OT § 94

At all times a friend loves, etc. He who truly loves the Lord keeps His love at all times, nor does he abandon Him in the strait of suffering, whom he has confessed in the tranquility of peace.

A foolish man claps his hands, etc. He is foolish who, when receiving the soul of his brother to be governed, glories in his own deeds, and does not rather help him with humble compassion, rendering whatever help he can of saving aid.

God is called "father" and God's love to humankind "mother," which was the cause of the divine incarnation and his suffering for our sake. Although God is our Father, he does not rejoice in an adopted son who is uneducated in divine wisdom and knowledge and who is committed to wickedness and evil. But a reasonable son gladdens his mother, that is, God's love toward humankind. It is she who presents us to God the Father as undernourished children, longing for solid spiritual food. That is done in order that his son, Jesus Christ, who became like our brother, could make us full citizens [of his kingdom] both in word and in deed. Also, our mother is the church who was betrothed to God the Father through the Holy Spirit. Eternally, she begets sons and daughters for him. And those who learned divine wisdom and knowledge gladden both God our Father and his church, our mother. But she grieves and laments over those uninstructed who do not want to repent and be saved but prefer to persevere in wickedness.

A joyful soul makes a flourishing age, etc. He who rejoices in the inner consolation of the Holy Spirit is also adorned with the flower of good action and expects the fruits of heavenly rewards. But he who is distressed by worldly sorrow, which works death, seems to exercise the fatness of divine charity in the strength of virtues but is unable to truly have it, but rather withers as with dry bones, because he has lost the grace of love in the good deeds he does.

A man has not got a right to "nurse" a constituency with aggressive charities, to buy it with great presents of parks and libraries, to open vague vistas of future benevolence; all this, which goes on unrebuked, is bribery and nothing else. But a man has got the right to go to another free man and ask him with civility whether he will vote for him.

In the face of the prudent, wisdom shines, etc. Indeed, in the face of the Lord Savior, the wisdom of divinity shone, which, appearing in the flesh, He demonstrated through the testimony of virtues and doctrine; but the eyes of unbelieving Jews were focused more on fulfilling earthly desires than on his salutary instructions. And in general, the prudent often prefigure the gravity of their sense even in their very countenance; yet the foolish do not lift up the eyes of their mind to admire and follow this, but contrary to that, they seek with all intention how they may reach the end of carnal pleasures.

It is not good to inflict harm on the just, etc. This can be understood of the very Prince and Judge of the ages, who willed to be struck for our salvation, and of all the rulers of the Church generally, who are either stripped of their possessions by the impious or consumed by death itself.

Some brothers from Scetis wanted to visit Antony, and set out in a ship to go there. On board they met an old man who also wanted to go to Antony, but he did not belong to their party. During the voyage they talked about the sayings of the fathers, and the Scriptures, and then the manual work that they did, but the old man said nothing at all. When they came to the landing-place, they realized that the old man also was going to see Antony. When they arrived, Antony said to them, 'You found good company on your journey in this old man.' He said to the old man, 'You found good companions in these brothers.' The old man said, 'Yes, they are good, but their house has no door. Anyone who wants to goes into the stable and steals the donkey.' He said this because they had said the first thing that came into their heads.

They said of Agatho that for three years he kept a stone in his mouth in order to teach himself silence.

They said of Agatho that some people went to him because they heard he was a man of great discretion. Wanting to test whether he was irritable, they said to him, 'Are you Agatho? We have heard of you that you are an adulterer and a proud man.' He answered, 'It is true.' They said to him, 'Are you that Agatho who gossips and slanders?' He answered, 'I am.' They asked him, 'Are you Agatho the heretic?' He answered, 'I am no heretic.' So they asked him, 'Why did you patiently bear it when we slandered you, but did not endure it when we said you were a heretic?' He answered, 'I agreed to the first charges against myself for the good of my soul. But I didn't accept it when you said I was a heretic because that is to be separated from God, and I don't want to be separated from God.' They admired his discretion, and went away edified.

He asks of wisdom, who seeks to know what is the will of God. And he will show himself prudent who is sparing of his words on that which he has come to learn. If one inquires about wisdom, desiring to learn something about wisdom, while another asks nothing of wisdom, as not only wishing to learn nothing about wisdom himself, but even keeping back his neighbours from so doing, the former certainly is deemed to be more prudent than the latter.

Let your words be measured and counted by yourself, knowing that you shall render an account to God of what comes out of your mouth, including a pleasantry or even a word that does not edify.… And do not become a stranger to such promises. Whatever you think and whatever you love, establish it firmly in the Lord. And keep in mind your departure from the body to go to God "who will reward each one according to his works."

So great is the closeness between silence and wisdom that "the fool, if he keeps silent, will be reputed wise:" and the wise man who speaks much is reputed a fool. In a single word one can utter a detraction; for this reason one must "make a balance for one's words." Immoderation of speech is to be guarded against in the highest degree.

As in a house, when the door is shut, it is not known what members there are hidden within, so, generally speaking, if a fool hold his peace, it is hidden whether he be wise or foolish, only, however, if no other works come to light, which may speak the mind even of one that is silent. For this reason the holy man, seeing that his friends were anxious to appear what they were not, charged them to hold their peace, that they might not appear what they were. And hence it is said by Solomon; Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise.

It falls to the intellect to discern the divisions and the outlines of questions, and understanding's highest function is to know that you do not know. Hence it is said, "Wisdom will be credited to the fool who asks questions," for although the questioner does not know the answer to his question, nonetheless, because he inquires prudently and comes to understand what he does not understand, this very thing—his having prudently acknowledged what he does not know—is credited to him as wisdom. .

Understanding is required to discern the distinctions and the drift of questions; and it is a main part of knowledge to understand how ignorant you are. Hence it is said that "if a fool asks questions, it will be accounted wisdom," because, although one who asks questions is ignorant of the answer to the question raised, yet as he wisely asks and learns what he does not know, this very fact will be counted as wisdom in him, because he wisely discovers what he was ignorant of.

As to [the Arians'] blasphemous position that "the Son knows not the Father perfectly," we ought not to wonder at it; for having once set themselves to fight against Christ, they contradict even his express words, since he says, "As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father." Now if the Father knows the Son but in part, then it is evident that the Son does not know the Father perfectly. It is not lawful to say this. The Father does know the Son perfectly; then it is evident that as the Father knows his own Word, so also the Word knows his own Father whose Word he is.By these arguments and references to the sacred Scriptures we frequently overthrew them; but they changed like chameleons and again shifted their ground, striving to bring upon themselves that sentence, "When an ungodly man comes into a depth of evils, he despises them."

Just as men who plunge into the deep, the deeper they go down, they descend into darker and deeper places, so it is with humankind. For they did not keep to idolatry in a simple form, nor did they abide in that with which they began. But the longer they went on in their first condition, the more new superstitions they invented, and, not satiated with the first evils, they again filled themselves with others, advancing further in utter shamefulness and surpassing themselves in impiety. But to this divine Scripture testifies when it says, "When an ungodly man comes into a depth of evils, he despises them."

Confession dies with a dead man, but is always possible for one who is alive. There is this saying, "When a sinner shall have come into the depth of evil things, he despises [them]." For it is one thing to long for, another thing to fight against righteousness. It is one thing to desire to be delivered from evil, another thing to defend one's evil doings rather than to confess.

The impious man, when he has come into the depth of sins, despises, etc. He who, being wrapped in the long darkness of sins, despairs of the light, already out of desperation, loosens the reins for himself to sin everywhere. But such a one by no means escapes the reproach of future damnation, whom the memory of divine fear did not restrain from the practice of his iniquity.

The impious are those who do not acknowledge divine piety. "But the impious man, when he has come into the depth of sins, shows contempt." The impious man is he who defends his own impiety, namely sin.

Not only slight sins but even greater offenses try to overtake us day and night. So let us not hold back repentance until the end of life, but while we are living let us endeavor to do penance daily. This practice should be observed continuously, not only by the laity and clerics, but even by priests and monks.… Since we cannot spend a day without sin, what is the sense of gradually piling up slight offenses and thus making endless streams of tiny drops? Despair arises from a multitude of sins heaped up over time, according to the words: "The wicked man, when he has come into the depth of sins, despises [them]." Of course, you are all well aware that we can more easily uproot them when they are still young than cut them off when they are firm.

Believe this devoutly and firmly: God never abandons a person unless he himself has already deserted God. Although a person may have committed serious sins once, twice and a third time, God still looks for him, as he says through the prophet, "that by his conversion he may live." However, when he begins to continue in his sins, despair arises from the multitude of them, and hardening is caused by the despair. While careless people at first despise their own sins because they are small, if these slight offenses increase, crimes are even added; they heap up to finally overwhelm them, and when this happens there is fulfilled what is written: "With wickedness comes contempt."

The proud and recalcitrant who despair of the forgiveness of sins repudiate forgiveness. Not only do they with pitiable blindness reject the care for their own salvation, but they also do not rest from upsetting other faithful souls with deadly words, if they are unable to pervert them. Often, either the frightfulness of their sins or the length of a wicked life takes away from them the hope of salvation and drives them to perpetrate even worse things in such a way that in such people that statement of holy Scripture is fulfilled: "When wickedness comes, contempt comes also."

The evil mind is always set in pains and labours, since it is either contriving mischiefs that it may bring down, or fearing lest these be brought down upon it by others; and whatever plot it hatches against neighbours, it is afraid of being hatched by neighbours against itself. It is on every side full of suspicions, on every side full of alarms. Everyone that occurs to mind is supposed to be making out things hostile to him, and so he, to whom the repose of security is wanting, has surely 'a dreadful sound in his ears' always. And it often happens that his neighbour, whoever he be, speaks to him with a single intention, and designs nothing hostile, but 'when there is peace, he suspecteth plots;' in that he, who is always dealing craftily, calculates that there is not single dealing towards himself. And whereas it is written, When the wicked man cometh into the pit of sinners, he contemneth, he being encompassed with the darkness of his iniquity henceforth despairs of light.

"When the godless fall to the depths of evil, they lose all sense of respect." It is a terrible thing, you see, dearly beloved, a terrible thing to fall into the clutches of the devil. I mean, the soul then, as though caught in a net, and like a boar trapped in the mire, is likewise caught up in pleasure and, swept along by its evil habits, it loses all sense of the foul odor of its sins. Consequently, we must be awake and on our guard so as never to allow the evil demon any entrance at the outset, lest he cloud our reasoning, blind the sharp vision of our mind, and thus as if robbing us of sunlight render us unable to see the rays of the sun of justice and cause us to fall into the abyss.

The more those greater sins grow on them, the more does the soul become accustomed to them and think light of them. For it is said, "When the wicked comes to the depth of evil things, he thinks light of them."

Deep water, the words from the mouth of a man, etc. The words of the wise are compared to water because they both wash the minds of the listeners and irrigate them, lest they remain deformed by the filth of sins, or waste away through lack of heavenly doctrine, and as if perish through harmful dryness. And because in these same words of teachers, certain mystical and hidden things lie, which are comprehended by more diligent effort, while certain other things flow openly and easily to be understood by all who listen; rightly do they call these both deep water and an overflowing torrent. But it can also be distinguished in this way, that because the Scripture of the Old Testament is given typically, it is said of it, Deep water, words from the mouth of a man, because the Lord and the apostles openly revealed the mysteries of both Testaments to the world, it is added concerning them, And an overflowing torrent, a fountain of wisdom.

"The word in the heart of man is a deep water, and a river and fountain of life spring forth." By "deep water" he [Solomon] means "abundant" water which can often produce many rivers instead of one. Or, he says: it contains it deeply hidden in itself. As water is immeasurable, so the word in the heart of the person who lives according to God is without limit. Therefore, he uses "word" for knowledge. This is the one in whose heart a fountain of water is made when he hears the words of Jesus. He [Solomon] then speaks of it "springing forth," raining upon or watering the fields which makes them fertile.

"It is not good to admire those who are impious," even though one of them has an important position or covers up what is right with persuasive speech. To admire the behavior of the impious is to sanction iniquity inspired by the devil.