Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the First Sunday in Advent

The word that came to Isaiah son of Amoz about Judea and about Jerusalem: That the mountain of the Lord will be evident in the last days, and the house of God will be at the top of the mountains, and it will be raised above the hills, and all the nations will come to it. And many nations will go and will say, “Come on and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and into the house of the God of Jacob; and He will proclaim His way to us, and we will walk in it.” For a law will come out from Zion and a word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations and will refute a great people, and they will break their swords into plows and their spears into sickles. And no nation will take a sword against a nation, and they will no longer study to make war. (Isaiah 2:1–4 LXX)

The prophetic Spirit foretells the conversion of the Gentiles to God. Then, after these statements about the new law and word, he turns his thoughts towards the new mountain and house of God, to which God will come when those of foreign tribes (he says, Gentiles) who have abandoned the gods of their ancestors come to know the God of the prophets, the one whom the prophets call the God of Jacob. And he gives the clearest sign of the time when these things will be accomplished. The sign will be that the gospel of peace will then be preached to every nation, and there will no longer be districts and governments, neither will nations form factions and rise up against each other, nor will the cities of various nation-states go to war and fight with one another. Everyone everywhere will live in harmony and peace. No longer will those who till the earth have any forethought for swords and instruments of war as in the old days, which they used to practice because of the frequent uprisings of their neighbors. These things were fulfilled right after the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.…

The mountain of God may be understood in various ways. Like the Jewish people who read the Scriptures literally, one could assume that it is the land of Palestine. But according to the deeper meaning, according to the final word, the high and heavenly and angelic word of God and the divine apostle of the “heavenly” Zion teaches that it is “the Jerusalem above, which is the mother of us all.” This mountain was not manifest to the men of old, but the divine Spirit prophesies that it will be manifest to all nations in the last days, when Christ would “appear to put away sin.” Therefore all nations—“both Greeks and barbarians,” which indeed turn from the error of polytheism and from the literal mountains which were in ancient times thought to be dedicated to demons or to the gods—will strive after the God who is proclaimed in revelation. For this reason, as though speaking one to another, he says: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will declare to us His way, and we will walk in it. And so the Word promises to the nations that He will make the mountain and the house of God manifest in the heavens and known to all who are instructed.

Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on Isaiah 2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Last Sunday of the Year

God is our refuge and power;
        A help in afflictions that severely befall us.
Therefore we will not fear when the earth is troubled,
        And when the mountains are removed into the hearts of the seas.
Their waters roared and were troubled;
        The mountains were troubled by His might. (Ps 45:2–4 LXX; [Ps 46:1–3])

To him who is able to say: I can do all things in him, Christ, who strengthens me, God is strength. Now, it is the privilege of many to say: God is our refuge, and Lord, thou hast been our refuge. But, to say it with the same feelings as the prophet is the privilege of few. For, there are few who do not admire human interests but depend wholly upon God and breathe Him and have all hope and trust in Him. And our actions convict us whenever in our afflictions we run to everything else rather than to God. Is a child sick? You look around for an enchanter or one who puts superstitious marks on the necks of the innocent children; or finally, you go to a doctor and to medicines, having neglected Him who is able to save. If a dream troubles you, you run to the interpreter of dreams. And, if you fear an enemy, you cunningly secure some man as a patron. In short, in every need you contradict yourself—in word, naming God as your refuge; in act, drawing on aid from useless and vain things. God is the true aid for the righteous man. Just as a certain general, equipped with a noble heavy-armed force, is always ready to give help to an oppressed district, so God is our Helper and an Ally to everyone who is waging war against the wiliness of the devil, and He sends out ministering spirits for the safety of those who are in need. Moreover, affliction will find every just man because of the established way of life. He who avoids the wide and broad way and travels the narrow and close one will be found by tribulations. The prophet formed the statement vividly when he said; In troubles which have found us exceedingly. For, they overtake us like living creatures, working out endurance, and through endurance tried virtue, and through tried virtue hope. Whence also, the Apostle said: Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And Many are the afflictions of the just. But, he who generously and calmly endures the trial of affliction will say: In all these things we overcome because of him who has loved us. And he is so far from refusing and shrinking from the afflictions that he makes the excessive evils an occasion of glory, saying: And not only this, but we exult in tribulations also.

Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms 18.2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost

And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near. (Luke 21:25–28)

“Watch” over your life. Do not let “your lamps” go out, and do not keep “your loins ungirded,” but “be ready,” for “you do not know the hour when our Lord is coming.” Meet together frequently in your search for what is good for your souls, since “a lifetime of faith will be of no advantage” to you unless you prove perfect at the very end. In the final days, multitudes of false prophets and seducers will appear. Sheep will turn into wolves, and love into hatred. With the increase of iniquity, people will hate, persecute and betray each other. Then the world deceiver will appear in the disguise of God's Son. He will work “signs and wonders,” and the earth will fall into his hands. He will commit outrages such as have never occurred before. Then humankind will come to the fiery trial, “and many will fall away” and perish. “Those who persevere in their faith will be saved” by the Curse himself. Then “there will appear the signs” of the Truth: first the sign of stretched-out hands in heaven, then the sign of “a trumpet's blast,” and third, the resurrection of the dead, but not all the dead. As it has been said, “The Lord will come and all his saints with him. Then the world will see the Lord coming on the clouds of the sky.”

Didache 16.1–7

He says that they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Christ will not come secretly or obscurely but as God and Lord in glory suitable for deity. He will transform all things for the better. He will renew creation and refashion the nature of people to what it was at the beginning. He said, “When these things come to pass, lift up your heads and look upward, for your redemption is near.” The dead will rise. This earthly and infirm body will put off corruption and will clothe itself with incorruption by Christ's gift. He grants those that believe in him to be conformed to the likeness of his glorious body.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke 139

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to All Saints' Sunday

Sing to the Lord a new song.
        His praise is in the assembly of holy ones.
Let Israel be gladdened in the One who made him,
        and let the children of Zion rejoice exceedingly in their King.
Let them praise His name in dance;
        with tambourine and harp let them sing psalms to Him,
because the Lord is well pleased with His people,
        and He will raise up the humble in salvation.
Holy ones will boast in glory,
        and they will rejoice exceedingly in their beds,
the heights of God in their throat
        and double-edged swords in their hands,
to enact vengeance among the nations,
        reproof among the peoples,
to bind their kings in fetters
        and those held in esteem among them in iron handcuffs,
to enact among them written judgment.
        This is glory to all His holy ones. (Psalm 149:1–9 LXX)

What greater strength is there than to bestow such great power on His saints that by His gift they gain victories over their enemies? But when he says: The saints shall rejoice in glory: they shall be joyful in their beds, they now attain the happy status which embraces the joys of the saints and the power of those who believe in Christ. But let us now observe how the saints’ rejoicing is described. Glory denotes repeated praise consisting of good deeds; the just rejoice in it in their beds, that is, in the depths of their hearts. As Paul puts it: For our glory is this: the testimony of our conscience; for they rejoice in the region accessible only to the knowledge of Him who deigned to bestow it. They rejoice particularly since they weigh the fact that they have a Lord whose goodness finds expression in bestowing pardon on the guilty, grace on sinners, enduring glory on the undeserving. By contrast the foolish person in this world departs from himself, rejoices in people’s gossip, and imagines that he deserves the praise with which lying words exalt him. So the saints have a doctrine of glorying, and put limits to their joy, ascribing to Him all the blessings which He bestows. If there is no limit put on happiness, there is no joy, but destruction.

Earlier he said that the saints rejoice in their beds; now he says that the Lord’s rejoicings are set in their throats, the sense being that they never cease to praise whether in thought or in tongue Him from whom they obtain eternal gifts. He also moves on to explain the power that they wield, with the words: And two-edged swords in their hands. The two-edged sword is the word of the Lord Savior, of which Christ Himself says in the gospel: I have come not to send peace to the earth, but a sword. It is two-edged because it contains the two Testaments. First it separated Jews from Gentiles; subsequently it segregated and cut off only the Christians from the enticements of the whole world. There is one sword, but two ways of cutting which He grants to the chosen peoples at various selected moments of time. So the prophet says that these swords are in their hands, in other words, in the power of the saints; as Scripture has it: The word of the Lord came to the hand of Haggai the prophet. So the blessed ones will assume this power and pass judgment in company with the Lord; as Scripture says: You shall sit on twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. For note what follows: To execute vengeance upon the nations, chastisements among the people. This truly takes place when they shall judge in company with the Lord.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 149.5–7

Clothed and Cleansed

On separate occasions over the past month, I have been presented two scripture passages related to baptism or washing that caused me to take pause because they demonstrate that integral relation of baptism to salvation.

Clothed

The first passage came from studying Galatians. In chapter three, St. Paul establishes that God had made a promise to Abraham and his Seed (Christ). The Law was later given to service as a combination guardian and tutor to point us to Christ through whom we are justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we no longer need that guardian/tutor:

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Gal 3:26–27)

Notice the apostle’s argument: we have passed from childhood to maturity and family responsibility through faith in Christ. This is all well and good, but then he states that we are sons because we put on Christ through baptism. The immediate objection I anticipate is that someone will object that we become a son of God by faith, not through baptism. I say why not both? Faith and baptism are not antithetical here, rather they are linked together and cannot be separated. How do we resolve the tension that has arisen in American evangelicalism that a person comes to faith in Christ at one point, then follows some months later with baptism as an outward demonstration of an inward reality? Simply by pointing out that this separation and distinction are improper. Baptism is not a subsequent work. In order for it to be a work, you or I would need to be the active agent, but baptism is received, therefore in every way passive.

Cleansed

The second passage is:

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:19–22)

This does not explicitly mention baptism, but notice that the language uses water imagery to describe what has been mentioned above. First, our hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience. What can this be but the “circumcision made with hands” that St. Paul describes in Colossians or what Moses promised the people of Israel if they return to God after falling way?

And the Lord your God will purify your heart and the heart of your seed, to love the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul, that you may live. (Deut 30:6)

Second, our bodies are washed with pure water. In the Mosaic Law, washing was an act of purification to remove uncleanness. This could be performed on common household items (Lev 13) or individuals (Lev 14)—especially those set aside for the tabernacle, both priests (Exod 29) and Levites (Num 8). Without cleansing, the item or person must be cast out. To apply it on a personal level, then, the only way to attain usefulness is through an external washing. This being the case, without both an internal and external washing, we have no direct access to God’s presence.