Exhortatio Ad Monachos

SAINT EUCHERIUS, BISHOP OF LYONS, EXHORTATION TO MONKS. (From Marianus Brockie’s Code of Rules, vol. I.) What shall we offer you, dearest brothers, that is worthy both for us to say and for you to hear? What dare we speak to you, whom we regard even with silent admiration? How shall we edify you with words, when you edify us by your example? Shall we teach you what to do, when we already marvel at what you do? What, then, shall we say? That you should abandon the world, which you have already abandoned? That you should despise riches, which many of you have already despised? That you should flee desires, which you have already fled? That you should choose the more salutary things, which you have already chosen? Therefore, in common exultation, I shall open my mouth, and fill it with that which said: “Open your mouth, and I will fill it” (Psalm 80:11). I shall therefore speak among you, most beloved, without fear; for there is no shame for one where there is joy for many. It is a divine work that we rejoice in. Learn well what you teach well. Would that our mouth might worthily preach to you according to your merit. What others rightly preach, you fulfill; what others say, you do: because you, men still placed on earth, exhibit the life of angels. For that heavenly way of life, which few will see there, you make visible here. You are, as the Savior says, the light of this world (Matthew 5:14). You are that lamp placed upon the lampstand. If anyone is far from this lamp, he is enveloped by the darkness of the world.

Whoever, however, has drawn near to this light will certainly have the eye of seeing, who also had the ears of hearing. Therefore, that this lamp may have a very bright light, it must always be filled with the oil of mercy, piety, gentleness, humility, obedience, and charity. Humility, indeed, is especially to be cultivated, which makes us equal to the just, joins us to angels, and causes us to draw near to God. It is this which fears no ruin, no precipice, no fall, because humility has no place from which to fall. Do you wish, therefore, not to fall? Do not be exalted. Do you wish not to be inflated? Do not be puffed up. For, as someone has well said: Whatever swells is not healthy. For pride, which is contrary to humility, what else is it but a swelling? But just as a body with a swelling, so a soul with pride does not have health. Therefore, humble yourself, and do not seek higher things (Ecclus. III, 22). But if anyone wishes to be proud, he has within himself where to exercise his pride. Let him be proud against the world, let him despise the ways of the world, let him hold its desires as nothing, let him rise up against vices, let him be proud against pride itself, and let him have under his feet power, riches, lusts, and the rest which dominate the world. Whatever here are considered great and magnificent, let him despise as if they were filth and dung with a praiseworthy rigor: he will satisfy his pride when he sees himself in spirit above even kings themselves.

If, however, he should wish to be proudly holy, he will indeed be a despiser of the world, but he will be humble before Christ. He will indeed be exalted there, but submissive here: for this reason he raises himself up in those things, so that he may more easily lower himself to these. Therefore, if we diligently preserve this humility, even that true obedience will be preserved without effort. In this obedience, dearest brothers, that compunction is manifested. For one who judges himself least is of a contrite heart. When would he dare to carry out his own desires? When would he dare to resist the authority of him who has commanded? Hence also the Apostle says: "Obey your superiors," and so forth (Heb. 13:17). But is it only he who commands who is praised? Is not he who obeys, dearest brothers, without praise? He merits glory by ruling, this one by obeying. Therefore, great honor and reward are sought by each, while one counsels well, and the other complies with what is well counseled. Our Savior especially inculcated this obedience in us, who wished to save us not only when He redeemed us, but also while He taught obedience: for He, equal to the Father, obeyed the Father. And how did He obey? Was it in an easy matter? Even unto death. And what kind of death? The death of the cross (Phil. 2:8). Nor did He only comply, but He made the Father's will His own will. For we can do what we are ordered even unwillingly: that is true obedience, when he who obeys begins to will what he who commands wills.

Sacred Scripture says: It is good for a man to have borne the yoke from his youth; he will sit alone and be silent (Lam. 4:27). Let us therefore, with Christ’s help, place a door and bolts upon our mouth, and a balance upon our words. For the Apostle says: He who has ministered well acquires a high rank for himself (1 Tim. 3:13). But I speak these things, dearest brothers, not to instruct you, but so that you may recognize in my words the goods of humility and obedience which you practice: those goods, which draw you toward the eternal kingdom of God, we desire you to possess without ceasing. For it is not he who has begun, but he who has persevered, who will be saved (Mark 10:12). But for him who wishes to be saved, here is where the struggle lies. If someone, when the battle line is drawn up and he stands against the adversaries, withdraws from his post, he is thereafter considered a coward and a deserter. In this place also, the soldiers of Christ, as they stand arrayed against the devil as if in a battle line, to abandon the contest and depart from here is not only inglorious, but also perilous. One must remain in this same place; so that, as we hold what we hold, others may not take our crowns. One must remain and persevere, so that, fighting most gloriously here, sailing most calmly, we may pass the safest life in spiritual pursuits, and attain the eternal life to which we are called.

Our Savior says: "A city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden; nor do they light a lamp and place it under a bushel, but upon a lampstand, so that it may shine for all who are in the house" (Matt. 5:14). Rightly, therefore, has such a brilliant lamp, placed under the bushel of the monastery, been transferred to the lampstand of the Church. And indeed, that evangelical bushel is well suited to the monastery, where nothing is done without measure. For there all things are measured, all deeds or words are uttered with the most just reason, holding the measure of a bushel. Rightly, therefore, do we interpret the monastery through this figure in a spiritual sense, which, like a bushel, is accustomed to have nothing mixed within it. For just as wheat is separated from chaff, so it is accustomed to receive those separated from the world; and after the Lord's winnowing, who cleans his threshing floor, having cast out the refuse, it holds within itself his chosen ones as purer grains. Hence, just as the bushel is compared to the monastery, so the lampstand is compared to the Church: because, being set in a high or conspicuous place, it bears the splendor transferred to it before the eyes, showing the light placed upon it to all. The kindled fire is reasonably brought forth so that it may shine; for a hidden good does little good, a hidden light shines little.

Lift up, most blessed pontiff, your voice like a trumpet and expound heavenly things to the peoples; reveal the treasure which you have dug up in secret; scatter the riches you have amassed; pour out openly to the hungry the wealth you have prepared in the desert, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.