even if I have saddened you by my former instructions, I do not repent, and even if I were repenting, still I see that that instruction and advice, although it saddened you for a time, yet it gladdened me more greatly. Not that you were saddened, but that you were saddened to repentance. For behold, this very thing, that you were saddened according to God, what eagerness did it work in you? A More brilliant to us today is the gathering, more cheerful the theatre, more numerous the choir of the brethren. This eagerness is the fruit of that sadness. For this reason, as much as I was pained then, so much do I rejoice now, seeing our spiritual vine heavy with fruit. For if in the case of sensory foods the multitude of the guests brings a certain honor and joy to the host, how much more would this happen in the case of spiritual foods? Although there, the multitude of those invited consumes more of what is set before them and creates greater expense; but here, the opposite: not only does the multitude of the invited not consume, but it even multiplies the table; and if there the expenditure produces pleasure, much more will this produce revenue. For such is the nature of spiritual things: distributed among many, it increases all the more B. Since, therefore, our table is full, I expect also the grace of the Spirit to sound in our understanding. For when it sees many present, then it sets forth a more abundant feast; not because it despises the few, but because it desires the salvation of the many. For this reason also, when Paul was passing by other cities, Christ appeared and commanded him to remain in Corinth, saying: "Do not fear, but speak, and do not be silent, because I have much people in this city" (Act. 18:9-10). For if a shepherd goes over mountains and glens and pathless country for the sake of one sheep, when he is going to lead away many sheep from sloth and error, how much eagerness will he not display? For that He does not despise even the few, hear Him saying: "It is not the will of my Father that one of these little ones should perish" (Matt. 18:14). Neither, therefore, the fewness, he says, nor the insignificance persuades Him to overlook our salvation.
2. Since, therefore, His providence for the small and least is so great, and so great also for the many, casting our hope entirely upon the inclination from above, let us bring our speech to the saying of Paul that was read today. And what is the saying? "For we know that if our earthly house of this tent," he says, "is dissolved—" But rather let us go higher and to the very head of the meaning. For just as those who are tracking a spring, then seeing a damp area of land, do not dig only there, but guided by the very moisture and the vein itself, they go deeper until they come to the root and the source of the waters; so let us also do. Having found a spiritual spring issuing from the wisdom of Paul, like being guided by some vein of the saying, let us ascend to the very root of the meaning. What then is the head and the root? "Having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written: I believed, C therefore I spoke; and we believe, therefore we also speak" (2 Cor. 4:13; Ps. 115:10). What are you saying? If you do not believe, do you not speak, but stand speechless? Yes, he says; I cannot move my mouth without faith, nor stir my tongue, nor open my lips; I stand speechless as a rational being without the instruction from that source. For just as, if a root is not planted, fruit would not blossom, so, if faith has not been laid down beforehand, a word of instruction would not come forth. For this reason also he says elsewhere: "With the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. 10:10). What could be better than this tree, or equal to it, when not only the branches, but the root itself bears fruit, the one righteousness, the others salvation? For this reason he says: "We believe, therefore we also speak." For just as for limbs that are trembling or relaxed by age, a staff provides safe guidance and does not allow one to stumble or fall, so faith, pulling our soul D—which is shaken and carried about by the weakness of our reasonings—more securely than a staff, and resting it upon the power of its own strength, supports it with precision, and does not allow it ever to be tripped up, correcting the weakness of the reasonings with the abundance of its own strength, driving away the darkness from it, and illuminating with its own light the soul, which sits in a dark house amid the tumult of reasonings. For this reason, those deprived of this are in no better condition than those living in darkness; but just as they both stumble against walls and are bruised by those they meet and are carried down into pits and precipices, and their eyes are of no benefit to them, there being no light to guide them; so also those deprived of faith are bruised against one another, and stumble against walls, and in the end, dragging themselves into the pit of destruction, they cast themselves down.
A And the faith which is present removes one from shipwreck, just as in a calm harbor it settles the ship, leading it into the certainty of conscience. Which Paul himself B indicating says: *For this cause God gave apostles for the perfecting of the saints, until we all meet in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, that we be no more children, tossed, and carried about with every wind* (Eph. iv, 11-14). You see the character of faith, which, like some most safe anchor, frees one from fluctuation; just as the same man writes again to the Hebrews, speaking of faith in this way: *Which we have as an anchor of the soul, safe and firm, and which entereth in even within the veil* (Heb. vi, 19). By saying *which entereth in*, he shows that there is a new kind of anchor, which does not depress, but lifts the mind on high, raised up as far as heaven, and led in as if by the hand within the veil; for he called heaven the veil in this place. Why, or for what reason? Because, just as the veil from the exterior part of the tabernacle separated the holy of holies, so this heaven, like a intervening veil placed before the creation, separates from the exterior tabernacle—that is, this world which we see—the holy of holies, namely those things which are above itself, where Christ has entered as a forerunner for us.
C He says, then, that faith lifts our soul on high, not allowing it to be oppressed by any present evils, but alleviating the labors by the hope of the future. For he who looks toward the future, hoping for heavenly things, and directing the eyes of the mind thither, does not even feel the trouble of present evils, just as Paul did not feel it, and taught the reason for this philosophy, saying: *For our momentary lightness of affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us an eternal weight of glory in an exceeding manner* (II Cor. iv, 17). How and by what reason? While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen (v. 18), namely with the eyes of faith. For just as the eyes of the body see nothing intelligible, so the eyes of faith see nothing sensible. D But of what faith does Paul speak here? For the word of faith has a twofold meaning. For that is called faith, through which the apostles were performing wonders, of which Christ was saying: *If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove, and it shall remove* (Matt. xvii, 19). And when the disciples were not able to deliver from the demon, and were inquiring the cause, he sub-indicated this to them, that their faith was lacking, saying, *Because of your unbelief* (Ibid.). And Paul was saying of the same: *If I have faith so that I could move mountains* (I Cor. xiii, 2). And Peter, when he was in danger of being submerged while walking on feet through the sea, heard the same rebuke from Christ: *O you of little faith, why did you doubt?* (Matt. xiv, 31). Therefore, that is called faith by which miracles and prodigies are performed; that also is called faith which leads us to the knowledge of God, because of which each of us is faithful: just as writing to the Romans he says: *I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ, that your faith is spoken of in the whole world* (Rom. i, 8). For throughout that region the word of the Lord sounded, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but even in every place your faith, which is toward God, has gone forth (I Thess. i, 8).
Why he calls the faith of knowledge the Spirit of faith; why faith needs the help of the Spirit.
What sort of faith, therefore, does he indicate in this place? Without doubt, the faith of knowledge; that which is clear from the things that follow. *We believe*, he says, *therefore we also speak*. What do we believe? That He who raised Christ will also raise us through His power (II Cor. iv, 14). But why does he call it the Spirit of faith, and number it in the order of gifts? For if faith is a gift, and a gift of the Spirit alone, not our merit, neither will the unbelievers be punished, nor shall the believers earn praises. For such A is the nature of gifts, they are not crowns, nor are they rewards. For a gift is not the merit of the receiver, but a bestowal of the giver's liberality. For this reason he even commanded the disciples not to rejoice over the fact that they were casting out demons, and cast out from the kingdom of heaven those who had prophesied in his name and had done many virtues: because they had no confidence from their own merits, but wished to be saved because of the gifts alone. But what we contributed from our own is nothing, but the whole is of the grace of the Spirit, and it itself spontaneously infused itself into our souls, and we are to receive no reward for it; how, therefore, does he say: *For with the heart we believe unto justice; but, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation* (Rom. x, 10)? Because faith is also the merit of the virtue of him who has believed. By what manner, then, does he B sub-indicate [this] again elsewhere, saying, *But to him that worketh not, yet believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reputed to justice* (Ibid. iv, 5), if the whole is of the grace of the Spirit? Who, therefore, even redeemed the patriarch Abraham with very many crowns of praise, because, having despised present things, he believed in hope against hope? For what reason, therefore, does he call it the Spirit of faith? Wishing to show, namely, that to believe at the beginning, and to obey the caller, is of our good mind: but after the foundations of the faith have been laid, now there is need of the help of the Spirit, that it may remain in us eternally unshaken and inexpugnable. For neither God, nor the grace of the Spirit anticipates our purpose: but although He calls, yet He waits C for us to approach by our own spontaneous will, and only then when we have approached does He show us His full help. For because the devil, after we have come to faith, immediately creeps in wanting to pluck out this excellent root, and hastening to intersperse weeds, and to corrupt the genuine and pure seed, we then need the help of the Spirit, so that like a strenuous farmer he may sit upon our soul, and with much care and providence may fortify the newly planted faith on every side. Therefore, to the Thessalonians also he was writing, saying: *Do not extinguish the Spirit* (I Thess. v, 19): so that he may show that, with the grace of the Spirit approaching, we will be inexpugnable to the evil demon and all his snares. For if no one can say the Lord Jesus except in the Holy Spirit, much more will one not be able to have a safe and rooted faith except D in the Holy Spirit. But how are you able to combine virginity with kindness—
A and seek aid from the Spirit, and persuade him to wish to remain with us? Through good works and an excellent way of life. For just as the flame of a lamp is sustained by oil, and when this is consumed, that also is consumed and vanishes; so too the grace of the Spirit, when we have good works and much almsgiving poured out for the soul, remains like the flame sustained by oil; but when this is absent, it departs and withdraws. This is what happened with the five virgins. For even they, after many labors and toils, because they did not have the help that comes from philanthropy, were unable to retain the gift of the Spirit with themselves; and for this reason they were cast out of the bridal chamber, and heard that terrible voice: I do not know you (Matt. 25:12), which was even more grievous than Gehenna. For this reason he also called them foolish; and rightly so, because after they had overcome more tyrannical desires, they were captured by a weaker one. See, I pray: they overcame the violence of nature, they bridled maddened insanity, they calmed the waves of desire, they dwelt on earth while manifesting an angelic life, and while clothed in a body they vied with incorporeal powers; and after such labor, they did not control the desire for money—they were truly foolish and senseless. For this reason they were not even deemed worthy of forgiveness. It was solely a failure of negligence; for those who had been able to extinguish the furnace of desire in such a flame, and had leaped over the race-course, and had shown more than what was enjoined (for virginity is not a law, but is left to the choice of those who hear), then to be defeated by money—who would not be more pitiable than they, having cast the crown from their heads for the sake of a few pieces of silver? I say these things, not to loosen the hands of virgins, nor wishing to extinguish virginity, but so that they may not run to no purpose, so that after myriads of toils they may not depart from the race-course uncrowned and filled with shame. Virginity is good, and the accomplishment is above nature; but this good and great thing, which is above nature, if it does not have philanthropy yoked to it, will not even be able to set foot on the thresholds of the bridal chamber. And mark for me the strength of philanthropy, and the power of almsgiving. Virginity without almsgiving could not lead even to the thresholds of the bridal chamber; but almsgiving without virginity has escorted its own foster-children with many praises into the kingdom prepared before the foundation of the world. For they, because they did not show abundant almsgiving, heard: I do not know you; but those who have given drink to the thirsty and fed the hungry Christ, although they did not put forward virginity, heard: Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Ibid., v. 34). And very rightly: for the one who remains a virgin and fasts is useful to himself; but the one who shows mercy is a common harbor for those who are shipwrecked, correcting the poverty of neighbors, and dissolving the necessities of others. And among good deeds, those are accustomed to be most approved which happen to be to the advantage of others. B
7. And that you may learn that these commandments are more pursued by God than the others: while discoursing about fasting and virginity, he mentions the kingdom of heaven; but when legislating about almsgiving, philanthropy, and making yourselves merciful, he has set a reward much greater than the kingdom of the heavens: That you may become like your Father who is in the heavens, he says. For those laws most of all make men like God—as it is fitting for men to become like God—which result in the common good. And declaring this very thing, Christ said: That he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and rains on the just and the unjust. So also you, having exhausted your power for the common good of your brothers, imitate him who sets his good things before all alike. Great is the dignity of virginity, and for this reason I wish it to be more firmly established. For the dignity of virginity is not just to abstain from marriages, but to be philanthropic, brotherly, and sympathetic. For what is the profit of virginity with cruelty? What is the gain of self-control with inhumanity? You were not overcome by the desire for the beauty of bodies, but you were overcome by the desire for money; you did not admire the beauty of gold; you overcame the greater antagonist, but the lesser and weaker one controlled you and prevailed. For this reason, it made your defeat more shameful; for this reason you did not obtain forgiveness, since after overcoming such violence, and having stripped yourself against nature itself, you were captured by avarice, which servants and barbarians have often been able to overcome without toil.
8. Knowing all these things, beloved, both those who occupy themselves with marriages and those who practice virginity, let us show great zeal regarding almsgiving, since there is no other way to attain the kingdom of heaven. For if virginity without almsgiving could not lead into the kingdom, what other good deed will be able to do this, or will be able to without it? There is none. With all soul and strength, therefore, let us pour oil into the lamps, and let it be abundant and continuous, so that the light may remain bright and rich. For do not look at the poor man who is receiving, but at God who is paying back; not at the one receiving the silver, but at the one who becomes liable for the debt. For on this account one receives and another pays back, so that the poverty and calamity of the one receiving may incline toward mercy and sympathy; C and D the wealth of him who is to pay back, guaranteeing the deposit, and the repayment following with much addition, may make one confident about the loan and the interest, and call forth almsgiving with greater abundance. For who, tell me, being about to receive a hundredfold, and being confident in every way about the repayment, would not give up everything? Let us not, therefore, spare our money, or rather let us spare our money; for he who spares his possessions deposits them into the hands of the poor, into the inviolable treasure-house, which is unassailable to robbers, servants, malicious sycophants, and all assaults. If, even hearing these things, you hesitate to give up any of your possessions, and neither the hope of receiving a hundredfold, nor the calamity of the poor man, nor anything else can incline you, then reflect on your transgressions and enter into the conscience of your sins; examine your whole life; understand your failings.
And even if you are the most inhuman of all men, surely being compelled by fear of your sins at all times, and hoping for the remission [of these] through almsgiving, you would expend your very body, not to mention your money. For if we are injured, and wishing to repel bodily diseases, we spare no resources, even if it be necessary to sell one's very clothing, so that we may be freed from that infirmity: how much more shall we, intending to heal the infirmity of the soul and the most grievous wounds of our sins through almsgiving, perform this with the greatest alacrity? B And yet, when you are ill, you are not immediately freed from the disease by the counting out of money, but often there is need of surgery, and cauterization, and bitter drugs, and hunger, and cold, and other more grievous mandates: here, however, it is not so, but it is enough to place money into the hands of the poor, and you are immediately cleansed of all your sins, without any pain or labor. For the Physician who heals the soul has no need of art, nor of the instruments of art, nor of iron or fire: but the mere wish alone suffices, and at once all sins are taken away from the soul and vanish.
B Do you not see those monks who embrace the solitary life, and withdraw to the mountain peaks, what a hard way of life they endure? For they lay down on ashes, and wear sackcloth, and weigh down their whole body with iron chains, and shutting themselves within a cell, they struggle perpetually with hunger, living in lamentation and intolerable vigils, so that they may wash away a small portion of their sins: but you, though without all that hard living, may enter upon this easy and ready way of piety. For what labor is it, I ask, to enjoy what is present, and to spend what is superfluous upon the needy? For even if no reward were proposed, and even if no such ample retribution were set, would not the very nature of the thing be able to persuade even the most inhuman to use what they have left over for the consolation of the needy? Now, since such a quantity of crowns, such a quantity of retributions, such a great oblivion of sins is prepared through almsgiving, what excuse, I ask, have those who spare their money, and sink their soul into the depths of sins? For even if nothing else moves and excites you to show compassion and to give alms, at least reflect how uncertain the end of life is, and consider that even if you do not give to the poor, yet when death comes, whether you will it or not, you will yield your possessions to others. Therefore, dispense your riches, and while you may, be humane. For it would be of extreme madness not to be willing to share voluntarily with the needy those things which you will yield to others even against your will, and that when such great goods are to come to you from this kindness. "That your plenty," he says, "may supply their want": you receive what you give. You give visible things, you receive invisible and spiritual things; you give money, you receive remission of sins; you free the poor man from hunger, he frees you from divine wrath. This is a kind of retribution and commerce, which has a greater and more useful return than the expense. For the expense is of money: indeed, the return brings not only money, but also the remission of sins, and at the same time confidence before God, and the kingdom of heaven, and those goods which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have ascended into the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9). C Is it not, therefore, absurd that merchants spare nothing for their business, and that when they are accustomed to exchange not some unique things, but things almost equal for equal: yet we, when it is permitted to exchange not corruptible and momentary things, but incorruptible and everlasting ones for our corruptible and momentary ones, do not apply the same diligence as they?
Faith requires the help of the Spirit. Unbelief arises from the depravity of morals.
C Not so, brothers, let us not take such ill counsel for our salvation, but moved by the example of the virgins, and of those who are led into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels, because they did not feed, nor give drink to Christ, let us retain the fire of the Holy Spirit through large kindness and profuse almsgiving, lest we make shipwreck regarding the faith. For faith has need of the help of the Spirit and of perseverance, so that it may remain unshaken: but the help of the Spirit is wont to be retained among us by purity of life and by approved morals. Wherefore, if we desire to have faith rooted, we have need of a pure way of life, which retains the Spirit, upon whom the whole strength of faith is agreed to depend. For it is impossible, indeed impossible, if you have an impure life, not to falter in faith.
D Those who are held by [the doctrine of] fate, and who do not believe in the resurrection by the word, cast themselves down into this abyss of unbelief because of an evil conscience and depraved morals. And just as those laboring with fever, while they wish to drive away the heat, often throw themselves into cold water, and with the evil mitigated for a little while, kindle for themselves a more grievous burning: so they who are oppressed by an evil conscience, and seek some consolation, yet do not wish to wash away their sins through repentance, flee to the tyranny of fate and to the denial of the resurrection: and in this way, while they console themselves for a little while in this life with cold reasonings, they kindle for themselves a greater flame of hell; since, having become more slothful here, after they reach there, they will see that every man pays the due punishments for his own sins. And so that you may know this to be true, namely that evil works vehemently hinder the strength of faith, hear what Paul says writing to Timothy: "That you may wage," he says, "a good warfare, having faith and a good conscience (now a good conscience is wont to come about from life and good works): which some," he says, "rejecting, have made shipwreck concerning the faith" (1 Tim 1:18-19). Again elsewhere: "The root of all evils is avarice, through the desire of which some have strayed from the faith" (Ibid. 6:10). Do you see that both they made shipwreck for that reason, and these strayed for this very cause: because those rejected a good conscience, but these clung to avarice? Thinking on all these things, let us have great concern for living as well as possible, so that a double reward may fall to us, one from the retribution of works, the other from the strength of faith. For as it stands in relation to the heart, it is right...
that the body of Scripture should not be wasted without the nourishment of good works; for faith without works is dead. A One thing remains to be said: what is it, "The Same"? For he did not say simply, "Having the Spirit of faith," but what? "Having the same Spirit of faith." And I indeed wished to pursue this also in my discourse; but because I see many rivers of thoughts flowing out from this brief phrase, I fear that by the multitude of things about to be spoken, I might overwhelm all that has been said, and render the instruction useless to you by harming it with immoderation. Therefore, halting the discourse here, I pray and beseech you to keep with accuracy the things that have been said—as much as you have heard concerning conduct, and faith, and virginity, and philanthropy, and almsgiving—and holding these securely, to come together for the hearing of what is to follow. For thus our building of the things said will be firm and unshakeable, when, the former things being well-founded in your minds, we cast the second upon them. But may God, who gave to us both to speak these things and you to hear with eagerness, deign to show forth the fruit through works, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
On the same words of the Apostle, "Having the same spirit of faith," as it is written (2 Cor. 4:13); and against the Manichaeans, and all who slander the Old Testament and attempt to separate it from the New, and concerning almsgiving.
1. B Being mindful of the things promised. I owe you a debt of apostolic exposition from long ago; but you perhaps have forgotten this debt because of the time, and I have not forgotten it because of the longing I have for you. For such is love: it is an unsleeping thing, and full of care; and those who love do not only carry the beloved in their minds, but they also have a more accurate memory of whatever they promised them than those who are to receive it. Just so, a very loving mother, having kept the remnants of the table for her children, even if *they* happen to forget, she at least will not forget, but with all diligence she preserves them and brings them into the midst and feeds those who are hungry. If mothers are so very loving towards their offspring, much more ought we to show greater diligence and care concerning your love, by as much as the pangs of the Spirit are stronger than those of nature. What then was the table, the remnants of which we kept for you? It was an apostolic phrase, which at that time provided us with much spiritual nourishment, of which we placed a part in your minds, and a part we postponed to the present day, so as not to overwhelm the power of your memory with the multitude of things spoken. What then is the phrase? "Having the same Spirit of faith, according to what is written: I believed, therefore I spoke; and we believe, therefore we speak." Concerning what faith it is spoken—whether that which produces signs, about which Christ says, "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Move,' and it shall move"; or that which implants knowledge in us, according to which we are all faithful; and why "Spirit of faith" is said, and what this faith is—all these things we discussed according to our ability with your love at that time, when we also stirred up our discourses concerning almsgiving. But since it remained to say why it is said, "The same Spirit of faith," and the multitude of things said then did not permit us to pursue this point with accuracy, for this sake we saved it for the present day, and now we have risen to pay you this debt. Why then did he say, "The same"? C He wishes to show the great kinship of the New Testament with the Old; for this reason he reminded us of the prophetic phrase, saying, "Having the same Spirit," and adding, "According to what is written: I believed, therefore I spoke." This David had said from above and many years before, which Paul produced now, declaring that the grace of the Spirit is the same both in him then, and in us now, that has rooted the power of faith; as if to say: "The same Spirit of faith that spoke in him, has also worked in us."
2. D Against the Manichaeans. Where now are those who slander the Old Testament, who tear apart the body of Scripture, who attribute one God to the New and another to the Old? Let them hear Paul, who seals the mouths that are full of impiety, and who muzzles the God-fighting tongue, and through this phrase shows that the same Spirit is both in the Old and in the New. For the very names themselves show us much harmony of the Testaments. For the New is named because of the Old, and the Old because of the New; just as Paul also says, "In saying 'New,' he has made the former old" (Hebr. 8:13). And if they were not of the same Master, neither could this be called New, nor that Old. So this difference in the names shows the kinship of each. And this difference is not according to essence, but according to the change of times; for the commonality with the old is only distinguished according to this; and the change of times introduces neither a difference of master nor a lessening. And Christ again indicated this, saying: "Therefore I say to you, every scribe trained in the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who brings out from his treasure new and old things" (Matth. 13:52). Do you see that the possessions are different, but the mastery is one? Just as he there is able to bring out new and old things as one master of a house, so truly even here it is possible for the New and the Old to be of one God; for this very thing especially indicates His wealth and abundance, that He not only possesses new things, but also demonstrates His abundance in the old ones. So that there is only a difference of names in the Testaments.
A And it is true that to differentiate by name alone is not a conflict, nor is there a contradiction. For the Old Testament is made the "old" by the New, but this is not out of conflict or contradiction, but merely out of a difference of name. I add, moreover, that even if the laws of the Old were contrary to the laws of the New, I would still assert that it would not have been necessary to introduce another God. For if He had established contrary laws at the same time, to the same people, about the same matters, performing the same duties, their fabrication might perhaps have had some ground. But if these laws were written for others, and those for these, at one time for one group and another time for another, with those people being in one state and these in another, what necessity is there to introduce two contrary legislators because of the difference in laws? Indeed, I see no necessity; let them bring one forward if they have anything to say, but they can have nothing. For a physician very often does many contrary things, yet not from a contrary intention, but from the same and suitable one. He burns and does not burn, he cuts and does not cut B the same body; he offers bitter medicine to drink at one time, and sweet at another. He does indeed perform contrary acts, but with a similar and identical intention; for he keeps one end in view, namely, the health of the invalid. Is it not, therefore, absurd not to accuse the physician for doing many contrary things regarding the nature of a single body, but to criticize God for having given different commands to different people at different times?
What I am saying, I will make clearer to you as follows. The training of the Old Testament is like the nourishment of milk, while the philosophy of the New Testament is like solid food; and no one provides solid food before the nourishment of milk. This is what the God of the New Testament did, if He is not the same one who also gave the Old; for before He nourished with milk, that is, the discipline of the Law, He led us to solid food. They hold Him guilty not only of this, but also of a greater crime, in that He finally undertook the providence of our race after five thousand years or more. If He who was dispensing our affairs through the prophets and patriarchs and righteous men was not the same, but someone else apart from Him, He will seem to have undertaken our providence very late and tardily, as if He returned to Himself through repentance for what had been done before; which is so far from being true of God, that it does not befit any ordinary person to allow so many to perish for so long a time, and only at the very end of the ages to attend to the providence and care of a few. C
But that we may know they are not contrary, but only different, let us bring the laws themselves into the middle. "You have heard," He says, "that it was said to those of old, You shall not kill" (Matt. 5:21). This is the old law; let us now see the new: "But I say to you, everyone who is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to the fire of Gehenna" (Matt. 5:22). Are these, I ask, contrary commands? And what mortal, provided he is in his right mind, would say so? For if the former law forbade killing, and the latter ordered it, perhaps someone might say there is a conflict of laws in these words; now, however, when the former commands not to kill, and the latter commands not even to be angry, the prior command is increased, not contradicted. For it prunes away the fruit of malice, that is, murder; but this one tears out the very root, that is, anger; it removes the stream of vice, while the latter dries up the fountain itself. For the fountain and root of murder is fury and anger. That law made our nature more prepared for the latter, and this one coming afterward supplied what was lacking. What kind of contradiction is this, when one removes the end of evils, and the other removes even the beginning? The former makes the hand clean from blood, the latter also preserves the mind from evil thought. These are the characteristics of concurring laws, not conflicting ones, as the enemies of the truth attempt to construct—not noticing that in doing so, they object to the God of the New Testament a great crime of neglect and sloth; for God will be found (which blasphemy may it turn back upon the heads of those who impose on us the necessity of speaking these things) to have dispensed our affairs at the wrong time. D
The error of the Samosatene. Do you see to how many blasphemies they make God liable, those who say the legislator of the New Testament is one, and the legislator of the Old is another? All of which evaporate if we agree that God is one for both Testaments. For thus it will appear that He dispenses our affairs with order and good reason, then indeed through the Law, but now through grace; and that He has governed all our affairs not recently, nor just now, but from the beginning and from the very first day. But in order that we may the more stop their mouths, come let us now bring forward the testimonies both of the prophets and of the apostles, crying out that the legislator of both Testaments is one. Let Jeremiah, then, sanctified in the womb, proceed into the middle and prove this manifestly, that the God of the New Testament and of the Old is one and the same. What then does he say here, crying out from the person of the legislator? "I will make a new testament with you, not like the testament that I made with your fathers" (Jer. 31:31). It is God who had once given that Old testament as well. Here, certainly, the mouths of the followers of Paul of Samosata are also stopped, who deny that the Only-begotten of God existed before the ages. For if He did not exist before the birth of Mary, and before He presented Himself to be seen in the flesh, how was He establishing the law when He did not exist? Or how was He saying: "I will make a new testament with you, not like the testament that I made with your fathers"? For how was He giving a testament to their fathers when He did not yet exist, as they indeed affirm? But against the Jews, and the Paulians who suffer from the same disease, the testimony of this prophet is sufficient to be opposed; but that we may also restrain the mouths of the Manichaeans, let us bring forth a testimony from the New Testament, since they count the Old as nothing; nay rather, they even treat the New, to which they wish to seem to pay respect, with no less injury than the other, in one way indeed, because while they cut it off from the Old, they also undermine the authority of this one.
the proclamation of the prophets, whom these men, turning away, do not perceive, having insulted the apostles more than the prophets. A On this account, they insult the New Testament; and again in a second way, by cutting away the greater part of it. Nevertheless, the power of those things which remain in it is so great that it makes the wickedness of these men evident even from the very remnants; for the severed members cry out and wail, seeking harmony with their own members.
5. How, then, shall we prove that one and the same is the Lawgiver of both the New and the Old Testament? From those apostolic words left with them, which, although they seem to involve an accusation against the Law, in fact establish it most strongly, and show it to be a divine oracle coming from above. And this was done by the wisdom of the Spirit, so that those who accuse the Law, being lured by the surface meaning, might—unwillingly and unknowingly—receive the defense written on its behalf: so that, if they should be willing to look toward the truth, they might have the instruction that leads them by the hand; but if they should persist in unbelief, they might receive no further pardon, disbelieving even against their own salvation those whom they claim to believe. Where, then, does the New Testament say that it and the Old have the same Lawgiver? It says so in many places B and often; but we are currently endeavoring to bring forward that passage which still survives even now among the Manichaeans. What, then, is this? "Tell me," it says, "you who desire to be under the Law, do you not hear the Law, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-woman, and one by the free woman?" (Gal. IV, 21-22). The heretics heard, "one by the slave-woman," and they immediately leaped upon it; for they thought what was said was an accusation of the Law; and having cut it off from the rest of the sequence, they keep it as if it were pleading their cause. Come, then, let us show from this very passage that there is one Lawgiver. "Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-woman, and one by the free woman; these," it says, "are allegorical." What is it, "are allegorical"? Those things which came to pass in the Old Testament were types of those who have come into the grace. For just as there were two women there, so here there are two Testaments. First, in this, he shows the kinship of the New with the Old, whenever the former things are a type of the latter. For the type C of the truth is not an opposite, but a relative. If the God of the Old Testament were opposed to the God of the New, He would not have been going to prefigure the preeminence of the New Testament through the women. If, however, He did prefigure it, Paul ought not to have used the type. But if they say that he was doing this to condescend to the weakness of the Jews, he ought also, when preaching to the Gentiles, to have introduced Greek types and to have made mention of the events that had occurred among the Greeks. But he did nothing of the sort; and with very good reason. For those things had nothing in common with the truth, but these are oracles of God and Law; wherefore the old things have much kinship with the New Testament.
6. The second argument from the same history. Not a few, having been led by the Old Testament, do not fear. In the first place, therefore, this argument is: the Old Testament is in all ways in harmony with the New. Second—which is no less than this—it is taken from the history itself. For just as then there were two women of one husband, so also now there are two Testaments of one Lawgiver; since, if there were one Lawgiver for the New and another for the Old, he would have introduced the history to no purpose. For the husband of Sarah was not one, and the husband of Hagar another, but one and the same. So that, when he says, "For these are the two D testaments," he is saying nothing other than that they have one Lawgiver, just as those women had one husband, Abraham. "But," he says, "the one was a slave, and the other was free." And what of that? For the time being, the question was whether there is one Lawgiver for both. Let them concede this first, and then we will answer them regarding that. For if you force them to concede this, and they are persuaded, their entire doctrine will vanish. For when the Old Testament is found to be of the same Lawgiver—as it indeed is—the entire dispute we have with them is resolved. But so that this does not trouble you, let us attend exactly to the wording. For he did not say, "The one was a slave, and the other was free"; but, "The one was born into slavery." Yet the one who gives birth into slavery is not necessarily a slave; and the very fact of being born into slavery is not an accusation against the one who gave birth, but against the children who were born. Since they deprived themselves of freedom through their own wickedness, and fell away from their nobility, God disciplined them as ungrateful slaves with continual fear, punishing them with torments and threats. For many fathers [E] even now raise their own children not as sons, but with the fear appropriate to servants; and the accusation is not with the fathers, but with the children who prepared their fathers to use those who are free as though they were slaves. Thus did God also lead that people then with as much fear and punishment as it was fitting to lead an ungrateful servant; but what was occurring was not an accusation of God, nor an accusation of the Law, but of the Jews who were kicking against the goad and had need of a harsher bridle. In the Old Testament itself, therefore, many will be found who were not led in this way, such as Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and all the others who emulated the philosophy found in the New. For they did not become such as they were through fear and punishment, nor through threat and torment, but through divine love and a burning affection for God. For they did not have need of commands, nor of precepts and laws, in order to choose virtue and avoid wickedness, but like noble and free children, having recognized their own worth, they went over to virtue without any fear and punishment; whereas all the other Jews, since they had inclined toward wickedness, had need of the bridle according to the Law. When, therefore, they made the calf, and worshiped the graven image, then they heard: "The Lord your God, the Lord is one"; because they committed murder, and defiled the wives of their neighbors, then they heard—
A *Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery*, and all the rest likewise. B For it is no accusation against the law that it inflicts punishment and chastisement, and corrects servants as if they were base, but it is a mark of its great excellence, and no ordinary praise, that it was able to deliver those who had fallen into such extreme wickedness from their evils, to soften them and make them obedient, and to pave the way, as it were, for this new philosophy. For the same Spirit was dispensing all things in both the Old and the New Testament, although it did so in different ways. Therefore Paul said: *Having the same Spirit of faith, as it is written, I believed, therefore I have spoken.*
The probity of morals must be joined with the sincerity of faith. C And not only for this did he say "the same Spirit," but also for another cause, not less than the one mentioned, which I wished to bring forward now; but fearing that, being burdened by many things, you might forget what has already been said, I shall reserve it for you for another day, exhorting you in the meantime to store up the whole present discourse in your memory, and to hold it fast, that you may join Christian virtues with the purity of doctrines: *That the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work* (II Tim. III, 17): since it will profit us nothing to think rightly, if life meanwhile is corrupted by evil morals: just as, on the other hand, a life without blemish profits nothing, unless sincerity of faith also be added. D Therefore, that we may attain complete utility, let us provide for ourselves on both sides, bringing forth generous fruits in other respects as well: and first of all, alms, concerning which I also spoke to you recently, exercising them with great liberality and readiness. *For he who sows sparingly*, says the Scripture, *shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows in blessings, shall also reap of blessings* (II Cor. IX, 6). What is, *in blessings*? With great liberality. In secular matters, both the harvest and the sowing are of the same seeds: for he who sows, sows wheat or barley, or something similar, and he who reaps, reaps the same thing; but in alms, it does not happen that way. A But you scatter money, and collect confidence before God: you give money, and you receive the remission of sins: you offer bread and clothing, and for these the kingdom of heaven is prepared for you, and those infinite goods, *which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have they entered into the heart of man* (I Cor. II, 9): and what is the sum of all good things, you become like God, as far as it is possible for man. For when Christ had discoursed concerning alms and kindness, he subjoined: *That you may be like your Father who is in heaven, who makes his sun to rise upon the evil and the good, and rains upon the just and the unjust* (Matt. V, 45). You cannot command the sun to rise, nor send forth rain, nor be beneficent to the whole world so widely and far-reaching: use your faculties for beneficence, and you have become like him who commands his sun to rise, in so far as it is permitted for a man to become like God.
[Regarding the idle, Paul does not so much turn them away from benevolence.] B Observe diligently what I say: *Upon the good and the bad*, he says. Therefore you too, as often as you give alms, do not examine the life, nor require an account of morals. For alms, that is mercy, is so called, that we may provide even for the unworthy: for he who shows mercy, does not pity the one who lives correctly, but the one who is begging; for he who lives correctly is worthy of praise and a crown; but he who sins, of pardon and mercy. Therefore in this part too we shall imitate God, if we do not withdraw our kindness even from the wicked. For consider how many blasphemers, criminals, and sorcerers inhabit the world, filled with all vices; yet God feeds even these daily, teaching us that we should embrace all men with beneficence. C But we do all things in the contrary way: for we not only turn away from men who are evil and wicked, but even when any healthy man comes to us, either on account of his probity, or on account of his frankness, or perhaps even on account of his laziness (that I may add this too), living in poverty, we cast reproaches, insults, and countless taunts at him, and we send him away with empty hands, upbraiding his health, objecting his idleness, demanding punishment. Have you been ordered, O man, to rebuke and scold the needy? God commanded you to pity and relieve their poverty, not to demand an account and rail at them. D But do you wish to correct his morals, and to call back an idle man from his sloth to apply himself to some work? Give first, and then at last rebuke, that you may not be suspected of cruelty, but may carry away the praise of kindness. For the pauper turns away from him who, giving nothing, only upbraids, and he bears it ill, and does not even sustain to look at him; and deservedly so. For he thinks that he is not a rebuker because he wishes him well, but because he does not want to give; just as it is in reality. But he who upbraids *after* he has given, makes his upbraiding be received with a willing mind: because he seems to apply the rebuke not on account of inhumanity, but on account of benevolence. So also Paul did; for when he had said: *He who does not wish to work, let him not eat* (II Thess. III, 10), he immediately added: *And you, brethren, doing good, do not fail* (ibid. v. 13). And yet these precepts seem to be contrary. For if it is not proper for the idle to take food, how do you command to do good to such? But they are not contrary: far from it. For I said this, he says, *He who does not wish to work, let him not eat*, not to turn away those who were otherwise about to give from giving alms, but to recall those living in idleness from their laziness. Therefore when he says, *Let him not eat*, he stirs them up to labor, holding them terrified with a threat: but when he says, *Doing good, do not fail*, he excites these to beneficence, moved by useful exhortation. For lest some should withdraw their hands having heard with what threat those are struck, he provokes them to beneficence with these words: *Doing good, do not fail.* Therefore even if you give to an idle man, you have done good. [For when he had said: *If anyone does not obey our words by this epistle, note him, and do not mingle with him* (II Thess. III, 14), and in this way had cast the man out of the Church, again he reconciles him in another way, bringing him back into favor with those from whom he had been ejected: ]
A he says, "Do not regard him as an enemy, but as a brother." Just as therefore, once he had said, "If anyone is not willing to labor, let him not eat," he commanded the masters to take great care of them again; so too here, once having said, "Do not associate with him," he did not withdraw the hearers from the care of him, but rather exhorted them strongly to take hold of them, adding and saying, "And do not regard him as an enemy, but as a brother." You have been separated from his company, but do not be separated from your guardianship; you have cut him off from the assembly, but do not cut him off from love. For he commanded this very thing to be done out of love, so that by being separated he might become better and return to the rest of the body; since even fathers cast their children out of their own house, not so that they remain outside forever, but so that by having fallen out of the house they might become more sober-minded and return to the house again.
As for those who accuse him of laziness, these things are sufficient. But since there is also another argument, practiced by many as an excuse, which is full of inhumanity and cruelty, it is necessary to refute this too, not so that we may deprive them of an apology, B but so that we may persuade them to lay aside the apology that does not exist and does not profit, and to practice constantly through their deeds that which does exist and can stand before the judgment seat of Christ. What then is this cold and useless apology of the many? I am bringing up children, he says, I manage a household, I support a wife, I have many necessary expenses, because of which I have no means to show mercy to those who approach me. What are you saying? You are raising children, and for this reason you do not show mercy to those who approach you? For these very reasons, you ought to show mercy to the needy—because of your children and their protection—so that from a few funds you may make God, the giver of those children, gracious to you; so that you may leave Him as their protector even after your death; so that you may draw down to them from above much favor from the wealth of those things spent on God. Do you not see that many men possess wealth and are in positions of power, having no relation to them at all, yet they often brought them into their own wills and made them co-heirs with their own children, for no other reason than to secure their own children's possessions with a few funds? And this, without knowing how those who become partners in the inheritance will be disposed toward their children after their own passing. But you, knowing the humanity and kindness and gentleness of your Master, C will you not make Him a partner in your will? Will you not make Him a co-heir of your children? And this, tell me, when you are a father who loves his children? For if you care for the children you have brought forth, leave behind for them a document in which you have God as guarantor. This is the greatest inheritance, this is wealth, this is security. Introduce Him into the inheritance here, so that He may introduce you along with your children into the inheritance there. This is a noble heir, humane, kind, powerful, wealthy, so that there is no room to suspect his partnership.
For this reason, almsgiving is called seed; since the thing is not an expenditure, but an income. But as for you, when it is time to sow, you do not pay attention to the fact that you are emptying your storehouses of old grain, but you pay attention to the harvest of crops not yet present—and this, without knowing that it will come to be. For even blight, and hail, and locusts, and the irregularity of the seasons, and many things thwart our hope for a future harvest; but when you are about to sow into heaven, where all irregularity of the seasons is cast out, and the cause of all grief and plotting is removed, do you hesitate and draw back? And what excuse will you find, when you have confidence while casting into the earth and do so with eagerness, but when you are about to cast into the hand of God, you hesitate and are negligent? For if the earth gives back what has been cast into it, much more will the hand of God give back to you everything you receive with all of its abundance.
D 10. Knowing these things, therefore, let us not pay attention to the expenditure when we give alms, but to the income and to future hopes—and also to the present gain; for almsgiving does not merely procure the kingdom of heaven, but also safety and abundance in the present life. Who says these things? The Lord Himself who gives them. For whoever gives his own to the poor, He says, will receive a hundredfold in this age, and will inherit eternal life (Matt. 19:29). Do you see rewards given in both lives with great abundance? Let us not, therefore, hesitate, nor procrastinate, but let us bring the fruit of almsgiving each day, so that both our present affairs may be carried out according to our mind, and we may attain the life to come; of which may it be granted that we all partake, by the grace and humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the holy Spirit, be glory, honor, and power for ever and ever. Amen.
CONCERNING THE SAME WORDS,
"HAVING THE SAME SPIRIT OF FAITH, ACCORDING TO WHAT IS WRITTEN" (2 Cor. 4:13) AND CONCERNING THE FACT THAT ALL REGARDING MONEY AND ALMSGIVING IS COMMON.
1. In the previous assembly, and in the one before that, having taken up one utterance of the Apostle, we spent the whole discourse on its explanation; and today we also strive to spend time again on this same one. We do this intentionally for the benefit of your love, not for our own display. For it is not so that I may show myself to be prolific and deep-thinking, but so that I may reveal to you the wisdom of Paul and stir up your zeal, that I handle the discourse in this way. For the depth of his understanding appears greater when he brings forth such rivers of thoughts for us from a single utterance; you, having learned that it is possible to reap a wealth of philosophy from a single apostolic phrase, will not pass over the Epistles simply, but will be led forward, nourished by these hopes, to examine each of the assigned sayings with great diligence.
A If, then, those who dig in mines for gold—even if they have exhausted a great wealth of it—do not depart therefrom until they have removed all the gold, much more is it incumbent upon us to apply the utmost alacrity and diligence in the search of the divine oracles. For we too are digging for gold, not a perceptible, but a spiritual one; for we do not labor in the mines of the earth, but in the mines of the Spirit. For the Epistles of Paul are mines and fountains of the Spirit: mines, because they offer us wealth more precious than any gold; fountains, because they never fail, but however much you exhaust them, just as much and much more flows forth again. B And the whole time that has elapsed can clearly demonstrate this. For since Paul lived, five hundred years have now passed, and in all this time many, both commentators and teachers and interpreters, have often drawn out many things many times from there, yet they have not been able to empty the riches stored within. For this treasure is not perceptible, and therefore it is not consumed by the many hands of those digging, but is increased and multiplied. And why do I speak of those who were before us? How many are going to speak after us, and others after them, yet the riches, gushing like a fountain, will not fail, nor will this type of mine be exhausted; for they are spiritual, and by their own nature can never be wholly consumed. What then is that apostolic saying? *Having the same Spirit of faith, according to that which is written: I have believed, therefore have I spoken.*
C But since we are asking why he said, *The same Spirit of faith*, and we have already briefly brought forward the reason—namely, this one: to show the consistency of the Old and New Testaments. For when it is found that the same Spirit of faith moved the tongue of David, saying, *I have believed, therefore have I spoken* (Ps. CXV. 10), and also worked in the soul of Paul, it is sufficiently evident that there is a great kinship between the prophets and the apostles, and thus it necessarily follows that there is a great consistency between the Old and New Testaments. But lest we be troublesome to you by repeating the same things, come, let us also bring forward another reason why he said, "The same." For we had already promised another reason for this saying. But it is necessary that you be awakened; for the thought I am about to tell your charity is deep, and it requires a discerning mind and a sharp wit; wherefore I beseech you to listen to what must be said with the utmost attention. It is your gain, but our toil; or rather, it is a gift of the grace of the Holy Spirit, by whose revelation of secrets neither he who speaks nor he who hears grows weary; for great ease follows upon revelation. Let us therefore listen with diligence; for although we follow the greater part with our ears, if you doze off even a little, once the thread is broken, you will know nothing of the whole. And just as to those who do not know the way and need a guide, if they follow him for a long time but through negligence lose sight of him even for a little, it is of no use to have followed him thus far, but they stand still, not knowing in which direction to proceed; so even those who follow the speaker with their mind, even if they have imbibed his teaching attentively, if they listen even for a little while inattentively, with the whole chain lost, they cannot reach the end of the thoughts. Lest this happen to you, attend to all that we are about to say with equal care, until we arrive at the end.
D Having said, then, why he says, *Having the same Spirit of faith*, wishing to show that the faith of both Testaments is the same and the mother of all good things, let us take up our discourse from a little higher point. For so will the cause appear to us more clearly. What, then, is this cause? A great war surrounded the faithful when these things were being said; a war, I say, grave and without any truce. For entire cities and peoples had risen up against them on all sides, and all tyrants were laying snares, and kings were preparing war against them; weapons were being moved, swords sharpened, armies arrayed, and all kinds of punishments and tortures were being devised; thence came the looting of property and confiscations, and daily imprisonments and deaths, tortures, chains, fire, iron, wild beasts, gallows, wheels, abysses, precipices, and whatever could be devised for the destruction of the faithful; and the war did not even contain itself within these bounds. For it was not only incited by enemies, but nature itself was irritated against itself. For fathers were laying snares for their children, and daughters had mothers for their enemies, and friends turned away from friends, and this war secretly insinuated itself into kinships and families, and there was a great tumult throughout the entire habitable world. And just as a ship, with waves rising, clouds meeting, thunder crashing, gloom surrounding the hull on all sides, the sea raging, wild beasts raging, pirates attacking, and the passengers themselves in conflict among themselves, can by no means escape unless the heavenly right hand, that great and powerful one, having dispelled the danger and calmed the storm, leads the voyagers into tranquility; so also it happened then among the beginnings of the preaching. For they were not only struck by external storms, but they also often labored within from sedition. Who says this? Paul himself, writing thus: *Without, fightings; within, fears* (2 Cor. VII. 5). And that this is true, and that teachers as well as disciples were surrounded by countless evils, and that this war had been waged equally through all, I again bring Paul himself as a witness. Your part, however, is to remember all these things that I say, so that, having known the perils and temptations, and all the adversities which the faithful of that time endured, you may render all the greater thanks to God, who put an end to all those calamities, and having averted the war, fashioned a most tranquil peace for us; so that no one might escape the punishment of sloth, nor be puffed up on account of a life rightly lived. Hence it is, if you stand generously though attacked from every side and overwhelmed by countless adversities, just as if you were now sitting in a harbor, and possessing a confident spirit in the utmost security. For their condition was no better than those who are tossed by a troubled sea; we, however, live more securely than those who have been brought into port
Let us not, therefore, grow haughty over our successes, nor collapse under the temptations that befall us, nor let us misuse this rest and peace as an excuse for sloth; rather, let us be ever sober and vigilant. For we too have a struggle against the desires of our nature. It is not men who rise up against us now, but the pleasures of the flesh; it is not tyrants and kings who make war, but anger, the lust for vainglory, envy, malice, and the myriad passions of the soul. Since, then, we have been delivered 284 from those early temptations, let us overcome these. For this reason I have reminded you of the hardships of those times, so that he who is currently in affliction may receive sufficient consolation from it, and he who enjoys great security may, in place of the lack of trials, bring great fervor into the battle against perverse thoughts. For all those things were written for our admonition, consolation, and endurance; and it is necessary now to tell you of them, and to teach you the magnitude of the evils that surrounded the faithful in those days—not only the teachers, but the disciples as well. Hear, then, what Paul says while writing to the Hebrews: *Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions* (Heb. 10:32). For not even a short time had passed; but in the very prelude to their instruction and teaching, temptations rose up against them, and immediately upon being baptized they were in danger; and what were they suffering? *Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions* (Ibid. v. 33). For everyone spat upon them, insulted them, mocked them, ridiculed them, calling them fools and senseless, because they had departed from their ancestral way of life and embraced a new doctrine. This is no small thing to shake a soul, if the faith is not deeply rooted. For nothing bites the soul so much as reproach; nothing so wastes away the soul and mind as taunts and calumnies; for many men have often been tripped up by being reproached. I am saying this now so that we may hold our faith with confidence. For if then, when the whole world was reproaching them, they were not tripped up, much more now ought we to hold the preaching of the truth with confidence, when the whole world has changed sides to be with us.
And that those men did not stop at accusations, reproaches, and calumnies, but that those who suffered these things actually rejoiced, hear what follows. *For ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods* (Ibid. v. 34). You see that their possessions were being confiscated in ancient times, and were set before everyone for plunder by those who wished to oppress them. These things he said while writing to the Hebrews.
[5.] But to the Thessalonians he testifies other such things again, saying: *For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews* (1 Thess. 2:14). Behold a war, but a civil war, which makes the pain greater. For if an enemy had reproached me, I could have borne it, he says; but it was you, a man of another soul, my guide and my acquaintance; which is what happened symbolically at that time. Therefore they were in need of much consolation. Seeing this, and beholding those under him suffering and sweating, weighed down by the magnitude of their calamities and pained by the relentless blows, Paul rouses their spirits in many ways: sometimes saying, *It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us* (2 Thess. 1:6, 7); at another time saying, 283 *The Lord is at hand; be careful for nothing* (Phil. 4:5, 6); and again, *Cast not away therefore your confidence; for ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise* (Heb. 10:35, 36). Then, inciting them to patience, he adds: *For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry* (Ibid. v. 37). And just as someone sitting near a crying, fretful child who is seeking its mother consoles it by saying, "Wait yet a little while, and your mother will surely appear," so Paul, seeing those who believed at that time distressed, lamenting, and seeking the presence of Christ because of the unbearable infliction of evils, consoled them by saying: *For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry*. That they were suffering terrible things, and were driven about on every side like lambs caught in the midst of wolves, is clear from these accounts. But in order that you may learn that the teachers were enduring things no less than these, but rather things much more grievous at that time (for the more they grieved the enemies of the truth, the more they were infested by the masses), [6. The teachers themselves were more grievously afflicted.] Thus, what the disciples were suffering, and the many evils they were undergoing, were like lambs being persecuted on all sides in the midst of wolves, and it is evident from these things that—but that you may know that the teachers were enduring things no less than these, but rather much more grievous things (for the more they grieved the enemies of the truth, the more they were infested by the majority), D
let us also hear this from the same person who taught the previous things. Writing to the Corinthians, he speaks thus: *Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed: but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in insurrections, in labors, in watchings, in fastings* (II Cor. VI, 3-5). Do you see how many struggles he enumerated, how many temptations? Writing to them again, he says: *Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more,* as if to say that it is much more excellent to suffer affliction for Christ than to work wonders; and bringing forward the proof of his apostleship, and showing that he is to be preferred to others—not to the apostles, but to the false apostles—he does not argue from miracles performed by himself, but from the constant dangers in which he moved, writing in this manner: *In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, beside those things that are without* (II Cor. XI, 23-28). These are the true marks of apostleship. For others often performed wonders, and it did not profit them to have performed them, but after all those things they heard: *Depart from me, ye that work iniquity* (Matt. VII, 23). But no one of those who can recount the same things as Paul is ever going to hear that voice; rather, with great confidence he will ascend to heaven and will enjoy all the heavenly goods.
The Master: But do not be anxious; I have not forgotten the promise, but I will return to it immediately. We have not pursued these things with a longer discourse in vain, but that we might confirm our doctrine more certainly and clearly with a more prolific apparatus of words, and at the same time might console the souls of the afflicted, so that as many as are caught in dangers and temptations might depart having found suitable consolation, knowing that they are made companions of Paul through these afflictions, or rather, indeed, of the Lord of the angels himself. For whoever is a participant of his afflictions in this life will also be a participant of his glory in that life; for he says: *If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together* (Rom. VIII, 17); and again: *If we suffer, we shall also reign with him* (II Tim. II, 12). For it is absolutely necessary that the race of the faithful be pressed by afflictions: *For all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution* (II Tim. III, 12); and again: *My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation; make not haste in the time of trouble, and be patient* (Ecclus. II, 1-2). Are these fine promises, to fall immediately from the beginning into temptations? By no means; rather, it is an excellent exhortation and a signal consolation of that servitude, to taste dangers immediately. They are clearly excellent and at the same time admirable, and bring the greatest gain. What is that gain? Hear what follows: *For gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of temptation* (Ecclus. II, 5). Take what he says thus: just as gold assayed by fire is rendered purer, in like manner also the soul that spends its time among afflictions and dangers emerges more cheerful and splendid through them, and wipes away every stain of sin. Hence it is that Abraham said to that rich man: *Lazarus received his evil things: but now he is comforted* (Luke XVI, 25). And Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says: *For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world* (I Cor. XI, 30-32). And he even delivered that fornicator for this cause unto the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved (I Cor. V, 5), showing that salvation is perfected by present temptation, and that dangers are the greatest purgation of the soul for those who undergo them with thanksgiving. So, that the faithful endured afflictions, and that both disciples and teachers endured countless calamities, and did not breathe even for a minimum time, being surrounded on all sides by wars of every kind, this our discourse has sufficiently declared, and those who are diligent can collect more also from the holy Scriptures.
Let us bring the discourse back to the matter at hand. But what had we proposed to say? For what reason did Paul say, *Having the same spirit of faith*? Why, then, did he say it? It troubled the disciples that they experienced heavy things in the present life, but conceived good things only in hope, and the former were already present, while the latter were far off; the former were already occurring, the latter were still being hoped for. What wonder if this happened to some at the beginning of the preaching, when now, after such a length of time, after the preaching has been propagated in the whole world, after so many certain arguments for the promises, the same thing is still wont to happen to many?
In the Old Testament rewards were received in this life. — Nor did this alone terrify them, but also something else, and that not less. What is this? They thought within themselves that in the Old Testament human affairs were not dispensed in this way, but that whoever had preferred a just and temperate manner of living received the rewards of virtue immediately. For they were not promised that all these things would be fulfilled after the resurrection of the body, nor in the future life, but here in the present life. For it says: *If thou shalt love the Lord thy God, it shall be well with thee, and the Lord will multiply the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep; there shall not be among you one that is fruitless, neither shall there be among you one that is sterile; there shall not be among you languor or sickness* (Deut. VII, 12-14); he will open the heavens, and he will give thee early and latter rain. The harvester will overtake the vintage, and the vintage...
will overtake the sowing. And many other such things He promised them, all of which were rendered to them during this present life. A If anyone is sharper, he already foresees the solution. Since, therefore, soundness of body, the fruitfulness of the land, the abundance and excellence of children, a flourishing old age, the best tempering of the seasons, prosperity, the timely arrival of rain, and many herds and flocks B—and, in a word, all good things—were filled up for them in this present life, and nothing was held in hope, not even after their departure from here; the faithful, therefore, reckoning these things—that for their ancestors everything good occurred right at their feet, whereas for themselves all the prizes and crowns were stored up in the life to come, and that the promises were in faith—labored, and grew weary, being compelled to drag their whole present life through temptations.
Paul, therefore, considering these things and the magnitude of the terrible trials hanging over them, and that for the latter God promised the reward of their labors after their departure from here, whereas He requited their ancestors here, and seeing much despondency arising in them from these reasonings, wishing to rouse them and teach them that even in the case of their fathers things were thus ordered, and that many received their reward in faith, not in experience, he reminded them of the prophetic utterance, saying: *Having the same Spirit of faith, according to what is written: I believed, therefore I spoke*; as if to say that even the great David, that admirable and noble prophet, obtained his reward by faith, and not by experience; for if this were not so, he would not have said, *I believed, therefore I spoke*. For faith is the substance of things hoped for, not things seen; and what anyone sees, he does not entirely hope for. If, therefore, he believed, he believed in things hoped for. And if he C believed in things hoped for, and the things hoped for are not yet seen, he had not yet received these things in which he believed. For this reason he says, *Having the same Spirit of faith*, that is, the same faith that was in the Old Testament, we also have.
For this reason, he says elsewhere, speaking of the saints of that time: *They wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy*; then, teaching that they endured the terrible things but have not yet received the rewards even now, he added, saying: *In faith all these died, not having received the promises, but seeing them afar off and embracing them.* And how, tell me, did they see things not yet present? With the eyes of faith, the eyes that transcend the heavens and look upon all things that are there.
D 9. And you observe for me the wisdom of God, how He both showed them the prizes from afar, and did not give them immediately, so that He might create in them a greater endurance; but He showed them from afar so that, nourished by these hopes, they might not even have a perception of the present labors.
But perhaps some of those who pay closer attention will think that the argument has encountered a contradiction. For if, he says, not even the former ones received their good things and rewards at their feet, why have you drawn out a long discourse to us, enumerating the tempering of the seasons, the soundness of the body, the excellence and abundance of children, prosperity, the abundance of fruits, flocks, herds, and all worldly well-being? What, then, could we say to this? That God then treated the multitude and the weaker mob differently, and differently the noble ones who were already entering into the philosophy of the New Testament. For to the many, who were creeping on the ground and were able to see nothing great, nor to extend the hope of their soul toward the enjoyment of the goods of the future, He provided these present goods, comforting the weakness of their soul, and through these guiding them toward the practice of virtue, and casting them into a desire for noble things; but Elijah and Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and all the prophets without exception, and as many as have been of the choir of holy and great men, He called toward the heavens and the goods prepared there for those who have distinguished themselves.
For this reason, Paul did not merely enumerate everyone, but those in sheepskins, in goatskins, those in the furnace, those in the prison, those who were tortured, those who were stoned, those in famine, those in poverty, those in deserts, those in caves, those in the holes of the earth, those who suffered myriad terrible things. And then he said they all died in faith, and had not yet received the promises; not hinting at the Jewish multitude, but at those according to Elijah.
But if anyone says: "Why is it that these themselves have not yet received the crowns owed to them even now?" let him learn this reason also from Paul. For after saying, *In faith all these died, not having received the promises*, he added: *God having provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.* For, he says, the festival is common, since there is a greater pleasure when we are all crowned together. This also happens in the Olympic games: the wrestler, the boxer, the contender in the pankration endure their contests at different times, but at one moment of time, all are proclaimed. This also happens at the finest banquets. For when some of the guests arrive first, and others still linger, the hosts, honoring those who are left behind, command those who have already arrived and are present to wait for those who are late. This also God has done; for since He called those from the whole world who had distinguished themselves at different times to a common and spiritual feast, He commands those who have already arrived and departed to wait for those who are to depart after them, so that with everyone arriving together in this way, both the honor and the pleasure may be one for all.
10. For consider what a great thing it is for the sake of honor that Paul and all those who were with him, Abraham and those with him, and those before him again, having contended and conquered so many years ago, should sit now awaiting our own distinction. For the fact that Paul has not yet received the crown, nor anyone else of those who have been pleasing to God from the beginning, nor will they receive it until all those who until the end are to be crowned
have arrived, hear Paul himself saying: A *I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me* (2 Tim. 4:7-8). When? *In that day; and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.* And again elsewhere, showing that the enjoyment of these goods is to be granted to all in common, he writes thus to the Thessalonians: *For it is just before God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted along with us* (2 Thess. 1:6-7). And again: *For we who are left alive until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep* (1 Thess. 4:14). By all these, he teaches that we ought all together and in common to receive the possession and the fruit of the heavenly honor. This even brings great pleasure to those who have preceded us, that they are about to enjoy those ineffable goods together with their own members. For indeed a father, having a splendid and bountiful table, then truly enjoys it with greater pleasure when his children are partakers of his delight and joy. So also Paul and those like him will then feel a more ample joy of soul when they enjoy them together with their own members. For parents do not have such affection for their children as they bear concern for those who have entered the same path of virtue. That we, therefore, may also be in the number of those who will then be honored, let us take pains to attain those saints. And how shall we be able to attain them, you say? Who will point out to us the way that leads to them? The Lord of those saints himself, who teaches not only how we may attain them, but also how we may become their table-companions and associates: for he says: *Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails, they may receive you into their eternal dwellings* (Luke 16:9). Here, for indeed, even if you have a splendid house, it is destined to perish entirely by time; B nay, before that perishes, death, rushing in, will cast you out of this magnificent dwelling; not rarely, indeed, even before death, unfortunate business, the onslaughts and traps of calumniators, cause you to be cast out from there. But there, there is nothing for you to fear of such a kind; there is no corruption, no death, no ruin, no loss from calumniators, nor anything else; but the dwelling is immovable and immortal. Therefore, he called it eternal. *Make for yourselves friends,* he says, *of the unrighteous mammon.*
The praises of almsgiving. Why the poor are before the doors of the temples; fountains before oratories.
See how great the kindness of the Lord is, how great his goodness and equity; for he did not add this rashly, but because many of the rich have acquired for themselves wealth from rapine and fraud. "Badly done," he says, "and it was not right for you to collect money in this way; nevertheless, since you have already collected it, desist from rapine and fraud, and use the money for those things of which you have need. I do not order you to be merciful from what is stolen, but to be temperate from fraud, and to use your wealth for kindness and almsgiving." For unless you desist from rapine, not even the almsgiving will count; but even if you give stolen money into the hands of the needy, not abstaining meanwhile from fraud and rapine, you will be reckoned by God in the number of murderers. Therefore, it is necessary to abstain from fraud, and then at last to be merciful to the needy.For great is the power of almsgiving, about which we also discoursed in the previous assembly before you, and now also let us discourse. But let no one of you so think that this persistence of exhortation tends toward the accusation of the hearers. For even in athletic contests, those are most stirred up by the spectators who draw closer to the goal and seem to have more certain hope of victory. Therefore, because I see you with great alacrity receiving the discourse concerning almsgiving, so much the more it pleases me to continue this exhortation. The poor are the physicians of our souls, benefactors and protectors; for you do not give as much as you receive; you give money, and you receive the kingdom of heaven; you relieve need, and you reconcile the Lord to yourself. Do you see the unevenness of the retribution? These are earthly, those celestial; these are perishing, those permanent; these are corrupted, those are outside the danger of corruption. For this reason our ancestors established the poor before the doors of the churches, that even the most inhuman and sluggish person might be stirred to almsgiving by the very sight of the needy. For where a chorus of old men stands, bent, clothed in rags, C squalid, filthy, holding staves, and with these only with difficulty sustaining themselves, sometimes blinded, and in their whole body badly punished, who is so stony, who so adamantine, who can remain hardened and inflexible toward their old age, weakness, blindness, need, cheapness of clothing, and so many other things that move one to pity? For this reason they stand before our doors, and by their very appearance, more than by any words they can, they provoke those who enter to beneficence. For just as it is customary that fountains are ready before oratories, so that those about to worship God may lift up their hands, first washed, while praying: so did our ancestors place the poor in the stead of fountains before the doors, that just as we wash our hands with water, so might we first, having wiped off our souls through beneficence, then at last offer our prayers.
D 12. Nor is water so great at washing away the stains of the body as almsgiving is at wiping away the filth of the soul. Just as, therefore, you do not dare to enter to pray with unwashed hands, although this crime is lighter, so neither should you ever approach to pray without almsgiving. And yet, not rarely, even when we have clean hands, we do not stretch them out to God unless they are first washed: so much avails custom. The same thing, therefore, must be done in almsgiving; and even if we are conscious to ourselves of no great sin, yet we ought to wipe away our conscience through almsgiving. You have contracted many evils for yourself in the forum: an enemy has provoked you, a judge has compelled you to do something little becoming, you have often uttered words not good, you have committed some sin so as not to offend a friend; you have contracted other not few stains, as is the habit of men who are occupied in the forum, in the law courts, doing the affairs of the city, for all of which I enter to ask God for pardon and to make apology. Therefore, wash with the hands of the poor, and wipe off those stains, so that with boldness you may call—
upon Him who is able to forgive these sins for you. If you habituate yourself never to approach these sacred thresholds without almsgiving, you will never, either willingly or unwillingly, fall short of this good work, for such is the power of habit. And just as you do not endure to pray with unwashed hands—a thing that should be done—because you have once established the habit, so too with almsgiving: if you impose this law upon yourself, you will perform it every day, both willingly and by nature, being drawn on by the habit. B Prayer is fire, especially when it is sent up from a sober and awakened soul; but this fire also requires oil, so that it may reach the very heavenly arches. And the oil of this fire is nothing other than almsgiving. Pour out this oil abundantly, so that, rejoicing in your good deed, you may perform your prayers with greater boldness and zeal. For just as those who are conscious of no good in themselves cannot pray with boldness, so also those who have achieved something, and who come to prayer after that righteousness, rejoicing in the memory of their good deed, perform their supplication with much greater zeal. So that our prayer may be more powerful in this regard as well, let our minds be watchful in our petitions through the memory of our good deeds, and let us come to our prayers with almsgiving. And let us remember with precision everything that has been said; and before all other things, keep that image consistently before me, according to which I said that the poor stand before the doors of the houses of prayer, performing for the soul that same service which the fountain performs for the body. For if we are always mindful of this, continually washing our understanding, we shall be able to perform our prayers in purity and to draw down great favor from God, and to attain to the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
NOTICE REGARDING THE HOMILY ON "WOULD TO GOD YOU COULD BEAR WITH ME A LITTLE IN MY FOOLISHNESS"
This homily bears no mark of either place or time. But Chrysostom, having begun with the praises of Paul, teaches everyone by his example that one must always abstain from self-praise, as far as ability allows; and if at any time, under urgent circumstance, one is compelled to commemorate those things which turn to one's own honor, that it should be done with moderation. He confirms this very thing with the example of David and Samuel; and he touches only incidentally upon whether he delivered this sermon at Antioch or at Constantinople.
The interpretation of some unknown author, which was less well arranged, we have deleted and have prepared a new one.
ON THIS SAYING OF THE APOSTLE, WOULD TO GOD YOU COULD BEAR WITH ME A LITTLE IN MY FOOLISHNESS (2 Cor. 11. 1)
1. The manner of true love. — I love all the saints, but especially the blessed Paul, the vessel of election, the heavenly trumpet, the bridal escort of Christ. I have said this, and I have brought into the middle [of our discourse] the love I have for him, so that I may make you sharers in this affection. For those who love with bodily desire are reasonably ashamed to confess it, inasmuch as they both shame themselves and harm those who hear them; but those who love with spiritual desire should never cease from confessing it, for they benefit both themselves and those who hear them through this good confession. For that love is a crime, but this is a panegyric; that is a perverted passion of the soul, while this is the soul’s gladness, exultation, and finest adornment. That introduces war into the minds of those who love, while this drives away even existing war and establishes those who love in great peace. And from that source no benefit comes, but rather much loss of money and senseless expenditure, the reversal of a life, and the total destruction of homes; from this, however, comes the great wealth of good deeds and a great abundance of virtue. Furthermore, those who love beautiful bodies and gape at bright faces gain nothing toward the removal of their own ugliness if they themselves are ugly and ill-favored; indeed, they are judged all the more base and unsightly. In the case of this love, however, the exact opposite is true. For he who loves a holy, beautiful, bright, and truly handsome soul, even if he himself is ugly and ill-favored, even if he is the most base of all men, by persevering in the love of the saints, will quickly become such as the one he loves. For this too is a work of God’s love for mankind: that while the body, being misshapen and crippled, cannot be corrected, the soul, even if it be base and ill-favored, can be made bright and truly handsome. For from the beauty of the former, no profit could come; but from the beauty of the latter, it is possible to harvest as many good things as it is natural for the lover to possess who has God. Concerning this beauty, David also sings in the Psalms: "Hear, daughter," he says, "and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father's house, and the king shall desire your beauty" (Ps. 44. 11, 12); calling "beauty" here that which is in the soul, which is built up by virtue and piety.
2. Since, therefore, there is such gain for those who with the saints