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St. John Chrysostom (Homily on the Gospel of Matthew, 5.3)
And when Joseph had taken her, "he had no relations with her until she had borne a son." Matthew has here used the word until not that you should suspect that afterward Joseph did know her but to inform you that before the birth the Virgin was wholly untouched by man. But why, then, it may be said, has he used the word until? Because it is common in Scripture that this expression is used without reference to specific, limited times. Here are three examples. First, in the narrative of the ark it was said that "the raven did not return until the earth was dried up," (Gen. 8:7), yet the raven did not return even after that limited time. Second, when discussing God the Scripture says, "You are from everlasting to everlasting," (Ps. 90:2), but there is no implication here that some limite is being fixed -- rather the opposite. Third, when preaching the gospel beforehand and saying, "In his days may righteousness flourish, and peace abound, until the moon be no more!" (Ps. 72:7) it is not thereby setting a temporal limit to this beautiful part of creation. So then here likewise, it uses the word until to make certain what was before the birth, but as to what follows, it leaves some further inference to be made. So it is necessary to learn what Matthew teaches: that the Virgin was untouched by man until the birth. But the rest is left for you to perceive, both as a consequence of the previous narrative and what was later acknowledged: that not even after having become a mother and having been counted worthy of a new sort of travail and a childbearing so strange, could that righteous man ever have permitted himself to have sexual relations with her.
From Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament, Ia, pp. 19-20, InterVarsity Press, Downers, Grove, IL.
Chromatius (friend of St. Jerome), Tractate on Matthew, 3.1
But concerning what the Evangelist said, "And he did not know her till she had borne her firstborn son," not a few careless people insist on asking whether after the Lord\'s birth the holy mother Mary had relations with Joseph. But this is not admissible on the grounds of either faith or truth. Far be it indeed that after the sacrament of so great a mystery and after the birth of the sublime Lord, one should believe that the Virgin Mary was intimate with a man. Remember that Miriam the prophetess of the Old Testament (the sister of Moses and Aaron) remained a virgin unsullied by man, having beheld the light of heavenly signs after the plagues of Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea and the Lord\'s glory going in advance and seen in the pillar of fire and clouds. It is not plausible therefore that the Mary of the Gospel, a virgin bearing God, who beheld God\'s glory not in a cloud but was worthy of carrying him in her virginal womb, had relations with a man. Noah, who was made worthy to converse with God, declared that he would abstain from the conjugal need. Moses, after hearing God calling him from the bush, abstained from conjugal relations. Now are we to believe that Joseph, the man who always did what was right, had relations with holy Mary after the birth of the Lord?
From Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament, Ia, p. 19, InterVarsity Press, Downers, Grove, IL.
ON ALMSGIVING
"We receive but never give; we extol charity but never practice it towards those in need. Slaves we were, but we have been given freedom and yet we do not have sympathy for those who, like ourselves, are slaves of the Lord. When we are hungry, we eat and yet we close our eyes to those in need. We have God as our unfailing provider and dispenser, and yet we have ourselves stingy and mean towards the poor. Our ewes have produced numerous sucklings and yet the poor are more numerous than the ewes. Our barns and granaries are stuffed tight with produce, and yet we fail in our compassion for those in tight circumstances. For all these things we are threatened with a just sentence.... Now, what punishment, do you think, should be inflicted on one who thoughtlessly passes by the hungry? What cruely can surpass that? Can we not see such a thoughtless person as a cruel beast and a murderer. Indeed the person who can relieve such an infirmity and out of avarice refuses, deserves condemnation as a murderer."
"Let us now be abased at His love, let us be ashamed at the excess of His loving-kindness, since He for our sakes spared not His Only-begotten Son, yet we spare our wealth to our own injury; He for us gave His own Son, but we for Him do not so much as despise money, nor even for ourselves. And how can these things deserve pardon? If we see a man submitting to sufferings and death for us, we set him before all others, count him among our chief friends, place in his hands all that is ours, and deem it rather his than ours, and even so do not think that we give him the return that he deserves. But towards Christ we do not preserve even this degree of right feeling. He laid down His life for us, and poured forth His precious Blood for our sakes, who were neither well-disposed nor good, while we do not pour out even our money for our own sakes and neglect Him who died for us, when He is naked and a stranger; and who shall deliver us from the punishment that is to come?"
ON ABORTION
From the Letter to Diognetus:
(speaking of what distinguishes Christians from pagans):
"They marry, as do all others; they beget children but they do not destroy their offspring" (literally, "cast away fetuses").
From the Didache:
"You shall not slay the child by abortions."
From the Letter of Barnabus:
"You shall not destroy your conceptions before they are brought forth; nor kill them after they are born."
From St. Clement:
"Those who use abortifacients commit homicide."
From Tertullian:
"The mold in the womb may not be destroyed."
From St. Basil the Great:
"The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty of murder. The hair-splitting difference between formed and unformed makes no difference to us."
From St. Augustine:
"Sometimes their sadistic licentiousness goes so far that they procure poison to produce infertility, and when this is of no avail, they find one means or another to destroy the unborn and flush it from the mother\'s womb. For they desire to see their offspring perish before it is alive or, if it has already been granted life, they seek to kill it within the mother\'s body before it is born."
From St. John Chrysostom:
"Why do you sow where the field is eager to destroy the fruit? Where there are medicines of sterility? Where there is murder before birth? You do not even let a harlot remain only a harlot, but you make her a murderess as well. Indeed, it is something worse than murder and I do not know what to call it; for she does not kill what is formed but prevents its formation. What then? Do you condemn the gifts of God, and fight with His laws? What is a curse you seek as though it were a blessing. Do you make the anteroom of slaughter? Do you teach the women who are given to you for a procreation of offspring to perpetuate killing?"
Canon XCI
As for women who furnish drugs for the purpose of procuring abortions, and those who take fetus-killing poisons, they are made subject to penalty for murderers.
Canon II
"A woman who aborts deliberately is liable to trial as a murderess. This is not a precise assertion of some figurative and inexpressible conception that passes current among us. For here there is involved the queston of providing for the infants to be born, but also for the woman who has plotted against her own self. For in most cases the women die in the course of such operations, But besides this there is to be noted the fact that the destruction of the embryo constitutes another murder.... It behooves us, however, not to extend their confessions to the extreme limit of death, but to admit them at the end of the moderate period of ten years, without specifying a definite time, but adjusting the cure to the manner of penitence."
Canon XXI
"Regarding women who become prostitutes and kill their babies, and who make it their business to concoct abortives, the former rule barred them for life from communion, and they are left without resource. But having found a more philanthropic alternative, we have fixed the penalty at ten years, in accordance with the fixed degrees. ..."
"As for women who destroy embryos professionally, and those (non-prostitutes) who give or take poisons with the object of aborting babies and dropping them prematurely, we prescribe the rule that they, by economy, be treated up to five years at most."
ON ANGER
Venerable Ammon of Nitria
"If thou, being offended by anything, dost sense that grief and
wrath have seized thee, preserve silence, and say naught until
unceasing prayer pacifies thine heart."
(source unknown
Elder Joseph the Hesychast:
Never correct someone with anger, but only with
humility and sincere love. When you see anger
ahead, forget about correcting for a moment.
When peace has returned, then your powers of
discernment are functioning properly and then
you can speak beneficially. Since man was
created rational and gentle, his is corrected far
better with love and gentleness. An angry and
irritable man is not accepted into the Kingdom
of God even if he raises the dead. Therefore,
suppress anger with all of your might, and you
will find it weaker the next time.
St. John Climacus:
Nothing is so out of place in a penitent as an unruly spirit, for conversion requires great humility, and anger is an indication of all kinds of presumptuousness.
Saint John Cassian:
What we gain by fasting is not so great as the
damage done by anger; nor is the profit from
reading as great as the harm done when we
scorn or grieve a brother.
Saint Maximus the Confessor, on Charity:
Christ wants you never, in any way, for any reason, to
cultivate a spirit of hatred, bitterness, anger or ill-feeling.
The four gospels proclaim that on every page.
An Elder\'s Counsel to Christians Living in the World:
When you conceive an involuntary feeling of animosity
towards someone, try to conquer this sinful feeling:
force yourself to pray: "Save, O Lord, Thy servant
(name) and by their holy prayers grant peace to my
heart." Make yourself be considerate to this person,
and the Lord seeing your good intention, will not only
uproot from your heart your sinful animosity, but He
will fill it with love.
St. Macarios of Optina:
"Do not reproach a person when he is angry--do not accuse him and do not argue with him. It is better to leave him in peace. Only be attentive to yourself, so as not to fall into discord. When you feel that your heart is irritated, recall the Jesus Prayer to your thoughts, and try to set a guard before your lips."