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ADMONITION ON THE HOMILY CONCERNING THE CONFESSION OF THE CROSS
This homily is entirely similar to the preceding one; so much so that many things have been borrowed from it word for word, whoever the author may be. Wherefore it is rightly relegated after it as spurious. We have corrected the interpretation of Joachim Perionius in a few places.
ORATION OF THE SAME
THAT TEACHES THAT ONE SHOULD NOT BE ASHAMED TO CONFESS THE HOLY CROSS, AND THAT BY IT WE HAVE BEEN SAVED BY CHRIST, AND THAT ONE OUGHT TO BOAST IN IT: HE ALSO TREATS OF VIRTUE, AND HOW CHRIST DESIRES OUR SALVATION, AND OF ALMSGIVING.
A 1. This, brethren, is that sign which the Lord promised He would give to all, saying: *An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonas* (Matt. 12:39): meaning the cross, and the death, and the burial, and the resurrection. And again, describing the power of the cross in another way, He was saying: *When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you shall know that I am* (John 8:28). When you have crucified me, He says, and think that you have prevailed over me, then most especially will you know my power. And Christ rightly declared this. For after Christ was crucified, the Jewish customs ceased, the preaching flourished, the word extended to the ends of the earth: and earth and sea, the inhabited and the uninhabited, unceasingly proclaim its power. Let no one therefore be ashamed of the venerable symbols of our salvation, and the head of all good things, by which we live and by which we are; but as a crown, let us carry about the cross of Christ. For all things that concern us are accomplished through it: whether one needs to be regenerated, the cross is present; or to be fed that mystical food, or to be ordained, or to perform any other thing, everywhere the symbol of our victory is present. For this reason we mark it with much zeal in our homes, and on the walls, and on the doors, and on our foreheads, and in our minds. For this is the sign of the salvation achieved for us, and of our common liberty, and of the gentleness of our Lord: *As a sheep he was led to the slaughter* (Is. 53:7). When, therefore, you sign yourself, contemplate the whole matter of the cross, and extinguish anger and all other passions; when you sign yourself, fill your forehead with much boldness, and set your soul free. You know surely what sort of things provide us with freedom. Therefore, Paul also, leading us to this—I mean to the liberty that is appropriate for us—led us up in this way, having reminded us of the cross and of the blood of the Master: *You were bought with a price; be not the servants of men* (1 Cor. 7:23). Consider, he says, the price paid for you, and you shall not be a servant of any man—calling the blood that was shed through the cross the price. For it is not enough just to trace it with the finger, but first with our intention, with much faith, and thus to imprint it upon the face. No one of the unclean demons will be able to stand near you, seeing the weapon by which he received the wound, seeing the sword by which he received the mortal blow. For if we, seeing the places where those condemned to death are executed, shudder, contemplate what the devil will suffer, seeing the weapon by which Christ dissolved all his power, and cut off the head of the dragon.
B 2. Do not, therefore, be ashamed of so great a good, so that Christ may not be ashamed of you, when He comes with His glory, and the sign appears before Him, shining brighter than the rays of the sun. For the cross will appear then, sending forth a voice through its sight, and defending the Master before the whole world, and showing that nothing was left wanting of what pertained to them. This sign also opened closed doors before our ancestors; this extinguished poisonous drugs; this dissolved the power of hemlock; this healed the bites of venomous beasts. For if it opened the gates of Hades, and unfolded the arches of the heavens, and renewed the entrance to paradise, and cut away the nerves of the devil, what is it to be wondered at if it prevails over poisonous drugs and wild beasts and other such things? Imprint this, therefore, upon your mind, and embrace the salvation of our souls. For this cross turned the world, drove away error, brought back truth, made the earth heaven, and made men angels. For this reason, the demons are no longer fearful, but contemptible; and death is not death, but sleep. For this reason, all things that war against us are cast to the ground and trampled underfoot. If, therefore, anyone says to you, "Do you worship the crucified one?" say with a radiant voice and a joyful countenance, "I do both worship, and I shall never cease worshipping; and if he laughs, weep for him, because he is mad." Give thanks to the Lord, because He has bestowed such great benefits upon us, which no one can even learn without revelation from above. For the reason this man laughs is that *the sensual man perceiveth not the things that are of the Spirit* (1 Cor. 2:14); since children suffer this just as well, when they see something great and wonderful; and if you lead a child into some mysteries, he will laugh. The Greeks are like these children, or rather they are even more imperfect than they, and therefore even more wretched, because they do not suffer the things of children at an immature age, but at a perfect one, whence they are not even worthy of pardon. But let us, with a loud and lofty voice, let us cry out and say, even if all the Greeks are present, with much more boldness let us say, that our boast is the cross, and the head of all good things, and our boldness and our whole crown. I wished to be able to say with Paul, that *the world is crucified to me, and I to the world* (Gal. 6:14); but I cannot, being held fast by various passions. Therefore, I exhort you and, before you, myself to be crucified to the world, and to have nothing in common with the earth, but to long for the fatherland above, and