THE FIRST CONFERENCE OF ABBOT THEONAS.
ON THE RELAXATION DURING THE FIFTY DAYS.[87]
Complete Contents.
Other version available: text. [82K].
How Theonas came to Abbot John.
BEFORE we begin to set forth the words of this Conference held with
that excellent man Abbot Theonas,[88] I
think it well to describe in a brief discourse the origin of his
conversion because from this the reader will be able to see more
clearly both the excellence and the grace of the man. He then while
still very young was by the desire and command of his parents joined
in the tie of marriage, for as with pious anxiety they were careful
about his chastity, and were afraid of a critical fall at a dangerous
age, they thought that the passions of youth might be anticipated by
the remedy of a lawful marriage. When then he had lived for five
years with a wife, he came to Abbot John, who was then for his
marvellous sanctity chosen to preside over the administration of the
alms.[89] For it is not anyone who
likes who is of his own wish or ambition promoted to this office, but
only he whom the congregation of all the Elders considers from the
advantage of his age and the witness of his faith and virtues to be
more excellent than, and superior to, all others. To this blessed
John then the aforesaid young man had come in the eagerness of his
pious devotion, bringing gifts of piety among other owners who were
eager to offer tithes and first-fruits of their substance to the old
man I mentioned,[90] and when the old
man saw them pouring in upon him with many gifts, and was anxious to
make some recompense in return for their offerings, he began, as the
Apostle says, to sow spiritual things to them whose carnal gifts he
was reaping.[91] And finally thus
began his word of exhortation.
The exhortation of Abbot John to Theonas and the
others who had come together with him.
I AM indeed delighted, my children, with the duteous liberality of
your gifts; and your devout offering, the disposal of which is
entrusted to me, I gratefully accept, because you are offering your
firstfruits and tithes for the good and use of the needy, as a
sacrifice to the Lord, of a sweet smelling savour, in the belief that
by the offering of them, the abundance of your fruits and all your
substance, from which you have taken away these for the Lord, will be
richly blessed, and that you yourselves will according to the faith of
His command be endowed even in this world with manifold richness in
all good things: "Honour the Lord from thy righteous labours, and
offer to Him of the fruits of thy righteousness; that thy garners may
be full of abundance of wheat, and thy vats may overflow with
wine."[92] And as you are
faithfully carrying out this service, you may know that you have
fulfilled the righteousness of the old law, under which those who then
lived if they transgressed it inevitably incurred guilt, while if they
fulfilled it they could not attain to a pitch of perfection.
Of the offering of tithes and firstfruits.
FOR indeed by the Lord's command tithes were consecrated to the
service of the Levites, but oblations and firstfruits for the
priests.[93] But this was the law of
the firstfruits; viz., that the fiftieth part of fruits or animals
should be given for the service of the temple and the priests: and
this proportion some who were faithlessly indifferent diminished,
while those who were very religious increased it, so that the one gave
only the sixtieth part, and the other gave the fortieth part of their
fruits. For the righteous, for whom the law is not enacted, are thus
shown to be not under the law, as they try not only to fulfil but even
to exceed the righteousness of the law, and their devotion is greater
than the legal requirement, as it goes beyond the observance of
precepts and adds to what is due of its own free will.
How Abraham, David, and other saints went beyond
the requirement of the law.
FOR so we read that Abraham went beyond the requirement of the law
which was afterwards to be given, when after his victory over the four
kings, he would not touch any of the spoils of Sodom, which were
fairly due to him as the conqueror, and which indeed the king himself,
whose spoils he had rescued, offered him; and with an oath by the
Divine name he exclaimed: "I lift up my hand to the Lord Most
High, who made heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread to
a shoe's latchet of all that is thine."[94] So we know that David went beyond the
requirement of the law, as, though Moses commanded that vengeance
should be taken on enemies,[95] he not
only did not do this, but actually embraced his persecutors with love,
and piously entreated the Lord for them, and wept bitterly and avenged
them when they were slain. So we are sure that Elijah and Jeremiah
were not under the law, as though they might without blame have taken
advantage of lawful matrimony, yet they preferred to remain virgins.
So we read that Elisha and others of the same mode of life went beyond
the commands of Moses, as of them the Apostle speaks as follows:
"They went about in sheepskins and in goatskins, they were
oppressed, afflicted, in want, of whom the world was not worthy, they
wandered about in deserts and in mountains, and in caves and in dens
of the earth."[96] What shall I
say of the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab, of whom we are told
that, when at the Lord's bidding the prophet Jeremiah offered them
wine, they replied: "We drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of
Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying: Ye shall drink no wine, ye
and your sons forever: and ye shall build no house, nor sow any seed,
nor plant vineyards nor possess them: but ye shall dwell in tents all
your days"? Wherefore also they were permitted to hear from the
same prophet these words: "Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the
God of Israel: there shall not fail a man from the stock of Jonadab
the son of Rechab to stand in My sight all the days;"[97] as all of them were not satisfied with
merely offering tithes of their possessions, but actually refused
property, and offered the rather to God themselves and their souls,
for which no redemption can be made by man, as the Lord testifies in
the gospel: "For what shall a man give in exchange for his own
soul?"[98]
How those who live under the grace of the Gospel
ought to go beyond the requirement of the law.
WHEREFORE we ought to know that we from whom the requirements of the
law are no longer exacted, but in whose ears the word of the gospel
daily sounds: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou
hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and
come follow Me,"[99] when we offer
to God tithes of our substance, are still in a way ground down beneath
the burden of the law, and not able to rise to those heights of the
gospel, those who conform to which are recompensed not only by
blessings in this present life, but also by future rewards. For the
law promises to those who obey it no rewards of the kingdom of heaven,
but only solaces in this life, saying: "The man that doeth these
things shall live in them."[100]
But the Lord says to His disciples: "Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;" and: "Everyone
that leaveth house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife
or children or field for My name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold,
and shall inherit eternal life."[101] And this with good reason. For it
is not so praiseworthy for us to abstain from forbidden as from lawful
things, and not to use these last out of reverence for Him, Who has
permitted us to use them because of our weakness. And so if even
those who, faithfully offering tithes of their fruits, are obedient to
the more ancient precepts of the Lord, cannot yet climb the heights of
the gospel, you can see very clearly how far short of it those fall
who do not even do this. For how can those men be partakers of the
grace of the gospel who disregard the fulfilment even of the lighter
commands of the law, to the easy character of which the weighty words
of the giver of the law bear testimony, as a curse is actually invoked
on those who do not fulfil them; for it says: "Cursed is everyone
that does not continue in all things that are written in the book of
the law to do them."[102] But
here on account of the superiority and excellence of the commandments
it is said: "He that can receive it, let him receive it."[103] There the forcible compulsion of the
lawgiver shows the easy character of the precepts; for he says:
"I call heaven and earth to record against you this day, that if
ye do not keep the commandments of the Lord your God ye shall perish
from off the face of the earth."[104] Here the grandeur of sublime
commands is shown by the very fact that He does not order,
but exhorts, saying: "if thou wilt be perfect go"
and do this or that. There Moses lays a burden that cannot be refused
on those who are unwilling: here Paul meets with counsels those who
are willing and eager for perfection. For that was not to be enjoined
as a general charge, nor to be required, if I may so say, as a regular
rule from all, which could not be secured by all, owing to its
wonderful and lofty nature; but by counsels all are rather stimulated
to grace, that those who are great may deservedly be crowned by the
perfection of their virtues, while those who are small, and not able
to come up to "the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ,"[105] although they seem
to be lost to sight and hidden as it were by the brightness of larger
stars, may yet be free from the darkness of the curses which are in
the law, and not adjudged to suffer present evils or visited with
eternal punishment. Christ therefore does not constrain anyone, by
the compulsion of a command, to those lofty heights of goodness, but
stimulates them by the power of free will, and urges them on by wise
counsels and the desire of perfection. For where there is a command,
there is duty, and consequently punishment. But those who keep those
things to which they are driven by the severity of the law established
escape the punishment with which they were threatened, instead of
obtaining rewards and a recompense.
How the grace of the gospel supports the weak so
that they can obtain pardon, as it secures to the perfect the kingdom
of God.
AND as the word of the gospel raises those that are strong to sublime
and lofty heights, so it suffers not the weak to be dragged down to
the depths, for it secures to the perfect the fulness of blessing, and
brings to those who are overcome through weakness pardon. For the law
placed those who fulfilled its commands in a sort of middle state
between what they deserved in either case, severing them from the
condemnation due to transgressors, as it also kept them away from the
glory of the perfect. But how wretched and miserable this is, you can
see from comparing the state of this present life, in which it is
considered a very poor thing for a man to sweat and labour only to
avoid being regarded as guilty among good men, not also to be esteemed
rich and honourable and renowned.
How it lies in our own power to choose whether to
remain under the grace of the gospel or under the terror of the
law.
WHEREFORE it lies today in our own power whether we choose to live
under the grace of the gospel or under the terrors of the law: for
each man must incline to one side or the other in accordance with the
character of his actions, for either the grace of Christ welcomes
those who go beyond the law, or else the law keeps its hold over the
weaker ones as those who are its debtors and within its clutches. For
one who is guilty as regards the precepts of the law will never be
able to attain to the perfection of the gospel, even though he idly
boasts that he is a Christian and freed by the Lord's grace: for we
must not only regard as still under the law the man who refuses to
fulfil what the law enjoins, but the man as well who is satisfied with
the mere observance of what the law commands, and who never brings
forth fruits worthy of his vocation and the grace of Christ, where it
is not said: "Thou shalt offer to the Lord thy God thy tithes and
firstfruits;" but: "Go and sell all that thou hast and give
to the poor, and come follow Me;"[106] where, owing to the grandeur of
perfection, to the request of the disciple there is not granted even
the very short space of an hour in which to bury his father,[107] as the offices of human charity are
outweighed by the virtue of Divine love.
How Theonas exhorted his wife that she too should
make her renunciation.
AND when he had heard this the blessed Theonas was fired with an
uncontrollable desire for the perfection of the gospel, and,
committed, as it were, the seed of the word, which he had received in
a fruitful heart, to the deep and broken furrows of his bosom, as he
was greatly humiliated and conscience-stricken because the old man had
said not only that he had failed to attain to the perfection of the
gospel, but also that he had scarcely fulfilled the commands of the
law; since though he was accustomed every year to pay the tithes of
his fruits as alms, yet he mourned that he had never even heard of the
law of the firstfruits; and even if he had in the same way fulfilled
this, he humbly confessed that still he would in the old man's view
have been very far from the perfection of the gospel. And so he
returned home sad and filled with that sorrow which worketh repentance
unto salvation,[108] and of his own
will and determination turns all his wife's care and anxiety of mind
towards salvation; and began to stir her up to the same eager desire
with which he himself had been inflamed, with the same sort of
exhortations, and with tears day and night to urge her that together
they might serve God in sanctity and chastity, telling her that their
conversion to a better life ought not to be deferred because a vain
hope in their youth would be no argument against the inevitableness of
a sudden death, which carries off boys and youths and young persons
equally with old men.
How he fled to a monastery when his wife would not
consent.
AND when his wife was hard and would not consent to him as he
constantly persisted with entreaties of this kind, but said that as
she was in the flower of her age she could not altogether do without
the solace of her husband, and further that supposing she was deserted
by him and fell into sin, the guilt would rather be his who had broken
the bonds of wedlock: to this he, when he had for a long while urged
the condition of human nature (which being so weak and uncertain, it
would be dangerous for it to be any longer mixed up with carnal
desires and works), added the assertion that it was not right for
anyone to cut himself off from that virtue to which he had learnt that
he ought by all means to cleave, and that it was more dangerous to
disregard goodness when discovered, than to fail to love it before it
was discovered; further that he was already involved in the guilt of a
fall if when he had discovered such grand and heavenly blessings he
had preferred earthly and mean ones. Further that the grandeur of
perfection was open to every age and either sex, and that all the
members of the Church were urged to scale the heights of heavenly
goodness when the Apostle said: "So run that ye may
obtain;"[109] nor should those
who were ready and eager for it hang back because of the delays of the
slow and dawdlers, as it is better for the sluggards to be urged on by
those running before than for those who are doing their best to be
hampered by the slothful. Further that he had determined and made up
his mind to renounce the world and to die to the world that he might
live to God, and that if he could not attain this happiness; viz., to
pass with his wife into union with Christ, he would rather be saved
even with the loss of one member, and enter into the kingdom of heaven
as one maimed rather than be condemned with his body whole. But he
also added and spoke as follows: If Moses suffered wives to be
divorced for the hardness of their hearts, why should not Christ allow
this for the desire of chastity, especially when the same Lord among
those other affections; viz., for fathers and mothers and children
(all due regard to which not only the law but He Himself also charged
to be shown, yet for His name's sake and for the desire of perfection
He decreed that they should not simply be disregarded but actually
hated)--to these, I say, He joined also the mention of wives, saying:
"And everyone that hath left house, or brethren or sisters or
father or mother or wife or children for My name's sake, shall receive
an hundredfold and shall inherit eternal life."[110] So far then is He from allowing
anything to be set against that perfection which He is proclaiming,
that He actually enjoins that the ties to father and mother should be
broken and disregarded out of love for Him, though according to the
Apostle it is the first commandment with promise; viz., "Honour
thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with
promise, that it may be well with thee and that thy days may be long
upon earth."[111] And as the
word of the gospel condemns those who break the chains of matrimony
where there has been no sin of adultery, so it clearly promises a
reward of an hundredfold to those who have cast off a carnal yoke out
of love for Christ and the desire for chastity. Wherefore if it can
be brought about that you may listen to reason and be turned together
with me to this most desirable choice; viz., that we should together
serve the Lord and escape the pains of hell, I will not refuse the
affection of marriage, nay I will embrace it with a still greater
love. For I acknowledge and honour my helpmeet assigned to me by the
word of the Lord, and I do not refuse to be joined to her in an
unbroken tie of love in Christ, nor do I separate from me what the
Lord joined to me by the law of the original condition,[112] if only you yourself will be what
your Maker meant you to be. But if you will not be a helpmeet, but
prefer to make yourself a deceiver and an assistance not to me but to
the adversary, and fancy that the sacrament of matrimony was granted
to you for this reason that you may deprive yourself of this salvation
which is offered to you, and also hold me back from following the
Saviour as a disciple, then I will resolutely lay hold on the words
which were uttered by the lips of Abbot John, or rather of Christ
Himself, so that no carnal affection may be able to tear me away from
spiritual blessings, for He says: "He that hateth not father and
mother and children and brothers and sisters and wife and lands, yea
and his own soul also, cannot be My disciple."[113] When then by these and such like
words the woman's purpose was not moved and she persisted in the same
obstinate hardness, If, said the blessed Theonas, I cannot drag you
away from death, neither shall you separate me from Christ: but it is
safer for me to be divorced from a human person than from God. And so
by the aid of God's grace he at once set about the execution of his
purpose and suffered not the ardour of his desire to grow cool through
any delay. For at once he stripped himself of all his worldly goods,
and fled to a monastery, where in a very short time he was so famous
for the splendour of his sanctity and humility that when John of
blessed memory departed this life to the Lord, and the holy Elias, a
man who was no less great than his predecessor, had likewise died,
Theonas was chosen by the judgment of all as the third to succeed them
in the administration of the almsgiving.
An explanation that we may not appear to recommend
separation from wives.
BUT let no one imagine that we have invented this for the sake of
encouraging divorce, as we not only in no way condemn marriage, but
also, following the words of the Apostle, say: "Marriage is
honourable in all, and the bed undefiled,"[114] but it was in order faithfully to
show the reader the origin of the conversion by which this great man
was dedicated to God. And I ask the reader kindly to allow that,
whether he likes this or no, in either case I am free from blame, and
to give the praise or blame for this act to its real author. But as
for me, as I have not put forward an opinion of my own on this matter,
but have given a simple narration of the history of the facts, it is
fair that as I claim no praise from those who approve of what was
done, so I should not be attacked by the hatred of those who
disapprove of it. Let every man therefore, as we said, have his own
opinion on the matter. But I advise him to restrain his censure in
considering it, lest he come to fancy that he is more just and holy
than the Divine judgment, whereby the signs even of Apostolic virtue
were conferred upon him (viz., Theonas), not to mention the opinion of
such great fathers by whom it is clear that his action was not only
not blamed, but even so far praised that in the election to the office
of almoner they preferred him to splendid and most excellent men. And
I fancy that the judgment of so many spiritual men, uttered with God
as its author, was not wrong, as it was, as was said above, confirmed
by such wonderful signs.
An inquiry why in Egypt they do not fast during all
the fifty days (of Easter) nor bend their knees in prayer.
BUT it is now time to follow out the plan of the promised discourse.
So then when Abbot Theonas had come to visit us in our cell during
Eastertide[115] after Evensong was
over we sat for a little while on the ground and began diligently to
consider why they were so very careful that no one should during the
whole fifty days either bend his knees in prayer[116] or venture to fast till the ninth
hour, and we made our inquiry the more earnestly because we had never
seen this custom so carefully observed in the monasteries of Syria.
The answer on the nature of things good, bad, and
indifferent.
TO this Abbot Theonas thus began his reply. It is indeed right for
us, even when we cannot see the reason, to yield to the authority of
the fathers and to a custom of our predecessors that has been
continued through so many years down to our own time, and to observe
it, as handed down from antiquity, with constant care and reverence.
But since you want to know the reasons and grounds for this, receive
in few words what we have heard as handed down by our Elders on this
subject. But before we bring forward the authority of Holy Scripture,
we will, if you please, say a little about the nature and character of
the fast, that afterwards the authority of Holy Scripture may support
our words. The Divine Wisdom has pointed out in Ecclesiastes that for
everything, i.e., for all things happy or those which are considered
unfortunate and unhappy, there is a right time: saying: "For all
things there is a time, and a time for everything under the heaven. A
time to bring forth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to
pull down what is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time
to destroy and a time to build; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a
time to mourn and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones and a
time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from
embracing; a time to get and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time
to send away; a time to scatter and a time to collect; a time to be
silent and a time to speak; a time to love and a time to hate; a time
for war and a time for peace;" and below: "For there is a
time," it says, "for everything and for every deed."[117] None therefore of these things does
it lay down as always good, but only when any of them are fittingly
done and at the right time, so that these very things which at one
time, when done at the right moment, turn out well, if they are
ventured on at a wrong or unsuitable time, are found to be useless or
harmful; only excepting those things which are in their own nature
good or bad, and which cannot ever be made the opposite, as, e.g.,
justice, prudence, fortitude, temperance and the rest of the virtues,
or on the other hand, those faults, the description of which cannot
possibly be altered or fall under the other head. But those things
which can sometimes turn out with either result, so that, in
accordance with the character of those who use them, they are found to
be either good or bad, these we consider to be not absolutely in their
own natures useful or injurious, but only so in accordance with the
mind of the doer, and the suitableness of the time.
What kind of good fasting is.
WHEREFORE we must now inquire what we ought to hold about the state of
fasting, whether we meant that it was good in the same sort of way as
justice, prudence, fortitude and temperance, which cannot possibly be
made anything else, or whether it is something indifferent which
sometimes is useful when done, and may be sometimes omitted without
condemnation; and which sometimes it is wrong to do, and sometimes
laudable to omit. For if we hold fasting to be included in that list
of virtues, so that abstinence from food is placed among those things
which are good in themselves, then certainly the partaking of food
will be bad and wrong. For whatever is the opposite of that which is
in its own nature good, must certainly be held to be in its own nature
bad. But this the authority of Holy Scripture does not allow to us to
lay down. For if we fast with such thoughts and intentions, so as to
think that we fall into sin by taking food, we shall not only gain no
advantage by our abstinence but shall actually contract grievous guilt
and fall into the sin of impiety, as the Apostle says:
"Abstaining from meats which God has created to be received with
thanksgiving by the faithful and those who know the truth. For every
creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it is partaken
of with thanksgiving." For "if a man thinks that a thing is
common, to him it is common."[118] And therefore we never read that
anyone is condemned simply for taking food, but only when something
was joined with it or followed afterwards, for which he deserved
condemnation.
How fasting is not good in its own nature.
AND so that it is a thing indifferent is very clearly shown from this
also; viz., because as it brings justification when observed, so it
does not bring condemnation when it is broken in upon; unless perhaps
the transgression of a command rather than the partaking of food
brings punishment. But in the case of a thing that is good in its own
nature, no time should be without it, in such a way as that a man may
do without it, for if it ceases, the man who is careless about it is
sure to fall into mischief. Nor again is any time given for what is
bad in its own nature, because what is hurtful cannot help hurting, if
it is indulged in, nor can it ever be made of a praiseworthy
character. And further it is clear that these things, for which we
see conditions and times appointed, and which sanctify, when observed
without corrupting us when they are neglected, are things indifferent,
as, e.g., marriage, agriculture, riches, retirement into the desert,
vigils, reading and meditation on Holy Scripture and fasting itself,
from which our discussion took its rise. All of which things the
Divine precepts and the authority of Holy Scripture decreed should not
be so incessantly aimed at, or so constantly observed, as for it to be
wrong for them to be for a time intermitted. For anything that is
absolutely commanded brings death if it be not fulfilled: but whatever
things we are urged to rather than commanded, when done are useful,
when left undone bring no punishment. And therefore in the case of
all or some of these things our predecessors commanded us either to do
them with consideration, or to observe them carefully with regard to
the reason, place, manner, and time, because if any of them are done
suitably, it is fit and convenient, but if incongruously, then it
becomes foolish and hurtful. And if at the coming of a brother in
whose person he ought to refresh Christ with courtesy and to embrace
him with a most kindly welcome, a man should choose to observe a
strict fast, would he not rather be guilty of incivility than gain the
praise or reward of devoutness? or if when the failure or weakness of
the flesh requires the strength to be restored by the partaking of
food, a man will not consent to relax the rigour of his abstinence, is
he not to be regarded as a cruel murderer of his own body rather than
as one who is careful for his salvation? So too when a festival
season permits a suitable indulgence in food and a necessarily liberal
repast, if a man will resolutely cling to the strict observance of a
fast he must be considered as not religious so much as boorish and
unreasonable. But to those men also will these things be found bad,
who are on the lookout for the praises of men by their fasts, and by a
foolish show of paleness gain credit for sanctity, of whom the word of
the Gospel tells us that they have received their reward in this life,
and whose fast the Lord execrates by the prophet. In whose person he
first objected to himself and said: "Wherefore have we fasted and
Thou hast not regarded: wherefore have we humbled our souls, and Thou
hast not known it?" and then at once he answered and explained
the reasons why they did not deserve to be heard: "Behold,"
he says, "in the days of your fast your own will is found and you
exact of all your debtors. Behold you fast for debates and strife,
and strike with the fist wickedly. Do not fast as ye have done unto
this day, to make your cry to be heard on high. Is this such a fast
as I have chosen, for a man to afflict his soul for a day? Is it
this, to wind his head about like a circle, and to spread sackcloth
and ashes? Will ye call this a fast and a day acceptable o the
Lord?" Then he proceeds to teach how the abstinence of one who
fasts may become acceptable, and clearly lays down that fasting cannot
be good of itself alone, but only when it has the following reasons
which are added: "Is not this," he says, "the fast that
I have chosen? Loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that
oppress, let them that are broken go free, and break asunder every
burden. Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the
harbourless into thine house: and when thou shalt see one naked cover
him, and despise not thine own flesh. Then shalt thy light break forth
as the morning and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy
righteousness shall go before thy face and the glory of the Lord shall
gather thee up. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear: thou
shalt cry, and He shall say, Here am I."[119] You see then that fasting is
certainly not considered by the Lord as a thing that is good in its
own nature, because it becomes good and well-pleasing to God not by
itself but by other works, and again from the surrounding
circumstances it may be regarded as not merely vain but actually
hateful, as the Lord says: "When they fast I will not hear their
prayers."[120]
How a thing that is good in its own nature ought
not to be done for the sake of some lesser good.
FOR we ought not to practise pity, patience and love, and the precepts
of the virtues mentioned above, wherein there is what is good in its
own nature, for the sake of fasting, but rather fasting for the sake
of them. For our endeavour must be that those virtues which are
really good may be gained by fasting, not that the practice of those
virtues may lead to fasting as its end. For this then the affliction
of the flesh is useful, for this the remedy of abstinence must be
employed; viz., that by it we may succeed in attaining to love,
wherein there is what is good without change, and continually with no
exception of time. For medicines, and the goldsmith's art, and the
systems of other arts which there are in this world are not employed
for the sake of the instruments which belong to the particular work;
but rather the implements are prepared for the practice of the art.
And as they are useful for those who understand them, so they are
useless to those who are ignorant of the system of the art in
question; and as they are a great help to those who rely on their aid
for doing their work, so they cannot be of the smallest use to those
who do not know for what purpose they were made, and are contented
simply with the possession of them; because they make all their value
consist in the mere having of them, and not in the performance of
work. That then is in its own nature the best thing, for the sake of
which things indifferent are done, but the very chiefest good is done
not for the sake of anything else but because of its own intrinsic
goodness.
How what is good in its own nature can be
distinguished from other things that are good.
AND this may be distinguished from those other things which we have
termed indifferent, in these ways: if a thing is good in itself and
not by reason of something else: if it is useful for its own sake, and
not for the sake of something else: if it is unchangeably and at all
times good, and always keeps its character and can never become
anything different: if its removal or cessation cannot fail to produce
the greatest harm: if that which is its opposite is in the same way
evil in its own nature, and can never be turned into anything good.
And these descriptions by which the nature of things that are good in
themselves can be distinguished, cannot possibly be applied to
fasting, for it is not good of itself, nor useful for its own sake
because it is wisely used for the acquisition of purity of heart and
body, that the pricks of the flesh being dulled the soul may be
pacified and reconciled to its Creator, nor is it unchangeably and at
all times good, because often we are not injured by its intermission,
and indeed sometimes if it is unreasonably practised it becomes
injurious. Nor is that which seems its opposite evil in its own
nature, i.e., the partaking of food, which is naturally agreeable,
which cannot be regarded as evil, unless intemperance and luxury or
some other faults are the result; "For not that which entereth
into the mouth, defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the
mouth, that defileth a man."[121]
And so a man disparages what is good in its own nature, and does not
treat it properly or without sin, if he does it not for its own sake
but for the sake of something else, for everything else should be done
for the sake of it, but it should be sought for its own sake alone.
Of the reason for fasting and its value.
SO then let us constantly remember this description of the character
of fasting, and always aim at it with all the powers of the soul, in
such a way as to recognize that then only is it suitable for us if in
it we preserve regard for time, its character and degree, and this not
so as to set the end of our hope upon it, but so that by it we may
succeed in attaining to purity of heart and Apostolical love.
Therefore from this it is clear that fasting, for which not only are
there special seasons appointed at which it should be practised or
relaxed, but conditions and rules also laid down, is not good in its
own nature, but something indifferent. But those things which are
either enjoined as good by the authority of a precept, or are
forbidden as bad, are never subject to any exceptions of time in such
a way that sometimes we should do what is forbidden or omit what is
commanded. For there is no limit set to justice, patience, soberness,
modesty, love, nor on the other hand is a licence ever granted for
injustice, impatience, wrath, immodesty, envy, and pride.
How fasting is not always suitable.
WHEREFORE as we have premised this on the conditions of fasting, it
seems well to subjoin the authority of Holy Scripture, by which it
will be more clearly proved that fasting neither can nor should be
always observed. In the Gospel when the Pharisees were fasting
together with the disciples of John the Baptist, as the Apostles, as
friends and companions of the heavenly Bridegroom, were not yet
keeping the observance of a fast, the disciples of John (who thought
that they acquired perfect righteousness by their fasts, as they were
followers of that grand preacher of repentance who afforded a pattern
to all the people by his own example, as he not only refused the
different kinds of food which are supplied for man's use, but actually
altogether did without eating the bread which is common to all)
complained to the Lord and said: "Why do we and the Pharisees
fast oft but thy disciples fast not?" to whom the Lord in His
reply plainly showed that fasting is not suitable or necessary at all
times, when any festival season or opportunity for love intervenes and
permits an indulgence in food, saying: "Can the children of the
bridegroom mourn while file bridegroom is with them? But the days
will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them; and then
shall they fast;"[122] words
which although they were spoken before the resurrection of His Body,
yet specially point to the season of Eastertide, in which after His
resurrection for forty days He ate with His disciples, and their joy
in His daily Presence did not allow them to fast.
A question why we break the fast all through
Eastertide.
GERMANUS: Why then do we relax the rigour of our abstinence in our
meals all through the fifty days, whereas Christ only remained with
His disciples for forty days after His resurrection?
The answer.
YOUR pertinent question deserves to be told the perfect true reason.
After the Ascension of our Saviour which took place on the fortieth
day after His Resurrection, the apostles returned from the Mount of
Olives, on which He had suffered them to see Him when He was returning
to the Father, as the book of the Acts of the Apostles also testifies,
and entered Jerusalem and are said to have waited ten days for the
coming of the Holy Ghost, and when these were fulfilled on the
fiftieth day they received Him with joy. And thus in this way the
number of this festival was clearly made up, which as we read was
figuratively foreshadowed also in the Old Testament, where when seven
weeks were fulfilled the bread of the firstfruits was ordered to be
offered by the priests to the Lord:[123] and this was indeed shown to be
offered to the Lord by the preaching of the Apostles which they are
said on that day to have addressed to the people; the true bread of
the firstfruits, which when produced from the instruction of a new
doctrine, consecrated the firstfruits of the Jews as a Christian
people to the Lord, five thousand men being filled with the gifts of
the food. And therefore these ten days are to be kept with equal
solemnity and joy as the previous forty. And the tradition about this
festival, transmitted to us by Apostolic men, should be kept with the
same uniformity. For therefore on those days they do not bow their
knees in prayer, because the bending of the knees is a sign of
penitence and mourning. Wherefore also during these days we observe in
all things the same solemnities as on Sunday, on which day our
predecessors taught that men ought not to fast nor to bow the knee,
out of reverence for the Lord's Resurrection.
A question whether the relaxation of the fast is
not prejudicial to the chastity of the body.
GERMANUS: Can the flesh, attracted by the unwonted luxuries of so long
a festival fail to produce something thorny from the incentives to sin
although they have been cut down? or can the soul weighed down by the
consumption of unaccustomed feasts fail to mitigate the rigour of its
rule over its servant the body, especially when in our case our mature
age can excite our subject members to a speedy revolt, if we venture
to take our usual food in larger quantities, or unaccustomed food more
freely than usual?
The answer on the way to keep control over
abstinence.
THEONAS: If we weigh everything that we do, by a reasonable judgment
of the mind, and on the purity of our heart always consult not the
opinions of other people but our own conscience, that interval for
refreshment is sure not to interfere with our proper strictness, if
only, as was said, our pure mind impartially considers the right
limits of indulgence and abstinence, and fairly checks excess in
either, and with real discrimination discerns whether the weight of
the delicacies is a burden upon our spirits, or whether too much
austerity in abstaining weighs down the other side, i.e., that of the
body, and either depresses or raises that side which it sees to be
raised or weighed down. For our Lord would have nothing done to His
honour and glory without being tempered by judgment, for "the
honour of a king loveth judgment,"[124] and therefore Solomon, the wisest of
men, urges us not to let our judgment incline to either side, saying:
"Honour God with thy righteous labours and offer to Him of the
fruits of thy righteousness."[125] For we have residing in our
conscience an uncorrupt and true judge who sometimes, when all are
wrong, is the only person not deceived as to the state of our purity.
And so with all care and pains we should preserve a constant purpose
in our circumspect heart for fear lest if the judgment of our
discretion goes wrong, we may be fired with the desire for an
ill-considered abstinence, or allured by the wish for an excessive
relaxation, and so weigh the substance of our strength in the tongue
of an unfair balance; but we should place in one of the scales our
purity of soul, and in the other our bodily strength, and weigh them
both in the true judgment of conscience, so that we may not perversely
incline the scale of fairness to either side, either to undue
strictness or to excessive relaxation, from the preponderating desire
for one or the other, and so have this said to us by reason of
excessive strictness or relaxation: "If thou offerest rightly,
but dost not divide rightly, hast thou not sinned?"[126] For those offerings of fasts, which
we thoughtlessly extort by violently tearing our bowels, and fancy
that we rightly offer to the Lord, these He execrates who "loves
mercy and judgment" saying: "I the Lord love judgment, but I
hate robbery in a burnt offering."[127] Those also who take the main part
of their offerings, i.e., their offices and actions, to benefit the
flesh for their own use, but leave the remains of them and a tiny
portion for the Lord, these the Divine Word thus condemns as
fraudulent workmen: "Cursed is he that doeth the work of the Lord
fraudulently."[128] It is not
then without reason that the Lord reproves him who thus deceives
himself by unfair considerations, saying: "But vain are the
children of men: the children of men are liars upon the balances that
they may deceive."[129] And
therefore the blessed Apostle warns us to keep hold of the reins of
discretion and not to be attracted by excess and swerve to either
side, saying: "Your reasonable service."[130] And the giver of the law similarly
forbids the same thing, saying: "Let the balance be just and the
weights equal, the bushel just and the sextarius equal,"[131] and Solomon also gives a like
opinion on this matter: "Great and small weights and double
measures are both unclean before the Lord, and one who uses them shall
be hindered in his contrivances."[132] Further not only in the way in
which we have said, but also in this must we strive not to have unfair
weights in our hearts, nor double measures in the storehouse of our
conscience, i.e., not to overwhelm those, to whom we are to preach the
word of the Lord, with precepts that are too strict and heavier than
we ourselves can bear, while we take for granted that for ourselves
those things which have to do with the rule of strictness are to be
softened by a freer allowance of relaxation. For when we do this,
what is it but to weigh and measure the goods and fruits of the Lord's
commands in a double weight and measure? For if we dispense them in
one way to ourselves and in another to our brethren, we are rightly
blamed by the Lord because we have unfair balances and double
measures, in accordance with the saying of Solomon which tells us that
"A double weight is an abomination to the Lord, and a deceitful
balance is not good in His sight."[133] In this way also we plainly incur
the guilt of using a deceitful weight and a double measure, if out of
the desire for the praise of men, we make a show before the brethren
of greater strictness than what we practice in private in our own
cells, trying to appear more abstinent and holier in the sight of men
than in the sight of God, an evil which we should not only avoid but
actually loathe. But meanwhile as we have wandered some way from the
question before us, let us return to the point from which we
started.
Of the time and measure of refreshment.
SO then we should keep the observance of the days mentioned in such a
way that the relaxation allowed may be useful rather than harmful to
the good of body and soul, because the joy of any festival cannot
blunt the pricks of the flesh, nor can that fierce enemy of ours be
pacified by regard for days. In order then that the observance of the
customs appointed for festival seasons may be kept and that the most
salutary rule of abstinence be not at all exceeded it is enough for us
to allow the permitted relaxation to go so far, as for us out of
regard for the festival season to take the food, which ought to be
taken at the ninth hour, a little earlier; viz., at the sixth hour,
but with this condition, that the regular allowance and character of
the food be not altered, for fear lest the purity of body and
uprightness of soul which has been gained by the abstinence of Lent be
lost by the relaxation of Eastertide, and it profit us nothing to have
acquired by our fast what a careless satiety causes us presently to
lose, especially as the well-known cunning of our enemy assaults the
stronghold of our purity then chiefly when he sees that our guard over
it is somewhat relaxed at the celebration of some festival. Wherefore
we must most vigilantly look out that the vigour of our soul be never
enervated by seductive flatteries, and we lose not the purity of our
chastity, gained, as was said, by the continuous efforts of Lent, by
the repose and carelessness of Eastertide. And therefore no addition
at all should be made to the quality or the quantity of the food, but
even on the highest festivals we should similarly abstain from those
foods, by abstinence from which we preserve our uprightness on common
days, that the joy of the festival may not excite in us a most deadly
conflict of carnal desires, and so be turned to grief, and put an end
to that most excellent festival of the heart, which exults in the joy
of purity; and after a brief show of carnal joy we begin to mourn our
lost purity of heart with a lasting sorrow of repentance. Moreover we
should strive that this warning of the prophetic exhortation may not
be uttered against us to no purpose: "Celebrate, O Judah, thy
festivals, and pay thy vows."[134] For if the occurrence of festival
days does not interfere with the continuity of our abstinence, we
shall continually enjoy spiritual festivals and so, when we cease from
servile work, "there shall be month after month and Sabbath after
Sabbath."[135]
A question on the different ways of keeping
Lent.
GERMANUS: What is the reason why Lent is kept for six weeks, while in
some countries a possibly more earnest care for religion seems to have
added a seventh week as well, though neither number when you subtract
Sunday and Saturday, gives the total of forty days? For only six and
thirty days are included in these weeks.[136]
The answer to the effect that the fast of Lent has
reference to the tithe of the year.
THEONAS: Although the pious simplicity of some folks would put aside a
question on this subject, yet because you are more scrupulous in your
examination of those things which another would consider unworthy to
be asked about, and want to know the whole truth of this observance of
ours and the secret of it, you shall have a very clear reason for this
also, that you may still more plainly be convinced that our
predecessors taught nothing unreasonable. By the law of Moses the
command propounded to all the people generally was this: "Thou
shalt offer to the Lord thy God thy tithes and firstfruits."[137] And so, while we are commanded to
offer tithes of our substance and all our fruits, it is much more
needful for us to offer tithes of our life and ordinary employments
and actions, which certainly is clearly arranged for in the
calculation of Lent. For the tithe of the number of all the days
included in the revolving circle of the year is thirty-six days and a
half. But in seven weeks, if Sundays and Saturdays are subtracted,
there remain thirty-five days assigned for fasting. But by the
addition of Easter Eve when the Saturday's fast is prolonged to the
cock-crowing at the dawn of Easter Day, not only is the number of
thirty-six days made up, but in regard to the tithe of the five days
which seemed to be over, if the bit of the night which was added be
taken into account nothing will be wanting to the whole sum.
How we ought also to offer our firstfruits to the
Lord.
BUT what shall I say of the firstfruits which surely are given daily
by all who serve Christ faithfully? For when men waking from sleep
and arising with renewed activity after their rest, before they take
in any impulse or thought in their heart, or admit any recollection or
consideration of business consecrate their first and earliest thoughts
as divine offerings, what are they doing indeed but rendering the
firstfruits of their produce through the High Priest Jesus Christ for
the enjoyment of this life and a figure of the daily resurrection?
And also when roused from sleep in the same way they offer to God a
sacrifice of joy and invoke Him with the first motion of their tongue
and celebrate His name and praise, and throwing open, the first thing,
the door of their lips to sing hymns to Him they offer to God the
offices of their mouth; and to Him also in the same way their bring
the earliest offerings of their hands and steps, when they rise from
bed and stand in prayer and before they use the services of their
limbs for their own purposes, take to themselves nothing of their
services, but for His glory advance their steps, and set them in His
praise and so render the first fruits of all their movements by
stretching forth the hands, bending the knees, and prostrating the
whole body. For in no other way can we fulfil that of which we sing
in the Psalm: "I prevented the dawning of the day and
cried;" and: "Mine eyes to Thee have prevented the morning
that I might meditate on Thy words;" and: "In the morning
shall my prayer prevent Thee;"[138] unless after our rest in sleep when,
as we said above, we are restored as from darkness and death to this
light, we have the courage not to begin by taking any of all the
services both of mind and body for our own uses. For there is no
other morning which the prophet "prevented," or which in the
same way we ought to prevent, except either ourselves, i.e., our
occupations and feelings and earthly cares, without which we cannot
exist--or the most subtle suggestions of the adversary, which he tries
to suggest to us, while still resting and overcome with sleep, by the
phantoms of vain dreams, with which, when we presently awake, he will
fill our minds and occupy us, that he may be the first to seize and
carry off the spoils of our firstfruits. Wherefore we must take the
utmost care (if we want to fulfil in act the meaning of the above
quoted verse) that an anxious watchfulness takes regard of our first
and earliest morning thoughts, that they may not be defiled beforehand
being hastily taken possession of by our jealous adversary, and thus
he may make our firstfruits to be rejected by the Lord as worthless
and common. And if he is not prevented by us with watchful
circumspection of mind, he will not lay aside his habit of miserably
anticipating us nor cease day after day to prevent us by his wiles.
And therefore if we want to offer firstfruits that are acceptable and
well pleasing to God of the fruits of our mind, we ought to spend no
ordinary care to keep all the senses of our body, especially during
the hours of the morning, as a sacred holocaust to the Lord pure and
undefiled in all things. And this kind of devotion many even of those
who live in the world observe with the utmost care, as they rise
before it is light or very early, and do not at all mix in the
ordinary and necessary business of this world before hastening to
church and striving to consecrate in the sight of God the firstfruits
of all their actions and doings.
Why Lent is kept by very many with a different
number of days.
FURTHER, as for what you say; viz., that in some countries Lent is
kept in different ways, i.e., for six or seven weeks, it is but one
system and the same manner of the fast that is preserved by the
different observance of the weeks. For those who think one ought to
fast also on the Saturday, have determined on the observance of six
weeks. They therefore fast for six days out of the seven, and this
being six times repeated makes up the six and thirty days. It is
therefore, as we said, but one system and the same manner of the fast,
although there seems to be a difference in the number of the weeks.
Why it is called Quadragesima, when the fast is
only kept for thirty-six days.
BUT further, as man's carelessness dropped out of sight the reason of
this, this season when, as was said, the tithes of the year are
offered by fasts for thirty-six days and a half, was called
Quadragesima,[139] a name which
perhaps they thought ought to be given to it for this reason; viz.,
that it is said that Moses and Elijah and our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself fasted for forty days. To the mystery of which number are not
unsuitably applied those forty years in which Israel dwelt in the
wilderness, and in like manner the forty stations which they are said
to have passed through with a mystic meaning. Or perhaps the tithe
was properly given the name of Quadragesima from the use of the
custom-house. For so that state tax is commonly called, from which
the same proportion of the increment is assigned for the king's use,
as the legal tribute of Quadragesima, which is required of us by the
King of all the ages for the use of our life. At any rate, although
this has nothing to do with the question raised, yet I think that I
ought not to omit the fact that very often our elders used to testify
that especially on these days the whole body of monks was attacked
according to the ancient custom of the people opposed to them, and was
more vehemently urged to forsake their homes, for this reason, because
in accordance with this figure, whereby the Egyptians formerly
oppressed the children of Israel with grievous afflictions, so now
also the spiritual Egyptians try to bow down the true Israel, i.e.,
the monastic folk, with hard and vile tasks, lest by means of that
peace which is dear to God, we should forsake the land of Egypt, and
for our good cross to the desert of virtues, so that Pharaoh rages
against us and says: "They are idle and therefore they cry
saying: Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord our God. Let them be
oppressed with labours, and be harassed in their works, and they shall
not be harassed by vain words."[140] For certainly their folly imagines
that the holy sacrifice of the Lord, which is only offered in the
desert of a pure heart, is the height of folly, for "religion is
an abomination to a sinner."[141]
How those who are perfect go beyond the fixed rule
of Lent.
BY this law of Lent then the man who is upright and perfect is not
restrained nor is he content with merely submitting to that paltry
rule which the heads of the church have established for those who all
the year round are involved in pleasure or business, that they may be
bound by this legal requirement and forced at any rate during these
days to find time for the Lord, and dedicate to Him the tithe of the
days of their life, all of which they would have consumed as their
profits. But the righteous, for whom the law is not appointed, and
who devote to spiritual duties not a small part; viz., the tenth, but
the whole time of their life, because they are free from the burden of
tithes according to law, for his reason, if any worthy and pious
occasion happening to them constrains them, are ready to relax their
station fast[142] without any
hesitation. For in their case it is no paltry tithe that is
diminished, as they offer all that they have to the Lord equally with
themselves. And this certainly a man could not do without being
guilty of a grievous wrong, who, offering nothing of his own free will
to God, is forced to pay his tithes by the stern compulsion of the law
which takes no excuse. Wherefore it is clearly established that the
servant of the law cannot be perfect, who only shuns those things
which are forbidden and does those things which are commanded, but
that those are really perfect who do not take advantage even of those
things which the law allows. And in this way, though it is said of
the Mosaic law that "the law brought nothing to
perfection,"[143] we read that
some of the saints in the Old Testament were perfect because they went
beyond the commands of the law and lived under the perfection of the
Gospel: "Knowing that the law is not appointed for the righteous
but for the unrighteous and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners,
for the wicked and defiled, etc."[144]
Of the origin and beginning of Lent.
HOWBEIT you should know that as long as the primitive church retained
its perfection unbroken, this observance of Lent did not exist. For
they were not bound by the requirements of this order, or by any legal
enactments, nor confined in the very narrow limits of the fast, as the
fast embraced equally the whole year round. But when the multitude of
believers began day by day to decline from that apostolic fervour, and
to look after their own wealth, and not to portion it out for the good
of all the faithful in accordance with the arrangement of the
apostles, but having an eye to their own private expenses, tried not
only to keep it but actually to increase it, not content with
following the example of Ananias and Sapphira, then it seemed good to
all the priests that men who were hampered by worldly cares, and
almost ignorant, if I may say so, of abstinence and contrition, should
be recalled to the pious duty by a fast canonically enjoined, and be
constrained by the necessity of paying the legal tithes, as this
certainly would be good for the weak brethren and could not do any
harm to the perfect who were living under the grace of the gospel and
by their voluntary devotion going beyond the law, so as to succeed in
attaining to the blessedness which the Apostle speaks of: "For
sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law but
under grace."[145] For of a
truth sin cannot exercise dominion over one who lives faithfully under
the liberty of grace.
A question, how we ought to understand the
Apostle's words: "Sin shall not have dominion over
you."
GERMANUS: Because this saying of the Apostle, which promises freedom
from care not only to monks but to all Christians in general, cannot
lead us wrong, it seems to us somewhat obscure. For whereas he
maintains that all those who believe the gospel are at liberty and
free from the yoke and dominion of sin, how is it that the dominion of
sin holds vigorous sway over almost all the baptized, in accordance
with the Lord's words, where He says: "Every one that doeth sin
is the servant of sin"?[146]
The answer on the difference between grace and the
commands of the law.
THEONAS: Your inquiry once more raises before us a question of no
small extent. The explanation of which though I know that it cannot
be taught to or understood by the inexperienced, yet as far as I can,
I will try to set forth in words and briefly to explain, if only your
minds will follow up and act upon what we say. For whatever is known
not by teaching but by experience, just as it cannot be taught by one
without experience, so neither can it be grasped or taken in by the
mind of one who has not laid the foundation by a similar study and
training. And therefore I think it necessary for us first to inquire
somewhat carefully what is the purpose or meaning of the law, and what
is the system and perfection of grace, that from this we may succeed
in understanding the dominion of sin and how to drive it out. And so
the law chiefly commands men to seek the bonds of wedlock, saying:
"Blessed is he that hath seed in Sion and an household in
Jerusalem;"[147] and:
"Cursed is the barren that hath not borne."[148] On the other hand grace invites us
to the purity of perpetual chastity, and the undefiled state of
blessed virginity, saying: "Blessed are the barren, and the
breasts which have not given suck;" and: "he that hateth not
father and mother and wife cannot be my disciple;" and this of
the Apostle: "It remaineth that they that have wives be as though
they had them not."[149] The law
says: "Thou shall not delay to offer thy tithes and
firstfruits;" grace says: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and
sell all that thou hast and give to the poor:"[150] The law forbids not retaliation for
wrongs and vengeance for injuries, saying" "An eye for an
eye and a tooth for a tooth." Grace would have our patience
proved by the injuries and blows offered to us being redoubled, and
bids us be ready to endure twice as much damage; saying: "If a
man strike thee on one cheek, offer him the other also; and to him who
will contend with thee at the law and take away thy coat, give him thy
cloak also."[151] The one
decrees that we should hate our enemies, the other that we should love
them so that it holds that even for them we ought always to pray to
God.
Of the fact that the precepts of the gospel are
milder than those of the law.
WHOEVER therefore climbs this height of evangelical perfection, is at
once raised by the merits of such virtue above every law, and
disregarding as trivial all that is commanded by Moses, recognizes
that he is only subject to the grace of the Saviour, by whose aid he
knows that he attained to that most exalted condition. Therefore sin
has no dominion over him, "because the love of God, which is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us,"[152] shuts out all care for everything
else, and can neither desire what is forbidden, or disregard what is
commanded, as its whole aim and all its desire is ever fixed on divine
love, and to such an extent is it not caught by the delights of
worthless things, that it actually does not take advantage of those
things which are permitted. But under the law, where lawful marriages
are observed, although the rovings of wantonness are restrained, and
bound down to one woman alone, yet the pricks of carnal lust cannot
help being vigorous; and it is hard for the fire, for which fuel is
expressly supplied, to be thus shut in within prearranged limits, so
as not to spread further and burn up anything it touches. As even if
this objection occurs to it that it is not allowed to be kindled
beyond these limits, yet even while it is kept in check, it is on fire
because the will itself is in fault, and its habit of carnal
intercourse hurries it into too speedy excesses of adultery. But
those whom the grace of the Saviour has fired with the holy love of
chastity, so consume all the thorns of carnal desires in the fire of
the Lord's love, that no dying embers of sin interfere with the
coldness of their purity. The servants of the law then from the use
of lawful things fall away to unlawful; the partakers of grace while
they disregard lawful things know nothing of unlawful ones. But as
sin is alive in one who loves marriage, so is it also in one who is
satisfied with merely paying his tithes and firstfruits. For, while
he is dawdling or careless, he is sure to sin in regard to either
their quality or quantity, or the daily distribution of them. For as
he is commanded unweariedly to minister to those in want of what is
his, although he may dispense it with the fullest faith and devotion,
yet it is hard for him not to fall often into the snares of sin. But
over those who have not set at naught the counsel of the Lord, but
who, disposing of all their property to the poor, take up their cross
and follow the bestower of grace, sin can have no dominion. For no
faithless anxiety for getting food will annoy him who piously
distributes and disperses his wealth already consecrated to Christ and
no longer regarded as his own; nor will any grudging hesitation take
away from the cheerfulness of his almsgiving, because without any
thought of his own needs or fear of his own food running short he is
distributing what has once for all been completely offered to God, and
is no longer regarded as his own, as he is sure that when he has
succeeded in stripping himself as he desires, he will be fed by God
much more than the birds of the air. On the other hand he who retains
his goods of this world, or, bound by the rules of the old law,
distributes the tithe of his produce, and his firstfruits, or a
portion of his income, although he may to a considerable degree quench
the fire of his sins by this dew of almsgiving, yet, however
generously he gives away his wealth, it is impossible for him
altogether to rid himself of the dominion of sin, unless perhaps by
the grace of the Saviour, together with his substance he gets rid of
all love of possessing. In the same way he cannot fail to be subject
to the bloody sway of sin, whoever chooses to pull out, as the law
commands, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or to hate his
enemy, for while he desires by retaliation in exchange to avenge an
injury done to himself, and while he cherishes bitter hatred against
an enemy, he is sure always to be inflamed with the passion of anger
and rage. But whoever lives under the light of the grace of the
gospel, and overcomes evil by not resisting it, but by bearing it, and
does not hesitate of his own free will to give to one who smites his
right cheek, the other also, and to one who wants to raise a lawsuit
against him for his coat, gives his cloak also, and who loves his
enemies, and prays for those who slander him, this man has broken the
yoke of sin and burst its chains. For he is not living under the law,
which does not destroy the seeds of sin (whence not without reason the
Apostle says of it: "There is a setting aside of the former
commandment because of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof: for
the law brought nothing to perfection;" and the Lord says by the
prophet: "And I gave them commands that were not good, and
ordinances, whereby they could not live"[153], but under grace which does not
merely lop off the boughs of wickedness, but actually tears up the
very roots of an evil will.
How a man can be shown to be under grace.
WHOEVER then strives to reach the perfection of evangelical teaching,
this man living under grace is not oppressed by the dominion of sin,
for to be under grace is to do those things which grace commands. But
whoever will not submit himself to the complete requirements of
evangelical perfection, must not remain ignorant that, although he
seems to be baptized and to be a monk, yet he is not under grace, but
is still shackled by the chains of the law, and weighed down by the
burden of sin. For it is the aim of Him, who by the grace of adoption
accepts all those by whom He has been received, not to destroy but to
build upon, not to abolish but to fulfil the Mosaic requirements. But
some knowing nothing about this, and disregarding the splendid
counsels and exhortations of Christ, are so emancipated by the
carelessness of a freedom too hastily assumed, that they not only fail
to carry out the commands of Christ as if they were too hard, but
actually scorn as antiquated, the commands given to them as beginners
and children by the law of Moses, saying in this dangerous freedom of
theirs that which the Apostle execrates: "We have sinned, because
we are not under the law but under grace."[154] He then who is neither under grace,
because he has never climbed the heights of the Lord's teaching, nor
under the law, because he has not accepted even those small commands
of the law, this man, ground down beneath a twofold rule of sin,
fancies that he has received the grace of Christ, simply and solely
for this, that by this dangerous liberty of his he may make himself
none of His, and falls into that state, which the Apostle Peter warns
us to avoid, saying: "Act as free, and not having your liberty as
a cloak of wickedness." The blessed Apostle Paul also says:
"For ye, brethren, were called to liberty," i.e., that ye
might be free from the dominion of sin, "only use not your
liberty for an occasion of the flesh,"[155] i.e., believe that the doing away
with the commands of the law is a licence to sin. But this liberty,
the Apostle Paul teaches us is nowhere but where the Lord is dwelling,
for he says: "The Lord is the Spirit, but where the Spirit of the
Lord is there is liberty."[156]
Wherefore I know not whether I could express and explain the meaning
of the blessed Apostle, as those know how, who have experience; one
thing I do know, that it is very clearly revealed even without
anyone's explanation to all those who have perfectly acquired
praktikh, i.e., practical training. For they
will need no effort to understand in discussion what they have already
learnt by practice.
A question, why sometimes when we are fasting more
strictly than usual, we are troubled by carnal desires more keenly
than usual.
GERMANUS: You have very clearly explained a most difficult question,
and one which, as we think, is unknown to many. Wherefore we pray you
to add this also for our good, and carefully to expound why sometimes
when we are fasting more strictly than usual, and are exhausted and
worn out, severer bodily struggles are excited. For often on waking
from sleep, when we have discovered that we have been defiled[157] we are so dejected in heart that we
do not even venture faithfully to rise even for prayer.
The answer, telling that this question should be
reserved for a future Conference.
THEONAS: Your zeal indeed, whereby you desire to reach the way of
perfection, not for a moment only but fully and perfectly, urges us to
continue this discussion unweariedly. For you are anxiously inquiring
not about external chastity or outward circumcision, but about that
which is secret, as you know that complete perfection does not consist
in this visible continence of the flesh which can be attained either
by constraint, or by hypocrisy even by unbelievers, but in that
voluntary and invisible purity of heart, which the blessed Apostle
describes as follows: "For he is not a Jew which is so outwardly,
nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a
Jew which is one inwardly, and the circumcision is that of the heart,
in the spirit not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of
God,"[158] who alone searches the
secrets of the heart. But because it is not possible for your wish to
be fully satisfied (as the short space of the night that is left is
not enough for the investigation of this most difficult question,) I
think it well to postpone it for a while. For these matters, as they
should be propounded by us quietly and with an heart entirely free
from all bustling thoughts, so should they be received into your
minds; for just as the inquiry ought to be undertaken for the sake of
our common purity, so they cannot be learnt or acquired by one who is
without the gift of uprightness. For we do not ask what arguments of
empty words, but what the inward faith of the conscience and the
greater force of truth can persuade. And therefore with regard to the
knowledge and teaching of this purification nothing can be brought
forward except by one who has had experience of it, nor can anything
be committed except to one who is a most eager and very earnest lover
of the truth itself, who does not hope to attain it by asking
questions with mere vain words, but by striving with all his might and
main, with no wish for useless chattering but with the desire to
purify himself internally.
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