Since all the house of Israel has a smooth brow and a hard heart. 1  When all the house of Israel has a smooth brow, what should be understood, or what should be thought, unless the brow of the heart is smoothed over with impudence on account of frequent sin, that most thickly it is joined, by which the soul is less abashed? And therefore when the sinner comes to such hardness of heart, he may be already insensible to correction, because by sinning he has inured himself to any word of correction, that is, the testing hand he feels like the Jews to whom being gravely in error it is said, 'The brow of the whore is yours and you are unwilling to be ashamed.' 2 Or certainly the brow is smoothed by the custom of worldly acts, because like not a few who prefer much worldly reward and honours to quiet, thus there are not a few in this world who care not to be seen sweating in terrestrial labours, struggling in business, and embroiled in quarrels. And although the body wastes away in these labours, with such love of worldly things are they conquered, that they delight in the exhaustion of it. Concerning which it is said by the Prophet. 'Ephraim is a trained calf that loves to tread down.' 3 For the calf is accustomed to tread the threshing floor, and even if it is released from its labour, by its own will it returns to it. So it is with depraved mind that there is nothing so laborious that one may teach them not to labour in worldly deeds. For often when they are drawn from worldly affairs that entreat that they may return to them, and demand that they be kept in subjection, thinking that to come into rest is a grave peril. Smooth, therefore, is their brow, who do not only refuse to flee labour, but neither do they blush, that is they do not blush to be seen embroiled in troublesome labours. Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 1, from Homily 10 1 Ezek 3.8 2 Jer 3.5 3 Hos 10.11