Время

When it became necessary to add this world to the existing one - mainly a school and a place of formation of human souls, and then in general a place of residence for everything that is subject to birth and destruction, then a succession of time akin to the world and the animals and plants found in it was produced, always hastening and flowing and never interrupting its flow. Isn’t time such that in it the past has passed, the future has not yet arrived, and the present eludes the senses before it is known? And such is the nature of what is in this world. It either necessarily increases or decreases and clearly has nothing solid and permanent. Therefore, it was fitting for the bodies of animals and plants, which are necessarily connected, as it were, to some stream and are carried away by a movement leading to birth or destruction, to be contained in the nature of time, which received properties akin to changeable things. For this reason, he who wisely explains to us the existence of the world, while discussing the world, very opportunely added: in the beginning he created (Gen. 1:1), that is, in this beginning, in the beginning of time. For, of course, not as evidence that the world in its primordial precedence precedes everything created, it calls it what happened in the beginning, but speaks of the beginning of the origin of these visible and sense-perceivable things after the invisible and intuitable (2). The present time is a time of repentance and remission of sins, and in the next century there will be a righteous judgment of retribution (4). Every time should be considered convenient for carefully doing what is pleasing to God (4). Can he who is entrusted with the care of souls keep what is said: unless you are converted and become like children (Matthew 18:3), because he is dealing with many and different persons? Since the wise Solomon said: there is a time for every thing (Eccl. 3:1), then you need to know that there is also a time for humility, and power, and reproof, and consolation, and mercy, and boldness, and condescension, and severity, and in general for every matter. Therefore, sometimes one must show humility and imitate children in humility, especially when the opportunity presents itself to give each other honor and duty, to serve or help someone’s bodily needs, as the Lord taught. Sometimes it is necessary to use the power given to me by the Lord for creation, and not for destruction (2 Cor. 13:10), when need requires boldness. And just as in times of consolation one must show kindness, so in times of severity one must show jealousy; and do the same in any other case (5). You might be interested in: