Writings

When the Lord says that man should eat bread with groaning, here what are you now doing, who desirest to live with joy? You seek to rescind the judgment uttered by the highest God when He first formed man; you wish to abandon the curb of the law. If the Almighty God has bidden you live with sweat, you who are living in pleasure will already be a stranger to Him. The Scripture says that the Lord was angry with the Jews. Their sons, refreshed with food, rose up to play. Now, therefore, why do we follow these circumcised men? In what respect they perished, we ought to beware; the greatest part of you, surrendered to luxuries, obey them. You transgress the law in staining yourself with dyes: against you the apostle cries out; yea, God cries out by him. Your dissoluteness, says he, in itself ruins you. Be, then, such as Christ wishes you to be, gentle, and in Him joyful, for in the world you are sad. Run, labour, sweat, fight with sadness. Hope comes with labour, and the palm is given to victory. If you wish to be refreshed, give help and encouragement to the martyr. Wait for the repose to come in the passage of death.