Blog by-the-Sea

St. Gregory Nazianzen: "I went up into the Mount . . . and entered away from matter and material things"

"What is this that has happened to me, O friends, and initiates, and fellow-lovers of the truth? I was running to lay hold on God, and thus I went up into the Mount, and drew aside the curtain of the Cloud, and entered away from matter and material things, and as far as I could I withdrew within myself.  And then when I looked up, I scarce saw the back parts of God; although I was sheltered by the Rock, the Word that was made flesh for us.  And when I looked a little closer, I saw, not the First and unmingled Nature, known to Itself—to the Trinity, I mean; not That which abideth within the first veil, and is hidden by the Cherubim; but only that Nature, which at last even reaches to us.  And that is, as far as I can learn, the Majesty, or as holy David calls it, the Glory which is manifested among the creatures, which It has produced and governs.  For these are the Back Parts of God, which He leaves behind Him, as tokens of Himself like the shadows and reflection of the sun in the water, which shew the sun to our weak eyes, because we cannot look at the sun himself, for by his unmixed light he is too strong for our power of perception.  In this way then shalt thou discourse of God; even wert thou a Moses and a god to Pharaoh; even wert thou caught up like Paul to the Third Heaven, and hadst heard unspeakable words; even wert thou raised above them both, and exalted to Angelic or Archangelic place and dignity.  For though a thing be all heavenly, or above heaven, and far higher in nature and nearer to God than we, yet it is farther distant from God, and from the complete comprehension of His Nature, than it is lifted above our complex and lowly and earthward sinking composition."

- St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration XXVIII (Second Theological Oration).

Getty Villa Video on Fact and Fiction in the HBO Series "Rome"

From the Getty Villa Museum: A 70-minute video called "Balancing Fact and Fiction: The Ancient World of HBO's Rome". The video is a discussion between classical historian and film maker Jonathan Stamp with journalist and author Patt Morrison about Stamp's work as historical consultant for the HBO series.  The presentation is from March, 2009 at the Getty Villa museum of antiquity.

View it here.

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]

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"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]