Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched—where

“Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.”

And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched—where

“Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.”

And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire—where

“Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.”

For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another. (Mark 9:38–50)

If today a man is thrown out of the assembly of this church because of some wicked deed, in how much grief and tribulation will his soul be? If it causes unbearable pain to be thrown out of this church, where the one who is rejected can eat and drink and speak with men and has the hope of deserving to be called back again to the church, how much pain do we think there will be if, because of his sins, a man is separated from that Church which is in heaven, segregated from the assembly of the angels and the company of all the saints? For such a man it will not be enough punishment for him to be cast outside, but in addition he will be shut out into the night, to be consumed by an eternal fire. The man who has merited to be shut out of that heavenly Jerusalem will not only have for punishment the fact that he will not be able to eat or drink, but he will also suffer the flames of hell, “where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.” There will be the wailing of lamentation and repentance without any remedy, that worm too which does not die, and the fire which is not extinguished; there death is sought as an end to torment, and it is not found. Why is death sought and not found in hell? Because those who are unwilling to accept life in this world when it is offered to them will seek death in hell and will not be able to find it. There will be night without the light of day, bitterness without pleasure, darkness without light. There neither riches nor parents nor spouses nor children nor neighbors will be able to help a man.

Caesarius of Arles, On the Feast of a Church [Sermon 227.4]

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it. For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.” But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him. Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.” (Mark 9:30–37)

Let vanity not be known among you; rather, let simplicity and harmony and a guileless attitude weld the group together. Let each persuade himself that he is not only inferior to the brother at his side, but to all men. If he knows this, he will truly be a disciple of Christ. For, as the Savior says: “Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.” And again: “If any man wishes to be first among you, he will be last of all”; and the servant of all: “for the Son of man has not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” And the apostle: “For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord; and ourselves merely as your servants in Jesus.” Knowing, then, the fruits of humility and the penalty of conceit, imitate the Master by loving one another and do not shrink from death or any other punishment for the good of each other. But the way which God entered upon for you, do you enter upon for Him, proceeding with one body and one soul to the invitation from above, loving God and each other. For love and fear of the Lord are the first fulfillment of the law.

Gregory of Nyssa, On the Christian Mode of Life 8

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?” Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:14–29)

So much did the apostles realize that everything which pertains to salvation was bestowed on them by the Lord that they asked for faith itself to be given them by the Lord when they said: “Increase our faith,” for they did not presume that its fullness would come from free will but believed that it would be conferred on them by a gift of God. The Author of human salvation teaches us how even our faith is unstable and weak and by no means sufficient unto itself, unless it has been strengthened by the Lord’s help, when he says to Peter: “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has sought to sift you like wheat, but I have asked my Father that your faith might not fail.” Someone else, finding that this was happening in himself, and seeing that his faith was being driven onto the rocks of a disastrous shipwreck by the waves of unbelief, asked the same Lord for help with his faith when he said: “Lord, help my unbelief.” So much did the evangelical and apostolic men realize that every good thing is accomplished by the Lord’s help, and so certain were they that they could not by their own power and free will preserve their faith itself unharmed, that they besought this as a help and a gift to them from the Lord.

John Cassian, Conference of Abba Paphnutius: On the Three Resurrections 16:1–2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Give comfort, fainthearted in mind! Be strong; do not be frightened! Look, our God is repaying judgment, and he will repay! He himself will come and save us! Then blind people’s eyes will be opened, and dumb people’s ears will hear. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the stammerer’s tongue will be clear, because water has broken forth in the desert, and a ravine in a thirsting land. And the waterless place will turn into marshes, and there will be a spring of water in the thirsty land; there birds’ happiness will be a dwelling of reed and marshes. (Isaiah 35:4–7 LXX)

Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” (Mark 7:31–37)

Now what can [those who deny the incarnation] say to this, or how can they dare to face this at all? For the prophecy not only indicated that God is to sojourn here but also announces the signs and the time of his coming. For they connect the blind recovering their sight, and the lame walking, and the deaf hearing, and the tongue of the one who stammers being made plain, with the divine coming which is to take place. Let them say, then, when such signs have come to pass in Israel, or where in Judah anything of the sort has occurred. Naaman, a leper, was cleansed, but no deaf man heard nor lame walked. Elijah raised a dead man; so did Elisha; but none blind from birth regained his sight. For in good truth, to raise a dead man is a great thing, but it is not like the wonder wrought by the Savior. Only, if Scripture has not passed over the case of the leper and of the dead son of the widow, certainly had it come to pass that a lame man also had walked and a blind man recovered his sight, the narrative would not have omitted to mention this also. Since, then, nothing is said in the Scriptures, it is evident that these things had never taken place before. When, then, have they taken place, save when the Word of God himself came in the body? Or when did he come, if not when lame men walked, and those who stammer were made to speak plainly, and deaf men heard, and men blind from birth regained their sight?

Athanasius, On the Incarnation 38

Deafened ears, of sound unconscious, every passage blocked and closed,
At the word of Christ responding, open all the portals wide,
Hear with joy friendly voices and the softly whispered speech.
Every sickness now surrenders, every listlessness departs,
Tongues long bound by chains of silence are unloosed and speak aright,
While the joyful paralytic bears his pallet through the streets.

Prudentius, Hymns 9.64–69