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| Who is the Rich Man that shall be saved?
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Clemens Alexandrinus
on the
[Translated by Rev. William Wilson, M.A.]
Who is the Rich Man that Shall Be Saved?
I. Those who bestow laudatory addresses on the
rich3838
| 3838[The solemn
words of our Lord about the perils of wealth and “the deceitfulness
of riches” are much insisted on by Hermas, especially in the
beautiful opening of the Similitudes (book iii.); and it seems
remarkable, that, even in the age of martyrs and confessors, such warnings
should have seemed needful. Clement is deeply impressed with the duty of
enforcing such doctrine; and perhaps the germ of this very interesting
essay is to be found in that eloquent passage in his Stromata (book
ii. cap. 5, pp. 351, 352),
to which the reader may do well to recur, using it as a preface to the
following pages. Elucidation I.] | appear
to me to be rightly judged not only flatterers and base, in vehemently
pretending that things which are disagreeable give them pleasure, but
also godless and treacherous; godless, because neglecting to praise and
glorify God, who is alone perfect and good, “of whom are all things,
and by whom are all things, and for whom are all things,”3839
they invest3840
| 3840 This clause is defective in the ms. and is translated as supplemented
by Fell from conjecture. | with divine honours men wallowing
in an execrable and abominable life, and, what is the principal thing,
liable on this account to the judgment of God; and treacherous, because,
although wealth is of itself sufficient to puff up and corrupt the souls
of its possessors, and to turn them from the path by which salvation is
to be attained, they stupefy them still more, by inflating the minds
of the rich with the pleasures of extravagant praises, and by making
them utterly despise all things except wealth, on account of which they
are admired; bringing, as the saying is, fire to fire, pouring pride
on pride, and adding conceit to wealth, a heavier burden to that which
by nature is a weight, from which somewhat ought rather to be removed
and taken away as being a dangerous and deadly disease. For to him who
exalts and magnifies himself, the change and downfall to a low condition
succeeds in turn, as the divine word teaches. For it appears to me to be
far kinder, than basely to flatter the rich and praise them for what is
bad, to aid them in working out their salvation in every possible way;
asking this of God, who surely and sweetly bestows such things on His
own children; and thus by the grace of the Saviour healing their souls,
enlightening them and leading them to the attainment of the truth; and
whosoever obtains this and distinguishes himself in good works shall gain
the prize of everlasting life. Now prayer that runs its course till the
last day of life needs a strong and tranquil soul; and the conduct of
life needs a good and righteous disposition, reaching out towards all
the commandments of the Saviour.
II. Perhaps the reason of salvation appearing
more difficult to the rich than to poor men, is not single but
manifold. For some, merely hearing, and that in an off-hand way,
the utterance of the Saviour, “that it is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of heaven,”3841
despair of themselves as not destined to live,
surrender all to the world, cling to the present life as if it alone was
left to them, and so diverge more from the way to the life to come, no
longer inquiring either whom the Lord and Master calls rich, or how that
which is impossible to man becomes possible to God. But others rightly
and adequately comprehend this, but attaching slight importance to the
works which tend to salvation, do not make the requisite preparation
for attaining to the objects of their hope. And I affirm both of these
things of the rich who have learned both the Saviour’s power and
His glorious salvation. With those who are ignorant of the truth I have
little concern.
III. Those then who are actuated by a love of the truth
and love of their brethren, and neither are rudely insolent towards such
rich as are called, nor, on the other hand, cringe to them for their own
avaricious ends, must first by the word relieve them of their groundless
despair, and show with the requisite explanation of the oracles of the
Lord that the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven is not quite cut off
from them if they obey the commandments; then admonish them that they
entertain a causeless fear, and that the Lord gladly receives them,
provided they are willing; and then, in addition, exhibit and teach how
and by what deeds and dispositions
they shall win the objects
of hope, inasmuch as it is neither out of their reach, nor, on
the other hand, attained without effort; but, as is the case with
athletes—to compare things small and perishing with things
great and immortal—let the man who is endowed with worldly wealth
reckon that this depends on himself. For among those, one man, because
he despaired of being able to conquer and gain crowns, did not give in
his name for the contest; while another, whose mind was inspired with
this hope, and yet did not submit to the appropriate labours, and diet,
and exercises, remained uncrowned, and was balked in his expectations. So
also let not the man that has been invested with worldly wealth proclaim
himself excluded at the outset from the Saviour’s lists, provided
he is a believer and one who contemplates the greatness of God’s
philanthropy; nor let him, on the other hand, expect to grasp the crowns
of immortality without struggle and effort, continuing untrained,
and without contest. But let him go and put himself under the Word
as his trainer, and Christ the President of the contest; and for his
prescribed food and drink let him have the New Testament of the Lord;
and for exercises, the commandments; and for elegance and ornament, the
fair dispositions, love, faith, hope, knowledge of the truth, gentleness,
meekness, pity, gravity: so that, when by the last trumpet the signal
shall be given for the race and departure hence, as from the stadium of
life, he may with a good conscience present himself victorious before the
Judge who confers the rewards, confessedly worthy of the Fatherland on
high, to which he returns with crowns and the acclamations of angels.
IV. May the Saviour then grant to us that, having begun
the subject from this point, we may contribute to the brethren what is
true, and suitable, and saving, first touching the hope itself, and,
second, touching the access to the hope. He indeed grants to those who
beg, and teaches those who ask, and dissipate signorance and dispels
despair, by introducing again the same words about the rich, which become
their own interpreters and infallible expounders. For there is nothing
like listening again to the very same statements, which till now in the
Gospels were distressing you, hearing them as you did without examination,
and erroneously through puerility: “And going forth into the way,
one approached and kneeled, saying, Good Master, what good thing shall
I do that I may inherit everlasting life? And Jesus saith, Why callest
thou Me good? There is none good but one, that is, God. Thou
knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not
steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and thy
mother. And he answering saith to Him, All these have I observed. And
Jesus, looking upon him, loved him, and said, One thing thou lackest. If
thou wouldest be perfect, sell what thou hast and give to the poor,
and thou shall have treasure in heaven: and come, follow Me. And he was
sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he was rich, having great
possessions. And Jesus looked round about, and saith to His disciples,
How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! And
the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answereth again,
and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in
riches to enter into the kingdom of God! More easily shall a camel
enter through the eye of a needle than a rich man into the kingdom of
God. And they were astonished out of measure, and said, Who then can
be saved? And He, looking upon them, said, What is impossible with
men is possible with God. For with God all things are possible. Peter
began to say to Him, Lo, we have left all and followed Thee. And Jesus
answered and said, Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall leave what
is his own, parents, and brethren, and possessions, for My sake and the
Gospel’s, shall receive an hundred-fold now in this world, lands,
and possessions, and house, and brethren, with persecutions; and in the
world to come is life everlasting. But many that are first shall be last,
and the last first.”3842
| 3842 Mark
x. 17–31. Clement does not give always Mark’s ipsissima
verba. |
V. These things are written in the Gospel according
to Mark; and in all the rest correspondingly; although perchance the
expressions vary slightly in each, yet all show identical agreement
in meaning.
But well knowing that the Saviour teaches nothing
in a merely human way, but teaches all things to His own with divine
and mystic wisdom, we must not listen to His utterances carnally; but
with due investigation and intelligence must search out and learn the
meaning hidden in them. For even those things which seem to have been
simplified to the disciples by the Lord Himself are found to require not
less, even more, attention than what is expressed enigmatically, from the
surpassing superabundance of wisdom in them. And whereas the things which
are thought to have been explained by Him to those within—those
called by Him the children of the kingdom—require still more
consideration than the things which seemed to have been expressed simply,
and respecting which therefore no questions were asked by those who
heard them, but which, pertaining to the entire design of salvation,
and to be contemplated with admirable and supercelestial depth of mind,
we must not receive superficially with
our ears, but with application of the
mind to the very spirit of the Saviour, and the unuttered meaning of
the declaration.
VI. For our Lord and Saviour was asked pleasantly a
question most appropriate for Him,—the Life respecting life, the
Saviour respecting salvation, the Teacher respecting the chief doctrines
taught, the Truth respecting the true immortality, the Word respecting
the word of the Father, the Perfect respecting the perfect rest, the
Immortal respecting the sure immortality. He was asked respecting those
things on account of which He descended, which He inculcates, which He
teaches, which He offers, in order to show the essence of the Gospel, that
it is the gift of eternal life. For He foresaw as God, both what He would
be asked, and what each one would answer Him. For who should do this more
than the Prophet of prophets, and the Lord of every prophetic spirit? And
having been called “good,” and taking the starting note from
this first expression, He commences His teaching with this, turning the
pupil to God, the good, and first and only dispenser of eternal life,
which the Son, who received it of Him, gives to us.
VII. Wherefore the greatest and chiefest point of the instructions
which relate to life must be implanted in the soul from the
beginning,—to know the eternal God, the giver of what is
eternal, and by knowledge and comprehension to possess God, who is
first, and highest, and one, and good. For this is the immutable
and immoveable source and support of life, the knowledge of God,
who really is, and who bestows the things which really are, that is,
those which are eternal, from whom both being and the continuance3843
| 3843 Instead of μεῖναι Fell here
suggests μὴ
εἵναι, non-being. | of it are
derived to other beings. For ignorance of Him is death; but the knowledge
and appropriation of Him, and love and likeness to Him, are the only
life.
VIII. He then who would live the true life is enjoined first to know
Him “whom no one knows, except the Son reveal (Him).”3844
Next is to
be learned the greatness of the Saviour after Him, and the newness of
grace; for, according to the apostle, “the law was given by Moses,
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ;”3845
and the gifts granted through a
faithful servant are not equal to those bestowed by the true Son. If
then the law of Moses had been sufficient to confer eternal life, it
were to no purpose for the Saviour Himself to come and suffer for us,
accomplishing the course of human life from His birth to His cross; and to
no purpose for him who had done all the commandments of the law from his
youth to fall on his knees and beg from another immortality. For he had
not only fulfilled the law, but had begun to do so from his very earliest
youth. For what is there great or pre-eminently illustrious in an old age
which is unproductive of faults? But if one in juvenile frolicsomeness and
the fire of youth shows a mature judgment older than his years, this is a
champion admirable and distinguished, and hoary pre-eminently in mind.
But, nevertheless, this man being such, is perfectly
persuaded that nothing is wanting to him as far as respects righteousness,
but that he is entirely destitute of life. Wherefore he asks it from
Him who alone is able to give it. And with reference to the law, he
carries confidence; but the Son of God he addresses in supplication. He
is transferred from faith to faith. As perilously tossing and occupying
a dangerous anchorage in the law, he makes for the Saviour to find
a haven.
IX. Jesus, accordingly, does not charge him with not
having fulfilled all things out of the law, but loves him, and fondly
welcomes his obedience in what he had learned; but says that he is not
perfect as respects eternal life, inasmuch as he had not fulfilled what is
perfect, and that he is a doer indeed of the law, but idle at the true
life. Those things, indeed, are good. Who denies it? For “the
commandment is holy,”3846
as far as a sort of training with fear and
preparatory discipline goes, leading as it did to the culmination
of legislation and to grace.3847
But Christ is the fulfilment “of the
law for righteousness to every one that believeth;” and not as
a slave making slaves, but sons, and brethren, and fellow-heirs, who
perform the Father’s will.
X. “If thou wilt be perfect.”3848
Consequently
he was not yet perfect. For nothing is more perfect than what is
perfect. And divinely the expression “if thou wilt” showed
the self-determination of the soul holding converse with Him. For choice
depended on the man as being free; but the gift on God as the Lord. And
He gives to those who are willing and are exceedingly earnest, and ask,
that so their salvation may become their own. For God compels not (for
compulsion is repugnant to God), but supplies to those who seek, and
bestows on those who ask, and opens to those who knock. If thou wilt,
then, if thou really willest, and art not deceiving thyself, acquire
what thou lackest. One thing is lacking thee,—the one thing which
abides, the good, that which is now above the law, which the law gives
not, which the law contains not, which is the prerogative of those who
live. He forsooth who had fulfilled all the demands of the
law from his youth, and had
gloried in what was magnificent, was not able to complete the
whole3849
| 3849 The reading of the ms. is πραθῆναι,
which is corrupt. We have changed it into περιθεῖναι.
Various other emendations have been
proposed. Perhaps it should be προσθεῖναι,
“to add.” | with this one thing which was specially
required by the Saviour, so as to receive the eternal life which he
desired. But he departed displeased, vexed at the commandment of the life,
on account of which he supplicated. For he did not truly wish life, as he
averred, but aimed at the mere reputation of the good choice. And he was
capable of busying himself about many things; but the one thing, the work
of life, he was powerless, and disinclined, and unable to accomplish. Such
also was what the Lord said to Martha, who was occupied with many things,
and distracted and troubled with serving; while she blamed her sister,
because, leaving serving, she set herself at His feet, devoting her time
to learning: “Thou art troubled about many things, but Mary hath
chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”3850
So also He
bade him leave his busy life, and cleave to One and adhere to the grace
of Him who offered everlasting life.
XI. What then was it which persuaded him to flight, and
made him depart from the Master, from the entreaty, the hope, the life,
previously pursued with ardour?—“Sell thy possessions.”
And what is this? He does not, as some conceive off-hand, bid him throw
away the substance he possessed, and abandon his property; but bids him
banish from his soul his notions about wealth, his excitement and morbid
feeling about it, the anxieties, which are the thorns of existence,
which choke the seed of life. For it is no great thing or desirable to
be destitute of wealth, if without a special object,—not except
on account of life. For thus those who have nothing at all, but are
destitute, and beggars for their daily bread, the poor dispersed on
the streets, who know not God and God’s righteousness, simply on
account of their extreme want and destitution of subsistence, and lack
even of the smallest things, were most blessed and most dear to God,
and sole possessors of everlasting life.
Nor was the renunciation of wealth and the bestowment
of it on the poor or needy a new thing; for many did so before the
Saviour’s advent,—some because of the leisure (thereby
obtained) for learning, and on account of a dead wisdom; and others
for empty fame and vainglory, as the Anaxagorases, the Democriti, and
the Crateses.
XII. Why then command as new, as divine, as alone
life-giving, what did not save those of former days? And what peculiar
thing is it that the new creature3851
| 3851 The application of the words ἡ καινὴ
κτισις to Christ has been
much discussed. Segaar has a long note on it, the purport
of which he thus sums up: ἡ καινὴ
κτίσις is a creature to whom
nothing has ever existed on earth equal or like, man but also God,
through whom is true light and everlasting life. [The translator
has largely availed himself of the valuable edition and notes of
Charles Segaar (ed. Utrecht, 1816), concerning whom see Elucidation II.] | the Son of God intimates
and teaches? It is not the outward act which others have done, but
something else indicated by it, greater, more godlike, more perfect,
the stripping off of the passions from the soul itself and from the
disposition, and the cutting up by the roots and casting out of what is
alien to the mind. For this is the lesson peculiar to the believer, and
the instruction worthy of the Saviour. For those who formerly despised
external things relinquished and squandered their property, but the
passions of the soul, I believe, they intensified. For they indulged
in arrogance, pretension, and vainglory, and in contempt of the rest
of mankind, as if they had done something superhuman. How then would
the Saviour have enjoined on those destined to live for ever what was
injurious and hurtful with reference to the life which He promised? For
although such is the case, one, after ridding himself of the burden
of wealth, may none the less have still the lust and desire for money
innate and living; and may have abandoned the use of it, but being at
once destitute of and desiring what he spent, may doubly grieve both on
account of the absence of attendance, and the presence of regret. For
it is impossible and inconceivable that those in want of the necessaries
of life should not be harassed in mind, and hindered from better things
in the endeavour to provide them somehow, and from some source.
XIII. And how much more beneficial the opposite
case, for a man, through possessing a competency, both not himself
to be in straits about money, and also to give assistance to those to
whom it is requisite so to do! For if no one had anything, what room
would be left among men for giving? And how can this dogma fail to
be found plainly opposed to and conflicting with many other excellent
teachings of the Lord? “Make to yourselves friends of the mammon
of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into the
everlasting habitations.”3852
“Acquire treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust destroys, nor thieves break through.”3853
How could one
give food to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked,
and shelter the houseless, for not doing which He threatens with fire
and the outer darkness, if each man first divested himself of all
these things? Nay, He bids Zaccheus and Matthew, the rich tax-gathers,
entertain Him hospitably. And He does not bid them part
with their property, but, applying
the just and removing the unjust judgment, He subjoins, “To-day
salvation has come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of
Abraham.”3854
He so praises the use of property as to enjoin,
along with this addition, the giving a share of it, to give drink to the
thirsty, bread to the hungry, to take the houseless in, and clothe the
naked. But if it is not possible to supply those needs without substance,
and He bids people abandon their substance, what else would the Lord
be doing than exhorting to give and not to give the same things, to
feed and not to feed, to take in and to shut out, to share and not to
share? which were the most irrational of all things.
XIV. Riches, then, which benefit also our neighbours,
are not to be thrown away. For they are possessions, inasmuch as they
are possessed, and goods, inasmuch as they are useful and provided by
God for the use of men; and they lie to our hand, and are put under our
power, as material and instruments which are for good use to those who
know the instrument. If you use it skilfully, it is skilful; if you are
deficient in skill, it is affected by your want of skill, being itself
destitute of blame. Such an instrument is wealth. Are you able to make
a right use of it? It is subservient to righteousness. Does one make a
wrong use of it? It is, on the other hand, a minister of wrong. For its
nature is to be subservient, not to rule. That then which of itself has
neither good nor evil, being blameless, ought not to be blamed; but that
which has the power of using it well and ill, by reason of its possessing
voluntary choice. And this is the mind and judgment of man, which has
freedom in itself and self-determination in the treatment of what is
assigned to it. So let no man destroy wealth, rather than the passions
of the soul, which are incompatible with the better use of wealth. So
that, becoming virtuous and good, he may be able to make a good use of
these riches. The renunciation, then, and selling of all possessions,
is to be understood as spoken of the passions of the soul.
XV. I would then say this. Since some things are within
and some without the soul, and if the soul make a good use of them,
they also are reputed good, but if a bad, bad;—whether does He
who commands us to alienate our possessions repudiate those things,
after the removal of which the passions still remain, or those rather,
on the removal of which wealth even becomes beneficial? If therefore
he who casts away worldly wealth can still be rich in the passions,
even though the material [for their gratification] is absent,—for
the disposition produces its own effects, and strangles the reason, and
presses it down and inflames it with its inbred lusts,—it is then of
no advantage to him to be poor in purse while he is rich in passions. For
it is not what ought to be cast away that he has cast away, but what
is indifferent; and he has deprived himself of what is serviceable, but
set on fire the innate fuel of evil through want of the external means
[of gratification]. We must therefore renounce those possessions that are
injurious, not those that are capable of being serviceable, if one knows
the right use of them. And what is managed with wisdom, and sobriety,
and piety, is profitable; and what is hurtful must be cast away. But
things external hurt not. So then the Lord introduces the use of external
things, bidding us put away not the means of subsistence, but what uses
them badly. And these are the infirmities and passions of the soul.
XVI. The presence of wealth in these is deadly to all,
the loss of it salutary. Of which, making the soul pure,—that is,
poor and bare,—we must hear the Saviour speaking thus, “Come,
follow Me.” For to the pure in heart He now becomes the way. But
into the impure soul the grace of God finds no entrance. And that
(soul) is unclean which is rich in lusts, and is in the throes of many
worldly affections. For he who holds possessions, and gold, and silver,
and houses, as the gifts of God; and ministers from them to the God who
gives them for the salvation of men; and knows that he possesses them
more for the sake of the brethren than his own; and is superior to the
possession of them, not the slave of the things he possesses; and does not
carry them about in his soul, nor bind and circumscribe his life within
them, but is ever labouring at some good and divine work, even should
he be necessarily some time or other deprived of them, is able with
cheerful mind to bear their removal equally with their abundance. This
is he who is blessed by the Lord, and called poor in spirit, a meet heir
of the kingdom of heaven, not one who could not live rich.
XVII. But he who carries his riches in his soul,
and instead of God’s Spirit bears in his heart gold or land,
and is always acquiring possessions without end, and is perpetually on
the outlook for more, bending downwards and fettered in the toils of the
world, being earth and destined to depart to earth,—whence can he be
able to desire and to mind the kingdom of heaven,—a man who carries
not a heart, but land or metal, who must perforce be found in the midst
of the objects he has chosen? For where the mind of man is, there is
also his treasure. The Lord acknowledges a twofold treasure,—the
good: “For the good man, out of the good treasure of his heart,
bringeth forth good;”
and the evil: for “the evil
man, out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil: for out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”3855
As then treasure is not
one with Him, as also it is with us, that which gives the unexpected
great gain in the finding, but also a second, which is profitless and
undesirable, an evil acquisition, hurtful; so also there is a richness
in good things, and a richness in bad things, since we know that riches
and treasure are not by nature separated from each other. And the one
sort of riches is to be possessed and acquired, and the other not to be
possessed, but to be cast away.
In the same way spiritual poverty is blessed. Wherefore
also Matthew added, “Blessed are the poor.”3856
How? “In
spirit.” And again, “Blessed are they that hunger and
thirst after the righteousness of God.”3857
Wherefore wretched are the contrary
kind of poor, who have no part in God, and still less in human property,
and have not tasted of the righteousness of God.
XVIII. So that (the expression)
rich men that shall with difficulty enter into
the kingdom, is to be apprehended in a scholarly3858
| 3858 μαθηματικῶς.
Fell sugests instead of this reading
of the text, πνευματικῶς
or μεμελημένως. |
way, not awkwardly, or rustically, or carnally. For if the expression is
used thus, salvation does not depend on external things, whether they be
many or few, small or great, or illustrious or obscure, or esteemed or
disesteemed; but on the virtue of the soul, on faith, and hope, and love,
and brotherliness, and knowledge, and meekness, and humility, and truth,
the reward of which is salvation. For it is not on account of comeliness
of body that any one shall live, or, on the other hand, perish. But he
who uses the body given to him chastely and according to God, shall live;
and he that destroys the temple of God shall be destroyed. An ugly man
can be profligate, and a good-looking man temperate. Neither strength
and great size of body makes alive, nor does any of the members destroy.
But the soul which uses them provides the cause for each. Bear then, it
is said, when struck on the face;3859
which a man strong and in good health can
obey. And again, a man who is feeble may transgress from refractoriness
of temper. So also a poor and destitute man may be found intoxicated with
lusts; and a man rich in worldly goods temperate, poor in indulgences,
trustworthy, intelligent, pure, chastened.
If then it is the soul which, first and especially,
is that which is to live, and if virtue springing up around it saves,
and vice kills; then it is clearly manifest that by being poor in those
things, by riches of which one destroys it, it is saved, and by being
rich in those things, riches of which ruin it, it is killed. And let
us no longer seek the cause of the issue elsewhere than in the state
and disposition of the soul in respect of obedience to God and purity,
and in respect of transgression of the commandments and accumulation
of wickedness.
XIX. He then is truly and rightly rich who is rich
in virtue, and is capable of making a holy and faithful use of any
fortune; while he is spuriously rich who is rich, according to the
flesh, and turns life into outward possession, which is transitory and
perishing, and now belongs to one, now to another, and in the end to
nobody at all. Again, in the same way there is a genuine poor man, and
another counterfeit and falsely so called. He that is poor in spirit,
and that is the right thing, and he that is poor in a worldly sense,
which is a different thing. To him who is poor in worldly goods,
but rich in vices, who is not poor in spirit3860
| 3860 ὁ
κατὰ πνεῦμα
οὑ πτωχὸς
… φησί. Segaar omits
οὐ,
and so makes ὁ
κατὰ πνεῦμἀ
κ.τ.λ. the nominative to φησί. It
seems better, with the Latin translator, to render as above,
which supposes the change of ὁ into ός. | and rich toward God,
it is said, Abandon the alien possessions that are in thy soul, that,
becoming pure in heart, thou mayest see God; which is another way of
saying, Enter into the kingdom of heaven. And how may you abandon them?
By selling them. What then? Are you to take money for effects, by
effecting an exchange of riches, by turning your visible substance into
money? Not at all. But by introducing, instead of what was formerly
inherent in your soul, which you desire to save, other riches which
deify and which minister everlasting life, dispositions in accordance
with the command of God; for which there shall accrue to you endless
reward and honour, and salvation, and everlasting immortality. It is
thus that thou dost rightly sell the possessions, many are superfluous,
which shut the heavens against thee by exchanging them for those which
are able to save. Let the former be possessed by the carnal poor, who
are destitute of the latter. But thou, by receiving instead spiritual
wealth, shalt have now treasure in the heavens.
XX. The wealthy and legally correct man, not
understanding these things figuratively, nor how the same man can be
both poor and rich, and have wealth and not have it, and use the world
and not use it, went away sad and downcast, leaving the state of life,
which he was able merely to desire but not to attain, making for himself
the difficult impossible. For it was difficult for the soul not to be
seduced and ruined by the luxuries and flowery enchantments that beset
remarkable wealth; but it was not impossible, even surrounded with it,
for one to lay hold of salvation, provided he withdrew himself from
material wealth,—to
that which is grasped by the mind
and taught by God, and learned to use things indifferent rightly and
properly, and so as to strive after eternal life. And the disciples
even themselves were at first alarmed and amazed. Why were they so on
hearing this? Was it that they themselves possessed much wealth? Nay,
they had long ago left their very nets, and hooks, and rowing boats,
which were their sole possessions. Why then do they say in consternation,
“Who can be saved?” They had heard well and like disciples
what was spoken in parable and obscurely by the Lord, and perceived
the depth of the words. For they were sanguine of salvation on the
ground of their want of wealth. But when they became conscious of not
having yet wholly renounced the passions (for they were neophytes and
recently selected by the Saviour), they were excessively astonished, and
despaired of themselves no less than that rich man who clung so terribly
to the wealth which he preferred to eternal life. It was therefore a
fit subject for all fear on the disciples’ part; if both he that
possesses wealth and he that is teeming with passions were the rich,
and these alike shall be expelled from the heavens. For salvation is
the privilege of pure and passionless souls.
XXI. But the Lord replies, “Because what is
impossible with men is possible with God.” This again is full
of great wisdom. For a man by himself working and toiling at freedom
from passion achieves nothing. But if he plainly shows himself very
desirous and earnest about this, he attains it by the addition of
the power of God. For God conspires with willing souls. But if they
abandon their eagerness, the spirit which is bestowed by God is also
restrained. For to save the unwilling is the part of one exercising
compulsion; but to save the willing, that of one showing grace. Nor does
the kingdom of heaven belong to sleepers and sluggards, “but the
violent take it by force.”3861
For
this alone is commendable violence, to force God, and take life from
God by force. And He, knowing those who persevere firmly, or rather
violently, yields and grants. For God delights in being vanquished in
such things.
Therefore on hearing those words, the blessed Peter,
the chosen, the pre-eminent, the first of the disciples, for whom
alone and Himself the Saviour paid tribute,3862
quickly seized and
comprehended the saying. And what does he say? “Lo, we have left
all and followed Thee.” Now if by all he means his own property, he
boasts of leaving four oboli perhaps in all,3863
| 3863 The text is the reading on the margin of the first
edition. The reading of the ms.,
τοῦ
λόγου, is ammended by Segaar
into τὸ
τοῦ λὀγου, “as
the saying is.” | and forgets to show the kingdom of
heaven to be their recompense. But if, casting away what we were now
speaking of, the old mental possessions and soul diseases, they follow
in the Master’s footsteps, this now joins them to those who are to
be enrolled in the heavens. For it is thus that one truly follows the
Saviour, by aiming at sinlessness and at His perfection, and adorning
and composing the soul before it as a mirror, and arranging everything
in all respects similarly.
XXII. “And Jesus answering said, Verily I say
unto you, Whosoever shall leave what is his own, parents, and children,
and wealth, for My sake and the Gospel’s, shall receive an
hundredfold.”3864
But let neither this trouble you,
nor the still harder saying delivered in another place in the words,
“Whoso hateth not father, and mother, and children, and his own
life besides, cannot be My disciple.”3865
For the God of peace, who also
exhorts to love enemies, does not introduce hatred and dissolution
from those that are dearest. But if we are to love our enemies,
it is in accordance with right reason that, ascending from them, we
should love also those nearest in kindred. Or if we are to hate our
blood-relations, deduction teaches us that much more are we to spurn
from us our enemies. So that the reasonings would be shown to destroy
one another. But they do not destroy each other, nor are they near doing
so. For from the same feeling and disposition, and on the ground of
the same rule, one loving his enemy may hate his father, inasmuch as he
neither takes vengeance on an enemy, nor reverences a father more than
Christ. For by the one word he extirpates hatred and injury, and by the
other shamefacedness towards one’s relations, if it is detrimental
to salvation. If then one’s father, or son, or brother, be godless,
and become a hindrance to faith and an impediment to the higher life,
let him not be friends or agree with him, but on account of the spiritual
enmity, let him dissolve the fleshly relationship.
XXIII. Suppose the matter to be a law-suit. Let your
father be imagined to present himself to you and say, “I begot
and reared thee. Follow me, and join with me in wickedness, and obey
not the law of Christ;” and whatever a man who is a blasphemer
and dead by nature would say.
But on the other side hear the Saviour: “I
regenerated thee, who wert ill born by the world to death. I emancipated,
healed, ransomed thee. I will show thee the face of the good Father
God. Call no man thy father on earth. Let the dead bury the dead; but
follow thou Me. For I will bring thee to a rest3866
| 3866 Segaar emends ἀνάπαυσιν
to ἀπόλαυσιν
“enjoyment.” | of ineffable and unutterable
blessings, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered
into the
heart of men; into which angels desire
to look, and see what good things God hath prepared for the saints and
the children who love Him.”3867
I am He who feeds thee, giving
Myself as bread, of which he who has tasted experiences death no more,
and supplying day by day the drink of immortality. I am teacher of
supercelestial lessons. For thee I contended with Death, and paid thy
death, which thou owedst for thy former sins and thy unbelief towards
God.”
Having heard these considerations on both sides, decide
for thyself and give thy vote for thine own salvation. Should a brother
say the like, should a child, should a wife, should any one whosoever,
in preference to all let Christ in thee be conqueror. For He contends
in thy behalf.
XXIV. You may even go against wealth. Say,
“Certainly Christ does not debar me from property. The Lord does
not envy.” But do you see yourself overcome and overthrown by it?
Leave it, throw it away, hate, renounce, flee. “Even if thy right
eye offend thee,” quickly “cut it out.”3868
Better
is the kingdom of God to a man with one eye, than the fire to one who
is unmutilated. Whether hand, or foot, or soul, hate it. For if it is
destroyed here for Christ’s sake, it will be restored to life
yonder.
XXV. And to this effect similarly is what follows.
“Now at this present time not to have lands, and money, and
houses, and brethren, with persecutions.” For it is neither
penniless, nor homeless, nor brotherless people that the Lord calls to
life, since He has also called rich people; but, as we have said above,
also brothers, as Peter with Andrew, and James with John the sons of
Zebedee, but of one mind with each other and Christ. And the expression
“with persecutions” rejects the possessing of each of those
things. There is a persecution which arises from without, from men
assailing the faithful, either out of hatred, or envy, or avarice, or
through diabolic agency. But the most painful is internal persecution,
which proceeds from each man’s own soul being vexed by impious
lusts, and diverse pleasures, and base hopes, and destructive dreams;
when, always grasping at more, and maddened by brutish loves, and
inflamed by the passions which beset it like goads and stings, it is
covered with blood, (to drive it on) to insane pursuits, and to despair
of life, and to contempt of God.
More grievous and painful is this persecution, which
arises from within, which is ever with a man, and which the persecuted
cannot escape; for he carries the enemy about everywhere in himself.
Thus also burning which attacks from without works trial, but that from
within produces death. War also made on one is easily put an end to,
but that which is in the soul continues till death.
With such persecution, if you have worldly wealth, if
you have brothers allied by blood and other pledges, abandon the whole
wealth of these which leads to evil; procure peace for yourself, free
yourself from protracted persecutions; turn from them to the Gospel;
choose before all the Saviour and Advocate and Paraclete of your soul,
the Prince of life. “For the things which are seen are temporary;
but the things which are not seen are eternal.”3869
And in the present
time are things evanescent and insecure, but in that to come is eternal
life.
XXVI. “The first shall be last, and the last
first.”3870
This is fruitful in meaning and
exposition,3871
| 3871 σαφηνισμόν,
here adopted insted of the reading σοφισμόν,
which yields no suitable sense. | but does not demand investigation at present;
for it refers not only to the wealthy alone, but plainly to all men,
who have once surrendered themselves to faith. So let this stand aside
for the present. But I think that our proposition has been demonstrated
in no way inferior to what we promised, that the Saviour by no means
has excluded the rich on account of wealth itself, and the possession
of property, nor fenced off salvation against them; if they are able
and willing to submit their life to God’s commandments, and
prefer them to transitory objects, and if they would look to the Lord
with steady eye, as those who look for the nod of a good helmsman, what
he wishes, what he orders, what he indicates, what signal he gives his
mariners, where and whence he directs the ship’s course. For what
harm does one do, who, previous to faith, by applying his mind and by
saving has collected a competency? Or what is much less reprehensible
than this, if at once by God, who gave him his life, he has had his
home given him in the house of such men, among wealthy people, powerful
in substance, and pre-eminent in opulence? For if, in consequence of
his involuntary birth in wealth, a man is banished from life, rather is
he wronged by God, who created him, in having vouchsafed to him
temporary enjoyment, and in being deprived of eternal life. And why
should wealth have ever sprung from the earth at all, if it is the
author and patron of death?
But if one is able in the midst of wealth to turn from
its power, and to entertain moderate sentiments, and to exercise
self-command, and to seek God alone, and to breathe God and walk with
God, such a poor man submits to the commandments, being free,
unsubdued, free of disease, unwounded by wealth. But if not,
“sooner
shall a camel enter through a needle’s eye, than
such a rich man reach the kingdom of God.”3872
Let then the camel, going through a narrow and strait
way before the rich man, signify something loftier; which mystery of
the Saviour is to be learned in the “Exposition of first
Principles and of Theology.”3873
| 3873 A work mentioned elsewhere. |
XXVII. Well, first let the point of the parable, which
is evident, and the reason why it is spoken, be presented. Let it teach
the prosperous that they are not to neglect their own salvation, as if
they had been already fore-doomed, nor, on the other hand, to cast
wealth into the sea, or condemn it as a traitor and an enemy to life,
but learn in what way and how to use wealth and obtain life. For since
neither does one perish by any means by fearing because he is rich, nor
is by any means saved by trusting and believing that he shall be saved,
come let them look what hope the Saviour assigns them, and how what is
unexpected may become ratified, and what is hoped for may come into
possession.
The Master accordingly, when asked, “Which is the
greatest of the commandments?” says, “Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy soul, and with all thy strength;”3874
that no commandment is greater than this (He says), and with exceeding
good reason; for it gives command respecting the First and the Greatest,
God Himself, our Father, by whom all things were brought into being,
and exist, and to whom what is saved returns again. By Him, then,
being loved beforehand, and having received existence, it is impious
for us to regard aught else older or more excellent; rendering only
this small tribute of gratitude for the greatest benefits; and being
unable to imagine anything else whatever by way of recompense to God,
who needs nothing and is perfect; and gaining immortality by the very
exercise of loving the Father to the extent of one’s might and
power. For the more one loves God, the more he enters within God.
XXVIII. The second in order, and not any less than this,
He says, is, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,”3875
consequently
God above thyself. And on His interlocutor inquiring, “Who
is my neighbour?”3876
He did not, in the same way with the Jews, specify the
blood-relation, or the fellow-citizen, or the proselyte, or him that had
been similarly circumcised, or the man who uses one and the same law. But
He introduces one on his way down from the upland region from Jerusalem
to Jericho, and represents him stabbed by robbers, cast half-dead on
the way, passed by the priest, looked sideways at by the Levite, but
pitied by the vilified and excommunicated Samaritan; who did not, like
those, pass casually, but came provided with such things as the man in
danger required, such as oil, bandages, a beast of burden, money for the
inn-keeper, part given now, and part promised. “Which,”
said He, “of them was neighbour to him that suffered these
things?” and on his answering, “He that showed mercy to
him,” (replied),3877
Go thou also, therefore, and do likewise, since love buds
into well-doing.
XXIX. In both the commandments, then, He introduces
love; but in order distinguishes it. And in the one He assigns to God
the first part of love, and allots the second to our neighbour. Who
else can it be but the Saviour Himself? or who more than He has pitied
us, who by the rulers of darkness were all but put to death with many
wounds, fears, lusts, passions, pains, deceits, pleasures? Of these
wounds the only physician is Jesus, who cuts out the passions
thoroughly by the root,—not as the law does the bare effects, the
fruits of evil plants, but applies His axe to the roots of wickedness.
He it is that poured wine on our wounded souls (the blood of
David’s vine), that brought the oil which flows from the
compassions of the Father,3878
| 3878 Combefisius reads
“Spirit.” | and bestowed it
copiously. He it is that produced the ligatures of health and of
salvation that cannot be undone,—Love, Faith, Hope. He it is that
subjected angels, and principalities, and powers, for a great reward to
serve us. For they also shall be delivered from the vanity of the world
through the revelation of the glory of the sons of God. We are
therefore to love Him equally with God. And he loves Christ Jesus who
does His will and keeps His commandments. “For not every one that
saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but
he that doeth the will of My Father.”3879
And “Why call ye
Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”3880
“And blessed are ye who see and hear what neither righteous men
nor prophets” (have seen or heard),3881
if ye do what I
say.
XXX. He then is first who loves Christ; and second, he
who loves and cares for those who have believed on Him. For whatever is
done to a disciple, the Lord accepts as done to Himself, and reckons
the whole as His. “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an
hungered, and ye gave Me to eat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me to
drink: and I was a stranger, and ye took Me in: I was naked and ye
clothed Me: I was sick, and
ye visited Me: I was in prison, and ye
came to Me. Then shall the righteous answer, saying, Lord, when saw we
Thee hungry, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when saw
we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? Or
when saw we Thee sick, and visited Thee? or in prison, and came to
Thee? And the King answering, shall say to them, Verily I say unto you,
inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren,
ye have done it unto Me.”
Again, on the opposite side, to those who have not
performed these things, “Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye
have not done it unto one of the least of these, ye have not done it
to Me.”3882
And in another place, “He that receiveth you;
receiveth Me; and he that receiveth not you, rejecteth Me.”3883
XXXI. Such He names children, and sons, and little
children, and friends, and little ones here, in reference to their
future greatness above. “Despise not,” He says, “one
of these little ones; for their angels always behold the face of
My Father in heaven.”3884
And in another place, “Fear not,
little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you
the kingdom of heaven.”3885
Similarly also He says that “the least
in the kingdom of heaven” that is His own disciple “is
greater than John, the greatest among those born of women.”3886
And again,
“He that receiveth a righteous man or a prophet in the name of
a righteous man or a prophet, shall receive their reward; and he that
giveth to a disciple in the name of a disciple a cup of cold water
to drink, shall not lose his reward.”3887
Wherefore this is the only
reward that is not lost. And again, “Make to you friends of the
mammon of unrighteousness, that, when ye fail, they may receive you into
everlasting habitations;”3888
showing that by nature all property which a man
possesses in his own power is not his own. And from this unrighteousness
it is permitted to work a righteous and saving thing, to refresh some
one of those who have an everlasting habitation with the Father.
See then, first, that He has not commanded you to be
solicited or to wait to be importuned, but yourself to seek those who are
to be benefited and are worthy disciples of the Saviour. Excellent,
accordingly, also is the apostle’s saying, “For
the Lord loveth a cheerful giver;”3889
who delights in giving, and
spares not, sowing so that he may also thus reap, without murmuring,
and disputing, and regret, and communicating, which is pure3890
| 3890 καθαρά,
Segaar, for καθά of the ms. | beneficence. But better than this
is the saying spoken by the Lord in another place, “Give to every
one that asketh thee.”3891
For truly such is God’s delight in giving. And
this saying is above all divinity,3892
| 3892
This, the reading of the ms.,
has been altered by several editors, but is justly defended by
Segaar. | —not to wait to be asked, but to inquire oneself
who deserves to receive kindness.
XXXII. Then to appoint such a reward
for liberality,—an everlasting habitation! O excellent
trading! O divine merchandise! One purchases immortality for money;
and, by giving the perishing things of the world, receives in
exchange for these an eternal mansion in the heavens! Sail to
this mart, if you are wise, O rich man! If need be, sail round
the whole world.3893
| 3893 γῆν
ὸλην, for which Fell reads τὴν
ὅλην. | Spare not perils and toils,
that you may purchase here the heavenly kingdom. Why do transparent
stones and emeralds delight thee so much, and a house that is fuel
for fire, or a plaything of time, or the sport of the earthquake,
or an occasion for a tyrant’s outrage? Aspire to dwell in the
heavens, and to reign with God. This kingdom a man imitating God will
give thee. By receiving a little here, there through all ages He will
make thee a dweller with Him. Ask that you may receive; haste; strive;
fear lest He disgrace thee. For He is not commanded to receive, but thou
to give. The Lord did not say, Give, or bring, or do good, or help,
but make a friend. But a friend proves himself such not by one gift,
but by long intimacy. For it is neither the faith, nor the love, nor
the hope, nor the endurance of one day, but “he that endureth to
the end shall be saved.”3894
XXXIII. How then does man give these things? For I will
give not only to friends, but to the friends of friends. And who is it
that is the friend of God? Do not you judge who is worthy or who is
unworthy. For it is possible you may be mistaken in your opinion. As in
the uncertainty of ignorance it is better to do good to the undeserving
for the sake of the deserving, than by guarding against those that are
less good to fail to meet in with the good. For though sparing, and
aiming at testing, who will receive meritoriously or not, it is
possible for you to neglect some3895
| 3895 τινῶν, for
which the text has τιμῶν. | that are loved by God;
the penalty for which is the punishment of eternal fire. But by
offering to all in turn that need, you must of necessity by all means
find some one of those who have power with God to save. “Judge
not, then, that ye be not judged. With what measure ye mete, it shall
be measured to you again;3896
good measure, pressed
and shaken,
and running over, shall be given
to you.” Open thy compassion to all who are enrolled the
disciples of God; not looking contemptuously to personal appearance,
nor carelessly disposed to any period of life. Nor if one appears
penniless, or ragged, or ugly, or feeble, do thou fret in soul at this
and turn away. This form is cast around us from without, the occasion
of our entrance into this world, that we may be able to enter into this
common school. But within dwells the hidden Father, and His Son,3897
who died
for us and rose with us.
XXXIV. This visible appearance cheats death and
the devil; for the wealth within, the beauty, is unseen by them. And
they rave about the carcase, which they despise as weak, being
blind to the wealth within; knowing not what a “treasure in
an earthen vessel”3898
we bear, protected as it is by the
power of God the Father, and the blood of God the Son,3899
and the dew of the Holy Spirit. But be not deceived, thou who hast tasted
of the truth, and been reckoned worthy of the great redemption. But
contrary to what is the case with the rest of men, collect for thyself
an unarmed, an unwarlike, a bloodless, a passionless, a stainless host,
pious old men, orphans dear to God, widows armed with meekness, men,
adorned with love. Obtain with thy money such guards, for body and for
soul, for whose sake a sinking ship is made buoyant, when steered by
the prayers of the saints alone; and disease at its height is subdued,
put to flight by the laying on of hands; and the attack of robbers is
disarmed, spoiled by pious prayers; and the might of demons is crushed,
put to shame in its operations by strenuous commands.
XXXV. All these warriors and guards are trusty. No
one is idle, no one is useless. One can obtain your pardon from God,
another comfort you when sick, another weep and groan in sympathy
for you to the Lord of all, another teach some of the things useful
for salvation, another admonish with confidence, another counsel with
kindness. And all can love truly, without guile, without fear, without
hypocrisy, without flattery, without pretence. O sweet service of loving
[souls]! O blessed thoughts of confident [hearts]! O sincere faith
of those who fear God alone! O truth of words with those who cannot
lie! O beauty of deeds with those who have been commissioned to serve
God, to persuade God, to please God, not to touch thy flesh! to speak,
but3900
| 3900 Perhaps ἀλλά has got
transposed, and we should read, “but to speak to the king,”
etc. | to the King of eternity dwelling in thee.
XXXVI. All the faithful, then, are good and godlike, and
worthy of the name by which they are encircled as with a diadem. There
are, besides, some, the elect of the elect, and so much more or less
distinguished by drawing themselves, like ships to the strand, out of
the surge of the world and bringing themselves to safety; not wishing
to seem holy, and ashamed if one call them so; hiding in the depth of
their mind the ineffable mysteries, and disdaining to let their
nobleness be seen in the world; whom the Word calls “the light of
the world, and the salt of the earth.”3901
This is the seed, the
image and likeness of God, and His true son and heir, sent here as it
were on a sojourn, by the high administration and suitable arrangement
of the Father, by whom the visible and invisible things of the world
were created; some for their service, some for their discipline, some
for their instruction; and all things are held together so long as the
seed remains here; and when it is gathered, these things shall be very
quickly dissolved.
XXXVII. For what further need has God of
the mysteries of love?3902
| 3902
Segaar reads: For what more should I say? Behold the mysteries of
love. | And then thou shalt look into the bosom of the
Father, whom God the only-begotten Son alone hath declared. And
God Himself is love; and out of love to us became feminine.3903
| 3903 Ἐθηλύνθη,
which occurs immediately after this, has been suggested as
the right reading here. The text has ἐθηράθη. |
In His ineffable essence He is Father; in His compassion to us He became
Mother. The Father by loving became feminine: and the great proof of
this is He whom He begot of Himself; and the fruit brought forth by love
is love.
For this also He came down. For this He clothed Himself
with man. For this He voluntarily subjected Himself to the experiences
of men, that by bringing Himself to the measure of our weakness whom
He loved, He might correspondingly bring us to the measure of His
own strength. And about to be offered up and giving Himself a ransom,
He left for us a new Covenant-testament: My love I give unto you. And
what and how great is it? For each of us He gave His life,—the
equivalent for all. This He demands from us in return for one another.
And if we owe our lives to the brethren, and have made such a mutual
compact with the Saviour, why should we any more hoard and shut up
worldly goods, which are beggarly, foreign to us and transitory? Shall
we shut up from each other what after a little shall be the property of
the fire? Divinely and weightily John says, “He that loveth not his
brother is a murderer,”3904
the seed of Cain, a nursling of the
devil. He has not God’s compassion. He has no hope of better
things. He is sterile; he is barren; he is not
a branch of the ever-living
supercelestial vine. He is cut off; he waits the perpetual fire.
XXXVIII. But learn thou the more excellent way, which
Paul shows for salvation. “Love seeketh not her own,”3905
but is
diffused on the brother. About him she is fluttered, about him she is
soberly insane. “Love covers a multitude of sins.”3906
“Perfect love casteth out fear.”3907
“Vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth
all things. Love never faileth. Prophecies are done away, tongues cease,
gifts of healing fail on the earth. But these three abide, Faith, Hope,
Love. But the greatest of these is Love.”3908
And rightly. For
Faith departs when we are convinced by vision, by seeing God. And Hope
vanishes when the things hoped for come. But Love comes to completion,
and grows more when that which is perfect has been bestowed. If one
introduces it into his soul, although he be born in sins, and has done
many forbidden things, he is able, by increasing love, and adopting a
pure repentance, to retrieve his mistakes. For let not this be left to
despondency and despair by you, if you learn who the rich man is that
has not a place in heaven, and what way he uses his property.
XXXIX. If one should escape the superfluity of riches,
and the difficulty they interpose in the way of life, and be able to
enjoy the eternal good things; but should happen, either from ignorance
or involuntary circumstances, after the seal3909
and redemption, to fall
into sins or transgressions so as to be quite carried away; such a man
is entirely rejected by God. For to every one who has turned to God in
truth, and with his whole heart, the doors are open, and the thrice-glad
Father receives His truly repentant son. And true repentance is to be
no longer bound in the same sins for which He denounced death against
Himself, but to eradicate them completely from the soul. For on their
extirpation God takes up His abode again in thee. For it is said there is
great and exceeding joy and festival in the heavens with the Father and
the angels when one sinner turns and repents.3910
Wherefore also He cries, “I
will have mercy, and not sacrifice.”3911
“I
desire not the death, but the repentance of the sinner.”3912
“Though your sins be as scarlet wool, I will make them white
as snow; though they be blacker than darkness, I will wash and make
them like white wool.”3913
For it is in the power of God alone to grant
the forgiveness of sins, and not to impute transgressions; since also
the Lord commands us each day to forgive the repenting brethren.3914
“And if
we, being evil, know to give good gifts,”3915
much more is it the nature of the
Father of mercies, the good Father of all consolation, much pitying, very
merciful, to be long-suffering, to wait for those who have turned. And to
turn is really to cease from our sins, and to look no longer behind.
XL. Forgiveness of past sins, then, God gives; but of
future, each one gives to himself. And this is to repent, to condemn
the past deeds, and beg oblivion of them from the Father, who only of
all is able to undo what is done, by mercy proceeding from Him, and to
blot out former sins by the dew of the Spirit. “For by the state
in which I find you will I judge,”3916
| 3916 Quoted with a slight variation
by Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, ch. xlvii., vol. i. p.
219, and supposed by Grabe to be a quotation from the Apocryphal Gospel
to the Hebrews. | also, is what in each
case the end of all cries aloud. So that even in the case of one who
has done the greatest good deeds in his life, but at the end has run
headlong into wickedness, all his former pains are profitless3917
| 3917 Ἀνόνητοι,
for which the text has ἀνόητοι. | to him,
since at the catastrophe of the drama he has given up his part; while
it is possible for the man who formerly led a bad and dissolute life,
on afterwards repenting, to overcome in the time after repentance the
evil conduct of a long time. But it needs great carefulness, just as
bodies that have suffered by protracted disease need regimen and
special attention. Thief, dost thou wish to get forgiveness? steal no
more. Adulterer, burn no more. Fornicator, live for the future
chastely. Thou who hast robbed, give back, and give back more than
[thou tookest]. False witness, practice truth. Perjurer, swear no more,
and extirpate the rest of the passions, wrath, lust, grief, fear; that
thou mayest be found at the end to have previously in this world been
reconciled to the adversary. It is then probably impossible all at once
to eradicate inbred passions; but by God’s power and human
intercession, and the help of brethren, and sincere repentance, and
constant care, they are corrected.
XLI. Wherefore it is by all means necessary for thee,
who art pompous, and powerful, and rich, to set over thyself some man
of God as a trainer and governor. Reverence, though it be but one man;
fear, though it be but one man. Give yourself to hearing, though it be
but one speaking freely, using harshness, and at the same time healing.
For it is good for the eyes not to continue always wanton, but to weep
and smart sometimes, for greater health. So also nothing is more
pernicious to the soul than
uninterrupted pleasure. For it is blinded by melting
away, if it remain unmoved by bold speech. Fear this man when angry;
be pained at his groaning; and reverence him when making his anger to
cease; and anticipate him when he is deprecating punishment. Let him
pass many sleepless nights for thee, interceding for thee with God,
influencing the Father with the magic of familiar litanies. For He does
not hold out against His children when they beg His pity. And for you he
will pray purely, held in high honour as an angel of God, and grieved
not by you, but for you. This is sincere repentance. “God is not
mocked,”3918
nor does He
give heed to vain words. For He alone searches the marrow and reins of
the heart, and hears those that are in the fire, and listens to those who
supplicate in the whale’s belly; and is near to all who believe,
and far from the ungodly if they repent not.
XLII. And that you may be still more confident, that
repenting thus truly there remains for you a sure hope of salvation,
listen to a tale,3919
which is not a tale but a narrative,3920
handed
down and committed to the custody of memory, about the Apostle John.
For when, on the tyrant’s death, he returned to Ephesus from the
isle of Patmos, he went away, being invited, to the contiguous
territories of the nations, here to appoint bishops, there to set in
order whole Churches, there to ordain such as were marked out by the
Spirit.
Having come to one of the cities not far off (the name
of which some give3921
), and having put the brethren to rest in
other matters, at last, looking to the bishop appointed, and seeing a
youth, powerful in body, comely in appearance, and ardent, said,
“This (youth) I commit to you in all earnestness, in the presence
of the Church, and with Christ as witness.” And on his accepting
and promising all, he gave the same injunction and testimony. And he
set out for Ephesus. And the presbyter taking home the youth committed
to him, reared, kept, cherished, and finally baptized him. After this
he relaxed his stricter care and guardianship, under the idea that the
seal of the Lord he had set on him was a complete protection to him.
But on his obtaining premature freedom, some youths of his age, idle,
dissolute, and adepts in evil courses, corrupt him. First they entice
him by many costly entertainments; then afterwards by night issuing
forth for highway robbery, they take him along with them. Then they
dared to execute together something greater. And he by degrees got
accustomed; and from greatness of nature, when he had gone aside from
the right path, and like a hard-mouthed and powerful horse, had taken
the bit between his teeth, rushed with all the more force down into the
depths. And having entirely despaired of salvation in God, he no longer
meditated what was insignificant, but having perpetrated some great
exploit, now that he was once lost, he made up his mind to a like fate
with the rest. Taking them and forming a band of robbers, he was the
prompt captain of the bandits, the fiercest, the bloodiest, the
cruelest.
Time passed, and some necessity having emerged, they
send again for John. He, when he had settled the other matters on
account of which he came, said, “Come now, O bishop, restore to
us the deposit which I and the Saviour committed to thee in the face of
the Church over which you preside, as witness.” The other was at
first confounded, thinking that it was a false charge about money which
he did not get; and he could neither believe the allegation regarding
what he had not, nor disbelieve John. But when he said “I demand
the young man, and the soul of the brother,” the old man,
groaning deeply, and bursting into tears, said, “He is
dead.” “How and what kind of death?” “He is
dead,” he said, “to God. For he turned wicked and
abandoned, and at last a robber; and now he has taken possession of the
mountain in front of the church, along with a band like him.”
Rending, therefore, his clothes, and striking his head with great
lamentation, the apostle said, “It was a fine guard of a
brother’s soul I left! But let a horse be brought me, and let
some one be my guide on the way.” He rode away, just as he was,
straight from the church. On coming to the place, he is arrested by the
robbers’ outpost; neither fleeing nor entreating, but crying,
“It was for this I came. Lead me to your captain;” who
meanwhile was waiting, all armed as he was. But when he recognized John
as he advanced, he turned, ashamed, to flight. The other followed with
all his might, forgetting his age, crying, “Why, my son, dost
thou flee from me, thy father, unarmed, old? Son, pity me. Fear not;
thou hast still hope of life. I will give account to Christ for thee.
If need be, I will willingly endure thy death, as the Lord did death
for us. For thee I will surrender my life. Stand, believe; Christ hath
sent me.”
And he, when he heard, first stood, looking down; then
threw down his arms, then trembled and wept bitterly. And on the old
man approaching, he embraced him, speaking for himself with
lamentations as he could, and baptized a second time with tears,
concealing only his right hand. The other pledging, and assuring him on
oath that he would find forgiveness for himself from the Saviour,
beseeching and falling on his knees, and kissing his right hand itself,
as now
purified by repentance,
led him back to the church. Then by supplicating with
copious prayers, and striving along with him in continual
fastings, and subduing his mind by various utterances3922
| 3922 ῥήσεσι
λὁγων, for which
Cod. Reg. Gall. reads σειρῆσι
λόγων. | of words, did not
depart, as they say, till he restored him to the Church, presenting in
him a great example of true repentance and a great token of regeneration,
a trophy of the resurrection for which we hope; when at the end of the
world, the angels, radiant with joy, hymning and opening the heavens,
shall receive into the celestial abodes those who truly repent; and
before all, the Saviour Himself goes to meet them, welcoming them;
holding forth the shadowless, ceaseless light; conducting them, to the
Father’s bosom, to eternal life, to the kingdom of heaven.
Let one believe these things, and the disciples of God,
and God, who is surety, the Prophecies, the Gospels, the Apostolic words;
living in accordance with them, and lending his ears, and practising
the deeds, he shall at his decease see the end and demonstration of the
truths taught. For he who in this world welcomes the angel of penitence
will not repent at the time that he leaves the body, nor be ashamed when
he sees the Saviour approaching in His glory and with His army. He fears
not the fire.
But if one chooses to continue and to sin perpetually in
pleasures, and values indulgence here above eternal life, and turns
away from the Saviour, who gives forgiveness; let him no more blame
either God, or riches, or his having fallen, but his own soul, which
voluntarily perishes. But to him who directs his eye to salvation and
desires it, and asks with boldness and vehemence for its bestowal, the
good Father who is in heaven will give the true purification and the
changeless life. To whom, by His Son Jesus Christ, the Lord of the
living and dead, and by the Holy Spirit, be glory, honour, power,
eternal majesty, both now and ever, from generation to generation, and
from eternity to eternity. Amen.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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