The concept of condign merit in the early Fathers

[Athanasias]

I have heard some Christian have fear and really question the concept of condign merit and suggest that this concept is made up by later scholastic theologians but the truth is the early fathers, even the apostolic ones taught this concept of merit. Consider:

St. Justin Martyr the first apologist in 151 A.D. in his first apology A.D. states:

"We have learned from the prophets and we hold it as true that punishments and chastisements and good "rewards" are distributed according to the "merit" of each man’s actions"

St. Theolphilus of Antioch in the 180's quotes Romans 2

"He who gave the mouth for speech and formed the ears for hearing and made eyes for seeing will examine everything and will judge justly, granting recompense to each according to merit. To those who seek immortality by the patient exercise of good works [Rom. 2:7], he will give everlasting life, joy, peace, rest, and all good things, which neither eye has seen nor ear has heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man [1 Cor. 2:9]. For the unbelievers and the contemptuous and for those who do not submit to the truth but assent to iniquity . . . there will be wrath and indignation [Rom. 2:8]" (To Autolycus 1:14 [181]).

St. Augustine himself had much to say about meriting eternal life:

"What merit, then, has man before grace which could make it possible for him to receive grace, when nothing but grace produces good merit in us; and what else but His gifts does God crown when He crowns our merits? For, just as in the beginning we obtained the mercy of faith, not because we were faithful but that we might become so, in like manner He will crown us at the end with eternal life, as it says, ‘with mercy and compassion.’ Not in vain, therefore, do we sing to God: ‘His mercy shall prevent me,’ and ‘His mercy shall follow me.’ Consequently, eternal life itself, which will certainly be possessed at the end without end, is in a sense awarded to antecedent merits, yet, because the same merits for which it is awarded are not effected by us through our sufficiency, but are effected in us by grace, even this very grace is so called for no other reason than that it is given freely; not, indeed, that it is not given for merit, but because the merits themselves are given for which it is given"(Letters194)


These are just a small sample. What do you think?

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I have heard some Christian have fear and really question the concept of condign merit and suggest that this concept is made up by later scholastic theologians but the truth is the early fathers, even the apostolic ones taught this concept of merit. Consider:

St. Justin Martyr the first apologist in 151 A.D. in his first apology A.D. states:

"We have learned from the prophets and we hold it as true that punishments and chastisements and good "rewards" are distributed according to the "merit" of each man’s actions"

St. Theolphilus of Antioch in the 180's quotes Romans 2

"He who gave the mouth for speech and formed the ears for hearing and made eyes for seeing will examine everything and will judge justly, granting recompense to each according to merit. To those who seek immortality by the patient exercise of good works [Rom. 2:7], he will give everlasting life, joy, peace, rest, and all good things, which neither eye has seen nor ear has heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man [1 Cor. 2:9]. For the unbelievers and the contemptuous and for those who do not submit to the truth but assent to iniquity . . . there will be wrath and indignation [Rom. 2:8]" (To Autolycus 1:14 [181]).

St. Augustine himself had much to say about meriting eternal life:

"What merit, then, has man before grace which could make it possible for him to receive grace, when nothing but grace produces good merit in us; and what else but His gifts does God crown when He crowns our merits? For, just as in the beginning we obtained the mercy of faith, not because we were faithful but that we might become so, in like manner He will crown us at the end with eternal life, as it says, ‘with mercy and compassion.’ Not in vain, therefore, do we sing to God: ‘His mercy shall prevent me,’ and ‘His mercy shall follow me.’ Consequently, eternal life itself, which will certainly be possessed at the end without end, is in a sense awarded to antecedent merits, yet, because the same merits for which it is awarded are not effected by us through our sufficiency, but are effected in us by grace, even this very grace is so called for no other reason than that it is given freely; not, indeed, that it is not given for merit, but because the merits themselves are given for which it is given"(Letters194)


These are just a small sample. What do you think?

Sounds like there is developing a confusion between Justification and Sanctification, which led to eventual salvation by works, until the Reformation where Justification by faith was rediscovered. But that discovery did not mean that believers should not live a holy life and work to further develop their sanctification.

 

[Athanasias]

Sounds like there is developing a confusion between Justification and Sanctification, which led to eventual salvation by works, until the Reformation where Justification by faith was rediscovered. But that discovery did not mean that believers should not live a holy life and work to further develop their sanctification.

Well thats fine if you believe that. My point was this teaching is rooted in the ancient Church and scripture and the early fathers saw that. Thus condign merit is not made up by the Catholic church's later scholastics but rooted in apostolic times. But let me ask you this, were the apostolic fathers and early fathers of the church reading scripture wrong?

 

[Sabertooth]

...the concept of condign merit...

I can't find a definition for codign. Is that a typo?

 

[dzheremi]

Condign just means appropriate or fitting, unless there's some kind of Latin theological meaning that I am unaware of.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Well thats fine if you believe that. My point was this teaching is rooted in the ancient Church and scripture and the early fathers saw that. Thus condign merit is not made up by the Catholic church's later scholastics but rooted in apostolic times. But let me ask you this, were the apostolic fathers and early fathers of the church reading scripture wrong?

There was a problem, even in Paul's day with teachers coming into the churches, especially in Galatia, teaching that in order to be saved they had to follow the Mosaic Law and be circumcised. Paul wrote the book of Galatians to counter that false teaching. So, the teaching concerning salvation by works has been in the Church from Paul's ministry days, and Paul even had to go to Jerusalem to have a serious pow pow with the Apostles to try and get it sorted out. They did not make any concession for the Jewish believers, but they did make the concessions for the Gentile believers. So, I would assume that salvation by keeping the Law of Moses was still pretty prevalent in the Jewish Christian churches.

As the Church slid into formalism, and pagan influence around the fourth Century (and this may have been a cause of the great schism between east and west) the good Church fathers of the time saw the decline of holiness in the churches and because they saw the great importance of holy living as the essential ingredient for seeing a continuance of the power of the Holy Spirit, they taught that Holy Living was essential, even to the point of saying that the genuineness of their conversion to Christ would be in doubt.

Calvin taught that if a person didn't go on to live a holy life, then he would have doubts as to whether they were genuinely converted to Christ in the first place. He said if a person was truly Justified, they would be definitely on the path to sanctification, even though they may not achieve perfection in it.

It is the same as having a performance review at work. Competence may not mean perfection, but if the worker is showing steady improvement, then the performance review is positive. If the employee is not showing improvement over a reasonable period of time, that person may be subject to a performance plan to enable the required improvement.

 

[dzheremi]

I'm not sure who you have in mind when you say that some people have problems with that, OP. In the Coptic Orthodox liturgy of St. Basil, there is a portion where the following prayer is prayed:

PRIEST: He rose from the dead on the third day; He ascended into the heavens, and sat at Your right hand, o Father; He has appointed a day for recompense, on which He will appear to judge the world in righteousness, and give each one according to his deeds.

CONGREGATION: According to Your mercy, O Lord, and not according to our sins.

+++

Maybe you have something else in mind, though. What you do not find outside of the Latin West is this idea of merit as a countable, transactional 'thing', and hence while we do have prayers like the above, we do not have anything like the RC "treasury of merit" or whatever, whereby the 'merits' of Christ, or the Theotokos, or any of the other saints may be applied in some way to other people.

But judgment according to what you have done is a pretty basic and inarguable thing, I would imagine. I mean, all traditional Christians pray in the Creed that He is coming again in His glory to judge the living and the dead, so there ya go.

 

[Athanasias]

There was a problem, even in Paul's day with teachers coming into the churches, especially in Galatia, teaching that in order to be saved they had to follow the Mosaic Law and be circumcised. Paul wrote the book of Galatians to counter that false teaching. So, the teaching concerning salvation by works has been in the Church from Paul's ministry days, and Paul even had to go to Jerusalem to have a serious pow pow with the Apostles to try and get it sorted out. They did not make any concession for the Jewish believers, but they did make the concessions for the Gentile believers. So, I would assume that salvation by keeping the Law of Moses was still pretty prevalent in the Jewish Christian churches.

Well lets look at that. Paul in Galations did teach that the mosaic law is no longer binding on Christians because we are under the law of Christ(Gal 6:2) which is the law of love and grace. He did make a distinction between good works done in grace and works of the law when he said we are justified not by circumcision but by faith "working through love"(Gal 5:6).


Paul and Jesus seem to teach condign merit for example Matt 25:31-46 demonstrates this concept. "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance ... for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat ..."


This concept of condign merit(receiving a reward based on an active faith) is found also in Johns Gospel:

"Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment" (Jn 5:28-29).

In Romans 3 ands 4 St. Paul's condemns the justification by work of the law which is also something the Catholic Church teaches.After all we are no longer under the law of Moses but rather under Christ(Gal 6:2) and most importantly we are under the grace of Christ(Eph 2). In Romans 2 St. Paul in our understanding distinguishes between good works done in grace and strict works of the law. St. Paul teaches condign merit here:

"For he(God) will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;
but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality."(Rom 2:5-11)

The Catholic view(and ancient patristic view) of this passage sees Paul distinguishes these good work that do merit eternal life with the works of law that do not. Most likely St. Paul here when he spoke of merit by works was referring to a lived out faith or what he calls a "Faith that is working through love" in Galatians 5. He seems to in our view in other areas of the bible also show condign merit(reward) in such scriptures as

Gal 6:6-10 which states:

" Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

" For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith"

And in collasians

"Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men,
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you are serving the Lord Christ." (Col 3: 23-24)

Again In our understanding our Lord Jesus is consistant as the book of Revelaiton reveals

"Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done."(Rev 22:12)"

Now I would like aagain to address the major misconception that condign merit is a late medieval scholastic invention. When in fact this concept is found in the apostolic fathers way before scholasticism. Clearly the early Church saw this and interpreted scripture this way.

 

[Sabertooth]

I know of two instances of codign merit, then.

"But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation* with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 NKJV

"Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. 12 Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’ 14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’

15 “And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. 16 Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’ 17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’ 18 And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’ 19 Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’


20 “Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. 21 For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ 22 And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. 23 Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’


24 “And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.’ 25 (But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’) 26 ‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him." Luke 19:11-26 NKJV

*"Building on top of Jesus' foundation" means that this person is saved, first.

 

[Athanasias]

I'm not sure who you have in mind when you say that some people have problems with that, OP. In the Coptic Orthodox liturgy of St. Basil, there is a portion where the following prayer is prayed:

PRIEST: He rose from the dead on the third day; He ascended into the heavens, and sat at Your right hand, o Father; He has appointed a day for recompense, on which He will appear to judge the world in righteousness, and give each one according to his deeds.

CONGREGATION: According to Your mercy, O Lord, and not according to our sins.

+++

Maybe you have something else in mind, though. What you do not find outside of the Latin West is this idea of merit as a countable, transactional 'thing', and hence while we do have prayers like the above, we do not have anything like the RC "treasury of merit" or whatever, whereby the 'merits' of Christ, or the Theotokos, or any of the other saints may be applied in some way to other people.

But judgment according to what you have done is a pretty basic and inarguable thing, I would imagine. I mean, all traditional Christians pray in the Creed that He is coming again in His glory to judge the living and the dead, so there ya go.

This is a good conversation. I am learning something here. I thank you for your post. I have come across in the past an eastern catholic scholar that has mistakingly thought merit was a scholastic later western concept. That is what spurred this whole article. As to the "treasury of Merit" it is a Jewish concept rooted in OT and found in Jewish writings. They had a treasury as well and would ask thier dead saints(Tzaddikim) to intercede for them and for God to be merciful to them and apply their merits to them. I started a article on it with 3 Jewish sources showing this concept. It is called the Merit of the fathers in Judiasm. Catholics naturally and the early Church picked up on this concept which comes out of the doctrine of the communion of saints.

Check out this link:

https://www.christianforums.com/thr...n-of-saints-and-roots-of-indulgences.8076400/

Hopefully this will help you understand the catholic view of communion of saints and treasury of merit better.

 

[Athanasias]

I know of two instances of codign merit, then.

"But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 NKJV

"Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. 12 Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’ 14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’

15 “And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. 16 Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’ 17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’ 18 And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’ 19 Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’


20 “Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. 21 For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ 22 And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. 23 Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’


24 “And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.’ 25 (But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’) 26 ‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him." Luke 19:11-26 NKJV

The first quote from 1 Cor 3 is perfect example of condign merit. All the books of the NT teach this with the exceptions of possibly Philemon.

 

[dzheremi]

This is a good conversation. I am learning something here. I thank you for your post. I have come across in the past an eastern catholic scholar that has mistakingly thought merit was a scholastic later western concept. That is what spurred this whole article. As to the "treasury of Merit" it is a Jewish concept rooted in OT and found in Jewish writings. They had a treasury as well and would ask thier dead saints(Tzaddikim) to intercede for them and for God to be merciful to them and apply their merits to them. I started a article on it with 3 Jewish sources showing this concept. It is called the Merit of the fathers in Judiasm. Catholics naturally and the early Church picked up on this concept which comes out of the doctrine of the communion of saints.

Check out this link:

https://www.christianforums.com/thr...n-of-saints-and-roots-of-indulgences.8076400/

Hopefully this will help you understand the catholic view of communion of saints and treasury of merit better.

Thanks! I'm reading through the Jewish Encyclopedia article in that thread now.

 

[Athanasias]

Thanks! I'm reading through the Jewish Encyclopedia article in that thread now.

your welcome. Many Catholics do not even understand this Jewish concept but it forms the basis for the doctrine of indulgences that would later develop.

 

[dzheremi]

Okay, so I read through the concept of what they called "Original Virtue" in the Jewish Encyclopedia, as you linked. It may be that it has just been a while since I interacted with the Roman Catholic Church (obviously, given my ecclesiastical affiliation, it doesn't get to happen too often), but I don't really see how this fits in with the RCC idea of the treasury of merit, at least not how it was explained to me. Maybe it is like you say, the basis of a later developed doctrine (and hence it wouldn't make sense to expect to see the exact same thing), but still I caught something in the very beginning of the entry that seems pretty different to me:

"The doctrine asserts that God visits the virtues of the fathers upon the children for His name's sake and as a mark of grace; but it would appear, on the other hand, that the principle applies only when the children continue the piety of their parents. The Biblical basis for the doctrine is to be found in the second commandment (Ex. xx. 5), which states that God shows mercy unto thousands of generations that love Him and keep His commandments"

That's fair enough as it goes, but it seems to be both more distinctly patrilineal than in the RC case, and not really 'transactional' in the way I meant it. Sure, in some general sense we can say that we are inheritors (or seek to be) of the faith left to us by our fathers, but that does not make their merits either countable (as they would be for the 'treasury' part of the Catholic idea to make sense) or transferable from specific individual to specific individual. Like there are various prayers in the Coptic tradition that invoke the blessings of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob upon us -- as we recognize these too as our righteous forefathers -- but they would be a bit different if they were formatted in such a way as to say "the merits of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob be upon us", as though the specific good that they did is sort of 'built up' to be distributed later as necessary to their posterity. Rather, the Jewish source maintains that the Jewish idea is contingent upon their children already being faithful. So it seems more like saying "If you're a priest's kid (...say you're Orthodox or Eastern Catholic!), and you are faithful and pious, God will continue your father's good work in you", rather than saying "Here are all your father's 'merits'; they will now apply to you out of the treasury; you are now plus 20 merits."

I know it's silly to just come out and say it that way, as that is not how the modern RCC puts it out there, but here is what they do say (CCC 1471, "Indulgences"):

"An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed condition through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints."

This is what I mean when I write 'transactional' -- even though it's not put in those terms at the source, by talking about merits and satisfactions kept by the Church in a treasury (even if this is all metaphorical, which I will assume for the sake of charity that it is), which are then dispensed by the Church at her discretion, it is hard to avoid coming away with a picture of God and/or the RCC being like a kind of all-powerful ATM, dispensing merits as needed or deserved. The minute you make something discreetly countable (even if you don't actually assign it a number/say it is infinite), you run into these kinds of problems.

Whereas in Churches which never developed the concept of merits and indulgences, the approach to this concept is a bit different:

PRIEST: As this, O Lord, is the command of your Only-Begotten Son, that we share in the commemoration of your saints, graciously accord, O Lord, to remember all the saints who have pleased you since the beginning: our holy fathers the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, the preachers, the evangelists, the martyrs, the confessors and all the spirits of the righteous who were consummated in the faith. Most of all, the pure, full of glory, ever-virgin, holy Theotokos, Saint Mary, who in truth, gave birth to God the Logos. And Saint John the forerunner, Baptist and martyr; Saint Stephen the archdeacon, the protomartyr; the beholder-of-God Saint Mark, the evangelist the apostle and martyr; the patriarch Saint Severus; our teacher Dioscorus; Saint Athanasius the Apostolic; Saint Peter the priest-martyr and the high priest; Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Theodosuius, Saint Theophilus, Saint Demetrius, Saint Cyril, Saint Basil, Saint Gregory the theologian, Saint Gregory the wonder-worker, Saint Gregory the Armenian; the three hundred and eighteen assembled at Nicea, the one hundred at Ephesus; our righteous father great Abba Antony, the righteous Abba Paul, the three saints Abba Macarii, and all their children the cross-bearers, our father Abba John the hegomen; our father Abba Pishoi the righteous perfect man, the beloved of our good Saviour; our father Abba Paul of Tammoh and Ezekiel his disciple; my masters the Roman fathers Saints Maximus and Domitius; the forty nine martyrs the elders of Shiheet; the strong Saint Abba Moses; John Kame the priest; our father Abba Daniel the hegomen; our father Abba Isidore the priest; our father Abba Pachom, of the Koinonia, and Theodore his disciple; our father Abba Shenoute the archimandrite and Abba Wissa his disciple. And all choir of your saints, through whose prayers and supplications, have mercy on us all and save us, for the sake of your holy name, which is called upon us.

DEACON: Let those who read, recite the names of our holy fathers, the patriarchs who have fallen asleep; O Lord repose their souls and forgive us our sins.

PRIEST: (the priest says the following Diptych inaudibly) Remember also, O Lord, all those who have fallen asleep and reposed in the priesthood and in the order of laity. Graciously, O Lord, repose all their souls in the bosom of our holy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, sustain them in a green pasture, by the water of rest in the paradise of joy, the place our of which grief, sorrow and groaning have fled away in the light of your saints.
PRIEST: Those, O Lord, and everyone whose names we have mentioned, and those whose names we have not mentioned, those whom each one has in mind, and those who are not in our minds, those who have fallen asleep and reposed in the faith of Christ, graciously, O Lord, remember the souls of your servants (here the priest mentions the names of the departed).

DEACON: Pray for our fathers and brethren who have fallen asleep and reposed in the faith of Christ since the beginning, our holy fathers the archbishops, our fathers the bishops, our fathers the hegomens, our fathers the priest, our brethren the deacons, our fathers the monks and our fathers the laymen, and for the full repose of the Christians, that Christ our God may repose all their souls in the paradise of joy, and we too accord mercy unto us and forgive us our sins.
PRIEST: Graciously, O Lord, repose all their souls in the bosom of our holy fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, sustain them in a geen pasture, by the water of rest in the paradise of joy, the place our of which grief, sorrow and groaning have fled away in the light of your saints.

CONGREGATION: May their holy blessing be with us. Amen. Glory to you, O Lord. Glory be to you. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Lord bless us. Lord repose them. Amen.
PRIEST: Those, O Lord, whose souls you have taken, repose them in the paradise of joy, in the region of the living forever, in the heavenly Jerusalem, in that place, and we too, who are sojourners in this place, keep us in your faith, and grant us your peace unto the end.

CONGREGATION: As it was, and shall be, form generation to generation, and unto the ages of all ages. Amen.
PRIEST: Lead us throughout the way into your kingdom, that as in this so also in all things your great and holy name be glorified, blessed and exalted, in every thing honoured and blessed, together with Jesus Christ, your beloved son and the Holy Spirit.

Peace be with all. Irini pasi.
CONGREGATION:
And with your spirit. Ke to Pnevmati soo.

+++

I believe you could, if you wanted to, make the argument that even in this there is some kind of support for the RC idea of merit, but it is absent in so many words in the above prayers, in which yes, we call attention to and properly venerate our holy fathers (these being those recognized by the Coptic Orthodox Church, that is, since it is a prayer from that liturgy), and ask that their virtues be visited upon us, but through intercession, rather than the application of merits.

 

[Athanasias]

Okay, so I read through the concept of what they called "Original Virtue" in the Jewish Encyclopedia, as you linked. It may be that it has just been a while since I interacted with the Roman Catholic Church (obviously, given my ecclesiastical affiliation, it doesn't get to happen too often), but I don't really see how this fits in with the RCC idea of the treasury of merit, at least not how it was explained to me. Maybe it is like you say, the basis of a later developed doctrine (and hence it wouldn't make sense to expect to see the exact same thing), but still I caught something in the very beginning of the entry that seems pretty different to me:

"The doctrine asserts that God visits the virtues of the fathers upon the children for His name's sake and as a mark of grace; but it would appear, on the other hand, that the principle applies only when the children continue the piety of their parents. The Biblical basis for the doctrine is to be found in the second commandment (Ex. xx. 5), which states that God shows mercy unto thousands of generations that love Him and keep His commandments"

That's fair enough as it goes, but it seems to be both more distinctly patrilineal than in the RC case, and not really 'transactional' in the way I meant it. Sure, in some general sense we can say that we are inheritors (or seek to be) of the faith left to us by our fathers, but that does not make their merits either countable (as they would be for the 'treasury' part of the Catholic idea to make sense) or transferable from specific individual to specific individual. Like there are various prayers in the Coptic tradition that invoke the blessings of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob upon us -- as we recognize these too as our righteous forefathers -- but they would be a bit different if they were formatted in such a way as to say "the merits of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob be upon us", as though the specific good that they did is sort of 'built up' to be distributed later as necessary to their posterity. Rather, the Jewish source maintains that the Jewish idea is contingent upon their children already being faithful. So it seems more like saying "If you're a priest's kid (...say you're Orthodox or Eastern Catholic!), and you are faithful and pious, God will continue your father's good work in you", rather than saying "Here are all your father's 'merits'; they will now apply to you out of the treasury; you are now plus 20 merits."

I know it's silly to just come out and say it that way, as that is not how the modern RCC puts it out there, but here is what they do say (CCC 1471, "Indulgences"):

"An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed condition through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints."

This is what I mean when I write 'transactional' -- even though it's not put in those terms at the source, by talking about merits and satisfactions kept by the Church in a treasury (even if this is all metaphorical, which I will assume for the sake of charity that it is), which are then dispensed by the Church at her discretion, it is hard to avoid coming away with a picture of God and/or the RCC being like a kind of all-powerful ATM, dispensing merits as needed or deserved. The minute you make something discreetly countable (even if you don't actually assign it a number/say it is infinite), you run into these kinds of problems.

Whereas in Churches which never developed the concept of merits and indulgences, the approach to this concept is a bit different:

PRIEST: As this, O Lord, is the command of your Only-Begotten Son, that we share in the commemoration of your saints, graciously accord, O Lord, to remember all the saints who have pleased you since the beginning: our holy fathers the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, the preachers, the evangelists, the martyrs, the confessors and all the spirits of the righteous who were consummated in the faith. Most of all, the pure, full of glory, ever-virgin, holy Theotokos, Saint Mary, who in truth, gave birth to God the Logos. And Saint John the forerunner, Baptist and martyr; Saint Stephen the archdeacon, the protomartyr; the beholder-of-God Saint Mark, the evangelist the apostle and martyr; the patriarch Saint Severus; our teacher Dioscorus; Saint Athanasius the Apostolic; Saint Peter the priest-martyr and the high priest; Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Theodosuius, Saint Theophilus, Saint Demetrius, Saint Cyril, Saint Basil, Saint Gregory the theologian, Saint Gregory the wonder-worker, Saint Gregory the Armenian; the three hundred and eighteen assembled at Nicea, the one hundred at Ephesus; our righteous father great Abba Antony, the righteous Abba Paul, the three saints Abba Macarii, and all their children the cross-bearers, our father Abba John the hegomen; our father Abba Pishoi the righteous perfect man, the beloved of our good Saviour; our father Abba Paul of Tammoh and Ezekiel his disciple; my masters the Roman fathers Saints Maximus and Domitius; the forty nine martyrs the elders of Shiheet; the strong Saint Abba Moses; John Kame the priest; our father Abba Daniel the hegomen; our father Abba Isidore the priest; our father Abba Pachom, of the Koinonia, and Theodore his disciple; our father Abba Shenoute the archimandrite and Abba Wissa his disciple. And all choir of your saints, through whose prayers and supplications, have mercy on us all and save us, for the sake of your holy name, which is called upon us.

DEACON: Let those who read, recite the names of our holy fathers, the patriarchs who have fallen asleep; O Lord repose their souls and forgive us our sins.

PRIEST: (the priest says the following Diptych inaudibly) Remember also, O Lord, all those who have fallen asleep and reposed in the priesthood and in the order of laity. Graciously, O Lord, repose all their souls in the bosom of our holy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, sustain them in a green pasture, by the water of rest in the paradise of joy, the place our of which grief, sorrow and groaning have fled away in the light of your saints.
PRIEST: Those, O Lord, and everyone whose names we have mentioned, and those whose names we have not mentioned, those whom each one has in mind, and those who are not in our minds, those who have fallen asleep and reposed in the faith of Christ, graciously, O Lord, remember the souls of your servants (here the priest mentions the names of the departed).

DEACON: Pray for our fathers and brethren who have fallen asleep and reposed in the faith of Christ since the beginning, our holy fathers the archbishops, our fathers the bishops, our fathers the hegomens, our fathers the priest, our brethren the deacons, our fathers the monks and our fathers the laymen, and for the full repose of the Christians, that Christ our God may repose all their souls in the paradise of joy, and we too accord mercy unto us and forgive us our sins.
PRIEST: Graciously, O Lord, repose all their souls in the bosom of our holy fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, sustain them in a geen pasture, by the water of rest in the paradise of joy, the place our of which grief, sorrow and groaning have fled away in the light of your saints.

CONGREGATION: May their holy blessing be with us. Amen. Glory to you, O Lord. Glory be to you. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Lord bless us. Lord repose them. Amen.
PRIEST: Those, O Lord, whose souls you have taken, repose them in the paradise of joy, in the region of the living forever, in the heavenly Jerusalem, in that place, and we too, who are sojourners in this place, keep us in your faith, and grant us your peace unto the end.

CONGREGATION: As it was, and shall be, form generation to generation, and unto the ages of all ages. Amen.
PRIEST: Lead us throughout the way into your kingdom, that as in this so also in all things your great and holy name be glorified, blessed and exalted, in every thing honoured and blessed, together with Jesus Christ, your beloved son and the Holy Spirit.

Peace be with all. Irini pasi.
CONGREGATION:
And with your spirit. Ke to Pnevmati soo.

+++

I believe you could, if you wanted to, make the argument that even in this there is some kind of support for the RC idea of merit, but it is absent in so many words in the above prayers, in which yes, we call attention to and properly venerate our holy fathers (these being those recognized by the Coptic Orthodox Church, that is, since it is a prayer from that liturgy), and ask that their virtues be visited upon us, but through intercession, rather than the application of merits.

Ok Yeah so it is applied differently to be sure. The Jewish converts to the Catholci faith like Dr. Lawrence Feingold and Brother Bob Fishmen pick up on this right away and have spoken about how many jews see this connection with the treasury of merit in indulgences and the merit of the fathers. Here is how we understand it.

Indulgences are hard to explain for several reasons. For one it is a doctrine that is built upon other doctrines and understandings. Many Christian doctrines are like this. The Trinity is also like this but even harder. To understand the Trinity you first must understand the concept of monotheism, and then how God has plurality and yet oneness, the divine and human nature of Christ and his relation to the Father and the Spirits and then you have to understand personhood in relation to the substance of the Godhead etc. So its not very easy to explain to people.


Likewise to fully appreciate and understand the doctrine of indulgences you really have to understand the Jewish and Catholic understanding of purgatory, the communion of saints, and the power of the keys in the papacy and its magisterium (the bishops).


The main part of indulgence theology stems from the Jewish/Catholic doctrine of the communion of saints in what is known as the “treasury of merit”. The treasury of merit is simple really. The body of Christ is connected in that our faith and actions affect other people.


Sometimes God chooses to bless and reward some people based on the faith or actions of other people. This is biblical. A Merit is something that moves God’s heart to reward someone and is not considered earning anything strictly. There is tons of biblical examples of this. Abraham is a great example of this. Because of His faith and actions God made a covenant with future generations and rewarded them with the promised land and Kings etc. (Gen 17:6-8). Isaac was promised a blessing because Abraham kept Gods commandments(Gen 26:2-5). God also lessons temporal punishments on some due to the merit of others like David. We see this in (1 Kings 11:11-13).


In Gen 18:16-33 God was willing to spare the whole city of Sodom if Abraham could find a certain number of righteous men.


The prayers and works of some clearly move God to reward (merit) others even in the NT. Romans 11:28 tells us the Jewish people even then were beloved for the sake of their forfathers(Rom 11:28). In Matt 15:22-28 Jesus heals a daughter based on the faith of the mother. Clearly God rewards(merits) some for the faith and prayers and actions of others in the Body of Christ. The Jews also saw this. They had a treasury of merit as well that they called the “Merit of the fathers” which is identical to the Catholic understanding of the treasury of merit. Here is an article from a Jewish source on the Merit of the fathers. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14709-virtue-original


In the old covenant Jews would go to the graves of the deceased loved ones and ask for them to have a chat with God on their behalf and begged for not only the prayers but also the merits of the Jewish righteous saints (Tzaddikim) to be applied to them.


See this article here:


http://www.chabadofnh.com/templates/viewemail_cdo/aid/1886137



If the Jews could access the prayers and merits of the old covenant saintly patriarchs and ancestors how would they be able to access it in the new covenant? This was the question the early Church dealt with. Like all doctrines this understanding of Indulgences developed over time and came out of this Jewish and biblical understanding of the communion of saints and the application of their prayers and merits.


The Early church did not have an issue with the treasury of merit, which has Christ as its center and is made up of the merits and prayers of the saints in Christ and by Christ because they saw the connection that the Jews did. The roots of indulgences are seen in Cyprian of Carthage in 250’s when the Church by the power of the keys(given in Matt 18 and 16) granted remission of penance and gave certificates to those who fell away in grave sin granting they repented. The Church called upon the "treasury of the Christian Martyrs" merits to lessen this temporal punishment or penance. From there it developed into the recent doctrine we have. Its Roots are Jewish in that the saints merit can be applied to the those on earth and as the second article shows they had a type of treasury that could be applied to the Jews when they prayed to the Tzaddkim. I hope this helps

 

[Athanasias]

St. Augustine on the sharing the merits of the saints.


"A Christian people celebrates together in religious solemnity the memorials of the martyrs, both to encourage their being imitated and so that it can share in their merits and be aided by their prayers" (Against Faustus the Manichean [A.D. 400]).

 

[dzheremi]

Again, are the merits to be thought of as in some kind storehouse/treasury or otherwise discreetly countable? I don't think there's anything wrong with St. Augustine's view here, as we would say that we do the same, but it is really the idea of their forming a kind of treasury that still appears to be absent.

I don't think the example of St. Cyprian is really all that relevant, either, because if I recall correctly that was in the context of the conflict with the Donatists over the lapsi, in which it would obviously make sense to have some kind of visible means of communicating that the repentance was accepted by the Church, as there was of course this other body that was stringent in their view that repentance was never accepted in this context. In that way, it's sort of similar to showing your affiliations by getting a letter from your priest or bishop before travelling to another's territory (which I don't know if that's a thing that still happens in the RCC, but it does happen in the Coptic Orthodox Church). There is no sense by which such a letter or letters would be "stored" so as to be drawn from later by unrelated people, because they're context-dependent: So-and-so repented, and their repentance was recognized (so if any Donatists hassle you, show them that and tell them to go shove it); so-and-so is travelling from here to there, and here are their bona fides (so if anyone in your new area asks who you are and what you're doing there, you show them that; this makes a lot of sense in the Eastern context in particular, where the priest communes the layperson only if they are known to them, and known to have confessed within a reasonable amount of time, whereas in the West the standard appears to be different, e.g., Orthodox being welcomed to receive the RC Eucharist, whereas actually doing so incurs automatic excommunication on the Orthodox side, so we don't do so).

 

[dzheremi]

Sorry, I don't mean to be contrary, it's just that I'm not really seeing it as evidence that the current RC setup with regard to the treasury of merits as described in the CCC is actually of apostolic vintage (though it certainly fits within the purview of this board as a piece of particularly Roman Catholic tradition, and in that sense is interesting and valuable to learn about).

 

[Athanasias]

Sorry, I don't mean to be contrary, it's just that I'm not really seeing it as evidence that the current RC setup with regard to the treasury of merits as described in the CCC is actually of apostolic vintage (though it certainly fits within the purview of this board as a piece of particularly Roman Catholic tradition, and in that sense is interesting and valuable to learn about).

Oh Thats ok. I think this is something that is not easy to understand for most people. Heck it took me years to finally get it. What we see and what many Jewish converts like Dr Lawrence Feingold and Bob Fishmen and others see is the connection of the sharing in the merits of the saints in a type of treasury.


With the lapsi it was the repentance of the individual, the authority of the church via the keys to forgive and the merit of the martyrs that was invoked and graced them to revoke the temporal punishments. That is the root connection Catholics and Jews see. Jewish converts particularly see this and they actually helped me see it better. This is how many of them understand it. This is why they do not have an issue about indulgences. They see and understand the communion of saints and have understood the merit of the fathers and that we can share in that merit. Of course they also have a similar understanding of purgatory and see the connection the Church has made that we can through prayer and the power of the keys share in the merit of the saints to receive relief of our temporal punishments.

They see as we do that the roots of indulgences, purgatory, and prayers to saints are seen in Jewish theology and OT and tradition. They see the theological development of this understanding and how it all merged together in history from its roots and developed from the Jewish practices and theology of the time through time through the Church fathers and thier understanding of it to current practice.

So yeah you will not find the full blown form of the indulgences in the fathers as all doctrines develop in time, but you will find its roots in the communion of saints where they held that we can share in thier merits and receive help from them, and receive release from our temporal punishments due to thier merits by the authority of the Church. Hope that helps.