Letter 14: Heliodorus, originally a soldier, but now a presbyter of the Church, had accompanied Jerome to the East, but, not feeling called to the solitary life of the desert, had returned to Aquileia. Here he resumed his clerical duties, and in course of time was raised to the episcopate as bishop of Altinum. The letter was written in the first bitterness...

Letter 14: To Heliodorus, Monk (373-374 AD) [Perhaps the most famous of Jerome's early letters, and one of the most celebrated pieces of Latin prose from this period. Heliodorus — originally a soldier, then a priest — had accompanied Jerome to the East but returned to Aquileia, unable to commit to the ascetic life of the desert. Jerome, still raw with the bitterness of separation, wrote this letter to reproach him and lure him back. The rhetoric is so powerful that Fabiola, a Roman noblewoman, memorized the entire letter. Heliodorus never did return to the desert; he eventually became bishop of Altinum.] 1. You know perfectly well how deep the bond between us is, so you can surely appreciate the love — the desperation, really — with which I tried to prolong our life together in the desert. This letter itself, blotted as you can see with tears, testifies to the grief with which I watched you leave. You played the child then, softening your refusal with gentle words, and I — caught off guard — didn't know what to do. Should I have kept silent? I couldn't disguise my longing behind a mask of indifference. Should I have begged harder? You would have refused to listen, because your love was not the equal of mine. So rejected affection takes the only course left to it: unable to keep you when you were here, it pursues you now that you're gone. You asked me yourself, when you were leaving, to send for you once I'd settled in the desert, and I promised I would. Well, here is my invitation: come — and come quickly. Don't think about old ties; the desert is for those who have left everything behind. Don't let memories of the hardships we endured on our earlier travels hold you back. You believe in Christ — then believe his words too: "Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you" [Matthew 6:33]. Take no bag, no staff. The man who is poor with Christ is rich enough. 2. But what am I doing, pestering you again with entreaties? Enough coaxing! Rejected love has every right to be angry. You have spurned my petition; perhaps you'll listen to a rebuke. What are you doing, you soft soldier, lounging in your father's house? Where are your ramparts? Your trenches? When did you last spend a winter in the field? Listen — the trumpet is sounding from heaven! The Commander is coming on the clouds [Revelation 1:7]! He is armed to conquer the world, and from his mouth comes a two-edged sword [Revelation 1:16] to cut down everything in its path. And what will you do? Go straight from your bedroom to the battlefield? From cool shade into scorching sun? A body accustomed to a tunic can't bear the weight of armor. A head used to a cap won't accept a helmet. A hand softened by idleness is galled by a sword-hilt. Hear the proclamation of your King: "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters" [Matthew 12:30]. Remember the day you enlisted — when, buried with Christ in baptism, you swore allegiance to him, declaring that for his sake you would spare neither father nor mother. The enemy is now trying to kill Christ in your breast. The enemy's ranks are eyeing hungrily the sign-on bonus you received when you joined. Should your little nephew cling to your neck — ignore him. Should your mother, with ashes in her hair and her dress torn open, show you the breasts that nursed you — pay no attention. Should your father throw himself across the threshold — step over him and keep walking. Fly to the standard of the cross with dry eyes. In a case like this, cruelty is the only true form of love. 3. A day will come — yes, it will come — when you will return as a victor to your true homeland and march through the heavenly Jerusalem crowned with glory. Then you will receive citizenship alongside Paul. Then you will claim the same honor for your parents. Then you will intercede for me — the one who pushed you onto the path of victory. I am not unaware of the chains you'll plead as obstacles. My heart is not iron; I am not made of flint or suckled by a tigress. I've been through the same struggles myself. Now it's a widowed sister who throws her arms around you, begging you to stay. Now it's the household slaves, your foster-brothers since childhood, crying: "To what master are you leaving us?" Now it's an aged nurse, bent with years, and a beloved body-servant who exclaims: "Just wait until we die — then follow us to our graves." Perhaps your old mother too, her face furrowed and her breast sunken, recalls the lullaby she once sang you and adds her own entreaties. They may call you, if they like, "the sole support and pillar of your house." But the love of God and the fear of hell will snap such chains easily. You'll argue that Scripture commands us to obey our parents [Ephesians 6:1]. Yes — but whoever loves them more than Christ loses his own soul [Matthew 10:37]. The enemy draws his sword to kill me, and I should worry about my mother's tears? Should I abandon Christ's service for the sake of a father to whom — if I truly serve Christ — I owe no funeral rites [Luke 9:59-60]? Peter's cowardly advice was an offense to the Lord on the eve of his passion [Matthew 16:23]. And when the brothers tried to hold Paul back from going to Jerusalem, his only answer was: "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be imprisoned but to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus" [Acts 21:13]. The battering-ram of natural affection that so often breaches faith must bounce harmlessly off the wall of the Gospel. "My mother and my brothers are those who do the will of my Father in heaven." If they believe in Christ, let them wish me Godspeed as I go to fight in his name. And if they don't believe, "let the dead bury their dead" [Matthew 8:22]. 4. "But all this," you argue, "only applies to martyrs." My brother, you are wrong — dangerously wrong — if you think there is ever a time when a Christian is not under attack. The moment you feel safest is precisely when you are most besieged. "Your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, prowls about seeking someone to devour" [1 Peter 5:8]. He "sits in ambush in the villages; in hidden places he murders the innocent; his eyes watch for the helpless; he lurks in secret like a lion in his den; he lies in wait to catch the poor" [Psalm 10:8-9]. And you — you doze under a shady tree, an easy target? On one side, self-indulgence presses in; on the other, greed tries to break through. My belly wants to be my God in place of Christ. Lust would drive out the Holy Spirit that dwells in me and defile his temple [1 Corinthians 3:17]. I am pursued, I tell you, by an enemy "whose name is Legion and whose wiles are past counting." Wretch that I am — how can I claim victory when I'm being dragged away in chains? 5. Dear brother, weigh the various forms of sin carefully, and don't imagine that the ones I've mentioned are any less damning than idolatry itself. Hear what the apostle says: "Know this: no fornicator, no unclean person, no covetous man — who is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God" [Ephesians 5:5]. Everything that belongs to the devil reeks of enmity toward God, and what belongs to the devil is idolatry, since all idols are subject to him. Paul lays it down in unmistakable terms: "Put to death your earthly members: fornication, uncleanness, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry — for which things the wrath of God is coming" [Colossians 3:5-6]. Idolatry isn't limited to sprinkling incense on an altar or pouring libations of wine into a bowl. Greed is idolatry — otherwise the selling of the Lord for thirty silver coins was a righteous transaction [Matthew 26:15]. Lust is profanation — otherwise men may defile with common prostitutes those members of Christ which should be "a living sacrifice, acceptable to God" [Romans 12:1]. Fraud is idolatry — otherwise Ananias and Sapphira, who in Acts sold their property and held back part of the price, deserved something other than instant death. Think carefully, brother: nothing is yours to keep. "Whoever among you does not renounce all that he has," says the Lord, "cannot be my disciple" [Luke 14:33]. Why are you such a half-hearted Christian? 6. Look at Peter — he left his nets [Matthew 4:18-20]. Look at the tax collector — he stood up from his counter [Matthew 9:9]. In a single moment he became an apostle. "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" [Matthew 8:20], and you're planning spacious halls and wide porticoes? If you expect to inherit the good things of this world, you can no longer be a co-heir with Christ [Romans 8:17]. You are called a "monk" — does the name mean nothing? What brings you, a solitary, into the crowd? The advice I give doesn't come from a sailor who has never lost a ship. I have been lately shipwrecked myself, and my warnings to other voyagers spring from my own terror. On one side, like Charybdis, self-indulgence sucks the soul's salvation into its whirlpool. On the other, like Scylla, lust — wearing a young girl's smiling face — lures it to wreck its purity. The coastline is savage, and the devil stands there like a pirate chief with chains ready for his captives. Don't be credulous. Don't be overconfident. The sea can look as smooth and flat as a pond, barely ruffled by a breath of wind, and yet its waves can rise as high as mountains. The danger is beneath the surface; the enemy lurks below. Let out your sheets, spread your sails, and nail the cross as an ensign to your prow. The very calm you trust is itself the storm. "But why?" you protest. "Aren't all my townspeople Christians?" Your situation, I reply, is not theirs. Listen to the Lord's words: "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you have, give to the poor, and come, follow me" [Matthew 19:21]. You have already promised to be perfect. When you left the army and made yourself "a eunuch for the kingdom of heaven's sake" [Matthew 19:12], you committed yourself to the perfect life. The perfect servant of Christ has nothing except Christ. If he has anything besides Christ, he is not perfect. And if he is not perfect after promising God he would be, his profession is a lie — and "the mouth that lies slays the soul" [Wisdom 1:11]. So: if you are perfect, don't set your heart on your father's estate. If you are not perfect, you have deceived the Lord. The Gospel thunders its warning: "You cannot serve two masters" [Luke 16:13]. Does anyone dare make Christ a liar by trying to serve both God and Mammon? He says it again and again: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me" [Luke 9:23]. If I load myself with gold, can I pretend I'm following Christ? 7. I know your next move: you'll insist that even though you possess nothing, you can wage the spiritual war from home. But can you? The Lord himself "could do no mighty works" in his own country [Matthew 13:58]. "No prophet is accepted in his own country" [Luke 4:24]. "But I don't seek honor," you'll say; "my conscience is enough for me." Neither did the Lord seek it — when the crowds wanted to make him king, he fled [John 6:15]. But where there is no honor there is contempt; where there is contempt, rudeness follows; where there is rudeness, vexation; where there is vexation, no rest; and where there is no rest, the mind strays from its purpose. The result: a monk cannot be perfect in his own country. And not to aim at perfection is itself a sin. 8. Pushed from that position, you'll point to the clergy: "They stay in their cities and no one criticizes them." Far be it from me to criticize the successors of the apostles, who consecrate the body of Christ with holy words, who give us our identity as Christians. Holding the keys of the kingdom of heaven, they judge men in some measure before the day of judgment and guard the purity of the Bride of Christ. But as I've said, a monk's case is different from a clergyman's. The clergy feed Christ's sheep; I, as a monk, am fed by them. They live from the altar [1 Corinthians 9:13-14]; if I bring nothing to it, the axe is already laid to my root as to a barren tree [Matthew 3:10]. I may not sit in the presence of a priest. He, if I sin, may hand me over to Satan "for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved" [1 Corinthians 5:5]. Under the old Law, disobeying a priest meant being stoned outside the camp or beheaded [Deuteronomy 17:5, 12]. Now the disobedient are cut down by the spiritual sword, expelled from the church, and torn apart by ravening demons. Should your brethren persuade you to take holy orders, I will rejoice that you are raised up — and tremble lest you be cast down. "If a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work" [1 Timothy 3:1]. Yes — but add what follows: "Such a man must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober, modest, hospitable, a good teacher; not a drunkard, not violent, but patient" [1 Timothy 3:2-3]. The qualifications for deacons are equally strict: "Deacons must be serious, not double-tongued, not heavy drinkers, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. Let them first be tested; then let them serve, if they are found blameless" [1 Timothy 3:8-10]. Woe to the man who comes to the feast without a wedding garment! All that awaits him is the terrible question: "Friend, how did you get in here?" — and when he has no answer: "Bind him hand and foot and cast him into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" [Matthew 22:11-13]. 9. Not all bishops are true bishops. Consider Peter — but remember Judas too. Look at Stephen — but look also at Nicolas, condemned in Revelation by the Lord's own voice [Revelation 2:6], whose vile fantasies spawned the Nicolaitan heresy. "Let a man examine himself, and so let him come" [1 Corinthians 11:28]. It is not rank in the church that makes a man a Christian. The centurion Cornelius was still a pagan when the Holy Spirit purified him. Daniel was a boy when he judged the elders. Amos was stripping mulberry bushes when he was suddenly made a prophet [Amos 7:14]. David was only a shepherd when he was chosen to be king. And the least of Christ's disciples was the one Jesus loved the most. Brother: sit in the lowest seat, so that when someone less worthy arrives, you may be invited higher [Luke 14:10]. "On whom does the Lord rest? On the one who is lowly, contrite of spirit, and who trembles at his word" [Isaiah 66:2]. "To whom much is given, of him much will be required" [Luke 12:48]. "Mighty men shall be mightily tormented" [Wisdom 6:6]. No one should pride himself on mere physical purity at the judgment, for then "men shall give account for every idle word" [Matthew 12:36], and slander will be counted as murder [Matthew 5:21-22]. Paul and Peter now reign with Christ, and it is no small thing to take the place of one or to hold the office of the other. If you intend to build the tower, first count the cost [Luke 14:28]. Salt that has lost its flavor is "good for nothing except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot" [Matthew 5:13]. If a monk falls, a priest intercedes for him — but who intercedes for a fallen priest? 10. At last my argument has cleared the reefs; at last this frail vessel has passed through the breakers into open water. Now I can spread my sails to the wind, and my closing words will be like the joyful shout of sailors making port. O desert, bright with the flowers of Christ! O solitude, from which come the stones that build the city of the great King in the Apocalypse [Revelation 21:19-20]! O wilderness, blessed with the special presence of God! What keeps you in the world, brother — you who are above the world? How long will gloomy rooftops weigh you down? How long will smoky cities imprison you? Believe me, where I am there is more light than where you are. It is sweet to cast off the burden of the body and soar into the pure, bright air. Do you fear poverty? Christ calls the poor blessed [Luke 6:20]. Does hard labor frighten you? No athlete is crowned except through sweat. Are you anxious about food? Faith fears no famine. Do you dread the bare ground for limbs wasted by fasting? The Lord lies beside you there. Does an unwashed head and unkempt hair repel you? Christ is your true head. Does the boundless emptiness of the desert terrify you? In the spirit you can walk through paradise at will. Whenever you lift your thoughts to heaven, you are no longer in the desert. Is your skin rough and flaking because you no longer bathe? "He who has been washed in Christ need not wash again" [John 13:10]. To all your objections the apostle gives one answer: "The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us" [Romans 8:18]. You are too greedy for pleasure, brother, if you want to enjoy the world now and reign with Christ hereafter. 11. It will come — yes, it will come — that day when "this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality" [1 Corinthians 15:53]. Then blessed will be the servant whom the Lord finds watching [Matthew 24:46]. Then, at the sound of the trumpet [1 Thessalonians 4:16], the earth and all its peoples shall tremble — but you will rejoice. The world will howl when the Lord comes to judge it. The nations will beat their breasts. Kings who were once mighty will tremble in their nakedness. Venus will be exposed, and her son with her. Jupiter, with all his thunderbolts, will stand trial. Plato and his disciples will be revealed as fools. Aristotle's arguments will count for nothing. But you — poor and unlettered as you may seem — you will exult and laugh, and say: "Behold my crucified Lord! Behold my judge! This is the one who was once an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, crying in a manger [Luke 2:7]. This is the one whose parents were a working man and a working woman. This is the one who was carried to Egypt in his mother's arms — God, and yet a fugitive from men. This is the one who was dressed in a scarlet robe and crowned with thorns [Matthew 27:28-29]. This is the one they called a sorcerer, a demoniac, and a Samaritan [John 8:48]. Look, Jew — look at the hands you nailed to the cross! Look, Roman — look at the side you pierced with your spear! See, both of you, whether this is the body that the disciples supposedly stole away by night" [Matthew 27:64]. Brother: it is love that has driven me to say all this. May the life you find so hard now win you your reward on that day.

To Heliodorus, Monk Heliodorus, originally a soldier, but now a presbyter of the Church, had accompanied Jerome to the East, but, not feeling called to the solitary life of the desert, had returned to Aquileia. Here he resumed his clerical duties, and in course of time was raised to the episcopate as bishop of Altinum. The letter was written in the first bitterness of separation and reproaches Heliodorus for having gone back from the perfect way of the ascetic life. The description given of this is highly colored and seems to have produced a great impression in the West. Fabiola was so much enchanted by it that she learned the letter by heart. The date is 373 or 374 A.D. 1. So conscious are you of the affection which exists between us that you cannot but recognize the love and passion with which I strove to prolong our common sojourn in the desert. This very letter — blotted, as you see, with tears — gives evidence of the lamentation and weeping with which I accompanied your departure. With the pretty ways of a child you then softened your refusal by soothing words, and I, being off my guard, knew not what to do. Was I to hold my peace? I could not conceal my eagerness by a show of indifference. Or was I to entreat you yet more earnestly? You would have refused to listen, for your love was not like mine. Despised affection has taken the one course open to it. Unable to keep you when present, it goes in search of you when absent. You asked me yourself, when you were going away, to invite you to the desert when I took up my quarters there, and I for my part promised to do so. Accordingly I invite you now; come, and come quickly. Do not call to mind old ties; the desert is for those who have left all. Nor let the hardships of our former travels deter you. You believe in Christ, believe also in His words: Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33 Take neither scrip nor staff. He is rich enough who is poor — with Christ. 2. But what is this, and why do I foolishly importune you again? Away with entreaties, an end to coaxing words. Offended love does well to be angry. You have spurned my petition; perhaps you will listen to my remonstrance. What keeps you, effeminate soldier, in your father's house? Where are your ramparts and trenches? When have you spent a winter in the field? Lo, the trumpet sounds from heaven! Lo, the Leader comes with clouds! Revelation 1:7 He is armed to subdue the world, and out of His mouth proceeds a two-edged sword Revelation 1:16 to mow down all that encounters it. But as for you, what will you do? Pass straight from your chamber to the battlefield, and from the cool shade into the burning sun? Nay, a body used to a tunic cannot endure a buckler; a head that has worn a cap refuses a helmet; a hand made tender by disuse is galled by a sword-hilt. Hear the proclamation of your King: He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters. Matthew 12:30 Remember the day on which you enlisted, when, buried with Christ in baptism, you swore fealty to Him, declaring that for His sake you would spare neither father nor mother. Lo, the enemy is striving to slay Christ in your breast. Lo, the ranks of the foe sigh over that bounty which you received when you entered His service. Should your little nephew hang on your neck, pay no regard to him; should your mother with ashes on her hair and garments rent show you the breasts at which she nursed you, heed her not; should your father prostrate himself on the threshold, trample him under foot and go your way. With dry eyes fly to the standard of the cross. In such cases cruelty is the only true affection. 3. Hereafter there shall come — yes, there shall come — a day when you will return a victor to your true country, and will walk through the heavenly Jerusalem crowned with the crown of valor. Then will you receive the citizenship thereof with Paul. Then will you seek the like privilege for your parents. Then will you intercede for me who have urged you forward on the path of victory. I am not ignorant of the fetters which you may plead as hindrances. My breast is not of iron nor my heart of stone. I was not born of flint or suckled by a tigress. I have passed through troubles like yours myself. Now it is a widowed sister who throws her caressing arms around you. Now it is the slaves, your foster-brothers, who cry, To what master are you leaving us? Now it is a nurse bowed with age, and a body-servant loved only less than a father, who exclaim: Only wait till we die and follow us to our graves. Perhaps, too, an aged mother, with sunken bosom and furrowed brow, recalling the lullaby with which she once soothed you, adds her entreaties to theirs. The learned may call you, if they please, The sole support and pillar of your house. The love of God and the fear of hell will easily break such bonds. Scripture, you will argue, bids us obey our parents. Ephesians 6:1 Yes, but whoever loves them more than Christ loses his own soul. Matthew 10:37 The enemy takes sword in hand to slay me, and shall I think of a mother's tears? Or shall I desert the service of Christ for the sake of a father to whom, if I am Christ's servant, I owe no rites of burial, Luke 9:59-60 albeit if I am Christ's true servant I owe these to all? Peter with his cowardly advice was an offense to the Lord on the eve of His passion; Matthew 16:23 and to the brethren who strove to restrain him from going up to Jerusalem, Paul's one answer was: What mean ye to weep and to break my heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. Acts 21:13 The battering-ram of natural affection which so often shatters faith must recoil powerless from the wall of the Gospel. My mother and my brethren are these whosoever do the will of my Father which is in heaven. If they believe in Christ let them bid me God-speed, for I go to fight in His name. And if they do not believe, let the dead bury their dead. Matthew 8:22 4. But all this, you argue, only touches the case of martyrs. Ah! My brother, you are mistaken, you are mistaken, if you suppose that there is ever a time when the Christian does not suffer persecution. Then are you most hardly beset when you know not that you are beset at all. Our adversary as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour, 1 Peter 5:8 and do you think of peace? He sits in the lurking-places of the villages: in the secret places does he murder the innocent; his eyes are privily set against the poor. He lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den; he lies in wait to catch the poor; and do you slumber under a shady tree, so as to fall an easy prey? On one side self-indulgence presses me hard; on another covetousness strives to make an inroad; my belly wishes to be a God to me, in place of Christ, and lust would fain drive away the Holy Spirit that dwells in me and defile His temple. 1 Corinthians 3:17 I am pursued, I say, by an enemy Whose name is Legion and his wiles untold; and, hapless wretch that I am, how shall I hold myself a victor when I am being led away a captive? 5. My dear brother, weigh well the various forms of transgression, and think not that the sins which I have mentioned are less flagrant than that of idolatry. Nay, hear the apostle's view of the matter. For this ye know, he writes, that no whore-monger or unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Ephesians 5:5 In a general way all that is of the devil savors of enmity to God, and what is of the devil is idolatry, since all idols are subject to him. Yet Paul elsewhere lays down the law in express and unmistakable terms, saying: Mortify your members, which are upon the earth, laying aside fornication, uncleanness, evil concupiscence and covetousness, which are idolatry, for which things' sake the wrath of God comes. Colossians 3:5-6 Idolatry is not confined to casting incense upon an altar with finger and thumb, or to pouring libations of wine out of a cup into a bowl. Covetousness is idolatry, or else the selling of the Lord for thirty pieces of silver was a righteous act. Matthew 26:15 Lust involves profanation, or else men may defile with common harlots those members of Christ which should be a living sacrifice acceptable to God. Romans 12:1 Fraud is idolatry, or else they are worthy of imitation who, in the Acts of the Apostles, sold their inheritance, and because they kept back part of the price, perished by an instant doom. Consider well, my brother; nothing is yours to keep. Whosoever he be of you, the Lord says, that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33 Why are you such a half-hearted Christian? 6. See how Peter left his net; Matthew 4:18-20 see how the publican rose from the receipt of custom. Matthew 9:9 In a moment he became an apostle. The Son of man has not where to lay his head, Matthew 8:20 and do you plan wide porticos and spacious halls? If you look to inherit the good things of the world you can no longer be a joint-heir with Christ. Romans 8:17 You are called a monk, and has the name no meaning? What brings you, a solitary, into the throng of men? The advice that I give is that of no inexperienced mariner who has never lost either ship or cargo, and has never known a gale. Lately shipwrecked as I have been myself, my warnings to other voyagers spring from my own fears. On one side, like Charybdis, self-indulgence sucks into its vortex the soul's salvation. On the other, like Scylla, lust, with a smile on her girl's face, lures it on to wreck its chastity. The coast is savage, and the devil with a crew of pirates carries irons to fetter his captives. Be not credulous, be not over-confident. The sea may be as smooth and smiling as a pond, its quiet surface may be scarcely ruffled by a breath of air, yet sometimes its waves are as high as mountains. There is danger in its depths, the foe is lurking there. Ease your sheets, spread your sails, fasten the cross as an ensign on your prow. The calm that you speak of is itself a tempest. Why so? you will perhaps argue; are not all my fellow-townsmen Christians? Your case, I reply, is not that of others. Listen to the words of the Lord: If you will be perfect go and sell that you have, and give to the poor, and come and follow me. Matthew 19:21 You have already promised to be perfect. For when you forsook the army and made yourself an eunuch for the kingdom of heaven's sake, Matthew 19:12 you did so that you might follow the perfect life. Now the perfect servant of Christ has nothing beside Christ. Or if he have anything beside Christ he is not perfect. And if he be not perfect when he has promised God to be so, his profession is a lie. But the mouth that lies slays the soul. Wisdom 1:11 To conclude, then, if you are perfect you will not set your heart on your father's goods; and if you are not perfect you have deceived the Lord. The Gospel thunders forth its divine warning: You cannot serve two masters, Luke 16:13 and does any one dare to make Christ a liar by serving at once both God and Mammon? Repeatedly does He proclaim, If any one will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Luke 9:23 If I load myself with gold can I think that I am following Christ? Surely not. He that says he abides in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked. 1 John 2:6 7. I know you will rejoin that you possess nothing. Why, then, if you are so well prepared for battle, do you not take the field? Perhaps you think that you can wage war in your own country, although the Lord could do no signs in His? Matthew 13:58 Why not? You ask. Take the answer which comes to you with his authority: No prophet is accepted in his own country. Luke 4:24 But, you will say, I do not seek honor; the approval of my conscience is enough for me. Neither did the Lord seek it; for when the multitudes would have made Him a king he fled from them. John 6:15 But where there is no honor there is contempt; and where there is contempt there is frequent rudeness; and where there is rudeness there is vexation; and where there is vexation there is no rest; and where there is no rest the mind is apt to be diverted from its purpose. Again, where, through restlessness, earnestness loses any of its force, it is lessened by what it loses, and that which is lessened cannot be called perfect. The upshot of all which is that a monk cannot be perfect in his own country. Now, not to aim at perfection is itself a sin. 8. Driven from this line of defense you will appeal to the example of the clergy. These, you will say, remain in their cities, and yet they are surely above criticism. Far be it from me to censure the successors of the apostles, who with holy words consecrate the body of Christ, and who make us Christians. Having the keys of the kingdom of heaven, they judge men to some extent before the day of judgment, and guard the chastity of the bride of Christ. But, as I have before hinted, the case of monks is different from that of the clergy. The clergy feed Christ's sheep; I as a monk am fed by them. They live of the altar: 1 Corinthians 9:13-14 I, if I bring no gift to it, have the axe laid to my root as to that of a barren tree. Matthew 3:10 Nor can I plead poverty as an excuse, for the Lord in the gospel has praised an aged widow for casting into the treasury the last two coins that she had. Luke 21:1-4 I may not sit in the presence of a presbyter; he, if I sin, may deliver me to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved. 1 Corinthians 5:5 Under the old law he who disobeyed the priests was put outside the camp and stoned by the people, or else he was beheaded and expiated his contempt with his blood. Deuteronomy 17:5, 12 But now the disobedient person is cut down with the spiritual sword, or he is expelled from the church and torn to pieces by ravening demons. Should the entreaties of your brethren induce you to take orders, I shall rejoice that you are lifted up, and fear lest you may be cast down. You will say: If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. 1 Timothy 3:1 I know that; but you should add what follows: such an one must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, chaste, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker but patient. 1 Timothy 3:2-3 After fully explaining the qualifications of a bishop the apostle speaks of ministers of the third degree with equal care. Likewise must the deacons be grave, he writes, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then, let them minister, being found blameless. 1 Timothy 3:8-10 Woe to the man who goes in to the supper without a wedding garment. Nothing remains for him but the stern question, Friend, how did you come in hither? And when he is speechless the order will be given, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 22:11-13 Woe to him who, when he has received a talent, has bound it in a napkin; and, while others make profits, only preserves what he has received. His angry lord shall rebuke him in a moment. You wicked servant, he will say, why did you not put my money into the bank that at my coming I might have required my own with usury? Luke 19:23 That is to say, you should have laid before the altar what you were not able to bear. For while you, a slothful trader, keep a penny in your hands, you occupy the place of another who might double the money. Wherefore, as he who ministers well purchases to himself a good degree, 1 Timothy 3:13 so he who approaches the cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 11:27 9. Not all bishops are bishops indeed. You consider Peter; mark Judas as well. You notice Stephen; look also on Nicolas, sentenced in the Apocalypse by the Lord's own lips, Revelation 2:6 whose shameful imaginations gave rise to the heresy of the Nicolaitans. Let a man examine himself and so let him come. 1 Corinthians 11:28 For it is not ecclesiastical rank that makes a man a Christian. The centurion Cornelius was still a heathen when he was cleansed by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Daniel was but a child when he judged the elders. Amos was stripping mulberry bushes when, in a moment, he was made a prophet. Amos 7:14 David was only a shepherd when he was chosen to be king. And the least of His disciples was the one whom Jesus loved the most. My brother, sit down in the lower room, that when one less honorable comes you may be bidden to go up higher. Luke 14:10 Upon whom does the Lord rest but upon him that is lowly and of a contrite spirit, and that trembles at His word? Isaiah 66:2 To whom God has committed much, of him He will ask the more. Luke 12:48 Mighty men shall be mightily tormented. Wisdom 6:6 No man need pride himself in the day of judgment on merely physical chastity, for then shall men give account for every idle word, Matthew 12:36 and the reviling of a brother shall be counted as the sin of murder. Matthew 5:21-22 Paul and Peter now reign with Christ, and it is not easy to take the place of the one or to hold the office of the other. There may come an angel to rend the veil of your temple, Matthew 27:51 and to remove your candlestick out of its place. Revelation 2:5 If you intend to build the tower, first count the cost. Luke 14:28 Salt that has lost its savor is good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of swine. Matthew 5:13 If a monk fall, a priest shall intercede for him; but who shall intercede for a fallen priest? 10. At last my discourse is clear of the reefs: at last this frail bark has passed from the breakers into deep water. I may now spread my sails to the breeze; and, as I leave the rocks of controversy astern, my epilogue will be like the joyful shout of mariners. O desert, bright with the flowers of Christ! O solitude whence come the stones of which, in the Apocalypse, the city of the great king is built! Revelation 21:19-20 O wilderness, gladdened with God's special presence! What keeps you in the world, my brother, you who are above the world? How long shall gloomy roofs oppress you? How long shall smoky cities immure you? Believe me, I have more light than you. Sweet it is to lay aside the weight of the body and to soar into the pure bright ether. Do you dread poverty? Christ calls the poor blessed. Luke 6:20 Does toil frighten you? No athlete is crowned but in the sweat of his brow. Are you anxious as regards food? Faith fears no famine. Do you dread the bare ground for limbs wasted with fasting? The Lord lies there beside you. Do you recoil from an unwashed head and uncombed hair? Christ is your true head. Does the boundless solitude of the desert terrify you? In the spirit you may walk always in paradise. Do but turn your thoughts there and you will be no more in the desert. Is your skin rough and scaly because you no longer bathe? He that is once washed in Christ needs not to wash again. John 13:10 To all your objections the apostle gives this one brief answer: The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall come after them, which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:18 You are too greedy of enjoyment, my brother, if you wish to rejoice with the world here, and to reign with Christ hereafter. 11. It shall come, it shall come, that day when this corruptible shall put on incorruption , and this mortal shall put on immortality. 1 Corinthians 15:53 Then shall that servant be blessed whom the Lord shall find watching. Matthew 24:46 Then at the sound of the trumpet 1 Thessalonians 4:16 the earth and its peoples shall tremble, but you shall rejoice. The world shall howl at the Lord who comes to judge it, and the tribes of the earth shall smite the breast. Once mighty kings shall tremble in their nakedness. Venus shall be exposed, and her son too. Jupiter with his fiery bolts will be brought to trial; and Plato, with his disciples, will be but a fool. Aristotle's arguments shall be of no avail. You may seem a poor man and country bred, but then you shall exult and laugh, and say: Behold my crucified Lord, behold my judge. This is He who was once an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and crying in a manger. Luke 2:7 This is He whose parents were a workingman and a working-woman. This is He, who, carried into Egypt in His mother's bosom, though He was God, fled before the face of man. This is He who was clothed in a scarlet robe and crowned with thorns. Matthew 27:28-29 This is He who was called a sorcerer and a man with a devil and a Samaritan. John 8:48 Jew, behold the hands which you nailed to the cross. Roman, behold the side which you pierced with the spear. See both of you whether it was this body that the disciples stole secretly and by night. Matthew 27:64 For this you profess to believe. My brother, it is affection which has urged me to speak thus; that you who now find the Christian life so hard may have your reward in that day. About this page Source. Translated by W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Martley. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001014.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.