St. John Chrysostom on Faith Alone - A.D. 391

"He that believes in the Son has everlasting life" . . "Is it enough, then to believe in the Son," someone will say, "in order to have everlasting life?" By no means! Listen to Christ declare this Himself when He says, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord! Lord!' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven", and the blasphemy against the Spirit is alone sufficient to cast him into hell. But why should I speak of a part of our teaching? For if a man believe rightly in the Father and in the Son and in the Holy Spirit, but does not live rightly, his faith will avail him nothing toward salvation.

[1] St. John Chrysostom. Homilies on the Gospel of John {ca. A.D. 391}. The Faith of the Early Fathers. Volume II. Pg 108. William A. Jurgens

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

"Let us do honor to Christ's baptism and celebrate this feast in holiness. Be cleansed entirely and continue to be cleansed. Nothing gives such pleasure to God as the conversion and salvation of men, for whom His every word and every revelation exists. He wants you to become a living force for all mankind, lights shining in the world. You are to be radiant lights as you stand beside Christ, the great light, bathed in the glory of Him who is the light of heaven. You are to enjoy more and more the pure and dazzling light of the Trinity, as now you have received-though not in its fullness-a ray of its splendor, proceeding from the one God, in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Saint Gregory Nazianzus, Bishop (330-389AD), Oratio 39, "Sancta Lumina," 14-16,20.

Tertullian On the Sanctity of Human Life

Here's a few quotes from Tertullian, an Early Church Father, written sometime between 160-240 A.D.

"For us [Christians] we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter when you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to birth. That is a man which is going to be one: you have the fruit already in the seed." -Apology 9:6

"They [John and Jesus] were both alive while still in the womb. Elizabeth rejoiced as the infant leaped in her womb; Mary glorifies the Lord because Christ within inspired her. Each mother recognizes her child and is known by her child who is alive, being not merely souls but also spirits." -De A ninta 26:4

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"For those who would say that the early Church was silent on the question of abortion, even the few select quotations quoted above from the Church Fathers give witness to the contrary."

[1] Quotations from the early Church Fathers on the Sanctity of Human Life

Saint Augustine On Sins Against Nature

"Sins against nature, such as those of Sodom, are always and everywhere to be abominated and punished. Even if all nations committed them, the law of God would hold them all alike guilty of the same crime; for that law did not make them so that they could use themselves thus; inasmuch as the bond of fellowship which ought to exist between us and God is violated when that nature of which he is the Maker is defiled by lust and perversion. . "

[1] The Confessions. Augustine. Everyman's Library. Book III. 3.8.15

The Church on Abortion (Hint: it has been a little longer than 50 yrs. Ms. Pelosi)

The Didache
"The second commandment of the teaching: You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not seduce boys. You shall not commit fornication. You shall not steal. You shall not practice magic. You shall not use potions. You shall not procure [an] abortion, nor destroy a newborn child" (Didache 2:1–2 [A.D. 70]).

The Letter of Barnabas
"The way of light, then, is as follows. If anyone desires to travel to the appointed place, he must be zealous in his works. The knowledge, therefore, which is given to us for the purpose of walking in this way, is the following. . . . Thou shalt not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shalt thou destroy it after it is born" (Letter of Barnabas 19 [A.D. 74]).

The Apocalypse of Peter
"And near that place I saw another strait place . . . and there sat women. . . . And over against them many children who were born to them out of due time sat crying. And there came forth from them rays of fire and smote the women in the eyes. And these were the accursed who conceived and caused abortion" (The Apocalypse of Peter 25 [A.D. 137]).

Athenagoras
"What man of sound mind, therefore, will affirm, while such is our character, that we are murderers?. . . [W]hen we say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder, and will have to give an account to God for the abortion, on what principle should we commit murder? For it does not belong to the same person to regard the very fetus in the womb as a created being, and therefore an object of God’s care, and when it has passed into life, to kill it; and not to expose an infant, because those who expose them are chargeable with child-murder, and on the other hand, when it has been reared to destroy it" (A Plea for the Christians 35 [A.D. 177]).

Tertullian
"In our case, a murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from the other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in its seed" (Apology 9:8 [A.D. 197])."Among surgeons’ tools there is a certain instrument, which is formed with a nicely-adjusted flexible frame for opening the uterus first of all and keeping it open; it is further furnished with an annular blade, by means of which the limbs [of the child] within the womb are dissected with anxious but unfaltering care; its last appendage being a blunted or covered hook, wherewith the entire fetus is extracted by a violent delivery."There is also [another instrument in the shape of] a copper needle or spike, by which the actual death is managed in this furtive robbery of life: They give it, from its infanticide function, the name of embruosphaktes, [meaning] "the slayer of the infant," which of course was alive. . . ."[The doctors who performed abortions] all knew well enough that a living being had been conceived, and [they] pitied this most luckless infant state, which had first to be put to death, to escape being tortured alive" (The Soul 25 [A.D. 210])."Now we allow that life begins with conception because we contend that the soul also begins from conception; life taking its commencement at the same moment and place that the soul does" (ibid., 27)."The law of Moses, indeed, punishes with due penalties the man who shall cause abortion [Ex. 21:22–24]" (ibid., 37).

Minucius Felix
"There are some [pagan] women who, by drinking medical preparations, extinguish the source of the future man in their very bowels and thus commit a parricide before they bring forth. And these things assuredly come down from the teaching of your [false] gods. . . . To us [Christians] it is not lawful either to see or hear of homicide" (Octavius 30 [A.D. 226]).

Hippolytus
"Women who were reputed to be believers began to take drugs to render themselves sterile, and to bind themselves tightly so as to expel what was being conceived, since they would not, on account of relatives and excess wealth, want to have a child by a slave or by any insignificant person. See, then, into what great impiety that lawless one has proceeded, by teaching adultery and murder at the same time!" (Refutation of All Heresies [A.D. 228]).

Council of Ancyra in AD 341
"Concerning women who commit fornication, and destroy that which they have conceived, or who are employed in making drugs for abortion, a former decree excluded them until the hour of death, and to this some have assented. Nevertheless, being desirous to use somewhat greater lenity, we have ordained that they fulfill ten years [of penance], according to the prescribed degrees" (canon 21 [A.D. 314]).

Basil the Great
"Let her that procures abortion undergo ten years’ penance, whether the embryo were perfectly formed, or not" (First Canonical Letter, canon 2 [A.D. 374])."He that kills another with a sword, or hurls an axe at his own wife and kills her, is guilty of willful murder; not he who throws a stone at a dog, and unintentionally kills a man, or who corrects one with a rod, or scourge, in order to reform him, or who kills a man in his own defense, when he only designed to hurt him. But the man, or woman, is a murderer that gives a philtrum, if the man that takes it dies upon it; so are they who take medicines to procure abortion; and so are they who kill on the highway, and rapparees" (ibid., canon 8).

John Chrysostom
"Wherefore I beseech you, flee fornication. . . . Why sow where the ground makes it its care to destroy the fruit?—where there are many efforts at abortion?—where there is murder before the birth? For even the harlot you do not let continue a mere harlot, but make her a murderess also. You see how drunkenness leads to prostitution, prostitution to adultery, adultery to murder; or rather to a something even worse than murder. For I have no name to give it, since it does not take off the thing born, but prevents its being born. Why then do thou abuse the gift of God, and fight with his laws, and follow after what is a curse as if a blessing, and make the chamber of procreation a chamber for murder, and arm the woman that was given for childbearing unto slaughter? For with a view to drawing more money by being agreeable and an object of longing to her lovers, even this she is not backward to do, so heaping upon thy head a great pile of fire. For even if the daring deed be hers, yet the causing of it is thine" (Homilies on Romans 24 [A.D. 391]).

Jerome
"I cannot bring myself to speak of the many virgins who daily fall and are lost to the bosom of the Church, their mother. . . . Some go so far as to take potions, that they may insure barrenness, and thus murder human beings almost before their conception. Some, when they find themselves with child through their sin, use drugs to procure abortion, and when, as often happens, they die with their offspring, they enter the lower world laden with the guilt not only of adultery against Christ but also of suicide and child murder" (Letters 22:13 [A.D. 396]).

The Apostolic Constitutions
"Thou shalt not use magic. Thou shalt not use witchcraft; for he says, ‘You shall not suffer a witch to live’ [Ex. 22:18]. Thou shall not slay thy child by causing abortion, nor kill that which is begotten. . . . [I]f it be slain, [it] shall be avenged, as being unjustly destroyed" (Apostolic Constitutions 7:3 [A.D. 400]).

Thanks to Taylor Marshall for compiling this list from Catholic Answers.

St. Augustine on Sin

There was very little that the mind of St. Augustine did not touch upon during his career as bishop of Hippo. Indeed Augustine had an intimate knowledge not only of the actions and results of sin, but of the motivations that were behind a sin. His approach of always being more patient and forgiving toward the sinner is all that much more remarkable.

Fr. John Vidmar shares with us some of St. Augustine’s thoughts on sin:

“No one, perhaps, understood the psychology of sin better than St. Augustine. He knew intimately the forces that played on people and the need to have compassion on the sinner. Hence, he instinctively hesitated to condemn those who did not measure up. He wrote: “Many sins are committed through pride, but not all happen proudly . . . They happen so often by ignorance, by human weakness; many are committed by men weeping and groaning in their distress.”

This sympathy for the sinner presented the church with a legacy of Christian forgiveness and a greater awareness of its mission in distinguishing hatred for sin from love for the sinner. Had St. Augustine done nothing else, this alone would have earned him the gratitude of future generations.”

[1] Father John Vidmar, OP. The Catholic Church Through the Ages. History. P. 72

The Donatist Controversy

A few months ago, while browsing through our local library (specifically in the theology section), an elder man happened to approach me to discuss a little about my religious background. As soon as I advised him that I was Catholic, you could easily tell that our discussion began to, ‘pick up.’ Of course, The Pope was brought up, then questions about Mary arose, however, these were nothing new to me. It wasn't until he brought up a concern about the Sacraments, specifically the Eucharist, that I felt unprepared. His concern about the Eucharist wasn’t about transfiguration and the Real Presence, but about those who administer the Sacrament and whether or not a notorious sinner could validly administer the sacraments. This man informed me that, according to scripture, only those that are pure and free from sin are eligible to administer the sacraments, and that all the other sacraments that are being administered by everybody else, are tainted.

Now I have to be honest, I didn’t have an answer for him that day. In fact, I didn’t have an answer at all until last week. But I did find someone who did have an answer for him. And he happens to be one of my favorite early church fathers, St. Augustine. One of the greatest theologians who ever lived had an answer for him sixteen hundred years ago! This issue was known early in the 3rd Century as Donatism, and Augustine had just a few words to say about it. .

“Augustine saw the danger of elitism in this (Donatism), . . Augustine taught that the church is holy, not because its members are holy but because its founder and its purposes are holy. Sacraments are valid because of their inner purity and sanctity, not because of the sanctity of the Minster. Thus baptism, if administered according to the proper form and intention (however minimal that intention might be), is valid whether the minister is “worthy” or not. Its is not Peter who baptizes, it is Christ. Sacraments, as a result, are available to all, and not merely to an elect group.”

[1] The Catholic Church Through the Ages. John Vidmar, OP. Paulist Press. pg. 69-70

Four Witnesses

As I begin to wrap up Rod Bennett’s historical work on our early Church Fathers, I have to admit how amazing it is to read through the writings and experiences of these four courageous men. Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus of Lyon, also referred to as the, “Four Witnesses” enlightened me with knowledge and truth that I have been searching for in my studies of the early church.

When I speak of the early church, I’m going beyond the 15th century (where most people believe is a good place to start), I’m talking about the 1st and 2nd century early church. These Four Witnesses do not have a single word in their writings later than A.D. 200. They fill ‘the gap’ between apostolic and post apostolic Christianity. For example, Bennett’s work provides five certified epistles of Ignatius, all of them composed in or about A.D 107, which date them to within a decade of the close of the Apostolic age.

Their writings are clear, plain, and substantive instruction about what the early Church actually believed, and much of it on major topics that have become hopelessly controversial in our time. These four witnesses were not a bit shy about interpreting the Holy Scriptures written so recently by the Apostles in whose steps they followed. They interpreted them vigorously, boldly, and with authority!

We have to ask those who want to interpret scripture on their own, what are you to do when you get into a theological disagreement with the four men who got their bible training more or less directly from the Apostles? Turn to those writers in the 15th century, because their knowledge is much more advanced than those in the 1st century? Or turn to the 20th century, where you have hundreds of different yet ‘validated’ sources of information from the Internet or other modern day theological writers, including yourself?

I guess what it comes down to is, Who’s to say? Is there ever going to be any certainty anywhere in matters of faith? Is there any evidence that such an answer was given? Well, the early Christians believed there was. Cyprian of Carthage A.D. 251, a bishop and martyr in Africa, summarizes the ancient understanding of the Church in a few elegant words:

The Lord says to Peter: “I say to you,” He says, “that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. And to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever things you bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth, they shall be loosed also in heaven” [Mt16:18 – 19]. And again he says to him after His resurrection: “Feed my sheep” [Jn 21:17]. On him He builds the Church, and to him He gives the command to feed the sheep; and although He assigns a like power to all the Apostles, yet He founded a single chair, and He established by His own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were that also what Peter was; but a primacy is given to Peter, whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair. So too, all are shepherds, and the flock is shown to be one, fed by all the Apostles in single-minded accord. If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds that faith? If he desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?

There are many others writings of these four witnesses that I would love to have shared with you. I can only recommend that you pick up a copy of Bennet’s, Four Witnesses, so that you can experience and live for a while, in the Church’s holiest and most Spirit-filled age.

[1] Four Witnesses. Rod Bennett. Publisher: Ignatius

Justin Martyr: A Letter of Defense

A.D. 153, Justin Martyr, often referred to as our first Christian Apologist, believed that it was time for him to prepare a letter for the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. Of course, an interview would be his death sentence, so Justin decided to pick up his pen, and prepare one of his greatest works for the emperor. His letter would set the record straight about Christians, and refute all the slanders and lies of Christianity. This letter would assure the emperor that he had nothing to fear from the followers of Jesus and appealing for peace. Of course, Justin knew it was a long shot, he didn’t really imagine that anything might actually change in response. But of course, that’s our flesh that speaks that way, not the Spirit. Is not our God still the God of miracles, who holds the hearts of kings in His hand?

And so, sometime in A.D. 153, Justin Martyr composed the work that is known to us today as his Apologia – his First Apology. Now, I’m not going to share the entire letter with you, but I want to share Justin’s account on the ordinary weekly meetings among Christians. So enjoy his letter, and don’t be surprised if some of you find it very, very familiar. :)

Justin Martyr to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. A.D. 153

“And on the day called Sunday all who live in cities or in the country gather together in one place, and the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits. .

Then when the reader has finished, the Ruler (of the Brethren) in a discourse instructs and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all stand up together and offer prayers. .

Then there is brought to the Ruler of the Brethren bread and a cup of water and (a cup of) wine mixed with water, and he taking them sends up praise and glory to the Father of the Universe through the name of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and offers thanksgiving at some length for our being accounted worthy to receive these things for Him.”

How familiar is this to some of us! Notice that the Gospels are still new enough to be referred to, rather charmingly, as “the memoirs of the Apostles,” and that even the Old Testament books are still a loose collection of sacred scrolls. Even though, the final authoritative Christian Bible will not before formed for nearly 250 more years. (remember this is A.D. 153). Nevertheless, the Scriptures still play a vital part here in Justin’s Church, and of course, ours.