Homily 1 — Preface

In his former letter he had said, “We pray night and day to see you,” and “we could no longer bear it, but were left in Athens alone,” and “I sent Timothy” (from First Thessalonians 3, verses 1, 2 and 10). By all these expressions he shows how much he longed to come among them. Since, then, he had perhaps not had the time to go and to make up what was lacking in their faith, he adds a second letter for this reason, filling up by his writing what was missing because he was not there. [a]

That he did not go, we may gather from this. In this letter he says, “We beg you, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Second Thessalonians 2, verse 1). Yet in his first letter he had said, “Concerning the times and the seasons, you have no need that anything be written to you” (First Thessalonians 5, verse 1). So if he had gone, there would have been no need for him to write. But since the question had been left unsettled, he adds this letter for that reason. It was as he says in his letter to Timothy: “They overturn the faith of some, saying that the resurrection has already taken place” (from Second Timothy 2, verse 18). The aim was that the faithful, hoping from then on for nothing great or splendid, might lose heart under their sufferings.

For that hope held them up and did not let them give way under the evils of the present. So the devil, wanting to cut it away, since it was a kind of anchor for them, went to work another way when he could not persuade them that the things to come were false. He put certain public pests up to it, and through them tried to deceive the believers into thinking that those great and splendid things had already been fulfilled. At that time these men said that the resurrection had already taken place. But now they were saying that the judgment and the coming of Christ were at hand. They wanted to catch even Christ out in a falsehood; and by showing the believers that from now on there would be no recompense, no judgment seat, no punishment and no vengeance for those who had done them wrong, they meant to make the wrongdoers bolder and the believers more disheartened. [c]

And, worst of all, some tried simply to pass on sayings as though Paul had spoken them, while others went so far as to forge letters as though he had written them. That is why, shutting off every way in for them, he says, “Do not be quickly shaken in mind, or troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as though from us” (Second Thessalonians 2, verse 2). “Not by spirit,” he says, with a glance at the false prophets. How, then, he says, will we know them? For this very reason he added, “The greeting of me, Paul, with my own hand, which is the sign in every letter; this is how I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all” (Second Thessalonians 3, verses 17 and 18). He does not mean here that these words are the sign — for others very likely imitated them too — but that “I write the greeting with my own hand,” as is the custom among us even now. For it is by the signature that the writings of those who send letters are recognized.

But he comforts them, since they were hard pressed beyond measure by their troubles. He praises them for their present state, and he encourages them with the prospect of what is to come — with the punishment, and with the reward of good things prepared for them. And he enlarges on the subject more clearly, not indeed revealing the time itself, but showing the sign of the time, that is, the Antichrist. For a weak soul is most fully reassured, not when it merely hears something, but when it learns something more particular.

Christ too took great care over this point. Seated on the Mount, he spoke to his disciples in great detail about the end of the age. And why? So that there would be no room for those who bring in antichrists and false christs. He himself also gives many signs. One, and the most important, is this: when “the good news will be preached to all nations” (from Matthew 24, verse 14); and he gives another as well, so that they would not be deceived about his coming. [e]

“As the lightning,” he says, so he will come (Matthew 24, verse 27): not hidden in some corner, but shining everywhere. It will need no one to point it out, so brilliant will it be, just as lightning needs no one to point it out. He has also spoken somewhere about the Antichrist, when he said, “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive” (John 5, verse 43). And he said that those unspeakable calamities, one after another, were a sign of it, and that Elijah must come.

The Thessalonians, it is true, were perplexed at the time, but their perplexity has turned out to our profit. For these things are useful not to them only, but to us as well, so that we may be set free from childish fables and old wives’ nonsense. Have you not often heard, when you were children, people talking at great length even about the Antichrist’s name, and about his bending the knee? The devil scatters these things in our minds while they are still tender, so that the teaching may grow up with us and he may be able to deceive us. Now if these things had been profitable, Paul would not have passed them over when he spoke about the Antichrist. So let us not go searching into them. For he will not come bending his knees like that, but “exalting himself against everything that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits in the temple of God, displaying himself as God” (Second Thessalonians 2, verse 4). For just as the devil fell through pride, so the one the devil works through is anointed for pride. [f]

So I beg you, let us all be eager to keep far away from this passion, so that we may not fall into his condemnation, may not bring ourselves under the same punishment, may not share in the vengeance. “Not a new convert,” he says, “so that he is not puffed up and falls into the condemnation of the devil” (First Timothy 3, verse 6). So the man who is puffed up suffers the same punishment as the devil. “For the beginning of pride is not to know the Lord” (Sirach 10, verses 12 and 13).

Pride is the beginning of sin: the first impulse and movement toward evil. Perhaps, in fact, it is both the root and the foundation. For “the beginning” means either the first impulse toward evil, or its grounding. It is as if someone were to say that the beginning of chastity is keeping away from the sight of an improper object: that is the first impulse. But if we were to say that the beginning of chastity is fasting, that is the foundation and the footing. In the same way pride is the beginning of sin. For every sin starts from it and is kept up by it.

Whatever good things we do, this vice does not let them stay in place without falling away; it is like a root that will not let them stand unshaken. That is plain from this: see what things the Pharisee did — yet they did him no good. He did not pull up the root, and because the root remained, it spoiled everything he had done. From pride spring contempt for the poor, the desire for riches, the love of power, the longing for great glory. Such a man is quick to avenge an insult. For the proud man cannot bear to be insulted even by those above him, much less by those beneath him. And the man who cannot bear to be insulted cannot bear to suffer any harm either. See how pride is the beginning of sin.

But how is not knowing the Lord the beginning of pride? With good reason. The one who knows God as he ought to know him, who knows that the Son of God humbled himself so far, is not lifted up. But the one who does not know these things is lifted up, for pride anoints him for arrogance. Tell me, what makes those who wage war on the church say that they know God? Is it not arrogance? See over what a cliff it plunges them, this not knowing the Lord! For if God loves a crushed spirit (Psalm 51, verse 17, and elsewhere), on the other hand he “opposes the proud, and gives grace to the humble” (First Peter 5, verse 5). [j]

There is no evil, then, like pride. It makes a man a demon: insolent, blasphemous, a perjurer; it makes him hungry for deaths and murders. The proud man lives always in trouble, always angry, always unhappy. Nothing can satisfy his passion. If he were to see the king stooping down to him and bowing to the ground before him, he would not be satisfied, but would be inflamed all the more. For just as lovers of money want all the more the more they receive, so the proud desire all the more the more honor they enjoy. Their passion grows. For it is a passion, and a passion knows no limit; it stops only when it has killed the one who has it.

Do you not see that drunkards are always thirsty? For it is a passion — not a desire of nature, but a kind of perverted disease. Do you not see how those who suffer from bulimy, as it is called, are always hungry? For it is a passion, as the physicians say, that already goes beyond the bounds of nature. Busybodies and the overcurious do not stop, whatever they have learned. For it is a passion, and it has no limit. Again, those who delight in sexual immorality cannot stop either. “To the sexually immoral man,” it says, “all bread is sweet” (Sirach 23, verse 17). He will not stop until he is devoured. For it is a passion.

They are passions indeed, but not incurable ones. They can be cured, and far more easily than the diseases of the body. For if we are willing, we can put them out. How, then, can a person put out pride? By knowing God. For if it comes from not knowing God, then once we know him, all pride is driven out. Think of hell. Think of those who are much better than you. Think of your sins. Think how many things you deserve punishment from God for. If you think of these things, you will soon bring your proud mind down; you will soon bend it. [n]

But can you not do these things? Are you too weak? Then consider the things of this present life, human nature itself, how little man is! When you see a dead body carried through the marketplace, with orphaned children following it, a widow beating her breast, servants wailing and friends downcast, reflect on how empty the things of this present life are, and that they are no different from a shadow or a dream.

Does this not suit you? Think of those who were very rich and perished anyhow in war. Look around at the houses that belonged to the great and famous and are now leveled to the ground. Consider how powerful they were, and now not even a memory of them is left. If you are willing, you can find examples of these things every day: rulers succeeding one another, rich men’s goods confiscated. “Many rulers have sat on the ground, and one never thought of has worn the crown” (Sirach 11, verse 5). Do these things not happen every day? Are our affairs not like a kind of wheel? Read, if you like, both our own books and the books of those outside, for they too are full of such examples. If you despise ours — and this out of pride — if you admire the works of the philosophers, then go even to them.

They will teach you, telling of disasters of long ago — and so will the poets, the orators, the sophists, and all the historians. On every side, if you are willing, you can find examples. [o]

But if you will have none of these things, reflect on our very nature: what it is made of, and where it ends. Consider this: when you are asleep, what are you worth? Could not even a little creature destroy you? Often a little animal falling from the roof has robbed many people of their sight, or brought some other danger on them. What then? Are you not less than all the animals? And what do you say? That you excel in reason? But look, you do not have reason, for pride is a sign that reason is lacking. Tell me, what are you so high-minded about, after all? Is it the good condition of your body? But here the prize of victory goes to the creatures without reason; and robbers and murderers and grave robbers have it too. Or are you proud of your understanding? It is no proof of understanding to be proud. By this very thing, first of all, you rob yourself of becoming a person of understanding.

Let us bring our high thoughts down. Let us think modestly of ourselves, and be lowly and gentle. For these are the people Christ himself has called blessed above all, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5, verse 3). And again he cried out, saying, “Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11, verse 29). This is why he washed his disciples’ feet, giving us an example of humility. From all these things let us gain profit, so that we may be able to obtain the blessings promised to those who love him, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.