With the 1700th celebration of Nicaea this year, it seems appropriate to bring out the fathers’ wisdom on virtue as it relates to spirituality, theology, and ministry. The fathers are well known for their articulation and defense of biblical orthodoxy, but their spiritual and virtuous life was the undergirding factor for such articulation.
In Morals of the Catholic Church, Augustine notes that the four cardinal virtues are simply a fourfold division of the perfect love of God. Of prudence and fortitude, Augustine says, “Prudence is love distinguishing with sagacity between what hinders and what helps it…Fortitude is love readily bearing all things for the sake of the loved object. The object of this love is not anything, but only God, the chief good, the highest wisdom, the perfect harmony.”
The life of virtue for the Christian entails learning how to steady oneself in three ways: 1) by the reality of Christ and his gospel, 2) how to act in its wake, and 3) how to refuse the charms and threats of other false realities. Stemming from writings of Basil the Great and Augustine, this essay argues that the relationship between prudence and fortitude is determined by the ability to discern the true and best end, choose the effective and best means to attain that end, and to persevere through pressure in accordance with reality of the Good.