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| For 335. Easter-day iv Pharmuthi, iii Kal. April; xx Moon; Ær. Dioclet. 51; Coss. Julius Constantius, the brother of Augustus, Rufinus Albinus; Præfect, the same Philagrius; viii Indict.
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Letter VII.—For 335. Easter-day iv Pharmuthi, iii
Kal. April; xx Moon; Ær. Dioclet. 51; Coss. Julius Constantius,
the brother of Augustus, Rufinus Albinus; Præfect, the same
Philagrius; viii Indict.
The blessed Paul4130
| 4130 The
twentieth Letter, as far as it is extant, bears a great resemblance
with this. In both, the comparison between natural and spiritual food
is enlarged upon, and several of the same quotations are adduced in
them, to illustrate the character of sinners and their food, as
contrasted with righteous, and the nourishment they derive from
God. | wrote to the Corinthians4131
that he always bore in his body the dying of
Jesus, not as though he alone should make that boast, but also they and
we too, and in this let us be followers of him, my brethren. And let
this be the customary boast of all of us at all times. In this David
participated, saying in the Psalms, ‘For thy sake we die all the
day; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter4132
.’ Now this is becoming in us,
especially in the days of the feast, when a commemoration of the death
of our Saviour is held. For he who is made like Him in His death, is
also diligent in virtuous practices, having mortified his members which
are upon the earth4133
, and crucifying the
flesh with the affections and lusts, he lives in the Spirit, and is
conformed to the Spirit4134
. He is always
mindful of God, and forgets Him not, and never does the deeds of death.
Now, in order that we may bear in our body the dying of Jesus, he
immediately adds the way of such fellowship, saying, ‘we having
the same spirit of faith, as it is written, I believed, and therefore
have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak4135
.’ He adds also, speaking of the grace
that arises from knowledge; ‘For He that raised up Jesus, will
also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us before Him with you4136
| 4136 Ib. 14, reading with R.V. marg. and Vulg. against Text. Rec. and
Pesh. | .’
2. When by such faith and knowledge the saints
have embraced this true life, they receive, doubtless, the joy which is
in heaven; for which the wicked not caring, are deservedly deprived of the blessedness arising from it.
For, ‘let the wicked be taken away, so that he shall not see the
glory of the Lord4137
.’ For
although, when they shall hear the universal proclamation of the
promise, ‘Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead4138
,’ they shall rise and shall come even
to heaven, knocking and saying, ‘Open to us4139
;’ nevertheless the Lord will reprove
them, as those who put the knowledge of Himself far from them, saying,
‘I know you not.’ But the holy Spirit cries against them,
‘The wicked shall be turned into hell, even all the nations that
forget God.4140
.’ Now we say that the wicked are
dead, but not in an ascetic life opposed to sin; nor do they, like the
saints, bear about dying in their bodies. But it is the soul which they
bury in sins and follies, drawing near to the dead, and satisfying it
with dead nourishment; like young eagles which, from high places, fly
upon the carcases of the dead, and which the law prohibited, commanding
figuratively, ‘Thou shalt not eat the eagle, nor any other bird
that feedeth on a dead carcase4141
;’ and it
pronounced unclean whatsoever eateth the dead. But these kill the soul
with lusts, and say nothing but, ‘let us eat and drink, for to
morrow we die4142
.’ And the
kind of fruit those have who thus love pleasures, he immediately
describes, adding, ‘And these things are revealed in the ears of
the Lord of Hosts, that this sin shall not be forgiven you until ye
die4143
.’ Yea, even while they live they shall
be ashamed, because they consider their belly their lord; and when
dead, they shall be tormented, because they have made a boast of such a
death. To this effect also Paul bears witness, saying, ‘Meats for
the belly, and the belly for meats; but God shall destroy both it and
them4144
.’ And the divine word declared before
concerning them; ‘The death of sinners is evil, and those who
hate the righteous commit sin4145
.’ For bitter
is the worm, and grievous the darkness, which wicked men inherit.
3. But the saints, and they who truly practise
virtue, ‘mortify their members which are upon the earth,
fornication, uncleanness passions, evil concupiscence4146
;’ and, as the result of this, are pure
and without spot, confiding in the promise of our Saviour, who said,
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God4147
.’ These, having become dead to the
world, and renounced the merchandise of the world, gain an honourable
death; for, ‘precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of
His saints4148
.’ They are also able, preserving
the Apostolic likeness, to say, ‘I am crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me4149
.’ For that is the true life, which a
man lives in Christ; for although they are dead to the world, yet they
dwell as it were in heaven, minding those things which are above, as he
who was a lover of such a habitation said, ‘While we walk on
earth, our dwelling is in heaven4150
| 4150 The
quotation is uncertain, but see ad Diognet. v. 9; cf.
also Phil. iii. 20, with which the passage
in the text is coupled, and ascribed to ‘the Apostle,’ in
the probably spurious Homily on Matt. xxi. 2 (Migne xxviii. p.
177). | .’ Now
those who thus live, and are partakers in such virtue, are alone able
to give glory to God, and this it is which essentially constitutes a
feast and a holiday4151
| 4151 Cf.
Letter iii. ‘What else is the feast, but the service of
God?’ | . For the feast does
not consist in pleasant intercourse at meals, nor splendour4152
of clothing, nor days of leisure, but in the
acknowledgment of God, and the offering of thanksgiving and of praise
to Him4153
| 4153 Cf.
Letter vi. 3, note 14. | . Now this belongs to the saints alone,
who live in Christ; for it is written, ‘The dead shall not praise
Thee, O Lord, neither all those who go down into silence; but we who
live will bless the Lord, from henceforth even for ever4154
.’ So was it with Hezekiah, who was
delivered from death, and therefore praised God, saying, ‘Those
who are in hades cannot praise Thee; the dead cannot bless Thee; but
the living shall bless Thee, as I also do4155
.’ For to praise and bless God belongs
to those only who live in Christ, and by means of this they go up to
the feast; for the Passover is not of the Gentiles, nor of those who
are yet Jews in the flesh; but of those who acknowledge the truth in
Christ4156
| 4156 Vid.
Letter vi. 2, note 10. | , as he declares who was sent to
proclaim such a feast; ‘Our Passover, Christ, is sacrificed4157
.’
4. Therefore, although wicked men press forward
to keep the feast, and as at a feast praise God, and intrude into the
Church of the saints, yet God expostulates, saying to the sinner,
‘Why dost thou talk of My ordinances?’ And the gentle
Spirit rebukes them, saying, ‘Praise is not comely in the mouth
of a sinner4158
.’ Neither hath sin any place in
common with the praise of God; for the sinner has a mouth speaking
perverse things, as the Proverb saith, ‘The mouth of the wicked
answereth evil things4159
.’ For how is
it possible for us to praise God with an impure mouth? since things
which are contrary to each other cannot coexist. For what communion has
righteousness with iniquity? or, what fellowship is there between light
and darkness? So exclaims Paul, a minister of the Gospel4160
.
Thus it is
that sinners, and all those who are aliens from the Catholic Church,
heretics, and schismatics, since they are excluded from glorifying
(God) with the saints, cannot properly even continue observers of the
feast. But the righteous man, although he appears dying to the world,
uses boldness of speech, saying, ‘I shall not die, but live, and
narrate all Thy marvelous deeds4161
.’ For
even God is not ashamed to be called the God4162
of
those who truly mortify their members which are upon the earth4163
, but live in Christ; for He is the God of
the living, not of the dead. And He by His living Word quickeneth all
men, and gives Him to be food and life to the saints; as the Lord
declares, ‘I am the bread of life4164
.’ The Jews, because they were weak in
perception, and had not exercised the senses of the soul in virtue, and
did not comprehend this discourse about bread, murmured against Him,
because He said, ‘I am the bread which came down from heaven, and
giveth life unto men4165
.’
5. For sin has her own special bread, of her
death, and calling to those who are lovers of pleasure and lack
understanding, she saith, ‘Touch with delight secret bread, and
sweet waters which are stolen4166
;’ for he who
merely touches them knows not that that which is born from the earth
perishes with her. For even when the sinner thinks to find pleasure,
the end of that food is not pleasant, as the Wisdom of God saith again,
‘Bread of deceit is pleasant to a man; but afterwards his mouth
shall be filled with gravel4167
.’ And,
‘Honey droppeth from the lips of a whorish woman, which for a
time is sweet to thy palate; but at the last thou shalt find it more
bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword4168
.’ Thus then he eats and rejoices for a
little time; afterwards he spurneth it when he hath removed his soul
afar. For the fool knoweth not that those who depart far from God shall
perish. And besides, there is the restraint of the prophetic admonition
which says, ‘What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink
the waters of Gihon? And what hast thou to do in the way of Asshur, to
drink the waters of the rivers4169
?’ And the
Wisdom of God which loves mankind forbids these things, crying,
‘But depart quickly, tarry not in the place, neither fix thine
eye upon it; for thus thou shalt pass over strange waters, and depart
quickly from the strange river4170
.’ She also
calls them to herself, ‘For wisdom hath builded her house, and
supported it on seven pillars; she hath killed her sacrifices, and
mingled her wine in the goblets, and prepared her table; she hath sent
forth her servants, inviting to the goblet with a loud proclamation,
and saying, Whoso is foolish, let him turn in to me; and to them that
lack understanding she saith, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the
wine I have mingled for you4171
.’ And what
hope is there instead of these things? ‘Forsake folly that ye may
live, and seek understanding that ye may abide4172
.’ For the bread of Wisdom is living
fruit, as the Lord said; ‘I am the living bread which came down
from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever4173
.’ For when Israel ate of the manna,
which was indeed pleasant and wonderful, yet he died, and he who ate it
did not in consequence live for ever, but all that multitude died in
the wilderness. The Lord teaches, saying, ‘I am the bread of
life: your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This
is the bread which came down from heaven, that a man should eat
thereof, and not die4174
.’
6. Now wicked men hunger for bread like this, for
effeminate souls will hunger; but the righteous alone, being prepared,
shall be satisfied, saying, ‘I shall behold Thy face in
righteousness; I shall be satisfied when Thy glory is seen by me4175
.’ For he who partakes of divine bread
always hungers with desire; and he who thus hungers has a never-failing
gift, as Wisdom promises, saying, ‘The Lord will not slay the
righteous soul with famine.’ He promises too in the Psalms,
‘I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor
with bread.’ We may also hear our Saviour saying, ‘Blessed
are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be
filled4176
.’ Well then do the saints and
those who love the life which is in Christ raise themselves to a
longing after this food. And one earnestly implores, saying, ‘As
the hart panteth after the fountains of waters, so panteth my soul
after Thee, O God! My soul thirsteth for the living God, when shall I
come and see the face of God?’ And another; ‘My God, my
God, I seek Thee early; my soul thirsteth for Thee; often does my
flesh, in a dry and pathless land, and without water. So did I appear
before Thee in holiness to see Thy power and Thy glory4177
.’
7. Since these things are so, my brethren, let us
mortify our members which are on the earth4178
,
and be nourished with living bread, by faith and love to God, knowing
that without faith it is impossible to be partakers of such bread as
this. For our Saviour, when He called all men to him, and said,
‘If any man thirst, let him
[come] to Me and drink4179
,’ immediately
spoke of the faith without which a man cannot receive such food;
‘He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture saith, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water4180
.’ To this end He continually nourished
His believing disciples with His words, and gave them life by the
nearness of His divinity, but to the Canaanitish woman, because she was
not yet a believer, He deigned not even a reply, although she stood
greatly in need of food from Him. He did this not from scorn, far from
it (for the Lord is loving to men and good, and on that account He went
into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon); but because of her unbelief, and
because she was of those who had not the word. And He did it
righteously, my brethren; for there would have been nothing gained by
her offering her supplication before believing, but by her faith she
would support her petition; ‘For He that cometh to God, must
first believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that seek
Him;’ and that ‘without faith it is impossible for a man to
please Him4181
.’ This Paul teaches. Now that
she was hitherto an unbeliever, one of the profane, He shews, saying,
‘It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast
it to dogs4182
.’ She then, being convinced by
the power of the word, and having changed her ways, also gained faith;
for the Lord no longer spoke to her as a dog, but conversed with her as
a human being, saying, ‘O woman, great is thy faith4183
!’ As therefore she believed, He
forthwith granted to her the fruit of faith, and said, ‘Be it to
thee as thou desirest. And her daughter was healed in the self-same
hour.’
8. For the righteous man, being nurtured in faith
and knowledge, and the observance of divine precepts, has his soul
always in health. Wherefore it is commanded to ‘receive to
ourselves him who is weak in the faith4184
,’ and to nourish him, even if he is
not yet able to eat bread, but herbs, ‘for he that is weak eateth
herbs.’ For even the Corinthians were not able to partake of such
bread, being yet babes, and like babes they drank milk. ‘For
every one that partaketh of milk is unskilful in the word of
righteousness4185
,’ according
to the words of that divine man. The Apostle exhorts his beloved son
Timothy, in his first Epistle, ‘to be nourished with the word of
faith, and the good doctrine whereto he had attained.’ And in the
second, ‘Preserve thou the form of sound words which thou hast
heard of me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus4186
.’ And not only here, my brethren, is
this bread the food of the righteous, neither are the saints on earth
alone nourished by such bread and such blood; but we also eat them in
heaven, for the Lord is the food even of the exalted spirits, and the
angels, and He is the joy of all the heavenly host4187
. And to all He is everything, and He has
pity upon all according to His loving-kindness. Already hath the Lord
given us angels’ food4188
, and He promises to
those who continue with Him in His trials, saying, ‘And I promise
to you a kingdom, as My Father hath promised to Me; that ye shall eat
and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel4189
.’ O what a
banquet is this, my brethren, and how great is the harmony and gladness
of those who eat at this heavenly table! For they delight themselves
not with that food which is cast out, but with that which produces life
everlasting. Who then shall be deemed worthy of that assembly? Who is
so blessed as to be called, and accounted worthy of that divine feast?
Truly, ‘blessed is he who shall eat bread in Thy kingdom4190
.’
9. Now he who has been counted worthy of the
heavenly calling, and by this calling has been sanctified, if he grow
negligent in it, although washed becomes defiled: ‘counting the
blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a profane thing, and
despising the Spirit of grace,’ he hears the words,
‘Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having wedding
garments?’ For the banquet of the saints is spotless and pure;
‘for many are called, but few chosen4191
.’ Judas to wit, though he came to the
supper, because he despised it went out from the presence of the Lord,
and having abandoned his Life4192
, hanged himself.
But the disciples who continued with the Redeemer shared in the
happiness of the feast. And that young man who went into a far country,
and there wasted his substance, living in dissipation, if he receive a
desire for this divine feast, and, coming to himself, shall say,
‘How many hired servants of my father have bread to spare, while
I perish here with hunger!’ and shall next arise and come to his
father, and confess to him, saying, ‘I have sinned against heaven
and before thee, and am not worthy to be called thy son; make me as one
of thy hired servants4193
;’—when
he shall thus confess, then he shall be counted worthy of more than he
prayed for. For the father does not receive him as a hired servant,
neither does he look upon him as a stranger, but he kisses him as a
son, he brings him back to life as
from the dead, and counts him worthy of the divine feast, and gives him
his former and precious robe. So that, on this account, there is
singing and gladness in the paternal home.
10. For this is the work of the Father’s
loving-kindness and goodness, that not only should He make him alive
from the dead, but that He should render His grace illustrious through
the Spirit. Therefore, instead of corruption, He clothes him with an
incorruptible garment; instead of hunger, He kills the fatted calf;
instead of far journeys, [the Father] watched for his return, providing
shoes for his feet; and, what is most wonderful, placed a divine
signet-ring upon his hand; whilst by all these things He begot him
afresh in the image of the glory of Christ. These are the gracious
gifts of the Father, by which the Lord honours and nourishes those who
abide with Him, and also those who return to Him and repent. For He
promises, saying, ‘I am the bread of life; he that cometh unto Me
shall not hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst4194
.’ We too shall be counted worthy of
these things, if at all times we cleave to our Saviour, and if we are
pure, not only in these six days of Easter4195
| 4195 Vid.
Suicer. Thes. in. voc. ἀποκρέως, and the notes of Valesius on Euseb. Orat. in laud.
Constant. ch. ix. With us, Easter-week includes the six days
following Easter-Sunday; with the Greeks, the ἐβδομὰς τῶν
πασχῶν was
applied to the preceding six days, as here. | ,
but consider the whole course of our life as a feast4196
| 4196 Vid.
supr. Letters 5. 1, 7, 3. init. | , and continue near and do not go far off,
saying to Him, ‘Thou hast the words of eternal life, and whither
shall we go4197
?’ Let those of us who are far
off return, confessing our iniquities, and having nothing against any
man, but by the spirit mortifying the deeds of the body4198
. For thus, having first nourished the soul
here, we shall partake with angels at that heavenly and spiritual
table; not knocking and being repulsed like those five foolish
virgins4199
, but entering with the Lord, like
those who were wise and loved the bridegroom; and shewing the dying of
Jesus in our bodies4200
, we shall receive
life and the kingdom from Him.
11. We begin the fast of forty days on the
twenty-third of Mechir (Feb. 17), and the holy fast of the blessed
feast on the twenty-eighth of Phamenoth (Mar. 24); and having joined to
these six days after them, in fastings and watchings, as each one is
able, let us rest on the third of the month Pharmuthi (Mar. 29), on the
evening of the seventh day. Also that day which is holy and blessed in
everything, which possesses the name of Christ, namely the Lord’s
day4201
| 4201 κυριώνυμος—κυριακὴ L. Vid. Suicer Thes. sub. voc. κυριακὴ. Expos. in Psalm. cxvii. 24. | , having risen upon us on the fourth of
Pharmuthi (Mar. 30), let us afterwards keep the holy feast of
Pentecost. Let us at all times worship the Father in Christ, through
Whom to Him and with Him be glory and dominion by the Holy Ghost for
ever and ever. Amen. All the brethren who are with me salute you:
salute one another with a holy kiss.
There is no eighth or ninth, for he did not send
them, for the reason before mentioned4202
| 4202 See
the Index. This notice suggests that the present collection of
letters has undergone a recension since its union with the
Index. | .
Here endeth the seventh Festal Letter of holy
Athanasius the Patriarch. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
