The New People are a People of Children
Paul shows great wisdom when he says: ‘We never sought glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were babes among you.’ [1 Thess. 2:7]
A child is charming, gentle, simple-minded, without cunning or hypocrisy, in short, straightforward in thought and speech. He is therefore the personification of simplicity.
A child has a sensitive soul. We too are sensitive. We trust one another without reserve. We do good. We keep ourselves clear of rancour and crookedness.
Old people are often crooked and unforgiving. The new people are a people of children, lovable like children.
Paul who speaks of his own joy in ‘a heart without malice’ gives a definition of children in a certain sense when he writes: ‘I would have you wise as to what is good and guileless as to what is evil.’ [Rom. 16:19]
In this meaning of the word, we are always children, always sensitive, always new as those who share in the new Word.
Whoever has been called to eternal life ought to resemble the Incorruptible. For this reason, let our whole life be springtime; let the truth within us never grow old.
Clement of Alexandria
The Teacher, 1, 5, 19 (Stahlin I, pp.101ff.)
Gentleness, the Face of Love
Just as water falling a drop at a time onto the fire in the end puts it out, so tears of sincere sorrow damp down in us the flame of anger and contempt. Then gentleness arrives, a deep tranquility of soul, which is untroubled either by honours or by ridicule.
The first stage of this tranquility consists in silencing the lips when the heart is excited. The second, in silencing the mind when the soul is still excited. The goal is a perfect peacefulness even in the middle of the raging storm.
Anger is a dislike hatched from the memory of offences received, a desire to hurt the people who have hurt us. The sweet scent of humility, however, makes it disappear, as the darkness scatters when the sun rises.
Some people with a hot temper do not worry about it and ignore the remedies that would heal them. They forget, unfortunately, what is written: ‘Surely anger kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple.’ [Job 5:2]
Anger is like the rapid revolution of the mill-wheel. It not only crushes but also scatters more grain than a reaper could do working a whole day.
It is also like an outbreak of fire when the wind is blustery: it scorches and burns up the field of the heart more disastrously than a slow fire would in a longer period.
The hot-tempered individual is like an epileptic: the disease takes him by surprise, shakes him up, flings him to right and left. He needs a great deal of humility because his anger is the result of an over-inflated opinion of himself.
On the other hand, gentleness attains its highest expression when we keep our heart calm in the face of someone who is provoking us, and actually show him our love.
John Climacus
Stairway to Paradise, 8 (PG88, 823)
~ Thomas Spidlik, Drinking from the Hidden Fountain, A Patristic Breviary: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World
