Teaching (Book of Orsiesius) 33–49

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

And therefore let us return to the Lord our God, so that when we pray he may hear us, he who daily exhorts us to be still and know him. And elsewhere he says: “Return to me, and I will return to you.” And again: “Return to me, you rebellious sons, and I will be your lord.” Ezekiel likewise testifies and says: “Why will you die, house of Israel? I do not want the death of the sinner, but only that he turn from his evil way and live.” And the most merciful Lord, the head of all goodness, cries out to us in the Gospel and testifies: “Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Let us consider that the goodness of God calls us to repentance, and holy men exhort us to salvation. Let us not harden our hearts, nor store up wrath for ourselves on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will repay each according to his works; but let us return to the Lord with all our heart, according to the words of Moses, who records: “If you return to the Lord your God with all your heart, he will cleanse your heart and the heart of your seed.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us labour as good soldiers of Christ, and observe what is written: “No one serving as a soldier to God entangles himself in worldly affairs, so that he may please the one who enlisted him. And if anyone contends in the games, he is not crowned unless he competes lawfully. The labouring farmer ought to be the first to share in the fruits.” It is written: all peoples will walk each in its own way; “but we will be magnified in the name of the Lord our God. They were hindered and fell, but we have risen and stand upright.” [35] “He who walks in the day does not stumble; but he who walks in the night stumbles, because the light is not in him.” But we, as the apostle said, “are not sons of withdrawal unto perdition, but of faith unto the gaining of the soul.” And elsewhere he says: “You are all sons of light” and sons of God; “we are not sons of the night nor of darkness.” If then we are sons of light, we ought to know what belongs to light and to bear the fruits of light in every good work; for whatever is made manifest is light. If we return to the Lord with all our heart, and live with a simple heart in the precepts of his saints and of our Father, we shall abound in every good work. But if we are overcome by the pleasures of the flesh, we shall grope for the wall in the day as at midnight, and shall not find the way of the city and of our dwelling, of which it is said: “The soul of the hungry and thirsty fainted”; because they despised the law handed down to them by God and did not hear the voice of the prophets, and therefore they could not reach the promised rest.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us keep watch and be attentive: “for if he did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare us.” I speak not of all but of the negligent, to whom that lament will rightly be fitted: “Woe to those who have withdrawn from me; it is manifest that they have acted impiously against me, because they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves broken cisterns which cannot hold water.” And because they did not hear its judges, let them hear God saying: “I have set watchmen over you. Hear the sound of the trumpet. And they said: We will not hear.” Whence this unbelief? Is it not because they knew strange gods and did not resist them? The Holy Spirit also speaks elsewhere through the prophet: “For I am the Lord your God, who formed the heaven and created the earth, whose hands founded all the host of heaven; and I did not show them to you so that you should walk after them.” This he also commanded through Moses, saying: “Lest, when you look up to heaven and see the sun and moon and stars and all the adornment of heaven, you be deceived by the error of heaven and worship them. I am God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and you shall know no god but me, and there is none besides me who can save. I am he who fed you in the wilderness, in an uninhabited land; and they were filled to satiety, and their hearts were lifted up; therefore they forgot me”; “and I will give them over to dispersion among all the nations.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Hearing these things, let us wake as from sleep and show ourselves worthy of the Lord's service, so that he may have mercy and say to us: “Call upon me, and I will hear you.” For he himself says: “He who scattered Israel will gather him.” And elsewhere: “I will not act,” he says, “according to the wrath of my fury, nor will I so abandon as to destroy Ephraim.” And again: “I will not punish you for ever, nor will I always be angry with you. For the Spirit goes forth from me, and I have made every breath.” And in the same place he adds and says: “I have given them true consolation, peace upon peace to those who were near and far; and the Lord said: I will heal them.” That we may fully know his mercy, he teaches by the word of Jeremiah, saying: “If the heaven is raised on high, and if the floor of the earth is lowered beneath, I will not reject the nation of Israel for all that they have done.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Since the clemency of the Lord Saviour is so great, and he calls us to salvation, let us turn our hearts to him: “for it is already the hour for us to wake from sleep; the night is far spent, and the day draws near; let us therefore put off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.” Little children, first let us love God with all our heart, then love one another, mindful of the precepts of God the Saviour, in which he says: “My peace I give you, my peace I leave you; not as the world gives peace do I give to you.” “For on these two commandments hang the whole law and the prophets.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

If anyone living in a house of the monastery under a superior, and lacking nothing that is permitted to be had in the monastery, has a father or a brother or a very dear friend, let him accept absolutely nothing from them, not a tunic, not a cloak, nor any other thing. But if it is proved that he has less than what is prescribed, all the blame and the correction will fall upon the superior.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

You, then, who are heads of monasteries, if you see any lacking something and set in distress, do not neglect them, knowing that you will give account for the whole flock, “in which the Holy Spirit has appointed you to oversee and to shepherd the church of God, which he acquired with his own blood.” Therefore “we who are stronger ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not please ourselves, but each please his neighbour for good, for edification. For Christ too did not please himself, but, as it is written: The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” And again: “I seek not what is profitable for me,” he says, “but for all, that they may be saved.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

If then our Lord and Saviour so commands, and the saints so lived, and our fathers too so taught us, let us rise from sleep and do what has been commanded us. “For whatever was written was written for our instruction, that through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope”; and let none of us be the cause of another's error, nor envy those who prosper in their life. For when they have obtained all that is necessary for the flesh, at death they will carry nothing away with them. The sons of this age have confidence in this age, because they are of the world, and the world loves its own. But those who are sons of God remember that Gospel word: “If the world hates you, know that it hated me first.” And again: “Whoever wants to be a friend of this world becomes an enemy of God.” And again: “In the world you will have tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the world.” And again: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” But of the sons of the night what is said, on the contrary? Is it not this: “Woe to you rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Wherefore let us avoid the friendships of the world, that we may be worthy to hear: “Weeping will linger in the evening, and joy in the morning. The Lord heard and had mercy on me. You tore my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.” For which of the saints did not pass along the way of this world in grief and sorrow? Jeremiah says: “I did not sit in the council of those who make merry, but I trembled before your hand; I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness.” David too writes: “As one mourning and sorrowing, so I was humbled.” Treading in their footsteps we understand that our salvation is in the time of tribulation, and the prophet's promise is fulfilled, who says: “Those who are in distress are not left there beyond a time.” If then tribulation and distress have their time and will not be everlasting, let us sow in tears and reap in joy, not failing, because we know that the Lord delivers his worshippers from temptation.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

The Lord is our father; the Lord is our judge; the Lord is prince, the Lord is our king; the Lord himself will save us. If we neglect his precepts we shall remain in distress. For he himself says: “Those who follow me shall possess the land and inherit my holy mountain”; which we too shall possess if we fulfil his law and hear what is said: “Make your ways clean in his sight.” And again: “Remove the stumbling blocks from the way of my people.” And elsewhere: “Cast the pestilent man out of the council, and contention will go out with him.” He who calls the unjust just and judges the just unjust, both are unclean in the sight of God. Let us beware lest it be said of us too: “The sons have become estranged from him.” And this: “The daughters of Zion were lifted up and walked with outstretched neck and with haughty eyes, trailing their tunics with their feet and playing with their feet together”; and lest in our reproof the prophetic word should again agree, saying: “How has the faithful city Zion become a harlot, full of judgment, in which justice slept? But now murderers.” And: “The people that understood mingled with a harlot. You therefore, Israel, do not be ignorant.” But if we meditate on divine things, we shall be able to say what David too said: “I exulted over your words, like one who finds much spoil.” And: “How sweet are your words to my throat, more than honey and the comb to my mouth!” “Your statutes were songs to me in the place of my pilgrimage.” And in another place: “I did not set before my eyes an unjust thing; I hated those who do iniquity. A perverse heart did not cleave to me; the wicked who turned from me I did not know. Him who secretly slandered his neighbour I pursued; with the proud of eye and insatiable of heart I did not eat. My eyes were upon the faithful of the land, that they might sit with me.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us imitate the works of all these, so that there may be peace and justice in our days, and that may not happen to us which we read elsewhere: “On the land of my people thorns and briars will spring up.” But rather let us break up new ground for ourselves, and not sow upon thorns. And when we have kept what has been commanded us, we shall be manifest as those who love God, as divine Scripture also testifies in another place: “He who hears my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and I and my Father will come and make our dwelling with him, and I will show myself to him.” And: “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Let us take many words with us and turn to the Lord our God, and say to him: “You are able to forgive sins, that we may receive good things, and we will render to him the fruit of our lips”; and our soul will delight in us.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

And would that we repented of our error and negligence, and turned and said: “Assyria will not save us; we will not mount upon horses; nor will we any longer say: Our gods are the works of our hands. The God who is in you will have mercy on the orphan; I will heal their dwellings.” And again he will say of us: “I will love them openly, and I will turn my anger from them. I will be like the dew; Israel will flower like the lily, and he will send out his roots like Lebanon. His branches will spread, and he will be like a fruitful olive, and his fragrance like incense. They will return and sit each in his tent, and they will live and be strengthened with grain; their remembrance will flower like the vine, like the fragrance of incense, Ephraim. What has he to do with idols? I humbled him, and I will strengthen him. I am like a dense juniper; from me his fruit is found. Who is wise, and will understand these things? Or understanding, and will know them?” And would that we too might be able to bear fruit from him, without whom no good work can be done.

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us return to the Lord, so that he may say of us too: “Their sins and their iniquity I will remember no more.” Let us not forsake the law of God, which our Father received from him and handed down to us, nor hold his commandments of little account; lest that lament be spoken over us too: “How the gold has been darkened, and the good silver changed! The holy stones have been poured out at the head of every street.” Nor, after the very many labours of our Father, which he undertook for our salvation, giving himself as an example of virtue and glorying in us and saying among the saints: “These are my sons, and my people, my sons, and they will not deny” — after such a testimony let us not lose the confidence of a good conscience, stripped of the garments with which he clothed us; and, brought by him into the stadium to compete lawfully, let us not be overcome by our enemies. And when we come to the time when we go out of the body, let us not be found enemies of our Father through serving treasures: we who ought by fasts and affliction of the body to acquire the freedom of the soul, devoting ourselves to the flesh and delights, finer clothes and more splendid bedding, not only perishing ourselves but leading to ruin by our example others who could have made progress; of whom it is written: “You did not receive the spirit of slavery in fear, but of power and of love and of chastity.” And: “Food does not commend us to God. For neither if we eat shall we abound, nor if we do not eat shall we lack.” “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but justice, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. He who serves Christ in this pleases God and is approved by all.” Isaiah also says: “Those who wait for the Lord will change their strength; they will take wings like eagles; they will run and not labour, they will walk and not hunger.” “Therefore he will raise a sign among the nations and will gather the fugitives of Israel. Quickly, swiftly they will come; they will not hunger nor grow drowsy. They will not sleep, nor loose the girdle from their loins, nor will the straps of their shoes be broken. Their arrows are sharp and their bows bent; the hoofs of their horses like the hardest rock, the wheels of their chariots like a storm; they will rush like lions and stand by like lions' whelps.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us too therefore be imitators of the saints, and not forget the instruction with which our Father taught us while he was still in the body. Let us not put out the burning lamp which he set over our heads. Walking by its light in this age, let us remember that through his zeal God received us into his own household, giving hospitality to strangers, showing a harbour to those set in the storms of the sea, bread in famine, shade in heat, clothing in nakedness; he taught the unskilled with spiritual precepts; those who served vices he surrounded with chastity; those far off he joined to himself. Let us not, after his falling asleep, forget such goodness and undying benefits, turning judgment into fury and the fruit of justice into bitterness; lest he speak against us: “Judge between me and my vineyard. I waited for it to bear fruit, and it bore iniquity; and not justice, but a cry”; and lest that curse come upon us which the prophetic word pursues, and which we ought with all zeal to flee and avoid, following the way of life of those, fathers and brothers alike, who have gone before us in the Lord: who, renouncing the world and going to the Lord with unstumbling step, now possess his inheritance. I fear we may lose it by our sloth, and that prophetic word be fitted to us which was said of Ephraim: “He trades oil into Egypt.” “They were mingled among the nations and learned their works.” Lest, after we have been called into freedom, as it is written: “I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and bring you into Zion, and I will give you shepherds after my heart, who will feed you with discipline,” the bonds of love be loosed, and it be said of us: “A son glorifies his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is my glory? If a lord, where is my fear?” [48] Therefore let each of us cry to the Lord: “Walls of Zion, let tears run down like torrents day and night; give yourself no rest, and let the pupil of your eye not be silent. Arise, praise in the night, at the beginning of your watches; pour out your heart like water before the Lord. Lift your hands to him for the souls of your little ones, who have fainted at the head of all the ways.” Lest this be said against us: “The world has been corrupted. The heights of the earth have mourned, and the earth has acted impiously because of its inhabitants; for they have forsaken the law and changed my precepts, the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse will devour the land, because its inhabitants have sinned, and few men are left.” Lest our wine too mourn, and the vine, and those groan who before rejoiced with all their heart, and it be said of us: “They have fashioned madness in the house; they have been corrupted as in the days of the hill.” And that: “The snare is from you.” For you said: “We have made a covenant with the underworld, and a pact with death.” Avoiding these words, let us rather believe that in his time “a star will rise from Jacob, and a man will arise from Israel, who will strike the princes of Moab and the sons of Seth,” so that there may not be in the house of Israel “a goad of bitterness and a thorn of pain.” “For the Lord's portion became Jacob, Israel the cord of his inheritance.” And elsewhere Jeremiah says: “If this law ceases before me, the nation of Israel too will be able to cease.” And again: “I will give their labour to the just, and I will set an everlasting covenant with them, and their seed and their descendants will be known among the nations. Everyone who sees them will know that these are the seed blessed by the Lord, and they will be filled with the joy of the Lord.”

Translated by Claude from Jerome (404); edited by L. Holstenius (1661), reprinted by Brockie (1759) and Migne's Latin translation (404) of the Latin (the Coptic original of Orsiesius is lost except for fragments); neither is shown

Let us too, then, search our ways and examine our steps, and follow the fragrance of knowledge, always hiding his words in our hearts, so that we may be undefiled in the way and walk in the law of the Lord. Let not the frailty of the body and the labour of a long time frighten us. “Your fathers, where are they, and the prophets?” as it is written; “will they live for ever? But receive my words and my statutes, which I command by my Spirit to my servants the prophets, who were with your fathers.” Let us feel the ineffable clemency of our God, who to this day exhorts us to repentance, saying: “Will he who falls not rise again? Or will he who turns away not return? Why has my people turned away with a shameless turning, and held fast in their pleasures, and refused to return?” If we return to him, he will build us up by his Spirit, according to what is written: “The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he will gather the dispersed of Israel.”