Sermon

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.

A SERMON ON THE SEALS

^A ...is made all things to all men: not because we are that which he is, but on account of the goodness which befits a benefactor. For he who is by nature simple, indivisible, and un-fashioned, is himself God of God, the image of the Invisible, the Splendor of glory and the figure of his substance (Heb. 1. 3); he is called by various names, not such as harmonize with his nature, but such as are appropriate to his benevolence. Since, therefore, all things human had fallen, he takes upon himself all things, receiving in his kinship the appellations that correspond to the grace which renews all things. There was a great famine, a famine of the divine word, a famine which God threatened to the synagogue, saying: I will send upon them not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord (Amos 8. 11).

2. Since, therefore, he knew that the world was starving and perishing from famine—for what malnutrition is to ^B the body, that ignorance is to the soul—the fountain of good things cries out through the Gospels: I am the bread which came down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world (John 6. 41). For sensible bread comes from the earth, according to that which is said: That thou mayest bring forth bread out of the earth (Ps. 103. 14); but the heavenly bread springs from heaven: For I am the bread which came down from heaven. The earth was a desert, thirsty, and deprived of the divine word, and not having the enjoyment of spiritual irrigation. What then? The same grace again, pouring forth this benefit, cries out: If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink (John 7. 37). For since the prophets cried out in diverse ways, and the whole chorus of the saints thirsted for his presence, saying: O God, my God, unto thee I watch; my soul thirsted for the living God (Ps. 61. 2 and 41. 2)—wishing to show that he is the one for whom the prophets ^C thirsted, he cries out through the Gospels: If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. If anyone exists according to him who says: My soul hath thirsted for thee, let him come unto me. He saw again the world naked, not naked in body, but stripped of virtue; he saw the creature which he had fashioned, and had mercy on what he had made, and gives a garment to the naked—he himself, even as we have already said before: As many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ (Gal. 3. 27). The earth had wandered, seeking a way and not finding one; for every soul has within itself the seed of theology, and having it, did not know how it ought to catch that which it desired. Since, therefore, the wanderers found no path: I am, he says, the way (John 14. 6). But art thou dead? I am the resurrection (John 11. 25). But art thou weak, needing a guide? ^D I am the rod out of the root of Jesse, which supports the weak, of whom the prophet spoke: Thy rod and thy staff they have comforted me (Ps. 22. 4). Why a rod, why a staff? Because it is appropriate for every age; it guides the young, it supports the old. But, O Master, thou didst feed me when I was hungry, thou didst give me to drink when I was thirsty, thou didst clothe me when I was naked, thou didst guide me when I was wandering, thou didst steady me when I was weak. Having reached the path, I have caught the footprints of piety; I seek the gate of truth; who is it that shows it? I am the door; by me everyone enters to the Father (John 10. 9). Through thee, wherefore? For I am a gate of salvation, open, which the blessed David seeks, having considered many, but finding one; for as to the first he says, Open to me the gates of justice; I will go into them and I will confess to the Lord (Ps. 117. 19). Having attained his request, and found what he did not expect, not many, but one, calling back his own voice, he says: This is the gate of the Lord; the just shall enter into it. Then with a prophetic eye, and with the desire of his soul, having passed within, and become, as it were, inside the royal halls, I will confess to thee, he says, because thou hast heard me. Tell me, O prophet and theologian, do you confess and give thanks to God? What did you find worthy of your expectation? For those who desire to pass into a royal house expect to feast their eyes on what is visible—on much gold, on gleaming marble, on the varied flowers of wealth, on the guard of honor around the king, on the royal throne, on the gifts of kings; expecting to see these things, each one thirsts for the palaces, and hastens towards his desire. But you, what do you crave of what you found upon entering the gate? For what do you give thanks? What great thing have you grasped, what have you found worthy of your desire? Interpret your craving, lest the Jewish impudence slander the truth. What did you find? What do you proclaim? What do you marvel at? Christ, he says, I found. I saw the economy of Christ, the new grace, the strange benefit, the glorious passion, the inexpressible initiation; these things I see, these things I marvel at, for these things I give thanks, saying: I will confess to thee, because thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation (Ps. 117. 21). I do not hide the benefit, I do not hoard the salvation, but I announce the economy. The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner (Ib. v. 22). Do you see how thanksgiving has laid bare the history? I will confess to thee, because thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected, this hath become the head of the corner. Do you see how all the expectation of the prophets looked toward this very economy, and desired Christ, the one despised in the synagogue, but glorified among the nations? Therefore, that we may return to what is proposed, even if you seek the gate, you shall find Christ. And indeed, he says, a door through philanthropy. But since it is altogether necessary for him who enters into the kingdom and the temple of God to have one who leads him toward his desire (for no one dares to stand by the altar by himself, if he does not have the one who serves as priest); when you have come inside the gate, you find him as a priest leading you: For thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 109. 4). But the priest also needs a victim and a sacrifice, in order to appease God. He himself becomes this for you again: Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1. 29). You have heard these things all for your sake; hear of those for his own sake. Do not restrict your contemplation to the order of the priest; do not see him only as a priest standing [by], but see him by his own worth sitting with the Father. But let no one be an enemy of the truth, snatching away some things and hiding others. I know that often some heretic, an enemy of the truth, has stood and said: "Do you see that it is not possible to approach the Father without the Son? For he takes the rank of a mediator and a minister, he says, bringing those who are saved to the Father."...

^A Oh, the new madness! Oh, the new drama! Because of the goodness of the Father, the dignity of the Godhead is endangered, he says, and is dimmed. But the madness of the heretics grows bold, while the power of the Savior is not diminished, the glory is not extinguished, the grace is not overthrown. "If we have denied him," he says, "he remains faithful" (2 Tim. 2:13), for he cannot deny himself. He sits as one, on account of his own dignity; yet he stands as a priest, on account of his innate loving-kindness.

^B Third, concerning the wondrous matter, brother. Because those who serve according to rank and form understand the phrase "No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6) in a carnal way, it is necessary to direct the refutation of this impiety toward the heretics. For if the Son offering something to the Father takes away the dignity of the one who makes the offering, then if you see the Father offering to the Son, you extend the impiety there. Therefore, above all, while you act impiously against the Son, you blaspheme against the Father. Let us, therefore, brother, suppress the wickedness within the word of piety and truth and make the pious meaning clear. "For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword" (Heb. 4:12). He calls it two-edged because it makes use of two discourses, one for building up, the other for overturning—overturning the adversaries, building up those of the household of faith. Hear the Lord himself saying: "No one can come to me, unless my heavenly Father drags him" (John 6:44). It is necessary, brothers, to say what is opportune to the heretics and to instill this meaning into the children of the faith. Why, then, did the only-begotten Word of God divide that offering—at one time saying he brings them to the Father, at another time that he is brought to the Father by the Father? For the things that pertain to the divine nature are not confused, but the word of truth is clear and distinct, having nothing crooked or winding. "For all the ways of the Lord are straight" (Ps. 24:10).

How God stands, or how he sits. So, brothers, does the Father at one time sit, taking the first rank and receiving those who are offered, and at another time, in a royal manner, give the due honor to the Son, who sits and holds the first rank, and, standing in the order of a minister, bring certain ones to the Son? Far from it! For when one names "sitting" in God, one ought not think of anything human, nor when God is said to "stand" should it be understood in a human manner. If you hear that God stands, understand the upright firmness of the divine substance; if you read or hear that he sits, think of the unshakable stability of the blessed nature. He himself says that he stands and that he sits. He says to Moses, "Stand here with me." And there was the place where God stood, as a stone of sapphire (Exod. 34:2; 24:10). Mark this carefully: Moses says he is standing, and God, as if standing, says to Moses, "Stand with me." What then should we reckon of Jeremiah saying, "You sit forever, and we are perishing forever"? Sitting and standing are human words, but the meaning is divine. ^C Because human life is turned about here and there, God is said to stand; and because we are not at all firm and are unstable, God is said to sit on account of his stability—for what sits is firm. Flee from those things which are suggested to you by the phrases, and understand those things which are perceived through faith.

How then does the Son offer to the Father? How does the Father to the Son? For that statement ought not be left without examination. The Father offers certain conspicuous and approved ones to the Son; the Son likewise offers certain conspicuous and approved ones to the Father. Do not, pre-empting others, drag a statement into calumny, but wait for the end and judge from the statement; do not be a hostile judge, but a benevolent contestant. In Israel, God the Father was known, but the Son was ignored; among the nations, however, both the Father and the Son were ignored, for they were held fast by the error of the multiplication of gods. Whenever, therefore, the Father is known but the Son is ignored, the Father becomes the interpreter of the unknown Son. I will resume the discourse, so that I may fix the understanding. Wherever the Father is known but the Son is in doubt, the known becomes the interpreter of the unknown; wherever the Father is ignored, the Son is made the herald of the unknown. Therefore, that you may receive an accurate examination of what has been said, I offer you the Gospel as a sponsor. The Savior says concerning the nations: "I have manifested your name to the world" (John 17:6); nay, to the ignorant world I have manifested your name. What name did he manifest? That he was God. But this knowledge had pre-empted the name, for even those who live in error call [him] God, and those who are alienated from piety do not deny the name. What name then did he manifest? That he is called Father: "I have manifested your name to the world." Do you see that where the Father is unknown, the Son is the interpreter, who declares the truth through evangelical preaching; but where the Father was thought to be known and the Son was ignored, the Father was the interpreter of the unknown?

For the sake of example, that I may demonstrate the truth through the very facts: Paul had known God, he had not known the Son; he had known God, he had not known that God was the Father of Christ; and he was zealous for piety and fought for the Law. God looked upon the zeal filled with ignorance but burning with fervor; and what does he do? He reveals the unknown to the ignorant. Who will explain these things to us? He himself, who once was ignorant and afterwards knew; who once persecuted and afterwards preached. For what does he say? "And I was a zealot for the ancestral law, persecuting the Church of God beyond measure. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called [me] through his grace, to reveal his Son in me" (Gal. 1:13-15), etc. The testimony, indeed, has been brought forth to demonstrate the question, not for the investigation of that passage.

Again, the Savior asks the apostles: "Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" (Matt. 16:15). He asks, not to learn, but so that, having dispelled another opinion, he might firm up the truth. "Whom do men say that I am?" The apostles first report the opinions of the many: "Some," they say, "Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets" (v. 14). What then the Savior? He makes no response to the false opinions, judging them unworthy of a response: "But whom do you say that I am?" (v. 15). I do not care about those many who are in error, but about you, the heralds. For since it is you who are to announce the lamp of truth and the preaching of piety throughout the whole world, human [interests] are at stake in you; the truth is in danger in you; and as your knowledge is a common benefit to men, so your ignorance is a common detriment to the world. Therefore, "Whom do you say that I am?" ^D Peter replied: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (v. 16). This is the limit of faith; this is the word of truth; this is the confession of right sentiment. But because it was possible that this voice might be held as equal to the others, he did not deign to answer those, but to this one, he adds his approval, and what does he say? That this statement might not be thought to be...

held as a mere human opinion, he confirms it, and adds the seal of truth to it, saying: ^A *Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah* (Matt. 16:17). Here, call to mind that the Father also reveals the One who is unknown even to him who knows Him. *Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.* Do you see how, while the whole world was ignorant of the Father, the Son becomes the interpreter of the Unknown; and as for the synagogue and the Jews, who thought they knew God but did not recognize the Word of God as God, the Father himself becomes the interpreter of the One who is debated?

4. Do not, therefore, make the overriding philanthropy a provision for impiety; do not diminish the dignity because of the economy; do not curiously investigate an unmeasurable nature; do not snoop into an incomprehensible essence. Let Isaiah persuade you not to investigate such things, nor to describe such matters; for, *who shall declare his generation?* (Is. 53:8). But, O the shameless daring of those who venture to think and speak of all things so lightly! And the Anomoean does not fear, as he investigates the nature of God, and dares to speak the ineffable, and to make public the holy things. And with good reason; for since he is ignorant of the truth, he promises to speak of the unknown, that he might hide what is preached. Has he not heard the holy Scripture admonishing: *The things that are commanded thee, think upon these; for there is no need for thee of the hidden things* (Eccl. 3:22)? The blessed God, who alone is the Master of wonders, wishing at one time to astound Job with the history of creation, says to him: *Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?* (Job 38:4). Or, that I may be brief, when the mountains were fashioned? *Hast thou observed the offspring of the deer?* (Job 39:1). Relate to me, he says, the formation of the world, the birth of wild beasts, the fodder for the cattle, the constitution of all things in the world, their variety. Yet he said these things to him, schooling him that even the things appearing within creation itself are incomprehensible to men. Then the blessed one, stricken with awe, says: *Lord, I have spoken once, but upon the second I will not add* (Job 39:35). Then the questioning of visible things overcame Job; but does not the ineffable birth of the Only-Begotten overcome your daring? But since you proclaim things you do not know, I demand an account of things we all know: tell me, how the earth was suspended over the waters; tell me, how Adam was fashioned from the earth; tell me, how the manna was provided, how the sea was divided, and the rest of the wonders, that I may not prolong [this]; tell me, how the angels ate the calf set before them by Abraham? There was no stomach, there was no receptacle for food in the nature of angels. For, *He makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire* (Ps. 103:4). How was it consumed? Immediately the heretic says: "Why do you ask what is impossible? It vanished by the power of the angels." And you believe in the power of the angels, and do not examine it, yet you curiously investigate the birth of God? How did God make heaven and earth? He answers: ^B "As He knew, as He willed." Then the power of God is not subjected to calculations, but is entrusted to faith; yet the divine birth is surrounded by the constraints of calculations? Have you not heard David saying: *All that the Lord willed, he did alone* (Ps. 135:6)? You do not curiously investigate the will, yet you treat the nature as a curiosity? And what then, brothers? The things which God made by willing are seen, but the things He begat from His own essence are invisible (for visible things are images of the invisible God), and now the invisible birth is made to serve human calculations? That which He willed and made is not questioned; but that which He underwent according to His divine and immaculate nature, you treat as a curiosity? O new daring! O strange undertaking! O honor paid to the will, while the nature is insulted! Well did the blessed David say: *Ye sons of men, how long will ye be dull of heart? Why do you love vanity, and seek after a lie?* (Ps. 4:2). For everything alien to the teaching of Christ is both a lie and vanity. For if He speaks the truth, saying: *I am the truth* (John 14:6), everything outside the teaching of Christ leads to a lie. Lift up your soul from these earthbound issues and empty calculations to the height of theology, and abandon the poor investigation of logic; receive the treasure of the truth: *The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure* (Matt. 13:44). Why is the Savior called a treasure? Here, pay close attention. Just as a treasure is not formed when it is found, but is old in its placement, yet new in its discovery; so also the saving Word is old in dignity, and the beginning of all things, since *in the beginning was the Word* (John 1:1); but the preaching is new because of the economy of the flesh. Therefore, brother, that you might learn that it shines forth for those who desire it like a treasure, and they who find it run to it as to a found treasure. Andrew, announcing the discovery to Peter, says: *Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, we have found, the Christ* (John 1:45). For Moses and the prophets, as if in treasuries, stored away the preaching in the holy books. But just as those who deposit a hidden treasure themselves see what they are burying, but shield it from sight, so that it might not be easily plundered by strangers; so also the prophets, having preached Christ, hid the treasure in the obscurity of their words. Why? For if they had spoken clearly, it would not have been prophecy, but preaching, and the timeliness of the expression would have forestalled the timeliness of the proclamation. What then do they do? They both interpret and hide. Who says these things? Isaiah: *And this book shall be as a sealed book; if it be given to a man who knows letters, he shall say, I cannot read; for it is sealed. And if it be given to one who does not know letters, he shall say, I cannot read; for I do not know letters* (Is. 29:11-12). What, then, does this enigma mean? The prophecy concerning Christ, he says, was hidden from both Jews and Greeks; from the Jews, indeed, who knew letters, the law and the prophets, because it was sealed; the Jews knew letters and were instructed; therefore he says: *Ye that have been carried from the womb, and have been taught even to old age* (Is. 46:3): they had been instructed, but did not know, because the matter was veiled in obscurity. But the Gentiles were ignorant, not because they were totally ignorant of letters. Therefore Paul, who was educated in the law, says to Timothy: *That from infancy thou hast known the sacred letters, which are able to instruct thee unto salvation* (2 Tim. 3:15). Therefore the prophecy was hidden in the sacred books: for it does not recede from being hidden by the rational. Nor does Isaiah exhibit the prophets as sealed away, but even Daniel: for an angel says to him, after he himself ^C

had shown him the revelation of future things, "And you, Daniel, seal this book of the vision, for its interpretation is far off." Therefore the blessed David, when he read the Law and the Prophets on behalf of the people—for he himself who spoke prophetically was not ignorant, but wanted to show that he received a certain notion of the economy of Christ, yet was unable to understand it because of the obscurity of the words—suffered something similar to those who see a sealed money-bag. What then does he do when he sees the letters but cannot grasp their meaning? He says, "Open my eyes, and I will consider wonderful things out of your Law," and again, "Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your justifications." Have you not read it in the Law? Has Moses not taught you the Decalogue? But I wish to learn from you, from you the Legislator; I wish to learn from the fountain of the Law the truth of the Law. Indeed, he was seeking to learn, but Grace was reserving it for those who were about to receive the benefit. Therefore the Savior said to the disciples, "Many kings and righteous men wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them; but blessed are your eyes, because they see." ^B

V. But we seek when this seal was altogether unsealed, when the bond of ignorance was loosed, when the things which were shut were opened. The listener demands this of us: "Beyond the teaching, you have signaled the manner of the seal; do you not state the time of its loosening? You have shown the doors closed; will you not show them opened?" What then? By saying many things in a single word, I shall satisfy the inquiry. What therefore? After the Savior’s resurrection, when the divine grace was unknown to many, two of the disciples went away to a village, and as friends, they were discussing the economy together on the road. The Savior, having changed His form and the sound of His voice—for what the face is to those who see, the voice is to those who do not see the face—conceals both His voice and His form, and says to them, He who knows all things: "What are these words that you are conferring with one another?" He who had learned all things from Him responded to Him who knew all things: "Are you the only one sojourning in Jerusalem, and do you not know the things that have happened in it?" To whom He replied, "What things?" This God who knows all things and asks, is He not the same who said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" They say to Him, "The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who was a man mighty in word and deed." Still a man? After so many miracles, a man? After so many works, after such a demonstration of divine power? "But we," they say—so that we might not be long in examining everything—"but we were hoping that it was He who would redeem Israel." See how the faith in them was almost extinguished, and the hope of the economy removed. "We were expecting." They do not say, "We are expecting," but, "We were expecting." He already knew the faith in them to be infirm, and their mind declining; and He stood by, who firms up those who are wavering and raises up all who are broken. What does the Benefactor Himself say to them? "O foolish and slow of heart, do you not understand the Scriptures? Did it not behoove Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" And beginning from the Law and the Prophets, He opened the Scriptures to them. Do you see? As long as Christ was away, the gate of truth was not opened, the bond of ignorance was not loosed. He opened the Scriptures as if they were closed doors: which doors? Those of which Paul says, "That God may open a door to the nations"; and again concerning Cornelius, "Has God opened the door of repentance even to the nations?" And see what that fountain of good things dispenses. When He reached the village of Emmaus, where the travelers were tending, He appeared to them as still unknown, an object of doubt. For when He had reclined with them, having been kindly received first as a stranger—for they were saying, "Stay with us, for the day has declined"—having taken bread, He blessed, broke, and gave, and their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. Why did He give bread first, and then their eyes were opened? Because the food of Adam had opened the eyes for the worse, now a substitute food was provided, effecting a new restoration of sight. Let the heretics open their eyes and see the light of the truth: let them see Him who in the beginning was God, God and the Word of God; let them often hear that "He was," and cease saying, "He was not." "In the beginning was the Word." This was not preached immediately; for the world could not encompass it. ^C Certainly the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, when they began the preaching, did not immediately speak the things that befitted His dignity, but looked to the capacity of the hearers. Matthew begins the Gospel thus: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham." Why not "Son of God"? Why do you hide the dignity with a lowly statement? Why do you hide divine things from men? Among the Jews, he says, I am preaching, who do not think Christ even a righteous man. They have not yet admitted Him to be the Son of Abraham, and will they suffer Him to be announced as the Son of God? And whence this? Because they did not even acknowledge Him to be of the lineage of Abraham. Have you not heard them often blaspheming, saying, "You are a Samaritan, and have a demon"? Those who were casting Him out of the lineage of the saints, would they have admitted His divine dignity? What then does he say? "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham." First he draws them in with beloved names, by which they were coupled in lineage, so that, attracted from there, they might gradually find the truth, namely, the generation without passion, undefiled, preached in words worthy of God, and delivered to all. Again, the blessed Mark, having approached the Gospel, relying on the previous exercise, does indeed say "Son of God"; but he immediately repressed the speech and diminished the perceptions, so as to allure the listener. Therefore he immediately mentions the Baptist, saying, "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I send my angel before your face, who will prepare your way before you." He showed the lamp of truth, and immediately concealed it. And first he brings forward the minister, so that the auditor, instructed by that voice, might at length receive the sound and perfect word of divine knowledge. Luke follows, third, and after them he holds the middle place, and touches upon the divine Word, but does not interpret, he explains the dignity, but says, "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed." But he did say the word; he did not, however, say, "The Word was God." What then?

Since he touched upon being and perceived that he was echoing into dead ears, he hides the dignity and brings forward the economy: "There was a priest named Zacharias," and the rest of the Gospel. All, therefore, withdrew into the economy of the flesh, and quietly, by means of the miracles, made known the dignity. The dignity of God the Word was being proclaimed, but the arrows against the heretics were being hidden, and the rampart of orthodoxy had not yet been raised for the preaching of piety.

John, then, the son of thunder, came forward last for theology after those three heralds, and with good reason: he followed, while they preceded, flashing forth small sparks for the time being. For just as lightning precedes thunder so that the latter might not strike the listener suddenly after bursting from the clouds, so, since John was about to thunder, the three evangelists acted like lightning; they flashed the economy, while he thunders the theology. ^A Thunder, brethren, signifies rain, a terror to the wicked; and just as if the heaven, having used the thunder as a kind of trumpet, calls for the rain, but first summons the shower with flashes—"For God fashioned lightnings unto rain" (Ps. 134: 7)—and then moves the clouds with thunder. What then? Since so many flashes of the Word have gone before, there follows then, as I have said, the thunder of theology, striking many with the excess of the theology, but bringing the showers of blessing. And to us indeed it becomes a thunder of theology, but to the heretics it is a thunder driving away the evil beasts by the excess of its mighty voice. "At thy rebuke they will flee; at the voice of thy thunder they will be afraid" (Ps. 103: 7).

5. Let us, therefore, run back to Him who was in the beginning, God; let us run back to the eternal light; let us run back to the Word who for thy sake became man. And when I say "became," I do not mean that the nature was changed, but that the divine dignity assumed our own. For the text, "The Word became flesh," does not indicate a fall of nature, but the assumption of our infirmity. For if you think "it became" implies a change, if you hear Paul saying, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, ^B being made a curse for us" (Gal. 3: 13), you will think that the word denotes a change of nature or a transformation into a curse. Just as, therefore, "being made a curse" means nothing else than that He took upon Himself the curse against us, so also "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" manifests nothing other than the assumption of flesh. Thou hast within thee an image: thy speech will instruct thee concerning God the Word, not as offering a perfect likeness, but as having a trace and indication of the divine dignity. Here, however, pay close attention to my mind, that the words may not be spoken in vain, and the divine meanings may not vanish. The speech of men (yet the image is dim, not representing the whole dignity, but teaching the things above us by means of the things of us)—our speech is incorporeal, invisible, intangible, comprehended by hearing alone. No one knows speech by sight, no one has grasped it with the hand, but it is invisible, intangible, held by one sense, that of hearing—and this invisibly. For hearing does not extend hands to hold it, but the speech itself having entered is held. This speech is a generation of the mind, yet it is generated without passion, without sight, without division; it is not divided from the mind that generates it, it is not separated, it is not severed. Here apply your hearing, heretic: understand first the things of you, and then imagine the things above you; the mind generates, the speech proceeds; it proceeds from the generator, and fills all who hear, and does not depart from Him who generated it. The speech proceeds into all, being divided, and yet nowhere is it severed. Each receives the whole speech, and it is in everyone; and though divided among so many, yet it enters whole. So our speech ^C shows in itself the mind that generated it; for from the speech the thought is grasped.

But consider this also for me: in this our speech, pre-depicting the economy of God the Word, a certain wondrous image has been taken up, adorned with earthly flowers, but befitting the pre-contemplation of the Word. What then? Our speech, being invisible and having no body and being unable to be grasped, God, by another kind of wisdom, has refashioned it, and has made it possible to be seen and to be grasped. For what does He do? Since it was not seen by sight, He clothes it in a body, the letter, and as it were placed upon it as flesh the appearance of letters; and what you did not see when hearing, you see when reading; that which you were not able to encounter, you carry through the book. But the speech is embodied through the letter, yet it is not enclosed by the letter, but is with the one speaking and with the one reading. Even if someone, brethren, having taken a book, should tear it, he has torn the body of the speech, he has not cut the speech itself. And that you may learn that the speech is not consumed together with the letter, God says to Jeremiah: "Sit down, write on a book all the words, and give them to Jehoiakim the king" (Jer. 36: 2). The speech was full of rebuke. Since, then, the potentates do not bear the rebukes—and for the dignity does not easily submit to justice, ^D but obscures the truth; angered by those rebukes, the king cuts it with the scribe's knife and casts it into the fire. What then? God says to Jeremiah: "Sit down, write the same words, and give them to the king" (Jer. 36: 28), that he might learn that he has cut the letters, but has not cut the speech. Do you see the image? My mind is in a sublime age. The Word of God, or the only-begotten God the Word, put on a body that He might appear to that which appeared not; He put on flesh that He might be touched by that which before could not be touched. Therefore, John, when he had found that desirable thing which was once held by hearing, and at last was perceived by sight, says: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen, and our hands have touched" (1 John 1: 1). He therefore carried flesh, a garment of dignity, beautiful: "For the Lord has reigned, He is clothed with majesty" (Ps. 92: 1). The Jews fight against Him who appears, and they indeed crucify the flesh, but they do not kill the divinity. For if my speech does not perish along with the letters, which are its garment, then God the Word, the source of life, perished along with the flesh? The passion of the body is of the dignity of impassibility. For does not Paul say: "For if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2: 8)? Because He who, by having flesh, rendered the passion of the flesh His own. If you have afflicted the royal garment with insult, have you not affected the king himself?