CONFERENCE OF ABBOT PAPHNUTIUS.
ON THE THREE SORTS OF RENUNCIATIONS.
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Of the life and conduct of Abbot Paphnutius.
IN that choir of saints who shine like brilliant stars in the night of
this world, we have seen the holy. Paphnutius,[117] like some great luminary, shining
with the brightness of knowledge. For he was a presbyter of our
company, I mean of those whose abode was in the desert of Scete, where
he lived to extreme old age, without ever moving from his cell, of
which he had taken possession when still young, and which was five
miles from the church, even to nearer districts; nor was he when worn
out with years hindered by the distance from going to Church on
Saturday or Sunday. But not wanting to return from thence empty
handed he would lay on his shoulders a bucket of water to last him all
the week, and carry it back to his cell, and even when he was past
ninety would not suffer it to be fetched by the labour of younger men.
He then from his earliest youth threw himself into the monastic
discipline with such fervour that when he had spent only a short time
in it, he was endowed with the virtue of submission, as well as the
knowledge of all good qualities. For by the practice of humility and
obedience he mortified all his desires, and by this stamped out all
his faults and acquired every virtue which the monastic system and the
teaching of the ancient fathers produces, and, inflamed with desire
for still further advances, he was eager to penetrate into the
recesses of the desert, so that, with no human companions to disturb
him, he might be more readily united to the Lord, to whom he longed to
be inseparably joined, even while he still lived in the society of the
brethren. And there once more in his excessive fervour he outstripped
the virtues of the Anchorites, and in his eager desire for continual
divine meditation avoided the sight of them: and he plunged into
solitary places yet wilder and more inaccessible, and hid himself for
a long while in them, so that, as the Anchorites themselves only with
great difficulty caught a glimpse of him every now and then, the
belief was that he enjoyed and delighted in the daily society of
angels, and because of this remarkable characteristic of his[118] he was surnamed by them the
Buffalo.
Of the discourse of the same old man, and our reply
to it.
AS then we were anxious to learn from his teaching, we came in some
agitation to his cell towards evening. And after a short silence he
began to commend our undertaking, because we had left our homes, and
had visited so many countries out of love for the Lord, and were
endeavouring with all our might to endure want and the trials of the
desert, and to imitate their severe life, which even those who had
been born and bred in the same state of want and penury, could
scarcely put up with; and we replied that we had come for his teaching
and instruction in order that we might be to some extent initiated in
the customs of so great a man, and in that perfection which we had
known from many evidences to exist in him, not that we might be
honoured by any commendations to which we had no right, or be puffed
up with any elation of mind, (with which we were sometimes exercised
in our own cells at the suggestion of our enemy) in consequence of any
words of his. Wherefore we begged him rather to lay before us what
would make us humble and contrite, and not what would flatter us and
puff us up.
The statement of Abbot Paphnutius on the three
kinds of vocations, and the three sorts of renunciations.
THEN THE BLESSED PAPHNUTIUS: There are, said he, three kinds of
vocations. And we know that there are three sorts of renunciations as
well, which are necessary to a monk, whatever his vocation may be.
And we ought diligently to examine first the reason for which we said
that there were three kinds of vocations, that when we are sure that
we are summoned to God's service in the first stage of our vocation,
we may take care that our life is in harmony with the exalted height
to which we are called, for it will be of no use to have made a good
beginning if we do not show forth an end corresponding to it. But if
we feel that only in the last resort have we been dragged away from a
worldly life, then, as it appears that we rest on a less satisfactory
beginning as regards religion, so must we proportionately make the
more earnest endeavours to rouse ourselves with spiritual fervour to
make a better end. It is well too on every ground for us to know
secondly the manner of the threefold renunciations because we shall
never be able to attain perfection, if we are ignorant of it or if we
know it, but do not attempt to carry it out in act.
An explanation of the three callings.
TO make clear therefore the main differences between these three kinds
of calling, the first is from God, the second comes through man, the
third is from compulsion. And a calling is from God whenever some
inspiration has taken possession of our heart, and even while we are
asleep stirs in us at desire for eternal life and salvation, and bids
us follow God and cleave to His commandments with life-giving
contrition: as we read in Holy Scripture that Abraham was called by
the voice of the Lord from his native country, and all his dear
relations, and his father's house; when the Lord said "Get thee
out from thy country and from thy kinsfolk and from thy father's
house."[119] And in this way we
have heard that the blessed Antony also was called,[120] the occasion of whose conversion was
received from God alone. For on entering a church he there heard in
the Gospel the Lord saying: "Whoever hateth not father and mother
and children and wife and lands, yea and his own soul also, cannot be
my disciple;" and "if thou wilt be perfect, go sell all that
thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven, and come, follow me:"[121] And with heartfelt contrition he
took this charge of the Lord as if specially aimed at him, and at once
gave up everything and followed Christ, without any incitement thereto
from the advice and teaching of men. The second kind of calling is
that which we said took place through man; viz., when we are stirred
up by the example of some of the saints, and their advice, and thus
inflamed with the desire of salvation: and by this we never forget
that by the grace of the Lord we ourselves were summoned, as we were
aroused by the advice and good example of the above-mentioned saint,
to give ourselves up to this aim and calling; and in this way also we
find in Holy Scripture that it was through Moses that the children of
Israel were delivered from the Egyptian bondage. But the third kind
of calling is that which comes from compulsion, when we have been
involved in the riches and pleasures of this life, and temptations
suddenly come upon us and either threaten us with peril of death, or
smite us with the loss and confiscation of our goods, or strike us
down with the death of those dear to us, and thus at length even
against our will we are driven to turn to God whom we scorned to
follow in the days of our wealth. And of this compulsory call we
often find instances in Scripture, when we read that on account of
their sins the children of Israel were given up by the Lord to their
enemies; and that on account of their tyranny and savage cruelty they
turned again, and cried to the Lord. And it says: "The Lord sent
them a Saviour, called Ehud, the son of Gera, the son of Jemini, who
used the left hand as well as the right:" and again we are told,
"they cried unto the Lord, who raised them up a Saviour and
delivered them, to wit, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger
brother."[122] And it is of such
that the Psalm speaks: "When He slew them, then they sought Him:
and they returned and came to Him early in the morning: and they
remembered that God was their helper, and the most High God their
redeemer." And again: "And they cried unto the Lord when
they were troubled, and He delivered them out of their
distress."[123]
How the first of these calls is of no use to a
sluggard, and the last is no hindrance to one who is in earnest.
OF these three calls then, although the two former may seem to rest on
better principles, yet sometimes we find that even by the third grade,
which seems the lowest and the coldest, men have been made perfect and
most earnest in spirit, and have become like those who made an
admirable beginning in approaching the Lord's service, and passed the
rest of their lives also in most laudable fervour of spirit: and again
we find that from the higher grade very many have grown cold, and
often have come to a miserable end. And just as it was no hindrance
to the former class that they seemed to be converted not of their own
free will, but by force and compulsion, in as much as the loving
kindness of the Lord secured for them the opportunity for repentance,
so too to the latter it was of no avail that the early days of their
conversion were so bright, because they were not careful to bring the
remainder of their life to a suitable end. For in the case of Abbot
Moses,[124] who lived in a spot in the
wilderness called Calamus,[125]
nothing was wanting to his merits and perfect bliss, in consequence of
the fact that he was driven to flee to the monastery through fear of
death, which was hanging over him because of a murder; for he made
such use of his compulsory conversion that with ready zeal he turned
it into a voluntary one and climbed the topmost heights of perfection.
As also on the other hand; to very many, whose names I ought not to
mention, it has been of no avail that they entered on the Lord's
service with better beginning than this, as afterwards sloth and
hardness of heart crept over them, and they fell into a dangerous
state of torpor, and the bottomless pit of death, an instance of which
we see clearly indicated in the call of the Apostles. For of what
good was it to Judas that he had of his own free will embraced the
highest grade of the Apostolate in the same way in which Peter and the
rest of the Apostles had been summoned, as he allowed the splendid
beginning of his call to terminate in a ruinous end of cupidity and
covetousness, and as a cruel murderer even rushed into the betrayal of
the Lord? Or what hindrance was it to Paul that he was suddenly
blinded, and seemed to be drawn against his will into the way of
salvation, as afterwards he followed the Lord with complete fervour of
soul, and having begun by compulsion completed it by a free and
voluntary devotion, and terminated with a magnificent end a life that
was rendered glorious by such great deeds? Everything therefore
depends upon the end; in which one who was consecrated by a noble
conversion at the outset may through carelessness turn out a failure,
and one who was compelled by necessity to adopt the monastic life may
through fear of God and earnestness be made perfect.
An account of the three sorts of
renunciations.
WE must now speak of the renunciations, of which tradition and the
authority of Holy Scripture show us three, and which every one of us
ought with the utmost zeal to make complete. The first is that by
which as far as the body is concerned we make light of all the wealth
and goods of this world; the second, that by which we reject the
fashions and vices and former affections of soul and flesh; the third,
that by which we detach our soul from all present and visible things,
and contemplate only things to come, and set our heart on what is
invisible. And we read that the Lord charged Abraham to do all these
three at once, when He said to him "Get thee out from thy
country, and thy kinsfolk, and thy father's house."[126] First He said "from thy
country," i.e., from the goods of this world, and earthly riches:
secondly, "from thy kinsfolk," i.e., from this former life
and habits and sins, which cling to us from our very birth and are
joined to us as it were by ties of affinity and kinship: thirdly,
"from thy father's house," i.e., from all the recollection
of this world, which the sight of the eyes can afford. For of the two
fathers, i.e., of the one who is to be forsaken, and of the one who is
to be sought, David thus speaks in the person of God: "Hearken, O
daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear: forget also thine own
people and thy father's house:"[127] for the person who says
"Hearken, O daughter," is certainly a Father; and yet he
bears witness that the one, whose house and people he urges should be
forgotten, is none the less father of his daughter. And this happens
when being dead with Christ to the rudiments of this world, we no
longer, as the Apostle says, regard "the things which are seen,
but those which are not seen, for the things which are not seen are
eternal,"[128] and going forth in
heart from this temporal and visible home, turn our eyes and heart
towards that in which we are to remain for ever. And this we shall
succeed in doing when, while we walk in the flesh, we are no longer at
war with the Lord according to the flesh, proclaiming in deed and
actions the truth of that saying of the blessed Apostle "Our
conversation is in heaven."[129]
To these three sorts of renunciations the three books of Solomon
suitably correspond. For Proverbs answers to the first renunciation,
as in it the desires for carnal things and earthly sins are repressed;
to the second Ecclesiastes corresponds, as there everything which is
done under the sun is declared to be vanity; to the third the Song of
Songs, in which the soul soaring above all things visible, is actually
joined to the word of God by the contemplation of heavenly things.
How we can attain perfection in each of these sorts
of renunciations.
WHEREFORE it will not be of much advantage to us that we have made our
first renunciation with the utmost devotion and faith, if we do not
complete the second with the same zeal and ardour. And so when we
have succeeded in this, we shall be able to arrive at the third as
well, in which we go forth from the house of our former parent, (who,
as we know well, was our father from our very birth, after the old
man, when we were "by nature children of wrath, as others
also,"[130]) and fix our whole
mental gaze on things celestial. And of this father Scripture says to
Jerusalem which had despised God the true Father, "Thy father was
an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite;"[131] and in the gospel we read "Ye
are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye love to
do."[132] And when we have left
him, as we pass from things visible to things unseen we shall be able
to say with the Apostle: "But we know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle is dissolved we have a habitation from God, a house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,"[133] and this also, which we quoted a
little while ago: "But our conversation is in heaven, whence also
we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus, who will reform the body of
our low estate made like to the body of His glory,"[134] and this of the blessed David:
"For I am a sojourner upon the earth," and "a stranger
as all my fathers were;"[135] so
that we may in accordance with the Lord's word be made like those of
whom the Lord speaks to His Father in the gospel as follows:
"They are not of the world, as I am not of the world,"[136] and again to the Apostles
themselves: "If ye were of this world, the world would love its
own: but because ye are not of this world, therefore the world hateth
you."[137] Of this third
renunciation then we shall succeed in reaching the perfection,
whenever our soul is sullied by no stain of carnal coarseness, but,
all such having been carefully eliminated, it has been freed from
every earthly quality and desire, and by constant meditation on things
Divine, and spiritual contemplation has so far passed on to things
unseen, that in its earnest seeking after things above and things
spiritual it no longer feels that it is prisoned in this fragile
flesh, and bodily form, but is caught up into such an ecstasy as not
only to hear no words with the outward ear, or to busy itself with
gazing on the forms of things present, but not even to see things
close at hand, or large objects straight before the very eyes. And of
this no one can understand the truth and force, except one who has
made trial of what has been said, under the teaching of experience;
viz., one, the eyes of whose soul the Lord has turned away from all
things present, so that he no longer considers them as things that
will soon pass away, but as things that are already done with, and
sees them vanish into nothing, like misty smoke; and like Enoch,
"walking with God," and "translated" from human
life and fashions, not "be found" amid the vanities of this
life. And that this actually happened corporeally in the case of
Enoch the book of Genesis thus tells us. "And Enoch walked with
God, and was not found, for God translated him." And the Apostle
also says: "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see
death," the death namely of which the Lord says in the gospel:
"He that liveth and believeth in me shall not die
eternally."[138] Wherefore, if
we are anxious to attain true perfection, we ought to look to it that
as we have outwardly with the body made light of parents, home, the
riches and pleasures of the world, we may also inwardly with the heart
forsake all these things and never be drawn back by any desires to
those things which we have forsaken, as those who were led up by
Moses, though they did not literally go back, are yet said to have
returned in heart to Egypt; viz., by forsaking God who had led them
forth with such mighty signs, and by worshipping the idols of Egypt of
which they had thought scorn, as Scripture says: "And in their
hearts they turned back into Egypt, saying to Aaron: Make us gods to
go before us,"[139] for we should
fall into like condemnation with those who, while dwelling in the
wilderness, after they had tasted manna from heaven, lusted after the
filthy food of sins, and of mean baseness, and should seem together
with them to murmur in the same way: "It was well with us in
Egypt, when we sat over the flesh pots and ate the onions, and garlic,
and cucumbers, and melons:"[140]
A form of speech, which, although it referred primarily to that
people, we yet see fulfilled today in our own case and mode of life:
for everyone who after renouncing this world turns back to his old
desires, and reverts to his former likings asserts in heart and act
the very same thing that they did, and says "It was well with me
in Egypt," and I am afraid that the number of these will be as
large as that of the multitudes of backsliders of whom we read under
Moses, for though they were reckoned as six hundred and three thousand
armed men who came out of Egypt, of this number not more than two
entered the land of promise. Wherefore we should be careful to take
examples of goodness from those who are few and far between, because
according to that figure of which we have spoken in the gospel
"Many are called but few" are said to be
"chosen."[141] A
renunciation then in body alone, and a mere change of place from Egypt
will not do us any good, if we do not succeed in achieving that
renunciation in heart, which is far higher and more valuable. For of
that mere bodily renunciation of which we have spoken the apostle
declares as follows: "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the
poor, and give my body to be burned, but have not charity, it
profiteth me nothing."[142] And
the blessed Apostle would never have said this had it not been that he
foresaw by the spirit that some who had given all their goods to feed
the poor would not be able to attain to evangelical perfection and the
lofty heights of charity, because while pride or impatience ruled over
their hearts they were not careful to purify themselves from their
former sins, and unrestrained habits, and on that account could never
attain to that love of God which never faileth, and these, as they
fall short in this second stage of renunciation, can still less reach
that third stage which is most certainly far higher. But consider too
in your minds with great care the fact that he did not simply say
"If I bestow my goods." For it might perhaps be thought
that he spoke of one who had not fulfilled the command of the gospel,
but had kept back something for himself, as some half-hearted persons
do. But he says "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the
poor," i.e., even if my renunciation of those earthly riches be
perfect. And to this renunciation he adds something still greater:
"And though I give my body to be burned, but have not charity, I
am nothing:" As if he had said in other words, though I bestow
all my goods to feed the poor in accordance with that command in the
gospel, where we are told "If thou wilt be perfect, go sell all
that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven,"[143] renouncing them so
as to keep back nothing at all for myself, and though to this
distribution (of my goods) I should by the burning of my flesh add
martyrdom so as to give up my body for Christ, and yet be impatient,
or passionate or envious or proud, or excited by wrongs done by
others, or seek what is mine, or indulge in evil thoughts, or not be
ready and patient in bearing all that can be inflicted on me, this
renunciation and the burning of the outer man will profit me nothing,
while the inner man is still involved in the former sins, because,
while in the fervour of the early days of my conversion I made light
of the mere worldly substance, which is said to be not good or evil in
itself but indifferent, I took no care to cast out in like manner the
injurious powers of a bad heart, or to attain to that love of the Lord
which is patient, which is "kind, which envieth not, is not
puffed up, is not soon angry, dealeth not perversely, seeketh not her
own, thinketh no evil," which "beareth all things, endureth
all things,"[144] and which
lastly never suffers him who follows after it to fall by the
deceitfulness of sin.
Of our very own possessions in which the beauty of
the soul is seen or its foulness.
WE ought then to take the utmost care that our inner man as well may
cast off and make away with all those possessions of its sins, which
it acquired in its former life: which as they continually cling to
body and soul are our very own, and, unless we reject them and cut
them off while we are still in the flesh, will not cease to accompany
us after death. For as good qualities, or charity itself which is
their source, may be gained in this world, and after the close of this
life make the man who loves it lovely and glorious, so our faults
transmit to that eternal remembrance a mind darkened and stained with
foul colours. For the beauty or ugliness of the soul is the product
of its virtues or its vices, the colour it takes from which either
makes it so glorious, that it may well hear from the prophet "And
the king shall have pleasure in thy beauty,"[145] or so black, and foul, and ugly,
that it must surely acknowledge the stench of its shame, and say
"My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my
foolishness,"[146] and the Lord
Himself says to it "Why is not the wound of the daughter of my
people closed?"[147] And
therefore these are our very own possessions, which continually remain
with the soul, which no king and no enemy can either give or take away
from us. These are our very own possessions which not even death
itself can part from the soul, but by renouncing which we can attain
to perfection, and by clinging to which we shall suffer the punishment
of eternal death.
Of three sorts of possessions.
RICHES and possessions are taken in Holy Scripture in three different
ways, i.e., as good, bad, and indifferent. Those are bad, of which it
is said: "The rich have wanted and have suffered hunger,"[148] and "Woe unto you that are
rich, for ye have received your consolation:"[149] and to have cast off these riches is
the height of perfection; and a distinction which belongs to those
poor who are commended in the gospel by the Lord's saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven;"[150] and in the Psalm:
"This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him,"[151] and again: "The poor and needy
shall praise thy name."[152]
Those riches are good, to acquire which is the work of great virtue
and merit, and the righteous possessor of which is praised by David
who says "The generation of the righteous shall be blessed: glory
and riches are in his house, and his righteousness remaineth for
ever:"[153] and again "the
ransom of a man's life are his riches."[154] And of these riches it is said in
the Apocalypse to him who has them not and to his shame is poor and
naked: "I will begin," says he, "to vomit thee out of
my mouth. Because thou sayest I am rich and wealthy and have need of
nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor
and blind and naked, I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire-tried, that
thou mayest be made rich, and mayest be clothed in white garments, and
that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear."[155] There are some also which are
indifferent, i.e., which may be made either good or bad: for they are
made either one or the other in accordance with the will and character
of those who use them: of which the blessed, Apostle says "Charge
the rich of this world not to be high-minded nor to trust in the
uncertainty of riches, but in God (who giveth us abundantly all things
to enjoy), to do good, to give easily, to communicate to others, to
lay up in store for themselves a good foundation that they may lay
hold on the true life."[156]
These are what the rich man in the gospel kept, and never distributed
to the poor,--while the beggar Lazarus was lying at his gate and
desiring to be fed with his crumbs; and so he was condemned to the
unbearable flames and everlasting heat of hell-fire.[157]
That none can become perfect merely through the
first grade of renunciation.
IN leaving then these visible goods of the world we forsake not our
own wealth, but that which is not ours, although we boast of it as
either gained by our own exertions or inherited by us from our
forefathers. For as I said nothing is our own, save this only which
we possess with our heart, and which cleaves to our soul, and
therefore cannot be taken away from us by any one. But Christ speaks
in terms of censure of those visible riches, to those who clutch them
as if they were their own, and refuse to share them with those in
want. "If ye have not been faithful in what is another's, who
will give to you what is your own?"[158] Plainly then it is not only daily
experience which teaches us that these riches are not our own, but
this saying of our Lord also, by the very title which it gives them.
But concerning visible[159] and
worthless riches Peter says to the Lord: "Lo, we have left all
and followed thee. What shall we have therefore?"[160] when it is clear that they had left
nothing but their miserable broken nets. And unless this expression
"all" is understood to refer to that renunciation of sins
which is really great and important, we shall not find that the
Apostles had left anything of any value, or that the Lord had any
reason for bestowing on them the blessing of so great glory, that they
were allowed to hear from Him that "in the regeneration, when the
Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit
upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."[161] If then those, who have completely
renounced their earthly and visible goods, cannot for sufficient
reason attain to Apostolic charity, nor climb with readiness and
vigour to that third stage of renunciation which is still higher and
belongs to but few, what should those think of themselves, who do not
even make that first step (which is very easy) a thorough one, but
keep together with their old want of faith, their former sordid
riches, and fancy that they can boast of the mere name of monks? The
first renunciation then of which we spoke is of what is not our own,
and therefore is not enough of itself to confer perfection on the
renunciant, unless he advances to the second, which is really and
truly a renunciation of what belongs to us. And when we have made
sure of this by the expulsion of all our faults, we shall mount to the
heights of the third renunciation also, whereby we rise above not
merely all those things which are done in this world or specially
belong to men, but even that whole universe around us which is
esteemed so glorious, and shall with heart and soul look down upon it
as subject to vanity and destined soon to pass away; as we look, as
the Apostle says, "not on those things which are seen, but on
those which are not seen: for the things that are seen, are temporal,
and the things which are not seen are eternal;"[162] that so we may be found worthy to
hear that highest utterance, which was spoken to Abraham: "and
come into a land which I will show thee,"[163] which clearly shows that unless a
man has made those three former renunciations with all earnestness of
mind, he cannot attain to this fourth, which is granted as a reward
and privilege to one whose renunciation is perfect, that he may be
found worthy to enter the land of promise which no longer bears for
him the thorns and thistles of sins; which after all the passions have
been driven out is acquired by purity of heart even in the body, and
which no good deeds or exertions of man's efforts (can gain), but
which the Lord Himself promises to show, saying "And come into
the land which I will show to thee:" which clearly proves that
the beginning of our salvation results from the call of the Lord, Who
says "Get thee out from thy country," and that the
completion of perfection and purity is His gift in the same way, as He
says "And come into the land which I will show thee," i.e.,
not one you yourself can know or discover by your own efforts, but one
which I will show not only to one who is ignorant of it, but even to
one who is not looking for it. And from this we clearly gather that
as we hasten to the way of salvation through being stirred up by the
inspiration of the Lord, so too it is under the guidance of His
direction and illumination that we attain to the perfection of the
highest bliss.
A question on the free will of man and the grace of
God.
GERMANUS: Where then is there room for free will, and how is it
ascribed to our efforts that we are worthy of praise, if God both
begins and ends everything in us which concerns our salvation?
The answer on the economy of Divine Grace, with
free will still remaining in us.
PAPHNUTIUS: This would fairly influence us, if in every work and
practice, the beginning and the end were everything, and there were no
middle in between. And so as we know that God creates opportunities
of salvation in various ways, it is in our power to make use of the
opportunities granted to us by heaven more or less earnestly. For
just as the offer came from God Who called him "get thee out of
thy country," so the obedience was on the part of Abraham who
went forth; and as the fact that the saying "Come into the
land" was carried into action, was the work of him who obeyed, so
the addition of the words "which I will show thee" came from
the grace of God Who commanded or promised it. But it is well for us
to be sure that although we practise every virtue with unceasing
efforts, yet with all our exertions and zeal we can never arrive at
perfection, nor is mere human diligence and toil of itself sufficient
to deserve to reach the splendid reward of bliss, unless we have
secured it by means of the co-operation of the Lord, and His directing
our heart to what is right. And so we ought every moment to pray and
say with David "Order my steps in thy paths that my footsteps
slip not:"[164] and "He hath
set my feet upon a rock and ordered my goings:"[165] that He Who is the unseen ruler of
the human heart may vouchsafe to turn to the desire of virtue that
will of ours, which is more readily inclined to vice either through
want of knowledge of what is good, or through the delights of passion.
And we read this in a verse in which the prophet sings very plainly:
"Being pushed I was overturned that I might fall," where the
weakness of our free will is shown. And "the Lord sustained
me:"[166] again this shows that
the Lord's help is always joined to it, and by this, that we may not
be altogether destroyed by our free will, when He sees that we have
stumbled, He sustains and supports us, as it were by stretching out
His hand. And again: "If I said my foot was moved;" viz.,
from the slippery character of the will, "Thy mercy, O Lord,
helped me."[167] Once more he
joins on the help of God to his own weakness, as he confesses that it
was not owing to his own efforts but to the mercy of God, that the
foot of his faith was not moved. And again: "According to the
multitude of the sorrows which I had in my heart," which sprang
most certainly from my free will, "Thy comforts have refreshed my
soul,"[168] i.e., by coming
through Thy inspiration into my heart, and laying open the view of
future blessings which Thou hast prepared for them who labour in Thy
name, they not only removed all anxiety from my heart, but actually
conferred upon it he greatest delight. And again: "Had it not
been that the Lord helped me, my soul had almost dwelt in
hell."[169] He certainly shows
that through the depravity of this free will he would have dwelt in
hell, had he not been saved by the assistance and protection of the
Lord. For "By the Lord," and not by free-will, "are a
man's steps directed," and "although the righteous
fall" at least by free will, "he shall not be cast
away." And why? because "the Lord upholdeth him with His
hand:"[170] and this is to say
with the utmost clearness: None of the righteous are sufficient of
themselves to acquire righteousness, unless every moment when they
stumble and fall the Divine mercy supports them with His hands, that
they may not utterly collapse and perish, when they have been cast
down through the weakness of free will.
That the ordering of our way comes from God.
AND truly the saints have never said that it was by their own efforts
that they secured the direction of the way in which they walked in
their course towards advance and perfection of virtue, but rather they
prayed for it from the Lord, saying "Direct me in Thy
truth," and "direct my way in thy sight."[171] But someone else declares that he
discovered this very fact not only by faith, but also by experience,
and as it were from the very nature of things: "I know, O Lord,
that the way of man is not his: neither is it in a man to walk and to
direct his steps."[172] And the
Lord Himself says to Israel: "I will direct him like a green
fir-tree: from Me is thy fruit found."[173]
That knowledge of the law is given by the guidance
and illumination of the Lord.
THE knowledge also of the law itself they daily endeavour to gain not
by diligence in reading, but by the guidance and illumination of God
as they say to Him: "Show me Thy ways, O Lord, and teach me Thy
paths:" and "open Thou mine eyes: and I shall see the
wondrous things of Thy law:" and "teach me to do Thy will,
for Thou art my God;" and again: "Who teacheth man
knowledge."[174]
That the understanding, by means of which we can
recognize God's commands, and the performance of a good will are both
gifts from the Lord.
FURTHER the blessed David asks of the Lord that he may gain that very
understanding, by which he can recognize God's commands which, he well
knew, were written in the book of the law, and he says "I am Thy
servant: O give me understanding that I may learn Thy
commandments."[175] Certainly he
was in possession of understanding, which had been granted to him by
nature, and also had at his fingers' ends a knowledge of God's
commands which were preserved in writing in the law: and still he
prayed the Lord that he might learn this more thoroughly as he knew
that what came to him by nature would never be sufficient for him,
unless his understanding was enlightened by the Lord by a daily
illumination from Him, to understand the law spiritually and to
recognize His commands more clearly, as the "chosen vessel"
also declares very plainly this which we are insisting on. "For
it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do according to
good will."[176] What could well
be clearer than the assertion that both our good will and the
completion of our work are fully wrought in us by the Lord? And again
"For it is granted to you for Christ's sake, not only to believe
in Him but also to suffer for Him."[177] Here also he declares that the
beginning of our conversion and faith, and the endurance of suffering
is a gift to us from the Lord. And David too, as he knows this,
similarly prays that the same thing may be granted to him by God's
mercy. "Strengthen, O God, that which Thou hast wrought in
us:"[178] showing that it is not
enough for the beginning of our salvation to be granted by the gift
and grace of God, unless it has been continued and ended by the same
pity and continual help from Him. For not free will but the Lord
"looseth them that are bound." No strength of ours, but the
Lord "raiseth them that are fallen:" no diligence in
reading, but "the Lord enlightens the blind:" where the
Greeks have kurios sofoi tuflous, i.e.,
"the Lord maketh wise the blind:" no care on our part, but
"the Lord careth for the stranger:" no courage of ours, but
"the Lord assists (or supports) all those who are down."[179] But this we say, not to slight our
zeal and efforts and diligence, as if they were applied unnecessarily
and foolishly, but that we may know that we cannot strive without the
help of God, nor can our efforts be of any use in securing the great
reward of purity, unless it has been granted to us by the assistance
and mercy of the Lord: for "a horse is prepared for the day of
battle: but help cometh from the Lord,"[180] "for no man can prevail by
strength."[181] We ought then
always to sing with the blessed David: "My strength and my praise
is" not my free will, but "the Lord, and He is become my
salvation."[182] And the teacher
of the Gentiles was not ignorant of this when he declared that he was
made capable of the ministry of the New Testament not by his own
merits or efforts but by the mercy of God. "Not" says he,
"that we are capable of thinking anything of ourselves as of
ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God," which can be put in
less good Latin but more forcibly, "our capability is of
God," and then there follows: "Who also made us capable
ministers of the New Testament."[183]
That faith itself must be given us by the
Lord.
BUT so thoroughly did the Apostles realize that everything which
concerns salvation was given them by the Lord, that they even asked
that faith itself should be granted from the Lord, saying: "Add
to us faith"[184] as they did not
imagine that it could be gained by free will, but believed that it
would be bestowed by the free gift of God. Lastly the Author of man's
salvation teaches us how feeble and weak and insufficient our faith
would be unless it were strengthened by the aid of the Lord, when He
says to Peter "Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have
you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed to my Father
that thy faith fail not."[185]
And another finding that this was happening in his own case, and
seeing that his faith was being driven by the waves of unbelief on the
rocks which would cause a fearful shipwreck, asks of the same Lord an
aid to his faith, saying "Lord, help mine unbelief."[186] So thoroughly then did those
Apostles and men in the gospel realize that everything which is good
is brought to perfection by the aid of the Lord, and not imagine that
they could preserve their faith unharmed by their own strength or free
will that they prayed that it might be helped or granted to them by
the Lord. And if in Peter's case there was need of the Lord's help
that it might not fail, who will be so presumptuous and blind as to
fancy that he has no need of daily assistance from the Lord in order
to preserve it? Especially as the Lord Himself has made this clear in
the gospel, saying: "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself
except it abide in the vine, so no more can ye, except ye abide in
me."[187] And again: "for
without me ye can do nothing."[188] How foolish and wicked then it is
to attribute any good action to our own diligence and not to God's
grace and assistance, is clearly shown by the Lord's saying, which
lays down that no one can show forth the fruits of the Spirit without
His inspiration and co-operation. For "every good gift and every
perfect boon is from above, coming down from the Father of
lights."[189] And Zechariah too
says, "For whatever is good is His, and what is excellent is from
Him."[190] And so the blessed
Apostle consistently says: "What hast thou which thou didst not
receive? But if thou didst receive it, why boastest thou as if thou
hadst not received it?"[191]
That temperateness and the endurance of temptations
must be given to us by the Lord.
AND that all the endurance, with which we can bear the temptations
brought upon us, depends not so much on our own strength as on the
mercy and guidance of God, the blessed Apostle thus declares: "No
temptation hath come upon you but such as is common to man. But God
is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are
able, but will with the temptation make also a way of escape, that ye
may be able to bear it."[192]
And that God fits and strengthens our souls for every good work, and
worketh in us all those things which are pleasing to Him, the same
Apostle teaches: "May the God of peace who brought out of
darkness the great Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ, in the blood
of the everlasting Testament, fit you in all goodness, working in you
what is well-pleasing in His sight."[193] And that the same thing may happen
to the Thessalonians he prays as follows, saying: "Now our Lord
Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father who hath loved us and hath
given us everlasting consolation and good hope in grace, exhort your
hearts, and confirm you in every good word and work."[194]
That the continual fear of God must be bestowed on
us by the Lord.
AND lastly the prophet Jeremiah, speaking in the person of God,
clearly testifies that even the fear of God, by which we can hold fast
to Him, is shed upon us by the Lord: saying as follows: "And I
will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear Me all days:
and that it may be well with them and with their children after them.
And I will make an everlasting covenant with them and will not cease
to do them good: and I will give My fear in their hearts that they may
not revolt from Me."[195]
Ezekiel also says: "And I will give them one heart, and will put
a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out
of their flesh and will give them a heart of flesh: that they may walk
in My commandments, and keep My judgments and do them: and that they
may be My people, and I may be their God."[196]
That the beginning of our good will and its
completion comes from God.
AND this plainly teaches us that the beginning of our good will is
given to us by the inspiration of the Lord, when He draws us towards
the way of salvation either by His own act, or by the exhortations of
some man, or by compulsion; and that the consummation of our good
deeds is granted by Him in the same way: but that it is in our own
power to follow up the encouragement and assistance of God with more
or less zeal, and that accordingly we are rightly visited either with
reward or with punishment, because we have been either careless or
careful to correspond to His design and providential arrangement made
for us with such kindly regard. And this is clearly and plainly
described in Deuteronomy. "When," says he, "the Lord
thy God shall have brought thee into the land which thou art going to
possess, and shall have destroyed many nations before thee, the
Hittite, and the Gergeshite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the
Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations much more
numerous than thou art and stronger than thou, and the Lord thy God
shall have delivered them to thee, thou shalt utterly destroy them.
Thou shalt make no league with them. Neither shalt thou make marriage
with them."[197] So then
Scripture declares that it is the free gift of God that they are
brought into the land of promise, that many nations are destroyed
before them, that nations more numerous and mightier than the people
of Israel are given up into their hands. But whether Israel utterly
destroys them, or whether it preserves them alive and spares them, and
whether or no it makes a league with them, and makes marriages with
them or not, it declares lies in their own power. And by this
testimony we can clearly see what we ought to ascribe to free will,
and what to the design and daily assistance of the Lord, and that it
belongs to divine grace to give us opportunities of salvation and
prosperous undertakings and victory: but that it is ours to follow up
the blessings which God gives us with earnestness or indifference. And
this same fact we see is plainly taught in the healing of the blind
men. For the fact that Jesus passed by them, was a free gift of Divine
providence and condescension. But the fact that they cried out and
said "Have mercy on us, Lord, thou son of David,"[198] was an act of their own faith and
belief. That they received the sight of their eyes was a gift of
Divine pity. But that after the reception of any blessing, the grace
of God, and the use of free will both remain, the case of the ten
lepers, who were all healed alike, shows us. For when one of them
through goodness of will returned thanks, the Lord looking for the
nine, and praising the one, showed that He was ever anxious to help
even those who were unmindful of His kindness. For even this is a
gift of His visitation; viz., that he receives and commends the
grateful one, and looks for and censures those who are thankless.
That nothing can be done in this world without
God.
BUT it is right for us to hold with unswerving faith that nothing
whatever is done in this world without God. For we must acknowledge
that everything is done either by His will or by His permission, i.e.,
we must believe that whatever is good is carried out by the will of
God and by His aid, and whatever is the reverse is done by His
permission, when the Divine Protection is withdrawn from us for our
sins and the hardness of our hearts, and suffers the devil and the
shameful passions of the body to lord it over us. And the words of
the Apostle most assuredly teach us this, when he says: "For this
cause God delivered them up to shameful passions:" and again:
"Because they did not like to have God in their knowledge, God
delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are
not convenient."[199] And the
Lord Himself says by the prophet: "But My people did not hear My
voice and Israel did not obey me: Wherefore I gave them up unto their
own hearts' lusts. They shall walk after their own
inventions."[200]
An objection on the power of free will.
GERMANUS: This passage very clearly shows the freedom of the will,
where it is said "If My people would have hearkened unto
Me," and elsewhere "But My people would not hear My
voice."[201] For when He says
"If they would have heard" He shows that the decision to
yield or not to yield lay in their own power. How then is it true
that our salvation does not depend upon ourselves, if God Himself has
given us the power either to hearken or not to hearken?
The answer; viz., that our free will always has
need of the help of the Lord.
PAPHNUTIUS: You have shrewdly enough noticed how it is said "If
they would have hearkened to Me:" but have not sufficiently
considered either who it is who speaks to one who does or does not
hearken; or what follows: "I should soon have put down their
enemies, and laid My hand on those that trouble them."[202] Let no one then try by a false
interpretation to twist that which we brought forward to prove that
nothing can be done without the Lord, nor take it in support of free
will, in such a way as to try to take away from man the grace of God
and His daily oversight, through this test: "But My people did
not hear My voice," and again: "If My people would have
hearkened unto Me, and if Israel would have walked in My ways,
etc.:" but let him consider that just as the power of free will
is evidenced by the disobedience of the people, so the daily oversight
of God who declares and admonishes him is also shown. For where He
says "If My people would have hearkened unto Me" He clearly
implies that He had spoken to them before. And this the Lord was wont
to do not only by means of the written law, but also by daily
exhortations, as this which is given by Isaiah: "All day long
have I stretched forth My hands to a disobedient and gain-saying
people."[203] Both points then
can be supported from this passage, where it says: "If My people
would have hearkened, and if Israel had walked in My ways, I should
soon have put down their enemies, and laid My hand on those that
trouble them." For just as free will is shown by the
disobedience of the people, so the government of God and His
assistance is made clear by the beginning and end of the verse, where
He implies that He had spoken to them before, and that afterwards He
would put down their enemies, if they would have hearkened unto Him.
For we have no wish to do away with man's free will by what we have
said, but only to establish the fact that the assistance and grace of
God are necessary to it every day and hour. When he had instructed us
with this discourse Abbot Paphnutius dismissed us from his cell before
midnight in a state of contrition rather than of liveliness; insisting
on this as the chief lesson in his discourse; viz., that when we
fancied that by making perfect the first renunciation (which we were
endeavouring to do with all our powers), we could climb the heights of
perfection, we should make the discovery that we had not yet even
begun to dream of the heights to which a monk can rise, since after we
had learnt some few things about the second renunciation, we should
find out that we had not before this even heard a word of the third
stage, in which all perfection is comprised, and which in many ways
far exceeds these lower ones.
Next
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