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Hilarius von Poitiers

Hilarius, in Poitiers um 315 geboren, im Mannesalter getauft; um 350 Bischof in seiner Heimatstadt. Er kämpfte gegen die­ arianische Irrlehre (Leugnung der Gottheit Christi), darin dem hl. Athanasius vergleichbar (2. Mai). Von Kaiser Konstantius wurde er nach dem Osten des Reiches verbannt. Dort schrieb er sein Hauptwerk „Über die Dreifaltigkeit“. Nach dem Tod des Konstantius konnte Hilarius wieder nach Poitiers zurückkehren, wo er um 367 starb. Er war ein Kenner der Heiligen Schrift (Erklärungen zu den Psalmen und zum Matthäus­evangelium) und verfasste auch lateinische Hymnen. [Schott]

Das Unsagbare

„Es blieb mir nichts anderes übrig: Mit meinen ungeschickten Worten versuchte ich, die unaussprechlichen Mysterien zu erklären. An die Zufälligkeiten der menschlichen Sprache lieferte ich die Geheimnisse aus, die eigentlich in der gläubigen und ehrfürchtigen Seele verwahrt bleiben müssten.“
Hilarius, Über den Glauben, an die Arianer

I. When I was seeking an employment adequate to the powers of human life and righteous in itself, whether prompted by nature or suggested by the researches of the wise, whereby I might attain to some result worthy of that Divine gift of understanding which has been given us, many things occurred to me which in general esteem were thought to render life both useful and desirable. And especially that which now, as always in the past, is regarded as most to be desired, leisure combined with wealth, came before my mind. The one without the other seemed rather a source of evil than an opportunity for good, for leisure in poverty is felt to be almost an exile from life itself, while wealth possessed amid anxiety is in itself an affliction, rendered the worse by the deeper humiliation which he must suffer who loses, after possessing, the things that most are wished and sought. And yet, though these two embrace the highest and best of the luxuries of life, they seem not far removed from the normal pleasures of the beasts which, as they roam through shady places rich in herbage, enjoy at once their safety from toil and the abundance of their food. For if this be regarded as the best and most perfect conduct of the life of man, it results that one Object is common, though the range of feelings differ, to us and the whole unreasoning animal world, Since all of them, in that bounteous provision and absolute leisure which nature bestows, have full scope for enjoyment without anxiety for possession.
On the Trinity (Book I)

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