_Voluntary flagellations were unknown to the first Christians. An
explanation is given of the passage of St. Paul_: I chastise my
body, and keep it under subjection[14].
Flagellations are mentioned so often as eleven times by the Holy
Writers of the New Testament.
Of these, five relate to Jesus Christ. The first is in the _xxth
chapter_ of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, v. 19; and in the
_xxvith_ of the same, v. 26. In the _xvth chapter_ of St. Mark’s
Gospel, v. 33. In the _xviith chapter_ of the Gospel according to St.
Luke, v. 33; and in the _xixth chapter_ of the Gospel according to
St. John, v. 1[15]. No just conclusion, as the Reader may see, can
be drawn from the above-mentioned passages, in support of voluntary
flagellations, and of those _Disciplines_ which Monks now-a-days
inflict on themselves; since it is plain that our Saviour did not
whip himself with his own hands: and we might as well say that we
ought to inflict death upon ourselves, and nail ourselves to a cross,
as that we ought to lacerate our own flesh with scourges, because
Jesus Christ was exposed to that kind of punishment.
The other six passages of the New Testament in which whipping is
mentioned, are, first, in St. John’s (c. ii. v. 15.) _And when He had
made a scourge of small cords, he drove them out of the Temple, and
the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers of money, and
overthrew the tables._ The second chapter is in the fifth chapter of
the Acts (v. 40.) _And when they had called the Apostles and beaten
them with scourges, they commanded that they should not speak in the
name of Jesus; and let them go._ The third place in which scourgings
are mentioned, is the sixth chapter of the second Epistle to the
Corinthians (v. 15.) St. Paul in that Chapter places _Stripes_ among
the different methods of persecution which were used against the
ministers of the Gospel, and he moreover relates the sufferings to
which he himself had been exposed. _Of the Jews five times received I
forty stripes save one_: and in the next verse he says, _Thrice was
I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck;
a night and a day I have been in the deep_. Fifthly, in his Epistle
to the Hebrews (xi. 36.) the same Apostle says, speaking in general
terms, _And others had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea,
moreover of bonds and imprisonments_. Now, from all these passages
no authority whatever can be derived to justify the practice of
voluntary flagellation. All the persecuted persons above-mentioned
suffered those beatings with rods, and those scourgings, much against
their will.
The sixth and last passage in which whipping is mentioned, in the
New Testament, is therefore the only one from which any specious
conclusion may be drawn in support of the practice of voluntary
flagellation: it is contained in the first Epistle to the Corinthians
(ix. 22); St. Paul in it says, _I chastise my body, and keep it under
subjection_. Indeed this passage is well worth examining attentively.
Several men of great authority have given it as their opinion, that
the Apostle expressly meant to say, by the above words, that it
was his practice to lash himself, in order to overcome his vicious
inclinations. Among others, James Gretzer, an able Theologian and
one of the Fathers Jesuits, vehemently asserts that the Greek words
in the text literally signify, “I imprint on my own body the stripes
or marks of the whip, and render it livid by dint of blows,” and the
same Father supports his assertion by the authority of _Septalius_
and _Guastininius_, two celebrated Interpreters of Aristotle, who, in
their Commentaries, quote _Gallienus_ as having used the Greek word
in question (ὑπωπιάζω) in the same sense which he (Father Gretzer)
attributes to St. Paul. To these authorities Gretzer moreover adds
those of St. Irenæus, St. Chrysostom, Paulinus, and Theophylactus,
who (he says) have all explained the above passage in the same manner
as himself does: so that, if we were to credit all the comments of
Father Gretzer, there would, indeed, remain little doubt but that
St. Paul meant to say, he fustigated himself with his own hands; and
that he was thereby left an example which all faithful Christians
ought in duty to imitate.
But yet, if, setting aside, for the present, all authorities on this
head, we begin with examining attentively into the real meaning of
the Greek word which is the subject of the present controversy, we
shall see that it cannot have that signification which Father Gretzer
pretends. In fact, let us examine if that word occurs in any other
place of the New Testament, and in what sense it is employed. We meet
with it in the eighteenth Chapter of St. Luke, wherein Jesus Christ
says, in the manner of a Parable, that a Widow used to teaze a Judge
with her frequent complaints, who was thereby compelled at last to do
her justice; and he makes him speak in the following words: “Because
this Widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual
coming, she _weary_ me (ὑπωπιάζη μὲ.)” Now, who can imagine that this
Judge entertained any fear that the Woman should flagellate him? Yet,
we must think so, if the Greek word used in the Text (which is the
very same as that employed by St. Paul, and on which Father Gretzer
builds his system) should always signify, as that Father pretends,
to beat, or lash. If a literal explanation of that word, therefore,
is in many cases improper and ridiculous, it follows that it is
frequently to be understood in a figurative sense, and that it is
then only employed to express that kind of hard usage either of one’s
self, or of others, which is exercised without any mixture of real
violence, or bodily sufferings. To this add, that St. Paul himself,
when, on other occasions he really means to speak of blows and actual
stripes, never once makes use of the word in question.
Besides, if in order rightly to understand the meaning of St. Paul,
we consult the holy Fathers and Interpreters (which certainly is a
very good method of investigating the truth), we shall scarcely find
one who thought that St. Paul either beat or lashed himself, and
in the above passage meant to speak of any such thing as voluntary
Flagellation. St. Iræneus, Bishop of Lyons, though he has translated
the words in question into these, “_I chastise my own body, and
render it livid_,” has made no mention whatever of either scourges,
whips, or rods.--St. Chrysostom likewise supposes, that the Apostle
in the above passage, only spoke of the pains and care he took, in
order to preserve his temperance, and conquer the passions of the
flesh; and that it was the same as if he had said, “I submit to
much labour, in order to live according to the rules of Temperance.
I undergo every kind of hardship, rather than suffer myself to
be led astray.” It must be confessed, however, that Benedictus
Haeftenus, in his _Disquisitiones Monasticæ_, quotes a passage from
the above Author’s 34th Homily, by which he pretends to prove that
self-flagellations were in use in that Father’s time; but the words
which Haeftenus has quoted in Latin are not to be found in the
original Greek of St. Chrysostom’s Homilies, and are therefore to
be attributed to some modern Flogging-Master (Μαστιγοφόρος) who has
lent them to him, by a kind of pious fraud. Other passages to prove
our assertion, might be quoted from the words of Theodoret, Bishop of
Cyrus, of Oecumenius, as well as several other Greek Fathers.
The Latin have also understood St. Paul’s words in the same sense
that the Greek Fathers have done. Indeed I do not find one among them
but who thought that St. Paul did not actually lash himself with his
own hands. St. Ambrosius, Bishop of Milan, expresses himself on the
subject in the following words. ‘He who says (meaning St. Paul) I
chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, does not so much
_grieve_ (_contristatur_) for his own sins, which after all could not
be so very numerous, as for ours.’
St. Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe, and an illustrious Discipline of St.
Augustin, on this occasion treads in the footsteps of his excellent
Master, giving the same sense as him to the words of St. Paul. The
following is the manner in which St. Fulgentius explains those words,
in his Epistle _on Virginity_, addressed to _Proba_. “The spiritual
Spouse of Virgins does not seek in a Virgin a body practised in
carnal pleasures; but rather wishes she should have chastised it by
abstinence. This, the Doctor of the Gentiles used to practice on
his own body. _I chastise_ (says he) _my body, and keep it under
subjection._ And again, _in watchings often, in thirst and hunger,
in fastings often_: let therefore the Virgin of Christ forbear to
seek after pleasures which, she sees, are equally with-held from the
widow.”
To all the above proofs, I know it will be objected that St. Petrus
Chrysologus, archbishop of Ravenna, is clearly of opinion that
St. Paul lashed himself with his own hands. The following is the
manner in which he expresses himself on this head, at least if we
are to credit the account given of his words by that great Patron of
flagellations, Father Gretzer, in his Book printed at Ingolstadt in
the year 1609. “This St. Paul used to do, who wrote in the following
words the title-deed of his own Servitude, _I render my body livid,
and bring it into subjection_: like a faithful Slave, himself
supplied the rod, (_vindictam_) and severely lashed his own back,
till it grew livid[16].” Now, who would not from these words, thus
standing alone, as Father Gretzer recites them, conclude that St.
Paul really used to cover his back with stripes? But, if we consult
the original itself, we shall see that St. Chrysologus meant no more
than to borrow a simile from the punishment usually inflicted on
Slaves; which punishment he mentions in the beginning of the very
passage we discuss here, and of which Father Gretzer has artfully
quoted only the conclusion. “After all (says _Peter Chrysologus_) if
the Servant does not awake early the next day, and rise before his
Master, whether he be weary or not, he will be tied up and lashed. If
the Servant therefore knows what he owes to another Man, the Master
is thence taught what himself owes to the Lord of Lords, and is made
sensible that he also is subject to a Master.” ‘This is what St.
Paul practised, who wrote the title-deeds of his own servitude, and
exposed himself to thirst, hunger, and nakedness. Like a good slave,
he himself supplied the rod, and severely lashed himself.’
If we examine into the works of St. Hierom, St. Austin, Pope Gregory
the Great, and other Latin Fathers, we shall find that they also
understood, that St. Paul had expressed himself in a figurative
manner. And it is only by misquotations, or arts of the like kind,
that Father Gretzer, Cardinal Demian, and others, have attempted to
prove that self-flagellations were in use so early as the time of St.
Paul among Christians.