Blog by-the-Sea

St. Jerome and the Diversity of the "Old Latin" New Testament

About a week ago, I answered an e-mail asking about a comment that St. Jerome made about the confusion of Old Latin manuscripts of the New Testament when he was translating the Bible.  I found the issue interesting and spent some time on it, so I thought I would also post it here.  I have held it until now because it was not appropriate for posting during Holy Week.

On a website that calls St. Jerome a "falsifier of the Bible," the person who e-mailed me had found the following statement:

"When Jerome was commissioned by Pope Damasus in 383 to again translate all existing texts of the gospel into Latin and to compile them into one large scripture (Bible), he was close to despair: No two lengthy texts coincided. They all differed from each other."

He asked about resources regarding St. Jerome's confidence in the texts available to him in the fourth century, when he made his translation of the Old Testament and the Gospels from the original Hebrew and Greek.  That website suggests that St. Jerome despaired over the accuracy of Scripture manuscripts and also that he deliberately distorted Scripture in his translations.

However, a little reading about St. Jerome, and a view of the quotation from him in context, will show that he only despaired about certain Old Latin translations from the Greek New Testament -- and not about the Greek original texts themselves.

Earlier posts on this blog tell enough about St. Jerome's life before and during his translation of Scripture, and provide excerpts from things things that he wrote about Scripture.  They show that his attitude toward Scripture was certainly not the despairing attitude suggested by the website quoted above.  Nor is it the attitude of someone who would be willing to distort Scripture.  They include a biographical post About St. Jerome on this blog, drawn in part from J.N.D. Kelley's biography Jerome: His Life, Writings and Controversies, and another post with a collection of excerpts from St. Jerome's letters about Scripture.   

The text quoted in that website comes from St. Jerome's Preface to the Four Gospels.  In it, he wrote:

"The labour is one of love, but at the same time both perilous and presumptuous; for in judging others I must be content to be judged by all; and how can I dare to change the language of the world in its hoary old age, and carry it back to the early days of its infancy?"

That reflects his own concern for changing the Latin translation from the one that was then familiar (the "Old Latin"), and especially his concern for changing it to something that might mean have a different meaning from the Old Latin based on the original Hebrew or the Greek.   

Music historians who write about Gregorian Chant mention older chants that appear to be drawn from the Old Latin translations from before the Vulgate.  That suggests that people then continued to use their more familiar translation in music, just as English-speaking people today sometimes prefer the old King James Version in classical music, in preference over the modern English translations.  They liked the homely familiar text, even when the newer translation was more accurate.

St. Jerome's Preface then tells the Pope who had commissioned his work how he felt able to proceed despite knowing that his efforts would not please some people.  My comments here are inserted in green, explaining St. Jerome's comments about the Old Latin New Testament texts:

"Now there are two consoling reflections which enable me to bear the odium—in the first place, the command is given by you who are the supreme bishop (He is willing to do the translation because the Pope commanded him to do so); and secondly, even on the showing of those who revile us, readings at variance with the early copies cannot be right (He believes he can produce something more accurate). For if we are to pin our faith to the Latin texts, it is for our opponents to tell us which; for there are almost as many forms of texts as there are copies (Here, he is talking about the New Testament in the Latin, whereas the New Testament was originally written in Greek.  This justifies his going back to the original Greek.  He does not suggest that there are many different forms of the text in Greek.  The Eastern Church spoke and wrote Greek as their primary language, so they would have preserved the Greek texts.  Constantinople was known as the "New Rome," and many of the most educated people lived there, so there was no lack of availability of the Greek text for the New Testament. The problem St. Jerome mentioned here was not that it was impossible to find the correct text for the New Testament in the original Greek, but rather that there were many different translations into Latin.  We have the same problem today in that we have many different translations of Scripture into English, so that people are not sure which is the best translation.  That is all he is saying here.) If, on the other hand, we are to glean the truth from a comparison of many, why not go back to the original Greek and correct the mistakes introduced by inaccurate translators, and the blundering alterations of confident but ignorant critics, and, further, all that has been inserted or changed by copyists more asleep than awake? (You can see that in context.)  I am not discussing the Old Testament, which was turned into Greek by the Seventy elders, and has reached us by a descent of three steps. I do not ask what Aquila and Symmachus think or why. I am willing to let that be the true translation which had apostolic approval. (You see here that he does not question the accuracy of the available texts of the Old Testament, which are available in a Greek translation from before the birth of Christ.)  I am now speaking of the New Testament. This was undoubtedly composed in Greek, with the exception of the work of Matthew the Apostle, who was the first to commit to writing the Gospel of Christ, and who published his work in Judæa in Hebrew characters. "  (Here he mentions that the New Testament, originally composed in Greek, is the only part of the Bible for which he is concerned about diverse Latin translations.) We must confess that as we have it in our language it is marked by discrepancies, and now that the stream is distributed into different channels we must go back to the fountainhead.  (He is not saying that we cannot tell what the original Greek texts said.  Rather, he is questioning the accuracy of the available Latin translations of the New Testament alone.  The remedy that he proposes is to go back to the Greek text and create a new, reliable translation.)

J.N.D. Kelly's biography comments on the reasons for the confusion among the Latin Texts of that time, at 86-87.  The "Old Latin" began to be translated in the second century, in both Roman Africa and western Europe.  There was indeed what Kelly called "a bewildering variety of forms" by St. Jerome's time.  He explains why:

"This was caused partly by the fact that the task of translation had been undertaken very probably, by different hands in different areas; but the confusion had been made worse, he explains, by translation slips, the blundering emendations of over-confident critics, careless transcription, and the practice of inserting in one gospel material found in another in the mistaken belief that it must have fallen out."

The Latin in the old translations, he adds, was peculiar, "often recalling the Greek on which it was based" and with a "strongly colloquial tang."

St. Jerome's comments about the confusion of Old Latin forms of the New Testament thus supported the need for a new translation although many people were attached to the old one.  His comments about the confusion do not suggest any confusion about the Greek manuscripts in which the New Testament was written.  Rather, he went back to manuscripts in the original languages and used them to prepare a new Latin translation of the Old Testament and the Gospels, in finer Latin than was used in the Old Latin manuscripts.  His work, together with other people's translations of the rest of the New Testament, became known as the Latin Vulgate.

The Latin Vulgate itself was subjected to revision and correction in the early 20th century, seeking to reproduce St. Jerome's original translation as accurately as possible despite centuries of scribes' corruptions since the fourth century.  However, as to the original translation work made by St. Jerome, the Catholic Encyclopedia has this to say:

"At the present day scholars are practically agreed as to the competence of St. Jerome for the work given him by Pope St. Damasus. He, moreover, had access to Greek and other manuscripts, even at that time considered ancient, which are not now known to exist; he could compare dozens of important texts, and he had Origen's 'Hexapla' and other means of determining the value of his material, which we do not possess. It is obvious that the pure text of St. Jerome must form the basis of any critical version of the Latin Bible, and, what is more, that it must be taken into account in any critical edition of the Septuagint Old Testament and the various Greek texts of the New Testament, no manuscript copies of which are older than St. Jerome's Latin translation made on then ancient copies."

Pope Benedict XVI's 5 Catecheses on St. Augustine of Hippo

Sandro Magister has posted an article titled "Exclusive: The Words that Benedict XVI Adds Spontaneously, When He Preaches to the Faithful."  In it, Magister provides English translations of the Pope's five catecheses on St. Augustine of Hippo from his weekly General Audiences, with the Pope's spontaneous additions to each text underlined.

At the end of that post, he has a list of all of the Pope's catecheses on the figures from the Early Church, in order, with links to the Vatican's official translations of each of them.

St. Anthony the Abbot: "Harmony with the Zeal of the Saints"

January 17 is the feast day of St. Anthony the Abbot.  Here is an excerpt from St. Athanasius's The Life of St. Anthony that I thought was appropriate, leaning toward Lent which begins early this year (February 6):

"So after certain days he went in again to the mountain. And henceforth many resorted to him, and others who were suffering ventured to go in. To all the monks therefore who came to him, he continually gave this precept: ‘Believe on the Lord and love Him; keep yourselves from filthy thoughts and fleshly pleasures, and as it is written in the Proverbs, be not deceived “by the fulness of the belly.”   

"Pray continually; avoid vain glory; sing psalms before sleep and on awaking; hold in your heart the commandments of Scripture; be mindful of the works of the saints that your souls being put in remembrance of the commandments may be brought into harmony with the zeal of the saints.’

"And especially he counselled them to meditate continually on the apostle’s word, ‘Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.’ And he considered this was spoken of all commandments in common, and that not on wrath alone, but not on any other sin of ours, ought the sun to go down. For it was good and needful that neither the sun should condemn us for an evil by day nor the moon for a sin by night, or even for an evil thought.

"That this state may be preserved in us it is good to hear the apostle and keep his words, for he says, ‘Try your own selves and prove your own selves.’ Daily, therefore, let each one take from himself the tale of his actions both by day and night; and if he have sinned, let him cease from it; while if he have not, let him not be boastful.

"But let him abide in that which is good, without being negligent, nor condemning his neighbours, nor justifying himself, ‘until the Lord come who searcheth out hidden things,’ as saith the blessed apostle Paul. For often unawares we do things that we know not of; but the Lord seeth all things. Wherefore committing the judgment to Him, let us have sympathy one with another. Let us bear each other’s burdens: but let us examine our own selves and hasten to fill up that in which we are lacking."

St. Anthony's monks: "The one purpose of them all was to aim at virtue."

The feast day of St. Anthony the Abbot is January 17.  It is included on the Discalced Carmelite calendar maintained by Australian Discalced Carmelite friars. 

Here is a description of the lives of St. Anthony's desert monks before the persecution of 303-311, from The Life of St. Anthony by St. Athanasius:

So their cells were in the mountains, like filled with holy bands of men who sang psalms, loved reading, fasted, prayed, rejoiced in the hope of things to come, laboured in alms-giving, and preserved love and harmony one with another. And truly it was possible, as it were, to behold a land set by itself, filled with piety and justice. For then there was neither the evil-doer, nor the injured, nor the reproaches of the tax-gatherer: but instead a multitude of ascetics; and the one purpose of them all was to aim at virtue. So that any one beholding the cells again, and seeing such good order among the monks, would lift up his voice and say, ‘How goodly are thy dwellings, O Jacob, and thy tents, O Israel; as shady glens and as a garden by a river; as tents which the Lord hath pitched, and like cedars near waters [Num. xxiv. 5, 6.].’

St. Gregory of Nyssa on Elijah and Mt. Carmel as Prefiguring Baptism

"The water flowed around the altar, and the trench was filled with the water." [I Kings 18:35]

"The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song. The glory of Lebanon will be given to them, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God." [Isaiah 35:1-2]

__________________

"I find that not only do the Gospels, written after the Crucifixion, proclaim the grace of Baptism, but, even before the Incarnation of our Lord, the ancient Scripture everywhere prefigured the likeness of our regeneration; not clearly manifesting its form, but fore-showing, in dark sayings, the love of God to man. And as the Lamb was proclaimed by anticipation, and the Cross was foretold by anticipation, so, too, was Baptism shown forth by action and by word. Let us recall its types to those who love good thoughts—for the festival season of necessity demands their recollection. . . .

"Again, that marvellous sacrifice of the old Tishbite [I Kings 18]  that passes all human understanding, what else does it do but prefigure in action the Faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and redemption? For when all the people of the Hebrews had trodden underfoot the religion of their fathers, and fallen into the error of polytheism, and their king Ahab was deluded by idolatry, with Jezebel, of ill-omened name, as the wicked partner of his life, and the vile prompter of his impiety, the prophet, filled with the grace of the Spirit, coming to a meeting with Ahab, withstood the priests of Baal in a marvellous and wondrous contest in the sight of the king and all the people; and by proposing to them the task of sacrificing the bullock without fire, he displayed them in a ridiculous and wretched plight, vainly praying and crying aloud to gods that were not. At last, himself invoking his own and the true God, he accomplished the test proposed with further exaggerations and additions. For he did not simply by prayer bring down the fire from heaven upon the wood when it was dry, but exhorted and enjoined the attendants to bring abundance of water. And when he had thrice poured out the barrels upon the cleft wood, he kindled at his prayer the fire from out of the water, that by the contrariety of the elements, so concurring in friendly cooperation, he might show with superabundant force the power of his own God. Now herein, by that wondrous sacrifice, Elijah clearly proclaimed to us the sacramental rite of Baptism that should afterwards be instituted. For the fire was kindled by water thrice poured upon it, so that it is clearly shown that where the mystic water is, there is the kindling, warm, and fiery Spirit, that burns up the ungodly, and illuminates the faithful. . . .

"And “the excellency of Carmel” [Isaiah 35:2] is given to the soul that bears the likeness to the desert, that is, the grace bestowed through the Spirit. For since Elijah dwelt in Carmel, and the mountain became famous and renowned by the virtue of him who dwelt there, and since moreover John the Baptist, illustrious in the spirit of Elijah, sanctified the Jordan, therefore the prophet foretold that “the excellency of Carmel” should be given to the river."

St. Gregory of Nyssa, from A Sermon from the Day of Lights (Epiphany)

The Feast Day of St. Augustine of Hippo

Today is the memorial of St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the greatest of the Church Fathers and a favorite of Pope Benedict XVI.

Ignatius Insight has posted an article titled The Scriptural Roots of St. Augustine's Spirituality by Stephen N. Filippo.  Carl Olson also has a post at the Insight Scoop blog on Joseph Ratzinger on St. Augustine.  Also see Sandro Magister's post from June 20 on what Pope Benedict XVI said about Sts. Francis and Augustine during his recent trips to Assisi and Pavia.

Meanwhile, from earlier posts here, see About St. Augustine of Hippo (a biographical post), The Pope's Visit to Vigevano and Pavia (which includes links to the Pope's addresses while he was in the place of St. Augustine's tomb), The Holy Spirit Descending Like a Dove (which quotes commentary from St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas on the baptism of Jesus), and St. Augustine: On Mary's Sinlessness (a quote).  Also of interest, see a post on the bishop who baptized St. Augustine: About St. Ambrose of Milan.

The more we commit the whole matter to God

"Do not let your troubles distress you too much. For the less we grieve over things, the less grievous they are. It is nothing strange that the heretics have thawed, and are taking courage from the springtime, and creeping out of their holes, as you write.  They will hiss for a short time, I know, and then will hide themselves again, overcome both by the truth and the times, and all the more so the more we commit the whole matter to God."

- St. Gregory Nazianzen, Letter No. 72 to Gregory of Nyssa, 375 a.d.

John Cassian on Elijah and the Early Hermits

July 20 is the memorial of St. Elijah, a feast day in the Discalced Carmelite liturgical calendar.  To remember Elijah, here is a chapter from the Conferences of John Cassian (Part III, Conference XVIII, Chapter VI). John Cassian's memorial falls on July 23.  Cassian's writings were read by St. Teresa of Avila and thus influenced the 16th century Discalced Carmelites' understanding of the lives of hermits.  In this chapter, Cassian wrote about the hermits of the Early Church and how they imitated such saints as Elijah and Elisha:

Out of this number of the perfect, and, if I may use the expression, this most fruitful root of saints, were produced afterwards the flowers and fruits of the anchorites as well. And of this order we have heard that the originators were those whom we mentioned just now; viz., Saint Paul and Antony, men who frequented the recesses of the desert, not as some from faintheartedness, and the evil of impatience, but from a desire for loftier heights of perfection and divine contemplation, although the former of them is said to have found his way to the desert by reason of necessity, while during the time of persecution he was avoiding the plots of his neighbours.

So then there sprang from that system of which we have spoken another sort of perfection, whose followers are rightly termed anchorites; i.e., withdrawers, because, being by no means satisfied with that victory whereby they had trodden under foot the hidden snares of the devil, while still living among men, they were eager to fight with the devils in open conflict, and a straightforward battle, and so feared not to penetrate the vast recesses of the desert, imitating, to wit, John the Baptist, who passed all his life in the desert, and Elijah and Elisha and those of whom the Apostle speaks as follows: “They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts, in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth.” [Hebrews 11:37-38]

Of whom too the Lord speaks figuratively to Job: “But who hath sent out the wild ass free, and who hath loosed his bands? To whom I have given the wilderness for an house, and a barren land for his dwelling. He scorneth the multitude of the city and heareth not the cry of the driver; he looketh round about the mountains of his pasture, and seeketh for every green thing.” [Job 39:5-8]

In the Psalms also: “Let now the redeemed of the Lord say, those whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;” and after a little: “They wandered in a wilderness in a place without water: they found not the way of a city of habitation. They were hungry and thirsty: their soul fainted in them. And they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them out of their distress;” [Psalm 107:2, 4-6] whom Jeremiah too describes as follows: “Blessed is the man that hath borne the yoke from his youth. He shall sit solitary and hold his peace because he hath taken it up upon himself,” [Lam. 3:27-28] and there sing in heart and deed these words of the Psalmist: "I am become like a pelican in the wilderness. I watched and am become like a sparrow alone upon the house-top." [Psalm 102:7-8]

Thou art come within the Church's nets: be taken alive, flee not.

"Already there is an odour of blessedness upon you, O ye who are soon to be enlightened: already ye are gathering the spiritual flowers, to weave heavenly crowns:  already the fragrance of the Holy Spirit has breathed upon you:  already ye have gathered round the vestibule of the King’s palace; may ye be led in also by the King! . . .

"If any one is conscious of his wound, let him take the salve; if any has fallen, let him arise.  Let there be no Simon among you, no hypocrisy, no idle curiosity about the matter.

"Possibly too thou art come on another pretext.  It is possible that a man is wishing to pay court to a woman, and came hither on that account.  The remark applies in like manner to women also in their turn.  A slave also perhaps wishes to please his master, and a friend his friend.  I accept this bait for the hook, and welcome thee, though thou camest with an evil purpose, yet as one to be saved by a good hope.  Perhaps thou knewest not whither thou wert coming, nor in what kind of net thou art taken.  Thou art come within the Church’s nets: be taken alive, flee not:  for Jesus is angling for thee, not in order to kill, but by killing to make alive:  for thou must die and rise again.  For thou hast heard the Apostle say, Dead indeed unto sin, but living unto righteousness.  Die to thy sins, and live to righteousness, live from this very day."

- St. Cyril of Jerusalem, from the Prologue to the Catechetical Lectures. (Part of this was quoted by Pope Benedict in his teaching about St. Cyril of Jerusalem during today's weekly audience.)

 

Sts. Elijah, John the Baptist and the Early Hermits: Going Back Too Far

This past Sunday, the memorial of the birth of St. John the Baptist, Pope Benedict XVI devoted his words at the midday Angelus to catechesis on the life of that saint. 

Later that day, I had a post based upon Abbot John Chapman's mention that Dionysius Exiguus and St. Benedict of Nursia believed that St. John the Baptist had been the founder of monasticism, and his disciples had been the first monks.  The Benedictine Abbot Chapman then stated in a footnote that Dionysius had ignored the "Carmelite view" that St. John the Baptist had been a friar and the first General of the Carmelite order.  He does not identify his source for the latter view, one of the stories of Mt. Carmel  that is not supported by historical research and not accepted by historians (Carmelite or otherwise).

Yesterday, I added a quotation from the Conferences of John Cassian, an earlier source than St. Benedict and Dionysius Exiguus, in which Cassian relates that the fourth century hermits St. Paul and St. Anthony (i.e., Paul the Hermit and Anthony of Egypt) imitated Sts. Elijah and John the Baptist.  The fourth century saints were the first anchorites, according to John Cassian.  Cassian spoke of Elijah and John the Baptist as greatly influential in the thinking of the desert hermits, but not as their founder.  Cassian's writings were an important source of the thinking of St. Teresa of Avila and other great Carmelite saints about the early hermits.

In that quotation, Cassian mentioned that John the Baptist had spent all his life in the desert, withdrawing into the desert like Elijah and Elisha, and he offered Scripture quotations about spiritual warfare and the lives of others who lived solitary lives in the wilderness.

Tonight, here is one more source, St. Jerome's fourth century writing on the life of St. Paul the Hermit.  St. Jerome is another important influence in the thinking of St. Teresa of Avila, discussed in this earlier post.

St. Jerome mentioned the thinking of people of his own day who attributed to Elijah and John the Baptist the origin of the hermit life.  They are "going back too far,"  wrote St. Jerome.  Instead, he credited St. Paul the Hermit or St. Anthony of Egypt as being the true originator of  the hermit life.  St. Jerome both affirms that the belief already existed in the fourth century that the hermit life could be traced back to Elijah and John the Baptist, and also that the stories crediting them as founders were then already considered legends.

The Life of the same St. Anthony, written by St. Athanasius, was mentioned by Pope Benedict last week during his weekly audience discussion of the life of St. Athanasius. 

Here is the first paragraph of St. Jerome's life of St. Paul the Hermit:

"It has been a subject of wide-spread and frequent discussion what monk was the first to give a signal example of the hermit life. For some going back too far have found a beginning in those holy men Elias and John, of whom the former seems to have been more than a monk and the latter to have begun to prophesy before his birth.

"Others, and their opinion is that commonly received, maintain that Antony was the originator of this mode of life, which view is partly true. Partly I say, for the fact is not so much that he preceded the rest as that they all derived from him the necessary stimulus. But it is asserted even at the present day by Amathas and Macarius, two of Antony's disciples, the former of whom laid his master in the grave, that a certain Paul of Thebes was the leader in the movement, though not the first to bear the name, and this opinion has my approval also.

"Some as they think fit circulate stories such as this--that he was a man living in an underground cave with flowing hair down to his feet, and invent many incredible tales which it would be useless to detail. Nor does the opinion of men who lie without any sense of shame seem worthy of refutation. So then inasmuch as both Greek and Roman writers have handed down careful accounts of Antony, I have determined to write a short history of Paul's early and latter days, more because the thing has been passed over than from confidence in my own ability. What his middle life was like, and what snares of Satan he experienced, no man, it is thought, has yet discovered."

John Cassian on Sts. Paul (the Hermit) and Anthony as Imitating St. John the Baptist and Elijah

"Out of this number of the perfect, and, if I may use the expression, this most fruitful root of saints, were produced afterwards the flowers and fruits of the anchorites as well. And of this order we have heard that the originators were those whom we mentioned just now; viz., St. Paul [the Hermit] and Anthony, men who frequented the recesses of the desert, not as some from faintheartedness, and the evil of impatience, but from a desire for loftier heights of perfection and divine contemplation, although the former of them is said to have found his way to the desert by reason of necessity, while during the time of persecution he was avoiding the plots of his neighbours.

So then there sprang from that system of which we have spoken another sort of perfection, whose followers are rightly termed anchorites; i.e., withdrawers, because, being by no means satisfied with that victory whereby they had trodden under foot the hidden snares of the devil, while still living among men, they were eager to fight with the devils in open conflict, and a straightforward battle, and so feared not to penetrate the vast recesses of the desert, imitating, to wit, John the Baptist, who passed all his life in the desert, and Elijah and Elisha and those of whom the Apostle speaks as follows [Heb. 11:37-38]:

"They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts, in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth."

Of whom too the Lord speaks figuratively to Job [Job 39:5-8]:

"But who hath sent out the wild ass free, and who hath loosed his bands? To whom I have given the wilderness for an house, and a barren land for his dwelling. He scorneth the multitude of the city and heareth not the cry of the driver; he looketh round about the mountains of his pasture, and seeketh for every green thing."

In the Psalms also [Ps. 106/107:2, 4-6]:

"Let now the redeemed of the Lord say, those whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;"

and after a little:

"They wandered in a wilderness in a place without water: they found not the way of a city of habitation. They were hungry and thirsty: their soul fainted in them. And they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them out of their distress;"

whom Jeremiah too describes as follows [Lam. 3:27-28]:

"Blessed is the man that hath borne the yoke from his youth. He shall sit solitary and hold his peace because he hath taken it up upon himself,"

and there sing in heart and deed these words of the Psalmist [Ps. 101/102:7-8]:

'I am become like a pelican in the wilderness. I watched and am become like a sparrow alone upon the house-top.'"

- John Cassian, Conferences, Chapter VI.

From the notes on that chapter at Christian Classics Ethereal Library:

"Paul was from very early days celebrated as the first of the anchorites. Indeed, S. Jerome, who wrote his life (Works, Vol. ii. p. 13 ed. Migne) calls him "auctor vitæ monasticæ" (Ep. xxii. ad Eustochium). He is said to have fled to the Thebaid from the terrors of the Decian persecution, and to have died there in extreme old age. Antony has already been several times mentioned by Cassian. See the Institutes V. iv.; Conference II.   ii.; III. iv., etc."

Links for St. Justin Martyr

June 1 is the memorial of St. Justin Martyr.  Here are some links for resources:

Patron Saint Index

Catholic Encyclopedia

Pope Benedict XVI's catechesis (links to several articles and translations of the Pope's discussion of St. Justin during the Wednesday general audience on March 21, 2007)

About St. Justin Martyr (a biographical sketch from this blog last year)

Early Christian Writings (links to English translations of his writings and other online resources)

L.W. Barnard, Justin Martyr: His Life and Thought

Qumran and the Last Supper

Pope Benedict XVI's homily given at the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday may be or particular interest to San Diegans and to others planning to visit the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition scheduled to open on June 29.  He mentioned that historical information gained from the Scrolls may resolve a seeming contradiction between the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) and the Gospel according to St. John.  According to John, Jesus died at the moment when the lambs were being slaughtered in the temple for the Passover feast, and thus he died the day before the Pascal feast.  According to Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Last Supper on the day before the crucifixion was the Pascal feast.  In his homily, the Pope explained the theory, not accepted by all historians, of how the Dead Sea Scrolls may reconcile the apparent discrepancy.

Here are the links for the Asia News article and translations from the Vatican, Zenit and Papa Ratzinger Forum.

Here is the portion of the homily in which the Pope mentioned the apparent connection between Jesus and Qumran, from the Zenit translation:

"The discovery of the manuscripts of Qumran has led us to a convincing possible solution that, while not accepted by all, is highly probable. We can now say that what John referred to is historically correct. Jesus truly spilled his blood on the eve of Passover at the hour of the sacrifice of the lambs.

"However, he celebrated Passover with his disciples probably according to the calendar of Qumran, that is to say, at least one day earlier -- he celebrated without a lamb, like the Qumran community who did not recognize the Temple of Herod and was waiting for a new temple.

"Therefore, Jesus celebrated Passover without a lamb, no, not without a lamb: Instead of the lamb he gave himself, his body and his blood. In this way he foresaw his death coherently with his announcement: 'No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own' (John 10:18). The moment he offered his body and blood to the disciples, he truly fulfilled this statement. He himself offered his life. Only in this way the old Passover obtains its true meaning."

The Feast Day of St. Polycarp of Smyrna

February 23 is the feast day of St. Polycarp of Smyrna, who was martyred around 155 or 165 a.d.  From last year on this blog, here is a link to About St. Polycarp of Smyrna. 

St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote one of his letters to Polycarp while Ignatius was en route to his martyrdom.  It was Polycarp who later had the letters of St. Ignatius preserved.  In the late second century, St. Irenaeus of Lyons wrote that he had learned by heart what Polycarp told him, including some things that Polycarp, in turn, had learned from the Apostle John.

Christian Classics Ethereal Library offers an online English translation of Polycarp's Epistle to the Phillipians.

Run, then, to meet the rising sun.

"Do you not know, perhaps, O man, that every day you owe God the first fruits of your heart and your voice? The harvest ripens every day; the fruit ripens every day. Run, then, to meet the rising sun. ... The sun of justice wishes to be anticipated and does not expect anything else. ... If you anticipate the rising of this sun, you will receive Christ as light. He himself will in fact be the first light that shines in the secret of your heart.... Early in the morning hasten to church and in homage take the first fruits of your devotion. And then, if the affairs of the world call you, nothing will impede you from saying: 'Meditating on your promises, my eyes anticipate the vigils of the night,' and with a good conscience you will betake yourself to your affairs. How beautiful it is to begin the day with hymns and songs, with the beatitudes that you read in the Gospel! How propitious it is that the word of the Lord should descend on you to bless you; that you, while singing, repeat the blessings of the Lord, that you be gripped by the need to practice some virtue, if you wish to perceive something within yourself that makes you feel worthy of that divine blessing!"

- St. Ambrose of Milan, Commentary on Psalm 118.

December 7 is the memorial of St. Ambrose of Milan.  From last year, see About St. Ambrose of Milan.

St. Jerome on Meditation

September 30 is the memorial of St. Jerome.  From last year, there is a biographical post on this blog "About St. Jerome."  There is also an earlier post on "St. Teresa of Avila and St. Jerome."

Here are some references to meditation on Scripture from the Letters of St. Jerome [Christian Classics Ethereal Library]:

“You write that our brother, Rufinus, has not yet come to you. Even if he does come it will do little to satisfy my longing, for I shall not now be able to see him. He is too far away to come hither, and the conditions of the lonely life that I have adopted forbid me to go to him.  For I am no longer free to follow my own wishes.  I entreat you, therefore, to ask him to allow you to have the commentaries of the reverend Rhetitius, bishop of Augustodunum [Autun] copied, in which he has so eloquently explained the Song of Songs.  A countryman of the aforesaid brother Rufinus, the old man Paul,  writes that Rufinus has his copy of Tertullian, and urgently requests that this may be returned.  Next I have to ask you to get written on paper by a copyist certain books which the subjoined list will show you that I do not possess.  I beg also that you will send me the explanation of the Psalms of David, and the copious work on Synods of the reverend Hilary, [Hilary of Poitiers] which I copied for him [Rufinus] at Trêves with my own hand.  Such books, you know, must be the food of the Christian soul if it is to meditate in the law of the Lord day and night."

    - Letter V to Florentius from the Syrian desert, ca. 374 A.D.
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“What honey is sweeter than to know the wisdom of God? others, if they will, may possess riches, drink from a jewelled cup, shine in silks, and try in vain to exhaust their wealth in the most varied pleasures. Our riches are to meditate in the law of the Lord day and night [Ps. 1:2], to knock at the closed door, [Matt. 7:7], to receive the ‘three loaves’ of the Trinity, [Luke 11:5–8], and, when the Lord goes before us, to walk upon the water of the world.” [Matt. 14:25–33]."

- Letter XXX to St. Paula from Rome, 384 A.D.
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“The apostle Paul learned the Law of Moses and the prophets at the feet of Gamaliel and was glad that he had done so, for armed with this spiritual armour, he was able to say boldly ‘the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;’ armed with these we war ‘casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and being in a readiness to revenge all disobedience’ [II Cor. 10:4–6]. He writes to Timothy who had been trained in the holy writings from a child exhorting him to study them diligently [II Tim. 3:14,15] and not to neglect the gift which was given him with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. [I Tim. 4:14].  To Titus he gives commandment that among a bishop’s other virtues (which he briefly describes) he should be careful to seek a knowledge of the scriptures: A bishop, he says, must hold fast ‘the faithful word as he hath been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.’”

    - Letter LIII to Paulinus, bishop of Nola, written 394 A.D.
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"Her [St. Marcella's] delight in the divine scriptures was incredible.  She was for ever singing, ‘Thy words have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee,’ [Ps. 119:11].  as well as the words which describe the perfect man, ‘his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.’ [Ps. 1:2].  This meditation in the law she understood not of a review of the written words as among the Jews the Pharisees think, but of action according to that saying of the apostle, “whether, therefore, ye eat or drink or what soever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” [1 Cor. 10:31].  She remembered also the prophet’s words, ‘through thy precepts I get understanding,’ [Ps. 119:104], and felt sure that only when she had fulfilled these would she be permitted to understand the scriptures.  In this sense we read elsewhere that ‘Jesus began both to do and teach.’ [Acts 1:1].  For teaching is put to the blush when a man’s conscience rebukes him; and it is in vain that his tongue preaches poverty or teaches alms-giving if he is rolling in the riches of Crœsus and if, in spite of his threadbare cloak, he has silken robes at home to save from the moth.”

    - Letter CXXVII to St. Principia as a memoir of the death of St. Marcella, written from Bethlehem, 412 A.D.
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“She [Demetrius, a high born lady of Rome] was filled with admiration for the manner of life followed by Elijah and by John the Baptist; both of whom confined and mortified their loins with girdles of skin, [II Kings 1:8; Matt. 3:4], while the second of them is said to have come in the spirit and power of Elijah as the forerunner of the Lord [Matt. 11:14; Luke 1:17].  As such he prophesied while still in his mother’s womb, [Luke 1:41] and before the day of judgment won the commendation of the Judge [Matt. 11:7–14].  She admired also the zeal of Anna the daughter of Phanuel, who continued even to extreme old age to serve the Lord in the temple with prayers and fastings. [Luke 2:36, 37].  When she thought of the four virgins who were the daughters of Philip, [Acts 21:9] she longed to join their band and to be numbered with those who by their virginal purity have attained the grace of prophecy.  With these and similar meditations she fed her mind, dreading nothing so much as to offend her grandmother and her mother.”

    - Letter CXXX to Demetrius, written in 414 A.D,

Let us follow Christ's steps

"And so if we too, my dear brothers and sisters, are with Christ and are in Christ and have entered Christ, if he is the way of our salvation, then let us follow Christ's steps on the way of salvation and walk in the example of Christ, as John the apostle instructs us, saying: "He who claims that he is with Christ ought himself to walk as he walked."  And Peter on whom the Church was founded by the will of the Lord says the same in his epistle: "Christ suffered for us and left behind him an example that you should follow in his steps, he who did no sin and across whose lips no deceit ever crossed; who was reviled but did not respond, who suffered but did not offer threats, but handed himself over to the one who had unjustly judged him."

- St. Cyprian of Carthage, from Born to New Life: Cyprian of Carthage (The Spirituality of the Fathers), ed. Oliver Davies.

Related Scripture References:

"If we say, "We have fellowship with him," while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth.  But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin." [I John 1:6-7]

"But what credit is there if you are patient when beaten for doing wrong?  But if you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God.  For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.  "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth."  When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten; instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly." [I Peter 2:20-23]

Last year, I posted biographical information in "About St. Cyprian of Carthage."  September 16 is the memorial of St. Cyprian of Carthage.

St. Ephrem the Syrian in English

Today is the memorial of the fourth century's St. Ephrem the Syrian.  Some of his writings can be found in English translation at the Greek Orthodox website Anastasis, translated by Archimandrite Ephrem, from the Monastery of Saint Andrew the First Called in Manchester, England.  The website asks people to link only to the home page, which I have done here.  Scroll down to a link to a Table of Contents for the website, and you can find links to each of the works of St. Ephrem the Syrian translated and posted there, including: 

          Sermon in Heptasyllablics
          Three Short Discourses
          55 Beatitudes
          To the Monks of Egypt
                Sermons 1-10
          On the Departed Fathers
          On Abraham and Isaac
          On Joseph (in .pdf format)
          On the Transfiguration
          On The Passion

Paulist Press's Classics of Western Spirituality series has a volume of the hymns of St. Ephrem the Syrian.

Justin: "You are able to kill us, but not to hurt us."

"Reason dictates that those who are truly pious and philosophers should honor and love only the truth, declining to follow the opinions of the ancients, if they are worthless.  For not only does sound reason dictate that one should not follow those who do or teach unjust things, but the lover of truth should choose by all means, and even before his own life, even though death should remove him, to speak and do righteous things.  So you, then, since you are called pious and philosophers and guardians of justice and lovers of culture, listen in every way; and it will be shown if you are such.  For we have come into your company not to flatter you by this writing, nor please you by our address, but to ask that you give judgment, after an exact and searching inquiry, not moved by prejudice or by a wish to please superstitious people, nor by irrational impulse or long prevalent rumors, so as to give a decision which will prove to be against yourselves.  For we indeed reckon that no evil can be done to us, unless we are proved to be evildoers, or shown to be wicked.  You are able to kill us, but not to hurt us."

- Justin Martyr,First Apology (defense of Christianity to the Roman government), paragraph 2, ca. 150-155 A.D., translated from the Greek by Leslie William Barnard, Early Christian Writers Series, Paulist Press.

St. Augustine of Canterbury and the Re-Evangelization of Our Own Era

Christianity has long spread the Gospel by presenting Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets, the fulfillment of Platonic philosophy, the fulfillment of that element of truth that can be found in other religions (see this earlier post on that point).  However, Christianity has long rejected any change to the basic Gospel message; it thus separates itself from paganism and from heresy, and also from the pluralism of our present age.

Pope/St. Gregory the Great illustrates this well in an incident used by Pope Benedict XVI (as Cardinal Ratzinger) in Truth and Tolerance: Christian Belief and World Religions (Ignatius Press, 2004), in a portion of the book not previously published as an essay.  The incident involved the evangelization of England by St. Augustine of Canterbury, whose feast day is later this week on May 27.

In 596, Pope/St. Gregory, who had been a monk, sent the monk Augustine (now known as St. Augustine of Canterbury) to evangelize the English.  England had fallen into the Dark Ages around the end of the life of St. Patrick of Ireland, and had nearly lost contact with Rome for about 100 years.  Gregory the Great had made Augustine Archbishop of the English and had sent him to renew the distant church.  Augustine reported miracles in England, which Gregory then concluded were given to help people's unbelief and to manifest holiness.  Augustine’s mission was successful, and the English Church was firmly established by 601.

The success of the mission, and its methods, are recorded in the letters of St. Gregory the Great, in the Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England.  Pope Benedict XVI referenced two such letters in one of the essays published in Truth and Tolerance.  (I am taking the quoted letters from that book, and thus use the same translation of Pope/St. Gregory as was used there by Ignatius Press.  The second of those letters can be read in context online at Christian Classics Ethereal Library, as printed in the Ecclesiastical History of the Venerable Bede here).

In his first of two letters discussed by Benedict XVI, Pope/St.Gregory wrote to the English King Ethelbert:

"Therefore, my most illustrious son, carefully preserve the grace you have received from God….Inflame your noble zeal….Suppress the worship of idols; destroy their temples and altars. Uplift the virtues of your subjects by outstanding behavior and morality."

(Truth and Tolerance, pg. 228-229, quoting Pope/St. Gregory the Great, Ep. XI, 37.) 

One month later, Gregory sent a different message to a group of missionaries who had just departed for England, and to someone named Mellitus:

"But when, with the grace of almighty God, you reach our most reverend brother, Bishop Augustine, then tell him that I have been reflecting at length about one matter concerning the Englishmen. That is, one should by no means destroy the temples of this people’s idols: rather, simply destroy the idols to be found within them….When the people see that we are not destroying their temples, then they will nonetheless abandon their errors and will that much more joyfully turn to the knowledge and the worship of the true God in their accustomed places."

(Truth and Tolerance, pg. 229, quoting Pope/St. Gregory the Great, Ep. XI, 56.) 

Cardinal Ratzinger thus wrote:

"This shows what we call continuity in worship. The holy place remains holy, and the intentions and petitions of prayer, and the worship of the divine, which formerly took place, are taken up and transformed, given a new significance. . . . [The pagan gods] have been overthrown: the question of truth has itself deprived them of divinity and brought about their downfall.  Yet at the same time their truth has emerged that they were a reflection of divinity, a presentment of figures in which their hidden significance was purified and fulfilled."

(Truth and Tolerance, pg. 229)  The pagan gods, although false, are seen as "steps in the search for the true God and for his reflection in creation" and thus they "may become messengers of the one God."  The two letters can be viewed in the context of two "phases in the Christian relationship with 'pagan' religions" also discussed in that section of the book.  Cardinal Ratzinger saw the first letter as indicative of a phase of enlightenment, in which Christianity is placed on the side of philosophy and enlightenment, against divided truth.  In the second phase, "the connection with the religions and the limits of enlightenment emerge."  That section of the book concludes with the observation that, in I John 4:8 ("God is love"), truth and love are identical.  "This sentence -- if the whole of its demand is understood -- is the surest guarantee of tolerance, of an association with truth, whose only weapon is itself and, thereby, love."

Perhaps, in applying what Pope Benedict XVI then said of what was done in the sixth century to our present understanding of tolerance, in seeing truth and love as identical, we too work to find the right point of connection between truth and love in any given situation.  It seems to me that what Pope/St. Gregory initially would have done (the first letter) may have reflected the way the Church had dealt with Arians. However, what he did after further thought (the second letter) reflected the way the earlier Church had dealt with pagans.  What seemed at first essential to proclaim the enlightenment of truth, after one month's consideration, could be compromised -- not in that the truth was less important than it had been one month earlier but rather in that the situation in which the truth was to be proclaimed was better understood.  St. Augustine's proclamation of the Gospel included both a proclamation of the truth and an understanding of the existing situation as a step in the search for God, and the work of love and truth as one involved both.

In Truth and Tolerance, Cardinal Ratzinger explained that the evangelistic transformation shown in Pope/St. Gregory's second letter can be seen all over Rome, offering the Church of St. Mary Sopra Minerva as an example.   

Without suggesting that I might have some additional, equivalent point to make, here are a few more examples of the same thing.  This manner of evangelism is seen as early as St. Paul's sermon at the Areopagus, where he presented the God of the Bible as the "unknown god" in the thinking of the people to whom he was preaching (Acts 17:22-23).  St. Clement of Alexandria followed the same pattern in the second century. For evangelistic purposes, St. Clement had gained extensive knowledge about the writings of poets and philosophers.  W.H.C. Frend, in The Rise of Christianity, wrote of Clement that “he realized from what he read that his missionary task would be hopeless unless he was able to interpret Christian truth in terms which educated inquirers could accept.” He saw Plato and Aristotle as preparing the Greek people for the true message of the Gospel, just as the Old Testament had prepared the Hebrews. (Frend, pg. 370). St. Clement justified his use of philosophy and literature by the example of St. Paul, explaining that he too would become all things to all men that he might by any means save some (Henry Chadwick, Early Christian Thought and the Classical Tradition, pg. 35).

This understanding that Pope/St. Gregory the Great and St. Augustine of Canterbury showed to the culture of the sixth century English people should not be confused with treating their religious views as equal in truth in a pluralistic sense.  Therein lies the first phase, the emphasis on enlightenment and truth, without wavering from love.  Historians now commonly agree that early Christians were severely persecuted because they rejected Roman pluralism and were evangelistic. Cardinal Ratzinger discussed this in connection with the writing of St. Augustine of Hippo (Truth and Tolerance, pp. 165-170). Christianity “was not one religion among others but represented the victory of perception and knowledge over the world of religions.” (Id., at 170.) J. Patout Burns, Jr. recently made this point in Cyprian the Bishop, Routledge, 2002, about third century Carthage: “One of the imperial objectives seems to have been the elimination of the divisions of religious exclusivism.” (Burns, pg. 1). G.W. Clarke made a similar point concerning the persecutions of Carthage in his Introduction to The Letters of St. Cyprian of Carthage, Vol. I, pg. 24.

The challenge of our own era is to recognize that need to affirm both truth and love, both the truth of Christianity and a recognition of the value of other people's beliefs as steps on the way toward God, in application to the ever changing secular culture around.  It is also essential to recognize that some of the disagreements between Christians over how to respond to one situation or another arise, in fact, from seeing different phases of evangelism in the same conflicted situation.  One person sees a situation as Gregory did in his first letter, and the other sees the same situation as Gregory did in his second letter, and yet both views may be properly considered in seeking the will of God in both truth and love in a complicated and changing culture.  Where Pope/St. Gregory saw the same situation from both perspectives, one month apart, we should not be too surprised if the same difference of perspective exists between two Christians viewing the same situation at the same time now.

The ultimate objective now, as then, must be to find that point where God's will lies, expressing the unity of truth and love in proclaiming the Gospel message now.

Mary Magdalene as Viewed in the 4th and 5th Century Church

With the expectation of special interest this week in the Church and St. Mary Magdalene, here is a post with comments on two references to her by St. John Chrysostom in 390 A.D. and by St. Jerome in 413 A.D., showing the honor in which she was held by the Early Church:

From a Letter by St. Jerome:

"The unbelieving reader may perhaps laugh at me for dwelling so long on the praises of mere women; yet if he will but remember how holy women followed our Lord and Saviour and ministered to Him of their substance, and how the three Marys stood before the cross and especially how Mary Magdalen—called the tower from the earnestness and glow of her faith—was privileged to see the rising Christ first of all before the very apostles, he will convict himself of pride sooner than me of folly. For we judge of people's virtue not by their sex but by their character, and hold those to be worthy of the highest glory who have renounced both rank and wealth. It was for this reason that Jesus loved the evangelist John more than the other disciples. For John was of noble birth and known to the high priest, yet was so little appalled by the plottings of the Jews that he introduced Peter into his court, and was the only one of the apostles bold enough to take his stand before the cross. For it was he who took the Saviour's parent to his own home; it was the virgin son who received the virgin mother as a legacy from the Lord.  Marcella then lived the ascetic life for many years, and found herself old before she bethought herself that she had once been young. . . ."

- St. Jerome, Letter No. CXXVII to Principia, 413, Letters of St. Jerome, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

St. John Chrysostom:

"But in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And behold there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from Heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door of the tomb, and sat upon it.  His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow."

After the resurrection came the angel.  Wherefore then came he, and took away the stone? Because of the women, for they themselves had seen Him then in the sepulchre.  Therefore that they might believe that He was risen again, they see the sepulchre void of the body. For this cause he removed the stone, for this cause also an earthquake took place, that they might be thoroughly aroused and awakened.  For they were come to pour oil on Him, and these things were done at night, and it is likely that some also had become drowsy. And for what intent and cause doth he say, "Fear not ye?"  First he delivers them from the dread, and then tells them of the resurrection.  And the ye is of one showing them great honor, and indicating, that extreme punishment awaits them that had dared to do, what the others had dared, except they repented.  For to be afraid is not for you, he means, but for them that crucified Him.

Having delivered them then from the fear both by his words, and by his appearance (for his form he showed bright, as bearing such good tidings), he went on to say, "I know that ye seek Jesus the Crucified."  And he is not ashamed to call Him "crucified;" for this is the chief of the blessings.

"He is risen."  Whence is it evident?  "As He said. "So that if ye refuse to believe me, he would say, remember His words, and neither will ye disbelieve me.  Then also another proof, "Come and see the place where He lay."  For this he had lifted up the stone, in order that from this too they might receive the proof.  "And tell His disciples, that ye shall see Him in Galilee."  And he prepares them to bear good tidings to others, which thing most of all made them believe.  And He said well "in Galilee," freeing them from troubles and dangers, so that fear should not hinder their faith.

"And they departed from the sepulchre with fear and joy."  Why could this be?  They had seen a thing amazing, and beyond expectation, a tomb empty, where they had before seen Him laid.  Wherefore also He had led them to the sight, that they might become witnesses of both things, both of His tomb, and of His resurrection.  For they considered that no man could have taken Him, when so many soldiers were sitting by Him, unless He raised up Himself.  For this cause also they rejoice and wonder, and receive the reward of so much continuance with Him, that they should first see and gladly declare, not what had been said only, but also what they beheld."

- St. John Chrysostom, “Homily LXXXIX,” 390 A.D., from Homilies on St. Matthew, reprinted on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

Comments:

From St. Mary Magdalene to St. Marcella, the early church had a series of strong women.  St, Jerome described the church of the early fifth century as standing in marked contrast against the surrounding secular culture in that Christians assessed both men and women by their character and not by their sex or ethnicity.  St. John Chrysostom, similarly, describes St. Mary Magdalene as holy, and as honored by Christ. 

If there had been a secret marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene (as in the fictional Da Vinci Code), St. Jerome almost surely would have known that.  He had lived in Rome, Antioch and Bethlehem by the time he wrote this letter, and he had been close to those at the top of the Church in his day.  Yet he shows no sign of wishing to conceal anything he knew about her.  Neither of them criticize her. 

Similarly, St. John Chrysostom was definitely an insider -- pastor to the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, respected as a former desert monk -- who would have known any secret about St. Mary Magdalene.  Yet, neither of them associate her with the sinful woman mentioned earlier in Scripture, who was mistakenly believed to have been the same person by Pope/St. Gregory the Great in the sixth century.  Neither of them say anything to suggest that they had ever heard any story about Jesus having been married to Mary Magdalene, or to suggest that either of them wanted to damage her reputation to cover up such a story. 

Considering their personalities, it is hardly feasible that people like St. Jerome and St. John Chrysostom would have conspired to keep such a secret.  Both were outspoken, sometimes ruffling feathers. 

In 591 A.D., St. Gregory the Great made a mistake in a sermon in associating St. Mary Magdalene with the sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet in the Gospels.  The Church has since then acknowledged the error and corrected its view of St. Mary Magdalene.  A recent article entitled Scholars seek to correct Christian tradition, fiction of Mary Magdalene, by Jerry Filteau of Catholic News Service, reports concerning the current efforts by Catholic historians to correct the understanding of the person of St. Mary Magdalene.

Rowan Williams on the "Gospel of Judas"

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams wrote an excellent Commentary on the "Gospel of Judas" for the Mail on Sunday.  I probably read everything, or almost everything, he wrote and posted on the Archbishop of Canterbury official website during my last couple of years in the Episcopal Church.  This is Rowan at his best, well analyzed and convincing, sometimes saying the obvious that really needs to be said and saying it well.  With his knowledge of history, he could have said more, but then it might have had fewer readers, and someone would have surely found something he said that could be said to be ambiguous or confusing.  When he is at his best, he reminds me of what I most liked about being an Anglican and why I remained one for as long as I did.  Here's a little piece of it:

Let’s ask ourselves why we’re sometimes more comfortable with such stories about conspiracies and stories about mystical gurus.  Is it perhaps because when we turn to what the Bible actually says,Jesus challenges us pretty seriously?  What if this is a story we haven’t really listened to before?  And what if everything could be different because of this particular story?

That’s the question we ought to be asking at Easter.

St. Gregory of Nyssa

March 9 is the feast day of St. Gregory of Nyssa.  Here are some resources online about St. Gregory of Nyssa:

Catholic Encyclopedia

Crossroads Initiative

Patron Saints Index

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers

From his Letter 2, to Kensior, on those who go to Jerusalem, from The Fathers Speak (ed. Georges Barrois):

"When the Lord called the blessed ones unto the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven, did he number among their obligations that they should set out toward Jerusalem? . . . A local change will not bring you closer to God, but no matter where you are, God will come to you, if only your soul is found a proper resting place where God can dwell and converse. . . . Therefore, dear friend, do exhort the brethren to move away from the things of the flesh unto the Lord; not from Cappadocia to Jerusalem."

Life of a Hermit: St. Paul the Simple

Lent is a good time to think about the Desert Fathers, while thinking about Jesus's 40 days in the desert which was the subject of the Gospel reading for this past Sunday (Mark 1:12-15).

March 7 is the feast day of a fourth century desert hermit named Paul, called "Paul the Simple" (or "simple minded").  Paul, a farmer, was 60 years old when he found his beautiful wife in bed with another man.  He then set out for the Egyptian desert and told St. Anthony he wanted to become a hermit.

His life story in The Catholic Encyclopedia is drawn from two early sources: Palladius (De Vitis Patrum, Book VIII, Chapter XXVIII  and Rufinus (De Vitis Patrum, Book II, Chapter XXXI).  The Catholic Encyclopedia explains the difference between the two stories of the life of the hermit who both say was a disciple of St. Anthony of the Desert:

"The difference seems to amount chiefly to this: "Palladius" apparently places the story in the time before, and the "Historia" after St. Anthony began to have disciples."   

The life of St. Paul the Simple, as told by Palladius, begins:

The Servant of Christ, Hierax, as well as Cronius and several other brothers, told me the story I am going to tell you about Paul the Simple. He was a peasant farmer of transparently innocent and simple life, and he had taken a most beautiful woman for a wife who nevertheless was of very lax morals. Led by providence to an outcome which he was in fact half hoping for, he came back from the fields unexpectedly one day, went inside, and found her and a man together. When he saw her and the man she was having sex with he gave a forthright and heartfelt laugh.

"Fine, fine," he said. "This means that she is no longer any responsibility of mine. In Jesus' name I acknowledge her no longer. Go, take her with you, and her children, for I am leaving to become a monk."

Without saying anything to anybody else he took an eight day journey to holy Antony and knocked on his door.

"What do you want?" asked Antony when he came to the door.

"To become a monk," replied Paul.

"You must be at least sixty. You can't become a monk," said Antony. "Live in the town, work for your living, trusting in the grace of God. You would not be able to cope with all the trials of solitude."

"Whatever you told me to do I would do it," the old man replied.

"I have told you," said Antony. "You are old. You can't be a monk. Go away. Or if you do really want to be a monk go to a cenobium where there are many brothers to support you in your frailty. I am here all by myself, fasting for five days before eating." And with these words he tried to drive Paul away.

Refusing to admit him Antony shut the door and for three days did not go outside, not even to answer the call of nature. But the old man stayed where he was.

On the fourth day he really had to go outside, but when he opened the door and went out he saw Paul still there and said, "Go away, old man. Why do you keep on bothering me? You can't stay here."

"I don't intend to stay anywhere else except here," said Paul.

Antony looked at him and saw that he had nothing with him to sustain life, no bread, no water or anything else, and he had now been fasting for four days.

"He is so unused to fasting he might die," thought Antony, "and I will be to blame." And so he took him in.

Read the rest of the story (a couple of pages) here.  The story as told by Rufinus (also a couple of pages) is here.

John Cassian and the Carmelite Tradition

February 29 is the feast day of John Cassian, who is considered a saint in the East (among Catholics and Orthodox), although he has never been officially canonized, and he has no feast day in the universal Church calendar.  February 29 coming once every four years, his feast day, where it is observed, is often moved to July 23, which is where it appears in the calendar of the Catholic Forum's Patron Saint Index. 

ICS Publications' album of cassette tapes on Prayer and Meditation in the Carmelite Tradition: Carmelite Forum July 2004, includes a lecture from Keith Egan, T.O. Carm., entitled "John Cassian: Mentor to the Carmelite Tradition", concerning the historical influence of Cassian on Carmelite thinking up to and including an influence on the thinking of St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila.  The lecture contains Egan's preliminary thinking on the matter, which he described as a project that will take a long time because it will take much textual study.  Egan has also written and spoken on Cassian elsewhere.

Cassian lived in the fourth and fifth century.  An English translation of his "Institutes" and "Conferences" can be found on the website of Christian Classics Ethereal Library, at least in an abridged form. 

Although he has sometimes been characterized as a Pelagian or Semi-Pelagian, Egan disagrees with that characterization altogether.  Cassian encountered disagreement with St. Augustine, but his thinking was a link between the eastern and western Church.  Some of the Origenist theories that Cassian adopted were later rejected by the Church, on issues not yet clearly defined at the time when Cassian was living.

Cassian's knowledge of desert monasticism is derived from Egypt, where he lived for seven years.  There, he interviewed the desert fathers about their wisdom.  Cassian's "Conferences" appear to be interviews with desert fathers, although that may have been a literary device.  They were written to help western monks in Gaul to better understand monastic living.  Thus, Egan concludes, it was Egyptian and not Palestinian desert monasticism that influenced early western monasticism in Gaul.

St. Benedict specifically mentions Cassian's "Conferences" as reading for monks in Chapter 73 of the Rule.  His writing greatly influenced the Dominicans.  Egan spoke of Cassian's influence on the Rule, and suggested that the matter needs more study. 

St. Dominic kept Cassian's "Conferences" by his bedside, and St. Thomas Aquinas read from Cassian every day.  Egan mentions the influence of the Dominicans on the Carmelites, both in that the Carmelite constitutions were drawn from the Dominicans when the Carmelites moved from hermits to friars, and otherwise. 

Cassian's thinking not only influenced western monasticism as a whole, but also contained certain themes, explored by Egan, which may have specifically influenced the Carmelites.  Among these, Cassian emphasized purity of heart, taking a concept from the Beatitudes; he wrote of the need of "that love that consists of purity of heart alone"; he saw fasts, vigils, the solitary life, and even meditation on Scripture as secondary to that.  He spoke of a need to sometimes omit fasting in order to show hospitality to a visiting traveler.  Egan believes that John of the Cross's "spiritual poverty" is approximately the same as John Cassian's "purity of heart".

Cassian also wrote of the New Testament notion of the Kingdom of God, which Cassian said began within (Luke 17:20-21).  He wrote of the Psalmist's mention of meditating on the Word of God, which Egan believes influenced the Carmelite concept of prayer and meditation.  Cassian also wrote of Elijah as an important prophet, and as the primordial monk, and Egan concludes that the Carmelites could not have drawn as much significance as they did from Elijah if not for Cassian.

St. Teresa of Avila mentioned Cassian in The Way of Perfection 19:13, where she mentions an account of a hermit who lived an austere life, which she thought she had read in Cassian.  Father Kieran Kavanaugh, in his footnotes in the Study Guide to the Way of Perfection (footnote 10, page 487), gives the reference to the story she cites as the Second Conference of Abbot Moses from The Conferences.  Fr. Kavanaugh wrote (as mentioned by Egan in his talk), that Teresa probably knew this from a Spanish book published in 1511, and that St. Teresa's devotion to the Conferences and to the Desert Fathers had been mentioned by Petronila Bautista in the process of beatification.    

Much of Cassian's influence will never be possible to document, because the Medieval mind did not regularly document their sources.  Thus, they did not often specifically attribute ideas to Cassian or to another source.  However, Egan concludes that Cassian had significant influence over the Carmelites in particular, just as he has left a significant influence over western monasticism as a whole.

While Egan's message stated that his work on this thesis is preliminary and will take much work to complete, he also expressed a willingness to discuss it with interested scholars, who might contact him for additional information.

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Related articles on this blog include St. Teresa of Avila and St. Jerome (which discusses the influence of the Letters of St. Jerome and the Desert Fathers on St. Teresa of Avila); Carmel, Living Water and the Mantle of Elijah (about the importance of Elijah to the Carmelites); and The Innermost Temple of the Heart (one of a couple of articles about the influence of the Dominicans and St. Thomas Aquinas on the thinking of St. Teresa of Avila).

St. Jerome and St. Marcella

January 31 is the feast day of St. Marcella, one of the women taught by St. Jerome in fourth century Rome. 

An article about St. Jerome and the three best known fourth century female Bible scholars who studied with him is available online from the Catholic Culture website, entitled Women's Work in Bible Study and Translation by A.H. Johns, A.M.  The feast day of one of the other such women, St. Paula, was last week, mentioned here.   Earlier posts mentioning St. Jerome and these women, on this blog, include  About St. Jerome and St. Teresa of Avila and St. Jerome.

J.N.D. Kelly's biography, Jerome, Hendrickson Publishers, 1975, 2000, says this about Jerome's sorrow over Alaric's invasion of Rome in 410 A.D., and his letter of 413 A.D. eulogizing his friend Marcella, who died in the wake of the invasion (pp. 304-305):

"It was Jerome's intention, once his commentary on Isaiah was out of the way, to produce one on Ezekial and thereby 'make good the promise' he 'had so often given to his zealous readers'.  Hardly had he taken this fresh task in hand, however, when terrible, heart-rending news reached him: Rome had been seized and pillaged by Alaric.  The disaster sent a shudder of horror through the Roman world, but its impact on Jerome was particularly cruel.  By the same post, or shortly after, he learned that Pammachius and Marcella, as well as many other Christian friends, were dead.  So benumbed was he that he had to suspend all work.  'For days and nights I could think of nothing but the universal safety; when my friends were captured, I could only imagine myself a captive too . . . When the brightest light of the world was extinguished, when the very head of the Roman empire was severed, the entire world perished in a single city.' . . .[To Augustine] he confessed that he had been so shattered by the devastation of the western provinces, and especially of Rome, that he almost forgot his own name. . . .

No account of Pammachius's death has come down, but Jerome allows us a glimpse of Marcella's in the dignified, unusually restrained epitaphium he dedicated to her memory in 413.  His two years' silence, he brusquely explained to her much younger protégée Principia (who had been impatiently demanding the tribute), was not the result of negligence, as she wrongly supposed, but of his overwhelming sorrow. . . . When blood-stained barbarians broke into her mansion and she failed to convince them that she had already stripped herself of her riches, she had endured a brutal beating-up without any apparent sensation of pain. . . . A few months later, though apparently active and in good health, she had died peacefully in Principia's arms -- 'While you wept, she was smiling, conscious of having lived a good life, and confident of her future reward.'"

St. Jerome's Letter No. 127, written to Principia, eulogizing Marcella, is available online at Christian Classics Ethereal Library here.  In the course of a long eulogy for St. Marcella, he gave the following account of how he met her and how she lived and learned:

"When the needs of the Church at length brought me to Rome in company with the reverend pontiffs, Paulinus and Epiphanius—the first of whom ruled the church of the Syrian Antioch while the second presided over that of Salamis in Cyprus,—I in my modesty was for avoiding the eyes of highborn ladies, yet she pleaded so earnestly, 'both in season and out of season' as the apostle says, that at last her perseverance overcame my reluctance. And, as in those days my name was held in some renown as that of a student of the scriptures, she never came to see me that she did not ask me some question concerning them, nor would she at once acquiesce in my explanations but on the contrary would dispute them; not, however, for argument’s sake but to learn the answers to those objections which might, as she saw, be made to my statements. How much virtue and ability, how much holiness and purity I found in her I am afraid to say; both lest I may exceed the bounds of men’s belief and lest I may increase your sorrow by reminding you of the blessings that you have lost. This much only will I say, that whatever in me was the fruit of long study and as such made by constant meditation a part of my nature, this she tasted, this she learned and made her own. Consequently after my departure from Rome, in case of a dispute arising as to the testimony of scripture on any subject, recourse was had to her to settle it. And so wise was she and so well did she understand what philosophers call τό πρέπον, that is, the becoming, in what she did, that when she answered questions she gave her own opinion not as her own but as from me or some one else, thus admitting that what she taught she had herself learned from others. For she knew that the apostle had said: “I suffer not a woman to teach,” and she would not seem to inflict a wrong upon the male sex many of whom (including sometimes priests) question