Statements of the ancients.
Statements of the ancients.
§ 490. The pious ancients teach the same thing as we do. Polycarp, Epistle ad Philipp., says regarding the Philippians that he “is confident that they are exercised in Holy Writ.”
Tertullian witnesses that “formerly all the Christians came together for the reading of the divine writings” (Apologet., c. 39).
Origen, homily 12 on Exodus, shortly after the beginning, vol. 1, p. 99: “Were we to turn our backs on all alien things and give attention to the Word of God with our study, activities, mind, and concern; if we were to meditate on His Law day and night, ignore everything else, and be free for God; if we were to become exercised in His testimonies, this is what it means to be converted to the Lord.” Homily 9 on Leviticus, before the middle, p. 153: “We desire that you be concerned not merely to hear God’s Word in the church but also that you become exercised in and meditate day and night on the Law of the Lord in your homes. For Christ is there, and He is everywhere present with those who seek Him. Because of this, the Law commands us to meditate on it when we are going on the way and when we are sitting in our home, when we are lying in bed and when we rise up. This is what it means to wait at the door for the priest who dwells within the Holy of Holies and to be made into the lot of the Lord.” Homily 2 on Isaiah, after the middle, p. 556: “Oh, that we all would do what is written: ‘Search the Scriptures’!”
** Athanasius, vol. 2, Commel. edition, f. 248: “No one ignored the Roman laws without peril. Therefore what traps are they preparing for themselves who with zealous care refuse the prohibitions of the great oracles of the heavenly King? Scripture is the food of the soul. Therefore, O man, stop killing the inner man with hunger; remove the harsh famine, not of bread and water but of hearing the Word of the Lord.” And later [on Acts 8]: “Revere that eunuch, a lover of the Word. Although he was in control of all wealth, yet he did not neglect his reading, even on a journey. The Lord approved of his intent and immediately sent him a teacher who added knowledge to the reading and through the Scriptures brought him to the Savior. Because of this, He Himself commanded: ‘Search the Scriptures.’ “**
Basil, on Psalm 1: “Scripture is the common medicine chest for souls.” In his Quaestion. compendio explicat., q. 95: “It is necessary and proper that everyone learn from Holy Scripture what is necessary for complete piety, as well as for not becoming accustomed to human traditions.”
Jerome altogether exhorts as many virgins and widows as possible to a daily reading of Scripture, as is evident from his Epistles ad Demetriadem, Laetam, Salvinam, Furiam, Geruntiam, Celantiam, and Eustochium de institutione filiae ad Laetam, etc. He even dedicates some of his works to Paula, Eustochius, and Marcella, to whom he expounds many sacred books. He gives his reason for doing this in the preface of his commentary of Zephaniah. He writes, Adv. Rufin., bk. 1, c. 9: “The martyr Pamphilus passed on the reading of the Scriptures not only to men but also even to women.” He witnesses in Epitaph. Paulae, vol. 1, p. 86: “The group of women who were associated with Paula in Bethlehem learned something from the Holy Scriptures every day.” In his commentary on Psalm 86: “The Lord spoke in the Scriptures of the peoples, in the Holy Scriptures that all people read, that all may understand.” On Colossians 3: “Here it shows that the laity must have and must teach each other the Word of God not merely sufficiently but also abundantly.”
** On Nahum 3: “At the coming of Christ, of the Word of God, of the teaching of the Church, and of the consummation of Nineveh—the once-beautiful harlot—the people who before had been asleep under their masters will be lifted up and will hurry and go to the mountains of the Scriptures. There they will find the mount Moses and mount Joshua, son of Nun, the prophet mountains, and the apostle and evangelist mountains of the New Testament. They will flee for refuge to such mountains and will be busy with the reading of mountains of this sort. If they find no one to teach them—for the harvest is great but the laborers few—then their eagerness for this will find approval because they have fled for refuge to the mountains. The sloth of their masters will be rebuked, for he brings in and there was no one to receive,” etc. **
Chrysostom, homily 29 on Genesis 9: “Take the divine Bible into your hands even at home.” Homily 2 on Matthew: “This is what corrupts everything like a plague: that you think the reading of Scriptures belongs only to monks.” Homily 10 on John: “What, then, are we asking so earnestly of you? That you be concerned with reading the Gospel readings one day of the week or at least on the sabbath, that you be willing to have them in your hands before these assemblies, to repeat them frequently at home, to seek out their meaning diligently, and to mark in them what is clear and what is difficult.” Preface to Romans: “From an ignorance of the Scriptures comes a myriad of evils; from that, the many plagues of heresy have spread; from that, life in many has been neglected; from that, there have resulted useless, fruitless labors. Just as those who are deprived of the use of this light cannot walk straight, so those who do not direct their eyes to the rays of the divine Scriptures must fall frequently into many errors, just as if they were walking in the most perilous darkness.” Homily 9 on Colossians: “Please listen, all you secular persons, get Bibles for yourselves. That is medicine for your soul. If you want nothing else, even the New Testament, get the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospels.” Ibid.: “Listen, whoever of you are worldly and you who are in charge of your wife and children, listen how the apostle commands you to read the Scriptures, not frivolously nor rashly but with great eagerness and diligence.” Homily 29 on 3 John: “It is clear that with spiritual reading the soul is sanctified and the grace of the Holy Spirit is poured out abundantly.” De Lazaro, homily 3: “The reading of Scripture is a great bulwark against sin. Ignorance of Scripture is a great, deep abyss. This is what gives rise to heresies, that breeds a corrupt life, that mixes up everything up and down. Now, no one can attain salvation unless he is perpetually in spiritual reading.” Ibid.: “I am always encouraging you, and shall not cease encouraging you, not only to pay attention here to those things that are said but also, when you are home, to make time constantly for reading the divine Scriptures. Let no one say to me, ‘I am busy with court cases, I am involved in public business, I am a craftsman, I have a wife, I am feeding the children, I am a layman; it is not my duty to read the Scriptures.’ On the contrary, it is your duty, you who are tossed amid the waves of business. It is you who need the protection of Scripture.”
(Bellarmine makes the exception: “Chrysostom is encouraging all people to read the Scriptures not because he wanted them all, even the most unschooled, to do this, but because at least those should do it who could read with benefit.” We respond. On the contrary, he is encouraging all people to read the Scriptures and teaches that salutary fruit comes to all from reading them. He writes as follows, De Lazaro, homily 3:
Philosophers, rhetoricians, masters of speaking, and the other writers eagerly wrap and obscure what they write in wisdom as if in darkness. They are merely seeking an empty glory and admiration for themselves. The prophets and apostles, on the other hand, published everything clearly so that everyone by himself could learn what they are saying from his reading alone. Also, so that no one would be able to plead difficulty as an excuse, they tempered their writing in such a way that even publicans, fishermen, laborers, the widow, slave, illiterate, and even the most unlearned of all people draw some profit and advantage from reading them.
Also, in a homily on Colossians 3 he teaches that the command of the apostle “May the word of Christ dwell in us richly” applies to the common crowd of Christians.)
Augustine, Epistle 3 ad Volusian., toward the end: “The method of teaching by which Holy Scripture is woven together is accessible to all but penetrable by very few. Those things that it contains in open fashion it speaks like a familiar friend, without disguise to the heart of both the learned and unlearned. Those things that it conceals in mysteries, however, it does not raise up with proud eloquence to which the slower and less-taught mind would not dare approach, like a pauper to a rich man; rather, with humble speech, it invites all people whom it not only feeds with its obvious subjects but also trains with its secret truth, as it holds in readiness that which it keeps hidden.” In his Sermon de studio sapient. et legis Dei medit.: “Assiduous reading purifies all things, fills hell with fear, and instills in the heart the joys of life. Whoever wants to be with God always should pray and read often, for when we pray, we are speaking with God, and when we read, God is speaking with us.”
Cyril of Alexandria reports that Julian the Apostate used to reproach the Christians with the accusation that “they allowed women and children to read the Scriptures” (Contra Julian., bk. 6, c. 9).
Theodoret commends the Church especially for this reason: “that it has given the Scriptures not only to men but also even to women to read” (De nat. hom., bk. 3).
Eusebius of Emesa, Homily for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany: “Christians ought to have this custom of coming to church every day, of reading daily—or if they are unable to do this, of listening to those who read.”
Isidore of Pelusium, bk. 2, epistle 5, p. 108:
Because God was prescribing laws to men who were endowed with a weak and infirm nature and who needed human words (for thus they were easily able to learn with the intellect those things that surpassed their comprehension), therefore He tempered His heavenly instructions with simple and uncultivated words, so that a woman or child or even the most unlearned of all mortals might also perceive some benefit from hearing. In fact, providing for the salvation of the common crowds and flocks of people, the divine Word was tempered with such great perspicuity on account of the humanity and kindness of the Lawgiver, so that it might deprive no one of that usefulness which corresponds to its power.
Bk. 4, epistle 91, p. 44: “Because the heavenly and sacred oracles were pronounced, or written, for the usefulness of the whole human race, they were tempered with perspicuity (
). As a result of this, even those who delight in the other virtues of speech suffer no loss; and all those who labor in farming or who are destined to trades and the other occupations of life are helped greatly by that perspicuity, as they learn in a moment what is proper and just and useful.”