Letter 21: To my holy and venerable brother Amandus,

To the holy, deservedly venerable, and most beloved brother Amandus, Paulinus. We marvel in the sacred history of the Kingdoms at that Asahel, brother of Joab, who was swift of foot and light in his running, so that he vied even with the stags and roe-deer in rival fleetness. Nor do we wonder any less, when we read, at that giant among the Philistines, who had grown beyond the measure of a human body and the proportion of his limbs, and whom hands armed with six fingers each and feet jointed with as many toes made stronger and swifter than the rest, except that against David, who fought with the hand of God and was ever unconquered in the image of Christ, no hand or strength of enemies, however great, prevailed; whereby in those alien giants the proud exaltation of the devil was cast down, and in our little ones the saving form of God, mighty through humility, was victorious. But let us return to the head of the letter, which we began from the feet, so that we may praise the Lord's courier Cardamas by the marked-out examples of the swift men of old in the divine law. And so there comes to our aid also from the Gospel that blessed swiftness of the young apostle, by which he outran Peter to the Lord's sepulchre - Peter being equal in his eagerness to run but slower by the weight of greater age - so that he who alone reclined upon the breast should be the first to behold the resurrection of the body. From there he had drawn twin fountains into the channel of his heart, which afterward, as herald of the revelation and the Gospel, he poured out into the world; and that fleshly nimbleness of his feet he afterward fulfilled with spiritual swiftness by the comely feet of the Word, running about through the peoples over the whole world. This same man, his lifetime prolonged beyond the days of all the apostles, is recorded to have been the last writer of the Gospel, so that - as the Vessel of Election [Paul] says of him - he might add, like a column, a firmament to the foundations of the Church, confirming the earlier writers of the Gospel with concordant authority: last as author in the time of his book, but first at the head of the mystery, since he alone of the four rivers, flowing down from that highest fountain of the divine Head itself, thunders from a lofty cloud: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He surpasses Moses, who with the edge of his mind extended the bounds of knowledge as far as the head of the world and the beginnings of visible creatures. He, while the other evangelists began the Gospel either from the human birth of the Savior, or from the typical sacrifice of the Law, or from the prophetic proclamation of the Baptist forerunner, flying higher took his start from the resurrection and penetrated even the heavens; nor did he halt among the angels, but passing beyond the archangels also and all the creatures above - the Virtues, Principalities, Dominations, Thrones - he directed himself with steep-climbing mind into the Creator himself, and beginning from that ineffable generation, he proclaimed the Son to be coeternal and consubstantial and coomnipotent and cocreating with the Father, discerning in the Holy Spirit God from God, because in him the Trinity of the Godhead is fulfilled and the one Godhead of the Trinity is discerned. For the Spirit of God, just as also the Word of God, is God, both remaining in one Head and flowing from the one fountain of the Father, but the Son by being born, the Spirit by proceeding, each distinguished rather than divided, with the property of his own person preserved. John therefore, blessed reclining one upon the Lord's breast, who had drunk a meaning higher than all creatures from the very heart of the Wisdom that is the creatress of all things, made drunk by the Holy Spirit, who searches even the deep things of God, made the beginning of his Gospel from that inmost and infinite Beginning of all beginnings; by which one beginning all the mouths of the devil, which bark in the heretics, are shut. And first the tongue of Arius is cut off, but also the blasphemy of Sabellius is made void, since by that same sentence of our Fisherman both the unity of the deity in the Father and the Son and the division of personality are expressed. By the same little chapter both Photinus, the mad teacher of a merely human beginning in Christ, is hissed off the stage, and Marcion, who distinguishes the God of the Law from the God of the Gospel, is extinguished, and Manichaeus, denier of the true Creator and fabricator of a false one, is ground down, at once thrown into confusion by the voice of that same supercelestial Gospel (I have called this Gospel supercelestial because its beginning is begun from that origin which is above all the heavens and before all ages), since concerning this Word of God who is God it hears: All things were made through him, and without him was made nothing. But the Gnostic, who glories in the name of a false knowledge and turns every notion of his perverse mind into certain airy phantasms as if by a spiritual imagining of corporeal things, the same author compels to faith in the flesh in Christ, when concerning the same Word, which was with God and was God, he says: And the Word was made flesh. Yet he was not so made flesh - as certain others, who are said to hiss like serpents, allege - that he passed over from his own nature into ours, but that, remaining according to himself what he was, he might for our sake begin to be what he was not. I am carried along far too long, while I so abuse the indulgence of your fellow-feeling that I fear neither to weary you with much talking nor to err in your sight through foolishness. For I know that, although you are wise, you nonetheless gladly bear your foolish friend through that charity which endures all things and never falls away. Yet I shall now say to myself that I should keep the ways of my speech, lest I sin with my tongue, but in few words come down to Cardamas - that is, to our Asahel, whose feet you have made like the stag's, renewing his youth like the eagle's through the abundance of your love, by which, having received him out of regard for our lowliness, you established him in the courts of the house of the Lord, so that the man might be more fully free, once he had begun to be the freedman of Christ. By this devotion you made him flower again, not only in spirit but also in body, so that he himself too, filled from your very inmost parts with the affection by which you love us, might bring your longings to us and in turn console ours, and, traveling solemnly across such great intervals of regions between us, might for the sake of the words of your lips keep the hard roads. We believe indeed that from the very letters of your holiness which he carries he takes up wings as of a dove, and that besides from your prayers he receives strength of foot, by which he may be conveyed to us; but nonetheless we congratulate him on this very grace, by which he has been set in the ministry of so great a charity, that he serves in freedom and runs about in old age, and prefers to spend the rest of an earned exemption in the labor of pilgrimage rather than in a domestic seat, because he declines to tread the ways of the slothful that are strewn with thorns, lest he be turned to misery while from the unfruitful leisure of idleness the thorn of wretched anxiety is fastened upon him. And so, tireless, he exults to run the way, lest the slavish poverty that attends the slothful overtake him - as it does the man who wears out a sluggish leisure - like a good courier. And when he comes to us, with how much joy does he flood and fill our soul with good news of your well-being! He fattens our bones, and there is made a voice of gladness in our tabernacles, when, our minds refreshed by the longed-for consolation, we say: The Lord has been mindful of us, and has blessed us. Let us exult and rejoice in him who gives the desire to the one who longs and grants us the longing of our soul, since he has gone before us in the blessing of sweetness. For what blessing is now sweeter to us, or what sweetness more delightful, than the fruit and consolation of charity, which is given to us in greatest measure by your letters? In them we embrace certain pledges both of your mouth and of your heart, because your utterances are the offspring of your soul; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Therefore we love Cardamas both when he arrives in your discourse and we commend him in ours when he departs; for he is worthy that his old age should rest in plentiful mercy, since it labors for the sake of charity and for the longings and offices of love. Moreover, what we admired in him more than the very swiftness of his grey hairs is this: that from the name of an exorcist he has so advanced toward frugality, that he did not shun being almost a daily guest with us, and that, when he was sprinkled with rare and tiny cups - with which he scarcely moistened the edge of his lips - he complained nothing of the wrong done to an empty belly or a dry throat. In short, in all respects Cardamas appeared to us so charming that we might see in him a cleric estimable to men and an exorcist terrible to demons. For the rest, brother, we commend both him and all our people and our very selves to you, that through you we may be commended to the Lord by your devoted prayers, so that both the liberty of all our people may serve the eternal Lord, and our servitude in Christ may attain the merit of eternal liberty.

XXI. SANCTO ET MERITO VENERABILI AC DILECTISSIMO FRATRI AMANDO PAVLINVS. Volucrem pedibus et leuem cursu, ita ut et ceruis uel capreis aemula pernicitate contenderet, Asael illum fratrem Ioab in sacra Regnorum admiramur historia. nec non minus illum in allophylis gigantem stupemus legentes, qui ultra humani corporis modum et mensura membrorum creuerat, quem senis armatae digitis manus et totidem - pollicibus articulati pedes fortiorem ceteris ue: locioremq ue faciebant, nisi quod contra Dauid manu dei dimicantem et Christi imagine semper inuictum nulla magnorum licet hostium manus uirtusque praeualuit, qua in alienis grandibus superba diaboli exaltatio 1] Ps. 22, 4. 4] Ps. 41, 2. 6] Ps. 35, 10. 13] (II Reg. 2, 18). (I Reg. 17, 4; II Reg. 21, 20). ftC 1 n. t. m. q. t. m. e. (sic) M 2 per ignes 0 3 incensi 0 4 desiderat om. L, s. I. add. M 5 ita d. a. m. a. t. d. LM 6 te est LM in] et in LMv 7 lumen] ualeas pater add. PPiU . — explicit L, finit ad delfinum epm • II - 0. FLMOPU . — ad eundem - XXX. III M, item ad eundem . XXV. L, incipit ad eundem. V. 0, epistola sancti paulini episcopi ad amandum presbiterum, ubi de misterio trinitatis: et de incarnatioue uerbi sermonem protrahens: gratiatias agit: prQ destinatis epistolis: et portitorem earum conmendans laudibus plurimis effert U 10 Pauliuus] epla XX. add. F 11 ut et] ut Rosw . uel] et 0 (sed in mg. m. 1 uel), et v 12 asahel LP, asacbel MU, asalael 0 13 uou 0, om. cet., uos fort . 14 allophilis FltfPU, allofilis LO gygautem M 15 mensuram LM, mensura et numero coni. Sacch . quam FPU 19 licet magnorum M 20 qua 0, quia cet . exultatio LM deiciebatur et in pusillis nostris humilitate praepotens salutaris dei forma uincebat. Sed recurramus ad epistolae caput, quod a pedibus inchoauimus, ut cursorem dominicum Cardamatem signatis in lege diuina antiquorum uelocium laudemus exemplis. subuenit itaque nobis et de euangelio adolescentis apostoli beata uelocitas illa, qua Petrum affectu currendi parem sed maioris aeui pondere tardiorem ad sepulchrum domini praecucurrit, ut resurrectionem corporis prior inspiceret qui solus in pectore recumbebat. unde geminos in alueum cordis sui traxerat fontes, quos in orbem idem postea, reuelationis et euangelii praeco, diffudit, et illam carnalem alacritatem pedum postea speciosis uerbi pedibus toto per populos orbe discurrens spiritali uelocitate conpleuit. Idem ultra omnium tempora apostolorum aetate producta postremus euangelii scriptor fuisse memoratur, ut, sicut de ipso uas electionis ait, quasi columna firmamentum adiceret fundamentis ecclesiae, priores euangelii scriptores consona auctoritate confirmans, ultimus auctor in libri tempore sed primus in capite sacramenti, quippe qui solus e quatuor fluminibus ex ipso summo diuini capitis fonte decurrens de nube sublimi tonat: in principio erat uerbum, et uerbum erat apud deum, et deus erat uerbum. transcendit Moysen qui usque ad caput mundi et uisibilium creaturarum exordia scientiae terminos acie mentis extendit. iste et euangelistis ceteris uel ab humano saluatoris ortu uel a typico legis sacrificio uel a prophetico praecursoris baptistae praeconio euangelium 8] (Ioh. 20, 4). 9] (Ioh. 13, 23 et 21, 20). 22] Ioh. 1, 1. 26] (Matth. 1, 1; Luc. 1, 5; Marc. 1, 2). 1 nostris pusillis FPU, pusilli nostri coni. Sacch . 3 incohauimus U . e incoauimus (h m. 2) M (et sic infra), incoauimus L 6 adoloscentis P 7 quae 0, que F 8 praecurrit FPU 10 geminos] genus U 11 predo 0 12 difudit P carnalem om. FPU 13 uerba U 18 prioris euangelii scriptoris 0 auctoritate] uoce FPU 23 trasceudit PU moisen FU 25 acie 0, uel aciem cet., aciem v, uel acie Lebrun etet P 26 a typico] ataspico 0 27 batistae U resurrectionis exorsis altius uolans penetrauit et caelos, neque in angelis stetit, sed archangelos quoque et omnes desuper creaturas uirtutes principatus dominationes thronos supergressus in ipsum se creatorem ardua mente direxit, et ab illa ineffabili generatione ordiens coaeternum et consubstantialem et coomnipotentem et coopificem patri filium nuntiauit, in spiritu sancto deo deum cernens, quia in ipso trinitas diuinitatis inpletur et una trinitatis diuinitas cernitur. spiritus enim dei sicut et uerbum dei deus, uterque in uno capite permanentes et ex uno patris fonte manantes, sed filius nascendo, spiritus procedendo, salua quisque personarum suarum proprietate distincti potius quam diuisi. Iohannes igitur beatus dominici pectoris cubator, qui sensum creaturis omnibus altiorem ex ipso creatricis omnium rerum corde sapientiae biberat, inebriatus spiritu sancto, qui scrutatur etiam alta dei, ab ipso intimo et infinito omnium principiorum principio euangelii fecit exordium, quo uno omnia diaboli, quae in haereticis latrant, ora clauduntur. et prima Arrii lingua praeciditur, sed et Sabellii blasphemia uacuatur, cum eadem piscatoris nostri sententia et unitas deitatis in patre et filio et diuisio personalitatis exprimitur. eodem capitulo et Photinus,. humani tantum in Christo exordii demens magister, exploditur et Marcion, qui deum legis et euangelii discernit, extinguitur et Manichaeus, ueri creatoris negator et falsi confictor, obteritur, subtexta ilico eiusdem supercaelestis euangelii uoce confusus (supercaeleste hoc euangelium dixi, quia exordium eius ab ea origine, quae super omnes caelos et 13] (Ioh. 13, 23. 21, 20). 16] I Cor. 2, 10. 1 et] ad F 3 trhonos P 4 ipsum] spiritum U 5 coeterum FP alt . et om. v 6 coomuipotentem Pv, omnipotentem cet . initiauit U 7 deo om. FPU diuinatis U 11 personae suae M 12 diuisi M, diuisi erant F1, diuisi erunt cet., diuisi sunt coni. Sacch . 13 tubator U, accubator v 14 sensus v creatoris F1 altiores Mv creailtiorem ticis U 15 scientie FPU 17 euangelii M 18 primo LM 19 sabelli PU blasfemia uacuantur 0 20 deitatis] dei patris M impatre 0 22 fotinus w clemens 0 23 martion MU 24 uiri creator negator 0 ante omnia saecula est, inchoatur), quia de hoc dei uerbo deo audit: omnia per ipsum facta sunt, et sine ipso factum est nihil. Gnosticum uero falsae scientiae nomine gloriantem et omnem peruersae mentis intellectum in aeria quaedam phantasmata uelut spiritali corporalium rerum imaginatione uertentem ad fidem carnis in Christo cogit idem auctor, cum de eodem uerbo, quod erat apud deum deus, dicit: et uerbum caro factum est. non tamen, ut alii quidam serpentium sibilare dicuntur, ita caro factus, ut a sua natura migraret in nostram, sed ut secundum se manens quod erat propter nos inciperet esse quod non erat. Nimium longe prouehor, dum unanimitatis tuae indulgentia sic abutor, ut nec multiloquio fatigare te nec insipientia errare apud te uerear. scio enim, quia cum sis sapiens, libenter tamen insipientem tuum portas per eam caritatem, quae omnia sustinet et numquam excidit. dicam tamen iam mihi, ut custodiam uias uerbi mei, ne delinquam in lingua mea, sed paucis descendam in Cardamatem id est Asael nostrum, cuius pedes tamquam cerui perfecistis, renouando sicut aquilae iuuentutem eius per abundantiam dilectionis uestrae, qua illum respectu humilitatis nostrae susceptum constituistis in atriis domus domini, ut plenius homini liber esset, cum Christi libertus esse coepisset. hac illum pietate fecistis reflorescere non solum spiritu sed et corpore, ut etiam ipse de uisceribus uestris repletus affectu, quo nos diligitis, desideria uestra nobis adferat et uicissim nostra soletur et tantis inter nos regionum interuallis prope 2] Ioh. 1, 3. 7] Ioh. 1, 14. 14] II Cor. 11, 19. 16] I Cor. 13, 7. 17] Ps. 38, 2. 19] II Reg. 2, 18. 20] (Ps. 102, 5). 1 quia de hoc -1 . 3 nihil add. in mg. m. 1 et p. 151, l . 26 ante supercaeleste inseri iussit M uerbo dei FPU 3 nomine om. F 4 post intellectum in mg. ins. M: ueram dni humanitatem 5 fantasmata m t dScuntur 7 dixit LM 9 uidentur M factus est M a om. FU 10 se maneus] remanens Ov, se remanens Lebrun 11 non om. U 12 unianimitatis 0, humanitatis FPU 14 quia om. FPU 15 tuam 0 16 excidet LMI0, excedit O1 18 discendam FPU 19 asael FO, asahel cet., asaelem v 21 quia LM 23 plenus L 24 fecistis illum F 27 prope om. M . sollemniter commeans propter uerba labiorum uestrorum custodiat uias duras. credimus quidem illum de ipsis quas gerit litteris sanctitatis uestrae pennas tamquam columbae adsumere et praeterea de orationibus uestris uirtutem pedum, qua ad nos peruehatur, accipere; sed tamen ei de hac ipsa gratia congratulamur, qua positus est in tantae ministerium caritatis, ut in libertate seruiat, in senectute discurrat et requiem uacationis emeritae malit in peregrinationis labore quam in domestica sede consumere, quia pigrorum uias spinis stratas calcare declinat, ne conuertatur in aerumnam, dum ei de inertiae infructuoso otio miserae sollicitudinis spina configitur. exultat itaque inpiger ad currendam uiam, ne illi segne otium conterenti pedissequa pigrorum inopia tamquam bonus cursor occurrat. ueniens autem ad nos quanto perfundit et inplet animam nostram gaudio bonis de sospitate uestra nuntiis! inpinguat ossa nostra et fit uox laetitiae in tabernaculis nostris, cum refectis exoptata consolatione mentibus dicimus: dominus memor fuit nostri, et benedixit nos. Exultemus et laetemur in eo, qui dat uotum optanti et desiderium animae nostrae tribuit nobis, quoniam praeuenit nos in benedictione dulcedinis. quae enim nobis nunc benedictio dulcior aut dulcedo suauior quam fructus et consolatio caritatis, quae a litteris uestris maxima nobis datur? in quibus pignora quaedam et oris uestri et cordis amplectimur, quia eloquia uestra partus animae uestrae sunt; ex abundantia enim cordis os loquitur. ideo 1] Ps. 16, 4. 3] Ps. 54, 7. 9] (Prou. 15, 19). 13] (Ps. 31, 4. 18,6; Prou. 6, 11). 16] (Prou. 15, 30). Ps. 117, 15. 18] Ps. 113, 12. 19] Ps. 117,24. 20] Ps. 20, 3. 26] Matth. 11,34. 4 adsumere 0, sumere cet . et] eo FL, et eo U praeterea om. M 5 peruheatur U, prouehatur F ei de v, fide w 6 ipsa om. F congratulatur FU et in ras. P quia LM ministerio v post . iu] et in FPU 8 merite F, imerite U 11 solitudinis FU 12 currendum F 13 segni FPU negotium M pedisequa FLM, pedis equa PU pignorum 1 niliu FPL\' 14 bonus M 16 impinguans M 17 uestris U 18 nobis LM 19 qui dat ex quidam 0 optandi FPU 21 beuedictionibus (dulcediuis om.) M 21 aut quae M 23 uestris 0 v, om. eet . 24 quibus] his enim M Cardamatem et aduenientem in uestro sermone diligimus et nostro commendamus abeuntem; dignus est enim cuius senectus in misericordia uberi requiescat, quae pro caritatis et desideriis et officiis laborat. praeterea quod magis in eo quam ipsam in canis eius uelocitatem mirati sumus, ita de nomine exorcistae ad frugalitatem profecit, ut prope cotidianus esse nobis conuiua non fugerit, et, cum raris et minutis calicibus adspergeretur, quibus labra summa uix tingueret, nihil de uacui uentris aut sicci gutturis iniuria querebatur. prorsus per omnia Cardamus nobis tam bellus apparuit, ut clericum probabilem hominibus et exorcistam daemoniis terribilem uideremus. de cetero, frater, et ipsum et omnes nostros et nos ipsos commendamus uobis, ut per uos domino commendemur inpensis orationibus, ut et nostrorum omnium libertas domino aeterno seruiat et nostra seruitus in Christo libertatis aeternae meritum consequatur.