HOMILY XXI. Regarding dominion, power, and glory.
A It is said that the blessed Constantine, when his statue had once been stoned, and many were inciting him to punish those who had committed the insult and demand retribution, saying that they had pelted his entire face with stones, felt his face with his hand and, smiling gently, said: "I truly do not see a wound on my forehead; the head is sound, and the entire face is healthy." And thus, those who were flushed with shame and embarrassed were turned away from their unjust counsel. But if he obtained such glory among men for that remark, how many good things will he enjoy before the benevolent God? For he truly is a king who rules over anger and envy and pleasure, and subordinates all things to the laws of God; and, keeping his mind free, he does not allow the dominion of pleasures to prevail in his soul. Such a man I would gladly see ruling over land and sea, and over cities, and peoples, and armies. For he who has set his reason as master over the passions of the soul will easily be able to preside over men according to divine laws, so that he may be, as it were, a father to his subjects, and deal with cities with the greatest gentleness. He who appears to rule over men but is a slave to anger and ambition and pleasures, would, in the first place, appear ridiculous to his subjects, because he wears a crown adorned with gold and jewels, but is not crowned with temperance; and because his body flashes with purple, but his soul is uncultivated. Moreover, he will not even know how he might manage his rule. For he who could not command himself, how could he govern others by laws? We should not consider how we may obtain honors and power, but rather how we may be endowed with virtue and wisdom. For great power persuades one to do things that are displeasing to God, and it requires an exceedingly strong soul so that one may use B the honor, dignity, and power bestowed upon him as he ought. He who lacks dignity is, even if unwilling, driven to the pursuit of wisdom; but to him who possesses it, the same thing usually happens as if someone living with a beautiful and fair maiden were ordered not to cast his eyes upon her immodestly. Power is a thing like this. And for this reason it has driven many, even against their will, to commit injustice, has stirred up anger, taken away the bridle of the tongue, and opened the door of the mouth, tossing the soul like some wind and sinking the ship into the uttermost depth of evils. For the magnitude of honor, to those who do not wish to live fittingly, is an increase of punishment. For to be in great esteem and to have happy successes among the people, the more it makes one shine, the greater dangers and cares it contains; for such a man cannot breathe or stand at all, having so savage and troublesome a master. And why do I say stand and breathe? Even if such a man has infinite good deeds, he enters the kingdom with difficulty. For nothing is accustomed to puff up men as insolently as the opinion of the multitude. For it is noble and generous to endure contempt; but to obtain glory requires a strong and very great mind, so that he who enjoys honor may not be puffed up. But if you desire to obtain glory, C reject glory; but if you pursue glory, you will lose glory. For this glory is an imitation of glory. No one who sees painted bread tastes the painting, even if he be hungry ten thousand times. Therefore, those who say that they have received everything in the present life make themselves wholly destitute for the future. So also Adam fell from hope of a greater honor in the present life as well. And many, very often, desiring more, have lost the things present; and those who hoped they would obtain everything here did not even attain a portion. For human affairs, the more they are raised up and shine, the greater ruin they cause, and not only to the subjects, but also to those who rule them. For one will not find a private house as full of dangers as the palaces of kings are filled with evils. For this reason, then, I ask, why do you envy your neighbor because you see him enjoying honor and much dignity? Therefore, do you not notice how easily those things wither, and how great an evil arises from them? For that which is the most miserable of all things regarding these is that the losses which flow from them remain forever, but the pleasure itself, before it has appeared, has vanished away. But much avails for one having power, he depopulates and ravages everything where he wishes, and affects his enemies with trouble, and benefits those who flatter him, and is powerful with immense might? What evil, therefore, can he do? Perhaps he will take away your dignity? And what then? For if he does this justly, it is a benefit, since nothing so deeply offends God as if someone were treated with honors beyond his merit; but if unjustly, again the crime redounds upon him and not upon this man. For he who has suffered something undeservedly, and has borne it bravely, has acquired greater confidence before God. For he who obeys the magistrates does not obey the magistrates, but God, who sanctioned such things by His law; and he who does not obey them resists God. For there is no power, he says, except from God. To rule, and for others to be subjects, and not for all things to be carried on promiscuously, with peoples being tossed hither and thither like waves, is a work of divine wisdom. Therefore, of these also, if they are despised, He is the fiercest avenger. For he will not exact a common penalty D from you if you have spurned these, but by far the greatest; nor will anything save you while you contradict; but you will both undergo the most grievous punishment among men, and you will irritate God more vehemently. For as if you were to deprive a ship of its pilot, you would sink the ship itself; and if you were to draw a leader away from an army, you would have delivered the soldiers bound to the enemies: so if you take away the rulers of cities, we will live a life more alien to reason than the beasts themselves. For what the fastenings of timber are in houses, these are the magistrates in cities. If, therefore, a prince be blameless in all things, then with as much power as he wishes he will be able to punish all who are subject to him, and to pardon them. For it is the part of one man or another not to punish the guilty, and to pardon those who have committed crimes worthy of no forgiveness; and especially if it be a king, against whom the injury is committed. And, in truth, it is also easy to make a city subject through fear; but to bind it to himself, and, so that...
all are ordered to be lovers of his reign, and to persuade them to be well-disposed, is a thing difficult to accomplish; even if one should spend countless wealth, or move countless armies, or do anything whatsoever, he will not easily be able to draw the disposition of so many men toward himself. For nothing so shows one who holds authority as affection for those he governs. For it is not the act of begetting alone that makes a father, but also the love that follows the begetting. And if, where nature is, there is need of love, much more so where grace is. A Indeed, the authority of the priesthood is greater than the royal authority, and it is greater by as much as a king is entrusted with bodies, but a priest with souls. That one releases debts of money, this one of sins; that one compels, this one exhorts; that one has sensible weapons, this one spiritual weapons; that one wages war against barbarians, this one against demons. For this reason, in the Old Covenant, priests anointed kings, and now God places the head under the hands of the priest, instructing us that this one is a greater authority than that; for the lesser is blessed by the greater. For King Uzziah once entered into the temple of the Lord, wishing to offer incense, and Azariah the priest followed behind him; not as though he were going to drive out a king, but as a runaway and a thankless servant, so he came in upon him with severity, just like a noble dog rushing upon a filthy beast, so as to lead it out of the Master’s house. He did not look at the bulk of his authority; he did not listen to Solomon saying, The threat of a king is like the wrath of a lion (Prov. 19:12); but looking toward the true King of the heavens, and fortifying himself with His fear, he thus leaped upon the tyrant. But let us also enter, if it seems good, so that we may see what he debates with the king. It is not permitted to you, he says, Ozziah, to offer incense to the Lord; he did not name him king, since he had already cast himself out of the honor; for he who does sin is a slave, even if he wears ten thousand crowns upon his head; but he who works righteousness, even if he be the last of all, B is more kingly than the king himself. And pay attention to what I say: It was once necessary for a king to be made for the Jews, since the one who had been made before was unworthy. Therefore, Samuel is sent to Jesse, and he says: God has sent me to make a king from your sons. Jesse, hearing "king," thinking it appropriate for the rank to be filled, brings the first son. Drive him away, he says; God did not take pleasure in him. He brings the second; nor this one; he brings the third, nor this one; the fourth, the fifth, the sixth; nor this one. And the choir of sons was exhausted, and the one being sought was not found. He says to him: Have you another son? The father was ashamed; I have one, he says, a small one, of no account, a shepherd. What then? Do you seek to make a king, and do you lead the lesser as better than the better? Man despises man, but God crowns him; For as man shall see, God shall not see; man sees the face, but God sees into the heart (1 Reg. 16:7). Do we not look for the bulk of the body? We desire nobility of soul. And why did God not say by name: "Go, anoint David for me as king," but "one of the sons of Jesse"? So that David might not suffer what Joseph suffered. For just as those, having learned who their king was, plotted against him; so there was fear lest these might do this too. C So the ignorance became the mother of safety for David. David came, therefore, and is anointed with oil, and departed possessing the kingdom, not having put on breastplate, nor shield, nor spears, but the vote of God, which is more powerful than all. And when war called, he departed to see the battle array, and found the barbarian challenging them to single combat, and no one dared to leap forward or go out against him. He stood and said: Who is this uncircumcised one, who has reproached the battle array of the living God? (1 Reg. 17:26). And they say to him: Whence this arrogance to you? And he: I am not armed with arrogance, but with faith; not with a breastplate, but with piety; I do not consider his size, but the emptiness of his understanding; I do not see that the ship is great, but that it has no helmsman. What then of the brothers? Again envy, again jealousy. Upon whom have you left those small sheep? We know the pride of your heart and your wickedness, that you have come down in order to see the war. But he, cutting short the ulcer, departed from them, and, having arrived at the other side of the battle, says: What shall be given to the man who takes away his head? And they bring him to the king. He saw, therefore, the king having fallen, being afraid and trembling, and he says to him: Why has the face of my lord fallen? and in prosperity he confesses servitude. Who is this? Shall I not go and take off his head? What then the king? And how are you able, being a small child, but he is a warrior from his youth? The king disbelieves; David is compelled to tell his achievements: I, he says, was a small child, shepherding the sheep of my father; and when a lion or a bear came, and took a sheep from my flock, I would go out after them, and would snatch them from their mouth, and strike the lion and the bear; and this one shall be as one of those beasts, because he reproached the battle array of the living God. And Saul said to David: Go, and the Lord be with you (1 Reg. 17:34-37). But the king gave him his own weapons, and he could not carry them. Why? D God did not allow this, so that the weapons might not share in the victory of the achievements; so that the king might not say that "My weapons have conquered," he casts off the weapons, and puts on faith; he lets go the stone: the foreigner fell. For not by the nature of the body, but by the power of the Spirit, did he carry off the victory. He ran and took his sword, and cut off his head; and that which is written was fulfilled: In the works of his hands the sinner was ensnared (Ps. 9:17). If, therefore, you crave glory and honor, do not adorn and treat your house or horse, but your soul; whereas now nothing could be more vile than you, having an empty soul, and putting forward the beauty of the house and the horse. But both those and these appear, he says. What do you say? Do you not fear to utter these things, and to count Christ among the horses and the stones? Do you not know that He fashioned/formed both body, and granted a soul, and distributed the whole world; and you do not even return a small thanksgiving to Him? And you indeed, when you have paved a narrow house, demand a reward with great care and study:
and yet, when you enjoy the whole of His creation and inhabit this world, you do not deign to pay back even a small reward? And what excuse could you have? Just as one who throws a stone upward cannot cleave the heavenly body, nor can he reach that height, but instead receives a wound upon his own head as the stone falls back upon the one who threw it, so too, he who blasphemes against that blessed essence of God will never inflict any harm upon Him, since He is far greater and more exalted than to be able to receive any detriment; rather, such a man sharpens a sword against his own head, having become ungrateful toward his Benefactor.
Let those who curiously scrutinize that blessed essence of the Divinity, and who assert that that incomprehensible nature is comprehensible, hear this, so that they may know that a human being cannot behold the essence even of an angel without fear. That holy prophet Daniel, that friend of God, who had great freedom and confidence before Him, fasted for three weeks of days, and ate no desirable bread, and neither wine nor meat entered his mouth, nor was he anointed with ointment (Dan. X, 3). And when his soul was more fit to receive a vision of this kind, having become lighter and more spiritual through the fast, then he beheld the angel, and he says: "My inward parts were turned in my vision, and my strength remained not in me, and my glory was turned into corruption" (Ibid. vv. 16, 17). For though he was a handsome youth, the fear of the angel who was present had rendered him like those who are dying; having dissipated the great beauty of his complexion, and having lost the grace of his comeliness, and having consumed the whole proper color of his countenance, he therefore says: "My glory is turned into corruption." The angel raised him up, therefore; yet he stood trembling, and when the angel began to speak to him, he fell again to the ground. And just as those who are faint with fear, after they have been raised and have come to themselves and opened their eyes, even while we are supporting them and sprinkling their faces with cold water, still often faint again in our very hands, so too it happened to the prophet. For his soul, struck with fear, and not enduring the sight of the presence of his fellow-servant, nor being able to bear that light, was in a tumult, hastening to shake itself free from the bond of the flesh as from some chain; but the latter held him back.
But if Daniel, whom the eyes of lions respected, Daniel, who in a human body surpassed human strength, and who was known by the testimony of his wisdom and justice and many other righteous deeds, did not endure the presence of his fellow-servant, but lay as one dead: what will happen to those who are still so far from the virtue of that just man, and yet curiously scrutinize the Lord of angels Himself, and promise an exact knowledge of His essence—of that supreme and primary essence, I say, which surpasses so many myriads of angels, one of whom Daniel was not able to behold? For just as one who is blind does not perceive the unapproachable rays of the sun in the same way as one who can see, so we do not know the immense nature of God in the same way as the angelic powers; and we know it so much the less insofar as they themselves are purer, wiser, and more perspicacious than human nature: for as much difference as there is between the blind and the one who sees, just so much is there between the angels and us. When, therefore, you hear the prophet saying: "I saw the Lord" (Isa. VI, 4), do not suspect that he saw the essence itself, but rather a certain condescension; and even this, he saw more obscurely than the supernal powers themselves do.
This is also manifest from the apostles. For, he says, "Jesus went up into the mountain, and was transfigured before them" (Matt. XVII, 1, 2). What is, "was transfigured"? He revealed a small portion of the divinity, and showed the indwelling God. "And His face shone as the sun, and His garments became white as the light" (Ibid.). The evangelist wished to show His splendor, and he says, "He shone." Shone how? "He shone," he says, "vehemently." And how vehemently, I ask? "As the sun." As the sun, you ask? Indeed. For what reason? I have no other star so bright, so serene. It was white as snow; I have no other matter whiter. That He did not shine in that way is shown by what follows: "And the disciples fell upon the ground." For if He had shone merely as the sun, the disciples would not have fallen to the ground; for they saw the sun every day, and yet they did not fall: but because He surpassed the sun in splendor by far, and the snow, they therefore, not enduring such a glow, fell to the ground.
But whither shall I turn? I am a man, and I speak to men; I have a terrestrial tongue; I ask God for pardon. For I have not used such words out of any arrogance, but because of the weakness and the natural limitation of our tongue. Be merciful, Lord: for I do not bring forth these words out of pride, but because others are not available; nor do I linger in the insignificance of the word, but I ascend upward as if by the wing of the intellect. It is for this reason that I have also brought these things forward, and have read to you the history of the blessed Daniel, and was showing you how he grew pale, trembled, and was failing in soul, the soul attempting to break apart the bond of the body, so that you might know fully and abundantly, all you who say that God is comprehensible, that no one can endure the sight not only of God, but even of an angel. For just as a dove, tame and gentle, living in some little house, if ever it senses some fear, trembling flies up into the roof, and seeking some exit through the windows, desires to be freed from the trial: so indeed did the soul of that holy man hasten to ascend out of the body, and was rushing to depart. And in truth it would have departed and flown away, and would have left the body empty, had not the angel immediately rescued it from the danger and led it back to its own dwelling. For if that just man, who had such great confidence, did not endure the sight of an angel: what will befall those who are so far inferior to him, and not only do not examine an angel, but curiously scrutinize the very Lord of angels? He tamed the fury of lions (Dan. III); but we cannot overcome even foxes: he tore a dragon through the middle; but we fear even minute reptiles. And if such a great and such a man, seeing an angel coming to him, was seized by a grave vertigo, what excuse will they have who, at...