THE THIRD CONFERENCE OF ABBOT THEONAS.
ON SINLESSNESS.
Complete Contents.
Other version available: text. [62K].
Discourse of Abbot Theonas on the Apostle's words:
"For I do not the good which I would."
AT the return of light therefore, as the old man was forced by our
intense urgency to investigate the depths of the Apostle's subject, he
spoke as follows: As for the passages by which you try to prove that
the Apostle Paul spoke not in his own person but in that of sinners:
"For I do not the good that I would, but the evil which I hate,
that I do;" or this: "But if I do that which I would not, it
is no longer I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me;" or what
follows: "For I delight in the law of God after the inner man,
but I see another law in my members opposing the law of my mind, and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my
members;"[160] these passages on
the contrary plainly show that they cannot possibly fit the person of
sinners, but that what is said can only apply to those that are
perfect, and that it only suits the chastity of those who follow the
good example of the Apostles. Else how could these words apply to the
person of sinners: "For I do not the good which I would, but the
evil which I hate that I do"? or even this: "But if I do
what I would not it is no longer I that do it but sin that dwelleth in
me"? For what sinner defiles himself unwillingly by adulteries
and fornication? Who against his will prepares plots against his
neighbour? Who is driven by unavoidable necessity to oppress a man by
false witness or cheat him by theft, or covet the goods of another or
shed his blood? Nay rather, as Scripture says, "Mankind is
diligently inclined to wickedness from his youth."[161] For to such an extent are all
inflamed by the love of sin and desire to carry out what they like,
that they actually look out with watchful care for an opportunity of
committing wickedness and are afraid of being too slow to enjoy their
lusts, and glory in their shame and the mass of their crimes, as the
Apostle says in censure,[162] and seek
credit for themselves out of their own confusion, of whom also the
prophet Jeremiah maintains that they commit their flagitious crimes
not only not unwillingly nor with ease of heart and body, but with
laborious efforts to such an extent that they come to toil to carry
them out, so that they are prevented even by the hindrance of arduous
difficulty from their deadly quest of sin; as he says: "They have
laboured to do wickedly."[163]
Who also will say that this applies to sinners: "And so with the
mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of
sin," as it is plain that they serve God neither with the mind
nor the flesh? Or how can those who sin with the body serve God with
the mind, when the flesh receives the incitement to sin from the
heart, and the Creator of either nature Himself declares that the
fount and spring of sin flows from the latter, saying: "From the
heart proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false
witness, etc."[164] Wherefore it
is clearly shown that this cannot in any way be taken of the person of
sinners, who not only do not hate, but actually love what is evil and
are so far from serving God with either the mind or the flesh that
they sin with the mind before they do with the flesh, and before they
carry out the pleasures of the body are overcome by sin in their mind
and thoughts.
How the Apostle completed many good actions.
IT remains therefore for us to measure its meaning and drift from the
inmost feelings of the speaker, and to discuss what the blessed
Apostle called good, and what he pronounced by comparison evil, not by
the bare meaning of the words, but with the same insight which he
showed, and to investigate his meaning with due regard to the worth
and goodness of the speaker. For then we shall be able to understand
the words, which were uttered by God's inspiration, in accordance with
his purpose and wish, when we weigh the position and character of
those by whom they were spoken, and are ourselves clothed with the
same feelings (not in words but by experience), in accordance with the
character of which most certainly all the thoughts are conceived and
opinions uttered. Wherefore let us carefully consider what was in the
main that good which the Apostle could not do when he would. For we
know that there are many good things which we cannot deny that the
blessed Apostle and all men as good as he either have by nature, or
acquire by grace. For chastity is good, continence is praiseworthy,
prudence is to be admired, kindness is liberal, sobriety is careful,
temperance is modest, pity is kind, justice is holy: all of which we
cannot doubt existed fully and in perfection in the Apostle Paul and
his companions, so that they taught religion by the lesson of their
virtues rather than their words. What if they were always consumed
with the constant care of all the churches and watchful anxiety? How
great a good is this pity, what perfection it is to burn for them that
are offended, to be weak with the weak![165] If then the Apostle abounded with
such good things, we cannot recognize what that good was, in the
perfection of which the Apostle was lacking, unless we have advanced
to that state of mind in which he was speaking. And so all those
virtues which we say that he possessed, though they are like most
splendid and precious gems, yet when they are compared with that most
beautiful and unique pearl which the merchant in the gospel sought and
wanted to acquire by selling all that he possessed, so does their
value seem poor and trifling, so that if they are without hesitation
got rid of, the possession of one good thing alone will enrich the man
who sells countless good things.
What is really the good which the Apostle testifies
that he could not perform.
WHAT then is that one thing which is so incomparably above those great
and innumerable good things, that, while they are all scorned and
rejected, it alone should be acquired? Doubtless it is that truly
good part, the grand and lasting character of which is thus described
by the Lord, when Mary disregarded the duties of hospitality and
courtesy and chose it: "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and
troubled about many things: but there is but need of but few things or
even of one only. Mary hath chosen the good part which shall not be
taken away from her."[166]
Contemplation then, i.e., meditation on God, is the one thing, the
value of which all the merits of our righteous acts, all our aims at
virtue, come short of. And all those things which we said existed in
the Apostle Paul, were not only good and useful, but even great and
splendid. But as, for example, the metal of alloy which is considered
of some use and worth, becomes worthless when silver is taken into
account, and again the value of silver disappears in comparison with
gold, and gold itself is disregarded when compared with precious
stones, and yet a quantity of precious stones however splendid are
outdone by the brightness of a single pearl, so all those merits of
holiness, although they are not merely good and useful for the present
life, but also secure the gift of eternity, yet if they are compared
with the merit of Divine contemplation, will be considered trifling
and so to speak, fit to be sold. And to support this illustration by
the authority of Scripture, does not Scripture declare of all things
in general which were created by God, and say: "And behold
everything that God had made was very good;" and again: "And
things that God hath made are all good in their season"?[167] These things then which in the
present time are termed not simply and solely good, but emphatically
"very good" (for they are really convenient for us while
living in this world, either for purposes of life, or for remedies for
the body, or by reason of some unknown usefulness, or else they are
indeed "very good," because they enable us "to see the
invisible things of God from the creatures of the world, being
understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and
Godhead,"[168] from this great
and orderly arrangement of the fabric of the world; and to contemplate
them from the existence of everything in it), yet none of these things
will keep the name of good if they are regarded in the light of that
world to come, where no variation of good things, and no loss of true
blessedness need be feared. The bliss of which world is thus
described: "The light of the moon shall be as the light of the
sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven
days."[169] These things then
which are great and wondrous to be gazed on, and marvellous, will at
once appear as vanity if they are compared with the future promises
from faith; as David says: "They all shall wax old as a garment,
and as a vesture shall Thou change them, and they shall be changed.
But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail."[170] Because then there is nothing of
itself enduring, nothing unchangeable, nothing good but Deity alone,
while every creature, to obtain the blessing of eternity and
immutability, aims at this not by its own nature but by participation
of its Creator, and His grace, they cannot maintain their character
for goodness when compared with their Creator.
How man's goodness and righteousness are not good
if compared with the goodness and righteousness of God.
BUT if we want also to establish the force of this opinion by still
clearer proofs, is it not the case that while we read of many things
as called good in the gospel, as a good tree, and good treasure, and a
good man, and a good servant, for He says: "A good tree cannot
bring forth evil fruit;" and: "a good man out of the good
treasure of his heart brings forth good things;" and: "Well
done, good and faithful servant;"[171] and certainly there can be no doubt
that none of these are good in themselves, yet if we take into
consideration the goodness of God, none of them will be called good,
as the Lord says: "None is good save God alone"?[172] In whose sight even the apostles
themselves, who in the excellence of their calling in many ways went
beyond the goodness of mankind, are said to be evil, as the Lord thus
speaks to them: "If ye then being evil know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in
heaven give good things to them that ask Him."[173] Finally as our goodness turns to
badness in the eyes of the Highest so also our righteousness when set
against the Divine righteousness is considered like a menstruous
cloth, as Isaiah the prophet says: "All your righteousness is
like a menstruous cloth."[174]
And to produce something still plainer, even the vital precepts of the
law itself, which are said to have been "given by angels by the
hand of a mediator," and of which the same Apostle says: "So
the law indeed is holy and the commandment is holy and just and
good,"[175] when they are
compared with the perfection of the gospel are pronounced anything but
good by the Divine oracle: for He says: "And I gave them precepts
that were not good, and ordinances whereby they should not live in
them."[176] The Apostle also
affirms that the glory of the law is so dimmed by the light of the New
Testament that he declares that in comparison with the splendour of
the gospel it is not to be considered glorious, saying: "For even
that which was glorious was not glorified by reason of the glory that
excelleth."[177] And Scripture
keeps up this comparison on the other side also, i.e., in weighing the
merits of sinners, so that in comparison with the wicked it justifies
those who have sinned less, saying: "Sodom is justified above
thee;" and again: "For what hath thy sister Sodom
sinned?" and: "The rebellious Israel hath justified her soul
in comparison of the treacherous Judah."[178] So then the merits of all the
virtues, which I enumerated above, though in themselves they are good
and precious, yet become dim in comparison of the brightness of
contemplation. For they greatly hinder and retard the saints who are
taken up with earthly aims even at good works, from the contemplation
of that sublime good.
How no one can be continually intent upon that
highest good.
FOR who, when "delivering the poor from the hand of them that are
too strong for him, and the needy and the poor from them that strip
him," who when "breaking the jaws of the wicked and
snatching their prey from between their teeth,"[179] can with a calm mind regard the
glory of the Divine Majesty during the actual work of intervention?
Who when ministering support to the poor, or when receiving with
benevolent kindness the crowds that come to him, can at the very
moment when he is with anxious mind perplexed for the wants of his
brethren, contemplate the vastness of the bliss on high, and while he
is shaken by the troubles and cares of the present life look forward
to the state of the world to come with an heart raised above the
stains of earth? Whence the blessed David when laying down that this
alone is good for man, longs to cling constantly to God, and says:
"It is good for me to cling to God, and to put my hope in the
Lord."[180] And Ecclesiastes
also declares that this cannot be done without fault by any of the
saints, and says: "For there is not a righteous man upon earth,
that doeth good and sinneth not."[181] For who, even if he be the chief of
all righteous and holy men, can we ever think could, while bound in
the chains of this life, so acquire this chief good, as never to cease
from divine contemplation, or be thought to be drawn away by earthly
thoughts even for a short time from Him Who alone is good? Who ever
takes no care for food, none for clothing or other carnal things, or
when anxious about receiving the brethren, or change of place, or
building his cell, has never desired the aid of man's assistance, nor
when harassed by scarcity and want has incurred this sentence of
reproof from the Lord: "Be not anxious for your life what ye
shall eat, nor for your body what ye shall put on"?[182] Further we confidently assert that
even the Apostle Paul himself who surpassed in the number of his
sufferings the toils of all the saints, could not possibly fulfil
this, as he himself testifies to the disciples in the Acts of the
Apostles: "Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered to
my need, and to the needs of those who were with me," or when in
writing in the Thessalonians he testifies that he "worked in
labour and weariness night and day."[183] And although for this there were
great rewards for his merits prepared, yet his mind, however holy and
sublime it might be, could not help being sometimes drawn away from
that heavenly contemplation by its attention to earthly labours.
Further, when he saw himself enriched with such practical fruits, and
on the other hand considered in his heart the good of meditation, and
weighed as it were in one scale the profit of all these labours and in
the other the delights of divine contemplation, when for a long time
he had corrected the balance in his breast, while the vast rewards for
his labours delighted him on one side, and on the other the desire for
unity with and the inseparable companionship of Christ inclined him to
depart this life, at last in his perplexity he cries out and says:
"What I shall choose I know not. For I am in a strait betwixt
two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, for it were much
better: but to abide in the flesh is more necessary for your
sakes."[184] Though then in many
ways he preferred this excellent good to all the fruits of his
preaching, yet he submits himself in consideration of love, without
which none can gain the Lord; and for their sakes, whom hitherto he
had soothed with milk as nourishment from the breasts of the gospel,
does not refuse to be parted from Christ, which is bad for himself
though useful for others. For he is driven to choose this the rather
by that excessive goodness of his whereby for the salvation of his
brethren he is ready, were it possible, to incur even the last evil of
an Anathema. "For I could wish," he says, "that I
myself were Anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake, who are my
kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites,"[185] i.e., I could wish to be subject not
only to temporal, but even to perpetual punishment, if only all men,
were it possible, might enjoy the fellowship of Christ: for I am sure
that the salvation of all would be better for Christ and for me than
my own. That then the Apostle might perfectly gain this chief good,
i.e., to enjoy the vision of God and to be joined continually to
Christ, he was ready to be parted from this body, which as it is
feeble and hindered by the many requirements of its frailties cannot
help separating from union with Christ: for it is impossible for the
mind, that is harassed by such frequent cares, and hampered by such
various and tiresome troubles, always to enjoy the Divine vision. For
what aim of the saints can be so persistent, what purpose can be so
high that that crafty plotter does not sometimes destroy it? Who has
frequented the recesses of the desert and shunned intercourse with all
men in such a way that he never trips by unnecessary thoughts, and by
looking on things or being occupied in earthly actions falls away from
that contemplation of God, which truly alone is good? Who ever could
preserve such fervour of spirit as not sometimes to pass by roving
thoughts from his attention to prayer, and fall away suddenly from
heavenly to earthly things? Which of us (to pass over other times of
wandering) even at the very moment when he raises his soul in prayer
to God on high, does not fall into a sort of stupor, and even against
his will offend by that very thing from which he hoped for pardon of
his sins? Who, I ask, is so alert and vigilant as never, while he is
singing a Psalm to God, to allow his mind to wander from the meaning
of Scripture? Who is so intimate with and closely joined to God, as
to congratulate himself on having carried out for a single day that
rule of the Apostle's, whereby he bids us pray without ceasing?[186] And though all these things may
seem to some, who are involved in grosser sins, to be trivial and
altogether foreign to sin, yet to those who know the value of
perfection a quantity even of very small matters becomes most
serious.
How those who think that they are without sin are
like purblind people.
AS if we were to suppose that two men, one of whom was clear sighted
with perfect vision, and the other, one whose eyesight was obscured by
dimness of vision, had together entered some great house that was
filled with a quantity of bundles, instruments, and vessels, would not
he, whose dullness of vision prevented his seeing everything, assert
that there was nothing there but chests, beds, benches, tables, and
whatever met the fingers of one who felt them rather than the eyes of
one who saw them, while on the other hand would not the other, who
searched out what was hidden with clear and bright eyes, declare that
there were there many most minute articles, and what could scarcely be
counted; which if they were ever gathered up into a single pile, would
by their number equal or perhaps exceed the size of those few things
which the other had felt. So then even saints, and, if we may so say,
men who see, whose aim is the utmost perfection, cleverly
detect in themselves even those things which the gaze of our mind
being as it were darkened cannot see, and condemn them very severely,
to such an extent that those who have not, as it seems to our
carelessness, dimmed the whiteness of their body, which is as it were
like snow, with even the slightest spot of sin, seem to themselves to
be covered with many stains, if, I will not say any evil or vain
thoughts creep into the doors of their mind, but even the recollection
of a Psalm which has to be said takes off the attention of the kneeler
at the time for prayer. For if, say they, when we ask some great man,
I will not say for our life and salvation, but for some advantage and
profit, we fasten all our attention of mind and body upon him, and
hang with trembling expectation on his nod, with no slight dread lest
haply some foolish or unsuitable word may turn aside the pity of our
hearer, and then too, when we are standing in the forum or in the
courts of earthly judges, with our opponent standing over against us,
if in the midst of the prosecution and trial any coughing or spitting,
or laughing, or yawning, or sleep overtakes us, with what malice will
our ever watchful opponent stir up the severity of the judge to our
damage: how much more, when we entreat Him who knows all secrets,
should we, by reason of our imminent danger of everlasting death,
plead with earnest and anxious prayer for the kindness of the judge,
especially as on the other side there stands one who is both our
crafty seducer and our accuser! And not without reason will he be
bound by no light sin, but by a grievous fault of wickedness, who,
when he pours forth his prayer to God, departs at once from His sight
as if from the eyes of one who neither sees nor hears, and follows the
vanity of wicked thoughts. But they who cover the eyes of their heart
with a thick veil of their sins, and as the Saviour says, "Seeing
see not and hearing hear not nor understand,"[187] hardly regard in the inmost recesses
of their breast even those faults which are great and deadly, and
cannot with clear eyes look at any deceitful thoughts, nor even those
vague and secret desires which strike the mind with slight and subtle
suggestions, nor the captivities of their soul, but always wandering
among impure thoughts they know not how to be sorry when they are
distracted from that meditation which is so special, nor can they
grieve that they have lost anything as while they lay open their mind
to the entrance of any thought as they please, they have nothing set
before them to hold to as the main thing or to desire in every way.
How those who maintain that a man can be without
sin are charged with a twofold error.
THE reason however which drives us into this error is that, as we are
utterly ignorant of the virtue of being without sin,[188] we fancy that we cannot contract any
guilt from those idle and random vagaries of our thoughts, but being
rendered stupid by dullness and as it were smitten with blindness we
can see nothing in ourselves but capital offences, and think that we
have only to keep clear of those things which are condemned also by
the severity of secular laws, and if we find that even for a short
time we are free from these we at once imagine that there is no sin at
all in us. Accordingly we are distinguished from the number of those
who see, because we do not see the many small stains, which are
crowded together in us, and are not smitten with saving contrition, if
the malady of vexation overtakes our thoughts, nor are we sorry that
we are struck by the suggestions of vainglory, nor do we weep over our
prayers offered up so tardily and coldly, nor consider it a fault if
while we are singing or praying, something else besides the actual
prayer or Psalm fills our thoughts, nor are we horrified because we do
not blush to conceive many things which we are ashamed to speak or do
before men, in our heart, which, as we know, lies open to the Divine
gaze; nor do we purge away the pollution of filthy dreams with copious
ablutions of our tears, nor grieve that in the pious act of almsgiving
when we are assisting the needs of the brethren, or ministering
support to the poor, the brightness of our cheerfulness is clouded
over by a stingy delay, nor do we think that we are affected by any
loss when we forget God and think about things that are temporal and
corrupt, so that these words of Solomon fairly apply to us: "They
smite me but I have not grieved, and they have mocked me, but I knew
it not."[189]
How it is given to but few to understand what sin
is.
THOSE on the other hand who make the sum of all their joy and delight
and bliss consist in the contemplation of divine and spiritual things
alone, if they are unwillingly withdrawn from them even for a short
time by thoughts that force themselves upon them, punish this as if it
were a kind of sacrilege in them, and avenge it by immediate
chastisement, and in their grief that they have preferred some
worthless creature (to which their mental gaze was turned aside) to
their Creator, charge themselves with the guilt (I had almost said) of
impiety, and although they turn the eyes of their heart with the
utmost speed to behold the brightness of the Divine Glory, yet they
cannot tolerate even for a very short time the darkness of carnal
thoughts, and execrate whatever keeps back their soul's gaze from the
true light. Finally when the blessed Apostle John would instill this
feeling into everybody he says: "Little children, love not the
world, neither the things which are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of God is not in him: for everything that is in the
world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride
of life, which is not of the Father but of the world. And the world
perisheth and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth forever."[190] The
saints therefore scorn all those things on which the world exists, but
it is impossible for them never to be carried away to them by a brief
aberration of thoughts, and even now no man, except our Lord and
Saviour, can keep his naturally wandering mind always fixed on the
contemplation of God so as never to be carried away from it through
the love of something in this world; as Scripture says: "Even the
stars are not clean in His sight," and again: "If He puts no
trust in His saints, and findeth iniquity in His angels," or as
the more correct translation has it: "Behold among His saints
none is unchangeable, and the heavens are not pure in His
sight."[191]
Of the care with which a monk should preserve the
recollection of God.
I SHOULD say then that the saints who keep a firm hold of the
recollection of God and are borne along, as it were, with their steps
suspended on a line stretched out on high, may be rightly compared to
rope dancers, commonly called funambuli, who risk all their safety and
life on the path of that very narrow rope, with no doubt that they
will immediately meet with a most dreadful death if their foot swerves
or trips in the very slightest degree, or goes over the line of the
course in which alone is safety. And while with marvellous skill they
ply their airy steps through space, if they keep not their steps to
that all too narrow path with careful and anxious regulation, the
earth which is the natural base and the most solid and safest
foundation for all, becomes to them an immediate and clear danger, not
because its nature is changed, but because they fall headlong upon it
by the weight of their bodies. So also that unwearied goodness of God
and His unchanging nature[192] hurts
no one indeed, but we ourselves by falling from on high and tending to
the depths are the authors of our own death, or rather the very fall
becomes death to the faller. For it says: "Woe to them for they
have departed from Me: they shall be wasted because they have
transgressed against Me;" and again: "Woe to them when I
shall depart from them." For "thine own wickedness shall
reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee. Know thou and see
that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord
thy God;" for "every man is bound by the cords of his
sins."[193] To whom this rebuke
is aptly directed by the Lord: "Behold," He says, "all
you that kindle a fire, encompassed with flames, walk ye in the light
of your fire and in the flames which you have kindled;" and
again: "He that kindleth iniquity, shall perish by it."[194]
How those who are on the way to perfection are
truly humble, and feel that they always stand in need of God's
grace.
WHEN then holy men feel that they are oppressed by the weight of
earthly thoughts and fall away from their loftiness of mind, and that
they are led away against their will or rather without knowing it,
into the law of sin and death, and (to pass over other matters) are
kept back by those actions which I described above, which are good and
right though earthly, from the vision of God; they have something to
groan over constantly to the Lord; they have something for which
indeed to humble themselves, and in their contrition to profess
themselves not in words only but in heart, sinners; and for this,
while they continually ask of the Lord's grace pardon for everything
that day by day they commit when overcome by the weakness of the
flesh, they should shed without ceasing true tears of penitence; as
they see that being involved even to the very end of their life in the
very same troubles, with continual sorrow for which they are tried,
they cannot even offer their prayers without harassing thoughts. So
then as they know by experience that through the hindrance of the
burden of the flesh they cannot by human strength reach the desired
end, nor be united according to their heart's desire with that chief
and highest good, but that they are led away from the vision of it
captive to worldly things, they betake themselves to the grace of God,
"Who justifieth the ungodly,"[195] and cry out with the Apostle:
"O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of
this death? Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ."[196] For they feel that they cannot
perform the good that they would, but are ever falling into the evil
which they would not, and which they hate, i.e., wandering thoughts
and care for carnal things.
Explanation of the phrase: "For I delight in
the law of God after the inner man," etc.
AND they "delight" indeed "in the law of God after the
inner man," which soars above all visible things and ever strives
to be united to God alone, but they "see another law in their
members," i.e., implanted in their natural human condition, which
"resisting the law of their mind,"[197] brings their thoughts into captivity
to the forcible law of sin, compelling them to forsake that chief good
and submit to earthly notions, which though they may appear necessary
and useful when they are taken up in the interests of some religious
want, yet when they are set against that good which fascinates the
gaze of all the saints, are seen by them to be bad and such as should
be avoided, because by them in some way or other and for a short time
they are drawn away from the joy of that perfect bliss. For the law
of sin is really what the fall of its first father brought on mankind
by that fault of his, against which there was uttered this sentence by
the most just Judge: "Cursed is the ground in thy works; thorns
and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and in the sweat of thy
brow shalt thou eat bread."[198]
This, I say, is the law, implanted in the members of all mortals,
which resists the law of our mind and keeps it back from the vision of
God, and which, as the earth is cursed in our works after the
knowledge of good and evil, begins to produce the thorns and thistles
of thoughts, by the sharp pricks of which the natural seeds of virtues
are choked, so that without the sweat of our brow we cannot eat our
bread which "cometh down from heaven," and which
"strengtheneth man's heart."[199] The whole human race in general
therefore is without exception subject to this law. For there is no
one, however saintly, who does not take the bread mentioned above with
the sweat of his brow and anxious efforts of his heart. But many rich
men, as we see, are fed on that common bread without any sweat of
their brow.
Of this also: "But we know that the law is
spiritual," etc.
AND this law the Apostle also calls spiritual saying: "But we
know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under
sin."[200] For this law is
spiritual which bids us eat in the sweat of our brow that "true
bread which cometh down from heaven"[201] but that sale under sin makes us
carnal. What, I ask, or whose is that sin? Doubtless Adam's, by
whose fall and, if I may so say, ruinous transaction and fraudulent
bargain we were sold. For when he was led astray by the persuasion of
the serpent he brought all his descendants under the yoke of perpetual
bondage, as they were alienated by taking the forbidden food. For
this custom is generally observed between the buyer and seller, that
one who wants to make himself over to the power of another, receives
from his buyer a price for the loss of his liberty, and his
consignment to perpetual slavery. And we can very plainly see that
this took place between Adam and the serpent. For by eating of the
forbidden tree he received from the serpent the price of his liberty,
and gave up his natural freedom and chose to give himself up to
perpetual slavery to him from whom he had obtained the deadly price of
the forbidden fruit; and thenceforth he was bound by this condition
and not without reason subjected all the offspring of his posterity to
perpetual service to him whose slave he had become. For what can any
marriage in slavery produce but slaves? What then? Did that cunning
and crafty buyer take away the rights of ownership from the true and
lawful lord? Not so. For neither did he overcome all God's property
by the craft of a single act of deception so that the true lord lost
his rights of ownership, who though the buyer himself was a rebel and
a renegade, yet oppressed him with the yoke of slavery; but because
the Creator had endowed all reasonable creatures with free will, he
would not restore to their natural liberty against their will those
who contrary to right had sold themselves by the sin of greedy lust.
Since anything that is contrary to goodness and fairness is abhorrent
to Him who is the Author of justice and piety. For it would have been
wrong for Him to have recalled the blessing of freedom granted, unfair
for Him to have by His power oppressed man who was free, and by taking
him captive, not to have allowed him to exercise the prerogative of
the freedom he had received, as He was reserving his salvation for
future ages, that in due season the fulness of the appointed time
might be fulfilled. For it was right that his offspring should remain
under the ancient conditions for so long a time, until by the price of
His own blood the grace of the Lord redeemed them from their original
chains and set them free in the primeval state of liberty, though He
was able even then to save them, but would not, because equity forbade
Him to break the terms of His own decree. Would you know the reason
for your being sold? Hear thy Redeemer Himself proclaiming openly by
Isaiah the prophet: "What is this bill of the divorce of your
mother with which I have put her away? Or who is My creditor to whom
I sold you? Behold you are sold for your iniquities and for your
wicked deeds have I put your mother away." Would you also
plainly see why when you were consigned to the yoke of slavery He
would not redeem you by the might of His own power? Hear what He
added to the former passage, and how He charges the same servants of
sin with the reason for their voluntary sale. "Is My hand
shortened and become little that I cannot redeem, or is there no
strength in Me to deliver?"[202]
But what it is which is always standing in the way of His most
powerful pity the same prophet shows when he says: "Behold the
hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is His
ear heavy that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have divided
between you and your God and your sins have hid His face from you that
He should not hear."[203]
Of this also: "But I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing."
BECAUSE then the original curse of God has made us carnal and
condemned us to thorns and thistles, and our father has sold us by
that unhappy bargain so that we cannot do the good that we would,
while we are torn away from the recollection of God Most High and
forced to think on what belongs to human weakness, while burning with
the love of purity, we are often even against our will troubled by
natural desires, which we would rather know nothing about; we know
that in our flesh there dwelleth no good thing[204] viz., the perpetual and lasting
peace of this meditation of which we have spoken; but there is brought
about in our case that miserable and wretched divorce, that when with
the mind we want to serve the law of God, since we never want to
remove our gaze from the Divine brightness, yet surrounded as we are
by carnal darkness we are forced by a kind of law of sin to tear
ourselves away from the good which we know, as we fall away from that
lofty height of mind to earthly cares and thoughts, to which the law
of sin, i.e., the sentence of God, which the first delinquent
received, has not without reason condemned us. And hence it is that
the blessed Apostle, though he openly admits that he and all saints
are bound by the constraint of this sin, yet boldly asserts that none
of them will be condemned for this, saying: "There is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus: for the law of
the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the law of
sin and death,"[205] i.e., the
grace of Christ day by day frees all his saints from this law of sin
and death, under which they are constantly reluctantly obliged to
come, whenever they pray to the Lord for the forgiveness of their
trespasses. You see then that it was in the person not of sinners but
of those who are really saints and perfect, that the blessed Apostle
gave utterance to this saying: "For I do not the good that I
would, but the evil which I hate, that I do;" and: "I see
another law in my members resisting the law of my mind and bringing me
captive to the law of sin which is in my members."[206]
An objection, that the saying: "For I do not
the good that I would," etc., applies to the persons neither of
unbelievers nor of saints.
GERMANUS: We say that this does not apply to the persons either of
those who are involved in capital offences, or of an Apostle and those
who have advanced to his measure, but we think that it ought properly
to be taken of those who after receiving the grace of God and the
knowledge of the truth, are anxious to keep themselves from carnal
sins but, as ancient custom like a natural law rules most forcibly in
their members, they are carried away to the ingrained lust of their
passions. For the custom and frequency of sinning becomes like a
natural law, which, implanted in the man's weak members, leads the
feelings of the soul that is not yet instructed in all the pursuits of
virtue, but is still, if I may say so, of an uninstructed and tender
chastity, captive to sin and subjecting them by an ancient law to
death, brings them under the yoke of sin that rules over them, not
suffering them to obtain the good of purity which they love, but
rather forcing them to do the evil which they hate.
The answer to the objection raised.
THEONAS: Your notion does not come to much; as you yourselves have
actually now begun to maintain that this cannot possibly stand in the
person of those who are out and out sinners, but that it properly
applies to those who are trying to keep themselves clear from carnal
sins. And since you have already separated these from the number of
sinners, it follows that you must shortly admit them into the ranks of
the faithful and holy. For what kinds of sin do you say that those
can commit, from which, if they are involved in them after the grace
of baptism, they can be freed by the daily grace of Christ? or of what
body of death are we to think that the Apostle said: "Who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through
Jesus Christ our Lord"?[207] Is
it not clear, as truth compels you yourselves also to admit, that it
is spoken not of those members of capital crimes, by which the wages
of eternal death are gained; viz., murder, fornication, adultery,
drunkenness, thefts and robberies, but of that body before mentioned,
which the daily grace of Christ assists? For whoever after baptism
and the knowledge of God falls into that death, must know that he will
either have to be cleansed, not by the daily grace of Christ, i.e., an
easy forgiveness, which our Lord when at any moment He is prayed to,
is wont to grant to our errors, but by a lifelong affliction of
penitence and penal sorrow, or else will be hereafter consigned to the
punishment of eternal fire for them, as the same Apostle thus
declares: "Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor defilers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous persons, nor drunkards, nor
railers, nor extortioners shall possess the kingdom of God."[208] Or what is that law warring in our
members which resists the law of our mind, and when it has led us
resisting but captives to the law of sin and death, and has made us
serve it with the flesh, nevertheless suffers us to serve the law of
God with the mind? For I do not suppose that this law of sin denotes
crimes or can be taken of the offences mentioned above, of which if a
man is guilty he does not serve the law of God with the mind, from
which law he must first have departed in heart before he is guilty of
any of them with the flesh. For what is it to serve the law of sin,
but to do what is commanded by sin? What sort of sin then is it to
which so great holiness and perfection feels that it is captive, and
yet doubts not that it will be freed from it by the grace of Christ,
saying: "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our
Lord"? What law, I ask, will you maintain to be implanted in our
members, which, withdrawing us from the law of God and bringing us
into captivity to the law of sin, could make us wretched rather than
guilty so that we should not be consigned to eternal punishment, but
still as it were sigh for the unbroken joys of bliss, and, seeking for
a helper who shall restore us to it, exclaim with the Apostle: "O
wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?" For what is it to be led captive to the law of sin but
to continue to perform and commit sin? Or what other chief good can be
given which the saints cannot fulfil, except that in comparison with
which, as we said above, everything else is not good? Indeed we know
that many things in this world are good, and chiefly, modesty,
continence, sobriety, humility, justice, mercy, temperance, piety: but
all of these things fail to come up to that chief good, and can be
done I say not by apostles, but even by ordinary folk; and, those by
whom they are not done, are either chastised with eternal punishment,
or are set free by great exertions, as was said above, of penitence,
and not by the daily grace of Christ. It remains then for us to admit
that this saying of the Apostle is rightly applied only to the persons
of saints, who day after day falling under this law, which we
described, of sin not of crimes, are secure of their salvation and not
precipitated into wicked deeds, but, as has often been said, are drawn
away from the contemplation of God to the misery of bodily thoughts,
and are often deprived of the blessing of that true bliss. For if
they felt that by this law of their members they were bound daily to
crimes, they would complain of the loss not of happiness but of
innocence, and the Apostle Paul would not say: "O wretched man
that I am," but "Impure," or "Wicked man that I
am," and he would wish to be rid not of the body of this death,
i.e., this mortal state, but of the crimes and misdeeds of this flesh.
But because by reason of his state of human frailty he felt that he
was captive, i.e., led away to carnal cares and anxieties which the
law of sin and death causes, he groans over this law of sin under
which against his will he had fallen, and at once has recourse to
Christ and is saved by the present redemption of His grace. Whatever
of anxiety therefore that law of sin, which naturally produces the
thorns and thistles of mortal thoughts and cares, has caused to spring
up in the ground of the Apostle's breast, that the law of grace at
once plucks up. "For the law," says he, "of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the law of sin and
death."[209]
What is the body of sin.
THIS then is that body of death from which we cannot escape, pent in
which those who are perfect, who have tasted "how gracious the
Lord is,"[210] daily feel with
the prophet "how bad for himself and bitter it is for a man to
depart from the Lord his God."[211] This is the body of death which
restrains us from the heavenly vision and drags us back to earthly
things, which causes men while singing Psalms and kneeling in prayer
to have their thoughts filled with human figures, or conversations, or
business, or unnecessary actions. This is the body of death, owing to
which those, who would emulate the sanctity of angels, and who long to
cling continually to God, yet are unable to arrive at the perfection
of this good, because the body of death stands in their way, but they
do the evil that they would not, i.e., they are dragged down in their
minds even to the things which have nothing to do with their advance
and perfection in virtue. Finally that the blessed Apostle might
clearly denote that he said this of saintly and perfect men, and those
like himself, he in a way points with his finger to himself and at
once proceeds: "And so I myself," i.e, I who say this, lay
bare the secrets of my own not another's conscience. This mode of
speech at any rate the Apostle is familiarly accustomed to use,
whenever he wants to point specially to himself, as here: "I,
Paul, myself beseech you by the mildness and modesty of Christ;"
and again: "except that I myself was not burdensome to you;"
and once more: "But be it so: I myself did not burden you;"
and elsewhere: "I, Paul, myself say unto you: if ye be
circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing;" and to the Romans:
"For I could wish that I myself were Anathema from Christ for my
brethren."[212] But it cannot
unreasonably be taken in this way, that "And so I myself" is
expressly said with emphasis, i.e., I whom you know to be an Apostle
of Christ, whom you venerate with the utmost respect, whom you believe
to be of the highest character and perfect, and one in whom Christ
speaks, though with the mind I serve the law of God, yet with the
flesh I confess that I serve the law of sin, i.e., by the occupations
of my human condition am sometimes dragged down from heavenly to
earthly things and the height of my mind is brought down to the level
of care for humble matters. And by this law of sin I find that at
every moment I am so taken captive that although I persist in my
immovable longing around the law of God, yet in no way can I escape
the power of this captivity, unless I always fly to the grace of the
Saviour.
How all the saints have confessed with truth that
they were unclean and sinful.
AND therefore with daily sighs all the saints grieve over this
weakness of their nature and while they search into their shifting
thoughts and the secrets and inmost recesses of their conscience, cry
out in entreaty: "Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for
in Thy sight shall no man living be justified;" and this:
"Who will boast that he hath a chaste heart? or who will have
confidence that he is pure from sin?" and again: "There is
not a righteous man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not;"
and this also: "Who knoweth his faults?"[213] And so they have recognized that
man's righteousness is weak and imperfect and always needs God's
mercy, so that one of those whose iniquities and sins God purged away
with the live coal of His word sent from the altar, after that
marvellous vision of God, after his view of the Seraphim on high and
the revelation of heavenly mysteries, said: "Woe is me! for I am
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips."[214] And I fancy that
perhaps even then he would not have felt the uncleanness of his lips,
unless it had been given him to recognize the true and complete purity
of perfection by the vision of God, at the sight of Whom he suddenly
became aware of his own uncleanness, of which he had previously been
ignorant. For when he says: "Woe is me! for I am a man of unclean
lips," he shows that his confession that follows refers to his
own lips, and not to the uncleanness of the people: "and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips." But even when in his
prayer he confesses the uncleanness of all sinners, he embraces in his
general supplication not only the mass of the wicked but also of the
good, saying: "Behold Thou art angry, and we have sinned: in them
we have been always, and we shall be saved. We are all become as one
unclean, and all our righteousnesses as filthy rags."[215] What, I ask, could be clearer than
this saying, in which the prophet includes not one only but all our
righteousnesses and, looking round on all things that are considered
unclean and disgusting, because he could find nothing in the life of
men fouler or more unclean, chose to compare them to filthy rags. In
vain then is the sharpness of a nagging objection raised against this
perfectly clear truth, as a little while back you said: "If no
one is without sin, then no one is holy; and if no one is holy, then
no one will be saved."[216] For
the puzzle of this question can be solved by the prophet's testimony.
"Behold," he says, "Thou art angry and we have
sinned," i.e., when Thou didst reject our pride of heart or our
carelessness, and deprive us of Thine aid, at once the abyss of our
sins swallowed us up, as if one should say to the bright substance of
the sun: Behold thou hast set, and at once murky darkness covered us.
And yet though he here says that the saints have sinned, and have not
only sinned but also have always remained in their sins, he does not
altogether despair of salvation but adds: "In them we have been
always, and we shall be saved." This saying: "Behold Thou
art angry and we have sinned," I will compare to that one of the
Apostle's: "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from
the body of this death?" Again this that the prophet subjoins:
"In them we have been always, and we shall be saved,"
corresponds to the following words of the Apostle: "Thanks be to
God through Jesus Christ our Lord." In the same way also this
passage of the same prophet: "Woe is me! for I am a man of
unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips," seems to agree with the words quoted above: "O
wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?" And what follows in the prophet: "And behold there
flew to me one of the Seraphim, having in his hand a coal (or stone)
which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he touched
my mouth and said: Lo, with this I have touched thy lips, and thine
iniquity is taken away and thy sin is purged,"[217] is just what seems to have fallen
from the mouth of Paul, who says: "Thanks be to God through Jesus
Christ our Lord." You see then how all the saints with truth
confess not so much in the person of the people as in their own that
they are sinners, and yet by no means despair of their salvation, but
look for full justification (which they do not hope that they cannot
obtain by virtue of the state of human frailty) from the grace and
mercy of the Lord.
That even good and holy men are not without
sin.
BUT that no one however holy is in this life free from trespasses and
sin, we are told also by the teaching of the Saviour, who gave His
disciples the form of the perfect prayer and among those other sublime
and sacred commands, which as they were only given to the saints and
perfect cannot apply to the wicked and unbelievers, He bade this to be
inserted: "And forgive us our debts as we also forgive our
debtors."[218] If then this is
offered as a true prayer and by saints, as we ought without the shadow
of a doubt to believe, who can be found so obstinate and impudent, so
puffed up with the pride of the devil's own rage, as to maintain that
he is without sin, and not only to think himself greater than
apostles, but also to charge the Saviour Himself with ignorance or
folly, as if He either did not know that some men could be free from
debts, or was idly teaching those whom He knew to stand in no need of
the remedy of that prayer? But since all the saints who altogether
keep the commands of their King, say every day "Forgive us our
debts," if they speak the truth there is indeed no one free from
sin, but if they speak falsely, it is equally true that they are not
free from the sin of falsehood. Wherefore also that most wise
Ecclesiastes reviewing in his mind all the actions and purposes of men
declares without any exception: "that there is not a righteous
man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not,"[219] i.e., no one ever could or ever will
be found on this earth so holy, so diligent, so earnest as to be able
continually to cling to that true and unique good, and not day after
day to feel that he is drawn aside from it and fails. But still
though he maintains that he cannot be free from wrong doing, yet none
the less we must not deny that he is righteous.
How even in the hour of prayer it is almost
impossible to avoid sin.
WHOEVER then ascribes sinlessness to human nature must fight against
no idle words but the witness and proof of his conscience which is on
our side, and then only should maintain that he is without sin, when
he finds that he is not torn away from this highest good: nay rather,
whoever considering his own conscience, to say no more, finds that he
has celebrated even one single service without the distraction of a
single word or deed or thought, may say that he is without sin.
Further because we admit that the discursive lightness of the human
mind cannot get rid of these idle and empty things, we thus
consequently confess with truth that we are not without sin. For with
whatever care a man tries to keep his heart, he can never, owing to
the resistance of the nature of the flesh, keep it according to the
desire of his spirit. For however far the human mind may have
advanced and progressed towards a finer purity of contemplation, so
much the more will it see itself to be unclean, as it were in the
mirror of its purity, because while the soul raises itself for a
loftier vision and as it looks forth yearns for greater things than it
performs, it is sure always to despise as inferior and worthless the
things in which it is mixed up. Since a keener sight notices more;
and a blameless life produces greater sorrow when found fault with;
and amendment of life, and earnest striving after goodness multiplies
groans and sighs. For no one can rest content with that stage to
which he has advanced, and however much a man may be purified in mind,
so much the more does he see himself to be foul, and find grounds for
humiliation rather than for pride, and, however swiftly he may climb
to greater heights, so much more does he see above him whither he is
tending. Finally that chosen Apostle "whom Jesus loved,"[220] who lay on His bosom, uttered this
saying as if from the heart of the Lord: "If we say that we have
no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."[221] And so if when we say that we have
no sin, we have not the truth, that is Christ, in us, what good do we
do except to prove ourselves by this very, profession, criminals and
wicked among sinners?
From whom we can learn the destruction of sin and
perfection of goodness.
LASTLY if you would like to investigate more thoroughly whether it is
possible for human nature to attain sinlessness, from whom can we more
clearly learn this than from those who "have crucified the flesh
with its faults and lusts," and to whom "the world is really
crucified"?[222] Who though they
have not only utterly eradicated all faults from their hearts, but
also are trying to shut out even the thought and recollection of sin,
yet still day after day faithfully maintain that they cannot even for
a single hour be free from spot of sin.
That although we acknowledge that we cannot be
without sin, yet still we ought not to suspend ourselves from the
Lord's Communion.
YET we ought not to suspend ourselves from the Lord's Communion
because we confess ourselves sinners, but should more and more eagerly
hasten to it for the healing of our soul, and purifying of our spirit,
and seek the rather a remedy for our wounds with humility of mind and
faith, as considering ourselves unworthy to receive so great grace.
Otherwise we cannot worthily receive the Communion even once a year,
as some do, who live in monasteries and so regard the dignity and
holiness and value of the heavenly sacraments, as to think that none
but saints and spotless persons should venture to receive them, and
not rather that they would make us saints and pure by taking them.
And these thereby fall into greater presumption and arrogance than
what they seem to themselves to avoid, because at the time when they
do receive them, they consider that they are worthy to receive them.
But it is much better to receive them every Sunday for the healing of
our infirmities, with that humility of heart, whereby we believe and
confess that we can never touch those holy mysteries worthily, than to
be puffed up by a foolish persuasion of heart, and believe that at the
year's end we are worthy to receive them. Wherefore that we may be
able to grasp this and hold it fruitfully, let us the more earnestly
implore the Lord's mercy to help us to perform this, which is learnt
not like other human arts, by some previous verbal explanation, but
rather by experience and action leading the way; and which also unless
it is often considered and hammered out in the Conferences of
spiritual persons, and anxiously sifted by daily experience and trial
of it, will either become obsolete through carelessness or perish by
idle forgetfulness.
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