On His Brother, St. Caesarius, translated by Leo P
ON HIS BROTHER, ST. CAESARIUS
erhaps you think, my friends and brethren and parents, who are dear to me in fact as well as in name, that I eagerly undertake this address, that I intend to pour forth lamentations and dirges for the deceased or to deliver a lengthy and elegant discourse such as delights most men. Some of you are prepared to grieve and lament with me, to bewail your own sorrows in my sorrow—if any of you have been similarly afflicted—and to learn how to grieve through the sorrows of a friend; but others have come to indulge their ears and be entertained. These think we ought to make this sad event an occasion for display, as we once used to do when we abounded in material wealth and sought honor in public speaking. But that was before we raised our eyes to the true and highest Word, and, in giving all to God from whom all comes, received God in place of all. Please do not entertain this view of us if you wish to regard us rightly.
We shall not lament the departed more than is proper, since we do not approve of such excess in others, and we shall not bestow immoderate and unmerited praise. Yet, for an orator, a speech, and for one who particularly loved my speeches, a eulogy would be, if anything would, a dear and most personal gift. Nor would it be a gift only, but the most
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just of all obligations. But in our tears and admiration we must observe the law concerning such matters, and this is in full accord with our philosophy:1 'The memory of the just is with praises,'2 and 'Shed tears,' he says, 'over the dead, and begin to lament as if thou hadst suffered some great harm,'3 thus separating us equally from insensibility and im moderation. Afterwards we shall show the weakness of human nature, and recall the worth of the soul, and offer the con solation due the mourners, and turn their grief from the flesh and temporal concerns to the things which are spiritual and eternal.
(2) Caesarius had for parents, to begin at the most fitting point, those whom you all know. Seeing and hearing of their excellent character, you emulate and admire it, and describe it to those who do not know it—if there are such—each taking a different phase, since no one individual could do so completely. It is not a task for a single tongue, however devoted and zealous one may be. Although they furnish many important topics for eulogy—I trust I do not seem excessive in honoring my own family—there is one characteristic which is most important of all and, as it were, their chief distinction, namely, their piety. I call them holy and venerable, and not less revered for virtue than for age, whose bodies are worn by time, but whose souls grow young for God.
(3) Our father was well engrafted from the wild olive into the cultivated olive, and so much did he share its richness that the engrafting of others and the care of souls was entrusted to him. Holding high office, and in a becoming manner, he presided over his people, a second Aaron or Moses, considered worthy to draw near to God and impart
1 The term 'philosophy' (and its derivatives) is frequently employed in patristic Greek, as here, to designate the life of Christian perfection, with emphasis on ascetical practices and contemplation.
2 Prov. 10.7.
3 Eccli. 38.16.
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the divine voice to those standing far off. He was gentle, not given to anger, of calm mien, warm in spirit, rich in externals, but richer still in what is hidden from the eye. Why should I describe one whom you know? Even if I should make an extended speech, I could not do justice to the subject and give an account satisfactory to the knowledge and demands of each of you. It will be better to allow your own thoughts scope than by my speech to mutilate the object of your admiration.
(4) Our mother, from the beginning and by virtue of des cent, consecrated to God and receiving piety as a necessary heritage not for herself alone, but also for her children, was truly a holy lump from the holy first fruits of the dough. She so far increased and augmented it that some have expressed their belief—the assertion is bold, but I will make it—that not even her husband's perfection was any other's work than hers. And how wonderful it is that a greater and more per fect piety was bestowed as the reward of piety! Both were lovers of their children and of Christ. Yet it is a striking paradox that they were more devoted lovers of Christ than of their children. Their sole enjoyment in their children was that they be known as Christ's and called His. Their single definition of good children comprised virtue and kinship with the Chief Good. Compassionate and sympathetic, they rescued much treasure from moths and brigands and from the prince of this world, transferring it from their place of exile to their homeland, and storing up the glory of heaven for their children as their greatest inheritance. Thus they have anticipated a fruitful old age, equally honored for virtue and for years, full of days, both of those that abide and those that pass away. Neither has obtained first prize here on earth, only because each is kept from first place by the other. They have filled the measure of all happiness, with the exception of this final trial, or dispensation, whichever one thinks we ought to
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call it. In my judgment, it is a dispensation, for now they have sent before them that son of theirs most in danger on the score of age. They may thus end their life in security and be brought to heaven with all their family.
(5) I did not mention these points because of a desire to eulogize them or because I am unaware that one could scarcely approach their worth though he devoted an entire discourse to their praise. My purpose was to show that Caesarius owed his virtue to his parents. It should be no cause for marvel or incredulity if the son of such parents made himself worthy of such praise, but it would be indeed if he neglected the examples of his own relatives and looked to others. His early life was proper to those of good birth and fair prospects. To be brief about his obvious qualities, his beauty and stature, his manifold grace, and his equability as shown in his voice, since we do not marvel at such gifts, how ever important they seem to others, I shall now proceed in my address to matters which it would be difficult to omit even if one wished to do so.
(6) While such was the character of our rearing and edu cation at home, we were also thoroughly trained in the studies available in this city. In these he greatly excelled the majority in quickness and scope of talent. How am I, without tears, to pass over these memories and to escape being convicted by my grief—contrary to my promise—of being unphilosophical?
When the time came for leaving home, we were then first separated from each other. I devoted myself to the study of rhetoric in the schools of Palestine then flourishing, while he went to Alexandria, both then and now, truly and by reputation, a workshop of all kinds of learning.
What am I to mention as first or greatest of his merits?
Or by what omission shall I do least damage to my pre sentation? Who was more faithful to his teachers than he?
Who more friendly to his comrades? Who better avoided
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evil companionship and association? Who devoted himself more to that of men of high character, those most renowned and distinguished from his own and from other countries?
He knew well that these associations have an important bearing on virtue or vice. Wherefore, who was in greater honor with those in authority than he? Who in the entire city—though all individuals suffer obscurity because of its size—was more distinguished for moderation or more re nowned for understanding?
(7) What field of learning was there that he did not pen etrate, and that better than any one else as his specialty?
Whom did he allow even to approach him, not only of his own circle and of his own age, but even of his elders and those longer engaged in their studies? He applied himself to all sub jects as if they were but one, and to each as if there were no other. He overcame the naturally quick by industry, the ha bitually studious by mental acuteness; rather, he surpassed the quick in quickness, the industrious in industry, and on both scores those outstanding in both.
From geometry and astronomy, that branch of learning so dangerous for others, he selected what was useful, that is, from the harmony and order of heavenly bodies he learnt admiration for the Creator. Yet, what was harmful he avoided. He did not attribute all being and becoming to the motion of the stars, as do those who set up their fellow servant, creation, in opposition to their Creator. But he referred, as is reasonable, their motion, as all other things, to God. In arithmetic and mathematics, and in the marvelous art of medicine, which deals with constitutions and temperaments and the causes of diseases, so that, by the removal of the roots, their growths also may be cut off, who is so ignorant or contentious as to give him second place and not to be glad to be counted next after him and to carry away second prize?
Nor is my statement unsubstantiated, but the regions of the
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East and West, and wherever he afterwards visited, are signal monuments of his learning.
(8) When he had gathered all virtue and knowledge into his single soul, as a great merchant ship gathers all kinds of freight, he set out for his own city to share with others the fine wares of his learning. There, something quite remarkable occurred which is a special pleasure for me to recall, and, if briefly told, may not displease you. It was the maternal and loving prayer of our mother that, as she had sent off both of us, she would see us return together. The pair of us seemed, if not to others, at least to our mother, worthy of her prayers and glances when seen together, though we are now unfortunately separated. And so, through the will of God, who hears a just prayer and honors the love of parents for virtuous children, one of us from Alexandria, the other from Greece, one by land, the other by sea, returned by no forethought or agree ment at the same time to the same city. The city was
Byzantium, now the capital city of Europe. Here Caesarius soon after gained such fame that public honors, a distinguished marriage, and a seat in the Senate were offered him. A deputation was sent by public decree to the great emperor to petition that the leading city be adorned and honored with the leading scholar, if he had any concern that the city should really be first and worthy of its name, and that this distinction be added to all its others, namely, that it be embellished with Caesarius as physician and citizen, however flourishing it al ready was in all its other brilliance through its distinguished men in philosophy and other fields of learning.
But let this suffice. That occurrence seemed to others a mere blind and uncaused chance event, of which there are many examples in our lives, but to lovers of God it was very evidently nothing else than the work of God-loving parents gathering home their children from land and sea in fulfillment of their prayer.
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(9) Let us not pass over this illustration of Caesarius' vir tues, which may perhaps seem slight to others and unworthy of mention, but seemed to me then and now very important—if, indeed, fraternal love is praiseworthy. I shall not cease to place it in the first rank as often as I discuss his qualities.
The city wished to retain him by the honors I mentioned and refused to release him for any reason. Since I had great influence with Caesarius in all matters, I succeeded, taking the opposite view, in bringing about the fulfillment of our parents' prayer, our country's need, and my own desire. I took him as the associate and companion of my journey, and he preferred me not only to cities and peoples, and to honors and income, which were flowing to him in profusion from many sources or were to be expected, but almost to the emperor himself and his commands from the capital.
Thereafter I determined to devote myself to philosophy and to adapt myself to the higher life, shaking off all ambition like some hard master and severe disease. Or, rather, the desire was earlier; the life, later. Caesarius, however, offered the first fruits of his learning to his country and was admired in a manner worthy of his labors. But afterwards a desire of glory and of being a guardian of the city, as he persuaded me, took him to the court. This was not entirely pleasing to us and contrary to expectation—for I will declare to you that the least place with God seems better and more exalted than the first rank with an earthly king—but not at all blameworthy. For, as philosophy is the most important, it is likewise the most difficult of vocations. It is not an under taking for the majority nor for any others except those called by the divine magnanimity, which gives its hand to those who have made a worthy choice. But it is no slight thing if a man who has embraced the second kind of life should lay claim to goodness and have greater esteem for God and his salvation than for earthly glory, and should set this before him as a
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stage or a sort of mask of many transient things in acting out the drama of this world, but should personally be living for God with that image which he knows he has received from Him and owes to Him as the giver. That, without question, was the purpose of Caesarius.
(10) He easily obtained the first rank among physicians.
He merely revealed his learning, or, rather, a brief indication of his learning. Immediately he was numbered among the friends of the emperor and enjoyed the greatest honors. To those in power he offered the service of his art without charge.
He knew that nothing can advance a man as can virtue and the reputation for noble actions. He far surpassed in reputation those to whom he was inferior in rank. Because he was beloved by all for his moderation, he was entrusted by them with what is most precious. He had no need of Hippocrates to administer the oath to him, and the simplicity of Crates was as nothing compared to his. To all he was more venerable than his rank warranted, being considered always worthy of his present great honors and judged worthy of greater honors to come. This was the view of the emperors themselves and of those who held positions next to them. The greatest marvel is that neither his fame nor the luxury surrounding him cor rupted the nobility of his soul. Although he possessed many important honors, his own first claim to dignity consisted in being and being known as a Christian. All else, compared with this one fact, was for him mere childish games and trifles. All else was like parts played before others as on a stage quickly set up and dismantled, perhaps more easily destroyed than erected, as may be seen from the many vicissitudes of life and the rise and fall of prosperity. Piety alone is a per sonal good and truly abiding.
(11) This was Caesarius' philosophy, even in the courtier's cloak. In these thoughts he lived and died, showing and offering to God in the hidden man greater piety than ap-
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peared in public. If need be, I shall omit all else, his succor of relatives in adversity, his disdain of vanity, his equality with friends, his boldness with rulers, his contests and discussions in behalf of truth in which he engaged with many, not only in the dialectic manner, but also with unusual piety and fervor.
One fact, and that the best known, I shall tell in place of all these.
The emperor4 of evil name was raging against us, and, having first become maddened against himself through his rejection of faith in Christ, was already unbearable to others, also. Unlike the other fighters against Christ, he did not proclaim himself arrogantly for impiety, but concealed his persecution under the fiction of reasonableness, and, in the manner of the crooked serpent who possessed his soul, by all kind of machinations drew his unhappy victims into his own abyss. His first device and trick, in order to deprive us of honor in the contests—for that noble and magnanimous man begrudged even this to Christians—was to cause those suf fering as Christians to be punished as criminals. The second was to give the name of persuasion, not tyranny, to this process, that there might be greater shame than danger in volved for those who voluntarily yielded to impiety. Seducing some by bribes, some by dignities, some by promises, others by all kinds of honors which he did not confer in a royal but in a very slavish manner, in the sight of all, and alluring all by the witchery of his words and his own example, he made trial, after many others, of Caesarius himself. Alas for this madness and folly if he hoped to take Caesarius, a man such as he was, my brother and the son of these parents, for his prey!
(12) But to delay a little in my speech and to enjoy the narration, as the spectators at the marvelous happening, that noble warrior, fortified by the sign of Christ, and defending himself with His great Word, advanced upon a man expe4 Julian the Apostate.
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rienced in arms and formidable in his skill of argumentation.
Caesarius was not terrified at the sight, nor did he give any ground because of the flattery of his pride. He was an athlete ready to contend in word and deed against a contestant who was capable in both. Such was the stadium, and such the con tender for piety. And masters of the contest were present: on one side Christ, arming His athlete with His own sufferings; on the other the dread tyrant, fawning upon him by the familiarity of his words and terrifying him by the weight of his power. The spectators on both sides, those who yet remained on the side of piety and those he had snatched from it, also were looking down to see how the contest inclined and who would conquer, and were in greater anxiety than they upon whom they gazed.
(13) Did you not fear for Caesarius that something un worthy of his zeal might befall him? Take heart. Victory is with Christ who overcame the world.5 I should like above all, you may be sure, to present each single point of what was stated and proposed at the time—the discussion had some logical turns and niceties which are most pleasant to remem ber—but this would be wholly outside the scope of this oc casion and this discourse. When Caesarius had foiled all his verbal subtleties and every hidden and open attempt, pushing them aside as child's play, he proclaimed in a loud and clear voice that he was a Christian and would so remain. Not even then was he finally dismissed. A strange desire possessed the emperor to be associated in and adorned with Caesarius' learning. On that same occasion he even uttered his famous cry in the hearing of all: 'O fortunate father, O unfortunate children!' For he deemed it proper to honor me also with as sociation in dishonor, since he had known our learning and piety at Athens. Preserved for a second entrance into the im perial court, since justice fitly armed the emperor against the 5 Cf. John 16.33.
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Persians, Caesarius returned to us a blessed exile, an unbloody victor, more renowned for his dishonor than for his glory.
(14) I judge this victory far more exalted and precious than the emperor's powerful hand and exalted purple robe and costly diadem. I am more uplifted by this narrative than if he had shared the entire empire with him. Accordingly, he lived in retirement during those evil times, and he did so according to our law. This bids us, when the occasion demands, to dare danger for the truth and not to betray piety through cow ardice, but also, as long as it is licit, not to challenge dangers,6 either through fear for our own souls or to spare those bringing danger upon us. When the gloom was dispelled, and a foreign land had delivered just judgment, and the glittering sword had overthrown the reprobate, and power had returned to Christians, why need I tell you with what glory and honor, or with what noble and numerous testimonies, and, as one be stowing rather than receiving a favor, he was again welcomed at court and his second honor succeeded his first? Time changed emperors, but Caesarius' reputation and primacy of place with them were untouched. The emperors were in rivalry as to which should have greater claim to Caesarius and deserve more to be known as his intimate friend. Such was Caesarius' piety, and such were the rewards of his piety. Let youths and men hear of it and let them press forward through the same virtue to the same distinction. 'For the fruit of good labors is glorious.'7 Let them seek this zealously and consider it a part of true happiness.
(15) But there is another marvel concerning him which affords the strongest evidence of his parents' piety and his own.
He was living in Bithynia, holding an office of great import ance from the emperor, for he was controller of the imperial revenue and in charge of the treasury. The emperor intended
6 Cf. Matt. 10.23.
7 Wisd. 3.15.
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this position to be a prelude to higher offices for him. When the recent earthquake occurred at Nicaea—and it is said to have been the worst ever recalled—it overwhelmed almost all the inhabitants and, along with them, destroyed the beauty of the city. He alone of the distinguished men, or together with very few, was saved from danger, sheltered in unbelievable safety by the falling ruins and suffering almost no ill effects from his peril. Yet it was enough to make him take fear as his teacher and guide to a more important salvation, and to de vote himself entirely to his heavenly destiny. He shifted his ser vice from transitory things and changed courts for his true ad vantage. This, then, was his intention and earnest prayer, as he persuaded me in his letters, when I had seized the occasion for an admonition. I had often admonished him before, when
I was angered that his nobility of nature should be devoted to inferior pursuits and his philosophic soul should be continually immersed in public affairs even as the sun is hidden by a cloud.
Although he survived the earthquake, he was not immune to disease, for he was human. His escape was peculiar to him self, his death common to others; the former was a sign of his piety, the latter of his nature. Moreover, consolation preceded our grief, so that, though shaken by his death, we might re joice iri the marvel of his former preservation. And now the noble Caesarius has been brought safely to us. His precious dust, his corpse, extolled with praise, has been sent home with hymns upon hymns, escorted to the altars of the martyrs and honored by the holy hands of his parents. His mother, clad in a bright robe, substitutes piety for sorrow, her tears subdued by philosophy, her lamentations quieted by the singing of psalms. He himself enjoys the rewards worthy of his newly made soul which the Spirit transformed by water.
(16) This, Caesarius, is my funeral offering to you. These are the first fruits of my oratory. You who often complained of
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its concealment were destined to uncover it through its ap plication to yourself. This is your adornment at my hands, and it is to you, I well know, the dearest of all adornments. It is not the soft flowing folds of silk, in which, even while alive, you did not delight after the manner of most men, since you were adorned with virtue alone; nor woven robes of trans parent linen, nor outpourings of costly perfumes with their fragrance lasting but a single day, which you had long since left to the women's apartments, nor any other trifles or things valued by triflers, all of which this bitter stone would have concealed today along with your beautiful body. Away with pagan games and fables, whereby ill-fated youths are honored, garnering petty prizes from petty contests! Away with liba tions and first fruits and garlands and freshly plucked flowers, with which they honor the departed, following ancestral law and unreasoning grief rather than reason! My gift is a speech.
Perhaps even future time will keep it, and it will continue to live and will not suffer the departed to be utterly gone, but will ever preserve our honored brother in men's ears and souls, setting forth more clearly than pictures the image of our be loved.
(17) Such, then, is our offering. If it is slight and less than his worth, yet what is according to our powers is pleasing to God. We have paid some of the debt, and we will pay the rest—surely all of us as long as we live—by offering honors and remembrance every year. But you, sacred and holy soul, may you enter heaven, may you rest in Abraham's bosom— whatever may be the meaning of this—may you behold the chorus of angels and the splendors and glories of blessed men.
Or, rather, may you join the chorus and rejoice with them, smiling derisively from on high at everything here: so-called riches, cast-off positions, lying honors, illusions caused by our senses, the twists and turns of this life, the confusion and ignorance, as it were, of night battle, as you stand before the
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great King and are filled with His light. May we now receive a slight emanation from it, such as appears in mirrors and riddles,8 and may we hereafter obtain the fountainhead of Good itself, looking with pure mind upon pure Truth, finding, as a reward of our zealous labor for the good here below, that more perfect sharing and contemplation of the Good on high which the divinely inspired books and minds prophesy to be the end of initiation in our mysteries.
(18) What yet remains? Through words to offer conso lation to the mourners. Powerful to those in grief is the remedy supplied by those who join in their grief. And those who have equal suffering are more effective in bringing consolation to those who suffer. To such, therefore, is our speech especially addressed. Regarding them, I should be ashamed if they should not be first in patience as in all other virtues. For, if they are greater lovers of their children than all others, let them also be greater lovers of wisdom and of Christ, pondering more deeply themselves on the passing from this life, and teaching their children. Or, rather, let them devote their whole life to the preparation for deliverance. But, if sorrow yet obscures your reasoning, and, like a kind of film covering the eye, does not allow you to see your duty clearly, come, you elders, receive a young man's admonition, and you par ents, a son's; you who have admonished many and garnered experience by a long life, receive admonition from him who deserves to be admonished rather by those of your own age.
Marvel not if I, a youth, admonish my elders. And if I can see anything better than gray hairs can, this, also, I give to you.
How much longer shall we live, honored elders, you who are drawing near to God? How long shall we suffer here?
The whole life of mankind is not long when compared with the divine and eternal Nature, much less the remnants of life
8 Cf. 1 Cor. 13.12.
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and the dissolution, as we might call it, of human breath and the end of our transient existence. By how much did Caesarius anticipate us? How long shall we yet bewail the departed?
Are we not pressing on to the same destination? Shall we not soon be covered by the same stone? Shall we not soon be the same dust ourselves? Shall we gain anything in these few days except more evils, after seeing some, suffering some, or even perhaps committing others, being forced finally to pay the common and unalterable tribute to the law of nature, in following some and anticipating others, in bewailing some and being lamented by others, and in receiving from some the favor of tears which we have bestowed upon others?
(19) Such, brethren, is our life, we whose existence is so transitory. Such is the game we play upon earth: we do not exist and we are born, and being born we are dissolved. We are a fleeting dream,9 an apparition without substance, the flight of a bird that passes, a ship that leaves no trace upon the sea.10 We are dust, a vapor, the morning dew, a flower growing but a moment and withering in a moment.* 11 'Man's days are as grass: as the flower of the field, so shall he flourish.'12 Beautifully has holy David meditated on our weakness. And again in the words: 'Declare unto me the fewness of my days';13 and he defines the days of man as the measure of a span.14 What would you say to Jeremias, who, complaining of his birth, even blames his mother, and that, too, for the failings of others?15 'I have seen everything,'16 says Ecclesiastes. I have reviewed in my mind all human things, wealth, luxury, power, glory that is not stable, wisdom
9 Cf. Job 20.8.
10 Cf. Wisd. 5.10,11.
11 Cf. Osee 13.3.
12 Ps. 102.15.
13 Ps. 101.24.
14 Cf. Ps. 38.6 (Septuagint).
15 Cf. Jer. 15.10.
16 Eccle. 1.14.
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that eludes us more often than it is mastered; again pleasure, again wisdom, often returning full circle to the same things, delights of the belly, orchards, numbers of slaves, a multitude of possessions, male and female table servants, singing men and singing women, arms, henchmen, nations at one's feet, revenues flowing in, the pride of royalty, all life's superfluities and necessities, in which I surpassed all the kings who were before me.17 And after all this what is his judgment? 'All is vanity of vanities, all is vanity and vexation of spirit,'18 that is, a kind of irrational impulse of soul and distraction of man who has been condemned to this perhaps because of the original fall. But, 'hear all the conclusion of my discourse,' he says: 'Fear God.'19 Through this he ceases from perplexity.
And this alone is your gain from life here, to be brought through the confusion of things which are seen and unstable to things which are firm and immovable.
(20) Let us not, then, bewail Caesarius, knowing from what evils he has his release, but ourselves, knowing to what evils we have been left and what we shall heap up for our selves if we do not nobly devote ourselves to God, and, outrun ning transitory things, press on to the life above, and though still living on earth, yet leave earth behind and nobly follow the spirit that bears us to heaven. These thoughts are grievous to the cowardly, but they do not daunt those of manly heart.
Let us look at the matter thus. Caesarius will not rule? No, but neither will he be ruled by others. He will not strike terror into anyone? No, but neither will he fear a severe master who is often not even worthy to be a subject himself. He will not gather wealth? No, but neither will he be suspicious or envious or suffer loss to his soul by taking unjustly and always seeking to acquire as much again as he has acquired. For such is the 17 Cf. Eccle. 2.1-9.
18 Eccle. 1.14.
19 Eccle. 12.13.
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disease of growing wealthy. It has no limit to further desires, but makes continued drinking the remedy of thirst. He will make no oratorical display? No, but he will be admired for his oratory. He will not study the works of Hippocrates and Galen and their adversaries? No, but neither will he be afflicted by diseases or experience personal grief at others' misfortunes. He will not expound the works of Euclid and Ptolemy and Hero? No, but neither will he be pained at the pompous boasts of uncultured men. He will make no display of the doctrines of Plato or Aristotle or Pyrrho or of a Democritus, an Heraclitus, an Anaxagoras, a Cleanthes, or an Epicurus, and I know not of what others of the venerable
Stoa and Academy? No, but neither will he be concerned about solving their specious arguments.
What else need I mention? Well, there remain, of course, things that are precious and much sought after by all. He will not enjoy a wife or children? No, but neither will he mourn them or be mourned by them, nor will he leave them behind to others nor he himself be left behind as a monument of misfortune. He will not inherit property? No, but he will be succeeded by the most satisfactory of heirs, and such as he personally desired, so that he could leave this world bearing all his wealth with him. What a glorious ambition! What a novel consolation! What magnanimity in his executors! An announcement worthy of the attention of all was heard and a mother's sorrow is removed by a beautiful and holy promise to give entirely to her son his wealth as his personal funeral gift and to leave nothing to those who were expecting legacies !20
(21) Is this not yet sufficient for consolation? I have still to offer the most efficacious remedy. I believe the words of wise men that, when every beautiful and divinely loved soul is
20 Caesarius had expressed this wish that his wealth be distributed to the poor and this wish was carried out by his parents.
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loosed from the body to which it has been bound and is re leased from this world, it immediately enters on the perception and contemplation of the good awaiting it, inasmuch as the darkening element has been purged, or put off, or whatever the correct expression may be. It enjoys a certain marvelous pleasure, and exults, and goes joyfully to its Lord, having escaped from life here as if from some hard prison and having shaken off the fetters with which it was bound and with which the wing of the intellect was held down; it enters into the possession of the blessedness reserved for it such as it has already conceived in imagination. Shortly afterwards, it takes up its own related flesh, united with which it meditated on heavenly topics, from the earth which both gave it and was entrusted with it, and, in a way which God knows who bound them together and separated them, it is joint heir with it of supernal glory. And just as such a soul shared its sufferings because of its natural union with its flesh, so also it shares its own joys with it, having assumed it wholly into itself and having become with it one spirit and mind and good, life having absorbed the mortal and transitory element. Hear at least what holy Ezechiel teaches about the joining of bones and sinews,21 and, after him, what St. Paul says about earthly habitation and a house not made with hands, the one to be dissolved, the other to be reserved in heaven. He asserts that absence from the body is presence with the Lord, and mourns his life with it as an exile,22 and for this reason desires and seeks for his dissolution.23 Why am I faint-hearted regarding my hopes? Why am I so earthly in my thoughts? I shall await the voice of the archangel,24 the last trumpet,25 the trans formation of heaven, the change of earth, the freedom of the 21 Cf. Ezech. 37.3ff.
22 Cf. 2 Cor. 5.1.
23 Cf. Phil. 1.23.
24 Cf. 1 Thess. 4.15.
25 Cf. 1 Cor. 15.52.
ON HIS BROTHER, ST. CAESARIUS
elements, the renewal of the universe.26 Then shall I see Caesarius himself, no longer in exile, no longer being buried, no longer mourned, no longer pitied, but splendid, glorious, sublime, such as you were often seen in a dream, dearest and most loving of brothers, whether my desire or truth itself re presented you.
(22) But now, having put aside lamentations, I will look into myself, that I may not unconsciously be guilty of anything to be lamented, and I will consider my own state. 'O ye sons of men,' for the saying pertains to you, 'how long will you be slow of heart' and dull of mind? 'Why do you love vanity and seek after lying?'27 Why do you consider our life here as something great and these few days as many, and turn from this separation, which is welcome and sweet, as if it were something grievous and horrible? Shall we not know our selves? Shall we not cast off what is seen by the senses? Shall we not look upon what is perceived only with the mind? Are we not, on the contrary, even if there must be some grief, to be annoyed at our prolonged sojourn,28 like the inspired David, who calls things here tents of darkness, and place of affliction, and mire of the deep, and shadow of death,29 because we delay in the tombs we bear about with us, because we die like men the death of sin, although we have been made gods?
This is my fear, and I live with it night and day. The thought of glory on the one side and of punishment on the other does not let me breathe. The first of these I desire until I can say:
'My soul faints for Thy salvation,'30 but at the second I shudder and turn away. Yet I do not fear that this body of mine through dissolution and corruption will utterly perish, and that the glorious creature of God—for it is glorious if it is
26 Cf. 2 Peter 3.10-13.
27 Ps. 4.3.
28 Cf. Ps. 119.5.
29 Cf. Ps. 68.3; 43.20 (Septuagint).
30 Ps. 118.81.
ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN
upright, just as, if sinful, it is dishonorable—in which there is reason, law, and hope, may be condemned to the same dis honor as irrational things and be no more than they after its separation: a lot that is due the wicked, who are worthy even of the eternal fire.
(23) Would that I might mortify my members that are upon the earth!31 Would that I might spend all for the spirit, walking in the way that is narrow and trodden by few, not the way that is broad and easy!32 For what comes after this life is splendid and great, and our hope is greater than our worth. 'What is man that Thou art mindful of him?'33 What is this new mystery concerning me? I am small and great, lowly and exalted, mortal and immortal, earthly and heavenly.
I am connected with the world below, and likewise with God; I am connected with the flesh, and likewise with the spirit. I must be buried with Christ, rise with Christ, be joint heir with Christ,34 become the Son of God, even God Himself.
See whither my speech has brought us in its progress. I am almost thankful to the calamity which has led me to make such reflections, and I have thereby become the more eager for my departure from this life. This is the meaning of the great mystery for us. This is the intent of God who for our sake was made man and became poor, in order to raise our flesh and restore His image and remake man, that we might all become one in Christ, who perfectly became in all of us all that He is Himself, that we might no longer be male and female, barbarian, Scythian, slave or freeman,3" the distinc tions of the flesh, but might bear in ourselves only the stamp of God by whom and for whom we were made, so far formed and modeled by Him as to be recognized by it alone.
31 Cf. Col. 3.5.
32 Cf. Matt. 7.13,14.
33 Ps. 8.5.
34 Cf. Rom. 8.17.
35 Cf. Gal. 3.28.
ON HIS BROTHER, ST. CAESARIUS
(24) And would that our hope might be realized ac cording to the great kindness of the munificent God, who, asking little, makes great gifts both now and in the time to come to those who truly love Him! Bearing all things, en during all things313 for our love and hope regarding Him, let us give thanks for all things,37 both favorable and unfavorable alike, I mean pleasant and painful, since reason often knows even these as arms of salvation, commending to Him our souls and those of men who, anticipating us as it were on the com mon way, have come to rest before us. Having done this our selves, let us end our speech, and you your tears, hastening now to your own tomb which Caesarius has from you as a sad and abiding gift. It was seasonably prepared for the old age of his parents, but it has been bestowed on their son in his youth, unexpectedly, but not without reason to Him who disposes of our concerns.
O Lord and Maker of all, and especially of this body of ours! O God and Father and Pilot of Thine own mankind! O
Master of life and death! O Guardian and Benefactor of our souls! O Thou who makest and changest all seasonably by Thy creative Word, even as Thou knowest in the depth of Thy wisdom and providence, receive Caesarius now, the first fruits of our pilgrimage! And if the last is first, we yield to Thy Word, by which the universe is ruled. And receive us also afterwards in due time, having directed us in the flesh as long as it is for our advantage.38 And receive us, ready and not troubled by fear of Thee, nor turning away in our last days, nor forcibly drawn from things of earth, as is the mis fortune of souls loving the world and the flesh, but eagerly drawn to the heavenly life, everlasting and blessed, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen.
36 Cf. I Cor. 13.7.
37 Cf. 1 Thess. 5.18.
38 Cf. Ps. 31.6.