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

soul the holy flesh, as the sheath of that blade, we adorn in this place with the sublimity of the divine altar; [flesh] to be restored to that same soul by a triumphal resurrection, and to be laid down thereafter by no death.

Sermon 314. On the Birthday of Stephen the Martyr, 1.

1. Stephen is to be imitated, especially in the love of enemies. Yesterday we celebrated the Birthday of the Lord; today we celebrate the Birthday of the servant: but we celebrated the Birthday of the Lord, on which He deigned to be born; we celebrate the Birthday of the servant, on which he was crowned. We celebrated the Birthday of the Lord, on which He took on the garment of our flesh: we celebrate the Birthday of the servant, on which he cast off the garment of his flesh. We celebrated the Birthday of the Lord, on which He was made like us: we celebrate the Birthday of the servant, on which he was made nearest to Christ. For just as Christ by being born was joined to Stephen, so Stephen by dying was joined to Christ. But the Church keeps the day of the nativity and of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ with the homage of a twofold devotion for this reason, that each is a medicine. For He was both born, that we might be reborn: He died, that we might live for ever. The martyrs, however, by being born came to evil contests, drawing original sin: but by dying they passed over to most certain goods, ending all sin. For if the rewards of future blessedness did not console those placed in persecution, when would they have endured those punishments of diverse sufferings? If blessed Stephen, placed under a shower of stones, had not thought of the future rewards, how would he have borne that hail? But he carried in his mind the precept of Him Whose presence he discerned in heaven; and, lifted up towards Him by a most burning love, he desired to leave the flesh as quickly as possible and to fly to Him: nor did he any longer fear death, because he saw living the Christ Whom he knew to have been slain for him; and for this reason he too was hastening to die for Him, that he might live with Him. For what the most blessed Martyr, placed in that contest, saw, you doubtless recall from his words, which you are accustomed to hear from the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Behold, he says, I see the heavens opened, and Christ standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55). He saw Jesus standing: therefore he stood, and did not fall; because He, standing above and looking down from on high upon the one contending below, supplied invincible strength to His soldier, lest he should fall. Behold, he says, I see the heavens opened. Blessed the man to whom the heavens lay open. But who opened heaven? He of Whom it is said in the Apocalypse, Who opens, and no one shuts; shuts, and no one opens (Rev. 3:7). When Adam was cast out of paradise, after that first and unspeakable sin, heaven was shut against the human race: after the passion of Christ the thief entered first; afterwards Stephen saw it open. Why do we marvel? What he faithfully saw, he faithfully declared, and violently seized?

2. The same argument is treated. Come then, brothers, let us follow him; for if we follow Stephen, we shall be crowned. Above all, however, he is to be followed and imitated by us in the love of enemies. For you know that, surrounded by a gathering of numerous enemies, while he was being battered on this side and that by frequent blows of stones, calm and fearless, mild and gentle among the stones by which he was being killed, gazing upon Him for Whom he was being killed, he did not say, "Lord, judge my death"; but, "receive my spirit." He did not say, "Lord Jesus, avenge Thy servant, whom Thou seest consigned to this punishment of death"; but, "do not lay this sin against them" (Acts 7:58–59). Persisting therefore in the testimony of truth, and burning in spirit with charity, the most blessed Martyr, as you know, arrived at a most glorious end; and he who, having been called, persevered to the end, obtained at the end what he was called, Stephen being brought by the glory of his own name to the crown. When therefore blessed Stephen first shed his blood for Christ, it was as if a crown came forth from heaven, so that those who followed might take it up as a reward, who imitated the virtue of the one going before in the battle. Afterwards frequent martyrdoms filled the earth. Whoever afterwards shed their blood for the confession of Christ placed that crown upon their own head, and kept it intact for those who would follow. And now, brothers, it hangs from heaven: whoever desires it will fly swiftly to it. And to exhort your Holiness briefly and plainly, there is no need of many words: let whoever desires the crown follow Stephen. Turning to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 315. On the solemnity of Stephen the martyr, 2.

Chapter One. — 1. The deeds of Stephen contained in a canonical Book. The book of the Acts of the Apostles customarily read from the Lord's Day of Easter. How the most blessed Stephen was ordained deacon along with six others, himself also the seventh, and how he arrived at the heavenly crown, you heard when the reading itself was being read. This first merit of the first Martyr has been commended to your Charity: that whereas we scarcely find Acts of other martyrs which we can recite on their solemnities, his passion is in a canonical book. The Acts of the Apostles is a book of the Canon of the Scriptures. This book begins to be read from the Lord's Day of Easter, as the custom of the Church holds. In this book, then, whose title is The Acts of the Apostles, you heard how seven deacons were chosen and ordained by the Apostles, among whom was holy Stephen. The Apostles came first, the deacons followed. And the first martyr came from the deacons rather than from the Apostles: the first victim from the lambs rather than from the rams.

2. Stephen's passion like the passion of Christ. False witnesses against both. The great force of truth. But how great a likeness of passion he had with his Lord and Saviour! False witnesses against this one, as against Him: and on the very same matter. For you know and recall, the false witnesses

against the Lord Christ, what they said: We heard Him say, I destroy this temple, and after three days I build another, a new one (Mark 14:58). But the Lord had not said this; yet the falsehood wished to be close to the truth. How are they false witnesses? They heard that He had said: Destroy this temple, and after three days I will raise it up. But the evangelist says: But He was speaking of the temple of His body (John 2:19–21). The false witnesses, in place of what was said, Destroy, said, I destroy. They changed a little in the syllables: but the false witnesses were all the worse, the more they wished to come near to the truth by way of calumny. And what was charged against this man? We heard him say that Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this temple, and will change the custom of the Law (Acts 6:14). They were bearing false witness, and they were prophesying true things. Just as that Caiaphas, their master, the chief of the priests, giving counsel to the Jews that Christ should be killed, said this: It is expedient that one die, rather than that the whole nation perish. But the evangelist says: This he did not say of himself, but since he was high priest of that year, he prophesied that Christ had to die for the nation (John 11:50–51). What is this, brethren? Great is the power of truth. Men hate the truth, and they prophesy the truth without knowing it. They do not act, but it is done concerning them. So these false witnesses came forward like those false witnesses, but those for whom Christ was killed.

Chapter II. — 3. Why Stephen, brought into the council, does not keep silent after the example of Christ. To preach upon the housetop. They brought him into the council, so that they might have a greater judgement. But the friend of Christ, when he had stated his case, preached the truth of his Lord. He was about to die: why should a godly tongue keep silent before the ungodly? Why should he not die for the truth? In this one thing he was unequal to his Lord, for the sake of a certain mystery, as far as concerns the likeness of the passion. For He is God in the excellence of majesty. The Lord, when He was led to the passion, chose, on being questioned, to keep silent: this man did not keep silent. Why did He choose to keep silent? Because it had been foretold of Him: As a sheep He was led to be sacrificed, and as a lamb before its shearer without a voice, so He did not open His mouth (Isa. 53:7). But why did this man refuse to keep silent? Because it had been said by the Lord Himself: What I tell you in darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach upon the housetops (Matt. 10:27). How did holy Stephen preach upon the housetop? Because he trod underfoot the house of clay, the flesh. For he who does not fear death treads the flesh underfoot. He first set out for them the law of God from the beginning, from Abraham up to Moses, up to the giving of the law, up to the entry into the land of promise; so as to make plain that the testimony was not true by which they were stirring up calumny. Then concerning Moses he gave them a great likeness to Christ. Moses was rejected by them, and he himself set them free: rejected, he set them free. He did not render evil for evil: nay, he rendered good for evil. So also the Lord Christ, rejected by the Jews, is Himself afterwards to set them free.

Chapter III. — 4. The nation of the Jews set free through Christ in certain of them. But now he who is dying has died. The Jews whom you see will have a time of liberation

of their own, through the very One Whom they rejected; but they do not know it. Those who blaspheme now are perishing: then there will be others, not these. When we say these things, we promise salvation not to others but to themselves. The nation will be set free, not these men. Pay attention and take a comparison. Does God not now set the Gentiles free? All nations believe in Christ, and from sons of the devil they become sons of God. Yet those parents of ours, from whom we were born, who worshipped idols, perished with their idols.

5. Stephen, fierce in tongue against the Jews, gentle in heart. You have heard, and you have seen spectacles of the heart. The sound was in your ears, the vision in your minds. You have watched the great contest of Saint Stephen, who was stoned in the contest. Who was he? He who had long been teaching the law. What law was he teaching? The one which they received on tablets of stone. Rightly, having become stony themselves, they stoned the friend of Christ. Stiff of neck (after he had taught, he began to rebuke), and uncircumcised in heart and ears. Which of the prophets have your fathers not killed? He seems to rage: a fierce tongue, a gentle heart. He was crying out, and he was loving. He was raging, and he wished them to be saved. Who would not believe him angry, who would not believe him inflamed with the torches of hatred, when he said, Stiff of neck, and uncircumcised in heart and ears? Meanwhile the Lord looked down from heaven, and saw. Heaven was opened: he saw Jesus as though encouraging His athlete. Nor did he keep silent about what he saw: Behold, he said, I see heaven opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of the majesty. They, having heard this, as though what he had said were blasphemy, stopped their ears and ran for stones. In the Psalm it had been said, As of a deaf asp, and one that stops its ears (Ps. 57:5). They fully displayed what had been foretold of them. He began to be stoned. Now consider him raging, recall the harsh words: Stiff of neck, and uncircumcised in heart and ears (Acts 7:51). He was as if an enemy: as though, were it possible, he desired to kill them all. Let him say this who does not see the heart. His heart lay hidden: but his last words were heard, and his hidden things lay open, when he was being stoned. Lord Jesus, he said, receive my spirit. To Thee I have said it: for Thee I die. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Because Thou hast helped, he whom Thou receivest has conquered. Receive my spirit from the hand of those who hate Thine [own]. This holy Stephen said standing.

Chapter IV. — And after this he bent the knee, and said: Lord, do not lay this sin against them. Where now is Stiff of neck? Is this all that you were crying out? is this all that you were raging about? Outwardly you were crying out, and inwardly you were praying.

6. Stephen stands when praying for himself, because he is claiming a debt. Man is evil of himself, but good by the gift of God. — Lord Jesus, receive my spirit: this he said standing. For he was claiming a debt when he said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. He was claiming the debt which had been promised to the martyrs: the debt of which the Apostle says, For I am already being offered up, and the time of my dissolution is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: for the rest there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me on that day (2 Tim. 4:6–8). He will render, He will render what He owes. He who was formerly a debtor of punishments afterwards began to hold God

the bestower of rewards. How was the apostle Paul a debtor of punishments? Because he was an enemy of the Church, because he was a persecutor. Hear him himself: I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. "I am not worthy": he says "worthy". Why are you not worthy? To suffer punishments, to enter into hells, to be tormented for my deserts, of this I was worthy: to be an apostle, of this I was not worthy. Whence then did this come to you, of which you were not worthy? He went on: But by the grace of God I am what I am (1 Cor. 15:9–10). By my own evil I was what I was: by the gift of God I am what I am. So, that he might afterwards demand what was owed, he first received what was not owed. What was owed afterwards? There remains for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me on that day. "He will render to me", it is owed to me: but first, what was not owed. What? I am not worthy to be called an apostle: but by the grace of God I am what I am. So too Saint Stephen, [saying] "Lord Jesus", was standing, [having] with himself [ground] for confidence, because he had soldiered well, had striven well, had not yielded to the enemy, had trampled on fear, had spurned the flesh, had conquered the world and the devil: therefore he was standing when he said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

7. Saul in the slaying of Stephen a fiercer persecutor. Saul named from Saul; Paul, "small", "little". Stephen prays for his enemies on bended knee, because he asks for what is not owed. When the one was demanding what was owed, the apostle Paul was heaping up debt for himself. The one was asking for a good debt: the other was adding to an evil debt. For what do you think, brethren? When Stephen was being stoned, you heard, but perhaps you did not take notice, the false witnesses who were about to stone Stephen laid down, they laid down their garments at the feet of a certain young man named Saul.

Chapter V. — This man was Saul, and afterwards Paul: Saul the persecutor, Paul the preacher. For the name Saul comes from Saul. Saul was the persecutor of King David. Such as Saul had been against David, such was Saul against Stephen. But afterwards, when he had been called from heaven; called, cast down, changed, when as an apostle he began to preach the word of God; he changed his name, and called himself Paul. And why did he choose this? Because Paul is "small", Paul is "little". We are accustomed to speak thus: "I shall see you after a little [paulum]", that is, after a short while. Whence then Paul? I am the least of the Apostles (1 Cor. 15:9). Great, divine spectacles! He who was a persecutor in the slaying of Stephen was afterwards made a preacher of the kingdom of heaven. How fiercely he raged in that slaying, do you wish to hear? He kept the garments of those who were stoning, so that he might stone by the hands of all. So after Saint Stephen, standing, had demanded what was owed, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit; considering his enemies, who by stoning were making an evil debt for themselves, and were adding to that treasure of which the apostle Paul says, But according to your hardness and impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgement of God (Rom. 2:5): he considered them, and had pity on them, and bent the knee for them. For himself he was standing, for them he was bending the knees. He distinguished the just man from sinners: for the just man he asked standing, because he was demanding a reward; for sinners he bent the knees, because he knew how difficult it would be to be heard on behalf of such wicked men. Although just, although placed beneath the very crown,

he did not presume, but knelt down: not considering what he himself was worthy to receive by asking, but what they were worthy of, from whom he wished to turn away dreadful punishments. Lord, he said, do not set this sin against them.

8. Christ on the chair of the cross teaching the rule of piety. He has Stephen as a disciple who imitates Him. What Stephen [did] lowly, Christ [did] on high: what the one [did] bowed down to the earth, this Christ [did] hanging on the wood. For recall that He Himself also said: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34). He was sitting on the chair of the cross, and teaching Stephen the rule of piety. O good Master, well hast Thou declared it, well hast Thou taught it. Behold, Thy disciple prays for his enemies, prays for those who stone him. He has shown how he ought to imitate Thee: the lowly the Most High, the creature the Creator, the victim the Mediator, a man God and man: God, but yet man on the cross; God the Christ, but man on the cross, when He was saying with a clear voice, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

Chapter VI.—Someone says to himself: He prayed for His enemies because He is Christ, because He is God, because He is the Only-begotten; who am I, that I should do this? If your Lord is too much for you, do you not know that Stephen is your fellow servant? God taught through Stephen, one who had not been emptied [as Christ was]. If you see that these things went before in the Gospel, my brethren, let no one say in his heart, Who does that? Behold, Stephen did it: of himself? did he do it from what was his own? But if he did it from the gift of God, did he go in and shut [the door] against you? Did he cross the bridge and cut it down [behind him]? Is it too much for you? Ask, you too. The spring flows; it has not dried up.

9. Gentleness towards enemies. Anger is a scorpion. Anger is an enemy, beside which the other enemies do very little harm. And truly I say to your Charity, my brethren: exercise yourselves, as much as you can, in showing gentleness, even towards your enemies. Rein in anger, which goads you to vengeance. For anger is a scorpion. If it has stirred you up with its inward flames, you think it something great if you avenge yourself on your enemy. If you wish to avenge yourself on your enemy, turn against your anger itself: for it is your enemy, which kills your soul. O good man: for I do not wish to say bad man; I do better to say this, what I wish you to be, than what you are: good man, what is your enemy going to do to you? what is he going to do, granting that he has much power; granting that God permits him to do all that he desires? He desires to shed your blood. That is difficult indeed, and rare are those enemies who rage even to death. Even enemies themselves, when they see those whom they persecute afflicted, are wont to turn anger into mercy. Only with difficulty do you find an enemy who rages even to death. But suppose it, even to death. Set before yourself such an enemy, one who rages even to death. What is he going to do? What the Jews [did] to Stephen: punishment for themselves, a crown for him. Is your enemy going to kill you as though you were not going to die, as though you were going to live for ever? Your enemy is going to do to you what a fever would one day have done: if he kills you, he will be like your fever. So in killing you, will he harm you? No: rather, if you die well, and have loved [him], he will add something to your heavenly reward. You do not know how much they bestowed

those stoners, upon holy Stephen? Did they know that for goodness a crown was to be rendered to him, and for malice punishment to them? How much the devil has furnished! He himself made all the martyrs for us. But is he to go off from this [unpunished]? But from his benefits, which he did not intend, there will be charged to him what he himself desired, not what God was doing out of him. Therefore your enemy, whoever he may be, even to the point of death, will do you no harm.

Chapter VII.—10. Anger is our enemy; how much harm it does. Anger cannot be killed, but it can be held in check. See what harm anger does. Recognize your enemy: recognize the one with whom you fight in the theatre of your breast. A narrow theatre; but God is watching: tame your enemy there. Do you want to see how truly she is your enemy? I will show you now. You are about to pray to God: the hour will come for you to say, Our Father, Who art in heaven. You will come to that verse, Forgive us our debts. What follows? As we also forgive our debtors (Matt. 6:9, 12). There that enemy stands against you. She hedges in the way of your prayer: she raises a wall, and there is no way for you to pass. You said the whole well: Our Father. It ran on: Forgive us our debts. And what after that? As we also forgive our debtors. Look, the adversary herself speaks against you; and not before the veil, but within: in the very privy chamber of your heart, there she cries out to you, she speaks against you. What sort of enemy, brothers, is it that speaks against you? As we also forgive. You are not permitted to rage against your enemy: rage against her. Better is he who conquers anger than he who takes a city, Scripture says (Prov. 16:32). What I said just now is written: Better is he who conquers anger than he who takes a city. Does not a warrior general, when he comes against some enemies and finds a city fortified, furnished with armed men, excellent, opposing him, if he takes it, if he conquers it, if he overthrows it, seek a triumph? But as Scripture relates, Better is he who conquers anger than he who takes a city. It is in your hand. You cannot kill her, you can hold her in check. If you are strong, conquer anger: and spare the city. I see that you are attentive, I know how well you have taken it in. May God be present at your contests, so that it may profit you that you have watched the struggle of so great a Martyr; so that, as you have seen him conquering and have cheered him as he conquered, so you too may conquer in your heart.