Sermons to the People 62.1–62.17
Latin text: PL 38 (Latin text: Migne, PL 38, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (patrologia_latina-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: NPNF 1/6: Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament (R. G. MacMullen, ed., 1888).
Chapter 62
62.1PL 38:283–284
Audivimus, cum Evangelium legeretur, fidem nostram in humilitate laudari. Ad domum quippe Centurionis cum se promitteret Dominus Jesus iturum, ut puerum ejus sanaret, ille respondit: Non sum dignus ut sub tectum meum intres: sed tantum dic verbum, et sanabitur. Dicendo se indignum, præstitit dignum; non in cujus parietes, sed in cujus cor Christus intraret. Neque hoc diceret cum tanta fide et humilitate, nisi illum, quem timebat intrare in domum suam, corde gestaret. Nam non erat magna felicitas, si Dominus Jesus intraret in parietes ejus, et non esset in pectore ejus. Magister quippe humilitatis et verbo et exemplo, discubuit et in domo cujusdam pharisaei superbi, nomine Simonis. Et cum in domo ejus recumberet, non erat in corde ejus ubi caput Filius hominis reclinaret.
We heard, as the Gospel was read, our faith praised in humility. For when the Lord Jesus promised to go to the centurion’s house to heal his servant, he answered: “I am not worthy that you should come under my roof; but only say the word, and he will be healed.” By calling himself unworthy he showed himself worthy, not for Christ to enter his walls, but for Christ to enter his heart. Nor would he have said this with such faith and humility unless he were carrying in his heart the one he feared to have enter his house. For it would have been no great happiness if the Lord Jesus entered his walls and were not in his breast. For the Teacher of humility, by word and example, reclined at table even in the house of a certain proud Pharisee named Simon; and while he reclined in his house, there was no place in his heart where the Son of Man could lay his head.
Matt 8:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 7:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 7:36 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 8:20 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The centurion, calling himself unworthy to receive Christ under his roof, showed himself worthy to receive him in his heart, unlike Simon the Pharisee.
- The centurion: Matt 8:8 (compare Luke 7:6–7). Simon the Pharisee: Luke 7:36–40. “Where the Son of Man could lay his head”: Matt 8:20. A heading by Migne (“The centurion’s humility”) was removed by the importer. Compared with NPNF¹ 6 (Sermon 12 there).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text): Audi vimus → Audivimus; ut. puerum ejus sanarct → ut puerum ejus sanaret; sub lectum meum intres: aed → sub tectum meum intres: sed; dignuln → dignum; scd in cujus → sed in cujus; timcbat → timebat; Nain non crat → Nam non erat; parietcs cjus → parietes ejus; humilitatis ct verbo → humilitatis et verbo; discubuit ct in → discubuit et in.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.1 (PL 38:283–284; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.2PL 38:284
Ita enim quemdam superbum, quantum intelligitur ex verbis ipsius Domini, ultro secum ire cupientem, a suo discipulatu revocavit. Sequar te, Domine, ait, quocumque ieris. Et Dominus in ejus corde invisibilia videns: Vulpes, inquit, foveas habent, et volatilia cæli nidos: Filius autem hominis non habet ubi caput suum reclinet. Hoc est, Habitant in te insidiæ sicut vulpes, habitat superbia sicut coeli volatilia: Filius autem hominis simplex contra insidias, humilis contra superbiam, non habet ubi caput suum reclinet. Et ipsa reclinatio capitis, non erectio, humilitatis magistra est. Revocat ergo istum ire cupientem, trahit alium recusantem. Eodem quippe loco ait cuidam: Sequere me. Et ille: Sequar te, Domine: sed sine me primo ire et sepelire patrem meum. Pie quidem excusavit: et ideo dignior cujus excusatio removeretur, vocatio firmaretur. Pium erat quod volebat facere: sed docuit magister quid deberet præponere. Volebat enim eum esse vivi verbi prædicatorem, ad faciendos victuros. Erant autem alii, per quos illa necessitas impleretur. Sine, inquit, mortuos sepelire mortuos suos. Infideles cadaver quando sepeliunt, mortui mortuum sepeliunt. Illius corpus animam perdidit: illorum anima Deum. Sicut enim vita corporis anima est: sic vita animæ Deus. Sicut exspirat corpus, cum animam emittit: ita exspirat anima, cum Deum amittit. Deus amissus, mors animæ: anima emissa, mors corporis. Mors corporis necessaria: mors animæ voluntaria.
For so, as can be understood from the Lord’s own words, he called back from discipleship a certain proud man who wanted of his own accord to go with him. “I will follow you, Lord,” he said, “wherever you go.” And the Lord, seeing invisible things in his heart: “Foxes,” he said, “have holes, and the birds of the sky nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” That is: in you snares dwell like foxes, pride dwells like the birds of the sky; but the Son of Man, simple against snares, humble against pride, has nowhere to lay his head. And the very laying down of the head, not its raising, teaches humility. So he calls back this one who wants to go, and draws another who declines. For in the same place he says to someone, “Follow me.” And he: “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first go and bury my father.” His excuse was dutiful; and so he was the more worthy to have his excuse removed and his calling confirmed. What he wanted to do was dutiful; but the Teacher taught what he ought to put first. For he wanted him to be a preacher of the living word, to make people who would live. There were others through whom that need would be met. “Let the dead,” he says, “bury their dead.” When unbelievers bury a corpse, the dead bury the dead. The body of the one has lost its soul; the soul of the others has lost God. For as the soul is the life of the body, so God is the life of the soul. As the body expires when it gives up the soul, so the soul expires when it loses God. God lost is the death of the soul; the soul given up is the death of the body. The death of the body is necessary; the death of the soul is voluntary.
Luke 9:57 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 9:58 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 9:59 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 9:60 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ turned away a proud volunteer but called a reluctant man away from burying his father, for unbelievers are the dead who bury the dead; God is the soul’s life as the soul is the body’s.
- Luke 9:57–60 (compare Matt 8:19–22). A heading by Migne (“The proud man turned away from Christ’s discipleship. God the life of the soul”) was removed by the importer. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text): quemdamsuperbum, quaDtuiu → quemdam superbum, quantum; autcin → autem; haLet ubi caput. suum → habet ubi caput suum; isium → istum; Pie qnidem cxcusavit → Pie quidem excusavit; remover ctur, vocatio lirmarelur → removeretur, vocatio firmaretur; Pium crat quod volcbai facere: scd → Pium erat quod volebat facere: sed; praponere → præponere; IBin! corpus → Illius corpus; Denum → Deum; cst: sic → est: sic; Dcum amittit → Deum amittit; niors → mors.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.2 (PL 38:284; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.3PL 38:284
Discumbebat ergo Dominus in domo pharisaei cujusdam superbi. In domo ejus erat, ut dixi; et in pectore ejus non erat. In hujus vero Centurionis domum non intravit, et pectus possedit. Zacchæus vero Dominum et domo suscepit, et animo. Hujus tamen fides in humilitate laudatur. Dixit enim, Non sum dignus ut sub tectum meum intres. Et Dominus, Amen dico vobis, non inveni tantam fidem in Israel: secundum carnem. Nam et iste jam Israelita erat secundum spiritum. Venerat Dominus ad Israelem carnalem, id est, ad Judæos, ibi primum quærere oves perditas, in quo populo, et de quo populo et corpus assumpserat: Non ibi inveni tantam fidem, ipse dicit. Possumus nos metiri fidem hominum, sicut homines: ille qui interiora cernebat, ille quem nemo fallebat, perhibuit testimonium cordi hominis, audiens verba humilitatis, pronuntians sententiam sanitatis.
So the Lord reclined at table in the house of a certain proud Pharisee. He was in his house, as I said, and was not in his breast. But into this centurion’s house he did not enter, and he possessed his breast. Zacchaeus, again, received the Lord both in his house and in his heart. Yet it is this man’s faith that is praised in humility. For he said, “I am not worthy that you should come under my roof.” And the Lord said, “Truly I tell you, I have not found such faith in Israel”: according to the flesh, that is. For this man too was already an Israelite according to the spirit. The Lord had come to Israel according to the flesh, that is, to the Jews, to seek first there the lost sheep, in the people from which he had taken his body: “I have not found such faith there,” he says. We can measure people’s faith as men do; he who saw the inner things, he whom no one deceived, bore witness to the man’s heart, hearing words of humility and pronouncing a sentence of healing.
Luke 19:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 8:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 8:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 15:24 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ entered the Pharisee’s house but not his heart, the centurion’s heart but not his house, and Zacchaeus’s both; he praised the Gentile centurion’s humble faith above any in Israel.
- Zacchaeus: Luke 19:6. “I am not worthy …” and “I have not found such faith …”: Matt 8:8, 10. The lost sheep of Israel: Matt 15:24. Augustine’s remarks about Israel according to the flesh and the spirit are translated as written. A heading by Migne (“The centurion’s faith in humility”) was removed by the importer. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text): Dorninus → Dominus; ejus crat, → ejus erat,; 'cro → vero; Domiuum → Dominum; til sub tectum → ut sub tectum; Domitis → Dominus; jatn Israelitas crat → jam Israelita erat; Jud.cos → Judæos; ill quo populo, et dc quo populo cuiun corpus → in quo populo, et de quo populo et corpus; Son ibi → Non ibi; Possiunus → Possumus; ncmo → nemo; bumililatis → humilitatis.
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.3 (PL 38:284; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.4PL 38:284–285
Unde autem hoc præsumpsit? Et ego, inquit, homo sum sub potestate constitutus, habens sub me milites; et dico huic, Vade, et vadit; et alii, Veni, et venit; et servo meo, Fac hoc, et facit. Potestas sum quibusdam sub me positis, positus sub potestate quadam super me. Si ergo ego, inquit, homo sub potestate, jubendi habeo potestatem; quid tu possis, cui omnes serviunt potestates? Erat autem iste de Gentibus: erat quippe centurio. Jam Judæa gens habebat militem Romani imperii. Ibi iste militem agebat, quantum agere centurio poterat; et sub potestate, et habens potestatem; subditus obediens, subditos regens. Dominus autem (quod intendat præcipue necessario Charitas vestra), quamvis in populo Judaico esset jam pronuntiabat Ecclesiam toto orbe terrarum futuram, in quam erat missurus Apostolos: ipse a Gentibus non visus et creditus, a Judæis visus et occisus. Quomodo enim domum hujus Dominus corpore non intravit, et ejus tamen fidem atque ipsam domum absens corpore, præsens majestate sanavit: sic et idem Dominus in solo Judæo populo corpore fuit; apud alias gentes nec de virgine natus est, nec passus est, nec pedibus ambulavit, nec humana pertulit, nec divina mirabilia fecit. Nihil horum in cæteris gentibus: et tamen de illo impletum est, quod dictum erat, Populus quem non cognovi, servivit mihi. Quomodo, si non cognovit? In auditu auris obedivit mihi. Judæa gens cognovit, et crucifixit: orbis terrarum audivit, et credidit. Hanc quodam modo absentiam corporis sui et præsentiam virtutis suæ in omnibus Gentibus, et in illa muliere significavit, quæ fimbriam vestimenti ejus tetigerat, cum requirit dicens: Quis me tetigit? Tanquam absens, requirit: tanquam præsens, sanat. Turbæ te, inquiunt discipuli, comprimunt, et dicis: Quis me tetigit? Quasi enim sic ambularet, ut a nullo prorsus corpore tangeretur, ita dixit, Quis me tetigit? Et illi, Turbæ te comprimunt. Et tanquam diceret Dominus, Tangentem quaero, non prementem. Sic etiam nunc est corpus ejus, id est, Ecclesia ejus. Tangit eam fides paucorum, premit turba multorum. Corpus enim Christi esse Ecclesiam, tanquam filii ejus, audistis: et si vultis, ipsi estis. Apostolus multis locis hoc dicit: Pro corpore, inquit, ejus quæ est Ecclesia. Et iterum: Vos autem estis corpus Christi et membra. Si ergo corpus ejus sumus, quod tunc corpus ipsius in turba patiebatur, hoc patitur Ecclesia ipsius. A turbis premitur: a paucis tangitur. Caro eam premit, fides tangit. Erigite igitur oculos, obsecro vos, qui habetis unde videatis. Habetis enim quod videatis. Erigite oculos fidei, tangite extremam fimbriam vestimenti, sufficiet ad salutem.
But on what ground did he presume this? “I too,” he says, “am a man set under authority, having soldiers under me; and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it.” I am an authority to some placed under me, placed myself under an authority above me. “If, then, I, a man under authority, have the authority to command, what can you do, whom all authorities serve?” Now this man was from the Gentiles, for he was a centurion. By then the Jewish nation had soldiers of the Roman empire. There he was serving as a soldier, as far as a centurion could, both under authority and having authority: obedient as a subject, ruling subjects. But the Lord (and this your Charity should especially attend to, as it is needful), though he was among the Jewish people, was already proclaiming the Church to come throughout the whole world, into which he was going to send apostles: he himself not seen and yet believed by the Gentiles, seen and killed by the Jews. For as the Lord did not enter this man’s house in body, and yet, absent in body, present in majesty, healed his faith and his very house, so the same Lord was in body among the Jewish people alone; among the other nations he was not born of a virgin, did not suffer, did not walk on foot, did not endure human things, did not work divine miracles. None of these things among the nations; and yet what was said of him was fulfilled: “A people whom I did not know has served me.” How, if it did not know? “At the hearing of the ear it obeyed me.” The Jewish nation knew him and crucified him; the whole world heard and believed. This absence, as it were, of his body and presence of his power among all the nations he signified also in that woman who had touched the fringe of his garment, when he asks, saying, “Who touched me?” As if absent, he asks; as if present, he heals. “The crowds,” say the disciples, “press on you, and you say, Who touched me?” For as if he were walking in such a way as to be touched by no body at all, he said, “Who touched me?” And they: “The crowds press on you.” And as if the Lord said, “I am looking for one who touched, not one who presses.” So it is now too with his body, that is, his Church. The faith of a few touches it; the crowd of many presses it. For you have heard, as its children, that the Church is the body of Christ; and if you will, you yourselves are it. The Apostle says this in many places: “For his body,” he says, “which is the Church.” And again: “But you are the body of Christ, and members.” If, then, we are his body, what his body then suffered in the crowd, his Church suffers now. It is pressed by crowds; it is touched by few. The flesh presses it; faith touches it. Lift up your eyes, then, I beg you, you who have the means to see. For you have something to see. Lift up the eyes of faith; touch the last fringe of his garment: it will suffice for salvation.
Matt 8:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 18:43 (17:44 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 18:44 (17:45 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 8:44 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 8:45 (quotation, high confidence) · Col 1:24 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 12:27 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The centurion, a Gentile, prefigures the nations who believe in Christ without seeing him; the woman who touched his fringe shows that the Church, his body, is pressed by many but touched in faith by few.
- “I too am a man under authority …”: Matt 8:9. “A people whom I did not know …”: Ps 18:43–44 (Vulgate 17:44–45). The woman with the flow of blood: Luke 8:43–48. “For his body, which is the Church”: Col 1:24. “You are the body of Christ …”: 1 Cor 12:27. Augustine’s statement that the Jews saw and killed Christ is translated as written. This section also contains Migne’s paragraph 5: its number and heading (“The woman touching Christ’s fringe while the crowd presses on him”), left in the text by the digitization, are removed. A heading by Migne (“The Gentiles prefigured in the centurion”) was removed by the importer. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne’s Scripture reference printed in the text; removed; Migne’s paragraph number (5) and marginal heading left in the text; removed; OCR slip in the digital text): facil → facit; Potestas suin → Potestas sum; imperii I. → imperii.; ct habens → et habens; obcdicns → obediens; Dominus autem ( quod → Dominus autem (quod; a.Gentibus → a Gentibus; donium → domum; Juda o → Judæo; vii-gine natus est. nec → virgine natus est, nec; nee divina → nec divina; in canens gentibus → in cæteris gentibus; credidit. N. — 5. Mulier tangens fimbriam Christi, cum eum turba premit. Hanc → credidit. Hanc; fimbrian. → fimbriam; mc tetigit → me tetigit; pra sens → præsens; discipali → discipuli; eUam → etiam; quæ eat Ecclesia. Et ilcrum → quæ est Ecclesia. Et iterum; (1 Cor. in, 27) → ; prelnit → premit; Frigite → Erigite; ta gite → tangite.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.4 (PL 38:284–285; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.6PL 38:285
Videte quod audistis ex Evangelio tunc futurum, tunc præsens est. Ideo, inquit, dico vobis: propter laudatam Centurionis fidem, tanquam alienigenæ carne, domestici corde. Propterea, inquit, multi ab oriente et occidente venient. Non omnes, sed multi: tamen ipsi ab oriente et occidente: istis duabus partibus totus orbis designatur. Multi ab oriente et occidente venient, et recumbent cum Abraham, et Isaac, et Jacob, in regno coelorum: filii autem regni ejicientur in tenebras exteriores. Filii autem regni, Judæi scilicet. Unde filii regni? Quia Legem acceperunt, ad quos Prophetæ missi sunt, apud quos templum et sacerdotium fuit, qui celebrabant figuras omnium futurorum. Quarum enim rerum figuras celebraverunt, præsentiam non agnoverunt. Filii ergo regni ibunt, inquit, in tenebras exteriores; ibi erit ploratus et stridor dentium. Videmus Judaeos reprobatos, videmus Christianos ab oriente et occidente vocatos ad quoddam convivium cœleste, ut recumbant cum Abraham et Isaac et Jacob; ubi panis justitia, ubi potus sapientia.
See that what you heard from the Gospel as then to come is now present. “Therefore,” he says, “I tell you” (because of the praised faith of the centurion, foreign by flesh, of the household by heart), “therefore many will come from east and west.” Not all, but many; yet these from east and west: by these two parts the whole world is designated. “Many will come from east and west, and will recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast into the outer darkness.” “The sons of the kingdom,” that is, the Jews. Why sons of the kingdom? Because they received the law, the prophets were sent to them, among them were the temple and the priesthood, they celebrated the figures of all the things to come. But of the things whose figures they celebrated, they did not recognize the presence. So the sons of the kingdom, he says, will go into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. We see the Jews rejected; we see Christians called from east and west to a kind of heavenly banquet, to recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, where the bread is justice and the drink wisdom.
Matt 8:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 8:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 9:4 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ’s prophecy that many will come from east and west while the sons of the kingdom are cast out is now fulfilled, as the nations are called to the heavenly banquet.
- Matt 8:11–12. Augustine’s identification of “the sons of the kingdom” with the Jews and his statement that they are rejected are his reading of the passage and are translated as written. Headings by Migne (“What was foretold in the Gospel now fulfilled”; “Why the Jews are sons of the kingdom”) were removed by the importer. There is no section 5 in the staged text; Migne’s paragraph 5 is in section 4. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text): andislis ex £vangelio → audistis ex Evangelio; Idco. inquit → Ideo, inquit; corde Propterea → corde. Propterea; tenebrat → tenebras; scilicct → scilicet; regni 9 Quia → regni? Quia; iumrorum → futurorum; prasentiam uon → præsentiam non; qnoddam → quoddam; cnm Abraham → cum Abraham.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.6 (PL 38:285; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.7PL 38:285
Attendite ergo, fratres: hoc enim estis, ex hoc populo estis, jam tunc prædicto, nunc præsentato. De his utique estis, qui vocati sunt ab oriente et occidente recumbere in regno cœlorum, non in templo idolorum. Estote ergo corpus Christi, non pressura corporis Christi. Habetis vestimenti fimbriam, quam tangatis, ut a profluvio sanguinis, id est, carnalium voluptatum fluxu sanemini. Habetis, inquam, vestimenti fimbriam, quam tangatis. Vestem putate Apostolos, sub textura unitatis adhærentes lateribus Christi. In his Apostolis erat tanquam fimbria minimus et novissimus Paulus: ipso dicente, Ego sum minimus Apostolorum. In veste novissimum et minimum, fimbria est. Fimbria cum contemptu aspicitur: sed cum salute tangitur. Usque ad hanc horam et esurimus, et sitimus, et nudi sumus, et colaphizamur. Quid tam extremum, quid tam contemptibile? Tange, si fluxum sanguinis pateris: exiet virtus de illo cujus vestis est, et sanabit te. Fimbria modo tangenda proponebatur, quando ex eodem apostolo legebatur: Si enim quis viderit eum qui habet scientiam, in idolio recumbentem; nonne conscientia ejus, cum sit infirma, ædificabitur ad manducandum idolothyta? Et peribit infirmus in tua scientia, frater, propter quem Christus mortuus est? Quomodo putatis decipi posse simulacris homines, quæ a Christianis honorari putant? Novit, inquit, Deus cor meum. Sed frater tuus non novit cor tuum. Si infirmus es, cave majorem ægritudinem: si firmus es, cura fratris infirmitatem. Qui vident ista, ædificantur ad alia, ut non tantum ibi manducare, sed et sacrificare desiderent. Ecce perit infirmus in tua scientia frater. Audi, frater: si contemnebas infirmum, etiam fratrem contemnis? Expergiscere. Quid, si in ipsum Christum peccas? Attende enim quod nullo pacto possis contemnere. Sic autem, inquit, peccantes in fratres, et percutientes conscientiam eorum infirmam, in Christum peccatis. Eant nunc, qui ista contemnunt, et recumbant in idolio: nonne erunt prementes, non tangentes? et cum recubuerint in idolio, veniant et impleant ecclesiam; non salutem accepturi, sed pressuram facturi.
Pay attention, then, brothers: for this is what you are; you are of this people, foretold then, made present now. You are surely among those who have been called from east and west to recline in the kingdom of heaven, not in the temple of idols. Be, then, the body of Christ, not the crush on the body of Christ. You have the fringe of the garment to touch, so that you may be healed of the flow of blood, that is, of the flux of carnal pleasures. You have, I say, the fringe of the garment to touch. Think of the apostles as the garment, clinging to Christ’s sides in the weave of unity. Among these apostles, like the fringe, was Paul, the least and the last, as he himself says: “I am the least of the apostles.” In a garment the last and least part is the fringe. The fringe is looked on with contempt, but touched with salvation. “To this very hour we hunger and thirst and are naked and are beaten.” What is so last, what so contemptible? Touch it, if you suffer a flow of blood: power will go out from him whose garment it is, and will heal you. The fringe was just now being offered to be touched, when there was read from the same apostle: “For if anyone sees the one who has knowledge reclining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, being weak, be built up to eat food offered to idols? And the weak brother will perish by your knowledge, for whom Christ died?” How do you think people can be deceived by images, which they think are honored by Christians? “God knows my heart,” he says. But your brother does not know your heart. If you are weak, beware of a worse sickness; if you are strong, care for your brother’s weakness. Those who see these things are built up to other things, so that they want not only to eat there but also to sacrifice. See, the weak brother perishes by your knowledge. Hear, brother: if you despised the weak, do you despise your brother too? Wake up. What if you sin against Christ himself? Pay attention to what you can in no way despise. “When you sin thus against the brothers,” he says, “and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.” Let those who despise these things go now and recline in the idol’s temple: will they not be those who press, not those who touch? And when they have reclined in the idol’s temple, let them come and fill the church: not to receive salvation, but to make a crush.
1 Cor 15:9 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 4:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 8:46 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 8:10 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 8:11 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 8:12 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christians called to the heavenly banquet must not recline at feasts in idol temples, for this leads the weak to idolatry; Paul, the least apostle, is the fringe of Christ’s garment that heals those who touch it.
- “I am the least of the apostles”: 1 Cor 15:9. “To this very hour …”: 1 Cor 4:11. Power going out: Luke 8:46. “If anyone sees the one who has knowledge … you sin against Christ”: 1 Cor 8:10–12. Christians attending banquets in pagan temples, some to avoid offending powerful people, are the occasion of the sermon. A heading by Migne (“Those who feast in an idol’s temple with pagans are rebuked”) was removed by the importer. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text): prædicto i, nunc → prædicto, nunc; bis utique eslis → his utique estis; voluptatun → voluptatum; minima Apostolorum. III veste → minimus Apostolorum. In veste; contemptn → contemptu; palcris → pateris; Finibria → Fimbria; eodcm → eodem; idotio → idolio; idololhyta → idolothyta; possc simulacris homines, qua a → posse simulacris homines, quæ a; Seu frater → Sed frater; infirmus cs → infirmus es; alia 3, → alia,; fantum → tantum; sacrificarc desidcreul → sacrificare desiderent; eliam → etiam; ip;um → ipsum; Chribtum → Christum; ct recumbant → et recumbant; iinpleant → impleant.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.7 (PL 38:285; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.8PL 38:285
Sed timeo, inquies, ne offendam majorem. Time prorsus, ne offendas majorem; et non offendis Deum. Qui enim times, ne offendas majorem, vide ne forte sit major isto, quem times offendere. Majorem certe noli offendere. Haec tibi regula proponitur. Nonne manifestum est, eum minime offendendum, qui major est cæteris? Discute nunc majores tuos. Primi tibi sunt pater et mater: si recte educantes, si in Christum nutrientes; audiendi in omnibus, obtemperandum eis in omni jussione; contra majorem nihil jubeant, et serviatur illis. Quis est, inquis, major eo qui me generavit? Ille qui te ipsum creavit. Generat enim homo, creat Deus. Unde generat homo, nescit: quid generaturus sit, nescit. Ille qui te vidit ut faceret, antequam esset quem fecit, certe major est patre tuo. Major sit patria et ipsis parentibus tuis; ut quidquid jusserint parentes contra patriam, non audiantur. Et quidquid jusserit patria contra Deum, non audiatur. Si enim sanari vis, si post fluxum sanguinis, si post duodecim annos in illo morbo, si post consumpta omnia in medicis, et non recepta sanitate aliquando vis sana fieri, o mulier, quam alloquor in typo Ecclesiæ, jubet illud pater tuus, et illud jubet populus tuus. Sed dicit tibi Dominus tuus, Obliviscere populum tuum et domum patris tui. Quo bono? quo fructu? qua mercede? Quoniam concupivit, inquit, rex decorem tuum. Concupivit quod fecit: quoniam ut pulchram faceret, foedam amavit. Pro infideli et fœda sanguinem fudit, fidelem ac pulchram reddidit, dona sua in te amavit. Quid enim sponso tuo contulisti? Quid in dotem a priore patre et priore populo accepisti? Nonne luxurias et pannos peccatorum? Abjecit pannos tuos, discidit cilicium tuum: misertus est, ut ornaret; ornavit, ut amaret.
“But I am afraid,” you will say, “of offending someone greater.” By all means be afraid of offending someone greater, and you will not offend God. For you who are afraid of offending someone greater, see whether there is not perhaps someone greater than the one you are afraid of offending. Certainly do not offend someone greater. This rule is set before you. Is it not plain that he must least of all be offended who is greater than all others? Now go through your superiors. First for you are father and mother: if they bring you up rightly, if they nourish you for Christ, they are to be heard in all things, obeyed in every command: let them command nothing against one greater, and let them be served. “Who,” you say, “is greater than the one who begot me?” He who created you. For man begets, God creates. How man begets, he does not know; what he will beget, he does not know. He who saw you in order to make you, before the one he made existed, is surely greater than your father. Let your country be greater even than your parents, so that whatever parents command against the country is not to be heard. And whatever the country commands against God is not to be heard. For if you want to be healed, if after the flow of blood, after twelve years in that disease, after spending everything on doctors without recovering health, you at last want to be made well, O woman, whom I address as a figure of the Church, your father commands this, and your people commands that. But your Lord says to you: “Forget your people and your father’s house.” For what good? For what fruit? For what reward? “Because the king has desired your beauty.” He desired what he made; for, so as to make you beautiful, he loved you when you were ugly. For you, unfaithful and ugly, he shed his blood; he made you faithful and beautiful; he loved his own gifts in you. For what did you bring to your bridegroom? What did you receive as dowry from your former father and former people? Was it not excesses and the rags of sins? He threw away your rags, he tore your sackcloth: he had pity so as to adorn you; he adorned you so as to love you.
Mark 5:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 8:43 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 45:10 (44:11 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 45:11 (44:12 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 5:29 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Fear of offending the powerful is no excuse: parents, country, and all superiors must be obeyed only within obedience to God, who is greater; the Church, healed and beautified by Christ’s blood, must forget her former people.
- The woman with the flow of blood: Mark 5:25–26; Luke 8:43. “Forget your people … desired your beauty”: Ps 45:10–11 (Vulgate 44:11–12). A heading by Migne left at the start of the section in the digital text (“Respect to be ordered according to each one’s greatness”) is removed; another (“Those who recline in an idol’s temple for fear of someone greater”) was removed by the importer. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne’s marginal heading left at the start of the text; removed; OCR slip in the digital text): Observantia in majorem quemque sit ordinata. Sed timeo → Sed timeo; libi → tibi; majorcm → majorem; gcneravit → generavit; Gcnerat → Generat; gencraturus → generaturus; patre luo. → patre tuo.; Sud dicit → Sed dicit; tuum Concupivit quod fecit: qu niam → tuum. Concupivit quod fecit: quoniam; infldeli ct faeda → infideli et fœda; Contulisti? Qu:d → contulisti? Quid; patrc → patre; luxurins → luxurias; pannus → pannos; amarct → amaret.
Topics: Ethics, Christology
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.8 (PL 38:285; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.9PL 38:285–286
Quid plura, fratres? Christiani audistis, quia peccantes in fratres, et percutientes conscientiam eorum infirmam, in Christum peccatis. Nolite contemnere, si non vultis deleri de libro vitæ. Quamdiu conamur luculenter et delectabiliter vobis dicere, quod dolor noster cogit quomodocumque dicere, et tacere non permittit? Quicumque voluerint ista contemnere, in Christum peccant, videant quid agant. Paganos reliquos colligi volumus, lapides estis in via; venire volentes offendunt, et redeunt. Dicunt enim in cordibus suis: Quare nos relinquamus deos, quos Christiani ipsi nobiscum colunt? Absit, a me, inquit, ut ego deos Gentium colam. Novi, intelligo, credo. Quid facis de conscientia infirmi, quam percutis? Quid facis de pretio, si contemnis quod emptum est? Vide quanti emptum est. Peribit, inquit, infirmus in tua scientia: quam te dicis habere, ut scias quia nihil est idolum, et animo cogites Deum, et sic recumbas in idolio. In hac scientia perit infirmus. Et ne contemnas infirmum, addidit, propter quem Christus mortuus est. Quem vis contemnere, pretium ipsius attende, et cum morte Christi totum mundum appende. Et ne adhuc putares te in infirmum peccare, et leve duceres peccatum ac parvi penderes, In Christum, inquit, peccatis. Solent enim homines dicere: In hominem pecco, numquid in Deum? Nega Christum Deum. Audes negare Christum Deum? An aliud, in idolio cum recumberes, didicisti? Non admittit istam doctrinam Christi doctrina. Quæro ubi didiceris non esse Christum Deum. Pagani hoc solent dicere. Vides quid faciunt mensæ malæ? Vides quoniam corrumpunt mores bonos colloquia mala? Tu ibi de Evangelio loqui non potes, et de idolis loquentes audis. Amittis ibi quod Christus Deus est: et quod ibi bibis, in Ecclesia vomis. Forte hic audes loqui, forte inter turbas audes murmurare: Numquid Christus non homo fuit? nonne crucifixus est? A Paganis hoc didicisti, salutem perdidisti, fimbriam non tetigisti. Tange et in hoc fimbriam, recipe salutem. Sicut eam te tangere docuimus in eo quod scriptum est, Qui viderit fratrem in idolio recumbentem: tange illam et de divinitate Christi. De Judæis dicebat eadem fimbria, Quorum patres, et ex quibus Christus secundum carnem, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in sæcula. Ecce in quem verum Deum peccas, dum discumbis apud deos falsos.
What more, brothers? You are Christians; you have heard that when you sin against the brothers and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Do not despise it, if you do not want to be blotted out of the book of life. How long are we to try to say brightly and pleasantly to you what our grief forces us to say in whatever way, and does not allow us to keep silent? Whoever wants to despise these things sins against Christ; let them see what they are doing. We want the remaining pagans to be gathered in; you are stones in the way. They want to come, they stumble, and they go back. For they say in their hearts: “Why should we abandon the gods whom the Christians themselves worship with us?” “Far be it from me,” one says, “to worship the gods of the Gentiles.” I know, I understand, I believe you. What are you doing about the conscience of the weak, which you are wounding? What are you doing about the price, if you despise what was bought? See at what price it was bought. “The weak man will perish,” it says, “by your knowledge”: the knowledge you claim to have, that you know an idol is nothing, and that you think of God in your mind, and so you recline in the idol’s temple. By this knowledge the weak man perishes. And so that you would not despise the weak man, he added: “for whom Christ died.” Him whom you want to despise, consider his price, and weigh the whole world against the death of Christ. And lest you still think you are sinning against a weak man, and count the sin light and of small account, he says: “You sin against Christ.” For people usually say: “I sin against a man; surely not against God?” Then deny that Christ is God. Do you dare to deny that Christ is God? Or did you learn something else when you reclined in the idol’s temple? Christ’s teaching does not admit that teaching. I ask where you learned that Christ is not God. The pagans usually say this. Do you see what bad tables do? Do you see that evil conversations corrupt good morals? There you cannot speak of the Gospel, and you hear people speaking of idols. There you lose the truth that Christ is God, and what you drink there you vomit up in church. Perhaps here you dare to speak; perhaps among the crowds you dare to mutter: “Was Christ not a man? Was he not crucified?” You learned this from the pagans; you have lost salvation; you have not touched the fringe. Touch the fringe in this too; receive salvation. As we taught you to touch it in what is written, “Whoever sees a brother reclining in an idol’s temple,” touch it also concerning the divinity of Christ. The same fringe said of the Jews: “Whose are the fathers, and from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is above all, God blessed for ever.” See against what true God you sin while you recline among false gods.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
1 Cor 8:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Rev 3:5 (echo, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 8:11 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 6:20 (echo, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 15:33 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 8:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 9:5 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christians who feast in idol temples become stumbling stones to pagans and wound the weak, sinning against Christ, who is God; at such tables they learn to doubt his divinity.
- “You sin against Christ”: 1 Cor 8:12. Blotted out of the book of life: compare Rev 3:5; Ps 69:28. “The weak man will perish … for whom Christ died”: 1 Cor 8:11. “Evil conversations corrupt good morals”: 1 Cor 15:33. “Whose are the fathers …”: Rom 9:5. A heading by Migne (“Scandal to a brother is sin against Christ”) was removed by the importer. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text): perentientes → percutientes; conlcmnere → contemnere; Urere → tacere; lapidcs → lapides; Christini → Christiani; a n e, inquit, ut cgodcos → a me, inquit, ut ego deos; consciculia → conscientia; prelio → pretio; emptum cst? Vide quanti cmptum cst → emptum est? Vide quanti emptum est; tuascientia → tua scientia; idi lum → idolum; mortuus eat → mortuus est; pendercs → penderes; Nega' Christum → Nega Christum; Quæro I ubi → Quæro ubi; ma- Ire → malæ; loqucntes → loquentes; vontis → vomis; Fortc → Forte; horno → homo; tangc iliam → tange illam; cadem → eadem.
Topics: Ethics, Christology
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.9 (PL 38:285–286; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-9). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.10PL 38:286
Non est, inquit, Deus; quia genium est Carthaginis. Quasi si Mars aut Mercurius esset, Deus esset. Sed quomodo ab ipsis habeatur, attende; non quid sit. Nam et ego tecum scio quia lapis est. Si genium ornamentum est aliquod; cives Carthaginis bene vivant, et ipsi erunt genium Carthaginis. Si autem genium dæmonium est, audisti et ibi: Quæ immolant Gentes, dæmonibus immolant, et non Deo: nolo vos socios fieri dæmoniorum. Novimus quia non est Deus; utinam et ipsi sic norint: sed propter eos qui hoc non norunt infirmos, non debet percuti conscientia ipsorum. Hoc monet Apostolus. Nam et illi quod numen habeant et pro numine accipiant illam statuam, ara testatur. Quid illic facit ara, si illud non habetur pro numine? Nemo mihi dicat, Non est numen, non est Deus. Jam dixi, Utinam sic ipsi norint hoc, quomodo novimus omnes nos. Sed quid habeant, pro qua re habeant, quid ibi faciant, ara illa testatur. Convicit omnium colentium mentes: non convincat recumbentes.
“It is not a god,” he says, “because it is the Genius of Carthage.” As if, were it Mars or Mercury, it would be a god! But consider how it is regarded by them, not what it is. For I too know as well as you that it is a stone. If the Genius is some ornament, let the citizens of Carthage live well, and they themselves will be the Genius of Carthage. But if the Genius is a demon, you heard there too: “What the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; I do not want you to become partners of demons.” We know that it is not a god; would that they too knew it so! But because of those weak ones who do not know this, their conscience ought not to be wounded. This is what the Apostle warns. For that they have a divinity there and take that statue for a divinity, the altar testifies. What is an altar doing there, if it is not regarded as a divinity? Let no one say to me, “It is not a divinity, it is not a god.” I have already said: would that they knew this as we all know it! But what they hold it to be, for what they take it, what they do there, that altar testifies. It has convicted the minds of all who worship there: let it not convict those who recline there.
1 Cor 10:20 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 8:4 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Excusing attendance at feasts before the Genius of Carthage as “not a god” fails, for its altar shows that pagans treat it as divine, and Paul forbids partnership with demons.
- The Genius of Carthage was the city’s guardian spirit, honored with a statue and altar. “What the Gentiles sacrifice …”: 1 Cor 10:20. A heading by Migne (“The foolish excuse of those who recline in an idol’s temple”) was removed by the importer. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text): et cgo tecum → et ego tecum; cives Carthaginis bene vivam → cives Carthaginis bene vivant; d:cmonium → dæmonium; Quce immolant → Quæ immolant; Deo. nolo → Deo: nolo; perculi → percuti; faciant 3, → faciant,; mentes \ non convincat reeumbentes → mentes: non convincat recumbentes.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.10 (PL 38:286; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-10). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.11PL 38:286
Sed non premant Christiani, si premunt Pagani. Corpus Christi est. Nonne hoc dicebamus, quia corpus Christi premebatur, et non tangebatur? Tolerabat ille prementes, quærebat tangentes. Atque utinam, fratres, a Paganis prematur corpus Christi, a quibus premi solet; Christiani non premant corpus Christi. Fratres, ad nos pertinet vobis dicere, ad nos pertinet Christianis loqui. Quid enim mihi de his qui foris sunt judicare? ipse Apostolus ait. Illos aliter alloquimur, tanquam infirmos. Blandiendum est illis, ut audiant veritatem: in vobis secanda putredo est. Si quaeritis unde vincantur Pagani, unde illuminentur, unde ad salutem vocentur: deserite solemnitates eorum, deserite nugas ipsorum; et si non consentiunt veritati nostræ, erubescant paucitati suæ.
But let Christians not press it, if pagans press it. It is the body of Christ. Were we not saying that the body of Christ was pressed and not touched? He bore those who pressed him; he looked for those who touched. And would, brothers, that the body of Christ were pressed by pagans, by whom it is usually pressed; let Christians not press the body of Christ. Brothers, it is our business to speak to you, our business to speak to Christians. “For what have I to do with judging those outside?” says the Apostle himself. Those we address otherwise, as weak. They must be coaxed so that they may hear the truth; in you the rottenness must be cut out. If you ask how the pagans may be won, how they may be enlightened, how they may be called to salvation: abandon their festivals, abandon their trifles; and if they do not agree with our truth, let them blush at their small numbers.
1 Cor 5:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 8:45 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christians must not press on Christ’s body as pagans do; the best way to win pagans is to abandon their festivals, leaving them ashamed of their small numbers.
- “What have I to do with judging those outside?”: 1 Cor 5:12. The body pressed and touched: Luke 8:45 (see 62.4). A heading by Migne left at the start of the section in the digital text (“Pressing and touching the body of Christ”) is removed. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne’s marginal heading left at the start of the text; removed; OCR slip; OCR slip in the digital text): Corpus Christi premere et tangere- Scd non premant Christiani, si premunt Pagani 1. → Sed non premant Christiani, si premunt Pagani.; Nonue → Nonne; c< I.. pus Christi premebatur, et non * tangebatur,? tale rabat → corpus Christi premebatur, et non tangebatur? Tolerabat; Christi. a quibus → Christi, a quibus; ct si non → et si non; erubescant I → erubescant.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.11 (PL 38:286; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-11). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.12PL 38:286
Bonus si fuerit qui tibi præest, nutritor tuus est: malus si fuerit, tentator tuus est. Et nutrimenta libenter accipe, et in tentatione approbare. Esto aurum. Attende mundum istum tanquam fornacem aurificis: in uno angusto loco tria sunt, aurum, palea, ignis. Ad illa duo ignis apponitur, palea uritur, aurum purgatur. Cessit nescio quis minis, et adductus est ad idolium: væ mihi, quia paleam plango, cinerem video. Alius non cessit minis, non cessit terroribus; adductus ad judicem, stetit in confessione sua, non est flexus ad idolium: quid facit flamma? Nonne aurum purgat? State in Domino, fratres: potentior est qui vocavit vos. Minas impiorum ne timueritis. Inimicos patimini; habetis pro quibus oretis; prorsus non vos terreant. Hæc est sanitas, haurite hinc in isto convivio: hic bibite, unde satiemini, non illic, unde insaniatis. State in Domino. Argentei estis, aurum eritis. Ista similitudo non a nobis est, de divina Scriptura est. Legistis, audistis: Sicut aurum in fornace probavit illos; et sicut holocausti hostiam accepit illos. Ecce quid eritis ad thesauros Dei. Estote divites de Deo: non eum facturi divitem, sed de illo futuri divites. Impleat vos, aliud non admittatis ad cor vestrum.
If the one set over you is good, he is your nourisher; if he is bad, he is your tempter. Receive the nourishment gladly, and prove yourself in the temptation. Be gold. Look at this world as a goldsmith’s furnace: in one narrow place there are three things, gold, chaff, fire. The fire is applied to the other two: the chaff is burned, the gold is purified. Someone gave way to threats and was led to the idol’s temple: woe is me, I bewail the chaff, I see the ash. Another did not give way to threats, did not give way to terrors; brought before the judge, he stood firm in his confession; he was not bent to the idol’s temple: what does the flame do? Does it not purify the gold? Stand firm in the Lord, brothers: he who has called you is more powerful. Do not fear the threats of the ungodly. Bear with your enemies: you have people to pray for; let them not frighten you at all. This is health: draw it from here, at this banquet; drink here what will fill you, not there, what will make you mad. Stand firm in the Lord. You are silver; you will be gold. This likeness is not ours; it is from divine Scripture. You have read, you have heard: “As gold in the furnace he tried them, and as a burnt offering he received them.” See what you will be in the treasuries of God. Be rich from God: not to make him rich, but to become rich from him. Let him fill you; admit nothing else into your heart.
Phil 4:1 (echo, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 3:12 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A good superior nourishes, a bad one tests; the world is a furnace where chaff burns and gold is refined; Christians must stand firm against threats and be filled from God’s banquet, not the idols’.
- “As gold in the furnace …”: Wis 3:6. The eucharistic banquet is contrasted with feasts in idol temples. A heading by Migne left at the start of the section in the digital text (“A superior, good or bad, cannot harm”) is removed. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne’s marginal heading left at the start of the text; removed; OCR slip in the digital text): Prælatus seu bonus seu malus, piU nocere iun valet. Bonus → Bonus; libenter accipe, et In tentatione approbare. Esto anram → libenter accipe, et in tentatione approbare. Esto aurum; aurum, palca, → aurum, palea,; apponitur, palca uritur, → apponitur, palea uritur,; ct adductus → et adductus; cincrem → cinerem; terroribus 4; → terroribus;; idolium 5: → idolium:; sapitas, haurite hinc in ist convivio: hic bibite, unde saticinini, uoti illic → sanitas, haurite hinc in isto convivio: hic bibite, unde satiemini, non illic; critis. Isia → eritis. Ista; Sicu, aurum → Sicut aurum; hostiom → hostiam; cum facturi divitem, sed de illo futuri divites a. → eum facturi divitem, sed de illo futuri divites..
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 3:6 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Topics: Ethics, Persecution, Eucharist
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.12 (PL 38:286; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-12). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.13PL 38:286–287
Numquid in superbiam vos erigimus, aut dicimus vobis ut adversus potestates ordinatas contemptores sitis? Non hoc dicimus. Qui et hinc ægrotatis, tangite et hinc fimbriam illam vestimenti. Ipse dicit Apostolus: Omnis anima potestatibus sublimioribus subdita sit: non est enim potestas nisi a Deo. Quæ autem sunt, a Deo ordinatæ sunt. Qui autem resistit potestati, Dei ordinationi resistit. Sed quid, si illud jubeat, quod non debes facere? Hic sane contemne potestatem, timendo potestatem. Ipsos humanarum rerum gradus advertite. Si aliquid jusserit curator, nonne faciendum est? Tamen si contra proconsulem jubeat, non utique contemnis potestatem, sed eligis majori servire. Nec hinc debet minor irasci, si major praelatus est. Rursum si aliquid ipse proconsul jubeat, et aliud jubeat imperator, numquid dubitatur isto contempto illi esse serviendum? Ergo si aliud imperator, et aliud Deus, quid judicatis? Solve tributum, esto mihi in obsequium. Recte, sed non in idolio. In idolio prohibet. Quis prohibet? Major potestas. Da veniam: tu carcerem, ille gehennam minatur. Hinc jam tibi assumenda est fides tua tanquam scutum, in quo possis omnia ignita jacula inimici exstinguere.
Are we stirring you up to pride, or telling you to be despisers of the ordained authorities? We do not say this. You who are sick on this point too, touch here too that fringe of the garment. The Apostle himself says: “Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities; for there is no authority except from God. Those that exist have been ordained by God. Whoever resists authority resists God’s ordinance.” But what if it commands what you ought not to do? Here, certainly, despise authority by fearing Authority. Consider these ranks of human affairs. If the curator commands something, must it not be done? Yet if he commands against the proconsul, you do not despise authority, but choose to serve a greater one. Nor should the lesser be angry at this, if the greater is preferred. Again, if the proconsul himself commands something and the emperor commands another, is there any doubt that the former must be disregarded and the latter served? So if the emperor commands one thing and God another, what do you judge? “Pay tribute; be in my service.” Right, but not in an idol’s temple. In an idol’s temple he forbids it. Who forbids it? A greater Authority. Pardon me: you threaten prison; he threatens Gehenna. Here you must take up your faith as a shield, with which you may quench all the fiery darts of the enemy.
Rom 13:1 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 13:2 (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 5:29 (echo, medium confidence) · Eph 6:16 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christians obey authorities, but when the emperor commands what God forbids, such as attending in an idol temple, the greater Authority must be obeyed.
- “Let every soul be subject …”: Rom 13:1–2. Faith as a shield: Eph 6:16. The curator was a municipal official below the proconsul of Africa. A heading by Migne (“Respect for authorities rightly ordered”) was removed by the importer. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne’s Scripture reference printed in the text; removed; OCR slip in the digital text): snperbiam → superbiam; ordiuatas → ordinatas; hincaegrotatis → hinc ægrotatis; Ipsc → Ipse; Quas autem sunt, a Deo ordinalcc sunt → Quæ autem sunt, a Deo ordinatæ sunt; (Rom. XIII. i, 2) → ; potestatem.!, sos → potestatem. Ipsos; nen utique → non utique; irasci. si major → irasci, si major; aumquid dubitatur islo → numquid dubitatur isto; judicatis?Solve → judicatis? Solve; minaLur → minatur.
Topics: Ethics, Persecution
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.13 (PL 38:286–287; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-13). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.14PL 38:287
Sed insidiatur contra te potens, et molitur contra te potens: acuit novaculam unde capillos radat, non unde caput incidat. Quod dixi, modo audistis in Psalmo: Sicut novacula acuta fecisti dolum. Quare dolum potentis mali novaculae comparavit? Quia non admittitur, nisi ad superflua nostra. Sicut capilli in corpore nostro tanquam superflui videntur, et sine detrimento carnis raduntur; sic quidquid potest tibi facere iratus potens, inter superflua tua numera. Tollit paupertatem tuam: numquid tollit divitias tuas? Paupertas tua, divitiæ tuæ in corde tuo. Superflua tua potuit tollere, damno potuit afficere, permissus et usque ad laedendum corpus. Etiam ista vita, cogitantibus aliam vitam; ista, inquam, vita inter superflua deputanda est. Nam et martyres contempserunt illam. Non vitam perdiderunt, sed vitam acquisierunt.
“But a powerful man lies in wait against you, a powerful man schemes against you.” He is sharpening a razor to shave your hair, not to cut off your head. What I have said you heard just now in the psalm: “Like a sharp razor you have worked deceit.” Why did he compare the deceit of a wicked powerful man to a razor? Because it reaches only to what is superfluous in us. As hairs on our body seem superfluous and are shaved off without harm to the flesh, so whatever an angry powerful man can do to you, count among your superfluities. He takes away your poverty: does he take away your riches? Your poverty, your riches, are in your heart. He could take away your superfluities, he could inflict loss on you, even if allowed to harm the body. Even this life, for those who think of another life, this life, I say, must be counted among superfluities. For the martyrs too despised it. They did not lose life, but gained life.
Ps 52:2 (51:4 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A powerful enemy’s scheming is a razor that can shave off only superfluities, wealth and even bodily life, as the martyrs knew, not the riches of the heart.
- “Like a sharp razor you have worked deceit”: Ps 52:2 (Vulgate 51:4). The meaning of “He takes away your poverty: does he take away your riches?” turns on outward possessions (here called “poverty”) and true riches in the heart; translated as written. A heading by Migne (“The deceit of a wicked powerful man compared to a razor”) was removed by the importer. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text): Quoddixi → Quod dixi; dolnm → dolum; comparavit 1? → comparavit?; inler → inter; tuo'. → tuo.; afficcre, permissus ct → afficere, permissus et.
Topics: Martyrdom, Persecution
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.14 (PL 38:287; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-14). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.15PL 38:287
Certi estote, fratres, inimicos non admitti adversus fideles, nisi quantum prodest tentandis et probandis fidelibus. Certi estote, fratres, nemo aliud dicat. Omnem curam vestram super Dominum mittite, prorsus vos ipsos totos projicite in illum. Non se subducit, ut cadatis. Ille qui nos creavit, et de ipsis capillis nostris securitatem nobis dedit. Amen dico vobis, inquit, et capilli capitis vestri omnes numerati sunt. Capilli nostri numerati sunt Deo: quanto magis mores nostri, cui sic noti sunt capilli nostri? Videte, quia minima nostra non contemnit Deus. Nam si contemneret, nec crearet. Nam et capillos nostros ipse utique creavit, et numeratos habet. Sed modo cum sint, inquis, forte peribunt. Et hinc audi vocem ejus: Amen dico vobis, capillus capitis vestri non peribit. Quid times hominem, O homo in sinu Dei positus? Tu de illius sinu noli cadere: quidquid ibi passus fueris, ad salutem valebit, non ad perniciem. Laniatus membrorum martyres pertulerunt, et timent Christiani injurias temporum Christianorum? Qui tibi facit injuriam modo, timens facit. Non dicit aperte, Veni ad idolum: non dicit aperte, Veni ad aras meas, ibi convivare. Et si dixerit, et nolueris, hoc conqueratur, hoc in postulationem, hoc in querimoniam deponat: Noluit venire ad aras meas, noluit venire ad templum quod veneror. Hoc dicat. Non audet dicere: sed alia machinatur dolose. Para capillos, novaculam acuit: ablaturus est superflua tua, rasurus quidquid relicturus es. Tollat quidquid permanebit, si potest. Quid tulit potens nocens? quid magnum tulit? Quod fur, quod effractor; ut multum saeviat, quod latro. Si et ad ipsum corpus occidendum permissus fuerit, quid tollit nisi quod latro? Honoravi, cum dixi, Latro. Nam qualiscumque latro, homo est. Quod febris, quod scorpius, quod fungus malus. Ista tota potentia sævientium est, facere quod fungus. Manducant homines fungum malum, et moriuntur. Ecce in qua fragilitate est vita humana: quam quandoque relicturus es, noli pro illa sic pugnare, ut tu relinquaris.
Be certain, brothers, that enemies are not let loose against the faithful except as far as it profits the faithful to be tempted and proved. Be certain, brothers; let no one say otherwise. Cast all your care on the Lord; throw your whole selves entirely upon him. He will not withdraw so that you fall. He who created us has given us security even about our hairs. “Truly I tell you,” he says, “even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” Our hairs are numbered by God: how much more our ways, to him to whom our hairs are so known? See that God does not despise our least things. For if he despised them, he would not create them. For he certainly created our hairs too, and has them numbered. “But,” you say, “though they exist now, perhaps they will perish.” Hear his voice on this too: “Truly I tell you, not a hair of your head will perish.” Why do you fear man, O man, set in God’s bosom? Do not fall from his bosom: whatever you suffer there will avail for salvation, not destruction. The martyrs endured the tearing of their limbs, and do Christians fear the injuries of Christian times? Whoever does you injury now does it in fear. He does not say openly, “Come to the idol”; he does not say openly, “Come to my altars, feast there.” And if he said it and you refused, let him complain of this, let him bring it as an accusation, as a grievance: “He would not come to my altars, he would not come to the temple I worship.” Let him say this. He does not dare to say it; but he contrives other things deceitfully. Get your hair ready: he is sharpening the razor; he is going to take away your superfluities, to shave off whatever you would leave behind. Let him take away what will remain, if he can. What has the harmful powerful man taken? What great thing has he taken? What a thief takes, what a housebreaker; at his fiercest, what a robber takes. Even if he is allowed to kill the very body, what does he take but what a robber takes? I honored him by saying “robber.” For whatever a robber is, he is a man. What a fever takes, a scorpion, a poisonous mushroom. This is the whole power of the raging: to do what a mushroom does. People eat a bad mushroom and die. See in what frailty human life is: since you will leave it sooner or later, do not fight for it in such a way that you yourself are left behind.
1 Pet 5:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 10:30 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 21:18 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 52:2 (51:4 Vulg.) (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 10:28 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God, who numbers our hairs, lets enemies harm the faithful only for their testing; the powerful can only take what a thief, a fever, or a poisonous mushroom could take, so we must not cling to life at the cost of our souls.
- “Cast all your care …”: 1 Pet 5:7; Ps 55:22. “Even the hairs of your head …”: Matt 10:30. “Not a hair of your head will perish”: Luke 21:18. “Christian times” refers to the period of Christian emperors. A heading by Migne (“The security of the godly under God’s protection”) was removed by the importer. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text): admitti 3 adversus lidcles → admitti adversus fideles; ct probandis → et probandis; Ulle qui → Ille qui; tobis → vobis; ct numeratos → et numeratos; niodo → modo; hinc andi vocem → hinc audi vocem; 0 homo → O homo; Tn de illius → Tu de illius; d salutem → ad salutem; Icas → meas; elnolueris → et nolueris; qucrimoniam dcponat → querimoniam deponat; mcas → meas; tola potentia → tota potentia; quandoquc relicturus cs → quandoque relicturus es.
Topics: Persecution, Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.15 (PL 38:287; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-15). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.16PL 38:287
Vita nostra Christus est: Christum attende. Pati venit, sed et glorificari; contemni, sed etiam exaltari; mori, sed etiam resurgere. Opus te terret, mercedem vide. Quare vis pervenire delicatus ad eam rem, ad quam non perducit nisi labor? Sed times ne perdas argentum tuum; quia ad argentum tuum cum magno labore pervenisti. Si ad argentum quod quandoque vel moriens amissurus es, non pervenisti sine labore; ad vitam æternam sine labore vis pervenire? Charior sit tibi illa, ad quam post omnes labores sic pervenies, ut nunquam amittas. Si hoc tibi charum est, ad quod post omnes labores sic pervenisti, ut aliquando amissurus sis; quanto magis illa perpetua desiderare debemus?
Christ is our life: look to Christ. He came to suffer, but also to be glorified; to be despised, but also to be exalted; to die, but also to rise again. The work frightens you: look at the reward. Why do you want to arrive in comfort at a thing to which only labor leads? “But I am afraid of losing my silver, because I came to my silver with great labor.” If you did not come without labor to the silver that you will lose some day, at least when you die, do you want to come to eternal life without labor? Let that life be dearer to you, which after all labors you will reach in such a way that you will never lose it. If this is dear to you which you reached after all labors in such a way that you will lose it some day, how much more ought we to desire those everlasting things?
Col 3:4 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Like Christ, who suffered before his glory, we must labor for eternal life, which is far more worth labor than money we must lose.
- “Christ is our life”: Col 3:4. The numeral after “Vita nostra” in the digital text is a footnote mark, removed. A heading by Migne (“Eternal life the reward of labor”) was removed by the importer. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text): Vita nostra 1 Christus → Vita nostra Christus; rcsurgere → resurgere; mercedcm → mercedem; cam rem → eam rem; nc perdas → ne perdas; nou pervenisti → non pervenisti; libi → tibi; laborcs → labores; iila → illa.
Topics: Christology, Ethics
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.16 (PL 38:287; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-16). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).
62.17PL 38:287–288
Verbis ipsorum ne credatis, nec timeatis. Hostes nos dicunt idolorum suorum. Sic præstet Deus, et det omnia in potestate, quomodo dedit quod fractum est. Hoc enim dicimus Charitati vestræ, ne faciatis ista, quando in potestate vestra non est, ut faciatis illud. Pravorum hominum est, furiosorum Circumcellionum, et ubi potestatem non habent sævire, et velle mori properant sine causa. Audistis quæ vobis legimus, omnes qui nuper in Mappalibus adfuistis. Cum data vobis fuerit terra in potestatem (prius ait, in potestatem, et sic dixit quæ facienda sunt), aras eorum, inquit, destruetis, lucos eorum comminuetis, et omnes titulos eorum confringetis. Cum acceperitis potestatem, hoc facite. Ubi nobis non est data potestas, non facimus; ubi data est, non prætermittimus. Multi pagani habent istas abominationes in fundis suis: numquid accedimus, et confringimus? Prius enim agimus, ut idola in eorum corde frangamus. Quando christiani et ipsi facti fuerint, aut invitant nos ad tam bonum opus, aut præveniunt nos. Modo orandum est pro illis, non irascendum illis. Si movet dolor magnus, adversum Christianos movet, adversum fratres nostros movet, qui sic volunt intrare in ecclesiam, ut hic corpus habeant, alibi cor. Totum intus esse debet. Si intus est quod videt homo, quare foris est quod videt Deus? Sciatis autem, charissimi, murmura illorum conjungere se cum hæreticis, cum Judæis. Hæretici, Judæi et Pagani unitatem fecerunt contra unitatem. Quia contigit ut in aliquibus locis disciplinam acciperent Judæi propter improbitates suas; criminantur, et suspicantur, aut fingunt, quia talia de illis semper quæramus. Quia contigit ut alicubi hæretici pœnas darent legibus pro impietate et furore violentiarum suarum; jam dicunt nos per omnia quærere aliquam incommoditatem ipsorum ad perniciem. Rursus quia contra Paganos placuit ut leges ferrentur, imo pro Paganis, si sapiant (Sicut enim pueris insensatis ad lutum ludentibus, et manus inquinantibus, pædagogus cum venit severus, lutum de manu excutit, codicem porrigit: ita voluit Deus per principes subditos sibi terrere corda insensata pueritia, ut abjiciant lutum de manibus, et aliquid utile faciant. Quid est utile de manibus? Frange esurienti panem tuum, et egenum sine tecto induc in domum tuam. Et tamen pueri evadunt ab oculis pædagogi, et redeunt ad lutum furtim; et quando inveniuntur, abscondunt manus, ne videantur): quia ergo voluit Deus, putant nos ubicumque quærere idola; quæ cum invenerimus, in omnibus locis frangere. Quare? Non ante nos sunt loca, in quibus sunt? Aut vere ignoramus ubi sint ista? Et tamen non facimus: quia non dedit in potestatem Deus. Quando dat Deus in potestatem? Quando christianus erit cujus res est. Modo factum voluit cujus res est. Si nollet ipsum locum dare Ecclesiæ, et tantum juberet in re sua non esse idola; puto quia debuit summa devotione fieri, ut a Christianis adjuvaretur absens christiana anima, quæ in terra vult Deo gratias agere, non vult ibi aliquid esse in contumeliam Dei. Huc accedit, quia Ecclesiæ dedit ipsa loca. Et in re Ecclesiæ idola futura erant? Fratres, ecce quid displicet Paganis. Parum est illis quia de villis ipsorum non illa tollimus, non illa frangimus: et in nostris volunt ea servari. Contra idola prædicamus, de cordibus illa tollimus: sumus persecutores idolorum: profitemur: numquid servatores? Non facio ubi non possum; non facio ubi conqueritur dominus rei: ubi autem vult fieri, et gratias agit; reus ero, si non fecero.
Do not believe their words, and do not fear them. They call us enemies of their idols. May God so grant, and give everything into our power, as he has given what has been broken down. For this we say to your Charity: do not do these things when it is not in your power to do them. It is the way of perverse men, of the raging Circumcellions, both to rage where they have no authority and to hurry to die without cause. All of you who were recently present at the Mappalia heard what we read to you: “When the land has been given into your power” (first he says, “into your power,” and then he said what is to be done), “you shall destroy their altars, break their groves, and smash all their pillars.” When you have received authority, do this. Where authority has not been given us, we do not do it; where it has been given, we do not neglect it. Many pagans have these abominations on their estates: do we go and smash them? For first we work so that we may break the idols in their hearts. When they too have become Christians, they either invite us to so good a work or anticipate us. Now we must pray for them, not be angry with them. If great grief moves us, it moves us against Christians, against our brothers, who want to enter the Church in such a way that they have their body here and their heart elsewhere. The whole must be within. If what man sees is within, why is what God sees outside? But know, dearly beloved, that their grumbling joins itself with the heretics and with the Jews. Heretics, Jews, and pagans have made a unity against unity. Because it happened that in some places the Jews received discipline for their wickednesses, they accuse us, and suspect, or pretend, that we are always seeking such things against them. Because it happened that somewhere heretics paid the penalties of the laws for their impiety and the fury of their violence, they now say that we seek in every way some harm to them for their ruin. Again, because it was decided that laws should be passed against the pagans, or rather for the pagans, if they were wise (for as when foolish boys play in the mud and dirty their hands, the strict tutor comes, knocks the mud out of their hands, and hands them a book: so God willed through rulers subject to him to frighten foolish, childish hearts, so that they may throw the mud from their hands and do something useful. What is useful for the hands? “Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house.” And yet the boys escape the tutor’s eyes and go back to the mud on the sly; and when they are found, they hide their hands so as not to be seen): because, then, God has willed it, they think we are looking for idols everywhere, and that when we have found them we smash them in all places. Why? Are not the places where they are before our eyes? Or are we really ignorant where they are? And yet we do not do it, because God has not given them into our power. When does God give them into our power? When the owner of the property becomes a Christian. Lately the owner of a property wanted it done. If he had not wanted to give the place itself to the Church, but only ordered that there be no idols on his property, I think it ought to have been done with the greatest devotion, so that the absent Christian soul might be helped by Christians, who wants on his land to give thanks to God and does not want anything there to God’s dishonor. In addition, he gave the very place to the Church. And were there to be idols on the Church’s property? Brothers, see what displeases the pagans. It is not enough for them that we do not take them from their own estates, that we do not smash them there: they want them preserved on ours too. We preach against idols; we take them out of hearts; we are persecutors of idols: we profess it. Are we to be their preservers? I do not do it where I cannot; I do not do it where the owner of the property complains; but where he wants it done and gives thanks, I would be guilty if I did not do it.
Deut 7:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Deut 7:5 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 58:7 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christians must not destroy pagan idols without lawful authority, as the Circumcellions do, but may and should remove them where an owner, now Christian, gives the property or asks for it; pagans, heretics, and Jews unite in complaint against the Church.
- “When the land has been given into your power … smash all their pillars”: Deut 7:1–5 (compare 12:3), in the Old Latin. “Break your bread …”: Isa 58:7. The Mappalia was a church at Carthage near the shrine of Cyprian. The section refers to imperial laws against pagan worship (from 399) and penalties against Donatists and others; Augustine’s statements about Jews, heretics, pagans, and the destruction of idols are translated exactly, with no comment on their historical context beyond this note. The Circumcellions were violent Donatist partisans. This section also contains Migne’s chapter 12, paragraph 18: its numbers and heading (“The unjust complaints of idolaters”), left in the text, are removed. A heading by Migne (“Idols are not to be broken unless lawful authority is given”) was removed by the importer. The sermon ends abruptly in the digital text. Compared with NPNF¹ 6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne’s Scripture reference printed in the text; removed; Migne’s chapter and paragraph numbers and marginal heading left in the text; removed; OCR slip; OCR slip in the digital text): deL omnia → det omnia; dcdit → dedit; cst, i:t faciatis → est, ut faciatis; quae vobis → quæ vobis; nupcr → nuper; iti potestaten. (prins → in potestatem (prius; quæ facienda sunt). aras → quæ facienda sunt), aras; comminuetia → comminuetis; (Deut. VII, i, 5) → ; no bis → nobis; abminationcs → abominationes; Prias cnim agilnus → Prius enim agimus; iitis → illis; haheant → habeant; imus esse → intus esse; videl homo, quare foris cat quod videl Deus.?. CAPUT XII. — 18. Idololatrarum injustæ querimoniæ. Sciatis aulcm → videt homo, quare foris est quod videt Deus? Sciatis autem; iliorum coajungere → illorum conjungere; Judici et Pagani → Judæi et Pagani; Qnia → Quia; lucis → locis; Judu i → Judæi; h:vretici → hæretici; ct furore → et furore; dicunl → dicunt; Uursus → Rursus; cniin → enim; veuit → venit; terrcre → terrere; ahjciant → abjiciant; inanibus → manibus; volu:t Deus 1, → voluit Deus,; quas cum invenerimus → quæ cum invenerimus; Kt tamen → Et tamen; nan dedit → non dedit; agere I, → agere,; displicct → displicet; surIus → sumus; profitemur. Numquid → profitemur: numquid; dominus rci → dominus rei; reus cro; si non fecero → reus ero, si non fecero..
Topics: Heresy, Persecution, Ethics
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 62.17 (PL 38:287–288; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/62-1/#p-62-17). (abbreviation not yet checked)
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).