Coptic homilies in the dialect of Upper Egypt/Sermon 3

THE DISCOURSE OF ATHANASIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF RAKOTE, ON MERCY AND JUDGEMENT.

The world which has no remembrance of God, O my brethren, is governed by the injustice which appertains to cruelty, and by the inhumanity which appertains to weakness, even as the holy Apostle spoke saying, 'According as God did not think fit to let them remain in a state of rectitude, God gave them over to hardheartedness, and to the doing of the things which were unseemly. And they worked injustice of every kind; and wickedness, and evil, and deeds of avarice; and they were filled with calumnies and murder, and with contention, and the cunningness of the evil heart of the informer and of the tale-bearer ; and with the works of the debaucher, which are hateful to God ; and with the pride of the babbler of foolish things, and of him that seeks to find out the things which are evil ; and they hearkened not to the words of their parents; and were fools, and men without belief; and were arrogant, without mercy.' [ Rom. i. 28. ]

These are they whom God converted to the worship of God, and He teaches 2 them also to depart from that which is evil, and to have merciful care for him that is his neighbour, according to that which Isaiah taught us, saying in the character of God, ' Cease ye from the things which are evil, learn to do that which is good.' [ Isa. i. 16, 17. ]

Now the Law contains a very large number of precepts which do injury to him that is our neighbour, but there are also therein commandments concerning charity (or, the love of men), and the doing of deeds of mercy to each other. Now if it happen that a man omits [to keep] one of those precepts, it will not be sufficient for him to put another in its place ; neither will the man be acceptable before God who does good with that which is gained from the profits of injustice, if he give nothing of the things which he himself possesses, because even the men who do unjust things make the attempt to offer up gifts of their own goods to God. For it is written, ' The sacrifice of wicked men is an abomination unto God.' [ Prov. xv. 8 ; xxi. ] Therefore concerning him that shows himself to be without mercy does He (i.e., the Book) say, ' Unto him that shuts his ears, and hearkens not unto the poor, God will not hearken when he makes his appeal to Him. [ Prov. xxi. 13. ] Therefore has the Book of Proverbs counselled us saying, ' Give to God of your labour in truth, and you will give Him the firstfruits of your righteousness. [ Prov. iii. 9. ] Now supposing you gave a gift to God of a part of something which had been obtained by you through injustice or plunder, your gift would not be very acceptable to Him, either because you had obtained that something by injustice or plunder, or because you were giving a portion of it to Him as a gift. For you must bring as your offering the gift which is pure, even as it is written, ' The offerings of the upright are acceptable unto Him. [ Prov. xv. 8. ]

And moreover, if you do acquire possessions through your honest labour, you will bring unto God offerings from the same, whereon the poor will feed themselves. Yet they will be accounted unto you as things plundered, according to that which He spoke by the prophet Malachi saying, ' The firstfruits, and the tithes, are stolen by you, and the

plunder will be in your houses. [ Mal. iii. 8, 10. ]

Now it is meet for us to mingle mercy with judgement, and we must acquire the faculty of judging, but we must speak in mercy, according to that which is written, ' Keep mercy and judgement, and draw close to your God at all times. For God loves mercy and judgement, and let him draw close to God Who cares [for the poor] in mercy. Finally, let each one of us now in this place (i. e., the world) examine himself. Let the rich man consider most carefully concerning the things which he has obtained, and among which he considers the gifts of God to be, whether he has acted unjustly towards the poor man, or whether he has taken advantage of his weakness, or whether he has claimed more than his share of that which belongs to him, [or whether] he has employed force [in his dealing with him] instead of righteousness.

Now we are commanded, in respect of our servants, to keep strict justice when dealing with them, and to treat them equitably. Because you have the power [to deal unjustly], do not practise injustice ; and because you are able [to defraud], do not claim more than your share on the contrary, because you have the works of power, do you make manifest the works of righteousness, for it is not a matter which it is impossible for you to perform.

You are obliged to give a proof of the obedience and fear which are in you in respect of God, but in that wherein you have the power to transgress, you will not transgress.

Supposing you did carry off the tools of certain poor men, and didst give them to other poor men, you would be acceptable neither for your theft nor for your gift. Why should you pollute your riches and bring upon them works which are unrighteous? Why should you make your offering to be an abomination [to God] by undertaking to offer up an offering of injustice, because you thinkest to do a kindness to other poor men with it? Be merciful unto that man who has suffered injustice. Do deeds of kindness and charity to this man, and act with gracious goodness to that man, and you will thereby perform mercy and judgement. For God does not make Himself a partner in greediness, neither does He share with thieves and robbers. It is not impossible for Him to feed the poor whom He has committed unto us, but He requires the fruitfulness of righteousness, and the love of men, at our hands, whereby we will be both of use to others, and do good to ourselves. Mercy has no existence in injustice, neither has blessing any existence in cursing, nor the doing of acts of kindness spring from the tears of those who weep.

For God spoke concerning the tears that moved Him of those who were treated unjustly, saying, ' These are the things that you do which I hate. You cover over (or, dress) My altar with tears, and weeping, and sighings which arise from sufferings.' [ Mal. ii. 13. ] Acts of this kind performed in this manner are works of vanity, and they are performed for the sake of the approbation of men, and not for the approbation which is from God. It was for this reason that the Lord rightly said, 'Do not your acts [of charity] in order that men may see you.'[ Matt. vi. 1. ]'For if you would do your works of charity so that it will be God alone Who knows of it, you will guard yourself from doing them in greediness (or, avarice), for you know that you will not please in this manner God, Who watches us. Let us perform our acts of charity in such a manner that we may receive the reward therefor from God.

Now though God gives His good gifts unto these whom He honoureth, He honours in no way whatsoever him that seizes more than his share. Refrain from making an offering unto God if you causes grief to your brother, for he (i. e., the Book) says, ' If you goest to offer up an offering upon the altar, you will remember in that place if your brother has any matter against you. [If he has], go forth first of all and make yourself to be at peace with your brother, and then come in and offer up your gift.' [ Matt. v. 23. ] Remember then Zacchaeus, the tax-gatherer, who determined to restore to him that had been defrauded his property twofold, [ Compare Luke xix 8. ] and in this way he divided his possessions among the poor. For he knew that he wished to receive Christ into [his house], and that Christ would only receive unto Himself those who gave gladly unto the poor, [and that He would not receive him] unless he did away with his avariciousness, and the things which he had acquired unjustly. And in this manner did the Lord receive in integrity Zacchaeus, who said, ' Salvation is in this my house this day.' [ Luke xix. 9. ]

And these things we would say unto those who do works of charity, but who do not take care to be scrupulously fair and just. And we would also say them unto him that keeps strict watch on himself in respect of committing acts of injustice, but is careless in respect of doing works of charity. The tree which bears not fruit they cut down and cast into the fire. In this manner this tree will never give pleasure to the Husbandman Who appertains to heaven, Who spoke saying, ' I came seeking for fruit on this fig-tree, and I have found none ; and He commanded [them] to cut it down so that it might not make the ground to be without value also.' [ Luke xiii. 7. ] And they are also wont to condemn him that gives no pledge to the poor, and there is a threat of punishment because of this in the following [words], for He says, ' He who forgets to give a pledge to the poor will cry out to God, and He will not hearken unto him.' [ Jer. xi. 11. ] And God says, ' For I am the Merciful One.' [ Jer. iii. 12. ]

Now, it is a terrible thing, and a matter wholly outside the Law, for you to come back and reap your fields a second time, or for you to come back and gather grapes a second time from your vineyard, or for you to come back and gather fruit a second time from your olive trees; for it is meet that you should leave these for the poor. If now these commandments were given unto those who were under the Law, what will we say in respect of these who are under Christ?

These are the [words] which the Lord spoke saying, ' Except your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye will not enter into the kingdom which is in the heavens.' [ Matt. v. 20. ] Therefore [we must give] not only from our fields, and from that which comes in to us, but also of the work of our hands. And the Apostle taught us that we must give unto those who have nothing at all, for he said, 'You will accept the good things in order that you may find the wherewithal to give gifts to him that is needy.' [ Eph. iv. 28. ] To him that wants to follow in the steps of the Saviour will the Lord reveal His Divine Person, and He will make him to give of all his substance, and to do that which is good to the poor ; and in this wise he will follow in His footsteps. Now, those who follow in His footsteps, and those who are perfect, give effect wholly to the great and perfect readiness [to give] which is in charity.

He gave them this commandment in order that they should perform service by means of [their] possessions, and should convert the remnant also to the service by the Word and the Spirit. He gave them this commandment in order to make them do acts of beneficence, and to give gifts for the common good, and to continue to do so with what they had, so that through these things they might find themselves to be like unto the love which God has for man, and might do works of charity, and give thanks. For He spoke saying, 'Give and it will be given unto you. Be merciful and mercy will be shown to you.' [ Luke vi. 38 ; Matt. v. 7. ] Through the things of this earth, moreover, He promised to them a share in those things which are with Him.

For these are they who will take their stand at the right hand of God, and these are they unto whom the King, when He will come, will speak saying, ' Come, ye blessed of My Father, and you will inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, [and] you gave Me food. I was thirsty, [and] you gave Me water to drink. I was a stranger, [and] you took Me to yourselves. I was naked, [and] you clothed Me. I was sick, [and] you visited Me. I was in prison, [and] you came unto Me. Then the righteous, having marvelled [at these words], will say, 'Lord, at what time did we ever do these things unto You? ' And He will say unto them, ' Amen. I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of these few little ones, it is to Me that you have done these

things.' [ Matt. xxv. 34 ff. ]

For ready kindness [shewn] to the saints is piety [shewn] to Christ, and ready kindness [shewn] towards those who belong to Christ, makes him that shows it to be a minister of Christ. Not only if he has many possessions, but also if he has very few ; whatsoever he has this will he offer. And if a man will give only a cup of cold water to a disciple, in the name of a disciple, Amen, I say unto you he will not lose his reward. He will give unto you, O rich man, the occasion for true liberty.

For through these things you will find yourself to be a fellow-worker with God. You will feed with the soldiers of Christ, and you will feed with them at your will, and you will be constrained in no wise; for the King of heaven neither sets restraint nor makes demands upon the perfect. He receives to Himself those who give willingly, in order that those who give may also receive, and that those who pay honour may themselves be honoured, and that those who make themselves partners with the poor in the things which are temporal will be invited to take their share with them in the things which are for ever.

These things, let us remember, are for ever and for all time. And let them be before our eyes, [and] they will be in our souls, in order that we may make use of the time (or, opportunity), and not allow it to escape from us. And we must not forget the things which are. Now let us await after them that which is to come, lest through our expectation we thrust the matter behind us, and there come upon us our end. Now the Lord gave this unto us that we might find ourselves keeping watch. And we must produce fruit, and labour in the remembrance of His commandments; and we must make ourselves ready for His glorious rest, and then nothing whatsoever will give us offence ; through Christ, our Lord, to Whom be the glory, and with Him the Father, and the Holy Spirit, for all ages of ages. Amen.