Sermon 359

SERMO 359

Of that which is written in Ecclesiasticus 25:2:
"Concord of brothers, and love of neighbors," and so on.
ON DISPUTE AND CONCORD WITH THE DONATISTS

Three excellent and rare things. From the heavens.

The first reading of the divine words, from the book called Ecclesiasticus, commended to us three certain excellent and most worthy things of consideration: the harmony of brothers, the love of neighbors, and a man and a woman agreeing with each other. These are clearly good, delightful, and praiseworthy in human affairs; but much more powerful in divine matters. For who does not rejoice in harmonious brothers? And what is sorrowful, in human matters such a great thing is rare: it is praised by all, preserved by very few. Blessed are those who embrace in themselves what they are compelled to praise in others. No brothers do not praise harmonious brothers. And why is it difficult for brothers to be harmonious? Because they quarrel over the earth, because they want to be earth. For man, the sinner, heard from the beginning: "You are dust, and to dust you shall return." Let us therefore discuss and investigate the voice which the righteous ought to hear to the contrary. For if it is rightly said to the sinner: "You are dust, and to dust you shall return," it is rightly said to the righteous: "You are heaven, and to heaven you shall return." Or are not the righteous the heavens, when it is most clearly said of the Evangelists: "The heavens declare the glory of God?" And indeed because it is said about them, the subsequent words sufficiently explain. "And the firmament proclaims the work of His hands." Those whom he called heavens, he also called firmament. "Day to day pours out speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voices are not heard." You seek whose voices, and you find none but the heavens'. Thus it is said of the Apostles, it is said of the proclaimers of the truth. Whence it follows: "Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voices are not heard. When the Holy Spirit came upon them, and God began to dwell in the heaven which He made from earth, they spoke, filled and gifted by the Holy Spirit, in the tongues of all peoples. Hence it is said: "There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voices are not heard." And because they were sent from there to the preaching of the Gospel to all nations: "Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." Whose? The heavens', to whom it is rightly said: "You are heaven, and to heaven you shall return," just as rightly to the sinner: "You are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Rich and poor. Gift of God.

Brothers, if they want to be in harmony, let them not love the earth. But if they do not want to love the earth, let them not be of the earth. Let them seek a possession which cannot be divided, and they will always be in harmony. Whence comes discord among brothers? Whence comes the disturbance of piety? Whence one womb and not one mind, except when their soul is bent, and each one looks to his own part, and strives to enhance and magnify his own portion, and wishes to have unity in his own possession, who with his brother holds division? Is that possession good, whose is it? It is ours. A great possession! So it is usually said. Is it all yours, brother? No; I have a partner here: but if God wills, he will sell me his part. The flattery responds: Let God do it. What should God do? That the neighbor be pressed and sell his part to his neighbor. Let God do it: you think well, may God fulfill it for you. Because the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul; and he who does iniquity is blessed. What is as unjust as wishing to become rich through another's poverty? And yet this abounds: He who does iniquity is blessed; and perhaps he prevailed, and perhaps he pressed and oppressed, twisted and extorted, not just any partner, but perhaps a brother. It is better that I buy than a stranger. And he easily oppressed, if he is just, has consolation. Let him hear Scripture, which he just now heard. He labors in poverty, his brother is full of abundance. But he is full of earth and empty of justice. Notice, earth, what that poor man hears. Do not fear when man grows rich, nor when the glory of his house is multiplied: for when he dies, he shall take nothing away. Hold on, poor man, to what you will not relinquish when dying, and what you will acquire living forever. Hold on to justice, do not regret it. Do you sorrow because you are poor on earth? He who created the earth was poor here. The Lord your God comforts you, your Creator comforts you, your Redeemer comforts you. Your brother, who is not greedy, comforts you. For indeed our Lord deigned to be our brother. He alone is the most faithful brother, with whom harmony is to be possessed. I said He is not greedy, and perhaps I find Him greedy. He is greedy: but He wants to have us, He wants to acquire us. For us, He gave Himself as the only price: nothing can be added to this price. He gave Himself as the price, and became our Redeemer. For He did not give Himself as the price so that the enemy might release us and possess Him. He gave Himself to death, killing death by His death. For by His death, He killed death, He was not killed by death; and having killed death, He freed us from death. For death lived for us who were dying; it will die for us who are living, when it will be said to it: Where, O death, is your contention?

To everyone who asks, it must be given.

So a brother was being troubled by another brother regarding land, as there was no harmony between them. And one brother said to the Lord: "Master, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. He has taken it all and does not want to give me my part. He despises me. Let him listen to you at least." What concern was this of the Lord? Just as we think humble thoughts, crawling on the ground, placed in this life, and not wanting to upset anyone, and often thereby causing greater upset—what would we say? "Come, brother, return to your brother his part." But the Lord did not say this. And what was fairer than that? Who could find such a judge to appeal to against his brother's greed? Did not the man rejoice at last in finding such great comfort? He no doubt hoped for great help, saying to such a judge: "Master, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." But what did He say? "Man, who made me a divider over you?" The Lord rebuffed him; He did not give what was requested, He did not grant a free benefit. What was the big deal? What did He lose in this? Did at least some labor go into this benefit? He did not give it. Where is "Give to everyone who asks of you?" That one who provided us an example of living did not give it. How, then, are we to act? Or how will we give what we spend if we do not give the benefit where we neither spend nor erode anything, nor lose anything? The Lord did not give this, yet He did not give nothing. He denied less but donated more. He clearly said, "Give to everyone who asks of you." What if someone asks you, not for something useless, but for something disgraceful? What if a woman asks from you what the woman asked from Joseph? What if a man asks from you what the false elders asked from Susannah? Should that unqualified statement, "Give to everyone who asks you," also be followed in these cases? Far from it. So shall we act contrary to the Lord's command? Rather, let us act according to the Lord's command and not give evil things to those who ask, nor act contrary to this statement. For it is said, "Give to everyone who asks you." It is not said, "Give everything to everyone who asks you." "Give to everyone who asks you"; certainly give, but if not what he asks, yet give something. He asks for evil, but you give good. Joseph did this. He did not give what the shameless woman asked, yet he gave something—what she should hear to refrain from shamelessness: and he himself did not fall into the pit of lust but offered advice for chastity. For he responded, "Far be it from me to do this against my master, lest I defile his bed who entrusted everything to me in his house." If a slave bought with money kept faith with his master in this way, how much more should a wife keep it with her husband? This is what he was admonishing. "I, a servant, will not do this to my master; should not you, a wife, do this for your husband?" Susanna also did this, and did not leave them empty-handed if they wanted to be filled with the counsel of chastity. For not only did she not consent, but she also made known why she did not. "If I consent to you," she said, "I perish before God; if I do not consent, I do not escape your hands; but it is better for me to fall into your hands than to perish before God." What does it mean, "It is better to fall into your hands than to perish before God"? You have perished before God, you who seek such things. Therefore, hold this rule. Give when asked, even if not what is asked. The Lord did this. What did He ask for? The division of inheritance. What did the Lord give? The destruction of greed. What did he ask for? What did he receive? "Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." The Lord answered, "Man, who made me a divider over you?" But I say to you: "Beware of all greed." And I say why. For perhaps you are seeking half the inheritance to become richer. Hear: "The land of a certain rich man produced plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?' And considering diligently, he said, 'I have found what I shall do. I will tear down my old barns and build new ones and fill them. I will make them larger than they were before. And I will say to my soul, 'You have many goods; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.'" But God said to him: "Fool! who think yourself very wise; you know how to destroy the old and build the new, and you remain in the old ruin, who ought to have destroyed the old in yourself so that you no longer think earthly things. Fool, what did you say? To whom did you say it? You said to your soul: Be merry, you have many goods. This night your soul will be required of you; whom will these things be which you have provided?" Therefore, fear not when a man is made rich; for when he dies, he shall carry nothing away.

The harmony of brothers because.

Behold what counsel the Lord gave to dissident brothers, that they may be in harmony, to be free from greed, and immediately filled with truth. Let us therefore find such an inheritance. How long will we speak of the harmony of earthly brothers, which is rare, which is suspect, which is difficult? Let us speak of that harmony of brothers, which must be true and can be. Let all Christians be brothers, let all the faithful be brothers, let them be brothers born of God and from the womb of Mother Church through the Holy Spirit; let them be brothers, let them also have an inheritance to be given and not divided. Their inheritance is God Himself. Whose inheritance they are, He is likewise their inheritance. How are they His inheritance? Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance. How is He their inheritance? The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup. In this inheritance concord is preserved: for this inheritance there is no litigation. Another inheritance is acquired by litigation: this one is lost by litigation. Men unwilling to lose this inheritance avoid litigating. And when they seem to litigate, they do not litigate. But perhaps they seem to litigate, or are thought to litigate, when they wish to give counsel to brothers. See how harmonious is their disputation, how peaceful, how kind, how just, how faithful. For we seem to litigate with the Donatists: but we do not litigate. For he litigates, who wishes ill to his adversary; he litigates who wants his adversary to suffer a loss and himself to gain; for something to decrease for the adversary and increase for himself. Not so are we. You also know it, you who litigate outside of unity; you also know it, who were acquired through division: you know that this dispute is not such a quarrel, because it is not malevolent, because it does not aim at the detriment of the adversary, but rather at benefit. For we wanted those with whom we seem to litigate, or still seem to as of now, to join us; not to lose them, but rather that we may be gained. Finally, our voice is different from that of that brother who appealed to Christ walking on earth. For we also appeal to Him in this case, sitting in heaven: and we do not say: Lord, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me; but: Tell my brother to hold the inheritance with me.

Meeting held at Carthage.

Since this we desire and public records testify: since we have desired this, the indicators are not only words but our letters given to them. Do you love the episcopate? Hold it with us. In you, we hate nothing, we detest nothing, we curse nothing, we anathematize nothing, except human error. We said “human,” we detest error, not divine truth: but what you have of God, we acknowledge; what you have wrongly, we correct. I recognize the sign of my Lord, the sign of my Emperor, the character of my King in the deserter; I seek, find, approach, touch, apprehend, correct the deserter, not violate the character. If anyone notices, if anyone pays attention, this is not to quarrel but to love. We said it is possible for brothers to be concordant in one Church for the sake of peace: for concord of brothers is a beautiful thing. For it is not possible for there to be two bishops. We said that both should sit in one simple basilica; one in the chair, the other as a pilgrim; one in the Christian chair, the other in the heretical as if a colleague sitting next to: again, one presides in his congregation, the other in his in turn. Repentance has been preached for the remission of sins among all nations beginning from Jerusalem by the Apostles, we said. What will you answer to this Church, which has been built among all nations beginning from Jerusalem by the Apostles? We said: let us suppose Caecilian had utterly a bad cause. One man having a bad cause, two men, five, ten, will they prejudice so many thousands of the faithful scattered over the whole world with abundant fecundity? These things we said. Abraham believed, and all nations were promised to him: Caecilian sinned, and all nations perished, that what iniquity committed might prevail more than what truth promised? These things were said: they are read. Absolutely against divine examples, against the testimonies which assert that the Church is spread over the whole world, of which Church we hold the unity in the name of the Lord, they could answer nothing to these.

About Cecilianus.

Therefore, the cause of the Church is saved, confirmed, and immutably fixed and stabilized, as though upon the foundation of rock, which the gates of hell will not prevail against: with this cause secure, we come to the case of Caecilian, already reassured of whatever he might be found to have committed. For indeed, if as a man he were found guilty of some fault, were we to argue, that because of the fault of one man we should be judged as condemned or rebaptized? And we said: With the cause of the Church secure, which is unaffected by the sin of Caecilian; nor does the righteousness of Caecilian crown the Church; nor does the fault of Caecilian condemn the Church; let us also see what his case is like. We undertook to examine it, but as of a brother, not as of a father, or mother. God is our Father, the Church is our Mother: Caecilian was a brother, or is a brother; if good, a good brother; if bad, a bad brother, yet still a brother. If we find him innocent, where then will you be, who even in this human slander have failed? But if he is found guilty, if he is found criminal, we are not defeated even then, because we maintain the unity of the Church, which is unbeaten. Let him be found completely guilty, I excommunicate the man, I do not desert the Church of Christ. This we did, we said: from now on, we will not list him at the altar among the bishops, whom we believe to be faithful and innocent. This alone we did. Are you about to rebaptize the world because of Caecilian? With this security established and firm, the case of Caecilian began to be examined. He was found innocent, he was found to be attacked by slanderers. Once condemned in absentia, three times acquitted in person: condemned by a faction, acquitted by ecclesiastical truth. These things were read, these things were proven. It was asked whether they had anything to say in opposition. When all tergiversations of their slanders were exhausted, or when they could produce nothing against the most evident documents, nor against the very innocence of Caecilian, judgment was pronounced against them. And yet they say: We have won. Let them win, but against themselves, so that Christ may possess them; let Him conquer them who redeemed them.

The conquered conquerors.

And yet we rejoice about many. Many of them were fruitfully conquered, because they were not conquered. Human error was conquered, the man was saved. For the doctor does not contend with the sick person; and if the sick person contends with the doctor, the fever is conquered, and the sick person is healed. For this is what the doctor intends, to conquer; this is also what the fever intends, to conquer. The sick person is placed almost in the middle. If the doctor conquers, the sick person is safe: if the fever conquers, the sick person will die. Therefore in our contention, the doctor contended for health, the sick person contended for the fever. Those who heeded the doctor’s counsel conquered, overcame the fever. We have them healthy and rejoicing with us in the Church. They used to blaspheme us before, because they did not recognize us as brothers: for the fever had disturbed their mind. We, however, loved them both when they detested us and when they raged against us, and we served the raging sick people. We resisted, contended, and almost litigated: and yet we loved. For all who serve such languishing ones are troublesome; but they are troublesome for health.

Charity compels serving all.

However, we sometimes find lazy people saying: It is true, Lord, it is true; there is nothing to say. What then? Come, go. My father is deceased there, my mother is buried there. You mentioned deceased and buried. You live, there is still someone to talk to. Your parents were Christians in the faction of Donatus; their parents perhaps also Christians, and certainly their grandfathers or great-grandfathers pagans. So those who first became Christians, when they buried their pagan parents, were they cold against the truth? Did they follow the authority of their dead parents, and not rather prefer the living Christ to their dead parents? If therefore this is true unity, outside of which it is necessary to die eternally, why do you want to follow your dead parents, dead to both you and to God? What are you saying? Answer. You are right, there is nothing to say. What do you want me to do? Some custom or other holds such people fast. They are lethargic, suffering from the opposite malady, ready to die by sleeping. Others are frenetic, they are troublesome. For even if the lethargic one is about to die, he is at least not troublesome to the one serving him. The frenetic ones, who have lost their minds, are troublesome, and armed, they wander around wildly, seeking whom they might kill, whom they might blind. For indeed, we have received news, they cut out the tongue of one of our presbyters. These people are frenetic. Charity must be exercised, they too must be loved. Many corrected have wept, many corrected; we know it, they have come to us from among their number of madmen. They weep daily for their past, and are not satisfied with tears, observing the madness of those who, drunk with the vanity of undigested passion, still rage. So what do we do? Charity compels us to serve such as these. And although we are troubled by both kinds, by waking the lethargic and by binding the frenetic, yet we love them both.

The harmony of brothers in Christ.

Good is the concord of brothers; but see where: in Christ, of Christians. And the love of neighbors. What, if he is not yet a brother in Christ? Because he is a man, he is a neighbor; love him also, so that you may win him too. Therefore, if you are in concord with a Christian brother, love your neighbor, even if there is not yet concord because he is not yet a brother in Christ, because he is not yet born again in Christ, he does not yet know the sacraments of Christ; he is a pagan, he is a Jew; yet he is a neighbor because he is a man: if you also love him, you have reached another love with another gift, and thus there are two in you: the concord of brothers, and the love of neighbors. From all these who hold concord with brothers and love their neighbor, the devoted Church to Christ is composed, and submissive to the man, so that the third may be achieved, Man and woman consenting to one another. Therefore we admonish your Charity, and we exhort you in the Lord to despise present things, my brothers, which you do not carry with you when dying: beware of sins, beware of iniquities, beware of worldly desires. Then indeed our fruit is whole within us, and our reward before the Lord is full of joys. For even if we say what must be said, even if we preach what must be preached, and release ourselves before the Lord in the sight of the Lord, because we did not remain silent about what we fear, we did not remain silent about what we love, that the sword of the Lord's vengeance may not come upon us and the watchman find nothing to blame: yet we do not want our reward to be secure with you lost, but with you found. For even the apostle Paul was secure about his reward, and yet what did he say to the people? Now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord. I speak to you and to your Charity, according to the command of the Lord, fathers and brothers. I also speak for my brother, your bishop, whose joy you ought to be, by obeying the Lord our God. Surely in the name of God this church has been made for you by his work, through the beneficent, merciful, devoted contributions of faithful brothers. This church has been made for you: but you are more the Church. It has been made for you, so that your bodies might enter: but your minds ought to be, so that God might enter. You have honored your bishop, that he might wish to call this basilica Florentia; but his Florentia is you. For thus says the Apostle: You are my joy and my crown in the Lord. Whatever is in the world fades away, passes away. What is this life, except what the Psalm says: In the morning it passes away like grass, in the morning it blooms and passes: in the evening it falls, hardens, and withers? This is all flesh. Therefore Christ, therefore a new life, therefore the hope of eternity, therefore the promised consolation of immortality, and already given in the flesh of the Lord. For that flesh was assumed by us, which is now immortal, and he has shown us in himself what he fulfilled in himself. For he had flesh for us. For he: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Seek flesh and blood: where is it in the Word? Because he truly willed to suffer with us, and to redeem us, he assumed the form of a servant, and descended who was here, that he might appear who was not absent; and he willed to become man who made man, to be created from a mother, who created a mother. He ascended to the cross, died, and showed us what we knew, to be born and to die. He fulfilled in himself these old humble things of ours, known and familiar. We knew to be born and to die: we did not know to rise again and live forever. Therefore he assumed our two old things humbly: he fulfilled two other great and new things exaltedly. He raised the flesh, lifted the flesh into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father. He willed to be our Head, the Head cried out for the members: because even when he was here, he said: Father, I desire that where I am, they also may be with me. Let us hope this also for our flesh, for the resurrection, the change, the incorruption, the immortality, the eternal abode: and let us act so that we may attain this. This will be Florentia, the true Florentia.