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

The Sinner And The Righteous Man

Παρατηρήσεται ὁ ἀ,αμαρτωλὸς τὸν δίκαιον, καὶ βρύξει ἐπ' αὐτὸν τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτοῦ. Ἐντεῦωεν μανθάνομεν, ὅτι, ὥσπερ πέφυκεν ἐναντίον εἶναι σκότος καὶ φῶς, οὕτω ὁ ἁμαρτωλὸς τῷ δικαίῳ. Ἐὰν οὗν ἴδῃς τότε μισούμενον τὸν δίκαιον, μὴ ὄκνει λέγειν περὶ τοῦ μισοῦντος αὐτὸν, ὡς ἔστιν ἁμαρτωλός. Οἱ γὰρ φρονοῦντες τὰ κοσμικὰ, καὶ τῇ τοῦ παρόντος βίου τύρβῃ τὸν ἑαυτῶν ἐνδήσαντες νοῦν, ἀεὶ πως ἐπιμεμήνασι τοῖς τὸν εὐαγῆ καὶ ἀπόλεκτον διαβιοῦσι βίον, καὶ ἐχθρὸν ἠγοῦνται τῆς δικαιοσύνης τὸν ἐρατήν. Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαί Εἰς Ψαλμους, Ψαλμος ΛϚ' Source: Migne PG 17.128

'The sinner observes the righteous man, and he grinds his teeth over him.'  1  As we have learned above, as light and darkness are contraries, so the sinner and the righteous man. If then you see someone hating a righteous man, do not shrink from naming him a sinner. For those who think of worldly things, their minds overthrown by the troubles of this life, always rage madly at the one who lives an upright and elect life, and an enemy they deem him who is a lover of righteousness. Origen, Excerpta On the Psalms, from Psalm 36 1 Ps 36.12

Considering The Correction Of Others

Cum qualicumque cordis compunctione attonita mente saepius volvens, si, inquam, peculiari ex omnibus nationibus populo, semini regali gentique sanctae, ad quam dixerat: primogenitus meus Israel, eiusque sacerdotibus, prophetis, regibus, per tot saecula, Apostolo ministro membrisque illius primitivae ecclesiae dominus non pepercit, cum a recto tramite deviarint, quid tali huius atramento aetatis facturus est? Cui praeter illa nefanda immaniaque peccata quae communiter cum omnibus mundi sceleratis agit, accedit etiam illud veluti ingentium quid et indelebile insipientiae pondus et levitatis ineluctabile. Quid? Mihimet aio, tibine, miser, veluti conspicuo ac summo doctori talis cura committitur ut obstes ictibus tam violenti torrentis, et contra hunc inolitorum scelerum funem per tot annorum spatia interrupte latetque protractum serves depositum tibi creditum et taceas? Alioquin hoc est dixisse pedi: speculare et manui: fare. Habet britanni rectores, habet speculatores. Quid tu nugando mutire disponis? habet, inquam, habet, si non ultra, non citra numerum. Sed quia inclinati tanto pondere sunt pressi, idcirco spatium respirandi non habent. Praeoccupabant igitur se multo talibus obiectionibus vel multo his mordacioribus veluti condebitores sensus mei. Hi non parvo, ut dixi, tempore, cum legerim, Tempus esse loquendi et tacendi, et in quadam ac si angusta timoris porticu luctabantur. Obtinuit vicitque tandem aliquando creditor, si non es, inquiens, talis audaciae ut inter veridicas rationalis secundae a nuntiis derivationis creaturas non pertimescas libertatis aureae decenti nota inuri, affectum saltem intellegibilis asinae eatenus elinguis non refugito spiritu Dei afflatae, nolentis se vehiculum fore tiarati magi devoturi populum Dei, quae in anguesto maceriae vinearum resolutum eius attriuit pedem, ob id licet verbera hostiliter senserit, cuique angelum caelestem ensem vacuum vagina habentem atque contrarium, quem ille cruda stoliditate caecatus non viderat, digito quodammodo, quamquam ingrato ac furibundo et innoxia eius latera contra ius fasque caedenti, demonstravit. In zelo igitur domus Domini sacrae legis seu cogitatuum rationibus vel fratrum religiosis precibus coactus sum persolvo debitum multo tempore antea exactum, vile quidem, sed fidele, ut puto, et amicale quibusque egregiis Christi tironibus, grave uero et importabile apostatis insipientibus. Quorum priores, ni fallor, cum lacrimis forte quae ex Dei caritate profluunt, alii autem cum trisitia, sed quae de indignatione et pusillanimitate deprehensae conscientiae extorquetur, illud excipient. Sanctus Gildas Sapiens, De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae Migne PL 69 332

When with compunction of heart turning over the mind I said, if the Lord did not spare a people, peculiar out of all the nations, the royal seed and holy nation, to whom He had said: Israel is my first born, 1 nor its priests, prophets, kings for so many centuries, nor the Apostle his servant and the members of that early Church, when they swerved from the right path, what will he do on account of such blackness as this age has? An age to which, besides those impious and monstrous sins which it practices in common with all the criminals of the world, has been added that which is as if inborn with it, an irremovable unwisdom and an inextricable fickleness. What then? Do I say to myself, O wretch, as if you were a distinguished and great teacher, is such a care comitted to you, that you would stand against the blows of so violent a torrent, and against this array of growing crimes extending over so many years and so widely, keep the deposit committed to you, and be silent? Otherwise this means, to say to the foot, watch, and to the hand, speak. Britain has teachers, it has watchers. Are you disposed to mumble some paltry things? Yes, it has, it has, if not too many, not too few. But, because they are pressed down by so great a weight, so they have no time to breathe. Thus my thoughts as fellow debtors were preoccupied with many such objections, and by many that were more biting than these. Such was my state, for no short time, as I said, when I read: 'There is a time to speak and a time to keep silent,' 2 and wrestled, as it were, in the narrow gate of fear. At length the creditor prevailed and conquered, saying, 'If you have not such courage as to feel no fear of being branded with the mark that befits golden liberty among truth telling creatures of a rational origin second to the angels, at least imitate that intelligent donkey, inspired, though mute, by the Spirit of God; unwilling it was to be the carrier of the crowned magician about to curse the people of God, it bruised his feeble foot in the narrow path near the wall of the vineyards, though it was thus was obliged to suffer hostile blows, and it pointed out to him the angel from heaven, as if with the finger, who with sword drawn from scabbard opposed them, whom he in the blindness of cruel stupidity had not seen, he who, ungrateful and furious, was unrighteously beating its innocent sides. 3 In my zeal, therefore, for the holy law of the Lord's house, or by the reasons of my own meditations, or driven by the pious entreaties of brethren, I am now paying the debt exacted long ago. The work certainly is poor, but faithful, I think, and friendly to all noble young soldiers of Christ, but harsh and insupportable to foolish apostates. The former of these, if I am not deceived, will perhaps receive it with the tears that flow from the love of God; the others however with receive it with sorrow, but a sorrow that is given by the indignation and weakness of an awakened conscience.  Saint Gildas the Wise, from On The Destruction and Ruin of Britain 1 Exodus 4.2 2 Eccl 3.7  3 Numb 22.28-31

Teaching And Travail

Εἴτε δὲ θλιβόμενοι Θλίβεσθαί φασιν οἱ διδάσκαλοι ὑπὲρ προκοπῆς καὶ σωτηρίας τῶν πεπαιδευμένων, ἵν' ὑπομονὴν ἔχοντες τελείαν βεβαιωθῶσιν, ἐλπίζοντες τυχεῖν ἐπαξίων ἀμοιβῶν δοθησομένων τοῖς ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας ἀγωνιζομένοις ἀποστόλοις καὶ τοῖς τούτων ἀκροαταῖς. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Τὴν Δευτέραν Ἐπιστολήν Παύλου Πρὸς Κορινθίους Migne PG 39 1683

'But if we are troubled...' 1 Troubled he names the teachers on account of the advance and salvation of their pupils, that having endurance they be firmly established, hoping that they are worthy to be given the Apostolic reward for their striving for truth, and the same for their pupils. Didymus the Blind, On The Second Letter of Paul to The Corinthians, Fragment 1 2 Cor 1.6

Gifts For Preaching

Ecce dedi faciem tuam valentiorem faciebus eorum, et frontem tuam duriorem frontibus eorum. Sicut verecundia laudabilis est in malo, ita reprehensibilis est in bono. Erubescere enim malum sapientiae est; bonum vero erubescere, fatuitatis. Unde scriptum est: Est confusio adducens peccatum, et est confusio adducens gloriam. Qui enim erubescit poenitendo mala quae fecit, ad vitae libertatem pervenit. Qui vero erubescit bona facere, a statu rectitudinis cadit, atque ad damnationem tendit, sicut per Redemptorem dicitur: Qui me erubuerit et meos sermones, hunc Filius hominis erubescet, cum venerit in majestate sua. Et sunt quidam qui bona jam in mente concipiunt, sed necdum malis aperte contradicunt. Hi nimirum quia boni sunt in mente, sed auctoritatem non habent in locutione, apti ad veritatis defensionem non sunt. Ille enim esse veritatis defensor debet, qui quod recte sentit loqui nec metuit, nec erubescit. Unde nunc in magno munere prophetae promittitur: Ecce dedi faciem tuam valentiorem faciebus eorum, et frontem tuam duriorem frontibus eorum. Quid est autem peccator, nisi vulneratus? et qui praedicator, nisi medicus? Si ergo non erubescit peccator qui jacet in vulnere, cur erubescat medicus qui per medicamenta providet salutem? Saepe vero contingit ut praedicator reverenter audiatur; nonnunquam vero a perversis ita despicitur, ac si eis nihil utilitatis loquatur. Unde recte nunc dicitur: Ut adamantem et ut silicem dedi faciem tuam. Adamas et silex utraque dura; sed unum horum pretiosum est, alterum vile. Adamas ad ornamentum sumitur, silex ab itinerantibus calcatur. Et saepe contingit ut hos quos correptionem suam conspicimus nimis humiliter audire, verecundemur eis aliqua dicere. Nonnunquam vero evenit ut eos quos increpationem suam videmus postponere, et despectui habere, trepidemus eis verbum praedicationis inferre. Sed si recte sapimus, et ad eos a quibus nos honorari conspicimus, et ad eos a quibus nos despici videmus, auctoritatem exhortationis vel increpationis sumimus, ut nec illorum humilitatem debeamus erubescere, nec horum superbiam formidare. Dicatur ergo: Dedi faciem tuam ut adamantem, id est, si ab auditoribus honoraris; Dedi faciem tuam ut silicem, si ab auditoribus conculcaris atque despiceris, ut nec per illatum honorem refrenetur lingua ex verecundia, nec per despectum taceat ex infirmitate. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Primus, Homilia X Migne PL 76 892-893

'Behold, I have given you a strong face for their faces, and a brow harder than their brows.' 1 As it is disgraceful to praise evil, so it is to be blameable in the good. To be ashamed on account of evil is of wisdom, to blush on account of the good is foolish. Whence it is written, 'Shame leads to sin and it is shame that brings to glory.' 2 He who is ashamed so that he comes to repentance of the evil he has done, comes to the free life. He who is ashamed to do good things falls from a state of rectitude and inclines to damnation. As it was said by the Redeemer: 'He who is ashamed of my words, the Son of Man shall be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory.' 3 And there are those who, conceiving goods in the mind, will not yet openly contradict the wicked. And this without doubt because though they have good things in the mind, they have no authority in their speech, and are not capable of defending the truth. For he should be a defender of truth who knows how to speak correctly and does not fear, nor is ashamed. Whence now as a great gift it is promised the Prophet: 'Behold, I have given you a strong face for their faces, and a brow harder than their brows.' And what is a sinner, but a wounded man? And what is a preacher but a physician? If, then, the sinner is not ashamed although he is transfixed by a wound, why should the physician be ashamed who by his medication provides salvation? Often it happens that the preacher is heard reverently, but sometimes by the perverse he is despised, as if to them he had nothing useful to say. Whence rightly now it is said: 'Like adamant and like flint I have given your face.' 4 Adamant and flint are both hard, but one of these is precious, the other cheap. Adamant is used as an ornament, flint is trodden on by vagrants. Now often it happens that to those whom we see humbly listening  we speak over politely concerning their correction, and sometimes it happens that because we note that our hearers are unwilling to be corrected and they regard us disrespectfully, we fear to bring the word of preaching to them. But if we thought rightly, when we looked on those who honoured us and gazed on those who despised us, the authority of exhortation or correction we would choose, neither being ashamed of their humility, nor distressed by their pride. Therefore is is said, 'Like adamant I have given your face.' That, is against the honour of your hearers, and 'I have given you flint' against those who spurn you and despise you, that neither by their reverance you tie back the tongue on account of excessive modesty, nor by disrespect you are silent on account of your weakness. Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 1, from Homily 10 1 Ezek 3.8 2 Sirach 4.25 3 Lk. 9.26 4 Ezek 3.9

Deborah's Teaching

Debbora enim prophetis, uxor Lapidoth, judicabat populum in illo tempore, et sedebat sub palma inter Rama et Bethel in monte Ephraim, ascendebantque ad eam filii Isreal in omne judicium. Debbora, quae interpretatur apis, sive loquela, in prophetia et forma accipenda est de qua scribitur: Quam dulcia faucibus meis eloquia tua. Consideremus ubi locus prophetiae esse describitur. Sub palma, inquit, sub palma sedem habet prophetia, quia quos suis institutionibus erudit, ad palmam supernae vocationis adducit. Inter medium autem Rama et inter medium Bethel sedere prophetia dicitur, quia Rama interpretatur excelsa, Bethel autem domus Dei, utique quia nos in domo Dei positos, non quae in terra sunt quaerere docet, sed quae in coelis sunt. Sanctus Isidorus Hispalensis,Mysticorum Expositiones Sacramentorum Seu Quaestiones In Vetus Testamentum, In Librum Judicum, Cap II Migne PL 83.380

Deborah the prophetess, wife of Lapidoth, judged the people in that time, and she sat beneath a palm between Rama and Bethel on mount Ephriam, and there came up to her for judgement the sons of Israel. 1 Deborah, is interpreted bee, or speech, and in prophecy and form it is understood concerning her that it is written: 'How sweet in my throat your words'. 2 Let us consider the place where the prophetess is said to be. Beneath a palm, it says, beneath a palm the prophetess had her seat, because instructing them with her teaching she guided them to the palm of supernal calling. And between Rama and between Bethel it is said the prophetess sat, because Rama is interpreted exalted, and Bethel the house of God, as then we who are placed in the house of God teach that one should not seek the things of earth, but the things of heaven. Saint Isidore of Seville, Expositions of Sacred Mysteries or Questions on the Old Testament, On The Book of Judges, Chap 2 1 Judges 4.4-5 2 Ps 118.103

Preaching, Rule And Glory

Οὐ γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς κηρύσσομεν  Ἀναφορὰν ἔχει ἡ προκειμένη λέξις πρὸς τὸ οὐχ ὅτι κυριεύομεν τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν· ἀκολούθως γὰρ ἐκείνῳ ῥηθείη ἄν· οὐχ ἑαυτοὺς κηρύττομεν, διὸ οὐ κυριεύομεν ὑμῶν τῆς πίστεως· κηρύττομεν γὰρ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν θεὸν κύριον, ἑαυτοὺς δὲ δούλους ὑμῶν διὰ Χριστοῦ. ὥστε οὐχ ἡμεῖς ἀλλ' αὐτὸς κυριεύει τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν, ἀποδεχόμενος ἢ κρίνων ὑμᾶς κατ' αὐτήν. πρὸς τούτοις καὶ τὸ ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ὁ εἰπὼν ἐκ σκότους φῶς λάμψαι, συναπτέον τῷ ἡμεῖς δὲ πάντες ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ τὴν δόξαν κυρίου κατοπτριζόμεθα. ἐκ σκότους δὲ λάμπεται φῶς τῷ ἐξ ἀγνοίας εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐρχομένῳ· λέγομεν γοῦν ἐξ ἀγνοοῦντος καὶ ἀληθοῦς ἐπιστήμονα καὶ πεπαιδευμένον γίνεσθαι. τῆς οὖν προκαταλαβούσης τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀγνοίας καὶ κακίας ὠνομασμένων σκότους, ἔλαμψεν ὁ θεὸς ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις φωτισμὸν πρακτικῆς καὶ διανοητικῆς ἀρετῆς, ἵν' ἔχωσι θεωρίας τῆς δόξης Χριστοῦ ἐν προσώπῳ αὐτοῦ. δόξαν δὲ ἤτοι καθ' ἣν φρονοῦσι περὶ αὐτοῦ, ἢ δόξαν καθ' ἣν δεδοξασμένον αὐτὸν ἴσμεν. Δυδύμος του Ἀλεξανδρέως, Εἰς Την Δευτεραν Ἐπιστολήν Προς Κορινθίους, Ἐκλογή  Migne PG 39 1697-1700

'For we do not preach ourselves.' 1 This bears a relation to the passage that says, 'For we do not wish to dominate your faith.' 2 for following that it may be said, 'We do not preach ourselves, on account of not wanting to dominate your faith.' 'For we preach the Lord God Jesus Christ, and we are your servants on account of Christ,' 1 and thus not we, but He rules your faith, testing and approving you according to it. Whence it is said: 'The God who told light to shine out from darkness.' 1 that we all be united, reflecting the revealed face of God's glory. The light illuminates the darkness, and from ignorance we come to knowledge of truth. So it is said that from ignorance and unlearnedness comes wisdom and learning. When therefore men are beset by ignorance and wickedness and are named darkness, God makes shine in their hearts the light of practical and intellectual virtue, by which men acquire awareness of Christ in His own person; glory, I say, by which they have knowledge of Him, glory by which we come to the same glorification. Didymus the Blind, Commentary on Second Letter to the Corinthians, Fragment 1 2 Cor 4.5 2 2 Cor 1.23 3 2 Cor 4.6

Faith And Enlightenment

Deinde ait: Lucerna, inquit, corporis tui est oculus tuus: si oculus tuus simplex est, totum corpus tuum lucidum est; si autem oculus tuus nequam est, totum corpus tuum tenebrosum est. Si ergo lumen, quod in te est, tenebrae sunt; tenebrae ipsae quantae sunt. Lucerna corporis, sensus mentis et fides cordis intelligitur: quae si in nobis pura et lucida fuerit, sine dubio omne corpus nostrum illuminat. Idcirco autem lucerna comparatione fidei ponitur, quia sicut lucerna incedentium in nocte gressus illuminat, ne aut in foveas, aut in offendicula quaeque ambulantes incurrant: ita in hac saeculi nocte splendor fidei omnes vitae nostrae gressus, praeeunte lumine veritatis, illuminat; ne aut in foveas peccatorum, aut in offendicula diaboli incidamus. Hoc est ergo quo ait Dominus: Lucerna corporis tui est oculus tuus si oculus tuus simplex est, totum corpus tuum lucidum est; si autem oculus tuus nequam est, totum corpus tuum tenebrosum est, ostendens, quia si haec fides nostra, quae lucerna corporis vel oculo significatur, in nobis aut peccatorum tenebris, aut perfidiae obscuritate caecetur; sine dubio, omne corpus nostrum obscurum tenebrosumque redditur. Quod ipsum Santus Joannes ostendit, dicens: Deus lux est. Et qui charum habet fratrem suum, ipse est in lumine qui autem odit fratrem suum, in tenebris ambulant, et nescit ubi ambulat quia tenebrae obcaecaverunt oculos ejus. Etsi hoc de eo qui fratrem suum odit, secundum dictum Joannis, intelligitur; in quibus tenebris haereticus demoretur qui, amisso lumine catholicae veritatis, perfidus ac blasphemus existit, debemus advetere. Et ideo ait Dominus: Si lumen, inquit, quod in te est, tenebrae sunt; tenebrae ipsae quantae sunt? In eo scilicet, qui veritatem in mendacium, fidem in perfidiam demutaverit. Alio autem sensu oculum corporis, qui est membris omnibus pulchrior ac pretiosior, epsicopum advertimus significatum, qui clara fidei suae ac doctrinae praedicatione, velut oculus quidam, Ecclesiae corpus illuminat. Qui, si per simplicem fidem ac santam conversationem, catholicus et fidelis doctor exstiterit, potest populus cui praeest, doctrinae ac ac formae ipsius exemplo, in lumine semper vertitatis manere. Verum si is, qui lumen caeteris praebere videtur, per pravam fidem aut per turpem conversationem, nequam et perfidus doctor exstiterit; sine dubio, vitae ac perfidiae suae exemplo, totum corpus potest tenebrosum efficere. Unde non immerito de tali oculo Dominus dicit: Si lumen quod in te est, tenebrae sunt; tenebrae ipsae quantae sunt! Hoc est, si hujusmodi doctor qui lumen fidei ex se praebere caeteris debet, per haeresim obcaecatus, tenebrosus exstiterit; quantae in populo illo possint esse tenebrae peccatorum, debemus advertere. Sanctus Chromatius Aquileiensis, Tactatus XVII in Evangelium Sancti Matthaei Migne PL 20 366-67

Then He said, The eye is the lamp of your body, if your eye is clean, all your body will be light, if your eye is bad, all your body will be darkness. If then the light in you is darkness how great will they darkness be! 1 The lamp of the body is understood as the sense of the mind and the faith of the heart, which if it is pure and bright in us without doubt enlightens our body. Therefore the lamp is compared to faith, which like a burning lamp in the night illuminates our path, lest we walk into a pit or snare; thus in this night of the world the splendor of faith goes before us all the ways of our life, as the light of illuminating truth, lest we fall into the pits of sinners or the snares of the devil. This is why the Lord says, 'The eye is the lamp of your body, if your eye is clean, all your body will be light, if your eye is bad, all your body will be darkness,' showing that as it is our faith which is the lamp, as the eye of the body, so as we are blinded by the darkness of sin or the obscurity of faithlessness, without doubt all our body is made dark and obscure. Which Saint John himself demonstrates saying, 'God is light, and He who has love for his brother is in the light and he who hates his brother walks in darkness and he knows not where he walks because darkness blinds his eyes.' 2 And if this which concerns him who hates his brother according to the speech of John is understood, those dark places in which heretics dwell, who lacking the light of Catholic truth stand in faithlessness and blasphemy, we should avoid. And thus the Lord says, 'If then the light in you is darkness how great will they darkness be.' And certainly in him in whom truth is changed into a lie and faith into treachery. And the eye of the body has another sense in that it signifies him who is of all the members most fair and precious, by which we mean, a bishop, who with the brightness of his faith and teaching is like an eye that illuminates the body of the Church. He who, if by simple faith and holy conduct he stands as a faithful and catholic teacher, can lead his people by the example of his teaching and conduct so that they remain in the light of truth. But if he, who should be a giver of light to others, on account of depraved faith and base conduct, is a wicked and treacherous teacher, without doubt, by the example of his life and faithlessness he is able to make the whole body darkness. Whence rightly the Lord says concerning such an eye: 'If the light in you is darkness, how dark it will be.' That is, if he who should be a teacher who gives the light of faith from himself to others, is blinded by heresy, and stands in darkness, how many, then, of the people will become that darkness of sinners, which we should avoid. Saint Chromatius of Aquileia, from Tractate 17 on the Gospel of Saint Matthew 1. Mt 6.22-24 2. Jn 1.5; 2.10-11

A Bishop's Counsel To A Bishop

Καλοὺς μαθητὰς ἐὰν φιλῇς, χάρις σοι οὐκ ἔστιν· μᾶλλον τοὺς λοιμοτέρους ἐν πραότητι ὑπότασσε. Οὐ πᾶν τραῦμα τῇ αὐτῇ ἐμπλάστρῳ θεραπεύεται. Τοὺς παροξυσμοὺς ἐμβροχαῖς παῦε. Φρόνιμος γίνου ὡς ὁ ὄφις ἐν ἅπασιν καὶ ἀκέραιος εἰς ἀεὶ ὡς ἡ περιστερά. Διὰ τοῦτο σαρκικὸς εἶ καὶ πνευματικός, ἵνα τὰ φαινόμενά σου εἰς πρόσωπον κολακεύῃς· τὰ δὲ ἀόρατα αἴτει ἵνα σοι φανερωθῇ, ὅπως μηδενὸς λείπῃ καί παντὸς χαρίσματος περισσεύῃς. Ὁ καιρὸς ἀπαιτεῖ σε, ὡς κυβερνῆται ἀνένους καὶ ὡς χειμαζόμενος λιμένα, εἰς τὸ θεοῦ ἐπιτυχεῖν. Νῆφε, ὡς θεοῦ ἀθλητής· τὸ θέμα ἀφθαρσία καὶ ζωὴ αἰώνιος, περὶ ἧς καὶ σὺ πέπεισαι. Κατὰ πάντα σου ἀντιψυχον ἐγὼ καὶ τὰ δεσμά μου, ἃ ἠγάπησας. Οἱ δοκοῦντες ἀξιόπιστοι εἶναι καὶ ἑτεροδιδασκαοῦντες μή σε καταπλησσέτωσαν. στῆθι ἑδραῖος ὡς ἄκμων τυπτόμενος. Μεγάλου ἐστιν ἀθλητοῦ τὸ δέρεσθαι καὶ νικᾶν. Μάλιστα δὲ ἕνεκεν θεοῦ πάντα ὑπομένειν ἡμᾶς δεῖ, ἵνα καὶ αὐτὸς ἡμᾶς ὑπομένῃ. πλέον σπουδαῖος γίνου οὗ εἶ. Τοὺς καιροὺς καταμάνθανε. τὸν ὑπὲρ καιρὸν προσδόκα, τὸν ἄχρονον, τὸν ἀόρατον, τὸν δι’ ἡμᾶς ὁρατόν, τὸν ἀψηλάφητον, τὸν ἀπαθῆ, τὸν δι’ ἡμᾶς παθητόν, τὸν κατὰ πάντα τρόπον δι’ ἡμᾶς ὑπομείναντα. Ἅγιος Ἰγνάτιος Ἀντιοχείας, Ἐπιστολή Προς Πολύκαρπον

If you love good scholars, it is no grace to you. Rather bring the more difficult to submission by gentleness. Not every wound is healed by the same salve. Allay sharp pains by infusions. Be as shrewd as the serpent in all things and always innocent as the dove. 1 For this you are flesh and spirit, that you may gain the favour of the things which appear before your face, and as for the invisible things, pray that they may be revealed to you, that you may lack in nothing and be rich in every spiritual gift. The season summons you, as pilots require winds, and as those beset by storms a haven, to attain to God. Be sober, as an athlete of God, for the prize is incorruption and life eternal, concerning which you are convinced. In all things I am bound to you, I and my bonds which you loved. Let not those that seem worthy of trust and yet teach strangely strike you down. Stand firm, as an anvil smitten. It is the part of a great athlete to receive blows and conquer. But especially it is necessary for us to endure all things for God's sake, that He also may endure us. Be more zealous than you are. Attend to the times. Expect the one above any time, the eternal, the invisible, He who for us became visible, the impalpable, the impassible, who suffered for us, who endured in every way for us. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, from the Letter to Saint Polycarp 1 Mt 10.16

The Contemplative And The Warrior

Homo formidoloso et corde pavido non egredietur ad bellum. Vadat et revertatur ad domum suam, ne pavere faciat corda fratrum suorum, sicut et ipse timore perterritus est. Quibus verbis edocet non posse eos professionem contemplatinois vel spiritualis militiae arripere exercitium, qui adhuc nudari terrenis operibus pertimescunt. Ne rursus infirmitate mentis revertantur, suoque exemplo alios a perfectione evangelica revocent, et infideli terrore infirment; jubentur itaque tales, ut, discedentes a pugna, revertantur in domum suam, quia non possunt duplici corde bella Domini praeliari. Vir enim duplex animo, inconstants in omnibus viis suis. Tales quippe oportet ut ne initium quidem renuntiationis arripiant. Quibus melius est ut un activa vita consistant, quam trepidi contemplationem exsequentes, majori discrimine semetipsos involvant. Melius est enim non vovere, quam vovere et non reddere. Similiter et ille a tali militia prohibetur, qui uxorem duxerit, qui plantaverit vineam, velt propaginem filiorum, non enim potest servire divinae militiae servus uxoris, secundum Apostoli: Qui cum uxore est, sollicitus est quomodo placeat uxori, et divisus est.  Nec potest inesse quis studio contemplationis, qui adhuc in delectatione defigitur carnis. Nemo, inquit Apostolus, militans Deo, implicat se negotiis saecularibus, ut ei placeat cui se probavit. Sanctus Isidorus Hispalensis,Mysticorum Expositiones Sacramentorum Seu Quaestiones In Vetus Testamentum, In Deutronomium, Caput XV Migne PL 83.365-366

A man fearful and timid in heart should not go out to war. Let him begone and return to his house lest he causes fear in the hearts of his brothers, with his own fear unnerving them. 1 By which words is taught that they are not able to take up the exercise of contemplation or spiritual warfare who yet fear to strip themselves of worldly works, lest again they fall back into weakness of soul and their example calls others away from the perfection of the Gospel, and by faithless fear others are made infirm. Such men are thus ordered to withdraw from combat and return to their own houses because they who have divided hearts are not able to fight the wars of the Lord; a man with a divided soul is inconstant in all his ways. And certainly they should not even start on the beginning of renunciation; it is better for them is to be established in the active life, those who with fear would follow the contemplative, with greater discrimination occupying themselves. Better it is not to take a vow than to take a vow and not fulfill it. And likewise he is prohibited from such warfare who takes a wife, who plants vines and who propagates children, 2 for he is not able to serve in the Divine army who is the servant of a wife, as the Apostle says, 'He who has a wife has his care in how to please her, and he is divided in himself.' 3 And the contemplative zeal is not able to inhere in him who is yet fixed in the pleasures of the flesh. 'No one,' says the Apostle, 'is a soldier of God who is involved in worldly business, but he who is would please him who has approved him.' 4 Saint Isidore of Seville, Expositions of Sacred Mysteries or Questions on the Old Testament, On Exodus, Chap 27 1 Deut 20.8 2 Deut 20. 5-7  3 1 Cor 7.33 4 2 Tim 2.4