How fresh the Fathers of the Church can be in our own times. No wonder Pope Benedict wrote that we need to recover the perspective and methods of the Fathers.
Let’s not imagine that we are the only ones who have dealt with crises in the Church, even though what we are going through now is probably worse than those of the past, even the Arian controversy.
Here is something I recently spotted at the site of the Laudator from the great Eastern Doctor and Cappadocian Father St. Basil the Great of Caesarea (+378). This is from Letter 90 (trans. Deferrari) in the time of the Arian crisis:
The evils which afflict us are well known, even if we do not now mention them, for long since have they been re-echoed through the whole world. The teachings of the Fathers are scorned; the apostolic traditions are set at naught; the fabrications of innovators are in force in the churches; these men, moreover, train themselves in rhetorical quibbling and not in theology; the wisdom of the world takes first place to itself, having thrust aside the glory of the Cross. The shepherds are driven away, and in their places are introduced troublesome wolves who tear asunder the flock of Christ. The houses of prayer are bereft of those wont to assemble therein; the solitudes are filled with those who weep. The elders weep, comparing the past with the present; the young are more to be pitied, since they know not of what they have been deprived.
The young are rediscovering what they have have been cheated out of. That’s one reason why particular wolves are ravening in certain dioceses. They will do anything to keep the young away from what has been handed down and, instead, lock them into the “fabrications of innovators”.
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For a long time, because of communication, many problems developed in the early Church. The separation of the Greek Orthodox was a distrust of language and distance. It took a long time and travel to correct problems.
We have no excuses in todays instant communication.
When Vatican II abuses started, i.e. ripping out Altar rails, Nuns removing Habits ,Altar girls, Priest ad-libing in the Mass, It should have been stopped then and there by Rome.
Father, this gives me hope for the future! If the Church weathered the storm of Arianism and overcame it, then it can weather our current storms and overcome them. It only appears bleak to us because we are in the middle of the storms and do not see their ending and defeat yet.
Please pray that St. Michael exposes plots of terrorism. I wrote a song about United Flight 93. Here is a link to a YouTube video of it called, “Please, Pick Up!”
Here is a link…..
https://youtu.be/IEehjDhuNwE?si=jb9tdc_gaTKL1tt5
Wolves appear to fill the vacuum, but who drove away the shepherds?
My favorite in this vein is 2 Timothy 4, 3-4
I think the kids are becoming smarter about this, & recognizing the truth amidst all the stupidity being offered. I marvel at the quantity of 20-something folks at our Masses every week- not dragged there by their parents, by attending by their own volition.
Lay Catholics have indeed been deprived of much over time. For example, as evidenced by his writings, Basil himself engaged in many widespread and common practices observed in the early church which are forbidden in the Catholic Church today: the reception of multiple portions of the Holy Eucharist by the laity, the ability of the laity to possess and take the Holy Eucharist from the church following mass, the reservation of the Holy Eucharist in the domiciles of the laity, and private self communion in one’s own home. Basil also recognized and engaged in the widespread practice of receiving communion in the hand which is so common today, but often viewed as unorthodox. Basil did not deem these practices to be sacrilegious, impious or otherwise improper in any way. On the contrary, he believed them to be spiritually healthy and a source of great strength during times of persecution, priestly shortages and even during normal day to day living when mass was readily available.
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ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA
Letter 93
To the Patrician Cæsaria, concerning Communion:
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“It is good and beneficial to communicate every day, and to partake of the holy body and blood of Christ. For He distinctly says, “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.”John 6:54 And who doubts that to share frequently in life, is the same thing as to have manifold life. I, indeed, communicate four times a week, on the Lord’s day, on Wednesday, on Friday, and on the Sabbath, and on the other days if there is a commemoration of any Saint. It is needless to point out that for anyone in times of persecution to be compelled to take the communion in his own hand without the presence of a priest or minister is not a serious offense, as long custom sanctions this practice from the facts themselves. All the solitaries in the desert, where there is no priest, take the communion themselves, keeping communion at home. And at Alexandria and in Egypt, each one of the laity, for the most part, keeps the communion, at his own house, and participates in it when he likes. For when once the priest has completed the offering, and given it, the recipient, participating in it each time as entire, is bound to believe that he properly takes and receives it from the giver. And even in the church, when the priest gives the portion, the recipient takes it with complete power over it, and so lifts it to his lips with his own hand. It has the same validity whether one portion or several portions are received from the priest at the same time.”
“The elders weep, comparing the past with the present; the young are more to be pitied, since they know not of what they have been deprived.” When I was a teenager in the 1970’s in rural West Virginia, I knew something was wrong when the interior of the church was destroyed for no explainable reason and for my religious education, conducted by a couple of deracinated religious sisters, I was required to read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. I wondered, “Why the [heck] am I reading a book about the Buddha in what’s supposed to be a Catholic class?” I didn’t have any resources to do anything about it, though, so I truly did not know of what I’d been deprived.
stdaniel, I found your tribute very moving and poignant. Very. The ending is crushing, but hopeful as well. Well done.
We learned nothing. Our open borders and refusal to identify Islam as incompatible with Western culture is beyond insane, it is suicidal and we are already reaping the benefits everywhere. But no matter. Look away. Forget.
God have mercy on all souls lost that dreadful day, and comfort the survivors. God help our leaders to stop being so intractably stupid and weak they ignore the obvious and leave us all open to many more 9/11’s, as they are currently doing with all zeal. God help us all.
Chili quotes “I, indeed, communicate four times a week, on the Lord’s day, on Wednesday, on Friday, and on the Sabbath, and on the other days if there is a commemoration of any Saint.” Interesting – including on three weekdays considered fasting days by my Orthodox friends, and, e.g., the upcoming Ember Days – with Celebration or Pre-sanctified, I wonder?
samwise asks “Wolves appear to fill the vacuum, but who drove away the shepherds?” St. Basil’s Letter 90 has some more detail, but nothing very specific… My guess would be “qui veniunt ad vos in vestimentis ovium, intrinsecus autem sunt lupi rapaces” (St. Matthew 7:15) and ‘ mercenarii’ and ‘qui non pastores sumus’ (cf. St. John 10:12-13), then and in the course of, say, the past century or so.
Chili,
Thank you for sharing the letter.
For what it’s worth –
The Synod of Rouen in the year 650 condemned the reception of Communion in the hand by the laity as an abuse, indicating that reception on the tongue must already have been a long-established practice in that region. The Roman Ordo of the ninth century accepts Communion on the tongue as the normal practice.
@Venerator Sti Lot: excellent verses, thank you kindly
As for the dear Chili’s quote,
that is a nice case for the St. Ambrose’s quote: “In Rome do as the Romans do”, and also a case of “not every change is a change for the worse”. (That applies also, for instance, for the change of Pope St. Pius X concerning the attitude towards the frequency of Communion.)
It is interesting to note though that to St. Basil, taking the Holy Communion (celebrant priests aside) by oneself rather than from a minister (possibly, as we should add, a layman EMHC, but someone else) was an anomaly and pretty much restricted to a) hermits, where it cannot be done otherwise, b) times of persecution, c) the local use of Egypt.
As for Communion in the hand, who would say it is unorthodox would be wrong on the reason you cite, but still there is some difference between a venerable ancient practice before its dying out, and a practice introduced with the explicit purpose of “the now universal practice looks too humble and too little adult for our modern taste”. (Frankly, I cannot see why these days anyone would Communicate in the hand, other than things like habituation, not-standing-out, avoiding-being-stared-down-or-worse-by-the-priest [and possibly others], and the like: Reasons which often enough exist in practice, and for which I occasionally continue to Communicate-in-the-hand without bad conscience, but which… although they do justify bandwagoning in the individual case, which they wouldn’t if Communion-in-the-hand were outrightly sinful … cannot really justify the fact that the practice now exists in the first place.)