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Chapter 19OdoC.2.19

Caput XVIII

The Return to the Alpha: Christ Calls Back to the Beginning

Odo argues that after Christ's coming, the Omega calls believers back to the Alpha, so that both divorce and the eating of meat are no longer permitted, and even wine is allowed only sparingly for health.

We said above that we complain about our frailty, and that on this basis we presume, as it were by way of condescension, to eat meat.12 But Jerome, whom we mentioned earlier, asserts in his book against Jovinian that the eating of meat was unknown right up to the Flood.✦ Afterwards, however, he mentions the sinews of those who murmured and the noxious meats injected — namely, with the giving of the law, which no one could fulfill — when divorce was also permitted on account of hardness of heart.✦34 The Apostle teaches that God the Father proposed to recapitulate all things in Christ Jesus, and to draw them back to the beginning — as he himself says in the Apocalypse: 'I am, he says, the Alpha and the Omega' (Apoc.✦✦5 XXII, 13), that is, the beginning and the end.✦ Therefore, after Christ came at the end of the ages, and the Omega called back to the Alpha, and drew the extremity back to the beginning,✦6 Afterwards, neither is divorce permitted us, nor — with the Apostle saying, 'It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine' (Rom.✦7 XIV, 21); but writing to Timothy about wine, he says: 'Use a little wine for the sake of your stomach' (1 Tim.✦

The Measure of Wine and the Silence on Meat

Odo clarifies that Jerome permits only a small amount of wine for the stomach's sake but never grants a similar concession for meat, citing Jerome's commentary on Ephesians and the Lord's words about serving God rather than mammon.

V, 23). A little, namely, and for the stomach's sake — since Jerome himself says in his letter to the Ephesians: Just as we cannot serve both God and mammon (Matt. VI, 24), so we cannot be equally filled with the spirit and with wine (Eph. V, 18). He permits wine, then — but only a little. On the subject of meat, you'll never find him saying anything of the sort.

Gluttony Overwhelms Every Virtue

Drawing on the Morals, Odo warns that many struggle against every vice except gluttony, yet so long as the belly is unrestrained, all virtues are overwhelmed by the concupiscence of the flesh.

In the Morals, however, book 30, it says that many, ignorant of the proper order of the struggle, neglect to tame their gluttony yet strive to overcome all other vices. But so long as the belly goes unrestrained, all the virtues alike are overwhelmed by the concupiscence of the flesh.

The Chief of Cooks Destroys Jerusalem's Walls

Odo concludes that food must be taken only as nature requires, not as gluttony desires, for every indulgence of the flesh repeats Adam's fall and ruins the soul's virtues — as the chief of cooks destroys the walls of Jerusalem.

Hence it is not just anyone who tears down the walls of Jerusalem, but the chief of the cooks destroys them: because the belly, so long as it is not restrained, ruins the virtues of the soul.✦8 Therefore those things must be taken which the necessity of nature requires, not which the pleasure of gluttony suggests, because just as it is also written in the Pastoral: as often as the fall of the first man is repeated, so often are certain foods taken that are contrary to the health of the soul through the desire of the flesh.910

Read the original Latin

Supra dictum est quia de fragilitate causamur, et ob hoc quasi per condescensionem carnes ad esum praesumimus. Sed praedictus Hieronymus in libro contra Jovinianum perhibet quod esus carnium usque ad diluvium ignotus fuit. Postea vero dentibus murmurantium nervos, et virulentas carnes commemorat injectas, cum datione videlicet legis quam implere nullus potuit; quando et repudium ad duritiam cordis permissum est. Apostolus docet, quod Deus Pater in Christo Jesu recapitulare omnia proposuit, et ad principium retrahere: ut ipse in Apocalypsi: Ego sum, inquit, alpha et omega (Apoc. XXII, 13), id est initium et finis. Postquam ergo Christus venit in finem temporum, et omega revocavit ad alpha, et extremitatem retraxit ad principium. Postea nec repudium nobis dare permittitur, nec comedere carnes, dicente Apostolo: Bonum est non comedere carnes nec bibere vinum (Rom. XIV, 21); sed de vino ad Timotheum scribens ait: Modico vino utere propter stomachum tuum (I Tim.

V, 23). Modicum videlicet, et propter stomachum: quoniam ipse Hieronymus ait in epistola ad Ephesios: Sicut non possumus Deo et mammonae servire (Matth. VI, 24), sic nequimus spiritu pariter impleri et vino (Ephes. V, 18). Vinum ergo concedit, sed modicum. De carnibus nunquam tale reperies. In autem Moralium libro 30 dicitur quia plerique certaminis ordinem ignorantes, edomare gulam negligunt, et caetera vitia expugnare nituntur. Sed dum venter non restringitur, simul cunctae virtutes per carnis concupiscentiam obruuntur.

Hinc est quod non alius quilibet muros Jerusalem, sed princeps coquorum destruxit: quia venter, dum non restringitur, virtutes animae perdit. Ea igitur sumenda sunt quae naturae necessitas quaerit, non quae voluptas gulae suggerit, quia sicut item in Pastorali scribitur: Toties primi hominis lapsus iteratur, quoties quaedam alimenta saluti animae contraria per carnis concupiscentiam sumuntur.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Gen.9.3 — Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you. As with the green plants, I give you everything.
  2. ↩Matt.19.8 — He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way."
  3. ↩Eph.1.10 — as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things together in Christ—things in heaven and things on earth.
  4. ↩Rev.22.13 — I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
  5. ↩Rev.22.13 — I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
  6. ↩Heb.9.26 — Otherwise he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now, at the culmination of the ages, he has appeared once for all to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
  7. ↩Rom.14.21 — It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything by which your brother stumbles.
  8. ↩1Tim.5.23 — No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach and your frequent ailments.
  9. ↩Ps.50.19 — You send your mouth toward evil, and your tongue frames deceit.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩causamur (deponent of causor) rendered as 'we complain about' — the sense is that we make an excuse of our weakness.
  2. 2 ↩per condescensionem: 'by way of condescension' — i.e., God lowered himself to permit this; the tone is one of reluctant concession, not entitlement.
  3. 3 ↩dentibus murmurantium nervos: 'the sinews of those who murmured' — likely an allusion to the grumbling Israelites in the wilderness (cf. Num 11, Ps 106). The phrase is compressed and somewhat obscure.
  4. 4 ↩virulentas carnes ... injectas: 'noxious meats injected' — the sense is of harmful meats thrust upon the people, perhaps alluding to the quail episode where craving brought judgment.
  5. 5 ↩recapitulare omnia: 'to recapitulate all things' — a rich Pauline/Eph 1:10 concept of summing up all things in Christ.
  6. 6 ↩omega revocavit ad alpha: 'the Omega called back to the Alpha' — a figurative way of saying Christ's coming reversed the trajectory of sin and dispersal, gathering all things back to their origin in God.
  7. 7 ↩Bonum est non comedere carnes nec bibere vinum — attributed to the Apostle with a Rom. citation, but this exact wording does not appear in the canonical Epistle to the Romans. It may be a loose paraphrase of Rom 14:21 or a conflation with other ascetical traditions.
  8. 8 ↩The image of the 'chief of the cooks' destroying Jerusalem's walls is a striking metaphor: unchecked appetite (gluttony) does more damage to the spiritual life than any external enemy. The allusion may echo the tradition that Jerusalem's walls were destroyed through internal sin rather than foreign assault.
  9. 9 ↩The citation 'in Pastorali' refers to Gregory the Great's Regula Pastoralis (Pastoral Rule), not a biblical text. The sentiment echoes Romans 7–8 on flesh versus spirit, but no direct quotation is identified.
  10. 10 ↩primi hominis lapsus rendered as 'the fall of the first man' preserves the Adamic reference; saluti animae contraria rendered as 'contrary to the health of the soul' keeps the dative of disadvantage force.

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