On the Christian Life 10–15

We have said, as well as we could, how God ought to be loved; now let us explain, as we can, what it is to love one's neighbour as oneself; although the explanation of this matter is set out briefly in another place, where it is said: "What you do not wish done to you, do not do to another." Our Lord and Saviour too says: "Whatever you wish people to do to you, do likewise to them." For there is no one who wishes evil to be done to him by anyone. He, then, loves his neighbour as himself who wishes nothing evil to be done to him, since he wishes none to himself; but if there is anything good, as he himself wishes to receive and obtain from all, he gladly imparts it; for it is not only asked of a Christian that he refrain from evil, but that he practise good. Even if one has done nothing evil, but also nothing good, he is not admitted to the reward of eternal life but is handed over to the fires of Gehenna; as we read that the Lord said in the Gospel of those who do nothing evil yet do nothing good: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and you did not give me to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not take me in; naked, and you did not clothe me; sick, and you did not visit me; in prison, and you did not come to me." They are condemned not because they did evil, but because they did not do good. From this let every prudent and wise person recognize what hope can be had by those who live in evils, when life is denied even to those who have done nothing evil, unless they have also done something good. For God does not ask this only of us, that we not be evil, but that we become good. For as people are called evil from evil works, so on the contrary they are called good from good ones. And there are two whom the good and the evil are seen to serve: the good God, whom all who live well serve; and the evil devil, whose servant is everyone who does evil. For it is not only asked of us that by not living badly we cease to be the devil's servants, but that by living well we be seen to serve God. For whoever is seen to do neither evil nor good, I do not know whose servant he is seen to be, or how he can hope for eternal life from God, which he has not earned by doing good. Let no one, I say, deceive and delude himself by his own opinion; let no one lead himself astray by a vain estimate. Whoever has not been good does not have life. Whoever has not done works of righteousness and mercy cannot reign with Christ. Whoever has not been humane, devout, hospitable, kind, merciful will not escape the fire of Gehenna. God does not love the wicked; he does not love sinners. Whoever does evil is God's enemy. Whoever is not without guile cannot have part with Christ. For nothing more is to be sought by a Christian, nothing more desired, nothing more striven for with all his strength, than to shut malice out of his heart, not to admit wickedness within the conscience of his breast, to hold to goodness, keep righteousness, guard purity of mind. Be innocent, if you wish to live with God. Be simple, if you wish to reign with Christ. What does malice profit you, which drags you to death? What does wickedness profit you, which prevents you from reigning with Christ, which destroys the one who has it? As it is written: "For a wicked soul will destroy him who has it." If you wish to live, hear what the prophet says; if you love the kingdom of Christ, hear how you may deserve to obtain it. "Who is the man," he says, "who wants life and longs to see good days? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." Such people God honours and loves, who know no evil, who know not how to lie, whose lips do not speak deceit, in whom nothing but goodness and purity is seen. It is innocence that commends us to God; it is simplicity that makes us reign with Christ. That God loves only the innocent and wishes them to be joined to him is declared by very many testimonies, as it is written in the Psalms: "The innocent and upright have clung to me." And elsewhere it is commanded and said: "Keep innocence, and look on equity, for there is a remnant for the peaceful man." How much innocence affords and confers on a person, even if kept late, is proved by the testimony of the prophet David, who, though he had sinned gravely before, afterwards did not fear to be judged, from the time he began to know innocence; as he himself says: "Judge me, O God, for I have walked in my innocence." He knew, then, that judgment was no longer to be feared by him, because he had come to know innocence, though late. And in another place he says: "But you have upheld me because of my innocence." God afterwards upheld, because of innocence, the one whom he had before rejected because of malice. That the innocent cannot be put to shame before God is plain when it is said: "As long as the innocent keep righteousness, they shall not be put to shame." For nothing can be worthier or dearer to God than that innocence be held with all observance. Though someone appear devout in other works, if he does not have innocence he flatters himself in vain about his devotion. If even the Jews living under the old law, when it was still lawful for them to hate an enemy, were commanded to observe innocence, what is it fitting for you to do now as a Christian, who are commanded to love your enemy? For when will you not be innocent, or to whom can you be evil, who are commanded to be good to your enemies? But perhaps you even hate your neighbour, who are not allowed to hate even a stranger; and you persecute your brother, who are commanded to love your enemy; and you believe yourself a Christian, who keep the precepts of neither the New nor the Old Testament? But lest you think yourself a Christian without cause and flatter yourself on the name alone, hear the apostle say what you ought to be: "Let him who stole steal no more, but rather labour, working with his hands what is good, so that he may have something to give to one in need. Let no evil word come out of your mouth, but only what is good for the building up of faith, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and anger and indignation and clamour and blasphemy be put away from you, with all malice. Be kind and merciful to one another, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Be imitators of God, as dearest children; and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a fragrant odour. But let unchastity and all uncleanness or greed not even be named among you, as befits saints, nor filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor jesting, which is not fitting, but rather thanksgiving. For know this, that no unchaste or unclean or greedy person, which is idolatry, will be an heir in the kingdom of Christ and of God." He rightly judges himself a Christian who keeps these precepts, who is holy, humble, chaste and righteous, who lives in works of mercy and righteousness.

Do you think him a Christian in whom there is no act of Christianity, in whom there is no righteous way of life, but wickedness, ungodliness and crime? Do you think him a Christian who oppresses the wretched, who burdens the poor, who covets others' goods, who makes many needy so as to make himself rich, who rejoices in unjust gains, who takes his food from others' tears, who grows rich by the ruin of the wretched, whose mouth is constantly defiled by lies, whose lips speak only unworthy, obscene, criminal and base things, who, when he is commanded to distribute his own goods, seizes those of others? And such a man boldly approaches the church, and rashly and shamelessly spreads out his impious hands, defiled by unlawful seizure and the blood of the innocent, and with that polluted and sacrilegious mouth with which he had shortly before spoken false or base things he pours out prayers to the Lord, as if conscious of no evil. What are you doing, shameless and wretched man? Why do you load yourself with the burden of greater sins? Why do you inflict injury on God besides contempt? Why, to provoke his wrath more quickly, as a witness to your punishment, do you stretch out to God your criminal hands, which he does not regard, who commanded that only holy and spotless hands be offered to him? Why do you entreat God with that mouth with which you spoke evil a little before, whose prayers he abhors though they be multiplied? As it is written: "When you stretch out your hands, I will turn my face from you; and if you multiply prayers, I will not hear; for your hands are full of blood. Wash, be clean, take away wickedness from your souls." He ought to be well aware and sure, and confident in his innocence, who stretches out and lifts his hands to God, since the apostle says: "I wish men to pray in every place, lifting up pure hands." He rightly lifts his hands to God, he pours out prayers with a good conscience, who can say: "You know, Lord, how holy, how innocent, how pure from all fraud and injury and robbery are the hands I spread out to you; how just, how spotless and free from every lie are the lips with which I pour out prayers to you, that you may have mercy on me." Such a one deserves to be heard quickly, and can obtain what he asks before he has fully poured out his prayers. For I know there are those whom the deep darkness of wickedness and greed has so blinded that, when they have succeeded in binding a poor man by their power, or overwhelming an innocent man with false testimony, or overcoming a weak man by strength, or committing theft or robbery, they give thanks to God, by whose help they believe they did such things, and judge God so unjust as to think him a partner in their crimes.

Foolish and wretched people, so blinded by their iniquities that they do not understand that what God forbids cannot please him; and as if one crime were not enough, unless another is added by thinking wrongly of God. Others think they are justified because they give a small alms out of the substance of the poor; and out of what they have taken from very many, they bestow some very small thing on one. One is fed from what makes many hungry, and scarcely a few are clothed from the spoils of many. God does not seek such alms, nor does he wish kindness to be shown to one out of cruelty to another. For it is better for you not to give alms than to make many naked from the source from which you clothe a few, and to strip many who are clothed so as to clothe one. God approves the alms that are given from just labours, as it is written: "Honour God from your just labours, and offer him the first of the fruits of your righteousness." But he abhors and rejects the alms given from others' tears. For what does it profit if one blesses you from the same source from which very many curse you? Or what does that alms profit you which is given from another's substance? Truly, it is to be feared that God would have nothing with which to feed his poor unless you plundered other people's goods!

But I know others whom the dark ignorance of folly and imprudence so misleads and deceives that they think the faith which they pretend to have will profit them before God without works of righteousness; and by this kind of error they commit unspeakable crimes without fear, believing that God is the avenger not of crimes but only of faithlessness. And such people are not content to have perished themselves, but try to entangle others too in their snares, in whom there is no light of divine knowledge. And in them is fulfilled the saying of our Saviour: "If the blind leads the blind, both fall into the pit." For if no crime, but only faithlessness, is condemned, then we sin securely and freely. And God gave the commands of righteousness without cause, if faith alone profits without the works of righteousness. Where so ungodly, so criminal, so faithless an error of ignorance crept in from, we cannot know, unless perhaps from those who in the old law led the people astray by this pattern and handed them over with themselves to eternal death and perpetual destruction, of whom it is written: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, for they are vain, and speak visions from their own heart and not from the mouth of the Lord. For they say to those who reject the words of the Lord, You shall have peace; and to all who walk in their own wills, to everyone who walks in the error of his heart, they say: No evils shall come upon you." We had at hand many testimonies, indeed those of the whole law, by which we could destroy and bury so pernicious an error; but lest we weary the reader longer, let a few out of many suffice. Let him who holds this view answer me: Adam, made by God the first man in the first state of the world, was he condemned because of faithlessness or because of sin? In him I find no unbelief at all, but only disobedience, for which he was condemned, and all are condemned by his example. Cain too was condemned not because of faithlessness, but because he had killed his brother. Why say more? That this whole world perished by the flood, I read, was because not of faithlessness but of crimes. That Sodom and Gomorrah were burned by sudden fire, I find no cause of unbelief, but of sins and crimes; as Scripture most plainly shows, saying: "The men of Sodom were evil and sinners before God, exceedingly." That the Jewish people were seen to perish and be chastised so often, was it not because of sins? But someone says: "I do not accept the testimonies of the old law alone, unless you bring me examples from the New Testament too." Take Ananias and Sapphira, whom the apostolic sentence condemned not for the crime of faithlessness, but because of theft and lying. Perhaps you will say to me: "What then does the apostle say: For they hold that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law?" I read that the very one who says this condemned, even in his absence, a man because he had taken his father's wife. Scripture must be understood, which is seen by those who know it to agree in all things, and to disagree only for those by whom it is not understood. The apostle says that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law; but not without those works of which I hear the other apostle say: "Faith without works is dead." For the apostle Paul spoke of the works of the law, that is, of fleshly circumcision, the new moon, the sabbath and other such things, which the law had formerly commanded to be done and which were no longer necessary in the time of Christ; but James speaks of the works of righteousness, and whoever has not done them is dead, though he pretends to be faithful. But someone cites that saying of the apostle: "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Fool, this is fulfilled at the time of baptism, when, for someone to be baptized, only confession and faith are required. For what does the washing of baptism itself profit you, if faith alone without righteousness is sought? For the faith of all holds that sins are washed away in baptism. If one must sin afterwards, what is the use of having been washed? Hear what the Lord says to a man once healed: "See, you have been made well; sin no more, lest something worse befall you." The blessed apostle Peter too teaches this most plainly, that something worse befalls one who sins after knowing the way of righteousness, when he says: "For if, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them not to know the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command delivered to them. For there has happened to them what the true proverb says: The dog returned to its own vomit, and the sow, washed, to wallowing in the mud." The blessed apostle Paul too testifies and says that a man who after the sanctification of baptism sins with his former error is not saved without great repentance, saying: "For it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and have fallen away, to be renewed again to repentance, crucifying again the Son of God for themselves and holding him up to contempt." The evangelist testifies that a certain man came to the Saviour and asked what he should do to receive eternal life, and the Lord answered him: "If you wish to have life, keep the commandments." He did not say, keep faith only. For if faith alone is required, it is superfluous to command that the commandments be kept. But far be it from me to say that my Lord commanded anything superfluous. But those say this who by sinning have already become sons of perdition; and they believe they have this only consolation, if they can deliver others with themselves to perpetual death. For if God does not punish the sinner, where is that prophetic saying: "If the righteous will scarcely be saved, where will the sinner and the ungodly appear?" And elsewhere: "For sinners will perish." And again: "Let sinners and the wicked fail from the earth, so that they are no more." And again: "As smoke vanishes, let them vanish; as wax melts before the fire, so let sinners perish before the face of God." Here I hear that not only the unbelieving and faithless are condemned, but sinners. And I read that our Saviour said in one place: "Not all who say to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven." Certainly they believed in Christ who even called him Lord; and yet the door of the heavenly kingdom is not opened to them for this, because they confess with their mouth him whom they deny by their deeds. That God is denied by deeds no less than by words the apostle said: "They profess to know God, but deny him by their deeds." And the Lord in the Gospel: "Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And I will say to them: I never knew you; depart from me, all you who work iniquity." These are said to have believed so far as even to work mighty works in the Lord's name; and yet faith will not profit them, because they did not do the works of righteousness. So, if faith alone profits, why are those handed over for ever with the angels of Satan to the fires of Gehenna, who are judged not because of faithlessness but because they had done nothing good? As it is written: "And the King will say to those on his left: Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal Gehenna, which my Father prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat," and so on. He certainly did not say, "because you did not believe in me"; from which it is given to be understood that they are to be condemned not because of unbelief, but because of the barrenness of good works.

Let no one, then, deceive another; let no one lead another astray. Unless one is righteous, he does not have life; unless one has kept Christ's commands in all things, he cannot have part with him; unless one has despised earthly things, he will not receive divine ones; unless he has scorned human things, he cannot possess heavenly ones. Nor let anyone judge himself a Christian except one who both follows Christ's teaching and imitates his example. But do you think him a Christian by whose bread no hungry person is ever filled, by whose drink no thirsty person is refreshed, whose table no one knows, under whose roof no newcomer or stranger ever comes, by whose clothes no naked person is covered, by whose help no poor person is supported, whose goodness no one feels, whose mercy no one knows; who imitates the good in nothing, but rather mocks and derides them, and does not cease to persecute the poor? Far be this from the minds of all Christians; far be it that such a one be called a Christian; far be it that one who is such could be called a son of God. He is a Christian who follows the way of Christ, who imitates Christ in all things; as it is written: "He who says he abides in Christ ought himself to walk as he walked." He is a Christian who shows mercy to all, who is not at all moved by injury, who does not allow a poor man to be oppressed in his presence, who relieves the wretched, who helps the needy, who mourns with those who mourn, who feels another's pain as his own, who is moved to tears by the tears of others; whose house is common to all, whose door is shut to no one, whose table no poor person is unaware of, whose food is offered to all, whose goodness all know, and from whom no one suffers injury; who serves God day and night, who meditates on and ponders his precepts unceasingly, who becomes poor to the world so as to become rich to God; who is held without glory among men so as to appear glorious before God and the angels; who seems to have nothing feigned or false in his heart; whose soul is simple and spotless, whose conscience is faithful and pure, whose whole mind is on God, whose whole hope is in Christ; who desires heavenly rather than earthly things, who scorns human things so as to be able to have divine ones. For to those who love this world, and who glory and take pleasure in the present time, hear what is said: "Do you not know that friendship with this world is enmity with God? And whoever wishes to be a friend of this world is made an enemy of God."

These things, dearest sister, I have explained to you as well as I could: what it befits a Christian to do. If, then, all who are generally called Christians ought to be such, it is now for your prudence to judge what kind of widow you ought to show yourself, who ought to be an example to all who live well. I believe you are not unaware that there are three kinds of widows. One, which is the most perfect, is destined for the heavenly reward, which, after the manner of that widow in the Gospel, serves God with prayers and fasting day and night. Another is said to have the care of children and of a household: not worthy of so much, yet not liable to sins. But the third kind is in feasts and delights, and is kept for eternal death and punishment; as it is written: "Honour widows who are truly widows." These are the first, who are called also true, and whom Timothy, so great a bishop, is commanded to honour. The second are those to whom honour is no longer commanded to be shown, yet life is not denied; of whom it is said: "But if they have children or grandchildren, let them learn first to manage their own household devoutly, and to make a return to their parents." But the third are those of whom it is written: "But the widow who lives in pleasures is dead while she lives." From this it is given to be understood that not all widows are equal, nor do those please God who seem to be widows only in body, not in deed. What a widow of Christ ought to be, the apostle says: "She who is truly a widow hopes in the Lord and continues in prayers night and day." Nor do I wish you to pass over this: that when the apostle names true widows, he shows that there are also false ones, that is, in act, mind and way of life, not in body. And elsewhere the same apostle describes the deeds and way of life of a true and chosen widow, saying: "Let a widow be chosen who has a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children" (which is understood: for God), "if she has received strangers, if she has washed the feet of the saints, if she has relieved those in tribulation, if she has followed every good work." He judged her to be a true widow whose works are such. But how does she call herself a widow of Christ who has never done any such thing? But there are some women, rich, noble and powerful, to whom it seems perhaps unworthy either to bring up their children for God and not for the world, or to receive a stranger in hospitality, or to wash the feet of the saints, weary, muddy and rough, and touch them with their delicate and elegant hands. But neither will such women be worthy in the time to come to be companions of the saints whom they so despised in the present, nor will they be able to have part with Christ, whom they refused to receive and whose feet they shrank from handling: for whoever despises his servants despises Christ, as he himself says: "He who despises you despises me." Mary had tears in abundance with which to wash Christ's feet; but the women of our time lack even water with which to wash the feet of strangers. Do you, then, most holy and most prudent woman, not wish to imitate such women, who, though they boldly do evil, blush to do good; who are ashamed to live justly, though they were not ashamed to sin; who, having offered themselves to death of their own accord, do not return to life even when invited; who fear the laughter, mockery and gossip of men more than the judgment of God; and to whom it is dearer to please wretched men than Christ. But be such as the Lord commanded you to be, such as the apostle bids you show yourself to Christ. Be a widow holy, humble and quiet; practise works of mercy and righteousness unceasingly. And whoever holds you in reproach, whoever mocks and derides you, may you only please God and do the things that are Christ's. Above all, meditate unceasingly on the commands of your Lord; apply yourself diligently to prayers and psalms; so that, if possible, no one ever finds you except reading or praying. And when you are such, remember us, who love you so much that what we cannot render present we confer absent.