Caput XVII

The Prophet's Charge and the Apostate's Woe

Odo opens with Ezekiel's prophetic commission to confront Israel's apostasy, then applies the warning to monks who abandon their profession, citing Sirach's woe against the double-minded sinner.

But for those who can at least bear to hear the words of preaching, this must be recalled: God says to the prophet, "If you judge them, son of man, if you judge them, show them the iniquities of their fathers" (Ezek.^✦¹ 20:4). And again: "Son of man, I send you to the apostate nations, to the sons of Israel; their fathers have transgressed my covenant" (Ezek.^✦² 2:3), etc. —until he adds, "Perhaps even they will hear" (v.^✦³ 5). Now the fact that he calls them apostates applies especially to those who, having made a monastic profession, slide back into worldly desires.⁴ Of whom it is written: "Woe to the sinner who enters upon two ways" (Sir.⁵

The Anatomy of Monastic Apostasy

Odo defines apostasy as falling back from one's calling, illustrating it through the plowman who looks back, the monk who despises the Rule's food and dress, and the glutton who makes a god of the belly.

Ezekiel 2:14). The word 'apostate,' you see, means 'one who falls back.' But the one who has put his hand to the plow and then looks back is clearly guilty of apostasy, so that he is declared unfit for the kingdom of God — with God himself bearing witness.^✦⁶ And in the ninth homily on Ezekiel it is stated that just as one who departs from the faith turns away from God and is an apostate, so too one who returns to a wicked work after having professed the religious life turns away from almighty God and is considered an apostate beyond any doubt — even if he seems to hold the faith.⁷ Isn't it apostasy to despise the traditions of the fathers regarding dress or food, since God has forbidden us to cross the boundaries set by the fathers — and, having scorned the quality or quantity of food prescribed through blessed Benedict, to long for bloody feasts as the sons of Israel longed for them?^✦⁸ They are rebuked for despising the manna and its measure, for longing after pots of meat, and for wanting in their hearts to go back to Egypt.^✦⁹ Isn't it apostasy to scorn humble clothing and seek fine dress, since the apostate angel — perfect in beauty — fell into hell through his pride in that beauty?^✦¹⁰ And isn't it apostasy to make a god of your belly, since Paul, weeping, declares that gluttons are enemies of the holy cross and worship their belly in place of God?^✦¹¹

Apostasy in Our Own Time

Odo concludes by charging his own contemporaries with apostasy for altering the ancient garb of religious life.

These words about apostasy apply to us, I say, since those among us who are self-indulgent and short-tempered have dared to change the habit of religious life — maintained through so many past cycles of years — in this our age.¹²¹³

Read the original Latin

Apud eos autem qui verba praedicationis utcunque patiuntur audire, illud commemorandum est quod Deus ad prophetam dicit: Si judicas eos, fili hominis, si judicas eos, iniquitates patrum suorum ostende eis (Ezech. XX, 4). Et iterum: Fili hominis, ad gentes apostatrices mitto te, ad filios Israel; patres eorum praevaricati sunt pactum meum (Ezech. II, 3), etc. , quousque subjungit: Si forte vel ipsi audiant hoc (Ibid. , 5). Sane quod eos apostatrices appellat illis maxime congruit qui per monasticam professionem ad saecularia desideria relabuntur. De quibus scriptum est: Vae peccatori ingredienti duabus viis (Eccli.

II, 14). Apostata namque retrocedens interpretatur. Qui vero manum suam in aratro miserit, si retro respexerit, utique apostatare convincitur, ut nullatenus regno Dei aptus, ipso Deo testante, pronuntietur. Et in nona in Ezechielem homelia perhibetur, quia sicut apostata est qui de fide recedit a Deo, ita qui ad perversum opus post professam relationem redit ab omnipotente Deo, apostata absque ulla dubitatione deputatur, etiamsi fidem tenere videatur. An non est apostasia, de habitu vel victu traditiones patrum contemnere, cum Deus terminos patrum transgredi interdixerit, despectaque victus qualitate vel quantitate per beatum Benedictum praefixa, sanguineas dapes cum filiis Israel desiderare? Manna et mensuram gomor despicientes et ollas carnium desiderantes corde reverti ad Aegyptum redarguuntur. An non est apostasia, humilem vestitum spernere et decorem vestimenti quaerere, cum angelus apostata perfectus decore superbiens in tartarum ruerit? Et an ventrem colere non est apostasia, cum flens Paulus protestetur quod ligurgitones inimici sanctae crucis sunt, et ventrem pro Deo habeant?

Nobis, inquam, haec apostasiae verba conveniunt, quandoquidem religionis habitum per tot retro annorum curricula retentum lascivientes quique inter nos et petulantes in hac nostra aetate mutare ausi sunt.

Scripture echoes

↩Ezek.20.4 — Will you judge them? Will you judge them, O son of man? Make known to them the abominations of their fathers.
↩Ezek.2.3 — And he said to me, "Son of man, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to nations that have rebelled against me — they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even to this very day.
↩Ezek.2.5 — And they—whether they listen or refuse to listen (for they are a rebellious house)—they will know that a prophet has been among them.
↩Luke.9.62 — Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."
↩Exod.16.3;Num.11.4-Num.11.5 — And the children of Israel said to them, 'Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.' Num.11.4 — Now the rabble among them gave themselves over to craving, and the people of Israel also wept again and said, 'Who will give us meat to eat?' Num.11.5 — We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
↩Num.11.4-Num.11.20;Exod.16.3 — Now the rabble among them gave themselves over to craving, and the people of Israel also wept again and said, 'Who will give us meat to eat?' Num.11.5 — We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Num.11.6 — But now we are dried up inside; there is nothing at all before our eyes except this manna. Num.11.7 — Now the manna was like coriander seed, and it looked like bdellium resin. Num.11.8 — The people would scatter and gather it, grind it in mills or crush it in a mortar, cook it in a pot, and make cakes of it. Its taste was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. Num.11.9 — And when the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall on it. Num.11.10 — Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, each one at the entrance of his tent. And the anger of the LORD burned greatly, and the matter was evil in Moses' eyes. Num.11.11 — And Moses said to the LORD, 'Why have you treated your servant so badly? And why have I not found favor in your eyes, that you have put the burden of all this people on me?' Num.11.12 — Have I conceived all this people, or have I given birth to them, that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your arms, as a nurse carries the nursing child, to the land that you swore to their fathers'? Num.11.13 — Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.' Num.11.14 — I am not able to carry this whole people by myself, for it is too heavy for me. Num.11.15 — And if this is how you are going to treat me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in your eyes, so that I do not have to see my misery. Num.11.16 — Then the LORD said to Moses, "Gather for me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting, and have them stand there with you." Num.11.17 — I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you, so that you will not carry it alone. Num.11.18 — And say to the people, 'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat. For you have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, "Who will give us meat? For it was well with us in Egypt." And the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat.' Num.11.19 — You shall not eat it for one day only, nor for two days, nor for five days, nor for ten days, nor for twenty days Num.11.20 — but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you rejected the LORD who is among you and wept before him, saying, 'Why did we ever come out of Egypt?' Exod.16.3 — And the children of Israel said to them, 'Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.'
↩Ezek.28.12-Ezek.28.17;Isa.14.12-Isa.14.15 — Son of man, take up a lament over the king of Tyre, and say to him: Thus says the Lord God: You are the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Ezek.28.13 — You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering: carnelian, topaz, and emerald; chrysolite, onyx, and jasper; sapphire, turquoise, and beryl; and gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day you were created they were prepared. Ezek.28.14 — You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of stones of fire. Ezek.28.15 — You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you. Ezek.28.16 — Through the abundance of your trade, violence filled your midst, and you sinned; so I profaned you from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from among the stones of fire." "From among" reads more naturally aloud than "from the midst of" while preserving the spatial image. Ezek.28.17 — Your heart became proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor. I cast you to the earth; I set you before kings, for them to gaze upon you. Isa.14.12 — How you have fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who laid low the nations! Isa.14.13 — And you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to the heavens; above the stars of God I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north." Keep the quotation open into v.14 for continuity. Isa.14.14 — I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'" Close the quotation here so the transition to v.15 lands clearly. Isa.14.15 — But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.
↩Phil.3.18-Phil.3.19 — For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ—I have often told you, and now I say it again with tears. Phil.3.19 — whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.

Notes

1 ↩Quotation from Ezekiel; exact chapter reference cut off in source.
2 ↩Quotation from Ezekiel; exact chapter reference cut off in source.
3 ↩'vel' rendered as 'even' to capture the emphatic/alternative force in context rather than a simple 'or'.
4 ↩'apostatrices' rendered as 'apates' preserves the theological weight of the term; 'relabuntur' (future tense 'they will slide back') captures the prophetic warning of falling back.
5 ↩Quotation from Ecclesiasticus (Sirach); exact chapter reference cut off in source. Ecclesiasticus is deuterocanonical.
6 ↩Allusion to Luke 9:62 (Nemo manum suam aratro mittens et respiciens retro aptus est regno Dei).
7 ↩relationem rendered as 'the religious life' (context suggests professio religionis, i.e., monastic profession).
8 ↩Allusion to the Israelites' longing for the fleshpots of Egypt (Exod. 16:3; Num. 11:4–5).
9 ↩Allusion to Num. 11:4–20 and Exod. 16:3 — the manna, the quail, and the craving to return to Egypt.
10 ↩Allusion to the fall of Satan, traditionally linked to pride in his beauty (cf. Ezek. 28:12–17; Isa. 14:12–15).
11 ↩Allusion to Phil. 3:18–19: 'quorum deus venter est.'
12 ↩religionis habitum rendered 'garb of religious life' to preserve both the concrete sense of monastic habit and the broader sense of religious discipline.
13 ↩quandoquidem treated as explanatory 'since' rather than merely temporal 'seeing that,' giving the clause causal force.

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