Admonitiones / Exhortationes ad Monachos

The Dehortations to Monks of Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of the Order of St Benedict, published again by the care of the Monastery of St Benedict in the City. Peace. Rome, from the Vatican Press, [MDCCCCLC].

[Page 2: the same title page repeated, with "ROMAI" and the date "MDCCCIIIC".]

Letter.

On the spiritual warfare of monks. Homily I [unclear] 2 Index of the items contained in this volume.

Titles of the second book, properly called Sermons.

Letter... fol. 175 That monks must live cautiously. Sermon I... fol. 177 What the good ordering of the monastic life is. Sermon II... fol. 185 What the signs of true humility are. Sermon III... fol. 192 On the arduous way that leads to life. Sermon IV... fol. 199 How sin must be fled. Sermon V... fol. 204 On the knowledge of spiritual grace. Sermon VI... fol. 214 On the nine degrees of ascent. Sermon VII... fol. 223 The Penthicus Book of the same author, divided into these chapters.

Letter, fol. 229 On the ruin of the order of our most holy Father Benedict in the regions of Germany. Chapter 1, fol. 230 On the most holy primitive state of our order. Chapter 2, fol. 231 On the present lamentable state of our order. Chapter 3, fol. 233 Against those who transfer themselves from the order, or have already long since transferred themselves. Chapter 4, fol. 240 Against abbots who do not oppose the apostasy of their monks and the dismemberments of monasteries. Chapter 5, fol. 246 Against the false arguments and surreptitious dispensations by which apostates claim to defend their apostasy. Chapter 6, fol. 250 How these dismemberments caused by apostatizing monks are to be opposed. Chapter 7, fol. 255 Against those who uselessly consume the goods of monasteries and scorn to assist the order, even in a small way. Chapter 8, fol. 259 How disobedient and rebellious abbots are to be compelled to assist the order. Chapter 9, fol. 263 On holding a provincial chapter. Chapter 10, fol. 264 How necessary a diligent reform of the monasteries in our province would be. Chapter 11, fol. 267 That visitors ought to be solicitous for the reform of our order. Chapter 12, fol. 270 How great a danger the governance of souls is. Chapter 13, fol. 272 The end.

Life of Abbot Johannes Trithemius, written by himself in the Book of Ecclesiastical Writers.

Johannes, abbot of the monastery of Saint Martin the bishop at Sponheim, of the order of the divine Father Benedict, of the diocese of Mainz, a German by nation, a Mosellan by homeland, born in the village of Trittenheim in the diocese of Trier. Although I am not worthy for my name to be placed among ecclesiastical writers, because of the poverty of my talent, nevertheless, urged by friends, I was compelled to place at the end of this catalogue the titles and beginnings of my own writings as well, following the example of the divine fathers Jerome, Gennadius, Honorius the priest of Autun, and Sigebert, monk of Gembloux, who also placed themselves at the end of their treatises published on these same matters. Therefore, besides this work, I have also written the following. And first, by command of the presidents of the general chapter, I abridged: The Statutes of the same Chapter, one book: “Since they wish.” On the Visitation of Monks, one book: “Your brothers.” On the Manner of Observing the Chapter, one book: “Since in heaven.” On the Rule of Saint Benedict, two books: “Come, children, listen.” An Exhortation to Monks, two books: “Of Christ’s warfare.” On Temptations, two books: “The human race.” On the Life of Priests, one book: “You ask of me.” On the Vice of Possessiveness, one book: “All who come to life.” On the Misery of This Life, one book: “Since there is nothing.” On the Ruin of Our Order, one book: “Since of the order.” On the Illustrious Men of Our Order, four books: “As I was considering.” Praises of the Order of the Carmelites, two books: “By prayers and entreaties.” On the Praise of Scribes, one book: “To the venerable father.” On the Lights of Germany, one book: “Since there are.” Letters to Various Persons, one book: “You ask that copies.” On Saint Anne, one book. Various Sermons, one book.

As for conferences, whether delivered in general chapters, in observantial chapters, or elsewhere, they are without fixed number; some are extant, and some have been taken away. These, then, apart from those which still lie unfinished in my hands, are the works I recall having written up to the present: in the thirty-fourth year of my age, the tenth of my assuming the office of abbot, and the twelfth of my conversion, under Maximilian, King of the Romans, and the Supreme Pontiff Alexander VI, in the year of the Lord in which I have now for the third time corrected, enlarged, and completed the catalogue of ecclesiastical writers, having labored on it for nearly seven years: 1493, in the twelfth indiction.

Letter Johannes Trithemius, called abbot of Sponheim, to the Reverend Father and his preceptor, Lord Johannes de Colenhausen, abbot of the Monastery of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, martyrs, in Seligenstadt, formerly abbot of Sponheim, my predecessor: reverence and honor.

I do not know, my ever-venerable predecessor, under what unlucky star this monastery of Sponheim was built, since an abbot rarely dies in it, but almost all, overcome by weariness, for nearly seventy years now, as I find from the annals, have resigned of their own accord. Nor are we wholly ignorant why you too, following the example of those before you, abandoned us poor men before the time: we rightly blame both our poverty and the rebellious rashness of certain men. I now experience, alas, the reason that moved your mind to leave the abbacy of Sponheim, utterly barren and unfruitful, over which you presided for thirteen years after the reform, not without continual anxiety of spirit and endless labors. I pass over the wrongs you endured from very many of the brothers, all of which are indeed now doubled against me every day.

You instructed me to send to your Paternity the book of my Exhortations to the brothers, which I recently composed by night amid the raging occupations of worldly affairs. Although it is unworthy of your reading, I nevertheless did not wish to resist a father’s command. Therefore I beg your gentleness kindly to apply the file of correction: and, if anything is lacking, add it; cut away what is superfluous; and what is unsuitable either consign to the flames or at least put in order. Farewell, sweetest Father, remembering us. From Sponheim, on the sixth day of the month of August, in the year of the Christians 1486.

Sermons and Exhortations to Monks by Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, afterward of Würzburg; of these sermons there are two books: the first is called the Book of Homilies, the second the Book of Sermons.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ begins the first book of Exhortations to Monks.

On the Spiritual Warfare of Monks. Homily I.

It belongs to Christian warfare, brothers, and especially to that of monks, to be subject to the various calamities of this world, and, like gold in the furnace, to be exercised and tested by continual tribulations. For it belongs to monks, in the warfare of Christians, to surpass the common rule by a higher manner of living, and to obey not only the Lord’s commandments but also his counsels. It belongs to monks to despise utterly riches, honors, and all the pleasures of the present world for the love of God, and, having overcome carnal desires, to be continually free for God alone. For a monk is so called as one solitary, from oneness; and by the very word of his name he is admonished to contempt of the world. Accordingly the office of a monk is to remain with himself in solitude, clean and purified from vices, and sweetly to love Christ above all things.

For the goal of monks, toward which the regular institution is directed, is Christ; whoever refuses to imitate him is neither a monk nor even a Christian. Hence, my brothers, we must know that whoever does not follow our Lord and Savior in true patience and humility gains nothing for salvation from being called a Christian or a monk. For he himself says in the holy Gospel: Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter the kingdom of heaven. And what the will of God is, the holy Apostle disclosed, saying: This is the will of God, your sanctification. But since the necessary completion of this sanctification commanded to us requires great endurance of evils in all things, and humility, because no one is holy by his own strength, we must, my brothers, keep continual consideration of our calling within ourselves.

lest, growing sluggish in most destructive idleness, we be conquered in military combat by the enemy, who, like a roaring lion, prowls about seeking the unwary and faint-hearted man whom he may devour as he perishes.

For we are soldiers of God, fighting against a threefold adversary: namely, the flesh, the world, and the devil. It is a doubtful war and an exceedingly hard contest to suffer as an enemy one whom nature has given as a familiar companion. Therefore, dearly beloved brothers, let us arm ourselves with the adornments of virtues, since whoever is adorned with the splendor of good works is not easily conquered by the adversary.

First, let us fortify ourselves with the most steadfast faith of the Holy and Undivided Trinity; the devout and sincere confession of it in mind and mouth drives far away all the wicked schemes and deceits of demons, and, overcoming the greatest enemy, casts him down and utterly weakens him. Then let us take up for ourselves the most fervent love of God and of neighbor, which is more fearful to demons than all else, especially if it has been rooted in true Christian humility.

Let us not give confidence to our soul, since blessed is said to be the man who is always fearful; but he who is hard of mind will fall into evil. Let us follow Christ our leader, who said in the Gospel: “I am the way, the truth, and the life, for no one comes to the Father except through me.”

Now therefore, brothers, attend to these things which are read in the holy Scriptures concerning our Savior, since he who says that he remains in Christ, that is, in the way of truth, should strive to walk just as he walked. But it was necessary for him first to suffer the reproach of the cross and so to enter into his glory, so that we too, his soldiers, however unworthy, might be warned that we must enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations. Therefore the Lord himself, King of all things, admonished us in the Gospel, saying: “Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

Behold, Christ sets before us the way to eternal life: though he was Lord of heavenly and earthly things, for our sake he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant; in that form, willingly and not under compulsion, he bore our weaknesses, becoming obedient to the Father even unto death, death on a cross. And so, if it was necessary for the Lord of the whole universe first to suffer, it certainly cannot be that we, his imitators, wicked and most vile sinners, should not have to suffer many things, we who justly endure, by our own desert, everything that we suffer.

For no one comes to the glory of the heavenly city unless he has first been justified here from sin; but since the tribulations of the just are many, a man will by no means be able to be just if he has refused to endure adversities for justice in this world. Therefore, my dearly beloved brothers, let us imitate in great patience and humility our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who, having become man for us, willingly endured the greatest things, and in this world was never without the bitterness of persecution. For from the hour of his most sacred birth until the departure of his spirit from his body, he was always in the bitterness of the present life.

He proved most patient for us, and the bitterness of his future passion, foreknown by him, never departed from his foreknowledge. For although he was almighty God, having become man for us, he knew all things, understood all things, foresaw all things; nor could anything of what he was to suffer be hidden from him, who, in order to suffer in the world, was made capable of suffering, while remaining impassible as the God he was.

Born of the Virgin Mary without intercourse with a man, in order to fulfill the law, he was circumcised on the eighth day; and he who had no sin was wounded for our offenses. At night, before the face of his persecutor, the child was led into Egypt; and he who was Lord of all, poor and needy, lived unknown in exile among the nations for seven years. Finally, throughout all the days of his life in this world he endured continual labors with the greatest patience, and never refused to undergo any adversity for the glory of the Father. For the just and innocent one voluntarily suffered all hard and bitter things for us in the most unworthy ways; by the most bitter death of the cross he redeemed us from the ruin of eternal damnation, and in his own blood mercifully reconciled us to the Father.

Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, as the Prince of the Apostles forewarned, let us, my brothers, arm ourselves with the same thought: so that, sharing in compassion for the innocent one, we may diligently recall to memory the things he endured for us. For if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him as he triumphs in glory.

Behold, Christ calls us to the glory to which he has gone before; he gives us the weapons with which he himself first overcame the prince of this world; he has prescribed the pattern by which a soldier must follow his king to the crown. Christ calls his soldiers to the palace of heaven, whom hardships lead onward with the gifts of virtues accompanying them, and rewards receive as victors to reign forever [unclear].

Therefore, dearest brothers, as we always pursue our warfare with the greatest zeal, let us continually declare war on vices and desires, so that, just as the flesh fights against the spirit, so we may fight in return, ever watchful in prayer and fasting against the inciter of vices. For as long as we live in this world, we are pilgrims away from the Lord, and like athletes we contend in the stadium, carrying out the necessary course of life in continual struggle.

But we fight not by our own strength, but upheld by the mercy of our King, who said to his imitators in the holy Gospel: “Without me you can do nothing.” And lest we flee the battle of the warfare set before us as impossible, he said elsewhere: “In the world you will have tribulation; but take courage: I have overcome the world.” And so that we might know that the Lord Jesus is always present with his little servants in this world, he promises us thus in the Apostles: “Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the age.”

Having received this promise of security, O soldiers of Christ, my dearest brothers, why do we hesitate? Why do we not stand bravely against all the insolence of this world? We always have our King and protector present while we fight; and do we wretchedly fear to struggle against a weak enemy, who overcomes no one unless he is willing? Gird yourselves, I beg you, for [unclear].

On the spiritual warfare of monks.

[unclear] their names to Christ the Emperor.

You have professed the unconquerable warfare of Christ under a twofold condition: the one when, at the font of holy baptism, renouncing Satan, you swore to the words of Christian instruction; the other when you solemnly put on this garment of monastic religion. A great necessity of making progress binds you, if you weigh your profession with due consideration, since the meaning of the Christian name commands that you must keep the Gospel precepts, and the vow that you voluntarily made requires that you preserve the appointed rules of monastic discipline.

It is no longer enough for your salvation to fulfill those appointed things which are set before Christians in common to be observed, unless you also most diligently keep the monastic institutions which you promised. “Vow,” says Scripture, “and pay.” And again another Scripture says: “If you have vowed anything to God, do not delay to pay it; for an unfaithful and foolish promise displeases him, and it is much better not to vow than, after vows have been promised, not to pay.” And Saint Augustine admonishes us how necessary it is to pay to God what has been promised, saying: “There are certain things which, even without vowing them, we owe to the Lord, and there are certain things which, unless we have vowed them, we do not owe. But after we promise them to the Lord, we are necessarily constrained to pay them.”

And now, my brothers, carefully consider what you have vowed to the Lord your God, and diligently weigh under what necessity of paying what you promised you have been placed. For you vowed to your God, not to man, obedience, and conversion of your way of life according to the Rule of our most holy lawgiver Benedict, and perpetual stability in this order of religion. But the obedience which you promised to God you owe to his vicar, a man, whom you have learned from the Rule you profess to hold the place of Christ in the monastery.

What the conversion of your way of life ought to be according to the Rule is plainly seen in the fourth chapter, marked “On the Instruments of Good Works,” in which you find the sum of all monastic perfection briefly comprehended. Indeed, what our blessed father commands to be done concerning novices you have all heard, and you know that it was done in the beginning of the profession of each one of you. For he says: “The one to be received shall promise in the oratory, before all, concerning his stability, the conversion of his way of life, and obedience, before God and his saints, so that if he should ever act otherwise, he may know that he will be condemned by God, whom he mocks.”

Consider now, therefore, brothers, under what necessity of regular observance you have been placed, since unless you complete in deed what you promised when you received the monastic habit, you will be judged before the almighty Lord not as servants of God, not as friends, not as monks, but as mockers. Therefore always remember those things which the Rule commands you, according to which you promised to shape your ways, and labor like true soldiers of Jesus Christ, always keeping watch in the fear of the Lord, since, as Scripture says, unless you hold yourselves steadfastly in the fear of the Lord, your house will quickly be overthrown.

Monks who break their covenant are not monks, but mockers.

Homily I.

Consider your calling: the Lord has called you not to idleness, not to the pleasures of this world, nor to the pursuit of the desires of the flesh, but rather to continual labor, to abstinence from all delights, and to the constant mortification of the flesh under the image of the Crucified, so that you may bear his wounds in your hearts. Surely you have now put your hands to the plough of the holy heavenly husbandry, in which you are commanded to sweat continually in labor, and not only never to look back, but, by advancing always from virtue to virtue, to strive toward the summit of highest perfection.

For to live as a monk is nothing other than to withdraw from the company of men and, in solitude, actively to please God alone through the desire of most fervent love. Hence Scripture says: It is good for a man when he has borne the yoke of the Lord from his youth; he shall sit alone and be silent, because he shall lift himself above himself. Therefore, if you wish to be perfect, you who by your regular institution are bound to love perfection, begin from the way of life that Christ taught; and since you already despise all things for love of him, do not neglect humbly to conquer, overcome, and despise even your very selves.

The servant of Christ has nothing except Christ, loves nothing, cares for nothing, seeks nothing except Christ, so that he may be perfect and please him whose service as a soldier he has voluntarily professed. But the monk who has anything besides Christ cannot be perfect, because true love is not divided, nor is the mind truly united to things diverse and contrary. Therefore the Lord says: If you wish to be perfect, go and sell all that you have and give to the poor, and come, follow me.

You, my most beloved brothers, have already, as I trust, left the world and whatever you had in the world; and not only all the things of the world that you possessed and could have possessed, but you have also laid aside every desire of having. You have come to this monastery of the holy bishop Martin, in which the poverty of temporal goods is great, and this alone has been given to us in place of riches: not to find occasions for avarice.

Yet just as punishment does not make a martyr, but the cause does, so want does not make a blessed poor man, but voluntary patience in that very poverty for the love of Christ. For in the Gospel the Lord did not proclaim all poor people blessed and destined to receive the kingdom of heaven, but he foretold that the poor in spirit are blessed. For contempt of riches is not enough for salvation unless the one who renounces gold also strives with all his strength, through patience and humility, constantly to imitate the Savior.

For it is easier to despise the world than to scorn and deny oneself. Yet whoever wishes to imitate the Son of God and attain evangelical perfection must become a despiser not only of the world and temporal things, but also of his own self. For the Savior says in the holy Gospel: Unless someone renounces all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple. And lest we should think this sufficient for perfection, he again bears witness more openly concerning contempt of oneself, saying: If anyone wishes to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the Gospel will save it.

Christ became obedient to the Father even unto death. If, as you have promised, you wish to imitate him, brothers, it is necessary that you deny yourselves to yourselves. For no one will be able to be a monk who has not first renounced his own will entirely. You who before God and all his saints have promised to live according to the monastic rule may no longer claim your own will for yourselves, because what has once been consecrated to God must no longer be recalled to human uses.

For you serve as soldiers not for yourselves but for Christ the King; hence you do not retain in your own power either to will or not to will. For you are dead, as the holy Christophilus says, and your life is hidden with Christ in God; but when Christ your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. If you desire to rejoice with him without end, you must now, in this present time, fight bravely for love of him. For no one will be crowned with Christ unless he has persevered to the end, striving lawfully, since he cannot conquer who does not know how to persevere.

Whenever, dearest brothers, the recollection of that moment comes to mind, when you made me, protesting and resisting, your unworthy abbot over you, just so often I am wholly shaken within myself by the bitterness of my heart, and I am compelled, even unwillingly and against my will, to shed tears. For I know that it was not because of my own merits that I was set over you; but whether it was because of yours, I do not know. May almighty God grant that this appointment of me was not made because of my demerits or yours.

Why did you wish it so, brothers? You raised me up, young, unlearned, and in no way fit for the warfare which we profess, to be your leader, so that now it is altogether necessary for me both to teach and to learn, since neither the perfection of my life commends my teaching, nor does regard for my age yet obtain for a shepherd the necessary authority. In these three years now I have experienced enough how great are the miseries in which I am entangled, since I alone am compelled to bear the weaknesses of you all, and I, unhappy man, am supported by no one.

Who will deliver me from the vanities of this world, into which I have been recalled, I who entered the monastery in order to flee every care and anxiety of this present life? But since indeed it is necessary to bear the burden laid upon my shoulders, I beg you, brothers: diligently stretch out to me the helping hands of your prayers, so that in your midst, by the Lord’s bounty, I may deserve to conduct myself in such a way that I do not transgress the condition of the spiritual warfare which the Rule prescribes for us.

For we are professed soldiers of the same warfare, and the vow does not distinguish the duty by which, at the beginning of this life, solemn profession made me, shepherd together with the sheep, bound. Therefore, when I speak to you about the spiritual warfare which, by God’s mercy, we have professed, my intention is, so far as the Lord Jesus will deign to grant, both to shake myself out of the feathers of sloth and lukewarmness into the fervor of holy newness, and to stir all of you, according to my strength, to the keeping of military order. For we are frail and weak, and we do not remain long steadfast in our holy purpose unless by daily exercises we continually renew the fervor of the spirit.

By reason of my office, I am bound to set before you in common those things which can serve your salvation. It belongs to you to listen patiently in all things to me as I speak, as the shepherd of your souls. For although, being young, I am not fit to teach so great a multitude of elders, nevertheless, because you appointed me your shepherd, I am compelled, under necessity of salvation, to feed the flock which I have undertaken to govern. What is mine to do, I both do and will gladly do according to my strength, as long as I live in this solicitude of pastoral care: young though I am, I will teach you elders, and without ceasing I will show you how you ought to serve as soldiers for him into whose army you have sworn.

For the dreadful warning of our lawgiver does not escape me, when he says: “Let the abbot know that whatever profit the father of the household has been unable to find in the sheep will be laid to the fault of the shepherd.” And what follows concerns you, my brothers, if, while I preach and admonish, contempt for the word of God should arise. “Only then,” he says again, “will he be free, if all diligence has been applied by the shepherd to a restless or disobedient flock, and every care has been shown for their diseased actions; then their shepherd, absolved in the judgment of the Lord, may say with the prophet: Lord, I have not hidden your justice in my heart; I have spoken your truth and your salvation. But they, despising, have rejected me. And then at last, for the sheep disobedient to his care, let death itself, prevailing over them, be their punishment.”

Here no covering of excuse is left; no place for escape is granted, but the danger of both parties is openly described. For I, holding the place of abbot, if I do not announce to you the justice of God, if I do not correct you when you sin according to the Rule, have denied my office; and whatever holiness is found lacking in you will be wholly imputed to me. For by reason of the pastoral office it is mine to tell you what is expedient for the salvation of your souls; but it is yours humbly to hear the things which I shall proclaim in the name of the Savior, and, as far as each one is able, faithfully to fulfill them with a great heart.

You have heard my danger if I do not cry out; you have also heard yours, if you despise me when I preach the word of God to you. But so that, by the Savior’s mercy, we may all escape in safety, let each one of us diligently pursue what belongs to him in this warfare [unclear].

It is enjoined in the spiritual life: let us take the greatest care that, having become deaf hearers of the truth, we do not lie to the Lord. Let us diligently remember the vow we made, and let us preserve inviolate until death the holy order which we profess. Let us hear our King saying in the Gospel to his soldiers: “If anyone serves me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also will my servant be.”

We are ministers of the eternal King: priests and Levites, all cloistered monks, bound for a twofold reason to great holiness, since we have both taken up the order of clerics and profess the rule of monastic purity. Therefore let us follow our instructor, for whom we serve as soldiers, along the harsh path of all the virtues; and let us arm ourselves with right faith, firm hope, and most fervent charity toward God and neighbor, in which the perfection of all holiness is comprised.

For whoever is girded with the defense of charity is never overcome by the adversary. Truly, in charity the warfare of Christ grows sweet, and when its fervor begins to burn in the soldier’s heart, he fears no adversity. For charity, as Saint Gregory says, is never idle, but does great things if it is true; but if it refuses to work, it was not perfect charity.

Therefore, cloistered soldiers, you who have pledged yourselves to serve the eternal King forever, cast away now the works of darkness and put on charity toward God and neighbor, which is the strongest of all armor of salvation. If anyone is clothed with it, he will fear no labors, however hard, no contrary things of this world. He will not fear hunger, nor thirst, nor persecutions by men, nor reproaches, nor mockeries, nor prisons, nor chains, nor anything hard and adverse; but everyone who has once perfectly tasted the charity of God will remain unconquered against whatever raging things of the world.

The true lover of God rejoices in tribulations, is glad in adversities, and exults in persecutions for the sake of justice. He follows his King, seated in the heavens; there he dwells in mind and in the desire of his soul, where he does not doubt that his Savior reigns. Whatever pleasure and delights are seen anywhere in the world produce stench and horror, like the vilest dung, for the servant of Christ burning with true charity, because he loves nothing earthly, nothing transitory, nothing perishable, but with the whole intention of his mind loves him alone to whom he has devoted himself.

For the true soldier of Christ thinks nothing of the things of the world; he cares not for the flesh but for the mind, since he is not ignorant of what is written: “No one serving as a soldier for God entangles himself in secular affairs, so that he may please him to whom he has approved himself.” Indeed, all who serve an earthly emperor always obey his commands in everything, and at once go without contradiction wherever he has ordered. They all follow one commander, and whatever he commands in the king’s name, no one in the whole army contradicts.

You also, soldiers of the King of ages, who have appointed me as your commander in his place and as your instructor, hear through my mouth the command of your Emperor Jesus Christ, and what he commands us in the holy … Do what the Gospel says. Hear what it commands, and consider how you ought to serve as soldiers in the observance of regular discipline.

“He who ministers to me,” he says, “let him follow me.” Listen, monk; attend, you who bear the cloistered warfare. Christ, whom you serve as a soldier, says this to you; the heavenly Emperor, whom you serve at the altar, addresses you. If you wish to be my minister, you must follow the virtue of patience and humility which you have learned from me. For I have given you an example, O my soldiers, that as I have done, so you also should do likewise.

Charity, O monk, compelled me to be born as man in the world from a virgin; may that same charity, for love of me, always preserve you pure and humble in the cloister. The work of human salvation which the Father entrusted to me, I strove always to accomplish for your sake with unceasing meditation; and you, if you love me, take care to preserve inviolate until death the holy purpose of monastic life which you have undertaken for your sins.

I was always voluntarily subject and obedient to my heavenly Father in all things, even to the most bitter death of the cross; you also, if you wish to come to me, must always obey humbly in all things, according to the Rule, your abbot, who has been set in my place. I never transgressed in anything the commandment which my Father gave me; and you, unless you keep inviolate until death the three principal vows of monastic institution, are in no way to be numbered among my ministers and soldiers.

Though I was rich, for your salvation I became poor and needy; but you, unless for love of me you despise and leave behind all things, cannot be my disciple. Poverty, hunger, thirst, heat, cold, and continual labors in the world I endured for your sake; and unless in these things, according to your Rule and to the best of your strength, you have followed me patiently and willingly, you certainly will be neither my minister, nor my soldier, nor my monk. For in your patience you will possess your soul.

In this world I desired nothing, possessed nothing, loved nothing earthly, but, going about poor, humble, and meek, I subjected myself most perfectly and always in all things to my Father’s will, ready to receive injuries and blows. But you, O cloistered monk, who profess the monastic Rule under an abbot or prior, if from now on you follow the desires of your flesh, if you possess private property or anything of your own in the monastery, if you love anything besides me, if you despise the commands of your superior, if you do not persevere in serving me as a soldier in humility, know for certain that I will not hold you as a soldier, nor count you as a monk, minister, or disciple, but, judging you to be a fugitive, an apostate, faithless, a liar, a mocker, and a perjured unbeliever, I will condemn you without mercy forever, as you have deserved, with my betrayer Judas and the [unclear] angels.

What your lips vowed to me is no longer yours, but mine. But if you usurp for yourself what is mine, you do not wish to be a monk and my faithful servant, but a thief and a robber, perverse, impious, and unjust; such also I will [unclear], with When I come, have no doubt, I shall judge. But if you have persevered faithfully in your holy purpose even unto death; if you have kept inviolate, under the authority of my vicar whom I have appointed as your shepherd, the will which you solemnly consecrated to me; if, for love of my name, you have observed obedience, poverty, and chastity with humility to the end; if you have always striven to please me alone in all your actions; if you have taken care to follow me without ceasing along the arduous path of the virtues, know, know most certainly and without doubt, that, as one made from a servant into a most dear friend, I shall have you as my soldier, to be crowned with me in my kingdom; I shall love you, I shall cherish you, I shall set you in glory forever in the midst of my saints.

Hear me now, my servant: you who, out of reverence and honor for my name, have enrolled yourself in the knighthood of monks, follow the footprints of my feet with a great and perfect heart, just as Benedict, that former teacher of yours and my friend, taught you and strove with all his efforts to imitate. The enticements of the flesh will not deceive you, O brave soldier. Let not the vain and ruinous dealings of this world seduce your mind, which has been dedicated to me. Never yield to the exceedingly deceitful suggestions of the unclean spirit, who rages wholly for your destruction; but remember that your dwelling in this age is very brief, and that death stands before the doors, which no mortal has ever been able to escape.

Let those last things which you must necessarily undergo always remain in your memory; and from the very swift passing of those pleasures of the flesh which have gone by, and from the thought of punishments to come, take up for yourself a necessary horror and contempt of this sojourn. Just as a brief labor endured for me in the world with patience and charity prepares eternal happiness for my soldiers, so the desires and pleasures of the flesh, which suddenly pass away, plunge the soul of the sinful man down to hell, to be tormented without end.

Therefore let all your desires be directed to me, monk, you who serve me and follow me along the arduous path of regular observance. Offer me your heart, if you desire happiness; seek me alone, if you love your own life and salvation. When you have loved me, you will be tranquil and holy; when you have followed me, you are blessed and glorious without end.

What would you do, my brothers, if it befell you to hear these words which we have spoken from the mouth of our Savior and king as he spoke? What, I ask, would you do? I certainly believe there would be great compunction in your hearts if you heard Christ speaking in person. But we, bearing the place of Christ in the monastery, speak the words which he has given, and you do not heed them? We proclaim to you the necessary training-ground of salvation, and you show no signs of compunction?

If you do not know what cause there has been for saying these things, now, I beg you, understand. I see that some of you shrink from sacred readings, are given over to vanities, and care for nothing less than the perfection of spiritual warfare; their god is the belly, and their glory is in confusion. You think...

Do not suppose, you vilest knaves, who taste nothing spiritual, that Christ will come again from heaven to speak to you the things which he entrusted to his preachers to say. Or have you not heard Paul saying, “Christ, rising from the dead, now dies no more; death shall no longer have dominion over him. For in that he died, he died to sin once; but in that he lives, he lives to God”? Once Christ was seen on earth; once he appeared visibly among mortals; once he preached the way of eternal salvation; he will not add a second time.

He appointed shepherds and vicars over his household to teach the ignorant, and, wishing to make their authority plain, said in the Gospel: “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me.” Therefore hear those whom Christ has set over you as rulers, to whom he entrusted the dispensing of spiritual wheat, as he said in the holy Gospel: “Who, do you think, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the Lord has set over his household, to give them their measure of wheat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom, when the Lord comes, he shall find so doing.”

Therefore we exhort you, brothers, in the Lord Jesus, and with all the earnestness we can, we beg you not to consume your days in vanity, but consider the excessive brevity of this life, and bring forth worthy fruits of repentance while the opportunity is granted you, lest, if you neglect to repent, the time be cut off. For you know what the divine Scripture says to us: “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” Beware, I pray you, of putting off the good, because none of you knows when he is going to die. Rather, attend to that true saying of the wanton poet Naso, who warns thus: “But hasten, and do not put yourself off to the coming hours; he who is not ready today will be less fit tomorrow.”

Let no one, brothers, promise himself a long life, but let each instead think that death is near at hand; and therefore let him live so prepared as if he were to depart from the body tomorrow. For the hope of a longer life has deceived many, and, holding them back from the fervor of a holy purpose, has suddenly plunged them down to the lower regions. Therefore fulfill your warfare, which of necessity will end before long, in such a way that you do not fear to appear before your king when he comes.

Always remember that you have here no lasting city, nor can you remain long in this mortal life; but death will come quickly and compel you to depart. For whoever is a true monk and desires to be a faithful soldier of Christ contemns all the delights of this world, always thinks of his Lord as present to him, and, having cast aside every hindrance and every little burden, cares above all how he may please him. He ought not to be anxious in seeking the necessities of life, since the providence of the shepherd provides all these things for those subject to him. Let the whole care of the monk be to keep himself unstained from this world, so that, free and released from all things, he may seek nothing but God and think of nothing but Jesus crucified for us. O happy soldier of Christ, to whom the kingdoms of heaven are promised, if he remains faithful, prudent, and watchful in the love of God to the end.

Certainly nothing is happier than the good monk, to whom the Son of God promises himself as reward; yet nothing is more laborious, for, set in the arena of combat, he daily endangers his salvation. Nothing is stronger than a monk who conquers both the world and the devil together; yet nothing is weaker than one who is overcome by his own flesh.

Therefore, O monk, you must always keep watch against the hidden enemy of your salvation, who is never more easily conquered than when he is kept far from the entrance of the mind. So if you desire to come forth victorious against him, do not allow him to bring against you the devices of his own tricks and deceits. Guard your senses above all, lest death enter through the windows; and beware the enemy’s snares most of all when for a time he has allowed you to feel secure in your devotion.

Never forget the admonition of the wise man, who says: If you do not hold yourself steadfastly in the fear of the Lord, your house, that is, your conscience, will soon be overthrown. Therefore Solomon said in Proverbs: Blessed is the man who is always fearful; but he who is hard of mind will fall into evil. For as soon as a monk presumes upon security, he is already, without doubt, tending toward destruction. Therefore the soldier of Christ must always be prepared against his adversaries, so that, as long as he lives in this mortal body, he should not trust that he has perfectly overcome them. For the flesh always lusts against the spirit, and lest the soul ever be overcome, it is necessary to fight as long as life lasts.

Whenever you have conquered your invisible enemy, he rises up again and attacks you with greater savagery, so that, since he cannot obtain victory by strength, he may at least bring on despair by persistence. But you, most valiant soldier of Christ, beware lest you fail in the arena of this very brief combat; beware lest, before the battle is completed at the end, you lay down the arms needed for defense. For the Savior says: He who perseveres to the end will be saved. Give no rest to your soul as long as it has been granted you to remain in this miserable pilgrimage, but always do something good, lest the devil ever find you idle.

Always remember the admonition of Scripture, which says: Whatever your hand can do, do it earnestly, because neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge will exist in the lower world to which you are hastening. For there is no one who lives forever; rather, we all die, and like waters we flow down into the earth, and they will no more return to their former state. Then there will no longer be time to do good for the merit of eternal happiness, but whatever a man has sown here now in time, he will then receive as his reward. Therefore holy Scripture again says: In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening let not your hand cease.

And Saint Paul, admonishing Timothy, says: Labor like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving God entangles himself in secular affairs, so that he may please him to whom he has approved himself. For even among those who contend in the arena, no one will be crowned unless he has competed lawfully. Everyone who contends in the arena abstains from all things. In another place also the same lover of Christ says: I want you to be without anxiety.

You therefore, soldier of Christ, who contend in the arena of daily combat so that at last you may appear glorious forever before your God, imitate the mortal contestant, who, competing in the arena for a perishable crown, abstains from all things lest he be defeated, so that, naked and free, he may run more swiftly. And so, if you desire to walk the way of God in true purity, if you long to conquer the enemy in the arena of combat, cast away from yourself all the garments of earthly cares, and put off all the hair of carnal pleasures. For whoever, with hair and garments cast away from himself, has learned to run naked, carries about nothing except the bare body by which he could be held by the adversary. For he who runs naked has stripped himself of all anxiety over the things clamoring around him, and thinks of nothing but victory, nor does he care what meanwhile is going on with his wife or his children. Nothing present calls him back from the race; the speed of his companions does not frighten him; among many he contends as if alone; he hastens breathlessly toward the prize as if certain of it.

Imitate him, soldier of Christ, in spiritual combat; contemplate the naked Savior hanging naked on the cross, so that you may be able to overthrow the adversary the more easily, the less he seems to have hold of you through worldly vanities. Therefore fight naked, light, and unencumbered on every side; naked and freed from all things, fly to heaven. Naked you came into this world; naked you will return to the earth. Diligently considering these things, my brothers, so run that you may obtain eternal life with all the saints. Amen.

What the Armor of Spiritual Warfare Is. Homily III.

Dearly beloved brothers, today we have heard the holy Apostle writing in his epistle to the Ephesians: Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day, and, being perfect in all things, to stand. And what the armor of God is, he adds: Stand therefore, having girded your loins in truth, and having put on the breastplate of justice, and having shod your feet with preparation for the Gospel of peace; in all things taking up the shield of faith, with which you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the most wicked one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God; praying at all times in the spirit, with every prayer and supplication, and in it keeping watch with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Likewise he says to the Thessalonians: But we, who are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. These are the arms, brothers, with which the soldiers of Christ, when clothed in them, defeat the savage adversary; these are the monastic badges of virtue, without which no one attains victory over the vices.

The instruments of human warfare, which many mortals pursue with excessive zeal, are the helmet, shield, breastplate, sword, dagger, coat of mail, belt, lance, and many other things of this kind, with which men who are about to go forth to war arm themselves most carefully; and unless they have been most diligently protected over their whole body, they are certainly judged less fit for battle. But the arms of our spiritual warfare are faith, hope, charity, patience, humility, obedience, chastity, together with the holy virtues of the soul enumerated by our divine teacher Benedict in the Rule under the fourth chapter, where he makes a beautiful mention of the instruments of good works.

And would, my brothers, that we were as attentive and diligent about these spiritual arms of our warfare as we see worldly men to be concerned about their perishable armor. But now, as I say with too much sorrow, since we shamefully cast aside the arms of salvation with which we ought to have defeated all our adversaries, what remains except that we fall before our enemy in the struggle? But perhaps you will say: If the Christian faith, as the Apostle testifies, belongs to the armor of spiritual warfare, we certainly have never cast it aside. For we firmly believe whatever Holy Mother Church has set before us to be believed, and in that profession of faith we steadfastly intend to remain until death.

But be it so. What then does Saint James say in his epistle? What will it profit, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith, but does not have works? Will faith be able to save him? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead. Therefore, whenever Scripture speaks of faith, it must always be understood not as a common and dead faith, but as one formed by good works and illumined by the sweetness of divine love. For no one will be saved by faith alone, as James says in his epistle; rather, the works of Christian devotion must be joined to faith.

Do you believe in one almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, Father and Son and Holy Spirit? You do well. The demons also believe, and tremble. What then? Where are the works through which your faith may be shown to be formed in Christ? Idle and dead is the faith that is not commended by holy and necessary works. We believe in Christ: that is good, if we follow Christ’s examples. For if we do not follow Christ in works of devotion, we flatter ourselves in vain about faith alone. You, I say, believe, and the demons believe. Faith with love is the faith of a Christian; without love, it is the faith of the devil. You believe rightly, if with all your heart, according to your strength, you love God. But if you do not truly love God, you have an idle and dead faith. The proof of love, as Saint Gregory bears witness, is the performance of the work. For thus the Lord speaks in the Gospel: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. This, therefore, is true faith, ordered by good and holy works according to the teaching of Christ. If by faith and work together you believe in the Lord Jesus, Homily III.

Certainly you hold in your hands the shield of salvation, by which, with the Lord himself granting it, you will easily overcome all adversaries. Of this armor it is written: The saints through faith conquered kingdoms, worked righteousness, and obtained the promise. John also says: Everything that is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. And Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, likewise admonishes us, saying: Brothers, be sober and watch, because your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking someone to devour; resist him, strong in faith.

True faith and confidence in our Lord Jesus Christ is an invincible and most powerful armor, which none of the adversaries has ever been able to withstand, as it is written in the book of Chronicles: King Jehoshaphat said to his army: Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be secure. In Ecclesiasticus too we read as follows: You who fear the Lord, believe him, and your reward will not be made void. And again: In your work believe from the faith of your soul, for this is the keeping of the commandments. He who believes God attends to his commandments, and he who trusts in him will not be diminished.

Therefore now take care, dearly beloved brothers, and always labor with the greatest zeal, so that you may carry in your hands this shield of faith formed by holy works against all the attacks of your enemies; for he who is protected by this unconquerable shield is never overcome by the adversary. Confirming this, blessed Augustine says concerning the words of the Lord: There are no greater riches, no treasures, no honors, no substance of this world greater than the Catholic faith, which saves sinful men, enlightens the blind, heals the sick, baptizes catechumens, justifies the faithful, restores the penitent, increases the righteous, crowns martyrs, preserves virgins and widows and married persons in chaste modesty, ordains clerics, consecrates priests, and places believers with the holy angels in the eternal inheritance.

Just as in the root of a tree no appearance of beauty at all is seen, and yet whatever beauty or comeliness there is in the tree proceeds from it, so from the humility of faith, whatever merit, whatever blessedness the soul is to receive, proceeds wholly from the foundation of faith. For, as the Apostle says: Whatever, or everything, that is not from faith is sin, since without faith it is impossible to please God. For one who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

Moreover, the more each person loves, the more he advances in faith. For faith without charity is like a useless discarded shield, a shield without a strap. O faith, a treasure richer than all, which, formed in the mind of man, makes the mortal comparable to the immortals, conquers demons and kingdoms, and bravely overcomes all hard and adverse things. Faith is the foundation of all virtues, without which no spiritual building stands. Faith is the enlightener of minds and the chief instrument of spiritual warfare. For without the shield of faith the devil is not conquered, nor is the assault of wanton flesh overcome.

What the armor of spiritual warfare is.

Let us consider, then, brothers, how necessary for salvation is faith formed by charity; without it, as we fight in this warfare, neither victory is granted nor confidence preserved. For faith is the shield with which we most easily overcome the enemy of our salvation, if we add to it the handle of divine love. For blessed Pope Gregory says: We are truly faithful when we fulfill in deeds what we promise in words.

In this armor, since faith is the foundation of all good works, it ought rightly to precede all our actions, so that the mind may be able to come to love. For unless faith is first held, one in no way reaches spiritual love. Charity does not precede faith; rather, faith precedes charity, because no one can love or hope for as good what he refuses to believe. Since, then, you now faithfully believe what it also commands, you have set the foundation of the spiritual building upon firm rock; now you must also do without delay the other things that remain for perfection.

Love peace, therefore, and truth, so that in the faith of Christ, as true soldiers, you may be able at all times to remain steadfast and most firm. For, as Scripture bears witness, truth is great and stronger than all things, and there is nothing unjust with it. He who loves truth is a true disciple of Christ and loves Christ himself, who says in the Gospel: I am the way, the truth, and the life. All the ways of the Lord also are mercy and truth; from this truth Satan fell through pride, because he did not remain in everlasting truth.

Therefore the holy apostle Paul commands the soldiers of the Lord to gird themselves with truth; in this he wished to show the state of perfection toward which cloistered men ought especially to strive. For what else is it to love truth than for a man to be what he is commanded to be, and so to live according to the rule of justice, true and solid, such as holy perfection requires of nature through grace?

Hence Firmianus Lactantius says: He who devotes himself to truth casts away pleasures hostile to it and full of anxiety, which bind the soul to themselves and do not allow it to be free. He always prefers true things to false, eternal things to brief, useful things to pleasant. Let nothing be pleasing to the sight except what can be done justly, piously, and religiously; nothing sweet to the hearing except what makes the soul better.

Thus soldiers have their loins girded in truth when, having despised the enticements of the flesh and the vanities of the world for the love of God, they strive with all their strength so to conduct themselves and live that they may be able in all things to please the highest truth, which is God. After this the soldier of Christ is commanded to put on the breastplate of justice, without which no one will be able to serve the Lord rightly and fruitfully. Justice, indeed, is to preserve and distribute to each person what is owed to him according to law or nature. And this is the most excellent of all virtues; without it there can be no piety, no religion, no holiness, and no discernment of good and greater things. For it is light and great splendor, from which the force and dominion of every good arise among mortals. Justice is the mother...

Homily III.

the guardian of innocence, the nurse of concord, the parent of friendship, the begetter of piety, and the preserver of religion. Justice, as Scripture testifies, is everlasting and immortal; injustice, however, is the acquisition of death. But in what ways the Christian soldier ought to put on this breastplate of justice, our Savior himself declares in the Holy Gospel, saying: “All things whatsoever you wish that men should do to you, do you also likewise to them.”

Therefore, my brothers, keep this manner of living in the monastery: let each one do to his fellow-soldier in all things as, according to the right judgment of reason, he desires at all times that others should do to him. For this is the first duty of justice: that no one harm anyone; then, that he use common things without detriment to anyone else; and, as our further warfare requires, that he do for his brother, as for himself, what by just reason conduces to salvation.

O what great peace mortals would enjoy if they followed the exhortations of the Apostle, by which each is commanded to bear another’s burdens. “Everyone,” says Scripture, “who does justice is born of God.” This is the breastplate of justice, brothers: to keep God’s commandments, to love one’s neighbor, and to love God most fervently above all things. This is the strongest garment of our warfare: to show worship and devotion to God, holiness to ourselves, and brotherly charity to our neighbor.

We all serve Christ under the trophy of justice. If anyone is unjust, he shows that he belongs not to Christ’s army but rather to the fellowship of demons. For justice is the greatest virtue, which distributes to each what is his own; unless you guard it most diligently, you lose the name both of monk and of soldier. Therefore render worship and devotion to God; obedience, together with reverence, to your superior or ruler, the one belonging to action and the other to the heart. For it is not enough to obey superiors outwardly unless, from the inmost affection of the heart, we likewise think rightly of them.

This indeed, brothers, is the true justice of monks: by it each person lives without offense according to the prescribed rule of the law, giving to each his own proper dignity: reverence to his superior, concord to his equal, discipline to his inferior, worship and obedience to God, holiness to himself, patience to his enemy, mercy to the poor, and brotherly charity in the Lord to all.

Therefore holy Christophilus says: “We are debtors, brothers, not to the flesh, so as to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live.” Therefore he rightly serves God as a soldier who distributes to each what is his own.

Next we are commanded to have our feet shod in preparation for the Gospel of peace, so that the good which we ourselves, by the Lord’s bounty, have come to know, we may also gladly share with others. For our law, brothers, according to which we are commanded to serve the Lord, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to which all the rules and constitutions of cloistered persons are ordered. For the Gospel was not made for the sake of monastic constitutions, but monastic statutes were made for the sake of the Gospel.

of monks. For a Christian can be saved without being a monk, but a monk cannot be saved unless he is a Christian. Let certain overly superstitious and foolish cloisterers be ashamed, who value their rules and statutes more than the Gospel of Christ, who keep human traditions even to prisons and chains, but pay no heed to the ordinances of God and of the holy universal Church. To these the words of our Savior rightly apply, when he says to the Jews in Matthew: “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?” For the teaching of the Gospel is to be preferred far above all the constitutions of the whole world. After the Gospel, the statutes of the universal Church hold the first place of authority, and no constitutions or rules of monks are comparable to them in dignity. Let us take care to live in evangelical purity, and we shall be perfect in the monastic way of life of the fathers. Let our feet always be shod for the preparation of the Gospel of peace, so that we may mortify in ourselves the desires of the flesh, and through love of God and neighbor may have peace with all. For without the peace and concord of brotherhood, the chastising of the flesh profits nothing, as Saint Jerome says: “Whoever afflicts the body but abandons concord does indeed praise God on the timbrel, but he does not praise him in the choir.” Hence Solomon, praising the peaceful man, says in Proverbs: “Better is a dry morsel with joy than a house full of victims with strife.” And again he says: “It is an honor for a man to separate himself from disputes, but all fools become entangled in insults.” Saint Christophilus, too, a lover of peace, admonishes us, saying: “Pursue peace with all, and holiness, without which no one shall see God.” Hence also the prophet Zechariah says: “Love peace and truth,” says the Lord Almighty. And our Savior says in the holy Gospel according to Mark: “Have salt in yourselves, and have peace among yourselves.” “There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord. But he is truly a soldier of Christ who has peace with God, with his neighbor, and within himself. A man is said to have peace with God when, moved by good will and turned toward him through a continual desire of love, despising transitory things, he directs the sharp gaze of his mind to heavenly things, and most diligently keeps all that the Lord commands. For when the Son of God was born in the flesh, the holy angels sang glory to the Lord, who dwells above all in the highest, and announced peace to men of good will. But wicked and unjust men cannot have this peace with God, because they have turned their wills away from the Lord. He has peace with his neighbor who does injury to no one, who, when injured, does not return vengeance, but, overcoming evil with good, never abandons brotherly charity. If anyone among his neighbors murmurs unjustly against such a man, the soldier of Christ has not for that reason abandoned peace, because perhaps another, without just cause, has begun an unjust murmuring. A just man, who has peace with God and desires to harm none of his neighbors, will rightly be called peaceable, even [unclear].

if anyone, being disturbed, rises up unjustly against him. For the righteous man says: “With those who hated peace I was peaceable; when I spoke to them, they attacked me without cause.” Hence Saint Augustine says: “Among the true worshippers of God even wars themselves are peaceful, when they are waged not from greed or cruelty, but from zeal for peace, so that the wicked may be restrained and the good assisted.” He has peace within himself who, illumined by purity and holiness, lives in his own conscience secure, without error, whom anxious synderesis does not gnaw, nor any unjust or wicked thought disturb. Hence Augustine again says: “Peace is serenity of mind, tranquillity of soul, simplicity of heart, the bond of love, the fellowship of charity. It is this that removes enmities and rivalries, restrains wars, suppresses anger, treads down the proud, loves the humble, calms those at odds, reconciles enemies, is pleasing to all, burdensome to none, troublesome to none, oppressive to none; it does not know how to exalt itself, it does not know how to be puffed up. Let him who receives it hold it fast; let him who has lost it seek it again; let him who has let it slip search for it, because whoever is not found in it is cast off by the Father, disinherited by the Son, and likewise made a stranger to the Holy Spirit. He can never come to the inheritance of the Lord who has refused to observe the testament of peace.”

For the place of God is in peace, but the dwelling of the devil is in anger and disturbance. Therefore every man who does not have this threefold peace in his heart, who has not offered it in speech, nor shown it in works, is to be called neither a monk nor a Christian. Hence the Lord says in the Gospel: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” If those who make peace are called sons of God, beyond doubt those who confound peace are sons of Satan. Therefore, my most beloved brothers, have among yourselves that peace which the world cannot give, which is the peace of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, of which Isaiah the prophet said: “And the work of justice shall be peace, and the practice of justice silence and security forever.” For the Lord is the God of peace and love; hence whoever violates peace and brotherly love shows that he is not a true lover of God.

If the true peace of Christ is in your hearts, you will fear no adversities of this world. Among you also let there be true peace, not counterfeit, because Christ desires peace not from the mouth but from the heart, and wishes one’s neighbor to be greeted with affection rather than with the lips. Therefore, if anyone among you has in any way grieved his brother, let him make satisfaction to him as soon as possible before sunset, and all of you take care that the sun not go down upon your anger, because anger grown old begets hatred and strips the soul of every adornment of the virtues. Therefore, monk, if you have sinned against your brother, do penance before him at once, and falling at his knees beg pardon. “And the sword,” he says, “of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” through every prayer and supplication: as soldiers of Christ, let us always hold it in our hands. The word of God, which is contained in the holy Scriptures, is a victorious defense against all assaults of demons, as we are warned by the example of our Savior, who, when tempted by the devil, with calm meekness hurled in his face the testimonies of the divine Scriptures, saying: “It is written: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” And you, monk, soldiering for Christ, whenever you are tempted by the devil, at once imprint on your forehead the sign of the holy cross, and say with Saint John Chrysostom in a certain homily: “I renounce you, Satan, with all your iniquities, and I join myself to you, Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, because it is written: The soul that has sinned, that soul shall die.” This is the sword of the spirit, sharpest on both sides; if you always brandish it in your hands against the enemy from the very beginning of temptation, with God protecting you, you will easily overcome all his schemes and snares. For Scripture says: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Therefore, when you rise from your bed in the morning, at once make that protestation against the adversary of your salvation which I have described; and neither the devil nor a perverse man will be able to harm you by enchantment or sorcery, whether it be [unclear] or anything else. Do this same thing when you are about to sleep at night, and as often as you perceive any temptation of the evil spirit rising up in your thought. And thus you will be safe in all your ways, and the devil will flee far from you; nor will he dare to come nearer to you, unless your own sloth first trips you up, so that you either cast away the sword or commit some mortal sin. For Scripture says: “Those who commit iniquity and sin are enemies of their own soul.” Solomon also says in Proverbs: “His own iniquities ensnare the wicked man, and he is bound fast by the cords of his own sins. He shall die because he had no discipline, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.” Therefore, most beloved brothers, if you wish to dwell securely under the protection of almighty God, flee sin, because sin separates us from the Lord’s help, just as purity and cleanness of conscience join us to God, as the prophet Isaiah says: “Behold, the hand of the Lord is not shortened so that it cannot save, nor is his ear heavy so that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a division between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he would not hear.” Jeremiah also says: “Our iniquities have turned these things away, and our sins have withheld good from us.” For everyone who sins mortally opens the door of his heart to the devil and closes it to God, nor can he trust in the help of the Most High as long as he remains lying in wickedness without repentance.

On reading and the study of the divine Scriptures. Homily IV.

Since all Scripture, divinely inspired, as holy Christophilus says, is useful for teaching, or for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God may be perfect, for every good work Homily IV.

Having been instructed, we should gladly devote ourselves to the reading of divine Scripture, and direct all study of secular literature, in which we once labored, to the keen vision of this contemplation. For in the divine Scriptures whatever saving knowledge requires is found most abundantly expressed, so that what you do not find there is by no means necessary for salvation. For the majesty of the divine Scriptures far surpasses all the knowledge and teaching of the whole world; the Holy Spirit infused it into the men of God so that it might be written, and, so that it might be understood by studious readers, bestowed the grace of his illumination.

My brothers, diligently turn over this Scripture with purity of mind and the fervor of twofold charity, since whoever truly loves God spends all the time he can find for leisure in sacred readings. Let the frenzied actions, so to speak, of carnal lovers be an incentive to you, I pray, toward the wholesome study of the Scriptures: they receive letters and tokens from their beloved women and do not cease to read them, and often read them again and kiss them; and, what is a greater sign of love, they either hang them from their neck or place them on their breast, so that the cherished memory of the one they desire may never depart from their mind.

Consider, brothers, the madness of carnal men in love, and be ashamed of your own lukewarmness in the love of God. Which of you is moved toward the holy Scriptures of God with as great a love of heart as a blind lover, raving with desire for one little prostitute, is inflamed toward filthy and utterly vain love letters? Because of love for the absent woman whom he desires, he follows her letters and little gifts with frequent kisses; he examines each letter with excessive love and searches it again and again; in everything he does he is always thinking of the absent woman, and anxiously hastens to come into her sight.

O if we who are called Christian monks, who serve the supreme and immortal King Christ Jesus, who are commanded to love our God above all things and are instructed to love nothing in this world except him, if, I say, we were to pursue our Creator with as much love as carnally minded men attend to and love their corruptible and mortal women friends. Holy Scripture, read daily, makes God known to us, reveals his will to us, instructs us what we ought to do, and discloses what we ought to avoid. Through it the Almighty speaks with us, and, forming us by invisible instruction, comforts us, as the holy Apostle says: Whatever things were written were written for our instruction, that through patience and the consolation of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Therefore the true soldier of Christ, and especially the cloistered man, who loves God with his whole heart and desires to please him alone, embraces the divine Scriptures with affection, and especially the holy Gospel, and is continually occupied in meditating upon its reading. But whoever neglects the readings of the divine Scriptures plainly shows that he is not a true lover of God. But what does Scripture itself say? He who turns away his ear so as not to hear the law, his prayer shall be...

Blessed indeed are those who search the testimonies of the Lord; with their whole heart they seek him.

And so, my brothers, if you truly love the Lord Jesus with your whole heart, if as true soldiers you desire to please him above all things, if, finally, you long to advance toward the perfection of the monastic life, you ought always to occupy yourselves with fervent affection in the reading of the divine Scriptures. How useful the reading of the Scriptures is, blessed Jerome indicates when he says: Love knowledge of the Scriptures, and you will not love the vices of the flesh.

For after God nothing in this life is taken up more pleasantly, nothing is felt more sweetly, nothing separates the mind more powerfully from love of this world, nothing so greatly strengthens the soldier of Christ against all the temptations of his adversaries, nothing disposes and confirms a monk so much for every good work, as frequent reading and ardent study of the Scriptures. Indeed, if by reading throughout the whole wide range of Scripture we recall with studious devotion the benefits of the Almighty which he has bestowed on the human race, they will provide us with the greatest matter and occasion by which we may advance, burning ever more in the love of God. For what else does the whole sequence of the divine Scriptures contain than a certain ordered text of the good things which God has either already bestowed on human beings or has promised that he will yet give?

Or what is there that can so strengthen us to endure evils and make us willingly patient as if we read in the Gospel that the Son of God suffered innocently for us, and after him the victories of the holy martyrs? For Sacred Scripture contains the things that are necessary for us for saving knowledge, and it warns us what, as soldiers in this pilgrimage, we ought usefully to seek, and what also to avoid.

Hence again the divine Jerome says: Our riches are to meditate on the law of God day and night. Therefore let us prepare strength for ourselves; let us take up perfect power, so that amid the darkness of errors and the confusion of night the light of the knowledge of Christ may appear, and days and nights may have a protecting light, so that, with Scripture as guide, we may be able to reach the holy land.

What is better than this learning? What is sweeter than this discipline? What is more delightful than our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the true salvation and sweetness of faithful souls? Let Christ be our banquet; let sacred reading be our food and drink. For what can the life of a monk-priest be without knowledge of the Scriptures? We know Christ not by sight, not by hearing, not by touch, but by the reading of the Scriptures; and the more we advance by reading toward true knowledge, the more we delight in the holy Scriptures.

For what is sweeter than to know the will of God and not to be ignorant of the rewards of the promises? For as Jerome says: The field of the divine word is exceedingly rich; it has all delights within itself, and whatever you wish is born from it, just as the Jews relate that when the manna was eaten in the desert, it tasted in the mouth of the one eating according to his will and desire.

Therefore, my brothers, read the divine Scriptures more often, through which you can plainly know God’s will, and arm yourselves most strongly against the snares of the devil. For if, according to the Apostle Paul, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, then he who does not know the Scriptures does not know God’s power and wisdom; and how will he know Christ? For ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ; and he who does not know Christ will not belong to his fellowship, as Saint Christophilus says: if anyone is ignorant, surely he too will be ignored.

Moreover, the more constant anyone has been in the study of the divine Scriptures, the greater understanding and sweetness he gains from reading them. But it especially befits you, brothers, to turn over the divine Scriptures daily by reading and learning them, since you are granted both abundant time, free from occupations, and a place sufficiently suitable because few people come there. Therefore I exhort and admonish you, if you love your salvation, always to have divine readings in your hands, so that all the time allowed you without labor after the service of prayer may be spent on the study of sacred Scripture. Let no day pass, my brothers, on which a monk fighting for Christ does not read something from the sacred books that may make him better in his holy purpose.

Rather, let him follow the counsel of the divine Jerome, who says: Let the divine Scriptures always be in your hands, and let them be continually turned over in your mind; and do not think it enough for you to store God’s commandments in memory, unless you also strive to fulfill them in deeds. For God requires two things of us, my brothers. First, he wants us to know his most holy will; second, that once it is known we should do it. But we cannot know his commandments if we are ignorant of the knowledge of the divine Scriptures. Nor does he do God’s will who is ignorant of it, nor does he know it who has not learned it. Learn, then, what God’s pleasing will is, so that you may do it; do it once known, so that you may understand it more fully. For no one understands God’s will better than he who, once he has known it, does it out of love.

And so, if you desire to become a most learned interpreter of the divine Scriptures, learn to begin your pursuit of knowledge not from words but from holy works. For then you will grasp the rich knowledge of sacred reading, if you keep your heart clean from every sin and, fervent in the love of God, continually turn over holy Scripture with compunction. For the knowledge of the divine Scriptures is a high mountain, on which Moses speaks with the Lord; and a man polluted with the filth of vices is forbidden to climb it. Thus we read in Exodus: Take care not to go up the mountain, nor touch its borders. Everyone who touches the mountain shall surely die. Whether it is a beast or a man, it shall not live.

Indeed, a man touches the mountain and dies whenever someone, swollen with secular learning, takes offense at the simplicity of the divine Scriptures. But a beast touches the mountain and is overwhelmed with stones whenever a man, plunged in the fury of carnal passions, advances to the study of sacred Scripture without a purified mind. Therefore, if you wish to turn over the readings of the divine Scriptures in a healthful way, if If by reading you desire to attain true knowledge, take care first of all to lay aside every swelling of pride, all proud exaltation, and rash perfidy, and then to cleanse the chamber of your heart from every uncleanness of carnal pleasures. For God, as canonical Scripture says, resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

No proud, puffed-up, arrogant, or rash person, no one carnal in mind, lustful, or restless, is held fit for the study of sacred Scripture, but only one who is humble, gentle, meek, modest, chaste in body, and tranquil in mind. Hence Prosper says in an epigram: “A mind cannot search out the commandments of God unless it is at rest. Therefore, that religious study may be practiced, the quarrels of the malicious must be cast away. Hearts that are in some measure quiet can search the law, if, free from the noise of the world, they have leisure. Therefore, that the mind may be found intent on holy studies, let divine love conquer carnal battles. For the temple of the Lord grows through sacred silence, and the house that will not fall is built in quiet.”

Therefore, with your souls cleansed, and your heart pierced in the love of God and humbled in true contrition, proceed to the study of the Scriptures, because the Lord will not enlighten you unless he has first made you purified from every iniquity. For, as Scripture itself says, perverse thoughts separate from God, and tested virtue rebukes the foolish, because wisdom will not enter a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins; for the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and will withdraw himself from thoughts that are without understanding. And therefore we must pray very often to the Lord with holy David: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within my inward parts.”

For no one profitably understands the sacred Scriptures of God who does not turn himself with his whole heart to the Lord through repentance. And therefore, if you wish to understand the divine utterances both rightly and healthfully, take care first, with the utmost zeal, to keep yourselves, as far as you can, clean from every pollution of sin.

I beg you, do not let the mad folly of certain monks seduce you, who try to excuse their ignorance with a worn-out proverb, saying: “What need have we of knowledge of the Scriptures, since we have no office of preaching? We embrace the counsel of the wise man, who says in the book of Proverbs: ‘He who walks simply walks confidently.’ It is enough for us to live simply, because the servant who knew the will of his lord and did not do it will be beaten with many stripes; but he who did not know and did things worthy of stripes will be beaten with few.”

O foolish and utterly ruined champions, who despise saving knowledge and love ignorance of the divine Scriptures more than understanding: will ignorance deliberately chosen make you liable to fewer stripes? Or will you, when you sin, be innocent before God because you are willingly ignorant of the commandments of God? You will have to be tormented with a double punishment: one because you despise knowing the way of God’s commandments, the other because you do not keep his words. It is not simplicity, as you allege, but a double rather, impiety. For if, according to the prophet, “blessed are those who search the testimonies of the Lord,” who can doubt that those are accursed who neither seek God nor attend to his scriptures, but rather despise them with hardened heart?

Hear what Solomon says to you in Proverbs: “Where there is no knowledge of the soul, there is no good, and a man’s folly trips up his steps.” Of you also, O most foolish children of darkness, that saying of Saint Jerome is understood: that ignorance is no longer excusable where it is known what the thing is that is not known. But you must take still greater care lest in the end you be counted with those who said to God, “Depart from us; we do not want the way of your sciences.”

You misunderstand Solomon’s word, thinking it was spoken simply about ignorance. “He who walks simply,” without any deception of his neighbor, walks confidently in keeping the commandments of God; but he who corrupts his ways cannot remain hidden, but will be made manifest. Hence again he says, “The lips of the righteous will instruct many; but those who are untaught will die in poverty of heart.”

What is more pitiable than an untaught priest, who, even if he does not have the office of preaching, is nevertheless, by reason of the order he has received, bound to knowledge of the scriptures? For God wills that every man fulfill his holy will, which no one who is ignorant of it is able to do. Therefore the Lord first commands that you learn what is pleasing to him, and secondly that you do it. How then will you think ignorance of the law excusable, through which you have been made transgressors of the first will of God?

Why do you think almighty God handed over to men the books of his scriptures? Was it so that they should be read by them and understood, or so that, unread, they should be despised? Certainly the scriptures of God’s commandments were given to mortals so that they might read them, and afterward so that they might fulfill them in deed. But you who with deliberate mind wish to be ignorant of God’s scriptures, how can you do his will, which they make known? Or how will you be able to be doers of the law, when you have not first been hearers? For it can happen that one who knows the will of God either observes it or neglects it; but it cannot happen that one who is ignorant of it fulfills it. Indeed, someone will more easily fail to do the good that he knows than fulfill in deed what he does not know. No one does the good that he does not know.

Saint Augustine says in a certain place concerning the ignorant: “Not everyone who is ignorant is free from guilt. For that ignorant man can be excused from punishment who did not find what he might learn. But those cannot be pardoned who, having someone from whom they might learn, did not apply themselves to instruction.” Hence Saint Leo the Pope also says: “If ignorance seems intolerable in laypeople, how much more in those who preside is it neither worthy of excuse nor of pardon?”

Therefore, brothers, ignorance of the divine scriptures does not make you excused before God, but doubly guilty, since, in order that you may not have to do God’s will, you desire to be utterly ignorant of it. For man ought not to be ignorant of the divine will, since he is placed in this world for this purpose: that through the illumination of the understanding and the purity of affection, may merit the eternal enjoyment of his vision. For both kinds of knowledge, namely of God and of oneself, are necessary for every mortal person’s salvation, and he will nowhere find them without knowledge of the Scriptures.

Indeed, just as from knowledge of oneself the fear of God comes into a person, and from knowledge of God the love of God is born, so from ignorance of oneself comes pride, and from neglect of the knowledge of God come contempt and despair of salvation. Nothing is more wretched than an unlearned monk, who either through sloth omits the study of the holy Scriptures or despises it; for he can never remain pure within himself in true tranquility of heart, but is forced by his own restlessness, contrary to the integrity of monastic life, to occupy his mind with outward and useless things.

We see among you certain men ignorant of the Scriptures, unstable, difficult in mind, and wandering; and we blame their ignorance the more because they are the less inclined toward discipline. It is shameful not to know what you are commanded to know; more shameful not to learn; but most shameful of all to despise it. And there are among you some who do not know saving knowledge; there are also some who neglect to learn. What if I add that there are others too who utterly despise the knowledge of the divine Scriptures? Certainly I am not lying; you know that what I say is true.

For some of you have opposed my studies bitterly, even to the point of envy, quibbling that they wanted ploughmen rather than men of prayer as their prelate. Did they not also try to draw the visitors over to their opinion, desiring, by their urging, to bring me to a renunciation of the Scriptures, so that they might make me a tiller of fields and a keeper of pigs rather than of souls? But they strive in vain to hinder the divine oracle; under its impulse I have resolved, as long as I live, to set the study of the Scriptures before all the honors and riches of the world.

I am your abbot for as long as he who called me shall will it. If one of the two must be done, I would rather give up the abbacy than renounce the holy study of the Scriptures. For I truly know that nothing more wholesome can befall a cloistered man in this life than if he begins truly to love the divine Scriptures. Whoever among you wishes to follow this instruction of mine will have me alike as guide on the way and as companion. But whoever scorns to follow me as a learner will nevertheless be compelled to hear me as a teacher, even against his will.

I have said these things against those who, minding earthly and perishable things, cast away from themselves the fear of the Lord, who, though ignorant of almost everything, despise learning. I know the face of my flock, and I believe that I am not wholly ignorant of the inclinations of each of your hearts. Therefore I shall not cease to exhort you to the holy studies of the Scriptures, knowing that a lover of sacred reading cannot be a worker of fleshly vices. For the more zealous a monk has been in thoroughly learning the Scriptures, the less he is inflamed by the burning desires of fleshly pleasures. For although, according to the judgment of the divine Jerome, a monk seems to have the office not of teaching but rather of lamenting, yet because he professes the soldiery of Christ, it is fitting, indeed necessary, that Homily IV.

Let him know the gracious will of almighty God, to whose words and service he has sworn allegiance. But just as a soldier cannot know the will of his lord when he is far away except through messengers and letters, so a monk does not understand the commands of the eternal King except through sacred readings, sermons, and the writings of the Gospel. For those who do not know it, reading Scripture opens the gate of salvation; it leads the diligent reader by the straight path to the knowledge of God; it makes the one who loves it despise all worldly things and love nothing except true wisdom.

Nothing, however, is more shameful than for a monk in the spiritual life to refuse to make progress, and knowingly to wish to remain ignorant of the will of God. Let no one flatter himself on account of his weakness or ignorance, since he who is ignorant will be ignored, and he who has hated saving knowledge is justly condemned. When the Lord was about to send preachers into all the earth, he warned them beforehand, saying: “Be wise as serpents and simple as doves,” lest either you be overthrown by someone through ignorance, or devise injury against someone through deceit. For there is little difference in fault between being able to deceive and being deceived.

Therefore I ask you, dearest brothers, to give your attention to the Rule of our holy father Benedict, which admonishes you in many places to labor diligently in frequent readings of the divine Scriptures. For in the Scriptures we are taught to be formed in every kind of piety: how we ought to live in this very brief pilgrimage of our sojourn, so that we may be able to please the Lord our God above all things. For it belongs to monks to despise the world and all the pleasures of the present life for the love of God, manfully to restrain the unlawful movements of the flesh, to devote themselves also to prayer, reading, and meditation on the Scriptures, and continually to lift the mind from earthly things to heavenly things.

Blessed is that monk who has not gone away in the counsel of the wicked, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilent men, but meditates on the law of the Lord day and night, learning here in the Scriptures the wisdom of God, whose fruit, eternal life, he will receive after the end of this pilgrimage.

On the Daily Renewal of the Holy Purpose. Homily V.

We have heard, dearest brothers, the reading recited to us from the book of holy Job, in which he laments the misery of the human race, the calamity of this life, and at the same time its unstable brevity. “Man,” he says, “born of woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries; he comes forth like a flower and is crushed, and flees like a shadow, and never remains in the same state.” “Behold,” he says, “the brief years pass by, and I walk the path by which I shall not return.” “All flesh fails together, and man will return to ashes.”

What do you notice amid these things, brothers, or what do you think? Is there any man among us who does not know himself to be mortal, who can say with truth, “I shall not be moved forever”? Alas, my brothers, How blind we are, though we keep our eyes open; how forgetful and sluggish travellers we are, who know most certainly that we are to die, and yet put our trust in the vanity of the present life as though we were not mortal. But what man is there who shall live and not see death, shall he deliver his soul from the hand of hell? Behold, Scripture says, we all die, and like water we flow away upon the earth.

Therefore be mindful, my brothers, that death does not delay, and everything that passes will be reckoned brief; for, as the holy Christ-bearing Paul says, it is appointed for men once to die, and no one will be able to escape this common law of necessity. O, if now we set daily before the sight of our mind the hour of approaching death, which each one of us must necessarily undergo shortly, and so ordered our life and conduct that we might always be found ready, how happy and secure our departure could become.

Did not Christ himself, our Lord, king of the living and the dead, wishing us always to be prepared for death, warn us beforehand in the Holy Gospel, saying: Therefore you also be ready, because at the hour when you do not think, the Son of Man will come? How much frequent meditation on death profits toward purity of mind, the wise man warned in Ecclesiasticus, saying: In all your works remember your last things, and you will not sin forever.

The thought of future death brings fear; fear necessarily shakes the mind and, like a nail driven by a hammer, fastens all motions of proud flesh to the wood of the cross. In view of this consideration, many of the pagan philosophers used to say that the whole life of a wise man was a kind of continual meditation on death. Hence also Saint Jerome says: Nothing will profit you so much toward temperance in all things as frequent meditation on this brief and uncertain life, which passes away like a leaf carried off by the wind, and, when it is not feared, falls into death.

Therefore remember your death, which you can escape by no plan, and you will easily be able to overcome all motions of the flesh. For he who thinks daily that he is going to die despises present things and, unless he is utterly foolish, will prepare himself for future things. For I know, and in part have learned by experience, that the will of the human mind cannot long remain uniform in the holy fervor of spiritual life; and therefore it has pleased me to recall the memory of death more often before your eyes, so that, while the mind is shaken by fear of things to come, the fervor of holy purpose may be renewed each day.

For the human soul, bound to the body for its exercise, is very changeable and unstable; now it is carried off to this, now moved to that. Therefore the Wisdom of God says through Solomon in Proverbs: My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes keep my ways. As if he were saying: Unless you have entrusted the whole love of your heart to divine wisdom, you will never be steady and confirmed in keeping the commandments of the Lord. For just as the heart is the first principle of motion in man, so the greater care must be taken to guard it for the preservation of life; because if by the assault of diseases when it is struck, the whole life of the body is already endangered. Hence it is written: “With all vigilance guard your heart, because from it life proceeds.” By the name “heart,” however, we understand affection or desire, whenever it inclines toward the love of some thing, clinging to it so much that it entangles the whole will. Hence the psalmist says: “If riches abound, do not set your heart on them,” that is, do not love them from the desire of the will.

Nothing is more changeable than the human heart, which is altered by almost every single thought and can scarcely remain fixed in the same purpose unless it is restrained by a certain forceful intention. Saint David, not ignorant of this, said to the Lord: “But I said in my abundance, I shall never be moved. Lord, in your will you gave strength to my beauty. You turned your face away from me, and I was troubled.”

Therefore, my dearly beloved brothers, if there is anyone among you who desires to serve our Lord and Savior in true purity of heart, if anyone wishes to be a monk both in deed and in name, let him learn first of all to trust not in himself but in God, and let him take care always to renew the good purpose of holy conduct by fresh instruction, not only daily, but, as far as he can, at every hour and moment.

For the fervor of spiritual conduct, toward whose practical exercise the whole institution of cloistered life is known to be ordered, cannot remain long at the same point; for if it does not always advance toward what lies ahead, it necessarily falls back to lower things and, what is worse, weaker things. In the arena of spiritual exercise there is no standing still in a lingering halt, because it is the property of the human heart, by its own natural motion, always either to advance toward better things or to fall back into what is evil. Hence, if you do not advance in spiritual conduct, you necessarily decline; if you do not go forward toward holier things, you certainly go backward.

Since experience has made this clear to us, I do not cease to admonish your charity to stretch your desire in good conduct always toward further things, lest you fall into the destructive danger of failing precisely where you do not renew the desire of advancing. The fervor of a spiritual purpose is directed toward the love of God and is preserved in no other way than in him. For the love of God is not absurdly compared to fire, because just as fire, when the fuel of wood has been removed, is necessarily extinguished, so the love of God, if the continual exercises of good works are lacking, soon fades away and is endangered.

Hence that saying of the Savior in the Gospel: “I came to send fire upon the earth, and what do I desire except that it burn?” O monk, happy is that conscience in whose breast nothing burns except the love of Christ, who loves God above all things, who despises all pursuits of vanity.

Now consider your consciences, brothers, most diligently, and weigh them with exactness: whether you love God above all things, and whether the fire of divine love is already burning in you, so that you may apply the necessary fuel, lest at some time through your lukewarmness you feel the little flame of holy fervor utterly extinguished. Believe [unclear].

my brothers, because experience has taught me: you will preserve the fire of divine fervor burning within you by easier practice than you will kindle it again once it has been extinguished. Therefore whoever already experiences the love of God within himself, whoever has received heavenly charity in his heart, must take the greatest care not to fall back into the negligences of his former life, but must apply the necessary fuel of spiritual exercises, so that he may be able to preserve the advancing fervor of God within himself. Let him beware not only of great sins, but also of small negligences, and, as far as he can, the very least; for whoever despises small things gradually falls, and whoever does not always fear danger will quickly feel the loss of spiritual fervor and of his purpose. For Scripture says: If you do not hold yourself constantly in the fear of the Lord, your house will quickly be overthrown.

Blessed, therefore, is the man who is always fearful, who does not presume upon the virtues he has received, who firmly judges that he is failing whenever he has not found himself advancing at every moment toward higher things. But I fear, brothers, and I am deeply afraid, unless my estimate of certain works deceives me, that in some of you the fire of this holy fervor is not yet present, since you seem to love the true pursuits of monks only a little. Since this is plain from their way of life, none of you can be ignorant of it. I have not thought it altogether superfluous to admonish them, although so far I seem to have made little progress, since the hand of the Lord has not been shortened so that he cannot save the penitent. For I trust in the mercy of the living God that, because of my charity toward them and the exercises of devotion of those among you who walk according to the purity of the rule, he will at some time grant them to come to their senses and to love the pursuits of holy fervor more ardently.

What is this, brothers, that you do not live monastically in the monastery, and, having professed a way of life of the spirit, you walk according to the flesh? Do you not know how dangerous it is for a monk to live secularly in a community, and to violate by a lukewarm way of life the vow of holy purity which we have all made? Know, I beg you, that the last things of all cloistered persons are close to the extremes: so that good monks, zealous lovers of their own salvation, receive in heaven not ordinary rewards, but the greatest rewards of the saints; and those who conduct themselves badly or lukewarmly in monastic religion are punished not with a moderate or common torment, but with the gravest torment, that of demons. For the higher the state in which someone sins, the heavier also will be the punishment of the offender in it.

Therefore, if anyone among you has already learned to walk the way of divine love with fervor of spirit, he must go forward, so that he may make greater progress every day. But whoever still lies in the torpor of a sluggish mind should strive as quickly as possible to rise again; for just as punishment is promised to those who lie fallen, so the crown of victory is denied to those who do not persevere. Beware, therefore, lest destructive lukewarmness overthrow the mind. It is exceedingly dangerous for cloistered persons, because it is most grievous and full of miseries and sorrows, and plainly near to hell, from whose abyss Homily V.

Rarely does a monk rise again who has once fallen. And alas, how many faint-hearted, lax, and idle cloisterers are found today, who frequently collapse under the burden of spiritual warfare and rarely rise again to the true fervor of the spirit. Their condition is indeed pitiable: they have a name that they are alive, and they are dead. Neither the memory of death has been able to lead them to true compunction of heart, nor has the recollection of hell, set before them, been able to soften them.

Monks of this sort, after they have long remained thus sluggish in accidia, are either oppressed by evil habit and collapse, or in a certain way become as though in hell, so that they never fully breathe again into the light of the Lord’s mercy, nor reach the freedom of the spirit, which alone is nearest to the kingdom of heaven, and makes the Lord’s yoke sweet and his burden light. These evils befall them because their will has not yet been cleansed from carnal passions, nor do they will the good as they know it, since they are enticed and drawn away by their own concupiscence. For they love the passing consolations of the flesh; and even if at times they interrupt them, they never wholly break them off. Hence it is that they very rarely direct their affections toward God; and if they are ever moved to compunction, they do not persevere long, even for an hour, but are soon wearied in soul by sluggishness and inertia, and suddenly grow disgusted, through sadness and melancholy, with the good they had begun.

But a mind tossed by these storms cannot be filled with the fervor of divine love; for as flesh placed by the fire and then repeatedly removed is never well cooked, so a soul that often relapses into accidia is by no means truly illumined by the divine Spirit. For Scripture says to the Lord: “Those who go far from you shall perish, and you have destroyed all who work iniquity.” For the farther the mind has withdrawn through accidia from the fervor of divine love, the nearer it is to hell and despair, and the more rarely and with greater difficulty does it grow strong again for true repentance.

Therefore, whoever among you, my brothers, desires to flee from the midst of Babylon, whoever longs to come to the inward fervor of the spirit, should strive always with the utmost effort to drive away from himself torpor of mind and accidia, and daily to renew the holy purpose of divine love. It is very hard, I admit, to resist the perverse habit of the flesh, and in an old heart, against custom, to think new thoughts. Certainly, brothers, no one with a lukewarm will can rise from the depths of hell, nor will anyone be able to overcome an evil habit without great violence and the daily practice of its contrary. For even if no one becomes holy by his own strength, but it is God who works all things in all, nevertheless it is plainly certain to us that the kingdom of God suffers violence, and he who neglects to do violence to his own carnal impulses does not reach the fellowship of the Lord’s saints.

Hear now, monk, whoever you are who are lukewarm toward the love of God and given to accidia; hear, I say, and tremble, because unless you immediately rise from the evil habit of a sluggish life, unless you do violence to yourself by the practice of the contrary habit, unless you [unclear] your heart to the fervor of divine love.

Unless you urgently prepare your [heart], you will never see the face of God in glory. Acedia is the root of despair, and not only its root, but also its nurse and mother; if once it has oppressed the mind of a person dedicated to God, it immediately closes off every road to salvation. For the kingdom of heaven is not promised to sleepers, nor is the blessedness of eternity prepared for those who grow sluggish in leisure and idleness; rather, the crown is laid up for those who manfully rule the motions of the flesh, and those who live by the spirit, not by the flesh, are granted the glory of eternal happiness.

No virtue is acquired without labor; no enemy is overcome without battle. If you wish to be crowned, conquer; if you desire to conquer, you must fight bravely and perseveringly. “How long will you sleep, O sluggard?” Solomon cries to you; “when will you rise from your sleep?” If you are diligent, your harvest will come like a fountain, and poverty will flee far from you. For he who gathers in harvest is a wise son, and he who snores in summer is a son of confusion. For he who works his own land will be satisfied with bread; but he who pursues idleness will be filled with poverty.

Now is the time for doing good, brothers; now the opportunity of earning eternal blessedness is granted to us by the Lord God, an opportunity that is suddenly cut off in death. For Scripture says: “Whatever your hand can do, do it earnestly; for neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge will be in the underworld, to which you are hastening.” If the good of eternal blessedness that is promised delights you, then the labors of the struggle that are set before you must not frighten your mind. For no one will be crowned by the Lord unless he has competed lawfully; no one will reach the summit of eternal loftiness unless by fervor of spirit he has overcome the unlawful motions of the flesh.

We must always fight, brothers, against the devil’s threefold battle-line as long as we live in this pilgrimage; for no one here becomes so unconquerable that, if he grows lukewarm, he is not gradually overcome. Here Saint Augustine proclaims: “No one ought to feel secure in this life, which is wholly called temptation, lest one who was able to become better from being worse should at some time become worse from being better.” Hence Solomon too says in the book of Proverbs: “Desires kill the sluggard.” For just as constancy gives perfection in every good work, so acedia is the destroyer and stepmother of all religion and of the progress of the spiritual soul. For, as blessed Jerome says, nothing is worse in a holy purpose than idleness, since it not only fails to acquire new things, but also shamefully consumes what was previously acquired.

The order of holy spiritual life advances and grows by continual progress in joy; but by cessation it grows sluggish and fails. Therefore, brothers, the mind must be renewed by daily and fresh increases of virtues, and the measure of this path of life must be taken not from what has passed, but from what remains. Therefore flee idleness first of all, for it is the mother and nurse of all vices; but overcome acedia not by fleeing it, but by resisting it bravely. Scripture says: “Idleness has taught much evil.” For in vain and pernicious desires is every [unclear].

Therefore the monk who desires to serve Christ in true purity of mind should always be occupied in some spiritual exercise, lest idleness give birth to vice and harmful thoughts find a place where they may gain strength. Just as rust consumes iron, and a garment is eaten away by worms, so idleness weakens the mind; and the virtue of the soul, long left unused, gradually fails and is utterly enfeebled. Flee idleness, then, and overcome acedia.

But since we cannot remain firmly and without any change of mind in one state of divine love, it is necessary for us, lest we fall away entirely, to renew our holy purpose every day. Thus, whenever through the negligence of human weakness we begin, however slightly, to grow sluggish from spiritual fervor, we should examine ourselves, and by the remembrance of things to come and by contemplation of the Lord’s Passion, immediately recall our conscience to its former purpose of making progress.

Above all, however, we must beware of putting off this holy effort to make progress until tomorrow, because it has often been harmful to postpone to a future time a good that could have been done sooner. Hence the wise man says in Ecclesiasticus: “Do not delay turning to the Lord, and do not put it off from day to day. For his wrath will come suddenly, and in the time of vengeance he will destroy you.” Augustine also says: “Why do you put off the good until tomorrow, saying, ‘There will still be a long life’? For who knows whether it will be long? And if it is not good, what does it profit that it will be long?”

Without a good life, the conduct of a monk should be called death rather than life. Therefore the remedies of an amended life must not be delayed by any hesitation, lest the time for conversion perish through tardiness, when no further delay for repentance is granted. For he who promised forgiveness to the penitent did not promise tomorrow. No one who fears God delays turning to repentance, nor postpones today’s salvation until tomorrow. Every person who knows that he is set in tepidity of mind, and who puts off the amendment of life from day to day, is deceived by the hope of a longer age; for if he knew that he would die tomorrow, he would undoubtedly change his purpose today. The hope of a longer life has miserably deceived many, who, while they put off the amendment of their conduct each day, suddenly fall into the depth of death.

Who among you, brothers, does not resolve in his heart to take up the purpose of an amended life before he dies? For I believe that each of you still intends to exercise greater devotion toward God before the danger of death comes upon him. And why do you wait so long? Why do you put it off from day to day? Behold, you who now live in health, and do not give yourselves to the spiritual exercises of divine love when you can, while the Lord patiently waits: the final day will come for each one of you, and it is already hastening, when, as the angel of death presses hard, the power whose effect you have put off for so long will be taken away from you.

Therefore again and again I ask you, brothers, and with all the earnestness I can I admonish you: turn to the Lord our God with your whole heart while you live healthy and unharmed, and do not further delay your will, lest you lose even the power granted to you. Think, and often think again, that we are not citizens of this world, but strangers and pilgrims; we do not have here a lasting city, but we seek the one to come; and every day we are hastening toward death, though we do not know it.

There are two intellects created from the beginning, which I know is hidden from none of you, dearest brothers: namely, the angelic and the human. Holy Scripture does not plainly disclose when the angelic intellect was created, but the judgment of the Fathers has counted the creation of the angels as a work of God and among the works of the six days. There are, however, some who write that the angels were created long before this visible world; and just as we cannot prove this by the testimony of the divine Scriptures, so neither do we rashly oppose it. For there are many weighty and holy men who placed the creation of the angels long before the beginning of the world.

The angelic intellect was made from the very beginning in act with respect to all knowable things: it knew everything that it could know, and thereafter admitted nothing further for its own perfection. For, created by the Lord in the natural perfection that it could have, it required no further means of increase by which it might understand. Indeed, since it is joined to God without intermediary, it was made a pure intellect by nature, and does not, as we do, need exercise in order to understand; its being admits no corruption. And so, cleaving to its object through the affection of love, it immediately and unchangeably contemplates and loves God, whom it understands to be the center of its blessedness; it is blessed, and fears no alteration of itself.

But the human intellect, which our teachers have called the soul, was indeed created from the beginning in complete ignorance, and by nature knows none of the things that the angelic intellect understands. These two intellects differ as act and potency, light and darkness, knowledge and ignorance, habit and privation, beginning and end, simple and composite, substance and accident, nature and art, truth and likeness. For all the things which, as divine Scripture testifies, are in the angelic intellect by nature and from the beginning, the human intellect will attain through art at the end, as the Lord Jesus says in the Holy Gospel: In the resurrection of the dead they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but will be like the angels of God in heaven.

For as the mind is trained toward understanding through many labors, as though through art, it has been placed for a short time in the prison-house of the body; and if there, turned toward God, it has duly completed its craft through love, then at last, departing from here, it becomes equal to an angel. But if, consenting to the motions of the flesh, it has not kept its order, disturbed and wretched, like the falling apostate spirits, from the body into eternity Homily VI.

…will depart to be tormented. For since our mind, or soul, was created in ignorance and privation of all things, it must necessarily come to knowledge of things by continual action, movement, and art. The end, indeed, makes the human intellect equal to the angelic, changing its potentiality into act; and it will make from privation a habit, from emptiness fullness, from the imperfect the perfect, from one deprived one possessing, from darkness light, from night day, from lunar solar, and from earthly heavenly.

This end, my dearly beloved brothers, is the beginning of eternal salvation; and no one can happily come to it who does not strive with all his strength toward the summit of perfection. But since it is difficult amid crowds always to keep unbroken this necessary effort of advancing, where a thousand occasions for sinning are offered, the holy fathers, founders of the monastic order, taught us by word and example to flee the world, and to avoid crowds not only in mind but also in body.

Of those who were stronger in spirit, many withdrew to the desert, so that they might become nearer to the Lord in mind the farther they had withdrawn in body from the world. Of these we read the saying of Isaiah the prophet: “The wilderness shall rejoice and shall blossom like the lily; budding, it shall bud, and shall rejoice with gladness and praise.”

Others, however, desiring to benefit many, established cenobitic houses, in which they placed a multitude of monks, whose way of life was separated from the peoples and nevertheless made social among themselves. For it is not suitable for all to sit in the desert, for whom it is more fitting to serve the Lord in the midst of brothers. For our monasteries too have their own solitude, so that anyone who wishes to be solitary can be so in the midst of brothers, if he keeps up the seclusion of the cell in which he dwells.

For a monk, according to the interpretation of his name, is called solitary, because in mind and body he is separated from the tumult of this world. Therefore, as I am about to deliver today’s sermon to your charity, I warn you with fatherly concern, and I beg that I may not have spoken so much in vain, since I seek nothing other than your good and desire nothing more than your progress in spiritual conduct. I ask you, I say, and exhort you in the bowels of brotherly charity, to love the quiet of the cell as the workshop of your salvation, in which there is great peace for those who love God, and great advantage for bringing the intellect to perfection in the knowledge of the highest truth.

For the prophet Isaiah says: “In silence and in hope shall be your strength.” Whoever does not love the solitude of the cell and the quiet of silence by no means loves purity of mind; rather, wandering in body, he always drinks in new vanities in spirit. Hence blessed Jerome says: “Why do we desire the crowds of cities, we who are reckoned from our singularity? For to me a town is a prison, solitude a paradise.”

If, brothers, the desert and solitude delighted us, this place would offer great convenience for our purpose, where, apart from poor country people, a guest is rarely met; no one disturbs our quiet, no one troubles us, no one introduces spectacles or rumors.

of momentary novelty. But I see few among you who love inner quiet, and I grieve deeply, because I know very well that a monk cannot make progress in spiritual conduct if it is clear that he does not love the quiet of the cell. But he who knows how much good the secrecy of solitude brings to the soul loves his cell and does not readily go outside, always fearing that in the turmoil he may lose what he has gathered with great labor in hiddenness. For, as Saint Augustine says, he is less stirred by pleasures who is not where there is a crowd of pleasures; and he suffers less trouble from avarice who, placed far from men, does not see riches.

Since, therefore, the holy Spirit of God loves the secrecy of the mind and shudders at public exposure, it belongs to you, brothers, to love the solitude of your cells, the workshop of all virtues, and never to estrange yourselves from its dwelling without a reasonable cause. For the monk who loves secrecy and is not idle, who has learned to stand firm in his cell, sometimes enjoys many holy consolations, of which the wandering and restless man is necessarily deprived. Just as a fish dies if it is kept too long out of the water, so every monk perishes in devotion if he wanders too often outside his cell.

Let him imitate John the Baptist, whom Chrysostom calls the prince of monks: as a monk, as soon as he was born, he lived in the desert, was nourished in the desert, and as a monk awaited Christ in solitude. For just as it is difficult for a tree planted beside the road to preserve its fruits until maturity, so it is difficult for a monk who often wanders outside his cell and is occupied in the affairs of the world to keep the fruits of righteousness unstained to the end.

Let us therefore withdraw from the road of worldly tumult and plant ourselves in the secrecy of monastic solitude, so that neither the world may have anything in common with us, nor we with it. For a mind shaken by the cares and anxieties of the world is rarely truly rooted in the love of God. The movement of the body often alters the state of the mind, and a man who is always immersed in external things is never illumined by the fervor of the divine Spirit. For quiet of mind is born from the firm steadiness of the body, and the man who loves solitude for the love of God stands stronger and more united to himself in holy exercise.

Therefore whoever among you, brothers, is a zealous lover of his own salvation should learn to remain quietly in his cell and, as much as he can, should strive to occupy himself continually and with desire in the works of divine love. But be quiet in your cell, not idle; tranquil, not sleepy; always devoted to spiritual exercise, not slackened by torpor of soul. The instruments of spiritual exercises in the cell are four: to read, to write, to pray, and to meditate. A fifth is granted to few, those who, after true purity of heart, are raised to the mountain of contemplation of the Lord. Finally, these four exercises of monks remaining in the solitude of the cell must be so moderated that they produce neither weariness nor torpor of mind, but that a fitting time be assigned to each action, so that while variety relieves the mind, so that the little body is not burdened beyond its strength. Therefore the reading of the divine Scriptures should have its own suitable hour for study; and when it senses that the desire for devotion is present, it should at once be changed into fervent prayer. Manual labor, too, which is appointed for a monk dwelling in the quiet of solitude, is very useful, lest harmful tepidity arise in the mind. For the reading of the holy Scriptures stirs the monk to the love of God; meditation on the Lord’s passion and on the benefits of God inflames the mind to the fervor of most ardent love; prayer strengthens the weak soul; and manual labor, continued temperately, preserves it from sluggishness and weariness.

When we pray earnestly and devoutly, we speak with our God, who is present everywhere; but when we read in the holy Scriptures, we are taught by the Lord himself what we should seek or avoid. Prayer, if it is ardent in the love of God, purifies the mind from sins and vices; reading instructs and forms it, as holy Isidore says: “By prayers,” he says, “we are cleansed; by readings we are instructed. Both are good, if both are possible; if both are not possible, it is better to pray than to read.”

Therefore the monk who desires to spend his time in the cell usefully and fruitfully should strive continually to occupy mind and body by turns in these exercises, because a spirit that keeps watch over such labors gives no entrance to perverse thoughts. Hence blessed Jerome, admonishing the monk, says: “Always do something good, so that the devil may find you occupied.” For he is less assailed by the enticements of the flesh who, always usefully occupied, admits no weariness of mind.

Indeed, when every monk, as a careful guardian of his soul, is carried by turn from the practice of one good work to another with the desire of holy fervor, he is strengthened in the constancy of all virtues; and he falls into weariness the less, the more he has been accustomed to vary his occupation and to use alternating tasks against weariness. Hence Jerome again says: “Let prayer frequently interrupt reading, and let a pleasing alternation of holy activity continually kindle the soul that clings to God.”

The monk who does not love the secrecy of the cell is not a true soldier of Christ, because he bears the name and habit of a monk without the works; and he who ought to have been solitary for love of God has turned back in mind to the world and loves the pursuit of vanity. Hence blessed Pope Gregory says: “He who lives bodily removed from men, but in thought plunges himself, through desire for earthly things, into the tumults of human intercourse, is not solitary, although he dwells in solitude. But if someone is physically pressed by the crowds of the people, and yet suffers no tumults of secular cares in his heart, he is not in the city, even if he lives in the midst of men.”

And this is what holy Jerome says against Jovinian: “The wise man,” he says, “can never be alone. For he has with him all good men, both those who are and those who have been; he has a free mind, and whatever he wishes he brings forth, and he carries himself wherever he wishes.” For what What he cannot embrace with the body, he embraces with the mind; and if there is a lack of human company, he speaks with God. Therefore the good man will never be alone. And so, remaining in your cell, always beware idleness, because nothing so weakens all the powers of the mind as idleness, once it has produced listlessness from itself. If you have loved God ardently, you will never be idle, because the true love of Christ does not allow sluggishness to be born in the soul, but always impels the lover toward the will of the beloved. And just as a certain carnally wise man truly said, “Let him love who does not wish to become slothful,” so experience has taught us in spiritual love, because it does not permit the mind in which it has begun to dwell to grow sluggish through idleness and laziness. For divine love always impels one toward better things, and the more it advances by burning, the greater increase it takes to itself.

The workshop of this love is a clean conscience; and if a monk desires both to have it and to preserve it clean, it is necessary first of all that he despise the vanities of the world and the business of temporal things. For it is not possible that a double love should reside in one breast, nor can a man succeed in loving Christ if he is unwilling to despise the world. For God, though in the Trinity of Persons he is one in the essence of substance, will either be loved by us alone, or he is not loved with a partner. Therefore, so that conscience may remain clean in all purity, and so that the mind may be able to love God above all things, the monk loves the solitude of the cell and never withdraws from the inner exercise of sweetness.

For in the cell of a good and wise monk there is the highest tranquility; and if anywhere there is an earthly paradise, it is in the monastery of those who are preserved according to the purity of the cenobitic institution. There is peace, piety, goodness, light, virtue, honor; there is joy, purity, sweetness, and great tranquility of life, where the devout monk in prayer speaks with the Lord, and the future sweetness of the heavenly kingdom is tasted beforehand by the contemplative soldier. O cell, paradise of monks truly serving God: surely you are the little garden of most honorable delight, in which the mind is joined to God through love and is sweetly lifted up through desire. The monk who loves, reveres, and cherishes you is a true soldier of Christ and serves the Lord in the fullness of virtues. But he who abhors and deserts the solitude of the cell despises the workshop of his own salvation. Therefore I beg you, my dearest brothers, begin to inhabit the solitude of the cell with longing of mind; without love for it, no one in the monastery will be able to attain the perfection of virtues.

On the Manual Labor of Monks. Homily VII.

“Because you shall eat the labors of your hands,” says the Prophet of the Lord, “you are blessed, and it shall be well with you.” If all who live by the labor of their own hands are judged blessed, surely no one eats bread without guilt while idle, and the idle man is blameworthy. For almighty God [unclear] this to the first-formed Adam.

Homily VII.

He inflicted punishment for the transgression of the original commandment, declaring to him that by the sweat of his face he would have to work his food from the earth with his hands. And since we all sinned in Adam, we are necessarily subject to the same penalties to which he is known to have been subjected. He labored with his hands for the food by which he might live, nor did he eat his bread in idleness.

Hence our holy father Benedict, detesting the idleness of monks in the Rule which he handed down to us, says: “Idleness is the enemy of the soul, and therefore at fixed times the monks ought to be occupied in manual labor, and again at fixed hours in divine reading. For then they are truly monks, if they live by the labor of their own hands, as our fathers and the apostles also did.” Hence Saint Paul also says in the epistle: “He who does not work, let him not eat.”

In the beginning of the monastic state this was the custom of monks: that they admitted no one into their fellowship without labor, not so much because of the necessities of food as because of the salvation of the soul, lest through idleness occasion be given to destructive thoughts. At that time monks had no rents, no tithes, no revenues, no annual proceeds of any kind; but all, living in common, procured food and clothing for themselves with their hands, burdening no one by the exaction of debt.

The holy apostles of our Savior also, although they had the power to live from the preaching of the Gospel, preferred to labor with their own hands, lest they should seem to have burdened any of the faithful, and so that they might have not only what they themselves could live on, but also something from which they could supply necessities to the needy.

But after monks began to have rents and revenues, the former zeal for simplicity soon failed, and pride gradually grew along with the wealth of temporal things, to such a degree that in time monks refused all manual labors. As long as monks were poor and humble in birth, they worshiped God in truth; but afterwards, when they began to abound in riches, duplicity drove out simplicity, and the arrogance of nobles uprooted the humility of monks. For the integrity of regular observance had produced an abundance of temporal goods; but little by little the riches of the monks utterly extinguished the purity of the order. And when the integrity of regular observance had been taken away, soon in many monasteries the riches of temporal goods also failed by the just judgment of God.

Among these was the present monastery of Spanheim, neither the last, my brothers, nor the first. For many years it remained miserably desolate in both respects, to such an extent that the only five monks living there, and living a dissolute life, did not have the means from which to obtain the necessities of life. Therefore, at last, by the providence of God’s mercy, Frederick, Duke of Transylvania, after invoking the counsel of the fathers of the reformed order, in the one thousand four hundred sixty-ninth year of the Christians, expelled the monks deformed in life, deposed the abbot, named Otto of Cologne, and called in others from the observance of Bursfeld, from the monastery called Mount Speciosus, He placed four in this monastery, over whom he set as abbot John, from the noble family of Budisbach, commonly called “of the house of Carbonaria”: a man such as you have seen and heard, worthy of eternal memory. He found this place in extreme poverty and, presiding over it for almost fourteen years with great patience, restored it to the condition in which we now live.

Therefore, since lack of temporal goods still presses heavily upon us, there would be continual need of labor by which we might feed ourselves with necessary sustenance and free the house of God in which we dwell from debt. But what are your labors, or how much can they help us in such great matters? We are few in number and unfit for rustic labors; nor does the institution of the priestly order permit us to spend the whole day in the field turning stones with our hands and to neglect the divine service.

We are wretched, crushed by excessive poverty and by lack of all necessities. If we labor much, we gain little from it; and if we have worked little, we shall certainly fail still more in spirit. For man, as Scripture bears witness, is born to labor, just as a bird is born to fly. Therefore, lest you eat your bread in idleness, you must always be bound to some honest and useful labor, by which both the mind may be relieved from weariness in regular observance and our heavy poverty may be repaired, at least in some small measure.

In harvest time we have been accustomed to employ you outside the monastery only for haymaking, and in the days of autumn for the vintage, when, that is, the labor is both very necessary and the scarcity of hired men increases the price and wages of servants. At other times we have determined to keep you within the monastery, because your labors, in comparison with the monastery’s expenses, contribute little to its advantage, and, as it seems to us, very few of you willingly come forward of your own accord for rustic pursuits.

There is also another consideration that stirs my mind not to occupy you readily in external works of the hands without reasonable cause and evident necessity. For I find by experience that labors of this kind do not agree in you with regular observance, but rather destroy than promote the integrity of monastic discipline among you. I am ashamed to say it, and nevertheless I am compelled to utter it: your labors outside the monastery and the cell bring more destruction to the purity of souls than salvation.

For what do you labor at, and what are your pursuits in your labors? Are they not to wander about, run here and there, indulge in feasting and cups, and spend the rest of the time in vain and useless conversations? You do not have within yourselves that holy fervor of the Spirit of God with which we read that the monks of our ancient institution were once inflamed; for the common necessity they all and individually labored with their hands with such desire, such zeal, and such effort that you would have thought the whole business of the monastery rested in the foresight of each one. For they labored as though each one had to nourish the whole congregation with his own hands. Yet amid these things, the divine they paid the service of worship day and night with such eagerness as if they had not been occupied at all in the labors of their hands. Which of you, brothers, is an imitator of such men, so that he regards the need of our whole community as his own, or strives, according to his strength, to relieve it by laboring in the sweat of his brow? They, while laboring with their hands, prayed to God with unceasing hearts; but you, intent on tales, satisfy neither the duty of your hands nor that of monks in your minds.

In the time of the regular fast, too, they either diligently kept the measure of abstinence appointed for them, or, if they could not do so because of the great extent of their labors, they ate for this reason: that they might be made fit and capable for their labors. But you do not eat in order to work, but rather work in order to eat. When, according to the Rule, you ought to fast, you take occasion from work to break the fast.

Moreover, how filthily and contemptibly some of you treat their clothing: what lover zealous for regular discipline could bear it calmly? Whose property is it, my brothers, that you wastefully consume? Everything that belongs to the monasteries of God’s servants is Christ’s patrimony, and all of it is dedicated to God; nor is it lawful for anyone to misuse the things of Christ, or to divert them to another use. Do you not know what our holy lawgiver Benedict says to you in the Rule? “If anyone treats the things of the monastery in a dirty or negligent way, let him be corrected. If he does not amend, let him be subjected to regular discipline.” And in the chapter on the cellarer of the monastery he says: “Let him keep all the vessels of the monastery and all its substance as if he were looking upon the sacred vessels of the altar.”

Finally, I cannot be silent, and certainly ought not to be, about how filthily and negligently many of you treat everything, as if you were either not seen by God, or as if the sloth of any of you caused no harm to the property of the community. Know, brothers, that I forewarn you and announce to you that for all these things, as also for your other sins, you will have to render an account to the Lord God.

I therefore reduced for you the labors outside the monastery, lest by working badly you should sin more gravely, and I enjoined on you manual work: writing, binding books, and things of this kind, which you can accomplish within the enclosure of the monastery with tranquility of mind and body. Would that you performed even these works of your hands diligently for the love of God, so that you may not eat your bread wholly idle. There is no manual work which, in my judgment, is more fitting for a monk than to write books of sacred reading and to prepare necessities for others who write. For this holy labor may very often be interrupted by prayer, and one may keep watch no less for the food of the mind than of the body. Necessity also presses us to devote ourselves diligently to writing books, if we wish to have at hand the means by which we may occupy ourselves together usefully in spiritual study. For you see that the whole library of this community, which once was distinguished and great, has been so scattered, sold, and alienated by the misshapen monks before us that no more than fourteen volumes were found here by us. The industry of printing...

The art recently invented at Mainz in our own days brings forth many volumes daily into the light; but it is by no means possible for us to purchase them all, since we are still weighed down by the greatest poverty. Therefore I warn and exhort you, who do not very readily turn to external labors of the hands, to labor as diligently as you can, for the honor of God, in writing books; for just as idleness is the enemy of the soul, so moderate labor is the preserver of the spiritual life.

For the monk, because he is a soldier of the eternal King, must never be idle. Idleness indeed gives birth to sloth, and sloth brings upon the soul the want of deadly destruction. But the labors of monks must be so moderated that they are never empty of divine converse, but that amid the works of the hands meditation on the Scriptures may burn in the heart; and after it has led the mind into the ardor of the spirit, it should at once be changed into most devout prayer.

Let the monk, therefore, be a soldier of Christ, like a clean animal of God, which chews the cud, always having in the mouth of his heart the food of the holy Scriptures, lest his mind lie open to vain and harmful thoughts, or a foul or idle word burst from the mouth of the speaker. Let him always remember, while he works, the saying of Scripture: Blessed is the man who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night.

For everyone who truly loves the Lord Jesus daily turns over in his heart, with tears and prayers, both his teaching and his passion. For he is not a true lover of God who forgets his commandments even for a moment. Indeed, as Scripture says, those who love the Lord seek the things that are pleasing to him, and those who fear his holy name will be filled with his law. Hence one of the saints said to the Lord: I have hidden your words in my heart, that I may not sin against you.

The soul, therefore, must always be stirred up and daily renewed by spiritual goads, lest it grow dull through laziness or languish in sluggish idleness. The exercise of monastic discipline in labor, the pursuit of reading and prayer, and the careful keeping of vigils are true incentives to virtue. Nothing, however, is more destructive to the holy purpose of a monk than idleness, since it both stirs the flesh to lust, weakens every virtue of the mind, and extinguishes the fervor of the spirit. For idleness in the cloister is the tinder and nourishment of all evils.

Wherever, then, you may be, whether in the field or in the cloister, always flee idleness as the most destructive plague of the soul, adorning and exercising your mind either with prayer or with meditation on the Scriptures. Gladly keep company with good and zealous lovers of God; but avoid the negligent and those who despise their own salvation. For he who touches pitch will be defiled by it; and he who makes himself the companion of sinners will not be free from guilt.

Consider your words carefully, so that you do not disparage anyone at all, nor listen to another who disparages someone; for the slanderer and the willing listener alike are servants of the devil, the one by speaking, the other by listening. Labor like a good soldier of Christ Jesus, and diligently do with your hands whatever...

is enjoined upon you out of obedience; and let it not seem hard to you to obey the command of another, for in return for it a crown of eternal happiness is being prepared for your spirit in heaven. Therefore no labor should seem burdensome, no time long, no observance hard to a monk, by which the glory of eternal blessedness is acquired.

Consider, my brothers, the shortness of this life, and do good while it is permitted; for he who now sows sparingly will also reap sparingly after death, and each person will receive the fitting reward for his own work, not for another’s. The time for labor is very brief, but the reward owed to good works is everlasting.

Consider, my brothers, men entangled in the world and all lovers of this age: how strong they are in earthly and perishable affairs, but weak and feeble in heavenly ones. Take care to please God as much as they continually labor to appear rich and glorious in the world. For many do not shrink from sweating even to death for temporal glory; but for the hope of future happiness they scorn to do or endure even a little. For earthly gains they bear any injuries with the greatest patience, yet for a heavenly reward they refuse to endure even the insult of the slightest word. They can stand daily, strong and steadfast, before an earthly king, prince, or judge; but in prayer before the almighty Lord they cannot persist for the space of one hour. They willingly bear many adversities to acquire riches that will perish; but they neglect heavenly goods all the more, the more delightfully they are occupied in love of earthly things.

Let their way of life, dearly beloved brothers, warn you to flee all the cares of this world so much the more, now that it is permitted you to handle the business of earthly things so much the less. Always devote all your solicitude and care to the acquisition of heavenly goods, and labor most diligently at all times for the reward of future blessedness. For, as Scripture bears witness, your life on earth is warfare/service, and whatever a man has sown, that also he will reap.

Know that death hastens daily, and at every moment a part of life, never to return again, is extinguished. Watch, therefore, my dearly beloved brothers, watch, for you do not know when the Lord our God will come for the judgment of each one’s death: evening, midnight, cockcrow, or morning; lest, when he comes suddenly, he find you sleeping. Therefore watch at all times, praying that you may be deemed worthy to escape all the evils that are to come and to stand with confidence before the sight of the Son of God, who judges all things. For, as the blessed Christophilus testifies, we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive what is proper to the body, according as he has done, whether good or evil.

Blessed is that monk whom the Lord finds watching in good works, who has prepared himself for the wedding-feast of the heavenly Lamb in true purity of heart, who will not fear to meet the Judge. Let that memorable saying of Saint Jerome on the holy Gospel according to Matthew always be in your hearts: saying: “Whether I eat or drink, or whatever else I do, that voice always seems to sound in my ears: ‘Arise, you dead, and come to judgment.’ As often as I think of that day of the future examination, I tremble in my whole heart and body. Therefore, if there is any gladness in the present life, my brothers, it must be pursued in such a way that the bitterness of that dreadful judgment never withdraws from memory.

O that great day, terrible, exceedingly dreadful, and very bitter, on which the sun and moon will be darkened, not by any lessening of their light, but by comparison with his majesty; where every argument of excuse will cease; where all things will be manifest, and nothing will be able to lie hidden from the Judge; because he who knows the hidden thoughts of minds will then judge openly; he who is not anticipated by favor, nor bent by mercy, is not corrupted by gifts and presents, will not be softened by prayers, nor will any satisfaction thereafter appease him.

Therefore, placed in this life, brothers, let each of you do as much as he can for his soul, because repentance for sins performed here alone is useful and fruitful, so long as there is room for pardon and the sentence of justice is still deferred. He who puts off doing good and doing penance until death is near to damnation, because the good which he neglects when healthy and sound, he will rarely restore when sick and already about to die. For holy Pope Gregory says: Whoever does not fear to defer the fruits of repentance until the hour of death is himself a witness against himself that true repentance was never in his mind. Now, therefore, turn yourselves to our Lord with your whole heart, doing penance before him; and so live, I beg you, that when you must depart from here, you may not fear to appear before his face.

That one must pray without interruption. Homily VIII.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in the Gospel, brothers, according to Saint Luke, wishing us to be constant in prayers, gave this warning, saying: “One must always pray and never give up.” This counsel of the Lord befits monks above all mortals, and all cloistered persons in whatever religious life: their every action and their whole life, indeed whatever they do, ought either to be prayer or at least in conformity with prayer. For not without reason are all who profess the monastic warfare called spiritual, so that by the very word they may be reminded to despise the pleasures of the flesh for love of God and to walk through true charity in the ardor of the spirit.

For the holy Apostle of Christ says: “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God,” because “if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live.” And knowing that without persistence in prayer the fervor of the spirit cannot long remain in us, he again says to the Thessalonians: “Always rejoice; pray without interruption; give thanks in all things, because this is the [unclear].”

The will of God in Christ Jesus in all of you. But what the manner of praying is, the Savior taught us in the Gospel, saying: “But you, when you pray, enter into your chamber, and, having shut the door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.” And in another place he said to the Samaritan woman: “Woman, believe me, the hour will come when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeks such as worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

From Christ’s teaching it is plainly established that prayer is of the heart rather than lengthy speech of the mouth, because, since God is spirit, he must be worshiped only with the inward fervor of the spirit. For the prayer of the heart in the fervor of the spirit has great power, but the multiplication of words without attention of mind has no usefulness at all. Hence Saint Jerome says: “God must be prayed to not only with words, but with the heart. Therefore the chanting of five psalms with purity and serenity of heart and spiritual cheerfulness is better than the singing of the whole psalter with anxiety and sadness of heart.” And the blessed Pope Gregory says: “True petition is not in the sounds of the mouth, but in the voices of the heart, that is, in holy thoughts. For it is not words, but desires, that make stronger voices in the ears of God.”

Therefore, except for those prayers which we are bound to say either by decree of the Church or by the institution of the monastic order, in the rest, lengthiness and the multiplication of words contribute nothing, or little, to true and inward devotion of mind, because where there is no fervent desire in the love of God, an extension of words is introduced superfluously. For holy Augustine says: “Let much speaking be absent from prayer, but let fervent attention persevere; for to speak much in praying is to conduct a necessary matter with superfluous words.” Indeed, prayer comprehends many-sided realities in few words, so that the simplicity of faith might quickly learn the sufficiency of its salvation, and the wisdom of the gifted might be amazed at the depth of the mysteries.

But for those who, because of hardness of heart, lack the compunction of inward fervor, when they prostrate themselves for prayer, there is need of more prolonged speech, crying out, and tears, so that by a long stirring up of the mind they may at last strike forth within themselves the burning fire of divine love, until they rise up in the Spirit of God into the affection of holy prayer. But after the fervor of divine love and compunction has penetrated the mind, there is thereafter no need for the exercise of words; rather, the continuation of spiritual fuel is required, lest the fervor of the spiritual fire be extinguished. To this end our most holy father wished prayer in the community to be shortened, so that if anyone wished to pray in the Spirit, he could do so apart. There are, however, some who are so hard of heart that in praying they find little or no spiritual compunction; for such people liberty brings ruin, and solitude often gives birth to despair.

Pay attention, I beseech you, dearly beloved brothers, to what I say to you, and consider how greatly you are bound to pray without ceasing. It is not enough for a monk, striving toward perfection in the school of Christ the eternal King, to discharge the canonical prayers; nor is it sufficient for a man solemnly dedicated to God by vow to join in the common prayers of the order in choir, because he who is commanded always to pray without ceasing is bound, beyond vocal prayers, also to spiritual prayers.

For the prayers instituted by the Church or by the order fall under the merit of obedience and under the law of necessity by reason of the command. But that manner of praying which is called spiritual, useful to a monk at every time and necessary for perfection, is strengthened in the freedom of the spirit. Hence it must be noted that for the prayers which are prescribed by the Church or by the order, the utterance of words is required of necessity, together with the intention of satisfying the statute by which one is bound to pray.

Let those see how they satisfy the command of the Church who do not express the seven canonical prayers by uttering the words, but, with closed mouth, run through the sequence of prayers by thought alone, their eyes serving them. But in those prayers which we undertake to say not from command but by our own will and from devotion alone, the fervor of the mind toward God suffices without the utterance of words; for God seeks, as we have said, such worshipers as adore in spirit and in truth. But the canonical prayers, which they call the hours, we are bound to say, and not merely to think. In both, devotion of the mind toward God is useful; without it no prayers are believed to be effective.

Therefore, my brothers, when we stand for prayer, we must keep watch with the greatest care and attend to the prayers we pour forth, lest we pray without the fruit of inward compunction. Let every thought of the flesh depart; let no occupation with household affairs hinder the mind; nor let the soul then think of anything else at all except this alone, what it is praying. For this reason also the priest, after the customary preface before the sacrifice has been given, prepares the minds of the brethren, saying, “Lift up your hearts”; so that, when the people answer, “We have them lifted up to the Lord,” they are reminded that they ought to think of nothing other than God himself, whom they invoke.

Let the breast, then, be closed against the adversary and open to the Lord alone; and during the time of holy prayer let it admit absolutely no occupation of the world. For great is the usefulness of pure prayer, which, like a faithful messenger, carries out the charge of a fervent mind and, flying, ascends into heaven, where flesh does not reach. For prayer is sustained by two wings, so that it may fly up into heaven: one of these is called fasting, the other is named almsgiving. Hence Saint John Chrysostom says: “Nothing is more powerful than a person who prays, who prays with fasting; for he has double wings, and neither wanders nor grows sluggish.”

Let us therefore pray in the highest fervor of spirit, and live with as much purity of conscience as we can, since that prayer is perfect and pleasing to God whose cause cries out along with the tongue, whose deeds and speech agree with the petition, whose life, and thought bring support to prayers. For without the justice of truth every prayer will be fruitless, since we know that God does not hear sinners, and that salvation is far from sinners, as Scripture says: He who turns away his ears so as not to hear the law, his prayer will be abominable. The holy prophet also says in the psalm: If I have regarded iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. For just as no medicine does any good in a wound unless the iron is first drawn out, so the prayer of one in whose mind deceit still remains, or hatred in whose breast, does no good.

But in order that God may hear your prayer, first of all your conscience must be cleansed from every stain of mortal sin, and the mind must take on a true purpose of amendment. To pray much at the same time and offend in many things, what else is it than to mock God? For prayer is intercepted in two ways, so that it is not heard by the Lord: one, when the one praying still commits evil by sinning; the other, if he does not forgive his debtor the debt for God’s sake. Therefore you who desire to have fruit from your prayers, who long to come with the penitent to God’s mercy, beware lest you do any evil against God’s will, and take diligent care that you truly forgive from your heart all things committed against you by men. For you know that the Lord said: Forgive, and you shall be forgiven.

But after you have cleansed your conscience from evil and forgiven every offense to your neighbor, then you will be fit for prayer, if by the fervor of a holy purpose you have been rightly ordered toward God. Now then approach confidently to beseech the Lord; cast yourself humbly in his sight; and pray with purity of heart and fervor of spirit, and do not cease from prayer as long as you live in the flesh. Let your prayer be pure, simple, clear, and plain; let it be full of seriousness and weight, and adorned with the beauty of true humility. Do not ask anything in prayer that is contrary to the salvation of the soul; nor should you pray too importunately for a temporal thing, since it is shamelessness to ask God for riches, which provide the greatest occasion for pride and often stain Christian purity. It is not shamelessness if you ask for daily bread, since it is one thing to ask for material from which you may grow proud, and another to ask for the necessary food by which you may live.

Do not justify yourself when praying, lest like the Pharisee you go away condemned; nor ask anything from the Lord as though it were owed to your merits as a debt, but humble yourself in all things, that you may deserve to receive grace. Remember the humility of the publican, and pray with such great humility that with him you may find forgiveness of sins and justification of soul. For God’s grace is more abundant than the prayer of the suppliant, and he grants us more when we pray than we ask. You will not pray to him who knows the hidden things of the heart with a cry of the voice, but with fervor of spirit and with the cry of the inward mind knock at the ears of the divine majesty. Nor should you draw out a length of words before him who is spirit, because God will be appeased not by much speaking, but by the pure mind of the one praying. In time 52 That one must pray without interruption.

Cast from yourself all malice and unrest of heart in prayer; and, as we often say, forgive if you have anything against your neighbor. For unless you forgive your neighbor every debt for love of the Savior, you will obtain nothing from the Lord by your prayers.

It is said that there is a certain kind of serpent which, when it wishes to go into the water to drink, first vomits out all its poison. You too, monk, imitate this serpent in this respect, and vomit out all the poison of anger and bitterness, forgiving your brother the hundred denarii, so that the Lord may forgive you the ten thousand talents. Matthew 18.

As you desire the Lord to be toward you, so also show yourself toward your fellow servant. Call upon the Lord with all your heart, and you will find him. Let your prayer be burning and most pure, so that your mind may be joined to him in his most holy love. Strive for this throughout your whole life: to offer pure prayer to the Lord God at every time. Never fail in prayer, nor despair of the Lord’s mercy. For what God is going to grant, even if he delays it, he does not take away. He does not act from fickleness, nor is he easily moved from his decision; what he has promised is fixed. If you pray persistently, you will see a miracle.

Remember that you stand under the gaze of God, who understands all the secrets of hearts and knows the hidden things of the mind. Therefore stand watchfully in the sight of him who knows all things, and pray with as much fervor of spirit as you can, so that you may deserve to obtain mercy. For by holy prayer the conscience of the penitent is cleansed, and the prayer of one who lifts up his heart to the Lord in true purity does not return empty.

O dearest brothers, if you knew how pleasing to God are the prayers of a pure mind, and how great a benefit they bring to the soul, you would allow no time to pass without prayers. For our prayer, if it is pure and burning in fervor of spirit, is a most faithful messenger to God; it speaks to God on our behalf, and obtains everything necessary for our salvation while it prays.

Therefore I warn you and exhort you in true charity to pray without interruption, and never to cease from the fervor of the Holy Spirit. Let no time be empty for you, or idle in sluggishness of mind. I beg you, always be watchful and attentive in the fear of the Lord, so that you may be able bravely to conquer and overcome the temptations that threaten you. As soon as foul thoughts begin to strike the mind, flee back to the practice of prayer, and they will by no means be able to prevail over you.

For prayer is a great fortification of the soul; in its presence all the contrivances of the opposing side fail. Through most pure prayers, all useful things are granted to us by God, and all adversities are driven far away. By pure prayers the mind is powerfully kindled in the love of God, and whatever stain of lighter fault occurs is cleansed by praying. By holy and continual prayers the world is conquered; the plagues of the soul are healed by devout petitions; by tears and weeping the devil is overcome; and he for whom a thousand cohorts are not enough for battle is weakened by the prayer of one poor man. Just as wax melts and dissolves before the face of fire, so at pure prayer [unclear].

all the power of demons, crushed, is weakened by fervor. If a foul thought has been cast into your mind by demons, then, after making the sign of the cross upon your forehead, say at once: Save me, Jesus Christ, mediator of God and men, and drive away from me all the wickedness of the ancient enemy through your most innocent passion.

What can be shorter than this prayer, or more powerful? For as soon as it has been uttered with fervor of mind against either the presence of demons or their suggestion, every contrivance of iniquity withdraws. For the power of pure prayer is very great, since it both penetrates heaven and by its steadfastness defeats the powers of the air. Prayer enlightens the mind, purifies the affections, obtains pardon for sins, and strengthens the spirit in the love of God against all adversaries. Nothing so raises the mind from earthly things to the love of heavenly things; nothing so swiftly and powerfully exterminates the pleasures of the flesh; nothing so enlightens the understanding; nothing also so greatly confounds the adversary of truth as pure prayer, which is poured out to God with the fervor of divine love and is adorned by the testimony of a good conscience.

If you desire to be terrible to demons, if you wish to be a friend of God, keep your conscience pure, and never cease from spiritual prayer. For devout prayer can do all things, if it is adorned with uprightness of faith and purity of life. Prayer puts demons to flight, weakens the power of malignant spirits, heals the soul languishing in tepidity, and strengthens the spirit that is weak and infirm in the fear of God. Pure prayer brings one near to God, and makes him whom it had received as a servant of God to be his friend. Pure prayer, fervent in the love of God, penetrates heaven, wonderfully enlightens the understanding of the one who prays, shuts hell, opens Paradise, and brings in the souls of the faithful.

For Truth does not lie, who promises in the holy Gospel, saying: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks it shall be opened. Which of you has ever turned to the Lord with his whole heart and prayed, and was not heard? Or who has called upon the Lord, and he withdrew himself from him? For Scripture says: Know that the Lord will hear your prayers, if you remain steadfast, continuing in fasts and prayers in the sight of the Lord.

Remember Moses, the servant of the Lord, who cast down Amalek, trusting in his own strength, not by fighting with the sword, but by praying with holy prayers. For the continual supplication of a righteous man avails much, and the prayer of one who humbles himself penetrates the clouds. Elijah was a man subject to suffering like us, and he prayed with prayer that it might not rain upon the earth, and it did not rain for three years and six months. And again he prayed, and heaven gave rain, and the earth gave its fruit. By prayer and tears King Hezekiah obtained fifteen years of longer life, and by prayers changed the sentence of the prophet. By prayers holy men became renowned for miracles, and, supplicating the Lord, called the dead back to life. All things are subject even to the purity of prayer; and there is nothing in us so difficult that That one must pray without ceasing.

...that devout and fervent prayer cannot obtain. But then, when we pray, we receive from the Lord confidence of obtaining what we ask, when no perversity of life contradicts our prayers. For the Lord is the hearer of a righteous prayer: that is, when integrity of life commends the prayer, and no guilt of conscience makes the one praying hesitate. Friendship will not stand between those who are unlike, and between God and a sinner there can be no communion.

If you wish to be heard when you pray, take care first of all that you do not differ from the will of God. Live in spirit most like God, and you will suffer no rejection in prayer. Indeed, purity of conscience in the fervor of divine love makes a person like God in understanding; likeness causes love, love introduces familiarity, familiarity confidence, and confidence easily obtains the granting of the petition. For just as union does not occur between unlike things, so between God and an evil person prayer avails nothing.

Therefore, whoever among you desires to obtain the effect of his prayers should first cleanse the dwelling of his heart from every fault through true repentance; then he should strive to inflame himself by the exercise of holy compunction; afterward he should continually feed his mind in the pursuit of the love of God, so that at no later time he interrupts the good that he begins. But afterward, when, with the desire of divine love always increasing in him, he has brought the practice of holy purity by long effort into habit, and his mind has conceived the necessary firmness in its good purpose, then for the first time a likeness of divine communion is gradually introduced, and prayer is formed into its proper state.

For the more the mind, stirred up in the love of God, has advanced, the more quickly prayer will obtain from the Lord what it asks. For the love of God alone makes prayer powerful; and the more fervently the mind burns in it, the more easily it will obtain the effect of its petitions. For if you love much, you can do much. For God is charity, and he who abides in charity abides in God, and God in him. But in the one in whom God abides, nothing is stronger than he, except God alone.

There are among you certain men weak and feeble in soul, who already think themselves strong and perfect in the way of the Lord; theirs is a rare and momentary devotion, and they boast that without the wedding garment they have come near to the kingdom of heaven, though in fact they still lie far below. To these I say again what I have often said: no one suddenly becomes the highest, and unless a monk has subdued all his animal passions by the mortification of the flesh, he does not reach the most lofty mountain of divine contemplation.

For whoever, placed in a monastery under authority and obedience, follows his own will against monastic discipline is not worthy to be heard by the Lord in his prayers. But those of whom we speak are great and wise in their own eyes; loving their own will, they grumble at everything, and whatever they themselves have not arranged they think badly done. The actions of their brothers with prying [unclear].

they examine others by inquiry, but despise discerning their own negligences. In their morals they are lax and disorderly, in their words frivolous and noisy, unwilling for obedience, and always slow in good works and full of sloth. They neglect the common exercises of the order; they devote themselves to private ones according to their own will. And as long as they remain in their rashness, they do not rise up to the true love of God.

Let monks who love their own will hear what the Lord says: “I came not to do my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me.” Attend to this example, brothers; unless you live in imitation of him, you will pray without fruit. For the Lord gladly hears the prayer of the one who truly keeps his commandments. But the prayer of one who transgresses God’s command, who follows with desire the pleasures of the flesh and the consolations of the world, is not heard.

For God, just and upright, is believed to hear your prayer gladly when both mind and good life plead together. But if a man’s conduct displeases God, how will his prayer please him? For God is spirit; and the man who walks not in the spirit but in the flesh certainly draws very little near to God.

Therefore you, monk, who do not walk according to the purity of the Gospel and the rule, who love your own will and not God’s, know that you will not feel the efficacy of your prayers unless you first amend your life. For unless the manner of your life agrees with your prayer, you will not obtain what you ask. Then you cry to the Lord with a loud voice when, even with the tongue silent, you cry out by good works. Good prayers and an evil life merit no good.

Do, therefore, what a certain wise man advised: “And if you have sinned, do not add again; but also pray concerning your former sins, that they may be forgiven you.” Before prayer, prepare your soul, and do not be like a man who tempts God. Let the mind be pure and burning in love of the Lord; let the conscience be clean and strengthened in the purpose of holy conduct, and the prayer will be pleasing to divine ears. If you pray otherwise, you will obtain nothing.

He prays well who lives well; and he easily obtains his request who prays with holy works. Finally, prayer is rendered very efficacious and pleasing in the sight of God if at all times it is in harmony with the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. For Christ is God and man, the mediator between God and us, through whom we have safe access to the Father, as he himself testifies in the holy Gospel: “No one,” he says, “comes to the Father except through me.”

Therefore let there be no day on which, in prayer, you do not give thanks to Christ at least once, for by the pain of his wounds he healed the sicknesses of your soul, shed his blood for you, and by his most innocent death redeemed you, wretched man, from the destruction of everlasting death. Surely he is a most ungrateful man, and unworthy of the Christian name, who is so forgetful of such great benefits of Christ that he does not render thanks to him daily, at least once.

But the monk, who is commanded to be dead to the world and to live for God alone, [unclear] the Lord’s Passion.

That one must pray without interruption.

Let him continually carry his memory in his breast, always giving thanks to his Redeemer, always blessing, always adoring, and every day, indeed as much as possible at every moment, let him ponder with tears, in compassion, the bitterness of Christ’s wounds. Every day, after each of the regular prayers, which the Greeks call canonical, with knees bent and mind lifted up to heaven, let him say: I give thanks to you, and, blessing you, I adore you, O mediator of God and men, sweetest Christ Jesus, God and man, for your most holy Incarnation, for your Nativity from the Virgin, for your Circumcision, for your flight into Egypt and the seven-year exile which you endured for us. I adore you, Lord Savior Jesus Christ, for your labors, for hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, for your journeys, for your teaching and preaching, for your miracles, for the calling of the nations, and for the justification of sinners. I give thanks to you, Lord, Son of the living God, for the pain of your wounds; I bless you for the shedding of your most holy Blood; I adore you for your death, which you endured in all innocence; and I ask you, through all your Passion, your goodness and mercy, have mercy on me now and in the hour of my death.

This very short prayer the devout monk shall say at least seven times in the day; and as often as he passes before an image of the Crucified, in like manner, with fervor of mind, he shall adore Christ. Whoever is a true lover of Christ always thinks of Christ, speaks of Christ, and venerates Christ; he does not doubt that Christ is present to him everywhere. The Passion of Christ is never absent from his memory, and because of the greatness of his love he forgets himself and is wholly occupied in Christ in mind and desire. Whoever burns in spirit with the love of Christ despises earthly things, conquers the flesh, and longs only for heavenly things. Waking, he always thinks of Christ with desire; sleeping, he dreams of Christ; and sighing continually, he cries out with Saint Ignatius: My love has been crucified.

He joins sighs to sighs, and Jesus, whom he loves with all his heart, he beholds present not with the eyes but with the spirit. Whenever, under the urgency of loving desire, he looks upon the crucified one, at once he melts into tears, and, burning with the fire of charity, cries aloud: O love stronger than all powers, how sweetly he burns who is inflamed with longing for Christ! He spoke rightly who said: Love is strong as death. For what can be stronger than the love of Christ, by whose ardor the holy martyrs, despising so many thousands of kinds of death, overcame them? O my crucified love, have mercy on me; grant me to feel that sweetness of your love of which I speak, so that I may always carry in my heart your most bitter Passion.

I know, my brothers, I know that there is no more effective way of praying, nor any more useful for us who are still weak, than in the memory and power of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, since it is clear that without a mediator there is no ascent of the mind to God, every good work must be begun in the name of Christ; for then we pour out our prayers to God profitably, when with a purified conscience we pray through his only-begotten Son.

Homily IX.

On the guarding and origin of thoughts. Homily IX.

Solomon, that once most wise king, in the book which he entitled Proverbs, exhorting his son to true wisdom, said among other things: “My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline your ear to my prudence, that you may guard your thoughts, and that your lips may preserve discipline.” For it is no small part of wisdom, dearly beloved brothers, if a monk knows how to discern his thoughts prudently and to guard their movements carefully at all times. It is a great thing to think no evil; but it belongs to no less prudence to be able to repel evil thoughts from their very beginning. For the depths of the human heart are, by profound judgment, mobile, varied, manifold, and always unstable; to observe its beginnings and restrain its movements is the highest prudence and a great sign of wisdom.

If I call the heart of man a mill driven by perpetual motion, I shall not have strayed from the truth, especially if anyone wishes to weigh its restlessness exactly. For what else is the human heart than a kind of mill, always grinding something while in motion? The human heart is never idle, never rests without motion, but is always doing something; and just as an empty mill consumes itself by its own motion, so the heart of man shamefully runs away from itself when the thought of good does not bind it fast. It is always moved toward some other object with the desire of its own love; it is always grinding, always acting, always occupied with something else that gives delight, whether it is good or evil. As the body is not moved without the soul, so the mind of man does not remain fixed in the good unless it has been continually restrained by holy exercises.

Therefore the wise man said in Ecclesiasticus: “Gladness of heart is the life of man, and a treasure without failing of holiness, and the rejoicing of a man is long life. Have mercy on your soul, pleasing God, and restrain yourself, and gather your heart in his holiness, and drive sadness far from you.” What is the gathering of the heart, if not the diligent guarding of thought? For he gathers his heart in the holiness of the Lord who continually observes the movements of his thoughts in the fear of God. And therefore Scripture says: “With all watchfulness keep your heart, because life proceeds from it.”

Now thoughts take the beginnings of their movements from those things which are presented by the senses; and they wander the more dangerously, the less they are considered from the beginning by the judgment of reason. Therefore whoever desires to be watchful over his thoughts, whoever wishes to gather his heart in the holiness of the Lord, must first guard his outward senses most diligently and place the bridle of prudence upon each of them. Hence Scripture commands thus concerning hearing and sight: “Hedge your ears with thorns, and do not listen to a wicked tongue,” and, “Make doors for your mouth, and bars for your ears.” “Blessed is the man who stops his ears lest he hear bloodshed, and shuts his eyes lest he see evil.” In holy Job also we read thus: “I made a covenant with my eyes, that I should not think about a virgin.” But against those who have fallen into the pit of sins through the service of the senses, the Lord bears witness thus through the prophet Jeremiah: “Death has come up through your windows; it has entered your houses, to destroy the little children outside and the young men from the streets.” Death enters our houses through the windows whenever a wicked thought is admitted into the mind through the service of sight or hearing.

For the house is the conscience, of which Scripture says: Unless you steadfastly keep yourself in the fear of the Lord, your house will quickly be overthrown, that is, your conscience. This house is very fragile, and is quickly overthrown unless it is fortified by the continual exercise of the fear of the Lord. For unless the Lord guards the house, he who guards it keeps watch in vain. Therefore the house of conscience must be fortified by the fear of the Lord.

The senses also must be most carefully restrained; for it is not enough for a man to guard his thoughts if he does not turn his ears and eyes away from the occasion of evil. Therefore, if you wish to be a prudent guardian of your thoughts and a true gatherer of your heart in the holiness of the Lord, bury your ears with the thorns of compunction and fear of God, lest they hear evil, and turn away your eyes, lest through sight they bring in sin. What it is not lawful for you to desire, do not look upon with desire; and what it is not expedient to have, do not think about.

Many have perished through the service of the senses, and those who go on incautiously looking at external things have very often shamefully lost their inner goods. He who does not fear danger is surely already near destruction; and he who presumes upon his own virtue runs hastily toward the ruin of sin. He who flashes his eye at the gleam of lightning will be blinded for a time; and he who contemplates the beauty of a woman will not be free from danger.

I praise the prudence of that monk who is alone in the midst of crowds and sets a censor over his senses, lest he admit any evil to the mistress. He stations guards by the gate, who with sword and club drive back those rushing in disorderly. For the holy fear of the Lord never deserts the mind of a wise man, but, like a strong and watchful fighter always standing at the prince’s side, so it guards the mistress of the heart. He turns his ears away from all scurrility of words, and closes his eyes lest they see evil. He always walks according to the twelfth degree of humility, with his gaze fixed on the ground, praying with the prophet to the Lord: Turn away my eyes, lest they see vanity; in your way give me life, O Lord.

Thus I admonish you, brothers: direct your senses in the fear of the Lord, so that you may always be able to keep the dwelling of the heart clean and inviolate. Remember the Scripture that says: Be cleansed, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. Consider, I beg you, with how great a cleanness and purity of mind you ought to shine, you who not only, by reason of the priestly order, carry the vessels of the Lord, but, what is more, are yourselves also vessels of the Lord. For the holy Christophilus Paul says: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? And again—

Homily IX.

He says: “Do you not know that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” And elsewhere: “For the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.” And concerning Paul himself, in the Acts of the Apostles: “The Lord said to Ananias: Go, for this man is a vessel of election for me.”

The monk who serves in priestly order in the Church of God is bound for two reasons to the observance of most holy purity. For a soldier of Christ, because of the vow that he has made to God, must be pure, holy, and always tireless in good works; and by reason of the priestly ministry he must be circumspect and most diligently watchful. For it is written: “Cursed is the man who does the work of God negligently.”

You are ministers of almighty God, who daily offer his Son upon the altar; his work is committed into your hands, and therefore great purity of mind and body is required in your manner of life. Therefore, so that the chaste purity of the mind may remain, the instability of thought must be restrained. The senses, through which the integrity of the mind is corrupted, must be guarded at all times.

For you have died to the world, and have now begun to live for Christ. It is not lawful for you to think anything except what is holy, nor is it fitting for you, ministers of God, to love anything earthly. It is God whom you serve, O monks; it is the Almighty whom you minister to, my brothers. Live pure, holy, and innocent lives, because it is not fitting for you to be occupied with the business of the world, you who have been called to the service of God. Let love of God and purity of heart grow in you with time, so that the longer you live in this world, the holier you may become.

Always turn your sight away from every evil, so that you may be able to remain without failing in good thoughts. Always lift the eyes of your mind to heaven, and do not occupy the sight of the flesh with perishable things. Close your hearing also at all times against every useless, vain, and foolish word, and always think with fear upon the future judgment of God. Do not defile your hands with unlawful and shameful contact with any things whatsoever, so that you may be able to offer the Son of God with a clean body and a pure conscience.

In food and drink it is not for monks to distinguish flavors, nor is it fitting for soldiers of Christ to love bodily pleasures. Nature requires few things, and simple, rustic foods by which it may be nourished; but appetite, unless it is restrained by the command of reason, is carried off toward unlawful things, and through it the simplicity of nature is violated. Avoid gluttony and drunken excess in all things, and keep temperance in your regular diet.

Let none of you patiently listen to one slandering his brother or speaking evil of his neighbor. Let each one of you restrain his tongue from useless speech, and let a good monk be ashamed to speak evil of Christian people. Never let that warning of the Lord in the holy Gospel depart from your memory, where he says: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man brings forth good things from a good treasure, and an evil man brings forth evil things from an evil treasure. But I say to you that every idle word that men have spoken…” they will render an account of it on the day of judgment. O sentence greatly to be feared. If an account is demanded for an idle word, what do slander, buffoonery, and foul speech deserve? Or if a useless word is judged liable to the reckoning of a strict examination, what will he answer who so readily speaks what is evil and destructive?

Consider, brothers, what an idle word is; consider your speech, and let no one speak a word that does not pertain to the matter, or to rightful usefulness, or to necessary reason. For you have heard the fearful sentence of the Lord, and you are not ignorant of the command of our holy lawgiver in the Rule, when he says: “Scurrilities, idle words, and words provoking laughter we condemn everywhere to perpetual exclusion, and we do not permit the disciple to open his mouth for such speech.”

Here the holy father Benedict forbade monks three kinds of words, and condemned them everywhere to perpetual exclusion: namely buffoonery, idle words, and words provoking laughter. What buffoonery is, the explanation of the grammarians has made clear to us. For the vice of buffoonery is opposed to courtesy and modesty; it is a kind of wanton joking that shamelessly and dishonorably provokes immoderate laughter in hearers by words and gestures that do not accord with reason, do not befit a good man, and are not fitting for a wise man.

Buffoonery is so called from the buffoon, who follows the houses of the rich, provoking his hearers to laughter with wanton and indecent words and gestures, either [unclear] or for the sake of a gift. This kind of speech the holy father Benedict forbade to monks and utterly condemned, since those who serve God are rightly commanded to abstain perpetually in his sight from shameful and indecent words.

Between buffoonery and much speaking there seems to be this difference: the former goes beyond measure by reason of indecency, the latter by reason of superfluity. The former is shameful and indecent; the latter is superfluous and without usefulness. Foolish talk is rightly joined to these, since it is forbidden not only to monks but also to all Christians. Hence the holy apostle of Christ says: “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as befits saints; nor filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor buffoonery, which is not fitting, but rather thanksgiving.”

Likewise an idle word is forbidden to all monks, since it is prohibited by the Lord, as you have heard, in the holy Gospel. Words that provoke laughter also do not befit Christian men, and much less are they suitable for those in the cloister. For the monk, who is dead to the world, is commanded always to think on his last things, and is commanded everywhere, for the love of God, to despise laughter and every insolence of this present life.

Laughter is a confused sound, immoderately announcing the inward gladness of the soul. Nothing that exceeds modesty and temperance is permitted to be present in monks, whose life and conduct belong not to flesh and blood, but to angelic purity.

Homily IX.

...is compared. But untimely laughter, poured out with immoderate levity, is a sign of a dissolute mind, and shows a man forgetful of proper honor and modesty. A monk, however, who is commanded to imitate Christ and renounces the world on this condition, that he may live in greater purity, must beware of everything that overturns a manly state of mind; and, out of desire for the heavenly homeland, he must despise all the vain joys of this world and preserve himself always unconquered in every maturity of mind and body.

And just as immoderate laughter is forbidden to monks at every time and place, so too speaking words that move the hearers to laughter is prohibited. Here now, most dear brothers, pay attention to yourselves, and carefully consider how you ought to restrain your tongues. Often recall to memory what the prophet says in the psalm: “I said, I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue. I set a guard over my mouth; I was mute and humbled, and kept silence even from good things.”

Think of yourselves in every place as standing before the Lord God, who is present everywhere, who hears all things, sees all things, knows all things, understands all things, from whose knowledge nothing is hidden, and to whose strict examination all things are reserved. Live in his sight in such a way that you may be able to come securely to his judgment.

Whenever, by permission of us or of the prior, you come together for conversation, you must with the greatest care avoid scurrilous, idle, and laughter-provoking words, according to the command of our Lawgiver. Let your speech be full of modesty, not loud, not frivolous, not rash, not contentious, lest it become liable to an exact accounting. Likewise flee much speaking, because it is not without sin and makes a monk burdensome to all people.

Let the elders speak not just anything, but words of saving doctrine, by which they may instruct the minds of the younger men in the path of righteousness and kindle them more fully to the love of God. For, as our holy Lawgiver says, speaking and teaching belong to the master; keeping silence and listening belong to the disciple. Therefore let the elders speak useful things and teach; but let the younger men listen in silence and learn. And if anything must be asked of the prior, let it be asked with all humility, reverence, and subjection, lest anyone seem to speak more than is fitting.

A man is known by his words, and he who multiplies utterances in his mouth is foolish in heart. A man’s speech is the witness of his conscience; and he who loves modesty and innocence of heart must have modest speech, without vanity. For you are ministers of the living God, my brothers. Let no vain, useless, or idle word come from your mouth, but only what is good for the building up of the hearers, so that it may increase charity in their minds and enlighten the heart unto the knowledge and love of the highest truth.

Precious is the tongue of the monk that speaks nothing at all except what is holy; and worthy of blessing is the mouth from which nothing is brought forth except what is divine. Let each one keep his heart clean from every wicked thought, because he who is good in heart does not speak evil.

On the guarding and origin of thoughts.

And who truly loves God does not utter an idle word. Apply every care and attention to your thoughts, because evil must be watched with chief intent there where it takes the beginning of its progress, so that as soon as it begins to arise it may be cut off at the root. For there is no thought of evil so weak that it does not grow with time, if it is nourished by the consent of the one thinking it. Therefore evil, while still weak, must be conquered at once from the beginning, because when delay is interposed, evil gains strength, however small it may seem at its outset.

A great fire often arises from a small spark, and from a tiny thought a great sin sometimes rises up. When thought gives birth to delight, it is soon accustomed to break out into consent, and consequently even into deed, if it can, and to cast itself headlong. But when the will has given consent through delight to an evil thought for the deed, even if what the soul desires is not carried out, nevertheless the sin has already been consummated before God. But what does Scripture say? Sin, when it has been consummated, begets death.

For almighty God looks upon the will of man, whether he wills good or evil. Therefore he says in the holy Gospel: Whoever looks at a woman in order to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. God counts the will as the deed whenever a man cannot bring into effect what he wished. For this reason again and again I admonish you, brothers, and with as much diligence as I can I urge you, that according to the holy Apostle you walk cautiously, not as the unwise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Watch most carefully for the snares of the evil demon, and resist evil and unclean thoughts immediately from the beginning, because remedy is thought of far too late when the sickness has gained strength by the course of time. Accustom yourselves at all times to dwell on good and holy thoughts, and you will easily be able to overcome the insolence of evil ones. For just as vessels filled with good liquids receive nothing of external corruption, so minds filled with good thoughts do not admit the excess of evil thoughts.

The eye of the heart is pure, by which God is seen, and through purity of conscience one comes to the glory of eternal happiness. For the Lord says in the holy Gospel: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. A pure heart is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, and where an evil thought is not admitted, God beyond doubt abides. A pure heart is the seat of wisdom, and where purity of mind is guarded, no dangers of adversity will do harm.

Be mindful of Scripture when it says: Perverse thoughts separate from God, but proven virtue rebukes the foolish. For wisdom will not enter a malicious soul, nor will it dwell in a body subject to sins. For the holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit and will withdraw itself from thoughts that are without understanding. But a perverse thought is any thought that is admitted contrary to evangelical purity, by whose intercourse Homily IX.

The mind of the thinker is defiled whenever, by thinking about and turning over those things that are opposed to God, it takes delight in them. And these perverse thoughts separate the mind of the thinker from God and gradually hurl it down into the depth of evils. For an evil and perverse thought, when it has penetrated the mind, first poisons it with the venom of delight; then it darkens reason; afterward it draws the will into consenting to the evil suggestion; finally it completes the sin in deed. From then on, an evil once presumed is committed with greater license, and all shame or fear is taken away through habit. Sin is joined to sin, and little by little the habit of doing evil is strengthened. But when time is granted to an evil habit, there soon arises a certain necessity of sinning. Here is the hardest rule of death; here is the utmost depth of evils. Whoever has once entered this abyss of sins rarely, indeed not easily, rises again to purity of heart without the special grace of God and the greatest labor of repentance. By his own will the sinner has fallen into this pit of death; but he will not be able to rise again without the mercy of God. Most hard is the yoke of evil habit; if anyone has once submitted his neck to it, he rarely regains his former freedom of spirit. All these things perverse thought brings about when it is admitted into the mind and, through delight, is changed into consent and deed. For no thought is so small that it does not gradually grow if it is not driven away from the mind.

Blessed, then, is that monk who casts every thought of his upon the Lord; who always and everywhere denies a place to wicked thoughts; who despises all the perishable riches of the world; who scorns all the customary comforts of the body. He prepares purity of heart for his Lord; he loves nothing in this world except the Lord; he orders all his thoughts to the glory of the Savior and observes his commandments most diligently. What is happier than that monk who shows himself to the world not as a citizen but as a pilgrim? He lives in the world as though he were not in the world; indeed, he is greater than the world, for his whole way of life is in heaven.

Consider now, therefore, most beloved brothers, the brevity of this time, and always remember that you are mortal and soon to pass away. For we do not have here a lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come; and since we know that so many thousands of people have gone before us through death, let us consider how soon we too must necessarily die. A short time is now granted to us, yet a very acceptable one, in which we may work the fruits of eternal life. For now is the time for labor; now is the hour for sowing good, because after death each person will receive the reward of his labors, when no further opportunity for labor is granted. Therefore, my brothers, anticipate this hour of death with holy works, and do not now fail in the sowing of labor, so that in eternal recompense you may be able to rejoice without end. Let no day pass in which each one of you has not become better, and toward those good works which he has sent ahead, if he has not added anything new. Always keep in mind the value of the harvest to come, and no greatness of labor will terrify you.

On the Daily Struggle of Temptation. Homily X.

In yesterday’s sermon, dearly beloved brothers, I warned your Charity to resist the beginnings of evil thoughts, and to prepare yourselves with all your strength, by good and holy works, for the reward of the future recompense.

But since, as Scripture bears witness, the life of man upon earth is temptation, I have thought it necessary to speak in your hearing, as far as the Lord grants, about this very subject, so that, forewarned, you may be able to fight more strongly against the invisible adversary. You know the words of the wise man, who says in Ecclesiasticus: “My son, when you come to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare your soul for temptation.” Let no one think himself free from temptation, brothers, as long as he walks in this mortal way of life; rather, the more each one has advanced in the fear of God, the more cautiously he should know that he must live. For the holy Pope Gregory says: “Our enemy, the more he sees that he is being resisted, the more he strives to attack. For he neglects to strike those whom he feels he possesses by undisturbed right.” The devil pursues the one who flees from him, and tries to overthrow the one who rebels against his rule.

O men, the more you advance in the spiritual life, the more earnestly you must keep watch against the adversary of your salvation. For, as Saint John Chrysostom says: “Our adversary never sleeps, but is always awake for the destruction of the human race; and none of us can resist him except the one who has learned to keep watch at all times in the fear of the Lord.” And Saint Leo, pope of the city of Rome, says in a certain sermon: “The ancient enemy does not cease to spread everywhere the snares of temptations, so that in whatever way he can he may darken the faith of believers by corrupting it. For he knows in whom to implant the enticements of the flesh, into whom to pour the strength of envy, before whom to set the incitements of lust. He knows whom to trouble with sorrow, whom to deceive with joy, whom to crush with fear, whom to seduce with admiration. He examines the conduct of all, he searches the affections of all. And there he seeks occasions for doing harm, wherever he sees anyone to be occupied with particular zeal.”

There are no works of virtue without the trial of temptations; no contest without an enemy; no victory without conflict. Hence Saint James the Apostle says in his epistle: “Blessed is the man who endures temptation, because, when he has been tested, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” Hence again Scripture says: “The furnace tests the potter’s vessels, and the temptation of tribulation tests righteous men.” But lest anyone should think that the devil is permitted to tempt men as much as he desires, Saint Christophilus cries out: “God is faithful, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear, but with the temptation he will also make a way out, so that you may be able to endure it.” And Saint Augustine says: The devil is permitted to tempt only so far as benefits you, so that you may be exercised, so that you may be tested, so that you, who did not know yourself, may be discovered by yourself. For the devil, if God permits it, can stir up the impulse of temptation; but it is in your own completely free power whether you wish to give consent to the tempter or to refuse it. Hence, when he tempted the Son of God in the desert, he did not drive him, did not touch him, did not compel him, but only said, “Cast yourself down,” so that you may understand that he cannot conquer unless one is willing. Therefore the divine chief apostle of Christ said: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” For the devil can suggest evil; he cannot compel, nor can he overcome unless you consent.

Our life, as Saint Augustine bears witness, cannot in this pilgrimage be without sin and temptation, because our progress is increased through temptations; nor does anyone come to know himself unless he is tempted; nor can he be crowned unless he has conquered; nor can he conquer unless he has fought; nor can he fight unless he has had an enemy and temptations. For Scripture says: “He who has not been tempted, what does he know?” For no one will be crowned except the one who has fought lawfully.

Therefore, as you approach the service of God, dearly beloved brothers, stand in justice and fear; and so long as you can be overcome and subdued by the adversary, do not boast of security. Always keep watch, always fear, because the enemy with whom you have entered into combat never sleeps, does not rest, does not cease from persecution; and as he is always laying snares for you, he is never wearied. But if at any time he has been overcome, at once he rises up to a new battle, and he does not desist from attacking the good until, utterly defeated, he gives way, or else by troublesome perseverance he conquers the one who is fighting against him.

Hence Saint Pope Gregory also says: The ancient enemy, when he sees himself giving way in the first contest, renews other wars of temptations. The crafty adversary of the human race observes each person’s character, and whichever vices they are nearer to, these he sets before the face of the heart; and he uses great strength to overthrow the condition of the mind.

Stand in the fear of the Lord, firmly rooted, and you will easily overcome all the temptations of the enemy. For it is written in the book of Proverbs: “In the fear of the Lord is confidence of strength.” And again: “By mercy and faith sins are purged; but by the fear of the Lord everyone turns away from evil.” In Ecclesiasticus, too, the wise man said: “The fear of the Lord drives out sin. For he who is without fear will not be able to be justified; for the wrath of his temper overthrows him.” Therefore, by Solomon’s testimony, that man is called blessed who is always fearful; but he who is hard of mind will fall into evil.

Prepare your souls also for temptation through the practice of holy conduct, so that when it comes you may be able to resist and stand all the more strongly. For you will easily overcome the devil if you always come prepared to fight. Behold, your adversary, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking someone to devour; you must resist him in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ if you desire to obtain the victory. There is no place here for fleeing.

no respite of security is granted, no little delay is allowed to those who fight; rather, you must necessarily engage, either to overcome the enemy if you have stood firm bravely, or to be conquered by him if you have fought badly. On this law we all entered the world: that by fighting we should conquer. On this condition we were made human beings: that, having overcome the enticements of the flesh, we should become equal to the holy angels.

Combats are never lacking to monks, since, as long as we live in the flesh, we are necessarily exposed to temptations. For Scripture says: “Many are the tribulations of the righteous, and from all these the Lord will deliver them.” But in all our temptations let us diligently call to mind that saying of the prophet Isaiah: “You who have been weaned from milk, you who have been drawn away from the breast, expect tribulation upon tribulation, hope upon hope, yet a little while, because of the malice of lips, because of the malignant tongue.” Those weaned and drawn away from the breast are men advanced in age, whose part it is to undergo tribulation upon tribulation for God, so that they may deserve to receive hope upon hope, as sacred Scripture says: “But we also glory in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience, and patience proof, and proof hope. And hope does not confound, because the charity of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” For through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.

Indeed, through temptations we become known to ourselves, and we discover whether we truly fear God. Hence the Lord speaks through Moses to the people, saying: “The Lord your God tests you, that he may know whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

This world, dearly beloved brothers, must be compared to a furnace, in which the fire of temptation and adversity burns continually, through which we must necessarily pass. In this furnace of tribulation the chaff is burned up, but gold and silver are cleansed from every stain. The chaff is turned into ashes; the gold is reserved for the ornament and beauty of the royal palace. The furnace, I say, is the world; the fire is temptation or tribulation; the gold is righteous men; the chaff is the unrighteous and sinners. The craftsman who purifies the gold is almighty God himself, who favors our progress and cooperates by grace toward the merit of virtue.

Therefore let us do what God wills; what he lays upon us, let us endure patiently for love of him, since, as holy Christophilus says, “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which shall be revealed in us.” Hence Saint Jerome says: Who would not wish to be troubled, who would not desire to be spoken ill of, so that he may deserve to be praised by the voice of Christ and rewarded with a heavenly and abundant recompense? Would that, because of the name and justice of my Lord, the whole multitude of unbelievers might persecute and afflict me. Would that this whole world might rise up to my reproach, provided only that I may deserve to be praised by Christ and hasten to the reward of his promise.

And the wise man says in Ecclesiasticus: “The furnace tests the potter’s vessels, and the temptation of tribulation tests righteous men.” Therefore, whoever...

Homily X.

Whoever of you, my brothers, desires to reach the kingdom of heaven, whoever takes care above all things to please God, let him learn willingly, for love of him, to accept the trials of temptations, and let him joyfully endure whatever adversity may befall him. For there is none of us who does not need daily purification, none who does not offend almost at every moment. Therefore, if we love our own salvation, if we ask that our offenses be forgiven us and that we be cleansed from every stain of heart, let us patiently endure whatever adversity happens to us; for the evils of tribulation, which the soul patiently bears for love of God, purify it more than the good works which it now performs of its own accord in this world.

A great occasion for suffering has been left to us in this place: need presses us heavily, poverty weighs us down, and debt also binds us. What adversity do we not experience in this monastery? What squalls and storms do we not suffer, brothers? By what hardships are we not shaken? None of you can be ignorant how desolate all the goods of this monastery were when regular observance was introduced fifteen years ago. But the tribulation of our common need rages more fiercely against me, since I must provide you with the necessities of life, and often I do not sufficiently know from where I shall pay.

Yet your patience consoles my spirit, and the hope which you have conceived in the Lord, the savior of the humble, so that I do not doubt that his mercy will be present in time; and I hear him saying to me through Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I chose you in the furnace of poverty. Gladly, then, will I have patience in the poverty which, God so ordaining, we now suffer, so that after death we may deserve to come to the riches of eternity. For the more, in this our pilgrimage, we have been afflicted by persecutions, poverty, need, labors, and tribulations, the greater rewards, by the Lord’s bounty, we shall obtain in the future recompense of the just.

Therefore, my brothers, patiently endure with me whatever almighty God has foreordained that we should suffer, since, as the blessed Pope Gregory says: Trust in almighty God is certain when adversity is added to a good work, and when the scourge of God is received with joy in this world, so that a more beautiful reward may be kept for the future recompense of the saints. Again he also says: Those whom the adversity of temporal life humbles take joy from the hope of an everlasting inheritance, because divine dispensation would not restrain under the rule of discipline those whom it did not see were to be saved forever. When afflicted, we lose earthly things; but by humbly sustaining affliction, we multiply heavenly goods for ourselves. For the present life is a road by which we journey toward our homeland, and therefore we are often touched in it by disturbances, lest we think that our homeland is here.

Let the monk, then, rejoice in his adversity; let him be glad when tempted, he to whom the world has been crucified. Let him trust that he belongs to the fellowship of God, who with a pure conscience always does good and receives the contrary in tribulation. For it is the truest [unclear] of divine compassion.

It is a sign if a Christian man is struck by various adversities in this world, one who, serving God with a pure conscience, lives in true humility without offense. For the merciful God often strikes in various ways in this world those whom he loves, for whom he has prepared eternal rewards in heaven. Some, indeed, knowing that they are very capable of sinning, he forestalls by bodily illness so that they may not sin, and mercifully scourges them for their salvation, seeing that it is more useful for their souls to be broken by sickness unto salvation than to live unharmed unto damnation. Others he wills to be poor, whom he foreknew would not be able to use riches for salvation. For the wealth and riches of this world have provided many with a cause of eternal damnation.

Hence holy Pope Gregory again says: Their own prosperity has laid many low more grievously; long-lasting peace has rendered many conquered; and the unexpected enemy strikes them the more severely because he finds them negligent through long habit of quiet. Hence holy men, when they consider that they are making great progress by the prosperity of virtues, rejoice that by a certain moderation of heavenly dispensation they are also exercised by temptations, because they guard the glory of the virtues they have received so much more sturdily, the more, shaken by the assault of temptation, they humbly acknowledge their own weakness.

The way of tribulation is a short road to Christ, and he is found in it more quickly than in tranquillity. For the holy bishop Ambrose says: There are many who seek Christ in leisure and do not find him; and there are those who seek him in persecutions and quickly find him. He is present in the dangers of his faithful, just as he speaks of the righteous man in the psalm, saying: I am with him in tribulation; I will deliver him and glorify him. Let purity of conscience be guarded in adversity; let the inviolate integrity of life always be preserved; and whatever adversity there is will undoubtedly be for us a merit of salvation.

The ancient enemy, by contending, can overcome no one except one whom he has first found to have fallen away from himself. He seeks one sluggish in leisure; he trips up the unwary soldier; and he most easily casts down the one whom he finds stripped of arms. Therefore, my brothers, always keep watch in holy prayers; always be intent upon good works, so that whenever the tempter comes, he may never find you idle. Remember the words of our Savior Jesus Christ, saying in the holy Gospel: Let your loins be girded, and lamps burning in your hands, and be like men waiting for their lord, when he returns from the wedding, so that when he comes and knocks, they may open to him at once.

He keeps watch who, standing firm in the fear of the Lord, never dozes in sluggishness of mind. He keeps watch who, through the tireless constancy of a holy purpose, preserves his soul against any adversities of this world. He keeps watch, whoever does not cease daily to advance in the love of the Lord. He carries a lamp in his hands, whoever adorns the purpose of holiness with fitting works. He also holds a lamp in his hands, whoever, purified in mind and body, shines before his neighbor with works of holy devotion. Hence the holy [unclear] of Christ Paul, the lover, says in the epistle: I beseech you, dearly beloved, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies as a living, holy, God-pleasing sacrifice. Whoever chastens his body by the exercises of holy abstinence and brings it under the service of the spirit has consecrated a living sacrifice to the Lord. Whoever has now learned to keep his heart clean and pure from every pollution of sin has beyond doubt offered a holy sacrifice to the Lord. And whoever perseveres in the purpose of holiness to the end has without doubt offered a pleasing sacrifice.

We gird our loins when we keep ourselves pure from every form of lust, unstained in body and in mind. The virtue of holy chastity is of great merit before God, and because of the greatness of the struggle it is to be given a singular reward in the recompense of the righteous, as the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah: Thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that I have willed, and hold fast my covenant: I will give them in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not perish.

And of these the Lord says in the holy Gospel: There are eunuchs who were born so from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs made by men; and there are eunuchs who have castrated themselves for the kingdom of heaven. He who can receive it, let him receive it.

But why did he say, He who can receive it, let him receive it? I think that this mention of eunuchs, who castrate themselves for love of the kingdom of heaven, must not be referred to the cutting off of the genital members, as many have thought and so have strayed from the truth of the Gospel, but rather to the command of the mind, by which chastity, conceived from the love of Christ, is kept whole. For those castrate themselves for the kingdom of God who, for the love of God, preserve true chastity of mind and body inviolate. And just as no one is easily castrated in body without the pain of great torment, so no one is able to attain the perfection of chastity without the greatest application of labor.

And certainly no one is chaste by his own strength; no one is modest by his own merits. It is God who gives the good will; it is he also who joins virtue to the will, so that it may have power. But because it is not for many to live unmarried, he leaves each one to his own judgment, saying: He who can receive it, let him receive it. The cutting off of members does not make the mind chaste, because the root of lust is within, and cannot be removed by the amputation of the private parts. But if the mind is chaste and whole, it will easily restrain the insolence of the members. For nothing is stronger than the mind of a man who with a pure heart sweetly loves God above all things.

Now consider, most beloved brothers, the future rewards of beauty, and the labor of chastity will not burden you. For the great rewards of exaltation are reached by the persevering effort of arduous labor. Therefore whoever shrinks from the labor of the contest will never come to the height of honor. The time is short now in which we labor, resisting the devil; but very soon the eternal time will come, in which, reigning, we shall rejoice without end.

with Christ. Let the body be chastened by discerning abstinence, lest it kick against the rule of the mind; let the concupiscence of the flesh be broken by holy exercises, so that it may always obey the counsels of reason. If ever it begins to assail the mind with wanton impulses, let it even be restrained with blows, because it is better that the bruise of stripes should humble the back than that the insolence of the flesh should cast the soul down into hell.

For Scripture says: He who rears his servant delicately from his youth will afterward find him rebellious. The flesh is the servant of the mind, and must always obey the command of reason. But if the flesh has been reared too indulgently, being now accustomed to pleasures, it will refuse to bear the rule of the spirit. For a servant becomes rebellious against his lord whenever he is habitually reared by him in softness. And it is difficult to bring back a rebellious and insolent servant to humble obedience after he has long been accustomed to kick against the goad. For it is written: A servant cannot be instructed by words, because he understands what is said and disdains to answer.

Therefore the wise man says in Ecclesiasticus: Fodder and a rod and a burden are for an ass; bread and discipline and work are for a servant. He works under discipline and seeks to rest; slacken your hand toward him, and he seeks liberty. The yoke and the strap bend a stiff neck, and continual tasks bow down a servant. If we begin to turn these testimonies of Scripture from the literal sense to the moral sense, we shall find how rightly everything said of the servant and the ass applies to lazy and delicate flesh.

For truly the flesh is the servant of the soul, and it always rises up against its mistress unless it is wearied by daily discipline and work. He who at all times rears it delicately in idleness and pleasures will necessarily find it rebellious against spiritual promptings, because while the flesh is lifted up in pride, the spirit, languishing in idleness and lukewarm, is weakened. Therefore unless you continually humble this servant of yours, namely the flesh, O brother monk, by work and abstinence, unless you place upon its unlawful impulses the bridle of continence and sobriety, you will go wholly, with it leading, into the abyss.

For we know, as the holy Apostle says, that the flesh lusts against the spirit, and unless by the spirit we mortify the works of the flesh, we shall die in its corruption. Nothing casts the soul more deeply into the pit of sin than the insolence of the flesh, which, when it is permitted to live by its own will, struggles rebelliously, a servant against its lord. Unhappy flesh, which by the concupiscence of vanity casts down the soul: it will not go unpunished for you if, at your prompting, it commits any evil, since God will judge both. Woe to you when it has sinned, because when Adam, the transgressor of the commandments, is expelled from paradise, Eve, the instigator of evils, necessarily accompanies the wretched man.

Be consenting to the spirit, O flesh, because the Apostle says: Those who are Christ’s have crucified their flesh with its vices and concupiscences. And you, O men and brothers, who profess the warfare of Christ, who have voluntarily sworn yourselves to the law of monastic life, who have promised to imitate the footsteps of the Savior, consider your calling.

Homily X that you walk cautiously, not as fools, who are tossed about by every wind, but as true lovers of Jesus Christ, who by the Spirit have mortified the deeds of the flesh. You, I say, my most beloved fellow-soldiers, always keep watch in good works, mortifying your bodies, which are upon the earth, for love of Christ; be constant in fasts and prayers, and continually occupied in meditation on the divine Scriptures. Always stretch yourselves forward to what lies ahead; every day renew with fresh zeal the fervor of your holy purpose. Flee idleness and every sluggishness, and diligently consider how brief is the time of this life.

Let not the short and moderate toil of the hard contest terrify you; let not the wickedness of the enemy make you faint-hearted, because every labor is quickly overcome by willing perseverance, and the devil, however much he rages, is defeated as soon as you have invoked Christ. Remember the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who says in the holy Gospel: Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. But what is our cross, my brothers, except a life full of temptations and adversities, and the burden of regular discipline, under which we are wearied day and night?

But let us gather our hearts, dearest brothers, and gladly bear for the love of God whatever he wishes us to bear, so that at his judgment we may deserve to say: We passed through fire and water, and you brought us into refreshment. O how glorious a reward is laid up in the kingdom of heaven for the servants of God, who, contending in this brief course, are now wearied for love of him. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, the immensity of that good which almighty God has prepared in eternal happiness for those who love him, to remain without end forever.

The highest happiness of this good is acquired by humility, and possessed by purity of heart and the fervor of divine love. Let us hasten there, dearest brothers; let us run there with as much devotion of mind as we can, where the spirit is joined to its creator through the enjoyment of sweetness, where the intellect is perfected in the knowledge of the highest good, which is God. There is the joy of everlasting happiness, which is not diminished; there is gladness which has no end; there is perpetual rest from all labors; there is the glorious reward for tribulations and injuries suffered for Christ. Whatever good we now do, there without doubt we shall find laid up; whatever adversity we have patiently borne for the love of Christ, there we shall receive it rewarded with most abundant payment.

O monk, monk, you who fruitlessly spend the time mercifully granted you by the Lord God for doing good, what will you reap, or what wages will you receive in that terrible hour, you who are now so lazy and unwilling to sow? Have you not read what is written about the labors of the saints? Going, they went and wept, casting their seeds; but coming, they shall come with exultation, carrying their sheaves. Now is the time to work the field of your heart, O monk; now is the hour to sow good seed with the blessing of cheerfulness, because he who now sows sparingly will also reap sparingly in that future repayment of reward.

Now we must labor, and never cease from good work, because whatever we have done here now, there without doubt we shall receive. Therefore if anyone among you is a faithful monk, if anyone is a zealous lover of his own salvation, let him always think of the hour of the future reward, which no one can escape; let him always prepare himself to render an account of his stewardship. Let no day ever pass in which he has not done some particular good work, to send ahead for future repayment. Let him judge that he has spent uselessly the day on which he has not sent ahead a good work for which he may expect to be rewarded.

A good monk strives at all times to cultivate the field of his heart, and to root out completely, as far as he can, all the thorns and thistles of evil affections. Let him learn to love the Lord Jesus above all things with a pure mind, and to keep most diligently whatever he has commanded. Let him sow in the tears of devotion and constancy what he may reap with all the saints in exultation. Let not the continual difficulty of laboring frighten his mind; let not the hard struggle of the flesh break his spirit, because he who labors little gathers little fruit at harvest; and he who now sows much in tears for the love of Christ will carry back most abundant fruit on that day.

For this is the destination of our journey, brothers, which we undertake in the present pilgrimage: that, purified by continual exercise in labors and adversities, we may depart from here clean and pure to our homeland.

On fleeing the company of the wicked. Homily XI.

The company of the wicked has drawn many back from the way of the Lord and of our Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore, my most beloved brothers, we do not cease to admonish you to walk with the good and holy in the way of the Lord, so that by their teaching and example you may daily become better. For as the divine Apostle of Christ says, imitating the verse of a certain Greek named Menander, bad conversations corrupt good morals. He does not truly desire to be good who takes pleasure in the company of the wicked. For no one speaks wicked things unless he is first found in his heart to have been corrupted and depraved against the purity of the evangelical tradition. As each person is, and as the things are which he turns over and considers in the secrecy of his heart, so the speech that proceeds from his mouth is more often. For speech is the truest witness of the speaker’s heart, as our Lord and Savior says in the holy Gospel: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” For a good man brings forth good things from the treasure of his heart, and an evil man likewise brings forth evil things.

Since, therefore, he who speaks evilly is not good, we must beware of all who use wicked, scurrilous, and destructive speech, in whose talk shameful things often resound, while words of holiness are either never heard or heard very rarely. Foul speech is the sign of an unchaste heart, even if deeds do not follow. Therefore, my dearest brothers, you who promised, by a profession both implicit and explicit according to the rule and the ecclesiastical statutes of the divine fathers, to preserve chastity in deed and every kind of modesty even to death, and who ought also to be far removed from every unclean thought, flee the company of wicked men and the gatherings of the malicious, and at all times avoid those who speak unjust, shameful, or idle things.

Remember the Scripture which says: “He who touches pitch will be defiled by it, and he who has fellowship with the proud will put on pride.” Hence holy Pope Gregory says: “The weak ought to avoid the company of the wicked, lest they take pleasure in imitating the evils which they often see and are unable to correct.” And the divine Bishop John says: “If a good man is joined to a bad one, either they are made alike, or they are quickly separated from one another. For friendships either seek equals or make them.” For the nature of things is such that, whenever a good man is joined to a bad one, the bad man is not made better by the good, but the good man is contaminated by the bad. For diversity of things can never have concord, and wicked company tempts many.

There are some among you, brothers, I say it with groaning, professors greatly forgetful of regular discipline, for whom the cell is a prison, the choir a siege, prayer nausea, silence a punishment, and the reading of the Scriptures a weariness. The love of God either never or rarely lifts upward the hearts of those whose whole way of life consists in lower things. Whenever I happen to be absent, they soon come together among themselves, not to speak of Christ, nor of the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom, nor of the integrity of regular observance, but they bring forth a long discourse about the vain and useless affairs of this world; and by conversing they involve themselves in tales and in the wars of kings, matters about which it is not lawful for a monk to think. Whatever I say to them, whatever I declare, whatever penance I impose, it profits nothing for those whom evil custom has depraved from the beginning of their instruction.

Nothing is worse than an evil custom; for the monk who is neglected as a novice and a young man spends all the days of his life in torpor and sloth. For Scripture says: “A young man walking according to his way, even when he has grown old, will not depart from it.” Therefore I say to you, venerable elders, I beg you, I warn you, and by the mercy of God I ask you with all the urgency I can: live henceforth in such a way, conduct yourselves in such a way, walk in such a way, that the habits of old age may correspond to your years, and that you who have already advanced far into old age may provide an example of holiness for the instruction of the younger men. Without doubt, whatever is found lacking in the conduct of the younger men is ascribed to you. For you ought to go before the younger men in all holiness, in word and in deed; you are commanded to show them an example of all perfection, so that when they behold in you the perfect works of all the virtues, they may be stirred, as if by a certain impulse of shame, toward imitation [unclear].

[unclear] may be stirred by your holiness. For the morals of elders furnish the younger with an example of living, as the proverb says: What the old have sung, the young too have learned. But you who are younger, considering their gray hair, show reverence with humility to your elders; and rejoice to have as your instructors those whose company you know to be more fervent in the observance of regular discipline. Beware of those who either walk restlessly or observe the purity of regular discipline too negligently.

Not all who are called elders are worthy of imitation by the young; nor do years make a monk venerable, but morals grounded in the love of God with prudence make him worthy of reverence. Therefore whoever among you, dearest brothers, desires to be a true lover of God, whoever desires to advance in the holy monastic way of life that he professes, let him always flee the company of undisciplined brothers, and seek good fellow-soldiers who agree with his purpose. For the prophet says in the Psalm: With the holy you will be holy, and with the innocent man you will be innocent, and with the chosen you will be chosen, and with the perverse you will be perverted.

For evil company has harmed many; and he who delights to dwell with the reprobate will not be free from the contagion of sin. Indeed, everyone who keeps company with the wicked and the reprobate must have the integrity of his life somewhat corrupted by their perversity. For either he loves them and becomes evil like them, or he will hate them and be the enemy of many, and for that reason necessarily restless. But if, overcome by the multitude of the wicked, he once begins to delight in their company, then he too has already been depraved, and little by little he will be depraved still more. But if he detests the works of the wicked, he will labor under a grave trouble of mind, and his desire will be so much slower in advancing toward the better, the more he is disturbed by the company of the perverse.

Yet I give thanks to Almighty God for you, because, even if not all of you are fervent in the love of God as I would wish, nevertheless, as I trust, you all live far removed and estranged from great sins and from the rashness of pride. My exhortations and fatherly admonitions, which I give you as I am bound to do, you willingly receive every day, although you do not yet all display them perfectly in deed. But I hope in the Lord Jesus that he will bring to perfection in you the good that he has begun, so that my joy may be fulfilled and I may see you all, with one zeal, one purpose, one blaze of holy fervor, delighting and exercising yourselves in the workshop of divine love.

But since some of you delay this desire of mine, not yet taking up the spirit of fuller amendment that I desire, I am compelled by just necessity to admonish those who are making progress, that, rising up with a manly spirit, they flee the private and harmful associations of the lukewarm. For the fire of divine love is still small in their hearts; the flame of holy fervor that burns in them is still new and weak, and unless it is fostered by daily increases, it will easily suffer loss. Therefore again and again I admonish you who [unclear] of inward love.

you have begun to experience fervor, go on steadfastly in the spirit to which, by the Lord’s inspiration, you have set yourselves; and if in this holy journey you find any men opposed to you in deed or in word, shun them as deadly poison. For just as water extinguishes the fire into which it is poured, so the holy purpose of novices is damaged by the examples of the lukewarm. Beware of taking part in the conversations of those whom you see to be negligent in the observance of God’s commandments and of monastic purity; for since they are driven by carnal passions, out of the abundance of the heart they speak nothing but vain and carnal things. For the evil conversations of old men corrupt the good morals of the young. Vain are all their pursuits, and useless, indeed poisonous, are the words of those who, being carnal, do not know the exercises of divine love.

Indeed, just as one diseased sheep gradually corrupts the whole sheepfold, so one slothful and perverse monk in a congregation is often the cause of many transgressions. As Saint Christophilus testifies, a little leaven corrupts with its odor the whole mass of flour with which it is mixed; so young monks and novices who associate with lukewarm and acedia-ridden elders are imbued with their depraved habits, and thereafter are never restored to the integrity of holy fervor.

Therefore I say to you elders: be, by good works and by chaste and always modest speech, a model of life for the young, so that whenever they are corrected for their faults, they may not defend themselves by the examples of their elders. For it is most shameful that elders should be guilty in those matters for which juniors are deservedly rebuked. Live, I pray, you old men, in such a way that in your presence the younger men presume neither to say nor to do anything that seems blameworthy. Let them fear you as judges of evils, not as men acting the part of patrons; since all who have sinned by your example are reckoned to have perished through your instruction.

Let there be among you no one lukewarm or idle, for desires kill the lazy man, and vanity destroys every wandering-eyed monk. Let there be among you no talkative man, no roving monk, no gadabout, no murmurer and restless man, because whoever delights in such pursuits both ruins himself by evil conduct and kills his brother by his examples. Let there be among you no mocker of the simple, no despiser of the humble, no rash critic; for he who is quick to laugh will be consumed in his own folly and will not be glorious. He opens his mouth against the humble, always seeks quarrels, and rejoices that he is talkative about the deeds of others. He will not prosper in his counsel, and if he has been raised to some honor, he will quickly fall into the depths. His pride is hateful to God, because, though he is foolish and stupid, he boasts that he is learned and wise. His foolishness will soon be laid bare, and a grievous destruction will seize him. His heart will meditate folly, and there is no peace around him. He will be hated by those near him and by his neighbors, and no faithful friend will attend him. He leads his life in the hypocrisy of an assumed pretense, and by his folly he will draw many into estrangement. He hates peace, He loves discord; he will be caught in the sloth of his own mind, and there will be no one to grieve with him. He will be crushed by a double affliction, because he did not allow peace to those who possessed it. The devil has made a nest in his tongue, and Satan has fixed his dwelling in his mind. Therefore there is no love of the brethren in his heart, because he sows discord between the shepherd and the sheep. He boasts that he is a friend of God and accepts no one as his equal in regular observance, yet he does not understand humility, the greatest ornament of a monk. He does not open his mouth for words of spiritual edification, and from his heart nothing proceeds except vanity. All day long, dissolved in mind and wandering in body, he runs about the monastery, gives himself to useless and entirely idle talk, thinks nothing of the salvation of his soul, and cares for his belly as his god.

Guard your mind from his speech, and do not set your foot on the path of his words. Whoever you are who desire to show yourself a monk and minister of God, whoever you are who truly love the Lord Jesus with your whole heart, be cautious and watchful in all your works, and always flee the company of those in whose life no heavenly teaching is seen. Be the companion and associate of humble monks who pursue perfection; and the one whom you have known to be grounded in the fear of God, gladly accept as instructor and master. Walk gladly with those who love discipline and purity of mind, and do not be like a man who, shaken, yields to every wind, but strengthen your soul in a good purpose, lest you be deceived by the counsel of the wicked. For it is best for the heart to be strengthened by grace, and neither to be able to be deceived nor to wish to deceive.

Have as your friend a disciplined brother; and love and venerate as a father the one who corrects you from evil by word and instructs you toward good by example. Have no familiar dealings with a restless brother, lest, strengthened by his wicked example, you ever fall into the rebellion of the proud. Let no monk who is angry and full of murmuring be at your side; and never consider as a friend the one who kicks against his superiors. When you see someone violating the rule of fasting without the blessing of an elder, flee him as an enemy of salvation; and one who is quick to chatter, when there is no cause, overturns peace and stirs up quarrels.

Flee a rebellious monk, disobedient to elders, as from the face of a serpent, because he burns full of the poison of malice, and in the pride of his mind he has lost his soul. He who does not obey the command of an elder is perverse; and he who, being corrupt, is not humbled, is an apostate. Let one who disparages his brother with slander not be in conversation with you, because he is far worse than a thief. The one whom you see wholly zealous in regular observance you shall love as a father and venerate as a most loving instructor. Confidently enjoy the familiarity of the one whose friendship always makes you better in the love of God. Imitate good men with all zeal, and follow the conduct of those who live in conformity with monastic perfection. Have as a friend a brother of good will; but from the one who is hard of heart, turn away your ears.

Homily XI.

your [unclear]. One who is fickle in mind and dissolute in conduct should be to you like a man who tears down hedges in a field. Do not be the companion of one who despises the rule and silence, who does not distinguish places or times, who without the prior’s blessing multiplies words everywhere. Avoid the monk who often exceeds the common canon of the monastery in wine and drinking, as fuel for lust and a spring of all vices.

A monk who relies on the counsel of his own head against the command of an elder is near to destruction and hastens breathlessly into danger for his soul. Do not share in the works of an obstinate monk, and do not have friendship with one who, in his own rashness, laughingly speaks against the deeds of his superiors. Be continually in the midst of disciplined men, and let your soul gladly walk with the humble. For he who is joined to good men shares in their virtue; and he who walks with the wicked will fall into the pit.

A monk of perverse will leads very many astray, and he who despises obedience will never be exalted. He who raises his voice when speaking and cries out with loud shouting cannot hide the folly of his heart, and he will glory in his vanity. The friendship of good men is the firm salvation of the soul, and in the company of the wicked the innocence of the simple is corrupted. The company of those is best whose fear of God has confirmed examples of good works. Nothing is more precious than a friend who fears God, and nothing more dangerous than a companion who is of perverse will.

A brother who fears God with his whole heart will be like a wall of strength for his friend; and he who is joined to such a man in soundness of mind is sanctified at all times by the blessing of the Spirit of God. He who walks in the midst of those who fear God is upheld, lest he fail, as though by a very strong wall round about. From his words the servant of the Most High is known, and works of holiness reveal a good monk. No foul, buffoonish, or idle word comes from the mouth of one who fears the Lord; and he who is a true lover of Jesus does nothing that offends goodness.

In the mouth of a monk who loves God, Christ always resounds; and he who is a true worshiper of God shows the speech of righteousness both in his mouth and in his work. He who fears God is the best counselor; and he who walks according to the canon is a prudent judge of thoughts. An elder who fears God, and who has been tested and proved for a long time in regular observance, is a guide of the young; and he who has no stain on his garment should be a good instructor of novices.

Receive gladly all the words of the mouth of one who is an understanding teacher of divine things and an interpreter of the Scriptures, keeping his soul in humility, as though they were golden, because they have the sinews and solidity of future eternal happiness. He who is truly learned has compassion on the weak, and he who loves Jesus exhorts the wavering in mind to strength. He who walks with a talkative man will not escape contention; and he who delights in falsehood will never be a friend of wisdom. He who is constantly occupied with outward things will not make progress, and boasts without cause that he is a monk. The holy purpose [unclear] quickly.

On fleeing the company of the wicked.

Chastity is corrupted when a monk too often wanders outside his cell with desire. He who leaves the privacy of his cell without the elder’s order does not strive toward the perfection of his holy purpose. Beautiful is the fellowship of good men who fear God; and he who has become accustomed to dwell with them will not feel confusion. The heart of a young monk is a clean tablet, on which the conduct of elders is written, never to be erased.

A very bad elder is a writer on a fair heart when he either does or says shameful things before a young man. He who infects the minds of the young with rash speech is like wicked Herod, who killed the children. The harm that a young man receives from a foolish and negligent old man he will not amend even when he has become a priest. Every vessel that is filled with vinegar is spoiled; and a monk who is neglected in his novitiate is not amended when he has grown old.

Cursed is the old man by whose evil conduct the young perish, since he who leaves evil footsteps for those who follow is like one who has cast a blind man with his own hand into a pit. Before the inward Judge each person is worthy of as many deaths as the innocent who have perished by his depraved example. Young man, seek an old man to be the guide of your life: not one who has completed many years in his lax and lukewarm way of life, but one whom the fear of the Lord and knowledge of God’s Scriptures commend.

Better is the fellowship of a young monk who fears the Lord than the company of an old teacher whose life lacks the light of divine love and the integrity of regular observance. An old man disordered in morals, lacking cleanness of mind and without discipline, is like one injured in the leg, led lame to the grave. An old and lax monk is like a foolish man who, not knowing the end, is caught with robbers at a drinking banquet. An elder without maturity is like an elderwood pipe crushed under the feet of those playing. Vainly does he boast that he has been a monk for many days, if he has not perceived the beginning of inward conversion.

He who loves the cleanness of his heart guards himself at all times from the company of undisciplined brothers. As a pitch stain clinging to the garments of dancers saddens virgins, so a good young man blushes at the shameful words of elders. Wanton speech does not belong to a man who fears God, since out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks; and he who utters shameful words is not clean before the Most High.

If sinners begin to hate you because of the fear of God, do not be saddened, because unless you displease the evil, you will not attain the perfection of the good. For to displease the evil for righteousness’ sake is praiseworthy, and a clear sign of divine love. If you love your soul, flee the counsels of the undisciplined, and do not associate with scoffers. Walk with the good, and let one who fears the Lord become your counselor.

Homily XII.

On monks sent out on the road. Homily XII.

It belongs to monks to flee the world and the crowds of men, and, out of love for solitude, to avoid them at all times as far as they are able. A monk is so called from solitude, just as one is named from unity. He cannot be a monk who follows after throngs of people; and he who takes delight in cities has not yet tasted monastic sweetness. If you are a monk, you ought not to leave the solitude of the monastery without reasonable cause; and if you are bound to silence, do not take pleasure in the conversations of worldly people.

Whoever loves wandering about in the city has abandoned his conscience; and he who is often outside his monastery does not preserve the purity of inward progress. He who delights in going around the homes of his relatives and in the banquets of his neighbors does not regard himself as a monk; and he who goes to the feasts of drinkers kills his own soul. He who sleeps in the house of his kinsman is seeking comforts; and he who avoids the assemblies of the religious follows a destructive freedom.

A monk in the house of his father and mother is like a lamb in the midst of wolves, and like a hare surrounded by hunters’ dogs. If you are a monk, if you are God’s servant and soldier, what are you doing in your parents’ house? Or what are you seeking in the midst of the people? A monk who remains long outside the monastery among secular people is like a man who has buried his only-begotten son beneath deep waters. For just as fish have no life on dry land, so monks have no salvation of soul in the world. Outside the river a fish dies, and the purity of a monk’s conscience is quickly violated outside the monastery.

The life of monks is in the monastery, and the death of souls is in the midst of secular business. It is a great virtue of the soul to flee the crowds of men, or, if it is wholly necessary to be among them, nevertheless to withdraw from them in mind. We are sometimes compelled by necessity to make a journey through the world; but the purity of conscience is polluted so much less by encounters with men, the less the desire of the mind is drawn away from the secrecy of the cell.

Therefore every good monk must be admonished by us that, whenever by command of his superior he is sent on the road for the necessity of some matter, he should never wander outward in spirit. He who does not guard his senses is quickly corrupted when evil is set before him; and he who casts away the fear of the Lord will necessarily return impure to the monastery. When the Rhine overflows, by its muddy waters it stains the beauty of the meadows lying open all around; and when a monk gives his attention to the tales of worldly people, he disturbs the purity of his conscience.

Before, then, you set your foot out of the monastery, arm yourself with holy prayers; and before you go forth, do not fail to commend your way to the Lord with prayers. Then carry out what the lawgiver commanded, and entrust yourself to be protected by the prayers both of the abbot and of all the brothers. Prescribe for yourself a rule of severity in regular observance, under the steady remembrance of which you may meet every flowing-away of the mind [unclear].

[unclear] watches of vanities. Do not leave the monastery anywhere without the abbot’s blessing, because, since you ought to be dead and buried to this world, nothing further will be lawful for you without the command of your superior. Know yourself a soldier of King Jesus Christ; you must follow your commander, without whom there is no salvation. He, fastened to the cross, is taken down not by his own hands but by the hands of others; and you, if you desire to be saved, must have your will governed by the abbot’s command.

For a monk who goes out anywhere from the monastery without the abbot’s permission is like a little sheep in the darkness, when the house is consumed by fire. But the true monk of Christ, even when he is outside the monastery in body, remains in the cloister in mind; and he is no less alone among many than he is accustomed to be solitary in his cell. The lover of Christ thinks of Jesus even in the midst of a crowd; and he who is a true worker of virtues keeps his heart firm in the fear of God in every place. For even if he is not in the monastery in body, yet in heart, because of the vigor of his spirit, he always stands firm, as though alone in the cloister. The spirit is not polluted by the movement of the body when the solitude of the mind is preserved.

You must live with the same holiness on the road, O monk, with which you are commanded to conduct yourself in the monastery, and you must walk with a certain greater caution, lest you scandalize anyone by a more lax example, where there seem to be as many judges of monks as there are observers present. The eyes of all secular people look up to monks, and they seek in their works the holiness which they hear them profess. A monk gives more offense by one reckless word than a man given to the world does by ten thousand. For however frivolous and buffoonish a worldly man may seem, still he has not learned to tolerate calmly the insolence of monks, because with rustic simplicity he believes all cloistered men to be not what they are, but what they ought to be. Hence an evil word or deed is ascribed by them to a monk as condemnation, while in a worldly man it is counted as pardonable.

And not without reason. For the monk who has professed the holy and approved rule must hold all his effort directed toward perfection, and must far surpass the conduct of secular men, in word and deed, in all purity of mind and body. For a light or idle word, which is granted pardon among secular people, is judged ruinous among cloistered men.

Gold is more precious than all metals, and is more desired by mortals, and in nothing is a stain or corruption of falseness more quickly charged. And the defect which is discerned in gold with judicial severity is overlooked in the other metals because of the baseness of their nature. Gold gladdens the eyes by its beauty, and strengthens the inner parts of life by its virtue. Gold melted in the fire is not diminished; and the true monk of God is not changed from his purpose of holiness in the tribulation of persecution. A small stain on a golden vessel greatly displeases in the sight of a powerful man; if an earthen vessel is crooked, no one detests it. Against a monk who sins in small matters, the great outcry of many against him is immense.

arises, because his way of life is compared to gold. The canonical life of monks is a golden mirror. Gold in the midst of mud receives no stain upon its nature, but keeps all its beauty inviolate. So too the true monk, a lover of Christ, remains the same when sent onto the road among men as he has learned to live in the secrecy of his cell, because he walks before the Lord pure in mind as well as in body. For if he is a true monk, he is not polluted by the dust of another way of life, nor is he changed from the uprightness of his holy purpose by anyone’s presence or conversation. Amid the disorderly talk of worldly people he thinks of other things, and the dissolute conduct of others does not delight his mind. He who is with himself in heart is not divided even in the midst of those who are making an uproar.

Therefore, monk, you who desire to be good, gather your mind back to yourself, and before you leave your cell, set your heart in order for the journey. Let the fear of the Lord always be your companion on the way, and let the guard of monastic discipline never depart from your side. Fence in your ears with the memory of the last things, lest the hearing of vain speech pollute the integrity of your mind. Lower your eyes humbly to the ground, lest they look upon what it is not fitting for a servant of God to desire. Do not take part in the conversations of carnal men; and if you cannot avoid their presence, take care not to lend them your mind. Even in the midst of the wicked, do not transgress your rule, and do not abandon your customary seriousness. Do not fear the insults and reproaches of [unclear], and let not your heart be troubled by the words of men of darkness. The preservation of monastic discipline is justice; and those who despise the simple persecute the innocent with laughter. Preserve your holy purpose in all things, and the Most High will avenge the injury. Do not say in your heart, “I am suffering violence,” nor be ashamed at the words of those who mock you. It is the glory of a monk to endure insult, and the crown of beauty to rejoice in reproaches.

He who is patient under injuries is stronger than Atlas; and he who is not saddened when mocked is greater than all. If you have fixed your desire in heaven, nothing on earth will disturb you; and if you are a true monk, your heart will exult at injuries. There is a judge in heaven who knows all things, and there is the Most High God who cares for all. He is the just rewarder of merits, and he will remember his poor ones. The more you cast down your soul now in this life, for love of him, into the depth of humility, the more in future glory you will be exalted above the rest. For by patience one ascends into heaven, and by humility one comes to the kingdom. For Christ himself also had to suffer, and so enter into his glory. A delicate soldier is one who, while his emperor is enduring insults and mockeries, seeks pleasures; and while he hangs on the gibbet of the cross for his army, pursues delights. Swift is the destruction of both: the soldier who goes out naked to war without weapons, and the monk who disdains to embrace patience and humility amid insults. The monk who is a sincere lover of Christ is not angered by injuries, against those who inflict them.

He does not threaten insult; he stands fixed in his holy purpose, and however much the wicked may rush upon him, he is not moved. Just as timely rain increases the hay in the meadows, so a monk’s merit grows from humble endurance of injuries. Humility is the sinew of all virtues, and steadfast patience under injuries for the love of God is the mine of good works.

Therefore, when you are about to go out on the road from the monastery, prepare your heart to endure injuries, and strengthen your mind against the insolence of mockers. When scoundrels shout after your back, repeating the name “monk,” remember Christ mocked and spat upon before the governor, who did not answer a word, but kept patience in silence. Imitate this Leader, O monk; always listen to this Teacher, who was meek and humble of heart.

Do not answer a word to those who mock you; do not turn your face back toward them, but say with the prophet: “Those who sought evils for me spoke vanities, and all day long they meditated deceits. But I, like a deaf man, did not hear, and like a mute man not opening his mouth. And I became like a man who does not hear, and who has no rebukes in his mouth.” This Christ did; this Jesus taught; this the King of all commands. If you wish to be his disciple, you must always be prepared for every injury.

When you are on the road, do not neglect to say your canonical prayers with whatever devotion you can, and always turn over something good with yourself in your mind, either by praying or by meditating. The Lord walks with you, and his holy angels accompany you as you walk. Therefore keep your heart clean in all things, lest you offend the majesty of such great companions. The Lord is wholly eye and ear, and nothing is hidden from his knowledge.

Keep constant watch over your words, and let deliberation of the heart precede every word of your mouth, so that you say absolutely nothing for which you might have to repent. The mouth of a monk speaks few things, and reasonable things, and his lips never go beyond measure in speech. All his conduct is set toward the edification of his neighbors; and he who teaches many by his character speaks useful things even when silent.

He who is a true lover of God walks most humbly on the road; and he who fears the Most High restrains his mouth from loud laughter. In your whole life consider yourself mortal, and live as one dying, as though already breathing out your last breath. Happy is the kingdom, and rich before God the province, in which monks rise with Boötes, since where there is no fear of God, the theaters are filled with cloistered men.

A monk on the road is like a man who speaks while sleeping; when he has awakened from sleep, he remembers none of the things he had dreamed. For thus the monastic canon commands. Nor should anyone presume to report to others whatever he has seen or heard outside the monastery, because it is very destructive. But if anyone has presumed to do so, let him be subject to the regular punishment. Likewise also he who has presumed to leave the cloisters of the monastery, or to go anywhere, or to do anything, however small, without the abbot’s command. Those who voluntarily take up this rule of life in its words...

we have sworn: none of us may turn back or attempt anything contrary. What you heard or saw outside, let it remain outside; when you return from the road, do not bring novelty among the brothers, lest you cause distraction of minds.

He who fears the Lord keeps the commandments of the rule; and he who is a lover of discipline always walks with maturity. A fool, walking on the road, multiplies words and asks the names of all the mountains. A humble brother, speaking with God in the hidden place of his heart, is like one silent, and walks rejoicing in his simplicity. Whatever the constitution of the fathers has commanded, he considers most diligently; and wherever he may be, he carefully preserves all things.

The monk who, when sent on the road, has kept himself clean and pure from every stain of fault, will return joyful to the monastery, and, as though he had escaped the danger of the sea, hastens with longing to the harbor of rest. But he who has lost modesty has become insolent, and returns sad and sorrowful, as though going to prison.

The true monk of Christ does not seek or love the friendship of worldly people, but despises it; but he who multiplies familiarity with those unlike himself gradually falls away from the purpose of holiness. Cursed is the cloistered man who places his confidence in human beings, and whose heart has departed from the Lord his God. Do not seek the friendships of men, but take care to obtain the fellowship of the invisible angels. Frequent friendships with mortals do not suit a monk; through them both the vigor of the mind is dissolved and vain occupations are brought in. For just as dripping water over a long time hollows out a stone, however hard and solid it may be, so excessive familiarity with worldly people gradually softens monastic rigor. Have charity toward all, but familiarity with few. He who has God as a friend easily scorns familiarity with men; and he who speaks with angels takes little delight in the conversations of mortals.

Whenever on the road you see the sign of the Lord’s Passion, or of the crucified one, do not pass by unless you say: I give you thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, for the pain of your wounds, for the pouring out of your most holy blood, and for your most innocent death, which you endured for us on the altar of the cross; and I ask you, through your bitter Passion, have mercy on me now and in the fearful hour of my death. Repeat this very brief prayer often as you go, and never pass by an image of the crucified one unless you have given thanks to the Savior.

Do not quarrel with the one who walks with you on the road, lest on returning to the monastery he falsely say something evil against you. He who provokes his traveling companion to impatience is like one who drives a mad dog to bark by beating it. The wicked man is overcome by gentleness, and he who is humble of heart calms the one stirred up in spirit. In the midst of worldly people do not pour out speech, lest perhaps they take up mockery against you. We permit [unclear] to speak good things among the young; but let the one who is lower in rank listen to him. The tired plowman hastens to rest, and the monk whole in spirit, running from the road to his cel Concerning monks sent on the road.

Let the word be restrained in the mouth until reason brings forth a judgment of equity, and let not speech that can instruct the hearers be hidden. Do not trust the songs of flatterers, for when they have shot down an innocent man, they soothe the ears with disordered words. A monk who feeds on quarrels is like a slave, and like a swaggering man who stirs up disputes under the name of religion.

In the presence of learned men do not be eager to speak, lest perhaps, when you do not understand the parable, you be laughed at by those standing by. He who recognizes himself as a monk does not use profound speech; and he who teaches little ones makes the question plain. When you go to men unlike you in your way of life, do not boast in anything; but if you are asked, answer humbly in few words.

When you are set upon a journey, always think of God, and consider the reverence owed to your elder as accompanying you. Do absolutely nothing which you would not wish to be made known to him, since, as the holy Hierodulus says, he is believed to act in Christ’s place in the monastery, and therefore is deservedly honored by all. Live, then, as though you always had him present before your eyes; and what you would not presume to do or say while he looked on, do not in any way attempt while he is absent. For it is foolish consolation, when conscience is gnawed by guilt, for a man’s sin to lie hidden and for one who knows himself sick unto death to flee the judgment of his shepherd.

The monk who does evil which he wishes to hide from his prelate has violated the integrity of the monastic rule and has grievously sinned against the fifth degree of humility. For it commands thus: “The fifth degree of humility is this: if, by humble confession, he does not conceal from his abbot all the evil thoughts that come into his heart, and the evil things done by him in secret.” These are the admonitions of Father Benedict; these are the holy teachings of the monastic institution. If you, monk, despise or neglect them, you are proved forgetful of your own salvation.

It is a sure sign of humility if a monk does not refuse to open his heart to his elder, and does not wish any of the evils he has committed to be hidden from his shepherd. He who confesses his fault with humility will be strengthened against the adversary of his salvation; and he who conceals his thoughts will advance in evil. For there is no thought of evils so small that it does not gradually grow if neglected, and no vice so slight that it does not gain strength if it is dissembled.

Therefore evil thoughts must be driven back at once from the beginning, because when a depraved thought is not immediately extinguished, it gives birth to delight; delight to consent; and consent hurls one into action. Thereafter the action of evil, repeated often, begets habit; habit, necessity; necessity brings in despair; despair, contempt; contempt, obstinacy; and that gives birth to the eternal death of the soul. For Scripture says: “When the wicked man has come into the depth of evils, he despises.”

Is not your abbot, O monk, the shepherd and physician of your soul? Am I not, my dearest brothers, after God, the one who feeds your mortal bodies with necessary food? Am I not compelled to minister the word of salvation to you? If you, the sheep, flee the shepherd, what pastures of the spirit do you expect from us? The sick man who flees the physician despises his own salvation and willingly kills his soul. Therefore the monk who walks in the way of malice and turns aside from the paths of justice is near to death, and he slips so much more deeply into the abyss of vices the less he reveres the judgment of correction. But he is truly a monk who guards his soul from all iniquity and does nothing at all which he would wish his shepherd not to know.

He who hides his way is not pure; and he who flees the presence of the judge increases suspicion. Like a sheep wandering in the wilderness and seized by the wolf is the negligent and impure monk who withdraws himself from the knowledge of his shepherd and is devoured by demons. A diseased sheep running to destruction, and a monk hiding every sin, have no salvation unless they return to the physician.

Monks returning from the road, on that very day, according to the monastic rule, are to be prostrated before the eyes of all the brothers, so that whatever has been committed through negligence on the road may be expiated by the common prayers. For the common prayer of many greatly avails to wash away sins, if it has been poured out to the Lord with the fervor of devotion.

Concerning the daily expiation of sins. Homily XIII.

As long as we are placed in this corruptible life, dearly beloved brothers, we offend daily in many things, and however holy our way of life may seem, we are not without sin. For the body that is corrupted weighs down the soul, and this earthly dwelling depresses the mind as it thinks on many things. Scripture says: “There is no righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin.” Likewise the blessed evangelist John says: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

The soul, indeed, too much delighted by commerce with the flesh, sins, and its strength is diminished by despair of spirit. The mind is deceived by the assault of sensible things, and readiness to sin is strengthened by long habit. The weakness of the flesh weakens the fervor of the spirit, and the frailty of the will resists the holy purpose of the mind. Hence Solomon, that most wise king, says in the book of Proverbs: “Seven times in a day the righteous man will fall and rise again, but the wicked will fall into evil.”

By the testimony of this saying we are warned not to grow lukewarm in the purpose of holiness, even if it happens that we have fallen seven times in a day. As often, monk, as you fall through sin from the purpose of holiness, so often do not be slow to rise again to your former fervor. It belongs to human frailty to fall, but to stubborn diabolical obstinacy to remain cast down in the mire of wickedness. The demons sinned once, and in their obstinacy were made hardened and stubborn, never thereafter to return to repentance. But human beings, as often as they have fallen, can always rise again to repentance and obtain by tears and prayers the grace of God which they had lost by sinning.

For the heart of man is flexible and can be moved in either direction, because no man in the flesh should ever be believed able to become so evil that he cannot, if he wills, come to his senses from his wickedness and, by God’s gift, reform his mind toward goodness. Again, no one becomes so good in this mortal life that he cannot become evil, if he misuses the grace of the Lord. Since this is so, my brothers, you must be admonished by today’s exhortation to walk carefully, so that he who, as his conscience bears witness, is already walking in the paths of justice may persevere daily in them by making progress, and he who knows himself guilty before the Lord may amend his life as quickly as possible.

If human frailty daily drives you on, or, to speak more properly, hurls you down and makes you sin, let the love of God and of your own salvation also urge you daily to expiate your fault humbly through true contrition. For in this way the righteous man falls seven times in a day and rises again, because even if he slips through human frailty, nevertheless, always persevering in the purpose of holiness, he is strengthened more and more in soul in the love of God. For while he preserves his conscience free from grave sins, he is unwillingly defiled by daily negligences; and when he sees that he cannot live without faults, humbly acknowledging his own weakness, he groans all the more. But if he has even been overtaken by a graver fault, he at once rises again to amendment through repentance.

Therefore the ancient governors of monastic discipline, considering the condition of human frailty, established various kinds of expiation, by which monks of good will might daily advance toward what is better, and the wicked might be compelled to the observance of regular life. For in the Rule the holy Father Benedict commands thus, saying: “With all solicitude let the abbot take care of offending brothers, because it is not the healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.”

For this reason the first leaders of regular observance, with provident consideration, established that every day after Prime, in the place appointed, a convent of faults should be held, in which, with either the abbot or the prior presiding, the actions of all the brothers should be brought into the open by fair examination. This place, my brothers, bears the figure of the purgatory of souls, because here not only are past sins expiated, but we are also fortified against future ones. For in this place, which we call the chapter-house, whatever you have done wrong openly is corrected and expiated through salutary penance. Here daily, as the paraphraser pronounces it, you learn your monastic law, according to whose integrity you have promised to live; here each day you hear the exhortatory word of salvation; here you listen to the victories of Christ’s martyrs and their many kinds of sufferings for the orthodox faith briefly recited. This is the school of monks, necessary for the consideration of regular discipline, in which the whole...

There are two things, my most beloved brothers, which this place requires of you: one, that in correction you always maintain humble patience; the other, that you willingly receive our exhortation, such as it is. Desiring you to be ready for the first, our holy lawgivers commanded that the brave deeds of the martyrs, whose imitators you ought to become, be read; and then, so that you may be teachable in spirit, they ordered one passage from the Rule to be added. Therefore, so that you may be strong by imitating the holy martyrs, and patient under necessary rebukes, the account of their passion is read here in your ears; and so that you may prepare your minds for saving doctrine, one reading is recited to you from the Rule which you profess. The holy martyrs of Christ, by their example, exhort you to patience; and blessed Benedict admonishes you by his teaching to be ready even for injuries.

Therefore let none of you, most beloved brothers, refuse in this place humbly to accept penance daily for his negligences; let no one disdain it. This place is the public expiation of sin, in which the severity of judgment is so tempered that the kindness of discretion is not violated. For I desire to be the physician of your souls, not their destroyer. Therefore come without fear to the examination of our judgment, and humbly accuse yourselves openly of the negligences you have committed. I do not wish to burden you beyond the Rule, so as to transfer the most secret offenses of conscience from sacramental confession to the public examination of faults, as we know certain men have done to the grave harm of the souls of their subjects. For thus says our lawgiver Benedict in the Rule: “But if the cause of the soul’s sin is hidden, let him reveal it only to the abbot or to spiritual elders, who know how to heal their own wounds and those of others, not to expose or make them public.”

There are two places in the monastery for the expiation of sin: one for those sins that are manifest, and the other for those that are hidden. Manifest sins are to be expiated publicly before all in the daily proclamation of faults; hidden sins, however, and those whose disclosure would scandalize the weak, are to be referred to confession. For the one whose sin is manifest must also be punished publicly; and the one who has sinned in secret must also be corrected in secret. There are certain rulers of cloistered men who do not fear to bring the hidden sins of their subjects to public examination; in my judgment, they do not carry out the rights of their office with sufficient prudence, since they close off the way of salvation to their subjects and constrain the freest confession under the bond of ill will. How dangerous this is, no one of even moderate wisdom fails to understand. For the holy founder of monks rebukes this rashness of a shepherd when he says: “Let the abbot show the greatest concern, and with all shrewdness and diligence take care not to lose any of the sheep entrusted to him. Let him know that he has undertaken the care of weak souls, not tyranny over healthy ones.” We have appointed for you from spiritual confessors from the four elders, so that if any of you has been overtaken by some hidden temptation, and has suspected our inexperienced youth, he may have safe recourse to them for his consolation. Yet thus far in the whole congregation we have found no one whom we have observed to have withdrawn his trust from us either in confession or outside it.

For you all know, and plainly see, that I seek nothing more in you, desire nothing more, than your salvation and the daily increase of your spiritual progress. For you are my crown, you my honor, you my joy; because I count myself happy when I know that you have advanced in the love of God.

You have obtained a great opportunity for progress, dearest brothers, since the place in which we serve the Lord as soldiers is removed from all noise, and we do not cease to move you toward better things by daily admonition. And whenever any one of you has fallen into some sin through human frailty, he is not allowed to lie long in the delight of his mind, where one brother is daily proclaimed by another, in true brotherly charity, for his negligences.

This is the workshop of salvation, in which the mind is fed with the nourishment of heavenly doctrine, and the soul is daily cleansed from the stains of sins by public satisfaction. This place is an earthly purgatory, in which the monk is discreetly corrected for his negligences, and through humble patience, for the love of Christ, is daily offered to his Creator in a long martyrdom.

It is our part, brothers, in this court of faults, to correct discreetly those who have been proclaimed; it is yours to endure all things with the greatest patience. For we must make satisfaction for our sins; and if we neglect to do this in this life, in the life to come we shall necessarily be compelled to do it.

There are some among you who take corrections hard. To them we declare what we have often said: that in the future they must endure very grievous things, who here refuse to endure small and light ones. But I, considering their weakness and ignorance, am grievously tormented within myself, because I see their minds wounded, and yet I am afraid to apply the necessary medicines. For if I apply remedies suited to their diseases, I fear that, becoming fainthearted, they may fall into despair, or certainly, given over to a reprobate sense, may wholly withdraw from the holy purpose.

Therefore I use as much discretion as I can, as you all will bear witness for me, preferring to send the weak, through patience with charity, to purgatory, rather than through just severity to make them despair and descend to hell. For who in this mortality was ever able to make satisfaction for sins, who did not apply a good will to penance? For only a good will commends the works of the penitent. But since many are punished unwillingly, they are still far from perfect satisfaction.

Believe me, my most beloved brothers, that satisfaction for sins is commended more by suffering than by acting. For even the Lord himself, and the Savior of us all, Jesus Christ, by suffering

[He] expiated the sin of the whole world on the altar of the cross. Would that you knew how effective a medicine it is for a soul wounded by sins to receive public accusations and corrections with humble patience, and even, for the increase of perfect satisfaction, to bear injuries and insults with equanimity. I am certain that humble patience in adversity far surpasses every kind of satisfaction; and the readier the mind is to endure insults and injuries for love of Christ, the more easily and swiftly it will obtain from the Lord pardon for all its sins and a fuller indulgence.

For this place in which we now speak is a workshop of purification and expiation, in which zeal for regular discipline holds primacy, discretion presides over examination, and charity directs and completes all things. Therefore in this very place patience is greatly necessary for you; without its presence no satisfaction will be complete. The monk who is a zealous lover of his own salvation loves this place as a workshop of expiation, and never leaves it without having been made better than he was before.

For this place is fearful and terrible to demons, but dear and greatly venerable to the holy angels of God; in it the fault of humble monks is washed away, and whatever is committed openly is also expiated publicly before all. But if some hidden fault has been committed by any one of you, the penitent’s secret confession will likewise cleanse it away. In both cases pure confession with humility is required, and both here and there patience is judged necessary for you.

Therefore, whoever you are who desire to be a good monk, prepare your soul in all patience, so that in adversities as well as in prosperity you may keep a most constant tranquillity of mind. When you have been publicly accused by some brother for your negligences, bear it patiently with all humility, faithfully bringing to mind how innocently the Son of God was accused for you. For if he, just and innocent, who committed no sin, suffered insults, why should you not patiently bear rebukes from a senior, you who offend in many things every day?

He most patiently endured countless injuries for your salvation; and why should you not, for your sins, bear humbly and patiently a few brief admonitions? For if you are justly accused of a fault in judgment, you must necessarily be patient, since you yourself have deserved what you suffer, and your humble endurance of rebukes will be reckoned to you as satisfaction for sins. But if you did not deserve the public accusation in judgment, nevertheless bear it patiently for love of Christ; for it will be reckoned to you not only as satisfaction for former sins, but much more as justification.

Therefore, whether a monk is accused justly or unjustly, he has no cause for just self-defense, since if he has sinned, he suffers by his own deserving; but if he is innocent, he is all the more bound to patience. For no one unless patient and humble will be able to imitate Christ; but since a monk is especially bound to be Christ’s disciple and imitator, it especially befits him to be patient.

It profits us greatly, if we love Christ, whether we are accused justly or unjustly.

A monk can be a martyr without sword and fire, if for the love of God he everywhere keeps true patience in his soul. For the true monk is not puffed up by praise nor saddened by blame; he shows himself patient under injuries; amid insults and reproaches he joyfully and humbly keeps silence. No one is stronger than the patient man, who knows how to conquer himself and humbly to endure every adversity with a tranquil mind for the love of God.

Every impatient man, however, is proud and arrogant, because he does not follow Jesus, the teacher of humility, and therefore he is indignant at the just rebukes that he has deserved. As the furnace tests gold, so insults and injuries test the monk, whether he truly loves Christ. Humility and patience in adversities are the true marks of monks; whoever is not clothed with their adornment boasts of the name in vain. He who is not humble cannot truly be a monk; and he who does not keep patience in adversities cannot be a true disciple of Christ.

Hence King Solomon said in the book of Proverbs: “A patient man is better than a strong man, and he who rules his own spirit than one who storms cities.” For a man’s learning is known through patience, and his glory is to pass over wrongs. The furnace tests the potter’s vessels, and the trial of tribulation tests righteous men.

The monk who follows Christ in truth is patient under all injuries; and he who is not forgetful in meditating on the Lord’s passion exults and rejoices in his soul amid insults. For all, as holy Christophilus says, who wish to live piously in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution; and whatever evil befalls them, they overcome it with the greatest constancy.

And although patience is necessary for a monk in every place and time, still in the daily examination of faults it must be guarded with especial care and more diligent attention, where the correction of morals is at issue, and whatever has been committed against the standard of monastic purity is amended in each person by the senior. Therefore, before we enter this place, all things must be considered in the morning, and the soul must be strengthened against what may happen, so that, if perhaps a harsher rebuke should occur, it may not overthrow the mind from its state of tranquillity.

For even if we have resolved never to bring insult upon any of you or do injury to anyone, still we do not deny that it can happen that someone may think himself rebuked beyond his desert, if he weighs our fatherly correction by the words rather than by the spirit. As God knows, we seek your salvation in all things, and nothing else; we sincerely intend to cut out vices by the roots according to the statutes of our religion, not to harm anyone. We cannot please everyone in all things, but we are compelled especially to displease those who, sinning against the rule, daily promise themselves impunity for their crimes. Of these King Solomon said: “Evil teaching belongs to those who abandon the way of life, and he who hates rebukes will die.” The pestilent man does not love the one who corrects him, nor does he go to the wise. He who does evil deliberately flees.

the light and hates correction, because he is foolish; but the sensible man will thank his corrector. Therefore in this matter I do not fear the hatred of murmuring subjects, knowing that I have taken on the care of sickly sheep, to whom, whether they wish it or not, I am bound to apply the remedies of salvation.

If it were possible, brothers, I would greatly prefer to disturb none of you in anything, even slightly, but to live among you in the greatest tranquility and cheerfully serve the Lord our God in peace of mind and body. But because not all of you truly seek the things that are God’s, I must rebuke and at times disturb the restless, lest impunity for small offenses provide boldness for graver ones. For I know what dangerous necessity I undergo in the pastoral office, and therefore I neither can nor ought to be silent when you sin, lest I be judged by some to have consented.

I willingly endure it if on this account I happen to be hated. But since this cannot happen without the gravest danger to your souls, we beseech you through our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified for us, that for the love of God and for the remission of your sins you always endure our fatherly and necessary rebukes patiently and with true humility. Let each one think within himself that there is no day on which he does all things well and does not offend in something; and let him know that he will shortly receive the reward of his works: good things for good deeds, and likewise evil things for evil deeds.

Therefore let him strive, as much as he can, to make satisfaction for his faults in this life, and humbly expiate all his iniquities by daily chastisement of the body. Know, my brothers, that there is no sin so small that the justice of Almighty God lets it go unpunished. Therefore, since there is none of us who does not offend in many things, arm yourselves, I pray, with patience and humility, so that whenever you are corrected for your sins, you may bear it with all meekness. For in this time of free will you can make satisfaction for many debts with a small expiation, whereas after death in purgatory the soul will be tormented for a long time and most grievously even for small sins.

Indeed, voluntary satisfaction is worth much; but that which is made from necessity earns less toward grace. Altogether, brothers, it is fitting and necessary for the soul to be cleansed from fault if it ought to reign in heaven and rejoice with Christ. But the soul that has neglected the cleansing of its faults in the present life will be punished more severely in the life to come. Let none of you, my dearest brothers, say what many ignorant people are accustomed to say: “It is enough for me if my soul reaches the punishments of purgatory.” Believe me, brothers: whoever says this from the heart has not considered what purgatory will be. For he does not know what he asks who desires purgatory. Just as a man is foolish who, when he could pay his debt while free, despises this and willingly goes to prison, so he must deservedly be judged the most foolish of all men who, when he can make satisfaction to God for his sins in this life, delays.

In this life repentance is fruitful, and voluntary satisfaction also highly meritorious; but after death there will be no place for repentance, and then each person will receive according to what he has done in his body, whether good or evil. Think on these things, brothers, while you live in health, lest, overtaken by the command of death, you at last grieve too late. Present salvation should not wait for an uncertain tomorrow; and he who can pay his debt with grace while free should not allow himself to be dragged to prison with torment.

As much as each person can in his whole life, so much let him take care to make satisfaction for his sins, since the spirit returns securely to the Lord when, while still existing in the body, it is daily purified by the fire of divine love. Here you have a place in which daily expiation is made for the guilt of public offenses; if you keep true and humble patience in your soul, you will without doubt obtain certain remission of all. As for secret and hidden sins, what you ought to do is taught to you not only by the Rule, but also by daily sacramental confession, which instructs you in all things.

For each day we are accustomed devoutly, one by one, to offer the Son of God at the altar; and none of us approaches that most holy mystery unless he has first, according to custom, made confession, because the greatest purity is required where the salvation of the whole world is renewed through the Mass. Amid these things, dearly beloved brothers, who among us would not daily make progress in the love of God, unless he disgracefully and utterly laid aside every desire for progress? For I dare to say that the monk who does not make progress in this holy congregation is plainly proved to have utterly forgotten his own salvation.

Believe me, brothers: God will save no one unwillingly. If you neglect your own progress, it will be imputed not to him but to you. For God is the intellectual light that enlightens every man coming into this world, as high-flying John says; but those who do not receive the light necessarily remain in darkness. He who turns his mind away from the faith that is in the Son of God remains in darkness; and if he does not do the works of light, faith will profit him nothing for salvation.

Outside the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ there is no salvation; and whoever thinks otherwise is not a Christian. Do not let the consideration of foolish pity seduce you, O man, into believing that anyone outside the faith of Christ, in any religion whatever, will be saved, however innocently he may live, even according to the law of nature; for just as outside the ark of Noah there was no life for human beings, so outside the Christian faith there is no salvation for anyone unto eternal life. For Christ, the only Son of God, is the sole savior of the world; whoever does not believe in him, the wrath of God remains upon him, and he will be condemned with the devil.

But you, my brothers, who now believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg you: henceforth live in such a way that, Christians in name and in deed, you may be able to come to fellowship with him who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.

Homily XIII.

On the True Penance of Monks. Homily XIII.

Although our whole way of life, my most beloved brothers, may rightly be called penance, since we seem both dead to ourselves and already buried to the world, nevertheless, because we are surrounded by mortal flesh and live as pilgrims in the midst of a sinful nation, it cannot happen that, driven by our own frailty, we do not offend daily in some matter. For the expiation of this, satisfaction must be made by penance not only generally but also specifically.

For penance is necessary for all mortals: by it they both lament the evils they have committed, with a purpose of amendment, and resolve thereafter, as far as can be done, to live without sin. It is proper to monks to do penance without interruption and continually to pray both for their own sins and for those of others. For a monk does not have the office of one who teaches, as Saint Jerome says, but of one who laments: either, if weak, he mourns himself, or, if perfect, the world, and in fear awaits the coming of the Lord.

If you are a perfect monk, do penance for the sins of others; but if you are weak, you must do penance all the more for your own. Therefore a monk must always do penance, for he is appointed before God as an intercessor not only for his own sins but also for the offenses of others.

But who among you, brothers, is not weighed down by his own fault? Who among you, I ask, does not need penance? I see you offending daily in many things, and I grieve; I perceive how you neglect penance for past sins, and I tremble. Do you not recognize that you are mortal? And why do you not live up to the name of monk, so that you do the necessary penance while there is time?

Remember, I beg you, the threatening Scripture, which says: “Do not delay to be converted to the Lord, and do not put it off from day to day. For his wrath will come suddenly, and in the time of vengeance he will destroy you.” For death will not pass you by; it is at the door for you old men, and lies hidden in ambush for the younger. But when you least expect it, the spirit, driven from the body, will depart.

Therefore, if you acknowledge that you are sinners, if you desire to come to the mercy of God, from now on, I beg you, take up penance, and amend your conduct in all things according to the purity of the rule. Let it be enough that until now you have neglected true penance and have continued for so long in a way of life that is far too lukewarm. For God, who overlooks the sins of men for the sake of penance, has not promised a prolonging of life to those who defer repentance.

Consider the long-suffering of God, who has mercifully put up with you for so long while you sin daily, and do penance, so that you may find the remission you desire. For the Lord says through the prophet: “I do not will the death of the wicked, but that he be converted from his evil way and live.” He also says in the holy Gospel: “Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.” Penance is a great good [unclear].

Penance for mortals cleanses filthy souls and calls minds back from the destruction destined for them. Hence Saint Augustine says: Penance heals sicknesses, cures lepers, raises the dead, increases holiness, preserves grace. Penance restores walking to the lame, sight to the blind, abundance to the barren, firmness to the weak; it drives away vices, adorns virtues, fortifies and strengthens the mind.

But that is true penance, brothers, whose necessary parts truly commend it as a whole: where contrition pierces the mind; where humble and pure confession discloses hidden sin; where obedience makes satisfaction according to its powers; where the penitent so grieves for past things that he truly guards himself at all times against things to come. True penance is that which the love of God adorns with groans and tears, where the sinner grieves more over the offense against God than he fears the torment of hell.

And who among us would not grieve, most beloved brothers? Who among the monks would not groan that he has sinned against the law of the Most High, from whom we have not only life, but also await the promise of eternal happiness? Woe to us, brothers, if in this life we have neglected to do true penance, for the continual practice of which we became monks. For our way of life ought to be occupied in Jesus Christ alone, crucified, and altogether alien to the consolations of the world.

Worldly consolations do not befit you, O monk; not pleasures, not delights, not laughter, not guffaws, not any comfort of the flesh, but sorrow and bitterness with tears. If you do not continually give yourself to these, you have lost the name of monk. It is not lawful for you to rejoice with the world, you who are dead to the world; nor ought you to seek any consolations of the present life, you who promised the Lord to serve in solitude according to the monastic rule. It is your part, monk, always and everywhere to despise all the joys of this world for the love of God, and to refuse to undergo no adversity or hardship for the honor of your Savior. For so the canon admonishes you, so the monastic institution commands, so the necessary reasoning of salvation advises.

You are commanded to be content with every vileness and extremity, and always fearful toward all things. But I see very many of you perverting the rule of salvation and living in the monastery otherwise than you ought. Monks now do not fear to seek delights in monasteries, though they came from the world to conversion poor and beggars. For the things they could not have outside, if they are now lacking in the monastery, they become rebellious against humility, as though they had suffered a most serious insult. Woe to the monks whom not the love of God but poverty has made cloistered, whose god is the belly, and who think of nothing less than poverty.

It is not for you, O monks, henceforth to seek delights in the monastery, which the rule commands you wholly to renounce. It befits you to despise all the pleasures of the present life and to love absolutely nothing in this world except God. For your whole way of life ought always to be bound to divine services, you who promised to live by the spirit and not according to the flesh. He who is a true [unclear] never lives without penance.

is a monk; but whoever truly longs for the banquets of eternal happiness daily chastises his body through abstinence. For it cannot be that a monk should enjoy both the delights of the present life and the eternal ones; rather, if he longs for those, he must despise these.

For the monk who professes the cenobitic rule is commanded to be a disciple of Christ the Savior; and if he desires to please him in truth, he must become his imitator. For thus he says in the holy Gospel: “He who wishes to be my disciple, let him follow me.” And what “let him follow me” means, the holy apostle John teaches in one of his letters, saying: “He who says that he abides in Christ ought himself also to walk just as he walked.” And the Lord himself again says in the Gospel: “He who wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter above me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

Your teacher has not spoken obscurely, O monk, nor wrapped his meaning in riddles, but has set forth a plain saying, by which you can put forward no excuse. For Christ himself is the example and rule of good and perfect conduct for every Christian, and especially for the monk; and the cloistered man who, with all his powers and with his whole heart, does not follow him, boasts in vain of the profession of faith. For just as a Christian is so called from Christ, so a disciple is named from imitation of his master. Therefore imitate your master in your conduct, so that you may prove yourself a true disciple of Christ.

For the Lord Jesus Christ, whose disciple you profess yourself to be, O monk, though he was rich, became poor for our sake; but you, though you are lowly and needy in the school of poverty, seek abundance of all things, and though your teacher commands you to despise everything for love of him, you in turn desire to possess everything in the monastery. Your Lord and teacher was obedient to the Father for our sake, even to the death of the cross; but you, full of pride and impatience, either refuse to obey your superiors for love of him, or obey unwillingly and with indignation.

For the sake of your salvation, he not only endured with the utmost patience throughout his whole life the words and insults of wicked men, but also for love of you bore blows, livid wounds, and dreadful injuries. He did not refuse even to undergo a most shameful death, so that he might call your soul back from the error of death to the life of eternal light. From the day of his birth he lived in the world poor and humble, filled with many tribulations and insults, so that by his teaching and benefits he might restore you, a most ruined man, to the knowledge and love of God.

For what would we be, if the Son of God had not appeared as man, except utterly lost? And what are we, if we do not imitate our master with all our powers, except ungrateful? Woe to us ungrateful mortals, who disdain to follow our most humble Lord and Savior. Let us look at our conduct, brothers, and compare the disciples to...

the master, whose name has been invoked over us, and we shall clearly understand how far we have withdrawn from the paths of our most kindly predecessor. But let us return to him with our whole heart, I beg you, and do penance, because we have withdrawn far from the way of salvation, serving the flesh rather than the spirit.

Let no one deceive himself with empty hope; let no one wait for the final hour of this life, when he can no longer sin, as the time for penance, because neither the length of life is certain nor delay in repenting safe. He who does not repent while healthy is foolish; and he who does not amend his vices when he can, by the just judgment of God loses the power he had put off using. For penance is fruitful when it has been voluntary, by freedom of choice; but when the danger of death is already pressing, it seems to be necessary rather than undertaken by the penitent’s own choice.

Let no one say in his heart, my brothers, let no one think that the labor of repentance is hard and therefore to be put off until the very last particle of this life. That thought is exceedingly dangerous, since the certain limit of life, the one which divine providence has fixed, just as it has willed it to lie hidden from all, so it will prolong it for no one who deliberately defers repentance. If we wish to be safe and secure in conscience, let us do penance while we are healthy, while we are able to sin, while we are not yet pressed by any necessity of approaching death.

For it is a very doubtful matter to do penance when necessity already compels, and the pressure of death makes you no longer able to sin: that is, when it is not you who have left your sins, but they that have left you powerless over them. O how many, deceived by the hope of a longer life, go down to the pit of eternal damnation, who in health despised doing penance. For the longer you put off penance, the less disposed to penance you will always be found. For malice gains strength with time, and there is no sin so small that it does not grow when neglected.

Therefore embrace penance while you are healthy, and do not put it off from day to day, because you understand what you can do today, but you do not know what tomorrow will bring. For each new day brings its own troubles, and he who today is not disposed to penance will perhaps be less fit for it tomorrow. But let none of you say, “What have I sinned, that penance should seem necessary for me, when my whole life is nothing other than a certain hard and prolonged necessity of doing penance?”

You have heard, with Scripture as witness, that there is no man upon earth who does good and does not sin, since no one is clean before God. For even if you do not commit the great crimes of human impiety, such as murder, theft, adultery, fornications, and the like, nevertheless, because you have been placed in that vocation in which you ought with all your strength to raise every effort toward the state of perfection, sins which are small for mortals living in the world are certainly imputed to you as more serious. For cloistered men must avoid, as far as possible, all sins, not only those that hinder salvation, but also those that stain the prescribed [unclear].

And which of you lives with such purity as monastic perfection requires? It is a grave sin for a monk if he abandons his effort toward perfection, if he lives negligently in the monastery, if he transgresses even one commandment of the rule and of the Gospel. And who among you, brothers, loves the Lord God with such sincerity, such charity, and such fervor of love as a man is bound to love his maker and redeemer? Or whom will you give me from among all of you who does not sometimes go too far either in taking food or in drink, beyond what befits the integrity of monks? Which of you does not offend in word? Or who is not sometimes troubled by evil thoughts? Whom among you has acedia not struck? And whom has gloomy sloth not disturbed? Who is there in this small congregation of yours whom pride does not touch, and whom impatience does not more often make a murmurer?

Let each one of you consider the paths of his manner of life, and he will find that in many things, even at any moment, he is at fault. For what if a monk has committed no evil? What if he has kept himself unstained from this wicked age? He will not be able to be perfect unless he has both turned away from evil and done the good that his perfection requires. For one without the other is not enough, but from both together perfection arises in a man.

Therefore, brothers, we must always keep watch with the greatest zeal, so that we may satisfy the institution of the holy fathers, according to which we solemnly bound ourselves by public profession to live, in order that we may direct our effort without interruption toward the perfection set before us. Let not the consideration of our own weakness draw us back from holy effort, because we are helped no less by the grace of the Creator than we run by our own desire. Just as every day, by living rather negligently in many things, we fall into fault on any occasion, so also at every moment, rising again from the sluggishness of mind, let us renew our holy effort in our good purpose.

Let us join tears to holy prayers, and always call upon the help of God with devout supplications. Let us keep charity inviolate in all things, since it is charity that covers the multitude of sins. Each day the good soldier of Christ who desires to be faithful to his Lord should examine his conscience by searching it at least once, and should weigh carefully how much he has advanced in holy desire, or fallen short in it, on that day. And whenever he finds that he has sinned in anything, let him at once do penance, and with tears ask mercy from the Lord. Let today’s salvation not wait for the uncertain morrow; and he who can immediately find pardon must in no way insert delay. Let him at once grieve in heart that he has sinned against the Lord; let him also renew his holy purpose with new fervor, and let him judge that he has utterly lost that day on which, by making progress, he has not become better.

Let prayer always be on the monk’s lips; let continual compunction be in his heart; let tears of devotion flow continually from his eyes, and [unclear] of inward love.

Let these exercises never depart from his memory. Let the most bitter remembrance of the Lord’s Passion often be in the mind of the cloistered man, and let us offer all the prayers that he makes to the Father in the power of the blood and wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let there always be on his lips words bearing before them the mark of a contrite mind, and let either prayer be offered to God or meditation on his words be turned over in the mind. Let the devout monk turn away from evil and do the good he can, with cheerfulness and with the discernment of the Spirit of God, since, as has been said, for doing penance it is not enough to change one’s conduct for the better and withdraw from evil deeds, unless one also strives to adorn one’s conscience with good works.

For true penance, then, four things are required, as you know, my brothers. The first is true contrition for sins, which is a sorrow of heart voluntarily undertaken in detestation of the evils one has committed. Of this Scripture says: “A contrite and humbled heart God will not despise.” And again: “Those who sow in tears shall reap in rejoicing.” For the companion of penance is the sorrow of contrition, and the greater it is, the more fruitful the penance will be. True contrition, indeed, is that which both sorrow of mind commends and continual cleansing by tears bears witness to.

Great is the usefulness of tears, because there is no sin so grave that contrition, accompanied by tears, does not blot it out. Hence the holy teacher Augustine says: “O humble tear, how powerful you are, and how full of virtue, for yours is the kingdom, yours is the power. You do not fear the gaze of the judge; when enemies accuse, you impose silence. Alone you enter to the king, but alone you do not depart. You conquer the unconquerable and bind the omnipotent.” The same man also says: “The holier anyone is, and the fuller of holy desire, the more abundant is his weeping in prayer.”

True compunction has sorrow; sorrow, however, is shown by tears, and by these penance is adorned as though with certain ornaments. True compunction makes the soul shudder at sin; and when it has begun from fear, increased by its own growth it gradually rises into love. Great is its virtue, and truly admirable its power, since all enormity of sins soon yields to it. For whomever true compunction of heart has made a suppliant, the merciful Lord at once hears him. O happy tears, O saving affliction, and truly sweet bitterness, which the devil fears, through which the pierced soul rises up to the mercy of God. For, as the holy Pope Gregory says, the more abundantly guilt is wept over, the higher is the knowledge of truth that is reached, because a conscience once polluted, baptized anew with tears, is renewed for seeing the inward light.

The second thing that belongs to the truth of penance is a firm purpose of amendment, since whoever has the word of confession in his mouth and does not have the purpose of amendment in his heart is either deceitful or empty. But whoever has it in his heart and not in his mouth is either proud or fearful, and is by no means fit for true penance. For Scripture says: “With the heart…” Homily XIII.

With the heart one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Although this saying of the lover of Christ is to be understood chiefly of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, nevertheless it seems rightly applicable to true penitence. For without confession of the mouth, contrition of the heart alone is not sufficient for penitence, especially from that time when the statute of the Church decreed confession to be necessary for salvation.

Therefore the third thing necessary for the truth of penitence is confession of the mouth; without it neither contrition nor the purpose of future amendment is sufficient. I know that none of you is ignorant what this saving confession ought to be like. Yet I say it, because perhaps it will not be useless: confession must be one’s own, entire, free, humble, spontaneous, and shamefaced. For the holy bishop Ambrose says that a shamefaced confession greatly helps God in forgiving sins to men, and that the punishment which we cannot avoid by defense we lessen by humble shame.

A great thing is the due confession of sins, because it quickly restores to spiritual health the soul of the one confessing, wounded by offenses; it also justifies the humbled mind and grants pardon for sins. For all our hope after the fall of sin consists in the humility of confession, because guilt is not dismissed unless it is revealed in confession, through the priest, to God who knows all things.

For in confession there is place for mercy, as Solomon says in the book of Proverbs: He who hides his crimes will not be directed; but he who has confessed them and abandoned them will obtain mercy. It is also written in the Psalm: I said, I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord; and you forgave the wickedness of my sin. The holy evangelist John also says in his first epistle: If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just, so that he forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all iniquity.

And the holy bishop Augustine says: Confession is the salvation of souls, the scatterer of vices, the restorer of virtues, the conqueror of demons, and the heaper up of all good things. It closes the mouth of hell and opens the gates of the heavenly Paradise. Cassiodorus too, commending the power of true confession, speaks thus: O blessed confession, which takes away everlasting disgrace, because whatever guilt penitence finds, it renders absolved for endless ages.

The fourth thing necessary for true penitence is satisfaction: by it, namely, we cut off and remove all the causes of sins, and for those things which we have wrongly committed we appease the Lord with holy works. Hence the divine Pope Gregory says: We by no means make satisfaction if we cease from iniquity, unless we also pursue, with contrary lamentations, the pleasures which we loved. The most holy Pope Leo also says in a sermon: By prayer God’s favor is sought; by fasting the concupiscence of the flesh is extinguished; by alms sins are redeemed; and at the same time, through all these things, the image of God is renewed in us.

Confession, moreover, is the voluntary accusation of the offender arising from shame, and, through the keys of the Church, making satisfaction for sins, with the obligation, by penance and at the command of the priest, of chastising in oneself those things which one has brought forth. Confession must be simple, humble, pure, faithful, frequent, bare and open, discreet, voluntary, one’s own, shamefaced, entire, secret, full of tears, made at the proper times, strong, and truly accusing oneself from the heart; for true penitence requires all these things, which so laments past sins that thereafter it commits no more things that must be lamented.

On the abstinence and fasting of monks. Homily XV.

Abstinence with fasting is a great and necessary good for a monk, dearly beloved brothers: namely, that in mind he not sin through desire of the flesh and evil thoughts, and that in body he abstain from foods and drinks that beget wantonness of soul. For the desire of the mind is quickly kindled into lust if the body is nourished too carefully.

Considering the very great usefulness of this good, the most holy Fathers of old, who handed down fixed rules of life to monks, all with one judgment established for us a definite measure of fasting, under whose moderation the body should take only so much refreshment from foods as nature required, not as much as the excess of the will desired. Holy Scripture also commends fasting to us in many ways, and mentions it so often with praise. For the Lord God says through the mouth of his prophet Joel: “Return to me with all your heart, in fasting, lamentation, and weeping.” In the book of Judith also it is read thus: “Know that the Lord will hear your prayers, if you remain steadfast in fastings and prayers before the Lord.” Likewise we read in Tobit: “Prayer with fasting and almsgiving is good, more than storing up treasures of gold, because almsgiving delivers from death, and it is this that purges sins.” Our Lord Jesus Christ also said to his disciples in the holy Gospel: “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled.”

But the best fasting of monks is to abstain from everything that can pollute the soul: that is, not to utter idle speech, to admit no vain, useless, or foul thoughts, to commit nothing unbecoming to a servant of God, and to omit nothing that belongs to the perfection of righteousness. For unless the mind fasts from vices and sins, bodily abstinence will profit nothing toward the soul’s salvation. Hence the holy priest Jerome says: “Your abstinence and fasting are the more pleasing to God, the more they are offered together with holy conduct, so that things which in others are coverings for vices may in you become ornaments of virtues.” For what good is it for the body to be made thin by abstinence, if the soul swells with pride? Or what virtue is there in wine...

Homily XV.

What good is it not to drink, and yet to be drunk with anger, lust, hatred, and envy? Or what will it profit us for eternal salvation, brothers, that according to the Rule of our holy father Benedict we do not eat meat, if we do not tame the vices of the flesh?

For the thrice-holy Pope Gregory says: “The body is worn down in vain by abstinence, if the mind, distracted by disordered impulses, is scattered among vices.” Hence Scripture rightly says: “Sanctify the fast.” To sanctify the fast is to show abstinence of the flesh worthy of God by joining it with other good works. For if abstinence from food alone made a man virtuous, there would have been no need to add, “Sanctify”; but because fasting alone does not suffice for the sanctification of the soul, it must be adorned with the beauty of all the virtues. For those who abstain from foods and do evil imitate the demons, who always fast and are never without sin.

A fast acceptable to God is to restrain the body by abstinence from desire for evil things, and continually to mortify the deeds of the flesh by the spirit of compunction for love of Christ. Let the mind of the one fasting be fervent in the love of God; let his conscience always be clean from vices, and the fasts of humble servants will please the Most High. Let monks have daily fasts, as the rule of our holy predecessor Benedict established; let their hearts be clean, as the Lord Jesus commanded in the holy Gospel; let their refreshment be moderate, fleeing satiety, because just as the body is corrupted by many and various diseases from excessive fullness, so the disordered motion of lust is stirred up in it. For modest and moderate food is both medicine for the body and a support of virtue for the soul.

For Saint John, the golden mouth, the bishop, says: “Nothing is so pleasant as food well digested and cooked; nothing so works health, nothing so sharpens the senses, nothing so drives away sickness, as moderate refreshment. For sufficiency with moderate nourishment produces both soundness and pleasure. But abundance causes disease, brings troubles, and generates various illnesses. For what excessive hunger does, immoderate fullness of foods is also accustomed to do. Hunger indeed carries a man off in a few days and frees him from this penal life; but excess of foods consumes and makes the human body rot, wastes it with long illness, and at last destroys it by a cruel death.”

Therefore, in order that you may live in mind and be healthy in body, my dearly beloved brothers, keep this rule of living which the holy Fathers prescribed for you by word and showed beforehand by living example: fleeing all luxury in foods and drinks, indulge the body only so much as is enough for good health, as nature requires. Food should allay hunger, not incite the body to lust; drink should quench thirst, not overthrow the mind or the senses; clothing should ward off cold, not make the soul grow soft in love of vanity. Always remember, brothers, that gluttony shamefully drove our first parents from the kingdom of paradise and innocence; they did not desire a bird, or a fish, or a calf.

they devoured, or a pig, so that you might think the food was at fault; rather, they presumed to take the vilest fruit against God’s command, so that you may know that not food, but appetite is liable to the fault of sin.

For it can often happen that a person takes richer foods without fault, while he governs his appetite, whereas another takes poorer foods not without guilt of conscience, when through immoderation he exceeds the measure of temperance. Therefore let none of you think himself safe from the vice of gluttony merely because he eats neither rich nor delicate foods, since it is not the food, but the appetite for food, that is held at fault. For it is quite possible for someone eating beans and vegetables to incur the guilt of sin, and for another taking the most delicate birds as food not to sin.

Hence one of the holy fathers says: “A belly filled with any foods at all produces the seedbeds of lust; nor can the mind prevail in managing the rudders of discretion when it has been choked by the weight of foods. For not only drunkenness from wine is accustomed to intoxicate the mind, but also excess in all foods makes it unsteady and wavering, and utterly strips it of every contemplation of integrity and purity.”

For this reason great discretion is needed, so that only the food necessary for sustaining life is given to the body, and no excess of indulgence occurs. Hence the divine Pope Gregory says: “It is a great labor of discretion both to give something and to deny something to the body that demands food, and by not giving to nourish nature.” For through abstinence the vices are to be extinguished, not the flesh; and through food the body is to be nourished, not sins. Thus it is necessary that a monk maintain the art of self-restraint in his diet, so that he kills not the flesh but the vices.

For often, while we pursue the enemy in the flesh, we severely slaughter, through immoderate abstinence, the spirit of devotion that we love. Very often too, while we show too much sympathy to the flesh and spare it as though it were a fellow-citizen, we nourish an enemy for battle against ourselves. But when the vice of gluttony rules, people lose everything they have done bravely, because when the belly is not restrained, all the virtues are at once overwhelmed. For one does not rise up to the struggle of the spiritual contest unless the enemy placed within ourselves, namely the appetite of gluttony, is first subdued by us with God’s help; since unless we overcome the things that are nearer to us, we hasten in vain to fight against those set farther away. For war is waged uselessly in the field against foreign enemies while a citizen plotting within the city walls is present. We never conquer the assaults of demons unless we first overcome gluttony in ourselves.

Brothers, let no one deceive himself with empty persuasion, so as to believe that there is no sin among beans and vegetables if the mind, with excessive pleasure, loosens the appetite for receiving them. For guilt can be present everywhere in taking food, when appetite is extended beyond the rule of nature. See: we never eat meat, whether in the monastery or outside it; fish are very rarely seen here in this rural countryside; no one among us has ever seen richer foods; we neither can have delicacies, nor...

Our foods are barley, oats, beans, peas, and vegetables, also milk, cheese, and eggs. From these we receive the daily supports of our life; and lest disgust at them arise, hunger stirs up appetite. Outside the season of the Lenten fast, fish are so rare for us that scarcely once in a month are a few, and very tiny ones, brought from the river Nabe. In the whole Bursfeld reform there is no monastery less provided with fish in time of need. But can we therefore not fall into the vice of gluttony, because we cannot find more sumptuous foods? Indeed, since the vice lies not in the food, as has already been said, but in the appetite, the eater of peas or beans can sin no less in eating than one who is accustomed to eat the most sumptuous and choice dishes. Poverty does not make us wholly secure from gluttony, although it lessens the occasions of sinning in more delicate fare.

We do indeed have simple and rustic food, by which nature is somehow sustained. This, my brothers, I beg us to take care over: that by excess our conscience not be polluted by that which produces nausea in the delicate. Let us take with patience and thanksgiving from what the Lord has given as much as necessity itself requires; and let us not think that the snares of the devil cannot harm us, since he overthrew the first human beings in Paradise not with richer food, but with a small and common apple. For the vice is not in the food, but in the appetite, when either we desire what is forbidden to us, or, greedily gaping after what is permitted, we use it otherwise than we ought.

Abstinence befits no one more than a monk, who, since he has been specially called to the warfare of Christ, ought not by his profession to be free for any pleasures whatever. Our poverty imposes on us a certain necessity of abstinence, because we can restrain ourselves to temperance all the more easily, the less we can find delights into which to flow away. Let us therefore, I beg, turn the hardships of want into weapons of salvation, so that the less we are refreshed with richer foods, the more purely we may fast in holiness of soul. For temperance is more easily preserved in poverty, while in riches it is more quickly endangered.

What the food of monks ought to be, blessed Jerome makes clear, saying in a certain letter to Paulinus: Let your food be cheap and taken in the evening, namely vegetables and legumes, and sometimes count it the highest delicacy to eat a few little fish. He who desires Christ and feeds on that heavenly bread does not greatly seek from what precious foods he may make dung. The lover of Christ loves abstinence, honors fasting as the one remedy of soul and body, and with the greatest care guards against his heart being weighed down with excess; nor does he take more food than nature, content with little, demands.

But the monk who casts aside fasting, who hates abstinence, the nurse of virtues, who gulps down food greedily, who drinks wine or strong drink, and whatever can intoxicate, to satiety, is unworthy of the very name of monk, and cannot be Christ’s [unclear].

to be a disciple. Woe to our times, in which many clerics and monks have now shamefully cast aside the virtue of abstinence; and those who ought to have shown the people of God the way of salvation no less by example than by word, given to feasting and continual drinking, and sunk in pleasures contrary to all clerical honor, hasten to go before them into the perdition of eternal death.

Scripture says: “The beginning of man’s life is bread and water.” But now our monks and cloistered men buy for themselves, at great expense, whatever is sold most dearly and whatever is found most luxurious; they bury it by gorging it into their bellies, and through intemperance corrupt both soul and body. Amid banquets they debate fasting, and when they are drunk they praise temperance. There each man boasts that he is the conqueror of vices, although he has already been overcome by gluttony and drunkenness.

“Take heed,” says our Lord Jesus Christ in the holy Gospel according to Luke, “lest your hearts be weighed down in gluttonous excess.” It does not befit a man dedicated to God to eat or drink to satiety, nor is it lawful for a monk to eat more than nature requires. Let eating calm hunger, not bring on fullness. Let belches, which satiety is accustomed to produce in banqueters, be far away; let vomiting and indigestions never be heard of among monks. It is fitting that all we cloistered men use a great moderation of discretion, so that the body is nourished with foods and drinks in such a way that, serving the spirit, it can live, but not so that, fattened, it begins to grow wanton against the command of the mind. Let satiety always be far away, since nothing so inflames the body and stirs the generative members as undigested food and a belly heated with wine or beer.

Hence blessed Jerome, admonishing Eustochium to temperance, the guardian of all virtues, says in a certain letter: “Let the bride of Christ flee wine as poison,” since wine and youth itself are weapons against adolescence, which is more inclined to gluttony. Avarice does not so shake youth, nor does pride puff it up, nor ambition delight it, as do those vices of the flesh which seem to us bound together with pleasure. We shall easily lack other vices if we keep watch even moderately in the fear of the Lord. But this enemy of ours is always shut up within; wherever we go, we carry this adversary with us. Wine and youth are a double fire of pleasure. Why do we add oil to the flame, or why do we supply fiery fuel to a little body already burning? Gluttony has overthrown many who were walking chastely in the middle of the road, and those whom the devil could not conquer by his own incitements, excessive drinking of wine has cast down into the depth of lust.

Therefore Benedict, the most holy founder of our way of life, when listing the instruments of good works, set among the chief ones: “to chastise the body, to embrace vigils, to love fasting.” For no one truly follows Christ who, nourishing his flesh delicately, lives in a monastery without daily abstinence. For moderate abstinence, pleasing to God, does many things in us.

Homily XV.

It works good things, if it continues with a religious intention until the end of life. For above all it increases merit, and nourishes in us every kind of virtue.

What was the reason that almighty God forbade our first parents to eat the fruit, under threat of death, except to show them the occasion of merit through the good of obedience? For, as Scripture bears witness, he created two intellects from the beginning, namely the angelic and the human, to whom, through grace, he might communicate himself for the enjoyment of eternal happiness. Yet although he created both by the gift of his grace, he most rightly ordained that they should become forever blessed also by their own merit, so that in them both mercy might have its place, and conversion might obtain the merit necessary for salvation.

But the angelic intellect was immediately divided in two: some, falling of their own accord through pride, while others, humble and subject through love of their Principle, cleaved to him. Those who apostatized from their Principle departed in misery; but these, for the merit of their cleaving to him, were endowed with everlasting blessedness.

The human intellect, however, was sent down into flesh; and soon, at the devil’s persuasion, it transgressed the command of God and feasted on the food forbidden to it. From this followed the ruin of the whole human race, which no one could take away except the Son of God, made man from the Virgin for our sake. For what condemned our first parents except the transgression of the command? God was not concerned about the food, but about obedience. For if man had abstained, as almighty God had commanded him, surely by this obedience he would have merited, in his innocence, the enjoyment of eternal happiness.

For it is established by the tradition of the Scriptures that man cannot be saved without the merit of free will, since, even if the grace of God works all things in all, nevertheless he will save no one without the cooperation of his own will, except only infants baptized in the name of the Trinity, and those who cannot have the free use of reason. For just as free will does nothing toward salvation without the grace of the Savior, so the grace of God will not save an adult without the merit of a good will.

But the first man, placed in Paradise, transgressed the command of God through intemperance, and did not have the merit of obedience in a good will; therefore he was cast out, wretched and unhappy. Yet the mercy of almighty God determined from eternity to restore the one who had fallen through weakness, knowing that he had been deceived rather by the suggestion of the envious serpent than by his own malice. He pardoned this guilt through the passion and death of his only-begotten Son, born in time of the Virgin, so that the one who perished by his own rashness might be restored to salvation by the obedience of the mediator.

For it was impossible for the human race, lost through disobedience, to come to the mercy of the Creator except through the obedience of such a mediator, who would be God and man, in whom there would be both the power of divinity and the innocence of nature. For we were blind through ignorance, and mute through silence. The mediator of God came, and Christ Jesus, appointed to enlighten every man coming into this world, gave mortals knowledge of God; and, dying for the lost, he sealed for the redeemed the greatest cause for love. He instructed the intellect through faith, by which we know God; he stirred the affection through his passion, so that we may deservedly love him above all things.

Therefore, if we love our Lord and Redeemer with unbroken sincerity, it is altogether fitting that for love of him we should discipline our body. For our abstinence will lead us to merit in a twofold way: namely, when by fasting we satisfy the statutes of the fathers through obedience, and when by abstaining out of charity toward God we show ourselves grateful to our Redeemer, who endured death for our sake.

Abstinence increases merit, commends obedience, bestows wisdom and learning, purifies affection, enlightens the intellect, grants victory against demons, perfects religion, obtains pardon for sins, subdues the unlawful motions of the flesh, wins efficacy for prayers, and displays to one’s neighbor an example of virtue. Abstinence purifies the mind, adorns the soul with virtues, and heals the weak little body. Whoever loves abstinence is wise; whoever loves fasting is a strong ruler. A sober mind is the dwelling place of wisdom; but whoever pursues banquets will die in poverty of spirit. It is hard for a man to become wise who lives a life of pleasures.

Nature is content with few things, and the health of life is preserved in moderation. Long-continued voracity has harmed many, and more have perished by drunken excess than by the sword. For habit seems to alter nature, and the longer it has grown strong, the stronger it will then be in any undertaking.

There is among the Swiss a man named Nicholas, whose abstinence has turned the people of all Germany to admiration; and today, as you have heard, he is named by everyone with the title of holiness. He was once a peasant in a certain Swiss village, and according to the custom of the pagans he used to pronounce judgment among fourteen for quarrelling villagers. It happened at one time that he could not revoke a sentence of his associates which he thought unjust; and fearing danger to the salvation of his soul, he left house, wife, children, and all the business and possessions of the world, and withdrew alone into a neighboring wood for love of God, where he lives a solitary life.

And behold, today it is the twentieth year since, entering solitude, he has taken no human food. I am saying things very well known to all; nor do I think there is any man living in Germany who has not heard the fame of this miracle. And lest anyone perhaps in the future believe that we have been deceived by simulation, we call as witnesses the Swiss, together with the bishop of the church of Constance, who observe his habits and life with the utmost care. He is a man of very keen intelligence, and though he is utterly ignorant of letters, nevertheless, like another Antony the hermit of old, he understands the sense of the Scriptures extremely well. We saw the things which he most eloquently debated with a certain master concerning the sacrament of the altar, things at which he who [unclear] heavenly matters by [unclear] will not be able to marvel enough.

Homily XV.

He has by no means tasted the zeal for contemplation. I have introduced these things, brothers, so that you may understand that nothing is so difficult that habit, continued over a long time, does not make it easy. This holy man, as he himself confesses, did not suddenly arrive at the height of this abstinence, but gradually over time, by degrees, little by little subtracting a little from his food, until at last he was able to abstain altogether. For, as we have said, he had abstained from every perishable food for almost twenty years.

By the example of this man, my brothers, let each of you learn daily to subtract something from his food and drink for the love of God, and accustom himself to give his body not as much as it can take, but as much as is sufficient to sustain nature. For nature, as Boethius testifies, is content with few and very small things. Many dishes produce many illnesses, and gluttony of the belly dulls the mind and torments life. For the wise man says: “The sleep of the laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the fullness of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.”

The belly should be filled without satiety, and one should rise from table without disgust, so that we eat not as much as we can, but as much as, at nature’s demand, we ought. Monks especially must avoid variety of foods; for whoever uses varied dishes, trying to put into his stomach more than nature requires, feasts not without the vice of gluttony. The strength of our body must be restored by moderate and simple food, not shamefully oppressed by varied and many foods, because the body was not created for food, but food for the body. That variety of foods brings diseases upon the body we prove from the temperance of the ancients, whom a uniform simplicity of foods preserved for a very long time in this life.

Our most holy founder, Benedict, the most modest sacred teacher of all the leaders of monks, prescribed for us a rule adorned with the highest discretion; in it, wishing to show monks the measure of foods, he says: “We believe that for the daily meal, whether at the sixth or at the ninth hour, two cooked dishes are sufficient for all tables, on account of the different infirmities, so that anyone who perhaps cannot eat from one may be refreshed from the other. Therefore two cooked dishes should suffice for all the brothers. And if there are fruits there, or fresh vegetables, let a third be added.”

If I understand our lawgiver’s mind soundly, he allowed monks two cooked dishes where the necessity of infirmity requires it, not for the filling of the appetite of the healthy. For a monk who is healthy is rightly excepted from this indulgence, so that he is refreshed by only one cooked dish. But in my judgment the sick man is rightly permitted to be refreshed from both, since no excess is to be feared in him. Yet since we cannot all do all things equally, and one person needs more food while others need less, it is impossible to prescribe one form of abstinence for all, but [unclear].

It is left to the judgment of each person’s discretion, that he should take only as much as necessity demands, not as much as the pleasure of appetite commands. This above all must be guarded against: that immoderate fullness of food not creep in, which defiles the soul when either disgust follows refreshment, or heavy acedia follows the mind. Vomiting that proceeds from fullness is for dogs rather than for monks. The Christian religion especially detests a man who is a glutton, since the delights of the servants of God are not food and drink, but piety and justice, because God is worshiped by purity of faith, and to each person what is his own is justly administered.

Therefore, whoever you are who desire to please God with your whole heart, whoever you are who hasten to arrive at the joys of eternal happiness, appoint for yourself a measure of fasting according to the measure of your strength, and apply the greatest care that, while fasting, you be constant in prayer, just in judgments, outstanding in brotherly love, patient under injuries, humble under rebukes, circumspect in speech, clean in conscience, fervent in the love of God, and in all your actions, with prudence accompanying you, filled with fear. Flee useless and idle words, and be persevering in good works at all times, having constancy in adversities, watchfulness in temptations, continence in refreshment, and simple purity in heart.

Let fasts be moderate and holy in all humility of mind, so that they weaken the body in such a way that they do not lift the mind into pride, lest the exercise of humility become material for vices. Fasting detests idleness, does not love wordiness, loves solitude, and applies itself to prayers and tears. Fasting, as holy Ambrose bears witness, is the death of guilt, the destruction of offenses, the remedy of salvation, the root of grace, the foundation of chastity. By this step the righteous Moses came to God; by this gift Elijah ascended into heaven in a chariot before he died.

Those who walk in the spirit love fasting; and those who profess chastity necessarily flee an abundance of delights. For hunger is a friend to virginity, an enemy to wantonness. Fullness, however, betrays chastity and nourishes wantonness. For fasting extinguishes the burning arrows of the devil, the urgency of prayer restrains them, and the continuance of vigils in the love of Christ repels all the snares of demons.

Hence holy Pope Leo says in a certain sermon: What can be more effective than fasting, by whose observance we draw near to God, and, resisting the devil, overcome a flattering life? For fasting has always been food for virtue, and abstinence the nourishment of holy chastity. From abstinence, indeed, chaste thoughts proceed; it begets reasonable desires, modest counsels too; and through voluntary afflictions the flesh dies to concupiscences, while the spirit is renewed in virtues.

Therefore, my brothers, let us love fasting with the love of virtue, for the sake of him who did not refuse to undergo death for us; and let us abstain not only from illicit things, but also, as far as possible, from permitted things, so that we who have offended in many ways against the commandments of salvation may, in compensation of satisfaction, henceforth keep ourselves from every pleasure.

Homily XV Let us restrain ourselves. Let us fast from every sin; let us take no food of malice; let us devour no feasts of pleasure; nor let us be drunk with the wine of luxury. Let us fast from all depravity; let us abstain from evil works. Let us not speak useless, vain, idle, buffoonish, and harmful words; and let us always beware of harmful and perverse thoughts, which separate us from God. Let us keep most diligent watch in prayers to God, knowing that he whom we call upon with our prayers is everywhere most present to us. Let his praise be always in our mouth, and, since we cannot praise his magnificence in speech, let us adore him in our heart with the desires of a most chaste love. For then our fasts are pleasing to him, when they have been adorned with holy works and continual prayers. For the prayer of the righteous person, as sacred Scripture bears witness, pierces the heavens; and it becomes the more efficacious, the more it is found adorned with charity and fasting. Let us join to it, as it were, two wings, fasting and charity, and it will obtain for us from the Lord whatever we ask that is conducive to salvation.

On the Lenten fast of monks. Homily XVI.

Since, by the bounty of our Lord Jesus Christ, dearest brothers, we have begun the Lenten fast, reason demands that we say something briefly about its observance. For although you have many writings of the holy fathers concerning this most sacred exercise of fasting, nevertheless, because I find that my sermons among you are not wholly fruitless, I gladly share for your edification what the Lord has granted.

For, as blessed Jerome bears witness, the act of a living voice has a certain hidden operation within, which in the adorned Greek language he called energy, and a discourse spoken by the mouth of one who goes before is stronger for persuasion. But I, set apart in your midst by the name of shepherd alone, confess myself to be a young man, unlearned, and lacking at once the experience and discretion necessary for the governance of souls. Hence it comes about that I speak with a certain blush and modesty: a young man among elders, an ignorant man among the learned, a disciple among masters. Therefore I beg that none of you despise the simplicity of my speech, that none take it hard that I speak, since even if I am not fit for speaking, nevertheless by reason of the office of pastoral care committed to me I acknowledge myself bound before God to admonish you.

Your charity gives me boldness to speak, and the more ready you show yourselves to listen, the more you stir me to speak. Nor will any labor be burdensome to me, however great it may seem, by which the salvation of your souls is brought to completion. Help me with your prayers, that the Lord Jesus may speak in my mouth and grant strength to my small talent to bring forth into the midst whatever can produce in you an increase of holy fervor. For, as much as I desire, to profit your charity by sermons I cannot [serve you], because I am too much compelled to be occupied with secular affairs. Hence only on feast days, and in that part of the night which after the night lauds I am accustomed to spend sleepless, do I serve you by exhorting you, setting down in little pages what occurs to me to say.

And so I wished to introduce today’s discourse from the Rule of our most holy father Benedict, who speaks thus about the Lenten observance: “Although at every time the life of a monk ought to have the observance of Lent, nevertheless, because this virtue belongs to few, we therefore advise that in these days of Lent they guard their life with all purity, and together wash away in these holy days all the stains and negligences of other times. This is then done worthily if we restrain ourselves from all vices and devote ourselves to prayer with tears, to reading, and to compunction of heart.”

If this virtue belongs to few, that they should at every time lead lives of Lenten observance, it is now plainly clear that few monks live in religion according to the purity of the Gospel, since all who profess the warfare of Christ are bound to direct their effort toward the height of perfection. For a monk, according to the interpretation of his name, is solitary; and he is believed then to live rightly in the monastery according to the Gospel and the Rule which he has professed, when, having despised worldly things and honors for the love of God, he lives before God and men in all purity of heart, vigorous in work, clean in thought, sparing and peaceable in speech.

This is the life of a monk that has Lenten observance at every time: to chastise the body for the love of God through abstinence, and to nourish the mind through inward compunction. He lives rightly who lives justly, who loves God above all things, who with the highest zeal and the highest diligence observes his commandments in words and holy works. For he is a true monk of Christ who imitates Christ with all his strength.

But if you wish to imitate Christ, O monk, observe most diligently what I am about to say. Flee the world and all comforts of the flesh, so that you may deserve truly to be solitary. Never allow vain, useless, foul, and harmful thoughts to remain in your heart, but always think on something good, and let the memory of the Lord’s passion never withdraw from your mind, so that each day with thanksgiving you may contemplate the Lord hanging on the cross. Consider God as present to you everywhere, who sees, knows, and understands whatever you have either thought or done, since nothing is hidden from him.

Keep your heart clean from every stain of sin, and always have a pure conscience burning with the true love of Christ. Let no idle time fly away from you, but let thought always find you engaged in good works. Do not grow sluggish with much sleep, and make yourself far removed from every acedia of lukewarmness. Embrace moderation in food and drink, and live as sparingly as is permitted, so that the body, moderately sustained, may always serve the spirit in humility, and by no means against the command of reason [unclear].

Homily XVI.

Let him rise. As soon as you sense any sluggishness arising in you, flee to the remembrance of the most bitter Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and call back to mind whatever can most quickly drive away acedia. Break off all delays, I beg you, because sluggishness of mind, if ignored, suddenly increases, and acedia, if it is not at once extinguished by a renewed fervor of mind, is immediately strengthened into grave ruin of the soul.

For among all evils in a monk this is the worst: if through sluggishness and acedia he gives place in his heart to a seedbed of vices. And you, monks, must keep watch against this beast not only every day, but every hour and every moment, because once it has been admitted into the heart, it never enters alone; rather, the whole heap and spring of all vices accompanies it. There is no more destructive plague for a monk than bodily acedia, by which every fervor of devotion is extinguished, and, in place of faithful service, the mind, through the interruption brought by idleness and leisure, is driven headlong into the pit of despair. Whoever allows acedia to linger quickly falls away from the purpose of holiness.

Against this Solomon admonishes you in the book of Proverbs, saying: “Go to the ant, sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom: though she has no guide, nor teacher, nor ruler, she prepares her food in summer and gathers at harvest what she may eat.” And again he says: “Desires kill the sluggard, because his hands refused to work at anything.”

Nothing is worse for those who have professed the purpose of holiness than idleness, because it not only accumulates nothing good, but also consumes and scatters everything previously accumulated. For the fervor of holy devotion rejoices in progress and advances; but through cessation it grows sluggish and little by little, not to say suddenly, vanishes. For sloth is the root of despair, and the mother and nurse of all vices. For just as a garment both produces and nourishes the moth, so the most destructive plague of acedia both gives birth to and fosters despair.

This beast is accustomed to trouble no one more than monks, and especially those who lead a withdrawn life in solitude. Therefore you must take the greatest care, monks, against this enemy of the salvation of souls, and you must fight it bravely not by fleeing but by resisting. You must diligently consider that no one has attained the honor of holiness by sluggishness and sloth, nor has anyone merited the kingdom of eternal happiness without great and continual labor.

Therefore the mind must always be renewed by daily and fresh increases of virtues, and this dangerous journey of life must be measured not by what has passed, but rather by what remains. Let no one promise himself security in this life, which is entirely called temptation, full of as many dangers as there are affections in the soul; but let each person take care that one who could become better from worse does not become worse from better.

And especially in these holy days let us all take care, as much as we can, to become better, adding for ourselves, according to the counsel of our holy forerunner, something to the fixed measure of our service: namely special prayers, and abstinences from food and drink.

abstinence, so that each one, beyond the measure enjoined on him, may of his own will, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, offer something to God, that is, withhold from his body food, drink, sleep, talkativeness, and buffoonery, and await holy Easter with the joy of spiritual longing. For he is shown to be but little religious as a monk at other times, who on these holy days is not found more religious, more fervent in the love of God, and more devout.

Hence the holy Pope Gregory says in a certain homily: “Lent must be observed with the utmost care, so that during it the fast, apart from Sundays, which are withdrawn from abstinence, is in no way broken, unless illness prevents someone; for these days are the tithe of the year, which we are commanded to offer to the Lord.” Saint Ambrose likewise says: “He keeps Lent who by fasting and watching ascends to Easter. For just as at the remaining time of the year fasting is a reward, so in Lent not to fast is a sin. Those fasts are voluntary, but these are necessary; those come from choice, these from law. To those we are invited; to these we are compelled. And therefore whoever passes beyond the appointed number by eating on one day is accused not as a violator of one day, but is charged as a transgressor of the whole of Lent.”

In these sacred days all desires of the flesh must be restrained; the body must be chastised through abstinence, so that if perhaps at other times we have lived less temperately, we may in some way make amends for it by this Lenten fast. Therefore, dearest brothers, let us follow the admonitions of our most holy father Benedict, and with as much diligence as we can let us exercise ourselves in holy works, withholding something each day from our body, for the love of God, in food and drink, so that we may prove ourselves true servants of God.

Then our holy founder adds, saying: “Yet this very thing which each one offers he should suggest to his abbot, and it should be done with his prayer and consent, because what is done without the permission of the spiritual father will be reckoned to presumption and vainglory, not to reward. Therefore all things must be done with the abbot’s consent.”

The words of our holy lawgiver are clear, brothers, so that no one can have recourse to the veil of ignorance. For if all things must be done with the abbot’s consent, then without his permission absolutely nothing is to be done. Indeed, the more some good work is adorned by many virtues, the more it must not be doubted that it is of greater merit before God. Therefore, when a monk, by the leave and blessing of his abbot, withholds from his body some food or drink for the love of God, he will receive from the Lord not only the promised reward of eternal fullness for that abstinence itself, but also the kingdom for humility, and for the merit of holy obedience he will obtain without end the fellowship of all the saints in heaven.

For the monk who, once professed, has submitted his head to monastic institutions has resigned his will to Christ in the hands of the abbot; and if afterwards he again usurps it for his own judgment, he has now shamefully [unclear] Christ.

denied. For what else is a monk who usurps his own will, if not an unjust possessor of another’s property? Let the monk, therefore, be always humbly subject to his abbot in all things for the love of Christ; let him presume to do nothing at all against his command, and let him omit nothing, or neglect nothing, that has been enjoined upon him by him. Let him take the greatest care lest by restless conduct he either grieve or disturb his pastor; let him not murmur against him, nor disparage him, nor say any evil whatever against him. Rather, let him revere him with the sincere affection of charity as the vicar of Christ, and not grieve his spirit by troublesome or disorderly words or deeds. Let him also assist him, as far as he can, in his labors, and intercede for him continually before God with prayers. Monks sin greatly against God when they are not afraid to grieve their abbot by their troublesome disparagements and corrupt ways.

Therefore, whatever monk desires to be good, whatever monk truly wishes to be devout in the Lord, let him always and everywhere venerate his abbot with pure love as the vicar of Jesus Christ in the monastery; let him humbly obey his commands in all things, and in no way depart from his direction.

The abbot, for his part, should strive to show himself in all things a worthy shepherd to his monks, one who feeds the sheep of Christ entrusted to him both by word and by example, in all gentleness of charity. Let him not trouble the brothers without just and reasonable necessity. Let him not be a despiser of the holy community. Let him recognize himself as steward of the monastery’s goods, not lord. Let him not be a mocker of his subjects, not turbulent, not troublesome, not a tyrant, but their sincere lover: gentle in speech, mild and upright in conduct, holy in his way of life, clean in conscience, always devout in mind toward God.

Let him at all times bear solicitous care for the souls entrusted to him, and neglect nothing that seems able to conduce to their salvation. Let him not on that account exalt himself on high because he has been set as ruler of others, but let him remember that he must fear so much the more, as he is most certainly bound to render an account for all in the dread judgment of God. Let him correct the proud, rebellious, and contumacious as a lord; but let him kindly cherish the humble, obedient, and tractable as a most gentle father, and wisely distribute to each his due without respect of persons. Let him always consider himself the mother and nurse of the monks; and therefore he ought not to embitter with troublesome words and harsh invectives those whom he can bring back to better things by gentleness.

Let him always bear solicitous care for the sick, and make provision for all in such a way that they have no just cause for murmuring. In his own weaknesses let him learn how he ought to have compassion on his subjects. For he cannot be a good shepherd of souls who disdains from the heart to suffer with the needs of his sickly subjects. But he can become a good abbot among monks who knows how to adapt himself to the persons of the weak, so that whenever a brother asks something of him, [he considers] the condition of the person...

On the Lenten fast of monks.

Taking upon himself in his own heart the position of the petitioner, let him say: “What would I wish to be done for me in this matter, according to the right judgment of reason, if I were in the position of the petitioner?” Indeed, if the abbot imagines himself a subject, he will not send anyone away from him saddened.

We have already said, brothers, what sort of men you ought to be toward us for the love of God, so that, being good monks, you may truly please the Lord Jesus. Nevertheless you have heard what kind of shepherd I ought to show myself to you; whether I do so or not, you yourselves will judge better than I. For we shall fast in vain, and shall find no fruit of Lenten observance, unless we all remain in true brotherly charity, with purity of heart, in the love of God.

What does it profit eternal salvation to afflict the body by abstinence and fasting, and not to be of one accord before God in the true charity of ecclesiastical unity? Or what good will it do to abstain from richer foods and defile the conscience with evil works or thoughts? For, if the fasts we have begun are to be pleasing to God, they must not only be alien and far removed from vices and sins, but also adorned with the fullness of all virtues.

For holy Ambrose says: “What does it profit to fast with the belly and to indulge in hunting? to abstain from foods and to wander in sins? Do you think, brothers, that he fasts who at first dawn does not keep vigil in the church, does not seek out the holy places of the blessed martyrs, but rises in the morning, gathers his servants, sets out nets, brings out dogs, searches through groves and woods, and, I say, drags his servants along with him, who perhaps are more eager to hasten to church? To his own pleasures he adds the sins of others, not knowing that he will be guilty both of his own fault and of the ruin of his servants.”

And Saint Leo the Pope says: “The whole substance of our fast does not stand in abstinence from food alone. For food is not fruitfully withdrawn from the body unless the mind is called back from every iniquity.”

The blessed Jerome also says: “What does it profit for the body to be made thin by abstinence, if the soul swells with pride? What virtue is there in not drinking wine, and being drunk with anger, hatred, and the other poisonous cups of the soul?”

Therefore let none of you promise himself holiness from abstinence from foods alone, since whatever is required for true repentance is judged necessary also for fasting. For fasts profit unto salvation for those who are contrite for their sins in a true purpose of amendment, who fervently devote themselves to good and holy works. Therefore those who fast from food and drink must also abstain from all vices, so that the mind, adorned with the beauty of virtues, may sweetly burn in the love of Christ and by no means grow lukewarm in the progress of inward conduct.

For abstinence is no virtue if it has not been adorned with works of charity. Therefore hear my counsel, O monk, if you wish to make your fast fruitful before God: first cleanse your conscience from every stain of sin, so that no desire for evil may remain in you, so that your mind may become fervent in the exercise of divine love and be laudably adorned with all virtues.

By the remedy of contrition and confession wash away your past sins, and by persevering in prayers with tears strengthen your mind, with God’s help, against all temptations. Toward God, as much as you can, be fervent in the exercise of love; toward yourself, be well at peace in a pure conscience; toward your brother, be rightly ordered in true charity. Always be foremost in humility, firm in constancy and obedience, shining in chastity of mind and body, gentle in meekness, a monk in deed, and continually kindled with desire for perfection. If you commend your abstinence by this kind of cleanness and purity, you will fast rightly.

Diligently exercise your mind in meditation on the Passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so that no day may pass on which, with thanksgiving, you do not at least once run through his life and death in meditation with tears. For crude and exceedingly undevout, not to say ungrateful, is the Christian who is so immersed in temporal affairs, or so occupied with the pleasures of the flesh, that he does not daily, at least once, remember with thanksgiving the most bitter Passion of his Redeemer. But the monk who forgets the benefits of our Lord Jesus Christ, who does not once each day recall his Passion with thanksgiving, who does not every day meditate on the evangelical law of the Lord, is rightly judged the most ungrateful of all men.

For nothing is more powerful than that prayer which is offered to God the Father in union with, and in the power of, the Lord’s Passion. Most justly is that spirit to be condemned which, redeemed by the most precious blood of Christ, is led astray by the pleasures of its flesh so as not to remember such great benefits of God toward it. For there was no cause for the Son of God to become man except that he willed to justify us sinners: born in the world for us, suffering in the world for us, and cruelly dying on the wood for our crimes. He, the just one, came into the world to justify us who were sinners; the merciful one came to the impious, so that we might learn mercy, humility, and patience from him. The physician came to the sick, life to the dead, compassion to the despairing; it was not our merits that drew him down from heaven into the world, but our sins.

It is fitting, therefore, my brothers, that with all devotion we celebrate this Lenten fast dedicated to his most sacred Passion, since he first deigned to do such great things for our salvation and, in order to rescue us from the destruction of death, did not hesitate to give himself over to death for us. Let us do, for love of Christ, whatever good we can; let us endure, in view of his Passion and death, every adversity that befalls us in this world, since the Lord Jesus, who out of charity willed to suffer for us, has truly shown himself most worthy that we should love him with all our heart. For if, brother, you acknowledge yourself a sinner, Christ saved you by his death. Contemplate him hanging on the Cross as you ought, and you will be healed from every bite of sin. For nothing is found in this world more effective for healing the wounds of conscience, nothing more

[unclear] for cleansing the sight of a frightened mind than diligent meditation on Christ’s wounds. For the most precious blood of the Lord, poured out, has been made a sufficient medicine for sin. Hence the holy bishop Augustine says: “Brothers, that we, wounded by sin, may be healed, let us look upon Christ crucified. For just as those who looked upon the bronze serpent in the desert did not perish from the bites of serpents, so those who with faith and devotion look upon the death of Jesus Christ are healed from the bites of sins.”

But if you trust that you have been justified from sin, then all the more, and more fervently, must you look upon Christ hanging on the cross, without the merit of whose passion no one lives righteous on earth. For outside faith in Christ there is no righteousness; and however religiously a man may live, if he does not believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, he will in no way attain eternal salvation, but the wrath of God remains upon him, and he will necessarily perish forever. Christ’s death opened the gate of salvation, through which no one else can enter except one who faithfully believes in Christ. For this reason Christ humbly submitted himself to the condemnation of death, that he might free believers from the yoke of perpetual damnation.

O infinite charity, O mercy without measure, who among those who believe in you, eternal Majesty, would not marvel at such astounding benefits granted to us? For your Passion, Lord Jesus, is the price of our salvation, the final refuge of sinners, the singular remedy of infirm minds, the fountain, origin, and end of all good things. Therefore now, dearest brothers, let us recall and diligently bring back to memory the bitterness of the Lord’s Passion, so that, since we necessarily recognize ourselves to be sinners, we may at last be justified through the merit of that same Savior of ours.

For meditation on the Lord’s Passion surpasses all exercises of this world, if it is continued for a long time with the fervor of inward devotion. The mind of that monk which, kindled by zeal for divine love, has been accustomed daily, with tears, to keep the memory of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ for at least a short hour, does not easily lie open to the suggestions of demons. For the heart which the love of Jesus possesses always remains inaccessible and closed to all evil thoughts.

Happy indeed is that monk, and never to be named except with honor, who meditates day and night with loving zeal on the teaching and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ; who never forgets his Savior; who, whether he eats or drinks or does anything else, always beholds with the eyes of the mind the Lord Jesus hanging on the cross. No destructive thoughts move about in his heart; no evil or idle word proceeds from his mouth; he thinks of nothing but Jesus crucified for us; and whatever he says sounds of Jesus or of righteousness. As soon as he sees a painted image of Jesus crucified, he dissolves into tears, and, made as it were senseless by the exceeding desire of his mind, he is filled with sweetest bitterness. He cannot admit any consolations of the present life, because, when his Lord in heaven Homily XVI.

When he thinks of dwelling there, he weeps over his exile prolonged on earth. He loves nothing in this world except Jesus; he seeks nothing other than him crucified. If riches are present, he utterly refuses to set his heart on them; but if they are lacking, he does not seek to find them. For since he knows himself to be a disciple of the poor Jesus, he understands very well that the riches of this world are a great obstacle to Christian perfection. Having scant food and a poor covering for his body, he is content with his Lord, who became poor for us and foretold that those who hunger for righteousness are blessed.

Happy, I say, is that monk who can truly say with the holy martyr of Christ, Theophorus: “My love is crucified, and therefore my heart receives no consolation of this world.” And that saying of the Christ-loving Paul: “The world is crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Now therefore, my dearest brothers, hear my counsel, and sanctify the fast you have begun by continual remembrance of the Lord’s Passion. For I tell you that, among all the exercises of monks, none can be holier, none more acceptable to God, none more wholesome for you, than that which is practiced in meditation on the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ with daily diligence and with the compunction of inward love. For this exercise of the saving Passion suddenly makes a penitent out of a sinner, a devout man by wondrous compunction out of one who is lukewarm and dry, and a just man out of an impious one. It covers a multitude of sins; it gives strength to the spirit against demons; it sets an end to all vices; and it gives strong increase to the holy virtues of the soul.

Devout and continual remembrance of the Lord’s Passion purifies the conscience of the one who meditates, enlightens the understanding in every knowledge of truth, and sweetly inflames the affection in the love of God. Devout meditation on Christ’s Passion makes one despise all the delights of this world and fear nothing, however hard or contrary. It destroys lust; subdues luxury of both mind and body; drives away envy; restrains gluttony; calms avarice; sets sloth aflame; softens anger; and roots out pride. Moreover, no passion for any carnal thing wearies the mind of the man whom the Passion of Christ truly occupies.

O how sweetly he burns whom the memory of Jesus’ Passion gently inflames; and how happily that mind grows fervent which embraces continual meditation on Christ’s death. O good Jesus, my crucified love, who are the salvation and savior of faithful souls, grant us to keep continual remembrance of your Passion; grant your servants always to commend the fasts they have begun with good works, because then our abstinence will be most pleasing to your uncircumscribable majesty, when it has been adorned by meditation on your precious blood; you who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

On the sleep and waking of monks.

On the sleep and waking of monks. Homily XVII.

The monk who always thinks he will die permits no idle time to pass. For Scripture says: “Remember your last things, and you will not sin forever.” On the contrary, concerning the forgetful and the sluggish it is written: “They are a nation without counsel and without prudence. Would that they were wise and understood, and would foresee their last things.” The memory of death brings watchfulness into the soul and extinguishes every disordered thought of the mind. Whoever rightly fears death is never sluggish in good work.

For the wise man says: “Whatever your hand is able to do, do it earnestly, because neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge will be among the dead, where you are hastening.” For the monk who is a true worshiper of God spends no moment of time uselessly, but by night and by day, in the exercise of good work, he continually practices watchfulness of mind with the greatest devotion; and, though sleeping in body, in his soul he says constantly to God’s messengers: “I sleep, and my heart keeps watch.” Sleep is the image of death and the binding of the bodily senses; but one who is a true lover of Christ keeps watch in mind even while sleeping in body, and, praying without ceasing, cries to the Lord with the affection of charity: “Before you is all my desire; dreaming of you, I think of you, Jesus crucified, my love.”

I blush, my brothers, and am deeply ashamed to bring forward a discourse on the watchfulness of monks, because when I recall to mind the practice of keeping vigil among the holy Fathers who went before us, I recognize with sorrow how far our weakness stands from their perfection. They, kindled with divine love, often passed whole nights without sleep in the praises of God; but to us even a span of eight hours for sleeping sometimes scarcely seems enough, of which we do not cease complaining that the five before Matins and the three afterward are too short.

For the true abstinence of monks consists not only in sparing use of food and drink, but also in the continuation of vigils for the praise of God, because that mortification of the flesh is foolish in which the belly is restrained from foods and the whole body is fattened through sleepiness. For the body is refreshed for its subsistence not only by food and drink, but is also restored by the quiet of sleep. What sort of fasting by monks is it to be sparing by abstaining from foods and drinks, and to indulge in sleep to satiety? It makes little difference whether you refresh the body with food or with sleep, since in both satiety is a vice.

Therefore the ancient men and the first leaders of the monks, observing temperance in sleeping no less than in eating and drinking, remained most continent in both. Some of them, standing on their feet, and others lying on the bare ground, granted nature only the scantiest sleep. We know that one of these, not least in the merit of holiness, said: “One hour is enough for a monk to sleep,” Homily XVII.

if he is a fighter and an adversary of vices. For sleep nourishes sensuality no less than food and drink. A certain other of the saints wished two or three hours to suffice a monk for sleeping, so that he might commend sparingness in food also by moderation in rest. But the more recent reformers of our order, who under the name of the Bursfeld Union handed down to us throughout Germany a manner of living according to the purity of the Rule, considering the weakness of the human condition, arranged the measure of vigils very moderately. For they mercifully allowed the monks in community a space of five hours before the nocturnal praises, and likewise added two, or two and a half, after matins for sleep. Whoever does not find this time, namely seven hours, sufficient for rest shows himself to be an excessively sluggish and slothful monk. Hence we are admonished to keep watch not only in mind but also in body, because he who disdains to keep bodily vigil in the service of God can scarcely preserve his heart in true purity.

Let us therefore keep watch, most beloved brothers, especially in these holy days of Lent, in which we have declared war on vices and are strongly prepared to conquer and overcome the ancient enemy, the devil. For you hear the holy Prince of the Apostles admonishing us in these words: “Brothers, be sober and keep watch.” Why did he warn us of this? “Because,” he says, “your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour; resist him, strong in faith.” And so, my brothers, let us keep watch as long as we are set in battle, lest at some time, weighed down by sleepiness or idleness, we be overcome by the adversary of our salvation. For as long as we live in the flesh, we must fight bravely against the enemy by vigilance and by chastising our body.

Do not let the labor of the struggle frighten you; for although our adversary is troublesome, yet he is so weak and feeble that he can overcome no one except one who is willing, and one who has utterly cast aside all guard over himself. But the Lord Jesus Christ, our helper and protector, is strong: he grants strength to those who fight eagerly, and will bestow on the victors an unfading crown with all his saints in heaven. As dust is scattered by the wind, so our adversary the devil, confounded and terrified by the voice of those singing psalms with humble devotion, is driven to flight.

Therefore let none of you, most beloved brothers, act negligently; let no one grow dull at the time of prayer through sluggishness of mind and sleepiness; let no one fear the devil’s contest with disordered dread. Stand manfully for the salvation of your souls, fighting continually against a weak adversary; and regard your own flesh with no less suspicion than the demons. For you know, as not only Scripture bears witness but long experience also teaches, that the flesh lusts against the spirit; and therefore the monk who is not harmed by the wantonness of his own flesh is rarely overcome by demons in the struggle. Walk, then, in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. He who keeps watch, and is a strong fighter should stir up a weaker brother who is sluggish in devotion, and by words as well as by examples should, as far as he can, restore him to the holy fervor of the spirit. Let the one among you who is spiritual not despise his disorderly brother, but rather bring him back, by humble admonition, to the pursuit of piety. For Scripture says: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Indeed, if, agreeing together in brotherly love, you have always been of one mind with one another through faith in Jesus Christ, without doubt you will easily overcome your adversary the devil. For where the true charity of Christ makes the monks dwelling in a monastery of one mind, there God is worshiped in all holiness; there the invisible presence of the holy angels is believed to be, through whom the rashness of evil spirits is restrained. In such a congregation of holy men God dwells, whom the army of the heavenly kingdom praises together with the voices of the monks singing psalms. A multitude of monks burning in the love of God is a paradise of heavenly delights. A congregation of monks who are of the same mind in the Lord is a city adorned with a multitude of towers.

Watch, my brothers, I beg you, watch in holy prayers, and shake off drowsiness and sluggishness of mind especially at that time when you stand in church before the Lord to sing psalms. For if, standing before God in psalmody, you are fervent in prayer, you will without doubt feel his grace present with you. For he is very far removed from the purpose of a monk who, while praying, thinks of something else, and lets his mind be stirred not by divine things but by fleeting matters or occupations.

For you know what our holy founder Benedict says in the Rule: “If we wish to suggest anything to powerful men,” he says, “we do not presume to do so except with humility and reverence; how much more must we supplicate the Lord God of all things with all humility and devotion of purity? And let us know that we are heard not in much speaking, but in purity of heart and compunction of tears.” Since, then, when we sing psalms we believe that God is present everywhere, great reverence is needed in prayer, so that our mind may agree in all things with our voice.

Let us therefore consider, brothers, whom we attend upon, and to whom, in the sight of the angels, we recite the psalms in prayer. For the monk who, at the time of prayer, occupies his heart with vain thoughts is like a man who, standing before a king or emperor and speaking with him about matters very necessary for the safety of his body, when called by his servant leaves the king and turns himself to the servant’s vain and useless conversations. Truly, whoever did this would be judged foolish by all, and would rightly seem deserving of the severest punishments. But what does the monk deserve who, standing before the supreme King of all things and speaking with him about the salvation of his soul, suddenly turns his inner eyes to useless occupations and, neglecting the presence of the eternal King, admits vain or even harmful thoughts into his mind?

Homily XVII.

If one who mocks and despises an earthly king is punished by beheading, what does one deserve who despises the heavenly emperor? Therefore I warn you, brothers, and with all the sincerity I can I beg you, to purify your hearts, especially in the time of prayer, from the stain of wicked thought, so that you may turn over in your mind only what you chant with your mouth. As the angels always stand before God with fear and the greatest reverence, chanting an everlasting hymn of praise, so let us also take care, my brothers, to stand before him with a pure heart, a clean conscience, and most fervent devotion, so that we may chant his praises much more in spirit than in body.

Let us therefore separate our minds from all troublesome earthly affairs; let us cleanse our consciences from all enticements of the flesh; let us put on the fervor of the Holy Spirit, and drive far from us all laziness and cowardice. For just as a heavy burden weighs down the back of a slothful man, so drowsiness during psalmody is accustomed to oppress the minds of monks. Nothing harms monks more than acedia, or sloth, which little by little weakens all the powers of the mind and extinguishes the whole fervor of the spirit. For as soon as a monk begins to fall away from the fervor of holy devotion, countless evil thoughts creep into his mind; and he is now able to repel them so much the less, the farther he is shown to have withdrawn from his former fervor.

From this arises drowsiness in the performance of the divine offices; the mind is weighed down excessively by sadness and melancholy, and the monk, growing lukewarm in spirit, strives with all his effort to relieve it not by spiritual consolations, but by earthly and carnal little comforts. And when he goes on longer in this estrangement of mind, he is hardened, as though insensible, against the exercise of compunction; and the more he pants after the consolations of the flesh, the farther he wanders from the inward fervor of the spirit. For what makes you drowsy during psalmody except acedia? For the mind that falls into sluggishness soon makes the body doze.

But again I warn you, brothers, as I have been accustomed to do very often: above all, flee laziness and drowsiness in the time of prayer, because just as drunkenness brings forgetfulness upon the soul, so too drowsiness makes the mind senseless and foolish before God. Beware this vice of drowsiness, O you young men, with which we sorrow to see some of the older men already infected by long habit; for in choir dozing is familiar to them, and compunction of mind toward God is very rare. Beware, I say, this evil habit of sleeping, which, once it has led a monk away captive, rarely lets him go free. Therefore at the very beginning of conversion, young men especially must fight against this most destructive enemy of religion, as someone said in verse: Resist at the beginnings: medicine is prepared too late, When evils have grown strong through long delays. But make haste, and do not put yourself off to the coming hours; He who is not ready today will be less ready tomorrow.

On the sleep and wakefulness of monks.

For it is difficult to cure an illness that is long and has become inveterate through length of time. Let us consider with how great diligence and attentiveness servants stand before earthly kings and princes, so that we may not be ignorant of how it befits us to stand in prayer before God, who alone is King of all and Lord of the universe. The eyes of all look to the Lord, and all together and each one singly depend most carefully upon his nod, lest, when he commands, anything escape those who attend him through negligence. From this, therefore, let us consider with how great purity we ought to stand before the Lord God, day and night, in the assembly of prayer, from whom we desire to obtain the kingdom of eternal blessedness.

Not voice, not shouting, but an intention fervent in the love of God merits being heard. Therefore flee drowsiness and sluggishness of mind as a deadly poison, because sleep and the [unclear] of the eyes are the source of all vices. But the watchful eye is the servant of inward devotion, and the monk who truly loves Jesus Christ guards himself from every excess. He who is watchful sharpens his mind with understanding; but the monk who sleeps much shamefully blinds his own soul. A monk watchful in prayer and fasting is formidable to the devil; but one who is sated with food and sleep is not permitted to rest by the spirit of fornication.

For a vigil dedicated to prayers breaks the heat of lust, powerfully extinguishes the fire of desire, purifies the inward parts of the heart, enlightens the mind, and inflames the affection toward love of heavenly things. Vigil is the parent, nurse, and guardian of good thoughts, the sure victory over the temptations of the ancient enemy, the flight of phantasms, the death of vices, the life and fountain of all virtues. But much sleep is the companion and fosterer of lust, the robber of a man’s life, the image of death, the bringer of forgetfulness, the spouse of sloth. Immoderate sleep corrupts the stomach, harms the brain, and weakens both body and soul. A monk often given over to sleep despises wisdom, prostitutes chastity, neglects the salvation of his soul, loses precious time, kills the mind, and nourishes vices.

Therefore, whoever among you, most beloved brothers, desires to reach the rest of heavenly blessedness, let him vigorously drive away from himself all sluggishness and cowardice of mind. Let him learn first of all to conquer himself, so that thereafter he may be able to overcome the devil, the enemy of his salvation. For truly, unless you first root out the evil that is in you, when will you overcome that which comes from outside? Learn to rule your passions, and with the Lord’s help you will easily overcome everything that happens outwardly. Cleanse your mind from every disordered desire, so that in truth you may love Jesus alone above all things, with whom you hope to rejoice forever.

But no one will reign with Christ in heaven who does not imitate him on earth by holy conduct, as holy Scripture says: “He who says that he remains in Christ ought himself also to walk just as he walked.” For the Lord Jesus, who by his death freed us from the destruction of eternal damnation, himself willingly became mediator between God and men; he himself is the way by which the path of life must be continued for us; he himself is the powerful guide of the journey; he himself is the pattern and rule of saving conduct for Christians. No one comes to God the Father except through Christ; no one will see the Father except through the Son.

Therefore, if you wish to come to salvation, you must pass through the Savior. For he himself said in the holy Gospel: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” And also: “I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will find the pasture of eternal life.” And again: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” By this way, living with pious and holy conduct, I beg you, my brothers, always walk; love this truth fervently with a pure heart; hasten ardently toward this life, which alone is lasting.

Let the teaching of Christ never depart from your hearts, but remain in memory at all times, since he refuses to become a true imitator of him who has not been exercised day and night in meditation on his words. Therefore, always watchful in prayers, live with such purity of mind that at the hour of death you may deserve to hear with joy our Lord Jesus Christ calling you, who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God almighty, one, forever and ever. Amen.

Among all professors of the Christian faith today, there is no class of men to whom the virtue of patience seems more necessary than to the company of monks. For, as the charity of many grows cold in these our days, to use Paul’s expression, we have become a spectacle to mortals, so that wherever a monk comes among worldly people, he is marked out to be mocked and derided by the fingers of almost all who see him.

You know why I have said this; you are not unaware of what recently happened in the town of Bingen. A drunken crowd of youths and boys accosted a certain monk passing along the public road, and, as though he, by traveling, had caused the rain, threw him into the mud; and by treating the man outrageously, it made him a pitiable spectacle of its own shamelessness. No one was there to restrain the insolent men. Yet the monk’s patience overcame their frenzy, and, full of the love of Christ, when he was being badly handled, he answered nothing else but “Thanks be to God.”

Therefore, the more he showed himself tranquil in mind and spirit, the more those worthless men dragged him into the fountain, thinking that he was heated with wine, when the love of Christ had made him glad and joyful. He left to all monks a great lesson in patience: although he could have avenged himself when wronged, he would not.

Would that we, my brothers, were as patient for the love of God and for our sins in the smallest things as that good man was in the greatest. There are some among you, I say it unwillingly, too insolent and impatient, who are moved to anger by a word, even one that is not insulting; and while they are justly corrected for their negligences, they murmur unjustly, adding sin to sin through impatience. But to what end patience...

I set before them the example of the man already mentioned, who do not heed Jesus Christ, the most patient of all men. For indeed, whoever does not embrace patience and humility after the example of the King of heaven will not be recalled to gentleness by the imitation of any man. For the Son of God is the highest and supreme model of patience and humility; whoever is not bent toward endurance by the remembrance of his passion is rightly judged hardened and a companion of demons.

No good Christian doubts that the words of our Lord Jesus Christ are true. Now Christ says in the holy Gospel: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth.” If the meek are to be called blessed, what prevents the rancorous, the wrathful, and the unmeek from being called accursed? Certainly nothing. And if, as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ himself bears witness, we possess our souls in patience, there is no doubt that through impatience we lose them.

It is therefore especially fitting that monks be meek, gentle, and patient, since they have solemnly devoted themselves to the imitation of Christ and the apostles. But Christ, the meekest of all, commands his disciples and imitators in the Gospel, saying: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls.”

Hence the holy bishop Augustine says: If you wish to reign with Christ in heaven, first learn from him to be meek, patient, humble, and gentle, since unless you have lived in this world in imitation of his life, you will by no means reign with him forever.

Saint Ambrose also says: When I have laid aside every sin, stripped off every malice, and, content with simplicity, have been poor in evils, it remains that I temper my conduct. For what does it profit me to be free of crimes, unless I am meek and gentle? But he is meek who yields to wickedness and does not resist in evil, but overcomes evil with good.

And, as Chrysostom bears witness, he is gentle who, when provoked by injuries, neither thinks of doing evil nor does it.

Cassiodorus, moreover, says: We call the gentle “accustomed to the hand,” that is, patient and meek, those who bear the wrongs of others and do not presume to burden anyone. Of them it is said in the psalm: “My soul shall be praised in the Lord; let the gentle hear and rejoice.” He did not say, “let those skilled in the law rejoice,” nor “those who fast,” nor “those who sing psalms,” but “let the gentle rejoice,” those who, together with charity, have especially been accustomed to possess temperance in all things.

But those are truly meek, gentle, and patient who harm no one, wrong no one, offend no one at all, but, standing firm in their simple humility, always bear with evenness of mind all injuries, insults, and mockeries for the love of Christ, and are moved by no grief of heart against those who harm them, just as we have already said that monk was, whom the raging boys at Bingen treated with great insult.

It is easy, however, to be meek, patient, and gentle so long as nothing is said or done except according to the will and judgment of the one who is patient. But it will become clear how far he is from true gentleness

[unclear], if even a slight occasion arises. Great is the virtue if you do not harm the one by whom you were harmed; great is the courage of soul if, for the love of God, you forgive the one inflicting injury; great is the glory if you observe Christ’s command and pour out prayers for those who wrong you. No one has known the strength of his own soul whom no notable insult has yet burned. Let no one boast that he is meek or patient who has not been sated with reproaches. There is no patience without adversity, nor meekness without insult, because if you wish to keep the proper bounds of endurance, an insult-inflicter must first be present.

“If I had lived,” says the lazy and fleshly monk, “in the days of the martyrs, I would have feared to undergo no kind of torment for the love of Christ; I would willingly have exposed my body to tortures, so that I might have gained the crown of martyrdom.” Great rashness of folly. You have never been able patiently to endure a word for the love of God, and you promise the constancy of the holy martyrs? You fear a slight correction, you who promise that you will give your body for Christ. If martyrdom delights you, hear what the most blessed Pope Gregory says: “If, with Christ helping us, we strive to preserve the virtue of patience, then we live in the peace of the Church and hold the palm of martyrdom. For we can be martyrs without sword and flame, if we truly preserve patience in the soul. To die at the hands of a persecutor is martyrdom in open deed; but to bear insults and love one who hates you is martyrdom in hidden thought.”

True patience is to endure another’s evils with equanimity, and not to be gnawed by any grief against the one who has inflicted the evil. What will you say now, O lazy monk, who, unable to endure the very light martyrdom of words, boast so insolently of constancy in shedding blood? Learn, miserable man, to have patience in small things, and consider that, as Scripture says, “He who is unfaithful in little, who will trust him with what is greater?”

You murmur at everything done in the monastery; when rebuked, however gently, for your grave faults and negligences, you bear it most impatiently. No one in the monastery walks rightly in your eyes; no one besides you, in your estimation, lives religiously. You alone, as it seems to you, are holy in the monastery; you, the most learned of all, allow no one to know what you alone do not know. You judge yourself worthy of all honors above everyone, because you not only lack patience, but possess neither true humility nor obedience.

This is not the road by which one goes to the kingdom of heaven, when a monk is proud in the school of humility and a Christian lives in conduct contrary to Christ. But the monk, the solemnly sworn servant of Jesus Christ, so that he may imitate his Lord, must not be proud, but humble; obedient, not rebellious; gentle, not cruel; not insolent, but meek. But a monk who is proud, wrathful, contentious, and a lover of his own will, such as, alas, those placed in charge of temporal affairs often are, whom among us according to the Rule we call cellarers, whose arrogance to many made a path to destruction. Grief compels me to speak, shame restrains me, although you all know the misfortune by which the devil lately confounded us in our brother. Who was higher than he in our whole congregation? Who went about filled with greater insolence? Because he seemed to have greater experience than we in temporal affairs, he therefore judged himself superior to all. The Almighty permitted him to fall, so that the man who, through self-regard, refused to acknowledge his own weakness might at last, confounded and not without the scandal of many, understand that God is the adversary of the proud. I grieve deeply, more than can be said, and the fault of the one who fell seems heavier to me because, when he falls, we are all confounded. May God grant him true repentance, so that those who had been scandalized by his fall may be built up by his satisfaction before God and men.

Pride has always been destructive to monks, and once it has invaded a man’s mind, it plunges him into the pit of every vice. Beware pride, my brothers, for it is the beginning of every sin; it is pride which, through the devil’s envy, brings death into the whole world. Pride is the death of all virtues, and the fountain and source of all vices. But humility, the nurse of the virtues, most befits monks, because it makes them gentle and meek. For every proud man is impatient, and every arrogant man is an enemy of meekness. He who is humble of heart has patience in adversity for the love of God; and he who remains calm in spirit under insults deserves a double crown. A patient man in adversity is near to God; but one who is proud and harsh gladdens his enemies. For Scripture says: “A patient man is better than a strong man, and he who rules his own spirit than a conqueror of cities.” The holy bishop Augustine also says: “A just and devout man must be ready to endure patiently the malice of those whom he wishes to become good, so that the number of the good may rather increase, and no one by equal malice add himself to the number of the wicked.”

Patience is greatly necessary for us, brothers, so that, doing the will of God, we may receive the holy promise in Christ. Each day adversities are present to us by which we may be exercised; therefore, just as a cause for endurance is never lacking, so, I pray, may necessary patience always be present. We are oppressed by want and poverty in necessary things; we are burdened by the commerce of the flesh’s weakness; besides this the world tempts us, to allure us, and the devil tempts us, to seduce us. Among so many adversaries of our salvation it is necessary, brothers, that we keep watch in all patience and humility, because in this pilgrimage, as long as we live, we are placed, so to speak, in the midst of evils. Our poverty ought to be enough for us, because it does not belong to monastic religion to be exalted in temporal things, but rather to be brought low, so that poor monks, imitating Christ, who was made poor for us, may deserve to glory with him forever in heaven. What if we see certain wicked men and sinners in the world abounding in riches? If good and just men are rich in this world, it is granted through [unclear] to their weakness, not to their strength.

God’s providence is consulted, so that by benefits they may be stirred toward better things. “I was young,” says the prophet, “and now am old, and I have not seen the just man forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” “Cast,” he says, “your thought upon the Lord, and he will nourish you; he will not allow the just man to waver forever.”

The Lord Jesus knows what is fitting for the salvation of each one of his little servants, and therefore he distributes the gifts of the present life unequally, according to the capacity of each individual. For not everything is suitable for everyone; therefore among the just in this world some are poor in temporal goods, while others are wealthy. Concerning the poor the Lord Jesus says in the holy Gospel: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And through the prophet he speaks, saying: “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of poverty.”

For it is not conducive to eternal salvation for everyone to possess the riches of this world; rather, it is expedient for some to be poor and for others to be wealthy, according as the Lord of all has provided what is more useful for each. Concerning just and good rich men Solomon says in the book of Proverbs: “The blessing of the Lord makes men rich, and affliction will not be joined to it.” But if evil and reprobate rich men have abundance in this age, good men ought not be moved to indignation, but should rather fear him who leaves no good unrewarded and no evil unpunished.

For the evil, whom because of their iniquity he cannot reward in heaven, he rewards in this life for their good deeds; and for the good, whom he nourishes here in poverty, he preserves eternal rewards in heaven for the merit of their justice. Yet just as not all the poor in this world are just and good, so not all who are rich in temporal things in this life are evil. The reward of the evil on earth is rightly to be borne without indignation, since not the love of God but his justice willed it to be present.

Therefore, just as the evil have nothing in heaven, so you, who have professed monastic poverty, ought to have nothing on earth; but in hope of that good toward which you are hastening, you ought to bear most patiently whatever adversity befalls you on the way. For, as Paul, the holy lover of Christ, says, “the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which shall be revealed in us.” Let those who are rich in Christ join mercy to humility; but let those who are poor take up patience with innocence for the love of God.

For the soldier of Christ is neither cast down by poverty nor lifted up by riches, but, standing firm in himself in spirit, serves the King of heaven in tranquility and cares nothing for transitory things. So too, he who is a true monk is neither puffed up by praises nor broken by blame; he does not swell with an abundance of necessary things, nor is he constricted by poverty; he despises both joyful and sorrowful things alike, because, as the prophet had said, “the sun shall not burn him by day, nor the moon by night.”

But we, dearest brothers, let us make virtue and a good will out of necessity; and from the hardship of poverty, which we suffer of necessity, let us make for ourselves something good and useful [unclear].

that we may gain the kingdom, which can only then be done if, for the love of God, we bear this poverty manfully and with a tranquil mind. The disordered conduct of our predecessors brought upon this monastery the want that we suffer; the mercy of almighty God, if we keep his commandments with a perfect heart, will in time without doubt relieve it. For almost two hundred years past, as we can gather both by conjecture and from the writings of those before us, the purity of monastic observance in this monastery of Spanheim, as in almost all others, failed, and the disorderly life of the monks utterly squandered all temporal substance. For indeed, when in the year of the Christians 1469 [unclear].

Frederick, duke of Bavaria, reformed the monastery of Spanheim.

Consider now, therefore, your calling, O monks, and do not corrupt your purpose of holiness, if you desire to arrive at the glory of God. Woe to you, faithless monk, who, having become a despiser of your calling and a transgressor of your vow, live in the monastery not as a monk: you who were called to endure tribulation patiently for the love of God, and yet ask about refreshment.

For your profession commands you to be humbly content with all mean and very poor clothing, and you are not afraid to devote your zeal to finery in dress. You were called to thirst, and you, despising the drinking of water, delight in drinking wine to satiety, against the monastic rule. You were made a monk to fight bravely against the enemy of your salvation, and you, throwing away from yourself the weapons of the virtues, go about lazy, idle, and naked; indeed, what is worse, with a troop of vices accompanying you. You were invited to watch in holy prayers, and you are dissolved in sluggish sleep and shameful idleness. You were called into the subjection of humble obedience, and you, swollen with pride, despise obedience to the precepts of your elders. You were called into charity, and you do not fear to carry hatred against your brother in your breast. You were called to weeping and tears, and you pour out laughter with disorderly guffawing.

The Lord called you to repentance in the monastery, and you, loosened into wantonness, join sin to sin. You were called to meditate day and night on the law of our Lord Jesus Christ, and you, walking after vanity, devote yourself to tales and perishable things. You were called to heaven, and you, loving the world, pursue earthly things. The Lord called you into the meekness of humility, and you go about full of rancor and pride. You were called by the Lord to the perfection of the purest monastic way of life, and you rot away like a beast in the dung of vanity and negligence. You were called to the observance of God’s commandments, and you, given over to the pleasures of the flesh, think of nothing less than Christ. You were invited to love the Lord Jesus above all things, and you walk after the evil desires of your heart, showing yourself ungrateful to your Redeemer. You who ought to have lived by the Spirit savor earthly things, and, drowned in pride, you despise all the holy exercises of the spiritual life.

And what will you answer on that day of judgment to the Judge, who will say to you, most ungrateful one: I, who am Lord of all things, humbled myself for your sake, taking the form of a servant, and, being found in appearance as a man, poured out my blood for you; for you I endured scourges, and for you I underwent a most bitter death of my own free will. I, O monk, loved you with my whole heart; I redeemed you by my blood from everlasting death; I called you out of love to the heavenly kingdom, if you had kept my commandments. But you lived contrary to my precepts, and, what is worse, though you had sworn yourself to my words, you were not afraid to show yourself against me, your Lord, as an apostate, impious traitor. Now Therefore give an account of your stewardship. What then will you answer, O lazy and idle monk, who now spends the present acceptable time so fruitlessly, and despises living in true monastic purity according to the rule? What, I ask, will you answer? Will you deny the works of wickedness that you have committed, intending by deceit to show good works that you now disdain to perform, so that, deceiving the Judge by a lie, you may thus escape the punishment due to your demerits?

But you must not be ignorant that everything you have done, said, or thought throughout your whole life, good and evil alike, is manifest in the sight of the Judge, and nothing can be hidden from him who alone knows all things. For all things are written in the book of God, and your conscience will bear open testimony against you concerning all the evils you have done, so that not even the smallest thought will be able to lie hidden. For the Scripture of the prophets says to God in Psalm 75: “For the thought of man shall confess to you.”

You are to be judged before the tribunal of the all-knowing one, before whose terrible judgment every creature will stand in great fear and trembling, where no excuse whatever is admitted, but each person will receive the sentence due to his merits, with appeal set aside. Thousands of thousands and ten hundred thousand holy spirits will stand beside him, and do you trust that you can deceive the Judge by a lie?

But hear my counsel, and, rising from your destructive inertia, at last wake up, and by true repentance flee in time from justice to the mercy of God. Do not put it off from day to day, because it is extremely dangerous for one remaining in sins to be confident, and to reject the remedy of salvation that is offered. Remember that you are going to die, and when you do not expect it, you will be summoned to judgment.

Consider, I beg you, how the uncertain time of life slips away, and how quickly all mortal things decay. Nothing among human affairs is stable, nothing fixed, nothing firm; rather all things that we see are corruptible and change with time. Consider also where our brothers Valentinus, Martinus, and Ioannes are, who in the present year were living with us healthy, safe, and joyful; they spoke with us, ate, drank, and labored together with us, thinking of nothing less than that they would die this year. Behold, when they did not think it, death came, snatched them away, and set their souls before the tribunal of the dreadful Judge, who rendered to each one according to the works of his hands.

Behold, now learn from the example of your brothers that you too are going to die, and perhaps you will pass from this world much sooner than you can estimate. Come to your senses, wretched man, while you still can; do penance in the time of your health, while the Judge promises mercy, and do not defer today’s good into tomorrow’s uncertainty. Rise up, even now, late though it is, at last from the sloth of your more negligent past way of life, in which until now you have shamefully rotted away; cleanse your conscience from every stain of sin; wipe away with tears the evil you have committed, and from now on live innocently, as befits a monk.

Take up a firm purpose of complete amendment, and understand that the kingdom of heaven is promised not to those who begin well, but to those who persevere to the end. Know also that heaven is not reached by idleness and sluggishness, but by great labor, by the strongest effort of the will to make progress, and by tireless zeal in spiritual exercise.

Therefore, wishing to serve and please the Lord, always stand in the truth within yourself, fearful in awe, and prepare your soul for temptation. The disordered impulses and desires of the flesh must be strongly resisted; all the enticements and vanities of the world must be fought against with a most steadfast spirit; through prayers and greatness of soul the devil, the adversary of our salvation, must be driven away.

No sleepy, lazy, slothful person ever reached the kingdom of God; no one without continual labor and much sweat has obtained heaven. For the Lord says in the holy Gospel: “The kingdom of God suffers violence, and the violent,” that is, those who have learned steadfastly to resist the evil desires of the flesh, “seize it.” Review the deeds of all the saints, and nowhere will you find anyone sanctified without great and continual labor. For even if no one becomes holy by his own powers, nevertheless the gracious mercy of the almighty Lord, which grants to those who strive both the will to do good and the strength, sanctifies no one without the works of a good and upright will.

Since, then, God wills all men to be saved and no one to perish, we, my brothers, must take the greatest care not to receive his grace in vain, but rather strive with all our strength, so that, like fertile soil, we may always answer the free gifts of so great a sower with fitting fruits from the works of a good will.

Let us therefore arm ourselves with the shield of faith, and put on the breastplate of steadfastness and saving patience, so that, prepared against everything that can happen to us, through humility and the fervor of the Holy Spirit, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, we may overcome. In all these things patience is very necessary for us; without its support there never has been, nor could there ever be, perseverance in good and holy works. For there was no other way to heaven for the saints than patience; nor could anyone ever be sanctified who cast patience aside.

Indeed, all who have pleased almighty God from the beginning of the world down to this our age have triumphed over the prince of the world in no other way than through patience. Hence all of them could most rightly say that verse of the psalmist: “For your sake we are put to death all day long; we have been reckoned as sheep for slaughter.” The most holy apostle of Christ, Paul, also recalling the patience of the saints of old, says among other things: “They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, needy, distressed, afflicted, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts, in mountains, in caves, and in the caverns of the earth.” For all who wish to live piously in Christ suffer persecution, because, as the prophet says, “Many are the tribulations of the righteous, and from all these the Lord will deliver them.”

132 On patience and gentleness.

Patience, therefore, is necessary for all mortals, and it especially befits those who live in the cloister, since, just as adversities are never lacking to the righteous in this world, so no one will be justified without patience. Now the principal degrees of patience, as the diligence of the ancients distinguished them, are three.

The first and lowest is that of those people who neither seek out adversities nor bear them willingly, but when they befall them are weighed down in spirit and cast down with sorrow; they also sometimes complain and murmur for a time against those who inflict them. But after the agitation of their inflamed mind has passed, they return to themselves, and seem patiently to endure the insult inflicted on them without revenge. Yet the patience of these people, not being of great virtue, is always very near the fault of an unquiet mind, and therefore is often to be reckoned of no merit, and sometimes of lesser merit. And although in our times such people are called distinguished by the virtue of patience, nevertheless, compared with the holy men of old, they do not deserve this venerable name of Christian long-suffering and endurance. For that does not seem to be true patience which has been darkened by bitterness and indignation of an agitated mind.

The second degree of patience is said to belong to those people who, although they do not seek to suffer evils, nevertheless, when they come, receive them freely and kindly, and embrace them most patiently as though they were a gift sent by God. Such people are truly to be called patient: inflamed with divine love, they bear with equanimity whatever adversity has occurred, and preserve, even in tribulation, the same tranquillity of mind that they formerly had in prosperity. I would not doubt that that most holy Idumaean Job was of their number: struck not only by extreme adversity, he bore all things patiently, but even when placed in the whirlpool of evils, he gave thanks and blessed the Lord, saying: “The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it has been done. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

All Christians ought to keep this degree of patience, and especially, before others, those who live in the cloister. For the wise man says: “A man’s learning is known through patience.” For the more learned anyone is in the law of the Lord and in the knowledge of the ordering of rational nature, the more patient he will be in adversities. What if I, as a lover of truth, speak more boldly: that adversities profit us more than prosperities, if we are learned and not forgetful weighers of our own condition?

The third degree of patience, surely the highest and most perfect of the remaining ones, is rightly granted to those who not only, when there is need, bear adversities with equanimity for the love of God and the benefit of the brethren, but who also, inflamed with a more fervent spirit of charity, willingly thrust themselves forward and hasten eagerly to receive insults and injuries. And this kind of patience is divided in two ways, just as a twofold manner of martyrdom of the saints is found. For some, when they could have lain hidden during the persecution of believers, with the charity of Christ burning in them, with no one compelling them, but of their own free will, presented themselves to the tribunals of their persecutors [unclear].

Homily XVIII.

[unclear], and, publicly confessing Jesus as Redeemer of the world, they received the tortures inflicted on them with joy. Others, although they did not offer themselves of their own accord, nevertheless willingly received the martyrdom offered to them, always ready to endure for the faith of Christ whatever the cruelty of tyrants could have inflicted.

The most radiant Confessors rightly hold a rank nearer to these; even if the cruelty of the impious did not take them away by persecution, still they in no way lost the glory of martyrdom. For by crucifying their flesh in this world for the name of Christ, they endured a voluntary and long-lasting martyrdom: through abstinence and humility they were made glorious, steadfast in soul, always most patient, and most ready to undergo martyrdom bodily.

Take care, O monks, to be imitators of them according to your strength, so that, since enemies who kill the body for Christ are now lacking, you may show yourselves martyrs in mind and spirit by resisting the desires of the flesh and patiently enduring adversities for the love of God. In the peace of the saints, the best kind of martyrdom is to afflict the flesh for God’s name through abstinence, to desire nothing in this world, always to advance in good works, and, if any evil happens, to bear it in all things gladly and patiently with cheerfulness of mind.

Live henceforth according to this rule of patience, dearest brothers, if you desire to reign with Christ forever. Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ, so that each one may cheerfully give to his brother what he desires to be done for himself.

In this way all Christians owe martyrdom to Christ.

On the True Humility of Monks. Homily XIX.

It is the judgment of almost all the teachers, dearest brothers, that the highest and chief virtue of monks is no other than humility, because it is itself the mother and nurse of all virtues. For humility makes the monk; pride destroys and corrupts him. Hence the Lord says through Isaiah: “To whom shall I look, except to the poor little one, and the contrite in spirit, and the one who trembles at my words?”

For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble, because pride is the beginning of every sin, and without true humility no one can attain salvation. Since this is so, I think it necessary, brothers, to exhort you without ceasing that, fleeing pride, you always preserve deep humility in all your works. Indeed, no good work is believed to please the Lord God if it is presented without the seasoning of humility.

For humility is a most healthful medicine for the souls of the faithful, helping all, because it presses down the swollen inward parts of the spirit, restores what is wasting away, corrects what is depraved, and removes what has grown excessive. O humility, mother and parent of all virtues: you strengthen patience, stir up compunction, illumine charity, adorn chastity, make prayer fruitful [unclear].

You give [unclear], and commend fasting and abstinence. O holy humility, truly beloved of God, through repentance you justify the ungodly; you preserve the just man in his resolve of holiness; you powerfully open heaven to those who love you; you close hell to the penitent.

O venerable humility, exceedingly pleasing to God, you compelled the Son of the eternal Father to descend from heaven into the womb of Mary, the most chaste and perpetual Virgin. You made him appear visible to us; you laid him, wrapped in poor cloths, in a manger, so that he might adorn us in heaven with the ornaments of everlasting happiness. You drove the Son of God to undergo circumcision of the flesh, so that we, circumcised in mind, might be able to enter the promised inheritance of the saints.

O humility of great power, you made the King of heaven and earth withdraw before the face of one most contemptible little man, and dwell in seven years’ exile in the land of Egypt. You made Christ Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God, whom you compelled to assume a human body for our salvation, undergo also his most bitter passion and death by his own free will.

Great is your dominion, O venerable humility of holiness, since the kingdom of heaven is promised to you, the gift of everlasting blessedness is granted to your worshipers, and whoever keeps to your footsteps is raised up to the height of the angels, as Christ says in the holy Gospel: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” The King of heaven taught you, when he said to his imitators: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” The most blessed Mother of God also, the untouched Virgin Mary, speaks thus of the Lord God in her sweetest song of praise: “He has cast down the mighty from their seats and exalted the humble.” And the prophet says in the psalm: “The Lord has regarded the prayers of the humble, and has not despised their petitions.” For the prayer of one who humbles himself pierces the clouds; until it draws near, he will not be comforted, and he will not depart until the Most High looks upon him.

Humility makes a monk who is pure in his conscience most pleasing to God; and the more he casts himself down by humbling himself for God’s honor, the more glorious he will appear in the kingdom. The monk who truly humbles himself becomes a son of the Most High through participation in grace, and will rejoice forever with the King of heaven, Jesus Christ.

He who truly desires to imitate Christ should also take up true humility; girded and protected by it as by a breastplate of strength, he will do great things, thinking nothing of himself except what is humble, and will not incur the stain of vainglory. For this is the true perfection of monks: always humbly to recognize their own imperfection, and diligently to consider rather what good is lacking to them than what they possess.

For true humility always stretches forward toward the things ahead through the desire of charity; mindful of what is past, it fears lest it lose what it has, and, desiring to acquire through the zeal of devotion what it does not yet have, it does not grow lukewarm in the fervor of holiness. It considers most carefully how greatly it is still deficient, and in what respects it has made progress [unclear].

Indeed, whoever already thinks himself to be something is still farther from true humility, since true humility does great things and thinks the least of itself; and the more it has advanced, the more deeply it recognizes its own weakness. For so Scripture has instructed us, saying: “The greater you are, humble yourself in all things, and you will find grace before God.” And again it says: “Humble your spirit greatly, for the punishment of the flesh of the ungodly is fire and the worm.”

Therefore, my brothers, take up true humility: not that which is sometimes displayed outwardly in gesture and voice before men by pretenders, but Christian humility, which is possessed by the pure affection of the heart. For it is one thing to have the virtue of humility, and another to have the appearance of its likeness. True humility is always patient with a tranquil heart toward every injury and insult; it is obedient without dispute to commands, not only of superiors but even of equals; in adversities it preserves constancy, in bodily necessity moderation, in conduct a good conscience, in common life honorableness. It is cheerful, not dissolute; serious, not melancholy; generous in acts of mercy, not wasteful; compassionate toward the weak, not lax.

Christian humility is unceasingly pierced with compunction in the love of God; fervent in the spirit of devotion, it is continually watered with tears; it always longs to see its prince, Jesus Christ, and, following his admonitions in spirit, sighs from grief. For whoever embraces true humility grieves that he is a sinner; whoever imitates the Son of God groans that he cannot advance as much as he desires.

Nothing is more excellent than Christian humility, nothing more splendid than self-knowledge, which, though always set in a higher place, is never exalted, and, though subject to all, rules over all. For he who is small in his own eyes becomes great before God; and he who thinks himself to be something great in this world is judged before God to be of no account. For each person will be the more precious before the inward judge, the more, while doing good and never failing, he has been contemptible in his own estimation.

Humility is the stable foundation of all virtues, since every spiritual building that is raised up to the height of Christian perfection is supported by the rock of humility alone. Indeed, if true humility is lacking, the gathering of the other virtues will be nothing but the collapse of a house built without a foundation on sand. For in the spiritual building humility lays the stable foundation; charity orders the breadth of that house; the wall is raised on high by the continuation of good works in fervor of spirit; the roof is set at the top in faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and in firm hope of the promise of eternal protection and happiness; and the length is arranged in the long-suffering of patience with most beautiful order.

Therefore, my brothers, again and again I admonish, entreat, and beg you to take care to found the building of spiritual exercise in the depth of humility, since No good work pleases God if it has been offered apart from true humility. There are, moreover, many things that are accustomed to stir the servants of God to true humility. For some are humbled before God within themselves by consideration of their own vileness, because, when they consider that they have now often experienced themselves to be wretched and weak, they place all their hope and confidence, in humility, in God. Others, carefully weighing the multitude of God’s benefits toward them, fear the judgment due to ingratitude, and therefore they always walk humbly in the sight of God with great fear and reverent gratitude.

And which of us, brothers, is there to whom the mercy of almighty God has not granted many benefits, even in a special way? If we wish to be grateful to him, we must above all be humble. Others, after a multitude of sins, having been turned by divine kindness to repentance, diligently recall to memory how many evils they have committed against the law of the Almighty, and for these, humbled in bitterness of spirit, they detest their impieties with horror.

But we offend in many things; therefore it is necessary that we humble ourselves always in mind and also outwardly in body, so that grace may abound where sin previously abounded. Often, indeed, the providence of divine mercy permits certain people to sin grievously for a time, so that afterward, when they have been converted to repentance, they may learn to remain in true humility. Better is a humble penitent than a proud man who has not sinned, since humility justifies penitents, and pride condemns the arrogant forever, even if they have done nothing else wrong than this alone, that they are proud.

Others, bearing in their heart through daily meditation the bitter passion of Christ Jesus, humble themselves all the more, the more they know that they are far too insufficient as debtors for such great and wondrous benefits of their Redeemer. The Son of God humbled himself, becoming man for us, and, filled with many reproaches, voluntarily underwent the most shameful death of the cross, so that he might free us from the destruction of perpetual death. What Christian man, and especially what monk, will not greatly humble his soul before God when he recalls to memory such humility of his Creator and Redeemer?

Indeed, the man whom the humility of Christ does not stir to meekness will not be helped by any admonitions of men. We are called monks in vain unless, according to our strength, we have humbly followed Christ. For this reason he said in the holy Gospel that he himself is the way, so that we may imitate his humility, and so that the way of life of so great a Master may become the spiritual pattern of the disciple. Therefore we, brothers, must strive with all our strength, as much as we can, so that humility, conceived through meditation on the most bitter passion of Jesus Christ, may level, restore, and reform everything in us that pride has made swollen.

Oh, how fitting it is for us to humble our souls for the love of Jesus Christ, my brothers, when God himself, the Creator of all things, made man, cast himself down into such humility for us. The chief medicine, then, for inducing true humility in God’s servant is if...

daily, and more often, recalls to memory the most bitter passion of Christ Jesus. Tribulations, adversities, and illnesses, together with poverty or want, have also made many humble, who perhaps in prosperity and good fortune would have perished through pride. And we trust, as we shall often say, that poverty contributes to our salvation, since we have in it a great cause for humility, while we find no matter at all for self-exaltation and pride. Others, through the continual practice of virtues and the remembrance of death, which they must shortly and inevitably undergo, have come to great humility.

Whom, however proud, would not earnest meditation on death humble? Or who is so fierce in spirit that he would not little by little lay aside his swelling pride, if he considered more carefully that he would die in a short time? Therefore the conscience of a monk must never drive away from itself the memory of future death, so that he may remain both humble and sorrowful: that, standing firm in humility, he may not grow proud, and that continual grief may forbid every wantonness to the heart.

Some also the gracious mercy of God forestalls, and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes humble. Everyone who is led by the Spirit of God utterly detests pride. He who truly knows himself is most wise, and cannot depart from the meekness of humility. But every proud and arrogant man is ignorant, even if he seems great and renowned among mortals. For true wisdom rests in the dwelling-place of holy humility, and is shown more clearly through the proof of patience.

From the knowledge of God and of oneself humility is born, and this is rightly called true wisdom. He who has truly known himself now has nothing from which to grow proud, because, knowing his own vileness, he thinks nothing lofty, but, set in sorrow of soul, cries to the Lord: “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you regard him? Man has become like vanity; his days pass away like a shadow.” Why then is earth and ashes proud? Why does the spirit of frail and mortal man swell up against God?

Be humbled, therefore, my dearest brothers, as it is written, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in the time of visitation. For humility with chaste fear is highly pleasing to the Lord God in his servants, since without it he approves no virtue of man for salvation. Therefore, if we desire to climb the throne of the lofty kingdom of heaven, we must be very humble, because there is no other way to heaven except that of deepest humility, by which the Son of God himself and all the saints ascended. But all who have tried to enter the kingdom by another gate, striking the head of pride against the threshold of humility, have been wholly unable to enter. For the gate of humility does not admit the proud, and the narrow way of meekness does not receive lovers of avarice and self-exaltation. Therefore whoever desires to come to the height of the heavenly kingdom must ascend by the steps of humility; without them, whoever begins to ascend falls into the depth of perdition and death.

he undoubtedly falls. For humility is the ladder to heaven, beautifully divided into twelve degrees; concerning its ascent our lawgiver Benedict says in the Rule: “If we wish to reach the summit of highest humility and swiftly arrive at that heavenly exaltation, we must set up for ourselves that ladder which appeared to Jacob in his dream, by which angels were shown to him ascending and descending.” Without doubt that descent and ascent are understood by us to mean nothing other than descending by exaltation and ascending by humility, as divine Scripture shows us: “Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.” The ladder itself, set upright, is our life in this world, which, when the heart is humbled, is raised up by the Lord into heaven. For we say that the sides of this ladder are our body and soul; into these sides the divine summons has inserted the different steps of humility and discipline that must be climbed. He then follows and enumerates those twelve steps in order, with a sufficiently beautiful arrangement; since they are altogether very well known to you, it would be superfluous to spend longer on reviewing them this time.

It is enough in this place to remember the holy canon, in whose words you all long ago swore voluntarily, so that you may know that humility is no less necessary for salvation than love of God and of neighbor alike. For humility is said to be the monk’s greatest virtue, and it is so necessary to his profession that without it he cannot be saved. A monk who is puffed up in spirit and proud is not the servant of Christ, but the slave of the devil; he will have no share with the Son of God in heaven, but will be tormented without end with the demons in hell. For Christ, the teacher and forerunner of humility, detests all the proud and admits none into his fellowship except the humble, the meek, and the gentle. But the devil is the head and inventor of pride; all who follow his pride and arrogance are his servants and disciples. For he himself, the king of the proud, cannot endure humility; he flees the meek and does not dare to stand in the sight of the gentle in heart.

For Christ dwells in the assembly of the humble servants of God; but in the midst of the proud the devil stirs up contentions and the quarrels of those at odds. Where humility is, there is true peace and the highest tranquility; but where pride holds sway, there resentment, anger, disturbance, and discord confound everything without ceasing. Therefore, my brothers, beware of pride, because if it cast down the exalted angels from heaven, when would it not condemn poor cloistered men? It made demons out of angels, and without doubt it makes companions of demons out of monks. Follow humility at all times with all your strength, and flee every pride and display as much as you can, because unless you greatly humble your souls, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Walk always before the Lord Jesus in the simplicity of your heart, having a pure conscience in all things, lest your humility become brutish; for it contributes nothing to salvation to acknowledge oneself publicly as a sinner, and in by persevering in evil, not to amend his fault. For the true servant of Christ sanctifies his humility by good works, and by continual repentance amends every guilt of his past life. Daily he calls back to memory the evil he remembers himself to have committed, and groans deeply that he has grievously offended the Lord. He walks with great caution, and so laments past sins committed that he in no way commits further things to be lamented.

The monk who is truly humble follows the Lord Jesus with a pure conscience, and fears nothing in this world more than offending the master whom he imitates. Whatever he does, and wherever he goes, he always keeps the Lord Jesus present in his thoughts, and by continual meditation examines how he may please him alone. For this is true and Christian humility, and humble Christianity: to wash away sin in true compunction, and to preserve the conscience in all purity at every time, not only through fear of punishments, but rather through love of Christ.

True humility of monks continually does whatever good it can for the honor of God, and intends to do nothing that it knows displeases Christ. True humility of monks neglects none of the things that God has commanded, and always flees as deadly the things that he has forbidden. The penitent monk, humble in the compunction of tears and serving the Lord in the fervor of charity, is the companion of the holy angels, the friend of the citizens of heaven, and very fearsome to demons. For demons fear and flee nothing more than the humility of the servants of Jesus Christ, because, since they themselves are most proud by their vicious will, they are most violently tormented by the devotion of the humble. For where true humility is, demons cannot remain; for just as ice is dissolved by fire, so malignant spirits are scattered by the presence of a humble monk.

O humility, venerable mother and guardian of all virtues, yours is the kingdom, yours the power. You bestow the kingdom on the humble; you grant the glory of eternal happiness to the meek. Without your guidance no one comes to heaven; he who follows you does not fear hell. He who gathers works of virtue without you is like one who carries dust into the wind. You are the seasoning of all good works, because just as food in the mouth of the eater is not savory without salt, so without your companionship no one is made a friend of God.

Humility made the Son of God man; humility will liken the servant of Christ to a holy angel. An angel, through pride and by his own choice, was made a devil; and a Christian man, through humility, becomes an angel. Humility opens heaven to the meek servants of God, and pride plunges arrogant men down to hell. Humility makes friends of God, and pride makes companions of demons. Humility enlightens the mind to true wisdom, and pride blinds the understanding of the one whom it has possessed. Humility purges the man whom it possesses of all disordered affections, and pride fills its worshiper with every crime and filthiness. Humility [unclear] the lover On the True Humility of Monks Humility makes the one who has it a servant of God; but pride makes him a slave of the devil. Humility makes a man wise in the law of the Lord; but pride renders a man foolish, away from the knowledge of the Most High. Humility brings the poor man into the fellowship of God; but pride makes the rich man members of the devil. Humility is the mother and nurse of all virtues; but pride is the source of all vices. Humility, through charity, covers a multitude of sins; but pride alone brings in the fullness of all vices.

Humility makes the good works of monks most pleasing to God; but pride renders the efforts of the arrogant idle before the Creator. Humility receives from the Lord whatever it asks; but almighty God resists the prayers of the proud. Humility always has devout confidence, with cheerfulness of mind, in the mercies of the Lord; but pride, with the sting of despair, begets disturbance in a man. Humility always has joy of spirit in the love of Christ; but destructive fear always occupies pride. Humility, the fosterer of good works, neglects none of the spiritual exercises; but pride despises all pursuits of salvation.

Humility justifies sinners; but pride condemns its followers. Humility makes a man near to God; but pride makes him alien from the grace of God. Humility diligently obeys the commandments of God with a peaceful will; but pride struggles against the precepts of the Most High. Humility heaps up the merits of everlasting happiness; but pride prepares for itself the most grievous torments of hell. Humility grants security at the moment of death; but pride brings horrible fear and calamity upon the dying man.

Humility frees the soul of its worshiper from every anguish in the dread judgment of God; but pride accuses before the Judge all the arrogant whom it has deceived in the world. Humility will place the servants of God at the Judge’s right hand; but pride will set those to be damned at his left. Humility will plead the cause of its own and prevail in judgment; but pride, utterly confounded, will hand the arrogant over to the devil. Humility will repay its friends with the reward of eternal happiness; but pride will give the torments of perpetual damnation to all the arrogant.

Humility will be crowned without end in heaven; but pride will suffer immeasurable torment with the demons forever in hell. Humility, crowned, will reign with Christ in heaven; but pride, despised, will be tormented with the devil in punishments. Humility, joyful and glorious, will sit forever at the right hand of God; but pride, sorrowful and shameful, will lie without end in the torments of hell. Then the humble will exult in glory, and all the proud will cry out in punishment through everlasting ages with exceedingly great grief.

There the humble will stand in the sight of God and of all the saints, in great gladness and everlasting exultation, receiving for the voluntary poverty of this life unfading riches; for meekness, a kingdom; for sorrow, joy; for the love of God, dominion; for contempt of the world and voluntary mortification of the flesh, heaven.

But the proud and arrogant, placed in hell, seeing such great glory of the humble whom they despised in the world, will marvel at so sudden a change of the saints. They will be troubled with horrible fear, groaning from anguish of spirit, and saying in the fury of pride: “These are the poor and humble monks, once clothed in mean garments, separated from men, abstaining from the eating of meat and from every filthiness of the flesh, whom we once held in derision and as a likeness of reproach. We senseless men judged their life madness and their end without honor. Behold how they have been counted among the sons of God, and their lot is among the saints. Therefore we have strayed from the way of truth, and the light of justice has not shone for us, and the sun of understanding has not risen for us. What does pride now profit us, by which we were then puffed up and despised the humble? And what does the boasting of riches possessed in the world bring us? All things have passed away, and we, because of our stubbornness, have been counted among the demons, since we always hated humility, and we suffer immeasurable torments without end. But the humble will live forever, and their reward is with the Lord, and their thought is with the Most High.”

Think on these things always, my brothers, because without doubt they are going to happen in this way. Therefore take up true humility of mind; flee every sin; keep your conscience pure, so that you may deserve to obtain the rewards of eternal life. Amen.

On the True Obedience of Monks. Homily XX.

Humility of monks, if it is true and perfect, begets the whole fullness of holy virtues. But if it lacks the splendor of virtues, true humility was never in the mind. For first of all it begets true obedience, and in all things a profound subjection for the love of God. For the monk who sojourns in the flesh truly humble shows himself in all things an eager disciple of our Savior Jesus Christ; for love of him, content with every lowliness and extremity, he glories in being subject, obedient in all things to his abbot. Humble obedience for the love of Christ is a great virtue: it opens heaven to the monk and by its strength shuts hell. Obedience restores the way of paradise and reforms peace between God and man.

This, however, is the true obedience of a monk: that which is rendered to the commands of superiors not from servile fear, but from the affection of inward charity; that which, persevering unto death not through fear of punishment but through love of justice, works good in gladness of mind. There are two most beautiful wings of the mind by which the monk flies up from earth to heaven: one of them is called humility; the other is named the obedience of subjection. The monk who has not been adorned with these wings has utterly lost both the name and the merit of his dignity. Nor should he be called a monk, but a liar and most deceitful apostate, whoever lives and dwells in a monastery without the obedience of humble subjection. For a monk without obedience is a monster of the devil, and he who resists the commands of his elders will inherit the punishments of hell.

The disobedience of the first man lost from the beginning the life of eternal happiness, which the obedience of Jesus Christ repaired. For he himself was made obedient to the Father for us unto death, and by his most innocent passion restored to us the happiness we had lost. Hence humble obedience is the road to salvation, as our holy lawgiver Benedict cries out in the Rule: “Listen, O son, to the precepts of the master, and incline the ear of your heart, and willingly receive the admonition of a loving father and effectively fulfill it, that by the labor of obedience you may return to him from whom you had withdrawn by the sloth of disobedience.”

Obedience is the tree of eternal salvation, which grows in the garden of monastic humility. Obedience is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and the quiet tomb of one’s own will. Obedience is the merit of heavenly happiness and the one sure lesson of monastic discipline. Obedience is the extermination of pride and all arrogance, and the persecutor of all vices. Obedience conquers every malice and extinguishes all the disordered pleasure of the flesh. Obedience makes the conscience pure and clean, and preserves true humility in the mind. Obedience is the remedy of the wounded soul and the foundation of all monastic observance. Obedience is the faithful guardian of all good works and the discipline of a sincere mind. Obedience is the beginning of mortification and the glorious ornament of a monk. Obedience is the preserver of peace and concord, without which the vigor of monastic discipline perishes. Obedience always directs the keenness of the mind toward God; and he who is truly mortified in spirit despises all the customary things of this world. Obedience makes the monk near to God and far removed from all stains of the soul. Obedience is the adornment of the soul and the garment of beauty, without which no one will come to the kingdom of eternal brightness. Obedience is the mother of victory, and he who knows how to be humbly subject for the honor of God will obtain the crown of martyrdom in heaven. Obedience distinguishes the monk from the world, and he who follows it with his whole heart will be great before the Most High. Obedience is the consummation of Christian perfection; in its humble workshop, the more a monk has advanced, the holier he becomes. Obedience is sure security in the hour of death, because the monk who is about to depart from here will fly away the more securely, the more ready he has been for obedience to commands. Obedience is the rewarder of the humble and the chief sign of merits. Obedience is the rule of Christian meekness and the strongest nourishment of inward charity. Obedience is the shade of chastity and the ornament of innocent purity. Obedience is the wisdom of monks, and to acquiesce in the commands of prelates is the highest philosophy of those who live in the cloister. Obedience and humility are the riches of monks, and riches; and to keep the memory of the Lord’s Passion continually in the mind is the greatest sweetness above all the feasts of the world. Obedience and humility make the monk; but whoever is rebellious and proud wears the monastic habit without cause.

Obedience is the voluntary mortification, alive in the mind, of the members; and the merit of its dignity is so great that a man has nothing greater to offer in honor of God. Let each person offer for the love of God what he can: beyond doubt, he has offered more than all who has slain his own will for God’s sake through obedience. It is indeed a great good to distribute one’s possessions for the love of Christ to the use of the poor, and to relieve the want of the needy with alms. But as much as the whole outweighs the part, as much as the free choice of the will is nobler than necessity, as much as heaven is distant from earth, so much more has he offered who, for the love of God, has of his own free will denied himself forever.

For whatever temporal substance you have offered to God is not yours, but another’s, and is of less value, both in estimation and in reward, than what is your own. You have one thing of your own which, when offered, pleases God above all things. What is this but free will, which the almighty Creator has placed in your power? And a good will is greater than all riches: nothing richer is offered to God, nothing more acceptable is consecrated to him.

This most precious gift, my brothers, you once offered to God when, denying yourselves and all worldly things for his honor, you put on the monastic habit. Remember, I beg you, the words of your holy profession, and let that solemn promise never depart from memory, which each one of you made in the sight of God before us, saying: “I, brother John, promise stability, conversion of my ways, and obedience according to the Rule of Saint Benedict, before God and his saints, in this monastery, which has been built in honor of blessed Martin, in the presence of Dom John, abbot.”

Behold the bond by which we have voluntarily bound ourselves to obedience; behold the service we have professed. For these are the vows which our lips uttered; these are the sacrifices of devout dedication which we offered to God. Certainly, my brothers, great are the things we have promised, and the necessity laid upon us to keep what we have professed is greater still. For unless we faithfully observe everything that the rule of our holy father Benedict commands us, the almighty justice of God will judge us severely as perjurers and wicked transgressors.

For it is very dangerous not to render to God what has been promised, and through forgetfulness of the holy institution to violate one’s purpose. Therefore, having been charged with the office of pastoral care, I am accustomed daily to admonish you to the observance of regular discipline; nor henceforth will the necessary word of salvation ever be lacking to you, so long as my spirit shall remain in this prison-house of the flesh. But you, I beg you, take care that you are not fruitless hearers, since the matter concerns the soul, which once lost is never recovered.

Whoever among you have come to the monastery to run the course of intellectual combat, whoever for the love of Christ have once renounced your own will and the world, take up holy obedience as the helmet of salvation, and you will bring back a sure victory over the enemy.

For obedience is the strongest armor of monks, against which no adversities will be able to do harm. For Scripture says: “He who keeps the commandment will experience no evil.” Likewise in Proverbs it is said thus: “An obedient man will speak of victories.” Obedience makes a monk invincible in all temptations; and he who follows in all things the counsel of his superior will never suffer loss to the salvation of his soul. For obedience is a short and rough road, by which one quickly ascends to the summit of perfection.

But the monk who is a true soldier of Christ never trusts his own judgment, but in all things follows and observes the direction of his shepherd. Indeed, he who is a true lover of Christ, who wholly desires to be a faithful monk, loves his abbot as the vicar of God, and in all things always cheerfully submits, as one obedient, to his commands, counsels, and ordinances.

But so that a monk may be able to do this with confidence, no boy, no unlearned man, no carnal man, no one lacking discretion, nor one light-minded or inexperienced in spiritual combats, should be appointed abbot, but a man gray-haired in character, learned in the divine Scriptures, walking in the spirit in the true conduct of holiness, devout, gentle, tranquil in mind, and discreet, who knows how to show both judgment to the wicked and mercy to the well-disposed. For whenever an unquiet, turbulent, indiscreet, and inexperienced man is set over monks as abbot, at once the integrity of regular discipline suffers shipwreck.

Subjection and humble obedience must perish together when subjects cannot have firm confidence in their shepherd. For if the abbot is a mocker of his brothers, or a harsh despiser of the weak, who will open to him any secret of his heart? Therefore at the beginning the greatest care must be kept, that such a prelate be appointed as shepherd over destitute sheep, one who seeks nothing other than the honor of God and the salvation of souls.

The monk who has obtained such a shepherd should give thanks to God, since in these times of ours one is rarely found who knows how to show himself in all things a worthy and suitable prelate. He is deservedly to be loved by all his subjects, and honored in the monastery with continual reverence as the vicar of Christ. Let the thoughts of all be opened to him securely, since he seeks nothing other than the progress of each one. If the physician of sick bodies must be prudent, experienced, and endowed with the highest discretion, how much more fitting is it for the abbot, who is physician of souls, to be an excellent man?

Happy are the monks to whom the mercy of God has provided a useful and suitable shepherd, if indeed it has also not denied them the understanding of this very thing. Otherwise, a good shepherd is not recognized in his uprightness by bad sheep, but because of the ingratitude of the wicked he is rather crucified with the Lord. For monks’ judgments are often blind whenever an opinion is sought about prelates; and those who by their conduct corrupt the integrity of the order rarely judge truly and rightly about pastors. Because of the ingratitude of subjects, rulers are often changed for worse ones; and monks who despise a good and useful pastor while he is present in this life have received a foolish and useless successor by the just judgment of God.

Those who are subject in simplicity walk rightly; and those who truly imitate Christ do not pass judgment on the one who presides. For we have one whom we may follow, the shepherd of faithful souls, our Lord Jesus Christ; looking faithfully to him in mind, we shall not rashly judge the visible shepherd. “The scribes and Pharisees,” he says, “have sat on the chair of Moses: do what they tell you, but do not imitate what they do.” Hear these things, O monk, and you who are a zealous lover of your own salvation, consider the pattern of obedience that you should follow.

The abbot bears Christ’s vicarship in the monastery; whether he is good or bad, he deserves the obedience of all his subjects not by his own merit, but in the name of Christ. For we understand the saying, “He who hears you hears me; and he who despises you despises me,” not of the apostles alone, but of any prelate in the Church of God who has been appointed guardian and ruler of souls. Therefore, if you have an abbot who is good, suitable, and holy, hear his voice as the command of one who stands in God’s place, and whatever he commands you, be obedient in all things. Let his teaching be for you the rule of living, and his holy conduct an example of purer formation. For he is a friend of God and the vicar of Jesus Christ: by the one he deserves that you love him; by the other, that you obey him in all things when he commands.

But if you have obtained a pastor who is crude, inexperienced, or certainly less suitable, beware, I beg you, of wishing rashly to examine his actions; rather think that your sins deserve to have a useless pastor. Consider him not as what he is, but as what he is called; and honor the pastor for love and reverence of him whose vicarship marks him. Remember at all times that the obedience you promised to God must be shown purely and simply to his vicar, since, if the abbot is evil in his conduct, he nevertheless does not lose the vicarship of Christ unless he is lawfully deposed. Nor does the reprobate life of your pastor release you from the obedience promised in your religious profession.

The sentence of our customary proverb is to be feared: “Reprobate monks do not deserve to have a good abbot.” Do not suppose, dearly beloved brothers, that this example has been hurled at you; for I do not trust that I am a bad pastor, though I cannot deny that I am crude and inexperienced. Nor have I ever admitted any suspicion of evil about you, since we seek nothing more than to nourish and enlarge fraternal charity in all things. Monks frequently come to us, wandering either with reason or without cause, who for the most part turn the matter of their instability back On the true obedience of monks.

...against abbots. But I, who desire you to be instructed in everything holy and useful, exhort and admonish your charity as a father: from now on do not lend your ears to these meddlesome wanderers, who disparage the conduct of their pastors and strive to hide their own crimes by denouncing others. It is not the necessary integrity of monastic discipline to shift the blame for the rebellion and disobedience of subjects onto the head of the pastor.

The man who is a true monk does not rashly judge another’s affairs; and the man who is a son of humble obedience does not investigate pretexts for rebellion. But he who yields consent to the passions of the flesh can never be at rest; and he who scrutinizes another’s life is a despiser of his own salvation. A monk founded in the love of God does not pass judgment on the command of his elder; and he who always beholds Christ as present venerates his pastor as an angel of God. Boldness makes a monk degenerate; and presumption has hurled many into prison. A petulant, wanton, and insolent monk has lost the purpose of holiness; and unless he is brought back to his senses by harsh chastisement of the flesh, he has already set his foot toward hell.

He who, with curious rashness, weighs the command of his elder is not obedient; and he who is saddened by an order is not a true disciple of Christ. For true obedience does not murmur, does not hesitate, does not grieve, does not seek a loophole, does not delay, does not excuse itself, nor does it show the least sign of unwillingness. At the command of the elder, for the love of Christ, it always rejoices, hastens gladly, and obeys cheerfully with speed.

For what else is a monk but an unceasing combatant, who, armed with the virtues of humility and obedience, always keeps watch in the arena of struggle, and, under a threefold battle line, fights more strongly as victor against himself? Blessed is that monk who, doing violence to himself, has learned to overcome the will of the flesh, and by the continual practice of spiritual warfare climbs the steep mountain of true obedience. Truly blessed is that monk who, having despised every consolation of the world, has placed his whole self in the love of Jesus Christ, and now desires nothing further among visible things.

It is not for monks to seek riches, honors, and pleasures in this world; nor does it befit a soldier of Christ to think of anything except Christ. O monk three and four times happy, who, for the love of Christ, mortifies his own will even to the end of life, and perseveres humble in true obedience. How great a good humble obedience is before God, my brothers, no one can sufficiently declare, since divine testimony willed to prefer it to all sacrifices. It is obedience that reconciles the soul to God and, because of the shedding of blood, crowns the martyrs.

For the monk who, for God’s sake, of his own free will binds himself to the perpetual obedience of religion, if he lives rightly according to his vow, certainly bears a long martyrdom. Obedience, therefore, is martyrdom without the shedding of blood; and voluntarily to subject oneself to a man for God’s sake is a mighty torment of the flesh. The soul that [unclear] humility and...

Homily XX Whoever truly loves obedience undoubtedly reaches the crown of martyrdom. It is an arduous work and an exceedingly laborious struggle for a free man to despise himself, and forever to surrender himself wholly, and all his own will, under the command and power of another. But let us look with faithful eyes upon the reward of this struggle, and we shall reckon all the hard and bitter things of this life as a kind of childish game, which is seen for an hour and afterwards appears nowhere. For, as the Apostle, the lover of Christ, says: the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which shall be revealed in us.

The crown which martyrdom once bestowed upon the saints for Christ, humble obedience will today prepare for the true lovers of Christ. For the monk who is truly humble and obedient for Christ dies secure and without fear, as one who, faithfully serving under the command of his superior, is freed from every demand for an accounting. For he who, living at the nod of his shepherd, walks rightly in all the commandments of God, can commit nothing that may be brought before the judge. He is defended by the testimony of the abbot, under whose direction he has lived rightly and without complaint.

Consider, brothers, the law of obedience according to which you promised to live, and know that you have made necessary what had been voluntary, when you solemnly consented to the judgment of monastic tradition. It is no longer permitted you to withdraw from the holy purpose, nor can you revoke a vow once uttered. If you do all things according to the holy Gospel of Christ and the rule of Father Benedict, which you vowed, let there be no doubtful hesitation in you: you will be blessed, and you will receive from the Lord the reward owed to the saints. But if, forgetful of your promises, you violate the vow of holy purity made to God, if, despising the spiritual life, you live according to the flesh, I now declare to you from your own law that you are most certainly to be condemned by our Lord Jesus Christ, the judge of all, whom you have mocked and despised. For it is far better to promise nothing than to violate a vow.

Therefore the condition of your salvation is placed in this one thing: that, just as you once promised God, you persevere until death according to the Rule of Saint Benedict, living in all purity of mind and body. For a Christian man who has not vowed monastic conversion can be saved by living rightly according to the Gospel; but he who has once become a monk will not be saved unless he has kept until death all the things required for the monastic institution.

Listen, then, O monk, to a brief, solid, and true word. You are a monk: if you live as a monk, you will be saved; but if you live otherwise, you will not be saved, but will receive your portion among the apostate spirits, because you have mockingly despised God, to whom you lied. Now therefore call yourself back to yourself; diligently examine your conscience concerning your whole life; weigh exactly how you have fulfilled thus far the vows you promised. But Yet let the judgment of your own self-assessment be suspect to you, unless the judgments of others also confirm you. Always remember that hour when you first entered the monastery for the sake of conversion, so that, whenever you find your soul growing sluggish from the fervor of holiness, you may renew it according to the former training of your novitiate.

You will quickly be able to become a good monk if you always and everywhere preserve obedience and humility in all things. True obedience in a monk gathers many virtues within him; humility, however, preserves those virtues once gathered, lest they flow away. Be ready at all times to obey the commands of your shepherd, and however much progress you have made in the struggle of holy combat, do not lift up your soul in any estimation of your progress. For what are our righteousnesses before the Lord? Or what good can we do that he has not given? Since God, who is sufficient to himself in all things and alone perfect, has no need of our good deeds, for he is the highest and unchangeable good, in comparison with whom all our justifications are less than nothing.

Therefore a monk placed under an abbot, in the humility of one truly obedient, walks securely; and if he perseveres to the end, fighting and conquering, he will be gloriously rewarded. Truly, brothers, the humility of your obedience delights me, which you show faithfully to the almighty Lord. In this respect I do not regard myself as your prelate, but as your companion and the humble minister of you all, though a more useless one. Therefore, in those matters that concern your salvation, I beg you, do not look at my person as I speak, but rather at the common Lord of all, for love of whom you have set me, an unworthy man, over you as abbot. For I will not be troublesome to you while you are running well; but if anyone turns aside from the way of truth, I am compelled, even unwillingly, to oppose him as far as I can.

Let a monk always remember his entrance into the monastery, and never forget the first resolve of his training. In all your works too, O monk, always remember that you are not lasting long upon the earth, but will shortly depart from this life, and that you will die perhaps when you do not expect it. Therefore keep inviolate your purpose of holiness, and always be watchful in good works, so that when the Lord comes and calls you, he may find you prepared. Remember that you are a pilgrim on earth, and have here no abiding city; but just as a traveler hastens quickly toward the end of his journey, so death approaches you daily without interruption.

Therefore, while you are healthy, set the house of your conscience in order, so that you may not fear death, since he rarely dies well who is not prepared as one who will die each day. O how securely that monk departs from this life who, keeping his conscience clean in all purity, conducts himself at all times, without reproach, according to the full integrity of the rule of our most holy lawgiver, even to death. Let your mind continually [keep before it] our Lord Jesus Christ as present, indeed as nowhere absent.

Let him keep it in memory, and let no hour pass in which you do not think with thanksgiving of him suffering for you. Stand in humility and true obedience, and no adversities will ever prevail against you. Just as a tree that sends many great roots into the earth is not easily torn from its place, so a monk who possesses charity and obedience in humility, together with the other virtues, is by no means overcome by demons. Obedience is a great virtue, brothers; it plants the other virtues in the mind, and, once planted, guards them through the ministry of humility. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who was made obedient for us unto the death of the cross, enlighten your hearts by his grace, and sweetly inflame your minds at all times for the observance of the regular life; he who lives and reigns with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

On Continence and True Chastity. Homily XXI.

I would greatly wish, my dearest brothers, that I had obtained from God that grace by which I might be a worthy and suitable pastor for you in deed as well as in word. For I know, and it does not escape me, how dangerous a thing the governance of souls is for a young and inexperienced man such as I am, when one who has not yet learned to direct and govern himself according to the rule of justice presumes to undertake the teaching of others. I blush to open my mouth among you to teach, since after only a short time as a disciple I am compelled, before maturity, to be a teacher. Yet since it has so pleased you, and you have wished to have me, a young man, as your master, spare me, for necessity compels me to fulfill, according to my strength, the office entrusted to me. Help me with your prayers, I beg you, brothers, so that the mercy of God may supply the strength that the inexperience of age denies.

For I desire you to walk before God in all purity of mind and body, so that you may please him to whom you gave yourselves from the beginning. Look to our Lord Jesus Christ as the guide of the journey you have undertaken toward heaven: born of the ever most chaste Virgin Mary, he preserved forever the most perfect chastity of mind and body. Follow this teacher, into whose service you have consecrated your hands, so that you may preserve continence for yourselves not only in body, but also perpetually guard in mind a chastity brighter than sapphire and carbuncle. For chastity is a most beautiful virtue, especially fitting for those in the cloister; through it every impulse of lust is curbed under the yoke of reason, and, the madness of vices being extinguished, the body’s disposition is preserved in complete honorableness.

An incontinent and wanton monk, who follows the filthy lust of the flesh, is counted with the demons who withdrew from the Lord. For there are three things without whose perpetual observance no one is to be reckoned worthy of being named among monks. The first of these is the obedience of humble and true subjection; and the second, the renunciation of everything of one’s own.

of [unclear], as the Rule commands; the third vow, perpetual continence and the inviolate custody of chastity. If a monk violates any one of these, he corrupts the purpose of his order.

Chastity is supported by two companions, namely fasting and temperance; if it is ever deprived of them, it very quickly, without doubt, begins to totter. Chastity is the greatest adornment of monks; adorned with it, they will be brought into the company of the angels. Nothing is more beautiful than chastity: it makes clean what was conceived from unclean seed, it makes a member of the household out of an enemy, and an angel out of an earthly man.

Chastity is the most beautiful virtue of all virtues; when it is promised to be kept even until death for the love of Christ, it is rewarded with an inestimable prize. Chastity is nearest to the fellowship of angels, and is the highest medicine of the Christian mind. Chastity is the beloved dwelling place of Jesus Christ, the eternal King, and the wondrous beginning of future incorruption. Chastity is the fullness of heavenly grace, through which every corruption of nature is restored. Chastity is the most powerful virtue of all, through which, in a fragile vessel, nature is conquered in a wondrous contest. Chastity imitates the angelic life, and knows no sprinkling of stain in the midst of the mire.

Blessed is the man who has truly deserved to receive from the Lord God the gift of chastity, and has kept it inviolate until death in Christian humility. He is chaste who, pure in mind and body for the love of Jesus Christ, abstains from every defilement of the flesh; who, with the fervor of the Holy Spirit, burns sweetly in the love of God; who desires absolutely nothing in this world; who always longs to be and to live with Christ.

He is chaste who, mindful of his profession in spiritual warfare, restrains the movements of the flesh by reason, and at once, from the very beginning, firmly checks all the itching sparks of lust. He is chaste who, as soon as a carnal thought has begun to strike the mind, implores divine help with tears, and does not cease from prayers until he feels that the fire of itching ardor has been utterly extinguished.

He is chaste who flees every matter and occasion of lust; who has made a covenant with his eyes that he should think nothing about a woman, and sets a guard over his senses, lest any foul or immodest things be thrust upon them. He is chaste who avoids the company of the wanton, and always turns his eyes away lest he behold vain things. He is chaste who detests the frequent company of all women, and who at all times regards his own frailty with fear and vigilance as suspect.

He indeed is chaste who in mind and body imitates the angelic nature, and who admits no corruption in holy conduct. Chastity is a gift of grace, not a work of nature or of human effort. Chastity makes a humble monk most pleasing to God, since he who lives in mortal flesh without corruption is a companion of the angels. He who has attained true chastity is always humble; and he who understands its nature does not arrogate its possession to himself, but to the Lord who gave it. For no one is chaste by his own strength, since frail man cannot conquer nature.

Homily XXI.

It is not enough unless he who created nature and all things has given it. For whenever nature is overcome by chastity, God is manifestly working together with man. Chastity itself has a difficult beginning in the young, until the movement of unlawful thought is brought into contempt. Chastity overcomes fornication by fleeing rather than fighting, because lust is girded about with so many subtle weapons that it must be avoided before it is engaged.

Therefore, whenever the soul is touched by the movements of lust, let divine help be invoked without delay. Let no time for deliberation be given to an unclean thought, but as soon as it begins to be felt, let it be brought into contempt by the remedy of forgetfulness. With a deceitful enemy, one who always uses ambushes, no conversations at all are to be mingled; and with the unclean thoughts of the flesh no counsels are to be discussed. For unless you crush the serpent’s head, it slips away; and unless you immediately repress the movements of lust from the beginning, they grow strong.

The holy apostle of Christ, Paul, warns that one must fight against every vice, but he commands that fornication alone be fled. We carry about with us the material for victory against ourselves; therefore he wills that we flee the enemy. Chastity is nourished by fasting; by gluttony it suffers shipwreck. Therefore, if you love chastity, love fasting, so that it may have its necessary nourishment.

He who is chaste follows the diligence of the bee; and he who is truly a monk, as if adorned with every flower, is adorned with all virtues. Not everyone is chaste who does not know lust, but he who, in pure and clean flesh, for the love of Christ alone, also obtains holiness of mind. Otherwise, what does the purity of the dwelling profit, if the inhabitant is foul and unclean?

Blind paganism once had its virgins sacrificing to Vesta; but because they did not offer the chastity of their bodies to the true God, nor hold right faith in their mind, they went down into the depth of hell with their demons, whom they worshiped. For he is chaste who, for love of the Creator, restrains the flesh from every lust, and offers the mind, adorned in every way with holy virtues, to God himself. Outside faith in Jesus Christ today there is no true chastity, nor any that merits eternal salvation.

Live chastely, O monk; conduct yourself pure and holy; and as long as the spirit remains in the body, do not presume to have confidence in the chastity of clay. The food of chastity is fasting and abstinence, and in every action the strengthening of wholesome continence. But when you have attained all things, do not trust in yourself, because he fell from heaven whom we know to have eaten nothing. The mortification of the body is very necessary and useful for preserving the beauty of chastity; but however much you have advanced in both, do not trust in yourself, but always keep watch, hope in the help of the Lord, and fear.

For unless you continually and most urgently keep yourself in the fear of the Lord, the house of your conscience will quickly be overthrown. He runs in vain who presumes to guard chastity by his own strength. For unless the Lord has built the dwelling of chastity, he labors in vain who builds the wall of abstinence. And unless you have become, with all your strength, a co-worker with divine grace, you will by no means obtain the beauty of chastity.

For God will not make you chaste without your will, nor will you attain this great gift unless he comes to the aid of your weakness through his mercy. Therefore, O monk, it will be yours, with a good will, to offer the desire for chastity, and with humble confidence to await sure increase from the Lord. Apply what is yours, and the Lord’s help will not be lacking. Chastity is a gift of grace, not of nature; and to live in the flesh as though beyond the flesh belongs to angelic strength, not human.

Yet it is not difficult for a man of good will to preserve chastity, especially one who is separated from the tumult of secular people and lives solitary in the midst of monks. A monk also who, young and innocent, enters a monastery of good reform, if he continually occupies his mind in the fear of the Lord, is less attacked by lust. For experience of desire is destructive, since, as someone has truly said: Venus wants to conquer souls, not satisfy them.

But a monk zealous for his own salvation can easily extinguish the fire of lust, if, fleeing idleness and repletion, he is willing to occupy himself continually in spiritual exercise. For among all the vices, none attacks chastity more greatly or more dangerously than repletion and idleness. If a monk has overcome these two evils, he will easily guard chastity. Hence the most holy fathers of monks, wishing to cut away the causes of lust, established for us a sparing and scanty diet in fixed measure, so that the body may be sustained for necessity and not fattened for lust. They also ordained restriction of sleep as useful for monks, because immoderate rest inflames the flesh no less than gluttony. But they wished idleness, as the most destructive plague of the soul, to be far from cloistered men, most wisely dividing the time so that a monk would never be found idle.

Hear these things, brothers, and grasp them in your mind, you who carry a great treasure in a fragile little body. Flee idleness; always do some good thing, so that as often as the devil the tempter approaches, he may find you usefully occupied. For truly, he who is idle lies open to the snares of the tempter; but he who is occupied in good work has closed every entrance to snares. Therefore the mind must be occupied with continual exercise, so that it may never be found idle.

Blessed is that monk who occupies his mind at all times in good exercises, and never sleeps in the slumber of torpor and sloth. Blessed is the spiritual soldier of Christ who always keeps watch in the fear of the Lord, and immediately restrains from the beginning all the disordered movements of the flesh. For it is not enough to preserve true chastity unharmed if one plays, as though deliberating, with unclean thoughts. One must resist the first stirrings of wicked thoughts, since where delay gives rise to danger, one must immediately fight bravely. One must always keep watch against [unclear] of salvation.

our adversary [unclear], who is never overcome more quickly than if he is choked off at once from the beginning. Constant practice is needed, brothers, because a mind always occupied in holy studies is like a very high tower of strength, in which the most watchful soldier of Jesus Christ, once stationed, fears no hostile ambushes.

Therefore I beseech you, my dearest brothers, do not waste your time in idleness; do not increase within yourselves the material of vices, since you are not ignorant of the cunning of the evil spirit. Preserve continence in all things, and apply temperance, the guide of the virtues, to all your works. Always consider how you ought to walk before the Lord God in all religion and holiness, into whose words you have sworn, and live in such a way that you do not fear to appear at his judgment.

You are monks, separated from the world by voluntary promise for the service of our Lord Jesus Christ; therefore, under the necessity of salvation, you must lead a higher and holier life than the rest of your fellow Christians, and overcome every depravity of flesh and soul. For you must always be most chaste in mind and body alike, and stained by no filth of corruptible flesh. An incontinent monk is an apostate; and one who defiles his flesh with the filth of women is like one who violates an oath. Lust is a pit of hell, and despair is always very near to incontinence.

A monk who once slips into the pit of the flesh is rarely kindled to true compunction of heart. For the vice of fornication, growing strong through long habit, is not easily overcome unless it is corrected by force with contrary remedies. It is more difficult after a fall of the flesh to rise again to true chastity than to remain in continence once possessed. It is easier to fall from the state of uprightness into any vice than to correct a sin strengthened by habit. For, as a certain pagan truly says: Easy is the descent to Avernus; but to recall the step and escape to the upper airs, this is the task, this is the labor.

Let us consider those who have fallen into this most foul pit and afterward, by the authority of their superiors, have been compelled to do penance: how do they live among the brothers? They do not have the signs of true compunction, but pass an unquiet life in dryness of heart. No devotion of mind is seen in them, but everywhere they follow the accustomed ways of the flesh. How rarely is anyone converted to the sweetness of inward love who has once plunged into the pit of fornication. For unless, before he comes into this misery, he has been grounded in the fear of the Lord, once fallen he returns with the greatest difficulty to true compunction.

Therefore live soberly, dearest brothers, and always keep watch in holy prayers, because unless you walk most cautiously in all things, you will by no means be able to escape the snares of demons. Love abstinence; guard humility above all things. For no one can suppress the impulses of his flesh who has neglected to tame gluttony and pride.

The insolent demon of fornication is never better conquered than when true humility of heart is preserved in the fullness of all virtues. For just as almighty God, resisting the proud, gives grace to the humble, so the devil, fleeing the humble, hurls the proud down into fornication. Therefore anyone who is gluttonous, eating and drinking to satiety, and desires to conquer the spirit of fornication, is carrying oil to the fire. And anyone who strives to extinguish the impulses of lust by abstinence alone is like a man seen swimming with one hand in the midst of the waves. Let continual prayer to God be joined to abstinence, and he will sail securely in the ship of holy humility.

Let prayer always be in the monk’s mouth, and let the memory of the passion and death of the Lord Jesus never depart from his meditation. For nothing so strengthens the mind against the demon of fornication, and the soul, as devout meditation on the passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore, as often as you feel a disordered movement of the flesh, as often as you perceive that the invisible enemy is present to do harm, at once flee to the Son of God hanging on the cross, and, with your knees bent to the ground, let such a prayer be formed to him: O Jesus crucified, my love, through the pain of your wounds have mercy on me; through the shedding of your most holy blood help me in this struggle; and through the power of your most innocent death free me from every defilement of mind and body.

Nothing is more wholesome than this manner of prayer, in which the memory of Christ’s passion is honored and all petitions are strengthened in the power of the Savior. Nothing more weakens the snares of the ancient enemy, nothing more quickly enfeebles the forces of his malice, than if the devoted servant of Christ humbly perseveres in meditation on the most bitter passion of the Lord. Just as some thief flees before the face of the pursuing judge, so the devil swiftly vanishes from the sight of a monk meditating attentively on the passion and death of the Savior. The movement of wicked thought is quickly extinguished where the bitterness of Christ’s passion is recalled to mind. Just as snow melts when the sun grows warm, so the devil is put to flight by meditation on the Lord’s passion.

The greatest safeguard of chastity is always to invoke divine aid. And unless you run back to the Lord at once from the beginning of temptation, you will gradually feel the harm caused by delay. For if you allow delay amid pernicious thoughts, the demons soon introduce an imperceptible blindness of mind. For unless the mind has first been blinded, the will does not succumb to the demon. But the spirit of fornication first heavily darkens the mind; afterward, until it has hurled it down into sin, it fights against the blinded one. And after it has hurled the monk into the mire of unspeakable crime, lest he rise again to repentance, it sets itself in the way in two ways. For either it subtly tries to lessen the gravity of the sin, so that he may not fear a great punishment; or it brings back to the fallen man’s memory the strictness of judgment, so that he may fall into the pit of despair. By these snares the sinful soul is caught, and the longer it has lain in the deep...

Homily XXI.

of misery, the more hardened it becomes. Flee idleness, O cloistered ones, and shun gluttony and fullness of the belly with all your strength, because the monk who fills his belly with food and drink gives the demon of fornication material for doing harm. Take on true contrition of heart, and restrain the unlawful motions of the flesh through the tears of prayer. For no one is able rightly to conquer his body unless he has first taken up the goad of contrition. But he cannot attain the grace of holy contrition who has not perfectly despised and denied himself. Yet whoever has perfectly denied himself for the love of Christ, already overcoming the assault of the flesh, will more easily obtain the grace of contrition. For one who has been mortified in will desires nothing carnal, nothing shameful. But which of us, brother, is there who would dare to say that he has reached this grace of mortification? Which of us does not know himself to be weak? We run in the arena of spiritual warfare, and in daily struggle we fight against vices. We have received no assurance of peace, even if at times we have peace. The more familiar to us the weakness of the flesh is, the harder are the battles of chastity. Therefore we must be especially watchful, since we carry about with us a familiar enemy and endure an evil impulse as though it were domestic. Therefore, as long as we live in this mortality, let us always fear the corrupter of chastity. Let us beware of everything that stirs up lust, and as much as we can, let us flee sloth and idleness. For the strongest enemies of true chastity are fullness of bread and idleness; unless they are driven far away by abstinence and by the work of salutary exercise, they threaten chastity with imminent shipwreck. Guard your hearts with every care, my dearly beloved brothers, and always keep watch in mind against your adversary, who never sleeps. Arm yourselves with the breastplate of perfect faith in Jesus Christ, so that in deed and in belief you may be true Christians. Always be of one mind in brotherly charity, and without pretense be united in the true observance of regular discipline. Love fasting and continence; always pray without ceasing. Flee idleness as a deadly plague of the soul, and continually exercise yourselves in holy works. Love silence, and do not flee monastic solitude, if you desire to obtain true purity of mind and body. Keep continual guard over your eyes, ears, and speech, lest death enter the soul through the windows. Flee conversations with women, and avoid even the touch of holy women as a blazing fire. No one safely looks willingly at what, when desired, brings the sting of death. Always behold with the faithful eyes of the mind, through love, our Lord Jesus Christ dying for you on the cross; occupy yourselves each day for your salvation in his evangelical teaching; humbly give thanks for his passion and death alike. If with continued perseverance and in true simplicity of heart you do these things until death, we trust that you will be rewarded with the fellowship of the saints.

On the Fraternal Charity of Monks.

On the Fraternal Charity of Monks. Homily XXII.

We have heard, my dearest brothers, our Lord Jesus Christ commanding in the holy Gospel: “Whatever you wish that men should do to you, do likewise to them.” It is indeed a brief, but solid commendation of brotherly charity, without which no one can ascend to the love of God. For no one can love God who is proved not to love his fellow Christian. Hence the blessed apostle John says: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” Therefore, if anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar.

For this reason holy Paul, the lover of Christ, exhorts us, saying: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.” And Peter, the prince of the apostles, admonished us in this way: “Before all things,” he says, “have constant mutual charity among yourselves, because charity covers a multitude of sins.”

How necessary brotherly charity is for salvation, Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, made clear when he said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole law and the prophets.” For whatever is commanded anywhere in the whole sequence of the Scriptures is without doubt referred to these two commandments.

Here we understand “neighbor” not as someone joined by kinship of blood, but as every human being joined by the fellowship of reason, and especially a Christian, whom each person is commanded to love as himself, since he is seen to await eternal salvation together with him.

But it especially befits you, brothers, to love one another in the true charity of Jesus Christ the Savior, since the monastic profession enjoins you to strive with all your strength toward the summit of perfection. For just as covetousness is the root of all evils, so charity is the root of all goods. First you must love God for his own sake, because he is the highest good, above all things with a pure heart; and then you must love your neighbor with sincere charity for the Lord’s sake.

These two precepts of charity have been joined together by Christ’s authority, so that neither can in any way be fulfilled without the other. For one who truly loves God cannot hate his neighbor. If he hates his neighbor, he does not truly love God. For the love of God brings forth love of neighbor, and through love of neighbor the love of God is nourished. If one of the two loves is lacking, the other does not grow strong. For one who does not perfectly love his neighbor shows himself empty of the love of God. Therefore we truly love God when we love our neighbor, that is, every Christian human being, more earnestly with sincere intention.

For brotherly charity is the bond of peace, which alone nourishes in the dwelling of mercy, and preserves Christian unity among the brothers. Charity is the begetter of meekness and the noble mother of catholic piety. Brotherly charity is formidable to demons, since it makes victorious all whose courtyard of the heart it surrounds. Charity extinguishes the fire of lust and covers the whole multitude of sins. Charity makes a man most dear to God and makes him a companion of the holy angels. Charity preserves the Church in the unity of the saints; outside it no one obtains eternal salvation. Brotherly charity orders the conduct of cloistered men and causes God to dwell in the midst of monks. Charity does injury to no one, but ministers help to all through compassion. Charity drives out every vice, because it is the one nurse of all virtues. Charity keeps the reform of brotherhood in vigor among cloistered men and works great salvation for souls. Mutual charity strengthens obedience and makes brotherly correction fruitful. Charity nourishes true concord among the brothers, and preserves a sweet-smelling chastity of both minds and bodies. Charity makes monks of one mind in the house of God and praiseworthily harmonious in every good work. Mutual charity lightens the rigor of the order, and all things that seem hard and rough to carnal people it changes through habit into nature, as though they were very light. Charity is the most beautiful beauty of monks, adorned with all virtues. Charity utterly drives hatred and envy from the monasteries of God’s servants, and by its presence drives far away the other crimes of death. The charity of the brothers is a fitting dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit and a fortress of serene conscience. Charity is the servant of justice and the sole preserver of regular discipline in the monastery. Charity keeps the mind harmless from cruelty and supplies to all a peaceful gentleness of spirit. Brotherly charity seeks the salvation of all and does not allow the one who possesses it to grow sluggish [unclear]. Charity does not loathe want, but is ready, for love of the brothers, to endure every poverty. Charity is the water of heavenly sweetness; if anyone drinks it in the fervor of the Holy Spirit, he does not fear the everlasting thirst of hell. Brotherly charity does not seek the enticements of the flesh, but directs pure, holy, and undefiled affections toward one’s neighbor. Charity bears the name of chaste beauty, which cannot be shared with the things or actions of most impure pleasure. Charity loves purity and cleanness, and admits no impurity. In the work of love, charity does not consider the flesh of one’s neighbor, but the soul, which it does not doubt was created in the image of God. Brotherly charity raises up a sinning neighbor with pious admonitions, and keeps all its actions pure and harmless from every malice. Charity walks in peace and tranquility of mind, and saddens one’s neighbor neither by word, nor by deed, nor by sign. Charity humbles itself in all things as far as it can, and most diligently [unclear] for a neighboring brother who is weak, as for a son of God.

serves. Charity judges no one rashly, but humbly corrects a sinning neighbor with the gentlest admonitions. Charity is terrible and fearsome to the reprobate, but kind and gracious to the meek. Charity counts others’ troubles as its own, and weeps for brothers in tribulation as though it itself were suffering. Charity has compassion for all who are in need, and is saddened no less by the misfortunes of others than by its own. Charity reproaches a neighbor with nothing, but for the love of God always bears the weaknesses of all with equanimity. Charity is constant in good works, and so long as it remains in the heart, it is never idle. Charity neglects none of the things to which it is bound, but keeps all things as diligently as possible.

Fraternal charity is the fulfillment of the law, since whatever is commanded after the worship of God is referred to love of neighbor. Hence the holy lover of Christ says: “He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, You shall not covet your neighbor’s property, and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love of neighbor works no evil. Therefore love is the fullness of the law.”

And so, my dearest brothers, we beseech you through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead, that you always preserve fraternal charity unharmed; without it you can neither truly love God nor fulfill any commandment of his. For the preservation of fraternal charity is as necessary for your salvation as the nourishment of food and drink is for bodies to preserve life. For the body dies without necessary nourishment, and all the virtues of the soul are scattered without fraternal charity.

Indeed, fraternal charity preserves a multitude of monks in unity of spirit, because without the bond of mutual love no cloistered man perseveres without disturbance of the community. The monk who pursues his brother with hatred is driven far away from the charity of God. For the holy Evangelist John says: “He who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

But the chaste and prudent lover of his neighbor walks securely in the light of the Holy Spirit, and is neither disturbed by anyone himself nor disturbs anyone else. For true love of neighbor is gentle, sweet, and most dutiful, and in all its common life meek, peaceable, and tranquil. Yet among rulers the vigor of discipline guides meekness, and the clemency of fraternal consideration beautifully tempers vigor. For one must be so tempered by the other that vigor is not harsh, nor love lax. The lover of fraternal charity does not abandon the way of justice; and he who rightly loves his neighbor admits no corruption.

For true love of neighbor covets no gold, nor seeks the services of attendants, but, despising all things that can overthrow the state of the soul, Homily 22.

pursues only the soul’s growth. For it is not sincere charity toward one’s neighbors to seek gifts of corruption, or, in the manner of boys, to love with an affection of likeness someone who comes running because of distributions of little dainties. The friendship of monks, among good men who are zealous for the same purpose, ought to be common, and far removed from every carnal attachment. Let it be pure, simple, upright, lasting without injury to anyone, and let it have in itself nothing of suspicious conspiracy. This is not the rule of brotherly charity: to seek private forbidden meetings for consolation and, without the prior’s blessing, to spend time in furtive, indeed prohibited, conversations. You bestow your love upon your neighbor not rightly, but rather ruinously, whenever you come together, contrary to the rule of regular observance, for the comforts of the flesh. The monk’s love ought to be solid and most remote from every transgression of regular discipline, since unless charity is mute with regard to carnal conversations, it does not have in itself the fire of divine love.

Now examine your conversations, brothers, and see whether your hearts are also radiant with true charity. For charity that either gives to a neighbor, or receives from him, consolations harmful to the spirit was never sincere. Therefore take care to direct the eye of the mind not toward the beauty of the flesh, but rather toward contemplation of the soul, if you wish to love your neighbor rightly and praiseworthily. For when the flesh is loved without regard for the soul, a love is generated that is not sincere, but carnal and impure. Consider that your brother has a soul like your own, and always remember that you both await an equal happiness. By mind we mean soul; by soul, not by body, we are immortal. What is immortal is what each is commanded to love in the other, and to order the regard of charity toward the soul rather than toward the body. For just as we are distinguished from brute animals by reason and understanding, so the gaze of our love should be referred to the mind by which we understand, not to the body, which we have in common with beasts.

Let all carnal attachments be far from holy monks, who are not ignorant of the mutual and sincere rule of charity. Let love for one another be pure, upright, and conceived from fear of God alone, so that no advantage of any corruptible thing may intervene, but the simple intention of charity may remain. But simple and pure charity does not seek the byways of evil conspiracy, nor does it arm itself with the murmur of contention for the contrivances of iniquity. Whoever possesses true brotherly charity in his heart preserves peace in all things, and stirs up no matter or cause of ruinous dissension. Charity, giving each one his due, does injury to no one, and whatever it does not wish done to itself, it never transfers onto the person of another. Do not think that you have true brotherly charity when you love one another with regard to the flesh, or for the advantage of any temporal thing whatever, since where the cause of love is not the Lord, the affection of the one who loves is always faulty either in part or in whole. But he rightly loves his brother who ...binds with love of God, and because of the common participation in the kingdom which we await. Therefore, as the holy bishop John says, we have been baptized into one body of the Church, so that we may not be dissolved, but may preserve forever, in that harmony which exists toward one another and in the friendship of one body, charity and mutual concord. Just as no one outside the unity of the catholic Church can obtain salvation, so no one is believed able to be saved without brotherly charity.

Charity, therefore, is necessary for you before all things for salvation; without it the remaining works of the virtues are utterly fruitless. For there can be nothing good, no saving merit for life, which has not taken its origin from it. Charity is a certain short path to virtue; if anyone enters upon it by the right track of the journey, he will need no direction from a guide. Charity, pure, simple, and upright, is not accustomed to harm one’s neighbor, nor to inflict evil on anyone. Charity is accustomed to bestow on all the affection which it gives to its own advantages; and whatever it hopes will conduce to its own salvation, it desires this to be common to all people in Christ Jesus. Charity exercises the office of love without any disturbance, and although it loves all people greatly, nevertheless for no one is it provoked to a zeal of bitterness. It is always solid, always constant, always stable and firm, because it is neither touched by passions nor shaken by movements of unrest. It shows itself common to all, and so bestows its love on each one that nevertheless it seems nearest to all. Charity does not neglect itself in those things which pertain to the reason of the mind and soul; but in those things which regard the advantage of the body, it often places the causes of others before its own benefits. Great is the command of true charity, which compels a person to make another’s disadvantage his own.

You, therefore, my brothers, who have solemnly girded yourselves for the warfare of Christ, who through the arduous way of obedience pant after eternal life, if you do not wish to run in vain in the arena of so laborious a contest, take care, we exhort you, before all things always to keep brotherly charity inviolate among you. For unless you have sincere and perfect charity toward one another, you labor without fruit in regular observance. Abstinence from eating meat will contribute nothing to the salvation of your souls; the renunciation of all private property will profit nothing toward the adoption of eternal happiness, if brotherly love does not hold a place in your hearts. Therefore, desiring to be saved with Christ, love one another in truth, and, as Christ loved you, so we beg you, love one another. Whatever each one of you desires to be done to himself, let him bestow that very thing on his brother without envy, for the love of God, at all times. Let divine love overcome in you all quarrels of the flesh and every kind of contention; and let no pernicious dissension of the flesh find a place where the fullness of brotherly charity ought continually to dwell. For if all of you in the monastery live according to the law of Christian instruction, you necessarily always abstain from injuring one another. But if through contentions and wrongs you injure one another, you are certainly neither monks nor true Christians.

For it befits cloistered men and all monks to be outstanding in the observance of charity, and to be far removed from the rancor of envy and hatred. Therefore let the monk be stable in his purpose of holiness even to death; let him be faithful in the service of God, so that he may both sweetly burn in love of the Creator and never depart from purity of conscience. For whoever perfectly loves the Lord God with his whole heart both preserves his conscience clean from every pollution of sin and always shows pure and sincere charity to his neighbor. But the one whom either envy burns or hatred stirs up against his brother, it is clear that he neither truly loves God nor has a conscience pure from sin. Therefore everyone who pursues his brother with hatred and indignation is neither a true monk nor worthy of the name of Christian, but by merit and conduct a servant and companion of demons.

Therefore let hatreds depart far from this holy congregation of yours; let there be no contests of pernicious contention among you; let no zeal of bitterness be found here; let no speech of displeasing pride be heard. Let the concord of brotherly unity flourish here continually; let the innocence of Christian purity adorn the consciences of each one, so that we may live in this brief time in such a way that after death we may be glorified with Christ in eternity.

On the Charity of Man toward God. Homily XXIII.

Nothing can be so just, nothing so holy, nothing in human actions so honorable, as always to love God above all things with the whole heart, with the whole mind, and with the whole strength, and for love of him to fear neither death nor any kinds of punishments. There is no greater cause for any action in us than divine love, because, since God is the author of all things, nothing is more justly loved than he; and since he is the greatest of all goods, nothing is loved more fruitfully than he. God first loved us: the highest loved the lowest, the greatest loved the little, the almighty loved the weak.

Therefore, my brothers, let us love the Lord God with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole strength, by whom we are most sweetly loved, who not only created us in his image and likeness, but, as a proof of the greatest love, mercifully called us to the kingdom of eternal happiness through the teaching and death of his only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. No fleshly mother ever loved her only son so tenderly, sweetly, and strongly as almighty God loved us, who not only willed to become man for our instruction, but also deigned to undergo death in the flesh he had assumed for our salvation.

No love has ever been greater, if we weigh rightly who it was who endured such things for us. For out of love for us, he who was free from the debt of death voluntarily dies; and he who was always immune from every sin is willingly condemned, innocent and just, for our sins. Therefore with the most just reason we are commanded to love the Lord our God with our whole heart, who, when we did not exist, created us from his goodness alone, and when we had perished, mercifully delivered us.

The love of God is the greatest of all virtues, since whatever good, whatever virtue is done in this world, if it is not done from charity toward God, is deprived of reward. Charity toward God purifies the conscience from every fault, because he who truly loves the Lord his God with his whole soul, with his whole heart, and with all his strength undoubtedly grants no place in his conscience to vices. For no uncleanness of vices enters a heart occupied by the love of God.

The love of God is an unfailing treasure: whoever possesses it is richer than all the wealthy of the world; whoever lacks it is more wretched than all the poor. Hence the holy Apostle of Christ says: “For those who love God, all things work together for good,” because nothing is lacking to those who fear him. Happy is the man in whose heart no bond of earthly affection dwells besides the love of Christ, who sighs after the remembrance of no human being, in whose conscience purity resides, and divine love always burns most ardently.

Love him, my brothers, who for love of you descended into the Virgin’s womb. Always carry in your hearts him who by his death opened heaven to you. Let the love of Christ be in you at all times, brothers, strong as death, so that your life may be conformed to Christ’s teaching, and, if it should ever be necessary to die for love of him, you may not fear, just as he himself first deigned calmly and kindly to undergo death for us.

For the love of Christ makes a monk near to God, and whoever is always fervent in the charity of the Lord will obtain the fellowship of angels. The love of Christ makes a man most strong against all assaults of demons, and no less patient and tranquil in adversity than in prosperity. The love of Christ teaches one truly to despise the world and all its delights, and to count all comforts of the flesh as nothing. The love of Christ quickly suppresses the unlawful movements of the flesh and brings the purest chastity into the mind. The love of Christ sweetly raises the mind with desire to heavenly things, and preserves it, separated from earthly things, in spiritual exercise.

The love of God smooths all hard and rough things, because where Christ is truly loved, tribulations and any adversities are reckoned as delights. The love of God is always constant in good works and is never idle. The love of God despises present things and strongly raises the mind to eternal things. The love of God neither seeks honors nor looks for riches, but, joined to Christ through desire, covets absolutely nothing except him. The love of God covers a multitude of sins and forgives all offenses to those who repent. The love of God suddenly justifies the impious, and the more love has grown, By so much the more swiftly and strongly does the perfection of the soul rise up. The love of God is a tower of strength, which all the ministers of diabolical depravity cannot approach. The love of God is the consummation of all justice and the end of monastic discipline. The love of God perfects the monk and makes him complete in all good works. The love of God is the sweet yoke of inward sweetness, through which every filth of earthly corruption is driven out from the mind. The love of God honors souls and makes them pure and immaculate from all stains. The love of God perfectly enlightens the mind in every knowledge of heavenly goods, and purges the very affection from all unclean vanities. The love of God makes the one who truly possesses it most learned and wonderfully instructed in every Scripture. The love of God renders the monk formidable to all enemies and grants angelic power to those who persevere. The love of God defends a man in dangers, because whoever truly loves God fears no adversities. The love of God makes the one who possesses it secure in the hour of death and safe from demons, and joins the soul to the heavenly companies. The love of God brings its possessor back to the heavenly fatherland and grants eternal glory to those who love God. The love of God is the greatest of all good works and the single foundation of all virtues in the faith of Christ. The love of God is the best ointment, in which all the wounds of languishing souls are healed. The love of God is an abundant remedy for poverty and want, and a consolation more effective than every possession of riches. The love of Christ far surpasses all the learning of this world, and most perfectly instructs those who possess it in all knowledge necessary for salvation. The love of God prepares a delightful dwelling for the Holy Spirit in the heart of man, and preserves him, if he perseveres, in all purity. The love of God is the swiftest of all teachers, because what fleshly people learn over time and with much study, the Holy Spirit hands on in a moment to those who love God. The love of God gives knowledge to little ones and makes rustics more learned than the educated. The love of God is stronger than all things, and by its virtue rules over all. The love of God commands demons by a single word, and by the sign of the cross drives them from the bodies of possessed men. The love of God has bestowed eternal blessedness on the holy spirits in heaven, whom the grace of the Creator confirmed in love. The love of God beatifies, in eternal happiness, men baptized in the faith of Jesus Christ, because no one has ever been able to reach the fellowship of the angels unless he was proved to have been inflamed by persevering love of God. For the love of God alone is what makes works good and meritorious, since God accepts from us as an offered gift of good work only that which the flame of charity has made worthy in his sight. Whatever is done outside charity is judged unworthy in God's sight. Attend now, my brothers, to our admonitions, and consider diligently how necessary it is for you to love God above all things, if you desire to come to his kingdom.

On the charity of man toward God.

And happily to triumph with him forever. Let none of you seduce his own soul with empty words, so that he believes he truly loves God while neglecting to keep his commandments. You hear the Lord Jesus saying in the holy Gospel: “Whoever loves me will keep my words.” And, as the blessed Pope Gregory says, “the carrying out of the commanded work is the proof of the love that has been declared.” For then we truly love the Lord our God with our whole heart, when, having despised worldly pleasures, we keep all his commandments perfectly even unto death. Likewise, then we love him above all things when, for love of him, we walk innocently, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

He truly loves God who, always intent upon good works, keeps himself pure and unstained from this world. But he rightly loves the Lord God who desires absolutely nothing in this world. He truly loves God with his whole heart who, for love of him, bravely despises the honors, riches, pleasures, and all comforts of the flesh belonging to the world. He loves God with his whole soul who, always solicitous in observing his commandments, omits to do none of the things that are pleasing to him. For the love of God neglects nothing, but is accustomed most diligently to keep and fulfill everything that he has commanded. He who loves God in true charity has fulfilled the law, the prophets, and the Gospel. Therefore by your works you will give testimony whether you truly love God. For everyone who has deserved to receive a ray of divine love always shows great and manifest signs of that love.

Indeed, the fire of divine love makes the one who possesses it pious, chaste, meek, and most humble in all things, and always tranquil in the same constancy of mind, without disturbance, both in adversity and in prosperity. The monk who truly loves the Lord God, according to the Rule of our most holy father Benedict, cheerfully obeys the elders’ commands in all things, embraces patience in hard and contrary matters, and preserves true humility everywhere. The love of God makes its possessor exceedingly rich in every good work, and renders him wholly alien to every kind of vice. The lover of God does not murmur at the command of obedience; in rebukes he does not rashly excuse himself; he is not touched by the bitter gall against his neighbor, nor is he disturbed even when injured.

He who is a true lover of God preserves his life blameless in all purity of mind and body, and shows within himself a charity fervent not only in word, but also in deed and in truth. Whatever is seen in the world as beautiful, whatever as pleasant or delightful, whatever flatters the insolence of wanton flesh, the true lover of God most steadfastly despises it all, and desires nothing other than to please Christ and to live with him as soon as possible. Great and incredible to those who do not know it is the power of divine love, which always impels a man to work well and never allows him to live idly. For what else is the inward love of God than a sweet intoxication of the soul? Through it a man is carried away from all the consolations of the world and, as though he felt nothing of what mortals are doing, feasts at the banquet of the Holy Spirit alone. The monk who is a true lover of God has laid aside, for Christ’s sake, all curiosity about the world and anxiety over worldly things, and, as though he did not feel them, has risen above all the functions of the soul’s cares. With the Apostle he cries out to me, “The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

O wine of divine love, how sweetly you intoxicate, how you satisfy the innocent, how wisely you make them foolish, how chastely you inflame them. For everyone who has been intoxicated with your taste, separated from every tumult of carnal pleasures, rests sweetly in the shadow of the Holy Spirit. Because of the excessive intoxication of the spirit, he speaks things foreign to the flesh and to the world, and nothing contrary to God is heard from his mouth. This is the immaculate satiety of spiritual wine, which is enlarged by desire the more it is continued.

O holy and venerable simplicity of the lover of Christ: although to many who savor earthly things it seems to be foolishness, before God and all his saints it is nevertheless the greatest and truly the highest wisdom. Let the world have its prudence, let it have honors, dignities, and riches; but I would choose the merit of one simple monk who truly loves God rather than the rule of the whole world. The love of God is both the highest delight of the soul and always the most chaste; its fire illuminates the mind and also sweetly inflames its affection. The love of God is a heavenly fountain of grace, because the grace of the Holy Spirit makes fruitful with the fruits of all virtues the mind which the charity of Christ purifies by plowing. The love of Christ wins for human beings the friendship of almighty God and reveals to mortals the will of the supreme majesty. The love of God makes a monk acceptable to God, because he does not require from us knowledge, learning, or eloquence, but charity.

Therefore the monk who has publicly offered himself to the Lord God ought to care for nothing except God, lest he seem to have a divided heart; for just as God is one, so love for God ought not to be divided. Hence the holy bishop Augustine says: “He loves you less, Lord, who loves anything with you that he does not love for your sake.” Just as God is perfect, so also he must be loved by us with all our strength, because he is not rightly loved whenever anything besides him is loved together with him. Love of God advances rightly when nothing is mixed with it that could weaken it. Let each one of you, as much as he can, strive to love the Lord his God above all things with the whole strength of his mind, because love for God alone is what will open for you the gate of paradise. For the more ardently you now love God, the greater glory you will receive in the heavenly fatherland. Blessed is that monk in whose conscience, apart from the love of Christ, no imagining of any occupation resides; who, awake, thinks of nothing but Christ; asleep, dreams of Christ; living and dying, sighs most constantly for Christ. O how well and securely He dies who has always been solicitous in the exercise of divine love and at all times zealous in the observance of God’s commandments. For only the love of God is admitted into the kingdom of heaven; and the more fervent the mind has been in loving, the greater will be its reward in the kingdom of heaven. He who loves much receives much; and he who now loves less will then also receive less in glory. Therefore, as much as each one can, with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his strength, so much let him love, because our God is not to be loved lukewarmly or sluggishly, but fervently, wisely, and sweetly.

The love of God gathers strength and grows through spiritual exercises, just as a burning fire is enlarged by a supply of wood. Indeed, if the wood is taken away, the fire is extinguished; and if spiritual exercises are interrupted, charity is soon shipwrecked. True love of God is never idle, but at all times is delightfully occupied in those things that nourish and preserve charity. For the lover of God never forgets his beloved, but always meditates on his presence and beauty; now in most devout prayers he speaks to Jesus, now in the holy Scriptures he marvels at him speaking to him. The true lover of Christ meditates day and night on the law of the Lord, and with the greatest diligence does everything that he understands to be pleasing to God.

O how sweetly he burns whom the love of God truly inflames! How pleasantly he glows whose mind the flame of the Holy Spirit sets on fire! Blessed is that monk who, full of divine love, withdraws himself wholly from earthly vanities and rests in the shade of heavenly desire. O if only we had love for God as strong, whole, and vehement as mad and foolish lovers have for their corruptible mistresses, with desire for whom they often burn, shamefully go mad, and fear no scandal of this world. But the love of God is stronger than all things, if it has been truly rooted in us.

Whoever truly loves the Lord God always keeps in his memory his most bitter Passion, because nothing so perfectly causes love of God in the human heart, nothing so induces true compunction, as the never-interrupted remembrance of God’s benefits. Therefore let the written sequence of Christ’s Passion always be in your memory, and let this word never depart from your mouth: O crucified Jesus, my love, by the power of your most innocent death have mercy on me, and make me your faithful servant.

On serenity of conscience. Homily XXIV.

With great solicitude we must watch, dearly beloved brothers, and with continual meditation take care that we always keep our conscience, whose testimony we cannot escape, clean and immaculate from every contagion of worldly sin. For nothing more beautiful...

Homily XXIV.

Nothing is more pleasant, nothing, finally, more precious than a good conscience; for where the mind has within itself the manifest testimony of its own uprightness, it suffers no remorse of destructive unrest. An upright and good conscience is an incredible exultation of the mind and a sure comfort in every adversity. The monk who has obtained the testimony of a good conscience neither refuses to live nor fears the coming arrival of death. A good conscience is always glad, always pleasant, always fearless, and truly tranquil in the peace of Jesus Christ. In a good conscience there is always peace, piety, goodness, light, virtue, honor, joy, gladness, sweetness, and delight without dissipation. Conscience is the treasury of the soul, because whatever is placed in it is kept as provision for the future life. A good conscience is the best treasure; if anyone has neglected to possess it, he must be judged the most wretched and unhappy of all men. A good conscience is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and the earthly paradise of all graces.

A good conscience does not fear the slanders of the wicked, and a mind conscious of what is right despises the lies of reputation. A good conscience is always cheerful, and he who works the justice of God is not uselessly sad. A good conscience always advances in the love of the Lord, and he who lives innocently will not dread danger. A good conscience has peace and concord with all in God, and in humble simplicity takes care for its salvation. A good conscience strengthens the soul; but he who is constant in evil will fall into despair. A good conscience confidently rebukes the foolish; but he who is evil keeps bitter silence. A good conscience gladdens the soul; but he who is conscious of evil in himself suffers continual desolation of mind. A good conscience safely reproves the impious; but he who has lost the testimony of uprightness always fears being accused. A good conscience is the most beautiful adornment of the soul; and he who does not care for wisdom in this life will die in poverty.

A good conscience is the dwelling place of virtues and the true abode of heavenly mysteries. A good conscience is the consummation of all philosophy and the fullness of all sciences. A good conscience is the best teacher of virtues and the completed discipline of all studies. A good conscience bears the best fruit of holiness, and, standing founded in the fear of the Lord, admits no sin. A good conscience is more precious than all the riches of the world, and far sweeter than all desirable things that can be possessed in this life. A good conscience is the merit of Christian perfection and the humbly presumable beginning of future happiness. A good conscience is the fertile field of virtues and the sweet and pleasant fragrance of the Paradise of God. A good conscience is the sweetest companion of this life and a glorious mediator between God and man. A good conscience is very fearful to demons, but a pleasing friend to the holy angels. A good conscience makes the dying man secure against the envy of demons, and deserves to have the escort of angels. Conscience A good conscience does not fear to appear in the sight of the judge, nor does it dread the accusing judgment of synderesis. A good conscience has hope in God and, without the unrest of hesitation, the best confidence, because one who remembers having committed no evil comes confidently to the judge’s examination.

A good conscience is richly rewarded by the Lord God and is changed into everlasting joy. A good conscience is not one that commits no evil, but one that, preserving purity for the love of God from every sin, also adorns itself most fittingly with the practice of all good works. For a good conscience, according to the prophet’s admonition, turns completely away from evil and always and continually does good with the most zealous intention.

A good conscience especially adorns a monk and makes him utterly alien to worldly actions. A good conscience follows the Lord Jesus in simple purity and is stained by no spots of error. For a conscience that is good, and as long as it is good, cannot be erroneous, but always remains grounded in the truth of the Holy Spirit. But a conscience that has been erroneous is not good. For error is opposed to truth and has no share at all in goodness. When the conscience is in error, however, the danger is near, and the descent into hell very steep.

There are many among cloistered people who are weak and far too feeble in spirit, who are not always directed by the right judgment of their consciences, being preoccupied by various causes. And often, indeed, either a small or a great error of conscience arises from ignorance, namely whenever one who is less experienced in spiritual practice doubts whether the way he is considering in his mind is good or evil. For who, walking uprightly in his simplicity, understands everything? In doubtful matters the counsels of elders must be sought; and what they have decided, the monk should not doubt must be embraced as the judgment of truth.

Sometimes the conscience errs from negligence, when a monk neglects to examine himself by the scrutiny of reason and does not labor to search out the truth in doubtful matters. From this a pernicious error arises in the conscience, through which reason is gradually darkened. Pride also frequently makes the conscience erroneous and far removed from the knowledge of truth. For the proud man, although he understands that he does not know, nevertheless desires to seem wise and learned to everyone; for this reason he is ashamed to confess his ignorance.

Sometimes, however, error of conscience arises from singularity, to which presumption is always said to be joined. And this plague is frequently troublesome to monks and to those who profess holiness without the necessary foundation of humility. For the sheep that walks singular paths is more quickly seized and strangled by wolves.

Sometimes too an excessively disordered affection hurls the conscience into error, namely when a person loves his own will more than is expedient. For whoever is led by the affection of his own sensuality is frequently blinded in the judgment of truth. From this there is no doubt that it happens that many have erroneous consciences, because they love the pleasures of their own flesh too much. Every But the proud, luxurious, impure man, entangled in great or public crimes, darkens his conscience by deliberate perversity, and often shows, both by words and by deeds, how wrongly he thinks about the future repayment of merits. A malicious disposition perverts the judgment of uprightness, and the disordered desire of the flesh darkens the understanding. Sometimes, moreover, excessive and immoderate faintheartedness makes the conscience err; this evil is born partly from ignorance, and partly generated from one’s own sensuality.

In this scrupulosity, however, a monk should follow the counsel either of the abbot or of some other more experienced elder, and should not rashly defend the opinion of his own head. Excessive scrupulosity is dangerous, because it hurls the conscience into error and unhappily overthrows many. For everything that is done against conscience is said to build toward hell. Excessive perplexity of mind has also harmed many and cast them headlong into various errors. But he who is truly a humble monk submits himself to his superior’s examination. For whoever makes use of his superior’s counsel in doubts that arise is not easily overthrown by the snares of demons. For the more the consciences of monks have been exposed to the inquiry of a wise prelate, the more secure and the brighter they will shine.

Therefore, dearest brothers, you must take care first of all to have consciences free from every error, then pure from all vices, and finally adorned with the holy fragrances of all the virtues. Therefore let the monk who truly desires to make progress guard his heart with every watchfulness, and, as far as possible, set a cloister over his senses, and not allow anything deadly to enter. But if by any occasion he recognizes that he has fallen into some sin, let him at once strive to wipe it away by true repentance, and not grant time to the wicked seed, by which it may grow strong into something worse. While the wound is small, let the remedy be applied; for if it is neglected, it grows beyond measure.

Therefore, my brothers, resist bravely the first movements of demonic suggestion, and overcome the enemy when he is small and weak. But if the sensuality of the body has become altogether wanton, let it be brought back to obedience by harsh mortification, just as we know our holy father Benedict did when he rooted out the slippery insolence of the flesh by the stings of nettles and brambles. Finally, if you diligently recall to mind the dreadful punishments that await the wicked, you will easily overcome the illicit movements of the flesh. For there is no one who does not fear pain more than he loves pleasure.

Also often bring back to mind the joys of heavenly happiness, to which you desire to come, because if you faithfully consider them, you will strongly lessen the fire of the flesh. Whatever delights in the world is corruptible and momentary, but the joys of eternal delight remain forever without end. It is therefore foolish, and a mark of extreme madness, to choose a passing advantage and to despise that good which remains forever. Foolish in the eyes of On Continual Preparation for Death.

A man is judged foolish among men who prefers dross to gold; but he is considered most foolish before God who places temporal pleasure before everlasting goods. Ecclesiasticus 33.

He who loves a serene conscience should flee idleness; for, as Scripture says, every idle man is in desires, and idleness has taught much evil. The mind must be occupied with good exercises, and the fire of holy conduct, which burns with charity, must be nourished by continual practice. For an idle man lives neither for himself nor for his neighbor, but is always given over to his belly or to sleep: he opens his mind to vices, and keeps it closed and empty of virtues. Idleness, the kindler of lust, quickly extinguishes the fervor of spiritual devotion.

Abstinence also is especially very necessary for a monk, so that his conscience may remain clean. For, as Saint Jerome says, a full belly readily foams over into lust; and he who feeds his servant delicately will find him rebellious. The lover of serenity of conscience should be constant in holy prayers; for as dogs flee a stone, so demons flee devout and continual prayer. He should also carefully beware of sloth, and likewise sadness of mind; and as soon as he feels some temptation creeping in, he should have recourse to the consolation of the Scriptures. Indeed, a foul thought will not enter a mind which the word of God has filled. Whatever we do, whatever we think, whatever we undertake, let us always know that God’s presence is at hand, and we shall easily overcome disordered delight. A good conscience never forgets the presence of God, but always meditates that its judge is present. Act now, my brothers, so that you may have consciences pure from every crime; and if anyone feels himself burdened by some fault, let him return without delay, through true repentance, to necessary purity. For unless you have clean and good consciences at all times, you live as apostates, not as monks.

On Continual Preparation for Death. Homily 25.

The highest philosophy of cloistered men, my dearest brothers, is continual meditation on death. Hence a certain wise man, considering the usefulness of this philosophy, admonished every mortal, saying: Remember your last things, and you will not sin forever. Meditation on death draws a man back from the pleasures of the flesh and brings in contempt for all corruptible things. Meditation on death despises present things through voluntary poverty, and drives the mind toward desire for future things. Meditation on death removes pride far away and plants true humility in the heart of the one meditating. Meditation on death makes a monk attentive to the observance of regular discipline and never allows him to be idle. Meditation on death cuts off all the vanities of the world and preserves the mind in the highest temperance. Meditation on death makes one despise the vain and passing honors of the world, and think of nothing other than the future judgment of God. Meditation on death Homily XXV.

He does not fear the poverty of this life, because with his whole desire he longs for eternal riches. Meditation on death endures all the adversities of this world most patiently for love of Christ, because it hopes for nothing other than the recompense from above. Meditation on death makes the monk humble and obedient in all the commandments of righteousness. Meditation on death makes the monk quiet, stable in the congregation, and in good concord with everyone in Christ. Meditation on death makes the monk calm and peaceable, and tranquil without any disturbance of mind. Meditation on death exterminates all dissoluteness and levity, and preserves the monk mature and healthfully sorrowful in all things. Meditation on death makes the monk solitary and continually devoted to holy prayers.

Meditation on death hastens penitence and brings in true compunction. Meditation on death withdraws desire from every vanity, and keeps the conscience serene and most pure. Meditation on death makes a man despise all the comforts of this world, and prepare himself daily for his departure. Meditation on death teaches him to flee idleness, and makes a man keep continual watch in the fear of the Lord. Meditation on death does injury to no one, because it always fears the strict accounting of judgment. Meditation on death mitigates anger and all disordered impulses, because, while a man considers that he will soon die, nothing external disturbs his mind. Meditation on death makes the heart contrite and humble, because attentive remembrance of things to come permits no one to be proud.

Continual meditation on death makes one’s departure safe at the end, because it has made the meditator prepared over a long period of time. Meditation on death is especially fitting for cloistered men and monks, whom the renunciation of all earthly things and the very profession of the rule have already made dead and buried to the world. Meditation on death makes the monk run prudently in the course of spiritual warfare, and renew daily the purpose of holy fervor. Continual meditation on death is very useful for cloistered men, because it both powerfully restrains the vices of the flesh and grants no entrance of the mind to perverse thoughts.

For the holy bishop Augustine says: Fear of future death necessarily shakes the mind, and, like a nail of the flesh, fastens all the motions of pride to the wood of the cross. And the holy champion of the Church, Jerome, says: Nothing will help you as much toward temperance in all things as frequent thought of this brief life, whose end is certain, while nothing is more uncertain than its hour. Therefore meditation on death corrects all intemperance, and arranges the habits of the one who meditates in stable order with beautiful variety. Meditation on death gives a man true wisdom, and perfects the highest philosophy among cloistered men. For Plato too held the opinion that the whole life of the wise is meditation on death, because we are all born on this condition: that from here we must depart again through death.

For Scripture says: We all die, and like waters we flow down into the earth, which do not return again. And the holy Apostle of Christ Paul says: “It is appointed for human beings to die once.” Continual meditation on necessary death makes a person never trust in earthly things, but await his departure in every place and time with foresight. Meditation on death always expects the end of life in every place, because it is wholly ignorant of the moment of dying. Whoever meditates daily on the coming of future death prepares himself for dying at every time with all the diligence he can. For nothing is more certain for us than death, although we all are ignorant of the hour of dying.

Therefore, brothers, with all the urgency we can, we admonish your charity always to think that you are going to die, and with such foresight diligently to prepare yourselves for dying that, when the hour comes, you may not fear to depart. Let no one promise himself a long life in this world, because nothing deceives mortals as much as the hope of a longer span. For what does a longer age produce in human beings except that it makes them liable to more sins and always less prepared for dying? The longer we live in this world, the more we fear death. A longer age piles up greater debts of spiritual obligation; and an old man fears all the more to come before the sight of the strict judge, the more he recognizes that he is bound before the Lord in many matters to render an account. For the soul departs unwillingly from its body when it is tormented by the heavier stings of its conscience.

But whoever is pure from every evil of iniquity and adorned for salvation with the beauty of the necessary virtues does not fear to die, because through death he goes to everlasting life. Therefore, O monk, live now as you wish to die; for the death which has been preceded by the integrity of a good life cannot be evil. O how securely he dies, whoever loves the Lord Jesus above all things and, despising all the goods of this world for love of him, faithfully keeps his words. He departs securely from this life who always lives in the love of God without stain of conscience. He dies securely whose life is defiled by no pleasures of this world. For the death of the saints is a most sweet sleep and a peaceful entrance into eternal life. But the death of sinners is worst, whose evil life has gone before it, contrary to the divine ordinances. For one who lives in sins, opposed to God, death becomes for him a dreadful entrance into hell.

He does not die badly who has lived well; and rarely does he die well who is shown always to have lived badly. He dies securely who loves God above all things with a pure mind and at all times keeps himself from this wicked world. Death is desirable for the good and upright in heart, because it sets an end to exile and restores life in heaven. Death is the leaving of the body, the overthrow of the dark prison, and the laying down of a heavy burden. Death is the end of present evils, the finish of sadness, and the grave of every earthly pleasure. A good life in the faith and charity of Jesus Christ makes death precious and especially desirable to the servant of God. Therefore now, brothers, take care to anticipate death with holy works, and make for yourselves pleasant through the pursuit of virtues, which nature willed to be necessary for all. Remember that we are all necessarily mortal, and when we do not expect it, we shall pass from this world. For, as a certain venerable prelate said: We are all taken from the midst as the fates press on, and we are drawn where life, once completed, calls us.

Therefore, wherever we can do good, my brothers, let us do it while we have time, lest, when death’s command forestalls us, we grieve too late that we have been negligent. Time alone is ours; all other things are another’s. The labor of our spiritual warfare, even if it seems somewhat hard to lukewarm minds, is nevertheless very brief, and will soon be ended with life; but the reward of good works, which will be given to us, remains forever.

Let meditation on death soon to come never leave you; but by consideration of the strict judgment, which no one can escape, let it continually pierce your minds with love of God. Behold how many monks in this monastery of Sponheim have gone before us, living and dying, through almost four hundred years from its first foundation; of them no memory at all remains among us today. What we are, they were; what they are, we shall soon be. They were mortal men, as we are; they died and returned to the dust of the earth, as we shall.

I am the twenty-fifth abbot of this monastery of Sponheim; unless twenty-four had gone before me to death, I certainly would not have come as the twenty-fifth to this abbacy. I too shall shortly give place to another, so that the number of the twenty-sixth abbot may be fulfilled. After him another again will be appointed; and the death of one becomes the institution of another; and while one succeeds another, all are subjected to the command of death.

Where, then, brothers, are those who went before us in this monastery? Just as there is no memory among us of those who went before, so we too shall be in everlasting oblivion among those who follow. Let us think on these things beforehand, dearly beloved brothers, while we live, lest we fall upon death unprepared. As daily we hasten toward death, so daily let us prepare ourselves according to our strength; for he dies secure who in life is adorned with good and holy works.

Do not let the hope of a longer life deceive you; for the longer you live in this world, the shorter is the time you will still live. Behold, daily tending toward death, we die; daily one part of our life is cut away from us; and the longer our life is drawn out, the more the remaining time for living is shortened. All the time that we have lived we have wholly lost, because it has passed away; the present moment in which we live today we share with death; how much time for living remains to us in the future, we do not know. Why, then, do we trust in the vanity of this life, we who are soon to die? And so, brothers, let us constantly consider that we shall soon come to that place where all our forefathers long ago went before us. All by this law We are born so that we may shortly die. Let death seem terrible to those whose whole life is defiled in the pleasure of the flesh, and for whom no good things are reserved in heaven. But we, who have placed our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of all, and for love of him have despised the pleasures of the world, why should we fear death?

Nevertheless, since death is the most terrible of all terrible things, we shall be able to drive away an indiscreet fear of dying if each day we prepare ourselves as though we were already about to die. Yet it is one thing to have dread of death, another to have trembling fear. For the Lord Jesus too felt the dread of death in advance, but not trembling fear, so that he might show the properties of the two natures. Therefore continual meditation on death is altogether necessary for us who are weak, so that the mind, not yet perfected in the charity of Christ, may be stirred, as though by a certain violent impulse, to the grace of compunction.

For by the remembrance of future death the mind is pierced with a useful dread, like a nail driven into wood. The remembrance of death introduces arduous repentance and true sobriety of mind. The remembrance of death is necessary for the unwise, whose conversion begins from servile fear, so that through filial fear it may be raised by degrees into charity. The remembrance of death, and of the strict examination of God, the judge to come, is especially necessary for those who by evil habit and daily practice are drawn into sin.

And there are among you some who are too lukewarm and negligent in the spiritual warfare; admonishing them, we exhort them paternally to remember that they are mortal, and to live henceforth in such a way that they do not fear to die. For it is very dangerous to live in that state in which a man would dread to die. We must live so that we await death securely; and this can be done only if, preserving ourselves in all purity of mind and body, we continually burn with the exercises of divine charity. Let us live, as far as possible, innocently, according to the rule of the holy Father Benedict, which we have professed, and we shall have good hope, because almighty God, who does not allow a man of good will to perish, will have mercy on us. Let us always think of God as present with us everywhere: he sees all things, knows all things, understands all things, rewards all things. And let us live in that purity in which we have promised to serve his most holy Majesty.

THE END.

Here ends the first book of exhortations to monks, written by my own hand, Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, on the ninth day of the month of June, in the year of Christians 1486, in the fourth indiction, in the twenty-fourth year of my age. I dedicated this work to my predecessor, now abbot of Seligenstadt, most dear to me.

LETTER Johannes Trithemius, though unworthy, abbot of the monastery of Sponheim, to the reverend father and lord Johannes de Colenhausen, abbot of Seligenstadt, formerly of Sponheim, my most dear predecessor: with prayers, ready and prepared to please him in spirit.

Recently, venerable predecessor, I sent you my first book of exhortations to monks, containing twenty-five homilies. After I learned that it had been approved by your examination, I judged that this second book also, which I now send, should confidently be inscribed with your name. Into the former I gathered twenty-five homilies for the instruction of the brothers, which I had delivered before them; in this one I have arranged seven sermons, according to the order in which they were spoken in their presence.

I do not fear to undergo the examination of your paternity, because I always had you as a gentle predecessor, and long ago found you to be a sincere lover of truth. For you flourish with a keen, gentle, and deep intellect, which can easily discern between true and false, and necessity requires you to correct all things sufficiently. Therefore I pray that, according to the gentleness innate in you, you patiently bear the rudeness of my talent, since I am both a little child in the knowledge of the Scriptures and a novice in the order of prelates.

Practice in the Scriptures, as I trust, will give me experience, and continued diligence in writing will give me progress. The occupation of household affairs and the poverty of the place often draw me back from salutary study, and turn my mind elsewhere against the purpose of my will. Only on feast days and Sundays is leisure granted me for writing, on which, out of reverence for God, I am not accustomed to admit any business of the peasants. Sometimes also, after the customary singing of matins and lauds, I am accustomed to spend what remains of the night on the study of letters, and, as far as I can, to compose something by lamplight for the instruction of my brothers. I desire in all things to follow in your footsteps, and, if I can, to observe forever the praiseworthy custom of teaching subjects which you introduced. I know that I am bound to this.

by duty; and, although I am unskilled and unlearned, I nevertheless gladly wish, according to my powers, to be diligent both in learning and in teaching. I submit these sermons to your examination, and with humble supplication I earnestly ask that the file of your mastery may correct them. I have arranged a few out of many in order, since I neither committed them all to writing, nor did an excessive length of the book seem to me either necessary or useful. For on feast days, when we are free from the turmoil of worldly business, we devote ourselves to reading according to the rule of the Scriptures. And lest I seem to occupy the place of shepherd in vain, what I have labored over by night I am accustomed, after None, in place of the regular study, to speak and to recite from a little sheet before the brothers in chapter. For I find that this care of mine not only profits the brothers for edification, but also helps me toward skill in composition. Farewell, venerable teacher, and pray for us.

From Spanheim, on the twelfth day of the month of September, in the year of the Christians one thousand four hundred eighty-six.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ begins the second book of exhortations to monks by Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Spanheim, afterward of [unclear].

That monks must live cautiously. Sermon I.

Many things indeed, most beloved brothers, are necessary for your consideration in this life, if you desire to attain the glory of eternal salvation. For you know, as Scripture bears witness, that your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking someone to devour; and we know that he must be resisted with great watchfulness in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ through works of charity. Therefore let no one presume on his own strength, lest he trust in vanity; for unless you humbly keep yourselves in the fear of the Lord, you will quickly fall into the snare of the devil. “The greater you are,” Scripture commands, “humble yourself in all things,” for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

For it befits a monk to be humble and a true despiser of this world. A monk ought always to be diligent in the observance of regular discipline and continually zealous in the fear of the Lord. A monk ought to be chaste and modest in mind and body alike, so that he may serve God, as he promised, in all purity. A monk must not live according to his own will, but according to the rule and according to the direction of his shepherd, conforming to the norm of cenobitic instruction. A monk [unclear] ought also to love holy silence and to occupy his mind usefully in the reading of the Scriptures. A monk ought at all times, even until death, to be diligent, so that he may be perfect in the observance of the commandments of God and of the rule.

But so that you may know what things are necessary for you, who live in holy religion, for perfection, I shall describe for you a certain path of virtues, by which you must direct your way to the kingdom of heaven. All the virtues, however, cling together by the bond of mutual connection, so that whoever perfectly possesses one seems to have them all; and whoever lacks even one is said to possess none at all.

The first of all the virtues necessary for salvation is the most holy catholic faith, separated from every pollution of errors and heresies, and rooted originally in the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. For, as Scripture bears witness, without faith it is impossible to please God; and whoever does not believe in the only-begotten Son of God is already judged, and the wrath of God remains.

Hebrews 1: concerning him. Therefore faith is the origin of all virtues, from which all pursuits of salvation arise. True and right faith in God begets fear of the Lord, since if we believe God to be just, we shall rightly confess that he is to be feared. Right faith produces hope and confidence, because, when we believe God to be merciful, we at once hope that we can obtain salvation from his goodness. Faith begets charity, because if we believe God to be the supreme good, we undoubtedly love him. For who would not love what he does not doubt to be supremely good?

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen, and the one foundation of our salvation. Faith joins the soul to God and, in the midst of charity, makes it the friend of the eternal King. For the most holy bishop Augustine says: There are no greater riches, no treasures, no honors, no greater substance of this world, than the catholic faith, which saves sinful men, enlightens the blind, heals the sick, baptizes catechumens, justifies the faithful, restores penitents, increases the just, crowns martyrs, preserves virgins, widows, and married people in chaste modesty, ordains clerics, consecrates priests, and places believers with the holy angels in the eternal inheritance of heaven.

But where sound faith is not present, there can be no justice, because the just man lives by faith; and whoever lacks the merit of justice will have no share with Christ. Faith is the beginning of human salvation; without it no one can reach the number of the children of God or possess any part in the kingdom of God. Faith is the foundation of all virtues: whatever is done outside faith is without doubt built for Gehenna. Christian faith is a most beautiful lamp, enlightening the soul and, through observance of the commandments, leading it to eternal happiness.

Faith first brings the mind back to the knowledge of God; afterward it gives the precepts of living for obedience. And when a person has kept God’s commandments, hope of obtaining salvation is raised up; then charity is strengthened in the heart. Faith gives knowledge to the soul; knowledge brings forth action in charity; and to these two blessedness is promised in eternity. One must take the greatest care that there be no error in knowledge, because when right faith is corrupted by the falsehood of heresies, no action brings one to the harbor of salvation. Therefore let there be rectitude and truth in faith, justice and sincerity in action, and no iniquity will have dominion.

For faith without works is dead and merits nothing toward the salvation of eternal happiness. To have faith without the works of charity is to imitate the demons, who, though they are wholly estranged from all charity, nevertheless both believe that God is just and tremble. Hence the Lord speaks through the prophet Isaiah, and afterward through himself in the holy Gospel, concerning believers who do not show the works of charity, saying: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Whoever praises Christ with his mouth without works is like a man who doubts in faith. For if he truly believed, he would surely fear God. Faith without works, like a body dead without the spirit, which is removed from the sight of the living and hidden in the tomb. If you believe rightly and live badly, you destroy yourself with your own sword, because for one who knows the good and does not do it, it is sin.

Take care, my brothers, not to admit any error in faith, and strive with the utmost care that there be no wickedness in your conduct. Follow the faith which holy Church commends to us; live as the Gospel commands, and as the monastic rule commands. Then have at all times a most certain hope in the mercy of God, yet never one estranged from the fear of the Lord.

Hope is the certain expectation, through the grace of the merciful God, of future goods, and a solicitude to merit, through the exercise of charity, the crown of righteousness. Hope is the certain expectation of future blessedness, which the grace of God works in us, accompanied by the uprightness of a good will. Hope is that by which a person hopes to come to the life of eternal happiness, which he desires, and, through the mediation of God’s grace, also arranges and adapts his own will to meet it. Hope is of good things, difficult, future, and possible, for no one hopes for the contrary. For no one hopes for evil, nor for what is slight, nor for what is present or past; nor are we unaware that hope is not concerned with impossibilities.

Hope is the moderator of all labors and the sole consoler in the midst of tribulations. For hope of future goods brings rest to those who labor for Christ in this life, just as, for those contending in the arena, the expectation of the crown through continual victory lessens the pain of wounds. Hope strengthened the martyrs amid torments and made them, in the power of Christ, stronger than all their persecutors. Hope of eternal blessedness preserves the Church, and gave to the holy confessors and virgins true charity in Christ. Hope powerfully raises up a spirit cast down by grief; and the higher it lifts itself through love, the less it feels the adversities of this world. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, because hope does not confound, as the holy Apostle promised, by which we have been saved.

But so that hope may not break out into presumption, the fear of the Lord is necessary for our salvation, so that, while we believe him to be kind and merciful, we may not doubt that he is also just and upright. For the most blessed Pope Gregory says: Nothing is safer for us than to fear under hope, lest an unwary mind either cast itself down into the depth of vices by despairing, or fall presumptuously by exalting itself over gifts received. For the more it trembles humbly under hope before the eyes of the strict judge, the more firmly it stands in him.

The fear of God corrects the mind and keeps it pure from all malice. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, because in the way of God one begins from fear, so that little by little one may come to the strength of charity. The fear of the Lord orders the monk and makes him zealous in the observance of regular discipline. The fear of the Lord guards the rule and preserves true purity of mind and body. The fear of the Lord neglects none of the things that have been prescribed, but guards them all with care. The fear of the Lord admits no idleness, but is continually occupied.

about the good, so as to exclude sin. The monk who has cast off fear of the Lord is like a city that has come into the midst of enemies, all of whose walls have been destroyed. A city without the protection of walls is quickly captured by enemies; and a monk who does not have fear of God is easily overcome by demons.

For fear of God alone corrects minds, drives away crimes, preserves innocence, and makes a monk persevering in his purpose of holiness. From fear charity gradually arises; and when, with God’s help, it has been truly rooted in the mind, overcoming servile fear, it now casts it out. Charity is the root of all good things, because whatever good is done in this life in order to please God is governed by charity alone. Charity is the greatest of all virtues; without it all mortal deeds are nothing.

For the most holy Apostle of Christ says: If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not charity, I have become like sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so that I could move mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. And if I distribute all my goods as food for the poor, and if I hand over my body so that I burn, but have not charity, it profits me nothing.

Consider yourselves carefully now, my brothers, and question your consciences, whether you have true charity of God, without which all other things avail nothing for salvation. For you have heard the clear judgment of the Apostle, in which he says that charity is necessary for salvation. Let no one trust in the wisdom of this world; let no one vainly exalt himself over natural gifts received; let no one presume upon bodily continence, because, if charity is lacking, the observance of the rest contributes nothing to salvation.

But lest anyone should presume a false estimation of himself, the holy Apostle set forth certain signs and works of charity, saying: Charity is patient, is kind; charity does not envy, does not act perversely, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, does not seek what is its own, is not provoked, does not think evil, does not rejoice over iniquity, but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Charity never fails.

Have the charity of God within you, my brothers; unless you keep it, you labor in vain by struggling. We have often told you that humility is wholly necessary for you: it is not only a great virtue, but also the nurse of the other virtues and the chief guardian of all. For the great Pope Gregory says: He who gathers virtues without humility carries dust into the wind.

For humility is the greatest virtue of monks, because they are bound to be humbler than others living their life in the world in the same measure as, by profession, they are obliged to strive and tend toward greater perfection. Humility is the stable foundation of the virtues; whatever is built upon it will be overturned by no whirlwind of storm. Through Through pride the devil fell from heaven; through humility man ascends. We are called monks in vain if we have not been humble, since, just as fire is extinguished if it lacks the fuel of wood, so a monk without humility is judged utterly unworthy of his name. By Christian humility the devil is conquered, and, as though struck by a nail, is overcome and flees. No jewel is seen more splendid than humility in the adornment of monastic life; if a monk despises it, he has denied both his profession and the humble Christ.

After humility comes prudence, which always directs all things according to the rule of reason, and does nothing except what is right, honorable, and praiseworthy. Prudence knows what it ought virtuously to seek, and it knows well what, according to the right judgment of reason, it ought to avoid. True and perfect prudence is that by which we seek that highest, unchangeable good, and order all things to their due and right end. Prudence preserves the observance of regular discipline stable in its vigor, and brings wandering monks back to the complete reform of the purpose they have lost. Prudence directs the monk on the right way of salvation, and does not allow him to turn aside in either direction. Prudence preserves peace and concord among the brothers, and orders right action in each matter.

Prudence is very necessary for you, my brothers, so that in every action you may know what you should undertake and what, in turn, you should flee. True prudence, not of the flesh but of the spirit, teaches you to despise the world and to desire only those things that are future and eternal. Prudence teaches a man to stand firm within himself, and not to turn aside from his purpose of holiness either in prosperity or in adversity. Prudence teaches him to order present things well, brings past things back to memory for instruction, and provides for the future, lest anything happen unexpectedly. Prudence corrects offenders usefully and fruitfully; all that it either does, says, or thinks, it arranges according to the judgment of reason toward its due end.

Be therefore prudent as serpents and simple as doves, because prudence without goodness is malice, and simplicity without rational prudence is called folly. For the most holy Paul, Apostle of Christ, says: The prudence of the flesh is death. Be prudent, lest you be circumvented by the deceit of others; but be simple, lest you circumvent anyone. For this is the office of the prudent man: neither to be capable of being deceived, nor to wish to deceive anyone. A prudent man does not abandon the judgment of reason, and does nothing for which he must repent. For “prudent” is so called from foreseeing.

Justice accompanies prudence, and it is the most splendid of all the virtues. For without justice all the other virtues are nothing. Justice is the preserver of religion, the mother of grace, the nurse of observance, the fosterer of truth, the begetter of peace, and the source of piety. Justice is the virtue that distributes and preserves to each person what is his own; it neglects its own advantage in order to preserve the common advantage and equity, without which no commonwealth can long subsist in peace. For he says in Ecclesiasticus: The wise man says: A kingdom is transferred from nation to nation because of injustices, injuries, insults, and various deceits. The order of justice first regards God, then one’s country, thereafter one’s parents, and afterward all people in common according to distinctions of rank and the merits of their dignities. To God, first of all, at the dictation of justice, we owe religion, faith, worship, devotion, thanksgiving, and true love from the whole heart under obedience. Next, to ourselves we owe purity of mind and body, continence with zeal for perfection, so that through obedience we may be permitted to return to him by whom we were created. In the third place, to our country we owe advantage, honor, and defense, and, as far as we can, the promotion of its welfare together with justice itself. Fourth, we are bound to show honor and obedience to our parents, and in their need care and every kind of support. Fifth, to our prelates and superiors we owe obedience and humble subjection for the love of Christ. Sixth, prelates owe teaching and nourishment to their subjects, and correction to those who do wrong. In the seventh place, we owe honor to elders and princes, and subjection without sin for the love of God. Eighth, we owe reverence to venerable persons, and honor to priests. Thereafter we are bound to offer friendship to equals, condescension to inferiors, requital to benefactors, fellowship to friends, patience to enemies, mercy to the poor, consolation to the wretched, and charity to all.

This is true justice: that we love God with the whole heart for his own sake, and our neighbor in God as ourselves, and our enemy for God’s sake, distributing to each person what is owed to him by right and providing for the benefit of all. But since excessive justice easily falls into sin, temperance is necessary for you all, and it alone makes people perfect. Temperance is a virtue that discerns by reason and conquers the movements of the soul and every lust, so that impulse in action may not exceed the equity of the law. Temperance, an excellent virtue, rules pleasures and preserves all things in due order. In all your actions, and also in your words and thoughts, apply temperance, and the discretion necessary to the virtues. Whatever good you do with discretion receives the name by merit of virtue; but what is done without discretion must be called vice. Discretion is the moderator of all virtues, and the greatest adornment of prudence and justice. Discretion is necessary not only for prelates but also for subjects, because it gives order to virtues, bestows modesty upon affections, and grants to all human counsels a most beautiful seemliness and honesty. Hence a certain wise man said: There is a measure in things; there are, in short, fixed limits, beyond and short of which the right cannot stand.

For this, brothers, strength of soul is necessary for you, through which you may not only become steadfast in adversities, but also ready and cheerful.

in difficult matters. For who without the greatest courage of soul could despise this world with its pleasures, and persevere in holy monastic religion under the laws of obedience even until death? Courage of soul receives its strength from the love of Christ, and stands firm in the desire for virtue, no less in adversity than in prosperity. Courage walks the path of uprightness without fear, and to its enemies, by a certain holy pride, appears terrible and formidable. Courage of soul despises the injuries of the little and easily overcomes all the pleasures of the flesh. Courage lies hidden in prosperity, is shown in adversity, and is plainly manifested through patience. Strong in soul is not the man who avenges injuries inflicted on him, but the man who patiently endures them; and if he has brought his adversary into his power, he counts it vengeance enough that he could have taken revenge.

The courage of monks is to despise the world, conquer the flesh, spurn all the honors and pleasures of the world, and place all hope and confidence in God alone. The measure of courage is to be neither timid nor rash, since it advances on the straight way and declines neither to the right nor to the left. That monk is to be judged courageous who is temperate in all things, moderate, and just. Hence the most holy Pope Gregory says: The strength of the just is to conquer the flesh, to resist their own pleasures, to extinguish delight in the present life, to love the hardships of this world for the sake of eternal rewards, to despise the allurements of prosperity, and to overcome in the heart the fear of adversity. They became strong in battle, because they tame the flesh, shine with virtues, strengthen the spirit, despise earthly things, seek heavenly things; they can be killed, but they cannot be bent; nor do they, through weakness, fear to endure falsehoods, nor, when injured, are they ever silent about the truth.

Therefore the monk who is strong with true virtue neither dares rashly nor fears without judgment. For courage together with constancy is the royal road; from it the rash and obstinate man declines to the right, but the fearful, fainthearted, and timid man to the left. The monk constant and strong in soul never falls away from his purpose of holiness, but is neither crushed by adversities nor lifted up by prosperity. Hence also the most holy bishop Ambrose says: The fool is changed like the moon; but the wise man is not broken by fear, not changed by power, not puffed up by prosperity, not sunk by sorrows. For where wisdom and virtue are, there is constancy and courage of soul. Therefore the wise man is always the same in soul; he is neither diminished nor increased by changes of circumstances, nor, like a little child, does he waver, so as to be carried about by every wind of doctrine, but remains perfect in Christ, founded in charity and rooted in the perfection of faith.

Finally, my dearly beloved brothers, perseverance is necessary for you in every good and virtuous work; without it no one ever reaches the crown of glory. For the Lord says in the holy Gospel: He who perseveres to the end will be saved. Take away perseverance, and virtue will have no reward, obedience no recompense, nor does [unclear] merit grace.

That monks must live cautiously.

For perseverance alone in good works deserves to receive the crown of praise; without it, it profits nothing to have begun well. Virtue has no merit where perseverance has not given increase. The kingdom of eternal blessedness is promised not to those beginning good, but to those persevering in good until death; for not in the morning, not at midday, but when evening had come, the denarius will be paid to those laboring in the vineyard. For it is not the one who began well who is to be praised, but the one who continued well to the end who is to be honored.

Therefore, my brothers, I am accustomed earnestly to admonish you, and I must never cease, that you attentively consider your calling and walk cautiously in all religion and holiness, as befits sworn soldiers of Christ. For now is the time for doing good, because when the hour of death arrives, it will utterly cut off every ability to work. And so, as long as you live sound and unharmed, do good; always think of the future recompense, and daily grow in spiritual progress. Seek the Lord while he can be found. Let the life of Christ the Savior be your imitation; by the very foundation of your institution you are bound to follow him according to your strength, not by the steps of your feet, but by likeness of affections.

Walk cautiously in all things; always place the fear of God in true humility before the sight of your mind. For you need great purity, you who have consented in mind and body to the holy warfare of Christ. It now belongs to you, brothers, for God’s sake to despise the world and all things that are in the world with perpetual courage, to overcome every movement of carnal pleasures, to flee sin, and to occupy yourselves continually in good and holy works. Your life also, as far as human weakness allows, must imitate angelic purity and flee and detest every perversity. The holy angels are never idle, but are always intent upon the praises of God without weariness or tedium. The holy angels love God above all things, and do not withdraw from his charity even for a moment.

In imitation of them, the monk must be constant in the service of Christ and always occupied in good works according to the Gospel and the rule. The monk must have a most fervent charity toward God, and a true, ordered, and sincere love of neighbor. For fervent love for God perfects the monk and does not allow him to be idle. For the most holy Pope Gregory says: “The love of God is never idle.” For it does great things if it exists; but if it refuses to work, it was never true love of God. For if the foolish poet spoke truly concerning carnal love, “Let the man who does not wish to become idle love,” how much more powerfully does the most chaste love of God drive the mind it possesses toward difficult things.

Love God, brothers, with your whole heart, as far as the strength of desire can extend itself, and you will be able most easily to observe all the things that have been prescribed for you. For nothing is difficult to one who loves; rather, fervent love makes all hard things, all heavy things, and all difficult things very easy.

Sermon II.

What the good ordering of monastic life is. Sermon II.

We have said that the institution of our most holy father Benedict, which by the usual term we call a religion or order, shone forth as most holy at the beginning of its foundation, and was spread very widely and in many ways throughout the whole Church of the Latins. Hence, for very many years in this same order there shone many wise, learned, and most holy men, who magnificently illuminated the whole Church. For there are those who write that from this monastic religion of ours fifteen thousand six hundred men and nuns have been enrolled in the catalogue of the saints. This multitude of saints in the order is set before us, brothers, for imitation, not for empty boasting. What can their multitude contribute to our salvation if we do not imitate the manner of life by which they went before us?

Whenever we desire usefully to praise the most holy men of our order, let us hasten by holy conduct to come into their fellowship. For then we shall glory fruitfully in the multitude of the saints of our order, if, by living rightly, we strive diligently to increase their number. For this reason we set before you so great a multitude of saints: so that, when you see that many before you in this same order conquered the world and the flesh, you may at last rise up from your lukewarm way of life. The virtue which God’s mercy bestowed on them he will not deny to you if you ask in true charity.

They conquered the world because they loved Christ with complete devotion, despising all things for love of him. They despised all things, and the Lord Jesus provided for them whatever seemed necessary for the sustaining of life. This fervor of devotion among the monks endured for many years after the first institution of the order in great constancy, and converted the souls of many thousands of men to the Lord. But nothing among human things is stable, nothing among perishable things is lasting. Holy religion bestowed riches on the monks, until in time the daughter suffocated her mother. For, as Scripture says, all who wish to become rich fall into the temptations of the devil.

The beloved grew fat and kicked back: made fat and enlarged with earthly possessions, he abandoned the holy pursuits of the first institution and went after vanities and false insanities; the abundance of temporal things made him poor and miserable in spiritual riches. This lamentable deformity of our order began about two hundred years after the passing of the holy father Benedict, and grew more and more with time, until at last the harmful poison spread through the whole order. Yet this deformity did not seize the order suddenly, but over the course of many years at last occupied almost the whole of it; although almighty God never wholly deprived it of good men, but always left for himself some who had by no means bent their knees before Baal. For men of mercy arose, What is the good ordering of monastic life.

Their righteous deeds will never be delivered to oblivion: they had compassion on the ruin of the order, put their shoulder under the burden, and, with the Lord granting his aid, restored it in many places. Indeed, many different particular reforms in the order flourished many times at various periods; but there was never any general one that brought the whole order back to the integrity of regular observance. Finally, we see that the particular restorations, which we have said were many, have almost all collapsed again.

Most recently, however, in the year of the Christians 1420, when the general council was being held at Constance, a certain new and, up to now, last particular reform took its beginning in Germany. It takes the name by which it is called from a certain monastery in the regions of Saxony, then the poorest of all, which is called Bursfeld. The first author and chief of this most holy reform was John Rode, abbot of the distinguished monastery of St. Matthias near Trier. Having been appointed general visitor of the order by the aforesaid Council of Constance, lest, while preaching to others, he himself should be judged reprobate, he first displayed reform in himself. For he reformed both himself first of all and the monks of the said monastery; he issued constitutions in conformity with the Rule, and obtained confirmation of the holy work from the apostolic see.

Among all the monasteries of the order, the humble and rather poor monastery of Bursfeld first received this reform, which afterward it extended to Reinhausen and to a few monasteries of Saxony near it. At length, when John Rode, abbot of St. Matthias and chief of our reform, had died, and no suitable successor for extending the undertaking that had been begun could be found in that place, John of Hagem, abbot of Bursfeld, who had already reformed certain monasteries, a holy man and very zealous for the order, was elected at the urging of Jacob, archbishop of Trier. Content with his poverty, he did not agree to leave Bursfeld, lest he should seem to have preferred riches to poverty. He therefore remained in his own monastery and was appointed over others in the place of the first reformer. Since he seemed comparable to his predecessor neither in learning nor in zeal, he was able to accomplish little for the continuation of the undertaking begun, nor could he enlarge the reform among many.

Meanwhile it happened that Nicholas of Cusa, priest-cardinal of the holy Roman Church and legate of the apostolic see, came into Germany. Since he burned with great zeal for our order, he established and granted many things for its reform. Hearing of the good reputation of the aforesaid abbot at Bursfeld and of his most fervent purpose for regular discipline, he summoned him to himself, appointed him general reformer of the order, and through his industry reformed several monasteries. On this occasion, however, he instituted an annual chapter for the preservation of the reform, transferred the presidency from St. Matthias to Bursfeld, and had all things confirmed which had been done for...

Sermon II.

...he had established for the good of the reform, he obtained through the Apostolic See. The first abbot of Bursfeld in the reform was appointed John Monk of Reinhausen; the second was the John of Hagen already mentioned; the third was Theodoric, whom we have seen; and the fourth is John, who has now recently been appointed to govern.

We have therefore, dearly beloved brothers, briefly touched upon the origin of our reform, so that you may know with how much labor it began, and may persevere constant unto death in holy regular observance. For among all the reforms of our order that have preceded it, there has never been one more conformable and agreeable to the Rule of the blessed father Benedict, nor more alien from foreign inventions. We have read the statutes of almost all the other reforms, but we judge none more agreeable than ours to the Rule according to the purity of Benedict’s intention. This is the most holy Bursfeld reform in the order, which both teaches true obedience and preserves subjection in humility. In this holy religious life there live monks who are poor and without private property; they live humble, they live obedient, they live chaste.

O venerable union of monks, in which doubled charity commands, obedience serves as a soldier, humility complies, prayer keeps watch, perseverance fights, holy chastity triumphs. This is the school of regular discipline, the teacher of Christian humility, which directs conduct toward uprightness and restrains the vices of the flesh. In this arena of virtues no one is permitted to follow his own will against the Rule; no one is forbidden to do good. In this holy union life is lived according to the purity of the Rule, and if anyone begins to stray from the path of uprightness, he is soon recalled by the diligence of the elders to the observance of justice. The Rule of the most holy father Benedict is read publicly three times a year, so that no one may try to excuse himself from observance under the guise of ignorance.

There are two things that promise me great hope for the perseverance of this holy reform: namely, the annual chapter and the careful visitation of the monks every two years. If either of these is omitted at any time, the reform is at once endangered. Therefore consider now, dearly beloved brothers, and take the utmost care, as far as you can, that you do not uselessly occupy this monastery of the blessed bishop Martin under the title of so venerable a reform; for unless you live according to the Rule and the statutes of the order, purely, holily, and blamelessly, you trust in the name of God in vain.

We shall give you a few admonitions for your salvation; by the zealous observance of them you will deservedly possess both the name and the dignity of our Bursfeld reform. First of all, direct your striving with all your desires toward monastic perfection; and whenever you feel it growing lukewarm, renew it at once by attentive remembrance of the Lord’s Passion and most innocent death. For even if we are not bound by necessity of salvation to be perfect, nevertheless we are bound to strive for perfection with all our desires. For as soon as a monk casts aside the effort to make progress, he falls into the pit of falling away.

The memory of the Lord’s Passion, with thanksgiving, to be made daily.

What the ordering of a good monastic life should be.

According to what the holy custom of our reformation has established for you to observe, firmly preserve your effort to make progress in the desire you have conceived. Therefore in the morning, when you are awakened and rise for Prime, do these things in secret. Examine and consider the course of the coming day that lies before you, and prudently think about what useful thing is at hand to be done. Set before yourselves in your hearts how carefully you wish to live the whole day, and arm your minds with patience against all things that may happen adversely. Whatever you do, complete it in the fervor of charity, and always order all words and deeds to the praise of God.

Third, we judge it useful and necessary for you always to strive to implore divine help in all things through most devout prayers. And it seems very fitting to us, as we have often said and always admonish, that each of you at least once a day should commemorate the Lord’s Passion and, for the many benefits received from God, should say an act of thanksgiving even once. So that this may be done uniformly by each one of you, listen to this brief form which we have arranged, and, if you wish, copy it out for yourselves.

I adore, praise, bless, and glorify you, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Savior and giver of life to all faithful souls, and I give you thanks from the depths of my heart for your most holy Incarnation and your Nativity from the most pure Virgin Mary, for your Circumcision, for your flight into Egypt, for your seven-year exile there, and for your later return to the land of your temporal Nativity.

I give you thanks, sweetest Lord Jesus; I praise, bless, and adore you for all your labors, journeys, and weariness, for hunger, thirst, cold, nakedness, poverty, and want, and for the necessities, injuries, insults, mockeries, and slanders which throughout your whole life you endured for us willingly, not under compulsion. And as often as you moved your hand to work, your foot to walk, or as often as you opened your mouth to speak, so often I bless, praise, glorify, and humbly adore you, and with all the strength of my heart I always give you thanks, mediator of God and men, sweetest Jesus Christ.

I give you thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, most merciful King of Heaven, for your most holy teaching, for the evangelical institution of your faith and sacraments, for the calling of the nations, for the justification of sinners, and for all your wonders and powers, and for all your benefits, which you have bestowed either on me particularly or on all others together with me generally.

I give you thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, most kindly Savior, for your charity which you had toward the human race, and for your whole most bitter Passion and all the sorrows which you endured for us wretched people. I give you thanks, Lord Jesus; I praise, bless, and adore you for the grief and sorrow of your most innocent heart, which you endured for us when the time of your impending Passion was near, when you said to your disciples who followed you: My soul is sorrowful even unto death.

Sermon II.

I ask you, by this sorrow of your heart, O Lord God: have mercy on me now and at the hour of my death, and take from me all melancholy and disordered grief, granting me at all times a saving sorrow for my sins. I give you thanks for the sadness of your most holy heart, when, placed in agony, you prayed to the Father even a third time that he would remove from you the chalice of the Passion, and, having poured forth a wondrous sweat because of your anguish, you resigned yourself wholly to his will for our sake.

I give you thanks, O King of heaven and earth, for your captivity, for the insults, wrongs, and mockeries that you endured throughout the whole time of your Passion for our salvation and that of all. I give you thanks, O Lord Jesus; I praise, bless, and adore you, bound to the column for the harsh scourging of your most tender body, for the shedding of your most holy blood, and for the immeasurable pain of your wounds. I adore you, Lord Jesus Christ, crowned with thorns, and I give you thanks for the piercings and pains of your most holy head, for the blows, spittings, and all the mockeries cruelly inflicted by the impious upon your Majesty.

I adore you, Christ Jesus, Son of the living God, carrying the most heavy weight of your cross. I adore you, stripped of your garments before the multitude. I adore you, stretched out by your hands and feet with iron nails upon the cross, and most cruelly fastened to it. I adore you, Jesus Christ, eternal King, hanging and dying for me upon the cross; and I give thanks for the pains of your wounds. I give thanks for the shedding of your most precious blood; I give thanks for your most innocent death, which you willingly endured for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

I give thanks to your boundless goodness, because you called me to your faith, because you caused me to be baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, and because you deigned to call me from the vanity of the world to serve you, in true tranquility of mind, in this holy congregation. I ask you by your most holy name, O sweetest Jesus, mediator between God and men; I ask you by the pain of your wounds and by the merit of your most bitter Passion; I ask you by the shedding of your most holy blood and by the power of your most innocent death: grant me forgiveness of all my sins, pour into my heart the sweetness of your most fervent love, give me perseverance with growth in all virtues, and have mercy on me now and at the hour of my death, guarding me today and at all times in your mercy, loving Jesus, from every sin and danger of mind and body, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Which of you, brothers, cannot say this brief prayer, or one like it if he has a better, once each day? For it is not lengthy, nor wrapped in foreign expressions, but brief and plain, embracing the life and Passion of Christ in a concise summary. A Christian man is exceedingly ungrateful to God, and especially a cloistered man, if he does not at least once a day make remembrance of the Lord’s Passion, devoutly rendering acts of thanksgiving. But if this prayer is too long for any of you, in the eighth homily of our exhortations we recently gave you a shorter one, to which one who finds this tedious may have recourse.

Above all, I beg you, take care that you are never ungrateful for such great benefits of God. Let this thanksgiving be made after matins, because that is a very suitable time for prayer, and the silence of the night’s rest is accustomed to increase devotion. For I say what those who have experienced it bear witness to as true: there are no prayers more effective for obtaining what is sought than those that are offered to God the Father with remembrance of the Lord’s Passion and with gratitude.

The fourth thing which we have judged necessary for you for regular observance is that you keep watch in guarding the outward senses, because no one can adequately guard the city of his heart who neglects to close its gates. Love silence, and flee every tumult of this age. Apply holy prudence in all that you do, and love the secrecy of quiet. For the monk who loves public and wandering excursions has never been a true lover of observance.

Fifth, we admonish you to flee destructive idleness of the soul, since this pestilential poison nourishes the gravest vices and always gives birth to impure thoughts. Therefore whoever is a lover of virtues and loves his own salvation, whoever wishes to arrive at eternal happiness, should flee idleness as from the face of the devil, if he desires to avoid sin.

Sixth, for the purity of regular observance it is required by the necessity of salvation that the renunciation of ownership be kept inviolate by all until death. For a monk who has private property prepares for himself a road to hell. But the one who receives money and spends it in the monastery should be a public minister; no private person dares presume to do this. The possession of riches does not befit monks, who are commanded to imitate the Lord Jesus in poverty of spirit. Let us hear the holy Apostle of Christ saying: Having food and clothing, let us be content with these. By God’s mercy we provide you with necessities, not as much as the desire of disordered pleasure demands, but as much as nature, content with little, requires. And so, just as it is not lawful for you to have anything without the consent of the abbot, so, since we supply everything, it is not necessary either.

The seventh thing that makes a monk is humble obedience to superiors. For he cannot be a true monk who despises obedience and denies to his superiors the humble subjection that he promised. This disease of disobedience arises from arrogance and pride of mind, just as pus is produced from an evil ulcer. But what does Scripture say? Pride is hateful before God and men, and is the beginning of every transgression. The warfare of monks is the imitation of Christ, who obeyed the Father even unto death.

The eighth place is adorned by the most beautiful virtue, chastity; if this is despised, it is now inevitable that all integrity of the Rule collapses. For a monk is commanded, by the necessity of his salvation, to live chastely until death, and from perpetual abstinence from all venereal pollution. For these are the three principal vows of monastic life, and to live contrary to their observance is the certain damnation of monks. For the profession of monks, under sentence of eternal damnation, commands them to live without property, under obedience to their shepherd, and in perpetual chastity. If one of these three is taken away, the integrity of monastic life has been violated, and transgression condemns the one who despises it.

In the ninth place, therefore, we admonish every person dedicated to God always to beware of his own will as of a venomous serpent, since unless he keeps it suspect at all times, he easily falls into the pit of damnation. Consider the Rule, which permits monks power neither over their body nor over their own will. No one sins unwillingly. If you have perfectly submitted your will in all things to God and to your abbot, you will easily avoid sin.

Tenth, what can preserve in you, my dearest brothers, the integrity of regular observance is that in all adversities and oppositions you have the most steadfast patience for the love of God. For patience is a great virtue, which by another name we call tolerance; without it no one will emerge victorious over his temptations. Therefore the Lord said in the holy Gospel: “In your patience you shall possess your souls.” What is patience, if not to bear calmly, for reverence and love of God, both one’s own injuries and those of one’s people, and all other adversities whatever? Believe me, brothers, I speak the apostle’s sentence: patience is very necessary for you, so that, doing the will of God, you may receive the promise. Let the Lord Jesus be for you the living example of patience; follow him with all your strength.

Eleventh, my brothers, beware lest your hearts be weighed down with crapula, because a monk ought not eat and drink to satiety, but through love of abstinence always to stop with a certain appetite and hunger. For the wise man says: “He who loves feasts will be in want, and he who loves wine and rich foods will not become rich.” Love fasting; cherish abstinence; preserve continence and frugality in all things. These are the arms of cloistered men; these are the standards of the spiritual warfare of monks, without which the flesh is not conquered, nor are demons overcome. Abundance of foods is accompanied by useless talk; and a belly filled with wine stirs up unclean suggestions of flesh and lust. If you wish to be chaste, be abstemious. It is most disgraceful for a monk to serve his belly and his gullet, when for the love of God he has renounced all the pleasures of the world together.

The twelfth thing that makes a monk useful and vigorous in regular observance is that he be most diligent in the service of the divine. For truly, he who is a true servant of God, as all monks ought to be, is always fervent and diligent in the work of his Creator; and because he truly knows that God is present everywhere, he prepares himself with complete devotion for obedient service to him. For it is written: “Cursed is the man who does the work of God negligently.” Therefore, approaching...

Sing sweetly, wisely, fervently, and cheerfully in the service of the highest and unchangeable God, dearest brothers; and with all the devotion and purity of mind you can, diligently praise your creator and savior. Let all sloth be far from the hearts of those who sing psalms; let no drowsiness be admitted while praising, since, when God is present in the midst of those who sing psalms, it is altogether fitting that fervor of devout souls be present. During the time of divine service let all things be clean, all things pure, all things most full of the fervor of charity, so that wicked thoughts may have no place and all things may be done as they ought.

When the day is finished and Compline has been sung according to custom, as soon as the monk has reached the privacy of his cell, let him examine his conscience, considering with what business he has occupied himself. This is the custom of the brothers of the Bursfeld reform, excellent and praiseworthy: that no one should presume to lay himself down on his bed after Compline unless he has first taken the greatest care to examine his conscience concerning the faults or negligences committed during the day. But if, after examination, you find that during the day you have offended in anything, you know, taught by long custom, what must be done. Hidden faults must at once on the next day be wiped away by contrition and humble confession; manifest faults, however, must be brought to the chapter of faults, which is held daily. This is the custom of the reformed order; this is the institution of holy reform: that we never allow the faults of offending brothers to grow, but as soon as they begin to arise, we take care to cut them off. The soul must be cleansed daily; the purpose of holiness must be renewed daily; because, just as we cannot remain in the same state without change, so it is necessary for us, by continual exercise, to rouse the mind more frequently to its former fervor of charity.

What are the signs of true humility. Sermon III.

Let none of you, most beloved brothers, deceive himself by his own estimation of himself; let no one seduce his heart by foolish and empty presumption. Not all who desire to seem humble are humble before God; nor are those who keep silence under injuries always truly patient. For the roots of true virtues lie hidden in the secrecy of the heart, and not in the mere outward display of presentation. We see certain men among you who desire rather to be regarded as humble than truly to be so, and who show many signs of pride, but either no signs of humility, or certainly very few. We have deep compassion, as indeed we ought, for those who err so greatly, who desire to have the name of virtue but despise virtue itself. Whom, I ask, do you deceive, wretched men? Do you not shamefully destroy yourselves by misleading yourselves, who, despising truth, love falsehood?

So that you may know how proudly you live, we shall set forth in order the marks and signs of true humility; some of these remain hidden in the heart alone, while others, breaking forth outwardly also, Let this be for the monk a true mirror of perfect humility, in which, looking each day, he may examine himself.

The first mark of true humility, then, each person can recognize in himself when he is able to regard himself as lower and more worthless than all people, not with painted speech, but by the humble judgment of the heart. This is the greatest sign of deep humility: that a monk, always advancing toward a better way of life, should believe himself to be a useless and unworthy servant of God. True humility belongs to the heart, not to speech; it is the pursuit of the mind, not merely of bodily display. That monk is truly humble who loves God above all things, who always keeps himself pure in every respect from every transgression of God’s commandments and of the rule, who does great works of devotion and justice, and who, by a true estimate of himself within himself, thinks lowly things of himself.

The second mark of true and deep humility is attained by the one who, running well in the fear of the Lord and persevering, at all times confesses his negligences before God and men. For the more he has advanced in good works, the more he sets his sins and negligences before the eyes of his mind. He carries continual contrition in his heart for his offenses; and always pierced in spirit, praying and groaning, he asks the Lord with tears for pardon and mercy. Nor does he pray only for his own sins, but also for the sins of the whole world. The memory of one’s own offenses is the greatest remedy against the lifting up of the mind.

The third mark of humility is that he desires to keep in secret with himself all the good works he does, and, out of zeal for humility, hides his progress. For the humble man does not boast vainly, nor does he seek praise from men, who hopes for the glory of eternal blessedness. Whoever among you thinks himself humble and a true monk, let him not despise this sign of deep submission and abasement for God’s sake.

The fourth mark of true humility is that, willingly descending into the abyss of contempt for himself, he regards all his brothers as better than himself before God, even those who are openly sinning; forgetful of his good deeds, he wisely considers his own evils; but passing over others’ evils in silence, he reveals at the proper time the good things they have done. This is the condition of true humility: always to admire and proclaim the good works of others, and to make little of his own and prudently hide them for the avoidance of pride.

The fifth sign of true humility is that, having attained it, he is quiet in his simplicity, and does not speak of others’ defects unless compelled either by reason of office or by the command of charity. Yet in correction the humility of a prudent man preserves moderation, so that the one whom he cannot make better by rebuking more severely, he strives to admonish gently and meekly. At times he also wisely passes over rebukes, and waits for and watches for a more fitting time.

The sixth sign of humility is shown when a monk, for reproving and [unclear].

What the signs of true humility are.

In reproving the sins of others, he is slow out of love for humility, and is not found quick to do so. For one who is truly humble always considers his own weakness, and silently weighs in secret how many evils he himself has committed against God’s justice. Hence he greatly fears to reprove the deeds of others, because he recognizes himself as a sinner and therefore unworthy to judge others. We except the prelates and rulers of monks from this rule of humility only insofar as we know them to be obliged to correct their subjects.

The seventh sign of true humility is that he gladly accepts corrections and amendments for his faults and negligences, and is not embittered by any resentment against the one who reproves him. Whenever the humble man is corrected by someone, he rejoices in spirit with the Prophet, saying: “Let the just man correct me in mercy, and let him rebuke me; but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head.” But of the proud Scripture says: “They hated the one who reproved them in the gate.” He who is truly humble loves the one who corrects him, but flees the flatterer.

The eighth sign of true humility is shown clearly when, after being corrected, he does not defend the fault, does not deny it, does not palliate it, does not excuse it, but confesses it with simple shame. A truly humble monk, when he is corrected, does not murmur, does not complain that the measure of fairness has been exceeded; but at once, falling to the ground before the judge, he cries out most meekly: “I have sinned; I confess the fault; I beg pardon; I promise amendment.”

The ninth sign of monastic humility makes the one who has it gentle, sweet, and modest in speech, and not loud in voice. A monk whom you see loud and hasty in speaking you will judge not humble, but proud and darkened. The humble man speaks modestly and almost under silence, and is always found readier to listen than to speak before others. It is shameful for a monk to raise his voice too much when he speaks, since one crucified to the world is commanded to love silence.

The tenth sign of perfect humility is possessed by the man who is accustomed to interpret in the better sense everything whatever he has heard about his neighbor. For our Savior says in the Holy Gospel: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged.” And again: “With whatever measure you have measured, it will be measured back to you.” The holy Apostle also says: “Do not judge before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both illuminate the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of hearts.” “Who are you, who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls, not to you.”

The eleventh sign of holy humility is that he despises no man in his heart on account of any transgressions whatever, but places all before himself by merit of holiness. He even thinks that all who sin publicly are better than he, and therefore condemns no one. What evil he himself has done he always considers with himself in his heart; but he humbly weighs the good deeds of others as outweighing his own. Therefore he spurns no one, disparages no one, contemns no one, who [unclear] saved.

The twelfth perfect sign of true humility is that he does not desire to be praised by men; rather, whenever he is commended by another, he blushes, groaning with sorrow of mind. But when he hears the praises of others recited in the assembly, he rejoices in his neighbor’s praises and grows cheerful with exultant spirit. One who is perfectly humble cannot hear his own praises without bitterness of heart, because one who has placed his hope in the Lord Jesus despises all the glory of this life.

The thirteenth sign of true humility is not only to despise praises and favors in the truth of one’s mind, but also prudently to avoid those by whom one sees oneself being praised. Those who are truly humble flee their praisers; and whenever they are praised, they fall silent and answer nothing. The estimation of a great reputation is burdensome to the humble man, and the more he is proclaimed by men, the more he is confounded within himself. For true humility, when blamed, casts off the blame; when praised, it runs into danger.

The fourteenth perfect sign of monastic humility is that in corrections and detractions, if he suffers any, he conceives spiritual joy and a great increase of divine love. When injured, he is pierced with compunction and is stirred all the more to contempt of the world. Whenever he is wrongfully reproved by another, if he is humble, he judges that he has been justly corrected. For he does not consider his own innocence in the accusation, but humbly and contritely weighs how gravely he has offended God in other matters.

The fifteenth sign of perfect humility is that he never kicks back against the one correcting him, but preserves silence in all tranquility of spirit. He does not throw even the best-known faults of his reprover in his face, nor does he seek other grounds for argument. He does not complain that an insult is being done to him; he offers no excuse against the rash man; nor is he accustomed to repay words with words, but remains silent in everything as though mute.

The sixteenth sign of deep humility is that he despises all the consolations of the world and seeks no friendships among mortals. For true humility, undertaken for the love of Christ, takes delight nowhere except in Christ alone. No one can abide in the love of Christ unless he has learned to deny both his own will and the world with all its disordered pleasures. For thus the Lord says in the holy Gospel: If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even his own soul besides, he cannot be my disciple.

The seventeenth sign of humility is that he does not divide himself among many things, does not greatly seek men’s support and benefits, but remains humbly in his own moderate condition, or even in extremity. For benefits received from men he is not accustomed to applaud much, but shows himself grateful with few and simple words. The little gifts of the weak dissolve spirits, and often render the unwary useless in speech [unclear].

What the signs of true humility are.

[unclear], and superfluous. Indeed, he who is truly humble takes no delight in worldly conversations, because they often hinder the purpose of purity. The love of Christ does not love publicity.

The eighteenth sign of humility: he compassionates from the heart with all who suffer for Christ’s love, and most patiently bears the faults and weaknesses of others, and prays for the correction of offenders. For true humility shows the bowels of pity and compassion toward weak sinners; but false and feigned humility, because it is truly pride, swells up against the frail with harsh and indiscreet severity, and becomes a cause of danger to many when, in correcting, it exceeds the rule of God’s charity. But he who is truly humble always fears to exceed the due measure of correction, and therefore inclines more toward mercy than toward excessive severity.

The nineteenth sign of true humility: it keeps the mind from all envy, and favors and prays for all people. It envies no one the gifts of divine goodness; it desires the grace of God for all, and rejoices in the progress of others. It judges no one unworthy of God’s benefits; it considers all better than itself. It regards the advantage of neighbors as its own, because it loves all as itself.

The twentieth sign of perfect humility: with bitterness of heart it recalls to memory the multitude of its sins, and for that reason considers itself unworthy of every benefit and grace of God. Hence, seeking the depth of humility, it imitates the publican of the Gospel, who, having the memory of his sins, did not wish even to lift his eyes to heaven. For the monk who is truly humble for Christ’s love always bears in his heart the sorrow of holy compunction and repentance for the evils he has done.

The twenty-first sign of cenobitic humility: he trusts the judgment of others more than his own, and for Christ’s sake wholly subjects his own will to another’s command. Let those among you who follow the judgment of their own head consider whether they can, or wish to, grasp this sign of monastic humility. For today we see few observers of true monastic humility, though many monks seem to be advancing in it. O times, O morals: in which we all promise humility, and very few of us truly take care to keep what we have promised inviolate.

The twenty-second sign of cenobitic humility: he abominates and despises beautiful, new, costly garments, and desires to have and wear all clothing cast off by others. He willingly uses cheaper things, and takes great delight in those things which others despise. Beautiful and ornately arranged garments do not befit a monk, but the meanest ones, by which the body may merely be defended from the injury of intemperate weather. For every curiosity is forbidden to cloistered men, who by reason of the profession they have made before God are bound to contempt of the world. Humility flees high things; it seeks what is lowly.

The twenty-third sign of monastic humility shows the monk to be servile toward the brothers, and [unclear].

Sermon III.

willingly devoted to service, and ready for whatever he shall have been ordered to do. For true humility obeys even inferiors with a most ready will, and is never indignant against the one who gives an order. As far as he can, he who faithfully loves God with his whole heart desires to serve everyone for the love of Christ. For whatever service he has given to the brothers, he firmly believes it has all been shown to Christ.

The twenty-fourth sign of humility a monk truly attains when, for the love of God, he delights in taking care of the baser tasks in the monastery, which the others despise. We read that many once climbed this step of true humility, and we do not doubt that they are of great merit before God. For the Lord says in the holy Gospel: Everyone who humbles himself will be exalted, because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. The humble monk imitates Christ; the proud one imitates the devil.

The twenty-fifth sign of monastic humility is, in any gathering of people, always to seek the lowest place, and not to put oneself before either an equal or an inferior. It is not for monks to contend proudly over preeminence of place; nor is it fitting for a soldier of Christ to wish to surpass others in honor. For the true monk, who loves humility, content with every lowest position, desires to excel no one.

The twenty-sixth mark of humility most of all befits him who, though he is learned and educated, hides all learning and knowledge because of his lowly self-abasement. For the monk who is truly humble is always found readier to listen than to speak. For the divine priest Jerome says: The monk has the office not of one who teaches, but of one who mourns: he should either bewail himself or the world, and in fear await the coming of the Lord. The arrogance of monks is hateful both to God and to men, and is always liable to sin.

The twenty-seventh sign of humility is perfectly attained by him who, out of love for regular discipline, delights more in being silent than in speaking. The humble lover of Christ loves silence, and, lest he offend in speech, is accustomed to say very little. Humility is rarely found among the talkative, and he who is quick to speak casts down his own soul. A talkative and chattering monk is not without pride, and he who is foolish multiplies words. Whoever desires in spiritual combat to overcome his adversary through humility should not fail to restrain his tongue from much speaking and from every idle word. It is written in the book of Proverbs that in much speaking sin will not be lacking.

Whoever has attained the twenty-eighth sign of perfect humility will avoid laughter and all the disordered gestures of those who guffaw. Mourning chiefly befits a monk, not laughter, since he is one who has died to all the frivolities of the world. And the wise man says: The fool raises his voice in laughter, but the wise man will scarcely laugh quietly.

The twenty-ninth mark of perfect humility takes its beginning from the fear of the Lord, for whose honor, as far as he is able, he flees and detests every sin. For everyone who does not fear to sin has not truly been humble. But the monk who, according to his strength, follows Christ in true humility is accustomed to flee every sin and, as much as he can, to exercise himself in the pursuit of virtues. Humility confesses its sin, and whenever it offends even in the smallest matters, it does not rest until it has amended everything through true penitence. Whoever is truly humble is always found zealous to preserve the purity of his conscience. For charity is the nourishment of humility, and it does not allow the one who has it to be prying.

The thirtieth sign of true humility shows a monk confirmed in the purpose of holiness, and makes him subject to all the brothers, even the younger ones. Whatever his superior commands, he obeys simply, and he never debates the commands of his elder; he does not ask the reason why he orders it so. If impossible things are commanded, he is ready in spirit; for whatever is hard and arduous, he is prepared without contradiction. He is directed by the counsel of his superior; he believes him, trusts him, obeys him; he is willingly governed by his command.

You have now heard, my dearly beloved brothers, the thirty marks of true humility. O good God, where are the works? Which of us will boast that he has true humility, so that he suffers no defect in these signs? These, shame to say, are our times, in which the charity of many has grown cold, the integrity of holy religion is perishing, and the devotion of almost all has breathed its last. Our monks seek holiness without the merit of virtues; they wish to have merit without the exercise of labor; therefore today no saint is found in the monastery. The fervor of holy compunction in many is either very rare or lukewarm, because where one lives for flesh and blood, the fervor of inward charity is not possessed.

It is not enough for you, O monk, who boast of observance, to have nothing of your own, not to touch a woman, to reside in the monastery under obedience to your superior, not to eat meat, and in the other outward matters of the discipline of the Rule to live according to monastic institution, unless with the greatest diligence you also strive to adorn your inner life through true charity toward God and neighbor. For charity is the end of regular observance, for the acquisition of which all the other things were principally instituted. Therefore without the charity of God all things profit you nothing, since it alone, and no other, distinguishes between good and evil works. O monk, monk, whoever you are who live lukewarmly in the monastery without the fervor of charity, do you think that the outward apparatus of discipline can save you? It is charity that sanctifies the one who has it; charity commends the other virtues and all good things to God. Have charity, and all the works of piety that you do will be pleasing to God.

Sermon IV.

On the difficult way that leads to life. Sermon IV.

You have heard, dearly beloved brothers, our Lord Jesus Christ saying in today’s reading from the holy Gospel: “How narrow is the gate and confined the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” Is not Christ himself the way, who had said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”? And how does he now say that it is confined and narrow, when he is the same one who had said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. For my yoke is sweet and my burden light”? What else is the yoke of Christ but the confined and narrow way to the kingdom of God? How then is it both light and narrow? Let your charity hear.

The yoke of the Lord Jesus is sweet to the good, but hard and unbearable to the reprobate. The way of Christ to life is broad and pleasant to the humble who are trained in charity, but narrow and bitter to the proud. For there is nothing so hard, nothing so terrible, nothing so difficult, that it is not easy and pleasant to one who loves God. Again, there is nothing so gentle, nothing so easy, nothing so small, that it is not heavy and burdensome to an evil will.

Therefore the Lord said, “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” If you wish to carry my yoke upon you, first learn the meekness and humility of my heart; for unless you are meek and humble, you will by no means be able to carry my pack as if it were a heavy weight and an unbearable burden. I am a humble way to the proud; I am a narrow gate; I do not admit the swollen with pride. Unless you despise in your mind all things that are worldly, unless you bring necessary force against the pleasures of the flesh, you cannot enter through me into the kingdom like an animal loaded with sins. I am the humble way, and I receive the meek and humble. I am the narrow door; I admit the poor in spirit and the pure in heart.

To eternal life, brothers, we make our way by the narrow way of truth; therefore we must procure in due time all the things necessary for so difficult a journey. Now there are four things especially necessary for travelers, without which the journey is dangerous and the goal is rarely reached. The first thing that we say is necessary for travelers, we believe to be knowledge of the roads. For one who tries to walk far without prior knowledge of the roads is sometimes entangled in dangerous errors. Therefore let the prudent traveler either first learn the way, or take for himself an experienced companion for the journey, lest he either fall into the hands of robbers or depart from the right path of the journey.

Therefore, since we desire to return to the homeland of the heavenly kingdom by a way exceedingly narrow and known to few, it is necessary that we have as guide and companion of the journey Jesus Christ himself, who called himself the way and the truth. Outside Christ there is no true knowledge; and whoever neglects to have Christ as the companion of his journey runs in vain and without fruit. Therefore let us learn the way of life, dearly beloved brothers, without knowledge of which [unclear].

No one reaches the homeland, no one will attain eternal life. Let us firmly believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is the one mediator between God and human beings, true God and true man; outside faith in him no one will be saved, however innocently he may seem to live. For he himself says in the holy Gospel: “He who believes in the only-begotten Son of God has eternal life abiding in himself. But he who does not believe in the Son, the wrath of God remains upon him.” What does “the wrath remains upon him” mean, except that the first original sin is not removed from him? For after the institution of the New Testament, original sin is removed from those who believe in him through faith in Christ alone. Circumcision was given to the fathers as a sign of future salvation; yet none of them could enter the kingdom of heaven before Christ the Savior rose from the dead. Therefore outside faith in Christ there is no salvation, since, as he himself said, whoever does not believe is already judged and will be condemned.

Let us remain in Christ through faith and love, for he is the way of salvation, he is truth without error, he is life without death. If we have the Lord Jesus as the guide of our journey, we walk with confidence. Secondly, it is necessary for travelers to pass through the lands of their journey without injury to anyone; for if they commit theft, robbery, or any other similar sin against the commonwealth, they would at last come to be punished with the ultimate penalty and would not reach the intended destination of their journey. But we, brothers, placed on the road by which we strive toward the homeland of the heavenly kingdom, must most carefully beware lest we commit anything by word, deed, or thought contrary to the justice of God; rather, let us render to each his right and his due: first to God, piety, worship, and charity; to our neighbor, love; to ourselves, the holiness of perfect purity. Indeed, if we live otherwise than Christ taught, we do not remain on the right way of salvation, which leads to the kingdom. But we shall remain on the way if we keep the commandments of God. We shall walk in truth if we love the Lord our God himself with the whole strength of our mind. We shall attain life if, turning away from evil, we continually persevere in the practice of good.

Thirdly, it is necessary to have provision for the journey, because if travelers’ supplies fail, they will not be able to reach the place intended. A prudent traveler, before he leaves his house, calculates for himself the length and difficulty of the journey, and according as necessity requires, prepares provisions and expenses. A great and arduous journey remains for us; therefore we must prepare supplies for many years, lest we fail on this road by which we are going. The provision for this journey of ours to the super-heavenly homeland is not gold, not silver, not the deceptive riches of the world, but faith in Christ and love of God. The holy virtues are an unfailing provision of the soul for the kingdom of heaven; strengthened by them, it walks the way of God in gladness. The soul faithful to Christ, and accompanied by the holy virtues, joyfully completes the arduous road of this long pilgrimage.

To love God above all things, to exercise oneself continually in good works, to keep one’s conscience in all purity, and to do injury to no one provides the soul with true provision for the journey to its everlasting homeland in heaven.

Fourth, travelers are necessarily advised not to forget the purpose they have undertaken before they reach the end of the journey. For he must be called a foolish traveler who is called back from his road by children’s games and forgets where he had meant to go. And we, dearest brothers, who have taken up the way of monastic religion, must always keep our end in mind, because even when we do not notice it, death hastens daily and presents both the unprepared and the prepared alike for judgment.

Meanwhile let us do good, while we may, as much as we can, and let us not delay turning to the Lord with our whole heart. Christ is the way by which we go to the kingdom of God. Christ is the truth, in which, if we remain, we do not go astray. Christ is the life for which we hope. Hear, brothers, what he himself says in the holy Gospel: “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” This is the way upon which you entered from the beginning of your monastic profession. If you wish to proceed on it rightly and praiseworthily, you must live purely in regular observance and love Christ above all things. It is yours, brothers, to love nothing in this world and to chastise the flesh for the love of God. It belongs to monks to despise all the delights and pleasures of the present life and to desire nothing but the eternal banquet. It belongs to monks to imitate Christ with all their strength and to shape their life according to evangelical purity. To imitate Christ is the highest perfection. The faithful minister of Christ follows his Lord; and where Christ is, there also will his minister be. Therefore whoever among you loves his own salvation and desires to come after Christ to the kingdom of heaven, whoever wishes to guard and preserve to the end the things he promised on entering religion, let him also keep these things.

First of all, as far as he is able, let the monk learn through faith and devotion to know God in sincerity of mind, and at all times to occupy himself piously and soberly in the holy Scriptures. Whatever holy mother Church of the faithful has established either to be believed or to be observed, let him faithfully and firmly both believe and keep, and let him in no way depart from her determination. The flood once destroyed all who had remained outside the ark; Noah alone, with those who were in the ark, escaped safe. The ark presented the figure of the Church, and the deed that was done prefigured a mystery. Hence there is no salvation for men outside the Church, which our Lord Jesus Christ built upon the firmest rock. Every unbeliever is not in the Church, and therefore will necessarily perish, as once did those who were not in the ark. For all who do not believe in the Lord and Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, Jews, pagans, Gentiles, Saracens, likewise heretics and schismatics, who have withdrawn themselves from the unity of the Catholic Church, are placed outside the ark of salvation; and if they persevere in error, they are without doubt to be damned forever with the demons.

Since, then, faith is the foundation of salvation, without which it is impossible to please God, the monk must know what he ought to believe; and lest he happen to go astray, let him learn the Gospel and the constitutions of the Church that concern him. For he who is ignorant will be unknown. It is most shameful for a monk not to know the rules of the Christian faith, and to be utterly ignorant of what he is bound to believe for salvation. We do not say that the things proposed to you for belief should be examined by curious argument, since, as the holy Pope Gregory says, faith has no merit when human reason supplies proof for it. But we admonish you in this: that a monk ought to be studious in the divine Scriptures, so that he may know what holy mother Church commands him to believe, and may be able to guard against all errors contrary to the faith. Therefore let every monk, as a soldier of Jesus Christ, be firm and steadfast in the Catholic faith; let him be sober and studious in the Scriptures, and constant in good works.

The second thing which we believe to be necessary for a monk walking on the way of eternal salvation is that he strive to know himself. For self-knowledge is the best of all sciences, and therefore deservedly to be preferred to all the pursuits of mortals. Yet the beginning of this saving knowledge is exceedingly difficult, because there are very few who do not love the world. For everyone who follows the world and loves the vanities that pass away cannot be one who knows himself. And nothing hinders a man more from knowledge of himself than man himself. He who is fed on the pleasures of his flesh, who is lifted up into pride by the vain knowledge of this world, or by riches, or by honors, is not permitted to come to knowledge of himself. Nevertheless, to know many things and to neglect oneself is not wisdom, but rather madness. It belongs to the heap of a heavier damnation to learn many things and shamefully to be ignorant of oneself.

Let each of you therefore consider what he is, whence he is, and what he is going to be. Man, certainly, of himself is nothing; but whatever he is, he is from God and for God. What is man but a traveler and a pilgrim, as it were of one day upon the earth, who today is seen alive in the world, but in the morning, snatched away by death, is seen no more? All our life, every action, every day, every hour, shows how nothing we are: we die by living, are corrupted by acting, are extinguished with time, and are changed. O tearful race of men, unstable, miserable, and weak, how windy, blind, and vain I see you to be, when I make a comparison between ourselves in the present and those who have gone before us to death. He spoke truly who compared you to the leaf of a tree. The wind, snatching a leaf from the tree, casts it to the ground; in its place another new leaf afterwards grows up, subject to a like fall. But what has fallen to the ground is resolved into the earth, and never thereafter returns to the tree. Hence a certain wise man of the Greeks says: As is the race of leaves, so also is the race of men.

The race of men is very like the race of leaves, because it grows green for a time and is resolved into the earth; and neither does the leaf return to the tree, nor man to life.

Now follows the third thing, which I think very necessary for a monk walking in the way of God. Every man who understands himself to be a traveler in this life of very brief duration truly shows himself humble in all things. For why should earth and ashes be proud? He who truly knows himself cannot be exalted. My brothers, we have no cause for exaltation and pride, but much and continual cause for humility, since we are earth, a certain compacting of dust, and after a few days are to return again into dust. But because true humility belongs to few, therefore the way of salvation is called narrow and is found by few. By humility one comes to the kingdom, because, as the Lord says in the holy Gospel, everyone who humbles himself for God’s sake will be exalted, and he who exalts himself will be humbled.

Fourth, for the monk traveling to heaven it is supremely necessary that he make himself a stranger to every sin, because no one is admitted into the kingdom of God unless he is commended by the highest purity of conscience. Therefore the conscience must continually be adorned with holy virtues and good works, because heaven is opened only to those who despise the world for love of God. Hence Peter, the most holy chief apostle of Christ, says in his second epistle: Applying all care, minister virtue in your faith; in virtue, knowledge; in knowledge, abstinence; in abstinence, patience; in patience, godliness; in godliness, love of brotherhood; and in love of brotherhood, charity. If these things are present with you and abound, they will make you neither empty nor without fruit in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is one virtue, as Firmianus testifies, and one way of the good, which leads and carries souls stripped of the flesh not into the fabulous Elysian fields of the poets, but into the choirs of angels: namely, the Christian faith adorned by works of true charity, which flees every sin.

Fifth, the traveler on the steep road of the heavenly kingdom is instructed that, by keeping God’s will, he should follow the commandments in all things. Whatever he is about to say or do, let him first examine diligently whether it agrees with the ordinances of God and of the Church. But if he finds it contrary either to God or to the Church, let him flee from it at once, lest he fall into sin. For it belongs to a wise man to commit nothing unexamined, but to consider all things diligently by the counsel of foresight before he acts. But whoever wishes to be safe and secure on this steep journey should, to the best of his strength, imitate the life and conduct of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the light for all unto eternal life.

The sixth thing that we judge necessary for our traveler is that he love the saving study of Scripture. Let him not be curious in reading, nor given to vain superstitions, but simple, pure, and upright in soul. It does not befit a monk to cling to writings.

of the gentiles, nor devote his study to the fables of shameful poets. He who follows vain things will never be wise; and he who seeks out curious matters will quickly fall into sin. The monk should always avoid every reading of vain superstition; and whatever does not contribute to knowledge of the divine Scriptures must at all times be despised by our traveler.

Seventh, we judge it very necessary for our traveler that he prudently direct both his senses and his thoughts, and guard them from every disordered desire. Our stubborn little ass must be restrained by the bridle of discipline, lest it cast its rider, the spirit, headlong into hell. He who always considers that he walks in the sight of him who sees all things preserves his conscience pure and clean with the greatest diligence. He always keeps watch in the fear of the Lord; always, in fasting and abstinence, he chastises his poor little body for love of the heavenly homeland. The monk who knows himself to be a pilgrim and a stranger in this world never forgets the heavenly homeland, because he sees nothing on the road of this present life in which his soul may take delight. For the prudent traveler pays no attention to the spectacles along the roads; nothing among passing things delights him in his pilgrimage, but at all times he sighs for the end of the journey. He always thinks of the sweet homeland, he bears it heavily that his pilgrimage is prolonged or delayed, and therefore he desires to have nothing in this world except the Lord Jesus, into whose presence he eagerly hastens to appear.

Eighth, tireless practice of divine charity is necessary for our traveler. For no one will be able to come to the heavenly homeland who departs from the path of charity. The charity of God is the way to God; if anyone has neglected to have it burning within himself, he has miserably strayed from the true road of the heavenly homeland. God, says Scripture, is charity, and he who remains in charity remains in God, and God in him. But he who is not in charity has already withdrawn far from the way of salvation, and, walking in the darkness of sins, will never come to the kingdom.

How Sin Must Be Fled. Sermon V.

You have all heard, my dearly beloved brothers, what Saint John the Apostle said about sinners: He who commits sin is of the devil, because the devil sins from the beginning. A sentence to be feared and greatly dreaded. If all who commit sin are of the devil, and we all offend in many things, how many shall we find immune from sin? Nevertheless he says immediately after: Everyone who is born of God does not commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. But he had said before: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. What is the meaning of this contradiction: that none of the sons of God is without sin, and yet he who is born of God does not commit sin?

Sermon V.

There is no contradiction found here, since both statements are true: no one is without sin, in that no one is without the law of sin; and he who is born of God does not commit sin, because through the law of the mind, that is, through charity, which is the seed of God, he does not commit sin. For charity covers a multitude of sins; without it there is no good work, and it alone has power to blot out every sin. Hence the holy bishop Augustine says: No saint and no just man is without sin; yet on account of this he does not cease to be just or holy, if he holds fast to holiness with affection. But these sins of the just are not to be regarded as mortal or enormous, but as small and venial sins, without which the present life is scarcely lived; for every mortal sin must be far from the just man, if he is to retain the name of justice.

For mortal sin separates man from God, kills the soul, and condemns it eternally with the demons. By the grace of God we can avoid this destructive kind of mortal sin, and through uprightness of will we must do so diligently. For this is why we have been made monks: that, living most cautiously under the command of saving obedience, we might not fall into the pit of mortal sin. Therefore a monk must always keep watch in good works, so that he may live free from mortal crime.

But whoever, on the way of God, feels his flesh troublesome and contrary to him must make it subject to the spirit through remembrance of punishments, and obedient, as it were, through fear. First of all, then, a monk who loves his own salvation should always attentively consider the deceitful condition of this world and its deception, and should weigh how quickly every delight of the flesh passes away. He can easily draw his soul away from sins who has carefully considered that the pleasure of the flesh is very brief, but the punishment owed to sinners is eternal.

The world passes away, and its desire with it; all human beings too pass away by dying, and no one is permitted to remain long in this life. For what is the world but a great sea, deep and restless? In it there are as many creeping things of evils as there are evil desires of human beings [unclear]. O deceitful, deceiving, and unclean world, you shamefully deceive those who cling to you; you plunge all who follow you into the depth of hell. How happy are those who despise you for love of Christ, and, making a useful separation from your vanities, depart from you in time.

Whatever we see in the world is vain, and every lover of the world becomes vain and will soon be corrupted. Think that you will soon die, for nothing draws a person back from sin as frequent and intent meditation on death does. For Scripture says: Remember your last things, and you will not sin forever. Thought of the necessity of dying shakes the mind with fear and restrains it from vice.

The second thing that persuades one to flee sin is fear of the future judgment, at which all human beings must necessarily be presented. No one can escape this terrible judgment; rather, we must all appear at it. Two things must be feared by us.

Two judgments are impending, neither of which we shall be able to escape; rather, necessity compels us to appear at both. One is called the particular judgment, in which, immediately after death, the soul is judged according to its merits, either to grace or to punishment. The other is named the general judgment, which will be at the end of the age, where we shall all be judged publicly by the only-begotten Son of God.

Both judgments are exceedingly terrible and greatly to be feared by all mortals. Hence the prophet Joel says: “Great is the day of the Lord, and very terrible; and who shall endure it?” Likewise in Ecclesiastes King Solomon says: “All things that are done under the sun God will bring into judgment, judging every error, whether it be good or evil.” In Isaiah also it is read thus: “The Lord will come to judgment with the elders of his people and its princes.” And in the book of the prophet Amos it is written: “Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord. What is it to you? For that day of the Lord is darkness and not light.” Zephaniah also, the prophet of the Lord, foretelling the bitterness of the future judgment, said: “The voice of the day of the Lord is bitter; the strong man will be troubled there. That day is a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and whirlwind. In the fire of the Lord’s zeal the whole earth will be devoured, because he will make a consummation with haste upon all who dwell on the earth.”

This day, exceedingly terrible and fearful to all mortals, which you believe will certainly come, dearest brothers, you should always keep in memory. For the most holy bishop Ambrose says: “There is nothing that profits more toward an honorable life than that we believe there will be a judge whom neither the hidden things of minds deceive nor shameful things delight.” For all of us, as holy Christophilus says, must be made manifest before the tribunal of Christ, so that each may receive the things proper to the body, according as he has done, whether good or evil.

How much that future day of terrible judgment is to be feared, the holy priest Jerome indicates, saying: “Whether I eat, or drink, or do anything else, that voice always seems to sound in my ears: Rise, you dead, come to judgment. Whenever I think of the day of judgment, I tremble in my whole heart and body.” Therefore, if there is any joy in the present life, it must be carried on in such a way that the bitterness of the future judgment never withdraws from memory.

What shall we wretches say on that day, or how shall we stand before the strict judge, if, as the divine apostle Peter says, scarcely will the just man be saved? If Jerome, a just and most holy man, feared the future judgment, O good God, how will Trithemius, an unhappy sinner, appear? If the just man fears, how will the sinner stand? For what shall we say, or what shall we answer, accused heavily on every side? All the elements will stand against us as witnesses; earth and heaven together will accuse us. But even if all things were silent, each one’s own conscience will be a heavy accuser. He who knows all things is ignorant of nothing, for there all things will be manifest to the judge. The evil things we have done will be there, accusing us heavily; they will be present all around as witnesses [unclear].

Sermon V.

We shall see countless demons around us as witnesses against us; below us we shall see the horrible open chaos; above us we shall behold the judge, angry; and on every side the utmost danger will be hanging over us. My brothers, always turn over in the memory of your heart these dangers of the examination to come, and diligently consider how dreadful it is to fall under the future sentence of the judge. In that terrible hour pure hearts will have more power than the crafty words of rhetoricians; a clean conscience will help a man more than the money of the whole world, because he who is to judge all things is not deceived, indeed is changed neither by price nor by prayers.

O what incredible horror will seize all the wicked, what fearful sentence they will hear: “Depart, accursed, into eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” O worst of all evils; O deepest sorrow of all sorrows, to be separated from the fellowship of the saints and to be tormented with demons forever. Truly the day of judgment is horrible and to be feared by all, because it is exceedingly bitter: there the worm of conscience does not die; there one once damned to punishment is never set free.

Therefore the monk who desires to attain eternal salvation should always keep himself, as far as he can, clean from every sin, and that voice, “Depart, accursed, into eternal fire,” should never depart from his memory. Hence the third thing which we judge to be of great help in turning away from sin is to think diligently on the bitterness of the punishments of eternal damnation. For no temptation of fleshly pleasure is so violent that it will not at once fail, overcome, if the person tempted recalls in earnest meditation what the damned are now suffering in hell.

What profit now to the damned are the riches they once possessed? What do past pleasures bring to the lustful who have been placed in hell? What do the emptiest honors bring to the proud? What does the power once so broad bring to the arrogant? Think, brothers, what the damned are now suffering in the lower world, and lest similar things befall you, persevere continually in good and holy works. If you fear hell, flee sin. For hell will do no harm if a man has remained in the faith of Christ, free from sins; nor will he burn in punishment who has not first burned here in guilt.

The place of hell must be feared, where there is no redemption; but whoever, once damned, has entered there will no longer go out to salvation. They cry out in torments, wretched in anguish, placed in everlasting horror, saying: “What does our pride profit us now, our riches, honors, dignities, luxury, gluttony, and all past fleshly pleasures? What do they profit us now, damned forever? Behold, all things have passed like a shadow, and everything has vanished like the brief dream of a single night. But we have been assigned to eternal torments, in which we know most certainly that there is no redemption.”

In hell, as Augustine bears witness, even if there will be the sting of repentance, nevertheless there will be no correction of the will in the damned; by them iniquity will be blamed in such a way that justice [unclear] can in no way be loved or desired by them. There then the devouring [unclear] of hell...

208 How sin is to be fled.

The flame burns those whom carnal pleasure now defiles; and each person is burned all the more in torments, the more he takes delight here in the flesh against God. In hell, as Gregory bears witness, there will be intolerable cold, inextinguishable fire, the immortal worm of conscience, unbearable stench, palpable darkness, immeasurable pains, scourges of those who strike without intermission, the dreadful sight of demons, confusion over crimes committed, and despair of all good things. But of all the punishments in hell, by far the gravest must be judged to be this: that those damned ones are forever deprived of the vision of eternal light.

Hence the most blessed bishop John Chrysostom says: “Gehenna is an intolerable thing, and all men shrink from it. For who does not know that the punishment of hell is very dreadful? Yet if someone should set down a thousand, indeed ten thousand gehennas, all that he says is nothing in comparison with this: for a soul hated by Christ to be driven away from the glory of the saints, and to hear that terrible voice from the mouth of the Judge of all: ‘Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, for I do not know you’; and: ‘Go, you cursed, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for you and for the devil.’”

O voice by far the most terrible of all terrible things; O sentence to be feared, and exceedingly dreadful to all mortals: to be hated by Christ for one’s deserts, to be reproached by the Judge, to be separated from the fellowship of glory, and to retain no further hope of recovery. Think now, brothers, on the punishments of the wicked that most certainly will come; and compare all the torments of this passing age, and every imaginable torture of this world, with those everlasting punishments of the damned, and they will be as nothing compared with something else, imagination compared with truth, a dream compared with waking. You will easily overcome the temptations of the flesh and the law of sin if you continually keep the thought of these things in memory.

O eternity, what an inconceivable span of time; an age without end, a world without time. Blessed is he who now foresees in time how he may fare well in eternity after this very brief life.

The fourth thing that can draw a person back from sin is to keep continual remembrance in the heart of future and everlasting happiness. Truly, the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which will be revealed in the saints, where there will be no discord, no disharmony at all, but the highest peace of all and the everlasting concord of the rejoicing saints. In the heavenly blessedness of the saints there is true joy without sadness, peace without discord, goodness without malice, gladness without end, light without darkness, everlasting life without pain. There is sweetness without bitterness, rest without labor, praise without blame, love without fault, brightness without cloud, satiety without disgust. Eternity remains without weariness; goodness abounds without defect; happiness continues without misery. For where God is all in all, perfect and full joy will be present to everyone. There the soul, or holy mind, is joined to its beginning through love; the intellect is perfectly enlightened for the knowledge of the highest good; and from these two there is poured into the exultant the enjoyment of eternal happiness.

To know God in the kingdom of eternity and to love him is to possess, by enjoyment, the very glory of happiness. For man was created for this: that he should understand God his creator as the supreme good; that, understanding him, he should love him above all things; and that, loving him, he should enjoy and possess him forever. This is the end of the monastic institution; this is the destination of the Christian faith: that God, whom we now know through faith and love with all our heart through works of charity, we may, in the blessed life, understand perfectly and have as the everlasting object of our enjoyment.

For the attainment of this eternal happiness, most beloved brothers, all good things must be done even with the greatest labor, and all adversities must be endured with the greatest patience, since the very brief exercise of virtue brings forth for us an eternal reward. Hear what holy Bishop John says on these matters: If every day, he says, it were necessary for us to endure torments, indeed if we had to tolerate even gehenna itself for a short time, so that we might see Christ reigning in eternal glory and be joined forever to the number of his saints, would it not, by equal reasoning, be fitting to endure everything sorrowful that can befall us, so that we may deserve to possess the glory of so great a good? But one does not arrive at the supreme good except through the greatest labors; for, as the Lord says in the holy Gospel, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent seize it.

The fifth thing that ought to draw a man back from sin is to consider the dignity of the human condition, which, by the natural guidance of reason, detests vice and loves the good of virtue. Every man who lives according to the command of reason is a lover of virtue; but he who, becoming filthy in the dung of vices, rolls about in it, conducts himself as a beast, not as a man. But for you, my brothers, vices must especially be detested and virtues loved, since you have despised the world for this reason: that in the monastery you might lead a life estranged from sins and adorned with holy virtues.

Virtues, therefore, are to be cultivated by you. I say virtues are to be cultivated, not images of virtues; not with incense, not with sacrifice, but with love and with the purpose of a wholly upright will. For to cultivate virtues is nothing other than to embrace them in the soul and, for the love of God, to keep them inviolate even to death. For, as Lactantius says, the whole duty of virtue is not to sin; and therefore there is no true virtue except that which, through faith in Christ, tends toward that end where the supreme good of man is, than which nothing better can exist. But he is not virtuous who does not love God, since charity is the sum of all virtues. Therefore, if you love God with all your heart above all things, you are truly virtuous. Thus there is one virtue and one way of the good, by which, through faith and love of Jesus Christ, one arrives at the kingdom. He who truly loves God does not sin, because of his love of virtue.

Consider your dignity, my brothers, and flee sin; for everyone who is swollen with pride, who is defiled by lust, who is infected by the other plagues of the soul, does not live as a man, but ...

How sin is to be fled.

He is confounded in himself and goes forward into the destruction of eternal death. For the more one falls into sin, the farther he withdraws from God, and the nearer he approaches hell. Since, however, all men naturally desire the good, it is most shameful to love sin, because every sinner abandons the good and turns himself to evil.

Sixth, it strongly draws the mind back from sin if it remains always occupied, by habit, in meditation on the Lord’s Passion. For who will be able to devote himself to the pleasures of the flesh, if he has thought of Jesus Christ, the ruler of the world, hanging for him on the cross? The death of Christ freed the world from perpetual death; whoever carries this benefit with him in memory will easily abstain from every crime of vice.

Finally, if anyone considers with the whole attention of his mind that God is present to him in every place, and knows and understands all things, he will without doubt always abhor every sin. For God is everywhere with us: not only present, but truly inward and most present. No secret is hidden from him; nothing remains concealed from him, but everything lies open and manifest to him. He searches the hearts of all; he knows the most secret thoughts, he who alone has true knowledge of all things. For what mortal dares to sin in the presence of such majesty, which he believes sees all things, without the greatest shame, if he considers who and how great he is who sees?

Therefore, whenever an evil thought troubles the mind, whenever the disordered movements of the flesh disturb the soul, think of the Lord God, the avenger of evils, as present; recall to memory the bitterness of the Passion of Jesus Christ; devoutly implore the help of heavenly grace. Harder than stone is the man whom these things, if carefully considered, cannot call back from the intention of sinning.

Seventh, what recalls the mind of a studious monk from the desire of sinning is that by continual reading he should go through the accounts of the martyrs’ sufferings. Indeed, whoever often recalls to memory the invincible constancy of the holy martyrs of Christ cannot fail to become stronger and more robust in resisting sins. For this reason the brave deeds of the saints were committed to writing: so that, whenever we who are weak read such things, we may rise up to imitate those who have gone before.

Do not pay regard, brothers, to those who, with proud rashness, deny faith to the histories of the saints, and think that the glorious things narrated about the most blessed friends of Christ are fables. For the virtues and good things which they do not find in themselves, they disdain to believe that the saints of God possessed. For there are many, and especially among those who think themselves great because of their learning, who too rashly reject the histories of the holy fathers; and since they themselves cannot enter upon the arduous path of virtue, with windy loquacity they invent that no one, or only a rare few, could have done so. Whatever is read before them from the lives of the saints, whether arduous or great, they cry out that it is invented and fabulous; and, being placed as they themselves are in the darkness of vices, they suppose that those whose histories they mock lived in the same way before them. A monk But the prudent and devout man is not moved by the sloth of the proud, since he proves and understands that a certain effective power of exhortation lies in the histories of the saints. For, to confess meanwhile what is true about myself, I am stirred more to devotion of inward fervor by the life of one saint than by many curious sermons, because, as the most holy Pope Leo says, examples are stronger than words, and it is more to teach by deed than by voice.

But just as not all things please everyone, so not all things are suited to everyone. We advise each person to read more often and more eagerly that by whose reading his mind is stirred to greater progress.

The eighth thing that restrains a man from sin is charity, concerning which the holy Apostle says: Charity is patient, is kind; it does not act perversely, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, does not seek the things that are its own, is not provoked, does not think evil, does not rejoice over iniquity, but rejoices together with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Charity never fails.

He who loves God flees sin; but he who is the slave of crimes certainly does not love God. The lover of God does not commit sin, and he who truly loves his Lord and always beholds him as present does not work iniquity. God is the highest and unchangeable good; out of love for him sin must both be fled and detested, because he who fears to sin only from fear of punishments does not rise to the rewards of charity. For a slave does not sin from fear of blows; but a son withdraws from evil out of love for his parent, lest he offend his father’s heart.

Let us beware of sin, my brothers, and with as much purity of soul as we can let us live in the sight of the Lord, because just as deadly poison, when taken, kills the body, so sin kills the soul of the offender. Hence the wise man admonishes us in Ecclesiasticus, saying: Flee sins as from the face of a serpent, because if you approach them, they will take hold of you. The teeth of a lion are the teeth of sin, killing the souls of men. Like a two-edged sword is the iniquity of man; for its wounds there is no healing. In Ezekiel too it is said: The soul that has sinned, that soul shall die.

With all care we must always keep watch, so that we may not, through the mediation of sin, be separated from the Lord. Nothing is stronger than perfect charity toward God for overcoming every sin, because, as the most holy evangelist John says, everyone who is born of God does not commit sin; but he who sins does not imitate God, but the devil, the reward of sin. Let us love God, and sin will not rule in us; let us love Christ, and we shall do nothing contrary to our salvation. Nothing is better, nothing stronger against sin, nothing safer, than to love God, who first loved us and washed us from all sins in the blood of his only-begotten Son.

God is to be loved by us with our whole soul for many reasons. For we are bound to God, and we are obliged to love him with all the powers of our heart for many reasons. First, indeed, God must be loved by us above all, for no other reason than for his own sake, who is the highest and [unclear].

How Sin Is to Be Fled.

Since he is good, in him alone are the soul’s rest and salvation; without him there is no salvation, no rest, no blessedness, no happiness, neither in heaven nor on earth. For since God is the cause, maker, and beginning of all things, he alone is the object of the soul’s blessedness; to his everlasting enjoyment the soul comes only through charity, and to the love of him it comes only through purity of mind.

Therefore, since God is the soul’s one and highest good, he is to be loved by us for his own sake with all our strength. Outside God there is nothing good, nothing holy, nothing that can gladden the soul forever. For God alone is the center of the soul’s blessedness.

Second, we are commanded to love the Lord our God because he deigns to show himself our most loving father. For thus he taught us to pray: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Truly God is the father of us all: he created us, nourishes all, feeds all, and preserves us in being, lest we perish. There has never been any father on earth so indulgent that he loved his only-begotten son with so great a charity as God almighty, our father, loves, cherishes, guides, and follows us with loving affection. And therefore we are bound to love him with a pure heart above all things, for he gives us both being and life. He indeed is our father; and Adam, who was created first of all men, did not know us.

Third, we ought to love God above all things because of likeness, since man was made in God’s image, following his creator by a certain likeness in his intellect. But God is perfect, infinite, and everlasting intellect; and our intellect, sharing in his goodness through grace, is made blessed in him who created all things. For although there is no comparison between God and man, nevertheless there is, from the nobility of its condition, a likeness of dignity not to be despised between the rational soul itself and its principle. For the Prophet says: I said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. The Lord God also said in the beginning: Let us make man to our image and likeness. Great is the condescension of divine loving-kindness toward our race, which it befits us at all times to remember with a pure mind of charitable reverence.

Fourth, we ought to love our God above all things because of his inestimable generosity, for we acknowledge that he has bestowed such great benefits on us though we did not deserve them. When we did not exist, he first, by his goodness, established us in being, and ordained us to a share in his glory, which will never end. For Scripture says this of the nobility of man: Thou hast made him a little less than the angels; with glory and honor thou hast crowned him; and thou hast set him over the works of thy hands.

Do you wish to know, brothers, in what respect man is less than the angel? Attend diligently to what we say. Two intellects were created from the beginning, the angelic and the human. The angelic intellect, immediately from the beginning of its creation, was made full and perfect in the act of all knowable things, and by nature knew all things that it had to know, and Sermon V.

...comprehends; but the human intellect at first consists only in potency toward all knowable things, knowing nothing, and in the end, through many actions, at last acquires knowledge of all things, like the angelic intellect. For the perfect consummation of nature, which is present in the angelic intellect from the beginning, will be given to the human intellect at the end. Hence it is clear that between these two created intellects there is only this difference: the angelic intellect is what it can be, while the human intellect is to receive the likeness of angelic perfection at the end, that is, after bodily death.

For when the angelic intellect was first created, without any action of its own, immovably, substantially, and by nature, it came forth full of all knowledge and perfect. And among the angels, those who adhere by love to their beginning, namely God, have been confirmed in eternal happiness; but those who, glorying in themselves, withdrew in affection from God, are forever wretched and unhappy. The human intellect, however, since it was created in the beginning in ignorance and privation of all things, must necessarily come at last, by action, motion, and art, to the knowledge of things set before it.

As long as we are in the body and are pilgrims away from the Lord, our intellect, because of its excessive commerce with the body, is confused as though placed in the darkness of ignorance, and is by no means illumined with perfect knowledge of future things. But after the soul has been separated from the body, then the intellect will rejoice in angelic perfection. Therefore we differ from the angels only insofar as we share in bodily impurity.

Fifth, God must be loved by us above all, because he first loved us and washed us from our sins in the blood of his only-begotten Son. The Creator supremely loves his creature, whom he made from nothing; it is fitting that the creature itself should supremely love its Creator, by whose goodness it was brought into being. God loves us with the greatest charity, than which no greater can be spoken or thought, and he loves us so much that he neither ought nor could love us more; for in God all things are perfect, and in the unchangeable one there is no capacity for change.

Now consider, my brothers, with what fervor of mind and with what desire of heart a man ought to love his God, by whom he is loved even without merits with the highest degree of love. Let us stretch our soul toward love of him above all things, as much as we can; for he is worthy to be loved by us with all our strength. For however much we may love God who loves us, we shall nevertheless in no way reach that measure by which he loves us. For he, as we have said, loves us supremely, and his love toward us cannot increase further, since it is certain that he loves his creature most perfectly. But however much we have loved him, we can always make further progress in loving and love more ardently until death.

O we who are weak, we who are lukewarm, we who are bound over to a muddy prison: what shall we repay to so great a lover, who surpasses us in loving by infinite degrees, since there is no comparison between the thing made and its maker?

The sixth thing, which should stir us to the love of God, It is the regard of his supreme kindness toward us: that, after leaving so many thousands of people throughout the wide world in error, he mercifully called us in Europe, with a few others, to the knowledge of the Christian faith. Of all his benefits after the death of Christ, I think this is the chief: that he made us Christians in the faith. For outside the faith of Christ no one will be saved, whether Christ is proclaimed to him or whether he is utterly unknown to him. How many kingdoms today in Asia and Africa, how many peoples, how many islands of the sea, have no knowledge of Christ and no faith, but all their religion is in error and without any merit for salvation, even if some outside Christianity seem to adore and worship one God? For Christ is the savior of faithful souls; whoever has not believed in him is already judged, and without doubt will be condemned. Therefore we shall never be able to render to God worthy acts of thanksgiving, because he ordained that we should be born, so to speak, in the Catholic faith, and by the blood of his only-begotten Son he freed us from the destruction of death. Let us therefore be mindful of so great a benefit, and take care to live in such a way that we are not judged for ingratitude. Let us bless God the Father at all times, who has poured out the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon us and has not permitted us to be born removed from the unity of Catholic unity.

The seventh thing believed able to produce the love of God in our hearts is considered in the promise of everlasting happiness. For if we consider how great are the good things in heaven that he has promised he will give us, his love will deservedly burn sweetly in our hearts. He has promised his whole self to us as a reward: he alone is the highest and utterly unchangeable good; and although he is indivisible, he offers himself to be enjoyed by all in such a way that nevertheless he is possessed whole by each one. He loves all by whom he is loved, and he loves each one by whom he is possessed. The more, then, we love God now with a pure mind, the more reward we shall receive there.

On the Knowledge of Spiritual Grace. Sermon VI.

The holy apostle of Christ, John, teaches us that not every spirit is always to be believed, but that impulses must be carefully examined to see whether they are from God, who is the true light, lest perhaps something rise up against us from the side of darkness. For our adversary, since he is crafty, never sleeps, but devises a thousand ways by which he may catch us unawares. Yet he attacks those already making progress in one way, and deals in another way with those who are still living in the sluggishness of negligence. The more we have advanced in God’s commandments, the more necessary it is that we keep watch against the devil lying in wait for us. The demon pursues with importunity those who try to flee, and rages with envy against those who desire to please God with love. Lurking in secret under the appearance of good, he is accustomed to attack those who do not know him, whom he knows he cannot overcome in open conflict. He is accustomed to [unclear] many things.

to those who are deficient and as yet less firmly grounded in the fear of God, by which he generally tries, under the appearance of good, to overthrow unwary minds. Against his snares the best remedy is for a monk to submit all the thoughts of his heart to the examination of the elders. For demons hate the public light, and are ashamed that the thoughts of the young which they suggest should come to the knowledge of spiritual elders.

Therefore, whoever among you thinks that he stands in good, let him always be careful not to fall through the devil’s overthrowing him. There are some among you, young both in years and in conversion, who consent to their sensual inclinations more than is fitting; demons mock such men in various ways, as though under the appearance of good. They seek holiness without merit; they desire to have merit without the practice of the necessary virtues. They seem to themselves great before God in devotion, and exceptional, yet in their animal passions they have not been mortified.

You are mistaken, O wretched men, and you shamefully deceive yourselves, when you think of building the tower of holiness without the foundation of most humble subjection and obedience. First the disordered desires of sensuality must be mortified; the passions of the animal man must be restrained: anger, murmuring, the spite of indignation, and all impatience. For as long as vices rule over you, whatever gifts of private singularity you offer are not pleasing to God. All things are vain where there is not a pure conscience.

The conduct of a young monk is suspect to us, however devout it may seem to be, if the humility of voluntary subjection does not commend it. For a monk without humility and obedience cannot be good, even if he hunts for holiness every day by fasting and prayer. The devil deceives many in the hiddenness of elation and pride, whom he allows continually to keep vigil, fast, and pray. For just as no works are pleasing to God without humility and charity, so the fasting, vigils, prayers, and studies of monks without these are not fearsome to the devil.

The devil is not moved by anything that does not torment him. He does not greatly value the vigils of the self-exalted, nor does he attend to the fasting of the swollen with pride, nor does he fear the prayers of the proud. But if he finds you humble; if in all things you obey the commands of the elders cheerfully; if he sees you doing great things and thinking humble things about yourself; if he perceives the charity of God and neighbor burning in you, then surely he is stirred against you, because his envy is tormented by your virtues. He turns against you all the weapons of his cunning that he can, and with all his strength tries to overturn your purpose of holiness.

For nothing displeases demons more in a monk; nothing torments them more violently than if, for the love of God, he has truly humbled himself in all things and has always, with a cheerful spirit, kept the discipline of the monastic way of life under the guardianship of obedience. You must beware the impulses of demons, you who think yourselves to be something great without the merit of true virtues. I see you unwilling toward the commands of the elders, impatient and murmuring under correction, rather quick to rebuke another’s life, but in [unclear].

and are very slow to consider their own defects. These are very sure signs of demonic prompting, and manifest indications of contempt for necessary mortification and of self-will.

You believe yourselves to be perfect and holy cultivators of great religion and inward devotion, yet you do not regard fraternal charity or true humility as necessary in yourselves. You seek sensible devotion in prayers, and with tearful eyes you already think yourselves friends of God. But what then? Do tears in prayers make a man holy, when he prays with a certain exaltation of mind and without true humility? God gives tears; the soul, struck by adversities, gives them; the devil too, deceiver of the proud, gives them. God makes the mind humbled in true charity fruitful, like a meadow, with sweet tears; nature moves the weeping person in adversity; the devil pours streams of water upon the proud under the likeness of devotion.

Humility is the one virtue which, in the breadth of charity, makes the hearts of men truly devout. Whatever you may do in your singularity profits you nothing, O monk, if you do not have true humility with the fervor of twofold charity. For to rise before others for the night praises, to say long prayers in private beyond the custom of the order, to continue a fast beyond what the rule has established while others lawfully eat, to remain in secret while the rest go out to the common labor: two things make these meritorious, and if they are lacking, all such acts will be wholly fruitless. Indeed, whatever works of a monk charity and humble obedience have not commended will be judged empty of merit before God and will lack reward.

But you who with haughty brow despise the precepts of your elders, who do not do what they command but what pleases you by your own rashness, who prefer your own inventions to the holy common exercises of the order, are still far removed from the way of life of the saints. It is not lawful for you by your own rashness to abandon the things that belong to monastic institution, and to put new and vain things that please you before necessary things. Whatever work you do is displeasing to God if you despise that to which you are bound. The inspiration of divine grace teaches humility, persuades obedience, and follows true charity in all things; it keeps the commandment, admits no pride, despises no one, but pursues the perpetual integrity of regular discipline.

But the prompting of the devil, under the appearance of good, cunningly trips up the unwary monk and makes him subject in all things to his own judgment. For everything that pertains to preserving monastic integrity he falsely claims has been badly instituted, is contrary to him, and for that reason must be set after his own pursuits. But so that you may learn wisely to distinguish the grace of God from the promptings of the ancient enemy, mark what we say. First, then, whoever thinks himself inspired by the grace of God should carefully observe whether day by day he becomes purer in conscience as the tinder of sin decreases. For wherever the Spirit of God has poured out the gift of heavenly grace, Sermon VI.

all inclination to sin at once withdraws. But if horror of sinning has not invaded the mind, it is certainly clear that the prompting of the devil has taken possession of the man. For as soon as the Holy Spirit has entered a man’s mind, he either lessens every blaze of vices or extinguishes it entirely. Therefore let each one of you diligently examine himself and consider by whose prompting he is moved. For the prompting of God is accustomed to lessen sin, but that of the ancient enemy to increase it. Hence, in those who are led by the Spirit of God, sin is daily diminished; but those who follow the prompting of the devil are rarely truly amended.

The second sign of the divine prompting is recognized from the evidence of virtues, because the grace of the Holy Spirit always works great virtues in a man. Therefore, when you feel yourself advancing daily in the love of God and in good works; when you experience in yourself that the habit of sinning and all vices are prevailing less from day to day, you ought humbly to acknowledge that the grace of God is present. For the love of God, which grace brings, is never idle, but is always usefully occupied in good works, because it both covers the multitude of sins and, by exercising the soul in virtues, does not permit it to sin. For the grace of God cannot stand together with sins, and it is not accustomed to be in a man without the operation of virtues.

The third sign of the Spirit of God is shown in a man when the mind does not waver in its purpose of holiness, but, growing stronger from day to day, is more firmly strengthened. For there are many who, touched by a momentary compunction, sometimes receive the first two signs, but, despising perseverance, do not reach the third. Without perseverance, however, there is no reward for a good work, as the Lord says in the holy Gospel: “He who perseveres to the end will be saved.”

The devil knows how to feign absence for a short time, and to dissemble toward one advancing according to the two aforesaid signs of the Spirit of God, as though he did not know him or feared him. Then, bursting forth from his ambushes, he attacks the unwary devout man, and, casting the wretched man down into the former pit of negligence, wounds him more severely. O evil habits, what a heavy yoke, what unjust and dreadful dominion, and rarely to be ended before death. Let anyone whom a long habit of sin binds fear and tremble. For nothing is more difficult than to conquer an evil habit strengthened over a long time. Hence Solomon says in Proverbs: “A young man according to his way, even when he has grown old, will not depart from it.” Nevertheless, if we do not violently conquer an evil habit, we shall always find it harder and less conquerable.

The fourth sign of the presence of the Spirit of God is rightly added to perseverance in good, because, when the affection has been purified, the mind is enlightened by grace into the knowledge of the divine light. For this is the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which no one understands except the one who receives it; this is the fullness of heavenly doctrine, which excludes both vices and errors from minds. Every chaste lover of the Christian religion who [unclear] this sign of heavenly...

On the recognition of spiritual grace.

If he has received the blessing, he understands, more than before and above others, what the merits of true charity are, and likewise the exercises of piety. The state of the mind is also set in the uprightness of heavenly desire, and is enlightened toward the true knowledge of future blessedness. It has this familiar indication as a sign of attained truth: because the mind, when God enlightens it, begins to understand the loftiest things in the Holy Scriptures and beyond them; and the more it understands, the more deeply it strives to humble itself. For the Holy Spirit joins humility to his gifts; and if humility has been cast away, it is already plainly evident that the Spirit has withdrawn.

The fifth sign of God’s grace is received if the whole mind of a man is resigned to God’s will, if daily it is kindled in love for him through desire, if the conscience, so far as human weakness permits, is preserved in all purity. For the love of God, through the received grace of the Holy Spirit, is at once born in the mind, and is strengthened daily by good works and spiritual exercises; it shudders at sin, detests it, and flees from it, and admits nothing except what is pure, holy, and deifying. Wherever this sign is present, there will be no sin. If sin is present, the sign was not true.

Let those receive the sixth sign of divine prompting who are always growing stronger in soul toward what is better. For the Spirit of God makes the mind of the man whom he inhabits by his grace patient and willing to endure injuries, and renders it most ready to do good. Whoever among you thinks that he is being moved by a divine impulse, whoever thinks that he is walking in the way of uprightness, let him examine his conscience, whether for the love of Christ he becomes daily more ready to endure injuries; whether, that is, he rejoices in tribulation, and whether the devotion of his soul grows more in adversities than in prosperity. But if he finds himself unwilling and impatient in enduring injuries, he easily recognizes how far he is placed from the grace of perfection. For charity, the gift of the Holy Spirit, is patient and kind.

Those receive the seventh indication of spiritual grace who for the love of Christ despise all the consolations of the present life. The soul that has God present within itself through love despises all comforts of the flesh, and longs to come to its Lord through hard and rough ways. It does not love the riches of this world; it rejects passing honors and dignities; it strongly despises the pleasures of the flesh. It meditates always on the law of the Lord, and never forgets the most bitter passion of Jesus Christ. Which of you, brothers, does these things? Who detests all the little consolations of this age? Who thinks of nothing, seeks nothing, desires nothing except the charity of God? Whoever has obtained this sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit, if he perseveres to the end of life, will be saved.

We receive the eighth indication of a good course, and the true sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit, when in all things we humbly conform our will to the divine ordinances. This degree of spiritual progress frees the monk from all cares.

separates him from the world and calls him wholly inward. For his will is subjected to the divine will with the affection of a peaceful mind, and is set far apart from all desires that war against the spirit. Whoever has received this gift of the grace of the Holy Spirit should first give thanks with humility, and should not vainly exalt himself because of the gift; rather, the more he has advanced, the more he should learn to humble himself in all things.

Often, however, a man deserves to lose God’s grace when he neglects to preserve it in the vessel of true humility. Therefore almighty God sometimes withdraws the grace of sensible devotion for a short time from those who are advancing, so that humility may remain in the mind and the fervor of desire to seek further may burn more intensely. But since there are many causes in human beings for which the grace of God is sometimes withdrawn, it was worth the effort to state them in order.

First, then, the grace of God is withdrawn from a man because of sin, when the conscience is stained by the foulness of vices. For our God, as Scripture says, is jealous: either he alone is loved, or he is not loved together with any companion. Therefore, as often as the mind turns back, either upon itself or upon some other thing, with disordered desire, it is estranged and removed from its source, which is God. Hence it deserves to lose the grace it had, because by consenting to sin it was unwilling to keep it inviolate. For this reason the holy apostle of Christ, Paul, exhorts us not to receive the grace of God in vain; and it is indeed received uselessly and in vain when the mind of the recipient is defiled by the filth of vices.

The little vessel into which we receive God’s grace is our conscience. When it is cleansed from vices and adorned with holy virtues, it becomes a worthy dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and produces great progress in us. But if the little vessel of our conscience has been befouled by the corruption of sin, at once the Spirit of God departs with all the gifts of grace. Is not our Lord Jesus Christ the lover and faithful bridegroom of the soul, which he purchased for himself by the shedding of his own blood? With what face, with what rashness, O man, can you despise so great a lover and your savior, and love anything else in this world? God loves you supremely: he is your creator, and by his death he freed you from everlasting destruction. What will you repay him, O mortal man, from whom you have received such great benefits? He asks nothing of you, seeks nothing, demands nothing, except gratitude, love, and charity. Guard the innocence and purity of your conscience, lest you lose the prompting of grace.

The second cause for which grace is withdrawn from a man is called the pride of ingratitude. For God, as Scripture testifies, resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. By the just judgment of God, the grace of the Holy Spirit is lost whenever the one who has it is lifted up into pride. For everyone who humbles himself will be exalted, and whoever exalts himself will be humbled. Hence almighty God again says: Upon whom shall my Spirit rest, if not upon the humble and quiet man, and upon him who trembles at my words?

my brothers? The more each humbles himself in true purity of conscience for Christ’s love, the more fit he will be to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. But whenever the mind is raised up in pride, the spirit of devotion is deservedly taken away, as from an unclean little vessel.

Therefore, my brothers, let no one be proud of the grace of the Holy Spirit which he has received; let no one vainly exalt himself, because, unless we are humble, we shall in no way be able to share in the mercies of the Lord. For, as the sacred lover of Christ, Paul, says: he who thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, deceives himself.

Third, the grace of devotion is withdrawn from a man because of sloth and acedia, when the mind is little exercised in good works. For, as Scripture says, idleness is the enemy of the soul, and everyone who pursues leisure will be in want. For the wise man says: Desires kill the sluggard, for his hands have refused to work at all. Just as fire is extinguished without fuel, so the spirit of devotion, without the continual exercise of charity, fades away and grows thin.

Therefore let no one presume upon his own strength in this life; let no one trust securely in his former way of life, because, so long as someone can become better from worse, he can also become worse from better. For our whole life upon earth is a trial, in which, if we do not advance in good, we fail; and there, as holy Pope Leo says, we fall into the danger of failing where we turn back from the desire to make progress. Therefore flee acedia, and always keep watch in good works. Consider what happened to the slothful servant, who hid in a napkin his master’s money, which he had received for trading. Trade, I beg you, while there is time; as long as you live, always be occupied in good pursuits.

Fourth, the grace of devotion is very often withdrawn from those who, placed under obedience, follow their own will. For the monk who loves his own will most justly loses the grace of God. But he who, for God’s sake, humbly subjects himself in all things to the obedience of his shepherd, who despises the will of his own heart, is filled with various gifts of spiritual grace and enlightened by the light of inward fervor. We can offer nothing more precious or acceptable to God than if, for love of him, we deny our own will. Finally, the very profession of monastic discipline lays upon us, by the necessity of salvation, the duty of despising our own will and humbly submitting to him who has been set over us. Therefore the monk who follows the impulse of his own will is judged as an unclean vessel and unworthy of spiritual grace. Hence the grace of God is deservedly withdrawn from the monk of self-will, who, living otherwise than he promised, lies to the Lord.

Fifth, the grace of devotion is withdrawn from the monk who thinks that he has it by his own merits. He does not understand that sin dwells in him; if he has received anything good, he ascribes it to his own merits. Against this sluggishness of mind the holy prophet said to the Lord: Lord, by your will you gave strength to my beauty.

because it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. You turned your face away from me, and I was troubled. For no one is devout by his own merits; no one is holy by his own powers. Let us recognize that all the causes of the withdrawal of God’s grace which we have mentioned belong to our weakness.

But as regards those who are already walking in the way of perfection, another explanation is given, so long as they persevere. For God’s grace is never withdrawn from them, although the sensible fervor of compunction is sometimes taken away for a time. And let us set out in order the causes of this taking away.

First, Almighty God sometimes withdraws from his lovers for a time the grace of sensible devotion, so that, while he seems not to be present when called upon, the desire of inward love may grow. All who have felt the fire of divine love, and who are true imitators of the holy fathers, know this alternation of holy ardor. For whenever the bridegroom withdraws from the bride, the desire of the lover grows. And while she seeks in burning longing the one whom she loves, she groans from the desire of love.

Second, this grace is withdrawn from the devout for a time lest frailty be lifted up into pride. When we lose the grace of compunction even against our will, we judge, by humble examination, our weakness, which can do nothing of itself. Therefore, in order that the devout worshipers of God may remain humble in their exaltation, they must recognize their own frailty.

The third cause concerns merit: because to seek inward consolations belongs not to the strong, but to the weak. The Lord must be served freely, because he is good; but those who seek sensible sweetness in their devotion are too delicate, and seek the Lord Jesus for little consolations. The Lord must be loved manfully, and all womanish and soft affections must be driven far from the soul. Therefore, so that the Lord may increase merit for his worshipers in holy compunction, he sometimes denies them, when they ask, the grace of sensible devotion. But lest, affected by the bitterness of weariness, they grow wholly sluggish in their purpose of holiness, the consoler of the sorrowful does not withdraw far, but remains nearby. He suddenly returns to his friend; and the one whom he had seemed for a time to leave in sadness, he consoles with the sweetness of his spiritual presence.

We join to these a fourth cause, by which we are warned to walk more cautiously. For if we fear losing the grace of compunction, let us learn to guard more diligently what we have received. For a rare and precious treasure, the more it is loved, the more diligently it is guarded by its possessor. Therefore the monk who has deserved to receive from the Lord the grace of devotion must keep watch with the utmost care, lest he lose it through his own negligence.

And so that you may know how you ought to preserve the granted grace of compunction, lest it perish, the order of what is to be said makes it clear to you. First, he who does not wish to lose the grace of inward compunction granted to him strives, as far as he can, to keep himself clean and pure from every sin. Let him beware not only of mortal and dreadful crimes, but also of small sins, which are called venial, because, 222 On knowledge of spiritual grace.

He who despises the smallest things gradually falls away; and he who does not beware of many small things often, by habit, makes one great thing. The second caution necessary for the preservation of grace is said to be this: that all boasting be avoided. If you have merited to receive from the Lord the gift of compunction, strive, as far as lies in you, to hide it humbly. For the grace of the Holy Spirit flees publicity and detests every heart proud with boasting. For, as blessed Gregory says, he desires to be robbed who carries his treasure in public.

Third, if you do not wish to lose the grace of inward compunction, strive to love the quiet of solitude. For divine Scripture says: Upon whom shall my spirit rest, if not upon the humble and quiet? And again it says elsewhere: In silence and in hope shall your strength be. For the grace of inward compunction is quickly lost when the secrecy of solitude is not loved. Let the monk, therefore, learn gladly to remain with himself in his cell, if he wishes to possess the grace of God.

Fourth, one must take the greatest care not to despise in one’s heart any person, however evil; for the grace of compunction is withdrawn by the just judgment of God whenever one does not beware of rash judgment of one’s neighbor. For the Lord says in the holy Gospel: Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.

Fifth, the monk who does not wish to lose the grace of inward devotion should strive to exercise himself in the practice of all the virtues. Let him always keep watch in the fear of the Lord, always occupy himself in the exercise of divine love; let him be constantly diligent in good works, and, as far as he is able, devoted at all times to the memory of the Lord’s Passion. For intent meditation on Christ’s Passion strengthens a person against all vices and preserves the grace of compunction.

Sixth, be constant in holy prayers, because he who interrupts the practice of prayer is not able to guard the grace of compunction. For the Savior says in the holy Gospel: Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. The help of the Lord is near to those who call upon him; but he who neglects to pray loses grace.

But if you have lost the grace of devotion in any way, you will quickly recover it by the following six remedies. First, consider that without the grace of God you cannot make progress toward salvation, but that in all the good things you are about to do you have the greatest need of his mercy. Recognize, therefore, that you are unworthy of the grace of God for doing good; but although you know yourself unworthy because of the multitude of your sins, nevertheless call upon him, because he is near; and see that all the time granted to you as free from the common exercises of the brothers is spent usefully and fruitfully. The grace of God is necessary for you in doing good; it is acquired by the breadth of charity, guarded by humility, and recovered by the practice of saving repentance. The Lord is with you as long as you are with him in good will. But in order that you may be able to recover the lost grace of devotion, you must submit yourself to God in true humility.

Second, for the recovery of grace...

Sermon VI.

For the recovery of lost compunction it seems necessary that you in no way lift yourself up against the Lord, but conform your will in all things to the divine ordinance. “That his will be done,” we say in the Lord’s Prayer; it is fitting that in mind and in the affection of the will we should always freely agree with that very prayer.

Third, whoever desires to recover the lost grace of devotion must firmly despise every pleasure of this world for the love of God. For it cannot happen that one should receive the spirit of inward compunction while he opens the dwelling-place of his heart to earthly joys and pleasures. Therefore you must cast away every consolation of the present life, if you desire to have the spirit of divine love with its gifts.

Fourth, you are commanded to withdraw yourself perpetually from the vain cares and occupations of this world, and to occupy your mind delightfully at all times in the service of God. For, as the Lord says, no one can serve God and mammon; but whoever desires to serve the Lord in truth of heart must despise all the occupations of the world.

Fifth, we advise you to remember always to occupy your heart in meditation on the passion of Christ, since there is no shorter way to recover the grace of compunction, nor any manner of prayer more effective for obtaining from the Lord whatever we ask.

Sixth, you should strive daily to cleanse your conscience through true penitence; and whenever you have fallen into any fault, immediately come to your senses again through contrition. If you take care to observe these things with a good will, by God’s mercy you will recover the lost grace of compunction.

On the Nine Steps of Ascent. Sermon VII.

We describe for you, dearly beloved brothers, a ladder of nine steps, by which the human spirit ascends into heaven. And although one step is higher than another, nevertheless all of them, each and every one, direct us toward the kingdom of God, and they distinguish the merits of those ascending according to their merits. Therefore attend diligently to what we are about to say, and consider how much you have advanced in spiritual progress.

All, as many as have reached the kingdom of God, have ascended by the steps of this ladder. And the more anyone has advanced in the love of God, the higher he has already ascended. The first step is nearest to hell, and farther removed from the height of the heavenly fatherland. For people placed on it begin to withdraw from vices and to make progress in the fear of God; neglecting venial sins, they withdraw from mortal ones. Their minds, indeed, longing for the practice of virtues, flee the more serious sins; but, weighed down by the weakness of evil habit, they pay no heed to the smallest ones. Hence they more often fall through frailty into the pit of mortal sin, because they have not guarded against venial sins as occasions of graver ones. For no sin is so small that it does not become greater when neglected. For even if we cannot wholly guard against venial sins, nevertheless with all our strength we must strive that they not multiply in [unclear].

224 On the nine degrees of ascent.

We must attend to ourselves. But those who, by the Lord’s mercy, daily make progress toward better things in this degree fall into sin more rarely. Yet whenever they have fallen, so often do they rise again through repentance. Still, their state is close to danger, because just as a garment often torn is at last rendered useless, so a person who slips by sinning more frequently is often smothered by evil habit. Yet if any from this degree depart this life in the Lord’s mercies, they will be saved, but not without the very grievous pains of purgatory. We must therefore hasten to higher things, so that not only mortal sins but also venial sins may be avoided as far as our strength allows.

Those are believed to ascend the second degree who strive, as much as they can, to avoid venial sins as well as mortal crimes; but because of too much commerce with the body’s weakness, they do not persevere in their purpose, but frequently fall into the various negligences of this life, although they do not commit mortal sins. We, the lukewarm, trust that we have in some measure ascended this degree, who, being placed under the observance of regular discipline, guard our minds, with the Lord’s help, from the more serious sins. But because we are exceedingly lukewarm, we live very negligently and are slow to perform the exercises of holy virtues.

There are many placed in the region of this second degree whom servile fear possesses; and if this fear stands alone, it by no means draws near to the kingdom of God. For to obtain the glory of heavenly blessedness, servile fear without charity is not enough, since he is a servant who does not sin from fear of punishment, but a son does no evil from love of God. Yet it is good to begin from servile fear, so that a person may gradually be able to arrive at filial fear, which is called chaste. For even if withdrawing from evil through fear of punishments is by no means enough to obtain the kingdom of God, still it prepares the one who acts for filial fear. Hence the lowest degree of those making progress is not to offend through fear of punishment, and not to sin lest one be condemned forever.

For charity alone, discerning the merits of all, is admitted as fit to enter the kingdom of God; and whatever has been done outside it is judged unworthy of God’s kingdom. Therefore, whoever you are who have deserved to ascend to this second degree, whoever you are who have learned not to sin through fear of punishments, if you wish to reach the joy of eternal blessedness, take care to hasten as quickly as possible to higher things. But since, as the proverb bears witness, no one suddenly becomes highest, we shall indeed rightly allow you to begin from the lower things; but we judge it dangerous to stand long in the valley of darkness. Ascend, therefore, as much as you can each day, and do not persist with the beasts in the dung of stinking deeds, because if you do not advance, you fall back; if you do not ascend, you descend.

The third degree is attained by those who, persevering in a good purpose, keep themselves from every mortal sin and also withdraw from venial sins as far as their strength allows. They love purity of conscience, and in no way commit anything that could stain it. Yet in one respect they are lower than those who follow, because they do not simply act for the love of God.

Those who withdraw from evil do good, but for this reason: because they trust that they will receive the kingdom of God for their merits. Those who serve God for the sake of reward are not in the state of perfection, but, together with the weak, still stand far from the summit of holiness in lower things. Whoever truly loves God with a pure mind serves and waits upon him neither from fear of punishments nor with a view to reward, but only from love of him. And therefore all the degrees set forth above are proposed to beginners, so that, ascending gradually through them, they may at last be joined to the perfect.

It is good to withdraw from evil through fear of punishments; it is good to do good from love of reward; and although this is by no means sufficient for perfection, nevertheless it provides a beginning and a way of advancing for those who desire to make progress. For servile fear, if continued, begets filial and chaste fear; from its spring perfect charity flows forth. But after charity has once kindled the mind, it thereafter casts out every servile fear and dread.

The fourth degree strives to show the way of perfection to those ascending, and therefore it is rightly judged greater than those previously described. Whatever good is not seen in them is possessed more perfectly in this one. For those who ascend this fourth degree guard themselves with all zeal not only from mortal sins but also from venial sins, as far as is possible for them; they apply themselves most diligently to good and holy works, and above all desire to please God. In one respect they surpass those who came before: they turn aside from evil neither from fear of punishments, nor do they perform good from hope of reward, but they do all things for the love of God alone, and seek nothing other than the honor of God.

This is the way proposed to those striving toward perfection; this is the true rule of holy justice: that we love God with a pure mind above all things, and do all our works for his honor. For the true lover of God neither fears punishment nor thinks of reward, but, walking in largeness of heart, commends his will to the divine ordering. For God, because he is supremely good, is to be loved not for the reward of the heavenly kingdom, nor for anything else, but for his own sake; and in every good work he must always be held principally in one’s intention.

Hasten, my dearest brothers, to ascend this degree of the spiritual ladder as quickly as possible, so that you may one day be able to reach the summit of perfection. For if you, who have been placed under the obedience of monastic perfection, have advanced to this fourth degree, you will then ascend the fifth without difficulty. For those who are placed in the fourth degree do the good works of justice by their own will, because they have not submitted themselves by vow or profession to monastic constitutions. And in this one respect they are inferior to those who follow: because a good work is so much the more acceptable to God, the more it is commended by the merit of obedience.

Therefore those ascend the fifth degree who guard themselves with all their strength from sins and, placed under obedience, always strong and steadfast, persevere in the purpose of holiness. They love God with a pure mind above all things.

For love of him they chiefly do good works, and in their intention they neither fear punishments nor seek rewards. They humbly obey their prelates for love of God, and in no respect at all do they depart from the purity of regular observance. Among these there are some whom the weakness of the flesh sometimes makes unstable in mind, and somewhat obstinate in their opinions against obedience. They sometimes try to defend their exercises and private little observances against the determination of their prelates, and think themselves more prudent than their rulers in the examination of spiritual matters. Flee this, O monks, because the devil lies hidden in ambush; and those whom he cannot conquer by open attack he strives to overcome by hidden contrivance. For the holier and more perfect a monk is before God, the more readily will he obey his prelate without debate. But if a perfect monk disdains to obey his abbot, even an imperfect one, in lawful and honorable matters, he has certainly already lost the name of perfection. Therefore let each one take care to devote himself to the pursuit of progress in such a way that he presumes in nothing to violate obedience. For Scripture says: Obedience is better than sacrifices, and hearkening more than offering the fat of rams. Whatever you offer is something external; but the truly obedient man offers himself.

The sixth degree, then, especially befits those who, living in all purity of mind and body, love the Lord above all things; who do every good they can for the honor of God alone; and who do not depart from the commands of their prelates. Great is the virtue of obedience, which doubles a holy good work, and, increasing merit for the worker, presents him to God like trees with fruit. Let not the words of men who despise obedience move you, my dearest brothers, men who prefer freedom of will to the subjection of monks, and set a good work done from freedom above the merits of obedience. For even if a monk obeys from the necessity of his profession, nevertheless the good will by which he bound himself to obedience for love of God commends this necessity in many ways.

There is, however, a necessity by which a man is compelled to do something where the will has not consented but always resists. This necessity lessens the praise of virtue, because the good work was never in the will. There is also another necessity, arising from the inward inclination of the mind, which increases, not lessens, the praise of the good work, because it kindles the will more intensely toward that very work. There is a third necessity, which has regard to the end and does not compel the will. For if you wish to cross the Rhine by boat, a fitting necessity requires the instrument. But the necessity by which a monk is compelled to obey his shepherd is not the first, of coercion, nor the second, of inclination, but rather the third, because it is ordered to the end from a preceding will. Therefore it is necessary for a monk, on account of the end, to do what the abbot has commanded, so that he may be able to fulfill, for love of God, the vow that he has made. Since, then, this end is very much praiseworthy, by which the creature subjects itself to its Creator out of love, the necessity of obedience in a monk does not lessen the praise of a good work, but makes it greater. O happy necessity of monks, which took its beginning from the treasure of a good will and is ordered toward the end that is God, the unchangeable good. It is of greater praise, more excellent merit, and more abundant reward to do a good work out of obedience by reason of a vow than if it were done without a vow from the freedom of one’s own will.

The monk, moreover, once offered his whole self and all his will to God, and reserved absolutely nothing for himself. Whatever good he does under obedience is referred back to the end of the religious life he has undertaken, to be preserved for the love of Christ; and no work after martyrdom is comparable to this. One who is continent from sexual activity without a vow practices one virtue, which is called chastity; but one who observes it by reason of a vow walks on a higher path, since the individual virtues are ordered toward the perfection of the whole religious life that he has professed. For the whole monastic religious life is more than one private virtue.

For one who offers God a good work that he has done without obedience gives that alone, leaving to himself what is greater: the power of acting, and at the same time his own will. But the monk who does something for God from the vow of obedience has more excellent merit, since he offers God both the act and the power of acting. For no one has offered more to God than the monk who has given himself.

Some who climb this sixth step, however, have hidden within themselves a certain defect of pride, because, while they look incautiously to themselves, they do not entrust themselves in all things to the divine will as they ought. This defect takes its beginning from a certain very subtle vanity, when the soul, trusting in its own purity, asks that something secret be revealed to it by the Lord. And in this one respect the climbers of the sixth rung differ from those of the seventh: those who are bound to God flee the signs of vanity. For signs have been given not to believers, but to unbelievers; hence the monk who asks the Lord for a sign shows that he has not yet perfectly submitted himself to the divine will.

Those ascend the seventh step who most zealously keep all that has been prescribed, and live subject to God in all things without the stain of vanity. They flee every sin, both venial and mortal, as far as they can; they perform the works of virtue for the love of God alone; they obey their pastors in all things; they seek no miracles of vanity. Whatever almighty God has ordained concerning them, they receive gladly; they do not in any respect at all depart from the observance of monastic purity. Yet in one thing they are lower than those who follow, because perhaps they suffer some defect of which they are unaware, by the impulse of which they sometimes commit something of their own sensuality.

Whoever has deserved to ascend the eighth step grants nothing further to sensuality. Here is the sweetest rest of the soul; here is perfect tranquility of mind. Nothing flawed in beauty is left in this step; nothing is here that can sadden the soul.

228 On the nine degrees of ascent.

It is found there. Here all things are clean, all things pure, all things holy, all things most sweetly burning with the fervor of charity. Oh, if only we would strive to ascend to this degree! Oh, if only we might someday deserve to reach this harbor of tranquility! The more one, standing in this holy region, has begun to taste the sweetness of inward delight, the more, hastening toward what lies ahead, he desires still further.

Oh desires of holy love, always to be proclaimed; oh exercises of venerable perfection, where the clean conscience of one who loves God shines without sins, where the wicked contests of vices have ceased, and great tranquility has succeeded them.

Those already perfected in the eighth degree ascend to the ninth, who keep all the things prescribed purely and simply for the love of God, and desire nothing other than to praise, bless, and glorify God. Whoever has ascended this degree of perfection, as though forgetful of himself, resigns himself wholly to God and humbly submits. He regards himself as unworthy of all God’s benefits; he has no care at all for himself, because he has already learned to entrust himself wholly to God and humbly to be subject in all things to his ordering. Hence he neither asks for miracles nor seeks any other consolations in this life, but with the holy Apostle of Christ truly cries out: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” “For the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

For the true monk who loves Christ has offered himself wholly to God out of charity, and has despised the world with all its riches, honors, and vanities. Hence the world is said to be crucified to him, since there is nothing in it that seems able to penetrate his mind. Happy are those monks who with pure conscience serve the Lord God in true charity; who run without offense under the rule of humility and obedience; who ascend this last degree of perfection. These are true monks, who seek nothing other than the honor of God.

Indeed, my brothers, although monks are not bound by necessity of salvation to be perfect, for otherwise very few would be saved, yet we are all bound with good will to strive toward perfection, and with all the strength we can to yearn for this ninth degree. For it is very contrary to the monastic profession to be unwilling to make progress; it is a kind of apostasy, after a vow of perfection, to wish to remain in imperfection. For the vices that attack us are enemies of our salvation, and until they either conquer or are conquered, they do not cease to persecute us. Let us imitate the history of the ancient battle, when the children of promise destroyed their enemies not in one day, but successively. For it is difficult to conquer all things at once, unless the charity of God has suddenly overshadowed the mind. Against all the vices that in any way attack us, let us wage war. Let us conquer gluttony today; when it has been duly laid low, let us overcome sloth; and let us deal so with the rest, that at last we may come forth victors over them all. The Lord will be with us as we fight, and God will give victory to those who love him. Amen.

THE END.

JOHANNES TRITHEMIUS, ABBOT OF SPONHEIM, OF THE ORDER OF SAINT BENEDICT OF THE BURSZFELD OBSERVANCE A MOURNFUL BOOK ON THE STATE AND RUIN OF THE MONASTIC ORDER IN THE PARTS OF GERMANY, NO LESS USEFUL THAN PLEASING TO ALL RELIGIOUS AND DEVOUT MEN To the venerable and most beloved Father and Lord Blasius, Abbot of the monastery of Hirsau, Brother Johannes, called Abbot of Sponheim, sends greeting and charity.

Although your request far exceeds the powers of my talent, and that of your brothers, most beloved Father, I have nevertheless preferred to undertake the arduous burden rather than fail to satisfy your charity as far as I can. For the love of God, zeal for the Order, and fervor for discipline make you worthy that I should deny you nothing when you ask for the honor of God. You asked me when I was present by word of mouth, and more often when I was absent by letters, and in a certain manner you compelled me by the authority of your presidency, to write you something concerning the calamity of our Order, so that you might stir up the fathers to be assembled with you in chapter to have compassion on it. The request is holy, but the difficulty of obeying is great.

I shall be torn by the teeth of the envious. I know that some will judge me either presumptuous or excessive; but with my ears stopped I shall pass securely by their reproaches, provided that the burden I bear is pleasing to holy and learned men. I do not remember having written anything that rivals can justly tear apart, but things true, manifest, and open to the eyes of all; and if they do not wish these things to be written, let them also grieve that they have been done. In this publication alone charm of speech will be lacking; on that point I do not fear being reproved among religious men. For what? Is truth therefore despised because it is not clothed with the ornament of eloquence? Far be it. For plain and true speech is better than adorned and false speech. But these things are nothing to the point.

I therefore submit this little treatise to your examination, so that, if you judge it worthy, it may be read to the brothers; but if unworthy, it may escape the eyes of the lords. Farewell. In the year of the Lord 1493, on the Kalends of May.

The Pentichus Book of Lord Johannes of Spanheim, Abbot On the ruin of the Order of our most holy father Benedict in the regions of Germany.

Chapter 1 When I recall to mind the former beauty of our Order, I grieve deeply over the deformity that we now endure, so that I would rather shed tears than compose a lamenting discourse. For who would not weep over its ruin, if he weighed its ancient glory? O, if we were ever to call back to memory the golden ages once possessed by this most sacred Order, when like a river of paradise it watered the whole Church throughout the world with doctrine and holiness, we would easily perceive how little its present state is.

Indeed our observance, which we call regular, when compared with the institutions of the ancients, is found not only lesser, but also in many respects more lax. How has the gold been darkened, the finest color changed? The splendor of surpassing holiness, once shining bright, has been obscured by desire for earthly things. The rule of honor has yielded to the enticements of pleasures. Therefore let my eyes pour forth tears day and night, and let them not be silent, because the religion of my people has been crushed with a great crushing, with a very grievous wound. If I go out into the fields, behold the idle and vain; if I enter the monasteries, behold those thinned and weakened by pleasures. For I find many professing the rule of Father Benedict; I see few walking according to his tradition.

“You have multiplied the nation,” says the prophet to the Lord, “but you have not increased the joy”; because, while the holy exercises of monks fail in many, corrupt hearts do not admit the true joy that is born of virtue. Would that we might awake, even late at last, after the destruction of so many souls, which, having despised the yoke of regular observance, have descended into the abyss of damnation. Would that we might fear the sentence of Benedict our lawgiver, who so often strikes the madness of a harsh abbot by summoning him to render account to God.

To you now, therefore, most reverend Fathers, my speech must be directed, you who receive the power to compel rebellious men to discipline, you who have zeal for our Order according to knowledge. Thus I address you; to you I shall try, according to my strength, to persuade that you come to the aid of an Order close to falling.

The Pentichus Book of Johannes Trithemius.

...which I earnestly exhort you to do: Attend, fathers, to the miserable state of our religion, and, so far as you are able, come to the aid of its calamity, if you desire it to endure to the end. You know well the wickedness of many who strive to sever themselves from it so that they may escape the discipline of the order. Their rashness must be firmly opposed, lest the unpunished malice of a few give many boldness to offend; for the wickedness of a few always grows when it is deferred.

Although public reputation ought not to be corrupted by one man’s evil, nevertheless the unskilled crowd blames all for the offense of a few. Therefore superiors who do not punish the bad, who by their deformity cloud the reputation of the good, strengthen them. It belongs to you, then, fathers, to correct deformed monks as far as you can. It is the duty of your office to preserve the order in its vigor. And because a fool is not corrected by speech, whatever our hierophant can do against the incorrigible, as it were in monastic fashion, should generally be brought to bear upon these men [unclear].

Rise now, fathers, for it is time. Arm yourselves with zeal for regular discipline. Defend, I beg you, the inheritance of holy Father Benedict. Drive out the proud; correct the rebellious; rebuke the hard; fight bravely for the preservation of our order. Arm yourselves with the armor of God and with love of the order, about to fight not so much by your own labors as by the help of Christ. His grace will provide you help, if in purity of heart you pour out diligent prayers to him.

Why, then, do you dissemble? Why do you not defend the portion of Saint Benedict? How long will the efforts of the wicked prevail against the holy order? Truly, fathers, truly, the great necessity of our order demands a swift remedy. Consider the conduct of irregular abbots and monks, and weigh how unjustly they kick against the discipline of the order. Apart from the habit, and that itself disordered in many, they show nothing of honesty or religion. But reserving these matters for their proper places, let us hasten to what we intended.

On the Most Holy Primitive State of Our Order. Chapter II.

Whether I shall be doing something pleasing to all if I commend in a few words the former state of our order, I somewhat doubt, since I may perhaps be judged, by praising the old monks, to have paid too little honor to those of our own time. For there are some who either think themselves the best of monks, or dare to compare themselves with those best fathers who went before us.

However they measure themselves, let them not be angry with me if I do not dare to equate our observance with that of the ancients. For if we contemplate their life with a right light, we shall scarcely be able to compare the best man among us with a good monk of that time. For their holy way of life, radiant with virtues, approved by signs, and illustrious with learning in all the Scriptures, won favor with God and men. Hearing the Lord’s voice, “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up...”

his cross daily, and follow me. Having despised the world, they flew to the monasteries, and, placing their necks beneath the yoke of the Rule, they humbly received the norm of obedience. Loving God with their whole heart, they sought nothing worldly in this life; but, scorning all passing things and being proved in the furnace of poverty, they happily reached the heavenly kingdom.

They were mature, zealous, and most learned men, firm in faith, strong in hope, radiant with twofold charity, pure in mind, outstanding in devotion, and adorned with the beauty of every virtue. They had no care for earthly things; no enticement of pleasures was in them; but, turned toward God with all their strength, they overcame the world with its vanities. Hence the kings and princes of this age, devout men and dear to God, because of the most holy way of life of the monks, became lovers of the order and magnificently exalted it with gifts and largess.

They rejoiced that in their times the holy pursuits of the monks were being spread abroad and extended with glory to the farthest regions of the world. For the more the holy monks loved God, the more they were loved by men; and the less they sought earthly things, the more they abounded in the necessities of the body, by God’s providence. For to those who love God, the whole world is riches.

O how fair was the face of your youth, holy religion of Benedict; how beautiful your appearance; how adorned with the splendor of all virtues your majesty. Who could suffice to weigh your worth duly? You show the way of three days to the people of God, freed from the servitude of Pharaoh in the desert, when you persuade men, snatched from the darkness of the world, to come for the love of God to the desert of cenobitic life through the three substantial vows of religion. Blessed are your professed members, who, departing from the Egypt of this age, long with all their desires for the land of eternal promise by this way of three days.

This is the threefold cord of holy religion, which is not easily broken, which is adorned with the brightness of obedience, chastity, and poverty; which calls back its lovers to the heavenly homeland; which presents its worshipers joyful to the supreme Emperor, Christ Jesus. For even if many things are necessary for regular observance, I would nevertheless dare to say that whoever has kept these three things inviolate stands secure in the order, like a threefold cord. For all the statutes of the order were made for the preservation of these substantial things.

The holy monks of old, carefully considering this, observed most zealously this way of the three substantial things. Poor in spirit through contempt for all worldly things, continent through chastity of mind and body, obedient through humble subjection, and rich in every virtue, they shone forth most beloved in learning and holiness, and both by word and by example converted many from wickedness to righteousness. Hence, as their merits increased, many of them were promoted to the government of churches; and the higher they were placed, the more illustrious they became known in virtues. But what church would not desire a priest from the order of Bene of those mentioned? What people devoted to the Christian name would not desire a teacher from the company of monks? For through many years in the order of the holy Father Benedict there shone men most excellent in every learning and in holiness, as almost all who have written the histories of the ancients testify. And in truth, to speak without envy, the holy religion of Benedict easily surpasses all orders, if you choose to consider its dignity, its wide dominion in the world, its men distinguished in learning and holiness, and finally their multitude. For this venerable planting brought forth eighteen supreme pontiffs, more than two hundred cardinals, sixteen hundred archbishops, and three thousand five hundred bishops. But if anyone calls this total of illustrious prelates into doubt as excessive, let him turn over the chronicles and deeds of the ancients, and he will find that only a few have been designated out of many.

Yet let no one think that the order’s former splendor should be measured from its present state, since there is no fair comparison between our men and those men of old, for in our times monks do not shine, as once they did, either in knowledge of the Scriptures or in holiness of conduct. Perhaps even now you will find devout monks, though few, but simple men, unlearned, and without any training in the liberal arts. But for the government of souls in this age devotion is not enough, if knowledge of the Scriptures is lacking. But if our monks are neither devout nor learned, they are rightly judged unworthy of the government of churches. Many, indeed, walk well as subjects, who, if they were raised to the governance of others, would never continue in the tranquility of their former life. And, to say briefly what I think, neither are churches worthy of monks, nor monks of churches at this time. The cause, however, is not hidden from the prudent, and in due time hereafter it will be brought to light. Now, if it is pleasing, let us inquire briefly what the present state of our order is like.

On the Present Lamentable State of Our Order. Chapter III.

My eyes have failed from weeping; my inward parts are troubled; my liver is poured out upon the earth over the destruction of my order, because the humble little one has failed in it, because, cast down without honor, it lies open to the hands of the enemy. Let no one despise me as I mourn; let no one accuse my grief. I do not seek earthly honors; I do not covet ecclesiastical dignities. Rather, I groan that learning and holiness have failed from my order. What have we to do with empty honors, we who seek life in heaven? Alas, the crown of our head has fallen; monastic devotion has grown lukewarm; charity has grown cold; the honorable discipline of the Rule has for the most part failed. Where now in our order is that most holy devotion, once rich in most learned men? Where is the venerable learning in every variety of Scripture? Where is the abbots’ solicitude for the care of the Lord’s flock?

We see many monasteries founded under the Rule of Saint Benedict in which, apart from the name and the habit, we see no trace of regular discipline. Over this, O fathers, take up a lament; bewail the ruin of our most sacred order, if perhaps God may turn to pardon and leave a blessing behind him. And you transgressors, who are the cause of these tears, return, even late at last, to your heart; return, and fear the indignation of Benedict, your lawgiver. Consider the desolation of the order which you are bringing in to your own harm; fear the wrath of the Almighty, which you provoke by your crimes.

Woe to us: the city of our religion is being destroyed by enemies all around us; the houses of discipline are being reduced to nothing, and no one is found to resist; no one to set himself as a wall before the house of God. We all seek what is our own; we all ignore the common need of the order, until little by little we too fail. Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to outsiders. Monasteries consecrated as dwellings for monks are now becoming stables for clerics and fortresses for fighting soldiers.

O what shall I say? I am ashamed to utter what men without conscience are not ashamed to perpetrate in the cloisters of monks. They disturb the solitude of religious men; they change houses of prayer into dwellings of merchants. I suffer with your calamities, O venerable religion of Benedict; I groan that you are exposed to plunder by every passerby. There is none to console you among all your dear ones, because those who could help you will not, and those who wish to come to your aid cannot.

O with what beautiful grace you once flourished in the Church of God, when you bore men distinguished in every holiness and learning, and, like one young, strong, and steadfast, you used to drive away from yourself every dishonorable way of life. But now, as if worn out by old age and the long oppression of days, you have failed, and the strength of your youth has been taken away, because your might is no longer in you. Where now is your zeal? Where is the beauty of your face? Where is your honor? Where is the power once widely spread throughout the whole world? Where is that zeal for letters, venerable to God and the angels, whose fervor once made you exalted above all orders? Where are your sons around your table, learned and most holy men? All have failed, and you have been brought almost to nothing. You have lost the beauty of your youth, and the strength of your adolescence has been scattered.

To whom shall I compare you, or to whom shall I liken you, O separated daughter? To whom shall I make you equal, and how shall I comfort you, mother of monks? Great as the sea is your ruin. Who will heal you? O if you had guarded against this ruin which you now experience, how blessed all nations would call you. But you said in your abundance, “I shall never be moved.” Plenty has made you poor, and the abundance of temporal things has stripped you of all your adornment. You have borne insolent sons, disobedient, rebellious against holy institutions; hiding beneath the cloak of your honor, they have stripped you of all your beauty. Alas.

mother and virgin, you have grown old in a foreign land; you have been numbered with the dead; there is no beauty in your comeliness. Rise now, Benedict, most holy prince of monks, and see your order, which you established, and your inheritance, which you planted. Look upon the monks who have forgotten your profession, sunk in earthly things, given over to pleasure, full of every spring of vices. You once gave them the best precepts for living; you commanded them to be strangers to the cares of worldly business; you ordered their hearts to be stretched out toward the love of God alone. Rise, I say, most blessed Father, and see the desolation of your order, because within it is confounded by its own sons, and without it is scattered by enemies. The monks despise the institutions of your piety; strangers seize the monasteries of your order. There is no one to defend the honor of your name; there is no one to protect the beauty of your most holy order.

Awake also, great Pope Gregory, you who under anathema forbade places sacred to God for monks to be transferred to the uses of secular men, and see monks driven from their monasteries and worldly clerics thrust in. You, once prince of all the churches, used to apply the greatest care to monastic honor, guarding with immense solicitude lest anything be presumed in the sacred order against the Rule of Benedict. Behold now, most reverend prelate, the conduct of monks, bare of every honor, full of every shame. See how the monasteries of your order, dedicated to God, are handed over into the hands of clerics, and those places which once could be compared to angelic choirs now become brothels of harlots.

Awake, most glorious of emperors and unconquered defender of the Christian faith, Charles, glory of the Germans, and see the calamity of the monks. You once made the order of Father Benedict glorious, and through your zeal spread it through almost the whole world. See now how the monasteries which you once founded are all exposed to the plundering of enemies. You once venerated the monastic order as the camp of God; now, holy prince, behold it as though despised by all, stripped of its goods, [unclear]. You once used with immense care to bring back abbots and monks grown lukewarm to the observance of regular discipline, and, once reformed, to defend them with great solicitude from every molestation by your own men or by any others.

Rise also, Berno, abbot of the monastery of Cluny, with your successors, you who in ancient times magnificently restored the holy order when it was collapsing and brought it back to its former beauty throughout the whole world. Rise, I say, now, and see how the iniquity of monks abounds, fury rules, crime overflows, and pleasure makes almost all men mad. The beauty of your reform has been taken away; discipline has collapsed; honor has fled; zeal for holy conduct has perished; humility has breathed its last.

Awake, William, abbot of the monastery of Hirsau, most reverend Father, you who after its fall restored the Cluniac renewal in Germany; you who provided abundant institutions for monastic conduct; you who by your prayers you strengthened the limbs of the weak; you who illuminated the German nation, in learning and holiness, like a most brilliant star. Rise up, you also, most excellent Fathers, authors of various reforms, and see that your labors have now perished, your constitutions are neglected, your exhortations spurned, the protests of your solicitude despised. You made the monastic order glorious in life and learning, beloved by God, venerable to the angels, holy to yourselves, reverenced by men.

Where now are those merits? Where now are those works of the just? Alas, venerable mother Religion, to what great calamity have you come! Those who once glorified you now despise you; those who honored you now hold you in contempt. You have abandoned the commandments of your lawgiver; you have cast aside the study of the Scriptures; therefore you have become contemptible. The sons whom you bore have done this evil to you.

For soon, when monks began to savor earthly things, to neglect sacred reading, to set inward things after outward, your excellent color was changed into foulness. But what then? He who falls often sets himself to rise again; but you, once fallen, have never wholly risen. What did the Cluniac reform do? What the Specuensian? What the Italensian? What the Castellensian? What the Melicensian? What, most recently, the Bursfeldensian? And if there were any other reforms besides these, what could they do for the whole order, spread throughout the entire world? For even if the Cluniac reform poured out the light of its honorableness in all the provinces of the world, nevertheless it left many monasteries in various kingdoms in their former deformity. For from that time when our religion first fell, there has never been any general reform.

O how easy is the descent to Avernus; how ready the will to offend; how very great, after a fall, the difficulty of rising again to righteousness! All, so to speak, have fallen; few have risen from their deformity; many are rotting away in their pleasures.

I grieve over you, O flower of monastic beauty; I grieve, and indeed vehemently. And if I cannot aid you otherwise, I pour out hot and most bitter tears for your contrition. But you also, most honored Fathers, who love the honor of your order, who grieve over the contrition of our mystical Joseph, who desire to come to the eternal inheritance, attend to the state of our religion, inspect its desolation, think upon a remedy.

Behold, all around, wealthy monasteries are snatched from the hands of Saint Benedict; behold, the cloisters of monks become dwellings of clerics, and from evil pursuits monks are transferred to the worst. You err, O prudence of the world; you are deceived, power of the age: never will you be able to make a good canon out of a bad monk.

But you also, transgressors, take heed; apostates of the order, listen. What madness drives you to destroy monasteries for Saint Benedict which you did not build? Or do you think yourselves free from damnation if, having cast off the monastic habit, you sin as clerics? Will the presumptuous license of sinning save you in the strict examination? Perhaps in another habit you will be unknown to the demons? We shall see whether God trans approve your transfer, when in that dreadful judgment you are required to render an account of your transgression. I fear, however, that, living now without order, you will receive a place among those where no order, but everlasting horror, dwells. For what other dwelling a man is to receive who, from a bad monk, has become a worse canon, I do not sufficiently understand.

O senseless men, enemies to yourselves, who will teach you to flee from the wrath to come? Who will be able, or will dare, to defend your wicked cause against Saint Benedict in that dreadful examination? Whom will your rashness have as advocate? Saint Benedict, prince of monks, will stand as witness against you; he will accuse you and condemn you. Who will excuse you? Do not flatter yourself, wicked despiser of your regular vow; do not soothe your conscience. If you have Benedict as your adversary, you will find none of the saints your friend. For he who offends one citizen of the heavenly country offends them all. For where there is supreme and blessed tranquility, there too there will be an indivisible unity of minds. Who, then, will be able to deliver you from the hand of the Lord, if all the saints stand against you?

Call upon those who now deceive you, who take from you the habit of the order, who lead you away with flattering speeches, who exist as accomplices of your apostasy, so that they may defend you from the tribulation that is at hand. But if the just man will scarcely be saved, where will the apostate and the destroyer of a holy order appear? On that day the justice of a saint will not deliver the impious man; nor will one wretch bring help to another. Rather, those whom you now win over to yourself with gifts and presents as collaborators in so great a presumption, you will then have as witnesses and companions of your unhappiness. There will be no defender of a depraved action there, no advocate of iniquity; for there all things will be bare. There, each person’s accusing conscience will be enough for his damnation. There the army of saints will stand against those who have wickedly profaned the dwellings of monks, who have impiously destroyed the order of the divine fathers.

But the authors of these things, which I seem to myself to have called wicked unjustly, try to excuse their deed in this way, saying: The improper way of life of monks, driving monasteries into extreme poverty, cannot be corrected and amended unless it is transferred into another state, on account of many reasons which they invent for themselves; reasons which, God granting, we shall also show in what follows to be empty. Finally they say that to correct bad monks through transfer not only is free from sin, but is also a great part of justice and piety.

But where can these things be discerned? How will you teach that what you say is true? To convert bad monks to goodness is praiseworthy and holy; but to make them canons is not to reform monks, but to corrupt them. A bad monk will never be a good canon; but a good monk will not cast off his order, but will cherish, cultivate, and love it. I do not now wish to contend with words; I do not wish to be excessive or vehement. I do not wish to depict the effect of this transfer, which I do not doubt will gradually come to light. If bad monks If you wished to make them canons, why did you not put good men in their place? A change is not made without transgression of the vow when it is presumptuously changed for the worse. Woe to you, deserters, who, so that your pleasures may be satisfied, despise the order, deny the vow, and confound the rule of equity.

“We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ,” says the Apostle, “so that each may receive according to what he has done in his body.” What will the destroyers of monasteries receive there, who do not render honor to the Almighty, who violate the covenant, who nullify the wills of the saints, who despise the decrees of law? If it is good to found monasteries, it is evil, let no one doubt it, to destroy them. A contrary action will receive only a contrary reward.

Finally, if no one dares to break the last will of a dead man in matters of bequests, even though made to a human being, why do lovers of the world presume to usurp what has been offered to God and the saints? If he is guilty of a crime who violates a man’s testament, what punishment does he deserve who unjustly diverts to alien uses the foundations of monasteries made by holy bishops and princes?

Indeed, kings, princes, prelates, and the other faithful who founded monasteries for the honor of God are proved to have wished above all that the foundations of this institution should obtain an inviolable effect. If they had wished to have canons in monasteries, they would not have placed monks there. But the blind ambition of men has grown so strong that it thinks of nothing less than the future, and loves nothing more than what is perishable.

O wretched condition of human frailty, O always damnable forgetfulness of the commandments of God! The laws have consented to sins, and what is public has begun to be lawful. Crimes blaze everywhere, and everywhere, through wicked minds, in manifold kinds of sinning, a harmful poison works deceits and frauds. This man confounds the order; that man utterly destroys it. This man withdraws the will of the saints; that man writes false allegations of dismemberment. Here monks are driven from monasteries; there outsiders lord it over the goods of the order. An enemy accuses the just, a slanderer attacks, a false witness defames. Now, among the guilty, to be innocent is a crime.

What love of honor can be there, what integrity could exist in minds, where the purpose of the order is cast down, where the calling made by God is revoked? What shame concerning affairs can remain there, what virtue could stand, where divine right is violated, where there is no fear of the laws, no dread of the judge? What can be called more inhuman, what more cruel, than to wish to usurp for oneself what is divine, to confound right, to break a vow, to withhold from God the worship owed to him?

O that dreadful day, terrible to all mortals, when the wrath of God, which has long endured these evils against the monks, will be avenged; when apostates will feel their due punishment; when the adversaries of the holy order will pay the penalty for their rashness. What then will it profit you to have denied the vow made to God? What will the destruction of the sacred order profit you? What will that brief pleasure in the flesh, shamefully bought, profit you, when the Lord begins to review his worshipers and to give rewards to true monks?

The Pentichus Book of Johannes Trithemius.

...with the things promised, to separate the good from the wicked, the truthful from the false: what place will you receive, what success will you have, you who deny the holy purpose of religion, who break your vow, who despise your order, who violate your faith?

Would that you weighed the brevity of this life. Would that you feared the examination of future recompense, so that, pierced by saving teachings, you would heed through repentance the voice of the Lord, who says: “I do not desire the death of the one who is dying, but that he return and live”; and through the prophet: “Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and gracious, patient and of great compassion,” one who revokes his sentence if you wish to wash away your guilt with tears. But you do not fear the judgment of God; you despise his clemency; you scorn the patience of his long-suffering.

Therefore the Apostle says to each one of you: “Do you not know that the patience of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart you store up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to each according to his works.” He said that the judgment of God is just because it is late, because it is long and greatly deferred, so that God’s long patience may provide for your life. But how do you do penance, when you do not acknowledge your guilt? You will grieve, but too late, when there will no longer be a place for repentance, but the repayment of vengeance.

Then, therefore, punishment will be rendered to the impious man and the sinner, when repentance can no longer profit the sinner. O how guilty, how wretched, how unhappy they remain, who, for the very brief pleasure of this present time, deserters of God and of their own order and rebels against God, have done the will of the devil, so that they must be tormented with him in unquenchable fire. Would that these things clung to their hearts. Would that they thought on these things, who desert their order, who break their vow, who so boldly lie both to God and to his saints. But we strive in vain: they never receive our words, who despise the words of God, of the Church, and of Saint Benedict.

Therefore this cause of the order must be carried on not with words but with deeds. Let us therefore arm ourselves, Fathers, with all our strength, and let us prepare for the struggle with an incorrupt mind, devoted virtue, and firm conscience, against those who desire to destroy our order, who strip off the monk, who take away monasteries, who cast aside the Rule, who exist as rebels against their own visitors. Let us arm ourselves, I beseech you, Fathers, with zeal for regular discipline and for the honor of the order, sparing no labors, no expenses, lest this pernicious plague, fostered by our silence, gradually infect the whole order.

Never has such necessity weighed upon our order; never has it been entangled in so many evils. Behold, monks put off the habit; they transform monasteries into dwellings of clerics; and while we attend to private advantages, while we flee labors, while we spare expenses, while we consult our own greed, the order perishes, religion passes away, the worship of God vanishes. Many monasteries have already, through the malice of the times, not to say through our own sloth, been transferred from the order; and unless we wake up in another way, greater losses will come upon us.

The boldness of fools, if not at once checked, gives the rest occasion to presume similar things.

Nothing is more unhappy than deformed abbots. They care for nothing less than the rule; they pursue nothing more eagerly than lust, greed, pleasure, pride, and the vanity of the world. Thus, when the head is infected, all the members of the body are corrupted. Now in monasteries where the rule is despised, where discipline is not observed, what else is seen but a kind of spring of all vices? No obedience, no poverty, no chastity is maintained among them for love of virtue; among such men, to live without blame is a crime. These are corrupt men, perverse monks, craftsmen of deceit, authors of fraud, ministers of iniquity, friends of wickedness: they flee discipline, despise observance, destroy order, confound unity.

And truly, Fathers, unless you quickly provide a remedy for these evils, in a short time you will see the order diminished, and you will grieve over it.

But perhaps you say: “Our vigilance has never failed; our diligence has never ceased. We have always set ourselves against the rashness of the wicked; we have always tried to prevent the dismemberments of monasteries, and we have never accomplished anything. What do our labors, our efforts, our heavy expenses profit, when princes and rulers of churches oppose us with such power?”

I know, Fathers, that what you say is true. I know what has been done; I know it has been continuous. But I beg you not to take my words amiss if I dare to answer those objections. Your vigilance in the causes of the order is known to me, your labors are clear, the greatness of your expenses is proven, and continuance has always been applied in these matters. But I should like you to remember, O Fathers, two verses of Horace, in which he says: “There is measure in things; there are, finally, fixed limits, beyond and short of which the right cannot stand.”

We have many and varied adversaries; we must not fight against all in one way, but in different ways, in varied ways, in discerning ways. We are monks, professors of humility. Our struggle must be begun with prayers, entreaties, and supplications; it must not be provoked by fierceness. God is high; no rash sentence is to be brought forth against God [unclear]. The divine powers are appeased by prayers, not by threats. But enough of this; for I believe, Fathers, that you understand what I mean. Nor are these things to be explained everywhere to everyone, but only to those who have zeal for the order and the power to carry it out.

Against those who transfer themselves from the order, or who have already long since transferred themselves.

Chapter IV.

Whether I am moved with sufficient justice against those who try to dismember themselves from our order, I do not sufficiently know; nor, if I did know, would I easily dare to say, since almighty patience tolerates them so long and scourges them so late.

But when I consider the end of those who long ago severed themselves from the order, I judge that this longsuffering patience of God has been avenged by a sufficiently severe punishment. For, as we have learned from the report of those who knew many of them, few of those who cast off the monk died a good death. Rather, called suddenly from this life without signs of repentance, without ecclesiastical sacraments, they gave a clear sign of their unhappiness. What then shall we say to these things? Shall we rejoice in the perdition of the dying? Far from it. It is the Lord who long tolerates sinners here so that they may be converted; he is also the one who condemns more harshly those who are not converted. But we fear his sentence with the prophet, saying: “The righteous man, by whatever death he has been overtaken, will be in refreshment.” But of the wicked the Prophet says: “The death of sinners is most evil.” We recall the destruction of the depraved to mind for this reason, that by fear at least we may call the rest back from an evil undertaking.

But how will they receive our words, who deride the things above and the things below? Unless deeds are added to words, exhortations accomplish nothing among malicious minds. Still the stiff-necked people murmurs in the desert; still the impious nation blasphemes its lawgiver; still the wicked people deliberates about returning to Egypt. They fear dying in solitude, when this alone they ought to have feared: dying outside solitude. O hard mind of men, O destructive liberty of monks, how long does your cruelty rage, which does not even know how to spare those whom it has as authors and friends? He who is wicked to himself, to whom will he be good?

O unheard-of crime of monks, O immeasurable offense: to mock God, to deny him what was promised, to break faith, to withdraw the service owed. What is more cruel than this impiety? What is more wicked than this sacrilege? O perverse monk, O unjust apostate, O most wicked perjurer, how long do you set God’s kindness against him, how long do you deride the mercy of the Almighty? You are a monk; you will also be judged a monk, even if you have laid aside the skin along with the habit. Why do you depart from the holy order? Why do you lie to God? Believe me, the Almighty will not give his honor to another; he will not forgive you forever for what, once solemnly received, you offered. Before you promised God, you were free and of your own judgment; but after you promised, you began to belong to God. Now it is not lawful for you to let go what belongs by right to God. Your voice bound you to God; you will be saved as a monk, or otherwise you will not be saved.

Behold, before your eyes are the way of life and the way of death; choose whichever you wish. If you keep faith with God, if you fulfill what was promised, you will have a reward; if you deny it, you will receive punishment for contempt. Hence Paul, admonishing you, says: “Brothers, do not err; God is not mocked. For whatever a man has sown, this also will he reap.” What do you presume you will receive, you who sow in the flesh? For he says: “He who sows in the flesh, from the flesh will also reap.” But the fruit of the flesh has no share in the inheritance of the saints. Why then do you deceive yourself? Why in vain...

Do you trust in vanity? Why do you transgress the ancient boundaries which the holy Fathers set? You deny the vow you solemnly made to God, and yet you expect a portion with God’s elect as though you were righteous? The ungodly man has no share with the sons of God. Behold, you squander the Lord’s inheritance; you enrich strangers from the goods of holy Father Benedict; you deny your promise; and, so that you may sin freely, you heap up falsehoods in place of truths.

If you are a good monk, do not abandon your profession; do not forsake the enclosure of the monastery. But if you are a bad monk, you will never be a good canon. For he who is not good is bad; and he who is bad is not as he ought to be, and therefore he is unjust. The unjust have no share in the kingdom of God; and it matters little where you are, so long as everywhere you are bad, everywhere unjust, everywhere wretchedly tormented. Unless perhaps you wish to be liable to a double damnation, so that, while you are a bad monk and an unrighteous canon, guilty in both states, false in both, you may demand the reward of both.

Nor should you set against me the dispensation of the Roman Pontiff, which, unless God approves it, will in no way excuse you. Not everything that is done on earth through the Supreme Pontiff is pleasing to God. Now if you cry out and are angry with me, as though I were judging the deeds of Christ’s Vicar, I answer: I embrace, honor, and venerate the Supreme Pontiff as the true Vicar of Christ, and I in no way censure his deeds; but I know that he is a man, who, as a man, can both be deceived and deceive. Nor is this surprising. For amid such great care for all the churches, amid such great occupation with affairs, when false things are reported as true, a mind distracted among many matters is easily deceived.

But you, apostate from the holy order, who think yourself secure because of a bull of dispensation, beware lest after death, as is commonly said, you meet an illiterate demon who does not know letters, who does not defer to an appeal, who despises the allegations of your immunity. Believe me, there is no cunning that can deceive God.

O wretched man, O unhappy man, O senseless apostate. What will you answer Saint Benedict concerning the profession that you despise? What will you answer almighty God concerning the vow that you contemn? Whom will you be able to appoint as advocate for your cause in that dreadful judgment? There nothing will be able to lie hidden; all things there will be bare, all things open. There no place for saving repentance will any longer be left; there every opportunity for excuse will be denied to all. What good will that dispensation rashly presumed here do you there, when it will not be permitted either to prove it by testimony or to defend it by law?

Then you will see, O perverse monk; then you will understand what strength a license fraudulently obtained contains in itself, when you have felt the vengeance of the eternal Judge in punishment. Why do you allege dispensation to me? Why do you proclaim a license to sin? Do you think that by the authority of the Supreme Pontiff you can escape the wrath of God? I dare to say: the Pope’s dispensation will profit you nothing if it was obtained by fraud, deceit, lying, or injustice. What is acquired by evil arts is not good, is not just.

For a dispensation to be just, four things are required, without which the dispensation will in no way save you. What are they? Necessity [unclear].

The Pentichus of Johannes Trithemius ...namely, necessity, fittingness, usefulness, and honorable propriety. But you, perjured monk, who are led by will alone, who despise God and the order, feign necessity, display false fittingness, lie about usefulness, and fashion honorable propriety by fraud. Let necessity be evident and manifest; fittingness true; usefulness not private but public; honorable propriety not fictitious but genuine. Otherwise the dispensation will be unjust.

I bring forward nothing for which I should be angry with the Supreme Pontiff in this dispensation; I blame nothing in his actions, since I know well that he was deceived by the false accounts of monks. You are the guilty ones, you the deceitful ones, you who must be marked with iniquity, O perverse monks, wicked apostates, who by lying, deceit, and fraud seek what you despair of obtaining by just prayers.

What necessity presses you to abandon the order and pass into the state of secular life? What fittingness urges you to break what, once promised to God, no one may revoke? What usefulness is there in putting off the monastic habit, abandoning the order, denying your profession, transferring from the monastery, and not merely breaking but utterly casting away the vow made to God before all the saints? Or what honorable propriety is there in a monk dedicated to God returning to the world, breaking faith, committing perjury, perpetrating sacrilege? O transgressors and impious men, how will you ever be able to excuse so unspeakable a presumption?

None of these four accords with your transfer; none of them confirms your dispensation. For what necessity could have driven you to this rashness? What cause for this dismemberment could you have alleged before the Vicar of Christ? The poverty and ruin of the monasteries? But you could quickly have restored this if you lived according to the Rule of Saint Benedict. For you became poor through wicked conduct; by holy living you would again be enriched. Look around you at monasteries brought back to regular observance, how, after extreme poverty, by the Lord’s bounty, they again advance toward their former wealth; and indeed quite justly. For the Lord first promised us in the Gospel, saying, “Seek the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things will be added to you.” But you put the love of God after other things, neglect his worship, devote yourselves to games, feasts, drunkenness, and gluttony, and do not regard the work of the Lord; you care nothing for regular observance. Therefore, because spiritual things were neglected, by the just judgment of God even temporal things failed you. Thus the necessity you pretend is false, and the dispensation you allege is insufficient.

But perhaps you say: We are not sons of peasants, but of nobles; we are noble, delicate, and weak, and cannot keep the observance of cobblers, farmers, and shepherds. Fasts, abstinence, vigils, disciplines, and the other exercises they have are unbearable to us; we cannot imitate them, nor should we.

What then? Are you not a monk because you are noble, because delicate, because tender, because weak? There is nothing by which you can be defended against Saint Benedict, who in his Rule provides abundantly for every condition, every rank, every age; who provides for the delicate and the weak with the greatest discretion. Are you alone among the noble, tender, and delicate who have professed the monastic order? Many very noble young men, sons of emperors, kings, dukes, and princes, serve in our order in holiness and learning, under regular observance.

You have the Rule; shape your life according to its precepts: no one demands more of you, nor requires more. The exercises of monks, which you condemn in those who observe the Rule, the Rule itself teaches, itself commands, itself enjoins. If you refuse to imitate them, you have destroyed yourself by the sentence of your own mouth. For it imposes upon its professed members the conversion of morals according to the Rule of Saint Benedict: fasting, abstinence, vigils, disciplines, obedience, patience, humility, poverty, and the other exercises of monastic discipline, which you judge hard and burdensome, are so proper to the Rule that without them no one deserves to be called a monk.

Tell me, I beg you, transgressor of your vow and of your order, tell me: do you still wish to live blessedly? Do you still hope that you can come to eternal life? You will answer: “That question you ask is foolish. Who does not wish to live blessedly? Who does not hope to come to eternal life?” Therefore I both desire to live blessedly and trust that I can come to the heavenly homeland. If then this is so, if you trust that you will receive the blessed life, why do you abandon, scorn, and despise the way that leads to it?

You are mistaken, wretched man; unhappy man, you are deceived. One does not come to the kingdom except through humility; to rest, except through labor, through abstinence, through obedience, through poverty. For Scripture says: “Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.” But you, unhappy apostate, who reject the order, scorn humility, refuse obedience, hate poverty, despise patience: by what rashness do you presume to such heights? If the mouth that lies kills the soul, unless you do penance, you have no share in the kingdom of Christ and of God, you who lie not to man but to God, who violate the covenant, who deny your faith, who take back the vow of religion made to God.

The dispensation of the Roman Pontiff will not save you, I dare say, which you seek by fraud, describe with falsehood, and extort by importunate petitions. For the four things which we said make a due dispensation do not seem in the least to have come together in your frauds. For that transfer which you make from the holy order is neither useful nor necessary, and for that reason is unfitting and dishonorable. In it, indeed, will stands in place of necessity, pleasure in place of usefulness, carnality in place of fitness, and in place of honor [unclear].

impiety is set. Is this the proper occasion for your dispensation? Keep for yourself the little letters obtained by fraud; keep the documents of denial and apostasy. It is good for me to rest under the rule of most pious Father Benedict; if in it I have done any wrong through frailty, I trust that I have him as a pious advocate before the strict judge, whose order I love, venerate, and keep with whatever diligence I can. But what patron you will have, I do not know, you who cast off the order, offend all the saints, and publicly lie to God.

For whoever, after profession of the order, lives otherwise than he promised, the Rule shows that he will be condemned as a mocker of almighty God. For it says: “Therefore, if he has acted otherwise, let him know that he will be condemned by him whom he mocks.” Hear this, sons of Belial; take heed, deserters of the order, and, if there is any feeling in you, shudder: “let him know,” it says, “that the perverse monk will be condemned by him whom he mocks.” What greater mockery, what crime is more wicked, than to deny the faith promised to God, to set aside the vow, to lie to him, to withdraw service from him, to tear away from him what is his?

I wonder, and indeed greatly, whether such wicked apostates can ever, even for an hour, have true joy, because of the confusion of conscience and the remorse of synderesis. But, to state plainly what I think, I cannot be induced by any arguments to believe that they will ever afterward live without the gravest torment of their own conscience. For by probable experience we know that the monks of whom we speak, after transfer from the order, become almost mad, prone to every shameful work, desperate, without the charity of God, without devotion, without affection, without piety, without conscience, without honor, fierce, disturbed, senseless, and obstinate, so that they care nothing, notice nothing, and wish to hear nothing about God, his kingdom, purgatory, hell, death, repentance, virtue, or their way of life; and that saying of the wise man is fulfilled in them: “When the impious man has come into the depth of evils, he despises.” And this also: “A savage, troubled conscience always presumes.”

Hence such apostates, as if freed from a daytime prison, boldly cast themselves headlong into every vice, and compensate for the shortness of time by the magnitude of their crimes. They are offended if anyone wishes to speak before them of the love of God, the study of the Scriptures, or the honorableness of life. Nor is it any wonder if they cannot hear the words of God, to whom after such unspeakable apostasy they have become faithless. They hate the one who reproves in the gate; they do not admit words of salvation; they despise the sermon of repentance. Therefore the wise man says: “Consider the works of God, that no one can correct him whom he has despised.” If God could ever despise any man, those are among the first who, after their vow, become faithless to him. Therefore, being despised by God, they rarely flee to repentance. Therefore let them know that they are to be condemned by him whom they mock. For they are guilty of a double sacrilege, because they unjustly take themselves from God and their monasteries from Saint Benedict.

And whoever has supplied occasion, favor, counsel, or help for these dismemberments has done this irreparable loss to the order and to Saint Benedict. For the rule of law says: “He who gives occasion for loss is deemed to have caused the loss.” Therefore let such men see how they are liable to the holy lawgiver of monks and bound to restitution, and how they will answer at the Last Judgment to God and his saints, whose temporal goods they unjustly usurp for themselves or for others. But woe to those who unjustly take what belongs to another, which they can never repay either in this life or in the life to come. And woe to you, apostate and denying monks, who confound right, despise equity, and violate faith and covenant.

Against Abbots Who Do Not Oppose the Apostasy of Their Monks and the Dismemberments of Monasteries. Chapter V.

Apostates from the order rarely return to repentance. From the Rule of Law in the Sixth. Those who usurp the goods of monasteries will be judged strictly.

Prelates who neglect to correct the lives of their subjects are in great danger.

My discourse is now directed to you, O abbots, who do not correct the evil pursuits of your monks, who consent to their apostasy, and who yourselves apostatize with them from the order. O abbot, shepherd and idol, you who make wolves out of sheep, secular men out of monks. What will you answer to the supreme Shepherd when you are compelled to render an account of your stewardship? What will you say to Saint Benedict when he demands his sheep back from you? He will require monks from you, not canons. What then will you answer him? Are monks canons?

When that day comes, to be feared by all mortals, on which the just Judge will repay each one according to his works, Benedict, the lawgiver of monks, do not doubt it, will accuse you gravely; against you he will bring forth as witnesses all the true monks of his order. With one voice they will cry out to the Judge: “Just Judge, Jesus Christ, you who know all things, behold the madness, crime, sacrilege, and cruelty of this apostate, who destroyed the holy order, recalled monks to the world, broke faith, and with unheard-of presumption violated the vow made to you and to us.”

O wretched man, what will you do when so gravely accused? Which of the saints will you invoke, when you have made them all your adversaries? Where will you flee from the face of the Lord’s wrath? To whom will you flee for refuge? There will be no place for flight; rather, you will stand before the tribunal of Christ, about to receive a harsh sentence, unless here, through repentance and tears, you take care to appease the face of the Lord. No room will be granted for excuse when you have been accused in the judgment of him who knows all things. For whatever you may wish, it will be nothing, because, accused outwardly, inwardly by the testimony of conscience you will be judged condemned.

You seize the things that belong to divine right, though you had been appointed their guardian. Therefore you will hear the Lord saying: “Pay back what you owe.” That is: “Give back the monks whom I entrusted to your faith; give back the monastery which you received to govern; give back faith; give back the vow; give back holiness; give back the gain; give back the merit; give back the honor. Pay back what you owe. I appointed you shepherd of my sheep, so that them in holy…” The Fifth Book of Johannes Trithemius.

...that you should preserve them in religion, teach them, instruct them, amend them, and correct those who did wrong. But you hated discipline and cast my words behind your back: if you saw a thief, you ran with him, and with adulterers you placed your portion. Intent on the pleasures of the flesh, you did not guard my sheep.

Therefore render what you owe. After monks have come from the world to religious life, they have become subject to my right, and it is not lawful for them afterward to return to the world. But you were appointed servant of my sheep, not their lord, and it was not lawful for you in any way you wished to alienate, usurp, or tear away anything belonging to my right. You were guardian of my possessions, not their owner; you ought faithfully to have preserved what had been acquired and sought out what had been scattered. But you, forgetful of me, squandered my inheritance, scattered the sheep, indeed made beasts out of sheep, enemies out of servants, and faithless men out of allies.

Now therefore render what you owe. I entrusted monks to you, whom you ought to have preserved in their holy purpose: to raise up those who had fallen, heal the sick, restore the failing, kindle the sluggish with charity, shake the negligent awake, rebuke sinners, correct the disobedient, restrain the dissolute, and keep the perverse from their evil pursuits. But you cared for none of the things that belonged to your office. Given over to greed, lust, and gluttony, you not only permitted monks to return to the world, but, utterly forgetful of pastoral care, became the leader and partner in their apostasy.

And so now render what you owe; restore what I entrusted to your faith, or rather, not to say, to your faithlessness. But because you will not be able to render it, you will be cast into a dark prison, covered with the gloom of death, never to come out from there until you render the debt, which you will never render. There you will receive punishment not only for your own deeds, but also for the sins of all those whom, though committed to your rule, you neglected to correct. For thus Saint Benedict says in the Rule: “Let the abbot know that the fault of the shepherd falls upon him if the father of the household can find any lack of profit in his sheep.”

Therefore, O abbot, whoever you are, if you are wise, if you understand, if at last you believe in the judgment to come, if you desire to escape the torments of hell, do not yield to the wicked desires of monks; do not consent to criminal dismemberments. What does the briefest pleasure in this life profit you, for which you would be forced to receive eternal punishments? Do not, I beg you, inflict so great an injury on Saint Benedict; do not take away from him monasteries which neither you nor all your parents built. Let it suffice you that you are abbot, because you live from his patrimony. Do not desert the order; do not consent to diabolical suggestions; do not make your monks secular; do not resign the monastery entrusted to you into the hands of strangers.

Recognize that you are a man subject to death, of brief life upon the earth. Do not do so ruinous a thing; do not commit this crime; do not perpetrate so inestimable a sacrilege. Remain in the holy order, and do not desert your purpose if you desire to arrive at eternal life. For the Lord says: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back...”

looking back is not fit for the kingdom of God. Behold, you have put your hand to the plough; behold, you have gone out with Lot from Sodom. If you look back, if you corrupt your purpose, if you return to the world, you are not fit for the kingdom of God, and you will by no means deserve to receive it. But if you persevere in your calling, if you preserve your good will, if you have the love of God in your heart, believe me: even if in some matters you have lived negligently, you will find Saint Benedict a gracious intercessor with God, for love of whom you were unwilling to abandon the order when you could have done so.

Remember, I beseech you, the covenant of the Lord which, when you entered the order, you made with him; and do not be unfaithful to your Redeemer, do not break your vow, do not violate the pact by so wicked a perjury. Consider the pact, attend to the condition, and beware lest you prove a liar to God. Before you promised him, you were free; but after you promised, you were no longer free, but were made a servant of God. It is not permitted to you henceforth to abandon this servitude voluntarily assumed; it is not permitted to you, nor to anyone, after profession to return to the world.

But if you corrupt your purpose, if you deny your vow, if you return to the world, God will not have you in that rank in which he would formerly have had you before you entered the monastery. For before your entrance into religion, you were as it were of the household of the Lord, among his subjects and laborers. You were, I say, a creature of God; you were a servant, you were a bondsman, but you were not a friend, an attendant of his mysteries, an intimate, a secretary. But after you became a monk, you promised fidelity to the Lord, that you would cling to him continually, so that where the Lord is, there you also, his minister, might be. He chose you as a friend and, so to speak, as guardian of his body, that in his sight you might always minister to him and carry out his will in all things. For this is what you promised.

Therefore, if you withdraw from him to whom you vowed yourself, if you are found unfaithful and a despiser of your vow, he will not have you as one of his household, as before you became a monk, but certainly as a fugitive, an unfaithful man, a transgressor, a perjurer, and a liar. For the monk who denies his vow denies Christ. Blessed Jerome says: “I, who seem to be a monk, if I corrupt my purpose, have denied Christ.”

But you transgressors, who, after despising the sacred order, from monks have become canons, you, I say, have not only corrupted your purpose, but, what is more wicked, have utterly destroyed it. Therefore now either you have denied Christ, or what Jerome says is false. But since what so great a man taught cannot be false, it remains that you are deniers of Christ, perjurers, and unfaithful men. Would that, even late at last, you might take up the remedies of repentance, you who are placed in such great dangers. If he has denied Christ who has violated the monastic purpose, what does he deserve who defrauds the whole order, all the saints, and God? If he who unjustly occupies the possessions of men will burn forever, what punishment is he worthy of who usurps for himself goods dedicated to God and the saints? If according to the tradition If the man who unjustly claims another’s house or field for his own use sins mortally, of how great a crime is he guilty who turns the house and possessions of God and the saints into dwellings for secular men? And if a man is bound to make restitution to another man for things unduly taken away, how much more are those who bring monasteries owed to God and Saint Benedict bound to restitution? If a sin is not remitted unless what was taken away is restored, when will those be able to be absolved from guilt who turn the dwellings of God’s servants to alien uses? For monasteries once taken away are never restored to the order. Woe to those who did not fear to establish for themselves this disposition, which they will never be able to revoke by any satisfaction.

O monk, O abbot, you who revoke the vow solemnly made to God; you who cast off the habit of holy religion; you who transfer monasteries consecrated to Saint Benedict into the hands of clerics: what will you answer when accused before almighty God? Perhaps you will say, “We changed our vow for a better one.” Whom will you persuade of this? Certainly neither God nor sound-minded men, since they are not ignorant of the difference between vows. To live as a canon is good and holy, if one has been called by God to that state; but if one has been called to the rank of monastic profession, it will never be lawful for him to descend to a canonry. For no one should doubt that canons are inferior to monks.

Tell me, whoever you are, who are an accomplice in the depravity of monks, who transfer them from their order, who defend causes against God and Saint Benedict, who are regarded as the supporter and patron of their apostasy. Tell me, then: how does it seem to you? Is it lawful for monks to become secular canons? If it is lawful, why do you obtain the dispensation of the Roman pontiff at such great expense, with such labors and importunate prayers? Lawful things have no need of dispensation. But if it is unlawful, who will make it lawful? Dispensation? I greatly doubt it. Whether the pope can dispense in this matter or cannot, it is not mine to discuss, since it is agreed that he has the fullness of power. Far be it from me, then, to detract even in the least from the authority of the supreme pontiff. For he is the vicar of Christ, and it is not lawful for a man to judge anything concerning him.

Are you therefore secure, if he does what he seems able to do? Believe me, you are not secure, because you gave a false account of the reason for your transfer; you fraudulently deceived the vicar of Christ, because both the narrative was false and the supplication, not to call it extortion, was importunate. Finally, the bull of your transfer, carefully and cautiously written, does not absolve you from the order, nor turn aside your vow, nor remove your religious life, nor consent that you lay aside the monastic form. Do you think that the supreme pontiff wishes to stain his conscience with your sins? Read the bull attentively; consider the words; note the intention of the one dispensing, and you will find that even after the dispensation you are a monk before God and the Church. For I have both seen and read the bull of this transfer, in which the pope consents that the monks may have prebends and benefices, and nevertheless commands that they render to Saint Benedict what they have vowed. He grants them the habit of canons, but by no means removes the monastic form.

See how secure you are, you who transgress the limits of the indult, who fabricate falsehoods as truths, who lie to the vicar of Christ, who no less extort bulls than obtain them. In matters that belong to positive law, dispensation makes lawful what otherwise was not lawful, if a reasonable cause requires it. But a vow made to God you are commanded by divine law to pay; from this the pope never intends to absolve you without necessity.

But I ask you, tell me: what is the cause of your transfer? Perhaps you will answer as all those transferred would answer: “There are many causes that necessarily drove me to this matter.” What, then, are they? The poverty of the monastery, the incursion of ravagers, the exaction of princes, the bad governance of abbots. These are the causes of our transfer.

Against the false arguments and surreptitious dispensations by which apostates claim to defend their apostasy. Chapter VI.

A spider’s web, made as if of blood, is easily broken if any weight is placed on it; but you apostates tell falsehoods for truths, and under the fiction of poverty you deceive the vicar of Christ, indeed you deceive your very selves. Would that the poverty you allege were true; would that, as you mendaciously pretend, you had less earthly substance. Why do you allege poverty, you who possess very great riches? Who does not know that the condition of the monastery of S. Albani in temporal goods before its transfer was most abundant? What shall I say of the once distinguished monastery of Elwangen, whose riches could have sufficed for a prince? Could the monastery of S. Burchard have been transferred because of poverty, when it always abounded in many riches? Ought the monastery of Camberg to have been dismembered from the order because of poverty, when to this day it surpasses all the monastic houses of that province in riches? What shall I say of Selsz? What of the monasteries of Clingenmünster, most abundant as far as moderate measure is concerned? Could poverty truly have been alleged in their transfer?

O betrayers of your order and transgressors of your vow, do you believe that lying words can remain hidden? Your deceits are not hidden from us, nor are we ignorant of the riches that you deny. If you were poor, as you pretend, some of you could not lay out two, others three, others four thousand florins, and some still more, for your transfer. Why, then, do you allege poverty, when you are not poor? Why do you say that you have nothing from which you can live as monks, when you can lay out such great sums of money in order to become canons? Finally, if the poverty of your monasteries oppresses you, why do you not undertake reform? Why do you not bring private possessions, contrary to the Rule, back to common use? For while...

Each man loves his own purse, and the state of the community falls. But if, according to the rule which you have professed, you were to live without private property, with the Lord providing, you would abound in all riches. But you, neglecting spiritual things, devote your efforts to the pleasure of the flesh; for that reason you have come to poverty in temporal goods.

I have said these things against those who suffer want of temporal things because of their contempt for spiritual things. But those who have transferred themselves from the order, if they had been poor, would have remained in it. For many expenses, outlays, and gifts are needed, which the poor could never have furnished. Therefore they lie who take poverty as the reason for their transfer. But as for their alleging wars, battles, and the devastations of enemies in defense of their dismemberment, no prudent man fails to know how frivolous, vain, and insufficient this is. For everything they recount can be no less hostile to canons than to monks.

And as for their calling the rule of abbots the cause, the blame is not undeservedly ascribed to those by whose election a bad ruler is placed over the monastery. Nor undeservedly: as the monks are, so is the abbot of the monks. For bad monks are judged unworthy of a good abbot. Finally, if the abbot is bad, how will the provost be good? Other remedies should have been sought by you from experienced men, by which you might have made progress in the order without complaint. But he who wishes to withdraw from a friend seeks an occasion; he who desires to dismember himself from the order invents countless causes. Now he says the monastery is burdened with debts; now he falsely claims the inconvenience of hostility. Now he invents a harsh lordship; now he blames the sloth of the prelates. He seeks everything, invents everything, assumes everything, so that he may either disparage the whole order or show that the place is unfit for regular observance.

“If such a monastery,” he says, “Most Blessed Father, is transferred into a secular church, divine worship will be greatly increased thereby; it will make princes always devoted to the Roman Church; it will provide peace for the peoples round about and the greatest honor for the Christian name.”

O deceitful tongue, O lying lip, O contriver of fraud, O inventor of deceit, O minister of iniquity, how false are the things you tell as true, how evil the things you tell as good, how sacrilegious the things you tell as holy. Kings and princes have been accustomed to build monasteries, not to destroy them; you ought not deceitfully to have alleged them as patrons of your treachery. For if they seek the praise of God, they never consent that monasteries be transferred from the holy order. But if they wish to consider their own advantages, they know that they receive more profit from monasteries than from collegiate churches.

Whence, then, comes to you such unheard-of presumption, that before the Vicar of Christ you falsely claim as pleasing to princes a thing which is known to be contrary to them? Thus you act, thus you deceive the Vicar of Christ, master of evil, contriver of fraud, inventor of falsehood, author of crime, craftsman of iniquity, you who live by deceit, who fortify yourself with impiety, who attack religion, who gape after profits, who are fed by pleasure, for whom everything rests on crime and nothing on the love of God. Far be it from faithful princes, that they may take from Saint Benedict the monasteries which their devout ancestors once built for him. Woe to you, perverse monk, who presume to inflict so great an insult on the order that you destroy monasteries which neither you nor your parents built. Woe also to you, who provide patronage in evil matters against God and his saints, who entangle yourself in the sins of others, who sell your tongue, who for a paltry price incur the indignation of God and of all the saints. Woe to you, I say, advocate of reprobate monks, who do injury to God, who mock his saints by a wicked deed, who deny the right of equity, who encourage monks by words and deeds to return to the world.

O what will you answer to almighty God when an account of all your works is demanded from you, when you are accused by Saint Benedict as the destroyer of his order? What will you then set against the accusation of the saints? What will you answer? How will you excuse yourself? Who will make a plea before the strict judge for your deliverance? What advocacy will you then be able to have, you who now are an advocate of the wicked against God? Would that you were wise and understood; would that you foresaw the last things; you would by no means entangle yourself in the sins of others. But inflamed by the torches of greed, you think only of the profits of this life, and show plainly that you have no understanding at all of future calamities. Therefore, just as birds are caught in a snare, so you will be caught, when you do not expect it, in your own sins and in the sins of those whom you have made apostatize from the order.

O how harsh a sentence they will receive by whose counsel monks have despised their order. You have falsely claimed great usefulness in your petition, you who intend this alone: that you may shamefully empty the order of its honor. Is the worship of God increased in this way? Is this that peace promised to men round about? You will never make bad monks into good canons. But he who makes men bad, what does he deserve except the reward of the bad? Bad are the monks who, despising the order, return to the world. For unless they were bad and sinful, they would by no means abandon the holy order. For no one hates the good except a bad man; no one withdraws from the holy purpose which he vowed except a perverse man. And he who offers himself as a patron to the perverse in evil causes makes himself a sharer in the sins of others.

To be a canon in the Church of God is good and holy; but to be a monk for the love of God is of greater perfection. A canon is permitted to pass over to the monks as to a higher degree; but a monk is forbidden to descend to the canons. Nor does a dispensation make lawful what has been obtained by false representations. If there is necessity in the petition, integrity in the intention of the petitioner, and honorableness in the use of the dispensation, I say boldly that the pope can dispense with a monk so that he may become a canon, yet in such a way that he is not, without necessity, released from that by which he is known to be bound to God. For I am certain that the supreme pontiff intends to release no one from any approved religious order without evident common benefit and manifest necessity. But the advocates of aposta-

They relate false causes as true ones; they invent necessity; they lie about usefulness; they put forward the appearance of honor, which they in fact flee. The root and cause of this whole evil is founded in pleasure alone and in hatred of discipline. But when the cause stated in the petition is false, the dispensation does not free the one who obtained it, but condemns him. The Supreme Pontiff, after hearing the accounts of petitioners, is accustomed to reply cautiously: “If it is as it is related,” he says, “let what is requested be done, in the manner and form that follows.” He replies cautiously, grants indulgence discreetly, and dispenses within fixed limits. But unbridled monks, as soon as they have received the bulls, do not remain within the limits established in them, but transgress the manner of the dispensation, considering not what they have obtained, but what they wished to obtain.

O wretches, O senseless men, O unhappy men, why do you deceive your very selves? Why do you voluntarily destroy your souls? The intention of the one dispensing does not absolve you from what you promised to Saint Benedict. But you claim for yourselves more than the Pope granted; indeed, you take entirely without permission what you unlawfully desired to obtain. What a certain man, still living, said of some of you is true, when by apostolic commission he had stripped them of the monastic habit: “Although,” he said, “I have taken the habit from them, nevertheless, according to the tenor of the bull, they are still monks before God.”

Unhappy apostates, who will deliver you from the hand of the living God? Who will be able to defend you from the accusation of Saint Benedict? What will it profit you that here, without challenge, you have been made canons from monks, if at the final judgment of God you should be numbered with the reprobate? Indeed, unless the almighty judge approves your transfer, unless Saint Benedict, prince of monks, consents, no dispensation excuses you. Your transfer does not look to its proper end, and therefore it will be inexcusable.

Question your consciences, and weigh with what intention you withdrew from the order. If you took off the habit for love of God, from desire for the heavenly homeland, for the salvation of souls, for advancement in virtues and a holier state of life, then God approves the deed you have done. But your intention was contrary to all these things; therefore your transfer from the order is rightly judged alien to the will of God. For you cast off the habit in order to live without law; your first intention was to live without obedience, without humility, without poverty. There is no fear of God before your eyes; you think nothing of the salvation of souls; you understand nothing of eternal life; you desire to walk in the pleasure of the flesh alone. All the causes and reasons that you stated in your petition are fabricated and false. How, then, will the dispensation be legitimate? How will the authority of the Supreme Pontiff excuse you, when you did not fear to circumvent it by lying, fraud, deceit, and importunate prayers?

What is to be thought of you will be made clear when your conduct is examined. For in the Gospel the Lord says of ravening wolves: “By their fruits you shall know them.” Among you a mind truly joyful in God is never seen; never A secure conscience can exist; but it is always anxious over its guilt, always troubled, since you have the devil as instigator toward despair, by whose prompting you withdrew from the order. Hence it is that you are not at all concerned for the love of God and the salvation of souls; but, intent on earthly vanities and carnal desires, you think of nothing less than eternal life. Your way of life shows by what spirit this transfer of state has been made in you. For those who are led by the Spirit of God have crucified their flesh with its vices and desires. But you are not so. For as soon as you cast off the habit of religion, like wanton oxen freed from the yoke of subjection, you plunge yourselves into every shameful thing as though it were permitted; you cast aside all honesty; you make a pact with vices and wage war against virtues.

The charity of God is not in your hearts. You despise mercy and piety; you love vanity and have become vain. You are evil to all the good; worse than the worst monks to yourselves. No transfer has been made for the better when it preserves access to vices. Love of God and hatred of one’s brother do not dwell in the same breast. But you, violators of your vow, deserters of the order, enemies of honesty, adversaries of piety, if you love God, if you are good, if you love religion, why do you hate monks? And you hate especially those who persevere in the order from which you have fallen away, because, when you now see them standing firmly in their vocation, you fear their testimony against you at the judgment.

Therefore all monks who persevere in holy conduct will stand against you in the strict examination to bear testimony, and by their works they will show that all the stories and reasons for your apostasy, already cloaked here in deceitful words, are false and empty. You hate the monks of your order because, in truth, judging others to be what you know yourselves to be, you envy in others also the good that you do not see in yourselves. We do not marvel at the madness of your heart against monks when we consider the injury and insult you have offered to God and to your holy lawgiver. For if someone does not love God, if he breaks the vow solemnly made to him, if he casts aside the habit of religion, it is no wonder if he hates monks, his servants. For every apostate is an adversary and despiser of his own order.

But I beg, I exhort, I urge all of you who have deserted your order: abandon your fury, soften your rage, cease to rage against monks, lest those whom you now persecute with hatred become witnesses and judges against you at the judgment. Do penance for this impiety of yours while you have time, lest swift death snatch you away unprepared. Do not, I beseech you, raise the horns of wickedness against Saint Benedict; do not wish, by your transfers, to destroy his venerable order; do not despise the opportunity for penance, if you desire to reach eternal life. You have built no monastery for Saint Benedict; I beg and exhort you not to transfer to secular uses those founded for him by others. Remember how brief this present life is.

how certain death is, how strict the Judge; and do not lay upon your necks so heavy a burden of sacrilege, which you will never be able to make good by any worthy satisfaction. Do not rouse Saint Benedict against yourselves as an adversary, if you desire to find the friendship of the other saints; for if one is offended, none of the others will be your friend. Consider the end of those who long ago transferred themselves from the holy order, and likewise fear for your own. Where are the abbots and monks who once withdrew from the order and handed over the monasteries of the holy Father Benedict into the hands of secular men? All are either dead or will die soon. You also, who are still alive, who have withdrawn from the order after the example of those before you, when you do not expect it, will go to those whose imitators you are. Would that, from another’s danger, you feared your own, and, while there is time, took up repentance with your whole heart.

I have heard from many with what great bitterness of mind, at the point of death, many transgressors of the order were constrained, who from monks had become canons, or who had even been the authors of such transfers. For they said that they grieved over no sin so much as over that one, because they knew they had given consent or help to the transfer of the order. If the transfer of monasteries from the order is good, why did those who were dying grieve that it had been done? But if it is evil, why do you do it and undertake it?

Let all who occupy the monasteries of monks remember with how severe an anathema they are marked by blessed Pope Gregory: those who do not fear to turn the possessions of monasteries consecrated to God to alien uses. Let Thiergandus, once archbishop of Trier, be an example to them. When he had taken the monastery of Saint Andrew as a dwelling from Pope Adrian in the city of Rome, and had been warned in a third vision by the same Apostle and by Saint Gregory not to occupy the dwellings of monks any longer, and, though ordered to depart from there, pretended not to notice, he perished with all his people by a harsh death. Whether those who occupy the monasteries of monks are secure before God, we leave to their own consciences. A man who possesses another man’s goods without his will is bound to restitution. Let him who occupies the goods of any saint against that saint’s will consider what he deserves. We have now used a long enough discourse against the transgressors of our order; let us now come to what remains.

How these dismemberments by apostate monks are to be opposed. Chapter VII.

Although both my spirit and necessity itself offer abundant matter for inveighing against the destroyers of our order, nevertheless, since those are not present who might be called back to repentance by exhortations, I think enough has been said against them. For all who so wickedly oppress the honor of their own order are senseless; and I judge that they must be resisted not only with words, but with deeds [unclear].

For those who do not fear God will by no means acquiesce in our exhortations. Come now, most reverend Fathers, you who have assembled in chapter for the honor of our order, you who labor for its restoration: recall to mind its former state, and consider into how great a calamity it has fallen in this time. Behold, monasteries are being snatched from the hands of Saint Benedict; our order is being destroyed all around by the enemies of God; monks are returning to the world; the impious tear apart our religious life; strangers are endowed with our goods. What shall I say of internal wars? What shall I report of civil evils? It is no wonder, Fathers, take heed, if we are put to shame from without, since we are torn apart by our own people within.

Our abbots kick against discipline, tear apart the unity of the order, neglect the statutes of chapters. They spurn visitations; they despise your censures, O Fathers. Unless you strive very quickly to bring them back to regular observance, you will not be able to keep them long under the order. Why then do you dissemble? How long will you sleep? When will you awaken? When will you fight for the inheritance of Saint Benedict? O Fathers, Fathers, arm yourselves with zeal for God, for the order, and for discipline, because it is time. Fight for your lawful rights. Defend the rights of holiness; stand manfully against transfers of the order.

Behold, already in our own times, in the province of Mainz alone, six monasteries have been transferred from our order; and unless we watch more carefully, we shall suffer graver losses day by day. Thus, while we dissemble, not to say grow sluggish, the order is gradually diminished, until at last it is entirely scattered. Why do we not meet such great dangers? Or, while the others perish, do we wisely trust in our own security? Did not the poet truly say: “Your own affair is at stake when the neighboring wall is burning”? Yesterday the danger was theirs; tomorrow a like danger will hang over us.

Each one of you, I do not doubt, loves his own monastery, and would by no means consent that it be transferred from the order, so that he desires not only its present happiness but also its future happiness to be prolonged for eternal years. Why then do you not defend in common what each of you fears to lose individually? I fear, Fathers, that in this dissembling our very wicked tenacity is being exposed. We love, and yet we lose, a monastery; we fear a few expenses, and lose spacious dwellings. We are unwilling to lay out a small sum of money, and we allow most abundant monasteries to pass from the order to outsiders. We put private advantages before the common good, and we do not care to preserve the honor of the order. We say many things, we determine many things for the useful defense of the order; but all of us are afraid to spend coins. O feeble zeal, which stinginess renders useless. If we do not give money for our brothers, when shall we lay down our life? If we do not contribute a few expenses for the preservation of the order, when shall we give our bodies? He who is grasping in a small matter: when will he be generous in a great one?

Now I shall speak to you, Fathers, who dissemble while the order has been placed amid such great dangers and needs aid. Blessed Benedict made you rich from poverty.

has made, now asks alms from you and, shameful to say, does not receive them. Behold how many are found among us, if I may say so with your pardon, who distribute the substance of the monastery to frivolous persons, prepare banquets for birds and dogs, enrich parents and kinsmen from the monastery’s goods, and squander the rest in vain and voluptuous feasts.

Few there are who grieve over the desolation of our order; fewer think about a remedy; very few supply help. Is this how the holy order of Benedict, once most excellent among all, is defended from the enemy’s assault? Wake up, Fathers, while watchfulness is useful, lest too late you repent of having slept. Look at the professors of other orders, how carefully, how zealously, how steadfastly they defend the rights, privileges, and monasteries of their religion, sparing neither expenses nor labors nor contributions, so that they may preserve their orders in their strength.

Are you inferior to them? Are you poorer than the mendicants? If one chooses to consider the number of monasteries of the order, we are more numerous; if the substance of temporal goods, richer; if power and authority, undoubtedly superior. What do we lack, except zeal and constancy, that they possess? Why then do we hesitate? Why do we grow feeble in idle inactivity? Why do we not keep watch for the defense of our order?

Do you not know, O Fathers, that the laws aid those who are watchful? That is not good patience by which God’s honor is neglected, the worship due to him is diminished, and the integrity of the holy order is violated. What shall I say? You grieve over monasteries already transferred, and yet you do not undertake to preserve those that are to be transferred. You put private interests before common ones; therefore your zeal bears little fruit. Each of us, as I see, thinks himself safe if, when his neighbor’s house is burning, his own wall does not at once grow hot. But O folly, O stupidity deservedly to be blamed: he who, wrapped in so many dangers, now raises himself up in confidence of his own security will shortly, once fallen, be compelled to lament.

Therefore, Fathers, if we desire to preserve our houses unharmed from fire, let us meet the fire with water while it is still far away. For if the flame is allowed to pass as far as the neighboring houses, thought is taken for a remedy too late. Hence the poet says: “Resist beginnings; too late is medicine prepared when evils have grown strong through long delays.” Dangers that are ignored gain strength with time, and what at the beginning easily admits a cure gradually becomes an incurable wound.

At the same time take care that an error now neglected does not, in the course of time, grow without measure, when no one will be found who will steadfastly oppose himself for the order. But if you say that litigation was always brought against the authors of the dismemberment, and that they nevertheless prevailed, I answer with that Virgilian saying: “Because the herdsmen came too late.” After the confirmation of letters, a sentence once issued is not easily revoked. For if Pilate was unwilling to change what he had once written, how will the supreme Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ, revoke what has once been decreed? A sentence is more easily prevented than revoked. But he who neglects his own right concedes it to his adversary. All must keep watch in a cause which It touches all, because what is snatched from one is judged to have been taken from all. Whenever a monastery is seized from our order, our common inheritance is in part wasted. If anyone has attempted to occupy your house or field, you immediately accuse him before the judge, immediately ask for an injunction, and until you conquer your adversary you do not cease from the lawsuit. Why, then, do we all not do in public causes of the order what each person does in private ones? Will what one man does be impossible for many, unless perhaps where there is a multitude there is also confusion, so that what is entrusted to several is preserved more negligently? For we gladly embrace the command that each man be nearest to himself. But while, with our body drawn in on every side, like a hedgehog, we roll our own affairs about within ourselves and cast aside care for the order, at last, caught by the snares of hunters, we think too late about the remedy of flight.

Therefore now, reverend Fathers, with the goodwill that befits a monk and with all the attention I can, I beg you: come to the aid of your order, which is nearly falling, and oppose these dismemberments as quickly as possible. Do not put money before such necessities; do not love coins more than the order. Shameful is the keeping of riches by which the commonwealth is not helped in necessity. What will an insatiable desire for gold profit you, if the desolation of your order, so holy, so venerable, so glorious, should prevail? If our predecessors had watched over the order with no greater care than we do, long ago in many monasteries the name of our religion would have perished. Let us therefore imitate the constancy of those whose inheritance we have received. If we love God, if we love the honor of the order, if we desire to preserve it, let us think in time about a remedy. Let us contribute a little to the preservation of the order, that we may deserve to receive much; let us spend a part, that we may be able to preserve the whole; let us offer worthless things, that we may be able to acquire precious ones; let us give earthly things, that we may be able to possess heavenly ones. Let us spend money and also prayer, since by the former man is appeased, by the latter God.

Whatever we have belongs to the right of our holy father Benedict; when we spend anything for the preservation of the order, we do not give him what is ours, but restore to him what is his. Indeed, we are bound to him not only for the souls entrusted to us, but are also obliged to give an account for the substance of the monastery. Yet an account of revenue is never rendered more safely than when money is opportunely expended in the causes of the Lord. But if money is spared in the Lord’s necessity, suspicion is generated of the servant’s unfaithfulness.

At the beginning of this chapter we set down the title concerning the manner of resisting the dismemberments of the wicked; lest we seem to have passed over these matters untouched, let us briefly explain them. And although this treatment does not pertain to me, nevertheless, since I am a foster-son of your same order and a lover of the chapter, the admonition of a disciple will not, as I think, be burdensome to you. It is yours, O Fathers, to distinguish the true from the false; let it suffice for me to have explained what I think. The manner of opposing these presumptions of monks is easily learned, if from the example Let it be put into practice: look at the other orders, and from their diligence you will recognize what you must do. They appoint procurators from among their own men in the city of Rome, who vigorously resist the beginnings of evils and allow nothing to gain strength against their order. And you, Fathers, unless you do the same, will suffer serious losses in the future. Therefore, if it can be done, if it is pleasing, let someone be chosen from the order: a zealous, devout, learned, and experienced man, who will fight no less by influence than by zeal, who will not prefer his own interests to the common good, who will not flee labors, who will attempt nothing rashly beyond the commission to be entrusted to him, and who, once appointed procurator of the order in the city, will always keep careful watch on its behalf. I believe that, if such a man were available, he would forestall many dangers to the order.

For it is the greatest foresight if the procurator in the city can denounce before the Pope the false and fictitious allegations which perverse monks falsely present as true for the sake of their own dismemberment. And this is not a work of great difficulty, for all the causes they allege are full of fear and falsehood. But the Vicar of Christ, who grants transfers of monks more because of importunity than out of favor, when he has seen their allegations refuted by the diligence of our procurator, will rejoice that he has found an occasion for denying what he was unwillingly granting. For he too fears the judgment of his Lord. Therefore, if we were watchful, we would have him as defender and advocate of our order. Our negligence alone is accused. Our stinginess alone is condemned.

Against those who uselessly consume the goods of monasteries and disdain to assist the order even in any measure. Chapter VIII.

But now I am pleased to turn the force of my words against those who, amid such great necessities, do not deign to assist the holy order even in any measure. These are worldly abbots, useless men, given over to pleasures, who, to use the words of Mantuan, neglecting the worship of those above and despising the command of the Thunderer, indulge Bacchus and serve Venus. They carry sacred things with gold, build altars with coins; with gold they pour libations of wine, with gold their paneled ceilings gleam. They cover whores with jewels, set banquets before dogs; adorned with the spoils of the poor and enriched by plunder, puffed up by success, they laugh at heaven and Acheron alike.

They have no care at all for the salvation of souls, no love of God, no reverence for the saints, no practice of the virtues. These are the abbots rebellious against your chapter, who neglect the statutes, spurn the sanctions, and despise the Rule. From the rejected they have been raised to greatness, but they impiously despise the order that honored them. Saint Benedict exalted you, ungrateful abbot; he made you rich, received you as a monk, and appointed you shepherd of his brothers. Why, then, do you not acknowledge the generosity of your lawgiver? Why do you not repay his benefits in return?

What do you have that you did not receive from his Rule? Who endowed the monastery entrusted to you? Was it not the devotion of princes and the alms of faithful peoples? Why, then, are you ungrateful for such great benefits? See, you think of nothing less than regular observance: you reject discipline; you spurn God, despise his precepts, and presume upon security. See, with the birds of the sky you sport against the Rule; see, with unclean dogs you hunt against the law of clerics; see, in the pleasures of the flesh you delight against decency; see, what is most shameful, despising your oath of chastity, you consume the property of Saint Benedict with prostitutes and pimps. You are not afraid to spend thirty or forty gold coins at the baths, and yet you refuse to offer even one to Saint Benedict? I lie if I have not known abbots who spent more than fifty florins at the hot springs, some of whom are foremost among those who resist the subsidies of the chapter. Others also among those who wish to be called Observant, unable to endure seclusion and quiet, and unable to remain long in the monastery, judge every occasion suitable by which they can migrate here and there at great expense.

What shall I say about buildings, both curious and superfluous, which are liable to blame no less than to expense? Walls are adorned with paintings, pinnacles gleam with gold, windows are marked with monuments; the poor cry out at the door, the sacred order, being in straits, asks for help, and no one deigns to assist. O abbot, servant of pleasure, cultivator of vanity, enemy of piety, you who shamefully pour out the substance of the monastery, you who drink wines from gold, you who deny aid to your order, how will you render an account of your stewardship to Saint Benedict? If the rich glutton was buried in hell because he did not give Lazarus help from his own goods for God’s sake, where will the abbot be buried who denied to his lord what belonged to another? If he who did not give alms from his own goods will burn forever, what does the abbot deserve who has committed robbery?

What do you have, O abbot, that you did not receive? For everything you possess belongs to the right of Saint Benedict. It is a moral principle for all that he who lives by the support of justice should dare to deny no one what is just. The definition of justice is to render to each what is owed to him by right. But we who are established in monasteries have nothing of our own, but possess another’s goods in good faith. What belongs to another is judged liable to restitution. For all things that princes and faithful peoples bestowed on monasteries for the sustenance of monks are remembered as having been handed over to Saint Benedict. If, then, you have squandered his substance, if you have despised rendering to him what is his, you will be subject to a twofold condemnation, since from your unfaithfulness you will be judged sacrilegious, and from your denial of trust, criminal.

Render therefore to each what is his, and do not usurp for yourself what is not yours. Give to your lawgiver what he rightly demands; give aid to his order, that it may subsist. Why do you not spend the subsidies owed to your religion? Why do you not render a part to him who bestowed the whole on you? Why do you deny a little to him from whom you have received much? Surely...

Will you be able to plead the poverty of your monastery, you who so shamefully squander so much? I am ashamed to say what many abbots are not ashamed to do: sunk, or rather maddened, in the pleasures of the flesh, they preserve nothing of monastic honor and omit nothing of worldly baseness. They think everything is permitted to them, since they consider not what is fitting, but what pleases them.

See: one, abhorring monastic quiet, seeks comfort in the world by wandering about; another, impatient of the seclusion required by the rule, goes out pompously in public; another, despising honorable discipline, sits all day as a drunken dinner-companion among frivolous people; this one, scorning the meekness of the saints, entangles himself in the lawsuits of litigants; another sits playing at the gaming-board; another foolishly dances to the drum.

What do ambitious abbots not presume to do? What do they leave untried in their pleasures? When they dine, the knees of servants are bent before them; when they pass through churches, carpets are spread beneath them; when they go forward in public, a huge crowd of servants follows. You will find, I am not lying, an abbot among them, even among those who boast in the name of reform, whose ambition is so great that he does not wish to be called inferior to a bishop; who sits at table with such display that the abundance of vessels, the variety of food and drink, and the multitude of attendants would suffice for any prince. In short, if you met him as he proceeded through a city, you would see him surrounded by such a crowd of servants that you would think not an abbot but an archbishop was passing by. If they did not pretend to be poor, but were poor, vanity would by no means pour itself out in such great solemnity. For I am certain that this crowd follows prey, not a man. Who could find prey among the poor, or would wish to?

O abbot, fugitive shepherd, ungrateful and faithless steward of the goods of your Lord, who spend the substance of the monastery so uselessly, who live voluptuously and shamefully: who will help you at the final examination? Whom will you appoint as advocate when you must render your account? Behold, you consume the goods of Saint Benedict in pleasure; from them you aid your relatives; you lavish gifts on base men; you distribute presents to your flatterers; day and night you serve gluttony and drunkenness. You eat the richest things of the earth and drink the best wines; poor monks live in want, humble brothers eat the bread of sorrow; the sheep entrusted to you are fed on worthless fare.

O vain shepherd, who neglect the Lord’s flock, who despise the necessities of your brothers, remember to whom you are going to render an account; call to mind how dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God, who does not regard the person of any man, who repays each one according to his works. But hear my counsel: do penance, redeem your sins with alms, indeed discharge the repayment of what is owed, so that before the eternal judge you may deserve to find mercy. Lay aside your arrogance; cast off pride; abandon vanity. Be the abbot of your brothers according to the rule; be a shepherd in solicitude, a father in charity. Feed them by word, feed them by example, feed them...

with nourishment; if you omit either of these, you will be a useless shepherd. For without spiritual things, temporal things do nothing toward eternal salvation; without the aid of temporal things, spiritual things do not long subsist in this life. Therefore, if you wish to be a good shepherd, know that the care of both kinds of feeding has been laid upon you, namely spiritual and bodily.

I had said that your sins must be discharged by repayment of a debt. Of what debt? Of that, namely, by which you are deemed bound to St. Benedict. What is that debt? Everything that you have. For from him you have it that you are a monk; from him, that you are wealthy. And now he from whom you have all these things knocks at your door; for the necessity of his order he asks help; he desires to receive back the least part of the very great things he has entrusted to you. Why do you deny him his own goods? Why, when they are demanded of you, do you not at once restore what was entrusted to you?

Divine Scripture commands and says: If you see the naked, cover him, and do not despise your own flesh. Behold, your order stands naked; behold, your torn religion cries out, begs alms, asks back what is its own, seeks help. If there are in you any bowels of pity, any heart of sweetness, any love for your order, any love of God, do not despise your own flesh; do not scorn so great a public kinship. Honor him who first honored you; give alms to him who raised you up; bestow a little on him who made you rich in many things. However much you give him, nothing at all is diminished for you, if only you apply a good will: you will give a little and receive much; you will generously bestow earthly things and hope for heavenly things.

Nor should it escape you, since, as is commonly said, whatever is withdrawn from honor is reserved for shame. For the legal maxim says: The treasury takes what Christ does not receive. He is not free from the guilt of crime who sets greed before the order of piety.

But why do we strive in vain? The word of piety has no place in wicked hearts. If they despise the words of God, what wonder if they scorn ours? Though I may speak many things, say many things, urge excellent things with words for contributing to the order, I shall never bend the rebellious man. Indeed, unless your authority, lord presidents, intervenes, the speech of one who admonishes labors in vain. It therefore belongs to your office to bend the rebellious; to you is committed the humbling of the disobedient; ours is humbly to obey your decrees. Therefore, if you desire to defend our order from the assault of the wicked, take care first of all to recall rebellious abbots to obedience, because unless the unity of the order is restored, the impiety of its adversaries will easily prevail. For the Lord says in the Gospel: Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and house will fall upon house. Division alone confounds the order.

The Pentichus of Johannes Trithemius.

How disobedient and rebellious abbots are to be compelled to come to the aid of the order. Chapter IX.

If judges lack authority to restrain the rebellious, legislation is made in vain. For we always strive after what is forbidden, and unless compelled we resist commands. For where there is no fear of power, the condition of law is quickly despised. The preservation of law, therefore, is fear of power. But where the relaxation of power looks the other way, the vigor of law totters; for a constitution, however holy or necessary, is quickly snatched into oblivion if authority is lacking by which contempt may be punished.

Take away power, and the commonwealth will be nothing other than a confusion full of sedition. For rustic savagery is not led by reason, nor quieted by gentleness. Among our own people too, God amend it, there are many abbots and monks coarser than peasants, more savage than beasts, who are not bent by gentleness to the observance of God’s commandments and the Rule, nor are ever persuaded by exhortations, however holy. If the authority of those who preside does not oppose such men, they will never be led by any obedience to their head.

For this reason the supreme pontiffs, founders of this most sacred provincial chapter, established for us many useful remedies, by which we may compel the abbots subject to the chapter to contribute to the support of the order. We have authority; do we hesitate about power? And what is authority worth without power? If you wish, most honored Fathers, that I speak more openly about what I have meant by the power of authority, you will pardon me if I mark your timidity, not to say negligence.

Behold, we have learned that one hundred twenty-seven abbeys are established under our provincial chapter, yet we do not receive from all of them the subsidies of the contribution due. Why is this? We receive the authority to demand it, but we do not exercise the power. We receive what is offered willingly; we are afraid to compel the disobedient. For I am certain that many abbots of our province contribute nothing to the support of the order; indeed, if they are asked, they object as though by prescriptive right.

What are we doing? Why do we dissemble so long? We apply spurs to the one who runs willingly; to the one lying down, indeed kicking back, we do not even apply words. From this arises contempt for our statutes; the authority of the chapter is despised; the inheritance of the order is laid waste on every side. These things must be referred to you, O Fathers, who neglect to tame the rebellious at the beginning.

Consider what this dissembling will finally bring forth; and if you love your order, think as quickly as possible about a remedy. A body is weak and close to dissolution when it is deprived of the support of its members. Behold, out of one hundred twenty-seven abbots, how few you see in the present chapter, though all were bound to attend by statute. Where are the rest? Where are the procurators of all the absent? Few for the necessity of the or[unclear].

The preservation of law is fear of power.

Authority without power is worth nothing.

How many abbeys the Bursfeld congregation once had in the author’s time.

The rebellious must be tamed at the beginning.

fewer observe the statutes of the order; very few have assembled at the chapter. Where are the letters of excuse of those who did not send procurators? Where are the double expenses of the rebels? Who among the absent and rebellious, in all these many years, has ever been compelled to pay the double penalty? What use are statutes to us, what use are laws, what help are the privileges of the supreme pontiffs, if in a time of necessity they are not put into practice? Behold, Pope Benedict XII provided for us fittingly in all things, when he promulgated that the restraints of censures should be imposed against the contumacious and rebellious. Why then do we delay? Why do we not put into practice against the disobedient the remedies granted to us?

Truly, fathers, this dissimulation of ours which we practice is not praiseworthy. For the rebellion of a few, if passed over in silence, will be an occasion for many to resist. But if a small number is compelled to obedience by discipline, the boldness of the multitude is restrained by fear. Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and every religious order at variance with itself is gradually scattered. It is no fair appearance of order where confusion troubles unity; for in every commonwealth the first road to desolation is the disobedience of subjects.

Therefore, venerable fathers, if you desire to continue the provincial chapter, if you wish to oppose the dismembering of the monks, if finally you wish to defend your order from the hands of enemies, take care first of all to recall the contumacious to obedience, lest what you acquire outwardly by diligence you lose inwardly through the division of your subjects. This indeed must first be attempted by the gentlest exhortations. But if they contemn these with hardened neck, they must be struck with harsher rebukes. If, however, they care neither for gentle words nor harsh ones, then ecclesiastical censure should be promulgated against them. For fools are not corrected by exhortations, but become proud.

In these matters, however, moderation must be observed, and necessary discretion, without which no rebellion is ever softened. For it is better to have weak sheep than none. But who is so fit that he can preserve discretion everywhere? It is difficult to apply moderation to all deeds. He who wishes to heal infirm souls must be both severe and compassionate, and tempered as though from a certain mean between the two, so that severity is not excessive nor compassion lax. For the one breaks, the other loosens. But the fairest manner of coercing the rebellious and contumacious is that which the long experience of elders commends.

On holding the provincial chapter. Chapter X.

When you come together as one, most excellent fathers, let us diligently investigate what the celebration of the provincial chapter requires. For the greatest strength of our stability is placed in it, if it is celebrated rightly. For it is the one fortress of our order, without which our whole religious life would be thrown into confusion.

For a chapter is the preservation of order, the increase of regular discipline, the uniting of unity. In it, indeed, integrity is given to morals, purity is increased in minds, and the equality of regular life is restored. But hear what is required for it to be celebrated rightly; hear what its sincere celebration demands. It requires zeal, it requires knowledge, it requires piety: without these three the celebration of a chapter is worth nothing. For if zeal is lacking, who will correct offenders? If knowledge is lacking, what fruit will excessive piety bring forth? Again, if piety is lacking, neither does zeal receive love, nor knowledge discipline. For piety avails for all things: zeal sharpens, knowledge directs, piety produces fruit. Without zeal, knowledge remains cold; without piety, fruitless. Likewise zeal without knowledge will be excessive and undiscerning; without piety, hateful. But piety avails for all things, although without zeal and knowledge it is not sufficient for the governance of souls. For it pleases all, and benefits only the humble when set apart.

Therefore the whole matter of celebrating a chapter consists in the disposition of the presiding officers, which requires men who are zealous, learned, and gentle. For if they are lax, inexperienced, cruel, and impious, how then will they reform others to piety? If the man who sits to punish crimes admits them himself, whom like himself will he amend? Therefore this fault must be referred to you, Fathers, if you choose deformed and vicious abbots for the presidency. With the greatest care, then, see that you appoint as presiding officers over the chapter such men as an irreproachable life commends. Let zeal for holy religion sharpen them; let instruction in saving knowledge temper them. For one who presides over others must be a man upright in morals, mature in conduct, fervent in zeal, instructed in knowledge of the Scriptures, adorned with gentleness. Such a man, O Fathers, is rightly to be preferred over us, whose life offers an example and whose teaching gives an increase of virtue. If the presiding officers of the chapter are such, those subject to it will easily be brought back to obedience. For those will be fit to preside who can instruct the teachable by word, the rude by example, and the obstinate by authority. In these ways, indeed, the chapter will be rightly celebrated, and the souls of the subjects will be built up.

The other things that make presiding officers suitable I am not permitted to describe on this occasion, since I believe none of them is ignorant of what sort of men they ought to be. Therefore I turn again to you, O Fathers, who have gathered in this place for the celebration of the chapter. I address you; I exhort you to direct your intention to the restoration of the order, and to consider with careful mind why the chapter was instituted. Do you wish to know why chapters were instituted? Seek out the decrees of the supreme pontiffs, and you will know the cause of their institution. But lest either laziness or occupation hinder the understanding of this matter, I shall briefly explain the cause for the establishment of the chapter. The purpose, then, of a provincial chapter is the preservation of regular observance. For the Roman pontiffs and the general councils, seeing...

On the State and Ruin of the Monastic Order.

The presidents, judging that our order could not long subsist in observance without a special remedy, determined through the provincial chapter to come to its aid; in which, through the diligence of the presidents, all would be instructed to live according to the Rule, and no one could deviate from the reform once begun. For in the chapter of abbots vices are to be corrected, exhortations to virtues are to be made, so that the bad may find something to fear, and the good may hear something by which they may become better. Therefore various things are read for edification, so that increases may always be present to good minds. There the abbot is instructed concerning his governance; there he is admonished concerning the danger of pastoral care; there what he is to do is prescribed, and what he is to avoid for the love of God is forbidden. Finally, when we gather thus for chapter, many useful things come about for us, which, if we seek the salvation of souls, are very necessary. For, to pass over the rest, mutual acquaintance in charity is there conceived, and experience shows how greatly this conduces to love of regular observance. There, from acquaintance, brotherly charity is both preserved and increased; otherwise it would quickly grow lukewarm if it did not have the nourishment of mutual recognition. Here an easy access to uniformity lies open, where, from the conference of the fathers, a mutual fire is prepared for honorable conduct, and from the fellowship of holiness an example is offered.

These are the camps of God, O Fathers, and the defenses of our order, by which all the devices of our adversaries may be reduced to nothing. But there is not one sincerity in all, nor does equality of manners appear among you. Whence could such a disparity of manners arise in one order, where capitular unity is seen? Who has divided between you and the Rule of Saint Benedict, O Fathers, long-haired with matted hair? Why do you not look to uniformity, you who celebrate assemblies of unity? If you love the holy order which you profess, why do you not love uniformity in it? What is the shadow of a long-haired head to you? What ornament do you think the summit of a curled crown bears? Believe me, Fathers: a face covered with hair is reckoned a disgrace in a monk, not an honor. O how beautiful this assembly would be if, as it ought, it came together into one discipline of regular observance. What shall I say? I praise the assembly, but I rebuke the deformity among its members. For because of the disorder of the order, the present unity grows cheap. The outward habit indicates what the inward garment reproves in the life of many. Truly, Fathers, this disparity of manners and habits offends the provincial chapter no little, since it is known to have been instituted for this reason, that equality of life might be preserved above all things. For outward discord is the sign of inward discord. Therefore, that we may be of one mind in the observance of regular discipline, let us strive first of all to be conformable in habit and tonsure.

The Pentichus Book of Johannes Trithemius

How necessary a diligent reform of the monasteries in our Province would be. Chapter XI.

How necessary a diligent reform of the monasteries in our Province is, you yourselves, O Fathers, know, for you are not ignorant of the condition of the monks of this time. I know it is known to you with what labors, expenses, and sweats the Fathers once reformed our order; concerning these things we find records in our age both few and weak. Among all the reforms of our order in our province, however, three have lately shone forth above the rest, namely the Castellan, from Castellum; the Melk, from Melk; and the Bursfeld, from Bursfeld, having taken their names from them. All these, just as they were fervent in the beginning, so, gradually growing lukewarm, are approaching their end. For the first two, as though worn out with age, have been reduced to a small number; but the last, which is also the later one, because it is still younger, seems also to be more steadfast. Nevertheless even this itself now seems in certain of its members to be growing lukewarm and again declining toward the laxity of its former life. Thus once the Cluniac reform, known throughout the whole world, when it spread itself far and wide, gradually failed, as though its strength had been lost through expansion. For it is said in the proverb: everything that grows old is near destruction. For any reform, however celebrated or holy it may have been, unless it is often renewed through the diligence of prelates, gradually vanishes. For as much as it grows with time, so much is it diminished in fervor. For when those who had shown zeal for the order in deed passed away, new abbots arose after them who, neglecting the holy fervor of reform, relapsed into their former deformities. And, to touch on matters nearer at hand, where is that reform which Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, as legate, began with incredible zeal? Where are those terrible oaths of all the abbots of our province, by which they bound themselves to regular observance in the hands of the same Cardinal before the altar of Saint Stephen at Würzburg? Where is the regular observance that was promised? Behold, Fathers, you have under your chapter one hundred twenty-seven abbeys; of these, from the three observances already mentioned, scarcely seventy have remained under reform. Yet there are, I do not doubt, some who think themselves excellently reformed, but their conduct denies it. Would that the abbots would heed the threat of our holy lawgiver, often repeated, by which he says that the governance of souls is subject to the strictest accounting. Would that they would drive the sheep entrusted to them to the pastures of heavenly life, lest they themselves perish eternally together with the sheep. Consider the conduct, both of abbots and of monks, without the law of monastic honor, smoking all around; when it is known, it is a shame for me to speak of it, and a horror for you, O most revered Fathers, to hear it. For the three vows of religion, which because of their excellence are called substantial, not

On the state and ruin of the monastic order.

Why the Canonical Hours are performed by some without devotion.

they care less than if they had never promised to observe them. They confound everything, profane everything, presume everything. If we look to divine worship, they perform it so confusedly, so disorderly, so laxly, that neither do the words convey sense, nor does the melody sound the proper tone. For they are devoid of all instruction in the good arts, so that they understand absolutely nothing of what they sing. Hence it comes about that, without feeling, without devotion, without any savor of inward sweetness, they do not so much discharge the canonical hours as confound them. In their hands the book of divine Scripture is never seen; no practice of edifying discourse is ever taken up; no account is ever taken of the formation of morals. The whole day is consumed in obscene gossip; all time is enslaved to games and feasting. There is never any mention of reform. The madness of men at odds with one another rages mutually, and among the cowls, peace broken, the monastery, with law despised, [unclear] insane with lawsuits. Spear there, and sword, and bow are at hand, so that you would think what you see is not a monastery but a stronghold of men at war. As witnesses of their private ownership, contrary to the statutes, contrary to the laws, contrary to the rule, they each inhabit separate houses, in which they pursue not the studies of monks but those of clerics. They neither fear nor love God; they think nothing of the life to come, since they put the concerns of the soul after the pleasures of the flesh. They do not read the rule of monks; they do not heed the statutes; they despise the decrees of the Fathers. They scorn the vow of poverty, know nothing of chastity, and hold obedience cheap. And would that, since they refuse to be chaste, they would at least deign to be continent. The filth of vices smokes all around, and what everyone knows, we alone, who are ordered to amend it, do not know. Why should I say much? So many, so great, so varied are the unlawful things they commit there against the Rule of Saint Benedict, that I would more readily think a monk could be formed anew than that the life of these men could be amended. For nothing of monastic honor remains inviolate among them; rather everything lies neglected, spurned, despised, and torn apart. Anger, quarrels, dissensions, envy, detractions, curses, oaths, insults, and things like these are not judged among them to be sins, because what is public has begun to be lawful. A place lies open for vices and crimes; virtue alone does not deserve entry. They laugh if anyone begins to speak before them about penance, and, as Mantuan says, they despise the gods above and Acheron. There is no fear of punishment, no dread of the Judge. Among them you would see, as in a spring of all vices, pride, greed, lust, gluttony, sloth, anger, hatred, and every pleasure of the flesh abounding; if they can grasp it, they rejoice; if they cannot, still they eagerly desire it. The beasts have rotted in their own dung, and, as if reason had been lost, they do not wish to be recalled to penance. O good God, to what great calamity has the order been brought down, once so lofty, which could deservedly be preferred to all orders. O holy Father Benedict, who once

The Pentichus Book of Johannes Trithemius.

You were so solicitous for your religion; why do you abandon us at the end? Why do you not look to your inheritance? Why do you not now, even now, come to the aid of your order as it totters? Have you cast off care for it? Or has your soul abhorred your sons? Come to our aid, help us, bring assistance, because your religion has never been surrounded by such grievous evils. Behold, it is being destroyed from without by lovers of the world; behold, it is being torn apart within by perverse monks, so that no one can easily discern which is the greater crime: for monasteries to be transferred into the hands of secular clerics, or to be kept longer under the hands of such criminal monks.

Alas, holy Father, what shall I say? You, once instructing abbots, commanded them to be solicitous concerning weak monks. Now shepherds have no care for the sheep, no diligence for the salvation of souls: all seek the things that are their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. Behold, your sons, Father, having zeal, desire to come to the rescue, but they accomplish nothing, hindered by the rashness of the wicked. Who, amid these things, will truly come to our aid? The bishop? But he cares for his own affairs, seeks his own, despises ours. Princes? But they sell favor, reject discipline, seek temporal things. There is no one who grieves over the crushing of your order; no one who comes to its aid; no one who provides help. All who can restore it neglect it; others, who seem to have zeal for discipline, try to help, but cannot.

O abbots, abbots, you who are the occasion of all evils in your monasteries. You who, given over to vanities, do not at once correct monks who do wrong: what a harsh sentence of condemnation you will receive. To you, believe me, to you will be imputed the damnation of your monks. You, placed as their rulers, have neglected to instruct their morals. Woe to you. It would be better if you had never been abbots. You, devoting yourselves to avarice and lust, neglect the work of the Lord, despise the care of souls, think nothing of the path of observance. You who ought to correct the vices of monks commit vices, and, lest your own be reproved, you conceal those of others.

You see, most adorned Fathers, what the condition of your order is, what the abbots are, what the monks are, since those who [unclear] the wicked are lacking; among them only those who [unclear] occur. Why, then, do you delay? Why do you not think about the reformation of such men? Why do you not restrain the wicked pursuits of the monks? Their ill repute confounds us; their examples scandalize us, because the greater they are in number, the better in conduct they are believed to be by those who do not know.

Rise up, Fathers, because the days are both short and evil; reform, according to your powers, the deformed order; raise up what has been cast down; restore what has collapsed. For unless you apply a remedy quickly, you will shortly suffer grave loss. For dissolute monks, enemies of regular discipline, always aspire to worse things, and, lest they be saved in the order, they strive to abandon it. You have the aids of law for beginning reformation; you have the Rule; you have statutes. This alone is required of you: that you put them into practice. Therefore, if you love your order, indeed because you love it: do not neglect, do not delay,

On the Condition and Ruin of the Monastic Order.

because the greatest necessity presses upon us, since the impiety of perverse monks everywhere grows bold. Behold, the rich men of the world violently seize the goods of monasteries; behold, the worshippers of avarice invade the possessions of the order; behold, secular clerics receive the abbeys of St. Benedict in commendam. None of these things would happen if abbots and monks had persevered in regular observance. Let us therefore impute to ourselves what we suffer, since we did not resist the rashness of the wicked from the beginning. To us, I say, this fault is justly ascribed, since, intent on our own advantages, we do not care for the losses of the order, as though they were someone else’s. Let us rise up, I pray, Fathers; let us rise up, even at last, though late, after so many losses, so many dangers, so much destruction of souls, and let us do what lies in us, beseeching God’s mercy for the rest, that he may supply our deficiency, direct our zeal, and bring our holy efforts to completion. And if we cannot bring the whole order back to the unity of good conduct, let us at least strive, as far as possible, to reform those monks who are in our province. But if complete conformity cannot be had in all things, let it at least be reformed in the three substantial things, without which the life of monks must be judged nothing other than the foul brothel of an unbelieving soul. Reform, moreover, must begin with the abbots, and thereafter be continued among the monks. For unless the shepherd has been brought back to sincerity, the health of the sheep will not long endure. For it is commonly said: When the head is sick, the other members suffer. Therefore every adornment of the body must begin from the head. There are certain deformed abbots who wish to compel their monks to reform, but they themselves do not wish to submit to regular observance, not even in the least; hating in themselves the good that they love in others, and not blushing to do themselves what they forbid their subjects. Do not trust such men, O Fathers, for they are the very ones who confound us: they spurn visitations, they despise the decrees of chapters. Let experience make us cautious, whom zeal at another time, without knowledge, made penitent.

That visitors ought to be solicitous for the reform of our order.

Chapter XII.

The chief force of reform, however, is placed in the diligence of the visitors. Therefore it is said in the constitutions of the Fathers that suitable men should be appointed to the office of visitation: men who, by word and example, can effectively instruct those to be visited in uprightness of conduct. For a Visitor must be learned in divine law. He must be holy and irreproachable in life, so that by word he may teach the teachable, and by example instruct the stubborn. For one without the other is not sufficient in a ruler of souls. For if he is unlearned, how will he instruct others? If his conduct does not provide those to be visited with an example of good action, how will he exhort them to reform? He will indeed hear the reproach of the proverb, in which it is said: Physician, heal thyself.

The Pentichus Book of Johannes Trithemius

Nor undeservedly. For indeed, by what presumption are you led, O Polylogue the Visitor, to try to reform others, when you still lie in your own deformity? You are polluted with the filth of vices, and will you be able to cleanse others? Believe me, the Holy Spirit will not give power to your words, when by a contrary life you offend against his grace. A sermon lacks efficacy in the heart of the hearer when the preacher’s conduct reproves it.

What shall I say? I lie if the stubborn man does not often rebuke the stubborn, the foul man defame the foul; and he thinks that he has escaped being conscious of himself, as though conscience were not enough. There are, I say, among them those who, vicious in life, accuse others: in public accusers, in secret guilty parties, at once judges against themselves and offenders. Outwardly they condemn what inwardly they do; they willingly admit what, when they have observed it, they charge as a crime. A boldness wholly suited to the abusive, and an impudence fitting for the impudent.

Often the miser rebukes the covetous man; the lustful man, the unchaste; the proud man, the arrogant; the criminal, the foul. What, Fathers, what do you think? Can deceivers of this sort be found among the visitors themselves? I do not dare to say it; yet I experience it. Many say many things; few show by deeds what they speak. They cannot reform themselves and their own, and they strive to compel others to observance. They say great things, they do the least things: foolish presumption, which, neglecting its own affairs, is carried off to those of others. He who is not sufficient for himself, for whom will he abound? He who cannot bring himself and his own to amendment of life, when will he be able to amend others?

I have said these things against those who are such, who condemn in others what they scorn to amend in themselves. For the rest, I would not wish anything to have been said as an injury to zealous, good, and suitable visitors, of whom I have known several. But you, most excellent Fathers, who have to choose visitors, take care to appoint the better men to that office, if you desire to bring monks to regular observance. For the highest point of regular discipline lies with the visitors: when continued it grows, when neglected it fails.

Indeed, if the visitors diligently fulfill their office, they will preserve reformed monasteries in regular observance, and will easily restore deformed ones to a better state. But if they are negligent, they quickly destroy even those things which have been well begun by others. For nothing so confounds unity; nothing so disturbs peace; nothing so harms charity as the ignorance of visitors, which grows hot not with reason but with undiscerning will. Experience has very often taught us how great disturbances, dissensions, angers, quarrels, slanders, and hatreds unskilled visitors have stirred up in congregations of monks, visitors for whom everything rests on command, and nothing on knowledge and charity. But I have said enough about this, lest I seem to accuse those whom, because of the dignity of their office, we are commanded to treat with honor.

On the State and Ruin of the Monastic Order

How dangerous the governance of souls is. Chapter XIII.

If we consider how perilous a thing is the rule of souls, how heavy a burden is pastoral care, and to how strict an examination it is liable, it would be a wonder if ever in this life our heart presumed upon security. For Scripture says: “A most severe judgment shall be made upon those who are in authority.” For, as blessed Benedict declares in the Rule, the abbot will have to render account to God for the souls of all the monks committed to him. Therefore he says: “Let the abbot who has been ordained always consider what a burden he has taken up, and to whom he will render account of his stewardship.” It is certainly a heavy and dangerous burden to render account for the souls of many, when scarcely anyone is able to answer for himself. O what will abbots devoted to earthly things have to answer to the supreme Shepherd, who destroy the souls of their brothers by evil example and feed them neither by word nor by deed? What shall I say about certain abbots of our order, who neither read the Rule of Saint Benedict, which they profess, nor, if they read it, understand it? I lie if I have not known abbots established under our chapter who are wrapped in such great darkness of ignorance that they do not understand the smallest sentence from the Rule. They neither know nor love the divine Scriptures. Submerged in the vanities of the world, they vanish away. They serve the desires of the flesh, not the Spirit. According to the command of our lawgiver, the abbot must be learned in divine law, so that he may know whence to bring forth new things and old; chaste, sober, merciful, etc. What will those men say, what will they teach, what will they exhort, who understand nothing of the holy Scriptures, nothing of regular discipline? O good God, to what misery our order has come, which once was most learned and full of most holy men. Where now is the lover of regular observance? Where is the study of the Scriptures? Where is the preservation of holiness? All have perished together, and in only a few do we find traces of former honor. Our abbots, except for a few, either given over to avarice or carried away by the vanities of the world, think of nothing less than knowledge of the Scriptures, although many consider themselves learned; but from their works the character of their erudition is known. Now the avaricious man is thought learned. Now he is called religious who joins field to field, who keeps watch over earthly profits, who gives free rein to his appetite for gathering riches. But believe me, fathers, because I am about to speak the truth: temporal riches do not make discipline stable in the order. O how terrible a sentence those abbots will undergo who neglect the Rule, who do not go before their monks by word and by example of holiness; who despise spiritual exercises; who devote themselves to earthly gains; who contemn the discipline of monastic honor. Would that they were wise and understood, and foresaw their last things, and either governed the burden of so great a rule with solicitude, or, if they could not, humbly laid it down.

The Pentichus Book of Johannes Trithemius. 273 Happy is he who stands solicitously upon his watch; who always does the will of the Lord; who, without pretense, lives according to the purity of the Rule.

But for the present these things which we have said concerning the state and reformation of our order will, as I believe, suffice; and let their reading, with the end of the chapter, also come to its close. Moreover, all and singular things which either in this treatise or in others I have written or shall write, I submit to the examination of the sacrosanct Roman Church, whose faith, doctrine, and definition I wish always and everywhere to preserve, teach, believe, and defend as long as I live. But if anything, which God forbid, has been said by me otherwise than she holds, teaches, and believes, I now by these presents simply revoke it and wish it to be held as not said. By this my declaration I wish and judge the supreme pontiff, the vicar of Christ, to be in all things the judge and moderator of my faith and doctrine.

The present treatise was read at table in the provincial chapter of the Order of Saint Benedict of the Province of Mainz, celebrated at Hirsau, in the year of the Lord 1493, on Jubilate Sunday and on the following days until the end. Moreover, with all the abbots gathered there willing and consenting, it was decreed that it should be printed, and that in future provincial chapters it should always be read publicly at table, as is clear in the statutes.

End.

Index of all the things which seemed memorable in these works of Trithemius

A No one can be abbot of many brothers without being troublesome to some, 91. Who ought to be created abbot, 144. The less religious conduct of abbots is ascribed to the monks to whom the election belongs, 251. Nothing is more unhappy than misshapen abbots, 240. A wondrous abstinence from all human food for twenty years, 106. Abstinence greatly increases merit, 105. A contrary action will receive a contrary reward, 238. An exhortation to love of quiet, 39. An exhortation to meditate on the Lord’s Passion, 115. An exhortation to spiritual warfare, 7. An exhortation to study and reading of the sacred Scriptures, 25. An exhortation to old men and young men, 73. A truly manly admonition, 147. Those serving the Lord under the Rule of the holy father Benedict until the end will have him as advocate, 245. The advocates of the wicked will have no advocates in God’s judgment, 252. We do nothing either more just or more useful than when we love God, 161. Ambition makes one forget future things and pursue things that perish, 238. Love is nothing other than the sweet drunkenness of the soul, 164. Nothing is stronger than the love of Christ, 56. “My love has been crucified.” The saying of St. Ignatius, 56. You will love God if you repeat to yourself how much he has done and suffered for you, 166. The love of God is like fire, 33. The love of God gathers strength through spiritual exercises, 166. The love of God does not permit a man to be idle, 42. The love of God teaches all things, 163. The energy of divine love, 33. Love of the right is more easily retained than recovered once lost, 34. What an angel provides for a man, 212. The causes and roots of apostasy are pleasure and hatred of discipline, 253. Why apostates from the order persecute monks who persevere in the order, 254. Apostates from the order rarely depart by a good death, 241. Apostates rarely return to penitence, 246. Apostates gradually slip into every crime, 245. The advocates of apostates will render account on the day of judgment for their unlawful patronage, 252. The author refutes the patched-together arguments of apostates, 251. How many archbishops there have been from the order of St. Benedict, 233. What kind of weapons the fathers used for the restoration of the order, 239. The far strongest weapons against enemies are faith, charity, humility, and fear, 6. The nine degrees of ascent, 223. The audacity of fools, if not immediately repressed, gives others occasion for presuming similar things, 240. Authority without power is worth nothing, 263.

B St. Benedict will stand against the apostates of his order at the final judgment, 237. The holy religion of St. Benedict was once distinguished for learning and sanctity, 233. The beginnings of the Benedictine religion were holy and splendid, 232. Pope Benedict XII, 264. Bernio, abbot of Cluny, restored the order of St. Benedict to its former dignity, 235. How many abbeys the Bursfeld Congregation once had in the author’s time, 263.

C One who falls frequently rises again, 236. A good canon will never be made from a bad monk, 236. Canons are inferior to monks, 249. Canons may lawfully pass over to monastic life as to a more worthy state, but not the reverse, 252. The chapter is a place of expiation, 86. Why chapters of religious were instituted, 265. The holding of chapters is necessary for regulars, 265. What matters are to be handled in chapters, 266. How many cardinals there have been from the order of St. Benedict, 233. The flesh should be chastised, 70. Emperor Charlemagne, and his zeal toward the order of St. Benedict, 235. Chastity is especially a gift of God, 152. Chastity above all befits monks, 149. If you love chastity, love fasting also, 151. The praise of chastity, 150. Who is chaste, 150. Charity, 6. A man’s charity toward God, 161.

Charity has regard to the one God, 159. The brotherly charity of monks, 156. True charity does not linger over anything that can be corrupted, 158. Charity is the goal and end of the whole regular life, 198. The powers of charity, 156. The increases of present charity, 180. All Christians owe martyrdom for Christ, 133. Christ the leader, 6. Christ is known in the sacred Scriptures, 26. Christ called himself the way, that we might follow him, 136. Christ the sole and singular example of suffering, 124. The Lord weighs food less than the mind, 102. Scarcity and meanness of foods contribute much to the virtues of temperance and sobriety, 103. Monasteries reduced to commendams, 234. By what means the kingdom of heaven is acquired, 244. The guarding and origin of thoughts, 57. Thoughts arise from the senses, 57. Evil thoughts must be crushed as they arise, 62. A twofold knowledge is necessary for man unto salvation, 30. The Council of Constance decreed that monasteries should be reformed, 186. What confession should be like, 99. The author’s confession concerning the Supreme Pontiff, Christ’s Vicar, and his power, 273. That confidence is vain by which someone hopes that he will obtain eternal life while neglecting the way that leads to it, 244. By what zeal the grace of compunction is retained, 221. An accusing conscience is a heavy punishment for the damned, 237. Apostates are never without the goads of conscience, 245. The qualities of a good conscience, 167. Serenity of conscience, 166. The company of the wicked must be avoided, 72. An evil habit is a very hard weapon, 63.

which seemed memorable. 277 An evil habit, how grave an evil it is, 217. The protestation of John Chrysostom at the beginning of temptation, 24. True continence and chastity, 149. What contrition is, and what genuine contrition is, 98. The heart of man is a mill in perpetual motion, 57. Whenever the sign of the cross occurs on the road, thanks should be given, 83. What the cross of monks is, 71.

D It is very profitable for us to be accused, if the mind [unclear] Christ, whether we are accused justly or unjustly, 89. What the delights of the servants of God are, 108. The author’s lamentation over the ruin of the Benedictine order, 233. Devotion without knowledge of the Scriptures is not sufficient for the governance of souls, 233. Why the feeling of devotion is sometimes withdrawn from pious men, 221. God loves us as much as he can and ought, 213. God is not lacking to those who do what lies within them, 270. God is to be loved by us with the whole mind for many reasons, 211. Those who do not fear God do not acquiesce in the exhortations of the good, 256. God tests and preserves men in various ways, 67. Those who fulfill the devil’s will here will deservedly be tormented with him there, 239. Discipline not observed in monasteries is seen to be a bubbling spring of all vices, 240. The sum of regular discipline rests with the Visitors, 271. Discretion, 182. Those things that belong to positive law can lawfully be dispensed from for a reasonable cause, 250. Four things make dispensations just, 242. Dispensations of the Supreme Pontiffs fraudulently extorted profit nothing, 242. Those who fear being reproved for their own vices pretend not to see the vices of others, 269. What is entrusted to several people is often preserved more negligently, 258. Divisions confound orders, 262. Riches and immense revenues are the ruin of monasteries, 43. The keeping of wealth is shameful when, because of it, the commonwealth is not helped in necessity, 258. A catalogue of the saints in the order of St Benedict, 232. Against those who treat the histories of the saints as a game and irreverently, 210. Pain is feared more than pleasure is loved, 169. To have slept seven hours, at most, is enough, 119.

E The sanctions of the Church are next in authority after the Gospel, 22. How many bishops there are from the order of St Benedict, 233. Whence error in conscience arises, 168. The Gospel is the foundation of all ecclesiastical rules, 21. Which eunuchs are happy, 69. Five spiritual exercises in solitude and silence, 40. Expenses must not be spared in order that the order may be aided, 256.

F Those who tell false things deceive not the Pontiff but themselves, 250. Faith is first and the origin of all virtues, 177. What saving faith is, 18. The Christian faith alone saves, 203. The excellence of faith, 19. How great a benefit is the calling to the faith, 213. Outside the faith of Christ there is no salvation, 92. An image of eternal happiness, 208. What Christian fortitude is, 182. Frederick of Bavaria purified the monastery of Sponheim, 128.

278 Index of all

G

The form of the hell of Gehenna, 207. For what reasons the grace of God is withdrawn, 219. How grace, once lost, may be recovered, 222. How knowledge of spiritual grace may be had, 214. The art of distinguishing the grace of God from the devil’s suggestion, 216. Thanksgiving whenever the sign of the Cross occurs on the road, 83. Pope Gregory the Great, Supreme Pontiff, forbade under anathema that monasteries be transferred to the uses of secular persons, 235. The author most earnestly desires Gregory the Great, Supreme Pontiff, to be raised up for the reformation of the order of St. Benedict, 235. The labors of Pope Gregory the Great on behalf of the observance of the rule of St. Father Benedict, 235. Guglielmus, abbot of the order of St. Father Benedict, reformer in Germany, 235.

H

Man born for virtue, 209. Why the canonical hours are discharged by some without devotion, 268. Exhortations do not avail among the wicked unless they are confirmed by deeds, 241. Humility, the sinew of all virtues, 82. How great a virtue humility is, 180. Humility as a kind of casket, or storehouse, of all virtues, 219. Humility alone routs Satan, 215. Where humility is, there is wisdom, 137. The highest commendation of humility, 135. Humility, mother of obedience, 141. How necessary humility is, especially for a monk, 138. Humility, the highest and chief virtue of monks, 133. True humility considers not what it has, but what it lacks, 134. True humility, when it does the greatest things, thinks the humblest things of itself, 135. What the marks of true humility are, 192. The battle of humility with pride, 139.

I

What fasts are in the end necessary and salutary, 108. Fasting, most highly commended in sacred Scripture, 100. What fasting is best for monks, 100. The twenty-year fast of a certain Nicolaus Helvetius, 106. The progress of impiety, 84. The author implores the aid of St. Father Benedict for the reformation of his order, 269. To the wicked, what is public seems lawful, 238. Unpunished wickedness gives many the boldness to sin, 231. Infestations and wars do not excuse apostasy, 251. Against those ungrateful to the Redeemer, 115. Against the impatient, but boastful, 125. Against unstable monks, 146. The institution of a more upright life, 98. John the Baptist, prince of monks, 40. The zeal of Johannes Trithemius for letters, 30. Against mockers of good works, 75. The image of the supreme judgment should always be kept before one’s eyes, 206. When divine law has been violated, no virtue can stand, 238. The definition of justice, 260. Justice as a kind of epitome of all virtues, 181. The Christian soldier should be fortified with justice, and what that justice is, 20. What the justice of monks is, 21. The degrees of justice, or charity, 182.

Things which seemed memorable. 279

L

The manual labor of monks, 42. The fountain of tears springs from diverse veins, 216. The preservation of law is fear of authority, 263. Lust is to be conquered not by battle, but by flight, 151. How you may extinguish the heat of lust, 152. Those who have once given themselves over to lust are not readily pierced with compunction, 153. The art of printing books was invented at Mainz, 46. The writing of books, a work suited to monks, 45. St. Benedict condemns three kinds of speech, 60.

M Evils endured purify more than deeds done, 67. The wicked have nothing in Heaven; the good have nothing in the world, 127. How full of good fruit meditation on death is, 170. Let the mind be free for him whom you pray to, 120. He deserves the reward of the wicked who makes men wicked, 252. The spiritual warfare of monks is described, 5. Progress in spiritual warfare, 10. The etymology and aim of “monk,” 5. Monks twice gave their names to the Emperor Christ, 7. Monks are altogether either blessed or wretched, 34. How cautiously monks must live, 177. The duties of monks, 5. The sincere monk is always a monk alone, 80. The monk is like gold, 80. A monk should never be forgetful of his profession, 143. A monk is a long-enduring martyr, 146. A monk should represent the angel of God, 184. A monk is God’s friend, privy to mysteries, intimate, secretary, 248. It is easier to train a monk anew than to recall the very worst from evil, 268. What things are necessary for a monk who has entered the way of salvation, 201. A most salutary admonition on how a monk should imitate Christ, 13. How a monk may become better every day, 97. Monks inaugurated into holy orders owe greater holiness, 12. An upright monk conceals nothing from his abbot, 85. A monk should comply with his superior in all things, 113. Monks are blessed who have obtained a good abbot, 144. How far the superiors of monks should show themselves humble, 194. Monks possess nothing of their own, but hold another’s goods in good faith, 260. A monk is bound always to pray in spirit, 50. A monk should learn sacred letters, 31. A monk should be stirred by the example of laymen, 47. A monk, like a clean animal, should always chew over something holy, 46. A monk should recall the Lord’s Passion at least once a day, 115. The monk, the world’s byword, 123. A monk should not be moved by the taunts and jests of laymen, 81. Monks have as many judges in the world as spectators, 80. The whole life of monks is a Lenten life, 110. For a monk, idleness must above all be avoided, 111. A monk should not delay in meeting the time that creeps upon him, 37. For a monk there should be no friendship or intercourse with laymen, 83. How a monk sent abroad should conduct himself, 79. A monk should never be outside the monastery in mind, 79. Nothing is happier than a good monk, 16. Monks living holily will lack nothing, 243. The monks of old converted many from iniquity by word and example, 232.

Index of All

The ardor of the ancient monks concerning manual labor, 45. Formerly no one [unclear] monks without manual labor, 43. How frugally the monks of Spanheim once lived, 103. The very gentle patience of a certain monk, 123. What the Lord will reproach an ungrateful monk with, 129. Useless monks are rebuked, 14. Against unstable monks, 146. Against pleasure-loving monks, 94. Against the luxury of monks, 104. Against monks living in a worldly manner, 34. Against monks conducting themselves in monasteries altogether otherwise than the reason for which they went there and vowed, 129. Against monks rejecting the study of sacred letters, 28. Bad monks are unworthy of a good abbot, 251. Monks living without order will obtain a place where there is no order, 237. Monks who break faith are not monks but mockers, 8. No monk withdraws from a holy purpose unless he is perverse, 252. A monk who denies his vow denies Christ, 248. What is good ordering of the monastic life, 185. The purity of the monastic life produced riches; when excluded, it excludes the same, 43. Let a man die secure, 172. How salutary frequent meditation on death is, 32. Preparation for death should be continual, 170. This world is a certain furnace for the righteous, 66. For whom the world has been crucified, 228.

N Nature is content with few things, 107. Not to know necessary things is shameful; not to learn them, more shameful; to despise them, most shameful, 30. Necessity is manifold, 226. The wondrous abstinence of a certain Nicholas, a Swiss, 106. Nicholas of Cusa, a most learned man, 186.

Many very noble and very tender youths served as soldiers under the regular observance of the holy father Benedict, 244.

O Obedience of monks, 226. The monk's obedience is his armor, 144. Nothing greater or more acceptable to God can be offered than obedience, 143. The value of obedience, 142. How lax our observance is can easily be seen by comparison with the ancients, 230. Apostates seek an occasion for withdrawing from the order, 251. What an idle word is, 60. Idleness is to be avoided by a monk above all, 36. Hatred of one's brother and love of God do not dwell together, 254. He who offends one of the saints offends all, 237. What one should pray for, and how, 51. One must pray through the power of the Cross of Christ, 55. One must pray without ceasing, 48. To pray without ceasing belongs especially to monks, 48. Unanimity among those praying is necessary for being heard, 120. Prayer is chiefly of the heart, 49. How effective the prayer of a pure mind is, 52. The two wings of prayer, 50. Two things hinder the fruit of prayer, 51. Prayer with thanksgiving after the canonical prayers, 56. Prayer whenever lust strikes the mind, 154. A prayer no less powerful than brief against all temptations, 53. The Order of Saint Father Benedict was once in many respects more exalted than all, 234. The necessity of the order must not be concealed, 234.

P Praise of peace, 23. What evangelical peace is, and how it is possessed, 22.

things that seemed memorable. 281 Paradise is in sincere monasteries, 42. To feed one's own by word, example, and nourishment is the duty of a good shepherd, 261. The office of shepherd and abbot, 11. The memory of the Lord's Passion is to be performed daily with thanksgiving, 188. An image of fatherly solicitude, 74. The conduct of the ancient fathers was illustrious with the splendor of all virtues, with signs, and with doctrine, 231. The holiness of the ancient fathers has grown cold, and indeed has perished, in their sons, 185. The author exhorts the fathers of religious life to its reform, 231. The three degrees of patience, 132. Patience and gentleness, 123. Patience by which the worship of God is neglected is evil, 257. Not poverty, but patience and contempt make a poor man blessed, 9. The poverty of monasteries is not a sufficient cause for apostatizing from the order, 251. Sins should be expiated daily, 85. Public sins should be disclosed to the abbot; private and hidden ones to the confessor, 87. Sin turns God's grace and help away from us, 24. What things urge flight from sin, 205. How sin is to be fled, 204. The beginnings of dangers must be resisted, 257. Perseverance is the crowning point of all virtues, 183. God is appeased by prayer; man by money, 258. Four things necessary for true penitence, 98. What the true penitence of monks is, 94. Let no one say that he does not practice penitence, 96. Penitence consists more in patience than in action, 88. He cannot do penitence who does not acknowledge his fault, 239. How many supreme pontiffs came from the Order of Saint Benedict, 232. What sort of man a prefect ought to be, 113. What sort of man he who is to be put over others ought to be, 265. A prelate to whom the care of souls belongs ought to be severe and pious, 264. Let the prelate be most circumspect, 88. Prelates who neglect to correct the vices of their subjects are in great danger, 246. Prelates will suffer punishments not only for their own sins, but also for those sins of their subjects which they neglected to correct, 247. Those presiding over chapters ought to be zealous, learned, and gentle, 265. The pretexts of apostates are very like spiders' webs, 250. An admonition to transgressors, that they return to the heart, 234. The destruction of the wicked is to be brought back to mind, so that the rest may abstain from evils, 241. The princes of the world enriched the order because of the holy conduct of the monks, 232. What sort of men the procurators of congregations in the City ought to be, and what their office is, 259. A holy resolution should be renewed daily, 33. What Christian prudence is, 181. Christian fighters should imitate bodily wrestlers, 17. Monks ought to fight with prayers, not threats, 240. Whether it is permitted to desire purgatory, 91. Whence faint-heartedness in conscience arises, 169.

Q As each person is, so he judges others to be, 254.

R A rebel is to be tamed at the beginning, 263. The rebellion of a few, if overlooked, is an occasion for many to resist, 264. An irreproachable life and Catholic doctrine are necessary for rulers of souls, 270. Reform throughout the whole Order of Saint Benedict was never general, 236. Any reform, even if most holy, vanishes unless it is renewed rather often, 267. Kings do not rejoice in the destruction of monasteries, 251. Kings seeking their own things take more of gain 282 Index of all

concerning monasteries, rather than collegiate churches, 251. The Rule of the blessed father Benedict provided for all things, 243. Neglect of regular observance is the cause why monasteries are reduced to commendams, 270. Being filled with food is more harmful, 101. To rise again after a fall is a great difficulty, 236. Laughter is altogether forbidden to a monk, 60. The Roman pontiff, Christ’s vicar, is not to be judged by man, 249.

S What it is to sanctify a fast, 101. If one saint is offended, none of the others will be a friend, 255. Satiety in food must always be avoided, 104. Satisfaction, 99. What scurrility is, 60. To whom the Divine Scriptures lie open, 27. Sloth is the plague most harmful of all to a monk, 121. A sentence is more easily prevented than revoked, 257. The Lord changes his sentence when we change our life, 239. They will receive a harsh sentence who advise monks to apostasy, 252. Speech is the index of the heart, 72. That speech is ineffectual which the preacher’s way of life discredits, 271. For the servant of Christ, Christ alone suffices, 9. He who has once solemnly offered himself to God will never be free from the vow, 241. Whence solitude was introduced, 39. Love of solitude and quiet, 38. Sleep is no less harmful than food, 118. The sleep and wakefulness of monks, 118. What hope is, 179. Hope of a longer life deceives many, 37. Against hope of a longer life, 173. Religious who omit spiritual exercises have strayed from their profession, 236. Have the Spirit of God, and you will attain all things, 54.

T Temperance, 182. One must think in time about the remedy, 258. The daily contest of temptation, 64. Temptation, when it comes, must be met, and how this is to be done, 169. How temptation must be resisted, 68. Tepidity is lethal to a monk, 34. Let the tepid man do violence to himself, 35. The boundaries which the holy fathers have set must not be transgressed, 241. What happened to Thiergandus, archbishop of Trier, because of the occupation of the monastery of St. Andrew in the City, 255. Let fear not abandon hope, 179. Transgressors of the order, and the authors of transgressions of this kind, are wearied at the point of death by the greatest bitterness of mind, 255. The transfer of vice, opening an entrance, is very bad, 254. Trithemius’ fervent ardor, even while still a youth, for the study of good letters, 175.

U Uniformity of habit and tonsure is to be maintained in congregations, 266. Those who usurp the goods of monasteries will be judged severely, 246. Private advantages must not be preferred to the common utility, 256.

things that seemed memorable. 283

V Truth among the weapons of the Christian, 20. Truth necessary for monks, 20. Truth contrary to vanity, 20. The word of God is the sword of the spirit, 23. The steep way which leads to life, 199. The four things necessary for the way leading to heaven, 199. What fruits watchfulness brings, 122. A good man is never alone, 42. A certain sequence of virtues, and steps toward the kingdom of heaven, 177. When the holy exercises of the virtues fail, the joy that arises from them fails, 230. What sort of men visitors ought to be, 270. The inexperience of visitors is the cause of many evils, 271. A good life is a good prayer, 55. How much the life of many, even of monks, differs from Christ, 95. One who lives otherwise than he promised will be condemned by the Lord as a mocker, 245. He has lived long enough who has lived well, 172. The last will of men must not be violated by the living, 238. One untaught in the divine will is inexcusable, 29. A most salutary vow, 165. Monastic vows are of divine law; therefore, without the greatest necessity, the pope does not intend to absolve from them, 250. The three substantial vows of religion must be diligently kept, 232. Transgression of a vow is its alteration for the worse, 238. Breakers of a vow are despised by God, 245. A transgressor of a vow will be excluded from the Kingdom of God, 244. The ends of the table or index of memorable things which are contained in this work of Johannes Trithemius.

Let it be printed. Fr. Albertus Lepidi, O.P., Master of the Sacred Apostolic Palace. Franciscus Cassetta, Patriarch of Antioch, Vicesgerent.

Lord Johannes de [unclear] In the year of the Lord 1578