THE GOOD OF PATIENCE (6)
St. Cyprian of Carthage
And so, beloved brethren, after the benefits of patience and the evils of impatience have been carefully weighed, let us observe fully and maintain the patience through which we abide in Christ and with Christ are able to come to God. That patience, rich and manifold, is not confined within a narrow compass or restrained by bounds of small extent. The virtue of patience extends widely and its wealth and abundance proceed from a source that has indeed a single name, but with its full-flowing streams it is diffused through many glorious courses, and nothing in our actions can avail towards the full realization of merit which does not take the power for its accomplishment from that source. It is patience that both commends us to God and saves us for God. It is that same patience which tempers anger, bridles the tongue, governs the mind, guards peace, rules discipline, breaks the onslaught of lust, suppresses the violence of pride, extinguishes the fire of dissension, restrains the power of the wealthy, renews the endurance of the poor in bearing their lot, guards the blessed integrity of virgins, the difficult chastity of widows, and the indivisible love of husbands and wives. It makes men humble in prosperity, brave in adversity, meek in the face of injuries and insults. It teaches us to pardon our offenders quickly; if you yourself should offend, it teaches you to ask pardon often and with perseverance. It vanquishes temptations, sustains persecutions, endures sufferings and martyrdoms to the end. It is this patience which strongly fortifies the foundations of our faith. It is this patience which sublimely promotes the growth of hope. It directs our action, so that we can keep to the way of Christ while we make progress because of His forbearance. It ensures our perseverance as sons of God while we imitate the patience of the Father.
And since I know, beloved brethren, that very many, either because of the weight of their pressing injuries or because of resentment toward those who attack them and rage against them, wish to be revenged quickly, I must warn you before I close, that finding ourselves in these storms of a turbulent world and in the midst of the persecutions of the Jews or of the Gentiles or of the heretics, we should patiently await the day of vengeance. We should not hasten to revenge our pain with an angry speed, since it is written: 'Expect Me, saith the Lord, in the day of My resurrection for a testimony, since My judgment is to the congregations of nations that I may receive kings and pour out My anger over them.' The Lord commands us to wait and to endure with a strong patience the day of future vengeance, and He also speaks in the Apocalypse, saying: 'Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because now the time is close at hand and those who persevere in doing wrong, let them do wrong, and he who is filthy, let him be filthy still, but let the just man still do more just things, and likewise the holy man, holier things. Behold I come quickly! and My reward is with Me, to render to each according to his works.' Therefore, even the martyrs as they cry out and as they hasten to their punishment in the intensity of their suffering are still ordered to wait and to show patience until the appointed time is fulfilled and the number of martyrs is complete. And He said: 'When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar of God the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for their own testimony and they cried with a loud voice saying: How long, O Lord, Holy and True, dost thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth. And a white stole was given to each of them and they were told to rest for a little while longer until the number of their fellow-servants and brothers, who are to be slain later even as they had been, should be complete.'
But when the divine vengeance for the blood of the just will come, the Holy Spirit declares through the prophet Malachias, saying: 'Behold the day of the Lord comes glowing as a furnace and all the strangers and all the unjust will be as stubble and the coming day shall set them on fire, saith the Lord.' And we read likewise in the psalms, where it is announced that the coming of God the Judge must be venerated because of the majesty of His judgment: 'God our God shall come revealing Himself and He shall not be silent. A fire shall burn before Him and a mighty tempest shall be about Him. He shall call Heaven on high and earth that he may separate His people. Collect for Him His just men, those who place His testimony in sacrifices and the heavens will announce His justice, for God is the Judge.' And Isaias prophesies the same things, saying: 'For behold the Lord will come like a fire and, like a whirlwind, His carriage, to repay vengeance in anger. For in the fire of the Lord they will be judged and by his sword they will be wounded.' And again: 'The Lord God of Hosts shall go forth and shall threaten war; He shall stir up battle and shall cry over his enemies with strength; I have been silent, shall I be silent always?'
But who is He who says that He was silent formerly and will not always be silent? It is surely He who was led as a sheep to the slaughter and who, like a lamb without making a sound before its shearer, did not open His mouth.' Surely it is He who did not cry out and whose voice was not heard in the streets. Surely it is He who was not stubborn and who did not contradict when He offered His back to the scourges and His cheeks to blows and did not turn away His face from their filthy spittle ; He, who when He was accused by the priests and elders, answered nothing and, to the amazement of Pilate, kept a most patient silence. He is the One who, although He was silent in His passion, will not be silent later in the day of reckoning. He is our God, that is, the God not recognized by all but by the faithful and those who believe, and when He comes manifesting Himself in His second coming, He will not be silent. For although He was formerly hidden in humility, He will come manifested in power.
This is the Judge and the Avenger, beloved brethren, that we are to await who, when He revenges Himself, is destined to revenge us, the people of His Church and the number of all the just from the beginning of the world. Let him who hastens and hurries too much to his own revenge consider that He alone who avenges has not yet avenged Himself. (God the Father commanded that His Son be adored and the Apostle Paul, mindful of the divine precept, declares this and says: 'God has exalted Him and has bestowed upon Him that name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus all should bend the knee, of those in heaven, on earth, and of those under the earth'; and) in the Apocalypse, when John wishes to adore him, the Angel resists him and says: 'Thou must not do this because I am a fellow servant of you and of your brothers. Adore Jesus the Lord.' How wonderful then is Jesus our Lord, and what great patience this is that He who is adored in heaven is not yet avenged on earth! Let us think of His patience, beloved brethren, in our persecutions and sufferings. Let us show the full obedience that is inspired by our expectation of His coming, and let us not hasten with the impious and shameless haste of a servant to defend ourselves before the Lord. Let us rather persevere and let us labor, and watchful with all our heart and steadfast even to total resignation, let us guard the precepts of the Lord, so that when the day of wrath and vengeance comes, we may not be punished with the impious and sinners but may be honored with the just and those who fear God.
Chapter 20
And so, beloved brethren, after the benefits of patience and the evils of impatience have been carefully weighed, let us observe fully and maintain the patience through which we abide in Christ and with Christ are able to come to God. That patience, rich and manifold, is not confined within a narrow compass or restrained by bounds of small extent. The virtue of patience extends widely and its wealth and abundance proceed from a source that has indeed a single name, but with its full-flowing streams it is diffused through many glorious courses, and nothing in our actions can avail towards the full realization of merit which does not take the power for its accomplishment from that source. It is patience that both commends us to God and saves us for God. It is that same patience which tempers anger, bridles the tongue, governs the mind, guards peace, rules discipline, breaks the onslaught of lust, suppresses the violence of pride, extinguishes the fire of dissension, restrains the power of the wealthy, renews the endurance of the poor in bearing their lot, guards the blessed integrity of virgins, the difficult chastity of widows, and the indivisible love of husbands and wives. It makes men humble in prosperity, brave in adversity, meek in the face of injuries and insults. It teaches us to pardon our offenders quickly; if you yourself should offend, it teaches you to ask pardon often and with perseverance. It vanquishes temptations, sustains persecutions, endures sufferings and martyrdoms to the end. It is this patience which strongly fortifies the foundations of our faith. It is this patience which sublimely promotes the growth of hope. It directs our action, so that we can keep to the way of Christ while we make progress because of His forbearance. It ensures our perseverance as sons of God while we imitate the patience of the Father.
Chapter 21
And since I know, beloved brethren, that very many, either because of the weight of their pressing injuries or because of resentment toward those who attack them and rage against them, wish to be revenged quickly, I must warn you before I close, that finding ourselves in these storms of a turbulent world and in the midst of the persecutions of the Jews or of the Gentiles or of the heretics, we should patiently await the day of vengeance. We should not hasten to revenge our pain with an angry speed, since it is written: 'Expect Me, saith the Lord, in the day of My resurrection for a testimony, since My judgment is to the congregations of nations that I may receive kings and pour out My anger over them.' The Lord commands us to wait and to endure with a strong patience the day of future vengeance, and He also speaks in the Apocalypse, saying: 'Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because now the time is close at hand and those who persevere in doing wrong, let them do wrong, and he who is filthy, let him be filthy still, but let the just man still do more just things, and likewise the holy man, holier things. Behold I come quickly! and My reward is with Me, to render to each according to his works.' Therefore, even the martyrs as they cry out and as they hasten to their punishment in the intensity of their suffering are still ordered to wait and to show patience until the appointed time is fulfilled and the number of martyrs is complete. And He said: 'When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar of God the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for their own testimony and they cried with a loud voice saying: How long, O Lord, Holy and True, dost thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth. And a white stole was given to each of them and they were told to rest for a little while longer until the number of their fellow-servants and brothers, who are to be slain later even as they had been, should be complete.'
Chapter 22
But when the divine vengeance for the blood of the just will come, the Holy Spirit declares through the prophet Malachias, saying: 'Behold the day of the Lord comes glowing as a furnace and all the strangers and all the unjust will be as stubble and the coming day shall set them on fire, saith the Lord.' And we read likewise in the psalms, where it is announced that the coming of God the Judge must be venerated because of the majesty of His judgment: 'God our God shall come revealing Himself and He shall not be silent. A fire shall burn before Him and a mighty tempest shall be about Him. He shall call Heaven on high and earth that he may separate His people. Collect for Him His just men, those who place His testimony in sacrifices and the heavens will announce His justice, for God is the Judge.' And Isaias prophesies the same things, saying: 'For behold the Lord will come like a fire and, like a whirlwind, His carriage, to repay vengeance in anger. For in the fire of the Lord they will be judged and by his sword they will be wounded.' And again: 'The Lord God of Hosts shall go forth and shall threaten war; He shall stir up battle and shall cry over his enemies with strength; I have been silent, shall I be silent always?'
Chapter 23
But who is He who says that He was silent formerly and will not always be silent? It is surely He who was led as a sheep to the slaughter and who, like a lamb without making a sound before its shearer, did not open His mouth.' Surely it is He who did not cry out and whose voice was not heard in the streets. Surely it is He who was not stubborn and who did not contradict when He offered His back to the scourges and His cheeks to blows and did not turn away His face from their filthy spittle ; He, who when He was accused by the priests and elders, answered nothing and, to the amazement of Pilate, kept a most patient silence. He is the One who, although He was silent in His passion, will not be silent later in the day of reckoning. He is our God, that is, the God not recognized by all but by the faithful and those who believe, and when He comes manifesting Himself in His second coming, He will not be silent. For although He was formerly hidden in humility, He will come manifested in power.
Chapter 24
This is the Judge and the Avenger, beloved brethren, that we are to await who, when He revenges Himself, is destined to revenge us, the people of His Church and the number of all the just from the beginning of the world. Let him who hastens and hurries too much to his own revenge consider that He alone who avenges has not yet avenged Himself. (God the Father commanded that His Son be adored and the Apostle Paul, mindful of the divine precept, declares this and says: 'God has exalted Him and has bestowed upon Him that name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus all should bend the knee, of those in heaven, on earth, and of those under the earth'; and) in the Apocalypse, when John wishes to adore him, the Angel resists him and says: 'Thou must not do this because I am a fellow servant of you and of your brothers. Adore Jesus the Lord.' How wonderful then is Jesus our Lord, and what great patience this is that He who is adored in heaven is not yet avenged on earth! Let us think of His patience, beloved brethren, in our persecutions and sufferings. Let us show the full obedience that is inspired by our expectation of His coming, and let us not hasten with the impious and shameless haste of a servant to defend ourselves before the Lord. Let us rather persevere and let us labor, and watchful with all our heart and steadfast even to total resignation, let us guard the precepts of the Lord, so that when the day of wrath and vengeance comes, we may not be punished with the impious and sinners but may be honored with the just and those who fear God.
Comments