Augustine, Sermones 305-315 (Classis III, de Sanctis)

with them: if you do not have, do not burn with greed. Migrate, transfer [your goods] ahead of you: what you have here, let it go there where you are going to follow. Hear the counsel of your Lord: Do not treasure up for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves dig through and steal; but treasure up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where the thief does not come near, where the moth does not corrupt. For where your treasure is, there is your heart also (Matt. 6:19–21). You hear daily, faithful man, Lift up the heart: and, as though you heard the contrary, you sink your heart into the earth. Migrate. Do you have the means? Do good. Do you not have the means? Do not murmur against God. Hear me, O you poor: What do you not have, if you have God? Hear me, O you rich: What do you have, if you do not have God?

Sermon 312. On the Birthday of Cyprian the Martyr, 4.

Chapter I. — 1. The martyr is to be praised not in himself, but in the Lord. The solemnity of a day so welcome and joyful, and the festival, so happy and delightful, of the crown of so great a Martyr, demands of me the sermon that I owe. But his prayers carry so great a burden along with me that, if I pay out anything less than is owed, he will not despise me as I speak to you, but will refresh you all by praying for you. I shall indeed do what I am certain is most pleasing to him: to praise him in the Lord, while I praise the Lord concerning him. For he was meek, even when he was enduring the dangers of this turbulent and stormy life amid various temptations, and that man knew well how to sing to God with a truthful heart, Let the meek hear, and rejoice (Ps. 33:3). And now, having left the land of the dying, he blessedly possesses the land of the living. For he was among those of whom it was said, Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land (Matt. 5:4). But what land, if not that of which it is said to God, Thou art my hope, my portion in the land of the living (Ps. 141:6)? Or if the land of the living is nothing other than the body of those who rise again, taken from the earth and changed into heavenly glory, then he is no longer groaning in the infirmity of this mortality, he for whom to remain in the flesh was not the best thing, but necessary for our sake; rather, loosed and freed from the bond both of debt and of chain, he waits at rest with Christ for the redemption of his body. For he who was not conquered by the temptation of his living flesh is secure about the restoration of his buried [flesh].

Chapter II. — 2. What sort of man Cyprian was before his conversion to the faith. Let his soul therefore be praised in the Lord, that the meek may hear and rejoice. Let a good soul be praised in the Lord, by Whose possessing it it becomes good, by Whose inspiring it it thrives, by Whose illuminating it it shines, by Whose forming it it is beautiful, by Whose filling it it is fruitful. For when He was absent from it, it once drifted about dead, dark, misshapen, barren, before it had believed in Christ. For what did eloquence profit him as a pagan, eloquence by which, as from a precious cup, he both drank deadly errors and offered them to others to drink? But when the kindness and humanity of God our Saviour shone forth (Tit. 3:4), He cleansed him, believing in Him, from worldly

desires, and He made [him] a vessel unto honour, useful to His household, prepared for every good work (2 Tim. 2:21). Nor did he, as one ungrateful, keep silent about these things. For far be it that, knowing God, he should not glorify Him as God: rather he gave thanks, not impiously swallowing back his former ways which he had vomited up, but piously recalling what he had changed. For, writing to his friend, so that he too might from darkness, which he was in himself, become light in the Lord, he says: 'When I lay in darkness and in blind night, and when, wavering and uncertain, I was tossed on the sea of the turbulent world with wandering footsteps, ignorant of my own life, a stranger to truth and light.' And a little after: 'For as I myself,' he says, 'was held entangled in the very many errors of my former life, from which I did not believe I could strip myself, so I was compliant to the vices clinging to me, and, in despair of better things, I favoured my evils as though they were now my own and native to me' (Ep. 2, to Donatus).

Chapter III. — 3. Converted by the grace of God, he became a true Cyprian. Behold what kind of Cyprian Christ found: behold what kind of soul that Uprooter and Planter approached, to strike it and to heal it. For not in vain does He say, I will kill, and I will make to live; I will strike, and I will heal (Deut. 32:39); nor in vain was it said to Jeremiah, as a figure of things to come, Behold, I have set you this day over nations and kingdoms, to uproot, and to dig out, and to destroy, and to rebuild, and to plant (Jer. 1:10). So the Uprooter and Planter approached that soul; and He overthrew the old Cyprian, and, having laid Himself there as the foundation, He built a new Cyprian in Himself, and made a true Cyprian out of Himself. For the Church says to Christ, A cluster of cyprus is my kinsman (Song 1:13). When therefore he was made a Christian by Christ, then truly was he also made Cyprian from cyprus. For he became the good fragrance of Christ in every place, as the apostle Paul says, who himself too was destroyed as a persecutor and built up as a preacher: We are, he says, the good fragrance of Christ to God in every place, both in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing: to some indeed a fragrance of life unto life, but to others a fragrance of death unto death. And who is sufficient for these things? (2 Cor. 2:15–16). For some lived by imitating Cyprian; others perished by envying Cyprian.

Chapter IV. — 4. From a forensic orator he was made a preacher of Christ. To Him be praise, to Him glory, Who, by justifying through faith the soul of His servant, rescued it from the ungodly, and made it His spear, that is, a two-edged sword, so that through that tongue the folly of the Gentiles might be laid bare and struck down, the tongue through which it had formerly, covered and veiled, seemed beautiful to the prudent; and so that the instrument of so noble an eloquence, by which unworthy ornaments were made for the ruinous doctrines of demons, might be turned to the edification of the Church, through whose growth those doctrines might collapse; and so that the trumpet of so great a voice, which used to sharpen the contests of forensic lies, might rouse devoted martyrs, soldiering for Christ and glorying in Him, to lay the devil low by the precious deaths of the saints. Among whom also Cyprian himself, by whose pious and holy, no longer stirring up fabulous smoke but radiant with the Lord's light, [they] were kindled

eloquence, by dying he lived, being judged he overcame the Judge, being struck he conquered the adversary, and being slain he slew death. For he who in the school of human perversity had taught both his own tongue and the tongues of others to speak falsehood, so that what was objected by an adversary might be denied by cunning deceit, had now learned in another school to escape the adversary by confessing. For where the enemy turned the name of Christ into a charge, there Christ turned the punishment into praise.

Chapter V. — 5. The victory of the martyrs over the demons, how evident it now is. And if anyone still perhaps asks who has conquered, to pass over the heavenly kingdom of the saints, which unbelievers refuse to believe because they cannot see it: now in this land, in this life, in houses, in fields, in cities, throughout the world, behold, there are the fervent praises of the martyrs: where are the raging accusations of the ungodly? Behold how the memorials of the slain are honoured; now let those men show the idols of the demons. What will they do to them by judging, who by dying overthrew their temples? How will He condemn their proud deceits by the splendour of His rising soldiers, Who quenched their smoking altars with the blood of the dying?

Chapter VI. — 6. Cyprian excelling among the martyrs in teaching and example. The place of his tomb. The benefits of grace towards Cyprian. How much Cyprian loved the unity of the Church. Among these legions of Christ the most blessed Cyprian, teacher of glorious battles and himself a glorious warrior, so taught what he was going to do, and did what he had taught, that both in the words of the teacher the mind of the martyr was known beforehand, and in the mind of the sufferer the words of the teacher were recognized. For he was not like those of whom the Lord says: What they say, do; but what they do, do not do: for they say and do not do (Matt. 23:3). This man, because he believed, spoke; because he spoke, he suffered. This, then, he taught in life, which he did; and this he did in death, which he taught. To Him be praise, to Him be glory, the Lord our God, the King of the ages, the Creator and Re-creator of men, Who enriched the Church of this city with such a bishop of His own, and consecrated the expanse of this place with so holy a body. To Him be praise, to Him be glory, Who deigned to predestine that man among His saints before the ages, to create him among men at the fitting time, to call him when he was straying, to cleanse him when he was defiled, to form him as a believer, to teach him as one obedient, to guide him as a teacher, to help him as he fought, to crown him as he conquered. To Him be praise, to Him be glory, Who made him such a man, in whom He might show above all to His Church against how great evils charity must be set and to how great goods it must be preferred, and that the charity of a Christian by whom the unity of Christ is not kept is nothing at all. This he so loved that he both did not spare the wicked, for the sake of charity, and bore with the wicked, for the sake of peace; both free in saying what he himself thought, and peaceable in hearing what he knew his brethren thought. Deservedly in the Catholic Church he merited the height of so great an honour, whose most harmonious bond he kept with such great humility. Wherefore,

dearly beloved, now that the sermon owed to so welcome a festival has been paid in full according to our strength, I exhort your love and devotion that we spend this day honourably and soberly, and that we show to the day on which the most blessed Cyprian suffered what he loved, so that he suffered.

Sermon 313. On the Birthday of the martyr Cyprian, 5.

Chapter I. — 1. No tongue is equal to the praises of Cyprian. A most holy and most solemn day, and one more familiar and more illustrious to this Church by reason of its adornment, has dawned today to gladden us, which the most blessed Cyprian made illustrious for us by the glory of his passion. No tongue would suffice for the praises of this reverend bishop and venerable martyr, not even if he were to praise himself. In this sermon of ours, therefore, which we render to your ears as a debt owed concerning him, approve rather the affection of the will than demand the effect of the ability. For so too, with regard to the praises of God, for which not only no speech but not even any thought is sufficient, when the holy praiser saw himself to be less than fit, he says: Make the freewill offerings of my mouth well-pleasing, O Lord (Ps. 118:108). This I too would say: let this also be my devotion, that if I am not equal to setting forth what I wish, it may be accepted because I wish it.

Chapter II. — 2. That the praises of the martyrs redound to God. For what are the praises of so great a Martyr but the praises of God? Or whose honour is Cyprian, turned to God with his whole heart, but His to whom it is said, O God of hosts, turn us (Ps. 79:8)? Whose work is Cyprian the teacher but His to whom it is said, Teach me Thy justifications (Ps. 118:135)? Whose work is Cyprian the shepherd but His Who said, I will give you shepherds according to My heart, and they shall feed you with discipline (Jer. 3:15)? Whose work is Cyprian the confessor but His Who said, I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which your enemies will not be able to resist (Luke 21:15)? Whose work is Cyprian, the endurer of that so great persecution for the truth, but His to whom it is said, O Lord, the patience of Israel (Jer. 17:13); and of whom it is said, For from Him is my patience (Ps. 61:6)? Lastly, whose work is Cyprian, victor in all things, but His of whom it is said, In all things we more than overcome through Him Who loved us (Rom. 8:37)? We do not therefore withdraw from the praises of God when we praise the works of God, and the battles of God in the soldier of God.

Chapter III. — 3. The martyrs are both armed by God and, once armed, helped by the same. For thus the Apostle exhorts: Stand, having your loins girded in truth, and clothed with the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod in the preaching of the Gospel of peace: in all things taking up the shield of faith, with which you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the most wicked one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. 6:14–17). What is it to be clothed with the breastplate of justice, and to take up the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, but by

the Lord to be armed with His gifts? Nor would it have sufficed for this soldier merely to be armed, had he not obtained from the Armed One Himself, by Whom he had been armed, that he should be helped. For indeed the most pious Martyr did not fail, in that conflict of his passion, to pray and say: Judge, O Lord, those who harm me; overthrow those who fight against me. Take hold of arms and shield, and rise up to my help. Pour out the blade, and close in against those who persecute me: say to my soul, I am your salvation (Ps. 34:1–3). How could he be conquered whom the Lord thus led forth armed, and thus, Himself armed, helped?

Chapter IV. — 4. How God armed is to be understood. The blade of God, the Church. The blade of God, the soul of the just man. But far be it from us to believe with a childish heart that God is armed with some bodily instruments. For of what kind those arms are with which His soldiers are accustomed to be helped by God armed, they themselves, having been helped, confess, when, crying out and giving thanks, they say: Lord, as with the shield of good will Thou hast crowned us (Ps. 5:13). But the blade of God, that is, the sword of God, which blade the body of Christ, which is the Church, prays to be poured out and to close in against those who persecute it, can indeed be understood where the Saviour Himself says to His body: I came not to send peace upon the earth, but a sword (Matt. 10:34). By this spiritual sword He separated from His martyrs, who longed for heavenly joys, the earthly affections that wickedly flatter, by which, held fast, they would have been called back from heaven to earth, had not the sword of Christ cut them through. But there is also another most evident blade of God, the soul of the just man in the hand of God; of which it is said to Him in the Psalm: Rescue my soul from the ungodly, Thy blade from the enemies of Thy hand (Ps. 16:13–14). What he said, my soul, he repeated as, Thy blade: what he said, from the ungodly, he repeated as, from the enemies of Thy hand.

Chapter V. — 5. The great blade of God, the soul of Cyprian. An altar erected over the body of Cyprian. This blade He poured out by scattering His martyrs everywhere: and He closed in against those who were persecuting the Church; so that those who were not bent by the voices of preachers might be broken by the virtues of the dying. For God fashions for Himself strong arms against His enemies, those very men whom He makes friends. A great blade of God, then, was the soul of the most blessed Cyprian, splendid in charity, sharp in truth, driven and brandished by the power of God fighting: what wars did it bring to an end? what throngs of gainsayers did it overcome by refuting them? how many hostile men did it strike? how many adversaries did it lay low? In the hearts of how many enemies did it slay the very enmities by which it was assailed, and make them friends through whom God might fight more abundantly against others? But when the time came that he should be seized, as though his enemies were prevailing, then indeed, lest he should yield to their hands, oppressed and conquered by the ungodly, He was present through Whom he was rendered unconquered: he took up the victory, since no further contest remained, which he was to carry off, namely, over this world and over the prince of this world. He was wholly present to His most faithful witness, who contended unto death for the truth; He did what He had been entreated to do, He rescued his soul from the ungodly, His blade from the enemies of His hand. Of whose victorious