Homilies on Luke

in Latin, if it pleases you, if I am able, if the Lord grants the opportunity, and once I have finished the work I have already begun, then you will be able to see—or rather, you yourselves will know from the Roman tongue—how much good there is, and how knowledge has now begun. Moreover, the commentaries of the most eloquent Hilary and the blessed martyr Victorinus, which they issued on Matthew in a different tone, but by the grace of the Spirit; I have arranged to send these, so that you may not be ignorant of how much study was given to the Holy Scriptures by our own people as well.

ORIGEN ON LUKE, HOMILIES

TRANSLATED BY ST. JEROME

HOMILY 1.

On the prologue to Luke, up to the place where he says: "To write for you, most excellent Theophilus."

^A As in the former people of the Jews, many claimed to have prophecy, and some were false prophets, while others were truly prophets, and there was grace in the people for the ^B discernment of spirits, from which the true prophet and the false ^B were judged; so too now, in the New Testament, many have "willed" to write Gospels, but "the experienced money-changers" did not approve all of them, but chose ^C certain ones. Perhaps also the word "undertook" contains a hidden accusation of those ^C who approached the writing of the gospels without the gift of the Spirit. For Matthew did not "undertake," but he wrote by the Holy Spirit; likewise also Mark and John, and similarly Luke. Yet those who wrote the gospel inscribed "according to the Egyptians" and the gospel inscribed "of the Twelve" "undertook." And Basilides also dared to write a gospel "according to Basilides." "Many indeed have undertaken": for there is also in circulation the gospel according to Thomas and that according to Matthias and many others. These are the works of those who have "undertaken"; but the Church of God approves only the four.

^A Now Luke, by saying "concerning the things which have been fully fulfilled among us," reveals his own disposition: that he was not in doubt, nor was he guessing, but that he confirmed everything with confidence, as one who knew well. For he was fully persuaded, and he did not waver in anything, whether or not it was so. This is the case with those who believe firmly, and pray, and attain, and say: "Establish me in Thy words." For the Apostle also says of those who are firm: "That you may be rooted and grounded in faith." For nothing convinces as much as the mind and the word; for sight does not convince, since things are not judged by visible signs and wonders, but are judged by the word—which are true and which are false. "The eyewitnesses," he says, "and ministers of the word." In Exodus it is written that "the people saw the voice of the Lord." Yet a voice is not seen, but heard, so that it might be declared paradoxically that the voice of God is seen by those to whom it is seen. But in the Gospel, the voice is not seen, but the Word, who is greater than the voice. For this reason: "As they delivered to us who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word." Therefore, the apostles were "eyewitnesses of the Word," not only having seen Jesus according to the body, but also the Word of God. ^B

^A Likewise, our Lord Jesus Christ exhibited to Himself a glorious Church, not having a spot; not that an ecclesiastical man has never had a spot, but that he may not be spotted anymore; not having a wrinkle, not because the wrinkle of the old man has not at some time been upon him, but because he has ceased to have it. In this way, also, that which follows is to be understood, that it may be holy and immaculate, not that it was immaculate from the beginning (for one cannot even suspect this of a man, that his soul was never spotted), but that it is accounted pure and sincere, having ceased to be spotted hereafter. We have said this, therefore, that we might teach that a man, because he has ceased to sin, can be called "without sin" and "immaculate." Whence it is also written most clearly concerning Zacharias and Elizabeth: They were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord without blame. ^B Let us more diligently contemplate the praises of Zacharias and Elizabeth, which holy Luke writes in his history; not only that we may know they were laudable, but that, taking up holy zeal, we ourselves may be made worthy of praise. He could have written simply, "they were both just," walking in all the commandments; but now it is necessarily added, "just both in the sight of God." For it can indeed happen that someone may be just in the sight of men, but not in the sight of God. For example, when a man has nothing for which someone might speak ill of me, and looking at all things in me finds nothing to detract from, I am just in the sight of men. Imagine all have an equal opinion of me, and seek what they might detract from me, and yet are unable to find anything, but praise me with a harmonious mouth: I am just in the sight of many men; but the judgment of men is not certain. For they do not know whether in the hidden places of my heart I have at some time sinned, whether ^C all those who hear us speaking, if you shall be such that you are beloved by God, you are also Theophili, and the Gospel is written to you. If anyone is a Theophilus, he is "best and strongest"—this, indeed, is signified more clearly in the Greek language by the word *kratistos*. No Theophilus is weak. And as it is written concerning the people of Israel, when they were going out of Egypt, that there was not one feeble among their tribes: so, that I may speak boldly, I will say that everyone who is a Theophilus is robust, having strength made robust by God, as if by His word, that he may be able to know the truth of those words in which he was grounded, understanding the word of the Gospel in Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. ^D

HOMILY II.

^A “They were,” he says, “righteous and walking blamelessly.” It could have been written: “They were righteous in the commandments”; now, however, the addition of “before God” is necessary. For it is possible for someone to be righteous according to appearances before men, but according to the hidden areas of the mind not to be so, harboring and possessing wicked thoughts. For when a person has nothing evil to say about me, but by observing my visible actions praises me, I am righteous “before” men. But men do not know my hidden state, nor when I sinned by looking at a woman in order to lust after her, so that adultery in my heart was laid to my account. Paul indicates something to this effect when he says of some: “Whose praise is not from men, but from God.” For men do not know how to praise worthily, but God alone knows how to praise the praiseworthy worthily and to pass judgment on the blameworthy worthily. ^B It is necessary that “they were righteous before God” be added. Solomon also invokes this, saying: “Provide good things before the Lord and before men.” Let us look, then, at the praise of these blessed ones: “walking,” he says, “in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.”

When we judge well concerning others, we walk “in the ordinances of the Lord,” but when we perform this or that deed, we walk “in the commandments of God.” Perhaps, therefore, Luke, knowing this distinction, granted them this praise, as they lived according to these very things: “walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” Perhaps someone will say: Why is “blameless” added to these? For it would have been sufficient for them “to walk in all the ways of God and [His] ordinances,” were it not the case that it is possible to walk “in all the commandments and ordinances” but not “blamelessly.” How, then, it is asked, is it possible to walk “in all the commandments” but not “blamelessly”? I say to him, therefore, that if this were not so, it would not have been said: “You shall pursue justice justly,” since even that which is good is not good when it is not done properly. Whenever, therefore, we fulfill the commandments in such a way that we have a stain of vainglory or desire to please men or some other such thing in our conscience, even if we appear to be doing the commandment, we are not doing it “blamelessly.” It is a work, therefore, to walk “in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly,” in accordance with the praise that will be rendered by God in the divine tribunal.

^A

It is not only at that time that ways were prepared and paths made straight, but even to this day the spirit and virtue of John precede the advent of the Lord Saviour. O great mysteries of the Lord, and of his dispensation! Angels run before Jesus; angels daily either ascend or descend for the salvation of men, in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY V.

On the fact that Zacharias became dumb. Chap. 1.

Zacharias the priest, when he was offering incense in the temple, is condemned to silence, and is detained, nay, he speaks only by nods, and remains mute ^B until the birth of his son John. To what does this history tend? The silence of Zacharias is the silence of the prophets in the people of Israel. God by no means speaks to them: and the Word, who in the beginning was God with the Father, has passed over to us, and Christ is not silent to us; but among them he is silent to this day; wherefore the prophet Zacharias also was silent. It is most manifestly proved by his own words that he was both a prophet and a priest. What, however, does that which follows mean: *He made signs to them, and was compensating for the loss of his voice with nods?* I think that such are works without speech, which in reason differ nothing from nods. But where reason and speech have preceded, and work has followed in this way, they ought not to be considered mere nods, which are adorned by speech, or reason. If, therefore, you see the way of life of the Jews without reason and speech, so that they cannot render a reason for the things which they do, understand that what then preceded in Zacharias is being fulfilled even until now in his image. ^C Their circumcision is similar to nods. For unless the reason for circumcision be rendered, circumcision is a nod and a vain work. The Passover and other solemnities are nods rather than truth. Even to this day the people of Israel are deaf and ^D are deaf and dumb; for they are beckoned to, as they are not able to be given a word concerning what they do; behold the type of those things which happened to Zacharias, who remained dumb and kept making signs to them. For the people are now dumb and speechless. For how was it not fated that they should be speechless and dumb, having cast the Word out from themselves, and not being able to render a reason for any legal or prophetic word? According to the theory, the silence of the prophets is in the ancient people of God. For God no longer speaks to them, but the Word that was in the beginning has passed to us, and does not remain silent with us, but has grown silent among them. Therefore the prophet Zacharias is silent. Moreover, that he would make signs, remaining mute, signifies that works without speech differ nothing from nods; but those works which are joined with speech are not nods: for they are adorned by speech. When, therefore, you see the instruction of the Jews stripped of speech, so that they cannot render a reason for the things they do, consider the type of those things that happened to Zacharias, remaining mute and making signs to them. For this people is now mute and devoid of speech. For he who was not to be stripped of speech and language, after he cast the Word from himself, how can he render a reason for any legal or prophetic word

For the people indeed do not know that the Savior is now performing "signs and wonders," but John, while still in his mother’s womb, leaps when the mother of Jesus has come. "For behold," she says, "as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy." John, therefore, had the Holy Spirit while he was still in his mother’s womb. He is indeed said to have "turned many." John "turned many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God," according to the voice of the angel, but our Lord Jesus Christ enlightened all to the knowledge of the truth. For this is His work: "and he shall turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God." For he does not say "in the soul of Elijah"—for there is no transmigration of souls—but "in the spirit and power of Elijah." For there was a spirit and power upon Elijah, or rather a spiritual gift, just as there was upon each of the prophets. The spirit, therefore, which was in Elijah, has come to be in John. The former was taken up, but the latter became the forerunner of the Savior. He died before the Savior, in order that, having become the forerunner of the Savior even to those in Hades, he might preach the descent of Jesus Christ.

^A Zechariah the priest, the minister of God who offered the sacrifices, is condemned to silence; he is silent, and being silent, he could only make signs, and he remained dumb until the birth of John. What, then, is the meaning of this? The silence of Zechariah is the silence of the prophets in the ancient people of God. For God no longer speaks to them, but "the Word who was in the beginning—the Word who was with God, the Word who was God"—has moved over to us, and among us he is not silent, but among them he has been silenced. For this reason the prophet Zechariah is silent; for he is also said to have been a prophet. And what of this: "and he made signs to them"? To "make signs" while remaining dumb is like this: actions without the Word do not differ from mere gesticulations, but actions accompanied by the Word are not signs; for they are ordered by the Word. If, therefore, you see the way of life of the Jews to be irrational, such that they are unable to give an account for what they do, look to the type that occurred in the case of Zechariah, who remained dumb and made signs to them. According to this, their circumcision is mere gesticulations without the Word, as are their Passover and their prayers.

HOMILY VII

^Aabsent, and grants the participation of His strength to this our assembly and gathering. That we may all merit to receive this, let us beseech the Lord God, to whom be glory and empire unto the ages of ages. Amen.

On that which is written: *“And Mary arising in those days, went with haste into the hill country,”* up to the place where it says: *“There shall be a completion of those things which were told.”* Chapter 1.

Those who are better come to those who are worse, so that by their coming they may confer some benefit upon them. Thus also the Savior came to John, that He might sanctify his baptism. And Mary, as soon as she heard the angel announcing that she would conceive the Savior and that her kinswoman Elisabeth had one in her womb, arising with haste, went into the hill country and entered the house of Elisabeth. Jesus, however, who was in her womb, was eager, while still in the mother’s belly, to sanctify the John who was placed there. Finally, before Mary arrived and saluted Elisabeth, the infant did not leap in the womb; but as soon as Mary spoke the word, which the Son of God had prompted in the mother’s belly, the infant leaped in joy, and then for the first time Jesus made His forerunner a prophet. It was also fitting that Mary, with the most worthy offspring of God, after the discourse of God, should ascend to the mountains and dwell in more sublime things. Wherefore it is written: *“And Mary arising in those days, went into the hill country.”* She ought also, when she was concerned—not sluggish—to hasten with solicitude, and, filled with the Holy Spirit, be led to more sublime things, and be protected by the power of God, by whom she had been overshadowed. She came, therefore, into the city of Judah, and into the house of Zechariah, and saluted Elisabeth. It happened when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. There is no doubt, therefore, that she who was then filled with the Holy Spirit was filled on account of the Son. For the mother did not merit the Holy Spirit first; but when John, still enclosed in the womb, had received the Holy Spirit, ^B then she, after the sanctification of the son, was filled with the Holy Spirit. You can believe this if you also acknowledge a similar thing regarding the Savior. [940/1818] Blessed Mary is found to prophesy, as we find in some copies, though we are not ignorant that according to other codices these words are prophesied by Elisabeth. Mary, therefore, was then filled with the Holy Spirit when she began to have the Savior in her womb. For as soon as she received the Holy Spirit, the Creator of the Lord’s body, and the Son of God began to be in the womb, she herself also was completed with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the infant in the womb of Elisabeth leaped, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she cried out with a loud voice and said:

*“Blessed art thou among women.”* We ought in this place, lest any simple folk be deceived, to refute the things which heretics are wont to oppose. For someone or other, I know not who, broke forth into such insanity as to assert that Mary was denied by the Savior, because after His birth she was joined to Joseph. Let him who spoke know with what mind he said it. If, therefore, heretics ever cast such a thing at you, answer them and say: “Certainly, Elisabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, says: *‘Blessed art thou among women.’* If Mary is called blessed by the Holy Spirit, how has the Savior denied her? Moreover, that they assert she was married after the birth, they have no proof. For these children, who were called of Joseph, were not born of Mary, nor is there any Scripture that commemorates these things. *‘Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?’* When she says: *‘Whence is this to me?’* she does not speak in ignorance; and especially being filled with the Holy Spirit, as if she knew not that the Mother of the Lord came to her according to the will of God. But she speaks in this sense: ‘What good have I done? What are my works so great, that the Mother of the Lord should come to me? Through what justice, from what good deeds, from what fidelity of mind have I merited this, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped in exultation.’ Holy was the soul of blessed John, and ^C still closed in the mother’s womb, and about to come into the world, he knew through a sense of experience what Israel was ignorant of. Whence he leaped forth, and not simply leaped, but in joy. For he had sensed the arrival of his Lord, that He might sanctify His servant before he proceeded from the mother’s womb. Would that it happened to me, that I should be called a fool by the infidels, who have believed such things. The work itself and the truth show that I have believed not to folly, but to wisdom; and that this which is thought to be foolish among them, may be to me an occasion of salvation. For if the birth of the Savior had not been heavenly and blessed, and if it had not had something divine, and that which transcended the humanity of men, the doctrine of His would never have penetrated the whole world. If He had been merely in Mary’s womb, and not the Son of God, how could it happen ^D that both at that time and now, not only the diseases of bodies but also those of souls should be healed in such manifold ways? Who of us was not unwise, who now have understanding on account of the mercy of God, and thirst for God? Who of us was not an unbeliever toward justice, who now on account of Christ have justice, and follow justice? Who of us was not a wanderer...

who now, because of the arrival of the Savior, are not wandering or troubled, but are on the way, in that which says: I am the way? ^A We are able, gathering the rest together, to see since all things which are written about Him are worthy of divine admiration: His birth, and His sustenance, and His virtue, and His passion, and His resurrection not only operate in us at that time, but also now. Who, O catechumens, was it who urged you, so that, having left your homes, you have gathered into this assembly? For we did not go around visiting your houses one by one; but the Almighty, in His invisible power, subjects to your hearts—whom He knows to be worthy—this ardor, so that you come to faith almost as if reluctant and hesitant, especially at the beginning of religion, when you embrace the faith of salvation with fear and trembling. I beseech you, O catechumens, do not be reluctant: none of you should fear or be terrified, for you are following the Jesus who has been proclaimed. He who draws you to salvation, and gathers you into the Church, is the same one who is here upon the earth; but if you have brought forth worthy fruits, you shall be in the Church of the firstborn who are written in the heavens. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were spoken to her from the Lord. For which things also Blessed Mary—most of all—extolls the Lord Jesus. But the soul extolls the Lord, the spirit extolls God. And what meaning these may have, if the Lord grants that we may gather again into the Church, so that you may come on a festive day, and we may offer our ears to divine reading, we shall seek, we shall winnow, we shall discuss, in Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the empire unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY VIII

Before the prophet John, Elizabeth; before the birth of the Lord Savior, the prophet Mary. And just as sin began from a woman, and from that point it reached even to man; so the beginning of salvation had its starting point from women, and the others, too—the fragile sex having been set aside—imitated the lives of holy women, and their way of life is mostly now described in the Gospel. Let us see, then, the virginal prophecy. "My soul," she says, "magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has exulted in my God." For unless we previously believe, and exult—^C that is, the women having set aside their weakness—they are incited to imitate the lives of these blessed ones. But furthermore, let us look at the virginal prophecy: "My soul magnifies the Lord." For the soul must be magnified in such a way that it is in the image of our Creator, and as far as our strength allows, we may become like Him through good works; so we magnify the Lord in words, in deeds, and in thoughts. But the soul diminishes the Lord in proportion to the malice that is in it.

Yet the Apostle also says that the dispensation of the passion took place in ignorance of the adversary's power: "Which none of the rulers of this age knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." But if the demon was not unaware—for he said: "We know you, who you are, the Son of God"—see that the lesser in malice knew the Savior, but the worse one was prevented by the magnitude of his malice from seeing Him. And for us, if our malice is less, we are aided by that lesser amount to live well; but if greater malice is found in us, it is a greater struggle to cast it off. He spoke a certain strange greeting to her, which they have not found in any scripture; come now, let us examine this. The phrase "Hail, full of grace" is not said anywhere; but neither is this said to any man, yet this greeting was reserved for her. What, then, of the Virgin, who, as one learned in the law, knew that it was a strange greeting, and one spoken to no one before? She was troubled at the word; for which reason he himself says to her: "Do not fear." "He shall be great," he says. This was said also regarding John; but when the One who is truly "great" came, that one was small. For "that one was the lamp that burns and shines." But his greatness was not then revealed in such a way as it appears now.

^A See the magnitude of his power: "Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." With those in Britain [...] and with those in Mauretania, and with those everywhere who believe, it has spread throughout. Ascend in your logic to heaven and see him filling the things there; for "he appeared to angels." Descend in your logic to the abyss [and likewise]; for he descended there too. "For he who descended is the same as he who ascended, that he might fill all things," "that in his name every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth." Behold this power; for he has passed through the whole world; for it says that Jesus the Son of God has passed through the heavens. If, then, you see these things, you will see that the phrase "he shall be great" is not a mere word, but by his work it is shown that our Lord Jesus Christ is "great," both as absent and as present. Those who are greater come to those who are lesser, so that they may do them good. Thus also the Savior came to John, that he might sanctify his baptism; thus Mary, having heard from the angel that she would give birth to the Savior, and having learned that her kinswoman Elizabeth had conceived, went to her. For Jesus, who was already within her, was already intending to do good to John, who was already within Elizabeth.

^A Mary remained with Elizabeth after the angel had spoken to her for three months, so that through some ineffable power, the present Savior might instruct not only John, as we said a while ago, but also Zacharias, as the evangelical text now declares. For he too, little by little, was receiving the increase of the Holy Spirit during these three months; and while he did not know it, he was being instructed, and he prophesied concerning Christ, saying: "Who has granted redemption to his people, and raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David," in which Christ was born according to the flesh. And truly, because he was the "horn of salvation," this prophecy is sung in the house of David. For the vineyard was made in a horn. In what horn? In Christ Jesus, in him of whom it is now written: "He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David his servant, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets: salvation from our enemies." Let us not think now that corporal enemies are meant, but spiritual ones. For the Lord Jesus comes, strong in battle, to destroy all our enemies, that he might deliver us from their snares: "From the hand of our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. To show mercy to our fathers." I think that, at the advent of the Lord Savior, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob also enjoyed the mercy of God. For it is not credible that those who previously saw his day and rejoiced in it, should afterward, at his advent and birth from the Virgin, have received no benefit. And why do I speak of the patriarchs? Following the authority of the Scriptures ^B to higher things, I will boldly ascend, since the presence of the Lord Jesus and his dispensation brought benefit not only to earthly things, but also to heavenly things. Hence the Apostle also says: "Making peace through the blood of his cross, whether on earth or in heaven." If, therefore, the presence of the Lord was beneficial in heaven and on earth, why should you fear to say that his advent was also beneficial to our ancestors, so that what is said may be fulfilled: "To show mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant us, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, to serve him without fear"? Frequently some are delivered from the hand of enemies, but not without fear. For when fear ^D of the enemy, which is endowed not only with soul, but also with reason, is conceived...

Homily X

Concerning that which is written: "Filled with the Holy Spirit he prophesied," up to the place where he says: "For he will go before before the Lord to prepare his ways." Chapter 1.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Zacharias proclaims two prophecies in general: the first concerning Christ, the second concerning John. This is manifestly proven from his own words, in which he speaks as if of the presence of the Savior who was even then moving about in the world, and then concerning John: "For filled with the Holy Spirit he prophesied, saying: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he has visited and wrought the redemption of his people." For by God visiting and willing to redeem his people, ^C he was observing [this] both in the Old Testament and in the New, wherever it is written at the birth of a sinner: "The time was completed that she should be delivered," you will never find it at all. But wherever a just man is born, there the day is completed, there the advent of his being is finished in the world. The birth of a just man has fullness; the nativity of a sinner, if we may say so, has emptiness and vanity. This is regarding that which is written: "The time was completed that she should be delivered." His neighbors and kinsmen were congratulating his mother, and were wishing to give the boy a name in honor of his father, that he should be called Zacharias. But Elizabeth, at the suggestion of the Holy Spirit, was saying: "John is his name." Then, when they were seeking just causes why he should be especially called John, since no one in his family had this name, they question his father, who, not being able to speak (he spoke by hand and letters). For he wrote on a tablet: "John is his name." And immediately as the stylus was pressed into the wax, his tongue, which had previously been bound, was loosened. He received speech, not human, since his tongue had been bound; yet it was not human [speech]. For disbelief had bound it. Immediately as it was loosened, it ceased to be human, and he was speaking, blessing God, and he prophesied those things which are written in the Gospel, concerning which, with the Lord Jesus Christ providing, when the time comes, we shall discourse: to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Because you have believed "what was spoken," you are blessed; for why? Because there shall be a completion of them, and they have not been spoken by the angel in vain. Before John, Elizabeth prophesies; before the birth of our Savior, Mary prophesies. And just as sin began "from the woman" and after this reached the man, so also have good things begun from the women, in order that the women might be encouraged—laying aside their weakness and feminine nature—to emulate the lives of these blessed ones. Let us look, then, at the virginal prophecy which says: "My soul magnifies the Lord," not only the body, but also "my soul." How the "soul magnifies the Lord" must be understood. For someone will say: the Lord becomes neither greater nor smaller, but is what he is; how, then, can a soul magnify the Lord? Because he is the "image of the invisible God," not having become an image, but being "according to the image" pre-existing it, if we live worthily according to the image of him who created us and become conformed to the prototype as far as is possible through good works. And each of us, by perfecting his own soul and advancing it toward blessedness, sets it up, as it were, as an image of Christ, that is, imitating the prototype, the Son of God, the image of God.

When, therefore, I make the image of the image—I mean the soul—great, magnifying it by words, by deeds, and by thoughts, then it is said to magnify. And just as “the soul” of the righteous man “magnifies the Lord” according to the magnitude of his life and his word, so does one also diminish Him proportionately according to the wickedness that dwells within him. Therefore, the “soul” of Mary “magnified the Lord,” and her “spirit rejoiced in God her savior.” And well does she ascend by the progressions of her works: first her soul magnified, then her spirit rejoiced. For one rejoices in spirit in God the savior by the progress of one’s life, coming to this from having magnified Him. “For,” she says, “He has looked upon the humiliation of his handmaid.” “Humiliation” differs in no way from humility; since, therefore, it is fitting for God to look upon virtues, and humility is a virtue, “He has looked upon the humiliation of his handmaid.” [For] it seems to many to be redundant: “the time was fulfilled for her to bring forth, and she brought forth a son.”

^A ...announce to you that there is born to you this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. For the pastors of the churches, unless that Pastor comes, will not be able to keep the flock well; their guardianship is weak unless Christ has fed and guarded them with them. It was read a long time ago in the Apostle, “We are God’s co-workers.” The good pastor, who imitates the good Pastor, is a co-worker of God and Christ. And therefore he is a good pastor who has with him the supreme Pastor feeding with him. For God has set in the Church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, everything unto the perfection of the saints. And these things are indeed said more simply. But if it is necessary to ascend to a more sacred understanding, I will say that there were some angels as pastors who governed human affairs. And when each one of these was maintaining his guardianship, and watching by day and by night, was no longer able to bear the labor, though he acted with diligence to govern the peoples who had been entrusted to him, the angel came when the Lord was born and announced to the pastors that the true Pastor had arisen. For the sake of an example, to come to an illustration, there was a certain pastor of Macedonia; he needed the help of the Lord, wherefore a man of Macedonia appeared to Paul in his sleep, saying: “Crossing over into Macedonia, help us.” What shall I say of Paul? Since these things were spoken not by Paul, but by Jesus who was in Paul? Pastors therefore need the presence of Christ. Wherefore the angel descends from heaven and says: “Do not fear. For behold, I announce to you great joy.” Truly it is great joy, for those to whom the care of men and provinces had been entrusted, that Christ has come into the world. The angel who was dispensing the affairs of the Egyptians received much benefit after the Lord descended from heaven, so that the Egyptians might become Christians. He profited also all those who held different provinces. For instance, the governor of Macedonia, the governor of Achaia, and the other regions. For it is not right to believe that evil angels preside over their own provinces, and that good ones do not have the same provinces entrusted to them. But what he says about individual provinces, I think we ought to believe in general also about all men. Two angels attend each person 32, one of justice, one of iniquity. If there are good thoughts in our heart, and justice buds in our mind, there is no doubt but that the ^D angel of the Lord speaks to us. But if evils have been stirred in our heart, the angel of the devil speaks to us. How, therefore, as there are two angels for each man, so I suppose that there are diverse ones in individual provinces, so that there are both good and evil ones. For instance, in Ephesus, because of those who were sinners in that city, the worst angels presided. Again, because many were believers in it, there was also an angel of the Church of the Ephesians, certainly a good one. ^B But what we have said about Ephesus should be understood regarding all provinces. Before the coming of the Lord the Savior, those angels were able to bring little usefulness to those committed to them, and the effect of their attempts could not follow. There is a certain sign of how little they could profit their subjects. Listen to what we say: When the angel of the Egyptians was helping the Egyptians, scarcely one proselyte believed in God, and this happened with the Egyptian angel dispensing. Finally, because most of the Egyptians and Idumeans, becoming proselytes, received the faith of Christ, therefore Scripture says: “You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt, and an Idumean, because he is your brother.” If children are born to them, in the third generation they shall enter into the Church of God. And so it happened that from all nations some became proselytes, and this with the very angels who had the nations subject to them aiding it. Now, however, the peoples of the believers are approaching the faith of Jesus, and the angels, to whom the Churches had been entrusted, strengthened by the presence of the Savior, lead many proselytes, so that the congregations of Christians may be gathered in all the world. Therefore, rising up, let us praise the Lord, and let us become, for the carnal Israel, the spiritual Israel. Let us bless the almighty God in work, in thought, in speech, in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY XIII

Concerning that which is written: “And there was a multitude of the heavenly host,” up to the place where it says: “They found Mary and Jesus lying in a manger.” Chap. II.

Our Lord and Savior is born in Bethlehem, and a multitude of the heavenly host praises God and says: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.” But this ^C multitude of the heavenly host speaks, because it had finished providing help to men, and it saw that it could not fulfill the work which had been entrusted to it without Him who truly could save, and help the leaders themselves so that men might be saved. How therefore is it written in the Gospel, that certain men rowing in the sea were already weary against adverse winds, and struggling for twenty-five or thirty stadia, they could not hold the port, and afterwards the Lord came and made the swelling waves grow quiet, and delivered the ship, whose sides were being beaten from all sides, from the imminent danger; so understand that the angels truly wished to provide help to men, and to grant them health from their illnesses, because they are all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for the sake of those who have obtained salvation, 10 and they were helping men to the extent of their own power. But they saw that their own medicine was much inferior to what the care of those men required. Moreover, so that you may understand from an example what we are saying, see for me a city in which very many are ill, and

^A a frequent hand of physicians is applied: let there be diverse wounds, daily creeping into the dead flesh and yet the physicians who have been applied to cure them are unable to find any further medicines, and the knowledge of their art cannot overcome the magnitude of the evil; when they are in such straits, let someone come who has the greatest knowledge in the art, and let those who were previously unable to heal, perceiving that the master's hand is ceasing the putrefaction of the wounds, not be envious, nor be tormented by malice, but burst forth into praises for the physician, and preach God who had pity on man with such great skill. Therefore, in this likeness, the multitude of the army of the angels heard it saying: *Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will*. After the Lord indeed came to the earth, he made peace by the blood of his cross, whether of those things that were on earth, or of those things that were in heaven. For if the angels ^B wished and remembered that men were creatures, when they had done all things that were in their power, so that they might be healed, and those men were unwilling to look toward health, they discern him who was able to heal, and glorifying him they say: *Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace*. Let the diligent reader of Scripture inquire how the Savior speaks: *I came not to send peace upon the earth, but a sword*, and yet now the angels at his nativity chant, *on earth peace*. And in another place it is said from the person of the Lord himself: *My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you. Not as the world gives peace, do I give peace unto you*. We must therefore solve the question. If it had been written, *on earth peace*, and the sentence had ended there, rightly the question would be born. But now that there is an addition to it, that is, when after *peace* it says, *among men of good will* [55], it solves the question. Peace is not that which the Lord gives *on earth*, it is not *peace of good will*. Nor does he say simply, *I came not to send peace*, but with the addition, *on the earth*: nor conversely did he say, *I came not to send peace on the earth among men of good will*. These ^C things the angels said to the shepherds, who not only were speaking at the time, but until today are speaking to shepherds, and have joined their works to them; it is said to them: *Unless the Lord builds the house, in vain have they labored who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, in vain has he labored who guards it*. If one speaks the meaning of the following Scripture boldly, distributing to each of the Churches two bishops, one visible, one invisible: the one of the flesh, ^D this one is open. And just as a man if he acts well in the stewardship committed to him, he is praised by the Lord: so if he acts badly, he is subject to guilt and vice; so also an angel. Scripture says in the Apocalypse of John: *You have there a few names that have defiled it, that it*. And again: *You have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans*. And then you have those that do the former sins, and the angels, to whom the Churches were entrusted, are accused. If there is such solicitude for the angels, how they govern the Churches, what is necessary to say about men, how much fear they must have, so that they may be able to obtain salvation; the angels themselves laboring together with them? I have been able to find that it is possible for both the angel and the man to be good bishops of the Church, and in a certain way to be one work. Since this is so, let us ask the almighty God, that angels and men, bishops of the Churches, may be a help to us, and let us know that we are judged by the Lord for both. Because if those were judged, and vice and sin was found not by their carelessness, but through our negligence, we shall be argued and punished. For those doing all things for us, and struggling for our salvation, we shall nevertheless be vacant [alt-version omitted] to sin. Moreover, it often happens, that they do not fulfill their duty toward us and are in sins. And it happened, it says, when they had departed from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another: *Let us go over even unto Bethlehem, and let us see this word that has come to pass, which the Lord has shown to us. And they came with haste, and they found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe*. Because they had come with haste, and not on foot, nor with a weary step, for that reason they found Joseph the steward of the birth of the Lord, and Mary who gave birth to the infant, and the Savior lying in the manger. That was that concerning which the prophet prophesied saying: *The ox knows its owner, and the ass the manger of its Lord*. The ox is a clean animal, the ass is an unclean animal. The ass recognized the manger of its Lord. The people of Israel did not recognize the manger of its Lord, but the unclean animal among the gentiles. Israel indeed did not know it, and *my people have not understood*. If we recognize this manger, we strive to recognize the Lord, and become worthy of his knowledge, and to assume also his birth and resurrection, but the glorious and second majesty of his advent, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY XIV.

On that which is written: "And when the days of his circumcision were fulfilled," up to the place where it says: "For a pair of turtle doves and two young pigeons." Chapter II.

That Christ died, he died for sin. Not that he himself had sinned, for he committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth; but he died that we, who were dead in that same sin, might not live in sin and vice. Whence it is written: "As therefore we have died together with him who died, and risen with him who rose, so also have we been circumcised with him, and after the circumcision cleansed by a solemn purification." Whence we no longer require carnal circumcision. And that you may know that on account of his having been circumcised, even Paul most clearly preaching ^A in whom, he says, dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily, and you are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power, in whom also you are circumcised with circumcision made without hands, in the despoiling of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, in whom also you rose again through faith in the operation of God, who raised him from the dead. And death, therefore, and resurrection, and his circumcision, were accomplished for us. When they were fulfilled, he says, the days for circumcising the child, his name was called Jesus, which had been called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. The glorious name of Jesus is to be invoked with every worshipful reverence, and not to be offered to the world, but to a certain more excellent and greater nature. Whence the evangelist signaled this, saying: "And his name was called Jesus, ^B which had been from the angel before he was conceived in the womb."

Then it follows: "When the days of their purification were fulfilled according to the law of Moses, they brought him to Jerusalem." Because of their purification, he says, of them. Which of them? If it had been written "because of his purification," that is, Mary’s, who had given birth, no question would arise, and we would boldly say that Mary, who was human, had needed purification after childbirth. But now, as to what is said, "their days" [56], it does not seem to signify one, but two, or more. Therefore, if Jesus needed purification, and was unclean, or defiled by some stain, one might perhaps rashly say this, led by the authority of the Scriptures. See what is written in Job [19]: "No one is clean from filth, not even one whose life has been but a single day." He did not say, no one is clean from sin, but no one ^C is clean from filth. For it does not signify the same thing as sins. And that it signifies something other than filth, and something else than sin, Isaiah clearly teaches, saying [20]: "The Lord will wash the filth of the sons and daughters of Sion, and will cleanse the blood from their midst, with the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning." Every soul that has been clothed with a human body has its own filth. But that you may also know that Jesus is perceived as soiled according to the ignominy of the cross, not according to that holy flesh which he assumed, of which the Apostle says: "In the likeness of the flesh of sin he was by his own will, because for our salvation he had assumed a human body," listen to the prophet Zechariah saying [21]: "Jesus was clothed in filthy garments." Which, indeed, ^D and verse [57] does, for those who deny that our Lord

had assumed a human body, but had been joined to celestial and spiritual things. For if He were even from the heavens, and—as they falsely assert—were of the stars and some other more sublime and spiritual nature, let them answer why a spiritual body could be filthy, or how this is to be interpreted as we have put it, ^A "Jesus was clothed in filthy garments." But if they are compelled by necessity to take up this, that "spiritual garment of filth" should be understood, they must consequently say that what is placed in the promises is complete, that is: "It is sown an animal body, it rises a spiritual body" [21], and that we rise up polluted and filthy; it is a crime even to think of this, especially for him who knows it is written: "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is

sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory." ^A And he who was to be born for the whole world and to suffer, was to be purified before the Lord—not that it was necessary to purify his dispensation, which was new in all things, but so that it might have new sacrificial offerings, according to the will of the omnipotent God in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY XV.

On Simeon, that he came in the Spirit to the temple, up to that place where he says: Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. Ch. 11.

The reason must be sought for that which is worthy of God’s gift. Simeon, a holy man pleasing to the Lord, as it is written in the Gospel, was expecting the consolation of Israel and had received a response from the Holy Spirit that he would not taste death before he saw the Lord’s Christ. What profit was it to him to see Christ? Did he have this only in the promise, that he might see him, and receive no benefit from the sight of him? Or does there lie hidden some gift worthy of God, which the blessed Simeon both merited and received? The woman touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed. ^B If she had so much benefit from the outermost part of his garment, what must we think of Simeon, who took the infant into his own arms, and holding him in his arms, rejoiced and was glad to see being carried by him the one who had come to release the bound and to free himself from the bonds of the body: knowing that no one could send anyone forth from the cloister of the body with the hope of future life except the one whom he held in his arms? Whence he speaks to him: "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." For as long as I did not hold Christ, as long as I did not embrace him in my arms, I was closed up, and could not depart from my bonds. Yet this must be understood not only of Simeon, but of all the human race. If anyone departs from the world, if anyone is released from the prison-house of the bound, that he may go to reign, let him take Jesus into his hands and wrap his arms around him, let him have him entirely in his bosom, and then he will be able to go rejoicing ^C where he desires. Consider how great the dispensation was that preceded this, so that Simeon might merit holding the Son of God. First, he had received the response from the Holy Spirit that he would not see death unless he had first seen the Lord’s Christ. Then, he did not enter the temple by chance or simply, but strengthened by the oracle of Ezekiel: "This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it; because the Lord God of Israel has entered through it; and it shall be shut to the prince," denoting the virginity of Mary, inviolate both in conception and in birth, and that the body of Christ went forth in the same manner as he penetrated to the disciples when the doors were shut.

^D (41) Meritoriously, Origen, while wishing to interpret the Scriptures, often destroying the historical sense by his allegorical expositions, misrepresented the truth of the matter, and has for a long time been poorly regarded among the Fathers of the Church. I certainly do not know by what excuse this interpretation can be wiped away, since he denies that turtle-doves were offered for Christ, and says that they were not birds such as these, which fly through the air, but something divine and more august to human contemplation, which appeared under the appearance of a dove and a turtle-dove.

Just as his birth was paradoxical—for he "leaped for joy" recognizing Christ—and as it was said to him, as though he understood what was spoken by the Father, that "you, child, shall be called a prophet," so he did not stay with his father and mother, but withdrew, fleeing the tumult in cities and the unpleasantness among the crowds, in order that, being in the deserts, since God did not yet intend him to serve the mystery of baptism, he might devote himself to prayers while being raised in a paradoxical way. For "his food," according to Matthew, "was locusts and wild honey." And because he was the minister of the first coming of Christ, for this reason his food was not cultivated honey—for cultivated and refined honey was reserved for the Lord—and because he prophesied and managed the things before the coming, for this reason his food was a small creature rising from the earth, locusts, a small and clean animal.

^A The Word wishes to present a certain great mystery: that for the registration of the whole world, Christ Jesus had to be registered, in order that by being registered together with those in the world, he might sanctify the world and transfer this registration “into the book of the living,” so that “the names” of those registered with him and believing in him might be “written in the heavens.”

Why did the angel not go to Jerusalem, why did he not seek out the scribes and the Pharisees, why did he not enter into the synagogue of the Jews, but rather found “shepherds, abiding in the field, and keeping watch over their flock by night,” and brought the good news to them? ^B Does the Word intimate nothing, but was the matter truly as presented, that the angel stood before shepherds of such sensible sheep and spoke, and signifies nothing else besides this? But it is to the shepherds of the churches that the angel brings the good news of Christ. For these, if that true Shepherd does not come, cannot shepherd well by themselves; their shepherding is deficient if Christ does not work with them. For, he says, “we are God’s fellow-workers.” For indeed, he appointed “in the church apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, shepherds, all for the perfecting of the saints.” These things, then, are for the easier interpretation.

^A His father and his mother were marveling at those things which were spoken concerning Him. What, then, was the cause that he who was not the father should be mentioned as the father? He who is content with a simple exposition says: the Holy Spirit honored him with the title of Father, because he had nourished the Savior. But he who inquires into something deeper can say: because the order of the genealogy is traced down from David to Joseph, and so that Joseph, who had not been the father of the Savior, might not seem to be named in vain, he was called the father of the Lord so that the order of the genealogy might have its place. His father and his mother, therefore, were marveling at the things which were said of Him, as much by the angel as by the multitude of the heavenly host, and also by the shepherds. For while hearing all these things, they were marveling most vehemently. ^B Thereafter the Scripture says: Simeon blessed Him, and said to Mary His mother: Behold, this one is set for the ruin and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted. And your own soul a sword shall pierce, that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed. How the Savior came for the ruin and for the resurrection of many must be contemplated.

He who explains it simply can say that He came for the ruin of the unbelievers and for the resurrection of the believers. But he who is a curious interpreter says: he who has not stood before can by no means fall. Give me, then, to know who he was who stood, and for whose ruin the Savior arrived, and also who he is that rises. For indeed, he rises who had previously fallen in ruin. It must be seen, surely, lest perhaps the Savior came not for different ones and others for ruin and resurrection, but came to the same ones both for ruin and for resurrection. In judgment, He says, I came, that those who did not see might see, and those who saw might become blind. For there is within us that which saw before, and afterwards ceased to see; and another thing which did not see, and afterward began to see. For example: I wish to see with those eyes with which I did not see before, and which were subsequently opened for me, since after the disobedience both Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened, of which we treated in the previous discourse. ^C Now, however, we must interpret what is meant by that which says: *Behold, this one is set for the ruin and for the resurrection of many in Israel.* It behooves me first to fall, and when I have fallen, then to rise well, so that the Savior may not have been the cause of an evil ruin; but for this reason He made me fall, that I might rise, and the ruin might be much more useful to me than that time in which I seemed to stand. For I was standing in sin at that time in which I lived in sin; and because I was standing in sin, it was my first benefit that I should fall and die to sin. Finally, the holy prophets, when they contemplated something more august, would fall upon their faces. But they fell for this reason, that their sins might be more fully purged through the ruin. The Savior Himself also grants this same thing to you: that you should fall. You were a gentile; let the gentile fall in you. You loved the harlot; first let the harlot in you perish. You were a sinner; let the sinner fall in you, so that you may be able thereafter to rise and say: *If we have died together, we shall also live together; and if we are conformed to death, we shall also be of the resurrection.* This One, therefore, is set for the ruin and for the resurrection of many in Israel, that is, in those who are able to see with a full gaze and reason. *And for a sign which shall be contradicted.* All things that history narrates about the Savior are contradicted. He is the Son of a Virgin-Mother—this is a sign that is contradicted. The Marcionites contradict this sign, and say that He was not generated from a woman at all. The Ebionites contradict the sign, saying that He was born from a man and woman in such a way that we also are born. He had a human body, and this is a sign that is contradicted. For some say He came from heaven; others, that He had a body such as we have, so that by the likeness of the body He might also redeem our bodies from sins, and give us the hope of resurrection. He rose from the dead; and this is a sign that is contradicted: how He rose, and whether it was He Himself, and such as He was when He died, or indeed whether He rose in a body of better substance. And there is an infinite contention, with some saying He showed the print of the nails in His hands to Thomas, while others argue on the contrary that if He had the same body, how did He enter through closed doors and stand? You see, therefore, how by various arguments even to the resurrection ^D Now, therefore, when He pronounces them heretics—those who think that He had a body such as ours—and seemingly at first glance it appears that He disagrees with Himself and wanders far from the truth. But the matter must be thought of otherwise; for He indeed rebukes the Ebionites, who impiously defined that Christ assumed for Himself a body generated by the common law of nature from a man and a woman. And hence it is to be thought that He speaks of that dissimilarity which He Himself asserts in the preface of his books *De Principiis* between our body and Christ’s: He became incarnate, he says, (Christ), while He was God, and remained man, what He was as God, He assumed a body similar to our body, differing only in this, that it was born of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit. And because this Jesus Christ was born and suffered in truth, and not through an image, He truly died by this common death, for He truly rose from the dead.

But now the addition solves the question, which also stands after: "peace on earth": "among men of good will." If the Savior says He does not give "peace on earth," it is not the "peace of good will." For He does not deny giving peace, but simply says: "I did not come to bring peace upon the earth." He did not say "the peace of good will"; but this is what the angels said among the shepherds. And if holy shepherds do not also have angels co-shepherding them, the text will be applied: "Unless the Lord keep the city, the watchman wakes in vain." It is possible to say from Scripture that there are two bishops of every church: one who is sensible and visible, and another who is intelligible; and just as the man is praised for managing well, so too is the angel. It is written, at any rate, in the Revelation of John: "But you have a few names, who did not defile their garments." And again: "You have those there who commit such sins," and He blames the angels.

If He blames the angels who have been entrusted with the churches and who care for those whose angels they have been tasked to be, what must one say of men, and how much fear must they have, so that they may be able, by sailing alongside the angels, to be saved together with the angels? For both bishops—I mean the intelligible one, the angel who has been entrusted with the church, and the sensible one—are, as it were, partners in the work. ^A They hastened and came, not slowly nor lethargically; for this reason they found Him "in a manger." This was that concerning which the prophet was speaking: "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's manger," which is a mystery being revealed; the ox is a clean animal, the donkey is unclean. Not the people of Israel knew the manger of their Lord, but the unclean animal, that from the Gentiles. "For He died," Christ, "He died to sin," not that He sinned—"for He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth"—but because He died, so that we who have died together with Him, He having died "to sin," may no longer live "to sin." ^B Wherefore it is said: "If we have died together with Him, we shall also live together with Him." As, therefore, we died together with Him as He was dying then, so were we circumcised together with Him as He was being circumcised then; and after that very circumcision, the economy of the former purification took place.

^A And when we have said this, to our soul that is laboring and seeking with sorrow, He will answer and say: "Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?" Where are the impious and mad heretics who assert that the law and the prophets are not of the Father of Jesus Christ? Certainly Jesus was in the temple, which was built by Solomon, and He confesses that that temple is His Father’s, whose Son He declared Himself to be. Let them answer how one God is good and another is just. Since, therefore, the Savior is the Son of the Creator, let us praise in common the Father and the Son, whose law it is, and whose temple it is. To whom be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY XIX.

^B Because some who appear to believe in divine Scripture seem to deny the divinity of the Savior as if to the glory of almighty God, it seems just to me that they be taught by the authority of the Scriptures themselves that something divine came into a human body, and not only into a human body, but also into a human soul. Although if we diligently look into the sense of the Scriptures, that soul had something more than the other souls of men. For every human soul, before it comes to virtues, is soiled by vices. But the soul of Jesus was never stained by the filth of sin. ^C Indeed, before He reached the twelfth year of His age, the Holy Spirit writes about Him in the Gospel of Luke: "And the child grew and was strengthened, and was filled with wisdom." Human nature does not admit this, that one should be filled with wisdom before twelve years of age. It is one thing to have a part of wisdom, another to be filled with wisdom. We do not doubt, therefore, that something divine appeared in the flesh of Jesus, and not only above man, but also above every rational creature. "And He grew," it says. For He had humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant, and by the same power by which He had humbled Himself, He grows. He had appeared weak, because He had assumed a weak body, and for that reason He is again strengthened. The Son of God had emptied Himself; and for that reason He is again filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. ^D Not when He came to adolescence, not when He clearly taught; but while He was still a little child, He had the grace of God, and just as all things in Him were wonderful, so also His childhood was wonderful, so that the wisdom of God ^A might be fulfilled. His parents, therefore, went up according to custom to Jerusalem for the solemn day of the Passover. And when He was twelve years of age. Observe diligently that before He was twelve years of age, He was being filled with the wisdom of God and all the other things that are written of Him. When, therefore, as we have said, He was twelve years of age and the days of the solemnity had been completed according to custom, and His parents were returning with the infant Jesus, the child remained in Jerusalem, and His parents did not know it. And understand here something more sublime than human nature suffers. For it was not simply that He remained, and His parents did not know where He was; but just as it is written in the Gospel of John, that the Jews were laying snares for Him, and He escaped from the midst of them, and did not appear: so also now I think the child remained in Jerusalem, and His parents did not know where He had remained. Nor let us marvel that the parents are named, of whom the one by birth and the other by duty merited the titles of father and mother. It follows: "Sorrowing," he says, "we sought Thee." I do not think they grieved because they thought the child had erred or had perished; nor could it happen that Mary, who knew that she had conceived from the Holy Spirit, who had also heard the angel speaking, and the shepherds running, and Simeon prophesying, would fear that she had lost the child as one wandering. Remove this opinion, especially regarding Joseph, to whom it had been commanded by the angel that he should take the child and journey into Egypt, who had heard: "Do not fear to take Mary thy wife, for that which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit." It could never happen that he would fear for the infant as one lost, whom he had known to be divine. The grief and questioning of the parents mean something else than the simple reader understands. For just as you, if you ever read the Scriptures, seek in them the sense with a certain sorrow and torment—not because you think the Scriptures have erred or contained anything wrongly, but because they have within them the sermon and reason of truth, and you are unable to find what is true—so also they sought, lest perhaps He had withdrawn from them, lest by leaving them He had migrated to other things, and, what I rather think, lest He had returned to the heavens, having decided to return when it pleased Him. Sorrowing, therefore, they sought the Son of God. And when they sought, they did not find Him among their kinsfolk. For human kinship could not contain the Son of God. They did not find Him among their kinsfolk, because divine things were greater than mortal knowledge and science. Where, then, do they find Him? In the temple. For there the Son of God is found.

Mystically, the "days" are being fulfilled; for the purification does not take place immediately at the birth, but as it is written in the Law: "That if a male is born, she shall be unclean in her separation for seven days; then thirty-three days in the blood of her purification," she and the child. Thus, since "the law has a shadow of good things to come," it is possible to see a purification taking place at some later time. Perhaps, if we rise from the dead, we shall need the mystery that cleanses us. I marvel if anyone rises pure from every stain; in this regeneration, therefore, there will be some such mystery of purification, which Jesus performed at his birth.

The males, therefore, being holy as those that open the womb, had to be brought to the Lord by the altar; but Christ alone opened the womb, being born of a virgin; for nothing else touched that holy womb before Christ. Of all others, the firstborn—even if they are firstborn—do not open the womb first, but the spouse.

As one being in the prison of the body and seeing that no one releases him from it, so that he might with hope be released from the world, except He whom he himself held "in his arms," he says: "Now lettest thou thy servant depart according to thy word."

^A And observe the addition, "in peace"; he does not simply say that he wishes to be released, but "in peace," according to what was said to Abraham: "You shall go to your fathers in peace." For who is he who departs "in peace" other than he who has understood that "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself," and no longer possesses any work of enmity toward God, but has taken up every peace through good works?

^B Now, at what "things said about him" did Joseph and his mother marvel? At the things said by the shepherds, by whom the report was spreading that Christ had been born, and by Simeon upon his saying, "Now let your servant depart," which was the crowning point of the things said about him. And most wonderfully he puts Joseph in the place of a father, not proclaiming him to be a father by saying this, but prophesying over the child, having blessed the father and the mother, and he says: "Behold, this one is set for the fall and rising." A passage similar to this is in that according to John: "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see might see, and those who see might become blind"; just as those who "do not see" from among the nations "see," and those from Israel "become blind," so he came "for the fall and rising" of us.

^A regarding her who has a husband; therefore, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. Consider also that it is more reasonable if the desert is understood mystically, and not according to the simple letter. For he who preaches in the desert labors in vain, crying out where no one hears him. Therefore, the precursor of Christ, the "voice crying in the desert," preaches in the desert of the soul, which had no peace. And not only then, but even now, first the "burning and shining lamp" came, and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; then the true light follows, when the lamp itself says: "He must increase, but I must decrease." The word happens in the desert, and comes to all the region round about the Jordan. For what other places ought the Baptist to have traveled, except those near the Jordan, so that whoever might wish to do penance would be ready at the washing of water? Moreover, Jordan is interpreted as "descending." And the ^B river of God, our Savior the Lord, in whom we are baptized, is the river descending and running with great force. What true, saving water he preaches in baptism for the remission of sins: "Come, catechumens, do penance, that you may obtain baptism for the remission of sins." He receives baptism for the remission of sins who ceases from sinning. If anyone comes to the washing while sinning, to him there is no remission of sins. Therefore I beseech you, do not come to baptism without caution and diligent circumspection, but show first fruits worthy of penance. Set aside some time for good conduct, and keep yourselves pure from all defilements and vices; and then remission of sins will come to you, when you have begun to despise your own sins. Forgive your offenses, and they will be forgiven you. But this very thing which is now set forth from the Old Testament, we read was written in the prophet Isaiah, for there it is said: "The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." The Lord wishes to find a way in you, so that he may be able to enter into your souls and make his journey. Prepare for him the path of which it is said: "Make straight his paths: the voice of one crying in the desert." The voice cries: Prepare the way. For first the voice comes to the ears, then after the voice, or rather with the voice, the word penetrates the hearing. According to this sense, Christ was announced ^C by John. Let us see, therefore, what the voice announces concerning the Word. "Prepare," he says, "the way of the Lord." What way shall we prepare for the Lord? Is it a bodily one? Or can the Word of God travel by such a path? Or must it be prepared inwardly for the Lord, and a straight and level path be fashioned in our heart? This is the way by which the Word of God has entered, which consists in the capacity of the human body. The heart of man is great, and spacious, and capable, if only it has been purified. Do you wish to know its magnitude and breadth? See what a magnitude of divine thoughts it may contain. He, it says, gave me the knowledge of those things that are, to know the structure of the world, and the operations of the elements, the beginning and the end and the midst of the ages, the varieties of times, and the change of months, the cycles of years, and the positions of the stars, the natures of animals, and the furies of beasts, the violence of spirits, and the thoughts of men, the diversities of trees, and the power of roots. You see that the heart of man is not small, since it can contain so much. And do not understand this in the quantity of the body, but in its strength, which can contain such great knowledge of the truth. But that I may bring even the simple-minded by daily examples to believe that the heart of man is great, let us look: whatever cities we have traveled through, we have them in our mind, and the qualities and sites of the streets, and walls, and buildings are turned over in our heart. The way we have traveled we retain in the picture and description of our memory; the sea which we have sailed we embrace in silent thought. The heart of man, as I said, is not small, for it can contain so much. And if it is not small, containing so much, consequently the way of the Lord is prepared in it, and the path becomes straight, so that the Word of God and Wisdom may walk in it. Prepare the way for the Lord through good conduct, and by excellent works hold to the path: so that the Word of God may walk in you without any offense, and may grant you the knowledge of his mysteries and his advent. To whom be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXII.

We see what things are preached in the advent of Christ, among which it is written first concerning John: "The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." And that which follows is properly about the Lord Savior. For not every valley was filled by John, but by the Lord Savior. He himself... ^D

^A considers, "What was I before I believed?" Then he will notice: "I was a valley, a lowly valley, I was plunged into the depths." When the Lord Jesus came and sent the Holy Spirit, his vicar, every valley was filled. And it is filled indeed by good works and the fruits of the Spirit. Charity does not permit the valley to remain. Because you have peace, wisdom, and goodness, you will not only cease to be a valley, but you will also begin to be a mountain of God. Yet that which we see happening more daily to the nations—that "every valley shall be filled"—is fulfilled; for it was said of the people of Israel, who were exalted from above: "Every mountain and hill shall be humbled." There was once a mountain, even as there were peoples and hills, whose pride was destroyed. Salvation was given to the nations by their fault, so that they might emulate them. And if there were opposing powers which were being built up against mortals, let them be called mountains and hills, that they may not sin. ^B For as these valleys must be filled, they must be humbled. But this which was in the advent of Christ predicted by the prophets, whether it is fulfilled, pertains to the temple. For it follows: "And all crooked ways shall be made straight." Everyone of us was crooked, if somehow he does not continue until today: and by the advent of Christ who has come into our soul, what was crooked is made straight. For what does it profit if Christ once came in the flesh, if he has not also come into your soul? Let us pray that his coming happens to us daily, and that we can say: "I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me." If Christ lives in Paul, and not in me, what will it profit me? When however he has come to me, and I have become fruit to him, just as Paul was fruit, then I similarly shall speak: "I live now, no longer I, but Christ lives in me." Let us consider therefore ^C the rest, which are predicted in the advent of Christ. Nothing is more severe. Look at your past movements, see your anger, and the other vices, if indeed they have ceased to be what they were, and you understand nothing is more severe, and (as I speak about significant things) nothing is more unequal. Your conversation was unequal, and your talk and works were unequal. Therefore the Lord Jesus has come, and has leveled your roughnesses, and has turned what is uncomposed into straight paths, so that it might become a road without offense, and light, and most pure, and that God the Father might walk upon it, and Christ the Lord might make a dwelling ^D with you, and might say: "I and my Father will come, and we will make a dwelling with him." It follows: "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God." Even though you were formerly flesh, you that wish for yourself to be called the salvation of God, he continues to instruct those who know the mysteries of the Scriptures. What it means to speak to those coming to the baptism of John, must be noted. Whoever wants to be baptized, let him depart. For remaining in his former state, and not leaving behind his customs and habits, he by no means comes worthily to baptism. But in order that you may understand what it is to depart from baptism, take the testimony and listen to the words by which God speaks to Abraham: "Depart from your land," and the rest. Therefore, to those departing from the washing, not to those remaining, does John speak what follows. For if they had departed, he would never have said to them, "O generation of vipers." Whatever therefore he says to them, he says to you, O catechumens, both men and women. You who have disposed yourselves to come to baptism, consider whether it might be said to you, "generation of vipers." But as for that which follows, unless you cast out the wickedness of the serpents from your heart, it will be said to you: "Who showed you to flee from the coming wrath?" A great wrath hangs over this age: the world is about to suffer the wrath of God: such a vastness of heaven, and the breadth of the earth, and the choirs of the stars, the splendor of the sun, and the nightly solaces of the moon, the wrath of God will subvert. For all these things will pass away because of the sins of men. And formerly indeed above all only on the earth came the wrath of God, that all flesh had left its way upon the earth: but now it will be upon the sky and upon the earth the wrath of God is to come. The heavens will pass away, (it is said of God), and all shall grow old like a garment. See how great and of what sort it is, that which will consume everything, and will punish those who are deserving of punishment, and will find the material in which it may exercise itself. Each of us out of what he has acted, has prepared fuel for the wrath. "According to your hardness and impenitent heart, you are storing up for yourself wrath for the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God," it is said in Romans. Then it follows: "Who showed you to flee from the coming wrath? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance." And to you who come to baptism, it is said: "Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance." Do you want to know what are the fruits of repentance? Charity is the fruit of the Spirit, joy is the fruit of the Spirit, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, continence, and the rest of this kind. If we have all these, we have brought forth fruits worthy of repentance. Again it is said to those who were coming to the baptism of John: "And do not begin to say within yourselves, we have Abraham as father: for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." The prophet John predicts the driving out of the former people, and the calling of the nations. For he says of those who boasted of Abraham: "And do not begin to say within yourselves, we have Abraham as father." And again he speaks regarding the nations: "For I say to you, that God is able..." Indeed, he predicts the casting down of the Jews in this way, and introduces the calling of the nations, whom he even calls stones. And then he says: "And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees." He is speaking again to the Jews. "Therefore every tree which does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire." Then consider, you who are called to the faith of Christ, and who have been baptized, whether you bring forth good fruit, or whether you are still a barren tree, and one that is to be cut down. And the crowds questioned him, saying: "What then shall we do?" He answers them: "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." [*] Then it follows: "And the tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him: Teacher, what shall we do?" He says to them: "Exact no more than what is appointed to you." [*] And the soldiers also questioned him, saying: "And what shall we do?" And he said to them: "Do violence to no one, neither calumniate anyone; and be content with your wages." [*] It seems to me that it is not enough to be baptized, nor to depart from the abyss, but one must bring forth fruits. Hear what the tax collectors and soldiers were told, because they were seeking for themselves a way of salvation. It is necessary that you also do this. And then he says: “And a sword will pass through your own soul”; and he calls the sword the doubt and the temptation, which passed through her soul at the time of the cross. It appears that around the time of the passion all were scandalized; for he himself said: “All of you will be scandalized in me.” Do we think that Mary alone was clean from the scandal? If all fall short of the glory of God, being justified by his grace, Simeon also prophesies concerning the holy virgin Mary herself, that standing by the cross and seeing the things that were coming to pass, and hearing the voices of the murderers, after the testimony of Gabriel, after the ineffable knowledge of the divine conception, after the great demonstration of miracles, a certain agitation will befall the soul of you who have been taught from above about the Lord, and a certain discernment will touch you, this is the “sword,” when you see such a one being crucified and accepting human death. “That thoughts may be revealed”; there were wicked thoughts in these men; then they were revealed, so that he, dying for human sins, might destroy them once they have been revealed.

For so long as they were hidden, it was not possible for them to be utterly destroyed; for this reason, we too, if we have sinned, are commanded to say: “I acknowledged my transgression, and my sin I did not cover.”

And the order also is blameless; for the woman is not the first, but Simeon is introduced first. Therefore, the account was not written word for word concerning her, but that “she gave thanks to God and spoke” of him. She seems, indeed, to have rightly become a prophetess, because the Holy Spirit was able to find a place in her because of her purity and cleanliness; for having “lived seven years from her virginity with a husband,” for this reason she became a prophetess; for it was not by chance that the Holy Spirit dwelt in her.

For it is good if one is able to remain a virgin; but if one cannot do this, let her live in widowhood, should anything human happen, and let her keep this before her eyes even while being with a husband, so that her virginity may be justified before God. He could have said: “He progressed, receiving wisdom,” but since, when he came, “he emptied himself,” he said “being filled,” in order to show that he filled what he had emptied and was receiving again those things from which he had voluntarily emptied himself.

^A And mercy to the poor (64). Hyperbolic benevolence, so that we may cover even the naked with another tunic. But I say this, that this place also looks to a deeper understanding, and it is necessary to give a tunic to him who had none at all. Who, then, is this one who has no tunic? It is surely he who has no God at all. We ought, therefore, to strip ourselves and give to him who is naked. One has God, another, namely the contrary force, has none at all. And just as it is written, that we might cast our transgressions into the depths of the sea: so it is proper that vices and sins be cast away by us and hurled upon him who was the cause of them for us. And he who has, he says, food, let him do likewise. Let him who has food distribute to him who has none, so that he may bestow not only a garment, but also that which he can eat. ^B *And the tax collectors also came to be baptized by him* (65). This, even according to the simple understanding, also teaches the tax collectors to seek nothing more than what is commanded in the Law; for those who extort more, do not violate the command of John, but that of the Holy Spirit who spoke in John. I do not know, however, whether, according to anagogical interpretation, the discourse signifies something else more excellent, and whether we ought to bring forth such mystical matters in such an audience, especially among those who do not scrutinize the depths of the Scriptures, but are only delighted with the surface. It is dangerous, indeed, but nevertheless must be touched upon briefly. When we have departed from the world ^C and this life of ours has been changed, there will be certain ones sitting at the boundaries of the world, as if performing the duty of tax collectors, most diligently searching lest they find anything of theirs in us. It seems to me that the prince of this world is like a tax collector, whence it is written concerning him: *The prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me*. That also which we read in the Apostle: *Render to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; honor to whom honor; owe no one anything, except to love one another*, must be understood in a sacred way. Therefore, let us consider lest, when we do not have what we can pay for custom, we ourselves be dragged off because of the debt, as is accustomed to happen also with the tax collectors of the world, when someone is imprisoned for a debt owed to the republic himself. Many of us are to be held by tax collectors of this kind: whom that holy man Jacob did not greatly fear, nor did he dread that anything of the tax collectors' dues would be found in him. Whence also he spoke boldly to that tax collector Laban: *Recognize if there is anything of yours with me*. Concerning which Scripture bears witness, saying: *And Laban found nothing with Jacob*. Therefore, our Savior and the Holy Spirit, who spoke in the prophets, teaches that not only men (66), but also angels and invisible powers ^D [need this]. What does he say about the Savior? The prophets...

[Regarding the Greek fragment:]

...persuasive ^B toward the need to clothe the poor, and not to neglect the commandment. But coming to a deeper level, I say that the Word wants us not to have two tunics, and to be clothed, at one time in the old, at another in the new; but to strip off the one, and to have the other; and that we must, having stripped them off, sink our sins as if into the depths, and cast them upon the one who became the cause of the sins, upon him who does not possess God—that is, the devil. The same also applies to food. According to the literal sense, one must share with him who has no food; but according to the hidden sense, shameful things are to be cast away to the demons. ...[the text continues, regarding the tax collectors]... For he who transgresses this, and demands more than what is appointed, transgresses the commandment not of John, but of the Holy Spirit who is in him. I know also of other tax collectors who, after departing from here, sit at the ends of the world, as it were, collecting taxes and holding fast, so that nothing of theirs might be in us. Therefore it is written: *The prince of this world comes, and in me he has nothing*. What kind of things, then, are we about to undergo from those tax collectors who search everything, when one is taken completely [by them] instead of a tax? But Jacob was not like this; for, confident, he says to the would-be tax collector Laban: *Recognize if anything of yours is with me*. And Scripture testifies regarding Jacob, saying: *And Laban did not recognize anything with Jacob*.

[Regarding the Latin note (66):]

(66) It thinks that in this peroration, not only the Savior, but also the prophets, and finally the angels taught by the Church, knew what they should know, and through their doctrine had progressed toward salvation. And if he said that the angels did not have the most absolute knowledge of the Dominical Incarnation and its mysteries, yet in such a way that it was revealed and disclosed to them before it was to men, and thus believed that the angels were instructed through the Church, as witnesses and participants in things, this would not differ from the sentiment of other Fathers. For even Jerome himself, in his *Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians*, chapter III, verse 10, teaches that that manifold wisdom unknown to the angels, of which the Apostle speaks, is contained in the mysteries of the life of Christ. But Adamantius, as is clear from the deeper context, considers that the angels, not otherwise than men, needed the death of Christ for their salvation, and were, as it were, like disciples of the prophets, instructed by the precepts of the apostles and aroused toward virtue: a sentiment which manifestly fights against the innumerable testimonies of holy Scripture and the decrees of the orthodox faith. It is, indeed, his solemn...

example giving to all children, that they should honor their parents—not only those by nature, but also those by adoption—and do whatever they command. Mary, therefore, like a storehouse, "kept all these things," as one possessing knowledge of the events; for she did not hear them as coming from a twelve-year-old child, but she "kept all his words" in her heart as from one who was perfect. And "in stature" not of the body—in which he advanced, which is not within our power, but rather in nature—but in the stature of the soul, which is within our power, which "he who has set aside the things of a child" strengthened.

At the time when the prophetic word was proclaimed only among the Jews, only the kingdom of the Jews is recorded. "The vision," it says, "which Isaiah saw concerning Judea and Jerusalem, in the reign of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah"—and I know of no other king recorded in the time of that prophecy, save for the king of Judea, and in some prophecies, the king of Israel. But when John was about to preach the mystery of the Gospel, it is recorded not that Herod was king only of the Jews, nor Tiberius only of the Romans; since, however, the mystery of the Gospel had to be preached to the whole world, and Tiberius appeared to be king of the whole world, for that reason "in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar" and the things following are recorded.

And if the Gentiles alone were to be saved, and the salvation of the children of Israel had been entirely shut out, that would have sufficed: "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar." But since those from Galilee and those from Ituraea and Trachonitis and Abilene also needed to believe, for this reason these kingdoms, or rather tetrarchies, are also recorded. Never has "the word of God" come upon any of the prophets "in the wilderness," except now, solely on account of some mystical contemplation. Since there were going to be "many more of the children of the wilderness"—that is, of the Church from the Gentiles—"than of her who has" the law as a "husband"—I mean the synagogue of the Jews—for this reason "the word of God came to John in the wilderness." For if this were not so, he would be doing it superfluously by "preaching in the wilderness." But the "voice of one crying in the wilderness" was the forerunner of Christ, for the soul that does not have war; and not only then, but even now, the "burning and shining lamp" comes first, "preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins," and then after him comes "the true light," concerning whom the lamp says: "He must increase, but I must decrease." "And he came into all the country about the Jordan."

^A from the Father and the Son, and the divine and sublime nature, but the apostle Paul. Do not all men seem to you to have loved more than is expedient, and while they marvel at the virtue of each one, to have lost the measure of love? This, indeed, we suffer in the Church: for many, while they love more than we deserve, boast of these things and speak them, praising our discourses and doctrine, which our conscience does not accept. Others, however, slandering our treatises, accuse us of harboring thoughts we have never known ourselves to harbor. But neither those who love more nor those who hate hold the rule of truth; and some lie out of affection, others out of hatred. Whence it is necessary to impose reins on charity, and permit it only as much freedom of wandering as will not cause it to fall into precipices. It is written in Ecclesiastes: ^B "Be not righteous over much, neither make thyself over wise; why shouldest thou destroy thyself?" Following this example, I may say something similar: do not love a man with all your soul and with all your strength; do not love an angel with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength; but keep the commandment, according to the Savior’s word, for God alone. For, He says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength." Let someone respond to me and say: "The Savior commands: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself.' I want to love Christ: instruct me, therefore, how I should love Him. For if I love Him with all my heart and with all my soul ^C and with all my strength, I act against the commandment, since I am loving another besides the one God in this way. But if I love Him less than the omnipotent Father, I fear that in the Firstborn of every creature I may be found impious and profane. Instruct me, and show me the reason how, walking in the middle between both, I ought to love Christ." Do you wish to know with what charity Christ must be loved? Listen briefly. You shall love the Lord your God in Christ. Do you think there can be a different charity in the Father and the Son? Love the Lord Christ at the same time. Love the Father in the Son, the Son in the Father, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. But if anyone inquires and says: "Prove what you assert from the Scriptures," let him hear the apostle Paul, who possessed ^D rational charity, saying: "For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

HOMILY XXVI

On that which is written: "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor," up to that place where he says: "And will gather the wheat into his garner." Chapter III.

Christ is God: and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. Our God is also a consuming fire. God is called in a twofold way, both spirit and fire. He is spirit to the just, fire to sinners. But while angels also are called spirits and fire: "Who maketh," he says, "his angels spirits; and his ministers a flaming fire"; to the holy, the angels are spirits; but to those who deserve it, they administer fire and supply heat. According to which sense also our God and Savior, since He is spirit, has come to cast fire upon the earth. Spirit, according to that which is written: "But when thou shalt turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away"; and: "The Lord is that Spirit." But He came to cast fire not upon heaven, but upon the earth, as He Himself demonstrates saying: "I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?" For if you have turned to the Lord, who is spirit, Christ will be a spirit for you, and He has not come to cast fire upon the earth. But if you have not turned to God, but possess the earth and its fruit, He has come to cast fire upon your earth. To this, something similar is also written of God: "A fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall devour the earth and her increase." Why have I recalled these things? Because also the baptism with which Jesus baptizes is in the Holy Spirit and in fire. I remember those things which I have spoken lately, and the previous explanation does not pass away; but I wish to bring forward something new. If you are holy, you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit; if a sinner, you will be plunged into fire; and one and the same baptism will be turned into condemnation and fire for the unworthy and for sinners; but for those who are holy and turn to the Lord with full faith, the grace and salvation of the Holy Spirit are to be bestowed. He, therefore, who is said to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, has his fan in his hand, and he will purge his floor, and he will gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn the chaff with fire unquenchable. I want to find the reason why our Lord has a fan, and that by a gentle wind light chaff is driven here and there, whereas grain is heavy; but if, in fact, there is a calm, the fan is useless, the chaff is separated into its own place, and the wheat, having overcome the wind, is carried down to the same spot. And see whether temptations, which separate the chaff, are the wind that proves the wheat to be wheat. For the wind, or temptation, having overcome someone, does not make him chaff—that is, light and faithless—but tests him as being such. And even if someone endures temptation, it is not…

temptation that has made him faithful and patient, but it has manifested the virtue of patience that was hidden in him. I desire, therefore, to see how my Lord Jesus holds a winnowing fan, and with what wind blowing (for where there is no wind, the winnowing fan is useless), the chaff is snatched away to its own place, while the wheat, overcoming the wind, is carried to its own. See whether, perhaps, the temptations that separate the chaff are the wind that demonstrates what is truly wheat. For the wind—that is, temptation—when it overcomes someone, does not make him chaff, but argues that he was such. And if someone endures temptation, it is not temptation that has made him faithful and tolerant, but it has manifested the hidden virtue of patience in him. [Ruæus]

HOMILY XXVII

Concerning that which is written: *Many other things, therefore, while exhorting, he announced,* up to the place where it is said: *The Holy Spirit descended upon him.* ^C

He who teaches the Gospel word does not announce one thing, but many. This indeed Scripture signifies, saying: *Many other things, therefore, while exhorting, he announced.* And so, other things too, which are not written, John was preaching to the people; but consider how great those things were which announce Christ. For he showed the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he preached salvation to the publicans, he taught the soldiers discipline, the threshing floor to be cleansed, the trees to be cut down, and the rest that the history of the Gospel narrates. Excluding, therefore, those things which are written, even those which are not written are shown to have been announced in what is said: *Many other things, therefore, while exhorting, he announced to the people.* And just as it is reported in the Gospel according to John concerning Christ: *That many other things were spoken, which are not written in this book, which if they were written, I do not think the world itself could contain the books that were to be written*; so also in the present place, understand that perhaps Luke, since greater things were being announced by John than could be believed by letters, wished to state them by name, but only signified that they were said; and therefore he said: *Many other things, therefore, while exhorting, he announced to the people.* Let us indeed admire John from what follows, especially because among those born of women there was no one greater than John the Baptist, and he ascended to such a high opinion by merit of his virtue that he was thought by many to be Christ; but there is something much more wondrous. ^D Herodes the tetrarch possessed royal power, and he could have killed him when he pleased; and when he had done a thing unjust and against the law of Moses, namely, to take the wife of his brother—who had a daughter by her former husband—he did not fear him; he did not accept a person; he did not think, as I said, of the royal power; he did not dread his own destruction; for he knew—even if he were not a prophet—that, provoked, he could kill him. When he knew all these things, therefore, with prophetic liberty he rebuked Herod and argued against the incestuous nuptials, and for that reason, shut in prison, he was not solicitous about his death, nor about the uncertainty of the judgment, but in his bonds he was thinking of Christ, whom he had announced. And because he himself could not go to him, he sends his disciples asking: *Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another?* You notice that even in prison he taught, seeing that he had disciples in that place, and he was teaching them by himself for the purpose of that place. Among which things also, when a question had arisen concerning Jesus, he sends two of his disciples...

to ask: Art thou he that is to come, or look we for another? The disciples return and announce to the Master what the Saviour had ordered them to announce, for whose words John, armed for the conflict, dies courageously and is willingly beheaded, confirmed by the very voice of the Lord, believing indeed that He was the Son of God. ^A Concerning John, and his liberty, and the insanity of Herod, who in addition to many crimes added this also—that he first shut John in prison and afterwards beheaded him. Because when the Lord was baptized, and the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, a voice thundered from the heavens saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased 17: it must be said regarding the baptism of Jesus, that heaven had been unsealed, and for the dispensation of the remission of sins, not he who had not committed sin, nor was there found deceit in his mouth 18, but that the heavens were opened to the whole world, and the Holy Spirit descended: so that as the Lord had ascended on high, and led captivity captive, he might bestow upon us the Spirit, who ^B is at hand for those who venerate Him: whom indeed he had given, and at the time of the resurrection saying: Receive ye the Holy Spirit. If ye remit the sins of any, they are remitted unto them; if ye hold them, they are held. For the Holy Spirit descends upon the Saviour in the form of a dove, a bird meek, innocent, and simple. Whence it is commanded to us, that we should imitate the innocence of doves. Such is the Holy Spirit, pure, and flying, and rising on high. Wherefore, praying, we say: Who will give me wings as of a dove, and I will rest 20? That is, who will give me the wings of the Holy Spirit? And in another place 21 the prophetic word promises: ^C You shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver: and her hinder parts with the colour of gold. For if we have rested among the lots of the New and Old Testament, the wings of the dove shall be given to us, that is, the words of God, and her hinder parts shall shine with brightness and greenness, so that our spirit may be filled with the senses of the Holy Spirit, that is, that His word and mind may be filled with his advent, and we may speak nothing, nor understand, unless what He suggests; so that all sanctification, as much in the heart as in words, and in work, may come from the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXVIII.

On the genealogy of the Saviour, and why in Matthew and in Luke different authors are reported. Chap. III.

Our Lord and Saviour, whose generation Scripture has not taught—who is better, now is described as born according to the order of the fathers. And since His divinity is not subject to a beginning, on that account, He did not wish to ^D have an origin in the flesh, yet not equally the evangelists narrate His nativity: a matter which has greatly disturbed not a few. Matthew, indeed, beginning his nativity, does not weave it from Abraham, until he says: The generation of Jesus Christ was in this wise 22; and describes not him who has been baptized, but him who comes into the world. Luke, however, setting forth his nativity, does not lead from superiors to inferiors; but when he had said before that he was baptized, he arrived at God himself. Nor are they the same persons in his generation, when they descend, and the evangelists weave his genealogy in a different manner: which thing disturbs many who read the Scripture. Matthew, indeed, weaves the genealogy not of him who is baptized, but of him who comes into the world, leading from Abraham, until he says: The generation of Jesus Christ was in this wise; Luke, however, weaves it in the same way, but does not lead the baptized down, but refers it to God himself. Nor does he lead down by the same men as the descent and ascent of the generation. For he who leads down, leads down even the sinful women, mentioning only those liable to reproach, Tamar whom she lay with her father-in-law, Ruth the Moabitess, Rahab whom we know to have been a harlot, and she who was Uriah's. Because when he came to take upon himself the sins of men, and him who knew not sin, made sin for us, he descends to the persons of the sins of men, and they are written, even Roboam whose crimes are related in the books of the Kings, and the rest, of whom many did evil in the sight of the Lord. But he who weaves the genealogy of the baptized, names no woman in it, but, ascending from baptism, he arranges the series of the generation, and it is not carried upwards by Solomon, but by Nathan. There, the name of the generation is always added until the end: This, by grace, begat that; but here Jesus ascends, who was, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, and nowhere is the generation, but only supposed. He is said also to begin: And he himself, he says, beginning, that you may also ascend the first birth, and ascend the second through the regeneration.

And as it is written, that we must, having stripped ourselves, "cast our sins into the depths of the sea," so we must cast our sins upon him, as one who has become the cause for us to sin. The same applies also to food: according to the literal meaning, one must share with those who have no food, but according to the hidden meaning, we must cast away our base things to the demons. "And the tax collectors also came to be baptized." Let this persuade the tax collectors not to take "more" than the ordinance regarding tax collectors from those being taxed; for he who transgresses this and demands "more than what is appointed" transgresses the commandment, not of John, but of the Holy Spirit who is in him. I know also of other tax collectors, who, after our departure from this place, sit at the ends of the world as if they were collecting taxes from us and detaining us, to see if anything of theirs is in us. Therefore it is written: "The ruler of this world is coming, and in me he will find nothing." What kind of dealings, then, are we about to have with those tax collectors who investigate all things, when a man is taken in his entirety as a tax? But Jacob was not like that; for he says confidently to the, as it were, tax collector Laban: "Recognize if anything of yours is with me." And indeed, the Scripture testifies concerning Jacob, saying: "And Laban did not find anything with Jacob."

^A when the days had been completed, he was hungry. And the devil said to him: "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." "Command," he says, "this stone." To which stone? Assuredly the devil was showing the one which he desires to become bread. What is this temptation, that when the Son has been asked for bread by the Father, the devil—a deceitful and treacherous being—would not grant a stone in place of bread, which not even the adversary himself desired? For this is what the devil wanted: that a stone should become bread; and not rather that he should turn not a stone into bread, but a man into a stone, whom the devil had displayed in lieu of bread? I think that to this day the devil shows a stone and urges individuals to speak: men had to be tempted, and the Lord was the first to be tempted according to the assumption of his flesh. But he is tempted for this reason, that we also, when he prevails, may prevail. What I say may perhaps be obscure unless it is made clearer by an example. If you see heretics consuming the falsehood of their doctrines as if it were bread, know that their word is the stone which the devil displays. Nor indeed should you think that he has but one stone; he has many stones, concerning which he is introduced by Matthew speaking thus: "Command that these stones become bread." Marcion also said this, and the devil’s stone became bread for him. Valentinus said this, and another stone was turned into bread for him. Basilides also had such things, and the rest of the heretics. Whence it must be carefully guarded against, lest by chance, in consuming the devil’s stone, we think we are feeding on the bread of God. ^B (78) Otherwise, what kind of temptation was there in a stone being made into bread, and being eaten by the Savior? For let us imagine that, at the devil’s suggestion, the Lord had turned a stone into bread, and had eaten that which he himself had made by his own power, and had satisfied his hunger: what kind of temptation would that be, or what victory for the devil, if these things were written in such a simple way? Which, as we have said, when the reason is examined and the temptation is shown to have occurred if they were to happen, and the victory—(79) and at the same time it is shown that this bread which is made from a stone is not the Word of God which feeds man, concerning whom it is written: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds through the mouth of God, shall man live." I will answer you, O deceitful and wicked one, who do not fear to tempt me: another is the bread, the word of God which vivifies man. And at the same time let us see that he speaks these things not as the Son of God, but as a man, whom the Son of God deigned to assume, for he answers as if of a man, and says: "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone," from which it is manifest that it was not God, but man, who was tempted. (80) Carefully sifting the meaning of Scripture, I believe I find the cause why John did not describe the temptation of the Lord, but only Matthew, Luke, and Mark. For John, who had made his beginning from God, saying: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word," ^C could not weave the order of divine generation, but had only expressed that which was from God and with God, added: "And the Word was made flesh." Furthermore, because God cannot be tempted—of whom his discourse was—therefore he does not introduce him as being tempted by the devil. But because the book of the generation of Jesus Christ is narrated concerning him in the Gospel of Matthew, and his generation is described in Luke, and in Mark it is a man who is tempted, for that reason a similar response is reported of him: "Man shall not live by bread alone." (81) If, therefore, the Son of God was made man for your sake and is tempted: since you are man by nature, you ought not to be indignant if by chance you are tempted. But if, having been tempted, you shall have imitated him who was tempted for you, and shall have overcome every temptation, you shall have hope with him who at that time was man, but now ^D (82) has ceased to be man. For he answers and says: "Man shall not live by bread alone," signifying that it is man who is tempted. [Id.] Having arrived at this place, I am able to bring forth the reason why John did not describe the temptation which is read in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Since John had taken his beginning from God, he did not treat of his genealogy as God. For this reason, because he was God, he could not be tempted; but the others, as they recount the things pertaining to the Savior’s humanity, introduce him also as being tempted. [Id.] (81) It is not to be thought that this is the opinion which Eusebius attributes to Marcellus of Ancyra, namely that Christ would cast off his flesh after the resurrection, and consequently cease to be man and king. Origen’s reasoning was different. For he did not think that Christ was separated from his body, but he denies that he is still man for this reason—because whoever is not subject to death, he does not consider to be a man at all. In this, the question turns only upon the name of man. Nevertheless, it must be confessed that this remark is temerarious and therefore to be repudiated. [Id.] (82) He meets the objection of Origen, as Pamphilus testifies.

Matthew does not record the genealogy of the one being baptized, but of the one coming into the world; Luke, however, in recording the genealogy, does not bring it down, but brings it up to God himself, the one being baptized. And the descent of the genealogy is not the same as the ascent. For the one who brings [the line] down in his account brings him down even through sinful women, having recorded only those who were objectionable; but the one recording the genealogy of the one being baptized does not name any woman in his genealogy: Tamar, who did not legally cohabit with her father-in-law, or Ruth the Moabitess, or Rahab, whom we do not even know, or the wife of Uriah. Since he came to take upon himself the sins of men, and God "made him who knew no sin to be sin for us," for this reason, in descending, he took on the sinful figures, and is born through Solomon, whose sins are recorded, and Rehoboam, whose failings are spoken of in the Books of Kings, and the others, of whom many did "that which was evil in the sight of the Lord." But this [latter] one brings [the line] up, ascending from the baptism, and in his genealogy he ascends not through Solomon, but through Nathan, who rebuked the father regarding the birth of Solomon and the murder of Uriah. And there, indeed, the facts of birth are always named; but here, the facts of birth are passed over in silence.

"Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judah and his brethren, and Judah begat Phares and Zara of Thamar"; and so on until the end: "So-and-so begat So-and-so." But here, Jesus ascends, "being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph"; and nowhere is there "generation" here, but only "being supposed." And there, it never begins with generation; here, however, since He ascends from baptism, it is said "to begin": "For He Himself," he says, "was Jesus beginning." For when he was baptized and received the mystery of regeneration—so that you too might abolish your former birth and ascend to a second through rebirth—then it is said "to begin." And just as those who were in Egypt had no beginning of months nor a month of feasts, but when they were already departing, it was legislated for them by the Word who said: "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you," so he—the one who has not yet been baptized—has not yet "begun," but he who has been baptized "has begun." For not in vain did he add to "and He Himself was Jesus" the word "beginning." Let us also speak regarding "being thirty years old": Who was thirty years old and began the economy concerning Him? Joseph.

^A and is interpreted regarding Christ, which was written not of Christ, but of the saints generally. Indeed, I contradict the devil freely and with full confidence; concerning the person of Christ, this cannot be understood. For He is not in need of the assistance of angels, He who is greater than the angels, and has obtained a better inheritance and name than them. To none of the angels did God ever say, "You are My Son, today I have begotten You." To none of them did He speak as to a Son: "Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire"; but to His own Son, properly so, of whom He speaks numberless things in the prophets. I say, the Son of God does not need the help of angels. Rather, learn, O devil, that unless Jesus helps the angels, they stumble in their step. And if any of the angels is seen as stumbling, of whom it was read long ago that "we shall judge angels," it is because he stumbled, for he did not extend his hand to Jesus, so that, being grasped by Him, he might not stumble. For because you are confident in your own strength, you do not invoke the protection of Jesus; you stumble, and you did not wish to believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God. But so that you may know that you interpreted it wrongly, and that the things which follow are to be understood not of Christ, but of the saints, listen. From the ruin and the "demon at noonday," God does not deliver Jesus Christ, but the saints. Read the ninetieth Psalm, the beginning of which is: "He who dwells in the help of the Most High, shall abide in the protection of the God of heaven," and you will find that these things suit the just man more than the Son of God: "A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you; you shall truly look with your eyes, and you will see the retribution of sinners," and the rest, interpreting it over the person of the just one. But even thus, the devil, perversely bringing forth testimonies so that he might assert that it is understood of the Savior, is silent and passes over the verses which are written against him. For when he had said, "He has given His angels charge concerning you, and in their hands they shall take you, lest you stumble your foot against a stone," he remained silent about that which follows: "You shall walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and you shall trample the lion and the dragon." Why are you silent, O devil, unless it is because you are the basilisk, you are the king of all serpents, having more harmful poisons than the others? You, who as soon as you see someone, kill him, and you take as an associate another contrary power, which is called an asp, and is subject to the just man, and therefore you keep silent about all things. You are the dragon, you are the lion, of whom it is written: "You shall step upon the asp and the basilisk, and you shall trample the lion and the dragon." But although you keep silent, we who read the Scriptures more correctly, know that we have the power to trample you, and this condition given to us, not only in the Old Testament as is now sung in the psalm, but also in the New, with the Savior saying: "Behold, I give you power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall harm you." Let us take up arms, strengthened by such power, and let us do all things: that through our manner of life we may trample the lion and the dragon. Furthermore, that you may know how the lion is trampled and the dragon is crushed, read Paul's Epistle, in which he asserts that sinners are trampled down by the Son of God. As, therefore, the one who is a sinner is trampled down by the Son of God, so on the contrary, he who is just tramples the lion and the dragon, and tramples all the power of the enemy in the name of 970 Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXXII

^B Concerning that which is written: "And Jesus returned in the power of the spirit," up to that place where it says: "And the eyes of all were in the synagogue looking at Him." Ch. iv.

At first, indeed, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led in the spirit into the desert for forty days. When He was being tempted by the devil, both once and twice, it is put without any addition of "spirit." But when He had overcome by fighting the three temptations which the Scripture commemorates, observe what is pointedly and cautiously said about the spirit; it says: "And Jesus returned in the power of the spirit." "Power" is added because He had trampled the dragon and had vanquished the tempter at close quarters. Jesus returned, therefore, in the power of the Spirit into the land of Galilee, and the fame of Him went out through all the region; He Himself was teaching in their synagogues, and was glorified by all. Beware that you do not judge those blessed ones alone, and that you do not think yourself the first in doctrine. If the things which are written are true, not only then in the congregations of the Jews, but also today, the Lord speaks in this congregation; and not only in this one, but also in another gathering, and in the whole world, Jesus teaches, seeking vessels through which He might teach. Pray that He might find me also composed for singing, and apt. For just as the omnipotent God seeks prophets at the time when mortals are in need of prophecy, and finds, for example, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel: so God seeks vessels through which He might teach His word, or instruct the peoples in their synagogues, and be glorified by all. Now Jesus is glorified by all more than [he was then].

^A Having come to this place, I am able to state the reason why John did not record the temptation, whereas Matthew, Mark, and Luke did record it. Because John began from God, he did not provide a genealogy for Him as God. For this reason, since He is God, He is not tempted; but the others, as they relate the human events of the Savior, introduce Him as being tempted as well. "He showed Him all the kingdoms of the world." He speaks of kingdoms of the world in terms of worldly men: how some are ruled by fornication, others are ruled by greed, and others by vainglory and other passions. He was not showing Him the kingdoms of the world, such as, for example, the administration of the Persians or the Indians, but "He showed Him the kingdoms of the world" in terms of how he has the power to rule them, in order to prompt Him to do what he thought, if done, would overcome Christ. "If you wish," he says, "to rule over these, and have come for this purpose, to struggle and to turn away those who are ruled by me, do not struggle; I ask one thing: 'Fall down and worship me,' and take possession of all the kingdom that is under me."

But the Savior wishes to reign and to subject all the nations, so that they might become servants of righteousness and truth and every virtue; yet He does not wish to reign with sin, nor does He wish to be crowned having subjected Himself to him [the devil] without struggle, nor to take into His hand all "the kingdoms of the world" and their glory without struggle. Therefore He says to him: "It is written: 'You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.'" These, He says, for this reason I wish to be ruled by Me, so that they may "worship the Lord God and serve Him only"; this is the will of My kingdom. But you wish sin to have dominion from Me, which I wish to abolish. And observe how wickedly he attempts to make use of the Scriptures. He wishes to bring down the glory of the Lord, as if He were in need of angelic help, as if He were about to strike His foot, if the angels were not to help Him. For this use of the Psalm was not spoken concerning Christ, for the Master of the angels does not need angels. But I say the opposite to you, O devil: if Jesus does not help the angels, they strike their foot. And it is for this reason that you have fallen "from heaven," because you thought yourself to be self-sufficient and not in need of the help of Jesus.

^A Indeed, I think that the Samaritan carried with him not only for this one half-dead man, but also for others who for various reasons had been wounded and were in need of bandages, and oil, and wine. He had oil, of which it is written: *That he may make the face cheerful with oil*; there is no doubt that by the oil the swellings of the wounds of him who had been healed were also soothed. But He also entrusts the wounds to wine, mixing in some harshness; and he placed him who had been wounded upon his beast, that is, upon his own body, in accordance with the fact that it is a dignity for him to assume man. This Samaritan bears our sins and suffers for us; he carries the half-dead man, and leads him into the inn, that is, into the Church, which receives all and denies its help to no one, to which Jesus calls everyone, saying: *Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you.* And after he has brought him in, he does not immediately depart, but stays for one day in the inn with the half-dead man, and tends to his wounds not only by day, but also by night, bestowing upon him the rest of his care and diligence. And when he wished to depart in the morning, out of his own proven silver, out of his own proven money, he takes two denarii and charges the innkeeper—doubtless the angel of the Church—whom he instructs to care for him diligently and to lead him until he is healed, whom he himself had also tended because of the straitness of the time. The knowledge of the Father and the Son, and the science of the sacrament, how the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father, seem to me to be the two denarii, which are given as a reward to the angel so that he might more diligently care for the person entrusted to him, and it is promised to him that whatever he spends of his own for the healing of the half-dead man will be immediately repaid. Truly, this is the guardian of souls of the Law and the prophecy, who showed mercy to him who had fallen among robbers, and proved to be his neighbor not so much in word as in work. Since, therefore, it is possible, according to that which follows, for us to imitate Christ and to have mercy on those who have fallen among robbers, to approach them, to bind their wounds, to pour in oil and wine, to place them upon our own beast, and to bear their burdens; for this reason the Son of God, encouraging us to such things, speaks not so much to the lawyer as to us all: *Go and do you likewise.* If we do likewise, we shall obtain eternal life in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXXV

Unless it were innate in us to judge what is just, the Savior would never have said: *And why even of yourselves do you not judge what is just?* But that we may not wander too far in the proof of this sentiment, especially since many more difficult points are bound up with this chapter, it will suffice to have signified only the proud. Nay rather, of our souls.

^A When the lawyer asked, "What must I do to inherit eternal life," He sends him back to the Law itself, so that he might gather from there the commandments that lead the one who performs them to eternal life, saying to him: "You have answered correctly; do this and you shall live," referring obviously to the eternal life about which he was asking and which the Savior teaches. He bears witness, therefore, to the one who has taken from the Law both the passage from Deuteronomy: "You shall love the Lord your God," and the rest, and from Leviticus: "your neighbor as yourself." The Savior likewise declared concerning these two commandments that on them "the whole Law and the Prophets hang." And the word teaches this: for it is not just any person who becomes a neighbor to the one keeping the commandment, but everyone makes himself a neighbor to the one who is in need of help. For this is what is added to the parable: "Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the one who fell among the robbers?" For indeed, the lawyer admits this, saying that it was "the one who showed mercy upon him," and he hears the command: "Go and do likewise."

Man is being led up to Adam; Jerusalem to Paradise; Jericho to the world; the robbers to the opposing powers; the priest to the Law; the Levite to the prophetic word; the Samaritan to Christ, who bore flesh from Mary; the wounds to disobedience; the beast of burden to the body of Christ; the inn to the Church; the two denarii to the knowledge of the Father and the Son; the innkeeper to the angels who preside over the Church; the return of the Samaritan to the second manifestation of Christ. Concerning those who came before Christ as false teachers; the wounds represent sins; the priest reveals the Law, while the Levite represents the prophetic word. The Samaritan, therefore, who is traveling—which is interpreted as "guardian," which is Christ, who neither slumbers nor sleeps while watching over Israel—saw the man lying half-dead, and in His love for mankind, He intended to make him rest upon His own beast of burden, that is, His body, in which all those who are "weary and heavy-laden" find rest. It calls the inn the Church, which has become capable of receiving and containing all; from this, we may also understand the innkeepers...

^A. There is no other time for rendering an account than the time of judgment, when it will be clearly known what has been entrusted to us, and what profit or what loss we have made; who among us has received a mina, who one talent, who two, who five. It is not necessary to detail more, since it suffices to have said this in common, that we shall have to render an account, and if we are found to be debtors, we shall be dragged to the judge, and by the judge be handed over to the exactor. We each have our own exactors: but the whole multitude is handed over to many, according to that which is written in Isaiah: "My people, your exactors strip you, and those who are powerful lord it over you." The exactors lord it over us, if we owe something. But if we have confidence and have lived with a free countenance, I shall willingly keep the commandment: "Render to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; fear to whom fear; custom to whom custom; honor to whom honor." If I have rendered everything to everyone, I come to the exactor, and with a fearless mind I answer, "I owe you nothing." The exactor comes to demand, and I resist him. For I know that if I owe nothing, he has no power over me. But if I should be a debtor, my exactor will send me into prison, in the order which has been aforementioned. For the adversary leads me to the prince, the prince to the judge, and the judge turns me over to the exactor, and the exactor sends me to prison. What is the law of this prison? I do not go out from it, nor does the exactor allow me to go out, until I have paid the whole debt. The exactor does not have the power to concede even a farthing, or the smallest portion to me, whereas one ^B who is a creditor for those who have nothing with which to pay, is able to concede. He approached, it says, to him, one who owed five hundred denarii, and another fifty: and when they had nothing with which to pay, he forgave both. He who forgave is the Lord: but this one who is an exactor is not the lord, but is appointed by the Lord to exact debts. You were not worthy that five hundred or fifty denarii should be forgiven you, nor did you deserve to hear, "Your sins are forgiven you," but you are sent to prison, and there you are exacted through labor and works, or through punishments and torments, and you will not go out thence until you have paid the farthing, or the last mite, which in Greek can be called "slight," but our sins are "fat." For it is written: "The heart of the people has grown fat."

^D Whether by comparison of a greater matter, it is slight and subtle. Blessed, therefore, is he, first who does not sin, and second, that in a comparison one at least has a slight sin. And among these very slight and subtle things, there is a diversity of sins. If it were not a subtle currency, it would never be said: "You will not go out from there until you render the last farthing." How, without currency, could it speak of the last mite, which is a denarius, or a coin, or an obol, or a stater? But if we have owed a great sum of money, just like the one who is written to have owed ten thousand talents, for how long a time we are shut away in prison, until we pay the debt, I cannot clearly declare. For if one who owes little will not go out until he pays the last farthing, certainly, for one who has been liable for such a great debt, infinite ages will be numbered for him to pay the debt. Therefore, let us take care that we are freed from the adversary while we are on the way, and be joined to the Lord Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXXVI

^D On that which is written: "Whoever wants to save his soul will lose it," up to the place where it says: "The Kingdom of God is within you." Chapter XVII.

Whoever seeks, it says, to save his soul, will lose it: and whoever loses it for my sake, will save it. The martyrs seek to save their soul: therefore they lose it, so that they may save it. But those who want to save their soul, so that they do not lose it, these even lose both body and soul equally in hell. For this reason, "do not fear those," it says, "who can kill the body, but fear rather him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." This, according to the powers of our intellect, we have briefly said. But the animal man does not receive the things that are of the spirit, and therefore he cannot be saved. "It is sown an animal body, it is raised a spiritual body." Furthermore, he who clings to the Lord is made one spirit. If, therefore, he who is joined to the Lord, though he was animal, is through this turned into a spiritual one, and is one spirit: let us also lose our soul, so that clinging to the Lord we may be transformed into one spirit. But also, being asked about the Kingdom of God, the Savior answered the Pharisees: "When it comes," he says, "the Kingdom of God does not come with observation, nor will they say, 'lo here' or 'lo there.' For the Kingdom of God is within you." Not everything...

that our Savior says, "the Kingdom of God is within you," is to be understood in the sense that it is in the sinners, for the kingdom of sin is in them without ambiguity, or at least the kingdom of sin reigns in our heart. Hence, whatever we do, whatever we say, whatever we think, let us contemplate carefully, and then we shall see whether the empire of God reigns in us, or the empire of the wicked. Knowing this diversity, the Apostle, questioning him, says: "Let not sin reign in your mortal body." If anyone desires the kingdom of God, it is reigned over by Him. If anyone is tortured by the greed of avarice, he is reigned over by greed. He who is lifted up by the ambition of vain glory is reigned over by the breath of popularity. Whoever fears what he should love, whoever desires what he should not, is dominated by these things, just as he is possessed by various disturbances. Knowing all these things, and how great are the kingdoms, let us rise and pray to God that he may take away from us the enemy kingdom, and that we may be able to be under the kingdom of wisdom, of peace, of truth, which are all gathered together in the only-begotten Son of God, to whom be glory and empire for ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY XXXVII. On the fact that the foal of an ass is untied by the disciples. Chap. XIX.

It is read in the Gospel according to Luke how, when the Savior had come to Bethphage and Bethany, because near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples to untie the foal of an ass, which was bound, and upon which no one of men had ever sat. This to me means something higher than the simple history. The ass was bound. Where? Against Bethphage and Bethany. Of which Bethany is interpreted as "house of obedience," and Bethphage, indeed, as "jaws," a certain priestly place: for the jaws were given to the priests, as is prescribed in the Law. Where, therefore, there is obedience and a sacred place, there the Lord sends his disciples to untie ^C a "foal bound, on which no one of men had ever sat." He means this: no rational man had ever sat upon it, or a word of Moses or of Isaiah or of any other of the prophets. And when Christ came, he said to the disciples that they should go away and untie the foal. And he said to them: "If anyone asks you: Why are you untying the foal, you shall say, that the Lord has need of it." It should be observed that Jesus, he says, "If anyone asks you," and did not name the lord, but the evangelist says that "its lords said." For there were many lords of the ass before it was mastered by the Savior, but we know that he who has once become the Lord’s cannot have many lords; for when a man serves wickedness, he is a slave to many passions. Therefore, let us give thanks to be delivered from the adversary, so that we may be appropriated to the Lord Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Bethany is interpreted "house of obedience," and Bethphage "jaws," a certain priestly place: for the jaws were given to the priests, as has been written in the Law: where therefore there is obedience and a sacred place, there the Lord sends the apostles to untie "a foal bound, on which no one of men ever sat." Instead of: no rational man ever sat, or word of Moses or of Isaiah or of any other of the prophets. And when Christ came, he said to the disciples that they should go away and untie the foal. And he said to them: "If anyone asks you: Why do you untie the foal, you shall say, because the Lord has need of it." It should be observed that Jesus, he says, "If anyone asks you," and did not name the lord, but the evangelist says that "its lords said." For there were many lords of the ass before it was mastered by the Savior, but we know that he who has once become the Lord’s cannot have many lords; for when a man serves wickedness, he is a slave to many passions.

The disciples therefore take the word and set it upon the souls of those who hear; then they take off their own garments “and spread them on the road.” The garments of the apostles, then, lie before us—their noble deeds and their words adorn us. And the disciples wish that we should tread upon their garments—that is, that we should examine the apostolic words. But when are we silent? When “the love of many grows cold,” when that which was said by the Savior comes to pass: “When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” I ask whether perhaps the weeping of the Lord extends even to us. For we are the Jerusalem that is wept over—those who are more discerning. If, after the mysteries of the truth have been revealed to us and the word of salvation has been preached, we sin, we are wept over. For no pagan is wept over, but such a Jerusalem is wept over because its “enemies” surround it as it sins—the opposing powers—and they will cast a “rampart” about it and will “hem it in,” and “will not leave in it one stone upon another.” For if, after a long time of being of sound mind or practicing some other virtue, a person is overcome, his building is torn down.

Fragments on Luke

But here, where there is death, and marriage, and children, there is need for these things; there, where there is immortality, there is need for neither marriage nor children. I will propose to myself a very troublesome question, which is not easily solved, from the standpoint of those who are very studious of the Scriptures and meditate day and night in the law of the Lord. Where, they ask, is it written that they “neither marry nor are given in marriage”? Traversing both the Old and New Testaments with memory and mind, I do not recall such a thing being stated anywhere. But if perchance it escapes me, let him who knows more teach me. I willingly learn what I do not know. But as far as I judge, one will find no such thing in either the Old or the New Testament. All their error, therefore, arose from a prophetic reading which they do not understand, among which is that word in Isaiah: My chosen ones shall not have children for a curse. And in Deuteronomy, in the blessings: Blessed are the children of your womb. And they think these things will be in the resurrection, not understanding that spiritual blessings were predicted. For Paul, the vessel of election, interpreting all these blessings which are set down in the Law spiritually, and knowing they are not carnal, speaks to the Ephesians: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, when, rising from the dead, we shall attain eternal beatitude. But even finding something similar in the Psalms, they fall into the same error. Your wife, he says, is as a fruitful vine on the sides of your house, your children as olive plants around your table, up to the place where it says: May the Lord bless you from Sion, and may you see the good things of Jerusalem. Therefore, when Jerusalem has been built and restored to its ancient state, then one shall see the good things that the Scripture commemorates. Those who understand Jerusalem spiritually, and know that of it are said those things which are of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is above, which is our mother; they shall see her good things, of which we have often spoken, and that which we have now placed from the psalm: Your wife is as a fruitful vine on the sides of your house, your children as olive plants around your table. To the Sadducees, who understand all these things corporally—who were a part of the Jews—the Savior says: You do not know the Scriptures, nor the power of God. Let these things be said briefly concerning the question which the Sadducees proposed to the Lord. Furthermore, as to what is added concerning the image of Caesar, we must also touch upon this briefly. Some think that it was said by the Savior simply: Render the things that are Caesar’s to Caesar, that is, render the tribute which you owe. For who among us contradicts the rendering of tributes to Caesar? The passage therefore has something mystical and secret about it. There are two images of man: one which he received being made by God in the beginning, as it is written in Genesis: According to the image and likeness of God; the other of the earthy one, that is, the terrestrial one, after he was cast out of paradise on account of disobedience and sin and took that upon himself, persuaded by the allurements of the prince of this world. For just as a coin and a denarius has the image of the emperors of the world; so he who does the works of the ruler of these darknesses, bears the image of him whose works he has; which Jesus commanded to be rendered and cast out from our countenance, and that image to be assumed, according to which we were created in the beginning in the likeness of God. And so it happens that we render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. Show me, he says, a coin. For which in Matthew is written "a denarius." Which when he had received, he said: Whose inscription does it have? Who answering, said: Caesar’s. To whom again he said: Render therefore the things that are Caesar’s to Caesar, and the things that are God’s to God. And Paul has spoken of their consequence, saying: As we have borne the image of the earthy, let us also bear the image of the heavenly. What therefore he says: Render the things that are Caesar’s to Caesar, he says this: Strip off the person of the earthy, cast away the terrestrial image so that you may be able, putting on yourselves the person of the heavenly, to render the things that are God’s to God. God seeks us. What does he seek? Read Moses: And now what does the Lord seek from you? and the things which follow. God therefore demands from us, and entreats, not because he has need of anything, that we should give it to him: he demands, and after we have given it to him, he bestows it himself for our salvation. That this may be made more manifest, I will put forth the parable of the minas. He who had received one mina, and had made ten; and offered it to the lord, from whom the mina had been entrusted to him, received also another which he did not have before. For the lord commands the mina of him who had not multiplied what he had received to be taken away and given to him who has others. Take away, he says, the mina, and give it to him who has ten minas. And in this manner, what we have given to God, he will restore to us ourselves, along with those things which we had not had before. God requires and demands from us that he may have an occasion of giving, so that he may bestow upon him who has spent. For by his grace the mina has been doubled, and the magnitude of the glory is shown, but the body is taken away. For it is not written, they shall be angels, but, “as the angels”: where likeness is promised, truth is denied. They shall be, he says, as the angels, that is, like the angels: therefore they will not cease to be human. However, the holy doctor often refutes this conceit of Origen in many places.