Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday in Lent

Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, “Who do men say that I am?” So they answered, “John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.” Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:27–38)

Do you wish to follow Christ? Be humble where He was humble; do not despise His humility if you wish to reach His height. Truly, the path became rough when man sinned, but it is smooth since Christ through His Resurrection trod upon it and made a royal road out of the exceedingly narrow path. Men run upon this way with two feet, that is, through humility and charity. Loftiness delights all men on it, but humility is the first step. Why do you stretch your foot beyond you? You want to fall, not to rise. Begin with the first step, that is, with humility, and you have risen.

For this reason our Lord and Savior not only said: Let him deny himself, but He added: take up his cross, and follow me. What does this mean, take up his cross? Let him bear whatever is troublesome: thus let him follow Me. When he has begun to follow Me according to My morals and precepts, he will have many people who contradict him and stand in his way, many who not only deride but even persecute him. Moreover, this is true, not only of pagans who are outside of the Church, but also of those who seem to be in it corporally but are outside of it because of the perversity of their deeds. Although these men glory in merely the title of Christian, they continually persecute good Christians. Such men belong to the members of the Church in the same way that bad blood is in the body. Therefore, if you wish to follow Christ, do not delay in carrying His cross; tolerate sinners, but do not yield to them. Do not let the false happiness of the wicked corrupt you. You ought to despise all things for the sake of Christ, in order that you may deserve to arrive at His companionship. The world is loved, but let the One who made the world be preferred to it. The world is beautiful, but much fairer is the One by whom the world was made. The world is flattering, but more delightful is He by whom the world was created.

Caesarius of Arles, Sermons 159.4–5

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the First Sunday in Lent

Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you did this thing, and for My sake did not spare your beloved son, I will certainly bless you, and assuredly multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore; and your seed shall inherit the cities of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you obeyed My voice.” (Genesis 22:15–18 LXX)

In the former promise there was only the statement; here an oath is interposed, which the holy Apostle writing to the Hebrews interprets in this way, saying: “God, meaning to show the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed an oath.” And again, Scripture says: “Men swear by one greater than themselves.” “But God, because he had no one greater by whom he might swear,” “ ‘I swear by myself,’ said the Lord.” It was not that necessity forced God to swear (for who would exact the oath from him?), but as the apostle Paul has interpreted it, that by this he might point out to his worshipers “the immutability of his counsel.” So also elsewhere it is said by the prophet: “The Lord has sworn nor will he repent: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

At that time in the first promise there is no reason stated why the promise is given, only that he brought him forth and “showed him,” Scripture says, “the stars of heaven, and said: ‘So shall your seed be.’ ” But now he adds the reason on account of which he confirms with an oath the promise which will be steadfast. For he says: “Because you have done this thing and have not spared your son.” He shows, therefore, that because of the offering or passion of the son the promise is steadfast. This clearly points out that the promise remains steadfast because of the passion of Christ for the people of the gentiles “who are of the faith of Abraham.”

Origen, Homilies on Genesis 9.1

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Transfiguration

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid. And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves. Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead. (Mark 9:2–9)

Make an effort, and do not grow weary of my prolonged discourse. For as when He manifests Himself, He is not manifested as He really is, nor is His bare essence manifested (for no man has seen God in His real nature; for when He is but partially revealed the Cherubim tremble—the mountains smoke, the sea is dried up, the heaven is shaken, and if the revelation were not partial who could endure it?) as then, I say, He does not manifest Himself as He really is, but only as the beholder is able to see Him, therefore does He appear sometimes in the form of old age, sometimes of youth, sometimes in fire, sometimes in air, sometimes in water, sometimes in armor, not altering his essential nature, but fashioning His appearance to suit the various condition of those who are affected by it. In like manner also when any one wishes to say anything concerning Him he employs human illustrations. For instance I say: "He went up into the mountain and He was transfigured before them, and His countenance shone as the sun, and His raiment became white as snow." He disclosed, it is said, a little of the Godhead, He manifested to them the God dwelling among them "and He was transfigured before them." Attend carefully to the statement. The writer says and He was transfigured before them, and His raiment shone as the light, and His countenance was as the sun. When I said "such is His greatness and power" and added "be merciful to me O Lord," (for I do not rest satisfied with the expression but am perplexed, having no other framed for the purpose) I wish you to understand, that I learned this lesson from Holy Scripture. The evangelist then wished to describe His splendor and he says "He shone." How did He shine? Tell me. Exceedingly. And how do you express this? He shone "as the sun." As the sun do you say? Yea. Wherefore? Because I know not any other luminary more brilliant. And He was white do you say as snow? Wherefore as snow? Because I know not any other substance which is whiter. For that He did not really shine thus is proved by what follows: the disciples fell to the ground. If he had shone as the sun the disciples would not have fallen; for they saw the sun every day, and did not fall: but inasmuch as he shone more brilliantly than the sun or snow, they, being unable to bear the splendor, fell to the earth.

Tell me then, O evangelist, did He shine more brightly than the sun, and yet do you say, "as the sun?" Yea: wishing to make that light known to you, I know not any other greater luminary, I have no other comparison which holds a royal place among luminaries. I have said these things that you may not rest contentedly in the poverty of the language used: I have pointed out to you the fall of the disciples: they fell to the earth, and were stupefied and overwhelmed with slumber. "Arise" He said, and lifted them up, and yet they were oppressed. For they could not endure the excessive brightness of that shining, but heavy sleep took possession of their eyes: so far did the light which was manifested exceed the light of the sun. Yet the evangelist said "as the sun," because that luminary is familiar to us and surpasses all the rest.

John Chrysostom, Homily 2 on Eutropius 10–11

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship. What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. (1 Cor 9:16–27)

Paul is free from all men because he preached the gospel without getting any praise for it and never wanted anything from anyone except their salvation. He has not accepted large sums of money to spend on himself, which would have been sheer hypocrisy. He says that he has acted as a slave to all in order to show by his humility that he was not unlike anyone who is weak in his thinking. Paul wanted to strengthen them by patience for their future salvation by showing his great concern for those who were sinning or who were being slow to follow the commands of their faith. All along, his main aim was that they should not feel bitter resentment at being rebuked.

Did Paul merely pretend to be all things to all men, in the way that flatterers do? No. He was a man of God and a doctor of the spirit who could diagnose every pain, and with great diligence he tended them and sympathized with them. We have something or other in common with everyone, and this is what Paul brought out in dealing with particular people. He became a Jew to the Jews in that he circumcised Timothy, because that was a scandal to them, and when he went to the temple he practiced the rite of purification, so that the Jews would not be given an opportunity to blaspheme on his account. He performed an action which by its nature should have been obsolete, but he acted in accordance with the law. He agreed with the Jews that the law and the prophets were from God, and on that basis he showed them that Christ was the promised one. He agreed with them, in other words, in order to get them to accept his teaching. …

Paul became weak by abstaining from things which would scandalize the weak. Here he shows the true marks of a wise and spiritual man, because having become all things to all men, he nevertheless did not transgress the bounds of his faith. When he made allowances, he did so in order to do good, but he never did anything other than what the law commanded. Paul did all these things in order to share in God’s plan for the salvation of the human race.

Ambrosiaster, Commentary on 1 Corinthians 19–20, 22–23