(NOTE: The electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was
not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all discovered errors.)
Transliteration of Greek words: All phonetical except: w = omega; h serves
three puposes: 1. = Eta; 2. = rough breathing, when appearing initially
before a vowel; 3. = in the aspirated letters theta = th, phi = ph, chi =
ch. Accents are given immediately after their corresponding vowels: acute =
' , grave = `, circumflex = ^. The character ' doubles as an apostrophe,
when necessary.
JOHN CASSIAN
THE CONFERENCES: Part II (conferences XXI-XXIV).
[Translated by the Rev. Edgar C. S. Gibson, M.A., Principal of the
Theological College, Wells, Somerset.]
XXI. THE FIRST CONFERENCE OF ABBOT THEONAS.
ON THE RELAXATION DURING THE FIFTY DAYS. (1)
CHAPTER I: How Theonas came to Abbot John.
BEFORE we begin to set forth the words of this Conference held with
that excellent man Abbot Theonas, (2) I think it well to describe in a
brief discourse the origin of his conversion because from this the reader
will be able to see more clearly both the excellence and the grace of the
man. He then while still very young was by the desire and command of his
parents joined in the tie of marriage, for as with pious anxiety they were
careful about his chastity, and were afraid of a critical fall at a
dangerous age, they thought that the passions of youth might be anticipated
by the remedy of a lawful marriage. When then he had lived for five years
with a wife, he came to Abbot John, who was then for his marvellous
sanctity chosen to preside over the administration of the alms. (8) For it
is not anyone who likes who is of his own wish or ambition promoted to this
office, but only he whom the congregation of all the Elders considers from
the advantage of his age and the witness of his faith and virtues to be
more excellent than, and superior to, all others. To this blessed John then
the aforesaid young man had come in the eagerness of his pious devotion,
bringing gifts of piety among other owners who were eager to offer tithes
and first-fruits of their substance to the old man I mentioned, (4) and
when the old man saw them pouring in upon him with many gifts, and was
anxious to make some recompense in return for their offerings, he began, as
the Apostle says, to sow spiritual things to them whose carnal gifts he was
reaping. (5) And finally thus began his word of exhortation.
CHAPTER II: The exhortation of Abbot John to Theonas and the others who had
come together with him.
I AM indeed delighted, my children, with the duteous liberality of your
gifts; and your devout offering, the disposal of which is entrusted to me,
I gratefully accept, because you are offering your firstfruits and tithes
for the good and use of the needy, as a sacrifice to the Lord, of a sweet
smelling savour, in the belief that by the offering of them, the abundance
of your fruits and all your substance, from which you have taken away these
for the Lord, will be richly blessed, and that you yourselves will
according to the faith of His command be endowed even in this world with
manifold richness in all good things: "Honour the Lord from thy righteous
labours, and offer to Him of the fruits of thy righteousness; that thy
garners may be full of abundance of wheat, and thy vats may overflow with
wine." (6) And as you are faithfully carrying out this service, you may
know that you have fulfilled the righteousness of the old law, under which
those who then lived if they transgressed it inevitably incurred guilt,
while if they fulfilled it they could not attain to a pitch of perfection.
CHAPTER III: Of the offering of tithes and firstfruits.
FOR indeed by the Lord's command tithes were consecrated to the service
of the Levites, but oblations and firstfruits for the priests. (7) But this
was the law of the firstfruits; viz., that the fiftieth part of fruits or
animals should be given for the service of the temple and the priests: and
this proportion some who were faithlessly indifferent diminished, while
those who were very religious increased it, so that the one gave only the
sixtieth part, and the other gave the fortieth part of their fruits; For
the righteous, for whom the law is not enacted, are thus shown to be not
under the law, as they try not only to fulfil but even to exceed the
righteousness of the law, and their devotion is greater than the legal
requirement, as it goes beyond the observance of precepts and adds to what
is due of its own free will.
CHAPTER IV: How Abraham, David, and other saints went beyond the
requirement of the law.
FOR so we read that Abraham went beyond the requirement of the law
which was afterwards to be given, when after his victory over the four
kings, he would not touch any of the spoils of Sodom, which were fairly due
to him as the conqueror, and which indeed the king himself, whose spoils he
had rescued, offered him; and with an oath by the Divine name he exclaimed:
"I lift up my hand to the Lord Most High, who made heaven and earth, that I
will not take from a thread to a shoe's latchet of all that is thine." (1)
So we know that David went beyond the requirement of the law, as, though
Moses commanded that vengeance should be taken on enemies, (2) he not only
did not do this, but actually embraced his persecutors with love, and
piously entreated the Lord for them, and wept bitterly and avenged them
when they were slain. So we are sure that Elijah and Jeremiah were not
under the law, as though they might without blame have taken advantage of
lawful matrimony, yet they preferred to remain virgins. So we read that
Elisha and others of the same mode of life went beyond the commands of
Moses, as of them the Apostle speaks as follows: "They went about in
sheepskins and in goatskins, they were oppressed, afflicted, in want, of
whom the world was not worthy, they wandered about in deserts and in
mountains, and in caves and in dens of the earth," (3) What shall I say of
the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab, of whom we are told that, when at
the Lord's bidding the prophet Jeremiah offered them wine, they replied:
"We drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us,
saying: Ye shall drink no wine, ye and your sons forever: and ye shall
build no house, nor sow any seed, nor plant vineyards nor possess them: but
ye shall dwell in tents all your days"? Wherefore also they were permitted
to hear from the same prophet these words: "Thus saith the Lord God of
hosts, the God of Israel: there shall not fail a man from the stock of
Jonadab the son of Rechab to stand in My sight all the days;" (4) as all of
them were not satisfied with merely offering tithes of their possessions,
but actually refused property, and offered the rather to God themselves and
their souls, for which no redemption can be made by man, as the Lord
testifies in the gospel: "For what shall a man give in exchange for his own
soul?" (5)
CHAPTER V: How those who live under the grace of the Gospel ought to go
beyond the requirement of the law.
WHEREFORE we ought to know that we from whom the requirements of the
law are no longer exacted, but in whose ears the word of the gospel daily
sounds: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast and give
to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come follow Me,"
(6) when we offer to God tithes of our substance, are still in a way ground
down beneath the burden of the law, and not able to rise to those heights
of the gospel, those who conform to which are recompensed not only by
blessings in this present life, but also by future rewards. For the law
promises to those who obey it no rewards of the kingdom of heaven, but only
solaces in this life, saying: "The man that doeth these things shall live
in them." (7) But the Lord says to His disciples: "Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;" and: "Everyone that leaveth
house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or
field for My name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit
eternal life." (8) And this with good reason. For it is not so praiseworthy
for us to abstain from forbidden as from lawful things, and not to use
these last out of reverence for Him, Who has permitted us to use them
because of our weakness. And so if even those who, faithfully offering
tithes of their fruits, are obedient to the more ancient precepts of the
Lord, cannot yet climb the heights of the gospel, you can see very clearly
how far short of it those fall who do not even do this. For how can those
men be partakers of the grace of the gospel who disregard the fulfilment
even of the lighter commands of the law, to the easy character of which the
weighty words of the giver of the law bear testimony, as a curse is
actually invoked on those who do not fulfil them; for it says: "Cursed is
everyone that does not continue in all things that are written in the book
of the law to do them."(1) But here on account of the superiority and
excellence of the commandments it is said: "He that can receive it, let him
receive it."(2) There the forcible compulsion of the lawgiver shows the
easy character of the precepts; for he says: "I call heaven and earth to
record against you this day, that if ye do not keep the commandments of the
Lord your God ye shall perish from off the face of the earth."(3) Here the
grandeur of sublime commands is shown by the very fact that He does not
order, but exhorts, saying: "if thou wilt be perfect go" and do this or
that. There Moses lays a burden that cannot be refused on those who are
unwilling: here Paul meets with counsels those who are willing and eager
for perfection. For that was not to be enjoined as a general charge, nor to
be required, if I may so say, as a regular rule from all, which could not
be secured by all, owing to its wonderful and lofty nature; but by counsels
all are rather stimulated to grace, that those who are great may deservedly
be crowned by the perfection of their virtues, while those who are small,
and not able to come up to "the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ,"(4) although they seem to be lost to sight and hidden as it were
by the brightness of larger stars, may yet be free from the darkness of the
curses which are in the law, and not adjudged to suffer present evils or
visited with eternal punishment. Christ therefore does not constrain
anyone, by the compulsion of a command, to those lofty heights of goodness,
but stimulates them by the power of free will, and urges them on by wise
counsels and the desire of perfection. For where there is a command, there
is duty, and consequently punishment. But those who keep those things to
which they are driven by the severity of the law established escape the
punishment with which they were threatened, instead of obtaining rewards
and a recompense.
CHAPTER VI: How the grace of the gospel supports the weak so that they can
obtain pardon, as it secures to the perfect the kingdom of God.
AND as the word of the gospel raises those that are strong to sublime
and lofty heights, so it suffers not the weak to be dragged down to the
depths, for it secures to the perfect the fulness of blessing, and brings
to those who are overcome through weakness pardon. For the law placed those
who fulfilled its commands in a sort of middle state between what they
deserved in either case, severing them from the condemnation due to
transgressors, as it also kept them away from the glory of the perfect. But
how wretched and miserable this is, you can see from comparing the state of
this present life, in which it is considered a very poor thing for a man to
sweat and labour only to avoid being regarded as guilty among good men, not
also to be esteemed rich and honourable and renowned.
CHAPTER VII: How it lies in our own power to choose whether to remain under
the grace of the gospel or under the terror of the law.
WHEREFORE it lies today in our own power whether we choose to live
under the grace of the gospel or under the terrors of the law: for each man
must incline to one side or the other in accordance with the character of
his actions, for either the grace of Christ welcomes those who go beyond
the law, or else the law keeps its hold over the weaker ones as those who
are its debtors and within its clutches. For one who is guilty as regards
the precepts of the law will never be able to attain to the perfection of
the gospel, even though he idly boasts that he is a Christian and freed by
the Lord's grace: for we must not only regard as still under the law the
man who refuses to fulfil what the law enjoins, but the man as well who is
satisfied with the mere observance of what the law commands, and who never
brings forth fruits worthy of his vocation and the grace of Christ, where
it is not said: "Thou shalt offer to the Lord thy God thy tithes and
firstfruits;" but: "Go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor,
and come follow Me;"(5) where, owing to the grandeur of perfection, to the
request of the disciple there is not granted even the very short space of
an hour in which to bury his father,(6) as the offices of human charity are
outweighed by the virtue of Divine love.
CHAPTER VIII: How Theonas exhorted his wife that she too should make her
renunciation.
AND when he had heard this the blessed Theonas was fired with an
uncontrollable desire for the perfection of the gospel, and, committed, as
it were, the seed of the word, which he had received in a fruitful heart,
to the deep and broken furrows of his bosom, as he was greatly humiliated
and conscience-stricken because the old man had said not only that he had
failed to attain to the perfection of the gospel, but also that he had
scarcely fulfilled the commands of the law; since though he was accustomed
every year to pay the tithes of his fruits as alms, yet he mourned that he
had never even heard of the law of the firstfruits; and even if he had in
the same way fulfilled this, he humbly confessed that still he would in the
old man's view have been very far from the perfection of the gospel. And so
he returned home sad and filled with that sorrow which worketh repentance
unto salvation,(1) and of his own will and determination turns all his
wife's care and anxiety of mind towards salvation; and began to stir her up
to the same eager desire with which he himself had been inflamed, with the
same sort of exhortations, and with tears day and night to urge her that
together they might serve God in sanctity and chastity, telling her that
their conversion to a better life ought not to be deferred because a vain
hope in their youth would be no argument against the inevitableness of a
sudden death, which carries off boys and youths and young persons equally
with old men.
CHAPTER IX: How he fled to a monastery when his wife would not consent.
AND when his wife was hard and would not consent to him as he
constantly persisted with entreaties of this kind, but said that as she was
in the flower of her age she could not altogether do without the solace of
her husband, and further that supposing she was deserted by him and fell
into sin, the guilt would rather be his who had broken the bonds of
wedlock: to this he, when he had for a long while urged the condition of
human nature (which being so weak and uncertain, it would be dangerous for
it to be any longer mixed up with carnal desires and works), added the
assertion that it was not right for anyone to cut himself off from that
virtue to which he had learnt that he ought by all means to cleave, and
that it was more dangerous to disregard goodness when discovered, than to
fail to love it before it was discovered; further that he was already
involved in the guilt of a fall if when he had discovered such grand and
heavenly blessings he had preferred earthly and mean ones. Further that the
grandeur of perfection was open to every age and either sex, and that all
the members of the Church were urged to scale the heights of heavenly
goodness when the Apostle said: "So run that ye may obtain;"(2) nor should
those who were ready and eager for it hang back because of the delays of
the slow and dawdlers, as it is better for the sluggards to be urged on by
those running before than for those who are doing their best to be hampered
by the slothful. Further that he had determined and made up his mind to
renounce the world and to die to the world that he might live to God, and
that if he could not attain this happiness; viz., to pass with his wife
into union with Christ, he would rather be saved even with the loss of one
member, and enter into the kingdom of heaven as one maimed rather than be
condemned with his body whole. But he also added and spoke as follows: If
Moses suffered wives to be divorced for the hardness of their hearts, why
should not Christ allow this for the desire of chastity, especially when
the same Lord among those other affections; viz., for fathers and mothers
and children (all due regard to which not only the law but He Himself also
charged to be shown, yet for His name's sake and for the desire of
perfection He decreed that they should not simply be disregarded but
actually hated)--to these, I say, He joined also the mention of wives,
saying: "And everyone that hath left house, or brethren or sisters or
father or mother or wife or children for My name's sake, shall receive an
hundredfold and shall inherit eternal life."(8) So far then is He from
allowing anything to be set against that perfection which He is
proclaiming, that He actually enjoins that the ties to father and mother
should be broken and disregarded out of love for Him, though according to
the Apostle it is the first commandment with promise; viz., "Honour thy
father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it
may be well with thee and that thy days may be long upon earth."(4) And as
the word of the gospel condemns those who break the chains of matrimony
where there has been no sin of adultery, so it clearly promises a reward of
an hundredfold to those who have cast off a carnal yoke out of love for
Christ and the desire for chastity. Wherefore if it can be brought about
that you may listen to reason and be turned together with me to this most
desirable choice; viz., that we should together serve the Lord and escape
the pains of hell, I will not refuse the affection of marriage, nay I will
embrace it with a still greater love. For I acknowledge and honour my
helpmeet assigned to me by the word of the Lord, and I do not refuse to be
joined to her in an unbroken tie of love in Christ, nor do I separate from
me what the Lord joined to me by the law of the original condition,(1) if
only you yourself will be what your Maker meant you to be. But if you will
not be a helpmeet, but prefer to make yourself a deceiver and an assistance
not to me but to the adversary, and fancy that the sacrament of matrimony
was granted to you for this reason that you may deprive yourself of this
salvation which is offered to you, and also hold me back from following the
Saviour as a disciple, then I will resolutely lay hold on the words which
were uttered by the lips of Abbot John, or rather of Christ Himself, so
that no carnal affection may be able to tear me away from spiritual
blessings, for He says: "He that hateth not father and mother and children
and brothers and sisters and wife and lands, yea and his own soul also,
cannot be My disciple."(2) When then by these and such like words the
woman's purpose was not moved and she persisted in the same obstinate
hardness, If, said the blessed Theonas, I cannot drag you away from death,
neither shall you separate me from Christ: but it is safer for me to be
divorced from a human person than from God. And so by the aid of God's
grace he at once set about the execution of his purpose and suffered not
the ardour of his desire to grow cool through any delay. For at once he
stripped himself of all his worldly goods, and fled to a monastery, where
in a very short time he was so famous for the splendour of his sanctity and
humility that when John of blessed memory departed this life to the Lord,
and the holy Elias, a man who was no less great than his predecessor, had
likewise died, Theonas was chosen by the judgment of all as the third to
succeed them in the administration of the almsgiving.
CHAPTER X: An explanation that we may not appear to recommend separation
from wives.
BUT let no one imagine that we have invented this for the sake of
encouraging divorce, as we not only in no way condemn marriage, but also,
following the words of the Apostle, say: "Marriage is honourable in all,
and the bed undefiled,"(3) but it was in order faithfully to show the
reader the origin of the conversion by which this great man was dedicated
to God. And I ask the reader kindly. to allow that, whether he likes this
or no, in either case I am free from blame, and to give the praise or blame
for this act to its real author. But as for me, as I have not put forward
an opinion of my own on this matter, but have given a simple narration of
the history. of the facts, it is fair that as I claim no praise from those
who approve of what was done, so I should not be attacked by the hatred of
those who disapprove of it. Let every man therefore, as we said, have his
own opinion on the matter. But I advise him to restrain his censure in
considering it, lest he come to fancy that he is more just and holy than
the Divine judgment, whereby the signs even of Apostolic virtue were
conferred upon him (viz., Theonas), not to mention the opinion of such
great fathers by whom it is clear that his action was not only not blamed,
but even so far praised that in the election to the office of almoner they
preferred him to splendid and most excellent men. And I fancy that the
judgment of so many spiritual men, uttered with God as its author, was not
wrong, as it was, as was said above, confirmed by such wonderful signs.
CHAPTER XI: An inquiry why in Egypt they do not fast during all the fifty
days (of Easter) nor bend their knees in prayer.
BUT it is now time to follow out the plan of the promised discourse. So
then when Abbot Theonas had come to visit us in our cell during
Eastertide(4) after Evensong was over we sat for a little while on the
ground and began diligently to consider why they were so very careful that
no one should during the whole fifty days either bend his knees in
prayer(5) or venture to fast till the ninth hour, and we made our inquiry
the more earnestly because we had never seen this custom so carefully
observed in the monasteries of Syria.
CHAPTER XII: The answer on the nature of things good, bad, and indifferent.
TO this Abbot Theonas thus began his reply. It is indeed right for us,
even when we cannot see the reason, to yield to the authority of the
fathers and to a custom of our predecessors that has been continued through
so many years down to our own time, and to observe it, as handed down from
antiquity, with constant care and reverence. But since you want to know the
reasons and grounds for this, receive in few words what we have heard as
handed down by our Elders on this subject. But before we bring forward the
authority of Holy Scripture, we will, if you please, say a little about the
nature and character of the fast, that afterwards the authority of Holy
Scripture may support our words. The Divine Wisdom has pointed out in
Ecclesiastes that for everything, i.e., for all things happy or those which
are considered unfortunate and unhappy, there is a right time: saying: "For
all things there is a time, and a time for everything under the heaven. A
time to bring forth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pull
down what is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to destroy
and a time to build; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn
and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones and a time to gather
stones; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to
get and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to send away; a time to
scatter and a time to collect; a time to be silent and a time to speak; a
time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace;" and
below: "For mere is a time," it says, "for everything and for every
deed."(1) None therefore of these things does it lay down as always good,
but only when any of them are fittingly done and at the right time, so that
these very things which at one time, when done at the right moment, turn
out well, if they are ventured on at a wrong or unsuitable time, are found
to be useless or harmful; only excepting those things which are in their
own nature good or bad, and which cannot ever be made the opposite, as,
e.g., justice, prudence, fortitude, temperance and the rest of the virtues,
or on the other hand, those faults, the description of which cannot
possibly be altered or fall under the other head. But those things which
can sometimes turn out with either result, so that, in accordance with the
character of those who use them, they are found to be either good or bad,
these we consider to be not absolutely in their own natures useful or
injurious, but only so in accordance with the mind of the doer, and the
suitableness of the time.
CHAPTER XIII: What kind of good fasting is.
WHEREFORE we must now inquire what we ought to hold about the state of
fasting, whether we meant that it was good h the same sort of way as
justice, prudence, fortitude and temperance, which cannot possibly be made
anything else, or whether it is something indifferent which sometimes is
useful when done, and may be sometimes omitted without condemnation; and
which sometimes it is wrong to do, and sometimes laudable to omit. For if
we hold fasting to be included in that list of virtues, so that abstinence
from food is placed among those things which are good in themselves, then
certainly the partaking of food will be bad and wrong. For whatever is the
opposite of that which is in its own nature good, must certainly be held to
be in its own nature bad. But this the authority of Holy Scripture does not
allow to us to lay down. For if we fast with such thoughts and intentions,
so as to think that we fall into sin by taking food, we shall not only gain
no advantage by our abstinence but shall actually contract grievous guilt
and fall into the sin of impiety, as the Apostle says: "Abstaining from
meats which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by the
faithful and those who know the truth. For every creature of God is good,
and nothing to be refused if it is partaken of with thanksgiving." For "if
a man thinks that a thing is common, to him it is common."(2) And therefore
we never read that anyone is condemned simply for taking food, but only
when something was joined with it or followed afterwards, for which he
deserved condemnation.
CHAPTER XIV: How fasting is not good in its own nature.
AND so that it is a thing indifferent is very clearly shown from this
also; viz., because as it brings justification when observed, so it does
not bring condemnation when it is broken in upon; unless perhaps the
transgression of a command rather than the partaking of food brings
punishment. But in the case of a thing that is good in its own nature, no
time should be without it, in such a way as that a man may do without it,
for if it ceases, the man who is careless about it is sure to fall into
mischief. Nor again is any time given for what is bad in its own nature,
because what is hurtful cannot help hurting, if it is indulged in, nor can
it ever be made of a praiseworthy character. And further it is clear that
these things, for which we see conditions and times appointed, and which
sanctify, when observed without corrupting us when they are neglected, are
things indifferent, as, e.g., marriage, agriculture, riches, retirement
into the desert, vigils, reading and meditation on Holy Scripture and
fasting itself, from which our discussion took its rise. All of which
things the Divine precepts and the authority of Holy Scripture decreed
should not be so incessantly aimed at, or so constantly observed, as for it
to be wrong for them to be for a time intermitted. For anything that is
absolutely commanded brings death if it be not fulfilled: but whatever
things we are urged to rather than commanded, when done are useful, when
left undone bring no punishment. And therefore in the case of all or some
of these things our predecessors commanded us either to do them with
consideration, or to observe them carefully with regard to the reason,
place, manner, and time, because if any of them are done suitably, it is
fit and convenient, but if incongruously, then it becomes foolish and
hurtful. And if at the coming of a brother in whose person he ought to
refresh Christ with courtesy and to embrace him with a most kindly welcome,
a man should choose to observe a strict fast, would he not rather be guilty
of incivility than gain the praise or reward of devoutness? or if when the
failure or weakness of the flesh requires the strength to be restored by
the partaking of food, a man will not consent to relax the rigour of his
abstinence, is he not to be regarded as a cruel murderer of his own body
rather than as one who is careful for his salvation? So too when a festival
season permits a suitable indulgence in food and a necessarily liberal
repast, if a man will resolutely cling to the strict observance of a fast
he must be considered as not religious so much as boorish and unreasonable.
But to those men also will these things be found bad, who are on the
lookout for the praises of men by their fasts, and by a foolish show of
paleness gain credit for sanctity, of whom the word of the Gospel tells us
that they have received their reward in this life, and whose fast the Lord
execrates by the prophet. In whose person he first objected to himself and
said: "Wherefore have we fasted and Thou hast not regarded: wherefore have
we humbled our souls, and Thou hast not known it?" and then at once he
answered and explained the reasons why they did not deserve to be heard:
"Behold," he says, "in the days of your fast your own will is found and you
exact of all your debtors. Behold you fast for debates and strife, and
strike with the fist wickedly. Do not fast as ye have done unto this day,
to make your cry to be heard on high. Is this such a fast as I have chosen,
for a man to afflict his soul for a day? Is it this, to wind his head about
like a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? Will ye call this a fast
and a day acceptable o the Lord?" Then he proceeds to teach how the
abstinence of one who fasts may become acceptable, and clearly lays down
that faring cannot be good of itself alone, but only when it has the
following reasons which are added: "Is not this," he says, "the fast that I
have chosen? Loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress,
let them that are broken go free, and break asunder every burden. Deal thy
bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thine
house: and when thou shalt see one naked cover him, and despise not thine
own flesh. Then shalt thy light break forth as the morning and thy health
shall speedily arise, and thy righteousness shall go before thy face and
the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up. Then shalt thou call, and the
Lord shall hear: thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here am I."(1) You see
then that fasting is certainly not considered by the Lord as a thing that
is good in its own nature, because it becomes good and well- pleasing to
God not by itself but by other works, and again from the surrounding
circumstances it may be regarded as not merely vain but actually hateful,
as the Lord says: "When they fast I will not hear their prayers."(2)
CHAPTER XV: How a thing that is good in its own nature ought not to be done
for the sake of some lesser good.
FOR we ought not to practise pity, patience and love, and the precepts
of the virtues mentioned above, wherein there is what is good in its own
nature, for the sake of fasting, but rather fasting for the sake of them.
For our endeavour must be that those virtues which are really good may be
gained by fasting, not that the practice of those virtues may lead to
fasting as its end. For this then the affliction of the flesh is useful,
for this the remedy of abstinence must be employed; viz., that by it we may
succeed in attaining to love, wherein there is what is good without change,
and continually with no exception of time. For medicines, and the
goldsmith's art, and the systems of other arts which there are in this
world are not employed for the sake of the instruments which belong to the
particular work; but rather the implements are prepared for the practice of
the art. And as they are useful for those who understand them, so they are
useless to those who are ignorant of the system of the art in question; and
as they are a great help to those who rely on their aid for doing their
work, so they cannot be of the smallest use to those who do not know for
what purpose they were made, and are contented simply with the possession
of them; because they make all their value consist in the mere having of
them, and not in the performance of work. That then is in its own nature
the best thing, for the sake of which things indifferent are done, but the
very chiefest good is done not for the sake of anything else but because of
its own intrinsic goodness.
CHAPTER XVI: How what is good in its own nature can be distinguished from
other things that are good.
AND this may be distinguished from those other things which we have
termed indifferent, in these ways: if a thing is good in itself and not by
reason of something else: if it is useful for its own sake, and not for the
sake of something else: if it is unchangeably and at all times good, and
always keeps its character and can never become anything different: if its
removal or cessation cannot fail to produce the greatest harm: if that
which is its opposite is in the same way evil in its own nature, and can
never be turned into anything good. And these descriptions by which the
nature of things that are good in themselves can be distinguished, cannot
possibly be applied to fasting, for it is not good of itself, nor useful
for its own sake because it is wisely used for the acquisition of purity of
heart and body, that the pricks of the flesh being dulled the soul may be
pacified and reconciled to its Creator, nor is it unchangeably and at all
times good, because often we are not injured by its intermission, and
indeed sometimes if it is unreasonably practised it becomes injurious. Nor
is that which seems its opposite evil in its own nature, i.e., the
partaking of food, which is naturally agreeable, which cannot be regarded
as evil, unless intemperance and luxury or some other faults are the
result; "For not that which entereth into the mouth, defileth a man, but
that which cometh out of the mouth, that defileth a man."(1) And so a man
disparages what is good in its own nature, and does not treat it properly
or without sin, if he does it not for its own sake but for the sake of
something else, for everything else should be done for the sake of it, but
it should be sought for its own sake alone.
CHAPTER XVII: Of the reason for fasting and its value.
SO then let us constantly remember this description of the character of
fasting, and always aim at it with all the powers of the soul, in such a
way as to recognize that then only is it suitable for us if in it we
preserve regard for time, its character and degree, and this not so as to
set the end of our hope upon it, but so that by it we may succeed in
attaining to purity of heart and Apostolical love. Therefore from this it
is clear that fasting, for which not only are there special seasons
appointed at which it should be practised or relaxed, but conditions and
rules also laid down, is not good in its own nature, but something
indifferent. But those things which are either enjoined as good by the
authority of a precept, or are forbidden as bad, are never subject to any
exceptions of time in such a way that sometimes we should do what is
forbidden or omit what is commanded. For there is no limit set to justice,
patience, soberness, modesty, love, nor on the other hand is a licence ever
granted for injustice, impatience, wrath, immodesty, envy, and pride.
CHAPTER XVIII: How fasting is not always suitable.
WHEREFORE as we have premised this on the conditions of fasting, it
seems well to subjoin the authority of Holy Scripture, by which it will be
more clearly proved that fasting neither can nor should be always observed.
In the Gospel when the Pharisees were fasting together with the disciples
of John the Baptist, as the Apostles, as friends and companions of the
heavenly Bridegroom, were not yet keeping the observance of a fast, the
disciples of John (who thought that they acquired perfect righteousness by
their fasts, as they were followers of that grand preacher of repentance
who afforded a pattern to all the people by his own example, as he not only
refused the different kinds of food which are supplied for man's use, but
actually altogether did without eating the bread which is common to all)
complained to the Lord and said: "Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft but
thy disciples fast not?" to whom the Lord in His reply plainly showed that
fasting is not suitable or necessary at all times, when any festival season
or opportunity for love intervenes and permits an indulgence in food,
saying: "Can the children of the bridegroom mourn while file bridegroom is
with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away
from them; and then shall they fast;"(1) words which although they were
spoken before the resurrection of His Body, yet specially point to the
season of Easter-tide, in which after His resurrection for forty days He
ate with His disciples, and their joy in His daily Presence did not allow
them to fast.
CHAPTER XIX: A question why we break the fast all through Eastertide.
GERMANUS: Why then do we relax the rigour of our abstinence in our
meals all through the fifty days, whereas Christ only remained with His
disciples for forty days after His resurrection?
CHAPTER XX: The answer.
YOUR pertinent question deserves to be told the perfect true reason.
After the Ascension of our Saviour which took place on the fortieth day
after His Resurrection, the apostles returned from the Mount of Olives, on
which He had suffered them to see Him when He was returning to the Father,
as the book of the Acts of the Apostles also testifies, and entered
Jerusalem and are said to have waited ten days for the coming of the Holy
Ghost, and when these were fulfilled on the fiftieth day they received Him
with joy. And thus in this way the number of this festival was clearly made
up, which as we read was figuratively foreshadowed also in the Old
Testament, where when seven weeks were fulfilled the bread of the
firstfruits was ordered to be offered by the priests to the Lord:(2) and
this was indeed shown to be offered to the Lord by the preaching of the
Apostles which they are said on that day to have addressed to the people;
the true bread of the firstfruits, which when produced from the instruction
of a new doctrine, consecrated the firstfruits of the Jews as a Christian
people to the Lord, five thousand men being filled with the gifts of the
food. And therefore these ten days are to be kept with equal solemnity and
joy as the previous forty. And the tradition about this festival,
transmitted to us by Apostolic men, should be kept with the same
uniformity. For therefore on those days they do not bow their knees in
prayer, because the bending of the knees is a sign of penitence and
mourning. Wherefore also during these days we observe in all things the
same solemnities as on Sunday, on which day our predecessors taught that
men ought not to fast nor to bow the knee, out of reverence for the Lord's
Resurrection.
CHAPTER XXI: A question whether the relaxation of the fast is not
prejudicial to the chastity of the body.
GERMANUS: Can the flesh, attracted by the unwonted luxuries of so long
a festival fail to produce something thorny from the incentives to sin
although they have been cut down? or can the soul weighed down by the
consumption of unaccustomed feasts fail to mitigate the rigour of its rule
over its servant the body, especially when in our case our mature age can
excite our subject members to a speedy revolt, if we venture to take our
usual food in larger quantities, or unaccustomed food more freely than
usual?
CHAPTER XXII: The answer on the way to keep control over abstinence.
THEONAS: If we weigh everything that we do, by a reasonable judgment of
the mind, and on the purity of our heart always consult not the opinions of
other people but our own conscience, that interval for refreshment is sure
not to interfere with our proper strictness, if only, as was said, our pure
mind impartially considers the right limits of indulgence and abstinence,
and fairly checks excess in either, and with real discrimination discerns
whether the weight of the delicacies is a burden upon our spirits, or
whether too much austerity in abstaining weighs down the other side, i.e.,
that of the body, and either depresses or raises that side which it sees to
be raised or weighed down. For our Lord would have nothing done to His
honour and glory without being tempered by judgment, for "the honour of a
king loveth judgment,"(1) and therefore Solomon, the wisest of men, urges
us not to let our judgment incline to either side, saying: "Honour God with
thy righteous labours and offer to Him of the fruits of thy
righteousness."(2) For we have residing in our conscience an uncorrupt and
true judge who sometimes, when all are wrong, is the only person not
deceived as to the state of our purity. And so with all care and pains we
should preserve a constant purpose in our circumspect heart for fear lest
if the judgment of our discretion goes wrong, we may be fired with the
desire for an ill-considered abstinence, or allured by the wish for an
excessive relaxation, and so weigh the substance of our strength in the
tongue of an unfair balance; but we should place in one of the scales our
purity of soul, and in the other our bodily strength, and weigh them both
in the true judgment of conscience, so that we may not perversely incline
the scale of fairness to either side, either to undue strictness or to
excessive relaxation, from the preponderating desire for one or the other,
and so have this said to us by reason of excessive strictness or
relaxation: "If thou offerest rightly, but dost not divide rightly, hast
thou not sinned?"(3) For those offerings of fasts, which we thoughtlessly
extort by violently tearing our bowels, and fancy that we rightly offer to
the Lord, these He execrates who "loves mercy and judgment" saying: "I the
Lord love judgment, but I hate robbery in a burnt offering."(4) Those also
who take the main part of their offerings, i.e., their offices and actions,
to benefit the flesh for their own use, but leave the remains of them and a
tiny portion for the Lord, these the Divine Word thus condemns as
fraudulent workmen: "Cursed is he that doeth the work of the Lord
fraudulently."(5) It is not then without reason that the Lord reproves him
who thus deceives himself by unfair considerations, saying: "But vain are
the children of men: the children of men are liars upon the balances that
they may deceive."(6) And therefore the blessed Apostle warns us to keep
hold of the reins of discretion and not to be attracted by excess and
swerve to either side, saying: "Your reasonable service."(7) And the giver
of the law similarly forbids the same thing, saying: "Let the balance be
just and the weights equal, the bushel just and the sextarius equal,"(8)
and Solomon also gives a like opinion on this matter: "Great and small
weights and double measures are both unclean before the Lord, and one who
uses them shall be hindered in his contrivances."(9) Further not only in
the way in which we have said, but also in this must we strive not to have
unfair weights in our hearts, nor double measures in the storehouse of our
conscience, i.e., not to overwhelm those, to whom we are to preach the word
of the Lord, with precepts that are too strict and heavier than we
ourselves can bear, while we take for granted that for ourselves those
things which have to do with the rule of strictness are to be softened by a
freer allowance of relaxation. For when we do this, what is it but to weigh
and measure the goods and fruits of the Lord's commands in a double weight
and measure? For if we dispense them in one way to ourselves and in another
to our brethren, we are rightly blamed by the Lord because we have unfair
balances and double measures, in accordance with the saying of Solomon
which tells us that "A double weight is an abomination to the Lord, and a
deceitful balance is not good in His sight."(10) In this way also we
plainly incur the guilt of using a deceitful weight and a double measure,
if out of the desire for the praise of men, we make a show before the
brethren of greater strictness than what we practice in private in our own
cells, trying to appear more abstinent and holier in the sight of men than
in the sight of God, an evil which we should not only avoid but actually
loathe. But meanwhile as we have wandered some way from the question before
us, let us return to the point from which we started.
CHAPTER XXIII: Of the time and measure of refreshment.
So then we should keep the observance of the days mentioned in such a
way that the relaxation allowed may be useful rather than harmful to the
good of body and soul, because the joy of any festival cannot blunt the
pricks of the flesh, nor can that fierce enemy of ours be pacified by
regard for days. In order then that the observance of the customs appointed
for festival seasons may be kept and that the most salutary rule of
abstinence be not at all exceeded it is enough for us to allow the
permitted relaxation to go so far, as for us out of regard for the festival
season to take the food, which ought to be taken at the ninth hour, a
little earlier; viz., at the sixth hour, but with this condition, that the
regular allowance and character of the food be not altered, for fear lest
the purity of body and uprightness of soul which has been gained by the
abstinence of Lent be lost by the relaxation of Easter-tide, and it profit
us nothing to have acquired by our fast what a careless satiety causes us
presently to lose, especially as the well-known cunning of our enemy
assaults the stronghold of our purity then chiefly when he sees that our
guard over it is somewhat relaxed at the celebration of some festival.
Wherefore we must most vigilantly look out that the vigour of our soul be
never enervated by seductive flatteries, and we lose not the purity of our
chastity, gained, as was said, by the continuous efforts of Lent, by the
repose and carelessness of Eastertide. And therefore no addition at all
should be made to the quality or the quantity of the food, but even on the
highest festivals we should similarly abstain from those foods, by
abstinence from which we preserve our uprightness on common days, that the
joy of the festival may not excite in us a most deadly conflict of carnal
desires, and so be turned to grief, and put an end to that most excellent
festival of the heart, which exults in the joy of purity; and after a brief
show of carnal joy we begin to mourn our lost purity of heart with a
lasting sorrow of repentance. Moreover we should strive that this warning
of the prophetic exhortation may not be uttered against us to no purpose:
"Celebrate, O Judah, thy festivals, and pay thy vows."(1) For if the
occurrence of festival days does not interfere with the continuity of our
abstinence, we shall continually enjoy spiritual festivals and so, when we
cease from servile work, "there shall be month after month and Sabbath
after Sabbath."(2)
CHAPTER XXIV: A question on the different ways of keeping Lent.
GERMANUS: What is the reason why Lent is kept for six weeks, while in
some countries a possibly more earnest care for religion seems to have
added a seventh week as well, though neither number when you subtract
Sunday and Saturday, gives the total of forty days? For only six and thirty
days are included in these weeks.(3)
CHAPTER XXV: The answer to the effect that the fast of Lent has reference
to the title of the year.
THEONAS: Although the pious simplicity of some folks would put aside a
question on this subject, yet because you are more scrupulous in your
examination of those things which another would consider unworthy to be
asked about, and want to know the whole truth of this observance of ours
and the secret of it, you shall have a very clear reason for this also,
that you may still more plainly be convinced that our predecessors taught
nothing unreasonable. By the law of Moses the command propounded to all
the people generally was this: "Thou shalt offer to the Lord thy God thy
tithes and firstfruits."(4) And so, while we are commanded to offer tithes
of our substance and all our fruits, it is much more needful for us to
offer tithes of our life and ordinary employments and actions, which
certainly is clearly arranged for in the calculation of Lent. For the tithe
of the number of all the days included in the revolving circle of the year
is thirty-six days and a half. But in seven weeks, if Sundays and Saturdays
are subtracted, there remain thirty-five days assigned for fasting. But by
the addition of Easter Eve when the Saturday's fast is prolonged to the
cock-crowing at the dawn of Easter Day, not only is the number of thirty-
six days made up, but in regard to the tithe of the five days which seemed
to be over, if the bit of the night which was added be taken into account
nothing will be wanting to the whole sum.
CHAPTER XXVI: How we ought also to offer our firstfruits to the Lord.
BUT what shall I say of the firstfruits which surely are given daily by
all who serve Christ faithfully? For when men waking from sleep and arising
with renewed activity after their rest, before they take in any impulse or
thought in their heart, or admit any recollection or consideration of
business consecrate their first and earliest thoughts as divine offerings,
what are they doing indeed but rendering the firstfruits of their produce
through the High Priest Jesus Christ for the enjoyment of this life and a
figure of the daily resurrection? And also when roused from sleep in the
same way they offer to God a sacrifice of joy and invoke Him with the first
motion of their tongue and celebrate His name and praise, and throwing
open, the first thing, the door of their lips to sing hymns to Him they
offer to God the offices of their mouth; and to Him also in the same way
their bring the earliest offerings of their hands anti steps, when they
rise from bed and stand in prayer and before they use the services of their
limbs for their own purposes, take to themselves nothing of their services,
but for His glory advance their steps, and set them in His praise and so
render the first fruits of all their movements by stretching forth the
hands, bending the knees, and prostrating the whole body. For in no other
way can we fulfil that of which we sing in the Psalm: "I prevented the
dawning of the day and cried;" and: "Mine eves to Thee have prevented the
morning that I might meditate on Thy words;" and: "In the morning shall my
prayer prevent Thee;"(1) unless after our rest in sleep when, as we said
above, we are restored as from darkness and death to this light, we have
the courage not to begin by taking any of all the services both of mind and
body for our own uses. For there is no other morning which the prophet
"prevented," or which in the same way we ought to prevent, except either
ourselves, i.e., our occupations and feelings and earthly cares, without
which we cannot exist--or the most subtle suggestions of the adversary,
which he tries to suggest to us, while still resting and overcome with
sleep, by the phantoms of vain dreams, with which, when we presently awake,
he will fill our minds and occupy us, that he may be the first to seize and
carry off the spoils of our firstfruits. Wherefore we must take the utmost
care (if we want to fulfil in act the meaning of the above quoted verse)
that an anxious watchfulness takes regard of our first and earliest morning
thoughts, that they may not be defiled beforehand being hastily taken
possession of by our jealous adversary, and thus he may make our
firstfruits to be rejected by the Lord as worthless and common. And if he
is not prevented by us with watchful circumspection of mind, he will not
lay aside his habit of miserably anticipating us nor cease day after day to
prevent us by his wiles. And therefore if we want to offer firstfruits that
are acceptable and well pleasing to God of the fruits of our mind, we ought
to spend no ordinary care to keep all the senses of our body, especially
during the hours of the morning, as a sacred holocaust to the Lord pure and
undefiled in all things. And this kind of devotion many even of those who
live in the world observe with the utmost care, as they rise before it is
light or very early, and do not at all mix in the ordinary and necessary
business of this world before hastening to church and striving to
consecrate in the sight of God the firstfruits of all their actions and
doings.
CHAPTER XXVII: Why Lent is kept by very many with a different number of
days.
FURTHER, as for what you say; viz., that in some countries Lent is kept
in different ways, i.e., for six or seven weeks, it is but one system and
the same manner of the fast that is preserved by the different observance
of the weeks. For those who think one ought to fast also on the Saturday,
have determined on the observance of six weeks. They therefore fast for six
days out of the seven, and this being six times repeated makes up the six
and thirty days. It is therefore, as we said, but one system and the same
manner of the fast, although there seems to be a difference in the number
of the weeks.
CHAPTER XXVIII: Why it is called Quadragesima, when the fast is only kept
for thirty-six days.
BUT further, as man's carelessness dropped out of sight the reason of
this, this season when, as was said, the tithes of the year are offered by
fasts for thirty-six days and a half, was called Quadragesima,(2) a name
which perhaps they thought ought to be given to it for this reason; viz.,
that it is said that Moses and Elijah and our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
fasted for forty days. To the mystery of which number are not unsuitably
applied those forty years in which Israel dwelt in the wilderness, and in
like manner the forty stations which they are said to have passed through
with a mystic meaning. Or perhaps the tithe was properly given the name of
Quadragesima from the use of the custom-house. For so that state tax is
commonly called, from which the same proportion of the increment is
assigned for the king's use, as the legal tribute of Quadragesima, which is
required of us by the King of all the ages for the use of our life. At any
rate, although this has nothing to do with the question raised, yet I think
that I ought not to omit the fact that very often our elders used to
testify that especially on these days the whole body of monks was attacked
according to the ancient custom of the people opposed to them, and was more
vehemently urged to forsake their homes, for this reason, because in
accordance with this figure, whereby the Egyptians formerly oppressed the
children of Israel with grievous afflictions, so now also the spiritual
Egyptians try to bow down the true Israel, i.e., the monastic folk, with
hard and vile tasks, lest by means of that peace which is dear to God, we
should forsake the land of Egypt, and for our good cross to the desert of
virtues, so that Pharaoh rages against us and says: "They are idle and
therefore they cry saying: Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord our God. Let
them be oppressed with labours, and be harassed in their works, and they
shall not be harassed by vain words."(1) For certainly their folly imagines
that the holy sacrifice of the Lord, which is only offered in the desert of
a pure heart, is the height of folly, for "religion is an abomination to a
sinner."(2)
CHAPTER XXIX: How those who are perfect go beyond the fixed rule of Lent.
By this law of Lent then the man who is upright and perfect is not
restrained nor is he content with merely submitting to that paltry rule
which the heads of the church have established for those who all the year
round are involved in pleasure or business, that they may be bound by this
legal requirement and forced at any rate during these days to find time for
the Lord, and dedicate to Him the tithe of the days of their life, all of
which they would have consumed as their profits. But the righteous, for
whom the law is not appointed, and who devote to spiritual duties not a
small part; viz., the tenth, but the whole time of their life, because they
are free from the burden of tithes according to law, for his reason, if any
worthy and pious occasion happening to them constrains them, are ready to
relax their station fast(3) without any hesitation. For in their case it is
no paltry tithe that is diminished, as they offer all that they have to the
Lord equally with themselves. And this certainly a man could not do without
being guilty of a grievous wrong, who, offering nothing of his own free
will to God, is forced to pay his tithes by the stern compulsion of the law
which takes no excuse. Wherefore it is clearly established that the servant
of the law cannot be perfect, who only shuns those things which are
forbidden and does those things which are commanded, but that those are
really perfect who do not take advantage even of those things which the law
allows. And in this way, though it is said of the Mosaic law that "the law
brought nothing to perfection,"(4) we read that some of the saints in the
Old Testament were perfect because they went beyond the commands of the law
and lived under the perfection of the Gospel: "Knowing that the law is not
appointed for the righteous but for the unrighteous and disobedient, for
the ungodly and sinners, for the wicked and defiled, etc."(5)
CHAPTER XXX: Of the origin and beginning of Lent.
HOWBEIT you should know that as long as the primitive church retained
its perfection unbroken, this observance of Lent did not exist. For they
were not bound by the requirements of this order, or by any legal
enactments, nor confined in the very narrow limits of the fast, as the fast
embraced equally the whole year round. But when the multitude of believers
began day by day to decline from that apostolic fervour, and to look after
their own wealth, and not to portion it out for the good of all the
faithful in accordance with the arrangement of the apostles, but having an
eye to their own private expenses, tried not only to keep it but actually
to increase it, not content with following the example of Ananias and
Sapphira, then it seemed good to all the priests that men who were hampered
by worldly cares, and almost ignorant, if I may say so, of abstinence and
contrition, should be recalled to the pious duty by a fast canonically
enjoined, and be constrained by the necessity of paying the legal tithes,
as this certainly would be good for the weak brethren and could not do any
harm to the perfect who were living under the grace of the gospel and by
their voluntary devotion going beyond the law, so as to succeed in
attaining to the blessedness which the Apostle speaks of: "For sin shall
not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law but under
grace."(1) For of a truth sin cannot exercise dominion over one who lives
faithfully under the liberty of grace.
CHAPTER XXXI: A question, how we ought to understand the Apostle's words:
"Sin shall not have dominion over you."
GERMANUS: Because this saying of the Apostle, which promises freedom
from care not only to monks but to all Christians in general, cannot lead
us wrong, it seems to us somewhat obscure. For whereas he maintains that
all those who believe the gospel are at liberty and free from the yoke and
dominion of sin, how is it that the dominion of sin holds vigorous sway
over almost all the baptized, in accordance with the Lord's words, where He
says: "Every one that doeth sin is the servant of sin"?(2)
CHAPTER XXXII: The answer on the difference between grace and the commands
of the law.
THEONAS: Your inquiry once more raises before us a question of no small
extent. The explanation of which though I know that it cannot be taught to
or understood by the inexperienced, yet as far as I can, I will try to set
forth in words and briefly to explain, if only your minds will follow up
and act upon what we say. For whatever is known not by teaching but by
experience, just as it cannot be taught by one without experience, so
neither can it be grasped or taken in by the mind of one who has not laid
the foundation by a similar study and training. And therefore I think it
necessary for us first to inquire somewhat carefully what is the purpose or
meaning of the law, and what is the system and perfection of grace, that
from this we may succeed in understanding the dominion of sin and how to
drive it out. And so the law chiefly commands men to seek the bonds of
wedlock, saying: "Blessed is he that hath seed in Sion and an household in
Jerusalem;"(3) and: "Cursed is the barren that hath not borne."(4) On the
other hand grace invites us to the purity of perpetual chastity, and the
undefiled state of blessed virginity, saying: "Blessed are the barren, and
the breasts which have not given suck;" and: "he that hateth not father and
mother and wife cannot be my disciple;" and this of the Apostle: "It
remaineth that they that have wives be as though they had them not."(5) The
law says: "Thou shall not delay to offer thy tithes and firstfruits;" grace
says: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast and give to
the poor:"(6) The law forbids not retaliation for wrongs and vengeance for
injuries, saying" "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." Grace would
have our patience proved by the injuries and blows offered to us being
redoubled, and bids us be ready to endure twice as much damage; saying: "If
a man strike thee on one cheek, offer him the other also; and to him who
will contend with thee at the law and take away thy coat, give him thy
cloak also."(7) The one decrees that we should hate our enemies, the other
that we should love them so that it holds that even for them we ought
always to pray to God.
CHAPTER XXXIII: Of the fact that the precepts of the gospel are milder than
those of the law.
WHOEVER therefore climbs this height of evangelical perfection, is at
once raised by the merits of such virtue above every law, and disregarding
as trivial all that is commanded by Moses, recognizes that he is only
subject to the grace of the Saviour, by whose aid he knows that he attained
to that most exalted condition. Therefore sin has no dominion over him,
"because the love of God, which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given to us,"(8) shuts out all care for everything else, and
can neither desire what is forbidden, or disregard what is commanded, as
its whole aim and all its desire is ever fixed on divine love, and to such
an extent is it not caught by the delights of worthless things, that it
actually does not take advantage of those things which are permitted. But
under the law, where lawful marriages are observed, although the rovings of
wantonness are restrained, and bound down to one woman alone, yet the
pricks of carnal lust cannot help being vigorous; and it is hard for the
fire, for which fuel is expressly supplied, to be thus shut in within
prearranged limits, so as not to spread further and burn up anything it
touches. As even if this objection occurs to it that it is not allowed to
be kindled beyond these limits, yet even while it is kept in check, it is
on fire because the will itself is in fault, and its habit of carnal
intercourse hurries it into too speedy excesses of adultery. But those whom
the grace of the Saviour has fired with the holy love of chastity, so
consume all the thorns of carnal desires in the fire of the Lord's love,
that no dying embers of sin interfere with the coldness of their purity.
The servants of the law then from the use of lawful things fall away to
unlawful; the partakers of grace while they disregard lawful things know
nothing of unlawful ones. But as sin is alive in one who loves marriage, so
is it also in one who is satisfied with merely paying his tithes and
firstfruits. For, while he is dawdling or careless, he is sure to sin in
regard to either their quality or quantity, or the daily distribution of
them. For as he is commanded unweariedly to minister to those in want of
what is his, although he may dispense it with the fullest faith and
devotion, yet it is hard for him not to fall often into the snares of sin.
But over those who have not set at naught the counsel of the Lord, but who,
disposing of all their property to the poor, take up their cross and follow
the bestower of grace, sin can have no dominion. For no faithless anxiety
for getting food will annoy him who piously distributes and disperses his
wealth already consecrated to Christ and no longer regarded as his own; nor
will any grudging hesitation take away from the cheerfulness of his
almsgiving, because without any thought of his own needs or fear of his own
food running short he is distributing what has once for all been completely
offered to God, and is no longer regarded as his own, as he is sure that
when he has succeeded in stripping himself as he desires, he will be fed
by God much more than the birds of the air. On the other hand he who
retains his goods of this world, or, bound by the rules of the old law,
distributes the tithe of his produce, and his firstfruits, or a portion of
his income, although he may to a considerable degree quench the fire of his
sins by this dew of almsgiving, yet, however generously he gives away his
wealth, it is impossible for him altogether to rid himself of the dominion
of sin, unless perhaps by the grace of the Saviour, together with his
substance he gets rid of all love of possessing. In the same way he cannot
fail to be subject to the bloody sway of sin, whoever chooses to pull out,
as the law commands, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or to hate his
enemy, for while he desires by retaliation in exchange to avenge an injury
done to himself, and while he cherishes bitter hatred against an enemy, he
is sure always to be inflamed with the passion of anger and rage. But
whoever lives under the light of the grace of the gospel, and overcomes
evil by not resisting it, but by bearing it, and does not hesitate of his
own free will to give to one who smites his right cheek, the other also,
and to one who wants to raise a lawsuit against him for his coat, gives his
cloak also, and who loves his enemies, and prays for those who slander him,
this man has broken the yoke of sin and burst its chains. For he is not
living under the law, which does not destroy the seeds of sin (whence not
without reason the Apostle says of it: "There is a setting aside of the
former commandment because of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof:
for the law brought nothing to perfection;" and the Lord says by the
prophet: "And I gave them commands that were not good, and ordinances,
whereby they could not live"(1), but under grace which does not merely lop
off the boughs of wickedness, but actually tears up the very roots of an
evil will.
CHAPTER XXXIV: How a man can be shown to be under grace.
WHOEVER then strives to reach the perfection of evangelical teaching,
this man living under grace is not oppressed by the dominion of sin, for to
be under grace is to do those things which grace commands. But whoever will
not submit himself to the complete requirements of evangelical perfection,
must not remain ignorant that, although he seems to be baptized and to be a
monk, yet he is not under grace, but is still shackled by the chains of the
law, and weighed down by the burden of sin. For it is the aim of Him, who
by the grace of adoption accepts all those by whom He has been received,
not to destroy but to build upon, not to abolish but to fulfil the Mosaic
requirements. But some knowing nothing about this, and disregarding the
splendid counsels and exhortations of Christ, are so emancipated by the
carelessness of a freedom too hastily assumed, that they not only fail to
carry out the commands of Christ as if they were too hard, but actually
scorn as antiquated, the commands given to them as beginners and children
by the law of Moses, saying in this dangerous freedom of theirs that which
the Apostle execrates: "We have sinned, because we are not under the law
but under grace."(1) He then who is neither under grace, because he has
never climbed the heights of the Lord's teaching, nor under the law,
because he has not accepted even those small commands of the law, this man,
ground down beneath a twofold rule of sin, fancies that he has received the
grace of Christ, simply and solely for this, that by this dangerous liberty
of his he may make himself none of His, and falls into that state, which
the Apostle Peter warns us to avoid, saying: "Act as free, and not having
your liberty as a cloak of wickedness." The blessed Apostle Paul also says:
"For ye, brethren, were called to liberty," i.e., that ye might be free
from the dominion of sin, "only use not your liberty for an occasion of the
flesh,"(2) i.e., believe that the doing away with the commands of the law
is a licence to sin. But this liberty, the Apostle Paul teaches us is
nowhere but where the Lord is dwelling, for he says: "The Lord is the
Spirit, but where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty."(3) Wherefore
I know not whether I could express and explain the meaning of the blessed
Apostle, as those know how, who have experience; one thing I do know, that
it is very clearly revealed even without anyone's explanation to all those
who have perfectly acquired praktikh`, i.e., practical training. For they
will need no effort to understand in discussion what they have already
learnt by practice.
CHAPTER XXXV: A question, why sometimes when we are fasting more strictly
than usual, we are troubled by carnal desires more keenly than usual.
GERMANUS: You have very clearly explained a most difficult question,
and one which, as we think, is unknown to many. Wherefore we pray you to
add this also for our good, and carefully to expound why sometimes when we
are fasting more strictly than usual, and are exhausted and worn out,
severer bodily struggles are excited. For often on waking from sleep, when
we have discovered that we have been defiled(4) we are so dejected in heart
that we do not even venture faithfully to rise even for prayer.
CHAPTER XXXVI: The answer, telling that this question should be reserved
for future Conference.
THEONAS: Your zeal indeed, whereby you desire to reach the way of
perfection, not for a moment only but fully and perfectly, urges us to
continue this discussion unweariedly. For you are anxiously inquiring not
about external chastity or outward circumcision, but about that which is
secret, as you know that complete perfection does not consist in this
visible continence of the flesh which can be attained either by constraint,
or by hypocrisy even by unbelievers, but in that voluntary and invisible
purity of heart, which the blessed Apostle describes as follows: "For he is
not a Jew which is so outwardly, nor is that circumcision which is outward
in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and the circumcision
is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter, whose praise is not
of men but of God,"(5) who alone searches the secrets of the heart. But
because it is not possible for your wish to be fully satisfied (as the
short space of the night that is left is not enough for the investigation
of this most difficult question,) I think it well to postpone it for a
while. For these matters, as they should be propounded by us quietly and
with an heart entirely free from all bustling thoughts, so should they be
received into your minds; for just as the inquiry ought to be undertaken
for the sake of our common purity, so they cannot be learnt or acquired by
one who is without the gift of uprightness. For we do not ask what
arguments of empty words, but what the inward faith of the conscience and
the greater force of truth can persuade. And therefore with regard to the
knowledge and teaching of this purification nothing can be brought forward
except by one who has had experience of it, nor can anything be committed
except to one who is a most eager and very earnest lover of the truth
itself, who does not hope to attain it by asking questions with mere vain
words, but by striving with all his might and main, with no wish for
useless chattering but with the desire to purify himself internally.
XXII. THE SECOND CONFERENCE OF ABBOT THEONAS.
ON NOCTURNAL ILLUSIONS.
This Conference is omitted.
XXVIII. THE THIRD CONFERENCE OF ABBOT THEONAS.
ON SINLESSNESS.
CHAPTER I: Discourse of Abbot Theonas on the Apostle's words: "For do not
the good which I would."
At the return of light therefore, as the old man was forced by our
intense urgency to investigate the depths of the Apostle's subject, he
spoke as follows: As for the passages by which you try to prove that the
Apostle Paul spoke not in his own person but in that of sinners: "For t do
not the good that I would, but the evil which I hate, that I do;" or this:
"But if I do that which I would not, it is no longer I that do it but sin
that dwelleth in me;" or what follows: "For I delight in the law of God
after the inner man, but I see another law in my members opposing the law
of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my
members;"(1) these passages on the contrary plainly show that they cannot
possibly fit the person of sinners, but that what is said can only apply to
those that are perfect, and that it only suits the chastity of those who
follow the good example of the Apostles. Else how could these words apply
to the person of sinners: "For I do not the good which I would, but the
evil which I hate that I do"? or even this: "But if I do what I would not
it is no longer I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me"? For what sinner
defiles himself unwillingly by adulteries and fornication? Who against his
will prepares plots against his neighbour? Who is driven by unavoidable
necessity to oppress a man by false witness or cheat him by theft, or covet
the goods of another or shed his blood? Nay rather, as Scripture says,
"Mankind is diligently inclined to wickedness from his youth."(2) For to
such an extent are all inflamed by the love of sin and desire to carry out
what they like, that they actually look out with watchful care for an
opportunity of committing wickedness and are afraid of being too slow to
enjoy their lusts, and glory in their shame and the mass of their crimes,
as the Apostle says in censure,(3) and seek credit for themselves out of
their own confusion, of whom also the prophet Jeremiah maintains that they
commit their flagitious crimes not only not unwillingly nor with ease of
heart and body, but with laborious efforts to such an extent that they come
to toil to carry them out, so that they are prevented even by the hindrance
of arduous difficulty from their deadly quest of sin; as he says: "They
have laboured to do wickedly."(4) Who also will say that this applies to
sinners: "And so with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the
flesh the law of sin," as it is plain that they serve God neither with the
mind nor the flesh? Or how can those who sin with the body serve God with
the mind, when the flesh receives the incitement to sin from the heart, and
the Creator of either nature Himself declares that the fount and spring of
sin flows from the latter, saying: "From the heart proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, etc."(1) Wherefore it is
clearly shown that this cannot in any way be taken of the person of
sinners, who not only do not hate, but actually love what is evil and are
so far from serving God with either the mind or the flesh that they sin
with the mind before they do with the flesh, and before they carry out the
pleasures of the body are overcome by sin in their mind and thoughts.
CHAPTER II: How the Apostle completed many good actions.
IT remains therefore for us to measure its meaning and drift from the
inmost feelings of the speaker, and to discuss what the blessed Apostle
called good, and what he pronounced by comparison evil, not by the bare
meaning of the words, but with the same insight which he showed, and to
investigate his meaning with due regard to the worth and goodness of the
speaker. For then we shall be able to understand the words, which were
uttered by God's inspiration, in accordance with his purpose and wish, when
we weigh the position and character of those by whom they were spoken, and
are ourselves clothed with the same feelings (not in words but by
experience), in accordance with the character of which most certainly all
the thoughts are conceived and opinions uttered. Wherefore let us carefully
consider what was in the main that good which the Apostle could not do when
he would. For we know that there are many good things which we cannot deny
that the blessed Apostle and all men as good as he either have by nature,
or acquire by grace. For chastity is good, continence is praiseworthy,
prudence is to be admired, kindness is liberal, sobriety is careful,
temperance is modest, pity is kind, justice is holy: all of which we cannot
doubt existed fully and in perfection in the Apostle Paul and his
companions, so that they taught religion by the lesson of their virtues
rather than their words. What if they were always consumed with the
constant care of all the churches and watchful anxiety? How great a good is
this pity, what perfection it is to burn for them that are offended, to be
weak with the weak!(2) If then the Apostle abounded with such good things,
we cannot recognize what that good was, in the perfection of which the
Apostle was lacking, unless we have advanced to that state of mind in which
he was speaking. And so all those virtues which we say that he possessed,
though they are like most splendid and precious gems, yet when they are
compared with that most beautiful and unique pearl which the merchant in
the gospel sought and wanted to acquire by selling all that he possessed,
so does their value seem poor and trifling, so that if they are without
hesitation got rid of, the possession of one good thing alone will enrich
the man who sells countless good things.
CHAPTER III: What is really the good which the Apostle testifies that he
could not perform.
WHAT then is that one thing which is so incomparably above those great
and innumerable good things, that, while they are all scorned and rejected,
it alone should be acquired? Doubtless it is that truly good part, the
grand and lasting character of which is thus described by the Lord, when
Mary disregarded the duties of hospitality and courtesy and chose it:
"Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but there
is but need of but few things or even of one only. Mary hath chosen the
good part which shall not be taken away from her."(3) Contemplation then,
i.e., meditation on God, is the one thing, the value of which all the
merits of our righteous acts, all our aims at virtue, come short of. And
all those things which we said existed in the Apostle Paul, were not only
good and useful, but even great and splendid. But as, for example, the
metal of alloy which is considered of some use and worth, becomes worthless
when silver is taken into account, and again the value of silver disappears
in comparison with gold, and gold itself is disregarded when compared with
precious stones, and yet a quantity of precious stones however splendid are
outdone by the brightness of a single pearl, so all those merits of
holiness, although they are not merely good and useful for the present
life, but also secure the gift of eternity, yet if they are compared with
the merit of Divine contemplation, will be considered trifling and so to
speak, fit to be sold. And to support this illustration by the authority of
Scripture, does not Scripture declare of all things in general which were
created by God, and say: "And behold everything that God had made was very
good;" and again: "And things that God hath made are all good in their
season"?(1) These things then which in the present time are termed not
simply and solely good, but emphatically "very good" (for they are really
convenient for us while living in this world, either for purposes of life,
or for remedies for the body, or by reason of some unknown usefulness, or
else they are indeed "very good," because they enable us "to see the
invisible things of God from the creatures of the world, being understood
by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead,"(2) from
this great and orderly arrangement of the fabric of the world; and to
contemplate them from the existence of everything in it), yet none of
these things will keep the name of good if they are regarded in the light
of that world to come, where no variation of good things, and no loss of
true blessedness need be feared. The bliss of which world is thus
described: "The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the
light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven days."(3) These
things then which are great and wondrous to be gazed on, and marvellous,
will at once appear as vanity if they are compared with the future promises
from faith; as David says: "They all shall wax old as a garment, and as a
vesture shall Thou change them, and they shall be changed. But Thou art
the same, and Thy years shall not fail."(4) Because then there is nothing
of itself enduring, nothing unchangeable, nothing good but Deity alone,
while every creature, to obtain the blessing of eternity and immutability,
aims at this not by its own nature but by participation of its Creator,
and His grace, they cannot maintain their character for goodness when
compared with their Creator.
CHAPTER IV: How man's goodness and righteousness are not good if compared
with the goodness and righteousness of God.
But if we want also to establish the force of this opinion by still clearer
proofs, is it not the case that while we read of many things as called good
in the gospel, as a good tree, and good treasure, and a good man, and a
good servant, for He says: "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit;"
and: "a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good
things;" and: "Well done, good and faithful servant;"(5) and certainly
there can be no doubt that none of these are good in themselves, yet if we
take into consideration the goodness of God, none of them will be called
good, as the Lord says: "None is good save God alone"?(6) In whose sight
even the apostles themselves, who in the excellence of their calling in
many ways went beyond the goodness of mankind, are said to be evil, as the
Lord thus speaks to them: "If ye then being evil know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven
give good things to them that ask Him."(7) Finally as our goodness turns to
badness in the eyes of the Highest so also our righteousness when set
against the Divine righteousness is considered like a menstruous cloth, as
Isaiah the prophet says: "All your righteousness is like a menstruous
cloth."(8) And to produce something still plainer, even the vital precepts
of the law itself, which are said to have been "given by angels by the hand
of a mediator," and of which the same Apostle says: "So the law indeed is
holy and the commandment is holy and just and good,"(9) when they are
compared with the perfection of the gospel are pronounced anything but good
by the Divine oracle: for He says: "And I gave them precepts that were not
good, and ordinances whereby they should not live in them."(10) The Apostle
also affirms that the glory of the law is so dimmed by the light of the New
Testament that he declares that in comparison with the splendour of the
gospel it is not to be considered glorious, saying: "For even that which
was glorious was not glorified by reason of the glory that excelleth."(11)
And Scripture keeps up this comparison on the other side also, i.e., in
weighing the merits of sinners, so that in comparison with the wicked it
justifies those who have sinned less, saying: "Sodom is justified above
thee;" and again: "For what hath thy sister Sodom sinned?" and: "The
rebellious Israel hath justified her soul in comparison of the treacherous
Judah."(12) So then the merits of all the virtues, which I enumerated
above, though in themselves they are good and precious, yet become dim in
comparison of the brightness of contemplation. For they greatly hinder and
retard the saints who are taken up with earthly aims even at good works,
from the contemplation of that sublime good.
CHAPTER V: How no one can be continually intent upon that highest good.
For who, when "delivering the poor from the hand of them that are too
strong for him, and the needy and the poor from them that strip him," who
when "breaking the jaws of the wicked and snatching their prey from between
their teeth,"(1) can with a calm mind regard the glory of the Divine
Majesty during the actual work of intervention? Who when ministering
support to the poor, or when receiving with benevolent kindness the crowds
that come to him, can at the very moment when he is with anxious mind
perplexed for the wants of his brethren, contemplate the vastness of the
bliss on high, and while he is shaken by the troubles and cares of the
present life look forward to the state of the world to come with an heart
raised above the stains of earth? Whence the blessed David when laying down
that this alone is good for man, longs to cling constantly to God, and
says: "It is good for me to cling to God, and to put my hope in the
Lord."(2) And Ecclesiastes also declares that this cannot be done without
fault by any of the saints, and says: "For there is not a righteous man
upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not."(3) For who, even if he be the
chief of all righteous and holy men, can we ever think could, while bound
in the chains of this life, so acquire this chief good, as never to cease
from divine contemplation, or be thought to be drawn away by earthly
thoughts even for a short time from Him Who alone is good? Who ever takes
no care for food, none for clothing or other carnal things, or when anxious
about receiving the brethren, or change of place, or building his cell, has
never desired the aid of man's assistance, nor when harassed by scarcity
and want has incurred this sentence of reproof from the Lord: "Be not
anxious for your life what ye shall eat, nor for your body what ye shall
put on"?(4) Further we confidently assert that even the Apostle Paul
himself who surpassed in the number of his sufferings the toils of all the
saints, could not possibly fulfil this, as he himself testifies to the
disciples in the Acts of the Apostles: "Ye yourselves know that these hands
have ministered to my needs, and to the needs of those who were with me,"
or when in writing in the Thessalonians he testifies that he "worked in
labour and weariness night and day."(5) And although for this there were
great rewards for his merits prepared, yet his mind, however holy and
sublime it might be, could not help being sometimes drawn away from that
heavenly contemplation by its attention to earthly labours. Further, when
he saw himself enriched with such practical fruits, and on the other hand
considered in his heart the good of meditation, and weighed as it were in
one scale the profit of all these labours and in the other the delights of
divine contemplation, when for a long time he had corrected the balance in
his breast, while the vast rewards for his labours delighted him on one
side, and on the other the desire for unity with and the inseparable
companionship of Christ inclined him to depart this life, at last in his
perplexity he cries out and says: "What I shall choose I know not. For I am
in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ,
for it were much better: but to abide in the flesh is more necessary for
your sakes."(6) Though then in many ways he preferred this excellent good
to all the fruits of his preaching, yet he submits himself in consideration
of love, without which none can gain the Lord; and for their sakes, whom
hitherto he had soothed with milk as nourishment from the breasts of the
gospel, does not refuse to be parted from Christ, which is bad for himself
though useful for others. For he is driven to choose this the rather by
that excessive goodness of his whereby for the salvation of his brethren he
is ready, were it possible, to incur even the last evil of an Anathema.
"For I could wish," he says, "that I myself were Anathema from Christ for
my brethren's sake, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are
Israelites,"(7) i.e., I could wish to be subject not only to temporal, but
even to perpetual punishment, if only all men, were it possible, might
enjoy the fellowship of Christ: for I am sure that the salvation of all
would be better for Christ and for me than my own. That then the Apostle
might perfectly gain this chief good, i.e., to enjoy the vision of God and
to be joined continually to Christ, he was ready to be parted from this
body, which as it is feeble and hindered by the many requirements of its
frailties cannot help separating from union with Christ: for it is
impossible for the mind, that is harassed by such frequent cares, and
hampered by such various and tiresome troubles, always to enjoy the Divine
vision. For what aim of the saints can be so persistent, what purpose can
be so high that that crafty plotter does not sometimes destroy it? Who has
frequented the recesses of the desert and shunned intercourse with all men
in such a way that he never trips by unnecessary thoughts, and by looking
on things or being occupied in earthly actions falls away from that
contemplation of God, which truly alone is good? Who ever could preserve
such fervour of spirit as not sometimes to pass by roving thoughts from his
attention to prayer, and fall away suddenly from heavenly to earthly
things? Which of us (to pass over other times of wandering) even at the
very moment when he raises his soul in prayer to God on high, does not
fall into a sort of stupor, and even against his will offend by that very
thing from which he hoped for pardon of his sins? Who, I ask, is so alert
and vigilant as never, while he is singing a Psalm to God, to allow his
mind to wander from the meaning of Scripture? Who is so intimate with and
closely joined to God, as to congratulate himself on having carried out for
a single day that rule of the Apostle's, whereby he bids us pray without
ceasing?(1) And though all these things may seem to some, who are involved
in grosser sins, to be trivial and altogether foreign to sin, yet to those
who know the value of perfection a quantity even of very small matters
becomes most serious.
CHAPTER VI: How those who think that they are without sin are like purblind
people.
As if we were to suppose that two men, one of whom was clear sighted
with perfect vision, and the other, one whose eyesight was obscured by
dimness of vision, had together entered some great house that was filled
with a quantity of bundles, instruments, and vessels, would not he, whose
dullness of vision prevented his seeing everything, assert that there was
nothing there but chests, beds, benches, tables, and whatever met the
fingers of one who felt them rather than the eyes of one who saw them,
while on the other hand would not the other, who searched out what was
hidden with clear and bright eyes, declare that there were there many most
minute articles, and what could scarcely be counted; which if they were
ever gathered up into a single pile, would by their number equal or perhaps
exceed the size of those few things which the other had felt. So then even
saints, and, if we may so say, men who see, whose aim is the utmost
perfection, cleverly detect in themselves even those things which the gaze
of our mind being as it were darkened cannot see, and condemn them very
severely, to such an extent that those who have not, as it seems to our
carelessness, dimmed the whiteness of their body, which is as it were like
snow, with even the slightest spot of sin, seem to themselves to be covered
with many stains, if, I will not say any evil or vain thoughts creep into
the doors of their mind, but even the recollection of a Psalm which has to
be said takes off the attention of the kneeler at the time for prayer. For
if, say they, when we ask some great man, I will not say for our life and
salvation, but for some advantage and profit, we fasten all our attention
of mind and body upon him, and hang with trembling expectation on his nod,
with no slight dread lest haply some foolish or unsuitable word may turn
aside the pity of our hearer, and then too, when we are standing in the
forum or in the courts of earthly judges, with our opponent standing over
against us, if in the midst of the prosecution and trial any coughing, or
spitting, or laughing, or yawning, or sleep overtakes us, with what malice
will our ever watchful opponent stir up the severity of the judge to our
damage: how much more, when we entreat Him who knows all secrets, should
we, by reason of our imminent danger of everlasting death, plead with
earnest and anxious prayer for the kindness of the judge, especially as on
the other side there stands one who is both our crafty seducer and our
accuser! And not without reason will he be bound by no light sin, but by a
grievous fault of wickedness, who, when he pours forth his prayer to God,
departs at once from His sight as if from the eyes of one who neither sees
nor hears, and follows the vanity of wicked thoughts. But they who cover
the eyes of their heart with a thick veil of their sins, and as the Saviour
says, "Seeing see not and hearing hear not nor understand,"(2) hardly
regard in the inmost recesses of their breast even those faults which are
great and deadly. and cannot with clear eyes look at any deceitful
thoughts, nor even those vague and secret desires which strike the mind
with slight and subtle suggestions, nor the captivities of their soul, but
always wandering among impure thoughts they know not how to be sorry when
they are distracted from that meditation which is so special, nor can they
grieve that they have lost anything as while they lay open their mind to
the entrance of any thought as they please, they have nothing set before
them to hold to as the main thing or to desire in every way.
CHAPTER VII: How those who maintain that a man can be without sin are
charged with a twofold error.
THE reason however which drives us into this error is that, as we are
utterly ignorant of the virtue of being without sin,(1) we fancy that we
cannot contract any guilt from those idle and random vagaries of our
thoughts, but being rendered stupid by dullness and as it were smitten with
blindness we can see nothing in ourselves but capital offences, and think
that we have only to keep clear of those things which are condemned also by
the severity of secular laws, and if we find that even for a short time we
are free from these we at once imagine that there is no sin at all in us.
Accordingly we are distinguished from the number of those who see, because
we do not see the many small stains, which are crowded together in us, and
are not smitten with saving contrition, if the malady of vexation overtakes
our thoughts, nor are we sorry that we are struck by the suggestions of
vainglory, nor do we weep over our prayers offered up so tardily and
coldly, nor consider it a fault if while we are singing or praying,
something else besides the actual prayer or Psalm fills our thoughts, nor
are we horrified because we do not blush to conceive many things which we
are ashamed to speak or do before men, in our heart, which, as we know,
lies open to the Divine gaze; nor do we purge away the pollution of filthy
dreams with copious ablutions of our tears, nor grieve that in the pious
act of almsgiving when we are assisting the needs of the brethren, or
ministering support to the poor, the brightness of our cheerfulness is
clouded over by a stingy delay, nor do we think that we are affected by any
loss when we forget God and think about things that are temporal and
corrupt, so that these words of Solomon fairly apply to us: "They smite me
but I have not grieved, and they have mocked me, but I knew it not." (2)
CHAPTER VIII: How it is given to but few to understand what sin is.
THOSE on the other hand who make the sum of all their joy and delight
and bliss consist in the contemplation of divine and spiritual things
alone, if they are unwillingly withdrawn from them even for a short time by
thoughts that force themselves upon them, punish this as if it were a kind
of sacrilege in them, and avenge it by immediate chastisement, and in their
grief that they have preferred some worthless creature (to which their
mental gaze was turned aside) to their Creator, charge themselves with the
guilt (I had almost said) of impiety, and although they turn the eyes of
their heart with the utmost speed to behold the brightness of the Divine
Glory, yet they cannot tolerate even for a very short time the darkness of
carnal thoughts, and execrate whatever keeps back their soul's gaze from
the true light. Finally when the blessed Apostle John would instill this
feeling into everybody he says: "Little children, love not the world,
neither the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of God is not in him: for everything that is in the world is the lust
of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, which is not
of the Father but of the world. And the world perisheth and the lust
thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."(3) The saints
therefore scorn all those things on which the world exists, but it is
impossible for them never to be carried away to them by a brief aberration
of thoughts, and even now no man, except our Lord and Saviour, can keep his
naturally wandering mind always fixed on the contemplation of God so as
never to be carried away from it through the love of something in this
world; as Scripture says: "Even the stars are not clean in His sight," and
again: "If He puts no trust in His saints, and findeth iniquity in His
angels," or as the more correct translation has it: "Behold among His
saints none is unchangeable, and the heavens are not pure in His sight."(4)
CHAPTER IX: Of the care with which a monk should preserve the recollection
of God.
I SHOULD say then that the saints who keep a firm hold of the
recollection of God and are borne along, as it were, with their steps
suspended on a line stretched out on high, may be rightly compared to rope
dancers, commonly called funambuli, who risk all their safety and life on
the path of that very narrow rope, with no doubt that they will immediately
meet with a most dreadful death if their foot swerves or trips in the very
slightest degree, or goes over the line of the course in which alone is
safety. And while with marvellous skill they ply their airy steps through
space, if they keep not their steps to that all too narrow path with
careful and anxious regulation, the earth which is the natural base and the
most solid and safest foundation for all, becomes to them an immediate and
clear danger, not because its nature is changed, but because they fall
headlong upon it by the weight of their bodies. So also that un-wearied
goodness of God and His unchanging nature(1) hurts no one indeed, but we
ourselves by falling from on high and tending to the depths are the authors
of our own death, or rather the very fall becomes death to the fuller. For
it says: "Woe to them for they have departed from Me: they shall be wasted
because they have transgressed against Me;" and again: "Woe to them when I
shall depart from them." For "thine own wickedness shall reprove thee, and
thy apostasy shall rebuke thee. Know thou and see that it is an evil and a
bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God;" for "every man is
bound by the cords of his sins."(2) To whom this rebuke is aptly directed
by the Lord: "Behold," He says, "all you that kindle a fire, encompassed
with flames, walk ye in the light of your fire and in the flames which you
have kindled;" and again: "He that kindleth iniquity, shall perish by
it."(3)
CHAPTER X: How those who are on the way to perfection are truly humble, and
feel that they always stand in need of God's grace.
WHEN then holy men feel that they are oppressed by the weight of
earthly thoughts and fall away from their loftiness of mind, and that they
are led away against their will or rather without knowing it, into the law
of sin and death, and (to pass over other matters) are kept back by those
actions which I described above, which are good and right though earthly,
from the vision of God; they have something to groan over constantly to the
Lord; they have something for which indeed to humble themselves, and in
their contrition to profess themselves not in words only but in heart,
sinners; and for this, while they continually ask of the Lord's grace
pardon for everything that day by day they commit when overcome by the
weakness of the flesh, they should shed without ceasing true tears of
penitence; as they see that being involved even to the very end of their
life in the very same troubles, with continual sorrow for which they are
tried, they cannot even offer their prayers without harassing thoughts. So
then as they know by experience that through the hindrance of the burden of
the flesh they cannot by human strength reach the desired end, nor be
united according to their heart's desire with that chief and highest good,
but that they are led away from the vision of it captive to worldly things,
they betake themselves to the grace of God, "Who justifieth the
ungodly,"(4) and cry out with the Apostle: O wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through our
Lord Jesus Christ."(5) For they feel that they cannot perform the good that
they would, but are ever falling into the evil which they would not, and
which they hate, i.e., wandering thoughts and care for carnal things.
CHAPTER XI: Explanation of the phrase: "For I delight in the law of God
after the inner man," etc.
AND they "delight" indeed "in the law of God after the inner man,"
which soars above all visible things and ever strives to be united to God
alone, but they "see another law in their members," i.e., implanted in
their natural human condition, which "resisting the law of their mind," (6)
brings their thoughts into captivity to the forcible law of sin, compelling
them to forsake that chief good and submit to earthly notions, which though
they may appear necessary and useful when they are taken up in the
interests of some religious want, yet when they are set against that good
which fascinates the gaze of all the saints, are seen by them to be bad and
such as should be avoided, because by them in some way or other and for a
short time they are drawn away from the joy of that perfect bliss. For the
law of sin is really what the fall of its first father brought on mankind
by that fault of his, against which there was uttered this sentence by the
most just Judge: "Cursed is the ground in thy works; thorns and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee, and in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat
bread."(7) This, I say, is the law, implanted in the members of all
mortals, which resists the law of our mind and keeps it back from the
vision of God, and which, as the earth is cursed in our works after the
knowledge of good and evil, begins to produce the thorns and thistles of
thoughts, by the sharp pricks of which the natural seeds of virtues are
choked, so that without the sweat of our brow we cannot eat our bread which
" cometh down from heaven," and which "strengtheneth man's heart."(8) The
whole human race in general therefore is without exception subject to this
law. For there is no one, however saintly, who does not take the bread
mentioned above with the sweat of his brow and anxious efforts of his
heart. But many rich men, as we see, are fed on that common bread without
any sweat of their brow.
CHAPTER XII: Of this also: "But we know that the law is spiritual," etc.
AND this law the Apostle also calls spiritual saying: "But we know that
the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin."(1) For this law is
spiritual which bids us eat in the sweat of our brow that "true bread which
cometh down from heaven"(2) but that sale under sin makes us carnal. What,
I ask, or whose is that sin? Doubtless Adam's, by whose fall and, if I may
so say, ruinous transaction and fraudulent bargain we were sold. For when
he was led astray by the persuasion of the serpent he brought all his
descendants under the yoke of perpetual bondage, as they were alienated by
taking the forbidden food. For this custom is generally observed between
the buyer and seller, that one who wants to make himself over to the power
of another, receives from his buyer a price for the loss of his liberty,
and his consignment to perpetual slavery. And we can very plainly see that
this took place between Adam and the serpent. For by eating of the
forbidden tree he received from the serpent the price of his liberty, and
gave up his natural freedom and chose to give himself up to perpetual
slavery to him from whom he had obtained the deadly price of the forbidden
fruit; and thenceforth he was bound by this condition and not without
reason subjected all the offspring of his posterity to perpetual service to
him whose slave he had become. For what can any marriage in slavery produce
but slaves? What then? Did that cunning and crafty buyer take away the
rights of ownership from the true and lawful lord? Not so. For neither did
he overcome all God's property by the craft of a single act of deception so
that the true lord lost his rights of ownership, who though the buyer
himself was a rebel and a renegade, yet oppressed him with the yoke of
slavery; but because the Creator had endowed all reasonable creatures with
free will, he would not restore to their natural liberty against their will
those who contrary to right had sold themselves by the sin of greedy lust.
Since anything that is contrary to goodness and fairness is abhorrent to
Him who is the Author of justice and piety. For it would have been wrong
for Him to have recalled the blessing of freedom granted, unfair for Him to
have by His power oppressed man who was free, and by taking him captive,
not to have allowed him to exercise the prerogative of the freedom he had
received, as He was reserving his salvation for future ages, that in due
season the fulness of the appointed time might be fulfilled. For it was
right that his offspring should remain under the ancient conditions for so
long a time, until by the price of His own blood the grace of the Lord
redeemed them from their original chains and set them free in the primeval
state of liberty, though He was able even then to save them, but would not,
because equity forbade Him to break the terms of His own decree. Would you
know the reason for your being sold? Hear thy Redeemer Himself proclaiming
openly by Isaiah the prophet: "What is this bill of the divorce of your
mother with which I have put her away? Or who is My creditor to whom I sold
you? Behold you are sold for your iniquities and for your wicked deeds have
I put your mother away." Would you also plainly see why when you were
consigned to the yoke of slavery He would not redeem you by the might of
His own power? Hear what He added to the former passage, and how He charges
the same servants of sin with the reason for their voluntary sale. "Is My
hand shortened and become little that I cannot redeem, or is there no
strength in Me to deliver?"(3) But what it is which is always standing in
the way of His most powerful pity the same prophet shows when he says:
"Behold the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save, neither
is His ear heavy that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have divided
between you and your God and your sins have hid His face from you that He
should not hear."(4)
CHAPTER XIII: Of this also: "But I know that in me, that is in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing."
BECAUSE then the original curse of God has made us carnal and condemned
us to thorns and thistles, and our father has sold us by that unhappy
bargain so that we cannot do the good that we would, while we are torn away
from the recollection of God Most High and forced to think on what belongs
to human weakness, while burning with the love of purity, we are often even
against our will troubled by natural desires, which we would rather know
nothing about; we know that in our flesh there dwelleth no good thing(1)
viz., the perpetual and lasting peace of this meditation of which we have
spoken; but there is brought about in our case that miserable and wretched
divorce, that when with the mind we want to serve the law of God, since we
never want to remove our gaze from the Divine brightness, yet surrounded as
we are by carnal darkness we are forced by a kind of law of sin to tear
ourselves away from the good which we know, as we fall away from that lofty
height of mind to earthly cares and thoughts, to which the law of sin,
i.e., the sentence of God, which the first delinquent received, has not
without reason condemned us. And hence it is that the blessed Apostle,
though he openly admits that he and all saints are bound by the constraint
of this sin, yet boldly asserts that none of them will be condemned for
this, saying: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in
Christ Jesus: for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath set me
free from the law of sin and death,"(2) i.e., the grace of Christ day by
day frees all his saints from this law of sin and death, under which they
are constantly reluctantly obliged to come, whenever they pray to the Lord
for the forgiveness of their trespasses. You see then that it was in the
person not of sinners but of those who are really saints and perfect, that
the blessed Apostle gave utterance to this saying: "For I do not the good
that I would, but the evil which I hate, that I do;" and: "I see another
law in my members resisting the law of my mind and bringing me captive to
the law of sin which is in my members."(3)
CHAPTER XIV: An objection, that the saying: "For I do not the good that I
would," etc., applies to the persons neither of unbelievers nor of saints.
GERMANUS: We say that this does not apply to the persons either of
those who are involved in capital offences, or of an Apostle and those who
have advanced to his measure, but we think that it ought properly to be
taken of those who after receiving the grace of God and the knowledge of
the truth, are anxious to keep themselves from carnal sins but, as ancient
custom like a natural law rules most forcibly in their members, they are
carried away to the ingrained lust of their passions. For the custom and
frequency of sinning becomes like a natural law, which, implanted in the
man's weak members, leads the feelings of the soul that is not yet
instructed in all the pursuits of virtue, but is still, if I may say so, of
an uninstructed and tender chastity, captive to sin and subjecting them by
an ancient law to death, brings them under the yoke of sin that rules over
them, not suffering them to obtain the good of purity which they love, but
rather forcing them to do the evil which they hate.
CHAPTER XV: The answer to the objection raised.
THEONAS: Your notion does not come to much; as you yourselves have
actually now begun to maintain that this cannot possibly stand in the
person of those who are out and out sinners, but that it properly applies
to those who are trying to keep themselves clear from carnal sins. And
since you have already separated these from the number of sinners, it
follows that you must shortly admit them into the ranks of the faithful and
holy. For what kinds of sin do you say that those can commit, from which,
if they are involved in them after the grace of baptism, they can be freed
by the daily grace of Christ? or of what body of death are we to think that
the Apostle said: "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks
be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord"?(4) Is it not clear, as truth
compels you yourselves also to admit, that it is spoken not of those
members of capital crimes, by which the wages of eternal death are gained;
viz., murder, fornication, adultery, drunkenness, thefts and robberies, but
of that body before mentioned, which the daily grace of Christ assists? For
whoever after baptism and the knowledge of God falls into that death, must
know that he will either have to be cleansed, not by the daily grace of
Christ, i.e., an easy forgiveness, which our Lord when at any moment He is
prayed to, is wont to grant to our errors, but by a lifelong affliction of
penitence and penal sorrow, or else will be hereafter consigned to the
punishment of eternal fire for them, as the same Apostle thus declares: "Be
not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
effeminate, nor defilers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor
covetous persons, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners shall
possess the kingdom of God."(5) Or what is that law warring in our members
which resists the law of our mind, and when it has led us resisting but
captives to the law of sin and death, and has made us serve it with the
flesh, nevertheless suffers us to serve the law of God with the mind? For I
do not suppose that this law of sin denotes crimes or can be taken of the
offences mentioned above, of which if a man is guilty he does not serve the
law of God with the mind, from which law he must first have departed in
heart before he is guilty of any of them with the flesh. For what is it to
serve the law of sin, but to do what is commanded by sin? What sort of sin
then is it to which so great holiness and perfection feels that it is
captive, and yet doubts not that it will be freed from it by the grace of
Christ, saying: "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord"? What
law, I ask, will you maintain to be implanted in our members, which,
withdrawing us from the law of God and bringing us into captivity to the
law of sin, could make us wretched rather than guilty so that we should not
be consigned to eternal punishment, but still as it were sigh for the
unbroken joys of bliss, and, seeking for a helper who shah restore us to
it, exclaim with the Apostle: 'O wretched man that I am! Who shaft deliver
me from the body of this death?" For what is it to be led captive to the
law of sin but to continue to perform and commit sin? Or what other chief
good can be given which the saints cannot fulfil, except that in comparison
with which, as we said above, everything else is not good? Indeed we know
that many things in this world are good, and chiefly, modesty, continence,
sobriety, humility, justice, mercy, temperance, piety: but all of these
things fail to come up to that chief good, and can be done I say not by
apostles, but even by ordinary folk; and, those by whom they are not done,
are either chastised with eternal punishment, or are set free by great
exertions, as was said above, of penitence, and not by the daily grace of
Christ. It remains then for us to admit that this saying of the Apostle is
rightly applied only to the persons of saints, who day after day falling
under this law, which we described, of sin not of crimes, are secure of
their salvation and not precipitated into wicked deeds, but, as has often
been said, are drawn away from the contemplation of God to the misery of
bodily thoughts, and are often deprived of the blessing of that true bliss.
For if they felt that by this law of their members they were bound daily to
crimes, they would complain of the loss not of happiness but of innocence,
and the Apostle Paul would not say: "O wretched man that I am," but
"Impure," or "Wicked man that I am," and he would wish to be rid not of the
body of this death, i.e., this mortal state, but of the crimes and misdeeds
of this flesh. But because by reason of his state of human frailty he felt
that he was captive, i.e., led away to carnal cares and anxieties which the
law of sin and death causes, he groans over this law of sin under which
against his will he had fallen, and at once has recourse to Christ and is
saved by the present redemption of His grace. Whatever of anxiety therefore
that law of sin, which naturally produces the thorns and thistles of mortal
thoughts and cares, has caused to spring up in the ground of the Apostle's
breast, that the law of grace at once plucks up. "For the law," says he,
"of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the law of sin
and death."(1)
CHAPTER XVI: What is the body of sin.
THIS then is that body of death from which we cannot escape, pent in
which those who are perfect, who have tasted "how gracious the Lord is,"
(2) daily feel with the prophet "how bad for himself and bitter it is for a
man to depart from the Lord his God."(3) This is the body of death which
restrains us from the heavenly vision and drags us back to earthly things,
which causes men while singing Psalms and kneeling in prayer to have their
thoughts filled with human figures, or conversations, or business, or
unnecessary actions. This is the body of death, owing to which those, who
would emulate the sanctity of angels, and who long to cling continually to
God, yet are unable to arrive at the perfection of this good, because the
body of death stands in their way, but they do the evil that they would
not, i.e., they are dragged down in their minds even to the things which
have nothing to do with their advance and perfection in virtue. Finally
that the blessed Apostle might clearly denote that he said this of saintly
and perfect men, and those like himself, he in a way points with his finger
to himself and at once proceeds: "And so I myself," i.e, I who say this,
lay bare the secrets of my own not another's conscience. This mode of
speech at any rate the Apostle is familiarly accustomed to use, whenever he
wants to point specially to himself, as here: "I, Paul, myself beseech you
by the mildness and modesty of Christ;" and again: "except that I myself
was not burdensome to you;" and once more: "But be it so: I myself did not
burden you;" and elsewhere: "I, Paul, myself say unto you: if ye be
circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing;" and to the Romans: "For I
could wish that I myself were Anathema from Christ for my brethren."(1) But
it cannot unreasonably be taken in this way, that "And so I myself" is
expressly said with emphasis, i.e., I whom you know to be an Apostle of
Christ, whom you venerate with the utmost respect, whom you believe to be
of the highest character and perfect, and one in whom Christ speaks, though
with the mind I serve the law of God, yet with the flesh I confess that I
serve the law of sin, i.e., by the occupations of my human condition am
sometimes dragged down from heavenly to earthly things and the height of my
mind is brought down to the level of care for humble matters. And by this
law of sin I find that at every moment I am so taken captive that although
I persist in my immovable longing around the law of God, yet in no way can
I escape the power of this captivity, unless I always fly to the grace of
the Saviour.
CHAPTER XVII: How all the saints have confessed with truth that they were
unclean and sinful.
And therefore with daily sighs all the saints grieve over this weakness
of their nature and while they search into their shifting thoughts and the
secrets and inmost recesses of their conscience, cry out in entreaty:
"Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no man
living be justified;" and this: "Who will boast that he hath a chaste
heart? or who will have confidence that he is pure from sin?" and again:
"There is not a righteous man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not;"
and this also: "Who knoweth his faults?"(2) And so they have recognized
that man's righteousness is weak and imperfect and always needs God's
mercy, so that one of those whose iniquities and sins God purged away with
the live coal of His word sent from the altar, after that marvellous vision
of God, after his view of the Seraphim on high and the revelation of
heavenly mysteries, said: "Woe is me! for I am a man of unclean lips, and I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips."(8) And I fancy that
perhaps even then he would not have felt the uncleanness of his lips,
unless it had been given him to recognize the true and complete purity of
perfection by the vision of God, at the sight of Whom he suddenly became
aware of his own uncleanness, of which he had previously been ignorant. For
when he says: "Woe is me! for I am a man of unclean lips," he shows that
his confession that follows refers to his own lips, and not to the
uncleanness of the people: "and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips." But even when in his prayer he confesses the uncleanness of all
sinners, he embraces in his general supplication not only the mass of the
wicked but also of the good, saying: "Behold Thou art angry, and we have
sinned: in them we have been always, and we shall be saved. We are all
become as one unclean, and all our righteousnesses as filthy rags."(4)
What, I ask, could be clearer than this saying, in which the prophet
includes not one only but all our righteousnesses and, looking round on all
things that are considered unclean and disgusting, because he could find
nothing in the life of men fouler or more unclean, chose to compare them to
filthy rags. In vain then is the sharpness of a nagging objection raised
against this perfectly clear truth, as a little while back you said: "If no
one is without sin, then no one is holy; and if no one is holy, then no one
will be saved."(5) For the puzzle of this question can be solved by the
prophet's testimony. "Behold," he says, "Thou art angry and we have
sinned," i.e., when Thou didst reject our pride of heart or our
carelessness, and deprive us of Thine aid, at once the abyss of our sins
swallowed us up, as if one should say to the bright substance of the sun:
Behold thou hast set, and at once murky darkness covered us. And yet though
he here says that the saints have sinned, and have not only sinned but also
have always remained in their sins, he does not altogether despair of
salvation but adds: "In them we have been always, and we shall be saved."
This saying: "Behold Thou art angry and we have sinned," I will compare to
that one of the Apostle's: "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me
from the body of this death?" Again this that the prophet subjoins: "In
them we have been always, and we shall be saved," corresponds to the
following words of the Apostle: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our
Lord." In the same way also this passage of the same prophet: "Woe is me!
for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of
unclean lips," seems to agree with the words quoted above: "O wretched man
that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" And what
follows in the prophet. "And behold there flew to me one of the Seraphim,
having in his hand a coal (or stone) which he had taken with the tongs from
off the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: Lo, with this I have
touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin is purged,"
(1) is just what seems to have fallen from the mouth of Paul, who says:
"Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." You see then how all the
saints with truth confess not so much in the person of the people as in
their own that they are sinners, and yet by no means despair of their
salvation, but look for full justification (which they do not hope that
they cannot obtain by virtue of the state of human frailty) from the grace
and mercy of the Lord.
CHAPTER XVIII: That even good and holy men are not without sin.
BUT that no one however holy is in this life free from trespasses and
sin, we are told also by the teaching of the Saviour, who gave His
disciples the form of the perfect prayer and among those other sublime and
sacred commands, which as they were only given to the saints and perfect
cannot apply to the wicked and unbelievers, He bade this to be inserted:
"And forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors."(2) If then this
is offered as a true prayer and by saints, as we ought without the shadow
of a doubt to believe, who can be found so obstinate and impudent, so
puffed up with the pride of the devil's own rage, as to maintain that he is
without sin, and not only to think himself greater than apostles, but also
to charge the Saviour Himself with ignorance or folly, as if He either did
not know that some men could be free from debts, or was idly teaching those
whom He knew to stand in no need of the remedy of that prayer? But since
all the saints who altogether keep the commands of their King, say every
day "Forgive us our debts," if they sneak the truth there is indeed no one
free from sin, but if they speak falsely, it is equally true that they are
not free from the sin of falsehood. Wherefore also that most wise
Ecclesiastes reviewing in his mind all the actions and purposes of men
declares without any exception: "that there is not a righteous man upon
earth, that doeth good and sinneth not,"(3) i.e., no one ever could or ever
will be found on this earth so holy, so diligent, so earnest as to be able
continually to cling to that true and unique good, and not day after day to
feel that he is drawn aside from it and fails. But still though he
maintains that he cannot be free from wrong doing, yet none the less we
must not deny that he is righteous.
CHAPTER XIX: How even in the hour of prayer it is almost impossible to
avoid sin.
WHOEVER then ascribes sinlessness to human nature must fight against no
idle words but the witness and proof of his conscience which is on our
side, and then only should maintain that he is without sin, when he finds
that he is not torn away from this highest good: nay rather, whoever
considering his own conscience, to say no more, finds that he has
celebrated even one single service without the distraction of a single word
or deed or thought, may say that he is without sin. Further because we
admit that the discursive lightness of the human mind cannot get rid of
these idle and empty things, we thus consequently confess with truth that
we are not without sin. For with whatever care a man tries to keep his
heart, he can never, owing to the resistance of the nature of the flesh,
keep it according to the desire of his spirit. For however far the human
mind may have advanced and progressed towards a finer purity of
contemplation, so much the more will it see itself to be unclean, as it
were in the mirror of its purity, because while the soul raises itself for
a loftier vision and as it looks forth yearns for greater things than it
performs, it is sure always to despise as inferior and worthless the things
in which it is mixed up. Since a keener sight notices more; and a blameless
life produces greater sorrow when found fault with; and amendment of life,
and earnest striving after goodness multiplies groans and sighs. For no one
can rest content with that stage to which he has advanced, and however much
a man may be purified in mind, so much the more does he see himself to be
foul, and find grounds for humiliation rather than for pride, and, however
swiftly he may climb to greater heights, so much more does he see above him
whither he is tending. Finally that chosen Apostle "whom Jesus loved,"(4)
who lay on His bosom, uttered this saying as if from the heart of the Lord:
"If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in
us."(1) And so if when we say that we have no sin, we have not the truth,
that is Christ, in us, what good do we do except to prove ourselves by this
very, profession, criminals and wicked among sinners?
CHAPTER XX: From whom we can learn the destruction of sin and perfection of
goodness.
LASTLY if you would like to investigate more thoroughly whether it is
possible for human nature to attain sinlessness, from whom can we more
clearly learn this than from those who "have crucified the flesh with its
faults and lusts," and to whom "the world is really crucified"?(2) Who
though they have not only utterly eradicated all faults from their hearts,
but also are trying to shut out even the thought and recollection of sin,
yet still day after day faithfully maintain that they cannot even for a
single hour be free from spot of sin.
CHAPTER XXI: That although we acknowledge that we cannot be without sin,
yet still we ought not to suspend ourselves from the Lord's Communion.
YET we ought not to suspend ourselves from the Lord's Communion because
we confess ourselves sinners, but should more and more eagerly hasten to it
for the healing of our soul, and purifying of our spirit, and seek the
rather a remedy for our wounds with humility of mind and faith, as
considering ourselves unworthy to receive so great grace. Otherwise we
cannot worthily receive the Communion even once a year, as some do, who
live in monasteries and so regard the dignity and holiness and value of the
heavenly sacraments, as to think that none but saints and spotless persons
should venture to receive them, and not rather that they would make us
saints and pure by taking them. And these thereby fall into greater
presumption and arrogance than what they seem to themselves to avoid,
because at the time when they do receive them, they consider that they are
worthy to receive them. But it is much better to receive them every Sunday
for the healing of our infirmities, with that humility of heart, whereby we
believe and confess that we can never touch those holy mysteries worthily,
than to be puffed up by a foolish persuasion of heart, and believe that at
the year's end we are worthy to receive them. Wherefore that we may be able
to grasp this and hold it fruitfully, let us the more earnestly implore the
Lord's mercy to help us to perform this, which is learnt not like other
human arts, by some previous verbal explanation, but rather by experience
and action leading the way; and which also unless it is often considered
and hammered out in the Conferences of spiritual persons, and anxiously
sifted by daily experience and trial of it, will either become obsolete
through carelessness or perish by idle forgetfulness.
XXIV. CONFERENCE OF ABBOT ABRAHAM.
ON MORTIFICATION.
CHAPTER I: How we laid bare the secrets of our thoughts to Abbot Abraham.
This twenty-fourth Conference of Abbot Abraham(3) is by the favour of
Christ produced, which concludes the traditions and decisions of all the
Elders; and when by the aid of your prayers it has been finished, as the
number mystically corresponds to that of the four and twenty Elders who are
said in the holy Apocalypse(2) to offer their crowns to the Lamb, we think
that we shall have paid the debt of all our promises. And henceforth if
these four and twenty Elders of ours have been crowned with any glory for
the sake of their teaching, they shall with bowed heads offer it to the
Lamb who was slain for the salvation of the world: for He it was Who
vouschafed for the honour of His name to grant to them such exalted
feelings and to us whatever words were needful to set forth such profound
thoughts. And the merits of His gift must be referred to the Author of all
good, to whom the more is owed, as the more is paid. Therefore with anxious
confession we laid before this Abraham the impulse of our thoughts. whereby
we were urged by daily perplexities of our mind to return to our country
and revisit our kinsfolk. For from this the greatest reason for our desire
sprang, because we remembered that our kinsfolk were endowed with such
piety and goodness that we felt sure that they would never interfere with
our purpose, and we constantly reflected, that we should gain more good out
of their earnestness, and should be hampered by no cares about bodily
matters, and no trouble in providing food, as they would gladly minister
abundantly to the supply of all our wants, and besides this we were feeding
our souls on the hope of empty joys, as we thought that we should gain the
greatest good from the conversion(1) of many, who were to be turned to the
way of salvation by our example and instructions. Then besides this the
very spot, where was the ancestral possession of our forefathers, and the
delightful pleasantness of the neighbourhood was painted before our eyes,
how pleasantly and suitably it stretched away to the desert, so that the
recesses of the woods would not only delight the heart of a monk, but would
also furnish him with a plentiful supply of food.(2) And when we explained
all this to the aforesaid old man, in a straightforward way, according to
the faith of our conscience, and showed by our copious tears that we could
no longer resist the violence of the impulse, unless the grace of God came
to our rescue by the healing which he, could give, he waited for a long
time in silence and at last sighed deeply and said:
CHAPTER II: How the old man exposed our errors.
THE feebleness of your ideas shows that you have not yet renounced
worldly desires nor mortified your former lusts. For as the wandering
character of your desires testifies to the sloth of your heart, this
pilgrimage and absence from your kinsfolk, which you ought rather to endure
with your heart, you do endure only with the flesh. For all these things
would have been buried and altogether driven out of your hearts, if you had
got hold of the right method of renunciation, and the main reason for the
solitude in which we dwell. And so I see that you are labouring under that
infirmity of sluggishness, which is thus described in Proverbs: "Every
sluggard is always desiring something;" and again: "Desires kill the
slothful."(3) For in our case too these supplies of worldly conveniences,
which you have described, would not be wanting, if we believed that they
were appropriate to our calling, or thought that we could get out of those
delights and pleasures as much profit as that which is gained from this
squalor of the country and bodily affliction. Nor are we so deprived of the
solace of our kinsfolk, that those who delight to support us with their
substance should fail us, were it not that this saying of the Saviour meets
us and excludes everything that contributes to the support of this flesh,
as He says: "He who doth not leave (or hate) father and mother and children
and brethren cannot be My disciple."(4) But if we were altogether deprived
of the protection of our parents, the services of the princes of this world
would not be wanting, as they would most thankfully rejoice to minister to
our necessities with prompt liberality. And supported by their bounty, we
should be free from the care of preparing food, were it not that this curse
of the prophet terribly frightened us. For "Cursed," he says, "is the man
that putteth his hope in man;" and: "Put not your trust m princes."(5) We
should also at any rate place our cells on the banks of the river Nile and
have water at our very doors, so as not to be obliged to carry it on our
necks for four miles, were it not that the blessed Apostle rendered us
indefatigable in enduring this labour, and cheered us by his words, saying:
"Every one shall receive his own reward according to his labour."(6) Nor
are we ignorant that there are even in our country some pleasant recesses,
where plenty of fruits, and pleasant gardens, and fertile ground would
furnish the food we need with the slightest bodily efforts on our part,
were it not that we were afraid lest that reproach might apply to us, which
is directed against the rich man in the gospel: "Because thou hast received
thy consolation in this life."(7) But as we despise all these things and
scorn them together with all the pleasures of this world, we delight only
in this squalor, and prefer to all luxuries this dreadful and vast desert,
and cannot compare any riches of a fertile soil to these barren sands, as
we pursue no temporal gains of this body, but the eternal rewards of the
spirit. For it is but little for a monk to have once made his renunciation,
i.e., in the early days of his conversion to have disregarded the present
world, unless he continues to renounce it daily. For to the very end of
this life we must with the prophet say this: "And I have not desired the
day of man, Thou knowest."(1) Wherefore also the Lord says in the gospel:
"If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
daily and follow Me."(2)
CHAPTER III: Of the character of the districts which anchorites ought to
seek.
AND therefore by him who is exercising anxious care over the purity of
his inner man, those districts should be sought, which do not by their
fruitfulness and fertility invite his mind to the trouble of cultivating
them, nor drive him forth from his fixed and immovable position in his
cell, and force him to go forth to some work in the open air, and so, his
thoughts being as it were poured forth openly, scatter to the winds all his
concentration of mind and all the keenness of his vision of his aim. And
this cannot be guarded against or seen by anyone at all however careful and
watchful, except one who continually keeps his body and soul shut up and
enclosed in walls, that, like a splendid fisherman, looking out for food
for himself by the apostolic art, he may eagerly and without moving catch
the swarms of thoughts swimming in the calm depths of his heart, and
surveying with curious eye the depths as from a high rock, may sagaciously
and cunningly decide what he ought to lure to himself by his saving hook,
and what he can neglect and reject as bad and nasty fishes.
CHAPTER IV: What sorts of work should be chosen by solitaries.
EVERYONE therefore who constantly perseveres in this watchfulness will
effectually fulfil what is very plainly expressed by the prophet Habakkuk:
"I will stand upon my watch, and ascend upon the rock, and will look out to
see what He shall say to me, and what I may answer to Him that reproveth
me."(3) And how difficult and tiresome this is, is very clearly shown by
the experience of those who live in the desert of Calamus or Porphyrion.(4)
For though they are separated from all the cities and dwellings of men by a
longer stretch of desert than the wilderness of Scete (since by penetrating
seven or eight days' journey into the recesses of the vast wilderness, they
scarcely arrive at their hiding places and cells) yet because there they
are devoted to agriculture and not in the least confined to the cloister,
whenever they come to these squalid districts in which we are living, or to
Scete, they are annoyed by such harassing thoughts and such anxiety of mind
that, as if they were beginners and men who had never given the slightest
attention to the exercises of solitude, they cannot endure the life of the
cells and the peace and quietness of them, and are at once driven forth and
obliged to leave them, as if they were inexperienced and novices. For they
have not learnt to still the motions of the inner man, and to quell the
tempests of their thoughts by anxious care and persevering efforts, as,
toiling day after day in work in the open air, they are moving about all
day long in empty space, not only in the flesh but also in heart; and pour
forth their thoughts openly as the body moves hither and thither. And
therefore they do not notice the folly of their mind in longing for many
things, nor can they put a check upon its vague discursiveness; and as they
cannot bear sorrow of spirit they think that the fact of a continuance of
silence is unendurable, and those who are never tired by hard work in the
country, are beaten by silence and worn out by the length of their rest.
CHAPTER V: That anxiety of heart is made worse rather than better by
restlessness of body.
Nor is it wonderful if one who lives in a cell, having his thoughts
collected together as it were in a narrow cloister, is oppressed by a
multitude of anxieties, which break out with the man himself from the
confinement of the dwelling, and at once dash here and there like wild
horses. But while they are now roaming at large from their stalls, for the
moment some short and sad solace is enjoyed: but when, after the body has
returned to its own cell, the whole troop of thoughts retires again to its
proper home, the habit of chronic licence gives rise to worse pangs. Those
then who are unable and ignorant how to struggle against the promptings of
their own fancies, when they are harassed in their cell, by accidie
attacking their bosom more violently
than usual, if they relax their strict rule and allow themselves the
liberty of going out oftener, will arouse a worse plague against themselves
by means of this which they fancy is a remedy: just as men fancy that they
can check the violence of an inward fever by a draught of the coldest
water, though it is a fact that by it its fire is inflamed rather than
quenched, as a far worse attack follows after the momentary alleviation.
CHAPTER VI: A comparison showing how a monk ought to keep guard over his
thoughts.
WHEREFORE a monk's whole attention should thus be fixed on one point,
and the rise and circle of all his thoughts be vigorously restricted to it;
viz., to the recollection of God, as when a man, who is anxious to raise on
high a vault of a round arch, must constantly draw a line round from its
exact centre, and in accordance with the sure standard it gives discover by
the laws of building all the evenness and roundness required. But if anyone
tries to finish it without ascertaining its centre--though with the utmost
confidence in his art and ability, it is impossible for him to keep the
circumference even, without any error, or to find out simply by looking at
it how much he has taken off by his mistake from the beauty of real
roundness, unless he always has recourse to that test of truth and by its
decision corrects the inner and outer edge of his work, and so finishes the
large and lofty pile to the exact point.(1) So also our mind, unless by
working round the love of the Lord alone as an immovably fixed centre,
through all the circumstances of our works and contrivances, it either fits
or rejects the character of all our thoughts by the excellent compasses, if
I may so say, of love, will never by excellent skill build up the structure
of that spiritual edifice of which Paul is the architect, nor possess that
beautiful house, which the blessed, David desired in his heart to show to
the Lord and said: "I have loved the beauty of Thine house and the place of
the dwelling of Thy glory;"(2) but will without foresight raise in his
heart a house that is not beautiful, and that is unworthy of the Holy
Ghost, one that will presently fall, and so will receive no glory from the
reception of the blessed Inhabitant, but will be miserably destroyed by the
fall of his building.
CHAPTER VII: A question why the neighbourhood of our kinsfolk is considered
to interfere with us, whereas it does not interfere in the case of those
living in Egypt.
GERMANUS: It is a very useful and needful rule that is given for the
kind of works that can be done within the cells. For we have often proved
the value of this not only by the example of your holiness, based on the
imitation of the virtues of the apostles, but also by our own experience.
But it is not sufficiently clear why we ought so thoroughly to avoid the
neighbourhood of our kinsfolk, which you did not reject altogether. For if
we see you, blamelessly walking in all the way of perfection, and not only
dwelling in your own country but some of you having not even retired far
from their own village, why should that which does not hurt you be
considered bad for us?
CHAPTER VIII: The answer that all things are not suitable for all men.
ABRAHAM: Sometimes we see bad precedents taken from good things. For if
a man ventures to do the same thing as another, but not with the same mind
and purpose, or not with equal goodness, he will immediately fall into the
snares of deception and death through the very things from which others
gain the fruit of eternal life: As that strong armed lad matched with the
warlike giant in the combat would certainly have found, if he had been clad
in the heavy armour of Saul fit only for men; and that by which one of
stronger age would have laid low countless hosts of foes, would only have
brought certain danger to the stripling, had he not with prudent discretion
chosen the sort of weapons suitable to his youth, and armed himself against
his foul foe not with breastplate and shield, with which he saw that others
were equipped, but with those weapons with which he was able to fight.
Wherefore it is right for each one of us first to consider carefully the
measure of his powers and in accordance with its limits, to choose what
system he pleases, because though all are good, yet all things cannot be
fit for all men. For we do not assert that because the anchorite's life is
good, it is therefore suited for everybody: for by many it is felt to be
not only useless, but even injurious. Nor because we are right in taking up
the system of the coenobium and the pious and praiseworthy care of the
brethren, do we therefore consider that it ought to be followed by
everybody. So also the fruits of the care of strangers are very plentiful,
but this cannot be taken up by everybody without loss of patience. Further,
the systems of your county and of this must first be weighed against each
other; and then the powers of men gathered from the constant occurrence of
their virtues or vices must be severally weighed in the opposite scales.
For it may happen that what is difficult or impossible for a man of one
nation in the case of others is somehow turned by ingrained habit into
nature: just as some nations, separated by a wide difference of region, can
bear tremendous force of cold or heat of the sun without any covering of
the body, which certainly others who have no experience of that inclement
sky, could not possibly endure, however strong they may be. So also do you
who with the utmost efforts of mind and body are trying in this district to
get the better of the nature of your country in many respects, diligently
consider whether in those regions which, as report says, are frozen, and
bound by the cold of excessive unbelief, you could endure this nakedness,
if I may so term it. For to us the fact that our holy life is of long
standing has almost naturally imparted this fortitude in our purpose, and
if we see that you are our equals in virtue and constancy, you in like
manner need not shun the neighbourhood of your kinsfolk and brethren.
CHAPTER IX: That those need not fear the neighbourhood of their kinsfolk,
who can emulate the mortification of Abbot Apollos.
BUT that you may be able fairly to measure the amount of your strength
by a certain test of strictness I will point out to you what was done by a
certain old man; viz., Abbot Apollos(1) that if your secret scrutiny of
your heart decides that you are not behind this man in purpose and
goodness, you may venture on remaining in your country and living near your
kinsfolk without detriment to your purpose or injury to your mode of life,
and be sure that neither the feeling of nearness nor your love for the
district can interfere with the strictness of this humble lot,(2) which not
only your own will but the needs also of your pilgrimage enforce upon you
in this country. When then his own brother had come to this old man, whom
we have mentioned, in the dead of night, begging him to come out for a
little while from his monastery, to help him to rescue an ox, which as he
sadly complained had stuck in the mire of a swamp a little way off, because
he could not possibly rescue it alone, Abbot Apollos stolidly replied to
his entreaties: "Why did you not ask our younger brother who was nearer to
you as you passed by than I?" and when the other, thinking that he had
forgotten the death of his brother who had been long ago buried, and that
he was almost weak in his mind from excessive abstinence and continual
solitude, replied: "How could I summon one who died fifteen years ago?"
Abbot Apollos said: "Don't you know that I too have been dead to this world
for twenty years, and that I can't from my tomb in this cell give you any
assistance in what belongs to the affairs of this present life? And Christ
is so far from allowing me ever so little to relax my purpose of
mortification on which I have entered, for extricating your ox, that He did
not even permit the very shortest intermission of it for my father's
funeral, which would have been undertaken much more readily properly and
piously." And so do ye now search out the secrets of your breast and
carefully consider whether you also can continually preserve such
strictness of mind with regard to your kinsfolk, and when you find that you
are like him in this mortification of soul, then at last you may know that
in the same way the neighbourhood of your kinsfolk and brothers will not
hurt you, when, I mean, you hold that though they are very close to you,
you are dead to them, in such a way that you suffer neither them to be
benefited by your assistance, nor yourselves to be relaxed by duties
towards them.
CHAPTER X: A question whether it is bad for a monk to have his wants
supplied by his kinsfolk.
GERMANUS: On this subject you have certainly left no room for any
further uncertainty. For we are sure that we cannot possibly keep up our
present wretched garb, or our daily going barefoot in their neighbourhood,
and that there we should not even procure with the same labour what is
necessary for our sustenance, as here we are actually obliged to fetch our
water on our necks for three miles. For shame on our part as well as on
theirs would not in the least allow us to do this before them. However how
will it hurt our plan of life if we are altogether set free from anxiety on
the score of preparing our food, by being supplied by them with all things,
and so give ourselves up simply to reading and prayer, that by the removal
of that labour with which we are now distracted we may devote ourselves
more earnestly to spiritual interests alone?
CHAPTER XI: The answer stating what Saint Antony laid down on this matter.
ABRAHAM: I will not give you my own opinion against this, but that of
the blessed Antony, whereby he confounded the laziness of a certain brother
(overcome by this luke-warmness which you describe) in such a way as also
to cut the knot of your subject. For when one came as I said to the
aforesaid old man, and said that the Anchorite system was not at all to be
admired, declaring that it required greater virtue for a man to practise
what belongs to perfection living among men rather than in the desert, the
blessed Antony asked Where he lived himself, and when he said that he lived
close to his relations, and boasted that by their provision he was set free
from all care and anxiety of daily work, and gave himself up ceaselessly
and solely to reading and prayer without any distraction of spirit, once
more the blessed Antony said: "Tell me, my good friend, whether you grieve
with their griefs and misfortunes, and in the same way rejoice in their
good fortune?" He confessed that he shared in them both. To whom the old
man: "You should know," said he, "that in the world to come also you will
be judged in the lot of those with whom in this life you have been affected
by sharing in their gain or loss, or joy or sorrow." And not satisfied with
this statement the blessed Antony entered on a still wider field of
discussion, saying: "This mode of life and this most lukewarm condition not
only strike you with that damage of which I spoke (though you do not feel
it now, when somehow you say in accordance with that saying in Proverbs:
'They strike me but I am not grieved: and they mocked me but I knew it
not;' or this that is said in the Prophet: 'And strangers have devoured his
strength, but he himself knew it not'(1)), because day after day they
ceaselessly drag down your mind to earthly things, and change it in
accordance with the variations of chance; but also because they defraud you
of the fruits of your hands and the due reward of your own exertions, as
they do not suffer you to be supported by what these supply, or to procure
your daily food for yourself with your own hands, according to the rule of
the blessed Apostle, as he when giving his last charge to the heads of the
Church of Ephesus, asserts that though he was occupied with the sacred
duties of preaching the gospel yet he provided not only for himself, but
also for those who were prevented by necessary duties with regard to his
ministry, saying: 'Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered to
my necessities and to the necessities of those who were with me.' But to
show that he did this as a pattern to be useful to us he says elsewhere:
'We were not idle among you; neither did we eat any man's bread for
nothing, but in labour and in toil we worked night and day lest we should
be chargeable to any of you. Not as if we had not power; but that we might
give ourselves a pattern unto you, to imitate us."(2)
CHAPTER XII: Of the value of work and the harm of idleness.
AND so though we also might have the protection of our kinsfolk, yet we
have preferred his abstinence to all riches, and have chosen to procure our
daily bodily sustenance by our own exertions rather than rely on the sure
provision made by our relations, having less inclination for idle
meditation on holy Scripture of which you have spoken, and that fruitless
attendance to reading than to this laborious poverty. And certainly we
should most. gladly pursue the former, if the authority of the apostles had
taught us by their examples that it was better for us, or the rules of the
Elders had laid it down for our good. But you must know that you are
affected by this no less than by that harm of which I spoke above, because
though your body may be sound and lusty, yet you are supported by another's
contributions, a thing which properly belongs only to the feeble. For
certainly the whole human race, except only that class of monks, who live
in accordance with the Apostle's command by the daily labours of their own
hands, looks for the charity of another's compassion. Wherefore it is clear
that not only those who boast that they themselves are supported either by
the wealth of their relations or the labours of their servants or the
produce of their farms, but also the kings of this world are supported by
charity. This at any rate is embraced in the definition of our
predecessors, who have laid down that anything that is taken for the
requirements of daily food which has not been procured and prepared by the
labour of our own hands, ought to be referred to charity, as the Apostle
teaches, who altogether forbids the help of another's bounty to the idle
and says: "If a man does not work, neither let him eat."(3) These words the
blessed Antony used against some one, and instructed us also by the example
of his teaching, to shun the pernicious allurements of our relations and of
all who provide the needful charity for our food as well as the delights of
a pleasant home, and to prefer to all the wealth of this world sandy wastes
horrid with the barrenness of nature, and districts overwhelmed by living
incrustations, and for that reason subject to no control or dominion of
man, so that we should not only avoid the society of men for the sake of a
pathless waste, but also that the character of a fruitful soil may never
entice us to the distractions of cultivating it, whereby the mind would be
recalled from the chief service of the heart, and rendered useless for
spiritual aims.
CHAPTER XIII: A story of a barber's payments, introduced for the sake of
recognizing the devil's illusions.
FOR as you hope that you can save others also, and are eager to return
to your country with the hope of greater gain, hear also on this subject a
story of Abbot Macarius, very neatly and prettily invented, which he also
gave to a man in a tumult of similar desires, to cure him by a most
appropriate story. "There was," said he, "in a certain city a very clever
barber, who used to shave everybody for three pence and by getting this
poor and wretched sum for his work, out of this same amount used to procure
what was required for his daily food, and after having taken all care of
his body, used every day to put a hundred pence into his pocket. But while
he was diligently amassing this gain, he heard that in a city a long way
off each man paid the barber a shilling as his pay. And when he found this
out, 'how long,' said he, 'shall I be satisfied with this beggary, so as to
get with my labour a pay of three pence, when by going thither I might
amass riches by a large gain of shillings?' And so at once taking with him
the implements of his art, and using up in the expense all that he had got
together and saved during a long time, he made his way with great
difficulty to that most lucrative city. And there on the day of his
arrival, he received from everyone the pay for his labour in accordance
with what he had heard, and at eventide seeing that he had gained a large
number of shillings he went in delight to the butcher's to buy the food he
wanted for his supper. And when he began to purchase it for a large sum of
shillings he spent on a tiny bit of meat all the shillings that he had
gained, and did not take home a surplus of even a single penny. And when he
saw that his gains were thus used up every day so that he not only failed
to put by anything but could scarcely get what he required for his daily
food, he thought over the matter with himself and said: 'I will go back to
my city, and once more, seek those very moderate profits, from which, when
all my bodily wants were satisfied, a daily surplus gave a growing sum to
support my old age; which, though it seemed small and trifling, yet by
being constantly increased was amounting to no slight sum. In fact that
gain of coppers was more profitable to me than is this nominal one of
shillings from which not only is there nothing over to be laid by, but the
necessities of my daily food are scarcely met.'" And therefore it is better
for us with unbroken continuance to aim at this very slender profit in the
desert, from which no secular cares, no worldly distractions, no pride of
vainglory and vanity can detract, and which the pressure of no daily wants
can lessen (for "a small thing that the righteous hath is better than great
riches of the ungodly"(1)) rather than to pursue those larger profits which
even if they are procured by the most valuable conversion of many, are yet
absorbed by the claims of secular life and the daily leakage of
distractions. For, as Solomon says, "Better is a single handful with rest
than both hands full with labour and vexation of mind."(2) And in these
allusions and inconveniences all that are at all weak are sure to be
entangled, as while they are even doubtful of their own salvation, and
themselves stand in need of the teaching and instruction of others, they
are incited by the devil's tricks to convert and guide others, and as, even
if they succeed in gaining any advantage from the conversion of some, they
waste by their impatience and rude manners whatever they have gained. For
that will happen to them which is described by the prophet Haggai: "And he
that gathereth riches, putteth them into a bag with holes."(3) For indeed a
man puts his gains into a bag with holes, if he loses by want of self
control and daily distractions of mind whatever he appears to gain by the
conversion of others. And so it results that while they fancy that they can
make larger profits by the instruction of others, they are actually
deprived of their own improvement. For "There are who make themselves out
rich though possessing nothing, and there are who humble themselves amid
great riches;" and: "Better is a man who serves himself in a humble station
than one who gains honour for himself and wanteth bread."(1)
CHAPTER XIV: A question how such wrong notions can creep into us.
GERMANUS: Very aptly has your discussion shown the error of these
illusions by this illustration: but we should like in the same way to be
taught its origin and how to cure it, and we are equally anxious to learn
how this deception has taken hold of us. For everybody must see that no one
at all can apply remedies to ill health except one who has already
diagnosed the actual origin of the disease.
CHAPTER XV: The answer on the threefold movement of the soul.
ABRAHAM: Of all faults there is one source and origin, but different
names are assigned to the passions and corruptions in accordance with the
character of that part, or member, if I may so call it, which has been
injuriously affected in the soul: As is sometimes also shown by the case of
bodily diseases, in which though the cause is one and the same, yet there
is a division into different kinds of maladies in accordance with the
nature of the member affected. For when the violence of a noxious moisture
has seized on the body's citadel, i.e., the head, it brings about a feeling
of headache, but when it affects the ears or eyes, it passes into the
malady of earache or ophthalmia: when it spreads to the joints and the
extremities of the hands it is called the gout in the joints or hands; but
when it descends to the extremities of the feet, its name is changed and it
is termed podagra: and the noxious moisture which is originally one and the
same is described by as many names as there are separate members which it
affects. In the same way to pass from visible to invisible things, we
should hold that the tendency to each fault exists in the parts and, if I
may use the expression, members of our soul. And, as some very wise men
have laid down that its powers are threefold, either what is logiko'n,
i.e., reasonable, or thumiko'n, i.e., irascible, or epi thumhtiko'n>, i.e.,
subject to desire, is sure to be troubled by some assault. When then the
force of noxious passion takes possession of anyone by reason of these
feelings, the name of the fault is given to it in accordance with the part
affected. For if the plague of sin has infested its rational parts, it will
produce the sins of vainglory, conceit, envy, pride, presumption, strife,
heresy. If it has wounded the irascible feelings, it will give birth to
rage, impatience, sulkiness, accidie, pusillanimity and cruelty. If it has
affected that part which is subject to desire, it will be the parent of
gluttony, fornication, covetousness, avarice, and noxious and earthly
desires.
CHAPTER XVI: That the rational part of our soul is corrupt.
AND therefore if you want to discover the source and origin of this
fault, you must recognize that the rational part of your mind and soul is
corrupt, that part namely from which the faults of presumption and
vainglory for the most part spring. Further this first member, so to speak,
of your soul must be healed by the judgment of a right discretion and the
virtue of humility, as when it is injured, while you fancy that you can not
only still scale the heights of perfection but actually teach others, and
hold that you are capable and sufficient to instruct others, through the
pride of vainglory you are carried away by these vain rovings, which your
confession discloses. And these you will then be able to get rid of without
difficulty, if you are established as I said in the humility of true
discretion and learn with sorrow of heart how hard and difficult a thing it
is for each of us to save his soul, and admit with the inmost feelings of
your heart that you are not only far removed from that pride of teaching,
but that you are actually still in need of the help of a teacher.
CHAPTER XVII: How the weaker part of the soul is the first to yield to the
devil's temptations.
YOU should then apply to this member or part of the soul which we have
described as particularly wounded, the remedy of true humility: for as, so
far as appears, it is weaker than the other powers of the soul in you, it
is sure to be the first to yield to the assaults of the devil. As when some
injuries come upon us, which are caused either by toil laid upon us or by a
bad atmosphere, it is generally the case in the bodies of men that those
which are the weaker are the first to give in and yield to those chances,
and when the disease has more particularly laid hold of them, it affects
the sound parts of the body also with the same mischief, so also, when the
pestilent blast of sin breathes over us the soul of each one of us is sure
to be tempted above all by that passion, in the case of which its feebler
and weaker portion does not make so stubborn a resistance to the powerful
attacks of the foe, and to run the risk of being taken captive by those, in
the case of which a careless watch opens an easier way to betrayal. For so
Balsam(1) gathered that God's people could be by a sure method deceived,
when he advised, that m that quarter, wherein he knew that the children of
Israel were weak, the dangerous snares should be set for them, as he had no
doubt that when a supply of women was offered to them, they would at once
fall and be destroyed by fornication, because he was aware that the parts
of their souls which were subject to desire were corrupted. So then the
spiritual wickednesses tempt with crafty malice each one of us, by
particularly laying insidious snares for those affections of the soul, in
which they have seen that it is weak, as for instance, if they see that the
reasonable parts of our soul are affected, they try to deceive us in the
same way that the Scripture tells us that king Ahab was deceived by those
Syrians, who said: "We know that the kings of Israel are merciful: And so
let us put sackcloth upon our loins, and ropes round our heads, and go out
to the king of Israel, and say to him: Thy servant Benhadad saith: I pray
thee, let my soul live." And thereby he was affected by no true goodness,
but by the empty praise of his clemency, and said: "If he still liveth, he
is my brother;" and after this fashion they can deceive us also by the
error of that reasonable part, and make us incur the displeasure of God
owing to that from which we were hoping that we might gain a reward and
receive the recompense of goodness, and to us too the same rebuke may be
addressed: "Because thou hast let go from thy hand a man who was worthy of
death, thy life shall be for his life, and thy people for his people"(2) Or
when the unclean spirit says: "I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit
in the mouth of all his prophets,"(3) he certainly spread the nets of
deception by means of the reasonable feeling which he knew to be exposed to
his deadly wiles. And this also the same spirit expected in the case of our
Lord, when he tempted Him in these three affections of the soul, wherein he
knew that all mankind had been taken captive, but gained nothing by his
crafty wiles. For he approached that portion of his mind which was subject
to desire, when he said: "Command that these stones be made bread;" the
part subject to wrath, when he tried to incite Him to seek the power of the
present life and the kingdoms of this world; the reasonable part when he
said: "If Thou art the Son of God cast Thyself down from hence."(4) And in
these his deception availed nothing for this reason because he found that
there was nothing damaged in Him, in accordance with the supposition which
he had formed from a false idea. Wherefore no part of His soul yielded when
tempted by the wiles of the foe, "For lo," He saith, "the prince of this
world cometh and shall find nothing in Me."(5)
CHAPTER XVIII: A question whether we should be drawn back to our country by
a proper desire for greater silence.
GERMANUS: Among other kinds of illusions and mistakes on our part,
which by the vain promise of spiritual advantages have fired us with a
longing for our country(as your holiness has discovered by the keen insight
of your mind), this stands out as the principal reason, that sometimes we
are beset by our brethren and cannot possibly continue in unbroken solitude
and continual silence, as we should like. And by this the course and
measure of our daily abstinence, which we always want to maintain
undisturbed for the chastening of our body, is sure to be interfered with
on the arrival of some of the brethren. And this we certainly feel would
never happen in our own country, where it is impossible to find anyone, or
scarcely anyone who adopts this manner of life.
CHAPTER XIX: The answer on the devil's illusion, because he promises us the
peace of a raster solitude.
ABRAHAM: Never to be resorted to by men at all is a sign of an
unreasonable and ill-considered strictness, or rather of the greatest
coldness. For if a man walks in this way, on which he has entered, with too
slow steps, and lives according to the former man, it is right that none --
I say not of the saints -- but of any men should visit him. But you, if you
are inflamed with true and perfect love of our Lord, and follow God, who
indeed is love, with entire fervour of spirit, are sure to be resorted to
by men, to whatever inaccessible spot you may flee, and, in proportion as
the ardour of divine love brings you nearer to God, so will a larger
concourse of saintly brethren flock to you. For, as the Lord says, "A city
set on an hill cannot be hid,"(1) because "them that love Me," saith the
Lord, "will I honour, and they that despise Me shall be contemned."(2) But
you ought to know that this is the subtlest device of the devil, this is
his best concealed pitfall, into which he precipitates some wretched and
heedless persons, so that, while he is promising them greater things, he
takes away the requisite advantages of their daily profit, by persuading
them that more remote and raster deserts should be sought, and by
portraying them in their heart as if they were sown with marvellous
delights. And further some unknown and non-existent spots, he feigns to be
well-known and suitable and already given over to our power and able to be
secured without any difficulty. The men also of that country he feigns to
be docile and followers of the way of salvation, that, while he is
promising richer fruits for the soul there, he may craftily destroy our
present profits. For when owing to this vain hope each one separates
himself from living together with the Elders and has been deprived of all
those things that he idly imagined in his heart, he rises as it were from a
most profound slumber, and when awake will find nothing of those things of
which he had dreamed. And so as he is hampered by larger requirements for
this life and inextricable snares, the devil will not even allow him to
aspire to those things which he had once promised himself, and as he is
liable no longer to those rare and spiritual visits of the brethren which
he had formerly avoided, but to daily interruptions from worldly folk, he
will never suffer him to return even to the moderate quiet and system of
the anchorite's life.
CHAPTER XX: How useful is relaxation on the arrival of brethren.
THAT most refreshing interlude also of relaxation and courtesy, which
sometimes is wont to intervene because of the arrival of brethren, although
it may seem to us tiresome and what we ought to avoid, yet how useful it is
and good for our bodies as well as our souls you must patiently hear in few
words. It often happens I say not to novices and weak persons but even to
those of the greatest experience and perfection, that unless the strain and
tension of their mind is lessened by the relaxation of some changes, they
fall either into coldness of spirit; or at any rate into a most dangerous
state of bodily health. And therefore when there occur even frequent visits
from the brethren they should not only be patiently put up with, but even
gratefully welcomed by those who are wise and perfect; first because they
stimulate us always to desire with greater eagerness the retirement of the
desert (for somehow while they are thought to impede our progress, they
really maintain it unwearied and unbroken, and if it was never hindered by
any obstacles, it would not endure to the end with unswerving
perseverance), next because they give us the opportunity of refreshing the
body, together with the advantages of kindness, and at the same time with a
most delightful relaxation of the body confer on us greater advantage than
those which we should have gained by the weariness which results from
abstinence. On which matter I will briefly give a most apt illustration
handed down in an old story.
CHAPTER XXI: How the Evangelist John is said to have shown the value of
relaxation.
IT is said that the blessed John, while he was gently stroking a
partridge with his hands suddenly saw a philosopher approaching him in the
garb of a hunter, who was astonished that a man of so great fame and
reputation should demean himself to such paltry and trivial amusements, and
said: "Can you be that John, whose great and famous reputation attracted me
also with the greatest desire for your acquaintance? Why then do you occupy
yourself with such poor amusements?" To whom the blessed John: "What is
it," said he, "that you are carrying in your hand?" The other replied: "a
bow. "And why," said he, "do you not always carry it everywhere bent?" To
whom the other replied: "It would not do, for the force of its stiffness
would be relaxed by its being continually bent, and it would be lessened
and destroyed, and when the time came for it to send stouter arrows after
some beast, its stiffness would be lost by the excessive and continuous
strain. and it would be impossible for the more powerful bolts to be shot."
"And, my lad," said the blessed John, "do not let this slight and short
relaxation of my mind disturb you, as unless it sometimes relieved and
relaxed the rigour of its purpose by some recreation, the spirit would lose
its spring owing to the unbroken strain, and would be unable when need
required, implicitly to follow what was right."(1)
CHAPTER XXII: A question how we ought to understand what the gospel says
"My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
GERMANUS: As you have given us a remedy for all delusions, and by God's
grace all the wiles of the devil by which we were harassed, have been
exposed by your teaching, we beg that you will also explain to us this that
is said in the gospel: "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."(2) For it
seems tolerably opposed to that saying of the prophet where it is said:
"For the sake of the words of Thy lips I kept hard ways;" while even the
Apostle says: "All who will live godly in Christ suffer persecutions."(8)
But whatever is hard and fraught with persecutions cannot be easy and
light.
CHAPTER XXIII: The answer with the explanation of the saying.
ABRAHAM: We can prove by the easy teaching of our own experience that
our Lord and Saviour's saying is perfectly true, if we approach the way of
perfection properly and in accordance with Christ's will, and mortifying
all our desires, and cutting off injurious likings, not only allow nothing
to remain with us of this world's goods (whereby our adversary would find
at his pleasure opportunities of destroying and damaging us) but actually
recognize that we are not our own masters, and truly make our own the
Apostle's words: "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.''(4) For what
can be burdensome, or hard to one who has embraced with his whole heart the
yoke of Christ, who is established in true humility and ever fixes his eye
on the Lord's sufferings and rejoices in all the wrongs that are offered to
him, saying: "For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ: for
when I am weak, then am I strong"?(5) By what loss of any common thing, I
ask, will he be injured, who boasts of perfect renunciation, and
voluntarily rejects for Christ's sake all the pomp of this world, and
considers all and every of its desires as dung, so that he may gain Christ,
and by continual meditation on this command of the gospel, scorns and gets
rid of agitation at every loss: "For what shall it profit a man if he gain
the whole world, but lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul?"(6) For the loss of what will he be vexed, who
recognizes that everything that can be taken away from others is not their
own, and proclaims with unconquered valour: "We brought nothing into this
world: it is certain that we cannot carry anything out"?(7) By the needs of
what want will his courage be overcome, who knows how to do without "scrip
for the way, money for the purse,"(8) and, like the Apostle, glories "in
many fasts, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness"?(9) What effort,
or what hard command of an Elder can disturb the peace of his bosom, who
has no will of his own, and not only patiently but even gratefully accepts
what is commanded him, and after the example of our Saviour, seeks to do
not his own will, but the Father's, as He says Himself to His Father:
"Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt"?(10) By what wrongs also, by
what persecution will he be frightened, nay, what punishment can fail to be
delightful to him, who always rejoices together with apostles in stripes,
and longs to be counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ?
CHAPTER XXIV: Why the Lord's yoke is felt grievous and His burden heavy.
BUT the fact that to us on the contrary the yoke of Christ seems
neither light nor easy, must be rightly ascribed to our perverseness, as we
are cast down by unbelief and want of faith, and fight with foolish
obstinacy against His command, or rather advice, who says: "If thou wilt be
perfect, go sell (or get rid of) all that thou hast, and come follow
Me,"(11) for we keep the substance of our worldly goods. And as the devil
holds our soul fast in the toils of these, what remains but that, when he
wants to sever us from spiritual delights, he should vex us by diminishing
these and depriving us of them, contriving by his crafty wiles that when
the sweetness of His yoke and lightness of His burden have become grievous
to us through the evil of a corrupt desire, and when we are caught in the
chains of that very property and substance, which we kept for our comfort
and solace, he may always torment us with the scourges of worldly cares,
extorting from us ourselves that wherewith we are tortured? For "Each one
is bound by the cords of his own sins," and hears from the prophet: "Behold
all you that kindle a fire, encompassed with flames, walk in the light of
your fire, and in the flames which you have kindled." Since, as Solomon is
witness, "Each man shall thereby be punished, whereby he has sinned."(1)
For the very pleasures which we enjoy become a torment to us, and the
delights and enjoyments of this flesh, turn like executioners upon their
originator, because one who is supported by his former wealth and property
is sure not to admit perfect humility of heart, not entire mortification of
dangerous pleasures. But where all these implements of goodness give their
aid, there all the trials of this present life, and whatever losses the
enemy can contrive, are endured not only with the utmost patience, but with
real pleasure, and again when they are wanting so dangerous a pride springs
up that we are actually wounded by the deadly strokes of impatience at the
slightest reproach, and it may be said to us by the prophet Jeremiah: "And
now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the troubled water?
And what hast thou to do with the way of the Assyrians, to drink the water
of the river? Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall
rebuke thee. Know thou and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing for
thee to have left the Lord thy God, and that My fear is not with thee,
saith the Lord."(2) How then is it that the wondrous sweetness of the
Lord's yoke is felt to be bitter, but because the bitterness of our dislike
injures it? How is it that the exceeding lightness of the Divine burden
becomes heavy, but because in our obstinate presumption we despise Him by
whom it was borne, especially as Scripture itself plainly testifies to this
very thing saying: "For if they would walk in right paths, they would
certainly have found the paths of righteousness smooth"?(8) It is plain, I
say, that it is we, who make rough with the nasty and hard stones of our
desires the right and smooth paths of the Lord; who most foolishly forsake
the royal road made stony with the flints of apostles and prophets, and
trodden down by the footsteps of all the saints and of the Lord Himself,
and seek trackless and thorny places, and, blinded by the allurements of
present delights, tear our way with torn legs and our wedding garment rent,
through dark paths, overrun with the briars of sins, so as not only to be
pierced by the sharp thorns of the brambles but actually laid low by the
bites of deadly serpents and scorpions lurking there. For "there are thorns
and thistles in wrong ways, but he that feareth the Lord shall keep himself
from them."(4) Of such also the Lord says elsewhere by the prophet: "My
people have forgotten, sacrificing in vain, and stumbling in their ways, in
ancient paths, to walk in them in a way not trodden."(5) For according to
Solomon's saying: "The ways of those who do not work are strewn with
thorns, but the ways of the lusty are trodden down."(6) And thus wandering
from the king's highway, they can never arrive at that metropolis, whither
our course should ever be directed without swerving. And this also
Ecclesiastes has pretty significantly expressed saying: "The labour of
fools wearies those who know not how to go to the city;" viz., that
"heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all."(7) But whoever truly
gives up this world and takes upon him Christ's yoke and learns of Him, and
is trained in the daily practice of suffering wrong, for He is "meek and
lowly of heart,"(8) will ever remain undisturbed by all temptations, and
"all things will work together for good to him."(9) For as the prophet
Obadiah says the words of God are "good to him that walketh uprightly;" and
again: "For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in
them; but the transgressors shall fall in them."(10)
CHAPTER XXV: Of the good which an attack of temptation brings about.
AND so by the struggle with temptation the kindly grace of the Saviour
bestows on us larger rewards of praise than if it had taken away from us
all need of conflict. For it is a mark of a loftier and grander virtue to
remain ever unmoved when hemmed in by persecutions and trials, and to stand
faithfully and courageously at the ramparts of God, and in the attacks of
men, girt as it were with the arms of unconquered virtue, to triumph
gloriously over impatience and somehow to gain strength out of weakness,
for "strength is made perfect in weakness." "For behold I have made thee."
saith the Lord, "a pillar of iron and a wall of brass, over all the land,
to the kings of Judah, and the princes and the priests thereof, and all the
people of the land. And they shall fight against thee and shall not
prevail: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord."(1) Therefore
according to the plain teaching of the Lord the king's highway is easy and
smooth, though it may be felt as hard and rough: for those who piously and
faithfully serve Him, when they have taken upon them the yoke of the Lord,
and have learnt of Him, that He is meek and lowly of heart, at once somehow
or other lay aside the burden of earthly passions, and find no labour but
rest for their souls, by the gift of the Lord, as He Himself testifies by
Jeremiah the prophet, saying: "Stand ye on the ways and see, and ask for
the old paths, which is the good way, and walk ye in it: and you shall find
refreshment for your souls." For to them at once "the crooked shall become
straight and the rough ways plain;" and they shall "taste and see that the
Lord is gracious,"(2) and when they hear Christ proclaiming in the gospel:
"Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh
you," they will lay aside the burden of their sins, and realize what
follows: "For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."(8) The way of the
Lord then has refreshment if it is kept to according to His law. But it is
we who by troublesome distractions bring sorrows and troubles upon
ourselves, while we try even With the utmost exertion and difficulty to
follow the crooked and perverse ways of this world. But when in this way we
have made the Lord's yoke heavy and hard to us, we at once complain in a
blasphemous spirit of the hardness and roughness of the yoke itself or of
Christ who lays it upon us, in accordance with this passage: "The folly of
man corrupteth his ways, but he blames God in his heart;"(4) and as Haggai
the prophet says, when we say that "the way of the Lord is not right" the
reply is aptly made to us by the Lord: "Is not My way right? Are not your
ways rather crooked?"(5) And indeed if you will compare the sweet scented
flower of virginity, and tender purity of chastity to the foul and fetid
sloughs of lust, the calm and security of monks to the dangers and losses
in which the men of this world are involved, the peace of our poverty to
the gnawing vexations and anxious cares of riches, in which they are night
and day consumed not without the utmost peril to life, then you will prove
that the yoke of Christ is most easy and His burden most light.
CHAPTER XXVI: How the promise of an hundredfold in this life is made to
those whose renunciation is perfect.
FURTHER also that recompense of reward, t wherein the Lord promises an
hundredfold in this life to those whose renunciation is perfect, and says:
"And everyone that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or
mother or wife or children or lands for My name's sake, shall receive an
hundredfold in the resent time and shall inherit eternal life,"(6) is
rightly and truly taken m the same sense without any disturbance of faith.
For many taking occasion by this saying, insist with crass intelligence
that these things will be given carnally in the millennium, though they
must certainly admit that age, which they say will be after the
resurrection cannot possibly be understood as present. It is then more
credible and much clearer that one, who at the persuasion of Christ has
made light of any worldly affections or goods, receives from the brethren
and partners of his life, who are joined to him by a spiritual tie, even in
this life a love which is an hundred times better: since it is certain that
among parents and children and brothers, wives and relations, where either
the tie is merely formed by intercourse, or the bond of union by the claims
of relationship, the love is tolerably short lived and easily broken.
Finally even good and duteous children when they have grown up, are
sometimes shut out by their parents from their homes and property, and
sometimes for a really good reason the tie of matrimony is severed, and a
quarrelsome division destroys the property of brothers. Monks alone
maintain a lasting union in intimacy, and possess all things in common, as
they hold that everything that belongs to their brethren is their own, and
that everything which is their own is their brethren's. If then the grace
of our love is compared to those affections where the bond of union is a
carnal love, certainly it is an hundred times sweeter and finer. There will
indeed also be gained from conjugal continence a pleasure that is an
hundred times greater than that which arises from the union of the sexes.
And instead of that joy, which a man experiences from the possession of a
single field of house, he will enjoy a delight in riches a hundred times
greater, if he passes over to the adoption of sons of God, and possesses as
his own all things which belong to the eternal Father, and asserts in heart
and soul after the fashion of that true Son: "All things that the Father
hath are mine;"(1) and if no longer tried by that criminal anxiety in
distractions and cares, but free from care and glad at heart he succeeds
everywhere to his own, hearing daily the announcement made to him by the
Apostle: "For all things are yours, whether the world, or things present,
or things to come;" and by Solomon: "The faithful man has a whole world of
riches." (2) You have then that recompense of an hundredfold brought out by
the greatness of the value, and the difference of the character that cannot
be estimated. For if for a fixed weight of brass or iron or some still
commoner metal, one had given in exchange the same weight only in gold, he
would appear to have given much more than an hundredfold. And so when for
the scorn of delights and earthly affections there is made a recompense of
spiritual joy and the gladness of a most precious love, even if the actual
amount be the same, yet it is an hundred times better and grander. And to
make this plainer by frequent repetition: I used formerly to have a wife in
the lustful passion of desire: I now have one in honourable sanctification
and the true love of Christ. The woman is but one, but the value of the
love has increased an hundredfold. But if instead of distrusting anger and
wrath you have regard to constant gentleness and patience, instead of the
stress of anxiety and trouble, peace and freedom from care, instead of the
fruitless and criminal vexation of this world the salutary fruits of
sorrow, instead of the vanity of temporal joy the richness of spiritual
delights, you will see in the change of these feelings a recompense of an
hundredfold. And if we compare with the short-lived and fleeting pleasure
of each sin the benefits of the opposite virtues the increased delights
will prove that these are an hundred times better. For in counting on your
fingers you transfer the number of an hundred from the left hand to the
right and though you seem to keep the same arrangement of the fingers yet
there is a great increase in the amount of the quantity.(3) For the result
will be that we who seemed to bear the form of the goats on the left hand,
will be removed and gain the reward of the sheep on the right hand. Now let
us pass on to consider the nature of those things which Christ gives back
to us in this world for our scorn of worldly advantages, more particularly
according to the Gospel of Mark who says: "There is no man who hath left
house or brethren or sisters or mother or children or lands for My sake and
the gospel's sake, who shall not receive an hundred times as much now in
this time: houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and
lands, with persecutions, and in the world to come life eternal."(4) For he
who for the sake of Christ's name disregards the love of a single father or
mother or child, and gives himself over to the purest love of all who serve
Christ, will receive an hundred times the amount of brethren and kinsfolk;
since instead of but one he will begin to have so many fathers and brethren
bound to him by a still more fervent and admirable affection. He also will
be enriched with an increased possession of lands, who has given up a
single house for the love of Christ, and possesses countless homes in
monasteries as his own, to whatever part of the world he may retire, as to
his own house. For how can he fail to receive an hundredfold, and, if it is
not wrong to add somewhat to our Lord's words, more than an hundredfold,
who gives up the faithless and compulsory service of ten or twenty slaves
and relies on the spontaneous attendance of so many noble and free born
men? And that this is so you could prove by your own experience, as since
you have each left but one father and mother and home, you have gained
without any effort or care, in any part of the world to which you have
come, countless fathers and mothers and brethren, as well as houses and
lands and most faithful servants, who receive you as their masters, and
welcome, and respect, and take care of you with the utmost attention. But,
I say that deservedly and confidently will the saints enjoy this service,
if they have first submitted themselves and everything they have by a
voluntary offering for the service of the brethren. For, as the Lord says,
they will freely receive back that which they themselves have bestowed on
others. But if a man has not first offered this with true humility to his
companions, how can he calmly endure to have it offered to him by others,
when he knows that he is burdened rather than helped by their services,
because he prefers to receive attention from the brethren rather than to
give it to them? But all these things he will receive not with careless
slackness and a lazy delight, but, in accordance with the Lord's word,
"with persecutions," i.e., with the pressure of this world, and terrible
distress from his passions, because, as the wise man testifies: "He who is
easy going and without trouble shall come to want."(1) For not the
slothful, or the careless, or the delicate, or the tender take the kingdom
of heaven by force, but the violent. Who then are the violent? Surely they
are those who show a splendid violence not to others, but to their own
soul, who by a laudable force deprive it of all delights m things present,
and are declared by the Lord's mouth to be splendid plunderers, and by
rapine of this kind, violently seize upon the kingdom of heaven. For, as
the Lord says, "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent
take it by force."(2) Those are certainly worthy of praise as violent, who
do violence to their own destruction, for, "A man," as it is written, "that
is in sorrow laboureth for himself and does violence to his own
destruction."(3) For our destruction is delight in this present life, and
to speak more definitely, the performance of our own likes and desires, as,
if a man withdraws these from his soul and mortifies them, he straightway
does glorious and valuable violence to his own destruction, provided that
he refuses to it the pleasantest of its wishes which the Divine word often
rebukes by the prophet, saying: "For in the days of your fast your own will
is found;" and again: "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, to do
thy will on My holy day, and glorify him, while thou dost not thy own ways,
and thy own will is not found, to speak a word." And the great blessedness
that is promised to him is at once added by the prophet. "Then," he says,
"shalt thou be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift thee up above the
high places of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob
thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."(4) And therefore our
Lord and Saviour, to give us an example of giving up our own wills, says:
"I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me;" and
again: "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt."(5) And this good quality those
men in particular show who live in the coenobia and are governed by the
rule of the Elders, who do nothing of their own choice, but their will
depends upon the will of the Abbot. Finally to bring this discussion to a
close, I ask you, do not those who faithfully serve Christ, most clearly
receive grace an hundredfold in this, while for His name's sake they are
honoured by the greatest princes, and though they do not look for the
praise of men, yet become venerated in the trials of persecution whose
humble condition would perhaps have been looked down upon even by common
folk, either because of their obscure birth, or because of their condition
as slaves, if they had continued in their life in the world? But because of
the service of Christ no one will venture to raise a calumny against their
state of nobility, or to fling in their teeth the obscurity of their
origin. Nay rather, through the very opprobrium of a humble condition by
which others are shamed and confounded, the servants of Christ are more
splendidly ennobled, as we can clearly show by the case of Abbot John who
lives in the desert which borders on the town of Lycus. For he sprang from
obscure parents, but owing to the name of Christ has become so well known
to almost all mankind that the very lords of creation, who hold the reins
of this world and of empire, and are a terror to all powers and kings,
venerate him as their lord, and from distant countries seek his advice, and
entrust to his prayers and merits the crown of their empire, and the state
of safety, and the fortunes of war.(6)
In such terms the blessed Abraham discoursed on the origin of and
remedy for our illusion, and exposed to our eyes the crafty thoughts which
the devil had originated and suggested, and kindled in us the desire of
true mortification, wherewith we hope that many also may be inflamed, even
though all these things have been written in a somewhat simple style. For
though the dying embers of our words cover up the glowing thoughts of the
greatest fathers, yet we hope that in the case of very many who try to
remove the embers of our words and to fan into a flame the hidden thoughts,
their coldness will be turned into heat. But, O holy brethren, I have not
indeed been so puffed up by the spirit of presumption as to give forth to
you this fire (which the Lord came to send upon the earth, and which He
eagerly longs to kindle(7)) in order that by the application of this warmth
I might set on fire your purpose which is already at a white heat, but in
order that your authority with your children might be greater, if in
addition the precepts of the greatest and most ancient fathers support what
you are teaching not by the dead sound of words but by your living example.
It only remains that I who have been till now tossed about by a most
dangerous tempest, should be wafted to the safe harbour of silence by the
spiritual gales of your prayers.
Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland, beginning in
1867. (LNPF II/XI, Schaff and Wace). The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.
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