Letters 60-63

Ambrose to Theodosius the Emperor.

1. Ambrose Explains His Absence from Milan

You have thought, most blessed emperor, as far as I have gathered from your august letters, that I was far away from the city of Milan; because you believed that your affairs were being forsaken by God. But I was not so imprudent, nor so forgetful of your virtue and merits, as absent, that I did not presume that heavenly aid would be present to your piety, whereby you would vindicate the Roman empire from the savagery of a barbarous robber and from the throne of an unworthy usurper.

2. Return to Milan After the Usurper's Fall

I hastened therefore to return at once, after I learned that he, whom I had rightly thought should be avoided, was now gone; for I had not abandoned the Church of Milan, which had been entrusted to me by the Lord's judgment: but I was avoiding the presence of him who had mingled himself with sacrilege. I returned, then, about the kalends of August, and from that day I have resided here. Here, Augustus, the letters of your clemency found me.

3. Thanksgiving for a Victory Like the Ancients'

Thanks be to the Lord our God, who has answered your faith and piety; and has restored the pattern of ancient holiness; that we might see in our own time what we marvel at in the reading of the Scriptures, that there was such a presence of divine aid in battles, that no mountain peaks delayed the course of your advance, no hostile arms brought any impediment.

4. A Sacrifice of Thanks Instead of a Triumph

You judge that I ought to give thanks for these things to the Lord our God: I will do so gladly, being conscious of your merit. It is certain that the sacrifice which is offered in your name is pleasing to God, and how great is the devotion and faith of this! Other emperors, at the outset of victory, order triumphal arches to be prepared, or other insignia of triumphs: your clemency prepares a sacrifice for God, and desires an offering and a giving of thanks to be celebrated to the Lord through the priests.

5. The Emperor's Letter Placed Upon the Altar

Although I am unworthy and unequal to so great an office and to the celebration of so many vows; yet I write what I have done. I brought the letter of your piety with me to the altar, placed it upon the altar, carried it in my hand as I offered the sacrifice; so that your faith might speak in my voice, and the words of the Augustus might discharge the office of a priestly offering.

6. The Emperor's Virtue and Humility Praised

Truly the Lord is favorable to the Roman empire; since He has chosen such a prince and a parent of princes, whose virtue and power, established on so great a summit of triumphal empire, rests upon such great humility, that in virtue he has surpassed emperors, in humility priests. What should I wish for? What should I desire? You have everything: from your own qualities, then, I will gather the sum of my prayers—you are pious, Emperor, you possess the greatest clemency.

7. A Prayer for Clemency Toward the Guilty

I nevertheless wish you again and again increase of that piety, than which the Lord has given nothing more excellent; so that through your clemency the Church of God, just as it rejoices in the peace and tranquility of the innocent, may also rejoice in the acquittal of the guilty. Forgive above all those who have not sinned before. May the Lord preserve your clemency. Amen.

Ambrose to Theodosius the Emperor.

1. Explaining the Occasion for Writing Again

Although I have very lately written to your august clemency, and indeed a second time, yet it did not seem to me enough to have rendered, as it were in equal turn, the duty of my discourse; since I am so pledged by the frequent benefits of your clemency that I can compensate by no services what I owe, most blessed and most august emperor.

2. Thanks Sent Through the Emperor's Chamberlain

Therefore, just as the first occasion was not to be let pass, on which through your chamberlain I might give thanks to your clemency, and present the office of my address; especially lest it be thought to have been rather a matter of idleness than of necessity, that I did not write in the previous time. I had therefore to seek an occasion by which I might render to your piety the owed duty of greeting.

3. Deacon Felix Sent to Plead for Refugees

Rightly, then, to convey my letter I have sent my son Felix the deacon, both that he might present my duty in my stead, and also to make mention on behalf of those who have taken refuge, seeking mercy, in the Church that is the mother of your piety; whose tears I could not endure, without anticipating the arrival of your clemency with my entreaties.

4. Asking a Piety Equal to the Victory

Great is what we ask, but from him to whom the Lord has granted unheard-of and admirable things, from him whose clemency we know, and whose piety we hold as pledge. Hence we confess we expect the more; since, as you have conquered by valor, so also you ought to conquer yourself by your piety. For your victory, in the ancient manner and with ancient miracles, such as was granted to holy Moses, and to holy Joshua son of Nun, and to Samuel, and to David, is reckoned as bestowed on you not by human estimation, but by the outpouring of heavenly grace: here we ask for a piety equal to that by whose merit that great victory itself was obtained.

AMBROSE, servant of Christ, called bishop, to the Church of Vercelli, and to those who invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. May grace be fulfilled unto you from God the Father and His only-begotten Son, in the Holy Spirit.

1. Grief Over the Vacant See at Vercelli

I am consumed with grief because the Church of the Lord which is among you still has no priest, and alone now, of all the churches of Liguria and Aemilia and the Venetiae, and the other neighboring regions of Italy, lacks such an office, which other churches used to seek from it, and, what is more embarrassing, your own discord is charged to me, which brings the impediment. For since there are dissensions among you, how can we either decide anything, or you elect anyone, or anyone consent; that among the disagreeing he should undertake this office, which is scarcely borne even among those in agreement?

2. The Fathers' Example in Electing Eusebius

This is that instruction of the confessor, this is the offspring of just fathers, who, setting aside their fellow-citizens, having never known holy Eusebius before, as soon as they saw and approved of him—and how much did it matter, that he be approved, as much as that he be seen? Rightly did so great a man come forth, whom the whole Church chose: rightly it was believed that he was chosen by divine judgment, whom all had asked for. It befits you, then, to follow the example of your fathers, especially since those instructed by a holy confessor ought to be so much better than their fathers, by how much a better teacher has instructed and trained you; and to display a mark of your modesty and concord, that you may agree in one consent in asking for a priest.

3. Where Two or Three Agree, Christ Is Present

For indeed, if according to the saying of the Lord, that whatever two agree upon on earth, concerning any matter whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done for them, He says, by my Father who is in heaven; for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them: how much more, where there is a full congregation gathered in the name of the Lord, where the petition of all agrees, ought we by no means to doubt that there the Lord Jesus will be both the author of the will, and the arbiter of the petition, and the president of the ordination, or the bestower of grace!

4. Becoming Worthy to See Christ Among You

Make yourselves, then, worthy to be seen, you in whose midst Christ may be. For where there is peace, there is Christ; because Christ is peace: where there is justice, there is Christ; because Christ is justice. Let Him be in your midst, that you may see Him: lest it be said of you also: But there stands one in your midst, whom you do not see. The Jews did not see Him, in whom they did not believe: we behold Him with devotion, we discern Him by faith.

5. Christ Standing as Advocate for Stephen

Let Him therefore stand in your midst, that the heavens may be opened to you, which declare the glory of God, that you may do His will, and work His work. He who sees Jesus, to him the heavens are opened, just as they were opened to Stephen, saying: Behold, I see the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Jesus was standing as it were an advocate: He was standing as it were solicitous, to help His athlete Stephen as he contended: He was standing as it were ready, to crown His martyr.

6. Christ Sitting in Judgment, Standing as Defender

Let him therefore stand for you also, that you may not fear him sitting; for sitting he judges, as Daniel says: Thrones were set up, and the books were opened, and the ancient of days sat. But in the eighty-first psalm it is written: God stood in the congregation of gods: and in the midst he judges among the gods. Sitting therefore he judges, standing he judges among; and he judges concerning the imperfect, but among gods he judges. Let him stand for you as defender, as a good shepherd; lest grievous wolves assail you.

7. Warning Against Sarmatio and Barbatianus's Teaching

To this our admonition does not idly turn; for I hear that there have come to you Sarmatio and Barbatianus, vain-talking men, who say that there is no merit in abstinence, no grace of frugality, no grace of virginity, that all are reckoned of equal worth, and that those who chastise their flesh by fasting, to make it subject to the mind, are raving. This the apostle Paul would never have done, never would have written for the instruction of others, if he had thought it a raving folly. He therefore glories, saying: But I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest, while preaching to others, I myself should be found reprobate. Therefore those who do not chastise their body, and wish to preach to others, are themselves held reprobate.

8. Once Monks, Now Preachers of License

Or is there anything so reprobate as that which incites to luxury, to corruption, to wantonness; as the incitement of lust, the allurement of pleasure, the tinder of incontinence, the fire of desire? What new school has sent forth these Epicureans? Not of philosophers, as they themselves say, but of the unlearned, who preach pleasure, urge delights, and reckon chastity to be of no use.

They were with us, but they were not of us; nor am I ashamed to say what the evangelist John says. But here, once placed, they at first fasted, they were kept within the monastery: there was no place for luxury, license for mocking dispute was forbidden them.

9. The Fallen Envy the Virtue of Others

This the pampered ones could not bear. They went out; then, wishing to return, they were not received; for I had heard many things which I ought to guard against: I had warned them, I had accomplished nothing. Seething, therefore, they began to disseminate such things, by which they became instigators of all vices, wretched men. They lost, indeed, what they had gained by fasting; they lost what they had restrained themselves for a time. Now therefore, out of diabolical zeal, they envy the good works of others, from the fruit of which they themselves have fallen away.

10. Chastity's Reward Doubted by Virgins and Widows

What virgin, hearing that there is no reward for integrity, would not groan? For far be it that she should easily believe it; yet certainly, even if she does not abandon her purposes, her mind's intention is bent aside. What widow, when she has learned that there is no fruit of widowhood, would not rather keep faith with her marriage and live in sorrow, than trust herself to gladder things? What woman bound by the tie of marriage, if she should hear that there is no honor in chastity, could not be tempted by careless ease of body or mind? And therefore the Church daily, in the sacred readings, in the discourses of the priests, sounds forth the praise of modesty, the glory of integrity.

11. The Baptized Still Bound by Paul's Warning

In vain, then, does the Apostle say: I wrote to you in an epistle, that you should not mingle with fornicators. And lest perhaps they say: We do not speak of all the fornicators of the world, but we say that one who has been baptized in Christ ought no longer to be considered a fornicator, but that whatever his life may be, it is acceptable to God; therefore the Apostle added: Not indeed the fornicators of this world; and below: If any man who is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one not even to eat. For what have I to do to judge them that are without? And to the Ephesians: But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not so much as be named among you, as becomes saints.

And immediately he adds: For know ye this, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person, which is idolatry, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. It is clear that this was said of the baptized; for they receive the inheritance who are baptized into the death of Christ, and are buried together with him, that they may rise together with him. Therefore they are heirs of God, and joint-heirs of Christ; heirs of God because the grace of God is transcribed into them; joint-heirs of Christ because they are renewed into his life; heirs also of Christ, because through his death, as of a testator, the inheritance is given to them.

12. Those With Virtue Must Guard It Most

These, therefore, ought rather to take heed to themselves, who have that which they can lose, than those who do not have it. These ought to act with greater watchfulness, these ought to guard against the allurements of vice, the incitements of error, which arise chiefly from food and drink. Finally, the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

13. Epicurus on Pleasure and the Origin of Evil

Even Epicurus himself, whom these men think ought to be followed rather than the apostles, the champion of pleasure, although he denies that pleasure is the introducer of evil, does not deny nevertheless that certain evils are generated from it: finally he says that not even the life of the luxurious appears reprehensible, filled as it is with delights, unless it is shaken by fear of pain or of death. And how far he is from the truth is detected also from this, that he asserts pleasure to have been created in man principally by God as its author, as Philomarus, his follower, disputes in his epitomes, and alleges that the Stoics are the authors of this opinion.

14. Pleasure as the Serpent That Deceived Adam

But divine Scripture refutes this, which teaches that pleasure was instilled into Adam and Eve by the snares and allurements of the serpent. Since indeed the serpent itself is pleasure, and therefore the passions of pleasure are various and slippery, and as it were infected with a certain poison of corruptions. It is established, therefore, that Adam, deceived by the desire of pleasure, fell away from the commandment of God and from the fruit of grace. How therefore can pleasure recall us to paradise, which alone stripped us of paradise?

15. Christ's Fasting as a Model Against Temptation

Whence also the Lord Jesus, wishing to render us stronger against the temptations of the devil, fasted in preparation for battle; that we might know that we cannot otherwise overcome the allurements of evil. Finally the devil himself hurled the first dart of his temptations from pleasure, saying: If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. Whence the Lord said: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God, and he refused to do it, though he was able, that he might teach us by his saving precept to attend rather to the study of the word than to pleasure. And since these men deny that fasting ought to be done, let them explain for what cause Christ fasted, unless it was that his fasting might be an example for us. Finally, in what follows he taught that evil cannot easily be overcome except by our fasting, saying: This kind of demon is not cast out except by prayer and fasting.

16. Fasting Before Revelation in Peter, Moses, and Daniel

What also does Scripture mean, which teaches that Peter fasted, and that to him fasting and praying the mystery of the baptizing of the Gentiles was revealed; unless it was to show that even the saints themselves, when they fast, then become more excellent? Finally, Moses, when he fasted, received the Law. And so Peter, when he fasted, was taught the grace of the New Testament. Daniel too, by the merit of fasting, shut the mouths of lions, and saw the affairs of times to come Or what salvation can there be for us, unless we wash away our sins by fasting; since Scripture says: Fasting and almsgiving deliver from sin!

17. Paul's Argument From the Resurrection of the Dead

Who then are these new teachers, who exclude the merit of fasting? Is not this the voice of the Gentiles, who say: Let us eat and drink. Whom the Apostle well derides, saying: If, after the manner of men, I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me, if the dead do not rise again? Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die, that is: What has my contending profited me even unto death, except that I might redeem my fellow man? For it is redeemed in vain, if there is no hope of resurrection. And by this, all hope of resurrection lost, let us eat and drink: let us not lose the fruit of things present, since we hold none of things to come. It belongs, then, to those to indulge in food and drink, who hope for nothing after their death.

17. Epicureans Claim Death Brings No Sensation

Finally the Epicureans, champions of pleasure, say that death is nothing to us; for what is dissolved is insensible; and what is insensible is nothing to us. By which they show that they live by the body alone, not by the mind: and do not perform the office of the soul, but only that of the flesh, since they suppose that by the separation of soul and body every function of their life is dissolved, that the merits of virtues perish, and all the vigor of the soul, that they wholly fail together with the sense of the body, that no remnant of the soul survives, though the body itself is not immediately dissolved. Is the soul, then, dissolved before the body; when, according to their own opinion, they ought rather to consider the flesh and bones, which remain after death: while according to the true assertion, they ought not to deny the grace of the resurrection?

18. The Apostle's Warning Against Corrupting Communications

Rightly, therefore, the Apostle, refuting these men, warns us not to slip into such opinions, saying: Be not seduced; evil communications corrupt good manners. Be sober, and just, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God. Sobriety, then, is good; because sin is drunkenness.

19. Epicurus Praises Sober Discourse Over Feasting

What of this, that Epicurus himself, the defender of pleasure, whom we mention so frequently, that we may prove either that these men are disciples of the Gentiles and follow the Epicurean sect, or that we may show that he himself, whom the philosophers exclude from their own company as a patron of luxury, is more tolerable than these men? He himself cries out then, as Demarchus asserts, that it is not drinkings, nor feastings, nor the begetting of children, nor the couplings of women, nor abundance of fish and other such things, which are procured for the splendid use of a banquet, that make a sweet life, but sober discourse. Finally he adds that those use the abundances of a banquet moderately, who do not seek them immoderately. He who willingly makes use of juice alone and bread or water, spits upon the feasts of delicacies; because many troubles are generated from them. Elsewhere too they say: Not immoderate feasts, not drinkings, generate the sweetness of pleasure, but a continent life.

20. The Contradictions of the Epicurean Position

Since, then, philosophy has disowned these men, does not the Church exclude these others also? Since indeed those also, because they hold to a bad cause, frequently attack themselves by their own assertions. For although their principal opinion is that they think no sweetness of pleasure exists except that which is perceived by food and drink, yet, understanding that they cannot dwell in so reprehensible a definition without the utmost disgrace, and be abandoned by all, they have wished to color it with a certain gloss of plausible disputations; so much so that one of them said: While we devote ourselves to delight through feasts and songs, we have lost that perception which alone is infused through the word, by which alone we can be saved.

21. Epicurean and Stoic Philosophers Dispute With Paul

Do not these men seem to us disparate, discordant in this multiform disputation? Whom Scripture so condemns, that it did not pass over those whom the Apostle was refuting, as Luke says in the Acts of the Apostles, who wrote that book in historical style: And certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers disputed with him, and some said: What does this word-sower wish to say? And others: He seems to be a proclaimer of new demons.

22. Dionysius the Areopagite and Damaris Believe

Yet from this number the Apostle did not depart devoid of grace. For even Dionysius the Areopagite, with Damaris his wife, and many others believed. Thus those assemblies of most learned and eloquent men showed by the example of those who believed that they had been overcome by a simple disputation. What then do these men wish, who attempt to pervert those whom the Apostle acquired, whom Christ redeemed with his own blood? Since they assert that the baptized ought not to attend to the disciplines of virtues, that feastings do not harm them at all, nor the abundance of pleasures, that those who lack these are foolish; that virgins ought to marry, to bear children; and likewise that widows should marry again, since they once experienced ill union with a husband; even if they could contain themselves, that those who do not wish to repeat the union are in error.

23. Human Restraint Compared to the Beasts

What then? Is it pleasing that, stripping off man, we should put on the beast: and, despoiling ourselves of Christ, we should be clothed or overclothed with the garment of the devil? But since the very teachers of the Gentiles thought that not even honesty ought to be coupled with pleasure, because they seemed thereby to shut up a beast together with a man: shall we infuse bestial customs into the human breast, and inscribe upon the rational mind the irrational rites of wild beasts? And. Although there are many kinds of animals which, having lost their mate, do not know how to indulge in mating, and pass their age as it were in solitary life: very many also feed on simple herbs, and know how to quench their thirst only from a pure spring: dogs too you may often see accustomed to restrain themselves from forbidden food; so that they hold their mouths in hungry fasting, if abstinence is commanded.

Are men, then, called back from this, which even dumb beasts have learned not to transgress, through man's teaching?

26. Abstinence Tempers the Heat of Youth

Moreover what is more beautiful than abstinence, which makes even the years of youth grow old, so that there comes to be an old age of character? For just as even a riper age grows hot through abundance of food and drunkenness, so the fierceness of youth is tempered by sparing use of banquets and by the watering of a spring. External fire is quenched by the pouring on of water; it is no wonder if the inner heat of the body is also cooled by a draught of water, for flame is nourished by food and fails without it. Indeed hay, straw, wood, oil, and things of this kind are the fuel of fire, on which it feeds: if you take these away, or do not supply them, even fire is put to sleep. Likewise, then, the vapor of the body is nourished or diminished by food: by food it is roused, by food it is dissolved. Luxury, therefore, is the mother of lust.

27. Water as Nature's Drink, Wine for Infirmity

What of the fact that temperance is agreeable to nature, and to that divine law which, at the very origin of all things, gave the fountains for drink, the fruits of trees for food? Wine the just man found after the flood, to his own temptation. Let us, then, use the natural food of temperance, and would that we could! But because not all are strong, therefore the Apostle says: Use a little wine because of your frequent infirmities. It is not, then, to be drunk for the sake of pleasure, but because of infirmity. As a remedy, therefore, sparingly, not abundantly for the sake of delights.

28. Fasting Examples of Elijah, Israel, and Daniel

Finally Elijah, whom the Lord was training toward the perfection of virtue, found at his head a cake and a vessel of water, and therefore in the strength of that food fasted forty days. Our fathers, when they crossed the sea on foot, drank water, not wine. Daniel and the Hebrew boys, by their fathers' food and a drink of water, the one repressed the fury of lions, the others watched the burning fire feed harmlessly around their limbs without touching them.

29. The Fasting of Judith, Esther, and Anna

And what shall I say of men? Judith, in no way bent by the luxurious banquet of Holofernes, by the sole title of sobriety brought back a triumph despaired of by manly arms, freed her country from siege, slew the leader of the army with her own hands (Judith XIII). A clear example, that luxury softened even that terrible warrior, feared by peoples, and that temperance in food made this woman stronger than men. Here nature was not conquered in her sex, but she conquered in her food. Esther bent a proud king by her fastings (Esther IV, 16). Anna, in her widowhood of eighty-four years, serving in the temple day and night with fastings and supplications, recognized Christ, whom John, teacher of abstinence and a certain new angel of the earth, announced.

30. Irony Against Deniers of Fasting's Merit

O foolish Elisha, who fed the prophets on wild gourds and bitter herbs! Forgetful of the Scriptures was Ezra, who restored the Scriptures from memory! Unwise Paul, who glories in fastings; if fastings profit nothing!

31. The Fruits and Benefits of Fasting

But how do they not profit, by which vices are purged? Which if you offer with humility, with mercy, as Isaiah spoke by the divine Spirit, your bones shall grow fat, and you shall be like a watered garden. Your soul, therefore, grows fat, and its virtues by the spiritual fatness of fasting, and your fruits are multiplied by the fertility of your mind; so that there may be in you a sobriety that is a kind of intoxication, as is that cup of which the Prophet says: And how excellent is your inebriating cup!

32. Temperance Restrains Desire Within Marriage

But not only is that temperance praiseworthy which is sparing of foods, but also that which restrains concupiscence. For it is written: Go not after your lusts, and turn away from your own will. If you give to your soul its desire, it will make you a joy to your enemies; and further on: Wine and women make even the wise fall away (Eccl.

XIX,). Whence Paul also, even within marriage itself, teaches temperance; for he is like a certain incontinent adulterer in marriage who transgresses the Apostolic law.

33. The Grace and Mystery of Virginity

But what shall I say of how great is the grace of virginity, which merited to be chosen by Christ, that it might even be a bodily temple of God, in which, as we read, the fullness of divinity dwelt bodily? A virgin bore the salvation of the world, a virgin brought forth the life of all. Should virginity alone, then, not be honored, which has profited all in Christ? A virgin carried him whom this world cannot contain and sustain. Though he was born from Mary's womb, yet he preserved the enclosure of her generative modesty, and the unviolated seals of virginity. Thus in the Virgin Christ found what he wished to be his own, what the Lord of all would assume for himself. Through a man and a woman flesh was cast out of paradise; through a virgin it was joined to God.

34. Miriam and Thecla, Examples of Virginity

What shall I say of Miriam, the other sister of Moses, who as leader of the women's company passed on foot through the straits of the sea? By what gift, moreover, was the venerable Thecla honored even among lions, that the unfed beasts, laid at the feet of their prey, offered a sacred fast; and neither by wanton eye nor by rough claw did they violate the virgin, since even by a mere glance the sanctity of virginity is violated.

35. Paul's Counsel, Not Commandment, on Virginity

Finally, with what reverence for virginity did the holy Apostle speak: Concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give counsel, as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord. He has no commandment, he has counsel; for what is above the law is not commanded, but rather is persuaded by counsel given. Nor is authority presumed, but grace is shown; nor is it shown by just anyone, but by him who obtained the mercy of the Lord. Are the counsels of these men, then, better than those of the apostles? The Apostle says: I give counsel; these men think it should be dissuaded, lest any woman devote herself to virginity.

36. The Church as a Garden Enclosed

We ought to recognize how great praise the prophet expressed in a brief little verse, or rather Christ in the prophet. A garden enclosed, he says, is my sister the Bride, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed. Christ says this to the Church, whom he wishes to be a virgin, without spot, without wrinkle. Virginity is a good garden, which bears very many fruits of good fragrance. A garden enclosed, because it is fenced about on every side by the wall of chastity. A fountain sealed, in that virginity is the fountain and origin of purity, which guards inviolate the seals of integrity: in which fountain the image of God shines; because with cleanness of body there agrees also purity of simplicity.

37. The Church Betrothed as a Virgin to Christ

Nor can anyone doubt that the Church is a virgin, whom the apostle Paul also, in writing to the Corinthians, betrothed, to assign as a chaste virgin to Christ. In the earlier epistle, therefore, he gives counsel, and judges the gift of virginity to be good, that it might be troubled by no necessities of the present age, defiled by no filth, tossed by no storms; in the later he is a surety to Christ, that he may be able to present the virginity of the Church consecrated in the integrity of that people.

38. Why Paul Counsels Virginity in Present Necessity

Answer me now, Paul, for what reason, because of the present necessity, do you give counsel? Because he who is without a wife, he says, is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please God. And he added: And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinks about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and in spirit. She has, then, her own wall against the whirlwinds of this world, and therefore, fortified by the fence of divine protection, she is disquieted by no blasts of the age. Good counsel, then; because in counsel there is benefit, in a commandment a snare. Counsel invites the willing, a commandment binds the unwilling.

If, then, any woman has followed counsel, and has not repented of it, she has acquired benefit; but if any has repented, she has nothing to accuse the Apostle of; for she herself ought to have judged of her own weakness, and so is guilty by her own will, who bound herself with a snare and a knot heavier than she could bear.

39. The Good Physician's Counsel to Strong and Weak

Thus, like a good physician, who desires both to preserve firmness of virtue in the strong and to give health to the weak, he gives counsel to some, shows remedy to others: Let him who is weak eat vegetables, let him take a wife; let him who is stronger seek the more robust food of virtue. And rightly he added: For he who has determined firmly in his heart, having no necessity, but having power over his own will, and has judged this in his heart, to keep his virgin, does well. Therefore he too who joins his virgin in marriage does well; and he who does not join her does better. A woman is bound by the law as long as her husband lives. But if her husband has fallen asleep, she is free; let her marry whom she will, only in the Lord. But she will be more blessed if she so remains, according to my counsel; for I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

This is to have the counsel of God: to examine all things diligently, and to persuade what is better, to show what is safer.

40. Three Roads to the Heavenly Camp

A provident guide shows many roads, so that each may proceed by whichever he judges suited to himself, provided he arrives at the point where he can pitch his tent in the camp. Good is the road of virginity, but being lofty and steep it requires the stronger. Good also is that of widowhood, not so difficult as the former, but rough and uneven, it demands the more cautious. Good also is that of marriage, level and straight, which by a longer circuit arrives at the camp of the saints; this one receives the most. There are, therefore, rewards of virginity, there are merits of widowhood, there is also a place for conjugal chastity. There are degrees and increases of each of the virtues.

41. Standing Firm on Holy Ground

Stand, therefore, in your heart, lest anyone undermine you, lest anyone be able to overturn you. The Apostle taught us what it is to stand, that is, what was said to Moses: For the place on which you stand is holy ground; for no one stands, except he who stands by faith, except he who stands fixed in the resolve of his own heart. Elsewhere too we read: But you, stand here with me. Both were said to Moses by the Lord: and, Where you stand is holy ground; and, Stand here with me, that is, you stand with me, if you stand in the Church. For that very place is holy, that very ground is fertile with holiness, and rich with harvests of virtues.

42. The Bush and the Fire

Stand, therefore, in the Church; stand where I appeared to you; there I am with you. Where the Church is, there is the firmest station of your mind: there is the foundation of your soul, where I appeared to you from the bush. You are the bush, I am the fire: fire in the bush, I in the flesh. Fire for this reason, that I might shine upon you, that I might consume your thorns, your sins, and show you my grace.

43. Driving Away Wolves and Avoiding Slander

Standing, then, in your heart, drive away wolves from the Church who seek to carry off prey. Let there be no idleness in you, let there be no depraved mouth, no bitterer tongue. Do not sit in the council of vanity; for it is written: I have not sat in the council of vanity. Do not listen to those who slander their neighbors, lest, while you listen to others, you be provoked, so that you too disparage your neighbors, and it be said to each one of you: Sitting, you spoke against your brother.

44. The Vigilant Stand Against Idle Slander

Those who sit slander, but those who stand bless the Lord, to whom it is said: Behold now, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand in the house of the Lord. He who sits, to speak of bodily use, is relaxed as it were with idle body, and slackens the intention of his mind. But the provident watchman stands, the tireless scout, the ever-vigilant guard, who keeps watch in the camp. The vigorous warrior too stands in the line before the expected hour, wishing to forestall the enemy's plans.

45. The Hidden Danger of Malice

Let him who stands take heed lest he fall. He who stands knows not how to disparage; for it is the idle who have tales, by which slander is sown, malice betrayed. Whence the Prophet says: I have hated the assembly of the malicious, and I will not sit with the wicked. And in the thirty-sixth psalm, which he filled with moral precepts, at the very beginning he set: Be not envious against evildoers, neither be jealous of those who work iniquity. Malice does more harm than wickedness; because malice has neither pure simplicity nor open wickedness, but hidden ill-will. Hidden things are harder to guard against than those which are known. Whence also our Savior warns us to beware of malicious spirits, lest they capture us under the appearance of pleasing pleasures and by the pretense of other things, when they hold out enticements toward ambition, honor, avarice, riches, toward the pride of power.

46. Choosing a Bishop Without Malice

And so, in every act, but most of all in the seeking of the episcopate, malice ought to be absent—that office by which the life of all is shaped—so that by a calm and peaceable judgment that man may be preferred above all who is chosen from among all, and who may heal all: For a gentle man is a physician of the heart. Of this the Lord himself, speaking in the Gospel, called himself the physician, saying: They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

47. Christ the Physician Called by the Father

The good physician, who took up our infirmities, healed our sicknesses; and yet he, as it is written, did not glorify himself to be made high priest: but he who spoke to him, the Father, said: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. As also elsewhere he says: Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech. Since he was to be a type of all priests, therefore he took on flesh; that in the days of his flesh he might offer prayers and supplications to God the Father with a loud cry and tears: and from the things which he suffered, although he was the Son of God, he might seem to learn obedience, that he might teach it to us, so as to become for us the author of salvation. Finally, his sufferings having been completed, as one himself made perfect, he gave health to all, he bore the sin of all.

48. Aaron Called by Grace, Not by Desire

Therefore he himself chose Aaron as priest, so that in the choosing of a priest human desire should not have the greater weight, but the grace of God; not a voluntary offering of oneself, nor a taking upon oneself, but a heavenly calling; that he might offer gifts for sins who could be affected for sinners: because he too, it says, bears infirmity. No one ought to take honor to himself, but to be called by God, as Aaron also was; and thus Christ did not demand, but received, the priesthood.

49. The True Melchisedech, Without Father or Mother

Finally, since the succession drawn through descent from Aaron held rather heirs of lineage than partners of righteousness; on this account, in fulfillment of the type of that Melchisedech whom we read of in the Old Testament, the true Melchisedech, the true king of peace, the true king of righteousness came; for this is what the interpretation of the name signifies: without father, without mother, without enumeration of generation, having neither beginning of days nor end of life: which is also referred to the Son of God, who knew no mother in that divine generation, and knew no father in this birth from the Virgin Mary; born of the Father alone before the ages, arisen of the Virgin alone in this age, he could by no means have a beginning of days, he who was in the beginning.

But how could he have an end of life, who is the author of life for all? He himself is the beginning and the end of all things. But this is also referred to as an example, that a priest ought to be, as it were, without father and without mother; in whom not nobility of birth, but the grace of character and the prerogative of virtues, should be chosen.

50. Faith and Character in the True Priest

Let there be in him faith and maturity of character: not the one without the other, but let both, together with good works and deeds, come together in one man. Whence the apostle Paul wishes us to be imitators of those who, he says, through faith and patience possess the promises of Abraham, who through patience deserved to receive and possess the grace of the blessing promised to him. The prophet David admonishes that we ought to be imitators of holy Aaron, whom he sets among the saints of the Lord for us to imitate, saying: Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those that call upon his name.

51. Aaron Stands Between the Living and the Dead

Truly a man worthy to be set forth for all to follow; for when a dire death crept over the people on account of the contumacious, he set himself in the middle between the living and the dying; that he might halt death, and no more should perish. Truly a man of priestly mind and spirit, who with pious affection cast himself, like a good shepherd, before the Lord's flock. Thus he broke the sting of death, checked its onrush, refused it passage. His devotion aided his merit, because he offered himself for those very ones who were resisting.

52. The Rebellion of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram

Let those at variance learn, then, to fear the Lord's commotion, and to appease the priests. What? Did not the gaping of the earth swallow up Dathan and Abiron and Core on account of their dissension? For when Core and Dathan and Abiron had incited two hundred fifty men against Moses and Aaron, that they should separate themselves from them, they rose up saying: Let it be enough for you, that the whole assembly, all of them, are holy, and the Lord is among them.

53. The Test of the Censers

Whereupon the Lord, being angered, spoke to the whole assembly. The Lord considered and knew who were his own, and brought the holy ones to himself: and those whom he did not choose, he did not bring to himself. And the Lord commanded that they should choose censers for themselves, and put incense there, Core and all who had risen up with him against Moses and Aaron, the priests of the Lord; so that whoever was chosen by the Lord might himself be confirmed as holy among the Lord's Levites.

54. Moses Answers Corah's Challenge

And Moses said to Core: Hear me, sons of Levi, is it a small thing to you that God has separated you from the assembly of Israel, and brought you to himself, that you should minister the ministries of the Tabernacle of the Lord? And further on: Do you seek to exercise the priesthood, you and all your assembly gathered together against God? And what is Aaron, that you murmur against him?

55. The Earth Opens to Swallow the Rebels

Considering, then, what were the causes of offense—that they wished to exercise the priesthood though unworthy, and on that account fell into dissension, murmuring in disapproval of God's judgment in the choosing of their priest—for this reason a great fear seized the whole people, the terror of punishment enveloped all. Yet at the entreaty of all, lest through the insolence of the few all should perish, those guilty of the crime are designated, and from the whole body of the people two hundred fifty men, together with their instigators, are separated; the earth, bellowing, is split open in the midst of the people, its bosom opens into the depths, the guilty are snatched away, and thus are banished from all the elements of this world; so that they should defile neither the air by breathing, nor heaven by sight, nor the sea by touch, nor the earth with a burial.

56. Moses and Aaron Intercede for the People

The punishment ceased, but the malice did not cease: from this very thing a murmuring of the people arose, because the people had perished on account of the priests. By this indignation the Lord would have destroyed them all, had he not, first moved by the prayers of Moses and Aaron, and afterward also by the interposing of his priest Aaron, chosen rather to grant the ungrateful, with a greater shame of pardon, that grace which they had refused.

57. Miriam's Leprosy and the Ethiopian Woman

Even the prophetess Mary herself, who with her brothers had crossed the straits of the sea on foot, because, not yet knowing the mystery of the Ethiopian woman, she had murmured against her brother Moses, bristled with the spots of leprosy; so that she was scarcely freed from so great a contagion, had not Moses interceded. Although that murmuring is referred to as a type of the Synagogue, which, ignorant of the mystery of that Ethiopian woman, that is, of the Church gathered from the Gentiles, murmurs daily with reproach, and envies that people by whose faith she herself also shall be stripped of the leprosy of her own unbelief, according to what we read, that blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, and so all Israel should be saved.

58. Aaron's Rod Blossoms Among the Tribes

And that we may perceive that in priests divine rather than human grace works, one out of the many rods which Moses had received from the Tribes and had laid up, the rod of Aaron, blossomed: and thus the people perceived that the gift of the divine judgment is to be regarded in the priest, and ceased to claim for themselves by human judgment an equal grace, they who before had thought an equal prerogative belonged to them. But what else does that rod show, except that priestly grace never withers, and in the utmost humility has, in its office, the flower of the power entrusted to it—or is it also that this is referred to a mystery? Nor do we think this deed was done idly, near the end of the life of Aaron the priest.

It seems to signify the elder people, decayed with the age of a long-standing priestly unbelief, that in the last times, reformed in imitation of the Church into zeal for faith and devotion, it should send forth again a flower already dead for so many ages, by a revived grace.

59. Eleazar Vested with Aaron's Priestly Garments

What further does it signify, that after Aaron's death God commanded, not the whole people, but Moses alone, who is among the Lord's priests, that Eleazar, Aaron's son, should be clothed with the vestments of Aaron the priest; except that we should recognize that a priest ought to consecrate a priest, and himself clothe him with vestments, that is, with priestly virtues: and then, if he perceives that nothing is lacking to him of the priestly garments, and that all things fit properly, he should bring him to the sacred altars? For one who is to make supplication for the people ought to be chosen by the Lord, and approved by the priests; lest there be anything in him that gravely offends, whose office it is to intervene for the offense of others.

For the virtue of the priesthood is no small thing, in which one must beware not only of graver crimes, but even of the smallest; that he be ready to mercy, that he not gnaw at his promise, that he recall the fallen, that he sympathize with grief, that he keep gentleness, love piety, repel or dissolve anger: let him be, as it were, a trumpet for rousing the people to devotion, for making them wondrously calm.

60. On Governing Anger with Consistency

It is an old saying: Accustom yourself to be one; so that your life may express a kind of painting, always preserving the same image it has received. How can he be one, who now is inflamed with wrath, now boils over with grave indignation, now flares up in countenance, now changes with pallor, varying and changing color from moment to moment? But grant that it is natural to be angry, or at least usual for a cause; still it is for a man to temper his anger, not to be swept off with leonine fury, so as not to know how to grow gentle, not to sow outcries, nor to embitter a familiar quarrel; for it is written: An angry man digs up sin. He is not one who has a double heart, he is not one who does not know how to contain himself in anger, of whom David beautifully says: Be angry, and sin not. He does not command anger, but makes allowance for nature, which man cannot prevent, but can mitigate.

Therefore even if we are angry, let our feeling take on movement according to nature, not sin beyond nature. For who could bear it, if a man unable to govern himself should have undertaken to govern others?

61. The Apostolic Rule for a Blameless Bishop

Therefore the Apostle gave a rule, since a bishop too ought to be irreproachable; and elsewhere he says: For a bishop ought to be without crime, as a steward of God, not proud, not quick to anger, not given to wine, not a striker, not greedy of base gain. For how do the mercy of one who is a steward, and the avarice of one who is covetous, agree with each other?

62. The Meaning of Husband of One Wife

These things I have set down, which I have taken to be things to be avoided: but the Apostle is the master of the virtues, who while teaching that those who contradict should be refuted with patience, prescribes that a man be the husband of one wife, not that he should exclude him who lacks a spouse (for this is above the requirement of the precept), but that he should preserve, by conjugal chastity, the grace of his washing: nor again that he should be invited by apostolic authority to beget children in the priesthood; for he said "having children," not "begetting them," nor repeating marriage.

63. Marriage, Baptism, and the Law of the Church

I have not passed over this, because many argue thus, that "husband of one wife" is said of one had after baptism; on the ground that by baptism the fault was washed away, by which an impediment was brought about. And indeed all vices and sins are washed away; so that if anyone has defiled his body with many women whom he has joined by no law of marriage, all is remitted to him: but marriages are not dissolved, if one has repeated them; for a fault is loosed by the washing, a law is not. For there is no fault in marriage; but there is a law. What belongs to the law, therefore, is not remitted, as a fault would be; but it is retained, as a law is. Therefore the Apostle also laid down a law, saying: If any man is without crime, let him be the husband of one wife.

Therefore he who is without crime, husband of one wife, is bound by the law for undertaking the priesthood: but he who has repeated marriage, indeed has no fault of defilement, but is stripped of the priestly prerogative.

64. The Council of Nicaea on Second Marriage

We have said what belongs to law; let us also say what belongs to reason. But first let us recognize that not only did the Apostle establish this concerning bishop and presbyter, but the Fathers also added it in the treatise of the Council of Nicaea, that no one who has fallen into a second marriage ought to be a cleric. For how can he console a widow, honor her, exhort her to keep her widowhood, to preserve fidelity to her husband, when he himself has not kept it in his first marriage? Or what difference would there be between the people and the priest, if they were bound by the same laws? The life of the priest ought to outweigh, as grace outweighs; for he who binds others by his precepts ought himself to keep the lawful precepts in himself.

65. Ambrose's Reluctant Path to Ordination

How I resisted being ordained! At last, when I was compelled, at least let the ordination be delayed! But the plea did not prevail; the pressure prevailed. Yet the bishops of the West approved my ordination by their judgment, and those of the East also by their example. And yet a neophyte is forbidden to be ordained, lest he be puffed up with pride. If delay was wanting to my ordination, it is the force of one compelling that is at fault; if humility fit for the priesthood is not wanting, where the cause does not hold, the fault is not imputed.

66. Eusebius and the Twin Discipline of Vercelli

But if in other Churches such great care in the ordaining of a priest is called for, how much greater care is required in the Church of Vercelli, where two things alike seem to be demanded of the bishop, the continence of the monastery, and the discipline of the Church? For Eusebius of holy memory was the first in the parts of the West to join these two things, different from each other; so that, while stationed in the city, he might keep the institutes of monks, and rule the Church by the sobriety of fasting. For much advantage accrues to the grace of a priest, if he binds youth to the pursuit of abstinence and to the standard of integrity, and, keeping them within the city, disengages them from the practice and manner of life of the city.

67. Scriptural Models of Ascetic Fortitude

From this came forth those men, Elijah, Elisha, John, Elisabeth, who, clothed in skins of leather and goat-hides, poor and needy, afflicted with straits and sorrows, wandered in solitary places, among the lofty and dense mountains, the pathless rocks, the horrid caves, the marshy pits—of whose company the world was not worthy. From this came forth Daniel, Ananias, Azarias, Misael, who, though fed in the royal court, were nourished by fasting as though in the deserts, with harsh food and ready-at-hand drink. And rightly did these little servants of the king prevail over kingdoms, and, having shaken off the yoke, despised captivity; they subdued powers, conquered the elements, extinguished the very nature of fire, blunted the flames, dulled the edge of the sword, closed the mouths of lions; and where they were reckoned to become weaker, there they were found stronger: they did not flee from human mockeries, because they hoped for heavenly rewards; they did not shudder at the darkness of the prison, in which the grace of eternal light shone back upon them.

68. Eusebius and Dionysius Choose Exile for the Faith

Following these, holy Eusebius went out from his own land and from his kindred, and preferred a pilgrimage to domestic ease. For the faith also he chose and preferred the hardships of exile, joined to himself with Dionysius of holy memory, who set aside the emperor’s friendship for voluntary exile. And so these memorable men, surrounded by arms, hedged about by an army, when they were seized from the greater Church, triumphed over the empire: because by earthly insult they purchased strength of mind and the power of a kingdom, from which the hand of the soldiery with the clash of arms could not wrest their faith; they subdued the ferocity of a bestial spirit, which could not harm the saints. For the wrath of a king is as the wrath of a lion, as you have it in Proverbs.

69. The Triumph of Faith Over Persecution

He confessed himself conquered, who begged that they should change their sentence: but they thought their pen mightier than swords of iron. Then was perfidy wounded, so that it might kill—not wounded was the faith of the saints: they did not long for their ancestral tomb, for whom a heavenly dwelling was reserved. They wandered over the whole world, as having nothing, and possessing all things. Wherever they were sent, the place was thought a place of delights; for nothing was lacking to them, for whom rich faith abounded. Indeed they enriched others, themselves poor as to expense but rich in grace. They were tempted, but not put to death, in fastings, in labors, in imprisonments, in watchings. They passed from weakness into strength.

They did not look for the enticements of delights, they whom hunger fattened: the scorching summer did not burn them, for whom the hope of eternal grace gave refreshment: the cold of the icy region did not break them, for whom devotion flourished with a fervent spirit: they did not fear the chains of men, whom Jesus had loosed: they did not desire to be redeemed from death, who presumed to be raised again by Christ.

70. The Death of Dionysius in Exile

Then holy Dionysius won by his prayers that he might lay down his life in exile, lest upon his return he should find the zeal of clergy or people confounded by the customs or usage of unbelievers: and he earned this grace, that he might carry back with him the peace of the Lord with a tranquil spirit. And so, just as holy Eusebius first raised the standard of confession, so blessed Dionysius, in the places of exile, breathed out his life with a title prior to that of the martyrs.

71. Clerics and Monks Compared

This patience, then, grew in holy Eusebius through the practice of monastic life, and from the habit of a stricter discipline he drew the endurance of labors. For who could doubt that these two things are the more excellent in the more attentive devotion of Christians: the offices of clerics, and the institutes of monks? The former is a discipline suited to usefulness and moral conduct; the latter accustomed to abstinence and patience: the one as if in a theatre, the other in secret: the one is beheld, the other is hidden. Therefore the good athlete says: We are made a spectacle to this world and to angels. Worthy indeed to be beheld by angels, as he wrestled to attain the prize of Christ; as he strove to establish on earth the life of angels, and in heaven to refute the wickedness of the angels: for he wrestled against spiritual wickedness. Rightly did the world behold him, that the world might imitate him.

72. The Stadium and the Cave Compared

This life, then, is in the stadium, that in the cave: this against the confusion of the world, that against the appetite of the flesh: this subjecting, that fleeing the pleasures of the body: this more agreeable, that safer: this ruling itself, that restraining itself: yet each denies itself, that it may become Christ’s; because to the perfect it was said: He who wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. He therefore follows Christ, who can say: I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me.

73. Paul's Readiness for Chains at Jerusalem

Paul denied himself, when, knowing that chains and tribulations awaited him in Jerusalem, he offered himself willingly to dangers, saying: Neither do I count my life more precious to me, provided I finish my course, and the ministry of the word which I received from the Lord Jesus. Then, though many stood around, weeping and beseeching him, he did not turn back his mind: so ready faith is a hard judge of itself!

74. Further Contrasts Between the Two Ways of Life

This one fights, that one removes itself: this conquers enticements, that flees them: to this the world is triumphed over, from that it is exiled: to this the world is crucified, or itself to the world, to that it is unknown: to this there are more temptations, and therefore a greater victory; to that a rarer fall, an easier guarding.

75. Elijah's Flight to the Brook Cherith

Then Elijah himself, that the word of his mouth might be confirmed, was sent by the Lord, that he should hide himself at the brook Cherith. Ahab threatened, Jezebel threatened, Elijah feared and rose up, and again, in the strength of intelligible food, walked forty days and forty nights unto the mount of God, Horeb, and entered into a cave, and rested there; and thus afterward he was sent, to anoint kings. He was thus hardened to patience by dwelling in solitudes, and, as though fed toward the richness of virtue by rustic food, went forth the stronger.

76. John the Baptist's Desert Formation

John also grew up in the desert, and baptized the Lord; and there he first exercised constancy, that afterward he might rebuke the king.

77. The Meanings of Cherith, Horeb, and Beersheba

And since we have passed over, as if idly and on holiday, the names of the places concerning holy Elijah’s dwelling in the desert, it seems necessary to repeat what they signify. Elijah was sent to the brook Cherith; there ravens fed him, bringing bread in the morning, and flesh in the evening. Not without reason was bread brought in the morning; because it strengthens man’s heart. For with what food, if not mystical, should the prophet be fed? In the evening flesh was ministered. Understand what you read, for Cherith is understood as “understanding”; Horeb is “all heart,” or as it were is called “heart”; Beersheba too is the Latin interpretation of “well of the seventh,” or “of the oath.”

78. The Well of the Law and the River of Grace

First Elijah withdrew to Beersheba, to the mysteries of the holy law, and the sacraments of the divine right: afterward he is sent to the brook, to that rush of the river which gladdens the city of God. Consider both as the Testament of one Author: the old Scripture is like a well, deep and rather obscure, from which you draw with labor: not full; because he who was to fill it had not yet come. Then afterward he says: I have not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it. Therefore the saint is bidden by the Lord to cross over to the river; since he who drinks of the New Testament—not only is it a river, but also rivers of living water shall flow from his belly, rivers of understanding, rivers of thought, spiritual rivers: which nevertheless dried up in the time of faithlessness, lest the sacrilegious should drink, lest the faithless should be given drink.

79. The Ravens That Fed the Prophet

There the ravens recognized the prophet of the Lord, whom the Jews did not recognize. The ravens fed him, whom that royal and noble race persecuted. Who is Jezebel, who persecuted him, if not the Synagogue, vainly flowing, vainly abounding in the Scriptures, which she neither keeps nor understands? Who are the ravens that fed him, if not those whose young ones call upon him, whose beasts he gives food to, as we read, to the young ravens that call upon him? Those ravens knew whom they were feeding: they who were near to understanding, and who carried food to that river of sacred knowledge.

80. Our Faith Feeds the Prophet

He feeds the prophet, who understands, who keeps what is written. Our faith gives him nourishment, our progress gives him food: our minds and senses feed him, in our understanding his word feasts. We give him bread in the morning, we who, set in the light of the Gospel, bring to him the firmness of our hearts. By these he is nourished, by these he flourishes, by these he fills the mouths of those who fast, to whom the perfidy of the Jews supplied no food of faith. There all prophetic discourse is famished, whose inner richness they do not see, wasted and thin, unable to fatten their jaws.

81. Milk and Meat for the Weak and Strong

Perhaps for this reason they brought flesh in the evening, as it were stronger foods, which the Corinthians, weak in understanding, could not take; and so they were given to drink the Apostle’s milk. Thus the stronger food was brought at the evening of this world, and bread in the morning.

And therefore, since the Lord commanded this nourishment to be ministered, it is fitting that this prophetic word be applied to him here: At the morning outgoing and the evening you shall delight; and further: You have prepared their food; for so is his provision.

82. The Angelic Life of the Disciples

But I think enough has been said of the master; now let us pursue the life of the disciples, who have clothed themselves in that praise, resounding hymns day and night. This indeed is the warfare of angels: to be always in the praises of God, to win Him over by frequent prayers, and to entreat the Lord: they devote themselves to reading, or occupy their mind with continual works, separated from the company of women, and provide safe guard for one another in turn. What sort of life is this, in which there is nothing to fear, and very much to imitate? The labor of fasting is compensated by tranquillity of mind, lightened by use, sustained by leisure, or beguiled by occupation: it is not burdened by the world’s cares, not occupied with others’ troubles, not pressed by the bustle of the city.

83. Justice, Injury, and the Duty to Forgive

For this office, whether of keeping or of teaching, you see what sort of master must be employed—one whom we can find, if your unanimity aspires to it, if you give yourselves to one another, if anyone thinks himself injured by another. For this alone is not the form of justice, that you do not injure one who has not injured you; but also this, that you forgive even one who has injured you. We are often injured by another’s fraud, by a neighbor’s deceit: do we think it a virtue to avenge deceit with deceit, to repay fraud with frauds? For if justice is a virtue, it ought to be free of crime, and not to refute wickedness with wickedness. For what virtue is it, that what you punish in another, you do yourself? This is contagion of wickedness, not vengeance: nor does it matter to whom you do evil, whether to the just or the unjust, since you ought not to do evil at all.

Nor does it differ how you are malicious—whether from zeal of vengeance or desire to harm—since malice in either kind is not free of blame. For to be malicious is no different from being unjust; and therefore it was said to you: Do not be malicious among the malicious, nor be jealous of those who work iniquity; and above the same one says: I have hated the assembly of the malicious. He embraced them all indeed, he excepted none: he grasped the malice, he did not inquire the cause.

84. The Higher Justice of Loving Enemies

But what better form is there than divine justice? For the Son of God says: Love your enemies. And again he says: Pray for those who persecute and slander you. To such a degree does he take from the perfect the zeal for vengeance, that he commands love even for those who injure. And since in the old Scripture he had said: Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, in the Gospel he says that one should pray for those who have injured; lest he take vengeance on those against whom he promised to take vengeance: for he wishes to release you by your own will, in that which is fulfilled by his own promise. But if you seek vengeance, you have it—that the unjust is more heavily punished by his own conscience than by judicial severities.

85. Tranquility as the Fruit of a Just Life

And since no one can be without some adversities, let us so act that adversities do not befall us by our own fault. For no one is more heavily condemned by another’s judgment than a foolish man is by his own, who is the author of his own evils. Wherefore let us avoid troublesome and contentious matters, which bear no fruit and bring hindrance. Although we ought to act so that we do not come to regret our own resolve or deed: for it is the mark of a prudent man to foresee that he not often regret himself; for never to regret belongs to God alone. What is the fruit of justice, but tranquillity of mind? Or what is it to live justly, except to live with tranquillity? Such as is the master’s bearing, such is the state of the whole household.

But if these things are sought for a household, how much more in the Church, where both rich and poor, slave and free, Greek and Scythian, honored and common, we are all one in Christ (Col.:)?

86. No Privilege for the Rich in the Church

Let no one presume, because he is rich, that more should be granted to him. He is rich in the Church who is rich in faith; for to the faithful the whole world is a wealth. What wonder if the faithful man possesses the world, who possesses the inheritance of Christ, which is more precious than the world? You were redeemed by precious blood (1 Peter I, 19)—said, indeed, to all, not to the wealthy alone. But if you wish to be rich, follow him who says: Be holy in all your conduct. He says this not to the rich alone, but to all; for he judges without respect of persons, as the Apostle, that good witness of his, says: And therefore not in remission, not in fastidiousness, not in exaltation of heart: but in fear, he says, conduct yourselves during the time of your sojourning here. You have received time upon this earth, not perpetuity: use the time itself, knowing that you are to depart.

87. Faith Alone Accompanies You, Not Riches

Do not trust in riches; for all these things are left behind here, faith alone will accompany you. Justice too will indeed be a companion, if faith goes before it. Why do riches flatter you? Not with gold or silver, not with possessions, not with silken garments, were you redeemed from your vain manner of living: but with the precious blood of Christ Jesus. He therefore is rich who shall be an heir of God, a co-heir of Christ. Do not despise the poor man; he has made you rich. Do not disdain the needy: This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him. Do not refuse the destitute: Christ too was made poor, though he was rich; but he was made poor for your sake, that by his poverty he might make you rich. Do not exalt yourself as if rich: he sent his apostles without money.

88. Peter's Confession of Poverty and Faith

Finally, the first of them said: Silver and gold I do not have. He glories in poverty, as though shunning contamination. Silver, he says, and gold I do not have—not, gold and silver. He does not know order, who does not know use. Silver and gold I do not have, but faith I have. I am rich enough in the name of Jesus, which is above every name. Silver I do not have, but neither do I seek it; gold I do not have, but neither do I desire it: but I have what you rich men do not have, I have what even you would judge to be of greater worth, and I give it to the poor; that in the name of Jesus I may say: Take courage, feeble hands, and weakened knees (Isaiah XXXV, 3).

89. Poverty of Spirit as True Riches

But if you wish to be rich, be poor. Then you will be rich in every way, if you have been poor in spirit: It is not one's income that makes a man rich, but his mind.

90. Poverty of Nature and Poverty of Greed

There are those who humble themselves amid great riches, and rightly and prudently so; for the law of nature is a sufficiently rich thing for all, in which one may quickly find enough that is abundant: but for greeds, every abundance of riches is poverty. Finally, no one is born poor, but becomes so. Poverty, then, is not of nature, but of opinion; and therefore the rich man of nature is quickly found, the rich man of greed with difficulty. For indeed the more each one acquires, the more he thirsts, and he burns as if inflamed by a kind of drunkenness of his own desires.

91. Avarice of the Mind, Not the Body

Why do you seek, as though it were necessary, a heap of riches? Nothing is so necessary as to know what is not necessary. Why do you twist the excuse back upon the flesh? It is not the belly of the body that makes one insatiable, but the avarice of the mind. Does the flesh take away hope of what is to come? Does the flesh remove the sweetness of spiritual grace? Does the flesh impede faith? Has the flesh adjudged anything, as if to raging masters, to vain opinions? The flesh loves rather a moderate frugality, by which it is stripped of burden, and clothed with wholesomeness; because it lays down anxiety, and takes up tranquility.

92. Riches as a Ship to Steer Well

But riches themselves are not to be blamed.

Finally: The redemption of a man's soul is his riches; since he who gives to the poor redeems his own soul. There is, then, a place for virtue even in these material riches. You are, as it were, pilots on a great sea. If one governs his ship well, he crosses the strait quickly, so as to reach the harbor: but he who does not know how to steer his wealth is sunk by his own burden. Therefore it is written: The possession of the rich is a most firm city.

93. The Lord as the Portion of the Just Man

What is this, but the Jerusalem which is in heaven, in which is the kingdom of God? A good possession, this, which yields perpetual fruits. A good possession, which is not left behind here, but possessed there. Whoever is in this possession says: The Lord is my portion. He does not say: My portion extends and is spread from these boundaries to those. He does not say: My portion among those neighbors—unless perhaps among the apostles, among the prophets, among the saints of the Lord; for this is the portion of the just man. He does not say: My portion is in the meadows, not in the woods, not in the fields; unless perhaps in the fields of the wood, in which the Church is found, of which it is written: We found her in the fields of the wood. He does not say: My portion is herds of horses: For the horse is a vain hope of safety.

He does not say: My portion is herds of cattle, asses, sheep—unless perhaps he numbers himself among those herds which acknowledge their owner; and wishes to have fellowship with that ass which does not shun the manger of Christ (Isaiah I, 3); and that sheep is his portion which was led to be sacrificed, and that Lamb before the shearer without a voice, who opened not his mouth (Isaiah LIII, 7); whose judgment was exalted in humility. Well does it say: Before the shearer, because he laid aside on that cross what was superfluous, not what was his own; for he put off the body, he did not lose the divinity.

94. The Vices That Claim a Man as Portion

Not everyone, then, says: The Lord is my portion. The greedy man does not say it; for avarice comes, and says: You are my portion, I have had you subject to me, you have served me, you have sold yourself to me in that gold, you have adjudged yourself to me in that possession. The luxurious man does not say: Christ is my portion; for luxury comes, and says: You are my portion, I made you my slave in that banquet, I caught you in those nets of feasting, I hold you bound by the handwriting of your own gluttony. Do you not know that the price was dearer to your table than to your life? I convict you by your own judgment: deny it, if you can, but you cannot deny it. Finally, you reserved nothing for life, you spent everything on the table.

The adulterer cannot say: The Lord is my portion; for lust comes, and says: I am your portion, you gave yourself over to me in love of that young woman, in that harlot's night you passed into my laws, into my jurisdiction. The traitor does not say: Christ is my portion; for at once the wickedness of the evil one rushes upon him, and says: He deceives you, Lord Jesus, this man is mine.

95. Judas Claimed by the Devil

We have an example, that when Judas had received bread from Christ, the devil entered into his heart, as though claiming his own possession, as though retaining the right of his own portion, as though saying: This man is not yours, but mine: mine indeed as minister, yours as traitor; plainly he is mine. Finally, he reclines with you, and serves me: he feasts with you, and is fed with me: from you he received bread, from me money: with you he drinks, and to me he sold your blood. How true were his words, he proved. Finally, Christ withdrew from him, and Judas himself also left Jesus, having followed the devil.

96. The Voluntary Chains of Christ's Servants

How many masters does he have, who shuns the one! But let us not shun him. Who would shun him whom those follow who are bound in chains—but voluntary chains, which loose rather than bind, in which those who are bound glory, saying: Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy. More gloriously are we bound by this one, than we are loosed and released by others. Who then would flee peace? Who would flee salvation? Who would flee mercy? Who would flee redemption?

97. The Urgency of Swift Devotion

Do you see, my children, what men have become, who have followed these things, how the departed work? Whatever virtues' praise we admire, let us strive to attain their diligence: and what we preach in others, let us silently recognize in ourselves. Nothing soft, nothing broken, attains to praise: The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent bear it away. The fathers ate the lamb in haste. Faith is swift, devotion eager, hope untiring: it does not love contradictions of the mind, but the passing over from unfruitful leisure to the fruit of labors. Why do you put off till tomorrow? You can gain today's day too; for one must beware lest you neither keep that day nor gain this one. It is no small loss, even of a single hour: and one hour is a portion of one's whole life.

98. Youth, Age, and Discipline of Character

There are young men who wish quickly to reach old age, lest they remain subject longer to the discretion of their elders: there are also old men who would wish, if they could, to return to youth. I approve of neither desire; for the young, disdainful of the present, seek a change of life as if ungrateful, while the old seek delay; whereas youth can grow old in character, and old age can be youthful in works. For age does not bring about amendment of character more than discipline does. How much more, then, ought we to raise our hope to the kingdom of God, where there will be newness of life, where there will be a change of grace, not of age?

99. Jacob's Diligence, Forgiveness, and Hospitality

Reward is not prepared by idleness, nor by sleep. There is no work in the sleeper, no fruit of idleness; rather it is loss. Idle Esau lost the primacy of the blessing, because he preferred to receive food rather than to seek it. Laborious Jacob found favor with both parents. 100. And yet, although Jacob was superior in virtue and grace, he yielded to his brother's indignation, who grieved that a younger brother was preferred to him. Therefore it is written: Give place unto wrath; lest another's indignation draw you also into sin, while you wish to resist, while you wish to be avenged. You can remove the fault both from him and from yourself, if you think it right to yield. Imitate the patriarch, who by his mother's counsel sought distant lands. And whose mother? Rebecca, that is, patience. For whose counsel could this be but patience's? The mother loved her son; for she preferred that he be an exile from herself rather than from God.

And therefore, because she was a good mother, she showed regard to both, yet she gave to the younger son the blessing which he could keep; for she preferred not son to son, but the diligent to the idle, the faithful to the faithless. But she also conferred no small benefit even on the elder son himself by sending away the younger, lest he commit parricide. 101. Therefore, since he went into exile from his parents because of piety and not because of wickedness, he spoke with God, and was increased in wealth, in children, in grace. Nor was he puffed up by these things when he met his brother; but, humbled, he worshipped—not indeed that fierce one, that raging one, that degenerate one, but him whom he beheld in his brother. And therefore he worshipped seven times, the number namely of remission; because he did not worship a man, but him whom he foresaw in the spirit would come in the flesh of man, to take away the sins of the world.

This mystery is disclosed to you from Peter's answer, when he said: If my brother sin against me, how oft shall I forgive him? Until seven times? You see that the remission of sins is a type of that great sabbath, of that everlasting rest of grace; and therefore it is granted in contemplation. 102. But what does it mean that he arranged both his wives and his sons and all his household, and commanded that they too should worship upon the earth? Not indeed as an element, which is often filled with blood, in which is the workshop of crimes, or which often bristles with vast rocks, or with sheer cliffs, or with barren and starved soil; but as flesh that would be a protection to us. And perhaps this is that mystery which the Lord taught you when he said: Not only seven times, but even seventy times seven. 103. Do you also therefore forgive your injuries, that you may be sons of Jacob. Do not be exasperated like Esau.

Imitate holy David, who, like a good teacher, left us something to imitate, saying: For that they should love me, they detracted from me: but I gave myself to prayer; and when he was cursed, he prayed. Prayer is a good shield, by which insult is shut out, cursing is repelled, and is frequently turned back upon those who have cursed, so that they are wounded by their own weapon: They will curse, he says, and thou shalt bless. The cursing of men, which acquires the Lord's blessing, is to be sought after. 104. For the rest, dearly beloved, consider that Jesus suffered outside the gate, and do you go forth from this earthly city; for your city is the Jerusalem above. Dwell there, so that you may say: But our conversation is in heaven. Therefore Jesus went forth from the city, that you, going forth from this world, might be above the world.

Moses alone, who saw God, had his tabernacle outside the camp when he spoke with God; and the blood of the victims which were offered for sin was indeed brought into the altars, but the bodies were burned outside the camp; because no one placed within the vices of this world lays down sin, nor is his blood acceptable to God, unless it goes forth from the defilement of this body. 105. Love hospitality, through which holy Abraham found favor, received Christ as a guest, and merited the son of Sarah in her already spent old age; Lot too escaped the fire of the destruction of Sodom And you too can receive angels, if you offer your hospitality to those who come. What shall I say of Rahab, who by this office found salvation? 106. Have compassion on those who are held bound in chains, as though bound together with them. Console those placed in mourning: For it is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of feasting.

There the merit of a good office is recorded, here the fault of a fall. Finally, there you hope for reward, here you have already received it. Feel toward those who labor, as though laboring together with them. 107. Let the wife defer to her husband, not serve him as a slave; let her offer herself to be governed, not coerced. Unworthy of marriage is she who is worthy of quarreling. Let the husband too direct his wife as a helmsman, honor her as a companion of his life, share with her as a co-heir of grace. 108. Mothers, wean your children, love them: but pray for them that they may be long-lived upon the earth—not in the earth, but upon the earth; for nothing is long-lived in this earth, and what is long is brief and all the more slippery. Admonish them to take up the cross of the Lord rather than to love this life.

109. Mary, the mother of the Lord, stood before the cross of her son: no one has taught me this except the holy evangelist John. Others have recorded that the world was shaken at the Lord's passion, that heaven was covered with darkness, that the sun fled away, that the thief was received into paradise, but only after a pious confession. John taught what others did not teach, namely how, placed on the cross, he addressed his mother, thinking it of greater worth that the victor over torments should render offices of piety to his mother, than that he should grant the heavenly kingdom. For if it is a matter of religion that pardon is granted to a thief, it is a matter of much richer piety that a mother is honored by her son with such great affection: Behold, he says, thy son. Behold thy mother. Christ was making his testament from the cross, and dividing the offices of piety between mother and disciple.

The Lord was drawing up not only a public but also a domestic testament, and John sealed this testament of his, a witness worthy of so great a testator. A good testament, not of money, but of eternal life; which was written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, who says: My tongue is the pen of a scribe that writeth swiftly. 110. But Mary too was not less than what became the mother of Christ. While the apostles fled, she stood before the cross, and with pious eyes beheld the wounds of her son; because she awaited not the death of her offspring, but the salvation of the world. Or perhaps, because she had recognized through her son's death the redemption of the world by the royal court, she thought that by her own death too she would add something to the public gift. But Jesus did not need a helper for the redemption of all, who saved all without a helper.

Whence too he says: I am become as a man without help, free among the dead. He assumed indeed the affection of a parent, but did not seek the help of another. 111. Imitate her, holy mothers, who in her one most beloved son gave forth so great an example of maternal virtue; for you do not have sweeter children, nor did the Virgin seek that comfort of being able to bear another son. 112. Command the Lord's servants not as though subject by condition, but so that you remember them to be partakers of the same nature of which you are. Servants too, serve your masters with good will; for each one ought patiently to bear what he was born to. Obey your masters not only if they are good, but even if they are harsh. For what thanks is due to your servitude, if you serve the good diligently?

But if you also win over the harsh; for even free men have no reward, if they are punished for sinning by judges; but that is a reward, if they are punished even when not sinning. And you too therefore, in contemplation of the Lord Jesus, even if you serve harsh masters with patience, shall have a reward. Since indeed the Lord himself, just, suffered from the unjust, and by wonderful patience fastened our sins to his cross, that whoever shall have imitated him may wash away his own sins by his own blood. 113. In sum, be all converted to the Lord Jesus. Let there be in you the delight of this life in a good conscience, patience of death with the hope of immortality, confirmation of the resurrection with the grace of Christ, truth with simplicity, faith with confidence, abstinence with holiness, industry with sobriety, conduct with modesty, learning without vanity, sobriety of doctrine, fidelity without the drunkenness of heresy. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.