On the Righteous and Blessed Job

563 SPURIA. might be called, even as the prophets of old were called demoniacs. The prophet Elisha once sent his disciple, a prophet, with these words: "Go, and you will find Jehu the prince: lead him aside, and say to him: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I have anointed you king; and pour out the horn of oil upon him, and anoint him king." He approaches the prince. For at that time Jehu was not king, but a prince under a king. He says to him: "Come aside," and having led him away, he spoke to him these words, and anointed him from the horn: after he had anointed him, he fled and withdrew. The other princes say to Jehu: "Why did that madman come to you?" (4 Kings 9:11); as if they had said, "Why did this demoniac come? Why did that madman approach you?" Thus from the beginning prophets were treated with insults, and so were the apostles. "Why did that madman come to you?" He, fearing that if he spoke of the kingdom, it would be a danger to him (for since a king occupied the throne, it is not without danger that the kingdom is transferred to another), replied: "You know his chatter and his babbling" (Ibid.). He was assenting not to the judgment, but to the voice. "You know his chatter." Then they, understanding that the truth is never mocked, those who had mocked it, 564 hasten to learn the truth: "It is not fair," they said, "that this not be shared with us. You treat your friends with insult, you wickedly conceal that secret. If he is a madman, why do you seek the words of a madman? You act unjustly, Jehu, if you do not report it to us." Malice despises virtue, and anxiously pursues it. As they had condemned him as a demoniac, so they explored his words as if they were true. "Tell us what he revealed to you." "He led me aside, and poured upon me a horn of oil." Observe the power of truth, how the glory which was previously mocked drew them to its own adoration; how that prophet, the madman, became stronger than their laws. He says, "He led me aside, and poured upon me a horn of oil," and the princes shouted with a loud voice, "Long live the king!" Do you see how they simultaneously mocked the prophecy and wondered at it; condemned it and believed it? You called him a demoniac, and you call the one anointed by a demoniac, king? So neither for us, nor for our fathers, nor for our descendants is it appropriate to be astonished if it happens that we hear something insulting from heretics. Would that we were glorified for Christ, that we might be glorified with Christ, to whom is glory and power for ever. Amen.

MONITUM

ON THE JUST AND BLESSED JOB, FIRST SERMON

said to God: The woman whom thou gavest me, this one gave me, and I ate. ^A O apology that has no forgiveness! She said, Eat; I said, Do not eat. Why then did you listen to the woman and disobey God? But the blessed Job was not such. But how was he? With rebuke he said: You have spoken as one of the foolish women. There was a man in the land of Ausitis, whose name was Job. Why did he mention the land? For your sake, so that you might learn that the company of sinners cannot make the righteous man sin, but the resolution of those who are pious ought to keep the mind steady and firm. For this land of Arabia is a dwelling-place for base and corrupted men. All were lawless, all God-hated, all profane, all proud, and descendants of Esau, and abounding in sins; but so great a sea of impiety could not extinguish the lamp of piety; so great a land of evils could not choke the beautiful flower of endurance. ^B Whence the devil attempted to approach him/her. Why? Because he saw him abounding in alms more than in riches. For hear him speaking truthfully: I was an eye for the blind, and a foot for the lame; and again, I wept for every one who was helpless, and I groaned seeing a man in straits. And he was not only abounding through words, but also through deeds, a whole treasury of beneficence being found for those in need. For what does he say elsewhere? If any one in need departed from my house with an empty bosom; the mouth of the widow blessed me; from the shearing of my sheep they were warmed; I was a father to the poor. So it is clear that he was wealthy through everything, a whole treasury, both through words, and through deeds, and through almsgiving, and through the protection of the poor, and through the helping of those in need. ^C But see what the devil does. He snatches away all his belongings from him first, and takes the children last. He took first the herds of camels, he took the flocks of sheep, the great number of donkeys, the biggest herd of oxen; he took everything away, and the children last. Why? Attend henceforth with all accuracy. He took first all his belongings, then the children. He took the hereditary things, then he destroyed the heirs, so that he might strike him in every way, even through the children. He began first to destroy the property, he began first to snatch the hereditary things while the heirs were alive, so that with the sons and daughters standing, he might take the righteous man with a sharp blow of dejection through the loss of the possessions. For the wicked demon was thinking, lest, the children being destroyed beforehand, he might not come to a sense of the loss of the possessions. But the truly adamant and noble athlete, the one beaten much, and crowned through all, the one receiving many arrows, and through these very arrows knocking down the devil, the one armed through the weapons of righteousness on the right and on the left, did not labor, did not weep, did not waver, but neither was he bent toward the loss of the possessions, nor was his piety plundered by the death of the children, but he remained like an unshakable tower, rooted and founded below upon the earth, and secured up to the very arches of the heavens. ^D The first messenger came, and says to Job: The pairs of oxen were plowing, and the marauders came, and captured them, and killed the servants with swords. While he was still speaking, another messenger came, and says to Job: Fire fell from heaven and burned up your sheep, and consumed the shepherds likewise.

2. See what the devil does. Since he saw him standing nobly at the first and second blow, and not at all wavering from his torments, being warred against, and not being wounded, he contrives something of this sort: He casts fire from the air, so that the fire might seem to be sent down from heaven, and so that, thinking that God was warring against him from the heavens, he might blaspheme God, who was warring against him unjustly, without any sin. Fire, he says, fell from heaven, and consumed your sheep and the shepherds. While he was still speaking, another messenger came, and said to Job: 566 The cavalry made three battalions, and surrounded the camels, and captured them, and killed the servants with swords. But even in all these things the blessed Job remained, like an unshakable pillar, like an immovable tower, like an invincible boxer/athlete, unbending, unyielding, striking rather than being struck. For when someone labors in vain, warring much, and benefiting nothing, often fighting, and not at all prevailing, he himself is rather the one receiving the lashes for his own vain labors. While he was still speaking, another messenger came. Continous is the war, but vain for the one laboring; denser the arrows, but more splendid the prizes. He does not allow him even for an hour to breathe, so that he might not plot some wise thing according to the innate piety of the wrestler. He sent all the arrows, and did not defeat the athlete; he emptied his quiver, and he was not emptied of the pain. Let those who act lawlessly in vain be ashamed. Since therefore that man also turned away humbled, ^B ashamed, he who wrestled much, and through all was defeated. For he sent against the shepherds, against the herds of oxen, against the sheep, against the camels, against the sons, against the daughters, against the house, against the body, through friends, through servants, through the worms, through the sores. He emptied everything, and did not dissolve the piety. He dug through the wall, and did not empty the treasury. As many swords as the tyrant of the world had, he moved, through fire, through blades, through earth, through captivity, through blood. He stretched everything, and made the athlete only the more courageous. For which reason also the prophet was crying out saying: The swords of the enemy have failed to the end (Ps. 9. 7). And perhaps he also speaks to him: It is hard for you to kick against the pricks (Act. 9. 5). He took all the money, the possessions, the property. And what the last messenger? As your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking in the house of their elder brother, suddenly a wind came from the desert, and touched the four corners of the house, and the house fell upon your children and they died. And that you may learn, beloved, that it was not a human being relating these things to Job, but it was the devil himself fashioned in the form of a man, learn with all accuracy: As your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking at the house of their elder brother, suddenly a wind came from the desert, and touched the four corners of the house, and the house fell upon your children, and they died. From where do you know, tell me, that it came from the desert, and touched the four corners of the house? You are a man, and how did you see the wind? With what eyes did you view it? How then did the wind also touch the four corners? If you are a man, and were inside the house, in any case the house was enclosing you too; but if you were outside, how did you see the things happening inside? But if you are a spirit, show who you are, do not be fashioned into the form of a man. As your sons, he says, and your daughters were eating and drinking at the house of their elder brother. See how the blessed Job was filled with all understanding and wisdom, and how he was securing the friendship of the children. For he reasoned that Cain and Abel were two brothers, being alone in the world, having no occasion for war; for the whole earth lay commonly in the authority of both; and so through envy of the honor of Abel, Cain arose and murdered his brother. For this reason the blessed Job was offering a sacrifice to God every day for the uncertain things, rising up in the morning and saying: Lest my sons have thought evil in their heart toward God; but regarding the things happening to them, whether into a word, or into a quarrel, he was causing them every day to eat with one another, mindful that if they should have any pettiness toward one another, the table and the disposition of the bread causes them to be transformed into friendship, and the evil that has fallen upon them to be exiled, knowing that through the constant table all the base things that have befallen them are dissolved. But the hater-of-good, the devil, was watching at such a time to destroy the children who had committed nothing; at the time of midday.

^C Such was the friendship, such the sword he whetted; such the love he built up, and such the house he overturned. And it came to pass at that hour, the grave was both table and wreckage, shepherd and ship, a fold and a common ruin, and everything was destroyed. Who is this noble one? What endurance, what patience? What speech is sufficient to praise this, or what tongue equal to such a narrative? O noble and blessed soul! ^D I am confounded, beloved, my soul is troubled, and my conscience is disturbed as I behold him being crowned. But my soul is confounded rather, as I, seeing the crown and observing his struggle, at a time when he could not bear the tragedy of his children's deaths, yet I behold him. My soul is confounded, and I think you are also unsettled. How I can express such a tragedy, I do not know, even if I have the crown of praise on my tongue. Parents according to the flesh, when they have a son giving his last breath, they themselves sit by, they receive his final words, they clasp his hands, they make arrangements for matters unexpected, they kiss his mouth with the final kiss of parents. After this, when the son has breathed his last, by the command of Him who gave him, the parents compose him, they extend his hands, they close his eyes, they arrange his head, they extend his feet, they wash him, they dress him in worthy funeral shrouds, and they console their own calamity. But what is like this noble athlete? He went away to a house which at one and the same hour became both house and grave, feast and tomb, banquet and mourning. He went about and looked for the members of his children, and he found wine and blood, bread and a hand, an eye and dust. And he received, now a hand, now a foot, then the head with the rubble, the stones and the wood: now a part of the belly, then of the entrails, the viscera mixed with the wall. But the athlete was sitting, rising in virtue even to heaven, seeing the dispersed members of his children. He was sitting, fitting member to member, hand to arm, head to chest, knee to thigh. For it was no vulgar calamity, but a change of fortune exceeding all speech through the operation and tyranny of the devil. The blessed Job was sitting, then, a true firm diamond, discerning the members of his children, taking care not to join female members to masculine ones, not to fit a virile form to female members. O noble soul, exceeding the praises of angels! Why? Because in all these things which befell him, Job sinned in nothing in the sight of the Lord. But for all these things, he offered a perfect thanksgiving in place of sacrifice to God, saying: *The name of the Lord be blessed* (Job 1:21), now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

On the Just and Blessed Job, Second Discourse

^A The great things of great matters require a great narrative, and the history of the just requires a brilliant tongue and mind; a mind contemplating the divine Scriptures sincerely, a tongue interpreting divine things, and this especially in the present discourse concerning the labors of the blessed Job, whose fame has traveled the whole world, and who sets forth a brilliant example of patience. However, even if the subject exceeds our weakness, I know well that the grace of God will provide the word for us, not because of the dignity of the speaker, but because of the intercession of the fathers. But let us come to the narrative of the matter. *There was a man in the land of Ausitis* (Job 1:1). It is worth the labor to examine first what is the force of this exordium, and why the writer of the history made his beginning from this statement, *There was a man*. Because he was about to narrate a life distinguished by virtue, which would far surpass our way of life, lest anyone, looking at the sublimity of the struggles, should think that it was some strange nature, and not human, he first declares the nature, so that you might admire the purpose—that indeed, being a man, he undertook a practice exceeding men, and being instructed by the nature common to all, he made his soul superior to the whole world. *There was a man in the land of Ausitis*. He proclaims him by his nature, he proclaims him also by his region, so that, just as when you hear of the man himself, you marvel that he lived above a man, so also if you learn the region from where such a fruit has sprung, you will marvel in reality what kind of rose has bloomed in the midst of thorns. Apply your mind diligently. The region of Ausitis was Esau’s: for from Esau came Ausitis. But he names the region of the profane and wicked Esau, as the Apostle says, *Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau* (Hebr. 12:16), so that you might marvel from what kind of snares of wickedness such a fruit of truth has blossomed. But not only did the region of Esau bear him, but even his root was Esau: for he was the great-grandson of that profane man. For the Scripture says that Job is the fifth from Abraham. But in what way, hear. Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac [begat] Esau, Esau [begat] Raguel, Raguel [begat] Zara, Zara [begat] Job (Gen. 36:33). He had therefore the succession from Abraham through Esau, from whom he drew his origin. He shows, therefore, the root, so that you might marvel at the fruit. Who, however, was Esau? A fornicator and profane person. ^B Who was Job? From a fornicator, yet this very man was temperate and admirable, whose deeds we have undertaken to relate; who says: *If my eye has followed another woman, may my wife be pleasing to another man* (Job 31:9-10). Esau associated with many women, boiling over with an insatiable luxury: Job had morals as the law of life, and he was so far from curiously inquiring after a strange form; and he so abhorred fornication and adultery, that he would not look at women not yet betrothed, that is, unmarried virgins, to use a clearer expression. He was so far from preparing snares for strange beds, that he would not look even upon an unmarried virgin, in whom there was no danger, with his eyes for the sake of lust. Who testifies to this? Job himself: *I made*, he says, *a covenant with my eyes, so that I would not even think about a virgin* (Job 31:1). He shows that he has brought the study of piety to such a point. He keeps his eye for piety, he composes his members for justice, and although he draws his origin from a fornicator, he was brilliant in greatest chastity. Esau was a fratricide, as far as the purpose went: for even if the act did not result, yet he is accused because of his purpose. For he says: *Esau said in his heart: The days of mourning for my father draw near, and I will kill my brother Jacob* (Gen. 27:41). The root, therefore, was a fratricide: but he who flourished from the root, a victor and athlete of justice. That one waged war against nature, and was leading his own brother as a stranger; this one held even strangers as his own brothers, who said: *I was as a father to orphans, and in the place of a husband to their mother. A judgment which I did not know, I searched out, and I restrained the unrighteous* (Job 29:16, 12). And this man, who draws his origin from Esau, who was making things of others his own, deems all things of others as his own. Esau was considering in his mind to kill Jacob; but Job was offering sacrifices for his children, thinking whether they had sinned in their minds. For because that one was contriving murder in his mind, this great and noble athlete, fearing lest these also might receive the virus of sin into their minds, was offering a sacrifice and one calf for their sins. For Job was saying: *Lest perhaps my children have thought evil against God* (Job 1:5). Consider into what an extent he came to the study of the forming of morals. What does he do? Because his ancestors quarreled with one another, namely Esau and Jacob, not that Jacob was the cause of the iniquity, but that Esau first approached malice, he takes care that the greater discord be resolved by the fellowship of the table, and he takes care that his children eat together daily, so that the accustomed table might resolve the virus of malice. The children of Job were visiting one another, instituted for concord from their earliest age, caring for peace, prepared for mutual consent, and they were all eating and drinking together. But they were summoning, he says, their three sisters to be part of the feast and the banquet (Job 1:4). What utility is there for the auditor from this? And why did he add the banquet of the sisters? So that it might be shown with what chastity they were banqueting: that there had been no place there for effusive laughter or guffaws, or the immodesty that would be a disgrace to the table. Therefore he introduces the virgins banqueting, so that he might show the manner of the table, not dishonored by drunkenness, but crowned by concord. *There was a man in the land of Ausitis* (Job 1:1); a dove in the midst of hawks, a sheep in the midst of wolves, a star in the midst of clouds, a lily in the midst of thorns, a sprout of justice in a village of iniquity. *And that man was irreproachable*. ^D You are accustomed to inquire: What is a man? A man is, he says, a rational, mortal animal. Thus it pleases philosophers to define: but Scripture does not give such definitions; but what? A man irreproachable, just, truthful. If anyone asks you, and demands a definition: what is a man? tell him, Irreproachable, just, truthful, abstaining from every evil thing: so that he who does not have witness concerning such duties, he is not truly a man. For even if he bears the form of nature, if he dishonors it with the iniquity of his purpose, he hears from the prophet: *A man who was in honor did not understand; he is compared to senseless beasts, and is made like them* (Ps. 48:13). *And that man was irreproachable*. No small praise of this kind. Examine the saying, and you will marvel at the purpose. There is a difference between an accusation and a reproof: for an accusation is about...

brought to bear on the weightiest of sins, whereas a reproof happens in the case of the lightest faults. The author, therefore, wished to show that the righteous man stood far removed not only from accusations but also from reproofs. No one brought an accusation against him for having committed something great, just as no one reproved him for having done something small. This is a great proof that he whose life is in the middle is immune from accusation; for if you have nothing to accuse him of concerning adultery or murders, such a person is immune from accusation; but he to whom you bring reproofs of insolence, slander, railing, or drunkenness, such a person is indeed free of accusations, but runs under a reproof. He therefore wished to show that he was far removed even from small and very slight faults, and he says: *He was blameless, righteous, truthful, fearing God, abstainant from every ^A evil thing.* Whence God also, wishing to show Abraham that the first thing with respect to virtue is to be blameless, says to him: *But you, walk before me, and be blameless.* The term "blameless" is understood as reaching the extremity of manners.

But the Apostle Paul, since he had to deal with the nations, who had been detached from polytheism, gathered together from wickedness, assembled from fornication and adultery, did not add the pinnacle of virtue, but as he came into an inhabited world filled with fornication and adultery, he wished to appoint shepherds for the world—since at that time the good things of virtue were scarce—and when ordaining bishops, he says to Titus: *Appoint bishops, as I directed you, if anyone is blameless.* ^B The term "blameless" did not have a place then, because, as I said before, the things of piety were still scarce. "Blameless" is great, while "immune from accusation" is in the middle; but even a small good is great in the midst of evils. For this reason he said: *The husband of one wife.* Not because this is kept now in the Church—for it is necessary for the priest to be crowned with complete purity and holiness—but because then, in the face of those living in fornication, it was a great thing, he says: *Appoint bishops, as I directed you, if anyone is immune from accusation, the husband of one wife;* not because he enacted this as a law, but because he sympathized with the deception. For he knew that with the word of piety flourishing, nature itself would have the good as something easily chosen, and the choice of the better would come about.

*Blameless, righteous.* Therefore, it is not possible to become righteous without first having become blameless. *Truthful.* What does "truthful" mean? He who does not put on a guise, having a different state; he who does not feign temperance while being clothed in unrestraint; he who does not show justice in his appearance, while bearing injustice in his heart. This man is truthful, and immediately he is one who fears God. For when there is the blameless, when there is the righteous, when there is the truthful, then true piety is completed. *Abstaining from every evil thing.* Since many abstain from many sins, but do not abstain from all, wishing to posit again the pinnacle of virtue, he says: *abstainant from every evil thing.* Whence also David says: *You who love the Lord, hate evil* (Ps. XCVI, 10). For it is not possible both to fear God and to do evil.

He also sets out his possessions, that he had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses. Why does he set these out? ^C Not because he admires the wealth of Job, but leaving to you, the listener, the multitude of the substance, so that when you see him afterwards stripped of his possessions, and not groaning, you may marvel that, being deprived of so many good things, he does not reject the Benefactor, does not insult the Creator. These things, therefore, were written not so that you might admire the wealth, but that you might praise the endurance and patience of the righteous man, and always have the fear of God before your eyes. The sequence will store the contemplation for another time. For the devil, brothers, because he saw him being rich with this temporary wealth, and from this temporary wealth storing up the eternal wealth, he considered that just as righteousness was enriched along with him while he was rich, so also virtue would become poor along with him while he was poor. He attempts, therefore, to strip him of his money, that he might strip him also of his advantages.

But here let those who say "Was Job not rich? Was Abraham not rich? Why then do you propose poverty to us?" attend carefully. I also will say to you: Be rich according to Job, and I pray for you to acquire more; be as Abraham, and all the earth will pray for wealth for you. Say also yourself, as Job: *My door was open to every afflicted person;* say: *I warmed the shoulders of the poor;* say: *From the shearing of my sheep the shoulders of the poor were warmed;* say: *And the mouth of the widow blessed me;* and be rich with the wealth that you desire. For you will be found not getting rich for yourself, but managing for the poor. For *my door*, he says, *was open to every afflicted person.* Imitate the extremity of this love of the poor; clothe yourself in the zeal of patience; play the man against the adversaries and think the same things. But these things are so far. May it be that we, having the zeal and the patience resonant, have also the sequence of what is left, and that you demand from us what is left, and we pay you the order of the contemplations. And may it be for us to genuinely celebrate the feast, and having shared in the sufferings of the saints, to share also in the suffering of Christ. For truly, brothers, the passions of the saints justly shone forth before the passion of Christ. For the passions of the righteous shone forth like lightning, so that afterwards Christ might appear, as Paul says, he who suffers with all, and is glorified with all (Rom. 8.17). Therefore, with the prayers and intercessions of the holy Fathers, and having followed those things that have been said, and expecting what is left, let us offer up glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

On the just and blessed Job, Sermon III

1. Come, let us also take hold of the subject, and you of the hearing; and let us all become partakers of the evening sequence of Job, and with faith let us present ourselves to the word of patience. For it would be absurd for Job, sitting upon a dunghill, not to have grown numb toward piety, while we, dancing in the church, are sluggish toward the truth; and for him, surrounded by myriad lamentations for his own calamity, not to have had his soul broken, while we, being sung to by hymns and spiritual odes and divine Scriptures, betray our zeal through sloth. Job, being eaten by worms in his body, kept the soul unwounded toward piety; those worms did not conquer him, and shall sweat prevail against us? Let us also become men, man according to the definition given beforehand. For what characterizes man is the blameless, the righteous, the truthful, the god-fearing. And as in common usage, ^D when someone sends his own servant or son for some task, he exhorts them, saying: "As a man, take hold of this task," and makes the common name a unique miracle, so even if all are called men, only that one is a true man who guards the image and does not cause the original beauty to vanish. He called him a man, so that you might praise the intent from the common nature. He spoke of him as being from the land of Ausitis, so that you might praise the fruit from the land teeming with impiety. He spoke of his possessions, so that you might admire the advantages. He spoke of his wealth, not so that you might praise the abundance, but that you might marvel at him when stripped of all. For he was stripped of all, and he did not strip himself of piety, but was like a city being besieged, stripped of all things from without, but with the wall alone...

^A kept intact. He was stripped of children, and he did not lose the fruits of piety; indeed, he had three daughters and three sons in the flesh, and three virtues according to the spirit: faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. He was stripped of all things, and he did not deny the Creator of nature, for he did not reject the succession of comfort, for God is the cultivator of the root. Nor did he doubt that there is an eternity for the cultivator of the root. He was stripped of flocks, and he himself was being guarded by God; he was stripped of oxen, and the yoke of the oxen was taken away, but the yoke of the soul and the body was rent asunder, yet the flesh and the soul, joined in harmony, drew the plow of piety. In this manner, he accepted the fruits of virtue, so that he might increase the fruits of patience. He had three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen. I think, however, that he possessed little, for what he did possess, he gave to each poor person, as he himself says: "I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame" (Job 29:15). But his resources were not enough for such a purpose; the expense of hospitality was greater than the abundance of his income. Job was poor, and could not suffice for such readiness, and though he was rich in possessions, he was poor in relation to the capacity of his intention. "And there were," he says, "great works to him upon the earth" (Job 1:3). What are these? A love for the poor, hospitality, extreme humility, incomparable alms, and all that leads to virtue. Truly, he flourished thus, not so much with temporal riches as with piety. But someone, perhaps, a wise man, embracing the common meaning, thinks the great works are vineyards, olive groves, acres of seeds, and such like. Truly, they were great works for him upon the earth, while he flourished with heavenly riches. The devil, however, as I said yesterday, that wicked one, suspecting him—just as he flourished with riches, he was rich in virtue—that when he was reduced to poverty, he would be poor in virtue, strips him of his means, so that he might strip him of the excellence of his virtues, and asks of God to be allowed to tempt him; from this you may have confidence, and know that the devil has no power against a Christian, nor against a man who fears God, unless it be permitted to him from heaven, whether for chastisement or on account of the concession of pardon. For when God brings correction, He either demands the penalties for sins, or exercises virtue towards the fulfilling of divine works. The devil, therefore, could not attack Job until it was permitted to him by God. And do not wonder, beloved, if he had no power against Job until he had received leave. For he has no power even against swine. Hear how the Legion begged him, saying: "If you cast us out, permit us to depart into the swine" (Mt. 8:31; Mk. 5:12). If he could do nothing against swine without permission, how should he have power, without being ordered, against those who are made according to the image of God? "There came," he says, "the day when the angels of God came to stand before the Lord, and the devil stood in the midst of them" (Job 1:6). Does the devil, then, stand with the angelic ministry, and is the unclean spirit present in the midst of the holy spirits? But neither did the holy angels stand before God bodily, nor did Satan likewise bodily, but every ministry is called a standing. For just as Elijah, dwelling on earth, was said to stand before God, as he says: "The Lord lives, in whose sight I stand today" (3 Kg. 17:1), not that he stood while ascending to heaven, but because he ministered by God’s command: so the devil stood, not in a heavenly place, nor with the supersensible powers, but as a creature of God is ordered to do what is proper to him; but in what manner, hear. Do not, taking up my saying, say: "Did God use the devil as a minister?" Just as in military forces there are manifest soldiers who minister for honors, and there are also truly soldiers who are set apart for punishments, so also for good ministries, and for the dispensation of men, the holy angels are sent; but to take punishments from wicked men, demons are sent; but in what way, hear. When Paul remembers the holy angels, he says: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent for ministry because of those who are to inherit salvation?" (Heb. 1:14). Wherefore it is plain that the holy angels minister unto the salvation of men, but sharp demons unto the taking of punishments from sinners. For He sent, says David, "into Egypt indignation, and wrath, and tribulation, an imposition by evil angels" (Ps. 77:49). ^B they fail, yet they lie under the yoke of servitude, and are ordered as executioners to fulfill commands. And do not wonder if God commands demons. The apostles use the devil as an executioner. Paul says: "Since some have lapsed from the faith, I have delivered these to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme" (1 Tim. 1:19-20). And again, concerning one who had fornicated and was subject to punishment, what does Paul himself say? "When you are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus, I judge him who has done this so, to deliver to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord" (1 Cor. 5:4-5). For lest the demons think they exercise tyranny against divine authority, they are ordered, even against their will, to execute the tasks given to them, not indeed things auspicious and joyful, but things that look to punishments. Have you not seen princes among us, when they order some to be summoned with honor, how they send couriers—as they say in Latin; but when they summon others with infamy, they send out sharp and harsh soldiers? So also God sends to the holy ones ministering angels for salvation; but when He wishes to exact punishment, He commands demons. Therefore, when God was bringing forth judgment against Achaab, He said: "Who will go and deceive Achaab, and he will fall?" (3 Kg. 22:20). And the evil spirit answered: "Behold, I." For the devil knew that he had been deputed for this. Demons, therefore (forgive me, I beseech you; for I speak of invisible things, not sensible: but I would not have dared to speak of such things from the beginning, had I not received the occasion from the Holy Scripture: for it is not of the human mind to separate the invisible from the sensible; but because it is not permitted to gainsay those things which God has said, let us follow what is written, whether we will or no); the worst demons, then, are sent strictly to exact punishments from the wicked: they are sent also to the just, not that they may punish, but that they may tempt. Because a holy angel is not ordered to minister to temptation (for God does not command an angel what is unworthy of him), for this reason this temptation is permitted to demons. And do not wonder if demons are sent to the just; for the Lord of all was led at one time from the Jordan into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. If, therefore, the devil tempted the Lord and Savior of all, why do you wonder if a demon is sent against a just man for the exercise of patience? He is sent, furthermore, not by God’s ordering, but by His permitting. The Scripture, however, composes the discourse as if by prosopopoeia. For neither does a voice from God proceed toward an evil demon, nor does that treacherous presumption deserve such a thing. For the nature is good, yet the purpose is evil, and the devil is not worthy of that immaculate voice. But if you reply with that, "The Lord said to the devil" (Job 1:7), I will say to you that of David, "But to the sinner God said, Why do you recount my justices?" (Ps. 49:16). Did He break forth into a voice sent to the sinner? By no means: but while He speaks, through the things themselves He speaks to the unworthy. "The Lord commanded the whale" (Jon. 2:1). Did He emit a voice, or did He bring forth a certain command? "God commanded the morning worm" (Jon. 4:7). Thus, if by a certain figure it is said that God spoke to the devil, do not bring this dishonored purpose of the devil as if with the honor of a peer into the sight of the Lord. But the angels stand according to the order assigned to them; the devil, however, approaches and stands in the midst of the angels, so that you may learn that he had received an angelic nature, but had showed a traitor’s purpose. For "devil," brothers, is not a name of nature, but of purpose. Why "devil"? For he was not created a devil from the beginning, but was created an angel; furthermore, he was called a devil, or calumniator, because he calumniates God to men, and man to God; and as one who sets the Lord against the servant, and the servant against the Lord. For when the devil suggests to us and says: "How many evils in the world? Where is God? Why does He not moderate things?" he calumniates the Creator to us; for this was his business from the beginning. He calumniates God to Adam, saying: "God knew that on whatever day you eat from the tree, you will be as gods" (Gen. 3:5). "Envious," he says, "God willed that you should not eat." There he calumniates God to Adam; here, Job to God: "Does Job worship God for nothing?" (Job 1:9)? That is, he does this for the hope of a reward, not from virtue; he pays you a reward for benefit; take away his money, and his purpose is laid bare. ^C

^A Since God saw the righteous man being insulted by that suspicion, he removes his possessions, so that he might remove the suspicion and show his piety naked. And look at the intention of the wicked demon. The Lord, he says, said to the devil: "Whence have you come?" Then the proud and arrogant one, knowing neither his own rank nor the worthiness of the one questioning, says: "Having gone around the earth and walked about under the heaven, I am here," as if he were shouting and wishing to show that he holds power over what is under heaven, and that all earthly things are trodden by him, and that he has all men under his feet. "Having gone around the earth," he said, "and walked about under the heaven, I am here." The arrogance of the devil is cutshort. For since he thought he held power over the image of God, he is cast out of the earth so as to walk about no longer; and the Master of all banishes him. For he himself is the one who promised: "I will dwell in them, and walk about, and I will be their God."

^B The devil used to walk about in the beginning. For when idolatry was poured out, when impiety held sway, when all matters of wickedness were flourishing, the devil walked about; but when holiness, justice, and truth are with those who keep the truth, God dwells and walks about. "Have you then set your mind," he says, "on my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, blameless, just, truthful, refraining from every evil?" Because he had said, "I have gone around everything under the heaven," and was boasting as if he ruled over all, the word of truth relaxes his arrogance and says to him: "Have you seen the man who was not trodden by you, since you hold power over all, as you said? Have you seen the one who has mastered all your wickedness? Have you seen the one who has trodden on you, who treads on all? Have you seen the one who has dissolved your tyranny and dissolved injustice with justice, and impiety with piety?" But he resists God and says: "He does not worship for nothing." He added the possessions so that he might insult his manner of life, so that he might insult his character also, and that by his suspicions he might show his virtue to be counterfeit. "You have given him," he says, "abundance; take away the abundance, and his hypocrisy is laid bare." God says to him: "Touch all that he has." For God knew that he has an insatiable intention toward covetousness; and he says: "Behold, I give you power over all, but do not touch him." He limits the wickedness of the devil with boundaries. Look, then, what a bow he draws against the righteous man, what arrows he sends. He went out, and first the worker of evils himself is fashioned, having himself presented himself as an angel of evils; he himself struck the livestock, and he himself reports the blow. For the devil said to Job: "The yokes of your oxen were plowing, and the female donkeys were grazing, and the captors came and slaughtered your servants, and I alone was left, and I came to report it to you."

The first trial of the devil, the first arrow against the noble athlete. But Job opposed the shield of faith, which is able to quench all the fiery arrows of the wicked one. The yokes of oxen perished, and his soul was not divided. The donkeys perished, and the noble youth did not deny the bridle of piety. He saw the bitter news of the destruction of his possessions, and he remained like a safe and unconquerable tower. The devil, being bitter in wickedness and bitter in his intention, regretted having reported it in this way. And pay close attention, I beg you, lest the meaning of the Wicked One escape you, which the Apostle also, having observed precisely, says: "For we are not ignorant of his intent" (2 Cor. 2:11). As, therefore, he reported to him that the yokes of oxen were plowing, and the female donkeys were grazing, and the captors came, and he saw Job bearing the news with a noble soul, he regretted that he had reported it poorly, and the devil almost said to himself: "I have reported poorly, having said to him that men warred against him; he can reason that, if men warred and wronged me, what is that to God?" I have "shot poorly," he says, "I missed the target, I failed in the archery, the arrows were led astray." I said that men took them captive; he can say: "Why then shall I ascribe the injustice of men to God? The ones who wronged me are others, and another will be the one insulted?" In order, therefore, that he might transfer his mind from men to God, and show him not men causing harm, but God warring, he says to him: "Fire fell from heaven." Can you say that enemies threw it from above? Insult the one who wronged you, blaspheme the one who warred against you. "Fire fell from heaven." Why do you serve the one who wronged you, why do you worship the one who consumes your possessions? "Fire fell from heaven."

Job heard, and again he bore it nobly. For that patience of his was truly patience, extended until the end, concerning which the Savior says: "But the one having endured until the end, this one will be saved" (Matt. 10:22). "Fire fell from heaven." Daily he labored offering sacrifices on behalf of his children; what he labored offering daily, God gathered and took as a sacrifice. "Fire fell from heaven." If I alone were clothed, I would justly grieve; but if the poor were clothed, ^C is the Master not able to care for the poor? I know that what he took for a sacrifice, he gives back fivefold. For were the possessions gathered from injustice? Did I acquire the sheep from covetousness? From the shearing of my sheep the shoulders of the poor were warmed, and the mouth of the widow blessed me. God knows what he is doing. Now he took my substance as a sacrifice; but he multiplies my essence for an increase of virtue. The outward arrows do not shake me, as I am fortified within; rather, the arrows of God steady me more from within. For the "arrows of the mighty are sharpened" (Ps. 119:4), concerning which David said that "your arrows are fixed in me" (Ps. 37:5). What arrows? An arrow of piety, an arrow of justice, an arrow of longing for God, an arrow of zeal for virtue; with these divine arrows the soul is wounded. As, therefore, the devil, having brought every trial, and having stripped him of his possessions, did not strip him of his virtue, he proceeds then to his nature, and violates the cultivation of nature, and tears the branches from the root, and crushes the children of the good athlete; he removes the fruit, so that he might grieve the father. And what does he do? Look also at the report of the Wicked One, how it is full of irony, and remaining for magic, and able to break the soul of the noble one. He says, therefore, to him: "While your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking in the house of your eldest son, a great wind came from the desert, and shook the house, and it fell upon your children, and they died." And the word is diminutive, able to raise mourning. He did not say, "Upon your children" (tekna), but, "Upon your little ones" (paidia), so that, having heard of the children, he might come to pity, so that he might be bent toward compassion. "A great wind came from the desert." Again he insults the judge, for wind does not listen to men, but to God. "It fell upon your children, and they died." Then Job arose; for so it is written. ^D I praise the "arose"; for he did not fall by the blow, but arose by the power of piety; he arose and worshipped. The reward of calamities is the worship. Being struck, he blessed; being hit by calamities, he gave thanks. And he sheared his hair. Now, among us who are mourning, many grow hair, but he removed it. Why? For the one mourning, the goal is to shift the situation into the opposite state. Where, then, hair is honored, it is a sign of mourning not to shear it. For everywhere the opposite state is sought by those who mourn. And he tore his garments; in form being dragged toward the passion, but in reality stripping himself toward virtue. He strips off the garment, so that as a naked athlete he may grapple with the opponent, and from an undeniable struggle may award the prize of justice. The one clothed in justice stripped off his garment; and the great luminary says...

^A “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it came to pass; blessed be the name of the Lord for ever” (Job 1:21). O noble soul! This is the voice that was raised against the devil; this is the voice that was cast as a weapon against the demons; this is the voice that put the opposing ranks to flight. “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return” (Job 1:21). The apostolic voice preceding the apostolic times, and showing bravery. “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall a return.” It is the same thought that he brought into the world—plainly, that we are able to bring nothing out. “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.”

^B 4. Everything was stripped away, that I may summarize, and there was no snare left, save for the ancient instrument of the devil. The wife was left, and he did not spare the devil, but rather armed himself against the weapon-wielder. For because he knew that through a woman humanity was first betrayed, he maintained the woman for this reason, that he might use her as a similar means against the one who had already been tried. But there he does not find Adam, and there he does not find the woman who would be persuaded; but here, he finds the woman, but not Adam. The wife says to him: “How long wilt thou hold out?” (Job 2:9). Verily, these are the devil’s words. For that “How long?” was the voice of one being tormented. “I am tormented, and you say, ‘How long?’ I am struck, and you grow sluggish at the wounds of the one being struck. How long do you sit waiting from day to day for salvation?” Reluctantly, the devil celebrates the virtue of the just man; he proclaims his patience, because he struggled with hope. “How long?” Here see the wisdom of the writer. “And looking upon her, he said,” says the text, Job answered (Job 2:10). He did not say, “Attending to her,” but “Looking upon her.” Looking upon her, why? Was he ignorant of his own wife? Had he not lived with her? Had he not received children from her? Why then did he look upon her? The word, “he looked upon her,” declares that he saw not her, but the one who was within her. Job was looking back at the devil; he knew who it was that had spoken in the serpent, and who now was speaking in the woman, and he says: “Thou hast spoken as one of the foolish women” (Job 2:10). Why did he not say, “As one of the impious,” as “one of the atheists”? He knew she was not impious, but carried away by foolishness. Otherwise, indeed, brothers, to the one who has denied God, the name of foolish is given. For, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Ps. 13:1). “As one of the foolish women”: as if one were to say, “You have spoken like Eve.” “If we have received good at the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil?” (Job 2:10). O courageous soul! Here explore for me his mind. Job did not know that he was contending for virtue: he did not know that he was being crowned for his patience: but he merely considered the calamity to be sent from God, and he thought that they were evils, and yet he did not blaspheme because of the evils that were sent. But if he contended in such a way while he thought they were evils, if he had known of the crown, would he not have contended much more? But why did God not warn him beforehand, saying, “See what you are about to do. It is going to happen that the devil will draw up his line of battle against you, and will take up arms against you: contend, act courageously, lest he overturn your mind, lest he snatch away your thoughts, lest he besiege your soul: be strengthened, and do not think it alien for God to announce the contest to an athlete.” For to Peter the Lord says: “Peter, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat” (Luke 22:31). He announces the temptations to the Apostles; but to Job he does not foretell the temptations and contests. Is there injustice with God? Not at all (Rom. 9:14). For to these he gives heart, but those he leaves. Why does he not foretell it to him, as to the Apostles? God knew the devil’s craftiness, he knew his envy, he knew the cunning by which he could dull virtue. If God had said to him, “Attend to yourself, and contend; if you sustain unto the end, I will restore to you doubled faculties, you will inherit the kingdom of heaven, you will receive the crowns of immortality, the whole world will be full of your praises”: if he had said this, the just man would surely have contended; but the devil would have seized the opportunity from this and, if he had conquered while contending in such a way, he would have said to God, “Did he contend for free? You promised him immortality, you promised him a kingdom, you promised him crowns.” If, therefore, when he had received the fruit of temporal things, he was called into suspicion not as a just man, but as a hireling: if he had received the promise of eternal goods, would not the devil have seized the opportunity much more from this? But he hides the crowns, that he may show the contests: he hides the prize, that he may show the athlete. Why, you will say, did he not hide it even from the Apostles? For if he did not foretell it to Job for this reason, why did he not conceal the reward from the Apostles in the same way? Job was contending alone, was laboring for himself, was fighting for himself: but the Apostles were heralds of the earth and teachers of the world. To them, certainly, he could have hidden it, but it would have been a detriment to the world. Paul could have contended without the promise of crowns; Peter could have acted manfully without a promise; the Apostles could have fought for virtue without having received a promise of goods: but Paul is not everywhere, Peter is not everywhere; the souls of many are weak, the minds of many waver. ^C For if today, after the kingdom has been promised, and the possession of future goods, and the fellowship of angels, and the delight of paradise, many despise what is promised, gaping after present things: if there had been silence about them entirely, who would hasten to piety? Rightly, therefore, brothers, he does not show the future to Job, that he may exhibit the intention of that man; but to the Apostles he promises the future, that he may excite the minds of the auditors, that he may confirm the mind of the world. Many now hear of the kingdom, and despise it; many wait for Christ, and put on malice; many do not depart from wickedness; many today honor the fasts, and say: “Today I do not say anything to my adversary; let the day of the passion of Christ pass, and I will prosecute the suit, I will avenge the injuries, I will do many things.” Therefore, you are a brother of that Esau who thinks such things: you bring forward these things which Esau said. For indeed Esau wanted to kill his brother, but he revered his father. And what did he say? “Let the days of mourning for my father draw near, and then I will slay my brother” (Gen. 27:41): “let the death of my father pass, and then I will slay him.” And you, what do you say? “Let the passion of Christ pass, and then I will quarrel against my enemy.” See that you be not a brother to Esau. Hear what Paul says: “Lest any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau: lest by him many be defiled” (Hebr. 12:16, 15). These things have been spoken by me, not to incite anger, but to offer help and salvation to the brothers. May it happen to us, both instructed by the word and built up by the example of histories, and strengthened by the struggle of the holy Fathers and prophets, to always refer glory to God, now and always, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

On the Just and Blessed Job, Fourth Sermon

Words are lower than the things, and expressions are lower than the matter; especially in the outstanding deeds of the blessed Job. No one can ever equal a sermon to this argument of his own meager ability. For even if one were to say six hundred things about him, he is left far behind by the dignity of the matter. Since therefore we have spoken as we were able, even if modestly, nothing prevents us from clinging to the same argument today. And let no one think that the treated matter is harmed, if we cut short the narration. For Job is not pained as if he were being cut; for if he did not suffer when his body was cut, will he suffer when the narrative is cut? We know from the preceding narrations that he lost everything, or rather, that he found everything. For when he had lost all the joys, he did not lose the root of joy. He lost the lyre, but the artist remained; he lost the fruits of abundance, but the farmer of abundance remained: he was stripped of all faculties, but he was not stripped of virtue. He cast off riches to the devil, with the conveniences of life cast off, just as Joseph ^D his cloak to the profligate woman. By suffering, he was not suffering. For it is necessary both to confess the suffering of nature and to celebrate the virtue of the mind. The signs of nature were shown, and the magnitude of virtue appeared. He heard of the calamity of his children, and he rent his garments, that he might show his commiseration of nature. For unless he had suffered, he would not have been held in admiration as a cultivator of virtue, but would have been condemned as one without sensation. But he suffered as a human, and as a friend of God he sustained and overcame the infirmity of nature, and did not betray his pious ways. He tore his garments, but he worshipped. Therefore the devil did not so much strike, as he was struck; he did not so much wound, as he was wounded. But after Job had contended well in the first struggle, God again offers him another struggle, that he may weave for him a more splendid crown of patience. Again, indeed, the angels are standing by, and the devil in their midst is questioned by Him who knew all things: “Whence comest thou?” (Job 2:2). See the wisdom of God, see the craftiness of the devil. God knew whence he came, and that he came having been overcome by the just man: but God wants to see if he will ingenuously confess that he was conquered. “Whence comest thou?” The devil, however, not confessing that he was conquered—for he was restrained by shame—used the same voice as before: “After I have gone about the earth, and walked through the world, I am present.” Is that the reason you went out? Or did you ask for this? Did you not say: “Give me those things which Job possesses”? Why are you silent about the contest, so that you may take away the crown of the victor? Tell the contest, accursed one, narrate the struggle, that you may proclaim the victory. But what the devil hid out of envy, that the Lord of all celebrates in honor of an extraordinary philosophy. “You have been intent in mind against my servant” (Job 2:3)? What you hide, I make manifest. For often God questions, not to learn, but to explore the intention of those who are questioned, whether indeed ...

they confess with good sense. ^A Thus he questioned Cain: Where is Abel thy brother? He wished to compel him who had done the evil even to stand as his own accuser, so that his own accusation might blunt the magnitude of the crime. For everyone who accuses himself softens the indignation of the judge. Just as, then, he questioned Cain at that time: Where is Abel thy brother? and he, thinking the question came from ignorance, says, I know not; am I my brother’s keeper? and because he had tested the intention, he then convicted the impiety, saying: The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground; so if, having questioned, he sees one acting with ill intent, he convicts the wrongdoer.

And now, since by questioning the devil he does not learn from him the defeat he suffered, he himself pillories his defeat and celebrates the victory of the righteous man. ^B Hast thou considered in thy mind against my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth who is blameless? Here, I beg you, pay close attention, and do not pass over the words of the holy Scriptures. In the first testimony, nowhere was the word “blameless” spoken, but in the second. In the first, God says: Hast thou considered in thy mind against my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a man blameless, just, truthful, refraining from every evil thing? The word “blameless” was not added there; but after the victory and the struggle, he adds it as a crown for him, a commendation harmonizing with his feats. Since, suffering myriad things, he bore the calamity blamelessly, not blaspheming against the Master, but judging all things with goodness, and having said: If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not bear the bad? ^C since the statement was one of blamelessness, he weaves a crown of blamelessness for him, because “there is no man like him, blameless.” But why did you say that he lost his possessions for nothing? That is, why did you begrudge him his wealth in vain? You said that the man was pious for the sake of money; he was stripped of his possessions, and he was not stripped of the truth. You, therefore, O devil, said that he lost his possessions for nothing.

Wickedness is not at a loss for its own malice. It finds again another pretext able to extinguish the courage of the virtuous man. He says, therefore, to God: Skin for skin, and all that a man hath, he will give for his soul. Nothing, he says, is great if he lost his possessions; he gladly despised everything so that he might save himself. But if thou wishest to test him, Touch his flesh; and ^D surely he will bless thee to thy face. “He will bless” is used in place of “He will curse.” For Scripture has veiled the defamation with commendation.

2. And why were these things written? So that you, the faithful one, may learn that when you describe the shameful things of others' evils, you should cover them with the dignity of your words. Do not pride yourself on doing shameful things, but pride yourself when you escape the discourse of shameful things. For this reason, the Apostle says: Let no shameful word proceed out of your mouth. Then God hands over the athlete to a second trial, not learning from the trial what kind of athlete he was, but putting the devil to shame through the trial. For God knows all things before all things. And the devil went out from before the Lord, and struck Job with a wicked ulcer from feet to head. He made his whole body one wound, one bruise. For it was necessary for him to be crowned as an athlete through and through. From feet to head was the salvific wound, the victorious ulcer, an ulcer which, according to what was visible, flowed with humors, but according to what was understood, was full of commendation. The humors of the ulcer lasted for a little while, but the commendations which the struggle brought forth are not consumed for all eternity. He struck him with a wicked ulcer from feet to head, ^A so that he might be shown to be a crown-bearer in all his members.

Then, because a wall-enclosed place did not receive one who had fared so badly in his body, but the whole house cast him out as one maimed (for Job’s wound was nothing other than a maiming), he who was a stranger to the world went out of the city; he went out of the city and sat upon a dunghill; he went out of the city, having not a worldly struggle, but one surpassing the present state. For being outside the city and the wall was an image of the cross of Christ. For this reason, Paul says: For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy of holies, are burned outside the camp. For this reason, also, Jesus, that he might sanctify the people, suffered outside the gate. Christ outside the gate; ^B Job sat outside the city on a dunghill; the seed of piety, the seed of patience, being spread as manure upon sufferings, he sat on a dunghill, awaiting him who raises up the poor from the earth and lifts the needy from the dunghill. He saw, brothers, his body flowing away, but his soul standing firm; he saw his body bearing worms, but his soul bringing forth piety; he saw the earthen vessel being destroyed, and he remembered, before Paul, the words of Paul; for it was fitting for him to say: As our outward man is destroyed, so the inward is renewed day by day. He took a potsherd, that he might scrape the humor, scraping the humor with the potsherd, and wearing out his antagonist with patience. ^C It was fitting for him also to say, holding the potsherd: But we have this treasure in earthen vessels. He sat on a dunghill, he who raised many from the dunghill. He took a potsherd that he might scrape the humor; to scrape the living clay with the dead clay.

The three friends came; for calamities call friends to consolation; Eliphaz, Sophar, and Baldad came, three kings to one king. For he was a king before this, the one who said: I was among them as a king among his soldiers. And they sat, he says, before Job seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke. For moderate calamities accept consolation; but the greatness of calamities is honored by silence. For there is, brothers, a time when the passion conquers consolation; ^D and just as illnesses at their peak send away all medical treatment, so also passions at the height of calamities cast out all admonition. They held their peace, joining in the passion with their silence. And what does he do? Since calamity conquered them, and no one dared to break the voice of consolation, Job is the first to begin the words; the sufferer opens a door to those who are not suffering. For we know, brothers, that in calamities, or in mournings, or in some other matter of dejection, everyone is ashamed to be the first to break silence, lest he appear an untimely instigator of virtue or counsel; but if he sees another having begun, he follows safely. This, brothers, experience teaches, and events themselves suggest. As, therefore, he saw the passion closing the consolation of the friends, the sufferer opens the door, and begins immediately to dramatize the calamity, everywhere fleeing the suspicion of blasphemy: The first voice of Job: Cursed is the day in which I was born, and that night be darkness. He does not say these things as one impious, but as one suffering. And see what he does: As when someone, being encompassed by a terrible abscess, is cut with iron by the physician, not having how to resist the one who is cutting, he clutches those who are standing around, and bites those standing by, having no fault to find with them, but not being able to extend his hand to the physician; so also Job, fearing the magnitude of blasphemy, insults the inanimate, and fulfills the fullness of the passion, not daring against God, but accusing himself and the day; for he curses not the creation, but his own day. For I have authority, he says, over my own day; I do not curse the creation, I curse my own day. Cursed is the day in which I was born.

^A Was it I who brought them forth? Was it I who gave them birth, that you say to me, "Carry them as a nurse carries an infant"? I am not able to bear the failings of this people (Num. 11). He did not blaspheme as an impious man, but was showing the affection of nature, moved by those very affections. Similarly, every one of the prophets groans, and Habakkuk says: "Why have you shown me labors and sorrows, so that I might look upon the miseries of men?" (Hab. 1:3). For the prophetic chorus saw iniquity, and could not bear it, but Habakkuk cried out, saying: "Why have you shown me labors and sorrows? In my sight judgment has been performed, and the judge receives, and therefore warped judgment goes forth" (Ibid. v. 4). The prince asks (Mich. 7:3), and the judge receives, and the law is despised.

^B These things, however, do not drag them over to the convenience of your own discretion; do not say, "Am I better than Jeremiah, who cried out against the world?" lest the words of healing become wounds for you. But these things were written so you might learn how great a contest they struggled in, and in what dangers they led their full life. Do you wish to learn what you ought to be? Learn the things that occurred after grace. The prophets suffered, the apostles suffered; but while they suffered, they grieved; these [apostles], on the contrary, boasted. Paul comes into the midst, suffering, but not groaning; scourged, but not grieving; tortured, but boasting. But what does he say? "And not only this, but we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, trial; and trial, hope; and hope confoundeth not" (Rom. 5:3-5). And again, the apostles, having been scourged, "went their way rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Christ" (Acts 5:41). Do not, therefore, apply those things that were before grace to the time of grace. For these things are told to us so that out of labors you may learn hope.

So also Job curses the day, and suffers in his soul, and does not wring his soul with impiety, but tolerates his wounds, nor wounds his soul with blasphemy. Then, because it must be said in summary, we shall briefly repeat the argument. In the contest of Job, everyone, except God, was ignorant of the scope of the contest. Job was ignorant of the cause for which he was contesting; he was ignorant that the contests were proposed to him for his exercise. The friends knew not the scope of God, the devil was ignorant of the future. For if he had known that he would be conquered, he would not have attempted the trial. Job was ignorant of what would result from the contest. For that it was happening by God’s permission, Job knew, not by foreknowledge, but taught by God. The devil, however, was ignorant of what would be the end of the contest. For if he had known, surely he would not have attempted it, lest he draw upon himself greater disgrace therefrom; but he endured the same thing in Job as he had in the martyrs. He kills the martyrs to extinguish the Church, not knowing that the Church would flourish more after the martyrs. Therefore everyone was ignorant of the matter, except God.

The friends, ignorant of the scope of God, and ignorant also of the trial of Job, preferred, by a comparison made through ignorance, to condemn Job as one suffering what he deserved, rather than condemn God as an unjust judge. Attend diligently. They preferred to condemn the man, as one undergoing deserts for his sin, rather than say God had judged unjustly. And according to one part, they acted rightly, saying God was devoid of injustice; but according to the other, they erred, condemning an innocent man. Ignorance, moreover, excuses those who are ignorant, because they philosophize in ignorance, and do not cast blame against God’s justice. They disapprove of Job’s justice, they exalt God’s justice, those who say to him: "When have the truthful perished root and branch" (Job 4:7), when have you seen the just perish utterly? "Unless you had sinned," they say, "and done things worthy of punishment, He who is just would not have injured you unjustly. Your sins are many." "But if you have not sinned, whence is this, unless your sons have sinned? Often have you injured the widow, oppressed the orphans. But if these things have been done, God has justly brought this sentence upon you." Job was conscious to himself that he had never done anything of the sort; he knew that God does not judge unjustly. ^C Because, therefore, Job saw that he was being condemned by men, but was not at all condemned by his own conscience, and that God also did not condemn him, because he could not persuade men of this, he transfers the discourse to the Judge, and directs the eye of his soul to things above, not blaspheming, but beseeching, and says to Him: "You who know the mind of men, why have you set me to speak against you?" (Job 7:19). "You have made me speak against your justice; you know my heart." Here he says something great, not out of malice, but out of innocence, and to encompass many things in few (for there is much material for discourse about justice), he says: "Who will grant me a judge between me and you?" (Job 10:2), "that he may know how great my sins are, because you have judged me so?"

A terrible statement, but [one born of] innocence. For earlier God had said: "There is none like him, without malice" (Job 2:3); and to him who is without malice, no one will impute a word as malice. For we always, brothers, and how much more God, judge not according to things, but according to the proposal of those acting. Does a son inflict injury on a father? The matter is intolerable both to one suffering and to one hearing; and he himself is called a parricide and a matricide, wicked and unrighteous, because he erupted with a word contrary to his father, because he dared to disparage his own root. But this is suffered and condemned by one who can now know through his age. An infant, however, without malice, even if he strikes his father or mother, or speaks reproach against them, is more desirable than any joy. Often mothers provoke children to injury, not delighted by the injury, but by their innocence and simplicity. So also God, knowing him to speak not out of malice but out of innocence (for He testifies of him, saying, "He still holds [his] innocence," Job 2:3), receives those things which are said by Job, having been called by him to judgment. A terrible word, for a servant to be called to judgment by a servant, for God to be called by man, the Creator by the creation, the potter by the clay; yet, as I said, that statement is one of innocence, not of malice. Moreover, brothers, that innocence was not without intelligence, but with all wisdom. Do you wish to know it more accurately? Job asked for nothing which he had not done. He knew that he was God’s servant, he knew that God was his Lord. But because He himself often, litigating with his servants, had given them an equal liberty to defend their own right, and if ever a servant disputed with Him, He did not stop his mouth as a servant, but admitted his defense: he was asking for what He himself had done, obeying this saying: "With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again" (Matth. 7:2). And he says: "Who will grant a judge?" And when have you given a servant the power to dispute with you with equal law? Listen to when he enumerates his virtues, and that not for the sake of boasting, but out of innocence: "I did not reject judgment with my servant and with my handmaid, when they disputed against me. [What shall I provide for an answer to God?]" (Job 31:13ff). Does not the One who created him [also] attribute to him the power of litigating? ^D Judge yourself. For often when someone accuses, I do not say a servant, but someone a little lower than himself, if he answer just things, as if he were impudent and audacious because he dares to speak with equal law, he orders him to be silent. "Is it so," he says, "you dare to speak with equal law? You seek justice? Take equal law for litigating." The proud man accuses, and neither admits the right of defense, nor does he revere silence. If he who is accused is silent, "He is condemned," he says, "he does not know how to open his lips"; if he speaks, "He has dared," he says, "to emit a voice against his master."

Then another, full of pride, if he is asked to return an account to another for a just man, for a noble man, to reconcile peace, and to appease malice through charity, immediately, raised by pride, says: "Shall I descend to him?" O pride! In what place do you stand, that you would descend? "Shall I descend to him?" He speaks just as if he were treading on the sky and clouds. You tread on the same earth, you are nourished by the same [elements], you return to the same, you are buried in the same; and to whom do you descend? Do you not revere, do you not blush at the passion of the Lord? Are you not ashamed to say to your equal, "Shall I descend to this one?" Are you not ashamed...

[581]

ON THE PROPHET ELIAS: A SERMON

^A ...is proud, and neither accepts a sound defense nor is put to shame by silence. If the accused is silent, he says, "He has been condemned, he does not know how to open his lips"; if he speaks, he says, "He has dared to raise his voice against the Master." Then, another filled with pride, if he is persuaded on behalf of the just man, or a noble man, when he is exhorted to put in a word to the other party and to agree to peace and to cease the malice through love—immediately, carried away by pride, he says: "Am I to go down to him? Oh, the pride!" For where are you standing, that you would "go down"? "Am I to go down to him?" He speaks as if he were treading upon the heavens and the clouds. You tread upon the same earth, you are fed from the same, you return to it, in it you are buried; and to where are you "going down"? Do you not feel shame, are you not put to shame by the passion of the Lord? Are you not ashamed to say to your equal, "Am I to go down to this man?" Are you not ashamed to say these things, reflecting that Jesus descended for your sake?

To such opinions and such pride, one ought always to cry out with Isaiah: "Why does earth and ashes vaunt itself?" But let us return to the matter at hand. "Who will provide a judge between me and you?" ^B At the end, the just Judge appears, and He appears to him from a storm and clouds. Job is seen from the clouds—He who is about to pour down the rain of blessing. He appears to him from the clouds—He who is about to irrigate the seed that had been treated as dung—and He rouses Job, and merely nods, and disperses the sufferings; He merely nods, and raises the one who had fallen; and He says to him: "Arise, and gird your loins like a man. I will question you, and you answer me." Since you have called me to judgment, and have said, "Who will provide a judge between me and you?", arise, you noble athlete, you who have not fallen by the blow of calamity, arise. For if anyone, having been disciplined, bears the calamity and the discipline nobly, he hears from God the "Arise," as when He says to Jerusalem: "Arise, Jerusalem, you who have drunk the cup of my wrath. Gird your loins like a man. I will question you, and you answer me." He did not say, "I will judge you, and you answer me." For He said, "You did not call me to judgment, but you called me to be compared with you. You asked for a judge between me and you; you be the judge." Do you think that I have dealt with you in any other way than that you should appear just? "Do you think," He says, "that I have brought this calamity for any other reason than that I might reveal you as just?" ^C And see, attending to the precision of such words. He did not say: "Do you think that I have dealt with you in any other way than that you might become just?" For the calamity did not make him just, but it made him known as just. "Do you think that I have dealt with you in any other way than that you might appear just?" For to Me, He says, you were known even before these contests; but to the world, you are made known through the calamity; to the world, you are proclaimed through the struggle. For this reason I have dealt with you, not that I might harm you, but that I might crown you; not that I might shame you, but that I might glorify you. But since, through your simplicity, you have gone out beyond the measures of nature, I have acknowledged your integrity. For even if someone sins through simplicity, God corrects the results produced by simplicity. Since you have entirely called God to judgment, tell me, possessing what equality with Me did you call Me? Where were you when I was founding the earth? Were you a contemporary of the Creator, that you might call Him to judgment? He existed before the ages, but you after many ages. [582] When I was fashioning the earth, you were not there; when the sea, you were not there; or all such things, you were not there. The whole creation came to be, and you were nowhere. Did you therefore call the One who is older than the ages, the Creator of the creation, to judgment? When I stretched the measuring line upon the earth, when I fastened its pillars, when I brought it forth from the womb of its mother, when the sea was being born, where were you? When I covered it with a cloud, and wrapped it in mist, where were you? ^D He attacks him as having spoken unworthily, out of simplicity indeed, but nevertheless out of ignorance. And what does He do? He does not rebuke him before all, but corrects him privately as a friend.

So when He had said these things, and those similar to them (for this is not the time to interpret every word piece by piece), Job, having become cognizant of himself (for the just man is corrected of a fault by the first rebuke), says: "Lord, I had heard of you by the hearing of my ear before, but now my eye has seen you; and I have treated myself as vile, and have considered myself earth and ashes." And, "Once I have spoken, but on the second I will add nothing." See how he who has received the blame well recalls his fault. "Once I have spoken," and this out of simplicity, not out of wickedness; "but on the second I will add nothing." For who am I to be judged before the Lord? What Job did not foresee because of simplicity, he learns after the rebuke. Then what does God do? He does not allow him to decline the judgment, but says: "No, but gird your loins like a man. Stand," He says, "as a man. Do not think that for this reason I have struck you with my power, fleeing the just, but I have corrected your simplicity. Nevertheless, I do not decline the judgment; judge me justly, and demand an account of what has happened." You were judged that you might be crowned; you were judged that you might be admired in all that is under heaven. Before the suffering, one corner knew you; after the suffering, all that is under heaven will know you. Your dunghill becomes more brilliant than any royal diadem. Those who wear the diadem desire to see both your contest and the toil of the struggles. I have made your dunghill a paradise; I have cultivated it for piety; I have displayed it as a heavenly plant. You received the heavenly things, receive also the earthly; receive everything in double measure. Learn here, every Christian, your hope, the excellence of your promise. For to Job He promises double, and gives double; but the Savior says to His own disciples: "Whoever has left father, or mother, or sisters for my sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life" (Matt. 19:29).

But observe this precisely, how He corrects the friend privately, but rebukes the friends of Job openly. And God says to them: "Why have you not spoken the truth about my servant Job?" But, O just Judge, we took up the argument on your behalf, we proclaimed your justice, we condemned the man, and we showed your justice to be innocent. Observe here, then, the just judgment of God. For if He does not accept the one who speaks on His behalf against the just man, will He accept those who speak against the just man contrary to justice? He rebukes his friends, then, and says: "And now, if not for my servant Job, I would have destroyed you" (ibid.). At once He both rebukes and saves. He saves because they spoke nothing wicked against God; He rebukes the just man, correcting his integrity; and He honors the friends because of him, and honors the just man because of the struggle, and gives him double, and light shone upon him from darkness, then and now.

But having said one more thing, let us show the superiority. He received the sheep in double measure, the oxen, the camels, the donkeys in double measure; but having lost ten children, he did not receive twenty. Here it must be asked, why the livestock in double measure, but the children in the single? Since the livestock and the possessions at their loss perished completely, but a man who has died is kept for life, and is raised for the resurrection. He does not give him the children in double measure, so as not to cut off the hope of those who have departed, but so as to show him that they also, even if they were snatched away, yet live. And they are all restored to him; but He does not give him more than ten, so that Job might be found not to be passing from life to death, but from house to house. For ten, having finished his life, escorted him to the grave; ten again will receive him on the day of the resurrection from the grave into the kingdom, and they will enjoy those ineffable and eternal goods with one accord: of which may we all be deemed worthy, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.

WARNING ON THE FOLLOWING HOMILY

Severianus, Dupin says, wrote this homily. Although I find the trifles that Severianus utters, I know not what techniques these are, by which he attempts to demonstrate the use of God toward Elias in many ways; whatever kind of orator he is, it is permitted to ascribe it to Severianus. I believe that it is not inept to trust the Latin translation of a Greek text more willingly.