Patristic Wisdom: Looking to Pentecost

So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again. But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Moses my lord, forbid them!” Then Moses said to him, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel. (Num 11:24–30)

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1–4)

This Spirit descended upon the seventy elders in Moses’ day; my object is to prove that He knows all things and works as He will. The seventy elders were chosen: “The Lord then came down in the cloud, and taking some of the spirit that was on Moses, he bestowed it on the seventy elders”; not that the Spirit was divided, but His grace was divided according to the vessels and the capacity of the recipients. Now there were sixty-eight present, and they prophesied; Eldad and Medad were not present. To make it clear that it was not Moses who bestowed the gift, but the Spirit who wrought, Eldad and Medad, who had been called but had not yet presented themselves, also prophesied.

Joshua, the son of Nun and successor of Moses, was amazed, and coming to Moses said to him: Have you heard that Eldad and Medad are prophesying? They were called and did not come forward; “Moses, my lord, stop them.” I cannot forbid them, he said, for the grace is from heaven. So far am I from forbidding them that I consider it a favor. But I think you have not spoken thus in envy. Be not overzealous on my account, because they have prophesied, and you do not yet prophesy. Await the proper time. “Would that all the people of the Lord might prophesy, whenever the Lord shall give them his spirit.” He spoke the words “whenever the Lord shall give,” prophetically. For He has not given it as yet; so you do not have it yet. Did not Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph have His spirit? Did not the men of old have it? It is clear that the words, “whenever the Lord shall give,” means “give to all”; now the grace is partial, then it shall be granted profusely. He intimated what was to come to pass among us on the day of Pentecost; for He Himself came down among us. He had come down before upon many, it is true; for it is written: “Now Josue, the son of Nun, was filled with the spirit of wisdom, since Moses had laid his hands upon him.” Note the same ceremonial everywhere, both in the Old and the New Testament. In Moses’ day the Spirit was given by the imposition of hands; and Peter imparted the Spirit by the imposition of hands. Upon you also, who are to be baptized, the grace will come. In what manner I do not say, for I do not anticipate the proper time.

Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 16.25–26

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventh Sunday of Easter

Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.” (John 17:1–11)

“Father, glorify Me with Yourself with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.” Now, where is that glory? For, granted that He was with good reason without glory in the eyes of men because of His being clad in the flesh, why did He seek to be glorified with God? What, then, did He mean here? His words concerned the Incarnation, since His human nature had not yet been glorified, nor did it as yet enjoy incorruptibility, nor share in the royal throne. That is why He did not say “on the earth,” but “with Yourself.”

We also shall enjoy this glory in our own measure, if we are watchful. That is why Paul said: “Provided we suffer with him that we also may be glorified with him.” Therefore, since such great glory is available to us, those who act as their own enemies by laziness and torpor are deserving of infinite pity. Even if there were no hell, they would be most wretched of all because, though they could reign and be glorified with the Son of God, they are depriving themselves of these blessings.

Indeed, if it were necessary to be slain, or to die ten thousand deaths, or to give up ten thousand lives and just as many bodies every day, ought we not to endure such great sufferings for the sake of obtaining such great glory? In actual fact, however, we do not even despise our wealth, though we shall later be deprived of it, even if we are unwilling. We do not despise our riches, though they remain in this world and are not our own. For we merely have the management of things that are not our own, even if we inherit them from our ancestors.

However, since in reality hell is in store, and the worm that dies not, and unquenchable fire, and gnashing of teeth, how shall we bear these, may I ask? Why are we not clear-sighted, but instead waste all our resources in daily strife and struggles and senseless discussions; feeding the earth, fattening our bodies, and taking no care of our souls; making no account of necessary things, but taking great thought for superfluous and vain matters? We build elaborate tombs, and purchase costly houses, and trail along with us crowds of all sorts of servants; we deliberate about different overseers: placing officials in charge of fields, houses, money—and officials in charge of these officials—but we do not confer about our desolate soul.

Now, what will be the end of all this? Do we not have only one stomach to fill? Do we not have only one body to clothe? Then, why this undue bustle about business matters? What in the world is it? And why do we divide up the soul which we have been allotted and tear it into pieces for the administering of such matters, conjuring up a harsh slavery for ourselves?

John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John 80

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixth Sunday of Easter

If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. (John 14:15–21)

“In the first place,” he says, “it is appropriate for you to ask because you love Me and demonstrate your love by observing My commandments. And, because you are so disposed, I will confer the grace of the Holy Spirit so that you may always have it with you to teach you the truth.” He says another Paraclete, that is, another instructor, referring to Him as the Paraclete, meaning the comforter who will teach in times of tribulation, because the Spirit, through His grace, will lighten the sufferings inflicted upon them by humanity as He consoles them, through His gifts, and enables them to endure their afflictions, which is what actually happened. Indeed the more His disciples feared death previously, the more they rejoiced in tribulations after the descent of the Spirit. He calls Him the Spirit of truth, because He teaches nothing but the truth, since He is never inclined toward truth’s opposite that might otherwise cause Him to teach anything different from the truth. He also refers to the Spirit as another because while He [Jesus] was among them, He certainly filled this same role for them as well. In addition, they received from the Holy Spirit the confirmation of all those things that He had taught them when He was present, as our Lord also indicated, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witness in Jerusalem, in all Judea and among the Samaritans, and all nations.”

Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on John 6.14.17

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifth Sunday of Easter

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” (John 14:1–4)

But in bidding them not be troubled, He placed them as it were on the borderland betwixt hope and fear: so that, if they fell into weakness and suffering in their human frailty, the hope of His clemency might help them to recovery; while the fear of stumbling might urge them to fall but seldom, since they had not yet been endowed with the power never to fail at all, not having as yet been clothed with the power from above, from on high, I mean the grace that comes through the Spirit. He bids them therefore not to be troubled, teaching them at once that it was fitting that those who were prepared for the conflict, and ready to enter on the struggles for the sake of the glory that is on high, should be altogether superior to feelings of cowardice: for an untroubled mind is a great help towards a courageous temper.…

He is making an able soldier out of one who but now was a coward, and while the disciples were smarting with the anxieties of fear He bids them take to themselves the terrible power of faith. For thus are we safe, and not otherwise, according surely to the song of the Psalmist: The Lord is my light and my savior; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the shield of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? For if the all-powerful God fights for us and shields us, who could ever have power to harm us? And who will by any chance advance to such a height of power as to keep the elect in subjection to him, and to force them to submit to the evil designs of his perverse imagination? Or who could take by his spear and lead captive those that wear the panoply of God? Faith therefore is a weapon whose blade is stout and broad, that drives away all cowardice that may spring from expectation of coming suffering, and that renders the darts of evil-doers utterly void of effect and utterly profitless of success in their temptations.…

Therefore if the mansions in God the Father’s home had not been many in number, He would have said that He was going on before them, namely to prepare beforehand the habitations of the saints: but knowing that there are many such, already fully prepared and awaiting the arrival of those who love God, He says that He will depart not for this purpose, but for the sake of securing the way to the mansions above, to prepare a passage of safety for you, and to smooth the path that was impassable in old time. For heaven was then utterly inaccessible to mortal man, and no flesh as yet had ever trodden that pure and all-holy realm of the angels; but Christ was the first Who consecrated for us the means of access to Himself, and granted to flesh a way of entrance into heaven; presenting Himself as an offering to God the Father, as it were the first-fruits of them that are asleep and are lying in the tomb, and the first of mankind that ever appeared in heaven.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John 9