ACC ~ Matthew 5 v10

PERSECUTION FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS’ SAKE

CHROMATIUS: Not without reason did the Lord previously mention hungering and thirsting for justice. He instructs us so to thirst in our desire for justice that for its sake we should despise the world’s persecutions, the punishments of the body and death itself. The martyrs above all are the epitome of those who for the righteousness of faith and the name of Christ endure persecution in this world. To them a great hope is promised, namely, the possession of the kingdom of heaven. The apostles were chief examples of this blessedness, and with them all the just people who for the sake of righteousness were afflicted with various persecutions. Due to their faith they have come into the heavenly realms. TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 17.8.1-2. [1]

[1] CCL 9a:276-77.

THREE CROSSES

AUGUSTINE: “For the sake of justice.” This addition clearly distinguishes the martyr from the robber. For the robber too in return for evil deeds suffers at the law’s hand and doesn’t ask for a prize or garland but instead pays the due penalty. It is not the penalty as such but the basis for the penalty that makes the martyr. Let us first choose the right reason, and then let us endure the penalty without anxiety.

There were three crosses in a single place when Christ suffered: he himself was in the middle, and at his two sides were two robbers. Look at the penalty: it is similar for all three. Yet one of the robbers found paradise on the cross. The man in the middle, judging, condemns the proud man and receives the humble man. That piece of wood served as a judgment seat for Christ. He who judges, who is able to make the judgment correctly, says to the robber who confessed: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” [1] For the robber was humbling himself. Note what he had so simply said, “Remember me, Lord, when you come to your kingdom.” [2] The implication: I know my evil deeds. May I continually be crucified until you come. And because everybody who lowers himself shall be lifted up, Christ immediately expressed his thought and showed his mercy. SERMON 53A.13. [3]

[1] Lk 23:43.

[2] Lk 23:42.

[3] MA 1:634; WSA 3 3:83-84.

ON PERSECUTION BY YOUR OWN PEOPLE

ANONYMOUS: We are not to suppose that this refers only to those who suffer persecution from alien nations for not worshiping idols. This refers also to those who are blessed for not abandoning the truth when they suffer persecution from heretics. [1] They too suffer for the sake of righteousness. While the heathen nations deny Christ, the heretics deny Christ’s truth. Those who deny Christ’s truth deny Christ himself. For Christ is the truth. And so the heretics, who undertake persecution not on account of Christ but on account of Christ’s supposed truth, while they at first sight seem to be Christians, in fact are heathen in their mode of justice. If such people persecute you, you are blessed in the same way as John the Baptist was blessed under persecution. For John was killed neither because he was heathen nor because of heresy but on moral grounds, because he kept reproaching Herod for his adultery. In fact, all the prophets were killed by their own people, not by heathen kings. If, however, it is true that the prophets are martyrs, there is no doubt that a person who suffers something for God’s cause today, even if one suffers it at the hands of one’s own people, receives an eternal reward. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 9. [2]

[1] Supposed Christians who deny the apostolic witness.

[2] PG 56:683.