CONTRA FATUM

"There is no limit prescribed for helping one's fellow-men so that the more boorish mean are excluded just like the irrational animals. No. Our Maker created us to be equally helpful to all men." (Con. Cel. VIII,50)

"[...]because of his exceeding love towards man he was able to give the educated a conception of God which could raise their soul from earthly things, and nevertheless came down to the level even of the more defective capacities of ordinary men and simple women and slaves, and, in general, of people who have been helped by none but by Jesus alone to live a better life, so far as they can, and to accept doctrines about God such as they had the capacity to receive." (Con. Cel. VII,41)

"We have argued before in a certain way, and now we shall do so again, that the goal of the virtuous life is likeness to the Divinity. And yet that which is passionless and undefiled totally eludes imitation by human beings. It is quite impossible for the existence which is subject to passion to be assimilated to the nature which admits no passions. But if the Divinity 'alone' is 'blessed', as the Apostle puts it (1Tim 6,15), and sharing in beatitude belongs to human beings through their likeness to the Divinity, and imitation is not possible, then blessedness is for human life unattainable. Nevertheless there are some features of godhead which those who wish to may take as models to imitate. What are they? The Word seems to me to be using the words 'poor in spirit' to mean 'voluntary humility'. The model for this is indicated by the Apostle when he speaks of the humility of God, 'who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, so that w...

“They stay no longer within the bounds of human nature, but assume divine power and authority. They believe they have sovereignty over life and death because to some of those who are judged by them they give sentence of acquital, while others they condemn to death; and they do not even consider who is truly the sovereign of human life and determines both the beginning of existence and its end. Nevertheless this alone should have been enough to restrain vain conceit, the sight of many rulers even during the performance of their reign snatched from their very thrones and carried out to their graves, and for them lamentation has replaced the cries of the heralds. How then can he be sovereign over life which does not belong to him, when his own does not belong to him? Even that person, therefore, if he becomes poor in spirit, looking to the one who willingly became poor because of us, and observing the equal respect we owe to members of our race, will not inflict injury on those who share ...

"It is better for a man to be silent and be [a Christian], than to talk and not to be one. It is good to teach, if he who speaks also acts. There is then one Teacher, who spake and it was done; while even those things which He did in silence are worthy of the Father. He who possesses the word of Jesus, is truly able to hear even His very silence, that he may be perfect, and may both act as he speaks, and be recognised by his silence." (Ignatius, Epistle to the Ephesians, short version, ANF I, ch. XV, p. 93)

” Having noted in the aforementioned psalm (4,8), therefore, that the goal (τέλος) of virtue is peace, rest, and the abode which is simple and unmingled with the passions, which is attained on the basis of the hope of participating in God ( τοῦ θεοῦ μετουσίας) , that which is contrary to this was pointed out there by means of silence .” (In Ins., GNO 36-37)

"Now we declare that Virginity is man's ''fellow-worker'' and helper in the achieving the aim of this lofty passion. In other sciences men have devised certain practical methods for cultivating the particular subject; and so, I take it, virginity is the practical method in the science of the Divine life, furnishing men with the power of assimilating themselves with spiritual natures." (De Vir., NPNF, p. 550)

“[...]a man who eliminates such a disease from man's life and unites the members of the same race by peace and goodwill, truly performs a work of Divine power; for he banishes the evils of human nature and introduces instead a share in what is good.” (Beat. p. 164)

“[...]a person who prevents such disgrace may truly be called blessed and should be honoured for such beneficial action. For if someone who has relieved a man from some physical ailment is honoured for his good deed, how much more should every sensible person consider a benefactor him who has freed the soul from this disease?” (Beat. pp. 161-162)

"If, therefore, someone puts on the name of Christ, but does not exhibit in his life what is indicated by the term, such a person belies the name and puts on a lifeless mask in accordance with the model proposed to us. For it is not possible for Christ not to be justice and purity and truth and estrangement from all evil, nor is it possible to be a Christian (that is, truly a Christian) without displaying in oneself a participation in these virtues. If one can give a definition of Christianity, we shall define it as follows: Christianity is an imitation of the divine nature." (Prof., Jaeger 133.15-20, tr. Callahan)

"The things which are first and those which are last have been arranged sequentially according to the logic (λόγος) of virtue, and the order is not subject to the material occurence of the events." (On the Inscriptions of the Psalms, p. 193, GNO 151)

"[...]after the grace bestowed we are called His children. And therefore we ought narrowly to scrutinize our Father's characteristics, that by fashioning and framing ourselves to the likeness of our Father, we may appear true children of Him Who calls us to the adoption according to grace." (On the Baptism of Christ, NPNF, pp. 523-524)

"[...]there is certainly need of some manifest proof, by which we may recognize the new-born man, discerning by clear tokens the new from the old. And these I think are to be found in the intentional motions of the soul, whereby it separates itself from its old customary life, and enters on a newer way of conversation, and will clearly teach those acquainted with it that it has become something different from its former self, bearing in it no token by which the old self was recognized. This, if you be persuaded by me, and keep my words as a law, is the mode of transformation. The man that was before Baptism was wanton, covetous, grasping at the goods of others, a reviler, a liar, a slanderer and all the is kindred with these things, and consequent from them. Let him now become orderly, sober, content with his own possesions, and imparting from them to those in poverty, truthful, courteous, affable-in a word, following every laudable course of conduct. For as darkness is dispelled ...

“At horse races the spectators intent on victory shout to their favorites in the contest, even though the horses are eager to run. […] They do this not because their actions themselves contribute anything to the victory; but in this way, by their good will, they eagerly show in voice and deed their concern for the contestants.” (Gregory, Life of Moses, p. 29)

"The fact that ethics constitutes a problem reminds us that the object about which we are conversing has no objectivity, that is to say, it is not a concrete world existing above or behind our world; it is not a treasury of our spiritual experiences; it is not even some transcendental vastness: for we are not metaphysicians. Our conversation is about men living in the world of nature and of civilization; and, moreover, we ourselves are also men living of necessity from minute to minute a quite concrete life." (Barth, Epistle to the Romans, p. 424)

“Many, however, slide into the very opposite kind of excess, and unconsciously to themselves, in their over-preciseness, laboriously thwart their own design; they let soul fall down the other side from the heights of Divine elevation to the level of dull thoughts and occupations, where their minds are so bent upon regulations which merely affect the body, that they can no longer walk in their heavenly freedom and gaze above; their only inclination is to this tormenting and afflicting of the flesh.” (De Vir., NPNF, p. 367)

"[...]some who devote their mind to the speculative and contemplative philosophy of reality establish a virtue which is unclear to the majority, since they confine the good to their own conscience. But the moral character of life is zealously perfected at the same time by others. These make the rhythmical order of their life known publicly, as if it were a verbal statement, by their decorum concerning the visible world." (On the Inscriptions of the Psalms, GNO 76, p. 130)

"Moses was already the kind of person who no longer needed to be led by law, but could himself become the author of a law for others." (On the Inscriptions of the Psalms, p. 101)

"The man who avoid both meanness and prodigality will by this shunning of extremes form the moral habit of liberality ( ἐλευθερίαν) ; for liberality is the thing which is neither inclined to spend at random vast useless sums, nor yet to be closely calculating in necessary expenses." (On Virginity, TLG 7,2,13, NPNF, p. 352)

“[...]the Life of Virginity seems to be an actual representation of the blessedness in the world to come, showing as it does in itself so many signs of the presence of those expected blessings which are reserved for us there.” (De Vir. XIII, p. 360)