# Sermon on the Barbarian Time - Author: [Quodvultdeus of Carthage](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/quodvultdeus-of-carthage/) - Latin title: *Sermo de tempore barbarico* - Date: ca. 437-450 (disputed) - Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina, vol. 40 (Paris, 1865), among the works of Augustine; digital text of the printed volume (Latin text: Migne, Patrologia Latina, 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: Rene Braun, ed., CCSL 60 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1976) (cited only) - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/ - Passages: 7 ## Sermon on the Barbarian Time 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/1/#p-1 - Source: PL 40:700 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: God’s wrath shown in the barbarian invasion calls for repentance, yet the city still throngs the shows; all are guilty, preachers and hearers alike, and should stop slandering one another. ### Latin text Admonet Dominus Deus noster, non nos debere negligere nostra pec­ cata, quando talem demonstrat iram suam. Ipse quippe juste punit nocentem, quia nullum invenit pœnitentem. Quoties, dilectissimi, intonuerunt atque intonant tubæ divinæ: Agite pænitentiam; appropin­ quavit enim ad vos regnum coelorum? Et clausis auribus cordis, magis operamur mala, et petimus ut veniant bona. Sed talium judicium justum dicit esse Apostolus. In eo enim ipso quod talia sa­ piunt qui tales sunt, ex malis operibus posse se bona suscipere, obdurati sunt, pœnitentiæ locum non re­ quirunt. Merito juste judicati, qui a semetipsis inve­ niuntur esse damnati. Licet non omnes tangat hic noster sermo, omnes tamen astringit sermo divinus, dicens: Omnes declinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sunt; non est qui faciat bonum, non est usque ad unum. Quomodo omnes, et quomodo non omnes? Quomodo non omnes? Quia sunt multi qui gemunt et dolent ob iniquitates quæ fiunt in me­ dio eorum, volentes resistere: sed timore sæcula­ rium rerurn non audentes, quas adhuc vel adipisci desiderat humana fragilitas. vel amittere formidat infirmitas. Secundum id quod doleat, non omnes: secundum quod rem non timendam timent, omnes de­ clinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sunt; quia plus æsti­ matur timor hominis quam timor Dei, et præfe­ runt homines res quas acceperunt a Deo ipsi Deo. Ne res tollat malus homo, contemnitur Deus per quem factus est homo. Vellem vos quidem qui adhuc tales estis, et amore rerum sæcularium obligati pec­ cantibus aut parcitis. aut favetis; vellem vos quidem aliquibus exhortationibus admonere, quid cui rei præponere debeatis: nisi nos fluvius lacrymarum compelleret plangere eos qui peccant, et nolunt agere pœnitentiam. Si esset in nobis humanus affectus, si esset compassionis sensus, unius hominis mortem flere, dolere ac plangere deberemus: quibus lacry­ niis, quo gemitu, quibus planctibus exagitamur, quando aut maximam partem, aut pene totam plan­ gimus civitatem? Æger est charus, et vena ejus ma­ lum renuntiat; omnes qui eum diligunt, ægrotant si­ mul animo. Si eum in ipsa vicina morte ridere viderint, quemadmodum ab eo omnem spem salutis ablatam sentiunt, eumque adhuc vivum tanquam mortuum merito plangunt? Inter tantas angustias et in ipso fine rerum posita est universa provincia, et quotidie frequentantur spectacula: sanguis hominum quotidie funditur in mundo, et insanientium voces crepitant in circo. O planctus omni tristitia acceptior! o planctus omni mœstitia affligens cor! Libet flere. Plangimus enim, dilectissimi, et illos et nos, quia et nos digni sumus qui cum talibus merito flagellemur. Nos enim, cur alios accusamus? omnes declinvi­ mus, simul inutiles facti sumus, prorsus omnes. Nullus est excusatus; quia talis est judex, ut omnis homo ab illo inveniatur reus. Cum enim Rex justus sederit in throno, quis gloriabitur castum se habere cor? aut quis gloriabitur mundum se esse a peccato? Advenit tempus illud quod prædixit Dominus: Putas, cum venerit Filius hominis, inveniet fidem in terra? Quis habet fidem? quis credit verbis? Audebit aliquis nostrum assignare sibi fidem, quando audit Dominum dicentem discipulis: Si ha­ beretis fidem sicut granum sinapis, diceretis arbori huic, Eradicare, et plantare in mari; et obaudisset vobis (Id. xvn, 6)? Quis sibi audebit assignare quod faciat omnia quæ præcepit Deus? Nemo, prorsus nemo. Prædicamus, et non facimus: auditis, et facere non curatis. Merito omnes sub flagello, et doctor et fa­ clor, et auditor et contemptor. Studemus invicem re­ prehendere, et non studemus opera nostra discutere. Detrahit proximus proximo, detrahit clericus clerico, detrahit laicus laico. Video quidem se invicem accusantes, sed neminem video juste se excusantem. Unusquisque enim, dilectissimi, proprium onus por-. tat. Nolite detrahere alterutrum, fratres, ait apostolus Jacobus. Qui enim detrahit fratri aut judicat fratrem, detrahit legi et judicat legem. Si autem judicas legem, non es factor legis, sed judex. Unus est enim legislator et judex, qui potest perdere et liberare. Tu autem quis es, qui judicas proximum? ### English translation (Claude) The Lord our God warns us that we must not neglect our sins, when he shows his wrath in such a way. For he justly punishes the guilty, because he finds no one repenting. How often, dearly beloved, have the divine trumpets thundered, and how often do they thunder: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near to you”? And with the ears of our heart closed, we do evil all the more, and ask that good things come. But the Apostle says that the judgment on such people is just. For in that very thing, that those who are such think they can receive good things from evil works, they are hardened, and do not seek a place for repentance. Rightly are they justly judged, who are found condemned by themselves. Although this sermon of ours does not touch everyone, the divine word binds everyone, saying: “All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, not even one.” How all, and how not all? How not all? Because there are many who groan and grieve over the iniquities done in their midst and wish to resist, but do not dare, for fear of worldly things, which human frailty still longs to obtain or weakness fears to lose. In that they grieve, not all; in that they fear what is not to be feared, “all have turned aside, together they have become useless”; for the fear of man is valued above the fear of God, and men prefer the things they received from God to God himself. So that a wicked man may not take their things away, God is despised, through whom man was made. You who are still such, and who, bound by love of worldly things, either spare sinners or favor them, I would like to admonish you with some exhortations as to what you ought to put before what; but a river of tears compels us to lament those who sin and will not repent. If there were human feeling in us, if there were a sense of compassion, we ought to weep, grieve, and lament the death of a single man: with what tears, with what groaning, with what lamentations are we shaken, when we lament the greater part, or almost the whole, of the city? A dear one is sick, and his pulse announces the worst; all who love him are sick in spirit with him. If they see him laughing in the very presence of death, how they feel that all hope of his recovery is gone, and rightly mourn him as dead while he is still alive! The whole province is placed amid such great straits and at the very end of things, and the shows are thronged every day: human blood is shed daily in the world, and the voices of madmen crackle in the circus. O lament more acceptable than any sadness! O lament that afflicts the heart more than any grief! I want to weep. For we lament, dearly beloved, both them and ourselves, because we too deserve to be scourged with such people. For why do we accuse others? “All have turned aside, together we have become useless,” absolutely all. No one is excused; for such is the judge that every man is found guilty by him. For when the just King sits on his throne, who will boast that he has a chaste heart? Or who will boast that he is clean from sin? That time has come which the Lord foretold: “Do you think that when the Son of man comes he will find faith on earth?” Who has faith? Who believes the words? Will any of us dare to claim faith for himself, when he hears the Lord saying to his disciples: “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this tree, Be uprooted and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you”? Who will dare to claim that he does all that God commanded? No one, absolutely no one. We preach and do not do; you listen and do not care to do. Rightly are all under the scourge, both teacher and doer, both hearer and despiser. We are eager to rebuke one another, and not eager to examine our own works. Neighbor slanders neighbor, cleric slanders cleric, layman slanders layman. I see them accusing one another, but I see no one justly excusing himself. For each one, dearly beloved, carries his own burden. “Do not slander one another, brothers,” says the apostle James. “For whoever slanders a brother or judges a brother slanders the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. For there is one lawgiver and judge, who is able to destroy and to save. But who are you, who judge your neighbor?” ### Scripture references - Matt 4:17: quotation, high confidence - Rom 2:2–5: allusion, high confidence - Ps 14:3 (13:3 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Rom 3:12: quotation, medium confidence - Ezek 9:4: allusion, medium confidence - Prov 20:8–9: quotation, high confidence - Luke 18:8: quotation, high confidence - Luke 17:6: quotation, high confidence - Matt 23:3: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 6:5: quotation, high confidence - Jas 4:11–12: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The sermon On the Time of the Barbarians is printed among Augustine’s spurious works and ascribed by many to Quodvultdeus of Carthage, preached during the Vandal invasion of Africa (about 429–439); the ascription is disputed. Prov 20:8–9 is quoted in the Vulgate form (“When the just King sits on the throne …”). ### Citation (SBL) Quodvultdeus, Temp. barb. 1 (PL 40:700; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/1). ## Sermon on the Barbarian Time 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/1/#p-2 - Source: PL 40:700–701 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: God’s word calls all to repent and bear fruit before the axe falls; his delay is patience, as in the parable of the barren fig tree, for which Paul intercedes. ### Latin text Nec tamen voces detrahentium silen­ tium possunt imponere verbo Dei. Clamat ille per bonos, et per malos: Agite poenitentiam, appropin­ quavit ad vos regnum Dei. Nolite esse auditores legis tantum, sed factores. Facite dignos fructus pænitentiæ. Ecce enim, ait Evangelista, securis ad ra­ dices arborum posita est. Omnis enim arbor non faciens fructum bonum, excidetur, et in ignem mittetur (Matth. III, 8 et 10). Video, inquit, omnes homines diversas arbores, fructus etiam diversos habentes: sed bonus. fructus quæritur qui pascat, non qui pungat. Sunt enim et arbores spinosae, igni deputatæ, merito in­ cendendæ, quia in eis nullus fructus est animæ. Puta­ tisne, dilectissimi, nos omnes tales esse, qui in istis malis pro peccatis nostris dimissi sumus? Exacuit agricola ferrum, amputat inutile lignum, abscisum servat incendio concremandum. Hoc nunc agitur a vero agricola. Videntur quidem sibi mali adhuc stare, adhuc florere. Quisquis talis es, quisquis malus es, quisquis corrigi non vis, non te consoletur altitudo tua; quia major te exspectat ruina, ampliorque susti­ net flamma. Quia securis hæc ad te nondum venit,. ideo putas te posse semper stare? cum videas vel au­ dias alias arbores te ampliores cecidisse. Quod te hic agricola differt, ejus est patientiæ, ne forte intercedat apud eum locus pœnitentiæ. Colonus enim ille in Evangelio, qui intercedebat pro arbore, quam dom!­ nus eradicare volebat, quod fructum per triennium non haberet, videte quid ait: Domine, dimitte illam et hoc anno; faciam ei fossam, adhibeam cophinum sterco­ ria: si fecerit fructum, bene; sin autem, abscides eam. Arbor hæc sterilis, genus hominum est non habens fructum pænitentiæ. Dominus ejus, conditor ejus est; intercessor hujus arboris, apostolus Paulus est. Unde probamus? Audi in quadam Epislola sua quemadmodum intercedebat pro talibus: Flecto, inquit, genua mea ad Patrem Domini nostri Jesu Chri­ sti, ut det vobis virtutem. Hoc ergo eis petebat, ut acciperent quod non habebant. Faciam, inquit, ei fossam, adhibeam cophinum stercoris. Fossa locus est humilitatis: cophinus stercoris, lacrymæ sunt poenitentis. Quem locum si quis contempserit, amplius sustinebit tormentum, quando illius agricolæ acutissimum senserit ferramentum. Agite, mali, pœnitentiam; corrigimini, mali, quia vobiscum flagel­ lantur et boni. ### English translation (Claude) Yet the voices of slanderers cannot impose silence on the word of God. It cries out through the good and through the bad: “Repent; the kingdom of God has drawn near to you.” “Be not hearers of the law only, but doers.” “Bear fruits worthy of repentance. For behold,” says the Evangelist, “the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” I see, he says, all men as different trees bearing different fruits; but the good fruit is sought that feeds, not that pricks. For there are also thorny trees, assigned to the fire and rightly to be burned, because there is no fruit of the soul in them. Do you think, dearly beloved, that we are all such, who have been left in these evils for our sins? The farmer sharpens his iron, cuts off the useless wood, and keeps what is cut off to be burned in the fire. This is now being done by the true farmer. The wicked seem to themselves still to stand, still to flower. Whoever you are who are such, whoever is wicked, whoever does not want to be corrected, do not let your height console you; for a greater fall awaits you, and a larger flame holds you. Because this axe has not yet come to you, do you think you can stand for ever, when you see or hear that other trees taller than you have fallen? That this farmer puts you off is a mark of his patience, so that a place for repentance may perhaps come in with him. For see what the vinedresser in the Gospel says, who interceded for the tree which the master wanted to uproot because for three years it had borne no fruit: “Lord, leave it this year too; I will dig a trench around it and apply a basket of dung: if it bears fruit, well; but if not, you will cut it down.” This barren tree is the human race, which does not have the fruit of repentance. Its lord is its maker; the intercessor for this tree is the apostle Paul. How do we prove it? Hear how in one of his letters he interceded for such people: “I bend my knees,” he says, “to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he may give you strength.” So he asked this for them, that they might receive what they did not have. “I will dig a trench around it,” he says, “and apply a basket of dung.” The trench is the place of humility; the basket of dung is the tears of the penitent. Whoever despises this place will suffer greater torment when he feels that farmer’s sharpest iron. Repent, you wicked; be corrected, you wicked, because the good are being scourged with you. ### Scripture references - Matt 4:17: quotation, high confidence - Rom 2:13: allusion, high confidence - Jas 1:22: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 3:8: quotation, high confidence - Matt 3:10: quotation, high confidence - Luke 13:6–9: quotation, high confidence - Eph 3:14–16: quotation, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Quodvultdeus, Temp. barb. 2 (PL 40:700–701; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/2). ## Sermon on the Barbarian Time 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/1/#p-3 - Source: PL 40:701 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: The good suffer with the wicked because none is perfectly good but God; their trials are a refining, while parents who love their children more than Christ and tolerate blasphemy and the shows share the blame. ### Latin text Dicet aliquis: Si mali merito flagellantur, boni quare talia cum malis et a malis patiuntur? Quare? Quia secundum quemdam modum dicuntur boni; se­ cundum autem rectum verumque bonum, Nemo bonus, nisi solus Deus. Ergo et ipsi boni, qni­ cumque sunt boni, non tales sunt, quales debent esse boni: non enim sunt perfectum bonum; proficiunt enim de die in diem. Si proficiunt, utique exercitationibus proficiunt. Nemo se justificet, tanquam jam sit perfectus. Recedat de medio male justificator pela­ gianus, confundatur hæreticus arianus: Nemo enim bonus, nisi solus Deus. Quid ergo? Christus non est Deus? Plane Deus. De ipso quippe dicit Scriptura divina: Hic est verus Deus, et vita æterna ( I Joan. v, 20). Quid Spiritus sanctus, non est Deus? Plane Deus. Unde probamus, quoniam et ipse Deus? Audi in Acti­ bus Apostolorum Petrum Ananiæ fraudatori improperantem: Anania, inquit, cur implevit satanas cor tuum, mentiri te apud Spiritum sanctum? Non es men­ titus. hominibus, sed Deo, Ecce et Spiritus sanctus Deus. Ergo Trinitas unus est Deus: et verum est quia nemo bonus, nisi unus Deus. Patientes estote, boni, ut sitis vere boni: patientes estote usque ad adventum Domini. Tolerate mala quæ patimini a malis cum malis; quia ista tentatio, vestra est examinatio. Si aurum es, quid times paleam, quid times ignem? Simul quidem eritis in fornace, sed ignis paleas in cineres vertit, tibi sordes tollit. Si frumentum es, quid times tribulam? Non apparebis qualis antea eras in spica, nisi tribula conterendo a te separaverit paleas. Si oleum es, quid times pressuram preli? Non declarabitur species tua, nisi etiam pondus lapi­ dis a te separaverit amurcam. Verumtamen interroget se unaquæque anima, et videat si injuste patitur. Proferatur statera justitiæ, appendatur amor mundi cum amore Dei, vide quemadmodum præponderet amor mundi. Proferatur speculum Scripturæ divinæ. Speculum hoc neminem palpat: qualis es, talem te tibi demonstrat. Intende et vide, et si est aliquid quod offendat, abi confusus, et redi correctus. Annon confunderis, et in malis tuis gloriaberis? Eris enim perfectum malum. non qualecumque bonum. Talis non vis flagellari cum mundo, aut flagellatus mur­ muras sub flagello? Serve male, fecisti quod Dominus jussit? Ne vapulares, ista flagella tibi ante prædixit. Quis jussit? Dominus jussit, Creator tuus jussit. Quid jussit? Qui amat, inquit, patrem aut matrem plusquam me, non est me dignus. Ecce quid jussit. Aut, Qui amat filium aut filiam plusquam me, non est me dignus. Ecce quid jussit. Et quis est, inquit, qui odit patrem aut matrem aut filios? Nec ille illos odire præ­ cepit: sed vel quantum illos, tantum se diligi jussit. Plus quidem debueras diligere Creatorem, quam creaturam; sed si non vales præferre, saltem vel aequare dignare. Vere filios tuos diligeres, si Christum filiis præferres, ipsosque filios ipsi committeres. Vere­ filios tuos diligeres, si in ipso illos diligeres, qui eos. tibi dedit ut diligas. An ideo eos videris diligere, quia eorum voluptatibus faves? Audis blasphemantes, et patienter fers, Christiane, quod rex Nabuchodonosor alienigena non potuit sustinere, dicens: Si quis dixe­ rit blasphemiam in Deum Sidrach, Misac et Abdenago, in interitum erit. Vides frequentare spectacula, et non revocas. Vides luxuriantes, et non verberas. Nec potes te talem exhibere patrem, qui paratus sis indisciplinatos filios vel exhæredare vel abjicere, cum paratus esse debueras sicut Abraham, etiam filium immolare. Omnis enim qui filiorum tru­ cidat voluptates, sacrificium tale quale Abraham offert Deo. Sed dum ista non fiunt, et his moribus de­ pravatis male nutriuntur, qui isto mundo utuntur, la­ befit mundus, nec immerito ait propheta: Defluxit terra, et omnes inhabitantes in ea (Isai. XXIV, 4). Non quiescunt usque nunc murmurare homines, laudare tempora præterita, accusare tempora christiana. Magna erant tempora patrum nostrorum, dicunt: o quam bona tempora habuerunt patres nostri! ### English translation (Claude) Someone will say: “If the wicked are rightly scourged, why do the good suffer such things with the wicked and at the hands of the wicked?” Why? Because they are called good in a certain sense; but according to the right and true good, “No one is good but God alone.” So the good themselves, whoever are good, are not such as the good ought to be: for they are not the perfect good; they make progress from day to day. If they make progress, surely they progress through exercises. Let no one justify himself as though he were already perfect. Let the Pelagian, who justifies wrongly, withdraw from our midst; let the Arian heretic be confounded: “For no one is good but God alone.” What then? Is Christ not God? Plainly he is God. For divine Scripture says of him: “This is the true God and eternal life.” What of the Holy Spirit, is he not God? Plainly he is God. How do we prove that he too is God? Hear Peter in the Acts of the Apostles reproaching the fraudulent Ananias: “Ananias,” he says, “why has Satan filled your heart, that you should lie to the Holy Spirit? You have not lied to men but to God.” See, the Holy Spirit too is God. So the Trinity is one God, and it is true that no one is good but the one God. Be patient, you who are good, that you may be truly good: be patient until the coming of the Lord. Endure the evils you suffer from the wicked along with the wicked, for this trial is your testing. If you are gold, why fear the straw, why fear the fire? You will be in the furnace together, but the fire turns the straw to ashes and takes away your dross. If you are grain, why fear the threshing sledge? You will not appear as you were before in the ear unless the sledge, crushing, separates the chaff from you. If you are oil, why fear the pressure of the press? Your beauty will not be shown unless the weight of the stone separates the dregs from you. Yet let each soul question itself and see whether it suffers unjustly. Let the scales of justice be brought out; let love of the world be weighed against love of God: see how love of the world outweighs it. Let the mirror of divine Scripture be brought out. This mirror flatters no one: as you are, so it shows you to yourself. Look closely and see, and if there is anything that offends, go away confounded and come back corrected. Or are you not confounded, and will you glory in your evils? Then you will be a perfect evil, not a good of any kind. Being such, do you not want to be scourged with the world, or, when scourged, do you murmur under the scourge? Bad servant, have you done what the Lord commanded? So that you would not be beaten, he foretold these scourges to you. Who commanded? The Lord commanded, your Creator commanded. What did he command? “Whoever loves father or mother more than me,” he says, “is not worthy of me.” See what he commanded. Or: “Whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” See what he commanded. “And who is there,” he says, “who hates father or mother or children?” He did not command them to hate them, but at least commanded that he be loved as much as they. You ought indeed to love the Creator more than the creature; but if you cannot prefer him, at least deign to make him equal. You would truly love your children if you preferred Christ to your children and entrusted the children themselves to him. You would truly love your children if you loved them in him who gave them to you to love. Or do you suppose you love them because you indulge their pleasures? You hear blasphemers and bear it patiently, Christian, which the foreign king Nebuchadnezzar could not endure, saying: “If anyone speaks blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he shall be destroyed.” You see them frequenting the shows and do not call them back. You see them living in luxury and do not beat them. You cannot show yourself such a father as to be ready either to disinherit or to cast off undisciplined children, when you ought to be ready, like Abraham, even to sacrifice a son. For whoever slaughters the pleasures of his children offers God a sacrifice like Abraham’s. But while these things are not done, and those who use this world are badly brought up in these depraved morals, the world totters, and not without reason the prophet says: “The earth has wasted away, and all who dwell in it.” Even now men do not cease to murmur, to praise past times, to accuse Christian times. “Great were the times of our fathers,” they say; “O what good times our fathers had!” ### Scripture references - Luke 18:19: quotation, high confidence - 1 John 5:20: quotation, high confidence - Acts 5:3–4: quotation, high confidence - Jas 5:7: quotation, high confidence - 1 Pet 1:7: echo, low confidence - Matt 3:12: echo, low confidence - Jas 1:23–25: echo, low confidence - Luke 12:47: echo, low confidence - Matt 10:37: quotation, high confidence - Luke 14:26: allusion, high confidence - Dan 3:29 (3:96 Vulg.): quotation, high confidence - Gen 22:10: allusion, high confidence - Isa 24:4: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Brief polemic against Pelagians and Arians: translated as written. Nebuchadnezzar’s decree is Dan 3:96 in the Latin Bible (3:29 in the English Bible). Isa 24:4 is quoted in an Old Latin form (“Defluxit terra”). The saying “who hates father or mother” adapts Luke 14:26 as a question. ### Citation (SBL) Quodvultdeus, Temp. barb. 3 (PL 40:701; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/3). ## Sermon on the Barbarian Time 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/1/#p-4 - Source: PL 40:701–703 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: The fathers of old put God before every human tie, from Phinehas and Moses to Daniel and the three youths, whereas the city now sacrifices souls by watching idolatrous night shows; let it fear eternal fire more than the barbarian sword and repent. ### Latin text Sed videte quæ fecerint patres nostri. Phinees sacrificantem virum idolis manu pro­ pria peremit, ut placaret iram Dei ( Num. xxv, 8 ). Moyses populum aberrantem, vitulumque fusilem adorantem, ita certa emendatione coercuit, ut unam tribum e duodecim ad se vocans, quæ sequi voluit Deum, præceptum eis daret, ut acceptis gladiis in manibus suis filii percuterent parentes, et parentes occiderent filios. Nullus eos re­ vocavit affectus, nullus humanitati reservatus est lo­ cus; quia timor et amor Dei præ omni desideriorum carnalium amore ferebatur. Jephte ut hostes diis ac dæmonibus immolantes superaret, unicam filiam in sacrificio dedit ( Judic. xi ). Samson cum gentes dæ­ monicolas, virtute quam a Deo in capite acceperat, diutius bellis contereret atque fatigaret seductusque postea per mulierem, oculos simulque virtutem ca­ pitis perdidisset, posteaquam cognovit in opprobrium suum omnes illos convenisse ad templum idolorum suorum, eosque magnificare deos suos, quod eis tra­ diderant acerrimum inimicum suum, cum crescente coma capitis ejus ei crevisset et virtus, a puero qui sibi ducatum præbebat, ut sibi manum porrigeret pe­ tut, seque ad illud templum duci poposcit. Ad quod cum pervenisset, columnas duas, supra quas totum illud ædificium ferebatur, singulis manibus singulas apprehendens, ruina se simul et illos voluit opprimi, ne laudes dæmonum in contumeliam Dei sui a quo­ quam libenter pateretur audiri (Id. XVI) Daniel ne a rege homine petitionem aliquam posceret, sed a Deo vivo, qui præstat omnia bona suis, leonibus jejunam­ tibus in escam datus est ut periret: sed Dominus fi­ celem servum suum non deserens, et ipsum intactum reservavit, et per Habacuc prophetam simul et ipsum et leones pavit. Quid dicam de tri­ bus pueris, qui cum nollent imaginem regiam adorare, ignes riserunt? In quibus pueris micans gratia ita enituit, ut ligati in fornacem mitterentur, deambulantesque viderentur, os aperientes Deumque laudantes, flammas ad se non admitterent, sed fugarent: ut secum Filium Dei habere meruissent, antequam mundo in homine apparuisset; ut esset eorum vindex flamma, Chaldaeorumque ministros fornax devorans consumeret; producti quoque de fornace incolumes, populos in se mirabiles redderent, regemque muta­ rent, eumque facerent Dei sui adoratorem, quem senserant ante persecutorem (Id. III). Sed hæc omnia faciebat fides, timor et amor Dei. Oderunt isti non solum omnia quae habebant propter Deum; verum etiam animas suas: et Deus eos hic claros fecit et aeternae vitæ remuneratione ditavit. Quid tale, dile­ ctissimi, fecimus, imo e contrario quæ mala non fe­ cimus? Illi nec minis nec tormentis conventi dæmo­ niis sacrificaverunt. Annon sacrificavit, qui imagines idolorum per noctem ludentes, quod Nocturnum vo­ cant, libentissime spectavit? Sacrificavit, prorsussa­ crificavit; et, quod est pejus, non tauri vel cujuslibet pecoris aliquam victimam, sed ipsam animam homi­ nis pretiosam. In hoc tam nefando sacrificio non unus vel pauci accusantur, tota hoc civitas fecit, quæ tota consensit. Nec ab hostibus, nec a barbaris, sed a se ipso omnis homo in anima se intus occidit videndo, consentiendo, non prohibendo; omnes remansimus rei: et dum nolumus pacem civitatis turbari perver­ sam, pacem quam desideramus non accipimus re­ ctam. Contemnimus pacem servare bonorum morum, et periit pax temporum nostrorum. Discite vel nunc, dilectissimi, quid cui rei præponere debeatis. Nolite diligere vitia in filiis, in amicis, in servis, in omnibus notis. Præponatur singularis potestas omni potestati, honorem exhibeamus Cæsari tanquam Cæsari, timo­ rem autem Deo. Præferatur Creator creaturæ: dili­ gamus Deum, quia diligit nos; et in hoc quod sic nos flagellat, diligit. Quis est enim filius, cui non det disciplinam pater ejus? Qui sanam considerationem habet, qui credit Dei verbis, plus metuit ignem æternum, quam cujuslibet truculenti barbari ferrum; plus metuit mortem perpetuam, morte qualibet hic pessima. Irrideant hæc infideles, irrideant stulti, nolint credere nec rebus expertis. Ecce conteruntur, ecce omnia pereunt, ecce cum ipsis non potest stare mundus quem amaverunt, ecce ad Deum trahuntur cujus præcepta contempserunt: non enim bona voluntate pergit, qui blasphemando mori­ tur. Ecce itur: cum illuc ventum fuerit, quid agitur? Quo itur? per quem abitur? Quis iterum huc redire cogitur? Finitum est et quod male fecerat, emendare finitum est. Redite, filii, redite; redite, praevaricato­ res, ad cor: facite gaudium ex conver­ sione vestra, corrigantur corda vestra, displiceant vobis opera vestra. Estote fortes, tribulatio mundi non vos frangat: Dominus in proximo est; nihil sol­ liciti sitis. ### English translation (Claude) But see what our fathers did. Phinehas killed with his own hand a man sacrificing to idols, to appease the wrath of God. Moses restrained the people who had gone astray and were worshiping the molten calf with such firm correction that, calling to himself the one tribe of the twelve that chose to follow God, he commanded them to take swords in their hands, so that sons struck their parents and parents killed their sons. No affection held them back, no room was kept for human feeling, because the fear and love of God were set above all love of carnal desires. Jephthah, to overcome enemies who sacrificed to gods and demons, gave his only daughter in sacrifice. Samson had long worn down and exhausted in war the demon-worshiping nations by the strength he had received from God in his head; afterwards, seduced by a woman, he lost his eyes and with them the strength of his head. When he learned that they had all gathered in the temple of their idols to his disgrace and were magnifying their gods for having delivered to them their fiercest enemy, since as the hair of his head grew his strength had grown too, he asked the boy who led him to give him his hand and begged to be led to that temple. When he arrived there, he took hold of the two columns on which the whole building rested, one with each hand, and chose to be crushed in its fall together with them, rather than willingly suffer anyone to hear the praises of demons to the insult of his God. Daniel, so as not to make any petition of a man who was king but of the living God, who grants all good things to his own, was given as food to hungry lions to perish; but the Lord, not deserting his faithful servant, both kept him untouched and through the prophet Habakkuk fed both him and the lions. What shall I say of the three youths, who refused to adore the king’s image and laughed at the fire? In these youths shining grace so shone forth that, bound and thrown into the furnace, they were seen walking about, opening their mouths and praising God; they did not let the flames come near them but drove them off; they were found worthy to have the Son of God with them before he appeared to the world in man; the flame became their avenger, and the devouring furnace consumed the servants of the Chaldeans; brought out of the furnace unharmed, they made the peoples marvel at them, changed the king, and made him a worshiper of their God, whom they had before known as a persecutor. But all this was done by faith, by the fear and the love of God. These men hated not only all they had for God’s sake but even their own lives; and God made them glorious here and enriched them with the reward of eternal life. What such thing, dearly beloved, have we done? Or rather, on the contrary, what evils have we not done? They could not be brought by threats or tortures to sacrifice to demons. Did he not sacrifice who most gladly watched the images of idols playing through the night, in what they call the Nocturnum? He sacrificed, he certainly sacrificed; and what is worse, not some victim of a bull or of any beast, but the precious soul of man itself. In so wicked a sacrifice not one or a few are accused: the whole city did this, for it wholly consented. Not by enemies, not by barbarians, but by himself has every man killed himself inwardly in his soul, by watching, by consenting, by not forbidding; we have all remained guilty: and while we are unwilling to disturb the perverse peace of the city, we do not receive the right peace we desire. We disdain to keep the peace of good morals, and the peace of our times has perished. Learn even now, dearly beloved, what you ought to put before what. Do not love vices in your children, in your friends, in your slaves, in any of your acquaintances. Let the one supreme power be put before every power; let us show honor to Caesar as to Caesar, but fear to God. Let the Creator be preferred to the creature: let us love God, because he loves us; and in scourging us so, he loves us. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? Whoever has sound judgment, whoever believes God’s words, fears the eternal fire more than the sword of any savage barbarian; he fears perpetual death more than any death here, however terrible. Let the unbelievers mock this, let the fools mock, let them refuse to believe even what they have experienced. See, they are crushed; see, everything perishes; see, the world they loved cannot stand with them; see, they are dragged to God, whose commands they despised: for he does not go with good will who dies blaspheming. See, they go: when they have arrived there, what happens? Where do they go? By whom are they led away? Who is made to come back here again? It is finished: both what he had done wrong, and the chance to amend it, is finished. Come back, sons, come back; come back to your heart, transgressors: give joy by your conversion, let your hearts be corrected, let your works displease you. Be strong; let the tribulation of the world not break you: the Lord is near; be anxious about nothing. ### Scripture references - Num 25:7–8: allusion, high confidence - Exod 32:26–28: allusion, high confidence - Judg 11:30–39: allusion, high confidence - Judg 16:21–30: allusion, high confidence - Dan 6:16–22: allusion, high confidence - Dan 3:1–30: allusion, high confidence - Luke 14:26: allusion, medium confidence - John 12:25: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 22:21: allusion, high confidence - 1 Pet 2:17: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 1:25: echo, medium confidence - Heb 12:6–7: quotation, high confidence - Isa 46:8: quotation, high confidence - Luke 15:7: echo, low confidence - Phil 4:5–6: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Bel 33-39 (Bel and the Dragon): allusion, high confidence - Pr Azar 1-68 (Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Young Men): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The “Nocturnum” is evidently a night festival or show with images of the gods; it is not otherwise identified here. The story of Habakkuk feeding Daniel is from Bel and the Dragon 33–39. The preacher presents the acts of Phinehas, the Levites, Jephthah, and Samson as examples of putting God first: translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Quodvultdeus, Temp. barb. 4 (PL 40:701–703; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/4). ## Sermon on the Barbarian Time 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/1/#p-5 - Source: PL 40:703 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Perpetua and Felicity, whose feast had just been kept, show that grace made women braver than men and undid Eve’s fall; their names, perpetual felicity, are the reward of all martyrs. ### Latin text Habetis virorum fortium ma­ gna exempla. Vicerunt martyres mundum: inter quos martyres maribus etiam feminæ repertæ sunt fortiores. Ante paucos dies natalitia celebravimus martyrum Perpetuæ et Felicitatis, et comitum. Et cum tot ibi sint viri, quare istæduæ præ omnibus nominantur, nisi quia infirmior sexus aut æquavit, aut superavit virorum fortitudinem? Una earum erat prægnans, alia lactans. Felicitas parturiebat, Perpe­ tua lactabat. Sed tamdiu hæc Perpetua lactavit, quamdiu acciperet ab illo pastore simul et patre buc­ cellam lactis: qua accepta dulcedo felicitatis perpe­ tuæ eam fecit contemnere filium, spernere patrem, non hærere mundo, perdere animam pro Christo. Felicitas vero, quæ sociam habebat Perpetuam, par­ turiebat et dolebat, objecta bestiis gaudebat potius quam timebat. Quæ virtus in feminis! Qualis est gratia, quæ cum se infundit, nullum indignum ju­ dicat sexum! Gratias gratiæ: reparavit enim sexum muliebrem. In opprobrium magnum mulier reman­ serat; quia ab initio per mulierem peccatum, et pro­ pter hanc omnes morimur. Diabolus unam Evam dejecit: sed Christus natus ex virgine, multas femi- - nas exaltavit. Perpetua et Felicitas caput calcare­ runt serpentis, quod Eva ad cor suum intus admisit. Illam seduxit falsa promittendo; illas non valuit su­ perare sæviendo: illam decepit in paradisi felicitate; has non potuit adire, nec sub tantorum positas potestate. Illius inter paradisi delicias ruinam gavisus est; harum inter pruinas fortitudinis con­ stantiam ipse quodam modo diabolus expavit. Merito sic sunt exaltatæ, merito viris vel coæquatæ vel præ­ latæ. Quamvis enim in Christo Jesu non sit servus neque liber, non sit masculus neque femina, sed omnes sint unum occurrentes in virum perfectum ( Ephes. IV, 13); descendit tamen hoc do­ num ex magna gratia. Perpetua enim et Felicitas nomina istarum sanctarum feminarum, merces est sanctorum omnium martyrum. ### English translation (Claude) You have great examples of brave men. The martyrs conquered the world; and among these martyrs women were found braver even than men. A few days ago we celebrated the birthday of the martyrs Perpetua and Felicity and their companions. And though there are so many men there, why are these two named above all, unless because the weaker sex either equaled or surpassed the courage of men? One of them was pregnant, the other nursing: Felicity was giving birth, Perpetua was nursing. But Perpetua nursed only until she received from that shepherd and father a morsel of milk; once she had received it, the sweetness of perpetual felicity made her despise her son, spurn her father, not cling to the world, and lose her life for Christ. Felicity, who had Perpetua as companion, was giving birth and in pain; thrown to the beasts, she rejoiced rather than feared. What courage in women! What grace it is, which, when it pours itself in, judges no sex unworthy! Thanks be to grace, for it has restored the female sex. Woman had remained in great disgrace, because from the beginning sin came through a woman, and because of her we all die. The devil overthrew one Eve; but Christ, born of a virgin, exalted many women. Perpetua and Felicity trampled the head of the serpent which Eve let into her heart. Her he seduced by false promises; these he could not overcome by raging; her he deceived in the happiness of paradise; these he could not touch, though they were placed in the power of so many. He rejoiced in her fall amid the delights of paradise; at the constancy of their courage amid their torments the devil himself in some way trembled. Rightly were they so exalted, rightly made equal to men, or even set above them. For although in Christ Jesus there is neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, but all are one, meeting in the perfect man, yet this gift comes down from great grace. For Perpetua and Felicity, the names of these holy women, are the reward of all the holy martyrs. ### Scripture references - Gen 3:1–6: allusion, high confidence - Gen 3:15: allusion, high confidence - 1 Tim 2:14: echo, medium confidence - Gal 3:28: quotation, high confidence - Eph 4:13: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Mart. Perp. 3-4, 15, 20 (The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The details (Felicity in childbirth, Perpetua nursing, the morsel of milk from the shepherd) come from the Passion of Perpetua and Felicity 3–4, 15, 20. “Amid their torments” translates the printed “inter pruinas” (“amid frosts”) by sense; the word may be corrupt. The play on their names (“perpetual felicity”) is the preacher’s. ### Citation (SBL) Quodvultdeus, Temp. barb. 5 (PL 40:703; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/5). ## Sermon on the Barbarian Time 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/1/#p-6 - Source: PL 40:703–705 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Job conquered temptation and blessed God when he lost everything; (chapter 7) in the parable of the prodigal son the younger son is the repentant robber on the cross and the elder son Peter, who denied and was restored, and all may enter paradise through Christ’s opened side. ### Latin text Vicit mundum etiam Job ille omnibus notissimus, toties tentatus, sed minime superatus. Implevit dominicum praece­ ptum: contempsit filios, ne blasphemaret, qui dede­ rat filios. Repulit a se uxorem, quae ei blasphemiam persuadebat, quam diabolus propterea solam dimi­ serat quia sibi eam necessariam esse noverat. Non enim dimiserat marito consolatricem, sed suæ tentationis adjutricem: fecerat eam Evam novam, sed ille non erat vetus Adam. Existimavit etiam istum sicut illum per mulierem posse decipere: sed iste spernendo uxo­ rem pessima suggerentem, divinitus adjutus, etiam ipsum diabolum in illa valuit superare. Fortior fuit Job in doloribus, quam ille Adam in nemoribus: iste non cessit tormentis, ille superatus est in deliciis. Videtis, dilectissimi, quid agat tentatio, quam utiles sint hujus mundi pressuræ, et quemadmodum cor­ rumpant terrenæ deliciæ. Contempsit Job uxorem, filios, omnia sua, postea et carnem suam. Plus ama­ vit eum qui dederat, quam id quod dederat. Usus est quod acceperat, tanquam bonus viator: possedit, non possessus est. At ubi ea placuit auferre qui dederat, benedixit, non blasphemavit: Dominus, in. quit, dedit, et Dominus abstulit; sicut Domino placuit, ita factum est: sit nomen Domini benedictum (Job I, et II). Imitamini talem virum, imitamini tales filii esse etiam flagellati, ut mereamini recipi. Flagellat enim omnem filium quem recipit. Disciplinam ejus sustinete: sicut filios, ita vos aggreditur Deus. Quod probat ille filius junior in Evangelio positus, qui discipli­ nam paternam contempsit, substantiam suam in meretricibus erogavit, porcos pavit, fame contritus est, siliquis porcorum ventrem suum implere non potuit: tandem aliquando reversus est ad se, et in­ venit se qui perdiderat se. In mentem ei venit quod nulli mercenarii patris sui abundarent panibus, ipse vero fame periret. Statim surrexit, ad patrem re­ currit, non se filium, sed tanquam unum ex servis computari rogavit. Inclinatur humilitas, excitatur misericordia: voces filii pœnitentis concutiunt pa­ terna viscera. Dicit se filius indignum, ut ille eum judicet dignum; rogat ut in numero servorum jubca­ tur suscipi: et pater ei primam illam stolam jubet afferri, mactat vitulum saginatum, chorum contre­ gat, advocat amicos, facit epulum magnum. Quare? Quia hic filius meus, inquit, mortuus fuerat, et revi­ xit; perierat, et inventus est. Hanc similitudinem Do­ minus in Evangelio proposuit, quam ipse exposuit, dicens tale gaudium fieri in caelo super peccatore pœnitentiam agente. Nunc vero quoniam tempus est exhortari omnes ad poenitentiam, ut filii errantes re­ vertantur, eisque convivium a patre saginati vituli præparetur, etiam nos, dilectissimi, parati simus huic convivio tanquam amici ac domestici interesse: ma­ xime quia cum isto patrefamilias ad mensam ejus quotidie accedentes, non nos jam dignatur vocare servos, sed amicos. Percurramus, si placet, ipsam parabolam a Domino in Evangelio propositam, in qua nobis et affectum patris demonstravit pium, et fi­ lii perditi indicavit reditum. filiique majoris qui de paterna domo non discesserat commotum retulit animum. Hoc quippe habet textus ipsius lectionis. Veniens, ait, filius ejus primogenitus de agro, cum audiret symphoniam, interrogavit servos quidnam illud esset: eique dixerunt, Frater tuus reversus est, et occi­ dit illi pater tuus vitulum saginatum, eo quod salvum illum susceperit. Et indignatus noluit introire. Egres­ sus est autem ad illum pater suus, ut eum introdu­ ceret. Improperavitque illi patri suo, quod laborasset semper cum illo, et nunquam illi talia exhibuisset: at ubi venisset filius ille, qui omnem substantiam paternam male consumpserat, occidisset illi vitulum saginatum. Et reddit pater rationem facti sui, con­ solaturque filium suum secum permanentem, de domo non discedentem, et dicit illi, Fili, tu meus es, et mecum es semper, et omnia mea tua sunt: verumtamen oportuit nos ista facere, quoniam frater tuus mortuus fuerat, et revixit; perierat, et inventus est. Non vacat hæc talis a Domino propositio. Donet itaque nobis qui ista proposuit, ut demonstre­ mus ab ipso fuisse impletum hoc, quod per quamdam similitudinem nos quodam modo excitavit ad aliquid inquirendum. Affectum paternum exhibuisse suis Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, nullus ambigit christianus. Illud magis requiramus, qui sit filius ju­ nior, qui prodige vivens substantiam paternam dis­ sipavit, et qui sit filius primogenitus qui indignatus quod filio perdito redeunti vitulus saginatus occisus sit, intrare noluerit. Quis est iste filius perditus, qui omnem substantiam paternam in meretricibus eroga­ vit, nisi ille latro qui substantiam animæ a Deo sibi datam per scelera diffluendo etiam in cruce pependit? Porcos pavit, quando dæmonum voluptates suis fa­ ctis implevit. Fortasse illos porcos pavit, quos petie­ rat diabolus a Domino, dicens: Jube nos intrare in gregem porcorum. Fame contritus est, quia panem verbi Dei non inveniebat. Siliquis cupiebat saturare ventrem suum, quando tortuosis cogitationibus replebat animam suam. Sed rever­ tatur ad se, videat se latro in cruce pendentem, con­ currat ad patrem, dicat pendens in cruce: Domine, memento mei dum veneris in regnum tuum. Domine, memento mei; non sum dignus vocari filius tuus, suscipe me tanquam unum ex servis. Domine, me­ mento mei. Latro enim sua attendens merita de se ipso diffidebat: sed Dominus, tanquam pius pater, latroni quasi filio quod desperaverat offerebat. Pro­ ferat huic pater stolam illam primam, induat filium immortalitate, quem secum videt in cruce penden­ tem, introducat eum in domum: dicat Christus la­ troni, Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris in paradiso (Luc. XXIII, 42, 43). Mactet vitulum saginatum, ho­ minem illum susceptum, etiam pro latronibus cruci­ lixum: advocet amicos suos discipulos quibus dice­ bat, Si feceritis quæ mando vobis, jam vos non dicam servos, sed amicos. Præparetur illud convivium coeleste, astet ille chorus Angelo­ rum, suaviter declamans: Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonæ voluntatis. Veniat et primogenitus filius ille, et nolit intrare. Quis est iste filius primogenitus qui noluit intrare, nisi ille primus Apostolorum Petrus, qui ad interrogationem unius ancillæ in atrio sacerdotis ter Dominum ausus est negare? Dixisti quidem, o Petre, tanquam patri tuo Christo, Ego tecum laboravi: quando dicebas Salvatori, Tecum sum usque ad mortem; animam meam pro te ponam. Ubi est quod promisisti? Interrogaris semel, et negas: secundo interrogaris, et negas; tertio, et ne­ pas. Non vis ad convivium intrare, ideo ausus es ter Dominum negare. Ubi est, Animam meam pro te ponam? Ter negantem non terruit ungula, sed una oppressit muliercula. Certe, Tecum sum usque ad mortem. Vide, vide igitur, Petre, quantum de te antea praesumpse­ ris: ecce nunc ter negando, gallo teste convinceris. Sed egrediatur pater ad primogenitum filium nolen­ tem intrare: dicat Christus Petro, intra in gaudium Domini tui. Respiciat negantem, et faciat confessorem: compungat flentem, faciat ama­ torem. Exhortetur eum paterna voce: Fili, inquit, tu meus es: Tu es Petrus; etsi me negasti, meus es. Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram ædificabo Ecclesiam meam. Tu meus es, et omnia mea tua sunt: Tibi dabo claves regni cœlorum (ld. xvi, 18, 19). Apud te, Petre, sunt claves: dignare jam ad convivium in­ trare. Oportebat hæc fieri, quoniam frater tuus latro mortuus erat, et revixit; perierat, et inventus est. Si Petrus antequam Christus pro omnibus crucifige­ retur, regni caelorum claves accepit; qua illuc in­ troivit latro ille jam non reus, nisi per latus quod aperuit Judaeus? Et nunc veniant omnes quicumque amant para­ disum, locum quietis, locum securitatis, locum per­ petuæ felicitatis, locum in quo non pertimescas bar­ barum, in quo nullum patiaris adversarium, nullum habeas inimicum: venite omnes, intrate omnes; est qua intrare possitis, patet latus. Ostendit enim ille latro quo debeant omnes intrare, neminem suo exem­ plo docuit desperare. ### English translation (Claude) Job too, known to all, conquered the world, tempted so many times but not at all overcome. He fulfilled the Lord’s command: he despised his children rather than blaspheme him who had given the children. He rejected his wife, who urged him to blaspheme, whom the devil had left him, alone of all, because he knew she would be useful to him. For he had not left the husband a comforter but a helper in his temptation: he had made her a new Eve, but Job was not the old Adam. He thought he could deceive this man as he did that one, through a woman; but Job, spurning the wife who suggested the worst, was able with God’s help to overcome even the devil himself in her. Job was stronger in pains than Adam in the groves: the one did not yield to torments, the other was overcome amid delights. You see, dearly beloved, what temptation does, how useful are the pressures of this world, and how earthly delights corrupt. Job despised wife, children, all his goods, and afterwards his own flesh. He loved the one who had given more than what he had given. He used what he had received like a good traveler: he possessed, he was not possessed. And when it pleased the giver to take them away, he blessed and did not blaspheme: “The Lord gave,” he said, “and the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it has been done: blessed be the name of the Lord.” Imitate such a man; imitate him, so as to be such sons even when scourged, that you may deserve to be received. For he scourges every son whom he receives. Bear his discipline: God deals with you as with sons. [7] This is proved by that younger son in the Gospel, who despised his father’s discipline, spent his substance on harlots, fed pigs, was worn down by hunger, and could not fill his belly with the pigs’ pods; at last he came to himself, and he who had lost himself found himself. It came into his mind that his father’s hired men had bread in abundance, while he was perishing of hunger. At once he rose, ran back to his father, and asked to be counted not as a son but as one of the servants. Humility bows down, mercy is roused: the words of the repentant son move the father’s heart. The son says he is unworthy, so that the father judges him worthy; he asks to be ordered received among the servants; and the father orders the best robe to be brought for him, kills the fatted calf, assembles the dancers, calls his friends, and makes a great feast. Why? “Because this son of mine,” he says, “was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.” The Lord set out this likeness in the Gospel and explained it himself, saying that there is such joy in heaven over a sinner who repents. Now, since it is time to exhort everyone to repentance, so that wandering sons may return and the father may prepare for them the feast of the fatted calf, let us too, dearly beloved, be ready to take part in this feast as friends and members of the household; especially since, as we come daily with this householder to his table, he no longer deigns to call us servants but friends. Let us run through, if you please, the parable that the Lord set out in the Gospel, in which he showed us the father’s devoted love, pointed to the lost son’s return, and related the troubled mind of the elder son, who had not left his father’s house. For this is what the text of the reading has: “His eldest son,” it says, “coming from the field, when he heard music, asked the servants what it was; and they told him, Your brother has come back, and your father has killed the fatted calf for him, because he has received him safe. And he was angry and would not go in. His father came out to him to bring him in.” And he reproached his father that he had always labored with him, and he had never given him such things; but when that son came who had wasted all his father’s substance, he had killed the fatted calf for him. And the father gives the reason for what he did, and consoles his son who stayed with him and did not leave the house, and says to him: “Son, you are mine, and you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours; but we had to do this, because your brother was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.” Such a parable from the Lord is not idle. May he who set it out grant us to show that what, by a kind of likeness, he roused us to inquire into was fulfilled by himself. That our Lord Jesus Christ showed a father’s love to his own, no Christian doubts. Let us rather ask who is the younger son, who by living prodigally squandered his father’s substance, and who is the firstborn son, who, angry that the fatted calf had been killed for the lost son on his return, refused to go in. Who is this lost son, who spent all his father’s substance on harlots, if not that robber who squandered in crimes the substance of the soul given him by God, and even hung on a cross? He fed pigs when by his deeds he fulfilled the pleasures of demons. Perhaps he fed those pigs which the devil had asked of the Lord, saying: “Order us to go into the herd of pigs.” He was worn down by hunger because he did not find the bread of the word of God. He longed to fill his belly with pods when he filled his soul with twisted thoughts. But let him return to himself; let the robber see himself hanging on the cross; let him run to the father; let him say, hanging on the cross: “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Lord, remember me; I am not worthy to be called your son; receive me as one of your servants. “Lord, remember me.” For the robber, looking at his own deserts, despaired of himself; but the Lord, like a devoted father, offered the robber as to a son what he had despaired of. Let the father bring out for him that best robe; let him clothe with immortality the son whom he sees hanging on the cross with him; let him bring him into the house: let Christ say to the robber, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Let him kill the fatted calf, the man he had taken up, crucified even for robbers; let him call his friends, the disciples, to whom he said: “If you do what I command you, I will no longer call you servants, but friends.” Let that heavenly feast be prepared; let that choir of angels be present, sweetly singing: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.” Let that firstborn son come too, and refuse to go in. Who is this firstborn son who refused to go in, if not Peter, the first of the apostles, who at the question of a single maid in the high priest’s courtyard dared to deny the Lord three times? You said, O Peter, as to your father Christ, “I have labored with you,” when you said to the Savior, “I am with you even to death; I will lay down my life for you.” Where is what you promised? You are asked once, and you deny; asked a second time, and you deny; a third time, and you deny. You do not want to go in to the feast; that is why you dared to deny the Lord three times. Where is “I will lay down my life for you”? It was not the torturer’s hook that frightened him into denying three times; one little woman overpowered him. “Surely I am with you even to death.” See, then, see, Peter, how much you presumed of yourself before: see, now by denying three times you are convicted, with the cock as witness. But let the father go out to the firstborn son who refuses to go in: let Christ say to Peter, “Enter into the joy of your Lord.” Let him look on the one who denied and make him a confessor; let him pierce his heart so that he weeps, and make him one who loves. Let him exhort him with a father’s voice: “Son,” he says, “you are mine: you are Peter; though you denied me, you are mine. You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church. You are mine, and all that is mine is yours: to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” With you, Peter, are the keys: deign now to go in to the feast. These things had to be, because your brother the robber was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found. If Peter received the keys of the kingdom of heaven before Christ was crucified for all, by what way did that robber, no longer guilty, enter there, if not through the side which the Jew opened? And now let all come who love paradise, the place of rest, the place of security, the place of perpetual happiness, the place where you need not fear the barbarian, where you suffer no adversary and have no enemy: come, all of you; enter, all of you; there is a way by which you can enter: the side lies open. For that robber showed by what way all must enter; by his example he taught no one to despair. ### Scripture references - Job 1:13–22: allusion, high confidence - Job 2:9–10: allusion, high confidence - Gen 3:6: allusion, medium confidence - Job 2:7: allusion, medium confidence - Job 1:21: quotation, high confidence - Heb 12:6–7: quotation, high confidence - Luke 15:11–24: allusion, high confidence - Luke 15:7: allusion, high confidence - John 15:14–15: quotation, high confidence - Luke 15:25–32: quotation, high confidence - Matt 8:31: quotation, high confidence - Amos 8:11: echo, low confidence - Luke 23:42–43: quotation, high confidence - Luke 2:14: quotation, high confidence - Matt 26:69–75: allusion, high confidence - Luke 22:33: quotation, high confidence - John 13:37: quotation, high confidence - Matt 25:21: quotation, high confidence - Luke 22:61–62: allusion, high confidence - Matt 16:18–19: quotation, high confidence - John 19:34: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - This staged section holds Migne’s chapters 6 and 7; the start of chapter 7 is marked [7]. Its heading (“The parable of the prodigal son. Christ’s side opened, that all may enter through it”) is removed; the chapter’s first words, “This is proved by …”, refer to that heading. The preacher says “the Jew” opened Christ’s side; in John 19:34 it is one of the soldiers. The allegory of the two sons is the preacher’s own: translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Quodvultdeus, Temp. barb. 6 (PL 40:703–705; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/6). ## Sermon on the Barbarian Time 8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/8/#p-8 - Source: PL 40:705–707 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Summary: Through the narrow gate of Christ’s opened side the robber, the Jews, and the pagans enter, while the Arian heretic goes out; the faithful must not be rebaptized, and must help the captives and refugees of the invasion. ### Latin text Quid angustius illo foramine, quod unus e militibus percutiendo latus crucifixi aperuit? et tamen per has angustias pene jam totus mundus intravit. Venite, et vos Judaei, vocat vos quem crucifixistis Filius Dei. Contendite intrare per angustam portam: per hanc enim introierunt patres vestri. Illi qui ut crucifigeretur clamaverunt, qui in ligno suspensum viderunt, qui irriserunt, qui caput agitaverunt, per istas tamen angustias introierunt. Non enim inaniter clamabat ille pendens in cruce: Pater, ignosce illis, quia nesciunt quid faciunt. Per has ergo, ut dixi, angustias, per angustam portam lateris Christi ingressus est latro mutatus, pœnitens. Judæus, con­ versus omnis paganus, et ab eo exiit foras malus hæreticus arianus. Exiit, quoniam non erat de nu­ mero permanentium. De illis enim erat, de quibus Joannes dicit: Ex nobis exierunt, sed non erant ex nobis: si enim ex nobis essent, mansissent utique no­ biscum ( I Joan. II, 19). O hæretice ariane, agnoscit latro in cruce pendentem, ipsi inimici Judæi expa­ verunt resurgentem, et vos male tractatis in cœlo re­ gnantem! Cavete, dilectissimi, arianam pestem; non vos separent a Christo terrena promittendo, propter tu­ nicam non vos exspolient fide. Membra Christi, ser­ vate unitatem atque integritatem unius tunicæ, quam nec persecutores Christi ausi sunt scindere, Nolite injurias irrogare capiti vestro: pro vobis ille mortuus est, ne vos moreremini. Quem Christus per Batpi­ smurn vivificavit, quare eum arianus rebaptizando occidit? Erubesce, erubesce, hæretice. Negavit Pc­ trus, et reversus est, et flendo delevit quod timore negavit. Christum in suis persecutus est Paulus, sed ad ejus vocem cecidit et surrexit. Aliter cecidit, aliter surrexit: cecidit persecutor, erectas est prædicator. In Christianis Christum persecuti sunt reges: sed multum eis præstiterunt, quando membra ad caput suum velociter transierunt. Nemo talia damna, qualia tu, ingerit Christo: animas enim multorum cupis interficere, pro quibus Christus in carne venit occidi. Erubesce, erubesce, hæretice. Quid iteras quod se­ mel datur? In membris suis jam natus est Christus, noli in istis ipsum velle rebaptizare? Semel enim pro omnibus cum Joanne in aquam dignatus est ipse descendere. Redemit Christus animas, custodite quod ille redemit. Integro Christo integrum assignate prædium. Nemo invadat, nemo invasori consentiat: characterem dominicum nullus abster­ gat, titulos Christi nemo deponat. Reddituri estis ra­ tionem Domino regi, boni servi, data est vobis occasio bene operandi. Abundant peregrini, captivi, exspo­ liati. Facite vobis amicos ex mammona iniquitatis, ut et ipsi recipiant vos in tabernacula œterna. ### English translation (Claude) … What is narrower than that opening which one of the soldiers made by piercing the side of the Crucified? And yet through this narrow way almost the whole world has now entered. Come, you Jews too: the Son of God whom you crucified calls you. Strive to enter through the narrow gate: for through it your fathers entered. Those who shouted that he be crucified, who saw him hung on the wood, who mocked, who shook their heads, yet entered through this narrow way. For not in vain did he cry out as he hung on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Through this narrow way, then, as I said, through the narrow gate of Christ’s side, there entered the robber, changed; the Jew, repentant; every pagan, converted; and through it went out the wicked Arian heretic. He went out, because he was not of the number of those who remain. For he was of those of whom John says: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would surely have remained with us.” O Arian heretic, the robber recognizes him hanging on the cross, his very enemies the Jews trembled at his rising, and you treat ill the one who reigns in heaven! Beware, dearly beloved, of the Arian plague; let them not separate you from Christ by promising earthly things; let them not strip you of your faith for the sake of a tunic. Members of Christ, keep the unity and wholeness of the one tunic, which not even Christ’s persecutors dared to tear. Do not do injury to your head: he died for you, that you might not die. Why does the Arian kill by rebaptizing the one whom Christ made alive through baptism? Blush, blush, heretic. Peter denied, and came back, and by weeping blotted out what he had denied through fear. Paul persecuted Christ in his own, but at his voice he fell and rose. He fell one way and rose another: he fell a persecutor, he was raised a preacher. Kings persecuted Christ in Christians; but they did them a great service when the members passed swiftly to their head. No one inflicts such losses on Christ as you do: for you long to kill the souls of many, for whom Christ came in the flesh to be killed. Blush, blush, heretic. Why do you repeat what is given once? Christ has already been born in his members: will you want to rebaptize him in them? For once for all he deigned to go down into the water with John. Christ redeemed souls; guard what he redeemed. Give the whole estate to the whole Christ. Let no one invade it, let no one consent to the invader; let no one wipe off the Lord’s mark, let no one take down Christ’s titles. You will render account to the Lord the King, good servants: an occasion for doing good has been given you. Strangers, captives, and the despoiled abound. Make friends for yourselves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, so that they too may receive you into the eternal dwellings. ### Scripture references - John 19:34: allusion, high confidence - Luke 13:24: quotation, high confidence - Matt 27:39: allusion, high confidence - Luke 23:34: quotation, high confidence - 1 John 2:19: quotation, high confidence - John 19:23–24: allusion, high confidence - Matt 26:75: allusion, high confidence - Acts 9:4: allusion, high confidence - Matt 3:13–16: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 16:9: quotation, high confidence - Matt 25:35–36: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - This staged section is Migne’s chapter 8; a renumbering to 8 is proposed. Its opening, with the quotation of Luke 13:24 (“Strive to enter by the narrow gate”) to which Migne’s reference “XIII, 24” belongs, was lost in the digital text together with the chapter heading; the remnant of the reference is removed and the gap marked “…”. Anti-Arian polemic: translated as written. “The Lord’s mark” (character dominicus) is the baptismal seal; “Christ’s titles” are the boundary or ownership markers of an estate. ### Citation (SBL) Quodvultdeus, Temp. barb. 8 (PL 40:705–707; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/quodvultdeus-tempore-barbarico/8).