NOTE ON THE HOMILY OF SEVERIANUS, BISHOP OF GABALA
A That this is indeed the work of Severianus, whether orative or homiletic, is taught by Theodoret in the third dialogue, *De impatibili* [On the Impassible], Tome IV, p. 169, of the Sirmondian edition, as we shall indicate below in its proper place just before the end of the homily; yet in all manuscripts it bears the name of Saint John Chrysostom: indeed, for many centuries it has circulated under the name of Chrysostom. For in the epistle of Pope Hadrian I to Constantine and Irene, *Concil.* Tome VII, p. 112, of the Labbe edition, a passage is cited under the name of Saint John Chrysostom which appears entirely excerpted from this oration, from the sermon, as it is said there, εἴς τὴν παραβολὴν τοῦ σπόρου [On the Parable of the Sower]. The words are as follows: “Ἔνδυμα βασιλικὸν ἐὰν ὑβρίσῃς, οὐχὶ τὸν ἐνδυόμενον αὐτὸν ὑβρίζεις; οὐκ οἶδας ὅτι ὅστις τὴν εἰκόνα τὴν ἐκ ξύλου καὶ χρωμάτων λοιδορεῖ, οὐχ ὡς πρὸς ἄψυχον τολμήσας κρίνεται, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τοῦ βασιλέως; δισσῶς γὰρ τῷ βασιλεῖ προσφέρει τὴν ὕβριν.” Which are rendered there in Latin thus: “If you offer insults to the imperial garment, do you not offer insults to him who is clothed in it? Do you not know that if anyone commits an injury against the image of the emperor, he refers the injury to the emperor himself, that is, to the principal person and his dignity? Do you not know that if anyone reviles an image which is of wood and colors, he is not judged as if he had acted presumptuously against something inanimate, but…”
SERMON On the Seals of the Books, and how the Son offers to the Father, and the Father to the Son, and on the Incarnation of the Savior
1. Great is the sacrament of discipline for the health of the soul. For iron is sharpened by iron, but the soul is sharpened by the divine Word: the body is nourished by bread, but the soul is confirmed by the divine Word; as Moses also says, indicating the nourishing power of divine doctrine: *Man lives not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God* (Deut. 8:3). Therefore, the nourishment of the soul is the Word of God. For that which was made to the image of the creator Word, adorned with reason, and gifted with rational freedom, by what shall it be nourished more fittingly than by the Word that nourishes, instructs, and quickly restores it to its proper freedom? Moreover, by "Word," brothers, we mean not that which is fashioned with sophistical gravity for the sake of persuasion, but that which has the testimony of truth by the simplicity of faith. For every virtue, both of life and of speech, that has not received its first fruits from the divine Master must be considered spurious; and as the shadow differs from the body, and a dream from the truth, so far removed from the true wisdom of God is that which is deemed wisdom in the world. Wherefore blessed Paul, that vessel of election, who once went forth to capture the saints wickedly, was himself beautifully captured for the salvation of men; opposing pious and true doctrine to the spurious, he clearly said: *We speak wisdom among the perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, but the wisdom of God in a mystery* (1 Cor. 2:6). Wisdom, therefore, is for us the prophetic tongue and the apostolic doctrine, and the gospel of the kingdom, the sum of rational power. When we hear the name of Gospel, brothers, let us understand the meaning of this name fittingly. For many, often thinking of names from common usage, are ignorant of the force of the things themselves. But the name of Gospel indicates what the thing itself is: for it announces to us that glorious economy of the Savior, that God through his supreme kindness has dwelt among men, not by laying aside his eternal dignity, but by a saving incarnate assumption: the Gospel declares to us that the physician has approached the sick, not to cure with medicines, but to impart health by the nod of his clemency: it announces to us that to those who were wandering a way has been shown, that to those living in darkness light has appeared, that to the desperate salvation has arrived. For because we did not repent from the instruction of the Law, and although the prophets pointed the way we were not recalled to the knowledge of the truth, when our ungrateful spirit cast all into danger and overturned human affairs; when the kindness of God saw us, that we had both defected from the instruction of the Law and turned aside from the guidance of the prophets, by his immense goodness he overcame our stubbornness, and proposed the Gospel of the kingdom as a kind of royal gift throughout the whole world, having generously bestowed all things upon us, though we were unworthy. Saving grace, therefore, has gone forth, which has affected all with benefits, and those varied; it freed the slaves, enriched the poor, brought back the exiles, and redeemed the captives.