OF HIS TEACHING IN THE WILDERNESS
No sooner had scholars learned of my retreat than they began to
flock thither from all sides, leaving their towns and castles to
dwell in the wilderness. In place of their spacious houses they
built themselves huts; instead of dainty fare they lived on the
herbs of the field and coarse bread; their soft beds they exchanged
for heaps of straw and rushes, and their tables were piles of turf.
In very truth you may well believe that they were like those
philosophers of old of whom Jerome tells us in his second book
against Jovinianus.
"Through the senses," says Jerome, "as through so many windows, do
vices win entrance to the soul. The metropolis and citadel of the
mind cannot be taken unless the army of the foe has first rushed in
through the gates. If any one delights in the games of the circus,
in the contests of athletes, in the versatility of actors, in the
beauty of women, in the glitter of gems and raiment, or in aught
else like to these, then the freedom of his soul is made captive
through the windows of his eyes, and thus is fulfilled the
prophecy: `For death is come up into our windows' (Jer. ix, 21).
And then, when the wedges of doubt have, as it were, been driven
into the citadels of our minds through these gateways, where will
be its liberty? where its fortitude? where its thought of God? Most
of all does the sense of touch paint for itself the pictures of
past raptures, compelling the soul to dwell fondly upon remembered
iniquities, and so to practice in imagination those things which
reality denies to it.
"Heeding such counsel, therefore, many among the philosophers
forsook the thronging ways of the cities and the pleasant gardens
of the countryside, with their well-watered fields, their shady
trees, the song of birds, the mirror of the fountain, the murmur of
the stream, the many charms for eye and ear, fearing lest their
souls should grow soft amid luxury and abundance of riches, and
lest their virtue should thereby be defiled. For it is perilous to
turn your eyes often to those things whereby you may some day be
made captive, or to attempt the possession of that which it would
go hard with you to do without. Thus the Pythagoreans shunned all
companionship of this kind, and were wont to dwell in solitary and
desert places. Nay, Plato himself, although he was a rich man, let
Diogenes trample on his couch with muddy feet, and in order that he
might devote himself to philosophy established his academy in a
place remote from the city, and not only uninhabited but unhealthy
as well. This he did in order that the onslaughts of lust might be
broken by the fear and constant presence of disease, and that his
followers might find no pleasure save in the things they learned."
Such a life, likewise, the sons of the prophets who were the
followers of Eliseus are reported to have led. Of these Jerome also
tells us, writing thus to the monk Rusticus as if describing the
monks of those ancient days: "The sons of the prophets, the monks
of whom we read in the Old Testament, built for themselves huts by
the waters of the Jordan, and forsaking the throngs and the cities,
lived on pottage and the herbs of the field" (Epist. iv).
Even so did my followers build their huts above the waters of the
Arduzon, so that they seemed hermits rather than scholars. And as
their number grew ever greater, the hardships which they gladly
endured for the sake of my teaching seemed to my rivals to reflect
new glory on me, and to cast new shame on themselves. Nor was it
strange that they, who had done their utmost to hurt me, should
grieve to see how all things worked together for my good, even
though I was now, in the words of Jerome, afar from cities and the
market place, from controversies and the crowded ways of men. And
so, as Quintilian says, did envy seek me out even in my hiding
place. Secretly my rivals complained and lamented one to another,
saying: "Behold now, the whole world runs after him, and our
persecution of him has done nought save to increase his glory. We
strove to extinguish his fame, and we have but given it new
brightness. Lo, in the cities scholars have at hand everything they
may need, and yet, spurning the pleasures of the town, they seek
out the barrenness of the desert, and of their own free will they
accept wretchedness."
The thing which at that time chiefly led me to undertake the
direction of a school was my intolerable poverty, for I had not
strength enough to dig, and shame kept me from begging. And so,
resorting once more to the art with which I was so familiar, I was
compelled to substitute the service of the tongue for the labour of
my hands. The students willingly provided me with whatsoever I
needed in the way of food and clothing, and likewise took charge of
the cultivation of the fields and paid for the erection of
buildings, in order that material cares might not keep me from my
studies. Since my oratory was no longer large enough to hold even a
small part of their number, they found it necessary to increase its
size, and in so doing they greatly improved it, building it of
stone and wood. Although this oratory had been founded in honour of
the Holy Trinity, and afterwards dedicated thereto, I now named it
the Paraclete, mindful of how I had come there a fugitive and in
despair, and had breathed into my soul something of the miracle of
divine consolation.
Many of those who heard of this were greatly astonished, and some
violently assailed my action, declaring that it was not permissible
to dedicate a church exclusively to the Holy Spirit rather than to
God the Father. They held, according to an ancient tradition, that
it must be dedicated either to the Son alone or else to the entire
Trinity. The error which led them into this false accusation
resulted from their failure to perceive the identity of the
Paraclete with the Spirit Paraclete. Even as the whole Trinity, or
any Person in the Trinity, may rightly be called God or Helper, so
likewise may It be termed the Paraclete, that is to say the
Consoler. These are the words of the Apostle: "Blessed be God, even
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the
God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation"
(2 Cor. i, 3). And likewise the word of truth says: "And he shall
give you another comforter" (Greek "another Paraclete," John, xiv, 16).
Nay, since every church is consecrated equally in the name of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, without any difference in
their possession thereof, why should not the house of God be
dedicated to the Father or to the Holy Spirit, even as it is to the
Son? Who would presume to erase from above the door the name of him
who is the master of the house? And since the Son offered Himself
as a sacrifice to the Father, and accordingly in the ceremonies of
the mass the prayers are offered particularly to the Father, and
the immolation of the Host is made to Him, why should the altar not
be held to be chiefly His to whom above all the supplication and
sacrifice are made? Is it not called more rightly the altar of Him
who receives than of Him who makes the sacrifice? Who would admit
that an altar is that of the Holy Cross, or of the Sepulchre, or of
St. Michael, or John, or Peter, or of any other saint, unless
either he himself was sacrificed there or else special sacrifices
and prayers are made there to him? Methinks the altars and temples
of certain ones among these saints are not held to be idolatrous
even though they are used for special sacrifices and prayers to
their patrons.
Some, however, may perchance argue that churches are not built or
altars dedicated to the Father because there is no feast which is
solemnized especially for Him. But while this reasoning holds good
as regards the Trinity itself, it does not apply in the case of the
Holy Spirit. For this Spirit, from the day of Its advent, has had
Its special feast of the Pentecost, even as the Son has had since
His coming upon earth His feast of the Nativity. Even as the Son
was sent into this world, so did the Holy Spirit descend upon the
disciples, and thus does It claim Its special religious rites. Nay,
it seems more fitting to dedicate a temple to It than to either of
the other Persons of the Trinity, if we but carefully study the
apostolic authority, and consider the workings of this Spirit
Itself. To none of the three Persons did the apostle dedicate a
special temple save to the Holy Spirit alone. He does not speak of
a temple of the Father, or a temple of the Son, as he does of a
temple of the Holy Spirit, writing thus in his first epistle to the
Corinthians: "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit."
(I Cor. vi, 17). And again: "What? know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of
God, and ye are not your own?" (ib. 19).
Who is there who does not know that the sacraments of God's
blessings pertaining to the Church are particularly ascribed to the
operation of divine grace, by which is meant the Holy Spirit?
Forsooth we are born again of water and of the Holy Spirit in
baptism, and thus from the very beginning is the body made, as it
were, a special temple of God. In the successive sacraments,
moreover, the seven-fold grace of the Spirit is added, whereby
this same temple of God is made beautiful and is consecrated. What
wonder is it, then, if to that Person to Whom the apostle assigned
a spiritual temple we should dedicate a material one? Or to what
Person can a church be more rightly said to belong than to Him to
Whom all the blessings which the church administers are
particularly ascribed? It was not, however, with the thought of
dedicating my oratory to one Person that I first called it the
Paraclete, but for the reason I have already told, that in this
spot I found consolation. 'None the less, even if I had done it for
the reason attributed to me, the departure from the usual custom
would have been in no way illogical.