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Against Vigilantius

7.

As to the question of tapers, however, we do not, as you in vain misrepresent us, light them in the daytime, but by their solace we would cheer the darkness of the night, and watch for the dawn, lest we should be blind like you and sleep in darkness. And if some persons, being ignorant and simple minded laymen, or, at all events, religious women—of whom we can truly say, ¹“I allow that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge”—adopt the practice in honour of the martyrs, what harm is thereby done to you? Once upon a time even the Apostles ² pleaded that the ointment was wasted, but they were rebuked by the voice of the Lord. Christ did not need the ointment, nor do martyrs need the light of tapers; and yet that woman poured out the ointment in honour of Christ, and her heart’s devotion was accepted. All those who light these tapers have their reward according to their faith, as the Apostle says: ³“Let every one abound in his own meaning.” Do you call men of this sort idolaters? I do not deny, that all of us who believe in Christ have passed from the error of idolatry. For we are not born Christians, but become Christians by being born again. And because we formerly worshipped idols, does it follow that we ought not now to worship God lest we seem to pay like honour to Him and to idols? In the one case respect was paid to idols, and therefore the ceremony is to be abhorred; in the other the martyrs are venerated, and the same ceremony is therefore to be allowed. Throughout the whole Eastern Church, even when there are no relics of the martyrs, whenever the Gospel is to be read the candles are lighted, although the dawn may be reddening the sky, not of course to scatter the darkness, but by way of evidencing our joy. ⁴ And accordingly the virgins in the Gospel always have their lamps lighted. And the Apostles are ⁵ told to have their loins girded, and their lamps burning in their hands. And of John Baptist we read, ⁶“He was the lamp that burneth and shineth”; so that, under the figure of corporeal light, that light is represented of which we read in the Psalter, ⁷“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, O Lord, and a light unto my paths.”

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Contra Vigilantium liber unus

7.

Cerei in templis, quare accensi? Christiani renascimur. Luminaria ad Evangelium accendantur quare?—Cereos autem non clara luce accendimus, sicut frustra calumniaris: sed ut noctis tenebras hoc solatio temperemus; et vigilemus ad lumen, ne caeci tecum dormiamus in tenebris. Quod si aliqui per imperitiam, et simplicitatem saecularium hominum, vel certe religiosarum feminarum, de quibus vere possumus dicere: Confiteor, zelum Dei habent, sed non secundum scientiam (Rom. X, 2), hoc pro honore Martyrum faciunt, quid inde perdis? Causabantur quondam et apostoli, quod periret unguentum; sed Domini voce correpti sunt (Matth. 26 et Marc. 14). Neque enim Christus indigebat unguento, nec martyres lumine cereorum: et tamen illa mulier in honore Christi hoc fecit, devotioque mentis ejus recipitur. Et quicumque accendunt cereos, secundum fidem suam habent mercedem, dicente Apostolo: Unusquisque in suo sensu abundet (Rom. XIV, 5). Idololatras appellas hujusmodi homines? Non diffiteor, omnes nos qui in Christo credimus de idololatriae errore venisse. Non enim nascimur, sed renascimur christiani. Et quia quondam colebamus idola, nunc Deum colere non debemus; ne simili eum videamur cum idolis honore venerari? Illud fiebat idolis, et idcirco detestandum est: hoc fit martyribus, et idcirco recipiendum est. Nam et absque martyrum reliquiis per totas Orientis Ecclesias, quando legendum est Evangelium, accenduntur luminaria, jam sole rutilante: non utique ad fugandas tenebras: sed ad signum laetitiae demonstrandum. Unde et virgines illae evangelicae semper habent accensas lampades suas (Matth. XXV). Et ad apostolos dicitur: Sint lumbi vestri praecincti, et lucernae ardentes in manibus vestris (Luc. XII, 35). Et de Joanne Baptista: Ille erat lucerna ardens et lucens (Joan. V, 35): ut sub typo luminis corporalis illa lux ostendatur, de qua in Psalterio legimus: Lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum, Domine, et lumen semitis meis (Ps. CXVIII, 105).