Peccata fratrum non evulganda

On Not Publicizing the Sins of the Brethren, nor Cursing One’s Enemies. 1. I bless you for your zeal, beloved, with which you hasten to the paternal house. For from this zeal I am also confident concerning our health of soul; for the school of the Church is a wonderful clinic—a clinic, not of bodies, but of souls. For it is spiritual, and it corrects not wounds of the flesh, but sins of the mind; and the remedy for these sins and wounds is the word. This remedy is not composed of herbs from the earth, but from utterances from heaven; it was not prepared by the hands of physicians, but by the tongues of prophets. For this reason it is enduring, and it is neither dimmed by the passage of time nor refuted by the power of diseases. For the remedies of physicians have both these defects: when they are fresh, they display their own strength, but when much time has passed, like aged bodies, they become weaker; and often the difficulty of diseases has refuted them, for they are human. But the divine remedy is not like that; rather, when much time has elapsed, it retains all its proper strength. For instance, from the time of Moses (for from him the beginning of the Scriptures), it has healed so many people and has not lost its own power; nor has any disease ever overcome it. This remedy is not to be obtained by paying silver, but one who shows genuine choice and disposition departs possessing it all.

For this reason both rich and poor alike enjoy this treatment. For where it is necessary to pay money, the wealthy man partakes of the benefit, but the poor man often departs deprived of the gain, his income not sufficing for the preparation of the remedy. But here, since it is not money that must be paid, but faith and intention must be displayed, he who pays these with zeal reaps the benefit most of all, since these also are the reward of the treatment. And the rich and the poor share in the benefit alike; or rather, they do not share in the benefit alike, but often the poor man departs having enjoyed more. Why so? Because the rich man, being preoccupied with many cares, having the arrogance and pride of wealth, living with negligence and indolence, does not receive the remedy of the hearing of the Scriptures with great precision or with great zeal; but the poor man, being free from luxury, gluttony, and indolence, spending all his time in the work of his hands and in righteous labors, and from this gathering much philosophy for his soul, becomes more attentive and more vigorous, and listens to what is said with greater precision; hence, having paid a greater reward, he departs having reaped a greater benefit. 2. I have said these things not simply accusing the rich, nor simply praising the poor; for wealth is not an evil, but the evil use of wealth; nor is poverty a good, but the good use of poverty.

That rich man in the story of Lazarus was punished, not because he was rich, but because he was cruel and inhuman. That poor man who was in the bosom of Abraham was praised, not because he was poor, but because he bore his poverty with gratitude. For among things (pay close attention to this statement, for it will be able to instill in you sufficient philosophy, and to cast out every corrupted reasoning, and to make you have a correct judgment about realities), among things, then, some are good by nature, others the opposite; others are neither good nor bad, but hold a middle rank. Piety is good by nature, impiety evil; virtue is good, wickedness evil. But wealth and poverty are in themselves neither this nor that; rather, depending on the choice of those who use them, they become either this or that. For if you use wealth for philanthropy, the thing has become for you an occasion of good; but if you use it for plunder, greed, and insolence, you have turned its use to the opposite, and it is not wealth that is responsible, but the one who used wealth for insolence. So also it is possible to speak concerning poverty: if you bear it nobly, thanking the Master, the thing has become for you a starting point and occasion for crowns; but if you blaspheme the Creator on account of it and accuse his providence, you have again used the thing for evil. But just as there wealth is not responsible for greed, but the one who used wealth badly, so here we will not blame poverty for blasphemy, but the one who did not wish to bear the thing temperately.

For everywhere both praise and blame belong to our own judgment and choice. Wealth is good, but not simply so, but only when it is not accompanied by sin; and again, poverty is evil, but not simply so, but only in the mouth of the impious, when it causes vexation, when it leads to blasphemy, when it provokes indignation, when it makes one accuse the Creator. 3. Let us not, therefore, accuse wealth, nor simply revile poverty, but rather those who are unwilling to use these things rightly; for the things themselves lie in the middle. But as I was saying (for it is good to return to our former subject), both the rich man and the poor man enjoy the remedies here with the same freedom and frankness; and often the poor man does so with even greater zeal. For this is not the only exceptional quality of these remedies, that they heal souls, that they are not destroyed by the passage of time, that they are not overcome by disease, that the benefit is offered freely, that the treatment is equal for both rich and poor; but they have also another quality no less than these goods. What is this? We do not publicize those who come to this clinic. For those who go to external clinics have many people observing their wounds; and unless the doctor first uncovers the sore, he does not apply the remedy; but here it is not so, but seeing countless sufferers, we perform their treatment secretly. For we do not bring sinners into the open and thus publicize their sins.

but having set forth the teaching common to all, we leave it to the conscience of the hearers, so that each may draw the appropriate remedy for his own wound from what is said. For the discourse of teaching proceeds from the tongue of the speaker, containing accusation of vice, praise of virtue, blame of licentiousness, encomium of temperance, censure of folly, praise of gentleness, like a varied and manifold remedy composed of all kinds; but to take what is suitable and useful for oneself is the task of each hearer. The discourse proceeds openly, but settling into the conscience of each, it secretly provides its own healing, and often brings health before the disease is made public. 4. For instance, you heard yesterday how I praised the power of prayer, how I censured those who pray with negligence, without exposing any of them. So those who were conscious of their own diligence received the praise of prayer and became more diligent through the praises; while those who were conscious of their own negligence received the rebuke and laid aside their carelessness. But we know neither these nor those; and this ignorance is useful to both. How, I say? The one who heard the praises of prayer and was conscious of his own diligence, if he had many witnesses to the praises, would have slipped into arrogance; but as it is,

having received the praise unnoticed, he is freed from all boastfulness. Again, one who is aware of his own indolence, upon hearing the accusation, became better from the accusation, having no one known to him as a witness of the reproof; and this benefited him not a little. For because we are anxious about the opinion of the many, as long as we think we are hidden while being evil, we strive to become better; but when we become manifest to all, and lose the consolation of being hidden, we become more shameless and more indolent. And just as wounds, when exposed and frequently in contact with cold air, become more severe, so too the soul that has sinned, if it is reproached before many for its faults, becomes more shameless. So that this may not happen, the discourse has healed you unnoticed. And that you may learn that this hidden healing has great benefit, hear what Christ says: "If your brother sins against you, reprove him"; and he did not say, "between you and the city," nor "between you and the people," but, "between you and him alone." Let the accusation be without witness, he says, so that the change toward correction may be easy. It is therefore a great good to make the exhortation not public. The conscience is sufficient, that impartial judge is sufficient. You do not reprove the one who has sinned as effectively as his own conscience does (that accuser is more bitter), nor do you know the faults more accurately. Do not, therefore, add wound to wound by making the sinner public, but make the exhortation without witness.

This then we also do now, what Paul also did, making the accusation against the one who had sinned among the Corinthians unattested. And hear how: "For this reason," he says, "brothers, I transferred these things to myself and Apollos." And indeed it was not he himself, nor Apollos, who were the ones who divided the people and cut the Church in two; but nevertheless he obscured the accusation, and as if with masks, with the names of himself and Apollos, having hidden the faces of those responsible, he gave them the opportunity to change from that wickedness. And again, "Lest God humble me when I come, and I mourn many of those who have previously sinned and not repented of the impurity and licentiousness which they committed." See how here also he speaks indefinitely of those who have sinned, so that by not making the accusation public, he might not render the soul of those who have sinned more shameless. Just as we, then, with such forbearance make our reproofs, so, I beseech you, receive the correction with all diligence, and pay close attention to what is said. 5. We spoke to you yesterday about the power of prayer. I showed how the devil then lies in wait, being malicious. For since he sees the greatest gain coming to us from prayer, he attacks then especially, so that he may drive us away from our defense, so that he may send us home empty-handed. And just as with rulers, when those of the rank and those around the ruler himself are hostile to those who approach, they drive them away from afar with rods, preventing them from approaching and lamenting and obtaining compassion.

Thus also the devil, when he sees them approaching the judge, drives them away from afar, not with a rod, but with indifference. For he knows, he knows clearly, that if they approach soberly, and speak of their sins, and lament with a fervent soul, they depart having received much forgiveness; for God is benevolent. And for this reason he anticipates and leads them away from the entreaty, so that they may obtain none of the things they need. But the soldiers of the rulers repel those who approach with force; he, however, does so not with compulsion, but by deceiving us and casting us into indifference. For this reason we are not even worthy of forgiveness, willingly depriving ourselves of the good things. Prayer with earnestness is a light of the mind and soul, an inextinguishable and perpetual light. For this reason he casts countless swarms of thoughts into our minds, and things we have never considered, these he gathers and pours into our souls at the time of prayer. And just as winds often falling from opposite directions fan and extinguish a lamp’s kindled fire, so also the devil, when he sees the flame of prayer kindled in us, fanning it with countless cares on this side and that, does not desist until he extinguishes the light. But let us do what those who light those lamps do. And what do they do? When they see a violent wind approaching, they place their finger over the lamp’s opening, walling off the entrance to the wind. For as long as it attacks from outside, we will be able to resist.

But when we open the doors of our mind to him and receive the enemy within, we can no longer resist, not even a little; rather, having extinguished our memory from every side, like a lamp that is smoking, he lets the mouth utter empty words. But just as they place their finger over the opening of the lamp, so let us place our reason over our mind; let us block the entrance of the evil spirit, so that it may not extinguish the light of our prayer. Do you remember both of these examples—that of the soldiers, that of the ruler, and that concerning the lamp? For this reason we give you these examples, in which we move, in which we live, so that even when we depart from here and are at home, we may take from the matters at hand a reminder of what has been said. Great is the weapon of prayer, and great is the security. 6. You heard yesterday how the three youths, though bound, overcame the power of fire, how they trampled the flame, how they prevailed over the furnace and mastered the energy of the element. Hear again today how the noble and great Isaac prevailed through prayer over the very nature of bodies. They overcame the power of fire; he today loosed the bonds of a crippled nature. And learn how he did this. Isaac prayed, it says, concerning his wife, because she was barren. These things were read to you today; yesterday the discourse was about prayer, and today again a demonstration of the power of prayer. Do you see how the grace of the Spirit arranged that the readings of today be in harmony with what was said yesterday?

He said, "Isaac prayed concerning Rebecca his wife, because she was barren." This first deserves inquiry: for what reason was she barren? She herself was of a wondrous life, full of great temperance, and so was her husband. We cannot take hold of the life of the righteous and say that barrenness is a work of sins. And not only was she barren, but also his mother Sarah, who bore him; not only was his mother barren, nor his wife, but also the bride, Rachel, the wife of Jacob. What does this chorus of barren women mean? All were righteous, all living in virtue, all were witnessed by God. For concerning them he said, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Concerning the same, Paul speaks somewhat thus: "For what reason is God not ashamed to be called their God?" Many are their praises in the New Testament, many their encomia in the Old. From every side they are illustrious and renowned, and all had barren wives, and they remained without children for a long time. Therefore, when you see a man and a woman living together in virtue, when you see them beloved of God, devoted to piety, and suffering from childlessness, do not think that childlessness is necessarily a retribution for sins. For many are the reasons of God's economy, hidden from us, and we must give thanks for everything, and lament only those who live in wickedness, not those who have not acquired children. Often God acts for our benefit; but we do not know the cause of what happens. Therefore, we must everywhere admire his wisdom and glorify his ineffable philanthropy.

But this discourse can educate us in character; we must also state the cause for which those women were barren. What, then, is the cause? It was so that when you see the Virgin giving birth to our common Master, you may not disbelieve. Therefore, exercise your mind in the womb of the barren women, so that when you see a maimed and bound womb opened for childbearing by the grace of God, you may not be amazed when you hear that a virgin gave birth. Rather, be amazed and astounded, but do not disbelieve the miracle. When the Jew says to you, "How did the virgin give birth?" say to him, "How did the barren and aged woman give birth?" There were two impediments then: the untimeliness of age and the uselessness of nature; but in the case of the Virgin there was only one impediment: not having partaken of marriage. So the barren woman paves the way for the virgin. And so that you may learn that the barren women preceded for this reason—that the Virgin's childbirth might be believed—listen to the words of Gabriel to her. For when he came and said to her, "You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus," the Virgin was astounded and marveled, and said, "How will this be for me, since I know no man?" What, then, did the angel say? "The Holy Spirit will come upon you." "Do not seek the sequence of nature," he says, "when what happens is beyond nature; do not look for marriage and labor pains when the manner of the birth is greater than marriage." And she says, "How will this be, since I know no man?" "Indeed, it will be for this very reason, because you know no man. For if you knew a man, you would not have been deemed worthy to serve in this ministry.

So that through that which you disbelieve, you may believe. You would not have been deemed worthy to serve in such a ministry, not because marriage is evil, but because virginity is superior; the entrance of the Lord had to be more august than ours, for it was royal, and the king enters through a more august way. It was necessary that his birth both share in and be different from ours. Therefore both these things are arranged. For being born from a womb is common to us; but being born without marriage is beyond us. And being conceived and carried in the belly belongs to human nature; but conception without intercourse is more august than human nature. For this reason both these things happened, so that you may learn both the superiority and the kinship with you of the one who is born. 8. And consider the wisdom of what happens. Neither did the superiority destroy the likeness and kinship with us, nor did the kinship with us obscure the superiority, but each was shown through all the events; and some things were entirely ours, others were different from us. But as I was saying, that the barren women preceded so that the birth of the Virgin might be believed, so that she herself might be led to faith in that announcement and promise which she heard from the angel saying, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; thus," he says, "you are to give birth." Do not look to the earth; the power comes from the heavens. What happens is a grace of the Spirit; do not seek from me nature and the laws of marriage.

But since those words were greater than this one, he wishes to provide another proof. And do you observe how the barren woman leads her to faith in this matter? For since that proof was greater than the Virgin's understanding, hear how he also brought the discourse down to humbler things, leading her by the hand through sensible things. For behold, he says, Elizabeth your relative, she too has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month for her who is called barren. Do you see that the barren woman is for the sake of the Virgin? For why else did he bring before her the childbirth of her relative? Why else did he say, "In her old age"? Why else did he add, "For her who is called barren"? Through all these things, clearly leading her to believe the annunciation. For this reason he also mentioned her age, and the impairment of nature; for this reason he also waited for the time from conception; for he did not announce the good news to her immediately from the beginning, but waited until a six-month period had passed for the barren woman, so that the swelling of the womb would henceforth guarantee the pregnancy, and become an indisputable proof of conception. And behold again the wisdom of Gabriel. For he did not remind her of Sarah herself, nor of

of Rebecca, nor of Rachel; and yet these too were barren, and these too had grown old, and the event was a marvel; but the narratives were ancient. For ancient accounts, the new and recent ones that occur in our own generation are more apt to lead us to faith in miracles. For this reason, leaving those aside, he set before her the case of Elizabeth's kinswoman, so that from that case he might lead her to her own most awesome and most sacred birth. For the birth of the barren woman was between ours and the Lord's, lesser than that of the Virgin, but greater than ours. For this reason, as by a kind of bridge, through the intermediate Elizabeth, he leads the Virgin's mind from natural labor pains to those beyond nature. 9. I would have liked to say more and to teach you other reasons why Rebecca and Rachel were barren; but the time does not permit, as the discourse presses on to the power of prayer. For we have set all this in motion so that you may learn how Isaac's prayer, and prayer of such long duration, resolved the barrenness of his wife. "Isaac prayed," it says, "concerning Rebecca his wife, and God heard him." Do not think that he called upon God and was immediately heard; for he spent much time beseeching God. And if you wish to learn how much, I will tell you this also with precision. He spent a period of twenty years beseeching God. How is this clear? From the sequence itself.

For the Scripture, wishing to show the faith and patience and wisdom of the righteous man, did not conceal the time either, but made it clear to us, though in a hidden manner, so as to rouse our indolence; yet it did not leave it obscure. Listen, then, how it revealed the time to us in a hidden way. "Isaac was forty years old," it says, "when he took Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian." Did you learn how old he was when he married the woman? He was forty years old, it says, when he took Rebecca. But since we have learned at what age he married the woman, let us also learn when he became a father, and how old he was then, when he begot Jacob; and we will be able to see how long the woman remained barren, and that he besought God for all this time. How old, then, was he when he begot Jacob? "Jacob came out holding the heel of his brother with his right hand; therefore he called him Jacob, and the other Esau. Isaac was sixty years old when he begot them." If, then, when he married Rebecca he was forty years old, and when he begot the sons he was sixty, it is evident that the woman remained barren for twenty years in between, and Isaac besought God for all this time. Then are we not ashamed, and do we not cover our faces, seeing the righteous man persevering for twenty years and not desisting, while we often give up and become disheartened after the first or second request? And yet he had great freedom of speech with God, and still he was not vexed at the delay of the gift, but remained steadfast.

we, laden with countless sins, living with a wicked conscience, showing no goodwill toward the Master, if we are not heard before we have even spoken, we are distressed, we are vexed, we desist from the petition; for this reason we always depart with empty hands. Who has entreated God for twenty years for a single matter, as this righteous man did? Rather, who has done so for even twenty months? Yesterday I said that many pray with indifference, yawning, stretching, turning constantly, and using every negligence in their prayers; today I have found another harm arising in prayers, more destructive than that. For many, throwing themselves prone, striking the ground with their forehead, pouring forth hot tears, groaning bitterly from below, stretching out their hands, and showing great zeal, use this heat and this eagerness against their own salvation. For they do not pray for their own

of their sins they beseech God, nor do they ask forgiveness for the offenses committed against them, but they direct all this zeal against their enemies, doing the same as if someone, having sharpened a sword, were not to use the weapon against the enemy, but to thrust it through his own throat. So too these men do not use their prayers for the remission of their own sins, but for the punishment of their enemies; which is to thrust the sword against themselves. The Evil One devised this as well, so that we might destroy ourselves from every side, both through negligence and through zeal. For some, by their carelessness in prayer, provoke God, showing contempt through their negligence; while others, since they display zeal, again display that zeal against their own salvation. "So-and-so," he says, "is negligent; that is enough for me to ensure he obtains nothing; this one is zealous and aroused; what then is to become of him? I cannot relax his zeal, nor cast him into carelessness; I will contrive his destruction in another way. How? I will prepare him to use his zeal for lawlessness; for praying against one's enemies is lawless. He will therefore depart having gained nothing from his zeal, but having suffered greater harm than from negligence." Such are the devices of the devil: some he destroys through negligence, others through zeal itself, when it is not in accordance with the laws. 11. But it is also worthwhile to hear the very words of the prayer, and how the words are of a childish mind, of an infantile soul.

I am ashamed, then, to be about to say these things, but it is absolutely necessary to speak and to imitate that uneducated tongue. What then are the words? "Avenge me against my enemies; show them that I too have a God." Do they learn, O man, that we have a God when we are indignant, angry, and vexed, but not when we are gentle, meek, mild, and practice all philosophy? Thus also God said: "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Do you not realize that it is an insult to God to ask God against your enemies? "And how is it an insult?" one says. Because He Himself said, "Pray for your enemies," and introduced this divine law. When, therefore, you ask the lawgiver to repeal his own laws, and you entreat him to legislate against himself, and you beseech the one who forbade you to curse your enemies to hear you cursing your enemies, you are not praying in doing this, nor are you entreating, but you are insulting the lawgiver and committing outrage against the one who is about to grant you the benefits from prayer. And how is it possible, tell me, to be heard when praying, when you provoke the one who is to hear? For in doing these things you thrust your own salvation into an abyss, and you hurl it down a precipice, striking your enemy in the presence of the king. For even if you do not do this with your hands, you strike him with words, which you would not dare to do even in the case of fellow slaves. At least, dare to do this in the presence of a ruler; even if you have accomplished countless good deeds, you will certainly be led away immediately to death.

Then, in the presence of a ruler, you do not dare to insult your equal, but in the presence of God, doing this, tell me, do you not shudder, do you not fear, in the time of supplication and prayer, raging and being brutalized in this way, and displaying greater ingratitude than the one demanding the hundred denarii? For that you insult more than that man, hear the story itself. Someone owed ten thousand talents to his master. Then, not having the means to repay, he asked for forbearance, so that after the sale of his wife, his house, and his children, he might settle the debt to his master. Seeing him grieving, the master took pity and forgave the ten thousand talents. That man, going out and finding another servant who owed him a hundred denarii, was choking him and demanding payment with great harshness and inhumanity. Hearing this, the master threw him into prison, and the debt of the ten thousand talents, which he had previously forgiven, he imposed on him again, and for his cruelty toward his fellow servant, that man paid the penalty. And you, see how much more ungrateful and insensible you have become, cursing your enemies. That man did not ask the master to demand payment, but he himself demanded the hundred denarii. You, however, also call upon the Master for this shameless and forbidden demand. And that man did not choke his fellow servant in the presence of the master, but outside. You, however, do these things in the very time of prayer, standing before the King.

But if that man, having neither entreated the master for the debt nor ceased from these actions after leaving, obtained no pardon, what punishment will you not incur, tell me, who both rouse the Master to this forbidden exaction and do these things in his very sight? But does your mind swell and burn with the memory of enmity, and does your heart rise up, and when you recall the one who has grieved you, can you not quell the swelling of your thoughts? Then set against this inflammation the memory of your own sins, the fear of future punishment. Remember how many things you owe the Master, and that you owe him penalties for all of them, and this fear will surely prevail over that anger, since it is far more powerful than that passion. At the time of prayer, recall Gehenna and punishment and retribution, and you will not be able even to conceive of your enemy. Crush your mind, humble your soul with the memory of your own transgressions, and anger will not be able to trouble you. But this is the cause of all evils, that we examine the sins of others with great precision, while we pass over our own with great negligence. The opposite should be done: we should keep our own evils unforgotten, and never take thought of those of others. If we do this, we will have God propitious, we will cease to be endlessly angry with our neighbors, and we will never have an enemy; and if we ever do have one, we will quickly dissolve the enmity and obtain a swift forgiveness of our own sins.

Just as the one who bears a grudge against his neighbor does not allow the punishment for his own sins to be dissolved, so the one who is pure of anger will quickly be pure of sins as well. For if we, who are wicked and enslaved to wrath, overlook all the sins committed against us because of God’s command, how much more will the one who is philanthropic and good and pure of every passion overlook our transgressions, repaying us for our goodwill toward our neighbor with the remission of our own sins. May it be that we all attain this, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom are the glory and the power, for ever and ever. Amen.