Letter from St. Jerome to Heliodorus the Monk

“You believe in Christ, believe also in His words: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.” Take neither scrip nor staff. He is rich enough who is poor—with Christ.”

St. Jerome (347-420) Letter 14.1.

This statement comes in the opening section of the letter, from St. Jerome, one of the four doctors of the Western Church, to a monk named Heliodorus. His instructions are clear.

Seek first the kingdom of God and remember that if you go forth with Christ and without resources, you are rich enough, for in Him you have everything you need! Let’s live like we believe this!

“Now, once for all, if you wish your property to abide with you in security and yet further to increase I will show you the plan, and the place where none of those who have designs upon it will be allowed to enter. What then is the place? It is Heaven.

Send away your possessions to that good husband of yours and neither thief, nor schemer, nor any other destructive thing will be able to pounce upon them. If you deposit these goods in the other world, you will find much profit arising from them. For all things which we plant in Heaven yield a large and abundant crop, such as might naturally be expected from things which have their roots in Heaven.

And if you do this, see what blessings you will enjoy, in the first place eternal life and the things promised to those who love God, “which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have they entered into the heart of man,” and in the second place perpetual intercourse with your good husband; and you will relieve yourself from the cares and fears, and dangers, and designs, and enmity and hatred which beset you here.

For as long as you are surrounded with this property there will probably be some to make attempts upon it; but if you transfer it to Heaven, you will lead a life of security and safety, and much tranquility, enjoying independence combined with godliness.”

John Chrysostom (347-407) in Letter to a Young Widow 7.

“No one ought to be ashamed of becoming poor after being rich, if this happens because he gives freely to the poor; for Christ became poor when He was rich, that through His poverty He might enrich all. He has given us a rule to follow, so that we may give a good account of our reduced inheritance; whoever has stayed the hunger of the poor has lightened his distress.”

Ambrose of Milan (337-397) in On the Duties of Clergy 30.151.

“My Lord was pleased to die for my sins; why should I not be glad to give up my poor life out of love to Him.”

Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498) as recounted by Herbert Lockyer, Last Words of Saints and Sinners (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1969), p. 151.

“A life spent in the service of God, and in communion with Him, is the most comfortable life that any one can lead in this present world.”

Matthew Henry (1662-1714), proclaimed these words near the end of his life, as recounted by Herbert Lockyer, Last Words of Saints and Sinners (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1969), p. 56

“Jesus spoke of love rather than of justice because he included a generous justice in his idea of love. As justice does not mean legality, so love does not mean charity. The prophets never urged that contributions should be made to the victims of social injustice. While Jesus spoke much of giving to the poor, for that was the one means of social service available, he emphasized ever the personal relationship. The neighbor is not only to be fed; he is also to be loved. The parable of neighborliness shows personal service to the wounded traveler, not the mere giving of money. Jesus’s idea of forgiveness was not merely charitable; it was generous.”

Theodore Gerald Soares, The Social Institutions and Ideals of the Bible (New York: Abingdon, 1915), p. 374.

“God’s love for us is without limit. In the economy of divine love we will discover that the more we give, the more we have to give. I have noticed that no matter how much I try, I cannot exhaust God’s love. I have never seen it run out. But I can only give as much as I have received, and the measure of love I receive is in direct proportion to how much I desire to know it, feel it, and give it away.”

James Bryan Smith, Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life (New York: HarperCollins, 1995), p. 55.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Today I honor my wife, Jenni, who desires to know, feel, and give away God’s love without limit having discerned that in God’s economy, the more we give away the more we have.

“Our service to humankind must be given freely. We must be subject to everyone and serve our brothers as if we were paying off a debt. Moreover, those who are in charge should work harder than the others and conduct themselves with greater submission than those that are under them. Their lives should be a visible example of what service means, and they should remember that those who are committed to their trust are given to them by God.

Those who are in a position of authority must look after their brothers and sisters as dutiful teachers look after children given to them by their parents. If brothers and sisters and elders have this loving relationship, then brothers and sisters will be happy to obey whatever is commanded while elders will be delighted to lead their brothers and sisters to perfection. If you try to outdo one another in showing respect, your life on earth will be like that of the angels.

Gregory of Nyssa (335-394), as recounted by James Stuart Bell, Awakening Faith: Daily Devotions from the Early Church, “Service and Stewardship” 263.

“Valerian [Roman Emperor from 253-259], in a rescript to the senate, had ordered that bishops, presbyters and deacons should be executed at once; that senators, men of rank and Roman knights should be deprived of their status and goods if they continued, despite this, to say they were Christians, that they should be put to death; that matrons should be deprived of their goods and sent into exile; that members of the imperial household who had confessed Christ previously or confessed Christ now should have their goods confiscated and should themselves be put in irons and assigned to the imperial estates.

The emperor Valerian had added to the rescript a copy of the letter that he addressed concerning us to the provincial governors. We hope daily to see the letter arrive, standing in the firmness of our faith and ready to suffer, awaiting from the wealth and mercy of the LORD the crown of eternal life. Know that Sixtus was executed in the cemetery on 6 August [in the year 258] with four deacons. The prefects in the city press this persecution more actively each day, executing those who are handed over to them and confiscating their goods into the treasury.”

Cyprian of Carthage (born, c. 200. He recorded this 6 August 258 account in Epistle 81.1-4 of his 82 extant epistles. These are among his famous last words as he was beheaded and received his eternal rewards on 14 September 258). Cf. Bernard Green, Christianity in Ancient Rome (London: T&T Clark, 2010), p. 162-63.

“Among us you will find uneducated persons, and artisans, and old women, who, if they are unable in words to prove the benefit of our doctrine, yet by their deeds exhibit the benefit arising from their persuasion of its truth: they do not rehearse speeches, but exhibit good works; when struck, they do not strike again; when robbed, they do not go to law; they give to those that ask of them, and love their neighbors as themselves.”

Athenagoras of Athens (133-190), excerpt from A Plea for the Christians 11.