1. As I am about to speak, beloved brethren, of patience, and to declare its advantages and benefits, from what point should I rather begin than this,

 2. Philosophers also profess that they pursue this virtue but in their case the patience is as false as their wisdom also is. For whence can he be ei

 3. But for us, beloved brethren, who are philosophers, not in words, but in deeds, and do not put forward our wisdom in our garb, but in truth—who are

 4. But what and how great is the patience in God, that, most patiently enduring the profane temples and the images of earth, and the sacrilegious rite

 5.  And that we may more fully understand, beloved brethren, that patience is a thing of God, and that whoever is gentle, and patient, and meek, is an

 6. Nor, beloved brethren, did Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, teach this in words only but He fulfilled it also in deeds. And because He had said tha

 7. And moreover, in His very passion and cross, before they had reached the cruelty of death and the effusion of blood, what infamies of reproach were

 8. And after all these things, He still receives His murderers, if they will be converted and come to Him and with a saving patience, He who is benig

 9. But if we also, beloved brethren, are in Christ if we put Him on, if He is the way of our salvation, who follow Christ in the footsteps of salvati

 10. Finally, we find that both patriarchs and prophets, and all the righteous men who in their preceding likeness wore the figure of Christ, in the pr

 11. But that it may be more manifestly and fully known how useful and necessary patience is, beloved brethren let the judgment of God be pondered, wh

 12. Whence every one of us, when he is born and received in the inn of this world, takes his beginning from tears and, although still unconscious and

 13. It is the wholesome precept of our Lord and Master: “He that endureth,” saith He, “unto the end, the same shall be saved ” and again, “If ye conti

 14. But patience, beloved brethren, not only keeps watch over what is good, but it also repels what is evil.  In harmony with the Holy Spirit, and ass

 15. Charity is the bond of brotherhood, the foundation of peace, the holdfast and security of unity, which is greater than both hope and faith, which

 16. What beyond —that you should not swear nor curse that you should not seek again your goods when taken from you that, when you receive a buffet,

 17. And moreover, also, for the varied ills of the flesh, and the frequent and severe torments of the body, wherewith the human race is daily wearied

 18. Thus Job was searched out and proved, and was raised up to the very highest pinnacle of praise by the virtue of patience. What darts of the devil

 19. And, beloved brethren, that the benefit of patience may still more shine forth, let us consider, on the contrary, what mischief impatience may cau

 20. Wherefore, beloved brethren, having diligently pondered both the benefits of patience and the evils of impatience, let us hold fast with full watc

 21. But since I know, beloved brethren, that very many are eager, either on account of the burden or the pain of smarting wrongs, to be quickly avenge

 22. But when shall come the divine vengeance for the righteous blood, the Holy Spirit declares by Malachi the prophet, saying, “Behold, the day of the

 23. But who is this that says that he has held his peace before, and will not hold his peace for ever?  Surely it is He who was led as a sheep to the

 24. Let us wait for Him, beloved brethren, our Judge and Avenger, who shall equally avenge with Himself the congregation of His Church, and the number

16. What beyond;—that you should not swear nor curse; that you should not seek again your goods when taken from you; that, when you receive a buffet, you should give your other cheek to the smiter; that you should forgive a brother who sins against you, not only seven times, but seventy times seven times,37    Manutius, Pamelius, and others add, “not only seventy times seven times.” but, moreover, all his sins altogether; that you should love your enemies; that you should offer prayer for your adversaries and persecutors? Can you accomplish these things unless you maintain38    Or, “them with the stedfastness of patience,” etc. the stedfastness of patience and endurance? And this we see done in the case of Stephen, who, when he was slain by the Jews with violence and stoning, did not ask for vengeance for himself, but for pardon for his murderers, saying, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.”39    Acts vii. 60. It behoved the first martyr of Christ thus to be, who, fore-running the martyrs that should follow him in a glorious death, was not only the preacher of the Lord’s passion, but also the imitator of His most patient gentleness.  What shall I say of anger, of discord, of strife, which things ought not to be found in a Christian? Let there be patience in the breast, and these things cannot have place there; or should they try to enter, they are quickly excluded and depart, that a peaceful abode may continue in the heart, where it delights the God of peace to dwell. Finally, the apostle warns us, and teaches, saying:  “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and anger, and wrath, and clamour, and blasphemy, be put away from you.”40    Eph. iv. 30, 31. For if the Christian have departed from rage and carnal contention as if from the hurricanes of the sea, and have already begun to be tranquil and meek in the harbour of Christ, he ought to admit neither anger nor discord within his breast, since he must neither return evil for evil, nor bear hatred.

XVI. Quid deinde, ut non jures neque maledicas, ut tua ablata non repetas, ut, accepta alapa, et alteram maxillam verberanti praebeas, ut fratri in te peccanti non tantum septies, sed septuagies septies , sed et omnia omnino peccata dimittas, ut diligas inimicos tuos, ut pro adversariis et persecutoribus precem facias? Porisne ista perficere , nisi patientiae et tolerantiae teneas firmitatem? Quod factum videmus in Stephano ; qui, cum a Judaeis vi et lapidibus necaretur, non sibi vindictam, sed interfectoribus veniam postulabat dicens: Domine, ne statuas illis hoc peccatum (Act. VII, 59). Sic esse oportuit primum martyrem Christi, qui 0632C martyres secuturos gloriosa morte praecurrens, non tantum Dominicae passionis praedicator esset , sed et patientissimae lenitatis imitator. Quid dicam de ira, de discordia, de simultate, quae in Christiano esse non 0633A debent? Sit patientia in pectore, et haec illic locum habere non possunt; aut si adire tentaverint, cito exclusa discedunt, ut domicilium pacificum perseveret in corde ubi Deum pacis delectet habitare. Admonet denique Apostolus et docet dicens : Nolite contristare Spiritum sanctum Dei, in quo signati estis in diem redemptionis . Omnis amaritudo et ira et indignatio et clamor et blasphemia auferatur a vobis (Ephes. IV, 30). Si enim Christianus a furore et contentione carnali, tamquam de maris turbinibus, excessit, et tranquillus ac lenis in portu Christi esse jam coepit, nec iram nec discordiam debet intra pectus admittere, cui nec malum pro malo reddere liceat nec odisse.