Annotation CCCXII

”Unto all patience, and longanimity.” — Colossians 1:11

Whether the sacred letters attribute patience to God.

Chrysostom, [in] the second homily on the epistle to the Colossians, at the exposition of this clause, says that nowhere in the sacred letters is patience attributed to God, but frequently longanimity [longsuffering]. His words are these: “WE ARE LONGANIMOUS toward those whom we are able to avenge ourselves upon; but patient toward those whom we cannot avenge ourselves upon. Therefore patience indeed is never attributed to God, but longanimity very often — as here this same blessed [Paul], writing elsewhere, says:¹ ‘Or dost thou despise the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and longanimity?’” There seem to gainsay this assertion very many testimonies of divine scripture, which call God “patient,” and commend his patience — as in Psalm 85,² where it is read, “And thou, Lord God, [art] patient, and of much mercy, and true”; and [in] Psalm 144,³ “The Lord [is] patient, and of much mercy.” But concerning his patience it is written [in] Ecclesiastes 8,⁴ “A hundred times the sinner does evil, and is awaited by God through patience”; and to the Romans 9,⁵ “God SUSTAINED, in much patience, the vessels fitted for destruction”; and [in] the first of Peter, the third [chapter],⁶ “They awaited the patience of God in the days of Noah.” It is to be known that the word “patience” signifies two [things] in the sacred letters: namely, the virtue by which adversities are bravely borne — which he calls ὑπομονήν [hypomonḗn] — which is not ascribed to God, in whom there is no calamity to be borne; and a certain expectation, called by the Greeks μακροθυμίαν [makrothymían], by which the erring are wont to be awaited a long time unto repentance — which is properly attributed to God. Both significations of patience Augustine, comprehending in the book On Patience, said: “THE PATIENCE of God is preached, not in this — that

—suffer some evil, but in this — that he awaits the wicked, that they may be converted.” Chrysostom, therefore, regarding the former signification, rightly noted that nowhere in the sacred books is the name of ὑπομονή [hypomonḗ] — that is, “patience” — attributed to God. For in these [passages], wherever God is called “patient,” it is read in Hebrew אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם, Erech aphaim, “long of anger” [the print glosses “longus iris”] — that is, slow to anger; but in Greek Μακρόθυμος [Makróthymos], that is, “longanimous [long-suffering].” Likewise, wherever mention is made of the divine patience, among the Hebrews there is had תִּקְוָה, thikuath [tiqwāh], that is, “expectation”; but among the Greeks Μακροθυμία [makrothymía], that is, “longanimity,” or ἀνοχή [anochḗ] — which word, according to the testimony of Ammonius, properly signifies a truce, which, a treaty being struck, is granted to enemies in war, that they may pass to and fro to treat of peace. Both words Paul used to the Romans, in the second chapter, when he was speaking of the divine patience, saying: ἢ τοῦ πλούτου τῆς χρηστότητος αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῆς μακροθυμίας καταφρονεῖς; — that is, “Or dost thou despise the riches of his goodness, and of [his] forbearance [truce], and of [his] longanimity?”