THE SECOND PART OF THE CONFERENCES OF JOHN
CASSIAN.
THE FIRST CONFERENCE OF ABBOT CHÆREMON.
ON PERFECTION.
Complete Contents.
Other version available: text. [37K].
Description of the town of Thennesus.
WHEN we were living in a monastery in Syria after our first infancy in
the faith, and when after we had grown somewhat we had begun to long
for some greater grace of perfection, we determined straightway to
seek Egypt and penetrating even to the remotest desert of the
Thebaid,[4] to visit very many of the
saints, whose glory and fame had spread abroad everywhere, with the
wish if not to emulate them at any rate to know them. And so we came
by a very lengthy voyage to a town of Egypt named Thennesus,[5] whose inhabitants are so surrounded
either by the sea or by salt lakes that they devote themselves to
business alone and get their wealth and substance by naval commerce as
the land fails them, so that indeed when they want to build houses,
there is no soil sufficient for this, unless it is brought by boat
from a distance.
Of Bishop Archebius.
AND when we arrived there, God gratified our wishes, and had brought
about the arrival of that most blessed and excellent man Bishop
Archebius,[6] who had been carried off
from the assembly of anchorites and given as Bishop to the town of
Panephysis,[7] and who kept all his life
long to his purpose of solitude with such strictness that he relaxed
nothing of the character of his former humility, nor flattered himself
on the honour that had been added to him (for he vowed that he had not
been summoned to that office as fit for it, but complained that he had
been expelled from the monastic system as unworthy of it because
though he had spent thirty-seven years in it he had never been able to
arrive at the purity so high a profession demands); he then when he
had received us kindly and most graciously in the aforesaid Thennesus
whither the business of electing a Bishop there had brought him, as
soon as he heard of our wish and desire to inquire of the holy fathers
even in still more remote parts of Egypt: "Come," said he,
"see in the meanwhile the old men who live not far from our
monastery, the length of whose service is shown by their bent bodies,
as their holiness shines forth in their appearance, so that even the
mere sight of them will give a great lesson to those who see them: and
from them you can learn not so much by their words as by the actual
example of their holy life, what I grieve that I have lost, and having
lost cannot give to you. But I think that my poverty will be somewhat
lessened by this zeal of mine, if when you are seeking that pearl of
the Gospel which I have not, I at least provide where you can
conveniently procure it."
Description of the desert where Chæremon,
Nesteros, and Joseph lived.
AND so he took his staff and scrip, as is there the custom for all
monks starting on a journey, and himself led us as guide of our road
to his own city, i.e., Panephysis, the lands of which and indeed the
greater part of the neighbouring region (formerly an extremely rich
one since from it, as report says, everything was supplied for the
royal table), had been covered by the sea which was disturbed by a
sudden earthquake and overflowed its banks, and so (almost all the
villages being in ruins) covered what were formerly rich lands with
salt marshes, so that you might think that what is spiritually sung in
the psalm was a literal prophecy of that region. "He hath turned
rivers into a wilderness; and the springs of waters into a thirsty
land: a fruitful land into saltness for the wickedness of them that
dwell therein."[8] In these
districts then many towns perched in this way on the higher hills were
deserted by their inhabitants and turned by the inundation into
islands, and these afforded the desired solitude to the holy
anchorites, among whom three old men; viz., Chæremon, Nesteros
and Joseph, stood out as anchorites of the longest standing.
Of Abbot Chæremon and his excuse about the
teaching which we asked for.
AND so the blessed Archebius thought it best to take us first to
Chæremon,[9] because he was nearer
to his monastery, and because he was more advanced than the other two
in age: for he had passed the hundredth year of his life, vigorous
only in spirit, but with his back bowed with age and constant prayer,
so that, as if he were once more in his childhood he crawled with his
hands hanging down and resting on the ground. Gazing then at one and
the same time on this man's wonderful face and on his walk (for though
all his limbs had already failed and were dead yet he had lost none of
the severity of his previous strictness) when we humbly asked for the
word and doctrine, and declared that longing for spiritual instruction
was the only reason for our coming, he sighed deeply and said: What
doctrine can I teach you, I in whom the feebleness of age has relaxed
my former strictness, as it has also destroyed my confidence in
speaking? For how could I presume to teach what I do not do, or
instruct another in what I know I now practise but feebly and coldly?
Wherefore I do not allow any of the younger men to live with me now
that I am of such an advanced age, lest the other's strictness should
be relaxed owing to my example. For the authority of a teacher will
never be strong unless he fixes it in the heart of his hearer by the
actual performance of his duty.
Of our answer to his excuse.
AT this we were overwhelmed with no slight confusion and replied as
follows: Although both the difficulty of the place and the solitary
life itself, which even a robust youth could scarcely put up with,
ought to be sufficient to teach us everything (and indeed without your
saying anything they do teach and impress us a very great
deal) yet still we ask you to lay aside your silence for a little and
in a more worthy manner implant in us those principles by which we may
be able to embrace, not so much by imitating it as by admiring it,
that goodness which we see in you. For even if our coldness is known
to you, and does not deserve to obtain what we are asking for, yet at
least the trouble of so long a journey ought to be repaid by it, as we
made haste to come here after our first beginning in the monastery of
Bethlehem, owing to a longing for your instruction, and a yearning for
our own good.
Abbot Chæremon's statement that faults can be
overcome in three ways.
THEN the blessed CHÆREMON: There are, said he, three things which
enable men to control their faults; viz., either the fear of hell or
of laws even now imposed; or the hope and desire of the kingdom of
heaven; or a liking for goodness itself and the love of virtue. For
then we read that the fear of evil loathes contamination: "The
fear of the Lord hateth evil."[10]
Hope also shuts out the assaults of all faults: for "all who hope
in Him shall not fail."[11] Love
also fears no destruction from sins, for "love never
faileth;"[12] and again:
"love covers a multitude of sins."[13] And therefore the blessed Apostle
confines the whole sum of salvation in the attainment of those three
virtues, saying "Now abideth faith, hope, love, these
three."[14] For faith is what
makes us shun the stains of sin from fear of future judgment and
punishment; hope is what withdraws our mind from present things, and
despises all bodily pleasures from its expectation of heavenly
rewards; love is what inflames us with keenness of heart for the love
of Christ and the fruit of spiritual goodness, and makes us hate with
a perfect hatred whatever is opposed to these. And these three things
although they all seem to aim at one and the same end (for they incite
us to abstain from things unlawful) yet they differ from each other
greatly in the degrees of their excellence. For the two former belong
properly to those men who in their aim at goodness have not yet
acquired the love of virtue, and the third belongs specially to God
and to those who have received into themselves the image and likeness
of God. For He alone does the things that are good, with no fear and
no thanks or reward to stir Him up, but simply from the love of
goodness. For, as Solomon says, "The Lord hath made all things
for Himself."[15] For under cover
of His own goodness He bestows all the fulness of good things on the
worthy and the unworthy because He cannot be wearied by wrongs, nor be
moved by passions at the sins of men, as He ever remains perfect
goodness and unchangeable in His nature.
By what steps we can ascend to the heights of love
and what permanence there is in it.
IF then any one is aiming at perfection, from that first stage of fear
which we rightly termed servile (of which it is said: "When ye
have done all things say: we are unprofitable servants,"[16]) he should by advancing a step mount
to the higher path of hope--which is compared not to a slave but to a
hireling, because it looks for the payment of its recompense, and as
if it were free from care concerning absolution of its sins and fear
of punishment, and conscious of its own good works, though it seems to
look for the promised reward, yet it cannot attain to that love of a
son who, trusting in his father's kindness and liberality, has no
doubt that all that the father has is his, to which also that prodigal
who together with his father's substance had lost the very name of
son, did not venture to aspire, when he said: "I am no more
worthy to be called thy son;" for after those husks which the
swine ate, satisfaction from which was denied to him, i.e., the
disgusting food of sin, as he "came to himself," and was
overcome by a salutary fear, he already began to loathe the
uncleanness of the swine, and to dread the punishment of gnawing
hunger, and as if he had already been made a servant, desires the
condition of a hireling and thinks about the remuneration, and says:
"How many hired servants of my father have abundance of bread,
and I perish here with hunger. I will then return to my father and
will say unto him, `Father I have sinned against heaven and before
thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of
thy hired servants.'"[17] But
those words of humble penitence his father who ran to meet him
received with greater affection than that with which they were spoken,
and was not content to allow him lesser things, but passing through
the two stages without delay restored him to his former dignity of
sonship. We also ought forthwith to hasten on that by means of the
indissoluble grace of love we may mount to that third stage of
sonship, which believes that all that the father has is its own, nd so
we may be counted worthy to receive the image and likeness of our
heavenly Father, and be able to say after the likeness of the true
son: "All that the Father hath is mine."[18] Which also the blessed Apostle
declares of us, saying: "All things are yours, whether Paul or
Apollos or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
or things to come; all are yours."[19] And to this likeness the commands of
our Saviour also summon us: "Be ye," says He, "perfect,
even as your Father in heaven is perfect."[20] For in these persons sometimes the
love of goodness is found to be interrupted, when the vigour of the
soul is relaxed by some coldness or joy or delight, and so loses
either the fear of hell for the time, or the desire of future
blessings. And there is indeed in these a stage leading to some
advance, which affects us so that when from fear of punishment or from
hope of reward we begin to avoid sin we are enabled to pass on to the
stage of love, for "fear," says one, "is not in love,
but perfect love casteth out fear: for fear hath torment, but he who
fears is not perfect in love. We therefore love because God first
loved us."[21] We can then only
ascend to that true perfection when, as He first loved us for the
grace of nothing but our salvation, we also have loved Him for the
sake of nothing but His own love alone. Wherefore we must do our best
to mount with perfect ardour of mind from this fear to hope, from hope
to the love of God, and the love of the virtues themselves, that as we
steadily pass on to the love of goodness itself, we may, as far as it
is possible for human nature, keep firm hold of what is good.
How greatly those excel who depart from sin through
the feeling of love.
FOR there is a great difference between one who puts out the fire of
sin within him by fear of hell or hope of future reward, and one who
from the feeling of divine love has a horror of sin itself and of
uncleanness, and keeps hold of the virtue of purity simply from the
love and longing for purity, and looks for no reward from a promise
for the future, but, delighted with the knowledge of good things
present, does everything not from regard to punishment but from
delight in virtue. For this condition can neither abuse an
opportunity to sin when all human witnesses are absent, nor be
corrupted by the secret allurements of thoughts, while, keeping in its
very marrow the love of virtue itself, it not only does not admit into
the heart anything that is opposed to it, but actually hates it with
the utmost horror. For it is one thing for a man in his delight at
some present good to hate the stains of sins and of the flesh, and
another thing to check unlawful desires by contemplating the future
reward; and it is one thing to fear present loss and another to dread
future punishment. Lastly it is a much greater thing to be unwilling
to forsake good for good's own sake, than it is to withhold consent
from evil for fear of evil. For in the former case the good is
voluntary, but in the latter it is constrained and as it were
violently forced out of a reluctant party either by fear of punishment
or by greed of reward. For one who abstains from the allurements of
sin owing to fear, will whenever the obstacle of fear is removed, once
more return to what he loves and thus will not continually acquire any
stability in good, nor will he ever rest free from attacks because he
will not secure the sure and lasting peace of chastity. For where
there is the disturbance of warfare there cannot help being the danger
of wounds. For one who is in the midst of the conflict, even though
he is a warrior and by fighting bravely inflicts frequent and deadly
wounds on his foes, must still sometimes be pierced by the point of
the enemy's sword. But one who has defeated the attack of sins and is
now in the enjoyment of the security of peace, and has passed on to
the love of virtue itself, will keep this condition of good
continually, as he is entirely wrapped up in it, because he believes
that nothing can be worse than the loss of his inmost chastity. For
he deems nothing dearer or more precious than present purity, to whom
a dangerous departure from virtue or a poisonous stain of sin is a
grievous punishment. To such an one, I say, neither will regard for
the presence of another add anything to his goodness nor will solitude
take anything away from it: but as always and everywhere he bears
about with him his conscience as a judge not only of his actions but
also of his thoughts, he will especially try to please it, as he knows
that it cannot be cheated nor deceived, and that he cannot escape
it.
That love not only makes sons out of servants, but
also bestows the image and likeness of God.
AND if to anyone relying on the help of God and not on his own
efforts, it has been vouchsafed to acquire this state, from the
condition of a servant, wherein is fear, and from a mercenary greed of
hope, whereby there is sought not so much the good of the donor as the
recompense of reward, he will begin to pass on to the adoption of
sons, where there is no longer fear, nor greed, but that love which
never faileth continually endures. Of which fear and love the Lord in
chiding some shows what is befitting for each one: "A son knoweth
his own father, and a servant feareth his lord: And if I be a Father,
where is My honour: and if I be a Lord, where is my fear?"[22] For one who is a servant must needs
fear because "if knowing his lord's will he has done things
worthy of stripes, he shall be beaten with many stripes."[23] Whoever then by this love has
attained the image and likeness of God, will now delight in goodness
for the pleasure of goodness itself, and having somehow a like feeling
of patience and gentleness will henceforth be angered by no faults of
sinners, but in his compassion and sympathy will rather ask for pardon
for their infirmities, and, remembering that for so long he himself
was tried by the stings of similar passions till by the Lord's mercy
he was saved, will feel that, as he was saved from carnal attacks not
by the teaching of his own exertions but by God's protection, not
anger but pity ought to be shown to those who go astray; and with full
peace of mind will he sing to God the following verse: "Thou hast
broken my chains. I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of praise;"
and: "except the Lord had helped me, my soul had almost dwelt in
hell."[24] And while he continues
in this humility of mind he will be able even to fulfil this Evangelic
command of perfection: "Love your enemies, do good to them that
hate you, and pray for them that persecute you and slander
you."[25] And so it will be
vouchsafed to us to attain that reward which is subjoined, whereby we
shall not only bear the image and likeness of God, but shall even be
called sons: "that ye may be," says He "sons of your
Father which is in heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise on the good and
evil, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust:"[26] and this feeling the blessed John knew
that he had attained when he said: "that we may have confidence
in the day of judgment, because as He is so are we also in this
world."[27] For in what can a
weak and fragile human nature be like Him, except in always showing a
calm love in its heart towards the good and evil, the just and the
unjust, in imitation of God, and by doing good for the love of
goodness itself, arriving at that true adoption of the sons of God, of
which also the blessed Apostle speaks as follows: "Every one that
is born of God doeth not sin, for His seed is in him, and he cannot
sin, because he is born of God;" and again: "We know that
every one who is born of God sinneth not, but his birth of God
preserves him, and the wicked one toucheth him not"?[28] And this must be understood not of
all kinds of sins, but only of mortal sins: and if any one will not
extricate and cleanse himself from these, for him the aforesaid
Apostle tells us in another place that we ought not even to pray,
saying: "If a man knows his brother to be sinning a sin not unto
death, let him ask, and He will give him life for them that sin not
unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he should
ask for it."[29] But of those
which he says are not unto death, from which even those who serve
Christ faithfully cannot, with whatever care they keep themselves, be
free, of these he says: "If we say that we have no sin we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us;" and again: "If we say
that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in
us."[30] For it is an
impossibility for any one of the saints not to fall into those trivial
faults which are committed by word, and thought, and ignorance, and
forgetfulness, and necessity, and will, and surprise: which though
quite different from that sin which is said to be unto death, still
cannot be free from fault and blame.
How it is the perfection of love to pray for one's
enemies and by what signs we may recognize a mind that is not yet
purified.
WHEN then any one has acquired this love of goodness of which we have
been speaking, and the imitation of God, then he will be endowed with
the Lord's heart of compassion, and will pray also for his
persecutors, saying in like manner: "Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do."[31]
But it is a clear sign of a soul that is not yet thoroughly purged
from the dregs of sin, not to sorrow with a feeling of pity at the
offences of others, but to keep to the rigid censure of the judge: for
how will he be able to obtain perfection of heart, who is without that
by which, as the Apostle has pointed out, the full requirements of the
law can be fulfilled, saying: "Bear one another's burdens and so
fulfil the law of Christ,"[32] and
who has not that virtue of love, which "is not grieved, is not
puffed up, thinketh no evil," which "endureth all things,
beareth all things."[33] For
"a righteous man pitieth the life of his beasts: but the heart of
the ungodly is without pity."[34]
And so a monk is quite certain to fall into the same sins which he
condemns in another with merciless and inhuman severity, for "a
stern king will fall into misfortunes," and "one who stops
his ears so as not to hear the weak, shall himself cry, and there
shall be none to hear him."[35]
A question why he has called the feeling of fear
and hope imperfect.
GERMANUS: You have indeed spoken powerfully and grandly of the perfect
love of God. But still this fact disturbs us; viz., that while you
were exalting it with such praise, you said that the fear of God and
the hope of eternal reward were imperfect, though the prophet seems to
have thought quite differently about them, where he said: "Fear
the Lord, all ye His saints, for they that fear Him lack
nothing."[36] And again in the
matter of observing God's righteous acts he admits that he has done
them from consideration of the reward, saying: "I have inclined
my heart to do thy righteous acts forever, for the reward."[37] And the Apostle says: "By faith
Moses when he was grown up, denied himself to be the son of Pharaoh's
daughter; choosing rather to be afflicted with the people of God than
to have the pleasure of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of
Christ greater riches than the treasure of the Egyptians; for he
looked unto the reward."[38] How
then can we think that they are imperfect, if the blessed David
boasted that he did the righteous acts of God in hope of a recompense,
and the giver of the Law is said to have looked for a future reward
and so to have despised the adoption to royal dignity, and to have
preferred the most terrible affliction to the treasures of the
Egyptians?
The answer on the different kinds of
perfection.
CHÆREMON: In accordance with the condition and measure of every
mind Holy Scripture summons our free wills to different grades of
perfection. For no uniform crown of perfection can be offered to all
men, because all have not the same virtue, or purpose, or fervour, and
so the Divine Word has in some way appointed different ranks and
different measures of perfection itself. And that this is so the
variety of beatitudes in the gospel clearly shows. For though they
are called blessed, whose is the kingdom of heaven, and blessed are
they who shall possess the earth, and blessed are they who shall
receive their consolation, and blessed are they who shall be filled,
yet we believe that there is a great difference between the
habitations of the kingdom of heaven, and the possession of the earth,
whatever it be, and also between the reception of consolation and the
fulness and satisfaction of righteousness; and that there is a great
distinction between those who shall obtain mercy, and those who shall
be deemed worthy to enjoy the most glorious vision of God. "For
there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and
another glory of the stars: for star differeth from star in glory, so
also is the resurrection of the dead."[39] While therefore in accordance with
this rule holy Scripture praises those who fear God, and says
"Blessed are all they that fear the Lord,"[40] and promises them for this a full
measure of bliss, yet it says again: "There is no fear in love,
but perfect love casteth out fear: for fear hath torment. But he that
feareth is not yet perfect in love."[41] And again, though it is a grand thing
to serve God, and it is said: "Serve the Lord in fear;" and:
"It is a great thing for thee to be called My servant;" and:
"Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall
find so doing,"[42] yet it is said
to the Apostles: "I no longer call you servants, for the servant
knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I call you friends, for all
things whatsoever I have heard from my Father, I have made known unto
you."[43] And once more: "Ye
are My friends, if ye do whatever I command you."[44] You see then that there are different
stages of perfection, and that we are called by the Lord from high
things to still higher in such a way that he who has become blessed
and perfect in the fear of God; going as it is written "from
strength to strength,"[45] and
from one perfection to another, i.e., mounting with keenness of soul
from fear to hope, is summoned in the end to that still more blessed
stage, which, is love, and he who has been "a faithful and wise
servant"[46] will pass to the
companionship of friendship and to the adoption of sons. So then our
saying also must be understood according to this meaning: not that we
say that the consideration of that enduring punishment or of that
blessed recompense which is promised to the saints is of no value, but
because, though they are useful and introduce those who pursue them to
the first beginning of blessedness, yet again love, wherein is already
fuller confidence, and a lasting joy, will remove them from servile
fear and mercenary hope to the love of God, and carry them on to the
adoption of sons, and somehow make them from being perfect still more
perfect. For the Saviour says that in His Father's house are
"many mansions,"[47] and
although all the stars seem to be in the sky, yet there is a mighty
difference between the brightness of the sun and of the moon, and
between that of the morning star and the rest of the stars. And
therefore the blessed Apostle prefers it not only above fear and hope
but also above all gifts which are counted great and wonderful, and
shows the way of love still more excellent than all. For when after
finishing his list of spiritual gifts of virtues he wanted to describe
its members, he began as follows: "And yet I show unto you a
still more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and
angels, and though I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries
and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove
mountains, and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and give
my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me
nothing." You see then that nothing more precious, nothing more
perfect, nothing more sublime, and, if I may say so, nothing more
enduring can be found than love. For "whether there be
prophecies, they shall fail, whether there be tongues, they shall
cease, whether there be knowledge, it shall be destroyed," but
"love never faileth,"[48] and
without it not only those most excellent kinds of gifts, but even the
glory of martyrdom itself will fail.
Of the fear which is the outcome of the greatest
love.
WHOEVER then has been established in this perfect love is sure to
mount by a higher stage to that still more sublime fear belonging to
love, which is the outcome of no dread of punishment or greed of
reward, but of the greatest love; whereby a son fears with earnest
affection a most indulgent father, or a brother fears his brother, a
friend his friend, or a wife her husband, while there is no dread of
his blows or reproaches, but only of a slight injury to his love, and
while in every word as well as act there is ever care taken by anxious
affection lest the warmth of his love should cool in the very
slightest degree towards the object of it. And one of the prophets
has finely described the grandeur of this fear, saying: "Wisdom
and knowledge are the riches of salvation: the fear of the Lord is his
treasure."[49] He could not
describe with greater clearness the worth and value of that fear than
by saying that the riches of our salvation, which consist in true
wisdom and knowledge of God, can only be preserved by the fear of the
Lord. To this fear then not sinners but saints are invited by the
prophetic word where the Psalmist says: "O fear the Lord, all ye
His Saints: for they that fear Him lack nothing."[50] For where a man fears the Lord with
this fear it is certain that nothing is lacking to his perfection.
For it was clearly of that other penal fear that the Apostle John said
that "He who feareth is not made perfect in love, for fear hath
punishment."[51] There is then a
great difference between this fear, to which nothing is lacking, which
is the treasure of wisdom and knowledge, and that imperfect fear which
is called "the beginning of wisdom,"[52] and which has in it punishment and so
is expelled from the hearts of those who are perfect by the incoming
of the fulness of love. For "there is no fear in love, but
perfect love casteth out fear."[53] And in truth if the beginning of
wisdom consists in fear, what will its perfection be except in the
love of Christ which, as it contains in it the fear which belongs to
perfect love, is called not the beginning but the treasure of wisdom
and knowledge? And therefore there is a twofold stage of fear. The
one for beginners, i.e., for those who are still subject to the yoke
and to servile terror; of which we read: "And the servant shall
fear his Lord;"[54] and in the
gospel: "I no longer call you servants, for the servant knoweth
not what his Lord doeth;" and therefore "the servant,"
He tells us, "abideth not in the house for ever, but the Son
abideth for ever."[55] For He is
instructing us to pass on from that penal fear to the fullest freedom
of love, and the confidence of the friends and sons of God. Finally
the blessed Apostle, who had by the power of the Lord's love already
passed through the servile stage of fear, scorns lower things and
declares that he has been enriched with good things by the Lord,
"for God hath not given us" he says "a spirit of fear
but of power and of love and of a sound mind."[56] Those also who are inflamed with a
perfect love of their heavenly Father, and whom the Divine adoption
has already made sons instead of servants, he addresses in these
words: "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to
fear, but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father."[57] It is of this fear
too, that the prophet spoke when he would describe that sevenfold
spirit, which according to the mystery of the Incarnation, full surely
descended on the God man:[58] "And
there shall rest upon Him the Spirit of the Lord: the Spirit of wisdom
and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit
of knowledge and of true godliness," and in the last place he
adds as something special these words: "And the Spirit of the
fear of the Lord shall fill Him."[59] Where we must in the first place
notice carefully that he does not say "and there shall rest
upon Him the Spirit of fear," as he said in the earlier
cases, but he says "there shall fill Him the Spirit of
the fear of the Lord." For such is the greatness of its richness
that when once it has seized on a man by its power, it takes
possession not of a portion but of his whole mind. And not without
good reason. For as it is closely joined to that love which
"never faileth," it not only fills the man, but takes a
lasting and inseparable and continual possession of him in whom it has
begun, and is not lessened by any allurements of temporal joy or
delights, as is sometimes the case with that fear which is cast out.
This then is the fear belonging to perfection, with which we are told
that the God-man,[60] who came not only
to redeem mankind, but also to give us a pattern of perfection and
example of goodness, was filled. For the true Son of God "who
did no sin neither was guile found in His mouth,"[61] could not feel that servile fear of
punishment.
A question about complete chastity.
GERMANUS: Now that you have finished your discourse on perfect
chastity, we want also to ask somewhat more freely about the end of
chastity. For we do not doubt that those lofty heights of love, by
which, as you have hitherto explained, we mount to the image and
likeness of God, cannot possibly exist without perfect purity. But we
should like to know whether a lasting grant of it can be secured so
that no incitement to lust may ever disturb the serenity of our heart,
and that thus we may be enabled to pass the time of our sojourneying
in the flesh free from this carnal passion, so as never to be inflamed
by the fire of excitement.
The postponement of the explanation which is asked
for.
CHÆREMON: It is indeed a sign of the utmost blessedness and of
singular goodness both continually to learn and to teach that love by
which we cling to the Lord, so that meditation on Him may, as the
Psalmist says, occupy all the days and nights of our life,[62] and may support our soul, which
insatiably hungers and thirsts after righteousness, by continually
chewing the cud of this heavenly food. But we must also, in
accordance with the kindly forethought of our Saviour, make some
provision for the food of the body, that we faint not by the way,[63] for "the spirit indeed is
willing, but the flesh is weak."[64] And this we must now secure by taking
a little food, so that after supper, the mind may be rendered more
attentive for the careful tracing out of what you want.
Next
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