# On Patience - Author: [Augustine of Hippo](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/augustine-of-hippo/) - Latin title: *De patientia* - Date: ca. 415 (approximate) - Source: Joseph Zycha, ed., Sancti Aureli Augustini opera, sect. V, pars 3, CSEL 41 (Vienna: Tempsky; Leipzig: Freytag, 1900) (Latin text: Joseph Zycha, De patientia (CSEL 41, 1900), digitized by Open Greek and Latin (csel-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/ - Passages: 25 ## On Patience 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-1 - Source: CSEL 41:663–664 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God is called patient because he waits for sinners to be corrected, though his impassible nature suffers nothing; Augustine turns to human patience. ### Latin text Virtus animi, quae patientia dicitur, tam magnum dei donum est, ut etiam ipsius, qui nobis eam largitur, qua malos ut corrigantur expectat, patientia praedicetur. ita quamuis deus nihil pati possit, patientia uero a patiendo nomen acceperit, patientem tamen deum non modo fideliter credimus, uerum etiam salubriter confitemur. sed dei patientia qualis et quanta sit, quem nihil patientem nec tamen inpatientem, immo etiam patientissimum dicimus, uerbis explicare quis possit? ineffabilis est ergo illa patientia, non tamen nulla, sicut zelus eius, sicut ira eius et si quid huius modi est. nam si tamquam nostra ista cogitemus, in illo nulla sunt. nihil enim horum nos sine molestia sentimus; absit autem ut inpassibilem dei naturam perpeti ullam molestiam suspicemur. sicut autem zelat sine aliquo liuore, irascitur sine aliqua perturbatione, miseretur sine aliquo dolore, paenitet eum sine alicuius suae prauitatis correctione: ita est patiens sine ulla passione. nunc itaque humana patientia, quam capere possumus et habere debemus, cuius modi sit, quantum dominus tribuit et quantum patitur breuitas praesentis sermonis, expediam. ### English translation (Claude) The virtue of the mind that is called patience is so great a gift of God that even the patience of him who bestows it on us, the patience by which he waits for the wicked to be corrected, is proclaimed. So, although God can suffer nothing, and patience (patientia) took its name from suffering (patiendo), we not only faithfully believe but also wholesomely confess that God is patient. But who could explain in words what and how great is the patience of God, of whom we say that he suffers nothing, yet is not impatient, indeed is most patient? That patience, then, is ineffable, yet not non-existent, like his jealousy, like his anger, and anything else of this kind. For if we think of these as being like ours, they do not exist in him. For none of these do we feel without distress; but far be it from us to suspect that the impassible nature of God undergoes any distress. Just as he is jealous without any envy, is angry without any agitation, has pity without any grief, repents without correcting any wrongness of his own, so he is patient without any suffering. Now, then, I will set out what kind of thing human patience is, which we can grasp and ought to have, as far as the Lord grants and the brevity of the present discourse allows. ### Scripture references - Rom 2:4: allusion, medium confidence - 2 Pet 3:9: allusion, low confidence ### Translation notes - God's patience awaiting repentance: Rom 2:4, 2 Pet 3:9. “Patience … from suffering” renders the wordplay patientia / patiendo. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 1 (CSEL 41:663–664; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-1). ## On Patience 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-2 - Source: CSEL 41:664–665 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: True patience bears evils with an even mind so as not to abandon the good, and so escapes worse evils and gains eternal glory. ### Latin text Patientia hominis, quae recta est atque laudabilis et uocabulo digna uirtutis, ea perhibetur, qua aequo animo mala toleramus, ne animo iniquo bona deseramus, per quae ad meliora perueniamus. quapropter inpatientes, dum mala pati nolunt, non efficiunt, ut a malis eruantur, sed ut mala grauiora patiantur. patientes autem, qui mala malunt non committendo ferre quam non ferendo committere, et leuiora faciunt, quae per patientiam patiuntur, et peiora euadunt, quibus per inpatientiam mergerentur. bona uero aeterna et magna non perdunt, dum malis temporalibus breuibusque non cedunt, quoniam non sunt condignae passiones huius temporis, sicut apostolus dicit, ad futuram gloriam, quae reuelabitur in nobis, et iterum ait: quod est temporale leue tribulationis nostrae, in incredibilem modum aeternum gloriae pondus operatur in nobis. ### English translation (Claude) The patience of a human being that is right and praiseworthy and worthy of the name of virtue is said to be that by which we bear evils with an even mind, so that we do not with an uneven mind abandon the goods through which we may come to better things. Therefore the impatient, while they refuse to suffer evils, do not bring it about that they are rescued from evils, but that they suffer worse evils. But the patient, who prefer to bear evils by not committing them rather than to commit them by not bearing them, both make lighter what they suffer through patience and escape worse things in which they would be sunk through impatience. And they do not lose the great and eternal goods, while they do not yield to temporal and brief evils; for “the sufferings of this time,” as the apostle says, “are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that will be revealed in us”; and again he says, “What is temporary and light in our tribulation works in us, beyond all measure, an eternal weight of glory.” ### Scripture references - Rom 8:18: quotation, high confidence - 2 Cor 4:17: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Rom 8:18; 2 Cor 4:17. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 2 (CSEL 41:664–665; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-2). ## On Patience 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-3 - Source: CSEL 41:665–666 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: People endure great hardships most patiently for riches, honours, and amusements, and are even praised for it. ### Latin text Intueamur itaque, carissimi, quanta in laboribus et doloribus homines dura sustineant pro rebus, quas uitiose diligunt et quanto ipsi his feliciores fieri putant, tanto infelicius concupiscunt. quanta pro falsis diuitiis, quanta pro uanis honoribus, quanta pro ludicris affectionibus periculosissima et molestissima patientissime tolerantur! pecuniae, gloriae, lasciuiae cupidos uidemus, ut ad desiderata perueniant adeptisque non careant, soles, imbres, glacies, fluctus et procellosissimas tempestates, aspera et incerta bellorum, inmanium plagarum ictus et uulnera horrenda non ineuitabili necessitate, sed culpabili uoluntate perferre. uerum haec quodam modo licitae uidentur insaniae. Namque auaritia, ambitio, luxuria et uariorum oblectamenta ludorum, nisi propter illa facinus aliquod admittatur siue flagitium, quod legibus prohibetur humanis, putantur ad innocentiam pertinere: immo etiam qui sine fraude cuiusquam aut pro habenda uel augenda pecunia aut pro adipiscendis uel retinendis honoribus aut in agone certando seu uenando seu theatricum aliquid plausibiliter exhibendo magnos labores doloresque pertulerit. parum est quod populari uanitate nullis reprehensionibus cohibetur, sed insuper extollitur laudibus, quoniam laudatur, sicut scriptum est, peccator in desideriis animae suae. uis enim desideriorum facit tolerantiam laborum et dolorum; et nemo nisi pro eo, quod delectat, sponte suscipit ferre quod cruciat. sed istae, ut dixi, cupiditates, propter quas explendas qui eis flagrant multa dura et acerba patientissime sustinent, licitae existimantur legibusque concessae. ### English translation (Claude) Let us consider, then, dearly beloved, how many hard things people endure in labours and pains for the things they love viciously, and which they desire the more unhappily, the happier they think those things will make them. How many most dangerous and most troublesome things are borne most patiently for false riches, for empty honours, for frivolous amusements! We see those greedy for money, glory, and wantonness endure suns, rains, ice, waves and the stormiest tempests, the harshness and uncertainties of wars, the blows of savage strokes and horrible wounds—not by unavoidable necessity but by culpable will—in order to attain what they desire and not lose it once attained. Yet these seem in a way to be permitted madnesses. For avarice, ambition, luxury, and the delights of various shows are thought to be compatible with innocence, unless some crime or vice forbidden by human laws is committed for their sake. Indeed, if anyone, without defrauding another, has endured great labours and pains for getting or increasing money, or for gaining or keeping honours, or in competing in the games or hunting or putting on some show in the theatre to applause, it is not enough that popular vanity restrains him with no reproaches; he is even extolled with praises, since, as it is written, “the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul.” For the force of desires produces endurance of labours and pains; and no one willingly undertakes to bear what torments except for the sake of what delights. But these desires, as I said, for whose fulfilment those who burn with them endure many hard and bitter things most patiently, are thought permissible and allowed by the laws. ### Scripture references - Ps 10:3 (9:24 LXX): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Ps 10:3 (LXX and Vulgate 9:24). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 3 (CSEL 41:665–666; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-3). ## On Patience 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-4 - Source: CSEL 41:666–667 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Criminals such as Catiline and robbers also endure much, but that is hardness, not patience, which serves wisdom and a good conscience. ### Latin text Quid? quod etiam pro apertis sceleribus, non ut ea puniant, sed ut perpetrent, multa homines grauissima perferunt? nonne de quodam nobilissimo patriae parricida saecularium litterarum loquuntur auctores, quod famem, sitim, frigus ferre poterat eiusque erat corpus patiens inediae, algoris, uigiliae supra quam cuiquam credibile est? quid de latronibus dicam, quorum omnes cum insidiantur uiatoribus, noctes perpetiuntur insomnes, atque ut transeuntes excipiant innocentes, sub qualibet caeli asperitate nocentem animum corpusque defigunt? quidam uero eorum inuicem torquere perhibentur, ita ut exercitatio contra poenas nihil distet a poenis. non enim tantum fortassis excruciantur a iudice, ut a dolentibus ueritas inquiratur, quantum a suis sociis, ut a patientibus non prodatur. et tamen in his omnibus miranda est potius quam laudanda patientia, immo nec miranda nec laudanda, quae nulla est, sed miranda duritia, neganda patientia; nihil autem illic iure laudandum, nihil utiliter imitandum, tantoque rectius maiore supplicio dignum iudicaueris animum, quanto magis uitiis subdit instrumenta uirtutum. patientia comes est sapientiae, non famula concupiscentiae; patientia amica est bonae conscientiae, non inimica innocentiae. ### English translation (Claude) What of this, that people endure many very grievous things even for open crimes, not to punish them but to commit them? Do not the authors of secular literature say of a certain most noble parricide of his country that he could bear hunger, thirst, and cold, and that his body could endure fasting, cold, and wakefulness beyond what anyone would believe? What shall I say of robbers, all of whom, when they lie in wait for travellers, endure sleepless nights, and, to catch innocent passers-by, fix their guilty mind and body in place under every harshness of the sky? Some of them indeed are said to torture one another, so that their training against punishments differs in nothing from punishments. For perhaps they are not tortured so much by the judge, so that the truth may be extracted from them in their pain, as by their own comrades, so that it may not be betrayed by them in their suffering. And yet in all these the patience is rather to be wondered at than praised—or rather, neither wondered at nor praised, since it is no patience; what is to be wondered at is hardness, and patience is to be denied. Nothing there is rightly to be praised, nothing usefully imitated; and you will judge a mind the more rightly deserving of greater punishment, the more it subjects the instruments of the virtues to vices. Patience is the companion of wisdom, not the servant of concupiscence; patience is the friend of a good conscience, not the enemy of innocence. ### Extrabiblical texts - Sallust, Cat. 5.3 (Sallust): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The parricide of his country is Catiline, described in Sallust, Catiline 5.3. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 4 (CSEL 41:666–667; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-4). ## On Patience 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-5 - Source: CSEL 41:667 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Patience is judged by the cause of the suffering: only those who suffer rightly have true patience. ### Latin text Cum ergo quemquam uideris patienter aliquid pati, noli continuo laudare patientiam, quam non ostendit nisi causa patiendi. quando illa bona est, tunc ista uera est; quando illa non polluitur cupiditate, tunc a falsitate ista distinguitur. cum uero illa tenetur in crimine, tunc huius multum erratur in nomine. non enim sicut omnes qui sciunt sunt participes scientiae, ita omnes qui patiuntur sunt participes patientiae; sed qui passione recte utuntur, hi patientiae ueritate laudantur, hi patientiae munere coronantur. ### English translation (Claude) When, therefore, you see anyone suffer something patiently, do not at once praise his patience, which only the cause of the suffering shows to be patience. When the cause is good, then the patience is true; when the cause is not polluted by desire, then the patience is distinguished from its counterfeit. But when the cause is held in crime, then the name of patience is greatly misapplied. For it is not as with knowledge, where all who know share in knowledge: not all who suffer share in patience. Rather, those who use suffering rightly are praised for the truth of patience and crowned with the gift of patience. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 5 (CSEL 41:667; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-5). ## On Patience 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-6 - Source: CSEL 41:667–668 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: If people bear so much for temporal things and bodily health, the soul should bear far more under persecution for its own salvation. ### Latin text Verum tamen cum pro libidinibus uel etiam sceleribus, cum denique pro ista temporali uita ac salute multa homines horrenda mirabiliter sufferunt, satis nos admonent, quanta sufferenda sint pro uita bona, ut etiam postea possit esse aeterna et sine ullo temporis termino, sine utilitatis ullius detrimento uera felicitate secura. dominus ait: in uestra patientia possidebitis animas uestras; non ait: uillas uestras, laudes uestras, luxurias uestras, sed: animas uestras. si ergo tanta suffert anima, ut possideat, unde pereat, quanta debet sufferre, ne pereat! deinde, ut illud dicam, quod culpabile non est, si tanta suffert pro salute carnis suae inter manus secantium siue urentium medicorum, quanta debet sufferre pro salute sua inter furores quorumlibet inimicorum! cum medici, ne corpus moriatur, per poenas corpori consulant, inimici autem poenas et mortem corpori comminando, ut anima et corpus in gehenna occidatur, inpellant. ### English translation (Claude) Nevertheless, when people wonderfully bear many horrible things for their lusts or even their crimes, and finally for this temporal life and health, they remind us well enough how much must be borne for a good life, so that afterwards it may also be eternal, secure in true happiness without any limit of time and without loss of any good. The Lord says, “In your patience you will possess your souls”; he does not say “your estates, your praises, your luxuries,” but “your souls.” If, then, the soul bears so much to possess that by which it may perish, how much ought it to bear so as not to perish! Then, to mention something that is not blameworthy: if it bears so much for the health of its flesh at the hands of physicians who cut or burn, how much ought it to bear for its own health amid the fury of any enemies whatever! For physicians care for the body by pains so that the body may not die, while enemies, by threatening the body with pains and death, drive a person to having soul and body killed in Gehenna. ### Scripture references - Luke 21:19: quotation, high confidence - Matt 10:28: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Luke 21:19; Matt 10:28. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 6 (CSEL 41:667–668; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-6). ## On Patience 7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-7 - Source: CSEL 41:668–669 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Bodily suffering borne patiently for righteousness also serves the body, which will rise whole and incorruptible. ### Latin text Quamquam et ipsi corpori tunc prouidentius consulatur, si temporalis salus eius pro iustitia contemnatur et poena uel mors eius patientissime pro iustitia sufferatur. de corporis quippe redemptione, quae in fine futura est, loquitur apostolus, ubi ait: et ipsi in nobismet ipsis ingemescimus adoptionem expectantes redemptionem corporis nostri. deinde subiunxit: spe enim salui facti sumus; spes autem, quae uidetur, non est spes. quod enim uidet quis, quid et sperat? si autem quod non uidemus speramus, per patientiam expectamus. Cum ergo torquent aliqua mala, sed non extorquent opera mala, non solum anima per patientiam possidetur, uerum etiam, cum per patientiam corpus ipsum ad tempus affligitur uel amittitur, in aeternam stabilitatem salutemque resumitur, et ei per dolorem et mortem inuiolabilis sanitas et felix inmortalitas comparatur. unde dominus Iesus ad patientiam exhortans martyres suos etiam ipsius corporis integritatem futuram sine cuiusquam, non dicam, membri, sed capilli amissione promisit. amen dico uobis, inquit, capillus capitis uestri non peribit, ut quoniam nemo umquam, sicut apostolus dicit, carnem suam odio habuit, magis homo fidelis per patientiam quam per inpatientiam pro stratu suae carnis inuigilet et futurae incorruptionis inaestimabili lucro quantalibet eius praesentia damna conpenset. ### English translation (Claude) And yet even the body itself is then cared for more providently, if its temporal health is despised for righteousness' sake and its pain or death is borne most patiently for righteousness' sake. For the apostle speaks of the redemption of the body, which will come at the end, where he says, “And we ourselves groan within ourselves, awaiting the adoption, the redemption of our body.” Then he added: “For in hope we have been saved; but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he also hope for it? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it through patience.” When, therefore, evils torture us but do not extort evil works from us, not only is the soul possessed through patience, but also, when through patience the body itself is afflicted or lost for a time, it is taken up again into eternal stability and health, and through pain and death there is purchased for it inviolable soundness and happy immortality. That is why the Lord Jesus, exhorting his martyrs to patience, promised them even the future integrity of the body itself, without the loss, I will not say of any limb, but of a hair. “Truly I say to you,” he says, “not a hair of your head will perish”; so that, since, as the apostle says, no one ever hated his own flesh, a believer may watch over the state of his flesh through patience rather than through impatience, and make up for any present losses of it by the inestimable gain of future incorruption. ### Scripture references - Rom 8:23: quotation, high confidence - Rom 8:24: quotation, high confidence - Rom 8:25: quotation, high confidence - Luke 21:18: quotation, high confidence - Eph 5:29: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Rom 8:23–25; Luke 21:18; Eph 5:29. The digital text reads “pro stratu suae carnis”, probably for “statu” (state); translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 7 (CSEL 41:668–669; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-7). ## On Patience 8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-8 - Source: CSEL 41:669–671 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Patience is exercised in the mind alone, as by David under insult and Christ toward Judas, or in bodily suffering for righteousness, as by the martyrs in both ways. ### Latin text Quamuis autem patientia uirtus sit animi, partim tamen ea utitur animus in se ipso, partim uero in corpore suo. in se ipso utitur patientia, quando inlaeso et intacto corpore aliquid, quod non expediat uel non deceat, facere aut dicere quibuslibet aduersitatibus aut foeditatibus rerum seu uerborum stimulis incitatur et patienter mala omnia tolerat, ne ipse mali aliquid opere uel ore committat. Per hanc patientiam sustinemus, etiam cum corpore sani sumus, quod inter huius saeculi scandala beatitudo nostra differtur. unde dictum est, quod paulo ante commemoraui: si quod non uidemus speramus, per patientiam expectamus. hac patientia sanctus Dauid conuiciantis obprobria tolerauit et, cum facile posset ulcisci, non solum non fecit, uerum etiam alium pro se dolentem commotumque conpescuit et potestatem regiam magis adhibuit prohibendo quam exercendo uindictam. neque tunc eius corpus aliquo morbo affligebatur aut uulnere, sed humilitatis tempus agnoscebatur ac ferebatur uoluntas dei, propter quam patientissimo animo amaritudo contumeliae bibebatur. hanc patientiam dominus docuit, quando commotis zizaniorum permixtione seruis et uolentibus ea colligere dixit respondisse patrem familias: sinite utraque crescere usque ad messem. oportet enim patienter ferri, quod festinanter non oportet auferri. huius et ipse patientiae praebuit et demonstrauit exemplum, quando ante passionem corporis sui diabolum Iudam, priusquam ostenderet traditorem, pertulit furem et ante experimentum uinculorum et crucis et mortis labiis eius dolosis non negauit osculum pacis. haec omnia et si qua alia sunt, quae commemorare longum est, ad eum patientiae modum pertinent, quo animus non sua peccata, sed quaecumque extrinsecus mala patienter sustinet in se ipso suo prorsus corpore inlaeso. Alius est autem patientiae modus, quo idem ipse animus quaecumque molesta et grauia in sui corporis passionibus perfert non sicut stulti uel maligni homines propter adipiscenda uana uel scelera perpetranda, sed, sicut a domino definitum est, propter iustitiam. utroque modo sancti martyres certauerunt — nam et inpiorum obprobriis saturati sunt, ubi animus corpore intacto quasdam ueluti plagas suas integer sustinet, et in corporibus uincti sunt, inclusi sunt, fame ac siti affecti sunt, torti sunt, secti sunt, dilaniati sunt, incensi sunt, trucidati sunt — et pietate inmobili subdiderunt deo mentem, cum paterentur in carne quidquid exquirenti crudelitati uenit in mentem. ### English translation (Claude) Although patience is a virtue of the mind, the mind uses it partly in itself and partly in its body. It uses patience in itself when, with the body unhurt and untouched, it is provoked by any adversities or foul circumstances, or by the goads of words, to do or say something that is not expedient or not fitting, and patiently bears all evils so as not itself to commit any evil in deed or word. By this patience we bear it, even when we are sound in body, that our blessedness is delayed amid the offences of this world. Hence the saying I mentioned a little earlier: “If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it through patience.” With this patience holy David bore the insults of a reviler, and when he could easily have avenged himself, not only did he not do so, but he even restrained another who was grieved and stirred on his behalf, and used his royal power rather to forbid vengeance than to exact it. Nor was his body then afflicted by any disease or wound; but he recognized a time of humility and accepted the will of God, for whose sake he drank with a most patient mind the bitterness of the insult. This patience the Lord taught when, as the servants were disturbed by the mixing in of the tares and wanted to gather them, he said that the householder answered, “Let both grow until the harvest.” For what ought not to be removed hastily must be borne patiently. Of this patience he himself also gave and showed an example when, before the passion of his body, he bore with the devil Judas as a thief before he revealed him as the traitor, and, before experiencing chains, cross, and death, did not deny the kiss of peace to his deceitful lips. All these, and any others that it would take long to mention, belong to that mode of patience by which the mind bears patiently in itself, with its body wholly unhurt, not its own sins but whatever evils come from outside. But there is another mode of patience, by which the same mind bears whatever troubles and burdens it suffers in its body, not as foolish or malicious people do, for gaining empty things or committing crimes, but, as the Lord defined it, “for righteousness' sake.” In both ways the holy martyrs contended. For they were both sated with the insults of the ungodly, where the mind, the body untouched, bears unharmed certain wounds of its own; and in their bodies they were bound, imprisoned, afflicted with hunger and thirst, tortured, cut, torn, burned, slaughtered. And with unshakeable devotion they subjected their mind to God, while they suffered in the flesh whatever came into the mind of searching cruelty. ### Scripture references - Rom 8:25: quotation, high confidence - 2 Sam 16:10: allusion, high confidence - 2 Sam 16:11: allusion, high confidence - Matt 13:30: quotation, high confidence - John 6:70: allusion, high confidence - John 12:6: allusion, high confidence - Matt 26:49: allusion, high confidence - Luke 22:48: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 5:10: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Rom 8:25; Shimei's cursing of David, 2 Sam 16:5–13; Matt 13:30; Judas a devil and a thief, John 6:70, 12:6; the kiss, Matt 26:49, Luke 22:48; Matt 5:10. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 8 (CSEL 41:669–671; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-8). ## On Patience 9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-9 - Source: CSEL 41:671–673 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Job, attacked secretly by the devil through loss of goods and children, bodily torment, his wife, and his friends, kept patience throughout. ### Latin text Maius sane patientiae certamen est, quando non uisibilis inimicus persequendo atque saeuiendo urget in nefas, qui palam et aperte a non consentiente uincatur, sed ipse diabolus, qui etiam per filios infidelitatis tamquam per sua uasa filios lucis insequitur, per se ipsum occulte occultus oppugnat, saeuiendo instans, ut contra deum fiat aliquid uel dicatur. Talem illum Iob sanctus expertus est, utraque temptatione uexatus, sed in utraque stabilis patientiae robore et armis pietatis inuictus. nam prius inlaeso corpore cuncta quae habebat amisit, ut animus ante suae carnis cruciatum subtractis rebus, quas magni pendere homines solent, frangeretur et aduersus deum loqueretur aliquid his amissis, propter quae illud colere putabatur, percussus etiam omnium subita orbitate filiorum, ut quos singillatim susceperat, simul perderet, tamquam eorum numerositas non unde felicitas ornaretur extiterit, sed unde calamitas augeretur. ubi autem ista perpessus in deo suo mansit inmobilis, eius adfixus est uoluntati, quem non posset amittere nisi propria uoluntate; et pro his quae perdidit eum qui abstulit tenuit, in quo inueniret quod numquam periret. neque enim ille abstulerat, qui nocendi habuit uoluntatem, sed ille, qui dederat potestatem. Aggressus est inimicus et corpus nec ea, quae homini extrinsecus inerant, sed ipsum iam hominem in qua potuit parte percussit. a capite usque ad pedes ardebant dolores, scatebant uermes, sanies defluebat: manebat in putri corpore animus integer horrendosque cruciatus carnis contabescentis inuiolata pietate et incorrupta patientia perferebat. aderat uxor nec ferebat opem aliquam uiro, sed in deum blasphemiam suggerebat. non enim eam diabolus, cum etiam filios abstulisset, tamquam nocendi inperitus reliquerat, qui quantum esset necessaria temptatori iam in Eua didicerat. sed modo alterum Adam, quem per mulierem caperet, non inuenerat. cautior fuit iste in doloribus quam ille in nemoribus: ille uictus est in deliciis, iste uicit in poenis; consensit ille oblectamentis, non cessit iste tormentis. aderant et amici, non ut in malis consolarentur, sed ut mala suspicarentur. neque enim eum, qui tanta patiebatur, innocentem esse credebant nec tacebat eorum lingua, quod illius conscientia non habebat, ut inter inmanes cruciatus corporis etiam falsis animus caederetur obprobriis. at ille sustinens in carne dolores suos, in corde errores alienos coniugis corripiebat insipientiam, amicos docebat sapientiam, seruabat ubique patientiam. ### English translation (Claude) A greater contest of patience indeed is when it is not a visible enemy who, by persecuting and raging, urges one on to wickedness and can be overcome openly and plainly by one who does not consent, but the devil himself—who also, through the sons of unbelief as through his own vessels, pursues the sons of light—attacks by himself, hidden and in secret, pressing on with rage so that something may be done or said against God. Such did holy Job experience him, harassed by both kinds of temptation, but in both unconquered through the strength of steadfast patience and the arms of piety. For first, with his body unhurt, he lost all that he had, so that his mind, before the torture of his flesh, might be broken by the withdrawal of the things that people usually value highly, and might say something against God once these were lost, for whose sake he was thought to worship him. He was struck also by the sudden loss of all his children, so that those whom he had received one by one he lost all at once, as though their number had served not to adorn his happiness but to increase his calamity. But when, having suffered these things, he remained unmoved in his God, he clung to the will of him whom he could not lose except by his own will; and in place of what he lost he held fast to him who took them away, in whom he would find what would never perish. For it was not he who had the will to harm who had taken them away, but he who had given the power. The enemy attacked the body too, and struck no longer the things that surrounded the man outwardly, but the man himself, in whatever part he could. From head to foot pains burned, worms swarmed, pus flowed: the mind remained whole in the rotting body and bore the horrible tortures of his wasting flesh with inviolate piety and uncorrupted patience. His wife was there, bringing her husband no help but suggesting blasphemy against God. For the devil, when he took away even the children, had not left her as though he were unskilled in harming; he had already learned in Eve how necessary a wife was to the tempter. But this time he had not found a second Adam whom he might catch through the woman. This man was more cautious in his pains than that one in the groves: that one was conquered in delights, this one conquered in punishments; that one consented to pleasures, this one did not yield to torments. His friends were there too, not to console him in his evils but to suspect evils in him. For they did not believe that one who suffered so much was innocent, nor was their tongue silent about what his conscience did not contain, so that amid the monstrous tortures of his body his mind too was beaten by false reproaches. But he, bearing his pains in his flesh and others' errors in his heart, rebuked his wife's folly, taught his friends wisdom, and kept patience everywhere. ### Scripture references - Eph 2:2: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 16:8: allusion, low confidence - Job 1:12: allusion, high confidence - Job 1:19: allusion, high confidence - Job 1:21: allusion, medium confidence - Job 2:7: allusion, high confidence - Job 2:9: allusion, high confidence - Gen 3:6: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Sons of unbelief, Eph 2:2; sons of light, Luke 16:8; Job 1–2 (the Lord gave and took away, 1:21); Eve and Adam, Gen 3:6. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 9 (CSEL 41:671–673; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-9). ## On Patience 10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-10 - Source: CSEL 41:673–675 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Against those who kill themselves and claim the glory of martyrs, Augustine argues from Job that suicide destroys patience and is worse than parricide, even under persecution. ### Latin text Hunc intueantur, qui sibi ingerunt mortem, quando quaeruntur ad uitam et sibi auferendo praesentem abnegant et futuram. qui si ad Christum negandum uel aliquid contra iustitiam faciendum, sicut ueri martyres, cogerentur, omnia potius patienter ferre quam sibi inpatienter mortem inferre debuerunt. quod si fugiendorum malorum causa recte fieri posset, Iob sanctus se ipse perimeret, ut tanta mala in rebus suis, in filiis suis, in membris suis diabolicae crudelitatis effugeret. non autem fecit. absit enim, ut in se committeret ipse uir sapiens, quod nec mulier suggessit insipiens. quia et si suggessisset, merito et hic illud audisset, quod audiuit suggerendo blasphemiam: locuta es tamquam una ex insipientibus mulieribus. si bona percepimus de manu domini, mala non sustineamus? et ipsam quippe patientiam perdidisset, siue blasphemando, sicut illa uoluerat. siue se interficiendo, quod nec illa ausa fuerat dicere, moreretur atque esset inter illos de quibus dictum est: uae his qui perdiderunt patientiam. et augeret potius quam euaderet poenas, qui post sui corporis [mortem siue ad blasphemorum siue ad homicidarum uel etiam plus quam parricidarum supplicia raperetur. si enim parricida eo sceleratior est quam quilibet homicida, quia non tantum hominem, uerum etiam propinquum necat, inque ipsis parricidis, quanto propinquiorem quisque peremerit, tanto iudicatur inmanior: sine dubio peior est, qui se occidit, quia nemo est homini se ipso propinquior. quid ergo miseri faciunt, qui cum et hic sibimet ingestas et postea non solum inpietatis aduersus deum, sed etiam ipsius quam in se exercuerunt crudelitatis luant debitas poenas, insuper quaerunt et martyrum glorias? cum etiamsi pro uero Christi testimonio persecutionem paterentur et se interficerent, ne aliquid a persecutoribus paterentur, recte illis diceretur: uae his qui perdiderunt patientiam! quomodo enim iustum praemium patientiae redditur, si et inpatiens passio coronatur? aut quomodo innocens iudicabitur, cui dictum est: diliges proximum tuum tamquam te ipsum, si homicidium committit in se ipso, quod committere prohibetur in proximo? ### English translation (Claude) Let those look at him who inflict death on themselves when they are sought out to be brought to life, and by taking the present life from themselves deny themselves the future life as well. Even if they were being forced, like true martyrs, to deny Christ or to do something against righteousness, they ought rather to have borne everything patiently than impatiently to inflict death on themselves. If this could rightly be done to escape evils, holy Job would have killed himself, to escape such great evils of diabolical cruelty in his possessions, his children, and his limbs. But he did not. Far be it that the wise man should commit against himself what not even his foolish wife suggested. For even if she had suggested it, he would rightly have said here too what she heard when she suggested blasphemy: “You have spoken like one of the foolish women. If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not bear evil things?” For he would have lost patience itself, whether by blaspheming, as she wished, or by killing himself, which not even she had dared to say; he would have died and been among those of whom it is said, “Woe to those who have lost patience!” And he would have increased rather than escaped punishment, being snatched away after the death of his body to the punishments of blasphemers or of murderers, or even of those worse than parricides. For if a parricide is more wicked than any murderer, because he kills not only a man but also a kinsman, and among parricides themselves each is judged the more monstrous, the nearer the relative he has killed, then without doubt he is worse who kills himself, because no one is nearer to a man than himself. What, then, are those wretches doing who, when they pay both the punishments they inflict on themselves here and afterwards the punishments due not only for their impiety against God but also for the very cruelty they practised on themselves, seek besides the glories of martyrs? For even if they were suffering persecution for true testimony to Christ and killed themselves so as not to suffer anything from their persecutors, it would rightly be said to them, “Woe to those who have lost patience!” For how is the just reward of patience paid, if impatient suffering too is crowned? Or how will he be judged innocent to whom it was said, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” if he commits against himself the murder that he is forbidden to commit against his neighbour? ### Scripture references - Job 2:9: allusion, high confidence - Job 2:10: quotation, high confidence - Matt 22:39: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 2:14 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Those who kill themselves are not named; in Augustine's Africa the reference is to Donatist extremists (Circumcellions), who sought death as martyrdom, often when pressed to return to the catholic church; “sought out to be brought to life” (quaeruntur ad uitam) is translated literally. Job 2:10; Sir 2:14 (“Woe to those who have lost patience”); Matt 22:39. The digital text has an opening square bracket before “mortem” (death) with no closing bracket; the word is translated. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 10 (CSEL 41:673–675; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-10). ## On Patience 11 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-11 - Source: CSEL 41:675–676 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Scripture teaches patience under trial and discipline, by which we return to the paradise we lost through appetite for pleasure. ### Latin text Audiant ergo sancti de scripturis sanctis praecepta patientiae: fili, accedens ad seruitutem dei sta in iustitia et timore, et praepara animam tuam ad temptationem; deprime cor tuum et sustine, ut crescat in nouissimis tua uita. omne quod tibi superuenerit accipe et in dolore sustine et in humilitate tua patientiam habe, quoniam in igne probatur aurum et argentum, homines uero acceptabiles in camino humiliationis. et in alio loco legitur: fili, ne deficias in disciplina domini neque fatigeris cum ab illo increparis; quem enim diligit dominus, corripit, flagellat autem omnem filium quem recipit. quod hic positum est filium quem recipit, hoc in supra dicto testimonio est: homines receptibiles. hoc enim iustum est, ut qui de pristina felicitate paradisi propter contumacem deliciarum appetentiam dimissi sumus, per humilem molestiarum patientiam recipiamur, fugaces mala faciendo, reduces mala patiendo, ibi contra iustitiam facientes, hic pro iustitia patientes. ### English translation (Claude) Let the saints, then, hear the precepts of patience from the holy Scriptures: “Son, when you come to the service of God, stand in righteousness and fear, and prepare your soul for temptation. Humble your heart and endure, that your life may grow at the last. Accept whatever comes upon you, endure it in sorrow, and in your humiliation have patience; for gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.” And in another place we read: “Son, do not faint under the discipline of the Lord, nor be wearied when you are rebuked by him; for whom the Lord loves he corrects, and he scourges every son whom he receives.” What is put here, “every son whom he receives,” is in the testimony quoted above, “men who can be received.” For this is just: that we who were sent away from the former happiness of paradise because of a stubborn appetite for delights should be received back through a humble patience in troubles; runaways by doing evil, returning by suffering evil; there acting against righteousness, here suffering for righteousness. ### Scripture references - Heb 12:5: quotation, high confidence - Heb 12:6: quotation, high confidence - Prov 3:11: quotation, medium confidence - Prov 3:12: quotation, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 2:1 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Sir 2:1–5; Heb 12:5–6 (Prov 3:11–12). Augustine's comment presupposes the reading “men who can be received” (receptibiles) in Sir 2:5, though the quotation as printed reads “acceptable” (acceptabiles). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 11 (CSEL 41:675–676; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-11). ## On Patience 12 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-12 - Source: CSEL 41:676–677 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: True patience is not from the powers of free will, as some proudly hold, but is God's gift to the poor in spirit. ### Latin text Sed uera patientia, quae huius est nomine digna uirtutis, quaerendum est unde sumatur. sunt enim, qui eam tribuant uiribus uoluntatis humanae. non quas habent ex diuino adiutorio, sed quas ex libero arbitrio. error autem iste superbus est; eorum est enim qui abundant, de quibus dicitur in psalmo: obprobrium eis qui abundant et despectio superbis, non est ergo ista patientia pauperum, quae non perit in aeternum. hic enim pauperes ab illo eam diuite accipiunt, cui dicitur: deus meus es tu, quoniam bonorum meorum non eges. a quo est omne datum optimum et omne donum perfectum, ad quem clamat egenus et pauper, qui laudat nomen eius et petendo, quaerendo, pulsando dicit: deus meus, eripe me de manu peccatoris, de manu legem praetereuntis et iniqui. quoniam tu es patientia mea, domine, spes mea a iuuentute mea. isti autem, qui abundant et egere ad dominum dedignantur, ne ab illo accipiant ueram patientiam, de sua falsa gloriantes consilium inopis uolunt confundere, quoniam dominus spes eius est, nec adtendunt, cum homines sunt et suae, id est humanae uoluntati tantum tribuunt, in illud se incurrere. quod scriptum est: maledictus omnis qui spem suam ponit in homine. unde etiamsi eis contingat, ut aliqua dura et aspera, uel ne displiceant hominibus uel ne grauiora patiantur uel sibi placendo et amando praesumptionem suam eadem ipsa superbissima uoluntate sustineant, hoc illis dicendum est de patientia, quod de sapientia beatus Iacobus apostolus dicit: non est ista sapientia desursum descendens, sed terrena, animalis, diabolica. cur enim non sit superborum falsa patientia, sicut superborum est falsa sapientia? a quo est autem uera sapientia, ab illo est et uera patientia. huic enim cantat ille spiritu pauper: deo subiecta est anima mea, quoniam ab ipso est patientia mea. ### English translation (Claude) But we must ask from where true patience, which is worthy of the name of this virtue, is obtained. For there are those who attribute it to the powers of the human will—not those it has from divine help but those it has from free choice. But this error is proud; for it belongs to those who abound, of whom it is said in the psalm, “A reproach to those who abound, and contempt to the proud.” This, then, is not that patience of the poor which “does not perish for ever.” For here the poor receive it from that rich One to whom it is said, “You are my God, for you have no need of my goods”; from whom is “every best gift and every perfect gift”; to whom the needy and poor man cries, who praises his name and, asking, seeking, knocking, says: “My God, rescue me from the hand of the sinner, from the hand of the transgressor of the law and the unjust. For you are my patience, O Lord, my hope from my youth.” But those who abound and disdain to be needy before the Lord, so as not to receive true patience from him, boasting of their own false patience, wish “to confound the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his hope”; and they do not notice that, since they are men and attribute so much to their own, that is, to human will, they fall under what is written: “Cursed is everyone who puts his hope in man.” Hence, even if they happen to endure some hard and harsh things—either so as not to displease people, or so as not to suffer worse things, or, pleasing themselves and loving their own presumption, by that same most proud will—we must say of this patience what the blessed apostle James says of wisdom: “This wisdom is not descending from above, but is earthly, animal, devilish.” For why should there not be a false patience of the proud, just as there is a false wisdom of the proud? But from whom is true wisdom, from him is true patience also. For to him that man poor in spirit sings: “My soul is subject to God, for from him is my patience.” ### Scripture references - Ps 123:4 (122:4 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 9:18 (9:19 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 16:2 (15:2 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Jas 1:17: quotation, high confidence - Ps 74:21 (73:21 LXX): allusion, medium confidence - Matt 7:7: allusion, medium confidence - Ps 71:4 (70:4 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 71:5 (70:5 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 14:6 (13:6 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Jer 17:5: quotation, high confidence - Jas 3:15: quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:3: allusion, medium confidence - Ps 62:5 (61:6 LXX): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Those who ascribe patience to free will alone are not named; the view is Pelagian. Ps 123:4 (LXX 122:4); Ps 9:18 (LXX 9:19); Ps 16:2 (LXX 15:2); Jas 1:17; Ps 74:21 (LXX 73:21); Matt 7:7; Ps 71:4–5 (LXX 70:4–5); Ps 14:6 (LXX 13:6); Jer 17:5; Jas 3:15; Matt 5:3; Ps 62:5 (LXX 61:6). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 12 (CSEL 41:676–677; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-12). ## On Patience 13 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-13 - Source: CSEL 41:677–678 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine states his opponents' objection: if the wicked can endure so much by free will alone, why cannot the righteous? ### Latin text Sed respondent et loquuntur dicentes: sicut uoluntas hominis sine ullo dei adiutorio uiribus liberi arbitrii tam multa grauia et horrenda perfert, siue in animo siue in corpore, ut mortalis uitae huius et peccatorum delectatione perfruatur, cur non eodem modo eadem ipsa uoluntas hominis eisdem uiribus liberi arbitrii non ad hoc expectans se diuinitus adiuuari, sed sibi naturali possibilitate sufficiens quidquid laboris uel doloris ingeritur, pro iustitia et uita aeterna patientissime sustinet? an uero, inquiunt, idonea est iniquorum uoluntas deo non adiuuante, ut se ipsi in cruciatibus pro iniquitate et, antequam ab aliis crucientur, exerceant; idonea est uoluntas moras uitae huius amantium, ut deo non adiuuante inter atrocissima et longa tormenta in mendacio perseuerent, ne sua facinora confitentes iubeantur occidi, et non est idonea iustorum uoluntas, nisi eis uires desuper suggerantur, quaslibet poenas uel ipsius decore iustitiae uel aeternae uitae amore perferre? ### English translation (Claude) But they reply and speak, saying: “If the will of man, without any help from God, by the powers of free choice, bears so many heavy and horrible things, whether in mind or in body, in order to enjoy the delight of this mortal life and of sins, why does not the same will of man in the same way, by the same powers of free choice, not waiting to be helped from above for this but sufficient to itself by its natural capacity, bear most patiently whatever labour or pain is laid on it for righteousness and eternal life? Or is it the case,” they say, “that the will of the wicked is capable, without God's help, of training itself in tortures for the sake of iniquity, even before it is tortured by others; that the will of those who love to prolong this life is capable, without God's help, of persisting in a lie amid the most atrocious and long torments, so as not to be ordered to be killed after confessing their crimes; and that the will of the righteous is not capable, unless strength is supplied to them from above, of bearing any punishments whatever, either for the beauty of righteousness itself or for love of eternal life?” ### Translation notes - The objectors are the same as in section 12. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 13 (CSEL 41:677–678; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-13). ## On Patience 14 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-14 - Source: CSEL 41:678–679 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The wicked endure much from desire for the world, which comes from their own will; the righteous endure from the love of God, which the Holy Spirit pours into their hearts. ### Latin text Qui haec dicunt, non intellegunt et quemque iniquorum tanto esse ad quaecumque mala perferenda duriorem, quanto in eo maior est cupiditas mundi, et quemque iustorum tanto esse ad quaecumque mala perferenda fortiorem, quanto in eo maior est caritas dei. sed cupiditas mundi initium habet ex arbitrio uoluntatis, progressum ex iucunditate uoluptatis, firmamentum ex uinculo consuetudinis; caritas autem dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris, non utique ex nobis, sed per spiritum sanctum qui datus est nobis. proinde ab illo est patientia iustorum, per quem diffunditur caritas eorum. quam caritatem laudans atque commendans apostolus inter cetera eius bona dixit eam et cuncta sufferre. caritas, inquit, magnanima est, et paulo post ait: omnia tolerat. quanto ergo maior est in sanctis caritas dei, tanto magis pro eo quod diligitur, et quanto maior est in peccatoribus cupiditas mundi, tanto magis pro eo, quod concupiscitur, omnia tolerantur. ac per hoc inde est patientia uera iustorum, unde est in eis caritas dei; et inde est patientia falsa iniquorum, unde est in eis cupiditas mundi. propter quod dicit Iohannes apostolus: nolite diligere mundum nec ea quae in mundo sunt. si quis dilexerit mundum, dilectio patris non est in ipso, quoniam omne quod est in mundo, concupiscentia carnis est et concupiscentia oculorum et ambitio saeculi: quae non est ex patre, sed ex mundo est. haec igitur concupiscentia, quae non est ex patre, sed ex mundo, quando fuerit in homine uehementior et ardentior, tanto fit quisque pro eo, quod concupiscit, omnium molestiarum dolorumque patientior. idcirco, sicut supra diximus, non est ista patientia desursum descendens; patientia uero piorum desursum est descendens a patre luminum. itaque illa terrena est, ista caelestis, illa animalis, ista spiritalis, illa diabolica, ista deifica, quoniam concupiscentia, qua fit, ut peccantes omnia pertinaciter patiantur, ex mundo est; caritas autem, qua fit, ut recte uiuentes omnia fortiter patiantur, ex deo est. et ideo illi falsae patientiae potest sine adiutorio dei uoluntas humana sufficere tanto durior, quanto cupidior, et eo tolerabilius mala sustinens, quo ipsa fit peior; huic autem, quae uera patientia est, ideo uoluntas humana, nisi desuper adiuta et inflammata, non sufficit, quia spiritus sanctus est ignis eius, quo nisi accensa diligat inpassibile bonum, ferre non potest quod patitur malum. ### English translation (Claude) Those who say this do not understand that each of the wicked is the harder in bearing any evils, the greater the desire for the world in him, and that each of the righteous is the stronger in bearing any evils, the greater the love of God in him. But desire for the world has its beginning in the choice of the will, its progress in the pleasantness of pleasure, its strength in the chain of habit; whereas “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts,” certainly not from ourselves, but “through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Accordingly, the patience of the righteous is from him through whom their love is poured out. Praising and commending this love, the apostle said among its other goods that it also bears all things. “Love,” he says, “is magnanimous,” and a little later, “it endures all things.” The greater, then, the love of God in the saints, the more they endure all things for the one who is loved; and the greater the desire for the world in sinners, the more they endure all things for what is desired. And so the true patience of the righteous comes from the same source as the love of God in them, and the false patience of the wicked from the same source as the desire for the world in them. That is why the apostle John says: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; for all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh and the concupiscence of the eyes and the ambition of the age, which is not from the Father but is from the world.” This concupiscence, then, which is not from the Father but from the world—the more vehement and ardent it is in a person, the more patient he becomes of all troubles and pains for what he desires. Therefore, as we said above, this is not patience descending from above; but the patience of the devout is from above, descending from the Father of lights. So the one is earthly, the other heavenly; the one animal, the other spiritual; the one devilish, the other godlike; since the concupiscence by which sinners come to suffer all things stubbornly is from the world, but the love by which those who live rightly come to suffer all things bravely is from God. And therefore for that false patience the human will can suffice without God's help, being the harder the greedier it is, and bearing evils the more tolerably the worse it becomes; but for this, which is true patience, the human will does not suffice unless helped and inflamed from above, because the Holy Spirit is its fire; unless it is kindled by him to love the impassible good, it cannot bear the evil it suffers. ### Scripture references - Rom 5:5: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 13:4: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 13:7: quotation, high confidence - 1 John 2:15: quotation, high confidence - 1 John 2:16: quotation, high confidence - Jas 1:17: allusion, high confidence - Jas 3:15: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Rom 5:5; 1 Cor 13:4, 7; 1 John 2:15–16; Jas 1:17; Jas 3:15. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 14 (CSEL 41:678–679; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-14). ## On Patience 15 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-15 - Source: CSEL 41:679–680 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Since God is love, the love of God cannot be had without God; it is through him, not ourselves, that the saints conquer in persecution. ### Latin text Sicut enim diuina testantur eloquia, deus caritas est, et qui manet in caritate, in deo manet, et deus in illo manet. quisquis ergo contendit haberi posse dei caritatem sine dei adiutorio, quid aliud contendit nisi haberi deum posse sine deo? quis autem hoc dicat Christianus, quod nullus dicere audeat insanus? exultans ergo apud apostolum uera, pia fidelisque patientia dicit ore sanctorum: quis nos separabit a caritate Christi? tribulatio? an angustia? an persecutio? an fames? an nuditas? an periculum? an gladius? sicut scriptum est, quia propter te mortificamur tota die, deputati sumus sicut oues uictimae. sed in his omnibus superuincimus per eum, qui dilexit nos; non ergo per nos, sed per eum, qui dilexit nos. deinde sequitur et adiungit: certus sum enim, quia neque mors neque uita neque angeli neque principatus neque praesentia neque futura neque altitudo neque profundum neque creatura alia poterit nos separare a caritate dei, quae est in Christo Iesu domino nostro. haec est illa caritas dei, quae diffunditur in cordibus nostris, non ex nobis, sed per spiritum sanctum qui datus est nobis; malorum autem concupiscentia, propter quam in eis est falsa patientia, non est ex patre, sicut dicit apostolus Iohannes, sed ex mundo est. ### English translation (Claude) For as the divine words testify, “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” Whoever, then, contends that the love of God can be had without God's help, what else does he contend but that God can be had without God? But what Christian would say this, which no madman would dare to say? Exulting, then, in the apostle, true, devout, and faithful patience says through the mouth of the saints: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: For your sake we are put to death all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things we more than conquer through him who loved us”—not, then, through ourselves, but through him who loved us. Then he goes on and adds: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is that love of God which is poured out in our hearts, not from ourselves but through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us; whereas the concupiscence of the wicked, on account of which there is false patience in them, is not from the Father, as the apostle John says, but is from the world. ### Scripture references - 1 John 4:16: quotation, high confidence - Rom 8:35: quotation, high confidence - Rom 8:36: quotation, high confidence - Ps 44:22 (43:23 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Rom 8:37: quotation, high confidence - Rom 8:38: quotation, high confidence - Rom 8:39: quotation, high confidence - Rom 5:5: allusion, high confidence - 1 John 2:16: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - 1 John 4:16; Rom 8:35–39, quoting Ps 44:22 (LXX 43:23); Rom 5:5; 1 John 2:16. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 15 (CSEL 41:679–680; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-15). ## On Patience 16 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-16 - Source: CSEL 41:680–681 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The will that loves the world is itself “from the world”; even the apostles were of the world until Christ chose them out of it. ### Latin text Hic dicet aliquis: si ex mundo est concupiscentia malorum, per quam fit, ut mala omnia pro eo quod ab illis concupiscitur perferant, quo modo ex eorum dicitur uoluntate? quasi uero non et ipsi ex mundo sint, cum ab eis diligitur mundus deserto eo, per quem factus est mundus; seruiunt enim creaturae potius quam creatori, qui est benedictus in saecula. siue itaque mundi uocabulo Iohannes apostolus dilectores significauerit mundi, uoluntas, quae ex ipsis est, utique ex mundo est; siue mundi nomine caelum et terram et quaecumque in eis sunt, hoc est uniuersam conplexus sit creaturam, uoluntas procul dubio creaturae, quae non est creatoris, ex mundo est. propter quod talibus dominus dicit: uos de deorsum estis, ego de sursum sum; uos de hoc mundo estis, ego non sum de hoc mundo. apostolis autem dicit: si de hoc mundo essetis, mundus quod suum est diligeret. sed ne sibi amplius adrogarent, quam eorum mensura poscebat, et hoc, quod eos non esse dixit ex mundo, naturae putarent esse, non gratiae, quia uero, inquit, de mundo non estis, sed ego elegi uos de mundo, propterea odit uos mundus. ergo de mundo erant; nam, ut non essent de mundo, electi sunt de mundo. ### English translation (Claude) Here someone will say: “If the concupiscence of the wicked, through which they come to bear all evils for what they desire, is from the world, how is it said to be from their will?” As if they themselves were not also from the world, when they love the world, forsaking him through whom the world was made! For they serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. So whether by the word “world” the apostle John meant the lovers of the world, the will that is from them is certainly from the world; or whether by the name “world” he embraced heaven and earth and whatever is in them, that is, the whole creation, the will of the creature, which is not of the Creator, is without doubt from the world. That is why the Lord says to such people, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.” But to the apostles he says, “If you were of this world, the world would love its own.” But lest they claim more for themselves than their measure required, and think that his saying that they were not of the world was a matter of nature and not of grace, he says, “But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” So they were of the world; for they were chosen out of the world so that they might not be of the world. ### Scripture references - John 1:10: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 1:25: quotation, high confidence - John 8:23: quotation, high confidence - John 15:19: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - John 1:10; Rom 1:25; John 8:23; John 15:19. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 16 (CSEL 41:680–681; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-16). ## On Patience 17 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-17 - Source: CSEL 41:681–683 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Election is by grace, which precedes all merit and even faith; the apostles were chosen out of the world not because they were righteous but to be made righteous. ### Latin text Hanc autem electionem non praecedentium in bonis operibus meritorum, sed electionem gratiae demonstrans apostolus sic inquit: et in hoc tempore reliquiae per electionem gratiae saluae factae sunt; si autem gratia, iam non ex operibus; alioquin gratia iam non est gratia. haec est electio gratiae, id est electio, qua per dei gratiam homines eliguntur, haec est, inquam, electio gratiae, qua omnia bona merita praeueniuntur humana. si enim ullis bonis meritis datur, iam non gratis donatur, sed debita redditur, ac per hoc non uero nomine gratia nuncupatur, ubi merces, sicut idem dicit apostolus, non inputatur secundum gratiam, sed secundum debitum. si autem, ut uera sit gratia, id est gratuita, nihil inuenit in homine, cui merito debeatur — quod bene intellegitur et in eo, quod dictum est: pro nihilo saluos facies eos — profecto ipsa dat merita, non meritis datur. praeuenit ergo etiam fidem, ex qua omnia bona opera incipiunt; iustus enim, sicut scriptum est, ex fide uiuit. porro autem gratia non solum adiuuat iustum, uerum etiam iustificat inpium. et ideo etiam cum adiuuat iustum et uidetur eius meritis reddi, nec sic desinit esse gratia, quoniam id adiuuat, quod est ipsa largita. propter hanc itaque gratiam, quae cuncta bona merita humana praecedit, non solum Christus ab inpiis occisus est, uerum etiam pro inpiis mortuus est. et antequam moreretur, non utique iustos, sed iustificandos elegit apostolos, quibus ait: ego uos de mundo elegi. quibus enim dixit: de mundo non estis, et, ne putarent se numquam fuisse de mundo. mox addidit: sed ego uos de mundo elegi, profecto, ut de mundo non essent, ipsius in eos electione conlatum est. quocirca si per suam iustitiam, non per gratiam eius eligerentur, non de mundo electi essent, quoniam de mundo iam non essent, si iam iusti essent. deinde propterea sunt electi, quia iam iusti erant; ipsi priores iam dominum elegerant. quis enim potest esse iustus, nisi eligendo iustitiam? finis autem legis Christus ad iustitiam omni credenti, qui factus est nobis sapientia a deo et iustitia et sanctificatio et redemptio, ut, quemadmodum scriptum est, qui gloriatur in domino glorietur. ipse est ergo nostra iustitia. ### English translation (Claude) The apostle shows that this election is not one of preceding merits in good works but an election of grace, saying: “So too at this time a remnant has been saved by the election of grace; but if by grace, then no longer from works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.” This is the election of grace, that is, the election by which people are chosen through the grace of God; this, I say, is the election of grace, by which all good human merits are preceded. For if it is given for any good merits, it is no longer given freely but paid as a debt, and so it is not called grace by a true name, where, as the same apostle says, the reward is reckoned not according to grace but according to debt. But if, to be true grace, that is, gratuitous, it finds nothing in a person to which it is due by merit—which is well understood also in the saying, “For nothing you will save them”—then surely it gives merits; it is not given for merits. It precedes, then, even faith, from which all good works begin; for “the righteous,” as it is written, “lives by faith.” Moreover, grace not only helps the righteous but also justifies the ungodly. And therefore, even when it helps the righteous and seems to be paid to his merits, it does not even so cease to be grace, since it helps what it has itself bestowed. Because of this grace, then, which precedes all good human merits, Christ was not only killed by the ungodly but also died for the ungodly. And before he died, he chose apostles who were certainly not righteous but were to be made righteous, and said to them, “I chose you out of the world.” For to those to whom he said, “You are not of the world,” he at once added, lest they think they had never been of the world, “But I chose you out of the world”; surely, that they were not of the world was conferred on them by his choosing them. Therefore, if they had been chosen through their own righteousness and not through his grace, they would not have been chosen out of the world, since they would no longer be of the world if they were already righteous. Again, if they were chosen because they were already righteous, they themselves had already chosen the Lord first. For who can be righteous except by choosing righteousness? But “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,” he “who has become for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” He himself, then, is our righteousness. ### Scripture references - Rom 11:5: quotation, high confidence - Rom 11:6: quotation, high confidence - Rom 4:4: allusion, high confidence - Ps 56:7 (55:8 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Rom 1:17: quotation, high confidence - Rom 4:5: allusion, high confidence - Rom 5:6: allusion, high confidence - John 15:19: quotation, high confidence - Rom 10:4: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 1:30: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 1:31: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Rom 11:5–6; Rom 4:4; Ps 56:7 (LXX and Vulgate 55:8, “For nothing you will save them”); Hab 2:4 as in Rom 1:17; Rom 4:5; Rom 5:6; John 15:19; Rom 10:4; 1 Cor 1:30–31. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 17 (CSEL 41:681–683; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-17). ## On Patience 18 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-18 - Source: CSEL 41:683–684 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The righteous of the Old Testament were also justified by faith in the Christ to come and by prevenient mercy; God's choice and love always come first. ### Latin text Vnde et antiqui iusti ante incarnationem uerbi in hac fide Christi et in hac uera iustitia, quod est nobis Christus, iustificati sunt, hoc credentes futurum quod nos credimus factum: et ipsi gratia salui facti per fidem non ex semet ipsis, sed dei dono, non ex operibus, ne forte extollerentur. bona quippe opera eorum non praeuenerunt dei misericordiam, sed subsecuta sunt. ipsi quippe audierunt, ipsi scripserunt longe antequam Christus uenisset in carne: miserebor, cui misertus ero, et misericordiam praestabo, cui misericors fuero. ex quibus dei uerbis tanto post apostolus Paulus diceret: igitur non uolentis neque currentis, sed miserentis est dei. ipsorum etiam uox est longe antequam Christus uenisset in carne: deus meus, misericordia eius praeueniet me. quomodo autem possent alieni esse a fide Christi, quorum caritate etiam nobis praenuntiatus est Christus, sine cuius fide quisquam mortalium nec fuit nec est nec esse aliquando poterit iustus? si ergo iam iusti a Christo eligerentur apostoli, prius illum ipsi elegissent, ut iusti eligi possent, quia sine illo iusti esse non possent. sed non ita factum est; ipse quippe illis ait: non uos me elegistis, sed ego uos elegi. unde dicit apostolus Iohannes: non quod dilexerimus deum. sed quia ipse dilexit nos. ### English translation (Claude) Hence the righteous of old too, before the incarnation of the Word, were justified in this faith of Christ and in this true righteousness which Christ is for us, believing as future what we believe as done; and they too were saved by grace through faith, not of themselves but by the gift of God, not from works, lest perhaps they should be lifted up. For their good works did not precede God's mercy but followed it. For they heard, and they wrote, long before Christ had come in the flesh: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will show mercy to whom I will be merciful”; from which words of God the apostle Paul, so long afterwards, was to say: “So then it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” Theirs too is the voice, long before Christ had come in the flesh: “My God, his mercy will go before me.” And how could they be strangers to the faith of Christ, by whose love Christ was foretold even to us—Christ, without faith in whom no mortal has been, is, or ever can be righteous? If, then, the apostles had been chosen by Christ as already righteous, they would first have chosen him themselves, so that they might be chosen as righteous, since without him they could not be righteous. But it did not happen so; for he himself said to them, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” Hence the apostle John says, “Not that we loved God, but that he loved us.” ### Scripture references - Eph 2:8: allusion, high confidence - Eph 2:9: allusion, high confidence - Exod 33:19: quotation, high confidence - Rom 9:16: quotation, high confidence - Ps 59:10 (58:11 LXX): quotation, high confidence - John 15:16: quotation, high confidence - 1 John 4:10: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Eph 2:8–9; Exod 33:19; Rom 9:16; Ps 59:10 (LXX 58:11); John 15:16; 1 John 4:10. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 18 (CSEL 41:683–684; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/1/#p-18). ## On Patience 19 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/19/#p-19 - Source: CSEL 41:684–685 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Without God's prior free choice and love a person is unrighteous; God hates sinners as a physician hates sickness while loving the patient. ### Latin text Quod cum ita sit, quid est homo utens in hac uita propria uoluntate, antequam eligat et diligat deum, nisi iniustus et inpius? quid est, inquam, homo aberrans a creatore creatura, nisi creator eius memor sit eius et eligat eum gratis et diligat gratis? quia ipse non potest eligere uel diligere, nisi prius electus dilectusque curetur, qui caecitate eligenda non cernit et langore diligenda fastidit. sed forte quis dicat: quomodo deus prius eligit et diligit iniquos, ut iustificet eos, cum scriptum sit: odisti, domine, omnes, qui operantur iniquitatem? quomodo putamus nisi miro et ineffabili modo? et tamen etiam non possumus cogitare, quod medicus bonus aegrotum et odit et diligit? odit enim, quia aegrotat, qui diligit, ut aegritudinem pellat. ### English translation (Claude) This being so, what is a man using his own will in this life, before he chooses and loves God, but unrighteous and ungodly? What, I say, is a man, a creature straying from his Creator, unless his Creator is mindful of him and chooses him freely and loves him freely? For he himself cannot choose or love unless, having first been chosen and loved, he is healed; for through blindness he does not see what he should choose, and through sickness he loathes what he should love. But perhaps someone will say: “How does God first choose and love the wicked, so as to justify them, when it is written, You hate, O Lord, all who work iniquity?” How do we suppose, except in a wonderful and ineffable way? And yet can we not also conceive that a good physician both hates and loves a sick man? For he hates him because he is sick, and he loves him in order to drive out the sickness. ### Scripture references - Ps 8:4: allusion, medium confidence - Ps 5:5 (5:6 LXX): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Ps 8:4; Ps 5:5 (LXX 5:6). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 19 (CSEL 41:684–685; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/19/#p-19). ## On Patience 20 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/19/#p-20 - Source: CSEL 41:685 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Patience comes from the same giver as love; the endurance of worldly desire is a numbness of disease, not health. ### Latin text Haec propter caritatem dicta sint, sine qua in nobis non potest esse uera patientia, quoniam in bonis caritas dei est, quae tolerat omnia, sicut in malis mundi cupiditas. sed haec caritas per spiritum sanctum est in nobis, qui datus est nobis. unde a quo nobis est caritas, ab illo patientia. mundi autem cupiditas quando patienter sustinet onera cuiuslibet calamitatis, gloriatur de uiribus propriae uoluntatis tamquam de stupore morbi, non de robore sanitatis. insana est ista gloriatio; non est patientiae, sed dementiae. uoluntas ista tanto uidetur patientior acerborum malorum, quanto est auidior temporalium bonorum, quia inanior aeternorum. ### English translation (Claude) Let these things be said because of love, without which there cannot be true patience in us; for in the good it is the love of God that endures all things, as in the wicked it is the desire for the world. But this love is in us through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Hence from whom we have love, from him we have patience. But when desire for the world patiently bears the burdens of any calamity, it boasts of the powers of its own will as of the numbness of disease, not of the robustness of health. This boasting is insane; it belongs not to patience but to madness. That will seems the more patient of bitter evils, the greedier it is for temporal goods, because it is the emptier of eternal ones. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 13:7: allusion, high confidence - Rom 5:5: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - 1 Cor 13:7; Rom 5:5. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 20 (CSEL 41:685; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/19/#p-20). ## On Patience 21 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/19/#p-21 - Source: CSEL 41:685–686 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: An evil will needs no demon to prompt it, as the devil's own fall shows; it endures much for created goods whose pleasure it knows. ### Latin text Quodsi eam exagitat et inflammat fallacibus uisis et suasionibus inmundus et diabolicus spiritus et maligna conspiratione sociatus efficit hominis uoluntatem uel errore dementem uel adpetitu cuiuslibet mundanae delectationis ardentem quaecumque uidentur intolerabilia mirabiliter sustinere, non tamen ideo etiam uoluntas mala sine instigatione alterius inmundi spiritus sicut uoluntas bona sine adiutorio sancti spiritus non potest esse. nam esse posse uoluntatem malam etiam sine aliquo spiritu uel seducente uel incitante in ipso diabolo satis ostenditur. qui per nullum alium diabolum propria uoluntate factus diabolus inuenitur. uoluntas itaque mala siue cupiditate rapiatur siue timore reuocetur siue laetitia diffundatur siue tristitia contrahatur atque in his omnibus perturbationibus animi quaecumque sunt aliis uel alio tempore grauiora contemnat et perferat. potest et sine alterius spiritus instinctu se ipsa seducere et defectu a superioribus in inferiora lapsando, quanto iucundius aestimauerit. quod adipisci adpetit uel amittere metuit uel adeptum gaudet uel amissum dolet, tanto tolerabilius pro eo ferre, quod sibi minus est ad patiendum quam illud ad fruendum. quidquid enim illud est, ex creatura est, cuius nota uoluntas est. quodam modo enim familiari contactu atque conexu ad experiendam eius suauitatem adiacet amanti creaturae amata creatura. ### English translation (Claude) But if an unclean and devilish spirit stirs up the human will and inflames it with deceptive visions and persuasions, and, joined to it in malignant conspiracy, makes it, whether maddened by error or burning with appetite for some worldly delight, bear wonderfully whatever seems unbearable, it does not follow that an evil will cannot exist without the instigation of another, unclean spirit, as a good will cannot exist without the help of the Holy Spirit. For that there can be an evil will even without any spirit seducing or inciting it is shown sufficiently in the devil himself, who is found to have become a devil by his own will, through no other devil. So an evil will, whether it is carried away by desire, or held back by fear, or spread out by joy, or contracted by sadness, and in all these disturbances of the mind despises and endures whatever is heavier for others or at another time, can also seduce itself without the prompting of another spirit; and, by falling away from higher things and slipping into lower, the more pleasant it has judged what it seeks to gain, or fears to lose, or rejoices to have gained, or grieves to have lost, the more tolerably it bears for its sake whatever is less to it in suffering than that is in enjoyment. For whatever that is, it is from the creature, whose pleasure is known. For in a certain way, by familiar contact and connection, the beloved creature lies close at hand to the loving creature for experiencing its sweetness. ### Translation notes - The digital text reads “cuius nota uoluntas est” (whose will is known); the sense and the next section (“the pleasure of the Creator”) suggest “uoluptas” (pleasure), and it is translated so. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 21 (CSEL 41:685–686; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/19/#p-21). ## On Patience 22 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/19/#p-22 - Source: CSEL 41:686–687 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Love of God, and so true patience, can only be given by God; Scripture calls patience his gift. ### Latin text Voluptas autem creatoris, de qua scriptum est: et torrente uoluptatis tuae potabis eos, longe alterius generis est; neque enim, sicut nos, creatura est. nisi ergo amor eius detur inde nobis, non est, unde esse possit in nobis. ac per hoc uoluntas bona, qua diligitur deus, in homine non potest esse, nisi in quo deus operatur et uelle. haec igitur uoluntas bona, id est uoluntas deo fideliter subdita, uoluntas sanctitate superni ardoris accensa, uoluntas, quae diligit deum et proximum propter deum, siue amore, de quo respondet apostolus Petrus: domine, tu scis quia amo te, siue timore, de quo dicit apostolus Paulus: in timore et tremore uestram ipsorum salutem operamini, siue gaudio, de quo dicit: spe gaudentes, in tribulatione patientes, siue tristitia, qualem se dicit habuisse magnam pro fratribus suis, quaecumque amara et aspera sufferat, caritas dei est, quae omnia tolerat, quae non diffunditur in cordibus nostris, nisi per spiritum sanctum, qui datus est nobis. Vnde nequaquam dubitante pietate sicut caritas sancte amantium, ita patientia pie tolerantium dei donum est. neque enim scriptura diuina fallit aut fallitur, quae non solum in ueteribus libris habet huius rei testimonia, cum deo dicitur: patientia mea tu es, et: ab ipso est patientia mea, et ubi alius propheta dicit accipere nos spiritum fortitudinis, uerum etiam in apostolicis litteris legitur: quia uobis donatum est pro Christo non solum ut credatis in eum, sed ut etiam patiamini pro eo. non ergo quasi de proprio faciat animum elatum quod sibi audit esse donatum. ### English translation (Claude) But the pleasure of the Creator, of which it is written, “And you will give them drink from the torrent of your pleasure,” is of a far different kind; for he is not a creature, as we are. Unless, then, love of him is given to us from there, there is no source from which it could be in us. And so a good will, by which God is loved, cannot be in a man except one in whom God also works to will. This good will, then—that is, a will faithfully subject to God, a will kindled by the holiness of heavenly ardour, a will that loves God and its neighbour for God's sake—whether through love, as when the apostle Peter answers, “Lord, you know that I love you,” or through fear, of which the apostle Paul says, “With fear and trembling work out your own salvation,” or through joy, of which he says, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation,” or through sadness, such as he says he had, and great, for his brothers—whatever bitter and harsh things it suffers, it is the love of God that endures all things, which is not poured out in our hearts except through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Hence, as devotion does not doubt at all, just as the love of those who love holily is a gift of God, so is the patience of those who endure devoutly. For the divine Scripture neither deceives nor is deceived; and it has testimonies of this not only in the old books, where it is said to God, “You are my patience,” and “From him is my patience,” and where another prophet says that we receive the spirit of fortitude, but it is also read in the apostolic letters: “For it has been given to you for Christ, not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him.” Let not what one hears has been given to him, then, make his mind proud, as though it were his own. ### Scripture references - Ps 36:8 (35:9 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:13: allusion, high confidence - John 21:15: quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:12: quotation, high confidence - Rom 12:12: quotation, high confidence - Rom 9:2: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 13:7: allusion, high confidence - Rom 5:5: quotation, high confidence - Ps 71:5 (70:5 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 62:5 (61:6 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Isa 11:2: allusion, medium confidence - Phil 1:29: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Ps 36:8 (LXX 35:9); Phil 2:13; John 21:15; Phil 2:12; Rom 12:12; Rom 9:2; Rom 5:5; 1 Cor 13:7; Ps 71:5 (LXX 70:5); Ps 62:5 (LXX 61:6); the spirit of fortitude, Isa 11:2; Phil 1:29. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 22 (CSEL 41:686–687; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/19/#p-22). ## On Patience 23 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/19/#p-23 - Source: CSEL 41:687–688 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: A schismatic who suffers rather than deny Christ is not to be blamed; his patience is praiseworthy and may lighten his judgement, though without love it does not gain the kingdom. ### Latin text Si quis autem non habens caritatem, quae pertinet ad unitatem spiritus et uinculum pacis, quo catholica ecclesia congregata conectitur, in aliquo schismate constitutus, ne Christum neget, patitur tribulationes, angustias, famem, nuditatem, persecutionem, pericula, carceres, uincula, tormenta, gladium uel flammas uel bestias uel ipsam crucem timore gehennarum et ignis aeterni, nullo modo ista culpanda sunt, immo uero et hic laudanda patientia est. non enim dicere poterimus melius ei fuisse, ut Christum negando nihil eorum pateretur, quae passus est confitendo, sed existimandum est fortasse tolerabilius ei futurum iudicium, quam si Christum negando cuncta illa uitaret, ut illud, quod ait apostolus: si tradidero corpus meum ut ardeam, caritatem autem non habeam, nihil mihi prodest, nihil [mihi] prodesse intellegatur ad regnum caelorum obtinendum, non ad extremi iudicii tolerabilius supplicium subeundum. ### English translation (Claude) But if someone who does not have the love that belongs to the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace, by which the gathered catholic church is held together, being placed in some schism, suffers—so as not to deny Christ—tribulations, distresses, hunger, nakedness, persecution, perils, prisons, chains, tortures, the sword or flames or beasts or the cross itself, out of fear of Gehenna and eternal fire, these things are in no way to be blamed; rather, here too patience is to be praised. For we shall not be able to say that it would have been better for him to deny Christ and suffer none of the things he suffered by confessing him; but it must be thought that perhaps the judgement will be more bearable for him than if he had denied Christ and avoided all those things. So what the apostle says, “If I hand over my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing,” is to be understood as profiting nothing toward obtaining the kingdom of heaven, not toward undergoing a more bearable punishment at the last judgement. ### Scripture references - Eph 4:3: allusion, high confidence - Rom 8:35: allusion, high confidence - 2 Cor 11:27: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 13:3: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Eph 4:3; Rom 8:35; 2 Cor 11:23–27; 1 Cor 13:3. The schism is not named; in Augustine's Africa the Donatists are meant. The editor deletes a repeated “mihi” (me) in the last sentence. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 23 (CSEL 41:687–688; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/19/#p-23). ## On Patience 24 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/19/#p-24 - Source: CSEL 41:688–689 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine asks whether the patience of a schismatic who suffers for the truth he retains is God's gift, since both answers seem to raise difficulties. ### Latin text Sed merito quaeri potest, utrum et ista patientia donum dei sit, an uiribus tribuenda sit uoluntatis humanae, qua quisque ab ecclesia separatus non pro errore, qui eum separauit, sed pro ueritate sacramenti seu uerbi, quae apud eum remansit, timore poenarum aeternarum poenas patitur temporales. cauendum est enim, ne forte, si dei donum istam patientiam dixerimus, hi quibus inest etiam ad regnum dei pertinere credantur; si autem illam donum dei esse negauerimus, cogamur fateri sine adiutorio et munere dei in uoluntate hominis esse posse aliquid boni. neque enim hoc non est bonum, ut credat homo aeterno supplicio se esse puniendum, si negauerit Christum et pro ista fide qualecumque supplicium perferat et contemnat humanum. ### English translation (Claude) But it may rightly be asked whether this patience too is a gift of God, or is to be attributed to the powers of the human will: the patience by which someone separated from the church suffers temporal punishments out of fear of eternal punishments—not for the error that separated him but for the truth of the sacrament or of the word that remained with him. For we must beware lest, if we say that this patience is a gift of God, those in whom it is present should be believed to belong to the kingdom of God as well; but if we deny that it is a gift of God, we may be forced to confess that there can be something good in man's will without God's help and gift. For it is not something without good, that a man should believe he will be punished with eternal punishment if he denies Christ, and for this faith should endure and despise any human punishment whatever. ### Translation notes - “The truth of the sacrament” refers to baptism, which Augustine held the Donatists validly retained. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 24 (CSEL 41:688–689; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/19/#p-24). ## On Patience 25 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/19/#p-25 - Source: CSEL 41:689–692 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Schismatics may receive some gifts of God, like the gifts Abraham gave the sons of his concubines, but not the inheritance; the patience of Christ's poor heirs will bear eternal fruit. ### Latin text Proinde sicut negandum non est etiam hoc esse donum dei, ita intellegendum est alia esse dei dona filiorum illius Hierusalem, quae sursum libera est mater nostra. Haec sunt enim quodam modo hereditaria, in quibus sumus heredes dei, coheredes autem Christi; alia uero, quae possunt accipere etiam filii concubinarum, quibus iudaei carnales et schismatici uel haeretici conparantur. quamuis enim scriptum est: eice ancillam et filium eius; neque enim heres erit filius ancillae cum filio meo Isaac, et Abrahae dixit deus: in Isaac uocabitur tibi semen, quod sic est apostolus interpretatus, ut diceret: id est non qui filii carnis, hi filii dei, sed filii promissionis deputantur in semine, ut intellegeremus semen Abrahae secundum Isaac propter Christum ad dei filios pertinere, qui sunt corpus Christi et membra, id est ecclesia dei una, uera, germana, catholica, tenens piam fidem, non eam, quae per elationem uel timorem, sed eam, quae per dilectionem operatur: tamen etiam filios concubinarum quando a filio suo Isaac dimisit Abraham, nonnulla eis largitus est munera, ne relinquerentur omni modo inanes, non ut tenerentur heredes. sic enim legimus: dedit autem Abraham omnem censum suum Isaac filio suo; et filiis concubinarum suarum dedit Abraham munera et dimisit eos ab Isaac filio suo. si ergo filii sumus liberae Hierusalem, alia dona exheredatorum, alia intellegamus heredum. hi enim heredes sunt, quibus dicitur: non enim accepistis spiritum seruitutis iterum in timorem, sed accepistis spiritum adoptionis filiorum, in quo clamamus: abba pater. Clamemus ergo spiritu caritatis et, donec ueniamus ad hereditatem, in qua semper maneamus, liberali amore simus, non seruili timore patientes; clamemus, quamdiu pauperes sumus, donec illa hereditate ditemur. magna quippe inde pignora accepimus, quod ad nos ditandos pauper factus est Christus, quo in supernas diuitias exaltato missus est, qui sancta desideria nostris cordibus inspiraret spiritus sanctus. horum pauperum adhuc credentium, nondum contemplantium, adhuc sperantium, nondum tenentium, adhuc desiderio suspirantium, nondum felicitate regnantium, adhuc esurientium et sitientium, nondum satiatorum: horum ergo pauperum patientia non peribit in aeternum, non quia et illic patientia erit, ubi quod toleretur non erit, sed non peribit dictum est, quia infructuosa non erit. fructum autem habebit aeternum, ideo non peribit in aeternum. quisquis enim laborat inaniter, cum eum spes fefellerit, propter quam laborabat, merito dicit: perdidi tantum laborem; quisquis uero ad sui laboris promissa peruenerit, gratulans dicit: non perdidi laborem meum. dicitur ergo labor non perisse, non quia manet perpetuus, sed quia non est inaniter fusus. sic et patientia pauperum Christi, sed ditandorum heredum Christi non peribit in aeternum, non quia et illic patienter ferre iubebimur, sed quia pro his quae hic patienter pertulimus, aeterna beatitudine perfruemur. non dabit finem sempiternae felicitati, qui donat temporalem patientiam uoluntati, quia utrumque munus donatae donatum est caritati amen. ### English translation (Claude) Accordingly, just as it must not be denied that this too is a gift of God, so it must be understood that some gifts of God belong to the children of that Jerusalem above, which is free, our mother—these are in a way hereditary, gifts in which we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—while others can be received even by the sons of concubines, to whom carnal Jews and schismatics or heretics are compared. For it is written, “Cast out the slave woman and her son; for the son of the slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac,” and God said to Abraham, “In Isaac shall your seed be called,” which the apostle interpreted by saying, “That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as seed,” so that we might understand that the seed of Abraham through Isaac, because of Christ, belongs to the children of God, who are the body and members of Christ, that is, the one, true, genuine, catholic church of God, holding the devout faith—not that which works through pride or fear but that which works through love. Yet although this is so, when Abraham sent away the sons of the concubines from his son Isaac, he bestowed some gifts on them, so that they should not be left altogether empty-handed, not so that they should be held as heirs. For thus we read: “And Abraham gave all his property to Isaac his son; and to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son.” If, then, we are children of the free Jerusalem, let us understand that the gifts of the disinherited are one thing, the gifts of the heirs another. For those are heirs to whom it is said, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption as sons, in which we cry, Abba, Father.” Let us cry, then, by the spirit of love, and, until we come to the inheritance in which we shall always remain, let us be patient with a free love, not with a servile fear; let us cry as long as we are poor, until we are enriched with that inheritance. For we have received great pledges of it, in that Christ became poor to enrich us, and when he was exalted to the riches on high, the Holy Spirit was sent to breathe holy desires into our hearts. Of these poor—still believing, not yet contemplating; still hoping, not yet holding; still sighing with desire, not yet reigning in happiness; still hungering and thirsting, not yet satisfied—of these poor, then, the patience will not perish for ever: not because there will be patience there too, where there will be nothing to endure, but it is said “will not perish” because it will not be fruitless. It will have eternal fruit; therefore it will not perish for ever. For whoever labours in vain, when the hope for which he laboured has deceived him, rightly says, “I have lost so much labour”; but whoever reaches the promised reward of his labour says with joy, “I have not lost my labour.” Labour is said not to have perished, then, not because it lasts for ever, but because it was not spent in vain. So too the patience of Christ's poor, who are to be enriched as Christ's heirs, will not perish for ever: not because there too we shall be commanded to bear things patiently, but because for what we have borne patiently here we shall enjoy eternal blessedness. He who gives temporal patience to the will will not set an end to everlasting happiness, because both gifts are given to the love that has been given. Amen. ### Scripture references - Gal 4:26: allusion, high confidence - Rom 8:17: allusion, high confidence - Gal 4:30: quotation, high confidence - Gen 21:10: quotation, high confidence - Gen 21:12: quotation, high confidence - Rom 9:8: quotation, high confidence - Gal 5:6: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 25:5: quotation, high confidence - Gen 25:6: quotation, high confidence - Rom 8:15: quotation, high confidence - 2 Cor 8:9: allusion, high confidence - Matt 5:6: allusion, medium confidence - Ps 9:18 (9:19 LXX): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Gal 4:26; Rom 8:17; Gal 4:30 (Gen 21:10); Gen 21:12; Rom 9:8; Gal 5:6; Gen 25:5–6; Rom 8:15; 2 Cor 8:9; Matt 5:6; Ps 9:18 (LXX 9:19). The comparison of “carnal Jews” and schismatics or heretics with the sons of concubines is Augustine's own and is translated as written. A chapter heading and number (“XXVIII. 26.”) that leaked into the digital text are removed; in other editions the passage from “Let us cry, then” begins a new chapter. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Pat. 25 (CSEL 41:689–692; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-patientia/19/#p-25).