# Paraenesis, or Exhortation to Penitence - Author: [Pacian of Barcelona](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/pacian-of-barcelona/) - Latin title: *Paraenesis sive Exhortatorius libellus ad poenitentiam* - Date: ca. 360-390 (approximate) - Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina, vol. 13 (Paris, 1845), digital text of the printed volume; column ranges as the digital text gives them (Latin text: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 13, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (patrologia_latina-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Editions and translations: The standard modern edition is C. Granado, ed., Pacien de Barcelone: Ecrits, SC 410 (Paris: Cerf, 1995). Cited only, not reproduced. - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pacian-paraenesis/ - Passages: 12 ## Paraenesis, or Exhortation to Penitence 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pacian-paraenesis/1/#p-1 - Source: PL 13:1082c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Pacian introduces his exhortation on penance, fearing that, as with his earlier tract against the “Little Stag” festivities, censure may teach vice rather than restrain it. ### Latin text Etsi aliquoties, tumultuose licet, de poenitentium curatione non tacui; memor tamen dominicae sollicitudinis, quae propter unius oviculae detrimentum cervicibus etiam suis et humeris non pepercit, integrato gregi referens peccatricem delicatam: conabor, ut potero, tantae virtutis exemplum etiam stylo condere, ac dominici laboris industriam, mediocritate (qua dignum est) servus imitabor. Unum illud vereor, dilectissimi, ne solitae contrarietatis adversis, inculcando quae fiunt, admoneam magis peccata quam reprimam: meliusque fuerit, Attici Solonis exemplo, tacere de magnis sceleribus, quam cavere; eo usque progressis nostratium moribus, ut admonitos se existiment cum vetantur. Hoc enim, puto, proxime Cervulus ille profecit, ut eo diligentior fieret, quo impressius notabatur. Et tota illa reprehensio dedecoris expressi ac saepe repetiti, non compressisse videatur, sed erudisse luxuriam. Me miserum! Quid ego facinoris admisi? Puto, nescierant Cervulum facere, nisi illis reprehendendo monstrassem. Verum sit illud. Dei refugae aut extra Ecclesiam constituti, etiam exasperati sunt castigationis injuria; indignati scilicet, mores suos ab aliquo posse reprehendi. Atque ut coenum solet tum maxime foetere cum moveas; et incendium tum magis ardere, si vertas; et rabies tum vehementius saevire, si provoces: ita illi objurgationis necessariae stimulos contrario calce fregerunt, non sine suo quidem malo et vulnere repugnantes. ### English translation (Claude) Although I have several times, if in a disorderly way, not kept silent about the treatment of penitents, yet, mindful of the Lord’s solicitude, which for the loss of one little sheep did not spare even its own neck and shoulders, carrying the delicate sinner back to the flock made whole, I will try as I can to set down in writing too the example of such great power, and, as a servant, I will imitate in my small measure (as is fitting) the diligence of the Lord’s labour. I fear one thing only, dearly beloved: that against the usual contrariness, by impressing on you what is done, I may prompt sins rather than repress them; and that it would have been better, after the example of Solon of Athens, to keep silent about great crimes than to warn against them, since the morals of our people have gone so far that they think themselves prompted when they are forbidden. For this, I think, is what my recent Little Stag achieved: that the practice became the more diligent the more pointedly it was censured. And all that rebuke of the disgrace, depicted and often repeated, seems not to have suppressed the excess but to have instructed it. Wretch that I am! What crime have I committed? I suppose they had not known how to play the stag unless I had shown them by rebuking it. But let that be so. Those who are fugitives from God or placed outside the church were even exasperated by the injury of correction, indignant, of course, that their morals could be censured by anyone. And as mud usually stinks most when you stir it, and a fire burns more if you turn it, and madness rages more violently if you provoke it, so they have broken the goads of necessary rebuke by kicking back, not without harm and wound to themselves as they resist. ### Scripture references - Luke 15:5: allusion, high confidence - Acts 26:14: allusion, low confidence ### Translation notes - The Cervulus (“Little Stag”) was a New Year festivity in which people dressed as stags; Pacian’s tract against it is lost. - The saying of Solon (that he made no law against parricide, lest he suggest it) is reported by Cicero, For Sextus Roscius 25.70. ### Citation (SBL) Pacian, Paraen. 1 (PL 13:1082c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/pacian-paraenesis/1). ## Paraenesis, or Exhortation to Penitence 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pacian-paraenesis/1/#p-2 - Source: PL 13:1082c–1083b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Pacian asks to be heard in love, says his sermon on penance concerns the whole church, and sets out its four parts. ### Latin text Vos tamen, dilectissimi, a Domino mementote positum: Argue sapientem, et amabit te: atque stultum, et odio te habebit. Et iterum: Ego, quos diligo, redarguo et castigo. Atque ideo blandam hujus mei operis ac sollicitam diligentiam, et secundum Domini voluntatem a me ipso fratre vestro ac sacerdote susceptam, amorem potius credite quam rigorem, sequendo amabiliter, non pertinaciter repugnando. Praeterea nullus existimet hunc ipsum de Poenitentiae institutione sermonem solis tantum modo poenitentibus ordinatum; ne propter hoc quisquis extra hunc gradum positus est, ea quaecumque dicentur, velut in alios destinata fastidiat, cum in hanc quasi fibulam totius Ecclesiae disciplina notetur, quando, et Catechumenis, ne in hoc transeant; et fidelibus, ne in hoc redeant, providendum sit; ipsis vero poenitentibus, ut celeriter ad hujus operis fructum perveniant, laborandum. Sermonum tamen meorum hic ordo servabitur. Primum ut de modo criminum edisseram, ne quis existimet omnibus omnino peccatis summum discrimen impositum. Tum de his fidelibus dicam qui remedium suum erubescentes male verecundi sint, et inquinato corpore ac polluta mente communicant: in conspectu hominum timidissimi; ante Dominum vero impudentissimi, profanis manibus et polluto ore contaminant, sanctis quoque et Angelis altare metuendum. Tertio, de his erit sermo, qui confessis bene apertisque criminibus remedia poenitentiae, actusque ipsos exomologesis administrandae, aut nesciunt aut recusant. Postremo illud apertissimum enitemur ostendere, quae poena sit aut non agentibus poenitentiam, aut etiam negligentibus, atque ideo in vulnere suo ac tumore morientibus: quae rursus sit corona, quod praemium, conscientiae maculas recta et ordinaria confessione purgantibus. ### English translation (Claude) But you, dearly beloved, remember that it was set down by the Lord: “Rebuke a wise man and he will love you; rebuke a fool and he will hate you.” And again: “Those whom I love I rebuke and chasten.” And therefore believe that the gentle and solicitous diligence of this work of mine, undertaken by me, your brother and priest, according to the Lord’s will, is love rather than severity, following it lovingly, not stubbornly resisting. Further, let no one think that this sermon on the institution of penance is addressed to penitents alone, so that whoever stands outside this rank should disdain whatever is said as aimed at others; for the discipline of the whole church is fastened on this as on a kind of clasp, since care must be taken that catechumens do not pass into this state and that the faithful do not return to it, while the penitents themselves must labour to reach the fruit of this work quickly. The order of my sermon, however, will be this. First I shall set out the measure of crimes, lest anyone think that the extreme peril is laid upon all sins whatever. Then I shall speak of those of the faithful who, blushing at their remedy, are wrongly modest, and communicate with defiled body and polluted mind: most timid in the sight of men but most shameless before the Lord, they contaminate with profane hands and polluted mouth the altar that is to be feared by the saints and the angels too. Third, the sermon will concern those who, having confessed and opened their crimes well, either do not know or refuse the remedies of penance and the very acts by which confession is carried out. Finally I shall try to show most plainly what the penalty is for those who do not do penance, or even neglect it, and so die in their wound and swelling; and again what crown, what reward there is for those who cleanse the stains of their conscience by right and regular confession. ### Scripture references - Prov 9:8: quotation, high confidence - Rev 3:19: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Is fastened on this … clasp” renders a doubtful text (in hanc quasi fibulam totius Ecclesiae disciplina c notetur), translated by sense; the c is probably Migne’s footnote mark. - “Confession” renders exomologesis, the public acts of penance. ### Citation (SBL) Pacian, Paraen. 2 (PL 13:1082c–1083b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/pacian-paraenesis/2). ## Paraenesis, or Exhortation to Penitence 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pacian-paraenesis/1/#p-3 - Source: PL 13:1083c–1083d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Pacian distinguishes the many minor faults from which Christ has freed believers from the few grave sins that remain binding. ### Latin text Primum igitur, ut diximus, de modo peccantium retractemus, sedulo requirentes quae sint peccata, quae crimina: ne quis existimet, propter innumera delicta quorum fraudibus nullus immunis est, me omne hominum genus indiscreta poenitendi lege constringere. Apud Mosen et veteres, minimi quoque peccati, et quadrantis unius (ut ita dixerim) rei, in eodem infelicitatis aestuario volutati sunt. Et qui sabbata violaverant, et qui immunda contigerant, et qui escarum vetita praesumpserant, et qui murmurabant, et qui pariete corrupto, et qui veste maculata in templum summi Regis intraverant, et qui altaria his obnoxii manu contrectaverant aut veste contigerant, ut in coelum ascendere citius fuerit, aut emori satius quam haec universa servare. His igitur nos omnibus multisque praeterea carnalibus vitiis, ut citius ad destinata quisque perveniat, sanguis Domini liberavit, redemptos a servitute legis et libertate fidei emancipatos. Ideoque apostolus Paulus: Vos autem, inquit, in libertatem vocati estis. Haec illa libertas; quod non omnibus astringimur quibus veteres tenebantur; sed donata (ut ita dixerim) silva delictorum, et remediorum indulgentia destinata, in pauca conclusi sumus et necessaria; quae et servare facillimum esset credentibus, et cavere: ut meritissimo tartarum non recusaret qui tantae donationi ingratus, ne haec quidem pauca servasset. Quae sint autem ista videamus. ### English translation (Claude) First, then, as we said, let us examine the measure of sinners, inquiring carefully which are sins and which crimes, lest anyone think that, because of the countless faults from whose deceits no one is free, I bind the whole human race by an indiscriminate law of penance. Under Moses and the ancients, those guilty even of the least sin, of a single farthing (so to speak), were tossed in the same flood of misfortune. Those who had violated the Sabbath, those who had touched unclean things, those who had presumed to eat forbidden foods, those who murmured, those who had entered the temple of the supreme King with a defiled wall or a stained garment, and those who, liable to these things, had handled the altars with the hand or touched them with a garment: so that it would have been quicker to ascend to heaven, or better to die, than to observe all these things. From all these, then, and from many fleshly faults besides, the blood of the Lord has set us free, so that each may reach his destination more quickly, redeemed from the slavery of the law and emancipated by the freedom of faith. And so the apostle Paul says: “But you were called to freedom.” This is that freedom: that we are not bound by all the things by which the ancients were held; but, the forest of faults having been forgiven (so to speak), and the indulgence of remedies appointed, we have been confined to a few necessary things, which it would be very easy for believers both to keep and to beware of; so that one who, ungrateful for so great a gift, had not kept even these few would most deservedly not refuse Tartarus. Let us see what these are. ### Scripture references - Num 15:32: allusion, medium confidence - Lev 11:1: allusion, medium confidence - Exod 16:7: allusion, low confidence - Lev 13:47: allusion, low confidence - Lev 14:34: allusion, low confidence - Gal 5:13: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - “A defiled wall” (pariete corrupto) is obscure; perhaps leprosy in a house (Lev 14:34–53), as the stained garment recalls Lev 13:47–59. ### Citation (SBL) Pacian, Paraen. 3 (PL 13:1083c–1083d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/pacian-paraenesis/3). ## Paraenesis, or Exhortation to Penitence 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pacian-paraenesis/1/#p-4 - Source: PL 13:1083d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Pacian cites the apostolic decree of Acts 15, which he reads as naming the three grave sins: idolatry, bloodshed, and sexual immorality (the rest of the chapter is missing from this text). ### Latin text Post Domini passionem Apostoli, tractatis omnibus atque discussis, epistolam tradiderunt, his qui ex gentibus crediderant, perferendam. Cujus epistolae sententia haec fuit: Apostoli et presbyteri fratres, his qui sunt Antiochiae et Syriae, et Ciliciae fratribus qui sunt ex gentibus, salutem. Quoniam audivimus quosdam ex nobis exiisse, et conturbasse vos verbis. Item infra: Visum est enim sancto Spiritui et nobis, nullum amplius imponi vobis pondus praeter quam: Necesse est ut abstineatis vos ab idolothytis et sanguine, et fornicatione: a quibus observantes, bene agetis. ### English translation (Claude) After the Lord’s passion the apostles, having treated and discussed everything, handed over a letter to be carried to those who had believed from among the Gentiles. The substance of this letter was this: “The apostles and presbyters, brothers, to the brothers from among the Gentiles who are in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greeting. Since we have heard that some of us went out and troubled you with words.” And again below: “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no further burden than this: it is necessary that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from sexual immorality; if you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.” ### Scripture references - Acts 15:23: quotation, high confidence - Acts 15:24: quotation, high confidence - Acts 15:28: quotation, high confidence - Acts 15:29: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Pacian reads “blood” as bloodshed (murder), as in the Western text of the decree. - The chapter is incomplete in this digital text: modern editions continue it with a further passage on these three capital sins, contrasted with lesser sins that are redeemed by contrary good works, and quoting 1 John 5:16. That passage is not in the text printed here. ### Citation (SBL) Pacian, Paraen. 4 (PL 13:1083d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/pacian-paraenesis/4). ## Paraenesis, or Exhortation to Penitence 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pacian-paraenesis/1/#p-5 - Source: PL 13:1084b–1084d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Pacian shows from Scripture that idolatry, murder, and sexual immorality are deadly sins, and warns against flattering those who have committed them. ### Latin text Sed si placet, etiam separatim audite de singulis. Mosen pro blasphematore populo deprecantem, sic appellat Deus: Si quis, inquit, deliquerit ante me, delebo illum de libro meo. Et de homicida, Dominus hoc judicat: Si quis, inquit, gladio occiderit, gladio morietur. Et de fornicatore Apostolus dicit: Ne violaveritis, inquit, templum Dei quod estis vos: Qui autem templum Dei violaverit, disperdet illum Deus. Scripta sunt haec, dilecti fratres, et perpetuis caesa monumentis; scripta et incisa non dico ceris et charta et aere vel calamo, sed libro Dei vivi. Coelum et terra transibunt, iota unum, inquit, aut apex non poterunt transire priusquam omnia compleantur: Quid ergo? moriendum est? Multi etiam animo in haec peccata ceciderunt. Multi sanguinis rei, multi idolis mancipati, multi adulteri. Addo etiam non solas manus in homicidio plecti, sed et omne consilium quod alterius animam impegit in mortem: nec eos tantum qui thura mensis adolevere profanis, sed omnem prorsus libidinem extra uxorium thorum et complexus licitos evagantem, reatu mortis astringi. Haec quicumque post fidem fecerit, Dei faciem non videbit. Desperavere tantorum criminum rei. Quid vobis ego feci? Numquid non fuit in potestate ne fieret? Nullusne admonuit? Nemo praedixit? Tacuit Ecclesia? Nihil Evangelia dixerunt? Nihil Apostoli comminati sunt? Nihil rogavit sacerdos? Quid quaeritis sera solatia? Tunc decuit, cum licebat. Dura ista vox est; sed qui vos felices dicunt, in errorem vos mittunt, et semitas pedum vestrorum conturbant. Facinoris viam monstrat innoxiis, qui nocentibus post scelera blanditur. ### English translation (Claude) But if you please, hear also about each one separately. To Moses interceding for the blaspheming people God speaks thus: “If anyone has sinned before me, I will blot him out of my book.” And of the murderer the Lord judges this: “If anyone kills with the sword, he will die by the sword.” And of the fornicator the Apostle says: “Do not violate the temple of God, which you are; whoever violates the temple of God, God will destroy him.” These things are written, dear brothers, and carved on everlasting monuments; written and engraved, I say, not on wax and paper and bronze or with a pen, but in the book of the living God. “Heaven and earth will pass away,” he says; “one iota or one stroke cannot pass away until all things are fulfilled.” What then? Must we die? Many have fallen into these sins even in intention. Many are guilty of blood, many enslaved to idols, many adulterers. I add also that not only the hands are punished in murder, but every counsel that drove another’s soul to death; and not only those who burned incense on profane tables, but every lust whatever that wanders outside the marriage bed and lawful embraces, are bound by the guilt of death. Whoever does these things after faith will not see the face of God. Those guilty of such great crimes have despaired. What have I done to you? Was it not in your power that it not be done? Did no one warn you? Did no one foretell it? Was the church silent? Did the Gospels say nothing? Did the apostles threaten nothing? Did the priest ask nothing? Why do you seek late consolations? Then was the time, when it was allowed. That is a hard saying; but those who call you happy lead you into error and confuse the paths of your feet. He who flatters the guilty after their crimes shows the road of crime to the innocent. ### Scripture references - Exod 32:33: quotation, high confidence - Matt 26:52: quotation, high confidence - Rev 13:10: allusion, low confidence - 1 Cor 3:16: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 3:17: quotation, high confidence - 2 Cor 3:3: allusion, low confidence - Matt 5:18: quotation, high confidence - Matt 24:35: quotation, high confidence - Isa 3:12: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Fornicator” renders fornicator; Pacian counts all sexual intercourse outside marriage under this sin. - “Those who call you happy lead you into error” follows the Latin of Isa 3:12. ### Citation (SBL) Pacian, Paraen. 5 (PL 13:1084b–1084d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/pacian-paraenesis/5). ## Paraenesis, or Exhortation to Penitence 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pacian-paraenesis/1/#p-6 - Source: PL 13:1085a–1085c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Pacian warns those who receive communion after grave sin without penance, citing the death of Uzzah and the law on eating sacrifices while unclean. ### Latin text Ergo (inquiet aliquis) perituri sumus? et ubi misericors Deus, qui mortem non invenit, nec laetatur in perditione vivorum? Moriemurne in peccatis nostris? Et quid facies tu sacerdos? Quibus emolumentis tot Ecclesia detrimenta pensabis? Accipite remedium si desperare coepistis; si miseros vos agnoscitis, si timetis. Qui nimium confidit, indignus est. Super quem (inquit Dominus) respiciam, nisi supra humilem et quietum, et trementem verba mea? Vos ergo primum appello, fratres, qui criminibus admissis poenitentiam recusatis: vos, inquam, post impudentiam timidos, post peccata verecundos, qui peccare non erubescitis et erubescitis confiteri: qui cum mala conscientia, Dei sancta contingitis, et altare Domini non timetis: qui ad manus sacerdotis, qui in conspectu angelorum sub fiducia innocentiae acceditis: qui divinae patientiae insultatis; qui tacenti Deo, veluti nescienti, pollutam animam et profanum corpus ingeritis. Audite, quid fecerit Dominus; tum deinde, quid dixerit. Cum populus Hebraeorum Hierosolymis Arcam Domini reportaret, et ex domo Aminadab Israelitis; Ozas qui non explorata conscientia, latus Arcae attigerat, occisus est; et tamen ille, non ut aliquid ex ea sumeret; sed ut declinantem ad lapsum vituli, contineret, accesserat. Tanta infuit cura divinae reverentiae, ut audaces manus, nec ob auxilium sustineret. Clamat idem Dominus et dicit: Omnis mundus manducabit carnem, et anima quoecumque contigerit de carne sacrificii salutaris, et immunditia super illa est; pereat anima illa de populo. Antiquane ista sunt, et modo non fiunt? Quid ergo? desiit Deus nostra curare; an ultra conspectum mundi recessit, et neminem spectat e coelo? An patientia illius, ignorantia est? Absit, inquies. Videt ergo quae facimus, sed utique exspectat et patitur, et poenitentiae tempus indulget, et Christo suo praestat ut differat, ne cito pereant quos redemit. Bene, tu peccator, intellige: spectaris a Domino, potes illum placare si velis. ### English translation (Claude) “Then,” someone will say, “are we to perish? And where is the merciful God, who did not make death and does not rejoice in the destruction of the living? Shall we die in our sins? And what will you do, priest? With what gains will you make up for so many losses of the church?” Accept the remedy, if you have begun to despair; if you acknowledge yourselves wretched, if you fear. He who is overconfident is unworthy. “On whom,” says the Lord, “shall I look, but on the humble and quiet and the one who trembles at my words?” First, then, I address you, brothers, who refuse penance after committing crimes: you, I say, timid after shamelessness, modest after sins, who do not blush to sin but blush to confess; who touch the holy things of God with a bad conscience and do not fear the altar of the Lord; who come to the hands of the priest, in the sight of the angels, with the confidence of innocence; who insult the divine patience; who thrust a polluted soul and a profane body upon God as he keeps silent, as if he did not know. Hear what the Lord did, and then what he said. When the people of the Hebrews were bringing the Ark of the Lord back to Jerusalem from the house of Abinadab for the Israelites, Uzzah, who without examining his conscience had touched the side of the Ark, was killed; and yet he had come near not to take anything from it, but to hold it as it was tipping over through the stumbling of the calf. So great was the care for divine reverence that he would not bear bold hands even for help. The same Lord cries out and says: “Everyone who is clean shall eat the flesh; and any soul that touches the flesh of the sacrifice of peace while his uncleanness is upon him, that soul shall perish from the people.” Are these things ancient, and not done now? What then? Has God ceased to care for our affairs? Has he withdrawn beyond the sight of the world and watches no one from heaven? Is his patience ignorance? “Far from it,” you will say. Then he sees what we do; but certainly he waits and bears with it, and grants a time for penance, and allows his Christ to delay, so that those whom he redeemed may not quickly perish. Understand it well, sinner: you are watched by the Lord; you can appease him if you will. ### Scripture references - Ezek 18:32: allusion, medium confidence - Ezek 33:11: allusion, medium confidence - Isa 66:2: quotation, high confidence - 2 Sam 6:6 (2 Reg. 6:6 Vulg.): allusion, high confidence - 2 Sam 6:7: allusion, high confidence - Lev 7:19: quotation, high confidence - Lev 7:20: quotation, high confidence - Ps 14:2: allusion, low confidence - 2 Pet 3:9: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 1:13 (Wisdom of Solomon): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - “Who did not make death” follows Wis 1:13; compare Ezek 18:32. - The Ark came from the house of Abinadab (Aminadab in the Latin); Pacian’s “stumbling of the calf” follows the Latin of 2 Sam 6:6. Migne’s reference “(II Reg. VI)” was removed from the text. - Leviticus is quoted in an Old Latin form. ### Citation (SBL) Pacian, Paraen. 6 (PL 13:1085a–1085c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/pacian-paraenesis/6). ## Paraenesis, or Exhortation to Penitence 7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pacian-paraenesis/1/#p-7 - Source: PL 13:1085c–1086a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Pacian applies Paul’s warning against eating the Lord’s body unworthily to sinners who receive communion without penance. ### Latin text Sed antiquum sit istud quod ad mensam Dei accedere non licuit immundis: evolvite Apostolos, et novella cognoscite. In prima Corinthiorum, Paulus haec intulit: Quicumque, inquit, manducaverit, aut biberit calicem Domini indigne, reus erit Corporis et Sanguinis Domini. Item infra: Qui enim manducat et bibit indigne, judicium sibi manducat et bibit, non discernens corpus Domini: Propterea, inquit, inter vos, multi infirmi et aegri, et dormiunt multi. Quod si nos ipsos judicaremus, non utique judicaremur; cum judicamur autem, a Domino corripimur, ut non cum hoc mundo damnemur. Intremuistis, an non? Reus erit, inquit, corporis et sanguinis Domini. Humanae animae reus non posset absolvi; dominici corporis violator evadit? Qui manducat, inquit, et bibit indigne, judicium sibi manducat et bibit. Evigila peccator; time in visceribus tuis praesens judicium, si quid tale fecisti. Propterea, inquit, inter vos, multi infirmi et aegri, et dormiunt multi. Jam si quis futura non metuit, vel praesentem aegritudinem praesentemque obitum reformidet. Cum judicamur, inquit, a Domino corripimur, ut non cum hoc mundo damnemur. Laetare, peccator, si in hoc saeculo aut morte interciperis, aut languore consumeris, ne puniaris post saeculum. Intellige quantum sceleris admittat qui ad altare venit indignus; cui pro remedio computatur, cum aut morbis laborat, aut morte dissolvitur. ### English translation (Claude) But let it be ancient that the unclean were not permitted to approach the table of God: turn over the apostles and learn the new things. In First Corinthians Paul brought in this: “Whoever,” he says, “eats or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” And again below: “For he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment on himself, not discerning the body of the Lord. For this reason,” he says, “many among you are weak and sick, and many sleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged; but when we are judged, we are corrected by the Lord, so that we may not be condemned with this world.” Did you tremble, or not? “He will be guilty,” he says, “of the body and blood of the Lord.” One guilty of a human soul could not be acquitted; will the violator of the Lord’s body escape? “He who eats,” he says, “and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment on himself.” Wake up, sinner; fear the judgment present in your inmost parts, if you have done any such thing. “For this reason,” he says, “many among you are weak and sick, and many sleep.” Now if anyone does not fear the future, let him at least dread present sickness and present death. “When we are judged,” he says, “we are corrected by the Lord, so that we may not be condemned with this world.” Rejoice, sinner, if in this age you are either cut off by death or consumed by sickness, so that you may not be punished after this age. Understand how great a crime is committed by one who comes to the altar unworthy, when it is counted to him as a remedy that he labours with diseases or is dissolved by death. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 11:27: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 11:29: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 11:30: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 11:31: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 11:32: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Fear the judgment present in your inmost parts”: that is, the sacrament received becomes judgment within the unworthy communicant. ### Citation (SBL) Pacian, Paraen. 7 (PL 13:1085c–1086a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/pacian-paraenesis/7). ## Paraenesis, or Exhortation to Penitence 8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pacian-paraenesis/1/#p-8 - Source: PL 13:1086a–1086c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Pacian urges sinners not to endanger the community and the priest by hiding their sins, but to confess them, as the sick show their wounds to physicians, since the church grieves with them. ### Latin text Quod si vestra vobis, vilis est anima; parcite populo, parcite sacerdotibus. Clamat Apostolus: Exiguum fermentum, totam massam fermentat. Quid facies tu propter quem omnis massa corrumpitur; propter quem laboratura est tota fraternitas? Vives tot animarum reus? Excusaberis cum tibi Communionem suam imputaverint innocentes, cum te Ecclesia dixerit suae cladis auctorem? Ecce iterum Apostolus ad sacerdotem: Manus cito nulli imponas, nec communices peccatis alienis. Quid facies, tu qui decipis sacerdotem? Qui aut ignorantem fallis, aut non ad plenum Scientem probandi difficultate confundis? Rogo ergo vos, fratres, etiam pro periculo meo, per illum Dominum quem occulta non fallunt, desinite vulneratam tegere conscientiam. Prudentes aegri medicos non verentur, ne in occultis quidem corporum partibus etiam secaturos, etiam perusturos. Meminimus quosdam, remota etiam et verecunda membrorum non erubescentes, in ferro et cauterio, et gravissima illa pulveris mordacitate durasse. Et quantum est illud quod homines praestiterunt? Peccator timebit? Peccator erubescet, perpetuam vitam praesenti pudore mercari? et offerenti manus Domino, vulnera male tecta subducet? Et habet aliquid quod in illo erubescat, qui Dominum laesit? An sic illi melius est perire, ne tu pudore timidus sine pudore moriaris, non faciens pudori locum, plus de detrimento ejus acquiras cui pro te melius est perire? Quod si fratrum oculos erubescitis; consortes casuum vestrorum timere nolite. Nullum corpus membrorum suorum vexatione laetatur; pariter dolet, et ad remedium collaborat. In uno et altero, Ecclesia est; in Ecclesia vero Christus. Atque ideo qui fratribus peccata sua non tacet, Ecclesiae lacrymis adjutus Christi precibus absolvitur. ### English translation (Claude) But if your own soul is cheap to you, spare the people, spare the priests. The Apostle cries out: “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” What will you do, you on whose account the whole lump is corrupted, on whose account the whole brotherhood will have to suffer? Will you live guilty of so many souls? Will you excuse yourself when the innocent charge their communion to you, when the church calls you the author of her ruin? See again the Apostle to the priest: “Lay hands hastily on no one, and do not share in the sins of others.” What will you do, you who deceive the priest? Who either mislead him in his ignorance, or confound him, not fully knowing, by the difficulty of testing? I beg you, then, brothers, even for my own peril, by that Lord whom hidden things do not deceive, stop covering a wounded conscience. Sensible patients do not fear physicians, not even when they are going to cut and cauterize in the hidden parts of the body. We remember some who, not blushing even at the remote and shameful members, endured the knife and the cautery and that most painful biting of the powder. And how much is that which men have endured? Will the sinner be afraid? Will the sinner blush to buy everlasting life with present shame, and withdraw his badly covered wounds from the Lord as he holds out his hands? And has he who has wounded the Lord anything to blush at in him? Or is it better for him to perish in this way, so that you, timid with shame, may die without shame, giving no place to shame, and gain more from the loss of one for whom it is better that he perish in your stead? But if you blush before the eyes of your brothers, do not fear those who share your falls. No body rejoices at the affliction of its members; it grieves together and works together for the remedy. In one and another is the church; and in the church is Christ. And so he who does not keep his sins silent from his brothers, helped by the tears of the church, is absolved by the prayers of Christ. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 5:6: quotation, high confidence - Gal 5:9: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 5:22: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 12:26: allusion, high confidence - Matt 18:20: allusion, low confidence ### Translation notes - “Or is it better for him to perish …”: the text of this sentence is confused (An sic illi melius est perire, ne tu pudore timidus sine pudore moriaris …), and the translation is by sense only; the sense of the whole is uncertain. ### Citation (SBL) Pacian, Paraen. 8 (PL 13:1086a–1086c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/pacian-paraenesis/8). ## Paraenesis, or Exhortation to Penitence 9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pacian-paraenesis/1/#p-9 - Source: PL 13:1086d–1087b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Pacian rebukes those who confess but will not perform the works of penance, and holds up David and Nebuchadnezzar as examples of severe penance that God accepted. ### Latin text Nunc ad eos sermo sit, qui bene ac sapienter vulnera sua, poenitentiae nomine, confitentes; nec quid sit poenitentia, nec quae vulnerum medicina, noverunt; similesque sunt illis qui plagas quidem aperiunt ac tumores, medicisque etiam assidentibus confitentur; sed admoniti, quae imponenda sunt, negligunt; et quae bibenda, fastidiunt. Quod tale est ac si dicat aliquis: Ecce ego aeger, ecce ego vulneratus sum, sed nolo curari. Stomachandum hoc erat: sed videte quid stultius. Additur etiam morbus ad causam, et vulnus adjungitur, et contraria quaeque imponuntur, perniciosa potantur. Quo maxime malo fraternitas haec laborat, delictis veteribus nova insuper adjungendo peccata. Ergo gravius erupit In vitium, perniciosissima jam tabe cruciatur. Quid ergo faciam nunc sacerdos qui curare, compellor? Serum est in ejusmodi. Verumtamen si quis est vestrum qui secari et exuri sustineat, adhuc possum. Ecce scalpellum propheticum: Convertimini, inquit, ad Dominum Deum vestrum, simulque jejunio, et fletu, et planctu, et scindite corda vestra. Nolite hanc secturam timere, dulcissimi. Sustinuit illam David, jacuit in cinere sordenti, sacco insuper horrente deformis. Ille quondam gemmis assuetus et purpuris, texit in jejunio animam suam: cui maria, cui silvae, cui flumina serviebant, promissasque divitias terra parturiens; madidus lacrymis consumpsit oculos illos quibus gloriam Dei viderat, et infelicem se miserumque confessus est pater Mariae, Judaei etiam dominator imperii. Rex ille Babylonius, exomologesim desertus operatur, et septenni squalore decoquitur. Leonum in illo jubas, impexa caesaries et barbarus horror exsuperat; et longe incurvis unguibus manus horrentes, aquilas mentiuntur cum fenum in morem bovis ederet pallentium ruminator herbarum. Haec tamen illum Deo poena commendat, et in sua quondam regna restituit. Quem horrebant homines, Deus recipiebat, ipsa illa malae tractationis calamitate felicem. Ecce sectio, quam spopondi: qui potuerit tolerare, sanabitur. ### English translation (Claude) Now let the sermon turn to those who, well and wisely confessing their wounds under the name of penance, know neither what penance is nor what the medicine of the wounds is; and they are like those who open their sores and swellings and confess them even to the physicians who sit by them, but when advised, neglect what is to be applied and disdain what is to be drunk. This is as if someone said: “See, I am sick; see, I am wounded; but I do not want to be cured.” That was something to be angry at; but see what is more foolish. Disease too is added to the cause, and wound joined to wound, and everything contrary is applied, harmful things are drunk. With this evil above all this brotherhood is afflicted, adding new sins on top of old faults. So it has broken out more seriously into vice, and is tormented by a most deadly wasting. What then shall I, a priest, do now, who am compelled to cure? It is late in such cases. Nevertheless, if there is any of you who will bear to be cut and burned, I can still do it. See the prophetic scalpel: “Turn,” he says, “to the Lord your God, with fasting and weeping and mourning, and rend your hearts.” Do not fear this cutting, dearest ones. David bore it; he lay in filthy ashes, disfigured besides by bristling sackcloth. He who was once accustomed to gems and purple covered his soul with fasting; he whom the seas, the forests, the rivers served, and the earth bringing forth promised riches, wore out with tears the eyes with which he had seen the glory of God, and confessed himself unhappy and wretched, the father of Mary, the ruler even of the Jewish kingdom. That king of Babylon, forsaken, performs confession and is wasted by seven years of squalor. His uncombed hair and barbaric shagginess outdo the manes of lions; his bristling hands with their long curved nails counterfeit eagles, while like an ox he ate hay, a ruminant of pale grasses. Yet this punishment commended him to God and restored him to his former kingdom. Him whom men shuddered at, God was receiving, happy in the very calamity of his harsh treatment. See the cutting that I promised: whoever can bear it will be healed. ### Scripture references - Joel 2:12: quotation, high confidence - Joel 2:13: quotation, high confidence - Ps 69:10 (68:11 Vulg.): allusion, medium confidence - Ps 6:7 (6:8 Vulg.): allusion, low confidence - Dan 4:33: allusion, high confidence - Dan 4:36: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The digital text is displaced at the start of this section: a line (“Stomachandum hoc erat: sed videte quod stultius”) is printed twice, once garbled and once in the middle of a later sentence; the translation follows the restored order (see corrections). - “The father of Mary” (pater Mariae): David as ancestor of Mary; perhaps a corruption. - The description of Nebuchadnezzar follows Dan 4:33. ### Citation (SBL) Pacian, Paraen. 9 (PL 13:1086d–1087b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/pacian-paraenesis/9). ## Paraenesis, or Exhortation to Penitence 10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pacian-paraenesis/1/#p-10 - Source: PL 13:1087b–1088a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Pacian rebukes penitents who live in luxury and describes the works of public penance: weeping before the church, squalid clothing, fasting, prayer, almsgiving, and abstaining from baths and banquets. ### Latin text Admovebo adhuc ignes de cauterio apostolico: videamus an ferre possitis. Judicavi, inquit, congregatis vobis et spiritu meo, in virtute Domini Jesu Christi, tradere ejusmodi hominem satanae in interitum carnis, ut spiritus salvus sit in diem Domini. Quid dicitis, poenitentes? Ubi est vestrae carnis interitus? An quod in ipsa poenitentia lautiores semper inceditis, convivio farti, balneis expoliti, veste compositi? Ecce aliquem video aliquando frugi, aliquando pauperculum, aliquando vili tunica sordulentum: nunc bene cultus et locuples, et decorus est, quasi imputet Deo quod illi servire non potuit, et morientem animam recreet voluptate membrorum. Bene quod mediocres sumus: caeterum et illa faceremus quod quosdam et quasdam non pudet lautiores, marmoribus tegi, auro opprimi, serico fluere, cocco rubescere. Si quid ferruginei pulveris in supercilio fulgeret, aut ficti nitoris in genas rutilet, aut coacti ruboris in labia desudet: ista forsitan non habetis. Non desunt tamen vobis hortulani maritimive secessus, et exquisitius vinum, et lautiora convivia, et defaecatio senectutis. Sic agite, sic credite, quando vivetis? Non sustineo jam, fratres. Danielus cum sodalibus suis sacco tectus et cinere, jejunio etiam exsanguis, haec loquitur: Peccavimus, facinus admisimus, impie gessimus, transgressi sumus praecepta et judicia tua. De Azaria itidem scriptura divina; Stans, inquit, Azarias precatus est, et aperiens os suum exomologesim faciebat Deo simul cum sodalibus suis. David ipse: Lavabo, inquit, per singulas noctes lectum meum, lacrymis stratum meum rigabo. Nos vero, quid tale, quid simile? Non dico illa quae congregamus ad cumulum, cauponando, mercando, rapiendo; foris lucra, intus libidines aucupando; nihil agendo simpliciter, nihil pauperibus largiendo, nihil fratribus remittendo. Ne haec quidem quae videri etiam a sacerdote possunt, et episcopo teste laudari; ne haec quidem quotidiani servamus; flere in conspectu Ecclesiae, perditam vitam sordida veste lugere, jejunare, orare, provolvi: si quis ad balneum vocet, recusare delicias: si quis ad convivium roget, dicere: Ista felicibus, ego deliqui in Dominum, et periclitor in aeternum perire: quo mihi epulas, qui Dominum laesi? Tenere praeterea pauperum manus, viduas obsecrare, presbyteris advolvi, exoratricem Ecclesiam deprecari, omnia prius tentare quam pereas. ### English translation (Claude) I will apply yet the fire of the apostolic cautery: let us see whether you can bear it. “I have judged,” he says, “when you and my spirit are gathered together, in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, to hand such a man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” What do you say, penitents? Where is the destruction of your flesh? Is it that during penance itself you always go about more elegant, stuffed with banquets, polished by baths, dressed up in clothing? See, I see someone once frugal, once poor, once shabby in a cheap tunic: now he is well groomed and rich and handsome, as though he charged it to God that he could not serve him, and refreshed his dying soul with the pleasure of his limbs. It is well that we are of modest means: otherwise we would do those things too, that some men and women more elegant are not ashamed of: to be covered with marbles, weighed down with gold, flowing with silk, red with scarlet. Whether some rusty powder glitters on the eyebrow, or false lustre glows on the cheeks, or forced red sweats on the lips: these perhaps you do not have. Yet you do not lack little gardens and seaside retreats, more exquisite wine, more elegant banquets, and old age refined. If you act so, if you believe so, when will you live? I can bear it no longer, brothers. Daniel with his companions, covered with sackcloth and ashes, bloodless with fasting too, speaks thus: “We have sinned, we have committed crime, we have acted impiously, we have transgressed your precepts and judgments.” Of Azariah likewise divine Scripture says: “Azariah stood,” it says, “and prayed, and opening his mouth he made confession to God together with his companions.” David himself says: “Every night I will wash my bed; I will water my couch with tears.” But we: what of this kind, what like it? I do not speak of the things we gather into heaps by peddling, trading, robbing; hunting gains outside and lusts within; doing nothing simply, giving nothing to the poor, forgiving nothing to our brothers. Not even these things, which can be seen by the priest too and praised with the bishop as witness, not even these do we keep daily: to weep in the sight of the church, to mourn a lost life in a squalid garment, to fast, to pray, to prostrate oneself; if anyone invites you to the bath, to refuse the luxury; if anyone asks you to a banquet, to say: “These things are for the happy; I have sinned against the Lord and am in danger of perishing for ever: what are feasts to me, who have wounded the Lord?” Besides this, to hold the hands of the poor, to beseech the widows, to fall at the feet of the presbyters, to entreat the interceding church, to try everything before you perish. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 5:3: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 5:4: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 5:5: quotation, high confidence - Dan 9:3: allusion, high confidence - Dan 9:5: quotation, high confidence - Ps 6:6 (6:7 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Pr Azar 1–2 (Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Young Men): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The confession of Daniel follows Dan 9:5; that of Azariah is the Prayer of Azariah (Dan 3:25–26 in the Greek and Latin additions), outside the Protestant canon. ### Citation (SBL) Pacian, Paraen. 10 (PL 13:1087b–1088a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/pacian-paraenesis/10). ## Paraenesis, or Exhortation to Penitence 11 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pacian-paraenesis/1/#p-11 - Source: PL 13:1088c–1089a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Pacian urges sinners to use the remedy of penance as animals use healing herbs, and warns of the eternal fire that awaits the unrepentant in body and soul. ### Latin text Scio quosdam ex fratribus et sororibus vestris cilicio pectus involvere, cineri incubare, jejunia sera meditari; et non talia, fortasse, peccarunt. Quid de fratribus loquar? Caprae ferae, ut dicunt, remedia sua noverunt: confixas quippe, audio, venenatis sagittis, saltus peragrare Dictaeos, quoad dictami caule detonso, salutarium virulento latice succorum, pulsa decutiant tela corporibus. Nos ignita diaboli spicula nullo poenitentiae succo, nullo exomologesis gramine repellimus. Excaecatos hirundo pullos novit oculare de sua chelidonia: nos, lumina mentis amissa, nulla malae tractationis radice curabimus? Ecce nec capreis, nec hirundini homo similis, caecitati suae invidet et dolori. Considerate nunc, fratres, quid in fine promisimus: quis fructus, haec opera; vel contra, quis exitus consequatur. Peccatoribus delicatis et poenitentiam non agentibus, spiritus Domini comminatur et dicit: Dilectum veritatis non receperunt ut salvi fierent: ac propterea mittet illis Deus operationem, erroris ut credant mendacio, ut judicentur omnes qui non crediderunt veritati, sed sibi placent in injustitiam. Item Apocalypsis de meretrice sic loquitur: In quantum clarificavit se et delicias exercuit: tantum date ei tormentum et luctum. Et apostolus Paulus: An ignoras, quoniam bonitas Dei in poenitentiam te perducit? Tu autem secundum duritiam tuam thesaurizas tibi iram in die irae, et revelationis justi judicii Dei. Timete igitur, dilectissimi, justa judicia: omittite errorem, damnate delicias: properat jam tempus extremum: tartarus et gehenna laxatos impiis sinus pandunt. Post animarum tempestiva supplicia, redivivis quoque perpetua corporibus poena servatur. Nemo Tityi jecur credat, et Vulturem poetarum. Ipse sibi materiam recrescentium corporum reparat ignis aeternus. Attendite, si non creditis: aquarum impetus qui ignibus furit, supplicio nutriente reparabitur. Si de cruciatu exomologesis retracti, gehennam recordemini quam vobis exomologesis exstinguet. Vim ejus et de praesentibus aestimate; cujus fumariola quaedam, maximos montes subterraneis ignibus decoquunt. AEstuant indefessis flammarum globis AEthna Siculus, et Vesuvius Campanus: et quo nobis judicii perpetuitatem probent, dissiliunt, devorantur; nec ullis tamen saeculis finiuntur. Attendite in Evangelio divitem solius adhuc animae suppliciis laborantem. Qualis tandem illa redituris poena corporibus? quis in illa stridor dentium? quis fletus oculorum? ### English translation (Claude) I know that some of your brothers and sisters wrap their breasts in haircloth, lie in ashes, and think of late fasts; and perhaps they have not sinned in such ways. Why speak of brothers? Wild goats, as they say, know their own remedies: for I hear that when pierced with poisoned arrows they roam the Dictaean glades until, having cropped the stalk of dittany, they shake the darts out of their bodies by the potent juice of its healing sap. We do not repel the fiery darts of the devil with any juice of penance, any herb of confession. The swallow knows how to restore sight to its blinded chicks with its own celandine: shall we, having lost the lights of the mind, cure them with no root of hard treatment? See, man, not like the goats or the swallow, begrudges himself his blindness and pain. Consider now, brothers, what we promised at the end: what fruit follows these works, or, on the contrary, what outcome. To delicate sinners who do not do penance the Spirit of the Lord threatens and says: “They did not receive the love of the truth so that they might be saved; and therefore God will send them a working of error, so that they believe a lie, so that all may be judged who did not believe the truth but take pleasure in unrighteousness.” Likewise the Apocalypse speaks thus of the harlot: “As much as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so much torment and mourning give her.” And the apostle Paul: “Or do you not know that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness you store up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” Fear, then, dearly beloved, the just judgments; leave error, condemn luxury: the last time is already hastening; Tartarus and Gehenna open their wide bosoms to the ungodly. After the timely punishments of souls, an everlasting penalty is kept for the bodies too when they are restored to life. Let no one believe in the liver of Tityus and the vulture of the poets. The eternal fire itself renews for itself the matter of bodies that grow again. Attend, if you do not believe: the rush of waters that rages with fires will be renewed by the punishment that feeds it. If you draw back from the torment of confession, remember Gehenna, which confession will put out for you. Judge its power from present things too: some of its little chimneys boil the greatest mountains with underground fires. Sicilian Etna and Campanian Vesuvius seethe with tireless balls of flame; and, to prove to us the everlasting duration of the judgment, they burst asunder and are devoured, and yet in no ages are they finished. Attend in the Gospel to the rich man still suffering in the punishments of his soul alone. What, then, will be the penalty for bodies that are to return? What gnashing of teeth will there be? What weeping of eyes? ### Scripture references - Eph 6:16: allusion, high confidence - 2 Thess 2:10: quotation, high confidence - 2 Thess 2:11: quotation, high confidence - 2 Thess 2:12: quotation, high confidence - Rev 18:7: quotation, high confidence - Rom 2:4: quotation, high confidence - Rom 2:5: quotation, high confidence - Luke 16:24: allusion, high confidence - Matt 8:12: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Pliny the Elder, Pliny, Nat. 8.97 (Pliny the Elder, Natural History): allusion, low confidence - Virgil, Aen. 6.595–600 (Virgil): allusion, low confidence ### Translation notes - The stories of the wounded goats and dittany and of the swallow and celandine are commonplaces of ancient natural history (e.g. Pliny, Natural History 8.97; 25.89); Pacian’s “Dictaean” refers to Mount Dicte in Crete. - “The rush of waters that rages with fires” is obscure; perhaps volcanic springs. ### Citation (SBL) Pacian, Paraen. 11 (PL 13:1088c–1089a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/pacian-paraenesis/11). ## Paraenesis, or Exhortation to Penitence 12 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/pacian-paraenesis/1/#p-12 - Source: PL 13:1089a–1090b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Pacian closes with an appeal to do penance now, while there is time, promising God’s forgiveness to those who return like the prodigal son. ### Latin text Mementote, fratres, quia apud inferos exomologesis non est; nec poenitentia tunc tribui poterit, consumpto tempore poenitendi. Festinate, dum in vita estis, dum cum adversario iter facitis. Saeculares ecce ignes timemus, et carnificum ungulas expavescimus: comparate cum his aeternas torquentium manus, apicesque flammarum nulla aetate morientium. Rogo vos per Ecclesiae fidem, fratres: per sollicitudinem meam, per communes omnium animas obtestor et deprecor: ne pudeat in hoc opere; ne pigeat opportuna quam primum remedia salutis invadere, dejicere moeroribus animum, sacco corpus involvere, cinere perfundere, macerari jejunio, moerore conficere, multorum precibus adjuvari. In quantum poenae vestrae non pepercistis, in tantum vobis Deus parcet. Est enim mitis et patiens, et multae miserationis, et qui sententiam flectat adversus malitias irrogatam. Ecce promitto, polliceor, si ad Patrem vestrum vera satisfactione redeatis, nihil ulterius errando, nihil pristinis adjiciendo peccatis, dicendo etiam humile aliquid et flebile, Peccavimus in conspectu tuo Pater; jam non sumus digni nomine filiorum: continuo de vobis et pecus illud recedet immundum, et siliquarum esca deformis. Continuo revertentes, et stola vestiti, et annulus honorabit, et paternus iterum complexus accipiet. Ecce ipse loquitur: Nolo mortem peccatoris, quantum ut revertatur et vivat. Et iterum: Nonne, ait, qui ceciderit, resurget; et qui aversatus fuerit, convertetur. Et Apostolus dicit: Potens est Deus statuere illum. Apocalypsis etiam septem Ecclesiis, nisi poenitentiam egerint, comminatur. Nec utique, non poenitentibus comminaretur, nisi ignosceret poenitentibus. Etiam ipse Deus dicit: Memento ecce unde cecideris, et age poenitentiam. Et iterum: Cum conversus ingemueris, tunc salvaberis, et scies ubi fueris. Nec quisquam adeo peccatricis animae vilitate desperet, ut se jam non necessarium Deo credat. Neminem nostrum perire vult Dominus: etiam modici et minimi requiruntur. Si non creditis, intuemini: ecce in evangelio drachma requiritur, et vicinis inventa monstratur. Ovicula, suppositis reportanda cervicibus, non est onerosa pastori. Super unum peccatorem poenitentiam agentem in coelis Angeli gaudent, et chorus coelestis exsultat. Heus tu peccator, rogare ne desinas: vides ubi de tuo reditu gaudeatur. Amen. ### English translation (Claude) Remember, brothers, that in the underworld there is no confession; nor can penance be granted then, when the time for repenting is used up. Hurry while you are in life, while you are on the way with your adversary. See, we fear the fires of this world and dread the hooks of the executioners: compare with these the eternal hands of the torturers and the tips of flames that die in no age. I beg you by the faith of the church, brothers; by my solicitude, by the common souls of all, I adjure and entreat you: do not be ashamed in this work; do not be reluctant to seize as soon as possible the timely remedies of salvation: to cast down the soul in grief, to wrap the body in sackcloth, to sprinkle it with ashes, to waste it with fasting, to wear it with sorrow, to be helped by the prayers of many. As far as you have not spared your punishment, so far will God spare you. For he is gentle and patient, and of great compassion, and one who turns back the sentence pronounced against wickedness. See, I promise, I pledge, if you return to your Father with true satisfaction, wandering no further, adding nothing to your former sins, and saying something humble and tearful: “Father, we have sinned in your sight; we are no longer worthy of the name of sons”: at once that unclean herd and the unsightly food of the husks will depart from you. At once, as you return, the robe will clothe you, the ring will honour you, and your Father’s embrace will receive you again. See, he himself says: “I do not desire the death of the sinner, so much as that he turn and live.” And again: “Shall not he who falls rise again, and he who has turned away return?” And the Apostle says: “God is able to make him stand.” The Apocalypse too threatens the seven churches unless they repent. And surely he would not threaten those who do not repent unless he forgave those who repent. God himself also says: “Remember, see, from where you have fallen, and repent.” And again: “When you turn and groan, then you will be saved and will know where you have been.” And let no one despair so much from the worthlessness of a sinful soul as to think himself no longer needed by God. The Lord wants none of us to perish: even the small and least are sought. If you do not believe, look: see, in the Gospel the drachma is sought, and when found is shown to the neighbours. The little sheep, to be carried back on shoulders placed beneath it, is no burden to the shepherd. Over one sinner who does penance the angels rejoice in heaven and the heavenly choir exults. Ho, you sinner, do not cease to ask: you see where your return is rejoiced over. Amen. ### Scripture references - Matt 5:25: allusion, high confidence - Joel 2:13: allusion, high confidence - Luke 15:21: quotation, high confidence - Luke 15:15: allusion, high confidence - Luke 15:16: allusion, high confidence - Luke 15:22: allusion, high confidence - Luke 15:20: allusion, high confidence - Ezek 33:11: quotation, high confidence - Jer 8:4: quotation, high confidence - Rom 14:4: quotation, high confidence - Rev 2:5: quotation, high confidence - Isa 30:15: quotation, high confidence - 2 Pet 3:9: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 15:9: allusion, high confidence - Luke 15:5: allusion, high confidence - Luke 15:7: allusion, high confidence - Luke 15:10: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “So much as that he turn and live” renders quantum ut revertatur et vivat (Ezek 33:11), probably for quam ut. - “Satisfaction” renders satisfactio, the making of amends in penance. ### Citation (SBL) Pacian, Paraen. 12 (PL 13:1089a–1090b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/pacian-paraenesis/12).