| Welcome, Guest |
You have to register before you can post on our site.
|
| Online Users |
There are currently 285 online users.
» 0 Member(s) | 281 Guest(s)
Applebot, Bing, Google, Internet Archive
|
| Latest Threads |
Pope Pius XI : Lux Verita...
Forum: Encyclicals
Last Post: Stone
Today, 06:36 AM
» Replies: 1
» Views: 3,719
|
Feast of the Maternity of...
Forum: Our Lady
Last Post: Stone
Today, 06:34 AM
» Replies: 2
» Views: 4,800
|
Where did those lies abou...
Forum: General Commentary
Last Post: Deus Vult
Yesterday, 01:56 PM
» Replies: 3
» Views: 7,226
|
Pope St. Pius X's prophec...
Forum: Catholic Prophecy
Last Post: Stone
Yesterday, 08:51 AM
» Replies: 1
» Views: 1,711
|
Holy Mass in Georgia [Atl...
Forum: October 2024
Last Post: Stone
Yesterday, 08:42 AM
» Replies: 0
» Views: 61
|
Holy Mass in New Hampshir...
Forum: October 2024
Last Post: Stone
Yesterday, 08:37 AM
» Replies: 0
» Views: 59
|
Thursday Night Holy Hour ...
Forum: Appeals for Prayer
Last Post: Stone
Yesterday, 06:50 AM
» Replies: 2
» Views: 487
|
St. Louis de Montfort: Af...
Forum: Our Lady
Last Post: Stone
10-09-2024, 11:52 AM
» Replies: 1
» Views: 2,608
|
Fr. Hewko's Sermons: Feas...
Forum: October 2024
Last Post: Stone
10-09-2024, 11:30 AM
» Replies: 0
» Views: 85
|
Please Pray for Bishop Ti...
Forum: Appeals for Prayer
Last Post: Stone
10-09-2024, 04:01 AM
» Replies: 4
» Views: 649
|
|
|
| St. Athanasius: The Paradise of the Holy Fathers |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-29-2021, 08:47 AM - Forum: Fathers of the Church
- Replies (138)
|
 |
THE PARADISE OF THE HOLY FATHERS: VOLUMES 1 & 2
By SAINT ATHANASIUS OF ALEXANDRIA
The Paradise or Garden of the Holy Fathers Being Histories of the Anchorites Recluses Monks Coenobites and Ascetic Fathers of the Deserts of Egypt
Between A.D. CCL and A.D.CCCC Circiter
Compiled by Athanasius Archbishop of Alexandria Palladius Bishop of Helenopolis Saint Jerome and Others
Now Translated Out Of The Syriac With Notes & Introduction by Ernest A. Wallis Budge M.A:LITT.D : D.LIT Keeper of the Assyrian & Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum
PUBLISHED AT LONDON BY CHATTO & WINDUS MCMVII
FROM THE STORY OF THE MONK WHO VISITED SYLVANUS IN SINAI. (Brit. Mus. MS. 14,648, Vol. 10b)
CONTENTS
THE PARADISE OF THE HOLY FATHERS: VOLUME 1
PREFACE
PALLADIUS, HIS LIFE AND TRAVELS
THE ASKETIKON OF PACHOMIUS
CHRISTIAN MONASTICISM IN EGYPT
THE LIVES OF THE EGYPTIAN MONKS AND THEIR TEACHING
PALLADIUS AS A HISTORIAN
THE PARADISE OF THE HOLY FATHERS
THE LIFE OF SAINT ANTHONY, BY ATHANASIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA
[THE FOLLOWING IS] BY THE HOLY WRITER MAR ATHANASIUS
CONCERNING HIS DEATH
THE PARADISE OF PALLADIUS
THE FIRST HISTORY
COUNSELS TO LAUSUS
HERE BEGIN THE HISTORIES OF THE HOLY MEN BY PALLADIUS
CHAPTER I
THE HISTORY OF ABBA ISIDORE [BISHOP OF HERMOPOLIS PARVA (DAMANBUR) IN LOWER EGYPT]
CHAPTER II
THE HISTORY OF DOROTHEOS OF THEBES
CHAPTER III
THE HISTORY OF THE VIRGIN POTAMIAENA
CHAPTER IV
THE HISTORY OF DIDYMUS [BORN A.D
309 OR 314]
CHAPTER V
THE HISTORY OF THE MAIDEN ALEXANDRA
CHAPTER VI
THE HISTORY OF ABBA MACARIUS [THE ALEXANDRIAN] AND A CERTAIN VIRGIN
CHAPTER VII
CONCERNING THE MONKS WHO LIVED IN NITRIA
CHAPTER VIII
THE HISTORY OF ABBA AMMON, [THE “FATHER OF EGYPTIAN MONASTICISM”]
CHAPTER IX
THE HISTORY OF THE BLESSED MAN HOR
CHAPTER X
THE HISTORY OF THE BLESSED MAN PAMBO [DIED AD 393]
CHAPTER XI
THE HISTORY OF THE BLESSED AMMONIUS
CHAPTER XII
THE HISTORY OF THE BLESSED BENJAMIN
CHAPTER XIII
THE HISTORY OF APOLLONIUS THE MERCHANT
CHAPTER XIV
THE HISTORIES OF THE NATURAL BRETHREN PAESIUS AND ISAIAH
CHAPTER XV
THE HISTORY OF MACARIUS, THE CHILD OF HIS CROSS
CHAPTER XVI
THE HISTORY OF THE BLESSED NATBANIEL [DIED ABOUT 376 AD.]
CHAPTER XVII
THE HISTORY OF THE TWO EXALTED AND EXCELLENT MEN, MACARIUS THE EGYPTIAN, THE DISCIPLE OF MAR ABBA ANTHONY, AND MACARIUS THE ALEXANDRIAN
CHAPTER XVIII
THE HISTORY OF MACARIUS THE ALEXANDRIAN, THE GLORIOUS
CHAPTER XIX
OF THE BLESSED MAN PAUL THE SIMPLE, THE DISCIPLE OF ABBA ANTHONY
CHAPTER XX
OF THE BLESSED MAN PACHOMIUS
CHAPTER XXI
OF THE BLESSED MAN STEPHEN
CHAPTER XXII
OF VALENS THE PALESTINIAN
CHAPTER XXIII
OF HERO THE ALEXANDRIAN [BISHOP OF DIOSPOLIS ABOUT AD 365]
CHAPTER XXIV
OF PTOLEMY THE EGYPTIAN WHO WAS IN SCETE
CHAPTER XXV
OF ABRAHAM THE EGYPTIAN
CHAPTER XXVI
OF A CERTAIN VIRGIN WHO WAS IN JERUSALEM
CHAPTER XXVII
OF THE VIRGIN WHO WAS IN CAESAREA OF PALESTINE
CHAPTER XXVIII
OF A CERTAIN WOMAN WHO FELL AND REPENTED
CHAPTER XXIX
OF ANOTHER VIRGIN WHO FELL AND REPENTED
CHAPTER XXX
OF THE BLESSED WOMAN THAIS OR THAISIS
CHAPTER XXXI
OF THE BLESSED MAN ABBA ELIJAH
CHAPTER XXXII
OF THE BLESSED DOROTHEOS
CHAPTER XXXIII
OF THE BLESSED PACHOMIUS THE GREAT, AND OF THE SONS OF HIS MONASTERY, AND OF THE NUNNERIES WHICH WERE IN THE THEBAID
CHAPTER XXXIV
AN APOLOGY, AND PREFACE, AND ADMONITION
CHAPTER XXXV
THE TRIUMPHANT DEEDS AND EXPLOITS AND HISTORIES OF HOLY WOMEN OF THE VIRGIN OF ALEXANDRIA WHO HID ATHANASIUS
CHAPTER XXXVI
OF PIAMON THE VIRGIN
CHAPTER XXXVII
OF OUR BLESSED MOTHER TALIDA, THE OLD WOMAN OF ANTINOE
CHAPTER XXXVIII
OF THE VIRGIN TAOR
CHAPTER XXXIX
OF THE VIRGIN AND THE MARTYR COLLUTBUS
CHAPTER XL
OF THE VIRGIN AND OF MAGISTRIANUS WHO FOUGBT WITH WILD BEASTS FOR HER SAKE
CHAPTER XLI
OF THE HOLY WOMAN MELANIA THE GREAT
CHAPTER XLII
OF THE BLESSED WOMAN MELANIA THE YOUNGER
CHAPTER XLIII
OF THE BLESSED WOMAN OLYMPIAS
CHAPTER XLIV
OF THE BLESSED WOMAN CANDIDA
CHAPTER XLV
OF THE BLESSED WOMAN GELASIA
CHAPTER XLVI
OF THE BLESSED WOMAN JULIANA
CHAPTER XLVII
OF HERONION AND HIS WIFE [BOSPHORIA]
CHAPTER XLVIII
OF THE BLESSED WOMAN MAGNA
CHAPTER XLIX
OF THE MONK [MISERICORS] WHO LIVED IN ANCYRA
CHAPTER L
OF JOHN OF LYCUS, A CITY OF THE THEBAID
CHAPTER LI
OF THE BLESSED MAN POSSIDONIUS
CHAPTER LII
OF CHRONIUS WHO WAS FROM THE VILLAGE OF PHŒNIX
CHAPTER LIII
OF JAMES THE LAME [AND OF PAPHNUTIUS CEPBALA]
CHAPTER LIV
OF THE BLESSED MAN SOLOMON
CHAPTER LV
OF DOROTHEOS THE PRIEST
CHAPTER LVI
OF DIOCLES
CHAPTER LVII
OF THE BLESSED MAN KAPITON
CHAPTER LVIII
OF THE MONK WHO FELL
CHAPTER LIX
OF THE BLESSED MAN EPHRAIM, THE DEACON OF THE CHURCH OF EDESSA
CHAPTER LX
OF INNOCENT THE PRIEST
CHAPTER LXI
OF THE BLESSED ELPIDIUS
CHAPTER LXII
OF THE BLESSED MAN EUSTATHIUS
CHAPTER LXIII
OF THE BLESSED MAN SISINNIUS
CHAPTER LXIV
OF THE BLESSED GADDAI (GADDANUS), THE PALESTINIAN
CHAPTER LXV
OF THE BLESSED MAN ELIJAH
CHAPTER LXVI
OF SABAS, THE LAYMAN OF JERICHO
CHAPTER LXVII
OF THE BLESSED MAN SERAPION OF THE GIRDLE
CHAPTER LXVIII
THE TRIUMPH OF THE BLESSED MAN EULOGIUS, WHO MINISTERED UNTO THE ARIAN, WHOSE BODY WAS DESTROYED FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST
HERE BEGINNETH THE SECOND BOOK OF THE [HISTORIES OF] THE FATHERS [AND] MONKS WHICH WERE ALSO COMPILED BY PALLADIUS
CHAPTER I
THE TRIUMPH OF THE BIESSED MAN MARK THE MOURNER
CHAPTER II
THE HISTORY OF MAR PAULUS (PAULE) THE PRINCE OF MONKS AND ANCHORITE
CHAPTER III
THE TRIUMPH OF A YOUNG MAN WHO WAS AN ALEXANDRIAN
CHAPTER IV
THE TRIUMPH OF A CERTAIN OLD MAN WHO WAS IN SCETE
CHAPTER V
THE TRIUMPH OF THE DISCIPLE OF ANOTHER OLD MAN WHO DWELT ALONE IN A CELL
CHAPTER VI
THE TRIUMPH OF THE DISCIPLE OF AN OLD MAN IN THE DESERT
CHAPTER VII
THE TRIUMPH OF PETER, THE DISCIPLE OF ONE OF THE OLD MEN
CHAPTER VIII
THE TRIUMPH OF A DISCIPLE OF ONE OF THE OLD MEN
CHAPTER IX
OF AURELIUS [ADOLIUS?]
CHAPTER X
OF ABBA MOSES THE INDIAN, [A CAPTAIN] OF THIEVES
CHAPTER XI
OF ABBA PIOR
CHAPTER XII
OF ABBA MOSES THE LIBYAN
CHAPTER XIII
OF A CERTAIN DISTINGUISHED WANDERING MONK
CHAPTER XIV
THE HISTORY OF THE BLESSED EVAGRIUS, THE SOLITARY AND STRENUOUS MONK
CHAPTER XV
THE HISTORY OF MALCHUS THE SOLITARY MONK
CHAPTER XVI
OF TWO OF THE FATHERS WHO WENT NAKED
CHAPTER XVIA
OF A CERTAIN OLD MAN WHO WENT NAKED
CHAPTER XVII
OF A CERTAIN NAKED OLD MAN WHO FED WITH THE BEASTS
CHAPTER XVIII
OF ANOTHER HOLY MAN
CHAPTER XIX
OF A CERTAIN SOLITARY MONK WHO USED TO FEED ON GRASS BY THE JORDAN
CHAPTER XX
OF A CERTAIN HOLY VIRGIN
CHAPTER XXI
OF THE TWO YOUNG MEN WHO WERE WITH MACARIUS
CHAPTER XXII
OF ABBA BESSARION
CHAPTER XXIII
OF THE WONDERFUL THINGS WHICH ABBA BESSARION WROUGHT
CHAPTER XXIV
THE HISTORY OF A HOLY MAN WHO [POSSESSED] NINE VIRTUES
CHAPTER XXV
OF THE BLESSED WOMAN MARIA
CHAPTER XXVI
THE HISTORY OF A CERTAIN SAGE AND OF THE WATCHING OF THE MIND
CHAPTER XXVII
OF TWO BROTHERS WHO DWELT IN A PERSIAN MONASTERY
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE HISTORY OF A CERTAIN VIRGIN WHO GREW OLD IN THE WORKS OF THE FEAR OF GOD
CHAPTER XXIX
OF STEPHANA, A MAN WHO FELL INTO FILTHY WANTONNESS
CHAPTER XXX
OF EUCARPUS
CHAPTER XXXI
OF A CERTAIN FAMOUS DEACON WHO DWELT IN A COENOBIUM IN EGYPT
CHAPTER XXXII
OF A CERTAIN EXCELLENT BISHOP WHO FELL INTO FORNICATION, AND THE PEOPLE HAVING WALKED UPON HIM HE WAS FORGIVEN
CHAPTER XXXIII
OF A CERTAIN BROTHER WHO WAS A NEIGHBOUR OF ABBA POEMEN
CHAPTER XXXIV
OF A CERTAIN BROTHER WHO DENIED [CHRIST] BECAUSE OF THE DAUGHTER OF A HEATHEN PRIEST
CHAPTER XXXV
OF A CERTAIN OID MAN IN SCETE
CHAPTER XXXVI
OF THE HARLOT WHOM SERAPION CONVERTED
CHAPTER XXXVII
OF THE HARLOT WHOM A SUBDEACON DROVE OUT OF THE CHURCH
CHAPTER XXXVIII
OF ABBA APOLLO WHO WAS IN SCETE
CHAPTER XXXIX
OF COSMAS WHO WAS IN MOUNT SINAI
CHAPTER XL
OF ABBA MACARIUS WHO WAS ACCUSED OF COMMITTING FORNICATION
CHAPTER XLI
OF A CERTAIN OLD MAN WHO IN HIS SIMPLICITY SAID THAT MELCHISEDEK WAS THE SON OF GOD
CHAPTER XLII
OF ABBA MACARIUS THE EGYPTIAN, THE DISCIPLE OF MAR ANTHONY
CHAPTER XLIII
OF ABBA MARK THE LESS, THE DISCIPLE OF ABBA SYLVANUS
CHAPTER XLIV
OF ABBA PAULE THE SIMPLE, THE DISCIPLE OF MAR ANTHONY
THE RULE OF PACHOMIUS AT TABENNA
CHAPTER I
BY THE MIGHT OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST WE BEGIN TO WRITE THE “ASKETIKON,” THAT IS TO SAY, THE HISTORY OF THE MONKS OF TABENNA, WHO WERE, FOLLOWERS OF ABBA PACHOMIUS
CHAPTER II
OF SYLVANUS THE ACTOR
CHAPTER III
OF A CERTAIN SINNER WHO DIED
CHAPTER IV
OF THE FUNERAL OF A CERTAIN HOLY MAN WHO DIED
CHAPTER V
OF THE THINGS WHICH ABBA PACHOMIUS BEARD SAID IN THE AIR BY THE DEVILS AS HE WAS JOURNEYING IN THE DESERT TO HIS MONASTERY
CHAPTER VI
OF THE THINGS WHICH ABBA PACHOMIUS DID WHEN HE ARRIVED AT HIS MONASTERY
CHAPTER VII
OF THE REVELATION WHICH ABBA PACHOMIUS RECEIVED FROM GOD CONCERNING CERTAIN HERETICS WHO HAPPENED TO VISIT HIM
CHAPTER VIII
OF THE REVELATION WHICH HE RECEIVED ABOUT THE SETTLEMENT OF THE BRETHREN
CHAPTER IX
ANOTHER REVELATION ON THIS MATTER WHICH [BROUGHT] CONSOLATION
CHAPTER X
OF THE WORDS OF DOCTRINE WHICH ABBA PACHOMIUS SPAKE TO THE BRETHREN WHEN THEY WERE GATHERED TOGETHER
CHAPTER XI
OF HOW, NOT EVEN IN THE TIME OF FAMINE, WAS ABBA PACHOMIUS INDUCED TO TAKE WHEAT FOR NOTHING FOR THE USE OF HIS MONASTERY
CHAPTER XII
OF HOW WHEN THE WORK OF THE BRETHREN WAS SOLD RABBA WAS UNWILLING EVEN THAT THEY SHOULD ACCEPT THE FULL PRICE OF THE SAME
CHAPTER XIII
OF A CERTAIN ASCETIC BROTHER WHO WAS IN THE MONASTERY, AND WHO DESIRED A CROWN OF MARTYRDOM UNSEASONABLY
CHAPTER XIV
OF THE PHANTOM WHICH THEY SAW BY NIGHT WHEN THEY WERE GOING THROUGH THE MONASTERY
CHAPTER XV
OF THE GIFT OF TONGUES WHICH PACHOMIUS RECEIVED
CHAPTER IV
OF A CERTAIN HOLY MAN WHOSE NAME WAS YAWNAN (I.E JONAB), WHO WAS THE (GARDENER OF ONE OF THE MONASTERIES, AND OF THE WONDERFUL THING WHICH RABBA PACHOMIUS WROUGHT IN HIS MONASTERY
CHAPTER XVI
OF HOW ABBA PACHOMIUS WOULD NOT KEEP BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS
CHAPTER XVII
OF HOW WHEN ON A CERTAIN OCCASION THE HERETICS CAME TO HIM HE DID NOT YIELD TO THEM, AND OF HOW HE LET THEM RECEIVE AN EXPERIENCE OF HIM BY THE SIGN WHICH THEY ASKED AT HIS HAND
CHAPTER XVIII
OF THE QUESTION WHICH A CERTAIN BROTHER BROUGHT TO HIM, AND ITS ANSWER
CHAPTER XIX
OF HOW UNCLEAN AND CONTEMPTIBLE IN THE SIGHT OF RABBA WAS THE MAN WHO TOILED WITH THE LABOUR OF HIS HANDS FOR THE SAKE OF VAINGLORY
CHAPTER XX
OF A CERTAIN MONK WHO BELONGED TO THE MONASTERY
FURTHER REMARKS BY THE WRITER PALLADIUS
THE HISTORIES OF THE MONKS WHO LIVED IN THE DESERT OF EGYPT, WHICH WERE COMPILED BY SAINT HIERONYMUS
CHAPTER I
THE APOLOGY, AND THE REASON FOR [WRITING] THE BOOK, [WHICH ARE ADDRESSED] TO THOSE WHO REQUIRED [THEM] FROM HIM
CHAPTER II
THE TRIUMPHS OF MAR JOHN THE RECLUSE, THE PROPHET OF THE THEBAID WHO LIVED IN LYCUS
CHAPTER III
THE TRIUMPHS OF THE HOLY MAN ABBA HOR
CHAPTER IV
THE TRIUMPHS OF ABBA AMMON
CHAPTER V
THE TRIUMPHS OF ABBA ABBAN [BENUS]
CHAPTER VI
THE HISTORY OF THE LIVES AND ACTS OF THE BRETHREN WHO WERE IN THE CITY OF OXYRHYNCUS
CHAPTER VII
THE TRIUMPHS OF ABBA THEON
CHAPTER VIII
THE TRIUMPHS OF ABBA ELIJAH
CHAPTER IX
THE TRIUMPH OF THE BLESSED APOLLO [AND AMMON]
CHAPTER X
THE TRIUMPHS OF ABBA APELLEN
CHAPTER XI
THE TRIUMPHS OF ANOTHER APOLLO, AND OF JOHN, THE DWELLER IN THE DESERT
CHAPTER XII
THE TRIUMPHS OF ABBA PAPHNUTIUS, THE SPIRITUAL MERCHANT
CHAPTER XIII
THE TRIUMPHS OF THE BLESSED EULOGIUS
CHAPTER XIV
THE TRIUMPH OF ISIDORE
CHAPTER XV
THE TRIUMPH OF DIOSCURUS
CHAPTER XVI
THE TRIUMPHS OF ABBA COPRES AND OF THE BLESSED PETARPEMOTIS
CHAPTER XVII
THE TRIUMPHS OF ABBA HOR, AND ISAIAH, AND PAUL, AND NOPI, THE CONFESSORS
CHAPTER XVIII
THE TRIUMPH OF EVAGRIUS
CHAPTER XIX
THE TRIUMPH OF ABBA PITHYRION
CHAPTER XX
THE TRIUMPHS OF THE BLESSED FATHERS
CHAPTER XXI
THE TRIUMPHS OF THE MONKS WHO WERE IN NITRIA
CHAPTER XXII
THE TRIUMPH OF AMMON THE FIRST
CHAPTER XXIII
THE TRIUMPH OF ANOTHER AMMON WHO WAS IN NITRIA
CHAPTER XXIV
THE TRIUMPH OF DIDYMUS
CHAPTER XXV
THE TRIUMPH OF CHRONIUS
CHAPTER XXVI
THE TRIUMPH OF THREE BRETHREN
CHAPTER XXVII
THE TRIUMPH OF PHILEMON
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE TRIUMPH OF JOHN
CHAPTER XXIX
THE TRIUMPH OF SERAPION
CHAPTER XXX
THE TRIUMPHS OF APOLLO THE LESS, THE READER AND MARTYR
THE PARADISE OF THE HOLY FATHERS: VOLUME 2
BOOK THE FIRST
CHAPTER I
OF FLIGHT FROM MEN, AND OF SILENT CONTEMPLATION, AND OF DWELLING CONTINUALLY IN THE CELL, [A WORK] WHICH WAS COMPOSED BY BISHOP PALLADIUS FOR THE PREFECT LAUSUS
CHAPTER II
OF FASTING AND ABSTINENCE AND OF OTHER [SIMILAR] LABOURS
CHAPTER III
OF THE READING OF THE SCRIPTURES, AND OF WATCHING BY NIGHT, AND OF THE SERVICE OF THE PSALMS, AND OF CONSTANT PRAYERS
CHAPTER IV
OF HOW IT IS MEET FOR US TO WEEP FOR OUR SINS AND TO MOURN FOR THEM ALWAYS
CHAPTER V
OF VOLUNTARY POVERTY
CHAPTER VI
OF PATTENT ENDURANCE
CHAPTER VII
OF OBEDIENCE TOWARDS GOD, AND TOWARDS OUR FATHERS AND BRETHREN
CHAPTER VIII
OF SCRUPULOUS WATCHFULNESS IN OUR THOUGHTS AND WORDS ANB DEEDS
CHAPTER IX
OF LOVE, AND CHARITY, AND OF THE WELCOMING OF STRANGERS
CHAPTER X
OF HUMILITY AND OF BOW A MAN SHOULD THINK LIGHTLY OF HIMSELF, AND SHOULD ESTEEM HIMSELF THE INTERIOR OF EVERY MAN
CHAPTER XI
OF FORNICATION
CHAPTER XII
OF THE ACCEPTANCE OF REPENTANCE, AND OF HOW IT IS RIGHT FOR US TO REPENT IN TRUTH
CHAPTER XIII
OF [THE FATHERS WHO] WROUGHT WONDERFUL WORKS
CHAPTER XIV
OF THE GREATNESS OF THE SUBLIME RULE OF THE SOLITARY LIFE
BOOK THE SECOND
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON THE RULE OF LIFE OF THE HOLY MEN WHICH THEY TAUGHT BEFORE THE MULTITUDE AND IN THEIR CELLS ON EVERY KIND OF SPIRITUAL EXCELLENCE
QUESTIONS BY THE PUPILS AND THE ANSWERS [TO THE SAME] BY THE HOLY FATHERS AND MONKS
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON THE VISION OF THE MIND
APPENDIX
|
|
|
| 62% Of Swiss Citizens Vote To Keep Covid Vaccine Passports |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-29-2021, 06:17 AM - Forum: COVID Passports
- No Replies
|
|
62% Of Swiss Citizens Vote To Keep Covid Vaccine Passports
ZH | NOV 29, 2021
In a world where millions protest daily against the creeping tyranny of a big government which is abusing the neverending covid tragicomedy to get so much bigger it would make even George Orwell cringe, one country actually had a opportunity to put an end to "vaccine passports" and totally blew it: despite months of protests, Swiss citizens overwhelmingly voted to keep the country’s system of Covid vaccination certificates in place (not surprisingly, the deal was sweetened by the promise of financial assistance for voters).
According to RT, Sunday just over some 62% of voters chose to maintain the country’s coronavirus measures which include a controversial system of Covid vaccination certificates, required since September to enter bars, restaurants, theaters and other public spaces. Majorities in 24 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons backed the law, with only the tiny cantons of Schwyz and Appenzell Innerrhoden rejecting the measures.
And since covid has emerged as every politician's best friend, all Swiss political parties with the exception of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party supported the law, which was brought to a vote after anti-lockdown groups gathered nearly 200,000 signatures to challenge it earlier this year. Under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy, any initiative can be brought to a vote with 100,000 signatures.
Curiously, while voters in June backed the introduction of the measures by 60%, recent months have seen protests break out in Swiss cities over the introduction of vaccine certificates. Police in October used rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds of people who broke through barriers outside the parliament building in Bern. And yet, almost six months later, the support for the controversial measures appears to be even higher than when they were first introduced - one almost wonder if the entire referendum was by mail...
Alas, we will never know the answer.
“The democratic process has been respected but the law is still unconstitutional,” Michelle Cailler of the ‘Friends of the Constitution’ group said after the vote on Sunday. Cailler’s group was one of several who campaigned against the law.
Céline Amaudruz of the Swiss People’s Party, which is currently topping opinion polls in Switzerland, called on the government to take “coherent and measured” action, rather than treating the result as a “blank cheque” to impose whatever coronavirus-related policies it wishes.
The law voted on provides for more than just vaccine passports. It also expands financial support for citizens and businesses affected by the pandemic, a provision that may have won over some reluctant voters.
|
|
|
|
| Reminder to Fr. McFarland |
|
Posted by: Ruthy - 11-28-2021, 01:26 PM - Forum: The New-Conciliar SSPX
- No Replies
|
 |
Could someone please remind Fr. McFarland about the SSPX 2012 Declaration. It is as if he missed that memo. He accuses the FSSP of the very same thing of what the new SSPX has done. He is spot on, on describing the principles of the FSSP. But fails to recognize that is what the SSPX has become.
https://youtu.be/u-OvhNwZE3w
|
|
|
|
| St. Augustine: On the Sermon on the Mount |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-28-2021, 08:53 AM - Forum: Fathers of the Church
- Replies (1)
|
|
St. Augustine: On the Sermon on the Mount
Book I
Taken from here.
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3...%3DApi&f=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.46hp9qp5y7yeoF1aupVXJgHaK6%26pid%3DApi&f=1)
Concerning the first part of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5)
Chapter 1
1. If any one will piously and soberly consider the sermon which our Lord Jesus Christ spoke on the mount, as we read it in the Gospel according to Matthew, I think that he will find in it, so far as regards the highest morals, a perfect standard of the Christian life: and this we do not rashly venture to promise, but gather it from the very words of the Lord Himself. For the sermon itself is brought to a close in such a way, that it is clear there are in it all the precepts which go to mould the life. For thus He speaks: Therefore, whosoever hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that hears these words of mine, and does them not, I will liken unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. Since, therefore, He has not simply said, Whosoever hears my words, but has made an addition, saying, Whosoever hears these words of mine, He has sufficiently indicated, as I think, that these sayings which He uttered on the mount so perfectly guide the life of those who may be willing to live according to them, that they may justly be compared to one building upon a rock. I have said this merely that it may be clear that the sermon before us is perfect in all the precepts by which the Christian life is moulded; for as regards this particular section a more careful treatment will be given in its own place.
2. The beginning, then, of this sermon is introduced as follows: And when He saw the great multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him: and He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying. If it is asked what the mountain means, it may well be understood as meaning the greater precepts of righteousness; for there were lesser ones which were given to the Jews. Yet it is one God who, through His holy prophets and servants, according to a thoroughly arranged distribution of times, gave the lesser precepts to a people who as yet required to be bound by fear; and who, through His Son, gave the greater ones to a people whom it had now become suitable to set free by love. Moreover, when the lesser are given to the lesser, and the greater to the greater, they are given by Him who alone knows how to present to the human race the medicine suited to the occasion. Nor is it surprising that the greater precepts are given for the kingdom of heaven, and the lesser for an earthly kingdom, by that one and the same God, who made heaven and earth. With respect, therefore, to that righteousness which is the greater, it is said through the prophet, Your righteousness is like the mountains of God: and this may well mean that the one Master alone fit to teach matters of so great importance teaches on a mountain. Then He teaches sitting, as behooves the dignity of the instructor's office; and His disciples come to Him, in order that they might be nearer in body for hearing His words, as they also approached in spirit to fulfil His precepts. And He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying. The circumlocution before us, which runs, And He opened His mouth, perhaps gracefully intimates by the mere pause that the sermon will be somewhat longer than usual, unless, perchance, it should not be without meaning, that now He is said to have opened His own mouth, whereas under the old law He was accustomed to open the mouths of the prophets.
3. What, then, does He say? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We read in Scripture concerning the striving after temporal things, All is vanity and presumption of spirit; but presumption of spirit means audacity and pride: usually also the proud are said to have great spirits; and rightly, inasmuch as the wind also is called spirit. And hence it is written, Fire, hail, snow, ice, spirit of tempest. But, indeed, who does not know that the proud are spoken of as puffed up, as if swelled out with wind? And hence also that expression of the apostle, Knowledge puffs up, but charity edifies. And the poor in spirit are rightly understood here, as meaning the humble and God-fearing, i.e. those who have not the spirit which puffs up. Nor ought blessedness to begin at any other point whatever, if indeed it is to attain unto the highest wisdom; but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; for, on the other hand also, pride is entitled the beginning of all sin. Let the proud, therefore, seek after and love the kingdoms of the earth; but blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Chapter 2
4. Blessed are the meek, for they shall by inheritance possess the earth: that earth, I suppose, of which it is said in the Psalm, You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. For it signifies a certain firmness and stability of the perpetual inheritance, where the soul, by means of a good disposition, rests, as it were, in its own place, just as the body rests on the earth, and is nourished from it with its own food, as the body from the earth. This is the very rest and life of the saints. Then, the meek are those who yield to acts of wickedness, and do not resist evil, but overcome evil with good. Let those, then, who are not meek quarrel and fight for earthly and temporal things; but blessed are the meek, for they shall by inheritance possess the earth, from which they cannot be driven out.
5. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Mourning is sorrow arising from the loss of things held dear; but those who are converted to God lose those things which they were accustomed to embrace as dear in this world: for they do not rejoice in those things in which they formerly rejoiced; and until the love of eternal things be in them, they are wounded by some measure of grief. Therefore they will be comforted by the Holy Spirit, who on this account chiefly is called the Paraclete, i.e. the Comforter, in order that, while losing the temporal joy, they may enjoy to the full that which is eternal.
6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Now He calls those parties, lovers of a true and indestructible good. They will therefore be filled with that food of which the Lord Himself says, My meat is to do the will of my Father, which is righteousness; and with that water, of which whosoever drinks, as he also says, it shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.
7. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. He says that they are blessed who relieve the miserable, for it is paid back to them in such a way that they are freed from misery.
8. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. How foolish, therefore, are those who seek God with these outward eyes, since He is seen with the heart! As it is written elsewhere, And in singleness of heart seek Him. For that is a pure heart which is a single heart: and just as this light cannot be seen, except with pure eyes; so neither is God seen, unless that is pure by which He can be seen.
9. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. It is the perfection of peace, where nothing offers opposition; and the children of God are peacemakers, because nothing resists God, and surely children ought to have the likeness of their father. Now, they are peacemakers in themselves who, by bringing in order all the motions of their soul, and subjecting them to reason — i.e. to the mind and spirit — and by having their carnal lusts thoroughly subdued, become a kingdom of God: in which all things are so arranged, that that which is chief and pre-eminent in man rules without resistance over the other elements, which are common to us with the beasts; and that very element which is pre-eminent in man, i.e. mind and reason, is brought under subjection to something better still, which is the truth itself, the only-begotten Son of God. For a man is not able to rule over things which are inferior, unless he subjects himself to what is superior. And this is the peace which is given on earth to men of goodwill; this the life of the fully developed and perfect wise man. From a kingdom of this sort brought to a condition of thorough peace and order, the prince of this world is cast out, who rules where there is perversity and disorder. When this peace has been inwardly established and confirmed, whatever persecutions he who has been cast out shall stir up from without, he only increases the glory which is according to God; being unable to shake anything in that edifice, but by the failure of his machinations making it to be known with how great strength it has been built from within outwardly. Hence there follows: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Chapter 3
10. There are in all, then, these eight sentences. For now in what remains He speaks in the way of direct address to those who were present, saying: Blessed shall you be when men shall revile you and persecute you. But the former sentences He addressed in a general way: for He did not say, Blessed are you poor in spirit, for yours is the kingdom of heaven; but He says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven: nor, Blessed are you meek, for you shall inherit the earth; but, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. And so the others up to the eighth sentence, where He says: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. After that He now begins to speak in the way of direct address to those present, although what has been said before referred also to His present audience; and that which follows, and which seems to be spoken specially to those present, refers also to those who were absent, or who would afterwards come into existence.
For this reason the number of sentences before us is to be carefully considered. For the beatitudes begin with humility: Blessed are the poor in spirit, i.e. those not puffed up, while the soul submits itself to divine authority, fearing lest after this life it go away to punishment, although perhaps in this life it might seem to itself to be happy. Then it (the soul) comes to the knowledge of the divine Scriptures, where it must show itself meek in its piety, lest it should venture to condemn that which seems absurd to the unlearned, and should itself be rendered unteachable by obstinate disputations. After that, it now begins to know in what entanglements of this world it is held by reason of carnal custom and sins: and so in this third stage, in which there is knowledge, the loss of the highest good is mourned over, because it sticks fast in what is lowest. Then, in the fourth stage there is labour, where vehement exertion is put forth, in order that the mind may wrench itself away from those things in which, by reason of their pestilential sweetness, it is entangled: here therefore righteousness is hungered and thirsted after, and fortitude is very necessary; because what is retained with delight is not abandoned without pain. Then, at the fifth stage, to those persevering in labour, counsel for getting rid of it is given; for unless each one is assisted by a superior, in no way is he fit in his own case to extricate himself from so great entanglements of miseries. But it is a just counsel, that he who wishes to be assisted by a stronger should assist him who is weaker in that in which he himself is stronger: therefore blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. At the sixth stage there is purity of heart, able from a good conscience of good works to contemplate that highest good, which can be discerned by the pure and tranquil intellect alone. Lastly is the seventh, wisdom itself — i.e. the contemplation of the truth, tranquillizing the whole man, and assuming the likeness of God, which is thus summed up: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. The eighth, as it were, returns to the starting-point, because it shows and commends what is complete and perfect: therefore in the first and in the eighth the kingdom of heaven is named, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; and, Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven: as it is now said, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Seven in number, therefore, are the things which bring perfection: for the eighth brings into light and shows what is perfect, so that starting, as it were, from the beginning again, the others also are perfected by means of these stages.
Chapter 4
11. Hence also the sevenfold operation of the Holy Ghost, of which Isaiah speaks, seems to me to correspond to these stages and sentences. But there is a difference of order: for there the enumeration begins with the more excellent, but here with the inferior. For there it begins with wisdom, and closes with the fear of God: but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And therefore, if we reckon as it were in a gradually ascending series, there the fear of God is first, piety second, knowledge third, fortitude fourth, counsel fifth, understanding sixth, wisdom seventh. The fear of God corresponds to the humble, of whom it is here said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, i.e. those not puffed up, not proud: to whom the apostle says, Be not high-minded, but fear; i.e. be not lifted up. Piety corresponds to the meek: for he who inquires piously honours Holy Scripture, and does not censure what he does not yet understand, and on this account does not offer resistance; and this is to be meek: whence it is here said, Blessed are the meek. Knowledge corresponds to those that mourn who already have found out in the Scriptures by what evils they are held chained which they ignorantly have coveted as though they were good and useful. Fortitude corresponds to those hungering and thirsting: for they labour in earnestly desiring joy from things that are truly good, and in eagerly seeking to turn away their love from earthly and corporeal things: and of them it is here said, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Counsel corresponds to the merciful: for this is the one remedy for escaping from so great evils, that we forgive, as we wish to be ourselves forgiven; and that we assist others so far as we are able, as we ourselves desire to be assisted where we are not able: and of them it is here said, Blessed are the merciful. Understanding corresponds to the pure in heart, the eye being as it were purged, by which that may be beheld which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, and what has not entered into the heart of man: and of them it is here said, Blessed are the pure in heart. Wisdom corresponds to the peacemakers, in whom all things are now brought into order, and no passion is in a state of rebellion against reason, but all things together obey the spirit of man, while he himself also obeys God: and of them it is here said, Blessed are the peacemakers.
12. Moreover, the one reward, which is the kingdom of heaven, is variously named according to these stages. In the first, just as ought to be the case, is placed the kingdom of heaven, which is the perfect and highest wisdom of the rational soul. Thus, therefore, it is said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven: as if it were said, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. To the meek an inheritance is given, as it were the testament of a father to those dutifully seeking it: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. To the mourners comfort, as to those who know what they have lost, and in what evils they are sunk: Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. To those hungering and thirsting, a full supply, as it were a refreshment to those labouring and bravely contending for salvation: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. To the merciful mercy, as to those following a true and excellent counsel, so that this same treatment is extended toward them by one who is stronger, which they extend toward the weaker: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. To the pure in heart is given the power of seeing God, as to those bearing about with them a pure eye for discerning eternal things: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. To the peacemakers the likeness of God is given, as being perfectly wise, and formed after the image of God by means of the regeneration of the renewed man: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. And those promises can indeed be fulfilled in this life, as we believe them to have been fulfilled in the case of the apostles. For that all-embracing change into the angelic form, which is promised after this life, cannot be explained in any words. Blessed, therefore, are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This eighth sentence, which goes back to the starting-point, and makes manifest the perfect man, is perhaps set forth in its meaning both by the circumcision on the eighth day in the Old Testament, and by the resurrection of the Lord after the Sabbath, the day which is certainly the eighth, and at the same time the first day; and by the celebration of the eight festival days which we celebrate in the case of the regeneration of the new man; and by the very number of Pentecost. For to the number seven, seven times multiplied, by which we make forty-nine, as it were an eighth is added, so that fifty may be made up, and we, as it were, return to the starting-point: on which day the Holy Spirit was sent, by whom we are led into the kingdom of heaven, and receive the inheritance, and are comforted; and are fed, and obtain mercy, and are purified, and are made peacemakers; and being thus perfect, we bear all troubles brought upon us from without for the sake of truth and righteousness.
Chapter 5
13. Blessed are you, says He, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven. Let any one who is seeking after the delights of this world and the riches of temporal things under the Christian name, consider that our blessedness is within; as it is said of the soul of the Church by the mouth of the prophet, All the beauty of the king's daughter is within; for outwardly revilings, and persecutions, and disparagements are promised; and yet, from these things there is a great reward in heaven, which is felt in the heart of those who endure, those who can now say, We glory in tribulations: knowing that tribulation works patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For it is not simply the enduring of such things that is advantageous, but the bearing of such things for the name of Christ not only with tranquil mind, but even with exultation. For many heretics, deceiving souls under the Christian name, endure many such things; but they are excluded from that reward on this account, that it is not said merely, Blessed are they which endure persecution; but it is added, for righteousness' sake. Now, where there is no sound faith, there can be no righteousness, for the just [righteous] man lives by faith. Neither let schismatics promise themselves anything of that reward; for similarly, where there is no love, there cannot be righteousness, for love works no ill to his neighbour; and if they had it, they would not tear in pieces Christ's body, which is the Church.
14. But it may be asked, What is the difference when He says, when men shall revile you, and when they shall say all manner of evil against you, since to revile is just this, to say evil against? But it is one thing when the reviling word is hurled with contumely in presence of him who is reviled, as it was said to our Lord, Say we not the truth that you are a Samaritan, and hast a devil? and another thing, when our reputation is injured in our absence, as it is also written of Him, Some said, He is a prophet; others said, Nay, but He deceives the people. Then, further, to persecute is to inflict violence, or to assail with snares, as was done by him who betrayed Him, and by them who crucified Him. Certainly, as for the fact that this also is not put in a bare form, so that it should be said, and shall say all manner of evil against you, but there is added the word falsely, and also the expression for my sake; I think that the addition is made for the sake of those who wish to glory in persecutions, and in the baseness of their reputation; and to say that Christ belongs to them for this reason, that many bad things are said about them; while, on the one hand, the things said are true, when they are said respecting their error; and, on the other hand, if sometimes also some false charges are thrown out, which frequently happens from the rashness of men, yet they do not suffer such things for Christ's sake. For he is not a follower of Christ who is not called a Christian according to the true faith and the catholic discipline.
15. Rejoice, says He, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven. I do not think that it is the higher parts of this visible world that are here called heaven. For our reward, which ought to be immoveable and eternal, is not to be placed in things fleeting and temporal. But I think the expression in heaven means in the spiritual firmament, where dwells everlasting righteousness: in comparison with which a wicked soul is called earth, to which it is said when it sins, Earth you are, and unto earth you shall return. Of this heaven the apostle says, For our conversation is in heaven. Hence they who rejoice in spiritual good are conscious of that reward now; but then it will be perfected in every part, when this mortal also shall have put on immortality. For, says He, so persecuted they the prophets also which were before you. In the present case He has used persecution in a general sense, as applying alike to abusive words and to the tearing in pieces of one's reputation; and has well encouraged them by an example, because they who speak true things are wont to suffer persecution: nevertheless did not the ancient prophets on this account, through fear of persecution, give over the preaching of the truth.
Chapter 6
16. Hence there follows most justly the statement, You are the salt of the earth; showing that those parties are to be judged insipid, who, either in the eager pursuit after abundance of earthly blessings, or through the dread of want, lose the eternal things which can neither be given nor taken away by men. But if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? i.e., If you, by means of whom the nations in a measure are to be preserved [from corruption], through the dread of temporal persecutions shall lose the kingdom of heaven, where will be the men through whom error may be removed from you, since God has chosen you, in order that through you He might remove the error of others? Hence the savourless salt is good for nothing, but to be cast out, and trodden under foot of men. It is not therefore he who suffers persecution, but he who is rendered savourless by the fear of persecution, that is trodden under foot of men. For it is only one who is undermost that can be trodden under foot; but he is not undermost, who, however many things he may suffer in his body on the earth, yet has his heart fixed in heaven.
17. You are the light of the world. In the same way as He said above, the salt of the earth, so now He says, the light of the world. For in the former case that earth is not to be understood which we tread with our bodily feet, but the men who dwell upon the earth, or even the sinners, for the preserving of whom and for the extinguishing of whose corruptions the Lord sent the apostolic salt. And here, by the world must be understood not the heavens and the earth, but the men who are in the world or love the world, for the enlightening of whom the apostles were sent. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid, i.e. [a city] founded upon great and distinguished righteousness, which is also the meaning of the mountain itself on which our Lord is discoursing. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel measure. What view are we to take? That the expression under a bushel measure is so used that only the concealment of the candle is to be understood, as if He were saying, No one lights a candle and conceals it? Or does the bushel measure also mean something, so that to place a candle under a bushel is this, to place the comforts of the body higher than the preaching of the truth; so that one does not preach the truth so long as he is afraid of suffering any annoyance in corporeal and temporal things? And it is well said a bushel measure, whether on account of the recompense of measure, for each one receives the things done in his body —that every one, says the apostle, may there receive the things done in his body; and it is said in another place, as if of this bushel measure of the body, For with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you again: — or because temporal good things, which are carried to completion in the body, are both begun and come to an end in a certain definite number of days, which is perhaps meant by the bushel measure; while eternal and spiritual things are confined within no such limit, for God gives not the Spirit by measure. Every one, therefore, who obscures and covers up the light of good doctrine by means of temporal comforts, places his candle under a bushel measure. But on a candlestick. Now it is placed on a candlestick by him who subordinates his body to the service of God, so that the preaching of the truth is the higher, and the serving of the body the lower; yet by means even of the service of the body the doctrine shines more conspicuously, inasmuch as it is insinuated into those who learn by means of bodily functions, i.e. by means of the voice and tongue, and the other movements of the body in good works. The apostle therefore puts his candle on a candlestick, when he says, So fight I, not as one that beats the air; but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I preach to others, I myself should be found a castaway. When He says, however, that it may give light to all who are in the house, I am of opinion that it is the abode of men which is called a house, i.e. the world itself, on account of what He says before, You are the light of the world; or if any one chooses to understand the house as being the Church, this, too, is not out of place.
Chapter 7
18. Let your light, says He, so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. If He had merely said, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, He would seem to have fixed an end in the praises of men, which hypocrites seek, and those who canvass for honours and covet glory of the emptiest kind. Against such parties it is said, If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ; and, by the prophet, They who please men are put to shame, because God has despised them; and again, God has broken the bones of those who please men; and again the apostle, Let us not be desirous of vainglory; and still another time, But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. Hence our Lord has not said merely, that they may see your good works, but has added, and glorify your Father who is in heaven: so that the mere fact that a man by means of good works pleases men, does not there set it up as an end that he should please men; but let him subordinate this to the praise of God, and for this reason please men, that God may be glorified in him. For this is expedient for them who offer praise, that they should honour, not man, but God; as our Lord showed in the case of the man who was carried, where, on the paralytic being healed, the multitude, marvelling at His powers, as it is written in the Gospel, feared and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. And His imitator, the Apostle Paul, says, But they had heard only, that he which persecuted us in times past now preaches the faith which once he destroyed; and they glorified God in me.
19. And therefore, after He has exhorted His hearers that they should prepare themselves to bear all things for truth and righteousness, and that they should not hide the good which they were about to receive, but should learn with such benevolence as to teach others, aiming in their good works not at their own praise, but at the glory of God, He begins now to inform and to teach them what they are to teach; as if they were asking Him, saying: Lo, we are willing both to bear all things for Your name, and not to hide Your doctrine; but what precisely is this which Thou forbiddest us to hide, and for which You command us to bear all things? Are You about to mention other things contrary to those which are written in the law? No, says He; for think not that I have come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Chapter 8
20. In this sentence the meaning is twofold. We must deal with it in both ways. For He who says, I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil, means it either in the way of adding what is wanting, or of doing what is in it. Let us then consider that first which I have put first: for he who adds what is wanting does not surely destroy what he finds, but rather confirms it by perfecting it; and accordingly He follows up with the statement, Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one iota or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. For, if even those things which are added for completion are fulfilled, much more are those things fulfilled which are sent in advance as a commencement. Then, as to what He says, One iota or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, nothing else can be understood but a strong expression of perfection, since it is pointed out by means of single letters, among which letters iota is smaller than the others, for it is made by a single stroke; while a tittle is but a particle of some sort at the top of even that. And by these words He shows that in the law all the smallest particulars even are to be carried into effect. After that He subjoins: Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. Hence it is the least commandments that are meant by one iota and one tittle. And therefore, whosoever shall break and shall teach [men] so,— i.e. in accordance with what he breaks, not in accordance with what he finds and reads —shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; and therefore, perhaps, he will not be in the kingdom of heaven at all, where only the great can be. But whosoever shall do and teach [men] so, — i.e. who shall not break, and shall teach men so, in accordance with what he does not break —shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. But in regard to him who shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven, it follows that he is also in the kingdom of heaven, into which the great are admitted: for to this what follows refers.
Chapter 9
21. For I say unto you, that unless your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven; i.e., unless you shall fulfil not only those least precepts of the law which begin the man, but also those which are added by me, who am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. But you say to me: If, when He was speaking above of those least commandments, He said that whosoever shall break one of them, and shall teach in accordance with his transgression, is called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but that whosoever shall do them, and shall teach [men] so, is called great, and hence will be already in the kingdom of heaven, because he is great: what need is there for additions to the least precepts of the law, if he can be already in the kingdom of heaven, because whosoever shall do them, and shall so teach, is great? For this reason that sentence is to be understood thus: But whosoever shall do and teach men so, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven,— i.e. not in accordance with those least commandments, but in accordance with those which I am about to mention. Now what are they? That your righteousness, says He, may exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees; for unless it shall exceed theirs, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall break those least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the least; but whosoever shall do those least commandments, and shall teach men so, is not necessarily to be reckoned great and meet for the kingdom of heaven; but yet he is not so much the least as the man who breaks them. But in order that he may be great and fit for that kingdom, he ought to do and teach as Christ now teaches, i.e. in order that his righteousness may exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. The righteousness of the Pharisees is, that they shall not kill; the righteousness of those who are destined to enter into the kingdom of God, that they be not angry without a cause. The least commandment, therefore, is not to kill; and whosoever shall break that, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall fulfil that commandment not to kill, will not, as a necessary consequence, be great and meet for the kingdom of heaven, but yet he ascends a certain step. He will be perfected, however, if he be not angry without a cause; and if he shall do this, he will be much further removed from murder. For this reason he who teaches that we should not be angry, does not break the law not to kill, but rather fulfils it; so that we preserve our innocence both outwardly when we do not kill, and in heart when we are not angry.
22. You have heard therefore, says He, that it was said to them of old time, You shall not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of the gehenna of fire. What is the difference between being in danger of the judgment, and being in danger of the council, and being in danger of the gehenna of fire? For this last sounds most weighty, and reminds us that certain stages were passed over from lighter to more weighty, until the gehenna of fire was reached. And, therefore, if it is a lighter thing to be in danger of the judgment than to be in danger of the council, and if it is also a lighter thing to be in danger of the council than to be in danger of the gehenna of fire, we must understand it to be a lighter thing to be angry with a brother without a cause than to say Raca; and again, to be a lighter thing to say Raca than to say Thou fool. For the danger would not have gradations, unless the sins also were mentioned in gradation.
23. But here one obscure word has found a place, for Raca is neither Latin nor Greek. The others, however, are current in our language. Now, some have wished to derive the interpretation of this expression from the Greek, supposing that a ragged person is called Raca, because a rag is called in Greek ῥάκος; yet, when one asks them what a ragged person is called in Greek, they do not answer Raca; and further, the Latin translator might have put the word ragged where he has placed Raca, and not have used a word which, on the one hand, has no existence in the Latin language, and, on the other, is rare in the Greek. Hence the view is more probable which I heard from a certain Hebrew whom I had asked about it; for he said that the word does not mean anything, but merely expresses the emotion of an angry mind. Grammarians call those particles of speech which express an affection of an agitated mind interjections; as when it is said by one who is grieved, Alas, or by one who is angry, Hah. And these words in all languages are proper names, and are not easily translated into another language; and this cause certainly compelled alike the Greek and the Latin translators to put the word itself, inasmuch as they could find no way of translating it.
24. There is therefore a gradation in the sins referred to, so that first one is angry, and keeps that feeling as a conception in his heart; but if now that emotion shall draw forth an expression of anger not having any definite meaning, but giving evidence of that feeling of the mind by the very fact of the outbreak wherewith he is assailed with whom one is angry, this is certainly more than if the rising anger were restrained by silence; but if there is heard not merely an expression of anger, but also a word by which the party using it now indicates and signifies a distinct censure of him against whom it is directed, who doubts but that this is something more than if merely an exclamation of anger were uttered? Hence in the first there is one thing, i.e. anger alone; in the second two things, both anger and a word that expresses anger; in the third three things, anger and a word that expresses anger, and in that word the utterance of distinct censure. Look now also at the three degrees of liability — the judgment, the council, the gehenna of fire. For in the judgment an opportunity is still given for defense; in the council, however, although there is also wont to be a judgment, yet because the very distinction compels us to acknowledge that there is a certain difference in this place, the production of the sentence seems to belong to the council, inasmuch as it is not now the case of the accused himself that is in question, whether he is to be condemned or not, but they who judge confer with one another to what punishment they ought to condemn him, who, it is clear, is to be condemned; but the gehenna of fire does not treat as a doubtful matter either the condemnation, like the judgment, or the punishment of him who is condemned, like the council; for in the gehenna of fire both the condemnation and the punishment of him who is condemned are certain. Thus there are seen certain degrees in the sins and in the liability to punishment; but who can tell in what ways they are invisibly shown in the punishments of souls? We are therefore to learn how great the difference is between the righteousness of the Pharisees and that greater righteousness which introduces into the kingdom of heaven, because while it is a more serious crime to kill than to inflict reproach by means of a word, in the one case killing exposes one to the judgment, but in the other anger exposes one to the judgment, which is the least of those three sins; for in the former case they were discussing the question of murder among men, but in the latter all things are disposed of by means of a divine judgment, where the end of the condemned is the gehenna of fire. But whoever shall say that murder is punished by a more severe penalty under the greater righteousness if a reproach is punished by the gehenna of fire, compels us to understand that there are differences of gehennas.
25. Indeed, in the three statements before us, we must observe that some words are understood. For the first statement has all the words that are necessary. Whosoever, says He, is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment. But in the second, when He says, and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, there is understood the expression without cause, and thus there is subjoined, shall be in danger of the council. In the third, now, where He says, but whosoever shall say, You fool, two things are understood, both to his brother and without cause. And in this way we defend the apostle when he calls the Galatians fools, to whom he also gives the name of brethren; for he does not do it without cause. And here the word brother is to be understood for this reason, that the case of an enemy is spoken of afterwards, and how he also is to be treated under the greater righteousness.
Chapter 10
26. Next there follows here: Therefore, if you have brought your gift to the altar, and there rememberest that your brother has anything against you; leave there your gift before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. From this surely it is clear that what is said above is said of a brother: inasmuch as the sentence which follows is connected by such a conjunction that it confirms the preceding one; for He does not say, But if you bring your gift to the altar; but He says, Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar. For if it is not lawful to be angry with one's brother without a cause, or to say Raca, or to say You fool, much less is it lawful so to retain anything in one's mind, as that indignation may be turned into hatred. And to this belongs also what is said in another passage: Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. We are therefore commanded, when about to bring our gift to the altar, if we remember that our brother has ought against us, to leave the gift before the altar, and to go and be reconciled to our brother, and then to come and offer the gift. But if this is to be understood literally, one might perhaps suppose that such a thing ought to be done if the brother is present; for it cannot be delayed too long, since you are commanded to leave your gift before the altar. If, therefore, such a thing should come into your mind respecting one who is absent, and, as may happen, even settled down beyond the sea, it is absurd to suppose that your gift is to be left before the altar until you may offer it to God after having traversed both lands and seas. And therefore we are compelled to have recourse to an altogether internal and spiritual interpretation, in order that what has been said may be understood without absurdity.
27. And so we may interpret the altar spiritually, as being faith itself in the inner temple of God, whose emblem is the visible altar. For whatever offering we present to God, whether prophecy, or teaching, or prayer, or a psalm, or a hymn, and whatever other such like spiritual gift occurs to the mind, it cannot be acceptable to God, unless it be sustained by sincerity of faith, and, as it were, placed on that fixedly and immoveably, so that what we utter may remain whole and uninjured. For many heretics, not having the altar, i.e. true faith, have spoken blasphemies for praise; being weighed down, to wit, with earthly opinions, and thus, as it were, throwing down their offering on the ground. But there ought also to be purity of intention on the part of the offerer. And therefore, when we are about to present any such offering in our heart, i.e. in the inner temple of God (For, as it is said, the temple of God is holy, which temple you are; and, That Christ may dwell in the inner man by faith in your hearts) if it occur to our mind that a brother has ought against us, i.e. if we have injured him in anything (for then he has something against us whereas we have something against him if he has injured us, and in that case it is not necessary to proceed to reconciliation: for you will not ask pardon of one who has done you an injury, but merely forgive him, as you desire to be forgiven by the Lord what you have committed against Him), we are therefore to proceed to reconciliation, when it has occurred to our mind that we have perhaps injured our brother in something; but this is to be done not with the bodily feet, but with the emotions of the mind, so that you are to prostrate yourself with humble disposition before your brother, to whom you have hastened in affectionate thought, in the presence of Him to whom you are about to present your offering. For thus, even if he should be present, you will be able to soften him by a mind free from dissimulation, and to recall him to goodwill by asking pardon, if first you have done this before God, going to him not with the slow movement of the body, but with the very swift impulse of love; and then coming, i.e. recalling your attention to that which you were beginning to do, you will offer your gift.
28. But who acts in a way that he is neither angry with his brother without a cause, nor says Raca without a cause, nor calls him a fool without a cause, all of which are most proudly committed; or so, that, if perchance he has fallen into any of these, he asks pardon with suppliant mind, which is the only remedy; who but just the man that is not puffed up with the spirit of empty boasting? Blessed therefore are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Let us look now at what follows.
Chapter 11
29. Be kindly disposed, says he, toward your adversary quickly, whiles you are in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison. Verily I say unto you, you shall by no means come out thence, till you have paid the uttermost farthing. I understand who the judge is: For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son. I understand who the officer is: And angels, it is said, ministered unto Him: and we believe that He will come with His angels to judge the quick and the dead. I understand what is meant by the prison: evidently the punishments of darkness, which He calls in another passage the outer darkness: for this reason, I believe, that the joy of the divine rewards is something internal in the mind itself, or even if anything more hidden can be thought of, that joy of which it is said to the servant who deserved well, Enter into the joy of your Lord; just as also, under this republican government, one who is thrust into prison is sent out from the council chamber, or from the palace of the judge.
30. But now, with respect to paying the uttermost farthing, it may be understood without absurdity either as standing for this, that nothing is left unpunished; just as in common speech we also say to the very dregs, when we wish to express that something is so drained out that nothing is left: or by the expression the uttermost farthing earthly sins may be meant. For as a fourth part of the separate component parts of this world, and in fact as the last, the earth is found; so that you begin with the heavens, you reckon the air the second, water the third, the earth the fourth. It may therefore seem to be suitably said, till you have paid the last fourth, in the sense of till you have expiated your earthly sins: for this the sinner also heard, Earth you are, and unto earth shall you return. Then, as to the expression till you have paid, I wonder if it does not mean that punishment which is called eternal. For whence is that debt paid where there is now no opportunity given of repenting and of leading a more correct life? For perhaps the expression till you have paid stands here in the same sense as in that passage where it is said, Sit at my right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool; for not even when the enemies have been put under His feet, will He cease to sit at the right hand: or that statement of the apostle, For He must reign, till He has put all enemies under His feet; for not even when they have been put under His feet, will He cease to reign. Hence, as it is there understood of Him respecting whom it is said, He must reign, till He has put His enemies under His feet, that He will reign for ever, inasmuch as they will be for ever under His feet: so here it may be understood of him respecting whom it is said, You shall by no means come out thence, till you have paid the uttermost farthing, that he will never come out; for he is always paying the uttermost farthing, so long as he is suffering the everlasting punishment of his earthly sins. Nor would I say this in such a way as that I should seem to prevent a more careful discussion respecting the punishment of sins, as to how in the Scriptures it is called eternal; although in all possible ways it is to be avoided rather than known.
31. But let us now see who the adversary himself is, with whom we are enjoined to agree quickly, whiles we are in the way with him. For he is either the devil, or a man, or the flesh, or God, or His commandment. But I do not see how we should be enjoined to be on terms of goodwill, i.e. to be of one heart or of one mind, with the devil. For some have rendered the Greek word which is found here of one heart, others of one mind: but neither are we enjoined to show goodwill to the devil (for where there is goodwill there is friendship: and no one would say that we are to make friends with the devil); nor is it expedient to come to an agreement with him, against whom we have declared war by once for all renouncing him, and on conquering whom we shall be crowned; nor ought we now to yield to him, for if we had never yielded to him, we should never have fallen into such miseries. Again, as to the adversary being a man, although we are enjoined to live peaceably with all men, as far as lies in us, where certainly goodwill, and concord, and consent may be understood; yet I do not see how I can accept the view, that we are delivered to the judge by a man, in a case where I understand Christ to be the judge, before whose judgment-seat we must all appear, as the apostle says: how then is he to deliver me to the judge, who will appear equally with me before the judge? Or if any one is delivered to the judge because he has injured a man, although the party who has been injured does not deliver him, it is a much more suitable view, that the guilty party is delivered to the judge by that law against which he acted when he injured the man. And this for the additional reason, that if any one has injured a man by killing him, there will be no time now in which to agree with him; for he is not now in the way with him, i.e. in this life: and yet a remedy will not on that account be excluded, if one repents and flees for refuge with the sacrifice of a broken heart to the mercy of Him who forgives the sins of those who turn to Him, and who rejoices more over one penitent than over ninety-nine just persons. But much less do I see how we are enjoined to bear goodwill towards, or to agree with, or to yield to, the flesh. For it is sinners rather who love their flesh, and agree with it, and yield to it; but those who bring it into subjection are not the parties who yield to it, but rather they compel it to yield to them.
32. Perhaps, therefore, we are enjoined to yield to God, and to be well-disposed towards Him, in order that we may be reconciled to Him, from whom by sinning we have turned away, so that He can be called our adversary. For He is rightly called the adversary of those whom He resists, for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble; and pride is the beginning of all sin, but the beginning of man's pride is to become apostate from God; and the apostle says, For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And from this it may be perceived that no nature [as being] bad is an enemy to God, inasmuch as the very parties who were enemies are being reconciled. Whoever, therefore, while in this way, i.e. in this life, shall not have been reconciled to God by the death of His Son, will be delivered to the judge by Him, for the Father judges no man, but has delivered all judgment to the Son; and so the other things which are described in this section follow, which we have already discussed. There is only one thing which creates a difficulty as regards this interpretation, viz. how it can be rightly said that we are in the way with God, if in this passage He Himself is to be understood as the adversary of the wicked, with whom we are enjoined to be reconciled quickly; unless, perchance, because He is everywhere, we also, while we are in this way, are certainly with Him. For as it is said, If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. Or if the view is not accepted, that the wicked are said to be with God, although there is nowhere where God is not present — just as we do not say that the blind are with the light, although the light surrounds their eyes — there is one resource remaining: that we should understand the adversary here as being the commandment of God. For what is so much an adversary to those who wish to sin as the commandment of God, i.e. His law and divine Scripture, which has been given us for this life, that it may be with us in the way, which we must not contradict, lest it deliver us to the judge, but which we ought to submit to quickly? For no one knows when he may depart out of this life. Now, who is it that submits to divine Scripture, save he who reads or hears it piously, deferring to it as of supreme authority; so that what he understands he does not hate on this account, that he feels it to be opposed to his sins, but rather loves being reproved by it, and rejoices that his maladies are not spared until they are healed; and so that even in respect to what seems to him obscure or absurd, he does not therefore raise contentious contradictions, but prays that he may understand, yet remembering that goodwill and reverence are to be manifested towards so great an authority? But who does this, unless just the man who has come, not harshly threatening, but in the meekness of piety, for the purpose of opening and ascertaining the contents of his father's will? Blessed, therefore, are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Let us see what follows.
Chapter 12
33. You have heard that it was said to them of old time, You shall not commit adultery: but I say unto you, that whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart. The lesser righteousness, therefore, is not to commit adultery by carnal connection; but the greater righteousness of the kingdom of God is not to commit adultery in the heart. Now, the man who does not commit adultery in the heart, much more easily guards against committing adultery in actual fact. Hence He who gave the later precept confirmed the earlier; for He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. It is well worthy of consideration that He did not say, Whosoever lusts after a woman, but, Whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her, i.e. turns toward her with this aim and this intent, that he may lust after her; which, in fact, is not merely to be tickled by fleshly delight, but fully to consent to lust; so that the forbidden appetite is not restrained, but satisfied if opportunity should be given.
34. For there are three things which go to complete sin: the suggestion of, the taking pleasure in, and the consenting to. Suggestion takes place either by means of memory, or by means of the bodily senses, when we see, or hear, or smell, or taste, or touch anything. And if it give us pleasure to enjoy this, this pleasure, if illicit, must be restrained. Just as when we are fasting, and on seeing food the appetite of the palate is stirred up, this does not happen without pleasure; but we do not consent to this liking, and we repress it by the right of reason, which has the supremacy. But if consent shall take place, the sin will be complete, known to God in our heart, although it may not become known to men by deed. There are, then, these steps: the suggestion is made, as it were, by a serpent, that is to say, by a fleeting and rapid, i.e. a temporary, movement of bodies: for if there are also any such images moving about in the soul, they have been derived from without from the body; and if any hidden sensation of the body besides those five senses touches the soul, that also is temporary and fleeting; and therefore the more clandestinely it glides in, so as to affect the process of thinking, the more aptly is it compared to a serpent. Hence these three stages, as I was beginning to say, resemble that transaction which is described in Genesis, so that the suggestion and a certain measure of suasion is put forth, as it were, by the serpent; but the taking pleasure in it lies in the carnal appetite, as it were in Eve; and the consent lies in the reason, as it were in the man: and these things having been acted through, the man is driven forth, as it were, from paradise, i.e. from the most blessed light of righteousness, into death — in all respects most righteously. For he who puts forth suasion does not compel. And all natures are beautiful in their order, according to their gradations; but we must not descend from the higher, among which the rational mind has its place assigned, to the lower. Nor is any one compelled to do this; and therefore, if he does it, he is punished by the just law of God, for he is not guilty of this unwillingly. But yet, previous to habit, either there is no pleasure, or it is so slight that there is hardly any; and to yield to it is a great sin, as such pleasure is unlawful. Now, when any one does yield, he commits sin in the heart. If, however, he also proceeds to action, the desire seems to be satisfied and extinguished; but afterwards, when the suggestion is repeated, a greater pleasure is kindled, which, however, is as yet much less than that which by continuous practice is converted into habit. For it is very difficult to overcome this; and yet even habit itself, if one does not prove untrue to himself, and does not shrink back in dread from the Christian warfare, he will get the better of under His (i.e. Christ's) leadership and assistance; and thus, in accordance with primitive peace and order, both the man is subject to Christ, and the woman is subject to the man.
35. Hence, just as we arrive at sin by three steps — suggestion, pleasure, consent, — so of sin itself there are three varieties — in heart, in deed, in habit — as it were, three deaths: one, as it were, in the house, i.e. when we consent to lust in the heart; a second now, as it were, brought forth outside the gate, when assent goes forward into action; a third, when the mind is pressed down by the force of bad habit, as if by a mound of earth, and is now, as it were, rotting in the sepulchre. And whoever reads the Gospel perceives that our Lord raised to life these three varieties of the dead. And perhaps he reflects what differences may be found in the very word of Him who raises them, when He says on one occasion, Damsel, arise; on another, Young man, I say unto you, Arise; and when on another occasion He groaned in the spirit, and wept, and again groaned, and then afterwards cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
36. And therefore, under the category of the adultery mentioned in this section, we must understand all fleshly and sensual lust. For when Scripture so constantly speaks of idolatry as fornication, and the Apostle Paul calls avarice by the name of idolatry, who doubts but that every evil lust is rightly called fornication, since the soul, neglecting the higher law by which it is ruled, and prostituting itself for the base pleasure of the lower nature as its reward (so to speak), is thereby corrupted? And therefore let every one who feels carnal pleasure rebelling against right inclination in his own case through the habit of sinning, by whose unsubdued violence he is dragged into captivity, recall to mind as much as he can what kind of peace he has lost by sinning, and let him cry out, O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ. For in this way, when he cries out that he is wretched, in the act of bewailing he implores the help of a comforter. Nor is it a small approach to blessedness, when he has come to know his wretchedness; and therefore blessed also are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Chapter 13
37. In the next place, He goes on to say: And if your right eye offend you, pluck it out, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should go into hell. Here, certainly, there is need of great courage in order to cut off one's members. For whatever it is that is meant by the eye, undoubtedly it is such a thing as is ardently loved. For those who wish to express their affection strongly are wont to speak thus: I love him as my own eyes, or even more than my own eyes. Then, when the word right is added, it is meant perhaps to intensify the strength of the affection. For although these bodily eyes of ours are turned in a common direction for the purpose of seeing, and if both are turned they have equal power, yet men are more afraid of losing the right one. So that the sense in this case is: Whatever it is which you so love that you reckon it as a right eye, if it offends you, i.e. if it proves a hindrance to you on the way to true happiness, pluck it out and cast it from you. For it is profitable for you, that one of these which you so love that they cleave to you as if they were members, should perish, rather than that your whole body should be cast into hell.
38. But since He follows it up with a similar statement respecting the right hand, If your right hand offend you, cut it off, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should go into hell, He compels us to inquire more carefully what He has spoken of as an eye. And as regards this inquiry, nothing occurs to me as a more suitable explanation than a greatly beloved friend: for this, certainly, is something which we may rightly call a member which we ardently love; and this friend a counsellor, for it is an eye, as it were, pointing out the road; and that in divine things, for it is the right eye: so that the left is indeed a beloved counsellor, but in earthly matters, pertaining to the necessities of the body; concerning which as a cause of stumbling it was superfluous to speak, inasmuch as not even the right was to be spared. Now, a counsellor in divine things is a cause of stumbling, if he endeavours to lead one into any dangerous heresy under the guise of religion and doctrine. Hence also let the right hand be taken in the sense of a beloved helper and assistant in divine works: for in like manner as contemplation is rightly understood as having its seat in the eye, so action in the right hand; so that the left hand may be understood in reference to works which are necessary for this life, and for the body.
Chapter 14
39. It has been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. This is the lesser righteousness of the Pharisees, which is not opposed by what our Lord says: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is loosed from her husband commits adultery. For He who gave the commandment that a writing of divorcement should be given, did not give the commandment that a wife should be put away; but whosoever shall put away, says He, let him give her a writing of divorcement, in order that the thought of such a writing might moderate the rash anger of him who was getting rid of his wife. And, therefore, He who sought to interpose a delay in putting away, indicated as far as He could to hard-hearted men that He did not wish separation. And accordingly the Lord Himself in another passage, when a question was asked Him as to this matter, gave this reply: Moses did so because of the hardness of your hearts. For however hard-hearted a man may be who wishes to put away his wife, when he reflects that, on a writing of divorcement being given her, she could then without risk marry another, he would be easily appeased. Our Lord, therefore, in order to confirm that principle, that a wife should not lightly be put away, made the single exception of fornication; but enjoins that all other annoyances, if any such should happen to spring up, be borne with fortitude for the sake of conjugal fidelity and for the sake of chastity; and he also calls that man an adulterer who should marry her that has been divorced by her husband. And the Apostle Paul shows the limit of this state of affairs, for he says it is to be observed as long as her husband lives; but on the husband's death he gives permission to marry. For he himself also held by this rule, and therein brings forward not his own advice, as in the case of some of his admonitions, but a command by the Lord when he says: And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: but and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife. I believe that, according to a similar rule, if he shall put her away, he is to remain unmarried, or be reconciled to his wife. For it may happen that he puts away his wife for the cause of fornication, which our Lord wished to make an exception of. But now, if she is not allowed to marry while the husband is living from whom she has departed, nor he to take another while the wife is living whom he has put away, much less is it right to commit unlawful acts of fornication with any parties whomsoever. More blessed indeed are those marriages to be reckoned, where the parties concerned, whether after the procreation of children, or even through contempt of such an earthly progeny, have been able with common consent to practise self-restraint toward each other: both because nothing is done contrary to that precept whereby the Lord forbids a spouse to be put away (for he does not put her away who lives with her not carnally, but spiritually), and because that principle is observed to which the apostle gives expression, It remains, that they that have wives be as though they had none.
Chapter 15
40. But it is rather that statement which the Lord Himself makes in another passage which is wont to disturb the minds of the little ones, who nevertheless earnestly desire to live now according to the precepts of Christ: If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. For it may seem a contradiction to the less intelligent, that here He forbids the putting away of a wife saving for the cause of fornication, but that elsewhere He affirms that no one can be a disciple of His who does not hate his wife. But if He were speaking with reference to sexual intercourse, He would not place father, and mother, and brothers in the same category. But how true it is, that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and they that use violence take it by force! For how great violence is necessary, in order that a man may love his enemies, and hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers! For He commands both things who calls us to the kingdom of heaven. And how these things do not contradict each other, it is easy to show under His guidance; but after they have been understood, it is difficult to carry them out, although this too is very easy when He Himself assists us. For in that eternal kingdom to which He has vouchsafed to call His disciples, to whom He also gives the name of brothers, there are no temporal relationships of this sort. For there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; but Christ is all, and in all. And the Lord Himself says: For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. Hence it is necessary that whoever wishes here and now to aim after the life of that kingdom, should hate not the persons themselves, but those temporal relationships by which this life of ours, which is transitory and is comprised in being born and dying, is upheld; because he who does not hate them, does not yet love that life where there is no condition of being born and dying, which unites parties in earthly wedlock.
41. Therefore, if I were to ask any good Christian who has a wife, and even though he may still be having children by her, whether he would like to have his wife in that kingdom; mindful in any case of the promises of God, and of that life where this incorruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality; though at present hesitating from the greatness, or at least from a certain degree of love, he would reply with execration that he is strongly averse to it. Were I to ask him again, whether he would like his wife to live with him there, after the resurrection, when she had undergone that angelic change which is promised to the saints, he would reply that he desired this as strongly as he reprobated the other. Thus a good Christian is found in one and the same woman to love the creature of God, whom he desires to be transformed and renewed; but to hate the corruptible and mortal conjugal connection and sexual intercourse: i.e. to love in her what is characteristic of a human being, to hate what belongs to her as a wife. So also he loves his enemy, not in as far as he is an enemy, but in as far as he is a man; so that he wishes the same prosperity to come to him as to himself, viz. that he may reach the kingdom of heaven rectified and renewed. This is to be understood both of father and mother and the other ties of blood, that we hate in them what has fallen to the lot of the human race in being born and dying, but that we love what can be carried along with us to those realms where no one says, My Father; but all say to the one God, Our Father: and no one says, My mother; but all say to that other Jerusalem, Our mother: and no one says, My brother; but each says respecting every other, Our brother. But in fact there will be a marriage on our part as of one spouse (when we have been brought together into unity), with Him who has delivered us from the pollution of this world by the shedding of His own blood. It is necessary, therefore, that the disciple of Christ should hate these things which pass away, in those whom he desires along with himself to reach those things which shall for ever remain; and that he should the more hate these things in them, the more he loves themselves.
42. A Christian may therefore live in concord with his wife, whether with her providing for a fleshly craving, a thing which the apostle speaks by permission, not by commandment; or providing for the procreation of children, which may be at present in some degree praiseworthy; or providing for a brotherly and sisterly fellowship, without any corporeal connection, having his wife as though he had her not, as is most excellent and sublime in the marriage of Christians: yet so that in her he hates the name of temporal relationship, and loves the hope of everlasting blessedness. For we hate, without doubt, that respecting which we wish at least, that at some time hereafter it should not exist; as, for instance, this same life of ours in the present world, which if we were not to hate as being temporal, we would not long for the future life, which is not conditioned by time. For as a substitute for this life the soul is put, respecting which it is said in that passage, If a man hate not his own soul also, he cannot be my disciple. For that corruptible meat is necessary for this life, of which the Lord Himself says, Is not the soul more than meat? i.e. this life to which meat is necessary. And when He says that He would lay down His soul for His sheep, He undoubtedly means this life, as He is declaring that He is going to die for us.
Chapter 16
43. Here there arises a second question, when the Lord allows a wife to be put away for the cause of fornication, in what latitude of meaning fornication is to be understood in this passage — whether in the sense understood by all, viz. that we are to understand that fornication to be meant which is committed in acts of uncleanness; or whether, in accordance with the usage of Scripture in speaking of fornication (as has been mentioned above), as meaning all unlawful corruption, such as idolatry or covetousness, and therefore, of course, every transgression of the law on account of the unlawful lust [involved in it]. But let us consult the apostle, that we may not say rashly. And unto the married I command, says he, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: but and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband. For it may happen that she departs for that cause for which the Lord gives permission to do so. Or, if a woman is at liberty to put away her husband for other causes besides that of fornication, and the husband is not at liberty, what answer shall we give respecting this statement which he has made afterwards, And let not the husband put away his wife? Wherefore did he not add, saving for the cause of fornication, which the Lord permits, unless because he wishes a similar rule to be understood, that if he shall put away his wife (which he is permitted to do for the cause of fornication), he is to remain without a wife, or be reconciled to his wife? For it would not be a bad thing for a husband to be reconciled to such a woman as that to whom, when nobody had dared to stone her, the Lord said, Go, and sin no more. And for this reason also, because He who says, It is not lawful to put away one's wife saving for the cause of fornication, forces him to retain his wife, if there should be no cause of fornication: but if there should be, He does not force him to put her away, but permits him, just as when it is said, Let it not be lawful for a woman to marry another, unless her husband be dead; if she shall marry before the death of her husband, she is guilty; if she shall not marry after the death of her husband, she is not guilty, for she is not commanded to marry, but merely permitted. If, therefore, there is a like rule in the said law of marriage between man and woman, to such an extent that not merely of the woman has the same apostle said, The wife has not power of her own body, but the husband; but he has not been silent respecting him, saying, And likewise also the husband has not power of his own body, but the wife;— if, then, the rule is similar, there is no necessity for understanding that it is lawful for a woman to put away her husband, saving for the cause of fornication, as is the case also with the husband.
44. It is therefore to be considered in what latitude of meaning we ought to understand the word fornication, and the apostle is to be consulted, as we were beginning to do. For he goes on to say, But to the rest speak I, not the Lord. Here, first, we must see who are the rest, for he was speaking before on the part of the Lord to those who are married, but now, as from himself, he speaks to the rest: hence perhaps to the unmarried, but this does not follow. For thus he continues: If any brother has a wife that believes not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. Hence, even now he is speaking to those who are married. What, then, is his object in saying to the rest, unless that he was speaking before to those who were so united, that they were alike as to their faith in Christ; but that now he is speaking to the rest, i.e. to those who are so united, that they are not both believers? But what does he say to them? If any brother has a wife that believes not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which has an husband that believes not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not put him away. If, therefore, he does not give a command as from the Lord, but advises as from himself, then this good result springs from it, that if any one act otherwise, he is not a transgressor of a command, just as he says a little after respecting virgins, that he has no command of the Lord, but that he gives his advice; and he so praises virginity, that whoever will may avail himself of it; yet if he shall not do so, he may not be judged to have acted contrary to a command. For there is one thing which is commanded, another respecting which advice is given, another still which is allowed. A wife is commanded not to depart from her husband; and if she depart, to remain unmarried, or to be reconciled to her husband: therefore it is not allowable for her to act otherwise. But a believing husband is advised, if he has an unbelieving wife who is pleased to dwell with him, not to put her away: therefore it is allowable also to put her away, because it is no command of the Lord that he should not put her away, but an advice of the apostle: just as a virgin is advised not to marry; but if she shall marry, she will not indeed adhere to the advice, but she will not act in opposition to a command. Allowance is given when it is said, But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment. And therefore, if it is allowable that an unbelieving wife should be put away, although it is better not to put her away, and yet not allowable, according to the commandment of the Lord, that a wife should be put away, saving for the cause of fornication, [then] unbelief itself also is fornication.
45. For what do you say, O apostle? Surely, that a believing husband who has an unbelieving wife pleased to dwell with him is not to put her away? Just so, says he. When, therefore, the Lord also gives this command, that a man should not put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, why do you say here, I speak, not the Lord? For this reason, viz. that the idolatry which unbelievers follow, and every other noxious superstition, is fornication. Now, the Lord permitted a wife to be put away for the cause of fornication; but in permitting, He did not command it: He gave opportunity to the apostle for advising that whoever wished should not put away an unbelieving wife, in order that, perchance, in this way she might become a believer. For, says he, the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the brother. I suppose it had already occurred that some wives were embracing the faith by means of their believing husbands, and husbands by means of their believing wives; and although not mentioning names, he yet urged his case by examples, in order to strengthen his counsel. Then he goes on to say, Else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. For now the children were Christians, who were sanctified at the instance of one of the parents, or with the consent of both; which would not take place unless the marriage were broken up by one of the parties becoming a believer, and unless the unbelief of the spouse were borne with so far as to give an opportunity of believing. This, therefore, is the counsel of Him whom I regard as having spoken the words, Whatsoever you spend more, when I come again, I will repay you.
46. Moreover, if unbelief is fornication, and idolatry unbelief, and covetousness idolatry, it is not to be doubted that covetousness also is fornication. Who, then, in that case can rightly separate any unlawful lust whatever from the category of fornication, if covetousness is fornication? And from this we perceive, that because of unlawful lusts, not only those of which one is guilty in acts of uncleanness with another's husband or wife, but any unlawful lusts whatever, which cause the soul making a bad use of the body to wander from the law of God, and to be ruinously and basely corrupted, a man may, without crime, put away his wife, and a wife her husband, because the Lord makes the cause of fornication an exception; which fornication, in accordance with the above considerations, we are compelled to understand as being general and universal.
47. But when He says, saving for the cause of fornication, He has not said of which of them, whether the man or the woman. For not only is it allowed to put away a wife who commits fornication; but whoever puts away that wife even by whom he is himself compelled to commit fornication, puts her away undoubtedly for the cause of fornication. As, for instance, if a wife should compel one to sacrifice to idols, the man who puts away such an one puts her away for the cause of fornication, not only on her part, but on his own also: on her part, because she commits fornication; on his own, that he may not commit fornication. Nothing, however, is more unjust than for a man to put away his wife because of fornication, if he himself also is convicted of committing fornication. For that passage occurs to one: For wherein you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you that judge do the same things. And for this reason, whosoever wishes to put away his wife because of fornication, ought first to be cleared of fornication; and a like remark I would make respecting the woman also.
48. But in reference to what He says, Whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commits adultery, it may be asked whether she also who is married commits adultery in the same way as he does who marries her. For she also is commanded to remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband; but this in the case of her departing from her husband. There is, however, a great difference whether she put away or be put away. For if she put away her husband, and marry another, she seems to have left her former husband from a desire of changing her marriage connection, which is, without doubt, an adulterous thought. But if she be put away by the husband, with whom she desired to be, he indeed who marries her commits adultery, according to the Lord's declaration; but whether she also be involved in a like crime is uncertain — although it is much less easy to discover how, when a man and woman have intercourse one with another with equal consent, one of them should be an adulterer, and the other not. To this is to be added the consideration, that if he commits adultery by marrying her who is divorced from her husband (although she does not put away, but is put away), she causes him to commit adultery, which nevertheless the Lord forbids. And hence we infer that, whether she has been put away, or has put away her husband, it is necessary for her to remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband.
49. Again, it is asked whether, if, with a wife's permission, either a barren one, or one who does not wish to submit to intercourse, a man shall take to himself another woman, not another man's wife, nor one separated from her husband, he can do so without being chargeable with fornication? And an example is found in the Old Testament history; but now there are greater precepts which the human race has reached after having passed that stage; and those matters are to be investigated for the purpose of distinguishing the ages of the dispensation of that divine providence which assists the human race in the most orderly way; but not for the purpose of making use of the rules of living. But yet it may be asked whether what the apostle says, The wife has not power of her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband has not power of his own body, but the wife, can be carried so far, that, with the permission of a wife, who possesses the power over her husband's body, a man can have intercourse with another woman, who is neither another man's wife nor divorced from her husband; but such an opinion is not to be entertained, lest it should seem that a woman also, with her husband's permission, could do such a thing, which the instinctive feeling of every one prevents.
50. And yet some occasions may arise, where a wife also, with the consent of her husband, may seem under obligation to do this for the sake of that husband himself; as, for instance, is said to have happened at Antioch about fifty years ago, in the times of Constantius. For Acyndinus, at that time prefect and at one time also consul, when he demanded of a certain public debtor the payment of a poundweight of gold, impelled by I know not what motive, did a thing which is often dangerous in the case of those magistrates to whom anything whatever is lawful, or rather is thought to be lawful, viz. threatened with an oath and with a vehement affirmation, that if he did not pay the foresaid gold on a certain day which he had fixed, he would be put to death. Accordingly, while he was being kept in cruel confinement, and was unable to rid himself of that debt, the dread day began to impend and to draw near. He happened, however, to have a very beautiful wife, but one who had no money wherewith to come to the relief of her husband; and when a certain rich man had had his desires inflamed by the beauty of this woman, and had learned that her husband was placed in that critical situation, he sent to her, promising in return for a single night, if she would consent to hold intercourse with him, that he would give her the pound of gold. Then she, knowing that she herself had not power over her body, but her husband, conveyed the intelligence to him, telling him that she was prepared to do it for the sake of her husband, but only if he himself, the lord by marriage of her body, to whom all that chastity was due, should wish it to be done, as if disposing of his own property for the sake of his life. He thanked her, and commanded that it should be done, in no wise judging that it was an adulterous embrace, because it was no lust, but great love for her husband, that demanded it, at his own bidding and will. The woman came to the villa of that rich man, did what the lewd man wished; but she gave her body only to her husband, who desired not, as was usual, his marriage rights, but life. She received the gold; but he who gave it took away stealthily what he had given, and substituted a similar bag with earth in it. When the woman, however, on reaching her home, discovered it, she rushed forth in public in order to proclaim the deed she had done, animated by the same tender affection for her husband by which she had been forced to do it; she goes to the prefect, confesses everything, shows the fraud that had been practised upon her. Then indeed the prefect first pronounces himself guilty, because the matter had come to this by means of his threats, and, as if pronouncing sentence upon another, decided that a pound of gold should be brought into the treasury from the property of Acyndinus; but that she (the woman) be installed as mistress of that piece of land whence she had received the earth instead of the gold. I offer no opinion either way from this story: let each one form a judgment as he pleases, for the history is not drawn from divinely authoritative sources; but yet, when the story is related, man's instinctive sense does not so revolt against what was done in the case of this woman, at her husband's bidding, as we formerly shuddered when the thing itself was set forth without any example. But in this section of the Gospel nothing is to be more steadily kept in view, than that so great is the evil of fornication, that, while married people are bound to one another by so strong a bond, this one cause of divorce is excepted; but as to what fornication is, that we have already discussed.
Chapter 17
51. Again, says He, you have heard that it has been said to them of old time, You shall not forswear yourself, but shall perform unto the Lord your oath: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Neither shall you swear by your head, because you can not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil. The righteousness of the Pharisees is not to forswear oneself; and this is confirmed by Him who gives the command not to swear, so far as relates to the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven. For just as he who does not speak at all cannot speak falsely, so he who does not swear at all cannot swear falsely. But yet, since he who takes God to witness swears, this section must be carefully considered, lest the apostle should seem to have acted contrary to the Lord's precept, who often swore in this way, when he says, Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God I lie not; and again, The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knows that I lie not. Of like nature also is that asseveration, For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. Unless, perchance, one were to say that it is to be reckoned swearing only when something is spoken of by which one swears; so that he has not used an oath, because he has not said, by God; but has said, God is witness. It is ridiculous to think so; yet because of the contentious, or those very slow of apprehension, lest any one should think there is a difference, let him know that the apostle has used an oath in this way also, saying, By your rejoicing, I die daily. And let no one think that this is so expressed as if it were said, Your rejoicing makes me die daily; just as it is said, By his teaching he became learned, i.e. by his teaching it came about that he was perfectly instructed: the Greek copies decide the matter, where we find it written, Νὴ τὴν καύχησιν ὑμετέραν, an expression which is used only by one taking an oath. Thus, then, it is understood that the Lord gave the command not to swear in this sense, lest any one should eagerly seek after an oath as a good thing, and by the constant use of oaths sink down through force of habit into perjury. And therefore let him who understands that swearing is to be reckoned not among things that are good, but among things that are necessary, refrain as far as he can from indulging in it, unless by necessity, when he sees men slow to believe what it is useful for them to believe, except they be assured by an oath. To this, accordingly, reference is made when it is said, Let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay; this is good, and what is to be desired. For whatsoever is more than these comes of evil; i.e., if you are compelled to swear, know that it comes of a necessity arising from the infirmity of those whom you are trying to persuade of something; which infirmity is certainly an evil, from which we daily pray to be delivered, when we say, Deliver us from evil. Hence He has not said, Whatsoever is more than these is evil; for you are not doing what is evil when you make a good use of an oath, which, although not in itself good, is yet necessary in order to persuade another that you are trying to move him for some useful end; but it comes of evil on his part by whose infirmity you are compelled to swear. But no one learns, unless he has had experience, how difficult it is both to get rid of a habit of swearing, and never to do rashly what necessity sometimes compels him to do.
52. But it may be asked why, when it was said, But I say unto you, Swear not at all, it was added, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, etc., up to neither by your head. I suppose it was for this reason, that the Jews did not think they were bound by the oath, if they had sworn by such things: and since they had heard it said, You shall perform unto the Lord your oath, they did not think an oath brought them under obligation to the Lord, if they swore by heaven, or earth, or by Jerusalem, or by their head; and this happened not from the fault of Him who gave the command, but because they did not rightly understand it. Hence the Lord teaches that there is nothing so worthless among the creatures of God, as that any one should think that he may swear falsely by it; since created things, from the highest down to the lowest, beginning with the throne of God and going down to a white or black hair, are ruled by divine providence. Neither by heaven, says He, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool: i.e., when you swear by heaven or the earth, do not imagine that your oath does not bring you under obligation to the Lord; for you are convicted of swearing by Him who has heaven for His throne, and the earth for His footstool. Neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King; a better expression than if He had said, My [city]; although, however, we understand Him to have meant this. And, because He is undoubtedly the Lord, the man who swears by Jerusalem is bound by his oath to the Lord. Neither shall you swear by your head. Now, what could any one suppose to belong more to himself than his own head? But how is it ours, when we have not the power of making one hair white or black? Hence, whoever should wish to swear even by his own head, is bound by his oath to God, who in an ineffable way keeps all things in His power, and is everywhere present. And here also all other things are understood, which could not of course be enumerated; just as that saying of the apostle we have mentioned, By your rejoicing, I die daily. And to show that he was bound by this oath to the Lord, he has added, which I have in Christ Jesus.
53. But yet (I make the remark for the sake of the carnal) we must not think that heaven is called God's throne, and the earth His footstool, because God has members placed in heaven and in earth, in some such way as we have when we sit down; but that seat means judgment. And since, in this organic whole of the universe, heaven has the greatest appearance, and earth the least — as if the divine power were more present where the beauty excels, but still were regulating the least degree of it in the most distant and in the lowest regions — He is said to sit in heaven, and to tread upon the earth. But spiritually the expression heaven means holy souls, and earth sinful ones: and since the spiritual man judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man, he is suitably spoken of as the seat of God; but the sinner to whom it is said, Earth you are, and unto earth shall you return, because, in accordance with that justice which assigns what is suitable to men's deserts, he is placed among things that are lowest, and he who would not remain in the law is punished under the law, is suitably taken as His footstool.
Chapter 18
54. But now, to conclude by summing up this passage, what can be named or thought of more laborious and toilsome, where the believing soul is straining every nerve of its industry, than the subduing of vicious habit? Let such an one cut off the members which obstruct the kingdom of heaven, and not be overwhelmed by the pain: in conjugal fidelity let him bear with everything which, however grievously annoying it may be, is still free from the guilt of unlawful corruption, i.e. of fornication: as, for instance, if any one should have a wife either barren, or misshapen in body, or faulty in her members — either blind, or deaf, or lame, or having any other defect — or worn out by diseases and pains and weaknesses, and whatever else may be thought of exceeding horrible, fornication excepted, let him endure it for the sake of his plighted love and conjugal union; and let him not only not put away such a wife, but even if he have her not, let him not marry one who has been divorced by her husband, though beautiful, healthy, rich, fruitful. And if it is not lawful to do such things, much less is it to be deemed lawful for him to come near any other unlawful embrace; and let him so flee from fornication, as to withdraw himself from base corruption of every sort. Let him speak the truth, and let him commend it not by frequent oaths, but by the probity of his morals; and with respect to the innumerable crowds of all bad habits rising up in rebellion against him, of which, in order that all may be understood, a few have been mentioned, let him betake himself to the citadel of Christian warfare, and let him lay them prostrate, as if from a higher ground. But who would venture to enter upon labours so great, unless one who is so inflamed with the love of righteousness, that, as it were utterly consumed with hunger and thirst, and thinking there is no life for him till that is satisfied, he puts forth violence to obtain the kingdom of heaven? For otherwise he will not be able bravely to endure all those things which the lovers of this world reckon toilsome and arduous, and altogether difficult in getting rid of bad habits. Blessed, therefore, are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
55. But yet, when any one encounters difficulty in these toils, and advancing through hardships and roughnesses surrounded with various temptations, and perceiving the troubles of his past life rise up on this side and on that, becomes afraid lest he should not be able to carry through what he has undertaken, let him eagerly avail himself of the counsel that he may obtain assistance. But what other counsel is there than this, that he who desires to have divine help for his own infirmity should bear that of others, and should assist it as much as possible? And so, therefore, let us look at the precepts of mercy. The meek and the merciful man, however, seem to be one and the same: but there is this difference, that the meek man, of whom we have spoken above, from piety does not gainsay the divine sentences which are brought forward against his sins, nor those statements of God which he does not yet understand; but he confers no benefit on him whom he does not gainsay or resist. But the merciful man in such a way offers no resistance, that he does it for the purpose of correcting him whom he would render worse by resisting.
Chapter 19
56. Hence the Lord goes on to say: You have heard that it has been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, that you resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue you at the law, and take away your coat [tunic, undergarment], let him have your cloak also. And whosoever shall compel you to go a mile, go with him two. Give to him that asks you, and from him that would borrow of you turn not away. It is the lesser righteousness of the Pharisees not to go beyond measure in revenge, that no one should give back more than he has received: and this is a great step. For it is not easy to find any one who, when he has received a blow, wishes merely to return the blow; and who, on hearing one word from a man who reviles him, is content to return only one, and that just an equivalent; but he avenges it more immoderately, either under the disturbing influence of anger, or because he thinks it just, that he who first inflicted injury should suffer more severe injury than he suffered who had not inflicted injury. Such a spirit was in great measure restrained by the law, where it was written, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; by which expressions a certain measure is intended, so that the vengeance should not exceed the injury. And this is the beginning of peace: but perfect peace is to have no wish at all for such vengeance.
57. Hence, between that first course which goes beyond the law, that a greater evil should be inflicted in return for a lesser, and this to which the Lord has given expression for the purpose of perfecting the disciples, that no evil at all should be inflicted in return for evil, a middle course holds a certain place, viz. that as much be paid back as has been received; by means of which enactment the transition is made from the highest discord to the highest concord, according to the distribution of times. See, therefore, at how great a distance any one who is the first to do harm to another, with the desire of injuring and hurting him, stands from him who, even when injured, does not pay back the injury. That man, however, who is not the first to do harm to any one, but who yet, when injured, inflicts a greater injury in return, either in will or in deed, has so far withdrawn himself from the highest injustice, and made so far an advance to the highest righteousness; but still he does not yet hold by what the law given by Moses commanded. And therefore he who pays back just as much as he has received already forgives something: for the party who injures does not deserve merely as much punishment as the man who was injured by him has innocently suffered. And accordingly this incomplete, by no means severe, but [rather] merciful justice, is carried to perfection by Him who came to fulfil the law, not to destroy it. Hence there are still two intervening steps which He has left to be understood, while He has chosen rather to speak of the very highest development of mercy. For there is still what one may do who does not come fully up to that magnitude of the precept which belongs to the kingdom of heaven; acting in such a way that he does not pay back as much, but less; as, for instance, one blow instead of two, or that he cuts off an ear for an eye that has been plucked out. He who, rising above this, pays back nothing at all, approaches the Lord's precept, but yet he does not reach it. For still it seems to the Lord not enough, if, for the evil which you may have received, you should inflict no evil in return, unless you be prepared to receive even more. And therefore He does not say, But I say unto you, that you are not to return evil for evil; although even this would be a great precept: but He says, that you resist not evil; n'est pas Spartacus qui a supprimé l'esclavage, c'est bien plûtôt Blandine").}--> so that not only are you not to pay back what may have been inflicted on you, but you are not even to resist other inflictions. For this is what He also goes on to explain: But whosoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also: for He does not say, If any man smite you, do not wish to smite him; but, Offer yourself further to him if he should go on to smite you. As regards compassion, they feel it most who minister to those whom they greatly love as if they were their children, or some very dear friends in sickness, or little children, or insane persons, at whose hands they often endure many things; and if their welfare demand it, they even show themselves ready to endure more, until the weakness either of age or of disease pass away. And so, as regards those whom the Lord, the Physician of souls, was instructing to take care of their neighbours, what else could He teach them, than that they endure quietly the infirmities of those whose welfare they wish to consult? For all wickedness arises from infirmity of mind: because nothing is more harmless than the man who is perfect in virtue.
58. But it may be asked what the right cheek means. For this is the reading we find in the Greek copies, which are most worthy of confidence; though many Latin ones have only the word cheek, without the addition of right. Now the face is that by which any one is recognised; and we read in the apostle's writings, For you suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face: then immediately he adds, I speak as concerning reproach; so that he explains what striking on the face is, viz. to be contemned and despised. Nor is this indeed said by the apostle for this reason, that they should not bear with those parties; but that they should bear with himself rather, who so loved them, that he was willing that he himself should be spent for them. But since the face cannot be called right and left, and yet there may be a worth according to the estimate of God and according to the estimate of this world, it is so distributed as it were into the right and left cheek that whatever disciple of Christ might have to bear reproach for being a Christian, he should be much more ready to bear reproach in himself, if he possesses any of the honours of this world. Thus this same apostle, if he had kept silence respecting the dignity which he had in the world, when men were persecuting in him the Christian name, would not have presented the other cheek to those that were smiting the right one. For when he said, I am a Roman citizen, he was not unprepared to submit to be despised, in that which he reckoned as least, by those who had despised in him so precious and life-giving a name. For did he at all the less on that account afterwards submit to the chains, which it was not lawful to put on Roman citizens, or did he wish to accuse any one of this injury? And if any spared him on account of the name of Roman citizenship, yet he did not on that account refrain from offering an object they might strike at, since he wished by his patience to cure of so great perversity those whom he saw honouring in him what belonged to the left members rather than the right. For that point only is to be attended to, in what spirit he did everything, how benevolently and mildly he acted toward those from whom he was suffering such things. For when he was smitten with the hand by order of the high priest, what he seemed to say contumeliously when he affirms, God shall smite you, you whited wall, sounds like an insult to those who do not understand it; but to those who do, it is a prophecy. For a whited wall is hypocrisy, i.e. pretence holding forth the sacerdotal dignity before itself, and under this name, as under a white covering, concealing an inner and as it were sordid baseness. For what belonged to humility he wonderfully preserved, when, on its being said to him, Do you revile the high priest? he replied, I knew not, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people. And here he showed with what calmness he had spoken that which he seemed to have spoken in anger, because he answered so quickly and so mildly, which cannot be done by those who are indignant and thrown into confusion. And in that very statement he spoke the truth to those who understood him, I knew not that he was the high priest: as if he said, I know another High Priest, for whose name I bear such things, whom it is not lawful to revile, and whom you revile, since in me it is nothing else but His name that you hate. Thus, therefore, it is necessary for one not to boast of such things in a hypocritical way, but to be prepared in the heart itself for all things, so that he can sing that prophetic word, My heart is prepared, O God, my heart is prepared. For many have learned how to offer the other cheek, but do not know how to love him by whom they are struck. But in truth, the Lord Himself, who certainly was the first to fulfil the precepts which He taught, did not offer the other cheek to the servant of the high priest when smiting Him thereon; but, so far from that, said, If I have spoken evil, hear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you smite me? Yet was He not on that account unprepared in heart, for the salvation of all, not merely to be smitten on the other cheek, but even to have His whole body crucified.
59. Hence also what follows, And if any man will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also, is rightly understood as a precept having reference to the preparation of heart, not to a vain show of outward deed. But what is said with respect to the coat and cloak is to be carried out not merely in such things, but in the case of everything which on any ground of right we speak of as being ours for time. For if this command is given with respect to what is necessary, how much more does it become us to contemn what is superfluous! But still, those things which I have called ours are to be included in that category under which the Lord Himself gives the precept, when He says, If any man will sue you at the law, and take away your coat. Let all these things therefore be understood for which we may be sued at the law, so that the right to them may pass from us to him who sues, or for whom he sues; such, for instance, as clothing, a house, an estate, a beast of burden, and in general all kinds of property. But whether it is to be understood of slaves also is a great question. For a Christian ought not to possess a slave in the same way as a horse or money: although it may happen that a horse is valued at a greater price than a slave, and some article of gold or silver at much more. But with respect to that slave, if he is being educated and ruled by time as his master, in a way more upright, and more honourable, and more conducing to the fear of God, than can be done by him who desires to take him away, I do not know whether any one would dare to say that he ought to be despised like a garment. For a man ought to love a fellow-man as himself, inasmuch as he is commanded by the Lord of all (as is shown by what follows) even to love his enemies.
60. It is carefully to be observed that every tunic is a garment, but that every garment is not a tunic. Hence the word garment means more than the word tunic. And therefore I think it is so expressed, And if any one will sue you at the law, and take away your tunic, let him have your garment also, as if He had said, Whoever wishes to take away your tunic, give over to him whatever other clothing you have. And so some have interpreted the word pallium, which in the Greek as used here is ἱμάτιον .
61. And whosoever, says He, shall compel you to go a mile, go with him other two. And this, certainly, not so much in the sense that you should do it on foot, as that you should be prepared in mind to do it. For in the Christian history itself, which is authoritative, you will find no such thing done by the saints, or by the Lord Himself when in His human nature, which He condescended to assume, He was showing us an example of how to live; while at the same time, in almost all places, you will find them prepared to bear with equanimity whatever may have been wickedly forced upon them. But are we to suppose it is said for the sake of the mere expression, Go with him other two; or did He rather wish that three should be completed — the number which has the meaning of perfection; so that every one should remember when he does this, that he is fulfilling perfect righteousness by compassionately bearing the infirmities of those whom he wishes to be made whole? It may seem for this reason also that He has recommended these precepts by three examples: of which the first is, if any one shall smite you on the cheek; the second, if any one shall wish to take away your coat; the third, if any one shall compel you to go a mile: in which third example twice as much is added to the original unit, so that in this way the triplet is completed. And if this number in the passage before us does not, as has been said, mean perfection, let this be understood, that in laying down His precepts, as it were beginning with what is more tolerable, He has gradually gone on, until He has reached as far as the enduring of twice as much more. For, in the first place, He wished the other cheek to be presented when the right had been smitten, so that you may be prepared to bear less than you have borne. For whatever the right means, it is at least something more dear than that which is meant by the left; and if one who has borne with something in what is more dear, bears with it in what is less dear, it is something less. Then, secondly, in the case of one who wishes to take away a coat, He enjoins that the garment also should be given up to him: which is either just as much, or not much more; not, however, twice as much. In the third place, with respect to the mile, to which He says that two miles are to be added, He enjoins that you should bear with even twice as much more: thus signifying that whether it be somewhat less than the original demand, or just as much, or more, that any wicked man shall wish to take from you, it is to be borne with tranquil mind.
Chapter 20
62. And, indeed, in these three classes of examples, I see that no class of injury is passed over. For all matters in which we suffer any injustice are divided into two classes: of which the one is, where restitution cannot be made; the other, where it can. But in that case where restitution cannot be made, a compensation in revenge is usually sought. For what does it profit, that on being struck you strike in return? Is that part of the body which was injured for that reason restored to its original condition? But an excited mind desires such alleviations. Things of that sort, however, afford no pleasure to a healthy and firm one; nay, such an one judges rather that the other's infirmity is to be compassionately borne with, than that his own (which has no existence) should be soothed by the punishment of another.
63. Nor are we thus precluded from inflicting such punishment [requital] as avails for correction, and as compassion itself dictates; nor does it stand in the way of that course proposed, where one is prepared to endure more at the hand of him whom he wishes to set right. But no one is fit for inflicting this punishment except the man who, by the greatness of his love, has overcome that hatred wherewith those are wont to be inflamed who wish to avenge themselves. For it is not to be feared that parents would seem to hate a little son when, on committing an offense, he is beaten by them that he may not go on offending. And certainly the perfection of love is set before us by the imitation of God the Father Himself when it is said in what follows: Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which persecute you; and yet it is said of Him by the prophet, For whom the Lord loves He corrects; yea, He scourges every son whom He receives. The Lord also says, The servant that knows not his Lord's will, and does things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes; but the servant that knows his Lord's will, and does things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with many stripes. No more, therefore, is sought for, except that he should punish to whom, in the natural order of things, the power is given; and that he should punish with the same goodwill which a father has towards his little son, whom by reason of his youth he cannot yet hate. For from this source the most suitable example is drawn, in order that it may be sufficiently manifest that sin can be punished in love rather than be left unpunished; so that one may wish him on whom he inflicts it not to be miserable by means of punishment, but to be happy by means of correction, yet be prepared, if need be, to endure with equanimity more injuries inflicted by him whom he wishes to be corrected, whether he may have the power of putting restraint upon him or not.
64. But great and holy men, although they at the time knew excellently well that that death which separates the soul from the body is not to be dreaded, yet, in accordance with the sentiment of those who might fear it, punished some sins with death, both because the living were struck with a salutary fear, and because it was not death itself that would injure those who were being punished with death, but sin, which might be increased if they continued to live. They did not judge rashly on whom God had bestowed such a power of judging. Hence it is that Elijah inflicted death on many, both with his own hand and by calling down fire from heaven; as was done also without rashness by many other great and godlike men, in the same spirit of concern for the good of humanity. And when the disciples had quoted an example from this Elias, mentioning to the Lord what had been done by him, in order that He might give to themselves also the power of calling down fire from heaven to consume those who would not show Him hospitality, the Lord reproved in them, not the example of the holy prophet, but their ignorance in respect to taking vengeance, their knowledge being as yet elementary; perceiving that they did not in love desire correction, but in hate desired revenge. Accordingly, after He had taught them what it was to love one's neighbour as oneself, and when the Holy Spirit had been poured out, whom, at the end of ten days after His ascension, He sent from above, as He had promised, there were not wanting such acts of vengeance, although much more rarely than in the Old Testament. For there, for the most part, as servants they were kept down by fear; but here mostly as free they were nourished by love. For at the words of the Apostle Peter also, Ananias and his wife, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, fell down dead, and were not raised to life again, but buried.
65. But if the heretics who are opposed to the Old Testament will not credit this book, let them contemplate the Apostle Paul, whose writings they read along with us, saying with respect to a certain sinner whom he delivered over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved. And if they will not here understand death (for perhaps it is uncertain), let them acknowledge that punishment [requital] of some kind or other was inflicted by the apostle through the instrumentality of Satan; and that he did this not in hatred, but in love, is made plain by that addition, that the spirit may be saved. Or let them notice what we say in those books to which they themselves attribute great authority, where it is written that the Apostle Thomas imprecated on a certain man, by whom he had been struck with the palm of the hand, the punishment of death in a very cruel form, while yet commending his soul to God, that it might be spared in the world to come — whose hand, torn from the rest of his body after he had been killed by a lion, a dog brought to the table at which the apostle was feasting. It is allowable for us not to credit this writing, for it is not in the catholic canon; yet they both read it, and honour it as being thoroughly uncorrupted and thoroughly truthful, who rage very fiercely (with I know not what blindness) against the corporeal punishments which are in the Old Testament, being altogether ignorant in what spirit and at what stage in the orderly distribution of times they were inflicted.
66. Hence, in this class of injuries which is atoned for by punishment, such a measure will be preserved by Christians, that, on an injury being received, the mind will not mount up into hatred, but will be ready, in compassion for the infirmity, to endure even more; nor will it neglect the correction, which it can employ either by advice, or by authority, or by [the exercise of] power. There is another class of injuries, where complete restitution is possible, of which there are two species: the one referring to money, the other to labour. And therefore examples are subjoined: of the former in the case of the coat and cloak, of the latter in the case of the compulsory service of one and two miles; for a garment may be given back, and he whom you have assisted by labour may also assist you, if it should be necessary. Unless, perhaps, the distinction should rather be drawn in this way: that the first case which is supposed, in reference to the cheek being struck, means all injuries that are inflicted by the wicked in such a way that restitution cannot be made except by punishment; and that the second case which is supposed, in reference to the garment, means all injuries where restitution can be made without punishment; and therefore, perhaps, it is added, if any man will sue you at the law, because what is taken away by means of a judicial sentence is not supposed to be taken away with such a degree of violence as that punishment is due; but that the third case is composed of both, so that restitution may be made both without punishment and with it. For the man who violently exacts labour to which he has no claim, without any judicial process, as he does who wickedly compels a man to go with him, and forces in an unlawful way assistance to be rendered to himself by one who is unwilling, is able both to pay the penalty of his wickedness and to repay the labour, if he who endured the wrong should ask it again. In all these classes of injuries, therefore, the Lord teaches that the disposition of a Christian ought to be most patient and compassionate, and thoroughly prepared to endure more.
67. But since it is a small matter merely to abstain from injuring, unless you also confer a benefit as far as you can, He therefore goes on to say, Give to every one that asks you, and from him that would borrow of you turn not away. To every one that asks, says He; not, Everything to him that asks: so that you are to give that which you can honestly and justly give. For what if he should ask money, wherewith he may endeavour to oppress an innocent man? What if, in short, he should ask something unchaste? But not to recount many examples, which are in fact innumerable, that certainly is to be given which may hurt neither yourself nor the other party, as far as can be known or supposed by man; and in the case of him to whom you have justly denied what he asks, justice itself is to be made known, so that you may not send him away empty. Thus you will give to every one that asks you, although you will not always give what he asks; and you will sometimes give something better, when you have set him right who was making unjust requests.
68. Then, as to what He says, From him that would borrow of you turn not away, it is to be referred to the mind; for God loves a cheerful giver. Moreover, every one who accepts anything borrows, even if he himself is not going to pay it; for inasmuch as God pays back more to the merciful, whosoever does a kindness lends at interest. Or if it does not seem good to understand the borrower in any other sense than of him who accepts of anything with the intention of repaying it, we must understand the Lord to have included those two methods of doing a favour. For we either give in a present what we give in the exercise of benevolence, or we lend to one who will repay us. And frequently men who, setting before them the divine reward, are prepared to give away in a present, become slow to give what is asked in loan, as if they were destined to get nothing in return from God, inasmuch as he who receives pays back the thing which is given him. Rightly, therefore, does the divine authority exhort us to this mode of bestowing a favour, saying, And from him that would borrow of you turn not away: i.e., do not alienate your goodwill from him who asks it, both because your money will be useless, and because God will not pay you back, inasmuch as the man has done so; but when you do that from a regard to God's precept, it cannot be unfruitful with Him who gives these commands.
Chapter 21
69. In the next place, He goes on to say, You have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbour, and hate your enemy: But I say unto you, Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which persecute you; that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He commands His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them which love you, what reward will you have? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the Gentiles the very same? Be therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. For without this love, wherewith we are commanded to love even our enemies and persecutors, who can fully carry out those things which are mentioned above? Moreover, the perfection of that mercy, wherewith most of all the soul that is in distress is cared for, cannot be stretched beyond the love of an enemy; and therefore the closing words are: Be therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. Yet in such a way that God is understood to be perfect as God, and the soul to be perfect as a soul.
70. That there is, however, a certain step [in advance] in the righteousness of the Pharisees, which belongs to the old law, is perceived from this consideration, that many men hate even those by whom they are loved; as, for instance, luxurious children hate their parents for restraining them in their luxury. That man therefore rises a certain step, who loves his neighbour, although as yet he hates his enemy. But in the kingdom of Him who came to fulfil the law, not to destroy it, he will bring benevolence and kindness to perfection, when he has carried it out so far as to love an enemy. For the former stage, although it is something, is yet so little that it may be reached even by the publicans as well. And as to what is said in the law, You shall hate your enemy, it is not to be understood as the voice of command addressed to a righteous man, but rather as the voice of permission to a weak man.
71. Here indeed arises a question in no way to be blinked, that to this precept of the Lord, wherein He exhorts us to love our enemies, and to do good to those who hate us, and to pray for those who persecute us, many other parts of Scripture seem to those who consider them less diligently and soberly to stand opposed; for in the prophets there are found many imprecations against enemies, which are thought to be curses: as, for instance, that one, Let their table become a snare, and the other things which are said there; and that one, Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow, and the other statements which are made either before or afterwards in the same Psalm by the prophet, as bearing on the case of Judas. Many other statements are found in all parts of Scripture, which may seem contrary both to this precept of the Lord, and to that apostolic one, where it is said, Bless; and curse not; while it is both written of the Lord, that He cursed the cities which received not His word; and the above-mentioned apostle thus spoke respecting a certain man, The Lord will reward him according to his works.
72. But these difficulties are easily solved, for the prophet predicted by means of imprecation what was about to happen, not as praying for what he wished, but in the spirit of one who saw it beforehand. So also the Lord, so also the apostle; although even in the words of these we do not find what they have wished, but what they have foretold. For when the Lord says, Woe unto you, Capernaum, He does not utter anything else than that some evil will happen to her as a punishment of her unbelief; and that this would happen the Lord did not malevolently wish, but saw by means of His divinity. And the apostle does not say, May [the Lord] reward; but, The Lord will reward him according to his work; which is the word of one who foretells, not of one uttering an imprecation. Just as also, in regard to that hypocrisy of the Jews of which we have already spoken, whose destruction he saw to be impending, he said, God shall smite you, you whited wall. But the prophets especially are accustomed to predict future events under the figure of one uttering an imprecation, just as they have often foretold those things which were to come under the figure of past time: as is the case, for example, in that passage, Why have the nations raged, and the peoples imagined vain things? For he has not said, Why will the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? Although he was not mentioning those things as if they were already past, but was looking forward to them as yet to come. Such also is that passage, They have parted my garments among them, and have cast lots upon my vesture: for here also he has not said, They will part my garments among them, and will cast lots upon my vesture. And yet no one finds fault with these words, except the man who does not perceive that variety of figures in speaking in no degree lessens the truth of facts, and adds very much to the impressions on our minds.
Chapter 22
73. But the question before us is rendered more urgent by what the Apostle John says: If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and the Lord shall give him life for him who sins not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. For he manifestly shows that there are certain brethren for whom we are not commanded to pray, although the Lord bids us pray even for our persecutors. Nor can the question in hand be solved, unless we acknowledge that there are certain sins in brethren which are more heinous than the persecution of enemies. Moreover, that brethren mean Christians can be proved by many examples from the divine Scriptures. Yet that one is plainest which the apostle thus states: For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the brother. For he has not added the word our; but has thought it plain, as he wished a Christian who had an unbelieving wife to be understood by the expression brother. And therefore he says a little after, But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart: a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. Hence I am of opinion that the sin of a brother is unto death, when any one, after coming to the knowledge of God through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, makes an assault on the brotherhood, and is impelled by the fires of envy to oppose that grace itself by which he is reconciled to God. But the sin is not unto death, if any one has not withdrawn his love from a brother, but through some infirmity of disposition has failed to perform the incumbent duties of brotherhood. And on this account our Lord also on the cross says, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do: for, not yet having become partakers of the grace of the Holy Spirit, they had not yet entered the fellowship of the holy brotherhood. And the blessed Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles prays for those by whom he is being stoned, because they had not yet believed on Christ, and were not fighting against that common grace. And the Apostle Paul on this account, I believe, does not pray for Alexander, because he was already a brother, and had sinned unto death, viz. by making an assault on the brotherhood through envy. But for those who had not broken off their love, but had given way through fear, he prays that they may be pardoned. For thus he expresses it: Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord will reward him according to his works. Of whom also beware; for he has greatly withstood our words. Then he adds for whom he prays, thus expressing it: At my first defense no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
74. It is this difference in their sins which separates Judas the betrayer from Peter the denier: not that a penitent is not to be pardoned, for we must not come into collision with that declaration of our Lord, where He enjoins that a brother is to be pardoned, when he asks his brother to pardon him; but that the ruin connected with that sin is so great, that he cannot endure the humiliation of asking for it, even if he should be compelled by a bad conscience both to acknowledge and divulge his sin. For when Judas had said, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood, yet it was easier for him in despair to run and hang himself, than in humility to ask for pardon. And therefore it is of much consequence to know what sort of repentance God pardons. For many much more readily confess that they have sinned, and are so angry with themselves that they vehemently wish they had not sinned; but yet they do not condescend to humble the heart and to make it contrite, and to implore pardon: and this disposition of mind we must suppose them to have, as feeling themselves already condemned because of the greatness of their sin.
75. And this is perhaps the sin against the Holy Ghost, i.e. through malice and envy to act in opposition to brotherly love after receiving the grace of the Holy Ghost — a sin which our Lord says is not forgiven either in this world or in the world to come. And hence it may be asked whether the Jews sinned against the Holy Ghost, when they said that our Lord was casting out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils: whether we are to understand this as said against our Lord Himself, because He says of Himself in another passage, If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household! or whether, inasmuch as they had spoken from great envy, being ungrateful for so manifest benefits, although they were not yet Christians, they are, from the very greatness of their envy, to be supposed to have sinned against the Holy Ghost? This latter is certainly not to be gathered from our Lord's words. For although He has said in the same passage, And whosoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaks a word against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come; yet it may seem that He admonished them for this purpose, that they should come to His grace, and after accepting of it should not so sin as they have now sinned. For now they have spoken a word against the Son of man, and it may be forgiven them, if they be converted, and believe in Him, and receive the Holy Ghost; but if, after receiving Him, they should choose to envy the brotherhood, and to assail the grace they have received, it cannot be forgiven them, neither in this world nor in the world to come. For if He reckoned them so condemned, that there was no hope left for them, He would not judge that they ought still to be admonished, as He did by adding the statement, Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt.
76. Let it be understood, therefore, that we are to love our enemies, and to do good to those who hate us, and to pray for those who persecute us, in such a way, that it is at the same time understood that there are certain sins of brethren for which we are not commanded to pray; lest, through unskilfulness on our part, divine Scripture should seem to contradict itself (a thing which cannot happen). But whether, as we are not to pray for certain parties, so we are also to pray against some, has not yet become sufficiently evident. For it is said in general, Bless, and curse not; and again, Recompense to no man evil for evil. Moreover, while you do not pray for one, you do not therefore pray against him: for you may see that his punishment is certain, and his salvation altogether hopeless; and you do not pray for him, not because you hate him, but because you feel you can profit him nothing, and you do not wish your prayer to be rejected by the most righteous Judge. But what are we to think respecting those parties against whom we have it revealed that prayers were offered by the saints, not that they might be turned from their error (for in this way prayer is offered rather for them), but that final condemnation might come upon them: not as it was offered against the betrayer of our Lord by the prophet; for that, as has been said, was a prediction of things to come, not a wish for punishment: nor as it was offered by the apostle against Alexander; for respecting that also enough has been already said: but as we read in the Apocalypse of John of the martyrs praying that they may be avenged; while the well-known first martyr prayed that those who stoned him should be pardoned.
77. But we need not be moved by this circumstance. For who would venture to affirm, in regard to those white-robed saints, when they pleaded that they should be avenged, whether they pleaded against the men themselves or against the dominion of sin? For of itself it is a genuine avenging of the martyrs, and one full of righteousness and mercy, that the dominion of sin should be overthrown, under which dominion they were subjected to so great sufferings. And for its overthrow the apostle strives, saying, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. But the dominion of sin is destroyed and overthrown, partly by the amendment of men, so that the flesh is brought under subjection to the spirit; partly by the condemnation of those who persevere in sin, so that they are righteously disposed of in such a way that they cannot be troublesome to the righteous who reign with Christ. Look at the Apostle Paul; does it not seem to you that he avenges the martyr Stephen in his own person, when he says: So fight I, not as one that beats the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection? For he was certainly laying prostrate, and weakening, and bringing into subjection, and regulating that principle in himself whence he had persecuted Stephen and the other Christians. Who then can demonstrate that the holy martyrs were not asking from the Lord such an avenging of themselves, when at the same time, in order to their being avenged, they might lawfully wish for the end of this world, in which they had endured such martyrdoms? And they who pray for this, on the one hand pray for their enemies who are curable, and on the other hand do not pray against those who have chosen to be incurable: because God also, in punishing them, is not a malevolent Torturer, but a most righteous Disposer. Without any hesitation, therefore, let us love our enemies, let us do good to those that hate us, and let us pray for those who persecute us.
Chapter 23
78. Then, as to the statement which follows, that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, it is to be understood according to that rule in virtue of which John also says, He gave them power to become the sons of God. For one is a Son by nature, who knows nothing at all of sin; but we, by receiving power, are made sons, in as far as we perform those things which are commanded us by Him. And hence the apostolic teaching gives the name of adoption to that by which we are called to an eternal inheritance, that we may be joint-heirs with Christ. We are therefore made sons by a spiritual regeneration, and we are adopted into the kingdom of God, not as aliens, but as being made and created by Him: so that it is one benefit, His having brought us into being through His omnipotence, when before we were nothing; another, His having adopted us, so that, as being sons, we might enjoy along with Him eternal life for our participation. Therefore He does not say, Do those things, because you are sons; but, Do those things, that you may be sons.
79. But when He calls us to this by the Only-begotten Himself, He calls us to His own likeness. For He, as is said in what follows, makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Whether you are to understand His sun as being not that which is visible to the fleshly eyes, but that wisdom of which it is said, She is the brightness of the everlasting light; of which it is also said, The Sun of righteousness has arisen upon me; and again, But unto you that fear the name of the Lord shall the Sun of righteousness arise: so that you would also understand the rain as being the watering with the doctrine of truth, because Christ has appeared to the good and the evil, and is preached to the good and the evil. Or whether you choose rather to understand that sun which is set forth before the bodily eyes not only of men, but also of cattle; and that rain by which the fruits are brought forth, which have been given for the refreshment of the body, which I think is the more probable interpretation: so that that spiritual sun does not rise except on the good and holy; for it is this very thing which the wicked bewail in that book which is called the Wisdom of Solomon, And the sun rose not upon us: and that spiritual rain does not water any except the good; for the wicked were meant by the vineyard of which it is said, I will also command my clouds that they rain no rain upon it. But whether you understand the one or the other, it takes place by the great goodness of God, which we are commanded to imitate, if we wish to be the children of God. For who is there so ungrateful as not to feel how great the comfort, so far as this life is concerned, which that visible light and the material rain bring? And this comfort we see bestowed in this life alike upon the righteous and upon sinners in common. But He does not say, who makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good; but He has added the word His, i.e. which He Himself made and established, and for the making of which He took nothing from any one, as it is written in Genesis respecting all the luminaries; and He can properly say that all the things which He has created out of nothing are His own: so that we are hence admonished with how great liberality we ought, according to His precept, to give to our enemies those things which we have not created, but have received from His gifts.
80. But who can either be prepared to bear injuries from the weak, in as far as it is profitable for their salvation; and to choose rather to suffer more injustice from another than to repay what he has suffered; to give to every one that asks anything from him, either what he asks, if it is in his possession, and if it can rightly be given, or good advice, or to manifest a benevolent disposition, and not to turn away from him who desires to borrow; to love his enemies, to do good to those who hate him, to pray for those who persecute him — who, I say, does these things, but the man who is fully and perfectly merciful? And with that counsel misery is avoided, by the assistance of Him who says, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. Blessed, therefore, are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. But now I think it will be more convenient, that at this point the reader, fatigued with so long a volume, should breathe a little, and recruit himself for considering what remains in another book.
|
|
|
|
| Please pray for Bishop Faure |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-28-2021, 07:53 AM - Forum: Appeals for Prayer
- No Replies
|
|
It has been brought to our attention that Bishop Faure is seriously ill with Covid and has been hospitalized in Paris, France.
Please keep him in your prayers.
✠ ✠ ✠
Litany of the Sick
(For Private Devotion)
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven,
Have mercy on us. *
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, *
God the Holy Ghost, *
Holy Trinity, one God, *
Jesus, Who art near to all those who invoke Thee, *
Jesus, Who through mercy helpest all who confide in Thee, *
Jesus, Who didst go to seek and cure the sick, *
Jesus, Who didst stay up the weak and suffering, *
Jesus, Who dost refresh those who labor and are heavily burdened, *
Jesus, Who didst console the stricken hearts, *
Jesus, Who didst raise the dead unto life, *
Jesus, Who didst bear all our pains, *
Be merciful, spare us, O Jesus.
Be merciful, hear us, O Jesus.
From all evil,
Deliver us, O Jesus. **
From all sin, **
From all diseases and infirmities, **
From impatience and despondency, **
From the snares of the devil, **
From a sudden and unprovided death, **
From eternal damnation, **
Through Thy toils and hardships, **
Through Thy affliction and tears, **
Through Thine agony and bloody sweat, **
Through Thy holy wounds, **
Through Thy precious blood, **
Through Thy Passion and cross, **
Through Thy bitter death, **
Through Thy glorious resurrection, **
Through Thy marvellous ascension, **
In the Day of Judgment, **
We, poor sinners, beseech Thee, hear us.
That Thou wouldst spare us,
We beseech Thee, hear us. ***
That Thou wouldst pardon us, ***
That Thou wouldst bring us to true penance, ***
That Thou wouldst give us a contrite heart, ***
That Thou wouldst strengthen us in our weakness, ***
That Thou wouldst preserve us in patience, ***
That Thou wouldst relieve our pains, ***
That Thou wouldst restore us to health of body and soul, ***
That Thou wouldst grant us perseverance in good, ***
That Thou wouldst grant us a happy death, ***
That Thou wouldst receive our spirit into Thy hands, ***
That Thou wouldst preserve us from the fire of purgatory, ***
That Thou wouldst bring us to the joys of heaven, ***
Son of God, ***
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us,
Christ, graciously hear us.
Lord, have mercy on us,
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Our Father (secretly).
V. And lead us not into temptation,
R. But deliver us from evil. Amen.
V. Save, O Lord, Thy servants.
R. Who hope in Thy mercy.
V. Lord, hear our prayer.
R. And let our cry come unto Thee.
Let us Pray:
O Heavenly Father, have mercy on Thy servant, who is sick. Confirm him [her] in faith, strengthen his [her] hope, fill him [her] with the fire of Thy love. Give him [her] enduring patience, that he [she] may victoriously go through the fight and suffer everything for Thy greater glory and the salvation of his [her] soul. Lessen his [her] pains, forgive him [her] his [her] sins, and bring him [her] to life everlasting. Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
|
|
|
|
| Please pray for Fr. Patrick Perez |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-28-2021, 07:47 AM - Forum: Appeals for Prayer
- No Replies
|
|
It has been brought to our attention that Fr. Patrick Perez has died suddenly. He was the pastor of a group of traditional Catholics in Garden Grove, CA.
Please keep him in your prayers.
REQUIEM aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.
|
|
|
|
| Notre Dame Cathedral slammed over rebuild plans turning it into 'woke theme park' |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-28-2021, 07:37 AM - Forum: General Commentary
- No Replies
|
|
Notre Dame Cathedral slammed over rebuild plans turning it into 'woke theme park'
The cathedral was destroyed by fire in 2019
Fox News | November 27, 2021
Critics are bashing the rebuild of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, accusing renovators of turning the 850-year-old church into a "woke theme park."
Under the new plans to rebuild the fire-ravaged church, confessional boxes, altars and several classical sculptures will be replaced by art murals, sound and lighting effects, and room for "emotional spaces," according to the Telegraph.
Visitors will also be able to travel along a "discovery trail" that beams scripture onto the walls in a variety of languages, including Mandarin Chinese.
One of the sanctuaries in the new church will reportedly be dedicated to the environment.
"It's as if Disney were entering Notre Dame," award-winning Paris architect Maurice Culot told the Telegraph. "What they are proposing to do to Notre Dame would never be done to Westminster Abbey or Saint Peter's in Rome. It's a kind of theme park and very childish and trivial given the grandeur of the place."
The Catholic church claims the renovations will make the building accessible and understandable to people all over the world. One critic countered that the renovations will turn the church into a "politically correct Disneyland."
"Can you imagine the administration of the Holy See allowing something like this in the Sistine Chapel?" said a senior source with access to the proposed plans. "It would be unimaginable. We are not in an empty space here.
"This is political correctness gone mad," the source added. "They want to turn Notre Dame into an experimental liturgical showroom that exists nowhere else, whereas it should be a landmark where the slightest change must be handled with great care."
The cathedral was almost completely destroyed by a devastating fire in April of 2019, and hundreds of millions of dollars have been donated to rebuild it. French President Emmanuel Macron has set a goal of 2024 to allow visitors inside.
![[Image: 41845874-10004271-Fortunately_the_cathed...804393.jpg]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/09/18/15/41845874-10004271-Fortunately_the_cathedral_s_stone_ceiling_above_which_the_lead_c-a-2_1631975804393.jpg)
Quote:Our Lady of Paris: The 850-year-old cathedral that survived being sacked in the Revolution to become Europe's most-visited historical monument
Intrigued by tales of Quasimodo, fascinated by the gargoyles, or on a pilgrimage to see the Crown of Thorns said to have rested on Jesus' head on the Cross, more than 13 million people each year flock to see Europe's most popular historic monument.
The 12th century Catholic cathedral is a masterpiece of French Gothic design, with a cavernous vaulted ceiling and some of the largest rose windows on the continent.
It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Paris and its 69m-tall towers were the tallest structures in Paris until the completion of the Eiffel Tower in 1889.
It survived a partial sacking by 16th century zealots and the destruction of many of its treasures during the atheist French Revolution but remains one of the greatest churches in the world and was the scene of Emperor Napoleon's coronation in 1804.
The foundation stone was laid in front of Pope Alexander III in 1163, with building work on the initial structure completed in 1260.
The roof of the nave was constructed with a new technology: the rib vault. The roof of the nave was supported by crossed ribs which divided each vault into compartments, and the use of four-part rather than six-part rib vaults meant the roofs were stronger and could be higher.
After the original structure was completed in the mid 13th century - following the consecration of the High altar in 1182 - flying buttresses had been invented, and were added to spread the weight of the mighty vault.
The original spire was constructed in the 13th century, probably between 1220 and 1230. It was battered, weakened and bent by the wind over five centuries, and finally was removed in 1786.
During a 19th century restoration, following desecration during the Revolution, it was recreated with a new version of oak covered with lead. The entire spire weighed 750 tons.
At the summit of the spire were held three relics; a tiny piece of the Crown of Thorns, located in the treasury of the Cathedral; and relics of Denis and Saint Genevieve, patron saints of Paris. They were placed there in 1935 by the Archibishop Verdier, to protect the congregation from lightning or other harm.
The Crown of Thorns was one of the great relics of medieval Christianity. It was acquired by Louis IX, king of France, in Constantinople in AD 1239 for the price of 135,000 livres - nearly half the annual expenditure of France.
The elaborate reliquary in which just one of the thorns is housed sits in the Cathedral having been moved from the Saint-Chappelle church in Paris. The thorn is mounted on a large sapphire in the centre.
The crown itself is also held in the cathedral, and is usually on view to the public on Good Friday - which comes at the end of this week.
During the 1790s with the country in the grip of atheist Revolution the cathedral was desecrated and much of its religious iconography destroyed. It was rededicated to the Cult of Reason and 28 statues of biblical kings - wrongly believed to by French monarchs - were beheaded. Even the great bells were nearly melted down.
Napoleon returned the cathedral to the Catholic Church and was crowned Emperor there in 1804, but by the middle of the 19th century much of the iconic building.
It wasn't until the publication of Victor Hugo's novel - The Hunchback of Notre Dame - in 1831 that public interest in the building resurfaced and repair works began.
A major restoration project was launched in 1845 and took 25 years to be completed.
Architects Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc won the commission.
By 1944 the cathedral was to be damaged again and during the liberation of Paris, stray bullets caused minor damage to the medieval stained glass.
This would be updated with modern designs.
In 1963 France's Culture Minister, André Malraux, ordered the cleaning of the facade of the cathedral, where 800 years worth of soot and grime were removed.
Notre Dame has a crypt, called the Crypte archéologique de l'île de la Cité, where old architectural ruins are stored. They span from the times of the earliest settlement in Paris to present day.
The cathedral has 10 bells, the heaviest bell - known as the boudon and weighing 13 tonnes - is called Emmanuel and has been rung to mark many historical events throughout time.
At the end of the First and Second World Wars the bell was rung to mark the end of the conflicts.
It is also rung to signify poignant events such as French heads of state dying or following horrific events such as the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001.
The three stained glass rose windows are the most famous features of the cathedral. They were created in the Gothic style between 1225 and 1270.
While most of the original glass is long gone, some remains in the south rose which dates back to the last quarter of the 12th century.
The rest of the windows were restored in the 18th century.
The south rose is made up of 94 medallions which are arranged in four concentric circles.
They portray scenes from the life of Christ and those who knew him - with the inner circle showing the 12 apostles in it 12 medallions.
During the French Revolution rioters set fire to the residence of the archbishop, which was around the side of the cathedral, and the south rose was damaged.
One of the cathedral's first organs was built in 1403 by Friedrich Schambantz but was replaced in the 18th century before being remade using the pipe work from former instruments.
The Cathedral is also home to a Catholic relic said to be a single thorn from the crown of thorns worn by Jesus on the cross.
|
|
|
|
| Short Poem of St. Ambrose on Advent |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-27-2021, 08:26 AM - Forum: Advent
- Replies (1)
|
|
This beautiful poem by St. Ambrose speaks eloquently of “Thy cradle here shall glitter bright, and darkness breathe a newer light.”
O COME, Redeemer of the earth, and manifest thy virgin-birth.
Let every age in wonder fall: such birth befits the God of all.
Begotten of no human will but of the Spirit, Thou art still the Word of God in flesh arrayed, the promised fruit to man displayed.
The Virgin’s womb that burden gained, its virgin honor still unstained.
The banners there of virtue glow; God in his temple dwells below.
Proceeding from His chamber free that royal home of purity a giant in twofold substance one, rejoicing now His course to run.
O equal to the Father, Thou! gird on Thy fleshly mantle now; the weakness of our mortal state with deathless might invigorate.
Thy cradle here shall glitter bright, and darkness breathe a newer light where endless faith shall shine serene and twilight never intervene.
All praise, eternal Son, to Thee, whose advent sets Thy people free, whom, with the Father, we adore, and Holy Ghost, for evermore. Amen.
|
|
|
|
| St. Augustine: Concerning Faith of Things Not Seen |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-27-2021, 08:19 AM - Forum: Fathers of the Church
- No Replies
|
|
St. Augustine: Concerning Faith of Things Not Seen
Taken from here.
![[Image: ?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gantshillurc.co.uk%2...f=1&nofb=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gantshillurc.co.uk%2Fuploads%2F1%2F2%2F5%2F1%2F125104906%2F337273290_orig.JPG&f=1&nofb=1)
De fide rerum quæ non videntur
This tract was thought spurious by some, but is known to be St. Augustine's by his mention of it in Epistle 231 ad Darium Comitem. It seems to have been written after 399, from what is said about Idols, § 10; for in that year Honorius enacted laws against them.— From Bened. Ed.
1. There are those who think that the Christian religion is what we should smile at rather than hold fast, for this reason, that, in it, not what may be seen, is shown, but men are commanded faith of things which are not seen. We therefore, that we may refute these, who seem to themselves through prudence to be unwilling to believe what they cannot see, although we are not able to show unto human sight those divine things which we believe, yet do show unto human minds that even those things which are not seen are to be believed. And first they are to be admonished, (whom folly has so made subject to their carnal eyes, as that, whatsoever they see not through them, they think not that they are to believe,) how many things they not only believe but also know, which cannot be seen by such eyes. Which things being without number in our mind itself, (the nature of which mind is incapable of being seen,) not to mention others, the very faith whereby we believe, or the thought whereby we know that we either believe anything, or believe not, being as it is altogether alien from the sight of those eyes; what so naked, so clear, what so certain is there to the inner eyes of our minds? How then are we not to believe what we see not with the eyes of the body, whereas, either that we believe, or that we believe not, in a case where we cannot apply the eyes of the body, we without any doubt see?
2. But, say they, those things which are in the mind, in that we can by the mind itself discern them, we have no need to know through the eyes of the body; but those things, which you say unto us that we should believe, you neither point to without, that through the eyes of the body we may know them; nor are they within, in our own mind, that by exercising thought we may see them. And these things they so say, as though any one would be bidden to believe, if that, which is believed, he could already see set before him. Therefore certainly ought we to believe certain temporal things also, which we see not, that we may merit to see eternal things also, which we believe. But, whosoever you are who will not believe save what you see, lo, bodies that are present you see with the eyes of the body, wills and thoughts of your own that are present, because they are in your own mind, you see by the mind itself; tell me, I pray you, your friend's will towards you by what eyes do you see? For no will can be seen by the eyes of the body. What? See you in your own mind this also which is going on in the mind of another? But if you see it not, how do you repay in turn the good will of your friend, if what you cannot see, you believe not? Will you haply say that you see the will of another through his works? Therefore you will see acts, and hear words, but concerning your friend's will, that which cannot be seen and heard you will believe. For that will is not color or figure, so as to be thrown upon the eyes; or sound or strain, so as to glide into the ears; nor indeed is it your own, so as to be perceived by the motion of your own heart. It remains therefore that, being neither seen, nor heard, nor beheld within yourself, it be believed, that your life be not left deserted without any friendship, or affection bestowed upon you be not repaid by you in return. Where then is that which you said, that you ought not to believe, save what you saw either outwardly in the body, or inwardly in the heart? Lo, out of your own heart, you believe an heart not your own; and lendest your faith, where you do not direct the glance of your body or of your mind. Your friend's face you discern by your own body, your own faith you discern by your own mind; but your friend's faith is not loved by you, unless there be in you in return that faith, whereby you may believe that which in him you see not. Although a man may also deceive by feigning good will, and hiding malice: or, if he have no thought to do harm, yet by expecting some benefit from you, feigns, because he has not, love.
3. But you say, that you therefore believe your friend, whose heart you cannot see, because you have proved him in your trials, and have come to know of what manner of spirit he was towards you in your dangers, wherein he deserted you not. Seems it therefore to you that we must wish for our own affliction, that our friend's love towards us may be proved? And shall no man be happy in most sure friends, unless he shall be unhappy through adversity? So that, forsooth, he enjoy not the tried love of the other, unless he be racked by pain and fear of his own? And how in the having of true friends can that happiness be wished for, and not rather feared, which nothing save unhappiness can put to the proof? And yet it is true that a friend may be had also in prosperity, but proved more surely in adversity. But assuredly in order to prove him, neither would you commit yourself to dangers of your own, unless you believed; and thus, when you commit yourself in order to prove, you believe before you prove. For surely, if we ought not to believe things not seen, since indeed we believe the hearts of our friends, and that, not yet surely proved; and, after we shall have proved them good by our own ills, even then we believe rather than see their good will towards us: except that so great is faith, that, not unsuitably, we judge that we see, with certain eyes of it, that which we believe, whereas we ought therefore to believe, because we cannot see.
4. If this faith be taken away from human affairs, who but must observe how great disorder in them, and how fearful confusion must follow? For who will be loved by any with mutual affection, (being that the loving itself is invisible,) if what I see not, I ought not to believe? Therefore will the whole of friendship perish, in that it consists not save of mutual love. For what of it will it be able to receive from any, if nothing of it shall be believed to be shown? Further, friendship perishing, there will be preserved in the mind the bonds neither of marriages, nor of kindreds and relations; because in these also there is assuredly a friendly union of sentiment. Spouse therefore will not be able to love spouse in turn, inasmuch as each believes not the other's love, because the love itself cannot be seen. Nor will they long to have sons, who they believe not will make them a return. And if these be born and grow up, much less will the parents themselves love their own children, whose love towards themselves in those children's hearts they will not see, it being invisible; if it be not praiseworthy faith, but blameable rashness, to believe those things which are not seen. Why should I now speak of the other connections, of brothers, sisters, sons-in-law, and fathers-in-law, and of them who are joined together by any kindred or affinity, if love is uncertain, and the will suspected, that of parents by sons, and that of sons by parents, while due benevolence is not rendered; because neither is it thought to be due, that which is not seen in another not being thought to exist. Further, if this caution be not a mark of ability, but be hateful, wherein we believe not that we are loved, because we see not the love of them who love, and repay not them, unto whom we think not that we owe a return; to that degree are human affairs thrown into disorder, if what we see not we believe not, as to be altogether and utterly overthrown, if we believe no wills of men, which assuredly we cannot see. I omit to mention in how many things they, who find fault with us because we believe what we see not, believe report or history; or concerning places where they have not themselves been; and say not, we believe not, because we have not seen. Since if they say this, they are obliged to confess that their own parents are not surely known to them: because on this point also they have believed the accounts of others telling of it, who yet are unable to show it, because it is a thing already past; retaining themselves no sense of that time, and yet yielding assent without any doubting to others speaking of that time: and unless this be done, there must of necessity be incurred a faithless impiety towards parents, while we are, as it were, showing a rashness of belief in those things which we cannot see. Since therefore, if we believe not those things which we cannot see, human society itself, through concord perishing, will not stand how much more is faith to be applied to divine things, although they be not seen; failing the application of which, it is not the friendship of some men or other, but the very chiefest bond of piety that is violated, so as for the chiefest misery to follow.
5. But you will say, the good will of a friend towards me, although I cannot see it, yet can I trace it out by many proofs; but you, what things you will us to believe not being seen, you have no proofs whereby to show them. In the mean time it is no slight thing, that you confess that by reason of the clearness of certain proofs, some things, even such as are not seen, ought to be believed: for even thus it is agreed, that not all things which are not seen, are not to be believed; and that saying, that we ought not to believe things which we see not, falls to the ground, cast away, and refuted. But they are much deceived, who think that we believe in Christ without any proofs concerning Christ. For what are there clearer proofs than those things, which we now see to have been foretold and fulfilled? Wherefore do ye, who think that there are no proofs why ye ought to believe concerning Christ those things which you have not seen, give heed to what things ye see. The Church herself addresses you out of the mouth of a mother's love: I, whom you view with wonder throughout the whole world, bearing fruit and increasing, was not once such as you now behold me. But, In your Seed shall all nations be blessed. When God blessed Abraham, He gave the promise of me; for throughout all nations in the blessing of Christ am I shed abroad. That Christ is the Seed of Abraham, the order of successive generations bears witness. Shortly to sum up which, Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, Jacob begot twelve sons, of whom sprung the people Israel. For Jacob himself was called Israel. Among these twelve sons he begot Judah, whence the Jews have their name, of whom was born the Virgin Mary, who bore Christ. And, lo, in Christ, that is, in the seed of Abraham, that all the nations are blessed, you see and are amazed: and do ye still fear to believe in Him, in Whom ye ought rather to have feared not to believe? What? doubt ye, or refuse ye to believe, the travail of a Virgin, whereas ye ought rather to believe that it was fitting that so God should be born Man. For this also receive ye to have been foretold by the Prophet; Behold, a Virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His Name Emmanuel, which is, being interpreted, God with us. You will not therefore doubt of a Virgin bringing forth, if you be willing to believe of a God being born; leaving not the governance of the world, and coming unto men in the flesh; unto His Mother bringing fruitfulness, not taking away maidenhood. For thus behooved it that He should be born as Man, albeit He was ever God, by which birth He might become a God unto us. Hence again the Prophet says concerning Him, Your Throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of right, the sceptre of Your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows. This anointing is spiritual, wherewith God anointed God, the Father, that is, the Son: whence called from the Chrism, that is, from the anointing, we know Him as Christ. I am the Church, concerning whom it is said to Him in the same Psalm, and what was future foretold as already done; There stood at Your right hand the Queen, in a vesture of gold, in raiment of various colors; that is, in the mystery of wisdom, adorned with various tongues. There it said to me, Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your own people and your father's house: for the King has desired your beauty: seeing that He is the Lord your God: and the daughters of Tyre shall worship Him with gifts, your face shall all the rich of the people entreat. All the glory of that King's daughter is within, in fringes of gold, with raiment of various colors. There shall be brought unto the King the maidens after her; her companions shall be brought unto You. They shall be brought with joy and gladness, they shall be brought into the Temple of the King. Instead of your fathers, there are born unto you sons, you shall set them as princes over the whole earth. They shall be mindful of your name, even from generation to generation. Therefore shall the people confess unto you for ever, and for ever and ever.
6. If this Queen ye see not, now rich also with royal progeny. If she see not that fulfilled which she heard to have been promised, she, unto whom it was said, Hear, O daughter, and see. If she has not left the ancient rites of the world, she, unto whom it was said, Forget your own people and your Father's house. If she confesses not every where Christ the Lord, she, unto whom it was said, The King has desired your beauty, for He is the Lord your God. If she sees not the cities of the nations pour forth prayers and offer gifts unto Christ, concerning Whom it was said to her, There shall worship Him the daughters of Tyre with gifts. If the pride also of the rich is not laid aside, and they do not entreat help of the Church, unto whom it was said, Your face shall all the rich of the people entreat. If He acknowledges not the King's daughter, unto Whom she was bidden to say, Our Father Who art in Heaven; and in her saints in the inner man she is not renewed from day to day, concerning whom it was said, All the glory of that King's daughter is within: although she strike upon the eyes of them also that are without with the blaze of the fame of her preachers, in diversity of tongues, as in fringes of gold, and raiment of various colors. If there be not, now that His fame is spread abroad in every place by His good odor, virgins also brought unto Christ to be consecrated, of Whom it is said, and to Whom it is said, There shall be brought unto the King the virgins after her, her companions shall be brought unto You. And that they might not seem to be brought like captives, into some, as it were, prison, he says, They shall be brought in joy and gladness, they shall be brought into the King's temple. If she brings not forth sons, that of them she may have, as it were, fathers, whom she may appoint unto herself every where as rulers, she, unto whom it is said, Instead of your fathers there are born unto you sons, you shall set them as princes over the whole earth: unto whose prayers their mother both preferred and made subject, commends herself, They shall be mindful of your name, even from generation to generation. If, by reason of the preaching of those same fathers, wherein they have without ceasing made mention of her name, there are not so great multitudes in her gathered together, and without end in their own tongues unto her confess the praise of grace, unto whom it is said, Therefore shall the people confess unto you for ever, and for ever and ever. If these things are not so shown to be clear, as that the eyes of enemies find not in what direction to turn aside, where the same clearness strikes them not, so as by it to be obliged to confess what is evident: you perhaps assert with reason, that no proofs are shown to you, by seeing which you may believe those things also which you see not. But if those things, which you see, both have been foretold long before, and are so clearly fulfilled; if the truth itself makes itself clear to you, by effects going before and following after, O remnant of unbelief, that you may believe the things which you see not, blush at those things which you see.
7. Give heed unto me, the Church says unto you; give heed unto me, whom you see, although to see ye be unwilling. For the faithful, who were in those times in the land of Judæa, were present at, and learned as present, Christ's wonderful birth of a virgin, and His passion, resurrection, ascension; all His divine words and deeds. These things you have not seen, and therefore ye refuse to believe. Therefore behold these things, fix your eyes on these things, these things which you see reflect on, which are not told you as things past, nor foretold you as things future, but are shown you as things present. What? Seems it to you a vain or a light thing. and think you it to be none, or a little, divine miracle, that in the name of One Crucified the whole human race runs? You saw not what was foretold and fulfilled concerning the human birth of Christ, Behold, a Virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bear a Son; but you see the Word of God which was foretold and fulfilled unto Abraham, In your seed shall all nations be blessed. You saw not what was foretold concerning the wonderful works of Christ, Come ye, and see the works of the Lord, what wonders He has set upon the earth: but you see that which was foretold, The Lord said to Me, My Son are You, I have this day begotten You; demand of Me and I will give You nations as Your inheritance, and as Your possession the bounds of the earth. You saw not that which was foretold and fulfilled concerning the Passion of Christ, They pierced My hands and My feet, they numbered all My bones; but they themselves regarded and beheld Me; they divided among them My garments, and upon My vesture they cast the lot; but you see that which was in the same Psalm foretold, and now is clearly fulfilled; All the ends of the earth shall remember and be turned unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship in His sight; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and He shall rule over the nations. You saw not what was foretold and fulfilled concerning the Resurrection of Christ, the Psalm speaking, in His Person, first concerning His betrayer and persecutors: They went forth out of doors, and spoke together: against Me whispered all My enemies, against Me thought they evil for Me; they set in order an unrighteous word against Me. Where, to show that they availed nothing by slaying Him Who was about to rise again, He adds and says; What? Will not He, that sleeps, add this, that He rise again? And a little after, when He had foretold, by means of the same prophecy, concerning His betrayer himself, that which is written in the Gospel also, He that did eat of My bread, enlarged his heel upon Me, that is, trampled Me under foot: He straightway added, But do Thou, O Lord, have mercy upon Me, and raise me up again, and I shall repay them. This was fulfilled, Christ slept and awoke, that is, rose again: Who through the same prophecy in another Psalm says, I slept and took my rest; and I rose again, for the Lord will uphold Me. But this ye saw not, but you see His Church, concerning whom it is written in like manner, and fulfilled, O Lord My God, the nations shall come unto You from the extremity of the earth and shall say, Truly our fathers worshipped lying images, and there is not in them any profit. This certainly, whether you want to or not, you behold; even although ye yet believe, that there either is, or was, in those idols some profit; yet certainly unnumbered peoples of the nations, after having left, or cast away, or broken in pieces such like vanities, you have heard say, Truly our fathers worshipped lying images, and there is not in them any profit; shall a man make gods, and, lo, they are no gods? Nor think that it was foretold that the nations should come unto some one place of God, in that it was said, Unto You shall the nations come from the extremity of the earth. Understand, if you can, that unto the God of the Christians, Who is the Supreme and True God, the peoples of the nations come, not by walking but by believing. For the same thing was by another prophet thus foretold, The Lord, says he, shall prevail against them, and shall utterly destroy all the gods of the nations of the earth: and all the isles of the nations shall worship Him, each man from his place. Whereas the one says, Unto You all nations shall come; this the other says, They shall worship Him, each man from his place. Therefore they shall come unto Him, not departing from their own place, because believing in Him they shall find Him in their hearts. You saw not what was foretold and fulfilled concerning the ascension of Christ; Be exalted above the Heavens, O God; but you see what follows immediately after, And above all the earth Your Glory. Those things concerning Christ already done and past, all of them you have not seen; but these things present in His Church ye deny not that you see. Both things we point out to you as foretold; but the fulfillment of both we are therefore unable to point out for you to see, because we cannot bring back into sight things past.
8. But as the wills of friends, which are not seen, are believed through tokens which are seen; thus the Church, which is now seen, is, of all things which are not seen, but which are shown forth in those writings wherein itself also is foretold, an index of the past, and a herald of the future. Because both things past, which cannot now be seen, and things present which cannot be seen all of them, at the time at which they were foretold, no one of these could then be seen. Therefore, since they have begun to come to pass as they were foretold, from those things which have come to pass unto those which are coming to pass, those things which were foretold concerning Christ and the Church have run on in an ordered series: unto which series these pertain concerning the day of Judgment, concerning the resurrection of the dead, concerning the eternal damnation of the ungodly with the devil, and concerning the eternal recompense of the godly with Christ, things which, foretold in like manner, are yet to come. Why therefore should we not believe the first and the last things which we see not, when we have, as witnesses of both, the things between, which we see, and in the books of the Prophets either hear or read both the first things, and the things between, and the last things, foretold before they came to pass? Unless haply unbelieving men judge those things to have been written by Christians, in order that those things which they already believed might have greater weight of authority, if they should be thought to have been promised before they came.
9. If they suspect this, let them examine carefully the copies of our enemies the Jews. There let them read those things of which we have made mention, foretold concerning Christ in Whom we believe, and the Church whom we discern from the toilsome beginning of faith even unto the eternal blessedness of the kingdom. But, while they read, let them not wonder that they, whose are the books, understand not by reason of the darkness of enmity. For that they would not understand was foretold beforehand by the same Prophets; which it behooved should be fulfilled in like manner as the rest, and that by the secret and just judgment of God due punishment should be rendered to their deserts. He indeed, Whom they crucified, and unto Whom they gave gall and vinegar, although when hanging upon the Tree, by reason of those whom He had been about to lead forth from darkness into light, He said to the Father, Forgive them, for they know not what they do; yet by reason of those whom through more hidden causes He had been about to desert, by the Prophet so long before foretold, They gave Me gall for My meat, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink; let their table become a snare before them, and a recompense, and a stumbling-block: let their eyes be darkened that they see not, and ever bow down their back. Thus, having with them the clearest testimonies of our cause, they walk round about with eyes darkened, that by their means those testimonies may be proved, wherein they themselves are disapproved. Therefore was it brought to pass, that they should not be so blotted out, as that this same sect should altogether exist not: but it was scattered abroad upon the earth, in order that, carrying with it the prophecies of the grace conferred upon us, more surely to convince unbelievers, it might every where profit us. And this very thing which I assert, receive ye after what manner it was prophesied of: Slay them not, says He, lest at any time they forget Your law, but scatter them abroad in Your might. Therefore they were not slain, in that they forgot not those things which were read and heard among them. For if they were altogether to forget, albeit they understand not, the Holy Scriptures, they would be slain in the Jewish ritual itself; because, when the Jews should know nothing of the Law and of the Prophets, they would be unable to profit us. Therefore they were not slain, but scattered abroad; in order that, although they should not have in faith, whence they might be saved; yet they should retain in their memory, whence we might be helped; in their books our supporters, in their hearts our enemies, in their copies our witnesses.
10. Although, even if there went before no testimonies concerning Christ and the Church, whom ought it not to move unto belief, that the Divine brightness has on a sudden shone on the human race, when we see, (the false gods now abandoned, and their images every where broken in pieces, their temples overthrown or changed into other uses, and so many vain rites plucked out by the roots from the most inveterate usage of men,) the One True God invoked by all? And that this has been brought to pass-by One Man, by men mocked, seized, bound, scourged, smitten with the palms of the hand, reviled, crucified, slain: His disciples, (whom He chose common men, and unlearned, and fishermen, and publicans, that by their means His teaching might be set forth,) proclaiming His Resurrection, His Ascension, which they asserted that they had seen, and being filled with the Holy Ghost, sounded forth this Gospel, in all tongues which they had not learned. And of them who heard them, part believed, part, believing not, fiercely withstood them who preached. Thus while they were faithful even unto death for the truth, strove not by returning evil, but by enduring, overcame not by killing, but by dying; thus was the world changed unto this religion, thus unto this Gospel were the hearts of mortals turned, of men and women, of small and great, of learned and unlearned, of wise and foolish, of mighty and weak, of noble and ignoble, of high and low, and, throughout all nations the Church shed abroad so increased, that even against the Catholic faith itself there arises not any perverse sect, any kind of error, which is found so to oppose itself to Christian truth, as that it affect not and go not about to glory in the name of Christ: which very error would not be suffered to spring up throughout the earth, were it not that the very gainsaying exercised an wholesome discipline. How would The Crucified have availed so greatly, had He not been God that took upon Him Man, even if He had through the Prophet foretold no such things to come? But when now this so great mystery of godliness has had its prophets and heralds going before, by whose divine voices it was before proclaimed; and when it has come in such manner as it was before proclaimed, who is there so mad as to assert that the Apostles lied concerning Christ, of Whom they preached that He had come in such manner as the Prophets foretold afore that He should come, which Prophets were not silent as to true things to come concerning the Apostles themselves? For concerning these they had said, There is neither speech nor language, whereof their voices are not heard; their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. And this at any rate we see fulfilled in the world, although we have not yet seen Christ in the flesh. Who therefore, unless blinded by amazing madness, or hard and steeled by amazing obstinacy, would be unwilling to put faith in the sacred Scriptures, which have foretold the faith of the whole world?
11. But you, beloved, who possess this faith, or who have begun now newly to have it, let it be nourished and increase in you. For as things temporal have come, so long before foretold, so will things eternal also come, which are promised. Nor let them deceive you, either the vain heathen, or the false Jews, or the deceitful heretics, or also within the Catholic (Church) itself evil Christians, enemies by so much the more hurtful, as they are the more within us. For, lest on this subject also the weak should be troubled, divine prophecy has not been silent, where in the Song of Songs the Bridegroom speaking unto the Bride, that is, Christ the Lord unto the Church, says, As a lily in the midst of thorns, so is my best Beloved in the midst of the daughters. He said not, in the midst of them that are without; but, in the midst of daughters. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear: and while the net which is cast into the sea, and gathers together all kinds of fishes, as says the holy Gospel, is being drawn unto the shore, that is, unto the end of the world, let him separate himself from the evil fishes, in heart, not in body; by changing evil habits, not by breaking sacred nets; lest they who now seem being approved to be mingled with the reprobate, find, not life, but punishment everlasting, when they shall begin on the shore to be separated.
|
|
|
|
| St. Ambrose: On the Mysteries |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-27-2021, 08:12 AM - Forum: Fathers of the Church
- No Replies
|
|
St. Ambrose: On the Mysteries
Introduction.
The writer explains in the commencement of this treatise that his object was to set forth, for the benefit of those about to be baptized, the rites and meaning of that Sacrament, as well as of Confirmation and the Holy Eucharist. For all these matters were treated with the greatest reserve in the Early Church, for fear of profanation by the heathen, and it was the custom, as in the case of the well-known Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, to explain them to the catechumens during the latter part of Lent.
Treatises of this kind possess therefore a special interest, as in them we find clearly stated the full teaching of the Church at the time when those addresses which have come down to our times were drawn up.
St. Ambrose goes through and explains the greater part, first of the rites usual at the time of solemn baptism, pointing out the deep truths and mysteries underlying these outward things. He then treats Confirmation, referring to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit; and lastly, speaks of the Holy Eucharist, especially setting forth the doctrine of the Real Presence.
Some writers in and since the sixteenth century have endeavoured to prove that this treatise has been falsely attributed to St. Ambrose, but there can be no real doubt on the matter, as is conclusively shown by the Benedictine Editors, and now universally admitted. The treatise was composed for use during Lent, but in what year cannot be fixed, possibly, from reference made to the treatise De Patriarchis, about a.d. 387.
Chapter 1
St. Ambrose states that after the explanations he has already given of holy living, he will now explain the Mysteries. Then after giving his reasons for not having done so before, he explains the mystery of the opening of the ears, and shows how this was of old done by Christ Himself.
1. We have spoken daily upon subjects connected with morals, when the deeds of the Patriarchs or the precepts of the Proverbs were being read, in order that being taught and instructed by these you might grow accustomed to enter the ways of the ancients and to walk in their paths, and obey the divine commands; in order that being renewed by baptism you might hold to that manner of life which beseems those who are washed.
2. The season now warns us to speak of the Mysteries, and to set forth the purport of the sacraments, which if we had thought it well to teach before baptism to those who were not yet initiated, we should be considered rather to have betrayed than to have portrayed the Mysteries. And then, too, another reason is that the light itself of the Mysteries will shed itself with more effect upon those who are expecting they know not what, than if any discourse had come beforehand.
3. Open, then, your ears, inhale the good savour of eternal life which has been breathed upon you by the grace of the sacraments; which was signified to you by us, when, celebrating the mystery of the opening, we said, Epphatha, which is, Be opened, Mark 7:34 that whosoever was coming in quest of peace might know what he was asked, and be bound to remember what he answered.
4. Christ made use of this mystery in the Gospel, as we read, when He healed him who was deaf and dumb. But He touched the mouth, because he who was healed was dumb and was a man, as regards one point that he might open his mouth with the sound of the voice given to him; as regards the other point because that touch was seemly towards a man, but would have been unseemly towards a woman.
Chapter 2
What those who were to be initiated promised on entering the Church, of the witnesses to these promises, and wherefore they then turned themselves to the East.
5. After this the Holy of holies was opened to you, you entered the sanctuary of regeneration; recall what you were asked, and remember what you answered. You renounced the devil and his works, the world with its luxury and pleasures. That utterance of yours is preserved not in the tombs of the dead, but in the book of the living.
6. You saw there the deacon, you saw the priest, you saw the chief priest [i.e. the bishop]. Consider not the bodily forms, but the grace of the Mysteries. You spoke in the presence of the angels, as it is written: For the priest's lips keep knowledge, and they seek the law at his mouth, for he is the angel of the Lord Almighty. Malachi 2:7 There is no place for deception nor for denial. He is an angel who proclaims the kingdom of Christ and eternal life. He is to be esteemed by you not according to his appearance, but according to his office. Consider what he delivered, reflect upon the rule of life he gave you, recognize his position.
7. You entered, then, that you might discern your adversary, whom you were to renounce as it were to his face, then you turned to the east; for he who renounces the devil turns to Christ, and beholds Him face to face.
Chapter 3
St. Ambrose points out that we must consider the divine presence and working in the water and the sacred ministers, and then brings forward many Old Testament figures of baptism.
8. What did you see? Water, certainly, but not water alone; you saw the deacons ministering there, and the bishop asking questions and hallowing. First of all, the Apostle taught you that those things are not to be considered which we see, but the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 1 Corinthians 5:18 For you read elsewhere: That the invisible things of God, since the creation of the world, are understood through those things which have been made; His eternal power also and Godhead are estimated by His works. Romans 1:20 Wherefore also the Lord Himself says: If you believe not Me, believe at least the works. John 10:38 Believe, then, that the presence of the Godhead is there. Do you believe the working, and not believe the presence? Whence should the working proceed unless the presence went before?
9. Consider, however, how ancient is the mystery prefigured even in the origin of the world itself. In the very beginning, when God made the heaven and the earth, the Spirit, it is said, moved upon the waters. Genesis 1:2 He Who was moving upon the waters, was He not working upon the waters? But why should I say, working? As regards His presence He was moving. Was He not working Who was moving? Recognize that He was working in that making of the world, when the prophet says: By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all their strength by the spirit of His mouth. Each statement rests upon the testimony of the prophet, both that He was moving and that He was working. Moses says that He was moving, David testifies that he was working.
10. Take another testimony. All flesh was corrupt by its iniquities. My Spirit, says God, shall not remain among men, because they are flesh. Genesis 6:3 Whereby God shows that the grace of the Spirit is turned away by carnal impurity and the pollution of grave sin. Upon which, God, willing to restore what was lacking, sent the flood and bade just Noah go up into the ark. And he, after having, as the flood was passing off, sent forth first a raven which did not return, sent forth a dove which is said to have returned with an olive twig. You see the water, you see the wood [of the ark], you see the dove, and do you hesitate as to the mystery?
11. The water, then, is that in which the flesh is dipped, that all carnal sin may be washed away. All wickedness is there buried. The wood is that on which the Lord Jesus was fastened when He suffered for us. The dove is that in the form of which the Holy Spirit descended, as you have read in the New Testament, Who inspires in you peace of soul and tranquillity of mind. The raven is the figure of sin, which goes forth and does not return, if, in you, too, inwardly and outwardly righteousness be preserved.
12. There is also a third testimony, as the Apostle teaches us: For all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 And further, Moses himself says in his song: You sent Your Spirit, and the sea covered them. Exodus 15:10 You observe that even then holy baptism was prefigured in that passage of the Hebrews, wherein the Egyptian perished, the Hebrew escaped. For what else are we daily taught in this sacrament but that guilt is swallowed up and error done away, but that virtue and innocence remain unharmed?
13. You hear that our fathers were under the cloud, and that a kindly cloud, which cooled the heat of carnal passions. That kindly cloud overshadows those whom the Holy Spirit visits. At last it came upon the Virgin Mary, and the Power of the Highest overshadowed her, Luke 1:35 when she conceived Redemption for the race of men. And that miracle was wrought in a figure through Moses. If, then, the Spirit was in the figure, is He not present in the reality, since Scripture says to us: For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. John 1:17
14. Marah was a fountain of most bitter water: Moses cast wood into it and it became sweet. For water without the preaching of the Cross of the Lord is of no avail for future salvation, but, after it has been consecrated by the mystery of the saving cross, it is made suitable for the use of the spiritual laver and of the cup of salvation. As, then, Moses, that is, the prophet, cast wood into that fountain, so, too, the priest utters over this font the proclamation of the Lord's cross, and the water is made sweet for the purpose of grace.
15. You must not trust, then, wholly to your bodily eyes; that which is not seen is more really seen, for the object of sight is temporal, but that other eternal, which is not apprehended by the eye, but is discerned by the mind and spirit.
16. Lastly, let the lessons lately gone through from the Kings teach you. Naaman was a Syrian, and suffered from leprosy, nor could he be cleansed by any. Then a maiden from among the captives said that there was a prophet in Israel, who could cleanse him from the defilement of the leprosy. And it is said that, having taken silver and gold, he went to the king of Israel. And he, when he heard the cause of his coming, rent his clothes, saying, that occasion was rather being sought against him, since things were asked of him which pertained not to the power of kings. Elisha, however, sent word to the king, that he should send the Syrian to him, that he might know there was a God in Israel. And when he had come, he bade him dip himself seven times in the river Jordan.
17. Then he began to reason with himself that he had better waters in his own country, in which he had often bathed and never been cleansed of his leprosy; and so remembering this, he did not obey the command of the prophet, yet on the advice and persuasion of his servants he yielded and dipped himself. And being immediately cleansed, he understood that it is not of the waters but of grace that a man is cleansed.
18. Understand now who is that young maid among the captives. She is the congregation gathered out of the Gentiles, that is, the Church of God held down of old by the captivity of sin, when as yet it possessed not the liberty of grace, by whose counsel that foolish people of the Gentiles heard the word of prophecy as to which it had before been in doubt. Afterwards, however, when they believed that it ought to be obeyed, they were washed from every defilement of sin. And he indeed doubted before he was healed; you are already healed, and therefore ought not to doubt.
Chapter 4
That water does not cleanse without the Spirit is shown by the witness of John and by the very form of the administration of the sacrament. And this is also declared to be signified by the pool in the Gospel and the man who was there healed. In the same passage, too, is shown that the Holy Spirit truly descended on Christ at His baptism, and the meaning of this mystery is explained.
19. The reason why you were told before not to believe only what you saw was that you might not say perchance, This is that great mystery which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man. 1 Corinthians 2:9 I see water, which I have been used to see every day. Is that water to cleanse me now in which I have so often bathed without ever being cleansed? By this you may recognize that water does not cleanse without the Spirit.
20. Therefore read that the three witnesses in baptism, the water, the blood, and the Spirit, 1 John 5:7 are one, for if you take away one of these, the Sacrament of Baptism does not exist. For what is water without the cross of Christ? A common element, without any sacramental effect. Nor, again, is there the Sacrament of Regeneration without water: For except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3:5 Now, even the catechumen believes in the cross of the Lord Jesus, wherewith he too is signed; but unless he be baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, he cannot receive remission of sins nor gain the gift of spiritual grace.
21. So that Syrian dipped himself seven times under the law, but you were baptized in the Name of the Trinity, you confessed the Father. Call to mind what you did: you confessed the Son, you confessed the Holy Spirit. Mark well the order of things in this faith: you died to the world, and rose again to God. And as though buried to the world in that element, being dead to sin, you rose again to eternal life. Believe, therefore, that these waters are not void of power.
22. Therefore it is said: An angel of the Lord went down according to the season into the pool, and the water was troubled; and he who first after the troubling of the water went down into the pool was healed of whatsoever disease he was holden. John 5:4 This pool was at Jerusalem, in which one was healed every year, but no one was healed before the angel had descended. Because of those who believed not the water was troubled as a sign that the angel had descended. They had a sign, you have faith; for them an angel descended, for you the Holy Spirit; for them the creature was troubled, for you Christ Himself, the Lord of the creature, works.
23. Then one was healed, now all are made whole; or more exactly, the Christian people alone, for in some even the water is deceitful. Jeremiah 15:18 The baptism of unbelievers heals not but pollutes. The Jew washes pots and cups, as though things without sense were capable of guilt or grace. But do you wash this living cup of yours, that in it your good works may shine and the glory of your grace be bright. For that pool was as a type, that you might believe that the power of God descends upon this font.
24. Lastly, that paralytic was waiting for a man. And what man save the Lord Jesus, born of the Virgin, at Whose coming no longer the shadow should heal men one by one, but the truth should heal the whole. He it is, then, Whose coming down was being waited for, of Whom the Father said to John the Baptist: Upon Whom you shall see the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, this is He Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. John 1:33 And John bore witness of Him, and said: I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and abiding upon Him. John 1:32 And why did the Spirit descend like a dove, but in order that you might see, that you might acknowledge, that that dove also which just Noah sent forth from the ark was a likeness of this dove, that you might recognize the type of the sacrament?
25. Perhaps you may object: Since that was a real dove which was sent forth, and the Spirit descended like a dove, how is it that we say that the likeness was there and the reality here, whereas in the Greek it is written that the Spirit descended in the likeness of a dove? But what is so real as the Godhead which abides for ever? Now the creature cannot be the reality, but only a likeness, which is easily destroyed and changed. So, again, because the simplicity of those who are baptized ought to be not in appearance but in reality, and the Lord says: Be wise as serpents and simple as doves. Matthew 10:16 Rightly, then, did He descend like a dove, in order to admonish us that we ought to have the simplicity of the dove. And further we read of the likeness being put for the reality, both as regards Christ: And was found in likeness as a man; Philippians 2:8 and as regards God the Father: Nor have you seen His likeness. John 5:37
Chapter 5
Christ is Himself present in Baptism, so that we need not consider the person of His ministers. A brief explanation of the confession of the Trinity as usually uttered by those about to be baptized.
26. Is there, then, here any room left for doubt, when the Father clearly calls from heaven in the Gospel narrative, and says: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased? Matthew 3:17 When the Son also speaks, upon Whom the Holy Spirit showed Himself in the likeness of a dove? When the Holy Spirit also speaks, Who came down in the likeness of a dove? When David, too, speaks: The voice of the Lord is above the waters, the God of glory thundered, the Lord above many waters? When Scripture testifies that at the prayer of Jerubbaal, fire came down from heaven, Judges 6:21 and again, when Elijah prayed, fire was sent forth and consecrated the sacrifice.
27. Do not consider the merits of individuals, but the office of the priests. Or, if you look at the merits, consider the priest as Elijah. Look upon the merits of Peter also, or of Paul, who handed down to us this mystery which they had received of the Lord Jesus. To those [of old] a visible fire was sent that they might believe; for us who believe, the Lord works invisibly; for them that happened for a figure, for us for warning. Believe, then, that the Lord Jesus is present at the invocation of the priest, Who said: Where two or three are, there am I also. Matthew 18:20 How much where the Church is, and where His Mysteries are, does He vouchsafe to impart His presence!
28. You went down, then (into the water), remember what you replied to the questions, that you believe in the Father, that you believe in the Son, that you believe in the Holy Spirit. The statement there is not: I believe in a greater and in a less and in a lowest person, but you are bound by the same guarantee of your own voice, to believe in the Son in like manner as you believe in the Father; and to believe in the Holy Spirit in like manner as you believe in the Son, with this one exception, that you confess that you must believe in the cross of the Lord Jesus alone.
Chapter 6
Why they who come forth from the laver of baptism are anointed on the head; why, too, after baptism, their feet are washed, and what sins are remitted in each case.
29. After this, you went up to the priest, consider what followed. Was it not that of which David speaks: Like the ointment upon the head, which went down to the beard, even Aaron's beard? This is the ointment of which Solomon, too, says: Your Name is ointment poured out, therefore have the maidens loved You and drawn You. Song of Songs 1:2 How many souls regenerated this day have loved You, Lord Jesus, and have said: Draw us after You, we are running after the odour of Your garments, Song of Songs 1:3 that they might drink in the odour of Your resurrection.
30. Consider now why this is done, for the eyes of a wise man are in his head; Ecclesiastes 2:14 therefore the ointment flows down to the beard, that is to say, to the beauty of youth; and therefore, Aaron's beard, that we, too, may become a chosen race, priestly and precious, for we are all anointed with spiritual grace for a share in the kingdom of God and in the priesthood.
31. You went up from the font; remember the Gospel lesson. For our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel washed the feet of His disciples. When He came to Simon Peter, Peter said: You shall never wash my feet. John 13:8 He did not perceive the mystery, and therefore he refused the service, for he thought that the humility of the servant would be injured, if he patiently allowed the Lord to minister to him. And the Lord answered him: If I wash not your feet, you will have no part with Me. Peter, hearing this, replies: Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. The Lord answered: He that is washed needs not save to wash his feet but is clean every whit. John 13:9-10
32. Peter was clean, but he must wash his feet, for he had sin by succession from the first man, when the serpent overthrew him and persuaded him to sin. His feet were therefore washed, that hereditary sins might be done away, for our own sins are remitted through baptism.
33. Observe at the same time that the mystery consists in the very office of humility, for Christ says: If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; how much more ought you to wash one another's feet. For, since the Author of Salvation Himself redeemed us through His obedience, how much more ought we His servants to offer the service of our humility and obedience.
Chapter 7
The washing away of sins is indicated by the white robes of the catechumens, whence the Church speaks of herself as black and comely. Angels marvel at her brightness as at that of the flesh of the Lord. Moreover, Christ Himself commended His beauty to His Spouse under many figures. The mutual affection of the one for the other is described.
34. After this white robes were given to you as a sign that you were putting off the covering of sins, and putting on the chaste veil of innocence, of which the prophet said: You shall sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be cleansed, You shall wash me and I shall be made whiter than snow. For he who is baptized is seen to be purified both according to the Law and according to the Gospel: according to the Law, because Moses sprinkled the blood of the lamb with a bunch of hyssop; Exodus 12:22 according to the Gospel, because Christ's garments were white as snow, when in the Gospel He showed forth the glory of His Resurrection. He, then, whose guilt is remitted is made whiter than snow. So that God said by Isaiah: Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow. Isaiah 1:18
35. The Church, having put on these garments through the laver of regeneration, says in the Song of Songs: I am black and comely, O daughters of Jerusalem. Song of Songs 1:4 Black through the frailty of her human condition, comely through the sacrament of faith. And the daughters of Jerusalem beholding these garments say in amazement: Who is this that comes up made white? Song of Songs 8:5 She was black, how is she now suddenly made white?
36. The angels, too, were in doubt when Christ arose; the powers of heaven were in doubt when they saw that flesh was ascending into heaven. Then they said: Who is this King of glory? And while some said Lift up your gates, O princes, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. In Isaiah, too, we find that the powers of heaven doubted and said: Who is this that comes up from Edom, the redness of His garments is from Bosor, He who is glorious in white apparel? Isaiah 63:1
37. But Christ, beholding His Church, for whom He Himself, as you find in the book of the prophet Zechariah, had put on filthy garments, now clothed in white raiment, seeing, that is, a soul pure and washed in the laver of regeneration, says: Behold, you are fair, My love, behold you are fair, your eyes are like a dove's, Song of Songs 4:1 in the likeness of which the Holy Spirit descended from heaven. The eyes are beautiful like those of a dove, because in the likeness of a dove the Holy Spirit descended from heaven.
38. And farther on: Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that are shorn, which have come up from the pool, which all bear twins, and none is barren among them, your lips are as a cord of scarlet. Song of Songs 4:2-3 This is no slight praise. First by the pleasing comparison to those that are shorn; for we know that goats both feed in high places without risk, and securely find their food in rugged places, and then when shorn are freed from what is superfluous. The Church is likened to a flock of these, having in itself the many virtues of those souls which through the laver lay aside the superfluity of sins, and offer to Christ the mystic faith and the grace of good living, which speak of the cross of the Lord Jesus.
39. The Church is beautiful in them. So that God the Word says to her: You are all fair, My love, and there is no blemish in you, for guilt has been washed away. Come hither from Lebanon, My spouse, come hither from Lebanon, from the beginning of faith will you pass through and pass on, Song of Songs 4:7-8 because, renouncing the world, she passed through things temporal and passed on to Christ. And again, God the Word says to her: How beautiful and sweet are you made, O love, in your delights! Your stature has become like that of a palm-tree, and your breasts like bunches of grapes. Song of Songs 7:6-7
40. And the Church answers Him, Who will give You to me, my Brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother? If I find You without, I will kiss You, and indeed they will not despise me. I will take You, and bring You into the house of my mother; and into the secret chamber of her that conceived me. You shall teach me. Song of Songs 8:1-2 You see how, delighted with the gifts of grace, she longs to attain to the innermost mysteries, and to consecrate all her affections to Christ. She still seeks, she still stirs up His love, and asks of the daughters of Jerusalem to stir it up for her, and desires that by their beauty, which is that of faithful souls, her spouse may be incited to ever richer love for her.
41. So that the Lord Jesus Himself, invited by such eager love and by the beauty of comeliness and grace, since now no offenses pollute the baptized, says to the Church: Place Me as a seal upon your heart, as a signet upon your arm; Song of Songs 8:6 that is, you are comely, My beloved, you are all fair, nothing is wanting to you. Place Me as a seal upon your heart, that your faith may shine forth in the fullness of the sacrament. Let your works also shine and set forth the image of God in the Whose image you were made. Let no persecution lessen your love, which many waters cannot quench, nor many rivers drown.
42. And then remember that you received the seal of the Spirit; the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness, and the spirit of holy fear, Isaiah 11:2 and preserved what you received. God the Father sealed you, Christ the Lord strengthened you, and gave the earnest of the Spirit in your heart, 2 Corinthians 5:5 as you have learned in the lesson from the Apostle.
Chapter 8
Of the mystical feast of the altar of the Lord. Lest any should think lightly of it, St. Ambrose shows that it is of higher antiquity than the sacred rites of the Jews, since it was foreshadowed in the sacrifice of Melchisedech, and far better than the manna, as being the Body of Christ.
43. The cleansed people, rich with these adornments, hastens to the altar of Christ, saying: I will go to the altar of God, to God Who makes glad my youth; for having laid aside the slough of ancient error, renewed with an eagle's youth, it hastens to approach that heavenly feast. It comes, and seeing the holy altar arranged, cries out: You have prepared a table in my sight. David introduces the people as speaking, where he says: The Lord feeds me, and nothing shall be wanting to me, in a place of good pasture has He placed me. He has led me forth by the water of refreshment. And later: For though I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff have comforted me. You have prepared in my sight a table against them that trouble me. You have anointed my head with oil, and Your inebriating cup, how excellent it is!
44. We must now pay attention, lest perchance any one seeing that what is visible (for things which are invisible cannot be seen nor comprehended by human eyes), should say, God rained down manna and rained down quails upon the Jews, Exodus 16:13 but for the Church beloved of Him the things which He has prepared are those of which it is said: That eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for them that love Him. 1 Corinthians 2:9 So, lest any one should say this, we will take great pains to prove that the sacraments of the Church are both more ancient than those of the synagogue, and more excellent than the manna.
45. The lesson of Genesis just read shows that they are more ancient, for the synagogue took its origin from the law of Moses. But Abraham was far earlier, who, after conquering the enemy, and recovering his own nephew, as he was enjoying his victory, was met by Melchisedech, who brought forth those things which Abraham reverently received. It was not Abraham who brought them forth, but Melchisedech, who is introduced without father, without mother, having neither beginning of days, nor ending, but like the Son of God, of Whom Paul says to the Hebrews: that He remains a priest for ever, Who in the Latin version is called King of righteousness and King of peace.
46. Do you recognize Who that is? Can a man be king of righteousness, when himself he can hardly be righteous? Can he be king of peace, when he can hardly be peaceable? He it is Who is without mother according to His Godhead, for He was begotten of God the Father, of one substance with the Father; without a father according to His Incarnation, for He was born of a Virgin; having neither beginning nor end, for He is the beginning and end of all things, the first and the last. The sacrament, then, which you received is the gift not of man but of God, brought forth by Him Who blessed Abraham the father of faith, whose grace and deeds we admire.
47. We have proved the sacraments of the Church to be the more ancient, now recognize that they are superior. In very truth it is a marvellous thing that God rained manna on the fathers, and fed them with daily food from heaven; so that it is said, So man ate angels' food. But yet all those who ate that food died in the wilderness, but that food which you receive, that living Bread which came down from heaven, furnishes the substance of eternal life; and whosoever shall eat of this Bread shall never die, and it is the Body of Christ.
48. Now consider whether the bread of angels be more excellent or the Flesh of Christ, which is indeed the body of life. That manna came from heaven, this is above the heavens; that was of heaven, this is of the Lord of the heavens; that was liable to corruption, if kept a second day, this is far from all corruption, for whosoever shall taste it holily shall not be able to feel corruption. For them water flowed from the rock, for you Blood flowed from Christ; water satisfied them for a time, the Blood satiates you for eternity. The Jew drinks and thirsts again, you after drinking will be beyond the power of thirsting; that was in a shadow, this is in truth.
49. If that which you so wonder at is but shadow, how great must that be whose very shadow you wonder at. See now what happened in the case of the fathers was shadow: They drank, it is said, of that Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were done in a figure concerning us. 1 Corinthians 10:4 You recognize now which are the more excellent, for light is better than shadow, truth than a figure, the Body of its Giver than the manna from heaven.
Chapter 9
In order that no one through observing the outward part should waver in faith, many instances are brought forward wherein the outward nature has been changed, and so it is proved that bread is made the true body of Christ. The treatise then is brought to a termination with certain remarks as to the effects of the sacrament, the disposition of the recipients, and such like.
50. Perhaps you will say, I see something else, how is it that you assert that I receive the Body of Christ? And this is the point which remains for us to prove. And what evidence shall we make use of? Let us prove that this is not what nature made, but what the blessing consecrated, and the power of blessing is greater than that of nature, because by blessing nature itself is changed.
51. Moses was holding a rod, he cast it down and it became a serpent. Exodus 4:3-4 Again, he took hold of the tail of the serpent and it returned to the nature of a rod. You see that by virtue of the prophetic office there were two changes, of the nature both of the serpent and of the rod. The streams of Egypt were running with a pure flow of water; of a sudden from the veins of the sources blood began to burst forth, and none could drink of the river. Again, at the prophet's prayer the blood ceased, and the nature of water returned. The people of the Hebrews were shut in on every side, hemmed in on the one hand by the Egyptians, on the other by the sea; Moses lifted up his rod, the water divided and hardened like walls, and a way for the feet appeared between the waves. Jordan being turned back, returned, contrary to nature, to the source of its stream. Joshua 3:16 Is it not clear that the nature of the waves of the sea and of the river stream was changed? The people of the fathers thirsted, Moses touched the rock, and water flowed out of the rock. Exodus 17:6 Did not grace work a result contrary to nature, so that the rock poured forth water, which by nature it did not contain? Marah was a most bitter stream, so that the thirsting people could not drink. Moses cast wood into the water, and the water lost its bitterness, which grace of a sudden tempered. Exodus 15:25 In the time of Elisha the prophet one of the sons of the prophets lost the head from his axe, which sank. He who had lost the iron asked Elisha, who cast in a piece of wood and the iron swam. This, too, we clearly recognize as having happened contrary to nature, for iron is of heavier nature than water.
52. We observe, then, that grace has more power than nature, and yet so far we have only spoken of the grace of a prophet's blessing. But if the blessing of man had such power as to change nature, what are we to say of that divine consecration where the very words of the Lord and Saviour operate? For that sacrament which you receive is made what it is by the word of Christ. But if the word of Elijah had such power as to bring down fire from heaven, shall not the word of Christ have power to change the nature of the elements? You read concerning the making of the whole world: He spoke and they were made, He commanded and they were created. Shall not the word of Christ, which was able to make out of nothing that which was not, be able to change things which already are into what they were not? For it is not less to give a new nature to things than to change them.
53. But why make use of arguments? Let us use the examples He gives, and by the example of the Incarnation prove the truth of the mystery. Did the course of nature proceed as usual when the Lord Jesus was born of Mary? If we look to the usual course, a woman ordinarily conceives after connection with a man. And this body which we make is that which was born of the Virgin. Why do you seek the order of nature in the Body of Christ, seeing that the Lord Jesus Himself was born of a Virgin, not according to nature? It is the true Flesh of Christ which crucified and buried, this is then truly the Sacrament of His Body.
54. The Lord Jesus Himself proclaims: This is My Body. Matthew 26:26 Before the blessing of the heavenly words another nature is spoken of, after the consecration the Body is signified. He Himself speaks of His Blood. Before the consecration it has another name, after it is called Blood. And you say, Amen, that is, It is true. Let the heart within confess what the mouth utters, let the soul feel what the voice speaks.
55. Christ, then, feeds His Church with these sacraments, by means of which the substance of the soul is strengthened, and seeing the continual progress of her grace, He rightly says to her: How comely are your breasts, my sister, my spouse, how comely they are made by wine, and the smell of your garments is above all spices. A dropping honeycomb are your lips, my spouse, honey and milk are under your tongue, and the smell of your garments is as the smell of Lebanon. A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed. By which He signifies that the mystery ought to remain sealed up with you, that it be not violated by the deeds of an evil life, and pollution of chastity, that it be not made known to thou, for whom it is not fitting, nor by garrulous talkativeness it be spread abroad among unbelievers. Your guardianship of the faith ought therefore to be good, that integrity of life and silence may endure unblemished.
56. For which reason, too, the Church, guarding the depth of the heavenly mysteries, repels the furious storms of wind, and calls to her the sweetness of the grace of spring, and knowing that her garden cannot displease Christ, invites the Bridegroom, saying: Arise, O north wind, and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, and let my ointments flow down. Let my Brother come down to His garden, and eat the fruit of His trees. For it has good trees and fruitful, which have dipped their roots in the water of the sacred spring, and with fresh growth have shot forth into good fruits, so as now not to be cut with the axe of the prophet, but to abound with the fruitfulness of the Gospel.
57. Lastly, the Lord also, delighted with their fertility, answers: I have entered into My garden, My sister, My spouse; I have gathered My myrrh with My spices, I have eaten My meat with My honey, I have drunk My drink with My milk. Song of Songs 5:1 Understand, you faithful, why He spoke of meat and drink. And there is no doubt that He Himself eats and drinks in us, as you have read that He says that in our persons He is in prison. Matthew 25:36
58. Wherefore, too, the Church, beholding so great grace, exhorts her sons and her friends to come together to the sacraments, saying: Eat, my friends, and drink and be inebriated, my brother. Song of Songs 5:1 What we eat and what we drink the Holy Spirit has elsewhere made plain by the prophet, saying, Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that hopes in Him. In that sacrament is Christ, because it is the Body of Christ, it is therefore not bodily food but spiritual. Whence the Apostle says of its type: Our fathers ate spiritual food and drank spiritual drink, 1 Corinthians 10:3 for the Body of God is a spiritual body; the Body of Christ is the Body of the Divine Spirit, for the Spirit is Christ, as we read: The Spirit before our face is Christ the Lord. Lamentations 4:20 And in the Epistle of Peter we read: Christ died for us. 1 Peter 2:21 Lastly, that food strengthens our heart, and that drink makes glad the heart of man, as the prophet has recorded.
59. So, then, having obtained everything, let us know that we are born again, but let us not say, How are we born again? Have we entered a second time into our mother's womb and been born again? I do not recognize here the course of nature. But here there is no order of nature, where is the excellence of grace. And again, it is not always the course of nature which brings about conception, for we confess that Christ the Lord was conceived of a Virgin, and reject the order of nature. For Mary conceived not of man, but was with child of the Holy Spirit, as Matthew says: She was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 1:18 If, then, the Holy Spirit coming down upon the Virgin wrought the conception, and effected the work of generation, surely we must not doubt but that, coming down upon the Font, or upon those who receive Baptism, He effects the reality of the new birth.
|
|
|
|
| Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò: Meditation for the Advent Season |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-27-2021, 08:06 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
- No Replies
|
|
Meditation for the Advent Season
by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
![[Image: mgr_vigano_15_10_2021.jpg]](https://media.medias-presse.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/mgr_vigano_15_10_2021.jpg)
Medias-Presse [computer-translated and adapted]| November 27, 2021
VENI, UT FACIAS SALUTEM IN TERRIS, IN CŒLO GAUDIUM.
"Quaere, worried, servum tuum, quoniam mandata tua non sum oblitus." » Veni ergo, Domine Jesu, quaere servum tuum, quaere lassam ovem tuam; veni, pastor, quaere sicut oves Joseph. Erravit ovis tua, dum tu moraris, dum tu versaris in montibus. Dimitte nonaginta novem oves tuas, and veni unam ovem quaerere quae erravit. Veni sine canibus, veni sine malis operariis, veni sine mercenario, which per januam introire non noverit. Veni sine adjutore, sine nuntio, jam dudum te expecto venturum; scio enim venturum, quoniam mandata tua non sum oblitus. Veni non cum virga, sed cum caritate spirituque mansuetudinis.[1]
The season of Advent is an ancient institution and we find it mentioned to the Vth century as a time of the liturgical year for the preparation of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ secundum carnem. Indeed, Advent marks the beginning of the Liturgical Year, which allows us to seize this opportunity to follow the voice of the Church with holy intentions.
The discipline of penance and fasting during Lent in preparation for Easter is certainly of apostolic origin, while that in expectatione Domini is later and inspired by the first, but less rigid and passed over the centuries to abstinence only, certain days of the week. “It is true that St. Peter Damien, in the eleventh century, still supposes that the Advent fast was forty days, and that St. Louis, two centuries later, continued to observe it to this extent; but perhaps this holy king practiced it thus by a transport of particular devotion” [2]. The slackening of modern generations has prompted the maternal wisdom of the Church to ease the rigors of the past, without preventing them from being practiced voluntarily; but perhaps the current situation leads us to consider as appropriate, precisely because they are not imposed, the privations practiced by our ancestors in obedience to an ecclesiastical precept.
The Advent liturgy owes a great deal to the work of Saint Gregory the Great, not only for the texts of the Office and the Mass, but also for the plainsong compositions themselves. The old trope Sanctissimus namque, which introduces the introit Ad te levavi of the First Sunday of Advent, recalls the inspiration of the Holy Pontiff through the Holy Spirit, who appeared in the form of a dove [3]. First six, then five weeks of preparation for Holy Christmas were [later] reduced to four between the end of the IXth and early Xth century, so that the current use is at least a thousand years old. The Ambrosian Church maintains another six weeks, for a total of forty-two days, on the model of Lent.
St. Ambrose, Father and Doctor of the Church, is one of the first authors of homilies on the theme of Advent. I would like to begin this meditation with a prayer taken from the Commentary on Psalm 118. The Incipit of the prayer is Quaere, inquit, servum tuum. As you can see, the whole text is peppered with quotes from Sacred Scripture: not to flaunt a biblical culture, which the holy Bishop of Milan certainly possessed, but because of this knowledge of the Word of God which is the fruit of an intimate and almost vital assiduity for the soul, as air is essential for breathing. This assiduity led Saint Ambrose to speak and write himself using the words of the sacred Author, not because he wanted to plagiarize the divine Wisdom, but because he had made them his own so much that he made them his own. repeated in his turn without noticing it.
When we approach, almost as laymen, the writings of these saints, we may feel somewhat disoriented and confused. But if we have the grace to participate in liturgical prayer by attending Mass and reciting the Divine Office according to the traditional form, we discover that it is the voice of the Church herself that accompanies us in this meditation. of the Scriptures, from the Invitatory to Matins. And this also applies to the Advent liturgy: Regem venturum Dominum, venite adoremus, sings the first prayer which is intoned in the middle of the night as we await the rising of the true undefeated Sun. This solemn invitation to worship the divine King is followed by the beginning of the book of the prophet Isaiah, which sounds like a severe rebuke to his people:
“Hear, heavens, hear, earth, thus says the Lord: 'I have brought up and brought up children, but they rebelled against me. The ox knows his master, and the donkey his master's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand. 'Woe to you, people of sinners, people of iniquity! You are wicked and corrupt sons! They abandoned the Lord, they despised the Holy One of Israel, they turned back. Why do you still want to be hit, building up rebellion? The whole head is sick, the whole heart is languishing. From the soles of the feet to the crown of the head there is nothing healthy, but wounds and bruises and open wounds which have not been cleaned, nor dressed, nor healed with oil."(Is 1,2-6).
The oracle of the Prophet shows the indignation of the Lord before the infidelity of his people, obstinate in their rebellion against His holy law. But the literal or historical sense [4] of Isaiah's passage concerning the Jews is accompanied by the moral sense, that is, concerning what we are to do. It is therefore to us that the Majesty of God turns: “Thus saith the Lord ” (ibid., 2), to admonish us, once again, to show us our betrayals, to urge us to conversion.
So, as we ask the Lord to deliver us from ore leonis and de profundo lacu, we realize how much we do not deserve God's mercy, how much we are unworthy of his mercy, and how much we deserve his punishments. Deus, who culpa offenderis, pœnitentia placaris ...To the prostitutions - as Scripture calls them - into which the Jews fell, are added new and much worse prostitutions, not of the people to whom the Redeemer was promised, but of those born from His side, the Mystical Body. of the Redeemer Himself; or rather, of those who call themselves Catholics, but who, by their infidelity, dishonor the Bride of the Lamb, as members of the taught and teaching Church. The new Israel has been no less rebellious than the old, and the new Roman Sanhedrin is no less culpable than those who made the golden calf and offered it for the worship of the Jews. Therefore the Prophet threatens with terrible plagues those who have disobeyed the Lord without seeing the coming Messiah.
In the dramatic crisis that has struck the Church of Christ for sixty years, and which is manifested today in all its gravity, a pusillus grex asks his Lord to spare lost humanity, while corruption and apostasy have penetrated even into the sacred enclosure and onto the highest throne. And he is pusillus because the majority of those who have been regenerated by Baptism and thus deserved to be called “sons of God” daily deny the promises of this Baptism, under the leadership of hirelings and false shepherds.
Think how many believers, who have grown up in absolute ignorance of the rudiments of the Faith despite having followed the catechism, are imbued with heretical philosophical and theological doctrines, convinced that all religions are equivalent; that man is not injured by the original fault but naturally good; that the State must ignore the true Religion and tolerate error; that the mission of the Church is not the eternal salvation of souls and their conversion to Christ, but the protection of the environment and the blind welcome of immigrants. Think of those who, although they fulfill the festive precept, do not know that the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord are contained in the Holy Host, and think that it is only a symbol; think of those who are convinced that it is enough for them to repent in their hearts to receive communion, without imagining the torments which weigh on those who unworthily receive the Body and Blood of the Lord.
Think how many priests, men and women religious and sisters believe that the Council brought a breath of renewal to the Church, or that it favored the knowledge of Sacred Scripture, or that it enabled the laity to understand the liturgy, until then ignored by the masses and jealously guarded by a caste of rigid and intolerant clerics. Think of those who saw in Her an indestructible beacon against the darkness of the world, an impregnable fortress against the onslaught of the “modern” mentality, of widespread immorality, of the defense of life from conception to its natural end. At last, think of the irrepressible satisfaction of the enemies of Christ to see His Church prostrate before the world, its ideologies of death, the idolatry of the State, of power, of money, of the myths of false science; a Church ready to deny its own glorious past, to adulterate the Faith and Morals that Our Lord taught it, to corrupt its liturgy to please heretics and sectarians: even the most delirious ramblings of the worst Freemason would not have could hope to see the cry of Voltaire come true: 'Crush the infamous!'
During Advent, we stand symbolically at the doors of the temple, like Ash Wednesday in Lent, and we observe from afar what is happening at the altar: here the birth of the King of Israel, there his Passion, his Death and his Resurrection. Imagine that we have to do a self-examination before being admitted to the holy place, as individual faithful and as members of the ecclesial body. We can approach the worship of the King of kings, of the Lord of Lords, only if we understand, on the one hand, the infinite Good that is offered to us in the swaddling clothes of the manger, and on the other hand, our absolute unworthiness, which must necessarily be accompanied by the horror of our sins, the pain of having infinitely offended God and the desire to repair the evil committed by penance and good works. And we must also understand that, as living members of the Church, we also have a collective responsibility for the faults of other faithful and of our pastors; and as citizens we have a responsibility for the public faults of nations. Indeed, the Communion of Saints allows us to share with the souls of Purgatory and with the blessed souls of Heaven their merits, in order to counterbalance in an incomparably more effective way this “communion of the ungodly” which brings down the effects of their bad actions on their neighbors, especially on other people who are enemies of God. We have a responsibility for the public faults of nations. Indeed, the Communion of Saints allows us to share with the souls of Purgatory and with the blessed souls of Heaven their merits, in order to counterbalance in an incomparably more effective way this “communion of the ungodly” which brings down the effects of their bad actions on their neighbors, especially on other people who are enemies of God. we have a responsibility for the public faults of nations. Indeed, the Communion of Saints allows us to share with the souls of Purgatory and with the blessed souls of Heaven their merits, in order to counterbalance in an incomparably more effective way this “communion of the ungodly” which brings down the effects of their bad actions on their neighbors, especially on other people who are enemies of God.
“Come to me, who am tormented by the attack of dangerous wolves," exclaims Saint Ambrose. “Come to me, who have been cast out of paradise and whose wounds have long been penetrated by the poisons of the serpent, to me who wandered far from your flocks in these mountains."
We begin to realize that we are besieged by predatory wolves: by those who sow error, by those who corrupt morals, by those who propagate death and despair, by those who want to kill us in our souls first. even killing us in our body. We realize how superficial, stupid and proud we have been to allow ourselves to be deceived by the false promises of the world, of the flesh and of the devil; how false were the words of those who, since the expulsion of our first Parents, continue to repeat the same temptations, to exploit our weaknesses, to appeal to our pride or our vices to bring us down and drag us along with them in hell. We have forgotten that we have been cast out of the earthly paradise, that we bear the marks of the poisonous bite of the serpent, that we have sinned by abandoning the sure pastures of true faith to allow ourselves to be seduced by the world, by the flesh, by the devil. Indeed, if we lived with the awareness of our initial guilt - which is also a collective guilt and moreover hereditary - and of all the evil that we commit and that we allow to be committed; if we meditate on our inability to save ourselves, except by the supernatural help that God grants us by Grace; if we convince ourselves that many of our acts are grave offenses against the Majesty of God and that we deserve to be wiped off the face of the earth in a way much worse than what happened to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, then we wouldn't even need the Good Shepherd to come and get us," Kidnapper wolves cannot attack them ".
The holy Bishop adds: “ Come without dogs, come without bad workers, come without the mercenary who cannot pass the door. Come without assistance, without a messenger,” because the dogs, the bad workers and the mercenary servant are passing figures, destined to perish, to be dispersed at the breath of the mouth of God, even if at this moment it seems that the world belongs to them. “ So come and look for your sheep, not by servants, not by mercenaries, but you in person,” the unfaithful servants invite us to be “resilient” and “inclusive”, to listen to the “cry of Mother Earth” [5 ] , to have us vaccinated with a serum made with cells from aborted fetuses; the mercenary, "cujus non sunt oves propriæ” (…) disperses us, abandons us, does not chase ferocious wolves and does not punish bad workers, but on the contrary encourages them.
Why then should the Lord come? Why can we ask Him, "Come in person"? Saint Ambrose answers with prayer, quoting the psalmist: “For I have not forgotten your commandments” (Ps 118, 176). Our obedience to the will of God finds a perfect correspondence - and a divine example - in the obedience of the Eternal Son of the Father from the eternity of time, agreeing to incarnate, to suffer and to die for our salvation: “Then I say: Behold, I come - for it is written of me in the scroll of the book - to do your will, O God.” (Heb 10,7). The Lord comes in obedience to the Father and we must await His coming by being in our turn obedient to the will of the Holy Trinity, “for I have not forgotten your commandments ”.
The reason we can be sure that the Lord will come and seek us, delivering us from the attack of wolves and the nefarious influence of bad workers and mercenaries, is that we must not forget what He has commanded us; we should not take His place in deciding what is good and what is bad; we must not follow the multitude into the abyss out of human respect or out of cowardice or complicity, but remain like the ninety-nine sheep in the safe pastures of the Holy Church, "for the ravishing wolves cannot attack them as long as they are in the mountains”, closer to God by being detached from earthly things. Likewise, we must show a holy humility, recognizing ourselves as sinners: “Come and seek the only sheep that has gone astray”, because “only you can bring back the lost sheep and you will not make suffer those from whom you have strayed,” that is to say the Catholics of all times, who remained faithful, safe from wolves in the high pastures. "And they too will rejoice at the return of the sinner."
Saint Ambrose's prayer continues with a very deep and meaningful expression: “Receive me in the flesh that fell in Adam. Receive me not from Sarah, but from Mary, so that she may not only be an inviolable virgin, but a virgin preserved by the effect of grace, from every stain of sin . »In Mary most holy, Sancta Virgo virginum, we find the Mediator of all graces: in Her, very pure creature, the eternal Word of the Father was incarnated, from Her was born the Savior in the world; through Her we are presented to Her divine Son, and through Her merits we can be received "in the flesh that fell in Adam." By virtue of the Grace which restores us friendship with God. An excellent starting point for meditation in preparation for Christmas.
But there is another very important consideration that Saint Ambrose gives us at the end of his prayer: "Lead me to the cross which gives salvation to the wanderers, in which only the rest of the weary is found, in which only the one will live who died." Everything revolves around the Cross of Christ, it stands in time and in eternity as a sign of contradiction, because it reminds us that it is the instrument of Redemption, salvation for the wandering, rest for the tired, life for the dying. An image of the XIVth century Pacino di Buonaguida [6] offers a very rare and highly symbolic image: the Lord rises upon the Cross with a scale - the scala virtutum- to underline the voluntary nature of his sacrifice and the “paradox” of his double nature.
In the iconography of the XVIIth century, we find a recurring image of the Child Jesus asleep on the Cross [7], an allusion explicit to divine love and sacrifice of Christ. Christmas and Easter are intrinsically linked, so as we prepare for the birth of the Savior, we must always contemplate as the center and focus precisely the Cross, on which the infant Jesus rests and on which the Immaculate Lamb ascends by a mystical scale. This is where we too must arrive, because it is only on the Cross that we find salvation, following the Lord: “ If anyone wants to come after me, let him renounce himself, take up his cross every day and follow me ”(Lk 9,23).
“Veni, ut facias salutem in terris, in coelo gaudium,” “Come and bring salvation on earth, joy in heaven."
May it be our invocation during this sacred time of Advent, to prepare us spiritually for the trials that await us.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, archbishop
November 28, 2021
1st Sunday of Advent
Translation by F. de Villasmundo, proofread and corrected by Mgr Viganò
Footnotes
[1]»Come therefore, Lord Jesus, seek your servant [Ps 118, 176] seek your weary sheep. Come, shepherd, seek, as Joseph sought the sheep [Gn 37:14]. Your sheep has wandered, while you procrastinate, as you walk in the mountains. Let your ninety-nine sheep go, and come and look for the one that has gone astray [Mt 18, 12 sqq .; Lk 15, 4]. Come without dogs, come without bad workers, come without the hired servant, who does not enter through the door [Jn 10, 1-7]. Come without assistance, without a messenger. I have been waiting for your coming for a long time. For I know that you will come, for I have not forgotten your commandments [Ps 118, 176]. Do not come with a rod, but with charity and in a spirit of meekness[Cor 4:21]. "Sancti Ambrosii Episcopi Expositio Psalmi CXVIII, 22, 2
[2] Dom Prosper Guéranger, The Liturgical Year , I. Advent - Christmas - Lent - Passion, trad. it. P. Graziani, Alba, 1959, pp. 21-26.
[3] " Sanctissimus namque Gregorius cum preces effunderet ad Dominum ut musicum donum ei desuper in carminibus dedisset , tunc descended Spiritus Sanctus super eum, in specie columbæ, et illustravit cor ejus, et sic demum exortus est canere, ita dicendo: Ad te levavi … "- Trope at the Introit of the First Sunday of Advent -
Cfr. https://gregobase.selapa.net/chant.php?id=4654
[4] Littera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria, moralis quid agas, quo tendas anagogia (The letter teaches what happened, the allegory what you must believe, the moral what you must do, the end towards which you must strive) - Nicolas de Lyre, Postilla in Gal. , 4, 3.
[5] See https://www.vaticannews.va/it/papa/news/...to-si.html and https://www.avvenire.it/opinioni/pagine/ il-grido-della-terra-e-dei-poveri
[6] See https://scriptoriumdaily.com/ladder-at-the-cross/ - A painting from the school of Giotto with an identical subject can be found in the monastery of Sant'Antonio in Polesine, in Ferrara. See also Anna Eörsi, Haec scala significat ascensum virtutum. Notes on the iconography of Christ ascending the cross on a ladder -
https://arthist.elte.hu/Tanarok/EorsiA/F...9tra_a.htm
[7] See, for example, the painting by Guido Reni, The Child Jesus asleep on the Cross, oil on canvas, circa 1625.
|
|
|
|
| Healthy Australian woman says she was forced into COVID quarantine camp for 14 days |
|
Posted by: Stone - 11-27-2021, 07:09 AM - Forum: Socialism & Communism
- No Replies
|
|
Healthy Australian woman says she was forced into COVID quarantine camp for 14 days
'These COVID camps are real. It doesn’t matter if you’re fully-vaxxed, one-vaxxed or non-vaxxed:
you can get sent to these camps if you’re a close contact,' said Haley Hodgson from her prison.
Pierre Boralevi
Thu Nov 25, 2021
DARWIN, Australia (LifeSiteNews) — An Australian woman says she was taken to a quarantine facility and held there for 14 days against her will as punishment for failing to test against COVID and lying about it.
Haley Hodgson shared her ordeal in an interview with Monica Smit, founder of Australian news website Reignite Democracy Australia (RDA), a week ago when she was still in quarantine at the Howard Springs facility near Darwin, Northern Australia.
“These COVID camps are real,” Hodgson told Smit.
“You can get sent to those camps no matter what if you’re ‘close contact’.”
The video was released only yesterday on RDA’s official website, as Hodgson feared that releasing it sooner might result in the extension of her stay at the quarantine camp.
Hodgson explained that she had been in “close contact” with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
She recalled that health officials came to her house asking whether she knew the person who tested positive and if she had had a test done.
Hodgson initially lied about having had a test. When the Australian health authorities got back to her saying they couldn’t find her result, Hodgson admitted that she had failed to do a test.
“I was scared. I’ve been in quarantine before, [and] I just didn’t want to go back there,” Hodgson explained.
She then apologized to the health officers, saying, “I’m sorry that I lied.”
“They said, ‘No worries,’ and [before] they hung up the phone, they said, ‘Someone will be there to test you in the next 20 minutes, so don’t leave your home,” Hodgson recalled.
Within 20 minutes the police were at her house. Hodgson said they told her that she had to go with them and that she was “going to Howard Springs to quarantine.”
Hodgson said she told the police that she had not been informed of this, and the police replied that if she refused to come, she would have to pay a $5000 fine (roughly $3600 U.S.).
She then agreed to follow the police officers and was escorted to a “COVID cab” which took her to Howard Springs. On the way there, one of the police officers allegedly told Hodgson that she would need to quarantine for only 48 hours while awaiting the result of her COVID test.
But once at the facility, Hodgson said, she was informed that she would have to stay there for 14 days “no matter what” and that she “[had] no choice.”
“So, I’m here against my will,” the woman said.
Smit asked why Hodgson wasn’t given the option to self-quarantine at home, especially when the 7 to 10 other close contacts of the person who tested positive were all allowed to self-isolate at home.
“That’s what I was [asking] them,” replied Hodgson.
“Now that I’ve found out, it’s because I said I had a test done when I hadn’t,” she continued.
“So, it’s pretty much a punishment; they’re punishing me because I lied and said I had a test when I hadn’t.”
Hodgson went on to describe the harsh rules at the quarantine facility. Inmates are not allowed out of their rooms, except for certain chores such as laundry, and have to wear a mask.
“It’s so strict, you can’t do anything. You can’t go for a walk. You get anxious [because] you’re trapped in a small room,” said Hodgson.
“You can go out on your balcony, [but] you have to wear a mask. That’s all you can do. There’s nothing else.”
Hodgson recalled that when she asked to go for a walk, arguing that she needed to exercise and was feeling trapped and anxious, the staff offered her a strong anxiolytic [anti-anxiety drug] instead, telling her: “No, you’re not allowed to do that, but we can give you Valium to calm you down.”
The young woman remarked on the paradoxical lack of oversight.
“There’s no paperwork when you come in here; you’re literally chucked in this little box, and that’s it, you’re left [on your own],” she explained.
Her interviewer Monica Smit then remarked that she herself had been to prison and compared the conditions at the quarantine camp with conditions in prison. She suggested that Howard Springs “actually sounds worse than prison because you have this illusion of being a free person, but actually you’ve got no freedoms.”
“In prison, [inmates] can walk wherever they want, by the way, and they don’t have to wear a mask, and they can go to the gym on prison campus,” said Smit.
Hodgson concluded the interview by warning the public about these quarantine facilities and stressing the ease with which a person can be transferred there even against his or her will.
“These COVID camps are real, [and] there’s one being built in Melbourne now,” she said.
“If anyone becomes a close contact, it doesn’t matter if you’re fully-vaxxed, one-vaxxed, or non-vaxxed: you can get sent to these camps no matter what if you’re a close contact.”
Howard Spring is the same quarantine facility where 38 people from a remote Aboriginal community were sent earlier this week after some people there tested positive for COVID-19.
|
|
|
|
|
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimage...f=1&nofb=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fbooks%2F1389935516i%2F20563536._UY630_SR1200%2C630_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
![[Image: swiss%20referendum.jpg?itok=mZwprWg7]](https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/swiss%20referendum.jpg?itok=mZwprWg7)
![[Image: ?u=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-KZS...f=1&nofb=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-KZSaUe8Ytbw%2FVRNB3jPzpeI%2FAAAAAAAAArU%2F2b0Dbg3s590%2Fs1600%2FMonsFaure-morado.png&f=1&nofb=1)
![[Image: a91bfd0da12e60915095ee700cd13ee8_L.jpg]](https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/media/k2/items/cache/a91bfd0da12e60915095ee700cd13ee8_L.jpg)
![[Image: 51009017-10246695-image-a-5_1637943310770.jpg]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/11/26/16/51009017-10246695-image-a-5_1637943310770.jpg)
![[Image: 51009015-10246695-image-a-7_1637943314997.jpg]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/11/26/16/51009015-10246695-image-a-7_1637943314997.jpg)
![[Image: 12307958-0-image-a-1_1555350570611.jpg]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/15/18/12307958-0-image-a-1_1555350570611.jpg)
![[Image: 12310822-6925119-image-a-1_1555355833710.jpg]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/15/20/12310822-6925119-image-a-1_1555355833710.jpg)
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.christies.com%2Fimg...f=1&nofb=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.christies.com%2Fimg%2FLotImages%2F1998%2FCKS%2F1998_CKS_06068_0051_000().jpg%3Fw%3D400&f=1&nofb=1)
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-8U...f=1&nofb=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-8UKAGwR5XJw%2FVrjdRW3vt3I%2FAAAAAAAACnU%2FSSyn4BFAJEk%2Fs1600%2Fambrose.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-7R...f=1&nofb=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-7RiDSG9--ok%2FT3a6APGD-AI%2FAAAAAAAAFY4%2FcqZ5dyzAoBk%2Fs1600%2Fcross_climb.JPG&f=1&nofb=1)
![[Image: quarantine_zone-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/quarantine_zone-810x500.jpg)
