Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the First Sunday after Christmas

The works of His hands are truth and judgment;
Faithful are all His commandments,
Established unto ages of ages,
Made in truth and uprightness.
He sent redemption to His people;
He commanded His covenant forever;
Holy and fearful is His name.  Psalm 110 (111):7–9

The proposition is: He has sent redemption to His people, He has commanded his covenant forever. The anticipated conclusion ensues: Therefore holy and fearful is His name. Let us listen to the rest that follows. They have reached the beginning of the third section, in which they proclaim that the Lord Savior will come, and that He is worthy of fear, love, and praise in unremitting exultation. The words: He has sent redemption to His people, are aptly used, for as captives they were seen to be in need of this; but the price was not one which a tyrant could exact, but one which the person who was forgiven could obtain. The captive gained his redemption; he who had been held in subjection obtained the greater price for it. Next comes: He has commanded his eternal covenant. We speak of mandating when instructions are given to absent people through intermediaries; this clearly happened when He transmitted the New Testament through the apostles and evangelists to the Gentiles. The word eternal is rightly used, because it denotes that no other testament will succeed it in the way in which the Old Testament was seen to be supplanted. The New Testament was a universal consummation, for it rendered the fullness which had been previously promised. Hence it is rightly called eternal, because it is seen to require nothing in addition. They added: Holy and fearful is His name. Holy has reference to the incarnation; as He Himself says: Preserve my soul, for I am holy. Fearful indicates the omnipotence of the exalted Godhead; as another psalm has it: You are fearsome, and who shall stand against You? [Ps 75 (76):8] The two epithets have the purpose of making us love our Patron, and making us fear our Judge. The two are fittingly combined to ensure that love alone may not make us indifferent, and fear alone may not make us despair.

Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms 110.9

Patristic Wisdom for Christmas Day

But I was appointed king by Him
in Mount Zion, His holy place,
announcing the ordinance of the Lord.
The Lord said to Me, “You are My Son;
today I have begotten You.
Ask from Me, and I will give to You the nations as Your inheritance,
and as Your possession the ends of the earth.
You will rule them with a steel rod.
Like a vessel of a potter You will break them.” (Ps 2:6–9 LXX)

Now, the verse, I have been established as king by Him, is expressed in human fashion: as God He possesses His kingship by nature, as human being He receives it by election. The fact that as God He possesses power without beginning the same inspired author teaches in the words, Your throne, O God, is for all ages, the scepter of your kingship a scepter of equity. Now, this psalm blessed Paul says refers to the Son; all the same, as God He possesses kingship and as human being He receives it. Likewise, as God He is called Most High, as human being He is raised on high. David for his part proclaims the divine highness in his cry, Let them know that your name is Lord, you alone are the Most High over all the earth. Zechariah, too, says to John, You, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High. Blessed Paul it is, on the other hand, who teaches us the human highness in his words, Accordingly, God also raised Him on high, and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name. To be sure, God the Word had the name “only-begotten Son” before the ages as connatural with His condition, yet while still possessing the title of the Son as God, He also receives it as human being. Hence in the present psalm he added the words, The Lord said to me, “You are my son, today I have begotten you.” Now, no one who believes the teaching of the divine Spirit would apply this verse to the divinity of Christ the Lord. In fact, let us listen in this regard to the God of all speaking through David, From the womb before the morning star I begot you. So as man He both receives this verse, and as man hears what follows.

As God, you see, He is maker of all things: Through Him everything was made, and without Him nothing was made, and through Him all things were created, things visible and invisible. If He is Lord and Creator of all things, He is Lord and Master of what He created; yet while Lord by nature insofar as He is God, as man He also receives the lordship of all things. Since in former times particular care seemed to be lavished only on the Jews—The people of Jacob, Scripture says, became the Lord’s portion, Israel his allotted inheritance—and yet were rejected for gaining no advantage from the special care, properly He transfers his care to the nations, without having been uncaring towards them in former times. Thus he fulfilled the oracle of Moses, whose words were, remember, Rejoice, nations, with His people.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms 2.7–8

Patristic Wisdom for Christmas Eve

 

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11-14)

And so, God the Son of God, equal to and of the same nature as the Father (from the Father and with the Father), Creator and Lord of the universe, wholly present everywhere and wholly surpassing all things, Himself chose this day in the passage of time (which moves according to his own arrangement) to be born for the salvation of the world from blessed Mary, who keeps her honor unsullied through all the stages of procreation. As her virginity was not violated in giving birth, so it had not been defiled in conception. As the Evangelist said, “To fulfill what was said by the Lord through the prophet Isaiah: ‘Behold a virgin will conceive in her womb and will give birth to a son, and his name will be called Emmanuel, which means “God-with-us.” ’ ”… It is, therefore, with an unmistakable tenderness that so great a wealth of divine goodness has been poured out on us, dearly beloved. Not only has the usefulness of foregoing examples served for calling us to eternity, but the Truth himself has even “appeared” in a visible body. We ought, then, to celebrate this day of the Lord’s Birth with no listless and no worldly joy.

Leo the Great, Sermon 23.1, 5

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday in Advent

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus. (Matt 1:18–25)

For blessed Matthew, after enumerating the genealogy of Christ, added the following regarding hope for our salvation: “After Mary, mother of Jesus, had been betrothed to Joseph, she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit before they were married.” This is the heavenly mystery, this sacrament obscured and hidden by the Holy Spirit. Luke describes in greater detail the manner of the Lord's incarnation, for he recounts how an angel came to Mary and greeted her saying, “Hail woman full of grace,” and the rest that follows. And when Mary asked him how what he had been proclaiming to her could take place—because she had never had relations with a man—he said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And thus what is born from you will be called the Son of God.” It was right that holy Mary, who was about to conceive the Lord of glory in her womb, be informed about the Holy Spirit and the excellence of the Most High when she received into her blessed womb the Creator of the world. Indeed, both Matthew and Luke began their narratives with the corporeal birth of the Lord. John, however, addresses the issue of Jesus’ divine birth in the preface to his Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. This was with God in the beginning. All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made.” The Evangelists help us to recognize both the divine and corporeal birth of the Lord, which they describe as a twofold mystery and a kind of double path. Indeed, both the divine and the bodily birth of the Lord are indescribable, but that from the Father vastly exceeds every means of description and wonder. The bodily birth of Christ was in time; His divine birth was before time. The one in this age, the other before the ages. The one from a virgin mother, the other from God the Father. Angels and men stood as witnesses at the corporeal birth of the Lord, yet at His divine birth there was no witness except the Father and the Son, because nothing existed before the Father and the Son. But because the Word could not be seen as God in the glory of His own divinity, He assumed visible flesh to demonstrate His invisible divinity. He took from us what is ours in order to give generously what is His.

Chromatius, Tractate on Matthew 2.1

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Third Sunday in Advent

And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” (Matt 11:2–6)

But a deeper understanding is revealed in these things which happened concerning John. As we perceive in John a grace expressed with the effectiveness of reality, he also is the prophet that prophesies according to the manner in which he was the embodiment of the Law. For the Law announced Christ and preached the remission of sins, promising the Kingdom of heaven. John completely fulfilled all of the works of the Law. Now that the Law has become inactive, confined, so to speak, by the sins of the masses and chained as a result of the people’s sins, John is restrained in chains and in prison so that Christ may not be understood by them. The Law, therefore, points to the Gospel so that unbelief may consider the truth of Christ’s words in his deeds. Whatever of the Law was bound through the deceit of sins is delivered when one learns the freedom of the Gospel. For this reason, John was not seeking insight as a remedy for his own ignorance, but for that of his disciples, since he himself had preached about the One who was to come for the remission of sins. So that they should know none other than the One whom John had preached, he sent his disciples to learn about His works. John knew that those works would confer an authority on His words and that no other Christ should be expected than the One to whom His works bore witness.

John, however, was not believed by the people; the works of Christ did not win authority; the cross was going to become a scandal. Now prophecy is ceased; now the Law is fulfilled; now all preaching is concluded; now the spirit of Elijah is sent ahead in the voice of John. Christ is preached to some and acknowledged by others; He is born in some and loved by others. His own people spew Him out, while strangers receive Him; His closest attack Him, while His enemies embrace Him. Those who are adopted seek His heritage, while His family rejects Him. The children repudiate the Covenant, while the servants acknowledge it. And so it is that the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence. Those who seek to attack it do so because the glory pledged to Israel by the patriarchs, announced by the prophets, and offered by Christ, is now appropriated and seized by the faith of the pagans.

Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on Matthew 11.2, 7

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday in Advent

James Tissot, “St. John the Baptist and the Pharisees”

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.’” Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matt 3:1–12)

It is in such clothing that John preaches and publicly identifies the Pharisees and Sadducees who were coming for baptism as a race of vipers. He warns them to bear fruit which is worthy of repentance and not to gloat over having Abraham as a father since God is capable of raising up sons of Abraham out of stones. What John seeks is not a carnal succession but the heredity of faith. Worthiness of origin consists in the examples of one’s deeds, and the glory of one’s race is preserved by the imitation of faith. The devil is without faith; Abraham has faith. As the former was a betrayer of man into transgression, so the latter was justified by faith. The characteristics and manner of life of each one are acquired by a proximity of resemblance; that is, those who have faith are the descendants of Abraham because of their faith, whereas those who have no faith are transformed by their lack of faith into the offspring of the devil. When the Pharisees are scorned as a race of vipers, and their gloating of a holy parentage is checked, it is out of rocks and boulders that sons of Abraham are raised up. The Pharisees are then urged to produce fruit worthy of repentance. They who began with the devil as a father, along with those who are raised up from stones, can become sons of Abraham through faith once more.

That the axe is now placed at the root of the trees testifies to the prerogative of holy power that is present in Christ which indicates that, by the cutting down and burning of unfruitful trees, the destruction of an unfruitful faithlessness is being prepared for the conflagration of judgment. And because the work of the Law was ineffective for salvation, John had appeared as a messenger for the baptizing of those who repent. It was the duty of the prophets to recall the people from their sins, whereas it now belongs to Christ to save those who believe, John says that he baptizes for repentance. Yet, he says, there will come one greater whose shoes he is unworthy to carry in the fulfillment of his ministry, surrendering to the apostles the glory of preaching everywhere, to whose “beautiful feet” it was assigned to proclaim the peace of God. He points to the time of our salvation and judgment when he says of the Lord: He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and by fire. It remains only for those baptized in the Holy Spirit to be brought to perfection by the fire of judgment: his winnowing fork is in his hand, he will clean his threshing floor, and he will gather his wheat into the barn, but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. The job of the winnowing fork is to separate that which is fruitful from the unfruitful. That fork which is in the Lord’s hand indicates the resolve of his power for storing up the wheat into his barns, that is, the perfected fruit of believers. But the chaff of those who are unprofitable as well as the uselessness of those who are unfruitful are for the fire of burning judgment.

Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on Matthew 3:3–4

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the First Sunday of Advent

But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Matt 24:36–44)

Concerning the end of that time, the Lord removed the weight of our anxiety by saying that no one knows that day. Not only are the angels ignorant of it, but He Himself. O inestimable mercy of the divine goodness! Has God the Father denied the Son knowledge of that day by hiding His intentions, even though the Son said, All things have been committed to Me by My Father? How could everything be committed to Him if there is something denied to Him? But He delivered to us everything which He received from the Father. The Word possesses in Himself the certainty, not so much of future events that will happen, as of the events that have happened. For this reason the day has been set but without further qualification. Even though God permits a generous amount of time for our repentance, He recognizes our anxiety, always a fear of the unknown. By telling no one about His will when it comes to setting this day, He prevents any further qualification of His words. As it was at the time of the flood, that great day will burst into the course of our lives, into the midst of all our business and misery.

And so that we should realize that His ignorance of the day is kept secret for us all, not without a reason for the usefulness of silence, He warned us to be watchful for the coming of the thief, and to adhere assiduously to prayer as those who are occupied with all the works of His teaching. For He shows that the devil is a watchful thief who seeks to take away spoils from us and who attacks the houses, of our bodies, in order to break into them with the arrows of enticement and of his purposes, while we are negligent and given to sleep. It is appropriate that we be prepared therefore because ignorance of the day exacerbates the stressful anxiety of anticipation held in suspense.

Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on Matthew 26.4, 5

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Last Sunday of the Year

Simone Martini, “Crucifixion”

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. (Colossians 1:13–20)

Freed thus from the condition of darkness, that is, plucked from the infernal place, in which we were held by the devil both because of our own and because of Adam's transgression, who is the father of sinners, we were translated by faith into the heavenly kingdom of the Son of God. This was so that He might show us by what love God loved us, when, raising us from deepest hell, He led us into heaven with His true Son.

Ambrosiaster, Commentary on Colossians

The Savior endured all this, “making peace through the blood of the cross, for all things whether in the heavens or on the earth.” For we were enemies of God through sin, and God had decreed the death of the sinner. One of two things, therefore, was necessary, either that God, in His truth, should destroy all men, or that in His loving-kindness, He should remit the sentence. But see the wisdom of God; He preserved the truth of His sentence and the exercise of his loving-kindness. Christ took our sins “in His body upon the tree; that we, having died to sin,” by his death “might live to righteousness.” [1 Pet 2:24] He who died for us was of no small worth; He was no material sheep; He was no mere man. He was more than an angel, He was God made man. The iniquity of sinners was not as great as the righteousness of Him who died for them. The sins we committed were not as great as the righteousness He wrought, who laid down His life for us.

Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 13.33

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

But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately.” Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake. But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience possess your souls. (Luke 21:9–19)

Since all these disorders come, not from the injustice of the one who chastises, but from the fault of the world that suffers them, the Lord first describes the injustice of the depraved men in these terms: But before all this they will lay hands on you and persecute you; you will be dragged into the synagogues, you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. It is as if he were saying clearly: “It is first the hearts of men, then the elements that will be upset.” Thus one sees clearly what this confusion of the order of things comes to punish. For although it depends on the very nature of the world to have an end, the Lord, having in view all the perverse men, indicates which are those who deserve to be crushed under the ruins of the world: They will bring you before the kings and governors because of my name. All these things will come to your testimony. As a testimony against those who put you to death when they persecute you, or who do not imitate you when they see you. If, indeed, the death of the righteous is a help to the good ones, it bears witness against the wicked, so that even that which serves to bring the elect to good so that they live, removes all excuses from the wicked when they perish.

But the hearts of the still weak disciples could have been troubled to hear so many terrifying things; so the Lord adds a consolation, adding immediately: Put this in your mind: you do not have to prepare your answers, for it is I who will give you a language, and a wisdom to which none of your adversaries can resist or answer. It is as if he clearly said to his infirm members: “Do not be afraid; do not be afraid. It's you who go to fight, but I'm the one leading the fight. You say the words, but it's me who speaks.”

The text continues: You will be delivered even by your parents and your brothers, your relatives and your friends; they will condemn to death many of you. Evils cause less pain if they are brought to us by strangers. But they make us suffer more if we suffer them from those we trusted, because to the suffering of the body comes then to join that of having lost a friendship. This is why the Lord, through the mouth of the psalmist, says about Judas who betrayed him: If my enemy had cursed me, I would have endured it; and if he who hated me uttered proud words about me, I would have kept myself hidden from him. But you who were one with me, my guide and my friend, who shared with me the sweet food of my table, we walked in full agreement in the house of God (Ps 55:12-14). And elsewhere: Even the man who was my friend, who trusted me and ate my bread, raised his heel against me (Ps 41:9). It is as if he were saying clearly about the one who betrayed him: “I suffered all the more from his betrayal that I felt it coming from the one who seemed to be all mine.”

Thus, all the elect, because they are the members of the supreme head, also follow in suffering their leader: they must suffer in death the enmity of those whose life inspired them confidence, and they see the reward of their works increase all the more as the loss of a friendship makes more progress in virtue.

But as these predictions of persecution and death are very harsh, the Lord speaks immediately after the consolation and joy of the resurrection: Not a hair of your head shall perish. We know it, my brethren, the flesh suffers when cut, but not hair. The Lord therefore declares to his martyrs: Not a hair of your head will perish, which means in plain language: “Why fear to see the suffering of death when you cut it, since even that which in you does not suffer when you the cup can not perish?”

The text continues: It is by your patience that you will possess your souls. If the possession of the soul lies in the virtue of patience, it is because patience is the root and protector of all virtues. It is through patience that we possess our souls, for it is only by learning to dominate ourselves that we begin to possess ourselves. Patience consists in suffering serenely the evils coming from others and in being tormented with no resentment against the one who inflicts them.

Gregory the Great, Homilies on St. Luke 15.2-4

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

Johannes Brenz

Jesus answered and said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.” (Luke 20:34–38)


And thus much for our own argument in refutation of the infidelity of the Jews: but let us see also what Christ said unto them: “The children indeed of this world,” He says, those, that is, who lead worldly carnal lives, full of fleshly lust, for the procreation of children “marry and are married:” but those who have maintained an honorable and elect life, full of all excellence, and have therefore been accounted worthy of attaining to a glorious and marvelous resurrection, will be necessarily raised far above the life which men lead in this world; for they will live as becomes saints, who already have been brought near unto God. “For they are equal with the angels, and are the children of God.” As therefore all fleshly lust is taken away, and no place whatsoever is left in them for bodily pleasure, they resemble the holy angels, fulfilling a spiritual and not a material service, such as becomes holy spirits; and are at the same time counted worthy of a glory such as that which the angels enjoy.

But the Savior also demonstrated the great ignorance of the Sadducees, by bringing forward their own authority Moses, as well and clearly acquainted with the resurrection of the dead. For he has set before us God, He says, as saying in the bush, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” But of whom is He God, if, according to their argument, these have ceased to live? for He is the God of the living: and therefore certainly and altogether they will rise, when His almighty right hand brings them thereunto; and not them only, but also all who are upon the earth.

And for men not to believe that this will happen, is worthy perhaps of the ignorance of the Sadducees; but altogether unworthy of those who love Christ. For we believe in Him who says, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” For He will raise the dead, “suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For it shall resound, and the dead in Christ shall rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” For Christ, our common Savior, shall transfer us unto incorruption, and to glory, and to a life incorruptible.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke 136