On the Fast of the Tenth Month, Fifth Sermon

Dearly beloved, the surpassing power of God’s grace is indeed at work every day in Christian hearts, turning our every desire from earthly things to heavenly ones. But this present life too is lived through the Creator’s help and upheld by his providence, because he who promises things eternal is also the one who supplies things temporal. So, just as we ought to give God thanks for the hope of future happiness toward which we run by faith, because he raises us up to see the happiness stored up for us, so also for the things we receive in the course of every year God should be honored and praised. From the beginning he gave the earth its fertility and laid down laws of fruit-bearing for every shoot and seed, and he will never abandon his own decrees, but as Creator he will always continue his kind governing of the things he has made. Whatever the grain fields, the vineyards and the olive groves have produced for human use, all of it God in his generous goodness has brought forth. For under the changing conditions of the elements he has mercifully helped the uncertain labors of the farmers, so that wind and rain, cold and heat, day and night might serve our needs. Human methods would not have been enough to make their work succeed, if God had not given the growth to their usual planting and watering. And so it is only godly and just that we too should help others with what the heavenly Father has mercifully given us. For there are a great many who have no fields, no vineyards, no olive groves, and we must provide for their wants out of the store God has given, so that they too may bless God with us for the richness of the earth, and rejoice that its owners have received things they have shared with the poor and the stranger as well. That barn is blessed, and most worthy to have all its fruits increase many times over, from which the hunger of the needy and the weak is satisfied, from which the wants of the stranger are relieved, from which the desire of the sick is gratified. For God in his justice has allowed these people to be afflicted with various troubles, so that he might crown both the wretched for their patience and the merciful for their loving-kindness.

And while every season is suited to this duty, beloved, this present season is especially fitting and appropriate. At this season our holy fathers, by divine inspiration, established the fast of the tenth month, so that when the whole harvest had been gathered in, we might dedicate to God our reasonable service of abstinence, and each of us might remember to use his abundance in such a way as to be more sparing toward himself and more open-handed toward the poor. For forgiveness of sins is most effectively prayed for with almsgiving and fasting, and prayers that are given wings by such aids rise swiftly to God’s ears. As it is written, “The merciful man does good to his own soul,” and nothing is so much a man’s own as what he spends on his neighbor. For the part of his material possessions with which he serves the needy is changed into eternal riches, and from this generosity is born a wealth that can never be diminished or destroyed in any way. For “blessed are the merciful, for God will have mercy on them,” and he himself, who is the model of his own command, will be their chief reward. [a]

But at all these acts of godliness, dearly beloved, which commend us more and more to God, there is no doubt that our enemy, who is so eager and so skilled at harming us, is roused by sharper stings of hatred. Under a false profession of the Christian name he means to corrupt those whom he is not allowed to attack with open and bloody persecutions. For this work he keeps heretics in his service, whom he has led away from the catholic faith, made subject to himself, and forced to serve in his camp under various errors. And as he used the services of a serpent to deceive the first man, so, to mislead the minds of the upright, he has armed these men’s tongues with the poison of his lies. But these treacherous schemes, dearly beloved, we will defeat with a shepherd’s care, so far as the Lord grants us his help. And taking care that none of the holy flock perishes, we warn you with a father’s warnings to keep away from the “lying lips” and the “deceitful tongue” from which the prophet asks that his soul be delivered, because “their words,” as the blessed apostle says, “creep like gangrene.” They creep in humbly, they seize softly, they bind gently, they kill secretly. For they “come,” as the Savior foretold, “in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves,” because they could not deceive the true and simple sheep unless they covered their beastly rage with the name of Christ. But in all of them he is at work who, though he is in truth the enemy of light, “transforms himself into an angel of light.” His is the craft that inspires Basilides; his the cleverness that worked in Marcion; he is the leader under whom Sabellius acted; he is the author of the headlong fall of Photinus; his is the authority and his the spirit that Arius and Eunomius served. In short, under his command and authority the whole herd of such wild beasts has separated from the unity of the church and cut its connection with the truth. [c]

But while he keeps this ever-changing supremacy over all the heresies, he has built his citadel on the madness of the Manichaeans, and has found in them the widest courtyard in which to strut and boast. For there he possesses not one form of false belief only, but a mixture of all errors and ungodliness. All that is idolatrous in the pagans, all that is blind in the carnal Jews, all that is unlawful in the secrets of the magic art, and finally all that is profane and blasphemous in all the heresies, is gathered together in these men, with every kind of filth, as if in a cesspool. So it would take too long to describe all their ungodliness, for the number of the charges against them is more than I have words for. It will be enough to point out a few instances, so that from what you hear you may guess what we leave out for modesty’s sake. As for their rites, however, which are as indecent morally as they are religiously, we cannot keep silent about what the Lord has been pleased to reveal to our inquiries, so that no one may think that in this matter we have relied on vague rumors and uncertain opinions. So, with bishops and presbyters sitting beside me, and Christian nobles gathered in the same place, we ordered their elect, men and women, to be brought before us. And when they had disclosed a great deal about their perverse teachings and their way of conducting their festivals, they also revealed this story of utter depravity, which I blush to describe, but which has been so carefully investigated that no ground for doubt is left to the unbelieving or to quibblers. For all the persons by whom the unspeakable crime had been committed were present: a girl at most ten years old, and two women who had nursed her and prepared her for this outrage. Also present was the youth who had violated her, and the bishop who had arranged their horrible crime. All of them made one and the same confession, and a tale of such foul orgies was disclosed as our ears could scarcely bear. And so as not to offend chaste ears by plainer speaking, the record of the proceedings will be enough. It shows most fully that in that sect no modesty, no sense of honor, no chastity whatever is to be found: their law is falsehood, their religion the devil, their sacrifice immorality. [e]

And so, dearly beloved, give up all friendship with these utterly abominable and pestilent men, whom disturbances in other regions have brought to the city in great numbers. And you women especially, keep away from acquaintance and company with such men, so that you do not fall into the devil’s snare while your ears are charmed unawares by their fabulous stories. He knows that he seduced the first man through the woman’s mouth, and drove all people from the bliss of paradise through a woman’s readiness to believe, and he still lies in wait for your sex with more confident craft, so that he may rob of both their faith and their modesty those he has been able to trap through the servants of his falsehood. This too, dearly beloved, I beg and urge you: inform us faithfully if any of you know where they live, where they teach, whose houses they visit, and in whose company they find rest. For it does little good to anyone that through the Holy Spirit’s protection he is not caught by them himself, if he does nothing when he knows that others are being caught. Against common enemies, for the common safety, all alike should keep the same watch, so that other members are not injured by the wound of one, and so that those who think such men should not be handed over are not found guilty at Christ’s judgment for their silence, even though they are not defiled by giving them their approval. [f]

Show, then, the holy zeal of religious watchfulness, and let all the faithful rise up as one body against these savage enemies of their souls. For the merciful God has delivered a certain part of our harmful foes into our hands, so that by the revealing of the danger the greatest caution might be roused. Let what has been done not be enough; let us persevere in searching them out. Then, with God’s help, the result will be not only that those who still stand will continue in safety, but also that many who have been deceived by the devil’s seduction will be brought back from error. And the prayers and alms and fasts that you offer to the merciful God will be the holier for this very devotion, when this deed of faith too is added to all your other godly duties. On Wednesday and Friday, therefore, let us fast, and on Saturday let us keep vigil in the presence of the most blessed apostle Peter. As we experience and know, he watches unceasingly like a shepherd over the sheep the Lord entrusted to him, and he will prevail in his prayers that the church of God, which was founded by his preaching, may be free from all error, through Christ our Lord. Amen. [g]