The Early Church and Fathers

Vol 8 Issue 42 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
October 17, 2015 ~ St Margaret Mary Aloquoque, opn!

1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (38)
2. Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost
3. Saint Luke, Evangelist
4. Christ in the Home (13)
5 .Articles and notices

Dear Reader:

Thank you for your prayers.

As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit.—The Editor

Baptism

Means of Salvation

Sacrament of Baptism

The Early Church and Fathers

The fact that baptism was considered requisite in the early Church is found in the ancient writings that are extant during this period. In those authors who are considered closest to the Apostles or before the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) there are the writers of the Didache and the Epistle of Barnabas and Hermas, who wrote The Shepherd. These quotes give a sense of the unity of the one faith Catholics hold concerning Baptism that is still believed even now by faithful Catholics.

Didache

And concerning baptism, baptize this way:  Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 28:19 in living water.  But if you have not living water, baptize into other water; and if you can not in cold, in warm. But if you have not either, pour out water thrice upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. But before the baptism let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whatever others can; but you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before. (c. 7)

Epistle of Barnabas

Let us further inquire whether the Lord took any care to foreshadow the water [of baptism] and the cross. Concerning the water, indeed, it is written, in reference to the Israelites, that they should not receive that baptism which leads to the remission of sins, but should procure another for themselves. The prophet therefore declares, Be astonished, O heaven, and let the earth tremble at this, because this people has committed two great evils: they have forsaken Me, a living fountain, and have hewn out for themselves broken cisterns. Is my holy hill Zion a desolate rock? For you shall be as the fledglings of a bird, which fly away when the nest is removed. Isaiah 16:1-2 And again says the prophet, I will go before you and make level the mountains, and will break the brazen gates, and bruise in pieces the iron bars; and I will give you the secret, hidden, invisible treasures, that they may know that I am the Lord God. Isaiah 45:2-3 And He shall dwell in a lofty cave of the strong rock. Furthermore, what says He in reference to the Son? His water is sure; you shall see the King in His glory, and your soul shall meditate on the fear of the Lord. Isaiah 33:16-18 And again He says in another prophet, The man who does these things shall be like a tree planted by the courses of waters, which shall yield its fruit in due season; and his leaf shall not fade, and all that he does shall prosper. Not so are the ungodly, not so, but even as chaff, which the wind sweeps away from the face of the earth. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the counsel of the just; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Mark how He has described at once both the water and the cross. For these words imply, Blessed are they who, placing their trust in the cross, have gone down into the water; for, says He, they shall receive their reward in due time: then He declares, I will recompense them. But now He says, Their leaves shall not fade. This means, that every word which proceeds out of your mouth in faith and love shall tend to bring conversion and hope to many. Again, another prophet says, And the land of Jacob shall be extolled above every land. Zephaniah 3:19 This means the vessel of His Spirit, which He shall glorify. Further, what says He? And there was a river flowing on the right, and from it arose beautiful trees; and whosoever shall eat of them shall live for ever. Ezekiel 47:12 This means, that we indeed descend into the water full of sins and defilement, but come up, bearing fruit in our heart, having the fear [of God] and trust in Jesus in our spirit. And whosoever shall eat of these shall live for ever, This means: Whosoever, He declares, shall hear you speaking, and believe, shall live for ever. (Cap. 11)

Hermas, using the term water, describes the reception of life given through baptism:

Explain to me a little further, sir, I said. What is it that you desire? he asked. Why, sir, I said, did these stones ascend out of the pit, and be applied to the building of the tower, after having borne these spirits? They were obliged, he answered, to ascend through water in order that they might be made alive; for, unless they laid aside the deadness of their life, they could not in any other way enter into the kingdom of God. Accordingly, those also who fell asleep received the seal of the Son of God. For, he continued, before a man bears the name of the Son of God he is dead; but when he receives the seal he lays aside his deadness, and obtains life. The seal, then, is the water: they descend into the water dead, and they arise alive. And to them, accordingly, was this seal preached, and they made use of it that they might enter into the kingdom of God. Why, sir, I asked, did the forty stones also ascend with them out of the pit, having already received the seal? Because, he said, these apostles and teachers who preached the name of the Son of God, after falling asleep in the power and faith of the Son of God, preached it not only to those who were asleep, but themselves also gave them the seal of the preaching. Accordingly they descended with them into the water, and again ascended. [But these descended alive and rose up again alive; whereas they who had previously fallen asleep descended dead, but rose up again alive.] By these, then, were they quickened and made to know the name of the Son of God. For this reason also did they ascend with them, and were fitted along with them into the building of the tower, and, untouched by the chisel, were built in along with them. For they slept in righteousness and in great purity, but only they had not this seal. You have accordingly the explanation of these also.(Sim. ix, 9)

Ignatius of Antioch (+ cir. 98)

Give heed to the bishop, that God also may give heed to you. My soul be for theirs that are submissive to the bishop, to the presbyters, and to the deacons, and may my portion be along with them in God! Labour together with one another; strive in company together; run together; suffer together; sleep together; and awake together, as the stewards, and associates, and servants of God. Please Him under whom you fight, and from whom you receive your wages. Let none of you be found a deserter. Let your baptism endure as your arms; your faith as your helmet; your love as your spear; your patience as a complete panoply. Let your works be the charge assigned to you, that you may receive a worthy recompense. Be long-suffering, therefore, with one another, in meekness, as God is towards you. May I have joy of you for ever!

Justin Martyr (+165)

I will also relate the manner in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ; lest, if we omit this, we seem to be unfair in the explanation we are making. As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, Unless you be born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. John 3:5 Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mothers’ wombs, is manifest to all. And how those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins, is declared by Esaias the prophet, as I wrote above; he thus speaks: Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from your souls; learn to do well; judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow: and come and let us reason together, says the Lord. And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if you refuse and rebel, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. Isaiah 1:16-20

And for this [rite] we have learned from the apostles this reason. Since at our birth we were born without our own knowledge or choice, by our parents coming together, and were brought up in bad habits and wicked training; in order that we may not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance, but may become the children of choice and knowledge, and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed, there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and has repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe; he who leads to the laver the person that is to be washed calling him by this name alone. For no one can utter the name of the ineffable God; and if any one dare to say that there is a name, he raves with a hopeless madness. And this washing is called illumination, because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings. And in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Ghost, who through the prophets foretold all things about Jesus, he who is illuminated is washed. (First Apology, 61)

Irenaeus (+cir. 202)

For nothing else [but baptism] was wanting to him who had been already instructed by the prophets: he was not ignorant of God the Father, nor of the rules as to the [proper] manner of life, but was merely ignorant of the advent of the Son of God, which, when he had become acquainted with, in a short space of time, he went on his way rejoicing, to be the herald in Ethiopia of Christ’s advent. Therefore Philip had no great labour to go through with regard to this man, because he was already prepared in the fear of God by the prophets. For this reason, too, did the apostles, collecting the sheep which had perished of the house of Israel, and discoursing to them from the Scriptures, prove that this crucified Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God; and they persuaded a great multitude, who, however, [already] possessed the fear of God. And there were, in one day, baptized three, and four, and five thousand men. Acts 2:41, Acts 4:4 (Against Heresies)

Tertullian (+cir. 225) writes extensively about baptism in his work, On Baptism(De baptismo), from which the following is taken:

Grant that, in days gone by, there was salvation by means of bare faith, before the passion and resurrection of the Lord. But now that faith has been enlarged, and has become a faith which believes in His nativity, passion, and resurrection, there has been an amplification added to the sacrament, viz., the sealing act of baptism; the clothing, in some sense, of the faith which before was bare, and which cannot exist now without its proper law. For the law of baptizing has been imposed, and the formula prescribed: Go, He says, teach the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The comparison with this law of that definition, Unless a man have been reborn of water and Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens, has tied faith to the necessity of baptism. Accordingly, all thereafter who became believers used to be baptized. Then it was, too, that Paul, when he believed, was baptized; and this is the meaning of the precept which the Lord had given him when smitten with the plague of loss of sight, saying, Arise, and enter Damascus; there shall be demonstrated to you what you ought to do, to wit— be baptized, which was the only thing lacking to him. That point excepted, he had sufficiently learned and believed the Nazarene to be the Lord, the Son of God (De Bapt., c. 13).

(To be continued)

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Week of Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost

Benedict Baur, O.S.B.

God forgives the whole debt

1.”And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant, failing down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And the lord of that servant, being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt” (Gospel).

2. “And forgave him the debt.” How marvelous is God’s mercy! The miserable servant realizes that his lord is angry and now he hears him give the order to the officers of justice, that he and all his family be sold into slavery. He throws himself at the feet of the master and begs for mercy and promises to pay the entire debt. Was not that master fully aware that his servant would never be able to pay the whole debt of ten thousand talents? Then what did the servant mean by saying that he would pay the debt in full? Undoubtedly the master was moved by his servant’s plea for mercy and considered only the willingness of the servant to pay a debt that was entirely beyond his power to satisfy. He forgave him the debt “because thou besoughtest me.” Such is God’s way. When the erring sinner humbles himself and acknowledges his sin, repents of it and resolves to do better, God forgives his sin, no matter how great it may be. How powerful is the prayer of sorrow and repentance when it seeks mercy and forgiveness! “But thou hast mercy upon all, because thou canst do all things and overlookest the sins of men for the sake of repentance” (Wisd. 11:24). “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezech. 33:11). “The Lord dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance” (II Pet. 3:9).

“Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee” (Gospel). Our God is a merciful God, but he is also just. The master had forgiven the wicked; servant his entire debt. “But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him a hundred pence; and laying hold of him he throttled him, saying: Pay what thou owest. And his fellow servant, falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not; but went and cast him into prison till he paid the debt” (Gospel). The master heard of this harsh act and summoned the unmerciful servant before him, and said: “Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me; shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant even as I had compassion on thee?” When God is merciful to us, He expects that we extend mercy and forgiveness to those who injure us or cause us sorrow or pain. “But I say to you: Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you; and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you, that you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and the bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust” (Matt. 5:44 f.). “And when you shall stand to pray, forgive if you have aught against any man, that your Father also, who is in heaven, may forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:25). It is only just, then, that we who have so often experienced the mercy of God should extend a like mercy to those who offend us. But how sadly we fail in thus being the children of our heavenly Father! How often we utter our own sentence of condemnation when we fail to forgive others!

3. This, then, is a preliminary condition for those who wish to obtain mercy and dispose themselves for forgiveness: they must be prepared to show a merciful and forgiving love for their brother. “For if you will forgive men their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offenses” (Matt. 6: 14). “If therefore thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath anything against thee, leave there thy offering before the altar and go first to be reconciled to thy brother; and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift” (Matt. 5:23 f.). The Kiss of Peace immediately before the Communion of the Mass is our pledge that we forgive our brethren from the bottom of our heart and cast all bitterness and resentment aside: “May the peace of the Lord be with you.” Only when we have signified our union with our brethren do we dare approach to receive the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, “the sacrament of brotherly love, the symbol of unity and the bond of charity” (St. Augustine).

PRAYER

Watch over Thy household, we beseech Thee, O Lord, with continual mercy, that through Thy protection it may be freed from all adversities and be devoted to good works. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

God’s justice and mercy

1. The liturgy last Sunday directed our attention to the last days. We now await the return of the Lord, the day of judgment, and our final sentence. “The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king who would take an account of his servants” (Gospel). The king is both merciful and just. To the servant who asks to be forgiven his debts, he grants mercy. But the servant who is unmerciful toward his fellow servant, he delivers to the torturers “until he paid all the debt.”
2. The Lord is merciful. The indebtedness of His servant is immense, and He has the right to demand full payment. But He shows mercy to him and cancels the whole debt: “I forgave thee all the debt because thou besoughtest me” (Gospel). When God forgives, He forgives completely. When He finds a sinner penitent, contrite, and disposed to amend his life, He forgives the whole debt. If the sinner is capable of an act of perfect contrition, a perfect act of love, it is apparent that he is prepared to do whatever God requires, and God forgives his entire debt, his sins and the temporal punishment due to them. God is a merciful God. With justice He could leave us in our sins. But He bears patiently with us until the very hour of our death, continually inviting us to repentance and amendment. Because of His mercy He gives us time to confess our sins, to repent, and to amend our lives. If we comply, He forgives us our debts and adds His grace. With this grace He gives us His abiding presence and the right to eternal happiness. “God (who is rich in mercy) for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ (by whose grace you are saved), and hath raised us up together and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus. That He might show in the ages to come the abundant riches of His grace in His bounty towards us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-7).

The Lord is just. The servant whose immense debt had been entirely forgiven goes out and meets a fellow servant. The amount this servant owes him is trifling in comparison with that which he owed his master. His fellow servant falls on his knees and beseeches him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.” But the wicked servant will show no mercy to his fellow servant. Cruelly and without hesitation he has him cast into prison until he pays the entire debt. Now the master hears of this wicked act and is grieved, so that he delivers the wicked servant to the torturers “until he paid all the debt.”

God is thorough in His administration of justice as well as in His mercy. We, too must make complete satisfaction for the temporal punishment due to sin, either in this world or in purgatory. “Thou shalt not go out from thence [from the pains of purgatory] till thou repay the last farthing” (Matt. 5:26). And should a soul have the misfortune to appear before God in the state of mortal sin, God is still thorough in His justice and condemns that soul to hell for all eternity. Such a sinner will never be able to pay all his debt. He must remain eternally separated from God; for his debt will never be satisfied. He has been condemned for all eternity and thrown into the pit, “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished” (Mark 9:43). “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Reb. 10:31). The condemned sinner is no longer a child of God and no longer receives grace; he has lost his right to eternal life, and he is cast into exterior darkness, where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 22:”13). The poor wretch cannot lift a hand to ward off his fate; he cannot make the slightest movement to escape hell. Repentance and sorrow and even prayer are now in vain. It is too late. Hell is eternal.

3. God is just. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” For this reason we pray daily and hourly in preparation for the coming judgment. We strive to keep our hearts and our minds free from every stain of sin. We pass judgment on ourselves each day by an earnest examination of our past life, our thoughts, our desires, our deeds, and we stand in fear of the just anger of God. We have a salutary fear of hell. Hell is only for those who spurn God, who are unfaithful to God, who are lacking in virtue. We strive to do penance, for God is merciful and we trust in that mercy. Although we are weak, inclined to evil, full of faults and frailties, we do not lose courage, for we have been humbled by our sins and we are sorry for them. We approach the sacrament of penance asking for grace and forgiveness in the firm hope that we shall receive a merciful judgment. We shall find mercy in proportion to the mercy we have shown to others. “Be ye therefore merciful as your heavenly Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matt. 5:7).

God is both just and merciful. In the celebration of the Mass we make complete satisfaction to the justice of God through the blood of Christ Jesus. In Holy Communion He gives us Jesus, the incarnate mercy of God.

PRAYER

Watch over Thy household, we beseech Thee, O Lord, with continual mercy, that through Thy protection it may be freed from all adversities and be devoted to good works. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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OCTOBER 18

St. Luke, Evangelist

1. Luke the physician (cf. Col. 4:14) was a fellow worker of St. Paul. A convert from paganism he probably joined the Apostle about the year 50 or 51 when, on his second missionary journey, the latter first set foot on European soil (cf. Acts 16:l0). Having gone to Philippi with Paul and remained there for some time, he went to Jerusalem about the year 58 and then to Rome, where he ministered to Paul in prison. During Paul’s second captivity (about 65 to 67) Luke was again with him (cf. II Tim. 4: 11). He is the author of the third Gospel and of the “Acts of the Apostles”. Legend says that he later became a painter, the first to paint the Madonna, and that he died a martyr.
2. “We are sending with him [Titus] that brother of ours, who has won the praise of all the churches . . . [and] of whose eagerness we have had good proof, in many ways and upon many occasions” (Epistle). The liturgy understands St. Paul to be speaking of Luke here, for, by his authorship of the third Gospel the latter had become well-known in all the congregations. The burden of his Gospel is the merciful love of God toward sinful mankind. He portrays Jesus as the Savior of the miserable and the neglected, the poor and the sinning, who announces the good tidings of God’s goodness. For Luke Jesus is the kindly, pitying Redeemer who came to seek and save what was lost, who forgave the sinful woman (7:36-50), who entered the house of the Publican Zachaeus (19:1 ff. ), who promised paradise to the penitent thief on the cross (23:42). Luke claimed to have “put the story [of Jesus] in writing . . . as it befell, having first traced it carefully from its beginnings” (1:3). We are grateful to him for this consoling picture of the Savior, and particularly for the lovely portrait of the Virgin-Mother that he alone of the Evangelists has given us (the Annunciation, Visitation, Magnificat, Shepherds at the Crib, Presentation in the Temple, Finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple).

Luke “continually bore in his own body the sufferings of the cross” (Collect). We recall the occasion on which he traveled with St. Paul from Philippi over Miletus in Asia Minor to Jerusalem (Acts 20:5-15; 21:1-10), when Paul fell into the hands of the Jews. “The whole city was in a commotion, and the common folk ran up from all sides. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the Temple . . . and they were preparing to kill him” (Acts 21:30). The Roman officer rescued Paul from the rage of the Jews, had him bound with two chains, and eventually, took him to Caesarea, where the Apostle spent two years in mild captivity. Then followed the difficult journey to Roman captivity, with its many trials and dangers, all of which Luke described minutely as an eyewitness. He stayed courageously at Paul’s side during both captivities (cf. II Tim. 4:11) and was probably a witness to his martyrdom. It is evident that Luke suffered much with his master. An ancient preface for the feast of this Evangelist speaks of the “cross of renunciation”: “Thou, King of glory, hast granted invincible strength to those who fight against the snares of the ancient serpent and the weakness of their own body. One of them, Thy blessed Evangelist Luke, took up the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Holy Spirit; and thus, he fought bravely against vices, so that the stream of evangelical sweetness might flow to us.”

3. “I am sending you out to be like lambs among wolves. You are not to carry purse, or wallet, or shoes; you are to give no one greeting on your way” (Gospel). The disciples were sent out to labor for the cause of the Master. A disciple of Jesus should be poor and uncomplaining; he should restrict his requirements to bare necessities and not allow himself to be hindered by useless talking in the fulfillment of his task. When he speaks it should not be in his own name, but as a messenger of God. Today’s Gospel sketches the spirit and conduct of St. Luke.

We can honor the memory of this Evangelist in a special way by reading his book and contemplating the Savior whom he has depicted in such charming and encouraging style.

We are also indebted to St. Luke for the “Acts of the Apostles,” in which he eloquently traces the victorious progress of Christianity from Jerusalem to the various parts of the Roman Empire. By means of this story, written for the converts of St. Paul, he hoped to strengthen the faith of Christians in the divine origin of their religion. With reason, the work has been called the “Gospel of the Holy Ghost,” because Luke earmarks the great events he records as the work of the Holy Spirit.

Collect: Lord, we pray Thee let Thy holy evangelist Luke, who for the honor of Thy name continually bore in his own body the sufferings of the cross, make intercession for us. Amen.

CHRIST IN THE HOME

BY RAOUL PLUS, S.J.

(1951)

MARRIAGE

MAN BORN OF SLIME

WHAT was God’s first aim in instituting marriage? Was it the mutual union of the couple? Was it procreation?

We can learn much of God’s designs without departing from the story of Genesis. God desiring to multiply humankind by means of generation (the first aim) created a mutual attraction between the sexes which would lead them on to love (the second aim). That is how the matter stands from a logical point of view. Considered from the psychological point of view, the first aim is the union of the two; the child comes only as an issue and consecration of the union.

This is no time to develop a thesis. Much more valuable is it to draw inspiration for useful reflection upon the plan of God.

Adam was formed from the slime of the earth, Eve from the body of Adam. Might not this great difference in origin explain, in part at least, the essential difference between the masculine temperament and the feminine temperament? Man is coarser grained, more vehement in passion, more readily excited to physical desires. That is understandable because of his role in generation; he is constituted for conquest and, with rare exceptions, more readily advances beyond the suggestions or demands of delicacy and restraining modesty than a woman does. In many ways he evidences that he is more earthy than his wife. This is not a condemnation but simply a statement of a providential reality. Woman, according to Bishop Dupanloup, is more soulful than man. That, too, can be understood in the light of her role in marriage. Might it not also be explained by the fact that, born as she was from a living human being, the beginnings of her material being were nobler than Adam?

In any case, one thing is certain—God wanted Adam and Eve to be different from each other. It is a mistake for man to become effeminate, for woman to play the man. They are not made to resemble each other but to complement each other.

Let man keep the department of masculine forcefulness and let woman keep the department of necessary refinements.

Woman has probably failed at times in fidelity to her essential feminine vocation. Her game of imitating man whether attempted through perversity or thoughtlessness goes contrary to the plan of the Most High. God does well what He does. If He created Eve after Adam, it was not that He might have upon the earth only Adam and Adam.

Man too does not want to see just himself again in woman. Just because he has enough of being himself only, he desires something else. If woman presents nothing but an extension of masculinity, he has nothing but that to go on. He becomes completely himself only when a woman who is truly a woman comes to join him according to the plan willed by Providence.

Let women take on men’s work, if need be, during difficult times which call men to arms; they but do their duty and we extol them for it. Aside from such an emergency, let them keep to their own field, the exercise of womanly functions, and leave to men the functions of man.

SOME FEMININE TRAITS

THE Bible clearly reveals the role designed for woman by Providence. Formed from a living person rather than from slime, her lead in the home is to be spiritual; drawn from close proximity to man’s heart she is to rule by loving devotedness. Created as man’s complement, she is not to become his rival but his helpmate.

It is worthy of note also that the first woman was imposed on Adam. The first man did not have a choice among several women. Eve formed by God from Adam’s own being was given to Adam by God.

Ever after, aside from the periods in history when woman was nothing more than a slave or when she was given in marriage without her consent, she would be chosen by man in order to enter into marriage. As a consequence, woman has a double characteristic—an innate genius for adornment and, in regard to other women, a jealousy that can be inflamed by a mere nothing.

She has a genius for adornment. She must please. And that is right. No one need reproach her for striving to do so. “The pheasants are preening their feathers,” Saint Francis de Sales humorously commented in answer to Saint Jane Frances de Chantal’s letter expressing worry over her daughters’ newly evidenced concern about their dress. It is excess that is blameworthy.

Charles Diehl, in the first volume of “Figures Byzantines” tells us that political reasons did not always direct the marriages contracted by the emperor of Byzantium. When the Empress

Irene wanted to marry off her son Constantine, she sent messengers everywhere to find the most beautiful girl in the empire; she herself set the requirements as to age, height, and personal appearance of the candidates.

A fig for nobility! The basilissa needed only to be beautiful. That alone qualified her to be considered sovereign; the marriage would follow. It was not therefore as wife of the emperor that she received power but rather as a sort of choice by God indicated by her beauty. . .

How many women at that time must have hoped to become empress?

And how many women since the Byzantine era as well as before have counted on their “beauty” to come into power and acquire a husband. Provided that she stays within her bounds when capitalizing on her real or supposed beauty, woman does not depart from her role.

She does however depart

…

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