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| To Heliodorus, Monk.
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Letter XIV. To Heliodorus, Monk.
Heliodorus, originally a soldier, but now a presbyter of
the Church, had accompanied Jerome to the East, but, not feeling called
to the solitary life of the desert, had returned to Aquileia. Here he
resumed his clerical duties, and in course of time was raised to the
episcopate as bishop of Altinum.
The letter was written in the first bitterness of
separation and reproaches Heliodorus for having gone back from the
perfect way of the ascetic life. The description given of this is
highly colored and seems to have produced a great impression in the
West. Fabiola was so much enchanted by it that she learned the letter
by heart.174
The date is 373 or 374 a.d.
1. So conscious are you of the affection which exists
between us that you cannot but recognize the love and passion with which I
strove to prolong our common sojourn in the desert. This very
letter—blotted, as you see, with tears—gives evidence of
the lamentation and weeping with which I accompanied your departure.
With the pretty ways of a child you then softened your refusal by
soothing words, and I, being off my guard, knew not what to do. Was I
to hold my peace? I could not conceal my eagerness by a show of
indifference. Or was I to entreat you yet more earnestly? You would
have refused to listen, for your love was not like mine. Despised
affection has taken the one course open to it. Unable to keep you when
present, it goes in search of you when absent. You asked me yourself,
when you were going away, to invite you to the desert when I took up my
quarters there, and I for my part promised to do so. Accordingly I
invite you now; come, and come quickly. Do not call to mind old ties;
the desert is for those who have left all. Nor let the hardships of our
former travels deter you. You believe in Christ, believe also in His
words: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things
shall be added unto you.”175
Take neither scrip
nor staff. He is rich enough who is poor—with Christ.
2. But what is this, and why do I foolishly importune
you again? Away with entreaties, an end to coaxing words. Offended love
does well to be angry. You have spurned my petition; perhaps you will
listen to my remonstrance. What keeps you, effeminate soldier, in your
father’s house? Where are your ramparts and trenches? When have
you spent a winter in the field? Lo, the trumpet sounds from heaven!
Lo, the Leader comes with clouds!176
He is armed
to subdue the world, and out of His mouth proceeds a two-edged sword177
to mow down all that encounters it. But
as for you, what will you do? Pass straight from your chamber to the
battle-field, and from the cool shade into the burning sun? Nay, a body
used to a tunic cannot endure a buckler; a head that has worn a cap
refuses a helmet; a hand made tender by disuse is galled by a
sword-hilt.178
| 178 A reminiscence of
Tertullian. | Hear the proclamation of your
King: “He that is not with me is against me, and he that
gathereth not with me scattereth.”179
Remember the day on which you enlisted, when, buried with Christ in
baptism, you swore fealty to Him, declaring that for His sake you would
spare neither father nor mother. Lo, the enemy is striving to slay
Christ in your breast. Lo, the ranks of the foe sigh over that bounty
which you received when you entered His service. Should your little
nephew180
| 180 Nepotian, afterwards
famous as the recipient of Letter LII., and the subject of Letter
LX. | hang on your neck, pay no regard to him;
should your mother with ashes on her hair and garments rent show you
the breasts at which she nursed you, heed her not; should your father
prostrate himself on the threshold, trample him under foot and go your
way. With dry eyes fly to the standard of the cross. In such cases
cruelty is the only true affection.
3. Hereafter there shall come—yes, there shall
come—a day when you will return a victor to your true country,
and will walk through the heavenly Jerusalem crowned with the crown of
valor. Then will you receive the citizenship thereof with Paul.181
Then will you seek the like privilege for
your parents. Then will you intercede for me who have urged you forward
on the path of victory.
I am not ignorant of the fetters which you may plead as
hindrances. My breast is not of iron nor my heart of stone. I was not
born of flint or suckled by a tigress.182
I
have passed through troubles like yours myself. Now it is a widowed
sister who throws her caressing arms around you. Now it is the slaves,
your foster-brothers, who cry, “To what master are you leaving
us?” Now it is a nurse bowed with age, and a body-servant loved
only less than a father, who exclaim: “Only wait till we die and
follow us to our graves.” Perhaps, too, an aged mother, with
sunken bosom and furrowed brow, recalling the lullaby183
with which she once soothed you, adds
her entreaties to theirs. The learned may call you, if they please,
The sole support and pillar of your house.184
The love of God and the fear of hell will easily break such
bonds.
Scripture, you will argue, bids us obey our parents.185
Yes, but whoso loves them more than Christ
loses his own soul.186
The enemy takes
sword in hand to slay me, and shall I think of a mother’s tears?
Or shall I desert the service of Christ for the sake of a father to
whom, if I am Christ’s servant, I owe no rites of burial,187
albeit if I am Christ’s true
servant I owe these to all? Peter with his cowardly advice was an
offence to the Lord on the eve of His passion;188
and to the brethren who strove to
restrain him from going up to Jerusalem, Paul’s one answer was:
“What mean ye to weep and to break my heart? For I am ready not
to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord
Jesus.”189
The battering-ram of natural
affection which so often shatters faith must recoil powerless from the
wall of the Gospel. “My mother and my brethren are these
whosoever do the will of my Father which is in heaven.”190
If they believe in Christ let them bid me
God-speed, for I go to fight in His name. And if they do not believe,
“let the dead bury their dead.”191
4. But all this, you argue, only touches the case of
martyrs. Ah! my brother, you are mistaken, you are mistaken, if you
suppose that there is ever a time when the Christian does not suffer
persecution. Then are you most hardly beset when you know not that you
are beset at all. “Our adversary as a roaring lion walketh about
seeking whom he may devour,”192
and do you
think of peace? “He sitteth in the lurking-places of the
villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent; his eyes
are privily set against the poor. He lieth in wait secretly as a lion
in his den; he lieth in wait to catch the poor;”193
and do you slumber under a shady tree, so
as to fall an easy prey? On one side self-indulgence presses me hard;
on another covetousness strives to make an inroad; my belly wishes to
be a God to me, in place of Christ,194
and lust would
fain drive away the Holy Spirit that dwells in me and defile His
temple.195
I am pursued, I say, by an enemy
Whose name is Legion and his wiles untold;196
and, hapless wretch that I am, how shall I hold myself a victor when
I am being led away a captive?
5. My dear brother, weigh well the various forms of
transgression, and think not that the sins which I have mentioned are
less flagrant than that of idolatry. Nay, hear the apostle’s view
of the matter. “For this ye know,” he writes, “that
no whore-monger or unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an
idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of
God.”197
In a general way all that is of the
devil savors of enmity to God, and what is of the devil is idolatry,
since all idols are subject to him. Yet Paul elsewhere lays down the
law in express and unmistakable terms, saying: “Mortify your
members, which are upon the earth, laying aside fornication,
uncleanness, evil concupiscence and covetousness, which are198
| 198 So Jerome, although
the Vulg. has “is.” | idolatry, for which things’ sake
the wrath of God cometh.”199
Idolatry is not confined to casting incense upon an
altar with finger and thumb, or to pouring libations of wine out of a
cup into a bowl. Covetousness is idolatry, or else the selling of the
Lord for thirty pieces of silver was a righteous act.200
Lust involves profanation, or else men may defile with common harlots201
| 201 Publicarum libidinum
victimæ; words borrowed from Tertullian, de C. F. II. 12. | those members of Christ which should be
“a living sacrifice acceptable to God.”202
Fraud is idolatry, or else they are worthy of imitation who, in the
Acts of the Apostles, sold their inheritance, and because they kept
back part of the price, perished by an instant doom.203
Consider well, my brother; nothing is yours
to keep. “Whosoever he be of you,” the Lord says,
“that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my
disciple.”204
Why are you such a
half-hearted Christian?
6. See how Peter left his net;205
see
how the publican rose from the receipt of custom.206
In a moment he became an apostle. “The Son of man hath not where
to lay his head,”207
and do you plan
wide porticos and spacious halls? If you look to inherit the good
things of the world you can no longer be a joint-heir with Christ.208
You are called a monk, and has the name no
meaning? What brings you, a solitary, into the throng of men? The
advice that I give is that of no inexperienced mariner who has never
lost either ship or cargo, and has never known a gale. Lately
shipwrecked as I have been myself, my warnings to other voyagers spring
from my own fears. On one side, like Charybdis, self-indulgence sucks
into its vortex the soul’s salvation. On the other, like Scylla,
lust, with a smile on her girl’s face, lures it on to wreck its
chastity. The coast is savage, and the devil with a crew of pirates
carries irons to fetter his captives. Be not credulous, be not
over-confident. The sea may be as smooth and smiling as a pond, its
quiet surface may be scarcely ruffled by a breath of air, yet sometimes
its waves are as high as mountains. There is danger in its depths, the
foe is lurking there. Ease your sheets, spread your sails, fasten the cross as an ensign on
your prow. The calm that you speak of is itself a tempest. “Why
so?” you will perhaps argue; “are not all my
fellow-townsmen Christians?” Your case, I reply, is not that of
others. Listen to the words of the Lord: “If thou wilt be perfect
go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come and follow
me.”209
You have already promised to be
perfect. For when you forsook the army and made yourself an eunuch for
the kingdom of heaven’s sake,210
you did so that
you might follow the perfect life. Now the perfect servant of Christ
has nothing beside Christ. Or if he have anything beside Christ he is
not perfect. And if he be not perfect when he has promised God to be
so, his profession is a lie. But “the mouth that lieth slayeth
the soul.”211
To conclude, then,
if you are perfect you will not set your heart on your father’s
goods; and if you are not perfect you have deceived the Lord. The
Gospel thunders forth its divine warning: “Ye cannot serve two
masters,”212
and does any one
dare to make Christ a liar by serving at once both God and Mammon?
Repeatedly does He proclaim, “If any one will come after me let
him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”213
If I load myself with gold can I think
that I am following Christ? Surely not. “He that saith he abideth
in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked.”214
7. I know you will rejoin that you possess nothing. Why,
then, if you are so well prepared for battle, do you not take the
field? Perhaps you think that you can wage war in your own
country, although the Lord could do no signs in His?215
Why not? you ask. Take the answer which comes to you with his
authority: “No prophet is accepted in his own country.”216
But, you will say, I do not seek honor; the
approval of my conscience is enough for me. Neither did the Lord seek
it; for when the multitudes would have made Him a king he fled from
them.217
But where there is no honor there is
contempt; and where there is contempt there is frequent rudeness; and
where there is rudeness there is vexation; and where there is vexation
there is no rest; and where there is no rest the mind is apt to be
diverted from its purpose. Again, where, through restlessness,
earnestness loses any of its force, it is lessened by what it loses,
and that which is lessened cannot be called perfect. The upshot of all
which is that a monk cannot be perfect in his own country. Now, not to
aim at perfection is itself a sin.
8. Driven from this line of defence you will appeal to
the example of the clergy. These, you will say, remain in their cities,
and yet they are surely above criticism. Far be it from me to censure
the successors of the apostles, who with holy words consecrate the body
of Christ, and who make us Christians.218
Having the keys of the kingdom of heaven, they judge men to some extent
before the day of judgment, and guard the chastity of the bride of
Christ. But, as I have before hinted, the case of monks is different
from that of the clergy. The clergy feed Christ’s sheep; I as a
monk am fed by them. They live of the altar:219
I,
if I bring no gift to it, have the axe laid to my root as to that of a
barren tree.220
Nor can I plead poverty as an excuse,
for the Lord in the gospel has praised an aged widow for casting into
the treasury the last two coins that she had.221
I
may not sit in the presence of a presbyter;222
he, if I sin, may deliver me to Satan, “for the destruction of
the flesh that the spirit may be saved.”223
Under the old law he who disobeyed the priests was put outside the camp
and stoned by the people, or else he was beheaded and expiated his
contempt with his blood.224
But now the
disobedient person is cut down with the spiritual sword, or he is
expelled from the church and torn to pieces by ravening demons. Should
the entreaties of your brethren induce you to take orders, I shall
rejoice that you are lifted up, and fear lest you may be cast down. You
will say: “If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a
good work.”225
I know that; but
you should add what follows: such an one “must be blameless, the
husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, chaste, of good behavior, given
to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker but
patient.”226
After fully
explaining the qualifications of a bishop the apostle speaks of
ministers of the third degree with equal care. “Likewise must the
deacons be grave,” he writes, “not double-tongued, not
given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of
the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved;
then, let them minister, being found blameless.”227
Woe to the man who goes in to the supper
without a wedding garment. Nothing remains for him but the stern question, “Friend, how
camest thou in hither?” And when he is speechless the order will
be given, “Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast
him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.”228
Woe to him who, when he has
received a talent, has bound it in a napkin; and, whilst others make
profits, only preserves what he has received. His angry lord shall
rebuke him in a moment. “Thou wicked servant,” he will say,
“wherefore gavest thou not my money into the bank that at my
coming I might have required mine own with usury?”229
That is to say, you should have laid
before the altar what you were not able to bear. For whilst you, a
slothful trader, keep a penny in your hands, you occupy the place of
another who might double the money. Wherefore, as he who ministers well
purchases to himself a good degree,230
so he who
approaches the cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body
and blood of the Lord.231
9. Not all bishops are bishops indeed. You consider
Peter; mark Judas as well. You notice Stephen; look also on Nicolas,
sentenced in the Apocalypse by the Lord’s own lips,232
whose shameful imaginations gave rise to
the heresy of the Nicolaitans. “Let a man examine himself and so
let him come.”233
For it is not
ecclesiastical rank that makes a man a Christian. The centurion
Cornelius was still a heathen when he was cleansed by the gift of the
Holy Spirit. Daniel was but a child when he judged the elders.234
Amos was stripping mulberry bushes when,
in a moment, he was made a prophet.235
David was
only a shepherd when he was chosen to be king.236
And the least of His disciples was the one whom Jesus loved the most.
My brother, sit down in the lower room, that when one less honorable
comes you may be bidden to go up higher.237
Upon whom does the Lord rest but upon him that is lowly and of a
contrite spirit, and that trembleth at His word?238
To whom God has committed much, of him
He will ask the more.239
“Mighty men
shall be mightily tormented.”240
No man need
pride himself in the day of judgment on merely physical chastity, for
then shall men give account for every idle word,241
and the reviling of a brother shall be
counted as the sin of murder.242
Paul and Peter now
reign with Christ, and it is not easy to take the place of the one or
to hold the office of the other. There may come an angel to rend the
veil of your temple,243
and to remove
your candlestick out of its place.244
If you intend
to build the tower, first count the cost.245
Salt that has lost its savor is good for nothing but to be cast out and
to be trodden under foot of swine.246
If a monk
fall, a priest shall intercede for him; but who shall intercede for a
fallen priest?
10. At last my discourse is clear of the reefs: at last
this frail bark has passed from the breakers into deep water. I may now
spread my sails to the breeze; and, as I leave the rocks of controversy
astern, my epilogue will be like the joyful shout of mariners. O
desert, bright with the flowers of Christ! O solitude whence come the
stones of which, in the Apocalypse, the city of the great king is
built!247
O wilderness, gladdened with God’s
especial presence! What keeps you in the world, my brother, you who are
above the world?248
| 248 From Cyprian,
Letter I. 14 (to Donatus). | How long shall
gloomy roofs oppress you? How long shall smoky cities immure you?
Believe me, I have more light than you. Sweet it is to lay aside the
weight of the body and to soar into the pure bright ether. Do you dread
poverty? Christ calls the poor blessed.249
Does toil frighten you? No athlete is crowned but in the sweat of his
brow. Are you anxious as regards food? Faith fears no famine. Do you
dread the bare ground for limbs wasted with fasting? The Lord lies
there beside you. Do you recoil from an unwashed head and uncombed
hair? Christ is your true head.250
| 250 From Cyprian, Letter
LXXVII. 2 (to Nemesianus). | Does the boundless
solitude of the desert terrify you? In the spirit you may walk always
in paradise. Do but turn your thoughts thither and you will be no more
in the desert. Is your skin rough and scaly because you no longer
bathe? He that is once washed in Christ needeth not to wash again.251
To all your objections the apostle gives
this one brief answer: “The sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory” which shall come after
them, “which shall be revealed in us.”252
You are too greedy of enjoyment, my
brother, if you wish to rejoice with the world here, and to reign with
Christ hereafter.
11. It shall come, it shall come, that day when this
corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on
immortality.253
Then shall that servant be blessed
whom the Lord shall find watching.254
Then at the
sound of the trumpet255
the earth and its
peoples shall tremble, but you shall rejoice. The world shall howl at
the Lord who comes to judge it, and the tribes of the earth shall smite
the breast. Once mighty kings shall tremble in their nakedness. Venus
shall be exposed, and her son too. Jupiter with his fiery bolts will be
brought to trial; and Plato, with his disciples, will be but a fool.
Aristotle’s arguments shall be of no avail. You may seem a poor
man and country bred, but then you shall exult and laugh, and say:
Behold my crucified Lord, behold my judge. This is He who was once an
infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and crying in a manger.256
This is He whose parents were a workingman
and a working-woman.257
| 257 From Tertullian, de
Spect. xxx. | This is He, who,
carried into Egypt in His mother’s bosom, though He was God, fled
before the face of man. This is He who was clothed in a scarlet robe
and crowned with thorns.258
This is He who
was called a sorcerer and a man with a devil and a Samaritan.259
Jew, behold the hands which you nailed to
the cross. Roman, behold the side which you pierced with the spear. See
both of you whether it was this body that the disciples stole secretly
and by night.260
For this you profess to believe.
My brother, it is affection which has urged me to speak
thus; that you who now find the Christian life so hard may have your
reward in that day.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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