Jude 1:11–16

These people are even fratricides, because what they teach kills the souls of those who are deceived by them. Look how he describes their outrageous ungodliness. He is not content to compare them with Cain but adds Ba-laam and Korah as well. Cain we understand from the above. Balaam he adds because Ba-laam went out to curse God's people for the sake of money, even if God later turned his tongue around to the point where he blessed them instead. Korah is mentioned because he seized a teaching authority which God had not granted to him.

Woe to them who have gone in the way of Cain, etc. They go in the way of Cain, who assume for themselves the name of learned men out of envy for their betters to be honored. And they pour themselves out in the error of Balaam, who for the love of earthly goods, attack the truth which they themselves know. They perish in the contradiction of Korah, who descended alive into the inferno, whoever separates themselves from the unity of the Holy Church with the desire of undue primacy, knowing and foreseeing how much evil they carry, yet they descend to the abyss of crimes. And indeed the Lord reproached Cain for thinking of fratricide, but envy did not let him be saved. Balaam, however, desiring to walk against the people of God, the Lord forbade, but the love of money hindered him from obeying. Moses tried to calm Korah, who was boasting, speaking for the Lord; but his pride made him incurable. Thus indeed, thus do heretics act, who, scorned by the rebuke of the holy Church, refuse to be corrected; rather they strive to kill their brothers with the sword of evil doctrine, as Cain did, deceive them with evil counsel as Balaam did, and rise up against catholic teachers as Korah did, to their own destruction.

"Woe unto them!" he says, "for they have gone in the way of Cain." For so also we lie under Adam's sin through similarity of sin.

I and my colleagues who were present with me were deeply and grievously distressed, dearest brother, on reading your letter in which you complained of your deacon, that, forgetful of your priestly station, and unmindful of his own office and ministry, he had provoked you by his insults and injuries. And you indeed have acted worthily, and with your accustomed humility towards us, in rather complaining of him to us; although you have power, according to the vigour of the episcopate and the authority of your See, whereby you might be justified on him at once, assured that all we your colleagues would regard it as a matter of satisfaction, whatever you should do by your priestly power in respect of an insolent deacon, as you have in respect of men of this kind divine commands. Inasmuch as the Lord God says in Deuteronomy, "And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest or the judge, whoever he shall be in those days, that man shall die; and all the people, when they hear, shall fear, and shall no more do impiously." And that we may know that this voice of God came forth with His true and highest majesty to honour and avenge His priests; when three of the ministers -Korah, Dathan, and Abiram-dared to deal proudly, and to exalt their neck against Aaron the priest, and to equal themselves with the priest set over them; they were swallowed up and devoured by the opening of the earth, and so immediately suffered the penalty of their sacrilegious audacity. Nor they alone, but also two hundred and fifty others, who were their companions in boldness, were consumed by a fire breaking forth from the Lord, that it might be proved that God's priests are avenged by Him who makes priests. In the book of Kings also, when Samuel the priest was despised by the Jewish people on account of his age, as you are now, the Lord in wrath exclaimed, and said, "They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me." And that He might avenge this, He set over them Saul as a king, who afflicted them with grievous injuries, and trod on the people, and pressed down their pride with all insults and penalties, that the despised priest might he avenged by divine vengeance on a proud people.

Since it has been declared that heretics have completely deserted the word of truth, Jude shows how they are subjected to different kinds of evil.

Woe to them, for they have gone the way of Cain, and for profit they have abandoned themselves to the error of Balaam, and in the contradiction of Korah they perished. "The way of Cain": this is, through the murder of a brother: for those teaching such things also kill their brothers, or men of the same sort, with wicked doctrines. Or even by absorbing the seed, they kill the brother in virtue, whom the fruitfulness of the seed would bring forth to life. "the error of Balaam", because they, like him, do these things for the sake of gain. Furthermore, the way of Korah, because they, like him, seized the office of teacher, being unworthy.

Woe to them, because they went in the way of "Cain" through fratricide; for, teaching impious doctrine to brethren, that is, to fellow men, they kill them with their evil teachings, or: by devouring the seed, they kill their brethren in potentiality, that is, those whom the seed, brought to maturity, would have brought into life. They went in the way of "Balaam," because they too do what they do for the sake of gain, like Balaam. They went in the way of "Korah," because, like him, being unworthy, they seized for themselves the dignity of the teaching office.

The apostle's words about these men who will not be pardoned have to be understood metaphorically. For he is not talking about stars and clouds, waves and trees, though he uses them as examples, because what they have they have by nature, whereas these men have the same things by deliberate choice. For waterless clouds which are blown about by the winds are not punished, nor are fruitless trees which just die. Wild waves have nothing to be ashamed of either, because they are mindless and devoid of sense. Likewise, the stars we call planets do not inherit the darkness—sinful people do! The ones whom Jude is talking about are like wandering planets which are going along the pathway which is diametrically opposed to virtue. The darkness is reserved for them, not as stars but as men. For Jude's point has nothing to do with stars or clouds or waves, but rather it is concerned with the animal-like behavior of men, their wickedness and corruption.

These are spots in their feasts, etc. He who sins is stained: the stain is the very crime that contaminates its perpetrator. And therefore he calls the heretics, whom he accuses, stains; because they not only perish themselves in their feasting and drunkenness, whether carnal or spiritual, but they also destroy and pollute others.

Clouds without water, etc. The saints are preachers, who, having their conversation in the heavens, shine with miracles, and rain with words. Of whom it is said to God: And your truth reaches to the clouds. But heretics are clouds without water, who have placed their mouth in the heavens by their proud words; but they do not water the hearts of their listeners with the water of wisdom, who are carried away by the winds, as if by the suggestion of invisible spirits, and are caught up in various errors of vices.

Autumnal trees, fruitless, twice dead, uprooted. A tree is dead which does not bear good fruit; but one that has also produced the fruit of evil work is called a twice-dead tree. And if he who refuses to bear the fruit of good work is said to be cut down for his barrenness and cast into the fire; what punishment do you think he deserves, who either by acting wickedly or by perverting others has brought forth the most wicked fruits? Nor is it surprising if fruitless and twice-dead trees are said to be uprooted, which are proven to be. For it is said of the saints: Rooted and grounded in love (Ephes. III). But those who do not fear to uproot themselves from the firmness of love, and justly admit if they seem to have any good fruit. Such men are deservedly compared to autumnal trees, to show their salvation is hopeless. For in the time of autumn not only no fruits are born; but also those that were born and ripened usually fall. To this time are compared those who neglect to bear the fruits of faith themselves and strive to uproot and convert into vain endeavors those good deeds which they see faithful people perform.

"Clouds," he says, "without water; who do not possess in themselves the divine and fruitful word." Wherefore, he says, "men of this kind are carried about both by winds and violent blasts." "Trees," he says, "of autumn, without fruit,"— unbelievers, that is, who bear no fruit of fidelity. "Twice dead," he says: once, namely, when they sinned by transgressing, and a second time when delivered up to punishment, according to the predestined judgments of God; inasmuch as it is to be reckoned death, even when each one does not immediately deserve the inheritance.

These people may say that they will bear fruit, but they are lying because they are incapable of doing that. The reason is that they are thorns and weeds, and trees without any fruit at all. They are fit for nothing except to be thrown into the fire.

These are the blemishes who are in your love feasts, feasting without fear, shepherding themselves; they are clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead and uprooted; wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. "These are the blemishes who are in your love feasts (ἀγάπαις)." There were still at that time, tables that were prepared in the churches, of which Paul speaks in the Epistle to the Corinthians (11): which were also called ἀγάπας, that is, "loves). Jude says, "They come together not for the purpose that is in them, but to find an opportunity "enticing unstable souls": as Peter also says in the second Epistle (2:14). And what he says: without fear, or with the preceding, it should be arranged that there is this sense: "Like the stones of the sea living together," that is, when they expect nothing to fear, they suddenly take on one form, like the stones of the sea leading to the punishment of souls. But, fearlessly shepherding themselves, or rather to be arranged towards the blemishes, so that the meaning may be this: Fearlessly feasting like blemished ones, that is, not anticipating any fear from the fellow diners, suddenly, like blemished ones, bringing upon them the destruction of souls. As for the shepherding, feeding themselves without fear. Without fear, he says, the judgment from not knowing how to shepherd, but blind, leading the blind, and into the abyss, as the Lord will say, falling in with those being shepherded. And he likens them to cliffs, and to clouds without water, and to autumn trees, and to wild waves, and to wandering stars. For they have that which exists by nature, these things by choice. For if the whirlpools are deadly to those sailing, unexpectedly arising, they also present a trustworthy evil to those dining together. And the waterless clouds, driven by the winds, wherever they may be carried, do not refresh with rain, for they do not have it; rather, they work out darkness for them. Likewise, these also do not save the souls of those who encounter them with a saving word, but they darken them with their most polluted teachings, being driven by the wicked practices of the demons. But even the autumn trees, dying twice, both in the shedding of their fruit and in the falling of their leaves (for they seem then to be deprived of beauty, both from the splendor of the fruit and from the flowery elegance of the leaves), suffer something appropriate to them. For they are twice cast out due to the eating of the seed, and they are deprived of the good behavior that comes from a temperate state. Therefore, they are also uprooted from the paradise of the Lord of the Church. And being cast out from this, they are gathered to the eternal fire. For what standing or root will he have, who is being thrown by all into the heap of pleasure? The stars also wander and engage in business, not because they are transforming to the firmament of our faith, having the sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2), Christ, arising through them, and producing the hours of virtues, and giving life to the faithful arranged according to these, but because they seem to be transformed into an angel of light, as the wicked demon who is their precursor, on the contrary, only bear the doctrines of the Lord, by which they also darken those approaching, and acquire for themselves eternal darkness. But even when compared to wild waves, they do not deny their similarity to them. For they themselves, driven by the spirits of wickedness, blaspheme against God without restraint, foaming up their own shame, ultimately coming to a foam with the height of blasphemy, from the weak and easily broken filth of their lives. Such is the foam of the waves to which they have been compared.

At that time, love-feasts were still being celebrated in the churches, as the Apostle Paul says in the Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 11:21–22), called "agapae," or "love-feasts." They, he says, come together at the feasts not for the benefit contained in them, but in order to find an occasion to beguile unstable souls, as the Apostle Peter also says in his second epistle (2 Pet. 2:14). He likens such people to hidden rocks, waterless clouds, autumn trees, and wandering stars; for what happens in these by nature is done by heretics by choice. Just as hidden rocks, encountered unexpectedly by those sailing, prove destructive to them, so too heretics cause unexpected harm to their companions at the feast. Just as waterless clouds do not refresh with rain (for they have none in themselves) the places to which they are carried, driven by the wind, but bring darkness upon them, so too heretics do not irrigate the souls of the people they encounter with saving teaching, but darken them with their most foul narratives, driven by the evil qualities of demons. Autumn trees die twice, losing their fruit and shedding their leaves (for dry trees at this time appear stripped of their adornment, the splendor of fruit and the flourishing comeliness of leaves). And something similar happens with heretics as well. They too die twice, losing their fruit through the consumption of the seed and being stripped of the comeliness of a prudent life. Therefore they are also uprooted from the paradise of the Lord, that is, from the Church, and outside of it are gathered and cast into the eternal fire. For what root will one have whom all turn away from on account of the vileness of his life? The words "without fear" should be referred to the words "feast themselves." They feast themselves "without fear," that is, not fearing the condemnation pronounced by the Lord for their inability to shepherd: blind leaders of the blind, together with those they lead, they themselves also fall into the pit (Matt. 15:14).

These are people who by their wicked life and ungodliness have killed their souls with false doctrines. Before they believed, they were dead in their ungodliness, but when they turned to the gospel they found life. However, they gave themselves up again to ungodliness and lust, thereby killing themselves a second time. How can someone who is this guilty, doing evil and living in ungodliness and lust, ever find stability or roots in such a topsy-turvy life?

Wild waves of the sea foaming out their own shame. The wild waves of the sea are perverse teachers, who are always restless in themselves, swollen, dark, and bitter, and never cease to attack the peace of the Church, which is the stability and firmness of the faithful. But such men are rightly said to foam out their own shame, because, like swollen waves, the higher they rise in pride, the more they are confused, dissolving into the lightest foam and perishing.

Wandering stars, for whom the storm of darkness is reserved forever. The wandering stars, which are seven, never rise or set in the same place where they did the day before; but sometimes they descend to the lowest part of the winter zone, sometimes they ascend to the highest part of the summer zone, sometimes they return to the middle line of the equinoctial zone. Thus indeed, thus are the heretics, who promising the light of truth, never persist in the same state of teaching; but now in this way, now in that way, shaping their doctrine, they themselves clearly show how contemptible is the display of light which they promise. And indeed among the planets, that is the wandering stars, the most well-known are the moon, the morning star, which is also the evening star. These are sometimes taken in a good sense, when the sun is the Lord, the moon is the Church, the morning star is John the Baptist, who, by being born, preceded the Lord about to be born in the flesh and by providing testimony to the light. But we also read about the sun in a bad sense, as the Lord says about the seeds sown on rocky ground: And when the sun rose, they were scorched (Matthew 13). Which he himself explains further: When persecution arises because of the word, they quickly fall away (ibid). Therefore, the sun's heat indicates the fervor of persecution. We read about the moon in a bad sense: A fool is changed like the moon (Ecclesiasticus 27). The morning star in a bad sense: How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star (Isaiah 14)? This can be understood not only about the devil's first fall, but also about his members who fall from the Church through heresy. The evening in a bad sense: You cause darkness to be fall upon the children of earth (Job 38). Because both the Antichrist and his ministers, although they transform themselves as angels of light, do not bear witness to the divine light, like the morning star to the sun; but they rather show the works of darkness to their followers; similar to the star called the evening star, which appearing in the west in the evening, is the precursor of the ensuing night. It says, Wandering stars, for whom the storm of darkness is reserved forever. For rightly they will be sent into the darkness of eternal torment, who were bringing the darkness of errors into the Church of God under the name of light. Deservedly they will be struck by the storm of punishment, who, like sea storms, were disturbing the peace of the faithful.

"Waves," he says, "of a raging sea." By these words he signifies the life of the Gentiles, whose end is abominable ambition. "Wandering stars,"— that is, he means those who err and are apostates are of that kind of stars which fell from the seats of the angels— "to whom," for their apostasy, "the blackness of darkness is reserved forever.

These people are called wandering stars because they do not follow the sun of truth.

He calls them "wandering stars." Heretics are like them not in the sense that they shine in the firmament of our faith and through them passes the Sun of righteousness, Christ, who brings virtues to maturity and gives life to the faithful devoted to them, but in the sense that, appearing to have taken upon themselves the guise of an angel of light, like their originators, the demons (2 Cor. 11:13–14), they rush only against the teachings of the Lord, by which they both darken those who approach them and prepare for themselves eternal darkness. He likens them to "raging waves." They bear resemblance to these as well; for, driven by the spirits of wickedness, they foam madly and uncontrollably in blasphemies against God with their shameful deeds and end the inconstant and easily destroyed shame of their life in the foam of proud blasphemies. For such is also the foam of the waves to which they are likened.

Does not the canonical epistle of Jude the apostle openly declare that Enoch spoke as a prophet? It is true that his alleged writings have never been accepted as authoritative, either by Jews or Christians, but that is because their extreme antiquity makes us afraid of handing out as authentic works those which may be forgeries.

Prophecies were made about them by the seventh from Adam, Enoch, etc. He does not speak against all men, but against all the impious, leaving none of them unpunished. It is added about them:

And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh Of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.

Enoch also, the seventh from Adam," he says, "prophesied of these." In these words he verities the prophecy.

But the seventh from Adam, Enoch, also prophesied, saying: Behold, the Lord comes with thousands of His saints to execute judgment on all and to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly works which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against God. Jude adds to these things Enoch, who previously prophesied the punishment reserved for them by God, in the final judgment of God. "all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly works." The ungodly differs from the sinner in that the ungodly has sin against God, while the sinner deviates from the goal of righteousness in the actions of life.

I am aware that the Scripture of Enoch, which has assigned this order (of action) to angels, is not received by some, because it is not admitted into the Jewish canon either. I suppose they did not think that, having been published before the deluge, it could have safely survived that world-wide calamity, the abolisher of all things. If that is the reason (for rejecting it), let them recall to their memory that Noah, the survivor of the deluge, was the great-grandson of Enoch himself; and he, of course, had heard and remembered, from domestic renown and hereditary tradition, concerning his own great-grandfather's "grace in the sight of God," and concerning all his preachings; since Enoch had given no other charge to Methuselah than that he should hand on the knowledge of them to his posterity. Noah therefore, no doubt, might have succeeded in the trusteeship of (his) preaching; or, had the case been otherwise, he would not have been silent alike concerning the disposition (of things) made by God, his Preserver, and concerning the particular glory of his own house. If (Noah) had not had this (conservative power) by so short a route, there would (still) be this (consideration) to warrant our assertion of (the genuineness of) this Scripture: he could equally have renewed it, under the Spirit's inspiration, after it had been destroyed by the violence of the deluge, as, after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian storming of it, every document of the Jewish literature is generally agreed to have been restored through Ezra. But since Enoch in the same Scripture has preached likewise concerning the Lord, nothing at all must be rejected by us which pertains to us; and we read that "every Scripture suitable for edification is divinely inspired." By the Jews it may now seem to have been rejected for that (very) reason, just like all the other (portions) nearly which tell of Christ. Nor, of course, is this fact wonderful, that they did not receive some Scriptures which spoke of Him whom even in person, speaking in their presence, they were not to receive. To these considerations is added the fact that Enoch possesses a testimony in the Apostle Jude.

Since Enoch in the same book tells us of our Lord, we must not reject anything at all which genuinely pertains to us. Do we not read that every word of Scripture useful for edification is divinely inspired? As you very well know, Enoch was later rejected by the Jews for the same reason that prompted them to reject almost everything which prophesied about Christ. It is not at all surprising that they rejected certain Scriptures which spoke of him, considering that they were destined not to receive him when he spoke to them himself. But we have a witness to Enoch in the epistle of Jude the apostle.

Nor, of course, is this fact wonderful, that they did not receive some Scriptures which spake of Him whom even in person, speaking in their presence, they were not to receive. To these considerations is added the fact that Enoch possesses a testimony in the Apostle Jude.

To what was said above he adds that Enoch also prophesied about the punishment awaiting them from God in the last days, that is, on the day of God's righteous judgment.

And to convict all the impious. He actually states that the seventh from Adam is Enoch, who prophesied these things, to confirm by example what he stated above: Because the impious men who long ago were designated for such judgment had slipped in at his time to subvert the faith of the pious.

And to convict (he says) all the impious of all their deeds of impiety, etc. This sentiment is indeed true, because the Lord, coming in judgment, will convict the impious not only of deeds but also of words, and will judge the wicked; however, it should be known that the book of Enoch, from which this is taken, is classified among the apocryphal Scriptures by the Church, not because the sayings of such a great patriarch can be in any way dismissed or should be considered false, but because the book offered under his name does not seem to have been truly written by him, but published by another person under his title. For if it were truly his, it would not be contrary to sound faith. But now, because it contains many incredible things, among which is the account of the giants not having human fathers but angels, it is clear to the learned that the writings that are tainted with falsehood are not those of a truthful man. Hence, this same Epistle of Jude, because it bears testimony from an apocryphal book, was rejected by many in the early times. However, due to its authority, antiquity, and use, it has merited to be counted among the holy Scriptures, especially because Jude took such testimony from an apocryphal book which is conspicuous for the clear truth of its true light rather than being apocryphal and dubious.

Between the ungodly and the sinner there is this difference: the ungodly one sins in relation to God, while the sinner deviates in the affairs of life from the aim of righteousness.

These people have no confidence in their own teaching. For how can it not be dangerous to spread it with such wickedness and blasphemy?

These are murmurers, grumblers, etc. The more anyone murmurs and grumbles about the present labors of the Church, the less they have extinguished the desires of the flesh within themselves. But on the contrary, holy Daniel and other men of heavenly desires, as diligently as they only desire the things above, so much more scornfully do they despise all passing things that seem adverse.

These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and their mouth speaks great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. After this, however, having been freed from the accommodation of these ungodly ones, Jude now also addresses the matter itself, accusing their vices, calling them grumblers and complainers. There is indeed a grumbler, one who, under his breath and without speaking out, complains to the one who is displeased. The complainer, on the other hand, always and constantly engages in contempt. These wretched ones are murmurers and complainers, Jude says. For they do not have the boldness to engage in their teaching through shameful means. For it is not without danger to publicly proclaim recklessness with wickedness and blasphemy. And they are complainers, slandering both other people and the truth, in order to set up their own evils and obscenity as if they were something good. As he has said concerning Balaam, that they have poured themselves out for profit just like him, he now states more clearly that they flattering people to gain advantage, admiring indeed, by flattering those in authority, but the profit is actually the gain.

After this, having left off the comparison of the ungodly, he now proceeds to the actual exposure of them, calling them murmurers and fault-finders. A murmurer is one who through clenched teeth and timidly censures what is displeasing to him, while a fault-finder is one who always and at everything laughs. These vile ones are murmurers and fault-finders. They are murmurers, for they do not dare openly to make use of their teaching, on account of its vileness, since it is unsafe to publicize their ungodliness, which is joined with debauchery and blasphemy. They are fault-finders, because they slander everything that belongs to others and truth itself, in order to more firmly establish their own evil and debauchery. What was said above, that the heretics, like Balaam, were carried away by reward, he now explains with the words: they "show partiality" for the sake of "gain." To show partiality means to deal flatteringly with those in authority.