CHAPTER 51 On the Love and Grace of God

CHAPTER 51
On the Love and Grace of God

  (0648C) CAPUT LI. De dilectione et gratia Dei.

WITH regard to this chapter the apostle says, But God, who is rich in mercy, on account of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our sins, made us alive together with Christ—by his grace we have been saved­­ —and raised us up with him and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ, so that he might show the abundant riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace we have been saved through faith (Eph 2:4-8). Now God is said to be rich in mercy because he is omnipotent and the earth is full of his mercy. God is said to be rich in mercy, because he mercifully draws all sinners to repentance, and mercifully grants them perseverance in it. And he is said to be rich on account of his exceeding great love with which he loved the human race. For almighty God loved us so much that he delivered up his Son to death for us, as it is written: God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all (Rom 8:32). For it is exceeding great love to deliver up his only-begotten Son for sinful slaves, and to love those same rebel slaves as children. And so, beloved, we must consider how much the Lord loves us his holy ones, who deigned to love sinners so much, who, even when we were dead through our sins, made us alive together with Christ (Eph 2:5). On account of his mercy he granted us to have one and the same perpetual life with him. The soul is said to be dead when it is befouled with death-dealing vices, as also the apostle says, You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which at one time you openly lived (Eph 2:1-2). Sin is said to be the death of the soul, as the prophet says, The soul that sins will die (Ezek 18:20). The soul of any human being sins in two ways, that is, by not doing what it was ordered to do, and by doing what has been forbidden it. By grace we have been saved (Eph 2:5), he says, that is, not by the former works of our life, but by faith alone and the grace of baptism we have received the remission of our sins. For the Lord himself, our Lord, who is rich in mercy, beloved, on account of his exceeding love with which he loved us has raised us up with him and made us sit with him in Christ Jesus. Consider, brothers and sisters, what thanks we must render to our Creator, since it was in our nature that Christ our Creator and Redeemer himself rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father. It is in that nature that we too rose with him, we ascended and we sit at the right hand of the Father. Hence holy people, though living in the flesh, have their real life in heaven, and do not hesitate to say that the saints already sit and reign with Christ at the right hand of the Father. 1 How great the benefit and how manifold the grace by which he made us sit with the Lord and made us reign with Christ! This is proved by the fact that we, who were once held fast by the law of the underworld, now reign in Christ and sit with him. Grace is truly abundant; it not only forgave our sins, but after we were raised up with Christ it also placed us at the right hand of God. 2 An angel said to a certain bishop, “God so loved this world that he gave his only Son for it (John 3:16). Therefore will not he who, when people were his enemies, chose to die for them, much more absolve them from punishment now that they have become members of his household and are doing penance for what they did? And will he not give them the good things that he has prepared? . . . Therefore know this, that no human trespasses surpass God’s clemency.

De hoc capitulo sic Apostolus ait: Deus autem qui dives est in misericordia, propter nimiam charitatem suam qua dilexit nos, cum essemus mortui peccatis, convivificavit nos Christo. Cujus gratia sumus salvati: et conresuscitavit, et consedere fecit in coelestibus in Christo, ut ostenderet abundantes divitias gratiae suae in bonitate super nos in Christo Jesu. Gratia enim sumus salvati per fidem (Eph. II). Deus autem dives esse dicitur in misericordia, quia omnipotens est et misericordia ejus plena est terra. Dives autem Deus dicitur in misericordia, quia peccatores omnes misericorditer trahit ad poenitentiam, et in ea misericorditer concedit ^(0648D) perseverantiam. Et dives dicitur propter nimiam charitatem suam, qua dilexit genus humanum. In tantum enim nos dilexit omnipotens Deus, ut Filium suum morti traderet pro nobis, sicut scriptum est: Proprio Filio suo non pepercit Deus, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit illum (Rom. VIII). Nimia enim id et grandis charitas est, pro peccatoribus servis unigenitum tradere Filium, et eosdem rebelles servos diligere tanquam filios. Hinc etenim, fratres, considerare debemus quantum nos Dominus diligat sanctos, qui tantum diligere dignatus est peccatores, Qui cum essemus mortui propter delicta nostra, vivificavit nos in Christo Jesu (Ephes. II). Propter misericordiam suam, unam atque eamdem nobis tribuens ^(0649A) cum eo vitam habere perpetuam. Mortua enim dicitur anima, quando mortiferis vitiis esse dicitur maculata, sicut et Apostolus ait: Et vos cum essetis mortui in delictis et peccatis vestris, in quibus aliquando ambulastis manifeste (Eph. II.). Mors animae dicitur esse peccatum, sicut propheta ait: Quia anima quae peccaverit, ipsa morietur (Ezech. XVIII). Duobus etenim modis uniuscujusque hominis peccat anima, id est, in non faciendo quae facere jussa sunt, et faciendo quae vetita sunt. Cujus gratia, inquit, salvati sumus, id est non ex prioribus vitae nostrae operibus, sed sola fide et baptismi gratia, nostrorum accepimus remissionem peccatorum. Ipse enim Dominus noster, qui dives est in misericordia, fratres, propter nimiam charitatem suam (qua dilexit nos) conresuscitavit ^(0649B) et consedere fecit in coelestibus in Christo Jesu. Considerate, fratres, quas gratiarum actiones Creatori nostro referre debemus, quando in natura nostra ipse Creator et Redemptor noster Christus, et resurrexit a mortuis, et ascendit ad coelos, et sedet ad dexteram Patris. In qua natura nostra et nos consurreximus, ascendimus et sedemus ad dexteram Patris. Unde et vir sanctus, qui vivens in carne conversationem habet in coelis, non dubitat dicere quod sancti jam sedeant et regnent cum Christo in dextera Patris. Quanta sit beneficii magnitudo et quam multiplex gratia qua nos Domino consedere fecit, et conregnare cum Christo: hinc comprobatur, cum nos qui quondam lege tenebamur inferni, nunc in Christo regnemus sedeamusque cum eo. Vere ^(0649C) abundans est gratia, quae non solum peccata donavit, sed etiam cum Christo nos resuscitatos in dextera Dei collocavit. Dixit cuidam episcopo angelus: Sic dilexit Deus hunc mundum, ut Filium suum unigenitum daret pro eo (Joan. III). Qui igitur cum inimici essent homines, mori pro ipsis elegit, non multo magis domesticos effectos eos, et poenitentiam agentes super iis quae gesserant absolvet a poenis, et praestabit iis (quae ab ipso praeparata sunt) bona? Hoc ergo scito quia nulla delicta hominum vincunt clementiam Dei.

  (0649B) CAPUT LII. De eo quod sancti filii lucis vocantur.

132 CHAPTER 52 That the Saints Are Called Children of Light T he apostle John says, We announce to you that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). Rightly then does the apostle call those who are children of God children of light, when he says, You are all children of the light and children of the day; you do not belong to the night or to darkness (1 Thess 5:5). Just as those who have in them love and peace are called children of love and children of peace, so too those who have in them the light of faith and knowledge are called children of light. Hence also Paul says, You were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (Eph 5:8). Or they are called children of light—that is, children of God, as the Lord says, I am the light of the world. Those who follow me do not walk in darkness but will have the light of life (John 8:12). And they are children of the day, he says, that is, of the Lord Jesus Christ, who said to his disciples, Are there not twelve hours in the day? Those who walk during the day do not stumble (John 11:9). He wished to indicate himself by the day and the apostles by the hours. For he himself is spiritually the true day, because it is said of him:A sanctified day has shone upon us. 1 Now the twelve hours, as was said earlier, are his twelve apostles, because to show that he is the day he chose twelve apostles. 1 Dies sanctificatus illuxit nobis, Gregory, Liber Antiphonarius, In Die Natalis Domini; PL 78:646C. Verse used in the Alleluia of the Third Mass of Christmas. That the Saints Are Called Children of Light 133 Those who do the truth come to the light (John 3:21); they are light and children of light and of the day (see 1 Thess 5:5). Just as none exist of themselves, so too none are enlightened by themselves, but the one who enlightens is the one of whom it is written: There was the true light that enlightens everyone who comes into this world (John 1:9). Whoever has risen from the darkness of ignorance and from sin and been enlightened by him who said, I am the light of the world. Those who follow me do not walk in darkness but will have the light of life (John 8:12), is rightly called a child of light and of the day. 2 For we are God’s children not by nature but by imitation, as the Savior says, so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven (Matt 5:45). 3 2 No source traced for this passage. 3 Auctor incertus, In Eph 5:1; PL 30:835C. . . .

Joannes apostolus ait: Annuntiamus vobis quoniam Deus lux est, et tenebrae in eo non sunt ullae (I Joan. I). Merito ergo qui filii Dei sunt, filii lucis ab Apostolo vocantur, ubi ait: Omnes enim vos filii lucis estis, et filii diei: non estis noctis, neque tenebrarum (I Thess. V). Sicut enim dicuntur filii dilectionis vel filii pacis habentes in se dilectionem et pacem, ita dicuntur et filii ^(0650A) lucis habentes in se fidei et scientiae lumen. Unde et alibi Paulus ait: Eratis aliquando tenebrae, nunc autem lux in Domino, ut filii lucis ambulate (Eph. V). Sive filii lucis dicuntur, id est filii Dei, sicut Dominus ait: Ego sum lux mundi, qui sequitur me non ambulat in tenebris, sed habebit lumen vitae (Joan. VIII). Et filii diei, inquit, id est Domini Jesu Christi, qui dixit discipulis suis: Nonne duodecim horae sunt diei? Qui ambulat in die non offendit (Joan. XI). Se enim diem, et apostolos significari voluit horas. Nam ipse spiritaliter verus dies est, quia de ipso dictum est. Dies sanctificatus illuxit nobis. Duodecim vero horae (ut praedictum est) duodecim sunt ejus apostoli; quia ut diem se esse ostenderet, duodecim apostolos elegit. Qui vero operatur veritatem et in lucem venit lux est, ^(0650B) et filius lucis et diei (Joan. III). Sicut enim nemo a seipso est, ita etiam nemo a seipso illuminatur, sed illustrante illo de quo scriptum est: Erat lux vera, quae illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum (Joan. I). Quicunque enim a tenebris ignorantiae et a peccatis surrexerit, et illuminatus ab ipso fuerit qui dixit: Ego sum lux mundi, qui sequitur me non ambulat in tenebris, sed habebit lumen vitae (Joan. VIII), merito filius lucis et diei vocatur. Imitatione enim, non natura, filii Dei sumus, sicut ait Salvator: Ut sitis filii Patris vestri, qui in coelis est (Matth. V).

  (0650B) CAPUT LIII. De spe.

134 CHAPTER 53 On Hope C oncerning this chapter on hope the apostle Paul says, Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the conviction of things that are not apparent (Heb 11:1). For who hopes for what is seen? But what we do not see we wait for with patience (Rom 8:24-25). Hope is the expectation of future good things, 1 which expresses a feeling of humility and the compliance of assiduous service. It is called hope (spes) because it is the foot by which one advances, as though saying est pes, “it is the foot. ” On the other hand despair is so called because one who despairs lacks the means of advancing, for while people love sin they cannot expect future glory. 2 That person waits trustingly who faithfully keeps God’s commandments. The apostle rightly says that hope is blessed when we shall merit to be God’s children and heirs: Heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17). When he appears, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is (1 John 3:2). Then sin will not rule over us and eternal life will be bestowed; then we shall obtain the brightness of the sun and the company of the angels. 3 Hence the same apostle says elsewhere: Because of the hope that is laid up for us in heaven (Col 1:5). For hope of future good things is not visible to our fleshly eyes now, but it is still laid up for us in heaven. The same apostle says about this hope: What eye has not seen, nor ear 1 See Isidore, Diff 2. 36. 139A; PL 83:92A. 2 See Isidore, Etym. 8. 2. 5; Lindsay, vol. 1 (at reference, as pages are not numbered ); PL 82:296A. 3 Smaragdus, Collect, Oct Nativ Dom; PL 102:56BC. On Hope 135 heard, nor has it entered the human heart, the things God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor 2:9). The hope of all the elect is eternal life, which is still laid up for us in heaven in Christ: When Christ your life has appeared, then we too will appear with him in glory (Col 3:4). And elsewhere the same apostle says, Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God the Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope in grace (2 Thess 2:16). 4 Hope is called good because it is written:Those who hope in the Lord shall not lack any good (see Ps 33(34):10). It is also called hope of mercy: Because those who hope in the Lord, mercy will surround (Ps 31(32):10). Peter calls it living hope (see 1 Pet 1:3), because it promises us eternal life. The noun “hope” is given an adjective in keeping with the quality of the gift. Now it can be understood here much more clearly and more excellently as a good hope by grace—that is, the one who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is alone good, the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the psalmist sings, The Lord is my hope since my youth (Ps 70(71):5). 5 It is greatly to be feared that, through the hope of pardon which God promises we may persevere in sin, or that because he justly punishes sins we may despair of pardon. Avoiding both dangers, let us turn away from evil and also hope for pardon from the Lord’s kindness. 6 4 The quotation from 2 Thessalonians is incomplete; the passage concentrates on the hope mentioned near the end. 5 No source traced for this passage. 6 Isidore, Sent 2. 4. 2a; CCSL 111:98–99; PL 83:603C. . . .

De hoc spei capitulo sic et apostolus Paulus ait: ^(0650C) Est autem fides sperandarum substantia rerum, argumentum non apparentium (Hebr. XI). Neque enim quod videt, quis sperat, sed quod non videmus, per patientiam exspectamus (Rom. VIII). Spes est bonorum exspectatio futurorum, quae exprimit humilitatis affectum, et sedulae servitutis obsequium. Spes autem vocata, quod sit pes progrediendi, quasi enim est pes. Unde e contrario dicitur desperatio, cui nulla est progrediendi facultas: quia dum quisque peccatum amat, futuram gloriam non sperat. Ille enim fiducialiter exspectat, qui ejus mandata fideliter servat. Beata enim recte ab Apostolo dicitur spes ubi filii Dei merebimur esse et haeredes: Haeredes quidem Dei, cohaeredes autem Christi. Ubi cum apparuerit, similes ei erimus, quoniam videbimus ^(0650D) eum, sicuti est (Rom. VIII). Ubi et peccatum nobis non dominabitur et vita aeterna praestabitur. Ubi splendorem solis et consortium obtinebimus angelorum. Hinc et alibi Apostolus ait: Propter spem, quae reposita est nobis in coelis (Col. I). Spes enim bonorum futurorum non est modo carnalibus perspicua oculis, sed adhuc reposita est nobis in coelis. De qua spe idem Apostolus ait: Quod oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit, quae praeparavit Deus diligentibus se (I Cor. II). Nam et spes omnium electorum vita aeterna est, quae in coelo adhuc in Christo nobis reposita est: Sed cum Christus apparuerit vita vestra, tunc et nos apparebimus cum illo in gloria (Col. III). Nam et alibi idem ^(0651A) Apostolus ait: Ipse autem Dominus noster Jesus Christus, et Deus Pater qui dilexit nos, et dedit nobis consolationem aeternam, et spem bonam in gratia (II Thess. II). Ideo dicitur spes bona, quia scriptum est: Sperantes autem in Domino, non deficient omni bono (Psal. XXXIII). Dicitur et spes misericordiae: Quia sperantes in Domino, misericordia circumdabit (Psal. XXXI); dicitur a Petro spes viva (I Petr. II), quia vitam nobis promittit aeternam. Nam secundum qualitatem suae donationis, et additamentum recipit nominis. Potest autem multo clarius et excellentius hoc in loco spes bona in gratia, ipse qui cum Patre et Spiritu sancto solus est bonus accipi Dominus Jesus Christus de quo Psalmista canit: Spes mea Dominus, a juventute mea (Psal. LXX). (Isid. lib. II Sent. ^(0651B) cap. 4.) Metuendum valde est ut neque per spem veniae, quam promittit Deus, perseveranter peccemus, neque quia juste peccata distringit, veniam desperemus, sed utroque periculo evitato, et a malo declinemus, et de pietate Dei veniam speremus.

  (0651B) CAPUT LIV. Ut sine intermissione oretur.

136 CHAPTER 54 That We Are to Pray without Ceasing I t seems to me possible to pray without ceasing in two ways:with the intention of the heart, or by the practice of mercy. Those inspired by the desire of heavenly contemplation and totally dedicated in the love of their Creator pray with the intention of the heart. For this continual practice of love for God is prayer without ceasing. Prayer without ceasing is also practiced when the treasure of alms is stored up in heaven, since the Lord says, Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven (Matt 6:20). For those who store up treasure in heaven, their treasure, laid up in the Lord’s sight, is always (whether they walk, sit, eat, drink, talk, keep quiet or sleep) praying to the Lord without ceasing. Hence also the Lord himself says, Hide an alms in the bosom of a poor person, and it will pray to the Lord for you (Sir 29:15). 1 Those who, after prayer, strive to keep themselves in prayer in the way they were during prayer, pray without ceasing (according to some). This is what we read about Hannah when she prayed; she remained in the very attitude of compunction with which she prayed until she obtained from the Lord what she asked for (see 1 Sam 1). 2 They used to say of Abba Arsenius that on Saturday evening, as Sunday’s light was approaching, he would turn his back to the sun 1 Smaragdus’s text has ad Dominum, which is not in the standardVulgate text. 2 No source traced for this passage. ThatWe Are to Pray without Ceasing 137 and extend his hands to heaven in prayer, until on Sunday morning the rising sun lit up his face, and then he would sit down again. 3 Certain monks, called Euchites, that is, “people who pray, ”once came to Abba Lucius, and the old man asked them, “What is your manual work?”And they said, “We do not touch manual work, but as the apostle says, Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17). And the old man said to them, “And do you not eat?”They said, “Yes, we eat. ” And he said to them, “So when you are eating, who prays for you?” And he asked them again, “Do you not sleep?”And they said, “We do sleep. ”The old man said, “And when you are sleeping, who prays for you?”And they could not find an answer to these questions. And the old man said, “Forgive me, brothers, for behold, you do not do as you said. But I can show you that I pray without ceasing while working with my hands. For I sit down and with God’s help soak a few small palm leaves, and I make from them a woven handle, and I say, Have mercy on me, God, according to your great mercy; according to the abundance of your mercy blot out my iniquity” (Ps 50(51):1). And he said to them, “Is it prayer or not?”And they said to him, “Yes. ”And he said, “When I remain working and praying the whole day, I make more or less sixteen coppers, 4 and I put two of them at the door, while the rest I use for food. The person who receives those two pennies prays for me at the time when I am eating or sleeping, and so through the grace of God there is fulfilled in me what is written: Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17). 5 3 PL 73:941A (1);see also 807A (211a);PG 65:(97) 98C (30); Sayings, 12 (14), 30. 4 The Latin word translated here is nummus. 5 PL 73:942A+C (9);see also 807BC (212);PG 65:(253) 254BC; Sayings, 102 (120–21), 1. . . .

Sine intermissione orare duobus modis mihi videtur fieri posse; sive cordis intentione, seu opere misericordiae. Cordis enim intentione orat, qui desiderio supernae contemplationis afflatus, in amore creatoris sui totus est deditus. Ipsa enim amoris Dei continuatio, sine intermissione est oratio. Fit et sine intermissione oratio, quando thesaurus eleemosynarum ^(0651C) thesaurizatur in coelo, Domino dicente: Thesaurizate vobis thesauros in coelo (Matth. VI). Pro thesaurizante enim in coelo (sive ille ambulet, seu sedeat, comedat, bibat, loquatur, taceat, dormiat) semper thesaurus ejus qui in conspectu Domini est reconditus sine intermissione orat ad Dominum. Unde et ipse Dominus ait: Abscondite eleemosynam in sinu pauperis, et ipsa orabit pro vobis ad Dominum (Eccl. XXIX; Luc. XI). Orat et ille (ut quidam volunt) sine intermissione; qui qualem se primum exhibet in oratione, talem se postmodum in ea conservare studet, sicut et de Anna factum legitur orante, quae in ipso compunctionis affectu quo oravit, permansit, usque dum adepta est a Domino Deo suo quod postulavit (I Reg. I). Dicebant de abbate ^(0651D) Arsenio quia vespere sabbati, lucescente Dominica, relinquebat post se solem, et extendebat manus suas ad coelum orans, donec mane die Dominico illustraret ascendens sol faciem ejus, et sic residebat. Venerunt aliquando ad abbatem Lucium monachi quidam, qui dicebantur Euthicae, hoc est orantes, et interrogavit eos senex dicens: Quod est opus manuum vestrarum? Et illi dixerunt: Nos non contingimus aliquod opus manuum: sed, sicut dicit Apostolus: Sine intermissione orantes (I Thess. V). Et dicit eis senex: Et non manducatis? Illi autem dixerunt: Etiam manducamus. Et dixit eis: Quando ergo comeditis, quis pro vobis orat? Et iterum interrogavit eos, dicens: Non dormitis? Et illi dixerunt: Dormimus. ^(0652A) Dixit senex: Et eum dormitis, quis pro vobis orat? Et non invenerunt quid ad haec responderent ei. Et dixit senex: Ignoscite mihi, fratres, quia ecce non facitis sicut dixistis. Ego autem ostendo vobis quia operans manibus meis, sine intermissione oro. Sedeo enim juvante Deo infundens mihi paucas palmulas, et facio ex eis plectam, et dico: Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam. Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum dele iniquitatem meam (Psal. L). Et dicit eis: Oratio est an non? Et dixerunt ei: Etiam. Et ille dixit: Quando permansero tota die laborans et orans, facio plus minus sexdecim nummos, et pono ex eis ad ostium duos, et residuos manduco. Et qui acceperit illos duos denarios, orat pro me tempore quo ego manduco ^(0652B) vel dormio: atque ita per gratiam Dei impletur in me quod scriptum est: Sine intermissione orate (I Thess. V).

  (0652B) CAPUT LV. Ut simus simplices, sicut filii Dei.

138 CHAPTER 55 That We Are to Be Simple, as Children of God T hose people give no grounds for complaint who, as far as human frailty allows, strive to lead a life without fault. Faults committed against God or neighbor give rise to complaints. So those people live without giving grounds for complaint who do not lead lives soiled with vices, nor commit faults for which complaints may be justly brought against them. 1 And you are to be simple, says the apostle, as children of God (see Phil 2:15). For God is simple in nature. So those who are already children of God through adoption, and desire to be so through imitation , must needs be simple as doves (Matt 10:16). For it is written: The simplicity of the upright will guide them (Prov 11:3). 2 Nothing is happier than a simple heart, because those who show themselves innocent with regard to others have no need to fear suffering anything from others. Their simplicity is for them a kind of strong citadel; they have no thought of suffering what they do not remember having done. 3 Be spotless, without reproach (Phil 2:15). Paul teaches and desires God’s children to be very well supplied with virtues and upright, for one who sins is stained. The impious action of sin is itself a stain 1 This paragraph occurs again at the end of chapter 66. 2 No source traced for this passage. 3 Taio, Sent 3. 28; PL 80:886C, quoting Gregory, Mor 12. 39; CCSL 143A:655; PL 75:1007A. ThatWe Are to Be Simple, as Children of God 139 that soils and contaminates the one who commits it. But with God’s help the children of God are spotless and can live without reproach if they do nothing deserving of reproach, although they may suffer reproach from people of ill will. Happy are those who are spotless in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord (Ps 118(119):1). 4 Saint Syncletica said, “Let us become prudent as serpents and simple as doves (see Matt 10:16), so that we may be astute in understanding the devil’s snares. For it was said that the prudent become like serpents so that we may be alert to the attacks of the devil and his wiles. One charge is overcome by something similar. And the simplicity of the dove also points to purity of action. ”5 4 No source traced for this passage. 5 PL 73:993AB (2); see also PG 65:427 (428)A (18); Sayings, 196 (234), 18. . . .

Ille est sine querela qui, quantum fragilitas permittit humana, vitam studet ducere sine culpa. Querelam enim contra Deum vel proximum commissa suscitat culpa. Ergo ille vivit sine querela qui non ducit vitam vitiis sordidatam, nec committit culpam, unde illi juste inferatur querela. Et simplices sitis, dicit Apostolus, sicut filii Dei (Phil. II). Deus enim simplex natura est. Qui ergo jam filii Dei sunt per adoptionem, et esse cupiunt per imitationem, necesse est ut sint simplices, sicut columbae ^(0652C) (Matth. X). Scriptum est enim: Simplicitas justorum diriget eos (Prov. XI). (Greg., lib. XII Moral., c. 19.) Nihil enim simplici corde felicius: quia qui innocentiam erga alios exhibet, nihil est quod pati ab aliis formidet. Habet enim quasi arcem quamdam fortitudinis, simplicitatem suam, nec suspectus est pati, quod se fecisse non meminit. Immaculati, sine reprehensione (Phil. II). Ornatissimos et honestissimos Dei filios docet et cupit esse Paulus: maculatus est enim qui peccat. Macula autem est ipsum scelus peccati, quod operatorem suum commaculat atque contaminat. Filii autem Dei immaculati, adjuvante Deo, et sine reprehensione vivere possunt, si reprehensionibus opera digna non agunt, quamvis a malevolis reprehendantur. Beati enim immaculati ^(0652D) in via, qui ambulant in lege Domini (Psal. CXVIII). Dixit sancta Syncletice: Efficiamur prudentes sicut serpentes, et simplices sicut columbae (Matth. X), ut astute intelligamus laqueos ejus. Nam prudentes fieri sicut serpentes dictum est, ut non ignoremus impetus diaboli et artes ejus. Etenim simile aliquid, ex alio simili scelere superatur. Nam et simplicitas columbae demonstrat puritatem actionis.

  (0652B) CAPUT LVI. Ut omnia sine murmuratione faciamus

140 CHAPTER 56 That We Should Do Everything without Murmuring T hose who murmur against the Lord’s precepts and those of his teacher are doubtless unsure as regards receiving the rewards of their labor. All those of the children of Israel who murmured against the Lord and Moses in the desert perished in the same desert from the poisonous bites of serpents, and did not receive the inheritance in the promised land among their brothers (see Num 14 and 21). Any of us who desire to possess the inheritance among God’s chosen as among brothers in the land of the living, must live in the present age without murmuring. The more people murmur about what they have to do in the present, the less hope they have of receiving the eternal recompense of their labor. Those who do not doubt about the hope of receiving the reward, despite finding themselves among difficult tasks, do not in any way murmur against their instructor, the Lord. For a son who is instructed by his father in order to receive an eternal inheritance must not murmur, but rather rejoice in his father’s instruction. 1 When a perverse mind is corrected through a verbal rebuke, or someone tries to persuade it through the sweetness of preaching, it becomes worse as a result of the correction, and where it ought to be restrained from iniquity it is further inflamed by the vice of 1 No source traced for this passage. ThatWe Should Do Everything without Murmuring 141 murmuring. 2 Those who are struck because of sin and do not resist with murmuring are already beginning to be just by the fact that they do not find fault with the striker’s justice. 3 And so Paul says, And do not murmur as some of them murmured . . . and were destroyed by serpents (1 Cor 10:10, 9; see Num 21). The book of Numbers tells how the people, wearied in the desert by their long march and hard toil, murmured . . . and so the Lord sent fiery serpents against them. . . . So the plagues of the fiery serpents are the poison of the vices that bring spiritual death on the soul they touch. And rightly were the people laid low by the serpents’ bites for murmuring against the Lord. This was so that they might recognize from the manner of the exterior scourge how much harm they were suffering interiorly by their murmuring. 4 Abba Joseph said that three ways of acting are honorable in the Lord’s sight: first, when a person is sick, and temptations are laid on him, and he receives them with thanksgiving;second, when someone does all his works with a pure intention before the Lord, and seeks nothing human in them; third, when someone sits in subjection and obeys spiritual precepts without murmuring, and renounces self-will completely. 5 2 Taio, Sent 4. 33;PL 80:949C, quoting Gregory, In Hiez 1. 9, 32;CCSL 142:140; PL 76:884C. 3 Taio, Sent 4. 33;PL 80:949C, quoting Gregory, Mor 23. 18;CCSL 143B:1168; PL 76:270D–71A. 4 Smaragdus, Collect, Heb 10 post Pent; PL 102:416AB, and Dom oct Pent, 102:342BC, quoting Bede, In Jo 3:14-15; PL 92:671BC. 5 PL 73:856A (9); see also PG 65:241 (242)BC; Sayings, 94 (110), 1. PL does not have PG’s ending. . . .

Qui enim contra Domini vel praeceptoris sui murmurat praecepta, haesitat sine dubio laboris sui recipere praemia. Omnes enim qui contra Dominum et ^(0653A) Moysen de filiis Israel in eremo murmuraverunt, in ipsa eremo a venenatis serpentium morsibus perierunt, et in repromissionis terra haereditatem inter fratres non receperunt (Num. XIV et XXI). Quisquis nostrum ergo haereditatem inter electos Dei, velut inter fratres, in terra viventium habere desiderat, necesse est ut sine murmurationibus in instanti saeculo vivat. Tanto enim magis quisque de praesenti murmurat operatione, quanto amphus desperat laboris sui aeternam recipere retributionem. Nam qui de spe retributionis non dubitat, in operibus duris positus, contra eruditorem suum Dominum minime murmurat. Filius enim qui eruditur a patre, ut haereditatem accipiat aeternam, murmurare non debet, sed potius de patris eruditione ^(0653B) gaudere. Perversa mens quando per increpationem corripitur, aut per praedicationis dulcedinem ad bona suadetur, de correptione fit deterior, et inde in murmurationis iniquitate succenditur, unde debuit ab iniquitate compesci. Quisquis pro peccato percutitur, nisi murmurando renitatur, eo ipso jam justus esse inchoat, quo ferientis justitiam non accusat. Hinc et Paulus ait: Neque murmuraveritis, sicut quidam eorum murmuraverunt, et a serpentibus perierunt (I Cor. X; Num. XXI). Narrat quippe liber Numerorum quod pertaesus in eremo populus Israel itineris longi ac laboris, murmuraverit, ideoque Dominus miserit in illum ignitos serpentes. Plagae igitur serpentum ignitorum venena sunt vitiorum quae animam quam tangunt spirituali morte perimunt. ^(0653C) Et bene murmurans contra Dominum populus serpentum morsibus sternebatur, ut ex ordine flagelli exterioris agnosceret quantam intus perniciem murmurando pateretur. Dixit abbas Joseph quod tres sunt ordines honorabiles in conspectu Domini: primus quando homo infirmatur, et adjiciuntur ei tentationes, et cum gratiarum actione suscipit eas; secundus autem, quando aliquis omnia opera sua facit munda coram Domino, et nihil in iis quaerit humanum; tertius vero, quando aliquis sedet in subjectione, et praeceptis spiritualibus sine murmuratione obedit, et omnibus propriis renuntiat voluntatibus.

  (0653C) CAPUT LVII. De circumcisione vitiorum. ^(0653D)

142 CHAPTER 57 On Circumcising the Vices O n this subject Paul says, We are the circumcision, who serve God in spirit and make our boast in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:3). It is as though he should say to those circumcised in the flesh:You are circumcised in the skin of your foreskin; we are circumcised in our heart and body. You cut away from you a good creature of God; we circumcise from us spiritually vices and sins. And so we who worship God in the Spirit are the circumcision, not you who bring the stain of circumcision on your body. When he says, We are the circumcision, who serve God in spirit, it is as if he said, We are the righteousness of spiritual circumcision, because being made spiritual by righteousness, we serve our Author spiritually. For he did not say, We are circumcised, or, We have circumcision, but he says, We are the circumcision—that is, we are the cleanness and righteousness of a spiritual circumcision, by having spiritual righteousness and cleanness. For in the law and the prophets we are ordered to be circumcised in two ways: namely, in the flesh and in the heart. In the flesh, when he says, You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin (Gen 17:11);in the heart, when he says, Circumcise the foreskins of your hearts (Deut 10:16;see Jer 4:4). Now we are circumcised in the flesh if we cut off from ourselves the vices of the flesh: adultery, fornication , uncleanness, gluttony, drunkenness, and all other things like these, which work through the concupiscence of the flesh. We are circumcised in the heart if we cut off from ourselves spiritual vices: pride, boasting, anger, quarrelling, hatred, envy and the like. So the casting off of all these vices and the acquisition of the virtues make a person righteous. And this righteousness of circumcision by which people are made upright, Paul calls circumcision. (We) who worship God in spirit (Phil 3:3), he says. God is spirit (John 4:24). And as those who adore God must adore in spirit and truth, On Circumcising theVices 143 so too one who serves God ought to serve him in spirit and truth. (We) boast of Christ Jesus (Phil 3:3). As though to say, We who serve God in spirit do not glory in a fleshly way in the circumcision of the flesh, but we glory in Christ Jesus in a spiritual way; from him we have received the virtue of faith, through which we glory in him. 1 For the Lord was circumcised on the eighth day, and on the thirty-third day after being circumcised he was carried to the temple (see Luke 2:22), so that a victim might be offered for him and he might be called the Holy One of the Lord. The mystical meaning of this is that none are worthy to be presented in the Lord’s sight unless they are circumcised from vices; none will be able to reach perfection and climb to the joys of the heavenly city unless they are freed from the bonds of mortality. 2 James the apostle exhorts us to perform this circumcision of the carnal and spiritual vices when he says, Cast off all uncleanness and the abundance of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word (Jas 1:21). First he orders the body and mind to be circumcised3 from vices so that we can be worthy to receive the word of salvation. He names all uncleanness as belonging to body and soul; but wickedness he designates as belonging only to the crookedness of the inner person. 4 Peter the apostle admonishes us when he says, Beloved, I beseech you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh (1 Pet 2:11). He openly teaches us to abstain from carnal desires that war against the soul; and while the flesh is being feebly subjected to flattering lusts, the army of the vices is being strongly armed against the soul. 5 AbbaAmmonas said that he spent fourteen years in Scetis praying God night and day to give him the strength to overcome the flesh. 6 1 No source traced for this passage. 2 See Bede, In Lc 2:22; CCSL 120:61; PL 92:341A; Smaragdus, In Oct Nativ Dom; PL 102:59BC. 3 Bede here has iubet expurgare, “he orders (us) to purge . . . . ” Smaragdus has jubet circumcidi. Smaragdus. . .

De hoc capitulo sic Paulus ait: Nos enim sumus circumcisio, qui spiritu Deo servimus, et gloriamur in Christo Jesu (Phil. III). Ac si diceret carnaliter circumcisis: Vos estis circumcisio pellis praeputii vestri, nos circumcisio cordis et corporis nostri. Vos bonam Dei a vobis amputatis creaturam, nos a nobis vitia circumcidimus spiritualiter et peccata. Unde et nos sumus circumcisio, qui spiritu servimus Deo, non vos qui maculam circumcisionis inducitis corpori vestro. Quod autem dicit, Nos sumus circumcisio, qui spiritu servimus Deo, tale est, quasi diceret: Nos sumus spiritualis circumcisionis justitia; quia justitia spirituales effecti, spiritualiter nostro servimus Auctori. Non enim dixit: Nos sumus ^(0654A) circumcisi, vel, Habemus circumcisionem: sed Nos sumus, inquit, circumcisio, id est, nos sumus munditia et justitia circumcisionis spiritualis, habendo justitiam et munditiam spiritualem. In lege enim et prophetis dupliciter circumcidi jubemur, carne videlicet et corde. Carne, ubi ait: Circumcidimini carnem praeputii vestri (Gen. XVII, Deut. X); Corde, ubi dicit: Circumcidite praeputia cordium vestrorum (Jer. IV). Nos vero tunc carne circumcidimur, si a nobis carnalia vitia abscindimus, id est, adulteria, fornicationes, immunditiam, crapulam, ebrietates, et caetera his similia, quae per carnis operantur concupiscentiam. Corde circumcidimur, si a nobis spiritualia vitia abscindimus, id est, superbiam, jactantiam, iram, rixam, odium, vel invidiam, et similia. Horum ^(0654B) ergo omnium abjectio vitiorum, et bonarum assumptio virtutum, faciunt hominem justum. Et haec justitia circumcisionis, qua justi homines efficiuntur, a Paulo circumcisio vocatur. Qui spiritu Deo servimus (Phil. III), inquit: Deus enim spiritus est (Joan. IV). Et sicut qui adorant Deum, in spiritu et veritate oportet adorare, ita et qui servit Deo, in spiritu et veritate oportet ei servire. Et gloriamur in Christo Jesu. Ac si diceret: Nos qui spiritu Deo servimus, non carnaliter in carnis circumcisione, sed spiritualiter in Christo Jesu gloriamur, a quo et fidei virtutem accepimus, per quam in eo gloriamur. Nam quod Dominus die octavo est circumcisus, et post tricesimum tertium circumcisionis diem, ad templum est delatus (Luc. II), ut hostia pro eo offerretur, et sanctus ^(0654C) Domini vocaretur, mystice significat quia nemo, nisi circumcisus vitiis, dignus sit Dominicis praesentari conspectibus; nemo nisi mortalitatis nexibus absolutus, supernae civitatis gaudia poterit subire perfectus. Nam et ad hanc carnalium et spiritualium vitiorum circumcisionem faciendam, nos Jacobus apostolus hortatur dicens: Abjicientes omnem immunditiam, et abundantiam malitiae, in mansuetudine suscipite insitum verbum (Jacob. I). Primo corpus et mentem a vitiis jubet circumcidi, ut digni existere possimus qui verbum salutis percipiamus. Omnem quippe immunditiam et carnis et animae nuncupat: malitiam vero, tantum ad interioris hominis pravitatem pertinere designat. At hanc nos vitiorum circumcisionem facere, Petrus apostolus ^(0654D) admonet dicens: Charissimi, obsecro vos tanquam advenas et peregrinos, abstinere vos a carnalibus desideriis (I Petr. II). Aperte autem nos docet a carnalibus abstinere desideriis, quia adversus nostram semper militant animam: et dum concupiscentiis blandientibus caro enerviter subjugatur, vitiorum exercitus firmiter adversus animam armatur. Dixit abbas Ammonas quod quatuordecim annos steterit in Scythi, deprecans Deum nocte ac die, ut donaret ei virtutem superandi carnem.

  (0654D) CAPUT LVIII. De fructu justitiae.

144 CHAPTER 58 On the Fruit of Righteousness T he apostle James says, ) And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace (Jas 3:18). All that we do in this life is the seed of future recompense. And the recompense itself is the fruit of present works, on the witness of the apostle who says, For what one sows, this one will also reap. One who sows in the flesh will reap corruption from the flesh. But one who sows in the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit (Gal 6:8). And so it is rightly said that the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace. The fruit of righteousness is eternal life, which is recompense for works of righteousness, because those who seek peace pursue it. As though with the best seed, they sprinkle the earth of their heart with the very peace on which they are intent, so that through the daily growth of their good works they can reach the fruit of heavenly life. Of this it is written elsewhere: Those who are sowing in tears will reap in joy (Ps 125(126):5). 1 And so Paul also says, Being filled with the fruit (of righteousness) through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God (Phil 1:11). In the letter to the Galatians he called this fruit of righteousness the fruit of the Spirit when he says, Now the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, faith, modesty, self-control, chastity (Gal 5:22-23). He wants us to be filled with this manifold fruit on the day of Christ Jesus, to the glory and praise of God, because for all the good things we have received from him we 1 Bede, In Jac 3:18; CCSL 121:210–11; PL 93:31CD; see CS 82:46–47. ( On the Fruit of Righteousness 145 must with the psalmist give to him, and not to ourselves, glory and praise, saying, Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give the glory (Ps 113B(115):1). 2 Once two brothers came to a certain old man, whose custom it was not to eat every day. When he saw the brothers he received them gladly and said, “Fasting has its reward. ”And again, “He who eats because of charity fulfills two commands, because he forsakes his own will and fulfills the command while refreshing the brothers. ”3 A certain father said, “Unless you first hate vices you will not be able to love. Therefore unless you hate sin you will not do righteousness . It is written:Turn away from evil, and do good (Ps 33(34):14). But in all these things the mind’s intention is everywhere sought. While living in paradise, Adam transgressed God’s command, but while seated on the dung heap, Job kept it. From this it is clear that God seeks from humans a good intention, and that they always fear him. ”4 2 No source traced for this passage. 3 PL 73:945C (10). 4 PL 73:940D–41A (54). . . .

Jacobus apostolus ait: Fructus autem justitiae in pace seminatur facientibus pacem (Jacob. III). ^(0655A) Omne quod in hac vita agimus semen est futurae retributionis. Ipsa autem retributio fructus est operum praesentium, Apostolo testante qui ait: Quae enim seminaverit homo, haec et metet. Et qui seminat in carne, de carne metet corruptionem. Qui autem in spiritu, de spiritu metet vitam aeternam (Galat. VI). Et ideo recte dicitur quia fructus justitiae in pace seminatur facientibus pacem. Fructus enim justitiae vita aeterna est, quae operibus justitiae retribuitur; quia qui inquirunt pacem sequuntur eam. Ipsa pace cui student, quasi optima semente, terram sui cordis aspergunt, quo per quotidianum bonae operationis crementum ad fructum valeant vitae pervenire coelestis. De quo alibi scriptum est: Qui seminant in lacrymis, in gaudio metent (Psal. CXXV). Hinc et ^(0655B) Paulus ait: Repleti fructu per Jesum Christum, in gloriam et laudem Dei (Phil. V). Hunc autem fructum justitiae in epistola ad Galatas fructum Spiritus nominavit dicens: Fructus autem Spiritus est, charitas, gaudium, pax, patientia, longanimitas, bonitas, benignitas, mansuetudo, fides, modestia, continentia, castitas (Galat. V). Quo multiplici fructu vult nos in die Christi Jesu esse repletos, in gloriam et laudem Dei; quia de omnibus bonis quae ab ipso accepimus, non nobis, sed ipsi gloriam et laudem referre debemus cum Psalmista dicentes: Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam (Psal. CXIII). Venerunt aliquando duo fratres ad quemdam senem. Consuetudo autem erat senis non manducare quotidie. Qui cum vidisset fratres, gaudens suscepit ^(0655C) eos, et dixit: Jejunium suam mercedem habet. Iterum, qui manducat propter charitatem, duo mandata implet, quoniam voluntatem propriam derelinquit, et mandatum implet, reficiens fratres. Dixit quidam Patrum: Nisi prius odio habueris vitia, non poteris diligere. Nisi ergo oderis peccatum, non facies justitiam. Scriptum est: Declina a malo, et fac bonum (Psal. XXXIII). Verumtamen in omnibus his propositum animi ubique requiritur. Adam enim in paradiso consistens praevaricatus est mandatum Dei, Job autem in stercore sedens, custodivit. Unde constat quod propositum bonum quaerit Deus ab homine, et ut semper timeat eum.

  (0655C) CAPUT LIX. Ut ad innocentiam revertamur infantiae. ^0655D

146 CHAPTER 59 That We Are to Return to the Innocence of Childhood T he Lord says in the Gospel: Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 18:3). The Lord gave this command not only to the apostles but also to all who believe in him and desire to enter the kingdom of heaven. We are not ordered to have the age of children , but to lead an innocent way of life; we are to possess through the purity of innocence what they possess through their age, so as to be children in wickedness, not in wisdom. 1 Thus the Lord also says again, Therefore whoever becomes humble like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 18:4). As though to say, Just as this child, whose example I offer you, does not remain angry, does not remember injury, does not take pleasure when he sees a beautiful woman, does not think one thing and say another, so you too, unless you have such innocence and purity of mind, will not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven. 2 How we may come to the innocence of childhood, the apostle Peter sets out when he says, Putting off, therefore, all malice and all guile, pretence, envy, and all slander, like newborn infant, long for the pure milk that has no guile, so that by it you may grow into salvation (1 Pet 2:1-2). As though to 1 Jerome, In Mt 18:3; PL 26:133A. 2 Smaragdus, Collect, In Natale S. Archangeli Michaelis, In Mt 18; PL 102:478BC, quoting and conflating Bede In Mt 18:3;In Mc 10:15;CCSL 120:559; In Lc 18:17; CCSL 120:326; PL 92:83B. 230D–31A. 553D. ThatWe Are to Return to the Innocence of Childhood 147 say, Because you are already reborn through the water of baptism, and through the grace of the Holy Spirit you have become God’s children through baptism, be now through zeal for a good manner of life like children, who are naturally incapable of doing harm in virtue of their age; that is, without malice or deceit or pretence or slanders; and let all bitterness, rage, anger and indignation, shouting and blasphemy be removed from you together with all wickedness. And in this way returning to childlike innocence, desire to receive in you the word of the Sacred Scriptures like mother’s milk, so that growing in it you may set out to eat that bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world (John 6:33). 3 Now Paul says of himself and his followers, We became as little children among you, like a nurse who nourishes her own children (1Th 2:7). For he knew that gospel saying uttered by the Lord:Whoever becomes humble like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 18:4). And so he humbled himself in the midst of his disciples to give them an example of humility and to acquire for himself the reward for being humbled. But let us see how he could say in a way deserving of praise, we became children, since he says in another place: may we not become children (see 1 Cor 14:20). How did they become children voluntarily though not wanting to be children?What kind of children Paul desires us to be he himself explains when he says, Be little children in evil (1 Cor 14:20). And what kind of children he does not desire us to be he shows when he adds, Would that we may not become little children, wavering, and blown about by every wind of doctrine (see Eph 4:14). Therefore we become children in two ways: by having and by not having, that is, by having humility, purity, and innocence;by not having malice, guile, and envy. Now the apostles became children by not having malice, guile, and envy; they became great by having humility, purity, and innocence, and by having also an abundance of teaching, with which Paul like a nurse nourished his children, to whom he also said, Like little children in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not solid food (1 Cor 3:2-3). 4 3 See Bede, In 1 Pt 2:1-2; CCSL 121:232–33; PL 93:47BC; see CS 82. . .

Dominus in Evangelio ait: Amen dico vobis, nisi conversi fueritis, et efficiamini sicut parvuli, non intrabitis in regnum coelorum (Matth. XVIII). Hoc non solum apostolis praecepit Dominus, sed et omnibus in se credentibus qui cupiunt in regnum intrare coelorum. Non ergo nobis praecipitur ut aetatem habeamus parvulorum, sed ut conversationem teneamus innocentiae, et quod illi per annos possident infantiae, nos possideamus per puritatem innocentiae, ut malitia, non sapientia parvuli simus. Hinc iterum ipse Dominus ait: Quicunque ergo humiliaverit se sicut parvulus iste, hic est major in regno coelorum (Matth. XVIII). Quasi diceret: Sicut iste parvulus (cujus vobis exemplum tribuo) non perseverat in ^(0656A) iracundia, non laesus meminit, non videns pulchram mulierem delectatur, non aliud cogitat et aliud loquitur: sic et vos nisi talem habueritis innocentiam et animi puritatem, regnum coelorum non poteritis intrare. Qua enim ratione ad innocentiam infantiae pervenire possimus, Petrus apostolus exponit dicens: Deponentes igitur omnem malitiam, et omnem dolum, et simulationes, et invidias, et omnes detractiones, sicut modo geniti infantes rationabiles et sine dolo lac concupiscite, ut in eo crescatis in salutem (I Petr. II). Ac si diceret: Quia jam renati estis per aquam baptismatis, et per Spiritus sancti gratiam filii Dei facti estis per baptisma, estote modo per studium bonae conversationis, quales sunt infantes per naturam innoxiae aetatis: id est, non habentes ^(0656B) malitiam, non dolum, non simulationes, non detractiones (Ephes. IV); et ut omnis amaritudo, et furor, et ira, et indignatio, et clamor et blasphemia tollatur a vobis cum omni malitia. Et hoc modo ad infantiam innocentiae revertentes, quasi lac maternum, desiderate in vobis sanctarum Scripturarum recipere verbum; ut in eo crescentes, ad eum panem proficiscamini comedendum, qui de coelo descendit, et dedit vitam mundo (Joan. VI). Paulus autem de se et sequacibus suis ait: Facti sumus parvuli, in medio vestrum, tanquam si nutrix foveat filios suos (I Thess. II). Sciebat enim illud evangelicum a Domino dictum: Quicunque humiliaverit se, sicut parvulus iste, hic est major in regno coelorum (Matth. XVIII). Ideo se humiliabat in medio discipulorum ^(0656C) suorum, ut et illis exemplum praeberet humilitatis, et sibimet praemium acquireret humiliationis. Videndum tamen quomodo hoc in loco laudabiliter dicat, facti sumus parvuli, cum alio loco dicat: utinam non efficiamur parvuli (I Cor. XIV); quomodo voluntarie facti sunt parvuli nolentes esse parvuli. Sed quales nos parvulos cupiat esse Paulus, ipse exponens ait: Malitia parvuli estote (I Cor. XIV). Et quales nos esse parvulos non cupiat ipse subdendo manifestat, dicens: Utinam non efficiamur parvuli, fluctuantes, et non circumferamur omni vento doctrinae (Ephes. IV). Ergo bene duobus modis efficimur parvuli, id est, habendo et non habendo. Habendo humilitatem, puritatem et innocentiam; non habendo malitiam, dolum et invidiam. Apostoli autem ^(0656D) parvuli facti sunt non habendo malitiam, dolum et invidiam; facti sunt magni, habendo humilitatem, puritatem et innocentiam, insuper et habendo ubertatem doctrinae, de qua tanquam nutrix, Paulus suos fovebat filios, quibus et dicebat: Tanquam parvulis in Christo, lac vobis potum dedi, non escam (I Cor. III).

  (0656D) CAPUT LX. De eo quod justi lapides vivi vocantur.

148 CHAPTER 60 About the Fact That the Just Are Called Living Stones P eter in his Letter says, And like living stones you yourselves are being built into a spiritual house (1 Pet 2:5). He says that they are being built on him, because without the Lord Jesus Christ—that is, the living stone—no spiritual building can stand. For no one can lay any other foundation besides him (1 Cor 3:11). By sharing in him the faithful, who had been dead stones through infidelity— that is, they were hard and unfeeling—become living stones. It could rightly be said to them, I will remove from you the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezek 36:26), (a heart docile for receiving the Gospel teaching, ) so that they may be fitted as living stones to form a spiritual building; that is, with superfluous acts and thoughts cut off through the discretion of a learned teacher, they are squared as by the blow of an axe. 1 (A square stone that is turned on any side stands just as well. 2 Now the upright person who is not lifted up in prosperity or broken by adversity, or cast down by censures, or drawn to evil by persuasion , is a square stone. )3 For just as stones are placed in order in a wall, some stones being carried by others, so the faithful are carried in the Church by those upright ones who precede them. These through their teaching and 1 Bede, In 1 Pt 2:5; CCSL 121:234; PL 93:48BC; see CS 82:82. 2 Gregory, In Hiez 2. 9, 5; CCSL 142:359; PL 76:1044C. 3 See Gregory, In Hiez 2. 9, 5; CCSL 142:359; PL 76:1044CD. About the FactThat the Just Are Called Living Stones 149 bearing carry those that follow, (and in this way some upright persons are carried by others) right up to the last upright person. And since the latter is carried by those who go before, that person will not have someone coming after who must be carried. Now the one who carried the whole edifice, and whom no one else carries, is the Lord Christ. And so he is called by the prophet a precious stone, a sure foundation (see Isa 28:16). Again the apostle calls the elect living stones so as to insinuate the need for exertion in their good action. . . . For wherever dead—that is material—stones are laid by the builder . . . they remain without feeling, or they even slip and fall down. So blessed Peter does not want us to imitate the lack of feeling of such stones, but he wants us to be built as living stones on the foundation that is Christ, so that with God’s grace helping us, we may live lives that are sober, upright, and godly (Titus 2:12). Therefore those who without growing weary are careful to apply themselves to good works are, by Christ’s gift and with his help, built by him as living stones in his house. 4 In the living and holy temple only living and holy stones can be laid. And so we must make every effort to be those stones of which it is written: Living stones are rolled upon the earth (Zech 9:16 LXX), and when we are living stones hewn on every side, let us be built into the temple; and let us be with the apostles and prophets a holy, spiritual dwelling place for God (Eph 2:22), not made with hands (Heb 9:11). 5 4 Bede, In 1 Pt 2:5; CCSL 121:234–35; PL 93:48B–D–49A; see CS 82:82–83. 5 Jerome, In Eph 2:19-22;PL 26:475AB. Whole phrases here are word for word, others are paraphrases. . . .

Petrus in Epistola sua ait: Et ipsi tanquam lapides vivi superaedificamini domos spirituales (I Petr. II). Superaedificari illos dicit, quia sine Domino Jesu Christo, lapide scilicet vivo, nulla aedificatio spiritualis stare potest. Fundamentum enim aliud nemo ^(0657A) potest ponere, praeter illum (I Cor. III). Cujus participatione fideles lapides vivi efficiuntur, qui per infidelitatem lapides mortui fuerant, duri scilicet et insensibiles, quibus merito diceretur: Auferam a vobis cor lapideum, et dabo vobis cor carneum (Ezech. XXXVI), docibile scilicet ad evangelicam recipiendam doctrinam, ut tanquam lapides vivi ad spirituale aedificium aptentur, qui per discretionem eruditi doctoris, amputatis actibus et cogitationibus superfluis, velut ictu quadrantur securis. Lapis etenim quadrus in quodcunque latus versus fuerit, aeque stat (Greg., lib. II super Ezech., hom. 21). Justus vero qui in prosperitatibus non elevatur, adversitatibus non frangitur, vituperationibus non dejicitur, suasionibus ad malum non trahitur, lapis quadrus ^(0657B) est. Sicut enim ordine lapides in pariete portantur, alii ab aliis; ita portantur fideles a praecedentibus in Ecclesia justis. Portant et ipsi per doctrinam et tolerantiam sequentes, et hoc ordine alii ab aliis portantur justi usque ad ultimum justum. Qui cum a prioribus portetur, quem portare debeat, ipse non habebit sequentem. Qui autem omne aedificium portat, et ipse a nemine portatur, Dominus est Christus. Unde et lapis a propheta pretiosus vocatur, in fundamento fundatus (Isa. XXVIII). Item vivos lapides Apostolus appellat electos, ut conatum insinuet bonae actionis eorum. Mortui namque, id est materiales lapides, ubicunque a structore positi fuerint, insensibiliter manent, aut etiam lapsi decidunt. Non ergo nos beatus Petrus talium lapidum insensibilitatem ^(0657C) vult imitari, sed tanquam lapides vivos fundamento Christi superaedificari; ut videlicet juvante nos gratia Dei, sobrie et juste et pie vivamus in hoc saeculo (Tit. II). Tanquam lapis ergo vivus aedificatur a Christo in domo ejus, quicunque, donante et adjuvante ipso, bonis indefessus insistere curat operibus. In templo ergo vivo et sancto non possunt lapides poni, nisi vivi et sancti. Ergo omni labore nitendum est ut simus illi lapides de quibus scriptum est: Lapides vivi volvuntur super terram (Zach. IX, juxta LXX), et cum fuerimus vivi lapides, et ex omni parte dolati, aedificemur in templum: et simus cum apostolis et prophetis habitaculum Dei sanctum, spirituale, non manufactum (Heb. IX).

  (0657C) CAPUT LXI. ^(0657D) De sufferentia tentationum.

150 CHAPTER 61 On Enduring Temptations B lessed are those, says James the apostle, who endure temptation. Such as these have stood the test and will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him (Jas 1:12). Similar to this is the saying in the Apocalypse: Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life (Rev 2:10) that God has promised to those who love him (Jas 1:12). He openly warns that we ought to rejoice more in temptations, since it is clear that God often imposes a greater weight of temptations on those he loves, so that through the training provided by such temptations they may be proved perfect in faith. And when they have been proved truly faithful, that is, perfect and whole and lacking in nothing (Jas 1:4), they will receive the promised crown of eternal life. 1 There are two types of temptation, one that deceives, another that proves. About the type that deceives it is written: No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God himself does not tempt anyone (Jas 1:13). About the type that proves: God tested Abraham (Gen 22:1). Of this temptation the prophet asks the Lord and says, Prove me, O Lord, and test me (Ps 25(26):2). 2 And elsewhere it is written: The kiln tests the potter’s vessels; and tribulation tests the upright (Sir 27:6). Temptation comes about in three ways: by suggestion, delight, and consent;3 by the enemy’s suggestion, by delight, and also by 1 Bede, In Jac 1:12; CCSL 121:187; PL 93:13CD; see CS 82:13. 2 Bede, In Jac 1:13; CCSL 121:187; PL 93:14AB; see CS 82:14. 3 Gregory, Hom ev 16. 1;CCSL 141:110;PL 76:1135C;see CS 123:102, where it is homily 14. On EnduringTemptations 151 consent of our frailty. But if the enemy suggests something and we refuse to take delight in sin or consent to it, temptation itself results in victory for us, so that by it we merit the crown of life. . . . Job was tempted in many ways, but because he did not prefer possessions or health of body to divine love, he could indeed be tempted by the enemy’s suggestion, but could in no way consent to sin or find any delight in it. 4 Abba Anthony said to Abba Poemen, “This is man’s great work: each one is to lay the blame on himself before the Lord, and expect temptation to the very end of his life. ”5 A certain old man said, “When we are tempted, we humble ourselves the more. God, knowing our weakness, protects us; but if we boast, he removes his protection and we perish. ”6 They told the story of a certain old man. Sitting in his cell and putting up with temptations he would see the demons quite clearly and despise them. Now when the devil saw that he was beaten by the old man, he came and showed himself to him and said, “I am Christ. ”When the old man saw him he closed his eyes. The devil said to him, “I am Christ. Why have you closed your eyes?”The old man answered him and said, “I do not want to see Christ here, but in that other life. ”When he heard this, the devil stopped appearing. 7 4 Bede, In Jac 1:15; CCSL 121:188–89; PL 93:14C. 15A; see CS 82:15. 5 PL 953B (2); see also PG 65:(77) 78A (4); Sayings, 2 (2), 4. 6 PL 73:965C (67). 7 PL 73:965D (70); Wisdom, 50, 180. . . .

Beatus vir (ait Jacobus apostolus) qui suffert tentationem, quoniam cum probatus fuerit, accipiet coronam vitae, quam repromisit Deus diligentibus se (Jacob. I). Huic simile est illud in Apocalypsi. Esto fidelis usque ad mortem, et dabo tibi coronam vitae, quam repromisit, inquit, Deus diligentibus se (Apoc. II). Aperte admonens quia tanto amplius gaudere in tentationibus oportet, quanto certius claret Deum iis quos diligit majus saepe tentationum pondus imponere, ut scilicet per tentationum exercitium probentur in fide perfecti. Cum autem probati fuerint veraciter esse fideles, hoc est, perfecti et integri in nullo deficientes, jure accipient promissam aeternae vitae ^(0658A) coronam. Duplex est enim genus tentationis, unum quod decipit, alterum quod probat. Secundum hoc quod decipit, scriptum est: Nemo, cum tentatur, dicat quod a Deo tentatur. Deus enim neminem tentat (Jacob. I). Secundum illud quod probat. Deus tentavit Abraham (Gen. XXII). De qua tentatione et Propheta postulans Dominum dicit. Proba me, Domine, et tenta me (Psal. XXV). Scriptum est et alibi: Vasa figuli probat fornax, homines autem justos tentatio tribulationis (Eccl. VII). (Greg., Homil. in Evang., l. L, hom. 16.) Tribus enim modis tentatio agitur: Suggestione, delectatione, consensu. Suggestione hostis, delectatione autem vel etiam consensu nostrae fragilitatis. Quod si hoste suggerente delectari aut consentire peccato nolumus, tentatio ipsa nobis ad ^(0658B) victoriam provenit, qua coronam vitae mereamur accipere. Tentatus est Job multipliciter, sed quia nec possessiones, nec salutem corporis, divino amori praeposuerat, tentari quidem suggestione hostili potuit, sed consentire vel saltem delectari peccato, nullatenus valebat. Dixit abbas Antonius abbati Pastori: Hoc est magnum opus hominis, ut culpam suam super seipsum unusquisque ponat coram Domino, et exspectet tentationem usque ad ultimum vitae suae tempus. Dicebat quidam senex: Quando tentamur, tunc magis humiliamur. Quoniam Deus sciens infirmitatem nostram, protegit nos; si autem gloriamur, aufert a nobis protectionem suam, et perimus. Narraverunt de quodam sene quia sedens in cella, et sustinens tentationes, videbat daemones manifeste ^(0658C) et contemnebat eos. Cum autem diabolus se videret vinci a sene, venit, et ostendens se ei, dixit: Ego sum Christus. Videns autem eum senex, clausit oculos suos. Et dixit ei diabolus: Ego sum Christus, quare clausisti oculos tuos? Et respondens senex, dixit ei: Ego Christum hic nolo videre, sed in illa vita. Audiens haec diabolus, non comparuit.

  (0658C) CAPUT LXII. De cognitione Domini nostri Jesu Christi

152 CHAPTER 62 On Knowing Our Lord Jesus Christ P eter the apostle says, May grace and peace be yours in fullness in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, of how everything needed for life and godliness has been given us from his divine power, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness (2 Pet 1:2-3). . . . As though to say, May grace abound for you in him, that you may know our Lord Jesus Christ perfectly. And may you also know through him how all that belongs to his divine power has been given to us through his grace—all that suffices for obtaining life and preserving godliness. . . . The more perfectly one knows the Lord, the more deeply does one experience the greatness of his promises. 1 (Hence Paul also says, To know him and the power of his resurrection (Phil 3:10). ) For knowledge of the mystery of his incarnation, passion, and resurrection is the perfection of life and the treasure of wisdom. 2 Through knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we come to know all the mysteries of his divinity by which we are saved. 3 For by the witness of Scripture we have learned that we come to the knowledge of Christ in three ways: first, by believing that he 1 Bede, In 2 Pt 1:2-4; CCSL 121:261–62; PL 93:68D. 69A+C; see CS 82:124–25. 2 Ambrosiaster, In Phil 3:8-11; PL 17:416A. 3 Bede, In 2 Pt 1:3; CCSL 121:262; PL 93:69B; see CS 82:125. On Knowing Our Lord Jesus Christ 153 is the Son of God the Father Almighty, and with the Father and the Holy Spirit is one God in Trinity; second, by loving him with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole strength (see Mark 12:30), because as John says, Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Those who do not love do not know God (1 John 4:7-8); third, by keeping his commandments. The same John is witness when he says, Any who say they know him, and do not obey his commandments, are liars (1 John 2:4). In this we are sure that we know him and the power of his resurrection, if we observe his commandments. For we know the power of Christ’s resurrection when we believe that God raised the Lord, and has also raised us with him by his power (1 Cor 6:14), 4 and snatched us from the condemnation of death, and those he thus snatched he placed at the Father’s right hand in an eternal inheritance as his children. 5 For on the eighth day of his rising from the dead the Lord showed us an example of the future resurrection and the mystery of the new life. 6 4 Smaragdus’s text reads: Deus suscitavit eum, et nos cum illo suscitavit per virtutem suam. 5 No source traced for this passage. 6 Bede, In 1 Pt 3:21; CCSL 121:250; PL 93:60B; see CS 82:105. . . .

Petrus apostolus ait: Gratia vobis et pax adimpleatur in cognitione Domini nostri Jesu Christi, quomodo omnia nobis divinae virtutis suae ad vitam et pietatem donata sunt per cognitionem ejus qui vocavit nos propria gloria et virtute (II Petr. II). Ac si diceret: Adimpleatur vobis gratia in eo, ut Dominum ^(0658D) nostrum Jesum Christum perfecte cognoscatis. Et hoc quoque adhuc per eum cognoscatis, quomodo omnia nobis divinae virtutis suae donata sunt per ejus gratiam, quae ad vitam obtinendam et pietatem conservandam sufficiant. Quia quanto quis perfectius Dominum cognoscit, tanto altius promissorum ejus magnitudinem sentit. Hinc et Paulus ait: Ad agnoscendum illum et virtutem resurrectionis ejus (Philip. III). Cognitio enim mysterii incarnationis ejus, passionis et resurrectionis, perfectio vitae est et thesaurus sapientiae. Per cognitionem enim Domini et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi omnia divinitatis ejus mysteria quibus salvamur, agnoscimus. Tripliciter enim ad agnitionem Christi venire, Scriptura ^(0659A) teste, didicimus. Primum ut credamus eum Filium esse Dei Patris omnipotentis, et cum Patre et Spiritu sancto unum esse Deum in Trinitate. Secundo, ut diligamus eum ex toto corde, tota anima, tota virtute (Matth. XXXII), quia ut Joannes ait: Omnis qui diligit, ex Deo natus est, et cognoscit Deum. Qui non diligit, non novit eum (I Joan. IV). Tertio, si mandata ejus servamus, eodem Joanne teste qui ait: Qui dicit nosse Deum, et mandata ejus non custodit mendax est (I Joan. II). In hoc enim scimus quoniam cognovimus eum, si mandata ejus observamus, et virtutem resurrectionis ejus. Agnoscimus enim virtutem resurrectionis Christi, quando credimus quod Deus suscitavit eum, et nos cum illo suscitavit per virtutem suam (I Cor. VI), et a damnatione ^(0659B) mortis eripuit, et ereptos in haereditate aeterna, ut filios, ad Patris dexteram collocavit. Octava enim die Dominus a mortuis resurgens, exemplum nobis futurae resurrectionis et mysterium ostendit novae conversationis.

  (0659B) CAPUT LXIII. De clarificatione Domini nostri Jesu Christi in 'sanctis.

154 CHAPTER 63 On the Glorification of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Saints C oncerning the Lord Jesus Christ the apostle Paul says, When he comes to be glorified in his saints (2Thess 1:10); he who by nature is always glorious in his glory and always remains glorified, when he comes in judgment to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire, will glorify his saints, being himself glorious with them and appearing in his glory and glorifying them with the brightness of his power. As the same Lord says to the Father, And the glory you have given me I have given them (John 17:22). And elsewhere he says, Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of my Father (Matt 13:43). Glorified with the glorious and perpetual glory, the elect will appear in judgment with Christ. So he will come, he will come in judgment to appear glorified in his saints, he who appeared to the wicked in his passion as contemptible. In his first coming he appeared lowly and puny before Pilate and the chief priests of the Jews; in his second coming he will appear as the glorious, great and most high God, and admirable in all who have believed. For our Lord Jesus Christ, who is always admirable in his divinity, became admirable for us also in his humanity:admirable in his conception, admirable in his birth, admirable in his resurrection and ascension. He will still appear wonderful in all who believed (as was necessary) when the revelation of the last judgment occurs, so that made wonderful by theWonderful One, they may be glorified and live with him forever. For he is the wonderful God, of whom Isaiah also says, And his name will be calledWonderful Counselor, Mighty God, etc. (Isa 9:6). On the Glorification of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Saints 155 And David says, God is wonderful among his holy ones (Ps 67(68):35). The Christian peoples have seen the glory of his resurrection and believed it, and in the judgment only the chosen will see the glory of his majesty. 1 1 No source traced for this passage. . . .

De Domino Jesu Christo sic Paulus apostolus dicit: Cum venerit glorificari in sanctis suis (II Thess. I), ille qui in gloria naturaliter sua semper gloriosus, semperque manet glorificatus, in judicio (cum venerit judicare vivos et mortuos, et saeculum per ignem) glorificabit sanctos suos, ipse cum illis gloriosus, et glorificatus apparens, a claritate potentiae ^(0659C) suae clarificans illos: sicut et idem Patri Dominus ait: Et claritatem quam dedisti mihi, dedi eis (Joan. XVII). Et alibi: Fulgebunt (inquit) justi sicut sol, in regno Patris mei (Matth. XIII). Qua gloriosa et perpetua gloria glorificati, in judicio cum Christo apparebunt electi. Veniet ergo, veniet in judicio apparere in sanctis suis glorificatus, qui iniquis apparuit in passione sua despectus. Et qui ante Pilatum et pontifices Judaeorum in primo adventu apparuit humilis et pusillus, in secundo gloriosus, magnus et excelsus apparebit Deus, et admirabilis fieri in omnibus qui crediderunt. Ipse enim Dominus noster Jesus Christus, qui semper admirabilis est in sua divinitate, factus est et nobis admirabilis in sua humanitate: ^(0659D) admirabilis in conceptione, admirabilis in nativitate, admirabilis in resurrectione, admirabilis et in ascensione. Ipse adhuc et mirabilis apparebit in omnibus, qui (ut credendum est) crediderunt, in ultimi judicii revelatione, ut ab illo mirabili mirabiles facti, vivant cum illo in aeternum glorificati. Ipse est enim mirabilis Deus, de quo et Isaias ait: Et vocabitur nomen ejus admirabilis, consiliarius, Deus fortis, etc. (Isa. IX). Et David: Mirabilis (inquit) Deus in sanctis suis (Psal. LXVII). Cujus gloriam resurrectionis viderunt et crediderunt populi Christiani, et in judicio gloriam majestatis ejus soli videbunt electi.

^(0660A)   CAPUT LXIV Ut ambulemus digne Deo, et impleamur agnitione voluntatis ejus.

156 CHAPTER 64 We Should Walk Worthy of God, and Be Filled with Knowledge of His Will A fter receiving the stream of sacred baptism and the grace of the Holy Spirit through the imposition of the bishop’s hand, the chief thing for human beings is to be filled with knowledge of God’s will (see Col 1:9), so that they may do all that God wants, and live in everything according to his will. In proportion as people have knowledge of God’s will, they will also have fear of his majesty;they will hold firm the heart’s love towards him, and be able to walk worthy of God, pleasing him and bearing fruit in every good work. So they walk worthy of God who daily by good works increase the faith they received in baptism through God’s grace, mortify their members that are on the earth so as to live spiritually to God, and please him to whom they have commended themselves by living in a just and godly manner. Pleasing to him in every way (Col 1:10). So no one can please God and reach true happiness except by mortifying the vices and taking up the virtues, through right faith and holy conduct. No one obtains the grace of sanctification in this world or will possess eternal life in the world to come without these two things, if there be time for working: (a)s you bear fruit in every good work (Col 1:10). Those really bear fruit in every good work who, after receiving the seed of the word in their hearts, like good and very good We ShouldWalkWorthy of God 157 earth produce fruit in patience, some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold (see Matt 13:8; Mark 4:20; Luke 8:15). It is to be noted that in this place he tacitly reproves the slothful minds of those who do not grow better or advance in virtues by doing good, but think it enough that they do not do evil and have left the world in body only; they do not realize that a person becomes new each day, growing and pleasing God through the exercises of wisdom, through meditating the Sacred Scriptures and through the power of good works. 1 Abba Poemen said, “Just as bees are expelled by smoke in order for the sweetness they produce to be removed, so also bodily rest expels the fear of the Lord from the soul and takes away from it every good work. ”2 He also said, “All bodily rest is an abomination. ”3 1 No source traced for this passage. 2 PL 73:868D–69A (32); see also PG 65:335 (336) AB (7); Sayings, 146–47 (174), 57. 3 PG 65:331 (332)A (38); Sayings, 145 (172), 38. . . .

Post acceptam sacri baptismatis undam, et per manus impositionem episcopi susceptam Spiritus sancti gratiam, potissimum est homini impleri cognitione voluntatis Dei (Coloss. I), ut ea quae sunt voluntatis Dei faciat, et in omnibus secundum voluntatem ejus vivat. Quia quantum quisque voluntatis Dei habuerit cognitionem, tantum et majestatis ejus habebit timorem, et cordis erga eum tenebit dilectionem, et in tantum digne Deo poterit ambulare, et in tantum illi placere, et in omni opere bono fructificare. Ille ergo digne Deo ambulat, qui fidem quam in baptismate per Domini accepit gratiam, ^(0660B) quotidie operibus bonis accumulat, qui membra sua quae sunt super terram mortificat, ut Deo spiritualiter vivat, et ei cui se probavit, juste et pie vivendo placeat. Deo per omnia placentes (Ibid.). Nemo ergo Deo placere, et ad veram potest beatitudinem pervenire, nisi per mortificationem vitiorum et assumptionem virtutum, per fidem rectam et operationem sanctam. Et neque in hoc saeculo sine his duabus rebus (si tamen operandi adfuerit tempus) quisquam sanctificationis consequitur gratiam, neque in futuro vitam possidebit aeternam: In omni opere bono fructificantes (Ibid.). Ille bene in omni opere bono fructificat, qui accepto in corde verbi semine, ut terra bona et optima, aliud trigesimum. aliud sexagesimum, aliud vero centesimum fructum ^(0660C) affert in patientia (Luc. VIII). Et notandum quod tacite hoc in loco eorum desidiosas corripit mentes, qui in melius non crescunt, nec bonum operantes in virtutibus proficiunt, sed tantum sibi sufficere credunt, vel quia non operantur malum, vel quia reliquerunt corpore mundum: nescientes quod per exercitia sapientiae, et meditationem sanctarum Scripturarum, et per virtutem bonorum operum, novus quotidie crescens et placens Deo efficitur homo. Dixit abbas Pastor: Quia sicut fumo expelluntur apes ut tollatur dulcedo operum earum, ita et corporalis requies timorem Domini expellit ab anima et aufert ab ea omne opus bonum. Dixit iterum ipse: Abominatio est omnis corporalis requies.

  (0660C) CAPUT LXV ^(0660D) De eo quod non omnibus placere debemus hominibus.

158 CHAPTER 65 That We Do Not Have to Please Everyone T hus Paul says, If I were still wanting to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ (Gal 1:10). That is, if I had agreed with Jews living after a fleshly manner in observing the law, and with Christians living in a depraved way in their depravity, I would not be a servant of Christ. This statement is not at all contrary to the one where he says, Be without offense to Jews and to Gentiles and to the church of God, just as I, too, try to please everyone in everything (1 Cor 10:32-33). For he himself explains why he would please all, adding, not seeking what is useful to me, but to the many, so that they may be saved (1 Cor 10:33). It was not unfitting that he who was seeking the advantage and salvation of all would say that he pleased all. Taking this apostolic example, good monks must not be content to seek what suits their own advantage, but rather what is fitting for their neighbors, each one not considering his own interests but those of others (see Phil 2:4). Those who consider only their own interests, that is, what is needful only for themselves, and are not concerned about their neighbors’ salvation or their temporal advantage, without doubt depart from the way of charity, on which the salvation of souls is entirely dependent. But those who are solicitous for their own and their neighbors’ advantage and salvation are fully intent on doing whatever they can that is of advantage to their neighbors as though they were the superiors; through this humble obedience they gain more abundant joys of the heavenly life. Therefore Paul pleases people and does not please them;in all his behavior, speech and acts he pleases all those who live well, justly and ThatWe Do Not Have to Please Everyone 159 rightly;but he opposes all who live in depravity and evil, and pleases them neither in speech nor in behavior. For in this very broad and magnificent Church of Christ that is spread through the four corners of the world there are two kinds of persons, those with a good will and those with an evil will. Paul pleases those with a good will in everything, but he displeases in everything those with an evil will. For just as in a threshing floor grain is mixed with straw, so for the Church still living on earth those of good and evil will are mixed. Concerning this mixture of the good and the evil we read in the letter Paul sent to Timothy: In a large house not only are there vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are held in honor, some in disregard (2 Tim 2:20). Now by a great lord’s large house can be understood the Church of Christ, spread through the whole world, in which are vessels of gold, that is, the hearts of people filled with spiritual understanding, and shining like gold of Ophir with the various virtues. There are also vessels of silver, bright with the gleam of eloquence and outstandingly lucid in the office of preaching. There are vessels of wood—that is, proud, foolish, and insensitive hearts. And there are vessels of clay, fragile and earthy, taken from the earth and given to earthly acts. But those of gold and silver are held in honor in this great Church of Christ. Those who have ministered well (1 Tim 3:13), says the apostle, are to be held worthy of a double honor (1 Tim 5:17). But those of wood and clay are rightly held in disregard, because having a foolish and proud mind they have not kept their Lord’s just precepts. 1 Saint Syncletica said, “We ought to govern our souls through discretion, and while remaining in the congregation seek not what is ours, nor serve our own will, but according to faith obey the spiritual father. ”2 A certain old man said, “I have never desired work that would be advantageous to me and cause loss to my brother, since my hope is that winning my brother is a work of great fruitfulness to me. ”3 1 No source traced for this passage. 2 PL 73:950A (10a); PG 65:427 (428)A (17); Sayings, 196 (234), 17. 3 PL 73:977D (24); see. . .

Hinc Paulus ait: Si adhuc hominibus placere vellem, Christi servus non essem (Gal. I). Id est, si Judaeis carnaliter in observatione legis vel prave viventibus Christianis in pravitate eorum consensissem, Christi servus non essem. Cui sententiae contraria minime est illa, ubi ait: Sine offensione estote Judaeis et gentibus et Ecclesiae Dei, sicut et ego per omnia omnibus placeo (I Cor. X). Nam cur omnibus placeret, ipse exponendo subjungens, ait: Non quaerens quod mihi utile est, sed quod multis, ut salvi fiant (Ibid.). Qui enim omnium utilitatem et salutem quaerebat, omnibus non inconvenienter se placere dicebat. Hoc apostolicum boni monachi tenentes exemplum, ^(0661A) non suae tantum utilitati debent esse contenti congruentia quaerere, sed magis quae conveniunt proximis, non quae sua sunt singuli considerantes, sed quae aliorum. Qui tantummodo quae sua sunt (Phil. II), id est, quae sibi soli necessaria sunt, considerat, et de fraterna salute vel de ejus temporali utilitate non curat, sine dubio a charitatis tramite, in quo omnis animarum salus consistit, declinat. Qui vero de sua ac proximorum utilitate atque salute sollicitus, quidquid valet utilitatis, quasi sibi superioribus fratribus impendere satagit; sibimetipsi per hanc humilitatis obedientiam vitae coelestis gaudia ampliora conquirit. Placet ergo Paulus hominibus et non placet: quia omnibus bene, juste et recte viventibus, in omnibus suis conversationibus, verbis, placet, et actibus; ^(0661B) cunctis autem prave et male viventibus contradictor existens, nec verbis placet, nec moribus. Sunt etenim in hac Christi latissima atque magnifica Ecclesia quae est per mundi quadratum clima tensa, duo hominum genera, bene volentium scilicet atque male volentium. Bene volentibus autem in omnibus placet Paulus, male volentibus vero in omnibus displicet. Sicut enim in area mixta sunt grana cum paleis, ita Ecclesiae adhuc degenti in terra mixti sunt boni cum malis. De hac enim malorum et bonorum mixtura, sic legimus in Pauli quam ad Timotheum misit Epistola: In magna, inquit, domo non solum sunt vasa aurea et argentea, sed et lignea et fictilia, et quaedam quidem in honorem, quaedam autem in contumeliam (II Tim. II). Per magnam autem magni domini domum ^(0661C) potest designari Ecclesia Christi, universum diffusa per orbem, in qua sunt vasa aurea, hominum videlicet corda intellectu spirituali repleta, et velut auro obryzo variis virtutibus rutilantia. Sunt et argentea, nitore eloquentiae clara, et officio praedicationis perlucida. Sunt et lignea, superba scilicet, stulta et insensibilia corda. Sunt et fictilia, fragilia quoque et terrena de terra sumpta, et terrenis actibus dedita. Sed aurea et argentea, in hac magna Christi Ecclesia, honore sunt digna: Qui enim, ait Apostolus, bene ministraverint, duplici honore digni habeantur (I Tim. V). Lignea autem et fictilia merito sunt in contumelia, quia mentem habentes stultam atque superbam, Domini sui justa non custodierunt praecepta. Dixit sancta Syncletice: Quia per discretionem ^(0661D) oportet nos animas gubernare, et in congregatione manentes, non quae nostra sunt quaerere, neque servire propriae voluntati: sed secundum fidem Patri spirituali obedire. Dixit quidam senex: Nunquam desideravi opus quod mihi utile esset, et fratri meo dispendium facere, hujusmodi habens spem, quia lucrum fratris mei opus fructificationis est mihi.

  (0661D) CAPUT LXVI. Ut nobis mutuo culpae dimittamus querelam.

160 CHAPTER 66 That We Are to Forgive One Another’s Faults T he Lord says in the Gospel, If you offer your gift at the altar and remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar; and go, first be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift (Matt 5:23-24). Although this precept is to be kept literally, we must always fulfill it spiritually. Spiritually our inner person is our temple, our faith is the altar, and the gift is prophecy, teaching, prayer, hymn, and psalm. If the person who has something against us is present, we will be able to soothe that person without pretence and with a sincere mind, and by asking pardon bring the person back to a favorable attitude; that is, provided we do this in the presence of God, not with a sluggish movement of the body but with a very swift movement of love. 1 On this matter the apostle Paul also says, Support one another in charity, and if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other, just as the Lord has forgiven you (Col 3:13). The apostle exhorts us to bear with one another, that is, that for Christ we behave, act, and speak patiently, and bear all our burdens mutually out of fraternal charity . Those who love others as themselves patiently bear and endure everything for them. For charity, according to the apostle, bears all things, endures all things (1 Cor 13:4. 7). Forgive each other, says the apostle, if anyone has a 1 Smaragdus, Collect, Heb 7 post Pent; PL 102:405CD. ThatWe Are to Forgive One Another’s Faults 161 complaint against another (Col 3:13). Someone has a complaint against another when the latter injures the former, even without meaning to. As the Lord has forgiven you, do you also forgive. As though to say, As the Lord has forgiven you all your sins through the stream of sacred baptism, so also must you forgive others from your heart not just some but all their sins; because it is most just in relation to God that we forgive all others all the sins that they have committed against us, according to the measure of the kindness with which he forgave us, so that we can say freely to God, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matt 6:12). 2 And may we thereby be ready to pardon all the faults committed against us, if we desire to be pardoned. 3 People should not hold onto something against their own interests by refusing to forgive, and then have it held against them (by God) through this very refusal to pardon. For the Lord says of the wicked slave who refused to forgive his fellow slave his fault:And in anger his lord handed him over to the torturers until he should pay the entire debt (Matt 18:34). He warns us to beware of his example when he says, So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you do not, each one of you, forgive your brother or sister from your heart (Matt 18:35). Do not say with your tongue, I pardon, and have something different in your heart. For God sees into your conscience. So do you want God to forgive you all your debts? Forgive your debtor everything. This is the rule you lay down; by this pact and agreement you are bound with God when you say, And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matt 6:12). Hence in another place the Lord says, Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and gifts will be given you (Luke 6:37-38). 4 2 No source traced for this passage, except for “because it is most just . . . with which he forgave us”; see Smaragdus, Collect, Dom post Ascens; PL 102:314B, quoting Bede, In 1 Pt 4:8; CCSL 121:254; PL 93:62D–63A; see CS 82:110. 3 Smaragdus, Collect, Heb 23 post Pent;PL 102:499C, quotingAugustine, Serm de Script 83. 4; PL 38:516. 4 Smaragdus, Collect, Heb 23 post Pent; PL 102:499A–500A. Smaragdus appears to have edited this section from a long quotation in the Collectiones taken 162 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel An old man was asked, “What is humility?”And he replied, “If you forgive your brother who sins. . .

Dominus in Evangelio ait: Si offers munus tuum ad altare, et recordatus fueris quia frater tuus habet aliquid adversum te, relinque ibi munus tuum ante altare, et vade prius reconciliari fratri tuo, et tunc veniens, offeres munus tuum (Matth. V). Hoc praeceptum ^(0662A) quamvis historialiter sit tenendum, spiritualiter tamen semper a nobis est complendum. Spiritualiter autem templum nostrum interior homo noster est: Altare, fides nostra est; munus, prophetia, doctrina, oratio, hymnus et psalmus est. Quia si praesens fuerit frater qui aliquid habet adversum nos, poterimus eum non simulato, sed sincero animo lenire, atque ad gratiam veniam postulando, revocare: si tamen hoc coram Deo non pigro motu corporis, sed celerrimo dilectionis affectu fecerimus. De hoc capitulo sic et apostolus Paulus ait: Supportantes invicem in charitate, et donantes vobismetipsis, si quis adversus aliquem habet querelam, sicut et Dominus donavit nobis (Col. III). Hortatur autem nos Apostolus ut simus supportantes invicem, id est, ut mores, actus et ^(0662B) sermones nostros patienter pro Christo, et omnia onera nostra portemus invicem pro amore fraterno: quia qui fratrem sicut semetipsum diligit, patienter pro illo omnia portat et sustinet. Charitas enim, secundum Apostolum, omnia suffert, omnia sustinet (I Col. XIII). Donantes, ait Apostolus, vobismetipsis, si quis adversum aliquem habet querelam (Col. III). Habet aliquis adversus alterum querelam, quando eum quis laedit, etiam sine causa. Sicut et Dominus donavit vobis, ita et vos. Ac si diceret, Sicut et Dominus donavit vobis omnia peccata, per sacri baptismatis undam, ita et vos non aliqua, sed omnia de cordibus vestris debetis fratribus donare commissa: quia justissimum est apud Deum ut juxta mensuram pietatis ejus, qua nostra donavit nobis delicta, donemus ^(0662C) nos fratribus omnia quae in nobis commiserunt peccata; ut libere Deo dicere valeamus, Dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris (Matth. VI), ac per hoc omnes culpas quae in nobis committuntur, parati simus ignoscere, si nobis desideramus ignosci. Nemo contra se teneat non remittendo, ne contra illum teneatur, non ignoscendo. Ait namque Dominus de servo nequam, qui noluit conservo suo remittere culpam: Iratus dominus ejus, tradidit eum tortoribus, quoadusque redderet universum debitum (Matth. XVIII). Cujus exemplum cavere nos admonet, dicens. Sic et Pater meus coelestis faciet vobis: si non remiseritis, unusquisque fratri suo de cordibus vestris (Ibid.). Nec dicas in lingua, Ignosco, et corde differas. Conscientiam enim tuam ^(0662D) Deus inspicit. Vis ergo ut tibi Deus omnia debita dimittat? Dimitte et tu omnia debitori tuo. Hanc ergo regulam ponis, hoc pacto et placito cum Deo obligaris, cum dicis: Dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris (Matth. VI). Hinc et alio loco Dominus ait: Dimittite et dimittetur vobis, date et dabitur vobis (Luc. VI). Interrogatus est senex, Quid est humilitas? Et ille respondit: Si peccanti in te fratri ignoveris, antequam apud te poenitentiam agat, et benefacias iis qui tibi malefaciunt. Dixit abbas Antonius: Quia de proximo est mors et vita. Si enim lucremur fratrem, lucrabimur Deum; si autem scandalizemus fratrem, in Christum peccamus. Dicebat abbas Hyperitius: Eripe proximum a ^(0663A) peccatis, quanta tibi virtus est, sine improperio, quoniam convertentes Deus non repellit a se. Verbum autem malitiae et nequitiae non habeas in corde tuo adversus fratrem tuum, ut possis dicere: Dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris (Matth. VI). De hoc capitulo et alibi scriptum est: Ut sitis sine querela, et simplices sicut filii Dei (Phil. II). Ille enim sine querela est qui, quantum fragilitas permittit humana, vitam studet ducere sine culpa. Querelam contra Deum vel proximum commissa suscitat culpa. Ergo ille vivit sine querela qui non ducit vitam vitiis sordidatam, nec committit culpam unde illi juste inferatur querela.

  (0663A) CAPUT LXVII. ^(0663B) De eo quod filii Dei sumus, et haeredes, et haereditas ejus, illeque nostra.

163 CHAPTER 67 That We Are Children of God, His Heirs and His Inheritance, and He Ours P aul says on this subject, And because you are children of God, he has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Gal 4:6). We would never dare to say, Our Father in heaven, if we were not conscious of the Spirit dwelling in us. 1 So that we might know for certain that we have been adopted by God as his children, he gave us his Spirit to show that the sign of the Father is in the children, and so we dare to say, Abba, which means Father, something not granted to the Jews long ago to say. 2 We are, then, no longer slaves but children;and if children, heirs also through God (see Gal 4:7). That is to say, if we are children, then the inheritance of the Father is due to us. We have become his children through receiving the Spirit of God’s Son, and so brought from slavery into freedom we are heirs of God the Father and coheirs of Jesus Christ his Son. For the same apostle says in another place:giving thanks to God the Father, who has made us worthy to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light (Col 1:12). The sharing in the lot of the saints is the gathering of all the elect united and joined in one society, as he also says elsewhere, And may the Lord make you increase (1Thess 3:12), under1 Jerome, In Gal 4:6; PL 26:374A. 2 Ambrosiaster, In Gal 4:6; PL 17:360A. 164 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel stand, in the number of his elect, that you may be holy and spotless (Eph 1:4), gathered in the bosom of the saints. The sharing in the lot of the saints takes place in the light; and one is enlightened by the light when one comes to be in Christ and is enlightened by Christ, because by “lot” is usually meant “inheritance, ” as it is written: He divided the land for them by lot with a measuring line (Ps 77(78):55). Let us say that all the people of the elect are the lot and measuring line of the Lord’s inheritance, since Scripture says, The lot of the Lord is his people;Jacob is the measuring line of his inheritance (Deut 32:9). Likewise the Lord himself is the portion and inheritance of the lot of the saints, as he said to Aaron: I am your portion and your inheritance in the midst of the children of Israel (Num 18:20). Now that we are associated with the apostles and all the saints, giving thanks to God the Father (Col 1:12), let us pray that he may make us worthy of a portion of the lot of the saints in light (see Col 1:12);that is, that we may merit to be the Lord’s portion, lot, and inheritance and blissfully possess our Lord and Savior himself as an eternal lot and inheritance, and being enlightened in him and through him, may we abide forever blissfully in the light. 3 3 No source traced for this passage. . . .

Hinc Paulus ait: Quoniam estis filii Dei, misit Spiritum Filii sui in corda vestra, clamantem Abba Pater (Gal. IV). Nunquam enim auderemus dicere, Pater noster qui es in coelis, nisi de conscientia spiritus habitantis in nobis. Ut enim probaremur adoptati esse a Deo in filios, Spiritum suum dedit nobis, qui signum Patris ostendat esse in filiis, ut audeamus dicere: Abba, quod est Pater, quod Judaeis dicere dudum non fuerat concessum: Itaque jam non sumus servi, sed filii. Quod si filii, et haeredes per Deum (Gal. IV), id est, si filii sumus, consequenter nobis debetur haereditas Patris; ut quomodo Spiritum Filii Dei accipientes, facti sumus filii, ita in libertatem ^(0663C) de servitute mutati, haeredes simus Dei Patris, cohaeredes autem Jesu Christi filii ejus. Nam et alio loco idem ait Apostolus (Colos. I): Gratias agentes Deo Patri qui dignos nos fecit in partem sortis sanctorum in lumine. Pars sortis sanctorum, congregatio est adunata, et in una societate juncta, omnium electorum, sicut et alibi dicit: Vos autem Dominus multiplicet (I Thess. III), subauditur, in numero electorum suorum, ut sitis sancti et immaculati, in gremio scilicet congregati sanctorum. Fit ergo pars sortis sanctorum in lumine; et illustratur a lumine, quando fit in Christo, et illustratur a Christo, quia solet in sorte haereditas significari, sicut scriptum est: Sorte divisit eis terram in funiculo distributionis (Psal. LXXVII). Dicamus quia sicut omnis electorum populus, ^(0663D) pars et funiculus haereditatis Domini est, Scriptura dicente: Pars autem Domini populus ejus: Jacob funiculus haereditatis ejus (Deut. XXXII). Ita pars et haereditas sortis sanctorum ipse Dominus est, qui dixit ad Aaron: Ego pars et haereditas tua in medio filiorum Israel (Num. XVIII). Nos autem cum apostolis et omnibus sanctis societatem habentes: Gratias agentes Deo Patri, oremus ut dignos nos faciat in partem sortis sanctorum in lumine (Coloss. I), id est, ut pars et sors et haereditas Domini esse mereamur, et ipsum Dominum Salvatorem nostrum in sorte et haereditate sempiterna feliciter possideamus, et in lumine, id est in ipso et per ipsum illuminati, in aeternum felices permaneamus.

(0664A)  (0664) CAPUT LXVIII. Quomodo homo lucrifaciat Christum.

165 CHAPTER 68 How a Person May Gain Christ I f a monk mortifies his members that are on the earth (see Col 3:5), and takes up his cross and follows Christ (see Matt 16:24), and if being dead to the world he fastens the trophy of his mortification to the wood of the Lord’s passion so that he can say with Paul, For through the law I am dead to the law, so that I may live to God. I have been crucified with Christ (Gal 2:19), 1 he will be able to gain Christ. For Christ is called Truth, and Charity, and Wisdom, and Justice, and Sanctification. One who acquires for himself all these things by living well without doubt gains Christ, and one who gains his brother, who is Christ’s member, by preaching and by showing good example, gains Christ. 2 For Blessed Augustine says, “If you see something amiss, do your best to correct it, and do not grow slack in amending it. Do whatever you can for the person you are carrying. Do not leave off gaining Christ, because you have been gained by Christ. ”3 According to the understanding of this saying, those who understand that Christ became man, suffered, died and rose from the dead and ascended into heaven for their sake, despise everything that belongs to the world, and by a straight course follow Christ so that they may grasp him by whom they have been grasped; such as these blissfully gain Christ. 4 1 See Jerome, In Gal 2:19;PL 26:345C. Between Jerome and Smaragdus the text has been adapted to monks, with the insertion of monachus near the beginning. 2 See PG 65:(77) 78B; Sayings, 2 (3), 9. Similar, but not the same. 3 Smaragdus, Collect, Feria 2a post vicesimam; PL 102:156CD. Quoted also in part in theVia reg 18. Introduced here as a quotation from Augustine. 4 See Ambrosiaster, In Phil 3:11; PL 17:416A. 166 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel Hence the same apostle says elsewhere, Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal 6:14). The monk must not boast of his own righteousness, or in any doctrine, but in faith in the cross of Christ, through whom he hopes that all his sins are forgiven him. So they must be dead to one another, the world to the monk and the monk to the world. And the monk must not covet anything belonging to the world, and the world must not have anything to covet in the monk. So only that person can boast of the cross of Christ who takes it up and follows the Savior (see Matt 16:24), who crucifies the flesh with its vices and concupiscences (see Gal 5:25), who is dead to the world (see Gal 6:14), and does not contemplate things that are seen but things that are not seen and are eternal (see 2 Cor 4:18). 5 5 No source traced for this passage. . . .

Si quis monachus mortificaverit membra sua quae sunt super terram, et tollens crucem suam secutus fuerit Christum (Coloss. III; Matth. XVI), et mortuus mundo, et tropaeum mortificationis suae Dominicae passionis affixerit ligno, ita ut dicere possit cum Paulo: Ego per legem legi mortuus sum, ut Deo vivam, Christo confixus cruci (Gal. II), iste poterit lucrifacere Christum. Christus enim et Veritas, et Charitas, et Sapientia, et Justitia, et Sanctificatio dicitur. Qui enim haec omnia sibi bene vivendo acquirit, Christum procul dubio lucrifacit, vel certe qui fratrem suum, qui Christi est membrum, praedicando et bonum exemplum ostendendo lucratur, Christum ^(0664B) lucrifacit. Beatus enim Augustinus ait: Si quid forte perversum videris, satage corrigere, et emendare non cesses. Fac quidquid potes pro persona quam portas. Noli quiescere lucrari Christum, quia lucratus es a Christo. Nam et secundum intelligentiam hujus sententiae, qui intelligit sui causa Christum hominem factum, passum, et mortuum, et a mortuis resurrexisse, et in coelos ascendisse, et spretis omnibus quae sunt mundi recto cursu eum fuerit secutus, ut ipsum Christum apprehendat, a quo est comprehensus, iste feliciter lucrifacit Christum. Hinc et alibi idem apostolus ait: Mihi autem absit gloriari nisi in cruce Domini nostri Jesu Christi, per quem mihi mundus crucifixus est et ego mundo (Gal. VI). Non in propria justitia gloriari debet monachus, vel in doctrina aliqua, ^(0664C) sed in fide crucis Christi, per quem sibi omnia sperat dimitti peccata. Mutuo ergo sibi mortui esse debent, et mundus monacho, et monachus mundo. Et nihil concupiscere debet monachus eorum quae sunt mundi, nec mundus habere debet quod concupiscat in monacho. Solus ergo potest in cruce Christi gloriari: qui tollit eam, et sequitur Salvatorem: Qui crucifigit carnem suam cum vitiis et concupiscentiis, qui mortuus est mundo, et non contemplatur ea quae videntur, sed quae non videntur et aeterna sunt (Matth. XVI; Gal. V; II Cor. IV).

  (0664C) CAPUT LXIX. De eo quod Domini semper a monachis annuntientur virtutes.

167 CHAPTER 69 That the Lord’s Mighty Acts Are Ever to Be Proclaimed by Monks O n this matter the apostle Peter says, So that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Pet 2:9). For just as those who were freed through Moses from Egyptian slavery sang to the Lord a triumphal song after the crossing of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh’s army (see Exod 15), so we too ought to return worthy thanks for heavenly benefits after receiving remission of sins in baptism, and always proclaim his mighty acts. 1 If almighty God were to keep his mighty acts quiet, no one would recognize or love him. So he proclaims his mighty acts not in order to derive advantage from his praises, but so that those who have known him in his praise may come to a perpetual inheritance. 2 God, then, declares his praises so that we who hear them may be able to know him, and knowing him may come to love him, and loving him may follow him, and following him may attain to him, and attaining to him may enjoy the vision of him. Thus the prophet says, He will show his people the power of his works, to give them 1 Bede, In 1 Pt 2:9; CCSL 121:237–38; PL 93:51B; see CS 82:87–88. The last clause is not in Bede at this point. 2 Taio Sent 2. 2;PL 80:777BC, quoting Gregory, In Hiez 1. 9, 19;CCSL 142:133; PL 76:878C. 168 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel the heritage of the nations (Ps 110(111):6). As though to say openly, He subtly introduces the power of his working so that those who hear of it may be enriched with spiritual gifts. 3 To advance in spiritual gifts is to walk worthily in God, and from day to day to advance in holy virtues until one can arrive at the vision of the Almighty, so that it can be said of him with the rest of the saints: They will go from strength to strength; and the God of gods will be seen in Zion (Ps 83(84):7). He whom we will see in Zion, that is, in heavenly contemplation, is he who has called us into his kingdom and glory. He called us first through faith, but afterwards he will call4 us through vision, when we will see him face to face, and hear that voice, so worthy of desire, of the one who says, Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matt 25:34). In this kingdom, the glory is eternal and the life without end. 5 Blessed Job says about this proclamation of his mighty acts, under the figure of our Redeemer: O earth, do not cover my blood (Job 16:19). For the earth did not cover the blood of Christ, because Holy Church has already preached the mystery of his redemption in all parts of the world. . . . The very blood of redemption that is received is the cry of our Redeemer. . . . In order then that the sacrament of the Lord’s passion may not be unproductive in us, we must imitate what we receive, and preach to everyone else what we venerate. Thus blessed Job again says, Let my outcry find no hiding place in you (Job 16:19). His cry finds a hiding place in us if the tongue keeps silent about what the mind believes. But so that his cry may not be hidden in us, it remains for each and everyone according to their measure to make known to their neighbors the mystery of their being made to live. 6 3 Taio, Sent 2. 2; PL 80:777C, quoting Gregory, Mor 18. 7; CCSL 143A:894; PL 76:45AB. 4 The Migne text has vocavit, “he has called. ” 5 No source traced for this passage. 6 Taio, Sent 2. 14;PL 80:795AB, quoting Gregory, Mor 13. 23;CCSL 143A:683; PL 75:1029AB. . . .

Hinc Petrus apostolus ait: Ut virtutes annuntietis ^(0664D) ejus qui de tenebris vos vocavit in admirabile lumen suum (I Petr. II). Sicut enim ii qui de Aegyptia servitute liberati sunt per Moysen, carmen triumphale post transitum maris Rubri, et demersum Pharaonis exercitum, Domino cantaverunt (Exod. XV); ita et nos oportet post acceptam in baptismo remissionem peccatorum, dignas beneficiis coelestibus rependere gratias, et ejus semper annuntiare virtutes. Si virtutes suas omnipotens Deus taceret, nullus agnosceret, nullus amaret. Virtutes ergo suas annuntiat, non ut laudibus suis ipse proficiat, sed ut ii qui hunc in sua laude cognoverunt, ad perpetuam haereditatem perveniant. (Greg., Moral. l. XVIII, c. 5.) Idcirco Deus laudes suas indicat, ut valeamus eum audientes cognoscere, ^(0665A) cognoscentes amare, amantes sequi, sequentes adipisci, adipiscentes vero ejus visione perfrui. Hinc Propheta ait: Virtutem operum suorum annuntiabit populo suo, ut det illis haereditatem gentium (Psal. CX). Ac si aperte dicat: Idcirco fortitudinem suae operationis insinuat, ut eam qui audierint, donis spiritualibus ditescant. In spiritualibus enim donis proficere, est digne in Deo ambulare, et de die in diem in virtutibus sanctis proficere, donec ad visionem Omnipotentis valeat pervenire, ut dicatur cum caeteris sanctis de illo: Ibunt de virtute in virtutem, et videbitur Deus deorum in Sion (Psal. LXXXIII). Ille videlicet videbitur a nobis in Sion, id est in speculatione superna, qui nos vocavit in suum regnum et gloriam. Vocavit prius per fidem, postea vero vocavit ^(0665B) per speciem, quando videbimus eum facie ad faciem, et illam desiderabilem audiemus vocem dicentis: Venite, benedicti Patris mei, percipite regnum, quod vobis paratum est ab origine mundi (Matth. XXV). In quo regno et gloria aeterna et vita manet perpetua. Beatus Job de hac annuntiatione virtutum, sub figura Redemptoris nostri ait: Terra, ne operias sanguinem meum (Job. XVI). (Greg., Moral. l. XIII, c.23.) Terra namque sanguinem Christi non operuit: quia sancta Ecclesia redemptionis suae mysterium in cunctis jam mundi partibus praedicavit. Ipse enim sanguis redemptionis qui sumitur, clamor nostri Redemptoris est. Ergo ut sacramentum Dominicae passionis in nobis non sit otiosum, debemus imitari quae sumimus, et praedicare caeteris quae veneramur. Hinc iterum beatus ^(0665C) Job ait: Neque inveniat locum in te latendi clamor meus (Job. XVI). Locum enim latendi clamor ejus in nobis invenit, si hoc quod mens credit lingua taceat. Sed ne in nobis clamor ejus lateat, restat ut unusquisque juxta modulum suum vivificationis suae mysterium proximis notificet.

  (0665C) CAPUT LXX. De eo quod donatum sit sanctis pati pro Christo.

169 CHAPTER 70 That It Is Given to the Saints to Suffer for Christ P aul the apostle says among other things, It has been granted you not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for him as well (Phil 1:29). Note that both the faith by which we believe in Christ and the sufferings that we suffer for him are given to us by God the Father for Christ’s sake. For it is not given to others but to Christ’s lovers to suffer for him. That is why we must not be sad in our sufferings for Christ, but we must rather rejoice and be glad; as the apostles left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer insult for the name of Jesus (Acts 5:41). 1 Not only is there nothing hurtful to good people who return good to those who do them evil, but they are also given reason for greater happiness . . . according to the gospel saying:Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:10). 2 And so Paul also says elsewhere, For this reason I suffer these things. But I am not ashamed (2 Tim 1:12). For this reason, he says—that is, on account of the preaching of the Gospel and the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. To suffer for Christ ought not to be a source of confusion for the faithful but a great reason for boasting. For Christ, says the apostle, became for us righteousness (1 Cor 1:30). For blessed, says 1 No source traced for this passage. 2 Bede, In 1 Pt 3:14;CCSL 121:245;PL 93:56D–57A;see CS 82:99. Smaragdus completes the Scripture quotation. 170 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel the Lord, are those who suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:10). Therefore let those who persecute the elect for righteousness’ sake be put to confusion, because an eternal torture awaits them. Let not the elect be put to confusion ; to them eternal joy is given for brief tribulations, and also the kingdom of heaven. Hence Peter says, If you do suffer for righteousness’sake, you are blessed (1 Pet 3:14). Not only does nothing hurt you, he says, who inflict good on those who do you evil, but also when the enemy assails you because of the good that he loathes, he gives you a reason for greater happiness when he exercises the strength of your patience. Again he says, For it is better to suffer for doing good, if such should be God’s will, than for doing evil (1 Pet 3:17). This saying is a rebuke to the foolishness of those monks who, when rebuked by the brothers for their faults, or even excommunicated, do not bear it patiently. 3 If without having committed a fault they suffer verbal insults or any adversities from their superiors, they straightway burst out in anger; and those who previously seemed quite harmless render themselves culpable and harmful through impatience and the boldness of murmuring. If I were given a choice, I would prefer . . . to be judged or suffer adversities without fault, than with fault to be subject to strokes or excommunication. . . . One who is just and suffers without fault imitates Christ; but one who is corrected with scourges imitates the thief who came to know Christ on the cross and after enduring the cross entered paradise with Christ. But one who does not cease from faults even amidst scourges imitates the thief on the left, who mounted the cross because of sins and after suffering the cross was cast into the infernal regions. 4 Saint Syncletica said, “Although your body is struck down with sicknesses and inflamed with severe fevers, do not fail under the 3 Where Bede has poenis coercentur, “they are forced by penalties, ” Smaragdus has excommunicantur. The Diadema text has patienter non tolerant where Bede’s text and Smaragdus’s Commentary have patienter omnino tolerant, “bear it with complete patience. ” Smaragdus substitutes Bede’s reference to neighbors with superiors. 4 Bede, In 1 Pt 3:14. 17; CCSL 121:245–46; PL 93:56D–57A. C. D–58A; see CS 82:98–101. That It Is Given to the Saints to Suffer for Christ 171 pressures, but rather be glad, because the Lord has visited you, and you will say, The. . .

Sic inter caetera Paulus apostolus ait: Vobis donatum est pro Christo, ut non solum in eum credatis, sed etiam ut pro illo patiamini (Phil. I). Notandum quod et fides qua in Christum credimus, et passiones quas pro illo patimur, a Deo Patre pro Christo nobis donantur. Non enim aliis, sed amatoribus Christi, pro Christo pati conceditur. Unde et ^(0665D) non nobis in passionibus pro Christo dolendum, sed multo magis est gaudendum nobis et exsultandum: Quia et apostoli ibant gaudentes a conspectu concilii, quoniam digni habiti sunt pro nomine Jesu contumeliam pati (Act. V). Non solum nihil bonis nocet, qui bonum facientibus mala irrogat; sed etiam causam majoris beatitudinis illis praestat, juxta illud evangelicum: Beati qui persecutionem patiuntur propter justitiam, quoniam ipsorum est regnum coelorum (Matth. V). Hinc et alibi Paulus ait: Ob quam causam etiam haec patior, sed non confundor (II Tim. I). Ob quam causam dicit, id est, propter praedicationem Evangelii, et fidem Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Pro Christo enim pati, non ^(0666A) confusio, sed magna debet fidelibus esse gloriatio. Christus enim, ait Apostolus, factus est nobis justitia (I Cor. I). Pati ergo pro Christo, pati est propter justitiam. Beati enim (ait Dominus) qui persecutionem patiuntur propter justitiam, quoniam ipsorum est regnum coelorum (Matth. V). Confundantur ergo illi qui propter justitiam persequuntur electos, quia eos cruciatus exspectat aeternus. Non confundantur electi, quibus pro brevibus tribulationibus gaudium aeternum, pariter coelorum tribuetur et regnum. Hinc Petrus ait: Si quid patimini propter justitiam, beati (I Petr. III). Non solum, inquit, nil vobis nocet, qui bonum facientibus mala irrogat; sed etiam cum vos propter bona quae exsecratur hostis insequitur, causam vobis majoris beatitudinis ^(0666B) praestat, cum patientiae vestrae vires exercet. Ipse iterum dicit: Melius est enim bene facientes (si velit voluntas Dei) pati quam male facientes (Ibid.). Haec sententia illorum monachorum stultitiam arguit, qui cum pro culpis arguuntur a fratribus, vel etiam excommunicantur, patienter non tolerant. Si vero sine culpa, vel verborum contumelias, vel adversa quaeque patiuntur a praepositis, mox ad iracundiam prorumpunt: et qui antea videbantur innoxii, per impatientiam et murmurationis audaciam culpabiles se reddunt et noxios. Et mihi si daretur optio, mallem judicari aut adversa pati sine culpa, quam cum culpa subjacere verberibus vel excommunicationibus. Qui enim justus et sine culpa patitur, Christum imitatur; qui ^(0666C) vero in flagellis corripitur, latronem illum imitatur qui in cruce Christum cognovit et post crucem in paradisum cum Christo intravit. Qui vero nec inter flagella desistit a culpis, sinistrum imitatur latronem, qui propter peccata in crucem ascendit, et post crucem in tartarum ruit. Dixit sancta Syncletice: Quamvis concidatur corpus infirmitatibus, et validis inflammetur febribus, non deficias in pressuris, sed magis gaude, quia visitavit te Dominus et dices, Castigans castigavit me Dominus, et morti non tradidit me (Psal. CXVII). Si ferrum es, spera adhibitum tibi ignem. Aurum es, sed per ignem probatior eris (I Petr. I). Quod si justus es et haec pateris, de magnis ad majora promoveris. Interrogavit quidam frater senem, dicens: Dic mihi unam rem ^(0666D) quam custodiam, et vivam per eam. Et dixit ei senex. Si potueris contumeliam pati et sustinere, magnum est hoc, et super omnes virtutes. Qui contemptum et injuriam et damnum patienter fert, potest salvus esse.

  (0666D) CAPUT LXXI. De eo quod Christus pro dilectione nostra tradidit semetipsum.

172 CHAPTER 71 That Christ Gave Himself up for Love of Us P aul the apostle says, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins (Gal 1:34 ). And elsewhere he says, He loved us, and gave himself up for us (Eph 5:2). For Christ loved our life so much that he laid down his own life for it. The Lord Jesus Christ gave himself to death to deliver us from the danger of death, and thus delivered to adopt us for his Father as children. For he died so that we would not be afraid to die. He has risen so that we may be able to rise through him: he snatched us out of the present evil age (Gal 1:4) so that he might bestow on us glory as well as life. For the Son of God delivered us from the unjust robber in order to return us to our rightful Lord. Christ delivered us from the present evil age when he changed our life, all nourished as it was with vices, into a better life. To such an extent did he change our way of life into something better and raise it up to something more sublime, that with Paul we can say, Our way of life is in heaven (Phil 3:20). Therefore rightly does Paul say that his and their citizenship is in heaven, seeing that, abandoning earthly things, with their whole desire they think of heavenly things, and with a pure and devout mind they desire not what is earthly and perishable, but what is heavenly and eternal. For it was the will of God the Father that the Lord Jesus Christ should be handed over for our sins. And it was the will of Christ that he should do the Father’s will, as the same Lord says through the prophet, so that I might do your will, O my God (Ps 39(40):8). 1 1 No source traced for this passage. That Christ Gave Himself up for Love of Us 173 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for the good works God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in them (Eph 2:10). This means, the fact that we live, that we hope, that we understand and can believe belongs to him, for he is our creator, and we are his handiwork. 2 We are said to be created for this in Christ Jesus, and created not because we did not exist before, but because we are reborn in Christ, and created for the good works that God has prepared to be our way of life. Rooted and established in love (Eph 3:17). Charity is Christ, and we must be rooted and grounded in charity—that is, in Christ, so that we may firmly persevere in his love. For no one can lay any other foundation besides him, which is Christ Jesus (1 Cor 3:11). But doing the truth in charity, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head (Eph 4:15). Truth is Christ, and charity is Christ, and righteousness, and sanctification, and peace is Christ (see 1 Cor 1:30). So the one who does all these things which Christ is, and moreover keeps his commandments, does the truth and grows daily in charity, that is, in Christ. 3 2 Jerome, In Eph 2:10; PL 26:470BC. 3 No source traced for this passage. . . .

Dicit enim Paulus apostolus: Gratia vobis et pax a Deo Patre nostro, et Domino Jesu Christo, qui dedit semetipsum pro peccatis nostris (Gal. I). Hinc et alibi ipse ait: Qui dilexit nos, et tradidit semetipsum pro nobis (Ephes. V). In tantum enim Christus nostram dilexit vitam, ut pro illa suam poneret animam. ^(0667A) Dedit enim semetipsum Dominus Jesus Christus morti, ut nos a periculo mortis eriperet, et ereptos Patri in filios adoptaret. Mortuus est namque, ne nos mori timeremus. Resurrexit, ut et nos per eum resurgere valeamus: Eripuit de praesenti saeculo nequam (Gal. I, 7), ut nobis gloriam pariter et vitam donaret aeternam. Nos enim Filius Dei eripuit a raptore iniquo, ut proprio nos redderet Domino. Tunc etenim Christus nos eripuit de praesenti saeculo nequam, cum nostram in vitiis enutritam, in meliorem mutavit vitam. Conversationem nostram tantum mutavit in melius erexitque sublimius, ut cum Paulo dicere possimus: Nostra autem conversatio in coelis est (Philip. III). Merito ergo suam et eorum conversationem in coelis esse dicit Paulus, ^(0667B) qui, relictis terrenis, toto desiderio cogitant de coelestibus, et mente pura atque devota, non ea quae sunt terrena et caduca, sed ea desiderant quae sunt coelestia et aeterna. Voluntas enim fuit Dei Patris, ut Dominus Jesus Christus pro nostris traderetur peccatis. Et voluntas fuit Christi ut Patris faceret voluntatem, sicut idem Dominus per Prophetam dicit: Ut facerem voluntatem tuam, Deus meus, volui (Psal. XXXIX). Ipsius enim sumus factura creati in Christo Jesu, in operibus bonis, quae praeparavit Deus, ut in illis ambulemus (Ephes. II). Hoc est, quod vivimus, quod speramus, quod intelligimus, et credere possumus, ipsius est, quia ipse est conditor noster, nos autem factura ejus sumus. Ad hoc enim nos creati dicimur in Christo Jesu, ^(0667C) creati utique non quia ante non fuimus, sed renati in Christo, et creati in operibus bonis, quae praeparavit Deus ut in illis ambulemus. In charitate radicati et fundati (Ephes. III). Charitas Christus est, et in charitate, id est, in Christo radicati et fundati ita esse debemus, ut in ejus amore firmiter perseveremus: Fundamentum enim aliud nemo potest ponere, praeter id quod positum est, quod est Christus Jesus (I Cor. III). Veritatem autem facientes in charitate, crescamus in illo per omnia, qui est caput Christus (Ephes. IV). Veritas enim Christus est, et charitas Christus est, et justitia, et sanctificatio, et pax Christus est (I Cor. I). Qui ergo haec omnia quae Christus est, facit, insuper et mandata ejus custodit, veritatem facit, et ^(0667D) in charitate, id est in Christo, quotidie crescit.

  (0667D) CAPUT LXXII. De eo quod Apostolus ait: Spiritum nolite exstinguere.

174 CHAPTER 72 That the Apostle Says: Do Not Extinguish the Spirit I t is as if he says, Do not by your bad life extinguish the grace of the Holy Spirit (see 1Thess 5:19) which after you were baptized you received through the laying on of hands and the anointing of chrism, but keep it whole and inviolate in your heart and body. And so the same apostle says to the Ephesians, And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption (Eph 4:30). For we received the seal of the Holy Spirit on the day we were baptized and confirmed, and we must faithfully keep it. So one who believes in God is signed with this seal of the Holy Spirit, in order to keep it and show it on the day of redemption pure and sound, in no way diminished. 1 Hence John the Apostle also says, Let the anointing that you received from him abide in you (1 John 2:27). As though to say, With the Lord’s help, endeavor to keep whole in your heart and body the Holy Spirit’s grace which you obtained in baptism, and do not extinguish the Spirit (1 Thess 5:19). . . . The anointing John speaks of, and the spirit of which Paul says, Do not extinguish the Spirit, can be understood to be the love of God, which has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (Rom 5:5). This love that fills the heart inflames it very quickly to observe God’s commandments. 2 It is extinguished by those living bad lives, through hatred and envy and discord. 1 Jerome, In Eph 4:30; PL 26:514C. 2 Bede, In 1 Jo 2:27; CCSL 121:298; PL 93:96CD; see CS 82:180–81. That the Apostle Says: Do Not Extinguish the Spirit 175 The spirit of preachers, who preach the word of salvation to their hearers, is extinguished by the malice of hearers who contradict, resist, and rebel, so that preachers prefer to keep silent rather than preach; and thus it comes about that the word is taken away from preachers through the rebellion of the hearers. And so the Lord says to Ezekiel, And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, and you will be mute, unable to reprove them, for they are an irritating house (Ezek 3:26). 3 A certain old man came to another old man and one of them said, “I am dead to this world. ”The other said to him, “Do not trust in yourself until you depart from this body, because if you are dead, Satan is not. ”4 Abba Poemen said, “A person must always breathe humility and the fear of God unceasingly, like the breath that he inhales and exhales through his nostrils. ”5 Again he said, “To cast oneself down in the sight of God, and not to lift oneself up, and to fling one’s own will behind one’s back, these are the tools with which the soul does its work. ”6 3 See Gregory, Mor 30. 27;CCSL 143B:1547;PL 76:569D–70A;Hom ev 17. 3; CCSL 141:118; PL 76:1139D–40A; see CS 123:135–36, where it is homily 19. 4 PL 73:938D (38); see also 782A (116) and 1035A (5); Wisdom, 39, 134. 5 PL 73:960D (32); see also PG 65:(333) 334D (49); Sayings, 146 (173), 49. 6 PL 73:960D–61A (34);see also PG 65:331 (332)D (36); Sayings, 145 (172), 36. . . .

Ac si dicat: Spiritus sancti gratiam, quam baptizati per manus impositionem et chrismatis accepistis unctionem, nolite prave vivendo exstinguere (I Thes. V); sed eam integram et inviolatam in vestro corde et corpore servate. Unde ad Ephesios idem ait Apostolus: Nolite contristare Spiritum sanctum Dei, in quo signati estis in die redemptionis (Ephes. IV): signaculum enim sancti Spiritus in ^(0668A) die quo baptizati sumus et confirmati, accepimus, quod utique fideliter servare debemus. Hoc igitur signaculo sancti Spiritus, ideo qui credit Deo, signatur ab illo; ut servet et ostendat illud in die redemptionis purum atque sincerum, et nulla ex parte mutilatum. Unde et Joannes apostolus ait: Et unctio quam accepistis ab eo maneat in vobis (I Joan. II). Ac si diceret: Hoc Domino adjuvante procurate, ut Spiritus sancti gratiam, quam in baptismo consecuti estis, integram vestro in corde et corpore servetis, et hoc sit spiritum nolite exstinguere . Potest unctio ejus, de qua Joannes loquitur, et spiritus de quo Paulus dicit, spiritum nolite exstinguere, ipsa Dei Charitas intelligi, quae diffunditur in cordibus nostris per Spiritum sanctum qui ^(0668B) datus est nobis (Rom. V). Quae citissime ad observanda Dei mandata cor quod implet inflammat, quae a prave viventibus per odium et invidiam exstinguitur atque discordiam. Exstinguitur et spiritus praedicatorum, qui audientibus salutis praedicant verbum, a contradicentium, resistentium et exasperantium malitia auditorum, ita ut magis eos tacere libeat, quam praedicare delectet: et ita fit ut per exasperationem auditorum praedicatoribus tollatur verbum. Unde et Ezechieli Dominus ait: Adhaerere faciam linguam tuam palato tuo, et eris mutus, nec quasi vir objurgans, quia domus exasperans est (Ezech. III). Venit quidam senex ad alium senem et dixit unus ex eis: Ego mortuus sum huic saeculo. Alter vero dixit ei: Ne confidas in temetipso, donec ^(0668C) exeas de corpore isto. Quia si tu mortuus es, Satanas mortuus non est. Dixit abbas Pastor: Quia semper homo humilitatem et timorem Dei ita incessabiliter respirare debet, sicut flatum, quem naribus attrahit vel emittit. Dixit iterum: Quia projicere se in conspectu Dei, et non seipsum extollere, et mittere post tergum propriam voluntatem ferramenta sunt quibus anima operatur.

  (0668C) CAPUT LXXIII De nociva curiositate monachorum.

176 CHAPTER 73 On the Harmful Curiosity of Monks T he apostle Paul says, We urge you, brothers and sisters, to live quietly, to go about your own business, and to work with your hands (1 Thess 4:10-11). As though to say, Keep yourselves completely from the vice of restlessness and curiosity, so that having become quiet you may attend to your own affairs. Therefore those people attend to their own affairs who put aside the vice of curiosity and are unceasingly solicitous for their own salvation. For that monk attends to another’s affairs who from the vice of curiosity forgets to examine his own vicious life and is over-anxious to investigate someone else’s life. That is why he also says to the same persons in a second letter: For we hear that some of you are living restlessly, not doing any work, curious in regard to others’ business (2 Thess 3:11). In this short sentence Paul censures many of the vices of monks, namely, restlessness and idleness and curiosity, and much speaking, in which according to Solomon there is no escaping sin (see Prov 10:19); so restlessness, which by another name is called curiosity, is a great vice, which does not allow the body to be quiet or the soul without sin. For while it agitates and impels one to go around the dwellings of others or to inquire with curiosity into what others are doing, it doubtless offends in many things. For idleness unceasingly accompanies the vice of curiosity. Idleness is the enemy of the soul (RB 48. 1;RBas 192;see Sir 33:29). So it is better for monks to be obedient to their superiors with an On the Harmful Curiosity of Monks 177 obedience that redounds to their own advantage, and to eat their bread in silence, as strangers to every vice of restlessness and curiosity and verbosity, working with their hands, and to understand concerning themselves the saying of the psalmist:You shall eat the work of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you (Ps 127(128):2). 1 A certain old man used to say, “We do not make progress because we do not know our limits and we do not have patience in the work we have begun; we want to possess virtues without any toil. ”2 Abba Poemen used to say that Abba Isidore once addressed the group of brothers, saying, “Brothers, did we not come to this place to work? And now I see that there is no work here. So I am going to leave the brothers and go where there is work, and where I do not find rest. ”3 The brothers used to ask a certain old man to rest from hard toil, but he answered them, “Believe me, my sons, when Abraham sees the great and admirable gifts of God, he will regret that he did not engage more in the contest of hard work. ”4 1 No source traced for this passage. 2 PL 73:897C (23); see Wisdom, 47, 164. 3 PL 73:895BC (14); PG 65:331 (332)D (44); Sayings, 145 (173), 44. The conclusion in Smaragdus is the opposite of that in PG, PL and the Ward translation, which reads:“and there I shall find peace. ” 4 PL 73:900BC (29). See Wisdom, 22, 65. Smaragdus or his source here treats decertare as a deponent verb. . . .

Paulus apostolus dicit: Rogamus autem vos, fratres, ut quieti sitis, et vestrum negotium agatis, et operemini manibus vestris (I Thess. IV). Ac si diceret: Ab omni vos inquietudinis et curiositatis abstinete vitio, ut quieti facti, vestrum agatis negotium. ^(0668D) Ille igitur suum agit negotium, qui postposito curiositatis vitio, de salute sua est incessanter sollicitus. Nam ille monachus alienum agit negotium, qui curiositatis vitio suam oblitus vitiosam discutere vitam, alienam investigare sollicite curat. Unde et ad eosdem in secunda idem ait Epistola: Audivimus enim quosdam inter vos ambulantes inquiete, nihil operantes, sed curiose agentes (II Thess. III). In hac brevi sententia multa Paulus monachorum reprehendit vitia, inquietudinem videlicet et otiositatem et curiositatem, et multiloquium, in quo secundum Salomonem (Prov. X) non effugitur peccatum; ^(0669A) inquietudo ergo, quae et alio nomine curiositas appellatur, grande est vitium, quae nec corpus quietum, nec animam dimittit esse sine peccato. Dum enim sollicite aliorum domos circuit, vel aliena acta curiose perquirit, procul dubio in multis offendit. Nam curiositatis vitium indesinenter comitatur et otium. Otiositas autem inimica est animae (Eccl. XXXIII). Melius est ergo monachis ut obedientes sint praepositis suis ad omnem obedientiam utilitatis suae, et cum silentio, id est ab omni vitio inquietudinis et curiositatis, et verbositatis alieni, manibus operantes suum panem manducent, et intelligant de seipsis illud Psalmographi dictum: Opera manuum tuarum manducabis: beatus es, et bene tibi erit (Psal. CXXVII). Dicebat quidem senex: Propterea ^(0669B) non proficimus, quia nescimus mensuras nostras, neque patientiam habemus in opere quod ceperimus; sed sine labore aliquo virtutes volumus possidere. Dicebat abbas pastor, quod abbas Isidorus allocutus sit aliquando plebem fratrum dicens: Fratres, nunquid non ad laborandum venimus in locum hunc? Et nunc video quia nullus hic labor est. Ego igitur, dimissa plebe, vado ubi est labor, et ubi non invenio requiem. Quemdam senem rogabant fratres ut quiesceret a gravi labore, ille autem respondit eis: Credite mihi, filii, quod Abraham poenitebit, cum viderit magna et praeclara dona Dei, quod amplius non fuerit in laboribus decertatus.

  (0669B) CAPUT LXXIV. ^(0669C) De regula ab apostolis posita.

178 CHAPTER 74 On the Rule Laid Down by the Apostles O n this matter Paul the Apostle says, All those who follow this rule—may peace be upon them, and mercy (Gal 6:16). The teaching of God is a certain rule in language that judges between what is just and what is unjust;those who follow it will have in themselves peace that surpasses all understanding, and after peace they will obtain mercy. 1 Christian generation means a new creature, because Christ the new man came into the world and gave it new precepts, and upon those who observe them there is peace and mercy. Again the apostle says, As regards what we have attained, so that we are of the same opinion—let us remain in the same rule (Phil 3:16), that is, let us remain in the service of the faith to which we have come at Christ’s call. In the living of the faith let us think of nothing outside the discipline of the rule, but think of what is common and unassuming , remaining in the gospel truth and in the same rule of faith. 2 The word “rule” in this place means the Catholic faith. It is called a “rule” because it guides correctly and rules rightly. Hence those institutes of the Fathers that teach the Catholic Church to live rightly are called canons. What in Greek is called a “canon” is called a “rule” in Latin. 3 1 Jerome, In Gal 6:16;PL 26:437AB. Smaragdus has rounded off his quotation from Jerome with consequentur, “they will obtain. ” 2 No source traced for this passage. 3 See Isidore, Etym 6. 16. 1; Lindsay, vol. 1 (at reference, as pages are not numbered ); PL 87:1117B. On the Rule Laid Down by the Apostles 179 And so Paul says elsewhere, Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from every believer who lives restlessly and in a disorderly way (2 Thess 3:6). This warning is not to be made light of by the hearers, because it is supported by royal authority when made in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And although it is full of apostolic charity, it contains royal authority, which leads the crowd of all the faithful in a wholesome way to the right rule of souls. For he says, keep away from every believer who lives restlessly, and not according to the tradition that they received from us (2 Thess 3:6). Hence the Church of the saints received from the apostle a clear authorization to withdraw from perverse people. But the apostles handed down to the faithful the rule of walking well, that is, of living well and uprightly and piously, and the Church of all the faithful must hold it firmly, since she wants to direct her own life according to that of the apostles. So the norm for applying that rule became for all Christians the life of the apostles themselves. For this reason he adds, For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us (2Thess 3:7). As though to say, We have already often told you in words and shown you by examples; therefore you know how you ought to imitate us. But do willingly what we exhort you to do, if you wish to hold the rule of faith we have handed down. 4 A certain old man said, “It is written:The righteous will flourish like the palm tree (Ps 91(92):12). This saying signifies a good act, high and upright and sweet. For there is in the palm one heart (incardium) and it is white, with all its working in itself. Similarly in the just person there is found to be one simple heart, gazing only at God. It is white, having the enlightenment of faith, and all the working of the just is in the heart. For its sharp defenses are a fortress against the devil. ”5 4 No source traced for this passage. 5 PL 73:993D–94A (6). . . .

Hinc Paulus apostolus ait: Quicunque hanc regulam secuti fuerint, pax super illos et misericordia (Gal. VI). Doctrina Dei quaedam regula sermonis est, quae inter justa judicat et injusta: quam qui secutus fuerit, habebit pacem in semetipso, quae exsuperat omnem sensum, et post pacem misericordiam consequetur. Nova creatura est generatio Christiana, quia Christus novus homo venit in mundum, et nova praecepta dedit mundo, et super observantes ea pax et misericordia. Item ipse Apostolus ait: Verumtamen ad quod pervenimus, ut idem sapiamus, et in eadem permaneamus regula (Philip. III), id est, ut in ministerio fidei permaneamus, ad quod Christo vocante pervenimus, et nihil extra regulae disciplinam ^(0669D) in conversatione fidei sapiamus, sed hoc sapiamus quod commune sit et modestum, in evangelica veritate et in eadem fidei regula permaneamus. Regula hoc in loco fides vocatur catholica. Regula vero ab eo quod recte ducat, et recte regat est dicta. Unde et illa Patrum instituta, quae recte vivere catholicam docent Ecclesiam canones vocantur. Canon autem Graece, Latine regula dicitur. Hinc et alibi Paulus ait: Denuntiamus autem vobis, fratres, in nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi, ut subtrahatis vos ab omni fratre inquiete ambulante et inordinate (II Thess. III). Ista denuntiatio non est ab auditoribus parvipendenda, quia regali est auctoritate fulcita, quando in nomine Domini nostri Jesu ^(0670A) Christi est denuntiata. Et quamvis apostolica charitate sit plena, auctoritatem tamen continet regiam, quae fidelium omnium salubriter catervam ad rectam animarum perducit regulam. Ait enim: Ut subtrahatis vos ab omni fratre inquiete ambulante, et non secundum traditionem, quam acceperunt a nobis (II Thess. II). Hinc auctoritatem firmam subrahendi se a pravis hominibus ab apostolo sanctorum accepit Ecclesia. Regulam autem bene ambulandi, id est, bene, et juste, et pie vivendi, tradiderunt fidelibus apostoli, quam omnium fidelium debet tenere firmiter Ecclesia, quae ad illorum suam vult dirigere vitam. Istius ergo regulae norma, omnibus Christianis, ipsorum apostolorum facta est vita. Unde et sequitur: Ipsi enim scitis quemadmodum oporteat ^(0670B) vos imitari nos (Ibid.). Ac si diceret: Quia jam frequenter et verbis vobis praediximus et exemplis ostendimus, ideo notum est vobis quomodo oporteat vos imitari nos. Libenter tamen facite quod hortamur, si a nobis traditam fidei vultis tenere regulam. Dixit quidam senex: Scriptum est, Justus ut palma florebit (Psal. XCI). Significat autem hic sermo bonum actum, altum, et rectum, et dulcem. Est enim in palma unum incardium et ipsum candidum, omnem habens operationem in se. Similiter autem et in viro justo reperitur unum ei et simplex inesse cor, ad Deum tantummodo respiciens. Est autem et album, habens illuminationem fidei, et omnis operatio justi in corde ipsius est. Nam et acumen stimulorum ejus adversus diabolum est propugnaculum.

(0670C)  (0670) CAPUT LXXV. Ut vigilantes sint monachi.

180 CHAPTER 75 That Monks Are to Be Vigilant P aul the Apostle warns us saying, Let us not sleep like the rest, but let us keep awake (1Thess 5:6). That is, let us not sleep like the rest, unbelievers, unjust, unfair, those weighed down by the sleep of ignorance and of the body, who are burdened by the weight of their sins and cannot foresee what will happen to them in the future. They sleep so heavily and shamefully that they do not open their eyes to guard their heart;they have no thought for future glory but are always thinking of the present life. They do not think about things invisible and eternal, but always about the corruptible and temporal things they can see. Let us not sleep like them, but keep awake. That is why Mark the Evangelist also gives us this wholesome warning when he says, Therefore, keep watch, for you do not know when the master will come. Otherwise he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly (Mark 13:35a, 36). 1 Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds watching when he comes (Luke 12:37). For they keep watch who have their eyes open for the sight of the true light. They keep watch who observe in their work what they believe. They keep watch who drive away the darkness of sluggishness2 and negligence. 3 1 No source traced for this passage. 2 Gregory’s text has torporis, “of sluggishness, ” which is more likely than Smaragdus ’s corporis, “of the body. ” 3 Gregory, Hom ev 13. 3;CCSL 141:91;PL 76:1124CD;see CS 123:153, where it is homily 20. That Monks Are to BeVigilant 181 Hence the apostle says the same elsewhere, (so that) whether we keep watch or sleep, we may live together with Christ (1Thess 5:11). That is, whether we keep watch so as to guard our salvation, or whether we sleep from the harmful cares of this world, let us live together with him, that is, let us always be in and with Christ, who for our sake died and rose again (Rom 14:9; see 1 Thess 5:10). Concerning this wholesome wakefulness and sleep, Solomon says in the Song of Songs, I sleep, but my heart keeps watch (Song 5:2). As though to say, The more I rest from earthly cares as though sleeping, the more freely does my heart keep watch to contemplate its creator. For that soul will always and forever live with God that clings to him here through love and never retreats from following behind him. Hence the Lord says, The one who loves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also (John 12:26). That is, he will live with me forever, and will reign ever glorious and immortal. 4 Abba Evagrius said, “If you lose heart, pray, as it is written. But pray with fear and trembling and toil, soberly and watchfully. Thus ought one to pray, most of all because of those malign ones who are intent on wickedness, our invisible enemies, who strive to hinder us especially in this. ” He said again, “When a harmful thought comes into your heart, do not seek something in its stead through prayer, but sharpen the sword of tears against the thought that is attacking you. ”5 4 No source traced for this passage. 5 PL 73:941CD (4 & 5). . . .

Paulus apostolus nos admonet dicens: Non dormiamus sicut caeteri, sed vigilemus (I Thess. V). Id est, non dormiamus sicut caeteri infideles, injusti, iniqui, qui ignorantiae et corporis somno depressi, et peccatorum suorum mole gravati, quid illis in futuro eveniat praevidere non valent. Qui tam graviter turpiterque dormiunt, ut ad sui custodiam cordis oculos non aperiant; qui nihil de futura gloria, sed semper de praesenti cogitant vita. Non de iis quae non videntur et aeterna sunt, sed semper de iis cogitant quae videntur, et caduca et temporalia sunt. Nos autem non sicut illi dormiamus, sed vigilemus. ^(0670D) Hinc nos et Marcus evangelista salubriter admonet dicens: Vigilate ergo, quia nescitis quando Dominus veniat. Ne cum venerit repente, inveniat vos dormientes (Marc. XIII). Beati servi illi, quos cum venerit Dominus, invenerit vigilantes (Luc. XII). Vigilat enim, qui ad aspectum veri luminis oculos apertos tenet. Vigilat, qui servat operando quod credit. Vigilat, qui a se corporis et negligentiae tenebras repellit. Hinc et alibi idem ait apostolus: Sive vigilemus, sive dormiamus, simul cum Christo vivamus (I Thess. V). Id est, sive vigilemus ad custodiam nostrae salutis, sive dormiamus a nocivis hujus saeculi curis, simul cum illo vivamus, id est, semper in Christo et cum Christo simus: qui pro nobis mortuus est, et resurrexi ^(0671A) (Ibid.). De hac salubri vigilatione et dormitione, in Canticis canticorum Salomon ait: Ego dormio, et cor meum vigilat (Cant. V). Ac si diceret: Quanto magis a terrenis velut dormiens quiesco curis, tanto liberius cor meum ad sui contemplationem vigilat creatoris. Illa enim anima in aeternum semper cum Domino vivet, quae illi hic per dilectionem adhaerens, a tergo ejus nunquam recedit. Unde et Dominus inquit: Qui diligit me, me sequatur. Et ubi ego sum, illic et minister meus erit (Joan. XII). Id est, mecum in perpetuo vivens, semper gloriosus et immortalis regnabit. Dixit abbas Evagrius: Si deficis animo, ora sicut scriptum est. Ora autem cum timore, et tremore et labore, sobrie et vigilanter. Ita oportet orare maxime propter malignos, et nequitiis vacantes, ^(0671B) invisibiles inimicos nostros, qui nos in hoc praecipue impedire nituntur. Dixit iterum: Quando cogitatio contraria in corde tuo venerit, noli alia pro aliis per orationem quaerere, sed adversus eam quae te impugnat, gladium lacrymarum exacue.

  (0671B) CAPUT LXXVI. De pugna virtutum.

182 CHAPTER 76 On the Battle of the Virtues H oly persons are more truly wiped clean of the filth of the vices when they pit individual virtues against individual vices. . . . For one must fight against the attacks of the vices with the contrary virtues:cleanness of heart must be employed against impurity; love must be made ready against hatred; patience must be put forward against anger;one must employ confidence against fear, joy against sadness;against accidie, fortitude;against avarice, generosity; humility must be set against pride; and thus the individual virtues restrain the vices that spring up against them. . . . Abstinence tames sexual desire, because to the extent that the body is broken by fasting, the mind is called back from unlawful desire. And endurance struggles against anger. . . . And the hope of eternal joy overcomes the bitterness of sadness. And those whose disturbed minds cause them upset from exterior things are soothed by the sweetness of interior tranquility. Charity is made ready against envy, and against the heat of anger the tranquility of meekness is employed. . . . 1 When we go against the dominion2 of the vices, when we struggle against the iniquity that separates us from God, when we strenuously resist habit and, treading down perverse desires, vindicate our right to our innate freedom against these things;when we resist the massed troops of the vices with energetic determination, when 1 Isidore, Sent 1. 37. 1a, 2 (less the last clause), 3–4a, 5–6;CCSL 111:165–66;PL 83:638B–D. Most of this passage also appears inTaio, Sent 4. 25; PL 80:942A–C. 2 Smaragdus here has dominio vitiorum, whileTaio (Sent 4. 25) has domino vitiorum , “the lord of the vices, ” and Gregory has simply domino. On the Battle of theVirtues 183 we strike at faults by repenting and wash the stains of filth with tears, we are struggling bravely against the vices. 3 Abba Agathon said, “I have never deliberately gone to sleep while retaining sadness in my heart against anyone, and I have not let another go to sleep while having anything against me. ”4 Abba Macarius said, “Act with assurance, my son, for I have not taken my fill of bread or water or sleep these twenty years. I would take a measured weight of bread and a measure of water, and for sleep I simply leaned against a wall and snatched a few moments. ”5 Abba Isidore said, “If we do not have thoughts, we are like wild animals. But if the enemy demands what is his, we must also fulfill what is ours. Let us be instant in prayer, and the enemy is put to flight. Apply yourself to meditation on God and you conquer. Perseverance in the good is our victory. Fight and you will be crowned. ”6 Abba John said, “The door to God is humility, and the fathers, driven by many insults, entered rejoicing into the city of God, because humility and fear of God surpass all the virtues. 7 Therefore the monk must have humility before all else. This is the Savior’s first command among the eight beatitudes when he says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:3). 8 3 Taio, Sent 4. 25;PL 80:941D–42A, quoting Gregory, Mor 4. 36;CCSL 143:215; PL 75:677C. 4 PL 73:974A (6); see also 777D (95); PG 65:(109) 110B (4); Sayings, 17–18 (20), 4. 5 PL 73:1018CD (18); Praktikos, 94. 6 PL 73:1018D–19A (21). Abba Isidore is named as the speaker in the preceding apophthegm. 7 PL 73:958A (22); PG 65:211 (212)D (22); Sayings, 77 (90), 22. In VP the Abba John is John the Dwarf. 8 PL 73:958A (23); PG 65:(233) 234D (2bis); Sayings, 90, 1bis (106)1. This saying is attributed to John of the Thebaid.

(Isid. lib. II Sent., c. 37.) Tunc viri sancti veracius a vitiorum colluvione deterguntur, dum ab eis contra singula vitia virtutes singulae opponuntur. Nam adversus impetus vitiorum contrariis virtutibus est pugnandum: contra luxuriam enim cordis est adhibenda munditia; contra odium, dilectio praeparanda; contra iracundiam, patientia proponenda; contra timorem, fiducia est adhibenda; contra tristitiam, ^(0671C) gaudium est adhibendum; contra acediam, fortitudo; contra avaritiam, largitas; contra superbiam, humilitas est opponenda: sicque singulae virtutes nascentia contra se vitia reprimunt. Libidinem enim abstinentia domat, quia quantum corpus inedia frangitur, tantum mens ab illicito appetitu revocatur. Et adversus iram tolerantia dimicat. Et moerorem tristitiae spes aeterni gaudii superat. Et quem turbata mens de exterioribus afficit, dulcedo interioris tranquillitatis linit. Adversus invidiam praeparatur charitas, et adversus irae incendia mansuetudinis adhibetur tranquillitas. Cum dominio vitiorum contradicimus, cum iniquitati, quae nos a Deo separat, reluctamur, cum consuetudini violenter resistimus, et desideria perversa calcantes, ^(0671D) contra haec jus nobis libertatis ingenitae vindicamus, vitiorum agminibus acerrimo conflictu resistimus, cum culpas poenitendo percutimus, et maculas sordium fletibus lavamus, fortiter contra vitia reluctamur. Dixit abbas Agathon: Quia secundum voluntatem meam nunquam dormivi, retinens in corde adversus quemquam dolorem: neque dimisi dormire alium habentem adversum me aliquid. Dixit abbas Macharius: Age fiducialiter, o fili, nam et ego per viginti annos non pane, non aqua, non somno, satiatus sum. Panem quidem pensatum accipiens, aquam vero ad mensuram, somno autem, parietibus me duntaxat inclinans, surripere paululum festinabam. Dixit abbas Isidorus: Si cogitationes non habemus, ^(0672A) ferarum similes sumus. Sed si inimicus quod suum est, exigit, nos quoque quod nostrum est, implere debemus. Insistamus orationi, et inimicus fugatur. Vaca meditationi Dei, et vincis. Perseverantia boni, victoria est. Certa, et coronaberis. Dixit abbas Joannes: Quia janua Dei est humilitas, et patres per multas contumelias acti, gaudentes intraverunt in civitatem Dei, quia humilitas et timor Dei superant omnes virtutes. Debet ergo monachus ante omnia humilitatem habere. Hoc enim inter octo beatitudines primum Salvatoris mandatum, dicentis: Beati pauperes spiritu, quoniam ipsorum est regnum coelorum (Matth. V).

  (0672A) CAPUT LXXVII. De odio et correctione fraterna.

184 CHAPTER 77 On Hatred and Fraternal Correction P aul the Apostle says, If any do not obey what we say in this letter, take note of them; do not mix with them, so that they may be ashamed. Do not regard them as enemies, but take them to task as believers (2 Thess 3:14-15). As though to say, If the authority of our Letter does not correct them, notify us in your letter who they are so that we may rebuke them, or that they may even be excommunicated by our Letter. And you are not to associate with the excommunicated until they obey and consent to the apostolic precepts; and thus confounded by both parties, that is, by us and by you, may they finally come to their right mind, be corrected, and obey our precepts. In this place the apostle gives a clear sign that we are not to mix with excommunicated persons in action or deliberation or any fellowship. 1 In the very same people we can simultaneously love our relationship with them and hate their vices. For it is one thing that they are brothers and sisters, another that they are people given to vice. So let us love in them our relationship with them and hate in them their propensity to vice. Let us proceed against the vices in them, and love them once corrected as we do ourselves. 2 1 No source traced for this passage. 2 This paragraph is quoted in Smaragdus’s Commentary, 65. 11; CS 212:505. On Hatred and Fraternal Correction 185 That is why blessed Gregory says, “We must show discernment in hatred with regard to our neighbors, such that we love in them their being (human) and hate their being an obstacle on our way to God. ”3 A certain old man said, “A monk must mortify himself from everything evil before departing from the body, and not hurt anyone . . . . And unless he thinks in his heart that he is a sinner, God will not listen to him. What does it mean, to think in the heart that one is a sinner? It means, if one bears his own sins and does not see those of his neighbor. . . . When a person lets go his own will, then God will be reconciled with him, and he receives his prayer. 4 For if we look steadily at our own sins, we do not see those of our neighbor. It is folly for a man who has his own dead to leave him and go off to bewail his neighbor’s dead. . . . When the hand of the Lord killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt . . . there was not a house where someone did not lie dead (Exod 12:29-30). 5 For there is no one alive who does not sin (1 Kgs 8:46;2 Chr 6:36). So all must mourn their own dead, that is, their own sin. ” The prophet says that“the dead”refers to sin when he says, One who washes after touching a corpse, and touches it again, that is, one who mourns sin and then commits it again, how does the washing bring benefit? (Sir 34:30). 6 3 Gregory, Hom ev 37. 2; CCSL 141:349; PL 76:1276A; see CS 123:329. Homines , “human beings, ” is supplied by Smaragdus. 4 PL 73:1014D–15A (2–4); see also PG 65:287 (288)BC; Sayings, 119–20 (141–42), 2. 3. 4. In the Ward translation these apophthegms are identified as from a series of instructions that Abba Moses sent to Abba Poemen, but in PG 65 they are numbered 15 (30), 16 (31) and 17 (32). 5 PL 73:1015BC (7); PG 65:289 (290)BC (18); Sayings, 120–21 (142–43), 7, extracted from Abba Moses’ apophthegm and rearranged. 6 Referred to in Smaragdus, Commentary, 4. 17; CS 212:183. . . .

Paulus apostolus ait: Si quis autem non ob audit ^(0672B) verbo nostro per Epistolam, hunc notate, et non commisceamini cum illo, ut confundatur: et nolite quasi inimicum existimare illum, sed corripite, ut fratrem (II Thess. III). Ac si diceret: Si eum auctoritas Epistolae nostrae non corrigit, per litteras vestras quis sit ipse nobis notificate, ut a nobis corripiatur, vel etiam per nostram Epistolam excommunicetur. Et vos non commisceamini tandiu cum excommunicato donec obediens praeceptis consentiat apostolicis; et sic ab utrisque, a nobis videlicet et a vobis confusus, tandem aliquando resipiscat, et emendatus praeceptis nostris obediat. Apertum hoc in loco Apostolus dat indicium, ut cum excommunicato nec in actu, nec in consilio, nec in aliquo commisceamur consortio. In uno eodemque homine et fraternitatem ^(0672C) simul diligere et vitia possumus odisse. Aliud enim est quod frater est, aliud quod vitiosus est homo. Diligamus ergo in eo fraternitatem nostram, et odio habeamus vitiositatem ejus. Persequamur in eo vitium, et emendatum ut nosmetipsos diligamus eum. Hinc beatus Gregorius ait: (Hom. 37 in Evang.): Sic sic nimirum proximis nostris exhibere odii discretionem debemus, ut in eis et diligamus quod homines sunt, et habeamus odio quod in Dei nobis itinere obsistunt. Dixit quidam senex: Quia debet homo mortificare seipsum ab omni re mala, priusquam egrediatur de corpore, et non laedat ullum hominem. Et nisi habuerit homo in corde suo quod peccator est, Deus non exaudiet eum. Quid est in corde habere, quod peccator est? Id est, si quis supportat ^(0672D) peccata sua, et non videt peccata proximi sui. Quando enim dimiserit homo voluntatem suam, tunc ei reconciliabitur Deus, et suscipit orationem ejus. Si enim conspexerimus peccata nostra, non videmus peccata proximi. Stultitia est enim homini habenti mortuum suum, et relicto eo, abire et flere mortuum proximi sui: Quando enim manus Domini occidit omne primogenitum in terra Aegypti, non erat domus, in qua non jaceret mortuus (Exod. XII). Non enim est homo qui vivat, et non peccet (III Reg. VIII). Unusquisque ergo mortuum, id est peccatum suum, plangere debet. Peccatum enim mortuum dicit propheta, ubi ait: Qui lavatur a mortuo, et iterum tangit mortuum, ^(0673A) id est, qui plangit peccatum, et iterum committit peccatum, nihil proficit lavatio ejus (Eccli. XXXIV).

  (0673A) CAPUT LXXVIII. Ut mentis lumbos succinctos habeat monachus.

186 CHAPTER 78 That the Monk Have the Loins of His Mind Girded T he apostle Peter says, Therefore have the loins of your mind girded in truth;being perfectly sober, hope in the grace that Jesus Christ will bring when he is revealed (1 Pet 1:13). . . . It is as though he were saying to monks:The greater the grace promised you, the greater the care you should take to be worthy so as to be able to receive it. . . . And he rightly says, hope in the grace that Jesus Christ will bring when he is revealed; for those who have the loins of their minds girded, that is, who are chaste in mind and body, await the coming of the Lord, and rightly hope for when he is to be revealed. 1 For this reason too the apostle Paul says, Stand therefore with your loins girded in truth (Eph 6:14), that is, stand perfect, with the loins of your mind girded, boldly prepared in every battle and free from all the cares of the world. 2 No one doubts that all the members of the soul are named in the Scriptures equally with the members of the fleshly body. I think that of these members in the present instance there is one, the loins, that Truth orders us to gird up: Let your loins be girded and your lamps be burning (Luke 12:35). 3 1 Bede, In 1 Pt 1:13;CCSL 121:230;PL 93:45D;see CS 82:77. Smaragdus has adapted this for monks. 2 Pelagius, In Eph 6:14; PLS 1:1307. 3 Smaragdus, Collect, Heb 22 post Pent;PL 102:493D, quoting Jerome, In Eph 6:14; PL 26:550B. That the Monk Have the Loins of His Mind Girded 187 That is why the prophet also says, Gird up your loins over your breasts (Isa 32:11-12). 4 As though to say, Cut off in your hearts sexual desires, lest you fall shamefully into fornication outwardly. For to one who is chaste in body but not in heart no reward is promised, because according to Truth’s saying: Everyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt 5:28). So if thoughts of fornication are first prevented in the heart, they do not burst forth in deed. 5 Some of the just, girded so as to attain the height of perfection, abandon everything exteriorly in their desire to gain higher things interiorly. They strip themselves of possessions, despoil themselves of glory and honor, and through the constancy of their internal desires become friends of affliction, refusing to receive consolation from exterior things;when with the mind they draw near to internal joys, they utterly destroy in themselves the life of bodily delight. Such as these are told through Paul, For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:3). The psalmist had given expression to their voice when he said, My soul longs, and faints for the courts of the Lord (Ps 83(84):3). . . . Those persons long and faint for the courts of God who, when they desire eternal things, do not dally in love of temporal things. Hence the psalmist again says, My soul faints for your salvation (Ps 118(119):81). (For the just person’s soul to faint for God’s salvation) means to abandon the good things of the present life by choosing eternity; it means to seek the things that last, and not to put one’s trust in temporal things. 6 4 The words suit Smaragdus’s purpose, but a different punctuation and the surrounding context yield quite a different meaning. Smaragdus has Accingite lumbos vestros super ubera vestra. The context in Isaiah is that of a prophecy against the women of Jerusalem. The standard Vulgate text reads, Exuite vos et confundimini; accingite lumbos vestros. Super ubera plangite, super regione desiderabili, super vinea fertili. 5 No source traced for this passage. 6 Paterius, Expositio 11. 176; PL 79:870BC, quoting from Gregory, Mor 8. 26; CCSL 143:416–17; PL 75:829A–C. . . .

Petrus apostolus ait: Propter quod succincti lumbos mentis vestrae in veritate, sobrii perfecte sperate in eam quae offertur vobis gratiam, in revelationem Jesu Christi (I Petr. I). Ac si diceret monachis: Quanto major est vobis gratia promissa, tanto amplius digni esse curate, ut eam percipere valeatis. Et recte dicit, sperare in eam quae offertur vobis gratiam, in revelationem Domini nostri Jesu Christi; quia qui succinctis lumbis mentis, id est, et mente et corpore castus Domini adventum exspectat, merito quando reveletur, sperat. Hinc et Paulus apostolus ^(0673B) ait: State ergo succincti lumbos vestros in veritate (Ephes. VI), id est, perfecti state, lumbos mentis succincti, hoc est, in omni praelio viriliter praeparati, et ab omnibus curis saeculi expediti. Quod juxta membra carnis et corporis, omnia membra animae in Scripturis vocentur nulli dubium est. De quibus unum puto esse nunc membrum, lumbos, quos ut accingamus a Veritate praecipitur. Sint lumbi vestri praecincti, et lucernae ardentes (Luc. XII). Hinc et propheta ait: Accingite lumbos vestros super ubera vestra (Isa. XXXII). Ac si dicat: In corde libidines resecate, ne exterius turpiter in fornicationem cadatis. Nam castus corpore non tamen corde, nullum praemium habet in repromissione, quia secundum Veritatis dictum: Qui viderit mulierem ad concupiscendum ^(0673C) eam jam moechatus est eam in corde suo (Matth. V). (Greg., lib. VIII, c. 19, Mor.) Si ergo primum fornicationes prohibeantur a corde, non prorumpunt in opere. Sunt nonnulli justorum qui ad comprehendendum culmen perfectionis accincti, dum altiora interius appetunt, exterius cuncta derelinquunt, qui rebus habitis se nudant, gloria honoris se exspoliant, qui internorum desideriorum per assiduitatem se amici moeroris afficiunt, habere de exterioribus consolationem nolunt, qui internis gaudiis dum mente appropiant, vitam in se funditus corporeae delectationis necant. Talibus namque per Paulum dicitur: Mortui enim estis, et vita vestra abscondita est cum Christo in Deo (Colos. III). Horum itaque vocem Psalmista expresserat, cum dicebat: ^(0673D) Concupiscit et deficit anima mea in atria Domini (Psal. LXXXIII). Concupiscit vero et deficit in atria Dei, qui cum aeterna desiderat, in amore temporalium non perdurat. (Huc usque Greg.) Hinc Psalmista iterum dicit: Deficit in salutari tuo anima mea (Psal. CXVIII). In salutari ergo Dei animam justi deficere, est praesentis vitae bona aeternitatis electione deserere, mansura quaerere, et in rebus temporalibus fiduciam non habere.

  (0673D) CAPUT LXXIX. De mortificatione vitiorum.

188 CHAPTER 79 On the Mortification of the Vices T he apostle Paul says, Put to death your members that are on the earth: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, etc. (Col 3:5). These vices and sins are said to be our members because through our members they carry out their actions, which the apostle prohibits us from consenting to when he says, Do not present your members to sin as instruments of iniquity, but present yourselves to God (Rom 6:13). For all the sins and vices together make one body, that of the devil, and each of the vices that follow are said to be its members. That is why it is written in the Letter to the Romans: We know that our old self was crucified together with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed (Rom 6:6)—that is, the crimes and sins that he calls one body, which he says is destroyed through a good life and the Catholic faith. For all uncleanness and sexual desire is called by one name, fornication; if it is not1 first removed from the heart’s thinking, it unleashes itself in action. But if it is suckled by delight or consent, it grows into a serpent that kills with its deadly poison the one who suckles it. So let us not suckle it but rather put it to death, lest it put us to death. Let us crucify it, lest it crucify us. 2 1 Smaragdus’s text lacks the non, which has to be supplied if the text is to be consistent. 2 No source traced for this passage. On the Mortification of theVices 189 And so Paul says again, And those who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with its vices and concupiscences (Gal 5:24). But if all the vices have been crucified together, and the flesh as if hanging on the cross lusts after nothing, why do we have a law given us for restraining the vices? It is to be noted that when he said those belong to Christ who have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires, he was at the same time opposing those who think that faith alone suffices. 3 There was a certain old man, great among those endowed with foresight, who stated:“The power I have seen standing over baptism I have also seen over the monk’s clothing when he receives the spiritual habit. ”4 A certain old man was given the grace to see what was happening , and he said, “I once saw in a coenobium a brother meditating in his cell, and the demon came and stood outside; while the brother was meditating the demon could not enter, but when he ceased meditating, then the demon would enter the cell. ”5 3 Auctor incertus In ep Pauli (ad Gal 5); PL 30:821BC; see also Primasius, In ep Pauli (ad Gal 5); PL 68:601D. 4 PL 73:994B (9); see Wisdom, 63, 234. 5 PL 73:994B (10); see Wisdom, 63, 235. . . .

Hinc Paulus apostolus ait: Mortificate membra vestra quae sunt super terram, fornicationem, immunditiam, libidinem, etc. (Colos. III). Ideo haec vitia et ^(0674A) peccata nostra dicuntur membra, quia per membra nostra sua complent officia, quibus nos consentire Apostolus prohibet dicens: Neque exhibeatis membra vestra arma iniquitatis peccato, sed exhibete vos Deo (Rom. VI). Omnia enim generaliter peccata et vitia unum diaboli faciunt corpus, cujus specialiter haec quae sequuntur vitia, dicuntur membra. Unde et in Epistola scribitur ad Romanos: Scientes hoc, quia vetus homo noster simul crucifixus est, ut destruatur corpus peccati (Ibid.), id est, crimina atque peccata, quae simul unum corpus appellat, quod destrui dicit per bonam vitam et fidem catholicam. Omnis enim immunditia et libido uno nomine vocatur fornicatio, quae si primum auferatur a cordis cogitatione, prorumpit in opus. Verumtamen si delectatione ^(0674B) vel consensu fuerit lactata, ita crescit in colubrum, ut mortifero suum lactantem occidat veneno. Ergo non lactetur, sed mortificetur a nobis, ne mortificemur ab illa. Crucifigatur a nobis, ne crucifigamur ab illa. Hinc et Paulus iterum dicit: Qui autem sunt Christi, carnem suam crucifixerunt cum vitiis et concupiscentiis (Gal. IX). Si omnia simul vitia crucifixa sunt, et caro quasi in cruce pendens nihil concupiscit, ut quid nobis legem, quae data est ad vitia coercenda? Simul illud notandum quod eos dixerit Christi esse, qui carnem suam cum vitiis et concupiscentiis crucifixerint, contra illos qui solam fidem sufficere arbitrantur. Fuit quidam senex magnus inter praevidentes, qui affirmabat dicens: quia virtutem quam vidi stantem super baptisma, eamdem ^(0674C) vidi etiam super vestimentum monachi, quando accipit habitum spiritualem. Cuidam seni data est gratia videndi quae fiebant, et dicebat: Quia vidi in coenobio aliquando meditantem fratrem in cella, et ecce daemon veniens stabat extra cellam; et dum frater ille meditaretur, non praevalebat ingredi: cum autem cessasset a meditando, tunc ingrediebatur ille daemon in cellam.

  (0674C) CAPUT LXXX. De gratia lacrymarum.

190 CHAPTER 80 On the Grace of Tears I t is written that Achsah the daughter of Caleb said to her father with sighs, Give me a blessing. You have given me some dry land in the south;give me also some well watered land. And her father gave her the upper well watered place and the lower well watered place (Jos 15:19). This means that we must with great groaning seek from God, our Creator and Father, the grace of tears. For there are some who have already received other gifts of the Lord, signified by the south land, but have still not received the grace of tears. 1 The soul that thirsts for God is first pierced by fear, and afterwards by love. It first stirs itself up by tears, because when it recalls the evils it has done it is in great fear of suffering eternal punishments for them. But when fear has spent itself in a long period of anxious grief, a certain security is born from the presumption of pardon, and the mind is inflamed with love of heavenly joys. People who formerly wept lest they be led off to punishment, afterwards begin to weep most bitterly because they are kept away from the kingdom. The mind contemplates who those angelic choirs are, what the society of the holy spirits is like, and what the majesty of the eternal vision of God. And it laments because it is absent from everlasting good things more than it used formerly to weep when it was in fear of eternal evils. And thus it comes about that the perfect compunction 1 Taio, Sent 3. 45; PL 80:902C, abbreviating Gregory, Dial 3. 34; PL 77:300C. The last sentence is not inTaio. Smaragdus would presumably have known the Dialogues more fully than he did Taio’s much larger work. On the Grace of Tears 191 of fear draws the mind to the compunction of love. . . . The soul receives the upper springs when it afflicts itself in tears with desire for the heavenly kingdom. It receives the lower springs when it dreads with weeping the punishments of hell. 2 They used to say of Abba Arsenius that during his whole life while sitting at manual work, he kept a cloth in his bosom on account of the tears that frequently ran from his eyes. 3 Saint Syncletica said, “When people are first converted to God it is hard work and a great struggle;but afterwards they have unspeakable joy. For just as those who want to light a fire first of all inhale smoke, and so obtain what they wish, so ought we to light the divine fire in ourselves with tears and toil. For it is written that our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:24; see Deut 4:24; 9:3). ”4 An old man said, “As we carry around with us everywhere the shadow of our bodies, so must we have the tears of compunction with us wherever we are. ”5 Abba Hyperechius said, “Night and day the monk toils, keeping watch, remaining in prayer; the piercing of his heart produces tears and more speedily arouses the mercy of God. ”6 2 Taio, Sent 3. 45; PL 80:902B–D, quoting Gregory, Dial 3. 34; PL 77:300AB–301A. 3 PL 73:860C (1);see also 794B (163c) and 807AB (211c);PG 65:(105) 106BC (41); Sayings, 16 (18), 41. 4 PL 73:862D (16); see also PG 65:(421) 422AB (1); Sayings, 193 (230–31), 1. 5 PL 73:864B (24); see Wisdom, 3, 8. 6 PL 73:862D–63A (17). . . .

Scriptum est quia Axa filia Caleph suspirans dixit patri suo: Da mihi benedictionem. Terram australem et arentem dedisti mihi, junge et irriguam. Et dedit ei pater suus irriguum superius, et irriguum inferius (Jos. XV); hoc significans quod a Creatore ^(0674D) et Patre nostro Deo, cum magno gemitu quaerenda est a nobis lacrymarum gratia. Sunt namque nonnulli qui jam alia Domini perceperunt dona, quae significabat australis terra, sed adhuc lacrymarum non acceperunt gratiam. (Gregor., lib. III Dialog., c. 34.) Deum enim sitiens anima, prius timore compungitur, post amore. Prius enim sese in lacrymis afficit, quia dum malorum suorum recolit, pro his perpeti supplicia aeterna pertimescit. At vero cum longa moeroris anxietudine fuerit formido consumpta, quaedam jam de praesumptione veniae securitas nascitur, et in amore coelestium gaudiorum animus inflammatur. Et qui prius flebat ne duceretur ad supplicium, postmodum flere amarissime incipit, ^(0675A) quia differtur a regno. Contemplatur etenim mens qui sint illi angelici chori, quae societas sanctorum spirituum, quae majestas aeternae visionis Dei: et amplius plangit quia a bonis perennibus deest, quam flebat prius, cum mala aeterna metuebat. Sicque fit ut perfecta compunctio formidinis trahat animum compunctioni dilectionis. Irriguum quippe superius accipit anima, cum sese in lacrymis coelestis regni desiderio affligit. Irriguum vero inferius accipit, cum inferni supplicia flendo pertimescit. Dicebant de abbate Arsenio quod toto tempore vitae suae sedens ad opus manuum, pannum habebat in sinu propter lacrymas, quae crebro currebant ex oculis ejus. Dixit sancta Syncletice: Labor est et certamen magnum, in primis qui convertuntur ad Dominum, postea autem ^(0675B) inenarrabile gaudium habent. Sicut enim qui ignem accendere volunt, primum infumantur, et sic obtinent quod volunt, ita oportet nos divinum ignem cum lacrymis atque laboribus in nobis ipsis accendere. Scriptum est enim quia Deus noster ignis consumens est (Deut. IV; Hebr. XII). Dixit senex: Quomodo umbram corporum nostrorum ubique nobiscum circumferimus, sic debemus fletum ex compunctione habere nobiscum ubicunque sumus. Dixit abbas Hyperitius: Nocte et die laborat monachus, vigilans, in orationibus permanens, compungens autem cor suum, producit lacrymas, et celerius provocat misericordiam Dei.

  (0675B) CAPUT LXXXI De eo quod sancti monachi filii Dei vocantur. ^(0675C)

192 CHAPTER 81 That Holy Monks Are Called Children of God T he Lord says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God (Matt 5:9). Perfection is in peace, which means there is no more fighting. And so peacemakers are called God’s children because nothing in them fights against God. Those who regulate all their mind’s movements to be a place where God is king are peaceful in themselves. 1 If we are children of God, we have to be peacemakers. For God’s children ought to be peacemakers and humble, meek in mind, simple of heart, pure of speech, innocent of spirit, agreeing in affection, cleaving to one another in oneness of soul. 2 Hence John the Apostle says, See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called and should be children of God (1 John 3:1). Great is the grace our Creator has given us, of both knowing how to love him and being able to do so; and to love as children love their father, since even this would be a great thing, namely, if we were able to love him as faithful slaves love their masters. . . . Now how we are to become God’s children, the same John testifies, But to as many as received him, who believe in his name, he gave power to 1 Smaragdus, Collect, In Natali Sanctorum Plurimorum Martyrum; PL 102:546AB. 2 Smaragdus, Via reg 17; PL 102:957D. That Holy Monks Are Called Children of God 193 become children of God (John 1:12). We become God’s children, then, through faith and love. 3 What great kindness, what great mercy:he is the Only Son, and he did not want to remain alone. . . . But God sent into this world his Only Son, the very same whom he had begotten and through whom he had created all things, not so as to be alone but to have adopted brothers (and sisters). For we are not born of God in the way the only-begotten Son was born, but we are adopted through his grace. 4 By divine gift we first received the power to be adopted, and afterwards we obtained the merit of being God’s children. 5 That is why the same John again says, Beloved, we are now God’s children; and what we will be has not yet been revealed (1 John 3:2). 6 . . . He says again, So we have come to know and we believe the love God has for us (1 John 4:16). We have come to know that Jesus is the Son of God, and that the Father sent him as Savior of the world: so we believe the love God has for us (1 John 4:16). Because, that is, when he had an Only Son, he did not want him to be alone;but in order for him to have brothers (and sisters) he adopted for him others7 who might possess eternal life with him. 8 Abba Pastor said that a certain brother questionedAbba Poemen, saying, “Why is it that in the Gospel the Lord says, No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for a friend (John 15:13). How is this done?”The old man replied, “If anyone hears an evil word from his neighbor, and though able to reply in like vein fights in his heart to put up with it, and does violence to himself lest perchance he give 3 Bede, In 1 Jo 3:1; CCSL 121:300; PL 93:98AB; see CS 82:184. 4 Smaragdus, Collect, InVigilias Natalis Domini, on Jo 1;PL 102:34AB, quoting Augustine, Tr ev Jo 2. 13; CCSL 36:17: PL 35:1394. 5 Smaragdus, Collect, In Vigilias Natalis Domini, on Jo 1; PL 102:34B, immediately following the passage containing the previous quotation. 6 Bede, In 1 Jo 3:2; CCSL 121:301; PL 93:98C; see CS 82:185. 7 Alios, “others, ” is in Smaragdus’s text but not in Bede’s. 8 Bede, In 1 Jo 4:16; CCSL 121:316; PL 93:110CD; see CS 82:209. 194 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel him an evil answer and sadden him—such a man lays down his life for his friend. ”9 It happened once that Abba Pambo was making a journey with the brothers into parts of Egypt, and seeing some layfolk sitting down he said to them. . .

Hinc Dominus ait: Beati pacifici, quoniam filii Dei vocabuntur (Matth. V). In pace perfectio est, ubi nihil repugnat. Et ideo filii Dei pacifici sunt, quoniam nihil in eis resistit Deo. Pacifici autem in semetipsis sunt, qui omnes animi sui motus componentes, fiunt regnum Dei. Si filii Dei sumus, pacifici esse debemus. Pacificos enim esse oportet Dei filios, et humiles, mente mites, corde simplices, sermone puros, animo innocentes, affectu concordes, sibimet unanimiter cohaerentes. Hinc et Joannes apostolus ait: Videte qualem charitatem dedit nobis Pater, ut filii Dei nominemur et simus (I Joan. III). Magna est gratia conditoris nostri quam nobis donavit, ut eum amare et noverimus et possimus: et ita amare, ut patrem filii, cum et hoc magnum esset, ^(0675D) si sic amare illum possemus quomodo fideles servi amant dominos suos. Qualiter autem filii Dei effici debeamus, idem Joannes testatur. Quotquot autem receperunt eum, dedit eis potestatem filios Dei fieri iis qui credunt in nomine ejus (Joan. I). Per fidem ergo et dilectionem filii Dei efficimur. Magna benevolentia, magna misericordia: Unicus natus est, et noluit manere unus. Sed Deus Unicum eumdemque ipsum quem genuerat, et per quem cuncta creaverat, misit in hunc mundum, ut non esset unus, sed fratres haberet adoptatos. Non enim nos nati sumus de Deo quo modo ille Unigenitus, sed adoptati per gratiam ejus sumus. Ex munere enim divino prius potestatem adoptionis accepimus, postea ^(0676A) ut filii Dei esse mereremur, consecuti sumus. Hinc iterum idem Joannes ait: Charissimi, nunc filii Dei sumus, et nondum apparuit quid erimus (I Joan. III). Hinc iterum ipse: Et nos cognovimus, et credimus charitati, quam habet Deus in nobis (I Joan. IV). Cognovimus quia Jesus est Filius Dei, et quia Pater misit eum Salvatorem mundi: et credimus charitati, quam habet Deus in nobis. Quia videlicet cum haberet Unicum, noluit esse unum, sed ut fratres haberet, adoptavit illi alios, qui cum illo possiderent vitam aeternam. Dixit abbas Pastor, quia interrogavit quidam frater abbatem Poemenem, dicens: Quid est quod in Evangelio Dominus dicit: Majorem hac charitatem nemo habet, quam ut quis animam suam pro amico ponat (Joan. XV). Quomodo fit hoc? Respondit ^(0676B) senex: Si quis audit verbum malum a proximo suo, et cum possit ipse similia respondere, pugnat tamen in corde suo portare laborem, et vim sibi facit ne forte respondeat illi malum ut contristet illum, iste talis animam suam ponit pro amico suo. Contigit aliquando abbatem Pabo iter cum fratribus in partes Aegypti facere, et videns quosdam saeculares sedentes, dicit eis: Surgite, et salutate et osculamini monachos, ut benedicamini. Frequenter enim cum Deo loquuntur, et sancta sunt ora eorum.

  (0676B) CAPUT LXXXII. Quod ex virtutibus virtutes, et ex vitiis vitia oriuntur.

195 CHAPTER 82 That Virtues Arise from Virtues, and Vices from Vices A ll the virtues are supported in the sight of the Creator by help from one another. So one virtue on its own being no virtue at all or very little, they support each other by being joined. No things are good if they are not approved in the eyes of the hidden judge by the witness of chastity, or if humility forsakes chastity, or chastity abandons humility. In the presence of the Author of humility and purity, proud chastity and polluted humility can be of no benefit. 1 Thus vice is spawned by vice, and virtue is conceived by virtue. Vice is spawned by vice, as in the case of David, who while he did not avoid adultery, committed murder (2 Sam 11). Again virtue is conceived by virtue, as through the virtue of Gospel preaching the apostles merited the virtue of martyrdom. 2 Saint Gregory said that God required three things from every person who has attained to baptism: right faith with all one’s soul and might, restraint of the tongue, and chastity of body. 3 Abba Evagrius said, “Reading and vigils and prayer make firm the wandering or wavering mind. Hunger and toil and solitude cause 1 Taio, Sent 4. 12: PL 80:925D–26A, quoting Gregory, Mor 21. 3. 6; CCSL 141:1068; PL 76:192A. 2 Isidore, Sent 2. 33. 2–3; CCSL 111:158–59; PL 83:635B. Also in Taio, Sent 4. 12: PL 80:926A. 3 PL 73:855AB (3); see also PG 65:(145) 146B (1); Sayings, 38 (45), 1. 196 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel concupiscence to begin to wither. Psalmody and long-suffering and mercy repress anger. But these (are effective) when employed at opportune times and in suitable measures. What is done inopportunely or without due measure helps only for a little while. ”4 4 PL 73:915D–16A (20); PG 40:1225 (1224)AB; Praktikos 15. . . .

Omnes virtutes in conspectu Conditoris vicaria ope se sublevant, ut (quia una virtus sine alia, vel nulla est omnino, vel minima) vicissim se sua conjunctione ^(0676C) fulciant. Nulla bona sunt caetera, si occulti judicis oculis castitatis testimonio non approbentur, si vel castitatem humilitas deserat, vel humilitatem castitas relinquat. Apud auctorem humilitatis et munditiae prodesse nihil praevalet vel superba castitas, vel humilitas inquinata. Sic vitio vitium gignitur, sic virtus virtute concipitur (Isid., lib. II Sent.). Ex vitio enim vitium gignitur, sicut in David, qui dum non evitavit adulterium, perpetravit homicidium (II Reg. XI). Item virtus virtute concipitur, sicut per virtutem evangelicae praedicationis, virtutem martyrii apostoli meruerunt. Dixit sanctus Gregorius quia haec tria exigit Deus ab omni homine qui est baptismum consecutus, id est, fidem rectam ex tota anima et virtute, linguae continentiam ^(0676D) et castitatem corporis. Dixit abbas Evagrius: Mentem errantem vel nutantem solidat lectio et vigiliae, et oratio. Concupiscentiam vero marcescere facit esuries, et labor, et solitudo. Iracundiam autem reprimit psalmodia, et longanimitas, et misericordia. Sed haec opportunis temporibus et mensuris congruis adhibitis. Quae autem non opportune, vel sine mensura fiunt, ad parvum tempus proficiunt.

  (0676A) CAPUT LXXXIII. Quid sit configi Christi cruci?

197 CHAPTER 83 What Is It to Be Fastened to the Cross of Christ? W hen a monk takes up his cross and follows Christ, mortifying his members on the earth, being dead to the world, configured to the death of Jesus Christ and firmly fixed to the wood of the Lord’s passion, he is fastened to the cross of Christ. (One who follows his footsteps) so that he can imitate his way of life, be gentle as he was, and meek and humble of heart, not responding when struck, not answering curse with curse, but overcoming pride with humility, such a person can say with Paul, (I have been crucified with Christ;) and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me (Gal 2:19-20). 1 Blessed and exceedingly happy is one who, with Christ living in him, through every prayer and thought and work can say, It is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God (Gal 2:20). 2 Christ lives in one in whom live wisdom, righteousness, truth, sanctification, peace and fortitude, and the rest of the virtues. One who does not have them cannot say, Christ lives in me. But Christ also lives in those who follow his footsteps and are not captive to any worldly concupiscence, so that living for God they seem dead to the world:(f)or all that is in the world—the desire of 1 Smaragdus, Collect, Heb 20 post Pent, on Eph 4; PL 102:480CD, quoting Jerome, In Eph 4:23–24; PL 26:508D. 2 Smaragdus, Collect, Heb 20 post Pent, on Eph 4; PL 102:480CD, quoting Jerome, In Gal 2:20; PL 26:346B. 198 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches (1 John 2:16). Monks who have food and clothing must be content with these, because whatever of this world is lusted after or desired must be quite foreign to monks and is alien to the faith, for it is superfluous. 3 A certain old man, when asked by a brother what he might do to be saved, stripped himself of his garment, and girding his loins and extending his hands said, “Thus must a monk be naked from all that is of the world, and crucify himself against the temptations and struggles of the world. ”4 Abba Hyperechius said, “A monk’s obedience is pleasing to God, and one who possesses it is heard when he prays, and will stand with confidence beside the crucified. For in this way did the Lord come to the cross, that is, he became obedient even unto death” (Phil 2:8). 5 3 No source traced for this passage. 4 PL 73:891B (16). 5 PL 73:950AB (11); PG 65:431 (432)A (8); Sayings, 200 (239), 8. . . .

Tollens monachus crucem suam, et Christum sequens mortificatis membris super terram, et mundo mortuus, et configuratus morti Jesu Christi, et in ligno Dominicae passionis affixus, hic configitur cruci ^(0677A) Christi. Qui vestigia ejus ita sectatur, ut conversationem illius imitari possit, ut sit mansuetus sicut ille fuit, et mitis et humilis corde, verberatus non respondeat, maledictus non remaledicat, sed vincat in humilitate superbiam; iste cum Paulo dicere potest: Christo crucifixus sum cruci, et, vivo autem jam non ego, vivit vero in me Christus (Gal. II). Beatus multumque felix qui vivente in se Christo per singulas orationes, cogitationes et opera, potest dicere, Vivit in me Christus, et, quod vivo, in fide vivo Filii Dei (Ibid.). Vivit autem in eo Christus in quo vivit sapientia, justitia, veritas, sanctificatio, pax et fortitudo, caeteraeque virtutes, quas qui non habet, non potest dicere, vivit in me Christus. Vivit vero et in eo Christus, qui vestigia sectatur ejus, et nulla ^(0677B) mundi concupiscentia capitur, ut Deo vivens, mundo mortuus videatur: Quoniam omne quod est in mundo, concupiscentia carnis est, et concupiscentia oculorum, et superbia vitae (I Joan. II). Monachi autem habentes victum et vestimentum, his debent esse contenti, quia et a monachis extraneum et a fide debet esse alienum quidquid de hoc mundo concupiscitur vel desideratur, nam superfluum est. Interrogatus quidam senex a fratre quid faceret ut salvus esset, ille exspolians se vestimento suo, et cingens lumbos suos, atque extendens manus suas, dixit: Sic debet monachus nudus esse ab omni materia saeculi, et crucifigere se adversus tentationes atque certamina mundi. Dixit abbas Hyperitius: Quia grata est Deo monachi obedientia, quam qui possidet, ^(0677C) quod poscit exauditur, et cum fiducia Crucifixo astabit. Etenim Dominus sic venit ad crucem, scilicet: Factus obediens usque ad mortem (Phil. II).

  (0677C) CAPUT LXXXIV. Ut monachi cor habeant purum et conscientiam bonam.

199 CHAPTER 84 That Monks Are to Have a Pure Heart and a Good Conscience S cripture cries out to us, saying, But the aim of the precept is love from a pure heart, and a good conscience (1 Tim 1:5). When he says “aim” or “end, ” he is indicating the perfection of the precept and of the whole law. It is charity, then, that makes us dear to God and to people, despisers of this world and lovers of all things good; it is the source of all good things, the origin of charisms and the perfection of all the virtues. A pure heart is that in which there is no deceit, no evil schemings; where no pretence but complete purity reigns; where there is no holding one thing in the heart and uttering something else with the mouth; where the saying is not realized: They spoke empty things, each to the neighbor (Ps 11(12):2). But, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matt 5:8). The clean of hand and pure of heart . . . will receive blessing from the Lord (Ps 23(24):4. 5). A good conscience is one where there are no dead works, but that is cleansed from all the filth of sins. And so the apostle Paul says to the Hebrews, Through the Holy Spirit he (Christ) offered himself unstained to God, and has cleansed our conscience from dead works (Heb 9:14), that is, from sins. For dead works are understood to be sins. So a good conscience is one where there is innocence whole and pure, complete simplicity and unfeigned faith. That is doubtless a good conscience where there is no vice to point the accusing finger, no taint of sin to cause remorse or weight of crime to press charges;that hates no one, hurts no one, slanders no one, annoys no 200 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel one, envies no one, but is agreeable to all, inoffensive to all, meek, peaceful, and kind. 1 Abba Agathon said, “A monk must not allow his conscience to accuse him of anything. ”2 Monks, then, must understand that as angels stand with fear and trembling before their Creator singing hymns, so must monks stand before God singing psalms with fear and a pure heart at the time of prayer. Therefore the glory of the monk, and his praise in the sight of angels and humans, is humility and simplicity. 3 The glory of the monk is meekness of heart and silence. 4 1 No source traced for this passage. 2 PL 73:933B (2, first sentence only);PG 65:(109) 110BC (2); Sayings, 17 (20), 2. 3 No source traced for this saying. 4 Pseudo-Macarius, Ep ad mon; PL 103:452B; see Dekkers, Clavis 313, 1843. . . .

Clamat enim nobis Scriptura dicens: Finis praecepti est charitas de corde puro et conscientia bona (I Tim. I). Finis dicit, id est, perfectio praecepti et totius legis. Charitas ergo quae nos charos Deo et hominibus facit, et istius saeculi contemptores, ac bonorum omnium amatores, fons est omnium bonorum, et origo charismatum, et cunctarum perfectio virtutum. Cor autem purum illud est ubi nullus dolus est, nec aliquod machinatur malum; ubi simulatio ^(0677D) nulla, sed tota puritas regnat; ubi non corde aliud tenetur, et aliud ore profertur; ubi non invenitur illud: Vana locuti sunt, unusquisque ad proximum suum. Beati enim mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt (Matth. V). Et innocens manibus, et mundo corde, hic accipiet benedictionem a Domino (Psal. XXIII). Conscientia enim illa bona est, in qua non sunt opera mortua, sed ab omnibus peccatorum sordibus est mundata. Unde et ad Hebraeos Paulus apostolus ait: Qui per Spiritum sanctum semetipsum obtulit immaculatum Deo, et mundavit conscientiam nostram ab operibus mortuis (Hebr. IX), id est, peccatis. Opera enim mortua intelliguntur peccata. Ibi ergo est conscientia bona, ubi est innocentia ^(0678A) bona et pura, simplicitas tota et fides non ficta. Illa est procul dubio conscientia bona, ubi non est vitiorum accusatio ulla, quam nec peccati remordet culpa, nec criminum moles accusat; quae nullum odit, nulli nocet, nulli detrahit, nullum molestat, nulli invidet, sed omnibus est suavis, omnibus innocua, mitis, pacifica, atque benigna. Dixit abbas Agathon: Non debet monachus permittere conscientiae suae ut accuset eum in quacunque re. Intelligere ergo debent monachi ut sicut angeli cum timore et tremore hymnos canentes assistunt Creatori, ita et monachi debent in psalmodiis coram Deo cum metu et corde puro consistere tempore orationis. Gloriatio ergo monachi, et laus in conspectu angelorum et hominum, humilitas, et simplicitas ^(0678B) cordis. Gloriatio monachi, mansuetudo cordis et silentium.

  (0678B) CAPUT LXXXV. Ut divites sint monachi in operibus bonis, et thesaurizent sibi fundamentum bonum

201 CHAPTER 85 That Monks Are to Be Rich in Good Works, and Store Up for Themselves a Solid Foundation M onks, who are not rich in earthly things, must be rich in holy virtues and good works, because it is not fleshly but spiritual riches that free the soul on the day of chastisement and vengeance. Hence Solomon says, Riches will not profit in the day of vengeance, but righteousness will deliver from death (Prov 11:4). The foundation he calls solid signifies either Christ or the reward of good works that every monk by living well and righteously is storing up in heaven, that he may there be well established like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved forever (Ps 124(125):1). For our eternal home not made by hand (see 2 Cor 5:1) is being built in heaven with good works if it is established on the rock (see Matt 7:24), that is, on Christ; it will not suffer ruin from the onset of anything that comes upon it. It has Christ as its foundation, and so will not fear the assault of anyone. Earthly treasure is broken into and stolen by robbers because it does not have Christ in its foundation. But the treasure that is being stored up in heaven by holy monks, because it has Christ in its foundation, is not broken into or stolen by robbers. The Lord himself orders us to lay up treasure there when he says, Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust drives out, nor do thieves break in and steal (Matt 6:20). The apostle declares that we take hold of true life there if we carefully keep the Lord’s precepts while we live in the present life. 202 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel Without doubt they take hold of true life in the future age who, while still living in the world, daily store up for themselves the treasure of their good works. And so elsewhere it is written: Place your treasure in the precepts of the Most High, and it will profit you more than gold (Sir 29:14). For earthly treasure holds deceitful riches;but heavenly treasure prepares life that is both true and eternal. In comparison with this transitory life, that is called true life in which monks rich in virtues reign happily with Christ forever. 1 Zachary once went to hisAbba Silvanus and found him in ecstasy, with his hands stretched out to heaven. When he saw this he closed the door and went out. And entering around the sixth and the ninth hour he found him in the same attitude. About the eleventh hour he knocked, went in and found him resting, and he said to him, “What was wrong today, Father?”And he told him, “I was sick today, my son. ” He grasped his feet and said, “I will not let you go unless you tell me what you saw. ” The old man answered him, “I was caught up to heaven, and I saw the glory of God, and I stood there until just now, and now I have been dismissed. ”2 1 No source traced for this passage. 2 PL 73:993A (1); PG 65:409 (410)A (3); Sayings, 186–87 (222–23), 3. . . .

Monachi, qui divites non sunt in rebus terrenis, divites esse debent in virtutibus sanctis et operibus bonis, quia non carnales, sed spirituales divitiae liberant animam in die vindictae et ultionis. Unde et Salomon ait: Non proderunt divitiae in die ultionis. Justitia autem liberabit a morte (Prov. XI). Fundamentum enim quod dicit bonum, sive Christum, sive bonorum operum significat praemium, quod sibi unusquisque monachus bene et juste vivendo thesaurizat in coelo, ut illic bene fundatus, quasi mons ^(0678C) Sion, non moveatur in aeternum (Ps. CXXIV). Domus enim nostra aeterna, non manu facta (II Cor. V), quae bonis operibus aedificatur in coelo, si supra petram (Matth. VII), id est supra Christum, fuerit fundata, a nullius supervenientis impetu patietur ruinam. Christum enim habet fundamentum, ideo nullius timebit impulsum. Thesaurus enim terrenus, quia Christum non habet in fundamento, a latronibus effoditur et furatur. Thesaurus vero qui in coelis a sanctis monachis thesaurizatur, quia Christum habet in fundamento, nec effoditur a latronibus nec furatur. Ibi enim nos ipse Dominus thesaurizare jubet, cum dicit: Thesaurizate vobis thesauros in coelo, ubi nec aerugo, nec tinea exterminat, nec fures effodiunt, aut furantur (Matth. VI). Ibi et Apostolus ^(0678D) veram nos denuntiat apprehendere vitam; si dum vivimus in praesenti, sollicite Domini custodierimus praecepta. Sine dubio illi veram vitam apprehendunt in futuro saeculo, qui adhuc viventes in mundo, illic bonorum suorum operum quotidie sibimetipsis condunt thesaurum. Hinc et alibi scriptum est: Pone thesaurum tuum in praeceptis Altissimi, et proderit tibi magis quam aurum (Eccli. XIX). Thesaurus enim terrenus divitias servat fallaces. Thesaurus vero coelestis vitam veram pariter praeparat et aeternam. Ad comparationem enim istius transitoriae vitae illa dicitur vera vita in qua virtutibus divites monachi, in perpetuo feliciter cum Christo regnant. Abiit aliquando Zacharias ad abbatem suum Sylvanum, ^(0679A) et invenit eum in excessu mentis, et erant manus ejus extensae in coelum; et cum vidisset ita, clausit ostium et exiit. Et intrans circa horam sextam atque nonam, invenit eum eodem modo. Circa decimam vero horam pulsavit, et ingressus invenit eum quiescentem, et dicit ei: Quid habuisti hodie, Pater? Qui dixit ei: Infirmatus sum hodie, fili. Ille vero tenens pedes ejus, dicebat: Non te dimittam, nisi indicaveris mihi quid vidisti. Respondit ei senex: Ego in coelum raptus sum, et vidi gloriam Dei, et illic steti usque modo, et nunc dimissus sum.

CHAPTER 86
On the Eternal Dwelling That God Has Prepared for the Saints

 (0679A) CAPUT LXXXVI. De mansione aeterna quae a Deo praeparata est sanctis

There our youth will be renewed like the eagle’s (Ps 102(103):5); there we shall receive a crown of beauty and a garment of delight from the hand of the Lord, and we shall say on that day, Let our soul rejoice in the Lord, because he has clothed us with the garment of salvation and righteousness, and has surrounded us with the raiment of joy.

 Illic renovabitur sicut aquilae, juventus nostra (Psal. CII), illic percipiemus coronam pulchritudinis, et vestem jucunditatis de manu Domini, et dicemus in illa die: Laetetur anima nostra in Domino, quia induit nos vestimento salutis et justitiae, et circumdedit nos indumento laetitiae.

 CHAPTER 87 How Humans Become Blessed

CHAPTER 87
How Humans Become Blessed

  (0680A) CAPUT LXXXVII. Quomodo beatus efficitur homo.

BLESSED is the one who hates this world and whose meditation is only on God. Blessed is the one who abhors sin and malice, who loves God as the only kind and loving Redeemer , and constantly has chaste and holy thoughts. Blessed is the one who has been cleansed of all polluted thoughts, and is not involved in the actions of this world, but being totally free in the Lord has been delivered from all the exceedingly vain affairs of this world. Blessed is the one who has always kept in mind that fearful day, who has hastened to wash with fountains of tears and always to attend to the soul’s wounds. Blessed is the one who has become like the clouds so as to produce the rain of tears with which to be able to extinguish the flames of all the vices. Blessed are those who walk in the way of the Lord’s commandments (see Ps 118(119):1. 3), and living continually in holy works have kept their soul spotless. Blessed are those who have grown daily in good works through holy discipline, having in the Lord a sure hope of seeing him in his brightness, his kingdom and his glory. Blessed are those who have been mindful of the Lord’s precept and carefully kept his commandments so as to work and live in them. Blessed are those who have placed a guard over their mouth and a sentry at the door of their lips, so as not to turn aside to malicious words (see Ps 140(141):3-4). Many are the ways by which people become blessed, as the Lord says in the Gospel, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:3-10). 1 1 Ephrem, De beatitudine animae; the second and third beatitudes are reversed in order. For reference see D. Hemmerdinger Iliadou, “Éphrem (Versions), ” DSp. 4:819 in paragraph 3. . . .

Beatus qui odio habuerit hunc mundum, et tantummodo meditatio ejus fuerit in Deo. Beatus qui ^(0680B) exsecratus fuerit peccatum et malitiam, et Deum solum benignum, et pium dilexerit Redemptorem, et castos jugiter et sanctos habuerit cogitatus. Beatus qui ab omnibus pollutis cogitationibus fuerit emundatus, et non fuerit in mundi istius actibus implicatus: sed ex integro liber in Domino, ab omnibus mundi istius negotiis vanissimis liberatus. Beatus qui semper recordatus fuerit de die illa tremenda, et festinaverit lacrymarum fontibus ablui, et animae suae vulnera semper curare. Beatus qui fuerit effectus tanquam nubes, ad proferendam pluviam lacrymarum, per quas possit exstinguere flammas omnium vitiorum: Beatus qui ambulaverit in via mandatorum Domini (Psal. CXVIII), et in sanctis operibus jugiter conversatus, immaculatam servaverit ^(0680C) animam suam. Beatus qui in bonis operibus quotidie per sanctam creverit disciplinam, habens in Domino spem certam, ut videat eum in claritate sua, et regno, et gloria. Beatus qui meminerit praecepti Domini et mandata ejus sollicite custodierit, ut operetur et vivat in eis. Beatus qui posuerit custodiam ori suo, et ostium circumstantiae labiis suis, ut non declinet in verba malitiae (Psal. CXL). Multis enim modis beati efficiuntur homines, sicut in Evangelio Dominus ait: Beati pauperes spiritu, quoniam ipsorum est regnum coelorum. Beati mites, quoniam ipsi possidebunt terram. Beati qui lugent, quoniam ipsi consolabuntur. Beati qui esuriunt et sitiunt justitiam, quoniam ipsi saturabuntur. Beati misericordes, quoniam ipsi misericordiam consequentur. Beati ^(0680D) mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt. Beati pacifici, quoniam filii Dei vocabuntur. Beati qui persecutionem patiuntur propter justitiam, quoniam ipsorum est regnum coelorum (Matth. V).

  (0680A) CAPUT LXXXVIII. De hora exitus et separatione animae a corpore.

207 CHAPTER 88 On the Hour of Death and the Separation of Soul from Body B lessed are those who always have the day of their death before their eyes, and hasten to be found ready at that hour, without any fear coming from sin or from a bad conscience. Blessed are those who find assurance in that hour of their death, when the soul will be separated from the body; for the separation takes place with great fear and great sorrows. The angels will come to take up the soul and will separate it from the body and lead it to the tribunal of the immortal and dread judge. But when it remembers its works it begins to tremble, and seeing and considering what it has done, it becomes very afraid to leave, out of the fear and great dread it feels. But in fear and dread it advances to the eternal judgment. 1 So everyone must live with solicitude . . . (lest the soul be snatched amid its iniquities and its life finish with sin). We are ignorant and uncertain of our coming death, and while people are not thinking of dying they are taken away. . . . For the devil inflames people to vices while they are living, and suddenly when they are dying tries to drag them away to torments. . . . Suddenly, at an hour they know not, they are snatched away by a death unforeseen; swallowed up by the deep, they are handed over to be tortured by 1 Ephrem, De beatitudine animae; for reference see D. Hemmerdinger Iliadou, “Éphrem (Versions), ” DSp. 4:819 in paragraph 3. 208 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel the eternal fires of Gehenna. It is written of them, 2 They spend their days among good things, and in a moment they go down to the lower world (Job 21:13). For the apostate angels take the souls of the wicked as they depart the body, to be themselves their torturers in punishments who were their counselors in vices. (Sometimes) the peaceful summoning of the just commends their most virtuous end, so that it may be understood that they belong to the company of the holy angels from their being taken away from this body without severe distress. And so although human feeling ordains that we weep for such people, faith forbids us to mourn. For those are to be lamented who are swallowed up in the depths of hell, not those who are received rejoicing into the court of paradise. 3 We read that when a certain old man was dying in Scetis, the brothers surrounded his bed and dressed him and began to weep. But he opened his eyes and laughed. And he laughed a second time. And a third. When the brothers saw this, they asked him, “Tell us, Abba, why do you laugh while we are weeping?”And he said to them, “I laughed a first time because you are afraid of death. I laughed a second time because you are not prepared. But I laughed a third time because I am going from labor to rest. ”When he said this, the old man at once closed his eyes in death. 4 They used to say of Abba Sisoes that on the day of his falling asleep, while the brothers were seated around him, his face shone like the sun, and he said to them, “See, Abba Anthony is coming. ”And after a little while he again said to them, “See, the choir of prophets is coming. ”And again his face shone and he said, “See, the choir of apostles is coming. ”And his face shone twice as brightly still, and he was speaking with some persons. They asked the old man, saying , “Father, with whom are you speaking?” He said to them, “See, angels have come to receive me, and I am asking to be allowed a little time to repent. ” The seniors said to him, “You do not need 2 Isidore, has De quibus bene per prophetam dicitur, “Of whom it is well said through the prophet. ” 3 Isidore, Sent 3. 62. 3a, 4ac, 5b, 11, 10, 12 (in that order); CCSL 111:328–30; PL 83:736C–47A. 738AB. 4 PL 73:940C (52); see also 793AB (159); Wisdom, 41, 147. On the Hour of Death and the Separation of Soul from Body 209 repentance, Father. ” But he told them, “I do not really know that I have begun to repent. ”And they all knew that he was perfect. And. . .

Beatus qui semper habuerit diem exitus sui ante oculos, et festinaverit in illa hora paratus et sine aliquo timore peccati vel pravae conscientiae inveniri. Beatus qui invenerit fiduciam in illa hora exitus sui, quando anima separabitur a corpore: cum magno namque metu magnisque doloribus separatur. Venient enim angeli assumere animam, et separabunt eam a corpore, et perducent ante tribunal immortalis ^(0681A) et metuendi judicis. At illa memorans operum suorum, contremiscit, et videns et considerans actus suos, pro metu et timore horrendo egredi pertimescit. Tamen tremens et metuens ad aeternum pergit judicium. Unde sollicite debet unusquisque vivere, ne forte in iniquitatibus suis rapiatur, simulque finiatur vita cum culpa. (Isid., lib. III Sent., cap. 62.) Venturi enim exitus ignorantia incerta est, et dum mori quisque non existimat, tollitur. Nam incentor diabolus eos quos viventes accendit ad vitia, subito morientes pertrahere nititur ad tormenta, et repente hora qua nesciunt, improviso exitu rapiuntur, atque absorbente profundo, cruciandi aeternis gehennae incendiis deputantur. De quibus scriptum est: Ducunt in bonis dies suos, et in puncto ad inferna descendunt ^(0681B) (Job. XXI). Pravorum enim animas hominum apostatae angeli excipiunt a corpore exeuntes, ut sint eis ipsi tortores in poenis qui fuerunt suasores in vitiis. Finem vero justorum optimum vocatio tranquilla nonnunquam commendat, ut ex eo intelligantur ad sanctorum angelorum pertinere consortium, ex quo ab hoc corpore sine dura vexatione tolluntur. Unde et pro talibus quamvis pietas jubeat flere, fides tamen vetat lugere. Illi enim sunt deplorandi, quos barathrum absorbet inferni, non quos aula laetificandos excipit paradisi. Legimus de quodam sene, qui cum moreretur in Scythi, circumdederunt fratres lectum ejus, et vestierunt eum, et coeperunt flere. Ille autem aperuit oculos, et risit. Adjecit iterum ridere. Hoc etiam factum est tertio. Quod cum ^(0681C) viderent fratres, rogaverunt eum dicentes: Dic nobis, abba, quare, nobis flentibus, tu rides? Et dixit eis: Primo risi, quia vos timetis mortem. Secundo risi, quia non estis parati. Tertio autem risi, quia ex labore ad requiem vado. Hoc cum dixisset, statim clausit oculos senex in mortem. Dicebant et de abbate Sysoi quod in die dormitionis suae cum sederent circa eum fratres, splenduit tanquam sol facies ejus, et dixit ad eos: Ecce, abbas Antonius venit. Et post paululum rursum dicit eis: Ecce, chorus prophetarum venit. Et iterum amplius facies ejus resplenduit, et dixit: Ecce, chorus apostolorum venit; et dupliciter refulsit adhuc facies ejus, et ecce ipse cum aliquibus loquebatur. Deprecati sunt autem illum senes, dicentes: Cum quo loqueris, Pater? ^(0681D) Qui dixit eis: Ecce angeli venerunt accipere me, et rogo ut dimittar poenitere modicum. Dicunt ei seniores: Non indiges poenitentia, Pater. Dixit autem illis: Vere nescio meipsum, vel initium sumpsisse poenitendi. Et cognoverunt omnes quia perfectus esset. Et rursus subito facta est facies ejus sicut sol, et timuerunt omnes. Dixit autem eis: Videte, ecce Dominus venit dicens: Auferam (Al., afferte) vas mihil electionis eremi. Et continuo reddidit spiritum. Et facto fulgore repletus est totus locus ille odore suavitatis.

  (0681D) CAPUT LXXXIX. De innocentia.

210 CHAPTER 89 On Innocence T hose are truly innocent who do not harm themselves or anyone else. 1 But those who harm themselves, even though they do not harm others, are not innocent. 2 Trusting in God about his own innocence, David used to say, Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my innocence, and trusting in the Lord I shall not be weakened (Ps 25(26):1). And again:But as for me, I entered in my innocence;redeem me, and have mercy on me (Ps 25(26):11). And when he asked the Lord who should dwell in his tent, or who should rest on his holy mountain (see Ps 14(15):1), he heard the divine response saying, The clean of hands and pure of heart, who have not received their life in vain, and have not sworn deceitfully to their neighbor. They will receive blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God their salvation (Ps 23(24):4-5). 3 Rejoice, innocence, and exult. Rejoice, I say, because you are everywhere unharmed, everywhere secure. If you are tempted you make progress;if you are humbled you are raised up;if you fight you win;if you are put to death you are crowned. You are free in slavery, safe in dangers, joyful in imprisonment. Every kind of accusation is leveled at you, every kind of malice is subjected to you. The powerful honor you, rulers support you, great ones seek you, and even those who attack you sometimes desire you. The good obey you, the evil envy you. Your rivals are jealous of you, your enemies succumb, and 1 See Augustine, En in ps 100; PL 37:1286. 2 Sirmondus, Index in opera Prosperi; PL 51:977. 3 No source traced for this passage. On Innocence 211 you can never fail to be victorious, even if in the midst of people you do not have a just judge. 4 They used to say of Abba Paul that he would take in his hands horned snakes, serpents, asps, and scorpions, and he would split them through the middle. When the brothers saw this they excused themselves and asked him, “Tell us what you did to receive this grace?” He said to them, “Forgive me, Fathers. If anyone possesses purity and innocence, all things are subject to him, as they were to Adam when he was in paradise before he transgressed the divine commandment. ”5 4 Joannes Chrysostomus, Hom 7, On Joseph sold by his brothers; PLS 4:680 (and with variant readings at 684). 5 PL 73:1002D (11); see also PG 65:379 (380)D–(381) 382A; Sayings, 171 (204), 1. . . .

Ille vere innocens est qui nec aliis nec sibi nocet. ^(0682A) Qui vero sibimetipsi nocet, quamvis aliis non noceat, innocens non est. De propria enim innocentia in Domino confidens David, aiebat: Judica me, Domine, quoniam ego in innocentia mea ingressus sum, et in Domino sperans, non infirmabor (Psal. XV). Et iterum: Ego autem in innocentia mea ingressus sum, redime me, et miserere mei (Psal. XXV). Et interrogans Dominum, quis habitaret in tabernaculo suo, aut quis requiesceret in monte sancto ejus (Psal. XIV)? responsum audivit divinum dicens: Innocens manibus et mundo corde, qui non accepit in vano animam suam, nec juravit in dolo proximo suo. Hic accipiet benedictionem a Domino, et misericordiam a Deo salutari suo (Psal. XXIII). (J. Chrys., serm. de Joseph. vend. a fratr.) Gaude, innocentia, et exsulta; gaude, ^(0682B) inquam, quia ubique illaesa es, ubique secura: si tentaris, proficis; si humiliaris, erigeris; si pugnas, vincis; si occideris, coronaris. Tu in servitute libera es, in periculis tuta, in custodia laeta. Tibi omnis reatus addicitur, tibi universa malitia subjugatur. Te potentes honorant, suscipiunt principes, magnates exquirunt, etiam illi te nonnunquam desiderant qui impugnant. Tibi boni parent, mali invident. Zelant aemuli, inimici succumbunt, nec unquam poteris victrix non esse, etiamsi tibi inter homines judex justus defuerit. Dicebant de abbate Paulo quod teneret manibus cerastas qui dicuntur cornuti, et serpentes et aspides atque scorpiones. et scindebat eos per medium. Videntes autem haec fratres, satisfacientes ei interrogabant eum, dicentes: Dic nobis quid ^(0682C) operatus es ut acciperes gratiam istam? Qui ait eis: Ignoscite mihi, Patres. Si quis possederit puritatem et innocentiam, omnia subjiciuntur ei, sicut Adae, quando erat in paradiso ante praevaricationem mandati divini.

  (0682C) CAPUT XC. Quid sit sanctificare jejunium.

212 CHAPTER 90 What It Means to Sanctify a Fast W hen we ponder the victories the Lord won when he was fasting, we recognize the triumph of our salvation; let us accordingly sanctify our fasts with religious observances. What else is it, to sanctify a fast (see Joel 1:14), than in view of a fast to will what is holy, do what is just, avoid what is sinful? . . . That person sanctifies a fast who quenches the flames of raging anger with the mildness of a meek mind. That person sanctifies a fast who averts wanton eyes from gazing on what is shameful, using the reins of chastity. Those persons sanctify a fast who scatter the invectives hurled at them, knocking them back with the shield of patience. Those persons sanctify a fast who curb the uproar of litigants with the art of peaceful speech and language adopting the more prudent approach. Those persons sanctify a fast who root out the thorns of vain thoughts rising up in them, using the furrow of the gospel ploughshare, like one who ploughs his own heart. Those persons sanctify a fast who relieve the needs of the destitute according to their means, with the kindness of a merciful hand. Those persons above all sanctify a fast who, intent on the precepts of the divine law in all circumstances, spit out from their heart the temptations of the devil. And so, beloved, if we want to offer God pleasing fasts, let us be strong in faith, just in judgments, faithful in friendship, patient in wrongs, moderate in disputes, shrinking from shameful speech, steadfast against unfairness, sober in feasting, self-restrained in pleasures , simple in charity, cautious amid the crafty, sorrowing with the What It Means to Santify a Fast 213 sad, resisting the obstinate, not given to suspicion, silent among those who speak evil, and of like mind with the humble. If we wish to sanctify our fasts with such virtues, we shall by the Lord’s gift with unwavering trust and a joyful conscience reach the festivity of the Pasch and the joys of the heavenly promises. 1 1 Pseudo-Maximus, Hom 1 On the Fast of Lent; PL 57:307AB–8AB. This homily and those quoted in the next chapter are not found in MaximusTaurinensis, Sermonum collectio antiqua, nonnullis sermonibus extravagantibus adiectis, ed. Almut Mutzenbecher, CCSL 23 (Tournhout:Brepols, 1962). They appear under the name of Maximus of Turin in Migne’s Patrologia Latina. . . .

Quia jejunantis Domini victorias recensentes, triumphum nostrae salutis agnovimus, jejunia nostra religionis sanctificemus obsequiis. Quid autem est aliud, sanctificare jejunium (Joel. I), nisi jejunii causa sancta velle, justa facere, iniqua vitare. Sanctificat ille jejunium, qui flammas saevientis iracundiae, mansuetae mentis placabilitate restinguit. Sanctificat jejunium, qui lascivientes oculos turpi ab ^(0682D) aspectu habenis castitatis avertit. (Maximus, homil. 1, de jejunio Quadragesimae.) Sanctificat jejunium, qui conviciorum jacula scuto patientiae repercussa, dispergit. Sanctificat jejunium, qui litigantium tumultus pacifici sermonis et linguae prudentioris arte compescit. Sanctificat jejunium, qui consurgentes in semetipso vanarum cogitationum spinas evangelico sulcante vomere, velut quidam pectoris sui arator, excidit. Sanctificat jejunium, qui inopias egenorum pro quantitate substantiae suae miserantis manus humanitate solatur. Apprime sanctificat ille jejunium, qui per omnia praeceptis divinae legis intentus, diabolica a corde suo respuit tentamenta. Et ideo, fratres charissimi, si volumus Deo placita exhibere jejunia, ^(0683A) simus in fide fortes, in judiciis justi, in amicitia fideles, in injuriis patientes, in contentionibus moderati, refugientes turpiloquia, adversus iniqua constantes, in conviviis sobrii, in voluptatibus continentes, in charitate simplices, inter subdolos cauti, condolentes tristibus, contumacibus resistentes, in suspicionibus parci, inter maliloquos taciti, inter humiles coaequales. Si hujusmodi virtutibus nostra voluerimus sanctificare jejunia, tribuente Domino ad festivitatem Paschalis gratiae, et ad gaudia coelestium promissionum indubitata fiducia, et conscientia laetiore veniemus

  (0683A) CAPUT XCI. Quid sit bene jejunare. ^0683B

214 CHAPTER 91 What It Means to Fast Well T hose people fast well who sustain their hunger by satisfying and refreshing the poor. Those people fast well who, curbing themselves by the memory of the divine judgment, withhold themselves from enjoying any allurements. Those people fast well who chastise their flesh (sprouting as it is with the seeds of the vices) by meditation on holy virtues and love of sobriety. Those people fast well who forgive the injuries a neighbor inflicts with the gentleness of a peaceful heart. Those people offer a most pleasing fast to God who guard their mind from wrongful thoughts, their eyes from lust, and their tongue and hands from contention. 1 And so let chastity sanctify our fast, patience adorn it, kindness foster it, mercy make it joyful, and humility commend it, in such manner that we may always commend ourselves to divine grace with a twofold fast, that is, of body and of mind. 2 1 Pseudo-Maximus, Hom 7 On the Fast of Lent; PL 57:325A–26A. Also, see chapter 90, footnote 1, of the present book. 2 Pseudo-Maximus, Hom 8 On the Fast of Lent;PL 57:328AB. Also, see chapter 90, footnote 1, of the present book. . . .

Bene jejunat quicunque esuriem suam, refecti pauperis satietate sustentat. Bene jejunat qui divini recordatione judicii semetipsum refrenans, ab omni se illecebrarum voluptate suspendit. Bene jejunat, qui carnem suam vitiorum germina pullulantem, sanctarum meditatione virtutum, et sobrietatis amore castigat. Bene jejunat, qui fraternas injurias pacifici pectoris lenitate dimittit. (Maxim. hom. 3, de Jejunio Quadrages.) Gratissimum Deo defert jejunium, qui mentem suam a pravis cogitationibus, oculos a concupiscentia, linguam manusque a lite custodit. Et sic jejunium nostrum sanctificet castitas, ornet patientia, benignitas foveat, misericordia laetificet, commendet humilitas, ut gemino quodam corporis animique jejunio divinae nos gratiae semper commendemus.

(0683C)  (0683) CAPUT XCII. De eo quod scriptum est: Multi ab Oriente et Occidente venient, et recumbent cum Abraham, et Isaac, et Jacob in regno coelorum (Matth. VIII).

215 CHAPTER 92 On What Is Written: Many Will Come from East and West and Will Recline with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 8:11) M any will come from east and west and recline at table, not lying down bodily but resting spiritually, not drinking in time but feasting eternally. They will recline at table in the kingdom of God, where there is light and beauty, joy and exultation, glory and blessing, where there is the light of the eyes and the longevity of eternal life; where all find their pleasure, all rejoice, where those blessed Fathers recline at table and all the prophets rest, where the apostles and evangelists are seated on glorious thrones, where the multitude of martyrs is glorified in eternal glory, where the great crowd of virgins exults forever, wearing the crown of immaculate virginity. O dearly beloved, unanimous assembly, cheerful gathering, brilliant society! Such is the well-pleasing exultation announced ages ago, such is the rest spoken of from the beginning. All who love the Lord have hastened to it; all from among the nations who believe in the Lord and observe the practice of religion are gathered to it. Let all of us as well make our way to it. O religious children of God, let us hasten to it with all our strength! Let nothing call us back, nothing delay us, nothing hinder us from hurrying to this desirable banquet. Let us banish from ourselves all negligence, and from our 216 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel mind all sloth;let us cast far from us the body’s impediments so that we may become family members of this beatitude and rest, and be found worthy of this holy feasting, as has been said. 1 1 Paulus Diaconus, (ex Origine) Hom 54; PL 95:1195D–96A. . . .

Multi venient ab Oriente et Occidente, et recumbent, non carnaliter jacentes, sed spiritualiter requiescentes; non temporaliter potantes, sed aeterne epulantes. Recumbent in regno Dei, ubi lux et species, ubi laetitia et exsultatio, ubi gloria et benedictio, ubi lux oculorum et longaevitas vitae aeternae: ubi omnes jucundantur, ubi omnes gaudent, ubi Patres illi beati recumbunt; ubi omnes prophetae requiescunt, ubi apostoli et evangelistae super gloriosos sedent thronos, ubi multitudo martyrum in gloria aeterna gloriatur, ubi copiositas virginum in saecula exsultat, portans ^(0683D) coronam immaculatae virginitatis. (Aug., serm. 1, de festo omnium sanctorum.) O dulcissimi fratres, unanimis conventio, hilaris congregatio, fulgens conjunctio. Ita est a saeculo beneplacita et annuntiata exsultatio, ista ab initio narrata requies. In istam festinarunt ire omnes Dominum diligentes, ad istam colliguntur omnes ex gentibus Domino credentes, religiositatem servantes, in eam et nos omnes pergamus. O religiosi filii Dei, ad istam omni virtute nostra festinemus. Nihil nos revocet, nihil nos retardet, nihil nos impediat ad hoc desiderabile properare convivium. Omnem negligentiam a nobis pellamus, omnemque desidiam ab animo, et corporis impedimenta a nobis projiciamus, ut hujus beatitudinis et requiei ^(0684A) domestici efficiamur, quatenus sancta hujus, ut dictum est, epulatione digni inveniamur.

  (0684A) CAPUT XCIII. De eo quod omnis electus atque perfectus monachus et homo, et vitulus, et leo, et aquila figuraliter sit.

217 CHAPTER 93 That Every Chosen and Perfect Monk Is Figuratively Both Human and Calf and Lion and Eagle E very person chosen and perfect in the way of the Lord is both a human and a calf, and at the same time a lion and an eagle. For the human being is a rational animal. It is customary for a calf to be slain in sacrifice. The lion is a brave beast, as it is written:The lion is the strongest of beasts and will not fear a meeting with anyone (Prov 30:30). The eagle soars to the heights and gazes intently upon the sun’s rays with eyes that are not beaten back. So all who are perfect in reason are human beings. And because they mortify themselves from this world’s pleasures they are represented by a calf. And because by their spontaneous mortification they have the courage of security against all adversity, they are a lion. Hence it is written:The righteous are bold as a lion and are without dread (Prov 28:1). But because in a sublime way they contemplate things heavenly and eternal, the eagle represents them. Therefore because the just person is human through reason, a calf through the sacrifice of mortification, a lion through the courage of security, and an eagle through contemplation, every perfect person can rightly be designated through these holy animals. . . . The whole intention and contemplation of the saints aims beyond itself, so that it can attain the heavenly things it desires. Whether 218 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel one is intent on a good work or on heavenly contemplation, what we do is truly good when we long to please him from whom we receive existence. . . . In this matter we must think of how every good thing we do is always to be lifted up to heaven through the intention. . . . Because the elect seek both to please almighty God in good works, and through the grace of contemplation earnestly desire to taste eternal beatitude already, they extend their faces and wings from above (see Ezek 1:11). 1 1 Gregory, In Hiez 1. 4. 2, 4; CCSL 142:48–50; PL 76:815CD–16A. 817A. B. C. . . .

Omnis etenim electus atque in via Domini perfectus et homo et vitulus, et leo simul, et aquila est. Homo enim rationale est animal. Vitulus autem in sacrificium mactari solet. Leo vero fortis est bestia, sicut scriptum est: Leo fortissimus bestiarum, ad nullius pavebit occursum (Prov. XXX). Aquila ad sublimia evolat, et irreverberatis oculis solis radiis intendit. Omnis itaque qui in ratione perfectus est, homo est. Et quoniam semetipsum ab hujus mundi voluptate mortificat, vitulus est. Quia vero ipsa sua ^(0684B) spontanea mortificatione contra adversa omnia fortitudinem securitatis habet, leo est. Unde scriptum est: Justus autem quasi leo confidens, absque terrore erit (Prov. XXVIII). Quia vero sublimiter contemplatur ea quae coelestia atque aeterna sunt, aquila est. Igitur quoniam justus per rationem homo, per sacrificium mortificationis suae vitulus, per fortitudinem securitatis leo, per contemplationem vero efficitur aquila, recte per haec sancta animalia signari unusquisque perfectus potest. Quia omnis intentio, omnisque contemplatio sanctorum super se tendit, ut illud possit adipisci quod in coelestibus appetit. Sive enim bono operi, seu coelesti invigilet contemplationi, tunc veraciter hoc quod agit bonum est quando ei placere concupiscit a quo est. Qua in re pensandum est ut ^(0684C) omne bonum quod agitur per intentionem semper ad coelestia levetur. Electi autem quia et in bono opere omnipotenti Deo placere appetunt, et per contemplationis gratiam aeternam jam beatitudinem degustare concupiscunt, facies et pennas desuper ex tendunt (Ezech. I).

  (0684C) CAPUT XCIV. De eo quod Apostolus ait: Caro concupiscit, etc. (Gal. V).

219 CHAPTER 94 On What the Apostle Says: The Flesh Lusts, etc. (Gal 5:17) T he lust of the flesh is a shameful movement of the soul to a state of sordid pleasure. But the lust of the spirit is an ardent intention of the mind to desires for holy virtue. The latter escorts those consenting to it to the kingdom; the former to everlasting punishment. For lust of the flesh first begets the enticements of the vices in the thoughts. But the lust of the spirit on the contrary unceasingly sets holy thoughts before it. The former is delighted with empty fables and words, the latter with meditations on the Scriptures and with the precepts. The former rejoices in displays of earthly things, the latter in the contemplation of heavenly joys. The former seeks earthly joys; the latter prolongs its groans and sighs. The former relaxes the body into sleep and laziness;the latter works in vigils and timely prayers. The former through gluttony boils in the enticements of the stomach and the desire of the gullet;the latter weakens itself with fasts and the torments of abstinence. The former, being subject to impurity, aims to carry out fully and deliberately its longings for the shameful actions it ponders intently; the latter loves the decency of chastity and modesty. The former, aflame with avarice, longs for gain and flees the loss of temporal things;the latter despises the world and claims only Christ for itself. The former, full of envy, allows no one to be its superior or even its equal, but pines away from the wound of inner spite at everyone else’s progress; the latter rejoices at the virtues of everyone, and in charity puts before itself those of less importance. The former, continually on the boil, 220 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel bears nothing with equanimity, but with its mind all upset raises an uproar even unto words; the latter is not moved by any upset, but patiently bears it with tranquil meekness. The former is infected with sadness when it gets a whiff of any adversity whatsoever; the latter is not broken by any grief, but even when it bears evils from its neighbors it is not moved from its interior joy. The former is infected with ambition for honors, and is captivated by human praises and the allurements of vain glory; the latter loves humility, and delights to please its God alone, the observer of the mind. The former, inflated with the arrogance of pride, lifts up a miserable heart; the latter, so as not to be cast down from its high place, humbles itself to the lowest. But why say more? The lust of the flesh casts down those who consent to it into the multitude of all the vices. But the lust of the spirit strengthens the weary mind1 with the hope of future glory, in case it should fail. 2 1 Isidore (Diff 2. 31. 113a) has mentem lapsam, “fallen mind, ” while Smaragdus has mentem lassam. 2 Isidore, Diff 2. 31. 109a, 110–13a; PL 83:86B–87B. . . .

Concupiscentia carnis est motus animae turpis in affectum sordidae delectationis. Concupiscentia vero spiritus est ardens intentio mentis in desideria sanctae virtutis. Ista sibi consentientes mittit ad regnum, illa ad supplicium sempiternum. Concupiscentia namque carnis primum illecebras vitiorum in cogitationibus gignit. Concupiscentia vero spiritus e contrario ^(0684D) cogitationes sanctas indesinenter opponit Illa fabulis vanis oblectatur et verbis, ista Scripturarum meditationibus atque praeceptis. Illa gaudet spectaculis rerum terrestrium, ista contemplatione coelestium gaudiorum. Illa terrena gaudia quaerit, ista gemitus et suspiria trahit. Illa in somnum atque pigritiam corpus relaxat, ista in vigiliis et competentibus orationibus elaborat. Illa per ingluviem illecebris ventris et desiderio gutturis inaestuat, ista semetipsam jejuniis et abstinentiae cruciatibus macerat. Illa luxuriae subdita turpium perpetrationum affectus, quos intentione cogitationis agit, perfectione voluntatis explere contendit; ista castitatis et pudicitiae honestatem diligit. Illa avaritiae ^(0685A) flamma succensa, appetit lucrum, et fugit temporalium damna rerum; ista contemnens mundum, solum sibi vindicat Christum. Illa invida nullum sibi superiorem vel aequalem esse permittit, sed interno livore vulneris de cunctorum profectu tabescit; ista de cunctorum virtutibus gaudet, et minores sibi pro charitate praeponit. Illa exaestuans nihil aequanimiter portat, sed perturbata mente usque ad voces tumultum exaltat; ista nulla exasperatione movetur, sed per tranquillitatis mansuetudinem patienter sustinet. Illa tristitia inficitur, dum quaelibet adversa persenserit; ista nullo moerore frangitur, sed etiam mala de proximis portans, ab interiore gaudio non movetur. Illa ambitione honorum inficitur, et humanis laudibus vel illecebris vanae gloriae delinitur; ista humilitatem ^(0685B) amat, et soli Deo suo qui inspector mentis est, placere delectat. Illa inflata superbiae fastu cor miserum elevat; ista ne a celsitudine sua corruat, usque in infima seipsam humiliat. Sed quid plura? Concupiscentia carnis, in omnium vitiorum multitudinem sibi consentientes praecipitat. Concupiscentia vero spiritus mentem lassam, ne deficiat, spe futurae gloriae corroborat.

  (0685B) CAPUT XCV. Quid sit impetus spiritus, et quid sit impetus carnis.

221 CHAPTER 95 What Is the Impulse of the Spirit, and What Is the Impulse of the Flesh I n the elect and the reprobate there are different impulses. In the elect the impulse is of the spirit, and in the reprobate the impulse is of the flesh. The impulse of the flesh urges the mind to hatred, to conceit, to uncleanness, to robbery, to outward glory, to cruelty, to treachery, to despair, to anger, to quarrels, and to sensual gratifications . The impulse of the spirit strongly draws the mind to charity, to humility, to self-restraint, to the largesse of mercy, to interior progress, to works of piety, to faith in eternal things, to the hope of joy to follow, to patience, to peace, to the consideration of immortal life, and to tears. And so it is necessary for us always to consider with great care in all we do where our impulse is leading us:whether our thought is driven by the impulse of the flesh or by the impulse of the spirit. To love earthly things, to prefer temporal things to eternal, to have exterior goods that are not necessary for our use but to thirst after them for pleasure, to seek revenge on an enemy, to rejoice in the fall of a rival—this is the impulse of the flesh. On the contrary, to love heavenly things, to despise what is transitory, to seek what is passing only for necessary use and not simply for pleasure, to be saddened at the death of an enemy—this is the impulse of the spirit. And because those who are perfect always exercise themselves in these virtues, it is now rightly said of the holy animals, Where the impulse of the spirit was, there they would walk (Ezek 1:12). 1 1 Gregory, In Hiez 1. 5. 2; CCSL 142:57–58; PL 76:821C–22A. . . .

In electis et reprobis diversi sunt impetus: in electis videlicet impetus spiritus, in reprobis impetus carnis. Impetus quippe carnis ad odium, ad elationem, ad immunditiam, ad rapinam, ad exteriorem gloriam, ad crudelitatem, ad perfidiam, ad ^(0685C) desperationem, ad iram, ad jurgia, ad voluptates animum impellit. Impetus vero spiritus ad charitatem, ad humilitatem, ad continentiam, ad largitatem misericordiae, ad interiorem profectum, ad pietatis opera, ad aeternorum fidem, ad spem sequentis gaudii, ad patientiam, ad pacem, ad considerationem vitae immortalis et lacrymas mentem pertrahit. Unde necesse est ut magna semper cura considerare debeamus in omne quod agimus, quo nos impetus ducat: utrum nostra cogitatio per impetum carnis an per impetum spiritus impellatur. Amare enim terrena, temporalia aeternis praeponere, exteriora bona non ad usum necessaria habere, sed ad voluptatem concupiscere, ultionem de inimico quaerere, de aemuli casu gaudere, impetus carnis est. At ^(0685D) contra amare coelestia, contemnere transitoria, non ad fructum voluptatis transitura, sed ad usum necessitatis quaerere, de inimici morte tristari, impetus spiritus est. Et quia perfecti quique in istis se semper virtutibus exercent, recte nunc de sanctis animalibus dicitur: Ubi erat impetus spiritus, illuc gradiebantur (Ezech. I).

  (0685D) CAPUT XCVI. De eo quod unusquisque justus et ante faciem suam, et coram facie sua ambulat.

222 CHAPTER 96 That All the Righteous Walk Before Their Own Face and in the Presence of Their Face T he righteous walk before their own face because they do not look with any longing at what they have left behind; under the gaze of their contemplation they place the foot of a good work in the eternal things they long for. 1 To walk before one’s face is to seek what lies ahead. But in the present, to walk means not to be absent from oneself. All the just who look carefully at their life and diligently consider how much they increase each day in good, or perhaps decrease in it, because they place themselves before themselves, walk before themselves, and keep watch to see whether they are rising or falling. But all who neglect to keep guard over their life, or fail to examine what they do, what they say, what they think or despise or do not know, such as these do not walk before themselves because they are ignorant of the kind of persons they are in their behavior and their actions. And those who are not careful to examine themselves and get to know themselves each day are not present to themselves. But they really place themselves before themselves and are present to themselves who attend to themselves in their acts as if to someone else. 2 So we must carefully see ourselves as we see others, and put ourselves, as has been said, before ourselves, . . . and in all that we do we must keep diligent guard over ourselves within and without. 3 1 See Gregory, In Hiez 1. 3. 17; CCSL 142:43; PL 76:813B. 2 Gregory, In Hiez 1. 4. 8; CCSL 142:53; PL 76:819BC. 3 Gregory, In Hiez 1. 4. 9, 10; CCSL 142:54–55; PL 76:820B. 821A. . . .

Ante faciem ergo suam graditur justus, quia ad ea quae reliquerat, nullo jam appetitu aspicit, et in aeternis quae appetit, sub contemplationis suae oculo, boni operis pedem ponit. (Greg. lib. I super Ezech. ^(0686A) hom. 4.) Ante faciem quippe ambulare, est anteriora petere. In praesenti vero ambulare, est sibimetipsi absentem non esse. Omnis etenim justus qui vitam suam sollicitus aspicit, et diligenter considerat quantum quotidie in bonis crescat, aut fortasse quantum a bonis decrescat, iste quia se ante se ponit, coram se ambulat, quippe qui vigilanter videt utrum surgat an defluat. Quisquis vero vitae suae custodiam negligit, discutere quod agit, quae loquitur, quae cogitat, aut despicit, aut nescit, coram se non ambulat, quia qualis sit in suis moribus vel actibus ignorat. Nec sibimetipsi praesens est, qui semetipsum quotidie excutere atque cognoscere sollicitus non est. Ille autem veraciter se ante se ponit, sibique in praesenti est, qui se in suis actibus tanquam alium attendit. ^(0686B) (Huc usque Gregor.) Debemus ergo nosmetipsos sollicite sicut alios videre, nosque ipsos, ut dictum est, ante nos ponere, et in cunctis quae agimus interius et exterius nos diligenter custodire debemus.

  (0686B) CAPUT XCVII. De eo quod scriptum est: Omni custodia serva cor tuum (Prov. IV).

223 CHAPTER 97 On the Fact That It Is Written: Keep Your Heart with All Care (Prov 4:23) P erhaps you say, “How can I keep my heart so that it does not think evil?” Listen briefly to the explanation. Clearly you can if you meditate on divine and heavenly things. But there are three things that can free the soul from evil thoughts:holy vigils, prayer, and meditation. Assiduous practice of these confers stability on the soul so that it is occupied in good thoughts and not evil ones. If you wish to have a clean heart in the world, say with David, At night I meditated with my heart, and I fanned my spirit in me (Ps 76(77):6). To the extent that you tame your heart by meditating you will gain a more sublime reward, and you will shine with a brighter light of wisdom and knowledge. If you wish, as was said above, to have a clean heart, never busy yourself with empty stories. Never do and never take pleasure in hearing anything shameful and contrary to holiness. You have already laid aside the things of the world. You have put on Christ the Lord (see Rom 13:14; Gal 3:27). See that you do not come down from the roof of virtues to look for your former clothing, and do not return from the field to the house (see Matt 24:17-18) so as not to let go at any time of the hem of the Savior’s garment (see Matt 9:20; 14:36) or the curled hair moistened by the dew of the night (see Song 5:2), which once you began to take hold of. 1 Be like a house founded on rock (see Matt 7:24); let no breath of this world shake you, no wind of wrongful desire scorch you. Be a most prudent bee; let your works form a honeycomb full of 1 See Jerome, Ep 71; PL 22:669. 224 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel honey so that you may completely satisfy Christ with your sweetness . Soar above the vices and you will touch him who says to you, I am a flower of the field (Song 2:1) and a flower of the plain (see Isa 40:6). Pluck flowers throughout the Sacred Scriptures, that you may say with the prophet, My heart belched forth a good word; I address my works to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a scribe writing swiftly (Ps 44(45):1). Therefore, imitate and follow those who have merited to hear these words, whose character, speech, manner, and way of life offer a model to those who look attentively at them. For those whom you see modeling their style of walking on that of the turtledove—curious, wordy, ready in laughter, without modesty or shame, telling old wives’ and idle tales, ambling along, ready for the table, unhappy at fasting, whose eyes like burning torches, blown hither and thither by the changing wind of the mind, scatter sparks of lust and roll around like a wheel, who in the frying pan of their own mind are tormented by their own fire—these people, as I said, avoid, because you read what is written:With the holy you will be holy, and with the perverse you will be perverse (Ps 17(18):26-27). But love the humble and obedient, those who love lectio and are earnest in prayer, and esteem them highly as members of Christ. Pay no attention to those I have warned you to avoid; I wish rather that the evil may fear and envy you, and the good may esteem and accept you. 2 2 No source traced for this passage. . . .

Dicis fortasse, quomodo possum custodire cor meum, ut mala non cogitet? Audi breviter rationem. Potes evidenter, si divina et coelestia mediteris. Tamen tria sunt quae possunt a malis cogitationibus animam liberare: vigilia sancta, oratio et meditatio. Harum assiduitas confert animae stabilitatem, ut bonis cogitationibus et non malis occupetur. Si vis in mundo cor mundum habere, dic cum David: ^(0686C) Meditatus sum nocte cum corde meo, et ventilabam in me spiritum meum (Ps. LXXVI). Quantum cor tuum meditando domaveris, tantum sublimius consequeris praemium, et clariore sapientiae et scientiae lumine fulgebis. Si vis, ut superius dictum est, cor mundum habere, nunquam te inanibus fabulis occupes. Quidquid turpe est et contra sanctitatem nunquam aut agas, aut delecteris audire. Jam quae saeculi erant deposuisti. Christum Dominum induisti (Rom. XIII). Vide ne de tecto virtutum, pristina quaesiturus vestimenta descendas (Matth. XXIV), nec de agro revertaris domum, ne fimbriam Salvatoris, nec cincinnos noctis rore madefactos, quos semel tenere coepisti aliquando dimittas: Esto ut domus fundata super petram (Matth. VII), nulla te aura saeculi hujus ^(0686D) concutiat, nullus te ventus desiderii pravi exurat. Esto apis prudentissima, favum mellis opera tua componant, ut tua dulcedine saties Christum. Supervola vitia et continges eum qui tibi dicit: Ego flos campi, et flos agri (Cant. II). Decerpe flores per Scripturas sanctas, ut dicas cum Propheta: Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum, dico ego opera mea regi. Lingua mea calamus scribae velociter scribentis (Ps. XLIV). Illos ergo imitare, illos sequere qui ista audire meruerunt, quorum habitus, sermo, incessus, vita, formam intuentibus praebent. Nam illos quos videris in modum turturis pingere incessum, curiosos, verbosos, in risu faciles, sine pudore, sine verecundia, fabulaaniles et vanas referentes, ad cursum tardos, ad ^(0687A) mensam paratos, ad jejunium ingratos, quorum oculi ut faces ardentes huc illucque vento animi flante, scintillas concupiscentiae spargunt, et ut rota volvuntur, qui proprio igne torquentur in sartagine menti suae, hos, ut dixi, devita, quia scriptum legis: Cum sancto sanctus eris, et cum perverso perverteris (Ps. XVII). Humiles vero obedientes, lectionem amantes, orationi instantes, ama et dilige, tanquam membra Christi. Illos quos te devitare monui, non attendas, magis volo ut te timeant et aemulentur mali, boni vero diligant et suscipiant.

  (0687A) CAPUT XCVIII. Quid significet quod dixit Deus ad Abraham: Egredere de terra tua, et de cognatione tua, et veni ^(0687B) in terram quam monstravero tibi (Gen. XII).

225 CHAPTER 98 What It Means That God Said to Abraham: Go out from Your Country and Your Kindred, and Come to the Land That I Will Show You (Gen 12:1) D early beloved, as we come to the example of blessed Abraham , let us go out from our country and our kindred, and let us come to the land that the Lord is going to give us (see Gen 12:1) after this life. What is our country from which we are commanded to go out, if not our flesh? Those who despise carnal lusts spit out self-will like devil’s poison , and apply themselves frequently to lectio and prayer, truly go out from their country; those who scorn cupidity and love mercy, who flee impurity and embrace chastity, truly go out from their country. Those who forsake malice so as to hold fast to charity, who spurn pride and eagerly pursue humility, truly go out from their country. So what does going out of one’s country mean, if not to relinquish all sins and fleshly vices? And come, says the Lord, to the land that I will show you (Gen 12:1). So if we leave our country we shall come to the land the Lord shows us. But what is this land the Lord deigns to show? Let us believe without any doubt that it is the land of which the prophet said, I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps 26(27):13). Therefore the country of our body is known to be the country of the dying when it is put at the service of great 226 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel crimes. But if it has worked hard at the virtues, it passes over by a most happy change to the land of the living. 1 Now, dearly beloved, we can by God’s grace do this, not outside us but within us, if we wish. For if we leave sin behind and devote our attention to the virtues, we have happily gone out of the country of the dying and shall happily come into the land of the living. And so let the one who was accustomed to curse bless; let the one who was accustomed to slander always aim to utter what is good. Let the one who was accustomed to store up anger in the heart hold fast to patience. Let the one who was accustomed to practice fraud in business, and to seek the world’s gain through false balances and measures, strive to raise the mind from all fraud and from all iniquity through repentance and mercy. Therefore do this, beloved, and the God of love and peace will be with you (2 Cor 13:11). 2 1 See Augustine, Serm 2 inter App. ; PL 39:1741–1742:1. 2. 2 No source traced for this passage. . . .

Et nos, fratres charissimi, ad exemplum beati Abrahae pervenientes: Egrediamur de terra nostra, et de cognatione nostra, et veniamus ad terram quam nobis daturus est Dominus post istam vitam. Quae est terra nostra de qua egredi jubemur, nisi caro nostra? (Aug., serm. 34, inter append.) Bene ergo de terra egreditur, qui carnales concupiscentias contemnens, et voluntates proprias velut venenum diaboli respuit, et lectioni vel orationi frequenter insistit: bene de terra sua egreditur, qui cupiditatem spernit, et misericordiam diligit, luxuriam fugit, amplectitur castitatem. Bene de terra sua egreditur, qui malitiam deserit, ut teneat charitatem, superbiam ^(0687C) spernit, et sectatur humilitatem. Quid ergo de terra egredi est, nisi omnia peccata et vitia carnalia relinquere? Et veni, inquit Dominus, in terram, quam monstravero tibi (Gen. XII). Ergo si terram nostram relinquimus, ad terram quam ostendit Dominus veniemus. Quae tamen est terra ista quam Dominus dignatur ostendere? Sine dubio credamus, quia ipsa est de qua Propheta dicebat: Credo videre bona Domini in terra viventium (Ps. XXVI). Ergo terra corporis nostri quando magnis criminibus famulatur, terra morientium esse cognoscitur. Cum vero virtutibus operam dederit, in terra viventium transmigratione felicissima commutatur. Sed hoc ergo, fratres charissimi, non extra nos, sed intus in nobis, cum Dei gratia possumus exercere si volumus. Si ^(0687D) enim peccata relinquimus, et virtuti operam damus, de terra morientium feliciter egressi sumus, et in terram viventium feliciter veniemus. Et ideo qui solebat maledicere, benedicat; et qui solebat detrahere, semper quod bonum est studeat proferre. Qui solebat iracundiam in corde conservare, patientiam teneat. Qui res alienas solebat invadere, de rebus propriis studeat erogare. Qui in negotio fraudem facere, et per stateras vel mensuras duplices lucra mundi conquirere solebat, ab omni fraude et ab omni iniquitate suum animum per poenitentiam vel misericordiam contendat erigere. Hoc ergo agite, fratres charissimi, et Deus pacis et dilectionis erit vobiscum (II Cor. XIII).

(0688A)  (0688) CAPUT XCIX. De martyrio quod in pace Ecclesiae fit.

227 CHAPTER 99 On the Martyrdom That T akes Place in the Church’s Peace B eloved, let no one say that the contests of the martyrs cannot happen in our times. Our peace also has its martyrs. For as we have frequently suggested, to mitigate anger, to flee lustful desire, to safeguard justice, to despise avarice . . . all these form a large part of martyrdom. It is not inappropriately said: to despise avarice, to mitigate anger, to flee lustful desire; for avarice is to be despised, since it procures for us unjust gains, thus gaining possession of us. We would in fact possess ourselves if it did not possess us. Avarice is discontented; like fire, the more it gets the more it seeks to obtain. But anger is to be mitigated; it harms those intending to harm before it harms those it wants to harm. We join to this that we must flee lustful desire, and the apostle Paul evidently shows this. He preached that all vices are to be resisted, but when he was speaking against lustful desire he did not say“resist” but flee fornication (1 Cor 6:18). If with God’s help we must resist the other vices in the present life, we must conquer lustful desire by fleeing from it. . . . Therefore, against lustful desire take flight, if you wish to gain the victory. And do not let flight be a source of shame for you, if you wish to gain the palm of chastity. Hence, beloved, all Christians, but especially clerics and monks, must flee unworthy and dishonorable familiarity, because without any doubt one who refuses to avoid suspect familiarity quickly sinks into ruin. . . . Among all the contests of Christians none are harder than the battles of chastity, where the fight is on every day, and 228 Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel victory is rare. Chastity was assigned a serious enemy, who is every day conquered and every day feared. And so, as has already been said, let none deceive themselves by a false security, nor dangerously presume on their own virtues, but let them hear the apostle saying, Flee fornication (1 Cor 6:18). . . . And therefore, beloved, against the devil’s deadly blandishments and against his helpers, that is, those who do not fear and do not blush to maintain suspect familiarity, so that they may not deceive us by their example, let us continually implore God’s help, that he may deign to deliver us from the snare of the fowler (Ps 90(91):3). We know that in the evils we have mentioned above all Christians can find occasions of daily martyrdom. For if Christ is chastity and truth and righteousness, just as those who lay the snare are persecutors, so also those wishing to defend these virtues in others and guard them in themselves will be martyrs. And therefore if people esteem these with all the power of their mind and show them by word and example so that others may esteem them; if people of their own accord involve themselves as much as possible, and according to their strength strive to defend peace, truth, righteousness, and chastity wherever they are at work, they will receive as recompense from the Lord the crown of martyrdom. But some will say, “I am young, I will do what delights me now, and afterwards I will do penance. ”This is like saying, “I will strike myself with a cruel sword, and afterwards go to the doctor. ”And they do not know that one short hour is enough to produce the wound, but a long period of time is scarcely enough to bring them back to their former health. Someone commits adultery, saying that he will do penance afterwards. Why is he not afraid that a sudden slight fever may come upon him and snatch him away, and that putting off may peter out for him and eternal damnation take its place?1 1 Caesarius, Serm 41, parts of 1, 2, 3, 4;CCSL 103:180–83. Formerly attributed to Saint Augustine. For an enlightening account of the painstaking work of Dom Germain Morin in reclaiming numerous sermons for Caesarius, including this sermon and the one quoted in the next chapter, see the introduction to Saint Caesarius of Arles: Sermons, trans. Mary Magdeleine Mueller, FCh 31 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1956), v–xxv, especially xxiv–xxv. . . .

(Aug. ser. 250, de temp.) Nemo dicat, fratres, quod temporibus nostris martyrum certamina esse non possint. Habet enim et pax nostra martyres suos. Nam sicut frequenter suggessimus, iracundiam mitigare, libidinem fugere, justitiam custodire, avaritiam contemnere, pars magna martyrii est. Non incongrue dictum est, avaritiam contemnere, iracundiam mitigare. libididem fugere: contemnenda est enim avaritia, quae nobis ideo iniqua lucra procurat, ut nos suos faciat. Nostri enim essemus, si illa nostra non esset. Iniqua est avaritia, quae velut ignis, quanto plus accipit, tanto amplius quaerit. Iracundia ^(0688B) vero mitiganda est, quae prius nocituris nocet quam nocendis. Quod autem libidinem fugiendam esse suggerimus, apostolus Paulus evidenter ostendit, qui cum omnibus vitiis praedicaret resistendum, dum contra libidinem loqueretur, non dixit resistite, sed fugite fornicationem (I Cor. VI). Ac si contra reliqua vitia, Deo auxiliante, debemus in praesenti resistere, libidinem vero fugiendo superare. Ergo contra libidinis impetum apprehende fugam, si vis obtinere victoriam. Nec tibi verecundiae sit fugere si castitatis palmam desideras obtinere. Unde, fratres charissimi, ab omnibus Christianis, praecipue tamen a clericis vel monachis, indigna et inhonesta familiaritas fugienda est; quia sine ulla dubitatione qui familiaritatem non vult vitare suspectam, cito ^(0688C) delabitur in ruinam. Inter omnia Christianorum cortamina sola duriora sunt praelia castitatis, ubi quotidiana pugna est, et rara victoria. Gravem castitas sortita est inimicum, qui quotidie vincitur et timetur. Et ideo, sicut jam dictum est, nemo se falsa securitate decipiat, nec de suis viribus periculose praesumat, sed audiat Apostolum dicentem: Fugite fornicationem. Et ideo, charissimi fratres, contra mortifera blandimenta et contra adjutores diaboli qui familiaritatem suspectam habere nec metuunt nec erubescunt, ne nos exemplo suo decipiant, Dei adjutorium jugiter imploremus ut nos de laqueo venantium liberare (Ps. CXXIV) dignetur: scientes quod in iis malis quae supra diximus omnibus Christianis quotidiana martyria deesse non possunt. Si enim ^(0688D) castitas, et veritas, et justitia Christus est, sicut ille qui insidiatur persecutor est, ita et ille qui haec et in aliis defensare et in se custodire voluerit, martyr erit. Et ideo qui haec tota animi virtute et ipse diligit, et ut alii diligant, et verbis simul et exemplis ostendit, et ubicunque pax, veritas vel justitia, sive castitas laborant, quantum praevalet etiam ultro se ingerit, et secundum quod vires habuerit, defensare contendit, martyrii coronam Domino remunerante percipiet. Sed dicit aliquis homo, Juvenis sum, faciam quod delectat modo, et postea poenitentiam agam. Hoc est dicere: Percutiam me crudeli gladio, et postmodum ad medicum vadam. Et nescit quod unius horae puncto vulnus exhibetur, sed vix longo ^(0689A) tempore ad sanitatem pristinam revocatur. Qui enim adulterans dicit se postea poenitentiam acturum, quare non timet ne eum subita febricula superveniens rapiat, et pereat illi dilatio, succedat aeterna damnatio.

  (0689A) CAPUT C. De duobus altaribus in homine, quorum alterum in corpore est, et alterum in corde.

229 CHAPTER 100 On the T wo Altars in the Human Being, of Which One Is in the Body, and the Other in the Heart T wo altars are set up in us, that of our body and that of our heart. Again, God seeks from us a twofold sacrifice:the one, that we be chaste of body, the other, that we be clean of heart. Therefore in the exterior, that is, in our body, let good works be offered;in the heart, let a holy way of thinking yield sweet odors. On the altar of our heart let us always think good thoughts; on the altar of our body let us continually do what is well-pleasing to God. For we celebrate in lawful order and with joy the consecration of the altar when we offer the altars of our heart and body with a clean and pure conscience1 in the sight of the Divine Majesty. I cannot grasp what boldness or what state of mind makes one want to rejoice in the consecration of an altar when one does not take pains to guard cleanness on the altar of the heart. As for us, dearly beloved, let us take pains to act in such a way that we may always merit to celebrate a twofold festivity. And as we rejoice in the visible consecration of the altar of a temple, so may we merit to have an invisible spiritual joy by our chastity of body and purity of mind. 2 1 Smaragdus’s text omits conscientia here, turning munda et pura from ablative singular feminine agreeing with conscientia into neuter plural accusative agreeing with altaria. The translation follows Caesarius’s text. 2 Caesarius, Serm 228. 2;CCSL 104:902. Olim Augustine, Serm (255 de temp or) 230 inter append; PL 39:2169–70. 4. . . .

(August in Anivers. dedicat. serm. 4.) Duo sunt in nobis altaria constituta, corporis videlicet et cordis nostri. Denique duplex a nobis sacrificium quaerit Deus: unum, ut simus casti corpore, alterum, ut mundi corde. Ergo in exteriore, id est corpore nostro, offerantur opera bona; in corde, odores suavitatis ^(0690A) reddat cogitatio sancta. In altari cordis nostri cogitemus semper quod bonum est; in altari vero corporis nostri jugiter quod Deo heneplacitum est operemur. Tunc enim ordine legitimo consecrationem altaris cum gaudio celebramus, quando altaria cordis et corporis nostri munda et pura in conspectu divinae majestatis offerimus. Nam nescio qua fronte aut qua conscientia, optat in altaris consecratione gaudere, qui in cordis sui altari non studet munditiam custodire. Nos vero, fratres charissimi, ita agere studeamus, ut semper festivitatem duplicem celebrare mereamur. Et quomodo visibiliter de templi altaris consecratione gaudemus, sic invisibiliter de corporis castitate vel animi puritate spirituale gaudium habere mereamur.