Letter 41

From: Paulinus, bishop of Nola To: Unknown recipient Date: ~423 AD Context: A theological meditation on the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25), interpreting the five senses as the key to spiritual wisdom or foolishness. We read the list of letters noted on the back of your envelope, which you indicated were mine. Truthfully, I had so completely forgotten nearly all of them that I would not have recognized them as my own if I had not trusted your word. This gave me an even greater proof of your affection: I realized that you know me better than I know myself. I am grateful to have received the hymns I had been hoping for. With that gift, holy brother, you reminded me to prepare my lamp carefully while there is still time — lest I be shut out with the foolish virgins by failing to appear with the wise ones [Matthew 25:1-13]. Pray that our souls may be both virgin and fruitful: virgin without barrenness, fruitful without corruption. For this is the mystery: under the Law, cursed is the one who does not raise up offspring in Israel, yet in the Gospel, the wise virgin who has procured oil and anointed her torch with watchful care awaits the bridegroom's coming, kindling for his arrival a light that will not be extinguished, fed by rich fuel. So let our minds be fertile for God and bring forth the fruits of life through good works. Let the spirit be a virgin, corrupted by no enticement of the world, remaining whole and untouched by every stain of vice. For the foolish virgins, it seems to me, are souls that are barren of virtue, and the wise are those uncorrupted by vice. And notice that in each group there are five — this is meant to show that the integrity or corruption of the whole person comes down to the senses. We are all equipped with five senses, and through them we receive either life or death. The prophet grieves over these very senses when he says: "Death has entered through your windows" [Jeremiah 9:21]. Let us block those windows with the fear of God. Let us be deaf and blind to all the attractions and voices of this world. Let us hedge our ears with thorns against wicked speech and seductive melodies. Let us turn our eyes away from vanity [Psalm 119:37]. Let us stop up our nostrils so we do not inhale the stench of death from this corrupt age. Let no disease of gluttony creep in through the lure of taste, sapping the strength of self-control with the food of desire. Let us not pamper our bodies with soft clothing, lest the delicate coverings cause our limbs to shudder with carnal touch and forbidden embraces. If we do this — if each of our five senses is kept pure and anointed with the oil of faithful teaching — then all five wise virgins will remain within us, their oil stored safely in their vessels, resting in confident expectation, ready at a moment's notice to light their torches when the first commotion of the arriving bridegroom rouses them. For among the great multitudes of the Church — where we see not only virgins (though their number is beyond counting) but also married women and widows of every variety of conduct and fruitfulness — I do not think the number five was chosen for any other reason than this: each type, wise and foolish alike, is present in the whole body of the people, but the number refers specifically to the individual, since each of us carries within ourselves either foolish or wise virgins according to the quality of our senses. Those with watchful senses possess wise virginity; those with negligent senses, foolish virginity. That is also why the foolish are still called virgins, just like the wise, despite being so unlike them: for virgins of the flesh possess a barren sterility, but of the spirit, a fruitful chastity. The wise are not barren in their virginity, because they are wise; the foolish bear no fruit, because they are foolish. The foolish seem to me to represent the wisdom of this world, which is foolishness before God [1 Corinthians 3:19], and the wisdom of the flesh — truly a foolish virgin, because she is not joined to and subject to the law and wisdom of God. Her lamp is easily extinguished because she has no oil of truth, being empty of the Holy Spirit, by whom the inner eye is illuminated and the head of the soul — which is our faith — is anointed. For oil is the infusion of heavenly teaching. Therefore let no sinner's oil fatten our heads [Psalm 141:5], and let no dying flies ruin the oil of sweetness. Let Christ always be our head, and may the oil never fail from our heads, for "his name is oil poured out" [Song of Songs 1:3]. Then, with all our senses perfected, we will be wise virgins — if the wisdom of God remains in us, through whom even bodily virginity was made fruitful. I have wearied you far too long and presumed far too much on the patience of your love. I should listen to Solomon speaking in the wisdom of God and tread more sparingly with my words, even to those I love most, lest you grow sick of me from overfeeding. But I know that just as no one can hate his own flesh, neither can you hate my humble self, which you have taken into the very core of your being. May the peace, love, grace, and humility of Christ the Most High abound in you, my blessed brothers, venerable and most dear.

XXXXI. Legimus in tergo epistolae adnotationem epistolarum, quas meas esse indicastis. nam uere prope omnium earum ita inmemor eram, ut meas esse non recognoscerem, nisi uestris litteris credidissem. unde maius accepi documentum caritatis uestrae, quia plus me uobis quam mihi notum esse perspexi. hymnos, quos desiderabam, accepisse gratulor, quo munere, sancte frater, admonuisti me, ut faculam meam diligenter, dum tempus est, appararem, ne cum fatuis excluderer, si cum sapientibus non occurrerem. orate autem, ut et uirgines et fecundae sint animae nostrae, sine sterilitate uirgines, sine corruptione fecundae. hoc enim mysterio et in lege maledictus qui semen in Israel non dederit, et in euangelio uirgo sapiens, quae oleo procurato uigili sollicitudine uncta face sponsi expectat aduentum iamque uenienti non extinguendum pingui fomite lumen accendit. Ergo mens nostra fertilis deo et uitae fructus operibus bonis pariat. sit spiritus uirgo, ut nulla saeculi corrumpatur inlecebra et ab omni labe uitiorum integer maneat. stultae enim uirgines illae mihi uidentur esse animae, quae uirtutibus steriles, et illae sapientes, quae uitiis incorruptae sunt. denique in utroque uirginum genere quinque ponuntur, ut intellegatur ad sensus hominis integritatem aut corruptionem referri; nam quinque sensibus omnes praediti sumus, per quos aut uitam recipimus aut mortem. de ipsis enim dolens 9] (Matth. 25,10). 20] (Matth. 25, 3). FLMPUfHrx . — item eiusdem paulini epistola XVI. L, ad nescioquem suppresso nomine XXlIII. M, item incipit eiusdem epfae paulini X 2 egimus fJ notificationem F 3 indicatis >3 JL 4 eram] eorum U, earam P 5 magis F1 6 «pspexi L 9 adparerem xl 10 currerem xl et fecundae om. M, et facundae fJ 11 simus M animae-uirgines om. M 12 et] est pi maledictus est M 13 semem fJ ysdrael U sapieris U, sapiens dicitur M 14 solicitudine fJl facie L aspectat FPU 15 estinguendum 1 16 accendit om. U 17 deo] sit add. Rostc . 18 sit] et add. Bosw . 19 et om. M ab omni labe ex abominabile P m. 2 20 esse om. FPU 21 steriles] sunt add. FPU ille MP propheta dicit: mors introiuit per fenestras uestras. quas obstruamus timore dei, ut ad omnes istius mundi formas et noces surdi simus et caeci; sepiamus aures nostras spinis contra linguam nequam et inlecebrosa modulamina; auertamus oculos nostros, ne uideant uanitatem; obstruamus et nares nostras, ne de corruptione huius saeculi mortis odorem trahamus, neque per gustum inlicem gulae morbus inrepat et concupiscentiarum cibis continentiae robur eneruet; neque mollibus uestimentis corpori blandiamur, ne carneos tactus et amplexus inlicitos delicatis male palpata tegminibus membra disquatiant. ita fiet, ut in unumquemque nostrum omnibus sensibus castis et oleo doctrinae fidelis inbutis uirgines omnes quinque sapientes maneant et oleo in uasis suis reposito expectatione secura quiescant, facile mox parandis fa.cibus occursurae, cum primo superuenientis sponsi tumultu fuerint excitatae. nam in tantis ecclesiae populis, in quibus non solum uirgines, quarum tamen innumera multitudo est, sed et maritatae et uiduae diuersis et moribus cernuntur et fructibus, non arbitror alia ratione quinque tantum uirgines fatuas et totidem sapientes esse positas, nisi quod utraque persona in totius populi uniuersitate diuersa, numerus autem ratione supradicta singillatim in omnibus continetur, ut unusquisque in semet ipso aut stultas aut prudentes habeat pro qualitate sensuum suorum, in quibus prouidis sapiens, inertibus autem stulta uirginitas est. nam ideo et fatuae sicut sapientes in tanta sui dissimilitudine similiter uirgines 1] Hier. 9, 21. 3] (Eccli. 28, 28). 4] Ps. 118, 37. 1 nostras L 2 obstruamus /3 in textu, in mg.: ai offirmamus huius mundi M 3 uices U et cęci simus M 7 illicem corr. in inuicem F obrepat M 8 et] ut F cibus LM 9 molibus /3 ne] nee FPU 10 delicatatis P 11 disquatiant Rosw., disquatient FPUfil, desquatent X, discatent L, descatent M, despument (uel in carneos dissultent) coni. Sacch . itaque L unoquoque Rosw . 12 et om. Rosto . 17 innumerata FU 18 marite X et moribus] moribus L 20 totidem] quinque M 21 in] est in LM 22 ut om. FPU, et /f 23 prudentes uirgines LMX 25 autem] aut p sicut] sunt /9A appellantur, quia uirginibus secundum carnem sterilitas infecunda, secundum spiritum fructuosa-castitas adest. quare nec sapientes sterilem uirginitatem habent, quia sapientes sunt, nec stultae fructuosam, quia stultae sunt. quarum forma mihi uidetur esse sapientia huius mundi, quae stultitia est apud deum, et sapientia carnis, quae uere uirgo stulta est, quia legi non est iuncta atque subiecta legi et sapientiae dei; et lucerna eius facile extinguitur, quia non habet oleum ueritatis uacua spiritus sancti, quo oculus int-erior luminatur et inpinguatur animae caput, quod est fides nostra, cui oleum est doctrinae caelestis infusio. Itaque oleum peccatoris non inpinguet caput nostrum, neque muscae moriturae exterminent oleum suauitatis, ut semper nobis caput Christus sit, ne umquam deficiat oleum capiti nostro, quia unguentum exinanitum est nomen eius; et tunc omnibus perfecti sensibus erimus uirgines sapientes, si in nobis manserit sapientia dei, per quam facta est etiam in corpore fecunda uirginitas. nimium uos fatigo et multum mihi praesumo de patientia caritatis. sed oportet ut audiam Salomonem in sapientia dei loquentem, ut parcius, ad amantissimos licet, inferam uerbi pedem, ne satiati oderint me; scio autem, quod sicut odisse quis non potest uiscera sua, ita nec uos humilitatem nostram, quam uisceribus uestris permiscuistis. pax et caritas et gratia et humilitas Christi 5] I Cor. 3,19. 7] Rom. 8, 7. 8] Prou. 20,20. 10] (Ps. 140,5). 12] Cant. 1, 2. 2 caritas Chiffl. ex Cluniac . adest ex est U m. 2 4 fructuosam M, fructuosae cet. 5 huius om. M 6 apud deum est F 7 legi non] non M uincta pll quia legi et sapientiae dei non est subiecta cuius lucerna facile M Cluniac . 8 quia no non P 9 spiritu U exterior Rosw . 10 illuminatur L 11 celestis doctrinae F 14 ne] nec Bosto . 16 nunc U perfectis fJ). 19 mihi praesumo multum FPU ut om. LM, in rcu . Xl 20 insapientia FPU, sapientia X parcius inferam FPU 21 uerbis fJ). pedem] taedium p in iixtu, in mg.: af pedem 22 autem] tamen M sicut] sciunt fJ 23 uos per FX, uesper U 24 promiscuistis U domini altissimi abundet in uobis, benedicti fratres merito uenerabiles et dilectissimi.