Athanasius

ON ST. ATHANASIUS, BISHOP OF METHONE IN THE PELOPONNESE.

Ninth century.

Athanasius, Bishop of Methone in the Peloponnese (St.)

Methone, a most illustrious city of the Messenians in the Peloponnese, had in the ninth Christian century a Bishop illustrious for sanctity, Athanasius. Born at Catania in Sicily, when the island was occupied by the Saracens, Commemoration of St. Athanasius, under the Emperor Michael the Stammerer, around the year of Christ 827, he fled as a youth to the Peloponnese with his parents. Octavius Caetani, one of our own, writes of him in his Plan of the Work on the Saints of Sicily, at July 29: At Catania, the commemoration of St. Athanasius of Catania, Bishop and Confessor of Methone. Caetani is followed by Ferrari, and they mention him on no other day. That his feast is observed at Catania on the day before the Kalends feast day, of February was indicated to us by our colleague Francis Blanditi, who also transmitted to us his Life written by Peter the Sicilian, Bishop of Argos, life, translated from the manuscript codices of the great monastery of St. Savior of the Order of St. Basil at Messina, rendered into Latin by himself. by whom written. He also noted that this appears to be the same Peter the Sicilian who, in the second year of Basil the Macedonian (the year of Christ 868), was sent as an envoy to the Armenian city of Tibrica for the exchange of captives, and who, having spent nine months there, wrote a book about the errors of the Manichaeans which he learned of there — a book translated into Latin by our colleague Matthew Rader, surviving in volume 9 of the Library of the Fathers. Baronius mentions this Peter at the year 870, number 62. We have divided this Life into chapters according to our custom.

LIFE

By Peter the Sicilian, Bishop of Argos, translated by Francis Blanditi of the Society of Jesus.

Athanasius, Bishop of Methone in the Peloponnese (St.)

By Peter, Bishop.

Funeral oration of Peter the Sicilian, most humble Bishop of Argos, on Blessed Athanasius, Bishop of Methone. Bless us, Father.

CHAPTER I.

Exordium and proposition.

[1] Exordium. It is useful to praise the Saints. Those who have illuminated their lives by the splendor of heroic virtues, who have separated themselves from every sordid and earth-creeping depravity and raised themselves to that divine and heavenly summit, it is fitting to judge blessed and to commend with tributes of praise — if anything else can be said of those lower goods which are commonly esteemed such, which, having a very easy momentum toward either side, are changed according to the inclination of those who use them and draw them to their own delight. For thus the virtue of those who pursue it will increase, upon whom admiration follows; and the splendors of its lights, disseminated through the ears of listeners with favorable acclamation, spur diligent and watchful minds to embrace that same virtue. Vice, on the other hand, will be banished, and utterly despised and held in hatred if compared with virtue, and will yield its place to it, as the darkness of night yields to the brightness of day. For this reason Christ the Lord Himself, the Restorer of human nature and most skillful Governor, enrolls those men (as the Gospel clearly shows) in the register of the blessed. Wherefore we also must praise to the best of our ability those who strive to imitate Christ Himself — as worthy members of such a Head, and worthy images of such a Prototype — and offer them, as it were, a small gift from a mind however poor, and deliver a commendatory oration.

[2] Proposition, with an apology for neglecting the art of rhetoric. But roused by these considerations, I fear lest the charge of rashness be branded upon me while I desire to praise Athanasius, who derived his name from immortality. Yet since he is so great and such a man, it is not fitting to be silent about his good qualities or to conceal with closed lips the benefit that could be derived from him — lest I appear like the man who poorly entrusted to the earth the talent committed to him, concealing it through vain fears. And indeed another man, polished among Rhetoricians in the art of speaking, who does not wish to confine himself within the bounds of encomia, could from these praises which I shall offer celebrate this most famous man with fitting dignity. Wherefore he would speak of the light of his life and the splendor of his birth, of the excellent constitution of his body, of the blooming and pure charm of his speech, and above all — affecting brevity in the manner of the wise — of the degrees of his dignities and similar advantages, so that by enumerating these, having first scattered such enticements as it were, he might win the favor of his listeners. But for us, who — like most other illustrious deeds of his life — deliberately pass over these things, since only sincere truth appeals to us and we care for noble deeds that lend credibility to our oration, some excuse will be given in any case, since we know well that not even those who have practiced throughout their whole life by speaking and constantly hearing new things can easily match in words the dignity of him who is set before us for praise. But since I equally fear the charge and punishment of contumacy, and flee the humility of arrogance — whether it actually creeps in or is thought to be nurtured in me — I must certainly be pardoned if I attempt something beyond my powers; for not only the rich but also the poor are commanded to give liberally to those who ask, since in return the rewards are conferred by God the Giver not for great dignities and gifts but for ready willingness. Wherefore, relying on His power who supplies eloquence at the first opening of the mouth, I have come forward, complying with the invitation, to embrace in an oration the solid praises of this illustrious and divine man, who himself also invites me.

CHAPTER II.

The birth, exile, and monastic life of St. Athanasius.

[3] The homeland, therefore, of this blessed Father Athanasius, whom I am now to praise — his first and true homeland — is that heavenly one, where he had been enrolled together with the Saints from eternity and did not fall from the election from his tenderest years. His other homeland, The homeland of St. Athanasius, as far distant from the first as the darkness of shadows and vain phantoms of things are from the light of truth, is indeed Catania, a renowned city excelling among the foremost in Sicily. Catania, a famous city, If then I wished to recount in the present all its remarkable features — its location, its beauty, its size, the mildness of its climate, the most healthful nature of its waters, the vast forests of fruitful and barren trees, the numerous multitude of men illustrious for wisdom, prudence, fortitude, and justice — I would digress untimely from my subject. Just as if I were to dwell upon the most famous Virgin Agatha, [celebrated especially for the birth, relics, and protection of St. Agatha against the fires of Etna.] the Martyr, who was born, raised, and afflicted with tortures in that city for the sake of Christ, and who was pleased that the sacred relics of her body should rest there — relics which the fiery torrents flowing from the overhanging Etna have reverenced, beyond everyone's expectation; nay rather (just as in ancient times the pious and God-pleasing burden — that is, parents worn out with age, placed upon the shoulders of their sons, Amphinomus and Anapias, who gratefully bore them) they were commanded to hasten backward. If I wished also to hold forth about Etna itself, belching fire and sulphurous smoke and stench, and spewing pitchy flames and thick fumes from its highest jaws, and also producing horrible thunders and immoderate rumblings (for these will indeed afford a wondrous investigation), we would seem to depart from our purpose. And indeed if Athanasius, whom we are now praising, inflamed with the love of another homeland, despised this mortal one as exile, and therefore obtained a blessed end where our first home and the dwelling of all who rejoice is found, how can it be that he should now be delighted by praises derived from the homeland which he judged it best to despise?

[4] Rising, therefore, from the ruins and fall of this homeland like a kind of Morning Star, he made manifest from childhood that his parents were equally devout and dear to God, since by them — piously offering their son to Christ Pious parents rear Athanasius in a holy manner: and bringing forth their first fruit — Athanasius was excellently nurtured throughout the whole course of his life for divine service. But what does it avail to recount each of their noble deeds, when we know well how to admire the tree from its fruit? For they demonstrated the lofty and generous strength of their soul by the violent temptations that arose against them, like stormy tempests and hailstorms, yet without undermining it. For just as the furnace tests gold, and winds, rains, hailstorms, and torrents test the foundations of buildings, so unexpected calamities reveal either a firm and fortified soul or a weak and worn one. When the Saracens were savagely devastating Sicily, For the barbarous race of Ishmaelites and Hagarenes, through which (our sins so deserving) the island of Sicily was devastated — exacting punishments from us for our transgressions like an executioner (for we did not obey God as a father, nor did we incline an easy neck to Him when He called) — destroyed many cities and laid waste; some of their citizens, together with the neighboring inhabitants, it destroyed by a most bitter kind of death — some by the sword, some by famine — and suffocated those it submerged in the sea; others it condemned to the most grievous afflictions and chains; and others it compelled to flee miserably far from their native land and to wander through foreign nations.

[5] In these tempests the parents of Athanasius, together with their shared son, bidding farewell to their domestic possessions (for they could not with dry eyes behold on the one hand Christ's flock, the holy nation and royal priesthood, mistreated by the impious; on the other hand, these men proudly scorning them and mocking our calamities, as if, having struck a pact, they would exterminate the perfect Christian people to the injury of God, the Creator of all things, so that no memory of it might remain), migrated to the ancient city of Patras in the Peloponnese, they migrate to Patras, where once he who was first called to the Apostolate — Andrew, who also called his brother Peter, soon to be the Prince of that blessed band, to Christ who had first called him — after a long course of Gospel preaching, achieved a most happy end of life by being crucified, imitating the Lord Himself in death as also in all other things. Gen. 12. For the parents of Athanasius had heard that divine oracle of the Patriarch Abraham: that they must leave their native land, their own house, and their kindred, and migrate to that place. But what of these things? Were they struck with any hesitation or with the vice of ingratitude, or did they murmur against the divine judgments — that they should suffer undeserved things, not in keeping with with remarkable patience. the merits of their whole previous life? By no means. Rather, even from those things which are not in our power, whatever they believed to be the one thing pleasing to God, that alone they pursued.

[6] Their son, moreover, who derived his name from immortality, having his heart inflamed with the fire of divine love, almost forgetful of the afflictions by which he was beset, was pressing on to nobler achievements. For the firm and stable mind of Athanasius, purged of all defilement of passions, directed its eyes not at the treasure already collected but at the remaining treasure of virtues. He also strove to carry out in himself what the great Apostle Paul counsels: to forget the things that are behind and to aspire always to the things that lie before his eyes; and likewise, though still wrapped in earthly dust here Athanasius becomes a monk, and traversing earthly things, he strove to fly to heaven. Phil. 3:13. Therefore he submitted his neck to the monastic yoke, which both frees from worldly clamor and untimely whirlpools of affairs, and is accustomed to lead its candidates into a life free and tranquil from all things, as into a harbor safe on every side. And so, having bidden farewell to all transitory things, even to his parents, that he might communicate with God in solitude and, constantly associating with Him, become a partaker of divine love, devoting himself to that contemplation which is the Lord God Himself, he fared more than well among the first to devote themselves to this life, and pursues the solitary life. even though he was a mere youth. For besides ascetic exercises, since he shrank from worldly affairs, he was most delightfully engaged in the service of God together with those who dwelt in the desert. For how greatly he desired this laborious manner of life — to bear as it were a yoke from his earliest age and to live through the solitudes!

CHAPTER III.

Governance of the monastery. The Episcopate.

[7] Beholding him, therefore, for a long time practiced in that manner of life and waging his struggle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and against the spiritual forces of wickedness, the one who was the superior of the monks there (for he descended into the arena vigorously and strenuously, and in accordance with the rule of the monastic law, Though unwilling, he is set over the monastery: and was hastening by the swiftest course to gain the prize of the heavenly calling by merit), set Athanasius over the company of monks. Though he refused, lest any solicitude concerning them should call away his thought from the loftiest contemplation, the superior nevertheless conferred the office upon him. For it was not fitting that probity long established and proven should grow old in idleness and be ungenerous, and not be shared with those who needed it. For he who retains by tight-fisted tenacity the abundance of perishable riches and does not distribute them to the needy; and likewise a spring refusing water to the thirsty; and the earth itself concealing treasures in its secret depths — these are not as blameworthy as the man who hides spiritual riches within himself and does not share them with others. For each person has received charisms freely bestowed by God not so much for himself as for others. And therefore Christ the Lord said: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

[8] When He perceived that still greater increases of heavenly riches were being made in Athanasius — riches more than sufficient for enriching many — and that his splendor was fit for illuminating those who joined themselves to him, after all the grades of honor in the Church had been duly and without anyone's contention ascended, He decreed to raise him to the supreme summit of archiepiscopal dignity, so that from a higher vantage point, as it were, he might direct very many, showing them the way of truth, and, with the shadows dispelled, teach them to walk as in the clear light and without stumbling. Matt. 5:16. For it was not fitting to conceal a great torch in the narrow confines of a small corner, nor to irrigate a small orchard or a tiny garden with the perennial flood of mighty rivers. He is made Bishop of Methone: Wherefore, having entered the chair of the Church of Methone (which is a most illustrious city of the Messenians in the Peloponnese), he, as a most diligent farmer, rendered it more fruitful, planted with many growths of Christian piety, and adorned it for the delight and love of the Lord of all things by the perennial irrigations of his teaching, and brought it to ripe and pleasant fruits. For he did not complete his assigned task languishing in disgraceful idleness and sloth, like some hired hand, he takes remarkable care of his flock, but as a good shepherd, regarding the sheep of his Lord as his own, he did not at all fear to expose his life to dangers when the occasion and time demanded. Wherefore in adversities he went before the rest; in dangers he fought in front; and to the sick he was found to be a most skilled physician; he was a covering for the naked, nourishment for the hungry, consolation for the sorrowful, joy for those crushed by grief. And, to sum up briefly, he was a father to orphans, a patron for widows, and with no distinction made, he became all things to all, that he might win as many as possible for Christ. Who could recall the nightly and prolonged vigils on their behalf? The constant labors and anxieties lest any of his sheep should perish as prey to wild beasts, lest any (with the trumpet of Gospel preaching not sounding) should be pierced by a diabolical dart, and God should then demand from him, to whose faith the flock had been entrusted, an accounting for the blood of slaughtered sheep? Nor was our Athanasius to be counted among those who slaughtered the fat ones, sold the strong, put on fleeces (as the holy Prophet says), and who said: Blessed be the Lord, for we have become rich. Rather he was among those who strengthened the weak, raised up the fallen, bound up the feeble and the lame, and spurred them to run, and provided courage and strength. Ezek. 34.

[9] He exercised his episcopal dignity not for the sake of ease but for the sake of greater struggles and labors than he had endured in his earlier life, just as he had taken many more under his faith and administration. He sets an example of virtue for his flock. And therefore he instructed those who needed it not by words alone but drew them much more by his example to the things he had exhorted. And indeed he played the parts of illustrious virtues so correctly, and used the subsequent ones so well, that he was never seen to deflect from their royal and right path or to overstep their fixed boundaries, whether through excess or defect warring against them. And first, to the mind, where the power of counsel resides, he added such sinews of prudence that he desired to raise all its motions toward God. Then that part of the soul which is captivated by pleasure, moderated by the reins of temperance, he easily trained to soar from earthly to heavenly things; and he so redirected all his desire thither that Athanasius seemed as if he had not been born for earthly things and their love — which the unlearned consider innate — but rather was dead in that respect. By strength of soul also he subdued anger to the extent of fighting against the serpent's cunning, whence the poison of death reached us; and to the extent of boldly encamping against the evil passions and the demons who suggest them, and vigorously joining battle. Then, if anything exceeded due measure and was judged counterfeit in the parts of life, he cut it away through justice, distributing to all an equitable share, and furnishing to body and soul alike what was fitting and timely. He kept the beam of the scales of justice so steadily balanced between the pans that it did not waver even the slightest; and therefore he rendered to all a just verdict of his judgment and dissolved the frauds of violent commerce. And so, to those who were falling he was a support; to those standing, a prop; he was the most abundant liberality to all who were afflicted; and to those limping in body or soul he was both foot and stay. According to the divine Job, the doors of his house lay open to all men on the road; and the garments distributed by Athanasius wonderfully warmed the shoulders of the naked to sustain their lives. Job 31:32.

CHAPTER IV.

Effective exhortations to his flock.

[10] For these reasons he at length obtained from God everlasting glory, already approved by the common testimony of all as the one man among all who was just and true without anyone's complaint. And those who raised their proud necks on high and refused to submit to the gentle yoke of Christ, he convinced with great prudence — now by examples, now by exhortations, now also by fitting reproaches, now with a terrifying oration depicting the terrible tribunal of the Last Judgment, He impresses upon his flock the Day of Judgment; the most severe equity of the Judge sitting on His throne, exacting the most bitter dissolution of punishments from each according to his merits; the angelic minds themselves looking down with fierce and burning eyes and not pitying the lot of men consigned to eternal fires — because the time had come not for repentance but for recompense. By these addresses, therefore, he corrected very many to a better life and caught them in his nets, and thus sent them to the table of Christ — to whom the salvation of men is precious and delightful — as a sumptuous delicacy. Thus Athanasius, augmenting with many more the talent assigned to him, as a man now of proven fidelity, obtained the governance of many cities; thus he entered into the joy of his Lord, having presented himself and the children committed to his care spotless and innocent. Luke 19.

[11] For this reason he obtained glorious honors from God, and all mortals celebrate the abundance of good things supplied to them, with great fruit, plucking extraordinary fruits of benefit from the mere memory of him. For just as the thought and discussion of things forbidden by their nature has equally harmed listeners, speakers, and even thinkers; so conversely the remembrance of good things has produced no small benefits. And so, teaching and doing (as the divine oracle says), he made all teachable of God and perceptive in discerning good from evil, the honorable from the base. John 6:45. Not in the manner of Zamolxis and Anacharsis of old, whose wisdom the Greeks admired and revered though they were barbarians; (unlike the lawgivers of the pagans) nor like Lycurgus the lawgiver among the Spartans, or Mnesion among the Argives, or Nestor among the Pylians, whose speech Homer declared sweeter than honey; nor, finally, like Solon and Cleisthenes, the framers of laws among the Athenians — all of whom not only failed to persuade even the neighboring peoples of Greece to accept their laws and live by their precepts, but did not even convince those among whom they had legislated to retain them to the end. For now, having crowned those same laws with garlands, or anointed them with unguent like swallows, they refuse to endure listening to them at all. But truly, bringing to his flock the laws of Christ the Lord and of His sufferings, our Athanasius persuaded them to embrace them with overflowing joy and to keep them inviolate to the very end of life. For he was indeed a blessed man, since he had acquired for himself not the rudimentary divine fear of those who begin to serve God, but the perfect fear; for he loved Christ with vehement love. Let the sure token and trustworthy proof of this for us be his most diligent vigilance and care for his own flocks, which Christ the Lord, questioning Peter, preferred above the many forms of virtue, and set before all others for his most loving disciple, who was about to assume the governance of the Christian commonwealth. John 21.

[12] Athanasius also strove, in accordance with the Prophet's oracle, to desire not merely what was sufficient but truly the utmost and highest in the divine precepts. And therefore his seed remained in the land of the heavenly commandments — whether that seed was the word of the Teacher, disseminated in the field of the hearts of hearers and beholders through admirable works; or whether they who, as if conceived by him, also propagated to posterity, brought forth into the light, and educated, proved themselves by their deeds to be genuine sons of the sower. Ps. 112:1. Altogether, glory and the greatest riches were in his house — in the Church, that is — since his justice endures forever: not, I say, the empty swelling of vainglory, like a bubble as if with mystical riches. that vanishes most quickly; nor those riches that resist those striving for the heavenly kingdom, that bring upon their lovers six hundred calamities, that drive into the snares and traps of the devil those who with unbridled desire wish insatiably to enslave themselves to them; nor, finally, those ready agents of crimes that abundantly supply fuel for their conflagrations. Rather, that glory which renders those equal in dignity of honor to the blessed angelic minds; which reconciles to us — though vexed upon earth, yet venerating holily — the thrice-holy God dwelling among the Saints; which is the present pledge of the heavenly glory of the Saints; which fills our mortal hearts with such joy that thence an abundance of immortal gladness overflows. Riches, finally, not empty, which neither thieves nor robbers dig up.

CHAPTER V.

Heroic virtues. Miracles.

[13] Blessed, and indeed truly holy, was Athanasius: for he never walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor sat in the seat of those who babble obscenities or perpetrate vile deeds; but like an immortal tree planted beside the flowing stream of Christ the Savior, A truly blessed man, which He promised here would flow from the belly of those who believe in Him. Ps. 1. No deceit was found in his mouth, but only the words of God, in which he had set apart for himself a most holy dwelling. That thrice blessed one was also seen to be like Mount Zion, which dwells in the new Jerusalem, for he shall not be moved forever; and lifting his eyes to God, he experienced no tardy help from there. Ps. 125:1. Wherefore, let this numerous audience of listeners the joy of the anniversary celebration be delighted with the joys and gladness of this day's festivity, not for a brief time, but immortally — joys which, while they fill souls with a certain pleasure, raise them up to the Divine through the imitation of Athanasius. Because he, while still covered with the dust of mortality, reached such a pinnacle of virtue — like a tall, leafy tree — looking to those who had been pleasing to God and, by the examples of their lives, building for himself a road, as it were, by a certain light.

[14] For who, beholding the hospitality of Athanasius and also the inimitable purity of his faith, comparable to illustrious Saints: would not seem to himself to see the Patriarch Abraham? Who, considering his steadfast endurance and his tractable readiness in all the things that God had appointed, would not be persuaded that he beheld a second Isaac with his eyes? Who, attending to the magnitude and solidity of his soul in adversities and the unfeigned integrity of his character, would not suppose that Jacob was already present? Who would not think he had before his eyes in Athanasius the temperance of Joseph, his modesty and his patient endurance of injuries — striving to gain the favor of the brothers who hated and sold him? Who, weighing his by no means abject but truly generous spirit in bearing the sudden afflictions of the calamities that beset him, would not say that the image of the most unconquerable Job hovered before his eyes? He also imitated the placability of Moses and Aaron, their manners mild beyond reproach, and their divine contemplation that carried mortals aloft. He emulated also the righteous indignation of Phinehas — not piercing violators of the law with an iron dagger, but now correcting, now restraining the courses of crimes and the injurious onslaughts against whatever stood in their way, with stern and severe words, now with soft and gentle addresses. He showed himself indeed to be one who neither made the gaping earth the burial-place of those who insolently and petulantly exalted themselves against the holy priesthood through pride, nor consigned to flames what the impious violator of the law had taken away — for prodigies of that kind were demanded by that age. But a certain man committing similar offenses, Athanasius, by the power of his prayers, deprived merely of his insensible hair, he punishes a contumacious man with baldness: which grows upon the body from superfluity, and which, when present, does not contribute to the constitution of human essence, nor when removed does it harm — but which, while it indicates the expiatory crime only to the bold and reckless offender, drives him to repentance, and to the flight from and shearing away of growing vice.

[15] He also undertook to imitate David's endurance of evils and injuries, and his outstanding piety toward God; for which reason he not only sang against the demons but against the passions of the soul which, at their suggestion, are aroused and further inflamed. And the witnesses of these deeds are many, he works miracles both living and dead: some of whom Athanasius healed while he was still alive and restored to good health; others also who came with ardent faith and desire to his tomb after he had already passed to Christ, whom he had desired, for whose sake he had longed to be freed from bodily chains, so that he might more freely and holily live with Him and enjoy His contemplation. He imitated the ascetic and hard manner of life of Elijah and Elisha, and their zeal — but not breathing fire, nor drawing down flames from above, nor burning the impious with celestial fires; nor making those who heap contumelious insults a feast for bloodthirsty beasts (for those ancient times also demanded such things, when God applied more severe remedies to heal wounds). Rather, with grave addresses becoming such a teacher, he converts many by his admonitions; seasoned with the salt of divine wisdom and consonant with an innocent life, he corrected many sinners to a better way of life. For he knew, in the manner of Christ the Lord, how to make peace among those who are sons of the Spirit. Matt. 5:9. He was also a man, following Blessed Daniel, of spiritual desires, manfully resisting bodily allurements and longing only for divine things, in which he might more clearly find God. Dan. 9:23. Likewise, after the example of the three youths in Babylon, despising the flames of bodily pleasures as if they were already extinguished embers, he trampled upon the fire that suddenly revived from time to time, lest in any way such images should linger in his heart, and Athanasius should seem to worship their deadly and contagious idols.

[16] And if you desire to behold the express image and living likeness of that most holy John (than whom no greater has risen among those born of women — who, first living among the living, then dead among the dead, was the true Forerunner of Christ; who declared the Savior and Liberator to be coming, and baptized in the Jordan Him who there plunged down the stains of our sins), set before your eyes, I beg you, the contempt for fleeting and earthly things, the sobriety of food, the abundant freedom of speech, a mind subject to no disturbances; how, inveighing against rulers and dynasts, he rebuked them vehement in reproving vices, for setting aside and even trampling upon the sacrosanct laws of God. Consider also the exhortations to repentance, and his pointing with his finger to the Christ baptized by him, who would come again to judge all and to render to each according to his merits. And if anyone should wish to discover some trace of Christ's Disciples, let him go and observe; and he will see in Athanasius the contempt of his entire life, in order to find Christ by gaining Him; despising all human things. the intent solicitude in the preaching of the Gospel; the greatness of soul in turbulent events; the familiarity with Christ, constant through the benefit of memory, so that he could by no means be drawn away or diverted from it; he will also see him bearing the cross of Christ through the whole time of his life, serving Christ and following in His footsteps, reckoning all other things as rubbish and refuse. Having imitated the life of the Apostles, Athanasius so fashioned in himself a living image precisely from their archetype that if anyone wished to behold the characteristics of each, by looking more attentively he would find them hardly dissimilar at all, but altogether true and identical.

CHAPTER VI.

His final admonitions to his flock.

[17] But at last the time of his departure came; for I consider his exit from life to be called by no other name than a return to his homeland from exile. And indeed, as he solemnly testified certain things about himself, many stood by, deeply affected, Ill, he makes no testament, because he is utterly poor; and lamenting his separation as the greatest loss. They heard him lying on a poor bed, neither making dispositions concerning treasure of riches nor leaving a supply of gold and silver to guardians — the lack of which he had pursued with great zeal, as others pursue their acquisition; nor fields, forests of trees, vineyards, flocks, or herds, from which, as long as he lived upon earth, he had been as far removed as possible. But briefly reviewing those things about which he had always spoken — at times concisely, on account of the annoyances of his illness (for he was a man, although the loftiness of his great soul surpassed the lowliness of his little body) — he said: It would be worthwhile, turning to myself, to consider only the present departure from this life, and to apprehend the fearsome and dreadful command, and to think about those who will receive my soul and to what places my journey must lead, and also about the hostile enemies always stationed in ambush and impeding our way like robbers and plunderers. But since I most ardently desire both my own and your welfare, as always — for the divine laws prescribe this — whatever the indulgence of time permits and whatever remains of life, I will speak even now. I indeed, as you see, am entering upon a long journey to my parents; nor will you see me any longer in this mortal life. But I beg you, do not through forgetfulness despise my admonitions, but he exhorts his flock, which I have imparted to you out of the ardor of divine love with which I regard you. I shall be with you — or rather, Christ Himself will be present to you, with God the Father and the divine Spirit. And so you will be a divine dwelling-place and His living temples, whose throne is heaven, whose footstool is the earth. For I, says the Savior, and the Father will come to him, and we will make our abode with him — with the one, that is, who carries out His commands. John 14:23. Among the divine precepts, by far the most excellent and indeed the first is to love God with all one's soul, effort, mind, and heart, and one's neighbor as oneself; for all the rest follow from this, especially to charity, the one embracing the other. And what commands love for enemies likewise commands that one's own life, if the time demands, be poured out for a friend. Debts also are to be forgiven to our debtors, just as our heavenly Father forgives us our debts. The fearsome decree of the master of the household against his servant — upon whom he had bestowed many benefits and had already forgiven a great sum — is also to be pondered; yet that servant was strangling his fellow-servant over a trifling debt. One must also show mercy, by an innate and holy sense of the soul, to the needs of the poor, so that we may incline kindly ears to them, so that — however earthly and mortal we are — we may (insofar as it is possible) become like God, who introduces such persons into His kingdom and confesses Himself to be in need of mercy and almsgiving; but He threatens that those who rage like wild beasts and act inhumanly toward men will be cast into eternal fires together with the most wicked Satan and his angels. Therefore let us continually bring back to memory our Lord Jesus Christ, and the constant remembrance of the judgment; a Judge equally incorrupt and severe, seated on a dreadful throne, from whose presence a river of fire bursts forth; and that all, with their conscience laid open, will be stationed at His tribunal and will render an account of what we have done rightly and what wrongly. All of us who were baptized in Christ have put on Christ: let us not, therefore, on account of our inclination toward earthly things, cast off this garment, lest in turn we be rejected from the heavenly bridal chamber and from the joy and exultation of the Saints. Let no foul word, as the divine Apostle says, proceed from your mouth; but only that which presents an exemplar of virtues or bears the fruit of another's benefit. For we shall render an account to God not only for misdeeds but also for idle words and even for wicked thoughts. Col. 3:8. Let each one take care to win the favor of all and to be a companion in honorable matters; for each of us ought to be so disposed as to strive to merit well of others through acts of service. Assuredly none of us, even if he should plead the veil of ignorance, shall evade the divine judgment; for every day we all hear the divine precepts of the Gospels, the admonitions of the Apostles, and the exhortations of the Prophets.

[18] Why should the stale questions of Socrates now be recounted to me, if compared with these legitimate disputations of our Philosophy? On their account the proud Greeks raise their eyebrows, more excellently than the vain Socrates, boasting (as they vaunt themselves) that that philosopher rose above the fear of death. For such disputations chase after the breeze of empty glory and are fictions of the stage, and only assume the appearance of philosophy and wear its mask — which turns back upon itself, not upon others, whatever it labors at. And this is what the cock sacrificed by Socrates to Aesculapius crows about, and his speeches full of the desire to please men — speeches which (when his disciples urged him to avoid the danger that his accusers Anytus and Melitus had stirred up against him) the rest everywhere repeated. But truly our Athanasius, setting aside all other things at that time, devoted himself to one thing alone — namely, to amplifying the glory of Christ, the Inspector and Guardian of all things, as though nothing was more important to him or more worthy of his zeal than to secure the salvation of the flock entrusted to him, for whose sake God Himself wondrously became man, edifying all to the very end. and left that same zeal as a clear token to those who love God. And therefore, although he was near the setting of his life and was already awaiting the separation of soul and body — which nature had so well joined together — yet he recalled to memory the things he had accomplished during his episcopal life, as a stranger and pilgrim. And so Athanasius bound together charity both toward God and toward men with the closest bond of virtue — one who left us examples of the virtues not only by right deeds but to the very end by his words as well. Raising our eyes toward these, as toward the stars while we are miserably tossed in the sea of this life through the murky night, we shall elude all its mountainous waves, and the tempests that arise, and the storms raised by the ambushes of the common and hostile enemy; and we shall reach the tranquil harbor of the kingdom of Christ, having Athanasius for our Master, who, like the most skilled helmsman, sits at the stern holding the tiller, rouses our confidence, and at last lifts our spirits toward those things upon which our salvation depends.

CHAPTER VII.

Death. Miracles.

[19] Leaving, therefore, this inheritance to his children, the most holy Athanasius, having stretched out his beautiful feet and composed his innocent hands, and having gravely and reverently raised his eyes to heaven, He dies piously and joyfully. and having spoken this last word: Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit, he breathed forth his soul — joyful and very glad — soon to be escorted by the Angels. A man indeed full of days and of the Holy Spirit, full also of the gifts of divine munificence; since he clearly perceived the heavenly recompense for his labors to be at hand, he ensured — as befits a wise man — that he had no cause to regret his past life, but rather to rejoice. You would have called him ripe grain to be stored in heavenly barns, free from every blemish of gathered crops and uncorrupted. And therefore in the assembly of the just he lives an immortal life, and his reward is exceedingly great with God Most High. He flourishes, therefore, like the palm, and is increased and enlarged like the cedar — he who brings us who imitate him the most abundant fruits, and provides the most healthful shade to those burning with the heat of temptation. Wherefore, having obtained an immortal memory among us, he also enjoys unextinguished glory.

[20] At his tomb many are healed: He left us, together with his thrice-blessed body, a tomb that, like a perennial spring, pours forth streams of healings abundantly upon all who approach with faith. Wherefore, let us consider that we behold in it Athanasius himself, whom we embrace with equal grief and incomparable longing as we approach it, venerating him as a Father and honoring him with due piety; giving him immortal thanks as to one who has done us the greatest service; presenting to him, as to a physician, the afflictions of both soul and body, and hastening to his remedies. Indeed, even those who undertake a longer pilgrimage come here to visit the tomb of Athanasius, where, having also prayed for a safe return, they go back to their homes. Women also, entreating earnestly, obtain for their husbands or their sons a present remedy and a postponement of death. Those who are oppressed by the harsh tyranny of a more powerful hand invoke Athanasius as their patron; for which purposes he is invoked. those to whom others' crimes are ascribed by calumny and who are unjustly dragged to court find Athanasius a valiant champion. In short, to say it summarily, all implore Athanasius — become all things to all — and invoking his help, they return, having now obtained their prayers, and rejoicing. For we find him to be, as it were, a second Siloam, extinguishing all the fires of our disturbances and refreshing the souls and bodies of all with irrigations breathing the fragrance of unguents. And we also desire to become partakers of these benefits, giving thanks to God, the Author of all good things, who is glorified in His Saints; for to Him belongs all glory, honor, and veneration — to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for all eternity of ages. Amen.

ON BLESSED EUSEBIUS, MONK OF ST. GALL, MARTYR.

Year 884.

Eusebius, monk of St. Gall, Martyr in Switzerland (Bl.)

From various sources.

[1] The noble monastery and town of St. Gall in Switzerland, of which we shall treat more fully in the Life of St. Gall on October 16. Here the memory of Blessed Eusebius, monk and Martyr, is observed on the day before the Kalends of February. Feast of Bl. Eusebius, Concerning whom we received the following from the Necrology of that same monastery, through our colleague Daniel Feldner at Constance.

[2] Today the honorable memory of our blessed monk and Martyr Eusebius is observed. He was of Scottish origin, homeland, and embraced the religious life in the monastery of St. Gall. Afterward, inflamed with desire for the solitary life, solitary life, he withdrew to the mountain of St. Victor, where he lived most holily for up to fifty years and advanced so far in sanctity that he foretold many things by the spirit of prophecy. At length, when he reproved the crimes of the local inhabitants with words, martyrdom, one of them cut off his head with a sickle, around the year of Christ 884. But he himself, taking up his severed head in his hands, carried it back to his cell on the mountain, relics. where his relics are now preserved and visited by the devout concourse of pious people.