Letters & Polemics (CSEL) 5 part 66/118

that is, prayers (orationes), or, as some less skillfully translated, adorations; for this is «in relation to a vow» (ad votum), which is more usually named in the Scriptures euchē. But «interpellationes» (intercessions), or, as your codices have, «postulationes» (requests), are made when the people are blessed; for then the prelates, as it were advocates, offer up those whom they have received, through the laying on of hands, to the most merciful Power. When these things have been performed, and so great a sacrament has been partaken of, the thanksgiving (gratiarum actio) concludes the whole, which last thing also the Apostle commended in these words. But this was the chief cause of saying this: that, these things being briefly touched upon and indicated, it might not be thought that what follows should be neglected:

«For all men, for kings and for those who are in high place, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and charity» — lest anyone, as the weakness of human thinking is wont, should suppose that these things are not to be done for those from whom the Church was suffering persecution, since the members of Christ were to be gathered from every kind of men. Whence he adds and says: «For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.»

And lest anyone should say that there could be a way of salvation in good conduct and in the worship of the one omnipotent God without participation in the body and blood of Christ, «for there is one God,» he says, «and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus»; so that what he had said, «he wills all men to be saved,» may be understood to be granted in no other way than through the mediator — not God, which the Word always was, but the man Christ Jesus, when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Whence let not this trouble you either, that concerning the Jews the same Apostle says: «As concerning the Gospel, indeed, enemies for your sake; but as concerning the election, beloved for the fathers' sake.»

For that depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, and those unsearchable judgments of his, and his untraceable ways, instill into faithful hearts this great admiration — hearts which do not doubt, concerning his wisdom that reaches mightily from end to end and disposes all things sweetly, what it is that pleases him, that they should be born, grow, and multiply, whom, even though he did not himself make them evil, he nevertheless foreknew would be evil. For his counsel is exceedingly hidden, by which he uses even evil men well for the advancement of the good, marvelous even in this in his omnipotent goodness — because, just as it belongs to their wickedness to use his good works badly, so it belongs to his wisdom to use their evil works well.

This depth of the mystery, then, the Apostle thus commends: «I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits: that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, and so all Israel should be saved.» He said «in part,» because not all were blinded; for there were among them those who knew Christ. But the fullness of the Gentiles comes in through those who are called according to purpose. And so all Israel shall be saved, because both of the Jews and of the Gentiles, those who are called according to purpose, they more truly are Israel, of whom the same Apostle says: «And upon the Israel of God»; but those he calls Israel according to the flesh: «Behold,» he says, «Israel according to the flesh.»

Then he inserts the testimony of the prophet: «There shall come out of Zion he who shall deliver and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; and this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins» — not indeed of all the Jews, but of the elect. Hence he adds those things which you set forth for inquiry: «As concerning the Gospel, indeed, enemies for your sake.» For the price of our redemption is the blood of Christ, who surely could not be slain except by enemies. This is that use of the evil for the advancement of the good. But as for what he adds, «But as concerning the election, beloved for the fathers' sake,» hereby he shows that not those enemies, but the elect, are the beloved.

But it is the custom of Scripture so to speak of a part as of the whole, just as he praises the Corinthians in the first parts of his epistle as though all were such, when some of them were praiseworthy, and afterward in certain places of the same epistle so reproaches them as though all were blameworthy, on account of certain ones who were such. Whoever shall diligently observe this custom of the divine Scriptures, most frequently scattered throughout the whole body of his writings, resolves many things which seem to be contrary to one another. He calls some, then, enemies, others beloved; but because they were in one people, he seems, as it were, to be speaking of the very same persons.

Although even out of those very enemies who crucified the Lord, very many were converted and appeared as elect — then elect, when converted, as regards the beginning of salvation; but as regards God's foreknowledge, not then elect, but before the foundation of the world, as the same Apostle says, that «he chose us before the foundation of the world.» And so in two ways those very enemies who were beloved, either because both were in one people, or because, while enemies raged even to the blood of Christ, certain of them had been made beloved according to the election which lay hidden in the foreknowledge of God. For to this end he added «for the fathers' sake,» because that which was promised to the fathers had to be fulfilled, as toward the end of the Epistle to the Romans he says:

«For I say that Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers; but that the Gentiles should glorify God for his mercy.» According to this mercy it was said: «Enemies for your sake,» which he had also said above: «By their fall, salvation to the Gentiles.» But when he had said, «As concerning the election, for the fathers' sake,» he added: «For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.» You surely see that those are signified who belong to the number of the predestined; of whom in another place he says: «We know that to those who love God all things work together for good, to those who are called according to purpose.» «For many are called, but few chosen»;

but they who are elect are themselves called according to purpose, in whom, beyond doubt, the foreknowledge of God cannot be deceived. «These he foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren; and whom he predestined, them he also called.» This calling is according to purpose; this is without repentance. «And whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. If God be for us, who can be against us?» They are not in this calling who, in the faith that works through love, even if they walk somewhat, do not persevere unto the end.

And surely they could have been snatched away, lest wickedness should change their understanding, if they belonged to that predestination and calling which is according to purpose and without repentance. And lest any presumptuous person should so judge concerning the hidden things of others as to say: «For this reason they were not snatched from this life before they became deserters of the faith, because in that same life they were not walking faithfully, and this the Lord knew in their hearts, although it appeared otherwise to men» — what will he say of little infants who, very many of them, having received in that age the sacrament of Christian grace, when without doubt they would have belonged to eternal life and the kingdom of heaven if they had at once departed from this life, are allowed to grow up, and some even become apostates?

Whence comes this, save that they do not belong to that predestination and to the calling that is according to purpose and without repentance? But why some should belong to it and others should not, may be a hidden cause, yet it cannot be an unjust one. For is there iniquity with God? God forbid. For this too belongs to that depth of judgments at which the Apostle, marveling, was as it were awestruck; and indeed he calls them judgments precisely so that no one should suppose that such things come to pass either through the iniquity or the rashness of the one who does them, or by chance and by fortune, as if any parts were slipping loose within ages so wondrously ordered under the so great wisdom of God. Now further, in the epistle to the Colossians, as to what is written:

'Let no one seduce you, willing in humility,' and the rest that follows—which you said were obscure to you, and which even I do not yet understand without some cloud. Would that you had been present to question me on these things! For in the sense which I seem to myself to have in these words, a certain manner of delivery must be brought to bear, in the expression of the face and in the tone of voice, which cannot be conveyed by letters, so that it might in some part be opened up—something that becomes the more obscure precisely because it is not, as I judge, rightly delivered. For what is written, 'Touch not, taste not, handle not,' is taken as though it were a precept of the Apostle forbidding to touch, taste, or handle some thing or other. But the opposite is the case—if indeed I am not deceived amid so great an obscurity.

For by way of derision he set down the words of those by whom he did not want them to be deceived and led astray—those who, distinguishing foods according to the worship of angels and thus making decrees about this world, say, 'Touch not, taste not, handle not,' though all things are clean to the clean and every creature of God is good, which he plainly commends in another place. Let us therefore look at the whole context of that very passage; for so, once the Apostle's intention has been perceived, we shall perhaps grasp his meaning as far as we are able. For to those to whom he writes these things, he feared lest they be seduced by the shadows of things, under the sweet name of knowledge, and be turned away from the light of truth, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He perceived that this concern for vain and superfluous observances, under the name of wisdom or knowledge, was to be guarded against, both from the superstition of the heathen—especially from those called philosophers—and from Judaism, where the shadows of things to come were to be removed, since their light, Christ, had now come. When therefore he had recalled and commended how great a struggle he had on their behalf, and on behalf of those who were at Laodicea, and of whosoever had not seen his face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love and in all the riches of the fullness of understanding, unto the knowledge of the mystery of God, which is Christ.

'In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, this I say,' he says, 'that no one may circumvent you with a plausible speech.' Because they were led by love of the truth, he feared for them the mere semblance of truth, lest they be deceived. And therefore he commended in Christ that which they held most sweet—namely, the treasure of wisdom and knowledge—by whose name and promise they could be led into error. 'For though I am absent in body,' he says, 'yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and beholding your order, and that which is lacking to your faith in Christ.' Therefore he feared for them, since he saw what was still lacking to them.

'As therefore you have received,' he says, 'Jesus Christ our Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and confirmed in the faith, as you have also been taught, abounding therein in thanksgiving.' He wants them to be nourished by faith, so that they may become capable of sharing in the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which are hidden in Christ, lest before they are fit for these they be captured by plausible speech and stray from the path of truth. Then, showing more openly what he fears for them: 'Beware,' he says, 'lest anyone deceive you through philosophy and vain seduction, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world and not according to Christ, for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.'

He said 'bodily' precisely because those men were seducing 'shadowily,' using a transferred word—just as the name 'shadow' too, in these matters, is not indeed a proper word but transferred by a certain principle of likeness. 'And you are,' he says, 'filled in him, who is the head of all principality and power.' For through principalities and powers the superstition of the heathen, or the philosophers, was seducing, proclaiming that which they call theology through the elements of this world. But he wished Christ, the beginning of all things, to be understood as the head of all things—just as he himself, when it was said to him, 'Who art thou?' answered, 'The Beginning, which also I speak to you. For all things were made through him, and without him was nothing made.'

But wondrously he wishes them to be despisers of these seemingly wondrous things, when he shows them made the body of that head, by saying: 'And you are filled in him, who is the head of all principality and power.' Hence now, lest they be seduced by the shadows of Judaism, he adds: 'In whom also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made by hand, in the putting off of the body of the flesh'—or, as some have it, 'in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh'—'in the circumcision of Christ, buried together with him in baptism, in which also you rose again through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.' See how here too he shows them the body of Christ, that they may despise those things, cleaving to their so great head.

—cleaving to Christ Jesus, the mediator of God and men, and seeking no false or invalid mediator through which they might cleave to God. 'And you,' he says, 'when you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh'—he called 'uncircumcision' that which is signified by uncircumcision, that is, carnal trespasses, of which we must be stripped—'he made alive together with him, forgiving you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting that was against us in its decrees, which was contrary to us'—because the law made men guilty, the law which had entered in that trespass might abound—'taking it,' he says, 'out of the way and nailing it to the cross; stripping himself of the flesh, he made an example of principalities and powers, confidently triumphing over them in himself.'

It was assuredly not good principalities but evil ones, and evil powers—namely diabolical and demonic ones—that he made an example of, that is, he gave an example from them, so that, just as he himself stripped off the flesh, so he might show that his own must be stripped of carnal vices, through which those powers had lorded it over them. Now attend here carefully to how he draws the conclusion, on account of which we have recalled all these things. 'Let no one therefore judge you,' he says, 'in food'—as though he had said all those things precisely because these men, through observances of this sort, were being seduced away from the truth by which they were being made free, of which it is said in the Gospel, 'And the truth shall set you free,' that is, shall make you free.

'Let no one therefore judge you,' he says, 'in food or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or of a new moon or of sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come.' This is on account of Judaism; then there follows, on account of the superstitions of the heathen: 'But the body of Christ,' he says, 'let no one convict you.' It is disgraceful, he says, and exceedingly unfitting, and alien to the nobility of your liberty, that, being the body of Christ, you should be seduced by shadows and seem to be convicted as though sinning, if you neglect to observe these things. 'Therefore let no one convict you'—the body of Christ—'willing in humility of heart.' If this were said by the Greek word, it would sound more customarily even in the popular Latin usage.

For so it is commonly said: one who affects to be rich is called 'thelodives' (would-be-rich), and one who affects to be wise, 'thelosapiens,' and other things of this sort; so here too 'thelohumilis,' which more fully is said 'thelon humilis,' that is, 'willing-humble,' one affecting humility—which is understood as one wishing to seem humble, affecting humility. For this is what is done in such observances, that the heart of man be rendered humble as though by religion. But he also added 'the worship of angels'—or, as your codices have it, 'the religion of angels,' which in Greek is called thrēskeia—wishing 'angels' to be understood as the principalities, whom they judge, as set over the elements of this world, to be venerated in these observances.

'Let no one therefore convict you,' he says, 'seeing you are the body of Christ, wishing to seem humble in heart in the worship of angels, intruding into things he has not seen'—or, as some codices have it, 'intruding into things he has seen.' For either he wished to say thus: 'intruding into things he has not seen,' because men do these things by suspicions and opinions, not because they have seen that they must be done thus; or certainly: 'intruding into things he has seen,' esteeming them great precisely because he has seen them observed in certain places by men to whose authority he would give credence even without a reason being rendered, and therefore he seems great to himself, because it has befallen him to see the secrets of certain sacred rites. But the fuller sense is: 'intruding into things he has not seen, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh.'

Wondrously did he there call him 'puffed up by the mind of his flesh,' where above he had called him 'thelohumilis' (would-be-humble); for it comes about in wondrous ways in the soul of man, that he be the more puffed up by a false humility than if he were more openly proud. 'And not holding the head'—by which he wishes Christ to be understood—'from which the whole body, by contact and connection supplied and joined together, grows unto the increase of God. If therefore you have died with Christ to the elements of this world, why, as though living in this world, do you still make decrees?' Having said these things, he inserts the words of those who make decrees about this world through these observances, as though reasonable, being puffed up by an affected vanity of humility: 'Touch not, taste not, handle not.'

Let us recall what was said above, that we may understand this. For he does not want them to be judged in these observances, where it is said, 'Touch not, taste not, handle not,' which things, he says, 'are all unto corruption by misuse.' All these things, he says, tend rather unto corruption, when one abstains from them superstitiously, so that a man misuses them—that is, does not use them according to the precepts and doctrines of men. This is plain; but what follows you inquire about much: 'Which things indeed have a show of wisdom in observance and humility of heart and affliction of the body'—or, as others have interpreted, 'in not sparing the body'—'not in any honor unto the satisfying of the flesh.'

'Why,' you ask, 'does he say these things have a show of wisdom, which he thus reproves?' I will tell you what you can yourself observe in the Scriptures: that often wisdom is set even in the seats of this world, which he calls more expressly 'the wisdom of this world.' Nor let it disturb you that here he did not add 'of the world'; for neither in another place, when he says, 'Where is the wise? where is the scribe?' did he add 'of this world,' so as to say, 'Where is the wise man of this world?'—and yet this is understood. So too is this 'show of wisdom'; for nothing is said by them in observances of this superstitious sort where some show of wisdom does not seem to be rendered according to the elements of this world and the nature of things. For indeed when he says:

'Beware lest anyone deceive you through philosophy,' he does not say 'of this world'; and what is philosophy in Latin but the pursuit of wisdom? 'These things therefore,' he says, 'indeed have a show of wisdom'—that is, concerning which some reason is rendered according to the elements of this world and its principalities and powers—'in observance and humility of heart'—for these things effect this, that by the vice of superstition the heart be humbled—'unto not sparing the body'—while it is defrauded of those foods from which it is compelled to abstain—'not in any honor unto the satisfying of the flesh'—not that the flesh should be more honorably satisfied by one food than by another, since it pertains not to its necessity save to be restored and sustained by any nourishment suited to health.

Your inquiry about the Gospel is wont to trouble many: how the Lord after the resurrection, since he rose in the same body, was both not recognized and recognized by certain persons of either sex who had known him. Here the first question usually raised is whether something was done in his body, or rather in their eyes, by which he could not be recognized. For when we read, 'Their eyes were held, that they should not recognize him,' some impediment to recognizing seems to have been made in the sight of those beholding; but when it is openly said elsewhere, 'He appeared to them in another form,' assuredly in that very body, of which the form was different, something was done by which they were held back as by an impediment—that is, their eyes suffered a delay in recognizing.

But I marvel: since there are two things in a body by which each one's appearance is recognized—the features and the color—why, before the resurrection, when on the mountain he was so transfigured that his face became splendid as the sun, it moves no one that he was able to change the color of his body even unto so great an excellence of radiance and light; and yet after the resurrection it somewhat moves people that he changed his features, so that he could not be recognized, and again by the same ease of power, just as then his former color, so after the resurrection recalled his former features. For those three disciples too, before whose eyes he was transfigured on the mountain, would not have recognized him, if such a one had come to them from elsewhere;

but because they were with him, they most certainly retained that it was he himself. 'But it was the very body in which he rose.' What is that to the matter? For assuredly it was that very body in which he was transfigured on the mountain, and it was the very body of the young man in which he was born; and yet, if anyone had suddenly seen him as a young man, who had known him only as an infant, he would by no means recognize him. Or is the power of God unable swiftly to change features, which the age of man can do through the delays of years? But as to what he said to Mary, 'Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to the Father,' you should know that I have understood nothing else than you. For thus he wished to signify a spiritual touch—that is, that he required the approach of faith, by which he is believed to be exalted with the Father.

And that he was recognized by those two in the breaking of bread, no one ought to doubt that this is a sacrament which gathers us into recognition of him. As to the words of Simeon, where he says to the Virgin, the mother of the Lord, 'And a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,' in another letter, a copy of which I have also now sent, I said what seemed to me—which also seemed good to you among the rest. And as to what he added, 'That the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed,' this I think must be understood thus: that through the Lord's passion both the treacheries of the Jews and the weakness of the disciples were laid bare. It is therefore credible that a tribulation was signified by the name of the sword, by which the maternal soul was wounded with the feeling of grief. That sword itself was in the mouth of the persecutors, of whom it is said in the psalm:

'And a sword in their mouth.' For they were the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. For also the iron that pierced the soul of Joseph seems to me to be set down for a hard tribulation; for it is openly said, 'Iron pierced his soul, until his word came'—that is, he was in a hard tribulation for so long, until that came to pass which he had foretold. For hence he was accounted great and freed from that tribulation. But lest it should be attributed to human wisdom that his word came—that is, that came to pass which he had foretold—Holy Scripture, after its manner, gives glory to God for this, and immediately adds: 'The word of the Lord inflamed him.'

As best I could, I have not failed your inquiries, helped by your prayers and by those very disputations which you sent. For when you dispute by questioning, you both inquire keenly and teach humbly. And it is useful that concerning the obscurities of the divine Scriptures, which God willed to exist for the sake of our exercise, many opinions be found, when one thing seems right to one and another to another, which nevertheless all accord with sound faith and doctrine. You will of course grant pardon to my pen, which hastens greatly, that, being now settled aboard ship, I might catch the bearer.

But our son Paulinus, most sweet in the love of Christ, I greet again rather in this letter, and being in haste I exhort him in few words, that he give thanks, as much as he can, to the mercy of the Lord—who, knowing how to give help out of tribulation, sent him amid a most turbulent tempest into the harbor, to which you crossed over by a calmer sea, in no way trusting the calm of the sea itself, and who gave you to him to receive and nurture his beginnings—and that all his bones may say, 'Lord, who is like unto thee?' For not with richer fruit does he read or hear me teaching and discoursing, or kindling him with whatever exhortations, than he beholds you living. My fellow-servants who are with me greet again your holy and most sincere kindness.

But our fellow-deacon Peregrinus, from the time he departed from me with our holy brother Urbanus, when the latter went on to take up the burden of the episcopate, has not yet returned to Hippo; yet we learn that they are safe in the name of Christ, both from their letters and from report announcing it. We greet with brotherly affection the fellow-presbyter Paulinus and all who enjoy your presence in the Lord. TO THE LADIES MOST WORTHY OF HONOR, DESERVEDLY ILLUSTRIOUS AND MOST EXCELLENT DAUGHTERS PROBA AND JULIANA, AUGUSTINE SENDS GREETING IN THE LORD. You have filled our heart with joy the more pleasantly as it is more dear, the more gratefully as it is more swift.

For since the virginal holiness of your stock has, wherever you have become known, and through this everywhere, been proclaimed by widespread fame, you forestalled its swiftest flight by the more faithful and more certain messenger of a letter, and made us to exult over so most excellent a good made known, before we might doubt over a thing merely heard. Who could set forth in words, who could pursue with worthy heralding, how incomparably more gloriously and more fruitfully Christ has virgin women from your blood than the world has consuls as men? For if it is a great and illustrious thing to mark the volumes of the ages by the dignity of a name, how much greater and more illustrious is it to transcend them by integrity of heart and body!