HOMILY DELIVERED IN THE HOLY WEEK, IN WHICH IT IS TAUGHT WHY IT IS CALLED THE GREAT WEEK; AND ON THAT [VERSE], "PRAISE THE LORD, O MY SOUL" (Ps. CXLV, 2); AND CONCERNING THE JAILER IN THE ACTS.
A We have completed the voyage of the fast, and by the grace of God we have finally arrived at the harbor. But let us not therefore be negligent because we have arrived at the harbor; rather, let us apply greater care, because we have reached the end. For this is what pilots also do: when they are about to bring a merchant ship laden with grain and a huge mass of cargo into the mouth of the harbor, they are anxious and solicitous lest, after having traversed such vast seas, the ship strike a rock and sink with all its cargo. Thus it is fitting for us also to be afraid and solicitous, lest we fall short of the reward of our labors near the finish. And therefore, greater diligence must be applied. So too do runners behave: when they see that they have come near to the prizes, then they accelerate their course; so too do athletes, after a thousand struggles and a thousand victories, when the time of the crowns B is at hand, then they rise more keenly and strain their prowess. Let us too do the same now. For what the harbor is to pilots, what the prizes are to runners, what the crowns are to athletes, that this present week is to us: the head of good things; and now the struggle is over the crowns. And therefore we call it great: not because its days are greater than all others—for there are others longer—nor because they are more in number, for they are equal to the others, but because great things have been done for us by the Master in it. For in this week which is called great, the long-term tyranny of the devil was dissolved, death was extinguished, the strong one was bound, and his vessels were plundered, sin was taken away, the curse was abolished, paradise was opened, heaven was made accessible, men were mingled with angels, the middle wall of partition was removed, the veil was drawn aside, and the God of peace brought peace to heaven and to earth. Therefore it is called the Great Week; and just as it is the head of the rest of the weeks, so the great sabbath is the head of this one; and as the head is in the body, so in the week is the sabbath. For this reason many in it increase their zeal; some increase their fasting, others their sacred vigils, others distribute alms more bountifully, testifying by their zeal for good works and their care for godly living to the magnitude of the benefit bestowed upon us by God. For just as when the Lord raised up Lazarus, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem went to meet Him, and their multitude bore witness that He had raised a dead man (for the solicitude of those arriving was a proof of the miracle), so too now, the zeal concerning this Great Week is a proof and argument of the magnitude of the things achieved in it. For we do not go out from one city to meet Christ today, nor from Jerusalem alone, but from the whole world the most populous Churches go out from every side to meet Jesus, not holding and waving branches of palms, but offering alms, humanity, virtue, fasting, tears, prayers, vigils, and every kind of piety to the Master Christ.
C *The suspension of legal proceedings during the Holy Week.*—Neither do we alone honor this week, but the Emperors of our world, nor do they honor it casually, declaring a suspension of public legal proceedings for all who transact the business of cities, so that, free from cares, they may follow these days with spiritual service. And therefore they have closed the doors of the courts. "Let there cease," they say, "lawsuits, quarrels, and every kind of contention and punishment; let the hands of the executioners rest for a little while." The great deeds of the Master are common: let some good be done by us, too, His servants. Nor do they honor it with that zeal and tribute alone, but with another not less than this. For imperial letters are sent, by which it is commanded that the bonds of those detained in prison be loosed. For just as our Master, when He was in Hades, loosed all who were held by death, so too the servants, bringing what is in their power and imitating the Master’s kindness, loose men from sensible bonds, since they cannot from spiritual ones.
As for me, I, in your presence, instead of palms, bringing forward a word of teaching, have deposited two mites like that widow (cf. Luke 21:2): for that crowd [in the Gospel] went out and cried with these words: "Hosanna in the highest; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" (Matt. 21:9). Let us too go out, and instead of branches of palms, showing the intention of a flowering heart, let us cry out, just as we sang today: "Praise the Lord, O my soul; I will praise the Lord in my life" (Ps. 145:2). And that word and this is equally Davidic; or rather, neither this nor that is Davidic, but both are of divine grace. The prophet indeed spoke, but the Paraclete moved the prophet’s tongue. Therefore he says: "My tongue is the pen of a scribe who writes swiftly" (Ps. 44:2). Just as the pen does not move of its own accord, but by the power of the hand moving it, so too the tongue of the prophets did not speak of itself, but from the grace of God. But why did he not say "the pen of a scribe" only, but "the pen of a scribe who writes swiftly"? In order that you may learn D that it is not by the [original-script column: see facsimile] 527 ...
A wisdom of men, but that this is spiritual; hence there is both great ease and a lengthy course. For men, when they speak from themselves, compose, deliberate, hesitate, and consume much time; in this case, however, because the words gushed forth as if from a fountain, and there was no obstacle, but the swiftness of the thoughts surpassed the flow of the tongue, therefore he said: "My tongue is the pen of a scribe who writes swiftly." It pours forth the streams below with great abundance, he says. Hence there is great speed. We have no need of consideration, nor of practice and labor. But let us see what it says: "Praise the Lord, O my soul." Let us also chant these things today with David. For even if he is not present in the body, he is present in the spirit. And that the just are present with us, and chant with us, hear what Abraham says to the rich man. For when the latter says, "Send Lazarus, B so that my brothers, having learned of things in Hades, may correct their own affairs," he says to him: "They have Moses and the prophets." Yet Moses and all the prophets had long since died in the body, but they had them through their writings. For if someone has dedicated an inanimate image of a child or a friend, he thinks that the one who has departed is present, and imagines him through the inanimate image; much more do we enjoy the meeting of the saints through the divine Scriptures, having the images not of their bodies, but of their souls. For the things said by them are images of their own souls. Do you wish to learn that the just live and are present? No one calls C dead men as witnesses; yet Christ called them witnesses of his own divinity, and before these, Christ called even David himself, to teach you that he lives. For while the Jews were disputing about him, he says to them: "What do you think concerning Christ? Whose son is he?" They say to him, "David’s." He says to them: "How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand?" (Matt. 22. 42-44; Ps. 109. 1). Do you see how David lives? For if he did not live, he would not have called him as a witness of his divinity. And he did not say, "How then did David in the Spirit call him Lord?" but, "Does he call him Lord?" in order to show that he is still present, and speaks through the scriptures. David once chanted in the Psalms, and we chant with David today. He had a cithara made of inanimate strings; the Church has D a cithara with animate strings stretched taut. Our tongues are the strings of the cithara, emitting a diverse sound, yet a concordant piety. For both women and men, and elders and the young, are distinguished indeed by age, but not distinguished by the principle of the hymn; for the Spirit, having blended the voice of each, works one melody in all; just as David himself revealed, calling every age and both natures to this concord and saying: "Let every breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul." Why did he leave behind the flesh? Why does he not address the body at all? Did he split the living creature into two? By no means; but he first rouses the craftsman. That he did not separate the flesh from the soul, hear how he says elsewhere: "O God, my God, I watch for you; my soul has thirsted for you, how manifoldedly [has] my flesh [thirsted for you], in the land" (Ps. 62. 1). But show me the flesh also called upon in the hymns, he says. "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, his holy name." Do you see also the flesh participating in this harmony? What is it to say, "And all that is within me, his holy name?" The nerves, he says, the bones, the veins, the arteries, and all the inner parts.
3. But how can our inner parts praise God? They have no voice, they have no mouth, they have no tongue. For the soul can; but how can the inner parts, having neither voice, nor tongue, nor mouth, praise God? "As the heavens declare the glory of God" (Ps. 18. 1). For just as the heavens do not have a tongue, a mouth, or lips, but by the beauty of the aspect stun the spectators and send them through wonder to the glorification of the one who made them; so also, if you examine all our inner parts with the mind, if you see the difference of quality, of operation, of power, of concord, of formation, of position, of number, of harmony, you will exclaim that prophetic word: "How magnified are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have made all things" (Ps. 103. 24). Do you see how the innards praise God without voice and mouth and tongue? Why, therefore, does he address the soul? In order that, while the tongue is speaking, that (the soul) might not be idle, which we often suffer both in prayers and in hymns; so that there may be harmony from both sides. For when you, while praying, do not hear the words of God, how will God hear your supplication? When, therefore, he says, "Praise the Lord, O my soul," this is what he means: let prayers be offered from within from the depth of the heart. For even Paul says: "I will chant with the spirit, but I will chant also with my mind" (1 Cor. 14. 15). The soul is a certain best musician, it is a craftsman; the body is the instrument, occupying the place of a cithara, a flute, and a lyre. The other musicians, therefore, are not always with all their instruments, but sometimes take them up, and sometimes lay them aside; for the time for melody is not continuous for them; therefore they do not handle the instruments continuously; but God, wishing to teach you that you ought to praise and bless him at all times, has permanently united the instrument to the craftsman. For that it is necessary to praise at all times, hear what the Apostle says: "Pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks" (1 Thess. 5. 17, 18). Since, therefore, it is necessary to pray without ceasing, the instrument is without ceasing with the craftsman. "Praise the Lord, O my soul." Before, David said these things with one tongue; now, since he has died, he utters these things with ten thousand tongues, not only with those among us, but also with those everywhere in the inhabited world. Do you see that he has not died, but lives? For how has he died, who possesses so many tongues, and utters through so many mouths? Truly it is a great praise; for it cleanses our soul, and implants great piety in us. Do you wish to learn what is the power of the hymns toward God? Is it necessary to learn how great is the power of hymns toward God? Three youths singing hymns extinguished the furnace of Babylon; nay,
A they did not merely extinguish it, but, what was far more wondrous, they trod upon the blazing flame as if it were mud. This hymn, having entered into the prison, loosened the bonds of Paul, opened the doors of the prison, shook the foundations, and filled the jailer with great terror. For at midnight, he says, Paul and Silas were singing hymns (Acts 16:25). And what happened then? What? A thing altogether new and unexpected: the bonds were loosened, and the bound held the unbound. Yet the nature of bonds is to bind the bound firmly and to keep them subject; but now, the jailer, being loosened, came to the feet of the bound Paul. The nature of sensible bonds is to detain the bound, but the power of the bonds for Christ’s sake is so great that they make the unbound subject to the bound. He had cast them into the inner prison; and while they were inside, they opened the outer doors. He had secured their feet with the timber, B and their feet, [already] being in the stocks, loosened the hands of others. Then the jailer fell down before him, he says, fearing, trembling, groaning, anxious, weeping (Acts 16:29). What happened? Did you not bind them? Did you not keep them in custody? Why do you marvel, O man, if he opened the prison, when he received the authority to open the heavens? Whatever you bind, he says, upon the earth, shall be bound also in the heavens; and whatever you loosen upon the earth, shall be loosened also in the heavens (Matt. 18:18). He loosened the bonds of sins; why do you marvel if he loosens the bonds of iron? He loosened the bonds of demons, he freed the souls bound by them; why do you marvel if he loosened the chains of the prisoners? But see the double miracle: he loosened again and bound. He loosened the bonds, but he bound their hearts. For they were unaware C that they had been loosened. He opened and closed: he opened the doors of the prison, but he closed the eyes of the hearts of the prisoners, so that they did not perceive that the doors were open, lest they use their liberty and take to flight. Did you see him binding and loosening, opening and closing? These things were done at night, so that the matter might happen without noise and without any disturbance. For the apostles did nothing for show or for vainglory. The jailer fell down before his feet. What, then, did Paul do? Did you see his miracle? Did you see his stupendous works? See his concern, see his humanity. He cried out and said: Do yourself no harm: for we are all here (Acts 16:28). He did not allow him who had harshly bound him to die harshly, being unmindful of the injury. We are all here, he said. See how he was a stranger to vanity. He did not say: I wrought these stupendous things, but what? For we are all here. Paul reckoned himself among the bound. But he, D when he saw what had been done, wondered, was struck by the miracle, gave thanks to God. The jailer was truly worthy of much care and humanity; he did not think that what had been done was sorcery. Why did he not think it was sorcery? He had heard them singing hymns to God: but a sorcerer never celebrates God. He had received many sorcerers, since he was a jailer, but none of them had ever performed such a thing, had not loosened the bonds, had not shown such concern. For Paul desired to be bound, and he did not flee, so that he might save him from death. He had rushed in with a sword in his hands and a torch; and the devil wanted to turn him away from repentance by murder, but with a resonant voice Paul promptly won his soul for salvation. For he did not simply cry out, but with a loud voice, saying: We are all here. The jailer admired his concern, he fell down before the bound man, being loosed [from his sin], and what does he say? Masters, what must I do to be saved? (Acts 16:30). You were bound, and you are in a state of confusion? You were bound to the timber, and you seek the way of repentance and salvation? Did you see his fervor? Did you see his concern? He did not delay, but because he had been loosed from fear, he did not therefore delay in the matter of the benefit, but immediately ran to the salvation of his soul. It was night, and it was midnight. He did not say, Let us deliberate, let the day come, but he immediately ran to salvation. This man is great, he says, he transcends human nature. I have seen his wondrous power, I have wondered at his humanity. Having suffered countless evils from me, when he was in the extreme, taking me who had bound him into his hands, when he could have killed me, he not only does nothing, but when I had intended to kill myself and thrust my sword into my throat, he restrained me. Rightly he says: Masters, what must I do to be saved? For it was not miracles alone that drew those who believed to the apostles, but before the miracles, their life. Therefore he says: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in the heavens (Matt. 5:16). Did you see the fervor of the jailer? See the fervor of Paul: he did not delay, he did not neglect; but while he was in bonds and in wooden stocks, and in stripes, he immediately imbued him with the mysteries, and with him his whole house, and after the spiritual bath, and after the spiritual table, he also set the carnal one before him. But why did he shake the prison? To awaken the jailer to the contemplation of the things that had happened. He loosened the sensible bonds of the prisoners, so that he might loosen the spiritual bonds of the jailer. Christ did the opposite. A paralytic man approached him, affected by a double paralysis; the one from sins, the other from the body. First he loosened the paralysis of sins, saying thus: Son, thy sins are forgiven thee (Mark 2:5). Then, because they were doubting, blaspheming, and saying, Who can forgive sins, but God alone (Ibid. v. 7), wanting to show them that he was truly God, wanting to judge them out of their own mouths, so that he might be able to say, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee (Luke 19:22): you said that no one can forgive sins save God alone: behold, he says, I forgive sins, and confess my divinity: from your judgment I bring the verdict. But there the spiritual [bond] was first, and the sensible [bond] was later; here, conversely, first the sensible bonds were taken away, then the spiritual. The power of prayer is always great, but greater with fasting. How prayer may be made pleasing. Have you seen how great is the power of hymns? How much praise avails? How much prayer?
A It makes the soul more powerful. Now there is much sobriety of thought in us, now the intellect is aroused, and the soul looks upon all things above. Therefore, Scripture has always yoked prayer with fasting. How and when? “Do not deprive one another,” it says, “except maybe by consent, so that you may have leisure for fasting and prayer.” And again elsewhere, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” And again elsewhere, “Having prayed,” it says, “and having fasted, they laid their hands on them.”
5. Do you see prayer with fasting everywhere? For then indeed both a sweeter and more approved melody is sent up than from the lyre. The strings are not saturated and dissolved by the excess of drunkenness, but the thought is taut, the mind aroused, the soul sober. Thus, one must approach God and converse with Him—alone with the Alone. For if, when we have something necessary to say to friends, we take them aside and converse with them in this way, how much more ought we to do this with God, entering into the inner chamber with much tranquility? And we shall certainly obtain all things, if we make our request beneficially. For prayer is a great good when it is made with a grateful and sober mind; but how shall it be grateful? If we train ourselves to give thanks to God, not only when we receive, but also when we fail. For sometimes God gives, and sometimes He does not give; yet He does both for our benefit: so that, whether you receive or do not receive, you have "received" by not receiving; and whether you succeed or do not succeed, you have succeeded in not succeeding. For there is a time when not receiving what we ask becomes more profitable than receiving. For if it were not often beneficial to us not to receive, He would certainly always give; but to fail beneficially is to succeed. Therefore He also often delays our request, not wishing to drag us out, but by the delay of the gift, devising a continual persistence. For since, having often received what we ask, we break off the zeal for prayers after receiving it, desiring to increase our wakefulness in petitions, He delays the giving. B Thus also does affectionate fatherhood behave; the slothful among their children, who run off to childish games, they often hold back with themselves by the promise of a very great gift; for this reason they sometimes delay, and sometimes do not give at all. For there are times when we ask for a harmful request; but God, who knows better what is beneficial to us, does not assent to our prayers, economizing what is profitable for us even while we are ignorant of it. And what is strange if we are not heard, when this happened even to Paul? For he too, having asked often, failed; and not only was he not grieved, but he even gave thanks to God. “For this reason,” he says, “I thrice entreated the Lord”; and “thrice” signifies often. But if Paul, having asked often, did not succeed, then we ought to persist all the more. But let us see how, since he did not receive after asking often, he was disposed toward not receiving. For he was not only not grieved, but he even boasts, because he did not receive. For having said that “For this reason I thrice entreated the Lord,” and “He said to me: My grace is sufficient for you; for My power is perfected in weakness,” he added that “Most gladly, therefore, I will boast in my weaknesses.”
6. C Did you see the gratitude of the servant? He asked to be delivered from weakness, and God did not assent; and not only was Paul not grieved, but he even boasts in the weakness. Thus let us also prepare our own souls, and whether God gives or does not give the things we ask for, let us give thanks to God for both. For He does both for our benefit. If He is the Lord of giving, then also of when to give, and of what to give, and of not giving. You do not know what is beneficial, as He himself knows clearly. Often you ask for things that are harmful and dangerous; but He, caring more for your salvation, does not attend to the request, but prior to it keeps an eye on what is beneficial for you everywhere. For if fathers after the flesh do not provide everything their children ask, not because they despise them, but because they care for them most of all; how much more does God, both loving us more, and knowing what is beneficial better than all, do this? Let us therefore be at leisure for prayers continually, not only by day, but also by night. For hear what the prophet himself says: “At midnight I would rise to give thanks to You for the judgments of Your righteousness” (Ps. 118. 62). D A man being king, in so many cares, having been entrusted with the rule of peoples and cities and nations, concerning himself with peace, ending wars, seeing an unspeakable crowd of affairs always surrounding him, not even having a little to breathe, added not only the days but also the nights to his prayers. But if the king who lives in such luxury, who has such great cares, who is circled by so many affairs, did not rest even at night, but continued making prayers more accurately than the monks dwelling on the mountains, what excuse, tell me, shall we find, who live in great ease, and who have chosen a private and quiet life, and who not only sleep through all the nights, but do not even perform the customary prayers during the day with the requisite wakefulness? A great weapon is prayer, a great ornament is prayer, and a safe harbor, and a treasure of goods, and inviolable wealth. For when we need something from men, we need expenditure of money, and fawning servitude, and much going about and business. For it is not possible to converse with the lords themselves directly to grant the favor often, but it is necessary first to appease their servants and stewards, and deputies, both with money, and with words, and in every way, and then through them to be able to obtain the request; but in the case of God it is not so; nor is He besought through others as He is by us ourselves asking, and He assents to the favor. And here it is possible to gain whether receiving or not receiving; but in the case of men we have often been harmed in both respects. Since, therefore, the gain is greater and the ease is greater for those approaching God, let us not despise prayer. For then will He be most reconciled to you; then will He more give you what you ask, when you entreat through yourself, when...
conciliabitur, B then He will grant petitions more readily, when you have prayed by yourself, when you have applied a pure mind, a vigilant reason, and have not prayed perfunctorily—as many do, whose tongue utters the words of prayer, but whose mind often wanders at home, in the marketplace, or on the road. This, in truth, is the Devil’s entire machinery. For since he knows that at that time we are able to obtain remission of sins, wishing to obstruct for us the harbor of prayer, he rises up at that time, pushing and drawing the mind away from the words, so that we may depart having suffered loss rather than having gained profit. Knowing these things, O man, when you approach God, consider to whom you are approaching; and it is enough for your vigilance that you trust in Him from whom you expect grace. Look into heaven, and consider whom you are addressing. For if anyone, when speaking to a man who is elevated even by a little in human honors, even if he should be the most negligent of all men, still altogether arouses himself and commands his mind to be vigilant; how much more, if we consider that we are speaking with the Lord of the angels, shall we take from this a sufficient argument for attention? C But if another method must be revealed, by which we shall be able to dispel this sloth, I would say this: Often we have finished our prayer, and have departed without having heard the things we were saying. If, therefore, we consider this, let us immediately resume the prayer; if that same thing happens again, even three or four times let us repeat it, and not depart from prayer before we have uttered the whole of it with a vigilant mind. If the Devil senses this—namely, that we do not depart before we have uttered it with zeal and a vigilant spirit—he will at last depart from his ambushes, knowing that nothing further will come of his ambushes than that he forces us to repeat the same prayer often. Beloved, we receive many wounds daily from family, from strangers, in the marketplace, at home, from public matters, from private ones, from neighbors, from friends. Let us apply the remedies of prayer to all those wounds at the time of prayer. For God is able, if we have approached with a vigilant mind, with an ardent spirit, and a fervent conscience, and have asked for forgiveness, to grant us remission of all our offenses; which may we all obtain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
DUBIOUS WORKS.
MONITUM
D This homily was first published by Jean-Baptiste Cotelier in the year 1661, in 4°, p. 41, and it is of a slightly better quality than the other on the Sixth Psalm which Cotelier himself first published. I would scarcely believe, however, that it is the true offspring of Chrysostom; for that writer is too jejune, yet abounding in exclamations and interjections, and it smells of something foreign. Tillemont, though hesitatingly, kept it among the
WORDS OF THE SAME ON DAVID THE KING, AND PAUL THE APOSTLE, CONCERNING REPENTANCE: AND ON VARIOUS PARTS OF THE PSALTER WHICH PERTAIN TO THE END OF CHRIST: AND THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO DESPAIR OF OUR OWN SALVATION
Just now you heard the psalmist David crying out: 2. "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy; and according to the multitude of your mercies, blot out my iniquity" (Ps. 50). And again, 12. "Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit within my breast," David cries. But why does the prophet say, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy"? Because where there is mercy, there salvation is free from judgment; where there is mercy, judgment does not sit; where there is mercy, accounts are not demanded. I desire to obtain mercy once: deliver me from my infirmity. And why does David cry, "Create a clean heart in me, O God"? He who had performed so many illustrious deeds, who had raised trophies, who had slain Goliath, and had strangled a lion, and who possessed such great liberty of the Holy Spirit, he says: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy; and according to the multitude of your mercies, blot out my iniquity." When I was a farmer, you made me a king; having made me king, you appointed me a prophet; at the time of war you made me...