Homilies on Leviticus

ORIGEN ON LEVITICUS

^A But those who have not understood the difference between the visible Judaism and the intelligible Judaism—that is, between the manifest Judaism and the Judaism that is in secret—those from the godless and most impious heresies have immediately separated themselves from Judaism and from the God who gave these Scriptures; and they have refashioned another god, distinct from the God who gave the Law and the Prophets, distinct from Him who made heaven and earth. ^B But the matter is not so; rather, He who gave the Law also gave the Gospel, and He who made the things that are seen also prepared the things that are not seen. Now, the things that are seen and the things that are not seen have a kinship, and it is a kinship of such a kind that the invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. The things that are seen in the Law and the Prophets also have a kinship toward the things that are not seen, but are understood, in the Law and in the Prophets. Since, therefore, the Scripture itself is constituted, as it were, of a body which is seen, of a soul which is understood and grasped within it, and of a spirit according to the patterns and shadow of the heavenly things;

^A for it is to be mixed with salt, but every sacrifice or gift is to be seasoned with salt. Second, in the place of first fruits, it commands that those sacrifices which are recent, roasted, and well-purified be offered to the Lord. After this, under the same legal context, instructions are given concerning sacrifices of well-being, first from cattle, second from sheep; in these, however, it is permitted, whether in lambs or kids, to offer either females or males, and it prescribes no other animals than these to be offered in sacrifices of well-being. But let us recur a little, and see first of all what it is that it says: "If a man among you offers a gift," as if indeed any other than a man could offer. And surely it would have sufficed to say, "if anyone among you offers a gift": but now it says, "If a man among you offers a gift." In the following, however, it says: "But if a soul offers a gift." Moreover, in the later parts, when the Lord speaks for the second time to Moses and commands regarding sacrifices to be offered for sin, he says thus: "If the priest sins, let him offer such and such." Or if the whole Synagogue sins, or if a prince sins, or if one soul sins: it is commanded to each and every one what they should offer. ^B What then? Do we think this distinction of persons is empty—that one thing is commanded to be offered under the appellation of "man," another under "soul," another under "priest," another indeed under "synagogue," and another even under the title of "prince" or of a "single soul"? I, meanwhile, according to the meagerness of my understanding, believe that in this place the person whom he called "man," and whom he placed first among all for offering a gift to God, is to be understood as the whole human race, and that the person himself who offers the bullock from the herd without blemish is called "man." But see whether this bullock without blemish is not that fattened calf which the father slew for the son who had returned and been restored to him after having perished, and who had squandered his whole substance, and made a great feast, and had joy, so that the angels in heaven rejoiced over one sinner repenting. This man, therefore, who had perished and was found, since he had nothing of his own substance to offer—for he had squandered everything by living luxuriously—found this calf, sent indeed from heaven but coming from the order of the patriarchs and connected through the successions of generations from Abraham; ^C and for that reason he did not say "a calf" and remain silent, so that it might appear to be any calf whatsoever that was commanded, but "a bullock from the herd," that is, coming from the generation of the patriarchs. But a male without blemish. The male is truly such, who knows not the sin which is of female frailty. That male alone, therefore, is the only one without blemish, who "did no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth," and who is offered, accepted against the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle. It is at the door of the tabernacle; not inside the door, but outside the door. For Jesus was outside the door, because "he came unto his own, and his own received him not." Therefore, he did not enter that tabernacle to which he had come, but was offered as a holocaust at its door, because he suffered outside the camp. For those evil tenants also cast out the son of the master of the house who was coming—they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. This, therefore, is what is offered at the door of the tabernacle, accepted against the Lord; and what is so accepted as the sacrifice of Christ, who offered himself to God?

3. And yet, "he shall lay his hand," he says, "upon the head of the sacrifice, and they shall slaughter the bullock against the Lord, and the sons of Aaron the priest shall offer the blood, and they shall pour the blood at the altar in a circuit, which is at the door of the tabernacle of testimony." It can indeed appear that this is said because Annas and Caiaphas were among the sons of Aaron, and all the rest who, having taken counsel against Jesus, pronounced him guilty of death and poured out his blood around the base of the altar of the tabernacle of testimony. ^D For the blood is poured out there where the altar and its base were, just as the Lord himself said: "That a prophet should not perish outside Jerusalem." He therefore also laid his hand upon the head of the bullock: this is, he laid the sins of the human race upon his own head. For he himself is the head of the body of his Church. But perhaps even this does not happen without cause, that when he had said above, "he shall apply it to the door of the tabernacle of testimony," in the later parts he repeats, and says again, "to the altar which is at the door of the tabernacle of testimony," as if it were not sufficient to have designated the same place once in the same narrative. Unless perhaps he wished this to be understood, that the blood of Jesus was not only poured out in Jerusalem, where the altar and its base and the tabernacle of testimony were, but that the same blood also sprinkled the heavenly altar which is in the heavens, where also the Church of the firstborn is, just as the Apostle also says, that he made peace through the blood of his cross, whether the things that are on earth are, or those that are in heaven. [alt-version omitted]

^A Rightly, therefore, is the altar called by a second name, which is at the door of the tabernacle of testimony, because Jesus was offered as a sacrifice not only for those on earth, but also for those in heaven. And here, in truth, for men, he poured out the very corporal material of his blood, but in the heavens, for the ministers who are such as are there, for the priests, he immolated the vital power of his body as a kind of spiritual sacrifice. Do you wish to know that the sacrifice in him was twofold, suitable for those on earth and fitted for those in heaven? The Apostle, writing to the Hebrews, says: "Through the veil, that is to say, his flesh." And again, he interprets the inner veil as heaven, which Jesus has penetrated, that he may stand now before the face of God for us, "always," he says, "living to make intercession for them." If, therefore, two veils are understood, through which Jesus, as High Priest, has entered, consequently it must be understood that the sacrifice is also twofold, through which he has saved both the things on earth and the things in heaven. In short, those things which follow are seen to be more fitted to the heavenly sacrifice than to the earthly.

4. "And they shall flay the burnt offering and cut it limb by limb, and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and shall heap up the wood for the fire, and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put the divided limbs, and the head, and the fat, and the wood which are upon the altar. But the innards and the feet they shall wash in water, and the priest shall place all upon the altar, and it is a sacrifice and an offering of sweet odor to the Lord." It is worth noting how the flesh of the Word of God, which is called the calf here, is flayed and how it is divided limb by limb by the priests. I believe that that priest strips off the hide of the calf offered as a burnt offering and removes the skin by which its limbs are covered, who pulls away the veil of the letter from the Word of God, and lays bare its internal parts, which are the limbs of spiritual intelligence; and these limbs of the inner science of the Word, he does not place in some lowly place, but in a high and holy place, that is, he sets them upon the altar; ^B since he does not reveal the divine mysteries to unworthy men who lead a lowly and earthly life, but to those who are the altar of God, in whom the divine fire always burns, and the flesh is always consumed. Upon these, then, such a calf of the burnt offering, divided limb by limb, is placed. For he divides the calf limb by limb who is able to explain it in order and to discourse with competent distinction regarding what constitutes progress—to have touched the hem of Christ; but truly, to have washed his feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of his head; how much more excellent it is to have anointed his head with myrrh; but also what eminence there is in having reclined upon his chest. To discourse upon the causes of each of these, and some things for beginners, but others indeed for those who already progress ^C in the faith of Christ, and others again to be adapted for those who are already perfect in his knowledge and charity, this is to have divided the calf limb by limb. But he who also knows how to show what the principles of the law were, who has even advanced in the prophets, and what fullness of perfection is held in the Gospels; or who is able to teach with what milk of the Word infants in Christ are to be nourished, and with what savory food those who are infirm in the faith are to be refreshed, and who is the solid and strong food with which the athletes of Christ are to be fattened—who knows how to divide these several things by spiritual reason, that doctor can be seen to be the priest who places upon the altar the burnt offering divided by limbs. He also adds the wood to the altar, by which the fire is animated and burns, he from whom not only concerning the bodily virtues of Christ, but even concerning his divinity, discourse is mingled. For the divinity of Christ is from above, toward which this fire hastens. Fittingly, therefore, has the heavenly fire consumed all these things which were done in the body by the Savior, and it has restored all things to the nature of his divinity. Yet, when the wood is applied, this fire is kindled. For the passion of Christ in the flesh lasted until the wood. But when he was suspended on the wood, the dispensation of the flesh was ended. For rising from the dead, he ascended into heaven, to which his journey the nature of fire shows. Whence the Apostle also said: "And if we have known Christ according to the flesh, but now we know him no longer." For the burnt offering of his flesh, offered through the wood of the cross, joined earthly things to heavenly, and human things to divine. But the word of the precept commands the innards together with the feet to be washed with water, announcing the sacrament of baptism under figurative preaching. For he washes the innards who purges the conscience. He washes the feet who receives the consummation of the sacrament, and knows that he who is clean has no need except to wash his feet, and that no one can have a part with Jesus unless he has washed his feet.

5. But if you also wish to incline these things to a moral place, you have too your calf, which you ought to offer. The calf is your flesh, and indeed a very proud one: which, if you wish to offer as a gift to the Lord, that you may keep it chaste and modest, lead it to the door of the tabernacle, that is, where it may be able to receive the hearing of the divine books. Let your gift be masculine, that it may not know a woman, may reject concupiscence, may flee from fragility, and may not seek anything dissolved or soft. ^D Place also your hand upon your offering, that it may be acceptable to the Lord, and slaughter it before the Lord—that is, place upon it the bridle of continence, and do not remove from it the hand of discipline, just as he placed his hand upon his flesh who said: "I chastise my body and bring it into servitude, lest perhaps when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway." And slaughter it...

^A it against the Lord, mortifying without doubt your members which are upon the earth. But also let the sons of Aaron the priest offer its blood. The priest is in you, and his sons are the mind which is in you and its reasoning power, which are deservedly called priest and son of the priest; for they alone are those who understand God and are capable of the knowledge of God. The divine word therefore wills that you, with rational understanding, offer your flesh in chastity to God, according to what the Apostle says: "A living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, your reasonable service." And this is to offer blood to the altar through the priest or the sons of the priest, when one is made chaste in both body and spirit. For there are others who do indeed offer their flesh as a holocaust, but not through the ministry of a priest. For they do not offer it knowingly, nor according to the law which is in the mouth of the priest; but they are indeed chaste in body, yet in mind they are found to be unchaste. For they are either stained by the concupiscence of human glory, or polluted by the greed of avarice, or fouled by the unhappiness of envy and malice, or vexed by the savagery of raging hatred and anger. Whoever, therefore, are such as these, although they may be chaste in body, yet they do not offer their holocausts through the hands and ministry of the priest. For there is not in them the counsel and prudence which performs the priesthood before God; but they are of those five foolish virgins who were indeed virgins and kept the chastity of the body, yet knew not how to store in their vessels ^C the oil of charity, and peace, and the other virtues, and therefore were excluded from the bridegroom's chamber; because the mere continence of the flesh cannot attain to the Lord's altar if it is abandoned by the other virtues and priestly ministries. And therefore, we who read or hear these things, let us strive for both things: to be chaste in body, upright in mind, clean in heart, improved in morals, to make progress in works, to be wakeful in knowledge, faith, and actions, to be perfect in deeds and understanding, so that we may deserve to be conformed to the likeness of the sacrifice of Christ, through our Lord Jesus Christ himself, through whom to God the Father Almighty, with the Holy Spirit, is glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY II.

1. The earlier discussion from the beginning of Leviticus taught us the law of the sacrifices 18 which are called gifts, how if a man should offer a gift, he should offer it from animals, that is, from oxen, or sheep, or even goats; but if he should offer from birds, he should bring a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. If, however, a soul should offer a gift, it should offer fine flour from the oven, that is, cakes of fine flour without leaven, or fine flour mingled with oil from a frying pan or even a gridiron. But if he offers a sacrifice of firstfruits, of the firstfruits of the crops 19, he wills that the fine flour be fresh, that is to say, new, and also that it be scorched by fire, and broken in half, so that it might not be much diminished, because they are firstfruits, ^B and that it be well cleansed. He wills also that oil and frankincense be placed upon it, and thus it be offered. But in truth, if anyone 20 should offer a saving sacrifice, he is bidden to offer from oxen, or even from sheep or goats, and except for these, no other kind of sacrifice is substituted in saving offerings. For for sins not voluntary 21, an animal is in general commanded to be offered, and after this it proceeds through diverse and various persons: and it is commanded, if indeed it be a pontiff who has sinned, and he offers a sacrifice for sin, that he offer a calf as a holocaust, but not by the rite by which he offered it as a gift. For of this he shall place only the fat, and the two kidneys with their suet, and the fat which covers the inner parts, upon the altar of holocausts. And concerning its blood also, dipping his finger, he sprinkles it seven times before the Lord, and smears with it the horns of the altar of incense. But the remaining flesh with the skin, and internal organs, and dung, he bids to be burned with fire outside the camp in a clean place. It is indeed to be observed that in the sin of the pontiff, the lawgiver did not add that he sinned through ignorance or not by will. For ignorance cannot fall 22 upon him who has been advanced that he might teach others. But if it should be the sin of the whole Synagogue, the Synagogue is nonetheless bidden to offer a calf as a holocaust. But in the sin of the Synagogue it is said: "If any one should be ignorant, and the word be hidden from the eyes of the Synagogue, and they should do one of all the commandments of the Lord which ought not to be done." From which it appears that even the whole Synagogue can sin through ignorance. Which the Lord also confirms in the Gospels when He says 49: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." But if it should be a prince who offers a host for sin...

he is ordered to offer a goat from the flock, not as a burnt offering, but only that the priest may place of its blood upon the altar and offer all its fat ^A on the altar; but the rest should remain for the priests to eat, with only the blood poured out at the base of the altar. But if it is an *anima*—that is, one of the common people—who offers for sin, it says let him offer a female goat: by the same rite, clearly, by which we said the goat was sacrificed above. But if he is not able, it says 50, "and his means" cannot attain to a goat or a sheep, let him offer a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. And if he cannot find even this, he is commanded to offer a tenth part of an ephah (24) of fine flour without oil and without incense. These individual things have indeed been recited by us in the previous lesson; but their explanation, since we were excluded by time, was omitted, and I do not think it absurd now to remind our studious hearers—and those who also remember the previous lessons—of it, although we are urged ^B toward the things that were recently recited.

2. And first, I want to see what this difference is, that it says at one time that a man offers, at another an *anima*, at another a pontiff, at another the Synagogue, at another a prince, at another one soul from the people of the land. And I think that "man" must be understood as someone who, having been made to the image and likeness of God, lives rationally. This man offers a calf as a gift to God when he has conquered the pride of the flesh; a sheep, when he has corrected irrational and foolish impulses; a kid, when he has overcome lasciviousness. He also offers a pair of turtledoves when he is not [living] alone, but has joined his mind to the word of God as to a true (25) spouse; for this kind of bird is said to keep one chaste union. He also offers two young pigeons when he himself has also understood the mystery by which the eyes of the bride are said to be "like doves unto the fullness of waters, and her neck like a turtledove" 51. These, therefore, are the gifts of the "man" as we have explained above. ^C But the gifts of the *anima* it describes as far inferior. This *anima* has neither a calf, nor a sheep, nor a kid to offer to God; nay, it does not even find a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. It has only fine flour; from it alone it offers unleavened bread from the oven, or work made from it in a frying pan, or mixed with oil on a gridiron. Whence (26) it seems to me that this which is called an *anima* is to be understood as that man whom Paul names the "natural" (*animalem*) man: who, even if he is not urged by sins and is not headlong into vices, does not yet have anything spiritual in himself, and which might be figuratively considered the flesh of the Word of God. For thus the apostle Paul himself says concerning him 52, that "the natural man perceives not the things that are of the Spirit of God. For it is ^D foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is judged spiritually. But the spiritual man examines all things." Therefore, this one who is named *anima* cannot offer all things, because he cannot examine all things; but he offers only fine flour and unleavened loaves—that is, this common life, for example, placed in agriculture, or in navigating, or in some other uses of common life—yet he also offers a gift to God, even if he is said to offer only fine flour sprinkled with oil. For every soul needs the oil of divine mercy, nor can anyone escape the present life unless the oil of heavenly compassion is present to him. In the second place, the offering of first fruits—that is, from the beginnings of the harvests—is commanded. Which, if you remember well, the law commands to be done on the day of Pentecost. In which a shadow was clearly given to them, but the truth reserved for us. For on the day of Pentecost, the Church received the first fruits of the coming Holy Spirit with the sacrifice of prayers offered. And these were truly recent, because it was new, whence they were said to be filled with new wine 53. "Roasted with fire": for fiery tongues rested over each individual. "And in the middle broken": for the meanings were broken when the letter was separated from the spirit. "And well purified": for the presence of the Holy Spirit purifies all filth, granting the remission of sins. The oil of mercy is also poured into this sacrifice, and the incense of sweetness, through which we are made the good odor of Christ. After these things, it speaks of the salutary sacrifices, which are offered from animals, that is, oxen, or goats, and sheep, and nothing more is substituted for these to be sacrificed, not even birds (28), which had been substituted above in the offering of gifts. For he who offers salutary hosts is without doubt already conscious of his own salvation; and therefore, whoever has arrived at salvation, it is necessary that he offer what is great and perfect. For thus the Apostle also says 54: "Strong meat is for the perfect." Then the order of sacrifices is directed to offering victims for sins, in which it is said in the second place 55: "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Any soul that shall have sinned before the Lord, not willingly." It rightly says *soul* (*anima*) that it describes as sinning. For it would not have called it *spirit*, which it would say would sin (29). But it would not call this person a *man*, in whom the image of God would by no means remain if sin intervened. It is not, therefore, that spirit which sins: "For the fruit of the spirit is" (as the Apostle describes 56) "charity, joy, peace, patience," and other things similar to these, which are also called fruits of life. Finally, he says elsewhere 57: "He who sows in the flesh, of the flesh shall reap corruption; and he who sows in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting." Since, therefore, another is a man. But that...

which is offered as a gift upon the altar of burnt offering is consumed. But that which is for sin, is ordered to be burned outside the camp, along with the hide, and the intestines, and the dung, while only the fats and kidneys are offered upon the altar. We shall attempt to divide and discern these individual matters, although it be above our powers and above your hearing, yet we shall attempt to search out some occasions for you to understand, and to bring them into the middle. See, therefore, lest perhaps Jesus, whom Paul says has "made peace through his blood not only in things which are on earth, but also in things which are in heaven," be the selfsame calf, which in heaven was offered not for sin, ^A but as a gift, but on earth, where sin reigned from Adam even unto Moses, was offered for sin. And this is what it means to have suffered "outside the camp," outside those camps, I think, which Jacob had seen, the celestial camps of the angels of God, of which it is written in Genesis: "And looking up, Jacob saw the camps of God in array, and the angels of God met him, and Jacob said when he saw them, These are the camps of God." Outside those celestial camps, therefore, is this earthly place in which we dwell, in which Christ suffered in the flesh. But as for what is said, that it is burned with the dung and the intestines, see, lest perhaps this body of human nature be figuratively called dung in comparison with celestial bodies. For it is earth, and was taken from the earth. But what else does that basket of dung, which is sent to the roots of the fig tree that is to be cut down, show other than the mystery of the dispensation undertaken in the body? And yet, the intestines are not said to be lacking. For although he assumed the lowly form of a servant, yet the fullness of divinity dwelt in him. Although these things have been discussed boldly, ^B yet because the hearing of all the faithful must always be nourished for greater things, the same also must be understood concerning the calf of the Synagogue.

3. But these things have been spoken in a general way; now, however, the species are divided. "If the priest," he says, "who has been anointed, shall sin, so as to make the people sin, he shall offer for his sin a calf from the herd without blemish to the Lord." Terror and mercy at the same time are shown in the divine laws. Is it therefore safe for anyone, not even for the priest? And what priest? He himself who has been anointed, he himself who lights the divine altars with sacred fires, who offers gifts and salutary sacrifices to God; he who, as a certain mediator, intervenes ^C as a reconciler between God and men, not even he, I say, remains immune from the contagion of sin. But look at the mercy of God, and know it more fully, with Paul teaching. For he himself, writing to the Hebrews, says: "For every high priest taken from among men, is appointed for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins." And a little later: "The law," he says, "constitutes men priests who have infirmity, so that they may be able to offer as for their own, so also for the infirmity of the people." You see, therefore, the dispensation of divine wisdom. He established priests, not those who could in no wise sin—otherwise they would not be men—but those who ought indeed to imitate him who did not sin; but to offer sacrifices first for their own, ^D and afterward for the sins of the people. But what is especially to be wondered at in such a priest? Not that he does not sin, which is impossible, but that he recognizes and understands his sin. For no one ever amends himself who does not think he has sinned. At the same time, because he who is stung by the consciousness of his own infirmity can more easily indulge those who sin. What, then, is the priest's offering for sin? A calf, he says, for a burnt offering. We find a second offering by the priest: a calf for a burnt offering, once for sin.

4. In the moral sense, however, this priest can be seen as the quality of piety and religion, which in us, through the prayers and supplications which we pour forth to God, acts as a sort of priesthood. If this in any way fails, it immediately causes all the people of good works that is within us to sin. For we do not perform anything of a right work when it has declined into wickedness.

^A Since the prince—and this can be understood as the power of reason which is within us—if it sins and we do something foolish, that sentiment of the Savior must be feared by us, which says: "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has become insipid, it is worth nothing except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." Therefore, this one also has his sacrifice. But even if a single soul, He says, should sin, she shall likewise offer a female goat, according to that substitution of sacrifices which we mentioned above. But perhaps the hearers of the Church may say: "Things were done better with the ancients than with us, for when sacrifices were offered through a different rite, pardon was provided for those who sinned." Among us, there is only one pardon for sins, which is given through the grace of the laver at the beginning. No mercy or pardon is granted to one who sins after this. ^B Indeed, it is fitting that the discipline of the Christian, for whom Christ died, should be more rigorous. For them, sheep, goats, oxen, and birds were slaughtered, and blood was sprinkled: for you, the Son of God was slaughtered, and does it still delight you to sin? And yet, so that these things might not cast down your spirits to despair rather than raise them up for virtue, you have heard how many are the sacrifices for sins in the Law; now hear how many are the remissions of sins in the Gospels. That is the first, by which we are baptized for the remission of sins. The second remission is in the passion of martyrdom. The third is that which is given for alms. For the Savior says: "Nevertheless, give alms, and behold all things are clean for you." The fourth remission of sins comes to us through this: that we also forgive the sins of our brothers. For thus the Lord ^C and our Savior Himself says: "If you forgive your brothers their sins from your heart, your Father will also forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive your brothers from your heart, neither will your Father forgive you"; and as He taught us to say in prayer: "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." The fifth remission of sins is when one converts a sinner from the error of his way. For thus the divine Scripture says: "He who makes a sinner turn from the error of his way shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins." The sixth is also the remission made through the abundance of love, just as the Lord Himself says: "Amen I say to you, many sins are forgiven her, because she has loved much." And the Apostle says: "For love covers a multitude of sins." There is yet a seventh, though it is hard and laborious, the remission of sins through penitence, when the sinner washes his bed with tears, and his tears become his bread day and night, and when he is not ashamed to tell his sin to the priest of the Lord and to seek medicine, according to Him who says: "I have declared..."

^A against myself my injustice to the Lord, and You have forgiven the impiety of my heart." In which is also fulfilled that which the apostle James says: "If any one is sick, let him call the presbyters of the Church, and let them lay hands upon him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and if he has been in sins, they shall be forgiven him." And so you, too, when you come to the grace of baptism, have offered a calf, because you are baptized into the death of Christ. But when you are led to martyrdom, you have offered a goat, because you have slain the devil, the author of sin. But when you have given alms, and have spent yourself for the needy with solicitous piety and emotional compassion, you have burdened the sacred altar with the fat of kids. For if you have forgiven your brother's sin from your heart, and have laid aside the swelling of anger, and have gathered into yourself a mind meek and simple, be confident that you have offered a ram, or have offered a lamb in sacrifice. Furthermore, if you are instructed by divine readings for meditation like a dove, and by watching in the law of the Lord day and night, you convert the sinner from his error, and having abandoned wickedness, have recalled him to the simplicity of the dove, and by adhering to the saints, have made him imitate the company of the turtledove, you have offered a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons to the Lord. But if that which is greater than hope and faith, charity, shall abound in your heart, so that you love your neighbor not only as yourself, but as he ^B who said: "Greater charity than this no man has, than that he lay down his soul for his friends," showed, know that you have offered fine flour baked in the oil of charity, without any leaven of malice and wickedness, in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. But if in the bitterness of your tears you have been consumed by mourning, weeping, and lamentation, if you have macerated your flesh, and by fasts and much abstinence have made it dry, and have said, "For my bones are scorched like a frying pan," then know that you have offered the sacrifice of fine flour from the frying pan or from the gridiron: and in this way you are found to offer more truly and more perfectly, according to the Gospel, sacrifices which Israel can no longer offer according to the law.

^A 5. But let us see what must be thought even of those things which have just been read: "If, however," he says, "a soul shall sin unwillingly from the people of the land, by doing one of all the commandments of the Lord which ought not to be done, and shall offend, and the sin which he has committed becomes known to him, he shall bring his gift, a goat from the goats, a female without blemish, for the sin which he has committed." And after these things he recounted the whole ritual of the sacrifice, as we explained above. What is to be thought of the soul which he says offers having been made under sin, we explained in the preceding pages as best we could: but what he added in this place, saying: "If a soul shall have sinned from the people of the land," does not seem to me to be idle. For who would doubt that what the law says is said to the souls, or to the people, who are on the earth? What, therefore, was it necessary, that to this which he said: "If one soul shall have sinned," he should add: "from the people of the land"? But it must be seen, lest perhaps this soul which has sinned, is said to be from the people of the land in distinction to another people which is not of the earth. For this statement can by no means apply to Him who said: "But our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus." How, therefore, could I rightly call that ^C soul from the people of the land, which has nothing in common with the earth, but is wholly in heaven, and is conversant there where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God, to which also it desires to return, and to be with Christ, for it is much better, but it is necessary to remain in the flesh for our sake? For this soul that sins is of the people of the land, doing one of all the commandments of the Lord which ought not to be done. For a long time a certain stupor held me astonished at this discourse. For I do not see how it is consistent that a soul has sinned, and has done one of the commandments of the Lord which ought not to be done. For if it is a commandment of the Lord, how should it not have been done, since surely the commandments of the Lord are given for this purpose, that they should be done? And how is it said here that a soul has sinned which has done one of the commandments of the Lord which ought not to be done? And perhaps to some it will appear to be an error of phrasing made by the interpreters: but to me, inquiring more curiously, it has been discovered that all inter-

interpretations should be sought according to a deeper understanding. As far as it occurs to us, this seems to be the solution. Some of the Lord's commands were given so that they might be done, others so that they might not be done. But human necessity demanded that even those things which should not be done be brought forward as inserted within them. For example, to draw an example from these very sacrifices we now have in hand, the lamb is ordered to be immolated at Pascha, not because God truly required the sacrifice of a lamb every single year, but because it was to designate ^A that the Lamb, who takes away the sin of the world, must be immolated. This, therefore, He willed to be done; that He did not will. For thus He says through Isaiah: "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of the holocausts of rams, and the fat of lambs, and the blood of goats and bulls I do not desire." Have you heard how He does not want the sacrifice of rams, nor the fat of lambs? Yet He gave a command as to how either their bulls or lambs should be offered. But he who understands the law spiritually, seeks to offer these things spiritually. If one, however, according to the appearance of a carnal command, has offered, this is one soul from the people of the earth who has sinned unwillingly by doing one of all the commandments of the Lord which should not be done, and has transgressed, and for this reason He adds in the following: "And when the sin shall have become known to him which he has committed, he shall bring his gift before the Lord." For the soul ought to bring a gift when it has become known to it that God does not seek a carnal sacrifice: because "the sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit." Therefore, his sin is made known to him when he has learned from the Lord saying: ^B "I desire mercy rather than sacrifice"; and when he has acknowledged to immolating the sacrifice of praise in the Church, and paying his vows to the Most High, through Christ our Lord, to whom be praise and glory forever and ever. Amen.

From the Commentaries of Origen on Leviticus. — From the second homily on Leviticus, immediately from the beginning.

Not understanding the difference between visible Judaism and intelligible Judaism, that is, between manifest Judaism and Judaism which is in secret, those coming from the most godless and unholy heresies immediately broke away from Judaism, and from God who gave these Scriptures and the entire law, and fashioned another God apart from Him who gave the law and the prophets, and who created heaven and ^C earth. But it is not so; rather, He who gave the law gave also the Gospel; He who made the things that are seen gave also the things that are not seen. And things that are seen and things that are not seen have such kinship between them, so that the invisible things of God are seen when understood from the creation of the world by the things that have been made. There is a kinship also between the visible things of the law and the prophets and the invisible, but intelligible, things of the law and the prophets. Since, therefore, the Scripture itself is composed, as it were, of a body which is seen, and of a soul which is understood and grasped within it, and of a spirit according to the patterns and shadow of heavenly things, come, let us call upon Him who made for the Scripture both a body, a soul, and a spirit—a body for those before us, a soul for us, and a spirit for those who in the future age shall inherit everlasting life, and are to come into the ^D heavenly places and the truths of the law—let us search not the letter, but the soul in the present instance. And if we are able, we shall ascend also to the spirit, according to the discourse concerning the sacrifices that have been read.

HOMILY III. MARGINAL NOTE: OF ORIGEN.

1. Of the sacrifices which are offered for those who have sinned through ignorance, or who have not sinned willingly, the discourse speaks. Hence, also, in what preceded, when we were speaking of the sacrifices of the pontiffs (58), we observed that it was not written concerning him that he sinned through ignorance. But if anyone well remembers those things which were said, he can tell us that the sacrifice which we said the pontiff offered for sin, we established as holding the figure of Christ; and it will not seem ^B fitting that Christ, who, even according to history, edifies and teaches us, and knows no sin, should be said to have offered a sacrifice for a sin (59), although the matter is carried out through a mystery, and the same one is set as both pontiff and host. See, therefore, if we are able to approach this in this way: that Christ did not indeed commit sin, yet He was made sin for us; while He who was in the form of God deigned to be in the form of a servant; while He who is immortal dies, and He who is impassable suffers, and He who is invisible is seen; and because for us men either death or the rest of all fragility was superimposed upon the flesh from the condition of sin: He Himself also, who was made in the likeness of men and found in habit as a man, without doubt offered to God as a host—for the sin which He had taken upon Himself ^C from us, because He bore our sins—an immaculate calf, that is, uncontaminated flesh. But what shall we do about that which is joined in what follows? For where it says: «If indeed the pontiff who is anointed shall have sinned,» there it is added: «That he might make the people to sin, let him offer for his sin.» How, then, will it be fitting that, because through His own flesh, which He assumed from us, Jesus was Himself made sin, he should have made the people to sin? Listen also to this, if perhaps we can answer with some consistency (60). The Passion of Christ confers life indeed upon believers, but death upon those who do not believe. For although salvation is for the Gentiles through His cross, and justification, yet for the Jews it is destruction and condemnation. For so it is also written in the Gospel (61): «Behold, this one is born for the ruin and resurrection of many.» And in this way, through His sin, that is, through the flesh acted upon by the cross, in which He had taken up our sins, He indeed set us believers free from sin; but He made the non-believing people to sin, to whom, to the evil of incredulity, there was added also the impiety of sacrilege (62). And in this way, this pontiff made the people to sin through his own sin, while ^D placed in the flesh, he could be held and killed. For let us suppose, for example, if the Lord of majesty had not come in the flesh, He would not have argued against the Jews, He would not have been heavy for them even to live, He could not indeed have been held, nor delivered to death; without doubt His blood would never have come upon them and upon their children. But because He came in the flesh, and was made sin for us, and could suffer these things, therefore He is said to have made the people to sin, who made them able to sin in Himself.

2. But let us see now (63) what that soul does which hears the voice of an oath, and is a witness, or which has seen something and is conscious of it, and does not indicate it; from which it received even itself his sin, without doubt, who unjustly did something or swore. This ^A soul, which hears the voice of an oath, and is a witness, or which has seen something and is conscious of it, and does not indicate it; from which it received even itself his sin, without doubt, who unjustly did something or swore. This [is the subject], so that we may never pollute our consciences in the sins of another, that we may not offer consent to those acting maliciously. But I say "consent," not only by acting likewise, but also by keeping silent about things which have been done illicitly. But do you wish to know that these things also agree with evangelical precepts? The Lord Himself says (86): «If you shall see your brother sin, argue him between you and him alone. If he shall hear you, you have gained your brother. But if he shall not hear you, take with you two or three others. But if he shall not hear them, tell the Church. But if he shall not hear the Church, let him be to you as a pagan and a publican.» But the evangelical precept is given more perfectly in that which established the mode and discipline of judging sin (64). For He does not want you, if perhaps you shall see the sin of your brother, to fly immediately to the public, and proclaim it everywhere, and divulge the sins of others: which would be indeed not of one correcting, but rather of one defaming. "Alone," He says, "between you and him alone, correct him." For where he who has sinned (65) shall see that the mystery is being kept for him, he himself will also keep the sense of shame for his amendment. But if he sees that he is being defamed, immediately he will turn to the impudence of denying; and not only will you not have corrected the sin, but you will also have doubled it. Learn, therefore, from the Gospels the order. First, He says, "alone between you and him." Second, "take with you two or three others." Why two or three? «For in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word stand (87).» Since indeed He commands the correction to be deferred to the Church in the third place, He wants two or three witnesses to be taken in the second place; in whose presence, once corrected, if he does not want to amend himself, when his sin has been brought to the Church, he can be refuted with the two witnesses taken along: for it happens frequently that, as one is willing to fulfill the evangelical mandate, he may seem to be a calumniator if he brings the crime to the Church, and fails

to provide witnesses. Lest this occur, he therefore ordered two or ^A three witnesses to be brought in the second convention. Since, therefore, such is the mandate of the Gospel, and the law commands that if one remains silent, he shall bear his sin [Lev. 5:1], it must be known that if anyone sees those things that are in the transgression of his neighbor, and either does not report them according to the rule given above, or, if called as a witness, does not speak what is true, he himself shall take upon himself the sin which the one whom he conceals has committed, and the punishment of the committed act shall recoil upon the one who is privy to it. Sufficiently, therefore, in this chapter, the text of the history itself has edified us. I believe, however, that even that soul which reads what is written in the law of God, because "The Lord has sworn, and He will not repent, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek," [Ps. 109:4] hears the voice of the oath, as the Scribes and Pharisees do, who always meditate on these things but are silent, and are unwilling to declare them to the people, lest they bear witness to the coming of Christ. Therefore, they shall receive sin, in that by not declaring to the people what things are true, they cause Israel to sin.

3. After these things, another law is promulgated: "The soul," it says, [Lev. 5:2] "who has touched any unclean thing, or the carcass of unclean cattle, and it has escaped his notice, and he is defiled, or if he has touched the uncleanness of man, from every uncleanness by which he may be defiled, etc." These things are indeed observed among the Jews quite indecently and uselessly. For why should one be considered unclean who touches, for the sake of argument, a dead animal, or the body of a deceased human? What if it is the body of a prophet? What if [it is the body] of a patriarch, or even the body of Abraham ^B himself? What if one touches the bones of Samuel? Will he be unclean? What if one touches the bones of Elisha, which even raise the dead? Will he who touches them be unclean, and do the bones of the prophet make even that person, whom they raise from the dead, unclean? See how inconvenient the Judaic interpretation is. But let us first see what it is "to touch," and what is the touch that makes one unclean. The Apostle says: "It is good for a man not to touch a woman." [1 Cor. 7:1] This touch is unclean; for this is that which the Lord said in the Gospel: "If anyone looks at a woman to lust after her, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart." [Matt. 5:28] For the vice of concupiscence touched his heart, and his soul became unclean. If anyone, therefore, touches any thing in this way, that is, either through the concupiscence of a woman, or through the desire for money, or by any other desire of sin, he has touched an unclean thing, and is defiled. You ought therefore, if you have touched any such thing, to know how you may offer sacrifice, according to those things which we have mentioned above, so that you may be able to be made clean. Do you wish me to show you which is the soul that touched an unclean thing, and became unclean, and again touched a clean thing, and became clean? It is that one who suffered an issue of blood, and spent all her substance on physicians, nor could she profit anything, ^C having been devolved into this through the uncleanness of sin. For she had touched sin, and for that reason had received the scourge of the flesh. But after she touched the hem of Jesus with full faith, her flow of blood ceased, and suddenly she was made clean, who for such a length of time had lived unclean. And just as when she had touched the Lord and Savior, He Himself said, "Who touched me? For I perceived that power had gone out from me;" [Luke 8:46] that power, without doubt, which had healed the woman and made her clean: so it is to be understood that if anyone touches [or has touched] sin, a certain malignant power goes out from the sin itself, which makes him who touched it unclean, and this is truly to have touched an unclean thing.

By similar reasoning, one must also speak concerning the carcass of a man, or the carcass of a clean or unclean animal. For the carcass of a man is touched by he who either follows or imitates someone who is dead in his sins. But because the differences of individuals must be sought, let us examine them one by one. The carcass of a man, as we said above, we can call that which the Apostle says to the Corinthians: "I wrote," he says, [1 Cor. 5:9] "to you in the epistle, not to mix with fornicators; not, of course, with the fornicators of this world, or with the greedy, or with the rapacious, or with idolaters, otherwise you ought to have gone out of this world. But now I have written to you not to mix, if any brother is named a fornicator, or unclean, or greedy, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or rapacious, with such a one not even to take food." To touch the carcass of a man, therefore, is this: to have shown oneself his associate, at least in food, who, having been made a man in Christ, has again died in sins. For that widow also, of whom the Apostle says: "who lives in pleasures is dead while she lives," [1 Tim. 5:6] can be called the carcass of a person. But even the carcasses of animals, which are in the Church, must nevertheless be sought. If any of the simpler people, because they have done nothing of prudence, wallow even in the filth of sins, if anyone follows them, or touches them with that touch which we explained above, he has touched the carcass of animals. But that the Church has also animals, hear how it is said in the Psalms: "You will save, O Lord, both men and beasts." [Ps. 35:7] Those, therefore, who pursue the study of the Word of God and a rational way of life, are called men. But those who live without such studies and do not seek the exercises of knowledge, yet are faithful, are indeed animals, but are called clean ones. For just as there are certain men of God, so there are certain sheep of God. For it is written that Moses was not a sheep of God, but a man of God. And Elijah was not a sheep of God, but a man of God. For thus he himself says: "If I am a man of God, let fire descend from heaven and consume you." [4 Reg. 1:10] ^D

and fifty of yours." But do you wish ^A to hear about the sheep of God? It is said through the prophet: "My sheep are holy sheep," says the Lord. And again the Savior says in the Gospel: "My sheep hear my voice." And I do not think he would have said this of men, because it is not men who hear my voice, but sheep. But he who has ears to hear, let him hear these things—in how much different a way the sheep hear the voice, while men hear his word. These, therefore, are animals that are clean indeed on account of Christ, but are carcasses on account of sin. If anyone touches these—that is, if anyone has followed after in sin—he will be unclean. And if anyone touches the carcass of a man of this kind—that is, of one who was living according to reason first, and exercising himself in the word of God, but afterward fell into sin—if anyone follows or imitates him, he touches the carcass of a man, and he will be unclean. But if you also touch that which is caught by a wild beast, you will be unclean. What is this wild beast? Is it a lion or a wolf, which ravishes men or cattle? That, I believe, is the wild beast of which the apostle Peter says: "Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, strong in faith." And again, of whom the apostle Paul says: "For there will be ravening wolves after my departure, not sparing the flock." If, therefore, you see one caught by these wild beasts, do not follow him, do not touch him, lest you also be made unclean. There are, furthermore, other unclean animals, the carcass of which it is forbidden to touch. Unclean animals are men who are outside of Christ, in whom there is neither reason nor any religion. If, therefore, you see the carcasses of all these—that is, their sins—the legislator tells you: do not touch, do not be defiled, do not handle. And these are the uncleannesses which are deservedly to be fled. But do not shun the touch of a man even if he be a dead body, to which rather a religious burial should be rendered. Those are Judaic and useless fables, having indeed a show of piety but denying its power. The first law, therefore, is given concerning uncleannesses: if anyone has been a witness of some oath or transgression and has not reported it, and has thereby been made unclean in a certain way, even he himself, by participation in the sin. The second law is that by which it is forbidden to touch any unclean thing or carcass.

^B any of these things, let him confess the sin which he has committed, and offer for those things which he has sinned, a female from the sheep, etc. Indeed, if I have spoken with my lips, or have sworn to do good and do not do it, I have become guilty of sin, the difficulty is not in showing; 196 but how I have sinned if I should swear or declare that I will do evil and I do not do it, it is difficult to express in words. For it seems absurd, for instance, that if I say in anger that I will kill a man, and I do not do it, lest I seem to perjure myself or to deceive, I should be compelled to fulfill a work which I promised rashly and illicitly. Let us inquire, therefore, what is the matter in which, if we promise that we will do evil and we do not do it, we sin; but if we should do it, we are excused from sin, so that the truth of the commandment may reasonably stand. As far as it seems to be understood in this place, to do evil is to oppose someone and not to indulge him so that he may do what he wills. And so we also, when we come to God and vow to him that we will serve him in chastity, we speak with our lips and swear that we will chastise our flesh, or do evil to it, and reduce it to servitude, that we may be able to make our spirit safe. For thus also he said that he swore, who says: "I have sworn, and determined to keep all your commandments." Therefore, because it is the voice of the flesh which says: "For not what I will, do I do, but what I hate, that I do," it is without doubt afflicted by the spirit and constrained; for it resists and fights against the spirit, and unless evil is done to it, so that it is afflicted and weakened, the spirit cannot say: "When I am weak, then I am powerful." To this flesh, therefore, resisting and fighting against the spirit, if anyone has sworn and declared that he will do evil, and afflict and macerate it, and has not done so, he is guilty of sin, in that he swore to torment his flesh and to bring it under servitude, and did not. But by the same oath, he decides to do good to the spirit. For in what he does evil to the flesh, he does good to the spirit. If, therefore, anyone has sworn this and has not done it, he is made guilty of sin. But do you wish to know that it is not possible for good to be done to one of them unless you do evil to the other? Hear also the Lord himself saying: "I will kill and I will make to live." What does God kill? The flesh, indeed. And what does he make to live? The spirit, without doubt. And again in the following he says: "I will strike and I will heal." What does he strike? The flesh. What does he heal? The spirit. Truly so that the one may fail, and the other may progress; so that he may make you mortified in the flesh, but vivified in the spirit; lest perhaps you also serve the law of God in your mind, but, if the flesh has not been mortified, you be constrained by the law of sin. If, therefore, one ^C animates, he says, "that has sworn, speaking with his lips to do evil, or to do good, according to all things which anyone speaks with an oath, and it has escaped him, and he has known it, and has sinned one"

^A of those things, let him declare the sin which he has committed. There is in this some wonderful secret, that He commands us to declare our sin. For all things that we do must be declared and brought into the public, in every sort. If we have done anything in secret, if we have committed anything in speech alone, or even within the secrets of our thoughts, it is necessary that all be published, that all be brought out; and brought out by him who is both the accuser of sin and its inciter. For he himself now instigates us to sin, and he himself also accuses us when we have sinned. If, therefore, we anticipate him in this life, and become our own accusers, we escape the wickedness of the devil, our enemy and accuser. For thus the prophet also says ^B elsewhere: "Say thou," he says, "thine iniquities first, that thou mayest be justified." Does he not clearly show the mystery of which we are treating, when he says: *Say thou first*? So that he may show you that you ought to anticipate him who is prepared to accuse. "Do you, therefore," he says, "speak first, lest he anticipate you"; because if you speak first and have offered the sacrifice of repentance, according to what we have said above must be offered, and have delivered your flesh to destruction, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord, it will also be said to you, since you have received evil things in your life, but now find rest here. But David also speaks by the same Spirit ^C in the Psalms, and says: "I have made my iniquity known, and my sin I have not covered. I said, I will declare against myself my injustice, and thou hast forgiven the impiety of my heart." See, therefore, that to declare sin merits the remission of sin. For the devil, being anticipated in the accusation, will not be able to accuse us further; and if we ourselves are our own accusers, it redounds to our salvation; but if we wait to be accused by the devil, that accusation results in our punishment; for he will have companions in Gehenna whom he has convicted as partners in crime.

5. Now there will be much in setting forth the rites and varieties of the sacrifices, and they are of work far different from this word, which the common crowd understands in a general audience. But that we may seem to touch upon a few points in passing, almost every sacrifice that is offered has some form and image ^D of Christ. For in Him is every sacrifice recapitulated, in such a way that after He was offered, all the sacrifices in which they had been prefigured in type and shadow ceased; concerning which, as we were able in what went before, we showed how the bull calf offered by the high priest, whether as a gift or for sin, had His form. But the fats that are offered in the gift, covering the inward parts and adhering to the kidneys, can be understood as that holy soul of His, which covered—that is, veiled—the secrets of His divinity; but it imposes the nature of the flesh—which had been purely taken from us and held together as a medium placed between flesh and God—to be deified, to be sanctified, to be illuminated by the sacred altars and divine fires, and to be preserved with Him to the heavens. As for the kidneys delivered to the fires, who would doubt that they indicate there were no stirrings of the genital parts in Christ? But that the priest is mentioned to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice seven times before the Lord, the power of the Holy Spirit of sevenfold grace is clearly designated under the mystery. The four horns of the altar, which are smeared with blood, indicate that Christ’s passion is referred to the four Gospels, which is offered by the wing of the liver. In the liver, anger is strangled. In the wing, the swift and rapid force of fury is shown. But the remaining blood, which is poured out at the base of the altar, I think designates the form of that grace by which, in the last days, after the fullness of the Gentiles has entered in, all of Israel that remains, being placed at last as at the base of the altar, will itself also receive the shedding of Christ’s blood. Concerning the lambs and goats, the turtledoves and pigeons, but also the fine flour sprinkled in oil, or baked in unleavened loaves, as much as the matter could allow, it has been said above.

6. Let us see now what is proposed concerning

HOPES FOR THE SIN OFFERING

^A if the Lord deems us worthy, whether to open our eyes to see or your ears of the heart to hear, we shall inquire what the sense of the legislator, covered by mysteries, may mean for him. And first, indeed, let us see what this very thing that has been recited is according to the letter. For it seems to speak of those in whose hands holy things have been entrusted, that is, those which have been offered among the gifts of the Lord: for instance, vows and offerings which are offered in the Churches of God for the uses of the saints and the ministry of the priests, or which are offered for the necessity of the poor by devout and religious minds. If any one should subtract from these by any presumption, the law decrees that if he has recalled that he has sinned and of his own accord has received compunction of heart – for as for him who does not receive compunction of his own accord, but is convicted by another accusing him, the remedy is more difficult – this man, therefore, who has recalled his sin of his own accord, will pay back, it says, that very thing which he had subtracted, and will add to it the fifths, and will offer a ram for sin bought with the price of the holy shekel. What it says, "he will add to it the fifths," the more simple-minded think it is said in such a way that, for example, if five coins were subtracted, one is added, so that he may seem to pay back six for five. But those who possess skill in the discipline of numbers calculate the number of this word in a far different way. For even in Greek it does not have *pempton*, which simply makes fractions of fifths, but it has *epipempton*, which we indeed can call "super-fifths": unless it were said that this is a special word for a number among them, by which it is indicated that for five, another five are to be given, and one in addition; so that, for example, it may be understood that he who has stolen five coins should restore the five themselves, and another five with one added to them. Nor, however, are these things to be understood only for thefts or frauds, but because even if anyone has taken money from the holy things for his own necessary uses, and has brought delays in restoring it, he is bound by a law of this kind. Which law ought to edify the hearers even according to the letter. For the observance is very useful and necessary, especially for those who preside over ecclesiastical dispensations, so that they may know that they must observe with more caution and diligence those things which have been offered for the use of the saints. ^B 7. But as to those to whom these things perhaps do not happen, let us see in what part the word of the law may edify. And I today, although I am a sinner, yet because the dispensation of the word of the Lord has been entrusted to me, I seem to have the holy things of God entrusted to me. Nor is this the first time, but often already and long ago we employ this dispensation toward you. If any one therefore of you receives the Lord's money from me, and, as is wont to happen, having left the Church, and being snatched away by various occupations of the world, has given to oblivion what he had heard, and has not fulfilled any work from the word which he received, this person is the one who has not given back the money received from the sacred actions. Whence, upon hearing these things, he calls to memory that which had been entrusted to him long ago in the word of God, but he neglected it. Let him therefore pay back both that which he received, and add to it the fifths in the way we have already said above: that is, that they may be twice five, and one be added over and above. Let us see, therefore, how these five are to be paid back. The number five is frequently, nay almost always, accepted for the five senses. We must know, therefore, that in this way these five senses can be restored in holy actions, so that if by chance we have presumed to abuse them in secular actions, and spend their use in those things which we have not done according to God, we may now restore them, both the five themselves to holy actions and religious ministries, and add to these five others, which are the senses of the inner man: through which we either, having been made clean in heart, see God, or have ears to listen to those things which Jesus teaches, or catch that scent of which the Apostle says ^C, "Because we are a sweet savor of Christ to God;" or even take that taste of which the Prophet says: "Taste and see, for the Lord is sweet;" or that touch of which John says, because "our eyes have looked upon, and our hands have handled" - let us add to these, that we may refer all these things to the one God. And these things, indeed, have been said concerning restoring those things which had been taken away from holy things by any fault. 8. But what shall we say concerning the sacrifice of a ram bought with a price, and with the price of the holy shekel, which is ordered to be offered for the expiation of sin? He is to be wealthy, who can purify offenses with the price of a ram. What are these riches, let us inquire. The most wise Solomon teaches us saying ^D: "The redemption of a man’s soul is his own riches." Do you hear the words of wisdom, how they declare the force of each word with the necessary properties? He calls riches fit for the soul’s redemption, and not alien riches, nor common, but one's own riches. Through which he shows that there are certain riches that are one's own, and others that are not one's own. But the Lord declared this more evidently in the Gospels, when He said: "If you have not been faithful in that which is alien, who will give you that which is your own?" showing through this that the riches of the present age are not our own, but alien. For they pass away, and like a shadow they go by. But those are our own riches, of which the prophet says: "And I will gather to you the riches of the nations." From these riches perhaps Abraham also was made very rich in gold, and silver, and livestock and all equipment. Do you want me to show you from what treasures these riches descend? Hear the apostle Paul saying concerning the Lord Jesus Christ: "In"

him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." ^A But even in the Gospels, the Lord says that "a wealthy scribe brings out from his treasures new things and old." Concerning these, the apostle Paul also says: "Because in all things you have been made rich in him, in every word and in every knowledge." From these riches, therefore, which are brought forth from the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, we must purchase this ram, which must be offered for those sins—namely, those which have been committed in holy things—and it must be purchased by the counting of the holy shekel. I have already said above that every sacrifice bears the type and image of Christ, much more so the ram, which was once substituted by God to be immolated in place of Isaac. Therefore, Christ, who dissolves our sins, is to be purchased by us for the holy shekel. The holy shekel holds the form of our faith. For if you offer faith as a price, having given Christ as an immaculate ram for a sacrifice, you will receive the remission of sins. I feel that the greatness of the mysteries exceeds our strength in explaining them. But although we are not able to discuss everything, yet we feel that everything is filled with mysteries. And therefore, it is enough for those who are studious to have provided indications, by which, being stirred up, they may arrive at the higher and deeper things of these, and may understand from which flocks among them the calf is to be sought for a sacrifice, and from which sheep the ram is to be provided. "For I have," says Jesus, "other sheep, which are not of this fold, and them I must bring, that there may be one flock and one shepherd." Let them also know where the turtledoves and where the pigeons are to be sought. "Your eyes," he says, "are like* ^B pigeons upon the fullness of the waters." Therefore, one must hasten to the fullness of the waters, for in these is described the beauty of the bride. "And your neck," he says, "is like a turtledove." In the pigeons, the eyes are extolled. For what he said, "pigeons upon the fullness of the waters," they say this kind of bird, when it comes to the waters, because it is accustomed there to suffer the snares of the hawk, is able to detect in the reflection of the waters the shadow of the enemy coming from above as it flies, and by the sharpness of its eyes to escape the fraud of the impending danger. And if you, too, can thus foresee the snares of the devil and beware of them, you will offer pigeons as a sacrifice to God. But let those to whom such things are a concern also inquire from which fields the fine flour ought to be offered. I think it is from the crops of that land which produces, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. Let them also inquire, unless it seems too curious, by which mills this fine flour is to be ground for the sacrifices. And let it not escape them that there are two who grind, of whom one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Therefore, from that mill which is to be taken, it will be necessary to offer the fine flour. But also, as for the holy shekel, which is said to be necessary for the price of the ram, see from where and how it is to be sought. ^C The name of the Lord's money is the shekel, and in many places of the Scriptures, the Lord's money is mentioned by various names of appellations. But some of it is called approved, other, however, reprobate. That money was approved which the master of the house, about to go on a journey, gave to each of his servants according to his ability. Approved also was that money which is called a denarius, which he agreed upon with the laborers, and it was given from the last even to the first. Therefore, you must know that there is also other reprobate money. Hear the prophet saying: "Your silver is reprobate." Because, therefore, some is approved but some is reprobate, for this reason the Apostle, as if to expert money-changers, says: "Testing all things, hold fast to that which is good." For the Lord our Jesus Christ is alone, who can teach you the art of this kind, by which you may know how to discern which money holds the image of the true King; and which, however, is adulterine, and as is commonly said, formed outside the mint, which indeed has the name of the king, but does not hold the truth of the royal figure. For there are many who have the name of Christ, but do not have the truth of Christ. And because of this, the apostle Paul says: "For it is necessary that there be heresies, so that those who are proved may become manifest among you." Therefore, on this account, in the present reading the legislator, ^D looking entirely to the mystical and spiritual sense, added that this ram, which is purchased for this reason—that it may be able to absolve sin—should be purchased not with any kind of shekel, that is, not with any kind of money, but with the holy shekel. But if it did not look to a mystery, what reason would there seem to be that a ram bought to be offered for a sacrifice, and at a certain price? And it is not enough to have named the price of the money a shekel, but he added also "a holy shekel"? What if someone had in his flocks rams of the best quality and worthy of divine sacrifices? Or what if someone were so poor that he could not have a holy shekel? Is this, then, the moderation of the legislator, that unless one has a certain measure of money, his sin cannot be absolved? This, according to the letter, clearly seems absurd; but according to the spiritual understanding, it is certain that no one receives the remission of sins unless he has brought an integral, approved, and holy faith, through which he can purchase the ram; the nature of which is this—that it wipes away the sins of the believer. And this is the holy shekel, an approved, as we have said, and sincere faith—that is, where no deceit of perfidy, no perversity of heretical cunning is admixed, so that we, offering a sincere faith, may be washed by the precious blood of Christ, as if by an immaculate sacrifice, through whom there is to God the Father almighty, with the Holy Spirit, glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY IV

and through passing over shall have passed over the commandments of the Lord, and shall lie to his neighbor regarding a deposit, or fellowship, and so forth.

1. If, according to the faith of the divine law, these things which are covered for us are to be understood, I think that the words of God should not be understood according to the incapacity of the hearers, but according to the majesty of the speaker. "The Lord," he says, "spoke." Who is the Lord? Let the Apostle answer you, and learn from him that "the Lord is the Spirit" ^A. But if the Apostle's word does not suffice for you, hear the Lord himself speaking in the Gospels, that "God is a Spirit." If, therefore, both the Lord and God are Spirit, we must hear spiritually the things which the Spirit speaks. I say something further and more: that the things which the Lord speaks are not only to be believed spiritually, but must be believed to be spirit. I shall prove this, not by my own sense, but from the Gospels. Hear the Lord and our Savior saying to his disciples: "The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and life." If, therefore, we have learned by the voice of the Savior himself that the words which he spoke to the apostles are spirit and life, we ought by no means to doubt that the things which he spoke through Moses are also to be believed as spirit and life.

2. But let us see what it is that we are now able to say. "And the Lord spoke," he says, "to Moses, saying: Any soul that shall have sinned, and by passing over shall have passed over the commandments of the Lord, and shall lie to his neighbor regarding a deposit, or fellowship, or robbery; or has harmed his neighbor in any way, or has found what was lost and lies about it, or has sworn falsely about any one of all the things that a man may do, such that he sins in these things; then it shall be, when he has sinned and has done wrong, that he shall return the robbery which he has snatched, or the injury by which he harmed, or the deposit which was entrusted ^B to him, or the lost item which he found from any thing regarding which he has sworn unjustly, and he shall restore the principal itself, and shall add the fifth part besides, and shall return it to whom it belongs, on the day he is convicted." Up to this point the types of sin are exposed; afterward, however, their purification is commanded through sacrifices. If there are those who are weak and incapable of a deeper mystery, let them be edified by the letter, and let them know that if anyone, by passing over, shall have passed over the commandments of the Lord, and shall have lied to his neighbor regarding a deposit, or fellowship, or robbery, he shall be judged guilty of a great sin. But far be this from the Church of God, that I should believe there is anyone in this assembly of saints who acts so unhappily that he denies the deposit of his neighbor, or contaminates a fellowship with fraud, or either himself plunders the property of others, or accepts things plundered by others; and if these things are required of him, swears against his conscience.

Absit, absit, I say, that I should think these things regarding any of the faithful. I say to you confidently, therefore, that you have not so learned Christ, nor have you been so taught, nor does the law itself command these things to the holy and faithful. Do you wish to know that these things are not said to the holy and the just? Hear the Apostle distinguishing these things: "The law," he says, "is not laid down for the just, but for the unjust and disobedient, for the wicked and sinners, for the unholy, for parricides and matricides," and those similar to them. Since, therefore, the Apostle says the law is laid down for such men, may the Church of God—which far be it from being stained by such crimes—leaving the letter to others, be more holily edified by the Spirit.

3. Let us see, therefore, now what is the deposit which each one of the faithful has received. I think that we have received both our very soul and our body as a deposit from God. And do you wish to see another greater deposit which you have received from God? God has entrusted to your soul itself His own image and likeness. This deposit, therefore, ^C must be restored to you as whole as it is certain that it was received by you. For if you are merciful, as your Father who is in heaven is merciful, the image of God is in you, and you preserve the deposit whole. If you are perfect, as your Father who is in heaven is perfect, the deposit of the image of God remains in you. Similarly with all other things: if you are pious, if you are just, if you are holy, if you are pure in heart; and all things that are present in God by nature, if they subsist in you by imitation, the deposit of the divine image remains safe with you. If, however, you act on the contrary—and in place of merciful, you are cruel; in place of pious, impious; in place of kind, violent; in place of peaceful, turbulent; in place of liberal, a plunderer—having cast away the image of God, you have received the image of the devil in yourself, and you have denied the good deposit divinely entrusted to you. Or was this not what the Apostle, under this mystery, was commanding his chosen disciple Timothy, saying: "O Timothy, keep the good deposit"? I even add this, that we have received Christ the Lord as a deposit, and we have the Holy Spirit as a deposit. We must see to it, therefore, that we do not use this holy deposit unholily; and when sins solicit us into ^D consent, that we do not swear that we have not received the deposit. Which, if we indeed have it in us, we cannot consent to sin. But the rational sense itself, which is in me, has been entrusted to me so that I may use it for the understanding of divine things; talent, memory, judgment, reason, and all the movements that are within me, are seen to be entrusted to me by God, that I may use them in those things which the divine law commands. If, however, we turn our talent, being clever and quick-witted, toward evil arts, and we abuse the things of God in those things which He does not will

God; this is to deny a deposit and turn benefits into treachery.

4. Let us now see what "society" should be understood to mean. Do you think there is anyone who needs to be warned according to the letter, for fear that he might defraud a partner in a matter of money or any other kind of association? That soul, into which this kind of fraud can still fall, is in need of the ultimate mercy. However, because there is much fragility in man, let us warn even about these things, since the Apostle did not consider it a burden to command them. For he says: "That no one should overreach his brother in business, because God is the avenger of all these things." But now let us inquire what is the "society of the Spirit." Hear the Apostle himself saying of these same words: "If there is any consolation of charity, if any society of the Spirit, if any bowels of mercy, fulfill my joy." You see the law of society, how the Apostle Paul understood it. Hear also John, how he speaks in one and the same Spirit. "And we have society," he says, "with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." And again Peter says: "You have been made," he says, "partakers of the divine nature," which is to be associates. And again the apostle Paul says: "For what society has light with darkness?" Truly, if there is no society of light with darkness, can then light be in society with light? Therefore, if society is given to us with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we must see to it that we do not deny this holy and divine society by sinning. For if we commit the works of darkness, it is certain that we have denied the society of light. But the Apostle also calls us associates of the saints, and no wonder. For if it is said that we have society with the Father and the Son, how not also with the saints, not only those who are on earth, but also those who are in heaven? Because Christ indeed reconciled celestial and terrestrial things through His blood, that He might make terrestrial things social to celestial ones. This he indicates evidently, where he says there is joy in heaven over one sinner doing penance. And again when he says that those who rise from the dead are to be like the angels of God in heaven, and when he promises the kingdoms of the heavens to men completely anew. Therefore, whoever separates himself from their connection by his evil deeds and evil senses breaks and denies this society. After this, it is said concerning rapine: ^D there are evil and good ravishers; and good ones are those of whom the Savior says that they take the kingdom of heaven by force. But there are also evil ravishers, of whom the prophet says: "And the rapine of the poor is in your houses." But the Apostle pronounces abruptly, saying: "Do not err; for neither adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor ^A the covetous, shall possess the kingdom of God." There is, however, something that, according to spiritual understanding, may be culpably taken, just as they laudably seize the kingdoms of heaven. For instance, let us say, if a man not yet purged of vices, not yet separated from profane and sordid acts, should wish to secretly thrust himself into the assembly of the holy and perfect and hear the word in which perfect and mystical things are discussed, such a man does not rightly seize the knowledge of secrets and perfect things. For it is necessary to remember the precept of the Savior, where He says, because "no one puts new wine into old wineskins, otherwise the wineskins are broken, and the wine is lost," showing that it is not fitting for the secrets of the new mysteries, which the world has come to know through Christ, to be committed to souls not yet renewed, but enduring in the oldness of the letter.

5. The legislator then adds: "Or if he has found what was lost to his neighbor, or found perdition." The law of the letter here seems to command that if anyone finds what another has lost, and it has been sought, he should return it, and not perjure himself for it. And this is also a useful edification for the hearers. For many think it is without sin if they keep what they have found that belongs to another and say: "God gave it to me; to whom have I to return it?" Let them learn, therefore, that this sin is similar to rapine, if anyone does not return what is found. However, if the legislator had wished this to be understood only as it is thought according to the letter, he could have said: "If he finds what was lost, or what someone had lost." But now when he says: "He has found perdition," he wished us to understand something more. Those who sin excessively are called "perdition" in the Scriptures, as we read written in the prophet Ezekiel: "Perdition," he says, "you are made, and you will not subsist for eternal time." It is therefore to be shown who, by seeking much, finds perdition: as, for example, let us say, heretics, for the sake of constructing and defending their dogmas, search much and discuss in the divine Scriptures, so that they may find perdition. For when they have sought for many testimonies, by which they may build up what they wrongly believe, they are to be said to have found perdition for themselves. But if by chance any one of these, hearing the word of God in the Church treated in a Catholic manner, should repent, and understand that what he had found is perdition, he shall return, he says, what he has found. And he who has found perdition, and he who rapine, but also he who has denied a deposit, and everyone whoever in any part of his soul has harmed his neighbor, or has sworn unjustly: "He shall restore," he says, "the principal itself, and shall add the fifth part above it, and shall return it to him to whom it belongs, according to that exposition which we have already said above concerning the fifth parts to be added." And he shall offer, he says, to the Lord a ram from the sheep without blemish, for the price of that which...

he has committed in sin, and it shall be remitted to him for one thing, for all the things which he has done and committed in it. We said above what it means to offer a ram, and that it is for the price of the holy shekel. It remains now that we state that difference: that there [the text] set the price of the holy shekel, but here it speaks only of a price, and did not designate the quantity of the price nor the name of the money. For in the preceding [chapters], when the law was given for a sin which had been committed in holy things, we said the holy shekel was named, and that shekel is a name for money; just as in other places it is called an obol, elsewhere a drachma, elsewhere a mina, or a talent, or a small copper coin, or a denarius. Here, therefore, none of these is named, but it is only said that a ram is to be offered for a price. For there is a difference between sinning in holy things and sinning outside holy things. Do you wish to see this same distinction elsewhere? Hear how in the Books of Kings the priest Heli says to his sons: "If a man has sinned against a man, the priest will pray for him. But if he has sinned against God, who will pray for him?" Similarly, the apostle John says: "There is a sin unto death, I do not say that one should pray for it." Therefore, because we must learn the diversities of sins from the spiritual law, let us inquire concerning those sins in which only a ram is to be bought, and those in which one must trade with the holy shekel, and who these are who sell the rams. I believe them to be those very people who distribute rams for sacrifice, who are the same ones who sell oil for the lamps of the virgins, concerning whom the wise virgins said to the foolish ones: "Go to those who sell, and buy for yourselves." Who, therefore, sell either oil for the lights or rams for the sacrifices, if not the holy prophets and apostles, who show me, when I have sinned, and give me counsel on how I ought to correct my errors and amend my sins? Isaiah sells me a ram for sacrificing for a sin, when he says to me, as if from the person of God: "I do not want the holocausts of rams, and the fats of lambs, and the blood of he-goats and bulls." And a little later he adds: "Take away the evils from your souls, from the sight of your eyes; learn to do good, rescue the one suffering injustice, judge for the orphan, and justify the widow, and come let us dispute, says the Lord. And if your sins are as crimson, I will make them white as snow; but if they are as scarlet, I will make them as white wool." Daniel also sells me a ram when he says: "Because there is no place to sacrifice in your presence, so that we might find mercy. But may we be accepted in a contrite heart and a spirit of humility, as in a multitude of fat lambs, so may our sacrifice be in your sight today." David also sells us a ram of sacrifice when he says: "A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise." ^A Since, therefore, each of the prophets, or even the apostles, has given counsel to those who sin, by which they may be able to correct or amend their sin, they will deservedly be seen to have sold rams to these for sacrifice. But what price they take from those wishing to buy, that, I think, is the zeal for reading, the vigils in hearing the Word of God, and above all, I consider obedience to be the most worthy price, concerning which the Lord says: "Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to listen is more than the fat of rams." ^B 6. After this follows, he says: The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Command Aaron and his sons, saying: This is the law of the holocaust: This holocaust shall be in its burning upon the altar all night until morning: and the fire of the altar shall burn upon it, and shall not be extinguished. And the priest shall put on a linen tunic, and put on linen breeches about his body; and he shall take the victim, which the fire has consumed, and the holocaust from the altar, and put it beside the altar; and he shall strip himself of his garment, and shall be clothed with another garment; and he shall cast out the victim which has been burned outside the camp into a clean place. And the fire upon the altar shall burn, and shall not be extinguished, and the priest shall burn wood upon it in the morning, and shall arrange upon it the holocaust, and shall set upon it the fat of the sacrifice of salvation, and the fire shall always burn upon the altar, and shall not be extinguished. Hear that the fire ought always to be upon the altar, and you, if you wish to be a priest of God, as it is written: "For you shall all be priests of the Lord." And it is said even to you: "A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people for acquisition." If therefore you wish to exercise the priesthood of your own soul, let the fire never depart from your altar. This is what the Lord also commands in the Gospels, that "your loins may be girded, and your lamps may be always burning." ^C Therefore, let the fire of faith be always burning for you, and the lamp of knowledge. But that which he says, "your loins girded," the Lord in the Gospel, is the same thing that the legislator now commands, that the priest be girded with a linen breech, and thus with the old ash deposited, he may renew the sacred fires. For it is fitting also for us to say: "Behold the old things have passed away, and all things have been made new." For he is girded with a linen breech, or, as it is said elsewhere, he uses drawers, who has restrained the luxury of fleeting lust with the belt of chastity. For above all, a priest who assists at the divine altars must be girded with chastity, nor will he be able otherwise to purge the old ^D things and restore the new, unless he be clothed in linen. It has already been said often about linen, and then especially when we were speaking about the priestly garments, that this species retains the form of chastity: because the origin of linen is led forth from the earth, and is produced from the earth, in such a way that it is conceived without any admixture.

^A However, it must be observed that the priest uses certain vestments when he is in the ministry of the sacrifices, and others when he proceeds to the people. This was also done by Paul, most learned of pontiffs and most expert of priests. When he was in the assembly of the perfect, as if placed within the Holy of Holies, and clothed in the stole of perfection, he said: “We speak wisdom among the perfect, but a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are being brought to nothing; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, hidden, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.” But after these things, as if going out to the people, he changes his stole and is clothed in another, far inferior to the former. And what does he say? “I judged myself to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” You see, therefore, how that most learned priest is clothed. When he is about to go among the perfect, as if into the Holy of Holies, he uses another stole of doctrine. But when he goes out to those who are incapable, he puts aside the stole of the word and teaches lower things; he gives milk to some, as to infants; he nourishes others with vegetables, as the weak; but for others he prepares solid food, namely for those who, through the possibility of taking it, have their senses exercised to the discernment of good or evil. Thus Paul knew how to change stoles, and to use one among the people, another in the ministry of the saints. ^B But the pontiff of pontiffs, and priest of priests, our Lord and Savior, of whom the Apostle says that he “is the high priest of the good things to come,” listen to how he himself was the first to do these things, and thus left them to his disciples to be imitated. The Gospel reports of him, and says, that “he used to speak to the crowds in parables, and without parables he would not speak to them.” But he would resolve them privately for his disciples. You see how he himself taught that a pontiff ought to use certain vestments when he proceeds to the crowds, and others when he ministers among the learned and the perfect in the holy places. Whence we must hope and strive that Jesus may not find us such, so unprepared and so bound by the solicitations of the world, that when he speaks to us in parables among the crowds, we, seeing, may not see, and hearing, may not hear; but may we rather be found worthy to be among those to whom he says, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.”

7. After this: “This is,” he says, “the law of the sacrifice which the sons of Aaron the priest shall offer before the altar against the Lord. He shall take from it a full handful of the fine flour of the sacrifice with its oil, and with all its frankincense, which are for the sacrifice, and shall set it upon the altar as a sacrifice of pleasant odor, a memorial of it to the Lord. But what shall remain from it, Aaron and his sons shall eat. It shall be eaten unleavened in a holy place; in the atriums of the tabernacle of testimony shall they eat it. It shall not be baked leavened; I have given it as a portion to them from the sacrifices of the Lord. It is the Holy of Holies, as it is for sin and for guilt. All the males of the priests shall eat it. An everlasting ordinance in your generations from the sacrifices of the Lord. Everyone who touches them shall be sanctified.” In these things which have been proposed, a custom of sacrificing is indeed given to the priests, and observances by which God might seem to be worshipped, or the people purified, or even provision made for the priests and ministers in necessary matters of sustenance. ^C For the measure of the fine flour to be offered in the sacrifice is established, which is called the tenth of an ephah; to this oil is poured over, and frankincense is placed upon it. But when he has reached the altar, the priest, he says, shall take a full handful from it, so that he may include within the fullness of his hand both the oil that has been poured in, and the frankincense that has been placed upon it, so that this may be a libation and a sacrifice to God as an odor of sweetness. The rest, he says, shall remain for the priests to eat, but the law has handed it down that they are to be eaten in a holy place, in the atrium of the tabernacle, so that nothing of it may be leavened. For this, he says, I have given as a portion to the priests, and these are the Holy of Holies. But he also willed that this be observed, that only the males partake of it, and that no female touch it. He adds also this, that whoever shall have touched them shall be sanctified. But if we wish now to inquire from those who are Jews in the manifest sense, regarding each point, by what reason this is said in this way, or that in another way, they will satisfy us with an absolute answer, saying: Thus it seemed good to the Lawgiver; no one argues with his Lord. And so, yielding to them in other matters, let us inquire about this latest saying, so that they may say how everyone who touches from the sacrifice of the holies is sanctified. If a murderer touches it, if one who is profane, if an adulterer, if an incestuous person, will he be sanctified? For he did not exclude anyone, but said: “Everyone who touches them shall be sanctified.” ^D For let us suppose that even now the state of that temple is intact, that victims are offered, and sacrifices are consumed. Someone wicked, unjust, impure has entered the temple, finds flesh set out from the sacrifices, and touched it; will he be declared instantly sanctified? Indeed, in no way does either the nature of the matter or the truth of religion accept this: and therefore we must return to the evangelical and apostolic expositions, so that the law may be understood. For unless the Gospel removes the veil from the face of Moses, his countenance cannot be seen, nor his meaning understood. See, therefore, how in the Church the disciples of the apostles are present to those things which Moses wrote, and defend them, because they can be fulfilled, and were written reasonably. The teachers of the Jews, however, follow the letter, making these things both impossible and irrational.

8. Therefore, the sacrifice which these all preceded in type and figure, as one and perfect, Christ has been immolated. If anyone touches the flesh of this sacrifice, he is instantly sanctified. If

he is unclean, he is cleansed; if he is in the plague, he is healed. Thus, indeed, understood that woman whom I mentioned a little while ago, who suffered from a flow of blood, because He Himself was the flesh of the sacrifice, and the Holy of Holies; and because she truly understood what was the flesh of the Holy of Holies, therefore she approached. And indeed, she did not dare to touch the holy flesh itself: for she had not yet been cleansed, nor had she apprehended what is perfect; but she touched the hem of the garment by which the holy flesh was covered, and by a faithful touch extracted virtue from the flesh, which both cleansed her from uncleanness and healed her of the plague from which she ^A suffered. Do not the words of Moses seem to you to stand in a more orderly fashion here, when he says: "Everyone who touches the holy flesh shall be sanctified"? For all who believed from the Gentiles have touched these fleshly things which we have expounded. He also touched them who said: "For we ourselves were also once foolish and incredulous, erring, serving divers desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But when the kindness and humanity of our Saviour God shone forth, He saved us by the laver of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit." And elsewhere he says: "And these things, you were indeed, but you have been justified, but you have been sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God." For if, as we have said, one touches the flesh of Jesus in the way we have explained above, and approaches Jesus with total faith and all obedience, as if to the Word made flesh, this person has touched the flesh of the sacrifice, and been sanctified. ^B He also touches the flesh of the Word, of whom the Apostle says: "But solid food is for the perfect, for those who by the possibility of taking it have senses trained to distinguish good from evil." Therefore, he who discusses its interior parts and can explain hidden mysteries also touches the flesh of the Word of God. And if we had such an understanding, we would be able to discern one by one the things that are written in the law, by spiritual interpretation, and draw forth the hidden mystery of each word into the light of a subtler knowledge; if we could teach the Church in such a way that nothing of those things which have been read remained ambiguous and nothing was left obscure, perhaps it could also be said of us that we have touched the holy flesh of the Word of God and have been sanctified. But I also accept in this way that which is said, that all the males among the priests shall eat it. For no woman, nor any lax and dissolute soul, will be able to eat the holy flesh of the Word of God. A male is sought who may eat them. For they are males who are led into the count; nowhere are females, nowhere are little children numbered. Whence also the Apostle was ^C saying: "But when I became a man, I put away the things that were of a little child." Such, then, is this male, and such a man is sought who can eat the holy flesh and eat it not in just any place, but in a holy place, within the atrium of the tabernacle. Let those who divide the Church and, introducing foreign and wicked doctrines, think that they can eat the holy flesh outside the temple of God and outside the Lord’s court, hear these things. Their sacrifices are profane, which are performed against the law of the commandment. In the holy place they are commanded to be eaten, within the atria of the tabernacle of testimony. The atria of the tabernacle of testimony are those which the wall of faith surrounds, which the columns of hope sustain, which the breadth of charity expands. Where these are not, holy flesh can neither be held nor eaten.

9. But it is well said that those things which are offered out of the sacrifice ^D of flour are offered with a full hand with oil and frankincense, for an odor of sweetness to the Lord. The Apostle Paul briefly explained this passage to the Philippians, saying: "I have been filled, receiving from Epaphroditus the things that were sent by you for an odor of sweetness, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God." In which he shows that mercy, which is done toward the poor, pours oil into the sacrifice of God; but the ministry which is offered toward the saints imposes the sweetness of incense. But it is commanded that this be done with a full hand. For so the same Apostle says, that "he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly. But he who sows in blessing, shall also reap from blessing eternal life." There is, however, something in the sacrifice itself which is called a memorial, which is said to be offered to the Lord. If I could meditate on the law of the Lord day and night, and keep all the Scriptures in my memory, I would have offered a memorial of my sacrifice to the Lord. Certainly, if we cannot do everything, at least those things which are now taught in the Church, or which are recited, let us commit to memory; so that, leaving the Church, and performing works of mercy, and fulfilling the divine commandments, we may offer a sacrifice with incense and oil in remembrance to the Lord. From these things, therefore, you are taught that as clean animals, you should ruminate on the things you have heard in the Church, call them back to memory, and compare with your heart the things that have been said. But if any things remain over in your memory, and exceed your understanding, do what the authority of the present commandment commands, saying: "But what shall stay over of these, Aaron and his sons shall eat." But if anything stays over and exceeds your understanding or ^D your memory, save it for Aaron: this is, reserve it for the priest, reserve it for the teacher, so that he himself may eat it, he himself may discuss it, he himself may explain it; just as elsewhere the same Moses says: "Ask your fathers, and they will announce to you; your elders, and they will tell you." For they know how these unleavened breads ought to be eaten, and to be interpreted in the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.

10. It is added in the following: "And the Lord spoke..."

^A exactly as the Lord is reported to have done in the Gospels, where He blessed the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples, breaking them, placed them before the crowds. And when all had been satisfied, there remained over, he says, twelve baskets of fragments. This, therefore, is the sacrifice of fragments, when we discuss the minute details which are holy in the law, so that we may take from them a spiritual and pure food. "And this," he says, "is a law forever." The Apostle John indeed says in the Apocalypse that there is an "eternal Gospel": we find written here also "a law forever." ^B But I would like those who want to follow the law according to the letter to tell me now how the law of this sacrifice can be "forever," since, with the temple destroyed, the altar overthrown, and everything that was called holy profaned, this rite of sacrifices could not remain. How, then, will they say it is eternal, which it is already established has long since ceased and ended? It remains that this law is called eternal according to that part by which we say that the law is spiritual, and through it spiritual sacrifices can be offered, which can neither be interrupted nor ever cease. For they are not in a place that is overthrown, nor in time that changes, but in the faith of the believer, and in the heart of the one sacrificing.

Indeed, what he says, "There shall not be eaten of the sacrifice of the priest, but it shall be a holocaust," it is certain is to be referred to the person of our Lord and Savior. For of His sacrifice there shall not be eaten, but it shall be a holocaust. In this place the sacrifice is to be understood as the Word itself, and the doctrine, of which none shall eat—that is, which no one disputes, no one contradicts—but it is a holocaust. For whatever He said, whatever He ordained, endures with an eternal consecration, nor is anyone found so insane or profane that he can contradict His sayings; which we ought to hold in all cult and veneration as a holocaust, a sacrifice offered to God: because heaven and earth shall pass away, but His words shall not pass away, ^C but they remain always, just as He Himself remains always. Through Him, to God the Father with the Holy Spirit, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY V

The Lord [spoke] to Moses, saying: This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer to the Lord on the day that you anoint him, the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a perpetual sacrifice, half of it in the morning, and half of it in the evening. In a frying pan with oil it shall be made, and he shall offer it soaked, a sacrifice of fragments, a sacrifice in an odor of sweetness to the Lord. The priest who shall be anointed for him from his sons shall make it: it is an eternal law: all shall be consumed. And every sacrifice of the priest shall be a holocaust, and it shall not be eaten. ^D In other precepts, the high priest provides the service for the people in the offering of sacrifices; but in this command, he takes care of what is proper to himself, and carries out what pertains to himself. For he is ordered, from the day he is anointed, always and forever to offer the fine flour soaked with oil, tender from the frying pan. And he denominates this a sacrifice of fragments, in an odor of sweetness; and he commands that this remain by eternal law, and be transmitted to posterity. He adds clearly that it is to be observed that no sacrifice of a priest—that is, which he offers for himself—is to be eaten by anyone; but it shall become a holocaust, which is to be consumed by fire.

The precept according to the letter is indeed clear, yet I would like to see what type is formed in this, and what figure. He wants half of this sacrifice to be offered in the morning, and half in the evening, in a fixed measure of fine flour soaked with oil, tender from the frying pan. See if it is not, as I suspect, that the sacrifice of the priest is this very law which is promulgated through Moses, of which half is ordered to be offered in the morning, and half in the evening. Which law he commanded to be divided into two parts, namely, letter and spirit. And indeed the one half, which is the letter, he commands to be offered in the morning, that is, at the first time of the law:, which to those to whom it was then given according to the letter, brought forth a new light and a new day, but the other half he ordered to be offered in the evening. For in the evening the advent of the Savior was given to us, in which that half part, that is, the sense or spirit of the law, according to which the law is spiritual, is offered soaked in oil and tender. Oil is recalled to mercy, which ought to abound in priests. Tender pertains to subtle and pure understanding. But that it is said to be from a frying pan, I think it means that he wants the priest to be disciplined, and having much restraint, arid, and scorched, in whom nothing relaxed can be had for luxury, nothing fluid for lust. But that he named the sacrifice itself "of fragments" in an odor of sweetness, I think he wants the fragments of the priests to be understood: when the letter of the law is broken by them, and the hidden, internal, spiritual food is elicited from it; so that the hearing crowds may be refreshed by the teaching, just as we are told the Lord did in the Gospels, where He blessed the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples, breaking them, set them before the crowds. And when all had been satisfied, there remained over, he says, twelve baskets of fragments. This, therefore, is the sacrifice of fragments, when we discuss the small details which are holy in the law, so that we may receive from them a spiritual and pure food.

HOMILY V

Concerning that which is written: "This is the law of sin: In the place where the holocausts shall be slaughtered, they shall slaughter also that which is of sin..." etc.

1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, saying: This is the law of sin: In the place where the holocausts are slaughtered, they shall slaughter also that which is of sin before the Lord: it is holy of holies. The priest who offers it shall eat it in a holy place, in the atrium of the tabernacle of the test-

imony, shall not be eaten, but shall be consumed by fire. ^A If we do not interpret all these things in this spiritual sense, which the letter of the text itself indicates, as we have already often said, when they are recited in the church, they will provide more of an obstacle and subversion of the Christian religion than exhortation and edification. But if one discusses and discovers the sense according to which these things are said, and perceives that they are written in a way worthy of God, then he will realize that it is the Jew who hears these things, but not the one who is so in the open; rather, the one who is the Jew in the hidden [realm] is the individual who—according to that difference of the Jew which the apostle Paul distinguishes ^B by saying: «For it is not he who is a Jew in the open, nor is what is in the open in the flesh circumcision; but he who is a Jew in secret is [circumcised] by the circumcision of the heart, in spirit, not in the letter, whose praise (9) is not from men, but from God.» Since this difference between the visible Jew and the invisible Jew is ignored by heretics, they have not only fled from these Scriptures but even from God himself, who gave this law and divine Scriptures to men, and have fashioned for themselves another god besides Him who created heaven and earth; ^C just as, indeed, the truth is that one and the same God is the creator of the Law and the Gospels, of the visible and the invisible: for there is much kinship between visible things and invisible things, so that the Apostle may say that «the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.» Just as, therefore, visible and invisible things bear a kinship to one another, the earth and the heaven, the soul and the flesh, the body and the spirit, and the world consists in the joining of these; so also must holy Scripture be believed to consist of visible and invisible things: that is, the letter, which is seen as if it were a body; and the soul, the sense which is found within that very body; and the spirit, according ^D to what also keeps in the celestial realm, as the Apostle says, «a pattern and shadow of heavenly things.» Because, therefore, these things are so, we invoke God, who made the soul and the body and the spirit: the body for those who have gone before us, the soul for us, and the spirit for those who shall attain the inheritance of eternal life in the future, through which they may arrive at the celestial kingdoms: that soul which we said we seek, so far as the present is concerned. Yet I do not know if we can also ascend to its spirit in those things which have been chosen for us for sacrifices. For we ought to say, as we said, that the Jew in the hidden realm, as we have shown, is circumcised not in flesh, but in heart; and to show that one who eats of the sacrifices does not eat of flesh, but of spirit.

2. Let us see now those things which are referred to in the law. «And the Lord spoke,» he says, «to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron, and his sons, saying: This is the Law of sin,» and the rest which are recited in the foregoing. And I remember having said before that the law is not always given to the same people: but one thing is given to the sons of Israel, another to the sons of Aaron, and another also, as we have long observed, to Moses and Aaron: and there is another which is given to Moses alone, so that not even Aaron may become a participant of that law. Through the particularities and differences of these, because one is illuminated by God with the gift of knowledge, he is able to discourse openly. For we find in the following that the commandment of the Lord is given to Moses alone, and that the perfection of the ram is commanded to be given to Moses, as the Lord, he says, commanded Moses. In which portion neither Aaron, nor his sons, are participants. And it is found that the law which pertains to the perfection of the ram cannot reach even to Aaron, nor to his sons, much less to the other sons of Israel, but to Moses alone, who was the friend of God. But there is a need, things which are to be recited hereafter, to forestall? Now in the meantime the law is recited, which is promulgated to Aaron and his sons, [concerning] sin, that is [concerning] the sacrifice which is offered for sin: «In the place,» he says, «where they slaughter the holocausts, there they shall slaughter that which is for sin, in the sight of the Lord: it is holy of holies.» Many things, indeed, God helping, we have already [said] concerning the rite of sacrifice according to the spiritual understanding in the things said above, but now if the grace of the Lord deigns to visit us, and we are aided by your prayers, we shall add those things which the Lord has given. The hosts are indeed for the Lord alone, ^D so that no human participates in them. Some are for Aaron the priest, and his sons: some are for him, and his sons, and for his daughters, or for the priest's wife to eat of them. Some are for the priests, and for his sons and for their sons, but for the priests to eat even for the sons of Israel. And in those sacrifices of which it is permitted for the sons to eat...

Israel, without doubt, has a participation, even the priests and the sons of the priests; yet it will not be permitted for the sons of Israel to eat from every sacrifice that the priest eats. Therefore, since these are the differences of the sacrifices—that which we have said belongs to God alone, ^A from which it is not right that even Moses, nor Aaron, nor his sons should participate—we sometimes find them called burnt offerings; at other times, however, not burnt offerings, but whole-burnt offerings, as if we were to say that the whole (13) is the fruit, that is to say, which is offered to God. This, therefore, is the first legislation concerning sacrifices, if indeed you have observed or diligently retain what has been read and expounded, and what is being said by us, or what is read from the divine volumes, does not pass through your ears in vain. The first sacrifice, therefore, is the burnt offering. For it was not fitting for any other sacrifice ^B to be named first, except that which was offered to the omnipotent God. The second sacrifice is that which is assigned to the priests to eat. The third is that which it is right for the sons of Israel also to touch or eat, namely, those themselves who offer. But not all the sons of Israel, only those who are clean. For only those who are clean are commanded to eat of the sacrifices. But you, who are a Jew in the hidden sense, do not seek these sacrifices in visible animals, nor think it fitting that they be found in mute cattle, which ought (14) to be offered to God. Seek these sacrifices within yourself, and you will find them within your soul. Understand that you have within yourself herds of oxen, those which are blessed in Abraham. Understand that you have also herds of sheep and herds of goats, ^C in which the patriarchs were blessed and multiplied. Understand that there are within you also the birds of the heaven. And do not wonder that we say these things are within you; understand that you are also another, small world (15), and that within you are the sun, the moon, and even the stars. For if this were not so, the Lord would never have said to Abraham: "Look toward heaven, and see the stars, if they can be numbered by the multitude, so shall your seed be." Nor do I say you should wonder if it is said to Abraham that his seed shall be as the stars of the heaven; namely, of those who, born of his faith, live rationally and guard the divine laws and precepts. Hear further something the Savior says to the disciples: "You are the light of the world." Do you doubt that there is a sun and moon within you, to whom it is said that you are the light of the world? Do you wish to hear something more about yourself, lest perhaps, thinking small and humble things about yourself, you neglect your life as if it were vile? This world has its ruler; it has one who governs it and dwells in it, the omnipotent God, just as He says by the prophet: ^D "Do not I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord?" Hear then, what the omnipotent God Himself says also about you, that is, what He says about men: "I will dwell in them," He says, "and will walk among them." He adds something more concerning your person: "And I will be," He says, "a Father to them, and they shall be to me for sons and daughters, says the Lord." This world has the Son of God, it has the Holy Spirit, according to what the Prophet says: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made firm, and by the spirit of His mouth all their power." And again in another place: "For the spirit of the Lord has filled the round world." Hear also what Christ says to you: "Behold, I am with you all the days even unto the consummation of the age." And of the Holy Spirit it is said: "I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh, and they shall prophesy." Since, therefore, you see that you have all things that the world has, you ought not to doubt that you also have the animals which are offered in sacrifices within you, and that you ought to offer spiritual (18) sacrifices from them. But we have explained those things, as we were able, in the preceding pages.

3. Now, however, we add what he says, that in the place where the burnt offerings are slaughtered, there also are the sacrifices for sin. See how great is the mercy and kindness of God, that where the burnt offering is slaughtered, which is that which is offered to God alone, there also the sacrifice which is for sin is commanded to be immolated; so that, of course, he who has sinned and repents, and, having turned to the Lord, slaughters the sacrifice of a contrite spirit, may understand that he is standing in a now-holy place, and is being associated with those things which pertain to God. There, therefore, is the sacrifice for sin immolated, where also the burnt offering is, in the presence, he says, of the Lord. It is perhaps one thing to offer a sacrifice in the presence of the Lord, and not to offer it in the presence of the Lord. Who then is he who offers in the presence of the Lord? He, I suppose, who has not gone out from the presence of the Lord, as did Cain, and became fearful and trembling. If, therefore, there is anyone who has the confidence to stand in the presence of the Lord, and does not flee from His face, nor does the consciousness of sin turn his gaze away, this one offers a sacrifice in the presence of the Lord. This sacrifice, therefore, which is offered for sins, he says is the holy of holies. The discourse wishes to dare something greater, if your hearing follows—if indeed it can. What is the sacrifice which is offered for sins, and is the holy of holies, if not the only-begotten Son of God, my Lord Jesus Christ? He alone is the sacrifice for sins, and He Himself is the sacrifice that is the holy of holies. But what he adds: "The priest," he says, "who offers it, shall eat it," seems

^A difficult to understand. For that which is said about eating seems to be referred to sin: just as the prophet also says elsewhere about the priests, that "they shall eat the sins of my people." Whence also here he shows that the priest ought to eat the sin of the one offering. We have often shown from the divine Scriptures that Christ is both the sacrifice which is offered for the sin of the world, and the priest who offers the sacrifice. The Apostle explained this in one word (21) when he says: "Who offered Himself to God." This, therefore, is the priest who eats and consumes the sins of the people, of whom it is said: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." The Savior, therefore, and my Lord eats the sins of the people. How does He eat the sins of the people? Hear what is written: "Our God," he says, "is a consuming fire." What does the fire of God consume? Are we so foolish (22) as to think that the fire of God consumes wood, or stubble, or hay? But the fire of God consumes human sins; it consumes them, it devours them, it purges them, according to what is also said elsewhere: "And I will purge you with fire until you are pure." This is to eat the sin of him who offers a sacrifice for sin. For He Himself took our sins upon Himself, and in Himself He eats and consumes them as a fire. So, finally, conversely, those who remain in sins are said to be swallowed by death, as it is written: "Death shall swallow them, prevailing." I think this is what the Savior was saying in the Gospel: "I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled." And would that my earth might be kindled with divine fire, so that it might no longer bring forth thorns and thistles. So also you ought to understand that which is written: "A fire is kindled from my anger; it shall consume the earth and its generations." The law therefore says: "The priest who has offered it shall eat it in a holy place, in the court of the tabernacle of the testimony." For it is logical that, according to the image of Him who gave the priesthood of the Church, the ministers and priests (24) of the Church also should accept the sins of the people, and they themselves, imitating their Master, should bestow the forgiveness of sins upon the people. Therefore, the priests of the Church themselves ought to be so perfect, and always so educated in priestly duties, that they consume the sins of the people in a holy place, in the courts of the tabernacle of the testimony, not by sinning themselves. But what is it to eat sin in a holy place? The place was holy, into which Moses had arrived, according to what was said to ^D him: "The place in which you stand is holy ground." ^A Similarly, therefore, in the Church of God, the holy place is perfect faith, charity from a pure heart, and a good conscience. Let him who stands in these things in the Church recognize that he stands in a holy place. For a holy place is not to be sought on earth, concerning which the sentence was once given by God, saying: "Cursed is the earth in your works." Therefore faith, integral and holy conduct, is the holy place. In this place, therefore, placed as a priest of the Church, let him consume the sins of the people, so that, by sacrificing the victim of the Word of God and offering victims of sound doctrine, he may purge the consciences of the hearers from sins. The priest shall eat (26) the flesh of the sacrifice in the court of the tabernacle of the testimony when he can understand what is the reason in these things, and what are the mysteries which are described concerning the courts of the tabernacle of the testimony. For to these secret and hidden courts no one approaches, to no one do these lie open unless to the priests: provided, however, that they lie open, if by their own knowledge and mystical understanding they have been able to penetrate their secrets. But I know that there are also certain other, more secret dogmas in the Church, which it is not permitted even for the priests themselves to approach. I speak of those where the ark is hidden, where the urn is, where the manna and the tablets of the testament are. Access to that place is not given even to the priests themselves, but only to the high priest, and it is granted to him alone once a year, and with certain and mystical purifications, to enter that secret place. There are also other dogmas of the Church to which even the Levites can attain, but they are inferior to those which are permitted to be approached by the priests. I know that there are also others to which even the children of Israel can approach, that is, the laity; not, however, foreigners, unless they have already been enrolled in the Church of the Lord, "For an Egyptian shall enter (27) into the Church of God in the third generation." I believe that by what is mystically called the third generation, we must understand the faith of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in which every one who is united to the Church of God believes. However, it must be known that although from the sacrifices which are offered some are granted to the priests to be eaten, yet not everything is granted; but some part of them is offered to God and is delivered to the altar fires: so that we may also know that even if it is granted to us to apprehend and know some things from the divine Scriptures, there are nevertheless some things that must be reserved for God: things which, because they surpass our understanding (28), and their meaning is above us, lest they be brought forth by us otherwise than as the truth holds, it is better to leave them to the fire.

^A And for this reason, even in this place, what has been allowed to men to eat, we have consumed as we were able within the tabernacle of the Lord; but if any remain, and either you in hearing or we in speaking surpass them, let us save them for the fire of the altar, as that part which is ordered to be offered upon the altar of the Lord for sin.

4. ^B And this is, he says 12, the law of the ram which is for sin: "Holy of holies. In the place where they slaughter 30 the holocausts, they shall slaughter the ram which is for sin before the Lord," etc. It seems, indeed, in the divine Scriptures that sin ("peccatum") and transgression ("delictum") are frequently named indifferently and without any distinction: in this place, however, it is found 31 to be distinct. For when above he had handed down the rite and order of the sacrifice in the host for sin, now he separately commands the sacrifice for transgression; and although all things are commanded with the same order and the same observance, and he adds at the end 13: "As is that which is for sin, so also shall be that which is for transgression; there shall be one law for them"; yet he wished to show there is some difference in these, for which he commanded the sacrifices to be divided. In which I think transgression indeed to be a sin committed somewhat more lightly than sin. For we find it said of sin that there is "sin unto death" 14. We do not read that transgression is said to be "unto death." I know, however, also that difference which has seemed to some of the wise, that transgression is indeed when we do not do those things which we ought to do; but sin is when we commit those things which we ought not to commit. But since we do not always find this distinction in the divine Scriptures, we cannot therefore affirm it generally. Therefore, in the same manner and by the same tradition, the sacrifice which is offered for transgression must be taken, just as we explained above concerning that which is for sin. ^C For similarly the fats of the ram, those that are about the kidneys, and those that cover the interior parts, are ordered to be placed upon the altar: so that you, who hear these things, may also know that everything which is inside you, which is thicker and covers your interior parts, you ought to offer to the fire of the altar, so that all your interior parts may be purged, and you also may say, just as David was saying 15: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all my interior parts, his holy name." For unless that thickness which covers your interior parts has been removed, they cannot grasp a subtle and spiritual sense, nor can they grasp the understanding of wisdom, and therefore they cannot praise the Lord. But if all that is fat has been removed ^D from the kidneys and from all the interior parts of the viscera, then you are truly purged from every vice of lust, you have slaughtered the host for transgression, and you have offered the sacrifice to God in an odor of sweetness. "The priest," he says 16, "who offers and makes atonement for it (32), it shall be his." Let the priests of the Lord, who preside over the churches, learn that a portion is given to them along with those whose transgressions they have atoned for. But what is it to atone for a transgression? If you have taken up a sinner, and by admonishing, exhorting, teaching, instructing, you have brought him to repentance, have corrected him from error, have amended him from his vices, and have offered him in such a condition that God becomes propitious to him for his transgression, you are said to have atoned for it. If, therefore, you are such a priest, and such is your doctrine and your discourse, a portion is given to you of those whom you have corrected; so that their merit may be your reward, and 209 their salvation your glory. Or does not the Apostle also show this, where he says 17, "because each one shall receive his reward according to what he has built up"? Let the priests of the Lord, therefore, understand where their portion is given to them, and in this let them be occupied and expend their effort. Let them not involve themselves in vain and superfluous acts, but let them know that they will have no portion before God in anything else except in that which they offer 34 for sins, that is, that they have converted sinners from the way of sin. It is also to be noted that those things which are offered in a holocaust are interior; but that which is exterior is not offered to the Lord. The skin is not offered to the Lord, nor does it go into the holocausts. Such 55 was also that son of Judah who was called Her 18, which is interpreted "skin." Therefore Her 36 was also very wicked, and God killed him, because such as these are not offered to the Lord.

5.

Concerning the sacrifice which is made in a gridiron, or in a frying pan, or in a baking pan

indeed must call me, that He may make me one who seeks, and to the one knocking He may open, so that I may find within the Scriptures, that I may prepare my sacrifice, so that God may receive it. And indeed, I think I have found it in the prophet Hosea, where he says 20: "All of them are adulterers, as an oven heated for baking." And again 21: "Their hearts are heated," he says, "like an oven." Therefore, the heart of man is an oven. But if vices or the devil [(39)] have heated this heart, it will not bake, but will burn. But if He heats it, who said 22: "I have come to cast fire upon the earth," then I do not burn the bread of the divine Scriptures and the words of God, which I receive into my heart, for destruction, but I bake them for a sacrifice. And perhaps those things are said to be cooked in an oven, which are interior and recondite, nor can they be easily brought forth to the common people; for there are many such things in the divine Scriptures, as with Ezekiel 23, when it is described either concerning the cherubim, or concerning God and that magnificent vision. If these are not cooked in an oven, they cannot be eaten as they are, raw. For it is not to be believed that there is some animal placed in the form of a lion, by which God is carried, or another in the form of a calf [(40)], or an eagle. Therefore, these things, and whatever else are of this kind, are not to be brought forth raw, but are to be cooked in the oven of the heart. There are, therefore, these three things in which he says sacrifices ought to be prepared: in an oven, in a frying pan, in a gridiron; and I think that the oven, according to its form, signifies the deeper things, and those which are ineffable in the divine Scriptures. The frying pan, however, signifies those things which, if they are turned over frequently and often, can be understood and explained. But the gridiron signifies those things which are manifest, and are perceived without any objection. For we have often said that a triple mode of intelligence is found in the divine Scriptures: historical, moral, and mystical. Whence also we have understood that there is in it body, and soul, and spirit. This triple apparatus of sacrifices shows the triple form of this intelligence. But we also find elsewhere, that is, in these very things which are recounted concerning the sacrifices, that there is mentioned the holy basket of perfection, in which three loaves are commanded to be had. Do you see how the forms of all the sacraments harmonize with themselves? The basket of perfection, in which three loaves are ordered to be placed—what else ought we to understand, if not the divine Scriptures, presenting food to the hearers in a triple manner? Do you wish that I should bring forth to you examples of a similar mystery from the Gospels? Let us recall the voice of the Lord, where He says that at midnight [(41)] someone comes to his friend, knocking ^A at his door, and says [(42)]: "Friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing that I may set before him." In which, to touch upon it briefly, the night is the time of this life, and the three loaves are one that is cooked in an oven, another that is in a frying pan, and a third that is cooked on a gridiron.

6. After these things, he says [(43)]: "And every sacrifice made in oil, or not made, will be for all the sons of Aaron, to each equally." What sacrifice is made in oil, or what is that which is not made in oil? The peace offering [(44)] is ordered to be made in oil, as we have already said above. But the sacrifice for sin is not made in oil. For he says [(45)]: "He shall not pour oil upon it, because it is for sin." Therefore, that which is for sin, neither oil of gladness nor incense of sweetness is placed upon it. For concerning sinners the Apostle says [(46)]: "And I shall mourn for those who have sinned before and have not done penance." Nor is there an odor of sweetness in it, ^B because it is said from the person of the sinner [(47)]: "My scars have rotted and are corrupt." These things meantime have been observed by us from the previous chapter, where the law of sacrifice is written for an offense. But I do not doubt that there are many things which escape us, and surpass our sense [(48)]. For we are not of that merit, that we too might be able to say [(49)]: "But we have the sense of Christ." For He alone is the sense, to whom are open all things that are contained within the secret of the law of sacrifices. For if I were worthy that the sense of Christ should be given to me, I too would say in these matters [(50)]: "That we may know what things have been given to us by God, which we also search for." But now, content with the smallness of our sense, let us see the beginning of the second chapter.

7. Concerning the sacrifices of those who offer to the Lord

7. This is, [(51)], the law of the peace offering, which they shall offer to the Lord. Indeed, if he offers it for thanksgiving ^C, he shall offer for a sacrifice loaves of thanksgiving made from fine flour in oil, and unleavened cakes anointed with oil, and fine flour mixed in oil. Upon leavened loaves he shall offer his gifts, because it is his sacrifice of peace thanksgiving; and he shall offer from it one of all his gifts, a separation to the Lord; to the priest who shall pour out the blood of the peace offering, and the meat of the sacrifice of peace thanksgiving, they shall be his, and on the day on which the gift is offered, they shall eat, and shall not leave any of it until morning. This sacrifice, which is called peace, he divides into two parts, and calls one indeed of thanksgiving, the other of a vow, yet both sacrifices are called peace. But because it is not for us ^D...

now to restore sacrifices according to the letter, let us inquire within ourselves: who is so great and such a one that he might offer a salutary sacrifice and a sacrifice of praise to God? I think that he is the one who, in all his actions, causes God to be praised, and is filled with that which our Lord and Savior says 32: "That they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." He, therefore, has offered a sacrifice of praise, for whose actions, for whose doctrine, precepts, word, character, and discipline, God is praised and blessed; just as, conversely, there are those of whom it is said 33, that "through you My name is blasphemed among the Gentiles." Observe, however, here also, how loaves made from fine flour in oil, and unleavened cakes anointed with oil, and fine flour sprinkled in oil are placed, and the salutary host is offered by a triple sacrament again, and in the end, "to the priest," he says 34, "who pours out the blood of the salutary sacrifice, to him it shall be. He said above 35: "To the priest who shall make propitiation, to him it shall be. Here: "to the priest who pours out the blood of the salutary sacrifice, to him it shall be." He uses a worthy order, for first propitiation must be sought, and after these things should the salutary sacrifice be offered. For neither can salvation be to anyone, unless he first makes God propitious to himself. "But also the flesh," he says 36, "of the salutary sacrifice of praise shall be his (45)." We have already said many times that flesh in the Scriptures indicates solid food and perfect doctrine. According to the Scriptures, I know there is a certain food of the soul of milk, and another food of the soul of herbs, and another of flesh, just as the Apostle himself says of certain ones 37: "Because I have given you milk to drink, not meat. For you were not yet able, nor are you yet able. For you are still carnal." And again elsewhere he says 38: "One indeed believes that he may eat everything, but he who is weak, let him eat herbs." And again elsewhere 39: "But strong food is for the perfect," etc. Here, therefore, the flesh of the salutary sacrifice, which is offered for praise, is commanded to be the priest’s own. But of the fine flour offered in a threefold way, as we said above, only one that has pleased the priest is assigned to him; the rest of the offerer (46) belong to the laity, yet so that they are eaten on the same day, nor should anything remain of them in the morning. Flesh, therefore, in which is solid food and perfect knowledge, is assigned to the priests, because they ought to be perfect in all things, in doctrine, in virtue, in conduct. For if they do not have this in themselves, they shall not eat of the flesh of the sacrifices. But that one which is separated, as the principal out of the three which are commanded from the fine flour, in this I think that part of knowledge is designated, of which I spoke above, which indicates perfect and profound doctrine. But you will perhaps ask, since he previously forbade leaven entirely from the sacrifices, how now ^A he commands a sacrifice to be placed upon leavened loaves? But behold more diligently, because leavened bread is taken not for the sacrifice, but for the ministry of the sacrifice. What, therefore, this may be, let us see (47). The Lord in the Gospels calls the human doctrine of the Pharisees, who handed down the traditions of men, leaven, when He says to the disciples 40: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees." Similarly, therefore, human doctrine is, for example, the art of grammar, or rhetoric, or even dialectics. From which doctrine, for the sacrifice indeed, that is, in those things which are to be thought concerning God, nothing is to be adopted, but clear speech, and the splendor of eloquence, and the method of disputing, are rightly commanded to be admitted for the ministry of the Word of God. Or did he not have the sacrifice of the Word of God placed upon this leaven, he who said 41: "Evil conversations corrupt good morals"? And: "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy bellies," and other things similar to these, taken from the leaven of the Greeks.

8.

^A that is, flesh already eaten—been consumed by me. But, as I see, having been instructed from this source and filled with these mysteries, the prophet was speaking to the Lord, because I am not such an abject and degenerate priest that I should feed on yesterday’s, that is, old, flesh. Hear this, all you priests of the Lord, and understand more attentively what is being said. The flesh which is assigned to the priests from the sacrifices is the word of God which they teach in the Church. For this reason, then, they are warned by mystical figures that when they begin to put forth a sermon to the people, they should not put forth yesterday’s things, they should not speak forth old things that are according to the letter, but through the grace of God should always put forth new things, and always find spiritual ones. For if you put forth today in the Church those things which you learned from the Jews yesterday, this is to eat the yesterday’s flesh of the sacrifice. If you remember, the legislator used the same language even in the oblation of firstfruits, saying: they must be, he says, new and recent. You see everywhere that things which pertain to the praises of God (for this is the sacrifice of praise) ought to be new and recent, lest by chance when you put forth old things in the Church, your lips speak, and your mind be without fruit. But hear what the Apostle says: "if," he says, "I speak in tongues, my spirit prays, but my mind is without fruit. What therefore is it? I shall pray," he says, "in spirit, I shall pray also in mind: I shall sing in spirit, I shall sing also in mind." ^B So therefore even you, if you do not produce a present and recent sermon in the praises of God from spiritual learning and from the gift of the grace of God, your mouth indeed offers the sacrifice of praise, but your mind is rebuked for the sterility of the yesterday’s flesh. For the Lord also, when He was giving the bread to the disciples and saying to them: "Take and eat," did not delay, nor did He command it to be kept until the next day. Perhaps there is contained in this mystery also the fact that He does not order bread to be carried on the way, so that you may always put forth the fresh loaves of the word of God which you carry within you. Finally, those Gibeonites are condemned on that account, and they become hewers of wood or drawers of water who brought old loaves to the Israelites, whom the spiritual law commanded always to use fresh and new ones. There is, to be sure, another figure of the sacraments, which orders that what has remained over be eaten even on the second day, but nothing, however, to be reserved until the third day, concerning which we shall see in its own place. But let not even that escape us, that there is a certain time in which it is permitted to feed on old things. For concerning the seventh year, which is called the year of remission or sabbatic, it is said: "You shall eat," he says, "the old and the old of the old." Then under the mystery of the seventh year, as we have said, it is a blessing to eat old things, but now it is forbidden. But it is a great excess to linger over these individual points, and to wander too far on the occasion of the testimonies, when the explanation of the sacrifices is now in our hands. ^C 9. It is said, therefore, in what follows, "but if it shall be voluntary, or if he shall offer his own vow-offering, on whatever day he shall offer his sacrifice, it shall be eaten also even on the second day. And that which shall have remained of the flesh of the sacrifice until the third day, shall be burned with fire. But if he that eats shall have eaten of the flesh on the third day, it shall not be acceptable to him who offers it; it shall not be imputed to him, it is an abomination. But if any soul shall have eaten of it, it shall receive [the] sin." This is undoubtedly what David also says in the Psalms: "Let his prayer be turned into sin," when not only is no merit sought from the sacrifices, but rather much guilt. For you hear the legislator decree that if anyone shall have eaten of what has remained over until the third day, he shall receive sin. Whence it must be recognized what great stain of sins hangs over the human condition, since sin arises even from that source from which the propitiating victim is offered. ^D I believe it was considering this that blessed David was saying in the Psalms: "Who understands faults?" It is therefore a sacrifice of vow and will, by which it is lawful to feed on the second day indeed, but it is utterly abjured for the third. But he gives a remedy to the negligent. "If," he says, "you shall have been invalid, and shall not have been able to finish all the flesh of the sacrifice on the second day, do not eat any of these on the third day, but deliver to the fire what is left over. For if you shall have wished to eat of the sacrifice after two days, you shall receive sin." I, according as the capacity of my sense holds, think that in these two days are understood the two testaments, in which it is permitted to search and discuss every word that pertains to God (for this is the sacrifice), and from them all knowledge of things is to be taken. But if anything shall have remained over which divine Scripture does not determine, no other third scripture ought to be received for the authority of knowledge, because this is named the third day, but let us deliver to the fire what is left over, that is, let us reserve it for God. For neither did God wish us to know everything in the present life, especially when the Apostle also says: "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect shall come, those things which are in part shall be destroyed." This, therefore, is the fire to which we ought to commit what things have remained over until the third day, and not by rash presumption take upon ourselves the knowledge of all things, so that it may be said of us with merit by the same Apostle: "not knowing either what they talk about or concerning what things they affirm." Lest, therefore, our sacrifice should not become acceptable, and this very thing which we desire to take as knowledge from the divine Scriptures should be turned into sin for us, let us keep them [within the] measures which the spiritual law declares to us through the legislator. 10. "And the flesh whatever shall have touched any unclean thing, shall not be eaten, they shall be burned with fire. All that is clean shall eat the flesh, and the soul—

^A which shall have eaten of the flesh of the sacrifice of salvation which is the Lord's, and whose uncleanness shall be upon him, that soul shall perish from its people. And the soul whatever shall have touched any unclean thing, either from the uncleanness of man, or of unclean four-footed animals, or from any unclean abomination, and shall have eaten of the flesh of the sacrifice of salvation which is the Lord's, that soul shall perish from its people." The legislator has set forth here three causes of uncleanness. The first, that the flesh of the sacrifices should not be touched by any uncleanness. The second, that he who eats the flesh of the sacrifice should not be unclean, and have his uncleanness upon him. The third, that even if the flesh be clean and he himself who eats be clean, he should not have touched anything unclean, either from herds or from birds, or from all that has been declared unclean. And this indeed is the will of the legislator ordaining the rite of corporal sacrifices. But according to the order of our exposition, where the holy flesh is understood to be the divine words, this observation is to be held, that it often happens that clean flesh is touched by something unclean; as, for example, if one should make a pure and sincere discourse about God the Father, and about His Only-Begotten, and the Holy Spirit—as is worthy of the mystery of the divinity—and likewise about all rational creatures as having been made by God for them to grasp and understand Him, but does not, in the consequent mystery, also bring in the resurrection of the flesh. His first discourse, ^B since it argued perfectly and holily, is solid food—the flesh is holy; but this which is added to these, by denying the resurrection of the flesh—because it is foreign to the faith—has contaminated and defiled the holy flesh joined to the previous perfect and faithful words. Therefore, the legislator commanded that such flesh should not be eaten, to which the uncleanness of any infidelity is joined. On account of this, the Apostle also says: "For we celebrate the festival not in the old leaven, neither in the leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." The second kind of uncleanness is that he himself who eats the flesh should not be unclean, and his uncleanness be upon him, which can be understood in this way: for example, if someone is of blooming nature and ardent talent, he will not immediately appear fit to receive the mysteries of the Word of God, but this is also sought—that he first be separated from profane acts and unclean works, and only then become capable of instruction, if he has first become capable of holiness. We read something similar to this written in Numbers, where the Lord gave flesh to the children of Israel from heaven and says: "Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, that you may eat flesh," showing this, that if they had not been sanctified before and made clean, God would not have given them flesh. But the legislator well shows the clemency of the Lord, in that he did not say that he who had uncleanness upon him should not eat, but says: "in whom his uncleanness is upon him." For no one, in fact, is found in whom there has not been uncleanness. Yet one can be found in whom it once was, but, having heard the law of the Lord, it is no longer there. But if his uncleanness remains in him, and having heard these things he does not wish to be converted and amended, "that soul," he says, "shall perish from its people." The third is the species of uncleanness, by which he who is clean, if he has touched anything unclean, is polluted not so much by his own sin as by the contagion of another; as, for example, if someone is joined to the friendships and company of a man who is envious, or irascible, or an adulterer, and although he himself ^C is not inserted into his crimes by his own acts, nevertheless he sees him and understands how he hates his brother and is a murderer, or how he lies in wait for another's wife and is an adulterer, or how in every other thing he is sacrilegious, and though these are discovered he does not depart from his company—this is he who has touched the unclean thing, whether an animal, or a bird, or a carcass, and is himself polluted by the uncleanness of another. Now concerning the diversities of unclean things, we have spoken in the above, as far as it was possible to occur. Or did the Apostle not also command according to this same form, when he says: "But now I write unto you in the letter, that you should not keep company with fornicators, if any brother is named a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one not even to take food"? In all of which, what is it that he commands, if not that we should not be defiled by the sins and uncleannesses of others?

11. "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, saying: Every fat of oxen, and of sheep, and of goats, you shall not eat, and the fat of carcasses, and of those captured by a wild beast, shall not be for any work, and it shall not be eaten for food. Everyone who eats the fat from the herds from which you offer a sacrifice to the Lord, that soul shall perish from its people. And every blood you shall not eat in all your dwellings from herds, and from birds. Every soul whatever shall have eaten blood, that soul shall perish from its people." The legislator denies that the fat of those animals which are offered in sacrifices, and of some others, should be eaten or held in use, ^D while he forbids the blood of all flesh from being eaten. In the above, treating of the mystical place where the calf was given as a holocaust for sin, and the fat was placed upon the altar, while the blood, with which in some part the horns were smeared, the rest truly was poured out at the base of the altar—in these…

^A we have received the figure; he who is called the remnant of Israel, and after the fullness of the Gentiles has entered in, hopes for salvation in the last days. By the fat, however, we have described the soul of Christ, which is the Church of his friends, for whom he laid down his soul. It can therefore happen also in this passage, that what is commanded—that no one eat the fat of those things which are offered to the Lord—is that which the Lord also says: "Let no one scandalize one of these little ones who believe in me." But that the blood of no animal is permitted to be eaten, that perhaps is what the Apostle says concerning the Israelites: "You say then, if the branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well, because of unbelief they were broken off. But you stand by faith, be not high-minded, but fear." And again: "Do not boast against the branches," so that, namely, no one may insult their fall. Lest perhaps, as the same Apostle says, you also be cut off, and they, if they do not remain in unbelief, be grafted in. By the blood, however, I think that the people themselves may be competently understood. For they descend not from faith, nor from the spirit of Abraham, but only from his blood.

12. Afterward it says: "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, saying: Whoever offers the ^B sacrifice of his peace-offering to the Lord, shall offer his gift to the Lord in his peace-offering. His hands shall offer the host to the Lord: the fat that is upon the breast, and the lobe of the liver: he shall offer them in such a way, that the gift may be placed before the Lord. And the priest shall lay the fat which is upon the breast upon the altar, and the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons, and the right arm you shall give for a set-aside portion to the priest from your peace-offerings. Whoever offers the blood of the peace-offering and the fat among the sons of Aaron, to him shall the right arm be for a portion; for the breast of the imposition and the arm of the taking-away I have taken from the children of Israel from your peace-offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest, and to his sons, by a perpetual ordinance from the children of Israel. This is the sacrifice which is called the peace-offering." This sacrifice no one offers to the Lord unless he is healthy and, conscious of his own salvation, gives thanks to the Lord. No one, therefore, who is sick in soul and languid in works can offer the peace-offering. Do you want to see that no one sick and languid can offer that sacrifice? That leper, whom the Lord is described as healing in the Gospel, could not offer the host as long as he was held by the sickness of leprosy. But when he approached Jesus and was cleansed, then he is commanded by the Lord to offer the gifts at the altar which Moses commanded, he says, "for a testimony to them." You have heard who it is that ought to offer the host of the peace-offering; hear now how he ought to offer it. "His hands," he says, "shall offer the host to the Lord." Does the legislator not cry out evidently that it is not a human being who offers the host, but his hands, that is, his works? For works are those ^C things which commend the host to God. For if your hand is drawn back from giving and spread out to receive, your leprosy is still within you, and you cannot offer the sacrifice of the peace-offering. Therefore his hands shall offer the sacrifice of the peace-offering, and his hands shall offer those things which are to be offered to the Lord—that is, the fat which is upon the breast and the lobe of the liver. In this place where we have, "his hands shall offer the host to the Lord," in the Greek it is held as *holokarpomata* for the host, which is understood as "every fruit," by which he shows that he cannot offer every fruit to the Lord who is unfruitful, who does not bring forth the fruit of justice, the fruit of mercy, or even the fruits of the Spirit, which the Apostle enumerates: charity, joy, peace, patience, unanimity, and other things similar to these. Whence also in another place the Prophet says: "And may your burnt offering be made fat." He offers, therefore, the fats which are upon the breast and the lobe of the liver, which are to be placed upon the altar. We have already spoken often of the fats. But as to what he says, the fats which are upon the breast—understand your breast to be your heart, from which all evil thoughts are to be taken away from you; for from there they proceed, and they are to be delivered to the fire of the altar, that your heart, having been made clean, may be able to see God. But he also commands the lobe of the liver to be offered. We have also said before that the lobe of the liver is interpreted as the places of anger or of desire; for he offers the lobe of the liver who cuts away from himself every vice of anger and fury. The fats, therefore, which are upon the breast are placed upon the altar, but the breast itself is for Aaron and his sons. But he also commanded the right arm to be separated and to be for them in the place of a gift from the peace-offering. See by what gifts the priest is honored. He receives the breast and the arm, but the right arm. Do we think there is no reason why, of all the members of the animals which are slaughtered in the sacrifices, these members are especially chosen? I think that if anyone says that he is a priest of God, unless he has a breast chosen from all his members, he is not a priest; and unless he has a right arm, he cannot ascend to the altar of the Lord, nor be called a priest. What, therefore, is the breast of the priest, and what kind is it? I think it is such that it is full of wisdom, full of science, full of all divine intelligence; and what do I say "full of intelligence"? Rather, that it is full of God, just as is the arm of the priest which the children of Israel offer to him for their own salvation by which they are saved. These individual things which are written in the Law are forms of those things which ought to be done in the Church. Otherwise it would not have been necessary for these things to be read in the Church, unless some edification were provided for the hearers from them. If, therefore, the priest of the Church, through words and doctrine and much solicitude ^D ...

and the labor of his vigils, is able to convert a sinner and teach him to pursue a better way, so that he may return to the fear of God, contemplate the future hope, cease from evil actions, and turn toward good ones; if, I say, he has done such a work, it follows that the person who is saved by his labor gives thanks to God and offers the sacrifice of salvation for the fact that he has obtained salvation. In this sacrifice, ^A a portion is made the priest's, the breast and the right arm: this is an indication that his breast and his heart, which previously thought of evil things, have, through the labor of the priest, been converted and have received good thoughts, and have thus been cleansed so that they may even be able to see God. Similarly, in that arm there is an indication that his works, which were "sinister" [left], that is to say, perverse and not good, have been converted into "dextral" [right] ones, so that they might be in accordance with God; and this is the right arm, in which the portion of the priest is said to consist. But we also beseech you who hear these things, that you give your breasts, that you offer your breasts to the priests of God, so that they may remove from them everything that is gross, so that they may make it a priestly portion. Give us also your arms, but we ask from you the right arms: we desire nothing of the left, we require from you right-hand works. But this too, that he adds that it is called the breast of "presentation" and the arm of "taking away," does not seem to me to have been said without cause. And therefore I would like to inquire what is that which is to be presented to the breast, so that it may become the breast of presentation. After everything that is gross has been removed from your heart, and it has been cleansed from every covering or defilement that is to be consigned to the fire, it remains that the grace of the Holy Spirit be presented to it, and then it will become the breast of presentation, as well as the arm of separation, or taking away. How will it also be the arm of separation? If you know and understand how to discern what the works of light are, and what the works of darkness are, and you separate your acts from darkness, so that your works may be in the light, your arm is made the arm of separation; or when you have separated yourself from every brother walking in an unruly manner; or certainly when, according to the prophet, they separate themselves and depart from the midst of the sinners who carry the vessels of the Lord. In short, by a certain vernacular usage of Scripture, that which is unclean is said to be common. Just as the voice from heaven says to Peter: ^D "What God has cleansed, you shall not call common." Consequently, therefore, if that which is unclean is called common, that which is holy will be called separated. But we also add this: If anyone is the servant of God alone, he cannot be called common. If, however, anything is common, there is no doubt that it belongs to many, and therefore it is called common. There is a great mystery in this discourse, which Israel according to the flesh has indeed in its use, but it has not the understanding. They also call a man who is unclean "common," but they are ignorant of why he is called common. Let them learn, therefore, from the Church, that he who is holy belongs to God alone, and has communion with no one. But he who is a sinner and unclean belongs to many. For many demons possess him, and therefore he is called common. Finally, even he who in the Gospels was cured by the Lord, when he was asked, "What is your name?" said: "Legion, for we are many." These things, although they may seem to be in a certain excess, are nonetheless necessary to have been added, so that we might discuss the mystery of the breast of presentation and the arm of separation, why it was written that this is the eternal portion given to the priests, into which may He deign to make us worthy, that through purity of heart and probity of works we may deserve to have participation in the divine sacrifice, through the eternal pontiff, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, through whom there is, to God the Father with the Holy Spirit, glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY VI

On the vestments of the pontiff and the priests.

1. The Apostle briefly indicates the cause by which these things that are recited to us can be understood or not understood, saying that the veil of the Old Testament can be taken away from the eyes of one who has turned to God; by which he wished it to be known that the less plain these things are to us, the smaller is our conversion toward God. And therefore we must strive with all our might so that, being free from the occupations of the world and worldly actions, and even, if possible, abandoning the superfluous gossip of companions, we may devote our labor to the word of God and meditate on his law day and night, so that, converted with our whole heart, we may be able to behold the face of Moses, revealed and open, and especially in these things which are now recited, whether concerning the priestly vestments or the consecration of the pontiff, in which such certain things are said that they would exclude even that carnal Israel itself from historical understanding; and therefore, for the explanation of these things, one must not rely on the powers of human ingenuity, but on prayers and supplications poured out to God. In which we also need your assistance, that God the Father of the Word may give us a word for the opening of our mouth, that we may be able to consider the wonders of his law.

2. Therefore, the beginning of those things which are today recited...

in these words: "This anointing of Aaron, and anointing of his sons from the sacrifices of the Lord, on the day he applied them to sacrifice to the Lord, as the Lord commanded to give to them, on the day he anointed them among the children of Israel, a perpetual ordinance throughout their generations. This is the law of the burnt offerings, and for sin, and for a trespass offering, and of completion, and of the peace offering, as the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day he commanded the children of Israel to offer their offerings before the Lord in the desert of Sinai." Since the legislator intended to say, "this anointing of his sons," he did not subjoin what this anointing was, nor did he explain how he had anointed them, but he does this indeed in the following passages; but now, after he said: "This anointing of Aaron and his sons," he subjoined nothing concerning the anointing. Certainly, in order to show that these things which he had said above—that is to say, the breastplate of the imposition and the shoulder of separation—were themselves ^A the anointing of Aaron and his sons, so that we would not think they were spoken of for the sake of the flesh, but that he might teach that they too were inserted under the sacrament of anointing. Finally, in the subsequent parts he repeats those things which he had explained above, and says: "This is the law of the burnt offerings, and of the sacrifice, and for sin." "This," that is, what was explained above, and it seems to be an ἀνακεφαλαίωσις, that is a recapitulation of the sacraments which had been narrated more broadly in the preceding pages. But after these things he subjoins: "And the Lord spoke," he says, "to Moses, saying: Take Aaron and his sons, and the garments, and the oil of anointing, and the calf which is for sin, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread, and convoke the whole synagogue to the door of the tabernacle of testimony." And Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and he convoked the synagogue to the door of the tabernacle of testimony. And Moses said to the synagogue: "This is the word which the Lord commanded to be done." And Moses applied his brother Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water: and he clothed him with the tunic, and girded him with a girdle, and clothed him with the inner tunic, and placed upon him the breastpiece ^B and girded him according to the fashion of the breastpiece, and bound him in it, and placed the oracle upon him, and placed the manifestation and the truth upon the oracle, and placed the mitre upon his head, and placed upon the mitre before his face the golden plate, sanctified and holy, as the Lord had commanded Moses. With attentive ears and a vigilant heart, listen to the consecration of the pontiff or priest, because you too, according to the promises of God, are priests of God, "for you are a chosen race, and a royal priesthood." "He took," he says, "Moses, according to the command of the Lord, Aaron and his sons, and first indeed he washed them, afterwards he clothed them." Consider more diligently the order of the words; he washes first, afterwards he clothes. For you cannot be clothed unless you have been washed beforehand. "Wash yourselves therefore," he says, "and be clean, and take away the wickedness from your souls." For unless you have been washed in this way, you will not be able to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, according to what the Apostle says: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences." Let Moses, therefore, wash you, let him wash you, and let him clothe you. How Moses can wash you, you have heard frequently. For we have often said that Moses is set in his Scriptures for the Law, just as it is said in the Gospel: "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them." It is, therefore, the Law of God that washes you; it is that which dilutes your filth, it is that which, if you listen to it, wipes away the stains of your sins: he himself is Moses, that is, the Law which consecrates priests, nor can he be a priest whom the Law has not constituted a priest. For there are many priests, but whom the Law has not washed, neither has the word of God rendered them pure, nor has the divine discourse washed them from the filth of sins. But you also, who desire to receive the holy baptism and to attain the grace of the Spirit, you must be purified first by the Law, you must first, having heard the word of God, cut back the sprouts of vices and restrain the barbarian and fierce manners, so that, having accepted gentleness and humility, you may also be able to receive the grace of the holy Spirit. For so says the Lord through the prophet: "Upon whom shall I rest, if not upon the humble and quiet and him who trembles at my words." If1 you are not humble and quiet, the grace of the holy Spirit cannot inhabit you, if you do not receive the divine words with trembling. For the holy Spirit flees from a proud and contumacious and pretended soul. You must, therefore, first meditate upon the Law of God, so that if by chance your deeds are intemperate and your manners unrefined, the Law of God may amend and correct you. Do you wish to see that Moses is always with Jesus, that is, the Law with the Gospels? Let the Gospel teach you, because when Jesus had been transformed into glory, even Moses and Elias appeared together with him in glory, so that you may know that the Law and the prophets and the Gospel always come together into one, and remain in one glory. Finally, even Peter, when he wished to make three tabernacles for them, is noted for ignorance, as one who did not know what he was saying. For in the Law, and the prophets, and the Gospel there are not three, but one tabernacle, which is the Church of God. Therefore, Moses first washes the priest of the Lord, and when he has washed him and rendered him purified from the filth of vices, after this he clothes him. But let us consider what these garments are, with which Moses clothes his brother Aaron the first pontiff, if by chance it be possible for you also to be clothed with the same garments, and to be a pontiff. There is, indeed, one great pontiff, our Lord Jesus.

that Irenæus in this place is not speaking of justification, but ^A that he and Paul have set the hand to the reed: because it openly conflicts with those things which Eusebius recites from Papias and from the sixth book of Clement’s *Hypotyposes*, namely, that the blessed Peter, by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, authorized the work edited by Mark, so that it might be read in the churches everywhere; by which it is made clear that while Peter was still alive, Mark had agreed upon the Gospel. It is added that Eusebius, transcribing this passage of Irenæus in book five, chapter eight, makes no mention of the departure of the apostles. It seemed better to indicate these things than to change anything. Page 175. *For not from others.* He teaches that the apostles, the first heralds of the most holy Gospel, preached it constantly, instructed only by the virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit; then they committed that same Gospel to writing for the future memory of those who were to come: and therefore it is only impious for heretics to accuse them of ignorance, or to reject the Scriptures. Moreover, he teaches that the one God, the creator of heaven and earth, was announced by them throughout the whole world, who had been preached by the Law and the prophets. Page 174. *Boasting themselves to be correctors of the apostles.* He censures Marcion and his sectaries, whom he convicted in book 1, chapter 29, of having mutilated the Gospel according to Luke, and having taken away all things that had been written concerning the generation of the Lord, saying that they themselves were more truthful than those who had handed down the Gospel to us. Tertullian ^B is the authority that they erred in their opinion concerning the context of the Gospel, by which God is said to rain upon the just and the unjust, and he describes much more mutilation brought upon the writings of the apostles by the same persons throughout the whole of book v *Against Marcion*: but Epiphanius deals with these more copiously against heresy 42. ... *And they were clothed with the supervening Holy Spirit.* Thus, for < the supervening Spirit > being set aside, we prefer to read from our old codex and especially from the text of the book of Acts: < You shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit supervening upon you > 28. *Thus Matthew.* Papias too had written the same thing before Irenæus, in Eusebius, book III of his *History*, chapter 55, and Eusebius himself affirms in book v, chapter 10, that Pantaenus found it in India, written in Hebrew letters, left there by the work of Bartholomew, and that it is the testimony that this same text was preserved. Theodorus Lector also asserts 29 that it was later found in Cyprus, in the tomb of Barnabas, inscribed by his own hand. St. Jerome is also the authority that the same Hebrew text was in his own time in the Caesarean library, which the martyr Pamphilus had composed; and he handed down in writing that the power of transcribing it had been granted to him by the Nazarenes of Berrhoea, who used it. It appeared in our century, through the work of Sebastian Münster, as the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew; how much is to be deferred to it, the Church pronounces. *Furthermore, in these things we see the opinion of this most ancient martyr, indeed of the whole Church, that only four Gospels were approved and received from the very beginning, as he will teach more copiously below in chapter 11 of this book.* Therefore the remaining pseudo-Gospels, such as those inscribed with the names of Peter, Thomas, Matthew, Bartholomew, and the twelve apostles; then those circulated and sold under the titles of the Hebrews, Nazarenes, Ebionites, Encratites, Egyptians, and any others whatever, are deservedly rejected. Theophylact 30 further indicates the time when each of the four evangelists wrote, namely: Matthew, eight years after the assumption of Christ into heaven; Mark, after ten years, that is, two years after Matthew; Luke, fifteen years after; finally, John, thirty-two years after. *But after their departure.* All codices agree with this reading. Rufinus also made Eusebius speak thus in Latin: < After their departure, etc. >, by which Irenæus indicates that Mark wrote only when the holy apostles Peter and Paul had been removed either by martyrdom or by traveling elsewhere for the sake of the Gospel. *Through writings.* Following the authority of old codices, and Eusebius also approving this, we have deleted < prescriptions >. And *Luke*. We added this sentence, which is completed in thirteen statements, from an old codex; which Eusebius also recognizes in book III of his *History*, chapter 8. *Afterwards also John.* Eusebius, book v, chapter 8: Then John the disciple of the Lord, who had reclined upon his breast, while he was dwelling at Ephesus in Asia, brought the Gospel to light. St. Jerome hands down that he did this at the request of the bishops of Asia, against the arising blasphemies of the Ebionites, Cerinthians, and Gnostics; which Irenæus also indicates in chapter 11 of this book. From *the annotations of Ernest Grabe on chapter 1.* Page 174. *The tradition of Irenæus concerning the time of the publication of the four Gospels*, taken without doubt from Papias or other elders, seems to be preferred to the opinion of the much more recent Theophylact, who in his *Preface to the Commentary on Matthew* says that Matthew wrote eight years after the assumption of Christ into heaven; Mark after ten years, that is, two years after Matthew; Luke after fifteen years; finally, John after thirty-two years. Which era rests upon the most faithful of certain codices, but is too unstable. For, to say nothing of others, it is agreed almost among all that St. John, while very old, wrote his Gospel about the year 98 from the birth of Christ, and therefore not 52 years after his ascension, but twice as many, namely 64; unless one believes, according to the opinion of Irenæus, that Christ remained on earth for almost 50 years. The tradition of the others, and of Irenæus concerning the writing of St. Matthew’s Gospel only at that time when Paul was in Rome, sometimes used to come to my mind as I reflected on what cause existed for which the Apostle in Ephesians IV, 11, wrote: < He himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and others as evangelists, and others as pastors and teachers; > but in the parallel passage in 1 Corinthians XI, 28: < God has indeed placed some in the Church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; > completely omitting < evangelists >. And yet if you take < evangelists > with Oecumenius as < writers of the Holy Gospels >, a reason is given clearly according to the stated tradition. For Paul had written to the Corinthians before he had come to Rome, at which time no writing of the Gospel had yet been published by any of the apostles or apostolic men; but he sent the Epistle to the Ephesians just before he departed from Rome, at which time St. Matthew had already written his Gospel; Mark and Luke, however, were on the verge of this work. I do not place much confidence in this conjecture of mine, but I willingly submit it to the judgment of the more learned. *Founding the Church.* You will say that before Paul’s arrival in the City, the Church was already there, whose faith was known throughout the whole world, as the Apostle himself testifies in Romans I, 8. How then does Irenæus here say that the Roman Church was founded by him and Peter? But Irenæus himself is the best interpreter of his own words, in those which follow in chapter 3: *The blessed apostles, therefore, having founded and built up the Church, handed over to Linus the office of the episcopate.* Although, therefore, the faithful were there before these 27 Book II against Marcion. 28 Acts 1, 8. 29 Book II Collections. 30 *Preface* to Matthew.

4. "And he bound," he says, "him according to the fashion of the humeral." He had already said above that "he bound the girdle over the tunic," and now he is bound again according to the fashion of the humeral. What is this double girdle, by which he wants the pontiff to be constrained on every side? Let him be constrained in word, constrained in deed, ready for all things, with nothing slack, with nothing dissolute. Let him be girt with the virtues of the soul, let him be constrained against bodily vices, so that he fears no fall of the soul and no fall of the body, and let him always use both girdles so that he may be holy in body and soul. ^A And he is rightly bound according to the fashion of the humeral. For he uses the girdle of virtue according to his own acts and according to his own works. And after this, he says, "he placed upon him the *logion*," which is the rational, "and he placed upon the ^B *logion* manifestation and truth, and he placed the miter upon his head." But let us see what the *logion*, which is the rational, signifies. After nakedness has been covered and shame veiled by garments, after he has been fortified by works and strengthened by both girdles, the *logion*, that is, the rational, is then handed over to him. The *logion* is the mark of wisdom, because wisdom consists in reason. But he shows what the power of this wisdom and reason is. For he places manifestation and truth upon the rational. For it is not sufficient for a pontiff to possess wisdom and to know the reason of all things, unless he can also manifest to the people those things which he knows. Therefore, manifestation is placed upon the rational so that he may be able to respond to everyone who asks him for ^C the reason concerning faith and truth. And truth [is placed] upon it, so that he may not build up things which he can devise by his own wit, but things which have truth, nor ever depart from the truth, so that in all his speech truth may always remain. This, therefore, is what it means to have placed manifestation and truth upon the rational. Wretched are they who, reading these things, pour out all their understanding toward the sense of a bodily garment! Let them tell us what kind of garment manifestation is, or what kind of clothing truth is. If anyone has ever seen, if anyone has ever heard of manifestation and truth being called garments, let them tell us what women might have woven these things, or in what workshop these things were ever finished. But if you wish to hear the truth, it is wisdom that fashions such garments as these. ^D That wisdom weaves the manifestation of hidden things, that wisdom weaves the truth of all things. Let us therefore pray to the Lord that we may deserve to receive this, and she herself will clothe us with such garments. But observe also how holy and how wondrous the very order of things is. Not before the *logion* and afterward the humeral, because wisdom does not come *before* works, but works must be had first, and afterward wisdom is to be sought. Then, furthermore, not manifestation before the rational, because we ought to be rational before we ought to be capable of instructing others. ^A Moreover, truth is added to these things, because truth is the highest wisdom. Finally, the prophet observes this same order when he says: "Sow for yourselves to righteousness, and reap the fruit of life; illuminate for yourselves the light of knowledge." You see how he does not say "illuminate for yourselves the light of knowledge" first, but first "sow for yourselves into righteousness," and it is not sufficient to sow, but "reap," he says, "the fruit of life," in order that after these things you may be able to fulfill what follows: "illuminate for yourselves the light of knowledge." So therefore, 218 even here the humeral ornament is placed, and the ornament alone is not sufficient, but the girdle is also tightened. But not even this is enough; he is girded a second time, so that finally in this way the rational may be placed upon him, and after this, manifestation and truth may follow. Let the pontiff use these garments. One who holds the priesthood ought to be clothed in such an ornament. ^B 5. But he has not yet finished, and another ornament still is to be added; it is necessary that he also receive a crown. Therefore he receives first the *cidaris*, which is a certain covering of the head, or an ornament. And after this the miter is placed upon him. *Ante faciem*, that is, at the front of the pontiff, [is placed] a golden plate, sanctified, on which the name of God is said to be engraved. But this ornament of the head, where the name of God is said to be placed, is superimposed after all those things with which the lower members of the body had been adorned. In which it seems to me to be indicated that the knowledge of God is more eminent than all things which can be sensed or understood concerning the world or other creatures, ^C just as He is the author of all. And because He Himself is the head of all, therefore this ornament is superimposed upon the head above all else. For nothing is added to the pontiff's head after this. And therefore miserable are those of whom the Apostle speaks, because they "do not hold the head, from whom the whole joint, connected and knit together, grows into the growth of God in the spirit." But if we have understood well who the priest's ornament is and what is the honor of his head above all things, searching into the deep things of the divine mysteries, let us desire not only to know and hear these things, but also to fulfill and do them, because "the hearers of the law shall not be justified before God, but the doers." ^D For you also can, as we have often said already, if you have prepared for yourself such garments as these by your studies and vigils; if you have washed yourself, and the word of the law has made you clean; and if the anointing of the chrism and the grace of baptism have endured in you without stain; if you have been clothed with the double garments of the letter and the spirit; if you are also doubly girded, so that you are chaste in flesh and mind; if you are adorned with the humeral of works and the rational of wisdom; if also by the miter and the golden plate the fullness of the knowledge of God crowns your head; know that even if you remain hidden and ignored among men, you are acting before God.

^A For you are the temple of the living God, if the Spirit of God dwells in you. Subsequent to this, the things that are said concerning his consecration and his anointing have been discussed by us dispersedly and often.

6. But regarding what is said: [6.] "And Moses brought forward the sons of Aaron, and he put tunics on them, and girded them with belts, and placed miters upon them, as the Lord commanded Moses," we must consider what the difference is between these priests and the greater priesthoods. For these are given neither a double garment, nor a shoulder-piece, nor a breastplate, nor an adornment for the head, except only a miter and belts that bind the tunic. And so, these too receive the grace of the priesthood, and these too perform their office, but not like those who are adorned with both the shoulder-piece and the breastplate, who shine with manifestation and truth, who are decorated with the ornament of a golden plate. Hence I judge that it is one thing to perform an office as a priest, and another to be instructed and adorned in everything. For anyone can perform a formal ministry for the people, but few are those who, adorned with good character, instructed in doctrine, and learned in wisdom, are very suitable for manifesting the truth of things, and who set forth the knowledge of the faith with the ornament of refined thoughts and the brilliance of their assertions, which the adornment of the golden plate placed upon the head signifies. There is, then, one name of the priesthood, but the dignity is not one—whether it be for the merit of life or for the virtues of the soul. And therefore, in those things which the divine law describes, every priest ought to look at himself as in a mirror ^B and gather his grade of merit from it, if he sees himself placed in all these things which we have set out above, adorned with pontifical ornaments; if he is conscious to himself that he is so great and such a one in knowledge, or in actions, or in doctrine, let him know that he possesses the high priesthood not only in name, but also in merits. Otherwise, let him know that a lower grade is assigned to him, even if he has received the name of the first. Indeed, it should not escape us, even this which can be brought forward by a studious reader, about which I have often hesitated with myself. For reading in Exodus, where it is commanded regarding the priestly garments, I find there are eight species which are prepared for the high priest. Here, however, only seven are numbered. I ask, therefore, what it is that has been omitted. The eighth species is placed there: the breeches, or, as we read elsewhere, the linen femoralia, about which [the text] here was silent among the other garments. What, therefore, shall we say? Shall we attribute an oversight to the words of the Holy Spirit, so that, when He has narrated all the rest in order, one species mentioned above should have escaped His notice? I do not dare to think these things about sacred discourses. But let us see if, perhaps, since we said above that this kind of garment is an indication of chastity, by which the thighs or the loins and flanks are seen to be covered or bound, we are saying—that is to say—one might not always call these parts bound in those who were priests at that time. For sometimes [it is] also permitted concerning the posterity of one's lineage and the success of offspring. But I would not introduce such an understanding among the priests of the Church. For I see another thing related to the mystery. ^C For priests and teachers in the Church can also generate children, just as he who said: "My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ is formed in you." And again he says elsewhere: "For although you might have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel." These teachers of the Church, therefore, in generating such offspring, sometimes use constricted femoralia, and abstain from generating when they have found such listeners in whom they know that they can have no fruit. Finally, it is even related in the Acts of the Apostles concerning some that they could not, he says, "speak the word of God in Asia," which is to have had femoralia imposed [upon them], and to have restrained themselves so as not to beget children, because, forsooth, they were such listeners in whom the seed would both perish and no succession could be had. Thus, therefore, let the priests of the Church, when they have seen incapable ears, or when they have inspected feigned and hypocritical listeners, impose the breeches, let them use femoralia, lest the seed of the word of God perish, because the Lord commands the same thing and says: "Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor [throw] your pearls before swine, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turning, tear you asunder." Therefore, if anyone wishes to be a pontiff not so much in name as in merit, let him imitate Moses, let him imitate Aaron. For what is said of them? Because they did not depart from the tabernacle of the Lord. Moses, therefore, was unceasingly in the tabernacle of the Lord. But what was his work? That he should either learn something from God, or he himself should teach the people. These are the two works of the pontiff: that he should either learn from God by reading the divine Scriptures and by meditating frequently, or that he should teach the people. But let him teach those things which he himself has learned from God, not from his own heart or from human sense, ^D but those things which the Holy Spirit teaches. There is also that work which Moses performs: he does not go to battles, he does not fight against enemies. But what does he do? He prays; and as long as he prays, his people are victorious. If he relaxes and lets down his hands, his people are conquered and put to flight. Let the priest of the Church, therefore, pray unceasingly so that the people under him may be victorious also against the invisible enemies, the Amalekites, who are the demons attacking those who wish to live piously in Christ. And so we...

^A by the decrees against Pelagius and Caelestius applied there, as he writes in Epistle 90. He writes in Epistle 57 that he was compelled by the command of the venerable Pope Zosimus and by ecclesiastical necessity to be summoned to Caesarea in Mauritania. He asserts in Epistle 162 that Caecilian of Carthage could afford to disregard the conspiring multitude of the enemies of the Donatists, ^B since he saw himself to be joined by communicatory letters to the Roman Church, in which the primacy of the apostolic chair always lives. In book five of *On Baptism*, chapter twenty-three, he confirms that Pope Stephen wrote and commanded against the anabaptism practiced in Africa in the age of Cyprian. He relates and provides proof in the book *On Original Sin*, chapter 8, that the holy Pope Innocent judged the affairs of the Palestinian synod, regarding which Pelagius falsely boasted that he had been acquitted. In the second book of *On Baptism*, chapter first, he judges that "the primacy of Peter's apostolate is to be preferred to any episcopate." In Epistle 163, he opposes to the schism of the Donatists the successions of the Roman Church alone, from blessed Peter to his own age, as a mass of immense virtue. The bishops of all Numidia, gathered at the Council of Milevis, beseech the supreme pontiff Innocent ^C that he might deign to apply his pastoral diligence to the great dangers of the members of Christ, and that he might, by the authority of his holiness—derived from the authority of the holy Scriptures—restrain the heretics Caelestius (established in Asia) and Pelagius (established in Jerusalem), and provide for others instantly and quickly, according to the same Augustine, Epistle 92. The same Augustine acknowledges and approves the reports of this council and the Council of Carthage mentioned slightly above, sent to the head of the apostolic see, as well as the responses sent by the same pontiff to the Africans, in Epistle 106, in book 1 *Against Julian the Pelagian*, and in the second book *Against Pelagius and Caelestius*, chapter 7. But, lest I be too wordy in a matter so evident, let us turn our eyes to the testimonies of the African doctors—the remains of Fulgentius of Ruspe, the abbot Eugippius, Eulalius and Eugenius of Carthage, Primasius, Optatus, Lactantius, and Arnobius—to the Alexandrian see, which the holy Nicene synod ordained to have, according to ancient custom, ^D the "excellent power," that is, the supreme authority and dignity, over Egypt, Pentapolis, and Libya. Jerome, in his epistle to Theophilus, writes that this see glories in being a participant in the faith of the Roman Church, praised by the apostolic mouth. That most ancient and holy man Dionysius of Alexandria seeks the counsel of Xystus, the Roman bishop, and vehemently demands his judgment in the cause of anabaptism, fearing lest he himself slip through error. The same man, in the very next epistle, had consulted Stephen, the predecessor of Xystus, for the same cause, having mentioned the concord of all the churches of the Orient, as undoubtedly the primary shepherd of the Church, whose judgment all ought to hear and attend to. Origenes, more ancient than Dionysius and himself a catechist of Alexandria, taught that the primacy of affairs for feeding the sheep was handed down to Peter, and that the Church was founded upon him as upon the earth, and that he merited to become the foundation of the Church. And he writes to the Roman prelate Zephyrinus that he had undertaken his journey to Rome for the reason that it was a great desire of his to see the Roman Church, which is clearly most ancient. The Great Athanasius, and with him the bishops of all Egypt, name Mark ^A the Pope of the holy Roman apostolic see and of the universal Church; they acknowledge his holy see as the mother and head of all churches; and to him, together with all those committed to them, they pledge that they will be perpetually obedient. Elsewhere, the same Athanasius is gravely indignant at the sycophancies of the Arian prelates Ursacius and Valens, because they spared not even the Roman bishop Liberius—led by no reverence, he whose see was apostolic, in which dwells the fear of no one save God. The same man again writes that he once sailed from Alexandria all the way to Rome ^B to commend himself and his own to that Church, as he himself is a witness in his *Apologia ad Constantium Imperatorem*: or, as even Calvin pleases, to restrain the rabble of his enemies by the authority of the Roman see, and then to confirm the pious who were laboring. Now indeed, as we turn to the Orient, the famous churches of all Syria, Palestine, and Arabia occur to us, to which Pope Stephen, by his doctrine, counsel, and epistles, was always of great judgment; Dionysius of Alexandria congratulates him on this in Eusebius, *History*, book VII, chapter 4. Jerome, dwelling in the diocese of Jerusalem, in an epistle to Pope Damasus, exclaims with this present spirit: ^C "I speak with the successor of the fisherman and the disciple of the cross. I, following no one but Christ, am joined in communion with your beatitude, that is, the chair of Peter: I know that the Church is built upon that rock. Whosoever eats the lamb outside this house is profane. If anyone is not in the ark of Noah, he will perish when the flood prevails. Whosoever does not gather with you, scatters; that is, he who is not of Christ is of Antichrist." And in the following epistle to the same: "If anyone is joined to the chair of Peter, he is mine." Elsewhere also: he asks that if he had written anything with too little caution, it be amended by the same Damasus, "as by one who holds the faith and the chair of Peter." The same man teaches again that synthetic consultations of all the East and West were accustomed to be deferred to the Roman bishop, when he writes that he had responded to them, when he assisted Damasus in ecclesiastical documents. And in his epistle to Principia, he committed to memory ^D that he had been "drawn by ecclesiastical necessity" to Rome with the holy pontiffs Paulinus and Epiphanius, the former of whom ruled the Church of Antioch in Syria, the latter that of Salamis in Cyprus. But let the most illustrious prelate of Jerusalem, Cyril, be heard. He calls Peter, the prelate of the Roman Church, the most excellent prince of the apostles, Catechesis 2; the bearer of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, Catechesis 6; the supreme herald of the Church, Catechesis 11; the prince of the apostles and the key-bearer of the kingdom of heaven, Catechesis 17. I omit Sophronius, Pachymeres, and Michael Syngelus, who later presided over this Church, so that I may run through others. In Caesarea of Palestine, that most learned bishop Eusebius calls Peter the first pontiff of the Christians in his *Chronicles*; and he adds that he persevered at Rome for twenty-five years; and as often as he recounts the successions of bishops in the histories of the principal churches, so often does he accord the first place to the Roman. Let us now run through certain churches of the Orient. The Church of Caesarea in Cappadocia most willingly received and heard the Roman prelate’s legates, Lucifer and Eusebius, who had come to suppress the sedition that had arisen there.

HOMILY VII ON LEVITICUS

^A Let us see whom the law forbids to drink wine when approaching the altar. And indeed, as far as the historical precept is concerned, what has been said is sufficient. But regarding the mystical understanding, our profession will be held in what follows, that according to the authority of the Apostle Paul, our Lord and Savior is called the high priest of the good things to come. He is, therefore, Aaron, and his sons are his apostles, to whom he himself said: “Little children, yet a little while I am with you.” What, then, did the law command Aaron and his sons? That they should not drink wine or strong drink when they approach the altar. Let us see how we can apply this to the true high priest, our Lord Jesus Christ, and to his priests and sons, namely our apostles. And it must first be perceived how, before this true high priest approaches the altar, he indeed drinks wine with his priests, but when he begins to approach the altar and enter into the tabernacle of testimony, he abstains from wine. Do you think we can find anything of the sort done by him? Do you think we can adapt the forms of the Old Testament to the deeds and sermons of the New Testament? We can, if the Word of God himself deigns to help and inspire us. We therefore inquire how the Lord and Savior, who is the true high priest, drinks wine with his disciples, who are the true priests, before he approaches the altar of God; but when he begins to approach it, he does not drink. The Savior had come into this world in order to offer his own flesh as a sacrifice to God for our sins. Before he offered this, during the intervals of his dispensations, he drank wine. Finally, he was called a glutton and a wine-drinker, a friend of publicans and sinners. But when the time of his cross arrived, and he was about to approach the altar where he was to immolate the sacrifice of his flesh, “taking,” he says, “the cup, he gave thanks and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take, and drink from this.” You, he says, drink, who ^B are not about to approach the altar. But he himself, as one about to approach the altar, says of himself: “Amen I say to you, that I will not drink from this fruit of the vine until I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father.” If any of you approaches with ears purified to hear, let him contemplate the mystery of this ineffable secret. What is it that he says: “I will not drink from this fruit of the vine until I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father?” We were saying previously that the promise of this good drunkenness was given to the saints, when they say: “And how excellent is thy cup that inebriates!” But we also read similar things in many other places of Scripture, as there: “They shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure.” In Jeremiah also the Lord says: “And I will inebriate my people.” And Isaiah says: “Behold, they that serve me shall drink, but you shall be thirsty.” And many things of this kind of drunkenness can be found recorded in the divine Scriptures. Which drunkenness is without doubt accepted for the joy of the soul and the gladness of the mind, just as we remember to have distinguished elsewhere that it is one thing to be inebriated ^C by night, and another to be inebriated by day.

2. If, therefore, we understand what this drunkenness of the saints is, and how it is given to the saints for joy in the promises, let us now see how our Savior does not drink wine until he drinks it new with the saints in the kingdom of God. My Savior mourns even now the sins of mine. My Savior cannot be glad as long as I remain in iniquity. Why can he not? Because he himself is the advocate for our sins before the Father, just as his fellow-mystic John proclaims, saying that “if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just, and he is the propitiation for our sins.” How then can he, who is the advocate for my sins, drink the wine of gladness, whom I grieve by sinning? How can this one, who approaches the altar so that he may propitiate me, a sinner, be in gladness, he to whom the sorrow of my sins always ascends? With you, he says, I will drink it in the kingdom of my Father. As long as we do not act such that we ascend to the kingdom, he cannot drink that wine alone which he promised to drink with us. He is therefore in sorrow so long as we persist in error. For if his Apostle mourns for some who have sinned before and have not done penance for the things they have done, what shall I say of him, who is called the Son of charity? Who emptied himself on account of the charity which he had toward us, and did not seek the things that were his own, though he was equal to God, but sought our things, and on this account emptied himself? When, therefore, he has sought these things of ours, does he now no longer seek us, nor think of our affairs, nor grieve over our errors, nor weep over our losses and contritions, he who wept over Jerusalem and said to her: “How often would I have gathered thy children, as a hen gathers her young, and thou wouldest not?” Does he who took our wounds, ^D and suffered on our account as the physician of our souls and bodies, now neglect the putrefactions of our wounds? “For they have rotted,” as the Prophet says, “and have been corrupted”

^A from the face of our foolishness. For these, then, he now stands before the face of God, interceding for us, standing before the altar and offering propitiation for us to God: and for this reason he said, as one about to approach this altar, “For now I will not drink of the fruit of this vine, until I drink it new with you.” He waits, therefore, for us to be converted, that we may imitate his example, that we may follow in his footsteps, and that he may rejoice with us and drink wine with us in the kingdom of his Father. For now, since the Lord is merciful and compassionate, he weeps with greater affection even than his Apostle with those who weep, and desires to rejoice with those who rejoice. And much more does he himself mourn for those who have sinned beforehand and have not done penance. For we must not think that Paul, indeed, weeps for sinners and laments for the delinquent, but that my Lord Jesus abstains from weeping when he approaches the Father, when he stands before the altar, and offers propitiation for us; and this is what it means that he who approaches the altar does not drink the wine of gladness, because he still suffers the bitterness of our sins. He does not wish, therefore, to drink wine alone in the kingdom of God; he waits for us. For so he said: “Until I drink it with you.” We are, therefore, those who, neglecting our own life, delay his joy. He waits for us that he may drink of the fruit of this vine. Of what vine? Of that one, surely, of which he himself was the figure, saying: “I am the vine, you are the branches.” Whence he says again, that “my blood is truly drink, and my flesh is truly food.” For truly in the blood of the grape he has washed his garment. What, therefore, is it? He awaits joy. When does he await it? “When I have finished my work,” he says. When does he finish this work? When he has made me, who am the last and the most worthless of all sinners, finished and perfect, then he finishes his work. For now his work is still imperfect, as long as I remain imperfect. In short, as long as I am not subject to the Father, neither is he himself said to be subject to the Father. Not that he himself ^B is in need of subjection before the Father, but because of me, in whom he has not yet finished his work, he himself is said not to be subject. For we read thus, that we are the body of Christ and members in part. But let us see what it is that he says, “in part.” I now, for example, am subject to God according to the spirit, that is, in purpose and in will; but as long as the flesh in me lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and I have not yet been able to subject the flesh to the spirit, I am indeed subject to God, but not wholly, but in part. If, however, I shall be able also to draw my flesh and all my members into the harmony of the spirit, then I shall seem to be perfectly subject.

If you have understood what it is to be “in part,” and what it is to be “wholly” subject, return now to that which we proposed concerning the subjection of the Lord: and see that, since we are all said to be his body and members, as long as there are some among us who are not yet subject with perfect subjection, he himself is said not to be subject. But when he has finished his work and brought his whole creation to the height of perfection, then he himself will be said to be subject in those whom he has subjected to the Father, and in whom he has finished the work which the Father had given him, that God may be all in all. But to what end do these things look? That we may understand what we discussed above, how he does not drink wine, or how he drinks before entering the tabernacle, before approaching the altar. But he does not drink now, because he stands before the altar and mourns my sins; and again he will drink hereafter, when all things shall have been made subject to him, and all have been saved and the death of sin destroyed, since it will no longer be necessary to offer sacrifices for sin. For then there will be joy and gladness, and then ^C “the humbled bones shall exult,” and that which is written will be fulfilled: “Pain and sadness and groaning shall flee away.” But let us not omit that which is said not only of Aaron—that he should not drink wine—but also of his sons when they enter the sanctuary. For not even the apostles have yet received their joy, but they themselves also wait, that I too may become a participant in their joy. For the saints who depart from here do not immediately obtain the full rewards of their merits; but they wait for us, even if we are lingering, even if we are slothful. For there is no perfect joy for them as long as they grieve for our errors and mourn our sins. Perhaps you do not believe me when I say this. For who am I, that I should dare to confirm the opinion of such a great dogma? But I have a good witness, of whom you cannot doubt. For the teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth is the Apostle Paul. He therefore, writing to the Hebrews, when he enumerated all the holy fathers who were justified by faith, added after all things even this: “But these,” he says, “all having obtained witness through faith, did not yet attain the promise, God providing something better for us, that they should not be perfected without us.” You see, therefore, that Abraham still ^D waits, so that the things which are perfect may follow. Isaac and Jacob wait too, and all the prophets wait for us, that they may take hold of perfect blessedness with us. For these reasons, therefore, even that mystery is kept for the last day of the delayed judgment. For there is one body, which is awaited to be justified, one which is said to rise in judgment. For although there may be many members, yet it is one body, not

able to say, as the eye might to the hand, "I have no need of you," ^A even if the eye is healthy and not troubled. As far as seeing is concerned, if the other members are missing, what joy will there be for the eye? Or what will appear to be perfection if it does not have a hand? If feet are lacking, or the other members are not present? For even if there is some preeminent glory of the eye, it is mostly in this, that it should be either a guide for the body itself, or not be deserted by the duties of the other members.

I think we are taught this through that vision of the prophet Ezekiel, when he says that bone must be brought together to bone, and joint to joint, and that the nerves, and veins, and skin, and each single part must be restored to its own place. Finally, see what the prophet adds: "These bones," he says, he did not say "these are all men," but he said, "these bones are the house of Israel." ^B Therefore, you will have joy departing from this life, if you are holy. But then the joy will be full, when no member of the body is lacking to you. For you will await others, just as you yourself have been awaited. But if to you, who are a member, it does not seem to be perfect joy if another member is missing; how much more does our Lord and Savior, who is the head and author of the whole body, not say that his joy is perfect, as long as he sees that something is lacking to his body from among the members? And perhaps that is why he poured forth a prayer to the Father, saying: "Holy Father, glorify me with that glory which I had with you before the world was." He does not wish, therefore, to receive his perfect glory without you—that is, without his people, who are his body, and who are his members. For he wishes in this body of his Church and in these members of his people to dwell himself as if he were the soul, so that he may have all movements and all works according to his own will; so that the word of the prophet may be truly fulfilled in us: "I will dwell in them and walk among them."

But now, until we are all perfect, but are still in sins, it is in part in us, and therefore "we know in part, and we prophesy in part," until someone merits to reach that measure which the Apostle speaks of: "But I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." In part, therefore, as the Apostle says, we are now his members, and in part we are his bones. But when bones have been joined to bones, and joints to joints, according to what we said above, then even he will say of us that prophetic word: "All my bones will say: Lord, who is like you?" For all these bones speak, and sing a hymn, and give thanks to God. For they remember his benefit, and therefore "all my bones will say: Lord, who is like you? Delivering the poor from the hand of those stronger than him." ^C When these bones were still dispersed, before he came who would gather them and join them into one, that word of the prophet was also spoken: "Our bones are scattered beside the grave."

Because, therefore, they were dispersed, he says through another prophet: "Bone is gathered to bone, and joint to joint, and the nerves, and the veins, and the skins." For when this has been done, then "all these will say: Lord, who is like you? Delivering the needy from the hand of those stronger than him." For every single bone from these bones was needy, and was worn down by the hand of one stronger. For it did not have the joint of charity, nor the nerves of patience, nor the veins of a vital spirit and the vigor of faith. But when he came who would gather the dispersed, and who would join together the dissipated, associating bone to bone and joint to joint, he began to build the holy body of the Church. These things indeed fell outside this discussion, but they were necessarily explained so that the entry of my pontiff into the holies, not drinking wine until he should perform his priesthood, might become clearer. After these things, however, he will drink wine, but new wine, and new wine in a new heaven, and in a new earth, and in a new man, with new men, and with those who sing to him a new canticle. You see, therefore, that it is impossible for new wine to be drunk from a new vessel by him who is still clothed in the old man with his deeds. "For no one," he says, "puts new wine into old wineskins." If you wish, therefore, to drink of this new wine, you must be renewed, and say, "For even if our exterior man is corrupted, yet that which is within is renewed from day to day." And of these things, enough has been said. ^D

5. There are many other things which have been recited. But because we cannot say everything, we must choose those things about which we ought to speak. And because we have said according to our powers what it is to drink and not to drink wine, let us now see what it is also to eat the breast of separation and the shoulder of setting-apart. After these things, we will discuss, as much as the Lord shall give and as time shall allow, the clean and unclean, whether regarding foods or animals. The Scripture says, therefore: "The breast of separation and the shoulder of setting-apart you shall eat in a holy place, you and your sons, and your house with you; for it is given as a law to you and a law to your sons from the peace offerings of the children of Israel, back the shoulder of setting-apart and the breast of separation." Not every breast is a breast of separation; nor is every shoulder a shoulder of setting-apart and separation. But since we have called back the person of the pontiff to my Lord Jesus, and to his sons the holy apostles, let us see how he himself indeed eats the breast of separation, and his sons, but others are not all able to eat the breast of separation. What, therefore, is that which is separated from all things, and is not common with the rest, except the sole substance of the Trinity? If, therefore, I understand indeed the reason of the world, I cannot...

^A even then, if the knowledge of God has not been revealed to me, partake of the breast; yet not the breast of separation. Even if I am able to say, "For He Himself has given me true knowledge of all things that are, so that I may know the reason of the world, and the power of the elements, the beginning and the end, the middle of the times, the vicissitudes of changes, and the conversions of the seasons, the cycles of the years, and the dispositions of the stars," the knowledge of all these things, because it is rational, is the food of the breast, but not of the breast of separation. But if I am able to perceive those things concerning God which are great, holy, true, and secret, then shall I eat the breast of separation, when I shall have recognized that which is eminent and separated from every creature. Therefore, my true high priest first eats this breast. How does He eat? "No one," He says, "knows the Father, except the Son." ^B Secondly, in the second place, His sons partake of it also. "For no one knows the Father, except the Son, and to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." And to whom does He reveal Him, if not to His own apostles? But also the shoulder of separation, or of setting aside, as we have said above, acts and works that are more eminent than the rest, which the Savior and my Lord Himself truly fulfilled. How did He fulfill it? "My food," He says, "is that I should do the will of Him who sent me, and accomplish His work." When, therefore, He does the will of Him who sent Him, in this He eats not the breast, but the shoulder of separation. Likewise, His apostles also, when they perform the work of an evangelist and are made blameless workers, rightly handling the word of truth, eat the shoulder of separation or of setting aside. Do you wish to see even more plainly how the Savior eats the shoulder of separation? Hear what He says to the Jews: "If I have done," He says, "works among you, which no other has done, for which of these do you wish to kill me?" You see how He truly eats the shoulder of separation, He who did works so separated and so sublime, as no one else has done.

Animals are spoken of, let animals be understood. Lest, therefore, any should believe that these things are depraved by human ingenuity, the apostolic authority concerning them must be called forth. Hear, therefore, first of all, Paul, concerning how he speaks of them: "For all," he says, "passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank, however, of the spiritual rock following them: and the rock was Christ." Paul says these things: a Hebrew of Hebrews, according to the law a Pharisee, and trained at the feet of Gamaliel, who surely would never dare to call food and drink spiritual, unless he had learned, through the knowledge of the most true doctrine handed down to him, that this was the sense of the lawgiver. Whence he also adds, as one confident and certain concerning the reason of clean or unclean foods, that they are not to be observed according to the letter, but spiritually, and says: "Let no one therefore judge you in food, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come." You see, therefore, how all these things, which Moses speaks of concerning food or drink, Paul—who had learned these things better than those who now boast themselves to be teachers—says are all a shadow of things to come. And therefore, as we have said, we must ascend from this shadow to the truth. To Christians and by Christians does this discourse speak, to whom the authority of apostolic sayings should be dear. But if anyone, swollen with arrogance, contemns or spurns apostolic sayings, let him see to it. For me, however, as it is good to cleave to God and our Lord Jesus Christ, so also it is good to cleave to His apostles, and to grasp understanding from the divine Scriptures according to their tradition.

It will perhaps be an opportune time, if the will of God shall be for this, and there shall be tranquility of affairs (for we know not what the coming day may bring forth), that we should also set forth from the Old Testament, according to that which seemed good to the apostles, the reason for clean or unclean foods, but also of animals, or birds, or fish, concerning which it is written in the law, to refer the understanding to men. But now, since there is not time to use a broader explanation, let us be content with the two lights of the apostles, Peter and Paul, as witnesses. And indeed, what Paul felt, we have already brought forth. But the apostle Peter, when he was in Joppa and wished to pray, ascended to the upper rooms. I, however, accept that even this very thing, that he did not wish to pray in the lower parts, but ascended to the upper rooms, is not said in vain. Nor did the counsel of so great an apostle choose the upper rooms for prayer to no purpose, but, as I surmise, that ^C just as in the explanation of the cup we ascend from the shadow to the truth of the spiritual cup, so also concerning the foods which are spoken of through the shadow, we might ascend to those which are true foods according to the spirit. ^D But to investigate these things, we need the testimonies of the divine Scripture, lest any should suppose (for men love to sharpen their tongues like a sword), lest any, I say, should suppose that I am doing violence to the divine Scriptures, and that I drag those things which are recounted in the Law concerning animals, quadrupeds, or even birds, or clean or unclean fish, to men, and fabricate that these things were said about men. For perhaps, as concerns those things which have been read regarding clean and unclean animals, or concerning foods, [index: entries preserved]

^A you might say: "You have indeed rendered a reason for the four-footed animals, the reptiles, and the birds, that they should be understood as men; but give an account also of those which are in the waters." Since the Law also designates certain of these as clean and others as unclean, I do not ask that you believe my words in these matters, unless I provide suitable witnesses. I shall give you the Lord and Savior himself, Jesus Christ, as the witness and author of these things, as to how fish are said to be men. "The kingdom of heaven," he says, "is like a net cast into the sea, which gathers fish of every kind, and when it is full, those sitting on the shore store the good ones in vessels, but cast out the bad ones." He has clearly taught that they who are said to be gathered in the nets—the fish—are either good men or bad. These, therefore, are the ones who, according to Moses, are named either clean or unclean fish. Having, then, confirmed these things by apostolic and evangelical authority, let us see how each individual can be shown to be either clean or unclean. Every person has some food within himself, which he offers to the neighbor who approaches him. For it cannot be that when we men approach one another and engage in conversation, we do not, whether by answer, or by question, or by some gesture, either receive or offer a "taste" among ourselves. And if the man is clean and of a good mind, the one from whom we receive a taste, we receive clean food. But if the one we engage with is unclean, we receive unclean food, according to the things said above. And for this reason, I think, the Apostle Paul says regarding such people, as if they were unclean animals: "With such an one, no not to eat." But so that those things which we are saying might become clearer to your understanding, let us take an example from the greater, that from there we may gradually descend to the lesser. Our Lord and Savior says: "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you shall not have life in yourselves. My flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." Jesus, therefore, because he is wholly and entirely clean, his whole flesh is food, and his whole blood is drink; because all his work is holy, and all his word is true. For this reason, then, both his flesh is true food, and his blood is true drink.

903 the vice of arrogance stinks, and from the altar of the Lord, which ought to be fragrant with the sweetness of incense, a foul odor of pride and elation shines forth. But let this foul odor, I beseech you, be cast away from the entire holy Church, and especially from those who minister in holy things, so that we may be able, as Paul said, to become "the good odor of Christ," lest perchance the Lord grow angry and we provoke the holy One of Israel to anger, and he deliver us into the hands of Chushan-rishathaim, and we learn the humility which we ought to have taught in the knowledge of Christ, through the tribulation of our correction. But look at the benign Lord, mingling mercy with severity, and weighing the measure of the punishment itself with a just and merciful balance. He does not deliver the delinquents over forever, but, he says, for as long a time as they served Baalim, for that same length of time they also serve Chushan-rishathaim; that is, for eight years. Learn these things, you too, O listener, whoever you may be, who are conscious to yourself of some error. And for as much time as you have sinned, for that same length of time, nonetheless, humble yourself before God, and make satisfaction to him in the confession of repentance. Do not wait for Chushan-rishathaim to humble you, and for necessity to extort repentance from you against your will, but do you yourself anticipate the hands of that torturer: because if you amend yourself, if you correct yourself, God is greater and merciful, who tempers the vengeance against him who anticipates it by repenting. But let us consider this, that as long as those who had been delivered over for their faults served Chushan-rishathaim, and did not cry out to the Lord, no one was raised up who could save them. But when they cried out to the Lord, then the Lord raised up a Savior for Israel, and he saved them.

The scripture says concerning this Othniel: After it said that the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, it says, "The Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel, and he judged Israel." Do you think there is anyone among us who sends forth such a strong and just cry to the Lord, worthy to be heard, and earns for the people to receive a judge, and a judge such as the Spirit of God might fill, so that he might be able to hold a rightful judgment? Whence also the book itself is called Judges, and in it are described the judges who judged the people. For just as other books are called Kings, or Kingdoms, in which it is described how each one reigned, or what he did; so too in this little book the deeds of the judges are recounted, and it is described not only if there is anything done by them uprightly and usefully, but also if there is anything committed culpably. But if you inquire why each should be described, it is undoubtedly so that now the princes or judges of the Church, observing those things which were done by them in a praiseworthy manner, might follow the examples of those who came before; but if any things are reprehended in them, they might beware of them and decline them. Great praise, therefore, is reported of this first judge, Othniel, that the Spirit of God came upon him, and through the Spirit of the Lord he judged Israel; which I do not well remember to have been said of any other. Therefore, there are today, of all the Churches which are under heaven, very many judges, to whom the judgment not only of deeds done has been given, but also of souls. But I do not know if there are such judges of the Church whom God will make worthy to be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that, just as this Othniel was adorned by the testimony of Scripture, so too they themselves, for whom we hope for this, might merit the testimony of God. He says, therefore, "God is my time interpreted." Through this Othniel, therefore, that former people was snatched from the servitude of humility, and peace was restored to the people, which pride long ago, and the various crimes of the people, had put to flight. But since we said that a certain spiritual Chushan-rishathaim could be understood, a king and one of the adversaries and a prince of the aerial powers, it seems to me to follow that this Othniel too, who was raised up to liberate the people, is one of the heavenly militia and archangelic hosts, who are sent for the succor of those who will receive the inheritance of salvation, and they are the angels of the Savior, who are designated by the likeness of Othniel or Ehud, because, as we have often shown, we are not only attacked by contrary powers, but divine and good powers are also sent by the Lord for our help. Let us see, however, who this Othniel was, of what family, of what nobility. "The son," he says, "of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb." That laudable and admirable man Caleb, who was the companion and associate of Joshua the son of Nun: about whom, as we were able, in his own places, where it seemed appropriate, we have discussed. ^B And ^C it says, "And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and he went out to war, and the Lord delivered Chushan-rishathaim king of Aram into his hands." Why this? Because the Spirit of the Lord was in him, and his hand was strengthened beyond king Chushan-rishathaim. And after these things it says, that the land rested under that judge for forty years. You see how bountiful the divine clemency is. For eight years the sons of Israel had served for the faults of many; for forty years they remained in peace through the justice of one. He says, "Othniel the son of Kenaz." I see a dangerous thing. Othniel has died. Why? Because the people were now unworthy of having such a judge. Finally, in what follows it says: Upon his death...

^A rational laws of men, for example, of the Romans, or Athenians, or Lacedaemonians. But if the law of God is received according to this understanding, which the Church teaches, then it clearly surpasses all human laws, and is truly believed to be the law of God. Therefore, having premised these things, let us briefly touch upon clean and unclean animals according to a spiritual understanding, as we have suggested.

6. "Every beast that divides the hoof and has cloven hoofs, and chews the cud among the beasts, these you shall eat" [Lev. xi, 3]. Furthermore, "of these you shall not eat, those that chew the cud, and do not divide the hoof, and have cloven hoofs. The camel, because it chews the cud and does not divide the hoof, this shall be unclean for you." And the hare, "because it chews the cud and does not divide the hoof, this shall be unclean for you." And the hedgehog, "because it chews the cud and does not divide the hoof, this shall be unclean for you," and swine, etc. It decrees, therefore, that animals of this kind should not be eaten, which in part seem to be clean, and in part unclean: just as the camel, from the fact that it ruminates, seems clean; but from the fact that it does not have cloven hoofs, it is called unclean. After these, it also names the hare and the hedgehog, but says that they themselves truly ruminate, but do not divide the hoofs. It makes another order, however, of those which, on the contrary, divide the hoof, but do not ruminate.

First, therefore, let us see who are those who ruminate and divide the hoof, whom it calls clean. I consider him to be said to ruminate who devotes himself to knowledge and meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. But hear how it was said: "He who divides," it says, "the hoof, and recalls the cud." He therefore recalls the cud, who recalls what he reads according to the letter to the spiritual sense, and ascends from the lowest and invisible things to invisible and higher ones. But if you meditate on the divine law, and recall what you read to a subtle and spiritual understanding, yet your life and acts are not such that they have the discernment of the life of the present and that of the future of this age and the age to come; if you do not discern these things with reasonable judgment, and divide them, you are a twisted camel; who, although you have received understanding from the meditation of this divine law, do not divide, nor separate present and future, nor discern the narrow way from the wide path. But let us explain more clearly what is said. There are those who take up the testament of God through their mouth, and although they have the law of God in their mouth, their life and acts differ far from their words and discourses. For they say and do not do; of whom also the Prophet says [Ps. xlix, 16]: "But to the sinner God said: Why do you declare my justifications, and take up my testament through your mouth?" You see, therefore, how he ruminates who has the testament of God in his mouth. But what is said to him in the following [Ps. xlix, 17]? "But you have hated ^B discipline, and have cast my words behind you."

In which it is evidently shown that this one is indeed ruminating, but not dividing the hoof, and therefore everyone who is such is unclean. And again there is another, either from those who are outside our religion, or from those who are with us; who indeed divide the hoofs, and thus walk in their ways, that they prepare their acts for the future age. For many, even from the philosophers, are wise and believe that there is to be a judgment. For they feel that the soul is immortal, and confess that remuneration is placed for all the good. Some of the heretics also do this, and as much as is needed, they bear the fear of future judgment, and temper their acts more cautiously as if they were to be examined in a divine trial. But neither of these two ruminates, nor recalls the cud. For not hearing what is written in the law of God, does he meditate and recall it to a subtle and spiritual understanding: but as soon as he has heard something, he either contemns or despises it, nor does he seek the sense that lies hidden in the cheaper words. And these have indeed the dividing hoof, but they do not recall the cud. But you, who wish to be clean, must have a life that is consistent and in harmony with knowledge, and acts with the intellect: so that you may be clean in both, and that you may recall the cud, and divide the hoof, but also that you may put forth, or reject, the hoofs. Let us also seek the testimony of this matter, how we put forth the hoofs, or, as it is read elsewhere, reject them. It is written in Deuteronomy: "If," it says [Deut. xxi, 10], "you go out to war against your enemies, and see there a woman of beautiful appearance, and you desire her, you shall take her, and shave all the hair of her head, and her nails, and you shall clothe her with mourning garments; and she shall sit in the house weeping for her father, and for her mother, and for her paternal home, and after thirty days she shall be your wife." But now it is not the proposal that these things which have been called to testimony should be explained; but we have said it because here also mention is made of the nails. Nevertheless, I also have frequently gone out to war against my enemies, and I saw there in the spoils a woman of beautiful appearance. For whatever we find said well and reasonably among our enemies, if we read anything said wisely and skillfully among them, it behooves us to cleanse it, and to take away and excise from the knowledge that is among them everything that is dead and empty; for these are all the hairs of the head and the nails of the woman taken from the spoils of the enemies, and so at last to make her our wife, when she has nothing of those things that are said to be dead through infidelity, when she has nothing dead in her head, nothing in her hands, so that she bears nothing unclean or dead in her senses or in her acts. For the enemies of our enemies have nothing clean, because there is no wisdom among them to which some uncleanness is not mixed.

^A Yet even if the Jews were to say to me how these things are observed among them, what is the cause or the reason for stripping a woman and cutting off her nails? For the sake of argument, let us suppose that the man who is said to have found her found her in such a way that she had neither hair nor nails; what did she have that she should be ordered by the law to be stripped? But we, for whom the warfare is spiritual and our weapons are not carnal but have power from God to destroy arguments, if a beautiful woman is found among the enemies, and she possesses some rational discipline, we will purify her in the way we described above. Therefore, he who is clean must not only part the hoof and discern between the acts and works of the present age and the future, but must also bring forth nails, or, as we read elsewhere, cast them away, so that, purifying ourselves from dead works, we may remain in life.

7. These things were said generally concerning animals: but that those which are in the waters, because it is said that they are clean if they have fins and scales, but if they do not have them, they are unclean and ought not to be eaten; this shows that if anyone is in these waters, and is placed in the sea of this life and in the surges of the age, he must strive enough so as not to lie in the depths of the waters, as are those fish which are said not to have fins or scales. For such is their nature reported to be, that they always linger in the lowest parts and around the very mud, such as eels and the like, which cannot ascend to the surface of the water nor reach its upper parts. But those fish which are aided by little fins and protected by scales ascend more to the higher parts and become closer to this air, as those who seek the freedom of the spirit. Such, therefore, is every saint, because, caught within the nets of the faith, he is named a good fish by the Savior: who is also sent into a vessel, as if having fins and scales. For he would not have had fins, nor would he have risen from the mud of disbelief, nor would he have reached the net of the faith, unless he had come to the higher parts aided by fins. ^B And what is it that he is also said to have scales? As though he were prepared to put off old garments. For those who do not have scales are as if entirely fleshly and carnal, who can put off nothing. If anyone, therefore, has fins by which he strives toward higher things, he is clean. But he who does not have fins, but remains in the lower parts and is always wallowing in the mud, is unclean. Similarly also concerning birds: "You shall not eat," it says, "these, because they are unclean; the eagle, and the vulture," and other things like them. For these birds always have the food of dead bodies, and live from dead carcasses. Therefore, all who lead a life of this kind must be held to be unclean. I think that those also are named among them who lie in wait for the deaths of others and by some art or fraud forge wills. For men of this kind are rightly called vultures and eagles, as if gaping after the carcasses of the dead. I know also of other birds that live by plunder. These are souls which, according to this, are rational and imbued with liberal studies or rational disciplines, and appear as flying creatures. For they read and inquire either about the reason of the heavens or how the world is governed by the providence of God; in accordance with these things, therefore, they are called flying creatures. But if such men act wickedly and do things against the law, and plunder their neighbors, so that while the learning of heaven seems to be in their words, they perform carnal and dead works in their deeds, they are rightly to be called vultures or eagles, which swoop down from on high to dead and foul flesh. To this must also be referred the rapacity of the hawk and of all others; among which some are flying creatures that study rapacity, while others love not so much rapacity as obscurity and darkness. "For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light," as are owls and bats and others which the law has declared unclean. Guarding ourselves from all these by spiritual observance, and desiring food made of clean animals, we also shall become pure and clean, through Christ our Lord: through whom is, to God the Father with the Holy Spirit, glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY VIII

1. We are taught that the one spoken of in the divine Scriptures is our Lord Jesus Christ, just as He says in the Gospels: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. For I did not come to call the just, but sinners to repentance." Every physician, however, composes medicines that will be profitable to bodies from the juices of herbs or of trees, or even from the veins of metals, or from the natures of living creatures. But if anyone perhaps looks at these herbs before they are composed according to the reason of the art, he tramples upon them in the fields or on mountains as if they were vile hay and passes them by. But if he sees them arranged in order within the school of a physician, even if they give off a sad, strong, and austere odor, he will nevertheless suspect that they contain something for care or remedy, even if he has not yet known what or what kind the power of their health and remedy might be. We have said these things concerning common physicians. Come now to the heavenly Physician Jesus; enter into this station of His medicine, the Church; see there the multitude of those who are languishing lying down. A woman comes who has been made unclean by childbirth; a leper comes, who has been separated outside the camp because of the uncleanness of leprosy; they seek a remedy from the physician as to how they may be healed, how they may be cleansed; and because this Jesus who is the physician is Himself also the Word of God, He does not seek out medicines for His sick from the juices of herbs, but from the sacraments of words. And if anyone looks at these medicines of the words somewhat untaughtly through books as if ^D they were scattered through the fields, ignoring the individual...

virtue of the sayings, he will pass over these things as worthless and having no cultivation of discourse. But he who has learned in some part that there is medicine for souls with Christ will surely understand from these books which are recited in the Church, as if from fields and mountains, that everyone ought to take up the salutary herbs, noting only the power of the words; so that if there is any languor in his soul, he may be healed not so much by the exterior leaves and bark as by the power drawn from the interior juice. Let us see, therefore, against the uncleanness of childbirth and the contagion of leprosy, how diverse and how varied these present readings make the medicines of purification. ^A

2. And the Lord spoke, he says, to Moses saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: A woman, if she shall have conceived seed, and has brought forth a male, she shall be unclean for seven days. ^B First, let us consider according to the history if it does not seem as if that which is placed before, "If she shall have conceived seed," is a superfluous addition to "a woman who shall have received seed and brought forth a male," as if it were possible for someone to bring forth a male unless by conceived seed. But it is not added out of superfluity. For the sake of distinguishing her who conceived and brought forth without seed, the legislator added this expression for the sake of the other women: that he might not designate as unclean every woman who had brought forth, but [only] her who had brought forth with seed conceived. Furthermore, it can also be added to this that this law, which is written concerning uncleanness, pertains to women. But concerning Mary it is said that a virgin conceived and brought forth. Let women, therefore, bear the burdens of the law, but let virgins be held immune from them. But if some clever person opposes us and says that Mary also is named a woman in the Scriptures—for thus the Apostle says: ^C "When the fullness of time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law"—we shall answer him that here the Apostle named woman not for the corruption of integrity, but for the indication of her sex; so that because he was saying that the Son of God was sent, he might simultaneously set forth that which came into this world by the common ingress of all. Moreover, there is also this word of age, namely, by which one passes from the female sex from the years of puberty, and passes to that time in which she appears to be suitable for a man. Just as, on the contrary, he is called a man who has exceeded the time of adolescence, even if he does not yet have a wife whose husband he might be said to be; by which name even those are accustomed to be called whom no stain of feminine contact touches. If, therefore, "man" is rightly said for manly age alone, even for him who has known the contact of no woman: how, by the same consequence, is a virgin who has remained untouched not called a woman for the maturity of age alone? Finally, even Abraham, when he sent his servant to Mesopotamia into the house of Bathuel that he might receive from there a wife for his son Isaac, and the servant inquired more curiously, he said to him: "What if the woman will not want to follow me, shall I bring back your son there?" and he did not say, "What if the virgin will not want to follow me." Therefore, let these things be said by us concerning that which we have observed as written, because the legislator did not add "woman" for no reason: "if she shall have conceived seed and brought forth a son"; ^D but that there should be a mystical exception which would set apart Mary alone from the other women, whose parturition was not from the conception of seed, but from the presence of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High.

3. Now let us also inquire into this, what the reason is why a woman who provides ministry to those being born into this world is said to become unclean not only when she has received seed, but also when she has brought forth. Whence also for her purification she is commanded to offer young pigeons or turtledoves for sin, at the door of the tabernacle of witness, that the priest may make propitiation for her; as one who owes propitiation and the purification of sin because she provided ministry to a human being born into this world. For so it is written: "And the priest shall make propitiation for her," and she shall be made clean. I, in such things, regarding the words "if she shall have conceived seed," which is placed before those words: "And she has brought forth a male," it will seem to be superfluous. But see lest perhaps these things were said all together, lest Mary who according to the prophets did not conceive with seed, might be thought to be unclean by the bringing forth of the Savior. But without the addition of these words: "If she shall have conceived seed," Mary could also be understood not to be unclean. For she was not simply a woman, but a virgin.

^A And the priest shall make atonement for her and she shall be cleansed. I do not dare to say anything in such matters, yet I feel that certain hidden mysteries are contained in these things, and that there is something of a hidden secret, on account of which both the woman who has conceived from seed and given birth is called unclean, and is ordered to offer a sacrifice for sin, as if guilty of sin, and thus to be purified. And even he himself who is born, whether of the male or female sex, does the Scripture pronounce concerning him that he is not clean from filth, even if his life should be but one day. And so that you may know there is something great in this—something I know not what—and such that it has come to the mind of none of the saints: no one among all the saints is found to have held a feast or a great banquet on the day of his birth; no one is found to have had joy on the day of the birth of his son or his daughter. Only sinners rejoice over a birth of this kind. For we find in the Old Testament indeed, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, celebrating the day of his birth with a festival, and in the New Testament, Herod. Yet both of them stained the very celebration of their birthday with the profusion of human blood. For the one beheaded the chief of the bakers, the other the holy prophet John in prison. But the saints not only do not hold a festival on the day of their birth, but, filled with the Holy Spirit, they even curse this day. For neither would such a great prophet (I speak of Jeremiah, who was sanctified in his mother’s womb and consecrated as a prophet among the Gentiles) have recorded something in vain in books that were to remain for eternity, unless it contained some secret and was full of vast mysteries, ^B where he says: "Cursed be the day in which I was born, and the night in which they said: Behold a man child. Cursed be he that brought news to my father, saying: A man child is born to you. Let that man be as cities which the Lord hath overthrown in his fury, and hath not repented." Does it seem to you that the prophet could have uttered such grave and burdensome curses, had he not known that there was something in this corporeal birth that was worthy of such curses, and on account of which the Lawgiver would charge so many impurities, and to which He would consequently impose suitable purifications? But it is long, and for another time, to explain the testimonies which we have taken from the prophet; because now it is not Jeremiah, but Leviticus, that is set before us to discuss. But Job also, speaking not without the Holy Spirit, cursed the day of his birth, saying: "Cursed be the day in which I was born, and the night in which they said: Behold a man child; let that night be darkness, and let not the Lord seek it again, neither let it come into the days of the years, nor be numbered in the days of the months." But if it does not seem to you that Job speaks this by a prophetic and divine Spirit, consider from these things what follows: for he added: "But let him curse it, who cursed that day, in which a great ^C sea-monster was about to be slain." You see, therefore, how in the Holy Spirit he foretold the great sea-monster whom the Lord was about to slay, whose type was that whale of Jonas; whence also the Lord, who was about to slay this sea-monster, the devil, says: "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so must the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." But if it pleases you to hear what even other saints felt about this birth, hear David saying: "In iniquities, he says, I was conceived, and in sins did my mother conceive me;" showing that whatever soul is born in the flesh is polluted by the filth of iniquity and sin; and for this reason it has been said—what we have already recalled above—that "no one is clean from filth, not if his life be but of one day." To these, this also can be added: that one ought to inquire what is the cause, since the baptism of the Church is given for the remission of sins, why, according to the observance of the Church, baptism is also given to infants; whereas, if there were nothing in infants that ought to pertain to remission and forgiveness, the grace of baptism would appear superfluous. Whoever woman, then, shall have conceived seed and given birth to a male, she shall be unclean for seven days; just as she who, according to the days of her cleansing, is separated from all the world for seven days. Because she spends seven days in unclean blood, but thirty-three days in clean blood; but this is in the birth of a male, whereas she spends double the days in the birth of a female. She begins, therefore, to be in clean blood from the eighth day, and remains in clean blood for thirty-three days, that is, three decades and three units. And when she who has given birth begins to be in clean blood, then she circumcises the infant: "For on the eighth day," He says, "you shall circumcise the flesh of his foreskin." This is the law of the letter, but seek you what circumcision the Apostle preaches, which he commands us both to receive and to have. "For we, he says, are the circumcision, who by the Spirit serve God." And what he says in the Psalm: "Sinners are alienated from the womb," consider if he is not speaking of those who receive that circumcision ^D which the Apostle forbids us to be circumcised by; and that is the time when sinners are alienated from the womb, when they are circumcised not by the spirit, but by the flesh. Because those who are circumcised in the law have fallen from grace. Therefore, the woman is said to be unclean who has conceived seed and given birth to a male; but she who has given birth to a female shall not only be unclean, but doubly unclean. For it is written that she remains in uncleanness for twice seven days. 4. But meanwhile, she who has given birth to a male, on the eighth day even the one who is born is circumcised, and she becomes clean. It is a sufficiently laborious matter, in this brevity of time...

to explain how these things apply; however, to say something in passing, this week may be seen as the time of the present life. For in a week of days the world was finished. While we are placed in the flesh in this world, we cannot be clean in a clear sense until the eighth day has arrived, that is, until the time of the future age is present. Yet, on that day, whoever is male ^A (23) and acts in a manly way is immediately, upon the very arrival of the future age, purified, and the mother who bore him is rendered clean. For she will receive the flesh, once it is purged of its vices, from the resurrection. But if one has nothing in himself that is manly against sin, but has been remiss and effeminate in his actions, whose sin is such that it is not forgiven either in the present age or in the future: he passes through both this and the other week in his uncleanness, and only when the third week begins to dawn is he purified from the uncleanness which he contracted by begetting the female.

But the sacrifices which are ordered to be used for uncleanness of this kind are distinguished in two ways. First, it is commanded that a yearling lamb be offered without blemish as a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or turtledove for sin. But a second sacrifice is ordered if, he says (24), his hand does not find what is sufficient for a lamb, he shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and another for sin. Hence it even seems wonderful that the offering of Mary did not have the first sacrifice, that is, the yearling lamb, but the second; as one whose hand did not suffice for the first. For thus it is written concerning her: They came, he says (Luc. ii. 24), her parents, that they might offer for him a sacrifice, according to what is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. But in this also is shown to be true that which is written, that Christ Jesus, whereas he was rich, for our sake (25) became poor (II Cor. viii. 9). Therefore, he also chose for the mother from whom he was to be born a poor woman, and a poor fatherland, concerning which it is said (Mich. v. 2): And thou, Bethlehem, art the least among the thousands of Juda, and the rest.

But we are forced to pass over these matters in brief, and not to discuss each thing that has been written (26), since we hasten to treat also of some of the laws of leprosy which have been read. ^B

5. We find, therefore, that six species of human leprosy have been proposed; which six species are described in this manner. Either a scar forms in the skin of the body, and a whitish mark, and then the contagion of leprosy occurs in the skin of his body. Or a blossoming leprosy will blossom, and will cover all the skin with contagion from the head even to his feet. Or a third species: a sore occurs in the skin of the flesh, and it is healed; and in the very place of the sore a white scar forms. Or a burning of fire occurs in the skin of the flesh, and after this the healed burning will be a bright white, or white with a reddish hue. The fifth species is when the contagion of leprosy occurs on the head or in the beard of a man or woman. But the last species is written as occurring in baldness, or in the receding hairline, with the contagion of a reddish leprosy, which is leprosy blooming in the baldness or the receding hairline.

To use this for the sake of a comprehensive exposition, since it is our purpose now to admonish the hearers briefly concerning these things which have been read, and there is no time (27) to discuss each individual point in a clear sense: it seems to me that they must be referred to every species of sin, and the stains of the soul which result in it from sins must be looked at within these. It must be said, therefore, first, that these sins which we commit while placed in this life are indicated by these; some of which can be cured now, but some cannot. But second, it must be understood that those very things which pass with us after this life are also signified, and that there are some things so fixed in souls that they cannot be abolished; but there are others which can receive purification according to the inspection and judgment of that High Priest, whom hidden things cannot escape, and who will dispense the souls of individuals according to what he sees of the stains of leprosy in them, whether they are expiable or inexpiable.

^C But to collect the differences of this matter from the present reading, and to examine, according to the indication of this Scripture, each point which can move us, an extemporaneous discourse, as I said above, does not allow. For hardly could these things, digested into many volumes, be composed by those from whom the Lord has withdrawn the veil from the reading of the Old Testament. Let us, therefore, to the best of our ability, perform what is appropriate to be brought forward in public, with the apostle Paul opening to us the way of understanding: where he says that the law has a shadow of future goods (Hebr. x. 1), not the image itself of the things; and according to what he pronounces regarding those things which are seen written in the law concerning oxen, that it is not of oxen, for whom God has no care, but of the apostles. In which we are instructed by a consequential reasoning that those things also which are written concerning leprosy are a shadow having in other things the image of truth. Therefore, let us first apply ourselves, if it seems good, to the shadow of the Scripture itself, and then inquire about its truth. In the wounds of human bodies, after they have been healed, there sometimes remains a sign of the wound itself, which is called a scar. For there is hardly anyone who is so cured that a visible sign...

^A of the wound received does not appear to remain. Pass now from this shadow of the Law to its truth, and consider how a soul that has received the wound of sin, even if it be cured, still has the scar of that sin remaining in the place of the wound. This scar is seen not only by God, but also by those who have received grace from Him, by which they are able to perceive the languors of the soul and to discern which soul is so cured that it has cast off every kind of trace of the wound inflicted, and which soul is indeed cured, yet still bears the indications of its former illness in the very trace of the scar. But that there are certain wounds of the soul, Isaiah teaches, saying: ^B "From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head there is no wound, nor bruise, nor swelling with inflammation," speaking of the faults of the people without a doubt: for there are some to whom the medicine of a poultice can still be applied. But others, because they are such great sinners that no care can be applied to them, the same prophet designates in this way: "There is no plaster to apply, nor oil, nor bandages." But that contrition and the wound of pain are applied for the sake of a cure for the soul, Jeremiah teaches, saying: "Thus saith the Lord: I have stirred up your contrition by your wound with pain; there is no one to judge your judgment; you are cured with pain, there is no utility in you. All your friends have forgotten you and will no longer inquire about you; because the wound of an enemy has struck you with a severe correction for all your iniquity, because your sins have been multiplied. Why do you cry out over your contrition? Your pain is violent, because of the multitude of your iniquities your sins have prevailed, and have done these things to you. Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your enemies shall devour their own flesh; and those who have afflicted you shall be in affliction, and all who have devastated you I will give up to plunder; for I will recall your health, and from the pain of your wound I will recall you, saith the Lord." Remember diligently what you have heard from the prophet said about wounds, and about scars, and about swellings. For these things are necessary for us for the exposition of the scars, or wounds, or other things of this kind which are mentioned in the inspections of leprosy. We shall add, however, those things which the same Jeremiah records in another place concerning the wounds and cures of the soul, in which, however, the traces of the wounds remain after the scar has closed, in these words: ^D "Behold, I will bring its scar, and I will heal them together, and I will manifest to them peace and faith, and I will convert the captivity of Judah, and the captivity of Jerusalem." If therefore we have sufficiently learned from the prophet about the wounds and scars of souls, and the cures and healings which God ^A brings upon them, consider now that soul of which the Lord says, because I have brought its scar. After the wounds, he undoubtedly brings a scar, and then health. "And I will heal them, and I will manifest to them peace and faith." If therefore, after the knowledge and medicine of God, if after the manifestation of peace and faith which we have received through Christ, some indication of a former sin should arise again in that scar, or some sign of an old error should be renewed; then there arises on the skin of our body a contagion of leprosy, which must be inspected by the pontiff, according to those things which the legislator has set forth.

6. The second species of leprosy is, "if it breaks out," he says, "in the skin, so that it covers all the skin of the body from the head to the feet, through all things which the priest shall inspect." When therefore it has covered the entire skin of the body, then the priest pronounces him to be clean from the contagion. But on whatever day a lively color appears in him, he is again judged unclean by that which a lively color appeared in him, which he did not have before. Regarding this, some even before me have said that by the lively color is indicated the reason of the life that is in a man; which, not yet being placed in the soul, if any sin is done there, it is reputed to him on the grounds that he who sins is seen not yet to be capable of reason. But when reason finds a place and time in him, if he then does anything against reason, he is seen to be justly culpable. We, however, looking more diligently at what is written, think that these things are rather to be understood of those whose sense is occupied or oppressed by frenzy, or madness, or by any compact, and who act against reason. Therefore those are called clean from leprosy, that is, immune from sin, who do not have the sense of their own acts or movements. But if by chance a lively color of the body should appear in him, that is, if the health of his own sense has been restored in him, and after this he does something against the reason of what is right and just, it is said that sin is imputed to him from that part where the lively color, that is, the sense of living reason, has appeared in him.

7. The third law of leprosy is when an ulcer is formed in the skin of the body, and in the place of the ulcer a white scar with a redness is found. The cause of an ulcer, however, is when a foul and noxious humor abounds in the body. So therefore also in the soul are understood those ulcers which effervesce from unclean desires or foul thoughts. If these perchance have been cured by the grace of faith and the remission of sins, and the soul has been made healthy, yet the scar remains; and if the scar itself does not have the color of the body, but is whiter, it is pronounced to be leprosy. For desire is so bright and clear to those seeing it that even while they are seeing it, the sin residing within them...

show signs; and perhaps of such a sin as might be unto death; and therefore it is described not only as a white scar, but also as a reddish one. Indeed, that he says the scar itself appears lower, it is certain that such a stain of sin makes the soul base and abject.

8. The fourth law is where it is said that if an inflammation of fire occur in the skin, and afterward when the inflammation has been healed, the spot itself becomes bright and white with a reddish tinge, or at any rate whitish, and its appearance is lower than the remaining skin, he says that this is leprosy which has blossomed in the inflammation. See, therefore, if it is not an inflammation in every soul that receives the fiery darts of the wicked one; or if he is not burned by fire who burns with carnal love. These, then, are the inflammations and the kindlings of fire. But he also suffers an inflammation who is kindled by the desire for human glory, and who is inflamed by the heats of anger or fury. And if by chance the soul is healed of these wounds through faith, and after health is received—[to him] he said: "Behold, you are now made whole; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you"—the fruit of the old vice begins to show forth from the covered scar, and the scar does not match the skin of the rest of the body, but is lower, and still retains the color which it had at the time of the leprosy; its leprosy has blossomed again in the inflammation, and therefore it is judged unclean by the priest.

9. The fifth species of leprosy is that which occurs in a contagion on the head, or in the beard of a man or woman, so that the appearance of the contagion itself is lower than the skin of the body, and this is leprosy of the head or beard. See, therefore, if it can happen that leprosy of the head is thought to be in him who does not have Christ as his head, but someone else—for example, Epicurus, who proclaimed pleasure as the highest good; does not the head and beard of such a man seem unclean to you? Moreover, he who, when he ought to be a man and act as one perfect, is perhaps easily overcome by sin like a child, even he is to be said to have the leprosy of the beard; because, when he ought to conquer the wicked one and walk with priestly honor, which is signified by the beard, he is hindered by the vices of youth and suffers from the leprosy of the beard. It has often been said that by a woman in the Scriptures is indicated that [soul] which can not so much bring forth the seed of the Word as receive it; it is designated as having leprosy in the head if it has a man who is the head of the woman—that is, a polluter and unclean teacher—following one like Marcion or Valentinus, or someone of that sort.

10. The sixth and final species of leprosy is already posited, which occurs in baldness or thinning hair; which things, as much as they are in themselves, are clean. For thus says the law: "If," it says, "the hairs of his head have fallen out, he is bald, [but] he is clean." But if ^A from his forehead they have fallen out, he is forehead-bald, and he is clean.

And these things are conveniently referred to the soul, so that when it casts off and puts away those things which are dead by their own nature, it is said to be clean. But after these things, if those things which had previously been purified are seen to blossom more filthily and lower than the dignity of purity requires, they will render the soul unclean and leprous. And this is now generally [said] concerning every leper, in whom the contagion of leprosy exists, and it will be seen as lower than the rest of the skin; for every vice of the soul is lower than its remaining virtues. The law, which is spiritual, decrees other things. "His garments," it says, "shall be torn, and his head uncovered, and his mouth covered." By which it designates him who is leprous in soul, that is, who is transfixed by sins, that he ought not to sew coverings for himself and hide the turpitude of sin. For just as he whose garments are torn bears the naked and uncovered turpitude of his body: so it behooves him who is beset by any sins not to hide his evils and shames with any swaddling of words, nor with any veils of excuses: so that he does not become a whited sepulcher, which indeed appears beautiful to men on the outside, but inside is full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. The divine law therefore wishes the sinner not only not to sew [together] garments, but also not to cover the head: so that if there is any sin of the head—that is, if anything has been committed against God, if there is sin in the faith—not even these things may be kept covered, but they may be made public to all, so that by the intervention and correction of ^B all, it may be amended and merit pardon. Nevertheless, this leper is commanded to cover only the mouth. What is this, that he is commanded to have all parts of the body naked, and only the mouth to be covered? Is it not plain and set out in the open that for him who is in the leprosy of sin, speech is closed, the mouth is closed, so that the confidence of speech and the authority of teaching may be excluded? For to the sinner God said: "Why do you declare my statutes, and take my covenant through your mouth?" Let the sinner therefore have a closed mouth, because he who has not taught himself cannot teach another: therefore he is commanded to cover his mouth, who by doing evil has lost the liberty of speaking. "He shall be unclean," it says, "and shall sit apart outside the camp; his dwelling shall be outside the camp." It is clear that every unclean person is cast out from the assembly of the good, and is separated from the congregation and the camps of the saints; and therefore it says that his dwelling shall be outside the camp. But if by chance he has been cleansed, he does not come to the priest of his own accord, of his own self; but he is brought, it says, by another, and he does not enter the camp. For it was not fitting that on the day he was cleansed, before the things that were fitting were done for him, he should enter the camp. For which reason "the priest," it says, "shall go out to him outside" ^{C D}

^A the camp. For he who can go outside the camp always goes out to him who cannot yet enter the camp, who says: "I have come forth from God, and have come into this world." The priest, therefore, goes out to him and considers whether he has now received health, whether he is cleansed from the contagion of leprosy. But when the priest has seen him, he commands that two living birds [gallinæ] be taken for him who is cleansed, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. It seems to me that even here these two birds have a certain likeness to the two goats, of which one is offered to the Lord, and the other is sent into the wilderness; so also here, one of the two birds is sacrificed, and the other is released into the field. Therefore, he who is cleansed from leprosy also gives here some part that is cast out into the wilderness: but the other part is offered to the Lord for him. However, he who is cleansed from leprosy does not yet, even while offering the birds, offer that very bird which is offered to the Lord for him ^B at the altar, as [he would] turtle-doves or pigeons. For he who is cleansed from leprosy is not yet made worthy—on that same day—of the divine altar. For which reason the lawgiver commands that on the same day on which he is cleansed, two birds be taken for his purification. But I think that the meaning of that bird, by which the purification of the sinner is effected, is also secretly contained here, concerning whom it is written: "How often have I willed to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not?" However, it is necessary that he who is purified be purified through the cedar wood. For it is impossible that the leprosy of sin could be purged without the wood of the cross, unless there be applied also the wood in which the Savior, as the apostle Paul said, "despoiled principalities and powers, triumphing over them in the wood." Nevertheless, there is joined to the cleansing of this leprosy also twisted scarlet, and hyssop is associated with it. The twisted scarlet contains the figure of the sacred blood, which flowed from his side through the wound of the lance. And hyssop. Physicians say that this species of herb possesses the nature of diluting and purging ^C if any filth from the corruption of a harmful humor has settled on the chest of men. Whence also, in the purgation of sins, the figure of such a plant was necessarily adopted. Moreover, we find that the color scarlet [coccus] has frequently been taken for the aids of salvation in divine volumes, as in the birth of Thamar, when "one," he says, "brought out his hand first." But the midwife, taking the scarlet, tied it on his hand, saying: "He ^D shall come forth first." But also Rahab the harlot, when she had received the scouts and accepted the pact of salvation, they said to her: "Place the scarlet cord as a sign, and you will tie it in that window through which you let us down." Observe, however, also that which he said: "This is the law of the leper on the day he is cleansed," and now he adds to all these things, and says: "and he shall be clean." For if once the leprosy is cast off, he is cleansed, how will he still be clean? But see that even if someone is cleansed from sin, and is no longer in the act of sin, yet the very traces of the committed crime stand in need of purification, both that which we have explained and, nonetheless, others which are commanded in the following passages. For we have observed regarding this which is written concerning the leprosy, "on the day on which he is cleansed," that after this, among the other things that are commanded, it is said in the third place, "and he shall be clean," and again at the end it is written, "and he shall be cleansed." Whence it seems to me that there are certain differences even in the purification itself, and, if I may so speak, certain progressions of purifications. For it can be said of him who ceases from sin, "and he shall be clean," but he will not immediately appear so clean as to have attained the summit of purity. Finally, he adds to what he had said: "On whatever day he is cleansed, and it is sent forth," he says, "the living bird into the field, and he who is being purified shall wash his clothes. After this, however, he shall shave off all his hair." And he adds: "and he shall be washed in water." And after this it is added: "And he shall be clean." Nor is it sufficient that in the response he had said

that he would be clean, unless he had also added these things. Therefore, the person who is purified from leprosy up to this point still had soiled garments, and now he is commanded to wash them. These garments, however, do not seem to me in every respect to have been of poor texture; otherwise, he would be commanded to cast them away rather than wash them. In this, it is shown that his manner of life was neither altogether foreign to God, nor had it been guarded purely 40 and integrally. For he would not wash his garments if they had not been soiled, nor would he use them again once washed if their textile was altogether alien.

As for the fact that he is commanded to shave off every hair, I think that he is ordered to cast away everything that has sprung up from the dead work of a soul placed in sins (this is what the hairs are now called). For it is expedient for a sinner to scrape off and cast away everything that is born in him, whether in plan, in word, or in deed, and not suffer anything to remain. A saint, however, ought to preserve every hair, and if possible, iron should not pass over his head, lest he be able to cut off anything from his wise thoughts, or words, or works. From this, then, it is said that iron did not pass over the head of Samuel 16; as also for all the Nazarites 17, who are righteous, for he who is righteous, as it is written 18, "all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper, and his leaves shall not fall." Hence, the hairs of the head of the Lord's disciples are also said to be numbered 19: this means all their acts, all their words, and all their thoughts are kept with God, because they are righteous, because they are holy. But every work, every word, and every thought of sinners must be cut away. And this is what is said 20: "That all the hair of his body be shaved, and then he shall be clean."

But observe this also: it is not enough for him, after purification, either to have washed his garments or to have shaved every hair, unless he has also been washed in water. For it behooves him to cast away all filth, all uncleanness, not only from his garments but also from his own body, so that no spot of the extinguished leprosy may reside in him. Therefore, now purified a third time, he is at last rendered worthy to enter the camp of the Lord; yet he is not immediately permitted to enter into his own house, but it is told that he remain outside his house for seven days, and shave all the hair of his head, and beard, and eyebrows, as if it had not been enough that he had previously shaved every hair, now it is added that he shave all the hair of his head, and beard, and eyebrows. For the same thing seemed to have been mentioned in that which said every hair was to be shaved. But this repetition does not seem to me to be empty 235. For He wishes to admonish the sinner—after he has been made clean, after he has received the remission of sins through repentance—concerning the purification of the head, and beard, and eyebrows, as if He were saying to him: "Behold, now that you have been made whole, see that you do not contract further guilt of the head." For it is the sin of the head to think of divine dogmas otherwise than as the faith of the Church holds them. But concerning the beard, it is so that he may remember that he has laid aside the sins of his manly age, and has turned back to become like an infant. In the eyebrows, moreover, he should cast down arrogance, so that he may incline his supercilious look, which was wrongly raised, toward the humility of Christ.

Secondly, then, in this manner, every hair of the body is shaved. And just as these things are doubled, so it does not suffice to have washed the garments once in the first purification, but it is commanded a second time that he wash his garments and his body with water, and then a fourth 21 is added, "and he shall be clean." But these things take place while he is placed within the camp, yet still outside his own house. For He says, "after seven days, on the eighth day he shall take to himself two lambs." Now it is no longer another who takes them, but he takes them for himself. "Two," He says, "immaculate lambs, and one immaculate ewe-lamb of a year old, and three tenths of fine flour tempered with oil, and one sextarius of oil," and after these things he shall be consumed, having been purified by a fifth purification. Of these two lambs, one is indeed immolated, and is said to be for a sin-offering, "in the place," He says 22, "in which the sin-offering is slaughtered, and where the holocausts are made, in the holy place." Behold, he who was able to arrive at the fifth purification is already rendered worthy to offer a sacrifice, and his host becomes a Holy of holies. The other lamb, however, is made a holocaust, in which the priest is also said to make propitiation for him, so that he may be purged. Therefore, the first lamb, which is for the sin-offering, seems to me to hold the form of that virtue itself which he who was in sins has assumed, through which he was able to repel from himself the affect of sinning, and to bear the repentance of his old evils: but the second lamb holds the figure of that now recovered virtue through which, with all vices cast off and put to flight from afar, he has offered himself whole and entire to God, and has become worthy of the divine altars. As for the ewe which is assumed after the lambs, as far as we can conjecture in such difficult passages, I think it signifies the fruitfulness of him who has been converted from sin and has offered himself wholly to God, through which, after all things, he makes use of the fruits of good works and thrives in the fruits of innocence.

Therefore, the reason for this purification—that is, the conversion from sin—is divided into three parts. The first is the host by which sins are dissolved. The second is that by which the soul is turned toward God. The third is that of fruitfulness and the fruits which he who is said to be converted shows in works of piety. And because these three are the hosts, therefore He also subjoins that three measures 42 of tenth-parts of fine flour are to be assumed, so that we may understand everywhere that purification cannot take place without the mystery of the Trinity. See also that here, in the fifth purification, meal is not assumed, but he who is purified from sins now holds fine flour; fine flour is ascribed to him, whence he may have bread already clean, and these things are to be tempered with oil.

But his oil is also divided for two uses: one with which the fine flour is tempered, the other with which the priest takes ^A the whole measure of an omer, as it is said. In which, as I perceive, both his bread is made rich for mercy, and the oil, by which the true light and the fire of knowledge are kindled, is placed by the hands of the priest upon his head. For thus it says: "And the priest," it says, "who cleanses him, shall present him before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of testimony." You see that it is the duty of the priest to present him who turns from sin, so that he may be able to be stable, and no longer waver, nor be carried about by every wind of doctrine. He presents him therefore not only within the camp, but at the very door of the tabernacle of testimony before the Lord. And after that, according to those things which were said above, the sacrifices for purification are offered, he takes, it says, also the omer of oil, and sets it apart before the Lord. "And the priest shall take," it says, "of the blood, and put it upon the ^B tip of his right ear, and upon his right thumb, and upon his right great toe." And after these things, it says, the priest shall take not the omer of oil itself, but from it: "And he shall pour," it says, "into his own left hand, and the priest shall dip his finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle seven times before the Lord; and again: Of that which remains in his left hand, he shall put upon the right ear of him who is being purified, and upon his right thumb, and upon his right great toe. And after these things: That which shall have remained of the oil, the priest shall put, it says, from his hand upon the head of him who is being purified." You see how it is of the ultimate and highest purification that the ear be purified, so that hearing may be kept pure and clean. And the right hand, so that our works may be clean, and nothing unclean and sordid be mixed among them. But also the feet must be purified, so that they may be directed only to a good work, and no longer incur the lapses of youth. Now the priest sprinkles seven times before the Lord from the oil. For after all things which have been performed for the purified, after he has been converted and reconciled to God, after the victims have been sacrificed, it was in order that he should also invoke upon him the sevenfold power of the Holy Spirit, according to him who had said: "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and confirm me with a principal spirit." Or certainly, since the Lord in the Gospel testifies that the hearts of sinners are besieged by seven demons, the priest fittingly sprinkles seven times before the Lord in the purification, so that the expulsion of the seven evil spirits from the heart of the purified may be declared by the oil shaken from the fingers seven times. Thus, therefore, to those who have turned from sin, ^C purification is indeed given through all those things which we have said above. Moreover, the gift of the grace of the Spirit is designated by the image of oil, so that he who is converted from sin may be able not only to attain purification, but also to be filled with the Holy Spirit, by which he may be able to receive his former robe and ring, and through all things, being reconciled to the Father, be restored to the place of a son, through the same Lord our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY IX.

Of the sacrifices of propitiation, and of the two he-goats, of which one lot is the Lord’s, and one is the scapegoat, which is sent into the wilderness, and of the entry of the high priest into the Holy of Holies.

1. All who have sinned need propitiation, and therefore among the solemnities of the Law, which contain the figures of heavenly mysteries, one certain solemnity is held which is called the Day of Atonement. This legislation, therefore, which has now been recited is of the solemnity itself, which, as we have said, is called the Day of Atonement. But let us see first what the content of the letter ^D itself means, so that, my praying congregation—if indeed you so entreat the Lord that you may deserve to be heard—we may be able to receive the grace of the Spirit, through which we may be able to explain the mysteries which are contained in the Law. The two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, died when they offered strange fire at the altar of the Lord. It was necessary that Aaron should be instructed by heavenly doctrine how it behooved him to approach the altar, and by what rite of supplication he should make God propitious, lest he himself should incur that in which his sons had perished, approaching the altar of God rashly and unsuitably, offering strange fire, and not that which had been divinely given. Therefore, concerning these things, the Law has spoken in this way: "And the Lord spoke to Moses, after the two sons of Aaron died when they offered strange fire before the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses: Speak to Aaron thy brother, that he enter not at all times into the inner sanctuary, which is within the veil before the face of the propitiatory which is over the ark of the testimony, and he shall not die." From which it is shown that if he should enter into the holy places at any time not prepared, not dressed in pontifical vestments, nor with the sacrifices which have been ordained prepared, nor having first made God propitious, he will die. And justly, as one who has not done those things which were fitting before he approached the altar of God. All of us are touched by this discourse; to all does that which the Law speaks here pertain; for it commands that we know how we ought to approach the altar of God. For the altar is that upon which we offer our prayers to God, so that we may know how we ought to offer, namely, that we should put off our sordid garments, which is the filthiness of the flesh, the vices of character, the defilements of lusts. Or are you ignorant that to you also, that is, to every Church...

of God and to the people of the faithful, a priesthood has been given? Listen to how Peter speaks of the faithful: “A chosen race,” he says, “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.” You have, therefore, a priesthood, because you are a priestly race and therefore you ought to offer to God a sacrifice of praise, a sacrifice of prayer, a sacrifice of mercy, a sacrifice of purity, a sacrifice of righteousness, a sacrifice of holiness. But in order that you may offer these worthily, there is need for you to be cleansed of garments that are common and separated from the common garments of men. And you have within you a divine fire, ^A which is not something foreign to God, but is that which is given by God to men, of which the Son of God says: “I came to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.” If we do not use this fire for this purpose, but rather for its opposite, we are like those who are transformed as ministers of light, yet we are without doubt enduring what Nadab and Abihu endured. The divine command commands that the priest should not enter (46) into the sanctuary at all times before the altar, but first do what must be done, lest he die.

2. But let us first demonstrate how these things which are written concerning sacrifices are, as the Apostle says, shadows and figures, the truth of which is elsewhere, lest ears should presume to interpret them otherwise, or force the Law of God into a meaning other than that in which it was written, since in that which we assert, the apostolic authority precedes. Paul, therefore, writing to the Hebrews, namely to those who were reading the Law and possessed these doctrines well, but were in need of understanding how one ought to think about sacrifices, says in this manner 30: “For Jesus has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are examples of the true ones, but into heaven itself, that He might appear now before the face of God for us.” And he says elsewhere of the sacrifice 31: “For He did this once for all by offering Himself as a sacrifice.” And if anyone weighs the epistle to the Hebrews as it is written, and especially that place where he discusses the pontiff of the promise of the Law, of which scripture 237 says 32: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek,” he will discover how this whole place of the Apostle reveals the figures and shadows of these things to be living and true, which are written in the Law. We must, therefore, seek the pontiff who once a year, that is, through all this present age, offers the sacrifice to God, clothed in a vestment, the quality of which, with God’s help, we shall show. “A tunic,” he says 33, “is holy and is put on as a linen garment.” It is born of the earth; therefore, the true pontiff, Christ, puts on a holy linen tunic, for He takes on the nature of the earthly body. For it is said that it is earth, and into the earth it will go 34. Desiring, ^B therefore, my Lord and Savior to resurrect in this world [a body] taken from the earth, He assumed a terrestrial body, and being lifted up from the earth, He carried it to heaven. And the figure of this mystery is held in what is written in the Law, that the pontiff be clothed in a linen tunic. But that which he adds, “sanctified,” is not to be heard idly. For the tunic of the flesh of Christ was sanctified, for it was not conceived from the seed of man, but generated by the Holy Spirit. “And the breeches,” he says 35, “should be linen upon His body.” The breeches garment is that by which the pudenda of the body are covered and bound. If, therefore, you look at my Savior (48) having assumed a body, and having been placed in a body, and having done human acts, as eating and drinking, and other things similar; yet having done this alone which pertains to the pudenda of the body, that His flesh did not experience either marriage or the procreation of children, you will discover how the sanctified linen breeches are of such a nature that it may truly be said of Him, that “our ^C uncomely parts have more abundant honor” 36. Consider, however, the very habit of the pontiff, that which by nature seems less honorable in him, being clothed in linen breeches, and the belt, bound even according to the letter, it is said of Him that “our uncomely parts have more abundant honor.” Thus, therefore, everyone who lives in chastity imitates Christ, and not only knowing human acts, is even clothed in sanctified linen breeches, and girds himself with more abundant honor in his uncomely parts. Therefore, he puts on a sanctified linen tunic, and linen breeches are upon his body. But lest by chance these breeches by which the pudenda are covered, being loosened (49), should slip off and reveal nakedness, or fail, he adds: “Not, he says 37, shall the steps go up to the altar, lest by chance thy nakedness should be revealed.” So let not your nakedness be revealed by loosening the breeches; the belt, it says, should bind the breeches. At a certain time, those explaining John the Baptist and others like Jeremiah, that Jeremiah indeed wore a belt, but John [wore] a leather belt about his loins, sufficiently show how the evidence (50) of this part of the body is so dead in such men, that neither even a slight movement, nor anyone else, existed in their loins, but only chastity and pure purity. ^D Therefore the pontiff is girded with linen, and the tiara is a linen one. The tiara which is called a certain ornament, which is placed upon the head, which the pontiff uses in offering sacrifices, or in the priesthoods. But each one of us ought to adorn

his head with priestly ornaments. For since Christ is the head of every man, whoever acts in such a way that he brings glory to Christ through his deeds, has adorned his own head, which is Christ. The decoration of the head can also be understood in another way in us. Since that which is first and highest in us, and the head of all things, is the mind, he adorns his head to pontifical dignity whoever has adorned his mind with the disciplines of wisdom. These, therefore, are the things with which the pontiff is commanded to be clothed, and only then to enter into the holy places, lest, not having these, he die.

3. But now, regarding the sacrifices themselves, some are commanded to be those of the pontiff, others, however, are to be taken from the people. For him, a calf is mentioned, which is more precious and robust among animals. And as a second animal, a ram, which without doubt is more precious among sheep. But from the people, gifts are commanded to be offered: a ram from the princes, and two goats from the people. One that is sent into the desert, which is also named the ^A *apopompeus* (the carrier-away), and one that is offered to the Lord. If every person of the people of God were holy, and all were blessed, there would not be two lots over the goats: that one should take a lot to be sent into the desert, and another to be offered to the Lord; but there would be one lot and one sacrifice for the Lord alone. But now, since in the multitude of those who approach the Lord, some are the Lord’s, others, however, are those who ought to be sent into the desert, that is, those who deserve to be cast out and separated from the sacrifice of the Lord: therefore, the part of the sacrifice which is offered by the people, that is, one single goat, is immolated to the Lord, but the other is cast out and sent into the desert, and is named the *apopompeus*. Nevertheless, the lot falls upon both, and that one which is sent into the desert is said to take upon itself the sins of the children of Israel, and their injustices, and their iniquities. For not that goat which becomes the lot of the Lord, but that whose lot it is to be sent into the desert, is said to take them away, according to that, I believe, which is written: "I have given Egypt, and Ethiopia, and Seene as a commutation for thee, since thou art become honourable in my sight." Therefore, the sins of those who have done penance, and of those who have abandoned malice, are taken upon their heads by those who have been made into the lot of him who is sent into the desert, who have made themselves worthy of such a ministry, or of a lot of this kind. Moreover, it is fitting ^B to adapt to these, as if in contrast, that which is said: "To him who has, it shall be given." For just as to him who has righteousness, it shall be given: so also to him who has sins, in such a way that he is found in the lot of the *apopompeus*—that is, the one who is sent into the desert—those things will be added to him which are wiped away from the saints, so that even in them might be completed that which is written: "But from him who has not, even that which he has shall be taken away from him," so that to him might be added one who has many sins. But since he who is in the lot of the Lord carries hope not in the present age, but in the future, and whose lot is the Lord, he dies daily; therefore, he indeed upon whom the lot of the Lord falls is slaughtered and dies, that by his blood he may purify the people of God; but he who has fallen into the contrary lot is not worthy to die, because he who is in the lot of the Lord is not of this world: but he is of this world who is sent into the world, and the world loves what is its own. Therefore he is not killed, nor is he worthy to be slaughtered at the altar of God, nor does his blood deserve to be poured out at the base of the altar.

4. But let us see who this is who receives him, whose lot acts as the *apopompeus*, so that it might cast him into the desert. "A man," he says, "prepared will receive the goat, who shall have come into his lot, upon whom the lot of the *apopompeus* shall have fallen, and will lead him into the desert." The end of this lot is the desert, that is, a place desolate, desolate of virtues, desolate of God, desolate of justice, desolate of Christ, desolate of every good. And so for us also, one of two lots awaits us. For either, as doers of good, we are the lot of the Lord, or, as doers of evil, our lot leads us to the desert. Do you wish me to show you clearly how these two lots are always working, and how each one of us becomes either the lot of the Lord, or the lot of the *apopompeus* or the desert? Consider in the Gospels that rich man living sumptuously and luxuriously, and Lazarus lying at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be filled with the crumbs which were falling from the table of the rich man; what end is designated for each? "Lazarus died," he says, "and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom." Similarly also the rich man, and he was carried off to hell into a place of torment. You perceive clearly the places of each lot distinct. See also who they are who carry them off, the angels, he says, who are always prepared for carrying off. For they are ministers of God destined for this very thing, who fulfill the lot which you yourself have prepared for yourself. For if you have lived well, if you have broken your bread to the hungry from the heart, and have clothed the naked, ^C if you have judged righteous judgment, if you have resisted the wicked man against his iniquity, and have not set your counsel with those who prepare snares for the innocent, you make your lot the Lord’s. If, however, you serve lust, a lover of pleasure rather than of God, if you love the world, if you do not hate malice, you have made your lot that of the *apopompeus*, so that you may be carried off into the desert by the hand of the minister of God, who for this very thing is ordained by God: and therefore he is called "prepared," because he is ashamed of the person of no one, neither of the rich, nor the powerful, nor the king, nor the priest. But do you wish to know that it pertains to us ^D

^A which the things mentioned contain? These animals which receive these lots are not unclean, nor alien to the altars of God, but are clean, and such as are accustomed to be offered in sacrifices; so that you may know that these hold the figure not of those who are outside the faith, but of those who are in the faith. For the goat is a clean animal, and consecrated to the divine altars. And therefore you, too, consecrated by the grace of baptism to the altars of God, have become a clean animal. But if you do not keep that commandment of the Lord which he said: "Behold, you are made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto you"; but when you were clean, you again stained yourself with the defilements of sin, and declined from virtue to lust, from purity to impurity, by your own fault, though you had been a clean animal, you have delivered yourself to the lot of the *apopompaeos* [scapegoat] and the desert.

5. Perhaps man can be considered "prepared" and clean in another way ^B, who leads away him whose lot comes into the desert, and by the very fact that he leads him out, as one who has touched the unclean, is said to wash his clothes until evening, and to be clean; and even the Lord and Savior himself is to be understood in that part in which he took on the garments of our nature, that is, of flesh and blood, which he washed in the evening: for which reason the prophet had long ago said of him: "And I saw Jesus the great priest, clothed with filthy garments, and the devil standing at his right hand to resist him." He washed, therefore, in wine, that is, in his own blood, his garment in the evening, and was made clean. And from this perhaps it was that after the resurrection, to Mary who wished to hold his feet, he said: "Do not touch me." But do you wish to see yet another form of the two lots? Consider those two, who at the time of his cross hung one on his right hand and one on his left, and see how he who confessed the Lord became the lot of the Lord, and was led without delay to paradise, while that other one who blasphemed became the lot of the ^C *apopompaeos*, to be led away into the desert of hell. But also in what is said, that he "despoiled the principalities and powers, and triumphed over them," he completed in them the lot of the *apopompaeos*, and as a "prepared" man led them away into the desert. Finally, in the Gospel, the Lord also says, that "when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, it goes through desert places, seeking rest, and finds it not." So therefore, our Savior too can be understood as the "prepared" man, who has made those who are the lot of the Lord his Church, and has consecrated them to the divine altar, but has made the contrary powers, the spirits of wickedness and the rulers of the darkness of this world, whom, as the Apostle says, he led away with power, the lot of the *apopompaeos*, triumphing over them in himself. ^D He led away, whither did he lead them, if not to the desert, to desolate places? For just as to him who confessed him, he opened the gates of paradise, saying: "Today you will be with me in paradise," and through this gave to all believers and confessors an entrance which Adam had previously closed by sinning. For who else could have moved the flaming sword that turns every way, which was placed to guard the tree of life and the doors of paradise? Who else was able to bend the cherubim keeping vigilant guard, if not he alone, to whom all power has been given in heaven and on earth? Therefore, I say, as no one else could do these things apart from him, so no one else could triumph over the principalities and powers and rulers of the world, whom the Apostle enumerates, and lead them away into the desert of hell, except he alone who said: "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Therefore, it was necessary for my Lord and Savior not only to be born a man among men, but also to descend into the netherworld, that as a "prepared" man he might lead the lot of the *apopompaeos* away into the desert of hell, and having returned from there, with the work completed, might ascend to the Father, and there, more fully at that heavenly altar, might be purified, that he might bestow upon the pledge of our flesh, which he had carried with him, perpetual purity. This therefore is the true day of propitiation, when God was propitiated to men. Just as the Apostle also says: "For God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." And again he says of Christ: "Making peace through the blood of his cross, both those things which are in heaven, and those in earth." It is commanded, therefore, in the law, that on the day of re-propitiation all the people shall humble their souls. How the people should humble their soul, he himself says: "The days will come," he says, "when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days." Many feast days, therefore, are observed according to the law. There is a certain solemn day in the first month, and there is another in the second. But also in the first month there is another solemnity of the Passover, and another of unleavened bread, although the solemnity of the Passover may seem joined to the unleavened bread. For the beginning of the unleavened bread is joined to the end of the Passover. But only that day is called the Passover on which the lamb is killed. The remaining days are called the days of unleavened bread. For so it says: "You shall keep the solemnity of unleavened bread for seven days." This, therefore, is the first solemnity. After this, he says, "when you have reaped your harvest, and have gathered the fruits from your field, you shall celebrate a feast day of the firstfruits of your fruits." Which day is after seven weeks of the Passover, that is, Pentecost, when also it is commanded to be said, and you shall cleanse the holy things from my house. After this, in the seventh month...

other solemnities are conducted. On the first day of the month are the New Moons of the trumpets, as it is said in the Psalm: ^A “Blow the trumpet at the beginning of the month.” But the tenth day of the seventh month is the solemnity of expiation. On this day alone the high priest is clothed in all the pontifical vestments; then he is clothed with manifestation and truth; then he enters into those inaccessible places, where it is permitted to enter only once a year, that is, into the Holy of Holies. For once a year the high priest, leaving behind the people, enters that place where the propitiatory is, and upon the propitiatory the cherubim, where also is the ark of the covenant, and the altar of incense, into which it is lawful for no one to enter, except the high priest alone. If, therefore, I contemplate my true high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, how, though placed in the flesh, he was with the people for the whole year—that year of which he himself says: “He has sent me to evangelize to the poor, and to call the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of remission”—observe how once in this year, on the day of expiation, he enters into the Holy of Holies, that is to say, when the economy is fulfilled, he pierces the heavens, and enters to the Father, that he may make him propitious to the human race, and intercede ^B for all who believe in him. Knowing this expiation of his, by which he renders the Father propitious to men, the apostle John says: “These things I write to you, my little children, that we may not sin. But if we have sinned, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the just, and he is the propitiation for our sins.” But Paul also similarly commemorates this expiation, when he says of Christ: “Whom God has set forth as a propitiator through faith in his blood.” Therefore, the day of expiation remains for us until the sun sets, that is, until the world receives its end. For we stand before the doors, awaiting our high priest dwelling within the Holy of Holies, that is, with the Father, and interceding for the sins of those who await him, not interceding for the sins of all. For he does not ^C intercede for those who have fallen into the lot of that goat which is sent into the desert. He intercedes only for those who are the Lord’s lot, who await him before the doors, who do not depart from the temple, occupied in fasts and prayers. Do you, who scarcely come to church on feast days, nor are intent upon hearing the divine words, nor give effort to fulfilling the commandments, think that the lot of the Lord can come upon you? We desire, however, that even hearing these things you might give effort—not only to hear the words of God in church, but also to exercise yourselves in your homes and to meditate on the law of the Lord day and night; for Christ is there, and is present everywhere to those who seek him. For this reason indeed it is commanded in the law that we should meditate on it when we walk on the way, and when we sit in the house, and lie in our bed, and when we rise; and this is truly to wait for the high priest ^D staying within the Holy of Holies, and to be made in the lot of the Lord.

6. But regarding what we say about the lot, let not the listener think that any such lot is spoken of, which among men is wont to be cast by chance, and not by judgment. The Lord’s lot is to be accepted as if it were called the Lord’s election, or the Lord’s portion; and again, the lot of him who is sent into the desert is to be accepted as that portion which, because of its own indignity, is spurned and rejected by the Lord. For the very word *apopompai* contains the meaning of being rejected and refused. From which we can also understand this: for example, an evil thought enters your heart, the concupiscence of another’s wife, or of a neighbor’s possession—understand immediately that this is from the lot of the *apopompai*, cast it away immediately, and expel it from your heart. How do you cast it away? If you have the hand of a man prepared with you, that is, if the divine reading is in your hands, and the precepts of God are held before your eyes, then you will truly be found prepared to cast away and repel those things which are of an alien lot. But if anger also ascends into your heart, if zeal, if envy, if malice to supplant a brother, be prepared to cast them away, and to expel them, and to send them into the desert. If, however, there ascends into your heart the thought of things that are of God, of mercy, of justice, of piety, of peace—these are from the Lord’s lot, these are offered at the altar, these the high priest takes up, and in these he reconciles God to you. Therefore, he who casts out him in whom is the lot of the *apopompai*—that is, evil thoughts, evil cupidities—is not a slothful man, nor occupied with secular business, but is prepared, and prompt, and vigilant; who even if he appears to become soiled because he happened upon the unclean, will immediately wash his garments, and will be clean. Which we can understand, as far as it pertains to each of us, according to the moral sense, to be a man prepared: the reason itself that is within us, through which is the discernment for us of good and evil, which even if it seems to become soiled while it discerns and handles the things that are evil, yet if it casts them away, and expels them from the heart, and drives them far off, then the reasonable mind will appear clean, as if purified and washed, with better thoughts. Nor indeed should you marvel that we have also drawn to the person of the Savior this one who casts out the goat, and expels it into the desert, because it is said that he washes his garments, and becomes clean, because of that which we read in the prophet to be said of the Lord, as we said above: “And I saw Jesus the great priest clothed in filthy garments.” But if indeed this is piously understood regarding the assumption of the flesh, here also in the washing of the garments that figure can be preserved.

7. Let us see after this what the high priest does: “And he shall take,” he says, “a full censer of coals from the altar, which is against the Lord.”

We read also in Isaiah that the prophet is purified by fire by one of the Seraphim, who was sent ^A to him, when he took with tongs one of the coals from those which were upon the altar, and touched the lips of the prophet, and said: “Behold, I have taken away your iniquities.” To me these things seem to be mystical, and to indicate this: that to each one, according to that in which he sins, if he be worthy to be purified, coals are brought to his members. For because the prophet says here: “I have unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips,” therefore a coal taken with tongs by the Seraphim cleanses his lips, by which alone he confesses that he is not clean. From this it is shown that his sin was found only in speech, but in deed or work he had sinned in nothing; otherwise he would have said, “Because I have an unclean body,” or “I have unclean eyes,” if he had sinned in coveting the things of others, and he would have said, “I have unclean hands,” if he had defiled them with iniquitous works. But now, because he was conscious of that fault in speech alone, of which the Lord says: “For you shall render an account even for an idle word on the day of judgment,” because it is difficult even for the perfect to avoid the fault of speech, therefore the prophet also needed only a purification of his lips. But as for us, if each one returns to his own conscience, I do not know if we can excuse any member of the body that does not need fire. And the prophet indeed, because he was clean from all others, therefore merited that one of the Seraphim should be sent to him, to cleanse his lips alone. But we, I fear lest we deserve not fire for individual members, but for the whole body. For when eyes are lascivious, whether through illicit desires or through diabolical spectacles, what else do they gather but fire for themselves? When ears are not turned away from empty hearing and the detractions of neighbors, when hands are by no means restrained from slaughter, nor from thefts and depredations, when feet are swift to shed blood, and when we deliver the body not to the Lord, but to fornication, what else but the whole body do we deliver into Gehenna? But when these things are said, they are held in contempt. Why? Because faith is lacking. Otherwise, if it were said to you today that the judge of the age wants to burn you alive tomorrow, and upon hearing this if you had a space of one day free, how much would you do? How and through whom would you run about? How humble, how mourning and squalid would you wander? Would you not pour out all your money upon those by whose intercession you believed you could escape? Would you not make all that you possess the redemption of your soul? But if even someone should delay or hinder you ^B from trying, would you not say, “Let all things perish for the sake of my salvation, nor let anything remain, provided I live?” Why would you do this? Because you do not doubt there, but here you doubt. And therefore the Lord well says: “Do you think when the Son of Man comes, He will find faith upon the earth?” And what do I say of certain and indubitable perils? Simply if a case is to be pleaded before a terrestrial judge, which seems to have some fear from the laws, is there not a watch kept all night, are not rewards prepared for the advocate, even if the danger is doubtful, or even if it is a matter of the fear of mere reputation or loss? Why do we not believe that “we shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ, that each one may report the things of the body according to what he has done, whether good or evil?” If we believed these things sincerely, it would be for us according to what is written: “The redemption of a man’s soul, his riches.” But from where can we feel, or believe, or understand these things, when we do not even come together to hear these very things? For who of you, when the Scriptures are recited, offers his attention? God threatens through the prophet, and indeed in great anger: “And I will send famine upon the earth, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of God.” But now God has not sent a famine upon His Church, nor a thirst to hear the word of God. We have the living bread which descends from heaven, we have living water springing up into eternal life. Why do we kill ourselves with famine and thirst in a time of fruitfulness? It is the mark of a sluggish and lazy soul to suffer want in the abundance of all things. Have you not heard from the divine Scriptures that there is a struggle between men, of the flesh against the spirit, and of the spirit against the flesh? And do you not know that if you nourish the flesh alone, and foster it with frequent softness and a continuous flow of delights, it will necessarily become insolent against the spirit, and become stronger than it? Which if it happens, without a doubt, having brought it into its power, it will force it to obey its own laws and vices. But if you come frequently to church, you apply your ear to divine letters, you receive an explanation of the celestial commandments, as the flesh is with foods and delicacies, so the spirit will recover with divine words and senses, and having become stronger, it will force the flesh to obey it, and to submit to its laws. Therefore the nourishments of the spirit are: ^D divine reading, assiduous prayers, the word of doctrine. It is fed by these foods, by these it recovers, by these it is made victorious. Because you do not do this, do not complain about the weakness of the flesh, do not say that “we will, but we cannot; we want to live continently, but we are deceived by the fragility of the flesh, and we are attacked by its goads.” You give the goads to your flesh, you arm it against your spirit, and you make it powerful when you sate it with meats, flood it with excessive wine, and [sate it] with every softness.

For do you not know that this edifice of the Church cannot be built from leprous stones? Listen to what the Apostle says: "A little leaven corrupts the whole lump. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump." But let us return to our subject.

8. "And he shall take," ^A it says, "a censer full of burning coals." Not all are purged by that fire which is taken from the altar. Aaron is purged by that fire, and Isaiah, and those who are like them. But others who are not such, among whom I also count myself, will be purged by another fire. I fear that which is written: "A river of fire ran before him." This fire is not from the altar. The fire that is from the altar is the fire of the Lord; but that which is outside the altar is not of the Lord, but is proper to each of those who sin, concerning which it is said: "Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched." Therefore, this fire belongs to those who kindled it, just as it is written elsewhere: "Walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame which you have kindled for yourselves." But to Isaiah, it is not his own fire that is applied, but the fire of the altar, which purged his lips, and this [is the fire] of which it is written: "And let him take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar, which is before the Lord, and let him fill his hands with frankincense of the composition in small pieces." ^B Our Lord indeed fulfilled this more fully. For He filled His hands with the fine frankincense, concerning which it is written: "Let my prayer be set forth as incense in your sight." He filled His hands, therefore, with the holy works which He performed on behalf of the human race. But why is it called incense of composition? Because it is not one kind of work, but it is composed of justice, and of piety, of continence, of prudence, and of all virtues of this kind, [forming] that which pleases God.

242 But we do not understand the word "small" or "in pieces," which he adds, idly. For He does not want him who strives for perfection to understand the word of God in a coarse and carnal way, but [He wants him] to seek out the subtle and fine sense within these things, so that if by chance he hears it written: "You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain," he should not understand these things regarding oxen—for God has no care for oxen—but that it is said concerning the apostles. But also, if anyone can explain the reason for God's providence, which is most minute and subtle, he is said to fill his hand with this small incense. ^C Who among us, then, is so prompt and ready that, as a priest about to enter the Holy of Holies, he may offer the fine incense of composition? For it is necessary for each of us to offer something to the tabernacle of God, something also to the priestly garments, and indeed something which, through the hands of the priest, may ascend to God Himself for an odor of sweetness.

Our pontiff, therefore, our Lord and Savior, opens His hands, and He wishes to receive from each of us incense of fine composition; it is necessary for us to seek out the varieties of incense. We must seek out Lebanon, and not just some Lebanon, but that which is clear. The pontiff does not want to receive from you anything obscure or dirty; He seeks what is clear. But He also demands galbanum from you, the nature of which is that the sharpness of its odor puts harmful serpents to flight. He also seeks stacte from you, for He wants our words or our works to be refined and purged. He also seeks onyx, so that the soul may be covered as if by a shield and remain unharmed. ^D Likewise, He wants you to be protected by the shield of faith, so that you may quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Yet He wants all these things to be composed by you: nothing inordinate, nothing restless, nothing unseemly, but He wants everything to be done in an orderly and honest manner. Therefore, our true pontiff, Christ, stands even now, and He wishes that His hands be filled with incense composed in fine pieces; and He considers from each Church which is under heaven what is being offered, how integrally and diligently it composes its incense, how finely it makes it—that is, how each of us orders his works, and how he discusses the sense and words of the Scriptures with a spiritual explanation. Nor are the ministries of angels lacking for duties of this kind. For the angels of God ascend and descend to the Son of Man, they inquire, and they act curiously [to see] what they might find in each of us that they may offer to God. They see and examine the mind of each one of us, to see if he has anything of this sort, if he is thinking of something so holy that it deserves to be offered to God. They behold and consider if any of us, through these things which are said in church, is pricked in his heart and turns his mind to penance, if, upon hearing these things, he thinks to correct his ways, and to forget what is past, and to prepare himself for the future—at least according to that most impious Ahab, of whom the Lord says: "Have you seen how Ahab's heart is pricked?" But in all these things, what shall I say of those who neither hear these things with their ears nor receive them in their heart? What hope of compunction is in them? What suspicion of conversion? What expectation of amendment? For if we doubt even about those who do hear, what do we hope for in the case of those who do not hear at all? But let us use the words of the Lord, and let us say: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear," and those who hear, let them know it is written that when you have turned and groaned, then you shall be saved, and you shall know where you were. And if you have spoken your sins first, I will hear you as a holy people. Have you heard how, even if you were a sinner, provided that you have turned and desisted from sin, you may now be called holy? Therefore, let no one des-

- ^A pair of those who are pricked to the heart and turn to the Lord. For the malice of sins does not surpass the goodness of God.

9. The high priest, therefore, takes a censer full of coals of fire from the altar which is against the Lord, and fills his hand with pounded incense, and brings it into the interior of the veil. Let us first understand what history signifies, and then we shall seek what the spiritual sense holds. There is a double dwelling of the tabernacle of testimony or of the temple of the Lord. The first is that in which the altar of holocausts is 73, which is kindled by perpetual fires, in which dwelling it is permitted only to priests to stand, and to celebrate the rites and ministries of the sacrifices, and access is not granted to the Levites, nor to anyone else 74 besides. But the second dwelling is the interior one, separated from this one by a veil alone. Within this veil, the ark of the testament and the propitiatory were, over which two cherubim were set, and the altar 75 of incense is placed. Into this dwelling, once in the year, whoever was the high priest, having first offered the sacrifices of propitiation of which we spoke above, would enter, having both hands full—one with a censer of coals, and the other with composition of incense—so that when he had entered, immediately, the incense having been placed upon the coals, the smoke would rise and fill the whole dwelling, so that the smoke of the incense would veil the aspect of the holy things which the entry of the high priest had revealed. If the ancient custom of the sacrifices has become clear to you, let us see 243 what these things also contain according to the mystical reason. You have heard of two dwellings: one as it were visible and accessible to the priests, the other truly invisible and inaccessible, except for the high priest alone; the rest are outside. I think that this first dwelling can be understood as this Church in which we are now placed in the flesh, in which priests minister at the altar of holocausts, with that fire kindled of which Jesus said 84: “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish that it were kindled.” And do not marvel that this dwelling is open only to priests. For all those who have been anointed with the ointment of holy chrism have been made priests, just as Peter also says to the whole Church 85: “But you are a chosen race, and a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” You are, therefore, a priestly race, and therefore you approach the holy things. But also each one of us has within himself his own holocaust, and he himself kindles the altar of his own holocaust, that it may always burn. If I renounce all that I possess, and I take up my cross, and follow Christ, I have offered a holocaust on the altar of God; or if I should deliver my body to be burned, having charity, and obtain the glory of martyrdom, I have offered a ^B holocaust to the altar of God. If I love my brothers, in such a way that I lay down my soul for my brothers, if I have struggled for justice and for truth unto death, I have offered a holocaust to the altar of God. If I have mortified my members from all concupiscence of the flesh, if the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world, I have offered a holocaust to the altar of God, and I myself become the priest of my sacrifice. In this way, therefore, the priesthood is carried out in the first dwelling, and the sacrifices are offered, and from this dwelling, the high priest, clothed in sanctified vestments, proceeds and enters into the interior of the veil, just as we positioned the words of Paul above, saying 86: “Not into holy places made by hand, but into heaven itself, He said, Jesus has entered, and He appears before the face of God for us.” Therefore, the place of heaven and the very seat of God is designated through the figure and image of the interior dwelling. But look at the wondrous order of the sacraments. The high priest, entering into the Holy of Holies, carries with him fire from this altar, and he receives incense in this dwelling. But the vestments also, with which he is clothed, he took from this place. Do you think my Lord, the true high priest, will deign to accept even from me some part of the composition of pounded incense which He might carry with Him to the Father? Do you think He will find in me some little spark, and my holocaust burning, so that He may deign to fill His censer with coals from it, and upon them offer to God the Father an odor of sweetness? Blessed is he whose coals of his holocaust He has found so alive and so kindled, that He judges them fit to be placed upon the altar of incense. Blessed is he in whose heart He has found so ^C subtle, so minute, and so spiritual a sense, and one so composed with the diverse sweetness of virtues, that He deigns to fill His hands from it, and to offer to God the Father the sweet odor of his intelligence. But, on the contrary, the unhappy soul, whose fire of faith is extinguished and the heat of charity grows cold: when our celestial high priest comes to it, seeking from it kindled and burning coals upon which He may offer incense to the Father, He finds in it dry ashes and cold cinders. Such are all those who withdraw themselves and make themselves far from the word of God, lest by hearing the divine discourses they be kindled to faith, grow warm to charity, and ignited to mercy. Do you wish me to show you how fire goes out from the words of the Holy Spirit, and kindles the hearts of believers? Hear David saying in the Psalm 87: “The word of the Lord has inflamed him.” And again it is written in the Gospel, after the Lord had spoken to Cleopas 88: “Was not our heart, He said, burning within us, when He opened the Scriptures to us?” From whence, therefore, will you burn? From whence will coals of fire be found in you, which never

^A exercise yourself in the divine utterances—or, what is more miserable, you burn in the spectacles of the circus, you burn in the contests of horses, in the competition of athletes? Yet that fire is not from the altar of the Lord, but is that which is called "strange fire"; and you heard a little earlier that those who offered strange fire before the Lord were extinguished. You burn even when anger has filled you, and when fury has inflamed you; you are burned at times by carnal love, and are tossed by the fires of the basest lust. But all that fire is strange and contrary to God, and whoever kindles it shall without doubt suffer the lot of Nadab and Abihu.

10. The divine eloquence says: ^B "And he shall place the incense upon the fire in the sight of the Lord, and the smoke of the incense shall cover the mercy seat which is over the testimonies, and he shall not die; and he shall take of the blood of the calf, and shall sprinkle with his finger upon the mercy seat towards the east." The rite of the propitiation for men that was performed among the ancients towards God, in what way it was celebrated, has been taught: but you, who have come to Christ, the true high priest, who by His own blood has made God propitious to you and has reconciled you to the Father, do not linger in the blood of flesh; but learn rather the blood of the Word, and hear Him saying to you, "This is my blood, ^C which for you 244 and for many will be shed for the remission of sins." He who is imbued with the mysteries knows both the flesh and the blood of the Word of God. Let us not, therefore, linger in these things which are known to those who are learned and cannot be hidden from the ignorant. That he sprinkles "towards the east," do not receive this idly. From the east the propitiation has come to you. For thence is the Man whose name is the East, who has been made the mediator of God and men. You are invited, therefore, by this, that you should always look towards the east, whence the Sun of righteousness arises for you, whence light is always born for you; so that you may never walk in darkness, nor that last day overwhelm you in darkness; so that the night and gloom ^D of ignorance may not creep upon you, but that you may always dwell in the light of knowledge, may always possess the day of faith, and may always obtain the light of charity and peace.

11. Scripture adds after these things: "And no man shall be in the tabernacle when the high priest shall enter inside the veil into the tabernacle of testimony." How will he not be a man? I understand it thus, that he who shall be able to follow Christ, and to penetrate with Him into the inner tabernacle, and to ascend to the heights of the heavens, will no longer be a man, but in accordance with His word will be as an angel of God. Or perhaps even that word will be fulfilled concerning him which the Lord Himself said: "I said: You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High." Whether, therefore, it is a spiritual effect, that he becomes one spirit with the Lord; or whether he passes into the order of angels through the glory of the resurrection, rightly he will no longer be a man; but each one himself procures this for himself, that he either exceeds the name of man, or is reckoned within the condition of this title. For if a man from the beginning had kept that which the Scripture says to him: "Behold, I have set before your eyes death and life; choose for yourself life"; if he had done this, the human race would surely never have been held by the condition of mortality. But because, abandoning life, he followed death, he was made man; and not only man, but also earth, for which reason he is also said to return to the earth. I inquire, however, what this death is, which He says I have set before your eyes. For concerning life, it is not doubted that God indicates Himself, who says: "I am the truth and the life." What is, therefore, this death contrary to life, which God has set before our eyes? I think it is spoken of that one of whom Paul says: "The last enemy, death, shall be destroyed." This is, therefore, the enemy, the devil, who was indeed placed first before our eyes, but he shall be destroyed last. But he had been placed before our eyes, not that we should follow him, but that we should avoid him. Whence I also think that the human soul itself can be called neither mortal nor immortal; but if it should attain to life, it will be immortal from the participation of life; for death does not fall into life; but if, turning itself away from life, it has drawn a participation of death, it makes itself to be mortal. And therefore the prophet says: "The soul that sins, it shall die"; although we do not understand its death as the destruction of substance, but that very thing, that it is alien and an exile from God, who is the true life, must be believed to be death. Therefore, no participation of justice is made with iniquity, no fellowship of light with darkness, no consonance of Christ with Belial. If we have chosen life, we shall always live, death will not rule over us, and the word of the Lord will be fulfilled in us, who said: "He who believes in me, even if he die, shall live." Let us therefore choose life, let us choose light, that we may walk honestly in the day, that even we, following Jesus inside the veil of the inner tabernacle, may no longer be as mortal men, but as immortal angels, when the Lord Jesus Christ Himself shall have destroyed the last enemy, death,

who is the way, and the truth, and the life: to whom be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY X. On the fast which occurs on the day of atonement, and on the goat which is sent into the wilderness.

1. We, indeed, who are of the Church, rightly receive Moses, and read his writings, feeling concerning him that, as a prophet and having God revealing things to him, he wrote in symbols, and figures, and allegorical forms the mysteries that were to come, which we now teach as having been fulfilled in their own time. But whoever receives the sense in him in such a way—whether he be one of the Jews or even one of our own—that person cannot even prove that he was a prophet: for how will he prove he was a prophet, whose letters he asserts are common, aware of no future things, and containing no hidden mystery? Whoever thinks thus is rebuked by the divine discourse ^A reading these things, which says: "Do you think you understand what you are reading?" There is, therefore, a law, and all things that are in the law are, according to the opinion of the Apostle, "imposed until the time of correction," and just as those who have the craft of making signs out of bronze and casting statues, before they produce the true work of bronze, or silver, or gold, form first a figure of clay in the likeness of the future image: which figure is indeed necessary, but only so long as the work which is principal is being completed; but when that work for the sake of which the clay figure had been formed has been accomplished, its use is no longer sought: understand something of this sort also in those things which are in type and figure of the things to come in the law and the prophets, whether they were written or whether they were done. For the very artificer and author of all things has come, and the law, which had a shadow of the good things to come, he has translated to the very image of the things. But lest perhaps the things we say seem difficult for you to be proved, recognize them item by item. ^B Formerly, Jerusalem was that great royal city, where a most famous temple had been built for God. But after He came, who was the true temple of God, and said concerning the temple of His body: "Destroy this temple," and because the heavenly Jerusalem began to reveal its mysteries: that earthly one was destroyed where the heavenly appeared: in that temple there did not remain a stone upon a stone, from the time that the true temple of God became the flesh of Christ. Formerly there was a high priest purifying the people with the blood of bulls and goats: but since the true high priest came, who would sanctify believers with His own blood, that former high priest is nowhere to be found, nor is any place left for him. There was formerly an altar, and sacrifices were celebrated: but as soon as the true Lamb came who offered Himself as a sacrifice to God, all those things which had been set up as if for a time ceased. Does it not seem to you, therefore, that according to the figure which we proposed above, these were like certain forms fashioned of clay, by which the images of the truth were expressed? Finally, the divine ^C dispensation ensured that both the city itself, and the temple, and all those things alike were overturned: so that if any child—still nursing in the faith—were to see them standing, and were astonished while gaping at the rite of the sacrifices and the order of the ministries, he might not be carried away by the sight of the various forms themselves. But God, providing for our weakness and willing that His Church should be multiplied, caused all those things to be overturned and completely taken away, so that without any hesitation we might believe that these things, upon which the type had preceded, are the truth, now that those former things have ceased.

2. Whence also now some things must be stated by us to those who think that, according to the commandment of the law, the fast of the Jews ought to be kept by them as well, and first of all I will make use of the words of Paul saying: "If any man wishes to keep any one thing of the observances of the law, he is bound to perform the whole law." He, therefore, who observes these fasts, let him go up to Jerusalem three times a year, so that he may appear before the temple of the Lord, so that he may offer himself to the priest; let him seek the altar which has been turned into dust, let him offer sacrifices with no pontiff standing by. ^D For it is written, that the fasting people should offer as a sacrifice two goats, over which lots should be cast, so that one of them might become the Lord's lot and be offered as a sacrifice to the Lord; but the lot of the other might be made, so that it should be sent into the wilderness alive, one which might carry within itself the sins of the people. You, who wish to observe the fast according to the command of the law, must carry all these things out consistently: concerning which, indeed, it has been discussed by us as far as we were able in the previous discourse. However, since the word of God is rich, and according to the opinion of Solomon, must be described not simply, but doubly and triply in the heart, let us attempt even now to add some things to those which were spoken previously according to our strength, so that we may show how, in the type of things to come, even here one goat was offered to the Lord as a sacrifice, and the other was sent away alive. Hear in the Gospels Pilate saying to the priests and the people of the Jews: "Whom do you wish that I release to you, Jesus who is called Christ, or Barabbas?" Then the whole people cried out that he should release Barabbas, but deliver Jesus to death. Behold, you have the goat which was sent forth alive into the wilderness, bearing with it the sins of the people, who were crying out and saying: "Crucify him, crucify him." This is, therefore, the live goat sent into the wilderness: and that is the goat which was offered to the Lord as a sacrifice to appease sins, and it made the true atonement for the peoples who believe in Him. But if you also demand this, who it is who led this goat into the wilderness, so that it may be proved in him also that he has been washed and made clean, Pilate himself can be understood as the man prepared. For he was the judge of that very race, who sent him into the wilderness by his own sentence. But hear how he was washed and made clean. When he said to the people...

"Do you wish that I release to you Jesus, who is called Christ?" and all the people had shouted, saying: "If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend," then Pilate, it is said, asked for water and washed his hands before the people, saying: "I am clean of his blood; you yourselves shall see to it." Thus, therefore, he will appear to have been made clean by his washed hands. For us, therefore—that is, those who do not serve the shadow and the model, but the truth—this is the day of propitiation, in which the remission of sins has been given to us, when "Christ our pasch is sacrificed." ^A How then, having known the truth, are we turned back again to the weak and needy elements of this world, to which you wish to be enslaved again, "observing days and months and seasons and years"? Hear how the prophet also rejects this kind of fasting and says: "I have not chosen this fast, says the Lord, nor that a man should humble his soul for a day." If you wish to fast according to Christ and to humble your soul, the whole time of the entire year is fitting for you; nay, you should have the days of your whole life for humbling your soul, if you have learned from our Lord and Savior, that he is "meek and humble of heart." When, therefore, is it not a day of humiliation for you, who follow Christ, who is humble of heart, and the teacher of humility? If, therefore, you wish to fast, ^B fast according to the precept of the Gospel, and observe in your fasts the evangelical laws, in which the Savior commands concerning fasts in this way: "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face." And if you ask how you may wash your face, the apostle Paul teaches how you may behold the glory of the Lord with face unveiled, being "fashioned into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Anoint also your head, but take care not to do so with the oil of the sinner: "For the oil of the sinner shall not fatten your head." But anoint your head with the oil of exultation, with the oil of gladness, with the oil of mercy, so that, according to the commandment of wisdom, mercy and faith may not desert you. For on this account the Apostle also, wishing to withdraw us from these visible and earthly things, and to raise our minds and senses to heavenly things, cries out and says: "If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God." Does he not openly say to you: Do not seek Jerusalem on earth, nor the observances of the law, nor the fast of the Jews, but the fast of Christ? For when you fast, you ought ^C to approach your high priest, Christ, who is certainly not to be sought on earth, but in the heavens, and through him you ought to offer sacrifice to God. Do you wish that I should show you still what kind of fast you ought to fast? Fast from all sin; take no food of malice; take no feasts of pleasure; be not inflamed with any wine of wantonness. Fast from evil acts, abstain from evil speeches, restrain yourself from most wicked thoughts. Do not touch the forbidden breads of perverse doctrine. Do not covet the fallacious foods of philosophy, which lead you away from the truth. Such a fast is pleasing to God. But to abstain from foods which God created, to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful, and to do this with those who crucified Christ, cannot be acceptable to God. The Pharisees also were once indignant with the Lord, why his disciples did not fast. To whom he answered, that the sons of the bridegroom cannot fast as long as the bridegroom is with them. Let those, therefore, who have lost the bridegroom fast; we, having the bridegroom with us, cannot fast. Yet we do not say this in order that we may loosen the reins of Christian abstinence. For we have the days ^D of Lent consecrated to fasts. We have the fourth and sixth days of the week, on which we fast solemnly. There is certainly liberty for the Christian to fast at every time, not by the superstition of observance, but by the virtue of continence. For how is incorrupt chastity kept among them, unless supported by stricter helps of continence? How will they apply themselves to the Scriptures? How will they study science and wisdom? Is it not through the continence of the belly and throat? How does anyone castrate himself for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, unless he cuts off the affluence of foods, unless he uses abstinence as his minister? This, therefore, is the speech of fasting for Christians. But there is also another that is still religious, the praise of which is proclaimed in the letters of certain apostles. For we find in a certain little book it is said by the apostles: Blessed is he who even fasts in order that he may feed the poor. This one’s fast is very acceptable to the Lord, and truly worthy enough. For he imitates him who laid down his soul for his brethren. Why, then, do we mix new garments with old rags? Why do we put new wine into old wineskins? "The old things have passed away, behold all things have become new," through Christ our Lord, to whom be glory and empire unto ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY XI. ON LEVITICUS.

- ^Amentable is the man who quickly vows something of his own to be sanctified. For after he has vowed, repentance ensues. And this is indeed what he says: Lest anyone, perhaps, when he gathers fruit from the threshing floor or wine from the winepress, should say: "I wish to offer only this much to the Church, or I wish to provide only this much for the use of the poor or strangers," if afterwards he presumes to take something for his own use from these things which he vows, he has no longer taken from his own fruits, but has violated the holy things of God. And therefore it is a strong snare to sanctify something—that is, to vow it to God—and afterwards, led by repentance, to revoke to one's own uses what one had consecrated. But even if we ourselves consecrate and offer ourselves to God, or even if we vow others, let us observe this snare, lest perchance after we have vowed ourselves to God, we are again subjected to human uses or actions. Each one vows himself, for example, just as the Nazirites did for three or four or as many years as it pleased them, consecrating ^B themselves to the temple of God, so that they might always remain there, observing those things which are written concerning the Nazirites: that they should let the hair of their head grow, nor should iron pass over their head for the whole time of their vow (88), that they should not touch wine, nor anything from the vine, and whatever else the profession of the vow may have comprised. But also, someone else might vow another to God, just as Anna did Samuel: for before he was born, she offered him, saying: "I will give him to the Lord as a gift all the days of his life." From all of which it is clear how each one of us who wishes to be holy ought to be consecrated to God and not, besides that, be occupied with business or actions that in no way pertain to God.

2. After this it is written: "Keep," he says, "my commandments and do them, I am the Lord"; and to these he adds: "A man, if any man curses his father or mother, let him die"; and after many things which he commanded, to which he also assigned punishments for prevarication, he adds in the closing clause: "And keep all my commandments, and my justifications, and my judgments." Hence it also seems consistent to me to inquire what is signified in each of these. Indeed, according to what I have been able to observe, a commandment is that order or mandate which, for example, is said in the Decalogue: "You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery"; for only this is commanded, and the penalty for its commission is not assigned. Now, however, the same things are indeed repeated, with these penalties added: for it is said: "A man, whoever commits adultery with the wife of a man, and the wife of his neighbor, let him die, he who commits adultery, and she who is adulterated. And if anyone sleeps with the wife of his father, he has uncovered his father's shame, let them both die, for they are guilty." But concerning these things, commandments had already been given in the earlier parts, but the penalty was not written for one who did not observe them. Now, therefore, the same things ^C are repeated, and the penalty for each sin is determined: and therefore these are rightly called justifications and judgments, by which he who sins is judged to receive what is just. But behold the order of divine wisdom; it does not at once establish punishments with the primary commandments. For he wishes that you keep the father's commandments not by the fear of punishment, but by the love of piety; but if you have despised them, the punishment is ordained not so much for a man, but for a despiser. Therefore, you are first provoked by kindness, as a son, for "I have said: You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High." But if you do not wish to be an obedient son, you will be punished as a slave, like a despiser. After these things he says: "And if anyone sleeps with his daughter-in-law, let them both die, they have committed impiety, they are guilty." And these laws or these commandments he had given before without punishments; for he had said: "You shall not uncover the shame of your daughter-in-law, for she is your son's wife, you shall not uncover her shame," and all things which follow. And this place in the same way he wrote there without penalties, but here with diverse kinds of punishments. In which place I am reminded of that word which the blessed apostle Paul, writing to the Hebrews, said: "Anyone who has made void the law of Moses dies without any mercy upon the witness of two or three; of how much greater punishments will he be thought worthy, who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has held the blood of the testament polluted, in which he was sanctified, and has done outrage to the Spirit of grace?" But for what reason I have made mention of this scripture, listen. According to the law, the adulterer and the adulteress died, nor could they say: "We seek repentance, and we pray for pardon." There was no place for tears, nor was any opportunity for amendment granted, but it was necessary that he who had incurred the law should be punished in every way. But this was observed also in each and every crime for which the penalty of death was written. Among Christians, however, if adultery has been committed, it is not commanded that the adulterer or adulteress be punished by physical death: nor has power been given to the bishop of the Church to condemn an adulterer to present death, as was then done by the elders of the people according to the law. What, then? Shall we say that the law of Moses is cruel, which orders the adulterer or adulteress to be punished; and that the Gospel of Christ, through the liberty of pardon, loosens the hearers to something worse? It is not so. For this reason we have brought forward the word of Paul ^D mentioned above: "Of how much greater punishments is he worthy who has trampled underfoot the Son of God," etc. Hear, therefore, how neither was that law cruel, nor does the Gospel now seem dissolute on account of the largeness of pardon, but in both the kindness of God is held in diverse dispensation:

[that which] according to the Law, for example an adulterer or an adulteress, was punished with present death, was because they endured the punishment for that very sin, and paid the fitting penalty for the crime committed. What will there be after this, since vengeance overhangs their souls, if they have committed nothing else? If there is no other sin that condemns them, but they only committed this, and then only [to the extent that] they were punished and underwent the Law’s penalty for it? The Lord will not judge twice for the same thing, for they have received [the penalty of] their sin, and the atonement for the crime has been consumed. And therefore this species of command is found not to be cruel, as heretics assert, accusing the Law of God and denying that it contains anything of humanity; but it is full of mercy, because by this means the people were purified from sins rather than condemned. Now, however, no punishment is inflicted upon the body, nor does the purification of sin consist in bodily punishment, but in repentance; observe, though, whether a person manages this worthily, so that he may be able to deserve pardon for it. For there are many who are not even inclined toward this, nor do they seek the refuge of repentance; but when they have fallen, they do not wish to rise again, and they delight in the mud in which they have stuck. Yet we do not forget that command which says: “With what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you again.” For we also say to God, “You have given ^A us the bread of tears, and you have given us to drink in tears in measure.” These are, therefore, those sins which are said to be unto death: whence it follows that as often as one commits such a sin, he dies. For the Apostle Paul also indicates that there are many deaths of sin when he says: “Who delivered us from such great deaths, and delivers, in whom we hope that he will also yet deliver.” What then means these many deaths he mentions, unless those of sins? For if he did not speak of the deaths of sins, Paul would seem, according to his own opinion, to be intending to remain immortal from this common death, he who says, “Who delivered us from such great deaths, and delivers, in whom we hope that he will also yet deliver.” For if He has delivered, and will deliver, there will never be a time when he dies, whom the Lord will always deliver. And therefore, according to those things which we have discussed, we must take care lest perhaps sometime it may even be graver for us, who are not at all punished by this death for common sin, than for those whom the Law’s sentence bodily condemned: because the vengeance is reserved for us in the future, while their punishments, once paid, absolved them. But if there is anyone who perhaps has been anticipated in such sins, being now admonished by the word of God, let him flee to the aid of repentance: so that if he has sinned once, he may not do it a second time, or if he has been anticipated a second, or even a third time, let him add no more. For there is with the ^B just judge a moderation of punishment, not only concerning the quality, but also concerning the quantity.

5. Among other sins therefore which are punished by death, the divine law records that “whoever shall curse his father or mother, let him die the death.” The name of father is a great mystery, and the name of mother is a secret reverence. According to the spirit, God is your Father: the heavenly Jerusalem is your mother. Learn these things from prophetic and apostolic testimonies. Moses himself writes in the canticle: “Is not this same Father yours who has acquired you?” But the Apostle says of the heavenly Jerusalem, that it is free, which is, he says, the mother of all of us. First, therefore, God is your Father, who has begotten your spirit, who also says: “I have begotten and exalted sons.” But also the Apostle Paul says: “Let us obey the father of spirits, and live.” Secondly, your father is the father of the flesh by whose ministry you were born in the flesh, and have come into this world, who carried you in his loins: as it is said of Levi, because he was still in the loins of Abraham when Melchizedek met him, having returned from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, and received tithes from him. Because, therefore, the name of father is so sacred and so venerable, therefore whoever shall curse his father or mother shall die the death. Similar things also are to be thought concerning the mother, by whose labor, by whose care, by whose ministry you were both born and nourished. And therefore you ought, according to the Apostle, to render equal thanks to your parents. For if you have dishonored your carnal father, the insult of this redounds to the Father of spirits; and if you have done injury to your carnal mother, the injury redounds to that ^C mother, the heavenly Jerusalem. Thus also, if a servant is irreverent toward his master, throughout this carnal master, he casts an insult upon the Lord of majesty. For that one has imposed His own name upon this carnal master. And therefore in no way is there to be had any struggle or contradiction stirred up against father or mother, not even in word. It is a father, it is a mother; as it seems to them, let them act, let them do, let them speak: they themselves know. However much we may have rendered of obedience, we have not yet returned the kindness for the grace by which we were begotten, by which we were carried, by which we drank in light, by which we were nourished, perhaps also educated, and instructed in honorable arts. And perhaps also by their initiative we have heard the word of the divine law. For all these things, therefore, whoever shall curse his father or mother shall die the death. But if these things are decreed concerning bodily parents, what shall they do who provoke God the Father with cursing words? Who deny that He is the Creator of the world: or who, understanding the prophetic sayings with unworthy senses, bring the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of all of us, down to the condition of some earthly city? ^D

^A It is therefore our duty to observe that we neither venerate a carnal father or a celestial one with less than worthy honor, and similarly for a mother. We must also observe every commandment that commends modesty and chastity to us, so that in the present life we may not be liable to death according to the law, nor await the future punishment of eternal fire according to the spiritual law—from which may our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs glory and power for ages of ages, grant that we may all flee and escape. Amen.

HOMILY XII. On the Great Priest.

1. Everyone who is a priest among men, concerning whom God said ^B: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek," is small and insignificant. But he is the great priest who can penetrate the heavens and pass beyond every creature and ascend to him who "dwells in inaccessible light," the God and Father of the universe. For this reason, he who was called the great priest among the Jews indeed entered into the holy places, but they were made by hand and built of stones; he did not ascend into heaven, nor could he stand before the Father of lights. But because he was filling the role of their shadow and image, for that reason he also bore the name of "great priest" through shadow and image. Whence the Jews also, because they ought to have been near to the faith—since a certain foreshadowing and image of the truth had shone forth among them—while they take the types for the truth, they rejected the truth itself as a lie. But we, who receive the great priest, must understand how he himself is truly the great priest. The truly great priest is he who forgives sins, not through the blood of bulls and goats, but through his own blood. Because, therefore, we have learned who the great priest is, and we confess that those things which are written in the Law are written concerning the great priest—that is, concerning the Savior, whom the previous treatise showed to be the truly great priest—let us now see what things the Law writes concerning him with a prophetic spirit.

2. And he says: "He shall take as a wife a virgin of his own kin. A widow and the cast-out and the polluted and the harlot, these he shall not take; but he shall take a virgin of his own kin as a wife, and he shall not defile his seed among his people; I am the Lord who sanctifies him." Indeed, an image of this observance existed even among the Jews, and those things which the Law established were guarded by the pontiffs of the Jews; but even if all things were diligently guarded and all that the Law commanded were fulfilled, not even thus could all this observance make a great priest. For how can he who is able to sin be called "great"? That even all the great priests were under sin, we understand easily from this very fact, that the Law commands that the priest first offer a sacrifice for his own sins, and afterwards for the sins of the people. How, therefore, is he great who is placed under sin? My great priest, Jesus, is for this reason great, because he did no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth; and because the prince of this world came to him and found nothing in him. Therefore, for this reason, the archangel Gabriel also announces his birth and says: "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest." ^C Sin makes a man small and insignificant, while virtue renders him eminent and great. Just as bodily sickness makes the body of a man thin and small, but health renders it joyous and strong, so understand that the sickness of sin makes the soul humble and small, but the health of the interior man and the works of virtue make it great and eminent; and as much as it grows in virtues, so much does it render its greatness more extensive. Thus I understand that which is written concerning Jesus, that "he increased in wisdom, and in age, and in grace before God and before men." For who among men does not increase in age during childhood, so that this would be written as something remarkable concerning Jesus? I say this to you who hear corporally that Jesus increased in age. Understand, therefore, that he increased in the age of the soul, and his soul became great because of the great and immense works which he did. Finally, the Apostle, being aware that this age must be understood concerning the interior man, writes thus: "Until we all come into a perfect man, into the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ." For to grow and become great according to the body is not in our power. For the body takes the matter of its size from its genital origin, so that it becomes either great or small. But the soul has the causes within us, and the freedom of the will, so that it may be either great or small. If, therefore, the soul is puny and small, it can even be scandalized. For thus it is written in the Gospel: "It is better to be cast into the depths of the sea than to scandalize one of these little ones." ^D He who is great does not stumble, but he who is small… [The text continues: "…who is small."]

^A in spirit and little, looks for occasions as to how he may be scandalized, and how he may seem to be offended in the faith. For this reason, surely, it behooves us to care most for those who are small in faith; we do not owe as much concern to the great and the strong as we must expend upon the little and the foolish. For the strong man tolerates all things, bears all things, and never falls. But we must be careful that the little ones, and those who are weak in faith, are not offended by us, and do not fall away from the faith and slip from their salvation. Or, show me from the Scriptures where any sinner, or one of little merit, has been called great. You will find it nowhere, I think. Hear, rather, who they are that are called great. Concerning Isaac, it is said that he progressed greatly, until he became very great. Moses was called great, and John the Baptist was called great; but now Jesus has been called great, and after him no one else has been called great. For before He who is truly great was present, holy men—of whom we made mention above—were called great by comparison with other men. But when He arrived who was truly great, not by comparison with others, but by the magnitude of His own nature, of whom it is also ^B written that "He exulted as a giant to run his course," no one has since been called great. This, therefore, is He of whom it is written: "The great priest among his brethren." Among which brethren? Among those of whom He said, when He had risen from the dead: "Go to my brethren, and say to them: I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." But if you wish to learn from the ancient writings about the brethren of Jesus, read the twenty-first psalm, where it is said in the person of Christ: "I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the church I will praise thee." Jesus, therefore, is great among his brethren, among those who were previously called great; and just as He is the shepherd of shepherds, and the pontiff of pontiffs, and Lord of lords, and King of kings, so He is also the great one of the great; and that is why it adds, "The great one among his brethren."

251 3. But after these things, "upon whom," he says, "the oil of anointing has been poured upon his head." Do not look for this oil on earth—the oil which is poured upon the head of the great priest so that he may become Christ—but if you wish to see it, learn from the prophet David what sort of oil this is: "Thou hast loved," he says, "justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." This, then, is the oil of gladness, which, having been poured upon His head, made Him Christ. But he adds even more to His praises: "He who ^C has consumed," he says, "he has hands." For whom is this suitable to be said among men? In which of mortals can we find perfected hands? Even if this Aaron is the one who is being mentioned, how shall he be thought to have had perfected hands, he who fashioned the calf, he who carved the idol? Even if you bring forward Moses himself, how is he seen to have had perfected hands, he who did not glorify the Lord at the waters of contradiction? For which transgression he is even ordered to depart from life. But if you wish to bring to mind any other of the saints, the word of Scripture meets you, which says, "For there is no man upon the earth who does good and does not sin." Merely, therefore, Jesus alone has perfected hands, who alone did no sin—that is, who has the perfect and complete works of hands. And therefore it is rightly said of Him: "He who has perfected hands, that he may be clothed in holy things." For this is He who is truly clothed in holy things, not those which were in symbol, but those which are truly holy. But if you wish to hear of His higher garments, take the prophetic words: "Clothed," he says, "with light as with a garment, the abyss as his garment." This is the habit of my great pontiff, by which deep knowledge is indicated, and He is clothed in the light of wisdom, which are the truly holy vestments. "He shall not," he says, "take the mitre from his head." ^D I have already said before that the mitre is a kind of covering which, when placed upon the head, provides the pontiff with dignity. This, my great pontiff, therefore, never puts aside the ornament of His sacred head. But learn from the Apostle what the head of Christ is, who says: "For the head of Christ is God." Deservedly, therefore, He never puts aside that ornament of His head, which is God, because the Father is always in the Son, just as the Son is always in the Father. "And he shall not rend his garments." Truly, this is He who does not rend His garments, but has always kept them clean, always complete, always chaste. "And he shall not enter into any dead soul." What is a dead soul? The prophet calls it dead, saying: "The soul that sins, it shall die." Over this dead soul, therefore, Christ does not pass, because He is wisdom, and wisdom does not enter into a malevolent soul. For it itself is dead, because in whom there is malice, in him there is also sin. "For sin," he says, "when it is consummated, generates death." And for this reason Jesus does not enter into a dead soul. But if the soul is alive—that is, if it does not have mortal sin within it—then Christ, who is life, comes to the living soul. Because just as light cannot be with darkness, nor justice with iniquity, so life cannot be with death. And therefore, if anyone is conscious to himself that he has mortal sin within him, he does not...

cast it out from himself through the repentance of the fullest satisfaction, let him not hope that Christ will enter into his soul, for He does not enter into any soul that is dead, because He is the great priest.

4. ^A “And he shall not defile himself for his father and his mother.” This place of Scripture is most difficult to explain, but if you entreat God the Father of the Word with your prayers, that He may deign to illuminate us, through His gift it may be explained. Everyone who enters this world is said to be rendered in a certain defilement. On account of which Scripture also says: “No one is clean from filth, not even if his life has been but one day.” By this very fact, therefore, that he is placed in the mother’s womb, and that he receives the matter of the body from the beginning of paternal seed, he can be said to be defiled in both father and mother. Or do you not know that when a male child has reached forty days, he is offered to the altar to be purified there, as one who has been polluted in the very conception, either by paternal seed or maternal womb? Therefore, every human being is defiled in father and mother; but my Lord Jesus alone entered into this generation ^B clean, and in the mother He was not defiled. For He entered possessing a body uncontaminated. For He Himself was the one who long before said through Solomon: “Nay, rather, being good, I came into an undefiled body.” Therefore, He was not defiled in the mother, nor indeed in the father. For Joseph contributed nothing to His generation except service and affection. Whence, on account of this faithful ministry, Scripture granted him the name of father. For thus Mary herself says in the Gospel: “Behold, I and your father have been searching for you in sorrow.” Thus, therefore, this great priest is the only one who was defiled neither in father nor in mother. But let us see if we can still find something more sublime and worthy of the dignity of such a high priest. God is called the true Father of all. But the Apostle calls Jerusalem the heavenly mother. ^C Therefore, all who sin are defiled in the father by whom they were created. For whether we have committed some impiety, or have spoken, or have thought against God, when we did not believe in God we were defiled in the father. And would that it had happened only then through unbelief, and that it had ceased after we believed! So, therefore, we are also defiled in the mother if, believing in God, we either harm the Church or defile the liberty of our heavenly mother with the unworthy slavery of sin. But our Lord Jesus Christ alone, who knows no sin, was defiled neither in the father nor in the mother, and did not depart from the holy places. There were, indeed, some things to be proposed to the Jews in the preceding sections, to which they could not respond, but leaving those aside, what can they tell us ^D regarding this present discourse, whether they themselves or those who wish the Law to be understood according to their sense, if these things are not referred to our high priest and Savior, how can it be proven, according to the letter, that the great priest does not go out from the holy places—he who was certainly also taking a wife, as is said below, a virgin of his own kin? If he does not go out from the holy places, if he nowhere proceeds, how or for what uses is he ordered to take a wife? For it ought not to be thought that he could stay within the holy places with a wife. But let them think this, those to whom Jewish fables are pleasing. We, however, have a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, Christ Jesus, who never goes out from the holy places; for He is always in the holy places, and remains always holy in His words, holy in His acts, holy in all His thoughts, ^B and He alone is He who is never found outside the holy places. For whoever sins, goes out from the holy places; and as often as one sins, so often is he made to be outside the holy places. But Christ, who never sinned, never went out from the holy places. But you also, who follow Christ and are an imitator of Him, if you remain in the word of God, if you meditate on His law day and night, if you be exercised in His commandments, you are always in the holy places, and you never depart from thence. For the holy places are not to be sought in a location, but in acts, and life, and character. Which, if they be according to God, and are held according to God’s commandment, even if you are in a house, and even if you are in the market; and what do I say in the market? even if you are found in the theater serving the word of God, do not doubt that you are in the holy places. Or does it not seem to you that Paul, when he entered the theater, ^C or when he entered the Areopagus, and preached Christ to the Athenians, was in the holy places? But also when he had walked through the altars and idols of the Athenians, where he found written “To an Unknown God,” and from this word took the beginning of the preaching of Christ, even there, while surveying the altars of the Gentiles, he was placed in the holy places, because he was thinking holy thoughts. But also everyone who keeps himself after receiving the grace of God so that he does not fall into homicide, into adultery, into theft, into false witness, and other things of this kind; but remains clean from all contagion of sin, he has not gone out of the holy places, and has not contaminated the sanctification of his God within himself, because the holy oil of the chrism of his God is upon him. That oil, about which it is written in Exodus, how can it be called properly the oil of God according to the letter, ^D which is made by the apothecary’s perfumery art? But if you wish to see the oil of God, listen to whom the Prophet says is anointed with the oil of God, him without doubt of whom he says: “Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions.” This, therefore, is the great priest, who alone is anointed with the oil of God, and in whom the holy oil of the divine chrism has always remained.

5. But what is added after this? “And he shall take a virgin of his own kin: but a widow...

and she that is rejected, and a harlot, he shall not take,” and he shall not defile his seed among his people: I am the Lord who sanctifies him. ^A Since therefore the whole order of this exposition has been recalled to the true high priest, Christ, let us now see also what must be understood regarding his nuptials. The apostle Paul says: “I wish to betroth you all to one man, to present a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ.” Paul therefore wants all the Corinthians to present a chaste virgin to Christ—something he would certainly never wish if he did not see that it were possible. Hence it may perhaps seem wonderful how those who came to the faith of Christ, corrupted by various sins, are all called a chaste virgin at the same time; ^B which virgin is so holy, so chaste, that she even deserves to be joined in the nuptials of Christ. But since we cannot refer these things to the integrity of the flesh, it is certain that they pertain to the integrity of the soul, whose simplicity of faith, which is in Christ, is called her virginity according to the opinion of Paul himself; and because of this, since either the sophistries of the philosophers or the superstitions of the Jews have ceased, Christ has taken to himself the Church in simple faith, and has taken a virgin of his own kin as a wife. For the philosophical sense does not corrupt the faith of such a one, nor the ambition of circumcision, but she has remained in the simplicity of confession as if in virginal integrity. ^C For so also had he promised long ago through the prophet, saying: “I will betroth you to me in faith.” Every one, therefore, according to the Apostle, who is in Christ is a new creature. And as the same Apostle says: “That he might present to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it might be holy and immaculate.” How, then, does he make her who is wrinkled to be without wrinkle, unless because he renews her? According to what is written: “For although our outward man is corrupted, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” ^D Christ will certainly not take a widow, or a harlot, or one who has been rejected, nor does such a soul enter the bridal chamber of the spouse. For whoever has entered there not having wedding garments will suffer that which you know to be written in the Gospel. Therefore, he will take a virgin; he will not take a widow, nor a harlot, nor one who has been rejected or defiled. It is not difficult to explain why Christ does not take as a wife a soul that is a harlot, or rejected, or defiled; but why a widow is not taken as a wife must be looked into more diligently. The apostle Paul, writing to the Romans, says the husband is the law of the soul, and that when the husband has died, ^A she is freed from the law of the husband, so that she is no longer an adulteress if she marries Christ. But if it happens that the law of the soul itself dies—that is, that the soul departs from the law—and yet does not bind itself to the disciplines of a chaster marriage, and, departing from the law, does not take up the yoke of the evangelical dogma, this one cannot marry Christ, for she has sought the lasciviousness of liberty, not the discipline of a virginal and simple faith. This high priest, therefore, will take a virgin wife of his own kin. And for this reason it may also seem that it was said “of his own kin,” because the soul of Christ was of the kin and substance of all human souls. It is also possible, according to this, that the soul which is joined in faith as if by marriage may be said to be of his kin, because he calls those who believe in him brothers. But I do not want it to be hidden from you that the Hebrews deny that they have that which we find among the Septuagint Interpreters: “of his own kin.” ^B And they are right that they do not have it written. For the closeness of God has been taken away from them, the adoption of sons has been taken away, and it has been transferred to the Church of Christ. Therefore, they do not have it written because they are of the kin of Christ, just as they did not deserve to be. But we who have this written and read it, let us indeed rejoice in the dignity of God, but let us take care cautiously and solicitously, lest our life and our acts and our morals ever make us degenerate, and lest this very thing be brought to our condemnation—that, being of the kin of Christ, we serve him with unworthy, foul, and diabolical acts. Therefore, he who has a bride is the bridegroom. You hear how Christ is called the bridegroom, while the soul is called the bride, ^C which is proved incorrupt and a virgin by the simplicity of faith and the purity of acts. For the Lord says also through Jeremiah the prophet: “Hast thou not called me, as it were, Lord and father, and the prince of thy virginity?”

6. “But he shall not take a widow, and that which is rejected, or polluted.” If any one of us has sinned, he is rejected, even if he is not rejected by a bishop; whether because it is hidden or because he is sometimes judged to be in grace, he is nevertheless rejected by the very conscience of sin. Nor does the grace of man help, when Christ does not receive such a soul as rejected into marriage. Therefore, as we said above, he will take neither a widow, nor one rejected, nor one polluted. ^D One is said to be polluted who, even if she has not completed the sin in its entirety, yet by the very fact that she thought it, that she willed it, that she desired it—even if she did not commit it—is polluted, and is not chosen by the high priest. For he requires a soul that is very pure, very clean, and sincere, which he may join to himself, because “he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Whence this is also shown, that there are differences of sins, and he who has sinned a sin unto death is rejected; but he who does not sin unto death, but something lower, is polluted.

^A nor can the part of Christ be abject or polluted, but must be a virgin, uncontaminated, uncorrupted, and pure. For remember the apostolic word which we proposed a little while ago, saying: *That he might present to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish* (Ephes. v, 27).

7. But he shall not take a harlot. What is the soul that has received lovers, of whom the prophet says (Ezech. xvi): *Thou hast played the harlot after thy lovers*? Who are these lovers who enter into the soul of the harlot, if not the hostile powers and demons, who conceive a desire for her beauty? For the soul was created beautiful by God, and sufficiently comely. Hear how God himself says (Gen. i, 26): *Let us make man to our image and likeness.* Behold of what beauty and what comeliness is the soul that has the image and likeness of God. When the hostile powers see this beauty, that is, the devil and his angels, they covet its form; and because they cannot become her spouse, they wish to play the harlot with her. If, therefore, you have received, O man, in the bed of your soul the adulterer, the devil, your soul has played the harlot with the devil. If you have received his angels, if you have received the various spirits that persuade you to sin, your soul has played the harlot with them; if the spirit of wrath, if of envy, if of pride, if of impurity has entered into your soul, and you have received it and consented to it as it spoke in your heart, having been delighted by those things which it suggests to you according to its own ^B mind, you have played the harlot with it. Therefore, the high priest shall not take a harlot, and he shall not contaminate his seed among his people. What is this seed which it does not want to be contaminated? It is written in the Gospels (Marc. iv, 14): *He who sows, sows the word.* Therefore, it does not want the word of God to be contaminated by those who sow. Who, then, are those who sow? They are those who bring forth the word of God in the Church. Let the teachers hear, therefore, lest by chance they commit the words of God to contaminated souls, to a soul acting as a harlot, to an unfaithful soul, lest by chance they cast that which is holy to the dogs and pearls before swine; but let them choose clean souls, virgins in the simplicity of the faith which is in Christ, let them commit to them the secret mysteries, and let them proclaim to them the word of God and the arcana of the faith, so that Christ may be formed in them through faith. Do you not know that from this seed of the word of God which is sown, Christ is born in the hearts of those who hear? For the Apostle says this (Galat. iv, 19): *Until Christ be formed in you.* Therefore, the soul conceives from this seed of the word, and forms the word in itself, until it brings forth the spirit of the fear of God. For thus they say through the prophet (Isa. xxvi, 18): *Because of thy fear, O Lord, we have conceived in the womb, and have been in labor, and have brought forth the spirit of thy salvation, which we have wrought upon the earth.* This is the fruit of holy souls, this is the conception, these are the holy unions which are convenient and apt for the great high priest Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY XIII

Of feast days, and of the lamp, and of the candlestick, and of the oil for the light, and of the table, and of the loaves of proposition.

1. He who is perfect is taught by the very rationale of the solemnities, and he does not use a man as a master to learn these things, but learns from God, if anyone is able to grasp the voice of God. But he who is not such, but is inferior, learns from him who has learned from God. This, therefore, is a certain twofold rationale of doctrine concerning the solemnities. ^B One, by which the prophetic mind, illuminated by the Spirit, is taught, which, so to speak, is learned more by the intuition of the mind than by the sound of the voice, through which the truth itself is recognized, not the shadow and image of the truth. But those who cannot grasp the light of God itself, nor behold the full splendor of the truth with an intent gaze of the mind, hear about the solemnities in the second place from those who have learned it first; and when the very propriety of inspection has given the truth of things to them, only audition brings forth the shadow of truth to the others. The Apostle, conscious of this mystery, said concerning the Jews, that they *serve onto the shadow and example of heavenly things* (Hebr. viii, 5). For Moses is described as having seen the heavenly things themselves, but as having handed down to the people the types and images of those things which he had seen. For thus the divine word says to him (ibid.): ^C *See, he says, that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown to you on the mount.* Therefore, such is what is recounted also in this place, that the Lord spoke to Moses about the solemnities. And after this: *And Moses spoke, he says (Levit. xxiii, 44), the solemn days of the Lord to the children of Israel.* But with the discourse about these things concluded, let us see what Moses is taught after this. First, concerning the lamp and the candlestick, and the oil which is poured into it; in the second place, concerning the table, and the loaves of proposition, and their number, and who should use them. Let us, therefore, apply our mind more diligently to these things which have been written, and let us pray that the grace of the Lord may be granted to us to discern these things, so that in the letters which we read, we may recognize what is the will of the Holy Spirit. *Command, he says (Levit. xxiv, 1 sqq.), the children of Israel, that they bring to you of the purest oil of the olives for the light, that the lamp may burn always outside the veil in the tabernacle of the testimony; and Aaron and his sons shall light it from evening until morning before the Lord continually, a law eternal in your generations. In the purest candlestick you shall light the lamps before the Lord until morning.* He names the purest candlestick, he commands the lamps to be lit by the high priest, and he orders their light to be supplied from the oil which is given by the people. And so, unless the people give the oil, without doubt the lamp will be extinguished, and there will be no light

in the holy place. According to the letter, therefore, this was the consequence: that the people should bring pure oil pressed from olives, so that from it the light of the lamp might be ^A served; and Aaron used to light the lamps from evening until morning, providing food for the light with the oil that the people had brought.

2. But because it is spiritual, let us ask the Lord (if indeed we have turned to the Lord) to take away from us the veil of the reading of the Old Testament, so that we may be able to discern what is the rationale of the lamp or of its lights according to a spiritual understanding. Before the coming of my Lord Jesus Christ, the sun did not rise for the people of Israel, but they used the light of a lamp. For the word of the Law and the prophetic word were a lamp to them, enclosed within narrow walls, which could not pour its light forth into the whole world. For the knowledge of God was enclosed within Judaea, even as the Prophet says: *Known in Judaea is God*. But when the Sun of Righteousness, our Lord and Savior, had risen, and the man was born of whom it is written: *Behold the man, the Orient is his name*; the light of the knowledge of God was poured forth throughout the whole world. Therefore, the word of the Law and the prophetic word was a burning lamp, but it burned within [the] house, nor could it emit its splendor beyond. That the word of the Law and the prophets is called a lamp, the Lord himself taught us, saying concerning John the Baptist: *He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for an hour in his light.* And elsewhere He says that *the law and the prophets were until John.* Therefore, John is a burning lamp, in whom the Law and the prophets are concluded. As long, then, as that people had oil which they could contribute to the light, the lamp was not extinguished. But when the oil of mercy, the oil of good works, failed in them, and purity was not found among them—for pure oil was sought for the light—and because the oil of mercy failed in them, the lamp was necessarily extinguished. But why do we say that these things happened to them, but that these things are foreign to us? On the contrary, there is a greater care for the Christian to acquire oil. For see how the Lord in the Gospels ^B by a parable names the foolish virgins who did not carry oil in their vessels; and they were such fools that, because they lacked oil to light their lamps, they were excluded from the marriage chambers, nor did the bridegroom command them to be opened to those knocking who had neglected the care of the oil. I remember, however, for some time past, when we were explaining that verse of the hundred and eighteenth psalm in which it is written: *Thy word, O Lord, is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths*, that we demonstrated according to our ability the difference between a lamp and a light. For we said that He assigned the lamp to the feet—that is, to the lower parts of the body—but gave light to the paths, which paths in another place are called eternal paths. Because, therefore, according to a certain ^C mystical rationale, this world is understood as the lower parts of creation, the lamp of the Law is mentioned as having been lit for those who, in this world, are like the feet of the whole creation. But eternal light will be for those paths through which each one will walk according to [his] merits in the future age. But enough has been said previously on these matters according to our strength. Now, therefore, since it is evening and night until the consummation of the age, and until the new day of the future age and the new light shines, this lamp burns for each of us, providing as much splendor of light as the abundance of oil has been supplied by the wealth of works. Finally, Job also in a certain place, when he was setting forth the good of his works, added this: *When it shone,* he says, *above my head.* This lamp, therefore, shines for each of us, insofar as it has been lit with the oil of good works. But if we act wickedly, and our works are evil, not only do we not light it, but we extinguish this lamp for ourselves: and that which Scripture says is fulfilled in us, that *he who does evil is in darkness, and he who hates his brother walks in darkness.* For he has extinguished the lamp of charity, and therefore he walks in darkness. Does it not seem to you that he who has extinguished the light of charity has extinguished the lamp? But he who loves his brother remains in the light of charity, and with confidence can say: *But I as a fruitful olive in the house of God,* and: *His children as new olive plants around his table.* Oil, therefore, is ordered to be offered by the people, and not just any oil, but pure [oil], and not from just any seeds (as is the custom to do in different regions), but pressed from olives, in which the sign of peace is shown. For your works cannot be acceptable to God unless they are performed in peace: as also the apostle James says: *Moreover, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace.* And for this reason, I believe, the Lord also delivered to His disciples the faithful deposit, ^D saying: *My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you.* From this olive, therefore, let us press the oil of our works, from which a lamp may be lit for the Lord, so that we may not walk in darkness. These things have indeed been said by us as far as the lamp of the candlestick and its oil are concerned.

3. Now let us see what also is written concerning the loaves of proposition. *And you shall take,* He says, *fine flour, and you shall make from it twelve loaves. Of two-tenths shall one loaf be, and you shall place them [in] two arrangements, six loaves [to an] arrangement upon the clean table before the Lord. And you shall place upon the arrangement pure incense, and salt, and there shall be loaves for a memorial set before the Lord; on the day of the sabbath they shall be proposed before the Lord...*

^A always from the sons of Israel, as an eternal covenant. And it shall be Aaron's and his sons', and they shall eat them in a holy place: for they are most holy. This shall be for them of those things which are offered to the Lord a perpetual statute. According to what is written, in the twelve loaves a commemoration of the twelve tribes of Israel seems to be made before the Lord, and a commandment is given that these twelve loaves be proposed without cessation before the Lord; so that a memory of the twelve tribes may always be had before Him, by which a certain intercession and supplication may seem to be made for each of them through these. But such an intercession is quite small and tenuous. For how much does it amount to for propitiation, where one must consider the fruits of each tribe through the bread, and the works through the fruits! But if you refer these to the magnitude of the mystery, you will find that this commemoration has the effect of a great propitiation. If you return to that Bread which descended from heaven, and gives life to this world—that Bread of Proposition, which God set forth as propitiation ^B through faith in His blood: and if you look to that commemoration, of which the Lord says (Luke XXII, 19): "Do this in my commemoration"; you will find that this alone is the commemoration which makes God propitious to men. If, therefore, you diligently recall the ecclesiastical mysteries, you will find in what the law writes the image of the future truth prefigured. But it is not for us to discuss more of these things, because it suffices to be understood by the commemoration alone. We can, however, speak otherwise. Every word of God is bread, but there is a difference in breads. For there is some word which can be offered to the common audience, and instruct the people about works of mercy and all beneficence, and this is the bread which will seem common. But there is another, which contains secrets, and discusses the faith of God and the knowledge of things. This bread is pure, and made of fine flour. This is always to be placed in the sight of the Lord, and proposed upon the pure table. This is set apart for the priests alone, and granted to the sons of Aaron as a perpetual gift. Truly, so that you do not think that we narrate these things devised by our own senses, and not observed in the divine volumes, I shall show you from the Scriptures how the diversity of bread according to the merit of each individual is preserved among different men. It is reported in Genesis (Gen. XVIII) that the patriarch Abraham received angels in hospitality, and similarly also Lot. But Abraham, who excelled in merits, is described as having placed before them loaves of fine flour, which he also named *enkryphias* (ἐγκρυφίας), that is, hidden and recondite. But Lot, because he did not have fine flour, placed before his guests loaves of flour ^C, not because he was so poor that he did not have (6) fine flour—he who is written as not inferior in wealth to his uncle; but the difference in the merits of each is designated by these signs: that for him indeed to whom the mysteries were to be revealed by the Lord, and to whom it was said (Gen. XVIII, 17): "I shall not hide from my servant Abraham what I am about to do," who was to be instructed and taught concerning the hidden and secret things of God, he is written to have had loaves of fine flour; but he to whom nothing of the sacrament was brought, but the account of present salvation and life, is written to have had loaves prepared from common flour only. And so, if you have the knowledge of secrets, if you can knowingly and cautiously discuss the faith of God, concerning the mystery of Christ, and the unity of the Holy Spirit, you offer loaves of fine flour to the Lord. But if you use common admonitions to the people, and know only how to treat the moral locus that pertains to all, know that you have offered common bread.

4. But let us see now what is the composition of these loaves of proposition, which are always commanded to be placed before the Lord. Of two-tenths, he says (Lev. XXIV, 5), let there be one loaf. He said two-tenths, indeed, but he did not comprehend the measure of what these tenths are; when it would have been a consequence, if he wished to be known from the quantity of fine flour, to name the measure of which he was commanding two-tenths to be taken. What then is this thing, whose measure and mode [+] cannot be comprehended nor numbered? The number ten is everywhere found to be perfect. For the reason and origin of the whole number arises from it. Appropriately, therefore, the author and origin of all things, God, seems to be shown under this number. But if I speak in the Church of the Father alone, and bring forth His praises alone, I have made a loaf of one-tenth. Or if I have spoken of Christ alone, and declared His passion and resurrection, I have offered a loaf of one-tenth. But if I say (John XIV, 7) that the Father is always with the Son, and He Himself does His works: or even if I say that the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, and that he who sees the Son sees also the Father, and that the Father and the Son are one: I have offered from the two-tenths of fine flour one loaf, the true Bread which gives life to this world. Heretics do not make one loaf from two-tenths; ^D for they deny that the Creator God is the Father of Christ, nor do they make the Old and New Testament one loaf, nor do they profess one Spirit in either instrument. We, however, say that one and the same Holy Spirit is in the Law and the Gospels, and in this way also we offer from two-tenths one loaf of proposition. Therefore, those who separate Christ from His Creator God the Father are heretics.

^A And the Jews who receive only the Father, and do not receive the Word and His wisdom, Christ, do not make one loaf from two-tenths. We, however, although we cannot comprehend or find the name or the reason of His measure—that is, of His substance—nevertheless, because we confess the Father and the Son, we make one loaf from two-tenths: not so that one loaf is made from one tenth and another from the other, so that those two tenths remain separate, but so that those two tenths are one mass and one loaf. How does two-tenths become one mass? Because I do not separate the Son from the Father, nor the Father from the Son; for "He who has seen me," He says, "has seen the Father" (John xiv, 9). Therefore, the loaves are made individually from two-tenths, and are set forth in two positions, that is, in two orders. For if there were one position, the discourse about the Father and the Son would be confused and commingled. But now, it is indeed one loaf, for there is one will and one substance; yet there are two positions, that is, two properties of the persons. For we speak of that Father, who is not the Son, and of this Son, who is not the Father. And in this way, we preserve the two-tenths in one loaf, and we profess two positions before the Lord. But in truth, it belongs to a great baker, so to speak, and a learned craftsman, to observe these measures very diligently, and to temper the discourse about the Father and the Son in such a way, joining them where it is appropriate, and again separating them where it is fitting, so that the two measures never go missing, nor does there ever appear anything but one loaf. ^B Therefore, twelve loaves are commanded to be made from this fine flour according to the number of the tribes that were then the carnal Israel. In which it seems to me that the form of the entire rational creation is contained. For twelve are thought to be the general orders of the rational creation, the figure of which was in those twelve tribes. In which there was one certain royal order, which is named Judah. Another was the priestly order, and it is called Levi. There was also another order neighboring to Judah, which is called Benjamin, in which order both the temple of God and the altar were placed. Another order is Issachar, and Zabulon, and Ephrem, and others whom Divine Scripture names, the reason for which it is not the time now to explain. Yet there is a bread for each tribe, or order, before the Lord. And although there may be some tribe which does not descend from the free woman, but from the concubine of Israel, and is in part free and in part servile, nevertheless for all of them, the bread is set forth before the Lord from two-tenths, and in all of them the two-tenths of fine flour consist. Moreover, they are commanded to be set forth upon a clean table. But who among us is there who has such a clean table that loaves may be offered to the Lord upon it? "If you sit," says Solomon (Prov. xxiii, 1), "to dine at the table of a powerful man, understand intelligibly what is set before you." What is the table of the powerful man, if not the mind of Him who said (Phil. iv, 13): "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me," and (II Cor. xii, 10): "When I am weak, then I am strong"? On the clean table of this powerful one—that is, in his heart, in his mind itself—the bread is offered to the Lord. If you sit to dine at the table of this powerful Apostle, understand intelligibly what is set before you, that is, spiritually attend to what is said by him, so that you too may be able to do what is added. For He says: "Knowing that it behooves you to prepare such things."

5. Let us see how the twelve loaves are proposed: "Two," he says, "positions, in one position six loaves." Do you think this division is idle? What is the reason the twelfth number is again divided into six? For the number six has a certain affinity with this world. For in six days this visible world was made. Therefore, there are two orders held in this world, that is, two peoples, who maintain the faith of the Father and the Son in one Church as if on one clean table. "And there is placed upon it," he says, "upon the position, clean incense." The species of incense holds the form of prayers. It is right, therefore, to join the vigilance and purity of prayers to the loaves of faith. But a pure prayer is, as the Apostle says (I Tim. ii, 8): "Lifting up pure hands without anger and disputation." At the same time, the sweetness of the odor makes that fulfilled which is written (Psal. cxli, 2): "Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight." ^C If anyone, therefore, offered prayers to God, yet did not have a conscience clean from evil works: he indeed seems to place incense upon the loaves, but not completely clean. For if all incense were clean, Scripture would not have added that *clean* incense ought to be placed upon the loaves of proposition before the Lord. Nor should you think that the omnipotent God commanded this, and sanctioned this by law, so that incense might be brought to Him from Arabia. But this is the incense which God seeks to be offered to Him by men, from which He receives the odor of sweetness: prayers from a pure heart and a good conscience, in which God truly receives the fragrance of sweetness. "And they shall be," he says (Levit. xxiv, 7, 8), "the loaves for a memorial of the proposition before the Lord. On the day of the Sabbaths shall you propose them." If it is not yet manifest to you that these loaves are the word of God, be confirmed now by these discourses. For what is it that makes a commemoration of God for us? What is it that recalls us to the memory of righteousness, and of every good thing, if not the word of God? Therefore, it is said that they shall be for a memorial of the proposition before the Lord. He adds also "on the day of the Sabbaths," that is, in the rest of souls. And what greater rest is there for a faithful soul than the memory of God? Than to be in the sight of God? Than in the faith of the Father.

And he shall be clean, as if the aforementioned [sprinkling] were insufficient to account for the cleansing; "and he shall be clean." For even after the sprinkling, his garments remained soiled. These would be a manner of life not entirely poorly woven, since he might otherwise have put them aside. The hairs are the dead growths upon the soul, to which the hairs of Samuel and the Nazirites and the disciples, which are numbered, are contrary. For upon the head of the Nazirites, no iron shall ascend. All that they do shall prosper, such that not even a leaf of those who bring forth fruit shall fall away. Already, he also washes away the defilement from his body with water. But after becoming clean for the third time, he is worthy of the camp. Yet he does not enter into his own house for seven days and until he has shaved again. Just as the second shaving is insufficient, being spoken of more simply, but the second [shaving] has a special significance—the head being cleansed on account of the more principal points of the dogmas, and the beard being put aside after it, representing the sins of the man, and through the eyebrows, all conceit—so too he washes his garments a second time and is bathed a second time, and thus he becomes clean for the fourth time.

^A Since it is seen that there is a diversity in the specific forms and distinctive marks belonging to things, so also in the matter of which we are treating, it must be understood that the present form of the body is the same as the one to come, but with this proviso: that the change into the better will be incredible. For it is necessary that the soul, while clinging to corporeal places, use bodies suited to it. And just as if we were transformed into the nature of aquatic creatures, and it were necessary for us to spend our life in the sea, it would be necessary for us to be endowed with a different constitution of body, similar to that of fish; so too, those who are about to enter into the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven and to dwell in various abodes must also have spiritual bodies—not that the prior form is extinguished, even though it is changed into something more bright and glorious. Just as the appearance of Jesus, of Moses, and of Elijah did not exist in the transfiguration as something other than what it was in the beginning. Let it not, therefore, offend you if anyone should say that the primary underlying matter will not be the same at that time, since the very argument shows—if one is willing to pay attention—that it cannot remain the same even for two days. Moreover, it is worthy of remark that a different body is sown and a different one rises: "It is sown an animal body, it rises a spiritual body." The Apostle adds to all these things that by which he teaches us that we are to put off our earthly quality, in such a way that the form itself remains safe and intact in the resurrection: "But this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption." Perhaps, then, there will be something belonging to the holy one ^B that is held fast, by that which at some time makes the flesh its own; it will no longer be flesh, but that which was once characterized in the flesh will be characterized in the spiritual body. And as for the words of the Scriptures which our brethren bring forward, these things can be said, and first in regard to Ezekiel. For as far as concerns the scope which the simpler sort wish to find in these words, there will not even be a resurrection of flesh at all, but of bones only, and skins, and sinews. But at the same time it must be pointed out to them that they are carried away because they do not understand what is written. For even if bones are named, it is by no means to be understood as these bones [we now have]; just as was the case in the passage: "All my bones are scattered." And, "Heal me, for my bones are troubled," since it is manifest that the name of bones is not being used according to the common acceptation. Therefore, the discourse immediately adds: "Because they say, 'Our bones are become dry'—" Do they therefore say, "Our bones are become dry" because they wish to rise having been gathered together? But this is impossible. They would say, "Our bones are become dry" because they were in captivity and had lost all vital moisture. For they add, "Our hope is lost; we have perished." Consequently, the promise of the resurrection is of the people from their fallen state, and from the sort of death in which they have died by being handed over to their enemies because of their sins. And sinners are said by the Savior to be tombs full of bones and all uncleanness. It is fitting for God to open the graves of each one, and to bring us out of the graves made alive, just as the Savior drew Lazarus out. As for the passage, "There shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth," one must object to them that just as in this life the Creator fashioned every member for some use, so also [He fashioned] the teeth for the shearing of solid food. What use, then, do the punished have for teeth? For they will not, according to them, eat while in Gehenna. And it must be shown that not everything should be taken according to the literal text. For instance: "Thou hast broken the teeth of sinners," and, "The Lord has broken the grinders of the lions."

^A nor is there one mode or simple kind of the future vision; but as the Lord himself taught in the Gospel, when He calls the poor in spirit blessed, and says that the kingdom of heaven is theirs. And again, He calls the meek blessed, yet does not promise them the kingdom of heaven, but the inheritance of the earth. He calls the peacemakers blessed, and yet did not give them the kingdom of heaven, but declares that they are children of God. And although He promises different things to different people, He calls all those blessed who attain to the promises, though He did not promise the kingdom of heaven to all. It may happen, therefore, that someone may be corrected and perfect in other works and actions, yet he may sometimes be caught by a vice of the mouth or a slip of the tongue; if to such a one the kingdom of heaven is denied according to the judgment of the Apostle, yet the place of another beatitude is not cut off. ^B Nevertheless, if a man is perfect in other respects, he ought to labor all the more in this also, lest the vice of an evil habit, creeping upon him, rob him of the kingdom of heaven, which is the summit of all beatitudes, even though the Lord has said: "In my Father's house there are many mansions." We can further add this, that the nature of sin is like the matter which is consumed by fire, which the Apostle Paul says is built by sinners who build upon the foundation of Christ wood, hay, and stubble. In which it is manifestly shown that there are certain sins so light that they are compared to stubble, to which the fire brought upon it cannot long linger. Others, however, are like hay, which the fire does not consume with difficulty, but lingers upon it somewhat longer than it does upon stubble. Others are like wood, in which, according to the quality of the crimes, the fire finds a long-lasting and great fuel. So, therefore, every sin, according to its quality or quantity, pays a just penalty. But what need is there for the faithful, and for those who have known God, to think about the qualities of punishments? What need is there to place wood, or hay, or even stubble upon the foundation of Christ? Why do we not rather place gold, or silver, or precious stones upon the precious foundation, where, when the fire arrives, it finds nothing to consume? For if it reaches the stubble, it will return the stubble to ashes and embers. But if it reaches the gold, it will return it purer. Let these things be said by us for the sake of those who neglect to restrain the habit of an abusive mouth: who, even if they do not curse from the heart, and even if they do not utter curses with an evil will and intent, nevertheless incur the uncleanness of the lips according to the word of Isaiah, and the defilements of the mouth. Yet that man who, although born of an Israelite mother, was nevertheless fathered by an Egyptian, went out and in naming the Name cursed. Concerning whom I think that if he had not gone out, he would neither have contended against a true Israelite, nor, in naming the Name, have cursed. ^A For he went out from the truth, he went out from the fear of God, from faith, from charity, just as we said above, how by these things one goes out from the camp of the Church, even if he is not in the least cast out by the voice of the bishop. Just as, on the contrary, it sometimes happens that someone is driven away and cast out by an unjust judgment of those who preside over the Church. But he himself has not gone out beforehand—that is, if he has not acted in such a way as to deserve to go out—nothing is harmed in him because he appears to be cast out by men through an unjust judgment. And thus it happens that sometimes he who is cast out is within, and he who appears to be retained within is outside. Shall I show you another who is said to have gone out, although cast out by no one? It is written of Cain: "For he went out from the face of God." Whither did he go out from the face of God? For where was the face of God not? But he is said to have gone out because he departed from the law of nature, and was the first to infect the earth, ignorant of such a crime, with fraternal blood. Yet there are also those who go out well, and they are blessed who go out. I shall also show this from the Scriptures. It is written in Exodus: "All," he says, "who sought the name of the Lord went out to Moses outside the camp." These went out well outside the camp, who followed Moses, that is, the law of God. And it is said of others: "Go out, my people, from the midst of them, and do not touch the unclean." ^C He went out, therefore, he says, the son of the Israelite woman, and this was the son of an Egyptian, among the children of Israel, and they contended in the camp; he who was... how great is the caution of the divine Scriptures, if you attend to it, if you look diligently: he who was born of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father, he did not call a man; but him who was an Israelite from both parents he called a man. Do we think these things were written by chance? Do we think it was added by chance that the one was not called a man, and the other was called a man? These are not accidental; there is a reason. For nothing is written in the words of God without a deep reason. For he who was part Egyptian and part Israelite did not yet merit to be called a man. But he who was entirely an Israelite, that is, he who saw God with his mind, he is called a man—that interior man who was made to the image of God and is able to see God. ^D 4. After these things, those which are related in the following are not without a certain question, about which many who were seeking could not explain much. But if you will aid me with your prayers, we will also attempt to bring forth what the Lord may grant. "A man," he says, "if he curses God, shall receive sin. But he who names the name of the Lord, let him die the death." What is this? Does he who curses God not have the penalty of death, but he who names the name of the Lord? Is it not much graver to curse God than to name Him, even if it is said that he named Him in vain? And how is it that he who curses, sin...

^A they have stood together and assembled as one, in appearance indeed moving wars against Christ alone, but in such wise that what they did was reckoned to them as if they had attacked the Father Himself. Wherefore it is said that they did these things "against the Lord and against His Christ."

It is worth the effort to know what is expressed in Greek by the word "Lord" (Κύριος), but among the Hebrews by the word "Adonai." For God is called by ten names among the Hebrews, one of which is "Adonai," which is interpreted "Lord." And as often as "Adonai" is said among the Hebrews, so often among the Greeks is "Lord" found, the wording of the Scripture signifying this. But when "Jae" occurs, it is expressed in Greek by the appellation "Lord," but not so among the Hebrews, as in that: "Praise the Lord, for the psalm is good." For "Lord" is said in this place for "Jae," and the beginning of the psalm among the Hebrews is "Alleluia." There is also among them an ineffable name, the tetragrammaton, that is, consisting of four letters, inscribed on the gold plate of the high priest, and it is pronounced by the word "Adonai," although this is not written in the tetragrammaton; among the Greeks, however, it is expressed by the word "Lord." And in the more accurate copies, this name is written in Hebrew letters—in ancient Hebrew, that is, not modern ones. For they relate that Ezra, in the captivity, handed down other characters to them in place of the former ones. We have mentioned these things because the tetragrammaton, which is "Lord," lies in this: "But in the law of the Lord," and in this: "For the Lord knows the way of the just," and now: "Against the Lord and against His Christ."

It must be observed that the Septuagint and Theodotion express all things in the past tense; Aquila, however, at times in the past, at times in the future; Symmachus, meanwhile, puts everything in the present tense. For it is the custom of the Septuagint very often to announce those things which were predicted ^B about Christ as if they had already happened, as in that: "They gave gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. They divided my garments among themselves, and upon my vesture they cast lots." And: "A people whom I knew not, served me; at the hearing of the ear they obeyed me." We think, however, that they—because God knows all things before they come to pass—spoke of Christ, and the things that were to happen in His incarnation, in such a way that they were considered as having already occurred to Him who was about to suffer these things. In like manner also, if the Holy Spirit recounted anything about Him, He brings it forward as if present. We do not say this as if the things predicted about Him are never expressed in the future tense: "Behold," He says, "My servant shall understand, and shall be glorified, and shall be exalted exceedingly," etc.

Vers. 3. Let us break their bonds asunder, etc.

It seems to me that the angels, who descended together with the Savior ^C

^A to be recovered, no power is granted. "For it shall be," he says, "the house of the purchaser itself a certain possession, if he who sold it shall not have been able to free it within a year." The second law is that if the house which was sold shall be in a village that does not have a wall, but to which a field is nevertheless adjacent, it is permitted to the seller, both after a year and whenever he shall be able, to restore the price and to recover the house which he had sold. The third law is that if by chance the house should be of a Levite or a priest, wherever such a house may be, whether in a walled city or in a village which has no wall, it is permitted always and at every time, that whenever the Levite or priest shall be able, he may redeem his house; and divine laws do not permit a priestly or Levitical possession ever to be confirmed to another who is not of the same order. These, therefore, are the laws which that former people used, even according to this very thing which is indicated through the history, quite religiously and piously looking out for the priestly or Levitical orders.

2. But let us refer these things more quickly to ourselves, whom the law of Christ, if we follow it, does not allow to have possessions on earth, nor houses in cities. And what do I say about houses? It does not allow us to possess many tunics, nor much money: "Having, therefore," he says, "food and raiment, let us be content with these." How, then, shall we observe the laws given concerning houses, whether placed inside a walled city or in villages which have no walls? We find in other places of Scripture that the divine word names a house by a greater mystery, as when it speaks about Jacob, and sets it forth as if for his praise: "For Jacob," he says, "was a simple man, living in a house." And again I find written about the midwives of the Hebrews: "And because," he says, "the midwives feared God, they made for themselves houses." We see, therefore, that with the midwives, the cause of the houses being made was the ^B fear of God; but to Jacob, simplicity and innocence gave the cause, so that he dwelt in a house. Finally, concerning Esau, because he was bad, it is not written of him that he dwelled in a house, nor of any other person is it written that he built himself a house, who has not had the fear of God. What, therefore, is this house, and what kind of building is it, Paul explains more clearly when he says: "We have a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." This, therefore, is the house which no one can build unless he fears God. This is the house which no one can construct, or dwell in, except in simplicity of mind and purity of heart. But since it is wont to happen that even he who has built well, and has constructed for himself a heavenly house by doing well and living well and believing rightly, incurs the debt of some sin, and is forced to sell this to a most cruel usurer, and to transfer his labors to another, the piety and clemency of the legislator comes to his aid, so that within a certain time it may be redeemed. "If, however," he says, "he shall have found, your hand has the price which you may restore." What price? Without doubt, one gathered from the tears of penitence, and found by hands, that is, by the labor of a good work. But this year can be understood to be that which the Lord came to call, the acceptable year, in which he may send away the broken into remission, and offer salvation to those confessing their sins. But what he says about a house in a walled city: rightly, as I think, the house which is said to be in heaven is understood to be in a walled city. ^C For the wall for houses of this kind is the very firmament of heaven. But rare is the person who can have such a house; perhaps those who, walking upon the earth, have their conversation in the heavens, and of whom the Apostle says: "You are the building of God." But the others, who have houses in villages where there is no wall, yet for whom there is an adjacent fertile field, those perhaps are they who prepare for themselves a dwelling place in the land of the living, and in that land which the Lord promises to the meek, saying: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth by inheritance." Therefore, for these houses, if by chance a fall should happen to anyone, as we have explained above, there is always the power of recovering them, so that, for example, we may say, if some mortal fault (26) finds us, which is not in a mortal crime, not in the blasphemy of the faith, which we frequently incur against the wall of ecclesiastical and apostolic ^D dogmas, it always receives penitence, and is redeemed without intermission. But truly, who, having been versed even a little in the reading of the Fathers, could bring himself to believe that in the third century of the Church there was so easy a remission of lethal sins? And that in the other place of Grineus, there was a place given to this reading, "if some moral fault finds us," etc. But although the correction of Arnauld is very pleasing to me, yet many things deter me from following it: 1st, It rests on no authority of the manuscripts. If such a reading existed, I would more gladly embrace it than the four which I have consulted; the manuscript codices—one Beccensis, another Gemeticensis, the third Cadomensis, the fourth Sangermanensis, which is quite recent—exhibit the words: "If some fault is found, not in a mortal crime." There, neither a moral nor a mortal fault is opposed to a mortal crime. But such a reading carries the mark of suspicion upon itself, even though from four manuscripts.

^A of future things, not by which the faults of the saints were to be argued, but by which it was to be shown that sinners and the impious were to be cut off from the portion and society of the saints. Never, therefore, is the priestly possession separated from the priest; even if for a time it had been taken away, even if it had been sold off, it is always redeemed, always repaired, as if one were to say: "Charity, which is perfect, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things; charity never fails." So, therefore, the possession and house of the saints never fails, is never taken away, is never separated from their right. How can the house be separated from the priests which is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, in which the cornerstone itself is Jesus Christ?

But that this house can sometimes be sold off—that is, that such an edifice can fall into sin—hear how the apostle Paul speaks regarding such matters: "As a wise architect," he says, "I have laid the foundation, but another builds upon it; each one, however, must see how he builds. For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Christ Jesus. But if anyone builds upon this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw." You see, therefore, that you are able to build upon the foundation of Christ wood, hay, and straw—that is, the works of sin. He who builds ^B in this way has, without doubt, sold his house to the worst buyer, the devil, from whom every person who sins receives the price of sin, namely, the satisfaction of his own desire.

If by chance anyone has fallen into this, which God forbid, let them quickly redeem it, let them quickly repair it while there is time for repairing, while there is room for repentance, praying in common that we may not be defrauded of the habitation of the eternal house, but may be deemed worthy to be received into the eternal tabernacles, through Christ our Lord, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. ^C

HOMILY XVI. On the blessings of Leviticus.

1. In bodily struggles, certain grades and differences are accustomed to be observed for each individual, so that according to the quality of the contests, each one may be rewarded with the prize of victory. For example, if ^D a particle of this kind had been added by a Scot who was ignorant of the discipline of the ancient Church, by which repentance was granted only once to those guilty of deadly sins, and he attempted to recall this passage of Origen to the common opinion of the scholastics of his own time by adding a few words. Furthermore, that those who once, after having performed penance, fell into the same or similar shameful acts, were thereafter rejected from all penance, whether public or private, is abundantly demonstrated by Morinus in book V, chapter 27, and Petavius in his Annotations on Epiphanius, Heresy LIX.

^A As to which boy might have a contest, or which youth, or which man, and what rule of observation ought to be kept for each order—what is allowed to be done and what is not, and further, what reward the victor deserves after these struggles—this is no less provided for by the laws of the contest. So too now, Almighty God, setting before mortals the contest of the observance of His law in this world, after He had delivered many things to be observed, and had written down what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, has properly at the very end of the Book of Leviticus, in which a decision is made concerning each and every observance, announced what reward he who has fulfilled them shall receive, and what punishment he who has not observed them shall undergo. But if the Law, according to what the Jews desire and those who think the Scriptures should be understood according to their sense, is not spiritual but carnal, there is no doubt that, when observed carnally, it also imparts carnal blessings to those who observe it. But if, as it seems to the Apostle Paul, the Law is spiritual, it must without doubt be observed spiritually, and a spiritual reward of blessings is to be expected from it. For it is of the whole coherence that the spiritual Law should give spiritual blessings, and it is by the same coherence, nevertheless, that the curses and condemnations of the spiritual Law are not physical. But so that what we say may be beyond doubt, let us use the voice of the Apostle Paul himself, who, writing to the Ephesians about spiritual blessings, pronounces in this way: "Blessed," he says, "be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." Because he knew that some reading about blessings might lapse into thinking them physical and earthly, he wished to open to them more clearly what the nature of divine blessings is, or where they are to be sought, and therefore he says: "Who has blessed us in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." But even this which he added, "in every spiritual blessing," is not idle, but full of apostolic vehemence. For because he knew that there were many things to be fulfilled which are commanded in the Law, and that in each commandment there exist proper struggles, in which he who conquered would deserve a blessing for each, he therefore said: "Who has blessed us in every spiritual blessing," so as to show both that they are many and that they are spiritual. ^B It can be understood, however, in this statement where he says "in every spiritual blessing," that, for example, each just and perfect man might receive the blessings of Leviticus, of which the discourse now speaks; he might also receive those which are written in the Book of Numbers, but also those which are contained in the Book of Genesis: the blessings of Noah toward Sem and Japhet, and the blessings of Isaac toward Jacob, and likewise Jacob's blessings toward Joseph and Ephrem and Manasseh, and after these, toward the twelve patriarchs. Since, therefore, there are many blessings placed in the divine Scriptures, which indeed seem to be directed to each of the saints—for example, to Sem, or Japhet, or Joseph—yet not, as it seems to some, so that they are directed to them alone, nor in such a way that another from among them cannot participate in them: for this reason the Apostle called them spiritual, so that whoever can be made such in virtue and spirit—for example, Sem, or Japhet, or Joseph, or Isaac, or Jacob, just as John also was in the spirit and virtue of Elias—can himself also become a participant in that blessing, the virtue and spirit of which he has borne.

2. But let us see now what is the beginning of the blessings in Leviticus. "If," he says, "you walk in my precepts and keep my commandments and do them." There are three things he says: one must walk in the precepts, one must keep the commandments, and one must do the things that are commanded. Whence it seems to me that the precept is, for example, when it is commanded that he who has not kept the Sabbath should be stoned by the whole synagogue, or that he who has cursed the Lord should be put to death with stones, and whatever things are commanded of this kind. The commandments, however, are those by which one is ordered, for example, that tithes be offered to the Levites, or to appear before the Lord three times a year, or not to appear empty in the sight of the Lord. Therefore, to keep a commandment is to understand or heed what is commanded. To do a commandment, however, is to fulfill what is commanded. Thus, therefore, I think it is to be understood what he said: "If you walk in my precepts, and keep my commandments, and do them." But let us see what is the first blessing for those who have fulfilled the things that are commanded. "I will give," he says, "rain to you in its time." Therefore, let us speak first to the Jews, and to those who think that these things are to be understood simply or carnally: if this rain is given as a reward for labors to those who keep the commandments, how is it that to those who do not keep the commandments the same rain is also given at its proper times, and the whole world uses the common rains given by God? "For He rains upon the just and unjust." But if rain is given to the just and unjust, it will not be an exceptional reward for those who have kept the commandments. See, therefore, that even if the Jews do not acquiesce to the words of our Lord Jesus, you, however, who are distinguished by his name and called a Christian, ought to believe him when he says that his heavenly Father rains this common rain upon the just and unjust; and you ought not to think that he has separated an exceptional portion for the just which he has also made common with the unjust. Let us seek, therefore, in the Scriptures what is the rain that is given only to the saints, and concerning which it is commanded to the clouds not to rain this rain upon the unjust. What, therefore, is this rain? Let Moses himself, the legislator of these things, instruct us. For he himself says in Deuteronomy: "Attend, O heaven, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words from my mouth; let my eloquence be expected as the rain." Are these my words? Do we violently twist the sense of the divine Law with rhetorical arguments? Is it not Moses who says that what he speaks is rain? "Let it be expected," he says, "as the rain, my eloquence, and let my words descend as the dew."

as rain upon the grass, and as snow upon the fleece. ^A Attend diligently, listener, lest you think we are forcing the sense of Divine Scripture when, in teaching the Church, we say that waters, or rains, or other things which seem to be spoken of corporally, must be understood spiritually. Hear how Moses now calls the word of the Law rain, now calls it dew, now rain, and now even tells of its coming. And just as Moses speaks of various and diverse things as if speaking from the grace of the multiform wisdom of God, so too does Isaiah when he says: Hear, O heaven, and perceive with your ears, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. But every one of the prophets, when he has opened his mouth, draws down rain upon the face of the earth, that is, upon the ears and hearts of the listeners. Knowing this, the apostle Paul said: For the earth which drinks often the rain that comes upon it, and brings forth ^B herb useful to them by whom it is cultivated, receives blessings from God; but that which has brought forth thorns and thistles is reprobate, and near to a curse, whose end is to be burned. Did the Apostle say this regarding this earth? But this earth does not receive blessings from God by drinking the rains and producing fruit. Nor, if it brought forth thorns and thistles after the rain, would it incur a curse from God. But our earth—that is, our heart—if it receives the rain of the doctrine of the Law that frequently comes upon it, and brings forth the fruit of works, receives blessings from God. If, however, it has not spiritual work, but thorns and thistles—that is, the cares of the world, and pleasures, and the desires of riches—it is reprobate and near to a curse, whose end will be for burning. Therefore, every one of the listeners, when he gathers to listen, receives the rain of the word of God; and if indeed he brings forth the fruit of good work, he will obtain a blessing. But if he has despised the received word of God, and has neglected what he has frequently heard, and has subjected himself to the care of worldly things and to lust, as one who has throttled the word with thorns, he seeks for himself a curse instead of a blessing, and in place of the end of beatitude, he will find the end of burning.

I will therefore give, he says, rain in its time, and the earth shall give its increase. After the first blessing of the rain, this is the second, whereby it is said that the earth, having received the rain, gives its increase. We find that Isaac also, in blessing Jacob, said: May the Lord give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, the fullness of grain and wine. Do you think that Isaac was giving such grain in his blessing to his son Jacob as sinful men possess, ^C and as even the impious Pharaoh abounded in? Was this the blessing of such a great patriarch? Do you wish that I should yet show you how even the wicked have a multitude of grain? Look at him in the Gospel, whose field brought forth much fruit, who said: I will destroy my barns, and I will build larger ones, and I will say to my soul: Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; eat, drink, be merry. Do we believe, then, that such are the goods which were handed down by divine blessings to every holy and faithful person? I see, therefore, other fruits of the earth, and I consider the multitude of its increase in a different way. For if my earth brings forth fruit, if it produces its increase from the Lord’s blessing, my sense shall understand, and will be able to explain, what and of what kind that earth is which, having received the heavenly rain, brings forth the harvest of rational fruits. Take the testimony from the Gospels ^D of how he went out who sows to sow, and some indeed fell by the wayside, and another upon rock, and another upon thorns, but another upon good earth. If, therefore, those things which fell upon the good earth brought forth fruit, the earth gave its fruit and produced its increase, a hundredfold, and sixtyfold, and thirtyfold.

^A And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. I believe that the blessed David was thinking of this when he said: “But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God.” By which he manifestly shows that the olive tree is called a just and holy man. ^B We have also within ourselves trees of the field that produce their fruit. What are these trees of the field that produce their fruit? What are these trees of the field? Perhaps the hearer will say: “What is this word-finder doing here again? Why does he search for words from everywhere to escape the explanation of the Scripture passage? How will he teach that there are trees and woods within us?” If you do not disparage rashly, you will hear even now: “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, nor an evil tree bring forth good fruit.” Therefore, we have trees within us, both good and evil; and those that are good cannot bring forth evil fruits, just as those that are evil will not bring forth good fruits. Do you wish me to explain to you the names and titles of those very trees that are within us? It is not a fig tree, nor an apple tree, nor a vine, but one is called the tree of justice, another is named prudence, another fortitude, another temperance. And if you wish, learn of the even greater multitude of trees, for which the paradise of God might perhaps be considered more worthily planted. For there is the tree of piety, and another tree of wisdom, and another of discipline, and another of the knowledge of good and evil. Above all, however, is the tree of life. Does it not seem to you that the heavenly Father, the husbandman, cultivates such trees in your soul, and establishes such plants in your mind? Thus, therefore, the Savior says: “An evil tree cannot bring forth good fruits, neither can a good tree bring forth evil fruits.” This is what he teaches: the tree of modesty is good, it cannot bring forth the fruits of immodesty. The tree of justice is good, and it cannot bring forth the fruits of injustice. Thus, on the contrary, if you have the root of an evil tree planted in your mind, it cannot render good fruits. For if the root of malice be in you, it will not give good fruits. If the plant of folly be within your heart, it will never bring forth the flower of wisdom. If it be a tree of injustice or iniquity, such woods can never enjoy good fruits. If, therefore, we keep the commandments of God, having received the rain of the word of God, of which we spoke above, even the trees that are planted in the fields of our soul and the vastness of our hearts will bring forth joyful fruit of good sweetness. Do you wish me to show you from the Scriptures that these individual virtues, which we remembered above, are called trees or woods? I bring forward the most wise Solomon as a witness, saying of wisdom: “It is a tree of life,” he says, “to all who embrace it.” If, therefore, wisdom is a tree of life, there is without doubt also another tree of prudence, and another of knowledge, and another of justice. For it is not consistently said that out of all the virtues only wisdom has earned the right to be called a tree of life, while the other virtues have in no way attained a similar lot.

^C If the good seed has been sown in the soul, and if, having received the rain from God, it has grown and come to the ear, the harvest will necessarily follow: and if there is a harvest, the threshing will also follow, in which the grains are purified. For since the soul that germinates brings forth a sprout to harvest, watered by the word of God and heavenly rain, it is necessary that this very harvest which it produces be purified on the threshing floor; that is, that the thoughts which the soul has generated be brought into the middle, and be compared either with other teachers or even with the divine volumes themselves, which it studies, so that if there be anything in them that is empty and superfluous, anything like chaff or beards, it may be shaken out by the spirit of discretion blowing upon it, and the pure grain remain, by which alone it may be able to nourish its fellow servants and dispense the measure of wheat in due time. “And the threshing,” he says, “shall reach unto the vintage.” Because bread, as the Scripture says, strengthens the heart of man, and wine gladdens it, whatever is said concerning continence, and the observances, and the keeping of the commandments of God, these can be seen as the wheat from which bread is made, and which comforts the hearts of the hearers. But those things which pertain to knowledge, and which gladden the minds of the hearers by the explanation of hidden things, will seem best adapted to wine and the vintage. For gladness is attributed to the heart when those things which are hidden and obscure are explained. “And the vintage,” he says, “shall reach unto the sowing.” As if we were to say: First he sowed the things of the law, and after it was sown, I prayed that the Lord would give rain in due time, and the harvest was produced. After these things, I do not remain idle, but I sow again; I take the prophetic Scripture, and from it, I sow the fields and the fallow lands of the hearers. After this, I sow other things from the evangelical discourses. The things that are sown are diverse; we can sow throughout the whole year. For we can cast many seeds also from the apostolic writings. There is always something to be sown; in all our life there is no time for idleness: as long as we breathe, let us sow. It is only required that we sow in the Spirit, so that we may reap eternal life in the Spirit. “And you shall eat your bread in saturation.” I do not accept this as referring to a corporal blessing, as if he who keeps the law of God receives this common bread in abundance. For what then? Do not the impious and the wicked eat bread not only in abundance but even in delights? Let us rather, therefore, look to him who said: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven, and he that eateth…”

this bread shall live forever; and let us observe that he who was speaking these things was the Word by which souls are fed: we understand of what bread it was said in the blessings by God: “And you shall eat your bread in saturation.” Salomon likewise declares the same things in the Proverbs ^A regarding the just man, saying: “The just man eating shall fill his soul: but the souls of the impious shall be in want.” If you take this according to the letter—that “the just man eating fills his soul, but the souls of the impious shall be in want”—it will seem false. For the souls of the impious gather food with avidity and strive for saturation. The just, however, are sometimes hungry. In short, Paul was a just man, and he used to say: “Even to this present hour we hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted.” And again he says: “In hunger and thirst, in many fastings.” And how does Salomon say that “the just man eating satisfies his soul?” But if you consider how the just man ^B always and without intermission eats of the living bread, and fills his soul, and satisfies it with heavenly food, which is the Word of God and his wisdom, you will find how the just man eats his bread in satisfaction by the blessing of God. “And you shall dwell safely upon your land.” The wicked man is never safe, but is always being moved and tossed, and “carried about by every wind of doctrine in the fraud of men to the deception of error.” The just man, however, who keeps the law of God, lives safely upon his land. For his sense is firm, saying to God: “Confirm me, O Lord, in thy words.” Confirmed therefore, 267 and rooted, he lives upon the earth, founded in faith, because his building is not placed upon sand, nor is his root upon rock; but his house is founded upon the earth, ^C while his plant is rooted in the depth of the earth—that is, in the interior of his soul. Rightly, therefore, is it said to such a soul in the blessings: “And you shall dwell safely upon your land, and I will give peace upon the land.” What peace does God give? That which the world has? Christ denies that he gives this. For he says: “My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you; not as this world gives peace, do I give to you.” He denies, therefore, that he gives the peace of the world to his disciples, because also elsewhere he says: “Do you think that I came to send peace upon the earth? I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Do you want to see, therefore, what peace God gives upon our land? If the land be good—that which brings forth fruit a hundredfold, or sixtyfold, or thirtyfold—it will receive from God that ^D peace which the Apostle says: “And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and your senses.”

6. “And you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid.” And Salomon said in the Proverbs: “For if you sit, you shall be without fear; and if you sleep, you shall willingly take your rest, and you shall not fear the terror coming upon you, nor the incursions of the impious coming upon you.” This he said regarding the just and wise man, and these things are said in the blessing: “You shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid.” For if I be made just, no one can terrify me: I fear nothing else, if I fear God: “For the just man,” he says, “is confident as a lion,” and therefore he does not fear the lion the devil, nor the dragon Satan, nor his angels, but says according to David: “I will not fear for the terror of the night, for the arrow that flieth in the day, for the business that walketh about in darkness, for the ruin and the demon of noonday.” He adds also that: “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defender of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” And again: “If camps stand against me, my heart shall not fear.” You see the constancy and virtue of the soul that keeps the commandments of God, and has the confidence of innate liberty. After these things, “I will exterminate,” he says, “the evil beasts from your land.” These corporeal beasts, he says, are not evil, nor good, but a certain middle thing. For they are dumb animals. But those evil beasts are spiritual, which the Apostle calls “spiritual wickedness in the high places.” And that is the evil beast about which the Scripture says: “But the serpent was more subtle than all the beasts which are upon the earth.” Therefore, this is the very evil beast that God promises he will exterminate from our land, if we keep his commandments. Do you want to see also another evil beast? “Your adversary,” he says, “the devil as a roaring lion goes about seeking whom he may devour, whom resist strong in the faith.” But if you wish to learn of yet more beasts, the prophet Isaias will teach you, who under the vision which he entitled of the four-footed beasts in the desert, speaks such things by the prophetic spirit concerning the beasts: “In tribulation,” he says, “and anguish, the lion, and the lion’s whelp; from thence also the offspring of flying asps, who carried their riches upon asses and camels to a nation that will not profit them.” Can these things in any way be seen to be said of corporeal beasts, even by those who are very friendly to the letter? For how can a lion, and a lion’s whelp, or flying asps carry their riches upon camels and asses? But the prophet, filled with the Holy Spirit, clearly enumerates the contrary powers of the worst demons, and that they store up riches.

of their deceptions over sluggish and perverted souls, which he designated by the figure of camels and asses. And that the soul fearing God might not be handed over to these beasts, the prophet David prayed, saying 15: "Do not deliver the soul that confesses to you to the beasts." And, "I will exterminate," he says 16, "the evil beasts from your land, and the battle will not pass through your land." Many are the battles that pass through our land if we do not keep the law of God, nor observe his precepts. Let each one return to his own soul, and let him examine himself by internal recollection, and see how our land—that is, our flesh—is now urged by the spirit of fornication, now by anger and rage, now agitated by the darts of avarice, now struck by the arrows of envy, now pierced by the stings of lust, and in whatever way the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh ^B, it is always agitated by internal wars. But what shall I say of the battles of thoughts, which the enemy suggests to our heart, so that he may strip us of the faith of Christ and the hope of our calling? For when he has stirred up against us the afflictions of temptations and the troubles of this age, he consequently suggests to our thought that it is superfluous and foolish to endure these things for Christ, and that it is much better to lead a life secure and without persecutions. Knowing this, the apostle Paul said 16: "Destroying cogitations, and every height that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ." Whoever, therefore, has kept the divine precepts, and has guarded His mandates, and has done them, does not suffer this battle and these wars, but God takes them away from his land, and does not allow them to pass through the soul of the righteous. "And you will pursue your enemies 17." Which enemies, if not the devil himself and his angels, and the evil spirits, and the unclean demons? We shall pursue them not only so that we may flee from them ourselves, but also from others whom they attack, if we observe the divine precepts. "You will pursue," he says 18, "your enemies, and they will fall before you by death." If God ^C quickly crushes Satan under our feet, the enemies will fall before us by death. By whose death? I think by our own: for if we mortify our members which are upon the earth—fornication, impurity—if we bring this death upon our members, they will fall before us. How will they fall before us? If you are righteous, injustice has fallen before you; if chaste, lust has fallen; if pious, even impiety itself has collapsed before you.

7. "And five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue many thousands 19." Who are these five who are able to pursue a hundred? The number five is placed both in praiseworthy and in culpable contexts. Five are the wise virgins, and five are the foolish 20. Thus, therefore, also the number of the centurion can be understood in both directions. If we are of the five praiseworthy ones, that is, of the five wise ones, we shall pursue a hundred foolish ones. For if we fight wisely and appropriately in the word of God, if we discourse prudently concerning the law of the Lord, we shall confute and put to flight the multitude of the unfaithful. For just as the number five indicates both the wise and the foolish, so also the number one hundred indicates both the faithful and the unfaithful. For even under the number of one hundred years, it is described that Abraham believed God and was justified, and "the sinner who dies at one hundred years will be accursed 21." And here, a hundred unfaithful ones are put to flight by five ^D wise ones, and again a hundred faithful ones, marked not so much by the number hundred as by perfection, will pursue many thousands of unfaithful ones. For the faithful teachers put to flight numberless demons, lest they deceive the souls of the believers with ancient guile. "And your enemies will fall before you by the sword 22." Who the enemies are, we have said above; but let us inquire by what sword they are said to fall. The apostle Paul teaches us what this sword is when he says 23: "For the word of God is living, and effective, and sharper than any two-edged sword, reaching even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints also and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart." This is the sword by whose edge our enemies fall. For it is the word of God that prostrates all enemies, and puts them under His feet, so that the whole world may become subject to God. Do you wish to learn even from another Epistle of Paul that the sword is the word of God? Hear him when he prepares weapons for the soldiers of Christ, how he says 24: "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, through all prayer and supplication," declaring most evidently by these things that by the word of God, which is the two-edged sword, our enemies will fall before us. "And I will look upon you, and will increase you 25." This very thing is full of blessedness, if God should look upon someone. Do you wish to see how great the salvation is, if God looks upon a man? Peter had at one time almost perished, and had been snatched from the devil through the inspiration of the maidservant of the high priest by the consecration of the apostolic number: but when Jesus only looked upon him, when he turned his face of placid countenance toward him, immediately having returned to himself, and recalling his foot from the precipice, "he wept," he says 26, "most bitterly," and thus, having been looked upon by God, he received back his own place which he had lost by denying. "I will look," he says, "therefore, upon you, and I will increase you." Just as if the sun looks upon a crop and brings forth fruits, which in any case if it had not looked upon it, would have remained unfruitful: so God, looking upon the crop of the heart, and illuminating us with the rays of His word,