On Dice-Players

… Great is our care, faithful ones, for the whole brotherhood, and above all for the guilty audacity of all the lost, that is, of the dice players, whose minds … to wickedness … plunge into the lake of death. And since the divine and fatherly goodness has conferred on us the leadership of the apostolate, and by heavenly favor has ordained the vicarious seat of the Lord, and we carry in our predecessor the origin of the authentic apostolate on which Christ founded the church, having received at the same time the power of loosing and binding and of forgiving sins with healing care, we are warned by saving doctrine lest, while we constantly pardon offenders, we ourselves be tormented together with them.

And so we are called the salt of the earth, so that the whole brotherhood may be salted by us with heavenly wisdom. For since he says, “But if the salt has become tasteless, it will be good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled on by men,” we fear and dread this: lest, while we are secure in the church because the priestly dignity has been handed to us by the Lord, we give way to negligence … and are found to be like certain idle brothers; or lest, while we give a false communion, we lose by our own action, the Lord being angry, what we received with honor from God's favor. For the divine Scripture says: “Woe to the shepherds.” If the shepherds themselves are found negligent, what will they answer the Lord for the sheep? What will they say? That they were troubled by the sheep? They will not be believed: it is incredible that a shepherd should suffer anything from a sheep; he will rather be punished for his lie. And another Scripture says: “They have asked you to be their ruler; do not be lifted up. Be among them as one of them; take care of them, and so take your seat.” And again: “Consider that the priest is a cultivator, and that with him are all delights, full granaries, from which my people may be satisfied with whatever they desire.” Now, so that it may be clear that we, that is, the bishops, are the shepherds of the spiritual sheep, that is, of the faithful placed under our care, no vice of scab must be found in them. All the more must they be examined by us daily, so that, when heavenly medicine is applied, flourishing fleeces may grow on them, to advance to the brightness of the heavenly garment.

In the Gospel the Lord said to Peter: “Peter,” he said, “do you love me?” And Peter answered: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” And he said: “Feed my sheep.” And, giving the charge with care, he confirmed it a third time, saying: “Feed my sheep.” And since we have received the episcopate, that is, the Holy Spirit, into the lodging of our heart through the laying on of the hand, let us cause no sadness to our fellow-dweller. The Lord warns and says: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit who is in you,” and, “Do not extinguish the light that has shone in you.” As great as are the martyrdoms, without bodily suffering, that befit a bishop who does well and admonishes wholesomely, so great are the torments heaped up for a bishop who is negligent and brings forth no teaching from the Holy Scriptures. The apostle Paul rouses us and, as befits his own station, … appoints the bishops stewards of the gospel teaching, and says: “As long as the heir is a child, he is under stewards and agents; but when he has grown up, then he claims his inheritance.” We too are dispensers and stewards of the gospel; here too it is required among dispensers and stewards that one be found faithful and just.

If, then, it is required among dispensers and stewards that one be found faithful and just, what if everyone sins and the dispensers pardon the sinners? Do they not load themselves with the sinners' weight? The same apostle Paul reminds us of this when he teaches Timothy and strengthens him in firmness of faith, so that nothing may deceive God and the evil one may not come between the prayers of the saints …, foreseeing and careful, saying: “O Timothy, my son, guard what has been entrusted to you; do not despise the gift that is in you through the laying on of the hands of the elders. Gird yourself strongly and act manfully; fulfil your ministry with integrity; be an example to others in good things. Let no one contradict you, let no one despise your youth. Rebuke the one who sins in the presence of many, so that the others also may be afraid; and do not share in the sins of others.” And again: “If any brother is called sexually immoral, or an idolater, or greedy, or a robber, or unjust, do not even eat food with such a one.” And in another place: “Whatever brother lives in the manner of foreigners and does things like their deeds, cease to be at his banquet; if you do not do so, you too will be his partner.” And in the teachings of the apostles: “If any brother sins in the church and does not obey the law, let him not be gathered with you until he does penance, and let him not be received, lest your prayer be defiled and hindered.” And the apostle again says: “Remove the evil from among you.” If, then, we are taught by the united and harmonious warning of many witnesses not even to eat food with sinning brothers, how much more ought such a one to be kept from the sacrifice of Christ?

How great and generous is the Lord's goodness to the faithful, that in his foreknowledge he takes thought for us, lest any careless brother be caught again in the devil's snares! He commanded us to be watchful, provident, and instructed, since that ancient enemy goes about, knocking at God's servants and tempting them in more than one way. For his temptations are many, and their beginnings are these: idolatry, acts of adultery, thefts, robberies, greed, fraud, drunkenness, impatience, adulteries, murders, jealousy, treachery, false testimony, lying speech, envy, pride, cursing, error, and whatever else there is that is like these and fits with them; and among them is the dice board. The devil's snare is plainly there, bearing the serpent's deadly poison and a corrupting enticement: though it seems to be nothing, it works great ruin for those who embrace it. What is this, I ask you, faithful ones? The hand that has already been cleansed from human wrongs and admitted to the Lord's sacrifice, the hand that by God's favor receives what belongs to the salvation of the whole person, that rises in prayer to the praise of the Lord, that marks on foreheads the sign of Christ by which we are protected, that completes the divine sacraments: what is this, that it should be entangled again in the devil's snares, from which it has been set free? I mean the gambler's hand, which ruins and condemns itself, the hand that has grown used to a lustful pursuit, namely the dice board, which is the devil's hunting spear and an incurable wound of sin.

The dice board, I say, where the devil is at hand to catch the unwary, and when he has caught them, his triumph over the captive is treachery and false testimony. The dice board, I say, where there is madness and fury, perjury for sale, and the talk of the serpent. There is raging friendship, there the savagery of the most atrocious crime, there brotherhood in discord, there insults, cruel audacity, an insane mind, and wild impatience. The dice board, I say, where possessions are lost and huge sums of money wasted, where a quarrelsome and thievish madness shows itself. O the guilt of gamblers, a sedentary and sluggish wickedness! O cruel hands, armed to their own danger, which squander in a shameful pursuit their fathers' goods and the wealth won by their grandfathers' sweat! A savage hand, guilty and sleepless, bearing its gear night and day without end, which has condemned itself by its sins and does not stop after sinning! O worthless hand, armed for the ruin of its own master, which loses its whole substance for the vilest coins, and though it had so many means of increasing the family estate and wealth in great abundance, is now needy and poor! Dice is what the law hates; dice is what a base crime follows, where temptation is open and punishment hidden. The gaming board is that snare of evil and the enemy's tripping-up, which brings no profit but consumes everything. From this they become poor, from this they lose their wealth, from this, when all their property is consumed, they bury themselves in borrowed money, from this they lose their patrimony without any lawsuit in the forum. What sort of people are these, faithful ones, who, though no one persecutes them, persecute themselves with malice, and squander their fathers' inheritances under the many-shaped numbers of the bones? There are also times when the gamblers themselves keep night vigils with prostitutes behind closed doors in the presence of their patron; the wretches, filled with the devil's spirit, arm themselves against one another. And there they commit a double and twin crime: here the noise of the dice rattles, there unchastity works in silence; here, without any regard for their dignity and without any excuse, they are driven by a pestilent pursuit to give up their goods; there in secret a deadly poison is drunk.

Where this sacrilegious pursuit comes from, where this crime, we prove by the testimony of authors. A certain man, well trained in the study of letters, by much meditation invented this evil and so ruinous a pursuit, at the prompting … of the devil, who had filled him with his arts. He displayed this art, then, and also fashioned it in sculptures with his own image, to be worshiped. So he set up an image of his own appearance with his name inscribed beneath it, at the suggestion of the enemy, who had put it into his heart to devise this art. Displaying himself thus in a ruinous image, he placed himself on a high spot, carrying this dice board in his lap, so that he might appear as the player himself and the inventor of this wickedness (whose name ought not to be named by the servants of God, for he is as foul in name as he is wicked in deeds), and so that every servant of God who embraces the dice board might be called by the inventor's name. For when he formed himself in statuettes and images, he invented another crime, by which he declared that he was to be worshiped by his imitators: he laid down a law of sacrificing to him, so that whoever wished to cling to his pursuit should not stretch out his hand to the board unless he had first sacrificed to its inventor. Hence it came about that he who had once been a man, and an adulterer by the commission of crime, came after death to be worshiped by the profane and erring under the false name of a deity.

Whoever plays at the dice board must also know that it is sorcery, which should be far from God's servants, knowing that this frenzy is sorcerous and poisonous; and further, on the day of judgment he will be tormented by a whirling fire. Whoever plays at the dice board must first sacrifice to its inventor, which is not lawful for Christians, since the Lord says: “He who sacrifices to gods shall be rooted out, except to the Lord alone”; and again: “Do not sacrifice to foreign gods, lest you provoke me by the works of your hands to destroy you.” Christian, whoever you are who play at the dice board, even if you do not sacrifice, by the law of this crime you are a partaker. And surely the Lord meets you and says: “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins.” And again: “Depart, depart from there, come out from the midst of her, you who carry the vessels of the Lord, and touch nothing unclean.” Christian, whoever you are who play at dice, you ought to know first of all that you are not a Christian but have a heathen's name, and that what belongs to the Lord's sacrifice you receive in vain. For thus the Lord says: “No unclean person shall touch the holy sacrifice.” And again: “Every man who eats the flesh of the sacrifice while his uncleanness is upon him, that soul shall perish from my people.” Gambler, whoever you are, you call yourself a Christian, which you are not, since you share in the world. Nor can you have friendship with Christ, you who are a friend of Christ's enemy.

Surely it is madness in faithful gamblers when they rave and perjure themselves in the wildest voices, and, blinded by the devil's darkness, lay hands on one another, curse, call down destruction on themselves, and dishonor their parents' origins before the crowds standing by. The din of the dice sounds in public; the hands hurry to the slaughter of their inheritance; and the wretch does not understand that he harms himself when he hires himself out to dice. And the one who has been beaten again and again is roused again, at the devil's persuasion, to a more harmful pursuit. O art hostile to its students, and lustful pursuit, which gives not riches but nakedness and want! Executioner hand, guilty hand, which does not stop after winning but still plays on after losses! The Christian who plays at dice pollutes his hands at the devil's sacrifice, among those who offer before the inventor. And therefore the Lord says that he is angered by this: “Do not,” he says, “stretch out your hands unjustly, lest you provoke me, and I will not let you remain long on the earth”; and again: “Keep your hands from injustice, and do no evil.” And the most blessed apostle Paul likewise says: “See, brothers, that you are not conformed to this world and its pomps and delights and pleasures, but keep yourselves from all the world's injustice.”

For that no excuse is made for sin against God, and no indulgence, and pardon is given to no one, the Lord says in the Gospel: “If anyone,” he says, “speaks blasphemy against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever sins against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither here nor in the age to come.” And again through the prophet: “If a man sins by offending against a man, prayer will be made for him to the Lord; but if he sins against God, who will pray for him?” And the blessed apostle, the steward and vicar of Christ, in his care for the church, sets down and says: “You are the temple of God, and Christ dwells in you; if anyone violates the temple of God, God will destroy him.” And again the Lord in the Gospel disowns sinners and reproaches them, saying: “Depart from me, all you who work injustice; I do not know you.” And the apostle John says: “Everyone who sins is not of God but of the devil; and you know that the Son of God is to come for this reason, to destroy the children of the devil.” Whoever you are, Christian gambler, you are the enemy of yourself and of your inheritance. Whoever you are, wretch, stop that madness of yours. Why do you hurl yourself of your own accord into the snare of death with the devil? Why do you lose your wealth and riches for the vilest coins? Why do you entangle yourself in the snares of the world, to be judged with the world? Why do you sin by praising your enemy with applause, when you must be punished with him?

Be, rather, not a gambler but a Christian. Scatter your money on the Lord's table, with Christ sitting by, the angels watching, and the martyrs present; divide among the poor the patrimony you were perhaps about to lose in a savage pursuit; entrust your riches to Christ the victor; take your recreation as a servant with your Lord; give yourself to a godly pursuit; imitate the art of the Lord, which does not lose but rather gains. Give up those thievish habits of yours, check your headlong wickedness. Let your daily game be with the poor, your frequent work with widows; spend your income and all your furnishings on the service of the church; lay up your gold and silver and money in the heavenly treasuries; move your farms and villas to paradise by just works, so that your sins may be forgiven you through almsgiving; and devote yourself to continual works of mercy. Do not play at dice, where the game is harmful and the crime deadly, where there is madness without reflection, where there is no truth but a fold full of lies. Cut off your hand from it and turn your heart away from it; draw the enemy's darkness from your eyes and purify your hand from the devil's sacrifices; cast thievish habits away from you; be patient and a Christian; be just and provident for yourself and your life in good works; flee the devil who pursues you, and flee dice, the enemy of your works. Let your pursuit be wisdom: to be taught by the counsels of the gospel, to stretch out pure hands to Christ, so that you may win the Lord's favor. Do not look back at dice. Amen.