Letters 4.152–4.171

To Didymus the scholasticus. [On "A long-suffering man is great in understanding."] Truly "a long-suffering man is great in understanding." The word comes from having a long and great soul, overcome by nothing, which also bridles anger, the sharpest of all passions, which slips past our thoughts and leaps ahead of our reasonings, and shuts it within its proper bounds. In contrast to this great-souled man he set the small-souled, saying, "But the faint-hearted is mightily foolish." For one who is shaken by every passion through smallness of soul is utterly senseless.

To Isidore the deacon. [On what is written, "I commanded all the stars"; and on "The stars are not pure before him," which is from Job.] "I commanded the stars," joined with "Forever, O Lord, your word abides in heaven," presents no blame or transgression. If they say that "Forever, O Lord, your word abides in heaven" was said of God the Word, we shall ask them why it was not said that it abides everywhere; for he is the one who holds together and binds all things. But if, refuted, they say that the law appointed for the stars, how they must run, is indicated here, since it was transgressed on earth, we say: Why then is "The stars are not pure before him" brought in here? For the stars are shown to follow his word and not to transgress his ordinance. And if, when these things have been said and shown, we are asked, "What then is meant by 'The stars are not pure before him'?", we would say that by their own nature the stars are pure, as they were made by the Creator; but compared with the Maker himself they are as far below him as an ant is below heaven, or the sun, or any other creature. That is why he did not say absolutely, "not pure," which would show them sinning, but added, "before him." And let no one take the saying as a comparison in judgment, as what was said to him elsewhere: "Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living will be justified before you." For every righteous man will be justified when judged by himself; but compared with him, or judged against him, no. [Letter 4.154] [On "Learn righteousness, you who dwell on the earth."] To those who talk big in public and dignify divine things, but in secret do the opposite, philosophizing in words but not in deeds, the loud-voiced Isaiah cries: "Learn to do good, you who dwell on the earth; for the ungodly one has ceased." For since with prophetic eyes he saw the Saviour's coming in the flesh, beyond all words, which accomplished countless goods for the human race, beyond all wonder, and hamstrung the tyrant, he cried: "Learn to do righteousness; for the tyrant has ceased from attacking everyone and everything, and all are in safety," except those who willingly lie down under his deceit and submit themselves to it. For he can deceive, but not force. [Letter 4.155] To Orion the monk. [On "who ask from the womb and are instructed until old age."] "Asking from the womb and being instructed" agrees with "always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." "Asking" means asking and hearing, yet growing old in ignorance: not that they were lovers of learning all their life (otherwise he would have approved of them), nor that they learned late (for that too is a second-best virtue: it is better to learn late than never to learn), but that they always pretended to learn while thrusting away the desire for wisdom, and so were caught being the true nurslings of lack of education. [Letter 4.156] [What is meant by "the cup of falling and the bowl of wrath."] The cup of falling and the bowl of wrath are punishments that God threatens to those who have stumbled, for their correction, handing them over now to the Babylonians, now to the Assyrians; the Hebrews drained them, and they made them drunk, but did not make them worthy of a better life. But Christ, drinking a cup upon the tree, both healed the bitterness and brought in gladness. [Letter 4.157] [What is meant by the saying, "You shall not go in to any dead soul."] You wrote, perhaps wishing to learn what "You shall not go in to a dead soul" means. Listen, then. Do not have fellowship with a soul that has sinned. That "You shall not go in" means "Do not have fellowship," hear what Sarah says to Abraham: "Go in to my maidservant, and have children by her." That a dead body does not defile (for what is natural is blameless), learn from the lawgiver himself, Moses, I mean, who sketched the truth through shadows and symbols. For he who ordained these things carried the bones of Joseph. One might justly say to him: "What are you doing, Moses? Why do you do what you forbid? Why do you put your hand to what you prohibit? Or rather, why do you do what you outlawed? Someone, it seems, might indict you as the first to break the law." "I do not break it," he says, "but by this I show that one must look into the reality that the letter indicates. For I do not know a chaste man as dead; I do not regard as dead one who did good to those who plotted against him; he lives to God, even if for now he seems dead to us. And I exhort you not only to flee sin, which is dead, but not even to have fellowship with those who sin. For natural defects dwell outside of blame, but those that come from choice deserve accusation and punishment. And if you examine the wording, you will find this. For I did not say, 'over a dead man' or 'over a dead body,' but 'over a soul.'" For "the soul that sins, it shall die." If a dead body were a defilement, how could Solomon too (for we must add to Moses' defence) have said, "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of laughter"? How did bodies receive laying out and burial? How were they committed to the tomb, if he did not think it holy even to perform holy rites for bodies? And how did the body of Elisha, though dead, raise a dead man?

To Nilus. [On "The righteous man will fall seven times."] "The righteous man will fall seven times" is not said without reason, but because one who wrestles lawfully necessarily falls, as athletes do. This is not always a cause of defeat, but often of victory. For many who have fallen have hamstrung the strength of those who seemed to be standing, throwing their whole body to the ground with a foot and snatching the victory. That is why he not only said that he will fall, but added that he will also rise, to indicate the crown. And if a man recovers quickly when he stumbles, recognize him as excellent.

To Eutonius the deacon. [On "Let your light shine," and that this is not contrary to "Beware of your almsgiving," and what follows.] For those who are engaged in good works, being seen to do them turns to gain; that is why the Saviour said, "Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." But since some look not to the Master's word but to display, he also gave his exhortation, "Beware of practising your almsgiving before men; otherwise you have no reward": by the first showing the reasonableness and love of good which cannot be hidden even if those who do it wish; by the second checking vainglory; by the one preventing vice, by the other display. This is not contrary to that, but prevents the vices that are attached to the virtues and lie in wait for them. Every virtue done without display would properly be called virtue and be virtue; but if it is drawn toward vainglory, it loses even its being sincere virtue. I say nothing of the fact that those who show mercy with display do it not out of nobility but by parading other people's misfortunes; craving to be called merciful, they do not refrain from dramatizing other people's calamities. For "Let your light shine" was said, not that we might pride ourselves, but because a good work cannot bear to be silenced, even if those who do it hide it. Just as a torch that appears on a moonless night draws the eyes of its own accord, so virtue too naturally gives light to all, even against the will of those who possess it.

To Theodosius the presbyter. [What is meant by "And I will take the heart of stone out of them and give them a heart of flesh."] "I will take out of them" (clearly, out of those who come willingly to the divine instruction) "the heart of stone" indicates the insensible and callous state of the soul, which acts against the divine laws; and "I will give them a heart of flesh" indicates the yielding and obedient state, which gives way to the spiritual ordinances, and from which the famous chorus of the virtues is naturally born. If you want to learn this by examples as well, listen: just as grammarians and sophists receive boys who are unpolished and send them away cleansed, not by making their tongues young again (for that is impossible), but by implanting art; and not by changing their souls, but by casting out their negligence; so the divine wisdom too, banishing vice and ignorance, implants understanding and knowledge.

To Artemidorus the presbyter. [On "He has stood by every way that is not good," and on "His soul will be blessed in his life."] "He has stood by every way that is not good," said of a sinful man, means he helped it, pleaded for it, argued its case. Just as an invincible orator, standing before the judges, sets his art in motion for those who need help, so that man did not decline to plead for vice with all his strength. And "His soul will be blessed in his life," said again of a very wicked man, means this: he will be well spoken of, that is, praised, eulogized, called happy. For "blessing," from "speaking well," indicates acclaim. Since many, their judgment of things being corrupted, praise and call happy those who deserve to be pitied and mourned, because they abound in wealth and enjoy luxury, even if they do countless evils, for which they will pay the penalty a little later (not considering this, but looking at their present enjoyment), the Psalmist, satirizing their corrupted judgment, and the fact that they not only do not rebuke sinners, nor only flatter them, but even disparage virtue itself if need be to please them, said, "His soul will be blessed in his life." And "in his life" is said because after death he will be punished; for what follows shows this as well: "For he will go to the generation of his fathers." Going there, he does not pass into non-existence, as some think; but he will be shut up in a place where, clearly, he will not see light forever; for he will be imprisoned in the unquenchable darkness with those who praised him, paying the penalty for what he did.

To Ophelius the grammarian. [How "You shall eat it in haste" is to be understood.] Some, it seems, have thought that the ordinance, "You shall eat the Passover in haste," was given because they had to leave Egypt quickly. Let them understand it so (for it is the wisdom of a rustic to quarrel about things that will do no harm to the hearers); but the word for "haste" (σπουδή) is likely to mean earnest action, action before action. That is why the approved are called σπουδαῖοι, "earnest," and are set in contrast to the base. Isocrates, whom you admire up and down, vouches for this when he writes to Demonicus: "A short time dissolves the friendships of the base, but not all eternity would blot out those of the earnest." So the one who is going to eat the divine and true Passover must be earnest, that is, a lover of virtue. The initiated know what is meant, according to the lawgiver's spiritual ordinance.

To Eulogius. [Against Origen.] The account of the fall of souls, which is not true, I think, though it seems plausible, is overturned by many other things, but in our reckoning by two above all: first, that it is not clearly proclaimed in the Scriptures; second, the total forgetfulness. For I do not see what scandal would have come of its being expressly proclaimed: the soul that had fallen, on learning this, would more easily have run back to its original state. And what is this total and deep forgetfulness, so that it remembers nothing of the things there? If it remembered, it would have run back very quickly to the place from which it fell, even if it had to undergo countless labours. For if a king's son, through negligence, fell from his royal glory and chose to live with robbers and murderers, the memory of his first prosperity could bring him back quickly and painlessly to his father's dignity. But if his former memory were completely extinguished from his soul, he would not find life with the robbers burdensome, but would live with them most pleasantly; nor would he do anything that could bring him back to a kingdom he does not even know of; and since he would not do what leads him there, he would never return. The argument from memory, then, if the fall were true, would have driven all people toward the return; and the clear teaching of the Scriptures would have confirmed it still more. We do believe that some other things have been hidden because they are greater than our worth; but this, I think, is plainly something it would have been most useful to know, since the fact that neither the memory nor the teaching was given has brought many doctrines into our life. Some think that the soul is extinguished with the body; others that they were brought into life only to enjoy the good things of this life; some imagined that all happens by chance, others entrusted their affairs to fate, the stars at birth, and fortune; some declared that the world came into being and will perish, others that heaven is thought worthy of providence but not the earth; others that the body was fashioned by evil and cannot be an instrument of virtue; and countless others, which I shall pass over so as not to lengthen this little discourse. All these would have been extinguished if the memory of its former state had remained in the soul, if the account of the fall were true, and if its fall had been most clearly proclaimed in the sacred oracles, calling it to return. For through the first, Greeks and barbarians, and through the second, Jews and Christians and all who obey the holy Scriptures, would have known what it was necessary to know. And I see that the prison does not prevent sins but increases them. For how is the soul being punished, when it has received greater licence to offend? And what greater offence has the soul committed than murder, or adultery, or sorcery? If the soul were held idle, so as to be corrected even against its will, such an argument would have reason. But what punishment does a soul undergo that has given the body over to luxury, to sexual immorality, and to the other pleasures against nature, that does not even want to leave the prison, that prays for a ripe old age, that does everything so that nothing hinders its pleasure, that often even rouses licentiousness when it is asleep, gives it passage, and summons it? No one who wishes to punish an offender gives him greater opportunities for licentiousness. Why does the Prophet say, "From my mother's womb you are my God," if the soul existed before that? How is the resurrection of bodies proclaimed, and not a restoration of souls to the bodiless state? How did Abraham and Hannah lament their childlessness? And how can "Increase and multiply, and fill the earth" count as a blessing? For we were brought forth to compete, not to pay the penalty for earlier faults. If in the contest we fall back through negligence and seek relaxation, then, then indeed we would rightly go without a crown. However, since those who taught this doctrine urged people to hold fast to virtue (for they thought it the best guide for the return), and the Church, which insists that people have been set in a contest, calls them to virtue (for through it she promises that the victors will be proclaimed and crowned in heaven), let us stop wrangling about what is disputed and drive ourselves toward what is agreed. For both they and we extol virtue with all our strength; but we despise this, which both sides admire, and give ourselves over to what seems an unclear matter. For whether the soul has fallen, as they say, virtue is needed for the return; or whether it was brought forth to compete, as we say, the crowns are woven by virtue.

To John the deacon. [On "For he will command his angels concerning you."] The saying, "He will command his angels concerning you; on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone," was spoken of a righteous man and was wrongly understood by the devil (for either he wished to deceive though he had understood it, or he understood it badly). Christ refuted him most clearly and briefly, saying, "It is written, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'" For God promised help to one who is in danger, not to one who tempts him; to one in need, not to one who shows off and hunts for empty glory. "I am not yet saying that it was not said of me, whom even the angels need; but the Psalmist said it of a righteous man."

To Hierax the presbyter. [On "Not all receive this saying."] The saying about virginity, "Not all receive this saying, but those to whom it is given," was said, not because it was given to some by a kind of allotment (otherwise he would not have set the kingdom of heaven before them as a prize), but to show, first, that those who strive in this extraordinary contest need the weight of divine help; then, that this counsel comes down from heaven, not decreeing by law but using exhortation; third, that it is given to those who are stronger than incontinence, who call on the alliance from above, guard their treasure with fasts and vigils, and do not give themselves up to the beast through negligence and luxury. If it were given by allotment, the prize would be superfluous. It was not given as a mere favour, but is given to those who wish to receive it; for no one will give it to the unwilling. [Letter 4.166] [On "In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."] You said that you do not understand, "In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily"; but I think it is said instead of "essentially." For it was not an operation of the Godhead, such as indwelling produces, that governed that undefiled temple, but the essence itself, which has countless operations; not something with a partial gift, but the fount of good things. He himself, he says, who reigns with the Father, holds the reins of the beings above the world, and steers the things on earth, became man and stood in the battle line with a general's arms, so as to adorn those beings, win victory for the human race, rout the accursed demons, destroy their arrogant general, and fill the Church with countless gifts. It was the king, he says, who served as general, not the general who was adorned with royal rank; the king hid his dignity in the form of a servant in the battle line, not a soldier who ascribed royal rank to himself. He was a king making laws, not a soldier trying to make laws; for "But I say to you" belongs to a king; "I will; be clean" to an emperor; "Be it done for you as you will" to one whose authority is absolute; "Be silent, be still" to a master; and so on, that I may not lengthen my discourse by listing everything. And if the passion troubles you, which was dared against God but touched the flesh, hear the chief of the apostles saying, "Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh." If, then, the one entrusted with the keys of heaven declared that it was properly the flesh that suffered, which can receive suffering (for the divine is impassible), then, even though the Jews, as killers of the heir, suffered things greater than any tragedy, let the passion not trouble you, but lead you on to great thanksgiving: that the impassible king, who admits no shadow of turning, gave up his own flesh, and, having uttered many things as a weak man in order to capture the villain by a stratagem, and having set up splendid trophies, went up to heaven clothed with the firstfruits of our nature. If he was a mere man, as they say, adorned with divine grace, why did the Jews, who killed many holy men, suffer nothing like this, while for this one every tragedy is surpassed when compared with their sufferings? Clearly, those men were saints, but he was the only-begotten Son, who deigned to become man. That they did not come to their sufferings from the same rank, but the others were slaves and he the Master, brought upon the Jews a penalty beyond pardon. "For this," it says, "is the heir": the vinedressers set out to kill the heir, not a fellow slave; the true son of the householder, not one of themselves raised to the rank of adoption. For how was a Son sent after the slaves, one whom they ought to have respected? How is he called the second man from heaven? How did God come to dwell among us, or did he merely work with a man? How did he humble himself, being equal with God? How did God send his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh? Or how are the undefiled mysteries not made cheap, if they are thought to be the body and blood of a man? How did he say, "But a body you have prepared for me"? How was it necessary for this one too to have something to offer? How did he redeem the captives by his own blood? Or how did they crucify the Lord of glory? How did the Word become flesh? How did the Father, who spoke in many parts and in many ways in the prophets, speak at last in a Son? Or how did the Son likewise share in the same things? But so as not to bring a great crowd into your hearing by listing everything, I shall sum it all up: for one who is God to say lowly things is part of his saving plan and is useful, and in no way harms his undefiled dignity; but for one who is a man to say divine and supernatural things is the height of daring. A king may speak and think modestly; but for a soldier or a general to utter royal words is not lawful. If, then, he was God made man, as indeed he was, the lowly sayings too have their place; but if he was a man, the lofty sayings have no place.

To Nilus. [On the wisdom of Daniel and the young men.] The Babylonians were then proud of their military advantages, elated at their trophies, and priding themselves on their predictions; and God astounded them by showing that captive boys were not wiser than they by comparison (for comparison is made between things of the same kind), but supremely wise. [Letter 4.168] To John the deacon. [On "Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses."] While the law punished inexorably those who committed sins too great for pardon, grace came, put to death through baptism the mortal life of the passions, gave birth again through regeneration, as if by a stage machine, to another life, and commanded that the passions of the body be withered, or rather put to death, by an excellent way of life; but those who stumble and do not repent it punishes, and threatens with punishments, more bitterly than the law did. For those who have been granted so great a gift, raised to royal honour, and made sharers in divine mysteries and gifts, and who then grow negligent, would deserve a greater punishment. Paul vouches for this, saying what you wished to learn: "Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercies" (that is, without pity, entreaty, or pardon) "on the testimony of two or three witnesses" (that is, is stoned): "how much worse punishment, do you think, will he deserve" who outrages, by what he does, the one who freed and honoured him?

To Isidore the bishop. [On "Blessed are the peacemakers."] The Saviour blessed the peacemakers and promised that they would become sons of God: those, first, who are at peace within themselves and are not divided by faction, but end the civil war by subjecting the body to the spirit and persuading the lesser to serve the greater, a slavery better than any freedom or kingship; and then those who arbitrate peace for others, both for those at faction within themselves and for those at faction with one another. For no one could rightly preside over for another what he does not have himself. That is why I admire the unsurpassable generosity of God's love for humankind, because he promises to hold out good rewards not only for labours and sweat, but in a way for enjoyment too, since peace is the summit of all that gladdens, and without it nothing that leads to delight will avail, when war extinguishes peace. And well did he say that the peacemakers will be called sons of God, and assign that prize to this contest. For since he himself, being the true Son, made peace for all things, making the body a base of operations for virtue, creating the two, those who believed from among the Jews and from among the Gentiles, into one new man, and joining heavenly things to earthly, he rightly said that those who do the same, as far as possible, will be thought worthy of the same name and adopted into the dignity of sonship, which is the highest bound of blessedness. [Letter 4.170] [For what sins the law gave forgiveness through sacrifices.] For what seemed to be sins the law gave forgiveness, either through sacrifices, or through almsgiving, or through purifications; but not for real sins. Those too great for pardon it condemned to death. It ordered that those who did such things be destroyed in every way, not so that we might do the same things and, while hiding our own guilt, hurl a stone at the one who was caught, but so that those who are pure of unpardonable faults might carry out the punishment on those who stumble. For it is most absurd and very terrible to overlook the many who commit greater faults but escape notice, and to stone the one who committed a lesser fault but was detected.

To Heron the scholasticus. Not only in things that are not in our power, wise friend, as you think, but even in those that are in our power, unless much weight of help comes to us from divine providence, we could not bring them to a perfect end. But it will surely come to those who contribute all their own part without excuse and leave out nothing that leads to it. For the providence that urges on the unwilling will surely bring the willing, who do everything and labour, to the very summit of achievement. [Letter 4.172] [That no small benefit comes from telling of the greatest achievements.] For it rouses sleeping souls to virtue, makes sluggish souls sharper, teaches those who embrace vice to blush, and leads them to repentance. The wise author of Proverbs showed this when he said, "Good words are honeycombs." He calls good those words that are concerned with piety and virtue, not those that pride themselves on borrowed cosmetics but those that bring the beauty of truth from within; not those that ride on the chariot of poetry or rhetoric, but those that make the natural and God-given journey on foot. And what is the benefit of them? Teach us, wise one. "Their sweetness is healing for the soul." Since, then, the brave deeds of the ancients bring forth no small benefit, let us constantly bring their exploits into the open in our gatherings and conversations. For many diseases of the soul, both hidden and plain, will find suitable treatment.