Homilies on the Statues, Homily 1

1. You have heard the Apostle’s voice, that trumpet from heaven, that spiritual lyre! Like a trumpet sounding a terrifying call to battle, it both frightens the enemy and rouses the downcast spirits on its own side, filling them with great courage and making those who listen to it invincible against the devil! And again, like a lyre that gently soothes with music that captivates the soul, it lulls the turmoil of corrupt thoughts to sleep, and so brings us great benefit along with pleasure. Today, then, you have heard the Apostle speaking to Timothy about various necessary matters! He wrote to him about the laying on of hands, saying, “Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, or share in other people’s sins.” And he explained the terrible danger of such a transgression by showing that those who do this will share the punishment for sins committed by others, because by laying hands on them they give power to their wickedness. Then again he says, “Use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent illnesses.” Today he has also spoken to us about the submission of servants, the madness of misers, the arrogance of the rich, and various other matters. 2. Since it is impossible to go through every part, which of the words we have heard would you like us to choose as the subject of our address to you, my beloved? In what has been read, I see a great variety of flowers, as in a meadow: many roses and violets, and no small number of lilies. Everywhere the varied, abundant fruit of the Spirit lies scattered, along with a rich fragrance. Indeed, reading the divine Scriptures is more than a meadow; it is a paradise. The flowers here have not just fragrance but also fruit that can nourish the soul. Which of the things we have heard, then, would you like us to bring before you today? Would you like us to discuss what seems less significant and easy for anyone to understand? That seems right to me, and I do not doubt that you will agree. What, then, might seem plainer than anything else? What else but the statement that seems so easy and obvious for anyone to make? Well, what is it? “Use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent illnesses.” Let us devote our whole discussion to this subject. We do this neither out of a love of praise nor because we are trying to show off our powers of speech (for what we are about to say is not our own, but whatever the grace of the Holy Spirit may inspire). We do it to stir up those listeners who are too indifferent, to convince them how great a treasure the holy Scriptures contain, and to show them that rushing through the Scriptures is neither safe nor free from danger. For if a passage as simple and obvious as this, which most people think contains nothing that needs discussion, proves to offer us abundant riches and paths to the highest wisdom, how much more will those other passages, whose wealth is immediately apparent, satisfy attentive listeners with their infinite treasures? Surely, then, we must not hurry past even those sentences of Scripture that are thought to be plain. These too come from the grace of the Spirit, and this grace is never small or insignificant, but great and wonderful, worthy of the Giver’s generosity. 3. So let us not listen carelessly. Even those who roast metal-bearing ore, after putting it into the furnace, collect not only the lumps of gold but also the tiny particles, with the greatest care. We too must roast the gold drawn from the Apostle’s mines—not by throwing it into a furnace, but by placing it in the thoughts of your souls; not by lighting an earthly flame, but by kindling the fire of the Spirit. So let us carefully gather the small particles. Though the saying is brief, its power is great. Pearls too command their price not because of their size, but because of their inherent beauty. The same is true of reading the divine Scriptures. Worldly instruction pours out its trivialities in abundance, flooding its listeners with a torrent of empty chatter, but sends them away empty-handed, without any benefit, great or small. The grace of the Spirit does the opposite: through short sentences it plants divine wisdom in everyone who pays attention, and a single sentence often provides those who receive it with enough supplies for the whole journey of life. 4. Since its riches are so great, let us rouse ourselves and receive what is said with an alert mind, for I am preparing to take our discussion into very deep waters. No doubt many have thought the advice irrelevant and unnecessary, and they often talk at length along these lines: “Couldn’t Timothy judge for himself what he needed to use? Did he have to wait to learn this from his teacher? And did the teacher not only give him instructions, but put them in writing, engraving them in his letter to him as though on a bronze column? Wasn’t he ashamed to give his disciple instructions about things like this in a letter meant for public reading?” So I will go straight to the proof, so that you may learn that this advice was far from irrelevant: it was necessary and highly beneficial. And you will learn that the decision to make this (I say) a written instruction rather than a spoken one, handed down to all future generations through the letter, came not from Paul but from the grace of the Spirit. 5. Besides the subjects already mentioned, there is another that leaves some people equally puzzled. They ask themselves why God allowed a man who had such confidence before Him, whose bones and relics drove out demons, to fall into such poor health. He was not merely sick, but sick constantly and for a long time. These recurring, prolonged illnesses gave him no rest, even briefly. “How do we know this?” someone may ask. From Paul’s own words: he does not say because of your “illness,” but because of your “illnesses.” And he does not simply say “illnesses,” but clearly describes them as constant when he says, “your frequent illnesses.” Let everyone suffering from a lingering illness who complains and grows discouraged pay attention to this. 6. But the question is not only why he was sick, and so continually sick, although he was a holy man. It is also why he was sick while entrusted with public responsibilities throughout the world. If he had been one of those who retreat to mountaintops, establish their cells in solitude, and choose a life free from all business, the question before us would not be so difficult. But here was someone thrust into the crowd, entrusted with the care of so many Churches, overseeing entire cities and nations—indeed, the whole world—with such eagerness and diligence, yet hampered by illness! This, above all, can bewilder someone who does not consider it carefully. Even if not for his own sake, he needed health for the sake of others. “He was the best general,” the objector says. “He fought not only against unbelievers, but against demons and the devil himself. The whole enemy force attacked fiercely, scattering the troops and taking prisoners. Yet this man, who could bring countless people back to the truth, was sick! Even if,” he says, “this sickness did no other harm to the cause, this alone was enough to discourage the faithful and weaken their resolve. If soldiers lose heart and their readiness to fight when they see their general confined to bed, how much more likely were the faithful to show some human weakness when they saw the teacher who had performed so many signs continually sick and suffering in body?” 7. But that is not all. These skeptics raise a further question: why, when Timothy was in this condition, did he neither heal himself nor receive healing from his teacher? The Apostles raised the dead, cast out demons, and conquered death with the greatest ease, yet they could not restore the body of one sick man! Although they displayed such extraordinary power over other bodies, both during their lives and after their deaths, they did not restore a weakened stomach! More than that, after the many great signs Paul had performed with a mere word, he feels no shame or embarrassment about writing to Timothy and telling him to turn to the healing power of drinking wine. Not that drinking wine is shameful. God forbid! Such teachings belong to heretics. What is astonishing is that he thought it no disgrace to be unable, without this kind of help, to put a single disordered part of the body right. Yet he was so far from being ashamed of this that he made it known to every future generation. You see how deep we have taken the subject, and how something that seemed small is full of countless questions. Well then, let us turn to the answers. We have explored the question so deeply in order to awaken your attention and lay up the explanation in a safe storehouse. 8. But before I answer these questions, allow me to say something about Timothy’s virtue and Paul’s loving care. Who was ever more tenderhearted than this man? Though he was so far away and surrounded by so many concerns, he gave such thought to the health of his disciple’s stomach and wrote such careful instructions for treating his disorder. And what could equal Timothy’s virtue? He so despised luxury and scorned lavish meals that he became sick from excessive self-denial and intense fasting. Listen to Paul himself carefully explaining that Timothy was not naturally so frail, but had weakened his stomach through fasting and drinking water. He does not simply say, “Use a little wine.” First he says, “No longer drink water,” and then gives his advice about drinking wine. This expression, “no longer,” clearly proves that until then Timothy had been drinking water and had become sick because of it. Who would not marvel at his divine wisdom and strict discipline? He grasped the very heavens and sprang to the highest point of virtue. His Teacher testifies to this when he says, “I have sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord.” When Paul calls him “a son,” and a “faithful and beloved son,” those words are enough to show that he possessed every kind of virtue. The saints do not judge out of favoritism or hostility; their judgments are free from all prejudice. Timothy would not have been as enviable if he had been Paul’s natural son as he was admirable now: without any connection to Paul according to the flesh, he entered the Apostle’s adoptive family through the kinship of piety, faithfully preserving every mark of his spiritual wisdom. Like a young bull yoked to a full-grown bull, he pulled the yoke alongside him wherever in the world he went. His youth did not make him pull any less; his willing spirit made him match his teacher’s labors. Paul himself again testified to this when he said, “Let no one despise him, for he does the Lord’s work just as I do.” Do you see how he testifies that Timothy’s zeal was the very image of his own? 9. Furthermore, so that no one would think he had said these things out of favoritism or affection, he calls on his listeners themselves to testify to his son’s virtue: “But you know his proven character, that as a son with a father, he has served with me in the Gospel.” That is, “You have experienced his virtue and his tested soul.” Yet even after reaching such heights of good works, Timothy did not become self-confident. He was full of anxiety and fear, and so he fasted strictly. He was unlike the many who keep at it for only ten or perhaps twenty months and then immediately give it up altogether. He did nothing of the kind, nor did he say anything like this to himself: “What further need do I have of fasting? I have mastered myself; I have overcome my lusts; I have subdued my body; I have terrified demons; I have driven away the devil; I have raised the dead; I have cleansed lepers; I have become a terror to the hostile powers. What further need do I have of fasting, or of seeking safety that way?” He neither said nor thought anything like this. Instead, the more he abounded in countless good works, the more he feared and trembled. He learned this spiritual wisdom from his teacher. Even Paul, after being caught up into the third heaven and carried to paradise, after hearing words that cannot be spoken and sharing in such mysteries, after traveling the whole world like some winged being, wrote to the Corinthians, saying, I fear “that somehow, after preaching to others, I myself may be disqualified.” And if Paul was afraid after so many remarkable good works—Paul, who could say, “The world is crucified to me, and I to the world”—how much more should we be afraid, especially as we store up more good works? That is when the devil grows fiercer. He becomes more savage when he sees us carefully ordering our lives! When he sees the cargo of virtue packed together and the load growing heavy, he rushes to cause a more terrible shipwreck! An insignificant, lowly man, even if he is tripped up and falls, does not do so much damage to the common cause. But a man who has stood out conspicuously, as though on some summit of virtue, seen and known and admired by everyone, causes great ruin and loss when he is attacked and falls. This is not only because he falls from such a height, but because he makes many who look up to him more careless. So it is with the body: some other limb may be destroyed without very great damage, but if the eyes lose their sight or the head is seriously injured, the whole body becomes useless. We must say the same about the saints and those who have performed the greatest good works. When their light is put out, when they become stained in any way, they bring widespread, unbearable harm on the whole rest of the body! 10. Timothy knew all these things, so he fortified himself on every side. He knew that youth is a difficult age: unstable, easily deceived, very prone to slipping, and in need of an extremely strong bridle. It is like a pile of fuel, easily catching fire from anything outside it and quickly bursting into flames. For that reason he took care to smother it on every side and worked to dampen the flame in every way. He forcefully reined in the unruly, restless horse until he had tamed its wild behavior, made it obedient, and handed it over in complete submission to reason, its charioteer. “Let the body be weak,” he says, “but do not let the soul be weak. Let the flesh be bridled, but do not let the spirit’s race toward heaven be checked.” We might especially marvel at him for this: although so sick and struggling with such weakness, he did not grow indifferent to God’s work. He flew everywhere faster than those with strong, healthy bodies: now to Ephesus, now to Corinth, often to Macedonia and Italy. He appeared everywhere, by land and sea, alongside the Teacher, sharing all his struggles and constant dangers, while his bodily weakness did not put his soul’s spiritual wisdom to shame. That is what zeal for God does! It makes the wings so light! For people with healthy, well-ordered bodies, strength is useless if the soul is cowardly, lazy, and dull. In the same way, people reduced to extreme weakness suffer no harm from their illness if their soul is noble and fully awake. 11. Some people, however, think this advice and counsel authorizes drinking wine too freely. It does not. If we examine this very saying closely, it amounts instead to a recommendation of abstinence. Just consider: Paul did not give this advice at first, at the outset. He gave it when he saw that Timothy’s strength had completely failed, and even then he did not give it without qualification, but placed a limit on it beforehand. He does not simply say, “Use wine,” but “a little” wine. Not because Timothy needed this advice and warning, but because we need it. So, in writing to him, Paul sets the measure and limit of wine drinking for us. He tells Timothy to drink only enough to correct his disorder and bring health to his body, without causing another disease. For excessive wine drinking produces not fewer diseases of body and soul than drinking too much water, but many more and more serious ones. It brings a war of passions and a storm of corrupt thoughts into the mind, besides weakening the body’s firmness and making it slack and limp. Ground long soaked with too much water does not dissolve as much as the strength of the human body is weakened, slackened, and exhausted by continually guzzling wine. Let us guard, then, against excess on either side, caring for the body’s health while pruning away its appetite for luxury. God gave us wine so that we might be sober, not drunk; so that we might be glad, not bring pain on ourselves. “Wine,” it says, “makes the human heart glad,” but you turn it into a cause of sadness. Drunken people are excessively sullen, and great darkness spreads over their thoughts. Wine is the best medicine when its use is guided by the greatest moderation. This passage is also useful against heretics who speak evil of God’s creatures. If wine were among the forbidden things, Paul would not have permitted it or said it should be used. The passage is useful not only against heretics, but also against the simple people among our brothers who, when they see people disgracing themselves through drunkenness, blame the fruit God has given them instead of rebuking the drinkers. They say, “Let there be no wine.” We should answer them, “Let there be no drunkenness! Wine is God’s work, but drunkenness is the devil’s work. Wine does not cause drunkenness; lack of self-control causes it. Do not accuse what God has made; accuse the madness of a fellow mortal. But you neglect to rebuke and correct the sinner, and instead treat your Benefactor with contempt!” 12. So when we hear people saying such things, we should silence them. Drunkenness comes from a lack of moderation, not from using wine. Drunkenness! That root of all evils. Wine was given to relieve the body’s weakness, not to overthrow the soul’s strength; to remove the sickness of the flesh, not to destroy the health of the spirit. So do not use God’s gift excessively and give the foolish and shameless grounds for attack. What is more wretched than drunkenness? A drunken man is a living corpse. Drunkenness is a demon freely chosen, a disease without excuse, a downfall with no defense, a disgrace shared by our whole race. The drunken man is useless not only in our assemblies and in public and private affairs; even the mere sight of him is utterly disgusting, and his breath stinks. The belching, yawning, and speech of drunken people are unpleasant and offensive, utterly repulsive to those who see and speak with them. The worst of these evils is that this disease closes heaven to drunkards and keeps them from attaining eternal blessedness. Besides the shame that those suffering from this disease endure here, a terrible punishment awaits them there! Let us cut off this evil habit, then, and listen to Paul saying, “Use a little wine.” He permits even this little because of Timothy’s illness. If illness had not troubled him, Paul would not have urged his disciple to allow himself even a small amount. We should always measure out even the necessary food and drink we are given according to the occasion and our needs. We must never go beyond our need or do anything thoughtlessly and without purpose. 13. Now that we have learned about Paul’s tender care and Timothy’s virtue, come, let us turn next to actually answering those questions. What were they? We need to state them again so that the answers will be clearer. Why did God allow such a saint, entrusted with managing so many matters, to become sick? And why were neither Timothy himself nor his teacher able to cure the disorder, so that help from drinking wine was needed? These were the questions raised. But we need to give a precise answer, so that if anyone suffers not only similar sickness and disease, but poverty, hunger, chains, torture, setbacks, slander, or any of the evils of this present life, even though they are great and wonderful saints, you will still be able to find in what we say today an exact and very clear answer for those inclined to find fault with their case. You have heard many people ask questions like these: “Why does God allow a decent, gentle man to be dragged before the judgment seat every day by someone lawless and wicked, and to suffer countless evils? And why was another man falsely accused and unjustly put to death?” “One man,” the objector says, “was drowned; another was thrown off a cliff. We could name many saints, both in our own day and in our ancestors’ time, who suffered varied troubles and reversals.” So, to understand the reason for these things, to keep ourselves from being disturbed, and to avoid neglecting others who stumble over them, we should pay close attention to the reasons I am about to give. 14. I have eight reasons to give you, my beloved, for the many different afflictions that happen to the saints. So let everyone listen to me with the closest attention, knowing that afterward we will have no pardon or excuse for stumbling over what happens if, despite so many reasons, we remain as puzzled and troubled as though there were not a single one. The first reason, then, is that God allows them to suffer evil so that the greatness of their good works and miracles will not too easily make them proud and presumptuous. The second is so that others will not form an opinion of them that goes beyond human nature and take them for gods rather than men. The third is so that God’s power may be revealed as it prevails, overcomes, and advances the preached word through the effective work of men who are weak and in chains. The fourth is so that their own endurance may stand out more clearly. They serve God not for a reward, but with such integrity that even after so many evils they prove their undiminished goodwill toward Him. The fifth is so that we may understand the doctrine of a resurrection wisely. When you see a just man, abounding in virtue, suffer ten thousand evils and then leave this present life, you are forced, even against your will, to give some thought to the future judgment. If people do not allow those who have worked for them to leave without wages and compensation, much less can God intend to send away uncrowned those who have worked so hard. But if He cannot intend to deprive them of the eventual reward for their labors, there must be a time after this life ends when they will receive the reward for their present labors. The sixth is so that everyone who falls into adversity may find enough comfort and relief by looking at such people and remembering what they suffered. The seventh is so that when we urge you toward their virtue and say to each of you, “Imitate Paul, strive to equal Peter,” you will not lazily shrink from imitating them because of their extraordinary good works, imagining that they shared a different nature. The eighth is so that when we need to call someone blessed, or the opposite, we may learn whom we should consider happy and whom unhappy and wretched. These, then, are the reasons. But we must establish them all from the Scriptures and show precisely that everything said on this subject is not an invention of human reasoning, but the Scriptures’ own judgment. In this way, what we say will be more worthy of belief and will sink deeper into your minds. 15. To hear that affliction benefits the saints by teaching them moderation and humility, keeping them from becoming puffed up over their miracles and good works, and that God allows it for this purpose, listen to the prophet David and Paul saying the same thing. David says, “It is good for me, Lord, that I have been in trouble, so that I might learn your laws.” And Paul, after saying, “I was caught up into the third heaven, and” carried to Paradise, goes on to say, “And so that I would not become excessively proud because of the abundance of revelations, I was given a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to beat me.” What could be clearer? “So that I would not become excessively proud”: for this reason, he says, God allowed “the messengers of Satan to beat me.” By messengers of Satan he means not individual demons, but people serving the devil: unbelievers, tyrants, and pagans who persistently harassed and constantly troubled him. What he says amounts to this: “God could have stopped these persecutions and successive afflictions. But because I had been caught up into the third heaven and carried to Paradise, He allowed these persecutions so that the abundance of these revelations would not make me proud and conceited. He allowed these messengers of Satan to beat me with persecutions and afflictions so that I would not become too proud.” For although Paul, Peter, and all who are like them are holy and wonderful men—as indeed they are—they are still men. They need great care to keep from becoming too easily proud, and as saints they need it more than others. Nothing is so likely to produce presumptuous pride as a conscience full of good works and a soul that lives in confidence. So, to keep them from suffering anything of this kind, God allowed trials and afflictions. These have great power to keep them humble and persuade them to practice moderation in everything. 16. You can learn from the same Apostle who told us the first point that this very circumstance also does much to reveal God’s power. You must not say (as unbelievers indeed think) that God allows this because He is some weak being, letting such people suffer continually because He cannot rescue His own from danger. Notice, I say, how Paul has demonstrated this very point through these events. He shows that far from accusing Him of weakness, the events proved His power more strikingly to everyone. After saying, “I was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to beat me,” and so indicating his repeated trials, Paul adds, “I pleaded with the Lord three times about this, asking that it might leave me. And He said to me, My grace is enough for you, for My strength is perfected in weakness.” He means, “My power is seen when you are weak, and yet through you, who seem to be growing weak, the preached word is exalted and sown everywhere.” So when Paul was led into the dungeon after receiving many lashes, he took the jailer prisoner. His feet were in the stocks and his hands in chains, and at midnight, while they were singing hymns, the prison shook. Do you see how His power was perfected in weakness? If Paul had been free and had shaken that building, it would not have been so wonderful. “For this reason,” He says, “remain bound, and the walls will shake on every side and the prisoners will be released, so that My power may appear greater when, through you, confined and chained, everyone in chains is set free.” This was precisely what astonished the jailer at the time: although so tightly confined, Paul, through prayer alone, managed to shake the foundations, throw open the prison doors, and release all the prisoners. Nor is this the only occasion. We can see it happening constantly with Peter, Paul himself, and the other disciples: in the midst of persecution, God’s grace is always flourishing and appearing alongside their afflictions, and so proclaiming His power. That is why He says, “My grace is enough for you, for My strength is perfected in weakness.” 17. But to show that many people would be all too ready to imagine them greater than human beings unless they saw them enduring such afflictions, listen to Paul’s fear on this very point: “For even if I wanted to boast, I would not be a fool, but now I hold back, so that no one will think more of me than what he sees me to be or hears about me.” What does he mean? He is saying, “I could speak of far greater miracles, but I do not want to, for fear that the greatness of the miracles would give people too high an opinion of me.” For this reason Peter too, when they had restored the lame man and everyone was marveling at them, restrained the people and persuaded them that they had displayed none of this power by themselves or through their natural strength. He says, “Why are you staring at us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man walk?” Again, at Lystra, the people were not only astonished: they led out bulls crowned with garlands and were preparing to offer sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. Notice the Devil’s malice. Through the very people the Lord was using to purge ungodliness from the world, the enemy tried to bring it back, once again persuading people to take men for gods, as he had done in former times. This, above all, introduced the beginning and root of idolatry. Many people who won wars, set up trophies, built cities, and did various other favors of this kind for the people of their time came to be considered gods by the multitude and were honored with temples and altars. The entire list of Greek gods consists of such men. So, to keep this from happening to the Saints, God allowed them constantly to be exiled, whipped, and struck with diseases. Their many bodily weaknesses and repeated trials would convince those around them both that the people working such wonders were human and that they contributed none of their own power: grace alone worked all these miracles through them. If people took for gods men who had done only petty and worthless things, how much more would they have thought this of men performing miracles no one had ever seen or heard of before, if those men had suffered nothing common to humanity? Even when they were whipped, thrown off cliffs, imprisoned, exiled, and put in danger every day, some people nevertheless fell into this impious belief. How much more would they have been regarded this way if they had endured nothing belonging to human nature! 18. This, then, is the third reason for affliction. The fourth is so that the saints will not be thought to serve God in the hope of prosperity in this life. Many people who live in debauchery, when others repeatedly rebuke them and call them to the labors of virtue, and when they hear the saints praised for their cheerfulness under great hardships, attack their character on this ground. Not only people, but the devil himself has entertained this suspicion. When Job was surrounded by great wealth and enjoyed abundant riches, that wicked demon was reproached by God on Job’s account and had nothing to say. Unable either to answer the accusations against himself or to attack this just man’s virtue, he immediately took refuge in this defense: “Does Job fear you for nothing? Haven’t you put a hedge around him on every side?” “So it is for a reward,” he says, “that this man is virtuous, since he enjoys such great riches through it.” What did God do then? Wanting to show that His saints do not serve Him for a reward, He stripped Job of all his riches, handed him over to poverty, and allowed him to fall into terrible disease. Afterward, rebuking the devil for his groundless suspicion, He says, “He still holds firmly to his integrity; you moved me to destroy his possessions for no reason.” Serving God is itself enough reward and compensation for the saints. For someone who loves, loving the object of his love is reward enough. He seeks nothing else and considers nothing greater. If this is true in relation to a human being, how much more in relation to God? To demonstrate this, God gave more than the devil asked. The devil said, “Stretch out your hand and touch him,” but God did not say that. Instead He said, “I hand him over to you.” In the contests of the world outside the faith, vigorous competitors in excellent physical condition cannot be seen so clearly while wrapped all around in an oil-soaked garment. But when they throw it aside and enter the arena naked, then above all they astonish the spectators on every side with the proportions of their limbs, since nothing conceals them anymore. So it was with Job. While he was wrapped in all that wealth, most people could not see what kind of man he was. But when, like a wrestler stripping off his garment, he threw it aside and came naked to the contests of piety, he astonished everyone who saw him. The very audience of angels shouted at the sight of his soul’s courage and applauded him as he won his crown! As I have already said, people could not see him as clearly when he was clothed in all that wealth as when he cast it off like a garment and displayed himself naked, as though in a theater, in the middle of the world. Everyone admired his soul’s strength, shown not only by his being stripped of everything, but also by his struggle and his patience with his illness. And, as I said before, God Himself did not strike him, so that the devil could not say again, “You have spared him and have not imposed as great a trial as was needed.” Instead, He gave the adversary permission to destroy Job’s cattle and power over his flesh. “I am sure of this wrestler,” He says. “That is why I do not forbid you to impose whatever struggles you want on him.” Those skilled in the sports of the wrestling school, who have reason to trust their skill and bodily strength, often do not seize their opponents in an upright hold or start on equal terms. Instead, they let their opponents seize them around the middle so that they can win a more splendid victory. In the same way, God allowed the devil to seize this saint around the waist, so that when Job overcame him after an attack that put him at such a disadvantage, and stretched his adversary on the ground, his crown would be all the more glorious! 19. It is tested gold! Test it however you want; examine it however you wish: you will find no impurities in it. This not only shows us the courage of others but also brings much further comfort. For what does Christ say? “Blessed are you when people insult and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you for my sake. Rejoice and be very glad, for your reward in heaven is great: for their fathers treated the prophets in the same way.” Again, Paul, writing to the Macedonians and wanting to comfort them, says, “For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Judea. You too suffered the same things from your own countrymen that they suffered from the Jews.” Again, he comforts the Hebrews in the same way, listing all the just people who had lived amid furnaces, pits, deserts, mountains, caves, hunger, and poverty. Shared suffering brings some comfort to those who have fallen. 20. To see that this also provides arguments for the resurrection, listen again to the same Paul: “If I fought with beasts at Ephesus in a merely human way, what will it benefit me if the dead are not raised?” And further, “If we have hope only in this life, we are the most miserable of all people.” We suffer countless evils during this present life, he tells us. If there is no other life to hope for, what could be more wretched than our condition? It is clear, then, that our affairs are not confined within the boundaries of our present existence. Our trials make this plain. God could never allow those who have endured so many great evils and spent this whole present life amid countless trials and dangers to go without compensation in far greater gifts. And if He could not allow this, then He has certainly prepared another, better and brighter life, in which He will crown those who have wrestled for the cause of godliness and proclaim their praises before the whole world. So when you see a just man oppressed and afflicted, sick and poor, and suffering countless other woes until this present life ends, say to yourself: if there were no resurrection and judgment, God would not have allowed someone who endured such great evils for His sake to leave this life without enjoying any good thing. It is clear from this that He has prepared another life for such people, one that is sweeter and much easier to bear. If this were not so, He would not allow many wicked people to live in luxury throughout this present life while many just people remain amid ten thousand troubles. But because another life is provided, in which He is going to repay everyone as they deserve—one for wickedness, another for virtue—He holds back while He sees the former suffering evil and the latter living in luxury. 21. I will also try to establish that other reason from the Scriptures. What was it? That when we are urged to practice the same virtue, we might not say that they shared a different nature or were not human. For this reason, someone speaking of the great Elijah says, “Elijah was a man subject to the same sufferings as we are.” Do you see how he uses shared suffering to show that Elijah was the same kind of human being as we are? And again, “I too am a man subject to the same sufferings as you.” This establishes that we share the same nature. 22. That this also teaches us to consider blessed those whom we ought to consider blessed is clear from the following. When you hear Paul saying, “To this very hour we hunger and thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no settled home,” and again, “The Lord disciplines the one He loves and whips every son He receives,” it is certain that we should applaud those who are afflicted and troubled for God’s sake, rather than those enjoying peace. We should strive to equal those who live virtuously and cultivate piety. For the prophet speaks this way: “Their right hand is a right hand of wickedness. Their daughters are beautiful, adorned like a temple. Their storehouses are full, overflowing from one into another; their sheep are fruitful, abundant in their streets; their oxen are fat. There is no breach in the fence, no passage through, and no outcry in their streets. They call the people blessed whose affairs are in this condition.” But what do you say, prophet? “Blessed,” he says, “are the people whose God is the Lord.” Not a people rich in wealth, but one adorned with godliness: that is the people, he says, I consider happy, even if they suffer countless hardships! 23. If we needed to add a ninth reason, we could say that this affliction makes those who suffer more fully tested and approved: “For affliction produces endurance; and endurance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not put us to shame.” Do you see that the proven character that comes from affliction establishes in us the hope of good things to come, and that remaining steadfast in trials gives us good hope for the future? So I was not speaking rashly when I said that these very afflictions point us toward hopes of a resurrection and make those who are tested better. For, he says, “As gold is tested in a furnace, so an acceptable man is tested in the furnace of humiliation.” 24. There is also a tenth reason to mention. What is it but the one I have often referred to before? Namely, if we have any stains, we remove them in this way. The patriarch made this clear when he said to the rich man, “Lazarus has received his sufferings”; therefore “he is comforted.” Besides this, we can find another reason: our crowns and rewards are increased in this way. The more intense our afflictions, the greater our rewards—indeed, far greater: “For the sufferings of the present time,” it says, “are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Since we have so many reasons to give for the saints’ afflictions, let us not resent our trials or become distressed or disturbed by them. Instead, let us both train our own souls and teach others to do the same. 25. And if, beloved, you see a man living virtuously, holding firmly to spiritual wisdom and pleasing God, yet suffering countless troubles, do not stumble! And if you see someone devoting himself to spiritual affairs and about to accomplish something useful, only to be tripped up, do not lose heart! I know many people often raise a question like this: “One man,” they say, “was making a pilgrimage to a Martyr’s shrine and carrying money to the poor when he was shipwrecked and lost everything. Another, doing the same thing, fell among robbers and barely escaped with his life, leaving the place naked.” What should we say, then? That neither case needs to cause sadness. Even if the first man was shipwrecked, he still has the full fruit of his righteousness, since he did everything that depended on him. He gathered the money, packed it, took it with him, and set off on his pilgrimage. The shipwreck that followed was not his choice. “But why did God allow it?” To prove the man’s worth. “But,” someone says, “the poor lost the money.” You do not care as much for the poor as the God who made them does, do you? If they were deprived of these things, He can provide them with greater wealth from another source. 26. So let us not call Him to account for what He does, but give Him glory in everything. When He often allows such events, He does not do so casually or without purpose. Besides not neglecting those who would have found relief from that wealth, and providing them with another source of support in its place, He also proves the worth of the man who suffers shipwreck more fully and provides him with a greater reward. Giving thanks to God when we fall into such disasters is far greater than giving to the poor. Not only what we give to the poor, but also whatever others take from us, if we bear it courageously, brings us much fruit. To show you that the latter is indeed greater, I will make it clear from what happened to Job. When he possessed wealth, he opened his house to the poor and gave away whatever he had. But he was not as glorious when he opened his house to the poor as when he heard that his house had fallen and did not react impatiently. He was not as glorious when he clothed the naked with the wool of his flock as he was when he heard that fire had fallen and consumed all his flocks, yet gave thanks and became renowned. Before, he was a lover of humanity; now, he was a lover of Wisdom. Before, he had compassion on the poor; now, he gave thanks to the Lord! He did not say to himself, “Why has this happened? The flocks that supported thousands of poor people have been consumed. Even if I was unworthy to enjoy such abundance, He should at least have spared me for the sake of those who shared in it.” 27. Job neither said nor even thought anything of the kind, because he knew God was arranging everything for good. To learn that he struck the devil a heavier blow when he gave thanks after being stripped of everything than when he gave to the poor while still possessing it, notice this: while Job possessed his wealth, the devil could voice a suspicion. However false it was, he could still voice it: “Does Job serve you for nothing?” But when he had taken everything and stripped Job of all he had, and the man still kept the same goodwill toward God, the devil’s shameless mouth was silenced and had no further charge to make. The just man was more glorious than in his former condition. Bearing the loss of everything nobly and thankfully is far greater than giving to the poor while living in wealth, as the case of this just man has demonstrated. Before, he showed great kindness to his fellow servants; now, he showed extraordinary love toward the Lord! 28. I am not extending this discussion without purpose. Many people, while engaged in works of mercy such as supporting widows, have been robbed of everything they owned. Others have lost everything through an accidental fire; some have been shipwrecked; others, through false accusations and similar wrongs, have fallen into extreme poverty, sickness, and disease despite giving generously to the poor, and have received no help from anyone. So, to keep us from saying, as many often do, “No one knows anything,” what has just been said should be enough to clear up all confusion on this point. Suppose someone objects, “A certain man gave generously to the poor and then lost everything.” What if he did lose everything? If he gives thanks for the loss, he will draw down much greater favor from God! He will receive not twice as much, as Job did, but a hundred times as much in the life to come. Even if he suffers evil here, the very fact that he bears everything courageously will bring him greater treasure. God allows him to fall from abundance into poverty in order to call him to more frequent exercises and greater struggles. Has fire seized your house, as often happens, burned it down, and devoured everything you own? Remember what happened to Job. Give thanks to the Lord, who could have prevented it but did not, and you will receive as great a reward as if you had placed all your wealth in the hands of the poor! Do you spend your days in poverty and hunger, amid a thousand dangers? Remember Lazarus, who had to struggle with disease, poverty, loneliness, and countless other trials, even after reaching such a high degree of virtue! Remember the Apostles, who lived in hunger, thirst, and nakedness; the prophets, the patriarchs, the just men. You will find them all among the poor, the afflicted, and the distressed, rather than among the rich or those living in luxury! 29. Say these things to yourself and give thanks to the Lord for making you one of their company. He has done this because He loves you greatly, not because He hates you. He would not have allowed those men to suffer this way either if He had not loved them deeply, because through these evils He made them more glorious. Nothing is so good as thanksgiving, just as nothing is worse than blasphemy. We should not be surprised when we devote ourselves to spiritual things and suffer many painful troubles. Thieves do not dig through walls and keep constant watch where there is hay, chaff, and straw, but where there is gold and silver. In the same way, the devil especially attacks those engaged in spiritual matters. Where there is virtue, there are many snares! Where people give to the poor, there is envy! But we have one weapon that is the best and is enough to repel all such assaults: giving thanks to God in everything. Tell me, did not Abel fall by his brother’s hand while offering the first fruits to God? Yet God allowed it, not because He hated the man who had honored Him, but because He loved him greatly. Besides the crown that came from that excellent sacrifice, He provided him with another through martyrdom. Moses wanted to protect someone who was being wronged, and he was put in the gravest danger and exiled from his country. God allowed this too, so that you might learn the endurance of the saints. If we set our hands to the work of religion knowing beforehand that we would suffer nothing painful, we would not seem to be doing anything great, since we had such a guarantee of safety. As it is, those who do such things deserve all the more admiration for this very reason: though they foresee dangers, punishments, deaths, and ten thousand evils, they still do not abandon those good works or grow less zealous because of the terrors they expect. 30. So the Three Children said, “There is a God in heaven who can deliver us; and if not, let it be known to you, king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image you have set up.” You too, when you are about to perform any duty to God, should expect many dangers, many punishments, many deaths. Do not be surprised or disturbed if such things happen. For it says, “My Son, if you come to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for trial.” Surely no one who chooses to fight expects to carry off the crown without wounds! You too, then, who have undertaken to fight the devil in a contest of both wrestling and boxing, must not expect a life free from danger and full of luxury! God has not pledged you His reward and His promise here, but everything splendid for you in the life to come! So be glad and rejoice if you do something good and receive the opposite in return, or if you see someone else suffering this, since it becomes a source of greater reward for you! Do not lose heart, give up your zeal, or grow more sluggish. Instead, press on more eagerly. Even the Apostles, when they preached, though whipped, stoned, and constantly imprisoned, proclaimed the message of Truth with greater eagerness not only after escaping dangers but amid those very dangers. We see Paul in prison, even in chains, teaching and baptizing people, and doing the same in a court of justice, in shipwreck, in a storm, and amid a thousand dangers. You too should imitate these saints and never stop doing good as long as you are able. Even if you see the devil obstructing you ten thousand times, never retreat! Perhaps you have been shipwrecked while carrying your wealth. But Paul, carrying the word, which is far more precious than all wealth, was traveling to Rome when he was shipwrecked and endured countless hardships. He himself indicated this when he said, “Many times we wanted to come to you, but Satan hindered us.” God allowed it, revealing His power all the more fully and showing that all the things the devil did or prevented from being done neither diminished nor interrupted the preaching of the Gospel. For this reason Paul gave thanks to God in everything. Knowing that through this his worth was being proved more fully, he showed his extraordinary eagerness on every occasion, allowing none of these obstacles to stop him! 31. So whenever we are frustrated in spiritual works, let us take them up again. Let us not say, “Why did God allow these obstacles?” He allowed them to show others your eagerness and your great love much more clearly. This is the special mark of someone who loves: never to stop doing what pleases the one he loves. A weak, indifferent person will retreat at the first blow. But someone energetic and alert, even if hindered a thousand times, will devote himself all the more to the things of God, doing everything he can and giving thanks in everything. Let us do this! Thanksgiving is a great treasure, abundant wealth, a good that cannot be taken away, a powerful weapon! Blasphemy, on the other hand, increases our present misfortune and makes us lose much more besides what we have already lost. Have you lost money? If you have been thankful, you have gained your soul and obtained greater wealth by acquiring a greater measure of God’s favor. But if you blaspheme, you have also lost your own salvation without regaining your wealth. Indeed, you have sacrificed even the soul you possessed! 32. Since our discussion has now turned to blasphemy, I want to ask one favor of you all in return for this address and my conversation with you: correct the blasphemers of this city on my behalf. If you hear anyone blaspheming God on a public street or in the forum, go up and rebuke him. If it becomes necessary to strike him, do not hold back. Hit him in the face; strike his mouth; sanctify your hand with the blow. If anyone accuses you and drags you to court, go with them. When the judge on the bench calls you to account, say boldly that the man blasphemed the King of angels! If those who blaspheme an earthly king must be punished, how much more those who insult God? It is a crime against everyone, an injury to the public, and anyone willing is legally entitled to bring an accusation. Let the Jews and Greeks learn that Christians are the city’s saviors: its guardians, protectors, and teachers. Let the dissolute and corrupt learn this too: they must also fear God’s servants. If they are ever inclined to say such a thing, let them look around in every direction at one another and tremble even at their own shadows, worried that a Christian may have heard them and might spring on them and punish them severely. Haven’t you heard what John did? He saw a tyrant overturning the laws of marriage and boldly proclaimed in the middle of the forum, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother Philip’s wife.” But I am not urging you to act against a ruler or judge, or against a violation of the law of marriage, or on behalf of fellow servants who have been insulted. I am asking you to punish an equal for insolence toward the Lord. Truly, if I had told you to punish and correct kings or judges who break the laws, wouldn’t you say I was mad? Yet John actually did this. So even this is not too much for us. Now, then, at least correct a fellow servant, an equal. Even if you must die, do not shrink from disciplining a brother. This is your martyrdom, since John too was a martyr. Although he was not ordered to sacrifice or worship an idol, he gave up his head for the sacred laws that were being despised. You too, then, must contend for the truth even to death, and God will fight for you! Do not give me this cold reply: “What does it matter to me? I have nothing in common with him.” We have nothing in common with the devil alone, but with all people we have many things in common. They share our nature, inhabit the same earth, and are nourished by the same food. They have the same Lord, have received the same laws, and are invited to the same blessings as we are. So let us not say we have nothing in common with them. That is satanic speech, devilish inhumanity. Let us not utter such words, but show the tender care that brothers should! 33. For my part, I promise with the greatest certainty and pledge to you all that if everyone here simply chooses to take responsibility for the salvation of this city’s inhabitants, we will soon reform the whole city. This is true even though only the smallest part of the city is here: the smallest in number, but the foremost in piety. Let us take responsibility for our brothers’ salvation! One person burning with zeal is enough to reform a whole community! When not just one, two, or three, but so great a multitude can care for the neglected, it is entirely through our own laziness, rather than any lack of strength, that the majority perish and fall. Isn’t it absurd? When we happen to see a fight in the forum, we step into the middle and reconcile the fighters! But why speak of a fight? If we happen to see a donkey that has fallen, we all hurry to lend a hand and raise it up. Yet we neglect our brothers who are perishing! The blasphemer is a donkey: unable to bear the burden of his anger, he has fallen. Step forward and raise him up, by words and deeds, by gentleness and force. Use a variety of medicines. If we do our own part in this way and take pains for our neighbors’ salvation, we will soon be sought out and loved by the very people who benefit from our correction. And greatest of all, we will enjoy the good things stored up for us. May God grant that we all obtain them, by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom and with whom, to the Father with the Holy Spirit, be glory and power and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.