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Fragments on the Catholic Epistles 64.1040 ON THE EPISTLE OF S. JAMES.

CHAPTER ONE.

Count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various trials.

For affliction is an unbreakable bond, an increase of love, a ground for compunction and piety. For hear the one who says, If you come to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation. And Christ again said, In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer. And again, Narrow and afflicted is the way. You see affliction praised everywhere, everywhere accepted as being necessary for us. For if in external contests no one would receive a crown without this, unless he fortifies himself with toils and observance of diet and a lawful regimen and vigils, and countless other things, much more so here. Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.

Having sufficiently exhorted to endure temptations with joy, so that a proven work and perfect patience might come into being; and these are perfected in themselves, and not done for some other reason; by another exhortation he attempts to persuade to accomplish the things set before him; by a promise saying that the one who endures temptation is blessed. For by thus conducting the contest athletically, he will become an approved man, trained in all things. And to him who has thus appeared from gloomy things, a crown of life will be given, prepared by God for those who love him. Thus he who by enduring temptation, despising labors and death itself, will receive the crown of eternal life. You ask, what is the material of which God has prepared a crown of life for those who love him? It is "what God has prepared for those who love him," which, due to the greatness of its divinity, is not subject to sight or hearing, nor has it entered into the mere mind of man. Then desire when it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. For in committing sin, being intoxicated by pleasure, we do not perceive it in this way. But when it is done and comes to an end, then indeed, especially when all the 64.1041 pleasure has been extinguished, the bitter sting of the thought enters, contrary to women in labor. For in their case, before childbirth, there is much toil and sharp pangs cut them with pains; but after the birth, there is relief, as the pain has departed with the infant.

But here it is not so; but for as long as we are in labor and conceive corrupt thoughts, we rejoice and are glad; but when we give birth to the evil child, sin, then seeing the shame of what was born, we are pained, then we are torn apart more grievously than women in labor. Therefore I beseech you, especially not to receive corrupt desire from the beginning; but if we have received it, to choke the seeds within. And if we are negligent even up to this point, to kill the sin that has come forth into action again through confession and tears, through accusing oneself; for nothing is so destructive of sin as accusation and condemnation. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

This is that by which we can be made equal to God, by showing mercy and pity. When therefore we do not have this, we are deprived of everything. He did not say, If you fast, you are like your Father; for none of these things is with God, nor does God do any of these things,

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Fragmenta in epistulas catholicas 64.1040 IN EPISTOLAM S. JACOBI.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΠΡΩΤΟΝ.

Πᾶσαν χαρὰν ἡγήσασθε, ἀδελφοί μου, ὅταν πειρασμοῖς περιπέσητε ποικίλοις.

∆εσμὸς γάρ τίς ἐστιν ἡ θλίψις ἀῤῥαγὴς, ἀγάπης αὔξησις, κατανύξεως καὶ εὐλαβείας ὑπόθεσις. Ἄκουε γὰρ τοῦ λέγοντος, Εἰ προσέρχῃ δουλεύειν τῷ Κυρίῳ, ἑτοίμασον τὴν ψυχήν σου εἰς πειρασμόν. Καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς δὲ πάλιν ἔλεγεν, Ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ θλίψιν ἔχετε· ἀλλὰ θαρσεῖτε. Καὶ πάλιν, Στενὴ καὶ τεθλιμμένη ἡ ὁδός. Ὁρᾷς πανταχοῦ τὴν θλίψιν ἐπαινουμένην, πανταχοῦ παραλαμβανομένην ὡς ἀναγκαίαν οὖσαν ἡμῖν. Εἰ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἔξωθεν ἀγῶσιν οὐδεὶς ἂν ταύτης χωρὶς στέφανον λάβοι, εἰ μὴ καὶ πόνοις καὶ σιτίων παρατηρήσει καὶ νόμου διαίτῃ καὶ ἀγρυπνίαις, καὶ μυρίοις ἑτέροις ἑαυτὸν ὀχυρώσῃ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐνταῦθα. Μακάριος ἀνὴρ ὃς ὑπομένει πειρασμὸν, ὅτι δόκιμος γενόμενος λήψεται τὸν στέφανον τῆς ζωῆς, ὃν ἐπηγγείλατο ὁ Κύριος τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν.

Αὐτάρκως προτρεψάμενος ὑφίστασθαι τοὺς πειρασμοὺς μετὰ χαρᾶς, ἵνα ἐγγένηται δόκιμον ἔργον καὶ ὑπομονὴ τελεία· τελειοῦται δὲ ταῦτα καθ' ἑαυτὰ, καὶ μὴ δι' ἄλλο πραττόμενα· δι' ἑτέρας παραινέσεως πείθειν ἐπιχειρεῖ κατορθοῦν τὰ προκείμενα· δι' ἐπαγγελίαν μακάριον εἶναι λέγων τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑπομένοντα. Γενήσεται γὰρ οὕτως ἀθλητικῶς ἄγων τὸν ἀγῶνα, δόκιμος ἀνὴρ διὰ πάντων γεγυμνασμένος. Οὕτω δὲ ἀναφανέντι ἐκ τῶν σκυθρωπῶν, δοθήσεται στέφανος ζωῆς εὐτρεπισθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῖς αὐτὸν ἀγαπῶσιν. Οὕτως ὁ τῷ ὑπομένειν πειρασμὸν, καταφρονῶν ἐπιπόνων καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ θανάτου, στέφανον τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς ἀπολήψεται. Ζητεῖς, τίς ἡ ὕλη οὖ ἡτοίμασεν ὁ Θεὸς στεφάνου ζωῆς τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν; ἔστιν «ἃ ἡτοίμασεν ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτὸν,» ἃ διὰ μέγεθος θειότητος, ὄψει καὶ ἀκοῇ οὐχ ὑπόκειται, οὐδὲ ἐπὶ ψιλὴν νόησιν ἀνθρώπου ἀναβέβηκεν. Εἶτα ἡ ἐπιθυμία συλλαβοῦσα, τίκτει ἁμαρτίαν· ἡ δὲ ἁμαρτία ἀποτελεσθεῖσα, ἀποκύει θάνατον. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῷ πράττειν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ὑπὸ τῆς ἡδονῆς μεθύοντες, οὐχ οὕτως αἰσθανόμεθα. Ἐπειδὰν δὲ γένηται καὶ λάβῃ τέλος τότε δὴ μάλιστα τῆς 64.1041 ἡδονῆς σβεσθείσης ἁπάσης, τὸ πικρὸν τῆς ἐννοίας ἐπεισέρχεται κέντρον, ἀπεναντίας ταῖς ὠδινούσαις γυναιξίν. Ἐπ' ἐκείνων μὲν γὰρ πρὸ τοῦ τόκου, πολὺς ὁ πόνος καὶ ὠδῖνες δριμεῖαι ἐπικόπτουσι ταῖς ἀλγηδόσιν αὐτάς· μετὰ δὲ τὸν τόκον ἄνεσις, τῷ βρέφει τῆς ὀδύνης συνεξελθούσης.

Ἐνταῦθα δὲ οὐχ οὕτως· ἀλλ' ἕως μὲν ἂν ὠδίνωμεν καὶ συλλαμβάνωμεν τὰ διεφθαρμένα νοήματα, εὐφραινόμεθα καὶ χαίρομεν· ἐπειδὰν δὲ ἀποτέκωμεν τὸ πονηρὸν παιδίον τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, τότε τὸ αἶσχος τοῦ τεχθέντος ἰδόντες, ὀδυνώμεθα, τότε διακοπτόμεθα τῶν ὠδινουσῶν γυναικῶν χαλεπώτερον. ∆ιὸ παρακαλῶ μὴ δέχεσθαι μὲν μάλιστα παρὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐπιθυμίαν διεφθαρμένην· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐδεξάμεθα, ἀποπνίγειν ἔνδον τὰ σπέρματα. Εἰ δὲ καὶ μέχρι τούτου ῥᾳθυμήσωμεν, ἐξελθοῦσαν εἰς ἔργον τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἀποκτεῖναι πάλιν δι' ἐξομολογήσεως καὶ δακρύων, διὰ τοῦ κατηγορεῖν ἑαυτοῦ· οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως ὀλέθριον ἁμαρτίας, ὡς κατηγορία καὶ κατάγνωσις. Θρησκεία καθαρὰ καὶ ἀμίαντος παρὰ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν, ἐπισκέπτεσθαι ὀρφανοὺς καὶ χήρας ἐν τῇ θλίψει αὐτῶν, ἄσπιλον ἑαυτὸν τηρεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ κόσμου.

Τοῦτό ἐστιν, ᾧ ἐξισοῦσθαι δυνάμεθα τῷ Θεῷ τῷ ἐλεεῖν καὶ οἰκτείρειν. Ὅταν οὖν τοῦτο μὴ ἔχωμεν, τοῦ παντὸς ἀπεστερήμεθα. Οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἐὰν νηστεύσητε ὅμοιοί ἐστε τῷ Πατρὶ ὑμῶν· οὐδὲν γὰρ τούτων παρὰ Θεὸν, οὐδὲ ἐργάζεταί τι τούτων ὁ Θεὸς,