Patristic Comments on the Second Monastic Reading

 READING FROM THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON [5:15-6:3]

But the righteous live for evermore; their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the most High. Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord's hand: for with his right hand shall he cover them, and with his arm shall he protect them. He shall take to him his jealousy for complete armor, and make the creature his weapon for the revenge of his enemies. He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and true judgment instead of an helmet. He shall take holiness for an invincible shield. His severe wrath shall he sharpen for a sword, and the world shall fight with him against the unwise. Then shall the right aiming thunderbolts go abroad; and from the clouds, as from a well-drawn bow, shall they fly to the mark. And hailstones full of wrath shall be cast as out of a stone bow, and the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the floods shall cruelly drown them. Yea, a mighty wind shall stand up against them, and like a storm shall blow them away: thus iniquity shall lay waste the whole earth, and ill-dealing shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty. Hear therefore, O ye kings, and understand; learn, ye that be judges of the ends of the earth. Give ear, ye that rule the people, and glory in the multitude of nations, for power is given you of the Lord, and sovereignty from the Highest, who shall try your works, and search out your counsels.

This lesson is referred to much less frequently than the other two, that I can find. St. Augustine, again in defense against the Manichaean heresy, uses this passage to support a case for eternal life (same quote with different emphasis):

And if eternal life had not been clearly made known in the Old Testament, the Lord would not have said … “The righteous shall live for ever, and their reward is with the Lord, an their concern with the Highest; therefore shall they receive from the hand of the Lord a kingdom of glory and a crown of beauty.” These and many similar declarations of eternal life, in more or less explicit terms, are found in these writings.

St. Silouan the Athonite, in his simple, but direct style of teaching, condenses the ideas from this passage into one short phrase: “God is glorified in the saints, while the saints have been given glory by God.”



Bibliography

Just in case you want to look up any of those references, here is a list of where I found them:

  • St. Augustin, Reply to Faustus the Manichaean (NPNF1, IV, p252).

  • St. Sophrony, Wisdom from Mount Athos: Writings of Starets Silouan 1866-1938, translated by Rosemary Edmonds (Crestwood, NY: SVS Press, 1975), p.61.

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