THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS WRITINGS - VOLUME 46
Jerome: Later Letters, the Psalm Homilies and Lives of Saints
c. AD 374 – 420

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Texts are public domain except where marked in Sources and Credits.

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INTRODUCTION TO THIS VOLUME
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HOW THIS BOOK IS ARRANGED

This is the forty-sixth volume of a series that gathers the writings of the early Church
in order of date, from the generation after the apostles down to the eighth century. This
volume holds Jerome, Later Letters, the Psalm Homilies and Lives of Saints, from the
period about AD 374 – 420.

Within each work the text is divided into chapters and numbered sections, so that any
passage can be found again and cited. The small bold figures in the text are the section
numbers.

THE TRANSLATIONS

The text is in English only. Wherever a modern English version has been prepared for
SermonIndex it is used here; otherwise the book prints an older public-domain translation.
In both cases the wording is the translator’s own: older translations have not been
altered beyond dividing them into sections. The sources for every work are listed at the
back of the book, together with the licence under which each text is released. All the
works in this volume are printed in older public-domain translations.

IN THIS VOLUME

Jerome was born about AD 347 at Stridon and studied in Rome. After some years in the
Syrian desert and at Constantinople he settled in Bethlehem about AD 386, where he lived
as a monk until his death in AD 420. He translated the Bible into Latin, the version
called the Vulgate, wrote commentaries on much of Scripture, and took part in many of the
disputes of his day.

The letters continue the numbering of Volume 45. The homilies on the Psalms follow the
Latin text edited by Germain Morin in 1897, and the numbering of the Psalms is that of the
Septuagint and the Vulgate.

DATES AND AUTHORSHIP

Dates are approximate and are debated by scholars. Each work begins with a short
introduction that states what is known about its author and its date, and what is
uncertain.


LETTERS 125 TO 147
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LETTERS 125 TO 147 Jerome

c. AD 347–420

Translator of the Latin Vulgate and prolific biblical scholar.

LETTER 125. TO RUSTICS.

Rustics, a young monk of Toulouse, (to be carefully distinguished from the recipient of
Letter 122.) is advised by Jerome not to become an anchorite but to continue in a
community. Rules are suggested for the monastic life and a vivid picture is drawn of the
difference between a good monk and a bad. Incidentally Jerome indulges his spleen against
his dead opponent Rufinus (§18). The date of the letter is 411 a.d. 1. No man is happier
than the Christian, for to him is promised the kingdom of heaven. No man struggles harder
than he, for he goes daily in danger of his life. No man is stronger, for he overcomes the
Devil. No man is weaker, for he is overcome by the flesh. Both pairs of statements can be
proved by many examples. For instance, the robber believes upon the cross and immediately
hears the assuring words: "verily I say unto thee, To-day shall thou be with me in
paradise:" [Luke 23:43] while Judas falls from the pinnacle of the apostolate into the
abyss of perdition. Neither the close intercourse of the banquet nor the dipping of the
sop [Joh. 13:26] nor the Lord's gracious kiss [Matt. 26:49] can save him from betraying as
man Him whom he had known as the Son of God. Could any one have been viler than the woman
of Samaria? Yet not only did she herself believe, and after her six husbands find one
Lord, not only did she recognize that Messiah by the well, whom the Jews failed to
recognize in the temple; she brought salvation to many and, while the apostles were away
buying food, refreshed the Saviour's hunger and relieved His weariness. Was ever man wiser
than Solomon? Yet love for women made even him foolish. Salt is good, and every offering
must be sprinkled with it. [Lev. 2:13] Wherefore also the apostle has given commandment:
"let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt." [Col. 4:6] But "if the salt
have lost his savour," it is cast out. [Matt. 5:13] And so utterly does it lose its value
that it is not even fit for the dunghill, [Luke 14:35] whence believers fetch manure to
enrich the barren soil of their souls.

I begin thus, Rusticus my son, to teach you he greatness of your enterprise and the
loftiness of your ideal; and to shew you that only by trampling under foot youthful lusts
can you hope to climb the heights of true maturity. For the path along which you walk is a
slippery one and the glory of success is less than the shame of failure. 2. I need not now
conduct the stream of my discourse through the meadows of virtue, nor exert myself to shew
to you the beauty of its several flowers. I need not dilate on the purity of the lily, the
modest blush of the rose the royal purple of the violet, or the promise of glowing gems
which their various colours hold out. For through the mercy of God you have already put
your hand to the plough; [Luke 9:62] you have already gone up upon the housetop like the
apostle Peter. [Acts 10:3-16] Who when he became hungry among the Jews had his hunger
satisfied by the faith of Cornelius, and stilled the craving caused by their unbelief
through the conversion of the centurion and other Gentiles. By the vessel let down from
heaven to earth, the four corners of which typified the four gospels, he was taught that
all men can be saved. Once more, this fair white sheet which in his vision was taken up
again was a symbol of the church which carries believers from earth to heaven, an
assurance that the Lord's promise should be fulfilled: "blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God." [Matt. 5:8]

All this means that I take you by the hand and do my best to impress certain facts upon
your mind; that, like a skilled sailor who has been through many shipwrecks, I am anxious
to caution an inexperienced passenger of the risks before him. For on one side is the
Charybdis of covetousness, "the root of all evil;" [1 Tim. 6:10] and on the other lurks
the Scylla of detraction girt with the railing hounds of which the apostle says: "if ye
bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another." [Gal.
5:15] Sometimes, you must know, the quicksands of vice suck us down as we sail at ease
through the calm water; and the desert of this world is not untenanted by venomous
reptiles. 3. Those who navigate the Red Sea-where we must pray that the true Pharaoh may
be drowned with all his host-have to encounter many difficulties and dangers before they
reach the city of Auxuma. Nomad savages and ferocious wild beasts haunt the shores on
either side. Thus travellers must be always armed and on the alert, and they must carry
with them a whole year's provisions. Moreover, so full are the waters of hidden reefs and
impassable shoals that a look-out has constantly to be kept from the masthead to direct
the helmsman how to shape his course. They may count themselves fortunate if after six
months they make the port of the above-mentioned city. At this point the ocean begins, to
cross which a whole year hardly suffices. Then India is reached and the river Ganges-
called in holy scripture Pison-"which compasseth the whole land of Havilah" [Gen. 2:11]
and is said to carry down with it-from its source in paradise-various dyes and pigments.
Here are found rubies and emeralds, glowing pearls and gems of the first water, such as
high born ladies passionately desire. There are also mountains of gold which however men
cannot approach by reason of the griffins, dragons, and huge monsters which haunt them;
for such are the guardians which avarice needs for its treasures.

4. What, you ask, is the drift of all this? Surely it is clear enough. For if the
merchants of the world undergo such hardships to win a doubtful and passing gain, and if
after seeking it through many dangers they only keep it at risk of their lives; what
should Christ's merchant do who "selleth all that he hath" that he may acquire the "one
pearl of great price;" who with his whole substance buys a field that he may find therein
a treasure which neither thief can dig up nor robber carry away? [Matt. 13:45-46: Matt.
6:19, Matt. 6:20] 5. I know that I must offend large numbers who will be angry with my
criticisms as aimed at their own deficiencies. Yet such anger does but shew an uneasy
conscience and they will pass a far severer sentence on themselves than on me. For I shall
not mention names; or copy the licence of the old comedy which criticized individuals.
Wise men and wise women will try to hide or rather to correct whatever they perceive to be
amiss in them; they will be more angry with themselves than with me, and will not be
disposed to heap curses upon the head of their monitor. For he, although he is liable to
the same charges, is certainly superior in this that he is discontented with his own
faults.

6. I am told that your mother is a religious woman, a widow of many years' standing; and
that when you were a child she reared and taught you herself. Afterwards when you had
spent some time in the flourishing schools of Gaul she sent you to Rome, sparing no
expense and consoling herself for your absence by the thought of the future that lay
before you. She hoped to see the exuberance and glitter of your Gallic eloquence toned
down by Roman sobriety, for she saw that you required the rein more than the spur. So we
are told of the greatest orators of Greece that they seasoned the bombast of Asia with the
salt of Athens and pruned their vines when they grew too fast. For they wished to fill the
wine-press of eloquence not with the tendrils of mere words but with the rich grape-juice
of good sense. Your mother has done the same thing for you; you should, therefore, look up
to her as a parent, love her as a tender nurse, and venerate her as a saint. You must not
imitate those who leave their own relations and pay court to strange women. Their infamy
is apparent to all, for what they aim at under the pretence of pure affection is simply
illicit intercourse.

I know some women of riper years, indeed a good many, who, finding pleasure in their young
freedmen, make them their spiritual children and thus, pretending to be mothers to them,
gradually overcome their own sense of shame and allow themselves in the licence of
marriage. Other women desert their maiden sisters and unite themselves to strange widows.
There are some who hate their parents and have no affection for their kin. Their state of
mind is indicated by a restlessness which disdains excuses; they rend the veil of chastity
and put it aside like a cobweb. Such are the ways of women; not, indeed, that men are any
better. For there are persons to be seen who (for all their girded loins, sombre garb, and
long beards) are inseparable from women, live under one roof with them, dine in their
company, have young girls to wait upon them, and, save that they do not claim to be called
husbands, are as good as married. Still it is no fault of Christianity that a hypocrite
falls into sin; rather, it is the confusion of the Gentiles that the churches condemn what
is condemned by all good men.

7. But if for your part you desire to be a monk and not merely to seem one, be more
careful of your soul than of your property; for in adopting a religious profession you
have renounced this once for all. Let your garments be squalid to shew that your mind is
white; and your tunic coarse to prove that you despise the world. But give not way to
pride lest your dress and language be found at variance. Baths stimulate the senses
andmust, therefore, be avoided; for to quench natural heat is the aim of chilling fasts.
Yet even these must be moderate, for, if they are carried to excess, they weaken the
stomach and by making more food necessary to it promote indigestion, that fruitful parent
of unclean desires. A frugal and temperate diet is good for both body and soul. See your
mother as often as you please but not with other women, for their faces may dwell in your
thoughts and so

A secret wound may fester in your breast. The maidservants who attend upon her you must
regard as so many snares laid to entrap you; for the lower their condition is the more
easy is it for you to effect their ruin. John the Baptist had a religious mother and his
father was a priest. Yet neither his mother's affection nor his father's wealth could
induce him to live in his parents' house at the risk of his chastity. He lived in the
desert, and seeking Christ with his eyes refused to look at anything else. His rough garb,
his girdle made of skins, his diet of locusts and wild honey [Mark 1:6] were all alike
designed to encourage virtue and continence. The sons of the prophets, who were the monks
of the Old Testament, built for themselves huts by the waters of Jordan and forsaking the
crowded cities lived in these on pottage and wild herbs. As long as you are at home make
your cell your paradise, gather there the varied fruits of scripture, let this be your
favourite companion, and take its precepts to your heart. If your eye offend you or your
foot or your hand, cast them from you. [Matt. 18:8, Matt. 18:9] To spare your soul spare
nothing else. The Lord says: "whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath
committed adultery with her already in his heart. [Matt. 5:28] "Who can say," writes the
wise man, "I have made my heart clean? [Prov. 20:9] The stars are not pure in the Lord's
sight;

how much less men whose whole life is one long temptation. [Job 25:5, Job 25:6] Woe be to
us who commit fornication every time that we cherish lust. "My sword," God says, "hath
drunk its fill in heaven; [Isa. 34:5, R.V] much more then upon the earth with its crop of
thorns and thistles. [Gen. 3:18] The chosen vessel [Acts 9:15] who had Christ's name ever
on his lips kept under his body and brought it into subjection. [1 Cor. 9:27] Yet even he
was hindered by carnal desire and had to do what he would not. As one suffering violence
he cries: "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
[Rom. 7:24] Is it likely then that you can pass without fall or wound, unless you keep
your heart with all diligence, [Prov. 4:23] and say with the Saviour: "my mother and my
brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it. [Luke 8:21] This may seem
cruelty, but it is really affection. What greater proof, indeed, can there be of affection
than to guard for a holy mother a holy son? She too desired your eternal welfare and is
content to forego seeing you for a time that she may see you for ever with Christ. She is
like Hannah who brought forth Samuel not for her own solace but for the service of the
tabernacle. [1 Sam. 1:27, 1 Sam. 1:28]

The sons of Jonadab, we are told, drank neither wine nor strong drink and dwelt in tents
pitched wherever night overtook them. [Jer. 35:6. Jer. 35:7] According to the psalter they
were the first to undergo captivity; for, when the Chaldaeans began to ravage Judah they
were compelled to take refuge in cities. 8. Others may think what they like and follow
each his own bent. But to me a town is a prison and solitude paradise. Why do we long for
the bustle of cities, we whose very name speaks of loneliness? To fit him for the
leadership of the Jewish people Moses was trained for forty years in the wilderness; [Acts
7:29, Acts 7:30] and it was not till after these that the shepherd of sheep became a
shepherd of men. The apostles were fishers on lake Gennesaret before they became "fishers
of men." [Matt. 4:19] But at the Lord's call they forsook all that they had, father, net,
and ship, and bore their cross daily without so much as a rod in their hands.

I say these things that, in case you desire to enter the ranks of the clergy, you may
learn what you must afterwards teach, that you may offer a reasonable sacrifice [Rom.
12:1] to Christ, that you may not think yourself a finished soldier while still a raw
recruit, or suppose yourself a master while you are as yet only a learner. It does not
become one of my humble abilities to pass judgment upon the clergy or to speak to the
discredit of those who are ministers in the churches. They have their own rank and station
and must keep it. If ever you become one of them my published letter to Nepotian will
teach you the mode of life suitable to you in that vocation. At present I am dealing with
the forming and training of a monk; of one too who has put the yoke of Christ upon his
neck after receiving a liberal education in his younger days.

9. The first point to be considered is whether you ought to live by yourself or in a
monastery with others. For my part I should like you to have the society of holy men so as
not to be thrown altogether on your resources. For if you set out upon a road that is new
to you without a guide, you are sure to turn aside immediately either to the right or to
the left, to lay yourself open to the assaults of error, to go too far or else not far
enough, to weary yourself with running too fast or to loiter by the way and to fall
asleep. In loneliness pride quickly creeps upon a man: if he has fasted for a little while
and has seen no one, he fancies himself a person of some note; forgetting who he is,
whence he comes, and whither he goes, he lets his thoughts riot within and outwardly
indulges in rash speech. Contrary to the apostle's wish he judges another man's servants,
[Rom. 14:4] puts forth his hand to grasp whatever his appetite desires, sleeps as long he
pleases, fears nobody, does what he likes, fancies everyone inferior to himself, spends
more of his time in cities than in his cell, and, while with the brothers he affects to be
retiring, rubs shoulders with the crowd in the streets. What then, you will say? Do I
condemn a solitary life? By no means: in fact I have often commended it.

But I wish to see the monastic schools turn out soldiers who have no fear of the rough
training of the desert, who have exhibited the spectacle of a holy life for a considerable
time, who have made themselves last that they might be first, who have not been overcome
by hunger or satiety, whose joy is in poverty, who teach virtue by their garb and mien,
and who are too conscientious to invent-as some silly men do-monstrous stories of
struggles with demons, designed to magnify their heroes in the eyes of the crowd and
before all to extort money from it. 10. Quite recently we have seen to our sorrow a
fortune worthy of Croesus brought to light by a monk's death, and a city's alms, collected
for the poor, left by will to his sons and successors. After sinking to the bottom the
iron has once more floated upon the surface, [2 K. 6:5, 2 K. 6:6] and men have again seen
among the palm-trees the bitter waters of Marah. [Ex. 15:23, Ex. 15:27] In this there is,
however, nothing strange, for the man had for his companion and teacher one who turned the
hunger of the needy into a source of wealth for himself and kept back sums left to the
miserable to his own subsequent misery. Yet their cry came up to heaven and entering God's
ears overcame His patience. Wherefore, He sent an angel of woe to say to this new
Carmelite, this second Nabal, [1 Sam. 25:38] "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be
required of thee:then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?" [Luke 12:20]

11. If I wish you then not to live with your mother, it is for the reasons given above,
and above all for the two following. If she offers you delicacies to eat, you will grieve
her by refusing them; and if you take them, you will add fuel to the flame that already
burns within you. Again in a house where there are so many girls you will see in the
daytime sights that will tempt you at night. Never take your hand or your eyes off your
book; learn the psalms word for word, pray without ceasing, [1 Thess. 5:17] be always on
the alert, and let no vain thoughts lay hold upon you. Direct both body and mind to the
Lord, overcome wrath by patience, love the knowledge of scripture, and you will no longer
love the sins of the flesh. Do not let your mind become a prey to excitement, for if this
effects a lodgment in your breast it will have dominion over you and will lead you into
the great transgression. [Ps. 19:13] Always have some work on hand, that the devil may
find you busy. If apostles who had the right to live of the Gospel [1 Cor. 9:14] laboured
with their own hands that they might be chargeable to no man, [1 Thess. 2:9.: 1 Cor. 4:12]
and bestowed relief upon others whose carnal things they had a claim to reap as having
sown unto them spiritual things; [1 Cor. 9:11] why do you not provide a supply to meet
your needs? Make creels of reeds or weave baskets out of pliant osiers. Hoe your ground;
mark out your garden into even plots; and when you have sown your cabbages or set your
plants convey water to them in conduits; that you may see with your own eyes the lovely
vision of the poet:

"Art draws fresh water from the hilltop near Till the stream plashing down among the rocks
Cools the parched meadows and allays their thirst." Graft unfruitful stocks with buds and
slips that you may shortly be rewarded for your toil by plucking sweet apples from them.
Construct also hives for bees, for to these the proverbs of Solomon send you, [Prov. 6:8,
LXX] and you may learn from the tiny creatures how to order a monastery and to discipline
a kingdom. Twist lines too for catching fish, and copy books; that your hand may earn your
food and your mind may be satisfied with reading. For "every one that is idle is a prey to
vain desires." [Prov. 13:4, LXX] In Egypt the monasteries make it a rule to receive none
who are not willing to work; for they regard labour as necessary not only for the support
of the body but also for the salvation of the soul. Do not let your mind stray into
harmful thoughts, or, like Jerusalem in her whoredoms, open its feet to every chance
comer. [Ezek. 16:2]

12. In my youth when the desert walled me in with its solitude I was still unable to
endure the promptings of sin and the natural heat of my blood; and, although I tried by
frequent fasts to break the force of both, my mind still surged with [evil] thoughts. To
subdue its turbulence I betook myself to a brother who before his conversion had been a
Jew and asked him to teach me Hebrew. Thus, after having familiarised myself with the
pointedness of Quintilian, the fluency of Cicero, the seriousness of Fronto and the
gentleness of Pliny, I began to learn my letters anew and to study to pronounce words both
harsh and guttural. What labour I spent upon this task, what difficulties I went through,
how often I despaired, how often I gave over and then in my eagerness to learn commenced
again, can be attested both by myself the subject of this misery and by those who then
lived with me. But I thank the Lord that from this seed of learning sown in bitterness I
now cull sweet fruits.

13. I will recount also another thing that I saw in Egypt. There was in a community a
young Greek the flame of whose desire neither continual fasting nor the severest labour
could avail to quench. He was in great danger of falling, when the father of the monastery
saved him by the following device. He gave orders to one of the older brothers to pursue
him with objurgations and reproaches, and then after having thus wronged him to be
beforehand with him in laying a complaint against him. When witnesses were called they
spoke always on behalf of the aggressor. On hearing such falsehoods he used to weep that
no one gave credit to the truth; the father alone used cleverly to put in a word for him
that he might not be "swallowed up with overmuch sorrow." [2 Cor. 2:7] To make the story
short, a year passed inthis way and at the expiration of it the young man was asked
concerning his former evil thoughts and whether they still troubled him. "Good gracious,"
he replied, "how can I find pleasure in fornication when I am not allowed so much as to
live?" Had he been a solitary hermit, by whose aid could he have overcome the temptations
that assailed him?

14. The world's philosophers drive out an old passion by instilling a new one; they hammer
out one nail by hammering in another. It was on this principle that the seven princes of
Persia acted towards king Ahasuerus, for they subdued his regret for queen Vashti by
inducing him to love other maidens. [Esth. 2:1-4] But whereas they cured one fault by
another fault and one sin by another sin, we must overcome our faults by learning to love
the opposite virtues. "Depart from evil," says the psalmist, "and do good; seek peace and
pursue it." [Ps. 34:14] For if we do not hate evil we cannot love good. Nay more, we must
do good if we are to depart from evil. We must seek peace if we are to avoid war. And it
is not enough merely to seek it; when we have found it and when it flees before us we must
pursue it with all our energies. For "it passeth all understanding;" [Phil. 4:7] it is the
habitation of God. As the psalmist says, "in peace also is his habitation." [Ps. 76:2,
LXX] The pursuing of peace is a fine metaphor and may be compared with the apostle's
words, "pursuing hospitality." [Rom. 12:13, R.V. marg] It is not enough, he means, for us
to invite guests with our lips; we should be as eager to detain them as though they were
robbers carrying off our savings.

15. No art is ever learned without a master. Even dumb animals and wild herds follow
leaders of their own. Bees have princes, and cranes fly after one of their number in the
shape of a Y. There is but one emperor and each province has but one judge. Rome was
founded by two brothers, but, as it could not have two kings at once, was inaugurated by
an act of fratricide. So too Esau and Jacob strove in Rebekah's womb. [Gen. 25:22] Each
church has a single bishop, a single archpresbyter, a single archdeacon; and every
ecclesiastical order is subjected to its own rulers. A ship has but one pilot, a house but
one master, and the largest army moves at the command of one man. That I may not tire you
by heaping up instances, my drift is simply this. Do not rely on your own discretion, but
live in a monastery. For there, while you will be under the control of one father, you
will have many companions; and these will teach you, one humility, another patience, a
third silence, and a fourth meekness. You will do as others wish; you will eat what you
are told to eat; you will wear what clothes are given you; you will perform the task
allotted to you; you will obey one whom you do not like, you will come to bed tired out;
you will go to sleep on your feet and you will be forced to rise before you have had
sufficient rest.

When your turn comes, you will recite the psalms, a task which requires not a well
modulated voice but genuine emotion. The apostle says: "I will pray with the spirit and I
will pray with the understanding also," [1 Cor. 14:15] and to the Ephesians, "make melody
in your hearts to the Lord. [Eph. 5:19] For he had read the precept of the psalmist: "Sing
ye praises with understanding. [Ps. 47:7] You will serve the brothers, you will wash the
guests' feet; if you suffer wrong you will bear it in silence; the superior of the
community you will fear as a master and love as a father. Whatever he may order you to do
you will believe to be wholesome for you. You will not pass judgment upon those who are
placed over you, for your duty will be to obey them and to do what you are told, according
to the words spoken by Moses: "keep silence and hearken, O Israel. [Deut. 27:9, R.V] You
will have so many tasks to occupy you that you will have no time for [evil] thoughts; and
while you pass from one thing to another and fresh work follows work done, you will only
be able to think of what you have it in charge at the moment to do.

16. But I myself have seen monks of quite a different stamp from this, men whose
renunciation of the world has consisted in a change of clothes and a verbal profession,
while their real life and their former habits have remained unchanged. Their property has
increased rather than diminished. They still have the same servants and keep the same
table. Out of cheap glasses and common earthenware they swallow gold. With servants about
them in swarms they claim for themselves the name of hermits. Others who though poor think
themselves discerning, walk as solemnly as pageants through the streets and do nothing but
snarl at every one whom they meet. Others shrug their shoulders and croak out what is best
known to themselves. While they keep their eyes fixed upon the earth,they balance swelling
words upon their tongues. [See also Lactantius, 6:18] Only a crier is wanted to persuade
you that it is his excellency the prefect who is coming along. Some too there are who from
the dampness of their cells and from the severity of their fasts, from their weariness of
solitude and from excessive study have a singing in their ears day and night and turn
melancholy mad so as to need the poultices of Hippocrates more than exhortations from me.
Great numbers are unable to break free from the crafts and trades they have previously
practised. They no longer call themselves dealers but they carry on the same traffic as
before;

seeking for themselves not "food and raiment" [1 Tim. 6:8] as the apostle directs, but
money-profits and these greater than are looked for by men of the world. In former days
the greed of sellers was kept within bounds by the action of the Aediles or as the Greeks
call them market-inspectors, and men could not then cheat with impunity. But now persons
who profess religion are not ashamed to seek unjust profits and the good name of
Christianity is more often a cloak for fraud than a victim to it. I am ashamed to say it,
yet it must be said-we are at least bound to blush for our infamy-while in public we hold
out our hands for alms we conceal gold beneath our rags; and to the amazement of every one
after living as poor men we die rich and with our purses well-filled. But you, since you
will not be alone but one of a community, will have no temptation to act thus. Things at
first compulsory will become habitual. You will set to work unbidden and will find
pleasure in your toil. You will forget things which are behind and will reach forth to
those which are before. [Phil. 3:13] You will think less of the evil that others do than
of the good you ought to do. 17. Be not led by the multitude of those who sin, neither let
the host of those who perish tempt you to say secretly: "What? must all be lost who live
in cities? Behold, they continue to enjoy their property, they serve churches, they
frequent baths, they do not disdain cosmetics, and yet they are universally well-spoken
of." To this kind of remark I have before replied and now shortly reply again that the
object of this little work is not to discuss the clergy but to lay down rules for a monk.
The clergy are holy men and their lives are always worthy of praise. Rouse yourself then
and so live in your monastery that you may deserve to be a clergyman, that you may
preserve your youth from defilement, that you may go to Christ's altar as a virgin out of
her chamber. See that you are well-reported of without and that women are familiar with
your reputation but not with your appearance. When you come to mature years, if, that is,
you live so long, and when you have been chosen into the ranks of the clergy either by the
people of the city or by its bishop, act in a way that befits a clergyman, and choose for
your models the best of your brothers. For in every rank and condition of life the bad are
mingled with the good.

18. Do not be carried away by some mad caprice and rush into authorship. Learn long and
carefully what you propose to teach. Do not credit all that flatterers say to you, or, I
should rather say, do not lend too ready an ear to those who mean to mock you. They will
fawn upon you with fulsome praise and do their best to blind your judgment; yet if you
suddenly look behind you, you will find that they are making gestures of derision with
their hands, either a stork's neck or the flapping ears of a donkey or a thirsty dog's
protruding tongue. Never speak evil of anyone or suppose that you make yourself better by
assailing the reputations of others. The charges we bring against them often come home to
ourselves; we inveigh against faults which are as much ours as theirs; and so our
eloquence ends by telling against ourselves. It is as though dumb persons were to
criticize orators. When the grunter wished to speak he used to come forward at a snail's
pace and to utter a word now and again with such long pauses between that he seemed less
making a speech than gasping for breath. Then, when he had placed his table and arranged
on it his pile of books, he used to knit his brow, to draw in his nostrils, to wrinkle his
forehead and to snap his fingers, signs meant to engage the attention of his pupils. Then
he would pour forth a torrent of nonsense and declaim so vehemently against every one that
you would take him for a critic like Longinus or fancy him a second Cato the Censor
passing judgment on Roman eloquence and excluding whom he pleased from the senate of the
learned. As he had plenty of money he made himself still more popular by giving
entertainments. Numbers of persons shared in his hospitality; and thus it was not
surprising that when he went out he was surrounded always by a buzzing throng. At home he
was a monster like Nero, abroad a paragon like Cato. Made up of different and opposing
natures, as a whole he baffled description. You would say that he was formed of jarring
elements like that unnatural and unheard of monster of which the poet tells us that it was
'in front a lion, behind a dragon, in the middle the goat whose name it bears.'

19. Men such as these you must never look at or associate with. Nor must you turn aside
your heart unto words of evil [Ps. 141:4, Vulg] lest the psalmist say to you: "Thou
sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son," [Ps.
50:20] and lest you become as "the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows," [Ps.
57:4] and as the man whose "words were softer than oil yet were they drawn swords. [Ps.
55:21] The Preacher expresses this more clearly still when he says: "Surely the serpent
will bite where there is no enchantment, and the slanderer is no better. [Eccl. 10:11,
R.V. marg] But you will say, 'I am not given to detraction, but how can I check others who
are?' If we put forward such a plea as this it can only be that we may "practise wicked
works with men that work iniquity. [Ps. 141:4] Yet Christ is not deceived by this device.
It is not I but an apostle who says: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked. [Gal. 6:7] "Man
looketh upon the outward appearance but the Lord looketh upon the heart. [1 Sam. 16:7] And
in the proverbs Solomon tells us that as "the north wind driveth away rain, so doth an
angry countenance a backbiting tongue.

[Prov. 25:23] It sometimes happens that an arrow when it is aimed at a hard object
rebounds upon the bowman, wounding the would-be wounder, and thus, the words are
fulfilled, "they were turned aside like a deceitful bow," [Ps. 78:57] and in another
passage: "whoso casteth a stone on high casteth it on his own head. [Ecclus. 27:25] So
when a slanderer sees anger in the countenance of his hearer who will not hear him but
stops his ears that he may not hear of blood, [Isa. 33:15] he becomes silent on the
moment, his face turns pale, his lips stick fast, hismouth becomes parched. Wherefore the
same wise man says: "meddle not with them that are given to detraction: for their calamity
shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both? [Prov. 24:21, Prov. 24:22
Vulg] of him who speaks, that is, and of him who hears. Truth does not love corners or
seek whisperers. To Timothy it is said, "Against an elder receive not an accusation
suddenly; but him that sinneth rebuke before all, that others also may fear. [1 Tim. 5:19,
1 Tim. 5:20 (inexact)] When a man is advanced in years you must not be too ready to
believe evil of him; his past life is itself a defence, and so also is his rank as an
elder.

Still, since we are but human and sometimes in spite of the ripeness of our years fall
into the sins of youth, if I do wrong and you wish to correct me, accuse me openly of my
fault: do not backbite me secretly. "Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness,
and let him reprove me; but let not the oil of the sinner enrich my head. [Ps. 141:5. LXX]
For what says the apostle? "Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son
whom he receiveth. [Heb. 12:6] By the mouth of Isaiah the Lord speaks thus: "O my people,
they who call you happy cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths. [Isa. 3:12.
LXX] How do you help me by telling my misdeeds to others? You may, without my knowing of
it, wound some one else by the narration of my sins or rather of those which you
slanderously attribute to me; and while you are eager to spread the news in all quarters,
you may pretend to confide in each individual as though you had spoken to no one else.
Such a course has for its object not my correction but the indulgence of your own failing.

The Lord gives commandment that those who sin against us are to be arraigned privately or
else in the presence of a witness, and that if they refuse to hear reason, the matter is
to be laid before the church, and those who persist in their wickedness are to be regarded
as heathen men and publicans. [Matt. 18:15-17] 20. I lay great emphasis on these points
that I may deliver a young man who is dear to me from the itching both of the tongue and
of the ears: that, since he has been born again in Christ, I may present him without spot
or wrinkle [Eph. 5:27] as a chaste virgin, [2 Cor. 11:2] chaste in mind as well as in
body; that the virginity of which he boasts may be more than nominal and that he may not
be shut out by the bridegroom because being unprovided with the oil of good works his lamp
has gone out. [Matt. 25:1-10] In Proculus you have a reverend and most learned pre-late,
able by the sound of his voice to do more for you than I with my written sheets and sure
to direct you on your path by daily homilies. He will not suffer you to turn to the right
hand or to the left or to leave the king's highway; for to this Israel pledges itself to
keep in its hasty passage to the land of promise. [Num. 20:17] May God hear the voice of
the church's supplication. "Lord, ordain peace for us, for thou hast also wrought all our
works for us. May our renunciation of the world be made freely and not under compulsion!
May we seek poverty gladly to win its glory and not suffer anguish because others lay it
upon us!

For the rest amid our present miseries with the sword making havoc around us, he is rich
enough who has bread sufficient for his need, and he is abundantly powerful who is not
reduced to be a slave. Exuperius the reverend bishop of Toulouse, imitating the widow of
Zarephath, [1 Kings 17:8-16] feeds others though hungry himself. His face is pale with
fasting, yet it is the cravings of others that torment him most. In fact he has bestowed
his whole substance to meet the needs of Christ's poor. Yet none is richer than he, for
his wicker basket contains the body of the Lord, and his plain glass-cup the precious
blood. Like his Master he has banished greed out of the temple; and without either scourge
of cords or words of chiding he has overthrown the chairs of them that sell doves, that
is, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He has upset the tables of Mammon and has scattered the
money of the money-changers; zealous that the house of God may be called a house of prayer
and not a den of robbers. [John 2:14-16: Matt. 21:12, Matt. 21:13] In his steps follow
closely and in those of others like him in virtue, whom the priesthood makes poor men and
more than ever humble. Or if you will be perfect, go out with Abraham from your country
and from your kindred, and go whither you know not. [Gen. 12:1, Heb. 11:8] If you have
substance, sell it and give to the poor.

If you have none, then are you free from a great burthen. Destitute yourself, follow a
destitute Christ. The task is a hard one, it is great and difficult; but the reward is
also great.

LETTER 126. TO MARCELLINUS AND ANAPSYCHIA.

Marcellinus, a Roman official of high rank, and Anapsychia his wife had written to Jerome
from Africa to ask him his opinion on the vexed question of the origin of the soul. Jerome
in his reply briefly enumerates the several views that have been held on the subject. For
fuller information he refers his questioners to his treatise against Rufinus and also to
their bishop Augustin who will, he says, explain the matter to them by word of mouth.
Although it hardly appears in this letter Jerome is a decided creationist (see his Comm.
on Eccles. xii. 7=rec 12:7). But, though he vehemently condemns Rufinus (Ap. ii. 10) for
professing ignorance on the subject, he assents (Letter 134.) to Augustin (Letter 131.)
who similarly professes ignorance but seems to lean to traducianism. The date of writing
is a.d. 412. To his truly holy lord and lady, his children worthy of the highest respect
and affection, Marcellinus and Anapsychia, Jerome sends greeting.

1. I have at last received from Africa your joint letter and no longer regret the
effrontery which led me, in spite of your silence to ply you both with so many missives. I
hoped, indeed, by so doing to gain a reply and to learn of your welfare not indirectly
from others but directly from yourselves.I well remember your little problem about the
nature of the soul; although I ought not to call it little, seeing that it is one of the
greatest with which the church has to deal. You ask whether it has fallen from heaven, as
Pythagoras, all Platonists, and Origen suppose; or whether it is part of God's essence as
the Stoics, Manes, and the Spanish Priscillianists hint. Whether souls created long since
are kept in God's storehouse as some ecclesiastical writers foolishly imagine; or whether
they are formed by God and introduced into bodies day by day according to that saying in
the Gospel: "my Father worketh hitherto and I work; [John 5:17] or whether, lastly, they
are transmitted by propagation. This is the view of Tertullian, Apollinaris, and most
western writers who hold that soul is derived from soul as body is from body and that the
conditions of life are the same for men and brutes. I have given my opinion on the matter
in my reply to the treatise which Rufinus presented to Anastasius, bishop of Rome, of holy
memory.

He strives in this by an evasive and crafty but sufficiently foolish confession to play
with the simplicity of his hearers, but only succeeds in playing with his own faith or
rather want of it. My book, which has been published a good while, contains an answer to
the calumnies which in his various writings Rufinus has directed against me. Your reverend
father Oceanus has, I think, a copy of it. But if you cannot procure it your bishop
Augustine is both learned and holy. He will teach you by word of mouth and will give you
his opinion, or rather mine, in his own words. 2. I have long wished to attack the
prophecies of Ezekiel and to make good the promises which I have so often given to curious
readers. When, however, I began to dictate I was so confounded By the havoc wrought in the
West and above all by the sack of Rome that, as the common saying has it, I forgot even my
own name. Long did I remain silent knowing that it was a time to weep. [Eccl. 3:4] This
year I began again and had written three books of commentary when a sudden incursion of
those barbarians of whom your Virgil speaks as the "far-wandering men of Barce" (and to
whom may be applied what holy scripture says of Ishmael: "he shall dwell over against all
his brethren" [Gen. 16:12. R.V. marg] ) overran the borders of Egypt, Palestine, Phenicia,
and Syria, and like a raging torrent carried everything before them. It was with
difficulty and only through Christ's mercy that we were able to escape from their hands.
But if, as the great orator says, "amid the clash of arms law ceases to he heard; how much
more truly may it be said that war puts an end to the study of holy scripture. For this
requires plenty of books and silence and careful copyists and above all freedom from alarm
and a sense of security. I have accordingly only been able to complete two books and these
I have sent to my daughter, Fabiola, from whom you can if you like borrow them.

For want of time I have not been able as yet to transcribe the rest. But when you have
read these you will have seen the ante-chamber and will easily form from this a notion of
the whole edifice. I trust in God's mercy and believe that, as he has helped me in the
difficult opening chapters of the prophecy, so he will help me in the chapters towards the
close. These describe the wars of Gog and Magog, and set forth the mode of building, the
plan, and the dimensions of the holy and mysterious temple. 3. Our reverend brother
Oceanus to whom you desire an introduction is a great and good man and so learned in the
law of the Lord that no words of mine are needed to make him able and willing to instruct
you both and to explain to you in conformity with the rules which govern our common
studies, my opinion and his on all questions arising out of the scriptures. In conclusion,
my truly holy lord and lady, may Christ our God by his almighty power have you in his
safekeeping and cause you to live long and happily.

LETTER 127. TO PRINCIPIA.

This letter is really a memoir of Marcella (for whom see note on Letter 23.) addressed to
her greatest friend. After describing her history, character, and favourite studies,
Jerome goes on to recount her eminent services in the cause of orthodoxy at a time when,
through the efforts of Rufinus, it seemed likely that Origenism would prevail at Rome (§9,
10). He briefly relates the fall of the city and the horrors consequent upon it (§12, 13)
which appear to have been the immediate cause of Marcella's death (§14). The date of the
letter is 412 a.d. 1. You have besought me often and earnestly, Principia, virgin of
Christ, to dedicate a letter to the memory of that holy woman Marcella, and to set forth
the goodness long enjoyed by us for others to know and to imitate. I am so anxious myself
to do justice to her merits that it grieves me that you should spur me on and fancy that
your entreaties are needed when I do not yield even to you in love of her. In putting upon
record her signal virtues I shall receive far more benefit myself than I can possibly
confer upon others. If I have hitherto remained silent and have allowed two years to go
over without making any sign, this has not been owing to a wish to ignore her as you
wrongly suppose, but to an incredible sorrow which so overcame my mind that I judged it
better to remain silent for a while than to praise her virtues in inadequate language.
Neither will I now follow the rules of rhetoric in eulogizing one so dear to both of us
and to all the saints, Marcella the glory of her native Rome. I will not set forth her
illustrious family and lofty lineage, nor will I trace her pedigree through a line of
consuls and praetorian prefects. I will praise her for nothing but the virtue which is her
own and which is the more noble, because forsaking both wealth and rank she has sought the
true nobility of poverty and lowliness.

2. Her father's death left her an orphan, and she had been married less than seven months
when her husband was taken from her. Then as she was young, and highborn, as well as
distinguished for her beauty-always an attraction to men-and her self-control, an
illustrious consular named Cerealis paid court to her with great assiduity. Being an old
man he offered to make over to her his fortune so that she might consider herself less his
wife than his daughter. Her mother Albina went out of her way to secure for the young
widow so exalted a protector. But Marcella answered: "had I a wish to marry and not rather
to dedicate myself to perpetual chastity, I should look for a husband and not for an
inheritance;" and when her suitor argued that sometimes old men live long while young men
die early, she cleverly retorted: "a young man may indeed die early, but an old man cannot
live long." This decided rejection of Cerealis convinced others that they had no hope of
winning her hand.

In the gospel according to Luke we read the following passage: "there was one Anna, a
prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of great age, and had
lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; and she was a widow of about
fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple but served God with fastings
and prayers night and day." [Luke 2:36, Luke 2:37] It was no marvel that she won the
vision of the Saviour, whom she sought so earnestly. Let us then compare her case with
that of Marcella and we shall see that the latter has every way the advantage. Anna lived
with her husband seven years; Marcella seven months. Anna only hoped for Christ; Marcella
held Him fast. Anna confessed him at His birth; Marcella believed in Him crucified. Anna
did not deny the Child; Marcella rejoiced in the Man as king. I do not wish to draw
distinctions between holy women on the score of their merits, as some persons have made it
a custom to do as regards holy men and leaders of churches; the conclusion at which I aim
is that, as both have one task, so both have one reward.

3. In a slander-loving community such as Rome, filled as it formerly was with people from
all parts and bearing the palm for wickedness of all kinds, detraction assailed the
upright and strove to defile even the pure and the clean. In such an atmosphere it is hard
to escape from the breath of calumny. A stainless reputation is difficult nay almost
impossible to attain; the prophet yearns for it but hardly hopes to win it: "Blessed," he
says, "are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord." [Ps. 119:1] The
undefiled in the way of this world are those whose fair fame no breath of scandal has ever
sullied, and who have earned no reproach at the hands of their neighbours. It is this
which makes the Saviour say in the gospel: "agree with," or be complaisant to, "thine
adversary whilst thou art in the way with him." [Matt. 5:25] Who ever heard a slander of
Marcella that deserved the least credit? Or who ever credited such without making himself
guilty of malice and defamation? No; she put the Gentiles to confusion by shewing them the
nature of that Christian widowhood which her conscience and mien alike set forth. For
women of the world are wont to paint their faces with rouge and white-lead, to wear robes
of shining silk, to adorn themselves with jewels, to put gold chains round their necks, to
pierce their ears and hang in them the costliest pearls of the Red Sea, and to scent
themselves with musk. While they mourn for the husbands they have lost they rejoice at
their own deliverance and freedom to choose fresh partners-not, as God wills, to obey
these [Eph. 5:22] but to rule over them.

With this object in view they select for their partners poor men who contented with the
mere name of husbands are the more ready to put up with rivals as they know that, if they
so much as murmur, they will be cast off at once. Our widow's clothing was meant to keep
out the cold and not to shew her figure. Of gold she would not wear so much as a seal-
ring, choosing to store her money in the stomachs of the poor rather than to keep it at
her own disposal. She went nowhere without her mother, and would never see without
witnesses such monks and clergy as the needs of a large house required her to interview.
Her train was always composed of virgins and widows, and these women serious and staid;
for, as she well knew, the levity of the maids speaks ill for the mistress and a woman's
character is shewn by her choice of companions.

4. Her delight in the divine scriptures was incredible. She was for ever singing, "Thy
words have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee," [Ps. 119:11] as well as
the words which describe the perfect man, "his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in
his law doth he meditate day and night." [Ps. 1:2] This meditation in the law she
understood not of a review of the written words as among the Jews the Pharisees think, but
of action according to that saying of the apostle, "whether, therefore, ye eat or drink or
what soever ye do, do all to the glory of God." [1 Cor. 10:31] She remembered also the
prophet's words, "through thy precepts I get understanding," [Ps. 119:104] and felt sure
that only when she had fulfilled these would she be permitted to understand the
scriptures. In this sense we read elsewhere that "Jesus began both to do and teach." [Acts
1:1] For teaching is put to the blush when a man's conscience rebukes him; and it is in
vain that his tongue preaches poverty or teaches alms-giving if he is rolling in the
riches of Croesus and if, in spite of his threadbare cloak, he has silken robes at home to
save from the moth.

Marcella practised fasting, but in moderation. She abstained from eating flesh, and she
knew rather the scent of wine than its taste; touching it only for her stomach's sake and
for her often infirmities. [1 Tim. 5:23] She seldom appeared in public and took care to
avoid the houses of great ladies, that she might not be forced to look upon what she had
once for all renounced. She frequented the basilicas of apostles and martyrs that she
might escape from the throng and give herself to private prayer. So obedient was she to
her mother that for her sake she did things of which she herself disapproved. For example,
when her mother, careless of her own offspring, was for transferring all her property from
her children and grandchildren to her brother's family, Marcella wished the money to be
given to the poor instead, and yet could not bring herself to thwart her parent. Therefore
she made over her ornaments and other effects to persons already rich, content to throw
away her money rather than to sadden her mother's heart.

5. In those days no highborn lady at Rome had made profession of the monastic life, or had
ventured-so strange and ignominious and degrading did it then seem-publicly to call
herself a nun. It was from some priests of Alexandria, and from pope Athanasius, and
subsequently from Peter, who, to escape the persecution of the Arian heretics, had all
fled for refuge to Rome as the safest haven in which they could find communion-it was from
these that Marcella heard of the life of the blessed Antony, then still alive, and of the
monasteries in the Thebaid founded by Pachomius, and of the discipline laid down for
virgins and for widows. Nor was she ashamed to profess a life which she had thus learned
to be pleasing to Christ. Many years after her example was followed first by Sophronia and
then by others, of whom it may be well said in the words of Ennius:

"Would that ne'er in Pelion's woods Had the axe these pinetrees felled." My revered friend
Paula was blessed with Marcella's friendship, and it was in Marcella's cell that
Eustochium, that paragon of virgins, was gradually trained. Thus it is easy to see of what
type the mistress was who found such pupils. The unbelieving reader may perhaps laugh at
me for dwelling so long on the praises of mere women; yet if he will but remember how holy
women followed our Lord and Saviour and ministered to Him of their substance, and how the
three Marys stood before the cross and especially how Mary Magdalen-called the tower from
the earnestness and glow of her faith-was privileged to see the rising Christ first of all
before the very apostles, he will convict himself of pride sooner than me of folly. For we
judge of people's virtue not by their sex but by their character, and hold those to be
worthy of the highest glory who have renounced both rank and wealth. It was for this
reason that Jesus loved the evangelist John more than the other disciples. For John was of
noble birth and known to the high priest, yet was so little appalled by the plottings of
the Jews that he introduced Peter into his court, [Joh. 18:15, Joh. 18:16, R.V] and was
the only one of the apostles bold enough to take his stand be'fore the cross. For it was
he who took the Saviour's parent to his own home; [Joh. 19:26, Joh. 19:27] it was the
virgin son who received the virgin mother as a legacy from the Lord.

6. Marcella then lived the ascetic life for many years, and found herself old before she
bethought herself that she had once been young. She often quoted with approval Plato's
saying that philosophy consists in meditating on death. A truth which our own apostle
indorses when he says: "for your salvation I die daily." Indeed according to the old
copies our Lord himself says: "whosoever doth not bear His cross daily and come after me
cannot be my disciple." [Luke 14:27, cf. Luke 9:23] Ages before, the Holy Spirit had said
by the prophet: "for thy sake are we killed all the day long: we are counted as sheep for
the slaughter." [Ps. 44:22] Many generations afterwards the words were spoken: "remember
the end and thou shalt never do amiss," [Ecclus. 7:36] as well as that precept of the
eloquent satirist: "live with death in your mind; time flies; this say of mine is so much
taken from it." [Pers. 5:153 Corvington] Well then, as I was saying, she passed her days
and lived always in the thought that she must die. Her very clothing was such as to remind
her of the tomb, and she presented herself as a living sacrifice, reasonable and
acceptable, unto God. [Rom. 12:1]

7. When the needs of the Church at length brought me to Rome in company with the reverend
pontiffs, Paulinus and Epiphanius-the first of whom ruled the church of the Syrian Antioch
while the second presided over that of Salamis in Cyprus,-I in my modesty was for avoiding
the eyes of highborn ladies, yet she pleaded so earnestly, "both in season and out of
season" [2 Tim. 4:2] as the apostle says, that at last her perseverance overcame my
reluctance. And, as in those days my name was held in some renown as that of a student of
the scriptures, she never came to see me that she did not ask me some question concerning
them, nor would she at once acquiesce in my explanations but on the contrary would dispute
them; not, however, for argument's sake but to learn the answers to those objections which
might, as she saw, be made to my statements. How much virtue and ability, how much
holiness and purity I found in her I am afraid to say; both lest I may exceed the bounds
of men's belief and lest I may increase your sorrow by reminding you of the blessings that
you have lost. This much only will I say, that whatever in me was the fruit of long study
and as such made by constant meditation a part of my nature, this she tasted, this she
learned and made her own.

Consequently after my departure from Rome, in case of a dispute arising as to the
testimony of scripture on any subject, recourse was had to her to settle it. And so wise
was she and so well did she understand what philosophers call "τό πρέπον", that is, the
becoming, in what she did, that when she answered questions she gave her own opinion not
as her own but as from me or some one else, thus admitting that what she taught she had
herself learned from others. For she knew that the apostle had said: "I suffer not a woman
to teach," [1 Tim. 2:12] and she would not seem to inflict a wrong upon the male sex many
of whom (including sometimes priests) questioned her concerning obscure and doubtful
points. 8. I am told that my place with her was immediately taken by you, that you
attached yourself to her, and that, as the saying goes, you never let even a
hair's-breadth come between her and you. You both lived in the same house and occupied the
same room so that every one in the city knew for certain that you had found a mother in
her and she a daughter in you. In the suburbs you found for yourselves a monastic
seclusion, and chose the country instead of the town because of its loneliness. For a long
time you lived together, and as many ladies shaped their conduct by your examples, I had
the joy of seeing Rome transformed into another Jerusalem. Monastic establishments for
virgins became numerous, and of hermits there were countless numbers. In fact so many were
the servants of God that monasticism which had before been a term of reproach became
subsequently one of honour. Meantime we consoled each other for our separation by words of
mutual encouragement, and discharged in the spirit the debt which in the flesh we could
not pay. We always went to meet each other's letters, tried to outdo each other in
attentions, and anticipated each other in courteous inquiries. Not much was lost by a
separation thus effectually bridged by a constant correspondence.

9. While Marcella was thus serving the Lord in holy tranquillity, there arose in these
provinces a tornado of heresy which threw everything into confusion; indeed so great was
the fury into which it lashed itself that it spared neither itself nor anything that was
good. And as if it were too little to have disturbed everything here, it introduced a ship
freighted with blasphemies into the port of Rome itself. The dish soon found itself a
cover; and the muddy feet of heretics fouled the clear waters [Cf. Ezek. 34:18] of the
faith of Rome. No wonder that in the streets and in the market places a soothsayer can
strike fools on the back or, Catching up his cudgel, shatter the teeth of such as carp at
him; when such venomous and filthy teaching as this has found at Rome dupes whom it can
lead astray. Next came the scandalous version of Origen's book On First Principles, and
that 'fortunate' disciple who would have been indeed fortunate had he never fallen in with
such a master. Next followed the confutation set forth by my supporters, which destroyed
the case of the Pharisees and threw them into confusion. It was then that the holy
Marcella, who had long held back lest she should be thought to act from party motives,
threw herself into the breach. Conscious that the faith of Rome-once praised by an apostle
[Rom. 1:8] -was now in danger, and that this new heresy was drawing to itself not only
priests and monks but also many of the laity besides imposing on the bishop who fancied
others as guileless as he was himself, she publicly withstood its teachers choosing to
please God rather than men.

10. In the gospel the Saviour commends the unjust steward because, although he defrauded
his master, he acted wisely for his own interests. [Luke 16:8] The heretics in this
instance pursued the same course; for, seeing how great a matter a little fire had
kindled, [James 3:5] and that the flames applied by them to the foundations had by this
time reached the housetops, and that the deception practised on many could no longer be
hid, they asked for and obtained letters of commendation from the church, so that it might
appear that till the day of their departure they had continued in full communion with it.
Shortly afterwards the distinguished Anastasius succeeded to the pontificate; but he was
soon taken away, for it was not fitting that the head of the world should be struck off
during the episcopate of one so great. He was removed, no doubt, that he might not seek to
turn away by his prayers the sentence of God passed once for all. For the words of the
Lord to Jeremiah concerning Israel applied equally to Rome: "pray not for this people for
their good. When they fast I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt-offering
and oblation, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword and by the
famine and by the pestilence. [Jer. 14:11, Jer. 14:12] You will say, what has this to do
with the praises of Marcella? I reply, She it was who originated the condemnation of the
heretics.

She it was who furnished witnesses first taught by them and then carried away by their
heretical teaching. She it was who showed how large a number they had deceived and who
brought up against them the impious books brOn First Principles, books which were passing
from hand to hand after being 'improved' by the hand of the scorpion. She it was lastly
who called on the heretics in letter after letter to appear in their own defence. They did
not indeed venture to come, for they were so conscience-stricken that they let the case go
against them by default rather than face their accusers and be convicted by them. This
glorious victory originated with Marcella, she was the source and cause of this great
blessing. You who shared the honour with her know that I speak the truth. You know too
that out of many incidents I only mention a few, not to tire out the reader by a wearisome
recapitulation. Were I to say more, ill natured persons might fancy me, under pretext of
commending a woman's virtues, to be giving vent to my own rancour. I will pass now to the
remainder of my story.

11. The whirlwind passed from the West into the East and threatened in its passage to
shipwreck many a noble craft. Then were the words of Jesus fulfilled: "when the son of man
cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" [Luke 18:8] The love of many waxed cold. [Matt.
24:12] Yet the few who still loved the true faith rallied to my side. Men openly sought to
take their lives and every expedient was employed against them. So hotly indeed did the
persecution rage that "Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation;" nay more
he committed murder, if not in actual violence at least in will. Then behold God blew and
the tempest passed away; so that the prediction of the prophet was fulfilled, "thou takest
away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. [Ps. 104:29] In that very day his
thoughts perish," [Ps. 146:4] as also the gospel-saying, "Thou fool, this night thy soul
shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?"
[Luke 12:20]

12. Whilst these things were happening in Jebus a dreadful rumour came from the West. Rome
had been besieged and its citizens had been forced to buy their lives with gold. Then thus
despoiled they had been besieged again so as to lose not their substance only but their
lives. My voice sticks in my throat; and, as I dictate, sobs choke my utterance. The City
which had taken the whole world was itself taken; nay more famine was beforehand with the
sword and but few citizens were left to be made captives. In their frenzy the starving
people had recourse to hideous food; and tore each other limb from limb that they might
have flesh to eat. Even the mother did not spare the babe at her breast. In the night was
Moab taken, in the night did her wall fall down. [Isa. 15:1] "O God, the heathen have come
into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have made Jerusalem an
orchard. [Ps. 79:1. LXX] The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto
the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood
have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them." [Ps.
79:1-3]

"Who can set forth the carnage of that night? What tears are equal to its agony? Of
ancient date a sovran city falls; And lifeless in its streets and houses lie Unnumbered
bodies of its citizens." In many a ghastly shape doth death appear. [Virg. A. 2:361] 13.
Meantime, as was natural in a scene of such confusion, one of the bloodstained victors
found his way into Marcella's house. Now be it mine to say what I have heard, [Virg. A.
6:266] to relate what holy men have seen; for there were some such present and they say
that you too were with her in the hour of danger. When the soldiers entered she is said to
have received them without any look of alarm; and when they asked her for gold she pointed
to her coarse dress to shew them that she had no buried treasure. However they would not
believe in her self-chosen poverty, but scourged her and beat her with cudgels. She is
said to have felt no pain but to have thrown herself at their feet and to have pleaded
with tears for you, that you might not be taken from her, or owing to your youth have to
endure what she as an old woman had no occasion to fear. Christ softened their hard hearts
and even among bloodstained swords natural affection asserted its rights. The barbarians
conveyed both you and her to the basilica of the apostle Paul, that you might find there
either a place of safety or, if not that, at least a tomb. Hereupon Marcella is said to
have burst into great joy and to have thanked God for having kept you unharmed in answer
to her prayer. She said she was thankful too that the taking of the city had found her
poor, not made her so, that she was now in want of daily bread, that Christ satisfied her
needs so that she no longer felt hunger, that she was able to say in word and in deed:
"naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave and
the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

14. After a few days she fell asleep in the Lord; but to the last her powers remained
unimpaired. You she made the heir of her poverty, or rather the poor through you. When she
closed her eyes, it was in your arms; when she breathed her last breath, your lips
received it; you shed tears but she smiled conscious of having led a good life and hoping
for her reward hereafter. In one short night I have dictated this letter in honour of you,
revered Marcella, and of you, my daughter Principia; not to shew off my own eloquence but
to express my heartfelt gratitude to you both; my one desire has been to please both God
and my readers.

LETTER 128. TO GAUDENTIUS.

1 Gaudentius had written from Rome to ask Jerome's advice as to the bringing up of his
infant daughter; whom after the religious fashion of the day he had dedicated to a life of
virginity. Jerome's reply may be compared with his advice to Laeta (Letter 107.) which it
closely resembles. It is noticeable also for the vivid account which it gives of the sack
of Rome by Alaric in a.d. 410. The date of the letter is a.d. 413. 2 I. It is hard to
write to a little girl who cannot understand what you say, of whose mind you know nothing,
and of whose inclinations it would be rash to prophesy. In the words of a famous orator
"she is to be praised more for what she will be than for what she is." For how can you
speak of self-control to a child who is eager for cakes, who babbles on her mother's knee,
and to whom honey is sweeter than any words? Will she hear the deep things of the apostle
when all her delight is in nursery tales? Will she heed the dark sayings of the prophets
when her nurse can frighten her by a frowning face? Or will she comprehend the majesty of
the gospel, when its splendour dazzles the keenest intellect? Shall I urge her to obey her
parents when with her chubby hand she beats her smiling mother? For such reasons as these
my dear Pacatula must read some other time the letter that I send her now. Meanwhile let
her learn the alphabet, spelling, grammar, and syntax. To induce her to repeat her lessons
with her little shrill voice, hold out to her as rewards cakes and mead and sweetmeats.
[cf. Hor. 1 S. 1:25, 26] She will make haste to perform her task if she hopes afterwards
to get some bright bunch of flowers, some glittering bauble, some enchanting doll. She
must also learn to spin, shaping the yarn with her tender thumb; for, even if she
constantly breaks the threads, a day will come when she will no longer break them. Then
when she has finished her lessons she ought to have some recreation. At such times she may
hang round her mother's neck, or snatch kisses from her relations. Reward her for singing
psalms that she may love what she has to learn. Her task will then become a pleasure to
her and no compulsion will be necessary.

3 2. Some mothers when they have vowed a daughter to virginity clothe her in sombre
garments, wrap her up in a dark cloak, and let her have neither linen nor gold ornaments.
They wisely refuse to accustom her to what she will afterwards have to lay aside. Others
act on the opposite principle. "What is the use," say they, "of keeping such things from
her? Will she not see them with others? Women are fond of finery and many whose chastity
is beyond question dress not for men but for themselves Give her what she asks for, but
shew her that those are most praised who ask for nothing. It is better that she should
enjoy things to the full and so learn to despise them than that from not having them she
should wish to have them. "This," they continue, "was the plan which the Lord adopted with
the children of Israel. When they longed for the fleshpots of Egypt He sent them flights
of quails and allowed them to gorge themselves until they were sick. [Numb. 11:4, Numb.
11:20, Numb. 11:31] Those who have once lived worldly lives more readily forego the
pleasures of sense than such as from their youth up have known nothing of desire. For
while the former-so they argue-trample on what they know, the latter are attracted by what
is to them unknown.

4 While the former penitently shun the insidious advances which pleasure makes, the latter
coquet with the allurements of sense and fancying them to be as sweet as honey find them
to be deadly poison. They quote the passage which says that "the lips of a strange woman
drop as an honeycomb; [Prov. 5:3] which is sweet indeed in the eater's mouth but is
afterwards found more bitter than gall. [Rev. 10:9. Rev. 10:10] This they argue, is the
reason that neither honey nor wax is offered in the sacrifices of the Lord, [Lev. 2:11]
and that oil the product of the bitter olive is burned in His temple. [Ex. 27:20] Moreover
it is with bitter herbs that the passover is eaten, [Ex. 12:8] and "with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth. [1 Cor. 5:8] He that receives these shall suffer persecution
in the world. Wherefore the prophet symbolically sings: "I sat alone because I was filled
with bitterness. [Jer. 15:17, LXX]

5 3. What then, I reply? Is youth to run riot that self-indulgence may afterwards be more
resolutely rejected? Far from it, they rejoin: "let every man, wherein he is called,
therein abide. [1 Cor. 7:24] Is any called being circumcised,"- that is, as a virgin?-"let
him not become uncircumcised" [1 Cor. 7:18] -that is, let him not seek the coat of
marriage given to Adam on his expulsion from the paradise of virginity. [Gen. 3:21] "Is
any called in uncircumcision,"-that is, having a wife and enveloped in the skin of
matrimony? let him not seek the nakedness of virginity [Gen. 3:25] and of that eternal
chastity which he has lost once for all. No, let him "possess his vessel in sanctification
and honour," [Thess. 4:4] let him drink of his own wells not out of the dissolute cisterns
[Jer. 2:13, Cisternas dissipates] of the harlots which cannot hold within them the pure
waters of chastity. [Prov. 5:15] The same Paul also in the same chapter, when discussing
the subjects of virginity and marriage, calls those who are married slaves of the flesh,
but those not under the yoke of wedlock freemen who serve the Lord in all freedom. [1 Cor.
7:21, 1 Cor. 7:22]

6 What I say I do not say as universally applicable; my treatment of the subject is only
partial. I speak of some only, not of all. However my words are addressed to those of both
sexes, and not only to "the weaker vessel. [1 Pet. 3:7] Are you a virgin? Why then do you
find pleasure in the society of a woman? Why do you commit to the high seas your frail
patched boat, why do you so confidently face the great peril of a dangerous voyage? You
know not what you desire, and yet you cling to her as though you had either desired her
before or, to put it as leniently as possible, as though you would hereafter desire her.
Women, you will say, make better servants than men. In that case choose a misshapen old
woman, choose one whose continence is approved in the Lord. Why should you find pleasure
in a young girl, pretty, and voluptuous? You frequent the baths, walk abroad sleek and
ruddy, eat flesh, abound in riches, and wear the most expensive clothes; and yet you fancy
that you can sleep safely beside a death-dealing serpent. You tell me perhaps that you do
not live in the same house with her. This is only true at night. But you spend whole days
in conversing with her. Why do you sit alone with her? Why do you dispense with witnesses?

7 By so doing if you do not actually sin you appear to do so, and (so important is your
influence) you embolden unhappy men by your example to do what is wrong. You too, whether
virgin or widow, why do you allow a man to detain you in conversation so long? Why are you
not afraid to be left alone with him? At least go out of doors to satisfy the wants of
nature, and for this at any rate leave the man with whom you have given yourself more
liberty than you would with your brother, and have behaved more immodestly than you would
with your husband. You have some question, you say, to ask concerning the holy scriptures.
If so, ask it publicly; let your maids and your attendants hear it. "Everything that is
made manifest is light. [Eph. 5:13, R. V] He who says only what he ought does not look for
a corner to say it in; he is glad to have hearers for he likes to be praised. He must be a
fine teacher, on the other hand, who thinks little of men, does not care for the brothers,
and labours in secret merely to instruct just one weak woman!

8 3a. I have wandered for a little from my immediate subject to discuss the procedure of
others in such a case as yours; and while it is my object to train, nay rather to nurse,
the infant Pacatula, I have in a moment drawn upon myself the hostility of many women who
are by no means daughters of peace. But I shall now return to my proper theme. 9 A girl
should associate only with girls, she should know nothing of boys and should dread even
playing with them. She should never hear an unclean word, and if amid the bustle of the
household she should chance to hear one, she should not understand it. Her mother's nod
should be to her as much a command as a spoken injunction. She should love her as her
parent, obey her as her mistress, and reverence her as her teacher. She is now a child
without teeth and without ideas, but, as soon as she is seven years old, a blushing girl
knowing what she ought not to say and hesitating as to what she ought, she should until
she is grown up commit to memory the psalter and the books of Solomon; the gospels, the
apostles and the prophets should be the treasure of her heart. She should not appear in
public too freely or too frequently attend crowded churches. All her pleasure should be in
her chamber. She must never look at young men or turn her eyes upon curled fops; and the
wanton songs of sweet voiced girls which wound the soul through the ears must be kept from
her. The more freedom of access such persons possess, the harder is it to avoid them when
they come; and what they have once learned themselves they will secretly teach her and
will thus contaminate our secluded Danaë by the talk of the crowd.

10 Give her for guardian and companion a mistress and a governess, one not given to much
wine or in the apostle's words idle and a tattler, but sober, grave, industrious in
spinning wool and one whose words will form her childish mind to the practice of virtue.
For, as water follows a finger drawn through the sand, so one of soft and tender years is
pliable for good or evil; she can be drawn in whatever direction you choose to guide her.
Moreover spruce and gay young men often seek access for themselves by paying court to
nurses or dependants or even by bribing them, and when they have thus gently effected
their approach they blow up the first spark of passion until it bursts into flame and
little by little advance to the most shameless requests. And it is quite impossible to
check them then, for the verse is proved true in their case: "It is ill rebuking what you
have once allowed to become ingrained. I am ashamed to say it and yet I must; high born
ladies who have rejected more high born suitors cohabit with men of the lowest grade and
even with slaves. Sometimes in the name of religion and under the cloak of a desire for
celibacy they actually desert their husbands in favour of such paramours. You may often
see a Helen following her Paris without the smallest dread of Menelaus. Such persons we
see and mourn for but we cannot punish, for the multitude of sinners procures tolerance
for the sin.

11 4. The world sinks into ruin: yes! but shameful to say our sins still live and
flourish. The renowned city, the capital of the Roman Empire, is swallowed up in one
tremendous fire; and there is no part of the earth where Romans are not in exile. Churches
once held sacred are now but heaps of dust and ashes; and yet we have our minds set on the
desire of gain. We live as though we are going to die tomorrow; yet we build as though we
are going to live always in this world. Our walls shine with gold, our ceilings also and
the capitals of our pillars; yet Christ dies before our doors naked and hungry in the
persons of His poor. The pontiff Aaron, we read, faced the raging flames, and by putting
fire in his censer checked the wrath of God. The High Priest stood between the dead and
the living, and the fire dared not pass his feet. [Nu. 16:46-48, Vulg] On another occasion
God said to Moses, "Let me alone.... that I may consume this people," [Ex. 32:10] shewing
by the words "let me alone" that he can be withheld from doing what he threatens. The
prayers of His servant hindered His power. Who, think you, is there now under heaven able
to stay God's wrath, to face the flame of His judgment, and to say with the apostle, "I
could wish that I myself were accursed for my brethren"?

12 [Rom. 9:3] Flocks and shepherds perish together, because as it is with the people, so
is it with the priest. [Isa. 24:2] Of old it was not so. Then Moses spoke in a passion of
pity, "yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of
thy book. [Ex. 32:32] He is not satisfied to secure his own salvation, he desires to
perish with those that perish. And he is right, for "in the multitude of people is the
king's honour. [Prov. 14:28] 13 Such are the times in which our little Pacatula is born.
Such are the swaddling clothes in which she draws her first breath; she is destined to
know of tears before laughter and to feel sorrow sooner than joy. And hardly does she come
upon the stage when she is called on to make her exit. Let her then suppose that the world
has always been what it is now. Let her know nothing of the past,let her shun the present,
and let her long for the future. These thoughts of mine are but hastily mustered. For my
grief for lost friends has known no intermission and only recently have I recovered
sufficient composure to write an old man's letter to a little child. My affection for you,
brother Gaudentius, has induced me to make the attempt and I have thought it better to say
a few words than to say nothing at all. The grief that paralyses my will will excuse my
brevity; whereas, were I to say nothing, the sincerity of my friendship might well be
doubted.


LETTERS 125 TO 147
==================

LETTERS 125 TO 147 continued

LETTER 130. TO DEMETRIAS.

Jerome writes to Demetrias, a highborn lady of Rome who had recently embraced the vocation
of a virgin. After narrating her life's history first at Rome and then in Africa, he goes
on to lay down rules and principles to guide her in her new life. These which cover the
whole field of ascetic practice and include the duties of study, of prayer, of fasting, of
obedience, of giving up money for Christ, and of constant industry, are in substance
similar to those which thirty years before Jerome had suggested to Eustochium (Letter
22.). The tone of the letter is however milder and less fanatical; the asceticism
recommended is not so severe; there is less of rhapsody and more of common sense. This
letter should also be compared with the letter addressed to Demetrias by Pelagius, which
is given in Vol. xi. of Jerome's works (Migne's Patr. Lat. xxx. ed.). The date is 414 a.d.

I. Of all the subjects that I have treated from my youth up until now, either with my own
pen or that of my secretaries I have dealt with none more difficult than that which now
occupies me. I am going to write to Demetrias a virgin of Christ and a lady whose birth
and riches make her second to none in the Roman world. If, therefore, I employ language
adequate to describe her virtue, I shall be thought to flatter her; and if I suppress some
details on the score that they might appear incredible, my reserve will not do justice to
her undoubted merits. What am I to do then? I am unequal to the task before me, yet I
cannot venture to decline it. Her grandmother and her mother are both women of mark, and
they have alike authority to command, faith to seek and perseverance to obtain that which
they require. It is not indeed anything very new or special that they ask of me; my wits
have often been exercised upon similar themes. What they wish for is that I should raise
my voice and bear witness as strongly as I can to the virtues of one who-in the words of
the famous orator -is to be praised less for what she is than for what she gives promise
of being. Yet, girl though she is, she has a glowing faith beyond her years, and has
started from a point at which others think it a mark of signal virtue to leave off.

2. Let detraction stand aloof and envy give way; let no charge of self seeking be brought
against me. I write as a stranger to a stranger, at least so far as the personal
appearance is concerned. For the inner man finds itself well known by that knowledge
whereby the apostle Paul knew the Colossians and many other believers whom he had never
seen. How high an esteem I entertain for this virgin, nay more what a miracle of virtue I
think her, you may judge by the fact that being occupied in the explanation of Ezekiel's
description of the temple-the hardest piece in the whole range of scripture-and finding
myself in that part of the sacred edifice wherein is the Holy of Holies and the altar of
incense, I have chosen by way of a brief rest to pass from that altar to this, that upon
it I might consecrate to eternal chastity a living offering acceptable to God [Rom. 12:1]
and free from all stain. I am aware that the bishop has with words of prayer covered her
holy head with the virgin's bridal-veil, reciting the while the solemn sentence of the
apostle: "I wish to present you all as a chaste virgin to Christ. [2 Cor. 11:2] She stood
as a queen at his right hand, her clothing of wrought gold and her raiment of needlework.
[Ps. 45:9, Ps. 45:13, Ps. 45:14] Such was the coat of many colours, that is, formed of
many different virtues, which Joseph wore;

and similar ones were of old the ordinary dress of king's daughters. Thereupon the bride
herself rejoices and says: "the king hath brought me into his chambers," [Cant. 1:4] and
the choir of her companions responds: "the king's daughter is all glorious within. [Ps.
45:13] Thus she is a professed virgin. Still these words of mine will not be without their
use. The speed of racehorses is quickened by the applause of spectators; prize fighters
are urged to greater efforts by the cries of their backers; and when armies are drawn up
for battle and swords are drawn, the general's speech does much to fire his soldiers'
valour. So also is it on the present occasion. The grandmother and the mother have
planted, but it is I that water and the Lord that giveth the increase. [1 Cor. 3:6] 3. It
is the practice of the rhetoricians to exalt him who is the subject of their praises by
referring to his forefathers and the past nobility of his race, so that a fertile root may
make up for barren branches and that you may admire in the stem what you have not got in
the fruit. Thus I ought now to recall the distinguished names of the Probi and of the
Olybrii, and that illustrious Anician house, the representatives of which have seldom or
never been unworthy of the consulship. Or I ought to bring forward Olybrius our virgin's
father, whose untimely loss Rome has had to mourn. I fear to say more of him, lest I
should intensify the pain of your saintly mother, and lest the commemoration of his
virtues should become a renewing of her grief. He was a dutiful son, a loveable husband, a
kind master, a popular citizen. He was made consul while still a boy; but the goodness of
his character made him more illustrious as a senator. He was happy in his death for it
saved him from seeing the ruin of his country; and happier still in his offspring, for the
distinguished name of his great grandmother Demetrias has become yet more distinguished
now that his daughter Demetrias has vowed herself to perpetual chastity.

4. But what am I doing? Forgetful of my purpose and filled with admiration for this young
man, I have spoken in terms of praise of mere worldly advantages; whereas I should rather
have commended our virgin for having rejected all these, and for having determined to
regard herself not as a wealthy or a high born lady, but simply as a woman like other
women. Her strength of mind almost passes belief. Though she had silks and jewels freely
at her disposal, and though she was surrounded by crowds of eunuchs and serving-women, a
bustling household of flattering and attentive domestics, and though the daintiest feasts
that the abundance of a large house could supply were daily set before her; she preferred
to all these severe fasting, rough clothing, and frugal living. For she had read the words
of the Lord: "they that wear soft clothing are in kings" houses. [Matt. 11:8] She was
filled with admiration for the manner of life followed by Elijah and by John the Baptist;
both of whom confined and mortified their loins with girdles of skin, [2 Kings 1:8, Matt.
3:4] while the second of them is said to have come in the spirit and power of Elijah as
the forerunner of the Lord. [Matt. 11:14, Luke 1:17] As such he prophesied while still in
his mother's womb, [Luke 1:41] and before the day of judgment won the commendation of the
Judge.

She admired also the zeal of Anna the daughter of Phanuel, who continued even to extreme
old age to serve the Lord in the temple with prayers and fastings. [Luke 2:36, Luke 2:37]
When she thought of the four virgins who were the daughters of Philip, [Acts 21:9] she
longed to join their band and to be numbered with those who by their virginal purity have
attained the grace of prophecy. With these and similar meditations she fed her mind,
dreading nothing so much as to offend her grandmother and her mother. Although she was
encouraged by their example, she was discouraged by their expressed wish and desire; not
indeed that they disapproved of her holy purpose, but that the prize was so great that
they did not venture to hope for it, or to aspire to it. Thus this poor novice in Christ's
service was sorely perplexed. She came to hate all her fine apparel and cried like Esther
to the Lord: "Thou knowest that I abhor the sign of my high estate"-that is to say, the
diadem which she wore as queen-"and that I abhor it as a menstruous rag. [Esther 14:16]
Among the holy and highborn ladies who have seen and known her some have been driven by
the tempest which has swept over Africa, from the shores of Gaul to a refuge in the holy
places.

These tell me that secretly night after night, though no one knew of it but the virgins
dedicated to God in her mother's and grandmother's retinue, Demetrias, refusing sheets of
linen and beds of down, spread a rug of goat's hair upon the ground and watered her face
with ceaseless tears. Night after night she cast herself in thought at the Saviour's knees
and implored him to accept her choice, to fulfil her aspiration, and to soften the hearts
of her grandmother and of her mother. 5. Why do I still delay to relate the sequel? When
her wedding day was now close at hand and when a marriage chamber was being got ready for
the bride and bridegroom; secretly without any witnesses and with only the night to
comfort her, she is said to have nerved herself with such considerations as these: "What
ails you, Demetrias? Why are you so fearful of defending your chastity? What you need is
freedom and courage. If you are so panic-stricken in time of peace, what would you do if
you were called on to undergo martyrdom? If you cannot bear so much as a frown from your
own, how would you steel yourself to face the tribunals of persecutors? If men's examples
leave you unmoved, at least gather courage and confidence from the blessed martyr Agnes
who vanquished the temptations both of youth and of a despot and by her martyrdom hallowed
the very name of chastity. Unhappy girl! you know not, you know not to whom your virginity
is due. It is not long since you have trembled in the hands of the barbarians and clung to
your grandmother and your mother cowering under their cloaks for safety. You have seen
yourself a prisoner and your chastity not in your own power. You have shuddered at the
fierce looks of your enemies; you have seen with secret agony the virgins of God ravished.
Your city, once the capital of the world, is now the grave of the Roman people;

and will you on the shores of Libya, yourself an exile, accept an exile for a husband?
Where will you find a matron to be present at your bridal? Whom will you get to escort you
home? No tongue but a harsh Punic one will sing for you the wanton Fescennine verses. Away
with all hesitations! 'Perfect love' of God 'casteth out fear.' [1 John 4:18] Take to
yourself the shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation,
[Eph. 6:14-17] and sally forth to battle. The preservation of your chastity involves a
martyrdom of its own. Why do you fear your grandmother? Why do you dread your mother?
Perhaps they may themselves wish for you a course which they do not think you wish for
yourself. When by these and other arguments she had wrought herself to the necessary pitch
of resolution, she cast from her as so many hindrances all her ornaments and worldly
attire. Her precious necklaces, costly pearls, and glowing gems she put back in their
cases. Then dressing herself in a coarse tunic and throwing over herself a still courser
cloak she came in at an unlooked for moment, threw herself down suddenly at her
grandmother's knees, and with tears and sobs shewed her what she really was. That staid
and holy woman was amazed when she beheld her granddaughter in so strange a dress. Her
mother was completely overcome for joy. Both women could hardly believe that true which
they had longed to be true.

Their voices stuck in their throats, and, what with blushing and turning pale, with fright
and with joy, they were a prey to many conflicting emotions. 6. I must needs give way here
and not attempt to describe what defies description. In the effort to explain the
greatness of that joy past all belief, the flow of Tully's eloquence would run dry and the
bolts poised and hurled by Demosthenes would become spent and fall short. Whatever mind
can conceive or speech can interpret of human gladness was seen then. Mother and child,
grandmother and granddaughter kissed each other again and again. The two elder women wept
copiously for joy, they raised the prostrate girl, they embraced her trembling form. In
her purpose they recognized their own mind, and congratulated each other that now a virgin
was to make a noble house more noble still by her virginity. She had found they said, a
way to benefit her family and to lessen the calamity of the ruin of Rome Good Jesus! What
exultation there was all through the house! Many virgins sprouted out at once as shoots
from a fruitful stem, and the example set by their patroness and lady was followed by a
host both of clients and servants. Virginity was warmly espoused in every house and
although those who made profession of it were as regards the flesh of lower rank than
Demetrias they sought one reward with her, the reward of chastity. My words are too weak.
Every church in Africa danced for joy. The news reached not only the cities, towns, and
villages but even the scattered huts.

Every island between Africa and Italy was full of it, the glad tidings ran far and wide,
disliked by none. Then Italy put off her mourning and the ruined walls of Rome resumed in
part their olden splendour; for they believed the full conversion of their fosterchild to
be a sign of God's favour towards them. You would fancy that the Goths had been
annihilated and that that concourse of deserters and slaves had fallen by a thunderbolt
from the Lord on high. There was less elation in Rome when Marcellus won his first success
at Nola after thousands of Romans had fallen at the Trebia, Lake Thrasymenus, and Cannae.
There was less joy among the nobles cooped up in the capitol, on whom the future of Rome
depended, when after buying their lives with gold they heard that the Gauls had at length
been routed. The news penetrated to the coasts of the East, and this triumph of Christian
glory was heard of in the remote cities of the interior. What Christian virgin was not
proud to have Demetrias as a companion? What mother did not call Juliana's womb blessed?
Unbelievers may scoff at the doubtfulness of rewards to come. Meantime, in becoming a
virgin you have gained more than you have sacrificed. Had you become a man's bride but one
province would have known of you; while as a Christian virgin you are known to the whole
world.

Mothers who have but little faith in Christ are unhappily wont to dedicate to virginity
only deformed and crippled daughters for whom they can find no suitable husbands. Glass
beads, as the saying goes, are thought equal to pearls. Men who pride themselves on their
religion give to their virgin daughters sums scarcely sufficient for their maintenance,
and bestow the bulk of their property upon sons and daughters living in the world. Quite
recently in this city a rich presbyter left two of his daughters who were professed
virgins with a mere pittance, while he provided his other children with ample means for
self-indulgence and pleasure. The same thing has been done, I am sorry to say, by many
women who have adopted the ascetic life. Would that such instances were rare, but
unfortunately they are not. Yet the more frequent they are the more blessed are those who
refuse to follow an example which is set them by so many.

7. All Christians are loud in their praises of Christ's holy yokefellows, because they
gave to Demetrias when she professed herself a virgin the money which had been set apart
as a dowry for her marriage. They would not wrong her heavenly bridegroom; in fact they
wished her to come to Him with all her previous riches, that these might not be wasted on
the things of the world, but might relieve the distress of God's servants. Who would
believe it? That Proba, who of all persons of high rank and birth in the Roman world bears
the most illustrious name, whose holy life and universal charity have won for her esteem
even among the barbarians, who has made nothing of the regular consulships enjoyed by her
three sons, Probinus, Olybrius, and Probus,- that Proba, I say, now that Rome has been
taken and its contents burned or carried off, is said to be selling what property she has
and to be making for herself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that these may
receive her into everlasting habitations! [Luke 16:9] Well may the church's ministers,
whatever their degree, and those monks who are only monks in name, blush for shame that
they are buying estates, when this noble lady is selling them.

Hardly had she escaped from the hands of the barbarians, hardly had she ceased weeping for
the virgins whom they had torn from her arms, when she was overwhelmed by a sudden and
unbearable bereavement, one too which she had had no cause to fear, the death of her
loving son. Yet as one who was to be grandmother to a Christian virgin, she bore up
against this death-dealing stroke, strong in hope of the future and proving true of
herself the words of the lyric: "Should the round world in fragments burst, its fall May
strike the just, may slay, but not appal." [Horace, Carm. 3:3. 7, 8] We read in the book
of Job how, while the first messenger of evil was yet speaking, there came also another;
and in the same book it is written: "is there not a temptation"-or as the Hebrew better
gives it-"a warfare to man upon earth?" [Job 7:1] It is for this end that we labour, it is
for this end that we risk our lives in the warfare of this world, that we may be crowned
in the world to come. That we should believe this to be true of men is nothing wonderful,
for even the Lord Himself was tempted, [Matt. 4:1, sqq] and of Abraham the scripture bears
witness that God tempted him. [Gen. 22:1] It is for this reason also that the apostle
says: "we glory in tribulations.... knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and
patience experience; and experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed;" [Rom. 5:3-5] and
in another passage: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or
distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, For
thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
[Rom. 8:35, Rom. 8:36] The prophet Isaiah comforts those in like case in these words: "ye
that are weaned from the milk, ye that are drawn from the breasts, look for tribulation
upon tribulation, but also for hope upon hope." [Isa. 28:9, 10, LXX] For, as the apostle
puts it "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us." [Rom. 8:18] Why I have here brought together all these
passages the sequel will make plain.

Proba who had seen from the sea the smoke of her native city and had committed her own
safety and that of those dear to her to a fragile boat, found the shores of Africa even
more cruel than those which she had left. For one lay in wait for her of whom it would be
hard to say whether he was more covetous or heartless, one who cared for nothing but wine
and money, one who under pretence of serving the mildest of emperors stood forth as the
most savage of all despots. If I may be allowed to quote a fable of the poets, he was like
Orcus in Tartarus. Like him too he had with him a Cerberus, not three headed but many
headed, ready to seize and rend everything within his reach. He tore betrothed daughters
from their mothers'arms and sold high-born maidens in marriage to those greediest of men,
the merchants of Syria. No plea of poverty induced him to spare either ward or widow or
virgin dedicated to Christ. Indeed he looked more at the hands than at the faces of those
who appealed to him. Such was the dread Charybdis and such the hound-girt Scylla which
this lady encountered in fleeing from the barbarians; monsters who neither spared the
shipwrecked nor heeded the cry of those made captive. Cruel wretch! at least imitate the
enemy of the Roman Empire. The Brennus of our day took only what he found, but you seek
what you cannot find.

Virtue, indeed, is always exposed to envy, and cavillers may marvel at the secret
agreement by which Proba purchased the chastity of her numerous companions. They may
allege that the count who could have taken all would not have been satisfied with a part;
and that she could not have questioned his claim since in spite of her rank she was but a
slave in his despotic hands. I perceive also that I am laying myself open to the attacks
of enemies and that I may seem to be flattering a lady of the highest birth and
distinction. Yet these men will not be able to accuse me when they learn that hitherto I
have said nothing about her. I have never either in the lifetime of her husband or since
his decease praised her for the antiquity of her family or for the extent of her wealth
and power, subjects which others might perhaps have improved in mercenary speeches. My
purpose is to praise the grandmother of my virgin in a style befitting the church, and to
thank her for having aided with her goodwill the desire which Demetrias has formed. For
the rest my cell, my food and clothing, my advanced years, and my narrow circumstances
sufficiently refute the charge of flattery. In What remains of my letter I shall direct
all my words to Demetrias herself, whose holiness ennobles her as much as her rank, and of
whom it may be said that the higher she climbs the more terrible will be her fall.

"For the rest This one thing, child of God, I lay on thee; Yea before all, and urge it
many times:" Love to occupy your mind with the reading of scripture. Do not in the good
ground of your breast gather only a crop of darnel and wild oats. Do not let an enemy sow
tares among the wheat when the householder is asleep [Matt. 13:25] (that is when the mind
which ever cleaves to God is off its guard); but say always with the bride in the song of
songs: "By night I sought him whom my soul loveth. Tell me where thou feedest, where thou
makest thy flock to rest at noon; [Cant. 3:1, Cant. 1:7] and with the psalmist: "my soul
followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me; [Ps. 63:8] and with Jeremiah: "I
have not found it hard.... to follow thee," [Jer. 17:16, LXX] for "there is no grief in
Jacob neither is there travail in Israel. [Nu. 23:21, LXX] When you were in the world you
loved the things of the world. You rubbed your cheeks with rouge and used whitelead to
improve your complexion. You dressed your hair and built up a tower on your head with
tresses not your own. I shall say nothing of your costly earrings, your glistening pearls
from the depths of the Red Sea, your bright green emeralds, your flashing onyxes, your
liquid sapphires,-tones which turn the heads of matrons, and make them eager to possess
the like. For you have relinquished the world and besides your baptismal vow have taken a
new one; you have entered into a compact with your adversary and have said:

"I renounce thee, O devil, and thy world and thy pomp and thy works. Observe, therefore,
the treaty that you have made, and keep terms with your adversary while you are in the way
of this world. Otherwise he may some day deliver you to the judge and prove that you have
taken what is his; and then the judge will deliver you to the officer-at once your foe and
your avenger-and you will be cast into prison; into that outer darkness [Matt. 8:12] which
surrounds us with the greater horror as it severs us from Christ the one true light. [Joh.
8:12] And you shall by no means come out thence till you have paid the uttermost farthing,
[Matt. 5:25, Matt. 5:26] that is, till you have expiated your most trifling sins; for we
shall give account of every idle word in the day of judgment. [Matt. 12:36] 8. In speaking
thus I do not wish to utter an ill-omened prophecy against you but only to warn you as an
apprehensive and prudent monitor who in your case fears even what is safe. What says the
scripture? "If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place. We must
always stand under arms and in battle array, ready to engage the foe. When he tries to
dislodge us from our position and to make us fall back, we must plant our feet firmly
down, and say with the psalmist, "he hath set my feet upon a rock" [Ps. 40:2] and "the
rocks are a refuge for the conies. [Ps. 104:18] In this latter passage for 'conies' many
read 'hedgehogs.' Now the hedgehog is a small animal, very shy, and covered over with
thorny bristles. When Jesus was crowned with thorns and bore our sins and suffered for us,
it was to make the roses of virginity and the lilies of chastity grow for us out of the
brambles and briers which have formed the lot of women since the day when it was said to
Eve, "in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband
and he shall rule over thee. [Gen. 3:16] We are told that the bridegroom feeds among the
lilies, [Cant. 2:16] that is, among those who have not defiled their garments, for they
have remained virgins [Rev. 14:4] and have hearkened to the precept of the Preacher: "let
thy garments be always white.

[Eccles. 9:8] As the author and prince of virginity He says boldly of Himself: "I am the
rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. [Cant. 2:1] "The rocks" then "are a refuge for
the tonics" who when they are persecuted in one city flee into another [Matt. 10:23] and
have no fear that the prophetic words "refuge failed me" [Ps. 142:4] will he fulfilled in
their case. "The high hills are a refuge for the wildgoats," [Ps. 104:18] and their food
are the serpents which a little child draws out of their holes. Meanwhile the leopard lies
down with the kid and the lion eats straw like the ox; [Isa. 11:6-8] not of course that
the ox may learn ferocity from the lion but that the lion may learn docility from the OX.
But let us turn back to the passage first quoted, "If the spirit of the ruler rise up
against thee, leave not thy place," a sentence which is followed by these words: "for
yielding pacifieth great offences." [Eccles. 10:4] The meaning is, that if the serpent
finds his way into your thoughts you must "keep your heart with all diligence" [Prov.
4:23] and sing with David, "cleanse thou me from secret faults keep back thy servant also
from presumptuous sins," and come not to "the great transgression" [Ps. 19:12-14] which is
sin in act. Rather slay the allurements to vice while they are still only thoughts; and
dash the little ones of the daughter of Babylon against the stones [Ps. 137:9] where the
serpent can leave no trail. Be wary and vow a vow unto the Lord: "let them not have
dominion over me: then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great
transgression." [Ps. 19:13] For elsewhere also the scripture testifies, "I will visit the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." [Nu.
14:18] That is to say, God will not punish us at once for our thoughts and resolves but
will send retribution upon their offspring, that is, upon the evil deeds and habits of sin
which arise out of them. As He says by the mouth of Amos: "for three transgressions of
such and such a city and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof." [Amos 1:3]

9. I cull these few flowers in passing from the fair field of the holy scriptures. They
will suffice to warn you that you must shut the door of your breast and fortify your brow
by often making the sign of the cross. Thus alone will the destroyer of Egypt find no
place to attack you; thus alone will the first-born of your soul escape the fate of the
first-born of the Egyptians; [Exod. 12:23, Exod. 12:20] thus alone will you be able with
the prophet to say: "my heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give
praise. Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp. [Ps. 57:7, Ps. 57:8] For, sin
stricken as she is, even Tyre is bidden to take up her harp [Isa. 23:15, Isa. 23:16] and
to do penance; like Peter she is told to wash away the stains of her former foulness with
bitter tears. Howbeit, let us know nothing of penitence, lest the thought of it lead us
into sin. It is a plank for those who have had the misfortune to be shipwrecked; but an
inviolate virgin may hope to save the ship itself. For it is one thing to look for what
you have cast away, and another to keep what you have never lost. Even the apostle kept
under his body and brought it into subjection, lest having preached to others he might
himself become a castaway.

[1 Cor. 9:27] Heated with the violence of sensual passion he made himself the spokesman of
the human race: "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? and again, "I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to
will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good
that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do; [Rom. 7:24, Rom. 7:18,
Rom. 7:19] and once more: "they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in
the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. [Rom. 8:8,
Rom. 8:9] 10. After you have paid the most careful attention to your thoughts, you must
then put on the armour of fasting and sing with David: "I chastened my soul with fasting,"
[Ps. 69:10] and "I have eaten ashes like bread," [Ps. 102:9] and "as for me when they
troubled me my clothing was sackcloth. [Ps. 35:13, Vulg] Eye was expelled from paradise
because she had eaten of the forbidden fruit. Elijah on the other hand after forty days of
fasting was carried in a fiery chariot into heaven. For forty days and forty nights Moses
lived by the intimate converse which he had with God, thus proving in his own case the
complete truth of the saying, "man doth not live by bread only but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord. [Deut. 8:3] The Saviour of the world, who in His
virtues and His mode of life has left us an example to follow, [Joh. 13:15, 1 Pet. 2:21]
was, immediately after His baptism, taken up by the spirit that He might contend with the
devil, [Matt. 4:1] and after crushing him and overthrowing him might deliver him to his
disciples to trample under foot. For what says the apostle? "God shall bruise Satan under
your feet shortly. [Rom. 16:20] And yet after the Saviour had fasted forty days, it was
through food that the old enemy laid a snare for him, saying, "If thou be the Son of God,
command that these stones be made bread.

[Matt. 4:3] Under the law, in the seventh month after the blowing of trumpets and on the
tenth day of the month, a fast was proclaimed for the whole Jewish people, and that soul
was cut off from among his people which on that day preferred self-indulgence to self-
denial. [Lev. 23:27, Lev. 23:29] In Job it is written of behemoth that "his strength is in
his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. [Job 40:16. Cf. Letter XXII] Our
foe uses the heat of youthful passion to tempt young men and maidens and "sets on fire the
wheel of our birth. [Jas. 3:6, R.V. marg] He thus fulfils the words of Hosea, "they are
all adulterers, their heart is like an oven; [Hos. 7:4, Vulg] an oven which only God's
mercy and severe fasting can extinguish. These are "the fiery darts" [Eph. 6:16] with
which the devil wounds men and sets them on fire, and it was these which the king of
Babylon used against the three children. But when he made his fire forty-nine cubits high
he did but turn to his own ruin [Dan. 4:16, Dan. 4:25, Dan. 4:32] the seven weeks which
the Lord had appointed for a time of salvation. [Lev. 25:8] And as then a fourth bearing a
form like the son of God slackened the terrible heat [Dan. 3:25] and cooled the flames of
the blazing fiery furnace, until, menacing as they looked, they became quite harmless, so
is it now with the virgin soul.

The dew of heaven and severe fasting quench in a girl the flame of passion and enable her
soul even in its earthly tenement to live the angelic life. Therefore the chosen vessel
[Acts 9:15] declares that concerning virgins he has no commandment of the Lord. [1 Cor.
7:25] For you must act against nature or rather above nature if you are to forswear your
natural function, to cut off your own root, to cull no fruit but that of virginity, to
abjure the marriage-bed, to shun intercourse with men, and while in the body to live as
though out of it. 11. I do not, however, lay on you as an obligation any extreme fasting
or abnormal abstinence from food. Such practices soon break down weak constitutions and
cause bodily sickness before they lay the foundations of a holy life. It is a maxim of the
philosophers that virtues are means, and that all extremes are of the nature of vice; and
it is in this sense that one of the seven wise men propounds the famous saw quoted in the
comedy, "In nothing too much." You must not go on fasting until your heart begins to throb
and your breath to fail and you have to be supported or carried by others. No; while
curbing the desires of the flesh, you must keep sufficient strength to read scripture, to
sing psalms, and to observe vigils. For fasting is not a complete virtue in itself but
only a foundation on which other virtues may be built. The same may be said of
sanctification and of that chastity without which no man shall see the Lord. [Heb. 12:14,
R.V] Each of these is a step on the upward way, yet none of them by itself will avail to
win the virgin's crown. The gospel teaches us this in the parable of the wise and foolish
virgins; the former of whom enter into the bridechamber of the bridegroom, while the
latter are shut out from it because not having the oil of good works they allow their
lamps to fail. [Matt. 25:1-12] This subject of fasting opens up a wide field in which I
have often wandered myself, and many writers have devoted treatises to the subject. I must
refer you to these if you wish to learn the advantages of self-restraint and on the other
hand the evils of over-feeding.

12. Follow the example of your Spouse: [Luke 2:51] be subject to your grandmother and to
your mother. Never look upon a man, especially upon a young man, except in their company.
Never know a man whom they do not know. It is a maxim of the world that the only sure
friendship is one based on an identity of likes and dislikes. [Sall. Cat. 1:20] You have
been taught by their example as well as instructed by the holy life of your home to aspire
to virginity, to recognize the commandments of Christ, to know what is expedient for you
and what course you ought to choose. But do not regard what is your own as absolutely your
own. Remember that part of it belongs to those who have communicated their chastity to you
and from whose honourable marriages and beds undefiled [Heb. 13:4] you have sprung up like
a choice flower. For you are destined to produce perfect fruit if only you will humble
yourself under the mighty hand of God, [1 Pet. 5:6] always remembering that it is written:
"God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble." [1 Pet. 5:5] Now where there is
grace, this is not given in return for works but is the free gift of the giver, so that
the apostles' words are fulfilled: "it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth,
but of God that sheweth mercy." [Rom. 9:16] And yet it is ours to will and not to will;
and all the while the very liberty that is ours is only ours by the mercy of God.

13. Again in selecting for yourself eunuchs and maids and servingmen look rather to their
characters than to their good looks; for, whatever their age or sex, and even if
mutilation ensures in them a compulsory chastity, you must take account of their
dispositions, for these cannot be operated on save by the fear of Christ. When you are
present buffoonery and loose talk must find no place. You should never hear an improper
word; if you do hear one, you must not be carried away by it. Abandoned men often make use
of a single light expression to try the gates of chastity. Leave to worldlings the
privileges of laughing and being laughed at. One who is in your position ought to be
serious. Cato the Censor, in old time a leading man in your city, (the same who in his
last days turned his attention to Greek literature without either blushing for himself as
censor or despairing of success on account of his age) is said by Lucilius to have laughed
only once in his life, and the same remark is made about Marcus Crassus. These men may
have affected this austere mien to gain for themselves reputation and notoriety. For so
long as we dwell in the tabernacle of this body and are enveloped with this fragile flesh,
we can but restrain and regulate our affections and passions; we cannot wholly extirpate
them. Knowing this the psalmist says: "be ye angry and sin not;" [Ps. 4:4, LXX] which the
apostle explains thus: "let not the sun go down upon your wrath." [Eph. 4:26] For, if to
be angry is human, to put an end to one's anger is Christian.

14. I think it unnecessary to warn you against covetousness since it is the way of your
family both to have riches and to despise them. The apostle too tells us that covetousness
is idolatry, [Eph. 5:5] and to one who asked the Lord the question: "Good Master what good
thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? He thus replied: "If thou wilt be perfect,
go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven;
and come and follow me. [Matt. 19:16, Matt. 19:21] Such is the climax of complete and
apostolic virtue-to sell all that one has and to distribute to the poor, [Luke 18:22. Cf.
Letter CXIX] and thus freed from all earthly encumbrance to fly up to the heavenly realms
with Christ. To us, or I should rather say to you, a careful stewardship is entrusted,
although in such matters full freedom of choice is left to every individual, whether old
or young. Christ's words are "if thou wilt be perfect. I do not compel you, He seems to
say, I do not command you, but I set the palm before you, I shew you the prize; it is for
you to choose whether you will enter the arena and win the crown. Let us consider how
wisely Wisdom has spoken. "Sell that thou hast. To whom is the command given? Why, to him
to whom it was said, "if thou wilt be perfect. Sell not a part of thy goods but "all that
thou hast.

And when you have sold them, what then? "Give to the poor. Not to the rich, not to your
kinsfolk, not to minister to self indulgence; but to relieve need. It does not matter
whether a man is a priest or a relation or a connexion, you must think of nothing but his
poverty. Let your praises come from the stomachs of the hungry and not from the rich
banquets of the overfed. We read in the Acts of the Apostles how, while the blood of the
Lord was still warm and believers were in the fervour of their first faith, they all sold
their possessions and laid the price of them at the apostles' feet (to shew that money
ought to be trampled underfoot) and "distribution was made unto every man according as he
had need. [Acts 4:34, Acts 4:35] But Ananias and Sapphira proved timid stewards, and what
is more, deceitful ones; therefore they brought on themselves condemnation. For having
made a vow they offered their money to God as if it were their own and not His to whom
they had vowed it; and keeping back for their own use a part of that which belonged to
another, through fear of famine which true faith never fears, they drew down on themselves
suddenly the avenging stroke, which was meant not in cruelty towards them but as a warning
to others. [Acts 5:1-10] In fact the apostle Peter by no means called down death upon them
as Porphyry foolishly says.

He merely announced God's judgment by the spirit of prophecy, that the doom of two persons
might be a lesson to many. From the time of your dedication to perpetual virginity your
property is yours no longer; or rather is now first truly yours because it has come to be
Christ's. Yet while your grandmother and mother are living you must deal with it according
to their wishes. If, however, they die and rest in the sleep of the saints (and I know
that they desire that you should survive them); when your years are riper, and your will
steadier, and your resolution stronger, you will do with your money what seems best to
you, or rather what the Lord shall command, knowing as you will that hereafter you will
have nothing save that which you have here spent on good works. Others may build churches,
may adorn their walls when built with marbles, may procure massive columns, may deck the
unconscious capitals with gold and precious ornaments, may cover church doors with silver
and adorn the altars with gold and gems. I do not blame those who do these things; I do
not repudiate them. Everyone must follow his own judgment. And it is better to spend one's
money thus than to hoard it up and brood over it. However your duty is of a different
kind.

It is yours to clothe Christ in the poor, to visit Him in the sick, to feed Him in the
hungry, to shelter Him in the homeless, particularly such as are of the household of
faith, [Gal. 6:10] to support communities of virgins, to take care of God's servants, of
those who are poor in spirit, who serve the same Lord as you day and night, who while they
are on earth live the angelic life and speak only of the praises of God. Having food and
raiment they rejoice and count themselves rich. They seek for nothing more, contented if
only they can persevere in their design. For as soon as they begin to seek more they are
shewn to be undeserving even of those things that are needful. The preceding counsels have
been addressed to a virgin who is wealthy and a lady of rank. 15. But what I am now going
to say will be addressed to the virgin alone. I shall take into consideration, that is,
not your circumstances but yourself. In addition to the rule of psalmody and prayer which
you must always observe at the third, sixth, and ninth hours, at evening, at midnight, and
at dawn, you should determine how much time you will bind yourself to give to the learning
and reading of scripture, aiming to please and instruct the soul rather than to lay a
burthen upon it. When you have spent your allotted time in these studies, often kneeling
down to pray as care for your soul will impel you to do; have some wool always at hand,
shape the threads into yarn with your thumb, attach them to the shuttle, and then throw
this to weave a web, or roll up the yarn which others have spun or lay it out for the
weavers. Examine their work when it is done, find fault with its defects, and arrange how
much they are to do. If you busy yourself with these numerous occupations, you will never
find your days long; however late the summer sun may be in setting, a day will always seem
too short on which something remains undone. By observing such rules as these you will
save yourself and others, you will set a good example as a mistress, and you will place to
your credit the chastity of many. For the scripture says: "the soul of every idler is
filled with desires.

[Prov. 13:4, LXX. comp. Letter CXXV] Nor may you excuse yourself from toil on the plea
that God's bounty has left you in want of nothing. No; you must labour with the rest, that
being always busy you may think only of the service of the Lord. I shall speak quite
plainly. Even supposing that you give all your property to the poor, Christ will value
nothing more highly than what you have wrought with your own hands. You may work for
yourself or to set an example to your virgins; or you may make presents to your mother and
grandmother to draw from them larger sums for the relief of the poor. 16. I have all but
passed over the most important point of all. While you were still quite small, bishop
Anastasius of holy and blessed memory ruled the Roman church. In his days a terrible storm
of heresy came from the East and strove first to corrupt and then to undermine that simple
faith which an apostle has praised. [Rom. 1:8] However the bishop, rich in poverty and as
careful of his flock as an apostle, at once smote the noxious thing on the head, and
stayed the hydra's hissing. Now I have reason to fear-in fact a report has reached me to
this effect-that the poisonous germs of this heresy still live and sprout in the minds of
some to this day. I think, therefore, that I ought to warn you, in all kindness and
affection, to hold fast the faith of the saintly Innocent, the spiritual son of Anastasius
and his successor in the apostolic see; and not to receive any foreign doctrine, however
wise and discerning you may take yourself to be. Men of this type whisper in corners and
pretend to inquire into the justice of God. Why, they ask, was a particular soul born in a
particular province? What is the reason that some are born of Christian parents, others
among wild beasts and savage tribes who have no knowledge of God? Wherever they can strike
the simple with their scorpion-sting and form an ulcer fitted to their purpose, there they
diffuse their venom.

"Is it for nothing, think you,"-thus they argue-"that a little child scarcely able to
recognize its mother by a laugh or a look of joy, [Virg. Ecl. 4:60] which has done nothing
either good or evil, is seized by a devil or overwhelmed with jaundice or doomed to bear
afflictions which godless men escape, while God's servants have to bear them? Now if God's
judgments, they say, are "true and righteous altogether," [Ps. 19:9] and if "there is no
unrighteousness in Him," [Ps. 92:15] we are compelled by reason to believe that our souls
have pre-existed in heaven, that they are condemned to and, if I may so say, buried in
human bodies because of some ancient sins, and that we are punished in this valley of
weeping [Ps. 84:6, R.V] for old misdeeds. This according to them is the prophet's reason
for saying: "Before I was afflicted I went astray," [Ps. 119:67] and again, "Bring my soul
out of prison. [Ps. 142:7] They explain in the same way the question of the disciples in
the gospel: "Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? [John 9:2] and
other similar passages.

This godless and wicked teaching was formerly ripe in Egypt and the East; and now it lurks
secretly like a viper in its hole among many persons in those parts, defiling the purity
of the faith and gradually creeping on like an inherited disease till it assails a large
number. But I am sure that if you hear it you will not accept it. For you have
preceptresses under God whose faith is a rule of sound doctrine. You will understand what
I mean, for God will give you understanding in all things. You must not ask me on the spot
to give you a refutation of this dreadful heresy and of others worse still; for were I to
do so I should "criticize where I ought to forbid," and my present object is not to refute
heretics but to instruct a virgin. However, I have defeated their wiles and counterworked
their efforts to undermine the truth in a treatise which by God's help I have written; and
if you desire to have this, I shall send it to you promptly and with pleasure. I say, if
you desire to have it, for as the proverb says, wares proffered unasked are little
esteemed, and a plentiful supply brings down prices, which are always highest where
scarcity prevails.

17. Men often discuss the comparative merits of life in solitude and life in a community;
and the preference is usually given to the first over the second. Still even for men there
is always the risk that, being withdrawn from the society of their fellows, they may
become exposed to unclean and godless imaginations, and in the fulness of their arrogance
and disdain may look down upon everyone but themselves, and may arm their tongues to
detract from the clergy or from those who like themselves are bound by the vows of a
solitary life. Of such it is well said by the psalmist, "as for the children of men their
teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword. [Ps. 57:4] Now if all this is
true of men, how much more does it apply to women whose fickle and vacillating minds, if
left to their own devices, soon degenerate. I am myself acquainted with anchorites of both
sexes who by excessive fasting have so impaired their faculties that they do not know what
to do or where to turn, when to speak or when to be silent. Most frequently those who have
been so affected have lived in solitary cells, cold and damp. Moreover if persons
untrained in secular learning read the works of able church writers, they only acquire
from them a wordy fluency and not, as they might do, a fuller knowledge of the scriptures.

The old saying is found true of them, although they have not the wit to speak, they cannot
remain silent. They teach to others the scriptures that they do not understand themselves;
and if they are fortunate enough to convince them, they take upon themselves airs as men
of learning. In fact, they set up as instructors of the ignorant before they have gone to
school themselves. It is a good thing therefore to defer to one's betters, to obey those
set over one, to learn not only from the scriptures but from the example of others how one
ought to order one's life, and not to follow that worst of teachers, one's own self-
confidence. Of women who are thus presumptuous the apostle says that they "are carried
about with every wind of doctrine, [Eph. 4:14] ever learning and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth. [2 Tim. 3:7]

18. Avoid the company of married women who are devoted to their husbands and to the world,
that your mind may not become unsettled by hearing what a husband says to his wife, or a
wife to her husband. Such conversations are filled with deadly venom. To express his
condemnation of them the apostle has taken a verse of a profane writer and has pressed it
into the service of the church. It may be literally rendered at the expense of the metre:
"evil communications corrupt good manners." No; you should choose for your companions
staid and serious women, particularly widows and virgins, persons of approved
conversation, of few words, and of a holy modesty. Shun gay and thoughtless girls, who
deck their heads and wear their hair in fringes, who use cosmetics to improve their skins
and affect tight sleeves, dresses without a crease, and dainty buskins; and by pretending
to be virgins more easily sell themselves into destruction. Moreover, the character and
tastes of a mistress are often inferred from the behaviour of her attendants. Regard as
fair and lovable and a fitting companion one who is unconscious of her good looks and
careless of her appearance; who does not expose her breast out of doors or throw back her
cloak to reveal her neck; who veils all of her face except her eyes, and only uses these
to find her way.

19. I hesitate about what I am going to say but, as often happens, whether I like it or
not, it must be said; not that I have reason to fear anything of the kind in your case,
for probably you know nothing of such things and have never even heard of them, but that
in advising you I may warn others. A virgin should avoid as so many plagues and banes of
chastity all ringletted youths who curl their hair and scent themselves with musk; to whom
may well be applied the words of Petronius Arbiter, "too much perfume makes an ill
perfume." I need not speak of those who by their pertinacious visits to virgins bring
discredit both on themselves and on these; for, even if nothing wrong is done by them, no
wrong can be imagined greater than to find oneself exposed to the calumnies and attacks of
the heathen. I do not here speak of all, but only of those whom the church itself rebukes,
whom sometimes it expels, and against whom the censure of bishops and presbyters is not
seldom directed. For, as it is, it is almost more dangerous for giddy girls to shew
themselves in the abodes of religion than even to walk abroad. Virgins who live in
communities and of whom large numbers are assembled together, should never go out by
themselves or unaccompanied by their mother. A hawk often singles out one of a flight of
doves, pounces on it and tears it open till it is gorged with its flesh and blood. Sick
sheep stray from the flock and fall into the jaws of wolves. I know some saintly virgins
who on holy days keep at home to avoid the crowds and refuse to go out when they must
either take a strong escort, or altogether avoid all public places.

It is about thirty years since I published a treatise on the preservation of virginity, in
which I felt constrained to oppose certain vices and to lay bare the wiles of the devil
for the instruction of the virgin to whom it was addressed. My language then gave offence
to a great many, for everyone applied what I said to himself and instead of welcoming my
admonitions turned away from me as an accuser of his deeds. Was it any use, do you ask,
thus to arm a host of remonstrants and to show by my complaints the wounds which my
conscience received? Yes, I answer, for, while they have passed away, my book still
remains. I have also written short exhortations to several virgins and widows, and in
these smaller works I have gathered together all that there is to be said on the subject.
So that I am reduced to the alternative of repeating exhortations which seem superfluous
or of omitting them to the serious injury of this treatise. The blessed Cyprian has left a
noble work on virginity; and many other writers, both Greek and Latin, have done the same.
Indeed the virginal life has been praised both with tongue and pen among all nations and
particularly among the churches. Most, however, of those who have written on the subject
have addressed themselves to such as have not yet chosen virginity, and who need help to
enable them to choose aright. But I and those to whom I write have made our choice;

and our one object is to remain constant to it. Therefore, as our way lies among scorpions
and adders, among snares and banes, let us go forward staff in hand, our loins girded and
our feet shod; [Exod. 12:11] that so we may come to the sweet waters of the true Jordan,
and enter the land of promise and go up to the house of God. Then shall we sing with the
prophet: "Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honour
dwelleth; [Ps. 26:8] and again: "one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek
after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. [Ps. 27:4] Happy
is the soul, happy is the virgin in whose heart there is room for no other love than the
love of Christ. For in Himself He is wisdom and chastity, patience and justice and every
other virtue. Happy too is she who can recall a man's face without the least sigh of
regret, and who has no desire to set eyes on one whom, after she has seen him, she may
find herself unwilling to give up. Some there are, however, who by their ill-behaviour
bring discredit on the holy profession of virginity and upon the glory of the heavenly and
angelic company who have made it. These must be frankly told either to marry if they
cannot contain, or to contain if they will not marry. It is also a matter for laughter or
rather for tears, that when mistresses walk abroad they are preceded by maids better
dressed than themselves; indeed so usual has this become that, if of two women you see one
less neat than the other, you take her for the mistress as a matter of course. And yet
these maids are professed virgins. Again not a few virgins choose sequestered dwellings
where they will not he under the eyes of others, in order that they may live more freely
than they otherwise could do. They take baths, do what they please, and try as much as
they can to escape notice. We see these things and yet we put up with them; in fact, if we
catch sight of the glitter of gold, we are ready to account of them as good works.

20. I end as I began, not content to have given you but a single warning. Love the holy
scriptures, and wisdom will love you. Love wisdom, and it will keep you safe. Honour
wisdom, and it will embrace you round about. Let the jewels on your breast and in your
ears be the gems of wisdom. Let your tongue know no theme but Christ, let no sound pass
your lips that is not holy, and let your words always reproduce that sweetness of which
your grandmother and your mother set you the example. Imitate them, for they are models of
virtue.


LETTERS 125 TO 147
==================

LETTERS 125 TO 147 continued

LETTER 131. FROM AUGUSTINE.

At the suggestion of Jerome, Marcellinus (for whom see Letter 126.) had consulted
Augustine on the difficult question of the origin of the soul but had failed to get any
definite opinion from this latter. Augustine now writes to Jerome confessing his inability
to decide the question and asking for advice upon it. He begins by reciting-and
justifying-his own belief that the soul is immortal and incorporeal and that its fall into
sin is due not to God but to its own free choice. He then goes on to say that he is quite
ready to accept creationism as a solution of the difficulty if Jerome will shew him how
this theory is reconcilable with the church's condemnation of Pelagius and its assertion
of the doctrine of original sin. The damnation of unbaptized infants is assumed
throughout. The date of the letter is 415 a.d. Sometimes numbered as Augustine letter 166.

A Treatise on the Origin of the Human Soul, Addressed to Jerome.

1. Unto our God, who has called us unto His kingdom and glory, [1 Thessalonians 2:12] I
have prayed, and pray now, that what I write to you, holy brother Jerome, asking your
opinion in regard to things of which I am ignorant, may by His good pleasure be profitable
to us both. For although in addressing you I consult one much older than myself,
nevertheless I also am becoming old; but I cannot think that it is at anytime of life too
late to learn what we need to know, because, although it is more fitting that old men
should be teachers than learners, it is nevertheless more fitting for them to learn than
to continue ignorant of that which they should teach to others. I assure you that, amid
the many disadvantages which I have to submit to in studying very difficult questions,
there is none which grieves me more than the circumstance of separation from your Charity
by a distance so great that I can scarcely send a letter to you, and scarcely receive one
from you, even at intervals, not of days nor of months, but of several years; whereas my
desire would be, if it were possible, to have you daily beside me, as one with whom I
could converse on any theme. Nevertheless, although I have not been able to do all that I
wished, I am not the less bound to do all that I can.

2. Behold, a religious young man has come to me, by name Orosius, who is in the bond of
Catholic peace a brother, in point of age a son, and in honour a fellow presbyter — a man,
of quick understanding, ready speech, and burning zeal, desiring to be in the Lord's house
a vessel rendering useful service in refuting those false and pernicious doctrines,
through which the souls of men in Spain have suffered much more grievous wounds than have
been inflicted on their bodies by the sword of barbarians. For from the remote western
coast of Spain he has come with eager haste to us, having been prompted to do this by the
report that from me he could learn whatever he wished on the subjects on which he desired
information. Nor has his coming been altogether in vain. In the first place, he has
learned not to believe all that report affirmed of me: in the next place, I have taught
him all that I could, and, as for the things in which I could not teach him, I have told
him from whom he may learn them, and have exhorted him to go on to you. As he received
this counsel or rather injunction of mine with pleasure, and with intention to comply with
it, I asked him to visit us on his way home to his own country when he comes from you.

On receiving his promise to this effect, I believed that the Lord had granted me an
opportunity of writing to you regarding certain things which I wish through you to learn.
For I was seeking some one whom I might send to you, and it was not easy to fall in with
one qualified both by trustworthiness in performing and by alacrity in undertaking the
work, as well as by experience in travelling. Therefore, when I became acquainted with
this young man, I could not doubt that he was exactly such a person as I was asking from
the Lord. 3. Allow me, therefore, to bring before you a subject which I beseech you not to
refuse to open up and discuss with me. Many are perplexed by questions concerning the
soul, and I confess that I myself am of this number. I shall in this letter, in the first
place, state explicitly the things regarding the soul which I most assuredly believe, and
shall, in the next place, bring forward the things regarding which I am still desirous of
explanation. The soul of man is in a sense proper to itself immortal. It is not absolutely
immortal, as God is, of whom it is written that He "alone has immortality," [1 Timothy
6:16] for Holy Scripture makes mention of deaths to which the soul is liable — as in the
saying, "Let the dead bury their dead;" [Matthew 8:22] but because when alienated from the
life of God it so dies as not wholly to cease from living in its own nature, it is found
to be from a certain cause mortal, yet so as to be not without reason called at the same
time immortal.

The soul is not a part of God. For if it were, it would be absolutely immutable and
incorruptible, in which case it could neither go downward to be worse, nor go onward to be
better; nor could it either begin to have anything in itself which it had not before, or
cease to have anything which it had within the sphere of its own experience. But how
different the actual facts of the case are is a point requiring no evidence from without,
it is acknowledged by every one who consults his own consciousness. In vain, moreover, is
it pleaded by those who affirm that the soul is a part of God, that the corruption and
baseness which we see in the worst of men, and the weakness and blemishes which we see in
all men, come to it not from the soul itself, but from the body; for what matters it
whence the infirmity originates in that which, if it were indeed immutable, could not,
from any quarter whatever, be made infirm? For that which is truly immutable and
incorruptible is not liable to mutation or corruption by any influence whatever from
without, else the invulnerability which the fable ascribed to the flesh of Achilles would
be nothing peculiar to him, but the property of every man, so long as no accident befell
him. That which is liable to be changed in any manner, by any cause, or in any part
whatever, is therefore not by nature immutable; but it were impiety to think of God as
otherwise than truly and supremely immutable: therefore the soul is not a part of God.

4. That the soul is immaterial is a fact of which I avow myself to be fully persuaded,
although men of slow understanding are hard to be convinced that it is so. To secure
myself, however, from either unnecessarily causing to others or unreasonably bringing upon
myself a controversy about an expression, let me say that, since the thing itself is
beyond question, it is needless to contend about mere terms. If matter be used as a term
denoting everything which in any form has a separate existence, whether it be called an
essence, or a substance, or by another name, the soul is material. Again, if you choose to
apply the epithet immaterial only to that nature which is supremely immutable and is
everywhere present in its entirety, the soul is material, for it is not at all endowed
with such qualities. But if matter be used to designate nothing but that which, whether at
rest or in motion, has some length, breadth, and height, so that with a greater part of
itself it occupies a greater part of space, and with a smaller part a smaller space, and
is in every part of it less than the whole, then the soul is not material.

For it pervades the whole body which it animates, not by a local distribution of parts,
but by a certain vital influence, being at the same moment present in its entirety in all
parts of the body, and not less in smaller parts and greater in larger parts, but here
with more energy and there with less energy, it is in its entirety present both in the
whole body and in every part of it. For even that which the mind perceives in only a part
of the body is nevertheless not otherwise perceived than by the whole mind; for when any
part of the living flesh is touched by a fine pointed instrument, although the place
affected is not only not the whole body, but scarcely discernible in its surface, the
contact does not escape the entire mind, and yet the contact is felt not over the whole
body, but only at the one point where it takes place. How comes it, then, that what takes
place in only a part of the body is immediately known to the whole mind, unless the whole
mind is present at that part, and at the same time not deserting all the other parts of
the body in order to be present in its entirety at this one? For all the other parts of
the body in which no such contact takes place are still living by the soul being present
with them.

And if a similar contact takes place in the other parts, and the contact occur in both
parts simultaneously, it would in both cases alike be known at the same moment, to the
whole mind. Now this presence of the mind in all parts of the body at the same moment, so
that in every part of the body the whole mind is at the same moment present, would be
impossible if it were distributed over these parts in the same way as we see matter
distributed in space, occupying less space with a smaller portion of itself, and greater
space with a greater portion. If, therefore, mind is to be called material, it is not
material in the same sense as earth, water, air, and ether are material. For all things
composed of these elements are larger in larger places, or smaller in smaller places, and
none of them is in its entirety present at any part of itself, but the dimensions of the
material substances are according to the dimensions of the space occupied. Whence it is
perceived that the soul, whether it be termed material or immaterial, has a certain nature
of its own, created from a substance superior to the elements of this world — a substance
which cannot be truly conceived of by any representation of the material images perceived
by the bodily senses, but which is apprehended by the understanding and discovered to our
consciousness by its living energy.

These things I am stating, not with the view of teaching you what you already know, but in
order that I may declare explicitly what I hold as indisputably certain concerning the
soul, lest any one should think, when I come to state the questions to which I desire
answers, that I hold none of the doctrines which we have learned from science or from
revelation concerning the soul. 5. I am, moreover, fully persuaded that the soul has
fallen into sin, not through the fault of God, nor through any necessity either in the
divine nature or in its own, but by its own free will; and that it can be delivered from
the body of this death neither by the strength of its own will, as if that were in itself
sufficient to achieve this, nor by the death of the body itself, but only by the grace of
God through our Lord Jesus Christ; [Romans 7:24-25] and that there is not one soul in the
human family to whose salvation the one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus, is not absolutely necessary. Every soul, moreover, which may at any age whatsoever
depart from this life without the grace of the Mediator and the sacrament of this grace,
departs to future punishment, and shall receive again its own body at the last judgment as
a partner in punishment. But if the soul after its natural generation, which was derived
from Adam, be regenerated in Christ, it belongs to His fellowship, and shall not only have
rest after the death of the body, but also receive again its own body as a partner in
glory. These are truths concerning the soul which I hold most firmly.

6. Permit me now, therefore, to bring before you the question which I desire to have
solved, and do not reject me; so may He not reject you who condescended to be rejected for
our sakes! I ask where can the soul, even of an infant snatched away by death, have
contracted the guilt which, unless the grace of Christ has come to the rescue by that
sacrament of baptism which is administered even to infants, involves it in condemnation? I
know you are not one of those who have begun of late to utter certain new and absurd
opinions, alleging that there is no guilt derived from Adam which is removed by baptism in
the case of infants. If I knew that you held this view, or, rather, if I did not know that
you reject it, I would certainly neither address this question to you, nor think that it
ought to be put to you at all. Since, however, we hold on this subject the opinion
consonant with the immoveable Catholic faith, which you have yourself expressed when,
refuting the absurd sayings of Jovinian, you have quoted this sentence from the book of
Job: "In your sight, no one is clean, not even the infant, whose time of life on earth is
a single day," adding, "for we are held guilty in the similitude of Adam's transgression,"
— an opinion which your book on Jonah's prophecy declares in a notable and lucid manner,
where you affirm that the little children of Nineveh were justly compelled to fast along
with the people, because merely of their original sin, — it is not unsuitable that I
should address to you the question — where has the soul contracted the guilt from which,
even at that age, it must be delivered by the sacrament of Christian grace?

7. Some years ago, when I wrote certain books concerning Free Will, which have gone forth
into the hands of many, and are now in the possession of very many readers, after
referring to these four opinions as to the manner of the soul's incarnation —(1) that all
other souls are derived from the one which was given to the first man; (2) that for each
individual a new soul is made; (3) that souls already in existence somewhere are sent by
divine act into the bodies; or (4) glide into them of their own accord, I thought that it
was necessary to treat them in such a way that, whichever of them might be true, the
decision should not hinder the object which I had in view when contending with all my
might against those who attempt to lay upon God the blame of a nature endowed with its own
principle of evil, namely, the Manichæans; for at that time I had not heard of the
Priscillianists, who utter blasphemies not very dissimilar to these.

As to the fifth opinion, namely, that the soul is a part of God — an opinion which, in
order to omit none, you have mentioned along with the rest in your letter to Marcellinus
(a man of pious memory and very dear to us in the grace of Christ), who had consulted you
on this question, — I did not add it to the others for two reasons, first — because, in
examining this opinion, we discuss not the incarnation of the soul, but its nature;
secondly, because this is the view held by those against whom I was arguing, and the main
design of my argument was to prove that the blameless and inviolable nature of the Creator
has nothing to do with the faults and blemishes of the creature, while they, on their
part, maintained that the substance of the good God itself is, in so far as it is led
captive, corrupted and oppressed and brought under a necessity of sinning by the substance
of evil, to which they ascribe a proper dominion and principalities. Leaving, therefore,
out of the question this heretical error, I desire to know which of the other four
opinions we ought to choose. For whichever of them may justly claim our preference, far be
it from us to assail this article of faith, about which we have no uncertainty, that every
soul, even the soul of an infant, requires to be delivered from the binding guilt of sin,
and that there is no deliverance except through Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

8. To avoid prolixity, therefore, let me refer to the opinion which you, I believe,
entertain, viz. that God even now makes each soul for each individual at the time of
birth. To meet the objection to this view which might be taken from the fact that God
finished the whole work of creation on the sixth day and rested on the seventh day, you
quote the testimony of the words in the gospel, "My Father works hitherto, and I work."
[John 5:17] This you have written in your letter to Marcellinus, in which letter,
moreover, you have most kindly condescended to mention my name, saying that he had me here
in Africa, who could more easily explain to him the opinion held by you. But had I been
able to do this, he would not have applied for instruction to you, who were so remote from
him, though perhaps he did not write from Africa to you. For I know not when he wrote it;
I only know that he knew well my hesitation to embrace any definite view on this subject,
for which reason he preferred to write to you without consulting me. Yet, even if he had
consulted me, I would rather have encouraged him to write to you, and would have expressed
my gratitude for the benefit which might have been conferred on us all, had you not
preferred to send a brief note, instead of a full reply, doing this, I suppose, to save
yourself from unnecessary expenditure of effort in a place where I, whom you supposed to
be thoroughly acquainted with the subject of his inquiries, was at hand. Behold, I am
willing that the opinion which you hold should be also mine; but I assure you that as yet
I have not embraced it.

9. You have sent to me scholars, to whom you wish me to impart what I have not yet learned
myself. Teach me, therefore, what I am to teach them; for many urge me vehemently to be a
teacher on this subject, and to them I confess that of this, as well as of many other
things, I am ignorant, and perhaps, though they maintain a respectful demeanour in my
presence, they say among themselves: "Are you a master in Israel, and know not these
things?" [John 3:10] a rebuke which the Lord gave to one who belonged to the class of men
who delighted in being called Rabbi; which was also the reason of his coming by night to
the true Teacher, because perchance he, who had been accustomed to teach, blushed to take
the learner's place. But, for my own part, it gives me much more pleasure to hear
instruction from another, than to be myself listened to as a teacher. For I remember what
He said to those whom, above all men, He had chosen: "But be not ye called Rabbi, for one
is your master, even Christ." [Matthew 23:8] Nor was it any other teacher who taught Moses
by Jethro, [Exodus 18:14-25] Cornelius by Peter the earlier apostle, [Acts 10:25-48] and
Peter himself by Paul the later apostle; [Galatians 2:11-21] for by whomsoever truth is
spoken, it is spoken by the gift of Him who is the Truth. What if the reason of our still
being ignorant of these things, and of our having failed to discover them, even after
praying, reading, thinking, and reasoning, be this: that full proof may be made not only
of the love with which we give instruction to the ignorant, but also of the humility with
which we receive instruction from the learned?

10. Teach me, therefore, I beseech you, what I may teach to others; teach me what I ought
to hold as my own opinion; and tell me this: if souls are from day to day made for each
individual separately at birth, where, in the case of infant children, is sin committed by
these souls, so that they require the remission of sin in the sacrament of Christ, because
of sinning in Adam from whom the sinful flesh has been derived? Or if they do not sin, how
is it compatible with the justice of the Creator, that, because of their being united to
mortal members derived from another, they are so brought under the bond of the sin of that
other, that unless they be rescued by the Church, perdition overtakes them, although it is
not in their own power to secure that they be rescued by the grace of baptism? Where,
therefore, is the justice of the condemnation of so many thousands of souls, which in the
deaths of infant children leave this world without the benefit of the Christian sacrament,
if being newly created they have, not through any preceding sin of their own, but by the
will of the Creator, become severally united to the individual bodies to animate which
they were created and bestowed by Him, who certainly knew that every one of them was
destined, not through any fault of its own, to leave the body without receiving the
baptism of Christ?

Seeing, therefore, that we may not say concerning God either that He compels them to
become sinners, or that He punishes innocent souls and seeing that, on the other hand, it
is not lawful for us to deny that nothing else than perdition is the doom of the souls,
even of little children, which have departed from the body without the sacrament of
Christ, tell me, I implore you, where anything can be found to support the opinion that
souls are not all derived from that one soul of the first man, but are each created
separately for each individual, as Adam's soul was made for him. 11. As for some other
objections which are advanced against this opinion, I think that I could easily dispose of
them. For example, some think that they urge a conclusive argument against this opinion
when they ask, how God finished all His works on the sixth day and rested on the seventh
day, [Genesis 2:2] if He is still creating new souls. If we meet them with the quotation
from the gospel (given by you in the letter to Marcellinus already mentioned), "My Father
works hitherto," they answer that He "works" in maintaining those natures which He has
created, not in creating new natures; otherwise, this statement would contradict the words
of Scripture in Genesis, where it is most plainly declared that God finished all His
works. Moreover, the words of Scripture, that He rested, are unquestionably to be
understood of His resting from creating new creatures, not from governing those which He
had created; for at that time He made things which previously did not exist, and from
making these He rested because He had finished all the creatures which before they existed
He saw necessary to be created, so that thenceforward He did not create and make things
which previously did not exist, but made and fashioned out of things already existing
whatever He did make. Thus the statements, "He rested from His works," and, "He works
hitherto," are both true, for the gospel could not contradict Genesis.

12. When, however, these things are brought forward by persons who advance them as
conclusive against the opinion that God now creates new souls as He created the soul of
the first man, and who hold either that He forms them from that one soul which existed
before He rested from creation, or that He now sends them forth into bodies from some
reservoir or storehouse of souls which He then created, it is easy to turn aside their
argument by answering, that even in the six days God formed many things out of those
natures which He had already created, as, for example, the birds and fishes were formed
from the waters, and the trees, the grass, and the animals from the earth, and yet it is
undeniable that He was then making things which did not exist before. For there existed
previously no bird, no fish, no tree, no animal, and it is clearly understood that He
rested from creating those things which previously were not, and were then created, that
is to say, He ceased in this sense, that, after that, nothing was made by Him which did
not already exist.

But if, rejecting the opinions of all who believe either that God sends forth into men
souls existing already in some incomprehensible reservoir, or that He makes souls emanate
like drops of dew from Himself as particles of His own substance, or that He brings them
forth from that one soul of the first man, or that He binds them in the fetters of the
bodily members because of sins committed in a prior state of existence, if, I say,
rejecting these, we affirm that for each individual He creates separately a new soul when
he is born, we do not herein affirm that He makes anything which he had not already made.
For He had already made man after His own image on the sixth day; and this work of His is
unquestionably to be understood with reference to the rational soul of man. The same work
He still does, not in creating what did not exist, but in multiplying what already
existed. Wherefore it is true, on the one hand, that He rested from creating things which
previously did not exist, and equally true, on the other hand, that He continues still to
work, not only in governing what He has made, but also in making (not anything which did
not previously exist, but) a larger number of those creatures which He had already made.

Wherefore, either by such an explanation, or by any other which may seem better, we escape
from the objection advanced by those who would make the fact that God rested from His
works a conclusive argument against our believing that new souls are still being daily
created, not from the first soul, but in the same manner as it was made. 13. Again, as for
another objection, stated in the question, "Wherefore does He create souls for those whom
He knows to be destined to an early death? we may reply, that by the death of the children
the sins of the parents are either reproved or chastised. We may, moreover, with all
propriety, leave these things to the disposal of the Lord of all, for we know that he
appoints to the succession of events in time, and therefore to the births and deaths of
living creatures as included in these, a course which is consummate in beauty and perfect
in the arrangement of all its parts; whereas we are not capable of perceiving those things
by the perception of which, if it were attainable, we should be soothed with an ineffable,
tranquil joy. For not in vain has the prophet, taught by divine inspiration, declared
concerning God, "He brings forth in measured harmonies the course of time. For which
reason music, the science or capacity of correct harmony, has been given also by the
kindness of God to mortals having reasonable souls, with a view to keep them in mind of
this great truth.

For if a man, when composing a song which is to suit a particular melody, knows how to
distribute the length of time allowed to each word so as to make the song flow and pass on
in most beautiful adaptation to the ever-changing notes of the melody, how much more shall
God, whose wisdom is to be esteemed as infinitely transcending human arts, make infallible
provision that not one of the spaces of time alloted to natures that are born and die —
spaces which are like the words and syllables of the successive epochs of the course of
time — shall have, in what we may call the sublime psalm of the vicissitudes of this
world, a duration either more brief or more protracted than the foreknown and
predetermined harmony requires! For when I may speak thus with reference even to the
leaves of every tree, and the number of the hairs upon our heads, how much more may I say
it regarding the birth and death of men, seeing that every man's life on earth continues
for a time, which is neither longer nor shorter than God knows to be in harmony with the
plan according to which He rules the universe.

14. As to the assertion that everything which has begun to exist in time is incapable of
immortality, because all things which are born die, and all things which have grown decay
through age, and the opinion which they affirm to follow necessarily from this, viz. that
the soul of man must owe its immortality to its having been created before time began,
this does not disturb my faith; for, passing over other examples, which conclusively
dispose of this assertion, I need only refer to the body of Christ, which now "dies no
more; death shall have no more dominion over it." [Romans 6:9] 15. Moreover, as to your
remark in your book against Ruffinus, that some bring forward as against this opinion that
souls are created for each individual separately at birth the objection that it seems
worthy of God that He should give souls to the offspring of adulterers, and who
accordingly attempt to build on this a theory that souls may possibly be incarcerated, as
it were, in such bodies, to suffer for the deeds of a life spent in some prior state of
being, — this objection does not disturb me, as many things by which it may be answered
occur to me when I consider it. The answer which you yourself have given, saying, that in
the case of stolen wheat, there is no fault in the grain, but only in him who stole it,
and that the earth is not under obligation to refuse to cherish the seed because the sower
may have cast it in with a hand defiled by dishonesty, is a most felicitous illustration.
But even before I had read it, I felt that to me the objection drawn from the offspring of
adulterers caused no serious difficulty when I took a general view of the fact that God
brings many good things to light, even out of our evils and our sins. Now, the creation of
any living creature compels every one who considers it with piety and wisdom to give to
the Creator praise which words cannot express;

and if this praise is called forth by the creation of any living creature whatsoever, how
much more is it called forth by the creation of a man! If, therefore, the cause of any act
of creative power be sought for, no shorter or better reply can be given than that every
creature of God is good. And [so far from such an act being unworthy of God] what is more
worthy of Him than that He, being good, should make those good things which, no one else
than God alone can make? 16. These things, and others which I can advance, I am accustomed
to state, as well as I can, against those who attempt to overthrow by such objections the
opinion that souls are made for each individual, as the first man's soul was made for him.
But when we come to the penal sufferings of infants, I am embarrassed, believe me, by
great difficulties, and am wholly at a loss to find an answer by which they are solved;
and I speak here not only of those punishments in the life to come, which are involved in
that perdition to which they must be drawn down if they depart from the body without the
sacrament of Christian grace, but also of the sufferings which are to our sorrow endured
by them before our eyes in this present life, and which are so various, that time rather
than examples would fail me if I were to attempt to enumerate them. They are liable to
wasting disease, to racking pain, to the agonies of thirst and hunger, to feebleness of
limbs, to privation of bodily senses, and to vexing assaults of unclean spirits. Surely it
is incumbent on us to show how it is compatible with justice that infants suffer all these
things without any evil of their own as the procuring cause. For it would be impious to
say, either that these things take place without God's knowledge, or that He cannot resist
those who cause them, or that He unrighteously does these things, or permits them to be
done.

We are warranted in saying that irrational animals are given by God to serve creatures
possessing a higher nature, even though they be wicked, as we see most plainly in the
gospel that the swine of the Gadarenes were given to the legion of devils at their
request; but could we ever be warranted in saying this of men? Certainly not. Man is,
indeed, an animal, but an animal endowed with reason, though mortal. In his members dwells
a reasonable soul, which in these severe afflictions is enduring a penalty. Now God is
good, God is just, God is omnipotent— none but a madman would doubt that he is so; let the
great sufferings, therefore, which infant children experience be accounted for by some
reason compatible with justice. When older people suffer such trials, we are accustomed,
certainly, to say, either that their worth is being proved, as in Job's case, or that
their wickedness is being punished, as in Herod's; and from some examples, which it has
pleased God to make perfectly clear, men are enabled to conjecture the nature of others
which are more obscure; but this is in regard to persons of mature age. Tell me,
therefore, what we must answer in regard to infant children; is it true that, although
they suffer so great punishments, there are no sins in them deserving to be punished? For,
of course, there is not in them at that age any righteousness requiring to be put to the
proof.

17. What shall I say, moreover, as to the [difficulty which besets the theory of the
creation of each soul separately at the birth of the individual in connection with the]
diversity of talent in different souls, and especially the absolute privation of reason in
some? This is, indeed, not apparent in the first stages of infancy, but being developed
continuously from the beginning of life, it becomes manifest in children, of whom some are
so slow and defective in memory that they cannot learn even the letters of the alphabet,
and some (commonly called idiots) so imbecile that they differ very little from the beasts
of the field. Perhaps I am told, in answer to this, that the bodies are the cause of these
imperfections. But surely the opinion which we wish to see vindicated from objection does
not require us to affirm that the soul chose for itself the body which so impairs it, and,
being deceived in the choice, committed a blunder; or that the soul, when it was
compelled, as a necessary consequence of being born, to enter into some body, was hindered
from finding another by crowds of souls occupying the other bodies before it came, so
that, like a man who takes whatever seat may remain vacant for him in a theatre, the soul
was guided in taking possession of the imperfect body not by its choice, but by its
circumstances. We, of course, cannot say and ought not to believe such things. Tell us,
therefore, what we ought to believe and to say in order to vindicate from this difficulty
the theory that for each individual body a new soul is specially created.

18. In my books on Free Will, already referred to, I have said something, not in regard to
the variety of capacities in different souls, but, at least, in regard to the pains which
infant children suffer in this life. The nature of the opinion which I there expressed,
and the reason why it is insufficient for the purposes of our present inquiry, I will now
submit to you, and will put into this letter a copy of the passage in the third book to
which I refer. It is as follows:— "In connection with the bodily sufferings experienced by
the little children who, by reason of their tender age, have no sins— if the souls which
animate them did not exist before they were born into the human family— a more grievous
and, as it were, compassionate complaint is very commonly made in the remark, 'What evil
have they done that they should suffer these things?' as if there could be a meritorious
innocence in any one before the time at which it is possible for him to do anything wrong!

Moreover, if God accomplishes, in any measure, the correction of the parents when they are
chastised by the sufferings or by the death of the children that are dear to them, is
there any reason why these things should not take place, seeing that, after they are
passed, they will be, to those who experienced them, as if they had never been, while the
persons on whose account they were inflicted will either become better, being moved by the
rod of temporal afflictions to choose a better mode of life, or be left without excuse
under the punishment awarded at the coming judgment, if, notwithstanding the sorrows of
this life, they have refused to turn their desires towards eternal life? Morever, who
knows what may be given to the little children by means of whose sufferings the parents
have their obdurate hearts subdued, or their faith exercised, or their compassion proved?
Who knows what good recompense God may, in the secret of his judgments, reserve for these
little ones? For although they have done no righteous action, nevertheless, being free
from any transgression of their own, they have suffered these trials. It is certainly not
without reason that the Church exalts to the honourable rank of martyrs those children who
were slain when Herod sought our Lord Jesus Christ to put Him to death."

19. These things I wrote at that time when I was endeavouring to defend the opinion which
is now under discussion. For, as I mentioned shortly before, I was labouring to prove that
whichever of these four opinions regarding the soul's incarnation may be found true, the
substance of the Creator is absolutely free from blame, and is completely removed from all
share in our sins. And, therefore, whichever of these opinions might come to be
established or demolished by the truth, this had no bearing on the object aimed at in the
work which I was then attempting, seeing that whichever opinion might win the victory over
all the rest, after they had been examined in a more thorough discussion, this would take
place without causing me any disquietude, because my object then was to prove that, even
admitting all these opinions, the doctrine maintained by me remained unshaken. But now my
object is, by the force of sound reasoning, to select, if possible, one opinion out of the
four; and, therefore, when I carefully consider the words now quoted from that book, I do
not see that the arguments there used in defending the opinion which we are now discussing
are valid and conclusive.

20. For what may be called the chief prop of my defense is in the sentence, "Moreover, who
knows what may be given to the little children, by means of whose sufferings the parents
have their obdurate hearts subdued, or their faith exercised, or their compassion proved?
Who knows what good recompense God may, in the secret of His judgments, reserve for these
little ones?" I see that this is not an unwarranted conjecture in the case of infants who,
in any way, suffer (though they know it not) for the sake of Christ and in the cause of
true religion, and of infants who have already been made partakers of the sacrament of
Christ; because, apart from union to the one Mediator, they cannot be delivered from
condemnation, and so put in a position in which it is even possible that a recompense
could be made to them for the evils which, in diverse afflictions, they have endured in
this world. But since the question cannot be fully solved, unless the answer include also
the case of those who, without having received the sacrament of Christian fellowship, die
in infancy after enduring the most painful sufferings, what recompense can be conceived of
in their case, seeing that, besides all that they suffer in this life, perdition awaits
them in the life to come? As to the baptism of infants, I have, in the same book, given an
answer, not, indeed, fully, but so far as seemed necessary for the work which then
occupied me, proving that it profits children, even though they do not know what it is,
and have, as yet, no faith of their own; but on the subject of the perdition of those
infants who depart from this life without baptism, I did not think it necessary to say
anything then, because the question under discussion was different from that with which we
are now engaged.

21. If, however, we pass over and make no account of those sufferings which are of brief
continuance, and which, when endured, are not to be repeated, we certainly cannot, in like
manner, make no account of the fact that "by one man death came, and by one man came also
the resurrection of the dead; for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive. [1 Corinthians 15:21-22] For, according to this apostolic, divine, and perspicuous
declaration, it is sufficiently plain that no one goes to death otherwise than through
Adam, and that no one goes to life eternal otherwise than through Christ. For this is the
force of all in the two parts of the sentence; as all men, by their first, that is, their
natural birth, belong to Adam, even so all men, whoever they be, who come to Christ come
to the second, that is, the spiritual birth. For this reason, therefore, the word all is
used in both clauses, because as all who die do not die otherwise than in Adam, so all who
shall be made alive shall not be made alive otherwise than in Christ. Wherefore whosoever
tells us that any man can be made alive in the resurrection of the dead otherwise than in
Christ, he is to be detested as a pestilent enemy to the common faith.

Likewise, whosoever says that those children who depart out of this life without partaking
of that sacrament shall be made alive in Christ, certainly contradicts the apostolic
declaration, and condemns the universal Church, in which it is the practice to lose no
time and run in haste to administer baptism to infant children, because it is believed, as
an indubitable truth, that otherwise they cannot be made alive in Christ. Now he that is
not made alive in Christ must necessarily remain under the condemnation, of which the
apostle says, that "by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation.
[Romans 5:18] That infants are born under the guilt of this offense is believed by the
whole Church. It is also a doctrine which you have most faithfully set forth, both in your
treatise against Jovinian and your exposition of Jonah, as I mentioned above, and, if I am
not mistaken, in other parts of your works which I have not read or have at present
forgotten. I therefore ask, what is the ground of this condemnation of unbaptized infants?
For if new souls are made for men, individually, at their birth, I do not see, on the one
hand, that they could have any sin while yet in infancy, nor do I believe, on the other
hand, that God condemns any soul which He sees to have no sin.

22. Are we perchance to say, in answer to this, that in the infant the body alone is the
cause of sin; but that for each body a new soul is made, and that if this soul live
according to the precepts of God, by the help of the grace of Christ, the reward of being
made incorruptible may be secured for the body itself, when subdued and kept under the
yoke; and that inasmuch as the soul of an infant cannot yet do this, unless it receive the
sacrament of Christ, that which could not yet be obtained for the body by the holiness of
the soul is obtained for it by the grace of this sacrament; but if the soul of an infant
depart without the sacrament, it shall itself dwell in life eternal, from which it could
not be separated, as it had no sin, while, however, the body which it occupied shall not
rise again in Christ, because the sacrament had not been received before its death?

23. This opinion I have never heard or read anywhere. I have, however, certainly heard and
believed the statement which led me to speak thus, namely, "The hour is coming, in the
which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that
have done good, unto the resurrection of life,"— the resurrection, namely, of which it is
said that "by one man came the resurrection of the dead," and in which "all shall be made
alive in Christ,"— "and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
[John 5:29] Now, what is to be understood regarding infants which, before they could do
good or evil, have quitted the body without baptism? Nothing is said here concerning them.
But if the bodies of these infants shall not rise again, because they have never done
either good or evil, the bodies of the infants that have died after receiving the grace of
baptism shall also have no resurrection, because they also were not in this life able to
do good or evil. If, however, these are to rise among the saints, i.e. among those who
have done good, among whom shall the others rise again but among those who have done evil—
unless we are to believe that some human souls shall not receive, either in the
resurrection of life, or in the resurrection of damnation, the bodies which they lost in
death? This opinion, however, is condemned, even before it is formally refuted, by its
absolute novelty;

and besides this, who could bear to think that those who run with their infant children to
have them baptized, are prompted to do so by a regard for their bodies, not for their
souls? The blessed Cyprian, indeed, said, in order to correct those who thought that an
infant should not be baptized before the eighth day, that it was not the body but the soul
which behooved to be saved from perdition — in which statement he was not inventing any
new doctrine, but preserving the firmly established faith of the Church; and he, along
with some of his colleagues in the episcopal office, held that a child may be properly
baptized immediately after its birth. 24. Let every man, however, believe anything which
commends itself to his own judgment, even though it run counter to some opinion of
Cyprian, who may not have seen in the matter what should have been seen. But let no man
believe anything which runs counter to the perfectly unambiguous apostolic declaration,
that by the offense of one all are brought into condemnation, and that from this
condemnation nothing sets men free but the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, in
whom alone life is given to all who are made alive. And let no man believe anything which
runs counter to the firmly grounded practice of the Church, in which, if the sole reason
for hastening the administration of baptism were to save the children, the dead as well as
the living would be brought to be baptized. 25. These things being so, it is necessary
still to investigate and to make known the reason why, if souls are created new for every
individual at his birth, those who die in infancy without the sacrament of Christ are
doomed to perdition; for that they are doomed to this if they so depart from the body is
testified both by Holy Scripture and by the holy Church. Wherefore, as to that opinion of
yours concerning the creation of new souls, if it does not contradict this firmly grounded
article of faith, let it be mine also; but if it does, let it be no longer yours.

26. Let it not be said to me that we ought to receive as supporting this opinion the words
of Scripture in Zechariah, "He forms the spirit of man within him," [Zechariah 12:1] and
in the book of Psalms, "He forms their hearts severally. We must seek for the strongest
and most indisputable proof, that we may not be compelled to believe that God is a judge
who condemns any soul which has no fault. For to create signifies either as much or,
probably, more than to form [fingere]; nevertheless it is written, "Create in me a clean
heart, O God," and yet it cannot be supposed that a soul here expresses a desire to be
made before it has begun to exist. Therefore, as it is a soul already existing which is
created by being renewed in righteousness, so it is a soul already existing which is
formed by the moulding power of doctrine. Nor is your opinion, which I would willingly
make my own, supported by that sentence in Ecclesiastes, "Then shall the dust return to
the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return to God who gave it. [Ecclesiastes 12:7]
Nay, it rather favours those who think that all souls are derived from one;

for they say that, as the dust returns to the earth as it was, and yet the body of which
this is said returns not to the man from whom it was derived, but to the earth from which
the first man was made, the spirit in like manner, though derived from the spirit of the
first man, does not return to him but to the Lord, by whom it was given to our first
parent. Since, however, the testimony of this passage in their favour is not so decisive
as to make it appear altogether opposed to the opinion which I shall gladly see
vindicated, I thought proper to submit these remarks on it to your judgment, to prevent
you from endeavouring to deliver me from my perplexities by quoting passages such as
these. For although no man's wishes can make that true which is not true, nevertheless,
were this possible, I would wish that this opinion should be true, as I do wish that, if
it is true, it should be most clearly and unanswerably vindicated by you.

27. The same difficulty attends those also who hold that souls already existing elsewhere,
and prepared from the beginning of the works of God, are sent by Him into bodies. For to
these persons also the same question may be put: If these souls, being without any fault,
go obediently to the bodies to which they are sent, why are they subjected to punishment
in the case of infants, if they come without being baptized to the end of this life? The
same difficulty unquestionably attaches to both opinions. Those who affirm that each soul
is, according to the deserts of its actions in an earlier state of being, united to the
body alloted to it in this life, imagine that they escape more easily from this
difficulty. For they think that to "die in Adam" means to suffer punishment in that flesh
which is derived from Adam, from which condition of guilt the grace of Christ, they say,
delivers the young as well as the old. So far, indeed, they teach what is right, and true,
and excellent, when they say that the grace of Christ delivers the young as well as the
old from the guilt of sins. But that souls sin in another earlier life, and that for their
sins in that state of being they are cast down into bodies as prisons, I do not believe: I
reject and protest against such an opinion.

I do this, in the first place, because they affirm that this is accomplished by means of
some incomprehensible revolutions, so that after I know not how many cycles the soul must
return again to the same burden of corruptible flesh and to the endurance of punishment —
than which opinion I do not know that anything more horrible could be conceived. In the
next place, who is the righteous man gone from the earth about whom we should not (if what
they say is true) feel afraid lest, sinning in Abraham's bosom, he should be cast down
into the flames which tormented the rich man in the parable? [Luke 16:22-23] For why may
the soul not sin after leaving the body, if it can sin before entering it? Finally, to
have sinned in Adam (in regard to which the apostle says that in him all have sinned) is
one thing, but it is a wholly different thing to have sinned, I know not where, outside of
Adam, and then because of this to be thrust into Adam — that is, into the body, which is
derived from Adam, as into a prison-house. As to the other opinion mentioned above, that
all souls are derived from one, I will not begin to discuss it unless I am under necessity
to do so; and my desire is, that if the opinion which we are now discussing is true, it
may be so vindicated by you that there shall be no longer any necessity for examining the
other.

28. Although, however, I desire and ask, and with fervent prayers wish and hope, that by
you the Lord may remove my ignorance on this subject, if, after all, I am found unworthy
to obtain this, I will beg the grace of patience from the Lord our God, in whom we have
such faith, that even if there be some things which He does not open to us when we knock,
we know it would be wrong to murmur in the least against Him. I remember what He said to
the apostles themselves: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them
now." [John 16:12] Among these things, so far at least as I am concerned, let me still
reckon this, and let me guard against being angry that I am deemed unworthy to possess
this knowledge, lest by such anger I be all the more clearly proved to be unworthy. I am
equally ignorant of many other things, yea, of more than I could name or even number; and
of this I would be more patiently ignorant, were it not that I fear lest some one of these
opinions, involving the contradiction of truth which we most assuredly believe, should
insinuate itself into the minds of the unwary. Meanwhile, though I do not yet know which
of these opinions is to be preferred, this one thing I profess as my deliberate
conviction, that the opinion which is true does not conflict with that most firm and well
grounded article in the faith of the Church of Christ, that infant children, even when
they are newly born, can be delivered from perdition in no other way than through the
grace of Christ's name, which He has given in His sacraments.

LETTER 132. FROM AUGUSTINE.

In this letter Augustine deals with the statement of James 2:10 ("whosoever shall keep the
whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all") and explains it by saying
that every breach of the law is a breach of love. He also takes occasion to criticise two
doctrines of the schools then prevalent, (2) that all sins are equal and (2) that he who
has one virtue has all and that all virtues are wanting to him who lacks one. The date of
the letter is 415 a.d. Sometimes numbered as Augustine letter 167. 1. My brother Jerome,
esteemed worthy to be honoured in Christ by me, when I wrote to you propounding this
question concerning the human soul — if a new soul be now created for each individual at
birth, whence do souls contract the bond of guilt which we assuredly believe to be removed
by the sacrament of the grace of Christ, when administered even to new-born children?— as
the letter on that subject grew to the size of a considerable volume, I was unwilling to
impose the burden of any other question at that time; but there is a subject which has a
much stronger claim on my attention, as it presses more seriously on my mind. I therefore
ask you, and in God's name beseech you, to do something which will, I believe, be of great
service to many, namely, to explain to me (or to direct me to any work in which you or any
other commentator has already expounded) the sense in which we are to understand these
words in the Epistle of James, "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one
point, he is guilty of all." [James 2:10] This subject is of such importance that I very
greatly regret that I did not write to you in regard to it long ago.

2. For whereas in the question which I thought it necessary to submit to you concerning
the soul, our inquiries were engaged with the investigation of a life wholly past and sunk
out of sight in oblivion, in this question we study this present life, and how it must be
spent if we would attain to eternal life. As an apt illustration of this remark let me
quote an entertaining anecdote. A man had fallen into a well where the quantity of water
was sufficient to break his fall and save him from death, but not deep enough to cover his
mouth and deprive him of speech. Another man approached, and on seeing him cries out in
surprise: "How did you fall in here? He answers: "I beseech you to plan how you can get me
out of this, rather than ask how I fell in. So, since we admit and hold as an article of
the Catholic faith, that the soul of even a little infant requires to be delivered out of
the guilt of sin, as out of a pit, by the grace of Christ, it is sufficient for the soul
of such a one that we know the way in which it is saved, even though we should never know
the way in which it came into that wretched condition.

But I thought it our duty to inquire into this subject, lest we should incautiously hold
any one of those opinions concerning the manner of the soul's becoming united with the
body which might contradict the doctrine that the souls of little children require to be
delivered, by denying that they are subject to the bond of guilt. This, then, being very
firmly held by us, that the soul of every infant needs to be freed from the guilt of sin,
and can be freed in no other way except by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord,
if we can ascertain the cause and origin of the evil itself, we are better prepared and
equipped for resisting adversaries whose empty talk I call not reasoning but quibbling;
if, however, we cannot ascertain the cause, the fact that the origin of this misery is hid
from us is no reason for our being slothful in the work which compassion demands from us.
In our conflict, however, with those who appear to themselves to know what they do not
know, we have an additional strength and safety in not being ignorant of our ignorance on
this subject. For there are some things which it is evil not to know; there are other
things which cannot be known, or are not necessary to be known, or have no bearing on the
life which we seek to obtain;

but the question which I now submit to you from the writings of the Apostle James is
intimately connected with the course of conduct in which we live, and in which, with a
view to life eternal, we endeavour to please God. 3. How, then, I beseech you, are we to
understand the words: "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he
is guilty of all"? Does this affirm that the person who shall have committed theft, nay,
who even shall have said to the rich man, "Sit here" and to the poor man, "Stand there,"
is guilty of homicide, and adultery, and sacrilege? And if he is not so, how can it be
said that a person who has offended in one point has become guilty of all? Or are the
things which the apostle said concerning the rich man and the poor man not to be reckoned
among those things in one of which if any man offend he becomes guilty of all? But we must
remember whence that sentence is taken, and what goes before it, and in what connection it
occurs. "My brethren," he says, "have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of
Glory, with respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold
ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and you have
respect to him that wears the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit here in a good place;
and say to the poor, Stand there, or sit here under my footstool; are you not then partial
in yourselves, and have become judges of evil thoughts?

Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith,
and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to them that love Him? But you have
despised the poor," [James 2:1-6] — inasmuch as you have said to the poor man, "Stand
there," when you would have said to a man with a gold ring, "Sit here in a good place. And
then there follows a passage explaining and enlarging upon that same conclusion: "Do not
rich men oppress you by their power, and draw you before the judgment-seats? Do not they
blaspheme that worthy name by the which you are called? If you fulfil the royal law
according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbour as yourself, you do well: but if
you have respect to persons, you commit sin, and are convinced of the law as
transgressors. [James 2:6-9] See how the apostle calls those transgressors of the law who
say to the rich man, "Sit here," and to the poor, "Stand there. See how, lest they should
think it a trifling sin to transgress the law in this one thing, he goes on to add:
"Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For
He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if you do not kill, yet,
if you commit adultery, you have become a transgressor of the law," according to that
which he had said: "You are convinced of the law as transgressors.

Since these things are so, it seems to follow, unless it can be shown that we are to
understand it in some other way, that he who says to the rich man, "Sit here," and to the
poor, "Stand there," not treating the one with the same respect as the other, is to be
judged guilty as an idolater, and a blasphemer, and an adulterer, and a murderer — in
short — not to enumerate all, which would be tedious — as guilty of all crimes, since,
offending in one, he is guilty of all. 4. But has he who has one virtue all virtues? And
has he no virtues who lacks one? If this be true, the sentence of the apostle is thereby
confirmed. But what I desire is to have the sentence explained, not confirmed, since of
itself it stands more sure in our esteem than all the authority of philosophers could make
it. And even if what has just been said concerning virtues and vices were true, it would
not follow that therefore all sins are equal. For as to the inseparable co-existence of
the virtues, this is a doctrine in regard to which, if I remember rightly, what, indeed, I
have almost forgotten (though perhaps I am mistaken), all philosophers who affirm that
virtues are essential to the right conduct of life are agreed. The doctrine of the
equality of sins, however, the Stoics alone dared to maintain in opposition to the
unanimous sentiments of mankind: an absurd tenet, which in writing against Jovinianus (a
Stoic in this opinion, but an Epicurean in following after and defending pleasure) you
have most clearly refuted from the Holy Scriptures. In that most delightful and noble
dissertation you have made it abundantly plain that it has not been the doctrine of our
authors, or rather of the Truth Himself, who has spoken through them, that all sins are
equal. I shall now do my utmost in endeavouring, with the help of God, to show how it can
be that, although the doctrine of philosophers concerning virtues is true, we are
nevertheless not compelled to admit the Stoics' doctrine that all sins are equal. If I
succeed, I will look for your approbation, and in whatever respect I come short, I beg you
to supply my deficiencies.

5. Those who maintain that he who has one virtue has all, and that he who lacks one lacks
all, reason correctly from the fact that prudence cannot be cowardly, nor unjust, nor
intemperate; for if it were any of these it would no longer be prudence. Moreover, if it
be prudence only when it is brave, and just, and temperate, assuredly wherever it exists
it must have the other virtues along with it. In like manner, also, courage cannot be
imprudent, or intemperate, or unjust; temperance must of necessity be prudent, brave, and
just; and justice does not exist unless it be prudent, brave, and temperate. Thus,
wherever any one of these virtues truly exists, the others likewise exist; and where some
are absent, that which may appear in some measure to resemble virtue is not really
present. 6. There are, as you know, some vices opposed to virtues by a palpable contrast,
as imprudence is the opposite of prudence. But there are some vices opposed to virtues
simply because they are vices which, nevertheless, by a deceitful appearance resemble
virtues; as, for example, in the relation, not of imprudence, but of craftiness to the
said virtue of prudence. I speak here of that craftiness which is wont to be understood
and spoken of in connection with the evilly disposed, not in the sense in which the word
is usually employed in our Scriptures, where it is often used in a good sense, as, "Be
crafty as serpents," [Matthew 10:16] and again, to give craftiness to the simple.
[Proverbs 1:4] It is true that among heathen writers one of the most accomplished of Latin
authors, speaking of Catiline, has said: "Nor was there lacking on his part craftiness to
guard against danger," using "craftiness" (astutia) in a good sense; but the use of the
word in this sense is among them very rare, among us very common. So also in regard to the
virtues classed under temperance. Extravagance is most manifestly opposite to the virtue
of frugality; but that which the common people are wont to call niggardliness is indeed a
vice, yet one which, not in its nature, but by a very deceitful similarity of appearance,
usurps the name of frugality. In the same manner injustice is by a palpable contrast
opposed to justice;

but the desire of avenging oneself is wont often to be a counterfeit of justice, but it is
a vice. There is an obvious contrariety between courage and cowardice; but hardihood,
though differing from courage in nature, deceives us by its resemblance to that virtue.
Firmness is a part of virtue; fickleness is a vice far removed from and undoubtedly
opposed to it; but obstinacy lays claim to the name of firmness, yet is wholly different,
because firmness is a virtue, and obstinacy is a vice. 7. To avoid the necessity of again
going over the same ground, let us take one case as an example, from which all others may
be understood. Catiline, as those who have written concerning him had means of knowing,
was capable of enduring cold, thirst, hunger, and patient in fastings, cold, and watchings
beyond what any one could believe, and thus he appeared, both to himself and to his
followers, a man endowed with great courage. But this courage was not prudent, for he
chose the evil instead of the good; was not temperate, for his life was disgraced by the
lowest dissipation; was not just, for he conspired against his country; and therefore it
was not courage, but hardihood usurping the name of courage to deceive fools; for if it
had been courage, it would not have been a vice but a virtue, and if it had been a virtue,
it would never have been abandoned by the other virtues, its inseparable companions.

8. On this account, when it is asked also concerning vices, whether where one exists all
in like manner exist, or where one does not exist none exist, it would be a difficult
matter to show this, because two vices are wont to be opposed to one virtue, one that is
evidently opposed, and another that bears an apparent likeness. Hence the hardihood of
Catiline is the more easily seen not to have been courage, since it had not along with it
other virtues; but it may be difficult to convince men that his hardihood was cowardice,
since he was in the habit of enduring and patiently submitting to the severest hardships
to a degree almost incredible. But perhaps, on examining the matter more closely, this
hardihood itself is seen to be cowardice, because he shrunk from the toil of those liberal
studies by which true courage is acquired. Nevertheless, as there are rash men who are not
guilty of cowardice, and there are cowardly men who are not guilty of rashness, and since
in both there is vice, for the truly brave man neither ventures rashly nor fears without
reason, we are forced to admit that vices are more numerous than virtues.

9. Accordingly, it happens sometimes that one vice is supplanted by another, as the love
of money by the love of praise. Occasionally, one vice quits the field that more may take
its place, as in the case of the drunkard, who, after becoming temperate in the use of
drink, may come under the power of niggardliness and ambition. It is possible, therefore,
that vices may give place to vices, not to virtues, as their successors, and thus they are
more numerous. When one virtue, however, has entered, there will infallibly be (since it
brings all the other virtues along with it) a retreat of all vices whatsoever that were in
the man; for all vices were not in him, but at one time so many, at another a greater or
smaller number might occupy their place. 10. We must inquire more carefully whether these
things are so; for the statement that "he who has one virtue has all, and that all virtues
are awanting to him who lacks one," is not given by inspiration, but is the view held by
many men, ingenious, indeed, and studious, but still men. But I must avow that, in the
case — I shall not say of one of those from whose name the word virtue is said to be
derived, but even of a woman who is faithful to her husband, and who is so from a regard
to the commandments and promises of God, and, first of all, is faithful to Him, I do not
know how I could say of her that she is unchaste, or that chastity is no virtue or a
trifling one. I should feel the same in regard to a husband who is faithful to his wife;
and yet there are many such, none of whom I could affirm to be without any sins, and
doubtless the sin which is in them, whatever it be, proceeds from some vice. Whence it
follows that though conjugal fidelity in religious men and women is undoubtedly a virtue,
for it is neither a nonentity nor a vice, yet it does not bring along with it all virtues,
for if all virtues were there, there would be no vice, and if there were no vice, there
would be no sin; but where is the man who is altogether without sin?

Where, therefore, is the man who is without any vice, that is, fuel or root, as it were,
of sin, when he who reclined on the breast of the Lord says, "If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us"? [1 John 1:8] It is not necessary
for us to urge this at greater length in writing to you, but I make the statement for the
sake of others who perhaps shall read this. For you, indeed, in that same splendid work
against Jovinianus, have carefully proved this from the Holy Scriptures; in which work
also you have quoted the words, "in many things we all offend," [James 3:2] from this very
epistle in which occur the words whose meaning we are now investigating. For though it is
an apostle of Christ who is speaking, he does not say, "ye offend," but, "we offend; and
although in the passage under consideration he says, "Whosoever shall keep the whole law,
and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all," [James 2:10] in the words just quoted
he affirms that we offend not in one thing but in many, and not that some offend but that
we all offend.

11. Far be it, however, from any believer to think that so many thousands of the servants
of Christ, who, lest they should deceive themselves, and the truth should not be in them,
sincerely confess themselves to have sin, are altogether without virtue! For wisdom is a
great virtue, and wisdom herself has said to man, "Behold the fear of the Lord, that is
wisdom. Far be it from us, then, to say that so many and so great believing and pious men
have not the fear of the Lord, which the Greeks call εὐσέβεια, or more literally and
fully, θεοσέβεια . And what is the fear of the Lord but His worship? And whence is He
truly worshipped except from love? Love, then, out of a pure heart, and a good conscience,
and faith unfeigned, is the great and true virtue, because it is "the end of the
commandment. [1 Timothy 1:5] Deservedly is love said to be "strong as death," [Song of
Songs 8:6] because, like death, it is vanquished by none; or because the measure of love
in this life is even unto death, as the Lord says, "Greater love has no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends; [John 15:13] or, rather, because, as death
forcibly separates the soul from the senses of the body, so love separates it from fleshly
lusts.

Knowledge, when it is of the right kind, is the handmaid to love, for without love
"knowledge puffs up," [1 Corinthians 8:1] but where love, by edifying, has filled the
heart, there knowledge will find nothing empty which it can puff up. Moreover, Job has
shown, what is that useful knowledge by defining it where, after saying, "The fear of the
Lord, that is wisdom" he adds "and to depart from evil, that is understanding. [Job 28:28]
Why do we not then say that the man who has this virtue has all virtues, since "love is
the fulfilling of the law? [Romans 13:10] Is it not true that, the more love exists in a
man the more he is endowed with virtue, and the less love he has the less virtue is in
him, for love is itself virtue; and the less virtue there is in a man so much the more
vice will there be in him? Therefore, where love is full and perfect, no vice will remain.

12. The Stoics, therefore, appear to me to be mistaken in refusing to admit that a man who
is advancing in wisdom has any wisdom at all, and in affirming that he alone has it who
has become altogether perfect in wisdom. They do not, indeed, deny that he has made
progress, but they say that he is in no degree entitled to be called wise, unless, by
emerging, so to speak, from the depths, he suddenly springs forth into the free air of
wisdom. For, as it matters not when a man is drowning whether the depth of water above him
be many stadia or only the breadth of a hand or finger, so they say in regard to the
progress of those who are advancing towards wisdom, that they are like men rising from the
bottom of a whirlpool towards the air, but that unless they by their progress, so escape
as to emerge wholly from folly as from an overwhelming flood, they have not virtue and are
not wise; but that, when they have so escaped, they immediately have wisdom in perfection,
and not a vestige of folly whence any sin could be originated remains.

13. This simile, in which folly is compared to water and wisdom to air, so that the mind
emerging, as it were, from the stifling influence of folly breathes suddenly the free air
of wisdom, does not appear to me to harmonize sufficiently with the authoritative
statement of our Scriptures; a better simile, so far, at least, as illustration of
spiritual things can be borrowed from material things, is that which compares vice or
folly to darkness, and virtue or wisdom to light. The way to wisdom is therefore not like
that of a man rising from the water into the air, in which, in the moment of rising above
the surface of the water, he suddenly breathes freely, but, like that of a man proceeding
from darkness into light, on whom more light gradually shines as he advances. So long,
therefore, as this is not fully accomplished, we speak of the man as of one going from the
dark recesses of a vast cavern towards its entrance, who is more and more influenced by
the proximity of the light as he comes nearer to the entrance of the cavern; so that
whatever light he has proceeds from the light to which he is advancing, and whatever
darkness still remains in him proceeds from the darkness out of which he is emerging.
Therefore it is true that in the sight of God "shall no man living be justified," and yet
that "the just shall live by his faith." [Habakkuk 2:4] On the one hand, "the saints are
clothed with righteousness," [Job 29:14] one more, another less; on the other hand, no one
lives here wholly without sin— one sins more, another less, and the best is the man who
sins least.

14. But why have I, as if forgetting to whom I address myself, assumed the tone of a
teacher in stating the question regarding which I wish to be instructed by you?
Nevertheless, as I had resolved to submit to your examination my opinion regarding the
equality of sins (a subject involving a question closely bearing on the matter on which I
was writing), let me now at last bring my statement to a conclusion. Even though it were
true that he who has one virtue has all virtues, and that he who lacks one virtue has
none, this would not involve the consequence that all sins are equal; for although it is
true that where there is no virtue there is nothing right, it by no means follows that
among bad actions one cannot be worse than another, or that divergence from that which is
right does not admit of degrees.

I think, however, that it is more agreeable to truth and consistent with the Holy
Scriptures to say, that what is true of the members of the body is true of the different
dispositions of the soul (which, though not seen occupying different places, are by their
distinctive workings perceived as plainly as the members of the body), namely, that as in
the same body one member is more fully shone upon by the light, another is less shone
upon, and a third is altogether without light, and remains in the dark under some
impervious covering, something similar takes place in regard to the various dispositions
of the soul. If this be so, then according to the manner in which every man is shone upon
by the light of holy love, he may be said to have one virtue and to lack another virtue,
or to have one virtue in larger and another in smaller measure. For in reference to that
love which is the fear of God, we may correctly say both that it is greater in one man
than in another, and that there is some of it in one man, and none of it in another; we
may also correctly say as to an individual that he has greater chastity than patience, and
that he has either virtue in a higher degree than he had yesterday, if he is making
progress, or that he still lacks self-control, but possesses, at the same time, a large
measure of compassion.

15. To sum up generally and briefly the view which, so far as relates to holy living, I
entertain concerning virtue —virtue is the love with which that which ought to be loved is
loved. This is in some greater, in others less, and there are men in whom it does not
exist at all; but in the absolute fullness which admits of no increase, it exists in no
man while living on this earth; so long, however, as it admits of being increased there
can be no doubt that, in so far as it is less than it ought to be, the shortcoming
proceeds from vice. Because of this vice there is "not a just man upon earth that does
good and sins not;" [Ecclesiastes 5:7] because of this vice, "in God's sight shall no man
living be justified." On account of this vice, "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us." [1 John 1:8] On account of this also, whatever
progress we may have made, we must say, "Forgive us our debts," [Matthew 6:12] although
all debts in word, deed, and thought were washed away in baptism. He, then, who sees
aright, sees whence, and when, and where he must hope for that perfection to which nothing
can be added. Moreover, if there had been no commandments, there would have been no means
whereby a man might certainly examine himself and see from what things he ought to turn
aside, whither he should aspire, and in what things he should find occasion for
thanksgiving or for prayer. Great, therefore, is the benefit of commandments, if to free
will so much liberty be granted that the grace of God may be more abundantly honoured.

16. If these things be so, how shall a man who shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in
one point, be guilty of all? May it not be, that since the fulfilling of the law is that
love wherewith we love God and our neighbour, on which commandments of love "hang all the
law and the prophets," [Matthew 22:40] he is justly held to be guilty of all who violates
that on which all hang? Now, no one sins without violating this love; "for this, you shall
not commit adultery; you shall do no murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet; and
if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, You shall
love your neighbour as yourself. Love works no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law." [Romans 13:9-10] No one, however, loves his neighbour who does not
out of his love to God do all in his power to bring his neighbour also, whom he loves as
himself, to love God, whom if he does not love, he neither loves himself nor his
neighbour. Hence it is true that if a man shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one
point, he becomes guilty of all, because he does what is contrary to the love on which
hangs the whole law. A man, therefore, becomes guilty of all by doing what is contrary to
that on which all hang.

17. Why, then, may not all sins be said to be equal? May not the reason be, that the
transgression of the law of love is greater in him who commits a more grievous sin, and is
less in him who commits a less grievous sin? And in the mere fact of his committing any
sin whatever, he becomes guilty of all; but in committing a more grievous sin, or in
sinning in more respects than one, he becomes more guilty; committing a less grievous sin,
or sinning in fewer respects, he becomes less guilty — his guilt being thus so much the
greater the more he has sinned, the less the less he has sinned. Nevertheless, even though
it be only in one point that he offend, he is guilty of all, because he violates that love
on which all hang. If these things be true, an explanation is by this means found,
clearing up that saying of the man of apostolic grace, "In many things we offend all."
[James 3:2] For we all offend, but one more grievously, another more slightly, according
as each may have committed a more grievous or a less grievous sin; every one being great
in the practice of sin in proportion as he is deficient in loving God and his neighbour,
and, on the other hand, decreasing in the practice of sin in proportion as he increases in
the love of God and of his neighbour. The more, therefore, that a man is deficient in
love, the more is he full of sin. And perfection in love is reached when nothing of sinful
infirmity remains in us.

18. Nor, indeed, in my opinion, are we to esteem it a trifling sin "to have the faith of
our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons," if we take the difference between sitting
and standing, of which mention is made in the context, to refer to ecclesiastical honours;
for who can bear to see a rich man chosen to a place of honour in the Church, while a poor
man, of superior qualifications and of greater holiness, is despised? If, however, the
apostle speaks there of our daily assemblies, who does not offend in the matter? At the
same time, only those really offend here who cherish in their hearts the opinion that a
man's worth is to be estimated according to his wealth; for this seems to be the meaning
of the expression, "Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and have become judges of evil
thoughts?" 19. The law of liberty, therefore, the law of love, is that of which he says:
If you fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbour as
yourself, you do well: but if you have respect to persons, you commit sin, and are
convinced of the law as transgressors. [James 2:8-9] And then (after the difficult
sentence, "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty
of all," concerning which I have with sufficient fullness stated my opinion), making
mention of the same law of liberty, he says: "So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall
be judged by the law of liberty." And as he knew by experience what he had said a little
before, "in many things we offend all," he suggests a sovereign remedy, to be applied, as
it were day by day, to those less serious but real wounds which the soul suffers day by
day, for he says: "He shall have judgment without mercy that has showed no mercy." [James
2:13] For with the same purpose the Lord says: "Forgive, and you shall be forgiven: give,
and it shall be given unto you." [Luke 6:37-38] After which the apostle says: "But mercy
rejoices over judgment:" it is not said that mercy prevails over judgment, for it is not
an adversary of judgment, but it "rejoices" over judgment, because a greater number are
gathered in by mercy; but they are those who have shown mercy, for, "Blessed are the
merciful, for God shall have mercy on them." [Matthew 5:7]

20. It is, therefore, by all means just that they be forgiven, because they have forgiven
others, and that what they need be given to them, because they have given to others. For
God uses mercy when He judges, and uses judgment when He shows mercy. Hence the Psalmist
says: "I will sing of mercy and of judgment unto You, O Lord. For if any man, thinking
himself too righteous to require mercy, presumes, as if he had no reason for anxiety, to
wait for judgment without mercy, he provokes that most righteous indignation through fear
of which the Psalmist said: "Enter not into judgment with Your servant. For this reason
the Lord says to a disobedient people: Wherefore will you contend with me in judgment? For
when the righteous King shall sit upon His throne, who shall boast that he has a pure
heart, or who shall boast that he is clean from sin? What hope is there then unless mercy
shall "rejoice over" judgment? But this it will do only in the case of those who have
showed mercy, saying with sincerity, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,"
and who have given without murmuring, for "the Lord loves a cheerful giver. [2 Corinthians
9:7] To conclude, St.

James is led to speak thus concerning works of mercy in this passage, in order that he may
console those whom the statements immediately foregoing might have greatly alarmed, his
purpose being to admonish us how those daily sins from which our life is never free here
below may also be expiated by daily remedies; lest any man, becoming guilty of all when he
offends in even one point, be brought, by offending in many points (since "in many things
we all offend"), to appear before the bar of the Supreme Judge under the enormous amount
of guilt which has accumulated by degrees, and find at that tribunal no mercy, because he
showed no mercy to others, instead of rather meriting the forgiveness of his own sins, and
the enjoyment of the gifts promised in Scripture, by his extending forgiveness and bounty
to others. 21. I have written at great length, which may perhaps have been tedious to you,
as you, although approving of the statements now made, do not expect to be addressed as if
you were but learning truths which you have been accustomed to teach to others. If,
however, there be anything in these statements — not in the style of language in which
they are expounded, for I am not much concerned as to mere phrases, but in the substance
of the statements — which your erudite judgment condemns, I beseech you to point this out
to me in your reply, and do not hesitate to correct my error. For I pity the man who, in
view of the unwearied labour and sacred character of your studies, does not on account of
them both render to you the honour which you deserve, and give thanks unto our Lord God by
whose grace you are what you are. Wherefore, since I ought to be more willing to learn
from any teacher the things of which to my disadvantage I am ignorant, than prompt to
teach any others what I know, with how much greater reason do I claim the payment of this
debt of love from you, by whose learning ecclesiastical literature in the Latin tongue has
been, in the Lord's name, and by His help, advanced to an extent which had been previously
unattainable. Especially, however, I ask attention to the sentence: "Whosoever shall keep
the whole law, and offend in one point, is guilty of all." If you know any better way, my
beloved brother, in which it can be explained, I beseech you by the Lord to favour us by
communicating to us your exposition.


LETTERS 125 TO 147
==================

LETTERS 125 TO 147 continued

LETTER 133. TO CTESIPHON.

Ctesiphon had written to Jerome for his opinion on two points in the teaching of Pelagius,
(1) his quietism and (2) his denial of original sin. Jerome now refutes these two
doctrines and points out that Pelagius has drawn them partly from the philosophers and
partly from the heretics. He censures Rufinus. who had died 5 years before, for
attributing to Sixtus bishop of Rome a book which is really the work of Xystus a
Pythagorean, and for passing off as the composition of the martyr Pamphilus a panegyric of
Origen really due to his friend Eusebius. In both these assertions, however. Jerome is
more wrong than right. (See Prolegomena to the works of Rufinus.) The letter concludes
with a promise to deal more fully with the heresy of Pelagius at some future time, a
promise afterwards redeemed by the publication of a 'dialogue against the Pelagians.' The
date of the letter is 415 a.d.

I. In acquainting me with the new controversy which has taken the place of the old you are
wrong in thinking that you have acted rashly, for your conduct has been prompted by zeal
and friendship. Already before the arrival of your letter many in the East have been
deceived into a pride which apes humility and have said with the devil: "I will ascend
into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will be like the Most High.
[Isa. 14:13, Isa. 14:14] Can there be greater presumption than to claim not likeness to
God but equality with Him, and so to compress into a few words the poisonous doctrines of
all the heretics which in their turn flow from the statements of the philosophers,
particularly of Pythagoras and Zeno the founder of the Stoic school? For those states of
feeling which the Greeks call "πάθη" and which we may describe as "passions," relating to
the present or the future such as vexation and gladness, hope and fear,-these, they tell
us, it is possible to root out of our minds; in fact all vice may be destroyed root and
branch in man by meditation on virtue and constant practice of it. The position which they
thus take up is vehemently assailed by the Peripatetics who trace themselves to Aristotle,
and by the new Academics of whom Cicero is a disciple; and these overthrow not the facts
of their opponents-for they have no facts-but the shadows and wishes which do duty for
them.

To maintain such a doctrine is to take man's nature from him, to forget that he is
constituted of body as well as soul, to substitute mere wishes for sound teaching For the
apostle says:- "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? [Rom. 7:24] But as I cannot say all that I wish in a short letter I will briefly
touch on the points that you must avoid. Virgil writes:- "Thus mortals fear and hope,
rejoice and grieve, And shut in darkness have no sight of heaven." [Virgil. aeneid. 6:733,
734] For who can escape these feelings? Must we not all clap our hands when we are joyful,
and shrink at the approach of sorrow? Must not hope always animate us and fear put us in
terror? So in one of his Satires the poet Horace, whose words are so weighty, writes:
"From faults no mortal is completely free; He that has fewest is the perfect man."
[Horace, Sat. I. 3:68, 69]

2. Well does one of our own writers say: "the philosophers are the patriarchs of the
heretics." It is they who have stained with their perverse doctrine the spotlessness of
the Church, not knowing that of human weakness it is said: "Why is earth and ashes proud?"
[Ecclus. 10:9] So likewise the apostle: "I see another law in my members warring against
the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity"; [Rom. 7:23] and again, "The good that
I would I do not: but the evil which I would not that I do." [Rom. 7:19] Now if Paul does
what he wills not, what becomes of the assertion that a man may be without sin if he will?
Given the will, how is it to have its way when the apostle tells us that he has no power
to do what he wishes? Moreover if we ask them who the persons are whom they regard as
sinless they seek to veil the truth by a new subterfuge. They do not, they say, profess
that men are or have been without sin; all that they maintain is that it is possible for
them to be so. Remarkable teachers truly, who maintain that a thing may be which on their
own shewing, never has been; whereas the scripture says:-"The thing which shall be, it is
that which hath been already of old time."

I need not go through the lives of the saints or call attention to the moles and spots
which mark the fairest skins. Many of our writers, it is true, unwisely, take this course;
however, a few sentences of scripture will dispose alike of the heretics and the
philosophers. What says the chosen vessel? "God had concluded all in unbelief that he
might have mercy upon all; [Rom. 11:32] and in another place, "all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. The preacher also who is the mouthpiece of the Divine Wisdom
freely protests and says: "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth
not: [Eccles. 7:20] and again, "if thy people sin against thee, for there is no man that
sinneth not: [1 K. 8:46] and "who can say, I have made my heart clean? [Prov. 20:9] and
"none is clean from stain, not even if his life on earth has been but for one day. David
insists on the same thing when he says: "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did
my mother conceive me; [Ps. 51:5] and in another psalm, "in thy sight shall no man living
be justified. [Ps. 143:2] This last passage they try to explain away from motives of
reverence, arguing that the meaning is that no man is perfect in comparison with God. Yet
the scripture does not say: "in comparison with thee shall no man living be justified" but
"in thy sight shall no man living be justified.

And when it says "in thy sight" it means that those who seem holy to men to God in his
fuller knowledge are by no means holy. For "man looketh on the outward appearance, but the
Lord looketh on the heart. [1 S. 16:7] But if in the sight of God who sees all things and
to whom the secrets of the heart lie open [Ps. 44:21, Heb. 4:13] no man is just; then
these heretics instead of adding to man's dignity, clearly take away from God's power. I
might bring together many other passages of scripture of the same import; but were I to do
so, I should exceed the limits I will not say of a letter but of a volume. 3. It is with
no new doctrines that in their self-applauding perfidy they deceive the simple and
untaught. They cannot, however, deceive theologians who meditate in the law of the Lord
day and night. [Ps. 1:2] Let those blush then for their leaders and companions who say
that a man may be "without sin" if he will, or, as the Greeks term it "αναμάρτητος",
"sinless." As such a statement sounds intolerable to the Eastern churches, they profess
indeed only to say that a man may be "without sin" and do not presume to allege that he
may be "sinless" as well. As if, forsooth, "sinless" and "without sin" had different
meanings; whereas the only difference between them is that Latin requires two words to
express what Greek gives in one. If you adopt "without sin" and reject "sinless," then
condemn the preachers of sinlessness. But this you cannot do. You know very well what it
is that you teach your pupils in private; and that while you say one thing with your lips
you engrave another on your heart. To us, ignorant outsiders you speak in parables; but to
your own followers you avow your secret meaning. And for this you claim the authority of
scripture which says: "to the multitudes Jesus spake in parables;" but to his own
disciples He said: "it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
but to them it is not given." [Matt. 13:3, Matt. 13:11]

But to return; I will shortly set forth the names of your leaders and companions to shew
you who those are of whose fellowship you make your boast. Manichaeus says of his elect-
whom he places among Plato's orbits in heaven-that they are free from all sin, and cannot
sin even if they will. To so great heights have they attained in virtue that they laugh at
the works of the flesh. Then there is Priscillian in Spain whose infamy makes him as bad
as Manichaeus, and whose disciples profess a high esteem for you. These are rash enough to
claim for themselves the twofold credit of perfection and wisdom. Yet they shut themselves
up alone with women and justify their sinful embraces by quoting the lines: "The almighty
father takes the earth to wife; Pouring upon her fertilizing rain, That from her womb new
harvest he may reap." These heretics have affinities with Gnosticism which may be traced
to the impious teaching of Basilides. It is from him that you derive the assertion that
without knowledge of the law it is impossible to avoid sin. But why do I speak of
Priscillian who has been condemned by the whole world and put to death by the secular
sword? Evagrius of Ibera in Pontus who sends letters to virgins and monks and among others
to her whose name bears witness to the blackness of her perfidy, has published a book of
maxims on apathy, or, as we should say, impassivity or imperturbability; a state in which
the mind ceases to be agitated and-to speak simply-becomes either a stone or a God. His
work is widely read, in the East in Greek and in the West in a Latin translation made by
his disciple Rufinus. He has also written a book which professes to be about monks and
includes in it many not monks at all whom he declares to have been Origenists, and who
have certainly been condemned by the bishops. I mean Ammonius, Eusebius, Euthymius,
Evagrius himself, Horus, Isidorus, and many others whom it would be tedious to enumerate.
He is careful, however, to do as the physicians, of whom Lucretius says: [Lucretius,
1:935-937]

"To children bitter wormwood still they give In cups with juice of sweetest honey
smeared." That is to say, he has set in the forefront of his book John, an undoubted
Catholic and saint, by his means to introduce to the church the heretics mentioned farther
on. But who can adequately characterize the rashness or madness which has led him to
ascribe a book of the Pythagorean philosopher Xystus, a heathen who knew nothing of
Christ, to Sixtus a martyr and bishop of the Roman church? In this work the subject of
perfection is discussed at length in the light of the Pythagorean doctrine which makes man
equal with God and of one substance with Him. Thus many not knowing that its author was a
philosopher and supposing that they are reading the words of a martyr, drink of the golden
cup of Babylon. Moreover in its pages there is no mention of prophets, patriarchs,
apostles, or of Christ; so that according to Rufinus there has been a bishop and a martyr
who had nothing to do with Christ. Such is the book from which you and your followers
quote passages against the church. In the same way he played fast and loose with the name
of the holy martyr Pamphilus ascribing to him the first of the six books in defence of
Origen written by Eusebius of Caesarea who is admitted by every body to have been an
Arian. His object in doing so was of course to commend to Latin ears Origen's four
wonderful books about First Principles.

Would you have me name another of your masters in heresy? Much of your teaching is
traceable to Origen. For, to give one instance only, when he comments on the psalmist's
words: "My reins also instruct me in the night season," he maintains that when a holy man
like yourself has reached perfection, he is free even at night from human infirmity and is
not tempted by evil thoughts. You need not blush to avow yourself a follower of these men;
it is of no use to disclaim their names when you adopt their blasphemies. Moreover, your
teaching corresponds to Jovinian's second position. You must, therefore, take the answer
which I have given to him as equally applicable to yourself. Where men's opinions are the
same their destinies can hardly be different. 4. Such being the state of the case, what
object is served by "silly women laden with sins, carried about with every wind of
doctrine, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth? [Eph. 4:14;
2 Tim. 3:6, 2 Tim. 3:7] Or how is the cause helped by the men who dance attendance upon
these, men with itching ears [2 Tim. 4:3] who know neither how to hear nor how to speak?
They confound old mire with new cement and, as Ezekiel says, daub a wall with untempered
mortar; so that, when the truth comes in a shower, they are brought to nought. [Ezek.
13:10-16] It was with the help of the harlot Helena that Simon Magus founded his sect.
Bands of women accompanied Nicolas of Antioch that deviser of all uncleanness. Marcion
sent a woman before him to Rome to prepare men's minds to fall into his snares. Apelles
possessed in Philumena an associate in his false doctrines. Montanus, that mouthpiece of
an unclean spirit, used two rich and high born ladies Prisca and Maximilla first to bribe
and then to pervert many churches. Leaving ancient history I will pass to times nearer to
our own. Arius intent on leading the world astray began by misleading the Emperor's
sister. The resources of Lucilla helped Donatus to defile with his polluting baptism many
unhappy persons throughout Africa. In Spain the blind woman Agape led the blind man
Elpidius into the ditch.

He was followed by Priscillian, an enthusiastic votary of Zoroaster and a magian before he
became a bishop. A woman named Galla seconded his efforts and left a gadabout sister to
perpetuate a second heresy of a kindred form. Now also the mystery of iniquity is working.
[2 Th. 2:7] Men and women in turn lay snares for each other till we cannot but recall the
prophet's words: "the partridge hath cried aloud, she hath gathered young which she hath
not brought forth, she getteth riches and not by right; in the midst of her days she shall
leave them, and at her end she shall be a fool. [Jer. 17:11, Vulg] 5. The better to
deceive men they have added to the maxim given above the saving clause "but not without
the grace of God; and this may at the first blush take in some readers. However, when it
is carefully sifted and considered, it can deceive nobody. For while they acknowledge the
grace of God,they tell us that our acts do not depend upon His help. Rather, they
understand by the grace of God free will and the commandments of the Law. They quote
Isaiah's words: "God hath given the law to aid men," [Isa. 8:20, LXX] and say that we
ought to thank Him for having created us such that of our own free will we can choose the
good and avoid the evil. Nor do they see that in alleging this the devil uses their lips
to hiss out an intolerable blasphemy. For if God's grace is limited to this that He has
formed us with wills of our own, and if we are to rest content with free will, not seeking
the divine aid lest this should be impaired, we should cease to pray; for we cannot
entreat God's mercy to give us daily what is already in our hands having been given to us
once for all. Those who think thus make prayer impossible and boast that free will makes
them not merely controllers of themselves but as powerful as God. For they need no
external help. Away with fasting, away with every form of self-restraint!

For why need I strive to win by toil what has once for all been placed within my reach?
The argument that I am using is not mine; it is that put forward by a disciple of
Pelagius, or rather one who is the teacher and commander of his whole army. This man, who
is the opposite of Paul for he is a vessel of perdition, roams through thickets-not, as
his partisans say, of syllogisms, but of solecisms, and theorizes thus: "If I do nothing
without the help of God and if all that I do is His act, I cease to labour and the crown
that I shall win will belong not to me but to the grace of God. It is idle for Him to have
given me the power of choice if I cannot use it without His constant help. For will that
requires external support ceases to be will. God has given me freedom of choice, but what
becomes of this if I cannot do as I wish? Accordingly he propounds the following dilemma:
"Either once for all I use the power which is given to me, and so preserve the freedom of
my will; or I need the help of another, in which case the freedom of my will is wholly
abrogated."

6. Surely the man who says this is no ordinary blasphemer; the poison of his heresy is no
common poison. Since our wills are free, they argue, we are no longer dependent upon God;
and they forget the Apostle's words "what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if
thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? [1 Cor. 4:7] A
nice return, truly, does a man make to God when to assert the freedom of his will he
rebels against Him! For our parts we gladly embrace this freedom, but we never forget to
thank the Giver; knowing that we are powerless unless He continually preserves in us His
own gift. As the apostle says, "it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that sheweth mercy. [Rom. 9:16] To will and to run are mine, but they will
cease to be mine unless God brings me His continual aid. For the same apostle says "it is
God which worketh in you both to will and to do. [Phil. 2:13] And in the Gospel the
Saviour says: "my Father worketh hitherto and I work. [John 5:17] He is always a giver,
always a bestower. It is not enough for me that he has given me grace once; He must give
it me always. I seek that I may obtain, and when I have obtained I seek again. I am
covetous of God's bounty;

and as He is never slack in giving, so I am never weary in receiving. The more I drink,
the more I thirst. For I have read the song of the psalmist: "O taste and see that the
Lord is good. [Ps. 34:8] Every good thing that we have is a tasting of the Lord. When I
fancy myself to have finished the book of virtue, I shall then only be at the beginning.
For "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," [Ps. 111:10] and this fear is in
its turn cast out by love. [1 Joh. 4:18] Men are only perfect so far as they know
themselves to be imperfect. "So likewise ye," Christ says, "when ye shall have done alI
those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that
which was our duty to do. [Luke 17:10] If he is unprofitable who has done all, what must
we say of him who has failed to do so? This is why theApostle declares that he has
attained in part and apprehended in part, that he is not yet perfect, and that forgetting
those things which are behind he reaches forth unto those things which are before. [Phil.
3:12, Phil. 3:13] Now he who always forgets the past and longs for the future shews that
he is not content with the present.

They are for ever objecting to us that we destroy free will. Nay, we reply, it is you who
destroy it; for you use it amiss and disown the bounty of its Giver. Which really destroys
freedom? the man who thanks God always and traces back his own tiny rill to its source in
Him? or the man who says: "come not near to me, for I am holy; [Isa. 65:5, LXX] I have no
need of Thee. Thou hast given me once for all freedom of choice to do as I wish. Why then
dost Thou interfere again to prevent me from doing anything unless Thou Thyself first
makest Thy gifts effective in me?" To such an one I would say: "your profession of belief
in God's grace is insincere. For you explain this of the state in which man has been
created and you do not look for God to help him in his actions. To do this, you argue,
would be to surrender human freedom. Thus disdaining the aid of God you have to look to
men for help."

7. Listen, only listen, to the blasphemer. "Suppose," he avers, "that I want to bend my
finger or to move my hand, to sit, to stand, to walk, to run to and fro, to spit or to
blow my nose, to perform the offices of nature; must the help of God be always
indispensable to me?" Thankless, nay blasphemous wretch, hear the apostle's declaration:
"whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." [1
Cor. 10:31] Hear also the words of James: "go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we
will go into such a city and continue there a year, and buy, and sell, and get gain.
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow: for what is your life? It is even a
vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to
say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your
boastings; all such rejoicing is evil." [Jas. 4:13-16] You fancy that a wrong is inflicted
on you and your freedom of choice is destroyed if you are forced to fall back on God as
the moving cause of all your actions, if you are made dependent on His Will, and if you
have to echo the psalmist's words: "mine eyes are ever toward the Lord: for it is he that
shall pluck my feet out of the net." [Ps. 25:15] And so you presume rashly to maintain
that each individual is governed by his own choice. But if he is governed by his own
choice, what becomes of God's help? If he does not need Christ to rule him, why does
Jeremiah write: "the way of man is not in himself" [Jer. 10:23] and "the Lord directeth
his steps." [Prov. 16:9]

You say that the commandments of God are easy, and yet you cannot produce any one who has
fulfilled them all. Answer me this: are they easy or are they difficult? If they are easy,
then produce some one who has fulfilled them all. Explain also the words of the psalmist:
"thou dost cause toil by thy law," [Ps. 94:20, LXX and Vulg] and "because of the words of
thy lips I have kept hard ways." [Ps. 17:4, LXX] And make plain our Lord's sayings in the
gospel: "enter ye in at the strait gate;" [Matt. 7:13] and "love your enemies;" and "pray
for them which persecute you." [Matt. 5:44] If on the other hand the commandments are
difficult and if no man has kept them all, how have you presumed to say that they are
easy? Do not you see that you contradict yourself? For either they are easy and countless
numbers have kept them; or they are difficult and you have been too hasty in calling them
easy.

8. It is a common argument with your party to say that God's commandments are either
possible or impossible. So far as they are the former you admit that they are rightly laid
upon us; but so far as they are the latter you allege that blame attaches not to us who
have received them but to God who has imposed them on us. What! has God commanded me to be
what He is, to put no difference between myself and my creator, to be greater than the
greatest of the angels, to have a power which no angels possess? Sinlessness is made a
characteristic of Christ, "who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth." [1 Pet.
2:22] But if I am sinless as well as He, how is sinlessness any longer His distinguishing
mark? for if this distinction exists, your theory becomes fatal to itself. You assert that
a man may be without sin if he will; and then, as though awakening from a deep sleep, you
try to deceive the unwary by adding the saving clause "yet not without the grace of God.
For if by his own efforts a man can keep himself without sin, what need has he of God's
grace? If on the other hand he can do nothing without this, what is the use of saying that
he can do what he cannot do? It is argued that a man may be without sin and perfect if he
only wills it. What Christian is there who does not wish to be sinless or who would reject
perfection if, as you say, it is to be had for the wishing, and if the will is sure to be
followed by the power? There is no Christian who does not wish to be sinless; wishing to
be so, therefore, they all will be so. Whether you like it or not you will be caught in
this dilemma, that you can produce nobody or hardly anybody who is without sin, yet have
to admit that everybody may be sinless if he likes. God's commandments, it is argued, are
possible to keep. Who denies it? But how this truth is to be understood the chosen vessel
thus most clearly explains: "what the law could not do in that it was weak through the
flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin
in the flesh;

[Rom. 8:3] and again: "by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified. [Rom.
3:20] And to shew that it is not only the law of Moses that is meant or all those precepts
which collectively are termed the law, the same apostle writes: "I delight in the law of
God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of
my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O
wretched man that I am: who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Other words of his further explain his meaning: "we know
that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I know
not: for what I would that do I not, but what I hate that do I. If then I do that which I
would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it:
but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good
thing. For to will is present with me: but how to perform that which is good I find not.
For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
[Rom. 7:14-20] 9. But you will demur to this and say that I follow the teaching of the
Manichaeans and others who make war against the church's doctrine in the interest of their
belief that there are two natures diverse from one another and that there is an evil
nature which can in no wise be changed. But it is not against me that you must make this
imputation but against the apostle who knows well that God is one thing and man another,
that the flesh is weak and the spirit strong. [cf. Matt. 26:41] "The flesh lusteth against
the spirit and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other:
so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. [Gal. 5:17] But from me you will never hear
that any nature is essentially evil. Let us learn then from him who tells us so in what
sense the flesh is weak. Ask him why he has said: "the good that I would, I do not; the
evil which I would not, that I do. [Rom. 7:19] What necessity fetters his will? What
compulsion commands him to do what he dislikes? And why must he do not what he wishes but
what he dislikes and does not wish? He will answer you thus: "nay, but, O man, who art
thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say unto him that formed it, Why
hast thou made me thus?

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour
and another unto dishonour? [Rom. 9:20, Rom. 9:21] Bring a yet graver charge against God
and ask Him why, when Esau and Jacob were still in the womb, He said: "Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. [Mal. 1:2, Mal. 1:3. Rom. 9:13] Accuse Him of injustice because,
when Achan the son of Carmi stole part of the spoil of Jericho, He butchered so many
thousands for the fault of one. Ask Him why for the sin of the sons of Eli the people were
well-nigh annihilated and the ark captured. And why, when David sinned by numbering the
people, so many thousands lost their lives. Or lastly make your own the favorite cavil of
your associate Porphyry, and ask how God can be described as pitiful and of great mercy
when from Adam to Moses and from Moses to the coming of Christ He has suffered all nations
to die in ignorance of the Law and of His commandments. For Britain, that province so
fertile in despots, the Scottish tribes, and all the barbarians round about as far as the
ocean were alike without knowledge of Moses and the prophets. Why should Christ's coming
have been delayed to the last times? Why should He not have come before so vast a number
had perished?

Of this last question the blessed apostle in writing to the Romans most wisely disposes by
admitting that he does not know and that only God does. Do you too, then, condescend to
remain ignorant of that into which you inquire. Leave to God His power over what is His
own; He does not need you to justify His actions. I am the hapless being against whom you
ought to direct your insults, I who am for ever reading the words: "by grace ye are
saved," [Eph. 2:5] and "blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
covered. [Ps. 32:1] Yet, to lay bare my own weakness, I know that I wish to do many things
which I ought to do and yet cannot. For while my spirit is strong and leads me to life my
flesh is weak and draws me to death. And I have the warning of the Lord in my ears: "watch
and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is
weak. [Matt. 26:41]

10. It is in vain that you misrepresent me and try to convince the ignorant that I condemn
free will. Let him who condemns it be himself condemned. We have been created endowed with
free will; still it is not this which distinguishes us from the brutes. For human free
will, as I have said before, depends upon the help of God and needs His aid moment by
moment, a thing which you and yours do not choose to admit. Your position is that, if a
man once has free will, he no longer needs the help of God. It is true that freedom of the
will brings with it freedom of decision. Still man does not act immediately on his free
will, but requires God's aid who Himself needs no aid. You yourself boast that a man's
righteousness may be perfect and equal to God's; yet you confess that you are a sinner.
Answer me this, then; do you or do you not wish to be free from sin? If you do, why on
your principle do you not carry out your desire? And if you do not, do you not prove
yourself a despiser of God's commandments? If you are a despiser, then you are a sinner.
And if you are a sinner, then the scripture says: "unto the wicked God saith, what hast
thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee.

[Ps. 50:16, Ps. 50:17] So long as you are unwilling to do what God commands, so long do
you cast His words behind you. And yet like a new apostle you lay down for the world what
to do and what not to do. However, your words and your thoughts by no means correspond.
For when you say that you are a sinner-yet that a man may be without sin if he will, you
wish it to be understood that you are a saint and free from all sin. It is only out of
humility that you call yourself a sinner; to give you a chance of praising others while
you depreciate yourself. 11. Another of your arguments is also intolerable, one which runs
thus: "To be sinless is one thing, to be able to be so is another. The first is not in our
power, the second generally is. For though none ever has been sinless, yet, if a man wills
to be so, he can be so." What sort of reasoning, I ask, is this? that a man can be what a
man never has been! that a thing is possible which according to your own admission, no man
has yet achieved! You are predicating of man a quality which, for aught you know, he may
never possess! and you are assigning to any chance person a grace which you cannot shew to
have marked patriarchs, prophets, or apostles. Listen to the Church's words, plain as they
may seem to you or crude or ignorant. And speak what you think; preach publicly what
secretly you tell your disciples. You profess to have freedom of choice; why do you not
speak your thoughts freely? Your secret chambers hear one doctrine, the crowd around the
platform hear another. The uneducated throng, I suppose, is not able to digest your
esoteric teaching. Satisfied with the milk-diet of an infant it cannot take solid food.
[cf. 1 Cor. 3:2]

I have written nothing yet, and still you menace me with the thunders of a reply; hoping,
I suppose, that I may be scared by your terrors and may not venture to open my mouth. You
fail to see that my purpose in writing is to force you to answer and to commit yourself
plainly to doctrines which at present you maintain or ignore, as time, place, and person
require. One kind of freedom I must deny to you, the freedom to deny what you have once
written. An open avowal on your part of the opinions that you hold will be a victory for
the church. For either the language of your reply will correspond to mine, in which case I
shall count you no longer as opponents but as friends; or else you will gainsay my
doctrine, in which case the making known of your opinion to all the churches will be a
triumph for me. To have brought your tenets to light is to have overcome them. Blasphemy
is written on the face of them, and a doctrine, which in its very statement is
blasphemous, needs no refutation. You threaten me with a reply, but this nobody can escape
except the man who does not write at all. How do you know what I am going to say that you
talk of a reply? Perhaps I shall take your view and then you will have sharpened your wits
to no purpose. Eunomians, Arians, Macedonians-all these, unlike in name, alike in impiety,
give me no trouble.

For they say what they think. Yours is the only heresy which blushes openly to maintain
what secretly it does not fear to teach. But the frenzy of the disciples exposes the
silence of the masters; for what they have heard from them in the closet they preach upon
the housetop. If their auditors like what they say, their masters get the credit; and if
they dislike it, only the disciples are blamed, the masters go free. In this way your
heresy has grown and you have deceived many; especially those who cleave to women and are
assured that they cannot sin. You are always teaching, you are always denying; you deserve
to have the prophet's words applied to you: "give to them glory, O Lord, when they are in
travail and in the throes of labour. Give them, O Lord; what wilt thou give? Give them a
miscarrying womb and dry breasts. My temper rises and I cannot check my words. The limits
of a letter do not admit of a lengthy discussion. I assail nobody by name here. It is only
against the teacher of perverse doctrine that I have spoken. If resentment shall induce
him to reply, he will but betray himself like a mouse which always leaves traces of its
presence; and, when it comes to blows in earnest, will receive more serious wounds.

12. From my youth up until now I have spent many years in writing various works and have
always tried to teach my hearers the doctrine that I have been taught publicly in church.
I have not followed the philosophers in their discussions but have preferred to acquiesce
in the plain words of the apostles. For I have known that it is written: "I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent," and
"the foolishness of God is wiser than men. [1 Cor. 1:25] This being the case, I challenge
my opponents thoroughly to sift all my past writings and, if they can find anything that
is faulty in them, to bring it to light. One of two things must happen. Either my works
will be found edifying and I shall confute the false charges brought against me; or they
will be found blameworthy and I shall confess my error. For I would sooner correct an
error than persevere in an opinion proved to be wrong. And as for you, illustrious doctor,
go you and do likewise: either defend the statements that you have made, and support your
clever theories with corresponding eloquence, and do not when the whim takes you disown
your own words; or if, as a man may do, you have made a mistake, confess it frankly and
restore harmony where there has been disagreement. Recall to mind how even the soldiers
did not rend the coat of the Saviour.

[Joh. 19:23, Joh. 19:24] When you see brothers at strife you laugh; and are glad that some
are called by your name and others by that of Christ. Better would it be to imitate Jonah
and say: "If it is for my sake that this great tempest is upon you, take me up and cast me
forth into the sea. [Jon. 1:12] He in his humility was thrown into the deep that he might
rise again in glory to be a type of the Lord. [Matt. 12:39, Matt. 12:40] But you are
lifted up in your pride to the stars, only that of you too Jesus may say: "I beheld Satan
as lightning fall from heaven. [Luke, 10:18] 13. It is true that in the holy scriptures
many are called righteous, as Zacharias and Elizabeth, Job, Jehosaphat, Josiah, and many
others who are mentioned in the sacred writings. Of this fact I shall, if God gives me
grace, give a full explanation in the work which I have promised ; in this letter it must
suffice to say that they are called righteous, not because they are faultless but because
their faults are eclipsed by their virtues. In fact Zacharias is punished with dumbness,
[Luke 1:20-22] Job is condemned out of his own mouth, [Job 42:6] and Jehoshaphat and
Josiah who are beyond a doubt described as righteous are narrated to have done things
displeasing to the Lord The first leagued himself with the ungodly Ahab and brought upon
himself the rebuke of Micaiah; [1 Kings 22:19] and the second-though forbidden by the word
of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah-went against Pharaoh-Nechoh, king of Egypt, and was slain
by him. [2 Chr. 35:20-24] Yet they are both called righteous. Of the rest this is not the
time to write; for you have asked me not for a treatise but for a letter. For a complete
refutation I require leisure and then I hope to destroy all their cavils by the help of
Christ. For this purpose I shall rely on the holy scriptures in which God every day speaks
to those who believe.

And this is the warning which I would give through you to all who are assembled within
your holy and illustrious house, that they should not allow one or at the most three
mannikins to taint them with the dregs of so many heresies and with the infamy-to say the
least-attaching to them. A place once famous for virtue and holiness must not be defiled
by the presumption of the devil and by unclean associations. And let those who supply
money to such men know that they are adding to the ranks of the heretics, raising up
enemies to Christ and fostering his avowed opponents. It is idle for them to profess one
thing with their lips when by their actions they are proved to think another.

LETTER 134. TO AUGUSTINE.

Jerome acknowledges the receipt of Letters 131 and 132 and excuses himself from answering
the questions raised in them on the twofold ground (1) that the times are evil and (2)
that it is inexpedient that he should be supposed to differ from Augustine. He prays for
the speedy extinction of Pelagianism, regrets that he cannot send Augustine a critical
Latin text of the O.T., and concludes with a number of salutations from himself and those
with him. The date of the letter is 416 a.d. Sometimes numbered as Augustine letter 172.
To Augustine, My Truly Pious Lord and Father, Worthy of My Utmost Affection and
Veneration, Jerome Sends Greeting in Christ. 1. That honourable man, my brother, and your
Excellency's son, the presbyter Orosius, I have, both on his own account and in obedience
to your request, made welcome. But a most trying time has come upon us, in which I have
found it better for me to hold my peace than to speak, so that our studies have ceased,
lest what Appius calls "the eloquence of dogs" should be provoked into exercise. For this
reason I have not been able at the present time to give to those two books dedicated to my
name — books of profound erudition, and brilliant with every charm of splendid eloquence —
the answer which I would otherwise have given; not that I think anything said in them
demands correction, but because I am mindful of the words of the blessed apostle in regard
to the variety of men's judgments, "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
Certainly, whatever can be said on the topics there discussed, and whatever can be drawn
by commanding genius from the fountain of sacred Scripture regarding them, has been in
these letters stated in your positions, and illustrated by your arguments. But I beg your
Reverence to allow me for a little to praise your genius. For in any discussion between
us, the object aimed at by both of us is advancement in learning. But our rivals, and
especially heretics, if they see different opinions maintained by us, will assail us with
the calumny that our differences are due to mutual jealousy.

For my part, however, I am resolved to love you, to look up to you, to reverence and
admire you, and to defend your opinions as my own. I have also in a dialogue, which I
recently published, made allusion to your Blessedness in suitable terms. Be it ours,
therefore, rather to rid the Church of that most pernicious heresy which always feigns
repentance, in order that it may have liberty to teach in our churches, and may not be
expelled and extinguished, as it would be if it disclosed its real character in the light
of day. 2. Your pious and venerable daughters, Eustochium and Paula, continue to walk
worthy of their own birth and of your counsels, and they send special salutations to your
Blessedness: in which they are joined by the whole brotherhood of those who with us labour
to serve the Lord our Saviour. As for the holy presbyter Firmus, we sent him last year to
go on business of Eustochium and Paula, first to Ravenna, and afterwards to Africa and
Sicily, and we suppose that he is now detained somewhere in Africa. I beseech you to
present my respectful salutations to the saints who are associated with you. I have also
sent to your care a letter from me to the holy presbyter Firmus; if it reaches you, I beg
you to take the trouble of forwarding it to him. May Christ the Lord keep you in safety,
and mindful of me, my truly pious lord and most blessed father.

[Postscript] We suffer in this province from a grievous scarcity of clerks acquainted with
the Latin language; this is the reason why we are not able to comply with your
instructions, especially in regard to that version of the Septuagint which is furnished
with distinctive asterisks and obelisks; for we have lost, through some one's dishonesty,
the most of the results of our earlier labour.

LETTER 135. FROM POPE INNOCENT TO AURELIUS.

Shortly after the synod of Diospolis the Pelagians exulting in their success made an
attack upon Jerome's monasteries at Bethlehem which they pillaged and partially burned.
This gained for him the sympathy of Innocent who now (a.d. 417) asks Aurelius to transmit
to him the letter which follows this. Innocent to his most esteemed friend and brother
Aurelius. Our fellow-presbyter Jerome has informed us of your most dutiful desire to come
to see us. We suffer with him as with a member of our own flock. We have been swift also
to take such measures as have appeared to us expedient and practicable. As you count
yourself one of us, most dear brother, make haste to transmit the following letter to the
aforesaid Jerome.

LETTER 136. FROM POPE INNOCENT TO JEROME

1 Innocent expresses his sympathy with Jerome and promises to take strong measures to
punish his opponents if he will bring specific charges against them. The date of the
letter is a.d. 417. Innocent to his most esteemed son, the presbyter Jerome. The apostle
[Tit. 3:10, Tit. 3:11] bears witness that contention has never done good in the church;
and for this reason he gives direction that heretics should be admonished once or twice in
the beginning of their heresy and not subjected to a long series of rebukes. Where this
rule is negligently observed, the evil to be guarded against so far from being evaded is
rather intensified. Your grief and lamentation have so affected us that we can neither act
nor advise. 2 To begin however, we commend you for the constancy of your faith. To quote
your own words spoken many times in the ears of many, a man will gladly face
misrepresentation or even personal danger on behalf of the truth; if he is looking for the
blessedness that is to come. We remind you of what you have yourself preached although we
are sure that you need no reminder. The spectacle of these terrible evils has so
thoroughly roused us that we have hastened to put forth the authority of the apostolic see
to repress the plague in all its manifestations; but as your letters name no individuals
and bring no specific charges, there is no one at present against whom we can proceed. But
we do all that we can; we sympathize deeply with you. And if you will lay a clear and
unambiguous accusation against any persons in particular we will appoint suitable judges
to try their cases; or if you, our highly esteemed son, think that it is needful for us to
take yet graver and more urgent action, we shall not be slow to do so. Meantime we have
written to our brother bishop John advising him to act more considerately, so that nothing
may occur in the church committed to him which it is his duty to foresee and to prevent,
and that nothing may happen which may subsequently prove a source of trouble to him.

LETTER 137. FROM POPE INNOCENT TO JOHN, BISHOP OF JERUSALEM

1 Innocent censures John for having allowed the Pelagians to effuse the disturbance at
Bethlehem mentioned in the two preceding letters and exhorts him to be more watchful over
his diocese in future. The date of the letter is a.d. 417. This was the year of the death
of both John and Innocent, and it is probable that John never received the letter.
Innocent to his most highly esteemed brother John. 2 The holy virgins Eustochium and Paula
have deplored to me the ravages, murders, fires and outrages of all kinds, which they say
that the devil has perpetrated in the district belonging to their church; for with
wonderful clemency and generosity they have left untold the name and motive of his human
agent. Now although there can be no doubt as to who is the guilty person; yet you, my
brother, ought to have taken precautions and to have been more careful of your flock so
that no disturbance of the kind might arise; for others suffer by your negligence, and you
encourage men by it to make havoc of the Lord's flock till His tender lambs, fleeced and
weakened by fire, sword and persecution, their relations murdered and dead, are, as we are
informed, themselves scarce alive. Does it not touch your sacred responsibility as a
priest that the devil has shewn himself so powerful against you and yours? Against you, I
say; for surely it speaks ill of your capacity as a priest that a crime so terrible should
have been committed in the pale of your church. Where were your precautions? Where, after
the blow had been struck, were your attempts at relief? Where too were your words of
comfort? These ladies tell me that up to the present they have been in a state of too
great apprehension to complain of what they have already suffered. I should judge more
gravely of the matter had they spoken to me concerning it more freely than they have.

3 Beware then, brother, of the wiles of the old enemy, and in the spirit of a good ruler
be vigilant either to correct or to repress such evils. For they have reached my ears in
the shape of rumours rather than as specific accusations. If nothing is done, the law of
the Church on the subject of injuries may compel the person who has failed to defend his
flock to shew cause for his negligence.

LETTER 138. TO RIPARIUS.

1 Jerome praises Riparius for his zeal on behalf of the Catholic faith and for his efforts
to put down the Pelagians. He then describes the attack made by these heretics upon the
monasteries of Bethlehem. Now, he is glad to say, they have at last been driven from
Palestine. Most of them, that is, for some still linger at Joppa including one of their
chief leaders. The date is a.d. 417. 2 That you fight Christ's battles against the enemies
of the Catholic Faith your own letters have informed me as well as the reports of many
persons, but I am told that you find the winds contrary and that those who ought to have
been the world's champions have backed the cause of perdition to each other's ruin. You
are to know that in this part of the world, without any human help and merely by the
decree of Christ, Catiline has been driven not only from the capital but from the borders
of Palestine. Lentulus, however, and many of his fellow-conspirators still linger to our
sorrow in Joppa. I myself have thought it better to change my abode than to surrender the
true faith; and have chosen to leave my pleasant home rather than to suffer contamination
from heresy. For I could not communicate with men who would either have insisted on my
instant submission or would else have summoned me to support my opinions by the sword. A
good many, I dare say, have told you the story of my sufferings and of the vengeance which
Christ's uplifted hand has on my behalf taken upon my enemies. I would beg of you,
therefore, to complete the task which you have taken up and not, while you are in it, to
leave Christ's church without a defender. Every one knows the weapons that must be used in
this warfare; and you, I feel sure will ask for no others. You must contend with all your
might against the foe;

3 but it must be not with physical force but with that spiritual charity which is never
overcome. The reverend brothers who are with me, unworthy as I am, salute you warmly. The
reverend brother, the deacon Alentius, is sure to give you, my worshipful friend, a
faithful narrative of all the facts. May Christ our Lord, of His almighty power, keep you
safe and mindful of me, truly reverend sir and esteemed brother.

LETTER 139. TO APRONIUS.

1 Of Apronius nothing is known; but from the mention of Innocent (for whom see Letter
143.) it seems a fair inference that he lived in the West. Jerome here congratulates him
on his steadfastness in the faith and exhorts him to come to Bethlehem. He then touches on
the mischief done by Pelagius and complains that his own monastery has been destroyed by
him or by his partisans. The date of the letter is a.d. 417. I know not by what wiles of
the devil it has come to pass that all your toil and the efforts of the reverend presbyter
Innocent and my own prayers and wishes seem for the moment to produce no effect. God be
thanked that you are well and that the fire of faith glows in you even when you are in the
midst of the devil's wiles. My greatest joy is to hear that my spiritual sons are fighting
in the cause of Christ; and assuredly He in whom we believe will so quicken this zeal of
ours that we shall be glad freely to shed our blood in defence of His faith.

2 I grieve to hear that a noble family has been subverted, for what reason I cannot learn;
for the bearer of the letter could give me no information. We may well grieve over the
loss of our common friends and ask Christ the only potentate and Lord [1 Tim. 6:15] to
have mercy upon them. At the same time we have deserved to receive punishment at God's
hand for we have harboured the enemies of the Lord. The best course you can take is to
leave everything and to come to the East, before all to the holy places; for everything is
now quiet here. The heretics have not, it is true, purged the venom from their breasts,
but they do not venture to open their impious mouths. They are "like the deaf adder that
stoppeth her ear." [Ps. 58:4] Salute your reverend brothers on my behalf. As for our
house, so far as fleshly wealth is concerned, it has been completely destroyed by the
onslaughts of the heretics; but by the mercy of Christ it is still filled with spiritual
riches. To live on bread is better than to lose the faith.

LETTER 141. TO AUGUSTINE

A short note in which Jerome praises Augustine for the determined stand which he has made
against heresy and speaks of him as "the restorer of the ancient faith." The allusion
seems to be to his action in the Pelagian controversy. If so, the date is probably 418
a.d. Sometimes numbered as Augustine letter 195. To His Holy Lord and Most Blessed Father,
Augustine, Jerome Sends Greeting. At all times I have esteemed your Blessedness with
becoming reverence and honour, and have loved the Lord and Saviour dwelling in you. But
now we add, if possible, something to that which has already reached a climax, and we heap
up what was already full, so that we do not suffer a single hour to pass without the
mention of your name, because you have, with the ardour of unshaken faith, stood your
ground against opposing storms, and preferred, so far as this was in your power, to be
delivered from Sodom, though you should come forth alone, rather than linger behind with
those who are doomed to perish. Your wisdom apprehends what I mean to say. Go on and
prosper! You are renowned throughout the whole world; Catholics revere and look up to you
as the restorer of the ancient faith, and - which is a token of yet more illustrious glory
- all heretics abhor you. They persecute me also with equal hatred, seeking by imprecation
to take away the life which they cannot reach with the sword. May the mercy of Christ the
Lord preserve you in safety and mindful of me, my venerable lord and most blessed father.

LETTER 142. TO AUGUSTINE.

There is good ground for supposing this to form part of the previous letter. If so, Jerome
speaks in a figure of the success gained by Pelagianism in Palestine. "Jerusalem," he
says, "is in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and will not heed the voice of Jeremiah," that
is, as the context shews, Jerome himself. Date uncertain, possibly 410 a.d. Sometimes
numbered as Augustine letter 123. [From Jerome to Augustine.] There are many who go
halting upon both feet, and refuse to bend their heads even when their necks are broken,
persisting in adherence to their former errors, even though they have not their former
liberty of proclaiming them. Respectful salutations are sent to you by the holy brethren
who are with your humble servant, and especially by your pious and venerable daughters. I
beg your Excellency to salute in my name your brethren my lord Alypius and my lord
Evodius. Jerusalem is held captive by Nebuchadnezzar, and refuses to listen to the
counsels of Jeremiah, preferring to look wistfully towards Egypt, that it may die in
Tahpanhes, and perish there in eternal bondage.

LETTER 143. TO ALYPIUS AND AUGUSTINE.

1 In this letter Jerome congratulates Alypius and Augustine on their success in strangling
the heresy of Caelestius, the co-adjutor of Pelagius, and states that, if he can find time
and secretaries, he hopes to write a refutation of the absurd errors of the Pelagian
pseudodeacon Annianus. The date is 419 a.d. Sometimes numbered as Augustine letter 202. To
the Bishops Alypius and Augustine, My Lords Truly Holy, and Deservedly Loved and
Reverenced, Jerome Sends Greeting in Christ. 1. The holy presbyter Innocentius, who is the
bearer of this letter, did not last year take with him a letter from me to your Eminences,
as he had no expectation of returning to Africa. We thank God, however, that it so
happened, as it afforded you an opportunity of overcoming [evil with good in requiting]
our silence by your letter. Every opportunity of writing to you, revered fathers, is most
acceptable to me. I call God to witness that, if it were possible, I would take the wings
of a dove and fly to be folded in your embrace. Loving you, indeed, as I have always done,
from a deep sense of your worth, but now especially because your co-operation and your
leadership have succeeded in strangling the heresy of Celestius, a heresy which has so
poisoned the hearts of many, that, though they felt they were vanquished and condemned,
yet they did not lay aside their venomous sentiments, and, as the only thing that remained
in their power, hated us by whom they imagined that they had lost the liberty of teaching
heretical doctrines.

2. As to your inquiry whether I have written in opposition to the books of Annianus, this
pretended deacon of Celedæ, who is amply provided for in order that he may furnish
frivolous accounts of the blasphemies of others, know that I received these books, sent in
loose sheets by our holy brother, the presbyter Eusebius, not long ago. Since then I have
suffered so much through the attacks of disease, and through the falling asleep of your
distinguished and holy daughter Eustochium, that I almost thought of passing over these
writings with silent contempt. For he flounders from beginning to end in the same mud,
and, with the exception of some jingling phrases which are not original, says nothing he
had not said before. Nevertheless, I have gained much in the fact, that in attempting to
answer my letter he has declared his opinions with less reserve, and has published to all
men his blasphemies; for every error which he disowned in the wretched synod of Diospolis
he in this treatise openly avows. It is indeed no great thing to answer his superlatively
silly puerilities, but if the Lord spare me, and I have a sufficient staff of amanuenses,
I will in a few brief lucubrations answer him, not to refute a defunct heresy, but to
silence his ignorance and blasphemy by arguments: and this your Holiness could do better
than I, as you would relieve me from the necessity of praising my own works in writing to
the heretic. Our holy daughters Albina and Melania, and our son Pinianus, salute you
cordially. I give to our holy presbyter Innocentius this short letter to convey to you
from the holy place Bethlehem. Your niece Paula piteously entreats you to remember her,
and salutes you warmly. May the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve you safe and
mindful of me, my lords truly holy, and fathers deservedly loved and reverenced.

LETTER 144. FROM AUGUSTINE TO OPTATUS

Augustine writes to Optatus, bishop of Milevis, to say that he cannot send him a copy of
his letter to Jerome on the origin of the soul (Letter 131.) as it is incomplete without
Jerome's reply which he has not yet received. He then criticises the arguments with which
Optatus combats traducianism and points out that his reasoning is inconclusive. The date
of the letter is a.d. 420. The letter has been somewhat compressed in translation: the
involved sentences of the original have been simplified and its redundancies curtailed. To
the blessed lord and brother, sincerely loved and longed-for, his fellow-bishop Optatus,
Augustine [sends] greeting in the Lord. 1. By the hand of the reverend presbyter
Saturninus I have received a letter from you, venerable sir, in which you earnestly ask me
for what I have not yet got. You thus shew clearly your belief that I have already had a
reply to my question on the subject. Would that I had! Knowing the eagerness of your
expectation, I should never have dreamed of keeping back from you your share in the gift;
but if you will believe me, dear brother, it is not so. Although five years have elapsed
since I despatched to the East my letter (which was one of inquiry, not of assertion), I
have so far received no reply, and am consequently unable to untie the knot as you wish me
to do. Had I had both letters, I should gladly have sent you both; but I think it better
not to circulate mine by itself lest he to whom it is addressed and who may still answer
me as I desire should prove displeased. If I were to publish so elaborate a treatise as
mine without his reply to it, he might be justly indignant, and suppose me more intent on
displaying my talents than on promoting some useful end. It would look as if I were bent
on starting problems too hard for him to solve. It is better to wait for the answer which
he probably means to send. For I am well aware that he has other subjects to occupy him
which are more serious and urgent than this question of mine. Your holiness will readily
understand this if you read what he wrote to me a year later when my messenger was
returning. The following is an extract from his letter:

"A most trying time has come upon us in which I have found it better to hold my peace than
to speak. Consequently my studies have ceased, that I may not give occasion to what Appius
calls 'the eloquence of dogs.' For this reason I have not been able to send any answer to
your two learned and brilliant letters. Not, indeed, that I think anything in them needs
correction, but that I recall the Apostle's words: 'One judges in this way, another in
that; let every man give full expression to his own opinion.' [Suo sensu abundet. Rom.
14:5, Vulg] All that a lofty intellect can draw from the well of holy scripture has been
drawn by you. So much your reverence must allow me to say in praise of your ability. But
though in any discussion between us our joint object is the advancement of learning, our
rivals and especially the heretics will ascribe any difference of opinion between us to
mutual jealousy. For my part, however, I am resolved to love you, to look up to you, to
reverence and admire you, and to defend your opinions as my own. I have also in a dialogue
which I have recently brought out made allusion to your holiness in suitable terms. Let
us, rather, then, strain every nerve to banish from the churches that most pernicious
heresy, which feigns repentance that it may have liberty to teach in our churches. For
were it to come out into the light of day, it would be expelled and die."

2. You can see, worshipful brother, from this reply that my friend does not refuse to
answer my inquiry; he postpones it because he is condemned to give his time to more urgent
matters. Moreover, that he is well disposed towards me is clear from his friendly warning
that a controversy between us begun in all charity and in the interests of learning may be
misconstrued by jealous and heretical persons as due to mutual illfeeling. No; it will be
better for the public to have both together, his explanation as well as my inquiry. For,
as I shall have to thank him for instructing me if he is able to explain the matter, the
discussion will be of no small advantage when it comes to the knowledge of the world.
Those who come after us will not only know what view they ought to take of a subject thus
fully argued but will also learn how under the divine mercy brothers in affection may
dispute a difficult question and yet preserve each other's esteem.

3. On the other hand, if I were to publish the letter in which I raise this obscure point
without the reply in which it may be set at rest, it might circulate widely and reach men
who "comparing themselves," as the Apostle says, "with themselves," [2 Cor. 10:12] would
misconstrue a motive which they could not understand, and would explain my feeling towards
one whom I love and esteem for his immense services not as it would appear to them (for it
would be invisible to them) but as their own fancy and malice would dictate. Now this is a
danger which, so far as in me lies, I am bound to guard against. But if a document which I
am unwilling to publish is published without my consent and placed in hands from which I
would withhold it, then I shall have to resign myself to the will of God. Indeed, had I
wished to keep my words permanently undivulged I should never have sent them to any one.
For if (though I hope it may not be so) chance or necessity shall prevent any reply being
ever given me, my letter of inquiry is still bound sooner or later to come to light. Nor
will it be useless to those who read it; for, although they will nor find what they seek,
they will learn how much better it is, when one is uninformed, to put questions than to
make assertions;

and in the meantime those whom they consult will work out the points raised by me, laying
aside contention and in the interests of learning and charity trying to obtain sound
opinions about them. Thus they will either arrive at the solutions they desire, or their
faculties will be quickened and they will learn from the investigation that farther
inquiry is useless. At present, however, as I have no reason to despair of an answer from
my friend I have decided not to publish the letter I have sent him, and I trust, my dear
comrade, that this decision may commend itself to you. It should do so, for you have not
asked for my letter so much as for the answer to it; and this I would gladly send you if I
had it to send. It is true that in your epistle you speak of "the lucid demonstration of
my wisdom which in virtue of my life the Giver of light has bestowed upon me"; and if by
this you mean not the way in which I have stated the problem but a solution which I have
obtained of the point in question, I should like to gratify your wish. But I must admit
that I have so far failed to discover how the soul can derive its sin from Adam (a truth
which it is unlawful to question) and yet not itself be derived from Adam. At present I
think it better to sift the matter farther than to dogmatize rashly.

4. Your letter speaks of "many old men and persons educated by learned priests whom you
have failed to recall to your modest way of thinking, and to a statement of the case which
is truth itself." You do not, however, explain what this mode of expression is. If your
old men hold fast what they have received from learned priests, how comes it that you are
troubled by a boorish mob of unlettered clerics? On the other hand, if the old men and the
unlettered clerics have wickedly departed from the priests' teachings, surely these latter
are the persons to correct them and restrain them from controversial excesses. Again when
you say that "you as a new-fledged and inexperienced teacher have been afraid to tamper
with the doctrines handed down by great and famous bishops, and that you have been loth to
draw men into a better path lest you should cast discredit on the dead," do you not imply
that in refusing to agree with you the objects of your solicitude are but preferring the
tradition of great and famous bishops to the views of a new-fledged and inexperienced
teacher? Of their conduct in the matter I say nothing, but I am most anxious to learn that
"mode ofexpression which is truth itself," not the thing expressed, but the mode of
expression.

5. For you have made it sufficiently plain to me that you disapprove of those who assert
that men's souls are derived from that of the protoplast and propagated from one
generation to another; but as your letter does not inform me, I have no means of knowing
on what grounds and from what passages of scripture you have shewn this view to be false.
What does commend itself to you is not clear either from your letter to the brothers at
Caesarea or from that which you have lately addressed to me. Only I see that you believe
and write that "God has been, is, and will be the maker of men, and that there is nothing
either in heaven or on earth which does not owe its existence wholly to Him. This is of
course a truism which nobody can call in question. But as you affirm that souls are not
propagated, you ought to explain out of what God makes them. Is it out of some pre-
existing material, or is it out of nothing? For it is impossible that you should hold the
opinion of Origen, Priscillian, and other heretics that it is for deeds done in a former
life that souls are confined in earthly and mortal bodies. This opinion is, indeed, flatly
contradicted by the apostle who says of Jacob and Esau that before they were born they had
done neither good nor evil.

[Rom. 9:11] Your view of the matter, then, is known to me though only partially, but of
your reasons for supposing it to be true I know nothing. This was why in a former letter I
asked you to send me your confession of faith, the one which you were vexed to find that
one of your presbyters had signed dishonestly. I now again ask you for this, as well as
for any passages of scripture which you have brought to bear on the question. For you say
in your letter to the brothers at Caesarea that you "have resolved to have all definitions
of dogma reviewed by lay judges, sitting by general invitation, and investigating all
points touching the faith. And you continue: "the divine mercy has made it possible for
them to put forward their views in a positive and definite form, which your modest ability
has reinforced with a great weight of evidence. Now it is this "great weight of evidence"
which I am so anxious to obtain. For, so far as I can see, your one aim has been to refute
your opponents when they deny that our souls are the handiwork of God. If they hold such a
view, you are right in thinking that it should be condemned. Were they to say the same
thing of our bodies, they would be forced to retract it, or else be held up to execration.
For what Christian can deny that every single human body is the work of God?

Yet when we admit that they are of divine origin we do not mean to deny that they are
humanly engendered. When therefore it is asserted that our souls are procreated from a
kind of immaterial seed, and that they, like our bodies, come to us from our parents, yet
are made souls by the working of God, it is not by human guesses that the assertion is to
be refuted, but by the witness of divine scripture. Numbers of passages may indeed be
quoted from the sacred books which have canonical authority, to prove that our souls are
God's handiwork. But such passages only refute those who deny that each several human soul
is made by God; not at all those who while they admit this contend that, like our bodies,
they are formed by divine agency through the instrumentality of parents. To refute these
you must look for unmistakable texts; or, if you have already discovered such, shew your
affection by communicating them to me. For though I seek them most diligently I fail to
find them.

As stated shortly by yourself (at the end of your letter to the brothers at Caesarea) your
dilemma is as follows: "inasmuch as I am your son and disciple and have but recently by
God's help come to consider these mysteries, I beg you with your priestly wisdom to teach
me which of two opposite views I ought to hold. Am I to maintain that souls are
transmitted by generation, and that they are derived in some mysterious way from Adam our
first-formed father? [Wisdom 10:1] Or am I with your brothers and the priests who are here
to hold that God has been, is, and will be the author and maker of all things and all
men?" 6. Of the two alternatives which you thus put forward you wish to be urged to choose
one or other; and this would be the course of wisdom if your alternatives were so contrary
that the choice of one would involve the rejection of the other. But as it is, instead of
selecting one of them a man may say that they are both true. He may maintain that the
souls of all mankind are derived from Adam our first-formed father, and yet believe and
assert that God has been, is, and will be the author and maker of all things and all men.
How on your principles is such a man to be confuted? Shall we say: "If they are
transmitted by generation God is not their author, for He does not make them?" In that
case he will reply: "Bodies too are engendered and not made by God; on your shewing, then
He is not their author." Will any one maintain that God is the maker of no bodies but
Adam's which He made out of the dust and Eve's which He formed out of Adam's side; and
that other bodies are not made by Him because they are engendered by human parents?

7. If your opponents go so far in maintaining the derivation of souls as to deny that they
are made and formed by God, you may use this argument as a weapon to confute them so far
as God's help enables you. But if, while they assert that the soul's beginnings come from
Adam first and then from a man's parents, they at the same time hold that the soul in
every man is created and formed by God the author of all things, they can only be confuted
out of scripture. Search therefore till you find a passage that is neither obscure nor
capable of a double meaning; or if you have already found one, hand it on to me as I have
begged you to do. But if, like myself, you have so far failed to discover any such
passage, you must still strain every nerve to confute those who say that souls are in no
sense God's handiwork. This seems to be your opponents

position, for in your first letter you write that "they have secretly whispered scandalous
doctrines and have forsaken your communion and the obedience of the church on account of
this foolish, nay impious opinion. Against such men defend and uphold by every possible
expedient the doctrine you have laid down in the same letter, that God has been, is, and
will be the maker of souls; and that everything in heaven and on earth owes its existence
wholly to Him. For this is true of every creature; and as such is to be believed,
asserted, defended, and proved. God has been, is, and will be the author and maker of all
things and all men as you have told your fellow-bishops of the province of Caesarea,
exhorting them to adopt the doctrine by the example of your brothers and fellow-priests.
But there are two quite distinct dilemmas: (1) Is God the author and maker of all souls
and bodies (the true view), or is there something in nature which He has not made (a view
which is wholly erroneous)? If souls are undoubtedly God's handiwork, does He make them
directly, or indirectly by propagation? It is in dealing with this second dilemma that I
would have you to be sober and vigilant. Else in refuting the propagation-theory you may
fall incautiously into the heresy of Pelagius. Everybody knows that human bodies are
propagated by generation;

yet if we are right in saying that all human souls-and not only those of Adam and Eve-are
created by God, it is clear that to assert their transmission by generation is not to deny
their divine origin. For in this view God makes the soul as He makes the body, indirectly
by a process of generation. If the truth condemns this as an error, some fresh argument
must be sought to confute it. No persons could better advise you on the point (if only
they were within reach) than those dead worthies whom you feared to discredit by drawing
men away from them into a better path. They were, you said, great and famous bishops while
you were a new-fledged and inexperienced teacher; thus you were loth to tamper with their
doctrines. Would that I could know on what passages these great men rested their opinion
that souls are transmitted! For in your letter to the brothers at Caesarea, you speak of
their view with a total disregard of their authority, as a new invention, an unheard-of
doctrine; though we all know that, error as it may be, it is no novelty but old and of
ancient date.

8. Now when we have reason to be doubtful about a point, we need not doubt that we are
right in doubting. There is no doubt but that we ought to doubt things that are doubtful.
For instance, the Apostle has no doubt about doubting whether he was in the body or out of
the body when he was carried up into the third heaven. [2 Cor. 12:4] Whether it was thus
or thus, he says, I know not; God knows. Why may not I, then, so long as I have no light,
doubt whether my soul comes to me by generation or unengendered? Why may I not be doubtful
about this, so long as I do not doubt that in either case it is the work of God most high?
Why may I not say; "I know that my soul owes its existence to God and is altogether His
handiwork; but whether it comes by generation, as the body does, or unengendered, as was
Adam's soul, I know not; God knows. You wish me to assert positively one view or the
other. I might do so if I knew which was right. You may have some light on the point, and
if so you will find me keener to learn what I know not than to teach what I know. But if,
like myself, you are in the dark, you should pray, as I do, that either through one of His
servants, or with His own lips, He would teach us who said to His disciples:

"Be not ye called masters; for one is your master, even Christ. [Matt. 23:10] Yet such
knowledge is only expedient for us when He knows it to be expedient who knows both what He
has to teach and what we ought to learn. Nevertheless, to you, my dear friend, I confess
my eagerness. Still much as I desire to know this after which you seek, I would sooner
know when the desire of all nations shall come and when the kingdom of the saints will be
set up, than how my soul has come to its earthly abode. But when His disciples (who are
our apostles) put this question to the all-knowing Christ, they were told: "It is not
yours to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power. [Acts
1:7] What if Christ, who knows what is expedient for us, knows this knowledge not to be
expedient? Through Him I know that it is not ours to know the times which God has placed
in His own power; but concerning the origin of souls, I am ignorant whether it is or is
not ours to know. If I could be sure that such knowledge is not for us, I should cease not
only to dogmatize, but even to inquire. As it is, though the subject is so deep and dark
that my fear of becoming a rash teacher is almost greater than my eagerness to learn the
truth, I still wish to know it if I can do so.

It may be that the knowledge for which the psalmist prays: "Lord, make me to know mine
end," [Ps. 39:4] is much more necessary; yet I would that my beginning also might be
revealed to me. 9. But even as touching this I must not be ungrateful to my Master. I know
that the human soul is spiritual not corporeal, that it is endowed with reason and
intelligence, and that it is not of God's essence but a thing created. It is both mortal
and immortal: the first because it is subject to corruption and separable from the life of
God in which it is alone blessed, the second because its consciousness must ever continue
and form the source of its happiness or woe. It does not, it is true, owe its immersion in
the flesh to acts done before the flesh; yet in man it is never without sin, not even when
"its life has been but for one day." [Job 14:5, LXX] Of those engendered of the seed of
Adam no man is born without sin, and it is necessary even for babes to be born anew in
Christ by the grace of regeneration. All this I know concerning the soul, and it is much;
the greater part of it, indeed, is not only knowledge but matter of faith as well. I
rejoice to have learned it all and I can truly say that I know it. If there are things of
which I am still ignorant (as whether God creates souls by generation or apart from it-for
that He does create them I have no doubt) I would sooner know the truth than be ignorant
of it. But so long as I cannot know it I had rather suspend my judgment than assert what
is plainly contrary to an indisputable truth.

10. You, my brother, ask me to decide for you whether men's souls as made by the Creator
come like their bodies by generation from Adam, or whether like his soul they are made
without generation and separately for each individual. For in one way or the other we both
admit that they are God's handiwork. Suffer me then in turn to ask you a question. Can a
soul derive original sin from a source from which it is not itself derived? For unless we
are to fall into the detestable heresy of Pelagius, we must both of us allow that all
souls do derive original sin from Adam. And if you cannot answer my question, pray give me
leave to confess my ignorance alike of your question and of my own. But if you already
know what I ask, teach me and then I will teach you what you wish to know. Pray do not be
displeased with me for taking this line, for though I have given you no positive answer to
your question, I have shewn you how you ought to put it. When once you are clear about
that, you may be quite positive where you have been doubtful.

This much I have thought it right to write to your holiness seeing that you are so sure
that the transmission of souls is a doctrine to be rejected. Had I been writing to
maintainers of the doctrine I might perhaps have shewn how ignorant they are of what they
fancy they know and how cautious they should be not to make rash assertions. It may
perhaps perplex you that in my friend's answer as I have quoted it in this letter he
mentions two letters of mine to which he has no time to reply. Only one of these deals
with the problem of the soul; in the other I have asked light on another difficulty. Again
when he urges me to take more pains for the removal from the church of a most pernicious
heresy, he alludes to the error of the Pelagians which I earnestly beg you, my brother, at
all hazards to avoid. In speculating or arguing on the origin of the soul you must never
give place to this heresy with its insidious suggestions. For there is no soul, save that
of the one Mediator, which does not derive original sin from Adam. Original sin is that
which is fastened on the soul at its birth and from which it can only be freed by being
born again.

LETTER 145. TO EXUPERANTIUS.

1 Jerome advises Exuperantius, a Roman soldier, to come to Bethlehem and with his brother
Quintilian to become a monk. According to Palladius (H. L. c. lxxx.) Exuperantius came to
Jerome but went away again 'unable to endure his violence and ill-will.' The date of the
letter is unknown. Among all the favours that my friendship with the reverend brother
Quintilian has conferred upon me the greatest is this that he has introduced me in the
spirit to you whom I do not know personally. Who can fail to love a man who, while he
wears the cloak and uniform of a soldier does the work of a prophet, and while his outer
man gives promise of quite a different character, overcomes this by the inner man which is
formed after the image of the creator. I come forward therefore to challenge you to an
interchange of letters and beg that you will often give me occasion to reply to you that I
may for the future feel less constraint in writing.

2 For the present I will content myself by suggesting to your discretion that you should
bear in mind the apostle's words: "Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art
thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife; [1 Cor. 7:27] that is, seek not that binding
which is contrary to loosing. He who has contracted the obligations of marriage, is bound,
and he who is bound is a slave; on the other hand he who is loosed is free. Since
therefore you rejoice in the freedom of Christ, since your life is better than your
profession, since you are all but on the housetop of which the Saviour speaks; you ought
not to come down to take your clothes, [Matt. 24:17, Matt. 24:18] you ought not to look
behind you, you ought not having put your hand to the plough, then to let it go. [Luke
9:62] Rather, if you can, imitate Joseph and leave your garment in the hand of your
Egyptian mistress, [Gen. 39:12] that naked you may follow your Lord and Saviour. For in
the gospel He says: "Whosoever doth not leave all that he hath and bear his cross and come
after me cannot be my disciple. [Luke 14:26, Luke 14:27] Cast from you the burthen of the
things of this world, and seek not those riches which in the gospel are compared to the
humps of camels. Naked and unencumbered fly up to heaven; masses of gold will but impede
the wings of your virtue.

3 I do not speak thus because I know you to be covetous, but because I have a notion that
your object in remaining so long in the army is to fill that purse which the Lord has
commanded you to empty. For they who have possessions and riches are bidden to sell all
that they have and to give to the poor and then to follow the Saviour. [Matt. 19:21] Thus
if your worship is rich already you ought to fulfil the command and sell your riches; or
if you are still poor you ought not to amass what you will have to pay away. Christ
accepts the sacrifices made for him [2 Cor. 8:12] according as he who makes them has a
willing mind. Never were any men poorer than the apostles; yet never any left more for the
Lord than they. The poor widow in the gospel who cast but two mites into the treasury was
set before all the men of wealth because she gave all that she had. [Luke 21:1-4] So it
should be with you. Seek not for wealth which you will have to pay away; but rather give
up that which you have already acquired that Christ may know his new recruit to be brave
and resolute, and then when you are a great way off His Father will run with joy to meet
you. He will give you a robe, will put a ring upon your finger. and will kill for you the
fatted calf.

4 [Luke 15:20-23] Then when you are freed from all encumbrances God will soon make a way
for you to cross the sea to me with your revereZnd brother Quintilian. I have now knocked
at the door of friendship: if you open it to me you will find me a frequent visitor.


LETTERS 125 TO 147
==================

LETTERS 125 TO 147 continued

LETTER 146. TO EVANGELUS.

1 Jerome refutes the opinion of those who make deacons equal to presbyters, but in doing
so himself makes presbyters equal to bishops. The date of the letter is unknown. 2 1. We
read in Isaiah the words, "the fool will speak folly," [Isa. 32:6, RV] and I am told that
some one has been mad enough to put deacons before presbyters, that is, before bishops.
For when the apostle clearly teaches that presbyters are the same as bishops, must not a
mere server of tables and of widows [Acts 6:1, Acts 6:2] be insane to set himself up
arrogantly over men through whose prayers the body and blood of Christ are produced? Do
you ask for proof of what I say? Listen to this passage: "Paul and Timotheus, the servants
of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops
and deacons. [Ph. 1:1] Do you wish for another instance? In the Acts of the Apostles Paul
thus speaks to the priests of a single church: "Take heed unto yourselves and to all the
flock, in the which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops, to feed the church of God which
He purchased with His own blood. [Acts 20:28, RV] And lest any should in a spirit of
contention argue that there must then have been more bishops than one in a single church,
there is the following passage which clearly proves a bishop and a presbyter to be the
same. Writing to Titus the apostle says: "For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou
shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain presbyters in every city,
as I had appointed thee:

3 if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of
riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God. [Tit. 1:5-7] And to
Timothy he says: "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy,
with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. [Tim. 4:14] Peter also says in his
first epistle: "The presbyters which are among you I exhort, who am your fellow-presbyter
and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be
revealed: feed the flock of Christ ...taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but
willingly, according unto God. In the Greek the meaning is still plainer, for the word
used is "episkopountej", that is to say, overseeing, and this is the origin of the name
overseer or bishop. But perhaps the testimony of these great men seems to you
insufficient. If so, then listen to the blast of the gospel trumpet, that son of thunder,
[Mark 3:17] the disciple whom Jesus loved [Joh. 13:23] and who reclining on the Saviour's
breast drank in the waters of sound doctrine. One of his letters begins thus: "The
presbyter unto the elect lady and her children whom I love in the truth; and another thus:
"The presbyter unto the well-beloved Gains whom I love in the truth.

4 When subsequently one presbyter was chosen to preside over the rest, this was done to
remedy schism and to prevent each individual from rending the church of Christ by drawing
it to himself. For even at Alexandria from the time of Mark the Evangelist until the
episcopates of Heraclas and Dionysius the presbyters always named as bishop one of their
own number chosen by themselves and set in a more exalted position, just as an army elects
a general, or as deacons appoint one of themselves whom they know to be diligent and call
him archdeacon. For what function, excepting ordination, belongs to a bishop that does not
also belong to a presbyter? It is not the case that there is one church at Rome and
another in all the world beside. Gaul and Britain, Africa and Persia, India and the East
worship one Christ and observe one rule of truth. If you ask for authority, the world
outweighs its capital. Wherever there is a bishop, whether it be at Rome or at Engubium,
whether it be at Constantinople or at Rhegium, whether it be at Alexandria or at Zoan, his
dignity is one and his priesthood is one. Neither the command of wealth nor the lowliness
of poverty makes him more a bishop or less a bishop. All alike are successors of the
apostles.

LETTER 147. TO SABINIANUS

Jerome writes in severe but moderate language to Sabinianus, a deacon, calling on him to
repent of his sins. Of these he recounts at length the two most serious, an act of
adultery at Rome and an attempt to seduce a nun at Bethlehem. The date of the letter is
uncertain. 1. Of old, when it had repented the Lord that he had anointed Saul to be king
over Israel, [1 Sam. 15:11, 1 Sam. 15:17] we are told that Samuel mourned for him; and
again, when Paul heard that there was fornication among the Corinthians and such
fornication as was not so much as named among the gentiles, [1 Cor. 5:1] he besought them
to repent with these tearful words: "lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among
you and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the
uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed. [2 Cor. 12:21]
If an apostle or a prophet, themselves immaculate, could speak thus with a clemency
embracing all, how much more earnestly should a sinner like me plead with a sinner like
you. You have fallen and refuse to rise; you do not so much as lift your eyes to heaven;
having wasted your father's substance you take pleasure in the husks that the swine eat;
[Luke 16:13, Luke 16:16] and climbing the precipice of pride you fall headlong into the
deep. You make your belly your God instead of Christ; you are a slave to lust; your glory
is in your shame; [Phil. 3:19] you fatten yourself like a victim for the slaughter, and
imitate the lives of the wicked, careless of their doom. "Thou knowest not that the
goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart thou treasurest up unto thyself wrath against
the day of wrath. [Rom. 2:4, Rom. 2:5] Or is it that your heart is hardened, as Pharaoh's
was, because your punishment is deferred and you are not smitten at the moment? The ten
plagues were sent upon Pharaoh not as by an angry God but as by a warning father, and his
day of grace was prolonged until he repented of his repentance. Yet doom overtook him when
he pursued through the wilderness the people whom he had previously let go and presumed to
enter the very sea in the eagerness of his pursuit. For only in this one way could he
learn the lesson that He is to be dreaded whom even the elements obey. He had said: "I
know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go; [Ex. 5:2] and you imitate him when you
say: "The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times
that are far off. [Ezek. 12:27, Ezek. 12:28] Yet the same prophet confutes you with these
words: "Thus saith the Lord God, There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but
the word which I have spoken shall be done. David too says of the godless (and of
godlessness you have proved yourself not a slight but an eminent example), that in this
world they rejoice in good fortune and say: "How doth God know? And is there knowledge in
the Most High?

Behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. [Ps.
73:11, Ps. 73:12] Then almost losing his footing and staggering where he stands he
complains, saying "Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in
innocency. [Ps. 73:13] For he had previously said: "I was envious at the foolish, when I
saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no regard for death, but their strength is
firm. They are not in trouble as other men are; neither are they plagued like other men.
Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.
Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt,
and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against
the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. [Ps. 73:3-9] 2. Does not this
whole psalm seem to you to be written of yourself? Certainly you are hale and strong; and
like a new apostle of Antichrist, when you are found out in one city, you pass to another.
[Cf. Matt. 10:23] You are in no need of money, no crushing blow strikes you down, neither
are you plagued as other men who are not like you mere brute beasts. Therefore you are
lifted up into pride, and lust covers you as a garment. Out of your fat and bloated
carcass you breathe out words fraught with death. You never consider that you must some
day die, nor feel the slightest repentance when you have satisfied your lust. You have
more than heart can wish; and, not to be alone in your wrongdoing, you invent scandals
concerning those who are God's servants. Though you know it not, it is against the most
High that you are speaking iniquity and against the heavens that you are setting your
mouth. It is no wonder that God's servants small and great are blasphemed by you, when
your fathers did not scruple to call even the master of the house Beelzebub. "The disciple
is not above his master nor the servant above his lord. [Matt. 10:24, Matt. 10:25] If they
did this with the green tree, what will you do with me, the dry? [Luke 23:31] Much in the
same way also the offended believers in the book of Malachi gave expression to feelings
like yours;

for they said, "It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his
ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts? And now we call
the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are
even delivered. Yet the Lord afterwards threatens them with a day of judgment; and
announcing beforehand the distinction that shall then be made between the righteous and
the unrighteous, speaks to them thus: "Return ye, and discern between the righteous and
the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. [Mal. 3:14, Mal.
3:15, Mal. 3:18] 3. All this may perhaps seem to you matter for jesting, seeing that you
take so much pleasure in comedies and lyrics and mimes like those of Lentulus; although so
blunted is your wit that I am not disposed to allow that you can understand even language
so simple. You may treat the words of prophets with contempt, but Amos will still make
answer to you: "Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions and for four shall I not
turn away from him? [Am. 1:3, LXX] For inasmuch as Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, the
Ammonites and the Moabites, the Jews also and the children of Israel, although God had
often prophesied to them to turn and to repent, had refused to hear His voice, the Lord
wishing to shew that He had most just cause for the wrath that he was going to bring upon
them used the words already quoted, "For three transgressions and for four shall I not
turn away from them? It is wicked, God says, to harbour evil thoughts; yet I have allowed
them to do so. It is still more wicked to carry them out; yet in My mercy and kindness I
have permitted even this. But should the sinful thought have become the sinful deed?
Should men in their pride have trampled thus on my tenderness? Nevertheless "I have no
pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live;

[Ezek. 33:11] and as it is not they that are whole who need a physician but they that are
sick, [Luke 5:31] even after his sin I hold out a hand to the prostrate sinner and exhort
him, polluted as he is in his own blood, [Cf. Ezek. 16:6] to wash away his stains with
tears of penitence. But if even then he shews himself unwilling to repent, and if, after
he has suffered shipwreck, he refuses to clutch the plank which alone can save him, I am
compelled at last to say: "Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions and for four
shall I not turn away from him? For this "turning away" God accounts a punishment,
inasmuch as the sinner is left to his own devices. It is thus that he visits the sins of
the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation; [Ex. 20:5] not
punishing those who sin immediately but pardoning their first offences and only passing
sentence on them for their last. For if it were otherwise and if God were to stand forth
on the moment as the avenger of iniquity, the church would lose many of its saints; and
certainly would be deprived of the apostle Paul. The prophet Ezekiel, from whom we have
quoted above, repeating God's words spoken to himself speaks thus: "Open thy mouth and eat
what I shall give thee. And behold," he says, "an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll
of a book was therein; and he spread it before me;

and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and a
song, and woe. [Ezek. 3:1, Ezek. 2:9, 10, Vulg] The first of these three belongs to you if
you prove willing, as a sinner, to repent of your sins. The second belongs to those who
are holy, who are called upon to sing praises to God; for praise does not become a
sinner's mouth. And the third belongs to persons like you who in despair have given
themselves over to uncleanness, to fornication, to the belly, and to the lowest lusts; men
who suppose that death ends all and that there is nothing beyond it; who say: "When the
overflowing scourge shall pass through it shall not come unto us. [Is. 28:15] The book
which the prophet eats is the whole series of the Scriptures, which in turn bewail the
penitent, celebrate the righteous, and curse the desperate. For nothing is so displeasing
to God as an impenitent heart. Impenitence is the one sin for which there is no
forgiveness. For if one who ceases to sin is pardoned even after he has sinned, and if
prayer has power to bend the judge; it follows that every impenitent sinner must provoke
his judge to wrath. Thus despair is the one sin for which there is no remedy. By obstinate
rejection of God's grace men turn His mercy into sternness and severity. Yet, that you may
know that God does every day call sinners to repentance, hear Isaiah's Words:

"In that day," he says, "did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and to mourning and to
baldness and to girding with sackcloth: and behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and
killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine; let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we
shall die. After these words filled with the recklessness of despair the Scripture goes on
to say: "And it was revealed in my ears by the Lord of Hosts, Surely this iniquity shall
not be purged from you till ye die. [Isa. 22:12-14] Only when they become dead to sin,
will their sin be forgiven them. For, so long as they live in sin, it cannot be put away.
4. Have mercy I beseech you upon your soul. Consider that God's judgment will one day
overtake you. Remember by what a bishop you were ordained. The holy man was mistaken in
his choice; but this he might well be. For even God repented that he had anointed Saul to
be king. [1 Sam. 15:11] Even among the twelve apostles Judas was found a traitor. And
Nicolas of Antioch-a deacon like yourself [Acts 6:5] -disseminated the Nicolaitan heresy
and all manner of uncleanness. [Rev. 2:6, Rev. 2:15] I do not now bring up to you the many
virgins whom you are said to have seduced, or the noble matrons who have suffered death
because violated by you, or the greedy profligacy with which you have hied through dens of
sin. For grave and serious as such sins are in themselves, they are trivial indeed when
compared with those which I have now to narrate. How great must be the sin beside which
seduction and adultery are insignificant? Miserable wretch that you are! when you enter
the cave wherein the Son of God was born, where truth sprang out of the earth and the land
did yield her increase, [Ps. 85:11, Ps. 85:12] it is to make an assignation. Have you no
fear that the babe will cry from the manger, that the newly delivered virgin will see you,
that the mother of the Lord will behold you?

The angels cry aloud, the shepherds run, the star shines down from heaven, the wise men
worship, Herod is terrified, Jerusalem is in confusion, and meantime you creep into a
virgin's cell to seduce the virgin to whom it belongs. I am filled with consternation and
a shiver runs through me, soul and body, when I try to set before your eyes the deed that
you have done. The whole church was keeping vigil by night and proclaiming Christ as its
Lord;? one spirit though in different tongues the praises of God were being sung. Yet you
were squeezing your love-notes into the openings of what is now the altar, as it was once
the manger, of the Lord, choosing this place in order that your unhappy victim might find
and read them when she came to kneel and worship there. Then you took your place among the
singers, and with impudent nods communicated your passion to her.

5. Oh! crying shame! I can go no farther. For sobs anticipate my words, and indignation
and grief choke me in the act of utterance. Oh! for the sea of Tully's eloquence! Oh! for
the impetuous current of the invective of Demosthenes! Yet in this case I am sure you
would both be dumb; your eloquence would fail you. A deed has been disclosed which no
rhetoric can explain; a crime has been discovered which no mime can represent, nor jester
play, nor comedian describe. It is usual in the monasteries of Egypt and Syria for virgins
and widows who have vowed themselves to God and have renounced the world and have trodden
under foot its pleasures, to ask the mothers of their communities to cut their hair; not
that afterwards they go about with heads uncovered in defiance of the apostle's command,
[1 Cor. 11:5, 1 Cor. 11:6] for they wear a close-fitting cap and a veil. No one knows of
this in any single case except the shearers and the shorn, but as the practice is
universal, it is almost universally known. The custom has in fact become a second nature.
It is designed to save those who take no baths and whose heads and faces are strangers to
all unguents, from accumulated dirt and from the tiny creatures which are sometimes
generated about the roots of the hair.

6. Let us see then, my good friend, how you acted in these surroundings. You promised to
marry your unhappy victim; and then in that venerable cave you took from her, either as
securities for her fidelity or as a pledge of the engagement, some locks of hair, some
handkerchiefs, and a girdle, swearing at the same time that you would never love another
as you loved her. Then you ran to the place where the shepherds were watching their flocks
when they heard the angels singing over head, and there again you plighted your troth. I
say no more; I do not accuse you of kissing her or of embracing her. Although I believe
that there is nothing of which you are not capable, still the sacred character of stable
and field forbids me to suppose you guilty except in will and determination. Unhappy man!
When you first stood beside the virgin in the cave, surely a mist must have dimmed your
eyes, your tongue must have been paralysed, your arms must have fallen to your sides, your
chest must have heaved, your gait must have become unsteady. She had assumed the bridal-
veil of Christ in the basilica of the apostle Peter and had vowed to live henceforth in
the monastery, in the spots consecrated by the Lord's Cross, His Resurrection, and His
Ascension; and yet after all this you dared to accept that hair, which at Christ's command
she had cut off in the cave of His birth, as a token of her readiness to sleep with you.

Again you used to sit beneath her window from the evening till the morning; and because
owing to its height you could not come to close quarters with her, you conveyed things to
her and she in her turn to you by the aid of a cord. How careful the lady superior must
have been is shewn by the fact that you never saw the virgin except in church; and that,
although both of you had the same inclination, you could find no means of conversing with
each other except at a window under cover of night. As I was afterwards told you used to
be quite sorry when the sun rose. Your face looked bloodless, shrunken, and pale; and to
remove all suspicion, you used to be for ever reading Christ's gospel as if you were a
deacon indeed. I and others used to attribute your paleness to fasting, and to admire your
bloodless lips-so unlike the brilliant colour which they generally shewed-in the belief
that they were caused by frequent vigils. You were already preparing ladders to fetch the
unhappy virgin from her cell; you had already arranged your route, ordered vessels,
settled a day, and thought out the details of your flight, when, behold, the angel who
kept the door of Mary's chamber, who watched over the cradle of the Lord and who bore in
his arms the infant Christ, in whose presence you had committed these great sins, himself
and none other, betrayed you.

7. Oh! my unlucky eyes! Oh! day worthy of the most solemn curse, on which with utter
consternation I read your letters, the contents of which I am forced to remember still!
What obscenities they contained! What blandishments! What exultant triumph in the prospect
of the virgin's dishonour. A deacon should not have even known such things, much less
should he have spoken of them. Unhappy man! where can you have learned them, you who used
to boast that you had been reared in the church. It is true, however, that in these
letters you swear that you have never led a chaste life and that you are not really a
deacon. If you try to disown them your own handwriting will convict you, and the very
letters will cry out against you. But meantime you may make what you can of your sin, for
what you have written is so foul that I cannot bring it up as evidence against you.

8. You threw yourself down at my knees, you prostrated yourself, you begged me-I use your
own words-to spare "your half-pint of blood." Oh! miserable wretch! you thought nothing of
God's judgment, and feared no vengeance but mine. I forgave you, I admit; what else being
a Christian could I do? I urged you to repent, to wear sackcloth, to roll in ashes, to
seek seclusion, to live in a monastery, to implore God's mercy with constant tears. You
however showed yourself a pillar of confidence, and excited as you were by the viper's
sting you became to me a deceitful bow; you shot at me arrows of reviling. I am become
your enemy because I tell you the truth. [Gal. 4:16] I do not complain of your calumnies;
everyone knows that you only praise men as infamous as yourself. What I lament is that you
do not lament yourself, that you do not realize that you are dead, that, like a gladiator
ready for Libitina, you deck yourself out for your own funeral. You wear not sackcloth but
linen, you load your fingers with rings, you use toothpowder for your teeth, you arrange
the stray hairs on your brown skull to the best advantage. Your bull's neck bulges out
with fat and droops no whit because it has given way to lust. Moreover you are redolent of
perfume, you go from one bath to another, you wage war against the hair that grows in
spite of you, you walk through the forum and the streets a spruce and smooth-faced rake.
Your face has become the face of a harlot: you know not how to blush. [Jer. 3:3] Return,
unhappy man, to the Lord, and He will return to you. [Mal. 3:7] Repent, and He will repent
of the evil that He has purposed to bring upon you.

9. Why is it that you disregard your own scars and try to defame others? Why is it that
when I give you the best advice you attack me like a madman? It may be that I am as
infamous as you publicly proclaim; in that case you can at least repent as heartily as I
do. It may be that I am as great a sinner as you make me out; if so, you can at least
imitate a sinner's tears. Are my sins your virtues? Or does it alleviate your misery that
many are in the same plight as yourself? Let a few tears fall on the silk and fine linen
which make you so resplendent. Realize that you: are naked, torn, unclean, a beggar. [Rev.
3:17] It is never too late to repent. You may have gone down from Jerusalem and may have
been wounded on the way; yet the Samaritan will set you upon his beast, and will bring you
to the inn and will take care of you. [Luke 10:30-34] Even if you are lying in your grave,
the Lord will raise you though your flesh may stink. [Joh. 11:39, Joh. 11:44] At least
imitate those blind men for whose sake the Saviour left His home and heritage and came to
Jericho. They were sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death when the light shone
upon them. [Luke 1:79] For when they learned that it was the Lord who was passing by they
began to cry out saying:

"Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. [Matt. 9:27, cf. Luke 18:35-38] You too will have
your sight restored; if you cry to Him, and cast away your filthy garments at His call.
[Mark 10:50] "When thou shalt turn and bewail thyself then shalt thou be saved, and then
shalt thou know where thou hast hitherto been. [Isa. 30:15, LXX] Let Him but touch your
scars and pass his hands over your eyeballs; and although you may have been born blind
from the womb and although your mother may have conceived you in sin, he will purge you
with hyssop and you shall be clean, he will wash you and you shall be whiter than snow.
[Ps. 51:5, Ps. 51:7] Why is it that you are bowed together and bent down to the ground,
why is it that you are still prostrate in the mire? She whom Satan had bound for eighteen
years came to the Saviour; and being cured by Him was made straight so that she could once
more look up towards heaven. [Luke 13:11-13] God says to you what He said to Cain: "Thou
hast sinned: hold thy peace. [Gen. 4:7, LXX] Why do you flee from the face of God and
dwell in the land of Nod? Why do you struggle in the waves when you can plant your feet
upon the rock? See to it that Phinehas does not thrust you through with his spear while
you are committing fornication with the Midianitish woman.

[Num. 25:6-8] Amnon did not spare Tamar, [2 Sam. 13:14] and you her brother and kinsman in
the faith have had no mercy upon this virgin. But why is it that when you have defiled her
you change into an Absalom and desire to kill a David who mourns over your rebellion and
spiritual death? The blood of Naboth [1 Kings 21:13] cries out against you. The vineyard
also of Jezreel, that is, of God'sseed, demands due vengeance upon you, seeing that you
have turned it into a garden of pleasures and made it a seed-bed of lust. God sends you an
Elijah to tell you of torment and of death. Bow yourself down therefore and put on
sackcloth for a little while; then perhaps the Lord will say of you what He said of Ahab:
"Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before me, [1
Kings 21:29] I will not bring the evil in his days."

10. But possibly you flatter yourself that since the bishop who has made you a deacon is a
holy man, his merits will atone for your transgressions. I have already told you that the
father is not punished for the son nor the son for the father. "The soul that sinneth it
shall die. [Ezek. 18:4] Samuel too had sons who forsook the fear of the Lord and "turned
aside after lucre" and iniquity. [1 Sam. 8:3] Eli also was a holy priest, but he had sons
of whom we read in the Hebrew that they lay with the women that assembled at the door of
the tabernacle of God, and that like you they shamelessly claimed for themselves the right
to minister in His sanctuary. [1 Sam. 2:12-17, 1 Sam. 2:22] Wherefore the tabernacle
itself was overthrown and the holy place made desolate by reason of the sins of those who
were God's priests. And even Eli himself offended God by shewing too great leniency to his
sons; therefore, so far from the righteousness of your bishop being able to deliver you,
it is rather to be feared that your wickedness may hurl him from his seat and that falling
on his back like Eli he may perish irretrievably. [1 Sam. 4:18] If the Levite Uzzah was
smitten merely because he tried to hold up from falling the ark which it was his special
province to carry;

[2 Sam. 6:6, 2 Sam. 6:7] what punishment, think you, will be inflicted upon you who have
tried to overthrow the Lord's ark when standing firm? The more estimable the bishop is who
ordained you, the more detestable are you who have disappointed the expectations of so
good a man. His long ignorance of your misdoings is indeed easy to account for; as it
generally happens that we are the last to know the scandals which affect our homes, and
are ignorant of the sins of our children and wives even when our neighbors talk of nothing
else. At all events all Italy was aware of your evil life; and it was everywhere a subject
of lamentation that you should still stand before the altar of Christ. For you had neither
the cunning nor the forethought to conceal your vices. So hot were you, so lecherous, and
so wanton, so entirely under the sway of this and that caprice of self-indulgence, that,
not content with satisfying your passions, you gloried in each intrigue as a triumph and
emerged from it bearing palms of victory.

11. Once more the fire of unchastity seized you, this time among savage swords and in the
quarters of a married barbarian of great influence and power. You were not afraid to
commit adultery in a house where the injured husband might have punished you without
calling in a judge's aid. You found yourself attracted and drawn to suburban parks and
gardens; and, in the husband's absence behaved as boldly and madly as if you supposed your
companion to be not your paramour but your wife. She was at last captured, but you escaped
through an underground passage and secretly made your way to Rome. There you hid yourself
among some Samnite robbers; and on the first hint that the aggrieved husband was coming
down from the Alps like a new Hannibal in search of you, you did not think yourself safe
till you had taken refuge on shipboard. So hasty indeed was your flight that you chose to
face a tempest at sea rather than take the consequences of remaining on shore. Somehow or
other you reached Syria, and on arriving there professed a wish to go on to Jerusalem and
there to serve the Lord. Who could refuse to welcome one who declared himself to be a
monk; especially if he were ignorant of your tragical career and had read the letters of
commendation which your bishop had addressed to other prelates? Unhappy man! you
transformed yourself into an angel of light; [2 Cor. 11:14, 2 Cor. 11:15] and while you
were in reality a minister of Satan, you pretended to be a minister of righteousness. You
were only a wolf in sheep's clothing; [Matt. 7:15] and having played the adulterer once
towards the wife of a man, you desired now to play the adulterer to the spouse of Christ.

12. My design in recounting these events has been to sketch for you the picture of your
evil life and to set your misdeeds plainly before your eyes. I have wished to prevent you
from making God's mercy and His abundant tenderness an excuse for committing new sins and
to save you from crucifying to yourself the son of God afresh and putting Him to an open
shame. For you may do these things if you do not read the words which follow the passage
to which I have alluded. They are these: "The earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh
oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth
blessings from God: but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected and is nigh unto
cursing; whose end is to be burned." [Heb. 6:6, Heb. 6:7-8]


HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS
======================

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS Jerome

c. AD 347–420

Translator of the Latin Vulgate and prolific biblical scholar.

HOMILY 1, ON PSALM 1

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). The Psalter is like a great house, which has one
outer key on the door, but within, in its various chambers, has its own keys. Although the
one broader key of the great door is the Holy Spirit, nevertheless each single chamber has
its own little keys. If, then, someone were to throw the keys of the house down in
confusion, and wanted to open a chamber, he cannot unless he finds the key: so the
individual psalms are like individual little cells, each having its own keys. And so the
great door of this house is the first psalm, which begins thus: 2 Blessed is the man who
has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly. Some think that the key of this psalm should
be applied to the person of Christ our Lord: so that this blessed man, according to his
humanity, is Christ. Good will, indeed, but it is inexperience. For if the blessed man is
Christ, and Christ gave the law, how is it now said of Christ, But his will is in the law
of the Lord? Then, how is he compared to another tree, and it is said, And he shall be
like the tree which is planted beside the running waters? For if he is compared to a tree,
and everything that is compared is less than that to which it is compared; then the tree
will be greater than the Lord, who is compared to the tree. You see, therefore, that the
psalm cannot be interpreted of the person of the Lord, but is spoken generally of the just
man. Although many think it was said of Joseph, the one from Arimathea, who did not walk
in the counsel of the Jews, and stood not in the way of sinners, and sat not in the seat
of the Pharisees: nevertheless what others interpret specifically of him, we interpret
generally of the just man.

3 Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly. We read in Genesis
that Adam was cursed, when it is said: 'Cursed is the earth in your works.' The first
curse of man, therefore, is now dissolved by a blessing. As in the old law one blessing is
set down: but in the Gospel eight blessings together are pronounced. Blessed is the man
who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly. Blessed man — not "human being," but
"man," who has come to the perfect man, Christ. Who has not walked in the counsel of the
ungodly. He has described three general sins of men. For we either think, or do, or teach.
First we think; then, when we have thought, we turn the thought into deeds: when we have
done something, an increase (auxesis) has now been made, so that we teach others what we
ourselves had done. Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly,
who did not think evil: and stood not in the way of sinners, who did not do evil: and sat
not in the seat of pestilence, that is, who did not even teach others. And sat not in the
seat of pestilence. And stood not in the way of sinners. It is difficult for anyone not to
sin. Indeed John the evangelist also says that whoever denies that he has committed sin is
lying, and is a liar.

4 If, then, we all sin, how does he now say, And stood not in the way of sinners? If we
all sin, and no one is blessed except him who has not sinned; then, because we all sin, no
one is blessed. But see what he says, And stood not in the way of sinners. He did not say,
blessed is the man who has not sinned, but blessed is the man who has not persevered in
sin. And stood not in the way of sinners. I sinned yesterday, I am not blessed. If I do
not stand in the sin, but withdraw myself, I am now blessed. And sat not in the seat of
pestilence. Just as there he said "stood," so here also he said "sat": just as there the
man who has not persevered in sin is blessed, so here the man who has not persevered in
evil teaching and sat, is blessed. What then? You yourselves see how blessedness is
granted in three ways: if we do not think evils, if we do not persevere in sin, if we do
not teach the things that are evil. This is what the prophet also says: 'For three and
four sins I will not turn her back, says the Lord.' And he says this eight times. Now Amos
speaks this, that is: you thought, I pardoned: you did it, I pardoned: you did not do
penance, I pardoned: were you obliged even to teach evils?

5 This is what is said, For three and four sins I will not be angry with you, says the
Lord. 6 And in his law he shall meditate day and night. He named three things which he
ought not to do: not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, and not to stand in the way of
sinners, and not to sit in the seat of pestilence. He named three things which we ought
not to do: he names two things which we ought to do. For it is not enough for us to flee
evils, unless we attain to goods. But his will is in the law of the Lord. He did not say
"fear," but "will": for many act out of fear, but the fear of the one acting has no
reward. But his will is in the law of the Lord, that he may wish to do what the Lord has
commanded. And in his law he shall meditate day and night. Speech cannot unfold how much
the mind conceives. But his will is in the law of the Lord. Someone may say: Behold, I
wish to do the law of God, therefore I am blessed because I wish it. But see what follows:
it is not enough to will the law of God, but to meditate in his law day and night. He
shall meditate day and night. Someone may say: This human nature does not bear; for one
must walk, and drink, and eat, and sleep, and the things necessary for life must be
procured.

7 How then shall he meditate on the law of God day and night, especially since the apostle
says: 'Praying without ceasing'? Can I pray at the time when I am sleeping? Meditation on
the law, then, is not in reading, but in doing. Indeed it is said in another place:
'Whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all in the name of the Lord.' If I hold
out alms, I meditate on the law of God: if I visit the sick, my feet meditate on the law
of God: if I do the things that are commanded, what others meditate with the mouth, I
meditate with the body. The Jews, therefore, meditate with the mouth: our meditation is
work. He named, then, three things which we ought not to do, he named two things which we
ought to do: he who has done this, of what reward is he worthy?

8 And he shall be like the tree which is planted beside the running waters, which shall
give its fruit in its season, and its leaf shall not fall off. Many interpret it simply,
and say thus: Just as a tree, if it is planted next to the waters, must needs be green,
and is not dried up, because its roots have moisture whereby they live: so whoever
meditates on the law of God, the meditation on the law itself makes greenness and life for
him. This they interpret simply: but we, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and
reading that in paradise was planted the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, and that this tree of life was planted in paradise, and that from paradise
itself goes forth a fountain which is divided into four heads... We read also in Solomon,
if it please anyone to receive the book, for there he speaks of wisdom (Christ, the power
of God and the wisdom of God): therefore where Solomon says 'It is a tree of life to all
who lay hold of her,' there it is said of wisdom. But if wisdom is the tree of life, and
wisdom itself is Christ: you see, then, that he who is the blessed and holy man is
compared to this tree, that is, to wisdom. You see, then, that this just and blessed man,
who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, who did not do those things, and did
these things, shall be like the tree which is planted beside the running waters, that is,
he shall be like Christ; since indeed 'he has made us sit together in the heavens, and
reign together.' You see, then, that we shall reign with Christ in heaven. You see that
this tree is planted in paradise, and we all are planted together with him.

9 And he shall be like the tree which is planted beside the running waters. For from that
fountain proceed all the rivers. Which shall give its fruit in its season. This tree does
not give fruit at every time, but in its season. This tree does not give in the present
age, but in the future, that is, on the day of judgment. This tree now has flowers, this
tree now buds, and promises fruits to come. This tree has two things: it has both fruits,
and it has leaves. The fruit has the meaning in the Scriptures; the leaves, the simple
words. The fruit is in the meaning, the leaves indeed are in the words. Whoever, then,
reads the holy Scriptures, if he reads according to the Jews, he understands only the
leaves; but if he understands spiritually, he takes the fruit. And its leaf shall not fall
off. Nevertheless the leaves also of this tree are useful. Indeed if anyone understands
even according to the history, he has profit for his soul. We read in the Apocalypse of
John (that the book is not received in these provinces, yet we ought to know that in all
the West, and in the other Phoenician provinces, and in Egypt, the book is received, and
is ecclesiastical:

10 for the ancient ecclesiastical men also, among whom are Irenaeus, and Polycarp, and
Dionysius, and the other Roman interpreters, among whom is also holy Cyprian, receive the
book and interpret it) — we read there, then: 'And behold,' he says, 'I saw a throne set,
and one lamb, and a tree,' he says, 'beside the river, and on each part of the bank the
tree itself': that is, it was on this part, and it was on that part. 'And it had,' he
says, 'fruits, that tree, and in the year, in each single month, it brought forth fruit
twelve times. And it had,' he says, 'leaves, and its leaves were for the healing of the
nations.' I saw, he says, one throne set. For although we believe in the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit, and there is a Trinity, nevertheless the kingdom is one. I saw,
he says, one throne set. And I saw, he says, in the sight of the throne one lamb standing.
It is said of the Savior's assumption of a body. 'Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who
takes away the sins of the world.' And there went forth, he says, a fountain from beneath
the midst of the throne. You see, then, that from the midst of the throne goes forth a
fountain of graces. Nevertheless that fountain does not go forth from the throne, unless
the lamb has stood over against it: for unless we believe the incorporation of Christ, we
do not receive these graces.

11 And a tree, he says, one lofty tree was set. He did not say trees, but one tree. If it
is one tree, how is it on this part of the bank, and on that part of the bank? For if he
had said, I saw trees, it could be that some were on one part, and others on another. But
now one tree is said to be on each part. One river goes forth from the throne of God, that
is the grace of the Holy Spirit; and this grace of the Holy Spirit is in the holy
Scriptures, that is, in that river of the Scriptures. Nevertheless that river has two
banks, both the old and the new testament; and on each part the planted tree is Christ.
This tree, then, in the year, that is, in each single month, brought forth fruit twelve
times. For we cannot receive fruits from that tree, except through the apostles. If
anyone, then, comes to the tree through the apostles, he must needs receive fruits, reap
fruit from the holy Scriptures, that is, the divine meaning dwelling in the letter. If
anyone, then, comes to that tree through the apostles, as we have said, he takes its
fruit; but if anyone has not been able to, he is still weaker, and is not yet a disciple,
but is of the crowd, but is from outside, is of the nations.

12 This man, because he cannot take the fruit, let him take the words, that is, the leaves
for the healing of the nations; for it is written, And its leaves for the healing of the
nations. If anyone is still of the nations, if anyone is not a disciple, and is still of
the crowd, let this man receive its leaves, that is, let him receive the simple words as a
medicine. Indeed it is written, And its leaves for the healing of the nations, that is,
for medicine. Why have we said all this, and digressed to the Apocalypse? Because it is
written, Which shall give its fruit in its season, and its leaf shall not fall off, and
all things whatsoever he shall do shall prosper. 13 We have spoken of the blessedness of
the just man, we have spoken of his reward, that he who has not done three things, and has
done two things, is compared to the tree of paradise, that is, to Christ the wisdom. We
have spoken, then, of the holy man; now on the contrary let us see what is said of the
sinner and of the ungodly. Not so the ungodly. All those kinds of rewards, which we have
said of the just, the ungodly shall not receive. Not so the ungodly. He did not say, not
so the sinners: for if he had said "of sinners," we were all estranged. Not so the
ungodly. Between the ungodly and the sinner there is this difference: he who is ungodly
denies God; he who is a sinner confesses and sins. Not so the ungodly. In some copies it
is read a second time, Not so the ungodly, not so: but let us know that in the Hebrew it
is set down once. We have spoken of the holy man and of his comparison, And he shall be
like the tree which is planted beside the running waters. Now on the contrary it is said
of the ungodly. Just as the just man is compared to a tree; so the ungodly is compared to
dust. He who is just is compared to the tree of paradise; but he who is ungodly is
compared to dust, which the wind casts forth from the face of the earth.

14 Dust, although it is of the earth, nevertheless has ceased to be earth. But like the
dust which the wind casts forth from the face of the earth. See what is said: so wretched
will the ungodly be, that he is not even earthly dust. He seems indeed not to have
substance, but he has his own substance. He has nothing solid; but what he has, he has for
punishment. He is scattered hither and thither, he is never in one place; wherever the
wind has dragged him, thither his rush is directed: so also the ungodly man who has once
denied God, wherever the breeze of the devil has dragged him, thither he is led by error.
15 Since we have said what the just man is, to whom he is compared; what the ungodly man
is, to whom he is compared, and we have spoken of the present age: now we ought to learn
of the future and eternal. Therefore the ungodly do not rise again in judgment, nor
sinners in the counsel of the just. We read in the Gospel according to John: 'Whoever
believes in me shall not be judged; whoever does not believe in me is already judged.' Who
then is to be judged, if both he who believes shall not be judged, and he who does not
believe is already judged? Who shall be judged on the day of judgment? Let us seek, then,
a middle one between the believer and the unbeliever, who is to be judged. He who believes
shall not be judged. He who believes does not sin, he who truly believes does not sin, he
who has true faith does not sin. Indeed when we sin, our mind wavers in faith; at that
time when we sin, when we grow angry, when we disparage, when we commit murders, when we
fornicate, where is faith? Therefore what he says, He who believes in me, shall not be
judged; for he has no need to be judged, he is already blessed. But he who does not
believe, is already judged; for he is already prejudged unto punishment. Who then is
judged? He who believes indeed, but is overcome by sins: he who has good things, has also
evil things:

16 he who at the time when he believes does well, and at the time when he does not believe
does ill. Let us see then now what is said. Therefore the ungodly do not rise again in
judgment. They do not rise again to be judged, because they are already judged: For he who
does not believe in me, is already judged. Nor sinners in the counsel of the just. He did
not say, sinners do not rise again; but, they do not rise again in the counsel of the
just. They do not deserve to rise again with those who are not to be judged. If they
believed in me, they would rise again with those who are not to be judged. 17 For the Lord
knows the way of the just, and the way of the ungodly shall perish. For the Lord knows the
way of the just. And what is so great, if the Lord knows the way of the just? But God is
said to know those whom he deigns to know. Indeed it is said of sinners: 'Depart from me,
workers of iniquity, I do not know you.' The apostle says: 'If anyone knows, he is known.'
For the Lord knows the way of the just. He who is a sinner, the Lord does not know him; he
who is just, is known by God. We read in Genesis, at the time when Adam transgressed, at
the time when he listened more to the serpent than to God, when he hid himself from the
face of God, God came after the meal into paradise, and was walking about. See what is
said. God seeks Adam, not at midday, but toward evening; for now Adam had lost the sun,
because he had no midday. Toward evening, that is δείλινον, evening (deilinon), and he was
walking. For God does not stand still for the sinner, but walks. For he knew that he was
in paradise, and he was not ignorant of what had been done; but because Adam had sinned,
God does not know him. And God said: Adam, where are you? We have spoken of this, how the
sinner is not known by God: on the contrary we ought to know how the just man is known by
God.

18 God says to Abraham: 'Go forth from your land and from your kindred.' He came into
Palestine, was in Abramium, was in Gerara a long time. When a son, Isaac, had been born to
him, and he had received the promise 'That in your seed all the nations shall be blessed,'
he took Isaac, and offered him to God, and a voice from heaven was heard, Spare your son.
And immediately it is written there, at the time when he had offered his son, what does
God say to Abraham? 'Now I have known that you fear the Lord your God.' You who had spoken
for so long a time, have you now come to know Abraham? But because great faith had been
shown in offering his son, therefore now for the first time God began to know him. Why
have we said all this? Because it is written, For the Lord knows the way of the just. Let
us speak also in another way. The way and the life and the truth is Christ: let us walk,
then, in Christ, and God the Father knows our way.

19 And the way of the ungodly shall perish. He did not say, the ungodly shall perish; but
if they do penance, they too shall be saved. At the time when the apostle Paul persecuted
Christ and his churches, he was ungodly. For if the ungodly shall perish, no place is
given for penance. But he did not say, and the ungodly shall perish; but, the way of the
ungodly shall perish: that is, the ungodliness shall perish, the ungodly man shall not
perish, but the ungodliness itself; the man who was ungodly shall not perish, but, the man
doing penance, the ungodliness shall perish. May God, then, grant us this, that we do not
do the three things, and that we do the two: that we may be compared to the tree of life,
that we may not be ungodly, who are compared to dust: that we may not be sinners, since
sinners do not rise again in the counsel of the just, so that the evil way may perish: and
let us bless God, to whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY 2, ON PSALM 5

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). The fifth psalm is headed with this title: Unto
the end, for her who obtains the inheritance, a psalm of David. Many think that the titles
do not belong to the psalms, and by what reasoning they judge this, they do not know. If
indeed these titles were not found in the Hebrew and Greek and Latin volumes, they would
rightly think so; but now, since they are found in the Hebrew books — and especially this
title which is set at the head of the fifth psalm — I am astonished that they should wish
to say this, that there is anything in Scripture without a reason. For if 'one iota and
one tittle shall not pass from the law,' how much more such words or even syllables?

2 Unto the end, for her who obtains the inheritance, a psalm of David. Our inheritance is
not promised at the beginning, but at the end of the world. The Jews thought they had
obtained it at the beginning; we obtain it at the end. Whence the apostle John also says:
'Little children, it is the last hour.' Therefore in the last hour there is the end; at
the end, the inheritance. Unto the end, for her who obtains the inheritance. Who is this
who obtains the inheritance? It seems to me that it is the Church; for she is the one who
obtains the inheritance. A psalm of David. He sings at the beginning what the Church
receives at the end. Therefore the fifth psalm is spoken in the person of the Church.
Others interpret it in many ways: many speak according to the history concerning the
people of Israel, that it wished to return from Babylon into Judea. This they interpret:
they have not interpreted Unto the end, nor For her who obtains the inheritance. We
therefore, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, shall strive by your prayers to
expound this psalm in the person of the Church.

3 Give ear to my words, O Lord. No one has this confidence except the Church. He who is a
sinner has not dared to say, Give ear to my words, O Lord. He who is angry and curses has
not dared to say, Give ear to my words, O Lord; but he wishes rather that God would close
His ears. Understand my cry. A cry in the Scriptures is not of the voice, but of the
heart. Thus to Moses it is said, 'Why criest thou to me?' though Moses had not cried out
before. Understand my cry. And the apostle: 'Crying in our hearts, Abba, Father.' Surely
he who cries out does not cry in the heart, but cries with the tongue. And how does the
apostle say, Crying in our hearts? When therefore our groaning and our conscience make
supplication, God understands that cry. Whence Jeremiah also says: 'Let not the pupil of
my eye be silent.' See what he says, Let not the pupil of my eye be silent. And sometimes
the pupil of the eye cries out to God. Surely if it cries, the tongue cries, not the pupil
of the eye. But just as we cry in our hearts when we entreat the Lord with groaning, so
when we pour out tears to God, at that time the pupil of our eye cries out to the Lord.

4 My King and my God. He has truly dared to say, My King and my God, in whom sin does not
reign in his mortal body. My King and my God. Because Thou reignest in me, and sin does
not reign, therefore Thou art my God. Thou art my God, because the belly is not my god,
because gold is not my god, because lust is not my god. Since Thou art virtue, and I
desire to have virtues, therefore Thou art my God, that is, my virtue. In the morning Thou
shalt hear my voice. Some interpret it more simply, thus: I rise up at dawn to pray, and I
entreat Thee. This interpretation too is valid. What then? Does He hear us in the morning,
but not hear us in the evening? Will God not hear us in the middle of the night? But see
what he says: As long as I am in the darkness of error, Thou dost not hear me; but when
the sun of righteousness has come into my heart, then Thou hearest me. In the morning Thou
shalt hear my voice. He did not say, at the third hour, he did not say, at the sixth hour,
he did not say, in full light; but see what he says: In the morning, as soon as the
darkness has begun to flee, Thou hearest; immediately, at the beginning of a good work,
Thou hearest me, Thou dost not require the finishing of it. For to will is mine, to bring
to completion is Thine.

5 In the morning I shall stand before Thee, and I shall see. See the order. In the
morning, not in the evening, not in darkness, but in the morning. In the morning I shall
stand before Thee: I shall stand firmly, and I shall imitate Moses. In the morning I shall
stand before Thee: before Thee I shall stand, not before another. But when it is morning,
and I have stood, and I have stood before Thee, then I shall deserve to see Thee. And I
shall see. Understood: I shall see Thee. Many read it badly, and say καὶ ἐπόψῃ με ('and
Thou shalt look upon me'), but let us know that this is an error: it is rather said καὶ
ἐπόψομαι, that is, 'I shall see,' so that the order may be as we have said: as the light
of the virtues begins to rise in my soul, when I have begun to stand before Thee, not to
sit, not to lie, but to stand, and Thou hast set my steps upon the rock, then through
those steps I shall deserve to see Thee.

6 For Thou art not a God that willest iniquity. Therefore Thou wilt not hear me in full
light, but in the morning; because Thou dost not will iniquity, O God. For when I have
begun to withdraw from iniquity, immediately I shall deserve to be heard by Thee. Neither
shall the malignant one dwell beside Thee. When someone who is evil withdraws from us, let
us rejoice: this happens in us which happens also in the Lord. For see what the Holy
Spirit says. Neither shall the malignant one dwell beside Thee. See what he says, the
malignant one shall not dwell beside Thee. 'For what communion has light with darkness?
what agreement has Christ with Belial?' When therefore some withdraw from us, let us also
say: 'They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they
would surely have remained with us.' It is said to God: The malignant one shall not dwell
beside Thee. For if God is fire, and a consuming fire, whoever is stubble, whoever is
wood, flees from the fire, lest he be consumed by the fire.

7 Neither shall the unjust remain before Thine eyes. When it is said, Neither shall they
remain, it is shown that at one time they did remain. For the unjust did at one time
remain before the eyes of God, they remained while God awaited their repentance; but since
they remained unjust, therefore they did not remain before the eyes of God. Thou hatest
all who work iniquity. Unhappy is he whom God hates. Who is that one whom God hates? He
who works iniquity. If therefore we all sin, and whoever sins is held in hatred by God,
then we are held in hatred by the Lord. But if we are held in hatred by the Lord, how have
we been saved by grace? Thou hatest all who work iniquity. He did not say, who have worked
iniquity; but, who work iniquity. Those who persevere in sin, they are held in hatred by
the Lord: but those who have forsaken it, they are loved by the Lord. Thou hatest all who
work iniquity. This is said of sinners, who persevere in their sins. Let us see what else
follows.

8 Thou wilt destroy all who speak a lie. I see a new thing. He who works evil is held in
hatred; he who lies, perishes. Let us see which is more, to be held in hatred by the Lord,
or to perish. He who is held in hatred by God is indeed unhappy, because he is held in
hatred by the Lord: but he still lives. But he who speaks a lie and perishes, has already
ceased to be. Therefore he who speaks a lie is more unhappy than he who works iniquity:
for he who works iniquity is held in hatred; but he who speaks a lie, perishes. 'For the
mouth that lies kills the soul.' And how is it written, 'That God may be truthful, but
every man a liar'? But if whoever speaks a lie already perishes, and kills his own soul,
and yet we all lie, then shall we all perish? Therefore, from what he says here, Thou wilt
destroy all who speak a lie, and from what follows in the psalm, and from the very order,
we can understand that he is speaking of heretics. For he who works iniquity kills only
his own soul; but he who is a heretic, and speaks a lie, kills as many men as he has led
astray. Thou wilt destroy all who speak a lie. Let us see who these are who speak a lie.

9 The man of blood and the deceitful the Lord shall abhor. Every heretic is a man of
blood; for daily he sheds the blood of souls. The man of blood and the deceitful. He
rightly said, the deceitful: he is both a murderer, and deceitful. Why is he deceitful? He
falsely fashions his own words into the words of the Lord. The man of blood and the
deceitful the Lord shall abhor. See what a heretic is: the Lord shall abhor him. Of
sinners he says, Thou hatest all who work iniquity; of false teachers, The Lord shall
abhor them. But I, in the multitude of Thy mercy, will enter into Thy house. They in their
iniquity go out from Thy house: I in Thy mercy enter into Thy house. I will enter into Thy
house, which is the Church. I will worship toward Thy holy temple in Thy fear. That is the
house which is also the temple.

10 Lord, lead me in Thy righteousness because of my enemies. I indeed desire to enter into
Thy house, and I wish to enter by Thy straight way: but since my enemies set stumbling-
blocks continuously along the paths, and lay snares in the road for me who desire to go
into Thy house; therefore I ask Thee, that Thou wouldst direct my feet even unto the end
in Thy way. It is mine to set my feet in Thy way: it is Thine to correct my steps. Because
of my enemies direct Thy way in my sight: that is, make Thy way straight because of my
enemies, who lie in wait for me. But what is this way? The reading of the Scriptures, that
is, that I may not fall in Thy Scriptures, through which I desire to enter into Thy
Church. For everyone who understands the Scriptures badly falls in the way of God.

11 For there is no truth in their mouth. The heretics are described; the man of blood and
deceit is described, whom the Lord shall abhor. There is no truth in their mouth: they do
not have Christ the truth in their mouth, because neither do they have Him in their heart.
Their heart is vain. It reads better in the Hebrew: 'Their heart is ἐπίβουλον
(treacherous).' For the heart of the heretics truly lies in wait for all whom it deceives.
Their throat is an open sepulchre. The heretics are unhappy, who are whitewashed
sepulchres, full of the bones of the dead. Their throat is an open sepulchre. Arius,
Eunomius, and the other heretics have tongues for arrows, they have their jaws for a
sepulchre. Their throat is an open sepulchre. Excellently he said, open: for whenever some
deceived person wishes to enter, the heretic is ready, and receives him. Never do the
heretics close their mouth, but they always open it. Their throat is an open sepulchre.
With their tongues they acted deceitfully. One thing they held in the heart, another thing
they promised in speech: they spoke piety, and concealed impiety: they speak of Christ,
and hide the Antichrist: for they know that no one can be led on, if they bring forth the
Antichrist. They bring forth light, in order to conceal the darkness, in order through the
light to lead to the darkness. With their tongues they acted deceitfully.

12 Judge them, O God. Let them know that Thou art the judge, let them know that Thou dost
regard human affairs: Thou who art to judge at the end, judge also in the present: Thou
who art to judge in general, judge now in part: let those who are unwilling to feel Thee
as Father feel Thee as judge. Judge them, O God. Why? for what cause? It follows: Let them
fall from their thoughts. For if in the present Thou wilt render to them what they
deserve, they will begin to withdraw from their evil thoughts. As long as they do not feel
Thee as judge, they do not fear. Let them fall from their thoughts. Excellently he said,
from their thoughts: for daily the heretics change their doctrines. In short, if a man of
the Church, learned in the Scriptures, contends against them, and refutes them from the
holy Scriptures, immediately they seek out some other new doctrine to devise. They do not
seek how they may be saved, but how they may prevail. Therefore he said now, Let them fall
from their thoughts: let them fall from their many thoughts, and let them have Thee as
their one thought.

13 According to the multitude of their impieties cast them out. He did not say from where
He should cast them out: whether He should cast them out from heaven, whether He should
cast them out from the earth: from where He should cast them out, the Scripture does not
say; but it is a ὑπερβατόν (a transposition) and a ὕστερον πρότερον (a putting of the
latter first). We ought therefore to read, According to the multitude of their impieties
cast them out. What he says is this: cast them out from their many impieties for the sake
of Thy mercy, that is, let them not be in their many impieties. It can also be interpreted
otherwise: since they have been most impious, and have been unwilling to fall from their
thoughts, and heap impieties upon impieties, and daily gather them, and have more
impieties, therefore cast them out. From where? From her who obtains the inheritance, that
is, the Church, which obtains Thy inheritance. Do Thou cast them out from there, so that,
since they do not have the faith of the Church, they may not dwell in the Church either.
For they have provoked Thee, O Lord. Thou, O Lord, by nature art sweet; but whoever are
sinners and heretics turn the nature of Thy sweetness into bitterness by their own vice.

14 And let all rejoice who hope in Thee. Let those perish, let those of the Church
rejoice. They shall exult forever. Here, forever, we ought not to speak of the present
age, but of the age to come. In short, he did not say, they exult in this age; but, they
shall exult, it is said of the future. For here there is sadness, but there is joy there.
The heretics laugh in the present, but they shall mourn in the future: we, however, mourn
in the present, that we may laugh in the future. They shall exult forever. What will be
the exultation of the holy men? And Thou shalt dwell in them. Happy will they be, who
shall deserve to have Christ as their guest. And Thou shalt dwell in them. Happy are they
who shall be the tabernacle of Christ. And all who love Thy name shall glory in Thee.
Whoever loves the Lord shall glory in the Lord. See what he says. All who love Thy name
shall glory in Thee. Who love: he did not say, who fear, but, who love. For wherever there
is fear, there is no love: 'for perfect love casts out fear.' For whoever love the name of
the Lord, they shall glory. They shall glory: our blessedness is in the future; all that
is promised is of the future. Let others reign, let others possess, let others glory: we
are here wretched, that afterward we may be happy. Let us follow Christ our Lord.

15 He who says that he believes in Christ, let him also walk as Christ walked. Christ the
Son of God came not to be ministered unto, but to minister: He came not to command, but to
serve: He came not that His feet should be washed, but that He might wash the feet of the
disciples: He came not to strike, but to be struck: He gave not a blow, but received one;
He crucified not, but was crucified: He killed not others, but Himself suffered: He was
poor, that He might make us rich: He received the stroke for us, that we, being scourged,
might not feel pain. As often as we are struck, let us offer the cheek, let us present the
back, let us imitate Christ. He who is struck imitates Christ: he who strikes, the
Antichrist. Why do I say all this? That in the present age we may glorify the name of
Christ for what we endure for Christ's sake. While we speak, while we walk, we are
suddenly snatched away. I myself, who speak to you today, know not what shall become of me
tomorrow. If a slight little fever comes, where is that voice? where is the pride?
suddenly it is turned into ash. 'Why doth earth and ash boast?' We are earth and ash.
'Earth thou art, and unto earth thou shalt go.' And earth boasts against its Maker. It
follows: For Thou wilt bless the just. Thou wilt bless, in the future: therefore
blessedness is deferred.

16 Lord, Thou hast crowned us as with a shield of good will. In the world one thing is the
shield, another the crown; but with God He Himself is the shield, He Himself is also the
crown. As a shield He protects, as God He crowns: He Himself is our shield, He Himself is
also our crown. And this is what he says, Lord, Thou hast crowned us as with a shield of
Thy good will: Thou hast protected us with Thy shield, and Thy protection was our crown,
that is, our crown was Thy shield, it was our victory. For the crown is interpreted as
victory. Let us give thanks to God, and let us entreat Him, that in His good will He
Himself may be our shield and our crown, that we may never withdraw from Him, that we may
follow Him, and may say with Jeremiah: 'And following after Thee I have not grown weary.'
To whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY 3, ON PSALM 7

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Names are imposed on individual things, so that
from the names the things themselves may be known: so too the psalms have been prefaced
with titles, so that from the titles the psalms themselves may be understood. The fifth
psalm is prefaced with this title: 'Unto the end, for her that obtaineth the inheritance.'
The sixth psalm is prefaced with this title: 'Unto the end, in hymns, for the octave, a
psalm of David.' In the fifth it is said, 'For her that obtaineth the inheritance'; in the
sixth it is said, 'For the octave.' But in the seventh — since it too was sung under the
alleluia, since on that other Lord's day the sixth psalm was read, and we were unable, on
account of illness, to interpret it — but now the seventh psalm has been read. It has,
moreover, a title of this sort: 'A psalm of David, which he sang to the Lord for the words
of Chusi the son of Jemini.' See the mysteries. Have these things, then, been written
without a cause? In the fifth it is said, 'For her that obtaineth the inheritance'; in the
sixth it is said, 'For the octave'; in the seventh it is said, 'For the words of Chusi the
son of Jemini.' You see, then, how great are the mysteries woven together here.

2 'For her that obtaineth the inheritance' — since in the fifth psalm we discussed,
interpreting that the psalm had been sung in the person of the Church, which has obtained
the inheritance of Christ. But the sixth pertains properly to the resurrection of the
Lord, which is the eighth day. For we have both a first day and an eighth day. For on the
eighth day we received the kingdom of heaven. The eighth day is after the sabbath, the
first at the beginning. It would take long, if we now wished to speak about the number
eight: how there are eight beatitudes in Matthew; how in the hundred and eighteenth psalm
each letter has eight verses; how there are fifteen psalms of degrees, how they are seven
and eight; how Ecclesiastes too says, 'Give a portion to seven, and give a portion to
eight'; how the eastern gate in Ezekiel has seven steps and eight steps. It would take
long to tell how David too was the eighth of the sons of Jesse, who received the kingdom.
This is what is now said, 'For the octave': for on the eighth we received the kingdom of
heaven. Whence he says: 'O Lord, rebuke me not in thy fury, neither chastise me in thy
wrath.' But since we cannot interpret both psalms equally together, it is enough for us to
have discussed the title of the sixth psalm.

3 Now let us come to the beginning of the seventh, which begins thus: 'A psalm of David,
which he sang to the Lord for the words of Chusi the son of Jemini.' I know that many men,
and certainly most learned ones, have interpreted this title in this way. At that time,
they say, when Absalom rose up against David his father (I beg you to listen more
patiently: for we wish to interpret the Scriptures, not to declaim) — at that time,
therefore, when Absalom rose up against David, one of David's friends, by name Chusi,
wished to go with David, but David sent him back to Absalom, that he might scatter the
counsels of Ahithophel. At the time when Ahithophel gave counsel that Absalom should at
once pursue David unprepared and kill him, Chusi then gave counsel and scattered the
counsel of Ahithophel. And this Chusi himself sent a messenger to David, saying: Thus and
thus is Absalom making ready; and David began to flee and to prepare himself. At the time
when Chusi sent the words to David, David sang this psalm to the Lord, because the
counsels of Ahithophel had been scattered. This they say, and indeed they have expounded
it reasonably. But let us read the Scriptures carefully: for there it is written thus,
that this Chusi is the son of Arachi. Then that Chusi is written with a different letter
in Kingdoms: there Chusi is written with SAMECH, but here Chusi is written with the letter
SIN. Then that Chusi is the son of Arachi; whence many of the Greeks, not knowing, read:
'Chusi the friend of David.' It is not so in the Hebrew, but it stands written thus:
'Chusi the son of Arachi, the friend of David.' You see, then, that the Greeks err even in
the reading.

4 It is therefore most manifest, according to the rule of the Scriptures, that that Chusi
is the son of Arachi. But this Chusi is called Jemini. Since we said that that Chusi was
the son of Arachi, who is this Jemini? And we ought, comparing spiritual things with
spiritual, to find the rule of this name. Where do we find 'Jemini' in the Scriptures? It
is doubtful to no one that there is one tribe of the twelve, by name Benjamin. Now
Benjamin is interpreted 'son of the right hand.' For at the time when Rachel died in
Ephrata (we see the tomb with our own eyes, we do not seek examples elsewhere); at that
time, therefore, when Rachel was dying, 'She bore,' it says, 'an infant, and the women —
or she herself who was dying — called his name Benoni, that is, son of my sorrow.' But on
the contrary Jacob the father turned the mother's sorrow into glory, and does not call him
Benoni, that is, son of my sorrow, but Benjamin, that is, son of the right hand, that is,
of my strength. Benjamin, therefore, is a name composed of two parts, of 'son' and of
'right hand': for BEN means 'son,' JAMIN means 'right hand.' Let us know, therefore, that
the tribe of Benjamin is always called Jemini. We read in the book of Kingdoms, at the
time when it is written concerning Saul: 'And behold,' it says, 'a man of the tribe of
Benjamin, by name Saul;

5 the son,' it says, 'of Cis, son of Abiel, son of Jethra, son of Jether, son of Gera, son
of Jemini.' And immediately there he is called a Jeminean man, that is, of the Jeminean
tribe, that is, of the tribe of Benjamin. Let us give yet another testimony, lest we be
able to doubt. That Shimei, who on the Mount of Olives at the time when David was fleeing
his son Absalom — Scripture says this: 'And behold,' it says, 'Shimei of the kindred of
Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin. And he threw,' it says, 'stones at David, and said: Get
out, get out, thou man of blood.' At the time when one of his captains, by name Abishai,
says, 'I will go,' he says, 'and kill him,' what does David say to him? 'What is there
between me and you, sons of Zeruiah? Behold,' he says, 'he who came forth from my loins
fights against me: and do you marvel that the son of Jemini, that is, of the tribe of
Benjamin, of the tribe of Saul, who was my enemy?' Why have I said all this? To show that
Jemini is the tribe of Benjamin.

6 We have said who Benjamin is, we have said the name of the father: let us see who Chusi
the son of Jemini is. Chus in the Hebrew tongue is interpreted 'Ethiopian,' that is, black
and dark, who has such a soul as he has a body, of whom Jeremiah says: 'If the Ethiopian
will change his skin, or the leopard his spots.' So this Chusi signifies his black and
Ethiopian enemy, Saul. And he says this: As the Ethiopian cannot change his skin, so this
man too cannot change his character. Twice he came into my hands, I could have killed him.
Whose blood I could have shed, I wished rather to overcome him by kindness; but his malice
cannot be conquered. For just as the Ethiopian's skin cannot be changed, so too his malice
cannot be changed. Finally, what does he say? 'O Lord my God, if I have done this' — that
is, if I have done him any evil. 'If there be iniquity in my hands, if I have rendered
evils to them that repaid me.' See what he says: I rendered good things for evils, he evil
things for good things. It is manifest, therefore, that the psalm is against Saul, and he
gives thanks to God, and prays for his help, that he may not fall into the hands of Saul.

7 'O Lord my God, in thee have I hoped.' I have not hoped in my sword, I have not hoped in
my strength: but I have hoped in thy help. 'Lest at any time he seize my soul like a
lion.' This fits Saul, it does not fit Absalom. For how could he call Absalom a lion, of
whom he says, 'Spare my boy Absalom'? If there he calls him a boy, and as it were a little
child and one that knows nothing, how here does he proclaim him a lion? This, so far,
according to the history. And there are many things that might be said, and the whole
psalm can be interpreted historically in the person of Saul. But since it is our concern
to interpret not only according to the history, but according to the spiritual
understanding, we interpret this Chusi the Ethiopian as none other than the devil. It is
asked how this Chusi is the son of Jemini, how the devil, an Ethiopian, is the son of the
right hand. That he is an Ethiopian, is by his own fault; that he is the son of the right
hand, is because he was created by God. Rightly is it said of him: 'Lest at any time he
seize my soul like a lion.' 'Our adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, seeking whom he
may seize.'

8 'O Lord my God, if I have done this.' 'Behold, the prince of this world comes, and finds
nothing in me.' 'If there be iniquity in my hands.' 'Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth.' 'If I have rendered evils to them that repaid me.' They say,
'Crucify, crucify such a one'; I say, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
do.' 'Let the enemy pursue my soul, and take it.' 'The last enemy, death, is destroyed.'
'And let him tread down my life into the earth.' Life cannot be trodden down. 'And let him
bring down my glory into the dust.' 'If,' he says, 'I have rendered evils to my enemies
for evils, may I not rise again.' 'Arise, O Lord, in thy wrath.' Since they did not
perceive thee through kindnesses, let them perceive thee through anger. 'Be exalted in the
borders of my enemies.' He prays for his enemies, that he may be exalted in the borders of
his enemies. For when they have ceased to be enemies, then thou, O Lord, wilt be exalted
in them.

9 'Arise, O Lord my God, in the precept which thou hast commanded, and a congregation of
peoples shall surround thee.' This we say, this believing we speak. For the persons are
always changing in the psalms. It would be a great matter now, if we wished to say in the
psalms into how many and how great persons they change. 'Arise, O Lord my God, in the
precept which thou hast commanded.' This we say: For us thou hast suffered, for us thou
hast been crucified; arise and save us. We seem to do violence to the Scripture; but the
things that follow free us from this reproach. For what follows? 'And a congregation of
peoples shall surround thee.' Therefore arise, that a very great multitude may believe in
thee. For when thou hast arisen, what else do we pray? Return to the Father. 'And for her
sake return on high.' For whose sake? For the congregation of peoples. That thou didst
die, thou didst die for us; that thou didst rise again, thou didst rise for us; that thou
didst ascend to the Father, ascend for us. 'And for her sake return on high.' 'No man
ascends into heaven, save he that descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.'

10 'Judge me, O Lord, according to my justice, and according to my innocence upon me.'
This David cannot say; this fits properly the Saviour, who did not sin. 'Let the
wickedness of sinners be consummated, and thou shalt direct the just.' My justice cannot
be directed, unless their iniquity — namely, of the Jews — be fulfilled. 'Unless ye be
converted, he will brandish his sword.' This passage admits a twofold understanding. For
many think it is said of God, so that, for example's sake, it is said to sinners. And what
does it say? 'Unless ye be converted, he will brandish his sword': that is, unless ye do
penance, the Lord will strike you with his sword. But let us see whether the things that
follow can be fitted to the person of the Lord. 'He hath bent his bow, and made it ready.'
This can be said of God. 'And in it he hath prepared the vessels of death.' This is
difficult, for the Lord does not have vessels of death, but vessels of life; but this too
can somehow be understood of the person of the Saviour. But that which follows, 'Behold,
he hath been in labour with injustice, and hath conceived sorrow and brought forth
iniquity, he hath opened a pit and dug it out,' cannot at all be taken of God. We are
compelled, therefore, by necessity, on account of the things that follow which are harsher
and more arrogant, not to understand of God, 'Unless ye be converted, he will brandish his
sword.'

11 And so many say that this is said of the devil; that is, unless ye be converted, unless
ye do penance, ye will be in his power. 'He hath bent his bow, and made it ready.' The
devil always has his bow ready, he shoots arrows with which to strike us. 'And in it he
hath prepared the vessels of death.' They fit the person of the devil. 'He hath made his
arrows for them that burn.' Beautifully he said, 'for them that burn': for those whose
hearts burn with lust and passions, these have been conquered by the devil. 'He hath made
his arrows for them that burn.' Beautifully he said 'for them that burn'; he did not say
'for those about to burn,' that is, those who are about to burn with his arrows; but
whosoever's hearts he sees burning, those he strikes. The Apostle too says that the devil
has burning arrows. 'Behold, he hath been in labour with injustice: he hath conceived
sorrow, and brought forth iniquity.' Such a mother, such a father is the devil: thus he
conceives, thus he is in labour, thus he nurses, thus he exalts. 'He hath opened a pit and
dug it out, and he is fallen into the ditch which he made.' The pit is the devil's own,
which is also the ditch. 'He hath opened a pit': but since it cannot hold water, according
to Jeremiah, therefore his pit has been turned into a ditch. 'He hath opened a pit, and
dug it out.' All the conventicles of heretics are ditches of the devil.

12 'His sorrow shall be turned upon his own head, and his iniquity shall come down upon
his own crown.' Just as if someone throws a stone on high, and is not careful, and the
stone comes down upon his head, he is wounded by his own wound; so too the devil is slain
by his own pride, he exalts himself and falls in ruin. 'His sorrow shall be turned upon
his own head.' The devil now wishes to lift up his head, but cannot. Why can he not lift
up his head? Because his sorrow is turned upon his head, and presses him down. The devil
(understand, O mystical reader, according to the rule of the Scriptures) is read in
Genesis to be himself the snake, himself the serpent in paradise, himself the serpent who
spoke to Eve, who reigns on the earth. He is called a snake, because he clings wholly to
the earth. Other animals, though they walk on the earth, yet do not have their whole body
lying on the earth; though they have feet on the earth, yet they have another part of the
body upward. But the devil, that is, the serpent and the old snake, according to Isaiah,
is wholly on the earth: he has both his head and the rest of his body level with the
ground. Why do I say all this? Because other animals (understand, O prudent reader),
though they cling to the earth, yet desire to withdraw from the earth:

13 but the devil has his head and his tail and his whole middle part clinging to the
earth. 'His sorrow shall be turned upon his own head, and his iniquity shall come down
upon his own crown.' See what he says: both upon his head, and upon the crown of the head.
But since iniquity presses both his head and his crown, where is the devil's repentance?
This is the devil's end: 'His sorrow shall be turned upon his own head, and his iniquity
shall come down upon his own crown.' Beautifully he said, 'shall come down': for the
everlasting punishment will come to him from heaven. 14 He shall be condemned in this way.
But we who have believed in Christ, who received the inheritance in the fifth psalm; who
in the octave, that is, on the day of resurrection, say, 'O Lord, rebuke me not in thy
fury, neither chastise me in thy wrath'; since Chus, that is, our Ethiopian, is himself
the lion of whom it was said, 'Lest at any time he seize my soul like a lion'; who bent
his bow and made it ready, and in it prepared the vessels of death that he might slay us;
since he conceived sorrow and brought forth iniquity, opened a pit and dug it out, and
fell into the ditch which he made, [and] was cast into gehenna; therefore his sorrow shall
be turned upon his own head, and his iniquity shall come down upon his own crown: since he
has been thus punished according to his desert, let us say, 'I will confess to the Lord
according to his justice, and I will sing to the name of the Lord most high.' Beautifully
he said, 'most high': for as much as the devil has been humbled, so much the Lord has been
exalted.

HOMILY 4, ON PSALM 9

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Joshua the son of Nun was fighting in the desert,
and as Moses prayed he kept prevailing: the one man fought, the other by his prayer
conquered. So too do I, according to that which is written, 'Open your mouth, and I will
fill it': I indeed seem to be the one speaking, but there are others by whose prayers I
speak. The ninth psalm, which has been sung by you to the Lord, is great in its verses,
great in its mysteries. Since, then, we cannot discuss everything, it is enough for the
moment to speak about the title. Since we cannot enter into the house (for great is the
king's palace, nor are we able to know all the mysteries of the king), for the moment, as
it were standing at the title of the house, in the very vestibule, let us point out whose
house it is.

2 'Unto the end, for the hidden things of the son, a psalm of David.' The phrase 'unto the
end' does not pertain to the Jews, but to us who at the end have believed. They were the
earlier son, we the latest. We therefore who are at the end ought to hear this psalm,
because it pertains to those who are at the end. 'For the hidden things of the son.' What
are these hidden things of the son? The mystery which throughout all past ages had been
hidden has, at the end, been opened to us. 'For the hidden things of the son.' In the
Hebrew it reads otherwise. For in the Hebrew it has ALAMOTH, which is translated 'for
death': for AL is said for 'for,' MOTH is said for 'death.' Therefore it is said 'for
death'; therefore 'for the death of the son' is what is written in the Hebrew. See, then,
the Seventy translators: since they were translating for Ptolemy, a Gentile king, and it
was harsh to say 'the death of the son,' they translated it 'the hidden thing.' They did
not say 'for the death of the son': for they knew that it was being spoken of the Son of
God. They saw that it was so written; and yet they were afraid to say that the Son of God
would die.

3 Let this much for the moment be discussed concerning the title, and we ought to
understand the whole psalm as being about the death of the Savior. Finally, that you may
know it is spoken of the Savior, it is said of the Jews: 'In this snare which they
stretched out, their own foot has been caught.' Then, concerning the calling of the
Gentiles: 'All the nations that forget God.' And lastly, against the devil: 'God is not
before his eyes, he sits in ambush with the rich.' Unhappy the rich, with whom the devil
sits. Finally, see what is said of the devil: 'He sits in ambush with the rich.' For
whoever is rich, unless he has stripped the poor man, cannot be rich: for this reason he
said, 'He sits in ambush with the rich.' Whenever the rich persecute Christians, let us
say: 'The devil sits in ambush with the rich.' He lies in wait to seize the poor man, to
seize the poor man while he draws him in: 'in his snare he will humble him.' This is the
impious man, this is the devil. The poor man not only in riches, but also in spirit: 'for
blessed are the poor in spirit.' 'In his snare he will humble.' Whom? The poor man is
understood. See what is said. 'He will humble'; not, 'he will slay': but when he has
humbled the poor man, the humbling of the poor man is the ruin of the devil. For what
follows? 'He will bow himself down and fall, while he has dominion over the poor.' Does
not the devil seem to you, in persecution, when he would kill Christians, when he would
slay the martyrs, to be slain in the very act of slaying? 'He will bow himself down and
fall, while he shall have dominion over the poor.' The martyr who is slain goes to heaven;
that slayer is humbled and falls.

4 This much, for the moment, has been briefly discussed from the psalm, as to what was
said, 'For the hidden things of the son.' And this was said in the Old Testament; for in
the Old Testament it is spoken of the son in a hidden way. Now in the Gospel let us read
openly of the open things of the son.

HOMILY 5, ON PSALM 14

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). The fourteenth psalm has been read at just the
right moment; and it has come about in due order in such a way that it almost seems to
have been read on purpose. The psalm was read in order: I think it has been brought about
by God's dispensation that what was profitable to you should be recited today in the
sequence of exposition. The fourteenth psalm has been read, which is titled A Psalm of
David. But our David is Christ, as we have often said. Then we read in Exodus that on the
fourteenth day the lamb is sacrificed. It is sacrificed on the fourteenth day, when the
moon is full, when nothing is lacking to it of its light. See, therefore, that Christ is
not sacrificed except in perfect and full light. Since, then, on the fourteenth day the
lamb is to be sacrificed for you, now the prophet marvels, and asks:

2 Lord, who shall dwell in your tabernacle? You, who wish to dwell in the Lord's
tabernacle. Or who shall rest on your holy mountain? See what is said. Who shall dwell in
your tabernacle, or who shall rest on your holy mountain? Not first on the mountain, and
afterward in the tabernacle; but first in the tabernacle, and so then on the mountain. A
tabernacle is not a firm house, a tabernacle has no foundation; but it is moved this way
and that, and it migrates along with the one who journeys on. That is why it is called
παροικία (a sojourning), not a dwelling. Lord, who shall dwell in your tabernacle? Because
it is a tabernacle, therefore it is called παροικία (a sojourning). Let us see, then, what
the tabernacle is, and what the mountain is. We have said that the tabernacle has no
foundation, but is an uncertain house: whereas a firm house has foundations. The
tabernacle seems to me to be the Church of this world. The churches you now see are
tabernacles: for we do not remain here as dwellers, but we are going to migrate elsewhere.
For if 'the fashion of this world passes away'; and it is said in another place that
'heaven and earth shall pass away': if heaven and earth shall pass away, how much more now
also the very stones of the churches, which we see? Now, therefore, the churches are
called tabernacles, since we are going to migrate from these to the holy mountain of God.
Who is this holy mountain of the Lord? It is said in Ezekiel against the prince of Tyre:
'You have been wounded,' he says, 'from the mountain of the Lord.' And who shall rest on
your holy mountain?

3 Since, then, we are going to migrate from the tabernacles to the mountain, we ought to
learn who these are who are going to migrate to the holy mountain of God. This that he
said, Who shall dwell in your tabernacle, or who shall rest on your holy mountain, belongs
to one who is asking. What, then, the prophet asked, the Holy Spirit now answers. And what
does he say to him? Do you wish to know, O prophet, who shall dwell in my tabernacle, or
who shall rest on my holy mountain? Hear what follows: if you do these things which
follow, you shall dwell on my holy mountain. You, therefore, who wish to dwell in the
tabernacle, and to ascend the holy mountain of God, need not listen to my words. Hear what
the Lord answered the prophet; do this that the Lord commanded, and you shall ascend the
holy mountain of God. He who enters without stain, and works righteousness. That is why it
is also said in the one hundred and eighteenth psalm: 'Blessed are the undefiled in the
way.' At once, at the very beginning, it is said, Blessed are the undefiled in the way. As
it is said there, undefiled in the way, so here too it is said, He who enters without
stain. And he who enters is in the way. He who enters without stain. See what is
commanded. He did not say, he who arrives at the end without stain; but he who is still on
the journey, and has no stain.

4 Someone could say: I have no stain, I have done no evil. It is not enough for us not to
do evil, unless we also do good. Accordingly there follows, And works righteousness. See
what he says, And works righteousness. He did not say, works chastity; he did not say,
works wisdom, works fortitude. And these indeed are excellent virtues. For example, wisdom
profits us, fortitude profits us, so that we may resist persecutions; then temperance and
chastity profit us, that we may not lose our souls. Righteousness alone is a great virtue,
and the mother of all. Let someone say: How is righteousness greater than the other
virtues? The other virtues delight the one who has them: righteousness does not delight
the one who has it, but others. If I am wise, wisdom delights me; if I am brave, my
fortitude delights me; if I am chaste, my chastity is my joy: but righteousness does not
profit the one who has it, but the other wretched ones who do not have it. Suppose some
poor man has a quarrel with my brother; suppose my brother is powerful, and oppresses
another — that is, one who is a stranger to me, a poor and wretched man — through his
power: what does my wisdom profit the poor man? what does my fortitude profit the poor
man? what does my chastity profit the poor man? Righteousness profits him, because I do
not accept the person of my brother, but I judge for the truth. Righteousness does not
know a brother, does not know a father, does not know a mother; it knows the truth, it
does not accept the person, it imitates God. That is why he said And works righteousness,
lest he should seem to have excluded the other virtues. He who is angry for another's
relief, who does not delight in the miseries of others, this man is righteous.

5 Let us speak also of the other things that follow. He who speaks the truth in his heart.
Many speak the truth with their lips, but not in their heart; who seem to speak truly, but
the heart does not agree with the lips. He who has practiced no deceit with his tongue: he
who has uttered in speech what he has pondered in his mind. Nor has done evil to his
neighbor. Some think that a neighbor is a brother, or a fellow townsman, or a kinsman, or
a blood relation. But our Lord teaches in the Gospel in that parable, where a certain man
went down from Jerusalem to Jericho: a priest passed by, a Levite passed by, and had no
pity: a Samaritan passed by, and had pity. And afterward the Lord asks, and says: Which of
these was a neighbor? At once it is answered: He who did well. And the Lord adds: Go and
do you likewise. All men, therefore, are neighbors to us, and we ought to do evil to none.
But if we understand neighbors to be brothers and kinsmen, then are we permitted to do
evil to strangers? But far be it to believe so. We are all men neighbors to men: for we
have one Father. And has not accepted reproach against his neighbors. A great thing is
said. Never, he says, has a neighbor murmured against him; never, he says, has he found
any occasion to disparage him. This virtue exceeds the human condition, it is God's grace.

6 In his sight the malignant man is brought to nothing. See what he says. In his sight the
malignant man is brought to nothing. Even if he is an emperor, even if he is a prefect,
even if he is a bishop, even if he is a presbyter (for in the church these are the
dignities), whoever is evil is counted for nothing in the sight of the holy man. And at
once there follows, But he glorifies those who fear the Lord. This holy man, who enters
without stain, who despises the powerful who are evil, if he sees anyone fearing God,
though he be poor, yet him he glorifies. He who swears to his neighbor, and does not
deceive. And here too we ought to understand "neighbor" as above. He who has not given his
money at usury. There are many things that might be said, but the hour shuts us out. But
since the day before yesterday we spoke about the beginning of the catechesis (κατήχησις),
and, with God's favor, you came out of Chaldaea with Abraham, and you remember what we had
said: how you came out of Chaldaea, and came into the land of promise — nay rather, the
land of promise is promised to you. And indeed, after Abraham came into the land of
promise, adversaries were on this side and that, enemies held the land.

7 The Lord came, and led him outside, and set him on a mountain, and showed him the whole
land, and said: 'All this I will give to you and to your seed.' To him he promised it, to
us he will give it in return.

HOMILY 6, ON PSALM 66

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). May God have mercy on us and bless us. Let him not
be our judge, but be merciful. May God have mercy on us. This is the voice of the apostles
speaking to the people gathered from the nations: You have indeed believed at our voice;
behold, this Church is gathered together in the name of God; therefore we say, May God
have mercy on us and bless us, that by his blessing he may undo the first curse laid upon
man. May he make his countenance shine upon us. Let us not see him sorrowful, but
rejoicing; let us not see him sorrowful over our sins, but rejoicing in our virtues; let
us not experience him as a judge, but as a Father. May he make his countenance shine upon
us. What is the face of God? Surely his image. For the apostle too says that the Son is
the image of the Father. Therefore let him make us shine with his image — that is, let him
make his image, the Son, shine upon us, so that the Son himself may make us shine. For the
light of the Father is the light of the Son. He who sees the Father sees also the Son; and
he who sees the Son sees also the Father — where there is no distance between glory and
glory, both are one glory.

2 That we may know your way upon earth. This is what we ask: that you may make your
countenance shine, that is, your image, upon us — that image which has always been hidden
with you, and was, as it were, in the secret and darkness of your mysteries, according to
what is written: "He made darkness his hiding-place. This is what we ask, that you make it
shine upon us, so that the mystery which was hidden from the generations, as the apostle
says, may be revealed in us. But why do we ask for all this? Why do we desire it? Unless
you make your image shine upon us, we cannot know your way and your knowledge. Therefore
it follows, That we may know your way upon earth: that your majesty, which is known in the
heavens, we may hold known also upon earth. That we may know your way upon earth. "I am,"
he says, "the way and the life and the truth. That we may know your way upon earth. Let us
know it upon earth. "Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth"; that the one whom
the angels adore in the heavens, men too may adore upon earth. But someone may say that
the way of God was known. "For God is known in Judaea, in Israel his name is great. God
was known, but the way of God was not known in Judaea.

3 Since, then, the way of God the Father was not known among the Jews, therefore he now
says: Among all the nations your salvation. Not in one people, but in all the nations.
Among all the nations your salvation. Where we have in Latin "salvation" (salutare), in
Hebrew it is called "Jesus. And indeed the angel too speaks this: "And you shall call," he
says, "his name Jesus: for he shall save his people. Among all the nations your salvation.
Behold, what the apostles prayed for is fulfilled: among all the nations his salvation is
known. Wherever human speech can be, there Jesus resounds. 4 Let the peoples confess to
you, O God, let the peoples confess to you. The Jews? No: all peoples. Just as all the
nations, so also all peoples. Let the peoples confess to you, O God. What should they
confess? Surely their sins — or at least let them confess that your image is in you: let
them confess you in the Son, in him let them see you, in him let them adore you. Let the
nations be glad and rejoice. Because they have been freed from the captivity of the devil;
because those who before were bent down to adore idols, wood and stones, now with upright
face look upon the heavens. Because you judge the peoples in equity. Wherever there is
equity and judgment, there is not gladness, but the dread of sinners. And how did he say,
May God have mercy on us and bless us; and now he says, Let the nations be glad and
rejoice, because you judge the peoples in equity? It seems to be contradictory. For if
they need mercy, how are they glad and rejoice, because you judge the peoples in equity?
For wherever there is mercy, there is no judgment; but where there is judgment and the
equity of judgment, there mercy is far off. But this is the sense. Let the nations be glad
and rejoice: why should they be glad? Because you judge the peoples in equity: because you
in no way show favoritism to one nation, but are the God of all.

5 Not the Jews alone are pleasing to you, but the whole world is yours. Someone may say:
You are doing violence to Scripture; it did not speak in this sense. Let Scripture
interpret itself, which says, Because you judge the peoples in equity. Which peoples? And
you direct the nations upon earth. The nations which before did not walk with upright
foot, the nations which before did not walk on an upright path, you made them to walk in
your way: that we might know your way upon earth, that we might walk in the way, not in
the ways, that through one way we might come to you, from whom the way is born. For we do
not go to the Father except through the Son. Someone may say: This is the doctrine of the
Arians. So, then, one comes to the Father through the Son? I say this: that through the
image we go to the face, and in the light we see the light, in the Son we see the Father.
It is the mystery and the dispensation that speaks. But if anyone thinks it blasphemous
that we have called the Son the way, and that through the way we go as it were to God, let
us see what this very way says. "No one comes to me, unless my Father draws him to me. So,
just as the Son leads to the Father, so also the Father leads to the Son. These are human
words.

6 But both the Son leads to the Father, and the Father leads to the Son: and there is one
nature, one substance. 7 Let the peoples confess to you, O God — he had already said this
above, and in this little psalm he repeats these two verses again. For he had said above,
"Let the peoples confess to you, O God, let all the peoples confess to you. Let the
nations be glad and rejoice," and so on: and now again he repeats these very verses. It is
as though the apostles lead the chant for all the nations. "Often have they fought against
me from my youth, let Israel now say: often have they fought against me from my youth. See
how they lead the chant, and the throng of all the nations responds. So too now, when they
say at the beginning "Let all the peoples confess to you," and when they urge the peoples
and say "Let the peoples confess to you, O God, let all the peoples confess to you" —
because they see them falling silent, therefore they rebuke them with the same words, and
say, Let the peoples confess to you, O God, let all the peoples confess to you. Once we
have said it, and you did not hear; let us say it again, that you may sing. But why have
we said all this, both once and a second time, that the peoples should confess to God? Why
do we say this? Why do we urge this? The earth has given its fruit. The earth — holy Mary
— from our earth, from our seed, from this clay, from this mud, from Adam.

8 "You are earth, and into the earth you shall go. This earth has given its fruit: what it
lost in paradise, it has found in the Son. The earth has given its fruit. First it gave a
flower. He says in the Song of Songs: "I am the flower of the field and the lily of the
valleys. This flower, then, has been made fruit, that we might eat him, that we might feed
on his flesh. Do you wish to know what this fruit is? A virgin from a virgin, the Lord
from a handmaid, God from man, a son from a mother, fruit from the earth. See what this
fruit himself says. "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it cannot bear
much fruit. The earth has given its fruit, it has given the grain of wheat: which grain of
wheat fell into the earth and died, and therefore brings forth much fruit. It was
multiplied in the ear of corn: what had fallen as one thing, rose again with many. For the
grain of wheat fell into the earth, and an abundant harvest sprang up. The earth has given
its fruit. Therefore Let the peoples confess to you, O God, let all the peoples confess to
you: the earth has given its fruit.

9 What is this fruit? May God bless us, our God; may God bless us. God — the Father; our
God — the Son. For he himself is our God. "And you shall call," he says, "his name
Emmanuel" — that is, God with us. Our God. May God bless us — the Holy Spirit. See the
mystery of the Trinity comprehended in one little verse, The earth has given its fruit
with many; in this fruit the mystery of the Trinity is contained. May God bless us, our
God. He who is the God of all by nature has been made our God in a proper sense. May God
bless us. May he drive out the old curse. The curse cast us out of paradise: may the
blessing bring us back. May God bless us, our God; may God bless us. 10 And let all the
ends of the earth fear him. He did not say, Let all the ends of the earth love him: "for
perfect love casts out fear. To fear belongs to beginners, to love belongs to the perfect.
He who still fears is placed at the start, he does not have perfect and full faith; but he
who loves God, all things turn out to good for him. This little sentence seems brief and
simple: but let us fan it out, and in these simple words we shall discover immense
mysteries. We shall find within what lay hidden without. "But to those who love God all
things work together for good. Job, the holy man, was tempted: he lost his sons and
daughters, his house collapsed, he lost everything, he lost all things suddenly — neither
father nor master; for nothing sound remained to him in his body, except only his tongue
with which he might blaspheme. See the tempter, the devil. "From the sole," he says, "of
his foot to the crown of his head he struck him with a most grievous wound" — that is,
with elephantiasis. From it worms flowed over his whole body, and gore, and rottenness.
His tongue alone he kept intact for him, that he might be able to blaspheme his God. "In
all these things Job did not sin with his lips. See the greatness of the temptation, see
the greatness of his virtue. See and consider that the apostle's saying is fulfilled:

11 But to those who love God all things work together for good. At the time when he was
losing his possessions, when he was losing his sons, the things that had happened did
indeed seem to him to be adverse: but because he loved the Lord, those evils, which he
brings upon him, work together to his good. Those worms of his body were preparing for him
the crown of heaven. Before he was tempted, God had never spoken to him: but after he was
tempted, God came to him, and speaks familiarly, as a friend with his friend. Let the
plagues come, every kind of punishment, so long as after the plagues Christ arrives. 12 We
have gone out of the psalm, but not uselessly; because we had said And let all the ends of
the earth fear him, and we had said that to fear belongs to the little ones, but to love
belongs to the perfect; and to prove this we had cited from the apostle, But to those who
love the Lord all things work together for good. And let all the ends of the earth fear
him. By no means Judaea alone, but all the ends of the earth. But according to the
figurative sense (tropology), all the ends of the earth — not all the middles of the
earth, not those who are in the middle of the earth, but those who are at the end of the
earth, who leave the earth behind and hasten to go to heaven. This, then, which the
apostles said at the beginning, let us say at the end. May God have mercy on us and bless
us: may he make his countenance shine upon us, and have mercy on us.


HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS
======================

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS continued

HOMILY 7, ON PSALM 67

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered.
This psalm is understood both in a special sense and in a general sense. In the special
sense, of the Lord himself, that he should rise from the dead and scatter his enemies —
that is, the devil and his army, or the Jews. But in the general sense, whenever we are in
tribulation and distress, and we say, "Arise, why do you sleep, O Lord? and help us"; just
as the apostles too, in the little boat, wake the Lord who was sleeping, saying: "Master,
save us, we perish. And let those who hate him flee from before his face. He did not say,
let them perish, but, let them flee: because sinners cannot stand in the sight of God. As
smoke fails, let them fail: not that they should be reduced to nothing, but that they
should rest from their sins. As wax flows away before the face of fire. Just as wax is
melted, and does not lose its nature, but grows soft: so let these too not perish, but lay
aside their hardness, and thus turn to repentance, and be saved. So let sinners perish
from before the face of God: because sinners are not worthy to see God. And let the just
feast. Those who remain in their righteousness, who have no vices, let them be delighted
in the Lord. Let them exult in the sight of God, and let them be delighted with gladness.

3 It is great confidence, to exult in the sight of the Lord. Just as a steward who has
badly handled and lost the substance entrusted to him by his master fears his master's
presence; so also he who has managed it well exults in his master's presence. Sing to God,
sing a psalm to his name. "Sing" — in Scripture this always signifies contemplation
(theoria): that is, consider the mysteries and the meaning of divine Scripture. But "to
make melody" (psallere) Scripture signifies as a good work: for example, that the hearing
should furnish its own work, and likewise the mouth, and the eyes, and the hands, and all
the members should as it were agree, and thus strike the psaltery in the virtues. Make a
way for him who ascends above the sunset: the Lord is his name. If the sun of iniquity
does not set for us, the sun of righteousness cannot rise for us, whose healing is in his
wings.

4 God is in his holy place. God always dwells in his holy ones: wherever holiness is,
there is the dwelling-place of God. God makes those of one manner to dwell in a house:
those who are of one manner, and are not changed. Since indeed the just man is not
changed, because once for all he has resolved to remain in righteousness. But the sinner
is changed: "for the fool shall be changed like the moon." In the Hebrew, however, it has
"The Lord makes monks to dwell in a house": that is, in those in whom sin does not dwell
alongside. Who leads out the bound ones in strength. God himself by his own power leads
out those who are bound by the devil in sins: like that woman in the Gospel, who had been
bound eighteen years by the devil. Likewise those who provoke him, who dwell in the tombs.
God is by nature sweet: but those who lead him to bitterness are sinners, and they make
God bitter for themselves. He does not change his own nature, but the sinners themselves
make God bitter for themselves. Who dwell in the tombs. "Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, for you are like whitewashed tombs." Just as the holy man is a temple of God,
so the sinner makes himself a tomb.

5 O God, when you went out in the sight of your people. This is according to the history,
when God went before his people as they went out of Egypt. When you passed through in the
desert. God does not linger in the desert, but passes through. The earth was moved, for
the heavens dripped down from before the face of the God of Sinai. The heavens dripped
down: that is, the manna. Sinai is interpreted as "temptation." Therefore God dwells in
those who are tempted and overcome; but in those who are among delights, he does not
dwell. You will set apart a voluntary rain, O God, for your inheritance. He speaks of the
law, which was given through Moses. And it was weakened, but you have perfected it. The
law was weakened, because no one was able to fulfill it except the Lord, who said: "I have
not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it." And according to the apostle: "For what
was impossible for the law, in that it was weakened, God sent his own Son," and the rest.
Your animals dwell in it; that is, in the inheritance. But by "animals" he meant those who
live in God, that is, the holy ones. You have prepared in your sweetness for the poor man,
O God. "Blessed are the poor in spirit." You have prepared the rain, that is, the law. The
Lord will give the word to those who preach the gospel with great power. In the Hebrew it
has "the women who preach the gospel"; that is, to those women who were made evangelists
to the apostles, where he says "Go, tell my brothers," and the rest. Or else it signifies
the souls which have believed in Christ. But according to the Seventy translators he
speaks to the apostles, because the Lord gave them the power to preach the gospel.

6 The king of the powers of the beloved. "King," the Father; "of the powers," that is, of
the holy ones; "of the beloved," of the Son. "Behold my beloved Son, hear him." "Of the
beloved." If anyone loves someone, he always has him on his lips: therefore the Holy
Spirit, because of the love which he has for the Son, frequently makes mention of him. And
to the beauty of the house to divide the spoils. The apostles themselves divide in the
churches the spoils, which they have taken from the idols. If you sleep among the midst of
the lots (cleri): that is, if you rest between the New and the Old Testament. The
individual books too are called "lots" (cleri): that is, Genesis, Exodus, Judges, the
Gospels, the Apostle. The wings of the dove covered with silver. You will find in the two
Testaments the grace of the Holy Spirit. "Covered with silver": it signifies the clear
word of divine Scripture. And the hinder parts of its back in the paleness of gold: that
is, in the inner things the mysteries are understood spiritually.

7 While the heavenly one distinguishes kings over her. By "kings" he meant the holy ones,
who reign over their own passions. These holy ones, then, are divided among the churches:
for example, Paul among the Gentiles, Peter among the circumcision. They shall be made
white as snow in Selmon. This is what he says: although they are holy, yet nevertheless in
this world they are as it were a shadow, knowing in part. For Selmon is interpreted
"shadow." The mountain of God, a rich mountain. This is the mountain which in Ezekiel
wounds the prince of Tyre. And by "mountain" they mean the Lord himself. Why do you
suppose the curdled mountains? This he says to the Jews, who think that Moses and the
prophets are like the Savior. The mountain in which it is well pleasing to God to dwell.
It signifies the fleshly presence of the Savior, that the deity dwelt in a body: for in no
other did the Holy Spirit dwell continuously, except in the Savior, John saying, "He upon
whom you shall see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, this is he." For indeed the
Lord shall dwell unto the end: in the body which he took from holy Mary.

8 The chariot of God is ten thousandfold manifold. Hyperbolically he speaks of the
ministering powers and spirits, that they are innumerable, as he said in Daniel:
"Thousands of thousands ministered." And in Ezekiel he describes the cherubim as having
four wings in four corners, four faces, whose charioteer is God. And "cherubim" is
interpreted "multitude of knowledge." And it signifies the face of the lion, the kingly,
that is, to reign over the passions; the face of the man, the rational; the face of the
calf, in work; the face of the eagle, in contemplation, that is, in theoria, which exalts
us in the virtues. But that we may say all at once: the throne of God is in the holy ones.
The Lord is among them in Sina, in the holy place: that is, God is in the holy ones when
they are tempted, and after the temptation holiness follows. For it is impossible for
anyone, however holy he may be, to pass through this world without temptation, according
to Job: "The life of man upon the earth is a temptation."

9 You have ascended on high, you have taken captivity captive. You have ascended into the
heavens: you have taken us captive, we who were held captive by the devil. You have
received gifts among men. He said it well, "you have received." From the Father he
received: he receives as man, he gives as God; and what he received, he received for men,
that he might give. For he himself is full, and lacks nothing. For indeed those who do not
believe that the Lord dwells. And these too you have saved, who did not believe that it is
possible for God to dwell in a man, that is, for the Savior to take flesh. The Lord God
blessed. These who before did not believe that it is possible for God to dwell in a man,
they themselves, believing, say: The Lord God be blessed. Blessed be the Lord day by day.
He who makes progress can bless God daily. For what does it profit me, if I blessed
yesterday, and today I cannot bless? The God of our salvations will make our journey
prosperous. Be secure, O sinner, do not doubt that you can daily bless God: for behold, he
says, God will make our journey prosperous. Therefore God helps us, and works together
with us. Of our salvations. He said it well in the plural, "of salvations": because
however many sins we have committed, so many salvations also do we have. Diapsalma. In the
Hebrew it has "sela," that is, "always and continually": therefore God always helps us.

10 Our God is the God of saving, and the outcomes of death belong to the Lord: because he
himself rose from the dead, and made us rise together with him. Otherwise, the devil is
the entrance of death: but the Lord leads out. But nevertheless God will shatter the heads
of his enemies: of the devil, and all his powers. "You have shattered the heads of the
dragon in the water." As many as the sins are, so many heads does the devil have. The
crown of the hair of those who walk in their own trespasses. For his head is so shattered,
that there does not remain in him any power by which he may goad those who sin. The
topmost of the head is the hair, and the crown of the hair: therefore he says this, that
there should not remain in the devil even the least thing that is not shattered.

11 The Lord has said, From Basan I will turn back: that is, from the confusion of this
world I will turn back the human race; that is, through my passion and cross, which these
people think foolishness and confusion, I will turn back my people. Since indeed Basan is
interpreted "confusion." I will turn back in the depths of the sea: that is, from the deep
vices and sins of this world, from the commotion and the waves I will turn back my people.
That your foot may be dipped in blood. Because his own foot was dipped in his own blood.
"I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the nations there was no man with me." And
again: "Who is this who ascends from Edom? his garments red from Bosor." Edom is
interpreted "blood," Bosor "flesh": it signifies our Lord himself crucified. The tongue of
your dogs from the enemies, from him. By "dogs" he means the Jews themselves, who cried
out: "Crucify, crucify such a one: we have no king but Caesar." And "from the enemies":
prompted by the demons to deny the Savior, and to blaspheme him. Otherwise: because you
yourself came of your own will and suffered, and of your own will you were crucified by
the Jews.

12 They have seen your entrances, O God: because in the sight of five hundred men and all
the apostles and the cherubim and all the angels you ascended into the heavens. The
entrances of my God, of my king who is in the holy place. Because you who are the God of
all and the Lord of those who rule and the King of kings, in a special way you are my God,
just as also the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and the God of
the Hebrews. The princes went before, joined with those making melody. The apostles
themselves went before, and those who through them believed followed: or certainly the
churches. But he says "of the timbrel-players" because their body is dead to sin. And
Miriam the sister of Moses and Aaron, holding a timbrel in Exodus, went before those
making melody, and said: "Let us sing to the Lord, for gloriously has he been honored."

13 In the churches bless God. O you who glory in abstinence, do this in the churches, and
do not defend heresy for your own selves. These things can be said to Tatian, who is the
chief of the Encratites. The Lord from the fountains of Israel. The Manichaean cannot
bless the Lord, because he does not bless from the fountains of Israel: that is, because
he does not receive the Old Testament. From the fountains of Israel, not of Jacob: since
indeed Jacob is interpreted "supplanter," and is still in the wrestling; but Israel is
perfect, seeing God with the mind. There is Benjamin the young lad in ecstasy of mind. He
means holy Paul: "there," in the church: "the young lad," the last of all the apostles, of
the tribe of Benjamin. The princes of Judah their leaders. The apostles are the princes of
Judah, that is, of the Lord, just as Jacob says: "Judah, may your brothers praise you."
The princes of Zabulon, the princes of Nephthalim. Zabulon is interpreted "flowing of the
night," Nephthalim "breadth": when we have been freed from the passion of lust, that is,
from that flowing, then we begin the broad spaces of the virtues.

14 Confirm this, O God, which you have worked in us. This salvation, which you have
granted us through your passion, confirm, and give aid; because we are men, and we cannot
advance in the virtues, if we have not obtained your help. To you the kings shall bring
gifts. He says "kings," those who reign over their own selves, according to what is
written: "The heart of the king is in the hand of God." These shall bring gifts to God.
The virtues of the holy ones are gifts to God. Rebuke the wild beasts of the reed, that
is, the heretics, who compose and write against you, so as to deceive us. "For there must
also be heresies among us." For they are called "wild beasts" from the fact that they
seize souls and kill them. But it can be understood also of the devil and his angels. The
assembly of bulls among the cows of the peoples. It signifies the heretics themselves,
because they can deceive no one, except the simpler ones and the little ones, that is, the
lesser cows: for they cannot deceive the bulls, that is, the great ones. That they may
shut out those who have been proved with silver. And for this reason they deceive the
simpler ones, that is, the multitude, so as to come even to the holy ones, and shut them
out from the kingdom of heaven.

15 Scatter the nations that desire wars: that is, scatter the heretics, who attack the
church. Legates shall come out of Egypt. Egypt is interpreted "darkness": out of the
darkness of this world. Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand before to God. Because we who
were black with sins and passions went before the Israelite people, and believe in the
Savior: just as she who had a flow of blood went before the daughter of the ruler of the
synagogue, and is healed. Who ascends above the heaven of heaven to the east. Because
above he said, Who ascends above the sunset; here he says, to the east. For when the
passions and the sun of iniquity set for us, the sun of righteousness rises for us: that
is, the Lord ascends over us, and dwells in us. Behold, he will give to his voice a voice
of power. "Lazarus, come forth." Behold, he will give to his voice a voice of power; his
magnificence is over Israel. The magnificence of God is in Israel, who sees God. And his
power is in the clouds, that is, in the prophets and apostles. "I have commanded my
clouds, that they rain no rain upon Israel." God is wonderful in his holy ones. In this
God is wonderful, because he so loved the human race that he works signs through his holy
ones. In these God is more wonderful than in the rest of the creatures.

HOMILY 8, ON PSALM 74

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). For the end, do not corrupt, a psalm of Asaph, a
song. In the Hebrew it does not have "for the end," but has "to the victor." And the
Seventy translators did not err greatly, since victory is something perfected. Well did he
say, For the end, do not corrupt. This phrase is interpreted in many ways. David says even
to one of his friends: "Do not corrupt him" — that is, Saul. See what he says. And in
another place we read that David blessed the Lord because his hands were kept — that is,
that he should not slay Saul. And so we too, when we do not kill anyone, our hands are
kept. Some say that this psalm was composed by David and sung by Asaph; others, however,
that Asaph himself both composed and sang it. Therefore, according to the Seventy, he says
this: O Lord, who have kept me from laying my hand upon your anointed Saul, keep me even
to the end.

2 We will confess to you, O God. Here "we will confess" does not signify penance, but
glory. And we will call upon your name. The name of God is Father: for previously he was
unknown. For the Lord says: "Father, I have revealed your name to men." For every son is
the name of the father. We will tell of your wondrous works. This the Church says, this
the multitude of believers says. We will tell of your wondrous works. This verse is joined
with the preceding ones, but the one that follows is spoken in the person of the Lord: for
so the ancients interpreted it. When I shall have received the time, I will judge
righteousness. For now he is not a judge, but he will be: for if he were now a judge,
sinners would not be lifted up and obtain riches in the world. Does this scandalize you,
that the righteous flee, and sinners persecute them? Does this scandalize you, that
iniquity reigns in the world? Hear the Lord saying: When I shall have received the time, I
will judge righteousness. For the time of judgment has been reserved. In the present there
is no judgment, but a contest. "For the Father does not judge anyone, but has given all
judgment to the Son." But hearing this, do not be scandalized and say that the one who
receives from the one who gives is lesser; but see what he says in the Gospel: "For the
Father does not judge anyone, but has given all judgment to the Son: because he is the Son
of man." He renders the reasons why he received judgment: because he is the Son of man.
You hear "Son of man," and do you doubt why he received it?

HOMILY 9, ON PSALM 75

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Before the cross gave light to the world, before
the Lord was seen upon the earth, God was known in Judaea, and his name was great in
Israel; but when the Savior came, his sound went out into all the earth, and his words
unto the ends of the world. 2 And his place was made in peace: which in Hebrew is said "in
Salem." So it seems, according to the letter, to speak of Jerusalem, that is, Salem, which
formerly was called Salem, and afterward Jebus, and then was called Jerusalem. This is
that Salem in which Melchizedek was king. We read, "Thou art a priest for ever after the
order of Melchizedek." He did not say, after the order of Aaron, but of Melchizedek. What
did he mean to say, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek? It is plain
that in that passage it is spoken of Christ. But why does he say, after the order of
Melchizedek? Aaron offered victims, Aaron poured out the blood of sacrifices; Melchizedek
did none of these things, but offered only bread and wine. This, then, is what Melchizedek
did: and therefore it is said, after the order of Melchizedek. In the Hebrew it has, "And
his shelter was made in Salem." See what he says: according to the tropology, there is no
shelter of the Lord except where there is peace. Where there are quarrels and discord,
there God is not a protector. Let us speak also according to the Septuagint. The place of
God is nowhere except in the soul that has peace: therefore the soul that does not have
peace, let it know that it is not the place of God. "My peace I give unto you, my peace I
leave with you." This is the Savior's inheritance. And his dwelling is in Zion. According
to the letter we can speak of Jerusalem and Zion, since the temple was there; but
according to tropology and anagogy we say that the dwelling of God is in Zion. Zion is
interpreted "watchtower": therefore in whatever soul there is knowledge of the Scriptures
and teaching, there God dwells.

3 There he broke the strength of bows. There. Where? In Jerusalem and Zion. Jerusalem is
interpreted "peace," Zion "watchtower": let us see, then, what is peace, and what is the
watchtower. Let us interpret it in two ways: either the human soul, in which is the peace
of God and contemplation; or else the Church, or else the holy Scripture. For there is
peace, and there is the dwelling and the watchtower of God. There he broke the strength of
bows: those burning arrows which the devil used to shoot. The shield, and the sword, and
the battle. And the battle: that of which it is said in another place, "Scatter the
nations that desire wars." And what follows? Selah, which the Septuagint interpret
"diapsalma," and in Hebrew it is said "always." See, then, that the Lord always breaks the
shield and the sword and the battle. Thou dost give light wondrously from the everlasting
mountains. We interpret the mountains in two ways: in the Old Testament, the prophets; in
the New Testament, the apostles. Of these mountains he says: "I have lifted up mine eyes
unto the mountains, whence shall come my help." Upon these mountains also is the city of
God set, "A city set upon a mountain cannot be hid." We were all sitting in darkness and
in the shadow of death; and the Lord gave light to us from the everlasting mountains, that
is, from the prophets and apostles. All the foolish of heart were troubled. This verse we
can speak of the unbelievers.

4 They slept their sleep, and found nothing. Truly this life is a sleep, and riches too:
for when we seem to hold them, at once we lose them. Just as that which is written in the
prophet: "As one who is thirsty sleeps, if he finds water he drinks; afterward, when he
has awakened, the thirst itself remains," so also are riches in this world: while we hold
them, we lose them. 5 They slumbered who mounted horses. Let us speak according to the
tropology. Indeed Pharaoh mounted horses, and slumbered, and perished. And the Egyptians
had horses, but they perished. Hence too it was commanded in the Law that a Hebrew should
not have a horse. Indeed Solomon too did not have a horse from Jerusalem or from Judaea,
but bought them for himself from Egypt. Horses are always sold in Egypt. "These in
chariots, and these in horses: but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God." Those,
then, who mounted horses, slumbered and perished. Our Lord also has horses, and he has
shining mountains: on the contrary, the devil too has dark mountains. As, then, there are
shining mountains and dark mountains, so also are there good horses and again bad horses.
We have spoken of the bad horses; let us speak also of the good horses. At that time when
they came against Elisha to seize him, the servant went out and saw the army of the
Assyrians round about, and Elisha said: "Fear not, for there are more with us than with
them." And there it is written: "Lord, open the eyes of thy servant, that he may see." And
when his eyes were opened, the servant saw the chariots and horses. These were the
helpers. See, then, what he says, chariots and horses. There was no man upon them, but
there were only chariots and horses. This is what he means to say: the multitude of
angels. They themselves were both chariots and horses: but the rider was the Lord.
Therefore he says in the canticle of Habakkuk: "And thy riding is salvation." This is said
to God. O that we too might be the horses of God, and that God might deign to ride upon
us. Those contrary horses, then, slumbered, and their riders.

6 From then thy wrath. From what time is the wrath of God? When the people cried out to
Aaron in the wilderness, saying: "Make us gods whom we may follow: for this Moses, who
brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him." Thou didst bring
them out of the land of Egypt, and immediately they denied thee. From heaven thou didst
make judgment to be heard. Thou didst speak from heaven, all the people heard and
trembled: and yet they did not believe in thee. The earth feared and was still. But Israel
neither feared nor was still. 7 For the thought of man shall confess to thee. This is what
is said in another place: "From my hidden faults cleanse me, and from those that are alien
spare thy servant." Alien to thee, which the devil sends in. And what follows? "If they
shall not have had dominion over me, then shall I be blameless." If evil thoughts do not
overcome me, then shall I be clean in thy sight. And what follows immediately? "And I
shall be cleansed from the greatest offense." See what he says. If the thought does not
overcome me and does not carry me through to the deed, I am freed from a great sin. For
the thought of man shall confess to thee. "For none is clean in the sight of God, not even
if his life be of a single day." "The stars are not clean in the sight of God," "and
against his angels he devised something perverse." Why do I say all this? Because if the
stars are not clean, and if in the angels something perverse is found, how much more in
the thought of men? Where are those who say: "Depart from me, for I am clean"? Every day,
in what we suffer, we know what is in our thoughts, and we blush to say it. There are many
who have not done evil works, there are others who have not even spoken them: but of those
who have not sinned in thought, no man is found. Therefore now he says: For the thought of
man shall confess to thee.

8 To the terrible one. To whom? To God. And to him who takes away the spirit of princes.
When we see certain powerful men, for example, emperors, prefects, and men exceedingly
powerful in this world, let us too say to God: Who takes away the spirit of princes. By
"spirit" we can speak both of the soul, and we can speak also of pride. Let us understand
it also in another way. Who takes away the spirit of princes. Let us here understand
"princes" as the saints. For example, Solomon was a prince, the other saints too were
princes, Judas the apostle also was a prince: and because they sinned, God took away from
them his spirit. Let no one, then, say: I am a bishop, I am a presbyter or a deacon or a
monk, I am a prince in this world: God is able to take away the spirit of princes. Indeed,
that you may know that God takes away the spirit, the good spirit of God departed from
Saul, and the malignant spirit choked him. It follows: "And the evil spirit of God choked
him," that is, from God. Does God, then, have an evil spirit? By no means: but God had
departed for this reason, that afterward the evil spirit might choke him. Therefore the
spirit is called God's evil spirit. Indeed, the holy David, knowing that he takes away the
spirit of princes, prays to God and says: "And take not thy holy spirit from me."

9 To the terrible one among the kings of the earth. This is understood also according to
the letter. But may God grant to us also that we may be kings of the earth: kings of the
earth, that we may rule over our flesh. Whence the apostle also says: "Let not sin reign
in your mortal body." And in another place it is written: "The heart of the king is in the
hand of God." Was the heart of Julian the persecutor in the hand of God? Was the heart of
Saul in the hand of God? Was the heart of Manasseh in the hand of God? Was the heart of
Ahab in the hand of God? And were the hearts of all the impious kings of Judah in the hand
of God? You see that it cannot stand according to the letter. Kings, then, are the saints,
and the heart of these is in the hand of the Lord. Let us therefore also ask God that we
may be kings, and may rule over our flesh, that it may be subject to us. Whence the
apostle also says: "Therefore I chastise my body and bring it into servitude, lest by
chance, while preaching to others, I myself should become a castaway." Let our soul rule,
let the body serve: and at once Christ will come, and will dwell in us. Indeed, what does
he himself say in the Gospel? "I will come," he says, "and will stand before the door, and
will knock: and if anyone shall open to me, I will come in," he says, "and will sup with
him." Every day Christ stands before the door of our breast, he desires to enter. Let us
open, he enters into us, and he is our guest and our fellow-diner: that is, he both dwells
in us and eats with us.

HOMILY 10, ON PSALM 76

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). With my voice I cried out to the Lord: with my
voice to God, and he gave heed to me. In the day of my tribulation I sought out God. See
how he is in tribulation, and he beseeches God, God, God — and yet God is one. With my
voice I cried out to the Lord. A cry is necessary at that time when he who cries is far
off. So what this man says is this: since on account of my sins I am far from you,
therefore I cry, that you may hear me. With my voice to God, and he gave heed to me. It is
the same thing he says also in another place: "To the Lord, when I was in tribulation, I
cried, and he heard me." In the day of my tribulation I sought out God. He is speaking of
a difficult thing. When we are in tribulation, we are cast down to the ground, we think of
nothing else but our trouble; but this man in his tribulation is prompted to beseech God.
For example: I have lost my son, my house has been burned, I have come to beggary — I do
not seek what I have lost, but I seek the Lord. For if I find him, in him I find all
things. "Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you."

2 With my hands by night before him: and I was not deceived. In the Hebrew it reads
otherwise: "My hand is stretched out by night, and does not rest. With my hands by night
before him. Understand: I cried out. See, then, that our very works cry out to the Lord
while we ourselves are silent. Therefore it is said: "The word of the Lord came in the
hand of the prophet Aggeus. It does not come to him in his mouth, that is, in speech, but
in his hand, that is, in work. "For the kingdom of God is not in speech" but in the hand,
that is, in work. With my hands by night: that is, I cried out, I cried out with my hands.
Therefore it is also said to Moses: "Why do you cry to me? And surely it is not written
there that Moses cried to God; but because his heart cried "Abba, Father," and his heart
cried out, therefore he says, Why do you cry to me? Hence it is that it is said in
Jeremiah: "The pupil of my eye was not silent. See, then, that even the pupil of our eye
is not silent, but as often as we shed tears, so often do we cry out to God with our
hands. By night before him. Hence it is said: "In the nights lift up your hands to the
holy places, and bless the Lord.

3 In the night of this world and in the darkness, while others hastened to their vices, I
lifted up my works to you alone. And I was not deceived. Because I cried out thus, and
cried out in work, I was not deceived. It is understood in two ways: either I obtained
what I wished, or at least I was not deceived by the snares of the devil, which were eager
to encircle me. But in the Hebrew it is written: "My hand is stretched out by night, and
does not rest. The hand is always stretched out to virtues, it is never drawn back for
sins. 4 My soul refused to be comforted. Insofar as it depended on my sins, I could not
comfort myself with having no hope. I remembered God, and I was delighted. Insofar as it
lay in my sins, I could find no comfort; again I thought of God, and in his mercy I was
delighted. In the Hebrew it reads otherwise: "I remembered God, and I was troubled." I
considered his gentleness, I considered his tenderness, I considered his purity; and
seeing myself unclean, I was vehemently troubled. And I was exercised, and my spirit
failed. In the Hebrew it reads better: "I was speaking within myself, and my spirit
failed" — whether from despair, or from longing for God. My eyes anticipated the watches.
In the Hebrew it reads otherwise: "I held in check the gaze of my eyes, I was struck dumb
and did not speak." What he means is this: considering my sins, I did not dare to lift my
eyes to heaven. "For to the sinner God has said: Why do you declare my statutes?"
Therefore I was struck dumb, I was afraid, I could not speak. This is according to the
Hebrew. My eyes anticipated the watches. Before anyone else was awake, I was awake. We
read also in Daniel: "And behold," he says, "an ir," that is, a watcher. "He shall not
slumber nor sleep, who keeps Israel." Therefore the monk who does not keep watch cannot
say this verse. I was troubled, and I did not speak. This is what the apostle says: "Let
not the sun go down upon your wrath." I was troubled, as a man; I did not speak, as a
Christian. Anger began in my heart, but I did not bring the anger forth into words.

5 I thought upon the days of old, and I had the eternal years in mind. Insofar as it lay
in my sins, I was despairing, and my soul had refused to be comforted. I began to think
from the beginning of the world, when God made man, all the way to my own year, from Adam
down to my own time. I meditated by night with my heart, and I dug over my spirit. I was
not thinking of my anger, I was not thinking of my enemy; but my whole thought was of God.
The night, which is wont to be either for rest or for lust, was for me a thinking upon the
virtues. I meditated with my heart, and I dug over my spirit: that is, I dug like a field,
that there I might cast the seed of the Lord's teachings. Will God cast off for ever? This
was my whole thought. God made man from the earth, and promised him eternal life: how then
was he cast out of paradise, out of the kingdom of God? And will he no more be pleased to
show him favor? Or will he cut off his mercy for ever, from generation and generation?
That is, will he cast off both generations, both of the former people and of the later?
Suppose he had cast off the people of the Jews: will he cast off the people of the
Gentiles too? Or will he in his anger hold back his mercies? He could not have said it
more beautifully. However long he restrains himself so as not to have mercy, yet his mercy
conquers him.

6 And I said, Now I have begun. In the Hebrew it reads otherwise: "And I said, It is my
weakness" — that is, what I suffer is not from the cruelty of God, but from my sins. This
is the change of the right hand of the Most High. That the Lord should have mercy, that he
should give his grace to the whole world, that he should not hold back his mercies in his
anger — this is the change of the right hand of the Most High. Unless his right hand, that
is, his Son, had been changed and had taken the body of a man, we could not receive mercy.
And I said, Now I have begun: this is the change of the right hand of the Most High. "Who,
though he was established in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal with
God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant."

7 I was mindful of the works of the Lord: which he had done for Moses, which he had done
for the saints. For I will be mindful of your wonders from the beginning: and I will
meditate on all your works, and I will be exercised in your devices. My whole thought is
of your virtues. I consider how you had mercy on those men, and about myself I do not
despair. God, your way is in the holy place. Whoever, then, is not holy, the way of God is
not in him. What is the way of God? "I am the way, and the life, and the truth." This the
Savior says. The way of God, then, is the Son. But the way of God is only in the holy one.
If we wish that Christ should dwell in us, let us be holy: for the way of God is in the
holy one. What God is great like our God? For just as "there are many gods, and many
lords" (this the apostle says. "God stood in the assembly of the gods." "I have said: you
are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High." And to Moses, "I have made you a god to
Pharaoh"): they are called holy gods. Those are gods according to grace, but you are God
by nature. You are the God who does wonders. He did not say, who has done; but, who does.
Daily God does wonders, and works — both the Son, and the Holy Spirit. You are the God who
does wonders. Yesterday a robber, today a Christian: yesterday a fornicator, today
continent: yesterday you were seizing what belonged to others, now you hand over what is
your own.

8 You have made known your power among the peoples. "Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God": "the mystery which had been hidden from the ages"; now you have made known
your power among the peoples. You have redeemed with your arm your people. "Lord, who has
believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" You have redeemed
with your arm your people: that is, in Christ. The sons of Jacob and of Joseph. Both
peoples, both of the Jews and of the Christians: Jacob, in the people of the Jews, and
Joseph, in the people of the Gentiles. Indeed, Joseph is interpreted in the Hebrew tongue
as "increase." Those, then, went before, and we have been joined on: therefore it is said
"the sons of Jacob and of Joseph." The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you, and they
feared. For the moment let us speak according to the letter; let us cling to the earth for
the sake of the simpler folk. When the people passed through the Red Sea and through the
Jordan, the waters understood their Creator, and the people did not understand. And the
depths were troubled. "The sea saw, and fled: the Jordan was turned back." The great sound
of the waters. "The clouds shook out the waters," it has in the Hebrew. The clouds gave
forth their voice. And this they interpret of the time when God was seen on Mount Sinai.
For your arrows pass through: the voice of your thunder in the wheel. And this they
interpret of the lightnings, and they say: When God thunders, he makes a sound like a
wheel. You see how I still cling to the earth and speak according to the letter that
kills.

9 Your lightnings shone upon the world. Here what do you do, O Jew? Your way is in the
sea, and your paths in many waters. Make even this to be said either of the sea or of the
Jordan. And your footsteps shall not be known. This, according to the letter, how do you
understand it? For the sake of the simpler folk we have spoken according to the letter:
let us return, then, to the spiritual understanding. The waters saw you, O God. Let us
speak from the Revelation of John. "The many waters," he says, "are many peoples. The
waters saw you, O God. What waters? "And let the waters that are above the heavens praise
the name of the Lord. The waters saw you, O God. What waters? Pure minds and souls. The
waters saw you, and they feared. The fear was not from hatred, but from faith. And the
depths were troubled. Let us say something according to the spiritual understanding. In
the beginning of Genesis it is written: "And over the waters," it says, "the Spirit was
borne. And then it is written: "Over the depths," it says, "darkness was borne. See, then,
what is said in the beginning of Genesis. This according to the spiritual understanding.
Over the waters, it says, the Spirit was borne. Already at that time baptism was
signified. For there could be no baptism without the Spirit. But over the depths,
darkness. This is the abyss into which the demons beg not to be sent by Jesus.

10 Over the depths, then, darkness. In the waters was cleanness, in the depths darkness.
What the depths are, you understand while I am silent: since the demons dread to go into
the abyss. The clouds gave forth their voice. The clouds are the prophets: who kept
silence to the Jews, but spoke to us. The clouds gave forth their voice. For your arrows
have passed through. The preaching of the word of Christ has run into the whole world. The
voice of your thunder in the wheel. Thunder is properly a great voice. Indeed, at that
time when God spoke, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," there was made a
voice of thunder like a wheel. Indeed, therefore it is written: "Deep calls to deep in the
voice of your cataracts": that is, the two testaments, the new and the old. The voice of
your thunder in the wheel: the voice of your preaching in the wheel. Therefore it is
called a great voice, because the preaching is great. The voice of your thunder in the
wheel: in the whole world round about. It is not only heard in Judea: but you speak, and
it is heard unto the age. This we have said in a general way: but let us speak also in
particular of the inner man. The wheel stands upon the earth with only some small trace of
contact, and it not only stands, but as it were runs on: it does not stand still, but
touches and passes by:

11 finally, when it is rolled, it always mounts up to higher things. So too the holy man,
because he is in the body, has the necessity of thinking some things about earthly
matters; and when he has come to food and clothing and the rest of such things, having
food and clothing, with these he is content, touching the earth, and he hastens to higher
things. In him who runs and hastens to higher things, in him is your word. We read also in
the prophet: "Holy stones are rolled upon the earth. See what he said: Holy stones are
rolled upon the earth. For because they are wheels, therefore they are rolled upon the
earth and hasten to higher things. Do you wish to know of more wheels? We read: "And a
wheel within a wheel"; we read in Ezekiel: "The wheels cling one to another. The two
wheels are the new and the old testament. This wheel clings to that, and that to this. Yet
see what is said in Ezekiel: "And wherever," it says, "the spirit was leading, thither the
wheels also followed. This is said also in Ecclesiastes, at the consummation of the world:
"And the wheel," it says, "shall be rolled over the cistern. There are many things that
might be said about wheels: but the discourse hastens on to the rest.

12 Your lightnings shone upon the world: the apostolic preaching. The earth was moved and
trembled. Unless our earth had been moved and troubled, we would not be Christians. The
earth was moved and trembled. For the Spirit of the Lord rests upon no one, save upon him
who is humble and quiet and trembles at his words. Your way is in the sea: where the waves
are, where the bitter water is, where the dragon dwells, where the little tiny fishes
cling. Your way is in the sea. You who were in heaven came down to earth. According to the
letter we can say: At the time when Moses led the people out, it was you who led them out.
Your way is in the sea. Then we can also, according to the history, say it otherwise: The
seas were a way for you. But that he did once; for the rest, daily he speaks to the sea:
"Be still, be silent." The Lord calms you, that we may be able to pass through this world.
Your way is in the sea. He came, the fountain of life, to sweeten the sea, the bitter sea,
the Dead Sea. Therefore, according to Ezekiel, there goes forth from the temple of the
Lord a fountain of living water, and it goes to the Dead Sea, which had nothing living.
For no little fishes could be in the Dead Sea, nothing lived in the Dead Sea. From the
temple of the Lord, that is, from his bosom, the Savior went forth, and sweetened the Dead
Sea and the bitter waters. Your way is in the sea. And your paths in many waters.
Therefore your way is in the sea, that you might make a way, and your apostles might
follow you. And your paths in many waters.

13 And your footsteps shall not be known: you led out your people like sheep. The good
shepherd led out his people like sheep. By the hand of Moses and Aaron. This he did
according to the letter: for the rest, daily he does it in us. By the hand of Moses, that
is, in the law (and we know that the law is spiritual): in the spiritual law. And of
Aaron: that is, in the priesthood. In your spiritual law, and in your spiritual
priesthood, you led out your people. Let us understand this according to the letter of
Moses and Aaron. Moses indeed was led out, and Aaron, but not led into the land of
promise. Jesus succeeded him. See what is written. Moses died in the desert, Aaron died,
Miriam died; and this is what is written in the prophet: "And I will strike," it says,
"three shepherds in one month. They died: for they could not enter into the land of
promise. They only saw over against the land of promise, and could not enter. The Jews saw
the land of promise, and could not enter. For they died in the desert, and their corpses
are in the wilderness, of those who died in the desert. We, the sons, under Jesus as
leader, came to the Jordan, and entered into the land of promise, and came to Gilgal, and
were a second time circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, and the reproach of Egypt
was taken away from us.

14 Then Jesus himself our leader holds the sword, and always goes before us, and fights
for us, and conquers our adversaries, and for seven days we go around Jericho, that is,
this world. We sing with the priestly trumpets, and we go around Jericho, that is, this
world, and its walls fall, and we enter in, and we are the victors. Then we conquer the
city of Ai: afterward we come to Jebus, we come to Hazor, we come to other cities; we
conquer the adversaries whom under Moses we could not conquer. Let us give thanks, then,
to our leader Jesus: for with him as leader, with him fighting, we conquer. He commanded
the sun to stand still, and it stood still, and that great man was a type of this one: he
was commanding, but the Lord was accomplishing it. He came forth the victor: he, as I have
often said, slew five kings in the cave: he led us into the land of promise. To him let us
give thanks; he is the son of Nun, which we read as Nave: he it is who was called Osee,
which we read as Ause. For according to the Hebrew truth it is not said Ause, but Osee,
that is, "savior. Truly a savior: for he saved us, and led us out of the desert, and led
us into the land of promise.

HOMILY 11, ON PSALM 77

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Divine Scripture commands that, when we have been
invited to a rich man's banquet, we should with understanding put forth our hand to the
dishes. And so for us too the banquet of Scriptures has been set out as a rich man's
feast. We have come into a meadow; it has very many flowers: here the rose is red, there
the lilies gleam white, there are flowers of every kind. Our soul is drawn this way and
that, to gather from wherever it may the more beautiful flowers. If we pick the rose, we
leave the lily behind; if we take the lily, the violets are still left for us. So too in
the seventy-seventh psalm, which is mystical and wrapped up in very many sacred mysteries,
whatever letter you look at, they are flowers, flowers of every kind, and we cannot choose
them all. But let us choose all that we can: from a few we can also contemplate the
remaining excellence of the flowers.

2 "The understanding of Asaph." It is headed with this title. The very title summons us to
understanding. Asaph was one of the choir-masters, just as also were the sons of Korah,
and Idithun, and the rest. Therefore this man too is one of the prophets from among the
choir-masters. Since, then, the understanding is straightforward, and in the psalm a
history is narrated, we are compelled of necessity to understand everything that is
written according to that understanding. It is written: "In the land of Egypt, in the
field of Tanis: he split the sea and led them out; he set the waters as if in a wineskin,
and led them out in a cloud by day, and all night in the illumination of fire," and so on.
We see that a straightforward history is narrated. If, then, we understand it just as it
is written, the title "The understanding of Asaph" has been prefixed for no reason. But if
we understand it as the title indicates, we are compelled of necessity to have one thing
in the letter and to find another in the spirit.

3 "Attend, my people, to my law; incline your ear to the words of my mouth. I will open my
mouth in parables; I will utter propositions from the beginning." You see that it is well
written above, "The understanding of Asaph." Indeed, the very prophecy begins thus:
"Attend, my people, to my law" — not Moses' law, but "my law." "Incline your ear to the
words of my mouth." This is what he says in the Gospel: "He who has ears to hear, let him
hear." "I will open my mouth in parables": to you I will open what is closed to the Jews;
to you I will open my mouth in parables. "And without a parable," it says, "he did not
speak to them"; but to his own disciples he unfolded the parables in private. "I will open
my mouth in parables": what I speak to those others outwardly in parables, to you I will
open up inwardly. "I will utter propositions from the beginning." In place of
"propositions" the Hebrew has "riddles (enigmas)." Therefore everything that is said is a
riddle.

4 The riddle is not that which is said, but something else which is signified by the
riddle. Let someone say to me: You do violence to Scripture; for since the title has "The
understanding of Asaph," you interpret this saying for me from the person of Christ. If we
are Christians (and we are Christians, we who have received the baptism of Christ, and not
only confess but also profess it) — because we are Christians, we ought to believe the
evangelists. It is written in the Gospel according to Matthew: "When," it says, "our Lord
and Savior had spoken in parables, and those men did not understand," and the rest of what
is written in the Gospel. And afterward what did the evangelist add? "All these things,"
he says, "were done, that there might be fulfilled that which is written: I will open my
mouth in parables, I will utter propositions from the beginning." You see, therefore, that
the evangelist Matthew understands this from the person of Christ. For when he had
introduced the Lord speaking in parables, and those men did not understand: "This," he
says, "was done, that there might be fulfilled that which is written, I will open my mouth
in parables, I will utter propositions from the beginning."

5 It seems to us that no question has remained, but attend carefully: for it is my concern
not to declaim in the manner of a rhetorician, but to grasp the sense of the Scriptures.
Indeed, what did the Lord and Savior himself say? "Search the Scriptures, and there you
will find how it is written concerning me." And he said another thing to the Jews: "You
err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." See what he says. "You err." Why?
"Not knowing the Scriptures." But since you do not know the Scriptures, therefore you do
not know Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. It is said, then, in
Matthew: "These things," it says, "were done, that there might be fulfilled that which is
written in Asaph the prophet." Thus it is found in all the old codices, but ignorant men
removed it.

6 Indeed, many gospels to this day have it thus: "That there might be fulfilled that which
is written through Isaiah the prophet: I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter
propositions from the beginning. This is not spoken by Isaiah, but by Asaph. Indeed, that
impious Porphyry too puts forward this very thing against us, and says: "Your evangelist
Matthew was so unskilled that he said, that which is written in Isaiah the prophet, I will
open my mouth in a parable, I will utter propositions from the beginning. Therefore let us
say it simply: just as, in the Gospel, it is written — it is written in Matthew and John
that our Lord was crucified at the sixth hour, while again it is written in Mark that he
was crucified at the third hour. This seems to be a discrepancy, but it is not a
discrepancy. It was an error of the copyists: in Mark too "the sixth hour" had been
written, but many, in place of the Greek episēmon (the numeral sign), thought it was a
gamma. For just as there it was an error of the copyists, so here too it was an error of
the copyists, that in place of Asaph they wrote Isaiah. For not knowing (since the early
church was gathered from unskilled Gentiles) — therefore, when they read in the Gospel
"That there might be fulfilled that which is written in Asaph the prophet," the one who
first was copying the Gospel began to say:

7 Who is this Asaph the prophet? He was not known among the people. And what did he do? So
that while he corrected the error, he made an error. Let us say something similar, and in
another place in the Gospel according to Matthew — when Judas brought back the thirty
pieces of silver, and the priests were unwilling to accept it or to put it into the
corban, since it was the price of blood; and from it they bought the potter's field for
the burial of strangers. The price of Christ is our burial; and that field is called
Akeldama, which is "the field of blood. It is the field of blood of the Jews, but it is
our burial. For we were strangers and sojourners, we had nowhere to rest. He was crucified
and died, and we were buried together with him. "That there might be fulfilled," it says,
"that which is written in Jeremiah the prophet. He brought back," it says, "the thirty
pieces of silver, the price that was written," and so on. "As it is written," it says, "in
Jeremiah the prophet. This is written in Matthew. We searched in Jeremiah, we could not
find this at all; but we found it in Zechariah. You see, therefore, that here too there
was an error, just as there.

8 "How great the things we have heard and known." These little verses, from "Attend, my
people, to my law" up to this verse, "I will utter propositions from the beginning," are
spoken from the person of Christ; the Savior himself speaks. Now the remaining verses, up
to the end of the psalm, we must take as from the person of the apostles. When, then, the
Lord says, "Incline your ear to the words of my mouth" — O apostles, what you have heard
in secret, he says, proclaim upon the rooftops — what do the apostles say? "How great the
things we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us." These things, O Lord, which
you speak to us, our fathers the patriarchs and the prophets have also spoken to us. "And
our fathers have told us." "They were not hidden from their children unto another
generation." Therefore they spoke, so that we, their children, might know. "And he
established a law in Israel. How great the things he commanded our fathers." He spoke
these things carnally, but we understand them spiritually. "That they might make them
known to their sons": this is, to us. Therefore he spoke to them, so that they might pass
them on to us.

9 "The sons who shall be born and shall rise up, and shall tell them to their sons." "In
place of your fathers, sons have been born to you." We are their sons. They told us, and
we have told our sons: we are their sons. "That they might place their hope in God." That
they might now no longer believe in idols, but believe in God. "And not forget the works
of God." That they might see the order of creation, and from the creation understand the
Creator. "And seek out his commandments." Let them not despise them like the Jews, but
seek them out like Christians. "That they might not become like their fathers." That they
might not murmur, as certain ones murmured in the desert and perished; that they might not
murmur thus like the Jews, and perish in the desert. "A generation crooked and provoking."
It is not I who say this: your own prophet says this about you. "A generation crooked and
provoking." "An adulterous and most wicked generation seeks a sign, and a sign shall not
be given to it, except the sign of Jonah." Why did he say "crooked"? "Because they were
turned into a crooked bow." For a bow is never drawn against the one who shoots it, but
against the adversaries. But this generation, though it had been created upright by God,
and was held in the hand of God like a bow, so that he might shoot arrows through it, was
turned like a crooked bow, blaspheming against their Creator.

10 "A generation which did not direct its heart." To this day Israel is crooked. "And its
spirit was not directed with God." Since it did not receive the Son, therefore it did not
receive the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the Holy Spirit, when it descended in the likeness of a
dove, did not descend upon the crowds of the Jews, but upon the one Jesus. If, then, you
wish, O Jew, to receive the Spirit, believe in Jesus: since the Holy Spirit rests upon
Jesus. 11 "The sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting the bow. O how great the mysteries, O
how many the flowers! I say not a day, but a whole month cannot suffice for the
understanding of this psalm. In individual words there are meanings. We have also a
treasure in these earthen vessels. Many interpret this of the body and the Holy Spirit:
that is, "we have a treasure in earthen vessels. That understanding indeed exists too. But
this one is much better, since we have a most precious treasure in earthen vessels, that
is, in the rustic words of the Scriptures. "The sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting the
bow, were turned back in the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant of God, and in
his law they were unwilling to walk. And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders which
he showed them. We read in the books of Kingdoms that under Rehoboam the son of Solomon,
Jeroboam the son of Nabat tore the people away from the rest of the people, and led ten
tribes into Samaria. But the tribe of Judah and Benjamin remained under the rule of
Rehoboam; and many of the tribe of Levi, who dwelt in Jerusalem as priests and Levites, as
is written in Chronicles, returned to the temple of God, that is, in Jerusalem. There
were, then, three tribes, that is, in Judea: Judah itself the royal tribe, and Benjamin,
and afterward the Levites, where they had come from various tribes to the temple.

12 Those, then, who were in Samaria had a king from the tribe of Ephraim. For just as
those who reigned in Judea had a king from the tribe of Judah and from the lineage of
David, so also those who reigned in Samaria had a king from the tribe of Ephraim, and
their kings were called Ephraim. Let us read Hosea the prophet, and we find his whole
prophecy against Ephraim; and it is said there: "Ephraim," it says, "has become like a
foolish dove. See what he says: "a foolish dove. It has abandoned the temple, and dwells
in the woods. For the dove always dwells in houses. But Ephraim, my dove, has abandoned
the temple, has abandoned the house, and dwells in the woods, dwells in the deserts. 13
This much for now according to the letter; for we ought also to set forth the history. But
now, after the letter, we ought as if by certain steps to ascend to greater things. Let us
say, then, that the sons of Ephraim are all the heretics. For these too have departed from
the house of God, and these too have forsaken David and the kingdom of David, and they
dwell in the deserts. And they are indeed called doves, because they too read the
Scriptures, but they understand them foolishly. There are many things that might be said.
"The sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting the bow." Look at all the heretics: who have
forsaken Jerusalem, who have forsaken the temple of God, who dwell in Samaria — where did
they make the golden calves? In Bethel and in Dan. And see what he says: they made golden
calves in Bethel, in the house of God. In the house of God they became idolaters. And they
made that thing in Dan, that is, unto their own judgment and unto their condemnation. They
forsook the house of the Lord, and they think of nothing else but gold. Let someone say:
Why did they make golden calves? Our treasure is stored up in earthen vessels. For the men
of the church are rustic and simple, but all the heretics are Aristotelians and
Platonists. Indeed, that you may know that all worldly eloquence is called gold — that is,
since their tongue, as if for its splendor, is called gold: "Babylon is a golden cup in
the hand of the Lord." See what he says: "Babylon," of confusion. Therefore this world is
a golden cup. From this golden cup all the nations are given drink.

14 "The sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting the bow." Whomever of the heretics you see,
they all have superstitions. "They were turned back in the day of battle." They do not
know him who said, "My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you," but they are
prepared for words. They have words; but let them hear that which is written: "Scatter the
nations that desire wars." Let someone say that it is our own opinion. Let us look at what
follows. "They did not keep the covenant of God, and in his law they were unwilling to
walk, and they forgot his benefits." They rose up against him who regenerated them in
baptism. "And his wonders which he showed them: before their fathers the wonders which he
did." See the sense of the Scriptures, how from the sons of Ephraim it comes to past
histories; so that it shows that what is written, "I will open my mouth in a parable, I
will utter propositions from the beginning," was said parabolically.

15 "Before their fathers the wonders which he did in the land of Egypt, in the field of
Tanis: he split the sea and led them through; he set the waters as if in a wineskin, and
led them down in a cloud by day." Let someone say: You do violence to Scripture: for it is
said simply of the people of Israel, when they were led out of the land of Egypt, and
therefore it is said according to the history; and we read that the ten tribes forsook
God, and became idolaters, and that they followed the golden calves. Let us look at the
time in which Asaph the prophet lived. Certainly at that time when David lived. But under
David the ten tribes had not yet been separated. David reigned forty years; again Solomon
another forty years; after eighty years, later under Rehoboam, the ten tribes were torn
away. You see, therefore, that what is said is not said of the ten tribes, but it is
prophesied concerning the heretics.

16 "Before their fathers the wonders which he did." The heretics, then, having forgotten
their father, the wonders which he did in the land of Egypt, in the darkness of this
world, how he freed them — they were reborn in the church, and afterward, once they were
born, the church displeases them. "In the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis": where
idolatry was, where the king of Egypt was, where the horsemen of Egypt were, where Jannes
and Mambres the adversaries of Moses were, where idolatry was. We were all in Egypt, and
we have been freed by the Lord. "He split the sea and led them through." The Lord walked
upon the sea, and calmed the waves of the sea, and led us through. "He split the sea and
led them through." To this day, O faithful monk, when you are led out of Egypt, the sea is
split, and thus you are led out. "He set the waters as if in a wineskin." In the Hebrew it
does not have "wineskin," but "heap."

17 "And he led them down in a cloud by day." "Behold, the Lord comes into Egypt upon a
light cloud." By the light cloud we ought to understand either, properly, the body of the
Savior, because it was light and weighed down by no sin; or certainly by the light cloud
we ought to understand holy Mary, weighed down by no human seed. Behold, the Lord comes
into the Egypt of this world upon a light cloud, the Virgin. "And he led them down in a
cloud by day." Beautifully he said "by day": for that cloud was not in darkness, but
always in light. "And all night in the illumination of fire." "And the darkness is not
hidden from you: as the light is to you, so also is the night to you." "And all night in
the illumination of fire." "Our Lord is a consuming fire." A consuming fire. He did not
say what it consumes: he left the understanding to us. Those who have built upon the
foundation of Christ wood, hay, stubble — to them the Lord is a consuming fire. Fire has a
twofold nature: it both gives light and burns. If we are sinners, it burns; if we are
righteous, it gives us light.

18 "He split the rock in the desert." The rock has been split for us in the wilderness.
The rock was struck, and the waters flowed: that rock which says, "Whoever thirsts, let
him come and drink"; from whose belly rivers flowed. "And he gave them water to drink as
if from a great abyss." In the desert, where there was no water, an abundance of waters
was made for us. 19 There are many things that might be said, and the psalm is boundless,
and we are shut out by time. But let us pray the Lord that for us too he may split the
sea, that for us too the rock may pour out waters, lest our corpses too perish and lie
with the people in the desert. For you know that the corpses of our fathers lie in the
desert to this day. Believe me: as often as I see synagogues, I always have in my mind
that which is said by the apostle, that we ought not to exult over the olive tree whose
branches were broken, but to fear; since if the natural branches were cut off, how much
more should we, who are grafted in from the wild olive, fear lest we become like our
fathers, "a generation crooked and provoking, a generation which did not direct its heart,
and whose spirit was not held faithful with God." Since they do not have the Spirit of
God, therefore they are dead, and their corpses lie in the desert. I understand their
synagogues to be nothing else but tombs in the desert. Read the old books. But let us pray
the Lord that these tombs too may rise again. For if the children of Abraham have been
made from stones, the children of Adam, who are dead, can rise again, if Jesus wills it.
For although they are dead and lie in tombs, even if they are four days dead, even if they
stink, Jesus can say to them: "Lazarus, come forth."

HOMILY 12, ON PSALM 78

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Since we have become poor. Since you became poor
for our sake, therefore we too have become poor. "The prayer of the poor man, when he is
in anguish, and pours out his prayer before the Lord." Since you became poor, though you
were rich, we too have become poor. Help us, O God our Savior. In the Hebrew it has "Help
us, O God our Jesus." For wherever there is "Savior," there the Hebrew has "Jesus." Thus
Gabriel, when he came to Mary, said, "And you shall call him Jesus: for he shall save his
people." Help us, O God our Jesus. See what he says: "help." He who says "help" is himself
also striving to be set free: for God does not help us while we sleep, but while we labor.

2 For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us: since your new name has been invoked
over us, which is blessed among the nations. And be merciful to our sins for your name's
sake. You are the Savior, you are Christ, and we are Christians: have mercy on us for your
name's sake. 3 Let the groaning of the fettered enter into your sight. This is what those
who follow the teachings of Origen are accustomed to say: The groaning of the fettered —
that is, of the angels, they say, who have been fettered in bodies. For just as, if
fetters are put on the feet, they weigh down the body and do not allow it to run; so also
our bodies enclose souls — that is, angels — and weigh them down upon the earth. And with
what words do they prove this? "Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death?" And that which he says, "I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ" —
to return and to be with Christ. See, he says, what the apostle says. Whoever says "I
desire to return" says it precisely of that place where he had been before. Let the
groaning of the fettered enter into your sight. But I, in plain rustic simplicity and in
the simplicity of the Church, answer you thus — for so the apostles answered, so they
spoke, not with rhetorical and diabolical words: "For it is better to return and to be
with Christ." For so it stands in the Greek; it does not have "to be dissolved" but "to
return." To return, and to be with Christ. Where Adam my father was, there I too long to
be; from where he was cast out, I desire to return. In Adam we have all been cast out of
paradise. Let the groaning of the fettered enter into your sight. For why should I not
understand this to have been said plainly of the martyrs, who were shut up in prisons? For
how many were even sent to the mines? But I say that God truly hears the voice of those
fettered ones.

4 According to the greatness of your arm possess the sons of those who have been put to
death. All of us, if indeed we are worthy, are the sons of the martyrs. The apostle, when
he was in prison, was fettered: all the apostles, when they were in prisons, were
fettered: all the martyrs who were slain in prisons were fettered. Therefore it is now
said, Possess the sons of those who have been put to death. Render to our neighbors
sevenfold into their bosom. It seems to me that he does not ask against them, but for
them: that is, give them your sabbath. Now "sabbath" is interpreted as rest. What he says
is this: make them rest in their wickedness. Or else, otherwise: render it to them here,
and do not render it to them in the time to come. But we your people and the sheep of your
pasture. When he says "sheep," he signifies innocence. Sheep have nothing but a shepherd.
We will give you thanks forever. We will confess: either we do penance, or, what is
better, we glorify. From generation to generation; among the first people, and among the
second people. Although according to the historical sense it is said otherwise in Ezekiel,
nevertheless according to the spiritual understanding we say this, since these two peoples
— that is, the two rods — are joined together in Ezekiel, and become one kingdom. From
generation to generation we will proclaim your praise. It is the voice of the apostles:
Peter among the people of the circumcision, and Paul and Barnabas among the nations.


HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS
======================

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS continued

HOMILY 13, ON PSALM 80

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). To the end, for the winepresses, of Asaph. In the
Law it is written that there are three solemn feasts: Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast
of Tabernacles. Before the Feast of Tabernacles, ten days before, there was a fast, and
the fast lasted until evening. At that time they sounded the trumpets — that is, they
fasted, and during the fast they sounded the trumpets — and after ten days came the Feast
of Tabernacles. Attend carefully. There are three solemn feasts described in the Law:
first Passover, then Pentecost, then the Feast of Tabernacles. Before the Feast of
Tabernacles, a fast; and during the fast they sounded the trumpets. Notice what Scripture
signifies. Lift up the veil that was placed before the eyes of Moses, and see that we
cannot become tabernacles unless we first fast. But that very fast, unless it has the sign
of victory that frightens off our adversaries, Amalek is not conquered. Since therefore
there are three solemn feasts — Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles — for
that reason three psalms too have the title 'for the winepresses': the eighth psalm, and
the eightieth, and the eighty-third. You see, then, how three psalms have been written in
the psalter that are inscribed 'for the winepresses.' See what it says: the eighth psalm,
and the eightieth, and the eighty-third.

2 And before we argue about the number, let us say what these winepresses mean to signify.
For the winepresses. Winepresses are found nowhere except where there is a vineyard and an
unbounded vintage. For the winepresses. Therefore the Lord and Savior says: 'I have
trodden the winepress alone, and of the nations there was no man with me.' Therefore he
transferred a vine out of Egypt and planted it. And he says in Jeremiah: 'I planted you a
true vine, wholly chosen: how have you turned into bitterness for me, you strange vine?'
And Noah drank wine and became drunk. It is said also by Solomon, said in a mystery:
'Drink, friends, and become drunk.' We read also in another place that Joseph, that holy
man who went before as a type of the Savior, who was sold by his brothers, whom his
brothers sold, and reigned in Egypt — just as our Lord and Savior too was sold by the Jews
and reigned in the Egypt of this world. That Joseph, then, the holy man, that outstanding
one, who overcame cruelty with love; who for this reason was sold into Egypt, that he
might feed Egypt and his brothers who had sold him — that Joseph, then, invited his
brothers. But see: 'And he became drunk at midday.' And is this true, and can it stand
according to the letter, that a holy man became drunk? Noah too became drunk, but he had
truly become drunk.

3 Joseph was drunk, Noah too became drunk, and he became drunk in his own house. See the
mystery. Let us first see what it signifies in mystery, and afterward let us discuss what
it signifies in its plain sense. After the flood of this world Noah drank, and became
drunk in his own house, and his thighs were uncovered, and his shame appeared. And the
elder brother came and mocked; but the younger brother covered him. All this is said of
the Savior, since he had drunk his passion on the cross. 'Father, if it is possible, let
this cup pass from me.' He drank, and became drunk, and his thighs were uncovered: that
is, the ignominy of the cross. The elder brother came, the people of the Jews, and mocked;
and the younger, the people from the nations, covered the ignominy. Therefore 'cursed be
Canaan, he shall be a servant to his brother.' Behold, that curse persists to this very
day. We, the younger people, command the elder people of the Jews. As therefore the Lord
became drunk in his passion, so too the saints are daily made drunk in the ardor of faith,
and are made drunk with the Holy Spirit. You who yesterday were gathering gold, today
throw it away: do you not seem mad in the eyes of those who do not know you?

4 Finally the apostles too, because the Holy Spirit had descended upon them and filled
them, and they were speaking in various tongues, for that reason were said to be full of
new wine. Many are the things that might be said about the mystery of wine and about
drunkenness. To the end, for the winepresses, of Asaph. The eighth psalm, and the
eightieth, and the eighty-third. No other number could have the winepresses except the
eighth, and the eightieth, and the eighty-third. The eighth is the day of resurrection in
the single number. Again, in eight decades, the eightieth, another and greater number. You
see, then, that these winepresses are prescribed only on the day of resurrection, the
eighth, and the eightieth. Someone may say: Why is 'winepresses' said afterward in the
eighty-third? These winepresses pertain to the mystery of the Trinity. Therefore there are
also three choir-masters. In the eighth it says, 'A Psalm of David'; in the eightieth, 'of
Asaph'; in the eighty-third, 'of the sons of Korah.' The eighth is David, which is
interpreted 'strong in hand.' For our first victory involves a fight and a struggle:
therefore he is called 'David, strong in hand.' But the second, that is in the eightieth,
'of Asaph.' And Asaph is interpreted 'synagogue' (assembly). In the eighth, then, we
conquer, and in the eightieth we are gathered together with the Lord. But in the eighty-
third, 'of the sons of Korah.' Korah is interpreted 'Calvary' (the place of the skull).
'Go up, bald one; go up, bald one.' This the boys said also to Elisha, because he had
suffered in the place of the skull. Many are the things that might be said as to how
Elisha was mocked at Bethel by forty-two boys. These are the winepresses of which the
Savior too says: 'Make yourselves friends of the unrighteous mammon, that they may receive
you into the eternal tabernacles.'

5 For it is a commandment for Israel, and a judgment of the God of Jacob. What is the
commandment of God? To sing to God in victory: not to think it one's own, but the Lord's.
When he came out of the land of Egypt, he heard a tongue which he did not know. We too,
when we came out of Egypt, heard a tongue which we did not know. Which of us knew the
Gospel? which the Apostle? which the prophets? We came out of Egypt, and we heard a tongue
which we did not know; we learned a tongue which we did not know. 6 And immediately there
follows: He turned his back away from burdens. When we were in Egypt, we were building the
cities of Pharaoh, we were carrying mud and brick, and our whole soul was seeking straw.
We had no wheat, we had no heavenly bread that comes down from heaven: we were not yet
receiving manna from heaven, the serpent had not yet been lifted up for us in the
wilderness, the rock had not yet sent us water, we were not yet stretching out our hands
and Amalek falling. We sat in the mud, and we did Egyptian works, we were building the
cities of Pharaoh. He turned his back away from burdens. How great were the burdens we
once had. Therefore our Moses says: 'Come to me, all you who are laden with sins, and I
will refresh you.' His hands served in the basket. Whose? Israel's. The baskets of Egypt
are one thing, and the baskets of Jesus another. Jesus too has his own baskets, and our
Savior filled twelve baskets from the fragments. O wondrous thing, signifying immense
mysteries! Five thousand of the people were dwelling in the wilderness, apart from the
little ones and the women; in a deserted place there are found only as many as five
loaves; for the place was a desert. I ask you, you who follow only the letter: in a
deserted place there are found only five loaves — and how are twelve baskets found? If the
place was a desert, surely it could not have twelve baskets. But all this is signified:
that the Lord led his people out of Egypt into the desert of this world; he fed them with
his loaves, and whatever was left over he stored up in twelve baskets — that is, in the
twelve apostles; so that what had perished in the twelve tribes might be saved in the
twelve apostles.

7 In tribulation you called upon me, and I delivered you. The prophets and the psalms are
for this reason obscure, because suddenly, when you are not expecting it, the speaker is
changed. Up to this point the prophet has been speaking: now suddenly the person of God is
brought in, speaking to the people. In tribulation you called upon me, and I delivered
you. Whoever you are that are in tribulation, be secure: call upon me, and you will be
heard. I heard you in the hiding-place of the tempest. That tempest which was pressing
upon you, and dragging you this way and that as if with waves: I was in the midst of the
tempest. I proved you at the water of contradiction. According to the letter it is said of
Moses and Aaron that at the water of contradiction they offended God. Indeed, for this
reason they did not enter the land of promise. But to us God says: I proved you at the
water of contradiction. Simon was proved at the water of contradiction, because in
hypocrisy he received baptism. Whoever, therefore, receives baptism in hypocrisy, he is
proved at the water of contradiction.

8 Hear, my people, and I will testify to you. God is speaking to us. Whatever he said to
the people, he speaks also to us. Israel, if you will hear me. Why do you ask that I hear
you? Let us see what he commands. There shall be no new god in you. He whose god is his
belly, a new god is his. As many vices as we have, as many sins, so many new gods do we
have. I have been angered: anger is a god to me. I have seen a woman, and I have lusted:
lust is a god to me. For each one, whatever he desires and reveres, this is his god as
well. The greedy man has gold for his god. Nor shall you adore a strange god. Our God is
virtue; the god of others, vices and sins. 9 For I am the Lord your God, who brought you
out of the land of Egypt. It is we who have been brought out of the land of Egypt — if
indeed we have gone out, if we are in the wilderness, if we long to see the land of
promise. If we have left Sodom, let us not look back to Sodom: we have been saved on the
mountain. Let us not desire the flesh-pots of Egypt, let us not say: How well off we were
in Egypt, when we ate flesh in the cauldrons, and the rest, and the cucumbers. Do you wish
to receive the Lord's foods? do you wish to eat your Lord and Savior himself? Hear what he
says. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it. Open wide your mouths: he himself is both
the Lord and the bread. He himself exhorts us to eat, and he himself is our food. As much
as you open wide, so much will you receive: it is therefore not in my power, but in yours.
If you are willing, you will receive me whole; if you are unwilling, you will receive at
least a part.

10 And my people did not hear my voice. I stand before the door, I knock. I want you to
open, and I will come in: and you are unwilling to open. And Israel did not attend to me.
And I let them go according to the desires of their heart: they shall go on in their own
devices. Unhappy is he who is not corrected by God. If anyone sinning is not struck, he is
wretched. Therefore he says: I let them go according to the desires of their heart. For
this reason I let them go, because I often struck them and they did not accept discipline.
I entreated, they did not hear; I struck, they did not feel the pain. I let them go in
their own wishes, so that, sated with their vices, they might even so do their repentance.
If my people had heard me. O most merciful Father, O compassionate God! He entreated, and
was not heard; as though angered, he lets go the wanton son. Again he sees him perishing,
and grieves that he perishes. And what does he say? If my people had heard me, if Israel
had walked in my ways, I would perhaps have humbled their enemies for nothing. Was it a
great thing for me to deliver you from tribulation? could I not send forth my majesty and
rescue you from danger? But because I have left you to free will, and have set the stadium
before you, and I do not crown any but the one who has fought, for that reason I leave the
victory to your own choice.

11 The enemies of the Lord have lied to him. In the Hebrew it better reads 'the enemies of
the Lord shall deny him' — that is, the Jews, his enemies, shall deny him. But these
enemies who are going to deny him — will they then perish? will there then be no remnant?
And how did you swear to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that their seed should be as the stars
of heaven and as the sand of the sea? Why did you promise to the fathers, and not repay
the sons? The enemies of the Lord shall deny him. But what does it say? And their time
shall be forever. 'When the fullness of the nations has come in, then all Israel shall be
saved.' In the future they will believe; only now they have not believed. Now let me speak
to the Jews. For they are wont to applaud themselves and say: And their time shall be
forever. Let us say: It is true, for some of the Jews are going to believe. Indeed we read
also in the Apocalypse of John that twelve thousand from each of the tribes — that is, a
hundred and forty-four thousand — are going to believe; and this is said to be of virgins.
But where the number of virgins will be so great, how great will be the number of those
who are not virgins? Therefore let us too say to the Jews: Your time shall be forever —
that is, in the age to come. But to you, who today do not believe, what does it pertain?
And their time shall be forever. Such as belongs to the enemies of God, such shall their
time be.

12 And he fed them from the fat of the wheat. He led them into the land of promise: he fed
them not with manna, as in the desert, but with the wheat that fell, that rose again. And
he fed them from the fat of the wheat. See the mystery of the Scriptures. From the fat of
the wheat. Does wheat have fat? does it perhaps even have entrails? But he wished to show
the bounty and richness of spiritual grace, and therefore he named it 'fat.' And with
honey from the rock he satisfied them. He himself is the wheat; he himself is also the
rock, who satisfied the people of Israel with water in the desert. Spiritually, he
satisfied them with honey and not with water: so that whoever have believed and received
the food may feel honey in their mouth. 'How sweet are your words to my throat, above
honey to my mouth!' Finally our Lord too, after the resurrection, for this reason ate the
honeycomb, and was satisfied with honey from the rock. I say something new. He himself the
rock, he himself ate the honey, that he might bestow honey and sweetness upon us: so that
those who under the Law had drunk myrrh — that is, bitterness — might afterward in the
Gospel eat the honey of the Gospel.

HOMILY 14, ON PSALM 81

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). God stood in the assembly of the gods. There are
many postures. For frequently we sit, sometimes we stand, sometimes we lie down, sometimes
we run, sometimes we walk. So too God is described according to the variety of human
beings, and his posture is introduced as varied. If we are holy, and are like Moses, it is
said to us: 'But you, stand here with me.' For this is what God says to Moses. For Moses
was standing upon the rock: therefore God too was standing for him. But if we were holy
first, and afterwards sinners, God no longer stands for us, but walks: that is, he who
before had stood for us moves from his place. After we have been moved, he too is moved
together with us. Finally, Adam too, as long as he was in paradise and kept the law, God
stood for him. But after he transgressed, he heard the voice of God walking in paradise.
Do you want to know that God was walking for him? What did he say to him? 'Adam, where are
you?' He who had not fled from God while he stood, afterwards fled from him as he walked.

2 We have spoken of the one standing, we have spoken of the one walking: let us speak of
the one sitting. Whenever God is introduced as sitting, he is introduced in two ways:
either as a king, or as a judge. If as a king, one sees him as Isaiah did: 'I saw the Lord
sitting upon a throne high and lifted up.' There he is introduced as a king reigning. But
when he is introduced as a judge: 'The thrones were set, and the books were opened.' It is
written in Daniel. What is said? The thrones were set, and the books were opened: that is,
the Lord about to sit as a judge, and about to read over the works of all. The books which
are now folded up shall then be opened. Everything that we do, that we speak, that we
think — even for an idle word we are going to render an account: it is written in the
books of God. Someone thinks there are books in heaven, where our sins are written. I
think the books are our consciences, which shall then be opened, and each one shall see
what he has done. 'Nothing is hidden, that shall not be revealed.' Therefore the thrones
were set, and the books were opened. How many things are written in my book, and I dare
not confess even to my brother nor to my friend. The angels know what I have done, the
thrones know, the seraphim know: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit know.

3 We have said concerning God that for some he stands, for others he walks, for others he
sits either as a king or as a judge: but for others he sleeps. If ever he abandons us to
temptations — even though we may be holy, nevertheless we are left to temptations, that we
may be tested — at that time the Lord sleeps for us. Finally, what does the psalmist too
say? 'Arise, why do you sleep, O Lord?' And when the apostles were in the boat, and the
boat was being battered by the waves, the Lord was sleeping for them: for this reason the
boat was being battered by the waves. Finally, they rouse him, and he awakes, and
immediately the storm grows still. 4 We have spoken of the four postures of God: that for
some he stands, for others he walks, for others he sits, for others he seems to sleep, and
for others he wakes and rises up. God stood in the assembly of the gods. Because they were
gods, therefore God stood for them. In this very assembly of ours God has different
postures: for some he stands, for others he sits, for others he walks, for others he
sleeps. Although he himself is unchangeable, according to our variety he is changed. See
the dignity of man. God stood in the assembly of the gods. He grants us the name, that he
may grant also the merit. And in the midst he judges the gods. Like a commander in the
midst of the army he judges the gods. He judges the gods. A fearful thing, a thing full of
terror. If he judges the gods, what does he do about the sinner? These two little verses
the prophet spoke, as it were. But this which follows, How long will you judge iniquity? —
God himself speaks to the judges, that is, to the leaders of the people. Specifically
these verses which follow are spoken to the judges. If the judges of the world, it is
plain: but if the judges of the church, let us understand it of bishops and presbyters.
How long will you judge iniquity? He who judges iniquity is a judge of iniquity. He is the
judge of iniquity of whom it is said in the Gospel, that he did not fear God, and did not
respect man. How long will you judge iniquity? I have given you power over my flock and
over the people of God: you ought to be judges, not wolves.

5 And you accept the persons of sinners: judge for the needy and the orphan, do justice to
the lowly and the poor: rescue the poor and the needy, and the rest. When a case comes to
you, you do not consider the cause, you do not consider the judgment, but the persons of
those who have the cases. For instance, if a poor man comes having a just case, and a rich
man comes having a bad case: you look at the persons, not the case. This so far according
to one interpretation. But there is also another, more sacred interpretation. In the
theaters one man frequently is accustomed to have different persons. Now he enters into a
woman, now into a man, now into a king; and he who had come forward as a king, again comes
forward as a slave. I have given the example, so that from the carnal we may be able to
come to the spiritual. We too take on different persons. For when I grow angry, I take on
the person of a lion: when I seize the goods of others, I take on the person of a wolf:
but when I am cruel and kill, I take on the person of a cruel man. But just as those who
are sinners have different persons in their sins: so on the contrary those who are holy,
they too have different persons, but in the good. When I give alms, I have as it were the
person of a merciful man: but when I judge well, I have the person of a good judge: but
when I suffer wrong and am humble, I have the person of a humble man. Unhappy is he who
has many persons in evil: happy is he who has different persons in the good.

6 They knew not, neither did they understand, they walk in darkness. Who? The bad judges.
Those whom I was calling gods, by their own vice have been called bad judges. They knew me
not, neither did they understand my judgment: they walk in darkness. Because they forsook
the light, therefore they walk in darkness. I said, you are the light of this world: and
you turned aside from the light, and became darkness. Because, then, they have done this,
let us see what follows. All the foundations of the earth shall be shaken. See what kind
of recompense the evil princes have: because of bad judges the foundations of the earth
are shaken. This so far we have said first according to the letter, that the shaking of
the whole world comes because of bad judges. But let us say it also in another way. All
the foundations of the earth shall be shaken. I will overturn the bad judges, who have set
their foundations on earth, and not in heaven: who ought to have Christ as their
foundation, whom the architect Paul laid, but they were unwilling, and set their
foundations on earth.

7 I said: you are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. Let Eunomius hear, let Arius
hear, who say that the Son of God is a son in the same way as we are. That we are gods, we
are so not by nature, but by grace. 'For as many as received him, he gave them power to
become sons of God.' Therefore I made man, that out of men gods might be made. I said: you
are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. See how great the dignity is: we are
called both gods and sons. I made you gods, just as I made Moses a god of Pharaoh: that
after you have been gods, you may be made worthy to be sons of God. Consider the divine
Scripture. 'There is no respect of persons with God.' He did not say: I said: you are
gods, the kings and the princes, but all: to whom equally I have given a body and a soul
and a spirit, equally I have bestowed both deity and adoption. We are all born equally,
both emperors and the poor: equally we also die. For our condition is equal.

8 But you shall die like men. You see, then, that he who is a man dies. For God does not
die. And Adam, as long as he kept the commandment and was a god, did not die. But after he
tasted of the forbidden tree, immediately he died. Finally God says to him: 'On whatever
day you taste, you shall die the death.' It has it better in the Hebrew: 'But you shall
die like Adam.' Just as he was cast out of paradise, so we too have been cast out. And you
shall fall like one of the princes. Since he had said 'all of you sons of the Most High';
one cannot be a son of the Most High, unless he too be most high. I said that you should
all be most high, as I am most high. But you shall fall like one of the princes. Since we
were most high, therefore we are said to have fallen. Where are they who say that the
devil was made a devil? Where are they who say that an evil nature was created by God?
According to the Hebrew two things are said here. But you shall die like Adam: just as
your father was unwilling to hear the commandment of the Lord, and fell, so you too shall
die. Therefore that was said concerning Adam. But this which follows, And you shall fall
like one of the princes: who is this one of the princes, who fell?

9 If you should wish to say Adam, it was already said in the earlier verses, But you shall
die like Adam. And at the same time see the significance of the word. But you shall die
like Adam. Since Adam died, we too die. But the devil, who was a prince, and fell, did not
die. For angelic dignity cannot receive death, but only ruin. Therefore he said, you shall
fall like one of the princes. 'How is Lucifer fallen, who rose in the morning?' Behold,
both here he fell, and there he fell. He fell for this reason, because he always dwelt
among the heavenly things. This is he to whom it is said in Ezekiel: 'You are the
unsealing of the likeness.' See what he says, the unsealing of the likeness. He did not
say, You are the seal of the likeness: but, the unsealing of the likeness. God had sealed
you, and had made you like himself: but you afterwards unsealed yourself. After the
likeness and image of God you too were formed. Finally it is said in that same prophecy:
'In the midst of the cherubim you were nourished, among the stones of jasper and carbuncle
you were in the paradise of God. And you fell,' he says, 'and were wounded from the
mountain of the Lord.' This prince of Tyre: now prince of Tyre from the time when he fell:
since Tyre in the Hebrew tongue is called sor, that is tribulation.

10 Therefore this prince too, who at first was in heaven, has now been made prince of
Tyre, that is, of the tribulation of this world. You shall fall like one of the princes.
When he says 'like one,' he shows that there are others also. Read the Apocalypse of John:
when the dragon fell from heaven, he drew with him a third part of the stars. 11 Up to
this point God has spoken to men, and again the prophet speaks. Arise, O God, judge the
earth. Arise, because our boat is battered by the waves. Arise, O God, judge the earth:
since the bad judges do not judge, but overturn your law, and tear your flocks. Do you
arise, who are the true judge. Because, then, the bad judges have died like Adam, and have
fallen like one of the princes: therefore do you arise, do you judge, do you save your
creature. But the hireling, when he sees the wolf, flees, and leaves the sheep: he cannot
grieve for another's as one grieves for father and mother. Let us say it also in another
way. Arise, you who suffered for us, who died for us: arise, and save us. Let us say it
also in another way. You who came humble and despised, come as a judge, and vindicate us.
Arise, O God, judge the earth. See the significance and the properties of the words. He
did not say, Judge heaven, but the earth. Therefore the earth is judged, not heaven. If,
then, the earth is judged, and not heaven, then in heaven sins are not committed. But if
sins were committed in heaven, he would say: Arise, O God, judge the earth and heaven. See
the mercy of the prophet. He did not say, Slay the earth: but judge, judge and save. He
did not say, Judge through angels, judge through your ministers.

12 For they, if they judge, cannot show mercy, because they are executors of your
sentence. But you, if you judge, can yourself show mercy. Arise, O God, judge the earth.
An emperor can change his sentence, a prefect cannot. Therefore we entreat you as judge,
not despising, but praying. For men and angels in comparison with you are cruel: you alone
are the most gentle judge. Do you want to know that God is merciful, and every man is
cruel? While the master of the house was sleeping, an enemy man oversowed tares. The
servants want to pull them up, and the master of the house says: 'Let be, allow them to
grow, lest while you pull up the tares, you uproot the wheat also together with them.' 13
For you shall inherit among all the nations. Therefore we entreat you as judge, because
you have had mercy on all the nations. Why did he not say, You shall possess all the
nations, but, You shall inherit? Wherever an inheritance is set, there death has gone
before. Therefore we are called heirs and coheirs. He said heirs of Christ, because he
died for us; coheirs, because he is going to reign with us. You shall inherit. For you
sent your servants (let us return to the apostles), one to the circumcision, another to
the nations. As long as you had sent Moses, as long as Isaiah, as long as Jeremiah, as
long as the other prophets, God was known in Judea, in Israel his name was great. In a
small land the knowledge of God's name was carried. You sent Peter, Peter the fisherman,
who had left even his net, who from his work had a callused hand. You did not send an
orator, you did not send a philosopher: you sent a rustic man, a fisherman. This
fisherman, this rustic, went from Jerusalem to Rome: and the rustic captured Rome, which
the eloquent could not capture. Again the apostle Paul went, from Jerusalem he preached as
far as Illyricum, and preached where the Gospel had not been preached, lest he lay a
building upon another's foundation. Then he says that he would go from the city of Rome to
Spain. See Paul the persecutor, who in Judea had been a persecutor, preaching among the
nations.

14 Where are they who proclaim Alexander the Great, the Macedonian commander, that in a
short span he conquered so many nations? He had an army, he had also huge crowds: and he
could not do any such thing, but only some small thing. But this Paul, once a persecutor,
who said 'Though unskilled in speech, yet not in knowledge,' who makes solecisms in
speaking, carries the cross of Christ, and as though triumphing captures all. He subdued
the whole world from the ocean as far as the Red Sea. 15 Someone may say: They did all
this for the sake of gain. For this is what Porphyry says: Rustic and poor men, since they
had nothing, worked certain signs by magic arts. But it is not a great thing to work
signs. For the magicians in Egypt too worked signs against Moses. Apollonius worked them
too, Apuleius worked them too: and they worked countless signs. I grant you, Porphyry,
they worked signs by magic arts, that they might receive riches from the rich little women
whom they had led astray: for this is what you say. Why did they die? why were they
crucified? Others too worked signs by magic arts: but they did not die for a dead man, for
a crucified man. These know that the man is dead, and they die without cause. Happy, then,
is our victory, which was consecrated in the blood of the apostles. Our faith is not
proven except through their blood. Let us therefore bless God, to whom is glory forever
and ever. Amen.

HOMILY 15, ON PSALM 82

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). O God, who shall be like unto you? Since there is
none like you, we seek no other author but you. Be not silent, neither be still, O God. We
keep silent; do you speak on our behalf. It is the voice of the righteous man: he who
says, "Neither be still, O God," is confident of his own righteousness. 2 For behold, your
enemies have made a noise. We can interpret this, according to the tropology, of the
Church and of the heresies. But we can also interpret it, according to the letter, of the
people of the Jews and of the other nations that were assailing Judaea round about. For
behold, your enemies have made a noise. He chose to call the voice and the disparagement
of his adversaries a "noise." For behold, your enemies have made a noise. See what he
says: they have made a noise — that is, just like a tinkling cymbal, so they made a noise
in my ears. It is properly called a "sound": only the sound is heard, and the voice is not
understood. Therefore what he says is this. They indeed were speaking, as though they
wished to accuse me; but I, for my part, was hearing not a voice, as it were, but a sound.
And they that hate you have lifted up the head. See what he says. Therefore he who raises
up his head hates God. "For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." And
they that hate you have lifted up the head. If ever you have something against someone, if
your brother disparages you, and you are humble for Christ's sake, and he is proud on
account of the devil, you imitate him who says, "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of
heart." But he who exalts himself imitates the one who says, "I will ascend into heaven, I
will set my throne above the stars of heaven, I will be like the Most High." And they that
hate you have lifted up the head.

3 Against your people they have dealt maliciously in counsel. It is enough for anyone, if
he be the people of God. And they have taken counsel against your saints. This needs no
interpretation: to have read it is to have understood it. They have said: Come, and let us
destroy them from the nation. Let there be no nation, for it is the people of God. And let
the name of Israel be remembered no more. Let him be remembered no more who sees God with
his understanding. 4 For they have taken counsel with one accord together. Unhappy are we,
unhappy the people of God: it cannot have as great a concord in what is good as the wicked
have in what is evil. Against you they have arranged a covenant: the tabernacles of the
Edomites and the Ishmaelites. See the mysteries of the names. The tabernacles of the
Edomites and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, and
the foreigners with them that dwell at Tyre: for Asshur also is come with them, they are
become a help to the sons of Lot. There are eleven who fight against the saints.
Therefore, since they fought against the saints, they could not come to the perfect
number, that is, to the twelfth. The tabernacles of the Edomites. They have no foundation
at home, but tabernacles which quickly pass away. Edom is interpreted in two ways: either
"bloody" or "earthly. See therefore who they are that fight against the saints: the
tabernacles of the Edomites, the earthly ones. And the Ishmaelites. The Ishmaelites are
interpreted as "those obedient to themselves": that is, whatever the heart and the evil
thought may have conceived, they straightway do it. Therefore it is said in Ezekiel: "Son
of man, speak against the prophets who follow their own heart, and whatever their thought
impels them to, they do. But we ought not to follow our own thought, nor to be called
Ishmaelites, that is, "obedient to themselves," but Ishmael, that is, "obedient to God.

5 Moab, "from the father," that is, those withdrawing from God the Father. The Hagarenes,
"proselytes. They who ought to be dwellers with God have been made proselytes. Gebal is
interpreted "empty valley": ge means "valley," and bal is interpreted "empty. These, then,
who are against the people of God, are not of the mountain, but of the empty valley. And
Ammon is interpreted "turbulent people": that is, those who trust in a multitude, and not
in simplicity. Amalek is interpreted "licking the earth. For whoever fights against the
people of God does not eat the heavenly bread, but licks the earth like a serpent. The
foreigners. Where it says "foreigners," the Hebrew has Philistines. And the Philistines
are interpreted "falling by drink": that is, those who are made drunk from the cup of the
devil, and being drunk have fallen. With them that dwell at Tyre. Tyre in the Hebrew
tongue is called sor, which is interpreted "straitness" and "tribulation. They who ought
to have been sojourners in this world have become dwellers. These, then, who assail the
people of God, dwell in Sor, that is, in the straitness and tribulation of their own soul.
So then, these so many nations that fight against the saints — let us see whom they have
as their prince, the Savior or the devil. What follows? For Asshur also is come with them.
Asshur, Nebuchadnezzar, the adversary of God, who led the people of God into captivity.

6 Although the nations may seem to have very many fighting on their behalf, yet they have
Asshur, that is, the devil, as their prince, who are become a help to the sons of Lot. Lot
is interpreted "declining. The demons were formerly angels, and afterward fell with the
devil, and became his satellites, as it is written in the Apocalypse of John, that the
dragon fell, and drew with him the third part of the stars. So then, what does he say?
These, who came with so many nations, and assailed your people, and Asshur came with them,
and they have the devil as their prince, are become a help to the sons of Lot — that is,
to the demons who declined from you: they do the same work that the demons also do. 7 You
see that these are most difficult passages, you see that they are obscure, and that in
each single phrase there are great mysteries, and we are compelled by necessity to dwell
rather long on the Hebrew words that are full of mysteries. For we are not now airing out
some rhetorical commonplace: but we are striving to interpret that which was spoken by the
Holy Spirit. For unless we interpret it as we have said, what does it profit the churches
of Christ to read "the tabernacles of the Edomites, and the Ishmaelites," and the other
names?

8 Since, therefore, they came against your people, let us see what the psalmist imprecates
upon them. Do to them as to Midian and Sisera. You have read the book of Judges: this is
that Midian whom Gideon assailed. And Sisera, and Jabin. Jabin and Sisera are those whom
Deborah and Barak assailed. At the torrent of Kishon, they perished at Endor. Deborah and
Barak slew Sisera, the commander of the army. Therefore what he says, see what it means.
Lord, since they have such great pride, since they come with so great an army, since they
have Nebuchadnezzar the prince of the Assyrians, since they are become a help to the sons
of Lot, since they do the very thing that the demons do, since their pride has been raised
up even to you: therefore I pray you, that to their disgrace they may be conquered not by
a man, but by a woman. They are become as the dung of the earth. Who? Midian, and Sisera,
and Jabin: these three are become as the dung of the earth. Midian is interpreted
"abandoning judgment." Whoever fights against your people does not consider that there
will be a judgment to come. Sisera is interpreted "the sight of a horse." These who fight
against your people are not of your flock and of your cattle, but of the horses that rage
madly after females. These horses, then, are always ready for battle. As Jabin. Jabin is
interpreted "understanding." Those who trust in their own wisdom, and not in the glory of
God, are become as the dung of the earth. Those who gloried in their army, who had Asshur
as their prince, and were saying, "I will ascend into heaven," not only fell to the earth,
but became dung upon the earth.

9 Make their princes. Whose? Of those who fight against your people. As Oreb and Zeeb, and
Zebah and Zalmunna, all their princes. I think you have read the history in the book of
Judges, that Gideon, who is called by another name Jerubbaal, fighting on behalf of the
people of God, conquered these four kings, and slew them. And see what sort of men the
princes of the Midianites are, who forsook the judgment of God. Oreb and Zeeb and Zebah
and Zalmunna. Who thinks that in these words there are mysteries of the Savior? The
philosophers read this, and mock; the rhetoricians read it, and now think it to be
nonsense. And not only the rhetoricians, but the Jews also: they have not the key of
knowledge, since a veil is placed before their eyes. Oreb is interpreted "a hole," into
which a snake enters; Zeeb is interpreted "a wolf." See the names of the princes who are
adversaries of Christ. Zebah, "a victim," that is, those whom the wolf has strangled; and
Zalmunna, "perfected in malice." See, therefore, the mysteries of the names. Who said: Let
us possess the sanctuary of God by inheritance. They said it, but they did not accomplish
it: for the Lord was fighting for his people.

10 O my God, make them as a wheel. See the clemency of the prophet: he does not pray
against them, but for them. See what he says. O my God — you who are the God of all, but
properly my God: O my God, make them as a wheel. Those who have, as it were, a foundation
in malice, let them have no foundation, but let them totter, and not stand firm in malice.
As stubble before the face of the wind, as fire that burns up a forest. As stubble: not as
wheat, but as stubble. What he says is this: if there is among them anything that is
stubble and chaff, let it perish. As fire that burns up a forest. He did not say "fruitful
trees," but "forest," which has no fruit. If anyone, then, is stubble, and has no wheat;
if anyone is a forest, and has no fruit — let this perish. As a flame burning up the
mountains: let the pride in them perish.

11 So shall you pursue them in your tempest, and in your wrath... What? will you kill
them? No: you will trouble them, that they may be saved. Fill their faces with shame, that
they may be confounded. Why this? And they shall seek your name, O Lord. You see, then,
that he prays not against them, but for their salvation. Finally, in what follows also,
see what he says. Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever, and let them be
confounded and perish. Let them perish according to that which is evil in them, and let
that which is good be saved. Finally, see that "perdition" here does not signify
abolition, but salvation. What follows? And let them know that your name is Lord: you
alone are the Most High over all the earth. Let him who wishes exalt himself, and let him
be exalted: let us say, You alone are the Most High over all the earth. However much
anyone exalts himself, we have God, than whom there is none higher.

HOMILY 16, ON PSALM 83

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). To the choirmaster, for the winepresses, a psalm
of the sons of Korah. There are three psalms which are inscribed "for the winepresses":
the eighth, the eightieth, and the eighty-third. The eighth is inscribed to David, the
eightieth is inscribed to Asaph, the eighty-third is inscribed as of the sons of Korah. I
give you a certain rule, so that you may know what you ought to observe in the Scriptures.
Whatever psalm is inscribed as of the sons of Korah has nothing sad in it, but always
signifies joyful things. For since Korah and Dathan and Abiram acted against Moses, and
were punished by the Lord, the sons of Korah, who did not follow their father, were
blessed with eternal joy. And since Korah is interpreted "skull," and it is plain that the
skull signifies the place of the resurrection, whoever is a son of Korah is a son of the
resurrection. And whoever is a son of the resurrection can have nothing that is sad.

2 How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts: my soul longs and faints for the
courts of the Lord. Then it is said, "Blessed are they who dwell in your house." See that
there are three things: the tabernacles, and the courts, and lastly the house. How beloved
are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. What are these tabernacles? Let us look at the
Gospel, whether it may offer us some meaning. The Lord speaks, and says: "Make yourselves
friends of the unjust mammon, that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal
tabernacles." What is it that fails? This, that is, the unjust mammon. May they receive
you into the eternal tabernacles. You see, therefore, that the unjust mammon fails in this
world. Yet consider that this unjust thing prepares righteousness. In the Hebrew tongue
riches are called "mammon": not gold, as some suppose. Of the unjust mammon. There is also
a certain saying of the philosopher that is true: "Every rich man is either unjust, or the
heir of an unjust man." For this reason the Lord and Savior says that the rich enter with
difficulty into the kingdom of heaven. Someone may say: How did Zacchaeus enter into the
kingdom of heaven, who was rich? But he gave away his riches, and at once he exchanged his
riches for the kingdom of heaven. He did not say, Whoever are rich shall not enter into
the kingdom of heaven: but he said, that the rich enter with difficulty into the kingdom
of heaven.

3 How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. Others desire possessions, others the
riches of this world, others to hold office in the churches of this world, and to have
some glory among men: for me this alone is my desire, to see your eternal tabernacles.
Those tabernacles are beloved to me, where there is a gathering of virtues, not of vices.
My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord. This is my only desire, this is my
only love, that I may see your courts. See the order. First he desires the tabernacles,
tabernacles which have no foundation, tabernacles which are quickly changed. For a
tabernacle is always being changed, and is carried from here to there. But the courts are
indeed not the house, yet they have some foundations, and from the court we enter into the
house. Therefore this man first desires the tabernacles, and afterward faints and melts
with love that he may see the courts: and when he has been in the court, then he says:
"Blessed are they who dwell in your house."

4 My heart and my flesh have exulted in the living God. It is difficult that both the
heart and the flesh of anyone should agree together in common. For if, according to the
apostle, the spirit fights against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit, how does he
here say: My heart and my flesh have exulted? This no one can say, except him who is fixed
with his whole mind in the love of God. My heart and my flesh. This is what he says also
in another place: "My soul has thirsted for you, how manifoldly my flesh for you." And my
flesh. This is the flesh that desires the Lord, of which it is said in another place: "And
all flesh shall see the salvation of God." But that flesh, of which it is said "All flesh
is grass," does not desire the Lord. My heart and my flesh. Show me some abstinent man,
who reckons the death of his flesh to be the gain of his soul. And these are the fastings
and the afflictions of the flesh. Finally, what does the apostle also say? "Whom I have
handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved."
Unless the flesh has died, the spirit cannot be made alive. For this reason the apostle
also says: "When I am weak, then I am stronger." Let each one consider himself, when he is
wearied and worn out with fasting, how the soul flourishes, how the mind considers nothing
else except God, how it always says: How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts.

5 For indeed the sparrow has found itself a home, and the turtledove a nest for itself
where it may place its young. For the moment let us interpret it simply. See what he says.
I desire, O Lord, your eternal tabernacles: my soul longs and faints for the courts of the
Lord: I desire to have some seat and little nest for my soul and my body. The birds which
wander freely here and there, yet after they have flown, have a place and little nests
where they may rest: how much more ought my soul and my flesh to prepare for themselves a
place, where they may be able to rest? Now let us ascend to something higher. "In the Lord
I trust: how do you say to my soul, Migrate to the mountains like a sparrow? See
therefore, that no one migrates to the mountains, except him who is a sparrow. And the
turtledove a nest for itself. This is the turtledove, of which he says in the Song of
Songs: "The voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. The turtledove a nest for
itself. The turtledove is an animal of chastity, the turtledove does not dwell in low
places, but always makes its nests for itself in the lofty trees.

6 As therefore the sparrow and the turtledove, most chaste birds, make their nests for
themselves in the higher places, so therefore the tabernacles and the courts and the house
are not on this low earth, but on high, that is, in the kingdoms of heaven. Finally, see
what he says. Blessed are they who dwell in your house. In the tabernacle we do not dwell,
but we sojourn. And as long as we are in the court, we do not dwell, but we sojourn: for
from the courts we pass into the house. But when we have come into the house, what is
said? Blessed are they who dwell in your house. The house, which has a foundation: because
from the house it is not permitted for us to go out, but from the courts it is permitted.
7 Blessed is the man whose help is from you. We indeed desire your tabernacles and courts
and house: but this very thing, that we may be able to attain it, is not of our own
strength, but of your help. He has arranged ascents in his heart. Who has arranged ascents
in his heart? Blessed is the man whose help is from the Lord: he has arranged ascents in
his heart. Whoever is holy is daily stretched out toward the things before, and forgets
the things that are past. For this reason there are also said in the Psalter the fifteen
psalms of the steps, and the first is said, "To the Lord when I was in tribulation I cried
out." And in the second, "I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where my help
shall come." And in the third, "I was glad in the things that were said to me." And he
always proceeds, and advances, and ascends to loftier things. What he says is this. He has
arranged ascents in his heart. Happy is he who daily advances, who does not consider what
he did yesterday, but what he may do and advance in today. The holy man places ascents in
his heart, the sinner descents. As he who is holy daily advances, so he who is a sinner
daily decreases. Blessed is the man who arranges ascents in his heart. See the sequence of
the Scriptures.

8 In the valley of tears, in the place which he has set. Where "in the valley" is said, it
is necessary that we understand, by contrast, also the mountain. Therefore whoever
arranges ascents in his heart, where has he been placed? In the valley of tears. Let us
consider that we are in the valley: we are not on the mountain, we are not in paradise, in
the height of paradise; but in the lowliness of the earth, the accursed earth, which
brings forth for us thistles and thorns, which is the serpent's food, of which it is said
to Adam, "You are earth, and to earth you shall go." As long, therefore, as we are in the
valley of tears, we ought not to laugh, but to weep. For this reason the Lord also says:
"Blessed are they who weep, for they themselves shall laugh." For the time being,
therefore, we are in the valley of tears, and this world is a world of tears, not of joy.
We ought not to laugh, since this world and this time is of tears, that other is of joy.
In the valley of tears, in the place which he has set. What is it that he says, In the
place which he has set? In the place, that is, in the valley of tears. In the place which
he has set: God has set us for the contest, that we may always fight in this. This place,
therefore, that is, the valley of tears, is not of peace, is not of security, but of
contest and of wars.

9 For indeed he who gave the law will give blessings. Someone may say: In the valley of
tears, in the place which he has set for the struggle, that is, for the contest. Why has
he set us for the struggle? Why has he willed us to fight? The psalmist himself has
answered himself, and says: For this reason in this place he has willed us to fight, that
he may be able to bestow crowns. For indeed the lawgiver will give blessings. This
lawgiver, that is, our judge of the contest (agonotheta), for this reason has willed us to
fight, that he may be able to bless us. See the sequence. But what are the blessings of
this judge of the contest? They shall go from strength to strength. Here they conquer,
that there they may be crowned. If here a man appears strong, there he becomes more
robust. They shall go from strength to strength. Therefore, unless here we have had
strength, there we cannot have greater strength. For he did not say, they shall go from
weakness to strength: but, they shall go from strength to strength. Do you wish to be
strong there? First be strong here. Do you wish to be crowned there? Fight here. They
shall go from strength to strength. We can also say it another way. "Christ the power of
God and the wisdom of God. He who has had strength here, will have that same strength
there also. They shall go from strength to strength.

10 What gain will they have, when they have gone from strength to strength? what reward
will they have? The God of gods shall be seen in Zion. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they themselves shall see God. It suffices for the victors, it suffices for those who have
fought, the face of Christ: to see God is an infinite crown. The God of gods shall be seen
in Zion. How great a joy it is, how great a happiness, to go from strength to strength,
and to have this very reward, that we may be counted worthy to see Christ! 11 Our
protector, look, O God, and look upon the face of your Christ. See what he says, And look
upon the face of your Christ. And a man prays, that the Father may look upon the face of
the Son. But see what he says. Since the apostle said, "Do you seek proof of him who
speaks in me, Christ?" and again the Savior himself said, "He who receives you receives
me," therefore this is what he says: Look upon us: for in us you look upon your Son, who
dwells in us. For better is one day in your courts above thousands. See what he says, "one
day." Someone thinks it should be understood thus: It is better for me to have a little in
the kingdom of heaven, than here the whole, that is, in this world. This understanding,
indeed, is not a bad one. But let us say: If it could happen that someone should be for
one day in the kingdom of heaven, and afterward be cast down headlong, he would rightly
say: Better is one day in your courts. But now, in that he says "one day," this is what he
says: The kingdom of heaven is one day; it does not have night and darkness, but always
there is light. He therefore who has been for one day in the kingdom of heaven, is always
there.

12 I have chosen to be an outcast in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the
tabernacles of sinners. This is what the Savior also says about John: "Amen I say to you,
that among those born of women there is not a greater than John the Baptist." Then he says
that he himself is an angel. And then he says: "But he who is lesser in the kingdom of
heaven is greater than he." The sense there is this: John is greater than all men, and, if
you wish to know, he himself is an angel; but this one who on earth is an angel, is the
least in the kingdom of heaven, that is, he is lesser than the angels; but he who is
lesser in the kingdom of heaven, that is, the angel, is greater than this one who on earth
is greater than all. This, therefore, is now what the prophet says: I have chosen to be an
outcast in the house of my God, that is, I have wished to be the least in the kingdom of
heaven, rather than the first in this world. I have chosen to be an outcast in the house
of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners. Consider what he says,
Rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners. Tabernacles have no foundation, but
they pass away: yet he who is a sinner never merely sojourns on the earth, but dwells in
it and possesses it.

13 For God loves mercy and truth. Two things God loves, mercy and truth. If he were only
merciful, he would provoke us all to sins: if he loved only truth, no one would have hope
of repentance. For this reason he seeks two things, and tempers the one by the other. If
you are a sinner, hear that God is merciful, and do not despair, and do penance. But if
you are righteous, do not be negligent, because God is clement: since God is also just,
and loves truth. The Lord will give grace and glory. He did not say, He will give glory
and grace: but what did he say? The Lord will give grace and glory. First he forgives
sins, and afterward he crowns. He will not deprive of good things those who walk in
innocence. It has it better in the Hebrew: "in perfection." For innocence is not a perfect
virtue: since he who is innocent, unless he also has prudence, is not of perfect and
consummate virtue. For this reason he also says in the Gospel: "Be prudent as serpents,
and simple as doves." O Lord of hosts. See what he says, O Lord of hosts. Therefore when
we have any sins in us, God, who is the Lord of hosts, is not our Lord: because the Lord
is not the Lord of sinners, but of the righteous. Blessed is the man who hopes in you. He
hopes in the Lord, who has no conscience of sins, who lifts free eyes to heaven. This man
hopes, who knows that he has not offended his Lord.

HOMILY 17, ON PSALM 84

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 Unto the end, a psalm of the sons of Korah. The
eighty-fourth psalm is headed with this title. I have often said: wherever there is the
title "Of the sons of Korah," nothing is sorrowful, but always joyful. For the sorrow of
the father is consoled by the joy of the sons. Read the psalms through carefully, then,
and wherever you find the title "Of the sons of Korah," you will find nothing sorrowful. I
have often said: Korah, which is interpreted as "the place of the Skull," must signify
something joyful. So then, who is this Korah? He is the one who was going up from Jericho
to Bethel. Bethel, "the house of God. Note this carefully. Whoever is in Jericho, and
wishes to go to the house of God, must go up. Therefore our Korah went up from Jericho —
that is, Elisha — to the house of God, Bethel; and there come out from Bethel, that is,
from the house of God, that is, from the synagogue, where formerly there had been the
house of God, there come out forty-two boys, and they mock Elisha, our Korah, and say, "Go
up, baldhead, go up, baldhead. He comes to his own house, and is mocked by the little
children of Bethel. But that most patient Elisha, who had come to Bethel for this very
purpose, to save it, at length turned round upon them: he turned round, and gave orders
that two bears should come out of the wood, and they killed forty-two boys.

3 So too our Lord, that is, our Korah, when He had come to Bethel and wished to go up,
mocked by the little ones, gives orders that two bears come out — that is, Vespasian and
Titus — and they killed forty-two boys. Who are these forty-two boys? From the ascension
of Christ up to the overthrow of Jerusalem there are forty-two years. Look carefully, and
you will find it so. And so He gave them room for repentance for forty-two years, even
after His resurrection, when He went up to Bethel. But because they kept mocking, "Go up,
baldhead, go up, baldhead," the two bears came out and killed them. 4 You have blessed, O
Lord, Your land. This is spoken of the coming of the Savior. This properly according to
the history; but according to the tropology, after we have spoken of the history, we shall
discourse afterwards. You have blessed, O Lord, Your land. This we have said of the coming
of the Savior. The land which had offended You, which had been defiled with idolatries,
was saved when You came. You have blessed, O Lord, Your land. Let the sinner speak, and
then, having obtained pardon: You have blessed, O Lord, Your land. Although it brought
forth thistles and thorns, yet it is Your creation, and therefore it was saved. You have
turned away the captivity of Jacob: of those who have believed in Christ. You have turned
away the captivity of Jacob. Whoever is in sins is held captive. You have remitted the
iniquity of Your people. Not on account of their works, but on account of Your mercy, You
have saved Your people. You have covered all their sins, and right up to the end the psalm
is about the coming of the Savior, as I said. Mercy and truth. Nevertheless His salvation
is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. For truly the glory of
God dwelt in our land, and thereafter righteousness looked down from heaven. For the Lord
shall give loving-kindness. What loving-kindness? Our land shall yield its fruit. Mary,
our land, our flesh, yielded her fruit. Righteousness shall walk before Him. The virgin
land gave forth its righteous fruit.

5 This much, for the moment, we have said according to the history; now let us speak
according to the tropology. You have remitted the iniquity of Your people. No one remits
anything except what is owed. You have covered all their sins. You have covered them with
virtues, and therefore the sins do not appear. For example, You have covered iniquity with
righteousness, You have covered unchastity with chastity, You have covered blackness with
whiteness. You have softened all Your wrath, You have turned away from the wrath of Your
indignation. Turn us, O God of our salvations. See what he says. You, for Your part, have
turned away from wrath on account of Your clemency. Turn us, O God. You have turned away
from wrath; turn us away from sins. Turn us, O God of our salvations. Why did he not say,
"of our salvation," but, "of our salvations"? If we sinned but once, we would need one
salvation. We have sinned in many things, therefore we need many salvations. O God, You,
turning again, will bring us to life. As long, therefore, as the Lord does not turn to us,
we are dead. Show us, O Lord, Your mercy, and grant us Your salvation. That the Savior
came down is a matter of God's mercy: the physician would not have come, had not very many
been sick. Because very many were sick, therefore the physician came: because we were in
need of mercy, therefore the Savior came.

6 I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me. Many think, when Moses speaks and says,
"Thus says the Lord," and Isaiah, and the rest, and when it is said, "The word of the Lord
came to Isaiah" or "to Ezekiel the prophet," that the speech comes from outside, and that
the prophet hears through these ears of his what is spoken by the Lord. It is not so.
Indeed, what does our Lord Himself say to the Pharisees and the Jews? "He who has ears to
hear, let him hear. And Isaiah says: "The Lord has added an ear for me. See what he says:
The Lord has added an ear for me. Because I did not have that ear which is in the heart,
He added it for me, that I might be able to hear the words of God. And so now, then,
whatever the prophet hears, he hears in his heart. For just as we cry out in our hearts,
"Abba, Father," and that cry is a cry of silence, and the silence is heard by the Lord: so
too the Lord speaks to our heart, which cries out, "Abba, Father. Therefore, then, the
prophet now says: I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me. Something similar the
prophet Habakkuk also says: "I will stand upon my contemplation, and I will see what the
Lord will answer me, and what I shall answer to Him" — and I will hear what the Lord God
will speak in me.

7 Therefore this also that he says, I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me, he
speaks in the heart, he speaks in the understanding. Do you wish to know what the cry of
the heart is like? Do you wish to know that a cry before God is not one of voice, but of
tears? It is said in the Lamentations of Jeremiah: "The pupil of my eye was not silent.
For He will speak peace unto His people. This is properly said of the people of the Jews,
who are to believe in Christ: that is, it is said of the coming of Christ and of the faith
of the Jewish people, that is, of the apostles, and of all who believed the apostles. For
He will speak peace unto His people. Peace is not spoken of except when there is war. 8
And unto His saints, and unto those who are turned to the heart: that is, those who first
followed the flesh, and afterwards are turned to the heart. That you may know that this
little verse is spoken further of the Jews — that is, of those who believed in the Savior
— see the examples we have mentioned. Take for me a Jew reading Leviticus, and all those
sacraments that are written there, and how the leper enters into the synagogue, how a hen
is taken up, and its neck is wrung; then it is told how the blood is to be sprinkled, it
is told of the water, it is told also of the hyssop, it is told too how his garments are
to be rent, and thus he enters into the synagogue, he who had been a leper. If we read
according to the letter, what profit is it to us that we read? But if we have turned to
the heart, if we have understood spiritually, we shall see that the leper cannot enter to
the people of God unless his garments be rent, unless whatever had been shut up be
uncovered. Then see that this leper does not enter into the synagogue except through blood
and water and hyssop. Therefore you too, who up to this day have been a leper — your
leprosy did not appear until you came to the priest.

9 But because you came to the priest, the priest unstitched your garments, and that which
seemed to be covered and sound, he showed to be leprous. He set all your sins and your
leprosy before your eyes, and therefore he brings you back into the synagogue of God
through blood and through water. Through blood, through the passion of Christ; and through
water, through baptism. Therefore, after leprosy you will not be able to be healed except
through the blood of Christ and through baptism. And when you have done this, that too is
said: "You shall sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: You shall wash me, and
I shall be made whiter than snow. Up to this day you are in Egypt: as long as you do not
come to the blood and to the water, you will not be able to be saved. Do you wish that the
destroyer, who slew Egypt, may not slay you? Take hyssop, dip it in the blood, sprinkle
your doorposts: and the destroyer, when he sees the blood on your forehead, will not be
able to approach. Why have I said all this? Because it is written, Unto those who are
turned to the heart. Therefore God will not be able to speak peace to His people, except
to those who are turned to the heart.

10 Nevertheless His salvation is near to those who fear Him. I have shown the way of
salvation, I grant mercy. Although you are not yet turned to the heart, still I wait, I
grant room for repentance. And all this, indeed, that glory may dwell in our land. For
this reason He calls you to repentance, that you, who were a leper, may have Christ as
your guest. Mercy and truth have met each other: righteousness and peace have kissed. O
how splendid a friendship! Mercy and truth have met each other. Are you a sinner? Hear
what it says: Mercy. Are you holy? Hear what it says: And truth. Neither, if you are a
sinner, should you despair; nor, if you are righteous, should you be proud. Let us speak
in another way. There are two believing peoples: one from the people of the Gentiles, and
another from the Jews. To the Jews it was promised that the Savior would come: but to us,
who were strangers to the law of God, it was not promised. Mercy, therefore, is in the
people of the Gentiles, truth in the people of the Jews: because what was promised has
come, that is, what was promised to the fathers is fulfilled in the sons. Righteousness
and peace have kissed. See what it says: Righteousness and peace have kissed. It is the
same as what it said above, Mercy and truth. Mercy is the same as peace, but truth is the
same as righteousness. For if anything pertains to peace, it pertains also to mercy: and
if anything to truth, it pertains also to righteousness. See, then, what it says.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other: that is, mercy and truth have made
friendship, that is, the people of the Gentiles and of the Jews are under one shepherd,
Christ.

11 Truth has sprung up out of the earth. "I am the way and the truth and the life. He who
said, I am the truth, has sprung up out of the earth. What is this truth, which has sprung
up out of the earth? "There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower
shall rise up from his root. And in another place: "For God has wrought salvation in the
midst of the earth. What do you say, Manichaean, who deny that the Savior had flesh?
Behold, the truth, the Savior, has sprung up out of the earth, that is, out of Mary. And
righteousness has looked down from heaven. For it was righteous that the Savior should
have mercy on His people. See what it says. O righteous judgments of God, and His ways
past finding out! Truth has sprung up out of the earth, that is, the Savior. And again,
And righteousness has looked down from heaven. Righteousness is the Savior Himself. How
has He sprung up out of the earth? How has He looked down from heaven? He has sprung up
out of the earth, because He was born a man: He has looked down from heaven, because as
God He is always in the heavens. That is, He was indeed born of the earth: but He who was
born of the earth is always in heaven. That is, He so appeared on earth that He did not
leave the heavens. For God is everywhere. He looked down:

12 because, as long as we were sinning, He turned His eyes away from us. What He says is
this. It is righteous that the potter should have mercy on his works, that the shepherd
should have mercy on his flock. We are His people, we are His creation. Therefore, then,
He sprang up out of the earth, and looked down from heaven, that He might fulfill His
righteousness, and have mercy on His work. And so, that you may know that "righteousness"
does not sound of cruelty, but of mercy, see what it says. For the Lord shall give loving-
kindness. For this reason He looked down from heaven, that He might have mercy on His
works. And our land shall yield its fruit. Truth indeed has sprung up out of the earth:
this of the past. Now it is said of the future, And our land shall yield its fruit. Do not
despair, because He was once born of Mary: daily He is born also in us. And our land shall
yield its fruit. We too can bring forth Christ, if we will. And our land shall yield its
fruit: from which is made the heavenly bread, of which He says, "I am the heavenly bread.
All these things, indeed, we have said concerning the mercy of the Lord, since He came for
this purpose, to save the human race. Nevertheless we ought to know that He Himself is to
judge the living and the dead, He Himself will come to judge. Righteousness shall walk
before Him.

13 Do not be negligent: Righteousness shall walk before Him. And He shall set His steps in
the way. See what it says, His steps: where there are no stones, where there are no thorns
and thistles, where the way is level, where He can walk, where He cannot stumble. Let us,
then, also make a way for the Lord in our heart: the way over which John labored, and
cried out in the wilderness, that we should make a way for the Lord. Therefore now too
this is said. And He shall set His steps in the way. Where He finds a way, He will walk.
Although before we had thorns and thistles, although stones, it is said to us in Isaiah:
"And cast the stones out of the way. And He says this for the reason, that when He wishes
to walk about in our way, He may not stub His foot. The stones which are in the way, and
are commanded to be cast out, are our sins. Christ does not walk in our heart, if there be
any sin: at once He stumbles against the stones. And He shall set His steps in the way.
Let us make a way, and Jesus will set His steps in the way.


HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS
======================

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS continued

HOMILY 18, ON PSALM 86

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). A psalm of a canticle, for the sons of Korah. The
difference between a psalm and a canticle I have often stated. A psalm is spoken from the
psaltery, but a canticle is uttered from the voice. A psalm has to do with the hands, that
is, with works; a canticle with contemplation (theoria). 2 Its foundations are in the holy
mountains. He did not say beforehand whose, yet he said, Its foundations are in the holy
mountains. The one who speaks is the prophet: the sons are of Korah. What Korah means, I
have often stated: a skull, that is, the sons of the resurrection. Its foundations:
whether of God, or certainly of the Church. And what are the foundations, if not the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? These foundations, then, are not in the valleys,
but are in the mountains: and not on any mountains whatever, but on the holy mountains.
Paul says: 'As a wise architect I have laid the foundation'—that is, faith in the Trinity.
Then he also says in another place: 'For he was awaiting the city having foundations,
whose builder and maker is God.' Its foundations are in the holy mountains. He said, In
the holy mountains, because there are also other mountains that are not holy. Then it is
also said in Isaiah: 'Upon the dark mountain lift up a sign.' And in another place it is
said: 'Who are you, corrupt mountain?' It is also said in Jeremiah: 'Give glory to the
Lord your God, before your feet stumble against the dark mountains.' You see, then, that
there are also dark mountains: and it is said to us by Jeremiah that we should give glory
to God before our feet stumble against the dark mountains. For if our feet strike against
those mountains, we cannot give glory to the Lord. Its foundations are in the holy
mountains. Whom can we call the foundations? The apostles. In them were the foundations:
where the faith of the Church was first laid, there too the foundations were laid.

3 And because each one builds upon the foundation—one gold, another silver, another
precious stones—The Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. Does
he love those gates which we see have collapsed? Does he love those gates, and does he
love that Zion, which has been plowed like a field? And see what he says, The Lord loves
the gates of Zion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. See what he says: above all the
cities of Jacob, that is of Judea, he loves this city alone. And how is it that we see the
others in part still standing, while this one has utterly collapsed? Let us read the
Apocalypse of John, let us also read Isaiah, where the city of Jerusalem is built, and its
twelve gates are said to be constructed of precious stones, and the city itself descends
from heaven, and its walls are said to be of gold, and its streets are said to be paved
with emerald, and each of the gates is said to be constructed of a single precious stone.
These are all the riches of the Lord, and does the Lord love these the way men do too? He
forbids us from avarice, and does he himself build a city out of avarice? Therefore the
Lord loves the gates of Zion, those twelve gates of Zion: it is clear that he wrote of the
apostles. Above all the tabernacles of Jacob: above all the ancient saints.

4 This much we have said so far according to one figure. But let us speak also in another
way. The Lord loves the gates of Zion. To me the gates of Zion seem to be the virtues. For
just as the gates of death are the vices and sins, so the gates of Zion seem to me to be
the virtues. Then he says in another place: 'You who lift me up from the gates of death.'
But if the gates of death are sins, then the gates of Jerusalem are virtues. Above all the
tabernacles of Jacob. See that Jacob, that is the old people, has no foundation, nor a
house set upon foundations, but tabernacles which quickly pass away. Glorious things are
spoken of you, O city of God. Therefore that which was said, Its foundations are in the
holy mountains, we can also say of God. But we can also say this. Glorious things are
spoken of you, O city of God. What is this city? Where were glorious things spoken? In all
the prophets it was spoken of this city. Isaiah says: 'Arise, arise, O Jerusalem, put on
the strength of your arm.' Again Isaiah himself: 'I am the strong city, the city that is
besieged.' David too says: 'The rushing of the river gladdens the city of God.' And in
another place: 'O Lord, in your city you will bring their images to nothing.' And the
Savior spoke glorious things of this city: 'A city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden.'

5 I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me. Since he said, Glorious
things are spoken of you, O city of God, and yet we understand that very city as the
Church gathered from the nations: therefore now it is said concerning the calling of the
nations, I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me. Whoever is a
sinner, let him be secure: the Lord was mindful of Rahab. I said secure, if he returns to
the Lord: for otherwise security without tears has no remedy. I will be mindful of Rahab:
of that harlot Rahab, who received the spies of Jesus, who was in Jericho, where Jesus had
come, and he sent two spies. Jericho, this world, which is overturned in seven days,
wishes to kill the spies. And while it desires to kill the spies, the harlot Rahab alone
received them. And she received them, not in a lower place, but in an upper room, on the
housetop, that is, in the height of her faith, and she hid them in flax, that is, in tow
of flax.

6 This much we have said so far according to the historical sense, and you see how from
the history itself we gradually ascend to the mystical sacraments. Jesus the leader, who
had led the people out of Egypt: Jesus, who is interpreted as Savior, after Moses had died
and been buried in the land of Moab, in the land of Arabia, that is, after the Law was
dead, desires to lead his people into the gospel, and sends two spies to Jericho: two
spies, one to the circumcision, another to the nations, Peter and Paul. Jericho seeks to
kill them; that harlot receives them, the Church gathered from the nations. She believes
in Jesus, and those whom Jericho wished to kill, she herself saves on her housetop. And
she places them on the housetop, in her lofty faith, and hides them in the flax of the
reed. Though she is a harlot, yet she places them in flax. Flax comes to whiteness through
much toil and diligence. You yourselves know that flax is born from the earth, and when it
has been born in the earth, it is black, has no beauty, no use. First then it is taken
from the earth, it is broken, then it is twisted, afterward it is washed, then it is
beaten, then it is combed, and with much care and toil it scarcely comes to whiteness.
Therefore this is said, that this harlot indeed received the spies in her flax, so that
those spies might turn her flax into whiteness. What then?

7 She gives them counsel, and says: 'Wait here three days.' It was not one day, not two,
but three days. See what she says, Wait three days. She does not name three nights, but
three days, because she had an enlightened heart. And then she says, and after three days:
and what does she say? 'Do not,' she says, 'go through the plains, but climb up into the
mountains.' For the faith of the Church is not established in the valleys, but in the
mountains. Jericho then is afterward overturned by Jesus, and this harlot alone is
preserved unharmed. Therefore this is said. I will be mindful of Rahab: that is, of her
who received my spies, and I on the day of judgment will be mindful of her. 8 I will be
mindful of Rahab. What does Rahab mean? We have spoken according to the history: let us
speak also according to the interpretation of the name and according to the anagogy. Rahab
is interpreted in two ways: either it is interpreted as breadth, or certainly it is
interpreted as pride. So see what he says. She who once walked in the broad and spacious
way that leads to death, she who was proud and had a rush toward ruin, was afterward
converted into humility. I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon. Babylon is interpreted as
confusion. See what he says. Not only will I be mindful of Rahab, but also of Babylon,
whatever soul is confounded by vices and sins. And of Babylon among those who know me. See
what he says. Though someone may have been Rahab, though he may have been Babylon: yet I
will be mindful, whoever will have known me. Therefore if we have been Rahab and Babylon,
we too ought to be secure, and to say: God said, I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon.
But see what follows. Among those who know me. They were Rahab and Babylon, but afterward
they were converted to me. I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me.
She who once was in the breadth of sins, afterward ascended into the remembrance of God.

9 Thus far he has spoken as if through riddles: but now he speaks more openly of the
calling of the nations. For see what he says. Behold, the foreigners and Tyre and the
people of the Ethiopians, these were there. He calls them foreigners to distinguish them
from Israel: for we are the foreigners. And Tyre. Tyre is interpreted as tribulation, that
is, sor. And the people of the Ethiopians: black, and wrapped up in the filth of sins. And
the people of the Ethiopians. This is what is said: 'Ethiopia will stretch out her hand
before God.' Behold, the foreigners and Tyre and the people of the Ethiopians. What is
said is this: Those who before were strangers, those who before were in tribulation, who
were set in the heart of the sea (for it is said of Tyre 'Tyre set in the heart of the
sea'): those, then, who first were in the sea, and were beaten by the waves, were
afterward found in the Church. And the people of the Ethiopians. We were once Ethiopians,
Ethiopians in vices and sins. Why? Because sins had made us black. But afterward we heard
'Wash yourselves, be clean,' and we said 'You will wash me, and I shall be made whiter
than snow.' We Ethiopians, then, were turned into whiteness. Behold, the foreigners and
Tyre and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there. Where were they? Glorious things
are spoken of you, O city of God. These were there: that is, in the city of God.

10 Will a man say to Zion, and a man is born in her? The Seventy translators rendered it
thus: Will a man say to Zion? Many, then, expected, and did not understand what μήτη Σιὼν
is: and they added a ρ, and they read μήτηρ Σιὼν ἐρεῖ ἄνθρωπος (mother Zion will a man
say). And they say this because there follows, And a man is born in her: they expect that
it also ought to be said in this way, Mother Zion will a man say. Because a son is said to
be born, therefore they err in the word "mother." Let us then speak first according to
what is commonly said (for neither ought we to dismiss that interpretation), let us then
say also ourselves: Mother Zion will a man say, and a man is born in her. These are they
who had been born in the Church, the foreigners, Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians:
these are they who are born in the Church. They believe in the Church, and are born in the
Church. For unless they have been baptized, they will not be sons of the Church. But those
who have been baptized in the Church, they call the Church mother.

11 Let us also speak according to the Hebrew truth. Will a man say to Zion, and a man is
born in her? What he says is this. Who will be able to announce to Zion, who will be able
to announce to her of men, that a man will be born in her, and he himself will save her?
That is, no man can announce to her that Zion will be saved in the man who will be born in
her. And a man is born in her. Who is this man? He himself, the Most High, founded her.
Let the Arians answer: for they say that the Father alone is the Most High. Behold, here
it is said of the Son, And he himself, the Most High, founded her. He did not say, The Son
of God who was in the beginning with the Father. But what did he say? A man is born in
her, and he himself, the Most High, founded her. But if he is called the Most High, how
much more the Word of God?

12 The Lord will tell in the writing of the peoples and of the princes, of these who have
been in her. He did not say, who are in her; but, who have been in her. The Lord will
tell. And how will he tell? not by word, but by writing. In whose writing? in that of the
peoples. That is not enough, but he also says, of the princes. And of which princes? who
are in her? He did not say this; but, who have been in her. See, then, how holy Scripture
is full of sacraments. We read the apostle Paul, we read Peter, and we read him saying 'Do
you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me?' And what Paul speaks, Christ speaks. 'For
whoever receives you, receives me.' Therefore our Lord and Savior tells us and speaks in
the writings of his princes. The Lord will tell in the writing of the peoples, in the holy
Scriptures: which Scripture is read to all peoples, that is, so that all may understand.
What he says is this. So the apostles wrote, so the Lord himself spoke in his gospels, not
so that few might understand, but that all. Plato wrote in writing: but he did not write
among the peoples, but among the few. For scarcely three men understand him. But these,
that is the princes of the Church and the princes of Christ, did not write for the few,
but for the whole people.

13 And of the princes, that is, of the apostles and of the gospels. Of these who have been
in her. See what he says, Who have been, not who are: so that, apart from the apostles,
whatever else is said afterward may be cut off, may have no authority thereafter.
Therefore, however holy someone may be after the apostles, however eloquent he may be, he
has no authority: because the Lord tells in the writing of the peoples and of the princes,
of these who have been in her. 14 As it were the dwelling of all who rejoice is in you.
The prophet speaks to the Church, and says to her: As it were the dwelling of all who
rejoice is in you. Why did he not say, The dwelling of all who rejoice is in you, but
said, As it were of those who rejoice? It is said in another psalm: 'When the Lord turned
back the captivity of Zion, we became as those who are consoled'; and he did not say,
consoled. So also in this place he says, As it were the dwelling of all who rejoice is in
you. Why did he say all this? Because in the present age, however holy someone may be,
however much he renounces the world, he does not have perfect victory. Then it is said in
the gospel: 'Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be consoled.' But if it was said
'Blessed are they who weep, for they shall laugh': it is clear that in the present age
there is no certain joy. Therefore our joy is as it were joy. The dwelling is in you. See
what he says: that someone may never withdraw from the Church.

15 We ought to know that what we have interpreted of the Church can be understood also of
our soul. For if Zion is interpreted as a watchtower, and our soul in no other way but
always considers higher things: the true church, the true temple of Christ is nothing
other than the human soul. The Church of Christ is nothing else but the souls of those who
believe in Christ. 'You,' he says, 'are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in
you.' Its foundations are in the holy mountains: that is, the foundations of God are
nowhere but in the holy mountains, in the doctrines of the believing soul. The Lord loves
the gates of Zion. Our Zion has very many gates: which, if we open them, the bridegroom
enters in to us, and sleeps with us. Then he himself says: 'Behold, I stand before the
door and knock: if anyone opens to me, I will enter and dine with him.' Glorious things
are spoken of you, O city of God. A city is not one building, but consists of many
buildings: so the Church and our Zion, unless it has many virtues, will not be the city of
God. I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me. She who once was in
the breadth of sins, afterward ascended into the remembrance of God. Will a man say to
Zion, and a man is born in her? I speak to you a wondrous thing, but a true one.

16 Our Zion, in which at times there are foreigners, and Tyre, and the Ethiopian: that
watchtower, that harlot, that Rahab, that Babylon, she who spread apart her feet to
everyone passing by, according to Ezekiel: that harlot, if she wills, suddenly becomes a
virgin. She becomes a virgin, and conceives the Son of God, and gives birth. 'From the
fear of you, O Lord, we conceived and were in labor; we brought forth the spirit of your
salvation upon the earth.' See, then, that the harlot conceives from God and gives birth,
and brings forth the Savior. We brought forth the spirit of your salvation upon the earth.
Therefore our soul, that Rahab, that harlot, can conceive and bring forth the Savior. And
a man is born in her. If we will, Christ is born daily: through each single virtue Christ
is born. For if 'Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God,' whoever does a
virtuous deed generates virtue. And he himself, the Most High, founded her. He who is born
in you, he himself gives the foundation to your Zion. The Lord will tell in the writing of
the peoples. It is clear that what the Lord speaks in Scripture, he speaks to no one as he
does to Zion. And yet, when all these things have come to pass, when Christ has been born
in her, the victory is not certain and secure, but we are always in danger. As it were the
dwelling of all who rejoice is in you.

17 He who is joyful, from that very cheerfulness is secure: but he who is secure is
quickly deceived. But he who dreads ambushes can quickly escape: with the Lord granting
it, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY 19, ON PSALM 89

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). A prayer of Moses, the man of God. There are four
psalms that are headed with the title "prayer": the sixteenth, and the one that follows
it, and the eighty-ninth, and the hundred and first. In the hundred and first it says: "A
prayer of the poor man, when he is downcast, and pours out his prayer in the sight of
God." This one: A prayer of Moses, the man of God. We read the song of Moses in Exodus, at
that time when the people crossed the Red Sea, and when Pharaoh and all his army had been
drowned, Miriam and Moses sang. Then we read one in Deuteronomy also, since he had written
that song in Deuteronomy. If therefore these psalms and these songs belong to Moses, why
are they not found in his own books? So we have already explained how the hundred and
first psalm is inscribed, A prayer of the poor man: and it is another who wrote about him,
and that poor man who intercedes for us is the Lord, "who, though he was rich, became poor
for our sake," and the rest. So too here is Moses, since from the very beginning of the
human race he himself wrote the history: for he himself wrote how heaven and earth were
made, how man too was made, about the creation of man; and this psalm speaks about the
creation of man, what man is, and why he was born. He therefore who in Genesis wrote about
the creation of men, is now himself also brought in by the Holy Spirit to discourse on
what man is.

2 Lord, you have been made a refuge for us from generation to generation. He who seeks a
refuge, seeks it either from excessive heat and scorching, or because a beast is pursuing
him, or because enemies are pursuing him, to kill him. We too, then, are in the heat of
this world; and a beast pursues us too, of which we say, "Do not hand over to the beasts a
soul that confesses to you"; and enemies pursue us too; and therefore we flee for refuge
under your wings. From generation to generation: both in the past, and in the present, and
in the future. In another sense, From generation to generation: both in the old people of
the Jews, and in our own people of Christians. 3 Before the mountains were made, and the
earth and the world were formed. At this place a heresy creeps in: If he was made a refuge
for us before the mountains were made and the earth and the world were formed, then souls
existed before the world came to be. For what does Scripture say? Lord, you have been made
a refuge for us: from generation, it says, to generation: from the beginning of the world,
before the beginning of the world. This is what they say. And do not think, he says, that
I am the one saying it. Before the mountains were made, and the earth and the world were
formed, you, he says, have been made a refuge for us. But if you were our refuge before
the world was made, then souls existed before the world came to be. You divide the
sentence wrongly, O heresy. Why do you slander the Holy Spirit? Speak in the way the Holy
Spirit spoke. It should therefore be read thus: Lord, you have been made a refuge for us
from generation to generation: and the pause is up to this point. Then another fresh
beginning: Before the mountains were made, and the earth and the world were formed, from
age to age you are God. You are God before the mountains were made, you are God before the
earth and the world were formed, from age to age you are God, you always are, you are
eternal.

4 Do not turn man away into humiliation. And you said: Turn back, sons of men. O Lord,
that we might dare to ask this, that we might say, Do not turn man away into humiliation,
you have given us confidence by saying: "Return to me, sons, as you turn back, and I will
heal your afflictions." And you said: Turn back, sons of men. For a thousand years before
your eyes are like a single day that has passed by: do not turn man away into humiliation.
And a watch in the night. What did he mean to say by this, And a watch in the night? We
ought also to know this according to the literal history: the night is divided into four
watches. Indeed in the Gospel too it is said: "But in the fourth watch." One watch, then,
is three hours: so the night is divided into four watches. Indeed soldiers have these four
stations, when they keep guard and relieve one another. See, then, what he says. All of
our eternity: that Adam our forefather, who lived nine hundred and thirty years; even that
Methuselah, who lived nine hundred and sixty-five years; suppose he had lived a thousand:
in comparison with your eternity, what was great is short. For what can be great that has
an end? Our thousand years, before we had committed offense, was one day in your sight.
Why do I say, one day? one watch of the night. Do not turn man away into humiliation. See
what he says: You deigned for our salvation to come down, you poured out your blood for
us: do not allow us to perish, and to die in humiliation. You yourself said: "When I have
been lifted up, I will draw all to myself." You have been lifted up, and you have lifted
us up: do not abandon us, so that we be dragged down.

5 In the morning let it pass like grass, in the morning let it flower and pass away: in
the evening let it fall, harden, and wither. O the mysteries of the Scriptures! In the
morning let it pass like grass. Our Lord and Savior also speaks in the Gospel about the
hay, which springs up in one day and withers in one day. Just as grass that is green and
flowers seems in the morning to be, as it were, a flower and green: yet when the sun comes
and scorches it, toward evening it wilts, as it were, and falls; so too all our life seems
to be, as it were, a flower while it is green, and it withers. Ten years ago you saw a
young lad: nothing more beautiful than he, he ran this way and that. If you look at him
now, he seems in old age to be, as it were, dead. Though he lives in old age, yet his
youth has perished. In the morning let it pass like grass, that is, our youth: for that is
the morning. Let it pass like grass, in the morning let it flower and pass away. We flower
in youth, we wither in old age. In the evening let it fall, harden, and wither. For we
have failed in your anger, and in your wrath we have been troubled. Formerly we used to
live nine hundred and thirty years, we had reached up to a thousand: behold, our life has
been contracted to a brief span.

6 You have set our iniquities in your sight. Nothing is hidden from you: that is, neither
does night hide our sins, nor do shadows envelop them: all things shine bright before you.
Our age in the illumination of your countenance. It stands better in the Hebrew: "Our
faults in the illumination of your countenance. Whatever we do, whatever we think we are
doing in secret, lies open in your eyes. For all our days have failed. Our lifetime has
run its course: and while we are unaware, it slips away, we perish; and this very thing
that we are speaking is part of death, and we do not understand. Our years will be
pondered like a spider. See what he says. Just as a spider casts out its threads, as it
were, and runs this way and that, and weaves all day long, and the labor indeed is great,
but the result is nothing: so too the life of men runs this way and that. We seek
possessions, we prepare riches, we beget sons, we labor, we are raised up to kingdoms, and
we do everything: and we do not understand that we are weaving a spider's web. The days of
our years in themselves are seventy years. Where are the thousand years? We have been
contracted into seventy years: but if more, eighty. But if we live longer, it is no longer
life, but death. But if among the powerful, eighty years. For whom will you find to be an
eighty-year-old and to be healthy?

7 The Greek saying also says: "Old age is itself a disease. And what is beyond them is
toil and sorrow. Whatever is more is not life, but sorrow. 8 This much we have said for
the time being according to the literal history: but now let us speak according to the
anagogical sense. And indeed every psalm admits of a figurative interpretation; and I
could now run through it verse by verse, and give the spiritual understanding in each: but
the hour shuts us out. Let me at least give you in a single verse, as it were, a taste of
the spiritual understanding, so that whatever I here leave unspoken, you may consider to
have been spoken here. The days of our years in themselves are seventy years. Seventy
years are seven decades, and eighty years are eight decades. See, then, how the seventh
and the eighth number is proclaimed. And just as we said, You have been made a refuge for
us from generation to generation, both in the old and in the new testament: therefore now
too he sets down both the seventh and the eighth number. This he says also in
Ecclesiastes: "Give a portion to seven, and give a portion to eight. Therefore there are
also fifteen Psalms of Degrees, that is, seven and eight: which fifteen together lead us
to the kingdom of heaven. And indeed, after the seventh Psalm of Degrees has been
completed, what does Scripture call that psalm itself? "A psalm," it says, "of Solomon,"
who had built the old house. And what does it say? "Unless the Lord builds the house, in
vain have they labored who built it.

9 What then does Solomon himself say, who is prefixed in the very title? I built the
temple: but unless the eighth number builds, the house is built in vain. We read also in
the Gospel according to Matthew: Blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, blessed are
those who hunger and thirst, and the rest, and there are eight beatitudes. Therefore our
Lord enclosed the Gospel in the number eight. Indeed nowhere do we find eight beatitudes
together except in the Gospel. In the number eight, that is, on the day of the
resurrection. The days of our years in themselves are seventy years. Do you wish that I
should meanwhile show you that the seventh and the eighth number contain very many
mysteries? Let us read Ezekiel, and at one gate it is said: "And let him enter," it says,
"through the gate of the east into the temple that is being built. In Ezekiel, in the last
part. "And the high priest shall go up," it says, "by seven and eight steps. And could it
be that at that gate there were both seven steps, and eight? But see what he says. The
eastern gate, from which the light comes. Our Lord and Savior. There is indeed one gate,
and no one enters through it except the high priest. And what is said there? "This gate
shall always be shut. And it is not opened except to the priest. So therefore both the new
and the old testament was always shut:

10 it was not opened except to the Savior. For he is the one "who holds the key, who opens
and no one shuts, who shuts and no one opens. So one gate has both seven and eight steps.
And in the old testament indeed there are evangelical mysteries, and in the new testament
there are mysteries of the law. Hear greater mysteries. At that time when Solomon, that
is, our peacemaker who says, "My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you": for "he
himself is our peace," and "the peace that surpasses all understanding," he himself built
a temple to God. And see there what Scripture says. "And there were," it says, "seventy
thousand stonecutters, and eighty thousand of those who carried burdens. See the number.
The stonecutters who cut the stones, who prepare, as it were, the foundations of the
buildings, who lift up the stones from the earth to build in the temple of God, are placed
in the seventh number, in the prophets, in the patriarchs. For they, drawing out the human
race, as it were, from the earth, prepared them for the temple of the Lord. But these
others, that is, the eighty thousand, are the apostolic and evangelical preaching, these
who together with the Lord the Savior and Solomon himself carried the heavy sins of the
nations. Up to this point the mystery seems to be finished: hear greater mysteries. "And
those who were in charge," it says, "of these works and of the temple, were three
thousand.

11 There can be none greater, even among those who preside over the works, than those who
preach the Trinity. The days of our years in themselves are seventy years. There are many
things that might be said, but the hour shuts us out. 12 Make known your right hand, and
those fettered in heart in wisdom. In some manuscripts it says "the learned," in others it
says "the fettered." "Learned" means one thing, "fettered" means another. What then does
he say: Make known your right hand? Why so long do you draw back your right hand, O God?
"Why do you turn away your hand into your bosom?" it says in another psalm. What is being
said is this: We are laid low in sickness, we lie in sins: send forth your right hand, and
lift us up. Why so long do you keep your right hand in your bosom? Let your heart pour out
your good Word: send forth your right hand, and set us free. Make known to us the mystery
which was hidden from the generations. Make known your right hand. What are you stealing
away by stealth, O Arius? He did not say, make your right hand: for God was never without
his right hand. But what did he say? Your right hand, which always existed, and was in
your bosom, make it known. Since we cannot know him remaining in his deity, let him take
on manhood, and thus let us understand him. Make known your right hand thus, and those
fettered in heart in wisdom: those who have the fetters of wisdom, that is, who are
fettered in the heart through your wisdom. Do not let it trouble you that the passage is
obscure. The prophets had wisdom: but that very wisdom, as it were, fettered them; they
could not fly without Christ. See, then, what he says: Send forth your right hand, that
is, your Son, and make him known to us; and let the prophets, who prophesied, as it were,
the shadow, begin to preach the Lord more manifestly.

13 Turn back, O Lord, how long? We have sinned much, you turn away your face, our sins are
not worthy to be seen by your eyes, and therefore we pray: Turn back, O Lord, how long?
Behold, now so many ages have flowed by: the prophets have always proclaimed to the
nations that you would come, and still you have not come. And direct the sons of men. We
who are crooked, may we be set straight by you. And direct the sons of men. Well did he
say, direct the sons of men. Direct them for this reason, because they are sons of men.
For if they were your sons, they would have been set straight. For you yourself said: "I
said: you are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and
shall fall like one of the princes." And in another place: "Sons of men, how long will you
be heavy of heart?" And in another place: "My spirit shall not remain in these men,
because they are flesh." Since they are men, therefore they are flesh. So because we are
sons of men, and we have lost the state of being sons of God, and we have become crooked:
therefore direct us, so that we may again be made your sons.

14 And let the splendor of the Lord our God be upon us. The Apostle also says to the
Hebrews that the Lord and Savior is the splendor of the glory of the Father. And let the
splendor of the Lord our God be upon us. This is what is said also in another place: "The
light of your countenance has been sealed upon us, O Lord." The sign of the cross is our
banner. This much we have said for the present about the psalter, and I reckon we have
lingered longer than we should have. We realize that we have said much more than we ought
to have said; but we cannot keep silent about the words of our Lord, we cannot leave a
psalm we have begun. Whatever profits the soul is not too much; nothing is enough of what
is good, if indeed it is good. Let us therefore ask our Lord and Savior that his splendor
may shine forth in our hearts, that it may cast out all our darkness, that it may drive
away from our hearts the dark thoughts and those of all sins, that it may illumine our
darkness, that the shadows may flee, and that his splendor may dwell in our hearts. The
temple of the Lord and the tabernacle and the holy of holies always had a burning lamp,
always a lamp was shining in the temple of the Lord. For if the lamp is extinguished, the
Lord does not dwell in darkness. Let us therefore say, we too: "Your word, O Lord, is a
lamp to our feet."

HOMILY 20, ON PSALM 90

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Who dwells in the help of the Most High. "Help" is
what Ezra means. Indeed, the prophet Ezra is called βοηθός (boēthos), "helper." This is
the one who led the people back from the captivity of Babylon and brought them into the
land of promise. Whoever, therefore, dwells in Ezra, whoever dwells in Jesus (for the
moment according to the tropological sense), who built for himself a house without hands,
as the apostle says — that house which the Lord had built even for the midwives in Egypt:
he shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven. He shall say to the Lord: You
are my upholder and my refuge, my God. For many enemies pursue me: therefore you are my
refuge. I will hope in him, for he himself will free me from the snare of the hunters. He
did not say, "I hope"; but, "I will hope." For as long as we sin, we do not hope: if we
cease to sin, we hope. For he himself will free me from the snare of the hunters. There
are many hunters in this world, who try to hunt down our soul. Indeed even that giant
Nimrod was a great hunter in the sight of the Lord: and Esau was a hunter, because he was
a sinner; and nowhere in the holy Scriptures do we find any holy hunter. Fishermen we find
to be holy.

2 For he himself will free me from the snare of the hunters. "Our soul, like a sparrow,
has been snatched from the snare of the hunters: the snare has been broken, and we have
been set free." What is this snare that has been broken? "The Lord," he says, "will crush
Satan under our feet speedily." And the apostle says: "That you may be freed from the
snare of the devil." You see, therefore, that this is a hunter, who desires to hunt our
souls to their destruction. The devil has many snares, and he has diverse snares. Greed is
a snare of the devil, slander is a snare of the devil, fornication is a snare of the
devil. And from the harsh word. As long as we are in holiness, our soul is tranquil; but
when we begin to think about sins, our soul is troubled, and is shaken as though by
certain waves.

3 With his shoulders he will overshadow you. But this is according to that passage of
Deuteronomy: The Lord protects us with his wings like his own chicks, as an eagle does.
For it is said there that he protects his chicks like an eagle. Although, therefore, we
can say this, that God protects us like a father, and protects us like a hen protecting
her chicks, lest they be seized by the hawk: nevertheless we can also say something else.
With his shoulders he will overshadow you: he will be lifted up on the cross, he will
stretch out his hands, and will protect us. And under his wings you shall hope. You shall
look, he says, upon his crucified hands, and if the serpent bites you, you shall be
healed. Although you walk in the desert of this world: if a scorpion strikes you, if a
basilisk, if an asp, if the other venomous creatures, be secure concerning your healing:
the serpent has been lifted up in the wilderness.

4 His truth shall surround you with a shield. Our shield is round, that is, it hedges us
in on every side. Not only is it a shield, but it is also a wall. "Lord, as with a shield
of your good will you have crowned us." Does someone crown with a shield? See what he
says: Lord, as with a shield of your good will you have crowned us. What does he say? You
will protect us, and make us conquer, and after the victory you will crown us. His truth
shall surround you with a shield. Since he had said "from the harsh word," and by the
harsh word we can understand also that of the heretics, and of the philosophers, and of
the Jews, and this, as it were, harsh word is not true, but is false. For it is turbid
precisely because it is false; it is turbid precisely because it disturbs our souls
through its lie. The Lord therefore, who is truth, and says "I am the truth," his truth
surrounds us with a shield, lest we be struck by the burning arrows of the devil.
Therefore Christ, who is the truth, sets his shield against them, so that by the shield of
truth he may overcome the lie. You shall not fear the terror of the night. The devil is
always in darkness: "that he may strike," he says, "the innocent in secret." You see,
therefore, that whoever is simple and innocent is always struck in secret. You shall not
fear the terror of the night. What he says is this: Although you may be in terror, which
is night, nevertheless you shall not fear, because you have the shield of truth.

5 Of the arrow that flies by day. To this sense there seems to be, as it were, a
contradiction: Of the arrow that flies by day. The flying arrow of the devil seems to me
to be the discourse of the heretics and philosophers. For these too promise the light of
knowledge, and say that they have day; and they cannot deceive unless they promise light.
But that light which they promise is from burning arrows. And therefore it is said, Of the
arrow that flies by day. Of the business that walks about in the darkness. The arrow
indeed flies as though by day, but the business is one that walks about in darkness. 6 Of
the assault and the noonday demon. It is better said in Greek, ἀπὸ συμπτώματος (apo
symptōmatos). Symptosis means either an occurrence, that is, when we do not expect it, and
something new happens. Or it is called symptoma, when many fall at the same time. See
therefore what he says. Although many have been led astray, nevertheless you, who are
holy, are not to be led astray. I give an example, so that the simpler ones may be able to
understand what is said. If you go into a city as a monk alone, and begin to walk about,
and hear a shout in the circus, and someone says to you: Come and watch, it is the circus;
and you begin to say to him, It is not permitted, I cannot go: if he shows you countless
thousands of men, and says to you, Two hundred thousand men are there: are all those then
going to perish, and you alone will be saved? — you ought to understand that it is a
symptoma of the devil; that is, you ought to know that many are falling. And the noonday
demon. Many indeed say that there are also noonday demons, and this is said among the
common folk. But for my part I say plainly that a demon has power over us at the time when
we sin. Whether we sin in the morning, the demon enters into us: whether at evening,
whether at night, at whatever hour we sin, the demon enters into us.

7 But if we do not sin at noon, he does not enter into us. You see, therefore, how
frivolous is what is said among the common folk. What then does he say, Of the noonday
demon? Because Abraham received the angels at noon, and Joseph invited his brothers to a
meal at noon. For both Abraham and Joseph were holy, and therefore their banquet was in
clear light and full sun, therefore they feed at noon. And I too, if I have full knowledge
of the Scriptures, although it be the third hour, nevertheless I feed you at noon. Indeed
even the bride in the Song of Songs says: "Where do you feed, she says, where do you lie
down at noon? You see that the bridegroom does not feed, does not recline at the third
hour, but at noon. Where do you feed, where do you lie down, where do I find you, where do
you take your delight, where can I find you, O my bridegroom? Do you wish to find me? At
noon, in perfect knowledge, in good works, in clear light. Since therefore we have our
noon, therefore the devil too transforms himself into an angel of light, and he himself
pretends that he has light, that he has noon. When the heretics promise, as it were,
certain mysteries, when they promise the kingdom of heaven, when continence, when fasts,
when holiness, when renunciation of the world, they promise noon.

8 But since it is not the light of Christ, it is not noon, but the noonday demon. 9 A
thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. The individual
words of the Scriptures are individual mysteries. Those rustic words which are thought so
by the men of the world are full of mysteries. "For we have this treasure in earthen
vessels": we have the treasure of the divine meaning in the most worthless words. A
thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. At whose side? At
the side of him to whom it had been said, His truth shall surround you with a shield, you
shall not fear the terror of the night. Who is this? He of whom it was said above, Who
dwells in the help of the Most High, he shall abide under the protection of the God of
heaven. From him, therefore, who dwells in the help of the Lord, a thousand shall fall at
his side, and ten thousand at his right hand. The right hand of the holy man is spoken of:
the left is not spoken of, but the side. For see what is said: And ten thousand at your
right hand. And how had you said it? A thousand shall fall at your side. For when the
right hand is spoken of and the left is not named, in place of the left the side is named.
For it could not be just that the just man should have a left hand. "Whoever," he says,
"strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well.

10 He did not say, "and the left": for it is not a left cheek that is offered, but another
right one. Therefore I say plainly that the just man has two right hands. Indeed even that
Ehud, who is written of in the book of Judges, is said to have two right hands for this
reason, because he was just, and he killed that very fat king. A thousand shall fall at
your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. There are more who lie in wait for our
right hand, there are not more who lie in wait for the left: therefore at the side a
thousand shall fall, and at the right hand ten thousand. For where the greater battle is,
the greater victory. Few lie in wait for the side, more lie in wait for the right hand. 11
For he has given his angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. This
passage the devil interpreted concerning the Lord. For at the time when he tempted the
Lord, "If," he says, "you are the Son of God, cast yourself down. For it is written
concerning you, that he has given his angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all
your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against
a stone. The devil said nothing more than this: For he has given his angels charge
concerning you, that in their hands they may bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot
against a stone. He left out the middle part. For here it is said, For he has given his
angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. This he did not say, To guard
you in all your ways: for he knew it was against himself. For the Lord could have answered
him: If the Lord guards me in all my ways, then I am guarded from you too. He was silent,
therefore, about what he knew was against himself, and set down what was in his favor.
Truly the devil, like a devil, interprets concerning the Savior what is not concerning the
Savior. For if the whole psalm is about the Savior, as you interpret it, O devil, then it
is about him too what is said: I will protect him, because he has known my name.

12 That is, I the Father will protect my Son. Let me interpret it, devil, as you
understand it. Let us see whether the sense holds. I will protect him, because he has
known my name: that is, I the Father my Son. He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: that
is, on the day of the cross. I am with him in tribulation, I will rescue him and glorify
him: that is, I will make him rise again. With length of days I will fill him. That is, he
shall live forever. And let us understand this concerning the Son of God, With length of
days I will fill him. But this that follows, how does it hold with respect to the Savior,
And I will show him my salvation? The salvation of God is the Son of God. If therefore it
is said about the Son, how can it hold? For the salvation of God is the Son of God. You
see, therefore, that you have interpreted badly, O devil. But grant that it be interpreted
as you say. You said, For he has given his angels charge concerning you, that in their
hands they may bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone. Say also what
follows. Why are you silent? Upon the asp and the basilisk you shall walk, and you shall
trample under foot the lion and the dragon: Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns forever
and ever. Amen.

HOMILY 21, ON PSALM 91

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 The ninety-first psalm is prefaced with this
title: A psalm of a song for the sabbath day. No one can keep the sabbath day unless he
has first passed through six days. For six days we labor; on the seventh day we rest.
Therefore we cannot sing to the Lord except on the sabbath day. As long as we do the works
of this world, that is, during the six days, we cannot sing to the Lord. And so it is said
in Leviticus: "You shall do no servile work on the sabbath day." Whoever, then, is in the
sabbath and in the Lord's rest ought not to do servile work, that is, work that pertains
to this world; but he ought to do that work which pertains to the sabbath. Do you want to
know that on the sabbath the priests work in the temple of the Lord? On the sabbath no one
is permitted to cut wood. Indeed, one man who was found doing so in the wilderness was
stoned and killed. Likewise it is not permitted to kindle a fire, nor even to do any work
at all. But you see that all these things, which no one in the world is permitted to do on
the sabbath, are permitted to the priests alone: for they both cut wood, and lay on the
fire, and perform other ministries, and offer up sacrifices. Why have I said all this? To
show that it is written in the law that we too must cease even on the sabbath day from the
works of the world, and do those things that pertain to God. So then, it is a psalm of a
song for the sabbath day, when we do not work for the world, but work for God. Let us see,
therefore, what we ought to sing on the sabbath, when we cease from the works of the
world.

3 It is good to give praise to the Lord, and to sing to your name, O Most High. He did not
say, it is good to sing, and afterwards to give praise; but see the order: It is good to
give praise, and it is good to sing. First do penance and wipe away your sins with tears,
and afterwards sing to the Lord. It is good to give praise to the Lord: not to men, but to
God: confess your sins to him who is able to heal. And to sing to your name, O Most High.
4 To proclaim your mercy in the morning, and your truth throughout the night. Understand
carefully what is said: To proclaim your mercy in the morning and your truth throughout
the night. Each little verse refers to a corresponding one. It is good to give praise to
the Lord — to proclaim your mercy in the morning. If you give praise to the Lord, you
proclaim in the morning the mercies of the Lord. And to sing to your name, O Most High.
Refer this verse to the one that follows: And your truth throughout the night. For when we
give praise to the Lord, we hope for mercy; but when we sing, we practice the virtues. To
proclaim your mercy in the morning. Where are those who understand the scriptures
according to the letter? Can we not proclaim the mercy of God at midday? And surely it
belongs above all to Christians and monks to confess their sins in the night. And how does
he now say, To proclaim your mercy in the morning? What he says is this. We cannot give
praise to the Lord and obtain his mercy unless a bright light has begun to shine in our
heart. Unless the darkness has gone before and the morning has come, we cannot obtain the
mercy of the Lord. But then you proclaim the mercy of the Lord in the morning, when the
sun of righteousness has risen in your heart. And your truth throughout the night. The
truth of the Lord is not proclaimed except toward the night:

5 in the day it cannot be proclaimed. For the weak cannot bear things that are great, nor
can they endure things that are precious. Hence it is said also in another place
concerning God: "He made darkness his hiding place" — that is, the Lord made darkness his
hiding place. And so the truth of the Lord is proclaimed in the night: it is wrapped up,
as it were, in a certain darkness of words. It is spoken in riddle and in parables: that
those who see may not see, and those who hear may not hear. We read in Hosea, and it is
said to the prophet: "Go and take to yourself a wife, a wife of harlotry. The Jews hear it
and the gentiles, and they laugh. Why do they laugh? Because the truth is placed in the
night, not in the day. Do you want to know that the truth of God is in the night, and, as
it were, in darkness, and is set in parables? Moses went up onto Mount Sinai: and he
entered, it says, into the whirlwind and into the gloom and into the darkness, and there
he spoke with the Lord. For the people of Israel could not see the mysteries of God,
because it had not entered into the gloom of God.

6 On the ten-stringed psaltery, with a song upon the harp. I say it plainly: as often as
we lift up our hands without wandering thoughts and disputings, we sing to the Lord on the
ten-stringed instrument. On the ten-stringed psaltery, with a song upon the harp. Our harp
is body and soul and spirit: they are composed of all the strings. 7 For you have
delighted me, O Lord, in your making, and in the works of your hands I will exult. A
Christian, whatever he sees, is always built up. Nothing tears down a monk except sin.
Whatever you look upon is your own edifice. You see the sky, you see the sun, you see the
stars, you see the moon: this builds you up. For you ought to think and say: If the sun
and the moon and the sky and the stars serve God, why should I not serve? You see the
earth, you see the animals and all the things that are upon the earth: bring this too to
bear upon your soul, and build yourself up, and say to your soul: All things run in their
own season; consider indeed spring and summer, autumn and winter — do these seasons ever
change? No, according to the ordinance of God all things serve. The sky serves, and the
earth serves: and I, unhappy man, do not serve. Let us come to the little animals: I leave
aside now the elephants, I leave aside the lions, I leave aside the various animals, I
come to the little animals. Look at the bee, look at the ant: see the body, and search out
the wisdom. The wisdom is greater than the size of the body. Bees and ants consider that
winter is coming: and the monk and the Christian do not consider that judgment is coming.

8 Those creatures consider that they may be endangered by hunger, if they have not labored
in the summer to have something to live on in the winter: we do not consider that without
work we will be tormented in hell. Why have I said all this? Because it is now written,
For you have delighted me, O Lord, in your making. Whatever I look upon delights me: for I
understand the maker, and I bless God. And in the works of your hands I will exult. I see
a tree, and I consider how the bark of the tree is, as it were, clothed like a tunic, how
it grows green like a bud. Then I see how there is, as it were, a blossom, how the blossom
falls, and the blossom itself turns into fruit. I see nature little by little, through
each single day and into each single season, working for me and growing into my food. I
see how God in all things labors for me, so that nothing may be lacking to me: and
therefore I exult in you, O Lord.

9 How magnified are your works, O Lord. At this point Marcion and Manichaeus burst out.
For what do they say? If God made all things, and made them for the benefit of men, what
need was there to make the bedbug and the flea? I answer you briefly: so that your
frailty, O man, might be shown. For you who place your thought in heaven — look, you are
bitten by a bedbug and you shudder. Why are you lifted up into heaven, and why does your
thought soar into heaven? Behold, you are wounded by a bedbug. How magnified are your
works, O Lord. Small bodies indeed, but great design. Each has its own uses. I marvel at
the Lord in the elephant just as much as in the ant; I proclaim him in the camel just as
much as in the gnat. Look at the gnat, how it is like the point of some tiny body, and yet
see how in that very point of a tiny body all its members are distinct. It has six feet,
it has two eyes, it has a mouth and a belly, it has also a trumpet of voice, it has wings
too. If you look at the members, you do not find the body; and yet God is magnified,
because without a body there are all these members.

10 Your thoughts have been made exceedingly deep. Whatever I may think, I cannot find it
out. "Your judgments are an abyss." "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge
of God." I too will say with Ecclesiastes: "I said, I will become wise: and it was made
far from me, much farther than it was; and it is deep — who can find it out?" What
Ecclesiastes says is this: Before I put my thought to the work, I did not see the
magnificence of God. I said, I will become wise, that is, I said, I ought to seek out the
reasons of the individual causes; and it was made far from me, much farther than it was,
that is, the wisdom which before, not searching, I was ignorant of, afterwards I began to
seek, and I could not find it out. The foolish man does not know, and the stupid man does
not understand these things. Whoever is not a Christian, and in the works does not
understand the creator, that man is foolish.

11 When sinners spring up like grass. You have seen emperors, you have seen prefects, you
have seen armies, you have seen victories and triumphs. Yesterday it was, and today it is
not. And all who work iniquity have appeared, that they may perish forever and ever.
Yesterday it appeared like a flower, today the flower itself does not appear. Yesterday
the grass was green, today it is dried up. Where is that beauty? Nothing is good except
what is eternal: nothing is good except what is everlasting. Whatever has an end is not
even to be counted among good things. For what does it profit me, if yesterday I was fed,
and today I die of hunger? For what does it profit me, if a few days ago I was a king, and
today I die in prison? Everything that is past and has an end is nothing. Each one of us
has come from the world to this life. One left his mother behind, another his sons,
another his wife, another his parents. Let us remember our infancy, let us remember our
youth; let us remember that we once had riches, and each one according to his means had
what he could. Behold, we have passed over to this life. Where are all those things?
Thought about, they cause pain rather than pleasure. Nothing therefore is good except what
is everlasting.

12 But you, O Lord, are the Most High for evermore. For behold your enemies, O Lord, for
behold your enemies shall perish, and all who work iniquity shall be scattered. If they
perish, how shall they be scattered? For he who has once perished cannot be scattered. He
ought to have said: Behold, they shall be scattered, and they shall perish. What he says,
then, is this: Your enemies, O Lord, shall perish; when all things have been made subject
to you, everyone who was your enemy afterwards becomes a friend, that is, the man will not
perish, but the enemy will perish. He who was an enemy will be a friend, and thus the
enemy will perish. For behold your enemies shall perish, and all who work iniquity shall
be scattered. Just as, when the saints are together, it is pleasing; so, if sinners are
together, it is, as it were, a most wicked gathering. For the more of them there are
together, the worse they are. Indeed, at the time when the tower was being built against
God, they were scattered for their own benefit. Their agreement was evil: but the
scattering profited even those very ones who were scattered.

13 And my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn. The horn is always set in the
kingdom. "In you we will toss up our enemies with the horn." Indeed, no animal is offered
in sacrifice to the Lord in the temple except one that has a horn. Three things are
offered to the Lord in the temple: the bull is offered, the ram is offered, the he-goat is
offered. Three are offered, and all are horned. For unless someone has a horn with which
to toss up his enemies, he is not worthy to be offered to God. For this reason the Lord
too is called a horn by those who believe in him; and on the horns of his cross he tossed
up his enemies. There he confounded the devil, and all his army. Christ indeed was
crucified in the body, but there in truth he was crucifying the demons. It was not a
cross: but it was a triumph, it was a battle-standard. For this reason he mounted upon the
cross, that he might lift us up from earth on high. I think that this cross of the Savior
is the ladder which Jacob saw. On that ladder the angels were descending and ascending; on
that ladder, that is, the cross, the Jews descend, and the gentiles ascend. And my horn
shall be exalted like that of the unicorn. Let others have many horns: I have one horn
alone. "But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of the Lord: through whom the
world is crucified to me, and I to the world."

14 And my old age in plentiful mercy. Our old age needs the oil of God. For just as our
bodies, when they grow weary (I speak rather plainly for the sake of the simpler brothers,
who cannot understand more loftily) — just as our bodies, when they grow weary, are not
restored except by the anointing of oil; just as the light that is in a lamp, unless you
put in oil, is extinguished: so also the light of my old age needs the oil and mercy of
God in order to grow. Indeed the apostles too go up onto the Mount of Olives, so that,
because they were weary and their lamps needed the oil of the Lord, they might be
illumined by the oil of the Lord. Hence the righteous man also says: "But I am like a
fruitful olive tree in the house of God. And in another place it is said: "Your sons are
like young olive shoots around your table. Was there no other mountain from which the Lord
might ascend to the kingdoms of heaven, except the Mount of Olives? Was there not a
loftier mountain in Galilee, Tabor? What need was there for the Lord to ascend into the
kingdoms of heaven from the Mount of Olives? But see what the scripture teaches you.
Unless you put oil into yourself and into your lamps, you will not be able to ascend into
the kingdoms of heaven. You ought to be on the Mount of Olives:

15 not in the valley of the Olives, but on the Mount of Olives. Let someone say: What is
this valley of the Olives? The devil too has his olive trees: he has philosophers, he has
heretics; they too have oil, and they too promise the light of knowledge. But those olive
groves lead down into the valley: "But let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. Let
us, then, ask the Lord that our old age and all our toil and all our darkness may be
illumined by the oil of the Lord. I attend carefully in the scriptures to where I may
first read of old age. Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years, and yet he is not called
old. Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he is not called old. I come
all the way to the flood, and after the flood through nearly three thousand years: and I
find no one who is called old. Abraham is the first to be called old, and he was certainly
of much less age than Methuselah; but he is called old for this reason, that his old age
had been anointed with plentiful oil. Indeed it is written there: "And Abraham died," it
says, "nourished in a good old age; full," it says, "of days. For this reason in a good
old age, because he was full of days: for all the time of his life was days, and not
night.

16 This very thing that is said of Abraham is said also of Isaac, is said also of Jacob.
For those who had served the Lord together are rightly called together the old men of the
Lord. 17 Like the cedar of Lebanon he shall be multiplied: a sweet-smelling wood, the wood
with which the roofs of the temple are covered. Like the cedar of Lebanon he shall be
multiplied: a wood that does not rot. Planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of
our God they shall flourish. In one place we are planted, in another we flourish: here we
are planted, in the kingdom of heaven we shall flourish. "I," he says, "planted, Apollos
watered, but the Lord gave the increase." Planted in the house of the Lord, that is, in
the church, not in the walls, but in the doctrines: "For the kingdom of God," he says, "is
within you": whoever has been planted in the house of the Lord, who has sent forth his
roots here, there brings forth flowers. Planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of
our God they shall flourish. These are the eternal tabernacles. What are these courts? The
various dwellings in heaven. And at the same time see what he says: Planted in the house
of the Lord, in the courts of our God they shall flourish. Here is the house, there is the
court. Surely, according to the order, he ought to have said first the court, and so the
house. But see what he says. Here we may seem to be in the house: but when we have
migrated to the kingdoms of heaven, in comparison with the angels and the other powers, we
are not in the house, but we are in the court: we are at the beginning, not in perfection.
For we shall not be angels, but as it were angels. Do not let it seem to you too small a
thing, O man, if you shall be like an angel.

18 They shall still be multiplied in a plentiful old age. Happy is he who grows daily, who
grows old in age, and grows old also in virtues. These things we have said for now
concerning the psalm: we have spoken also a few things concerning the gospel, we have said
something too concerning the apostle. Let us pray the Lord that all we have said — both
what we have said and what you have heard — we may fulfill in deed, and turn the words
into works: that we who here are planted in the house of the Lord may flourish in the
court of Christ. To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY 22, ON PSALM 93

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). We are always discussing the title, so that from
the title the psalm too may be understood. "A psalm of David, on the fourth day of the
week." The fourth day of the week is in the middle of the week, as if in the heart of the
week — that is, in the middle of the seven days. For it is the fourth day, and the fourth
day has an equal number of days on either side. For on one side it has the first, second,
and third day; and on the other side it has the fifth, sixth, and seventh day. You see,
therefore, that the fourth day — that is, the fourth day of the week — is made firm on
either side by a double trinity. And at the same time it must be considered that the
fourth number, in its power, is the tenth. How so? For if you count and make an ordered
sum — one, two, three, four — the number ten is produced. You see, therefore, that the
fourth number produces the tenth. And consider from this that the four Gospels are
reckoned within the Decalogue, so that whatever was said in the Decalogue is fulfilled in
the four Gospels, so that the old Law is not at variance with the dignity of the Gospel.
So much, for the moment, we have said about the title; now let us come to the psalm.

2 "The Lord is the God of vengeances; the God of vengeances has acted freely. He who for
so long lay hidden and did not appear among the people, afterward acted freely. He who
before was unknown, afterward triumphed on the cross. "The Lord is the God of vengeances.
If the Lord is the God of vengeances ("Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, says the
Lord"), why do you, O man, desire to avenge yourself? You have the Lord as your avenger.
The Apostle says this too: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he thirsts, give him
drink: for in doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head. This does not seem to
belong to kindness, but to cruelty. For if I do him good so that God may do him evil, this
does not come from kindness, but from a cruelty of mind. For what does the Apostle say?
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him. A dutiful utterance. "If he thirsts, give him drink.
Up to this point it seems to be mercy. But what he adds — "for in doing this you will heap
coals of fire upon his head" — does not seem to belong to mercy, but to cruelty. For you
seem to give bread and to give water to drink for this reason: that he may be tormented
for ages. And does the Apostle say this — does the preacher of mercy teach cruelty? It
must therefore not be taken so, but in another sense.

3 If your enemy strikes you, offer him the other cheek as well; if he does you evil, do
him good: for if you do this, you will heap coals of fire upon his head. What he says is
this: you will cleanse him from sin; for his cruelty will be overcome by your patience. If
you aim an arrow at a stone, and the stone is hard, not only is it not driven in, but it
rebounds: so your enemy, if he has struck you and has not been struck back, overcome by
your patience will return to better things. 4 "How long, O Lord, the sinners — how long
shall the sinners glory?" Human impatience does not want God to have patience. Wretched
are we, who want God to be patient toward us and impatient toward our enemies. Whenever we
sin, we desire him to be patient; but whenever someone offends against us, we do not want
God to be patient toward that man. "How long shall the sinners glory?" It is not enough
for them to sin, but they even glory in their sins. The first misfortune is to sin; the
second misfortune, or rather the last, is not to do penance. These sinners, therefore, not
only do not bend the neck, but freely glory after their sin. "They will utter and speak
iniquity." He speaks of this properly concerning the heretics. "All who work iniquity
shall speak." See the sign: he who speaks evil must necessarily do evil. "For out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Wherever the conscience is wounded, there sin is
easily committed in the mouth.

5 "They have humbled your people, O Lord." Always the people of God are humbled, the
people of God are oppressed. "They have humbled your people, O Lord." The people of God
are humbled, and imitate God who was humbled and meek of heart. "They have slain the widow
and the stranger, and murdered the orphans: and they said, The Lord shall not see."
Although this is plain according to the literal history — for always whoever needs
protection is easily oppressed, and the more lowly anyone is, the more does the one who
oppresses him offend God — nevertheless let us also interpret it according to the
tropology. For I had said that this is said of the heretics: "They have slain the widow
and the stranger." That widow — that is, the soul of the sinner, which has ceased to have
God as its husband. A stranger is one who is not a resident — that is, one who does not
dwell. He who had recently believed, being suddenly scandalized, perishes. "And they
murdered the orphans; and they said, The Lord shall not see." Do we wonder that they are
called orphans, where there is a widow? For just as the widow is the soul of the sinner,
so he calls those orphans who have lost having God as their father. "And they said." What
did they say? "The Lord shall not see, nor shall the God of Jacob understand." This
everyone says who oppresses the saints. As they say this, see what the Holy Spirit
answers.

6 "Understand, you who are foolish among the people, and be wise at last, you fools. He
who planted the ear, shall he not hear?" He who is a potter, is he ignorant of his own
vessel? He who makes another hear, shall he then himself not hear? He who gave me eyes,
shall he then himself not see? He who is the author of my understanding, shall he himself
not understand? This passage tells especially against those who are Anthropomorphites, who
say that God has the members that we too have. For example, God is said to have eyes: "The
eyes of the Lord look upon all things"; "the hand of God makes all things." "And Adam
heard," it says, "the sound of the Lord's feet walking in paradise." These things they
hear simply, and refer human weaknesses to the majesty of God. But I say that God is
wholly eye, wholly hand, wholly foot. He is wholly eye, because he sees all things; wholly
hand, because he works all things; wholly foot, because he is everywhere. So see what he
says: "He who planted the ear, shall he not hear?" He did not say, "He who planted the
ear, does he then himself not have an ear?" He did not say, "Does he then himself not have
eyes?" But what did he say? "He who planted the ear, shall he not hear? He who formed the
eyes, does he not consider?" He took away the members, he bestowed the functions.

7 "He who chastises the nations, shall he not reprove?" He who teaches others, does he
then himself not know? "He who teaches man knowledge." It is understood: does he then
himself not have knowledge? 8 "The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain." We
read in a secular poet: "O the cares of men, O how much emptiness there is in things!"
Both the Gentiles and the philosophers lift this little verse to heaven. And what do they
say? Nothing could be said more prudently. Behold, our rustic Hebrew, so many ages before,
spoke this. And what did he say? "The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain."
Do you want to know that the thoughts of men are vain? A father and mother rear their son:
they promise themselves happiness from him, they send him to his studies, they educate
him, he comes all the way to young manhood, they arrange that he should even serve in the
army. When they have thought of everything over thirty years, one little fever comes and
carries off all their thoughts. I have an enemy, and the day of judgment is thirty days
off; by day and by night I think of nothing else except what I shall answer him. I am on
my bed, and my thought is answering my absent enemy. The enemy is not there, and my words
are answering the enemy: by day and by night I am wrapped in thought. But when the day of
judgment has come, all those things that I had thought perish, and whatever God has said,
that I speak. For this reason the Lord too says in the Gospel: "When you stand before the
judges, do not think what you shall answer: for the Lord will give you in that hour what
you shall answer." "The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain." One thought
alone is happy: to think about the Lord.

9 "Blessed is the man whom you shall instruct, O Lord." Happy is he who has God as his
teacher. "And whom you shall teach out of your law: that you may soften for him the evil
days." See what he says. "Blessed is the man whom you shall instruct, O Lord, and whom you
shall teach out of your law" — that is, out of your Scriptures. But of what use is this,
that he should be taught out of your law? "That you may soften for him the evil days." You
see, therefore, that knowledge and practice and works drawn from the Scriptures soften for
us the evil days. "Until a pit be dug for the sinner." When you are instructed out of the
law of the Lord, one thing is divided for you into two: for it softens for you the evil
days, and it digs a pit for the sinner.

10 "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?" The psalms are obscure, and they are
always changing the speakers; and for this reason they are obscure, and it is of exceeding
difficulty to know in each verse who is speaking. "Who will rise up for me against the
evildoers? or who will stand with me against those who work iniquity?" These verses the
Savior speaks. "I am holy, I was lifted up on the cross, I died, I rose again, and I
ascended a victor to the heavens. Who, do you suppose, among the saints, is there who will
rise again with me?" So what he says is this: For this reason I rose again, that others
too might rise with me. "Who will rise up for me?" When he says "Who," he provokes the
rest to rise. For just as we read in Isaiah, "Whom shall I send to this people, and who
will go for us?" — as Isaiah himself offers himself, so the Lord too provokes us, saying,
"Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?" Whoever rises again, will rise for me, is
of my army. "Against the evildoers": against the devil and his army. "Or who will stand
with me?" See the order: he did not say first "who will stand," and "who will rise"; but
"who will rise," and "who will stand." For first we rise, then we stand. "Or who will
stand with me against those who work iniquity" — as a general might stand and say, "Who is
coming in my army?"

11 "Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul had almost dwelt in hell." For this reason, O
Lord, I rise again, because you were among the dead and rose again. My soul would have
been held fast among the dead, if your soul had not risen again from the dead. "If I said,
My foot has slipped." Considering my frailty and human weakness, I did not think my foot
stood on firm footing: wherever I set my foot, I feared a fall. Again I thought of your
name, and I stood with firm foot. "According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart,
your consolations have gladdened my soul." This very thing the Apostle too speaks of,
namely that according to the labors and miseries which we suffer in this world, we have a
reward with God in the heavens. The greatness of the tribulations is the greatness of the
rewards. As many wounds as we suffer, so many crowns do we also deserve. This is what he
says: The more I did penance, so many times did you console me. I shed one tear, I
deserved one consolation: I shed ten tears, I deserved ten consolations. However great the
weight of penance was, so great also was the number of consolations.

12 "He who fashions toil in the commandment. No one is crowned while sleeping, no one at
ease possesses the kingdom of heaven, no one with a stuffed belly can worthily discourse
about fasting. You see, then, what he says: "He who fashions toil in the commandment. All
the commandments of the Lord have toil: without toil we cannot possess the kingdom of
heaven. Do you want to know that it is so? "If you wish," he says, "to be perfect, go,
sell all that you possess, and give to the poor, and come, follow me. He who wants, he
says, to attain the kingdom of heaven, let him pray day and night, keep vigil, fast, lie
on a rush mat, not on a feather cushion, not on silk. Penance does not love luxuries. "For
I ate ashes," he says, "like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping. "He who fashions
toil in the commandment: they will hunt the soul of the righteous. See how it seems not to
be consistent. For what is the logical connection: "He who fashions toil in the
commandment: they will hunt the soul of the righteous"? But what the fleshly ear does not
understand, the spiritual ear understands. What then does he say? "He who fashions toil in
the commandment": therefore, he says, we toil in the commandments of the Lord day and
night, we keep vigil, we pray, we fast, because we have many adversaries who hunt the soul
of the righteous. See what he says:

13 they hunt the soul of the righteous, not of the unrighteous. For they do not want to
deceive those who have been deceived, but the righteous. Whence it is said in Habakkuk:
"His food is choice. "And they shall condemn innocent blood. Some are accustomed to say:
That man who was killed would not have been killed, unless he were a fornicator, or had
had some sin; the collapse would not have overtaken him, unless he had been a sinner; the
shipwreck would not have overwhelmed him, unless he had been a sinner. See, then, what
holy Scripture says: "And they shall condemn innocent blood. As long as we are in this
world, we suffer all things in common. The righteous man and the sinner are shipwrecked
alike, they have equal flesh, and equal conditions of the flesh. The righteous man and the
sinner perish alike: the righteous man and the sinner have a similar end, but different
rewards. One is led to Gehenna, another is led to the kingdom of heaven. "And they shall
condemn innocent blood. Your conscience is enough for you, O righteous man: and even if
you are condemned, let your blood be innocent, and it will cry out to the Lord.

14 "And the Lord has become a refuge for me." This passage tells against the Arians. For
since they contradict the Lord the Savior, because he is said to be "made," behold, we
say, "The Lord has become a refuge for me." No one doubts that this is interpreted of the
Father. But if it is said of the Father, "The Lord has become a refuge for me," it must be
understood in this sense: the Lord who always was, has become a refuge for me. So too the
Savior who always was, has become a Savior for me.


HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS
======================

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS continued

HOMILY 23, ON PSALM 95

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 The ninety-fifth psalm is headed with this
title: When the house was being built after the captivity, a song of David. The whole
mystery is in the title: the whole sacrament of our life and our salvation is in the
title. When the house was being built after the captivity, a song of David. The Jews
understand this passage thus: When, after the Babylonian captivity, under Ezra and
Zerubbabel and Jeshua the son of Josedech, the temple was built again, a song of David.
David, they say, knew in the spirit, five hundred years beforehand, that the temple was to
be built again. So they say. But if this is so, O Jew, as you interpret it, what does it
mean, what follows: Sing to the Lord a new song? And then, Declare his glory among the
nations? What is this new song? Who are these nations? You see, then, that according to
the letter that kills it cannot stand at all. Therefore it must be interpreted mystically:
When the house was being built after the captivity. Would that my house too might be built
after captivity! Many of us have been taken captive, many have been led away into Babylon,
many have borne the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar on their own necks; many have been cast into
his furnace and have burned, many have lost the temple of the Lord, and in them the house
of God has been overthrown. The unhappy Judas, while he was an apostle, was the house of
God.

3 The devil came, and Judas took the morsel, and at once Satan entered into him, and his
house was overthrown, and it was not restored, because he did not do penance. But if
anyone does penance after sin, his house is rebuilt after captivity. Let us therefore
pray, we also, to the Lord — first, indeed, that our house may not be overthrown; that the
Chaldean and the Assyrian may not come and overthrow the temple of Christ within us. But
if it has been overthrown, then, as in a shipwreck, by a second consolation, by means of a
plank we can be saved. When the house was being built after the captivity. Daily this
house of Christ is being built up in those who do penance. Indeed, he did not say, When
the house had been built, lest it should seem only to have been, to be a thing of the
past; but was being built, to show that this is happening daily. Thus far we have spoken
concerning our soul. But we can also put it another way: when the Church of Christ was
being built up after its ruin. Let us see, then, what follows after this title.

4 Sing to the Lord a new song. Happy penance! Though you have fallen, yet if you do
penance, you are called the new house of Christ. Sing to the Lord a new song. A new house
deserves a new song. Sing to the Lord a new song. Who are to sing? Sing to the Lord, all
the earth. If it is said of the temple at Jerusalem, O Jew, how is all the earth summoned
to praise? Sing to the Lord, all the earth. This passage defeats both the Jew and the
Novatian. Sing to the Lord, all the earth: not Jerusalem, but the whole world. Here the
Jew is slain. Sing to the Lord, all the earth. The Novatian is slain. How? For the
Novatian says: There are certain sins for which we ought to do penance — for instance, for
lying, for perjury, for theft; but the man who has committed fornication, the man who has
done murder, that man cannot do penance. Hear what it says: Sing to the Lord, all the
earth. Now all the earth — the adulterer too, and the murderer — and all sins are earthly.
But if all sins are earthly, whatever sin you have, do penance, and in all things you
shall be saved.

5 Sing to the Lord, bless his name. The name of the Lord is Savior, from the fact that he
was made for us. Sing to the Lord. Proclaim day from day his salvation. What does it mean
to say: Proclaim day from day his salvation? The simple man understands it thus: On all
days praise the Lord — that is, let day succeed to day — that is, you have praised today,
praise tomorrow also. The sense indeed seems simple; but to me it seems that something
else of the mystery lies hidden. Proclaim day from day his salvation. The Savior cannot be
praised except in the day. For it ought to have said: Praise the Lord day and night, if it
were speaking of this ordinary day. For we should have to say this, if we understand it
according to the letter. If then we praise the Lord in the day, can we not again praise
him in the night? See, therefore, what it says: Whenever you praise the Lord, always
praise him in the light — not in the darkness of sins, but in the light of virtues. Let
the sun of Christ always rise in your soul, that a new light may always be born in you.
Proclaim day from day his salvation. Let us put it another way as well. There are two
days, not three, not four, not five: there are two days, the Old Testament and the New. In
the one Christ shines, and in the other Christ shines.

6 Do not praise him only in the Old Testament, lest you be Jews; do not praise him only in
the New Testament, lest you be Manichaeans. Praise him day from day, that is, in the Old
and in the New Testament: which two days make one light. For this reason it is also
written in Leviticus: 'Every animal that divides the hoof and chews the cud is clean.'
That is, if it has two hooves and chews the cud, it is clean. If therefore it has one
hoof, it is not clean. The Jew has one hoof, and therefore is unclean. The Manichaean has
one hoof, and therefore is unclean. And because it has one hoof, it does not chew over its
food, and what it has once sent down into the belly it brings back up again to the throat,
and chews it, and makes it fine, so that what had been coarse may be sent down again fine
into the belly — this, indeed, pertains to the speaking of the divine mysteries. Every
animal that divides the hoof and chews the cud is clean. The Jew has one hoof: for he
believes in only one testament, and does not chew the cud. For he reads only the letter,
and considers nothing, seeks nothing within. But the churchman divides the hoof and chews
the cud, that is, he believes in both testaments, and in both testaments he often
searches; and whatever lies hidden in the letter, he brings forth in the spirit. Why have
I said all this?

7 Because it is written: Proclaim day from day his salvation. For this reason the apostles
too are sent two by two; for this reason we have not one eye but two; for this reason we
have two ears, for this reason two nostrils, for this reason two lips, for this reason two
hands, two feet. We have nothing single in us except what is shameful: and the members of
our body bear witness to the mysteries of the two testaments. 8 Bring to the Lord, you
families of the nations, bring to the Lord glory and honor. If it is said of the temple at
Jerusalem, what does it now mean: Bring to the Lord, you families of the nations, bring to
the Lord glory and honor? The multitude of the nations, the calling of the nations, is the
gathering of the Church. Bring to the Lord glory and honor. When we honor the Lord in our
body, the Lord is glorified in us. Bring to the Lord glory to his name. The glory of the
servant is the glory of the master. 'He who receives you receives me.' Happy the servant,
on whose account the master is glorified.

9 Take up victims, and enter into his courts. 'A holy victim, living, pleasing to God.'
Take up victims. Bring victims yourselves. What victims? Be yourselves the victims.
Virginity is a whole-burnt-offering to Christ: all chastity, whether in virginity or in
widowhood or in continence, is a victim to Christ. I speak a new thing: the victim of
chastity carries itself. Take up victims, and enter into his courts: adore the Lord in his
holy court. I see many courts, I see one court. Take up victims, and enter into his
courts: behold, many courts. Again, Adore the Lord in his holy court: behold, one court.
See, then, that one cannot come from one court to many courts; but from many courts one
comes to one court. Do you wish to know this very mystery in another passage as well? That
merchant, who had many pearls, sold the many that he might buy the one. And in Micah it is
said: 'Stand,' he says, 'in the ways of the Lord, and inquire,' he says, 'after the way of
the Lord.' Unless we have stood in the many ways, we cannot find the one way. What are
these many pearls, what are the many ways, what are these many courts — that we may find
the one pearl and the one way and the one court? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, Joshua
the son of Nun, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the twelve prophets, David, Solomon — these
were courts. These are our courts: first we enter into them; and from those courts we
afterward come to the court of the Gospel, where Christ is found.

10 Let all the earth be moved before his face. See what it says. Heaven is not moved
before the face of God; but whoever is earthly, he looks upon the Lord, and is moved, and
trembles. Say among the nations that the Lord has reigned. Unless the earth has been moved
and has withdrawn from its earthly works, the Lord will not reign among the nations. 11
For he has set right the round world, which shall not be moved. Nothing is ever set right
except what was formerly straight and afterward became crooked. So therefore both we, and
the whole human race, understand God by nature. For there are no nations that do not by
nature understand their Creator. For though they venerate stones and wood, yet they
understand that there is something greater than they themselves are, and in their very
error they show that they have wisdom — that is, there is no nation that does not by
nature understand God. Indeed the heathen worship idols, that is, they venerate stones and
wood; and if perchance they have started a quarrel, and if some oath has come up between
them, they do not say, These stones see, this wood sees: but, God sees, and God hears.
See, then, what it says: For he has set right the round world, which shall not be moved.
For this cause Christ came, and set right the human race, which before had been made
crooked, that it might not be moved forever. For his cross is the pillar of the human
race: upon that pillar his house has been built. I say the cross — not the wood, but the
passion. Moreover, this cross is both in Britain, and in India, and in the whole round
world. Indeed, what does he say also in the Gospel? 'Unless you take up my cross, and
daily follow me.' See what it says:

12 Unless your soul has been so prepared for the cross, as mine was for you, you cannot be
my disciples. Happy is he who carries in his breast the cross, and the resurrection, and
the place of Christ's nativity, and the place of the ascension. Happy is he who has
Bethlehem in his heart, in whose heart Christ is daily born. And indeed, what does
Bethlehem mean? House of bread. Let us too be a house of bread, of him who came down from
heaven. Daily Christ is crucified for us: we are crucified to the world, and Christ is
crucified in us. Happy is he in whose heart Christ daily rises again: if daily he does
penance for his sins, even the light ones. Happy is he who daily ascends from the Mount of
Olives to the kingdoms of heaven, where the olives of the Lord are fruitful, where the
light of Christ is born, where are the olive groves of the Lord. 'For I am like a fruitful
olive tree in the house of the Lord.' Let us too, then, kindle our lamp from that olive,
and at once with Christ we shall go to the kingdoms of heaven. For he has set right the
world, which shall not be moved. The inhabited world (oikoumene), in which he himself
dwells; for it is better said in Greek, oecumene, than in Latin. Let us pray that our
oecumene too may be set right, in which the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit may
dwell.

13 For unless our oecumene has been inhabited, it cannot be set right. There are many
things that might be said. But since today is the day of the dedication feast (encaenia),
and the dedication feasts are always in stormy weather, in rains, in winter. Indeed it is
written in the Gospel: 'And the Lord was walking,' it says, 'at the dedication feast
(encaenia) in Jerusalem, in the porch of Solomon, because it was winter and rains.' See
what it says. At the dedication feast he was walking in the porch, because there was storm
and rains. When someone wishes to renew himself to Christ, when the house is being built
after captivity, if anyone should wish to renew his house, and to renew it to Christ; if
anyone should wish to forsake the world, and to join himself to Christ: at once the storm,
at once the winter, at once the rain rises up. But Christ — nay, in Christ the poor little
ones, seeing the dedication feast, seeing the storm, seeing the floods, seeing the winter,
leave the floods and flee under the porch of Solomon, that is, they are sheltered by the
peace of Christ.

14 For Solomon is interpreted "peaceful," he who said, 'My peace I give to you, my peace I
leave to you.' Let us too, then, walk in the porch of Solomon, let us be sheltered by his
majesty, let us have his help, and let us say that word from the Song of Songs, that 'the
winter is past, and the rain is gone, it has gone away' in Christ Jesus.

HOMILY 24, ON PSALM 96

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). A Psalm of David, when his land was established.
We read in the books of Kingdoms and of Chronicles that David was a warlike man, that he
subjected all the surrounding nations, and reduced them under his own power. This for the
moment according to the letter, so that we understand it in this way: A Psalm of David
which he sang to the Lord, when, his adversaries having been conquered, he restored peace
to his land, that is, to Judaea. This according to the history. But if David is
interpreted as "strong in hand," and no one is strong in hand except him who conquered all
nations, our David, to whom the demons cried out, "Why have you come to torment us before
the time, Son of David?" — then this psalm was composed by him, when his land was
established. And the holy presbyter said excellently, that this land which is established
is our bodies. For truly at that time ought we to sing to God, when our land has been set
in order. But let us also speak of it in another way; for it does no harm, if we
understand the same thing in two or three ways. For it is written in Solomon: "You shall
take these things," he says, "upon the tablet of your heart threefold." It does no harm to
say something different, when it is said with one spirit. When his land was established.
This land, before our David conquered all, did not have peace, but everywhere there was
discord. One nation worshipped Jupiter, another Mercury, another Juno, and all the nations
had different idols. The standard of the cross was raised up, and all the land was
established.

2 The Lord has reigned, let the earth exult. Let the whole earth, and all the world, which
had before been subjected to demons and idols, rejoice now that the Lord reigns. The Lord
has reigned. The Lord the Creator who made you, he himself has reigned. O you who before
were subjected under the lord the devil, now you are subjected under the Lord the Creator.
Let the many islands be glad — the holy presbyter spoke well of our souls, which are
battered this way and that by various thoughts as if by various waves. But let us also
call the churches islands. And indeed it is said in another place too: "Many islands shall
be converted to me." Do you wish to know that the churches are called islands? It is said
in the prophet in the person of the Lord: "Speak," he says, "to the inhabitants of this
island." Let the many islands be glad. For just as islands are set in the midst of the
sea, so also the churches are set as it were in the midst of the sea of this world, and
thus they are battered by persecutions as if by diverse waves. But these islands are
battered daily, yet they are not overthrown. They are indeed in the sea, but they have
Christ for their foundation, who cannot be moved.

3 Cloud and darkness are round about him. Two things are round about the Lord, cloud and
darkness. I think this is the cloud of which it is said in the Gospel: "And a bright cloud
overshadowed them" — at that time when the Lord was transfigured, and the apostles fell
down, and a bright cloud overshadowed them. I think these are the clouds to which the Lord
commanded that they should not rain rain upon Israel. I think these are the clouds of
which it is said in another place: "Your truth reaches even to the clouds" — that truth of
the Lord which says in the Gospel: "I am the way and the truth and the life. The truth of
God is Christ. The truth of the Lord reaches even to the clouds. The clouds are the
apostles and the prophets; to these it was commanded that they should not rain rain upon
Israel. For from the time — according to the history, as it is written in the book of
Judges — that the fleece was dried up, the rain has run out over the whole world. What is
said is this: Israel was dried up, and the rain ran out over the whole world. Cloud and
darkness are round about him. "The Lord comes into Egypt upon a light cloud. See what he
says. The Lord comes, the Lord and Savior, into this Egypt, in which we are: into the
place of darkness, where Pharaoh is, the Lord comes. He comes only upon a light cloud.

4 What is this light cloud? It seems to me to be holy Mary, weighed down by no human seed.
This light cloud came into the world, and carries with it the Creator of the world. And
what is said there in Isaiah? "The Lord comes into Egypt upon a light cloud: and the idols
of Egypt shall be shattered. The Lord comes, and the idols of Egypt were shaken and struck
and destroyed. This cloud destroyed the Serapeum in Alexandria; not the emperor, a mortal
man, but this cloud which came into Egypt. Cloud and darkness are round about him. We have
spoken of the cloud: let us speak of the darkness. The Lord is in darkness. The Lord is
either in light, or in darkness. He is in light for beginners: for to beginners he speaks
more simply; but those who are perfect, to them he speaks mystically. And indeed to the
apostles he did not speak as to the crowds, but he spoke inwardly. And what does he say?
"He that has ears to hear, let him hear. So this is what he means, and darkness is round
about him: that is, and mysteries are round about him. Therefore it is said also in
Exodus: "And all the people," he says, "stood below; but Moses alone entered into Mount
Sinai, into the darkness. For not all the people of God could know the mysteries which
Moses alone could know. It is said of God: "He made darkness his hiding-place."

5 Justice and judgment are the setting-right of his throne. What does he mean, the
setting-right of his throne? He ought to have said, the stability of his throne. When
therefore it is said, the setting-right of his throne, it is shown that whatever is set
right was crooked before it was set right. The judgment of God, therefore, before it comes
to judge, seems as it were crooked: now the judgment seems to be unjust and crooked. For
when wicked men are made rich and the holy are poor, does not the judgment of God seem to
be crooked? But when he shall come to judge, so as to render to each one according to his
works, at that time his throne shall be as it were set right. And indeed, do you wish to
know that it is spoken of the judge? A fire shall go before him. Let him who is holy not
fear this fire; let him who is a sinner fear it. This fire purges the holy, consumes
sinners. A fire shall go before him. "Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a
burning fire." I think these are the fires, that is, his angels. These angels, therefore,
that is his fire, shall go before him. These angels — whom do they consume? Whoever is
wood, hay, stubble. But he who is gold, silver, and precious stones shall indeed be cast
into the fire, but shall be found the cleaner.

6 His lightnings have shone upon the world. The philosophers say that lightnings are
generated from the collision of clouds. For unless the sound is first heard, the
lightnings are not seen. This is said also of the flint-stone: that unless they are struck
together, the fire in the middle does not come forth. This we have said according to the
natural history, and we are still speaking to little ones. We have therefore stated the
nature of things, so that from the nature of things we may bring forth something
spiritual. The stone which is commonly called flint, if it is alone, cannot send forth
fire: but if it is struck together with another stone, the fire in the middle is struck
out. Suppose for me that Jeremiah, Isaiah, Elijah are a cloud: and that Paul too, and
Peter, and the rest of the apostles are a cloud. These clouds, therefore, when they have
been struck together among themselves, send forth the fire in the middle, and it gives
light to the world. His lightnings have shone upon the world; the earth saw and was
shaken. The lightnings of the apostles shone in the whole world, and the earth was shaken.
They spoke, and the whole world heard the thunder of their voice. They had two things
together: both a mighty voice, and the splendor of lightnings. These lightnings
enlightened those who believed, and burned up those who did not believe.

7 The mountains flowed away like wax. To me these mountains seem to be the powers of the
demons. Or certainly the mountains are proud men, whoever they be. This fire does not
consume the humble, but whoever are mountainous. And indeed, whenever a lightning-bolt is
sent forth, it strikes with difficulty those who are in the valley, but always those who
are on the mountain. The heavens have announced his justice. These are the heavens of
which it is said also in the eighteenth psalm, "The heavens declare the glory of God." The
heavens announce his justice: the earth does not announce it. Whoever is heaven does not
fear the just God: whoever is of the heavens does not fear to announce his justice:
whoever is holy and is heaven, he does not fear the just God. But the sinner seeks a
merciful God.

HOMILY 25, ON PSALM 97

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 Sing to the Lord a new song. The new song is the
Son of God crucified, which had never before been heard. Let a new thing have a new song.
Sing to the Lord a new song. He indeed is a man who suffered — but you, sing to the Lord.
He suffered indeed as a man, but he saved as God. Sing to the Lord a new song. A new song
deserves a new name. Therefore it is said elsewhere too: 'And a new name,' he says, 'shall
be given to you.' A new name deserves a new song. And in the Apocalypse it is said: 'To
him that overcometh,' he says, 'I will give a pebble, and I will write upon it a new
name.' The new name is that of the Christians. Sing to the Lord. Why? For what has he
done? Why does he deserve a new song? Because he has done marvelous things. He worked
signs among the Jews: he healed the paralyzed, he cleansed the lepers, he raised the dead.
This other prophets also did. He turned a few loaves into many and fed a countless
multitude. This Elisha also did. What then did he do that is new, so that he deserves a
new song? Do you want to know what new thing he did? God died as though a man, that men
might live; the Son of God was crucified, that he might lift us up to heaven. Because he
has done marvelous things.

3 Do you want to know that he has done marvelous things? The widow's son lay in the upper
room: Elisha came and drew himself together, and placed mouth to mouth, and hands to
hands, and feet to feet. For if he had stretched himself out, the widow's son would not
have come back to life: therefore he drew himself together, that he might give life. Since
he was in the form of God, therefore he took the form of a man, therefore he drew himself
together, that he might make us higher. 4 His own right hand has saved for him. What he
says is this: He saved men — not another's work, but his own; that is, what he had made
for himself, he himself saved for himself. He had made man for salvation, who by his own
fault had perished: this One died, that he might save man for himself by his own right
hand. Here 'right hand' is put for power, and 'arm' for strength. And his holy arm.
Although both 'arm' and 'right hand' may be said to be Christ — 'The right hand of the
Lord has done valiantly.' 'And the arm of the Lord, to whom has it been revealed?' —
nevertheless, since here it is said of Christ, the right hand and the arm of the Lord is
his power.

5 The Lord has made known his salvation. He did not say 'he showed,' but 'he made known.'
What he says is this: what before they had known of God, and by their own fault had
forgotten. Therefore God, coming by his grace, made manifest to them this thing which they
had lost. So this is what he says: Him whom Adam had known, whom Seth had known, whom
Enoch had known, who called upon the Lord and hoped in him, and whom Noah had known, and
whom afterward the human race had forgotten — he came again into the world, that men who
afterward had forgotten might again come to know him. The Lord has made known his
salvation. In the Hebrew it reads: The Lord has made known his Jesus. For wherever
'salvation' (salutare) is said, in the Hebrew 'Jesus' is put. In the sight of the nations
he has revealed his righteousness. By no means in Judea alone, but in the sight of the
nations. For it was just that the Savior should save his creature. He has revealed his
righteousness — which had been obscured by the unbelief of men.

6 He has remembered his mercy. 'He has shut up all things under sin, that he might have
mercy on all.' And his truth to the house of Israel. He remembers mercy: he fulfills
truth. He has remembered his mercy: that is, toward the people of the nations. And his
truth to the house of Israel: fulfilling by this work what he had promised to the
patriarchs. 7 All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Not Israel and
Judah alone saw it, but all the ends; and at the same time, according to the mystical
senses, the ends of the earth. As long as we are in the midst of the earth, we cannot see
God. When therefore we as it were leave the earth and are on the summit, then we deserve
to see God. Do you want to know how the ends of the earth see God? We read in Ezekiel:
'And those wheels,' he says, 'which are turned, were called gelgel,' which means
'revelation, revelation.' For GEL means 'revelation,' GELGEL 'revelation, revelation.'
Those wheels then hear 'revelation, revelation': because the wheel touches the earth as it
were only at some small point, and the whole of it hastens toward heaven. Therefore it is
said also in another place: 'Holy stones are rolled upon the earth.' And what is said in
Ezekiel? 'Wherever,' he says, 'the spirit went, thither the wheels also followed.' Let us
too follow the Holy Spirit, and let us be called wheels. And what is said there? 'And they
went not,' he says, 'backward, but always went forward.' And at the same time consider
what he says. 'They did not turn back,' he says, 'but always went forward.' For they
forgot the things that were past, and reached out toward the things before them. 'And they
were full,' he says, 'of eyes.' For all of those wheels were full of the light of God. It
is not the time now to discuss the wheels and the cherubim and the living creatures in
Ezekiel.

8 Rejoice in God, all the earth. Not Judea alone, but all the earth — rejoice in the Lord.
Send forth the standards of the victorious army. Sing and exult and make melody. Sing — in
thought; but make melody — that is, with all your members. Let the hand make melody in
almsgiving, let the foot make melody by going about in good work. 9 Make melody to the
Lord on the harp. Let all your strings have voice. There cannot be a harp if one string is
missing. What does it profit you if you are chaste, and yet greedy? What does it profit
you if you are both chaste and generous in almsgiving, and yet envious? What does it
profit you if you have six strings whole and one broken? If one string is lacking, the
perfect sound of the harp cannot exist. On beaten trumpets and with the sound of the
horned trumpet. We read in the book of Numbers that there are two kinds of trumpets: one
kind of trumpet beaten out of silver, and another kind of trumpets made of horn. So here
both are named: On beaten trumpets and with the sound of the horned trumpet. What is said
is this. The trumpet beaten out of silver is the word of God. 'The words of the Lord are
chaste words: silver tried by fire, purified sevenfold.' Again, in 'the sound of the
horned trumpet,' here the man of God is brought in reigning. In the scriptures 'horn' is
properly said for kingship and for power, as it is written there: 'He has raised up a horn
of salvation for us.' And in another place it is written: 'In you we will toss our enemies
on the horn.' So see here what he says. Have two trumpets, both the silver and the horned:
the silver, that you may have the word; the horned, that you may have power.

10 Do you want to know that 'horn' is always put in a good sense? We read in Leviticus:
'Let no animal be offered except whatever is horned.' Three kinds of animals are offered:
the ox, which has horns, and the ram, which has horns, and the he-goat, which has horns.
Do you suppose it is said without reason, that no animal be offered except what is horned?
So we too, as long as we have a horn, deserve to be a victim of God. But if our horn has
been struck off, we are as it were feeble, and we cannot come among the priests of God. 11
Let the sea be moved, and the fullness thereof. Let the sea be moved, and let the bitter
waters be changed into sweet. In fact, Marah too was changed and made into a sweet taste.
Nothing else made that bitter water sweet except the wood of the cross, which had been
cast into it. It seems to me that the bitter sea is the law of Moses. This is what is
called Marah, that is, 'bitter.' This bitter water of the old law received the wood of the
cross, and was made sweet.

12 The rivers shall clap their hands together. Let us ask the Jews, who understand
according to the letter. Do rivers have hands? Do rivers have voices? Do rivers have feet?
Do rivers have a belly? Someone may say: It is not written about a belly, about feet. But
I say to you: from one member we understand the rest as well; for we cannot understand
hands without feet, without a belly, without the other members. The rivers shall clap
their hands together. The rivers, which have drunk from the fountain of Jesus. 'They have
forsaken me,' he says, 'the fountain of living water.' The rivers themselves run from the
fountain of Christ. He is the fountain, we are the rivers — if indeed we deserve to be
rivers. Christ is the fountain, and the saints are the rivers; but those who are lower are
little streams. Others, however, are torrents. Who are the torrents? Those who have waters
for an hour, and when temptation comes are dried up. The rivers shall clap their hands
together. It is not one river, there are many rivers: as many as the saints are, so many
also are the rivers. But these rivers have no dissension among themselves: since they are
the rivers of Christ, therefore they have concord among themselves. The rivers shall clap
their hands together. They clap with the hand: the works of the saints are the praise of
God. Christ is praised not by voice, but by work; he does not hear the voice, but the
works.

13 The rivers shall clap their hands together. Therefore he himself says in the Gospel:
'He who thirsts, let him come and drink; and rivers,' he says, 'shall flow from his
belly.' The mountains shall exult in the sight of the Lord. What likeness is there between
rivers and mountains? But since he speaks of the perfect saints, he did not say, 'the
little streams shall clap their hands together,' but, 'The rivers shall clap their hands
together.' See the order. Let the sea be moved, and the whole world: the rivers clap their
hands together, his saints: the mountains no less, who have attained to the highest
righteousness. Let us say it also in another way. Let the sea be moved, which before had
been unmoved — let it be moved at the coming of Christ. Let the sea be moved: we have
already said, this is the law of Moses. The rivers clap their hands together: this is the
prophets. The mountains shall exult before the sight of the Lord: this is the apostles.
Because he comes to judge the earth. By no means did he come only lowly in the flesh, but
he comes glorious in his majesty. Because he comes to judge the earth. He did not say 'to
destroy,' but 'to judge.' He comes to judge, that he may separate the tares from the
wheat: he comes, that he may separate the bad little fish from the good.

14 He shall judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in equity. Righteousness is
set down, and equity. If righteousness is set down, and afterward equity, it is properly
called εὐθύτης (euthytēs), 'straightness,' which makes the crooked straight. So he comes
to judge in his righteousness, that what is crooked may in him be made straight. To whom
be glory forever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY 26, ON PSALM 98

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry.
Three psalms have the same beginning: the ninety-second, the ninety-sixth, and the ninety-
eighth. But although they have the same beginning in the opening verse, at the end they
are different. For how does it read in the ninety-second? 'The Lord has reigned, he has
clothed himself in beauty.' But in the ninety-sixth: 'The Lord has reigned, let the earth
rejoice'; and in the ninety-eighth: 'The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry.' The
sequence seems as it were to be contrary to itself. For it ought first to have said 'The
Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry,' and afterwards to say 'The Lord has reigned,
let the earth rejoice,' and last of all 'The Lord has reigned, he has clothed himself in
beauty.' But the different order gives us some hint toward understanding. 'The Lord has
reigned, he has clothed himself in beauty.' The Lord has reigned, and he has clothed
himself with the patriarchs and the prophets and the believing people. He has clothed
himself in beauty: the patriarchs and the prophets were as it were the garment of Christ.
That is the loincloth which is written of in Jeremiah: that is the loincloth which
Jeremiah had about his loins. Do you wish to know that the saints are, as it were, a
loincloth, the garment of God?

3 Afterwards God himself speaks to Jeremiah: 'Just as you,' he says, 'placed that
loincloth about your loins, so I too have joined my people to myself.' As, then, a garment
is about a man, so the people is about God. But because this loincloth, because this
beauty with which the Lord had been clothed, was exposed across the Euphrates in a cleft
of the rock, and there rotted away, and was led off into captivity by the Assyrians—what
does the Lord do? He is not naked, he cannot be without a loincloth, he cannot be without
a garment: the former people having been lost, he makes himself a garment out of the
people of the Gentiles. And what is said? The Lord has reigned, let the earth rejoice. Let
the earth rejoice, the whole earth, that is, the entire people of believers. Then, do you
wish to know that the second loincloth is spoken of concerning the people of the Gentiles?
The Lord, he says, has reigned, let the earth rejoice: let the many islands be glad. Not
one island, Judaea, but many islands, that is, the whole world. Let someone say to me:
Give me an example from the Scriptures where Judaea alone is called one island. Everything
we say we ought to affirm from the holy Scriptures. 'For in the mouth of two or three
witnesses shall every word stand.' The word of the one speaking does not have as much
authority as the Lord's command.

4 We read in the prophet Ezekiel: 'And you,' he says, 'son of man, speak to the
inhabitants of this island'—that is, of Judaea. Since, therefore, one island has been
forsaken, now it is said: Let the many islands be glad. Therefore concerning the loincloth
it is said of the former people: The Lord has reigned, he has clothed himself in beauty.
Of the second people, gathered from the Gentiles: The Lord has reigned, let the earth
rejoice, let the many islands be glad. Now in the third it is said: The Lord has reigned,
let the peoples be angry. Whether they be of the Jews, or of the Gentiles, whoever do not
believe, let them be angry. 'Why have the nations raged, and the peoples devised vain
things?' 5 The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry. The Lord suffered, the Lord was
crucified, the Lord died, the Lord rose again, the Lord ascended victorious to heaven. The
Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry. Who are these peoples? Let us give an example
from the Gospel. 'A certain man,' he says, 'a householder, went to receive for himself a
kingdom in a far country.' What is farther than heaven from earth? He left the earth, he
went to the heavens, to receive for himself a kingdom. 'And his citizens,' he says, 'who
hated him, sent an embassy, saying: We will not have this man to reign over us.' But he
received the kingdom, and came to those wicked citizens. He came to those who did not want
to have him as king. And now the Holy Spirit says to the wicked citizens: Whether you will
or will not, the Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry. O the mercy of the Holy
Spirit: he did not say, let them perish, but, let them be angry. He wished to signify the
fault, not the punishments. They are angry, and the Lord entreats. And what does he say?
'Come to me, all you who are burdened.' I have received the kingdom from the
Father—rather, the man whom I took up. I give as God, I receive as man.

6 Who sits upon the cherubim, let the earth be moved. As long as the earth is unmoved, it
cannot be healed. He is not speaking of the earthquake by which we see lands shaken, and
the whole race of mortals afraid; but he speaks of our earth, which, as long as it is
unmoved, cannot be healed: but when it is moved and trembles, then it will recover health.
'Upon whom,' he says, 'shall I rest, except upon the humble and the quiet, and him who
trembles at my words?' Since the earth of the one trembling is moved, therefore he who
sits upon the cherubim begins to sit upon the earth of the trembling one. Happy is he who
is the throne of God, happy is he in whom God ever sits. There are different postures: for
either we sit, or we stand, or we walk, or we lie down. Unhappy is he for whom God lies
down: for he lies down with the one lying down. Just as he weeps with the one weeping and
laughs with the one laughing, so he lies down with the one lying down. Just as he thirsts
with the one thirsting, and hungers with the one hungering, and is naked with the one
naked, so too he lies down with the one lying down. He, then, who is wounded and lies
down—he too is in a manner said to lie down with him. But he who walks—he also walks with
him.

7 He who walks seems indeed to be better than he who lies down; yet he has not yet come to
the happiness of him who stands. Finally, when Adam hid himself from the face of God, God
was walking to him after midday. Let someone say: If Adam had offended, and had been cast
out of paradise, then whoever has God walking to him is in perfect unhappiness. And I say:
If Adam had been utterly slain, and no place of repentance had been given to him, God
would have lain down for him. But now, because a place of repentance is given to him,
therefore God walks to him. Moses hears from God: 'But you, stand here with me.' And
Stephen the martyr, when he was fighting, saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the
Father. But God is presented as sitting in two ways. If he sits in us, we are happy; but
if, while we walk, he sits in others, we are unhappy. As it says, 'The books were opened,
and thrones were placed,' in Daniel. And thrones were placed. There he is set as it were a
judge. Although, therefore, unhappy is he who is judged, yet happy is he for whom he sits.
So, then, here too God is said to sit upon the cherubim. Cherubim is interpreted
'multitude of knowledge': whoever has a multitude of knowledge, he is the throne of God.
Multitude of knowledge is not knowledge alone, but also works: for that is true knowledge
which is confirmed by works.

8 Otherwise, in vain does someone promise knowledge by word, when he destroys it by his
deed. 9 And the king's honor loves judgment. Whoever is a sinner fears the judgment of
God: for he does not want to know a judge, but a merciful one. But whoever is holy, and
hears God, and glorifies him in his body, this man does not fear the judge, but loves him.
For example, if some most severe judge should come, and is said to be cruel and as it were
drinking blood—if anyone is a murderer, he fears such a judge as this. But he who has done
no evil, and hates the things that are evil, not only does not fear the judge, but even
loves him. For what does he say? It is well done, that such a judge should come: there
were so many robberies, so many vices are practiced, there are so many murderers: it is
well done, that such a judge should come. For whoever is holy does not fear the judge, but
loves him. At that time is fulfilled, And the king's honor loves judgment.

10 You have prepared uprightnesses. What he says is this: You made all men upright, but by
their own fault they have been corrupted. You created man upright. And see what he said,
uprightnesses: not one, but many. For everything that you made is upright. 11 And adore
the footstool of his feet, for it is holy. What is this footstool of the feet of Jesus,
which is holy? We read in another place: 'Heaven is my throne, but the earth is the
footstool of my feet.' And now it is said, Adore the footstool of his feet. If the earth
is the footstool of the feet of Jesus, and it is said, Adore the footstool of his feet: is
the earth therefore to be adored? How is it that we read in the Apostle that, except for
the Creator, we ought not to adore the creature? To adore is said in Scripture in two
ways: for there is said an adoration as toward God, and there is said to adore as it were
to honor. When we say to adore toward God, adoration is properly set toward God. But when
it is said of a man—for example, Sarah adored Abraham, and Elijah adored Ahab, that most
impious king—it is not said that Elijah so adored Ahab as God, but here adoration is set
as a greeting. Now, therefore, let us see this that he says, And adore the footstool of
his feet, in which sense he says it. Do we adore the footstool of the feet of God as God,
or do we adore and greet it as a man?

12 We read in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, we read also in another prophet: 'How the
Lord,' he says, 'has sanctified the footstool of his feet.' And there the footstool of his
feet is called Jerusalem, or the temple: this, then, according to the history. We read
also in another place, And adore the footstool of his feet. If the feet do not stand
except on the footstool, then this which is said 'And adore where his feet have stood' is
said also of the footstool. Therefore according to the letter we can say, for example,
where he was born, where he was crucified, where he rose again. This we say for beginners.
But otherwise the footstool of the feet of Jesus is the soul of the believer. Happy is he
in whose breast the feet of Jesus are daily placed. Would that his feet were placed in my
breast too, would that his footprints might ever cling in my heart, would that I too might
say with the bride: 'I will hold him, and I will not let him go.' The bridegroom is
quickly offended, he ever loves cleanness: wherever he sees filth, he quickly withdraws.
And adore the footstool of his feet, for it is holy. Not every footstool of his feet, but
whatever is holy: as many as persevere in holiness. For example, Adore the footstool of
his feet: adore Peter and Paul and the rest of the apostles—that is, honor them. For it is
holy. Adore those who persevere in holiness;

13 but those who were a footstool and are not holy, do not adore them. For example, Judas
the traitor was a footstool of God: but since he is not holy, do not adore him. I have
read in a certain man's book: 'The assumption,' he says, 'of the human body—that is, the
man whom God deigned to take up from Mary—this,' he says, 'he calls the footstool of his
feet.' Although indeed the man was taken up, and in comparison with God every creature is
the footstool of his feet, yet this very footstool has been joined to God and to him who
sits upon it. See what a thing I dare to say. I adore the footstool that once was, just as
I adore the throne. 'For even if we had known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we
know him so no longer.' He had, perhaps, a footstool before his death, before his
resurrection, when he ate, when he drank, when he suffered our affections. But after he
rose again and ascended victorious to the heavens, I do not understand one who sits and
another that is the footstool, but the whole in Christ is a throne. You ask and say: Why,
or on what account? How it is, I do not know, and yet I believe that it is so. Do you
wonder if I am ignorant of the mystery of the divinity, when I do not know myself?

14 Do you ask me how both the divinity and the incarnation are one, when I do not know how
I live? To have understood God is to have believed; to know God is to honor him. It
suffices me to know what is written, it suffices me to know what I believe: more than that
I neither will nor desire. For if I should wish to know more, I begin to lose even this
which I believe. We are called faithful, not rational. Finally, it is said even by the
Lord: 'Do you believe that I can do this?' And it is said to the woman: 'Your faith has
made you whole'—not reason, not inquiry, not why or on what account it was done. She
believed that it might be done, and it was done because she believed. 15 Moses and Aaron
among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his name. Many err, and think that
blessed Samuel was a priest. He was not a priest, he was a Levite. Finally, even his
garment was not made as for a priest, but as for a Levite. For it is written: 'And his
mother made for him,' it says, 'an ephod bad garment.' Ephod means garment, but bad means
linen. Now, none had the linen garment except the Levites. But the priests of God had it
of five kinds, that is, of gold, of hyacinth, of fine linen, of purple, of scarlet.
Whoever, then, were of the priestly line had these garments. But the Levites had the ephod
bad, that is, the linen garment. This very thing, then, is now said. Moses and Aaron among
his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his name. They are priests, this one is
a Levite. Yet with God it is not rank that is sought, but works. Finally, what Moses did,
Samuel also did. Just as Moses withstood God, that he should not strike the people, when
he said to him: 'Let me alone, that I may strike this people.' See the power of Moses.
What does God say to him? Let me alone: you do me violence, your prayers as it were hold
me fast, your prayers restrain my hand. I send the arrow, I send the darts: and your
prayers protect the people. Let me alone, that I may strike this people.

16 And at the same time consider the mercy of God. When he says, Let me alone, he shows
that if Moses does not let him alone, God does not strike. If, then, you do not let me
alone, I will not strike: let me alone, and I will strike. In another manner, therefore,
what does he say? Do not let me alone, and I will not strike. Let us see whether Samuel
too did this very thing. We read in the books of Kingdoms that he stayed the wrath of God
coming upon the people, since even in the time of the harvest he made rain and thunders
and lightnings. And what, he says, is written there? 'And there came,' it says there,
'stones of hail, and they struck the Allophyli.' See how wise the fire, how wise the hail.
Where Samuel was, the lightnings do not dare to come: for they see the prophet of God,
they see the Levite. The hands of Samuel threatened the lightnings. He was praying, and
the lightnings could not come. But why have I said all this? Because Moses and Aaron and
Samuel, under different names, performed the same virtues. And let us bless the Lord: to
whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY 27, ON PSALM 100

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Misericordiam et iudicium cantabo tibi
Domine—Mercy and judgment I will sing to you, O Lord. Let sinners hear of mercy, those who
despair of their salvation, those who are doing penance; let those who scorn hear of
judgment, who say: "The Lord is merciful, let us sin, he pardons us." Psallam et
intellegam in via inmaculata—I will sing psalms and understand in the unspotted way. That
a person should understand what he is singing, and that his mind should contemplate the
psalm itself, so that his thoughts do not wander outside, and he seem indeed to sing
psalms with his body, while his mind is without fruit. In the unspotted way: that as I
walk in this world I may act justly, and have no spot. When will you come to me? But when
I have received understanding, and have acted justly, then with confidence I say to the
Lord: "When will you come to me?" And "you will come" is to be understood of his second
coming.

2 Perambulabam in innocentia cordis mei in medio domus meae—I walked about in the
innocence of my heart in the midst of my house. Nothing so pleases God as simplicity and
innocence. And so among the other winged creatures the Holy Spirit was well pleased in
none but the dove, on account of its simplicity, and among the four-footed beasts in the
sheep, on account of its meekness. Non proponebam ante oculos meos rem iniustam—I set no
unjust thing before my eyes. I put nothing before the Lord, nor did I consent to iniquity;
but I was wholly turned to God. Facientes praevaricationes odivi—I have hated those who
commit transgressions. Whether it was my father, or my mother, or brother, or sister, or
friend: nevertheless, if he had turned aside from the fear of the Lord, I held him in
hatred, and I did not approach him at all. I did not set kinship or friendship before
devotion to God.

3 Non adhaesit mihi cor pravum—A depraved heart did not cling to me. There was in me
nothing difficult or anything perverse, but fairness and justice. As the malignant one
turned aside from me, I did not know him: that is, if he was a friend to me or a neighbor,
whether a bishop or a presbyter, or one established in any rank whatever: nevertheless, if
he perverted his ways, I so fled from him that I made no mention of him at all.
Detrahentem secreto proximo suo, hunc persequebar—Him who secretly disparaged his
neighbor, this one I persecuted. So far ought we not to consent to the disparager, that we
should even, as far as it lies in us, pursue such a person, providing for what is useful
in both cases: that we neither listen willingly, nor permit him to sin. For so great is
the distance between the fornicator and the disparager: that he who fornicates kills only
himself, but he who disparages plunges to ruin both himself and the one who listens.

4 Superbo oculo et insatiabili corde, cum hoc non edebam—With the proud of eye and the
insatiable of heart, with such a one I did not eat. If anyone was proud or greedy, with
such a one I did not eat at all. Oculi mei super fideles terrae, ut sederent mecum—My eyes
were upon the faithful of the earth, that they might sit with me. He did not say the rich,
or emperors, or bishops, or presbyters, or deacons, but the faithful: with these I sat. A
bishop, a holy man, can also say this: that I did not ordain as presbyter the man who was
obsequious to me, or my kinsman, but the one whom I knew to be faithful. And again the
same man can say: that I held all my clerics and laity to be faithful. This little verse
can also be spoken in the person of the Lord. Ambulans in via inmaculata, hic mihi
ministrabat—He who walked in the unspotted way, this one ministered to me. For I did not
ordain those who were my kinsmen, but the just and the faithful.

5 Qui loquitur iniqua, non direxit in conspectu oculorum meorum—He who speaks unjust
things has not prospered in the sight of my eyes. For I so turned aside from him who
disparaged his neighbor, that I neither believed such a one nor listened to him. In
matutinis interficiebam omnes peccatores terrae—In the mornings I slew all the sinners of
the earth. Well did he say, the sinners of the earth: for sinners are earthly. This is
what he means, that the promptings of the devil, which he was suggesting to me, I cast out
of my heart, and did not take up. For when evil thoughts are cast out, the demons are
slain. The Jews, hearing this verse, and following the letter that kills, and desiring to
shed blood, if anyone has transgressed against the law, put him to death. Since indeed
they are not content with the slaying of the prophets: but they even crucified the Lord
himself. Ut disperderem de civitate Domini omnes qui operantur iniquitatem—That I might
destroy out of the city of the Lord all who work iniquity. Would that we too may destroy
out of the city of the Lord those who work iniquity. The city of the Lord is the church of
the saints, the congregation of the just. Disperderem—that I might destroy: that is, I
will reprove and rebuke him who sins, that he may do penance, and destroy iniquity out of
his heart. For he did not say, that he may be cast out.

HOMILY 28, ON PSALM 101

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Prayer of the poor man, when he is in anguish, and
pours out his supplication before the Lord. He speaks of a poor man, not of this world,
but of the one about whom it is written: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit.' When he is in
anguish: when he calls to mind his sins, both past and present. Pours out: with his whole
heart, not with his lips. But who is able to pour out his prayer before the Lord? Who is
able not to be stung by his own conscience? Turn not away your face from me. If anyone
prays with a pure heart, and is not accused by his own conscience, he can say this. For
the sinner does not dare to say, turn not away your face from me: but rather he says:
'Turn away your face from my sins.'

2 For my days have failed away like smoke. For example, I was a little child, and while I
know it not, I came into the age of youth, and again into full age, and while I know it
not, I have grown old: and my days have failed away like smoke. But some people think
themselves to be everlasting, and they persevere in their sin. And my bones are withered
like a dry twig for kindling. By 'bones' he means strength itself. If therefore what is
strong in me has withered and been made weak: how much more the flesh, which is weak by
nature? I am smitten like grass, and my heart is withered. Just as it is also written
elsewhere: 'Man, his days are like grass.' For such is the life of men: it is green, and
quickly it withers. Because I have forgotten to eat my bread. He did not say, I had no
desire to eat, or I despised eating. To such a degree did the memory of my sins come upon
me, and such penance did I do, that I even forget to eat, having my longing set on God,
and considering him alone.

3 By reason of the voice of my groaning my bone has cleaved to my flesh. Let those who do
penance learn how they ought to do penance. For I so dried myself up, that I was without
flesh, and my skin clung to my bones. He said 'flesh' for 'skin.' I have become like the
pelican of the wilderness. There are said to be two kinds of these birds. One lives in the
waters, and its food is fish; and one lives in the wilderness, and its food is venomous
creatures, that is, serpents and crocodiles and lizards. Now these birds are called in
Latin 'onocrotali.' To that one therefore have I become like, which lives in the
wilderness, which eats venomous creatures: that is, my food was to me as it were poison. I
have become like the night-raven in its dwelling-place. We know that the raven is black,
and has nothing white in it. He wished to say, by way of hyperbole, that I have become
like the night-raven. If therefore it is black in the day, how much more in the night? So
therefore have I become, considering myself because of my sins.

4 For I have eaten ashes like bread. I dipped my bread in ashes, and so ate it. If
therefore the prophet says this, what should we do? And I mingled my drink with weeping.
Nothing was sweet to me, neither bread, nor drink: but I longed only for the heavenly
bread, that is, Christ. Because of the face of your wrath and indignation. And all these
things I did, considering your coming and the judgment to come. Because lifting me up you
have dashed me down. Let those say this who were once holy, and fell: for having been
exalted in their virtues, afterward they fell. Since indeed the saints say: because
lifting me up you held me. My days have declined like a shadow. If my days, how much more
my nights? that is, if the light, how much more the darkness? And I have withered like
grass. For as grass, so man passes away, and is dried up.

5 You, rising up, will have mercy on Sion. From this little verse it is manifest that this
psalm is spoken in the person of Sion, and not in the person of the prophet. Now Sion is
she who is set upon a watchtower, and looks out upon the things which come from afar. This
Sion therefore, who is set on high and on a lofty place, has fallen. Therefore 'let him
who stands take heed lest he fall.' Because it is the time to have mercy on her, because
the time has come. Either it is the time of mercy on account of penance, or it signifies
according to the coming of the Savior. Let him therefore be confident who does penance,
since the time of salvation has come: for the Lord is merciful. For its stones have
pleased your servants. The stones are the saints: but the earth, that is, sinners, stand
in need of the Lord's mercy.

HOMILY 29, ON PSALM 102

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within
me, bless his holy name. It is said also in another place: "Know that the Lord himself is
God." And now it is said, And all that is within me, bless his holy name. If we have said,
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and the Lord is Lord, what name of the Lord does he seek here?
If he is called Lord, the Lord, why does he say, And all that is within me, bless his holy
name? The coming of the Son is the name of the Father. Before the coming of Christ, God
was known, but the Father was unknown. Indeed, he himself says in the Gospel: "Father, I
have revealed your name to men." We cannot linger over each individual little verse, since
the psalm is long; but we ought to fit brief little remarks to the individual verses,
expounding the sense rather than weaving together the words.

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his rewards. The Lord has bestowed many
rewards upon us, he has bestowed great benefits upon us: for he made the heaven, the
earth, all the elements for us. The sun itself and the moon and the stars and all the
elements run and run back again for our sake. O wretched creatures that we are: the
elements serve us, and we do not serve the Lord. It is a great thing, therefore, that God
made for our sake all the things we see. For a house is always made for the sake of the
one who dwells in it. If we are the dwellers of the world, and the world is the house of
men, and the house has been made for the sake of the dweller: it is a great thing,
therefore, that he made for our sake all the things we see, that he made us to be born, to
live, to move, to understand our Creator, that he set us apart from the beasts, that they
look downward, bent toward the earth, while he made us stand upright to gaze upon heaven.
And these things indeed are great: but greater is the fact that he was born for our sake.
"Who, though he was in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal to God, but
emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made obedient even unto death, and death on
a cross." Since we were mortal because of our sin, he himself deigned to die for us
mortals, so that he might make us alive.

3 Who heals all your infirmities. Our soul has many infirmities. As many sins, so many
infirmities. Indeed, there was also that woman in the Gospel, who for eighteen years had a
spirit of infirmity, and could not lift her head upright... See what he says. When someone
has a spirit of infirmity, he is bent over, he looks downward, he gazes at the earth, he
cannot see heaven. Who redeems your life from destruction. "You were bought," he says,
"with a price: do not become the servants of men." What is a greater price than for the
Creator to pour out his own blood for the creature? Who crowns you in mercy and
compassions. Who crowns you. When he has redeemed, then he crowns. And he crowns, not
because of your merits, but because of his own mercy. "O Lord, you have crowned us as with
a shield of your good will." See what he says, O Lord, you have crowned us as with a
shield of your good will. Does anyone crown with a shield? Surely he who crowns, crowns
with flowers, crowns with gold, crowns with the other kinds of crowns. Does anyone crown
with a shield? But the Lord's shield is a crown: for it protects and defends, and thus it
crowns. And here, therefore, what is there signified by a shield, here is signified by
mercy; and the shield, while it protects, is mercy.

HOMILY 30, ON PSALM 103

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). This psalm contains the created world itself
praising and blessing the Lord its creator through the prophet; just as he also says in
the eighteenth psalm: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims
the works of his hands." Bless the Lord, O my soul. The prophet rouses himself to bless
God. But to bless the Lord means this: whoever praises the Lord blesses himself. O Lord my
God, you are exceedingly magnified. You who are the God of all are in a special way my
God: because I am not a slave of sin, because I have deserved to be called your servant.
You are exceedingly magnified. When I look upon the sky, the earth, the birds, the four-
footed beasts, the serpents, and your whole creation, I marvel, and I magnify the creator.

2 You have put on confession and beauty. "Confession" is understood in two ways. Either it
refers to the glory of God: that is, you have put on glory, just as in the Gospel the
Savior himself says, "I confess to you, Father," that is, I glorify you. Or it means that
we confess our sins to the Lord: for in the very act of confessing our sins to God, we
glorify him. And you have put on beauty. Notice the order: first someone confesses, and
thus he receives loveliness and beauty, and afterward light. For this is what follows:
Clothed with light as with a garment. Now this is said in a special way of the Lord, that
all things belonging to him are in the light, just as in Ezekiel the Cherubim are written
to be "full of eyes." For example: I look at the sky and the earth, and I understand the
creator. I see the trees in their season putting forth leaves, sending out blossoms,
bearing fruit, and I understand the creator. I see the ant, and every tiny creature, and I
understand the creator. Therefore the whole creation of God has eyes, and is full of
understanding.

3 Stretching out the heaven like a skin. This means that from the beginning God stretched
out the heaven, just as when someone opens a scroll and again rolls it back up, as is
written elsewhere: "And the heaven shall be rolled up like a scroll." You who cover its
upper parts with waters. Just as it is written in Genesis, that there are waters above the
firmament, and likewise beneath. You who walk upon the wings of the winds. He signifies
that God is present everywhere. You who make your angels spirits. What he passed over in
Genesis, he indicated in this verse. For although God created all things, he made no
mention anywhere of the angels. And he said, You who make your angels spirits, for this
reason: because the angels do not have a body, but are wholly light. And your ministers a
burning fire. He signifies their purity, and that they are not subject to sins. In another
sense: for example, someone is holy, and a good angel, an angel of light, is sent to him.
But if he is a sinner, an angel of wrath is sent to him, to set him on fire and torment
him.

4 You who founded the earth upon its own stability. And truly it is marvelous how great a
mass of earth hangs by the power of God. It shall not be moved for ever and ever. For it
stands unmoved, by the providence of God. The deep, like a garment, is his clothing. As is
written elsewhere: "And he made darkness his hiding-place," and again: "The judgments of
the Lord are a great deep." He signifies the unspeakable governance of God, and that we
cannot comprehend the wisdom of God. For just as we cannot gaze with these eyes into the
deep, so neither can we gaze into the greatness nor into the wisdom of God. But according
to the Hebrew we ought to understand "his clothing" in this way, that "of the earth" is to
be supplied; so that the sense is that this very deep surrounds the whole earth — the
thing they call the ocean. For around the whole earth there are waters, and the earth is
like an island.

5 The waters shall stand above the mountains. Not, as some suppose, that the waters stand
above the mountains because of winter and the rains; but the mountains were covered by the
waters, and the earth did not appear. But according to the figurative interpretation, the
waters are to be taken for doctrine, and the mountains for the saints. At your rebuke they
shall flee. And truly at God's command the water withdrew, and the earth appeared, as is
also written in Genesis: "And God gathered the waters into one gathering." At the voice of
your thunder they shall be afraid. For the thunder is the voice of the Lord. For he gave
the command, and the waters were separated. The mountains ascend, and the plains descend.
He signifies the rush of the waters, because after the manner of mountains the waters rise
up on high, and again are brought low.

6 You have set a boundary which they shall not pass. For it is marvelous to hear the
roaring of the sea, and its rush, and the waves lifted up as high as heaven, and coming as
if to cover the whole earth; and yet at the shore they lay down their rush, and return to
themselves, and do not overstep God's command — while men do not keep God's command.
Neither shall they turn back to cover the earth, as happened under Noah, the flood. You
who send forth springs in the valleys. Perhaps someone says: If all things were made for
the service of man, what use is it that waters run in the desert? This too was done for
our salvation and by God's providence, so that the four-footed beasts might have
nourishment for our service. In another sense: because God made all things by his
dispensation, and all things are his, and he feeds even the brute animals. The waters
shall pass through the midst of the mountains. Since the things that were on the mountains
needed to grow green from the rains of the Lord, therefore God sent the waters. But
according to the figurative interpretation, it signifies the holy works of the just.

7 Over them the birds of heaven shall dwell. Remember the parable of the mustard seed, and
the birds that dwell in it. From the midst of the rocks they shall give voice. Each thing
in its own tongue praises the Lord. In the Hebrew it has "of the trees." From the fruit of
your works the earth shall be filled. In another sense: from all your benefits the earth
shall be filled. In another sense: from your works, that is, your apostles, many have been
filled. Bringing forth hay for the cattle. Attend carefully, since the cattle eat hay. And
grass for the service of men. Since he created all things for his own glory. That he may
bring forth bread out of the earth. He speaks of the Lord, who deigned to become man, as
it is written: "I am the living bread, who came down from heaven." And wine gladdens the
heart of man. This is the wine which the Lord promised to drink after the resurrection
(anastasis).

8 That he may make the face cheerful with oil. The face of God makes the just cheerful;
but of sinners "let it not fatten the head." And bread strengthens the heart of man. The
bread which came down from heaven. The trees of the field shall be filled. Since the Lord
waters even the trees, so that they may give us fruit. There the sparrows shall build
their nests. By "sparrows," let us understand all birds — the whole from a part. The house
of the heron is their leader. The heron is a bird of very great size: and it is said to
conquer even the eagle, and to have the eagle itself as its food. And it is not like the
other birds, which have fixed nests, and go to their own places at evening; but this one
sleeps wherever the darkness overtakes it. But according to the figurative interpretation,
the monk has no cell, but wherever he finds himself, there he stays; and his battle is
with the devil who reigns in this world, just as the heron too conquers the eagle, the
king of the birds, as it is written: "Though you be exalted like the eagle, from there I
will drag you down, says the Lord." For the eagle is the devil, according to Ezekiel. The
high mountains for the stags. This animal kills serpents and eats them. Therefore it
fittingly dwells in the mountains, this one that slays the intelligible serpent — the one
who was wiser in paradise than all the beasts, who deceived Eve. The rock is a refuge for
the hedgehogs. He who is timid has the rock as his refuge: and the rock is Christ.

9 He made the moon for seasons. They say that when the moon waxes, all fruits also grow,
and when it wanes, the fruits again diminish. Therefore he said fittingly, He made the
moon for seasons. Or let us understand the moon in another way as the Church: for as the
Church advances, we advance with it; and when it suffers persecution and is diminished, we
too are diminished with it and suffer persecution. The sun knew its setting. If the sun
sets, do we suppose ourselves to be everlasting? In this, moreover, it is a thing to
marvel at, how so great a light and so great a brightness, which covers the whole world
with its light, sets in a moment. But let us pray that the sun of righteousness may not
set upon us. You have set darkness, and it became night: in it all the beasts of the
forest shall pass through. And according to the letter it has its own order: for night was
made for this reason, that men might rest from their works, and that the beasts might go
out to their feeding. But according to the figurative interpretation, when the sun of
righteousness has set upon us, all things are dark to us, and then the beasts pass through
against us, and the roaring lion, wishing to seize and devour us.

10 The young lions roaring, that they may seize, and seek from God their food. He said
fittingly, from God: since indeed he desires to deceive the saints — for example, Judas,
David, Solomon, Peter — as it is written: "His food is choice." The sun arose, and they
were gathered together. Let not the one who has fallen be saddened, but let him do
penance: the sun of righteousness rises upon him, and all the beasts and his sins flee
from him, and he becomes such as he was before. For the sun of righteousness has arisen
again. Man shall go forth to his work, and to his labor until the evening. But after the
sun of righteousness has arisen, we go forth again to our labor until the evening, that
is, until the consummation. Therefore we ought to work righteousness at every time. How
magnified are your works, O Lord. The prophet comes into an ecstasy of mind. Not finding
how he might praise the Lord, he said: How magnified are your works, O Lord. Your works
surpass human understanding. You have made all things in wisdom. In our Lord Jesus Christ
(for he himself is the wisdom of God), according to the apostle who says that in him all
things were created. The earth is filled with your possession. And truly all the works of
the Lord are full of wisdom. For when we see the ant know when winter is coming, and store
up food for itself; and again the gnat, so tiny, having eyes, a belly, and all its
members, just as we have; and the flea, and the rest: and then we see the elephant, so
great a beast, having eyes, nostrils, feet, a belly, just as we have in those same places:
and likewise the bee, how it makes honey and wax: are these things not worthy of wonder
and full of wisdom?

11 This great and spacious sea with its arms. Is this not a matter of wondrous wisdom, how
in the sea there are creeping things beyond number, and fish both greater and smaller: and
how they are in the deep, and there draw their life, where, if a man should fall in, he
dies, while they themselves, if they come onto the land, die? There the ships shall pass
through. Which of us is a strong ship, able to flee from this world, and not be submerged,
nor strike upon a rock — but let him have understanding to steer him, that he may be able
to be saved? This dragon which you formed to mock him. The Jews say: God made a great
dragon, which is called Leviathan, and it is in the sea; and when, they say, the ocean
recedes, the dragon turns. But let us say: This is the dragon who was cast out of
paradise, who deceived Eve, and was given into this world to mock us. For how many monks
and clerics has he cast down! All things wait upon you, that you may give them food in due
season. Because all things live by God's nod.

12 You will take away their spirit, and they shall fail. He signifies the consummation of
the world, when at the command of the Lord all things are destroyed, as it is written:
"Earth you are, and into the earth you shall go." You will send forth your spirit, and
they shall be created. On the day of consummation. If the Spirit creates, therefore he is
God: for he creates in the same way as the Father also does. Let the glory of the Lord be
for ever. If the glory of the Lord is for ever, then we too, who glorify, shall be
everlasting. The Lord shall rejoice in his works. For it is the Lord's joy, when we, his
creation, bless him on the day of resurrection. Who looks upon the earth, and makes it
tremble. For our earth shall tremble on the day of judgment. And it signifies the earthly
sinners. Who touches the mountains, and they smoke. If the mountains smoke, how much more
the earth? The saints smoke, since we shall all be saved through fire. For it would not
have smoke, unless there were fire.

13 I will sing to the Lord in my life; I will make music to my God as long as I am. Just
as he also said elsewhere: "Let me be, that I may be refreshed before I depart, and be no
more." Let me be for a little while, that I may do penance for my sins: since in hell
there is no one who can confess his sins. May my speech be pleasing to him. May it be
pleasing to him, so that one may worthily be able to praise and bless God. He spoke in the
optative mood, not the imperative. But I will delight in the Lord. Blessed are those who
say this after the judgment. Let sinners fail from the earth. He did not say that the
sinners should perish, but that sin itself should, so that it may not appear. And with sin
not appearing, of course there are then no more sinners, but all shall be found to be
just. And the wicked, so that they shall be no more. So that they may be no longer wicked,
but just.

HOMILY 31, ON PSALM 104

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Confess to the Lord and call upon his name.
Confess and say: because we are sinners, but you are merciful, and you have mercy on us.
And call upon his name. So that we may not fashion idols in our hearts, but we will call
upon our Lord, and he himself will be our redemption. Proclaim his works among the
nations. Let the Jews blush, who say that only within Israel were his wonders and his
works accomplished. Sing to him and make music to him. He who understands the holy
Scriptures, and meditates continually on the law of the Lord, and whose mind contemplates
heavenly things, this man sings to God. But he who has within himself all the virtues —
that is, is a worker of good work — this man, composing as it were a lyre out of the
virtues, makes music to the Lord. Tell of all his wonders. In the one hundred and sixth
psalm he says: 'Those who go down to the sea in ships, doing their work in many waters:
they themselves have seen the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.' If we cross
over in this bodily ship of ours unharmed, and nowhere does the storm overwhelm us, nor do
we strike against a rock and shatter our ship, we are able to tell of the wonders of God.
And truly it is a great miracle to pass through this world without stain.

2 Be praised in his holy name. This is a prophecy concerning the people of the gentiles:
that is, that we should be and be called Christians from the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Let the monks be glad, for the
hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. If of those who seek, how much more of those
who find him? For those who find him are unshaken. Seek the Lord and be strengthened.
Before we sought the Lord, we were weak; but now, seeking him, we are firm and strong. But
if we also find him, how much more perfect shall we be? Seek his face always. To the
Hebrews indeed it was written, that three times in the year they should appear before the
Lord. And what righteousness was this? And what great thing did anyone do, to appear three
times in the year in the sight of God? There he was speaking to little children; but here
the prophet tells those who believe in God to seek him always, just as it is also written
in the gospel, that we should pray without ceasing.

3 Remember his wonders which he did. In Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the desert. The
seed of Abraham, his servants: the sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. If someone is seed, he
is not yet also a son, according to what is written in the gospel: 'If you were the sons
of Abraham, you would do the works of your father.' Therefore, that in which they glory,
they are not; and if they are seed, they are servants set under fear, not having the
perfect love which casts out fear. We are the sons of Jacob, of him who supplanted his
brother, and took away his birthright. 'But many are called, and few are chosen.' And they
passed from nation to nation. Many think that he speaks of the captivity of the Jews. It
is not so. For he speaks of Abraham. He went out from the land of the Chaldeans, and came
into Mesopotamia, and from Mesopotamia into the land of promise, and again into Egypt. And
from a kingdom to another people. We pass through many kingdoms, in order to reach the
land of promise.

4 He did not permit man to harm them. Pharaoh, that he should harm Abraham in the person
of Sarah, nor Abimelech Isaac in the person of Rebecca. And he rebuked kings for their
sake. He says the same thing, Pharaoh and Abimelech. Touch not my anointed ones, and do no
malice among my prophets. He speaks of the patriarchs themselves. Let the Jews therefore
blush, who say that unless someone is anointed with royal ointment, he cannot be called
anointed (christ). For they say this, that our Lord is not the Christ, because he is not
anointed with royal ointment. Behold, before the law the patriarchs, not anointed with
royal ointment, are called anointed ones (christs). But they are anointed ones (christs)
who are anointed with the Holy Spirit. Therefore our Lord too is rightly called Christ.
Which they deny, going against the Scriptures. And he called famine upon the land. Very
often it happens that those things which are thought to be adverse, these are brought
about by the providence of God for our benefit. For unless the brothers of Joseph had been
jealous of him, and had sold him, how would he have gone down into Egypt? If the famine
had not come about, how would the patriarchs have gone down into Egypt, and been
recognized by their brother? How would Pharaoh have been struck with ten plagues? How
would they have gone out of Egypt? How would waters have come out of the rock in the
wilderness? How would the mysteries which were done in the desert as a figure have come to
be? For we understand them spiritually. If Judas had not betrayed the Lord, how would we
have been saved? If the Jews had not crucified him, and had not been unbelieving, how
would we have believed? Joseph therefore went into Egypt, to prepare lodging and food for
his brothers.

5 He sent a man before them. He speaks of Joseph himself. Joseph was sold as a slave. A
well-born and holy man is sold. They humbled his feet in fetters. Because he refused to
consent to the Egyptian mistress. They humbled his feet in fetters: but they could not
humble his righteousness. For when he was sixteen years old, he was loved passionately by
the mistress, and though set in such an age, which is more given over to pleasure, he
refused to consent to iniquity, but rather feared the peril of his soul. The iron passed
through his soul. By the iron he means sin itself, which slays the soul. In another sense:
because he was in peril, accused by the mistress of such a crime. For the mistress burned
for him, as it is written: 'All the adulterers, their hearts are like an oven.' Until his
word should come. He speaks of the word of the Lord himself, who set him free.

6 The utterance of the Lord inflamed him. For unless he had been inflamed by the Holy
Spirit, he could not have conquered lust. For the Spirit of the Lord inflamed him, and
extinguished the fire of lust. The king sent, and loosed him. According to the letter,
Pharaoh sent, and loosed him. In another sense: if anyone is tempted by lust, unless the
Lord appears and looses him, he cannot escape sin. And Jacob was a sojourner in the land
of Ham. For the just man never dwells in the land, but is a sojourner of the earth. And he
increased his people exceedingly. For they went down into Egypt in seventy-five souls, and
six hundred thousand went out of Egypt.


HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS
======================

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS continued

HOMILY 32, ON PSALM 105

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Alleluia, alleluia. We ought to hold to this rule,
wherever two alleluias are set at the head of a psalm: let us understand that the one
belongs to the end of the previous psalm, and the other to the psalm that follows. Give
thanks to the Lord, for he is good. O you who sin grievously, and despair of your own
salvation, and think that because of the greatness of your sins you cannot obtain pardon:
I command you — that is, the prophet does — give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Great
are your sins: but great is the Lord, who has mercy on you. Give thanks, therefore, to the
Lord. Do penance; do not despair of your salvation: the Lord is kind. Give thanks to the
Lord, you who have great sins. Do not trust in your own strength, but in the mercy of the
Lord. For his mercy endures forever. See what he says — forever. 'But in hell, who shall
give thanks to the Lord?' For there is no one who can do penance in hell. While you are in
this world, I urge you to do penance. Give thanks, therefore, to the Lord, because it is
only in this world that he is merciful. Here he can have mercy on the penitent: for there
he is a judge, he is not merciful. Here he is merciful, there he is a judge. Here he
stretches out his hand to the one who falls: there he sits as judge. And I have said all
this against those who say that there is penance even in hell.

2 Who shall tell the mighty acts of the Lord? No one is worthy to proclaim the mighty acts
of the Father, except the Son. No one can tell the might of the Father, except him who is
himself also mighty: the mighty acts of the Mighty One he alone who is in the bosom of the
Father, he who is himself mighty, can proclaim and tell. Shall he make all his praises
heard? Before our Lord in the Gospel proclaimed the praises of the Father, they had not
been heard in the world. Everything that is written in the old Law, if it be understood
spiritually, this can be understood of the Father. 3 Blessed are they who keep judgment,
and do justice at all times. David speaks rightly. He too had done judgment, he had done
justice: but because he did not do it at all times, therefore he fell. For what does he
say? Blessed are they who keep judgment, and do justice at all times. But blessed are they
who do it at all times. For what does it profit a man to be in continence for twenty
years, and afterwards to fall? — according to what is written in the prophet: 'The justice
of the just man shall not profit him on whatever day he goes astray: it shall not free
him, nor save him. And the sin of the sinner shall not harm him on whatever day he turns
and does penance.' Neither ought the just man to be secure, nor ought the sinner to
despair of his salvation: for in both of them there is both fear and hope. He who does
justice. Justice is our Lord: for our Lord and Savior is called the justice of the Lord.
Blessed therefore is he who does justice, that is, who makes Christ. How then do we make
Christ, that is, justice? If we act justly, justice is conceived in us, and justice is
brought forth from us, and we are the mother of justice. Happy and blessed is he who at
all times is both father and mother of justice.

4 Remember us, O Lord, in the good pleasure of your people. What blessed David says is
this: I know, O Lord, the old Law; the perfect blessedness is not in the old Law, but in
the Gospel; I know that the former people offended you, and that a new people is being
created, which will serve you: I know that your Son will come, and will save the whole
human race, and those who are chosen will believe in him: therefore, then, I ask, since I
was born earlier under the old Law, that you would reckon to me a reward together with the
new people. This seems to be our opinion. Let us read the very verses, and we shall find
the meaning to be that which we have said. Visit us with your salvation. That is, in your
Son, when he shall come. That we may see in the goodness of your chosen ones. That is,
give us a portion with the apostles: for we indeed went before them in time, but they go
before us in spiritual things. That is, that we may see your goodness, which you are about
to work with your chosen ones. That we may rejoice in the joy of your nation. We are the
Lord's nation, if indeed we are his nation. 'For a people, he says, that shall be born,
which the Lord has made.' That we may be praised with your inheritance. That is, that we
too who were made under the old Law may have a portion together with the Gospel. For
Abraham our father saw your day, and was glad. Let us too, then, see, and rejoice with
your inheritance.

5 We have sinned with our fathers. As sons we have followed our fathers: we have done what
our fathers also did. 'For he has shut up all under sin, that he might have mercy on all.'
We have acted unjustly, we have committed iniquity. Note carefully what he says: We have
sinned with our fathers, we have acted unjustly, we have committed iniquity. Did he say,
we have acted impiously? It is one thing to be a sinner and unjust, another to be impious.
The sinner is frequently overcome by the weakness of the body: but the impious man denies
God. Therefore, then, because I am not impious, but a sinner, therefore I dare to pray for
my sins. Our fathers in Egypt did not understand your wonders. They saw, and they did not
see: they saw with the eyes of the flesh, and with spiritual eyes they did not see. He did
not say, they did not see: but, they did not understand. For just as those men saw the
wonders, and did not understand: so also in the Gospel, if anyone indeed sees and hears
carnally, but does not understand spiritually, he does not see. Blessed therefore are we
who have not seen and yet have believed, more than those who saw and did not believe. They
saw the Red Sea, they saw Pharaoh drowned, and understood only this, which they saw. But
we, who have not seen him, understand better.

6 In Pharaoh we understand the devil, in his army we understand the demons, in the sea we
understand baptism. They understand Marah to be bitter waters, and they pass through
Marah: but we daily see the baptism of heretics to be bitter waters. They hang up the
bronze serpent in the desert. Let the anchorites hear, let those who dwell in the
wilderness hear. But we, what have we done? We too have hung up the true and ancient
serpent in the wilderness. Although the apostle does not interpret this of the Lord in the
way we suppose. But what does he say? On the cross of the Lord the devil was hung up and
fastened. The Lord indeed was crucified, but the devil died. This one fulfilled the
mystery, and appeared as victor: but the other did not appear, but was spiritually slain,
just as the apostle also signifies.

HOMILY 33, ON PSALM 106

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his
mercy endures for ever. Therefore confess to him your sins, because he is good and
forgives sins. But if he were not good, he would not say to you, "Give thanks"; and, "Give
thanks to him, for his mercy endures for ever." This is mercy: for the rest, above there
is justice. "For his mercy endures for ever." As long as you are in this age, give thanks.
2 Let them say so who have been redeemed by the Lord, whom he redeemed from the hand of
the enemy. He is speaking properly about the calling of the Gentiles: for this psalm holds
this mystery. "Who have been redeemed" — in the Lord's passion. "Let them say so who have
been redeemed": for he himself is the savior and the redeemer and the price. "Let them say
so who have been redeemed": he himself redeemed, he himself gives the price, his own
blood. But why did he give as the price his own blood? That he might redeem us from the
hand of the enemy. For we were held captive in the hand of the devil: and for this reason
he came and redeemed us, that he might set us free from the hand of the devil. "Whom he
redeemed from the hand of the enemy. "That you may destroy the enemy and the defender.
"Whom he redeemed from the hand of the enemy. "An enemy man oversowed the tares. And the
enemy is the devil. "Whom he redeemed from the hand of the enemy. He is an enemy, and yet
he is the possessor. Therefore he holds us in his hand: not because he loves, but because
he hates. "Whom he redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Great is the majesty and great the
power of the Lord's blood, which loosed the hand of the devil.

3 For just as there are certain animals which grip something enclosed within themselves
(this both the doctors and the natural philosophers say), so that unless it be broken, it
is not parted from them, nor does it let go what it holds shut inside; but if oil be
applied, at once it is dissolved, and what had been gripped tight is scattered and divided
into parts: so too the blood of Christ loosed the most hardened hand of the devil. He was
unwilling to let us go: the Lord poured out his blood like the oil of mercy, and through
it he set us free. "From the regions he gathered them. See how great is the hand of the
devil. "Whom he redeemed from the hand of the enemy. But these whom he redeemed from the
hand of the enemy — they were being held in all regions in the hand of the enemy. "From
the regions he gathered them": throughout the whole world the hand of the devil possessed
us.

4 "From the rising of the sun and from its setting, from the north and the sea. He seems
indeed to have named four climes: the east, the west, the south, and the north — that is,
the four climes of the world. But the psalm does not contain it so. For here it has: "from
the rising of the sun and from its setting" — behold, two climes; "from the north," that
is, from the region of the septentrion — behold, three climes. "And the sea. The sea,
surely, is in the west. So then see that he named the west twice, and the south not even
once. Why then did he name three climes, and refuse to mention one? We read in Habakkuk:
"God will come from the south, and the Holy One from the shady mountain. "God will come
from the south. It is said of the Savior: because God was born in the south. For by the
situation of Jerusalem, Bethlehem is set to the south: therefore it is said, "God will
come from the south. But if "God will come from the south," how is it now said, "From the
rising of the sun and from its setting, from the north"? The south wind, the auster and
the notus, is passed over in silence. "From the rising of the sun and from its setting.
"Amen, amen, I say to you, that many will come from the east and the west, and will
recline in the bosom of Abraham:

5 but the sons of this generation will be far off. "From the rising of the sun and from
its setting" — the foreigners, surely. "And from the north": "The north wind is the most
hardened wind, but by name it is called the right hand"; "From the north," he says, "evils
will blaze forth over the earth. The sea is read of in Numbers and in Exodus and in all
holy Scripture; and wherever you hear "the sea," according to the climes it is always
understood as the west. For by the situation of Jerusalem this great sea, as it is called,
is in the west. See therefore the mystery of the Scriptures: in this place the west is
named twice, and the notus not even once. Why is this said? Because in this psalm the
people of the Jews is not written as to be called, but only that of the Gentiles. Finally,
what does he say?

6 "They wandered in the wilderness, in a waterless place: they did not find the way of the
city of habitation, hungering and thirsting. And that you may know that it is written
properly about the calling of the Gentiles and about the driving-out of the Jews, in what
follows of this very psalm it is written: "He turned rivers into desert" — namely, of the
Jews. "They wandered in the wilderness, in a waterless place. Do you wish to know that we
too were before in a waterless place? "They wandered in the wilderness, in a waterless
place. We have said what the waters were, we have said what the rivers were. "They did not
find the way of the city of habitation, hungering and thirsting. Let us set forth how the
people of the Gentiles was in a desert where there were no waters, that is, in a waterless
place, and how "they did not find the way of the city of habitation, hungering and
thirsting. Of those of whom it is said "they did not find," it is plain that they sought.
"They did not find the way of the city of habitation. Therefore they sought a way, a way
by which they might come to the city: hungering they sought, and thirsting. "Their soul
failed within them. "They failed, searching with searching. They failed, they sought, and
did not find, and in their hunger and thirst "they did not find the way of the city of
habitation, hungering and thirsting.

7 There were many who kept promising that way which would lead to the city. Socrates
promised, Plato promised, Aristotle promised. The woman with the issue of blood, who
flowed with blood, sought many physicians, and by none could be healed. "They did not find
the way of the city of habitation. Their teaching produced hunger for the truth rather
than fullness. The woman with the issue of blood spent all her substance on physicians:
hungering and thirsting her soul failed within her. But because she had lost all her
substance — that is, the Church gathered from the Gentiles, because her soul failed within
her — she cried out to the Lord when she was in tribulation. The touch of the Lord's hem
was the cry of one believing. 8 "And they cried out to the Lord when they were in
tribulation." "To the Lord," he says, "when I was in tribulation I cried out, and he heard
me." Then are we heard by the Lord, when not a mere voice but tribulation cries out to the
Lord. "And he led them into the right way." Because "they did not find the way of the city
of habitation," therefore "he led them into the right way." So he shows that before they
did indeed find ways, but crooked ones and not right. "And he led them into the right
way." The Way led them into a way. The Lord himself and Savior led them into the right
way. The Way led them into the right way: he made them walk in himself, being himself both
the leader and the way. "And he led them into the right way": that by this way, that is,
by the Lord the Savior, they might go into the city of habitation, into his Church, which
had been founded upon himself, both the rock and the way and the leader. And at the same
time it is to be considered that in this psalm it is said a third time: "Let them confess
to the Lord his mercies, and his wonders to the sons of men. Because he satisfied the
empty soul," and so on. Afterward it is written: "Let them confess to the Lord his
mercies, and his wonders to the sons of men: because he shattered the gates of bronze."
And afterward this same thing is said: let the prudent reader find it. Though some say it
is even written a fourth time: so that what is offered to the Trinity may be gathered into
one in the Gospels.

9 The psalm is long, and we cannot linger over each little verse. But only this much has
been signified, that it speaks of the calling of the Gentiles and of the rejection of the
Jews. Let us therefore entreat the Lord, that, since the former branches were broken off,
and we from the wild olive have been grafted into the root of the good olive, we may bear
good fruits, lest we too likewise be cut off. For our husbandman seeks fruits. For if he
cut off the former branches for this reason, because they bore no fruit: we too, if we do
not bear fruits, shall suffer the like. But fruits are not only in the body, but also in
the soul. And when the body indeed serves the Lord, the soul also serves, and the body
also serves God. "In a land untrodden and waterless, so did I appear to you in the
sanctuary. "How manifoldly to you," he says, "does my flesh. See what he says: "How
manifoldly to you does my flesh. How manifoldly? Let us not read πῶς ἁπλῶς (how simply),
but ποσαπλῶς (in how many ways), that is, manifoldly. In many kinds does my flesh serve
you: in fastings, in sleepings-on-the-ground (chameuniai), in tribulation, in distress, in
hunger, in thirst, in cold. "How manifoldly to you does my flesh. What then serves the
Lord manifoldly? "In a land untrodden and waterless. See what he says: untrodden,
deserted, and waterless.

10 See that this flesh cannot serve the Lord manifoldly except in a deserted land, in a
deserted and waterless one, when the flesh is dry, when we are made as it were a wineskin
in the frost, when all the moisture is dried up and burned away, when our flesh seeks not
lust, but food. Our flesh, when it is parched, and is waterless, and has no moistures,
seeks not wantonness, but seeks food. But when our land, which before had been dry, is
watered with the water and rains of delights, it must needs bring forth and sprout, and he
who is holy bears good fruits; but he who is a sinner, at once his land generates thorns.
Why I say all this, the prudent hearer understands: because fastings profit much the
Christian soul. 11 They humble the body: and when the body is humbled, the soul too is
humbled, and when the body is humbled the soul none the less suffers its own burnings. But
if to the burning of the soul there be joined also the burning of the body, who can bear a
double burning? The burning of the soul frequent prayer extinguishes, and faith toward the
Lord. For the rest, the burning of the flesh we have in our own power: when we wish, we
quench the spark of that burning. Although we extinguish it, yet it still remains in the
soul. This I have said, because the spark of concupiscences always remains in the soul.
Just as if there be a spark in ashes, and it have no fuel, there is indeed a spark, but it
makes no flame: so the spark of our thought, if it have not the wantonness of the flesh,
is smothered. We all have this spark. Let someone say it, or not say it: whoever denies
it, lies. God the creator of all is one: he who created me, also created you: he who
created the emperor, he himself created the soldier: he who created the most noble
senator, he himself created also the lowly slave. The condition is diverse, the nature is
one. As we enter naked, so also we go out naked. On earth we have diverse garments, we
live differently day by day: but for the rest, both for those entering and for those
departing the condition is one.

12 Why do I say all this? To show that the nature of the body of all men is one: just as
the face indeed is diverse, and yet the likeness itself is the same. For example, that one
may have more, another less: yet the face of man is one. For I do not have the face of a
man, and you that of a lion or of some wild beast. Each one therefore, according to the
quality of his own spark, which he knows himself to have, so also let him gather ashes.
When we eat, when we take richer foods, that spark of ours, which lay hidden in the ashes,
receives fuel. But let us entreat the Lord, that that spark may always be in a deserted
land, untrodden and waterless, that it may not have the fuel of vices. And let us bless
the Lord.

HOMILY 34, ON PSALM 107

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). A song of a psalm of David. A "song" always refers
to the mind, but a "psalm" refers to bodily things. To put it more plainly, a song refers
to contemplation (theoria), whereas a psalm refers to practice (praxis), that is, to
action. Since, then, it is written in the title, "A song of a psalm," rightly and
consistently he says in the second verse, "I will sing and I will make melody in my
glory." 2 "My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready." I am ready not only in deed, but
also in heart and mind. "My heart is ready," in the mind; "my heart is ready," in deed,
that is, in practice. Since I am ready not only in heart and mind but also in deed,
therefore in the second place I say, "I will sing and I will make melody in my glory." "I
will sing": that is, in my heart. "And I will make melody." Just as a psaltery is composed
of many strings, and if one string is broken the psaltery is ruined, so too in our
actions, if we transgress a single commandment, our psaltery is broken. Therefore he said,
"I will sing and I will make melody in my glory." In other manuscripts it reads "in your
glory"; but it is better to read according to the Hebrew "in my glory." What he says is
this: "I will sing and I will make melody in my glory." This, O Lord, that I make melody
to you, that I sing to you — I am doing no favor to you, but to myself. For in another
psalm he says: "For you have no need of my goods." What, therefore, I do, I do for myself.
For the fact that I serve you is my glory. We fast: do we thereby bestow anything on God?
We do this for our own sins. We lie in sackcloth: what do we thereby furnish to the Lord?
This alone do we furnish to him, that we may save our own souls; for this is what he
himself desires. Just as a good and merciful physician, if he has healed someone, rejoices
himself, and so does the one who has been healed, so too our Lord.

3 "Arise, O psaltery and harp." O psaltery, O harp, you were made and created to make
melody to God: arise and make melody, why do you lie idle? O monk, you who stand upright
in body, why does your soul lie idle, and you do not make melody to the Lord? "Cursed is
the man who does the work of God negligently." If you are a psaltery, if you are a harp,
why are you deaf, and do not glorify God? "I will arise at daybreak." God cannot be
blessed and praised in the darkness, but he is blessed in the light. I say a wondrous
thing: even if we rise in the night, we bless God in the light. For a Christian it is
never night: for a Christian the sun of righteousness always rises. And these things
indeed we say according to the Jews. But according to the higher sense, it is the Lord who
sings these things. "My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready." I am ready here, I am
ready in the future: I save both on earth and I save in heaven; that is, I save both the
angels and men. "Arise, O psaltery and harp." The Lord speaks to his own body: O psaltery
and harp, you who descended into hell and lay there, arise and praise the Lord. And you
see what he says. It is not he himself, who moves the harp and psaltery, that praises; but
the harp and psaltery themselves, they themselves bless the Father. For he is God, and is
blessed and praised by others; but his body, and the man whom he took upon himself, this
itself praises the Lord. And so that you may know that the prophet speaks in the person of
the Lord, and that I do not say this of myself, see what follows.

4 "I will confess to you among the peoples, O Lord." Understand "the peoples" as the Jews.
"And I will make melody to you among the nations." He speaks of us. For by "the Jews" he
means those who first believed from among the Jews. And notice the order: first he praises
God among the peoples, and afterward he praises God among the nations. For first they
believed from among the Jews, and afterward they believed from among the Gentiles. 5 "For
your mercy is great above the heavens." There is no creature that does not stand in need
of God's mercy. All of us stand in need of God's mercy. Gabriel, Michael, the Seraphim,
the Cherubim, the Powers, the Dominions, are indeed holy, but they stand in need of the
mercy of their creator. I do not disparage the angels, but I proclaim the creator; since
the angels themselves gladly have their creator proclaimed. And we can say it another way:
"For your mercy raises up from the earth to the heavens. And your truth reaches even to
the clouds." Where are the Jews, where are those like the Jews, who understand only
according to the letter? How is the truth of God "even to the clouds"? The Son of God
says, "I am the way and the life and the truth": and he descended to the earth, and dwelt
among men. And how is your truth "even to the clouds"? The sense is plain, that he speaks
of the apostles and of the saints, that they should not rain their rain upon the Jews, but
upon the Gentiles, as it is written: "I will command my clouds not to rain rain upon
Israel." In these clouds, then, is the truth of God. But if the truth of God is in these
clouds, how does Montanus say, and how do the Cataphrygians say, that what was not
revealed to the apostles has been revealed to us?

6 "Be exalted above the heavens, O God." God is not exalted except above the heavens, he
is not exalted above the earth. When we are earthly, we do not exalt God; but if from
earthly we have been made heavenly, then we exalt God. And our Lord, when he was on earth,
did not exalt us. Someone may say: You speak rashly, since he himself says in the Gospel:
"When I have been lifted up, I will draw all things to myself." See what he says: When I
have been lifted up into the heavens, then I will draw all things to myself. This sense is
indeed pious, but I understand something else. When I have been lifted up, when I have
been crucified, then I will draw all to myself. "That your beloved may be delivered." O
wondrous understanding! for this reason the Lord is crucified and lifted up, that his
beloved may be delivered. "That your beloved may be delivered," he says, "be exalted above
the heavens, O God." What we asked for has come to pass: he has been exalted, and we have
been delivered.

7 "God has spoken in his holy one": whether in the temple, or in each one of the saints,
or in a prophet. He is heard in Moses, he is heard in an apostle; and more truly I say, he
has spoken in his Son. What, then, has God spoken? These things that follow. "I will be
exalted, and I will divide Shechem." For this reason, he says, I am crucified, that I may
divide Shechem. "Shechem" is interpreted in our language as "shoulders." And "shoulders"
are interpreted as "works." The sense, then, is this: for this reason I am crucified, that
I may divide my works among my saints; for this reason I am crucified, that I may lay my
sweet yoke and my light burden upon the necks of men. You have done, O Lord, what you
promised: you have been exalted, and you have divided Shechem. "And I will measure out the
valley of tabernacles." Truly our Lord and Savior entered down into this valley of tears,
into the place of our lowliness, that is, into this world. However holy a man may be in
this world, he does not yet know as he ought to know. "For we know in part, and we
prophesy in part."

8 "Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine." Our Lord and Savior rejoices, possessing greater
riches. "Gilead" is interpreted "migration": he rejoices, therefore, when the people
migrated from among the Gentiles and came to him. "Manasseh" is interpreted "from
forgetfulness." See, then, what he says. That son who received the substance and consumed
it, and had forgotten me, now has remembered me; and he is called Manasseh, that is, "from
forgetfulness," because he has not forgotten, but has returned to his father. And
"Ephraim" is interpreted "fruitful." "Ephraim," he says, "is the receiving of my head." He
has here put "receiving" for "crown": for that which is placed upon the head is a crown,
and in the Scriptures the crown is called by various names. In another place it has: "His
truth will surround you with a shield." And in another psalm: "Who crowns you in mercy and
compassions." For just as there he put "shield" for "crown," so too here he has put
"receiving" for "crown." See, then, what he says. You have become Gilead, you have become
Manasseh, that is, you have migrated to the Lord, and after forgetfulness you have
returned to your father: be Ephraim, be fruitful, have good works, and afterward you will
be the crown of the Lord.

9 "Judah is my king. See in how great glory he is who does penance: for "Judah" is
interpreted "confession. "Moab is the pot of my hope. A great mystery is recognized in few
words. I beg you, pay careful attention: since it profits both me who speak, and you who
hear. "Moab" is interpreted "from the father. "AB" means "father," "MO" means "from. Who
is this one "from the father"? He who lost his father, who abandoned his father, who did
not return to his own father, and is not worthy to be called Manasseh. Who is this Moab?
An enemy of the Lord, of whose lineage, even to the fourth generation, and the tenth, and
even forever, he shall not enter into the church of the Lord. Who is this Moab? He who is
born of an unclean coupling in a dark cave. For from Lot and from his daughters two were
born, Moab and Ammon, and Moab is the elder son. See, then, how a mystery is hidden in the
letter. In darkness, in a cave: not in the sun, not in the light. "Moab," then, is
interpreted "the devil," who has forgotten his father. In fine, Absalom too, who
persecuted his own father, is interpreted "the devil. How, then, is this Moab "the pot of
the Lord's hope"? "Pot" (lebes) is interpreted "cooking-pot" (olla). How is a cooking-pot
the hope of the Lord? Is it, then, credible that Moab, who is interpreted "the devil,"
should be the pot of the Lord's hope?

10 How is he the hope of the Lord? The Apostle says: "Whom I have handed over to Satan,
that they may learn not to blaspheme. The devil is, as it were, the Lord's torturer-
examiner. Those who do not walk rightly toward God are handed over to the devil. Why? That
they may perish forever? And where then is the clemency of God? where is the merciful
father? where is he who makes his sun rise over the just and sinners, and rains upon
sinners and the just? What he says is this: I hand over, he says, sinners to the devil,
that, being tormented by him, they may be converted to me. It is said also in Jeremiah:
"What do you see, Jeremiah? "A boiling pot," he says. See, then, that into this pot flesh
is cast. This is written in Ezekiel. "And I cast," he says, "flesh into the pot": that it
may become soft, and the hard may be converted to the Lord, and from a heart of stone may
become a heart of flesh, so that where before it could not be written upon because of
hardness, afterward it may be written upon because of softness. "I will kindle," he says,
"this pot, and I will boil down the flesh and the bones, until they lose all moisture and
filth. And see what is said afterward. "And let them learn," he says, "that I am the Lord.
Great mercy, great sacrament.

11 The flesh is cast into the pot, that it may be boiled down and may learn that he is the
Lord. There are many things that might be said about Moab and the pot, but for now it
would be too long. 12 "Into Idumea I will stretch out my shoe." "Idumea" is interpreted
"earthly and bloody." The merciful God wills to possess not only heavenly things, but also
earthly ones. "The foreigners have been made friends to me." He speaks of us, who have
believed from among the Gentiles. "Who will lead me into the fortified city?" No one, O
Lord, for you are the one who says: "I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the
nations there was no man with me." "For all have turned aside, together they have become
useless: there is none that does good, there is not even one." Who, then, will lead me
into the fortified city? No one, O Lord: since even Peter, who had promised to die for
you, afterward denied you. What is this fortified city? Hell, where they are shut in, from
which it is not permitted to go out. And truly from this city no other victor came out
except the Lord. And truly this city is fortified. Moses could not come out of this city.
And Jacob likewise entered into this city, and did not return. Do you wish to know that he
did not return? In fine, he says to his sons: "Mourning I will descend to the
netherworld." But he descended to the netherworld, because paradise had not yet been
opened by the thief. This city is fortified against going out, but it is open for entering
in. "Who will lead me even into Idumea?" Where is the place of punishments and of blood.
For "Idumea" is interpreted "bloody." The place of the slaying of souls, where many souls
are slain. For no one descended a victor into hell, except you alone, O Lord.

13 "You who have cast us off." Was it not you, O God, who have cast us off? He did not
say, "Who cast us off," but "Who once cast us off." "And will you not go out, O God, in
our powers?" These things are to be read interrogatively: "And will you not go out, O God,
in our powers?" You who suffered for us, why do you not help us, but allow us to be
trampled by the most cruel devil? "And will you not go out, O God, in our powers?" See
what he says. He did not say, "you did not go out," but "will you not go out, O God, in
our powers." This he means to say: When we labor, then God helps us. "For it is not of him
who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy." See what he says: Is it not of
him who lies idle, nor of him who sleeps, but of God who has mercy? But see what he says:
It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. If, then, we do
not will and run, God will profit us nothing. It is ours to will and to run, and afterward
God has mercy. For a sleeping athlete loses the victory.

14 "Give us help from tribulation." He did not say, "Give us help from delights," but
"from tribulation." "To the Lord, when I was in tribulation, I cried out, and he heard
me." He did not say, "when I was in delights I cried out," or "sleeping I cried out." Do
you wish to be heard by the Lord? Be in tribulation: cry out, and you will be heard. If,
then, anyone is not in tribulation, he cannot call upon the help of the Lord. "For vain is
the salvation of man." "Cursed is the man who has his hope in man." There is no need to
interpret this: this saying is plain to all. Someone hoped in an emperor, hoped in a
prince, in a father, or a mother: in the course of some affair the spirit of the one in
whom he hoped was suddenly taken away, and his salvation vanished. He did not say, "vain
is the salvation of that man in whom he hopes," but "the salvation of him who hopes in
man."

15 "In God we will do valiantly." Let us have hope in nothing except in God alone. Let us
not say: If this should happen to me, or that, whence shall I have the means to live? I
answer you: what is greater, if persecution should come, whence do you have the means to
live? For a Christian there is always persecution, always nakedness is set before him. No
one, then, ought to make arrangements about this life, let no one fear, let no one say: If
I grow old, whence shall I have the means to live? if I become sick, whence do I live? You
have Christ, and do you fear? If he feeds the birds of the sky, do you doubt that he can
feed you? The devil feeds his own men, and shall Christ not feed his own servants? The
devil makes the judges of this world and the rich, and can Christ not make it so that you
do not beg? The devil gives gold and gems, and can Christ not give bread? Let us cast all
anxiety out of our hearts, and let us say: "In God we will do valiantly." He himself will
be our valor, he himself our bread, he himself will be our ruler. "And he himself will
bring our enemies to nothing." He himself crowns us, he himself fights alongside us: or
rather, he himself conquers in us. For what do we say? "In God we will do valiantly." For
when we are strong, he himself will bring our enemies to nothing. He did not say "he will
fight," or "he will slay," but "he will bring to nothing." He will bring them to nothing
for this reason, that, if he should wish, he may make them strong, and glorify them. Let
us, therefore, bless God: to whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY 35, ON PSALM 108

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). To the end, a psalm of David. When it says "to the
end," let us understand that it is spoken not of the present, but of the future. And if it
is spoken of the future, then the prophecy is about Christ. 2 O God, do not keep silent
about my praise. That is: Judas betrayed me, the Jews persecuted me and crucified me, and
they thought that they would destroy me utterly, to the end. But you, O God, do not keep
silent about my praise. All the churches, day by day, praise the Lord, and the prayer of
the Lord has been fulfilled, when he said: O God, do not keep silent about my praise. See
of what dignity the priests are. The priests speak: and in the priests God does not keep
silent about the praise of his Son. For the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the
deceitful man has been opened against me. Let us see how the mouth of Judas the betrayer
was opened against the Lord. He comes to the Lord in order to betray him, and he says:
Rabbi — that is, master. Behold, the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful
man. I in my clemency wish to save him, and I offer him a kiss, and I wish to overcome his
malice; yet he persists in doing evil, so as to betray me. In a particular sense it is
understood of Judas; but in a general sense of the Jews. In that time in which they were
saying, "Crucify, crucify such a man," the mouth of the sinner was opened against the
Lord. And that you may see that he speaks of all the Jews, you will recognize it from what
follows. For what does he say?

3 They have spoken against me with a deceitful tongue. I was being crucified for them, and
they were mocking me. My wounds were their medicine, and I seemed to them a thing of
derision. And they have surrounded me with words of hatred. Not that they might believe,
but that they might war against me. And they have warred against me without cause.
"Without cause" is understood in two ways. That is, without reason: for I had not sinned,
and I did not deserve that they should make war upon me. And what worthy cause was there
that they should war against me? Because I had healed their sick? because I had raised
their dead? because I had done other signs? See therefore that they warred against him
without cause. And it is understood in another way as well: They wished to extinguish and
blot out my name, and yet they were not able. When someone persecutes another, and gains
nothing, and does not fulfill his desire, he persecutes without cause.

4 Instead of loving me, they disparaged me: but I kept praying. In return for the benefits
which I had conferred upon them, they were doing me insults. But what was I doing? I kept
praying. These are the weapons of the Lord: and these are our weapons too, prayer. So
then, whenever anyone persecutes us, and hates us, let us say: Instead of loving me, they
disparaged me. But what was I doing? I kept praying. That I might overcome them? Far from
it: for whom did the Lord pray that he might overcome? But what did he say — but I kept
praying? What was I saying? "Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do." And
they set against me evils in return for goods. And set upon the cross, I kept praying for
those who were crucifying me, while they were saying: "Aha, you who destroy the temple,
and in three days build it up. Let him save himself. Let the Father who loves you come now
and set you free." I rose again from the dead for their sakes, and they say: "His
disciples came by night, and stole him away." And hatred in return for my love. Consider,
O Christian, consider, O monk: if the Lord received his persecutor and betrayer with a
kiss, and prays for those who were crucifying him, what ought we to do for our brothers?

5 Set a sinner over him. Since I prayed for them upon the cross, and they saw my wounds —
I gave them room for repentance and they do not repent, and they refuse to have me as king
— let them have the devil as king. They will not have Jesus as king: let them have
Barabbas as king, Barabbas, which is interpreted "son of the father," that is, of the
devil. This Barabbas, who was he? A seditious man and a robber. And truly they have
Barabbas as king even to the present day, a seditious man and a robber, who slays the Jews
themselves. Barabbas the robber, who delights in blood, before the Lord was crucified,
before the Jews crucified him, was shut up in prison. They denied the Lord, and Barabbas
was released. For from that time Barabbas began to have power over them; and that demon,
who had been cast out of the man, and out of that generation, and was walking about in the
desert, and could find no place, brought with him seven other demons worse than himself,
and entered into the synagogue, and the last state of that man became worse than the
first. In short, the synagogue of the Jews, before it crucified the Lord, was indeed a
sinner, but it had only one demon. It crucified the Lord, and eight demons entered into it
at once. So then was fulfilled what he said: Set a sinner over him.

6 And let the devil stand at his right hand. Because he stood at their right hand,
therefore the synagogue had a withered right hand, as it is written in the Gospel. But let
us pray that the Lord may stand at our right hand, and the devil at our left. It is
written in Zechariah: "And he showed me Jesus the great priest standing before the angel
of the Lord, and Satan stood at his right hand, to fight with him." If, then, the devil
stands at the right hand of the Lord, how does he now say of Judas, And let the devil
stand at his right hand? But see what he says. The devil stood at the right hand of Jesus
to oppose him: that is, he wished to be an adversary to his right hand. But here he does
not say that he wishes to fight, but that he had already conquered Judas. There the devil
desires to fight against the right hand; but here he has gained mastery over the right
hand of Judas. But this too must be considered. At that time he stood at the Lord's right
hand to oppose him, when Jesus had filthy garments. For so it is written there as well:
"And Jesus had filthy garments." As long as the Lord Jesus has filthy garments, so long
does the devil stand at his right hand: as long as he bears our sins, in our sins the
devil opposes him. But when it is said in Zechariah, "Take away his filthy garments and
clothe him with the changes of raiment," immediately Jesus says to the devil, "The Lord
rebuke you, Satan, may he rebuke you who has chosen Jerusalem." All this we have said for
this reason, because it is written, And let the devil stand at his right hand.

7 When he is judged, let him come forth condemned. Let him come not into judgment, but
into condemnation. For where there is judgment, there is doubt: but where there is
condemnation, the sentence is already plain. And let his prayer be turned into sin. The
repentance of Judas was made a worse sin. How was the repentance of Judas made a worse
sin? He went and perished by hanging; and he who became the betrayer of the Lord, this
same man came to be his own slayer. In view of the clemency of the Lord I say this, that
by this he offended the Lord more, because he hanged himself, than because he betrayed the
Lord. His prayer ought to have turned into repentance, and it was turned into sin. You see
a heretic praying, you see a Jew, you see a Manichaean: though they fast, though they
pray, yet their prayer is turned into sin.

8 Let his days be few. His days were made few, but his nights increased: for he was cut
off in the middle of his days. The sun withdrew from him, and behold, darkness was
multiplied for him. And let another receive his episcopate. This too is interpreted more
plainly in the Acts of the Apostles. But it was not only spoken of Judas in that time, it
is spoken even to this day. If Judas lost his apostleship, let priests and bishops guard
themselves, lest they too lose their own priesthood. If an apostle fell, a monk can fall
more easily. The power does not perish, though the man falls and perishes. Nevertheless
the Lord gives out his denarii at interest: if that man does not double them, his money is
taken away and given to him who has. The Lord's money cannot be idle. 9 Let his children
become orphans, and his wife a widow. See that the things which are spoken are mysteries.
Whom do you suppose to be the children of Judas? The Jews. And they are called Jews, not
from that holy Judah, but from this betrayer. From that holy one, we are the spiritual
Jews; but from this betrayer, those are the carnal Jews. In short, there are two apostles
who are called by the name of Judas. There is the eleventh apostle, who is called Judas of
James. And there is the twelfth and the last, who is called Judas Iscariot. From that
Judas of James, then, we are called Jews; but from this Iscariot, those are called Jews.
That Judas our father is called "of James," that is, Judah the son of the supplanter: for
we have supplanted the people of the Jews, and have received their birthright. But those
are called "Iscariot," which is uncertain whether it signifies his father or his village.
But however you interpret it, it is interpreted "wages" and "price. Therefore this Judas,
who was going to betray the Lord and to receive a price, received his name from the price.
Though he returned the price to the priests of the Jews, yet they condemn him, since they
refuse to receive the price of blood. See the disagreement of the Pharisees and the
misfortune of Judas. If you bought the blood of Jesus rightly, why did you not take back
your money?

10 But if you refuse to take it because it is the price of blood, you show that you
yourselves have shed the blood unjustly and wickedly. But see what they do. That very
money, he says, they do not put into the corban, but they buy a field with it, and they
call it Aceldama, which is interpreted "the price of blood. Why do they buy it? For the
burial of strangers. Blessed are we, for whom a field is bought from the price of the
Lord's blood. 11 And his wife a widow. The synagogue, who first was made the wife of God,
of whom he said, "And I gave her a writing of divorce, and again I took her back, and I
said to her, Turn to me": that synagogue, then, received her divorce from the Savior, and
was made the wife of Judas the betrayer. In short, what did she do? She received no dowry,
but gave a dowry to her husband. And again that most wretched Judas, who betrayed the
Lord, will not receive an evil dowry; but he returns to the harlot, his wife, the evil
dowry which he received from her. And what does he say? You displeased your former
husband, he repudiated you and cast you out, and gave you a writing of divorce: I refuse
to have you as wife. You gave me a price, and you deceived me: and you who killed your
Lord, you have killed me too. For I cannot find in Scripture that Judas had either a wife
or children.

12 Let his children be carried away wandering, and let them beg. Consider carefully: for
indeed the things that follow are difficult. From that time in which the Lord was
crucified, from then on the Jews are ever moved about, they do not stand in their own
place. In short, it is said of Cain also: "And Cain, he says, went out from the face of
God, and dwelt in the land of Nod." Now Nod is interpreted "commotion." Because Cain had
gone out from the face of God, rightly he did not stand still, but dwelt in the land of
Nod, that is, in commotion. So then these too, since they crucified their God and Lord,
are carried away wandering. For they are not in their own places, but are scattered
throughout the whole world. Here he speaks of a begging for spiritual riches. For they do
not have prophets, they do not have the law, they do not have priesthood, they do not have
sacrifice, but they have truly been made beggars.

13 Let the moneylender search out all his substance. You gave him money, O Lord, you gave
to him as also to the others. But what did he do? He did not bind it up in a napkin, nor
bury it in the earth, nor was he negligent: but when he had the Lord's talent and money,
he took a price from the enemies of the Lord, and sold his own Lord. Therefore I say to
you, O Lord, exact from him the interest of your money. And let strangers plunder his
labors. The Lord manifestly proved to be a moneylender, and what happened? Let strangers
plunder his labors. Whether we understand it generally of all the Jews, because they were
laid waste by the Romans: or truly in a particular sense, that Judas was plundered by the
demons, and the people itself. Let there be no helper for him, nor let there be any who
will pity his orphans. In that time the people of the Jews had no helper. Answer me, O
Jews. You were in Babylon: there you had prophets, Daniel, Ezekiel: and indeed you were
idolaters. For seventy years you were in captivity, and afterward you came back into your
own land. Behold, now it is four hundred years: why has no prophet been sent to you? In
that time you worshiped idols, and God had pity on you. But now you do not worship idols:
why has the Lord forsaken you? Behold, it is four hundred years. But then you forsook the
Lord, and worshiped idols: whereas now you have crucified and slain the Lord. And
therefore there will be no helper for them.

14 In one generation let his name be blotted out. O prophecy, O mystery of prophecy! In
one generation let his name be blotted out. After the passion of the Lord, forty-two years
passed, and that people was blotted out. Indeed the full age comes in the fortieth year.
So then, after the passion of the Lord, in the forty-second year Jerusalem was blotted
out. See therefore that in one generation his name was blotted out. But in this too is the
clemency of the Lord. They crucified him, and he gave them forty-two years for repentance.
I say it plainly: he slew them after forty-two years for this reason, because of those who
crucified the Lord, none of them remained. Judas is cursed, so that in Judas the Jews may
be cursed. Let the iniquity of his fathers come into remembrance in the sight of the Lord.
They sinned in the desert, he forgave them: now he reckons against them what they sinned
then, since they have crucified the Lord. Or let us interpret it otherwise. He reckons
against them the cruelty of their murders, and forgives them nothing. And let the sin of
his mother not be blotted out. Who is the mother of Judas? Jerusalem, who rejoices in
blood, who slew the prophets and her own Lord himself.

15 Because he did not remember to show mercy. See how great the clemency of the Lord is.
He sees him coming with the officers, he sees him coming with clubs, and he offers him a
kiss. That man comes to betray, and the Lord gives a kiss; so that he who did not fear his
master might at least be overcome by clemency. And he persecuted a man needy and a beggar.
"Who, though he was rich, for our sake became poor." The Lord calls himself needy and a
beggar: and who glories in his riches? You have consolation, O poor: for the Lord is poor
with you. And to put to death one pricked at heart. What is it that he said, "one pricked
at heart, to put to death"? What he also said in the Gospel: "My soul is sorrowful even
unto death." And again when he said: "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from
me." Otherwise: this grieved me, and I was made sorrowful for those persecuting me,
because they refused to repent. I was hanging on the cross, and washing away their filth
with my blood: and they themselves refused to repent. These were my tears, this my
compunction, that those who persecuted me I could not save.

16 Deliver me, for I am needy and poor. The Lord calls himself poor, that he might console
the poor. With men he was made poor, that no one of the poor might despair of salvation.
And my heart is troubled within me. See what he says: And my heart is troubled within me.
This is the same thing which he says elsewhere: "I was troubled, and did not speak." That
I am troubled, belongs to a man: but to overcome the trouble and the anger, this belongs
to great virtue. Therefore the apostle also says: "Be angry, and do not sin." Are you
angry? You are a man. Does the anger not remain in you? You are a Christian. I am shaken
off like locusts. I indeed had come to protect my people, and I said: "Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you, how often did I wish
to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings." I had come like a
hen to protect them: but they received me with a most hostile mind. I had come as a
mother: and they slew me as if I were their murderer. I am shaken off. What is this? They
persecuted me, they cast me out. They persecuted me from Nazareth, I came to Capernaum:
they persecuted me from Capernaum, I came to Bethsaida, and from there they persecuted me.
I came to Jerusalem, I was unwilling to withdraw from my people; and from there they
persecuted me, and so they treated me like locusts. And what did I do? Was I angry, did I
defend myself, did I curse them, and abandon them? Not one of these things did I do. But
what did I do? I prayed for them.

17 My knees are weakened from fasting. Take consolation, O monk, in fasting: since the
Lord too did this. I say that when a monk fasts, he becomes stronger through fasting; and
when his knees are weakened by fasting, then he is most of all strengthened. And my flesh
is changed on account of oil. I seem to be saying a difficult thing, and I interpret it
according to the letter, that I may edify my hearers: for even the letter edifies me. It
is good to fast, it is good to flee from delicacies. Before I come to the spiritual
understanding, I linger in the letter. He who says that he does not eat oil, is far from
the rest of the delicacies. All this I have said, because he said, And my flesh is changed
on account of oil. This I have interpreted otherwise. But what he says is this. Oil is an
image of brightness; oil is, as it were, the food of light. So then the Jews too received
oil from me, they received life, they received light. Let no one suppose that he says
"oil" for mercy: in the Hebrew it signifies intelligible oil. It is changed not into joy,
but into sadness; not that I might be found more beautiful, but that I might appear more
disfigured. Therefore he says: "We saw him, and he had no beauty." Why? because his flesh
was changed on account of oil. He had not the delights of the body, but of the spirit. And
we too, then, when we fast, when our faces are pale, when we appear disfigured, let us
recognize that we then appear more beautiful to Christ. Such soldiers Christ loves, who
give themselves to fasting. Our provision and our food is fasting. Why? because in fasting
is victory, and in victory is triumph. In short, the apostle too glories not in fullness,
but in weakness. "For when I am weak, then I am stronger."

18 And I have become a reproach to them. For they called me a Samaritan, and said: "By
Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he casts out demons." "Is not this the son of Joseph the
carpenter? are not his brothers and sisters all with us?" And again: "You who destroy the
temple, and build it in three days." And again: "Let us see whether Elijah comes to save
him." He was calling out "Eli, Eli," which is "My God, my God"; and they thought it was
Elijah. See the untutored Jews. Did the Son of God ask for the help of Elijah? They saw
me, and they shook their heads. Why did they shake their heads? because they had already
moved their feet as well. 19 Save me according to your mercy. He says also in the Gospel:
"I have power to lay down my soul and to take it up again." And again: "No one takes it
from me." And how does he ask for mercy? He himself asks for mercy, and he himself bestows
it; he himself as man asks, and as God bestows. And let them know that this is your hand,
and you, O Lord, have made it. What is it that he says, And let them know that this is
your hand, and you, O Lord, have made it? Let the Jews understand that they did not
prevail against me by their own strength: but my will and your will was done, that I
should suffer. And I willed to suffer; therefore I say, according to what I am as man: "My
God, I willed to do your will." And your will was also mine, that I should suffer. It was
not, then, their treacheries and strength that brought it about: but I and you willed that
I should suffer. For you struck your shepherd, and the sheep were scattered. This is
written in Zechariah: "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered." That
I should suffer, was my will and yours. What you willed, I too willed. The scandal had to
come, but woe to him through whom it comes.

20 They will curse, and you will bless. To this day this happens: they curse in the
synagogue, and the Lord blesses in the church. Those who rise up against me, let them be
confounded: but your servant will rejoice. They rise up against me: but I, your servant,
will rejoice. But why "your servant"? because "He who, though he was in the form of God,
did not count it robbery to be equal with God: but emptied himself, taking the form of a
servant." 21 Let those who disparage me be clothed with shame. It profits us greatly to
understand what we say. The clemency of God appears in this, in his saying "let them be
clothed. He does not say, let them perish; he does not say, let them be blotted out
forever: but what does he say? let them be confounded, that is, let them understand their
error, and be confounded, and stand in repentance. He who is clothed with shame is near to
salvation: for if anyone is truly confounded, he begins to repent. Consider, O monks, if
you ever have anything against your brother, you ought always to pray to God for him. The
Lord is crucified, and he prays for those crucifying him. But you, if you hear an evil
word, do not hold on to anger. "Let not the sun set upon your wrath. And let them be
covered with their confusion as with a double cloak (diplois). The diplois is a kind of
cloak: indeed, in the Hebrew it is called ME'IL. It is called diplois for this reason,
because the cloak is double. Therefore I say to you, O Lord: my enemies are the Jews, they
have persecuted me, they have crucified me, they have done me every evil, they have
blasphemed me: be gracious to them, since I, who have suffered, pray for them. And what do
I ask? Let them blush and be confounded, and so be saved. They are naked, they have lost
my tunic.

22 Give them confusion, give them disgrace, and let them have a double cloak: that is, let
them not have a single confusion, but a double one, that they may repent the more. He does
not speak against the Jews, but he speaks for them. For he is the Creator both of them and
of us: he has not rooted them out altogether. Do you wish to know? Peter was of them, Paul
was of them, and all the apostles were of them. We have been grafted into their root; we
are the branches, they the root. We ought not to curse the roots, but we ought to pray for
our roots. We who have been grafted into the root, let us beseech the Lord, that just as
the branches are saved, so also the root may be saved. Perhaps someone may say: You pray
for the Jews, for blasphemers? I pray to the Lord for them: for if he himself has pity on
his persecutors, how much more will he have pity on me?

23 I will confess to the Lord exceedingly with my mouth. This is said after the
resurrection, and it is sung of the future church. And in the midst of many I will praise
him. For not in Judea alone, but in the whole world, in the church I will praise you.
Because he stood at the right hand of the poor man. The devil stood at the right hand of
Judas: but for me the Lord stood at my right hand. That he might save my soul from those
who persecute it. My soul, he says, he will save. And elsewhere he says: "My soul is
sorrowful even unto death." He who is sorrowful, had a faculty of feeling. For a soul
without feeling has no perception, a soul without feeling has neither perception nor pain:
for where there is pain and sadness, there is feeling. If then he had sadness, if he had
pain, then he had also feeling: for feeling is pain.

24 If, then, they should wish to say to us: We do not say that he had feeling, for this
reason, lest he seem to have sin; let us answer them: Did he have a body like us, or did
he not have one? If they say, he had one, let us answer them: Then he had also the
sufferings of our body. Everyone understands what I say. But if they deny that he had the
passions or lusts of the body, then we say to them, that he did not have a body either.
And let us say to them: Just as he had a true body like ours, and yet did not have the sin
of the body; so also he had a true soul, and did not have the sin of the soul. Let us
therefore confess that he had a true body and a true soul. For if the Lord did not take
upon himself all the things that are man's, he did not save man. But if he took a body,
and did not take a soul: then he saved the body, but he did not save the soul. Yet we wish
rather that our soul be saved than our body. The Lord therefore took upon himself both
body and soul, that he might save both, that he might save the whole man, just as he also
created him.

25 If, then, they say that the Lord did not take on feeling for this reason, that he might
not sin, and they suppose this, that whoever has had human feeling cannot conquer it, let
them tell us: Did John the Baptist have feeling, or did he not? In that time, in which he
was in the desert, did he sin? Assuredly they say that he did not sin. Indeed, our Lord
too says: "Amen I say to you, there has not been among those born of women a greater than
John the Baptist. Did Peter have feeling, or did he not, and the rest of the holy
apostles? If, then, the apostles conquered human feeling, did the Lord fear to take on
feeling, lest he be conquered by it? And while they wish to glorify the Lord, they
disparage him. How do they disparage him? by making the Lord seem to fear what the
apostles did not fear. Let us therefore give thanks to almighty God, and say: In your
feeling you had no sin. And: "The prince of this world came, and found nothing in you. So
then grant to us, that just as in your own feeling you conquered the devil, so also in our
feeling conquer the devil; that, just as you created us perfect, so also perfect you may
save us. For you are the Creator, you are the master, you are the Lord, you are also the
one who suffered for us: who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY 36, ON PSALM 109

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand.
A Psalm of David. It is David who speaks, a prophet, a holy man, a king. So what does the
king say? What does the king and prophet say? The Lord said to my Lord. The Savior
expounded this passage in the Gospel, saying: "If Christ is the son of David," he says,
"how does David in the Spirit call him Lord? You see, then, what he is saying. If he is
David's son, how do you say it — how does David in the Spirit call him Lord? Someone may
say: So then he is not the son of David? He was saying this about the Pharisees, who
confessed Christ to be merely the son of David. To the Jew and to Photinus I say this very
thing: If he is the son of David, how does David call his own son Lord? But the one who
confesses him to be Lord and God, and the Son of God — for instance the Manichaean, who
denies that he is the son of David — before that man I prove that he is the son of David.
To us, then, the one who is the Son of God, he himself is also the son of David: not one
son here and another son there; I do not make two persons out of God and man; but the very
one who is the Son of God, he himself is also the son of David. The Lord said to my Lord:

3 Sit at my right hand. In the Hebrew the first name of "Lord" is written with those
letters with which it is written only of God. But the second name of "Lord" is written
with those letters with which men are accustomed to call one "lord": just as one is called
"lord" by a servant, and kings are called "lords. See, then, what he says. The Lord said
to my Lord: to this Lord, who is commanded to sit. God does not sit; it is the assumption
of a body that sits. To this one, then, it is commanded that he sit — the one who is man,
who was assumed. This we say against the Arians, and against those who say: Greater is the
Father, who bids him sit, than the one who is bidden. All the Gospels ring out concerning
the person of the man, and now no proof is needed: because everything whatsoever that
seems lowly is referred to the man, is referred to the flesh. Now let us speak about the
psalm.

4 The Lord shall send forth the rod of your power out of Sion. "The rod." In the Hebrew it
has not so much "rod" as "scepter," that is, the emblem of royal power. The Lord shall
send forth the rod of your power out of Sion. "For out of Sion shall go forth the law, and
the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem." Rule in the midst of your enemies. He did not say,
Kill your enemies. But what? Rule in the midst of your enemies. Make your enemies, who had
been strangers, begin to be yours. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your enemies, of
whom it is written in the sixty-seventh psalm: "The tongue of your dogs from the enemies,
from him." These are the enemies, who were in another's power. Now, then, the psalmist
prays for this: rule over your enemies, deign to be the Lord of your enemies.

5 With you is the beginning in the day of your power, in the splendors of the saints. The
little verse is obscure. Let us see the day of the Lord's power, so that when we have
known the day, then we may know what the "beginning" is, and how this beginning is with
him and has been with him; how this very beginning is in the day of his power, in the
splendors of the saints. This beginning, then, which is with the Lord in the day of his
power, is with the Lord for this reason: that the saints may shine. With you is the
beginning in the day of your power. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. The Father is a beginning,
but the Son too is a beginning. For a beginning does not have a beginning: for if it
should have another beginning, then it itself ceases to be a beginning. Whatever,
therefore, we grant to the Father, this we grant also to the Son. For if the Father is in
the Son, and the Son in the Father, and all things of the Father are the Son's, and all
things of the Son are the Father's, then the beginning of the Father is the beginning of
the Son. Therefore what he says is this:

6 At that time when you were suffering and were saying "Father, into your hands I commend
my spirit," and you were speaking as it were out of the affection of a man, you were not
making request as though weak. For with you was the beginning, with you was the divinity:
but you besought help for this reason, that having received help you might give it to your
saints, and they might shine. As for this that is said, "having received you might give" —
let it be a stumbling-block to no one: he speaks according to the man. For if he assumed
the body of a man, it is necessary that he also take on the words of a man. Christ is man,
and truly man: we say this according to the assumption of flesh. If, then, he is man
according to the body, you see the body, and you are not scandalized: and do you marvel if
he speaks with the words of a man? But if the lowliness of the body scandalizes you, and
the cross, and the injuries, and the blows, and the scourges, and every outrage of the
cross — if this scandalizes you, return to the beginning, and you are not scandalized. For
the Father says to the Son: From the womb before the morning star I begot you.

7 Do you marvel if our Lord and Savior, who truly assumed a man, speaks according to the
man, when God the Father himself, who did not assume a man, speaks as it were as a man,
"From the womb before the morning star I begot you"? I have no womb: but I cannot
otherwise show myself to be a Father, unless I have spoken with the words of a man. From
the womb before the morning star I begot you. "From the womb," from my substance. "From
the womb. Hear, Eunomius, hear, Arius: if the Lord is a creature, if he is a thing made,
does a craftsman ever beget his work? does a craftsman ever call his work a son? A
carpenter-craftsman made a bench: did he beget it from his womb? does he say to it, "From
my womb I begot you, O bench"? By no means does he say this. But what does he say? "I made
you with my hand. But when a "womb" is spoken of, a son is signified, and a son not
adopted. For adopted ones too are called sons. "For as many as received him, he gave them
power to become sons of God. There he gave power: but here he begot from the womb, from
his own nature, from his own inward parts, from his own substance. "From the womb," that
is, from the marrow of his divinity. The whole of whatever the Father is in divinity, he
gave to the Son whom he begot.

8 From the womb before the morning star I begot you. "Before the morning star. This figure
is called in Greek synecdoche (συνεκδοχή), which the grammarians call "the whole from a
part" (ἀπὸ μέρους τὸ πᾶν). So when it says "before the morning star," it names one
creature, and it indicates all creatures. When it says "before the morning star," let us
understand it thus, as though it had said, before the moon, before the sun, before every
creature. From the womb before the morning star I begot you. "Before the morning star.
Before that morning star which is seen in the world, the true light was begotten. Hence he
says in another passage of the psalm: "In your light we shall see light. The speech is to
the Father: O Father, in the light of the Son we shall see the light, the Holy Spirit.
From the womb before the morning star I begot you.

9 The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent. "The Lord has sworn." In what he says, "he
has sworn," it is not to the one who was begotten before the morning star, but he swore to
the one who after the morning star was born of the Virgin. You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedech. It is superfluous for us to wish to interpret this
little verse, since the holy Apostle argued about it most fully to the Hebrews. For this
Melchizedech himself is without father, without mother, without lineage. And there he
interprets most diligently why "without father, without mother, without lineage"; and it
has been said by all churchmen that he is called "without father" according to the flesh,
and "without mother" according to God. Let us therefore interpret only this: You are a
priest forever according to the order of Melchizedech. Let us say only this, why he said
"according to the order." "According to the order": by no means will you be a priest
according to the Jewish victims, but you will be a priest according to the order of
Melchizedech. For just as Melchizedech, king of Salem, offered bread and wine, so you too
will offer your body and blood, the true bread and the true wine. This Melchizedech gave
to us these mysteries which we have. He it is who said, "Whoever shall eat my flesh and
drink my blood": according to the order of Melchizedech he handed down to us his
sacrament.

10 The Lord at your right hand. I see a new thing. It is said at the beginning: The Lord
said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand; and now it is said to him: The Lord at your right
hand. If he himself sits at the right hand of the Father, how in turn does the Father sit
at the right hand of the Son? For when it is said, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my
right hand, it is said most plainly that the Son sits at the right hand of the Father. But
when it is said, The Lord at your right hand, this is said, that the Father sits at the
right hand of the Son. All this is said for this reason, that the Son may be equal to the
Father. There are many things that might be said. But to sinners the devil stands at the
right hand. Yet that discussion is another matter. Whoever is a sinner, the devil stands
at his right hand. But someone says: How is it that in Zechariah it is said to stand also
to Jesus the son of Josedech? "And the devil was standing at his right hand. How is it
written in Zechariah that the devil stands at the right hand of the Savior? You see that
there is a question here. But at that time when the devil was standing at the right hand
of the Savior, "Jesus," it says, "had filthy garments.

11 He was bearing our sins, he was wrapped in our vices: therefore the devil was standing
at his right hand. He shall shatter kings in the day of his wrath. "All these things have
been handed over to me. "In a moment of time," it says, "he showed him all the kingdoms of
the earth. The devil shows the kingdoms of the world. And what does he say? "All these
things have been handed over to me: if, falling down, you will adore before me, all will
be yours. In the day, then, of war, in the day of contest, he shall shatter kings. "Of his
wrath." 12 He shall judge among the nations. See the differences: kings are shattered,
nations are judged. He shall fill up the ruins. Our Lord ascended upon the cross, and many
ruins came about. "This one is set for the ruin and resurrection of many, and for a sign
that shall be contradicted." He shall fill up the ruins: of those who do not believe, who
did not believe the scouts, the apostles. For Moses too sent scouts into the world; and
because the people did not believe the scouts, therefore they fell in the desert. Even to
this day the bodies of those who do not believe fall in the desert of this world. He shall
crush the heads in the land of many. He shall fill up the ruins of those who do not
believe; he shall crush the heads of those who are doubtful, of those who do not have
perfect faith. He shall crush the heads in the land of many, not of all: for if he had
said "of all," none of us would have hope. "Of many" is said, so that others may be left.

13 He shall drink from the torrent in the way. Who shall drink from the torrent in the
way? This one, to whom it was said, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand: this
one who heard, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedech: this one
who shattered kings in the day of his wrath, who judges the nations, shall fill up the
ruins, shall crush the heads in the land of many: what else will this one do? He shall
drink from the torrent in the way. Let us first look at the way, so that afterward we may
look at the torrent in the way. The way of this world is meant, through which he walked.
Indeed it is written in the Gospel: "Be agreeing with your adversary, while you are in the
way" — that is, while you walk in this world, and you go along the way to him who is the
true Way. Hence it is said also in the one hundred and eighteenth psalm: "Blessed are the
unspotted in the way. Blessed are those who in the way of this world are unspotted, and in
this world. Therefore the priest according to the order of Melchizedech, since he came
into the way of the world, and walked in our way, he too drank from the torrent that was
in the world. A torrent does not have natural waters, it does not have waters that always
flow:

14 but it has waters from storms, from rains, from whirlwinds, from tempests. A torrent is
never in the mountains, but always in the valleys, in steep places. It takes in foreign
waters, and gives birth to them, and swelling it rushes on. He shall drink from the
torrent in the way. A torrent never has clean water, but always turbid water. This is said
because the waters of this world are always turbid, always full of storm. Do you wish to
know how he drank from the turbid torrent? He himself said: "My soul is sorrowful even
unto death. And the Gospel says: "And he began," it says, "to be sorrowful and troubled.
Our Lord too, then, drank from the torrent of this world the turbid waters, the sorrowful
waters, the waters that have no gladness. He took the cup, and filled it from the torrent
of the world; and because the waters were turbid, he says: "Father, if it is possible, let
this cup pass from me. He drank, then, from the torrent of this world: but he did not
drink as though in his own home, but in the way, hastening to go elsewhere. He shall drink
from the torrent in the way. For this reason he drank from the torrent, because he was in
the way. He shall drink from the torrent. If the Lord drank from the torrent of this
world, how much more the saints? Do you wish to know that the saints always drink from the
torrent? He says also in another place:

15 "Our soul has passed through the torrent. He shall drink from the torrent in the way.
We have spoken about the torrent; let us speak also about the testimony, "Our soul has
passed through the torrent. Do you wish to know of yet another torrent? Elijah the holy
prophet, when Jezebel was persecuting him, when he received food, and passing on for forty
days went into the wilderness: "He was," it says, "in the desert, and drank from the
torrent of Chobar. But hearing of the torrent of this world, do not despair: frequently
this torrent fails. It seems indeed to be swelling, it seems to have many waters: but it
quickly fails, if you endure. As for Elijah, he did indeed drink water in the desert, at
that time when he was in sorrow, when he was in distress... He had left Judea: see how
great his fear had been: he had left Judea, and had gone on to Mount Sinai. For Jezebel
was persecuting him, and therefore he had drunk from the torrent of Chobar. But because he
persevered to the end, therefore the water of the torrent failed. And it was said to him
by the Lord, when the water of the torrent had failed: "Go," it says, "to the widow in
Sarepta of the Sidonians," and the rest. Behold, Elijah too drank from the torrent. But
the Lord and Savior himself also drank the cup from the torrent of Cedron. For thus the
Scripture reports, when they came and seized him.

16 "They came," it says, "and seized him at the torrent," and the rest. You see how lowly
is the place of the torrent, how rugged. "Cedron" in the Hebrew tongue is interpreted
"darkness. You see, then, that the torrents of this world are in darkness. The Lord,
therefore, is handed over: he is not handed over up above on the Mount of Olives, he is
not handed over in the temple: but he is handed over at the torrent, and the torrent of
darkness, that is, Cedron. For all who hate the light love the darkness. He shall drink
from the torrent in the way. Because, therefore, the Lord drank from the torrent and
tasted death, therefore the Father exalted him, and gave him a name which is above every
name. Next it is now said, He shall drink from the torrent in the way; and because he
drank from the torrent in the way, therefore he lifted up his head. And what does he say?
"When I have been lifted up, I will draw all things to myself. He is lifted up, and he
lifted us up. His head has been exalted: as for the rest, the heads of the dragon have
been crushed, and shattered in the sea. Therefore he lifted up his head. He did not say,
"Therefore his head has been exalted," that is, exalted by another: but the one who had
humbled himself, he himself exalted. For he himself says in the Gospel:

17 "I have power to lay down my soul, and I have power to take it up again. Therefore he
lifted up his head. He exalted himself, who is the head of all. Or else, when it says "he
lifted up his head," he did not exalt himself. Therefore he lifted up his head: for he was
always on high. But when it says "he lifted up his head," he exalted our head, we who were
lying down below on the earth; he exalted our head, we who, bent over, could not look up
to heaven, but to the earth. Do you wish to know that he himself lifted up the head? That
woman too, whom the devil had bound, he himself set free, and lifted up her head, she who
was always bent over: and she adored him. To whom is glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY 37, ON PSALM 110

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Confess to you, O Lord, with my whole heart. If
David were not simple and had no guile, he would not have said: I will confess to you, O
Lord, with my whole heart. Not with the lips only, but with the whole heart. In the
council of the upright, and in the great congregation, are the works of the Lord. He says
"of the upright," meaning those who before were sinners, but now are righteous. For is it
not a thing to marvel at, when we see that the elephant and the camel, and likewise the
fly and the gnat, have the same power of movement, the same breath of life, and the same
members? He has given food to those who fear him. In famine he fed Elijah; in the desert
he rained down manna for the people of the Jews: and that was fulfilled which is said, He
has given food to those who fear him. This is according to the letter. But he gave as food
the bread that came down from heaven: and if we are worthy of it, we are fed upon it. For
how many martyrs were consumed by hunger, and are now with the Lord?

2 Holy and terrible is his name. Holy to the holy, terrible to sinners. The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Those who do not fear the Lord have no wisdom in them: or
those who have no wisdom have no fear. His praise endures unto the age of the age. Since
in the title "alleluia" was written beforehand, rightly does the psalm end in praise: for
indeed "alleluia" is interpreted, Praise the Lord.


HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS
======================

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS continued

HOMILY 38, ON PSALM 111

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Blessed is the man who fears the Lord. I have
often said that everything interpreted in the person of the righteous man refers to
Christ. For if the saints are a type and figure of the Savior, who alone is truly holy —
for example, Isaac is a type of the Lord the Savior, and Joseph, David, Solomon, and the
rest of the saints — then this blessed man too, who is now being described, does indeed
refer to a righteous man, and is truly spoken of a righteous man; but this righteous man
is a type of the truly Righteous One. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord. For now we
have divided up the psalm: let us now speak about the righteous man. Blessed is the man
who fears the Lord. The one hundred and eleventh psalm is an alphabetical one. And indeed
the one hundred and tenth is itself also arranged under the alphabet. The first little
verse is written from ALEPH, Blessed is the man who fears the Lord. The second from BETH,
In his commandments he shall greatly delight. The third GIMEL, His seed shall be mighty
upon the earth, and so on all the way to the twenty-second letter, thau. Let us therefore,
aided by your prayers, expound the individual verses.

2 Blessed is the man who fears the Lord. It is the beginning of the psalm: it does not yet
say, Blessed is the man who loves the Lord. For to fear belongs to men who are beginning,
but to love belongs to the perfect: since 'perfect love casts out fear.' Therefore he
speaks of the beginning, that is, of a holy man who is just starting out. Let us then look
at the order of the psalm. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord. He who fears the Lord,
what does he do? Does he hear the words of God? Is he learned in the law? This is not what
he says. What does he say? In his commandments he shall greatly delight. He who fears the
Lord, who is blessed, gladly performs His commandments. In his commandments he shall
greatly delight. See what he says. He did not say, he performs his commandments; for many
act out of fear, and have no reward. For he who fears hell, and for that reason does not
commit fornication, does not have as great a reward as the one who acts out of love for
God. In his commandments he shall will, that is, he wills, he desires to perform His
commandments. Just as someone, if he is in the heat, thirsts: so does he desire the
commandments of the Lord. In the commandments of the Lord he shall greatly will. An
intensification (auxesis): he does not merely perform His commandments, but wills them:
and he wills them not in passing, but exceedingly.

3 The third verse is: His seed shall be mighty upon the earth. Because I have performed
the commandments of God with my will, I am worthy to become a father of saints. Let us say
it briefly, lest the discourse be drawn out too long. The generation of the upright shall
be blessed. May the Lord grant that you also who hear me may be a generation of the
upright. Glory and riches are in his house. Glory and riches. Do we suppose that the glory
and riches of the world are meant? Is it for this that a man does the will of God and His
commandments, in order to obtain the riches of this world? And surely he does not perform
the commandments of God unless he has despised the riches of the world. Glory and riches
are in his house. The glory of believers, as the apostle says: 'Are you not my glory?' And
riches. The riches of which the same apostle speaks, 'that you have been made rich in all
knowledge.' And his righteousness endures unto the age of the age. He did not say,
righteousness endures unto the age, and has an end: but, it endures unto the age of the
age.

4 Unto the upright of heart a light has risen in the darkness. We were once in darkness,
we were sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death: but a light has arisen for us,
according to Isaiah. Merciful and compassionate and righteous. See the two things he says,
Merciful and righteous. If you are a sinner, do not despair of pardon: He is merciful. But
if you are proud, and put your confidence in the clemency of God, do not be negligent: He
is also righteous. Merciful and compassionate and righteous. See what the prudence of the
psalmist has done: righteousness is single, mercy is double. Merciful and compassionate
and righteous. 5 Delightful is the man who shows mercy and lends. Because the Lord is
merciful and compassionate, let the righteous man too imitate his Lord: let him also be
merciful. Delightful is the man who shows mercy and lends. Does someone suppose that he is
speaking about gold and about silver and about money? The righteous have so far been
without anything to lend to others that they themselves received their food from others.
So then, if I have nothing to give, am I no longer righteous? If I do not give alms, shall
I not be counted in the number of the righteous? How many of the saints gave alms, yet
fell from their holiness. The perfect gave no alms: they had nothing from which to give.
Not to give alms is the crime of one who possesses: but as for the one who has nothing
from which to give alms, he is free. However much he was willing to give, that much he
gave, because he gave by his intention. Nevertheless the saints too have something from
which to give alms. Peter also says: 'Silver and gold I have; but what I have, this I give
to you, in the name of the Lord Jesus rise up and walk.' Which is greater, to give money,
or to make a crippled man whole? Delightful is the man who shows mercy and lends. What are
these alms? What is this that the righteous man lends? The second verse shows it. He shall
order his words in judgment.

6 He did not say, he shall order his gold and his silver or his money in judgment: but, he
shall order his words in judgment. This is mercy, if a holy man teaches others who are not
holy. He shall order his words in judgment. We have understood, then, what are the riches
that are lent. But this that he says, he shall order his words in judgment, is that which
is said in the Gospel, that we should not cast our pearls before swine: that is, that he
may know what to bestow on each one, that each may know what he is able to receive, and
what he is not able. Whence the holy man says: 'In my heart I have hidden your sayings,
that I may not sin against you.' I did not give them to whomever I pleased: I did not send
your holy thing to dogs, nor did I give pearls to swine. Great, therefore, is the danger
for teachers, in being able to pour out the words of the Lord.

7 There are many things that might be said about the psalm. But since we are shut out by
the hour, let us bless the almighty Lord: and let him who has such riches bestow them on
those who have them not, while he who has them not let him gladly receive. And may the
Lord grant to me also, that I too may have these riches: that I may both give to those who
have them not, and heap up riches for those who have them: so that I may have this
blessedness both in speaking and in hearing. 'For blessed is he who speaks into the ears
of one who hears.' For what does it profit me to speak, if another does not take up my
words? For what does it profit me to send wine, if what is sent is immediately poured out?
You see that in the Gospel that water is put into the water-jar, and is turned into wine,
and is kept so that it may not perish. Let us therefore diligently hear the words of God:
to whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY 39, ON PSALM 114

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). I have loved, because the Lord will hear the voice
of my prayer. He did not say, I shall love: but, I have loved. He did not promise that he
would do it, but he testifies that he has done it. I have loved. Why have I loved? Because
the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer. "I have loved" belongs to time that is past;
but in "will hear" it belongs to the future. For he did not say, I have loved because the
Lord has heard me; but, I have loved because the Lord will hear me. Because he has
inclined his ear to me. Since we are small and lowly, and cannot stretch ourselves up and
lift ourselves high, for that reason the Lord inclines his ear and deigns to hear us. And
so, since we are human beings and cannot become gods, God became man and inclined himself,
according to that which is written: "He inclined the heavens, and came down."

2 And in my days I will call upon him. Here the question is asked: how is it that he calls
upon him in the days, and does not call upon him in the nights? And how does he say in
another place, "At midnight I rose to give praise to you," since the saints are more
accustomed to pray in the nights? And in another psalm it is said: "In the nights lift up
your hands to the holy places, and bless the Lord." How then does he say, And in my days I
will call upon him? He did not say, I called; but, I will call, in the future. For while
we are in this world, we call upon him in the night; in the world to come we call upon the
Lord in the day. Therefore he said, in my days: for to sinners it is night, but to me it
is day.

3 The sorrows of death surrounded me. It seems to me that the sorrows of death are foul
thoughts. When the soul is thinking, and desires to sin, when it is in travail with sins,
it is near to death. The perils of hell found me. O how unhappy and wretched and pitiable
we are, because sin is always seeking us! But if sins are always seeking us, let us make
haste that they may not find us. Now this is the difference between the sorrows of death
and the perils of hell: the sorrows of death are evil thoughts, the perils of hell are
evil deeds. That I may put it thus: one thing is in contemplation, another in action, that
is, in practice. For there is the sorrow and the travail, but here is the peril that is
near to death. 4 I found tribulation and sorrow. He says a strange thing. He does not say,
I found rest: he does not say, I found abundance. Now if he had said, tribulation found
me, sorrow found me, there would be no question. But now what does he say? I found
tribulation and sorrow. As one seeking, so he found: for nothing is found except what is
sought. The holy man does not seek rest, but tribulation: for he knows that "tribulation
works patience, and patience trial, and trial hope, and hope does not confound." Something
of the same kind is said also in Jeremiah: "Tribulation," he says, "and misery I called
upon." "Because," he says, "at your bitter word I shall laugh": that is, in this world I
want nothing else but tribulation, that in the world to come I may have rest and
happiness. And therefore, he says, I now endure bitterness, that afterward I may enjoy
sweeter things. And the people of the Lord, going out from Egypt, came to Marah, which is
interpreted "bitter," and from Marah to Sinai, which is interpreted "temptation." And
again Jeremiah: "I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness."

5 O Lord, deliver my soul. Neither the Greek nor the Latin can express the peculiar force
of the Hebrew. For "O" the Hebrew has ANNA. Now anna is interpreted "I beg" and "I
entreat." And what he says is this: I entreat you, Lord, deliver my soul. For it is not
the feeling of one wondering, but of one entreating: for he is set in enormous peril. The
Lord is merciful and just, and our God has mercy. Prick up your ears, sinner: the Lord is
merciful. But do not be careless: for there follows, and just. If you are a great sinner,
listen, the Lord is merciful: if you are careless, listen, he is also just. But it seems
to be as it were equal, the Lord is merciful and just: for instance, he is merciful in ten
parts, and just in ten parts, and I speak thus for the sake of the simpler folk. Let
someone say: If my sins are weighed, I cannot have as many good things as I have evil
ones: but now it is said that he is merciful and just, merciful toward sinners, just
toward the good: my sins begin to weigh me down, and he conquers in his mercy. Therefore
he put "just" once, and "merciful" a second time. Merciful. He could also have spoken of
the past. And our God, he says, has mercy: that he may always show him to be merciful.

6 The Lord keeps the little ones. If anyone is great, and exalts himself, and is proud,
this man the Lord does not keep; if anyone thinks himself great, on this man the Lord has
no mercy: but if anyone humbles himself, on this man the Lord has mercy, and the Lord
keeps him. Since he says: "Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me." And
again: I was humbled, and he saved me. We understand "I was humbled, and he saved me" in
two ways: either I sinned, and he saved me; or, when I was proud, he humbled me and saved
me. 7 Turn, my soul, into your rest. When it is said, Turn into your rest, then he had a
rest before, which he lost. For no one turns, except him who goes back to where he was
before. For God created us good, and left us to our own free will, and placed us all with
Adam in paradise. But because by our own free will we fell from that blessedness, and came
into the valley of tears; for that reason the just man exhorts his soul, to turn back
there whence it came down. Turn, my soul, into your rest. For this place is a place of
tribulation, it is the land of warriors. This place is a place of tears, where it is not
permitted to walk in safety. For wherever anyone may be, there is peril: if in the desert,
there are scorpions: if in the cities, the eye of the harlot is the destruction of a man:
if on the sea, there are robbers and pirates. All these things I speak mystically. For it
is not now a peril that a holy man should be killed by robbers: since indeed the martyrs
conquered by their own blood. Turn, my soul, into your rest: because the Lord has done
good to you. For the fact, he says, that you turn, O soul, into paradise, is not because
you are worthy, but it belongs to the mercy of the Lord. That you went out of paradise was
brought about by your own fault: but that you return, was of the mercy of the Lord. Let us
too say to our soul: Turn into your rest. Our rest is Christ our God. If ever we are in
straits, and a thought begins to lead us captive into sin, let us say: Turn, our soul,
into your rest.

8 Because he has rescued my soul from death. He has not yet returned into paradise, and
already he says that he has returned into safety. He said, Turn, my soul, into your rest;
and as though secure he says, Because he has rescued my soul from death. When did he
rescue my soul from death? My God suffered for me, my God was crucified for me, and I say:
"O death, where is your victory? O hell, where is your sting?" My eyes from tears. I wept,
that I might laugh: I mourned, that I might rejoice forever. He who does not weep in the
present, will weep in the world to come. For "blessed are those who mourn, for they
themselves shall be comforted." But on the contrary we say: "Woe to you who laugh, for you
shall mourn." My feet from falling. Because my feet did not stand upon the rock, therefore
"my feet were almost moved, my steps were almost overthrown." My feet have been freed from
falling. Why? Because my soul has been turned into its rest.

9 I will please in the sight of the Lord in the land of the living. I seem, he says, to
men to be just, though I have no good works: I seem to men to be holy, though I have no
good words. Now this is what David says, this is what the saints say, this is what the
apostles speak: for a sinner does not say this. What does the just man say? Though I have
no good words and works, yet I seem holy, and am praised by men: but I know my own
conscience, I know with what sort of thoughts my heart is tossed, I know how great the
lusts are that come upon me, and "I see another law fighting against my mind and leading
me captive in the law of sin. Therefore I say: "Wretched man that I am, who will free me
from the body of this death? And therefore I say: "From my hidden faults cleanse me, and
from those of others spare your servant. From those of others. It is not mine, that which
I bring to birth: I do not want to think evil things, and I think them: I do not want to
think evil, and as though unwilling and captive I am dragged into an evil thought. But
since it is not in my power either to think or not to think the things that are evil,
therefore I say: These things indeed that come into my heart are another's:

10 but since a kind of necessity is imposed upon me, therefore I say, From my hidden
faults cleanse me. The sins indeed are another's: but because I take them up, therefore I
say, In the sins of others spare me your servant. Now why have I said this? Because the
prophet said, I will please the Lord. He did not say, I please; but, I will please: for
here, in what I do, I cannot be perfectly just. Therefore the apostle also says: "In part
we know and in part we prophesy," and "now we see through a mirror in an enigma. Therefore
we have now used a long discourse: because in the present world no one can be perfectly
just, neither David, nor the apostles, nor any of the saints. "For no one is clean from
sin, not even if his life be of one day. Since indeed the apostles and the saints did not
dare to say, we are holy; nor did they dare to say, I please, but I will please. He who
has promised for the future confesses concerning the past that he has not done it. I will
please the Lord. Where will I please? In the land of the living. For this is the land of
the dead: the land of the living is another. Since David too was in this land, and truly
in the land of promise;

11 when he says, I will please in the land of the living, he confesses that this land is
not of the living, but of the dead. Do you wish to know what that land of the living is?
The Lord says in the Gospel, "The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob," and they were dead. And what follows? "God," he says, "is not the God of the dead,
but of the living. Therefore the just man too, what does he say? I will please the Lord in
the land of the living: in the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That is, when I am truly
in the bosom of Abraham, then I will please the Lord.

HOMILY 40, ON PSALM 115

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). I believed, therefore have I spoken. In the Hebrew
the one hundred and fourteenth psalm and the one hundred and fifteenth are one psalm. So
then, what did he say? I believed, therefore have I spoken. What did you believe? What did
you speak? The earlier psalm ended thus: "I shall please before the Lord in the land of
the living." So the prophet says: I believed, therefore have I spoken. What did I believe?
That I shall please before the Lord in the land of the living. This I believed, and I
spoke. But what did I speak? But I was humbled exceedingly. O the great understanding of
the divine utterance! I believed, he says, that I shall please the Lord, that I shall be
an angel, that I shall be in the heavens: and yet I was not proud, I was not lifted up,
but I was humbled exceedingly. That I shall be in the land of the living, that belongs to
the Lord's mercy. But I have come to know my own self, that I am earth and ashes:
therefore I say, But I was humbled exceedingly. And what is earth and ashes?

2 But I said in my ecstasy: Every man is a liar. In the Hebrew it stands otherwise: "I
said in my ecstasy: Every man is a lie," which is said ZECAM. I shall please the Lord in
the land of the living: but I know my own self, that according to the condition of the
body I am nothing: for there is no truth in our substance, but it is a shadow and as it
were a lie. I speak of the bodily substance, not of the soul. And what he says is this. I
shall please the Lord in the land of the living: but when I ponder human life, and
consider its various errors, I do not find truth in this world. Since indeed "we know in
part, and we prophesy in part. Therefore I say: Everything that we see, everything that we
understand, is a lie. In what way, then, is it a lie? He called it here a lie, as it were
a shadow, as it were an image; just as it is said also in another place: "Yet man passes
away in an image. By the same understanding it is now also said, Every man is a lie: that
is, every man is a shadow. But this we say according to the Hebrew truth. But let us speak
also according to the Seventy translators. For someone may say: What is it to me, what
does the Hebrew have? I follow the Church. I said in my ecstasy: Every man is a liar.

3 Does David speak the truth, or does he lie? If it is true, Every man is a liar, and this
that he says, Every man is a liar, is true, then he too lies: for he too is a man. But if
he too lies, then this that he said, Every man is a liar, is not true. However you turn
it, it comes out to the contrary. And since he too is a man, then he too lies: or if he
lies that every man is a liar, then he lies in another manner. You see, then, that these
are the syllogisms of the philosophers. Indeed, according to this proposition the
syllogism of Aristotle is woven. In fact you say — speak to another — : If you lie, and
you speak the truth that you lie: then you lie. See how the proposition turns to the
contrary. For what does he say? O you who speak with me, if you lie, and you speak the
truth about this very thing, that you lie: then you lie, and in the same utterance it
comes about that he both speaks the truth and lies. Therefore it has been read in the
Apostle: "See that no one deceive you through philosophy and the vain deceit of men,
according to the elements of the world. For the philosophers found out by their deceit and
their own art how in the same utterance a person may both speak the truth and lie.

4 But let us say that David spoke the truth, that every man is a liar. As long as we are
men, we lie: but when we have become gods, we cease to lie. "For where there are
jealousies and contentions among you, are you not men, and do you not walk according to
man? "I said: you are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. But you shall die like
men, and fall like one of the princes. If, then, anyone is holy, he is made a god; and
when he has become a god, he ceases to be a man, and now he does not lie. For what does
the Apostle also say? "But let every man be a liar, but God be truthful." 5 Let us
interpret it also in another way. I believed, therefore have I spoken. When a master
teaches a disciple, unless he himself has first believed what he teaches, he cannot teach
another. So he says that first he believed, and thus teaches another. But I was humbled
exceedingly. But when I had obtained the grace of God, I was not lifted up into pride,
knowledge did not puff me up: but what did I do? I was humbled exceedingly. Yet I who
taught by word, was able to teach also by humility. I said in my ecstasy, Every man is a
liar. I was teaching, he says, my disciple: and considering the heavenly contemplation,
and pondering more divine things, I understood that everything that man knows is lies. For
what truth can there be in this world, when our life upon the earth is a shadow? If, then,
he who teaches a disciple confesses that every man is a liar: how much more ought the
disciple not to exalt himself, and to reckon himself to be something?

6 What shall I render to the Lord for all the things that he has rendered to me? Since I
have said, I shall please the Lord in the land of the living, and this very thing I
believed, therefore have I spoken, and I was humbled exceedingly, and I said, Every man is
a lie, every man is a shadow, every man is an image: for such great benefits, that I shall
please the Lord in the land of the living, what have I worthy to render? I am earth, I am
ashes: he promised me that I shall please him in the land of the living: he made me a
master: I believed, therefore have I spoken. What have I worthy, that I may render to him
for such great benefits? Whatever I shall give him is his own, and I give it back to him
rather than bestow it. I have nothing else that I may render to him, unless I pour out my
blood for him, unless I stand forth a martyr for him. This is the only worthy recompense,
to render blood for blood, so that we who have been freed by the Savior may gladly pour
out our blood for the Savior.

7 I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord. In the
Hebrew it stands thus: "I will take the cup of Jesus." This very thing the angel also
interprets: "And you shall call his name Jesus, for he himself will save his people." I
will take, then, the cup of Jesus. What is this cup of Jesus? "Father, if it is possible,
let this cup pass from me," and "Are you able," he says, "to drink my cup?" And
immediately there follows: "My cup indeed you shall drink." But why did I say this? So
that we may understand the cup to be the sufferings of martyrdom. A great thing is
martyrdom. How is it a great thing? Because he renders to the Lord what he received from
the Lord. Christ suffered for him, and he suffers for his name. Since we have said that
the martyr has nothing else to render to the Lord, the Lord too reckons it to him as an
equal, since he sees that his servant has nothing else to render to him. For what is
comparable? God suffered for men, the Lord for the servant, the just for the sinner: what
equality is there? But since the servant has nothing else to render to the Lord, God, as
one merciful, accepts martyrdom as an equal. It is as if some rich man had fed a certain
poor man, and it should come about that the same rich man came with his household, and
came by chance into the house of the poor man, and the poor man had nothing to set before
him and his household and his horses, but only said to him, Enter into the house of your
client, and showed his goodwill, since the poor man has nothing else to give and to do
more: like that widow who contributed two mites.

8 I will take the cup of salvation, or of Jesus. And this very martyrdom, he says, is not
of my own strength, but of the grace of God: therefore I cannot drink it, unless I have
called upon the name of the Lord. Jesus conquers in his martyr; he himself is crowned in
his martyr. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Let the Jews now
answer, how they say that every human body is unclean. Indeed in the Law, among the Jews,
if anyone should die, whether a prophet, or a saint of whatever kind, if anyone should
touch him, even if a priest, he is unclean until evening. This is written according to the
letter in the Law. Let us say to them: If the body of a dead man is unclean, how is it now
said, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints? If the body of a dying
saint is precious, how is it unclean? Therefore this is said here of the evangelist, this
is proclaimed of the martyr.

9 O Lord, for I am your servant. And I have already said in the one hundred and fourteenth
psalm, where it has "O Lord, deliver my soul," that in the Hebrew it has ANNA, which is
translated I ask or I beseech. And here in the Hebrew it stands thus: "I ask, O Lord, for
I am your servant." I am your servant. It seems to be a thing of humility, what is said.
It is a thing of great dignity and merit, to be the servant of the Lord, and not the
servant of sin. Because I do not have, he says, men as masters, because I do not have sin
as master: for sin does not reign in my mortal body: therefore I am your servant. A great
merit. Indeed it is said of Moses: "But not so my servant Moses." And Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob are called servants of the Lord. Therefore the Apostle also begins thus: "Paul,
a servant of Jesus Christ."

10 You have broken my bonds: to you I will sacrifice a victim of praise. Truly it is of
great happiness so to go to the Lord that one has no defiled conscience. Whoever, being
holy, dies his own death, although he be holy who has performed works of mercy, wrought
signs, cast out demons, does not go to the Lord secure: his conscience shudders when he
sees the Lord. But the martyr, even if he has sinned after baptism, yet washed by a second
baptism, the baptism of martyrdom, goes secure to the Lord. You have broken my bonds. "For
each one is bound fast by the chains of his own sins": but in my martyrdom you have broken
the bonds of my sins, and out of the bonds you have plaited for me a crown of victory.
"For where sin abounded, grace superabounded." To you I will sacrifice a victim of praise.
After martyrdom, where does he sacrifice? In the land of the living. I will sacrifice, he
says, to you a sacrifice. What kind of sacrifice? Surely not a goat, or a calf? Those were
Jewish things, and they have passed away. I will sacrifice to you a victim of praise. This
is the praise of the martyrs. For just as the martyrs praise the Lord purely in the land
of the living, so too the monks, who day and night sing psalms to the Lord, ought to have
the same purity as the martyrs: since indeed they too are martyrs. For what the angels do
in the heavens, this the monks do on earth.

11 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the sight of all his people. What are the prayers of
the martyrs? What are the prayers of the saints? "I will hold you," he says, "and I will
not let you go." I will adore, he says, the Lord, whom, reading in the Gospel, I found
crucified, and in the heavens I see reigning with the angels. In the sight of all his
people. Read Daniel.

HOMILY 41, ON PSALM 119

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Let us come to the psalm that was read after the
hundred and eighteenth psalm. The hundred and eighteenth psalm, as we have often said, is
a lettered one — that is, it is an alphabetic psalm: for it begins from aleph all the way
to the last Hebrew letter, which in Hebrew is called THAU, and each set of verses begins
with a single letter. There are twenty-two Hebrew letters, and eight verses begin with
each single letter. For example, eight verses begin with the letter called ALEPH. Then
again, when those are finished, another eight verses begin with the second letter, called
BETH. And in the third place, when those are finished, another eight verses begin with the
letter called GIMEL. So then the hundred and eighteenth psalm is an alphabetic psalm. If
we want to read a letter, we cannot read it unless we first know our letters: so in the
same way we cannot recognize Scripture unless we first know the alphabet. So then the
hundred and eighteenth psalm is an alphabetic one, a moral one, and it instructs our life.
And because there is not now time to speak about the whole psalm, let us speak now about
the first of the psalms of ascents, which begins thus: In my tribulation I cried to the
Lord, and he heard me.

2 Now they are called psalms of ascents, as we have often said, because by certain steps
we climb up to greater things. There is not now time to discuss all the steps, and to say
how through the individual psalms the steps are made, and how we come to the heights.
Meanwhile let us now speak about the first of the ascents, leaving aside the mystery of
why there are fifteen steps: for to say the same things often is a weariness to the
hearers. Hence the apostle too [is read] to have spent fifteen days with Peter in
Jerusalem, so that he might join together both Testaments, both the number seven and the
number eight. There are many things that might be said. In my tribulation I cried to the
Lord, and he heard me. Whoever is still on the lowest step, let him look up to the
highest, the fifteenth step. Whoever is on the fifteenth is already close to the temple.
And this is that temple whose ruin we now see; for it offended its Lord. And what did the
Lord say? 'Arise, let us go from here.' And what does he say in another place? 'Your house
shall be left to you desolate.' The Lord went out, the temple fell down. This temple,
then, had fifteen steps round about it. We see some signs of it: count them, and you will
see that it is as we say. So then the Levites and the priests, each one according to his
order, stood on the steps.

3 For example, the one who was high priest stood on the first step, that is, on the
fifteenth step above. On the second step stood the priests, and among the priests
themselves there was a difference of rank. On the third step in turn stood the lesser
ones. On the fourth in turn stood the Levites. And among the Levites there was much
difference: whoever was last, he was on the very lowest step. Consider that this earthly
temple is a figure of the heavenly temple. 'For star differs from star in brightness: so
also is the resurrection of the dead.' Happy the one who deserves to be on the fifteenth
step in the heavenly Jerusalem and in the temple. Yet because that is a great thing, and I
think it belongs to the apostles and the holy martyrs, let us pray that we may deserve to
be at least on the last step of the temple of the Lord. They stand indeed on different
steps, but they sing one psalm in praise of the Lord. The places are different, but the
praise of the Lord is one. This which we have said about the heavenly Jerusalem, I think,
is meanwhile practiced daily by us who are established in this present age. One of us is
on the first step: let him not despair of the second. He who is on the second step, let
him not despair of the third. Happy the martyrs, many of whom deserved to ascend from the
very lowest step to the first step.

4 He who lives in this present age cannot at once climb from the first to the highest. So
then we ought not to be content with the first step; we ought always to strive toward
greater things. Neither let him who is on the lowest despair of the first; nor ought he
who is on the first to be secure: for he can fall to the very last. I think this is what
Jacob's ladder also signifies, when he fled Esau his brother. 'And he came,' it says, 'to
Bethel, and slept there, and put a stone at his head.' See our ascetic; he was fleeing a
most cruel man, he was fleeing his brother, and he found help in a stone. That stone is
Christ; this stone is a help to those who suffer persecution: but to the unbelieving Jews
a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. 'And Jacob saw there,' it says, 'a ladder set
up from the earth all the way to heaven; and in heaven,' it says, 'the Lord leaning upon
it (epestērigmenon autēi). And he saw,' it says, 'angels ascending and descending.' See
what he says. He saw angels climbing up; he saw Paul climbing up. He saw angels
descending: Judas the traitor was falling down. He saw angels ascending: holy men going
from earth to heaven. He saw angels descending: the devil and the demons and his army cast
down headlong from heaven. Great is the difficulty of climbing from earth to the heavenly
places.

5 We fall down more easily than we climb up. We fall down easily: in ascending there is
great toil, there is great sweat. If I am on the first step, how much remains for me all
the way to heaven? If I am on the second, if on the third, if on the fourth, if on the
tenth, what does it profit me unless I reach the top? Suppose that ladder of mine has
fifteen steps: I have come all the way to the fourteenth: unless I hold the fifteenth,
what does it profit me that I have come to the fourteenth? If I come to the fifteenth, and
fall down, the greater the ascent, the greater the fall. And at the same time consider the
sacred meaning: that it is great toil and great sweat to climb from earth to heaven. Do
you want to know what those steps are? What is the first step? I think the first step is
fasting, for it is still near the earth: we withdraw from the earth, we climb up: yet we
still think about earthly and bodily things. Someone may say: What does fasting profit me?
I seek that my soul be pure before the Lord: how many do not fast, and yet are holy. I do
not say this. If Paul the apostle, the vessel of election, chastised his body and brought
it into subjection, lest, having preached to others, he himself should be found a
castaway:

6 if he says 'But I see another law resisting the law of my mind and leading me into
captivity,' and afterward says 'Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death?' — if he fears the snares of the body, are we secure? If he says 'When I am
weak, then am I stronger' — weakness of the body is health of the soul. Why do I say all
this? Because abstinence is the first step. Let us not at once suppose that, if we have
fasted, we climb up to the kingdom of heaven: fastings do not lead us to the kingdom of
heaven, but without fastings we do not climb up to the kingdom of heaven. By themselves
they do not profit: together with other things they profit. Why have I said all this?
Because it is as it were a foundation and a support (hypostērigma) for those ascending to
greater things. But the second step is to renounce the world, to seek nothing of the
world, to despise earthly things. Someone may say: And is doing this the second? I say,
the second. It is nothing to let go of earthly things: to let go of the vices of the soul,
that is a great thing. For if I have fasted, that is, if I am on the first step: if I have
let go of my possessions, that is, if I am on the second step:

7 what does it profit me, if I am quarrelsome, if I am irascible, if I am a slanderer, if
I am envious? It is nothing great to let go of earthly things: the vices are greater,
which are to be let go. But someone may say: It is difficult, it is great, it is hard. And
it is great for this very reason, because it is difficult. The athlete of Christ is not
crowned unless he has striven lawfully. Let it cause despair to no one: the ascent is
arduous, it is difficult, despair is born. Do not despair, O man: on the fifteenth step
the Lord is above, he watches you, he gives help. If you are on the first step, and the
distance (diastēma) between the first and the fifteenth seems great to you: do not look at
the steps, but look to the Lord. And see what he says. He did not say, I saw the Lord
standing on the fifteenth step: for we could not reach the Lord standing and upright. But
see what he says: he saw him leaning upon the ladder. See what he says: from the fact that
he was standing, he bent himself and humbled himself, so that we might be able to ascend.
The Lord is bent down, he humbled himself for your sake: ascend secure.

8 This man, then, who is now on the first step, is not in tribulation: for he has already
withdrawn from tribulation, he has already set his foot on the first step. For he does not
say, Now I am in tribulation, now I cry; but because he is on the first step, he reports
what he suffered. And what does he say? In my tribulation I cried to the Lord, and he
heard me. This little verse seems to have nothing within it, it is a small verse: but it
has three meanings glued together in it equally. For what does he say? In my tribulation —
behold, one thing: I cried: and after the crying, what? he heard me. In one verse first
the tribulation, then the crying, then the being heard. He did not say, When I was secure,
when I was glad, I cried: but, when I was in tribulation, I cried. 'You ask,' it says,
'and are not heard, because you ask carelessly.' In my tribulation I cried to the Lord,
and he heard me. In what did he hear me? He made me stand on the first step. But in
comparison with the fifteenth step, what is it to be on the first step? I have let go of
earthly things, I have not yet climbed to the heights. Therefore I ought not to be secure:
on the remaining steps I ought to beg for the help of God.

9 O Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue. He says this about
all heresies: he says it about the Jews, he says it about the Arians, he says it about the
Manichees, he says it about the rest of the heresies. When the Arian says: The Father is
greater, the Son lesser; what do we say? O Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips and from
a deceitful tongue. When the Manichee, and those like the Manichees, say: The Lord did not
rise in the truth of a body, and — so that you may know it was not a true body — he
entered with the doors shut: what do we say? O Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips and
from a deceitful tongue. The wounds of the tongue are greater than those of the sword. The
sword kills the body, it does not kill the soul: the tongue kills the soul. The tongue is
an evil thing, a great evil: 'it is indeed a small member, but it boasts great things.'
How many evils the tongue has, read the epistle of the holy James. The tongue has nothing
in the middle: either a great evil, or a great good. A great good, it confesses Christ to
be God; a great evil, it denies Christ to be God. So then let no one suppose and say,
Meanwhile I have not sinned in deed: if I have sinned, I have sinned with the tongue. What
is a greater sin than blasphemy against God?

10 and yet it is the tongue that sins. Whence did the devil fall? because he committed
theft? because he committed murder? because he committed adultery? These indeed are evils:
but the devil did not fall on account of these, but he fell on account of his tongue. For
what did he say? 'I will ascend into heaven, above the stars of heaven I will set my
throne, and I will be like the Most High.' So then let not monks suppose that they ought
to be secure, and say, Meanwhile we do not commit great crimes in the monastery: I do not
commit adultery, I do not commit theft, I do not commit murder, I do not commit parricide,
and the rest of the great vices. In the tongue too there are great vices. It is a great
crime, when I slander my brother; with my tongue I kill my brother. 'For he who hates his
brother is a murderer.' See what Solomon says: 'In the hand of the tongue are death and
life.' See what he says, in the hand of the tongue. Do you see how great an evil the
tongue is? and it has a hand too. For what does he say? In the hand of the tongue. It is a
great vice to slander the brethren, to be unable to keep silent, to go round the cells, to
slander others. I am a sinner, that man is a sinner: what is that to you? Consider
yourself, lest you fall. Why do you exult in another's ruin?

11 if I fall, will you therefore stand? Although it be my ruin, a brother's ruin ought to
be your fear, not your exultation. He has fallen: are you glad, or are you sad? answer me.
A brother has fallen: either you are glad, or you are sad. If you are glad, is anyone glad
at another's ruin? but if you are sad, why do you go about? why do you tell others? Let
God see your sadness, and let the brother himself feel it, let not the ears of the
brethren hear it. O Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue. 12
What shall be given to you, or what shall be added to you, to a deceitful tongue? The Holy
Spirit answers the prophet, who says, O Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips and from a
deceitful tongue: What shall be given to you, or what shall be added to you, to a
deceitful tongue? He answers him and says: You who say, O Lord, deliver my soul from
unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue, what do you want given to you? And after it has
been given to you, what do you want in turn added to you to a deceitful tongue? See what
he says. He did not say, against a deceitful tongue: but, to a deceitful tongue. If he had
said, against a deceitful tongue, he would have seemed to speak about an adversary. See
what the sacred meaning is: the prophet — or rather the holy man established on the first
step — I speak rather simply for the sake of the simpler ones — what does he say? O Lord,
deliver my soul from unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue: for example, from my
adversary who slanders me. But the Lord answers something else, and what does he say? He
did not say, what shall be given to you or what shall be added to you against a deceitful
tongue? that is, he did not say, what do you desire to be done against your adversary? But
what did he say?

13 What shall be given to you, or what shall be added to you, to a deceitful tongue? He
did not say, against the tongue: but, to the tongue. See what he says, to a deceitful
tongue: to your own tongue, not your adversary's. For if your adversary slanders you, it
does no harm: you kill yourself, if you slander others. For example, if a brother slanders
me, what harm has it done me? if he says I am a murderer, if he says I am an adulterer, if
a criminal, if a liar, what harm has it done me? For it is one of two things: either he
speaks the truth, or he lies. If he speaks the truth, that which he said does not harm me;
but the fact that I truly did it. But if he lies, his lie does not harm me, but it kills
the soul of the one speaking. We are unhappy, we are wretched. When we have someone as an
enemy, while we suppose we are acting against him, we are acting against ourselves. We
slander him, we go about here and there, we tell everyone about him: do we suppose we harm
him? We do not harm him, but we kill our own souls, because we lie. 'For the mouth that
lies kills the soul.' What shall be given to you, or what shall be added to you, to a
deceitful tongue? Like a good physician, who says: For this infirmity, for this wound,
what do you want laid upon you?

14 what plaster do you want laid upon you? Just as if someone were to say to some wounded
man: What shall be given to you, or what shall be added to you, for the wound that pains
you? The Lord asks, not because he is ignorant, but so that this man who was asking may
know how he ought to ask. 15 The sharp arrows of the mighty one, with the coals that lay
waste. The arrows of the mighty one. This man now answers the Lord as to what he asks.
Because the Lord had said, What shall be given to you, or what shall be added to you? now
this man says what he asks. O Lord, this I ask: the sharp arrows of the mighty one, with
the coals that lay waste. See what he says. The poison of my tongue and my slander nothing
can cast out, except your arrows, which make a desolation of my tongue. My tongue swells,
it has poison within: unless it is pricked and struck by your arrows, the poison does not
come out. We ought to give an example. If ever there is a wound in the body, and in the
wound itself the flesh is already putrid, and there is a canker, and there is pus within:
unless it is opened, the pus does not come out. And if the pus has come out, unless there
is a cautery, the pus is born again. See then what he says. Because my tongue swells, and
has pus, and has poison, first wound it with your arrows, so that the pus may be able to
come out: then apply your coals and fire, so that whatever is evil may burn away, and make
it a desert. See then what he says, The sharp arrows of the mighty one, with the coals
that lay waste.

16 Would that this coal that lays waste were given to us. Would that we too might say:
'Was not our heart burning within us on the way, when he opened to us the Scriptures?'
Isaiah says to Babylon: 'You have coals of fire, you shall sit upon them, these shall be
for you a help.' And the apostles, before they received the Holy Spirit, still had in
their tongue certain human swellings: therefore the Holy Spirit descended in the form of
fire, and sat as it were as fire upon their tongues, so that whatever of pus they had, the
Holy Spirit might boil away. Let us give another example too. Isaiah, when he had seen the
Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, what does he say? 'Woe is me, wretched that
I am, for I am pricked with compunction, because I have unclean lips, and I sit in the
midst of a people that has unclean lips.' See what he says, Woe is me, wretched, because I
have unclean lips. And afterward what does he say? Because he had unclean lips, therefore
one of the seraphim is sent, and takes a coal of fire from the altar, and touches his lips
and his tongue, and purges it. And what does he say? 'Behold, this has touched your lips,
and has cleansed your tongue.' And at once what does he say? 'Whom shall I send to this
people, and who shall go?' O the mysteries of the Scriptures!

17 As long as he had a deceitful tongue and unclean lips, it is not said to him, Whom
shall I send, and who shall go? His lips are cleansed, and at once he is sent to speak. So
then he who has unclean lips cannot prophesy, cannot be sent into the service of God. With
the coals that lay waste. Would that this desolation too be granted to us, so that it may
take away whatever is evil from our tongue: so that where there are thorns, where there
are briars, where there are nettles, the fire of the Lord may be sent, and burn up
everything, and there may come to be the desert of Christ. 18 Woe is me, that my
sojourning is prolonged. This the holy man says, who does not desire the body, who does
not seek the earth, who longs for heaven. Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged. When
we are sick, when we are feverish, when we suspect we are dying, when we throw about our
arms, when we are afraid, when we beg for a respite, we cannot say this little verse. This
man was healthy, he was not sick, and what does he say? Woe is me, that my sojourning is
prolonged. For as long as we are in the tabernacle of this body, we are pilgrims away from
the Lord. Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged. My sojourning: he did not say, my
dwelling. My sojourning: for in the present age we do not have a dwelling, but a
pilgrimage. Hence the apostle too says: 'As strangers and pilgrims.' 'I am a stranger and
a pilgrim.' Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged. What he says is this. Unhappy am
I, as long as I am in this body. Which of us can say this? If we are eighty years old, we
fear to die; if we are a hundred and are sick, we still beg for a respite and a span of
time. Why do we do all this? because the consciousness of our sins gnaws at us. For we
know that if we depart from the body, we do not go to Christ, but to gehenna.

19 What does the apostle say? 'I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ.' Give me
the security that after death I shall be with Christ, and even now I desire to die. So
then this man, because he is holy, therefore says: Woe is me, that my sojourning is
prolonged. I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Kedar. Kedar in our language is
interpreted as darkness. See then what he says. In what kind of place are we? in what kind
of world are we? I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Kedar. Long have I been in darkness,
long have I lived in darkness, long have I been in the body of this death. My soul has
long been a sojourner. See what the holy man says. Even if I have lived ten years, my soul
has long been a sojourner. For what happiness is it, in comparison with the heavenly
things, to be among earthly ones? There are many things that might be said, but the sermon
already hastens to its end.

20 With those who hated peace I was peaceable; when I spoke to them, they attacked me
without cause. Unhappy we, we cannot restrain our tongue, we cannot help slandering the
brethren. If someone offends us, we as it were present a peaceful face, but for the rest
the heart has poison. We are called monks, and although we are not such as we ought to be,
yet we are so called. At the third hour we pray, at the sixth hour we pray, at the ninth,
we hold the lamp-lighting, at midnight we rise, then at cockcrow we pray. See at what
hours we are always roused for the service of God. See what he says: the third hour, the
sixth, the ninth, the lamp-lighting, midnight, cockcrow, early morning. All this we do,
and we do not consider that if our soul holds enmities against a brother, we pray in vain.
For in the Gospel what is said? 'If you offer your gift at the altar, and there remember
that your brother has something against you.' See what he says. He did not say, if you
have something against your brother; but, if your brother has something against you. He
seems to lay upon us something as it were unjust: for if he had said, if you have
something against your brother, it would have been in our power what we had. But now what
does he say? If you remember that your brother has something against you. I answer him:

21 Lord, this is not in my power, whether my brother has something against me: I have
nothing against him. If he has something against me, what does it concern me? and why do
you refuse to receive my gift and say, If you offer your gift at the altar, and there
remember that your brother has something against you: leave, he says, your gift, and go be
reconciled to your brother, and so you shall offer your gift? Behold, I have nothing: if
he has, what does it concern me? The Lord answers you, and what does he say? Wicked
servant, I understand your mind: you have nothing against your brother? you have nothing?
do you love him? why then do you not want him to be saved? if you love him, go, ask him
not to have anything against you, so that he may be saved. But you show that you do not
love him, because you do not want him to be saved. Go, ask him, cast yourself at his feet,
entreat him day and night: say, I have left my gift at the altar, on your account I cannot
offer the victims. He is pricked with compunction, and what does he say? If this man who
asks me does not offer his gift: I who am asked, if I do not forgive, what shall I do?
Therefore the apostle too says that we should give our enemies to eat and to drink.

22 And what does he say? 'Doing this,' he says, 'you heap coals of fire upon his head.'
Someone may say: Enemies do this; do I therefore do good to my adversary in order to heap
coals of fire upon his head? But something else is meant. If he has done you evil, and you
have done him good, you heap coals of fire upon his head: that is, you cleanse his vices,
and you boil away his malice, so that he may turn to repentance. See then what this holy
prophet says. With those who hated peace I was peaceable. He did not say, who did not want
peace: but, who hated peace. They hated peace, and I loved those who hated peace.
Therefore the apostle too says: 'As far as in you lies, having peace with all men.' Let us
entreat our brother, if he is our enemy; let us entreat him even twice, and three times,
and seven times. 'Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often shall I forgive him?
seven times? I say to you, not seven times, but seventy times seven' — that is, four
hundred and ninety times. If we wanted to reckon it up, from morning until evening we
could not commit so many sins, four hundred and ninety. Yet what does the Lord say? If he
sins against you seventy times seven in a day, and turning back asks you, forgive him. But
you say: He does not turn back with his whole heart, he lies.

23 Let us leave the judgment to God: he asks me, he entreats me: he does not say this
truly — God knows. I hear a voice, Christ understands the heart: I accept what I hear, let
Christ accept what he knows. Then see your own reward: he lies, you accept it as true; his
is the killing, yours is the salvation. 24 Why have I said all this? Because in
monasteries and especially in communities these vices are wont to exist. We do not blush,
we do not grieve: we have left our mothers, we have left our parents, we have left our
brothers, we have left our sisters, we have left our wives, we have left our children, we
have left our fatherlands, we have left our homes, we have left the little rooms in which
we were born and reared, we have left the little servants with whom we were reared, we
have come into the monastery: and we have left all these things for this purpose, that
over some trivial, frivolous matter we should pick a quarrel with the brethren in the
monastery. We have left possession, we have left fatherland, we have left the world: and
over a reed pen we pick a quarrel in the monastery. If I hear a bitter word, I cannot bear
it, it is in my heart, it is inscribed in my very marrow for ten or fifteen days, it
cannot be taken from my heart, I speak to my brother who had done me injury, and I promise
peace with my lips, and hold poison in my heart. Often even my eyes and the countenance of
my mind are an indication. When our heart is wounded against someone, we cannot look at
him with straight eyes: the face itself and the eyes are as it were a mirror of our soul.

25 What does Scripture also say? 'And they could not speak anything peaceable to him': the
tongue could not lie about what the heart held otherwise. This, then, I say to your very
selves and to myself; for I do not preach for the purpose of making myself, as it were,
secure. The occasion of this little verse has compelled me to say these things. The tongue
is a great evil. O Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue: not
from another's tongue, but deliver me from my own tongue. Another's tongue does me no
harm: my own tongue is my enemy. O Lord, deliver my soul. Deliver my soul from my tongue:
my tongue is a sword, it kills my soul. I suppose that I harm my enemy, and I do not know
that I am killing myself. Let my adversaries fight when I speak to them, and let me speak
peaceable things. Let them have a hostile mind, but let us have a peaceable mind. Since
indeed it is written in Paralipomenon: 'And the children of Israel went out,' it says, 'to
fight with a peaceable mind.' Does anyone go to battle, and have a peaceable mind? But the
arms of Christians are peace. 'The peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding.'
Blessed are the peacemakers: not only those who make peace between quarrelers, but those
who make peace within themselves. Blessed are the peacemakers.

26 If others quarrel, and I intervene in the middle, and make peace between them, and I
myself do not have peace in my mind: what does it profit me, that they have made peace?
'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.' Blessed are
the peacemakers, who indeed speak peaceable things to those who hate peace. Blessed are
the peacemakers. Christ is peace. For if Solomon is interpreted in Christ, and Solomon is
interpreted as peaceable: then Christ our Lord is peace. Going to heaven he left us a
standard, saying: 'My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you.' Let us keep what
Christ has given, let us have peace, let us keep peace, and it keeps us in Christ Jesus:
to whom is glory forever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY 42, ON PSALM 127

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 Blessed are all who fear the Lord. Those who
fear the Lord, what reward do they have? What crown? Let us see what praise they have,
what reward. Blessed are you, and it shall be well with you. I have already spoken about
blessedness; I am asking what this blessedness is: the one who fears the Lord, what
blessedness does he have? Your wife like a fruitful vine on the sides of your house; your
sons like young olive shoots around your table. I think that, with Christ favoring us, we
all fear the Lord. Then do we not have this blessedness? For it is written that whoever
fears the Lord has this blessedness: Your wife like a fruitful vine on the sides of your
house, your sons like young olive shoots around your table. So then, is the man who has
one son, and the man who has two, not blessed? For what does it say? Your sons like young
olive shoots around your table. Unless we have so many sons that they encircle our table,
will we not have the blessedness of the one who fears the Lord? Isaac did not have this
blessedness: for he had two sons, one of them utterly wicked, Esau, for whom it would have
been far better had he never been born. But he had one son, Jacob: so then did he not have
the blessedness? because one son could not encircle the table. Virgins, then, do not fear
the Lord?

3 For what is said, that the one who fears the Lord should understand blessedness? Your
wife like a fruitful vine on the sides of your house; your sons like young olive shoots
around your table. John did not have this blessedness, both Johns, the evangelist as much
as the baptist: for each of them was a virgin. Paul did not have this blessedness, who
says: 'I wish, moreover, that all were as I am.' You see, then, that wife and sons must be
understood spiritually; otherwise, unless we understand them spiritually, the angels do
not have this blessedness, because they do not have sons. Let us return, therefore, to the
order of the reading. 4 Blessed are all who fear the Lord. Just as no one can say 'The
Lord is my portion' except the one who has no other portion in the world, so the one who
fears anything else outside the Lord does not fear the Lord. Indeed, the Savior himself
says: 'Do not fear those who can kill the body, but fear him who can kill both body and
soul in hell.' You see, then, that whoever does not fear the Lord fears some other thing
outside the Lord. The one who fears the Lord, what signs does he have? Those who walk in
his ways. There are many ways, and many ways lead to one way. Indeed, it is also said in
Jeremiah: 'Stand in the ways of the Lord, and ask for the eternal paths of the Lord, and
you will find the way, and you will walk in it.' See what it says, Stand in the ways, and
ask for the eternal paths of the Lord, and you will find the one way, and walk in it. See
how through many ways we come to one way. This is also said in the gospel in other words,
under another meaning of the parable, concerning that merchant who had many pearls, who
sold them, and bought one most precious pearl. What it says is this: Stand in the ways,
that is, have very many pearls. Stand in the ways, and ask for the eternal paths of the
Lord.

5 Beautifully it says eternal, lest we should think that at the coming of Christ the law
and the prophets were brought to an end. But see what it says. Stand in the ways, in the
law and the prophets. Stand in the ways; do not so believe in the one way that you abandon
the many ways; but stand in the ways, and ask for the eternal paths of the Lord. Ask the
paths of the Lord, what Jeremiah said, Isaiah, Ezekiel, what the rest of the prophets
said. Ask the paths. It is better said in Greek τρίβους (tribous): for a path (semita) is
so called from the fact that it is worn (trita) by the heel of those walking. And what is
said is this: Ask the paths, that is τρίβους (tribous), which the foot of the Lord wore
down: seeing that the Lord too walked in them. But when you have asked for the eternal
paths of the Lord, and through those paths you have found the one way, which says 'I am
the way and the life and the truth,' walk in it. See the mysteries of the scriptures: see
in the simple words of the scriptures very many sacred meanings, in the ways and paths, in
the law and the prophets. It did not say, walk, but, stand: do not abandon the law nor the
prophets. Yet when you have found those ways, through these ways walk in this one way.

6 You will eat the labors of your hands. Many, not understanding, have interpreted this
passage otherwise: 'You will eat the labors of your fruits.' Indeed the Latin copies have
it thus: You will eat the labors of your fruits. But we read it written thus in the
Hebrew: You will eat the labors of your hands. For who eats the labors of fruits? Surely
it ought to be understood the other way around, that someone eats the fruit of his labors,
and not the labors of his hands. For it is understood the other way around. For it can
rather be said that someone eats the fruit of his labors, and not the labors of fruits.
Since, therefore, it is written thus in the Hebrew, You will eat the labors of your hands,
I think that in Greek too the Seventy translators translated this passage well. For in the
Hebrew tongue the hand is called IAD; but in this passage it does not have IAD, but CAPH.
And CAPH is translated καρπός (karpos)—not καρπός in the sense of fruit, but some part of
the hand: seeing that καρπός in Greek means the joints (ἄρθρα, arthra). This we have said
concerning the translation. You will eat, therefore, the labors of your hands. 'Whatever a
man sows, this also will he reap.' Behold the man, and his works. So then we too will eat
the labors of our hands. In the hands, works are understood. You will eat the labors of
your hands. Someone may say:

7 So then, are we going to eat after the resurrection? For this is said of the blessed
man, You will eat the labors of your hands. I say this plainly, that man is composed of
two substances, that is, of soul and body. The soul is immortal, but the body is mortal.
What is mortal must of necessity have mortal food also; but what is immortal, that is, the
soul, which is immortal, must have immortal food also. Do you want to know that the soul
too has its own food? The Lord and Savior says it, when he was hungry. What does he say?
'My food is to do the will of him who sent me.' Do you want to know what food the soul
has? The prophet too says to us: 'Taste and see that the Lord is sweet.' For just as the
body, unless it receives its food, dies: so also the soul, unless it receives spiritual
food, dies. Why do I say all this? Because some are accustomed to say: I do not need the
holy scripture, it is enough for me only to fear God. And we have said this for this
reason: as there are foods for the body, so the holy scriptures are foods also for our
soul.

8 Your wife like a fruitful vine on the sides of your house. Solomon says that he wished
to take wisdom as his bride. He says also in another place concerning wisdom: 'Love her,
and she will embrace you: encompass her, and she will keep you.' Let us too, therefore,
take this wife; let us hold her in our embraces, let us never let her go from our bosom,
let her never flee from our hands. If this wife is always in our embrace, we will make
from her sons: not daughters, but sons. Indeed, it is said here too: Your sons like young
olive shoots around your table. Could it not have said, your daughters? or could it not
have said τὰ τέκνα σου (ta tekna sou), so that both men and women might be understood? But
see what it says, your sons. He who has wisdom as his wife does not make from her
daughters, but sons. He has nothing soft, nothing dainty, nothing tender, nothing
effeminate in his mind. Do you suppose it is for some other reason that the saints are
written to have had not daughters, but sons? Let us read Genesis: for there the order of
the generations is preserved. Holy Abraham had Sarah as his wife, had Hagar as his
concubine, had afterward Keturah. From two wives he begets sons, he makes no daughters.
Let us come to Isaac. Isaac too makes two sons, he has no daughters.

9 For he was holy, and had in himself nothing soft and tender and effeminate, but all
manly and firm. Blessed Jacob has twelve patriarchs as sons; and he has one daughter by
the name of Dinah, which is translated cause, quarrel, strife. Indeed he had one daughter,
and twelve sons; and on account of one daughter such great wars arise in Shechem. Jacob
had never said: 'I am afraid, you have made me hateful.' He speaks to Levi and Simeon:
'Levi and Simeon, let my soul not come into their counsel.' Why? because as men they
wished to plead the cause of a woman. Why have I said all this? Because the saints do not
have daughters, but have only sons. I tell you a new thing, new to those who do not know
it; but for those who read the scriptures, and read them diligently, not new, but the very
thing they know. Jacob had twelve sons as patriarchs: Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Levi,
Issachar, Asher, and the rest up to twelve. Read in the account of the generation, and you
will never find that any of those twelve great patriarchs made a daughter, but all of them
sons. I will tell you one, lest perhaps you forget. Asher had a daughter, Sarah. Jacob had
twelve sons and one daughter: so among the twelve patriarchs one patriarch had only one
daughter. Why have I said all this? So that we ought to understand sons and daughters in
the scriptures spiritually.

10 Your wife like a fruitful vine on the sides of your house. Like a fruitful vine. A
fruitful vine has very many clusters, so also our wife, that is, wisdom our wife, who is
the bride. Indeed, it is written in another place: 'Come my sister, my bride.' Lest in the
fact that it had said, bride, you should understand something shameful, sister is joined,
so that all shameful love may be excluded. Come my sister: for the love is holy, and
therefore I call you sister. And my bride: therefore I call you bride, so that I may have
a wife, and from you make many sons, many sons like clusters from a vine. Just as a vine
has various clusters, and there is indeed one root, but it spreads its tendrils far and
wide, here and there, and the tendrils themselves have their own fruits, and in the fruits
themselves are the clusters, and one cluster is larger, another smaller, some grapes are
larger, others smaller; so also from wisdom, which is our wife, provided that we never let
her go, many clusters are born, that is, very many virtues, holy thoughts, splendid works.
Your sons like young olive shoots around your table. We read in another place: 'And wine
gladdens the heart of man.' We read also in the Song of Songs: 'Come, brothers, drink and
be inebriated.' And wine which gladdens the heart of man. This fleshly wine does not
gladden the heart of man, but overwhelms it, and makes it mad.

11 Indeed, it is written that those who are powerful should not drink wine. The apostle
too writes that we ought not to drink wine and eat flesh. Again it is said to us: And wine
gladdens the heart of man. But it speaks of a spiritual wine, which, if anyone drinks it,
he is immediately inebriated. All of you, that you might let go of your possessions and
your parents and your children and your kinfolk, drank wine, and being inebriated for
Christ began to be mad. Does it not seem to you to be drunkenness, does it not seem to you
to be spiritual madness, to despise delights, to seek out squalor, to flee the cities, to
pursue the deserts, to know no affections, to ignore the nearness of the flesh, and to
know Christ alone? Indeed, the apostles were inebriated with this wine, and therefore it
is said of them: 'They are full of new wine.' For they had not been inebriated from the
old law, but from the gospel. Noah too, I think, was inebriated in this way with this
wine. Your sons like young olive shoots. To nothing else are our sons compared except to
young olive shoots. It did not say, to the old olive tree, but to the young olive. Just as
there too, concerning the drunkenness of the apostles, it does not speak of old wine, but
of new wine, so here too it says young olive shoots:

12 young olive shoots, which are wholly green in the youth of the gospel, young olive
shoots full of light. Oil has this nature, that it seasons food, that it provides fuel for
light, that it restores an anointed body wearied by a long journey, as it were, to its
former toil and to health. Indeed, whoever is weary, and is anointed, as it were recovers
his former vigor. Do you think that wine and oil are named here without a reason? It could
not have said honey, nor other aromatic spices, nor another tree, but only the vine and
the olive. These are the remedies of our life, the vine and the olive, wine and oil. In
wine, severity; in oil, mercy. Indeed, that man who was going down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, who had been wounded, the Samaritan, that is, the guardian, poured into him
nothing except wine and oil. Wine, the severity of the precepts, astringent wine; so that
whatever there is of bad humor, it may burn out and consume. But since human frailty
cannot bear the truth—'for if you should mark iniquities, Lord, Lord, who shall endure
it?' for if the Lord should be only just, we cannot live—therefore to his justice, that
is, to the wine, the oil of mercy has been added. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the Lord. We have already spoken much, let us hasten to the end. May the Lord
bless you out of Zion. Out of this Zion?

13 And how does another prophet say 'Zion shall be plowed like a field'? The Lord also
says: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kill the prophets, and stone those who are sent to you.'
Indeed, when the Lord had drawn near to Jerusalem, and had seen it, he wept. But when he
wept over it, surely he wept over it because it was about to fall, as though about to
perish. Indeed, what does he say? 'Rise, let us go from here.' And in another place, what
does he say? 'Your house shall be left to you desolate.' So then, in what it says, May the
Lord bless you out of Zion, it does not mean this Zion, which we see to be desolate. The
gates themselves and the field itself and the ruins themselves signify the wrath of God.
Even if we do not know it, the very eyes cry out the wrath of the Lord. May the Lord bless
you out of Zion. Zion is translated watchtower, Jerusalem is translated vision of peace.
If our soul has a watchtower, if it is on high, if it thinks not of earthly things, but of
things sublime: if our soul has the vision of peace, that is, if Christ, who is true
peace, dwells in it, he himself will bless us. If Christ dwells in us, we too will be
Zion, and we too will be Jerusalem.

14 And may you see the sons of your sons. I am speaking to you. If by my discourse I
instruct you, I have seen my sons: if you instruct others, I have seen the sons of my
sons. Let us pray, therefore, to the Lord, that we may have sons, may have grandsons, and
may always have much offspring. Let us hasten to make such sons: this union is holy. I
tell you a new thing: without the embrace of a wife many such sons are born. Peace upon
Israel. Israel is translated, a man seeing God. See, therefore, what is said. Peace upon
Israel: upon those who have a mind seeing God. If my mind has the vision of God, if I
always see Christ, I will not see others. Whoever has Christ in himself, has peace in
himself. 'My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you.' Although there are many
persecutions, although there are many who persecute, yet in whomever Christ dwells, that
one always has Christ.

HOMILY 43, ON PSALM 128

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 They often attacked me from my youth — let
Israel now say — they often attacked me from my youth. Two things are said: both that they
often attacked me, and that they attacked me from my youth. If I, for example, at forty
years of age, in the middle of my life, should begin to serve the Lord, I cannot say,
"They have attacked me from my youth. But what do I say? "They have slain me from my
youth, they have wounded me from my youth, they have trampled me from my youth. But the
one who begins from boyhood to serve the Lord, and is often attacked by the devil and his
angels, and yet is not conquered — what does this man say? "They often attacked me from my
youth: and indeed they could not prevail against me. "An athlete is not crowned unless he
has competed lawfully" — unless he has taken a blow, unless his face is bruised, unless
blood has been spilled from his face. The bruise earns the crown, the pain earns the joy.
They often attacked me from my youth. Let the virgin of the Lord speak this little verse,
let the monk speak it, who has begun from a tender age to serve the Lord. But I, who have
begun to serve the Lord at forty or fifty years of age, how can I say, "They often
attacked me from my youth"? Let the virgin therefore say this, let the monk who is whole
in body and spirit say it.

3 And what does he say? Why did they often attack me from my youth? Let someone say: O
monk, how did the demons and the devil attack you? Those who assailed me seemed indeed to
be men: but I understood the devil within the men. When men persecute us, therefore, let
us not be angry at the persecutor, but let us feel compassion for them and lament them:
for it is another who persecutes within the persecutors. If a man possessed by a demon,
who has a demon, should come and strike me with his fist and hit me with his heel, do I
get angry at him? He strikes with his fist, and I weep and lament the one striking: for I
see that he is more grievously struck by the one working within him than I am by his hand.
As often, therefore, as we suffer anything and endure any temptations, let us understand
that it is that one, and those, who breed temptations for us within men. Let someone say:
Prove this very thing from the Scriptures: for we ought not to say anything unless it is
furnished and confirmed from the Scriptures. Judas was a traitor, but Satan entered into
him, and he himself betrayed within the traitor.

4 Potiphar's wife at the time when she seized Joseph her servant — the mistress the
servant, the very rich woman the poor little man, the citizen the foreigner — she was
holding Joseph, but the holy man understood, in the hands of the woman, that it was the
devil holding him back. Why do I say all this? So that when we suffer something from men,
we may not be angry at men, but may lament them, and may see that plotter who works within
them. 5 They often attacked me from my youth: and indeed they could not prevail against
me. They attacked me with base thoughts, they attacked me with anger. I gave in to the
thoughts: if I gave in to the temptations, if I did something that the thought was driving
me to, if anger overcame me and I did injury to my brother, I cannot say "and indeed they
could not prevail against me": for they did prevail against me. Upon my back the sinners
built. Carefully observe what the Scripture says. The holy man is an athlete, and "he is
not crowned unless he has competed lawfully." For you know that there are many kinds of
athletes: for there are some athletes, but others are like all-in wrestlers (pammacharii),
some contend at the discus, and others are runners, that is, those who run in the stadium.
Indeed, the Apostle too says that he runs, so that he may reach the crown. And what does
he say in another place? "Forgetting the things that are behind, I stretch myself forward
to the things that are before." See, therefore, what the Scripture says. Upon my back the
sinners were building. Thus I always ran, and ran so hard, that my adversary might never
get ahead of me, but might always be found behind my back. He never came before my eyes,
for he could not bear the light of my eyes; but he always pursued that part which is
blind, which has no eyes. Upon my back the sinners were building. Whenever anyone
disparages his brother, that man is building behind the back. Upon my back the sinners
were building: but I did not see their snares. They were building behind my back: and I
with my eyes was gazing on paradise. They were contriving snares against me, and I was
longing to see the crown.

6 They prolonged their iniquity. What did he mean by "They prolonged their iniquity"? If I
sin, and after my sin I do penance, my iniquity is short, not long. But if I sin, as often
as I sin, so often does the cord of my sins grow longer. Whence it is also said in another
place: "The cords of sinners have surrounded me." See what he says: The cords of sinners
have surrounded me. And in another place it is written: "Each one is bound fast by the
cords of his own sins." See what he says: Each one is bound fast by the cords of his own
sins. These cords of sins cannot be woven unless I have had many sins. If I commit one
sin, it is not so much a cord as it is, so to speak, a single thread. But if it is a
single thread, it is quickly broken, and cannot hold and bind. But if there are many sins,
and they have prolonged their iniquities, out of many sins, as out of many threads, a cord
is made, and it binds, and is not quickly broken. Why have I said all this? Because we
read in this little verse, They prolonged their iniquity.

7 The just Lord has cut the necks of sinners. See what he says. He did not say, "he has
cut down sinners": but if he had said this, no one could be saved, for we are all sinners.
But what does he say? The just Lord has cut the necks of sinners: those who are both
sinners and proud; since "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Therefore
he cuts the necks of sinners.


HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS
======================

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS continued

HOMILY 44, ON PSALM 131

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness.
Many suppose, from what is written in the Gospel — "Have mercy on us, Son of David," which
the blind men who were sitting in Jericho said — that this David, whose name means "strong
of hand," is referred to the Lord Savior. But if in this psalm we should choose to
interpret it, as they judge, it does great harm to our understanding. For if this that is
said, Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness, they refer to Christ, then how does
Christ say, as though about someone else, "Until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle
for the God of Jacob: behold, we heard of it in Ephrata, we found it in the fields of the
wood"? And how is it said, "For the sake of David your servant, turn not away the face of
your Christ"? The order does not stand. For if David, as they think, is Christ, then we
begin to understand it thus: For the sake of Christ your servant, turn not away the face
of your Christ. This I say against those who in this passage interpret David as Christ.
Not that we deny that David may be interpreted as Christ according to the character of the
passages: but in this passage the sense does not admit it. And I will tell you why they go
astray: because it is written, Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness;

3 and the Lord says in the Gospel, "Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart" —
with pious sense indeed, but in their error they here interpret David as Christ, and refer
his meekness to Christ. Let us therefore interpret this psalm of David, so that he who is
born of David may truly be understood as Christ. Then, see the order. For since the psalm
is long, and we have already said many things, we ought briefly to touch upon the
meanings, not to dispute at greater length: so that the prudent hearer may, from the
things we have said, understand for himself even those things we do not say. 4 As he swore
to the Lord, he vowed a vow to the God of Jacob. In the Hebrew it does not have cos, that
is, "as," nor is that the sense; but it has os, that is, "who," and the sense is:
Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness, who swore to the Lord, vowed a vow to the
God of Jacob. And this I think was done not so much by a fault of the seventy translators
as by an error of the copyists. If I shall enter into the tabernacle of my house. David
says this: I seek no other rest but Christ, who is to be born of my seed, that is, whom
you promised would be born of my loins.

5 If I shall give sleep to my eyes, and slumber to my eyelids, And rest to my temples,
until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. Many think this is
said of the Church: but to me it seems to be said not so much of the Church as of holy
Mary. Then it is said: Behold, we heard of it in Ephrata, we found it in the fields of the
wood. Let us read the holy Scriptures, and both by day and by night let us sift each
single syllable and letter. Let someone say concerning Ephrata: here he said Bethlehem.
For we read in Genesis: "He came into Bethlehem, this is Ephrata." This is said of Jacob,
when his wife Rachel died, that is, in Ephrata. But let us see why Ephrata received its
name. For it is written in Chronicles that Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, had for
her husband Hur — not Ur, but Hur. And afterward the lineage is described, and it is said:
"Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, this is Ephrata." This is written in the books of
Chronicles: seek and you will find. And so this Ephrata too received its name from that
Ephrata. Perhaps it seems to someone not to be true, because it is new: but I refer him to
the authority of the book.

6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephrata. In the Hebrew it does not have "it," but has "him":
that is, that one who is to be born of the seed of David. We heard of him in Ephrata:
which the sense is about Mary. But we can also understand it simply, since Ephrata is
called Bethlehem, and Christ was born in Bethlehem. Happy therefore the place, which so
long a time before was sung by the voice of the prophets. All holy places indeed are
venerable, both where he was born, and where he was crucified, and where he rose again,
and where he ascended a victor to the heavens; but this place is properly more venerable.
See how great is the mercy of God. Here a little one is born, an infant is laid in a
manger: "for there was no room for them in the inn." O monk, the Lord is born on earth,
and has no cell of his own: there was no room for him in the inn. The whole human race had
a place: and the Lord, who was to be born on earth, had no place. He found no place among
men, he found none in Plato, none in Aristotle; but in a manger, among the beasts of
burden and the dumb animals, and among all who are simple and innocent. Whence the Lord
also says in the Gospel: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests where they
may rest: but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."

HOMILY 45, ON PSALM 132

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 Behold how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity. He says two things: good and pleasant. Martyrdom is
good, but it is not pleasant: for it has its tortures and punishments, and there is always
pain in torments, and certainly in pain there is no pleasantness. Behold how good and how
pleasant. Again, pleasure is pleasant. For example, to eat sweet foods seems to be
pleasant: for it drives one to lust. Here therefore he has set down two things, and what
seemed to him to be contrary — it is good and it is pleasant — he has joined in a single
phrase: Behold how good and how pleasant. Pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity: brethren in mind, not in body. Esau and Jacob were brothers; and because they dwelt
together, it was for them a cause of discord. Therefore what he says here, brethren, he
does not say brethren in body, but spiritual brethren: the brethren of whom the Savior
also spoke, and said to the women: 'Go, announce to my brethren'. Behold how good and how
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. This psalm properly suits
communities and monasteries. For although it may be understood also of churches, yet
there, because of the diversity of purpose, there seems not to be so great a concord. For
what brotherhood is there there?

3 Surely one is hastening to go to his house, another to the circus, another in the church
is thinking about interest on loans. But in a monastery, just as there is one purpose, so
there is also one mind. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell
together in unity. Truly good, truly pleasant. We have left one brother behind, and behold
how many we have found. My worldly brother (what I say of myself, I say of each one) does
not love me so much as he loves my property. But spiritual brethren, who indeed neglect
what is their own, do not seek what belongs to others. So too we read in the Acts of the
Apostles, that 'of the multitude of believers there was one heart and one soul. And, it
says, they had all things in common'. Rightly did they have all things in common, because
they possessed Christ in common. We have said much, but let us hasten on to the rest.

4 Like ointment upon the head, which runs down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron. Oh, if
there were time for us to discuss each detail, a day could not suffice us. We read in
Exodus how the priestly ointment is prepared; then we read how there was another ointment,
with which the kings were anointed. There was also another ointment with which the
prophets were anointed. And why do I say more? All the ointments had their own
distinctions and mysteries. Do we marvel about holy persons? A leper, after he has been
cleansed, after he has been sprinkled with hyssop and with the blood of a bird, and one
bird is released into the wilderness, he too has his own proper ointment. Nothing is
sanctified except through ointment. Therefore the young maidens also say in the Song of
Songs: 'Thy name is ointment poured out. After thee we will run in the fragrance of thy
ointments'. Like ointment upon the head, which runs down upon the beard, the beard of
Aaron.

5 Beautifully did he say, upon the head. Which runs down upon the beard. The beard is a
mark of manhood: for nature distinguishes woman and man by this sign. The beard therefore
is a mark of manhood. The head then is called the divinity, that is, the Godhead; but the
beard indicates the man. 'That, he says, we may arrive at the perfect man' who is Christ.
See therefore what he says, like ointment. Like the blessing of ointment from the head,
that is, from Hermon of the divinity, it ran down upon the beard, it ran down upon the
perfect man, who is Christ; and from that beard, after the ointment itself had run down
upon the hem of his garment, so the blessing and the dew of Mount Hermon ran down upon
Mount Zion. Ointment therefore is here put for blessing. 'Thou hast loved, he says,
righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil
of gladness above thy fellows'. See what he says. Thou hast loved, he says, righteousness,
and hated iniquity. It is not enough to love righteousness, but on the contrary see what
he says: And thou hast hated iniquity. For these virtues what did he receive? Therefore
God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. This is said
to Christ: therefore thou art anointed, that thou mightest anoint the others. Thou art
anointed with the oil of gladness above thy fellows, that is, more than thy apostles.

6 For thou didst have the fountain of ointment: they had drops. Like ointment upon the
head. May the Lord also bestow upon us this ointment of the Godhead, which came upon the
beard, that is, upon the perfect man Aaron, upon Aaron the priest. Now Aaron is
interpreted 'mountain-man'. You see that this priest is not from the valleys, but is from
the mountains. The beard, he says, of Aaron. That the ointment came from the head upon the
beard, it came from the Word, God, to the man whom he deigned to take up. And what does
this anointed beard, and this perfect man, profit us? Let us see what benefits he has.
Which runs down upon the hem of his garment. If we are the garment of Christ, we clothe
his nakedness with our faith. Behold, naked he hangs upon the cross, a scandal to the
Jews, foolishness to the Gentiles; and yet by our faith and word and confession he is
clothed. Noah lay naked in his house, and his shame appeared: the elder son mocked, and
the younger covered him. And why do I say all this? To show that we are the garment of
Christ. I tell you a new thing: rather, not new, but from the Scriptures. We are the
garment of Christ: and when we have clothed him with our confession, we in turn put on
Christ himself. For the Apostle also says that Christ is our garment. For when we are
baptized, we put on Christ.

7 And we are clothed, and we clothe. Do you wish to know how we clothe the Lord? We read
in Jeremiah: 'Take unto thee, he says, a girdle, and go, he says, to the Euphrates, and
put it in a hole of the rock. And I did, he says, what the Lord had commanded me. And
after some days I returned to the Euphrates, and behold, he says, the girdle had rotted,
so that it was fit for no use. And the Lord spoke, he says, to me'. Attentively take heed.
'As, he says, thou hadst a girdle about thy loins, so also I had this people about me,
saith the Lord'. Why have I said all this? To show that believers are the garment of
Christ. Which runs down upon the hem of his garment: which runs down upon the beard, the
beard of Aaron. There is not time to speak of the priestly garments. Indeed the high
priest has eight kinds of garments. It is long now to speak of the ephod, of the tunic: it
is long to speak of the breastplate, of the manifestations, of the little chains, of the
girdle, of the breeches, of the fringes, of the pomegranates, of the little bells, with
which virtues the priest ought to enter the temple of the Lord and into the holy of
holies.

8 And we therefore, if we wish to be of this priestly garment, either we are the shoulder-
piece, which is interpreted the ephod, that we may have good works, and may carry the
commandments of Christ upon our shoulders; or surely we ought to be the inner tunic, which
tunic is close-fitting, and clings to the body, is not loose, is not spread out, but
clings wholly to the body. You see therefore that whoever is inward is also the inner
tunic, and is joined more nearly to the body. But if anyone is the breastplate, which is
called λόγιον (the rational thing), that one is nowhere else but upon the breast. Take
heed to the order of Scripture: whoever is the breastplate, and is the λόγιον, and is
reason, is set upon the breast. Yet it can happen that someone has prudence, that he has
the λόγιον, and does not have speech. Whoever therefore is a true priest ought to have the
λόγιον, ought to have the δηλώσεις, that is, the manifestations, that is, that whatever he
has conceived in his mind he may bring forth, and may teach all. And all these things are
in vain, if chastity be not guarded and adorned: therefore there is the girdle, and it
girds the loins, binds tight and mortifies. Then it is said that he should have the
breeches, so that whatever is shameful and filthy in us may, as it were by this girdle, be
cleansed and mortified.

9 Then it is said that we ought to have the robe (podere), which adorns as it were our
feet. And on that robe itself are various flowers: there are pomegranates there, there are
also fringes there. I think that woman too who had an issue of blood touched this fringe,
and was healed. Then consider this also, that at the very extremities of the feet, among
the pomegranates, there were also the little bells; and the high priest did not enter into
the holy of holies unless those little bells sounded. And those little bells and those
pomegranates are the diversities of virtues, which each have their own voices; and the
very going forth of the holy of holies is vocal. For whether we eat, or whether we drink,
we do all things in the name of the Lord. We promised smaller things, and have said
greater ones. 10 Like the dew of Hermon, which runs down upon Mount Zion. The dew of
Hermon. We read a certain apocryphal book, that at the time when the sons of God descended
to the daughters of men, they descended upon Mount Hermon, and there entered into a
covenant, how they might come to the daughters of men, and join them to themselves. It is
a most manifest book, and it is reckoned among the apocrypha, and the ancient interpreters
have said some things about it: but we say this, not for authority, but for remembrance.
Like the dew of Hermon, which runs down upon Mount Zion. I read in a certain man's book,
who confirms his own heresy from this apocryphal book. For what does he say? The sons of
God, he says, who were descending from the heavens, and came upon Hermon, and lusted after
the daughters of men, are, he says, angels descending from the heavenly places, and souls
that desired bodies: since indeed the bodies are the daughters of men. Do you see how,
without your knowing it, the doctrine of the Manichees arises? For just as the Manichees
say that souls desired human bodies, and were joined by the pleasure of the bodies: so
these too, who say that the angels desired bodies, that is, the daughters of men, do they
not seem to you to say the very thing that the Manichees also say? It is long now to speak
against them:

11 but I wished only to point out from what volume, as it were, they confirm their
doctrine by occasion of this text. Hermon in our tongue is interpreted ἀνάθεμα (anathema),
that is, condemnation. The dew of the Lord therefore was formerly upon the people of the
Jews, who were afterwards anathematized; and that blessing, which formerly descended upon
the anathematized people, afterwards descended upon Mount Zion, that is, upon the Church.
We, if indeed we are of the Church — and by Church I mean the truth of doctrines, the
confession of Christ. We are in the building: and how many holy ones are in the desert,
how many of us are not in the Church; and those who are not in the Church dwell within the
Church of Christ — if therefore we are in the Church, if we have the faith of the Church,
the faith of the apostles, the faith of Christ, the truths of the doctrines, we are
mountains of Zion. We do not wish to be valleys of Zion, but mountains of Zion. For Zion
has its valleys, it has also its plains. Whoever is a sinner is a valley of Zion, he is
not a mountain of Zion. Someone may say: You are speaking from your own opinion.

12 Let us call Isaiah as a witness, at the time when Zion had sinned, after many visions,
where it is said, A vision against Idumaea, a vision against Moab, a vision against Edom
and the sons of Ammon, at the last is placed: 'A vision of the valley of Zion'. For
because it had descended from the height of faith, therefore it collapsed from a mountain
into a valley. We therefore, first let us flee the valleys of Zion, let us come to the
plains, from the plains let us come to the hills, from the hills let us come to the
mountains, let us follow Christ upon the mountains. For our cousin, like a roe and a fawn
of the harts, leaps over the hills, and springs across the mountains. Whence also,
according to the truth of the ascension, he did not ascend into the heavens after the
resurrection from a valley, but from a mountain. Unless we are mountains in virtues, we
cannot ascend to heaven. For there, that is, in the mountains of Zion, in the virtues, in
the confession of faith, in the truth of the doctrines, there is the blessing and life for
evermore. Our life is Christ. He who confesses Christ receives life unto the ages of ages.
Amen.

HOMILY 46, ON PSALM 133

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 Behold now, bless the Lord, all you servants of
the Lord. This is the last psalm of the Song of Ascents. The first of the gradual psalms
had been: 'To the Lord, when I was in tribulation, I cried, and he heard me.' In the
second he had climbed higher: 'I lifted up my eyes to the mountains.' In the third: 'I
rejoiced in the things that were said to me.' In the fourth: 'To you I have lifted up my
eyes, you who dwell in heaven.' See how little by little he ascends through the steps, and
arrives at loftier things. It would take long, if we wished to recite the openings of the
individual psalms, that is, of the steps. He comes to the thirteenth psalm—nay rather, he
comes to the twelfth—and after all the virtues he set humility. For in vain do we have
virtues, if the virtues themselves are not crowned by the humility of the Lord. For what
did he say? 'Lord, my heart is not exalted, nor are my eyes lifted up.' Since therefore he
had shown himself to be humble, he asks for the coming of Christ. And what does he say?
'Remember, Lord, David, and all his meekness.' And again in another place: 'For the sake
of David your servant, turn not away the face of your Anointed.' Since he had received
Christ, after the faith of Christ he gathers the church.

3 And what does he say? 'Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell
together in unity.' But since the brethren are gathered together in unity, and the church
of the Lord is gathered, what does the very last psalm say? Behold now, bless the Lord,
all you servants of the Lord. Since it is good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together
in unity, and you are gathered together as one: Behold now, bless the Lord. Now bless,
after the coming of Christ, because you are gathered in him: now bless, in the last psalm
of the steps, because you are gathered at the summit of the virtues. Therefore before you
reached the fifteenth step, that is, the height, you could not bless the Lord. So now I
say to you, behold now, bless the Lord. When 'behold' is said, in a way the thing is
pointed out with the finger. Behold now, bless the Lord. Who are to bless the Lord? All
you servants of the Lord: you who are not servants of sin, but servants of the Lord. Do we
think it a small thing to say, 'I am a servant of the Lord'? It is the highest virtue to
deserve this. Just as a man claims a kind of rank who says, 'I am a servant of the
emperor,' and no one dares approach the emperor's servant: so it is an infinite dignity to
say that one is a servant of the Lord.

4 And so the apostle too glories in the servitude of the Lord, and writes at the beginning
of his epistles: 'Paul, a servant of Christ.' And of Moses it is said: 'And not as Moses
my servant, to whom I spoke face to face.' See what he says. To the rest I spoke in a
vision and in a riddle: but not as to Moses my servant, to whom I spoke face to face. Let
us take an example. Let us suppose there is some very rich master: he has a household, he
also has servants who wait upon him: surely the servants who are out on the country
estates do not have as much confidence as those who serve him daily? Great is the dignity
of the one who sees the master's face and serves him. In short, the other servants, who do
not see their master's face, if they wish to obtain something, ask a fellow-servant. Why
have I said all this? Our Lord Jesus Christ himself also has a large household: he has
those who serve him, as it were, before his face, and he has others out in the fields.
Monks and virgins I take to be those who serve their Lord before his face; but the laity,
who are as it were in the field, belong to the household. In short, those who are in the
fields ask these others to entreat the master, if they have any need.

5 As great, therefore, as is the dignity of those who daily see the master's face, so
great is their punishment, if they neglect the master's service. For bad servants, when
they are in the field, are wont to fear the master more, because they do not see him: but
if they begin to see him daily, they grow contemptuous, and familiarity breeds pride. And
so we too ought not, out of habit, to despise the goodness of our Lord. Bless the Lord
therefore, all you servants of the Lord, you who are not servants of sin, but servants of
the Lord: all you servants of the Lord, who have the Lord alone as God: all you servants
of the Lord, over whom anger does not command, over whom lust does not reign, over whom
other sins do not reign. Those over whom the vices have no dominion are ruled by the Lord.
All you servants of the Lord.

6 It seems to have stopped here: but see the increase. It is not enough only to be a
servant of the Lord, unless the servants themselves also stand. For there are some who
stand, others who fall, others who sit, others who lie down. Therefore those who fall, who
sit, who lie down—they cannot praise the Lord: you who stand, praise him. But someone may
say: Others stand too, there are many churches, there are many congregations. Who then
stand? Do the Arians stand? They name Christ—the Eunomians too, and the other heresies: do
they then stand? So then, lest he should seem to grant them license to praise the Lord,
see what he says. You who stand in the house of the Lord. So that, as the apostle says:
'until I come,' he says, 'that you may know how you ought to order the house of God, which
is the church.' The church does not consist in walls, but in the truth of doctrines. The
church is there, where the true faith is. Yet fifteen and twenty years ago the heretics
possessed all the walls of the churches. For twenty years ago the heretics possessed all
these churches. But the true church was there, where the true faith was. Therefore bless
the Lord, you who are servants of the Lord. 'Praise is not comely in the mouth of a
sinner.' Therefore praise, you who are servants of the Lord: you who both are servants,
and stand.

7 You who stand. 'He set,' he says, 'my feet upon a rock.' And to Moses: 'But you, stand
here with me.' 'God stood in the assembly of the gods.' And you who stand, not just
anywhere, but in the house of God. 'In the courts of the house of our God' is not found in
the Hebrew volumes: but it is in the following psalm. For how does it run in that psalm?
'Praise the name of the Lord, praise the Lord, you servants: you who stand in the house of
the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.' Since therefore this psalm has, 'You who
stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God,' for this reason
someone thought that in the psalm which precedes as well, at 'You who stand in the house
of the Lord,' he ought to add, 'in the courts of the house of our God.' But what 'in the
courts of the house of our God' signifies, and what the difference is between the house
and the courts, will be discussed when the following psalm is read.

8 In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. 'This world is set in the power of
the evil one,' and 'our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of
these darknesses.' Whence the apostle also says: 'The night is past, and the day is at
hand.' Therefore this present age is the night: but the age to come is the day. Whence the
apostle says: 'The night is past, and the day is at hand. Let us walk honestly, as in the
day,' he says. As we are to live in the day, that is, in the age to come, so let us now
live. In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. Whether we will or not, we are
in the nights: as long as we are in this age, we are in the nights. The night has
darkness: and the nights of these darknesses are the sins of men. See, therefore, what he
says: In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. 'While,' he says, 'you are in
this age and are in the nights, lift up your hands.' Do not let them down, but lift them
up: lift them up with Moses. If you lift up your hands, Amalek is conquered: but if you
let them down, Joshua is overcome. And at the same time consider the mystery. If we lift
up our hands, Jesus conquers. If we lift up our hands in good works, through our good
works Christ overcomes the devil.

9 And hands are interpreted as works. Whence it is written: 'The word of the Lord came by
the hand of Haggai,' 'The word which came by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.' Surely the
word of the Lord does not come by the hand, but comes in the mouth. But see the mysteries
of Scripture. God does not come to speech, except to good works. For a murderer too
confesses Christ, and yet the Lord does not come to him, because his hands do not deserve
the Lord's coming. Whence it is written in another place: 'In the hand of the tongue are
death and life.' Does the tongue then have a hand? Tell me, why is it said, 'In the hand
of the tongue are death and life'? See what he means. God does not hear the tongue, not
words, but works: so that whoever says something may also do it. It is commanded us,
therefore, in the last psalm of the steps, In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy
place. 'Lift up,' he says, 'your hands, because Jesus too lifted his up on the cross.' In
the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. Why did he wish to add, and to say,
'unto the holy place'? Heretics too seem to lift up their hands, and pagans seem to lift
up their hands, and Jews seem to lift up their hands. For they too give alms: if they see
a poor man, they hold out their hand.

10 When a Jew gives alms, does he not seem to you to lift up his hand? He does indeed lift
up his hand, but he does not lift it up unto the holy place, because he does not confess
Christ. But you who are in the house of the Lord, you who stand in the house of the Lord,
in the courts of the house of our God: you who are servants of the Lord, to whom I had
said, 'Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity':
lift up your hands in such a way that you lift them up in the holy, that is, that you
confess Christ, and that whatever you do, you do for Christ. Good deeds differ according
to the character of the one doing them. For example, a Christian gives alms, a pagan also
gives, a Jew also gives, and another Christian, a holy man, gives too. You may find some
among Christians who give alms for this reason, that they may be praised by the people.
Whenever a poor man asks, they look about this way and that; and unless they see a
witness, they give no money. If he is alone, the hand is more closed; he does not give
willingly. O you Christian, a poor man asks you to give him money: why do you not give in
secret, but give in public? If you seek God as your witness, why do you look for human
eyes?

11 Your almsgiving seems to be almsgiving among the ignorant, but before God it is an
injury: for you do an injury to your brother, since you wish to put the beggar on display
while others look on. When, therefore, we give, let us not give as if from what is our
own, but from what is Christ's: we ought not to give as to a beggar, but as to a brother.
We give carnal things, he gives spiritual things: the poor man gives more than he
receives. We give bread, which is consumed that very day; he for the bread will repay us
the kingdoms of heaven. So this is what I say: that whatever we do, we should do in the
holy; that what we do, we should do for Christ's sake. Moreover there are many pagans who
give alms: if they see someone with a hand cut off, if they see him with a cancerous and
rotten foot, at once their soul grieves: the human soul is overcome by natural pity. And
what does such a one say? 'Look, if I were like this, wretch that I am, what would I do?
And it may happen that I become like this: who will give to me? So I too ought to give to
this man: so that someone may give to me as well, if I become like him.' This man indeed
gives the poor man bread; but in the poor man he pities himself, not the other.

12 This mercy is not the mercy of Christ, but mercy for oneself. Everything, therefore,
that we do, let us do for Christ's sake, let us do in the holy. 'Whether we eat or whether
we drink, let us do all things in the name of Christ.' We read the Scriptures, we learn
the psalms by heart, we hold fast the gospels, we expound the prophets: we ought not to do
this in such a way as to boast among the brethren, but so as to please Christ, so that his
word may resound in our mouth. Men are wont, and monks are wont, and even poor little
women are wont to have this rivalry among themselves, to learn more of the Scriptures by
heart; and they think themselves the better in this, if they have learned more by heart.
He has learned more who does more: for what you learn by heart, I do: my works retain the
Scriptures more than your speech, which resounds emptily. In the nights lift up your hands
unto the holy place. Lift up your hands, lift up the banner of the cross. In the nights
lift up your hands unto the holy place: and when you have lifted them up unto the holy
place, and have done the things that are holy, let Christ be, as it were, the healing balm
of your good works. And bless the Lord. Whence the apostle too says: 'In every place
lifting up pure hands.' And bless the Lord. Whatever you do, refer it to the Lord.

13 Let the hands be lifted, let the mouth resound with Christ. In the nights lift up your
hands: give alms to the poor man. And bless the Lord: give thanks to the Lord, who gave to
you the means from which you might give to your brother. You should give thanks to Christ
more, when you have given, than the brother who received from you gives thanks to you. The
poor confer a great benefit on us. Our sins, which we can no longer wash away in any other
way, almsgiving extinguishes. For what is written? 'As water extinguishes fire, so
almsgiving extinguishes sins.' Almsgiving accomplishes the same as baptism. As baptism
forgives us our sins, so almsgiving too forgives us our sins. As water extinguishes fire,
so almsgiving extinguishes sins. For the fires of gehenna are prepared for sins: but
almsgiving extinguishes them. 14 May the Lord bless you out of Sion, he who made heaven
and earth. You bless the Lord, and the Lord blesses you. Out of Sion: from the watchtower,
from the church, from true doctrines, from pious faith. May the Lord bless you out of
Sion. These little verses the Holy Spirit speaks, or certainly the prophet speaks in the
Spirit. And what does he say? O you who through the fifteen steps have climbed to the
last, who have done this and that, who bless the Lord, who in the nights lift up your
hands unto the holy place and bless the Lord—receive, you too, your reward. May the Lord
bless you out of Sion. What you have given, receive back. You gave alms, you performed
good deeds: from God you obtain a reward and a blessing. May the Lord bless you out of
Sion. Out of Sion: from the heavenly Jerusalem, in the mother of the firstborn, where the
joys to come are, where the archangels are, where the other powers are, where the
apostles, where the prophets, where the saints, where the martyrs, where the multitudes of
angels and of saints follow, wherever the Lamb goes. In short, John too saw the holy city
let down from heaven, built up with gems, having twelve gates. It was all golden: it had
golden walls, and it had streets of various gems. In this city Christ reigns, in this city
the inhabitants themselves are both inhabitants and gates, they themselves are both houses
and inhabitants.

15 Do you wish to know that they are houses? Christ dwells in them, Christ walks about in
them. 'I will dwell,' he says, 'in them, and I will walk about.' See how great the holy
soul is: it contains Christ, whom heaven does not contain. See what he says. 'I will
dwell,' he says. But it can happen that someone dwells in cramped quarters. 'I will dwell,
and I will walk about in them.' Wherever he walks about, surely the house is spacious,
where there is room to walk. 'You are,' he says, 'the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit
dwells in you.' Let us prepare our temple, that Christ may come and dwell in us: that our
soul too may be Sion, that it may be a watchtower, that it may be set upon the heights,
that it may be above, not below. We read in the prophet Zechariah: 'And the angel,' he
says, 'who spoke in me, said to me.' If an angel spoke in the prophet, how much more does
he who dwells in us have us both as his houses and as his conversation-partners?

16 May the Lord bless you out of Sion, he who made heaven and earth. If you are holy, hear
what he says, 'who made heaven': if you are a sinner, 'who made earth.' He made both
heaven and earth. For the moment let us speak according to the letter. He said this to
distinguish God from the idols. 'The gods,' he says, 'who have not made heaven and earth,
let them perish from the earth.' 'But the Lord made the heavens.' This he says to
distinguish God from the idols. This much for now according to the letter. But according
to the spiritual understanding, just as it is said to the sinner, 'You are earth and unto
earth you shall go,' so also to the holy one it is said, 'You are heaven and unto heaven
you shall go.' Why have I said all this? To prove that the saints are heaven. 'The heavens
declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the works of his hands.' 'And let
the waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord.' 'The heavens of
heavens are the Lord's.' Who made heaven and earth. Although we are earthly, although we
walk upon the earth, yet our citizenship is in the heavens: there we have our
commonwealth. Who made heaven and earth. Although you are a sinner, do not despair: the
Lord is almighty. Many from earth become heaven, and many from heaven become earth.
Unhappy Judas was heaven, and became earth.

17 The apostle Paul, at the time when he was persecuting the church, was earth: he
confessed, and became heaven. Neither should he who is heaven be complacent; nor should he
who is earth despair of life. Jacob, at the time when he was fleeing his brother into
Mesopotamia, came to Luz: and there, it says, he placed a stone for himself at his head.
Under his head the stone was Christ. He never placed a stone at his head, except at the
time when he fled his persecutor. When he remained in his father's house, as long as he
was in his father's house and had the comforts of the flesh, he did not have a stone at
his head. He departed from his home naked, he departed with a staff; and at once, that
very night, he found a stone, and placed it at his head. Because he had such a pillow on
which to take his rest, see his vision. 'He saw,' it says, 'a ladder reaching from the
earth to heaven; and he saw,' it says, 'angels descending and ascending.' He saw angels
coming from heaven to earth, and others ascending from earth to the heavens. Do you wish
to know that that stone, which was at Jacob's head, was Christ the cornerstone? 'The stone
which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.' That stone which is
written of in the book of Kingdoms, Ebenezer. That stone is Christ.

18 And Ebenezer is interpreted 'stone of help.' 'Jacob arose,' it says, 'in the morning.'
And what did he say? 'This,' he says, 'is the house of God.' And what did he do? 'He
took,' it says, 'oil, and anointed the stone.' Unless we understand the mysteries of the
Scriptures, what reason was there that he should anoint the stone with oil?

HOMILY 47, ON PSALM 135

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Confess to the Lord, for he is good. And yet, even
though heretics say that there is no repentance, still the prophet urges us to confess our
sins. For God is good. Blessed, therefore, is he who confesses his sins, just as the
apostle also says: "I who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
Church of God." If an apostle confesses, how much more the sinner? And again: "The just
man is his own accuser at the beginning of his speech." If, then, the just man is, how
much more the sinner? Confess to the God of gods. He means these gods, of whom it is
written: "I have said, you are gods." And again: "God stood in the synagogue of the gods."
Those who cease to be men, and abandon their vices, and are made perfect: these are gods,
and sons of the Most High.

2 Confess to the Lord of lords. This is referred to the Son, and "to the God of gods" to
the Father. To the Father, then, and to the Son we confess: for the Father is in the Son,
and the Son in the Father. Who alone does great wonders. First he said, "Confess to the
God of gods"; and again, "to the Lord of lords." And since he named two persons, now he
says, "Who alone does great wonders," so that he may not speak of two gods. For it is
written: "One God, from whom are all things; and one Lord Jesus, through whom are all
things, and we through him." Who made the heavens with understanding. These are the
heavens which "declare the glory of God," who have put on the image of the heavenly One:
and there are heavens who have not put on the image of the earthly one. With
understanding, in wisdom: for Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, just as
Wisdom herself also says in Proverbs: "When he made the heavens, I was with him," and the
rest.

3 Who established the earth upon the waters. Although the earth is said to hang upon the
waters, that is, to hang in the sea, yet he founded and established our earth in baptism.
He did not say, "he lifted up," or "he exalted," or "he made it ascend into the heavens."
For baptism forgives sins, and frees us as if from prison: but it cannot grant the
kingdoms of heaven. For unless someone enters through works and faith, he cannot be
secure. Who made the great lights. According to the letter he speaks of the stars.
Although we behold them as small, yet they are great. For just as with us, if we climb a
high mountain, and see a man in the valley below, he seems to us as if something small: so
also the stars are great, but from their height they seem small to us. For the star that
is seen in Britain appears everywhere as well. But he says this to those to whom he said:
"You are the light of the world."

4 Who divided the Red Sea into divisions. The Hebrews say that the sea was divided into
twelve divisions, that is, one way for each tribe. And it is called "Red" from the blood.
And he shook off Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. Well did he say, "he shook off": for
he shook off his sins, and he did not do penance; therefore he died. Just as he also says
to Jerusalem: "Shake off your dust." Who struck the great kings. First he struck Pharaoh,
who is understood to be the devil, and thus his army. For in our humility he was mindful
of us. He did not say, "in wisdom": he did not say, "in riches": he did not say, "in
learning"; but, "in humility he was mindful of us." For although these too are virtues;
yet unless someone has humility, he is not received by God. "For God resists the proud,
but to the humble he gives grace."

5 And he redeemed us from our enemies. He did not say, "he freed," but "he redeemed," that
is, with his own blood. Who gives food to all flesh. Consider for me the elephant, the
camel, the ox, the stag, and these great four-footed beasts, how each one has on its face
eyes, nostrils, mouth, feet. But consider also the tiny creatures, that is, the fly, the
ant, the flea and the rest, and in these tiny ones consider also the eyes, and the
nostrils, and the mouth, and the feet, and all things in like manner as in the greater
ones, and glorify the Lord: and to all these he furnishes food. Otherwise, as it is
written: "And I will take away from them the heart of stone, and I will give them a heart
of flesh," that is, a soft one, with which they may be able to receive the law of God. For
unless someone turns from his hardness, and becomes soft, he cannot receive food, and the
bread which came down from heaven, so that he may be able to say: "Give us this day our
supersubstantial bread," that is, the bread which is of your substance. In the Hebrew
Gospel according to Matthew it has thus: "Give us this day our bread for tomorrow," that
is, the bread which you are going to give us in your kingdom, give us today.

HOMILY 48, ON PSALM 136

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 Super flumina Babylonis illic sedimus et
flevimus, cum recordaremur Sion — "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Sion." If someone is not sick, he does not know how much health is
worth. And again, a lame man does not know how much he is worth who is sound of foot.
Likewise the blind man does not know the one who sees. All this has been said because the
psalm says: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered
Sion." Babylon is interpreted as "confusion": therefore Babylon is this world. So the
sinner who fell from paradise, and came into the valley of tears — that is, into Babylon,
into this world — says (or rather the prophet, in the person of the one who fell, says):
"By the rivers of Babylon." Now, the rivers of Babylon. When you see someone who is
beautiful for a moment, and being sick he loses his beauty, and his flower withers — this
passes like a river, and the waters that follow one another, coming and receding, perish,
and again others rise up, and these too perish: so also in this world, because for a
moment or for some short time we are either enriched, or we are strong, or we are
beautiful, and after a little while it passes like water, and perishes. There, then, we
sat down and wept, when we remembered Sion. Granted that it was indeed by our own fault
that we fell from paradise, nevertheless we call to mind our former happiness, and we do
not forget it. And that man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho — which is interpreted
"moon," that is, that which is always changing (and this is understood to mean this world)
— fell among robbers, and the Samaritan takes him up, and heals him with oil and wine,
mingling severity with mercy.

3 In salicibus in medio eius suspendimus organa nostra — "On the willows in the midst of
it we hung up our instruments." The willow has such a nature: it is indeed a barren tree,
and it is said that if anyone takes a drink from it or eats of it, he does not beget
children. There, then, we hung up our instruments. Now the instrument is the body of man.
For just as an instrument is put together out of many pipes, yet sends forth one melody by
its tuning, so too we have our instrument, the sense of touch: through it, that is,
through works, we render back to God melody and song and hymn. Likewise through hearing,
and through smell, and through taste, and through sight, and through all these faculties,
as though from one instrument, we render back hymn and song to the Lord. It is said,
again, that the willow has no root; but if a branch is cut off, and is planted beside the
water, it at once grows green. So too the sinner, although he has sinned, although he has
fallen: nevertheless, if he is beside the waters — that is, if he reads the holy
Scriptures, and hears the divine word from a holy man — his soul grows green, and is
turned to repentance.

4 Quia illic interrogaverunt nos qui captivos duxerunt nos verba canticorum — "For there
they that led us away captive asked of us the words of songs." The demons, who deceived us
and led us away captive, now, as though mocking us and boasting, say to us: "Give us back
a word about your faith, and just as when you were in Jerusalem, sing a hymn to God."
Quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini in terra aliena? — "How shall we sing the Lord's song
in a strange land?" They answer, those who have sinned and been deceived, and they say:
"How shall we sing you the Lord's song in a strange land, set as we are in our sins, we
who have fallen from Jerusalem into Babylon?" Therefore no one can praise the Lord unless
he is holy. For the sinner ought not to sing to the Lord, but to mourn his sins.

5 Si oblitus fuero tui Hierusalem, oblivioni detur dextera mea — "If I forget you,
Jerusalem, let my right hand be given over to forgetfulness." Therefore, because he has
sinned and fallen, he calls to mind his former way of life and Jerusalem, and he sets
before himself this resolve: that unless I shall always be mindful of you, and always hold
you in mind, let my right hand be given over to forgetfulness — that is, my works. He did
not say the left hand, but the right: for the left hand is always in forgetfulness. Do you
wish, then, always to be in remembrance of the Lord? Do works of the right hand. Adhaereat
lingua mea faucibus meis, si non meminero tui — "Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do
not remember you." That is, let me have neither works nor speech, if the memory of you is
not continually turned over in my heart.

6 Memor esto Domine filiorum Edom, in diem Hierusalem — "Remember, O Lord, the children of
Edom, in the day of Jerusalem." Edom is interpreted as "earthly" and "bloody." Who then is
this, if not the devil? See, then, what he says. This is spoken in the person of Adam:
"Lord, remember how the serpent, the devil — who is understood to be Nebuchadnezzar —
deceived me and dragged me off, and cast me out of paradise. Remember and repay him, and
let him feel the punishment which he by his own malice brought upon me, dragging me and
leading me into Babylon and to the Assyrians." Filia Babylonis misera — "Wretched daughter
of Babylon." The daughter of Babylon is the soul which is always in motion and in
confusion, and has no stability, but is in vices and in sins — which is truly wretched.
"Blessed is he who shall repay you your recompense which you have repaid to us." Blessed
is he who shall repay her what she herself has done. For example: she cast me out of
paradise; I, through abstinence, bring her back there. She deceived me into fornication;
I, through chastity, bring her back into Jerusalem, and out of vices into virtue.
Therefore I do this not as an enemy, but as a friend.

7 Beatus qui tenebit, et allidet parvulos tuos ad petram — "Blessed is he who shall take
hold of and dash your little ones against the rock." The "little ones" are said to be
thoughts. For example: I have seen a woman, I have desired her: at once, if I do not cut
off that desire, and, as it were, take it by the foot and dash it against the rock while
the desire is small, it cannot afterwards be cut off when it has grown. Blessed, then, is
he who cuts it off at once, and dashes it against the rock. And the Rock is Christ.

HOMILY 49, ON PSALM 137

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). I will confess to you, O Lord, with my whole
heart. As the wounds are, so too is the poultice. For just as the body has various wounds,
so too the soul has its passions and its wounds; and against sin we ought to perform a
corresponding repentance. If someone confesses for all his sins, that man confesses to the
Lord with his whole heart. For example, someone has committed fornication, and he
confesses for the fornication: but since he is either greedy, or wrathful, or a slanderer,
or a blasphemer, and has very many vices, that man does not confess with his whole heart.
But if someone performs repentance for all the vices and passions of his soul, that man
can say: I will confess to you, O Lord, with my whole heart. For you have heard all the
words of my mouth. This little verse is not found in the Hebrew. But as for what it says,
this is the meaning: Therefore I will confess to you, O Lord, with my whole heart — that
is, for all my vices and sins, since I have confessed to you not for one vice alone, and
you have heard me.

2 And in the sight of the angels I will sing psalms to you. See the advancement of the
penitent, that after confession and repentance he is counted worthy to sing psalms with
the angels. But he who sings psalms no longer performs repentance, but gives thanks, and
blesses. I will worship toward your holy temple. If this is the temple which now is seen
to be deserted, in which one ought to worship: then the Jews ought not to worship, since
the temple has been overthrown. But by "temple" he means the holy and heavenly Jerusalem.
Upon your mercy and your truth. Let the sinner hear "mercy," but let the just and proud
man hear "truth." You will multiply strength in my soul. You will multiply: that is, that
the soul is subject to many anxieties. Let all the kings of the earth confess to you, O
Lord. The kings of the earth are those who reign in sin. Therefore let those very ones
confess, who reign in sin. For he is not speaking of the kings of this world. For it is
written: "The heart of the king is in the hand of God." Do you suppose that the heart of
the most impious Julian was in the hand of God? God forbid. Or of Nero, or of the
persecutors Maximian and Decius? God forbid. But he is speaking of those who reign in sin,
because those who conquer the vices and passions of the soul and reign over sin, their
heart is in the hand of God. Because they have heard all the words of your mouth: because
they have kept your commandments.

3 And let them sing in the ways of the Lord. The philosophers of this world did not sing
in the ways of the Lord, but we sing in the ways of the Lord, that is, in Moses and Isaiah
and Jeremiah: and from these ways we come to that way which says, "I am the way."

HOMILY 50, ON PSALM 139

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Snatch me away, O Lord, from the evil man. The
devil cannot deceive us so much by himself as he can through the instrument of a man; and
it is from this that the prophet prays to be delivered. Who have devised iniquities in
their heart. He is speaking about the heretics. The venom of asps is under their lips. For
they seem to have words of friendship, yet they are full of death-dealing poison. Beside
the path they have set a stumbling-block for me. That is: by bringing forward testimonies
from the Scriptures, which seemed to have some semblance of reason, they were trying to
deceive me. I said to the Lord: You are my God. Unless a man is holy, he cannot say this
little verse; he who is not reigned over by sin, he it is who says, 'The Lord is my
portion.'

2 Do not hand me over, O Lord, from my desire to the sinner. Scripture says that 'if
anyone looks upon a woman to lust after her, he has already committed adultery with her in
his heart.' So this is what the prophet is saying: Because of my concupiscence, do not
hand me over to the devil; rather, it is well for me to be judged in the deed, and not in
the thought. The head of their compassing about, the labor of their own lips shall cover
them. Just as a serpent, when it sees someone coming to strike it, makes a coil of its
whole body and hides its head in the middle, where it knows its life resides: so too these
heretics, by the discourse of the philosophers and of Aristotle and the rest, seem to hide
themselves, and as it were to shield and defend themselves. But the man of the Church, as
it were with a rod — that is, with the cross — unwinds the coil, and finds the hidden
head, and strikes it there; that is, he brings forth a testimony from the Scriptures.

3 The upright shall dwell with your countenance. And what is the countenance of God, if
not Christ? 'Who thought it not robbery to be equal with God.'

HOMILY 51, ON PSALM 140

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). O Lord, I have cried to you, hear me. Moses was
standing with the people, and Pharaoh was pursuing behind his back, and on every side
there was distress for him. At that time he wept to God, and immediately God said to him:
'Why do you cry out to me?' While he was praying in silence, he was heard; yet Scripture
does not record that he spoke, but only that he wept. And the blood of the martyrs always
cries out to the Lord, and it is heard. And the Lord spoke to Cain: 'The blood of your
brother cries out to me.' And in the Apocalypse of John the souls of the righteous beneath
the altar were saying to the Lord: 'How long, O Lord, will you not vindicate us?' And at
the same time let us consider that the souls of the righteous are an altar to the Lord.
Attend to my voice, when I have cried out to you. That is, see and consider, O Lord, what
I ask of you: for I do not ask of you a bodily desire, or gold, or any such thing of this
world, but that I may obtain mercy. Therefore he says, attend, that is, listen carefully,
because I ask nothing that is foreign.

2 Let my prayer be directed as incense in your sight. That is, let my prayer come straight
to you, having no filth or faults or diabolical thoughts. Now incense is the prayers of
the saints. And this we know from the Apocalypse, when the twenty-four elders held censers
and said: 'These are the prayers of the saints.' The lifting up of my hands an evening
sacrifice. The lifting up of the hands points to the Lord, and in the lifting up of the
hands we behold the Creator. But notice that he did not say, the stretching out of my
hands. For stretching out is not lifting up; but one stretches out both behind his back
and to the side, that is, into faults, just as the Lord too says: 'When you stretch out
your hands to me, I will not hear you.' The evening sacrifice, of the eleventh hour: that
is, in the Gospel I lift up my hands. And again the Apostle: 'Lift up your hands to
prayers.' And when Moses lifted up his hands, Jesus was winning; but when he lowered them,
he was being beaten. If I understand the Scriptures according to the history and according
to the letter, Moses holds his hands downward: but if spiritually, he lifts his hands on
high.

3 Set, O Lord, a guard to my mouth. 'Death and life are in the hands of the tongue.' And
again: 'Amen I say to you, that for every idle word which you have spoken, you shall
render an account on the day of judgment.' This therefore the prophet asks, that
everything he speaks may not be idle, but holy and worthy of God. And set a door of
enclosure to my lips. He asks for a door of enclosure like a wall around the whole house,
so that he may be overcome in nothing. For Jeremiah says: 'Death has entered through your
windows.' Now we have five windows: that is, sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. If
therefore I have looked at a woman to lust after her, I have already committed adultery
with her in my heart; and death has entered through my window, that is, through sight. If
the lyre or the organ or the reed-pipe as it were dissolves me, death has entered through
my hearing. But if I touch something soft, and am unstrung by the softness of the body,
death has entered through my touch, and the rest likewise. Therefore this the prophet begs
for, a door of enclosure, that is, that his whole house may be fortified, so that the
adversary may have no place by which to enter and to lord it over men. For it is said in
the epistle of St. Peter: 'Our adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking
whom he may devour.' The devil does not quickly fight against anyone by great faults, but
by small ones; so that he may somehow or other enter, and lord it over the man, and
afterward drive him into greater faults. Not through fornication, not through avarice, but
through lesser faults does he enter.

4 Incline not my heart to words of malice, to make excuses for excuses in sins. O most
wretched human race, who excuse our sins, saying, I was overcome by nature: when it is in
our power both to sin and not to sin. We always excuse ourselves, and say: I did not want
to sin, my flesh overcame me. That woman came to me, she sent for me, she touched me, she
said that to me, she called me; and instead of doing penance and saying, Lord, I have
sinned, we make excuses and join sins to sins. We all have an equal body, but different
labors. 'God is no respecter of persons.' Do you wish to know that we and the saints have
an equal body? Paul the Apostle says: 'But I see another law fighting against the law of
my mind, and taking me captive in the law of sin.' And again after this: 'Therefore I
chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest, preaching to others, I myself should
be found reprobate.' And again: 'Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?' We have, therefore, different labors; and as much as each one labors,
so much reward also does he receive.

5 With men that work iniquity. From the common sense it is understood: Incline not my
heart with men that work iniquity. And I will not communicate with their chosen ones. Just
as the Lord has his chosen saints, so the devil too has his own chosen ones. Understand
for me the leaders of the heretics, and you do not doubt about their chosen ones. For if
he had said the chosen ones, and not with the qualification 'their,' he would now be
excluding the chosen of God. 'I will communicate' is understood in two ways: either I will
consent, or I will become a second, that is, unclean. For you know that Scripture calls
two things unclean. The Apostle says: 'That he might create both, that is, two men into
one new man': two, the interior and the exterior; that is, making the unclean holy. And
again Noah brought into the ark with him seven and seven of the clean, but two and two of
the unclean.

6 The just shall correct me in mercy, and shall rebuke me. 'Whom the Lord loves he
corrects, and he chastises every son whom he receives.' Blessed is he who is corrected
here: 'the Lord will not requite twice for the same thing.' It is a great wrath of the
Lord, when here he is not angry with us: for he reserves us like a calf for the slaughter.
For to Jerusalem he says: 'Many are your sins and many your iniquities, therefore I will
not be angry with you.' That is, when you were only an adulteress, I was jealous over you
as one who loves you; but when you had many lovers, I despised you, and I will not be
angry with you. Just as a man is jealous over his wife when he loves her; but if he is not
jealous, he hates her, and does not attain to the words of him who says: 'I will visit
their iniquities with a rod.' And again: 'And I will not visit their daughters when they
have committed fornication.' The just shall correct me in mercy, and shall rebuke me. Set
here some teacher, or father, or physician. If a physician sees rotten flesh in a body,
and says, What is that to me? know that he is cruel. But if he cuts it away, and applies
the cautery, he is merciful: because he saves the man. Likewise a teacher too, if he lets
the boy go, and does not demand discipline of him, he hates him.

7 But if he demands it, and like a physician heals him; what is thought to be harshness is
clemency. And Ahab is reproved by the Lord concerning Naboth, when he killed him, and took
his vineyard, and shed innocent blood. Elijah the prophet was sent to him, who said: 'You
have killed, and moreover you have taken possession.' At once, stricken in conscience, he
bowed down his neck and his eyes: and this an impious king, and clothed in purple. And
afterward Scripture says that he went and put on sackcloth beneath the purple. And God,
seeing this, said: 'Because Ahab has reverenced me, I will not bring evil upon him.' See
therefore how much the sackcloth availed, and the fasting, and how much blood a little
tear washed away. So then one ought to wear sackcloth and to fast in such a way that no
one sees. 'Shall correct' is understood in two ways: either he will reprove, or he will
teach.

8 But let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. 'My people, they who call you blessed
lead you astray.' The praise of heretics and their oil, with which they anoint the heads
of men and promise them the kingdoms of heaven, fattens the head. Now every fat thing
Scripture reproves, as it says: 'And Jacob ate, and was filled, and the beloved kicked
back, he grew thick, he grew fat, he grew broad.' But the manna of the angels is thin. For
my prayer also is still in their good pleasures. This he says: They indeed were raging;
but I was praying for them, that they might be converted. Their judges have been swallowed
up, joined to the rock. As elsewhere he says: 'Blessed is he who shall take hold of and
dash your little ones against the rock.' 'And the rock was Christ.' Now the little ones
are the lesser and small thoughts before they grow up. And now these very heretics,
although through Aristotle and Plato they seem to despise the simplicity of the Church,
yet when they have come to the Scriptures they are at once swallowed up by the rock, that
is, by Christ, and are converted to him. For 'swallowing up' is said for victory, as the
Apostle says: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? where, O
hell, is your sting?' Now he calls that very swallowing up a victory, the victory which it
had in swallowing.

9 They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed. The Lord himself says: Those who have
come to me have been overcome, and have been delighted by my words, and have been
converted to me in my Church. As the thickness of the earth. Everything thick is near to
the earth: and the soul that sins clings to the earth. For the Lord from the beginning
made all things thin. By his own fault, therefore, each one is made thick, and is drawn
down to the earth. Let us give an example. As a wound in the body, swelling, is thick, and
is full of pus, when the physician comes he cuts it, and heals it and makes it thin, then
it is brought back to its own nature, as it was also created. Therefore he says: As the
thickness of the earth has been broken up over the earth.

10 And the Savior — Our bones are scattered beside hell — in the twenty-first psalm says:
'All my bones are scattered.' If we understand according to the letter, it does not stand:
since he was only crucified. When you see Arius, Eunomius outside the Church, understand
the bones of the Lord to be scattered beside hell. The bone, which is strong: those very
greater ones, who seem to be something through their much talking and philosophy and
contention, are led astray by the heretics. 11 Keep me from the snare which they have set
for me. Always either heretics or demons stretch snares for us. For faults are near to
virtues. They have set a snare for me in almsgiving, if I stretch out my hand so that men
may see, and, as though doing a good deed, I come into a fault and into sin. But if I give
a tunic to a brother so that another may see, they have set a snare for me. Always nets
are stretched for stags and snares are set, where the hunter has caught their tracks. Now
the stag is taken for the saints: because it is lofty, and has great horns, and kills
serpents. Therefore it is said elsewhere: 'Who made my feet like those of stags.' For it
is said to be of such power that with the breath of its nostrils it draws serpents out of
their caverns and thus devours them. Those very serpents, therefore, that is, the demons,
set stumbling-blocks for us in our very tracks where we walk: in the virtues, in
almsgiving, that we may do it before men for the sake of vainglory: in fasting, in prayer,
in wearing sackcloth, and showing it to men. For he who wears sackcloth ought to mourn his
sins, not to boast and show it to men. And from the stumbling-blocks of them that work
iniquity. That is, that I may not stumble.

12 The sinners shall fall into his net. Above he said, Keep me from the snare which they
have set for me, concerning many; but now concerning one, The sinners shall fall into his
net. Just as the Lord casts a net, and catches a multitude of fish, and has the apostles
as fishermen gathering and bringing to him, that is, those who believe through them: so
also the devil has demons, who are subject to him, who both deceive men and bring them to
him. I am alone until I pass over. Jeremiah says: 'I sat alone, for I was filled with
bitterness.' That is, I was in penitence. Alone: clean, not a second. And Moses says:
'Passing over, I will see this great vision.' Unless he passes over, that is, all the
faults, he cannot see the great vision. Now the vision was great, because the bush was
burning, and was not consumed: the thorns were burning, that is, the sins. By this fire
Isaiah too is cleansed: for this is the coal which touched his lips, which was upon the
altar. Of this coal the prophet David also makes mention: 'The sharp arrows of the mighty
one with desolating coals.' This coal is a desolator: it makes solitude, and purges of
sins.

HOMILY 52, ON PSALM 141

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). The intelligence of David when he was in the cave,
a prayer. This title is prescribed according to history, indeed, when David was fleeing
from the face of Saul in the desert of Engaddi, hidden in a cave; and Saul entered,
unaware, as if on his own account. But since it has in its heading "The intelligence of
David," we ought to understand the psalm spiritually. This psalm is indeed taken also as
referring to the Lord, the true David; and Saul is understood as the devil, the cave as
this world, and the fact that the devil does not send anything good into this world, but
dung, and whatever is rotten. Now this world is understood as a cave, because it does not
have perfect light in comparison with what is to come; but the Lord, coming into this
world, shone forth like some light. Therefore the Apostle also says: "Who is the light of
his glory." Therefore, just as David entered into the cave, hiding himself from Saul, so
too the Lord entered into this world, and suffered persecution.

2 I pour out my prayer in his sight. He said it more expressively: I pour out my whole
heart in the sight of the Lord — just as someone might confess his wound to a doctor, and
tell him all the sufferings he has, so that the doctor may thus apply the cure to him. I
declare my tribulation before him. This is the tribulation which the Apostle enumerates,
which, when counted with the rest, produces hope, and hope does not confound. When my
spirit was failing within me. If the evil spirit that was choking Saul does not fail from
us, the Lord cannot know our paths. And what are the paths of the righteous?
Righteousness, good works, an upright life, chastity, self-restraint, and other things
like these. In this way in which I was walking, they have hidden a snare for me. The vices
are near to the virtues. In whatever way anyone wishes to walk, in that way they set
snares: whether in fasting, or in almsgiving, or in the other virtues.

3 I looked to the right hand and saw: and there was no one who knew me. If we make this
psalm refer to the Lord, the Lord himself is speaking. All my disciples abandoned me, and
fled. One had remained, Peter, who had promised himself, saying, "If I must die for you, I
will not abandon you": and he too denied me. Therefore he said, I looked to him on the
right hand, and he did not say on the left, because Peter did penance. Flight has perished
from me. When he was seized by the Jews. And there is no one who seeks after my soul. For
they all were shouting: "Crucify, crucify." Attend to my supplication, for I have been
humbled exceedingly. Unless someone has been humbled, he is not heard by the Lord. For
what does it profit anyone to pray with words and to keep his neck held erect? But if we
understand it of the Lord: "Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart."

4 Deliver me from those who persecute me, for they have been made stronger than I. Those
who fight against us are stronger than we are, that is, the princes of this world. Bring
my soul out of custody, that it may confess to your name. That is, out of this body. To
confess, that is, to glorify, as he says: "I confess to you, Father." The righteous await
me, until you reward me. The Lord says: The apostles await me, until I rise again from the
dead.

HOMILY 53, ON PSALM 142

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). O Lord, hear my prayer. The words of a humble man,
full of humility and mercy. Give ear to my supplication in your truth. These are the words
of one who trusts. In your truth, that is, in your Christ. 'I am the way and the life and
the truth.' Hear me in your justice. Here too, in your Christ. That is, I do not trust in
myself, but I ask for your truth and your justice, that it may have mercy on me. And enter
not into judgment with your servant. See, he has shown most plainly that he awaits the
mercy of Christ, saying: And enter not into judgment with your servant. Here it is as
though someone judges between God and the prophet, just as it is also written in the
fiftieth psalm: 'That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are
judged.' And God enters into judgment for this reason, that he may punish justly.
Something of this sort was done also by Cyrus, king of the Persians and Medes, to the king
of the Armenians, when he had violated his friendship. He conquered him, and took him
captive; and he made that man's own kinsmen, and his wife, and his sons judge between
them, so that he might justly either show mercy or punish. For in your sight shall no
living man be justified. 'The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob:
the God of the living, and not of the dead.' Therefore not even the patriarchs themselves
will be justified in the sight of God. 'For the stars are not clean in his sight.'

2 For the enemy has persecuted my soul. This needs no interpretation: no one doubts that
it is the devil. He has humbled my life on the earth. This is what he means. Before this I
had wings, and I flew: but now the enemy has persecuted me and seized me, and bound my
feet and my hands; just as a bird is caught by a man, and seems as it were to be dead,
because it does not have the free use of its wings to fly. So too, he says, the enemy has
bound me with the awareness of my sins. He has placed me in dark places, like the dead of
the world. Like the dead of the world: not yet dead. Why? Because he stands in repentance.
But if anyone who sins does not do penance, this man is dead to the world, and not like
one dead, but perfectly dead. This, then, the enemy supposed—that I would not do penance
for my sins, which he himself suggested to me that I should commit. And my spirit was in
anguish over me. 'Do you first tell your sins, and you shall be saved.' And again: 'If you
only sigh for your sins, you shall be saved.'

3 My heart within me was troubled. Because of my conscience, because I sinned. I was
mindful of the days of old. I was mindful of my former days, how I used to have
confidence: but now it is night for me. I stretched out my hands to you. Bound by the
enemy, I can do nothing else except do penance, and lift up my hands to you. My soul is as
earth without water to you. As earth without water thirsts and seeks the rain, so too my
soul longs for and thirsts after you, its God. Hear me speedily, O Lord, my spirit has
failed. My soul has failed, my flesh has failed: my spirit alone remained in me, and it
too has failed: but hear me speedily, and have mercy on me. Make known to me the way in
which I should walk. Make your Christ known to me, who said, 'I am the way.'

4 Your good Spirit shall lead me into the right land. Here the most impious Arians set
before us and say: 'Good Master, what good shall I do, that I may be saved? And he says:
Why do you call me good? No one is good, except God alone.' Therefore if the Son is not
good, but the Father is, the Father is greater than the Son. Therefore according to your
reasoning, most impious Arian, who is greater, the Son or the Holy Spirit? You certainly
say, the Son. Here, then, he says: Your good Spirit shall lead me into the right land.
Therefore if the Spirit, who is lesser, is good, as you say: how much more is the Son
good, who is greater, Christ. But the Gospel has it thus: 'And one of the scribes coming
and tempting him said: Good Master. And he said, Why do you call me good' and do not
confess it? Just as if someone tempting his bishop, whom he despises, should say to him,
Bishop; and the other should answer, I am no bishop to you, depart from me. But have you
not read elsewhere: 'The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep'? But what is
better than the Son, who put on flesh for our sake and suffered, was nine months in the
womb of the Virgin, and coming down from his majesty was in blood, was in the cradle,
suffered to grow little by little, and to be beaten, and to be struck on the cheek, and to
be crucified? What is better than this?


HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS
======================

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS continued

HOMILY 54, ON PSALM 143

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). For the sake of those who do not know the Latin
language, although we have said much about the Gospel, we ought nevertheless to say
certain things also about the Psalter as well: so that, while some are filled, others may
not go away hungry. But since the psalm is long, and if we should wish to linger over each
single little verse, the day will slip away: we ought briefly to run over each individual
point, unfolding the sense rather than the words. Blessed be the Lord my God, who teaches
my hands for the fight. He who interprets briefly gains this: that he himself has no
praise, and yet whatever there is in the interpretation, those who have heard retain it.
Blessed be the Lord my God, who teaches my hands for the fight, and my fingers for war.
Let us lift up our hands in holy things without thoughts and disputes, and let us lift
them up in every place; and when we have lifted up our hands, our prayer to God is a
weapon against the devil. Who teaches my hands for the fight, and my fingers for war. This
is our lyre, this our harp: on this we sing to God.

2 My mercy and my refuge, my helper and my deliverer: my protector. With how many names is
God called! As many benefits, so many names. Who subdues my people under me. This can be
said in the person of Christ, that is, from the assumed man. But it can also be said in
the person of the apostles, that which he says: Who subdues my people under me. This too
the holy father in the monastery says, and gives thanks to God, and says: Blessed be the
Lord my God, who subdues my people under me. For it is not subjected to me, but subjected
to you; therefore it serves me, that it may serve you. 3 Lord, what is man, that you have
made yourself known to him? or the son of man, that you take account of him? This very
thing is said also in the eighth psalm. 'What is man, that you are mindful of him? or the
son of man, that you visit him?' Lord, what is man, that you have made yourself known to
him? He speaks of the frailty of the body and of the human condition: and what does he
say? If you look at the flesh, what is man? If at the spirit, man is a great thing. Let us
not despise the flesh, but let us despise the works of the flesh. Let us not despise the
flesh, which reigns with Christ in heaven. 'Flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom
of God': not flesh and blood, but the works of the flesh. Flesh and blood shall not
possess the kingdom of God. And how do they reign in Christ? and how do we sit with Christ
in the heavenly places? Lord, what is man, that you have made yourself known to him? or
the son of man, that you take account of him? He gives thanks to God, and this is what he
says. As regards the human condition, man is nothing. 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,
said the preacher.' If all is vanity, then heaven too, then the angels too. If heaven and
the angels are vanity, how much vanity is man?

4 And if the angels are vanity, if heaven is vanity, why then did God work vanity? Vanity
in comparison with God: but in itself not vanity. Lord, what is man, that you have made
yourself known to him? That you have made yourself known to him. Great is the happiness of
man, to know his Creator. In this we differ from beasts and from wild animals, that we
understand our Creator, and they do not understand. But even the very posture of the body
seeks out its Maker. For the animals look toward the earth, and there is the belly where
also is the eye. But our eyes are lifted up toward heaven: so that even if the mind should
be blinded, still with unwilling eyes we may see heaven. 5 Man is made like to vanity: his
days pass away like a shadow. Truly our days are like a shadow. I was a little infant, I
was a boy, I was a young lad, I was a youth, I was a man, that is, of perfect age, I was
of middle age. While I know it not, I am an old man. Death creeps up upon old age. I am
changed daily, and I do not perceive that I am nothing. Not for even a single moment of an
hour do we stand in our own state, but we are always either growing or diminishing.
Therefore man is changed by moments, and while he knows it not, he perishes. I, an old
man, recall what I was as a little infant, what I did, how I played, how I ran hither and
thither: now I see myself weighed down with excessive burden. His days pass away like a
shadow. Our life is a shadow: it is seen, and it has no substance. But that which has no
substance quickly passes away. Since therefore man is so wretched, and since he is thus
infirm, what do we pray for? what do we ask? what does the prophet say here? what does he
pray for?

6 Lord, bow down your heavens, and descend. You will not be able to save this vileness of
man, unless you yourself put it on. Lord, bow down your heavens, and descend. Your
straying sheep will not be able to be healed, unless it is carried back on your shoulders.
Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. 'Amen I say to you: if you shall have faith
like a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Pass over, and it shall be
transferred.' There it was being said concerning the lunatic. Concerning that mountain,
which could not be transferred by them, it is written in Jeremiah: 'Give glory to the Lord
our God, before your feet stumble against the dark mountains.' Why have we said all this?
Because now too there follows, Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. The mountains
that reign, the mountains that are raised up through pride, who say 'The rivers are mine,
and I made them.' Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. He did not say, they shall be
set ablaze; but, they shall smoke. Let them have the token of punishment: not of blaze,
not of splendor.

7 Flash forth the lightning, and you shall scatter them. See what he says. He did not say,
you shall destroy them: but, you shall scatter them. We read in Genesis, at that time when
they were building the tower, God says: 'Come, let us descend and confound their tongue'
lest at some time they should have agreement among themselves; but let them be scattered
abroad, it profits them. Send forth your hand from on high. 'Lord, who has believed our
report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?' Send forth your hand from on
high. Lord, bow down your heavens, and descend. This is said to the Son: Bow down your
heavens, and descend. And how does he say, Send forth your hand from on high? If he
descended, how does he send his hand from on high? But although he may be on earth, still
he sends his hand from heaven: for he does not withdraw from heaven. Rescue me and free me
from the many waters. Since you descended, since you bowed down the heavens, and sent
forth your hand from on high, and deigned to assume human flesh, and many believed in you,
in place of one water many waters began to be. You may see diverse heresies scattered
throughout the whole world. Rescue me and free me from the many waters. This the
catechumen says: Free me from the many waters, and grant me the living fountain. For there
is one baptism: 'one faith, one baptism.' Free me from the many waters. For those many
waters do not bring forth your sons, but the sons of strangers. Whence it follows: Free me
from the many waters, and from the hand of the sons of strangers. For they are not your
sons who are born in the many waters, but they are the sons of strangers.

8 Whose mouth has spoken vanity. They promise themselves knowledge, and they raise up
their mouth against their Creator. 'They have set their mouth against heaven.' Whose mouth
has spoken vanity. Their knowledge is the knowledge of vanity. And their right hand is the
right hand of iniquity. Both are condemned, both mouth and hand, both knowledge and works.
Whose mouth has spoken vanity: this to knowledge. And their right hand is the right hand
of iniquity. The right hand, in work. They say that they have a right hand, but they are
wholly left-handed. It is the right hand of iniquity, and not of equity. Whence to such a
left hand it is said: 'Let the devil stand at his right hand.' He who has such a right
hand, and the right hand of iniquity, the devil stands at his right hand. O God, I will
sing to you a new song. A new man, a new song. O God, I will sing to you a new song. 'Sing
to the Lord a new song.' How beautifully he did not say, I sing, but, I will sing. In the
future he made his promise; for in the present he knows there is a battle, not a song. An
army never sings, except when it has conquered. Therefore since in the present I fight, I
have no leisure to sing. When I shall have conquered, then I will sing. On the ten-
stringed psaltery I will make music to you. Then I will stretch out both hands, and on
such strings I will sing to you. My prayer is your psaltery.

9 Who gives salvation to kings. To what kings? 'The heart of the king is in the hand of
God.' Even of Julian the persecutor, and of Nero, and of Decius? The heart of the king is
in the hand of God. Those who reign over their own body, who subject their body and reduce
it to servitude, lest, while preaching to others, they themselves be found reprobate.
These are the kings of whom wisdom says in Proverbs: 'She gives a kingdom to kings.'
Rescue me and free me from the hand of the sons of strangers. The little verses which were
spoken above are repeated again. Whose mouth has spoken vanity, and their right hand is
the right hand of iniquity. Whose sons are like new plantings established in their youth.
From the hand of the sons of strangers. Let us see what sort the sons of the heretics are.
Whose sons are like a new planting in their youth. From the hand of the sons of strangers.
Attend diligently to what is said about the heretics.

10 Their daughters are adorned, decked round about like the likeness of a temple. Their
storehouses are full, belching forth from this into that. Their sheep are fruitful,
abounding in their goings-out: their oxen are fat. There is no ruin of the wall, nor
passage, nor outcry in their streets. They called blessed the people who have these
things. This they said. What do I say? Blessed the people whose God is their Lord. We
shall therefore expound each point briefly for your prayers. Whose sons are like a new
planting in their youth. Their planting is not old, but is new. For it is not from the old
law, it is not from the prophets, it is not from the apostles; but it is from new masters.
Their sons are like a new planting in their youth. In their youth: they are always young.
Although there are many old heresies, still, since they change daily, and daily find new
things, the heresies themselves are new. Although they are old, still, since daily they
renew their doctrines, they are new. For they are not content with the error of the old
masters, but daily they themselves discover new things. Whose sons are like a new planting
in their youth.

11 What is said about the Church, about the one who fears the Lord? 'Blessed are all who
fear the Lord, who walk in his ways.' What is said about them? 'Your sons are like new
olive plants round about your table.' About the table of Christ are those sons, they are
not far from the table of Christ. There daughters are not spoken of, but only sons. But
the heretics have both daughters, and have the frailer sex too, the delights of pleasure.
Their daughters are adorned. The speech is adorned, and the sense is filthy. In the holy
scriptures thoughts are always called sons: words, daughters. See therefore what he says.
Their thoughts, that is, are new sons. But their words, that is of the heretics, which
they have from the wisdom of the world, are adorned: for they have adorned words, elegant
speech. Their daughters are adorned. They do indeed seem to be adorned: but because they
are daughters, and not sons, they have no strength. Decked round about like the likeness
of a temple. Beautifully he said, the likeness of a temple: they do not have the true
Church, but the likeness of a church.

12 Their storehouses are full, belching forth from this into that. They are ready for
contending. If you hold them fast on one testimony, they pass over to another. If you hold
them fast in the scriptures, they flee to Aristotle. If you hold Aristotle fast, they pass
over to Plato. Their storehouses are full, belching forth from this into that. Properly
that is called a storehouse which has riches laid up in it. The heretics have storehouses:
for they have prepared words with which they contend. But the men of the Church are
simple, they have nothing prepared. They open their mouth, and it is filled by the Lord,
according to what is said: 'Open your mouth, and I will fill it' and 'Do not consider what
you shall answer them, for your Father will give you in that hour what you should say.'
You see that we do not have storehouses prepared, but our riches are sudden. Let someone
say: Give a testimony, how the saints do not have storehouses. 'Behold,' he says, 'the
birds of heaven, for they have neither storehouses nor barns: and your heavenly Father
feeds them.' Those birds are especially the monks: they have no storehouses, they have no
pantries, but they have the very Lord of pantries and storehouses, Christ himself. They
have no barns, but the Lord of barns. They have not the riches of the devil, but they have
the poverty of Christ. What does the devil say? 'All these things are mine:

13 if falling down you will worship me, I will give them to you.' What does Christ say to
his own? 'He who will not sell all his things which he has and give to the poor, cannot be
my disciple.' The one promises kingdoms and riches, that he may kill: the other promises
poverty, that he may save. We do nothing great, if we leave our own things: Christ left
the Father and the kingdoms of the heavens for our sake. Let no one think that I have
blasphemed, because I said, he left the Father. I speak according to the dispensation,
according to that in which he is sent, according to what he says: 'The Father, who sent
me, is greater than I.' God is not sent, God is not subjected, does not serve: but the
dispensation is sent. If God is everywhere, and all things are in God, how is God sent to
anything, since all things are God's? Christ therefore for our sake was made poor. Why
have we said all this? Because now it was read, Their storehouses are full, belching forth
from this into that. Beautifully he said, belching forth: from excessive fullness. They
belch from fullness, and perish: we are saved by fasting.

14 Their sheep are fruitful. They have many sons: for the number of heretics is great.
Their sheep are fruitful. Whence it is said also in Hosea the prophet: Lord, give to them.
What will you give them? A barren womb and dry breasts. About whom is this said? About the
masters of the heretics, who applaud themselves in the number of their disciples. Their
sheep are fruitful, abounding in their goings-out. He did not say, in their goings-in;
but, in their goings-out. For they do not go into the Church, but they go out of the
Church. They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they
would surely have remained with us. Abounding in their goings-out. Daily they go out of
the Church. Abounding in their goings-out. What is said about the Church? All her glory,
the daughter of the king, is from within. Their oxen are fat. Pharaoh too saw in a dream
fat Egyptian oxen. Their oxen are fat. The Israelite peoples are lean, the Egyptians are
fat. For you may see that the masters of the heretics do nothing else, except pursue
riches. They pursue riches, and they despise the poor Christ. Their oxen are fat.
Beautifully he says, fat oxen: whose God is the belly, and whose glory is in their
confusion.

15 There is no ruin of the wall, nor passage. Does it not seem to you to be obscure what
is said, There is no ruin of the wall, nor passage, nor outcry in their streets? You will
find heretics unschooled with difficulty: for all the heretic masters are equipped with
worldly knowledge. They do not have the apostolic net, but the little chains of dialectic.
There is no ruin of the wall, nor passage. If ever they are in disputations, when they
begin to dispute with you, their words are so brief, so enclosed with artful speech, that
it is difficult to escape from there. For when they have bound you with their syllogisms,
and have shut you in, and have woven and built up the syllogism for you like a wall, you
cannot fall down, you cannot pass through, you are held enclosed. There is no ruin of the
wall, nor passage. And when they have held you there as though enclosed in a certain ring,
then you will not be on the narrow way that leads to life, but on the broad one that leads
to death. Nor outcry in their streets. Jesus cries out, and calls to himself, and says:
Let him who thirsts come and drink. The outcry of Jesus is on the narrow way; in the
streets of the heretics it is not.

16 They called blessed the people who have these things. Many, not knowing, think such
people blessed. But for us there is Christian simplicity: we do not want Platonic
eloquence, but we want the apostolic simplicity of fishermen. This one holds the net, has
feet and hands muddied from the work; this one has a calloused hand from the work. Blessed
the people whose God is their Lord. Blessed is the people, who instead of all riches have
Christ. Those people have sons and daughters, and storehouses, fruitful sheep, oxen fat
and sleek and comely. But we do not have a multitude, but we know that saying in the
Gospel: Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst.
Fear not, little flock: for it has pleased God to dwell in you. Let not the monks say:
Behold, such great multitudes, the cities are full, the whole world: is no one then saved,
except him who is in the monastery? Behold, such great multitudes: are we then alone
saved? When you have thought this, hear: Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased the
Father to dwell in you. And now it was read in the Gospel, that one soul is saved, so that
two thousand swine perish. Why do I say all this? Because more precious is the soul of one
saint, than infinite multitudes of sinners. Out of the whole world he chose twelve
apostles: out of the twelve one departed, eleven remained. The cross came, ten fled:

17 one Peter remained, one with the One. And that one fled, and would that he had fled:
and he denies. Therefore let us say, the whole human race perished. Since it had perished,
therefore the Lord, being crucified, said: I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the
nations there was not a man with me. At that time the psalm was fulfilled: Save me, O
Lord, for the holy one has failed. There is none who does good, there is none, even to
one. He who had promised, saying If it be necessary for me to die, or to go into prison, I
will not deny you, denied. Why do I say all this? Because the monk ought not to look to
the multitude of sinners, but to the manner of life and the fewness of the saints. All
Judea was being led into captivity. Nebuchadnezzar had come, so many thousands of men were
being led captive into Babylon. Jeremiah alone was there who confessed God, and he himself
was being cast into the pit of mud; and yet more precious was the soul of that one man,
than of the whole people. Do you wish to know what one man does? Jesus the son of Nave,
when the whole earth was inhabited, was alone. Surely there were infinite multitudes, and
he alone was. Alone he commands the sun and the moon, and it stands still; a man bids, and
heaven hears. Heaven hears him, because he himself was hearing the Lord. Jeremiah was in
captivity;

18 but there were also many multitudes. And what does he say? I sat alone, because I was
filled with bitterness. How were you alone in the city? But therefore alone, because I had
no companion of my purpose.

HOMILY 55, ON PSALM 145

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Praise the Lord, O my soul. This psalm has a
heading: Of Haggai and Zechariah. And this we must know first of all, that it is not found
in the Hebrew, but in the Septuagint translators. But let us speak also according to the
common edition, Of Haggai and Zechariah. Since the restoration of Jerusalem is here spoken
of — The Lord shall reign forever, thy God, O Sion, unto generation and generation — they
suppose it to be said, as it were, concerning the restoration of Jerusalem, which took
place under Haggai and Zechariah. 2 Praise the Lord, O my soul. He did not say, praise the
body, but, praise, O my soul; not that he condemned the body, but he condemned the works
of the flesh. Praise the Lord, O my soul. The soul exhorts itself. Just as if David were
to say, Praise the Lord, O David; so too the soul itself says to itself, Praise the Lord,
O my soul. I will praise the Lord in my life. See what it says: it exhorts itself, and it
itself answers. What does it say? It says to me, Praise the Lord, O my soul: I myself
answer, I will praise the Lord in my life. At present I cannot praise, I am weighed down
by sins. As often as I open my lips in the praises of God, so often does the consciousness
of my sins glue them shut. I will praise the Lord in my life. Beautifully he said, I will
praise, not I praise. When I shall have been with my Lord, then I will praise my Lord in
my life. Now I am in death, I cannot praise. I will praise in my life. Our life is Christ:
let us praise the Lord in life. I will sing to my God as long as I shall be. See what it
says. When we do something righteously, we are: but when we sin, we cease to be. There are
many things that might be said, but the discourse hastens to its end.

3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.
This he says generally to all: Put not your trust in princes, not in the emperor, not in
prefects, not in the judges of the world. Put not your trust in princes. Who are the
princes? The sons of men. Who are the sons of men? Those in whom there is no salvation. 4
His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his earth. But when he shall have
returned into his earth, what will happen? In that day all his thoughts shall perish: all
the confidence of princes. All their thoughts shall perish. Put not your trust in princes.
Many have trusted in princes. Today he was, tomorrow he is not. Today the army goes before
him, and in the evening he lies in the tomb. After such great magnitude, such great glory,
no intervals of time intervene: in the same moment is the working of Christ. In the sons
of men, in whom there is no salvation. Who are the princes? The sons of men. If the men
themselves are nothing, what are their sons? His spirit shall go forth. Whose? Man's. His
spirit shall go forth. Here he puts spirit for soul. Father, into thy hands I commend my
spirit. His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his earth. It is not the
spirit that shall return into his earth, for the spirit is not of the earth: but the
spirit shall go forth, and the man shall return into his earth. In that day all their
thoughts shall perish. We ourselves, who are not princes, how many things do we daily
ponder, and say: Tomorrow I will do this, I will pull down my barns, and again tomorrow I
will build them. It is said to me: Fool, this night thy soul shall be snatched away: and
the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? This is said concerning those
who trust in princes. But concerning the holy man, what is said?

5 Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob. These trust in chariots, and these in
horses: but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God. They have more helpers: but
they are princes, but they are men, but they collapse. We have one, who is able to save.
His hope is in the Lord his God. Let us see what the three young men say in the Babylonian
furnace, when Nebuchadnezzar summons them, and compels them to worship Bel: what do they
answer Nebuchadnezzar? O king, we have no need to answer thee concerning this word. God
indeed is able to deliver us from the burning furnace: but even if he shall not deliver
us, know, O king, that we do not worship the image which thou hast set up. See their
faith. We believe, they say, that he is able to deliver us: but if perchance our sins
should hinder it, nevertheless we believe also in him who is unwilling to deliver. For we
do not believe in this life, but in the life to come: we do not believe in him so that we
may not burn here, but so that through these fires we may not pass over to other fires.
Set us aflame therefore, prepare the furnace: this burning, this consuming, is our
purgation. Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob. See the significance of the
words. His helper. And he could not work any sign there because of their unbelief. God is
our helper.

6 He delivers and labors alongside those who are willing and who labor: those who sleep
and lie idle and are unwilling he does not deliver. His hope is in the Lord his God.
Excellently he said, hope: even if in the present he does not deliver, nevertheless there
is hope concerning the future. Who made heaven and earth. This God who made heaven and
earth, the sea and all the things that are in them. In comparison with heaven and earth
and the sea, we men, according to the condition of the flesh, are as if ants and fleas. He
therefore who made heaven and earth, can he not deliver the man whom he made? 7 Who
keepeth truth forever. If a lie oppresses us, let us not be saddened: the Lord keepeth
truth forever. Someone or other has lied against us, and the one lying is believed more
than we who speak the truth. We ought not to despair: the Lord keepeth truth forever.
Beautifully he said, keepeth. He keeps it, and holds it in his treasury: he will give back
to us what he has preserved. Who keepeth truth forever. Christ is truth: let us speak
truth, and truth preserves truth for us. He executeth judgment for them that suffer wrong.
Even if it comes late, do not despair: coming he shall come, and shall save. He executeth
judgment for them that suffer wrong. Let this alone be in our conscience, that we suffer
unjustly. Let us hold this in our conscience, that we do not suffer on account of our
sins, and that we do not do that of which we are accused. He giveth food to the hungry.
And according to the letter it is profitable; and even if it be understood simply, it
edifies the hearer. Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, and your
heavenly Father feedeth them. He giveth food to the hungry. To the hungry he gives, not to
those who belch. He therefore who as a monk has nothing, let him confidently receive: he
who has and is belching, let him not receive. You know that you are hungry, you know that
you have nothing:

8 if you are hungry and have nothing, you rather confer a benefit, if you receive, than is
bestowed on you. But if you have and are not hungry, you ought not to take away the food
of the hungry, so that you, being sated, may receive. Receive what you may put into your
belly, not what goes into your purse: receive a tunic that may cover your body, not one
that may fill your chests. He giveth food to the hungry. This according to the letter. Let
us speak also in another way. Let us hunger for Christ, and he himself gives us the
heavenly bread. Give us this day our daily bread. Those who say this, hunger: those who
desire bread, hunger. He who says, Give us this day our daily bread, surely speaks as one
hungering. He giveth food to the hungry. Someone supposes that he speaks of the heavenly
bread from the mysteries. And this indeed we receive, since it is truly the flesh of
Christ, and truly the blood of Christ. But let us speak also in another way. The bread of
Christ and his flesh is the divine word and the heavenly teaching. Whoever shall have
received this bread and been sated, what will happen? What?

9 The Lord looseth them that are fettered. If this bread shall have refreshed our soul,
that is, the divine word and the heavenly teaching, at once our feet, which had been
bound, are loosed. The Lord looseth them that are fettered. Lazarus too was bound; and he
said: Loose him. The Lord looseth them that are fettered. And the daughter of Abraham had
been bent over and bound for eighteen years; she is loosed, and looks up to heaven. See
what is said there in the Gospel. And behold, it says, there was a certain woman, who had
a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years: and she could not, it says, lift up her neck.
Because she had a spirit of infirmity, she could not lift her neck upward. The Lord
looseth them that are fettered. These same fetters are also works: since indeed the same
sins, which take our necks captive, also bind our feet. Whoever is fettered cannot run.
Whoever is fettered cannot run in the stadium of Christ: for the feet are weighed down by
fetters, and are pressed to the ground, and fasten us to the earth. The Lord looseth them
that are fettered. See the order. He giveth food to the hungry: first we hunger, then we
receive food. But when we shall have been sated, our feet, which had been fettered, are
loosed. And when they shall have begun to walk freely, what follows? The Lord enlighteneth
the blind. See what it says.

10 If he were speaking of these blind men, he ought to have said, The Lord enlighteneth
the blind. But he did not say this: but according to the Hebrew and Greek truth, what did
he say? The Lord maketh the blind wise. If he were speaking of these eyes of the flesh, he
ought to have said, The Lord enlighteneth the blind: but now indeed he says, The Lord
maketh the blind wise. If ye were blind, he says, ye should have no sin. Our heart has
been blinded by the darkness of sins. Foolishness and stupidity are the darkness of our
eyes. When therefore we hungering shall have been refreshed, and our feet shall have been
freed, then also the eye of our heart will begin to see the light which it had once lost,
and to have wisdom. If one shall have been made wise, what follows? 11 The Lord raiseth up
them that are cast down. And if you were lying down, be secure: the Lord stretches out his
hand. The Lord loveth the just. I see two things: he loves, and he guards. He who loves,
loves it as his own: but he who guards, guards him who is set in danger. The Lord loveth
the just. Whoever is just and perfect, he is loved; but whoever is a stranger, and has not
come to the servitude of the Lord, he is preserved.

12 The Lord keepeth the strangers: he will take up the orphan and the widow. And according
to the letter it is profitable. He will take up the orphan and the widow. O martyr, you
who are held fast to shed your blood for me, do not be anxious about your children, do not
be anxious about your wife: they have me in your place. Let us speak also according to the
spirit. He will take up the orphan and the widow. He will take up the orphan, who had lost
God his father through sins. And he will take up the widow. The widow, that is, that soul
which had lost Christ her husband. But see what it says. The orphan and the widow: he did
not say, he will guard: he did not say, he will save: but, he will take up, if she return
to the father, if she come back to the husband. And the way of sinners he will destroy. He
did not say, sinners he will destroy: according to the first psalm, And the way of the
ungodly shall perish. If the way of the just is Christ, the way of sinners is the devil.
And the way of sinners he will destroy. The way, therefore, of all sinners is the devil,
him he will destroy: but us he will save, who walk along it, and are unlearning to walk.

13 The Lord shall reign forever. When the way of sinners shall have perished, then the
Lord shall reign forever. He did not say, unto the age: but, unto the ages. As long as the
way does not perish, Christ does not reign in us: as long as the way of sinners does not
perish, Christ does not reign in us. As long as our feet walk in the way of the devil,
Christ does not reign in us. I grow angry without cause with my brother: I walk in the way
of the devil, Christ does not reign in me. I disparage my brother: I walk in the way of
the devil, Christ does not reign in me. In whatever sin I shall have walked, I walk in the
way of the devil, Christ does not reign in me. My mind is empty, and is dragged off in
different directions. I am in one place, and my mind wanders through the whole world. It
holds angels in the world, it holds kings, it holds armies, it holds the world: one monk
it cannot hold. Why do I say all this? Because of those who wander through the whole
world, and cannot sit in one place. Thy God, O Sion, unto generation and generation. Thy
God, O Sion. We have frequently said that Sion is interpreted as a watchtower, or the
Church, or the soul contemplating God. Thy God, O Sion, unto generation and generation. In
the first generation, of the Jews; in the second, from the Gentiles.

14 In all the scriptures and in all the psalms, generation and generation is said, so as
to signify two peoples. But we can also say it in another way: The Lord shall reign
forever, thy God, O Sion, in this generation and in the generation to come. Let Christ
reign in us: let not sin reign in our body. The heart of the king is in the hand of God.
Let us be kings: let us rule over our body, and subject it, and let our heart be in the
hand of Christ. To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY 56, ON PSALM 146

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good. The one
hundred and forty-sixth psalm is headed with the title "Alleluia." Those who do not know
the Hebrew language, when they see "alleluia" set at the head of a psalm, are wont to ask
what it means. This psalm, then, has "alleluia" not only in its title, but also at the
very opening of the psalm. For where it says "Praise the Lord," in the Hebrew it says
"alleluia." For God among the Hebrews has ten names: he is called Sabaoth, he is called
Saddai, he is called Eloim, he is called El, he is also called Iao, he is called Eser
Iaia. Among the other names there is one name which is called "Ia." Now "Ia" is
interpreted "invisible." Where therefore we say "praise," in the Hebrew it says "allelu."
So here it says "allelu Ia," just as if one were to say "allelu Sabaoth," "allelu Saddai,"
"allelu Eloim": so therefore even now it says "allelu Ia." Finally Theodotion, who is one
of the translators, wishing to declare the truth of the interpretation, says "praise Ia"
(αἰνεῖτε τὸν Ἰα). Why have we said all this? So that we may know that in this psalm
"alleluia" is set at the head. Praise the Lord. This interpretation, once we have gone
out, will be pondered in your hearts; but for now the discourse will be extended further.

2 Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good. He did not say "a good psalm," but absolutely, "a
psalm is good": that is, it is a good thing to sing psalms. But to sing psalms not with
the voice, but with the heart. How many have a good voice, and, because they are sinners,
sing badly! He sings well who sings in his heart, who sings to Christ in his conscience.
Let praise be pleasant to our God. Let the praise be pleasant, not with the voice, but
with the conscience. Finally, Noah too offered victims, and the Lord smelled the odor of
sweetness. There are many things that might be said: but we ought briefly to touch on the
highest points, so that we may point out the meaning rather than broader words. The Lord
who builds Jerusalem shall gather together the dispersions of Israel. How Jerusalem is
built, how the dispersion is gathered together, has already been said. Since therefore
these two little verses have been discussed, and we ought not to build upon another's
foundation, let us pass on to what remains. Let us therefore see how Jerusalem is built:
for in what follows the prophetic word has described it.

3 Who heals the contrite of heart. You see how Jerusalem is built: the contrite of heart
are healed. A contrite and humbled heart God does not spurn. And who binds up their
bruises. Do you crush your own heart, and the Lord will bind up your bruises. That
Samaritan who was coming down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he saw the wounded man lying
in the road, bound up his wounds. This is the one of whom now too it is said, And binding
up their bruises. This is said of those who do penance. But of those who do not do
penance, it is said: There is no way to apply a poultice, nor oil, nor bindings. 4 Who
numbers the multitude of the stars. What is the connection, according to the letter,
between "And binding up their bruises" and "who numbers the multitude of the stars"? But
because he healed the contrite of heart and bound up their bruises, those who before had
been contrite, and afterward were healed, he turns into stars. Who numbers the multitude
of the stars. The multitude. For many were those who sinned: many are those who have been
cured. Who numbers the multitude of the stars. He does not number the wounded, but he
numbers those who have already been turned into stars: God numbers none but those who are
worthy of his number. And calling them all by their names. Because he speaks of Lucifer
and of Orion, of those things which we see in the sky, this indeed can be understood: for
God is wonderful, who made heaven and earth and all things that are in them. But let us
understand it in such a way that what happens every day may profit us. And calling them
all by their names. Do you wish to know how stars are made out of the contrite? It is
written in Genesis that God led Abraham out, and showed him the stars, and said to him: So
shall your seed be. And calling them all by their names. From Abram he calls him Abraham:
he was called Abram in Chaldea, and in heaven he is called Abraham. At that time when he
was made a star, he is also called Abraham. He who before was Saul, afterward is called in
heaven Paul. John and James, sons of thunder: thunder is surely in heaven. And so the
stars are numbered, the countless saints are numbered: and Christ alone cannot be
numbered.

5 Great is our Lord, and great is his power, and of his wisdom there is no number. Great
is his power: Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. And of his wisdom there is
no number. Christ is wisdom: and the one wisdom cannot be numbered. The Lord who lifts up
the meek. What are those stars? The Lord who lifts up the meek. The meek are turned into
stars. But the just shall shine like the stars of heaven: Daniel says it. But bringing
down sinners even to the ground. See the difference of things. Angels fall down to the
earth: men go to heaven. The Lord who lifts up the meek. Meekness calls up to heaven:
pride drags down to the earth. But bringing down sinners even to the ground. Sing to the
Lord in confession. This David fulfilled: he who had offered us examples of righteousness,
offered us also examples of penance. For he taught us how we ought to do penance, himself
doing it. See, holy prophets, that not only their righteousness has profited us, but also
their sin. Sing psalms to our God upon the harp. Let no string of the virtues be broken;
let all the strings of the virtues sound together. Sing psalms to our God upon the harp.
The harp has many strings: if one is broken, the sound cannot be produced. So too the holy
man, however holy he may be, if one virtue is lacking, cannot send forth a tuneful sound.

6 Who covers the heaven with clouds. This heaven, which we behold, cannot be covered with
clouds. But there is another heaven, and there are other clouds. And your truth reaches
even to the clouds. Then does the truth of God reach even to those clouds, which are
quickly dissolved when the wind blows? The truth of God is Christ. I am the way and the
life and the truth. Is then the truth of Christ in these clouds, which have not in
themselves the substance of truth? Can it then be that truth is there, where the wind has
power to scatter? I will command, he says, the clouds not to rain rain upon them—that is,
upon the people of the Jews. The clouds are the prophets: the Lord commanded them not to
rain rain upon Israel. The prophetic word has been turned toward us. These clouds, if they
are dashed against one another, make thunder and lightnings. Who covers the heaven with
clouds. Why did he say, He covers the heaven with clouds? If the clouds are prophets and
apostles, how then is the heaven covered by apostles and prophets? The heaven is the
divine mysteries. Since therefore the mysteries, whatever are divine, are called heaven:
whoever is unworthy, these clouds protect the sacraments from him. If anyone is unworthy,
he cannot receive the sacraments: they are covered by the clouds. Who prepares rain for
the earth. The earth needs rain: our earth, unless it receives rain, the fountain of
doctrines, will bring forth no fruit. When the earth has been moistened by a fountain of
such doctrines, what follows?

7 Who brings forth hay on the mountains. If he were speaking of hay alone, surely hay is
born more in the valleys than on the mountainous places: for wherever the rain is more
abundant, there hay is born more. From the mountains the waters flow down into the
valleys, and grass is born more abundantly. 8 And who gives to the beasts their food. This
Scripture which we read, which we handle, which we have in our hands, is called the
mountains; in the Scriptures Abraham is called a mountain, Isaac is called a mountain,
Jeremiah a mountain, the holy prophets are mountains. These mountains have both grain and
hay. If you are a man, you receive grain from them: if you are cattle, you receive hay.
Men and beasts you will save, O Lord. If you are a beast, you receive hay; if you are a
man, you receive grain: according to your faith you are saved. Who brings forth hay on the
mountains, and gives to the beasts their food. If you are a man, in the holy Scriptures
you receive spiritual understanding: if you are a beast, you receive it according to the
letter, in the Jewish manner. I see a great thing. God, who has been praised with such
great acclamations, is brought down to lowlier things, and it is said: And to the young
ravens that call upon him. If he were speaking of birds, he would rather name eagles or
vultures. And to the young ravens that call upon him. No other bird is named, but the
young of the ravens; and not the ravens themselves, but the young of the ravens. The raven
is not saved, but the young that is born of it. We are the young of ravens: for we are
born of idolatrous parents.

9 We read in Solomon that the eye which mocks its father and the word of its mother, let
the ravens dig it out of the valleys. He did not say "the young of ravens," but the ravens
themselves. For he who is a raven cannot be saved. The raven is sent out from the ark, and
does not return. In the flood it is with the rest: after the flood it is cast out in the
time of prosperity—that is, at that time when there is calm, it cannot be in the ark of
God. If ever there is a storm, if ever a flood, the raven is in the midst: calm returns,
and the raven flees. Who are these ravens? Who are the young of ravens? I think that the
ravens of black color, who always pursue the corpses of the dead, who always with a most
raucous voice provoke quarrels, are demons; and whoever have served the demons, like
ravens, they too take on the color of ravens. Therefore our parents, as we have already
said, who served idols and demons, were ravens. For they are not found except where there
are corpses and filth and foulness and the corpses of the dead. But we who are born of
ravens do not await corpses, but the dew. For the young of ravens are said to live on the
dew. For so the natural philosophers say, that the young of ravens live on the dew. Do you
wish to know yet another mystery about ravens?

10 Elijah, which is interpreted "God the Lord": Elijah—that is, our Lord and
Savior—suffers persecution from the Jews; and is fed by ravens, the people of the
Gentiles. And to the young ravens that call upon him. If you call, you are a young raven:
if you are silent, you are a raven. And to the young ravens that call upon him. We read in
the prophet: And everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If therefore
we take it simply of ravens, then will the ravens too be saved? Answer, Jew: answer, you
who in the Jewish way follow only the letter. You say that these ravens are truly ravens,
you do not interpret spiritually, but carnally: for you say it is written of ravens. If
then it is written of the young of ravens, and here it is said, And to the young ravens
that call upon him: and it is written, Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved: then will the young of ravens too be saved in the resurrection? We therefore,
the young of ravens, call upon him and are saved. Finally the apostle Paul too wrote to
the church of the saints, and wrote also to those who call upon the name of the Lord.

11 He will not take pleasure in the strength of the horse. We promised brevity, and,
compelled by necessity, we have disputed at greater length. We have lied, but the lie is
most useful. Would that Herod had lied and had broken his oath! And so we too promised
lesser things, and, as you prayed, have offered greater things. The hour compels me to be
silent: the greatness of the mysteries compels me to speak. He will not take pleasure in
the strength of the horse. I hear "horse," and a neighing horse: I cannot pass it by. It
is written in the psalter: The horse is a false hope for safety; and in another place: The
horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea. It is even commanded to the king of Israel
that he should not rear horses. Finally Solomon, who brought chariots out of Egypt, was
overcome by pleasure. He will not take pleasure in the strength of the horse. The horse
and its rider he has thrown into the sea. They have become to me as maddened horses after
women, each one neighed after his neighbor's wife—Jeremiah says it. Over such horses,
then, God has no pleasure. We have spoken of the horse. The horse and its rider he has
thrown into the sea. We have said who the horses are: let us say who the riders are. I
think that the horses are sinful men, and the riders are demons who ride upon them. If
ever therefore we see some brother a persecutor: him who is called a brother persecuting
us and being an enemy: let us know that he is a horse. And he is a horse: but the rider is
the devil, who strikes us with his lance. This one runs, and that one strikes. But the
horse itself too is driven by the heels, is pierced, and against its will goes mad.

12 Nor is he well pleased with the legs of a man. See what he says: he did not say, in the
head of a man: he did not say, in the hands of a man: but, in the legs, which are below.
Nor is he well pleased with the legs of a man. The legs here, like the thighs also, are
always taken for lusts. Finally in Ezekiel too God is seen from the loins upward as amber
(electrum), from the loins downward as fiery. Whatever is above, that is gold: whatever is
below, that is prepared for Gehenna. Nor is he well pleased with the legs of a man. Let us
speak according to the letter. Since he had said, He will not take pleasure in the
strength of the horse, and had, as it were, described a warrior man: it seems to me here,
where he said "not in the legs," that he is not naming the legs, but the greaves
(περικνημῖδας). We see therefore that whatever covers the legs does not please God, but
that which is above. It does not please God in strength, it does not please him in the
legs of a man: but it pleases him in his own fear. Might does not please, fear pleases. He
destroys the one who wages war, he raises up the one who prays, he exalts the humble, he
casts down the proud.

13 The Lord is well pleased with those who fear him. One fear casts out many fears. Is it
not better to fear one, that you may not fear many, than to fear many, that you may not
fear one? And with those who hope in his mercy. They hope not in their own works, but in
the mercy of the judge. Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good; for in those who hope in his
mercy is salvation alone. To whom is glory forever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY 57, ON PSALM 147

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O
Zion. Just now we heard the holy presbyter preaching that, because of its transgression of
the law, the Jewish people has been forsaken; and how is it that now it is said, Praise
the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion? Then what follows? For he has strengthened
the bars of your gates. Is it, then, of this Jerusalem that he speaks? Of this Zion?
Praise your God. Why? For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. There are no gates:
and how, then, are the bars kept safe? He has blessed your children within you. How has he
blessed, he who said, Your house shall be left to you desolate? 2 Who has set your borders
as peace. Where has peace been set, which was overthrown by war? And he fills you with the
fat of the wheat. Does wheat have fat? Answer, O Jew, does wheat have fat? If, then, wheat
does not have fat, and you are compelled by necessity to understand it spiritually, then
according to this verse the rest too must be understood. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, "vision of peace. Praise your God, O Zion. Zion is interpreted "watchtower. You
see, then, what he says: Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. Wherever there is a vision of
peace, wherever there is contemplation of God, there let there be praise of God. Praise
the Lord, then, O Church, when you have begun to believe in him and to have peace, and
have begun to see peace: this is Jerusalem, "vision of peace. You who were formerly of the
idols have been made the servant of God: praise, then, your God. But when you have begun
already to have knowledge, and to be a watchtower — this is Zion — praise the Lord: that
is, you praise Jerusalem, you praise Zion, you soul of the Church, you Church. Let not the
heretics praise, let not the synagogue praise, but you praise. Why? For he has
strengthened the bars of your gates. The Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the
tabernacles of Jacob. We said the gates of Zion are the prophets.

3 Since, then, we know the gates of Zion are called the prophets, let us see what the bars
of the gates are. For truly the prophets are the gates of the Church: we cannot enter the
Church except through the prophets. Manichaeus wanted to enter without the gates, and did
not enter. Marcion does not receive the Old Testament, and without the gates of the Old
Testament he could not enter into the Gospel. We, then, receive the gates, the prophets,
and through the gates we enter. But let us see what the bars of the gates are. Many
robbers, many thieves long to enter through the gates. All who came before me were thieves
and robbers. Oh, if only the Lord would grant to me too that I might be a bar of the gates
of Zion! If any of the heretics wished to enter through them into the arrangement of the
Gospel, I would stand in the gates, and I would keep him out. For he has strengthened the
bars of your gates. He has strengthened them. Give me some churchman learned in the
heavenly Scriptures: let Eunomius come, let Arius come, wanting to take away something
from the prophets against us — does he not stand like a bar, does he not conquer like a
bar? For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. Beautifully he said, he has
strengthened: so that when you see a churchman disputing, you should not think that it is
he who disputes, but he who strengthens the churchman.

4 And he fills you with the fat of the wheat. Unless, he says, the grain of wheat shall
fall, it alone shall be saved; but if it itself shall fall, it makes many to be saved. Our
Lord, the grain of wheat, fell into the earth, and multiplied us. But this grain of wheat
is very rich; it has marrow, it has fat, it has richness. And he fills you with the fat of
the wheat. Happy is he who understands the fat in this wheat. We read the holy Scriptures.
I hold the Gospel to be the body of Jesus; the holy Scriptures I hold to be his teaching.
And when he says, He who has not eaten my flesh and drunk my blood — although it can also
be understood in the mystery, yet truly the body of Christ and his blood is the word of
the Scriptures, is the divine teaching. If ever we go to the mystery — he who is faithful
understands — if a little crumb falls, we are in peril. If ever we hear the word of God,
and the word of God and the flesh of Christ and his blood is poured into our ears, and we
are thinking of something else, into how great a peril do we run? And he fills you with
the fat of the wheat. The divine word is very rich; it has in itself all delights.
Whatever you wish is born from the divine word:

5 just as the Jews hand down that the manna, when they ate it, tasted in the mouth
according to each one's desire. For instance, he who ate the manna, if he desired apples,
or a pear, or grapes, or bread, or meat — according to the kind and the desire of the one
eating, so too was the taste in the manna. So too in the flesh of Christ, which is the
word of teaching, that is, the interpretation of the holy Scriptures, as we wish, so also
do we receive the food. If you are holy, you find refreshment; if you are a sinner, you
find torment. And he fills you with the fat of the wheat. He leaves no remnants. He has
blessed your children within you. As many as received him, he gave them power to become
children of God. Who has set your borders as peace. In another psalm we read: And his
place was made in peace. My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you. My peace: not as
the world has peace, since indeed the peace of the world is our war. My peace I give to
you. Have war with the world, and you will have my peace. Who has set your borders as
peace. He, then, who is not at peace with his brother, this man is not within the borders
of Jerusalem. Let someone say: What am I to do?

6 My brother does not want to be reconciled with me — am I then outside the borders of
Jerusalem? As much as it lies in you, he says, having peace with all men. With those who
hated peace, I was peaceable. You, keep the peace: if another is angry, he has war, and
through his war peace is born for you. Do you want to know how there can be both war and
peace? The wretched Judas was coming to the betrayal, and the Lord offers him peace by a
kiss: he creates war out of the kiss. 7 Who sends forth his word to the earth. Answer, O
Jew: if he was speaking of wheat, And he fills you with the fat of the wheat, how does he
now say, Who sends forth his word to the earth? In the beginning was the Word. This Word
is sent forth in the flesh. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Who sends
forth his word to the earth. At that time was fulfilled, The earth has given its fruit.
Who sends forth his word to the earth. He is speaking of the preaching of the Gospel, of
the teaching of the apostles. Then follows: Swiftly runs his word. For into all the earth
his word was heard, and into the whole world the apostolic teaching. One poor man, already
old, preached from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum, and swiftly runs his word. Since,
then, it had come from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum, and his word had run swiftly,
next it follows, and that very word which had said, From Jerusalem all the way to
Illyricum, says: But I wish to go even to the Spains. This the apostle Paul speaks. See
the swiftness of the word. He is not content with the east: he longs to run to the west.

8 Who gives snow like wool, who scatters mist like ashes. He sends his crystal like
morsels. See how great is the difficulty, how obscure are the things that are said. Before
the face of his cold, who shall stand? Whose? Nothing is said. Then it is said: 9 He shall
send forth his word, and shall melt them. Of that one of whom he had said, He sends forth
his word to the earth: He shall send forth his word. Who shall send it forth? God the
Father. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We have named the Father, we have
named the Son: we cannot believe in a twofold number, unless the Trinity be completed. His
spirit shall blow, and the waters shall flow. You see that where the Father and the Word
of God are, at once the Holy Spirit is there too. Let us see, then, from the beginning
what is said. And he fills you with the fat of the wheat: he sends forth his word to the
earth, swiftly runs his word. Suddenly, what follows? Who gives snow like wool. The word
of the Lord, which runs swiftly, is given as it were like snow, and that snow is as it
were like wool. See the mercy of the Lord. The food of the Lord is turned for us into a
garment. John had said of the Lord the Savior: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who
takes away the sins of the world. And in another place Isaiah: Like a sheep he was led to
the slaughter. Of this lamb, then, and of this sheep, this wool is as it were like snow.
Isaiah says: If your sins be like scarlet, they shall be made white like snow.

10 You shall sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: you shall wash me, and I
shall be made whiter than snow. Who gives snow like wool. Take away, O Lord, my filth,
take away whatever vice there is. Grant your snow and your purity to Christian minds.
Unless you give us the snow of your cleansings, we cannot have your garment. Christ is our
garment. If we wish to have the garment of Christ, let us be clean like snow. He scatters
mist like ashes. The Latin translated badly, "mist": for what is called ὁμίχλη (homichlē,
"mist") in Greek, in Hebrew has "hoarfrost. And so it follows thus: He scatters hoarfrost
like ashes. He teaches us, and makes for us a garment like snow; and when he has clothed
us with his garment, then he grants us nourishment. He scatters hoarfrost like ashes. See
what he says, like ashes. Do you wish to be clean? Do penance. I ate my bread like ashes,
and mingled my drink with weeping. Do you not see how he scatters his hoarfrost like
ashes? A great change of things: out of ashes snow is made, out of penance one is made
clean.

11 He sends his crystal like morsels. As his loaves are broken and become morsels, so too
this crystal is broken and turned into morsels. Crystal has this nature: it forms whenever
waters are frozen — what we call ice. Between crystal and water, then, there is the same
difference as between water and ice: for water is poured out, as it were, very broadly,
whereas crystal is, as it were, compacted into itself, and reduced into one form. Whenever
water freezes, it makes crystal. Since, then, we cannot grasp the flesh with the whole
word, it is broken, so that we may grasp it through those parts. The matters are obscure,
and the difficulty of interpretation does not allow us to speak more broadly. Before the
face of his cold, who shall stand? Whose? Some say the crystal's, but others say God's. To
me, however, it seems that Before the face of his cold, who shall stand? is said of God.
Of God I say it, Before the face of his cold, who shall stand? What torments are said in
the holy Scriptures to be prepared for the sinner? Nothing is hotter than Gehenna, and yet
it itself is cold. Gehenna is of fire: but if anyone has grown sufficiently cold, he is
cast into the fire of Gehenna. It is written that in the last days the love of many shall
grow cold. Whoever, then, has grown cold in this way, this man is cast into the fire.

12 May the Lord grant to us that cold may never enter our hearts: we do not sin unless
love has first grown cold. Then, what does the apostle also say? Fervent in spirit. Our
God is a fire. If, then, God is fire, he is fire for this reason: to cast out the cold of
the devil. The north wind, the coldest wind; but by name it is called "the right.
Beautifully he said, is called: it has taken to itself a name, though it is on the left.
If, then, anyone's soul has grown cold, like the north wind, the coldest wind — if ever
the warmth of love grows cold in our heart, if it has sinned, if it has grown cold, if it
has died... Attend diligently to what I say: if it has grown cold, if it has died. To grow
cold belongs to the dead, to be warm to the living. If anyone, then, has grown cold and
died, God will send his word, and will melt him. May the Lord grant that our cold too may
be melted, that that crystal may be dissolved and become soft. He shall send forth his
word, and shall melt them. Give me a sinner who does not look to God, who has no warmth,
but is wholly cold, and dead:

13 if at the word of God he is pierced with compunction, and begins to do penance, and the
hardest things of his heart are softened, at that time is fulfilled, He shall send forth
his word, and shall melt them. The Father sends forth, the Word is sent, the Holy Spirit
is joined. His spirit shall blow. Fervent in spirit. The cold is not driven out except by
the warmth of the Holy Spirit. Where are the Eunomians, the Arians, where are the
Macedonians, who say: We do not number the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son? God
the Father sends, the Word is sent: and yet there is no full healing, unless the Holy
Spirit shall have blown. His spirit shall blow, and the waters shall flow. The waters.
What before was hard shall become soft. He who before could give righteousness to no one,
this man is now a disciple.

14 But since we have spoken at length, and the things that follow are plain, let us pray
the Lord that our hardness too may soften, that our sins too may be purged, that we may be
made as it were fire, that the cold of the devil, whatever there is of it in our hearts,
may be driven out, that we may grow warm with the Holy Spirit. For there is also an evil
warmth. All the adulterers, their hearts are like an oven. But that warmth is driven out
by the warmth of the Holy Spirit. To whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY 58, ON PSALM 148

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). This psalm has two alleluias in its title; and
many think this is because they belong to the title of the psalm itself. But we ought to
know that one alleluia belongs to the end of the preceding psalm, while the other alleluia
is the beginning of the following psalm. And we ought to take up this rule and understand
that all the psalms which have alleluia at their beginning have it also at their end.
Many, however, suppose that it is the beginning of another psalm. It is not so: rather,
that psalm which has alleluia at its beginning is the very one that has alleluia at its
end as well. Why have I said all this? So that you may know why in this psalm two
alleluias have been placed at the front.

2 Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights. For the praise of God the
nature of men alone does not suffice: let the heavens too be joined in. Praise the Lord
from the heavens. He did not say, Praise, O heavens; but, You praise who are in the
heavens, that is, you who dwell in the heavens, thrones, dominions, powers, seraphim,
cherubim, and every name that is named, not only in the present age, but also in the age
to come. Praise the Lord from the heavens. You who are in the heavens, you who are in the
heights, praise him in the heights. You lofty ones, praise the Lofty One. He did not say
to the lowly and to those placed below, Praise; but to you who are on high. Praise him,
all his angels. Do you see in what rank the angels are? First the thrones are named:
thrones, seats. Let us not suppose these to be chairs on which God sits: but certain
powers among the heavenly beings on which God ever sits, as it were in his own chariot.
Praise him, all his angels. All his angels. He who is an angel, let him praise: he who is
a demon cannot praise. Praise him, all his hosts. Since we have summoned the angels to the
praises of God, and I, a man, cannot know the name of all the hosts, I say in general
terms: Praise him, all his hosts. So far concerning the invisible things. Praise him, you
who are invisible, whom the human eye cannot behold. Now he comes to the creatures which
we discern with our eyes.

3 Praise him, sun and moon. Look, you pagans: look, you Manichaeans. The sun praises, it
is not praised. Praise him, sun and moon. You call the sun a god. See after how many
others it praises. Praise from the heavens, praise in the heights, praise, you angels,
praise, all you hosts. Your god is placed as one that praises in the fifth rank. Praise
him, sun and moon. He did not say, moon and sun; but, sun and moon. What is greater in
light praises first. See the order of the visible things. Praise him, O sun: after the
sun, the moon: after the moon, all the stars. All the stars: not only the morning star,
not only the greater stars, but let the lesser ones as well alike praise the Lord. Let
someone say: How do the sun and moon and stars praise God? In this, that they do not
depart from their office and service. Their service is the praise of God. You have great
honor, O human soul. The sun and moon and stars run their course for you, they serve for
you. The angels, thrones, dominions have no need of the sun, nor of the moon, nor of the
stars: for they are above the sun and moon in the heavenly places. The sun therefore and
the moon and the stars are for our sake, they serve us. The apostle too says that the very
creation groans together and is in travail for the deliverance of the sons of God.

4 But when the sons of God shall have been taken up, then the creation itself also is set
free from this servitude. Let someone say: How does the sun serve, and how is it set free?
how the moon? how the stars? The sun is set free, that it may not look upon the Jews, nor
upon the pagans, nor upon those who blaspheme their Lord. It sees parricides, it sees
murderers: and yet it serves the command of him who ordered it. For he makes his sun to
rise upon the just and the wicked. Praise him, all you stars and light. Let someone say:
What is light without the sun, without the stars, without the moon? We can say, between
night and day, or between day and night, there is that which shines apart from the sun:
though many think that this very brightness belongs to the sun. He says therefore, Praise
him, all you stars and light, so that just as he had said of the invisible things, Praise
him, all his hosts, so also of the visible things he may say, Praise him, everything that
shines.

5 Praise him, you heavens of heavens. We speak of several heavens. Indeed even Paul says
that he was caught up into the third heaven. See therefore how great is the splendor, that
there should be a heaven of heaven. And the rest, which follow, he said concerning the
visible things. For he spoke, and they were made. For God to have commanded is to have
made: his command is the fashioning. For he spoke, and they were made: according to that
which is written in Genesis, And God said, and God made: that is, God the Father spoke,
God the Son made. Let someone say: Then greater is he who commands, and lesser is he who
is commanded. This the Arians say, this the Eunomians say, and this the Macedonians say. I
answer you according to your own way of thinking, O heretic. You say: Greater is the
Father who commands, and lesser is the Son in that he is commanded by him. If this be
according to human reasoning, answer me: which is greater, to command, or to make? I say,
Let a house be built: and another builds the house. To speak is no great thing: to make is
difficult. Greater therefore is he who makes than he who gives the order. But this too is
impious: for the Son is not greater than the Father. For just as it is impious to believe
this of the Son against the Father, so also it is impious to believe that of the Father
against the Son. For he spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created.
One nature commands and makes: God commands, God makes. The painter orders that the
painter should paint, and the painter paints what he had ordered to be painted.

6 He established them for ever, and for age upon age: he set a decree, and it shall not
pass away. Great is the honor of man, and great his unhappiness. The sun runs its course
for you, the elements serve you: and you do not know your Creator. He set a decree, and it
shall not pass away. He set a decree for the sun: behold, through so many years the decree
of God has never passed away. So far has it not passed away, that its course has even been
grasped by human observation. He set a decree, and it shall not pass away. He set a decree
for the moon, that through thirty days it should wax and wane: does it ever change its
courses? In heaven the decree of God is kept, and on earth it is not kept. He set a decree
for the sea, that it should not go beyond its shores: the ocean comes swelling with its
waves, and returns into itself, and remembers the decree of God. The whole world serves
God, and remembers his decree: and man alone does not remember. Therefore we say also in
the Lord's Prayer: Your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. As in heaven the angels
serve you, and the creation serves, so let man too serve. O unhappy race of men! God has
come down to you, because you are unwilling to ascend to heaven. It is not enough for you
that you do not receive him, but you kill:

7 you kill, you crucify, you blaspheme, you scourge. It is not enough for you that you
kill: but you do not even do penance for having killed. He spoke of the invisible things,
he spoke also of the visible things, but of the visible heavenly things: now of the earth
as well. See the order of praising. First the invisible things praise, then the visible:
and the visible things themselves are divided into two, into the heavenly and the earthly.
He spoke of the heavenly things, now he speaks of the earthly. 8 Praise the Lord from the
earth. Since the angels have praised, the heaven has praised: let the earth also praise.
Let us see which things of the earth praise first. Dragons and all deeps: fire, hail,
snow, ice, the spirit of storms, which do his word: mountains and all hills, fruit-bearing
trees, and all cedars: beasts, and all cattle, serpents and feathered fowl. After such
great things, what is said? After the dragons, after the serpents, after the fire, after
the hail, after the beasts and all the cattle? O man, you who seem to yourself so great,
it is said of you: and not of the simple man, but of those men who are the greatest among
men. Kings of the earth, and all peoples: princes, and all judges of the earth. Then there
follows: Let young men and maidens, old men with younger ones praise the name of the Lord:
for the name of him alone is exalted. And the rest that follows. Oh, how many mysteries
are contained in these words! The heavenly things have praised, the invisible things have
praised, the visible things have praised: now he descends to earthly things, and to the
praise of God first the dragons and the deeps are stirred up. Where sin abounded, grace
has superabounded. You who were first a dragon, who had the venom of the serpent: O you
who were first a deep, and darkness was borne over the deep. See what he says. Where
dragons are, there is venom: where the deep is, there is darkness.

9 Do not despair therefore, O you who were a dragon, who were full of darkness, and did
not dare to praise God; do penance, and at once you will be converted. Although in the
Hebrew it does not have "dragons," but has THANNINIM, which is rendered "sea-monsters. Now
the sea-monster (cetus) is said to be of boundless size. Indeed the sea-monster itself is
said to be in the deeps. Let us then speak first according to the letter. See what he
says. Praise, you things that are in the sea, and praise, you things that are outside the
sea: dragons and all deeps. The whole from a part, by way of synecdoche (synekdochikōs).
Then follows fire. See the concord of discord: water and fire together praise the Lord.
Dragons and all deeps, fire. All things that are born from water are also born from fire,
that is, from moisture and heat: neither can fire alone generate without moisture, nor
moisture without fire. Nothing is so contrary as moisture to heat, and heat to moisture;
yet by the will of God these things, which are diverse among themselves, come into concord
in our birth. Hail, snow, ice, the spirit of storms, which do his word. There are many
things that might be said, and we cannot linger over each one. Hail, snow, ice, the spirit
of storms. All the things that we see in the world serve us. Serpents and deeps, fire,
hail, snow, ice, the spirit of storms seem to be without reason: but they serve us.

10 Yesterday there was a storm, it seemed to us to be against us: there was cold, there
was damp, there were rains. This which for an hour seems to us to be against us, is for
us: for it brings forth fruit for us. For see what he says: these things and those, which
do his word. Blush, O man: serpents and deeps, snow, rains and storm do the word of God,
and you do not do it. Mountains and all hills. Neither are mountains changed into hills,
nor valleys into mountains: they keep their own nature. Fruit-bearing trees, and all
cedars. You see a tree as if dry, its leaves lost: and at once, when the spring has come,
it sends forth a bud for you, it brings forth fruit for you. The tree brings forth fruit
for you, and you bring forth no fruit for God. And all cedars. Imitate the cedar: cedars
strive toward the heights, as if they hasten to go to heaven. And you, imitate the
irrational trees. Beasts, and all cattle. They change nothing of their nature: all stand
in their own order, except man alone, to whom all things are made subject. Serpents, and
feathered fowl. Neither do those things which are of the earth go to heaven, nor do those
things which are in heaven come to earth: they serve you. Let someone say: You speak
according to the literal sense, you do not speak allegorically:

11 if you speak according to the literal sense, why do first the deeps, and snow, and
hail, then the fruit-bearing trees, and the other irrational things praise the Lord, and
last of all man? Let us read Genesis, and according to the order of the birth and the
creatures, so shall we also see all things praise. For there it is written that first
those living creatures were made which are in the water: then were made those which are on
the earth: then the flying things were made: and afterward he made man alone. Therefore,
as each was first made, so let it praise the Lord. But there is another sense. O man, all
these things which I have named, for whose sake were they made? Beasts, serpents, fruit-
bearing trees, feathered fowl: all these praise God in this, that they do not change their
nature. For he set a decree, and it shall not pass away. Imitate therefore the things that
serve you. They were made, that they might serve you: you were made, that you might serve
God. They serve you: imitate the things that serve you, and serve God, just as they too
serve you, and through God serve. To whom is glory for ever and ever. Amen.


HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS
======================

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS continued

HOMILY 59, ON PSALM 149

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae
in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering
follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Psalm 149 has been read, which has at its
beginning: Sing to the Lord a new song. The holy presbyter has said that both the ninety-
fifth psalm and the ninety-seventh have the same beginnings. The ninety-fifth psalm is
headed with this title: A Psalm of David, when the house was being built after the
captivity. The house of Christ is built after the captivity, that is, after repentance.
Since, therefore, he said in the first one, Sing to the Lord a new song, so that a new
people might sing a new song — and he put it well — let us run through the rest. Let
Israel rejoice in him who made him. Let that man rejoice who sees God with the mind: for
Israel is interpreted as "one seeing God with the mind." And let the sons of Zion exult in
their king. Let the sons of the Church, the sons of the new people, exult in their king:
in Christ, who reigns over them. You see how lightly we touch upon each of the highest
points.

2 Let them praise his name in the choir. Wherever there is a choir, there diverse voices
are gathered together into one song. For just as diverse strings produce the one sound of
a song, so also diverse voices — that is, when they have been gathered together at once —
make the choir of the Lord. Let them praise his name in the choir: where there is
dissension, where there is envy, there is no choir. Let them praise his name in the choir:
let them sing praise to him on the timbrel and the psaltery. Let this choir have a song,
and have a timbrel and a psaltery. Let us crucify our bodies to Christ, and with such a
timbrel let us sing to God. Let them sing praise to him on the timbrel and the psaltery. A
timbrel does not have flesh, but a skin: and we, as long as we are fleshly, are not a
timbrel. It is not a timbrel unless it has no flesh, unless it is stretched taut: a
timbrel cannot be shrunken, but stretched out. And let sins not shrink us up, but let
righteousness stretch us wide. Let us run through the rest. Let them sing praise to him on
the timbrel and the psaltery. What we say in the choir, let us say this on the psaltery.
The psaltery properly is a kind of musical instrument, which is like a lyre. It has a
resemblance to a lyre, but it is not a lyre.

3 Between the psaltery and the lyre there is this difference: the lyre is struck below,
whereas the psaltery is struck above, which in the common word is called polyphthongon
(many-toned). This, then, is the psaltery. Here, therefore, it is enjoined upon us that in
the new song we should not sing to the Lord from below on the lyre, but from above, that
is, on the psaltery. For the Lord is well pleased with his people, and he will exalt the
meek in salvation. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth. If, therefore,
it is said there, Blessed are the meek — that is, the gentle — for they shall possess the
earth; and here it is said, And he will exalt the meek in salvation; and these meek shall
possess the earth by inheritance: therefore this earth is not below, but is above. For
what does he say? He will exalt the meek in salvation. For if these meek were to possess
the earth that is below, he would not say, He will exalt.

4 The saints shall exult in glory. In what glory? "Arise, my glory; arise, psaltery and
lyre: I will arise at dawn." In glory. "For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus
was not yet glorified" — that is, he had not yet been crucified. Scripture says this, The
Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus had not been glorified, that is, he had not been
crucified. The saints shall exult in glory. Why do I say all this? Because it is said, The
saints shall exult in glory. This, then, is what I say: the saints shall exult in the
cross. "But far be it from me to glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Behold, in the voice of the apostle the prophecy is fulfilled. Let the saints exult in
glory. Let them rejoice in their beds. "I will wash my bed every night; with my tears I
will drench my couch." That belongs to the sinner, that belongs to the penitent; but this
which is said, They shall rejoice in their beds, pertains to the saints, pertains to the
just. Which of us rejoices in his bed? Who does not fight with his own flesh? When I have
lain awake on my little bed, I do not rejoice, but I fight: I do not sigh for the kingdom
of heaven, but I fight with the flesh. The burning of the flesh I drench with tears, and I
quench it. For this reason it is said, I will wash my bed every night; with my tears I
will drench my couch. My little bed, which burns with lust, is quenched with tears. Happy
are those of whom it is said, They shall rejoice in their beds.

5 The exaltations of God are in their throat. Surely he who cries out does not cry out in
the throat, but on the lips: that is, he does not cry out in the throat, but cries out on
the lips. And how does he say here, The exaltations of God are in their throat? "Crying
out in our hearts, Abba, Father." The voice that cries out to God is not of the lips, but
is of the heart. Finally, the Lord says to Moses: "Why do you cry out to me?" And
certainly Moses had said nothing. And two-edged swords are in their hands. These who exult
in their beds — it is said of the saints, it is said of perfect men — what else do they
have? And two-edged swords are in their hands. Two-edged swords. The swords of the saints
are two-edged. We read in the Apocalypse of John, which is read in the churches and is
received — for it is not held among the apocryphal scriptures, but among the
ecclesiastical — it is said there, then, of the Lord Savior: "And a sword, he says, sharp
on both sides went forth from his mouth." You see, therefore, that these saints received
those two-edged swords, which they have in their hands, from the mouth of the Lord. The
Lord, therefore, gives a sword from his mouth to his disciples: a two-edged sword, that
is, the word of his teaching. A two-edged sword: both according to history and according
to allegory, both according to the letter and according to the spirit. A two-edged sword:
which both kills adversaries and defends its own. A two-edged sword. This two-edged sword
has two edges: it speaks both of the present age and of the age to come: and here it kills
adversaries, and in heaven it opens the kingdoms of heaven. Why do the saints have these
swords?

6 To execute, he says, vengeance upon the nations. Oh, if only I too might have that two-
edged sword, that I might execute vengeance upon the nations, that I might slay the
various peoples, that I might slay Arius, that I might slay Eunomius, that I might slay
Manichaeus, that I might slay all the heresies! And see what he says, To execute vengeance
upon the nations. That they may be killed? that they may perish? He does not say this.
Rebukes among the peoples. Rebuke, that the peoples may be saved, that those who have been
led astray by evil teachers may be saved. But the peoples cannot be set free unless the
teachers have been bound. Whence it follows: 7 To bind their kings in fetters. Do you wish
the peoples to be set free? bind the teachers. To bind the kings. He did not call them
teachers, but kings: for they reign by the miseries of those people. To bind their kings
in fetters. He put it well, in fetters: lest the teachers should run about too much, lest
they deceive many, but let them be bound and stand still. And their nobles in iron chains.
Their nobles. You may see them saying among the heretics: This man is learned, that one
works signs, this one casts out demons. The saints of the Lord, who have the two-edged
swords — that is, of two edges, both of the Old and of the New Testament — bind those
teachers, and shackle their feet, so that they cannot run. And their nobles in iron
chains. They bind, they do not kill; they do not slay, but they bind. They fetter the
hands, and lead them captive to the Church in iron chains. These chains are made only from
the testimonies of the scriptures, when I join testimony to testimony. If you wish that
these chains not be broken, let them not be single, but woven together from this side and
that. "A threefold cord is not broken." But why is all this done?

8 That they may execute upon them the judgment that is written. What is the judgment that
is written? That those who at first had denied God may afterward return through
repentance. The judgment that is written: that they may loose their captives, that those
whom they had bound, those whom they had led bound out of the Church, they may afterward
set free in the Church. That they may execute upon them the judgment that is written. I
speak in simpler words. That they may execute upon them the judgment that is written: that
is, that they may so judge them as it has been set forth in the holy scriptures. This is
the glory for all his saints. Truly it is not glory where there is gold, where there is
silver, where there are jewels, where there are silken garments. Whoever has these swords,
what else does he need? See what he says, This is the glory for all his saints. Let us ask
the Lord that we may have this glory: that a sword going forth from the mouth of our
Savior may arm our hands, and that we may be able to say: "Blessed be the Lord my God, who
teaches my hands for the fight, and my fingers for the war." He who has this broadsword
does not fear the sword of the world. He who has this sword does not fear the sword of the
world. I tell you a new thing. Frequently the sword of this world grants that sword:
frequently it happens that the sword of the world bestows that sword upon us. For if we do
not fear this one, we receive that one. Let us therefore give thanks to him who has this
sword, and let us bless him for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY 60, ON PSALM 10 (ALTERNATE SERIES)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos
quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) —
public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 What the phrase
"unto the end" signifies — for which Symmachus rendered ἐπινίκιον (a song of victory),
while Aquila and the sixth edition rendered τῷ νικοποιῷ (to the giver of victory) — has
been discussed more fully above. Now let us return to the order of the tenth psalm: a
number which is both an end and a beginning, in which every reckoning is rolled around,
and to which the decalogue also — that is, the first law — is owed. The just man too, on
account of the Lord's money doubled in the Gospel, received cities of this number to
govern. And, to bring in something rather curious: from this the name of Jesus, that is,
of the Savior, begins, and that ineffable name of four letters among the Hebrews takes its
start from here, being written with ioth, he, vau, he; into which, through its tens, the
hundredth number unrolls, and again the thousandth grows through ten hundreds, and as far
as human reason can proceed, always this number is both an end and a beginning, according
to that sense: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. In the Lord I trust; how
do you say to my soul: Flee away to the mountains like a sparrow? Those who eat the raw
flesh of the lamb and follow the letter that kills would have this psalm understood of the
person of David, when he fled from the face of Saul and was compelled to dwell in the
deserts of Judah.

3 And they say that it is spoken by him thus: Although Saul and all his army do not permit
me to dwell in my homeland, and I flit or run to and fro, here and there, wandering and
roving after the manner of birds and beasts, yet I have God as my protector, in whom
trusting I shall not fear your snares. And in truth, if only the beginning be read, their
exposition does not appear frivolous. But what follows — "For they have destroyed the
things which you have perfected" — and the rest down to the end does not agree with this
exposition. Therefore the spiritual man, who judges all things and is himself judged by no
one, says that this psalm was sung by our Lord and Savior according to a twofold
understanding: either he was speaking to the angels who ministered to him, or to the
adverse powers, which desired to mock and terrify him. If to the angels, this is the
sense: Why do you exhort me to return to heavenly things, and, leaving behind earthly and
lowly things, to dwell in my mountains, because of the snares of the devil and all his
army, which you behold stirred up against me? Why do you wish that I take up the wings of
my deity, and desert human converse, and dwell secure in the heavens, when I have come for
this purpose: that in the Lord — that is, having confidence in my own divinity — I may
overcome my exulting adversaries?

4 But if his speech is to the adverse powers, it is to be understood thus: In vain do you
think that I am to be terrified by your voices and by the wedge of battle drawn up against
me, since I have come for this purpose: that I may fight, and by fighting overcome — as is
also shown by the very title of the psalm, according to Aquila and Symmachus. Furthermore,
another (since this psalm has nothing so special that it cannot also be understood under
the person of any just man) will indeed accept the holy intention of those who refer the
psalm to Christ, but will also assert that the whole context can be understood from the
person of the prophet — that is, of the just man. In the Lord I trust; how do you say to
my soul: Flee away to the mountains like a sparrow? The crafty adversary both tempted the
Lord and Savior in the wilderness, and wishes all the saints to depart from the land of
Judah and to dwell in the desert of the virtues, that there he may more easily strike them
down. But even his very counsel is deceitful: for he does not exhort that one take the
wings of the dove — a bird gentle, simple, and domestic, said to lack gall, and which is
offered for the Lord in the temple — but the wings of a sparrow, a bird chattering and
roving, which after the rearing of its young knows nothing of the fidelity of wedlock;

5 although Aquila and Symmachus rendered "bird" generally in place of "sparrow. By the
mountains, however, we can understand those of which it is said in another place, "Draw
near to the eternal mountains," and in the second psalm of the steps, "I have lifted up my
eyes to the mountains from whence help shall come to me": and to which, after the
abomination of desolation shall stand in the holy place, we ought to migrate. For behold,
the sinners have bent the bow, they have prepared their arrows in the quiver, that they
may shoot in the dark the upright of heart. For which it is written in the Hebrew, "For
behold, the impious have bent the bow, they have set the arrow upon the string, that they
may strike in the dark the upright of heart. Therefore, he says, you wish me to migrate to
the mountains, because the sinners, or the impious, burning, have prepared arrows, which
must be repelled with the shield of faith. And in their quivers they have darts to strike
the just, not in the day, not in the faintly-lit night, when the darkness is tempered by
the solace of the moon, but when the night is full, and the darkness is palpable — that
is, ψηλαφητὸν σκότος (touchable darkness, psēlaphēton skotos). Know that for this very
reason I do not heed your counsels: because the adversaries are prepared for battle, and
desire to wound not so much me, whom they cannot overcome, as my just ones;

6 and since I have come from heaven for their salvation, I ought not to leave them
orphans. For behold, as you say, they have set their arrow upon the string, and they wish
to capture my boys, the sons of my ripening youth, my little young men, with the sweet
enticements of pleasures. For all the strength of the devil is in the loin: for which
cause also, when Jacob wrestled with me in the struggle, I made his γλαφυρόν (sinew,
glaphyron) wither — that is, dry up. Since, therefore, they wish to strike the upright of
heart in the darkness, let my just man speak and say: "Your word is a lamp to my feet, O
Lord, and a light to my paths. But I, standing in the battle-line and placed in array, do
not forsake the contest once begun, especially when you say that they have bent the bow,
prepared arrows in the quiver, wish to wound my saints in the darkness, and yet have not
yet been able to strike. For they have bent the bow, they have prepared arrows in the
quiver, that they may shoot in the dark the upright of heart. Since, then, they are thus
prepared, I will set myself in the midst, I will receive their arrows, that my servants
may not grieve at my grief, may be healed by my wounds, may not suffer while I suffer, and
may say: "O Lord, you have crowned us as with a shield of your good will. But it can also
be understood otherwise:

7 that the heretical or adverse powers, through the dogmas of the heretics, have aimed
their blasphemies, and desire to deceive my just ones with varied fraud. For they are
archers who, through the occasion of their darkness — which they understand as hidden
mysteries — wish to strike the upright hearts of the just. Therefore I and my saints must
migrate to the sublime testimonies of the Scriptures, as it is also written in the Gospel:
"If he strike you on the right cheek, offer him the other also. He does not say, offer him
the left, but the other — that is, the other right — because the just man has nothing
left-handed in himself. If, he says, he confounds you in one testimony of the Scriptures,
do you overcome him from another, and fulfill that which is written in another psalm:
"Deep calls to deep at the voice of your cataracts": so that each Testament may be a
defense to the other in turn, and in such a way the snare of the heretics may be broken by
the opposing of the other right hand, and by migration to the mountains, and by the
calling of deep to deep. For they have destroyed the things which you have perfected. And
this too those who above still speak either to any just man or to the Lord: Therefore you
must return to the heavenly things, because both the adversaries are so bravely prepared
for the fight, and whatever you build up, they demolish.

8 For daily they undermine your precepts and the law written in the hearts of believers,
and by persuading diverse things they overturn them. But what did the just man do? This is
understood in various ways. Either concerning the person of the just man, in this manner:
While they strive to destroy the laws of God, the just man has done nothing worthy of
ruin, and in vain suffers their snares; or certainly, while they oppose and attempt to
destroy God's commandments, the just man does this one thing only: that he implore the
help of him who dwells in his holy temple, whose throne is in heaven, and whose eyes look
upon the poor man, that he may rescue him from the snares prepared. But concerning the
person of God in this manner: Although the adversaries are prepared for battle, and lie in
wait in secret like a lion in his den, that in hidden places they may kill the innocent
and destroy the temple of God, yet the Lord dwells in his holy temple, and never is either
temple or throne wanting to him, because as some fall others rise. Whence in what follows
it is written: The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's seat is in heaven. By the seat —
that is, the throne of God — let us, according to the custom of the Scriptures, understand
the kingdom, as in that place: "God shall give him the throne of David his father. And
elsewhere: "With justice is the throne of dominion prepared. And:

9 "When a just king shall sit upon the throne. The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's
seat is in heaven. Before the bodily temple was built by Solomon, the prophet knows the
spiritual temple of the Lord and his throne in heaven. Whereupon it is asked, how it is
said elsewhere, "Heaven is my throne. When the throne of the Lord is in heaven, his throne
is encompassed by heaven, and the throne of the Lord is in a part of heaven; when heaven
is the throne of the Lord, the whole heaven is turned into the throne of the Lord. From
which, according to the ἀναγωγήν (higher spiritual sense, anagōgē), the Lord dwelling in
his holy temple — that is, in the soul of the believer — dwells either in a part of it or
in the whole. When we are still imperfect, and there is in us both something good and
something evil, God dwells only in a part of our soul, that is, in heaven. But when we are
consummate and perfect, we are wholly turned into a dwelling-place of God, and we are made
heaven, his throne. But the temple of God, properly, is understood either as our Lord and
Savior, who says, "I am in the Father and the Father in me": or as that man who was
assumed by the Savior, or generally the Church, or specially each one of the saints. His
eyes look upon the poor man, his eyelids question the sons of men.

10 Against those who understand the wrath and fury of God simply, let us set forth the
eyelids and eyes of the Lord. For if they understand those things ἀνθρωποπαθῶς (after the
manner of human passions, anthrōpopathōs), they will be compelled to take these things
likewise. But if it is absurd to place eyes and eyelids in the almighty Lord, they will
equally be compelled to seek some spiritual interpretation for wrath also and fury. For it
is exceedingly unfitting not to understand both those and these alike, either spiritually
or carnally. Whence in this place it is to be perceived that the just man does not dread
the assault of the adversaries, having God as his helper, who beholds and sees all things,
and does not permit his poor man to be deceived by their frauds and wounded by their
darts. The poor man: that one of whom it is said above, "To you the poor man is left. And
at the same time it is to be observed, that God opens his eyes, bringing an open judgment,
to the lowly with help, though he be one and poor, and always watches over him with his
regard. But where he is judge, and those who are judged are sons of men (for they do not
deserve to be called sons of God), there he does not look with his eyes, but examines with
his eyelids, in a manner half-closing them and dissembling, and unwilling to know what he
knows. "For if you, Lord, will mark iniquity, who shall endure?

11 Varro relates that eyelids (palpebrae) are so called from the fact that they move and
quiver (palpitent), that is, ὀνοματοποιῶς (by onomatopoeia, onomatopoiōs). The Lord
questions the just and the impious: but he who loves iniquity hates his own soul. For
which it is better written in the Hebrew: "The Lord tests the just, but the impious and
the one who loves iniquity — his soul hates him. So that the sense is joined with the
foregoing: In vain are the adversaries prepared, that they may shoot in the dark the
upright of heart, and so on; because the Lord is a just judge, and nothing can be hidden
from him, and he does both: that he both prove his just ones by tempting them, and hate
those who are impious. The impious and the one who loves iniquity — his soul hates him:
that is, he hates them with his whole heart and his whole soul. But let us understand
"soul" in accordance with the eyes and eyelids, according to that: "My soul hates your new
moons and feast days and sabbaths. Furthermore, according to those who say, with the
Septuagint, The Lord questions the just and the impious, the sense is far different: that
he himself is the judge of the just and the impious, and that the impious are to be judged
in this, that by loving iniquity they hate their own soul. And in a certain way the last
part of a syllogism is knit together, which is called the conclusion.

12 For although a man may deny that he hates his own soul, yet from the fact that he loves
iniquity, he is convicted of hating it. As Solomon also says in the Proverbs: "He who
rejects discipline hates himself. But if he who loves iniquity hates his own soul,
contrariwise he who loves justice loves his own soul, according to that: "He who possesses
prudence loves himself. Whence also the Savior says: "He who loves me keeps my
commandments. For he himself is justice. Nor indeed is it to be thought, according to the
Septuagint interpreters, that something contrary is now said — The Lord questions the just
and the impious — to that which is written in the first psalm, "Therefore the impious
shall not rise again in the judgment": because just as there is a difference among the
just, so also among the impious; and just as the just, differing among themselves, possess
mansions, so also the impious who are perfect in malice and iniquity and who fight with
their whole mind against the Lord shall not rise again in the judgment; but other impious
ones, who are sometimes understood as sinners, because they are of lesser malice, are
reserved for God's judgment. He shall rain snares upon sinners.

13 There is no doubt but that the Lord does this even for the sake of the sinners
themselves, so that those who were badly abusing their liberty, being ensnared in the
Lord's snares, may walk in the right path as if under his bridle, and may be able to
advance through him who says, "I am the way. Whence also fishermen are sent, and hunters,
in Jeremiah, that they may hold with their nets the fish that wander and toss about in the
depths, and may capture unto salvation the beasts straying about on all the mountains and
hills. Therefore it is not, as many suppose, punishments that are promised to sinners from
this little verse and from those that follow, but remedies. Fire, brimstone, and the
spirit of storms is the portion of their cup. It is said to Babylon: "You have coals of
fire, you shall sit upon them, and they shall be for a help to you. The brimstone rouses
the fire of these coals into a flame; which flame is fanned by the rushing wind, by the
whirlwind of the tempest, so that whatever is filthy in our gold, and whatever — according
to the prophecy of Ezekiel — consuming the silver in us, the bronze, the tin, and the
lead, may reduce us into gold. Whence also it is written in Isaiah: "The Lord shall wash
away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion, and shall cleanse the blood from their
midst by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.

14 And in Malachi: "Behold, the Lord enters in like the fire of the smelting-furnace and
like the herb of the fullers, and he shall sit smelting his people like gold and silver.
The cup of sinners is full of fire, brimstone, and the spirit of tempest. "A cup of pure
wine full of mixture," from which "all the sinners of the earth shall drink. I judge that
from this cup of fire and brimstone Sodom had drunk, and therefore it is prophesied
concerning her through Ezekiel: "Sodom shall be restored to her former state. And in the
Gospel: "It shall be more tolerable for the land of the Sodomites. "For the Lord will not
take vengeance twice upon the same thing. Whence also Lazarus, who had received his sins
in his lifetime, and had drunk the cup of the Lord's fury, in the bosom of Abraham drinks
that cup of which it is written: "I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon
the name of the Lord. Jerusalem too had drunk the cup of punishments for her remedy;
whence it is said to her: "Rise up, rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk the cup of
ruin, the goblet of fury. And Jeremiah received this same cup of pure wine from the hand
of the Lord, that he might give it to Jerusalem to drink, and to all the nations round
about; who, drinking, vomit, and fall down, and, their pride broken, are laid low in
repentance. For the Lord is just and has loved justices;

15 his countenance has beheld equity. For which the Hebrew has: "For the Lord is just and
loves justice; their faces shall behold equity. The Lord, he says, is just for the causes
stated above: because he both, leaving the just man in the present age to temptations,
does not punish but proves him, and his soul hates the impious man who loves injustice.
For it is one thing to sin overcome by the necessity of the flesh, another to pass over
into the disposition of the sinner. Whence also such men, whose heart is impenitent, the
soul of God hates. And because he rains snares upon sinners, and gives them to drink the
goblet of torments which they deserve, God himself, being just, loves justices. For just
as there is one true God, even if there are many gods who are so called by participation
in him, and there is one only-begotten Son of God, while others are called so by adoption;
so also there is one true justice, as is written in the beginning of the Proverbs, but
from communication of it the Lord loves many things called justices. But in that he says,
His countenance — that is, God's — has beheld equity, so that the sense is, He judges the
things that are right; in the Hebrew, according to that understanding, it is said:

16 Those very ones who shall be judged, both the just and the impious and sinners, shall
behold the justice of God, and their faces shall contemplate the equity of the Lord, and
they shall say, "You are just, O Lord, and your judgment is right."

HOMILY 61, ON PSALM 15 (ALTERNATE SERIES)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos
quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) —
public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 An inscription of
a title, to David himself. In place of this the fifth edition put the Hebrew word itself,
"MACTHAM David," which Aquila translated as "of the humble and simple David," and
Symmachus as "of the humble and unstained David. And Aquila himself again, in the fifty-
fifth psalm and in the rest as far as the fifty-ninth, rendered this very thing so as to
say "of the humble and perfect David. From this we understand that one word signifies both
"simple" and "unstained" and "perfect," yet in such a way that humility is always set
before each of them; for among the Hebrews it is compounded of two whole words, so that,
just as we say "almighty" (omnipotens), enclosing two words in one utterance, so also the
word MACTHAM in the syllable which is called MAC shows humility without ambiguity, while
in the following one which is called THAM it signifies the three things we mentioned
above. Now there are six psalms, unless we are mistaken, which are headed by this title:
the fifteenth psalm, and the fifty-fifth, and the fifty-sixth, and the fifty-seventh, and
the fifty-eighth, and the fifty-ninth. All of these refer to the dispensation and passion
of our Lord and Savior; and although in their headings they have among themselves certain
things added, or removed, or varied, yet in this one phrase they agree, namely, in "the
inscription of a title," which here stands alone by itself only in the fifteenth psalm.

3 For in the remaining five certain historical notices too are prefixed, so that the
prophecy concerning the Lord Savior might be shown not only in word but also in deed. And
I think there are six psalms containing this mystery and headed with such a title for this
reason, that the Savior, crucified for all on the sixth day of the world, dying and rising
again, left us this as it were the title of his victory; so that we may inscribe upon our
hearts these psalms which are marked with these headings, and press into them the words of
God, and that our minds may be mindful of the Lord's death; so that, just as Jacob made a
monument for Rachel and it remains to this day, so we may mark in our heart the memorial
and remembrance of his passion. Nor indeed let that be thought contrary to our exposition
which the Lord commanded in the Law: "You shall not make for yourself a monument, things
which the Lord your God hates"; but to the singular number "a monument" he joined a plural
of the neuter gender, saying, "things which the Lord your God hates," that is, you shall
not do such works as remain for your condemnation forever. For these things the Lord your
God hates.

4 If perchance, through our negligence, he who oversows tares should erect such monuments
in the land of promise, the clear-sighted ones (dioratikoi), namely the teachers, command
the children of Israel to overthrow them and undermine them and banish them from the land
that flows with milk and honey. Such a monument Absalom too built for himself, an empty
tomb, which remains to this day for the disgrace and testimony of the parricide. Into such
a monument Lot's wife too was turned, because she wished to look not at what lay ahead but
behind her back. After this it is asked why the Seventy translators wished to translate
otherwise than it stands in the Hebrew and in the other editions. This can be understood
from many other passages too, but especially from the heading of the ninth psalm. For
whereas among the Hebrews it is headed LAMANASSE ALMUTH LABEN, which Symmachus translates
"the triumph of the youth of the son," but the fifth edition "the triumph of the flowering
youth of the son," the Seventy translators, unwilling to disclose so openly to King
Ptolemy and to the Gentiles the passion and resurrection of the Savior, translated "Unto
the end, for the hidden things of the son"; and by the very title showing that certain
hidden things lay concealed which they were unwilling to translate.

5 So now too, because humility, simplicity, spotlessness, and perfection pointed not to a
man (for there is no one who would dare to head himself with such a title) but to the Son
of God, therefore they chose to translate "stelographia" (stēlographian), that is, a thing
worthy to be marked with an inscription; so that we might understand one thing shut up in
the title, and another uttered aloud in the word. Now a title is also placed for brave men
upon their tombs in memory of their former courage, and for those who fell for their
fatherland, and wherever there are trophies and victories, and where public laws are
inscribed. The interpretation of all of which is easier when applied to the person of the
Lord Savior. Preserve me, O Lord, for I have hoped in you; I said to the Lord: You are my
God, for you have no need of my goods. If one apostle were to interpret this psalm, if
two, the authority even of one and of two would be great. But now (a thing written of no
other of the psalms) we have found concerning this in the Acts of the Apostles that Peter,
together with the apostles of Christ—when Matthias had already been taken in as one of the
twelve in place of Judas—expounding it lifted up his voice, and after many words said:

6 "Men and brethren, let it be permitted to speak boldly to you concerning the patriarch
David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is among us to this very day.
Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn to him with an oath that from
the fruit of his loins one would sit upon his throne, foreseeing this he spoke of the
resurrection of Christ, that he was neither left in hell, nor did his flesh see
corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we all are witnesses. Since then all
the apostles alike have referred this psalm to the Lord Savior, we, who wish to be
Christians, must surely follow their opinion. And no wonder that he who was equal to God
and humbled himself, taking the form of a servant, now speaks with the words of a servant.
Hence in the very title he is inscribed as humble and simple and unstained and perfect;
because he who needed no one's help humbled himself so far as to entreat the Lord on our
behalf, on behalf of the Church, that is, on behalf of his own body. And in very truth it
is great humility—for God to pray for men, for the Lord to pray for servants, for the Holy
One to pray for sinners:

7 so that he not only says that he himself is clothed and given drink and visited in his
servants, but even, when they have prayed and have been heard, confesses that he himself
has prayed and been heard. Therefore, taking on a human body, he saw the hostile powers,
he saw too the army of the devil, drawn up in a wedge-formation against him, doing battle;
and therefore he now says: Preserve me, O Lord; for unless you preserve my body, the
Church which hopes in you, they who guard her keep watch in vain. But what follows—"I said
to the Lord, You are my God"—he directs his speech to the apostles and to the disciples
and to us, if indeed we deserve to be disciples, teaching what he has said to the Lord of
the universe. What, then, does he say he has spoken to the Lord? "You are my Lord": that
is, you who are the Lord of all have become peculiarly mine, that is, the Lord of my own.
He was the Lord of all even in the Old Testament, since he had created all things; but he
became peculiarly the Lord of the saints, saying: "I am the God of Abraham and the God of
Isaac and the God of Jacob. As, then, you are theirs, so you are now especially my Lord,
because you deign to be the Lord of my own. And the reason why he is his Lord is added:
For you have no need of my goods.

8 For God almighty has no need of a man's goods, nor do our virtues contribute to God's
advancement, since God receives no increase: but whatever we labor at and strive for, he
receives and requires it of us for this reason, that he may restore to us what he has
received. For that man too in the Gospel who from one mina had made ten minas not only
received back what he had given, but was even granted the other mina, which another could
not multiply. It is said also to Job: "What does it profit the Lord, if you make your way
blameless? Other masters, however powerful they may be, cannot yet say to their servants,
"We have no need of your works": for indeed they make full use of their service. But God
alone is a Lord who needs the service of his servants only for this, that he may have
occasion to give more. And at the same time we are taught that if the Savior prays for us
(for he did indeed pray also for the apostles in the Gospel, and therefore permitted those
whom he had earlier urged to keep watch to sleep), we surely ought all the more to pray
for ourselves: because, although we run, yet without him we cannot arrive at our goal,
according to the interpretation of Symmachus and of the fifth edition, who said "My good
is not apart from you"; so that this translation may be referred to that saying:

9 "Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guard
the city, he keeps watch in vain who guards it. To the saints who are in his land, he made
all his wishes wonderful in them. In place of which it is written in the Hebrew: "To the
saints who are in the land, and to my exalted ones, is all my will in them. These goods of
which you have no need, O Father, my saints do need—the saints in whom I have made all my
wishes to be wonderful. But I made my wishes wonderful not outside them, but in them: so
that, while each one is corrected, and understands both who he was before and who he has
now begun to be, my wonderful wishes may be brought about in them; yet only if, going out
from Egypt and crossing the desert, they are able to enter the land of promise, which land
is the beginning of the land of the living. Nor is this at once contrary to it—that
wonders are said to be done only in the land of God—namely that in the field of Tanis,
that is, in Egypt, wonders were done. For there is a great distance between the wonders
done by Moses and those done by Jesus. There one flees from Egypt, here one enters into
Judea; there lord Pharaoh is avoided, here those who are to serve are taken captive;

10 there frogs and gnats and soot and hail and darkness are employed among the wonders,
here command is given to the sun and to the moon; there God goes before the people in a
pillar of cloud and of fire, here the Savior himself comes to meet them holding a sword
and declaring that he will fight for his army. Do you see how the wonders that were in the
land of promise are greater than those done in Egypt or in the desert? But we may
understand the land of God as the Church, since to the saints who are in the Church all
the wishes of God seem to be wonderful; for to those who are outside the Church nothing
seems wonderful which by its own nature is wondrous. Let us therefore be in the land of
God, and let us be transformed into the image of the Savior, and he will make all his
wishes wonderful in us. Their infirmities have been multiplied; afterward they made haste.
Whose infirmities have been multiplied? Surely those of the saints who above are recorded
as being in the land of the Lord. When they were foolish, unbelieving, straying, and
serving various desires and pleasures, passing their lives in greed and envy, their
infirmities were being multiplied. But when they were washed and were sanctified and,
turned to repentance, abandoned their past sins, then they made haste.

11 I have read in the Epistle of Barnabas (if anyone is pleased to accept testimony from
it) that God chose apostles who were more wicked than every sin. And surely, if they were
more worthless than all sinners, their infirmities were nonetheless being multiplied in
them; but see how quickly they afterward withdrew from them. To Peter and to his brother
Andrew it is said: "Come and follow me. Likewise to James and John, who leave both their
father and the boat and the net. Matthew rises up from the tax-booth, and at once is an
apostle. Zacchaeus comes down from the tree, and is holy. Paul, persecuting the Church,
suddenly believes, is washed, teaches, is subjected to persecutions, is beheaded. What is
swifter than this conversion? The people of the Gentiles too, before they were converted
to the Lord and heard through Isaiah, "Drink this first, do it quickly," was in all
infirmities—or, as Symmachus translated, "hardships," or, as more fittingly Theodotion and
the fifth edition, "idols. But when the cults of idols had been multiplied, believing at
the first word of the apostles, it was quickly converted to the Lord. Which indeed Aquila
too, translating "diaponēmata" (laborious things), according to his custom signifies as
idols. For in the Hebrew it says ASABOTH, the very same word that is placed also there:
"The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold. Further, in that he says "proikisamenōn,"
which the Seventy had rendered "they made haste," he seems to me to show a lofty meaning:

12 namely that the apostles, or the people of the Gentiles, after they were converted to
the faith of Christ, and the Lord had forgiven them their sins (for this is what
"proikisamenōn" means, that as by a "proikia"—that is, as a free gift—their vices were
reversed), their "diaponēmata," that is, their pains, were increased in them, since they
knew in how great a sea's waters they had been and from what an abyss they had been freed;
according to that which is written in Ecclesiastes: "He who adds knowledge, adds sorrow.
And Paul: "I who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of
God. But it can also be discussed otherwise, since "strength is made perfect in weakness";
and when an apostle is weaker, then he is stronger. We too, if we wish to come quickly to
the Lord, ought to multiply our infirmities, so that, made weak in the flesh, we may be
stronger in the spirit. I will not gather their assemblies out of bloods. Clearly he who
speaks is the Savior. For who else could say, "I will not gather their assemblies out of
bloods"? But "their"—understand it either of the nations or of the apostles. If of the
nations, this will be the meaning: Although they are guilty of blood, and have perpetrated
many crimes, yet because after their infirmities they hastened to me, their assemblies
will be pure and utterly foreign to blood. If of the apostles, this will be the meaning:

13 They will by no means offer me victims as in the old Law, but there will be the
spiritual religion of the New Testament. But according to a higher understanding, this
must be said: That the Lord will abhor the man of bloods and the deceitful one; and the
blood of the wicked is required from the hand of the watchman who has refused to preach
the coming wrath of God; and whoever shall scandalize the least, he will slay him; and
those whose hands are full of blood—it is certain that they cannot be gathered into the
synagogues of the Lord, who must first be purged by the spirit of burning. As for "the
synagogues of the Lord," let us understand either the churches in the present, or, as I
think better, the various dwellings with the Father in the heavens, which he will not be
able to enter who has been sprinkled with the gore of sins. Nor will I be mindful of their
names through my lips. The saints, whose infirmities have been multiplied, and whose
assemblies I will not gather out of bloods, because they hastened to me—I will by no means
call them by their former names, but by new ones: that is, after I have washed them in my
fountain, I will not call them, as before, sons of men, but sons of God. Or otherwise: I
will change, he says, their names, and out of Simon I will make Peter, because upon his
rock my Church is founded;

14 out of the sons of Zebedee, sons of thunder, for I am about to entrust to them the
sublime mysteries of my Gospel. And not only to these, but to Abraham too of old and to
Sarah were their names changed; nor is it fitting that those whose life is different from
their former manner of living should keep the same names. But another will interpret
this—"Nor will I be mindful of their names through my lips"—thus: I will not name them
lightly and as it were in passing, but I will hold them in the depth of my heart, I will
keep them in my soul. So that, just as it is said to the unbelieving people, "This people
honors me with its lips, but its heart is far from me," so, on the contrary, the Lord
names his saints not with the lips only, but holds them with the inmost affection of his
mind. The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: it is you who will restore
my inheritance to me. Our Savior in the Scriptures is called both high priest and king.
High priest, in this: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
King, as in that place: "But I have been established as king by him over Zion, his holy
mountain. According, then, to the fact that he is a priest, the Lord is his portion. For
it is written in the Law:

15 "To the sons of Levi you shall not give an inheritance in the midst of the children of
Israel, for I am their portion, says the Lord. Hence from Jesus they received no portion
in the land of Judah, but were dispersed throughout the tribes, that prophecy being
fulfilled: "I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. But if the Levites
had no portion except the Lord, how much more does this one who is high priest, and who
dares to say "The Father abiding in me does his works," have the Father as his special and
proper portion. But according to the fact that he is king, it is said to him: "Ask of me,
and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your
possession. And note how elegantly the wording is measured in both cases. Of the Father it
is said, "You are the portion of my inheritance. "You are," he says, not "you were": for
the Son always remained in the Father, and the Father in the Son. But of the nations,
"You," he says, "will restore to me my inheritance": for they ceased to be the Lord's
inheritance when their infirmities were multiplied, and their assemblies were being
gathered out of bloods. Although some think that the lower verse too should be referred to
God the Father, so that the meaning is:

16 Because I emptied myself, taking the form of a servant, and came down from my majesty
to the earth, restore to me my inheritance; that is, yourself, in whom I always was, and
glorify me with the glory which I had with you before the world was made. For you will not
give me any new possession, but you will restore my inheritance, namely the divinity and
nature of God, which I seemed not to have for the reason that I had taken the form of a
man. Further, in that he says "and of my cup," it is doubtful to no one that in the
Scriptures the cup is sometimes taken for a longed-for drink and joy, as in that place,
"How excellent is your inebriating cup," and elsewhere, "I will take the cup of salvation,
and I will call upon the name of the Lord. So that, just as our Savior is our food and
drink (for indeed we feed on his flesh and drink of his blood), so of that man who was
assumed by the Savior the food and cup is the Father, that is, the one common divinity
with God the Father. The cords have fallen to me in excellent places: for indeed my
inheritance is excellent to me. In place of that one people, I have possessed the whole
world as my inheritance; and from the world, not just anyone, but the strong. For this is
what "in excellent places" means, which in Greek is said "among the strong":

17 according to that, "The Lord is my strength and my refuge and my deliverer," and in
another place, "The Lord is my strength and my praise. If, then, anyone is excellent and
strong, he is of the Lord's inheritance. Hence that Theophilus, "friend" or "lover of
God," because he was such as to request that a Gospel be written to him, is called
"kratistos," that is, excellent, strong: which was more simply translated by the Latins as
"most excellent Theophilus. Further, the measuring-cord is used in the division of fields,
and wherever possessions are distributed, or a census of earthly revenues is conducted,
land is divided, as also in Joshua the son of Nun. An angel holding a measuring-cord is
shown to the prophet who is about to build Jerusalem, so that first of all he may measure
the extent of the city by reason and order, and thereafter build up what has been
measured. And in the canticle of Deuteronomy we read: "The Lord's portion became his
people Jacob, the cord of his inheritance Israel. In the second book of Kingdoms too, when
David overcame the Moabites, the Scripture records two cords set apart for putting to
death, and two for keeping alive. But what it means that of the Moabites some are set
apart for death, others for life, Orpah shows, and Ruth: of whom the one, turned back to
the idols and to her ancient homeland, is destined for death;

18 the other, following her mother-in-law—whose name means "sweet"—says, "Your people is
my people, and your God is my God. And so we too, if we wish to be of the Lord's
inheritance and of his cord, let us be strong and robust, and let us say: "I can do all
things in Christ who has strengthened me. Let there be nothing weak in us, nothing feeble,
nothing that the heir would not deign to receive. Since indeed Christ glories in his
saints, and says: For indeed my inheritance is excellent to me. Do you wish to know that
the Savior's inheritance was excellent? Consider Peter, look at Paul, all the apostles and
saints, since indeed they believed throughout the whole world, and you will see the
inheritance of Christ, and an excellent one. In place of which Aquila translated: "For
indeed my inheritance is most beautiful to me. So that it may be that which is said in the
Song of Songs: "You are wholly beautiful, my love, and there is no spot in you. And again:
"Behold, you are fair, my near one, behold, you are fair, your eyes are doves. You who are
fair and strong, when you have become like him of whom it is sung, "In your beauty and
your comeliness," you will hear from the Bridegroom: "Forget your people and your father's
house, and the King will desire your beauty. I will bless the Lord who has given me
understanding: moreover even until night my reins have rebuked me.

19 He who speaks below, "My flesh shall rest in hope, for you will not leave my soul in
hell, nor will you give your holy one to see corruption," consistently now too says: I
will bless the Lord who has given me understanding, moreover even until night my reins
have rebuked me. For he who is Wisdom, how does he receive understanding? But because
"Jesus advanced in age and wisdom and grace before God and men," the Son was instructed
not so much by the Father as the man was instructed by his own divinity. Hence too,
concerning him who flowered from the root of Jesse, there is the prophet's oracle: "The
Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding. Which
indeed, for beating back the madness of the Arian heresy, Aquila and Theodotion translated
better, saying: "I will bless the Lord my counselor"; so that the Father did not so much
give the Son wisdom and understanding which he did not have before, as join his own
counsel to the Son's judgment. So that, just as in Proverbs Wisdom says that she was a
counselor to God when he rejoiced in the completed world, and she rejoiced in herself
daily; so also that same Wisdom, in the fact that he assumed a human body, that he died
and rose again, shows that he was not without the Father's counsel, but according to that
saying, "That I might do your will, my God, I willed it.

20 But this too which follows, "Moreover even until night my reins have instructed me,"
must be taken thus, that we understand "reins" for hidden thoughts and deep affection,
which is properly an idiom (idiōma) of the Scriptures. For as far as is in my memory,
neither in any of the philosophers nor among the rhetoricians, nor among the poets, nor
even among the physicians themselves, who promise a knowledge of the nature of bodies, do
I recall ever having read that "reins" are put for the understanding and for deep thought.
But Scripture uses this custom, so that when it wishes to indicate something secret and
hidden or mystical, it says, "God who searches hearts and reins"; so that, since the heart
is secret, the reins are the more secret parts of the heart. In Wisdom too, which is
inscribed with the title of Solomon, I have found written: "God is the witness of his
reins, and the true beholder of his heart, and the hearer of his tongue. In the book of
the Patriarchs too, although it is counted among the apocrypha, I found it thus, that as
the gall was created for anger, so the reins for cleverness and for shrewdness. But
"panourgia," that is, cleverness, may be taken either in a good or in a bad sense: in a
good sense, according to Proverbs, "That he may give," it says, "shrewdness to the
innocent, and to the younger boy sense and understanding";

21 in a bad sense, as in the apostle, "But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his
shrewdness, your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. What he
says, then, is this: my instruction and deep thought and the inner affection of the heart
was not only with me in the heavenly places, but even while I dwelt in the night of this
world and in darkness, it was engaged with me in the man, and instructed me, and was never
absent from me, so that whatever the weakness of the flesh could not do, divine thought
and power might accomplish. Or at least thus: my reins instructed me, who possess the
inner wisdom of divinity, by which I was taught, when the passion was imminent, not to
yield to human frailty through the terror of the cross. Moreover, what else does this
declare (since the Savior's life is our example) but that he, not only waking but even
sleeping, was free from every sin, and remained pure from every phantasm of the flesh: so
that the saints too, who desire to be like their Lord and Master, may guard their heart
with all watchfulness, and be overcome not only when waking, but not even in sleep—that
is, not only by day, but not even by night. This too must be noted, that he said,
"Moreover even until night my reins have rebuked me":

22 to show that before night came, or before the Savior himself began to be in the night,
he was always instructed by his own wisdom. There is another interpretation: because
divine Scripture always speaks of God's powers after the likeness of human limbs—for
example, when it says he has feet, eyes, ears, hands, and other things of this kind—that
here "reins" should be taken for the places of the seed; so that, just as the beginning of
men and the element of human flesh is founded in the seed, so our judgments too, and the
beginnings of our thoughts, have their reins: so that, before we handle anything either in
deed or in word, silent thought may hold this in its own movement and consider it within
itself. So that the meaning is: our Lord and Savior could not sin—not only in deed and
word, but not even in thought or in the beginnings of thoughts, which they call
"propatheiai" (pre-passions)—he whom the Word of God was daily instructing. Not that God
is one and the man another; but so that one and the same Son of Man and Son of God may
now, as man, pray, now, as Lord, hear. I foresaw the Lord in my sight always: for he is at
my right hand, that I may not be moved. In place of what we read in Latin, "I foresaw,"
and what in Greek is written "proōrōmēn," it stands better in the Hebrew SEBETHI, which we
may render "I set before myself. So that it means:

23 I set the Lord before me always at my right hand, and I could be overthrown by no fraud
of my enemies. And at the same time consider that it is in our power to set the Lord
before our eyes. He who is just and is like the Savior places God at his right hand, and
says, "Because he is at my right hand, that I may not be moved. But he places him at the
right hand for this reason, that he has before his eyes the one whom he follows as he goes
before. But he who is a sinner casts the word of the Lord behind his back, and the Lord
becomes for him at the left hand. And when the devil has looked at him on the left of the
sinner, he at once moves to the sinner's right, so as to possess the place of God: and
that is fulfilled which is written of Judas: "Let the devil stand at his right hand. Why
this is put not as in narration but as in prayer belongs to another place to discuss. For
the Lord Savior, then, or through the Lord for his saints, God always stands at the right
hand. But the just man has no left hand, and wherever he turns, "the angel of the Lord
encamps round about those who fear him, and will deliver them. Do you wish to know that
the just man has no left hand?

24 When Moses, in the type of the cross, lifted both his hands to heaven, it is not
written, "Aaron was at his right and Hur at his left," but that on this side stood Aaron
and on that side Hur. In the book of Judges too, that leader Ehud, whose mystery is
manifold and great, who had a sword upon his thigh, and had cut off desires, and had also
run through with his blade his very fat and gross adversary, is for that reason written
"amphoterodexios," that is, having both hands as a right hand, whom in Latin we may call
"ambidextrous. Someone may object: If the just man has no left hand, how is Wisdom written
to have both a right hand and a left? A diligent reader will very easily judge how great
is the difference between the right hand of Wisdom and the left, when he has noticed what
things are said to be in her right and what in her left. For it is said: "Length of
eternity and years of life are in her right hand, but in her left hand riches and glory.
You see eternal time and perpetual life placed in Wisdom's right hand; but the carnal
things which pass away, which flee off while they are thought to be held—that is, riches
and glory—placed in her left hand, according to that, that on the day of judgment some
will stand at the right, and others at the left:

25 the lambs, that is, and the saints at his right, but the goats and the sinners at his
left. But perhaps an inquisitive reader will object this too: how we can assert that God
stands at the right of the just man, and the devil at the left of the sinner, when
concerning our Lord it is read in Zechariah, "And the devil was standing at his right hand
to oppose him. Let him, then, who objects this read also what follows: that when the devil
was standing at his right hand, Jesus had filthy garments. Rightly did he who had taken up
our sins and was bearing our offenses have the devil at his right hand, not so much for
himself as for the filthy garments. And at the same time let him consider that it is not
said, "The devil was standing as victor and triumphing," but as still set in the contest
and in the battle-line and in doubt—indeed, when he had not yet begun to fight. For it
follows, "That he might oppose him. But the devil was opposing him, as we said, because he
had filthy garments from our sins.

26 But after he heard, "May the Lord who chose Jerusalem rebuke you," he did not stand at
the right, but went behind his back and under his feet, and at once Jesus the great priest
receives the ankle-length robe (poderis), and is clothed in white vesture, and, royal
dignity being joined to him—that is, Zerubbabel being coupled with him—builds the Church,
and constructs the spiritual Jerusalem. 27 Because of this my heart has been glad and my
tongue has rejoiced. This that he says, "Because of this," must be joined to what
precedes, so that he says the cause of his gladness, or exultation, was this, that he
always had God before his eyes, and, with him standing at his right hand, was never moved;
and so let the order be: My heart has been glad and my tongue has rejoiced, rendering a
hymn to the Father for the salvation of men, because, while I stood and endured the death
of the cross, the Lord was set at my right hand. This passage also tells against those who
reckon that the members which are set forth in the Scriptures must always be understood
bodily. For let them answer how a tongue by itself can rejoice, or how a tongue, as if
perceiving and understanding, can have its own gladness. Since indeed he does not say,
"the tongue rejoiced," but "my tongue rejoiced. Understand, then, of the tongue as of the
other members too, namely that it has all its effects, according to that saying of
Solomon: "In the hand of the tongue are death and life. But in place of what is read in
the Acts of the Apostles and in the common edition, "My tongue rejoiced," it must be known
that in the other editions, and among the Seventy themselves too, it is not "tongue" that
is put, but "glory," which in Hebrew is called CHABOD. For "tongue" is called LASON.

28 And I think that, because the glory of the orator is in the praise of his speech, just
as the glory of the physician is in the industry of the medical art, and the athlete's
glory is his strength, and the glory of the other arts is to fulfill what they know:
therefore the tongue, through which what is felt is uttered, has been put for "glory. Or
at least the glory of that man who was assumed by Christ must be understood, the one
concerning whom it is said elsewhere, "My glory, and the lifter-up of my head. Or his
glory must be understood as the apostles, because they glorified him in the whole world:
just as we call an ample flock the glory of the shepherd, and learned disciples the glory
of the master, and strong armies the glory of the general. Further, as to what John says,
"We saw his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and
truth," and what is written in another place, "Arise, my glory, arise": let us understand
that to be the Savior's glory which the apostles saw in the humility of his flesh, so that
they gazed with keener eyes not on what appeared, but on what lay hidden in the body.

29 Moreover my flesh too shall rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in hell, nor
will you give your holy one to see corruption. It is superfluous to wish to treat of those
things which have been explained by the apostles. We therefore say these things, which
were passed over by them as being, as it were, of lesser importance: that he said, "My
flesh shall dwell in hope," for this reason, that the Savior descended to the dead with
the hope of rising again at once. And he did not say "shall dwell," or "shall rest," as is
read in the Latin manuscripts, but "kataskēnōsei," that is, "shall sojourn," so that the
meaning is: It will tarry there a little while, and will see the underworld in passing,
and his soul too will not be left in hell. "For I have power to lay down my soul, and I
have power to take it up again. Nor will it be granted by the Father to see corruption.
But he said "to see" for "to suffer," according to that idiom (idiōma) of the Scriptures:
"Who is the man that lives, and shall not see death? And elsewhere: "He who, though he had
not known sin, was made sin for us. And at the same time note that the Lord had both flesh
and soul: the flesh which was laid in the tomb, and the soul which descended to the
underworld.

30 And as the flesh without the soul was perfect flesh, so also the soul without the flesh
was a perfect soul, and lacked no function of its own nature which the human soul is wont
to have apart from sin. This is against the new heresy. And at the same time, because some
argue variously, from the fact that the Lord entered with the doors shut, that the same
flesh did not rise which had died, let them hear what the Lord himself here recalls.
Moreover my flesh too shall rest in hope. Surely, when the Savior had died and suffered,
that flesh was laid in the tomb which had also been alive; that flesh, then, also rose
again, which had lain lifeless and dead in the tomb. But if the same flesh rose, how do
some argue that a certain spiritual and great flesh, and not our own, rose in the Lord?
Nor do we say this in such a way as to deny that the body of Christ took on that glory
which we believe that we saints too shall receive. For then this corruptible shall put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality. But as, before he suffered, when
transformed and glorified on the mountain he had assuredly the same flesh which he had
also had down below, though of another glory;

31 so also after the resurrection there was in him flesh of the same nature which had been
before the passion, but of a more glorified and more august appearance, that being
fulfilled which Paul says: "And so from now on we know no one according to the flesh; and
even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we no longer know him so. I
am compelled in this place to say that word of the apostle: "O the depth of the riches of
the wisdom and knowledge of God: how unsearchable are his judgments and untraceable his
ways! God the Son, God the Word, so long as he was in the heavens, and men had not so
sinned that he himself should descend to them, dwelt simple and uncompounded with the
angels, thrones, dominions, and the other powers. But when he descended to men, namely
those who were framed of soul and body, he too came compounded, lest the compounded ones
should be unable to bear the simple. Again, because souls without bodies were being held
in the underworld, souls which in their nature are simple, so, the flesh itself being left
behind, it was not God the Word, not the compounded man, but the soul that descended to
the underworld: so that, just as each place had need of him, he might so be perceived by
the inhabitants of that region.

32 I know that many, since the body of Christ is the Church, and we are its members,
according to anagogy (anagōgēn) understand as the flesh of Christ those who are lower, and
as the soul those who are more perfect; or at least as the flesh those who follow the
literal history, as the soul those who ascend to spiritual understanding. 33 You have made
known to me the ways of life; you will fill me with gladness with your countenance:
delights are at your right hand unto the end. Because his flesh did not see corruption,
and his soul was not left in hell, now after the resurrection, ascending to the heavens as
victor, in the person of that man who had risen, he says, "You have made known to me the
ways of life": that is, I have learned how men are freed from the underworld, by what
means they may attain eternal life. And at the same time consider that he who is the Way
and the Life said that he had learned the ways of life, that is, how men may attain to him
who said that he is the Way and the Life. And I think that, just as he himself is the
Truth, and, speaking to the Jews, "If you abide in my word, you will know the truth, and
the truth will set you free," he speaks as it were of another truth; so, since he himself
is the Life, he speaks as it were of another life, and since he himself is the Way, he
says that other ways were shown to him—or, as it is read in the Hebrew, "the way": namely,
that the flesh which he had taken, and in his flesh the whole race of men, might rejoice
that those things which belonged to the divinity of the Son were made known to it.

34 For which reason he says that he rejoices, and has exultation with the Father (for this
is what "with your countenance" means, according to that, "You will make him glad with joy
with your countenance"), and full and perfect gladness and ineffable delight, when he
shall sit at the Father's right hand, and shall have fulfilled, "The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Son sits at
the Father's right hand in the majesty of one reigning; and because he had seen his first
martyr Stephen battling against the Jews, he rose from his throne and stood at the
Father's right hand, as if he too were fighting for the martyr. This is the delight, this
the pleasure at the end of the dispensation, or of the victory: for in place of "end"
Aquila and Theodotion and all the editions, except Symmachus and the Seventy, translated
"victory"; because he suffered, and rose again, and as victor pierced through to the
heavens, for this reason: that he might set man at the right hand of the Lord. It must
also be noted that in this place where we read, "You will fill me with gladness,"
Theodotion said "Seven gladnesses," and "With your countenance is delight at your right
hand. To the victor"; and Aquila and Symmachus translated "A fullness of gladnesses with
your face," or "in your presence," and the rest. It is asked, then, why Theodotion said
"seven" for "fullness.

35 This indeed he will easily know who has at least a small acquaintance with the Hebrew
tongue. For the word SABA, as we have also said in the book of Hebrew Questions, signifies
four things: fullness and satiety, an oath, and seven. Since, therefore, it is ambiguous,
Theodotion, knowing that there are diverse graces of the Spirit with God, thought that,
for the fitness of the passage, "seven" ought rather to be translated than "fullness,"
"satiety," and "oath"; so as to show that with God there are the Spirit of wisdom and of
understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the Spirit of knowledge and of
piety, the Spirit of the fear of the Lord: which are truly the seven full gladnesses—not
for others, but for him who has deserved to be delighted forever at the right hand of the
Lord. For this reason some suppose that seven heavens were named by the philosophers, and
seven wandering stars called. Further, Symmachus, where we read, "Delight is at your right
hand unto the end," says, "Strength is at your right hand forever": showing that he who is
full of virtues will remain continually with God.

HOMILY 62, ON PSALM 82 (ALTERNATE SERIES)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos
quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) —
public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). O God, who shall be
like you? None shall be like you. Do not keep silent, nor be restrained, O God. It is a
man of the Church who speaks, from whose belly flow rivers of living water. For he sees
that the harvest is great and the laborers few: a vast multitude of believers, and only a
modest teaching from the masters; many heretics, many adversaries, and few warriors to do
battle for Christ. Do not keep silent, nor be restrained, O God. Why this? For behold,
your enemies have made a din. The heretics speak out, and the men of the Church keep
silent; they make a noise, and we are quiet; they blaspheme, and we do not bark back. For
behold, your enemies have made a din. Beautifully did he say, they have made a din: for it
is not speech adorned for building up, but only a disordered clamor for tearing down. And
those who hate you have lifted up their head. So great is the multitude of the heretics,
and so small the number of those who believe in you.

2 Against your people they have devised a malicious plan. This they speak, that they may
snatch away from your Church. They have plotted against your holy ones. Each day they
think of nothing else, save how they may deceive the men of the Church and trip them up.
They have said, Come, let us destroy them out of the nation. I see a strange thing. So
great is the multitude of the heretics, and such the diversity of their teachings, that
their opinions differ among themselves, and yet they agree in this alone — in their hatred
of us. For just as Herod and Pilate were enemies, and, acting against Christ, they made
peace, and their concord was worse than their enmity had been; so these too fall out
wickedly and league together yet more wickedly. Against your covenant they have made their
arrangements. You spoke through the prophets; and they through Manichaeus, Marcion, Arius,
and Valentinus. The tents of the Edomites and the Ishmaelites. Since once we have begun,
leaving behind the lowliness of the literal history, to raise our understanding to a
higher manner of the spiritual meaning's exposition... For the history is a simple one, in
which the Jewish people speaks against the other nations that were fighting against it.
But whatever was done, was done as a type of us. Israel was attacked, and its victory
profited us. Let us see, then, who they are that fight against the Church. The tents of
the Edomites. The Edomites are interpreted as "earthly." Beautifully did he say, tents:
for they have no foundations nor houses, but tents, seats forever unstable. And of the
Edomites and the Ishmaelites. The Ishmaelites are interpreted as "as if hearing."
Beautifully did he say, as if hearing: for they do not hear God, but pass on by.

3 Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebal and Ammon. Each single name holds its single sacred
meaning: for as many words, so many mysteries. Moab, which is interpreted, "from the
father": for they are not in the father, but from the father, because they have forsaken
their former father. And the Hagarenes, who are interpreted "proselytes" and "newcomers,"
who were formerly citizens and afterward became strangers: for they are not of the
household, but are aliens, seeing that they assail the house of the father. Gebal, which
is interpreted "empty valley." They are not of the mountains, but of the valley: for they
have no taste for the things above, but for the things below; they are not of heaven, but
wholly of the earth. Therefore he said, empty valley, because there is also a valley that
is not empty: for whoever is humble, and casts himself down for Christ's sake, that one is
a valley and a plain — not empty, but good. Ammon, and Amalek. Ammon indeed is interpreted
"a false people." Therefore it is said of the heretics, a false people: for they do not
follow him who says "I am the truth," but they follow him who is the prince of lying. And
Amalek, who is interpreted "licking": for they suffer nothing to remain standing in the
Church, but lick up all its foundations. They do not eat the words of the Scriptures, but
lick the earth like a serpent.

4 And the foreigners with those who dwell in Tyre. In place of what we have as
"foreigners," in the Hebrew is written Philistim, which is interpreted "the cup of the
draught," because they are made drunk from the cup of Babylon, as Jeremiah says: "The
golden cup of Babylon, making all the earth drunk." See what he says, the golden cup of
Babylon. Babylon is interpreted "confusion"; but the golden cup is the doctrines of the
philosophers and the eloquence of the orators. For who has not been led astray by the
philosophers? Who has not been seduced by the orators of this world? A golden cup they
have — outwardly the splendor of eloquence; and inwardly poisons are stored, which could
not be hidden unless they were concealed under the appearance of gold. You see indeed the
honey of eloquence, and you do not suspect the deadly poisons. The foreigners with those
who dwell in Tyre. Tyre is interpreted "narrowness." For truly there is narrowness there,
and not the breadth which is Christ, as the Apostle also says to the Corinthians: "You are
not straitened in us, but you are straitened in your own bowels."

5 For Assur also came with them. They went before, and he follows. Let us see who this is
that follows. Assur indeed is interpreted "the devil": truly so, because he is both the
enemy and the avenger, as is written in the eighth psalm, "That you may destroy the enemy
and the defender." He himself makes us sin, and he himself accuses us for punishment. For
Assur came together with them. They have the devil as their prince, they have him as their
emperor: not Josiah the righteous king rules over them, but the Assyrian. They became a
help to the sons of Lot. Lot is interpreted "turning aside," which is understood, from
God, like the Jewish people: because all the heretics agree with the Jews in blasphemies.
There are many things that might be said, but the hour shuts us out: for it is a long task
to run through them one by one. For who could easily say, Do to them as to Midian and
Sisera, as to Jabin at the torrent of Kishon. They perished at Endor, they became like the
dung of the earth. Make their princes like Oreb and Zeb and Zebee and Salmana: all their
princes who said, Let us possess for ourselves as an inheritance the sanctuary of God?
They thought themselves to be men of the Church, and claimed the Church for themselves.

6 My God, set them like a wheel. Let them not be stable, but forever uncertain: that they
may have no seat, and be forever rolled about unstably. For just as a wheel is not of
itself stable, so also the heretics do not stand firm in their opinion, but forever change
their doctrines. Like stubble before the face of the wind. Eleven punishments he asks
against them, because they have denied the mysteries of the eleven apostles. But let the
prudent reader say: How will you divide one verse into two? And you do violence to the
Scripture: you say eleven apostles, when we know that the Lord and Savior had twelve
disciples. For this reason, then, we set down the number eleven, because Judas the
traitor, who had been the twelfth, departed from the number. My God, set them like a
wheel. You have one plague: count therefore more carefully the rest that follow. Like
stubble before the face of the wind: behold the second. Like fire which burns a forest:
behold the third. Like a flame burning the mountains: the fourth. So will you pursue them
in your tempest: the fifth. And in your anger you will confound them: the sixth. Fill
their faces with shame: the seventh. And let them seek your name, O Lord: the eighth. Let
them be ashamed and troubled forever and ever: the ninth. And let them be confounded and
perish: the tenth. And let them know that your name is Lord: the eleventh. You alone are
the Most High over all the earth.

7 Thus far it is wrath: what follows is now mercy. And in your anger you will trouble
them. He did not say, kill, but, trouble them, that they may return to you: behold the
sixth. Fill their faces with shame: not with punishment, lest, shut out by death, they be
unable to return to the Lord. Fill their faces with shame, not with punishment. Why then
do you not kill them? The divine word explains: That they may seek your name, O Lord. For
if they seek, they will also find. Those who have been led astray by the heretics will be
turned back to the Lord: behold the seventh. Let them be confounded and perish. He who
blushes for his sins is next to being without sin: behold the eighth. Let the prudent
reader say: This is contrary to the interpretation you have given. And let them perish.
For those who are confounded to this end, that they may be saved — how shall they perish?
Let them perish, let them perish, he says, the heretics, and let the men of the Church be
saved. It is as if you were to say, Let this adulterer perish — not that you wish the
adulterer to perish, but that the adultery may perish in him; nor, when the adulterer is
saved, is the adulterer saved, but the righteous and chaste man. That you may know this to
be the meaning we have stated, the Holy Spirit himself speaks thus: Let them be confounded
and perish. How let them perish?

8 That they may know that your name is Lord. Let them perish in error, let them be saved
in the truth. You alone are the Most High in all the earth. Not the conventicles of the
heretics, not the aeons of Valentinus and his innumerable days, not Basilides who asserts
three hundred and sixty-five gods; not, he says, the innumerable multitude of false gods,
but you alone are the Most High in all the earth. To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.


HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS
======================

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS continued

HOMILY 63, ON PSALM 83 (ALTERNATE SERIES)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos
quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) —
public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Long ago, when we
spoke about the eightieth psalm, we said that the title of the eighth psalm, and of the
eightieth, and of the eighty-third psalm — that is, of this one — is inscribed "for the
winepresses." So we said that winepresses are like granaries, in which the crops are
stored away. So let us see what he says. How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord of
hosts. These, then, are the winepresses in which the spiritual grain is to be stored.
"Make for yourselves friends out of the mammon of iniquity, that they may receive you into
the eternal tabernacles." How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. How beloved
are the tabernacles through which a man is carried over from earth to heaven. My soul
longs and faints for the courts of the Lord. Happy is that thought which by day and by
night desires the tabernacles of the Lord. He who is a sinner, when death comes, does not
think about these tabernacles, but about punishments: he does not consider the kingdom of
heaven, but dreads the flames of hell. My soul longs and faints for the courts of the
Lord. See with what love, or with what longing, the mind of the holy man is wounded for
the courts of the Lord. Beautifully has he said: I gaze upon the doors, and what the house
is like inside I do not know.

2 My heart and my flesh have exulted in the living God. Listen, heretic, to what he says.
How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts: he is speaking of the kingdom of
heaven. "There are many dwelling-places with my Father," the Lord says in the Gospel. My
soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord: these are the courts in which the saints
will dwell for eternity, which the prophet desires. My heart and my flesh. You see, then,
that both the soul and the flesh alike desire the kingdom of heaven. But if the flesh is
dissolved into the air, if it will not rise again, as the heretics suppose, how does the
flesh of the prophet desire the kingdom of heaven? My heart and my flesh: because they
have labored together, together they await the recompense. If the labor is shared, why
should the reward not be shared? I beg you to hear me with indulgence. The flesh labors
more in the present age than the soul: because the soul commands, the flesh serves. One
thing is the labor of the servant, another the delights of the one who commands. The soul
desires the Lord: the flesh fasts, the flesh lies on the ground in the cold, in prison it
is scourged in martyrdom, it is beaten, it is condemned — the injury is the flesh's. The
soul indeed grieves: but grief does not reach it except through the flesh. But someone may
say:

3 How does the apostle say that "flesh and blood shall not obtain the kingdom of God"? Do
you wish to know how it is written? Listen to the Lord speaking in Genesis: "My spirit
shall not remain in man forever, because he is flesh. Why? For what is this? You made the
flesh, and do you accuse and condemn the flesh? But what God says is this: my spirit shall
not remain in these men, because they do not live according to the spirit, but according
to the vices and will of the flesh. Let the apostle too give his testimony: "Whoever are
in the flesh cannot please God. If all who are in the flesh cannot please God, how did
Paul himself, who is speaking, please God? How did Peter or the rest of the apostles and
the saints please him, whom we cannot deny to have been in the flesh? Just as the same
apostle again says: "But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. They were in the
flesh: and how does he say, You are not in the flesh? Because you do not live according to
the flesh, because "our citizenship is in heaven. For we who in this age "are pilgrims
away from the Lord" do indeed walk on the earth, but we hasten toward the things of
heaven: because here we have no home of our own, but are strangers and pilgrims, just as
all our fathers were.

4 For indeed the sparrow has found itself a house, and the turtledove a nest where she may
lay her young. This is what the Lord says in the Gospel: "The foxes have holes, and the
birds of the air have nests." For indeed the sparrow has found itself a house. He gave a
comparison from an everyday example. Because he had said, How beloved are your
tabernacles, which my soul longs for, and my flesh desires the kingdom of heaven; he gives
a comparison, and says: The birds are free, and although they wander through the air, yet
they remember their nests, and return to them. If, then, sparrows seek out their nests,
why should the human soul not seek the dwellings prepared for it by the Lord? Your altars,
O Lord of hosts. What is to be understood by, For indeed the sparrow has found itself a
house, and the turtledove a nest where she may lay her young: your altars, O Lord of
hosts? What is the connection? It hangs upon what came before. My soul longs and faints
for the courts of the Lord: your altars, O Lord of hosts. John in the Apocalypse saw the
altar of the Lord, beneath which were the souls of the righteous. For he says thus: "I saw
beneath the altar of the Lord the souls of those slain for the word of the Lord and the
testimony of Jesus." They were beneath the altar of God, because they had been offered up
in martyrdom for Christ; for the victim of the Lord and Savior deserved to be beneath the
altar in heaven.

5 Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord: that is, in the Church, whether the
present one, or "the church of the firstborn." Forever and ever they will praise you. See
what kind of office the martyrs have: it is that of the angels too. What they do in
heaven, then, this we imitate on earth. So when we are called to the psalms and neglect
them, we despise the praises of God. 6 Blessed is the man whose help is from you. To begin
is ours, to help is God's. He has arranged ascents in his heart. Daily he thinks how he
may ascend, not how he may descend. Whoever is a sinner puts not ascents, but descents, in
his heart. That is why Jacob too saw the angels ascending and descending. He has arranged
ascents in his heart: what is his own — he thinks the good, but the accomplishment he
leaves to God. It is ours to arrange, his to bring to completion. Let us see where he
arranged the ascents. Listen to what he says: In the valley of tears, in the place which
he has set. We read in the book of Judges, when the angel came and preached repentance to
the people, saying, You have forsaken the Lord, and the Lord will forsake you; and when
the people heard this they wept, and that place was called the Valley of Tears. We have
recalled the old history, so that we might flee heresy. But by the valley of tears we can
understand, spiritually, this present age. For we are not on the mountain, that is, in the
kingdom of heaven, but in the valley, that is, in the darkness of this world; and by our
error we have been cast out of paradise with Adam into the valley of tears, where there is
repentance, where there are tears. In the valley of tears, in the place which he has set.
What did he say?

7 The place which God has set for the contest: so that here we may contend against the
devil, against sins, that in the heavens we may be crowned. Why, then, did he give a
contest of fighting? Could God not have given us life without a contest? But he gave it as
a president of the games; he gave a stadium, where we might wrestle against the vices: so
that afterward he might deservedly crown us, not sleeping, but laboring. What follows? 8
For indeed he who gave the law will give a blessing: therefore he gave a place for
contending, so that afterward he might give a blessing, he who had given us the law of the
contest. They will go from strength to strength. You see that the sense fits together.
They will go from strength to strength: therefore they fight here, so that there afterward
they may be crowned. They go from strength to strength. He did not say, they will go from
weakness to strength: for unless they have been strong here, they will not be stronger
afterward. But someone may say, God is merciful. But see what follows: The Lord loves
mercy and truth. He is indeed merciful, but also truthful. When you hear "merciful," you
ought not to be careless, because there follows, "and truthful." Again, when you hear
"truth," do not despair, do not think God to be only cruel: because mercy tempers truth.
For "the cup in the hand of the Lord is full of mixed wine, and he has poured out from
this into that": that is, from mercy he has tempered truth, and from truth mercy. The God
of gods will be seen in Zion. When they have gone from strength to strength, then the God
of gods will be seen in Zion. To whom is glory forever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY 64, ON PSALM 84 (ALTERNATE SERIES)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos
quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) —
public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). To the end, a psalm
for the sons of Korah. Korah is interpreted as "Skull," the place of the Lord's passion.
We are all sons of Korah, we who believe in his resurrection. What then do we say, and
what do we sing with harmonious voice? You have blessed, O Lord, your land. It is better
said in Greek, Εὐδόκησας Κύριε, that is, "It has well pleased you, O Lord, in regard to
your land"; it has pleased you, this has seemed good to you, this you have decreed, that
through your mercy you might fulfill what is said in the following verse: You have turned
away the captivity of Jacob, you have forgiven the iniquity of your people, you have
covered all their sins. But we can also understand it according to the Latin sense. You
have blessed, O Lord, your land. The land, which before had been cursed, has been blessed
by your coming. That which before had heard, "Thorns and thistles shall you bring forth,"
now is called, as is written in the Song of Songs, "the flower of the field and the lily
of the valleys." The land, which before brought forth thorns, hears in Isaiah: "There
shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up from his root."
You have turned away the captivity of Jacob. The Lord therefore came to preach release to
the captives. This is what is said in another place, "He led captivity captive": that is,
we who before had been taken captive by the devil unto perdition, are now taken captive by
the Savior unto salvation.

2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people. This we believe was accomplished in
baptism. You have covered all their sins. This in penance, as is said in the thirty-first
psalm: "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered." In
baptism our iniquities are forgiven us, but in penance the sins that had been committed
are covered over: they are not dismissed, but covered over. Let us carefully consider the
force of the word. For when the Lord and Savior comes, all our iniquities are utterly
forgiven us in baptism. For when we were living without law, we were sinning without law —
ἀνομία it is called in Greek, that is, sin without law; but when we have received baptism,
it is by no means called ἀνομία, but sin is called sin. For sin is not imputed except to
him who knows it to be sin: where there is transgression of a commandment, there is true
sin. Do you wish to know how sins are covered over by virtues? Yesterday I was dissolute,
today I am chaste: chastity covers over lust. Yesterday I was imprudent, today I am
prudent, I repent of my error: prudence covers over imprudence. Yesterday I was seizing
what belonged to others, today I distribute what is my own: almsgiving covers over greed.
Blessed is he whose iniquities are forgiven in baptism: but the second is penance, which
is like a plank after shipwreck. Therefore that man too can be called blessed: though he
be delivered amid peril, yet because he is delivered in penance, he is to be called
blessed.

3 You have mitigated all your wrath, you have turned away from the wrath of your
indignation. See what penance avails: it holds off the imminent wrath of God. Convert us,
O God of our salvations. He did not say, "of our salvation": because we have sinned much,
we have need of many salvations. Will you be angry with us forever? or will you extend
your wrath from generation to generation? Your wrath has profited unto salvation: for this
reason you were angry with the former people, that you might have mercy on ours. You,
being turned, will give us life, and your people will rejoice in you. Show us, O Lord,
your mercy, and give us your salvation. What in Latin is called "salvation" (salutare), in
Hebrew is called "Jesus." Therefore in Hebrew it is said thus: Show us, O Lord, your
mercy, and give us your salvation: Unless you first be merciful toward the human race,
your Jesus will not be given to us.

4 I will hear what the Lord God speaks within me. The prophet prays on behalf of the
people, and he who speaks within himself while God speaks, and he says, I will hear what
the Lord God speaks within me. You see that God speaks not in the ears but in the heart;
just as Zechariah too says: "And the angel who spoke within me said to me." There the
angel is understood to be our Lord, who announces the will of the Father, who in Isaiah is
called the "angel of great counsel." I will hear what the Lord God speaks within me: I
will incline the ear of my heart, that I may hear what the Lord God speaks within me. 5
For he will speak peace unto his people, and upon his saints, and unto those who are
converted to the heart. I see three kinds of people: the common people, the saints, and
those who are converted to the heart. He speaks peace with his people: not with the people
of the Jews, of whom he says in Hosea, "You are not my people," but concerning all
Christians who have believed in him. For all whosoever are in the Church are together
called the people of the Lord. But those who are already foremost among them, and advance
in spiritual deeds, are called saints of God, just as Paul writes in his epistles to the
churches and to the saints who are in them. This third follows, And unto those who are
converted to the heart. These are they who had been tripped up by the devil, and
afterward, doing penance, are converted to the virtues. For at the time when they sinned,
they lost their heart — that is, the prudence of the heart, which, being converted to
better things, they receive again. Hear, O Montanus; hear, O Novatus; hear, O Maximilla
and the rest among the Phrygians, you who say that there is no penance. The Lord speaks to
his people, that is, to all Christians without exception, and to his saints who are
foremost in the Church, and to those who are converted to the heart, that is, who do
penance. Blessed indeed is he whom no sin has ever stained, in whom no wound has ever been
fixed: yet the second blessedness is, after a wound, to heal the scar.

6 Nevertheless his salvation is near to those who fear him. See what he says. Those who
fear the Lord have the Lord near, since fear does not yet possess perfection: "For perfect
love casts out fear." Therefore we who love the Lord have him not nearby, but within. "For
I will dwell in them, and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my
people." That glory may dwell in our land. This is the land of which he says in another
place, "The earth has given its fruit." The fruit of our land is the bread of life, which
was born for us in Bethlehem; for Bethlehem is interpreted "house of bread." And this
bread, which arose in Bethlehem, was made for us descending from heaven, into whose
mysteries the angels desire to look. Truth has arisen from the earth, and justice has
looked down from heaven. The truth of the promise has arisen from the earth, and the sun
of justice has looked down from heaven: that he might lavish his light upon men set in
darkness and in the shadow of death.

7 Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed. Mercy and truth have
met. I see two things, which by coming together and meeting become one. Justice and peace
have kissed. All this is fitted to the mystery of the Lord and Savior: this is the Son of
God and of man, who is for us truth, mercy, peace, and justice, in whom the justice of the
former people and the mercy of the latter are joined together into one peace. "For he
himself," says the Apostle, "is our peace, who has made both one." This is the mystery
which the Church desires, and cries out in the Song of Songs, saying, "Let him kiss me
with the kiss of his mouth." This is the kiss of which the Apostle Paul says, "Greet one
another with the kiss of peace." For indeed the Lord will give kindness. For this reason
these kisses were given, that the Lord might give kindness. And our land will give its
fruit. What was promised at that time, we now see fulfilled. Our land gives its fruit,
when it is tilled with the plow of justice, when by fastings, when by abstinence and the
other virtues it is uprooted from its old vices, so that it may render the grain of the
gospel seed which it received into a hundredfold fruit. Peter and the rest of the
apostles, because they cultivated their land with diverse labors, can confidently say, Our
land has given its fruit. The martyrs too, when they are cut down, when they are
crucified, their land will render its fruit.

8 There are many things which might be said, but the hour compels the sermon to reach its
end. Let us together pray to the Lord, that both my speech and your hearing may be turned
into work. "For not the hearers only are just before God, but the doers." For he who
speaks or hears, and does not do, either listens or speaks unto his own condemnation. For
what does he say in the gospel? "If you were blind, you would not have sin." Let us turn
that around in another way: If you were deaf, and did not hear, you would not have sin.
But because both to speak and to hear without work are each of them sin, let us ask the
Lord to set his steps upon the way — that is, that he may accompany us in the perils of
this life, and, walking in our heart without the offense of our sin, may delight to dwell
in us always. To whom is glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY 65, ON PSALM 87 (ALTERNATE SERIES)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos
quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) —
public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 At the very
outset the title is most difficult, and although we have not yet begun the harbor of
exposition, nevertheless the most obscure questions press upon us. "A song of a psalm, for
the sons of Chore, unto the end, for meleth, to be answered, of the understanding of Eman
the Ezraite. You see that in the individual words there are individual questions. "A song
of a psalm": there is no great difficulty. "For the sons of Chore": the sons of Caath, of
the tribe of Levi. "Unto the end. Attend carefully to what he said: "unto the end," not at
the beginning, not in the middle, but at the end is it promised: not at the beginning to
the patriarchs, not in the middle to the prophets, but at the end to the apostles and to
us is the joy of the song promised. "For meleth. Meleth is a Hebrew word, and it is
translated "choir. Now it is called a choir when many sing together into one, and just as
the strings of a lyre are indeed different strings, yet produce a single sound. Therefore,
that you may know that meleth is translated "choir," there immediately follows "To be
answered": so that, as the prophet sings, the whole multitude of the choir may answer in
the praise of God. For the mystery is prefigured of the Church gathered together from
diverse nations, so that from diverse places and from diverse regions and manners one
choir of the praises of God may be made.

3 "Of the understanding of Eman the Ezraite. Eman was one of the choir-masters, just as
Asaph or the others were. But that he is called "Ezraite," this is translated "having
obtained the help of the Lord" (since indeed Ezras is translated "helper"), that is,
having obtained aid from the Lord. Therefore this choir too, which sings together in
praises, is upheld by the help of God. Let us run through the individual little verses,
and because we are constrained within a brief span, let us fit the individual little
sentences to the individual verses. 4 "O Lord, the God of my salvation." This psalm is
spoken in the person of the Savior, that is, in the person of that servant whom He deigned
to take upon Himself. Whatever, therefore, is spoken humbly is narrated in the human
person, because it profits human salvation. "I have cried in the day, and in the night
before thee." Though I cried by night, yet the awareness of virtues was light to me. "Let
my prayer come in before thee." "Into thy hands, Father, I commend my spirit." "Let my
prayer come in before thee. Incline thine ear to my petition." Where are the
anthropomorphites, who suppose that God has bodily members? "Incline thine ear, O God." It
is the voice of the Son to the Father, speaking in our person. "Incline thine ear." It is
a mark of great weakness, if, when He wishes to hear, He needs to incline His ear, so as
to hear more closely. See how wretched it is to say that the Father cannot hear the Son
unless with head inclined. Scripture speaks with human frailty, so that we may more easily
understand what is said.

5 "For my soul is filled with evils." I bear the sins of many, therefore I grieve for all.
"My soul is filled with evils." I bear evils, that I may lay them down upon the cross.
"And my life hath drawn near to hell." Beautifully he said "hath drawn near": for He was
not held fast by hell, but for our sake He drew near into hell. Finally, in another psalm
it is said in the person of the Lord, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor wilt
thou give thy holy one to see corruption." "I am counted among them that go down into the
pit." This my murderers supposed: that I, going down like the rest of men into the prison
of the underworld, was to be held back in the lower pit; not knowing that I had gone down
for this reason, that I might rather draw out with me those who were held fast in that
very place. "I am become as a man without help, free among the dead." He did not say, "I
am become without help," but "I am become as though without help," because He had the
Father as helper. "Free among the dead." Other men are held in hell by the bonds of sins:
"There is no man without sin, not even if his life be of one day." For we are all held in
transgression: and therefore whoever goes down into hell is held by the law of hell. "For
everyone is bound by the bonds of his own sins." I therefore was free by nature, but for a
little while I became as it were a debtor because of the sins of men.

6 "Like the slain that sleep in the sepulchres." Beautifully he said "like the slain": for
He had no wound, but for the salvation of men He received a wound, as Isaiah says, "He
himself bore our wounds, and grieves for us." "They have laid me in the lower pit." I went
down to the depths of hell, that I might free all from the bonds of hell. "In the dark
places, and in the shadow of death." He did not say "in death," but "in the shadow of
death." Death was not inflicted on me by the Jews, but the shadow of death: because for
the salvation of men I went down of my own will. Therefore I went down as light into the
lower regions, that I might free the souls from the darkness of hell. "Thy fury is
confirmed upon me." For this reason all thy fury came upon me, that it might depart from
others. "And all thy waves thou hast brought in upon me." Upon me the whole tempest
thundered down, that calm might come to the world.

7 "Thou hast put my acquaintances far from me." In the passion of the cross even the
apostles fled from me, so much so that Peter himself said, "I know not the man." You see
that we run with brief sentences rather than with expositions, because the hour so
compels. "They have made me an abomination to themselves." The Jews, namely, saying,
"Crucify, crucify such a one: we have no king but Caesar." 8 "I was delivered up, and came
not forth." What is this that he said, "I was delivered up, and came not forth"? The Jews
delivered me up, and yet on account of my clemency I did not forsake them, but I dwelt
among them with affection. I was delivered up to Pilate by them, and I came not forth from
them, saying on the cross, "Father, spare them, they know not what they do." Let us say it
also otherwise. "I was delivered up, and came not forth." In the Gospel it is written
that, when they sought to cast Him down from the brow of the mountain, He escaped safe and
free from their midst. This, then, is what He says: Could I not even then, when I was
delivered up, have escaped the snares of men and the perils of death by my divinity? But
because I had come for this, that I might suffer, therefore I willed nothing except that I
might suffer. That I was delivered up was of my will, and that I came not forth was of my
will. Let us say it also otherwise. I was delivered up as a man, and I came not forth from
the majesty of my divinity. Let us say it also otherwise. I was delivered up by men, and I
came not forth from the bosom of the Father. Let us say it also otherwise. I was delivered
up as a man upon the earth, and as God I had not left heaven. "My eyes languished through
poverty." I who was whole in my majesty was made weak for the sins of men.

9 "I have cried to thee, O Lord." Not only with the voice, but with the heart: for thus
indeed we cry to the Father. "Crying in our hearts, Abba, Father." "All the day I
stretched out my hands to thee." This is the testimony which the apostle in the Epistle to
the Romans applied in the person of the Savior. You see that we do no violence to the
psalm, but follow the authority of the apostle. For if he applied the testimony of a
single verse in the person of the Lord, why should we not wish to expound the whole psalm
in this way? And if we should wish to interpret it otherwise, the sense of our exposition
is dissolved by this evident sentence of the apostle. If we should wish to expound the
whole psalm, we seem to be making delay for ourselves, whom now the hour compels to
approach with pure and unstained conscience, in the unity of peace, to the flesh of the
Savior, the true Lamb, that we may be worthily filled with the heavenly bread, through
Christ Jesus our Lord. To whom is glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

10 "Wilt thou show wonders to the dead?" Not to those who, living, are dead, but to me who
live in thee. "Or shall physicians raise them up?" and the rest. Not the spices of
physicians, but thou, Father, raisest me up; nor they, but I will confess among the
peoples. "Shall anyone declare in the sepulchre," and so forth. He shall not praise thee
who is buried in the riches of the world, nor he who dwells in the ruin of sin. "Shall thy
wonders be known in the dark, and thy justice in the land of forgetfulness? And I have
cried to thee, O Lord, and in the morning my prayer shall come before thee." That is,
because thou wilt glorify me by a morning resurrection. "Why, O Lord, dost thou repel my
prayer," that this cup should not pass from me? "I am poor, and in labors from my youth":
from the time of the flesh assumed. "Being exalted": that is, upon the cross. "I have been
humbled": that is, in the sepulchre.

11 "Thy wraths have passed over me." They passed, and did not remain. "They have
surrounded me like water all the day." The Jews in the waves of persecutions. "They
surrounded me together." The Pharisees with the priests. Pilate with the princes and the
peoples. "Thou hast put far from me friend and neighbor, and my acquaintances because of
misery." Because of the confusion of the passion, even the apostles themselves were put
far from him.

HOMILY 66, ON PSALM 88 (ALTERNATE SERIES)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos
quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) —
public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). The eighty-eighth
psalm is prefaced with this title: The Understanding of Ethan the Ezrahite. Wherever
"understanding" is placed first, what follows is mystical and obscure. Ethan is
interpreted as "strong," or "robust"; and Ezrahite as "one helped," or "one who has
obtained help." I say this because we are dealing with the literal history. Rightly,
therefore, is "understanding" placed first, so that this strong or robust man may obtain
help from the Lord, and may be able to recognize the things that follow. But the Ezrahite
either took his name from a place, or was of the tribe of Merari. Read the books of
Numbers and Leviticus, and there you will find everything more fully. 2 The Understanding
of Ethan. "Understanding" is placed first, so that the reader may be summoned to
knowledge. For if the history were plain, and had nothing mystical about it, what need
would there be for the reader to be reminded of "understanding" in the title? And so that
Ethan, as we have said, "strong" or "robust," and the Ezrahite, "one helped" or "one who
has obtained aid," is rightly summoned to understanding, so that he may be able to know
the things that are to be said. For it follows in the psalm, The Lord has sworn to David
his servant, unto eternity I will prepare your seed. The Jews say that the Lord promised
with an oath that from the seed of David there would not fail among them a leader or
prince, which even now their patriarchs also say: Behold, to this day the Lord keeps his
oath to us. But if they truly think this, how is it that we see them subject to the Roman
power, and serving the commands of emperors? But mystically it is promised to us
concerning Christ. And I will build up your throne unto generation. Did God, then, lie, in
that he promised with an oath and did not do it (since surely what God promised ought to
be firm), if indeed to this day we see that this does not stand in the race of the Jews?
But here understanding is necessary. Rightly, therefore, does that strong or robust man
have necessary understanding as an aid or help, so that he may be able to perceive the
mysteries of this psalm. Let us return, then, to the beginning of the psalm.

3 Your mercies, O Lord, I will sing forever. He did not say "mercy," but "mercies." If
there were one sin, there would be need of one mercy: since therefore the sins are many,
the mercies too are very many. Your mercies, O Lord, I will sing forever. Since I have
obtained mercy forever, I ought to sing forever, because my cause for praising is eternal.
He who sings has let go of grief, has let go of fear, and has crossed over to joys,
because he has obtained mercy. And what he says is this: Because my sins have been
forgiven me through the mercy of God, therefore I will sing his mercy. And when he says
"forever," this is the meaning: because you have had mercy on me not for a short time, but
forever, I too will praise you forever without ceasing, because you have set me free
forever.

4 From generation to generation I will proclaim your truth with my mouth. O the excellent
order of the psalm! He did not begin first from truth, and afterward come to mercy: but
first he obtained mercy, and so came to truth, when he had received the forgiveness of
sins. For first, while I was a sinner, I did not dare to approach the truth; but when I
obtained mercy, now secure I dared to preach the truth. And when he says "from generation
to generation," he said it beautifully: for he did not say "in generations and
generations," but "from generation to generation." He does not, then, commemorate many
generations, but only two, one in the circumcision, the other among the Gentiles: to the
one Peter is sent, and to the other Paul is sent. And what I forgot to say at the
beginning, I will now say: here the person of the Lord and Savior must be established.
From generation to generation I will proclaim your truth with my mouth. He who spoke
earlier through the patriarchs and prophets, afterward himself speaks in person, as it is
said in the Song of Songs: "Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth." So then what he
says is this: he of whom I spoke through the prophets, from that same source I now also
speak through my very self. So that he whom the world could not hear when he thundered, it
might hear at least when he wailed as an infant.

5 For you have said, Mercy shall be built up forever. I myself, who then spoke in the Old
Testament through the patriarchs and through the prophets, now myself speak through my own
self; for I have not come to loose the commandments of mercy which the law had built up,
but to build upon them. As he himself says in the Gospel: "I have not come to destroy the
law, but to fulfill it. What then does Moses say? "Give heed, O heaven, and I will speak,
and let the earth hear the words from my mouth. Jeremiah too speaks thus: "Thus says the
Lord"; and the rest of the prophets speak thus: because what they speak are the words of
the Lord, and not their own, and what he says through their mouth, it is as though the
Lord had spoken through an instrument. What then is the meaning of what is said, "shall be
built up," as if some great house or city were being built? Let us see where else
something of this sort is written about building. Let us search in Genesis, what this
saying means. "And God took," it says, "a rib from Adam's side, and built it into a woman.
See what he said: "he built. For building, as we said above, is not usually spoken of
except in the construction of a great house. Since therefore that rib of Adam was
fashioned into a woman, according to the apostle's authority, it signifies Christ and the
Church;

6 therefore he said, "He built the woman from the rib. We have heard of the first Adam;
let us come to the second, and let us see how the Church is built from his side. For the
side of the Lord and Savior, hanging on the cross, is pierced by a lance, and from it came
forth blood and water. Do you wish to know how the Church is built from water and blood?
First through baptism, by water, sins are forgiven, then it is crowned in the blood of
martyrdom. Since therefore it is clear that the Church of God is built by mercy, therefore
it follows, In the heavens your truth shall be prepared. On earth is mercy, and in heaven
is truth. Hear, O heretic, what is said. In the heavens the truth of God shall be
prepared. If souls fell down from heaven on account of the sins they had committed, how
then is the truth prepared in the heavens? If daily souls are cast down to earth, how does
the Lord teach in the Lord's Prayer and say, "Your will be done, as in heaven, so on
earth"? Do we then ask, on the authority of the Lord and Savior, that just as the soul
without a body sinned in heaven, so in the body it might sin on earth; and that the soul
which, free and in the heavens, could not keep righteousness, should now, confined by the
straits of the body, keep it on earth? A strange thing I see:

7 the soul sinned in heaven, and was thrust down to earth, so that what it lost in heaven,
it might find on earth. It sinned without a body: how can it be that with a body it might
more easily deserve God? Since indeed "the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh." 8 I have appointed a covenant to my chosen ones. Do you wish to know
how to this day the Lord appoints his covenant? Let us act well, and we shall deserve to
be sharers in the Lord's appointment of the chosen ones. I have sworn to David my servant.
Let us see what it is that the Lord swore. This surely, which follows. Unto eternity I
will prepare your seed. Come to our aid, O apostle, and interpret this little verse. For
what does the apostle say? "He did not say 'in seeds,' but 'in the seed which is Christ.'"
This is what is said in the Apocalypse of John: "He who has the key of David, who shuts
and no one opens, opens and no one shuts." This key the scribes and Pharisees held in the
law, to whom the Lord says in the Gospel: "Woe to you scribes, who hold the key of the
kingdom of heaven," and the rest. O Pharisees, who hold the keys of the kingdom, and yet
do not believe in Christ, who is the door and gate of the kingdom: to you indeed it is
promised, but to us it is delivered: you have the flesh, but we have the spirit: nay
rather, because you denied the spirit, you have lost the flesh too along with the spirit.

9 And I will build up your throne from generation to generation. In two generations, as we
have said, the throne of God is set, namely in the circumcision and among the Gentiles. 10
And the heavens shall confess your wonders, O Lord. This is what is said in the eighteenth
psalm: "The heavens declare the glory of God. According to the mystical understanding, he
calls the apostles "heavens. For if it is said to the sinner, "Earth you are, and to earth
you shall go," why should it not be said to the holy or righteous man, "Heaven you are,
and to heaven you shall go"? For of the saints, according to the apostle, "the
conversation is in the heavens. And when he says, The heavens shall confess your wonders,
it is a sign of the repentance to be preached, which we have received, at the apostles'
proclamation, in the confession of the Lord Jesus Christ; and if we follow their
admonitions and examples, we too can be called heavens, when we imitate those whose
conversation is in the heavens. For the prophet says in another place: "I am a sojourner
on earth and a pilgrim, like all my fathers. And this he was saying in Judea, that is, in
his own homeland: and how does he say he is a pilgrim? But it is because the saints in the
present age are pilgrims on earth, desiring to possess nothing earthly, whose whole
possession is in heaven, where one has dwellings, where one has "the city whose maker and
founder is God.

11 And therefore the prophet too, who is not of this world, says he is a pilgrim here, and
by the will of his mind he hastens to his homeland, that is, to paradise, to the kingdoms
of the heavens. Do not say, O heretic, because I have said that paradise is the homeland
of the saints, that I am asserting that souls existed before they came here into bodies.
Nor do I say this, but I say it according to the apostle, who affirms that we were all, in
the transgression of Adam, cast down from paradise through sin. This the apostle says,
that Adam fell even in us, who were afterward to be. Therefore now in Christ, that is, the
heavenly Adam, we believe, so that we who through the sin of the first Adam fell from
paradise, may now through the righteousness of the second Adam return to paradise. The
heavens shall confess your wonders, O Lord. What wonders? That you made heaven? Or that
you founded the earth? Or that you gathered the seas into one? For what is this that is
great in God, for whom to have spoken all things is to have made them?

12 These, then, are the great things in God, the wonders in God, that God became man, that
he lay hidden in the womb of a virgin, that born of a virgin he lay in a manger, that he
was wounded by men, he who healed the wounds of men, that he was struck with blows, that
he was crucified, that he, immortal, suffered to die, and endured so great a punishment
unjustly inflicted by men, he who suffers these things so that men might not have to
endure punishment. The sun could not bear to see its Lord hanging on the cross, but hid
itself, lest it be mingled with the sacrilege of the Jews. The earth too trembled, the
rocks are split, all creation is troubled, because its Creator is slain. The veil of the
temple is torn, because what had been shut in Judea is opened among all nations; the veil
is torn, and the mysteries of the law are shown to the faithful: for to the unbelieving
they are covered to this day. For when Moses is read, and the Old Testament is recited by
the Jews every Sabbath, according to the apostle "a veil is placed over their heart. For
they read the law, but do not understand, because their eyes are darkened that they should
not see. For they are like those of whom it is said: "They have eyes and shall not see,
they have ears and shall not hear."

13 For who among the clouds shall be equal to the Lord? The clouds are the prophets, the
clouds are the apostles, who pour showers of teachings upon the dry hearts of men. Who
shall be like the Lord among the sons of God? All the saints are named with the
appellation and title "sons of God," because they are sons by adoption; but the Son of
God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is alone the Son properly by nature. Of whom it is said, Who
among the clouds or among the sons of God shall be like the Lord? That is, who of the
angels or of the saints shall be able to be made equal to the Creator in glory or in
power, since he himself gives glory to all, so that his praises may be without end: he
whom every creature dreads and trembles at, whom the cherubim and seraphim, whom the four
living creatures praise without ceasing, whom the dominions and principalities adore, whom
all the earth venerates? To whom is glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY 67, ON PSALM 89 (ALTERNATE SERIES)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos
quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) —
public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). The eighty-ninth
psalm has been read, whose title is this: A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. It is the
beginning of the fourth book, for we ought to know that the psalter is divided into five
books. From the first up to the fortieth is the first book; from the fortieth up to the
seventy-first is the second book; from the seventy-first up to the eighty-eighth is the
third book; from the eighty-eighth up to the hundred and fifth is the fourth book; from
the hundred and fifth to the end is the fifth book. And therefore this is the opening of
the fourth book: A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. The Hebrews think that not only this
psalm, but also the other ten that follow, since they bear no title, were composed by
Moses. And for that reason they think that those which are without a title belong to the
same author as the one that has a title, because they seem to lie adjacent to the one that
is inscribed with a title.

2 A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. If all men were men of God, it would never have been
added, A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. Do you wish to know that not all men are men of
God? "Man, when he was in honor, did not understand: he was compared to the senseless
beasts of burden, and was made like unto them." It is a great thing, therefore, to be
called men of God or servants of God. For when this is said of someone, it is a token not
of lowliness but of dignity; nor is the condition of servitude shown, but the dignity of
one who serves well is displayed. A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. By Moses the law was
written down, by Moses the nature of the world is shown, by Moses it was told how man was
fashioned in the image of God. What, then, is this that he says, A Prayer of Moses, the
man of God? Moses indeed writes how man was made; he himself also writes how man fell.
Now, therefore, he prays that the one who fell into death may be lifted up to life, and
that the one who fell through sin by the devil's doing may again rise through Christ to
glory. For this reason, then, Moses makes a prayer to God, and says:

3 Lord, you have become a refuge for us. A refuge is never spoken of unless there has been
persecution: for unless someone else persecutes us, we have no need to flee to another for
refuge. Lord, you have become a refuge for us. Since a great swelter of tribulations and
heat wearies us, we take refuge under the shadow of your wings. Lord, you have become a
refuge for us. Therefore we flee to your help, because a great beast persecutes us; and
since we have many adversaries and enemies, be you at least our one refuge. From
generation to generation. In this place the serpent hisses. For those who say that souls
were made before the world and before they were put into bodies, say this: Lord, you have
become a refuge for us from generation to generation, before the mountains were made or
the world was formed — that is, before this world was created, you were our refuge —
punctuating badly, understanding badly. For we ought to say it thus: Lord, you have become
a refuge for us from generation to generation. And the pause of the sentence goes this
far. Then, what follows, thus: Before the mountains were made, and the world was formed,
from age to age you are God. This, then, is said, not that man's soul existed before the
age, but that the Lord God is shown to have always existed and to be before the ages.
Finally the following verse too speaks fittingly, And from age to age you are God. From
eternity to eternity you abide, having neither beginning nor end.

4 Turn not man away into lowliness. Moses prays on behalf of man, and what does he say? Do
not suffer to perish him whom you fashioned in your image. Turn not man away into
lowliness. Consider not the vileness of the body, but the dignity of the soul. Let it
suffice us that we once heard, "You are earth, and into earth you shall go," and that
because of the consciousness of sin we are brought low. Turn not man away into lowliness.
Turn him not away, but turn him back: for you have said through all the prophets, Turn
back, you sons of men. Let it suffice that you have sinned: do penance, that you may be
able to have salvation. Turn not man away into lowliness. Send your Son, that he may lift
the body of our lowliness on high, and, freed from the burdens of the earth, raise it
through a new manner of life to heaven.

5 For a thousand years before your eyes are as yesterday's day, which has passed. Compared
to the eternity of God, all the time of man is short: although it seems long to us, yet in
comparison with eternity, because it is bounded by an end, it is reckoned as nothing. 6
And as a watch in the night. The night has four watches, marked off in periods of three
hours each, as it is said in the Gospel, "In the fourth watch of the night" Jesus "came to
them," which is understood to be about cockcrow. This, then, is what he says: a thousand
years with you are to be compared not only to the shortness of a day, but to the span of
three hours. Their years shall be counted as nothing. What he says is this: since man from
the beginning of the world lived nearly a thousand years, and a thousand years before God
are as a watch in the night. Nay, I have said enough: the ages of men are as nothing in
comparison with the divine eternity. Do you wish to know more fully how human life is
nothing? Hear what follows. In the morning let it pass like grass. As the morning dew
passes swiftly, so is the life of men. Our morning is youth. In the morning let it flower
and pass. In youth and full age we flowered, but in old age we fall down, and the flower
of our strength has withered. For which of us knows how our age passes by? While we
scarcely know it, old age steals up on us from behind. In the evening let it fall, harden,
and grow dry. Our evening is old age, which, when the flower of youth has been shaken off,
is hardened by the manifold horror of diseases. "For all flesh indeed is grass, and its
glory is as the flower of grass: it withered and fell; but the word of the Lord abides
forever." We still live, and part of us has already perished in old age: though the mind
is the same, yet we who feel that we have lost the vigor of our former youth are in a
manner become other men.

7 In your anger we have failed. Because through our sins we have earned your anger, we
have lost in Adam the immortality you had given, from whom sin has been handed down to us,
as it were naturally, by hereditary right. And in your fury we have been troubled.
Beautifully he said, troubled: for one who is troubled does not perish, but is shaken with
terror, so that he may feel the power of him whom by sinning he had scorned, and may flee,
humble and submissive, to repentance. And in your fury we have been troubled. Because we
have given offense, we are thrown into confusion; but because, believing, we have received
your Christ, we are consoled. You have set our iniquities in your sight. Nothing of our
sins has been hidden from you: all the evils we have committed are manifest before you.
Our age in the light of your countenance. All that we live, or that we do, is not hidden
from your eyes: the very darkness is not concealed from you.

8 For all our days have failed. So do the days pass and death draw near, that in a manner,
while we know it not, our whole age and life itself is stolen away, scanty as it is. This
very thing, which I now speak and you hear, is cut away from a part of our life; and
although we believe there to be in it some advancing of the soul, yet because it uses up
the span of hours, it is a loss of time and of age. And thus it comes about that where we
think we have gain, there rather loss is brought upon us. Our years shall be pondered like
a spider. He could have said nothing more beautiful than to describe human life and all
our anxiety and pursuits, in which we run this way and that and lay up wealth, seek
riches, build houses, beget children: and see to what a thing they are compared. Our years
shall be pondered like a spider. For just as we see the spider draw out its threads on the
walls and weave its webs, which are undone by a sudden wind; so every act of our life is
scattered by the sudden onset of tribulation or of death. The days of our years in
themselves are seventy years. See how gradually human life has been reduced. First in
paradise we had received eternity, which we lost through disobedience: afterward the life
of the ancients was extended to a thousand years: now, in the dregs of our time, one
scarcely reaches seventy.

9 The days of our years in themselves are seventy years: but if in strength, eighty years:
and more than these is labor and sorrow. See what he says, More than these is labor and
sorrow. This is what we said above, that where we think there is gain in our life, there
we find loss and disadvantage. Where there is increase of years, there is old age: where
old age, there diseases: where diseases, there torments: where torment, there the longing
for death. For mildness has come upon us, and we shall be chastened. What is this
mildness, through which we are chastened? "Remember, Lord, David and all his mildness."
What is this mildness? "Learn that I am mild and humble of heart." Mildness has come upon
us. He did not say, the mild one has come, but mildness has come, which is our Lord Jesus
Christ; who, just as in another place he is called not wise but wisdom, so here too he is
named not mild but mildness itself.

10 Make your right hand thus known, and those fettered in heart in wisdom. Your right
hand, with which you made the world, enlighten the world. "For the arm of the Lord, to
whom has it been revealed?" Your right hand, with which you made man, let it itself take
up and save the human body. And those fettered in heart in wisdom. It can be understood
thus: those who before wandered freely, let them be fettered by your wisdom. For it is
better to be well fettered than to have feet ill at liberty; it is better to stand well
than to run badly. Just as that colt in the Gospel, which before was free, and unbridled
went along over the precipices, afterward, when sat upon by the Lord, is reined in and is
taught to walk well: so we pray you, that you make your right hand known to the world, so
that the wandering and unstable may be fettered by your wisdom.

11 Turn back, Lord, how long? Turn back, Lord, and look upon your image: do not show us
your back, but your face. Turn back, how long? He who says how long shows that he desires,
and cannot bear the delays of his desire. We have been filled in the morning with your
mercy. There are mysteries in what is said in the psalms, and all things are full of
figures. Moses prays in the person of the human race, that the Son of God may deign to
come to the lands of earth. And because he had said, Make your right hand thus known, now,
because he feels himself heard, he adds and says, We have been filled in the morning with
your mercy, when your Son on the third day rose again from the dead. And because in the
evening he descended for our life into the darkness of death, that he might draw us out to
the light of morning, in that hour we come to know the fullness of your mercy. Whence the
twenty-first psalm is entitled with this heading: "For the morning taking up." Your mercy
indeed always appeared to the saints; but never was it so manifestly and so fully poured
out as when the Redeemer of all rose again for the common salvation.

12 And we have exulted and been delighted. After the joy of the resurrection of our Lord,
by which we now believe both that we have been redeemed and that we shall rise again, for
the remaining days of our life, rejoicing in this confidence, we exult, and with hymns and
spiritual songs we render praise to God through Jesus Christ our Lord: to whom is glory
unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY 68, ON PSALM 90 (ALTERNATE SERIES)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos
quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) —
public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). The praise of a
song, by David himself. First we ought to know this: that from the eighty-eighth psalm up
to the hundredth—that is, eleven psalms—have no title in the Hebrew; and that they belong,
as we treated most recently in the previous psalm, to the same person to whom that one
belongs as well which is headed with this title: "A prayer of Moses, the man of God." He
who dwells in the help of the Most High. Ours it is to begin, God's it is to help; for He
does not crown those who sleep, but those who labor. He shall abide in the protection of
the God of heaven. In place of what we read, "of the God of heaven," the Hebrew has
saddai. Hence that which is said in Ezekiel, "And I heard the voice of the Lord Saddai
speaking," can be understood thus: that he heard the voice of the Lord, the God of heaven,
speaking; for Saddai is interpreted "God of heaven."

2 My refuge is my God. Beautifully he said, "refuge," for there are many persecutors, and
you alone are a refuge. Many are the wounds, but you alone are the physician. I will hope
in Him, for He Himself shall deliver me from the snare of the hunters. In this world there
are many hunters who long to capture our souls, just as is said by the prophet: "Our soul
has been snatched away like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters." Now that hunters are
taken in a sinister sense in the holy Scriptures, we have already said often. For that
Nimrod, the giant, always a rebel against God, was a hunter. Esau too was a hunter. For He
Himself shall deliver me from the snare of the hunters. We read in Proverbs: "The eye of
the harlot is the snare of the sinner." "For whoever shall look upon a woman to lust after
her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." As many as are the sins, so
many are the snares; as many as the snares, so many the hunters. The doctrines of the
heretics are the snares of death. Finally there follows: and from the harsh word. You see
that it is spoken concerning the heretics. In place of what we have, "harsh," the Hebrew
has "hidden." For heretics always promise certain secret and great things, so that they
may snatch away those things which are true and manifest.

3 With His shoulders He shall overshadow you. Who shall overshadow? Surely the God of
heaven, as a hen her chicks, and as an eagle its nest. Hence also in the song of
Deuteronomy it is said that He carried the people of Israel upon His shoulders, and
protected them as an eagle. It can also be understood of the Savior, that upon His cross
He protected us with His wings. And under His feathers you shall hope. "All the day long I
have stretched forth my hands to a people that did not believe and that contradicted me."
The hands of the Lord raised to heaven did not ask for help, but were protecting us
wretches. His truth shall surround you with a shield: that is, you shall be encircled
round about with truth. And what follows? You shall not fear from the terror of the night.
The just man has no terror of the night, but of the day. "Come, children, hear me, I will
teach you the fear of the Lord." Those who are the children of the prophets have no terror
of the night, nor of the darkness, but of the light and of the day. "That they may shoot
in secret at the upright of heart." The devil does not send his arrows in the day, lest he
be seen. For everything that is done in the light is made manifest by the light.

4 But someone may say: If the devil does not shoot in the day, how then in the following
little verse does the psalmist say, From the arrow that flies by day? What is this arrow
that flies by day? It is the teaching of the heretics: which, as it were through the
day—that is, the law of God—flies here and there, while they anxiously gather up
testimonies searched out against us, which by their own interpretations they corrupt away
from the truth. And from the business that walks about in the darkness. He did not say,
"standing," but "walking about"; because heretics are never stable in their opinions, but
are always changing and walking about. From the onslaught and the noonday demon. We read
in Genesis that Joseph fed his brothers at noon; and in the Song of Songs it is written:
"Where do you lie down, where do you feed? At noon." Therefore, just as the saints have a
noon and a light where they may feed and lie down, so too the devil, transfigured into an
angel of light, has his ministers transfigured, as it were ministers of righteousness.
Therefore when you see a heretic preaching, and saying, "This says Moses, this is written
in the prophets, this in the Gospels," does it not seem to you—if you are ignorant of the
treachery of his mind—that you are hearing an angel of the Savior speaking? But the simple
think there is a certain noonday demon who at noon can more readily assail men. We,
however, shall interpret the chiefs of the heretics as the noonday demons, who, feigning
themselves angels of light, preach the doctrines of darkness. Do you wish us to say
something elegantly? Arius, or the rest of the heretics who came forth from Alexandria,
are called noonday demons.

5 A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. "At your side"
and "at your right hand." He did not say, "at your left," because the just man has no
left, just as it is written in the Gospel: "Whoever shall strike you on the right cheek,
offer him the other also." He did not say, "offer the left"; since indeed the lambs shall
stand at the right, and the kids at the left. A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten
thousand at your right hand. By the "side" of the just man we can understand the
weaknesses of the body; but by the "right hand," the integrity of the soul. By the labors
of the body—that is, by fastings and chastity—a thousand shall fall; but at the right
hand, where through the freedom of the soul there is pure and holy doctrine, there shall
fall the very great multitude of the enemy. But to you they shall not draw near. Imagine
the fortified wedges of the enemy coming against the just man, concerning whom it is said,
But to you they shall not draw near: that is, they shall collapse before they can reach as
far as you.

6 Nevertheless with your eyes you shall consider, and you shall see the retribution of
sinners. You shall see the corpses of the dead, and you shall marvel at the majesty of the
Lord and Savior. And you shall see the retribution of sinners. The ruin of sinners is
their destruction. What he says is this: You who have made the Lord your refuge look with
your eyes, secure, upon the retribution of the heretics, since you have guarded yourself
from their traditions. These things have been said in the person of the Lord to the just
man; but now the person is changed, and out of the contemplation of the just man an answer
is made to the Lord: For you, O Lord, are my hope. For he who says these things is the
just man. You have made the Most High your refuge. Again the person is changed: and for
this reason the psalms are obscure, because very often the persons are changed. For while
the just man calls upon the Lord and says, For you, O Lord, are my hope, he hears from the
Lord, You have made the Most High your refuge. And therefore the following verse is
fitting for you:

7 Evils shall not come to you, and the scourge shall not draw near to your tabernacle. He
did not say, "shall not sound," but, "shall not draw near to your tabernacle": for it
cannot come to pass that the scourge of the devil should not sound for the just man. For
if the Lord Himself was scourged, and was vexed with tribulations and temptations, which
of the just shall not be scourged? But let us see what this is, "shall not draw near to
your tabernacle." This is it: it sounded indeed from without, and by fleshly passions it
tried to disturb; but the tabernacle of the soul, or the mind, which is the tabernacle of
faith, it did not overthrow. 8 For He has given His angels charge concerning you, that
they may keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall carry you, lest ever you
dash your foot against a stone. If ever the heretics interpret certain things from the
Scriptures against us, we ought not to be disturbed: because the devil too used this
testimony against the Lord and Savior, saying, "If you are the Son of God, cast yourself
down; for it is written that He has given His angels charge concerning you," and the rest.
The devil interprets the Scriptures like a devil: for he was applying this psalm to the
person of the Lord, which is spoken not of the Lord, but of any just man. But I grant you,
O devil, that it be written concerning the Lord Himself, "in their hands the angels shall
carry you": why did you not say what follows, "Upon the asp and the basilisk you shall
tread"? O the cunning of the crafty, shape-shifting enemy! What seemed to pertain to the
frailty of the Savior and to the temptation of the man, he spoke; but what he understood
to be against himself, with his ancient craftiness he kept silent. You err, O devil, and
by your deceit you ensnare your very self. In this place your lie profits the Church:
although you did this in order to tempt, you have shown that the children of God, all the
just, are carried by the hands of the angels—that is, by their help—at the command and
bidding of the Lord.

9 The rest of what follows pertains to the same exposition. But that the just and those
dear to God have the power to trample upon the ancient and twisted serpent, and to press
down his whole army with the heel of the foot, we find most evidently in the Gospel. For
thus the Lord says to the apostles: "Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents
and scorpions." Which power we too shall be able to understand as given to us, when we
know ourselves to be girded against them by an apostolic way of life. Let us therefore ask
the Lord that He who gave power to the just may give also to us, still little ones, the
help of righteousness: that we may be imitators of the apostles, and may be aided by their
merits, in Christ Jesus our Lord. To whom is glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY 69, ON PSALM 91 (ALTERNATE SERIES)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos
quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) —
public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). It is good to give
praise to the Lord, and to sing psalms to your name, O Most High. Why did he not say
first, "It is good to sing psalms," and afterward "to give praise"? But because this was
the order of true confession, therefore he spoke thus: it is good first to do penance, and
for a person to confess his sins to the Lord; and when he has confessed his sins, then to
sing psalms to him, when by doing penance he has earned the free voice with which he can
burst forth in the praise of God without the confession of sin. 2 To announce your mercy
in the morning, and your truth throughout the night. Why is mercy sung in the morning, and
truth in the night? Pay careful attention, for the things that are being said are obscure.
First he said, "It is good to give praise to the Lord"; then praise follows upon
confession; and thus the one who after penance earns the right to praise will also begin
to announce the one whom he praises. But what does it mean that he said mercy is announced
in the morning, and truth is sung in the night? Wherever the mercy of the Lord is, there
is light, there is morning, there is the hour in which the sun rises and the darkness of
blind night will perish. And your truth throughout the night. Where there is truth, there
is justice; where there is justice, there is judgment; [where there is judgment,] there is
no mercy; where there is no mercy, there is the peril of sinners, there is night and not
day, as the prophet says, "What good is the day of the Lord to you? For this is darkness,
and not light" — on which day the examination is to be conducted according to the merit of
each one. Whence in another little verse the prophet says that the day is to be feared
even by himself... "...will endure it?"

3 On the ten-stringed psaltery [with a song] upon the harp. For you have delighted me, O
Lord, in your making, and in the works of your hands I will exult. This cannot be said
except by a learned man, one who knows that by the providence of God each single thing has
been created; who is not scandalized by the work of creation, but understanding the reason
of each individual thing, glorifies the Creator and says, "For you have delighted me, O
Lord, in your making, and in the works of your hands I will exult." Hear, O Manichaean,
hear, O Marcion, Valentinus, and the rest of you heretics, who dare to disparage the
Creator, and see that in the very thing over which you will suffer scandal, the prophet is
delighted and exults in the works of the Creator, knowing that if anything should seem to
be flawed, it has come not from nature, but from the will.

4 How magnified are your works, O Lord: your thoughts have been made exceedingly deep.
Whence the apostle too says, "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of
God! Therefore, then, because your thoughts have been made exceedingly deep, and his
works, which neither human sense nor reason can attain, in another place it is said, "All
your works are in faith. See what he says, "Your works are in faith. If the creature
stands firm in faith and not in reason, how much more the Creator himself and the Founder
of all things? When therefore it is said, "And all your works are in faith," I too, who am
speaking, am in faith — since indeed I am a part of his works. I too stand firm in faith
and not in reason: for I cannot know by reason how I move my steps, how the tongue makes
its sound, how thought arranges itself, the will commands, and the body serves the will,
how the soul, which is immortal, is joined to this body which is mortal, how my soul runs
to and fro here and there, and that vast breadth of the world does not contain a thing
which is comprehended by the body. Why do I say all this? Because I heard that among the
brothers there was a contention — nay rather, a disputation — over the faith. I say a
disputation, not a contention: for where there is contention, there is sin;

5 but where there is disputation, there is a pious desire for knowledge. For each one was
not seeking to prove the things he did not know, but they brought their ignorance to my
knowledge: for they did not wish to teach what they did not know, but to know what they
were ignorant of. Therefore their question is not foreign, which was raised concerning the
mercy of the Lord. It is said in Isaiah concerning the Lord Savior, "Who shall declare his
generation? When it is said, "Who? every creature is excluded. For he did not say, "Which
of men shall declare his generation? but generally, "Who?" — that is, not an angel, not an
archangel, not a cherub, not a seraph. For if that which is spoken of was hidden in God
from the heavenly creatures, what wonder if it seems unknown to us who were made from
clay? It was reported to me, brothers, that certain brothers among themselves in disputing
had asked how the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are both three and are one. You
see from the question how perilous disputation is: mud and an earthen vessel disputes
about the Creator, and cannot arrive at the reason of its own nature; and it curiously
seeks to know about the mystery of the Trinity, which the angels in heaven cannot know.
For what do the angels say? "Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King
of glory.

6 Likewise in Isaiah it is said, "Who is this who ascends from Edom, his garments white?
See what they say: they proclaim his beauty, and about his nature they are silent.
Therefore let us too speak simply. Do you wish to know the nature of God? Do you wish to
know what God is? Know this: that you do not know. And do not be saddened in this, that
you do not know: because the angels too did not know, and likewise every creature. But
someone may say: Do I then believe what I do not know? How am I a Christian, who do not
know how I am a Christian? I will speak simply, before we bring forward anything from the
Scriptures. O Christian, why do you think you know nothing? If you know this very thing,
that you do not know, do you not rather seem to yourself to know more? The pagan man sees
a stone, and thinks it a god; the philosophers see the sky, and think it a god; others see
the sun, and think it a god. But you — see how much greater knowledge you have over these,
you who say: A stone cannot be a god, the sun cannot be a god, which runs at the command
of another. See that in the very thing in which you say you know nothing, you know more;
but the pagans, in that which they say they know, do not know, because the things they
have come to know are false.

7 And at the same time consider what you are called: faithful indeed, not rational. In
short, when baptism has been received, we say this: He has become faithful, or, I have
become faithful. I believe what I do not know: and therefore I know, because I know myself
not to know what I do not know. But someone may say: This is not to explain, but to flee
the explanation; and we knew that we knew what we did not know — you, teach us to know
what we are ignorant of. Is it not better piously to profess ignorance than rashly to lay
claim to knowledge for oneself? On the day of judgment I am not condemned because I say,
"I did not know the nature of my Creator," but if I should say something rashly: rashness
has punishment, ignorance earns pardon. Let us say something from the Scriptures, not
following reason, but the authority of the Lord Savior. For what does he say, about to
ascend to heaven, speaking to the apostles, to whom he preaches as master and Lord? No one
knows how to speak about his own nature as does he who is himself God: let it suffice for
us to know about the Trinity what the Lord has deigned to explain. For what does he say to
the apostles? "Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit. I hear three names, and one is spoken:

8 for he did not say, "in the names," but "in the name. He says three names: and how does
he say one, "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"? The name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one: but it is the name of the
Trinity. For what is said is, in the name of the Father who is God, in the name of the Son
who is God, in the name of the Holy Spirit who is God: the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit are one name of divinity. But you ask of me how three are called by one name? I do
not know, and I freely profess that I do not know, what Christ did not wish to make known.
This alone I know, that in this I am a Christian, that I confess one God in Trinity. But
if I should say that there is one person of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, I shall be called a Sabellian, and I begin to be not a Christian but a Jew:
because the Jew too says there is one God, but because he does not know the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore he does not hold the mystery of the Trinity. Therefore
if we so say "one God" that we exclude the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit from the
mystery of the Trinity, we become Jews.

9 I speak freely, not from myself, but from the judgment of the Savior, of the scandal
that arises in the mind of the hearer: How are three one? How are the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit not divided in divinity? Whenever I say "persons," I beg you, do not
think that I am speaking of persons of men: I do not speak of persons in the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit as though persons of men, but according to distinctive
properties. I speak of the person of the Father, because he is the Father, and of the Son,
because he is the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, because he is the Holy Spirit. The Father
is not the Son, nor is the Son the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit the Father or the Son:
for they are divided by properties, but united by nature. See, this very scandal the
apostle Philip once bore, when he said to the Lord, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is
enough for us. To whom the Lord in answer said, "Philip, so long a time I am with you, and
do you not know the Father? He who sees me, sees the Father also. That the Father himself
is the Son, this is impious to say. In that you see the Son, understand the Father: for he
cannot be called Son, unless he has had a Father. When Father is said, it is not said
unless he has had a Son.

10 There are many things that might be said: but let it suffice for the faithful to have
heard a few things about the mystery of the Trinity. I beg you, let there rather be a
contest among us in the monastery over how we may seek to triumph over the adversary, how
we may fast, how we may bewail our sins, how our thought may not drag us captive into
lust, how we may have patience against every injury, how we may not resist a brother doing
us an injury, but may conquer him in the humility which we have learned from Christ, "who,
when he suffered, did not threaten." If ever a thought should come and add, "What is God?
and what is the reason of the Trinity?", let it suffice for us to believe that he is. And
we ought not rashly to seek the reason, but to fear, and always to pray to the Lord; and
in this matter let us show him our knowledge alone, that day and night we may sing praises
to him. To whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY 70, ON PSALM 92 (ALTERNATE SERIES)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos
quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) —
public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). The title of the
present psalm is this: A psalm of praise of David, on the day of the sabbath, when the
earth was inhabited. On the sabbath day is our rest, and the inhabiting of the earth is
ours. 'And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.' Our earth, therefore, has been
inhabited. Let us see, then, what this dwelling accomplishes, and with what praises it is
extolled. 2 The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty: the Lord is clothed with
strength, and hath girded himself. For he hath established the round world, which shall
not be moved. These three little verses are spoken by the prophet concerning the Lord and
Savior; but the rest that follow are directed to the Lord himself. The Lord hath reigned,
he is clothed with beauty. The Lord hath reigned, he who before had served. He is clothed
with beauty. What does Isaiah say? 'We saw him, and he had no comeliness of his own: a man
laid under a stroke, and knowing how to bear infirmity.' The Lord hath reigned, he is
clothed with beauty. What he says is this: He who before had been an object of horror in
the lowliness of the flesh, now shines resplendent in the majesty of the Godhead. For
whatever in him is unshapely, let it be reckoned to our condition; but whatever there is
of beauty will be fittingly applied to his own majesty. And he hath girded himself. This
that he says, he hath girded himself, must signify some mystery. When we are ungirt, our
tunic is let down all the way to the feet: unless it has been drawn up by a belt, the
whole garment hangs down. So then, we too, because we could not bear the full strength of
the Lord, he girded his majesty with flesh. This is what is said in another place: 'Thou
shalt not be able to see my face;

3 thou shalt see my back parts.' It is also said of Elijah in the book of Kings that he
stood on Mount Sinai in a cleft, and thus saw the Lord passing by. See how, set in the
cleft, he is said to have seen the back parts of the Lord and Savior. If the Lord and
Savior is interpreted as the rock... 'And Christ,' says the apostle, 'was the rock.' For
when we are set in the cleft of the rock, we behold God through the flesh. Why have I said
all this? Because we embrace the following verse also with the same exposition: he is
clothed with beauty, and hath girded himself. Just as the Lord and Savior is seen through
the cleft of the rock, so too through the girdle his majesty is beheld. 4 For he hath
established the round world, which shall not be moved. If we understand this world to have
been so established by God that it is disturbed by no commotion ever, how is it said
elsewhere, 'Heaven and earth shall pass away'? But if heaven and earth shall pass away,
how is it said here, He hath established the round world, which shall not be moved? The
οἰκουμένη (oikoumenē) in this place, which in our tongue is rendered 'the inhabited
world,' seems to me to be the Church, of which it is said in the Gospel: 'I and my Father
will come, and will make our abode with him.' Rightly, therefore, is it called a
habitation, which has as its inhabitant the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. What,
then, we have understood concerning the inhabited world—that is, concerning the round
earth established forever—let us understand also concerning our soul. For if we have as
our inhabitant the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, our earth shall not be moved
forever.

5 It has been said concerning the Lord's reign and concerning the beauty of his garment,
it has been said concerning his strength, it has been said concerning the round world
which shall not be moved: now the prophet's speech is directed to the Lord himself,
reigning and thundering. And what does he say? Thy throne is prepared; from then thou art,
from everlasting. This that he said, He is clothed with strength and hath girded himself,
comes down from the lowliness of the flesh: but for the rest, thy kingdom has always been.
Thy throne is prepared: always prepared, never beginning. From then. From when? From what
time? It has no definition, because it has no beginning either. However often you say,
'from then,' the time never gives out, but you leave it in uncertainty. Because when you
say 'then,' it is fitting that you be asked: When? You see, therefore, that the prophetic
speech is set down without a definition, since you perceive that it admits of a question.
From then thou art, from everlasting. Beautifully he said, thou art; he did not say, from
everlasting thou didst begin, but, from everlasting thou art. Thou art who ever art, who
saidst to Moses: 'Go, and say to the children of Israel: He who is hath sent me to you.'

6 The floods have lifted up, O Lord, they have lifted up their voices; from the voices of
many waters, wonderful are the surgings of the sea. As many words, so many meanings: as
many little verses, so many sacraments. The floods have lifted up their voices. This is
what is said in another place: 'The rush of the river maketh glad the city of God.' And in
another place: 'The rivers shall clap their hands together.' The floods seem to me to be
those which water the whole world, the apostolic and prophetic dignities. The floods have
lifted up their voices. Proclaiming the praise and glory of the Lord, announcing his
judgments through the whole world. 'Their sound went out into all the earth, and their
words unto the ends of the round world.' From the voices of many waters. The voices of
many waters have furnished us with three mysteries. Let us see what those mysteries are.
From the voices of many waters, wonderful are the surgings of the sea, wonderful is the
Lord on high: thy testimonies are made exceedingly credible. If we understand the sea
mystically as this world... for it is bitter and full of tempests, in which those who sail
behold many wonders of the Lord. On account of which he says: Wonderful are the surgings
of the sea. For we see many, lifted up by swelling waves, suddenly collapse; but others we
see, oppressed by the billows, again raised up to the heights. For nothing in this world
is found firm, nothing stable.

7 Where you think there is calm, there is shipwreck: where the appearance of quiet is
shown, there the assault of the tempest and the whirlwinds lie hidden; and unless we cry
out, 'Master, save us,' we suddenly perish. Wonderful is the Lord on high. Whoever has
been able to withstand firmly the billows of this world's sea, dwelling steadfastly upon
the rock, he will be able to understand how wonderful is the Lord on high. 'For the
exalted one dwells in the exalted places, and the holy one in the holy'; as he also says
elsewhere, 'Be ye holy, as I also am holy, the Lord your God.' But the man whom the
consciousness of his sins humbles, and who cannot lift up his eyes to heaven together with
Jesus, in his sight the Lord is not wonderful on high, but terrible to those beneath. 8
Thy testimonies are made exceedingly credible. This is what is said in the seventeenth
psalm: 'The testimony of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones.' To what
little ones? 'Father, I give thee thanks, because thou hast hidden these things from the
wise and prudent of the world, and hast revealed them to little ones.' Holiness becometh
thy house, O Lord. See what he says. Whoever seems to himself to dwell in the house, if he
has not holiness, is a stranger to the house, because the house would not have its
ornaments. Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord. If, according to the apostle, we are the
temple and house of God, then the holiness of our manner of life ought to be the ornament
and adornment of the Church; but if sins and vices are caught in us, we are the disgrace
and foulness of the Lord's house, not its beauty. Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord. The
house of the Lord is the Church. And the Church, according to the mystical understandings,
was already prefigured in the flood by the ark, in which the clean animals, at the Lord's
command, were multiplied the more. And although, on account of the unclean and the clean,
beasts of diverse kinds dwelt there, nevertheless the clean animals became the Lord's
house, which by their uneven number already prefigured the sacrifices of virginity: from
which Noah, delivered from the perils of the flood, offered to the Lord a worthy holocaust
from the clean animals. There are many things that might be said, but the hour shuts us
out, and let it suffice to have said a few things concerning the praises of the Lord. To
whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.


HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS
======================

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS continued

HOMILY 71, ON PSALM 93 (ALTERNATE SERIES)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos
quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) —
public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Deus ultionum
Dominus, Deus ultionum libere egit — "The God of vengeance is the Lord; the God of
vengeance has acted freely." Whether you say the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit,
according to the principle of the Trinity which we set forth in the Gospel, he is both God
and Lord. "The God of vengeance has acted freely": he who was despised in his lowliness
will afterward take vengeance in his majesty. 2 "Be exalted, you who judge the earth." You
judge the earth, because heaven does not deserve to be judged. Listen, heretic, to how the
Lord judges the earth. If there is a fall in heaven, why is there not also a judgment in
heaven? If souls sinned in heaven, why is the earth alone judged? "Render their recompense
to the proud." All sins indeed must be guarded against, because all are contrary to God;
but they are so in various ways: proud sins are enemies to God. For "the Lord resists the
proud, but to the humble he gives grace." The devil is the prince of the proud. "Lest," he
says, "puffed up in pride, he fall into the judgment of the devil." For everyone who
exalts his own heart is a sharer with the devil, who used to say: "By my strength I will
act, and by the wisdom of my understanding I will remove the boundaries of the nations" —
and the rest, which it would be tedious to enumerate, in which the prophet describes the
pride of the devil. The other vices earn the mercy of the Lord, because by their humility
they are made subject to God: pride alone, which lifts itself up beyond its strength,
resists God. The adulterer or the fornicator has not dared to lift his eyes up to heaven;
with a downcast spirit he hopes, in supplication, for the mercy of the Lord; but the man
whom his conscience makes turn away, it humbles upon the earth, yet it lifts him up to
heaven. Pride and the appetite for glory, when they raise a man up, then abase him,
because they make God the enemy of his sin.

3 "How long shall sinners, O Lord, how long shall sinners glory?" The sinner who beseeches
God earns pardon; but he who glories in his wickedness is proud: and pride has God for its
enemy. This which he says, "how long?" — it is to be understood ἀπὸ κοινοῦ ("in common,"
carried over), so that we may recognize it thus: "How long shall sinners glory? How long
shall they utter and speak iniquity? How long shall they speak, all who work injustice?"
Human impatience therefore marvels at the patience of God, and says: I, a sinner, cannot
endure sinners; how can you, who are just, bear with them? "How long, O Lord, shall
sinners glory?" He did not say, "How long shall sinners sin?" He has a great sin who sins,
and moreover glories in his sin. "Shall they utter and speak iniquity?" All sins are
cloaked with speech: but pride betrays its iniquity, while it glories in its own
wickedness.

4 "Your people, O Lord, they have humbled, and your inheritance they have harassed." Who?
The proud. "The widow and the stranger they have slain." The plain sense is clear: but if
we should wish to interpret according to the anagogy, every day the proud devil with his
satellites oppresses and harasses the humble in the Church. "Saying, The God of Jacob will
not see, nor understand." They took the Lord's patience for ignorance. 5 "Understand, you
who are foolish among the people; and you fools, at last be wise. Shall he who planted the
ear not hear? Shall he who fashioned the eye not consider?" By an argument from nature he
rebukes and convicts the sinners. O you who suppose that mortal things do not pertain to
the Lord, you who, along with Epicurus, say that God's care is kept apart from human
affairs, listen to the argument from nature: because you are little children, I will offer
you little examples. He who gave hearing to man, shall he himself not hear? And at the
same time, see what he says. He did not repay like with like: for he did not say, "Shall
he who planted the ear not himself have an ear?" or "Shall he who fashioned the eye not
himself have an eye?" But because in God there are no members, therefore he speaks in such
a way that we, as often as we read such things about God as are frequently found in the
Scriptures, may understand that an operation is signified, not members. In Solomon we
read: "In the hand of the tongue are death and life." Does the tongue then have a hand?
But in order that we may come more easily to the understanding of the sense above, we have
brought forward this testimony: for by the same reasoning by which you would give the
tongue a hand, by that same reasoning you are going to give God all members.

6 "He who instructs the nations, shall he not reprove?" This is what he says: he who gave
the law, gave it for this purpose, that he might instruct those who hear, or punish those
who despise. "He who teaches man knowledge." He did not add, "Shall he himself not have
knowledge?" But what did he say? "The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain."
Men marvel at the philosophers and poets who say: "O the cares of men! O how much
emptiness there is in things!" Behold, the psalm of David, many ages before, spoke the
same sentiment. "The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain." As long as we
are men, we have vain thoughts. "I said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most
High." 7 "Blessed is the man whom you shall instruct, O Lord, and shall teach him out of
your law." You see, then, that the law is to be learned, so that the things which are
obscure may be more diligently understood. For the apostle says that "the law is
spiritual." And David: "Reveal my eyes, and I will consider the wondrous things of your
law." This, then, is what he says. "Blessed is the man whom you shall instruct, O Lord,
and shall teach him out of your law." Why do you teach him? Render the reasons. "That you
may soften it for him from the evil days." Therefore you teach him, so that in the future
you may spare him: therefore in the present you rebuke him, so that in the future you may
not condemn him. For the judge's sentence is an evil to the one who endures the evils: not
that the sentence is evil, but that the one suffering it, while he feels the punishment,
feels a just and good sentence as evil. "Until the pit be dug for the sinner." Who is it
that digs the pit for the sinner? Let us see what the prophet says elsewhere. "He opened a
pit and dug it out, and he fell into the trench which he made." God, therefore, does not
make the pit, but the sinner, so that he may fall into it. "The blind," he says, "if he
offers guidance to the blind, both fall into the pit."

8 "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Or who will stand with me against those
who work iniquity?" When he says "Who?", he signifies either something rare, or none at
all. For the prophet speaks thus in the person of a weak man. "Who will rise up for me
against the evildoers?" Moses came, and could not make me better: the prophets came, and
did not free me from the snares of sinners. Who then will rise up for me? Beautifully did
he say "will rise up": as of one sleeping, as of one lying down. "Arise, why do you sleep,
O Lord?" "Master, save us, we perish." Who will rise up for me against the multitude of
demons? Who will furnish help? "Who will stand with me against those who work iniquity?"
Beautifully did he say, "Who will stand with me?" For unless the Lord stand with us, who
lay in his passion, unless he rise up who slept in death, we cannot overcome our
adversaries. For this reason Stephen, doing battle against the assaults of the Jews, sees
Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. He saw him standing, because he was
fighting on behalf of his martyr. "Unless the Lord had helped me." Unless Christ had risen
from hell, my soul would have descended to the netherworld.

9 "If I said, My foot has slipped: your mercy, O Lord, was helping me. The confession of
weakness quickly earns God's help, and by however much pride gives offense, by that much
is he appeased by humility. "If I said, My foot has slipped": if I confess my sins, if I
say that my foot has stood on slippery ground, if I do not trust in my own strength, if I
acknowledge that I am not, though fallen, strong, at once "your mercy helps me. "According
to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, your consolations have gladdened my soul. This
is what he said above: he pursues the same sense, the same intention. "According to the
multitude of my sorrows in my heart, your consolations have gladdened my soul. As great a
sorrow as you saw in my heart from the groaning of repentance, so great a measure of your
mercy will you minister: for the greatness of the sorrow became the material of
consolation. "Shall the seat of iniquity cling to you? You who judge righteousness, can
you have iniquity for a neighbor? "You who fashion sorrow in a commandment? The
commandments of God have the sorrow of repentance; but that sorrow itself is good, because
it furnishes the medicine of sinners. For unless with sweat and toil, we shall not do the
commandments of God. Let no one, then, suppose that he will be crowned amid delights. "The
widow who is in delights, while living, is dead.

10 What the apostle said of one person, let us apply to all: for the apostle's care was
not for widows alone, since he stood forth as the teacher of the whole Church. Now,
because he did not name the virgin, nor the monk, nor the churchman, ought a man for that
reason not to hold himself back from delights? For if the widow is a human being, I think
the rest are human beings too: who, on account of the common frailty, can incur through
delights that which the widow dreads. Listen, then, to what he says, "You who fashion
sorrow in a commandment. For it is commanded us that we fast, it is commanded us that we
be sober, that to the one striking our cheek we offer the other, that to the one taking
away our tunic we let go our cloak also. All these commandments are not accomplished
without toil. "For on account of the words of your lips I have kept hard ways. You see,
then, that no one is crowned amid delights. "For narrow and strait is the way that leads
to life. For whatever virtues there are, they are not accomplished without difficulty.
With immense toil we reach the summits of a mountain: how much more into heaven? This is
what is said in the Gospel: "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence. It suffers violence,
because that which is not subject by nature is made subject to us through grace: so that
from where the angels fell, men may ascend:

11 so that where bodies did not fall, souls together with their bodies may go. Let someone
say: How then will these same bodies of ours go into heaven? If Christ reigns, we reign
with Christ: what he already possesses, he promises to us after the resurrection. If the
firstfruits reign, the remnant also will reign. The flesh which reigns in Christ, why
should it not reign in those who believe in Christ? "For when Christ shall appear, then we
also shall appear with him in glory. If the flesh is adored by the angels in heaven, why
should it not reign in men, who have merited the dignity of the kingdom? It is said
elsewhere: "And adore his footstool, for it is holy. Some suppose it was said of the
earth, "his footstool": but to me it seems that, in comparison with the divine majesty,
the incarnation of the Savior is rightly named a footstool on account of the subjection of
its lowliness; but because it is Christ's, it is adored. For nothing is lacking to the
divinity: for whatever is οἰκονομία (the dispensation) in Christ is not added to him, but
profits us: he is taken up into glory, so that the grace of our future hope may be shown
to us, who have reigned with him. To whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY 72, ON PSALM 95 (ALTERNATE SERIES)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos
quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) —
public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 Before we discuss
the Gospel, it seems to us that a few things should be said about the title of the psalm,
and after our discussion of the title let us come to a few short verses; so that the
understanding which we had spoken of concerning the entrance-hall we may recognize
likewise in the whole doorway of the house. This is the title: When the house was being
built after the captivity, of David himself. Whose house was being built after the
captivity? Which of us, do you think, has been taken captive and, in the storm of
captivity, torn down, so that after the captivity he might be built up again? If God has
shut up all men under sin, and all things are found in unbelief: wherever there is sin,
there is captivity; where there is captivity, there is ruin, and there building is
necessary. We ought therefore to consider our houses more carefully, lest perhaps they
have collapsed in some part, and need to be built after the captivity; and we must come to
their aid with all toil and skill, so that they do not utterly collapse, that there may be
fulfilled in us what is written in Exodus: 'Because the midwives feared God, they built
themselves houses.' See what it says: Because they feared God, they built houses.
Therefore a house cannot be constructed except by the fear of God. If then those women
built houses by the fear of God, who had not sinned but rather acted in accord with God's
will:

3 what ought we, who have been taken captive, to do? Listen, sinner: we ought indeed to
fear God, that we may not sin; but the second plank after shipwreck is repentance. When
the house was being built after the captivity. When the house was being built: it did not
say, has been built, because repentance has no end. For the righteous man, once dead,
leaves repentance behind; but wherever there is sin, the conscience always gnaws.
Therefore it is said, was being built, because it is not confined by time: however long
you live, there you always run into it. 4 Sing to the Lord a new song. The old man is put
off, and the new is raised up: therefore a new song is sung. Sing to the Lord, all the
earth. The earth which has turned with its whole mind to the Lord sings out His praises,
in the confession of the Lord, with the sweetness of a new voice. We ought not to be
forgetful of our promise: we must pass on to the reading of the Gospel, since it is
difficult. Let it suffice to have said once, that the psalm is spoken in the person of one
repenting: and to this understanding whatever else remains will also be applied.

HOMILY 73, ON PSALM 96 (ALTERNATE SERIES)

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos
quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) —
public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). The title of the
psalm is prescribed thus: "When his land was restored." When it says "was restored," it is
shown that it existed before, and afterward did not exist, and again was established. What
then is this land of David which was restored? David's land is holy Mary, the mother of
the Savior. "Who was made to him of the seed of David according to the flesh." What was
promised to David was fulfilled in Mary's virginity and childbearing, where a virgin is
begotten of a virgin. And thus was accomplished what is said in the Gospel, "The Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us": so that what had been promised to David might be restored
to us through holy Mary.

2 "The Lord has reigned, let the earth rejoice." Let the earth rejoice: let it have one
king, which before was held by many. "Let the many islands be glad." It is said in a
certain prophet: "Speak to the inhabitants of this island," that is, to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem. You see, then, that Jerusalem is called an island. Before David's land was
restored, therefore, only the one island of Judea rejoiced; but now, David's land having
been restored, it is said, "Let the many islands be glad." By the many islands we can mean
the various provinces or cities of the believing peoples, or we shall interpret them as
the various churches. For just as islands are beaten this way and that by the waves of the
sea, so also the churches are indeed beaten by the various storms of temptations, but are
not overturned. 3 "Cloud and darkness are round about him." No one doubts that this is of
the Lord Savior, round about whom was cloud and darkness — the flesh which he deigned to
assume; although he is said to have appeared, in the Gospel of John. "And he appeared to
us." He appeared indeed to the apostles, but from the Jews he was concealed. To those he
is shown on the mountain, from these he is concealed in the valley of humility: those he
builds up with beatitudes, to these he speaks in parables, so that seeing they might not
see, because of their unbelief. "Cloud and darkness are round about him." He appeared as
he willed, not as his nature demanded. "And he made darkness his hiding place." If God is
light, how can light dwell in darkness? There darkness signifies our knowledge and
weakness: because we cannot gaze upon his majesty. For if human eyes cannot direct
themselves at the rays of this sun which was created, which is our fellow-servant, how
much more, in the Sun of Justice, are there darkness and gloom round about him, so that he
cannot be understood or seen by us? This is what we read of holy Moses: "And he entered
into the darkness of the cloud," that he might see God, whom he could not see without a
cloud. This he says also in Isaiah: "The Lord shall come into Egypt on a light cloud,"
that is, in holy Mary. On a light cloud, because he was not weighed down by human seed.

4 "Justice and judgment are the correction of his throne." When it says "correction," it
is shown that before it was crooked. "Justice and judgment are the correction of his
throne." Before the Lord came in the flesh, there was inequality, because God was known
only in Judea. He came, and all the earth acknowledged the one and the same Creator whom
Judea had known: and the correction of his throne was made. "Fire shall go before him."
The Lord is pure, "he dwells holy among the holy": we cannot be joined to him, unless fire
first has burned up our vices. "For of what sort each one's work is, fire shall prove."
"And it shall inflame his enemies round about." God does not inflame his enemies as
enemies, but as friends: for he burns away the vices of his enemies, that out of enemies
he may make friends. 5 "His lightnings gave light to the world. This is what is said in
Jeremiah: "The Lord who made the world in his wisdom, who brought clouds from the end of
the earth, made lightnings into rain. "His lightnings gave light to the world. The
philosophers who are accustomed to dispute about the natures of things say that, unless
clouds coming against each other are dashed together, fire cannot slip out of them; but
when they have been driven, by a certain contest among themselves, into thunders, then
lightning slips out of them. Which likeness we can also understand from fired stones. We
have said this so that we may more easily see something similar to the mystery of the
Savior. We have our own clouds, the prophets and the apostles; whence also elsewhere it is
said, "Your truth reaches even to the clouds. If his truth reaches even to the clouds of
this air, how is it said elsewhere, "Truth has arisen from the earth"? Therefore what it
says is this: "Your truth reaches even to the clouds. It certainly signifies the prophets
and apostles: which clouds, unless they have been dashed together among themselves, cannot
give their splendor; but if in one course they come to thunder together, lightnings fall
in the whole world. Do you wish to know how the saints are called clouds in the
Scriptures? It is said in Isaiah: "I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon them.
Moses was a cloud, and therefore he spoke: "Let my speech be awaited like rain.

6 The epistles of the apostles are our spiritual rains. For what does Paul say in the
epistle to the Hebrews? "For the earth, drinking in the rain that often comes upon it,"
and the rest. And again: "I planted, Apollos watered. "It saw, and the earth was moved. In
the whole world the earth felt the lightning words of the Lord, and was moved — the earth
which, before it was moved, was hard, and was not able to receive the word of the Lord.
The Lord looked upon it, "who looks upon the earth and makes it tremble. What is this,
"makes it tremble"? "Upon whom else shall I rest, except upon the humble and quiet one,
who trembles at my words?" 7 "The mountains flowed like wax before his face." By
"mountains" he means the lofty powers. Those who before were raised up to heaven through
pride, at the coming of the Lord were humbled; and those who were hardened by too great a
boasting of vanity, afterward were softened by the heat of divine wisdom.

8 "The heavens announced his justice, and all peoples saw his glory." In these two little
verses two things are signified: the heavens announce the justice of the Lord, and all
peoples see his glory. For unless someone has become heaven, he cannot announce the
justice of the Lord. For if to the sinner it is said, "You are earth, and into earth you
shall go," why should it not be said to the just one, "You are heaven, and into heaven you
shall go"? For we do not bear the image of the earthly, but the image of the heavenly:
since "our citizenship is in the heavens." If anyone, therefore, walks upon the earth,
although in the flesh yet not according to the flesh, that one can freely announce the
justice of the Lord. For if someone less knowing should suffer a scruple, and say, "What
is it that we see the just in this life pressed down by labors and want, and sinners
flourishing in riches and every comfort?" — unless the churchman has been instructed in
the divine Scriptures, how can he show the justice of God in cases of this kind? But if he
labors in the meditation of the law day and night, he will easily answer, that the brief
lowliness of the present time is to be compensated afterward by eternal rewards. For it is
much better for someone, for the sake of the Lord, in the small span of his life, to
endure voluntary poverty, that he may in the future enjoy eternal riches, than here to
abound in luxuries, and afterward be tortured with intolerable punishments. "And all
peoples saw his glory." Those who before were scandalized at the cross of the Lord,
because by themselves they could not recognize him, afterward, when the heavens announced
the justice of God, glorify God.

9 "Let all be confounded who worship graven images." If the prophet is blessed, being
blessed he never knew how to curse; and therefore in that which he says, "Let them be
confounded," it is not against them, but for them: for he prays that they may be
confounded in their error, and be converted to the true and only God, the Creator. 10 "The
daughters of Judea rejoiced because of your judgments, O Lord. What does this sense
intend, "The daughters of Judea rejoiced," and not "the sons"? Let us understand first
what "Judea" is interpreted to mean: and when we have known the interpretation, let us see
what are the daughters of the interpretation. "Judea," then, is interpreted "confession.
Whatever soul confesses God is a daughter of Judea. Therefore we call all the souls of
believers the daughters of Judea, which rejoice at the judgments of God. For unless the
soul has been faithful, it does not rejoice at the judgments of God. "My house has
collapsed, I have lost my riches in shipwreck, my son has died to me, my servant has fled
and carried off my goods, I who before was rich am now consumed by want": unless I am a
daughter of Judea, I do not rejoice in the judgments of God. The soul of blessed Job was a
daughter of Judah, which in the losses of household things thus consoled itself, saying:
"The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord: naked I came
forth from my mother's womb, naked also shall I go" — let there be understood, "into the
earth. First, made poor from rich, he lost his substance together with his sons: pressed
down alike by want and bereavement, at last he came to the utmost misery, struck with the
royal disease and an incurable wound: incurable to men, but curable with God.

11 What human medicine could not heal, patience and faith healed. He sat upon the
dunghill, and in his soul he walked about in paradise. With his whole body rotting, his
tongue alone was preserved to him — the tongue that was to blaspheme the Lord. See the
craft of the ancient enemy. He tore away the substance of the just man by hostile plunder,
crushed his sons with ruin, struck the man himself with a grievous wound and the horror of
his whole body: he left him nothing except his tongue and his wife, so that the one might
tempt and the other blaspheme. The devil was mindful of his former craft, by which he once
deceived Adam through the woman: so also he assails this man through his wife, reckoning
that he can always deceive men through the woman, not considering that one man was cast
down through a woman, and now through a woman the whole world has been saved. Eve comes
into your mind, but consider Mary: she cast us out of paradise, this one leads us back to
heaven. Let us return to the order of the psalm.

12 "You who love the Lord, hate evil." If the Lord is good... For what do we read? "The
good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep." And again in another parable: "Friend, if
I am good, why is your eye evil?" "You who love the Lord, hate evil." Two loves cannot be
contrary to each other in one man. Just as there is no consent of Christ with Belial, of
justice and iniquity, so it cannot happen that one soul love both good and evil. "You who
love the Lord, hate evil": the devil. The love and the hatred of each consists in deed.
"For he who loves me will keep my commandments." But concerning the part of the devil,
what is said? "But through the envy of the devil death entered into the world; therefore
they imitate him who are of his part." Or certainly it is to be understood simply: You who
love the things that are good, hate the things that are evil. You cannot love good, unless
you hate evil.

13 "The Lord guards the souls of his saints." A most beautiful order: he who loves good
and hates evil, what does he deserve from the Lord, except that he be guarded by him? "He
will free them from the hand of the sinner." Here a question arises: If the Lord guards
the souls of his saints, and frees them from the hand of the sinner, how are the martyrs
crushed in persecution? how did the impious Nero, with sentence given, condemn Peter and
Paul to death on one day, if the Lord guards the souls of his saints? Attend diligently to
what he says. "The Lord guards the souls of his saints": he said "souls," not "bodies."
"Do not fear those," he says, "who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; but fear him
who can kill both body and soul in Gehenna." How, then, does the Lord guard the souls of
his saints? In martyrdom. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."
In martyrdom, therefore, blood is poured out, so that the soul may be freed from
temptations: so that it may leave the brief life, and migrate to the eternal: so that it
may leave persecution, and go to the One who crowns us, our Lord Jesus Christ. To whom is
honor and glory unto ages of ages. Amen.


LIVES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN
========================

LIVES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN Jerome

c. AD 347–420

Translator of the Latin Vulgate and prolific biblical scholar.

INTRODUCTION

Preface

You have urged me, Dexter, , to follow the example of Tranquillus in giving a systematic
account of ecclesiastical writers, and to do for our writers what he did for the
illustrious men of letters among the Gentiles, namely, to briefly set before you all those
who have published any memorable writing on the Holy Scriptures, from the time of our
Lord's passion until the fourteenth year of the Emperor Theodosius. A similar work has
been done by Hermippus the peripatetic, Antigonus Carystius, the learned Satyrus, and most
learned of all, Aristoxenus the Musician, among the Greeks, and among the Latins by Varro,
Santra, Nepos, Hyginus, and by him through whose example you seek to stimulate
us,-Tranquillus. But their situation and mine is not the same, for they, opening the old
histories and chronicles could as if gathering from some great meadow, weave some small
crown at least for their work. As for me, what shall I do, who, having no predecessor,
have, as the saying is, the worst possible master, namely myself, and yet I must
acknowledge that Eusebius Pamphilus in the ten books of his Church History has been of the
utmost assistance, and the works of various among those of whom we are to write, often
testify to the dates of their authors. And so I pray the Lord Jesus, that what your
Cicero, who stood at the summit of Roman eloquence, did not scorn to do, compiling in his
Brutus, a catalogue of Latin orators, this I too may accomplish in the enumeration of
ecclesiastical writers, and accomplish in a fashion worthy of the exhortation which you
made. But if, perchance any of those who are yet writing have been overlooked by me in his
volume, they ought to ascribe it to themselves, rather than to me, for among those whom I
have not read, I could not, in the first place, know those who concealed their own
writings, and, in the second place, what is perhaps well known to others, would be quite
unknown to me in this out of the way corner of the earth. But surely when they are
distinguished by their Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian learn, rabid as they are against
Christ, let their followers, they who think the church has had no philosophers or orators
or men of learning, learn how many and what sort of men founded, built and adorned it, and
cease to accuse our faith of such rustic simplicity, and recognize rather their own
ignorance.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, farewell.

List of Writers.

1. Simon Peter. 2. James, the brother of our Lord. 3. Matthew, surnamed Levi. 4. Jude, the
brother of James. 5. Paul, formerly called Saul. 6. Barnabas, surnamed Joseph. 7. Luke,
the evangelist. 8. Mark, the evangelist. 9. John, the apostle and evangelist. 10. Hermas.
11. Philo Judaeus. 12. Lucius Annaeus Seneca. 13. Josephus, son of Matthias. 14. Justus of
Tiberias. 15. Clemens the bishop. 16. Ignatius the bishop. 17. Polycarp the bishop. 18.
Papias the bishop. 19. Quadratus the bishop. 20. Aristides the philosopher. 21. Agrippa
Castor. 22. Hegesippus the historian. 23. Justin the philosopher. 24. Melito the bishop.
25. Theophilus the bishop. 26. Apollinaris the bishop. 27. Dionysius the bishop. 27.
Pinytus the bishop. 29. Tatian the heresiarch. 30. Phillip the bishop. 31. Musanus. 32.
Modestus. 33. Bardesanes the heresiarch. 34. Victor the bishop. 35. Iranaeus the bishop.
36. Pantaenus the philosopher. 37. Rhodo, the disciple of Tatian.

38. Clemens the presbyter. 39. Miltiades. 40. Apollonius. 41. Serapion the bishop. 42.
Apollonius the senator. 43. Theophilus another bishop. 44. Baccylus the bishop. 45.
Polycrates the bishop. 46. Heraclitus. 47. Maximus. 48. Candidus. 49. Appion. 50. Sextus.
51. Arabianus. 52. Judas. 53. Tertullian the presbyter. 54. Origen, surnamed Adamantius.
55. Ammonius. 56. Ambrose the deacon. 57. Trypho the pupil of Origen. 58. Minucius Felix.
59. Gaius. 60. Berillus the bishop. 61. Hippolytus the bishop. 62. Alexander the bishop.
63. Julius the African. 64. Gemimus the presbyter. 65. Theodorus, surnamed Gregory the
bishop. 66. Cornelius the bishop. 67. Cyprian the bishop. 68. Pontius the deacon. 69.
Dionysius the bishop. 70. Novatianus the heresiarch. 71. Malchion the presbyter. 72.
Archelaus the bishop. 73. Anatolius the bishop. 74. Victorinus the bishop. 75. Pamphilus
the presbyter. 76. Pierius the presbyter. 77. Lucianus the presbyter. 78. Phileas the
bishop. 79. Arnobius the rhetorician. 80. Firmianus the rhetorician, surnamed Lactantius.

81. Eusebius the bishop. 82. Reticius the bishop. 83. Methodius the bishop. 84. Juvencus
the presbyter. 85. Eustathius the bishop. 86. Marcellus the bishop. 87. Athanasius the
bishop. 88. Antonius the monk. 89. Basilius the bishop. 90. Theodorus the bishop. 91.
Eusebius another bishop. 92. Triphylius the bishop. 93. Donatus the heresiarch. 94.
Asterius the philosopher. 95. Lucifer the bishop. 96. Eusebius another bishop. 97.
Fortunatianus the bishop. 98. Acacius the bishop. 99. Serapion the bishop. 100. Hilary the
bishop. 101. Victorinus the rhetorician. 102. Titus the bishop. 103. Damasus the bishop.
104. Apollinarius the bishop. 105. Gregory the bishop. 106. Pacianus the bishop. 107.
Photinus the heresiarch. 108. Phoebadius the bishop. 109. idymus the Blind. 110. Optatus
the bishop. 111. Acilius Severus the senator. 112. Cyril the bishop. 113. Euzoius the
bishop. 114. Epiphanius the bishop. 115. Ephrem the deacon. 116. Basil another bishop.
117. Gregory another bishop. 118. Lucius the bishop.

119. Diodorus the bishop. 120. Eunomius the heresiarch. 121. Priscillianus the bishop.
122. Latronianus. 123. Tiberianus. 124. Ambrose the bishop. 125. Evagrius the bishop. 126.
Ambrose the disciple of Didymus. 127. Maximus, first philosopher, then bishop. 128.
Another Gregory, also a bishop. 129. John the presbyter. 130. Gelasius the bishop. 131.
Theotimus the bishop. 132. Dexter, son of Pacianus, now praetorian prefect. 133.
Amphilochius the bishop. 134. Sophronius. 135. Jerome the presbyter.

CHAPTER I.

1 Simon Peter the son of John, from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee,
brother of Andrew the apostle, and himself chief of the apostles, after having been bishop
of the church of Antioch and having preached to the Dispersion -the believers in
circumcision, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia-pushed on to Rome in the
second year of Claudius to over-throw Simon Magus, and held the sacerdotal chair there for
twenty-five years until the last, that is the fourteenth, year of Nero. At his hands he
received the crown of martyrdom being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground
and his feet raised on high, asserting that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same
manner as his Lord. He wrote two epistles which are called Catholic, the second of which,
on account of its difference from the first in style, is considered by many not to be by
him. Then too the Gospel according to Mark, who was his disciple and interpreter, is
ascribed to him. On the other hand, the books, of which one is entitled his Acts, another
his Gospel, a third his Preaching, a fourth his Revelation, a fifth his "Judgment" are
rejected as apocryphal.

2 Buried at Rome in the Vatican near the triumphal way he is venerated by the whole world.

CHAPTER II.

1 James, who is called the brother of the Lord, surnamed the Just, the son of Joseph by
another wife, as some think, but, as appears to me, the son of Mary sister of the mother
of our Lord of whom John makes mention in his book, after our Lord's passion at once
ordained by the apostles bishop of Jerusalem, wrote a single epistle, which is reckoned
among the seven Catholic Epistles and even this is claimed by some to have been published
by some one else under his name, and gradually, as time went on, to have gained authority.
Hegesippus who lived near the apostolic age, in the fifth book of his Commentaries,
writing of James. says "After the apostles, James the brother of the Lord surnamed the
Just was made head of the Church at Jerusalem. Many indeed are called James. This one was
holy from his mother's womb. He drank neither wine nor strong drink, ate no flesh, never
shaved or anointed himself with ointment or bathed. He alone halt the privilege of
entering the Holy of Holies, since indeed he did not use woolen vestments but linen and
went alone into the temple and prayed in behalf of the people, insomuch that his knees
were reputed to have acquired the hardness of camels' knees. He says also many other
things, too numerous to mention.

2 Josephus also in the 20th book of his Antiquities, and Clement in the 7th of his
Outlines mention that on the death of Fetus who reigned over Judea, Albinus was sent by
Nero as his successor. Before he had reached his province, Ananias the high priest, the
youthful son of Ananus of the priestly class taking advantage of the state of anarchy,
assembled a council and publicly tried to force James to deny that Christ is the son of
God. When he refused Ananius ordered him to be stoned. Cast down from a pinnacle of the
temple, his legs broken, but still half alive, raising his hands to heaven he said, "Lord
forgive them for they know not what they do. Then struck on the head by the club of a
fuller such a club as fullers are accustomed to wring out garments with-he died. This same
Josephus records the tradition that this James was of so great sanctity and reputation
among the people that the downfall of Jerusalem was believed to be on account of his
death. He it is of whom the apostle Paul writes to the Galatians that "No one else of the
apostles did I see except James the brother of the Lord," and shortly after the event the
Acts of the apostles bear witness to the matter.

3 The Gospel also which is called the Gospel according to the Hebrews, and which I have
recently translated into Greek and Latin and which also Origen often makes use of, after
the account of the resurrection of the Saviour says, "but the Lord, after he had given his
grave clothes to the servant of the priest, appeared to James(for James had. sworn that he
would not eat bread from that hour in which he drank the cup of the Lord until he should
see him rising again from among those that sleep)" and again, a little later, it says
"`Bring a table and bread,' said the Lord. And immediately it is added, "He brought bread
and blessed and brake and gave to James the Just and said to him, `my brother eat thy
bread, for the son of man is risen from among those that sleep.'" And so he ruled the
church of Jerusalem thirty years, that is until the seventh year of Nero, and was buried
near the temple from which he had been cast down. His tombstone with its inscription was
well known until the siege of Titus and the end of Hadrian's reign. Some of our writers
think he was buried in Mount Olivet, but they are mistaken.

CHAPTER III.

Matthew, also called Levi, apostle and aforetimes publican, composed a gospel of Christ at
first published in Judea in Hebrew for the sake of those of the circumcision who believed,
but this was afterwards translated into Greek though by what author is uncertain. The
Hebrew itself has been preserved until the present day in the library. at Caesarea which
Pamphilus so diligently gathered. I have also had the opportunity of having the volume
described to me bythe Nazarenes of Beroea, a city of Syria,who use it. In this it is to be
noted that wherever the Evangelist, whether on his own account or in the person of our
Lord the Saviour quotes the testimony of the Old Testament he does not follow the
authority of the translators of the Septuagint but the Hebrew. Wherefore these two forms
exist "Out of Egypt have I called my son," and "for he shall be called a Nazarene."

CHAPTER IV.

Jude the brother of James, left a short epistle which is reckoned among the seven catholic
epistles, and because in it he quotes from the apocryphal book of Enoch it is rejected by
many. Nevertheless by age and use it has gained authority and is reckoned among the Holy
Scriptures.

CHAPTER V.

1 Paul, formerly called Saul, an apostle outside the number of the twelve apostles, was of
the tribe of Benjamin and the town of Giscalis in Judea. When this was taken by the Romans
he removed with his parents to Tarsus in Cilicia. Sent by them to Jerusalem to study law
he was educated by Gamaliel a most learned man whom Luke mentions. But after he had been
present at the death of the martyr Stephen and had received letters from the high priest
of the temple for the persecution of those who believed in Christ, he proceeded to
Damascus, where constrained to faith by a revelation, as it is written in the Acts of the
apostles, he was transformed from a persecutor into an elect vessel. As Sergius Paulus
Proconsul of Cyprus was the first to believe on his preaching, he took his name from him
because he had subdued him to faith in Christ, and having been joined by Barnabas, after
traversing many cities, he returned to Jerusalem and was ordained apostle to the Gentiles
by Peter, James and John. And because a full account of his life is given in the Acts of
the Apostles, I only say this, that the twenty-fifth year after our Lord's passion, that
is the second of Nero, at the time when Fetus Procurator of Judea succeeded Felix, he was
sent bound to Rome, and remaining for two years in free custody, disputed daily with the
Jews concerning the advent of Christ.

2 It ought to be said that at the first defence, the power of Nero having not yet been
confirmed, nor his wickedness broken forth to such a degree as the histories relate
concerning him, Paul was dismissed by Nero, that the gospel of Christ might be preached
also in the West. As he himself writes in the second epistle to Timothy, at the time when
he was about to be put to death dictating his epistle as he did while in chains; "At my
first defence no one took my part, but all forsook me: may it not be laid to their
account. But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me; that through me the message might
be fully proclaimed and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out of the
mouth of the lion" -clearly indicating Nero as lion on account of his cruelty. And
directly following he says "The Lord delivered me from the month of the lion" and again
shortly "The Lord delivered me from every evil work and saved me unto his heavenly
kingdom," for indeed he felt within himself that his martyrdom was near at hand, for in
the same epistle he announced "for I am already being offered and the time of my departure
is at hand. He then, in the fourteenth year of Nero on the same day with Peter, was
beheaded at Rome for Christ's sake and was buried in the Ostian way, the twenty-seventh
year after our Lord's passion. He wrote nine epistles to seven churches:

3 To the Romans one, To the Corinthians two, To the Galatians one, To the Ephesians one,
To the Philippians one, To the Colossians one, To the Thessalonians two; and besides these
to his disciples, To Timothy two, To Titus one, To Philemon one. The epistle which is
called the Epistle to the Hebrews is not considered his, on account of its difference from
the others in style and language, but it is reckoned, either according to Tertullian to be
the work of Barnabas, or according to others, to be by Luke the Evangelist or Clement
afterwards bishop of the church at Rome, who, they say, arranged and adorned the ideas of
Paul in his own language, though to be sure, since Paul was writing to Hebrews and was
indisrepute among them he may have omittedhis name from the salvation on this account.He
being a Hebrew wrote Hebrew, that ishis own tongue and most fluently while the things
which were eloquently written in Hebrew were more eloquently turned into Greek and this is
the reason why it seems todiffer from other epistles of Paul. Some read one also to the
Laodiceans but it is rejected by everyone.

CHAPTER VI.

Barnabas the Cyprian, also called Joseph the Levite, ordained apostle to the Gentiles with
Paul, wrote one Epistle, valuable for the edification of the church, which is reckoned
among the apocryphal writings. He afterwards separated from Paul on account of John, a
disciple also called Mark, none the less exercised the work laid upon him of preaching the
Gospel.

CHAPTER VII.

1 Luke a physician of Antioch as his writings gas indicate was not unskilled in the Greek
language. An adherent of the apostle Paul, and companion of all his journeying, he wrote a
Gospel, concerning which the same Paul says, "We send with him a brother whose praise in
the gospel is among all the churches" and to the Colossians "Luke the beloved physician
salutes you," and to Timothy "Luke only is with me. He also wrote another excellent volume
to which he prefixed the title Acts of the Apostles, a history which extends to the second
year of Paul's sojourn at Rome, that is to the fourth year of Nero, from which we learn
that the book was composed in that same city. Therefore the Acts of Paul and Thecla and
all the fable about the lion baptized by him we reckon among the apocryphal writings, for
how is it possible that the inseparable companion of the apostle in his other affairs,
alone should have been ignorant of this thing. Moreover Tertullian who lived near those
times, mentions a certain presbyter in Asia, an adherent of the apostle Paul, who was
convicted by John of having been the author of the book, and who, confessing that he did
this for love of Paul, resigned his office of presbyter.

2 Some suppose that whenever Paul in his epistle says "according to my gospel" he means
the book of Luke and that Luke not only was taught the gospel history by the apostle Paul
who was not with the Lord in the flesh, but also by other apostles. This he too at the
beginning of his work declares, saying "Even as they delivered unto us, which from the
beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. So he wrote the gospel as he had
heard it, but composed the Acts of the apostles as he himself had seen. He was buried at
Constantinople to which city, in the twentieth year of Constantius, his bones together
with the remains of Andrew the apostle were transferred.

CHAPTER VIII.

Mark the disciple and interpreter of Peter wrote a short gospel at the request of the
brethren at Rome embodying what he had heard Peter tell. When Peter had heard this, he
approved it and published it to the churches to be read by his authority as Clemens in the
sixth book of his Hypotyposes and Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, record. Peter also
mentions this Mark in his first epistle, figuratively indicating Rome under the name of
Babylon "She who is in Babylon elect together with you saluteth you and so doth Mark my
son." So, taking the gospel which he himself composed, he went to Egypt and first
preaching Christ at Alexandria he formed a church so admirable in doctrine and continence
of living that he constrained all followers of Christ to his example. Philo most learned
of the Jews seeing the first church at Alexandria still Jewish in a degree, wrote a book
on their manner of life as something creditable to his nation telling how, as Luke says,
the believers had all things in common at Jerusalem, so he recorded that he saw was done
at Alexandria, under the learned Mark. He died in the eighth year of Nero and was buried
at Alexandria, Annianus succeeding him.

CHAPTER IX.

1 John, the apostle whom Jesus most loved, the son of Zebedee and brother of James, the
apostle whom Herod, after our Lord's passion, beheaded, most recently of all the
evangelists wrote a Gospel, at the request of the bishops of Asia, against Cerinthus and
other heretics and especially against the then growing dogma of the Ebionites, who assert
that Christ did not exist before Mary. On this account he was compelled to maintain His
divine nativity. But there is said to be yet another reason for this work, in that when he
had read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he approved indeed the substance of the history and
declared that the things they said were true, but that they had given the history of only
one year, the one, that is, which follows the imprisonment of John and in which he was put
to death. So passing by this year the events of which had been set forth by these, he
related the events of the earlier period before John was shut up in prison, so that it
might be manifest to those who should diligently read the volumes of the four Evangelists.
This also takes away the discrepancy which there seems to be between John and the others.

2 He wrote also one Epistle which begins as follows "That which was from the beginning,
that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes and our hands handled
concerning the word of life" which is esteemed of by all men who are interested in the
church or in learning. The other two of which the first is "The eider to the elect lady
and her children" and the other "The elder unto Gaius the beloved whom I love in truth,"
are said to be the work of John the presbyter to the memory of whom another sepulchre is
shown at Ephesus to the present day, though some think that there are two memorials of
this same John the evangelist. We shall treat of this matter in its turn when we come to
Papias his disciple. In the fourteenth year then after Nero Domitian having raised a
second persecution he was banished to the island of Patmos, and wrote the Apocalypse, on
which Justin Martyr and Irenaeus afterwards wrote commentaries. But Domitian having been
put to death and his acts, on account of his excessive cruelty, having been annulled by
the senate, he returned to Ephesus under Pertinax and continuing there until the tithe of
the emperor Trajan, founded and built churches throughout all Asia, and, worn out by old
age, died in the sixty-eighth year after our Lord's passion and was buried near the same
city.

CHAPTER X.

Hermas whom the apostle Paul mentions in writing to the Romans "Salute Phlegon, Hermes,
Patrobas, Hermas and the brethren that are with them" is reputed to be the author of the
book which is called Pastor and which is also read publicly in some churches of Greece. It
is in fact a useful book and many of the ancient writers quote from it as authority, but
among the Latins it is almost unknown.

CHAPTER XI.

1 Philo the Jew, an Alexandrian of the priestly class, is placed by us among the
ecclesiastical writers on the ground that, writing a book concerning the first church of
Mark the evangelist at Alexandria, he writes to our praise, declaring not only that they
were there, but also that they were in many provinces and calling their habitations
monasteries. From this it appears that the church of those that believed in Christ at
first, was such as now the monks desire to imitate, that is, such that nothing is the
peculiar property of any one of them, none of them rich, none poor, that patrimonies are
divided among the needy, that they have leisure for prayer and psalms, for doctrine also
and ascetic practice, that they were in fact as Lake declares believers were at first at
Jerusalem. They say that under Caius Caligula he ventured to Rome, whither he had been
sent as legate of his nation, and that when a second time he had come to Claudius, he
spoke in the same city with the apostle Peter and enjoyed his friendship, and for this
reason also adorned the adherents of Mark, Peter's disciple at Alexandria, with his
praises. There are distinguished and innumerable works by this man:

2 On the five books of Moses, one book Concerning the confusion oftongues, one book On
nature and invention, one book On the things which our senses desire and we detest, one
book On learning, one book On the heir of divine things, one book On the division of
equals and contraries, one book On the three virtues, one book On why in Scripture the
names of many persons are changed, two books On covenants, one book On the life of a
wiseman, one book Concerning giants, five books That dreams are sent by God, five books of
Questions and answers on Exodus,four books On the tabernacle and the Decalogue, as well as
books On victims and promises or curses, On Providence, On the Jews, On the manner of
one's life,, On Alexander, and That dumb beasts have right reason, and That every fool
should be a slave, and On the lives of the Christians, of which we spoke above, that is,
lives of apostolic men, which also he entitled, On those who practice the divine life,
because in truth they contemplate divine things and ever pray to God, also trader other
categories, two On agriculture, two On drunkenness. There are other monuments of his
genius which have not come to our hands. Concerning him there is a proverb among the
Greeks "Either Plato philonized, or Philo platonized," that is, either Plato followed
Philo, or Philo, Plato, so great is the similarity of ideas and language.

CHAPTER XII.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca of Cordova disciple of the Stoic Sotion and uncle of Lucan the Poet,
was a man of most continent life, whom I should not place in the category of saints were
it not that those Epistles of Paul to Seneca and Seneca to Paul, which are read by many,
provoke me. In these, written when he was tutor of Nero and the most powerful man of that
time, he says that he would like to hold such a place among his countrymen as Paul held
among Christians. He was put to death by Nero two years before Peter and Paul were crowned
with martyrdom.

CHAPTER XIII.

Josephus, the son of Matthias, priest of Jerusalem, taken prisoner by Vespasian and his
son Titus, was banished. Coming to Rome he presented to the emperors, father and son,
seven books On the captivity of the Jews, which were deposited in the public library and,
on account of his genius, was found worthy of a statue at Rome. He wrote also twenty books
of Antiquities, from the beginning of the world until the fourteenth year of Domitian
Caesar, and two of Antiquities against Appion, the grammarian of Alexandria who, under
Caligula, sent as legate on the part of the Gentiles against Philo, wrote also a book
containing a vituperation of the Jewish nation. Another book of his entitled, On all
ruling wisdom, in which the martyr deaths of the Maccabeans are related is highly
esteemed. In the eighth book of his Antiquities he most openly acknowledges that Christ
was slain by the Pharisees on account of the greatness of his miracles, that John the
Baptist was truly a prophet, and that Jerusalem was destroyed because of the murder of
James the apostle. He wrote also concerning the Lord after this fashion: "In this same
time was Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it be lawful to call him man. For he was a worker of
wonderful miracles, and a teacher of those who freely receive the truth. He had very many
adherents also, both of the Jews and of the Gentiles, and was believed to be Christ, and
when through the envy of our chief men Pilate had crucified him, nevertheless those who
had loved him at first continued to the end, for he appeared to them the third day alive.
Many things, both these and other wonderful things are in the songs of the prophets who
prophesied concerning him and the sect of Christians, so named from Him, exists to the
present day."

CHAPTER XIV.

Justus? of Tiberias of the province Galilee, also attempted to write a History ofJewish
affairs and certain brief Commentaries on the Scriptures but Josephus convicts him of
falsehood. It is known that he wrote at the same time as Josephus himself.

CHAPTER XV.

Clement, of whom the apostle Paulwriting to the Philippians says "With Clement and others
of my fellow-workers whose names are written in the book of life," the fourth bishop of
Rome after Peter, if indeed the second was Linus and the third Anacletus, although most of
the Latins think that Clement was second after the apostle. He wrote, on the part of the
church of Rome, an especially valuable Letter to the church of the Corinthians, which in
some places is publicly read, and which seems to me to agree in style with the epistle to
the Hebrews which passes under the name of Paul but it differs from this same epistle, not
only in many of its ideas, but also in respect of the order of words, and its likeness in
either respect is not very great. There is also a second Epistle under his name which is
rejected by earlier writers, and a Disputation between Peter and Appion written out at
length, which Eusebius in the third book of his Church history rejects. He died in the
third year of Trajan and a church built at Rome preserves the memory of his name unto this
day.

CHAPTER XVI.

1 Ignatius, third bishop of the church of Antioch after Peter the apostle, condemned to
the wild beasts during the persecution of Trajan, was sent bound to Rome, and when he had
come on his voyage as far as Smyrna, where Polycarp the pupil of John was bishop@ he wrote
one epistle To the Ephesians, another To the Magnesians a third To the Trallians a fourth
To the Romans, and going thence, he wrote To the Philadelphians and To the Smyrneans and
especially To Polycarp, commending to him the church at Antioch. In this last he bore
witness to the Gospel which I have recently translated, in respect of the person of Christ
saying, "I indeed saw him in the flesh after the resurrection and I believe that he is,"
and when he came to Peter and those who were with Peter, he said to them "Behold! touch me
and see me bow that I am not an incorporeal spirit" and straightway they touched him and
believed. Moreover it seems worth while inasmuch as we have made mention of such a man and
of the Epistle which he wrote to the Romans, to give a few "quotations" : "From Syria even
unto Rome I fight with wild beasts, by land and by sea, by night and by day, being bound
amidst ten leopards, that is to say soldiers who guard me and who only become worse when
they are well treated. Their wrong doing, however is my schoolmaster, but I am not thereby
justified.

2 May I have joy of the beasts that are prepared for me; and I pray that I may find them
ready; I will even coax them to devour me quickly that they may not treat me as they have
some whom they have refused to touch through fear. And if they are unwilling, I will
compel them to devour me. Forgive me my children, I know what is expedient for me. Now do
I begin to be a disciple, and desire none of the things visible that I may attain unto
Jesus Christ. Let fire and cross and attacks of wild beasts, let wrenching of bones,
cutting apart of limbs, crushing of the whole body, tortures of the devil,-let all these
come upon me if only I may attain unto the joy which is in Christ." 3 When he had been
condemned to the wild beasts and with zeal for martyrdom heard the lions roaring, he said
"I am the grain of Christ. I am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts that I may be found
the bread of the world." He was put to death the eleventh year of Trajan and the remains
of his body lie in Antioch outside the Daphnitic gate in the cemetery.

CHAPTER XVII.

Polycarp disciple of the apostle John and by him ordained bishop of Smyrna was chief of
all Asia, where he saw and had as teachers some of the apostles and of those who had seen
the Lord. He, on account of certain questions concerning the day of the Passover, went to
Rome in the time of the emperor Antoninus Pins while Anicetus ruled the church in that
city. There he led back to the faith many of the believers who had been deceived through
the persuasion of Marcion and Valentinus, and when. Marcion met him by chance and said "Do
you know us" he replied, "I know the firstborn of the devil." Afterwards during the reign
of Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus in the fourth persecution after Nero, in
the presence of the proconsul holding court at Smyrna and all the people crying out
against him in the Amphitheater, he was burned. He wrote a very valuable Epistle to the
Philippians which is read to the present day in the meetings in Asia.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1 Papias, the pupil of John, bishop of Hierapolis in Asia, wrote only five volumes, which
he entitled Exposition of the words of our Lord, in which, when he had asserted in his
preface that he did not follow various opinions but had the apostles for authority, he
said "I considered what Andrew and Peter said, what Philip, what Thomas, what James, what
John, what Matthew or any one else among the disciples of our Lord, what also Aristion and
the elder John, disciples of the Lord had said, not so much that I have their books to
read, as that their living voice is heard until the present day in the authors
themselves." It appears through this catalogue of names that the John who is placed among
the disciples is not the same as the eider John whom he places after Aristion in his
enumeration. This we say moreover because of the opinion mentioned above, where we record
that it is declared by many that the last two epistles of John are the work not of the
apostle but of the presbyter.

2 He is said to have published a Second coming of Our Lord or Millennium. Irenaeus and
Apollinaris and others who say that after the resurrection the Lord will reign in the
flesh with the saints, follow him. Tertullian also in his work On the hope of the
faithful, Victorinus of Petau and Lactantius follow this view.

CHAPTER XIX.

Quadratus, disciple of the apostles, after Publius bishop of Athens had been crowned with
martyrdom on account of his faith in Christ, was substituted in his place, and by his
faith and industry gathered the church scattered by reason of its great fear. And when
Hadrian passed the winter at Athens to witness the Eleusinian mysteries and was initiated
into almost all the sacred mysteries of Greece, those who hated the Christians took
opportunity without instructions from the Emperor to harass the believers. At this time he
presented to Hadrian a work composed in behalf of our religion, indispensable, full of
sound argument and faith and worthy of the apostolic teaching. In which, illustrating the
antiquity of his period, he says that he has seen many who, oppressed by various ills,
were healed by the Lord in Judea as well as some who had been raised from the dead.

CHAPTER XX.

Aristides a most eloquent Athenian philosopher, and a disciple of Christ while yet
retaining his philosopher's garb, presented a work to Hadrian at the same time that
Quadratus presented his. The work contained a systematic statement of our doctrine, that
is, an Apology for the Christians, which is still extant and is regarded by philologians
as a monument to his genius.

CHAPTER XXI.

Agrippa surnamed Castor, a man of great learning, wrote a strong refutation of the twenty-
four volumes which Basilides the heretic had written against the Gospel, disclosing all
his mysteries and enumerating the prophets Barcabbas and Barchob and all the other
barbarous names which terrify the hearers, and his most high God Abraxas. whose name was
supposed to contain the year according to the reckoning of the Greeks. Basilides died at
Alexandria in the reign of Hadrian, and from him the Gnostic sects arose. In this
tempestuous time also, Cochebas leader of the Jewish faction put Christians to death with
various tortures.

CHAPTER XXII.

Hegesippus who lived at a period not far from the Apostolic age, writing a History of all
ecclesiastical events from the passion of our Lord, down to his own period, and gathering
many things useful to the reader, composed five volumes in simple style, trying to
represent the style of speaking of those whose lives he treated. He says that he went to
Rome in the time of Anicetus, the tenth bishop after Peter, and continued there till the
time of Eleutherius, bishop of the same city, who had been formerly deacon under Anicetus.
Moreover, arguing against idols, he wrote a history, showing from what error they had
first arisen, and this work indicates in what age he flourished. He says, "They built
monuments and temples to their dead as we see up to the present day, such as the one to
Antinous, servant to the Emperor Hadrian, in whose honour also games were celebrated, and
a city founded bearing his name, and a temple with priests established." The Emperor
Hadrian is said to have been enamoured of Antinous.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Justin, a philosopher, and wearing the garb of philosopher, a citizen of Neapolis, a city
of Palestine, and the son of Priscus Bacchius, laboured strenuously in behalf of the
religion of Christ, insomuch that he delivered to Antoninus Pius and his sons and the
senate, a work written Against the nations, and did not shun the ignominy of the cross. He
addressed another book also to the successors of this Antoninus, Marcus Antoninus Verus
and Lucius Aurelius Com-modus. Another volume of his Against the nations, is also extant,
where he discusses the nature of demons, and a fourth against the nations which he
entitled, Refutation and yet another On the sovereignty of God, and another book which be
entitled, Psaltes, and another On the Soul, the Dialogue against the Jews, which he held
against Trypho, the leader of the Jews, and also notable volumes Against Marcion, which
Irenaeus also mentions in the fourth book Against heresies, also another book Against all
heresies which he mentions in the Apology which is addressed to Antoninus Pius. He, when
be had held diatriba/j in the city of Rome, and had convicted Crescens the cynic, who said
many blasphemous things against the Christians, of gluttony and fear of death, and bad
proved him devoted to luxury and lusts, at last, accused of being a Christian, through the
efforts and wiles of Crescens, he shed his blood for Christ.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Melito of Asia, bishop of Sardis, addressed a book to the emperor Marcus Antoninus Verus,
a disciple of Fronto the orator, in behalf of the Christian doctrine. He wrote other
things also, among which are the following: On the passover, two books, one book On the
lives of the prophets, one book On the church, one book On the, Lord's day one book On
faith, one book On the psalms (?) one On the senses, one On the soul and body, one On
baptism, one On truth. one On the generation of Christ, On His prophecy one On hospitality
and another which is called the Key-one On the devil, one On the Apocalypse of John, one
On the corporeality of God, and six books of Eclogues. Of his fine oratorical genius,
Tertullian, in the seven books which he wrote against the church on behalf of Montanus,
satirically says that he was considered a prophet by many of us.

CHAPTER XXV.

Theophilus, sixth bishop of the church of Antioch, in the reign of the emperor Marcus
Antoninus Verus composed a book Against Marcion, which is still extant, also three volumes
To Autolycus and one Against the heresy of Hermogenes and other short and elegant
treatises, well fitted for the edification of the church. I have read, under his name,
commentaries On the Gospel and On the proverbs of Solomon which do not appear to me to
correspond in style and language with the elegance and expressiveness of the above works.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Apollinaris, bishop of Hierapolis in Asia, flourished in the reign of Marcus Antoninus
Verus, to whom he addressed a notable volume in behalf of the faith of the Christians.
There are extant also five other books of his Against the Nations, two On truth and
Against the Cataphrygians written at the time when Montanus was making a beginning with
Prisca and Maximilla.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Dionysius, bishop of the church of Corinth, was of so great eloquence and industry that he
taught not only the people of his own city and province but also those of other provinces
and cities by his letters. Of these one is To the Lacedaemonians, another To the
Athenians, a third To the Nicomedians, a fourth To the Cretans, a fifth To the church at
Amastrina and to the other churches of Pontus, a sixth To the Gnosians and to Pinytus
bishop of the same city, a seventh To the Romans, addressed to Sorer their bishop, an
eighth To Chrysophora a holy woman. He flourished in the reign of Marcus Antoninus Verus
and Lucius Aurelius Commodus.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Pinytus of Crete, bishop of the city of Gnosus, wrote to Dionysius bishop of the
Corinthians, an exceedingly elegant letter in which he teaches that the people are not to
be forever fed on milk, lest by chance they be overtaken by the last day while yet
infants, but that they ought to be fed also on solid food, that they may go on to a
spiritual old age. He flourished under Marcus Antoninus Verus and Lucius Aurelius
Commodus.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Tatian who, while teaching oratory, won not a little glory in the rhetorical art, was a
follower of Justin Martyr and was distinguished so long as he did not leave his master's
side. But afterwards, inflated by a swelling of eloquence, he rounded a new heresy which
is called that of the Encratites, the heresy which Severus afterwards augmented in such
wise that heretics of this party are called Severians to the present day. Tatian wrote
besides innumerable volumes, one of which, a most successful book Against the nations, is
extant, and this is considered the most significant of all his works. He flourished in the
reign of Marcus Antoninus Verus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus.

CHAPTER XXX.

Philip bishop of Crete, that is of the city of Gortina, whom Dionysius mentions in the
epistle which he wrote to the church of the same city, published a remarkable book Against
Marcion and flourished in the time of Marcus Antoninus Verus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Musanus, not inconsiderable among those who have written on ecclesiastical doctrine, in
the reign of Marcus Antoninus Verus wrote a book to certain brethren who had turned aside
from the church to the heresy of the Encratites.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Modes also in the reign of Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus wrote a book
Against Marcion which is still extant. Some other compositions pass under his name but are
regarded by scholars as spurious.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Bardesanes of Mesopotamia is reckoned among the distinguished men. He was at first a
follower of Valentinus and afterwards his opponent and himself founded a new heresy. He
has the reputation among the Syrians of having been a brilliant genius and vehement in
argument. He wrote a multitude of works against almost all heresies which had come into
existence in his time. Among these a most remarkable and strong work is the one which he
addressed to Marcus Antoninus On fate, and many other volumes On persecution which his
followers translated from the Syriac language into Greek. If indeed so much force and
brilliancy appears in the translation, how great it must have been in the original.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Victor, thirteenth bishop of Rome, wrote, On the Paschal Controversy and some other small
works. He ruled the church for ten years in the reign of the Emperor Severus.

CHAPTER XXXV.

Irenaeus, a presbyter trader Pothinus the bishop who ruled the church of Lyons in Gaul,
being sent to Rome as legate by the martyrs of Ibis place, on account of certain
ecclesiastical questions, presented to Bishop Eleutherius certain letters under his own
name which are worthy of honour. Afterwards when Pothinus, nearly ninety years of age,
received the crown of martyrdom for Christ, he was put in his place. It is certain too
that he was a disciple of Poly-carp, the priest and martyr, whom we mentioned above. He
wrote five books Against heresies and a short volume, Against the nations and another On
discipline, a letter to Marcianus his brother On apostolical preaching, a book of Various
treatises; also to Blastus, On schism, to Florinus On monarchy or That God is not the
author of evil, also an excellent Commentary on the Ogdoad at the end of which indicating
that he was near the apostolic period he wrote "I adjure thee whosoever shall transcribe
this book, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by his glorious advent at which He shall judge the
quick and the dead, that you diligently compare, after you have transcribed, and amend it
according to the copy from which you have transcribed it and also that you shall similarly
transcribe this adjuration as you find it in your pattern." Other works of his are in
circulation to wit: to Victor the Roman bishop On the Paschal controversy in which he
warns him not lightly to break the unity of the fraternity, if indeed Victor believed that
the many bishops of Asia and the East, who with the Jews celebrated the passover, on the
fourteenth day of the new moon, were to be condemned. But even those who differed from
them did not support Victor in his opinion. He flourished chiefly in the reign of the
Emperor Commodus, who succeeded Marcus Antoninus Verus in power.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Pantaenus, a philosopher of the stoic school, according to some old Alexandrian custom,
where, from the time of Mark the evangelist the ecclesiastics were always doctors, was of
so great prudence and erudition both in scripture and secular literature that, on the
request of the legates of that nation, he was sent to India by Demetrius bishop of
Alexandria, where he found that Bartholomew, one of the twelve apostles, had preached the
advent of the Lord Jesus according to the gospel of Matthew, and on his return to
Alexandria he brought this with him written in Hebrew characters. Many of his commentaries
on Holy Scripture are indeed extant, but his living voice was of still greater benefit to
the churches. He taught in the reigns of the emperor Severus and Antoninus surnamed
Caracalla.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Rhodo, a native of Asia, instructed in the Scriptures at Rome by Tatian whom we mentioned
above, published many things especially a work Against Marcion in which he tells how the
Marcionites differ from one another as well as from the church and says that the aged
Apelles, another heretic, was once engaged in a discussion with him, and that he, Rhodo,
held Apelles up to ridicule because he declared that he did not know the God whom he
worshipped. He mentioned in the same book, which he wrote to Callistion, that he had been
a pupil of Tatian at Rome. He also composed elegant treatises On the six days of creation
and a notable work against the Phrygians. He flourished in the reigns of Commodus and
Severus.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Clemens, presbyter of the Alexandrian church, and a pupil of the Pantaenus mentioned
above, led the theological school at Alexandria after the death of his master and was
teacher of the Catechetes. He is the author of notable volumes, full of eloquence and
learning, both in sacred Scriptureand in secular literature; among these are the Stromata,
eight books, Hypotyposes eight books, Against the nations one book, On pedagogy three
books, On the Passover, Disquisition on fasting and another book entitled, What rich mast
is saved? one book On Calumny, On ecclesiastical canons and against those who follow the
error of the Jews one book which he addressed to Alexander bishop of Jerusalem. He also
mentions in his volumes of Stromata the work of Tatian Against the nations which we
mentioned above and a Chronography of one Cassianus, a work which I have not been able to
find. He also mentioned certain Jewish writers against the nations, one Aristobulus and
Demetrius and Eupolemus who after the example of Josephus asserted the primacy of Moses
and the Jewish people. There is a letter of Alexander the bishop of Jerusalem who
afterwards ruled the church with Narcissus, on the ordination of Asclepiades the
confessor, addressed to the Antiochians congratulating them, at the end of which he says
"these writings honoured brethren I have sent to you by the blessed presbyter Clement, a
man illustrious and approved, whom you also know and with whom now you will become better
acquainted a man who, when he had come hither by the special providence of God.
strengthened and enlarged the church of God." Origen is known to have been his disciple.
He flourished moreover during the reigns of Severus and his son Antoninus.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Miltiades of whom Rhodo gives an account in the work which he wrote against Montanus,
Prisca and Maximilla, wrote a considerable volume against these same persons, and other
books Against the nations and the Jews and addressed an Apology to the then ruling
emperors. He flourished in the reign of Marcus Antoninus and Commodus.

CHAPTER XL.

Apollonius, an exceedingly talented man, wrote against Montanus, Prisca and Maximilla a
notable and lengthy volume, in which he asserts that Montanus and his mad prophetesses
died by hanging, and many other things, among which are the following concerning Prisca
and Maximilla, "if they denied that they have accepted gifts, let them confess that those
who do accept are not prophets and I will prove by a thousand witnesses that they have
received gifts, for it is by other fruits that prophets are shown to be prophets indeed.
Tell me, does a prophet dye his hair? Does a prophet stain her eyelids with antimony? Is a
prophet adorned with fine garments and precious stones? Does a prophet play with dice and
tables? Does he accept usury? Let them respond whether this ought to be permitted or not,
it will be my task to prove that they do these things." He says in the same book, that the
time when he wrote the work was the fortieth year after the beginning of the heresy of the
Cataphrygians. Tertullian added to the six volumes which he wrote On ecstasy against the
church a seventh, directed especially against Apollonius, in which he attempts to defend
all which Apollonius refuted. Apollonius flourished in the reigns of Commodus and Severus.

CHAPTER XLI.

Serapion, ordained bishop of Antioch in the eleventh year of the emperor Commodus, wrote a
letter to Caricus and Pontius on the heresy of Montanus, in which he said "that you may
know moreover that the madness of this false doctrine, that is the doctrine of a new
prophecy, is reprobated by all the world, I have sent to you the letters of the most holy
Apollinaris bishop of Hierapolis in Asia." He wrote a volume also to Domnus, who in time
of persecution went over to the Jews, and another work on the gospel which passes under
the name of Peter, a work to the church of the Rhosenses in Cilicia who by the reading of
this book had turned aside to heresy. There are here and there short letters of his,
harmonious in character with the ascetic life of their author.

CHAPTER XLII.

Apollonius, a Roman senator under the emperor Commodus, having been denounced by a slave
as a Christian, gained permission to give a reason for his faith and wrote a remarkable
volume which he read in the senate, yet none the less, by the will of the senate, he was
beheaded for Christ by virtue of an ancient law among them, that Christians who had once
been brought before their judgment seat should not be dismissed unless they recanted.

CHAPTER XLIII.

Theophilus, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, the city formerly called Turris Stratonis, in
the reign of the emperor Severus wrote, in conjunction with other bishops, a synodical
letter of great utility against those who celebrated the passover with the Jews on the
fourteenth day of the month.

CHAPTER XLIV.

Bacchylus, bishop of Corinth, was held in renown under the same emperor Severus, and
wrote, as representative of all the bishops who were in Achaia, an elegant work On the
passover.

CHAPTER XLV.

1 Polycrates bishop of the Ephesians with other bishops of Asia who in accordance with
some ancient custom celebrated the passover with the Jews on the fourteenth of the month,
wrote a synodical letter against Victor bishop of Rome in which he says that he follows
the authority of the apostle John and of the ancients. From this we make the following
brief quotations, "We therefore celebrate the day according to usage, inviolably, neither
adding anything to nor taking anything from it, for in Asia lie the remains of the
greatest saints of those who shall rise again on the day of the Lord, when he shall come
in majesty from heaven and shall quicken all the saints, I mean Philip one of the twelve
apostles who sleeps at Hierapolis and his two daughters who were virgins until their death
and another daughter of his who died at Ephesus full of the Holy Spirit. And John too, who
lay on Our Lord's breast and was his high priest carrying the golden frontlet on his
forehead, both martyr and doctor, fell asleep at Ephesus and Polycarp bishop and martyr
died at Smyrna. Thraseas of Eumenia also, bishop and martyr, rests in the same Smyrna.
What need is there of mentioning Sagaris, bishop and martyr, who sleeps in Laodicea and
the blessed Papyrus and Melito, eunuch in the Holy Spirit, who, ever serving the Lord, was
laid to rest in Sardis and there awaits his resurrection at Christ's advent.

2 These all observed the day of the passover on the fourteenth of the month, in nowise
departing from the evangelical tradition and following the ecclesiastical canon. I also,
Polycrates, the least of all your servants, according to the doctrine of my relatives
which I also have followed (for there were seven of my relatives bishops indeed and I the
eighth) have always celebrated the passover when the Jewish people celebrated the putting
away of the leaven. And so brethren being sixty-five years old in the Lord and instructed
by many brethren from all parts of the world, and having searched all the Scriptures, I
will not fear those who threaten us, for my predecessors said "It is fitting to obey God
rather than men. I quote this to show through a small example the genius and authority of
the man. He flourished in the reign of the emperor Severus in the same period as Narcissus
of Jerusalem.

CHAPTER XLVI.

Heraclitus in the reign of Commodus and Severus wrote commentaries on the Acts and
Epistles.

CHAPTER XLVII.

Maximus, under the same emperors pro-pounded in a remarkable volume the famous questions,
What is the origin of evil? and Whether matter is made by God.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Candidus under the above mentioned emperors published most admirable treatises On the six
days of creation.

CHAPTER XLIX.

Appion under the emperor Severus likewise wrote treatises On the six days of creation.

CHAPTER L.

Sextus in the reign of the emperor Severus wrote a book On the resurrection.

CHAPTER LI.

Arabianus under the same emperor published certain small works relating to christian
doctrine.

CHAPTER LII.

Judas, discussed at length the seventy weeks mentioned in Daniel and wrote a Chronography
of former times which he brought up to the tenth year of Severus. He is convicted of error
in respect of this work in that he prophesied that the advent of Anti-Christ would be
about his period, but this was because the greatness of the persecutions seemed to
forebode the end of the world.

CHAPTER LIII.

1 Tertullian the presbyter, now regarded as chief of the Latin writers after Victor and
Apollonius, was from the city of Carthage in the province of Africa, and was the son of a
proconsul or Centurion, a man of keen and vigorous character, he flourished chiefly in the
reign of the emperor Severus and Antoninus Caracalla and wrote many volumes which we pass
by because they are well known to most. I myself have seen a certain Paul an old man of
Concordia, a town of Italy, who, while he himself was a very young man had been secretary
to the blessed Cyprian who was already advanced in age. He said that he himself had seen
how Cyprian was accustomed never to pass a day without reading Tertullian, and that be
frequently said to him, "Give me the master," meaning by this, Tertullian. He was
presbyter of the church until middle life, afterwards driven by the envy and abuse of the
clergy of the Roman church, he lapsed to the doctrine of Montanus, and mentions the new
prophecy in many of his books.

2 He composed, moreover, directly against the church, volumes: On modesty, On persecution,
On fasts, On monogamy, six books On ecstasy, and a seventh which he wrote Against
Apollonius. He is said to have lived to a decrepit old age, and to have composed many
small works, which are not extant.

CHAPTER LIV.

1 Origen, surnamed Adamantius, a persecution having been raised against the Christians in
the tenth year of Severus Pertinax, and his father Leonidas having received the crown of
martyrdom for Christ, was left at the age of about seventeen, with his six brothers and
widowed mother, in poverty, for their property had been confiscated because of confessing
Christ. When only eighteen years old, he undertook the work of instructing the Catechetes
in the scattered churches of Alexandria. Afterwards appointed by Demetrius. bishop of this
city. successor to the presbyter Clement, he flourished many years. When he had already
reached middle life, on account of the churches of Achaia, which were torn with many
heresies, he was journeying to Athens, by way of Palestine, under the authority of an
ecclesiastical letter, and having been ordained presbyter by Theoctistus and Alexander,
bishops of Caesarea and Jerusalem, he offended Demetrius, who was so wildly enraged at him
that he wrote everywhere to injure his reputation. It is known that before he went to
Caesarea, he had been at Rome, trader bishop Zephyrinus. Immediately on his return to
Alexandria he made Heraclas the presbyter, who continued to wear his philosopher's garb,
his assistant in the school for catechetes. Heraclas became bishop of the church of
Alexandria, after Demetrius. How great the glory of Origen was, appears from the fact that
Firmilianus, bishop of Caesarea, with all the Cappadocian bishops, sought a visit from
him, and entertained him for a long while.

2 Sometime afterwards, going to Palestine to visit the holy places, he came to Caesarea
and was instructed at length by Origen in the Holy Scriptures. It appears also from the
fact that he went to Antioch, on the request of Mammaea, mother of the Emperor Alexander,
and a woman religiously disposed, and was there held in great honour, and sent letters to
the Emperor Philip, who was the first among the Roman rulers, to become a christian, and
to his mother, letters which are still extant. Who is there, who does not also know that
he was so assiduous in the study of Holy Scriptures, that contrary to the spirit of his
time, and of his people, he learned the Hebrew language, and taking the Septuagint
translation, he gathered the other translations also in a single work, namely, that of
Aquila, of Ponticus the Proselyte, and Theodotian the Ebonite, and Symmachus an adherent
of the same sect who wrote commentaries also on the gospel according to Matthew, from
which he tried to establish his doctrine. And besides these, a fifth, sixth, and seventh
translation, which we also have from his library, he sought out with great diligence, and
compared with other editions.

3 And since I have given a list of his works, in the volumes of letters which I have
written to Paula, in a letter which I wrote against the works of Varro, I pass this by
now, not failing however, to make mention of his immortal genius, how that he understood
dialectics, as well as geometry, arithmetic, music, grammar, and rhetoric, and taught all
the schools of philosophers, in such wise that he had also diligent students in secular
literature, and lectured to them daily, and the crowds which flocked to him were
marvellous. These, he received in the hope that through the instrumentality of this
secular literature, he might establish them in the faith of Christ. 4 It is unnecessary to
speak of the cruelty of that persecution which was raised against the Christians and under
Decius, who was mad against the religion of Philip, whom he had slain,-the persecution in
which Fabianus, bishop of the Roman church, perished at Rome, and Alexander and Babylas,
Pontifs of the churches of Jerusalem and Antioch, were imprisoned for their confession of
Christ. If any one wishes to know what was done in regard to the position of Origen, he
can clearly learn, first indeed from his own epistles, which after the persecution, were
sent to different ones, and secondly, from the sixth book of the church history of
Eusebius of Caesarea, and from his six volumes in behalf of the same Origen. He lived
until the time of Gallus and Volusianus, that is, until his sixty-ninth year, and died at
Tyre, in which city he also was buried.

CHAPTER LV.

Ammonius, a talented man of great philosophical learning, was distinguished at Alexandria,
at the same time. Among many and distinguished monuments of his genius, is the elaborate
work which he composed On the harmony of Moses and Jesus, and the Gospel canons, which he
worked out, and which Eusebius of Caesarea, afterwards followed. Porphyry falsely accused
him of having become a heathen again, after being a Christian, but it is certain that he
continued a Christian until the very end of his life.

CHAPTER LVI.

Ambrosius, at first a Marcionite but afterwards set right by Origen, was deacon in the
church, and gloriously distinguished as confessor of the Lord. To him, together with
Protoctetus the presbyter, the book of Origen, On martyrdom was written. Aided by his
industry, funds, and perseverance, Origen dictated a great number of volumes. He himself,
as befits a man of noble nature, was of no mean literary talent, as his letters to Origen
indicate. He died moreover, before the death of Origen, and is condemned by many, in that
being a man of wealth, he did not at death, remember in his will, his old and needy
friend.

CHAPTER LVII.

Trypho, pupil of Origen, to whom some of his extant letters are addressed, was very
learned in the Scriptures, and this many of his works show here and there, but especially
the book which he composed On the red heifer in Deuteronomy, and On the halves, which with
the pigeon and the turtledoves were offered by Abraham as recorded in Genesis.

CHAPTER LVIII.

Minucius Felix, a distinguished advocate of Rome, wrote a dialogue representing a
discussion between a Christian and a Gentile, which is entitled Octavius, and still an-
other work passes current in his name, On fate, or Against the mathematicians, but this
although it is the work of a talented man, does not seem to me to correspond in style with
the above mentioned work. Lactantius also mentions this Minucius in his works.

CHAPTER LIX.

Gaius, bishop of Rome, in the time of Zephyrinus, that is, in the reign of Antoninus, the
son of Severus, delivered a very notable disputation Against Proculus, the follower of
Montanus, convicting him of temerity in his defence of the new prophecy, and in the same
volume also enumerating only thirteen epistles of Paul, says that the fourteenth, which is
now called, To the Hebrews, is not by him, and is not considered among the Romans to the
present day as being by the apostle Paul.

CHAPTER LX.

Beryllus, bishop of Bostra in Arabia, after he had ruled the church gloriously for a
little while, finally lapsed into the heresy which denies that Christ existed before the
incarnation. Set right by Origen, he wrote various short works, especially letters, in
which he thanks Origen. The letters of Origen to him, are also extant, and a dialogue
between Origen and Beryllus as well, in which heresies are discussed. He was distinguished
during the reign of Alexander, son of Mammaea, and Maximinus and Gordianus, who succeeded
him in power.

CHAPTER LXI.

Hippolytus, bishop of some church (the name of the city I have not been able to learn)
wrote A reckoning of the Paschal feast and chronological tables which be worked out up to
the first year of the Emperor Alexander. He also discussed the cycle of sixteen years,
which the Greeks called e0kkaidekaethri/da and gave the cue to Eusebius, who composed on
the same Paschal feast a cycle of nineteen years, that is e0nneakaidekaethri/da. He wrote
Some commentaries on the Scriptures, among which are the following: On the six days of
creation, On Exodus, On the Song of Songs, On Genesis, On Zechariah, On the Psalms, On
Isaiah, On Daniel, On the Apocalypse, On the Proverbs, On Ecclesiastes, On Saul, On the
Pythonissa, On the Antichrist, On the resurrection, Against Marcion, On the Passover,
Against all heresies, and an exhortation On the praise of our Lord and Saviour. in which
he indicates that he is speaking in the church in the presence of Origen. Ambrosius, who
we have said was converted by Origen from the heresy of Marcion, to the true faith. urged
Origen to write, in emulation of Hyppolytus, commentaries on the Scriptures, offering him
seven, and even more secretaries, and their expenses, and an equal number of copyists, and
what is still more, with incredible zeal. daily exacting work from him, on which account
Origen, in one of his epistles, calls him his "Taskmaster."

CHAPTER LXII.

Alexander, bishop of Cappadocia, desiring to visit the Holy Land, came to Jerusalem, at
the time when Narcissus, bishop of this city, already an old man, ruled the church. It was
revealed to Narcissus and many of his clergy, that on the morning of the next day, a
bishop would enter the city, who should be assistant on the sacerdotal throne. And so it
came to pass, as it was predicted, and all the bishops of Palestine being gathered
together, Narcissus himself being especially urgent, Alexander took with him the helm of
the church of Jerusalem. At the end of one of his epistles, written to the Antinoites On
the peace of the church. He says "Narcissus, who held the bishopric here before me, and
now with me exercises his office by his prayers, being about a hundred and sixteen years
old, salutes you, and with me begs you to become of one mind." He wrote another also To
the Antiocheans, by the hand of Clement, the presbyter of Alexandria, of whom we spoke
above, another also To Origen, and In behalf of Origen against Demetrius, called forth by
the fact that, according to the testimony of Demetrius, he had made Origen presbyter.
There are other epistles of his to different persons. In the seventh persecution under
Decius, at the time when Babylas of Antioch was put to death, brought to Caesarea and shut
up in prison, he received the crown of martyrdom for confessing Christ.

CHAPTER LXIII.

Julius Africanus, whose five volumes On Chronology, are yet extant, in the reign of Marcus
Aurelius Antoninus, who succeeded Macrinus, received a commission to restore the city of
Emmaus, which afterwards was called Nicopolis. There is an epistle of his to Origen, On
the question of Susanna, where it is contended that this story is not contained in the
Hebrew, and is not consistent with the Hebrew etymology in respect of the play on "prinos
and prisai," "schinos and schisai." In reply to this, Origen wrote a learned epistle.
There is extant another letter of his, To Aristides, in which he discusses at length the
discrepancies, which appear in the genealogy of our Saviour, as recorded by Matthew and
Luke.

CHAPTER LXIV.

Geminus, presbyter of the church at Antioch, composed a few monuments of his genius,
flourishing in the time of the Emperor Alexander and Zebennus, bishop of his city,
especially at the time at which Heraclas was ordained Pontiff of the church at Alexandria.

CHAPTER LXV.

Theodorus, afterwards called Gregory, bishop of Neocaesarea in Pontus, while yet a very
young man, in company with his brother Athenodorus, went from Cappadocia to Berytus, and
thence to Caesarea in Palestine, to study Greek and Latin literature. When Origen had seen
the remarkable natural ability of these men, he urged them to study philosophy, in the
teaching of which he gradually introduced the matter of faith in Christ, and made them
also his followers. So, instructed by him for five years, they were sent back by him to
their mother. Theodorus, on his departure, wrote a panegyric of thanks to Origen, and
delivered it before a large assembly. Origen himself being present. This panegyric is
extant at the present day. He wrote also a short, but very valuable, paraphrase On
Ecclesiastes, and current report speaks or other epistles of his, but more especially of
the signs and wonders. which as bishop, he performed to the great glory of the churches.

CHAPTER LXVI.

Cornelius, bishop of Rome, to whom eight letters of Cyprian are extant, wrote a letter to
Fabius, bishop of the church at Antioch, On the Roman, Italian, and African councils, and
another On Novatian and those who had fallen from the faith, a third On the acts of the
council, and a fourth very prolix one to the same Fabius, containing the causes of the
Novatian heresy and an anathema of it. He ruled the church for two years under Gallus and
Volusianus. He received the crown of martyrdom for Christ, and was succeeded by Lucius.

CHAPTER LXVII.

Cyprian of Africa, at first was famous as a teacher of rhetoric, and afterwards on, the
persuasion of the presbyter Caecilius, from whom he received his surname, he became a
Christian, and gave all his substance to the poor. Not long after he was inducted into the
presbytery, and was also made bishop of Carthage. It is unnecessary to make a catalogue of
the works of his genius, since they are more conspicuous than the sun. He was put to death
under the Emperors Valerian and Gallienus, in the eighth persecution, on the same day that
Cornelius was put to death at Rome, but not in the same year.

CHAPTER LXVIII.

Pontius, deacon of Cyprian, sharing his exile until the day of his death, left a notable
volume On the life and death of Cyprian.

CHAPTER LXIX.

1 Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, as presbyter had charge of the catechetical school
under Heraclas, and was the most distinguished pupil of Origen. Consenting to the doctrine
of Cyprian and the African synod, on the rebaptizing of heretics, he sent many letters to
different people, which are yet extant; He wrote one to Fabius, bishop of the church at
Antioch, On penitence, another To the Romans, by the hand of Hippolytus, two letters To
Xystus, who had succeeded Stephen, two also To Philemon and Dionysius, presbyters of the
church at Rome, and another To the same Dionysius, afterwards bishop of Rome; and To
Novatian, treating of their claim that Novatian had been ordained bishop of Rome, against
his will. The beginning of this epistle is as follows: "Dionysius to Novatian, his brother
greeting. If you have been ordained unwillingly, as you say, you will prove it, when yon
shall willingly retire."

2 There is another epistle of his also To Dionysius and Didymus, and many Festal epistles
on the passover, written in a declamatory style, also one to the church of Alexandria On
exile, one To Hierax, bishop in Egypt, and vet others On mortality, On the Sabbath, and On
the gymnasium, also one To Hermammon and others On the persecution of Decius, and two
books Against Nepos the bishop, who asserted in his writings a thousand years reign in the
body. Among other things he diligently discussed the Apocalypse of John, and wrote Against
Sabellius and To Ammon, bishop of Bernice, and To Telesphorus, also To Euphranor, also
four books To Dionysius, bishop of Rome, to the Laodiceans On penitence, to Origen On
martyrdom, to the Armenians On penitence, also On the order of transgression, to Timothy
On nature, to Euphranor On temptation, many letters also To Basilides, in one of which he
asserts that he also began to write commentaries on Ecclesiastes. The notable epistle
which he wrote against Paul of Samosta, a few days before his death is also current. He
died in the twelfth year of Gallienus.

CHAPTER LXX.

Novatianus, presbyter of Rome, attempted to usurp the sacerdotal chair occupied by
Cornelius, and established the dogma of the Novatians, or as they are called in Greek, the
Cathari, by refusing to receive penitent apostates. Novatus, author of this doctrine, was
a presbyter of Cyprian. He wrote, On the passover, On the Sabbath, On circumcision, On the
priesthood, On prayer, On the food of the Jews On zeal, On Attalus, and many others,
especially, a great volume On the Trinity, a sort of epitome of the work of Tertullian,
which many mistakenly ascribe to Cyprian.

CHAPTER LXXI.

Malchion, the highly gifted presbyter of the church at Antioch, who had most successfully
taught rhetoric in the same city, held a discussion with Paul of Samosata, who as bishop
of the church at Antioch, had introduced the doctrine of Artemon, and this was taken down
by short hand writers. This dialogue is still extant, and vet another extended epistle
written by him, in behalf of the council, is addressed to Dionysius and Maximus, bishops
of Rome and Alexandria. He flourished under Claudius and Aurelianus.

CHAPTER LXXII.

Archelaus, bishop of Mesopotamia, composed in the Syriac language, a book of the
discussion which he held with Manichaeus, when he came from Persia. This book, which is
translated into Greek, is possessed by many. He flourished under the Emperor Probus, who
succeeded Aurelianus and Tacitus.

CHAPTER LXXILI.

Anatolius of Alexandria, bishop of Laodicea in Syria, who flourished under theemperors
Probus and Carus, was a man ofwonderful learning in arithmetic, geometry,astronomy,
grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic. We can get an idea of the greatness of his genius from
the volume which he wrote On the passover and his ten books On the institutes of
arithmetic.

CHAPTER LXXIV.

Victorinus, bishop of Pettau, was not equally familiar with Latin and Greek. On this
account his works though noble in thought, are inferior in style. They are the following:
Commentaries On Genesis, On Exodus, On Leviticus, On Isaiah, On Ezekiel. On Habakkuk, On
Ecclesiastes, On the Song of Songs, On the Apocalypse of John, Against all heresies and
many others. At the last he received the crown of martyrdom.

CHAPTER LXXV.

Pamphilus the presbyter, patron of Eusebius bishop of Caesarea, was so inflamed with love
of sacred literature, that he transcribed tim greater part of the works of Origen with his
own hand and these are still preserved in the library at Caesarea. I have twenty-five
volumes of Commentaries of Origen, written in his hand, On the twelve prophets which I hug
and guard with such joy, that I deem myself to have the wealth of Croesus. And if it is
such joy to have one epistle of a martyr how much more to have so many thousand lines
which seem to me to be traced in his blood. He wrote an Apology for Origen before Eusebius
had written his and was put to death at Caesarea in Palestine in the persecution of
Maximinus.

CHAPTER LXXVI.

Pierius, presbyter of the church at Alexandria in the reign of Carus and Diocletian, at
the time when Theonas ruled as bishop in tim same church, taught the people with great
success and attained such elegance of language and published so many treatises on all
sorts of subjects (which are still extant) that he was called Origen Junior. He was
remarkable for his self-discipline, devoted to voluntary poverty, and thoroughly
acquainted with the dialectic art. After the persecution, he passed the rest of his life
at Rome. There is extant a long treatise of his. On the prophet Hosea which from internal
evidence appears to have been delivered on the vigil of Passover.

CHAPTER LXXVII.

Lucianus, a man of great talent, presbyter of the church at Antioch, was so diligent in
the study of the Scriptures, that even now certain copies of the Scriptures bear the name
of Lucian. Works of his, On faith, and short Epistles to various people are extant. He was
put to death at Nicomedia for his confession of Christ in the persecution of Maximinus,
and was buried at Helenopolis in Bithynia.

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

Phileas a resident of that Egyptian city which is called Thmuis, of noble family, and no
small wealth, having become bishop, composed a finely written work in praise of martyrs
and arguing against the judge who tried to compel him to offer sacrifices, was beheaded
for Christ during the same persecution in which Lucianus was put to death at Nicomedia.

CHAPTER LXXIX.

Arnobius a was a most successful teacher of rhetoric at Sicca in Africa during the reign
of Diocletian, and wrote volumes Against the nations which may be found everywhere.

CHAPTER LXXX.

Firmianus, known also as Lactantius, a disciple of Arnobius, during the reign of
Diocletian summoned to Nicomedia with Flavius the Grammarian whose poem On medicine is
still extant, taught rhetoric there and on account of his lack of pupils (since it was a
Greek city) he betook himself to writing. We have a Banquet of his which he wrote as a
young man in Africa and an Itinerary of a journey from Africa to Nicomedia written in
hexameters, and another book which is called The Grammarian and a most beautiful one On
the wrath of God, and Divine institutes against the nations, seven books, and an Epitome
of the same work in one volume, without a title, also two books To Asclepiades, one book
On persecution, four books of Epistles to Probus, two books of Epistles to Severus, two
books of Epistles to his pupil Demetrius and one book to the same On the work of God or
the creation of man. In his extreme old age he was tutor to Crispus Caesar a son of
Constantine in Gaul, the same one who was afterwards put to death by his father.

CHAPTER LXXXI.

Eusebius bishop of Caesarea in Palestine was diligent in the study of Divine Scriptures
and with Pamphilus the martyr a most diligent investigator of the Holy Bible. He published
a great number of volumes among which are the following: Demonstrations of the Gospel
twenty books Preparations for the Gospel fifteen books, Theophany five books, Church
history ten books, Chronicle of Universal history and an Epitome of this last. Also On
discrepancies between the Gospels, On Isaiah, ten books, also Against Porphyry, who was
writing at that same time in Sicily as some think, twenty-five books, also one book of
Topics, six books of Apology for Origen, three books On the life of Pamphilus, other brief
works On the martyrs, exceedingly learned Commentaries on one hundred and fifty Psalms,
and many others. He flourished chiefly in the reigns of Constantine the Great and
Constantius. His surname Pamphilus arose from his friendship for Pamphilus the martyr.

CHAPTER LXXXII.

Reticius bishop of Autun, among the Aedui, had a great reputation in Gaul in the reign of
Constantine. I have read his commentaries On the Song of Songs and another great volume
Against Novatian but besides these, I have found no works of his.

CHAPTER LXXXIII.

Methodius, bishop of Olympus in Lycia and afterwards of Tyre, composed books Against
Porphyry written in polished and logical style also a Banquet of the ten virgins, an
excellent work On the resurrection, against Origen and On the Pythonissa and On free will,
also against Origen. He also wrote commentaries On Genesis and On the Song of Songs and
many others which are widely read. At the end of the recent persecution or, as others
affirm, in the reign of Decius and Valerianus, he was crowned with martyrdom at Chalcis in
Greece.

CHAPTER LXXXIV.

Juvencus, a Spaniard of noble family and presbyter, translating the four gospels almost
verbally in hexameter verses, composed four books. He wrote some other things in the same
metre relating to the order of the sacraments. He flourished in the reign of Constantinus.

CHAPTER LXXXV.

Eustathius, a Pamphilian from Side, bishop first of Beroea in Syria and then of Antioch,
ruled the church and, composing many things against the doctrine of the Arians, was driven
into exile under the emperor Constantius into Trajanopolis in Thrace where he is until
this day. Works of his are extant On the soul, On ventriloquism Against Origen and Letters
too numerous to mention.

CHAPTER LXXXVI.

Marcellus, bishop of Ancyra, flourished in the reign of Constantinus and Constantius anti
wrote many volumes of various Propositions and especially against the Arians. Works of
Asterius and Apollinarius against him are current, which accuse him of Sabellianism.
Hilary too, in the seventh book of his work Against the Arians, mentions him as a heretic,
but he defends himself against the charge through the fact that Julius and Athanasius
bishops of Rome and Alexandria communed with him.

CHAPTER LXXXVII.

Athanasius bishop of Alexandria, hard pressed by the wiles of the Arians, fled to Constans
emperor of Gaul. Returning thence with letters and, after the death of the emperor, again
taking refuge in flight, he kept in hiding until the accession of Jovian, when he returned
to the church and died in the reign of Valens. Various works by him are in circulation;
two book Against the nations one Against Valens and Ursacius, On virginity, very many On
the persecutions of the Arians, also On the titles of the Psalms and Life of Anthony the
monk, also Festal epistles and other works too numerous to mention.

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

Anthony the monk, whose life Athanasius bishop of Alexandria wrote a long work upon, sent
seven letters in Coptic to various monasteries, letters truly apostolic in idea and
language, and which have been translated into Greek. The chief of these is To the
Arsenoites. He flourished during the reign of Constantinus and his sons.

CHAPTER LXXXIX.

Basil bishop of Ancyra, [a doctor of] medicine, wrote a book Against Marcellus and on
virginity and some other things-and in the reign of Constantius was, with Eustathius of
Sebaste, primate of Macedonia.

CHAPTER XC.

Theodorus, bishop of Heraclea in Thrace, published in the reign of the emperor Constantius
commentaries On Matthew and John, On the Epistles and On the Psalter. These are written in
a polished and clear style and show an excellent historical sense.

CHAPTER XCI.

Eusebius of Emesa, who had fine rhetorical talent, composed innumerable works suited to
win popular applause and writing historically he is most diligently read by those who
practise public speaking. Among these the chief are, Against Jews, Gentiles and Novatians
and Homilies on the Gospels, brief but numerous. He flourished in the reign of the emperor
Constantius in whose reign he died, and was buried at Antioch.

CHAPTER XCII.

Triphylius, bishop of Ledra or Leucotheon, in Cyprus, was the most eloquent man of his
age, and was distinguished during the reign of Constantius. I have read his Commentary on
the Song of Songs. He is said to have written many other works, none of which have come to
our hand.

CHAPTER XCIII.

Donatus, from whom the Donatians arose in Africa in the reigns of the emperors
Constantinus and Constantius, asserted that the scriptures were given up to the heathen by
the orthodox during the persecution, and deceived almost all Africa, and especially
Numidia by his persuasiveness. Many of his works, which relate to his heresy, are extant,
including On the Holy Spirit, a work which is Arian in doctrine.

CHAPTER XCIV.

Asterius, a philosopher of the Arian party, wrote, during the reign of Constantius,
commentaries On the Epistle to the Romans, On the Gospels and On the Psalms, also many
other works which are diligently read by those of his party.

CHAPTER XCV.

Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari, was sent by Liberius the bishop, with Pancratius and Hilary,
clergy of the Roman church, to the emperor Constantius, as legates for the faith. When he
would not condemn the Nicene faith as represented by Athanasius, sent again to Palestine,
with wonderful constancy and willingness to meet martyrdom, he wrote a book against the
emperor Constantius and sent it to be read by him, and not long after he returned to
Cagliari in the reign of the emperor Julian and died in the reign of Valentinian.

CHAPTER XCVI.

Eusebius, a native of Sardinia, at first a lector at Rome and afterwards bishop of
Vercelli, sent by the emperor Constantius to Scythopolis, and afterwards to Cappadocia, on
account of his confession of the faith, returned to the church under the emperorJulian and
published the Commentaries of Eusebius of Caesarea on the Psalms, which lie had translated
from Greek into Latin, and died during the reign of Valentian and Valens.

CHAPTER XCVII

Fortunatianus, an African by birth, bishop of Aquilia during the reign of Constantius,
composed brief Commentaries on the gospels arranged by chapters, written in a rustic
style, and is held in detestation because, when Liberius bishop of Rome was driven into
exile for the faith, he was induced by the urgency of Fortunatianus to subscribe to
heresy.

CHAPTER XCVIII.

Acacius, who, because he was blind in one eye, they nicknamed "the one-eyed," bishop of
the church of Caesarea in Palestine, wrote seventeen volumes On Ecclesiastes and six of
Miscellaneous questions, and many treatises besides on various subjects. He was so
influential in the reign of the emperor Constantius that lie made Felix bishop of Rome in
the place of Liberius.

CHAPTER XCIX.

Serapion, bishop of Thmuis, who on account of his cultivated genius was found worthy of
the surname of Scholasticus, was the intimate friend of Anthony the monk, and published an
excellent book Against the Manichaeans, also another On the titles of the Psalms, and
valuable Epistles to different people. In the reign of the emperor Constantius he was
renowned as a confessor.

CHAPTER C.

Hilary, a bishop of Poitiers in Aquitania, was a member of the party of Saturninus bishop
of Arles. Banished into Phrygia by the Synod of Beziers lie composed twelve books Against
the Arians and another book On Councils written to the Gallican bishops, and Commentaries
on the Psalms that is on the first and second, from the fifty-first to the sixty-second,
and from the one hundred and eighteenth to the end of the book. In this work be imitated
Origen, but added also some original matter. There is a little book of his To Constantius
which he presented to the emperor while he was living in Constantinople, and another On
Constantius which he wrote alter his death and a book Against Valens and Ursacius,
containing a history of the Ariminian and Selucian Councils and To Sallust the prefect or
Against Dioscurus, also a book of Hymns and mysteries, a commentary On Matthew and
treatises On Job, which lie translated freely from the Greek of Origen, and another
elegant little work Against Auxentius and Epistles to different persons. They say he has
written On the Song of Songs but this work is not known to us. He died at Poictiers during
the reign of Valentinianus and Valens.

CHAPTER CI.

Victorinus, an African by birth, taught rhetoric at Rome under the emperor Constantius and
in extreme old age, yielding himself to faith in Christ wrote books against Arius, written
in dialectic style and very obscure language, books which can only be understood by the
learned. He also wrote Commentaries on the Epistles.

CHAPTER CII.

Titus bishop of Bostra, in the reign of the emperors Julian and Jovinian wrote vigorous
works against the Manichaeans and some other things. He died under Valens.

CHAPTER CIII.

Damasus, bishop of Rome, had a fine talent for making verses and published many brief
works in heroic metre. He died in the reign of the Emperor Theodosius at the age of almost
eighty.

CHAPTER CIV.

Apollinarus, bishop of Laodicea, in Syria, the son of a presbyter, applied himself in his
youth to the diligent study of grammar, and afterwards, writing innumerable volumes on the
Holy Scriptures, died in the reign of the Emperor Theodosius. There are extant thirty
books by him Against Porphyry, which are generally considered as among the best of his
works.

CHAPTER CV.

Gregory, bishop of Elvira, in Baetica, writing even to extreme old age, composed various
treatises in mediocre language, and an elegant work On Faith. He is said to be still
living.

CHAPTER CVI.

Pacianus, bishop of Barcelona, in the Pyrenees Mountains, a man of chaste eloquence, and
as distinguished by his life as by his speech, wrote various short works, among which are
The Deer, and Against the Novatians, and died in the reign of Emperor Theodosian, in
extreme old age.

CHAPTER CVII.

Photinus, of Gallograecia, a disciple of Marcellus, and ordained bishop of Sirmium,
attempted to introduce the Ebionite heresy, and afterwards having been expelled from the
church by the Emperor Valentinianus, wrote many volumes, among which the most
distinguished are Against the nations, and To Valentinianus.

CHAPTER CVIII.

Phoebadius, bishop of Agen, in Gaul, published a book Against the Arians. There are said
to be other works by him, which I have not yet read. He is still living, infirm with age.

CHAPTER CIX.

Didymus, of Alexandria, becoming blind while very young, and therefore ignorant of the
rudiments of learning, displayed such a miracle of intelligence as to learn perfectly
dialectics and even geometry, sciences which especially require sight. He wrote many
admirable works: Commentaries on all the Psalms, Commentaries on the Gospels of Matthew
and John, On the doctrines, also two books Against the Arians, and one book On the Holy
Spirit, which I translated in Latin, eighteen volumes On Isaiah, three books of
commentaries On Hosea, addressed to me, and five books On Zechariah, written at my
request, also commentaries On Job, and many other things, to give an account of which
would be a work of itself. He is still living, and has already passed his eighty-third
year.

CHAPTER CX.

Optatus the African, bishop of Milevis, during the reign of the Emperors Valentinianus and
Valens, wrote in behalf of the Catholic party six books against the calumny of the
Donatian party, in which he asserts that the crime of the Donatists is falsely charged
upon the catholic party.

CHAPTER CXI.

Acilius Severus of Spain, of the family of that Severus to whom Lactantius' two books of
Epistles are addressed, composed a volume of mingled poetry and prose which is a sort of
guide book to his whole life. This he called Calamity or Trial. He died in the reign of
Valentinianus.

CHAPTER CXII.

Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem often expelled by the church, and at last received, held the
episcopate for eight consecutive years, in the reign of Theodosius. Certain Catachetical
lectures of his, composed while he was a young man, are extant.

CHAPTER CXIII.

Euzoius, as a young man, together with Gregory, bishop of Nazianzan, was educated by
Thespesius the rhetorician at Caesarea, and afterwards when bishop of the same city, with
great pains attempted to restore the library, collected by Origen and Pamphilus, which had
already suffered injury. At last, in the reign of the Emperor Theodosian, he was expelled
from the church. Many and various treatises of his, are in circulation, and one may easily
become acquainted with them.

CHAPTER CXIV.

Epiphanius, bishop of Salamina in Cyprus, wrote books Against all heresies and many others
which are eagerly read by the learned, on account of their subject matter, and also by the
plain people, on account of their language. He is still living, and in his extreme old age
composes various brief works.

CHAPTER CXV.

Ephraim, deacon of the church at Edessa, composed many works in the Syriac language, and
became so distinguished that his writings are repeated publicly in some churches, after
the reading of the Scriptures. I once read in Greek a volume by him On the Holy Spirit,
which some one had translated from the Syriac, and recognized even in translation, the
incisive power of lofty genius. He died in the reign of Valens.

CHAPTER CXVI.

Basil, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, the city formerly called Mazaca, composed
admirable carefully written books Against Eunomius, a volume On the Holy Spirit, and nine
homilies On the six days of creation, also a work On asceticism and short treatises on
various subjects. He died in the reign of Gratianus.

CHAPTER CXVII.

Gregory, bishop of Nazianzen, a most eloquent man, and my instructor in the Scriptures,
composed works, amounting in all to thirty thousand lines, among which are On the death of
his brother Caesarius, On charity, In praise of the Maccabees, In praise of Cyprian. In
praise of Athanasius, In praise of Maximus the philosopher after he had returned from
exile. This latter however, some superscribe with the pseudonym of Herona, since there is
another work by Gregory, upbraiding this same Maximus, as if one might not praise and
upbraid the same person at one thee or another as the occasion may demand. Other works of
his are a book in hexameter, containing, A discussion between virginity and marriage, two
books Against Eunomius, one book On the Holy Spirit, and one Against the Emperor Julian.
He was a follower of Polemon in his style of speaking. Having ordained his successor in
the bishopric, during his own life time, he retired to the country where he lived the life
of a monk and died, three years or more ago, in the reign of Theodosius.

CHAPTER CXVIII.

Lucius, bishop of the Arian party after Athanasius, held the bishopric of the church at
Alexandria, until the thee of the Emperor Theodosius, by whom he was deposed. Certain
festal epistles of his, On the passover are extant, and a few short works of Miscellaneous
propositions.

CHAPTER CXIX.

Diodorus, bishop of Tarsus enjoyed a great reputation while he was still presbyter of
Antioch. Commentaries of his On the epistles are extant, as well as many other works in
the manner of Eusebius the great of Emesa, whose meaning he has followed, but whose
eloquence he could not imitate on account of his ignorance of secular literature.

CHAPTER CXX.

Eunomius, bishop of Cyzicus and member of the Arian party, fell into such open blasphemy
in his heresy, as to proclaim publicly what the others concealed. He is said to be still
living in Cappadocia, and to write much against the church. Replies to him have been made
by Apollinarius, Didymus, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory Nazianzen, and Gregory of Nyssa.

CHAPTER. CXXI.

Priscillianus, bishop of Abila, belonged to the party of Hydatius and Ithacius, and was
put to death at Trèves by the tyrant Maximus. He published many short writings, some of
which have reached us. He is still accused by some, of being tainted with Gnosticism, that
is, with the heresy of Basilides or Mark, of whom Irenaeus writes. while his defenders
maintain that he was not at all of this way of thinking.


LIVES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN
========================

LIVES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN continued

CHAPTER CXXII.

Latronianus, of Spain, a man of great learning, and in the matter of versification worthy
to be compared with the poets of ancient thee, was also put to death at Trèves with
Priscillianus, Felicissimus, Julianus, and Euchrotia, coöriginators with him of schism.
Various fruits of his genius written in different metres are extant.

CHAPTER CXXIII.

Tiberianus, the Baetican, in answer to an insinuation that he shared the heresy of
Priscillian, wrote an apology in pompous and mongrel language. But after the death of his
friends, overcome by the tediousness of exile, he changed his mind, as it is written in
Holy Scripture "the dog returned to his vomit," and married a nun, a virgin dedicated to
Christ.

CHAPTER CXXIV.

Ambrose a bishop of Milan, at the present thee is still writing. I withhold my judgment of
him, because he is still alive, fearing either to praise or blame lest in the one event, I
should be blamed for adulation, and in the other for speaking the truth.

CHAPTER CXXV.

Evagrius, bishop of Antioch, a man of remarkably keen mind, while he was yet presbyter
read me various treatises on various topics, which he had not yet published. He translated
also the Life of the blessed Anthony from the Greek of Athanasius into our language.

CHAPTER CXXVI.

Ambrose of Alexandria, pupil of Didymus, wrote a long work On doctrines against
Apollinaris, and as some one has lately informed me, Commentaries on Job. He is still
living.

CHAPTER CXXVII.

Maximus the philosopher, born at Alexandria, ordained bishop at Constantinople and
deposed, wrote a remarkable work On faith against the Arians and gave it to the Emperor
Gratianus, at Milan.

CHAPTER CXXVIII.

Gregory bishop of Nyssa, the brother of Basil of Caesarea, a few years since read to
Gregory Nazianzan and myself a work against Eunomius. He is said to have also written many
other works, and to be still writing.

CHAPTER CXXIX.

John, presbyter of the church at Antioch, a follower of Eusebius of Emesa and Diodorus, is
said to have composed many books, but of these I have only read his On the priesthood.

CHAPTER CXXX.

Gelasius, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine after Euzoius, is said to write more or less in
carefully polished style, but not to publish his works.

CHAPTER CXXXI.

Theotimus, bishop of Tomi, in Scythia, has published brief and epigrammatical treatises,
in the form of dialogues, and in olden style. I hear that he is now writing other works.

CHAPTER CXXXII.

Dexter, son of Pacianus whom I mentioned above, distinguished in his generation and
devoted to the Christian faith, has, I am told, written a Universal History, which I have
not yet read.

CHAPTER CXXXIII.

Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, recently read to me a book On the Holy Spirit, arguing
that He is God, that He is to be worshipped, and that He is omnipotent.

CHAPTER CXXXIV.

Sophronius, a man of superlative learning, wrote while yet a lad, In praise of Bethlehem
and recently a notable volume, On the overthrow of Serapis, and also to Eustachius, On
virginity, and a Life of Hilarion the monk. He rendered short works of mine into Greek in
a very finished style, the Psalter also, and the Prophets, which I translated from Hebrew
into Latin.

CHAPTER CXXXV.

I, Jerome, son of Eusebius, of the city of Strido, which is on the border of Dalmatia and
Pannonia and was overthrown by the Goths, up to the present year, that is, the fourteenth
of the Emperor Theodosius, have written the following: Life of Paul the monk, one book of
Letters to different persons, an Exhortation to Heliodorus, Controversy of Luciferianus
and Orthodoxus, Chronicle of universal history, 28 homilies of Origen on Jeremiah and
Ezekiel, which I translated from Greek into Latin, i On the Seraphim, On Osanna, On the
prudent and the prodigal sons, On three questions of the ancient law, Homilies on the Song
of Songs two, Against Helvidius, On the perpetual virginity of Mary, To Eustochius, On
maintaining virginity, one book of Epistles to Marcella, a consolatory letter to Paula On
the death of a daughter, three books of Commentaries on the epistle of Paul to the
Galatians, likewise three books of Commentaries on the epistle to the Ephesians, On the
epistle to Titus one book, On the epistle to Philemon one, Commentaries on Ecclesiastes,
one book of Hebrew questions on Genesis, one book On places in Judea, one book of Hebrew
names, Didymus on the Holy Spirit, which ]2 translated into Latin one book, 39 homilies on
luke On Psalms 10 to 16, seven books, On the captive Monk, The Life of the blessed
Hilarion. I translated the New Testament from the Greek, and the Old Testament from the
Hebrew, and how many Letters I have written To Paula and Eustochius I do not know, for I
write daily. I wrote moreover, two books of Explanations on Micah, one book On Nahum, two
books On Habakkuk, one On Zephaniah, one On Haggai, and many others On the prophets, which
are not yet finished, and which I am still at work upon.


THE LIFE OF PAULUS THE FIRST HERMIT
===================================

THE LIFE OF PAULUS THE FIRST HERMIT Jerome

c. AD 347–420

Translator of the Latin Vulgate and prolific biblical scholar.

THE LIFE OF PAULUS THE FIRST HERMIT

The Life of Paulus was written in the year 374 or 375 during Jerome's stay in the desert
of Syria, as is seen from c, 6, and was dedicated to Paulus of Concordia as stated in
Jerome's Ep. x. c. 3. 1. It has been a subject of wide-spread and frequent discussion what
monk was the first togive a signal example of the hermit life. For some going back too far
have found a beginning in those holy men Elias and John, of whom the former seems to have
been more than a monk and the latter to have begun to prophesy before his birth. Others,
and their opinion is that commonly received, maintain that Antony was the originator of
this mode of life, which view is partly true. Partly I say, for the fact is not so much
that he preceded the rest as that they all derived from him the necessary stimulus. But it
is asserted even at the present day by Amathas and Macarius, two of Antony's disciples,
the former of whom laid his master in the grave, that a certain Paul of Thebes was the
leader in the movement, though not the first to bear the name, and this opinion has my
approval also. Some as they think fit circulate stories such as this-that he was a man
living in an underground cave with flowing hair down to his feet, and invent many
incredible tales which it would be useless to detail. Nor does the opinion of men who lie
without any sense of shame seem worthy of refutation. So then inasmuch as both Greek and
Roman writers have handed down careful accounts of Antony, I have determined to write a
short history of Paul's early and latter days, more because the thing has been passed over
than from confidence in my own ability. What his middle life was like, and what snares of
Satan he experienced, no man, it is thought, has yet discovered.

2. During the persecutions of Decius and Valerian, when Cornelius at Rome and Cyprian at
Carthage shed their blood in blessed martyrdom, many churches in Egypt and the Thebaid
were laid waste by the fury of the storm.At that time the Christians would often pray that
they might be smitten with the sword for the name of Christ. But the desire of the crafty
foe was to slay the soul, not the body; and this he did by searching diligently for slow
but deadly tortures. In the words of Cyprian himself who suffered at his hands: they who
wished to die were not suffered to be slain. We give two illustrations, both as specially
noteworthy and to make the cruelty of the enemy better known. 3. A martyr, steadfast in
faith, who stood fast as a conqueror amidst the racks and burning plates, was ordered by
him to be smeared with honey and to be made to lie under a blazing sun with his hands tied
behind his back, so that he who had already surmounted the heat of the frying-pan might be
vanquished by the stings of flies. Another who was in the bloom of youth was taken by his
command to some delightful pleasure gardens, and there amid white lilies and blushing
roses, close by a gently murmuring stream, while overhead the soft whisper of the wind
played among the leaves of the trees, was laid upon a deep luxurious feather-bed, bound
with fetters of sweet garlands to prevent his escape. When all bad withdrawn from him a
harlot of great beauty drew near and began with voluptuous embrace to throw her arms
around his neck, and, wicked even to relate! to handle his person, so that when once the
lusts of the flesh were roused, she might accomplish her licentious purpose. What to do,
and whither to turn, the soldier of Christ knew not. Unconquered by tortures he was being
overcome by pleasure. At last with an inspiration from heaven he bit off the end of
histongue and spat it in her face as she kissed him. Thus the sensations of lust were
subdued by the intense pain which followed.

4. While such enormities were being perpetrated in the lower part of the Thebaid, Paul and
his newly married sister were bereaved of both their parents, he being about sixteen years
of age. He was heir to a rich inheritance, highly skilled in both Greek and Egyptian
learning, gifted with a gentle disposition and a deep love for God. Amid the thunders of
persecution he retired to a house at a considerable distance and in a more secluded spot.
But to what crimes does not the "accursed thirst for gold" impel the human heart? His
brother-in-law conceived the thought of betraying the youth whom he was bound to conceal.
Neither a wife's tears which so often prevail, nor the ties of blood, nor the all-seeing
eye of God above him could turn the traitor from his wickedness. "He came, he was urgent,
he acted with cruelty while seeming only to press the claims of affection."

5. The young man had the tact to understand this, and, conforming his will to the
necessity, fled to the mountain wilds to wait for the end of the persecution. He began
with easy stages, and repeated halts, to advance into the desert. At length he found a
rocky mountain, at the foot of which, closed by a stone, was a cave of no great size. He
removed the stone (so eager are men to learn what is hidden), made eager search, and saw
within a large hall, open to the sky, but shaded by the wide-spread branches of an ancient
palm. The tree, however, did not conceal a fountain of transparent clearness, the waters
whereof no sooner gushed forth than the stream was swallowed up in a small opening of the
same ground which gave it birth. There were besides in the mountain, which was full of
cavities, many habitable places, in which were seen, now rough with rust, anvils and
hammers for stamping money. The place, Egyptian writers relate, was a secret mint at the
time of Antony's union with Cleopatra.

6. Accordingly, regarding his abode as a gift from God, he fell in love with it, and there
in prayer and solitude spent all the rest of his life. The palm afforded him food and
clothing. And, that no one may deem this impossible, I call to witness Jesus and His holy
angels that I have seen and still see in that part of the desert which lies between Syria
and the Saracens country, monks of whom one was shut up for thirty years and lived on
barley bread and muddy water, while another in an old cistern (called in the country
dialect of Syria Gubba) kept himself alive on five dried figs a day. What I relate then is
so strange that it will appear incredible to those who do not believe the words that "all
things are possible to him that believeth." 7. But to return to the point at which I
digressed. The blessed Paul had already lived on earth the life of heaven for a hundred
and thirteen years, and Antony at the age of ninety was dwelling in another place of
solitude (as he himself was wont to declare), when the thought occurred to the latter,
that no monk more perfect than himself had settled in the desert. However, in the
stillness of the night it was revealed to him that there was farther in the desert a much
better man than he, and that he ought to go and visit him. So then at break of day the
venerable old man, supporting and guiding his weak limbs with a staff, started to go: but
what direction to choose he knew not. Scorching noontide came, with a broiling sun
overhead, but still he did not suffer himself to be turned from the journey he had begun.
Said he, "I believe in my God: some time or other He will shew me the fellow-servant whom
He promised me." He said no more. All at once he beholds a creature of mingled shape, half
horse half man, called by the poets Hippocentaur. At the sight of this he arms himself by
making on his forehead the sign of salvation, and then exclaims, "Holloa! Where in these
parts is a servant of God living?" The monster after gnashing out some kind of outlandish
utterance, in words broken rather than spoken through his bristling lips, at length finds
a friendly mode of communication, and extending his right hand points out the way desired.
Then with swift flight he crosses the spreading plain and vanishes from the sight of his
wondering companion. But whether the devil took this shape to terrify him, or whether it
be that the desert which is known to abound in monstrous animals engenders that kind of
creature also, we cannot decide.

8. Antony was amazed. and thinking overwhat he had seen went on his way. Before long in a
small rocky valley shut in on all sides he sees a mannikin with hooked snout, horned
forehead, and extremities like goats' feet. When he saw this, Antony like a good soldier
seized the shield of faith and the helmet of hope: the creature none the less began to
offer to him the fruit of the palm-trees to support him on his journey and as it were
pledges of peace. Antony perceiving this stopped and asked who he was. The answer he
received from him was this: "I am a mortal being and one of those inhabitants of the
desert whom the Gentiles deluded by various forms of error worship under the names of
Fauns, Satyrs, and Incubi. I am sent to represent my tribe. We pray you in our behalf to
entreat the favour of your Lord and ours. who, we have learnt, came once to save the
world, and `whose sound has gone forth into all the earth.'" As he uttered such words as
these, the aged traveller's cheeks streamed with tears, the marks of his deep feeling,
which he shed in the fulness of his joy. He rejoiced over the Glory of Christ and the
destruction of Satan, and marvelling all the while that he could understand the Satyr's
language, and striking the ground with his staff, he said, "Woe to thee, Alexandria, who
instead of God worshippest monsters!

Woe to thee, harlot city, into which have flowed together the demons of the whole world!
What will you say now? Beasts speak of Christ, and you instead of God worship monsters. He
had not finished speaking when, as if on wings, the wild creature fled away. Let no one
scruple to believe this incident; its truth is supported by what took place when
Constantine was on the throne, a matter of which the whole world was witness. For a man of
that kind was brought alive to Alexandria and shewn as a wonderful sight to the people.
Afterwards his lifeless body, to prevent its decay through the summer heat, was preserved
in salt and brought to Antioch that the Emperor might see it. 9. To pursue my proposed
story. Antony traversed the region on which he had entered, seeing only the traces of wild
beasts, and the wide waste of the desert. What to do, whither to wend his way, he knew
not. Another day had now passed. One thing alone was left him, his confident belief that
he could not be forsaken by Christ. The darkness of the second night he wore away in
prayer. While it was still twilight, he saw not far away a she-wolf gasping with parching
thirst and creeping to the foot of the mountain. He followed it with his eyes; and after
the beast had disappeared in a cave he drew near and began to look within. His curiosity
profiled nothing: the darkness hindered vision. But, as the Scripture saith, perfect love
casteth out fear. With halting step and bated breath he entered, carefully feeling his
way; he advanced little by little and repeatedly listened for the sound. At length through
the fearful midnight darkness a light appeared in the distance. In his eager haste he
struck his foot against a stone and roused the echoes; whereupon the blessed Paul closed
the open door and made it fast with a bar. Then Antony sank to the ground at the entrance
and until the sixth hour or later craved admission, saying, "Who I am, whence, and why I
have come, you know. I know I am not worthy to look upon you: yet unless I see you I will
not go away. You welcome beasts: why not a man? I asked and I have found: I knock that it
may be opened to me. But if I do not succeed, I will die here on your threshold. You will
surely bury me when I am dead."

"Such was his constant cry: unmoved he stood. To whom the herro thus brief answer
made""Prayers like these do not mean threats; there is no trickery in tears. Are you
surprised at my not welcoming you when you have come here to die?" Thus with smiles Paul
gave him access, and, the door being opened, they threw themselves into each other's arms,
greeted. one another by name, and joined in thanksgiving to God. 10 After the sacred kiss
Paul sat down and thus began to address Antony. "Behold the man whom yon have sought with
so much toil, his limbs decayed with age, his gray hairs unkempt. You see before you a man
who were long will be dust. But love endures allthings. Tell me therefore, I pray you, how
fares the human race? Are new homes springing up in the ancient cities? What government
directs the world? Are there still some remaining for the demons to carryaway by their
delusions?" Thus conversing they noticed with wonder a raven which had settled on the
bough of a tree, and was then flying gently down till it came and laid a whole loaf of
bread before them. They were astonished, and when it had gone, "See," said Paul, "the Lord
truly loving, truly merciful, has sent us a meal. For the last sixty years i have always
received half a loaf: but at your coming Christ has doubled his soldier's rations."

11. Accordingly, having returned thanks to the Lord, they sat down together on the brink
of the glassy spring. At this point a dispute arose as to who should break the bread, and
nearly the whole day until eventide was spent in the discussion. Paul urged in support of
his view the rites of hospitality, Antony pleaded age. At length it was arranged that each
should seize the loaf on the side nearest to himself, pull towards him, and keep for his
own the part left in his hands. Then on hands and knees they drank a little water from the
spring, and offering to God the sacrifice of praise passed the night in vigil. At the
return of day the blessed Paul thus spoke to Antony: "I knew long since, brother, that you
were dwelling in those parts: long ago God promised you to me for a fellow-servant; but
the time of my falling asleep now draws nigh; I have always longed to be dissolved and to
be with Christ; my course is finished, and there remains for me a crown of righteousness.
Therefore you have been sent by the Lord to lay my poor body in the ground, yea to return
earth to earth."

12. On hearing this Antony with tears and groans began to pray that he would not desert
him, but would take him for a companion on that journey. His friend replied: "You ought
not to seek your own, but another man's good. It is expedient for you to lay aside the
burden of the flesh and to follow the Lamb; but it is expedient for the rest of the
brethren to be trained by your example. Wherefore be so good as to go and fetch the cloak
Bishop Athanasius gave you, to wrap my poor body in." The blessed Paul asked this favour
not because he cared much whether his corpse when it decayed were clothed or naked (why
should he indeed, when he had so long worn a garment of palm-leaves stitched together?);
but that he might soften his friend's regrets at his decease. Antony was astonished to
find Paul had heard of Athanasius and his cloak; and, seeing as it were Christ Himself in
him, he mentally worshipped God without venturing to add a single word; then silently
weeping he once more kissed his eyes and hands, and set out on his return to the monastery
which was afterwards seized by the Saracens. His steps lagged behind his will. Yet,
exhausted as he was with fasting and broken by age, his courage proved victorious over his
years.

13. At last wearied and panting for breath he completed his journey and reached his little
dwelling. Here he was met by two disciples who had begun to wait upon him in his advanced
age. Said they, "Where have you stayed so long, father?" He replied, "Woe to me a sinner!
I do not deserve the name of monk. I have seen Elias, I have seen John in the desert, and
I have really seen Paul in Paradise." He then closed his lips, beat upon his breast, and
brought out the cloak from his cell. When his disciples asked him to explain the matter
somewhat more fully he said, "There is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak." 14.
He then went out, and without taking so much as a morsel of food returned the same way he
came, longing for him alone, thirsting to see him, having eyes and thought for none but
him. For he was afraid, and the event proved his anticipations correct, that in his
absence his friend might yield up his spirit to Christ. And now another day had dawned and
a three hours' journey still remained, when he saw Paul in robes of snowy white ascending
on high among the bands of angels, and the choirs of prophets and apostles. Immediately he
fell on his face, and threw the coarse sand upon his head, weeping and wailing as he
cried, "Why do you cast me from you, Paul? Why go without one farewell? Have you made
yourself known so late only to depart so soon?"

15. The blessed Antony used afterwards to relate that he traversed the rest of the
distance at such speed that he flew along like a bird; and not without reason: for on
entering the cave he saw the lifeless body in a kneeling attitude, with head erect and
hands uplifted. The first thing he did, supposing him to be alive, was to pray by his
side. But when he did not hear the sighs which usually come from one in prayer, he fell to
kisses and tears, and he then understood that even the dead body of the saint with duteous
gestures was praying to God unto whom all things live. 16. Then having wrapped up the body
and carried it forth, all the while chanting hymns and psalms according to the Christian
tradition, Antony began to lament that he had no implement for digging the ground. So in a
surging sea of thought and pondering many plans he said: "If i return to the monastery,
there is a four days" journey: if I stay here I shall do no good. I will die then, as is
fitting, beside Thy warrior, O Christ, and will quickly breathe my last breath.

While he turned these things over in his mind, behold, two lions from the recesses of the
desert with manes flying on their necks came rushing along. At first he was horrified at
the sight, but again turning his thoughts to God, he waited without alarm, as though they
were doves that he saw. They came straight to the corpse of the blessed old man and there
stopped, fawned upon it and lay down at its feet, roaring aloud as if to make it known
that they were mourning in the only way possible to them. Then they began to paw the
ground close by, and vie with one another in excavating the sand, until they dug out a
place just large enough to hold a man. And immediately, as if demanding a reward for their
work, pricking up their ears while they lowered their heads. they came to Antony and began
to lick his hands and feet. He perceived that they were begging a blessing from him, and
at once with an outburst of praise to Christ that even dumb animals felt His divinity, he
said, "Lord, without whose command not a leaf drops from the tree, not a sparrow falls to
the ground, grant them what thou knowest to be best." Then he waved his hand and bade them
depart. When they were gone he bent his aged shoulders beneath the burden of the saint's
body, laid it in the grave, covered it with the excavated soil, and raised over it the
customary mound. Another day dawned, and then, that the affectionate heir might not be
without something belonging to the intestate dead, he took for himself the tunic which
after the manner of wicker-work the saint had woven out of palm-leaves. And so returning
to the monastery he unfolded everything in order to his disciples, and on the feast-days
of Easter and Pentecost he always wore Paul's tunic.

17. I may be permitted at the end of this little treatise to ask those who do not know the
extent of their possessions, who adorn their homes with marble, who string house to house
and field to field, what did this old man in his nakedness ever lack? Your drinking
vessels are of precious stones; he satisfied his thirst with the hollow of his hand. Your
tunics are of wrought gold; he had not the raiment of the meanest of your slaves. But on
the other hand, poor though he was, Paradise is open to him; you with all your gold will
be received into Gehenna. He though naked yet kept the robe of Christ; you, clad in your
silks, have lost the vesture of Christ. Paul lies covered with worthless dust, but will
rise again to glory; over you are raised costly tombs, but both you and your wealth are
doomed to the burning. Have a care, I pray you, at least have a care for the riches you
love. Why are even the grave-clothes of your dead made of gold? Why does not your vaunting
cease even amid mourning and tears? Cannot the carcases of rich men decay except in silk?

18. I beseech you, reader, whoever you may be, to remember Jerome the sinner. He, if God
would give him his choice, would much sooner take Paul's tunic with his merits, than the
purple of kings with their punishment.


THE LIFE OF MALCHUS
===================

THE LIFE OF MALCHUS Jerome

c. AD 347–420

Translator of the Latin Vulgate and prolific biblical scholar.

THE LIFE OF MALCHUS

The life of Malchus was written at Bethlehem, a.d., 391. Its origin and purpose are
sufficiently described in chapters 1 and 2. I. They who have to fight a naval battle
prepare for it in harbours and calm waters by adjusting the helm, plying the oars, and
making ready the hooks and grappling irons. They draw up the soldiers on the decks and
accustom them to stand steady with poised foot and on slippery ground; so that they may
not shrink from all this when the real encounter comes, because they have had experience
of it in the sham fight. And so it is in my case. I have long held my peace, because
silence was imposed on me by one to whom I give pain when I speak of him. But now, in
preparing to write history on a wider scale I desire to practise myself by means of this
little work and as it were to wipe the rust from my tongue. For I have purposed (if God
grant me life, and if my censurers will at length cease to persecute me, now that I am a
fugitive and shut up in a monastery) to write a history of the church of Christ from the
advent of our Saviour up to our own age, that is from the apostles to the dregs of time in
which we live, and to show by what means and through what agents it received its birth,
and how, as it gained strength, it grew by persecution and was crowned with martyrdom; and
then, after reaching the Christian Emperors, how it increased in influence and in wealth
but decreased in Christian virtues. But of this elsewhere. Now to the matter in hand.

2. Maronia is a little hamlet some thirty miles to the east of Antioch in Syria. After
having many owners or landlords, at the time when I was staying as a young man in Syria it
came into the possession of my intimate friend, the Bishop Evagrius, whose name I now give
in order to show the source of my information. Well, there was at the place at that time
an old man by name Malchus, which we might render "king," a Syrian by race and speech, in
fact a genuine son of the soil. His companion was an old woman very decrepit who seemed to
be at death's door, both of them so zealously pious and such constant frequenters of the
Church, they might have been taken for Zacharias and Elizabeth in the Gospel but for the
fact that there was no John to be seen. With some curiosity I asked the neighbours what
was the link between them; was it marriage, or kindred, or the bond of the Spirit? All
with one accord replied that they were holy people, well pleasing to God, and gave me a
strange account of them. Longing to know more I began to question the man with much
eagerness about the truth of what I heard, and learnt as follows.

3. My son, said he, I used to farm a bit of ground at Nisibis and was an only son. My
parents regarding me as the heir and the only survivor of their race, wished to force me
into marriage, but I said I would rather be a monk. How my father threatened and my mother
coaxed me to betray my chastity requires no other proof than the fact that I fled from
home and parents. I could not go to the East because Persia was close by and the frontiers
were guarded by the soldiers of Rome; I therefore turned my steps to the West, taking with
me some little provision for the journey, but barely sufficient to ward off destitution.
To be brief, I came at last to the desert of Chalcis which is situate between Immae and
Beroa farther south There, finding some monks, I placed myself under their direction,
earning my livelihood by the labour of my hands, and curbing the wantonness of the flesh
by fasting. After many years the desire came over me to return to my country, and stay
with my mother and cheer her widowhood while she lived (for my father, as I had already
heard, was dead), and then to sell the little property and give part to the poor, settle
part on the monasteries and (I blush to confess my faithlessness) keep some to spend in
comforts for myself.

My abbot began to cry out that it was a temptation of the devil, and that under fair
pretexts some snare of the old enemy lay hid. It was, he declared, a case of the dog
returning to his vomit. Many monks, be said, had been deceived by such suggestions, for
the devil never showed himself openly. He set before me many examples from the Scriptures,
and told me that even Adam and Eve in the beginning had been overthrown by him through the
hope of becoming gods. When he failed to convince me he fell upon his knees and besought
me not to forsake him, nor ruin myself by looking back after putting my hand to the
plough. Unhappily for myself I had the misfortune to conquer my adviser. I thought he was
seeking not my salvation but his own comfort. So he followed me from the monastery as if
he had been going to a funeral, and at last bade me farewell, saying, "I see that you bear
the brand of a son of Satan. I do not ask your reasons nor take your excuses. The sheep
which forsakes its fellows is at once exposed to the jaws of the wolf."

4. On the road from Beroa to Edessa adjoining the high-way is a waste over which the
Saracens roam to and fro without having any fixed abode. Through fear of them travellers
in those parts assemble in numbers, so that by mutual assistance they may escape impending
danger. There were in my company men, women, old men, youths, children, altogether about
seventy persons. All of a sudden the Ishmaelites on horses and camels made an assault upon
us, with their flowing hair bound with fillets, their bodies half-naked, with their broad
military boots, their cloaks streaming behind them, and their quivers slung upon the
shoulders. They carried their bows unstrung and brandished their long spears; for they had
come not to fight, but to plunder. We were seized, dispersed, and carried in different
directions. I, meanwhile, repenting too late of the step I had taken, and far indeed from
gaining possession of my inheritance, was assigned, along with another poor sufferer, a
woman, to the service of one and the same owner. We were led, or rather carried, high upon
the camel's back through a desert waste, every moment expecting destruction, and
suspended, I may say, rather than seated. Flesh half raw was our food, camel's milk our
drink.

5. At length, after crossing a great river we came to the interior of the desert, where,
being commanded after the custom of the people to pay reverence to the mistress and her
children, we bowed our heads. Here, as if I were a prisoner, I changed my dress, that is,
learnt to go naked, the heat being so excessive as to allow of no clothing beyond a
covering for the loins. Some sheep were given to me to tend, and, comparatively speaking,
I found this occupation a comfort, for I seldom saw my masters or fellow slaves. My fate
seemed to be like that of Jacob in sacred history, and reminded me also of Moses; both of
whom were once shepherds in the desert. I fed on fresh cheese and milk, prayed
continually, and sang psalms which I had learnt in the monastery. I was delighted with my
captivity, and thanked God because I had found in the desert the monk's estate which I was
on the point of losing in my country.

6. But no condition can ever shut out the Devil. How manifold past expression are his
snares! Hid though I was, his malice found me out. My master seeing his flock increasing
and finding no dishonesty in me (I knew that the Apostle has given command that masters
should be as faithfully served as God Himself), and wishing to reward me in order to
secure my greater fidelity, gave me the woman who was once my fellow servant in captivity.
On my refusing and saying I was a Christian, and that it was not lawful for me to take a
woman to wife so long as her husband was alive (her husband had been captured with us, but
carried off by another master), my owner was relentless in his rage, drew his sword and
began to make at me. If I had not without delay stretched out my hand and taken possession
of the woman, he would have slain me on the spot. Well; by this time a darker night than
usual had set in and, for me, all too soon. I led my bride into an old cave; sorrow was
bride's-maid; we shrank from each other but did not confess it. Then I really felt my
captivity; I threw myself down on the ground, and began to lament the monastic state which
I had lost, and said: "Wretched man that I am! have I been preserved for this?

has my wickedness brought me to this, that in my gray hairs I must lose my virgin state
and become a married man? What is the good of having despised parents, country, property,
for the Lord's sake, if I do the thing I wished to avoid doing when I despised them? And
yet it may be perhaps the case that I am in this condition because I longed for home. What
are we to do, my soul? are we to perish, or conquer? Are we to wait for the hand of the
Lord, or pierce ourselves with our own sword? Turn your weapon against yourself; I must
fear your death, my soul, more than the death of the body. Chastity preserved has its own
martyrdom. Let the witness for Christ lie unburied in the desert; I will be at once the
persecutor and the martyr. Thus speaking I drew my sword which glittered even in the dark,
and turning its point towards me said: "Farewell, unhappy woman: receive me as a martyr
not as a husband. She threw herself at my feet and exclaimed: "I pray you by Jesus Christ,
and adjure you by this hour of trial, do not shed your blood and bring its guilt upon me.
If you choose to die, first turn your sword against me. Let us rather be united upon these
terms. Supposing my husband should return to me, I would preserve the chastity which I
have learnt in captivity; I would even die rather than lose it.

Why should you die to prevent a union with me? I would die if you desired it. Take me then
as the partner of your chastity; and love me more in this union of the spirit than
youcould in that of the body only. Let our master believe that you are my husband. Christ
knows you are my brother. We shall easily convince them we are married when they see us so
loving. I confess, I was astonished and, much as I had before admired the virtue of the
woman, I now loved her as a wife still more. Yet I never gazed upon her naked person; I
never touched her flesh, for I was afraid of losing in peace what I had preserved in the
conflict. In this strange wedlock many days passed away. Marriage had made us more
pleasing to our masters, and there was no suspicion of our flight; sometimes I was absent
for even a whole month like a trusty shepherd traversing the wilderness.

7. After a long time as I sat one day by myself in the desert with nothing in sight save
earth and sky, I began quickly to turn thingsover in my thoughts, and amongst others
called to mind my friends the monks, and specially the look of the father who had
instructed me, kept me, and lost me. While I was thus musing I saw a crowd of ants
swarming overa narrow path. The loads they carried were clearly larger than their own
bodies. Some with their forceps were dragging along the seeds of herbs: others were
excavating the earth from pits and banking it up to keep out the water. One party, in view
of approachingwinter, and wishing to prevent their store from being converted into grass
through the dampness of the ground, were cutting off the tips of the grains they had
carried in; another with solemn lamentation were removing the dead. And, what is stranger
still in such a host, those coming out did not hinder those going in; nay rather, if they
saw one fall beneath his burden they would put their shoulders to the load and give him
assistance. In short that day afforded me a delightful entertainment. So, remembering how
Solomon sends us to the shrewdness of the ant and quickens our sluggish faculties by
setting before us such an example, I began to tire of captivity, and to regret the monk's
cell, and long to imitate those ants and their doings, where toil is for the community,
and, since nothing belongs to any one, all things belong to all.

8. When I returned to my chamber, my wife met me. My looks betrayed the sadness of my
heart. She asked why I was so dispirited. I told her the reasons, and exhorted her to
escape. She did not reject the idea. I begged her to be silent on the matter. She pledged
her word. We constantly spoke to one another in whispers; and we floated in suspense
betwixt hope and fear. I had in the flock two very fine he-goats: these I killed, made
their skins into bottles, and from their flesh prepared food for the way. Then in the
early evening when our masters thought we had retired to rest we began our journey, taking
with us the bottles and part of the flesh. When we reached the river which was about ten
miles off, having inflated the skins and got astride upon them, we intrusted ourselves to
the water, slowly propelling ourselves with our feet, that we might be carried down by the
stream to a point on the opposite bank much below that at which we embarked, and that thus
the pursuers might lose the track. But meanwhile the flesh became sodden and partly lost,
and we could not depend on it for more than three days' sustenance. We drank till we could
drink no more by way of preparing for the thirst we expected to endure, then hastened
away, constantly looking behind us, and advanced more by night than day, on account both
of the ambushes of the roaming Saracens, and of the excessive heat of the sun. I grow
terrified even as I relate what happened; and, although my mind is perfectly at rest, yet
my frame shudders from head to foot.

9. Three days after we saw in the dim distance two men riding on camels approaching with
all speed. At once foreboding ill I began to think my master purposed putting us to death,
and our sun seemed to grow dark again. In the midst of our fear, and just as we realized
that our footsteps on the sand had betrayed us, we found on our right hand a cave which
extended far underground. Well, we entered the cave: but we were afraid of venomous beasts
such as vipers, basilisks, scorpions, and other creatures of the kind, which often resort
to such shady places so as to avoid the heat of the sun. We therefore barely went inside,
and took shelter in a pit on the left, not venturing a step farther, lest in fleeing from
death we should run into death. We thought thus within ourselves: If the Lord helps us in
our misery we have found safety: if He rejects us for our sins, we have found our grave.
What do you suppose were our feelings? What was our terror, when in front of the cave,
close by, there stood our master and fellow-servant, brought by the evidence of our
footsteps to our hiding place? How much worse is death expected than death inflicted!
Again my tongue stammers with distress and fear; it seems as if I heard my master's voice,
and I hardly dare mutter a word.

He sent his servant to drag us from the cavern while he himself held the camels and, sword
in hand, waited for us to come. Meanwhile the servant entered about three or four cubits,
and we in our hiding place saw his back though he could not see us, for the nature of the
eye is such that those who go into the shade out of the sunshine can see nothing. His
voice echoed through the cave: "Come out, you felons; come out and die; why do you stay?
Why do you delay? Come out, your master is calling and patiently waiting for you. He was
still speaking when lo! through the gloom we saw a lioness seize the man, strangle him,
and drag him, covered with blood, farther in. Good Jesus! how great was our terror now,
how intense our joy! We beheld, though our master knew not of it, our enemy perish. He,
when he saw that he was long in returning, supposed that the fugitives being two to one
were offering resistance. Impatient in his rage, and sword still in hand, he came to the
cavern, and shouted like a madman as he chided the slowness of his slave, but was seized
upon by the wild beast before he reached our hiding place. Who ever would believe that
before our eyes a brute would fight for us?

One cause of fear was removed, but there was the prospect of a similar death for
ourselves, though the rage of the lion was not so bad to bear as the anger of the man. Our
hearts failed for fear: without venturing to stir a step we awaited the issue, having no
wall of defence in the midst of so great dangers save the consciousness of our chastity;
when, early in the morning, the lioness, afraid of some snare and aware that she had been
seen took up her cub in her teeth and carried it away, leaving us in possession of our
retreat. Our confidence was not restored all at once. We did not rush out, but waited for
a long time; for as often as we thought of coming out we pictured to ourselves the horror
of falling in with her. 10. At last we got rid of our fright; and when that day was spent,
we sallied forth towards evening, and saw the camels, on account of their great speed
called dromedaries, quietly chewing the cud. We mounted, and with the strength gained from
the new supply of grain, after ten days travelling through the desert arrived at the Roman
camp. After being presented to the tribune we told all, and from thence were sent to
Sabianus, who commanded in Mesopotamia, where we sold our camels. My dear old abbot was
now sleeping in the Lord; I betook myself therefore to this place, and returned to the
monastic life, while I entrusted my companion here to the care of the virgins; for though
I loved her as a sister, I did not commit myself to her as if she were my sister.

Malchus was an old man, I a youth, when he told me these things. I who have related them
to you am now old, and I have set them forth as a history of chastity for the chaste.
Virgins, I exhort you, guard your chastity. Tell the story to them that come after, that
they may realize that in the midst of swords, and wild beasts of the desert, virtue is
never a captive, and that he who is devoted to the service of Christ may die, but cannot
be conquered.


THE LIFE OF SAINT HILARION
==========================

THE LIFE OF SAINT HILARION Jerome

c. AD 347–420

Translator of the Latin Vulgate and prolific biblical scholar.

THE LIFE OF S. HILARION

The life of Hilarion was written by Jerome in 390 at Bethlehem. Its object was to further
the ascetic life to which he was devoted. It contains, amidst much that is legendary, some
statements which attach it to genuine history, and is in any case a curious record of the
state of the human mind in the 4th century. A theory started in Germany, that it was a
sort of religious romance, seems destitute of foundation. It may possibly have been, in
Jerome's intention, a contribution to the church history the writing of which he proposed
but never executed. (See the Life of Malchus, c. 1.) I. Before I begin to write the life
of the blessed Hilarion I invoke the aid of the Holy Spirit who dwelt in him, that He who
bestowed upon the saint his virtues may grant me such power of speech to relate them that
my words may be adequate to his deeds. For the virtue of those who have done great deeds
is esteemed in proportion to the ability with which it has been praised by men of genius.
Alexander the Great of Macedon who is spoken of by Daniel as the ram, or the panther, or
the he-goat, on reaching the grave of Achilles exclaimed "Happy Youth! to have the
privilege of a great herald of your worth," meaning, of course, Homer. I, however, have to
tell the story of the life and conversation ofa man so renowned that even Homer were he
here would either envy me the theme or prove unequal to it. It is true that that holy man
Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, who had much intercourse with Hilarion, set
forthhis praises in a short but widely circulated letter. Yet it is one thing to praise
the dead in general terms, another to relate their characteristic virtues. And so we in
taking up the work begun by him do him service rather than wrong: we despise the abuse of
some who asthey once disparaged my hero Paulus, will now perhaps disparage Hilarion; the
former they censured for his solitary life; they may find fault with the latter for his
intercourse with the world;

the one was always out of sight, therefore they think he had no existence; the other was
seen by many, therefore he is deemed of no account. It is just what their ancestors the
Pharisees did of old! they were not pleased with John fasting in the desert, nor with our
Lord and Saviour in the busy throng, eating and drinking. But I will put my hand to the
work on which I have resolved, and go on my way closing my ears to the barking of Scylla's
hounds. 2. The birth place of Hilarion was the village Thabatha, situate about five miles
to the south of Gaza, a city of Palestine. His parents were idolaters, and therefore, as
the saying is, the rose blossomed on the thorn. By them he was committed to the charge of
a Grammarian at Alexandria, where, so far as his age allowed, he gave proofs of remarkable
ability and character: and in a short time endeared himself to all and became an
accomplished speaker. More important than all this, he was a believer in the Lord Jesus,
and took no delight in the madness of the circus, the blood of the arena, the excesses of
the theatre: his whole pleasure was in the assemblies of the Church.

3. At that time he heard of the famous name of Antony, which was in the mouth of all the
races of Egypt. He was fired with a desire to see him, and set out for the desert. He no
sooner saw him than he changed his former mode of life and abode with him about two
months, studying the method of his life and the gravity of his conduct: his assiduity in
prayer, his humility in his dealings with the brethren, his severity in rebuke, his
eagerness in exhortation. He noted too that the saint would never on account of bodily
weakness break his rule of abstinence or deviate from the plainness of his food. At last,
unable to endure any longer the crowds of those who visited the saint because of various
afflictions or the assaults of demons, and deeming it a strange anomaly that he should
have to bear in the desert the crowds of the cities, he thought it was better for him to
begin as Antony had begun. Said he: "Antony is reaping the reward of victory like a hero
who has proved his bravery. I have not entered on the soldier's career.

He therefore returned with certain monks to his country, and, his parents being now dead,
gave part of his property to his brothers, part to the poor, keeping nothing at all for
himself, for he remembered with awe the passage in the Acts of the Apostles and dreaded
the example and the punishment of Ananias and Sapphira above all he was mindful of the
Lord's words, "whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be
my disciple. At this time he was about fifteen years old. Accordingly, stripped bare and
armed with the weapons of Christ, he entered the wilderness which stretches to the left
seven miles from Majoma, the port of Gaza, as you go along the coast to Egypt. And
although the locality had a record of robbery and of blood, and his relatives and friends
warned him of the danger he was incurring, he despised death that he might escape death.

4. His courage and tender years would have been a marvel to all, were it not that his
heart was on fire and his eyes bright with the gleams and sparks of faith. His cheeks were
smooth, his body thin and delicate, unfit to bear the slightest injury which cold or heat
could inflict. What then? With no other covering for his limbs but a shirt of sackcloth,
and a cloak of skins which the blessed Antony had given him when he set out, and a blanket
of the coarsest sort, he found pleasure in the vast and terrible wilderness with the sea
on one side and the marshland on the other. His food was only fifteen dried figs after
sunset. And because the district was notorious for brigandage, it was his practice never
to abide long in the same place. What was the devil to do? Whither could he turn? He who
once boasted and said, "I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of
the sky, I will be like the most High," saw himself conquered and trodden under foot by a
boy whose years did not allow of sin.

5. Satan therefore tickled his senses and, as is his wont, lighted in his maturing body
the fires of lust. This mere beginner in Christ's school was forced to think of what he
knew not, and to revolve whole trains of thought concerning that of which he had no
experience. Angry with himself and beating his bosom (as if with the blow of his hand he
could shut out his thoughts) "Ass!" he exclaimed, "I'll stop your kicking, I will not feed
you with barley, but with chaff. I will weaken you with hunger and thirst, I will lade you
with heavy burdens, I will drive you through heat and cold, that you may think more of
food than wantonness." So for three or four days afterwards he sustained his sinking
spirit with the juice of herbs and a few dried figs, praying frequently and singing, and
hoeing the ground that the suffering of fasting might be doubled by the pain of toil. At
the same time he wove baskets of rushes and emulated the discipline of the Egyptian monks,
and put into practice the Apostle's precept, "If any will not work, neither let him eat."
By these practices he became so enfeebled and his frame so wasted, that his bones scarcely
held together.

6 One night he began to hear the wailing of infants, the bleating of flocks, the lowing of
oxen, the lament of what seemed to be women, the roaring of lions, the noise of an army,
and moreover various portentous cries which made him in alarm shrink from the sound ere he
had the sight. He understood that the demons were disporting themselves, and falling on
his knees he made the sign of the cross on his forehead. Thus armed as he lay he fought
the more bravely, half longing to see those whom he shuddered to hear, and anxiously
looking in every direction. Meanwhile all at once in the bright moonlight he saw a chariot
with dashing steeds rushing upon him. He called upon Jesus, and suddenly before his eyes,
the earth was opened and the whole array was swallowed up. Then he said, "The horse and
his rider hath He thrown into the sea." And, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;
but we will triumph in the name of the Lord our God."

7. So many were his temptations and so various the snares of demons night and day, that if
I wished to relate them, a volume would not suffice. How often when he lay down did naked
women appear to him, how often sumptuous feasts when he was hungry! Sometimes as he prayed
a howling wolf sprang past or a snarling fox, and when he sang a gladiatorial show was
before him, and a man newly slain would seem to fall at his feet and ask him for burial.
8. Once upon a time he was praying with his head upon the ground. As is the way with men,
his attention was withdrawn from his devotions, and he was thinking of something else,
when a tormentor sprang upon his back and driving his heels into his sides and beating him
across the neck with a horse-whip cried out "Come! why are you asleep?" Then with a loud
laugh asked if he was tired and would like to have some barley.

9. From his sixteenth to his twentieth year he shielded himself from heat and rain in a
little hut which he had constructed of reeds and sedge. Afterwards he built himself a
small cell which remains to the present day, five feet in height, that is less than his
own height, and only a little more in length. One might suppose it a tomb rather than a
house. 10. He shaved his hair once a year on Easter Day, and until his death was
accustomed to lie on the bare ground or on a bed of rushes. The sackcloth which he had
once put on he never washed, and he used to say that it was going too far to look for
cleanliness in goats' hair-cloth. Nor did he change his shirt unless the one he wore was
almost in rags. He had committed the Sacred Writings to memory, and after prayer and
singing was wont to recite them as if in the presence of God. It would be tedious to
narrate singly the successive steps of his spiritual ascent; I will therefore set them in
a summary way before my reader, and describe his mode of life at each stage, and will
afterwards return to proper historical sequence.

11. From his twentieth to his twenty-seventh year, for three years his food was half a
pint of lentils moistened with cold water, and for the next three dry bread with salt and
water. From his twenty-seventh year onward to the thirtieth, he supported himself on wild
herbs and the raw roots of certain shrubs. From his thirty-first to his thirty-fifth year,
he had for food six ounces of barley bread, and vegetables slightly cooked without oil.
But finding his eyes growing dim and his whole body shrivelled with a scabby eruption and
dry mange, he added oil to his former food and up to the sixty-third year of his life
followed this temperate course, tasting neither fruit nor pulse, nor anything whatsoever
besides. Then when he saw that his bodily health was broken down, and thought death was
near, from his sixty-fourth year to his eightieth he abstained from bread. The fervour of
his spirit was so wonderful, that at times when others are wont to allow themselves some
laxity of living he appeared to be entering like a novice on the service of the Lord. He
made a sort of broth from meal and bruised herbs, food and drinktogether scarcely weighing
six ounces, and,while obeying this rule of diet, he never broke his fast before sunset,
not even on festivals nor in severe sickness. But it is now time to return to the course
of event.

12. While still living in the hut, at the age of eighteen, robbers came to him by night,
either supposing that he had something which they might carry off, or considering that
theywould be brought into contempt if a solitary boy felt no dread of their attacks. They
searched up and down between the sea and the marsh from evening until daybreak without
being able to find his resting place. Then, having discovered the boy by the light of day
they asked him, half in jest, "What would you do if robbers came to you?" He replied, "He
that has nothing does not fear robbers." Said they, "At all events, you might be killed."
"I might," said he, "I might; and therefore I do not fear robbers because I am prepared to
die." Then they marvelled at his firmness and faith, confessed how they had wandered about
in the night, and how their eyes had been blinded, and promised to lead a stricter life in
the future.

13. He had now spent twenty-two years in the wilderness and was the common theme in all
the cities of Palestine, though everywhere known by repute only. The first person bold
enough to break into the presence of the blessed Hilarion was a certain woman of
Eleutheropolis who found that she was despised by her husband on account of her sterility
(for in fifteen years she had borne no fruit of wedlock). He had no expectation of her
coming when she suddenly threw herself at his feet. "Forgive my boldness," she said: "take
pity on my necessity. Why do you turn away your eyes? Why shun my entreaties? Do not think
of me as a woman, but as an object of compassion. It was my sex that bore the Saviour.
They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick." At length, after
a long time he no longer turned away, but looked at the woman and asked the cause of her
coming and of her tears. On learning this he raised his eyes to heaven and bade her have
faith, then wept over her as she departed. Within a year he saw her with a son.

14. This his first miracle was succeeded by another still greater and more notable.
Aristnete the wife of Elpidius who was afterwards pretorian prefect, a woman well known
among her own people, still better known among Christians, on her return with her husband,
from visiting the blessed Antony, was delayed at Gaza by the sickness of her three
children; for there, whether it was owing to the vitiated atmosphere, or whether it was,
as afterwards became clear, for the glory of God's servant Hilarion, they were all alike
seized by a semi-tertian ague and despaired of by the physicians. The mother lay wailing,
or as one might say walked up and down between the corpses of her three sons not knowing
which she should first have to mourn for. When, however, she knew that there was a certain
monk in the neighbouring wilderness, forgetting her matronly state (she only remembered
she was a mother) she set out accompanied by her handmaids and eunuchs, and was hardly
persuaded by her husband to take an ass to ride upon. On reaching the saint she said, "I
pray you by Jesus our most merciful God, I beseech you by His cross and blood, to restore
to me my three sons, so that the name of our Lord and Saviour may be glorified in the city
of the Gentiles. Then shall his servants enter Gaza and the idol Marnas shall fall to the
ground.

At first he refused and said that he never left his cell and was not accustomed to enter a
house, much less the city; but she threw herself upon the ground and cried repeatedly,
"Hilarion, servant of Christ, give me back my children: Antony kept them safe in Egypt, do
you save them in Syria. All present were weeping, and the saint himself wept as he denied
her. What need to say more? the woman did not leave him till he promised that he would
enter Gaza after sunset. On coming thither he made the sign of the cross over the bed and
fevered limbs of each, and called upon the name of Jesus. Marvellous efficacy of the Name!
As if from three fountains the sweat burst forth at the same time: in that very hour they
took food, recognized their mourning mother, and, with thanks to God, warmly kissed the
saint's hands. When the matter was noised abroad, and the fame of it spread far and wide,
the people flocked to him from Syria and Egypt, so that many believed in Christ and
professed themselves monks. For as yet there were no monasteries in Palestine, nor had
anyone known a monk in Syria before the saintly Hilarion. It was he who originated this
mode of life and devotion, and who first trained men to it in that province. The Lord
Jesus had in Egypt the aged Antony: in Palestine He had the youthful Hilarion.

15. Facidia is a hamlet belonging to Rhino-Corura, a city of Egypt. From this village a
woman who had been blind for ten years was brought to the blessed Hilarion, and on being
presented to him by the brethren (for there were now many monks with him) affirmed that,
she had spent all her substance on physicians. The saint replied: "If you had given to the
poor what you have wasted on physicians, the true physician Jesus would have cured you."
But when she cried aloud and entreated pity, he spat into her eyes, in imitation of the
Saviour, and with similar instant effect. 16. A charioteer, also of Gaza, stricken by a
demon in his chariot became perfectly stiff, so that he could neither move his hand nor
bend his neck. He was brought on a litter, but could only signify his petition by moving
his tongue; and was told that he could not be healed unless he first believed in Christ
and promised to forsake his former occupation. He believed, he promised, and he was
healed: and rejoiced more in the saving of the soul than in that of the body.

17. Again, a very powerful youth called Marsitas from the neighbourhood of Jerusalem
plumed himself so highly on his strength that he carried fifteen bushels of grain for a
long time and over a considerable distance, and considered it as his highest glory that he
could beat the asses in endurance. This man was afflicted with a grievous demon and could
not endure chains, or fetters, but broke even the bolts and bars of the doors. He had
bitten off the noses and ears of many: had broken the feet of some, the legs of others. He
had struck such terror of himself into everybody, that he was laden with chains and
dragged by ropes on all sides like a wild bull to the monastery. As soon as the brethren
saw him they were greatly alarmed (for the man was of gigantic size) and told the Father.
He, seated as he was, commanded him to be brought to him and released. When he was free,
"Bow your head," said he, "and come." The man began to tremble; he twisted his neck round
and did not dare to look him in the face, but laid aside all his fierceness and began to
lick his feet as he sat. At last the demon which had possessed the young man being
tortured by the saint's adjurations came forth on the seventh day.

18. Nor must we omit to tell that Orion, a leading man and wealthy citizen of Aira, on the
coast of the Red Sea, being possessed by a legion of demons was brought to him. Hands,
neck. sides, feet were laden with iron, and his glaring eyes portended an access of raging
madness. As the saint was walking with the brethren and expounding some passage of
Scripture the man broke from the hands of his keepers, clasped him from behind and raised
him aloft. There was a shout from all, for they feared lest he might crush his limbs
wasted as they were with fasting. The saint smiled and said, "Be quiet, and let me have my
rival in the wrestling match to myself. Then he bent back his hand over his shoulder till
he touched the man's head, seized his hair and drew him round so as to be foot to foot
with him; he then stretched both his hands in a straight line, and trod on his two feet
with both his own, while he cried out again and again, "To torment with you! ye crowd of
demons, to torment! The sufferer shouted aloud and bent back his neck till his head
touched the ground, while the saint said, "Lord Jesus, release this wretched man, release
this captive. Thine it is to conquer many, no less than one. What I now relate is
unparalleled from one man's lips were heard different voices and as it were the confused
shouts of a multitude.

Well, he too was cured, and not long after came with his wife and children to the
monastery bringing many gifts expressive of his gratitude. The saint thus addressed
him-"Have you not read what befell Gehazi and Simon, one of whom took a reward, the other
offered it, the former in order to sell grace, the latter to buy it? And when Orion said
with tears, "Take it and give it to the poor," he replied, "You can best distribute your
own gifts, for you tread the streets of the cities and know the poor. Why should I who
have forsaken my own seek another man's? To many the name of the poor is a pretext for
their avarice; but compassion knows no artifices. No one better spends than he who keeps
nothing for himself. The man was sad and lay upon the ground. "Be not sad, my son," he
said; "what I do for my own good I do also for yours. If I were to take these gifts I
should myself offend God, and, moreover, the legion would return to you."

19. There is a story relating to Majomites of Gaza which it is impossible to pass over in
silence. While quarrying building stones on the shore not far from the monastery he was
helplessly paralysed, and after being carried to the saint by his fellow-workman
immediately returned to his work in perfect health. I ought to explain that the shore of
Palestine and Egypt naturally consists of soft sand and gravel which gradually becomes
consolidated and hardens into rock; and thus though to the eye it remains the same it is
no longer the same to the touch. 20. Another story relates to Italicus, a citizen of the
same town. He was a Christian and kept horses for the circus to contend against those of
the Duumvir of Gaza who was a votary of the idol god Mamas. This custom at least in Roman
cities was as old as the days of Romulus, and was instituted in commemoration of the
successful seizure of the Sabine women. The chariots raced seven times round the circus in
honour of Consus in his character of the God of Counsel. Victory lay with the team which
tired out the horses opposed to them. Now the rival of Italicus had in his pay a magician
to incite his horses by certain demoniacal incantations, and keep back those of his
opponent. Italicus therefore came to the blessed Hilarion and besought his aid not so much
for the injury of his adversary as for protection for himself. It seemed absurd for the
venerable old man to waste prayers on trifles of this sort. He therefore smiled and said,
"Why do you not rather give the price of the horses to the poor for the salvation of your
soul? His visitor replied that his office was a public duty, and that he acted not so much
from choice as from compulsion, that no Christian man could employ magic, but would rather
seek aid from a servant of Christ, especially against the people of Gaza who were enemies
of God, and who would exult over the Church of Christ more than over him.

At the request therefore of the brethren who were present he ordered an earthenware cup
out of which he was wont to drink to be filled with water and given to Italicus. The
latter took it and sprinkled it over his stable and horses, his charioteers and his
chariot, and the barriers of the course. The crowd was in a marvellous state of
excitement, for the enemy in derision had published the news of what was going to be done,
and the backers of Italicus were in high spirits at the victory which they promised
themselves. The signal is given; the one team flies towards the goal, the other sticks
fast: the wheels are glowing hot beneath the chariot of the one, while the other scarce
catches a glimpse of their opponents' backs as they flit past. The shouts of the crowd
swell to a roar, and the heathens themselves with one voice declare Marnas is conquered by
Christ. After this the opponents in their rage demanded that Hilarion as a Christian
magician should be dragged to execution. This decisive victory and several others which
followed in successive games of the circus caused many to turn to the faith.

21. There was a youth in the neighbourhood of the same market-town of Gaza who was
desperately in love with one of God's virgins. After he had tried again and again those
touches, jests, nods, and whispers which so commonly lead to the destruction of virginity,
but had made no progress by these means, he went to a magician at Memphis to whom he
proposed to make known his wretched state, and then, fortified with his arts, to return to
his assault upon the virgin. Accordingly after a year's instruction by the priest of
Aesculapius, who does not heal souls but destroys them, he came full of the lust which he
had previously allowed his mind to entertain, and buried beneath the threshold of the
girl's house certain magical formula: and revolting figures engraven on a plate of Cyprian
brass. Thereupon the maid began to show signs of insanity, to throw away the covering of
her head, tear her hair, gnash her teeth, and loudly call the youth by name. Her intense
affection had become a frenzy. Her parents therefore brought her to the monastery and
delivered her to the aged saint. No sooner was this done than the devil began to howl and
confess. "I was compelled, I was carried off against my will. How happy I was when I used
to beguile the men of Memphis in their dreams! What crosses, what torture I suffer! You
force me to go out, and I am kept bound under the threshold.

I cannot go out unless the young man who keeps me there lets me go. The old man answered,
"Your strength must be great indeed, if a bit of thread and a plate can keep you bound.
Tell me, how is it that you dared to enter into this maid who belongs to God? "That I
might preserve her as a virgin," said he. "You preserve her, betrayer of chastity! Why did
you not rather enter into him who sent you? "For what purpose," he answers, "should I
enter into one who was in alliance with a comrade of my own, the demon of love? But the
saint would not command search to be made for either the young man or the charms till the
maiden had undergone a process of purgation, for fear that it might be thought that the
demon had been released by means of incantations, or that he himself had attached credit
to what he said. He declared that demons are deceitful and well versed in dissimulation,
and sharply rebuked the virgin when she had recovered her health for having by her conduct
given an opportunity for the demon to enter.

22. It was not only in Palestine and the neighbouring cities of Egypt or Syria that he was
in high repute, but his fame had reached distant provinces. An officer of the Emperor
Constantius whose golden hair and personal beauty revealed his country (it lay between the
Saxons and the Alemanni, was of no great extent but powerful, and is known to historians
as Germany, but is now called France), had long, that is to say from infancy, been pursued
by a devil, who forced him in the night to howl, groan, and gnash his teeth. He therefore
secretly asked the Emperor for a post-warrant, plainly telling him why he wanted it, and
having also obtained letters to the legate at Palestine came with great pomp and a large
retinue to Gaza.On his inquiring of the local senators where Hilarion the monk dwelt, the
people of Gaza were much alarmed, and supposing that he had been sent by the Emperor,
brought himto the monastery, that they might show respect to one so highly accredited, and
that, if any guilt had been incurred by them by injuries previously done by them to
Hilarion it might be obliterated by their present dutifulness. The old man at the time was
taking a walk on the soft sands and was humming some passage or other from the psalms.

Seeing so great a company approaching he stopped, and having returned the salutes of all
while he raised his hand and gave them his blessing, after an hour's interval he bade the
rest withdraw, but would have his visitor together with servants and officers remain: for
by the man's eyes and countenance he knew the cause of his coming. Immediately on being
questioned by the servant of God the man sprang up on tiptoe, so as scarcely to touch the
ground with his feet, and with a wild roar replied in Syriac in which language he had been
interrogated. Pure Syriac was heard flowing from the lips of a barbarian who knew only
French and Latin, and that without the absence of a sibilant, or an aspirate, or an idiom
of the speech of Palestine. The demon then confessed by what means he had entered into
him. Further, that his interpreters who knew only Greek and Latin might understand,
Hilarion questioned him also in Greek, and when he gave the same answer in the same words
and alleged in excuse many occasions on which spells had been laid upon him, and how he
was bound to yield to magic arts, "I care not," said the saint, "how you came to enter,
but I command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to come out. The man, as soon as he
was healed, with a rough simplicity offered him ten pounds of gold.

But the saint took from him only bread, and told him that they who were nourished on such
food regarded gold as mire. 23. It is not enough to speak of men; brute animals were also
daily brought to him in a state of madness, and among them a Bactrian camel of enormous
size amid the shouts of thirty men or more who held him tight with stout ropes. He had
already injured many. His eyes were bloodshot, his mouth filled with foam, his rolling
tongue swollen, and above every other source of terror was his loud and hideous roar.
Well, the old man ordered him to be let go. At once those who brought him as well as the
attendants of the saint fled away without exception. The saint went by himself to meet
him, and addressing him in Syriac said, "You do not alarm me, devil, huge though your
present body is. Whether in a fox or a camel you are just the same." Meanwhile he stood
with outstretched hand. The brute raging and looking as if he would devour Hilarion came
up to him, but immediately fell down, laid its head on the ground, and to the amazement of
all present showed suddenly no less tameness than it had exhibited ferocity before. But
the old man declared to them how the devil, for men's sake, seizes even beasts of burden;
that he is inflamed by such intense hatred for men that he desires to destroy not only
them but what belongs to them. As an illustration of this he added the fact that before he
was permitted to try the saintly Job, he made an end of all his substance. Nor ought it to
disturb anyone that by the Lord's command two thousand swine were slain by the agency of
demons, since those who witnessed the miracle could not have believed that so great a
multitude of demons had gone out of the man unless an equally vast number of swine had
rushed to ruin, showing that it was a legion that impelled them.

24 Time would fail me if I wished to relateall the miracles which were wrought by him. For
to such a pitch of glory was he raised by the Lord that the blessed Antony among the rest
hearing of his life wrote to him and gladly received his letters. And if ever the sick
from Syria came to him he would say to them, "Why have you taken the trouble to come so
far, when you have there my son Hilarion?" Following his example, however, innumerable
monasteries sprang up throughout the whole of Palestine, and all the monks flocked to him.
When he saw this he praised the Lord for His grace, and exhorted them individually to the
profit of their souls, telling them that the fashion of this world passes away, and that
the true life is that which is purchased by suffering in the present. 25. Wishing to set
the monks an example of humility and of zeal he was accustomed on fixed days before the
vintage to visit their cells. When the brethren knew this they would all come together to
meet him, and in company with their distinguished leader go the round of the monasteries,
taking with them provisions, because sometimes as many as two thousand men were assembled.
But, as time went on, all the settlements round gladly gave food to the neighbouring monks
for the entertainment of the saints. Moreover, the care he took to prevent any brother
however humble or poor being passed over is evidenced by the journey which he once took
into the desert of Cades to visit one of his disciples. With a great company of monks he
reached Elusa, as it happened on the day when the annual festival had brought all the
people together to the temple of Venus. This, goddess is worshipped on account of Lucifer
to whom the Saracen nation is devoted. The very town too is to a great extent semi-
barbarous, owing to its situation. When therefore it was heard that Saint Hilarion was
passing through (he had frequently healed many Saracens possessed by demons), they went to
meet him in crowds with their wives and children, bending their heads and crying in the
Syriac tongue Barech, that is, Bless. He received them with courtesy and humility, and
prayed that they might worship God rather than stones; at the same time, weeping
copiously, he looked up to heaven and promised that if they would believe in Christ he
would visit them often. By the marvellous grace of God they did not suffer him to depart
before he had drawn the outline of a church, and their priest with his garland upon his
head had been signed with the sign of Christ.

26. Another year, again, when he was setting out to visit the monasteries and was drawing
up a list of those with whom he must stay and whom he must see in passing, the monks
knowing that one of their number was a niggard, and being at the same time desirous to
cure his complaint, asked the saint to stay with him. He replied, "Do you wish me to
inflict injury on you and annoyance on the brother?" The niggardly brother on hearing of
this was ashamed, and with the strenuous support of all his brethren, at length obtained
from the saint a reluctant promise to put his monastery on the roll of his resting places.
Ten days after they came to him and found the keepers already on guard in the vineyard
through which their course lay, to keep off all comers with stones and clods and slings.
In the morning they all departed without having eaten a grape, while the old man smiled
and pretended not to know what had happened.

27. Once when they were being entertained by another monk whose name was Sabus (we must
not of course give the name of the niggard, we may tell that of this generous man),
because it was the Lord's day, they were all invited by him into the vineyard so that
before the hour for food came they might relieve the toil of the journey by a repast of
grapes. Said the saint, "Cursed be he who looks for the refreshment of the body before
that of the soul. Let us pray, let us sing, let us do our duty to God, and then we will
hasten to the vineyard." When the service was over, he stood on an eminence and blessed
the vineyard and let his own sheep go to their pasture. Now those who partook were not
less than three thousand. And whereas the whole vineyard had been estimated at a hundred
flagons, within thirty days he made it worth three hundred. The niggardly brother gathered
much less than usual, and he was grieved to find that even what he had turned to vinegar.
The old man had predicted this to many brethren before it happened. He particularly
abhorred such monks as were led by their lack of faith to hoard for the future, and were
careful about expense, or raiment, or some other of those things which pass away with the
world.

28. Lastly he would not even look at one of the brethren who lived about five miles off
because he ascertained that he very jealously guarded his bit of ground, and had a little
money. The offender wishing to be reconciled to the old man often came to the brethren,
and in particular to Hesychius who was specially dear to Hilarion. One day accordingly he
brought a bundle of green chick-pea just as it had been gathered. Hesychius placed it on
the table against the evening, whereupon the old man cried out that he could not bear the
stench, and asked where it came from. Hesychius replied that a certain brother had sent
the brethren the first fruits of his ground. "Don't you notice," said he, "the horrid
stench, and detect the foul odour of avarice in the peas? Send it to the cattle, send to
the brute-beasts and see whether they can eat it." No sooner was it in obedience to his
command laid in the manger than the cattle in the wildest alarm and bellowing loudly broke
their fastenings and fled in different directions. For the old man was enabled by grace to
tell from the odour of bodies and garments, and the things which any one had touched, by
what demon or with what vice the individual was distressed.

29. His sixty-third year found the old man at the head of a grand monastery and a
multitude of resident brethren. There were such crowds of persons constantly bringing
those who suffered from various kinds of sickness or were possessed of unclean spirits,
that the whole circuit of the wilderness was full of all sorts of people. And as the saint
saw all this he wept daily and called to mind with incredible regret his former mode of
life. When one of the brethren asked him why he was so dejected he replied, "I have
returned again to the world and have received my reward in my lifetime. The people of
Palestine and the adjoining province think me of some importance, and under pretence of a
monastery for the well-ordering of the brethren I have all the apparatus of a paltry life
about me." The brethren, however, kept watch over him and in particular Hesychius, who had
a marvellously devoted affection and veneration for the old man. After he had spent two
years in these lamentations Aristaenete the lady of whom we made mention before, as being
then the wife of a prefect though without any of a prefect's ostentation, came to him
intending to pay a visit to Antony also. He said to her, "I should like to go myself too
if I were not kept a prisoner in this monastery, and if my going could be fruitful. For it
is now two days since mankind was bereaved of him who was so truly a father to them all."
She believed his word and stayed where she was: and after a few days the news came that
Antony had fallen asleep.

30. Some may wonder at the miracles he worked, or his incredible fasting, knowledge, and
humility. Nothing so astonishes me as his power to tread under foot honour and glory.
Bishops, presbyters, crowds of clergymen and monks, of Christian matrons even (a great
temptation), and a rabble from all quarters in town and country were congregating about
him, and even judges and others holding high positions, that they might receive at his
hands the bread or oil which he had blessed. But he thought of nothing but solitude, so
much so that one day he determined to be gone, and having procured an ass (he was almost
exhausted with fasting and could scarcely walk) endeavoured to steal away. The news spread
far and wide, and, just as if a public mourning for the desolation of Palestine were
decreed, ten thousand people of various ages and both sexes came together to prevent his
departure. He was unmoved by entreaties, and striking the sand with his stick kept saying:
"I will not make my Lord a deceiver; I cannot look upon churches overthrown, Christ's
altars trodden down, the blood of my sons poured out. All who were present began to
understand that some secret had been revealed to him which he was unwilling to confess,
but they none the less kept guard over him that he might not go. He therefore determined,
and publicly called all to witness, that he would take neither food nor drink unless he
were released. Only after seven days was he relieved from his fasting;

when having bidden farewell to numerous friends, he came to Betilium attended by a
countless multitude. There he prevailed upon the crowd to return and chose as his
companions forty monks who had resources for the journey and were capable of travelling
during fasting-time, that is, after sunset. He then visited the brethren who were in the
neighbouring desert and sojourning at a place called Lychnos, and after three days came to
the castle of Theubatus to see Dracontius, bishop and confessor, who was in exile there.
The bishop was beyond measure cheered by the presence of so distinguished a man. At the
end of another three days he set out for Babylon and arrived there after a hard journey.
Then he visited Philo the bishop, who was also a confessor; for the Emperor Constantius
who favoured the Arian heresy had transported both of them to those parts. Departing
thence he came in three days to the town Aphroditon. There he met with a deacon Baisanes
who kept dromedaries which were hired, on account of the scarcity of water in the desert,
to carry travellers who wished to visit Antony. He then made known to the brethren that
the anniversary of the blessed Antony's decease was at hand, and that he must spend a
whole night in vigil in the very place where the saint had died.

So then after three days journey through the waste and terrible desert they at length came
to a very high mountain, and there found two monks Isaac and Pelusianus, the former of
whom had been one of Antony's attendants. 31. The occasion seems a fitting one, since we
are on the spot itself, to describe the abode of this great man. There is a high and rocky
mountain extending for about a mile, with gushing springs amongst its spurs, the waters of
which are partly absorbed by the sand, partly flow towards the plain and gradually form a
stream shaded on either side by countless palms which lend much pleasantness and charm to
the place. Here the old man might be seen pacing to and fro with the disciples of blessed
Antony. Here, so they said, Antony himself used to sing, pray, work, and rest when weary.
Those vines and shrubs were planted by his own hand: that garden bed was his own design.
This pool for watering the garden was made by him after much toil. That hoe was handled by
him for many years. Hilarion would lie upon the saint's bed and as though it were still
warm would affectionately kiss it. The cell was square, its sides measuring no more than
the length of a sleeping man. Moreover on the lofty mountaintop, the ascent of which was
by a zig-zag path very difficult, were to be seen two cells of the same dimensions, in
which he stayed when he escaped from the crowds of visitors or the company of his
disciples. These were cut out of the live rock and were only furnished with doors When
they came to the garden, "You see," said Isaac, "this garden with its shrubs and green
vegetables;

about three years ago it was ravaged by a troop of wild asses. One of their leaders was
hidden by Antony to stand still while he thrashed the animals sides with a stick and
wanted to know why they devoured what they had not sown. And ever afterwards, excepting
the water which they were accustomed to come and drink, they never touched anything, not a
bush or a vegetable. The old man further asked to be shown his burial place, and they
thereupon took him aside; but whether they showed him the tomb or not is unknown. It is
related that the motive for secrecy was compliance with Antony's orders and to prevent
Pergamius, a very wealthy man of the district, from removing the saint's body to his house
and erecting a shrine to his memory. 32. Having returned to Aphroditon and keeping with
him only two of the brethren, he stayed in the neighbouring desert, and practised such
rigid abstinence and silence that he felt that then for the first time he had begun to
serve Christ. Three years had now elapsed since the heavens had been closed and the land
had suffered from drought, and it was commonly said that even the elements were lamenting
the death of Antony. Hilarion did not remain unknown to the inhabitants of that place any
more than to others, but men and women with ghastly faces and wasted by hunger earnestly
eatreated the servant of Christ, as being the blessed Antony's successor, to give them
rain. Hilarion when he saw them was strangely affected with compassion had, raising his
eyes to heaven and lifting up both his hands, he at once obtained their petition. But,
strange to say, that parched and sandy district, after the rain had fallen, unexpectedly
produced such vast numbers of serpents and poisonous animals that many who were bitten
would have died at once if they had not run to Hilarion. He therefore blessed some oil
with which all the husbandmen and shepherds touched their wounds, and found an infallible
cure.

33. Seeing that even there surprising respect was paid to him, he went to Alexandria,
intending to cross from thence to the farther oasis of the desert. And because he had
never stayed in cities since he entered on the monk's life, he turned aside to some
brethren at Bruchium, not far from Alexandria, whom he knew, and who welcomed the old man
with the greatest pleasure. It was now night when all at once they heard his disciples
saddling the ass and making ready for the journey. They therefore threw themselves at his
feet and besought him not to leave them; they fell prostrate before the door, and declared
they would rather die than lose such a guest. He answered: "My reason for hastening away
is that I may not give you trouble. You will no doubt afterwards discover that I have not
suddenly left without good cause." Next day the authorities of Gaza with the lictors of
the prefect having heard of his arrival on the previous day, entered the monastery, and
when they failed to find him anywhere they began to say to one another: "What we heard is
true. He is a magician and knows the future." The fact was that the city of Gaza on
Julian's accession to the throne, after the departure of Hilarion from Palestine and the
destruction of his monastery, had presented a petition to the Emperor requesting that both
Hilarion and Hesychius might be put to death, and a proclamation had been published
everywhere that search should be made for them.

34. Having then left Bruchium, he entered the oasis through the trackless desert, and
there abode for a year, more or less. But, inasmuch as his fame had travelled thither
also, he felt that he could not be hidden in the East, where he was known to many by
report and by sight, and began to think of taking ship for some solitary island, so that
having been exposed to public view by the land, he might at least find concealment in the
sea. Just about that time Hadrian, his disciple, arrived from Palestine with information
that Julian was slain and that a Christian emperor had commenced his reign; he ought
therefore, it was said, to return to the relics of his monastery. But he, when he heard
this, solemnly refused to return; and hiring a camel crossed the desert waste and reached
Paretonium, a city on the coast of Libya. There the ill-starred Hadrian wishing to return
to Palestine and unwilling to part with the renown so long attaching to his master's name,
heaped reproaches upon him, and at last having packed up the presents which he had brought
him from the brethren, set out without the knowledge of Hilarion. As I shall have no
further opportunity of referring to this man, I would only record, for the terror of those
who despise their masters, that after a little while he was attacked by the king's-evil
and turned to a mass of corruption.

35. The old man accompanied by Gazanus went on board a ship which was sailing to Sicily.
Half way across the Adriatic he was preparing to pay his fare by selling a copy of the
Gospels which he had written with his own hand in his youth, when the son of the master of
the ship seized by a demon began to cry out and say: "Hilarion, servant of God, why is it
that through you we cannot be safe even on the sea? Spare me a little until I reach land.
Let me not be cast out here and thrown into the deep." The saint replied: "If my God
permit you to remain, remain; but if He casts you out, why bring odium upon me a sinner
and a beggar?" This he said that the sailors and merchants on board might not betray him
on reaching shore. Not long after, the boy was cleansed, his father and the rest who were
present having given their word that they would not reveal the name of the saint to any
one.

36. On approaching Pachynus, a promontory of Sicily, he offered the master the Gospel for
the passage of himself and Gazanus. The man was unwilling to take it, all the more because
he saw that excepting that volume and the clothes they wore they had nothing, and at last
he swore he would not take it. But the aged saint, ardent and confident in the
consciousness of his poverty, rejoiced exceedingly that he had no worldly possessions and
was accounted a beggar by the people of the place. 37. Once more, on thinking the matter
over and fearing that merchants coming from the East might make him known, he fled to the
interior, some twenty miles from the sea, and there on an abandoned piece of ground, every
day tied up a bundle of firewood which he laid upon the back of his disciple, and sold at
some neighbouring mansion. They thus supported themselves and were able to purchase a
morsel of bread for any chance visitors. But that came exactly to pass which is written:
"a city set on a hill cannot be hid." It happened that one of the shields-men who was
vexed by a demon was in the basilica of the blessed Peter at Rome, when the unclean spirit
within him cried out, "A few days ago Christ's servant Hilarion entered Sicily and no one
knew him, and he thinks he is hidden. I will go and betray him." Immediately he embarked
with his attendants in a ship lying in harbour, sailed to Pachynus and, led by the demon
to the old man's hut, there prostrated himself and was cured on the spot. This, his first
miracle in Sicily, brought the sick to him in countless numbers (but it brought also a
multitude of religious persons); insomuch that one of the leading men who was swollen with
the dropsy was cured the same day that he came. He afterwards offered the saint gifts
without end, but the saint replied to him in the words of the Saviour to his disciples:
"Freely ye received, freely give."

38. While this was going on in Sicily Hesychius his disciple was searching the world over
for the old man, traversing the coast, penetrating deserts, clinging all the while to the
belief that wherever he was he could not long be hidden. At the end of three years he
heard at Methona from a certain Jew, who dealt in old-clothes, that a Christian prophet
had appeared in Sicily, and was working such miracles and signs, one might think him one
of the ancient saints. So he asked about his dress, gait, and speech, and in particular
his age, but could learn nothing. His informant merely declared that he had heard of the
man by report. He therefore crossed the Adriatic and after a prosperous voyage came to
Pachynus, where he took up his abode in a cottage on the shore of the bay, and, on
inquiring for tidings of the old man, discovered by the tale which every one told him
where he was, and what he was doing. Nothing about him surprised them all so much as the
fact that after such great signs and wonders he had not accepted even a crust of bread
from any one in the district. And, to cut my story short, the holy man Hesychius fell down
at his master's knees and bedewed his feet with tears; at length he was gently raised by
him, and when two or three days had been spent in talking over matters, he learned from
Gazanus that Hilarion no longer felt himself able to live in those parts, but wanted to go
to certain barbarous races where his name and fame were unknown.

39. He therefore brought him to Epidaurus, a town in Dalmatia, where he stayed for a few
days in the country near, but could not be hid. An enormous serpent, of the sort which the
people of those parts call boas because they are so large that they often swallow oxen,
was ravaging the whole province far and wide, and was devouring not only flocks and herds,
but husbandmen and shepherds who were drawn in by the force of its breathing. He ordered a
pyre to be prepared for it, then sent up a prayer to Christ, called forth the reptile,
bade it climb the pile of wood, and then applied the fire. And so before all the people he
burnt the savage beast to ashes. But now he began anxiously to ask what he was to do,
whither to betake himself. Once more he prepared for flight, and in thought ranged through
solitary lands, grieving that his miracles could speak of him though his tongue was
silent.

40. At that time there was an earthquake over the whole world, following on the death of
Julian, which caused the sea to burst its bounds, and left ships hanging on the edge of
mountain steeps. It seemed as though God were threatening a second deluge, or all things
were returning to original chaos. When the people of Epidaurus saw this, I mean the
roaring waves and heaving waters and the swirling billows mountain-high dashing on the
shore, fearing that what they saw had happened elsewhere might befall them and their town
be utterly destroyed, they made their way to the old man, and as if preparing for a battle
placed him on the shore. After making the sign of the cross three times on the sand, he
faced the sea, stretched out his hands, and no one would believe to what a height the
swelling sea stood like a wall before him. It roared for a long time as if indignant at
thebarrier, then little by little sank to its level. Epidaurus and all the region
roundabout tell the story to this day, and mothers teach their children to hand down the
remembrance of it to posterity. Verily, what was said to the Apostles, "If ye have faith,
ye shall say to this mountain, Remove into the sea, and it shall be done," may be even
literally fulfilled, provided one has such faith as the Lord commanded the Apostles to
have. For what difference does it make whether a mountain descends into the sea, or huge
mountains of waters everywhere else fluid suddenly become hardas rock at the old man's
feet?

41. The whole country marvelled and the fame of the great miracle was in everyone's mouth,
even at Salonae. When the old man knew this was the case he escaped secretly by night in a
small cutter, and finding a merchant ship after two days came to Cyprus. Between Malea and
Cythera, the pirates, who had left on the shore that part of their fleet which is worked
by poles instead of sails, bore down on them with two light vessels of considerable size;
and besides this they were buffeted by the waves on every side. All the towers began to be
alarmed, to weep, to leave their places, to get out their poles, and, as though one
message was not enough, again and again told the old man that pirates were at hand.
Looking at them in the distance he gently smiled, then turned to his disciples and said,
"O ye of little faith, wherefore do ye doubt? Are these more than the army of Pharaoh? Yet
they were all drowned by the will of God." Thus he spake, but none the less the enemy with
foaming prows kept drawing nearer and were now only a stone's throw distant. He stood upon
the prow of the vessel facing them with out-stretched hand, and said, "Thus far and no
farther." Marvellous to relate, the boats at once bounded back, and though urged forward
by the oars fell farther and farther astern. The pirates were astonished to find
themselves going back, and laboured with all their strength to reach the vessel, but were
carried to the shore faster by far than they came.

42. I pass by the rest for fear I should seem in my history to be publishing a volume of
miracles. I will only say this, that when sailing with a fair wind among the Cyclades he
heard the voices of unclean spirits shouting in all directions from towns and villages,
and running in crowds to the shore. Having then entered Paphos, the city of Cyprus
renowned in the songs of the poets, the ruins of whose temples after frequent earthquakes
are the only evidences at the present day of its former grandeur, he began to live in
obscurity about two miles from the city, and rejoiced in having a few days rest. But not
quite twenty days passed before throughout the whole island whoever had unclean spirits
began to cry out that Hilarion Christ's servant had come, and that they must go to him
with all speed. Salamis, Curium, Lapetha, and the other cities joined in the cry, while
many declared that they knew Hilarion and that he was indeed the servant of Christ, but
where he was they could not tell. So within a trifle more than thirty days, about two
hundred people, both men and women, came together to him. When he saw them he lamented
that they would not suffer him to be quiet, and thirsting in a kind of manner to avenge
himself, he lashed them with such urgency of prayer that some immediately, others after
two or three days, all within a week, were cured.

43. Here he stayed two years, always thinking of flight, and in the meantine sent
Hesychius, who was to return in the spring, to Palestine to salute the brethren and visit
the ashes of his monastery. When the latter returned he found Hilarion longing to sail
again to Egypt, that is to the locality called Bucolia; but he persuaded him that, since
there were no Christians there, but only a fierce and barbarous people, he should rather
go to a spot in Cyprus itself which was higher up and more retired. After long and
diligent search he found such a place twelve miles from the sea far off among the recesses
of rugged mountains, the ascent to which could hardly be accomplished by creeping on hands
and knees. Thither he conducted him. The old man entered and gazed around. It was indeed a
lonely and terrible place; for though surrounded by trees on every side, with water
streaming from the brow of the hill, a delightful bit of garden, and fruit-trees in
abundance (of which, however, he never ate), yet it had close by the ruins of an ancient
temple from which, as he himself was wont to relate and his disciples testify, the voices
of such countless demons re-echoed night and day, that you might have thought there was an
army of them.

He was highly pleased at the idea of having his opponents in the neighbourhood, and abode
there five years, cheered in these his last days by the frequent visits of Hesychius, for
owing to the steep and rugged ascent, and the numerous ghosts (so the story ran), nobody
or scarcely anybody either could or dared to go up to him. One day, however, as he was
leaving his garden, he saw a man completely paralysed lying in front of the gates. He
asked Hesychius who he was, or how he had been brought. Hesychius replied that he was the
agent at the country-house to which the garden belonged in which they were located.
Weeping much and stretching out his hand to the prostrate man he said, "I bid you in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ arise and walk. The words were still on the lips of the
speaker, when, with miraculous speed, the limbs were strengthened and the man arose and
stood firm. Once this was noised abroad the need of many overcame even the pathless
journey and the dangers of the place. The occupants of all the houses round about had
nothing so much in their thoughts as to prevent the possibility of his escape, a rumour
having spread concerning him to the effect that he could not stay long in the same place.

This habit of his was not due to levity or childishness, but to the fact that he shunned
the worry of publicity and praise, and always longed for silence and a life of obscurity.
44. In his eightieth year, during the absence of Hesychius, he wrote by way of a will a
short letter with his own hand, and left him all his riches (that is to say, a copy of the
gospels, and his sack-cloth tunic, cowl and cloak), for his servant had died a few days
before. Many devout men therefore came to the invalid from Paphos, and specially because
they had heard of his saying that he must soon migrate to the Lord and must be liberated
from the bonds of the body. There came also Constantia a holy woman whose son-in-law and
daughter he had anointed with oil and saved from death. He earnestly entreated them all
not to let him be kept even a moment of time after death, but to bury him immediately in
the same garden, just as he was, clad in his goat-hair tunic, cowl, and his peasant's
cloak.

45. His body was now all but cold, and nought was left of life but reason. Yet with eyes
wide open he kept repeating, "Go forth, what do you fear? Go forth, my soul, why do you
hesitate? You have served Christ nearly seventy years, and do you fear death?" Thus saying
he breathed his last. He was immediately buried before the city heard of his death. 46.
When the holy man Hesychius heard of his decease, he went to Cyprus and, to lull the
suspicions of the natives who were keeping strict guard, pretended that he wished to live
in the same garden, and then in the course of about ten months, though at great peril to
his life, stole the saint's body. He carried it to Majuma; and there all the monks and
crowds of towns-folk going in procession laid it to rest in the ancient monastery. His
tunic, cowl and cloak, were uninjured; the whole body as perfect as if alive, and so
fragrant with sweet odours that one might suppose it to have been embalmed.

47. In bringing my book to an end I think I ought not to omit to mention the devotion of
the holy woman Constantia who, when a message was brought her that Hilarion's body was in
Palestine, immediately died, proving even by death the sincerity of her love for the
servant of God. For she was accustomed to spend whole nights in vigil at his tomb, and to
converse with him as if he were present in order to stimulate her prayers. Even at the
present day one may see a strange dispute between the people of Palestine and the
Cypriotes, the one contending that they have the body, the other the spirit of Hilarion.
And yet in both places great miracles are wrought daily, but to a greater extent in the
garden of Cyprus, perhaps because that spot was dearest to him.


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Where each text comes from, and the licence under which it may be reused.

LETTERS 125 TO 147 English translation: an older public-domain translation as collected in
the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only divided
it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek or
Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made.
Incomplete. 30 parts of this work in the source collection are a modern or machine
translation, which we do not republish, so they are left out and this page has gaps.
Licence: Public domain.

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS English translation: an older public-domain translation as
collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-
Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

LIVES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN English translation: an older public-domain translation as
collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-
Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

THE LIFE OF PAULUS THE FIRST HERMIT English translation: an older public-domain
translation as collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from
the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

THE LIFE OF MALCHUS English translation: an older public-domain translation as collected
in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only
divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek
or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made.
Licence: Public domain.

THE LIFE OF SAINT HILARION English translation: an older public-domain translation as
collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-
Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.