OF OUR HOLY FATHER GREGORY PALAMAS, ARCHBISHOP OF THESSALONICA, FORTY-ONE HOMILIES. NOW PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME BY THE ORDER OF THE MOST BLESSED AND HOLY PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM, LORD CYRIL. (Jerusalem, from the Press of the Holy Sepulchre. – 1837.)
HOMILY 1. On preserving peace among one another. Delivered three days after his arrival in Thessalonica.
A Brothers, we are all brothers inasmuch as we have one Lord and Creator, whom for this reason we have obtained as a common Father. But we share this fraternity even with the irrational and unfeeling nature. We are, however, brothers to one another, inasmuch as we were all born of one, Adam, and we alone have been made in the image of God; but this too is common to us and to all the nations. We are, however, brothers to one another to an even greater degree as being of the same race and inhabiting the same region, and especially because we all enrich one another with the same common mother, the holy Church, and with the same godliness, of which the Author and Perfecter is Christ, the true Son of God, who deigned to be not only our God, but also our Brother and Father. B And not only these things, but He is also our Head, gathering us all into one body and making us members of one another and of Himself. For after His three-day Resurrection from the dead, . . .
A appearing to the women who had come to the tomb, the Lord said: "Go, tell my brethren that they may depart into Galilee, and there they shall see me." Do you see how He deigns to be called our brother? Therefore, the Apostle also says concerning Him: "For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren." But because Christ is also our Father, having regenerated us through holy baptism and His divine grace, for this reason He calls His own disciples His children, and promises, as He comes to the saving passion, that He will not leave them orphans. Whence again says the Apostle: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." B And that we are all one body in Christ, Paul also confirmed this to the faithful, saying: "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." For even as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of the one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ; for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.
Therefore, brethren, we have one laver of regeneration and divine birth, one faith, one hope, one God over all, and through all, and in all of us, joining us to Himself by the bond of divine charity, and making us members of one another and of Himself. C But mutual hatred, coming in through the cooperation of the evil one, and casting out charity—not once, but many times breaking in, and dissolving our union with one another and with God, which was effected through charity—not only disjoins the members of the same city one from another and renders it as though paralyzed, but, having set them as enemies against each other, it stirs up civil factions, seditions, turbulences, and insane riots; and having fashioned fellow-citizens into adversaries, it bestows upon this city of ours the appearance of a city captured by enemies, miserably rousing it against itself, and making it treacherous and hostile to itself, so that under this pernicious state it is turned into a riddle. D For who are they who run upon the city, and sometimes tear down houses, and plunder the goods within them, and with great madness search for the masters of the houses, and cry out against them impiously and inhumanly? Is it not the inhabitants of this very city? Whose is such fury and roaring and assault and incursion? Is it not again those who inhabit the city, and sometimes those by whose help it has attained many good things? Oh, the sorrow! Alas, the monstrous misfortune! She provokes herself to war, she is provoked by herself, trampled by her own feet, cast down by her own hands, undone by her own disgraces, with her leaders succumbing, and the vile and inferior part ruling over the wretched ones. Is it not the disease of those whom the Gospel recounts as the paralytic—
which is accustomed to befall you, much worse, and, insofar as wickedness is far worse and more harmful than idleness? A But do not be grieved when hearing these things; for I do not say these things to you in order to reproach you, but so that, having recognized the disease—now that you are sober and refraining from it—you may seek the cause on account of which you fell into it, and may desire the cure, and, having hastened, may acquire and preserve it, with God both granting the cure and strengthening you toward it, just as He did in the case of those paralytics. For He did not only heal them, but He also granted them strength so that each of them, having taken up the bed on which he was lying, might walk without stumbling. But what was the cause for those healed paralytics? For they were two: one lying in Jerusalem by the pool of Siloam, and the other in Capernaum, carried by four men. What, then, is the cause of this disease for them? Sin. And the Lord reveals this; for to the one, seeing his faith even before the healing of the body, He says, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." And to the other, once He found him after the healing, He says, "See, you have been made well; sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you." just as, therefore, with those men, the sin of each, having driven away health, made them bedridden, so also in your case, the common sin, having driven away love, B has made you enemies to one another. For from where else did you destroy the common bond, both toward God and toward one another—love—if not from a mind addicted to sin? C "For in that iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold," the Lord says in the Gospels. And with love having grown completely cold, it is impossible for the grace and providence of God to remain.
And so that I may represent this condition to you by an example: the soul of each one of us is like a lamp, having as its oil good works, but as its wick—in which it rests—love, and in place of light, the grace of the divine Spirit. Therefore, when this oil—that is to say, good works—is failing, the love that is in the soul in place of a wick necessarily grows cold; and thus the light of the providence and grace of God flies away. With these things fleeing, virtues and love are put to flight, and turmoil, in which they persecute one another, supervenes, as God turns His face away from them, to whom David says, "But when Thou turnest away Thy face, they shall be troubled." Thus, from sin, civil sedition and confusion come upon us, bringing in every kind of evil, and introducing the prince of wickedness to the ringleaders and the rebels, who transforms them into beasts; or, if I may say something greater, he also prepares them to possess the character of demons in whom he dwells. And thus, D the one who from the beginning was a man-slayer and a hater of mankind renders the man a murderer, and an adversary to Christ the Giver of life, how much more
A to earthly kings, or to a father and shepherd and teacher according to the Spirit, is he disobedient and opposed?
Therefore, return to the way of the Gospel of Christ, and hold fast to it firmly, so that your concord one with another may always flourish and remain everlasting, and the Lord may turn again to you, and the grace of the divine Spirit may rest upon you together with peace. For just as that paralytic at Jerusalem once lay by the pool of Siloam in which the sick were healed, so you also have not entirely departed from the Church of Christ, by which peace is bestowed. But just as that man had no one to help him to receive the grace from that pool, so there was no shepherd among you either to preach peace, and to gather together the limbs that had been scattered, and to join them to one another, and to cast out from the body of Christ’s Church the disease and infirmity flowing from hatred. B Now, therefore, we have been set over you, and we are with you in Christ, and we fulfill an embassy on behalf of Christ, as though He Himself were exhorting you through us. Be reconciled to God. Acknowledge your mutual kinship, which you have received from your fathers not only according to the Spirit, but also according to the flesh. Be mindful of those former days of peace, and of how many good things you enjoyed through it, of all of which you are now deprived. Think no evil, and do not desire to render evil for evil, but overcome evil with good, embracing the love one for another, so that you may both gain the love from God and show your love toward Him. For it is impossible for love toward God to be had, or for His grace and providence to be reaped, by those who do not love their own brothers. C Obey me now as I come to you, brothers, and proclaim to you peace before all things and toward all, according to the command of the Lord; and labor with me to establish this, forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against his brother, even as Christ has forgiven you, so that you may become sons of peace, which is to say, sons of God. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition, and has slain enmity by His own cross. He Himself also told His own disciples, and through them us: "Into whatever city or house we enter," [we are] to announce peace to them, and the entire work of His presence is peace, and for its sake He bowed the heavens and descended to the earth. Wherefore also David spoke of Him: "In his days shall righteousness spring up, and an abundance of peace." D And in another psalm he again says of Him: "For he shall speak peace unto his people, and to his saints, and to those who turn their heart to him." The hymn sung by the angels at His birth also shows that He came to us from heaven bringing peace: "Glory," they said, "to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." And He Himself, fulfilling the dispensation of salvation, left peace as an inheritance to His own, saying to them: "My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you." And again...
them the saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men.” And He Himself, now fulfilling the saving dispensation, left peace as an inheritance to His own, saying to them: “My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you.” And again: “Have peace among yourselves;” and, “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” And the last prayer which He gave to us, as He ascended to His own Father, confirms love for one another; for He says: “Grant them, that they all may be one.” B Let us not, therefore, fall away from the paternal prayer; let us not lose the inheritance of the heavenly Father, nor the seal and sign of our kinship with Him, so that we may not lose the adoption and the blessing and the discipleship with Him, and fall away from the promised life, and be shut out from the spiritual bridal chamber, and hear from the Father of peace Himself: “I do not know you; depart from me, you who are the cause of hatred and enmity and stumbling blocks.” For this reason, that we might not suffer this, He sent peace to the whole world through His holy disciples and apostles; and these, both in their own homilies and in their writings, place this before all other words, beginning by saying: “Grace to you and peace from God.” We too, as ministers of their ministry, have recently come bringing this to you, and with Paul we say to you: “Pursue peace with all, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” But if without peace with all, no one will see God, how will he who does not live peaceably even with his fellow countrymen see God in the world to come? How, indeed, will he not then hear: “Let the ungodly be taken away, lest he see the glory of the Lord”? But may it happen that none of you hear this fearsome voice, but rather that, having been reconciled and gathered together through peace and love and concord into one, you may have in your midst, C according to His sweet promise, our Lord Jesus Christ, easing for us the difficulty of the present life, and granting at the opportune time eternal life and glory and kingdom—which may we all attain by the grace and love for mankind of the peace-giving God and our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs glory, power, honor, and adoration, with His unoriginate Father and the life-giving Spirit, now and always, and to the ages. Amen.
HOMILY II
On the Lord’s Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee
The spiritual prince of malice is cunning in wickedness, and he is very much accustomed, once the foundations of virtue have been laid in the soul, to immediately undermine them from the beginning through despondency and unbelief; and he is also very crafty in attacking the walls of the house of virtue even while they are being built, by means of listlessness and depression; and furthermore, he seeks to tear down even the roof of good works, which has already been built up, through pride and folly. But stand firm, D do not be afraid,
A for the virtuous man is more well-supplied in goods. And virtue possesses greater power for contending against malice, being enriched from above with supplies and an alliance from Him who is almighty, and who strengthens all who love virtue through His goodness; so that it not only remains unshaken by the varied and wicked machinations devised by the adversary, but also has the power to raise up those who have fallen into the depths of evils, and to bring them back, and to lead them to God with ease through repentance and humility. A proof and lasting evidence of this is the Publican; for the Publican, being a publican, and as it were dwelling in the very abyss of sin, by a single and brief word associating himself with those who live in virtue, is lightened, and lifted up, and overcomes all malice, and is enrolled in the choir of the righteous, justified by the incorruptible Judge Himself. But the Pharisee is condemned by a single word; although he was a Pharisee, and seemed to himself to be someone, he was not just in truth, and he was quite brash, for in his words there were as many things provoking God to anger as there were syllables. But why does humility lead up to the peak of righteousness, while arrogance brings down to the abyss of sin? Because the one who deems himself to be someone great, and that too before God, is justly abandoned by God, as he does not seem to need His help; but he who deems himself to be nothing, and for this reason lifts his eyes to the help from above, deservedly obtains mercy, and help, and grace from God; for "The Lord," it says, "resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." B
And the Lord, showing this through a parable, says: "Two men went up into the temple to pray; one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican." Wishing to clearly set forth the advantage of humility and the loss from pride, He divided all those who go to the temple—or rather, all who go up to it—into two. For such are those who go to the temple of God for the sake of prayer; for such is the nature of prayer. It raises the human person from earth to heaven, and having surpassed every heavenly name, and height, and dignity, it presents him to the God over all. C Now that ancient temple was also built on a high place, in the summit of the city; upon which, when death was once ravaging Jerusalem, David, seeing the death-dealing angel raising a sword over the city, went up and built an altar there to the Lord, and offered a sacrifice to God upon it, and the destruction was stayed; all of which was done in the figure of the saving and spiritual ascent, and of the sanctification obtained through it, by means of holy prayer; for all those things were figurative for the sake of our salvation; or, if you will, they were done as a figure of this holy Church of ours, which truly stands on high, being another angelic and heavenly place, in which, for the propitiation of the whole world, and for the breaking of death, and for the abundance of immortal life, a bloodless and great and truly acceptable sacrifice is offered to God. Therefore, D
he did not say: "Two men were going into the temple," but "went up A into the temple."
There are even now those who, as they come to the holy Church, do not themselves ascend, but rather drag down the Church, which images heaven. These are they who arrive for the sake of conversation and social interaction, or to sell and buy goods; for they are like one another, since some trade in merchandise, while others exchange words back and forth. B Whom, just as the Lord once utterly cast out from that temple, saying to them: "My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves," he has likewise cast out from these present discourses, so that they cannot be said to be ascending into heaven, even if they draw near it every day. But the Pharisee and the Publican went up into the temple; for both had one purpose, to pray, even if the Pharisee, after the ascent, brought himself down, overturned by his manner of life. For their purpose in ascending was the same—they went up to pray—but the manner was contrary. C For the one went up contrite and humbled, having learned from the Psalmist Prophet that "a broken and humbled heart God will not despise," since the Prophet himself said this about himself, being entirely taught by experience: "I was humbled, and the Lord saved me." And why do I speak of the Prophet? For the God of the prophets, becoming like us for our sake, "humbled himself, wherefore also God has highly exalted him," as the Apostle says. But the Pharisee goes up puffing himself out and behaving arrogantly, as if to justify himself; and this before God, before whom all our righteousness is as a D filthy rag. For he did not hear the one saying: "Everyone who is arrogant before the Lord is unclean," and "God opposes the proud," and "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent before themselves."
Not only did their character and conduct show them to be different, but also the form of their prayer; for this, too, is twofold. For prayer is not only a matter of supplication, but also of thanksgiving. And one of those who went up to the temple of God departed to glorify and give thanks to God for what he had received from Him; the other to petition for what he had not yet received (of which things many among us now also are in need), and also for the remission of sins. The promise of those things which are offered by us to God as an act of piety is called by the name not of prayer, but of a vow; which he who said this declared: "Make your vows and pay them to the Lord our God," and he who says, "It is better not to vow than to vow and not pay." But that twofold form of prayer brings a twofold disadvantage to those who do not pay attention; for prayer
A for the remission of sins is made effective after abstaining from evil by faith and compunction, but it is rendered ineffectual by despair and hardness of heart. And thanksgiving for the good things we have received from God is made acceptable by humility and by not being puffed up against those who have not received them, but it is rendered unacceptable by pride regarding these things as if they were attained by one's own zeal and knowledge, and by condemnation of those who have not attained them. The Pharisee, being sick with both of these, is condemned by himself and by his own words; for having gone up into the temple to give thanks, and not to pray, he foolishly and miserably mingled pride and condemnation with his thanksgiving to God. "For standing," it says, "he prayed thus to himself: God, I thank thee, that I am not like the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers." The "standing" and the B Pharisee do not show a servant's posture, but an unabashed arrogance, contrary to him who, because of humility, did not dare even to lift up his eyes to heaven. And the Pharisee rightly prayed to himself; for his prayer did not ascend to God, even though it did not escape Him who sits upon the Cherubim and who looks into the depths of the abysses. Such was his prayer. For having said, "I thank thee," he did not add, "because, as one weak toward resisting, you took pity on me gratuitously and gave me freedom from the snares of the evil one"; for it is very arduous for the soul, brothers, having been caught in the snares of the enemy and having fallen into the nets of sin, to be able to escape through repentance. Therefore, we are governed by a greater providence, and often, without having labored at all, we remain superior to many and great evils C with God, being mercifully relieved because of our infirmity; and it behooves us to be grateful for the gift, and to be humbled before our Helper, but not to be puffed up. But the Pharisee says: "I thank thee, God, not because I received any help from thee, but because I am not like the rest of men," as if he possessed from himself and from his own power the not being an extortioner, and an adulterer, and unjust, if indeed he was not such; for he did not pay attention to himself, so that he might be believed to be righteous by speaking about himself, but he looked at all others rather than himself, and all, O the madness! despising, he considered only one to be righteous and wise, himself. For he said: "I am not like the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this publican." Insane, one would say to him: if besides D you everyone is unjust and an extortioner, who is the one suffering theft and loss? And what of this publican? Why this peculiar addition? Was he not one of all and included with the others in your common, and so to speak, universal condemnation? Or did he need a double judgment, because he was under your Pharisaical eyes, even though he stood far off? Furthermore, even if, because he was openly a publican, you knew this one to be unjust, from where did you know him to be an adulterer? Is it permitted to you with impunity to harm this one, because another has harmed? Not so, indeed, not so, but this one, while bearing your proud condemnation in a humble spirit and offering prayers to God with self-reproach, will justly be dismissed by Him from those injustices for which he deserved condemnation; but you, indeed, justly
B shall be condemned, haughtily accusing both him and all men, and justifying yourself alone. "I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers." These words represent both the Pharisee’s disdain for God and his contempt for all men, and in addition, the falsehood of his own conscience. For he openly treats all men in common with contempt, and he attributes his abstinence from evils not to the power of God, but to his own capability. And if he says he gives thanks, perhaps it is for this reason, that he considers all men, except himself, to be profligate and unjust and extortioners, as though God did not deem anyone except him worthy to be granted virtue. But if all the rest were such, it would have been necessary for the property of this Pharisee to have been exposed to plunder by them all. Yet it does not appear that this is the case; for he himself adds, "I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." He does not say he gives tithes of what one has possessed, but of what he is currently possessing, thereby declaring the additions and increases of his own estate. Consequently, he already possessed what he had acquired, and on the other hand, he was adding to it without hindrance whatever he could; how then, except for him, were all stealing and acting unjustly? So self-condemning is malice, and so treacherous to itself! So always is falsehood blended with folly! He brought forward the payment of tithes as a demonstration of the abundance of his own righteousness; for how can one who pays tithes of his own belongings be an extortioner of others’? He brought forward fasting for the exhibition of his temperance, for fasting is the author of chastity. Be it so then, that you are temperate and just, and if you wish, also wise, and prudent, and courageous, and if there be any other such quality; if you have gained these things from yourself, and not from God, why do you feign the form of prayer, and C go up into the temple, and offer thanksgivings in vain? But if you rejoice in things received from God, you have not received them in order to boast, but that you may be for the edification of others, to the glory of the Giver. Therefore, truly, you ought to have rejoiced with humility, and to have given thanks both to the Giver and for the sake of those for whom he received it; for the lamp does not receive its light so much for itself as for those who behold it. The Pharisee says "Sabbath," not meaning the seventh day, but the week of days, of which he boasts that he spent two in fasting, not knowing that while these are human virtues, pride is of the demons; therefore it makes them void, and, when blended with them, drags them down—if indeed they be true, how much more if they are counterfeited? D Thus, indeed, the Pharisee. "But the Publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying: God, be merciful to me a sinner." Do you see what great humility, and faith, and self-reproach there is? Do you see the extreme compression of the mind and the senses, and at the same time the contrition of the heart conjoined with the prayer of this Publican? For when he had ascended into the t
A temple to seek forgiveness for his own sins, he brought with him excellent intercessors before God: faith that does not confuse, the irreproachable censure of oneself, the contrition of heart that is never despised, and the humiliation that exalts. He also attached to his prayer the best of attention. For, it says, the Publican standing afar off did not say, "standing" as in the case of the Pharisee, but stood; by doing so, he declared the long duration of his posture, and at the same time the persistence of his supplication and of his propitiatory steps. For, proposing and considering nothing else, he attended only to himself and to God, turning his monologue into a repeated prayer, which is the most effective form of prayer.
B Standing, therefore, afar off, it says, the Publican was not willing even to lift his eyes to heaven. This posture was both a standing and a prostration at the same time, the demeanor not only of a base servant, but also of a condemned man. It also signifies a soul released from sin, though still far from God because it does not yet have standing before Him through its works, yet is prepared to draw near through abstinence from evils and by its already good intention. Thus, then, the Publican standing afar off was not willing even to lift his eyes to heaven, revealing by his manner and posture his own condemnation and self-censure; for he considered himself unworthy of both heaven and the earthly temple. For this reason he stood in the portico, and did not dare even to look up to heaven, much less to the God of heaven! But moved by intense compunction, he was striking his own breast—proposing himself from that point on to be worthy of wounds—sending forth heavy groans and lamentations from there, and bowing his head like a condemned man, he called himself a sinner and faithfully implored mercy, saying: "God, be merciful to me a sinner." For he believed the One who said: "I have said, I will confess my transgression against myself to the Lord, and Thou hast forgiven the impiety of my heart" (Ps. XXXI, 5). C But what did He add to this? "This one went down justified," says the Lord, "rather than that one; for every one who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted." For just as the devil is pride in very essence, and this is his own proper evil—wherefore it conquers and brings down every human virtue when it is mingled with it—so humility toward God is the virtue of the good angels, and it conquers every human vice that comes upon the one who has stumbled. For humility is the chariot by which one ascends to God, according to those clouds which are to carry those who will be for D infinite ages with God up to God, just as the Apostle prophesied: "We shall be caught up," he says, "in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thess. IV, 17). For humility is a kind of cloud, formed through repentance, sending forth fountains of tears from the eyes, making those who were unworthy worthy, and also uniting them to the God to whom it leads, freely justified through the holiness of their intention.
A But the Publican, who first had perversely seized the property of others, then left behind that wickedness and did not justify himself, is justified; whereas the Pharisee, who did not busy himself with the property of others, yet justified himself, is condemned. But what will happen to those who do not refrain from the property of others, and who also attempt to justify themselves? Let us leave these aside, since the Lord has said that they are not to be persuaded by words. But we, when we humble ourselves in prayer, perhaps think that we are receiving the justification of the Publican; yet it is not so. For one must consider this: that the Publican, even after he had ceased from his sin, was despised by the Pharisee, and yet he condemned himself, not only by not answering back, but even by appearing as a witness against himself. When, therefore, you likewise leave behind the wickedness in your hands, and do not answer back to those who despise and revile you for it, but instead condemn yourself as being such a one, and flee through prayer in compunction to God alone for pardon, know that you are saved—being B a Publican. For many say they are sinners, and we say as much, and perhaps we hold it in our mouth; but the heart has proven the dishonor. For just as the great Paul was far from Pharisaical boasting—even though, writing to those in Corinth who spoke in tongues, he said: “I thank my God that I speak in tongues more than all of you” (I Cor. xiv, 18)—for in order to quiet those who were puffed up against those who did not possess such gifts, he wrote such things, though elsewhere he said he was the refuse of all men.
Just as Paul, therefore, writing those things, was far from Pharisaical boasting, so it is possible for one to speak the words of the Publican, and to humble himself as he did, and yet not be justified like him. For one must attend to the words of the Publican, but also imitate his conversion from evil, the dispositions of his soul, his compunction, and his endurance. Since even David demonstrated by his deeds that he who considers God to be offended with him, and who truly repents, ought to consider the reproaches and contempt of others against him to be just and bearable. For after his sin, hearing harsh things from Semei, he replied to those who wished to avenge him: “Let him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has commanded him to curse David” (II Reg. xvi, 10), saying it was a divine permission because of his sin, and a command of His. And yet, David was struggling at that time against a terrible and great calamity, with Absalom having recently risen up against him. Indeed, forced to leave Jerusalem with unbearable pain, when he reached the slope of the Mount of Olives in his flight, he found Semei as an addition to his misfortune, throwing stones at him, shamefully insulting him, impudently cursing him, and calling him a bloody man and a man of Belial, as if bringing into reproach before the king’s eyes the sin D concerning Bethsabee and Urias.
and not once or twice only did he rail against him, provoking him with stones and with reproaches much heavier than stones; but, as it is written, the king and all his companions were walking along the road with him, and Shimei was walking on the side of the mountain A along with him, cursing and throwing stones from the side, and pelting the king with dirt. Now the king did not lack those who would have stopped him. Abishai, then, the leader of the host, being unable to bear such things, said to David: “Why does this dead dog curse my lord the king? I will go over and take off his head.” But the king restrained him and his men, saying to them: “Let him alone, so that the Lord may look upon my humiliation, and may return to me good for his cursing B.”
And what was performed and brought to effect at that time is shown also by this parable of the Publican and the Pharisee to be always fulfilled unto righteousness. For he who truly judges himself worthy of eternal condemnation, how would he not generously endure not only contempt, but also loss, sickness, and every affliction and calamity, so to speak? He who shows such patience, being truly a debtor and guilty, is delivered by a lighter, temporary, and ceasing condemnation from that which is truly grave and unbearable; for from these present pressing evils we begin through patience to gain for ourselves [the] divine goodness. Therefore, one of those chastened by God said: “I will bear the discipline of the Lord, because I have sinned against him.” May we also, being chastened by the Lord with mercy, but not in wrath and fury, not be destroyed by this discipline of God, but according to the Psalmist be raised up until the end; by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs all glory, honor, and worship, with His unoriginate Father, and with the all-holy and good and life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. C
HOMILY III. On the Parable of the Lord concerning the salvation of the Prodigal Son.
“There shall be a famine,” said the Prophet, lamenting for Jerusalem, “not a famine of bread and water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord.” Famine is at once the deprivation and the desire for necessary food. There is, therefore, something even worse and more grievous than this famine, when someone is deprived of things necessary for salvation, yet does not perceive his own misery nor feel a desire for salvation. For one who is hungry and lacking goes about seeking somewhere a piece of bread; and if he chances upon a moldy morsel, or bread made from millet, or ash-cake, or if someone offers him anything from the more refined kinds of food, he rejoices as much as he formerly grieved while in want. Likewise, he who labors under a spiritual famine, that is to say, privation of and at the same time a desire for necessary food, goes about seeking one who possesses D
from God the gift of teaching; and if he finds him, he is nourished with joy by the bread of spiritual life, which is the saving Word, and one who seeks to the end cannot fail to obtain it. A “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened,” says Christ. But there are some who, through long-standing famine of the mind, have lost the appetite for food; therefore, they do not even experience the sense of their ruin, and even if they have a teacher, they endure the hearing of his teaching with difficulty; and if they have no teacher, they do not seek one, living a life far more sinful than that of the prodigal son. For while that son, having departed far from the common provider and father and lord, was indeed in want, he fell into a severe famine, and feeling that privation, he repented and returned and sought, and again found the divine and pure food, and through repentance enjoyed the gifts of the Spirit so much that he became an object of envy for his wealth. But rather, having taken up the thread again from above, let us explain more clearly to your charity this parable of the Lord in the Gospels, since it is the custom for it to be read in the churches today also.
12. C “A certain man,” He says, “had two sons.” Here the Lord speaks of Himself metaphorically as a man, and there is nothing to be surprised at. For if He truly became man for the sake of our salvation, what is surprising if He puts Himself forward as a single man for our benefit, He who always cares for both soul and body, as Lord and Creator of both, who alone manifested works of charity and singular concern for us even before we existed? For before us He prepared for us an eternal inheritance of a kingdom, as He Himself said, from the foundation of the world. Before us, for our sake, He made the angels, sent out for ministry, as Paul says, for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation. Before us, for our sake, He stretched out the heaven over this entire sensible world, having raised it as a kind of tabernacle common to all and of equal value to us in this transitory life, which, though itself motionless and yet manifold in motion, keeps itself in its own place by moving in counterpoise; yet always moving in itself and carrying around with it the multitude of the stars, so that we may at once learn the transitory nature of our own life, and enjoy all that is beneath it, as different things come over our heads at different times. For our sake, before us, He made the great light to rule the day, and the lesser one to rule the night; and He placed them and the other stars in the firmament, moving with it and moved against it, coming together and passing by in many ways, D that they might be for us for signs, and for seasons, and for years; of which neither the intellectual nature has need, being above sense, nor that of irrational animals, since it does not exist except according to sense.
A For our sake, therefore, it has come into being, for those who by sense enjoy both other utility and the beauty of the things seen, but who possess by mind the knowledge of such signs through sense. For our sake, before us, He founded the earth, spread out the sea, poured over them the air abundantly, and above this, most wisely, He suspended the nature of fire, that it might both check the intemperance of the cold below by surrounding it, and restrain its own immoderate heat by remaining in the higher regions; if indeed even the irrational animals have need of these for their constitution, yet even these were made before us for the servitude of men, as also the prophet David sings.
This whole world, therefore, for the sake of our body’s constitution, our Creator brought forth from nothing before our own creation. But for the improvement of morals and the guidance toward virtue, what did the Creator, lover of good, not do? B He fashioned the whole sensible world itself as if it were a mirror of the things above the world, so that through the spiritual contemplation of it, we might arrive at those things as if by a certain wonderful ladder. He placed within us an innate law, a kind of inflexible rule, and a judge immune to error, and a teacher free from all falsehood—namely, each person's own conscience—so that if we dwell within ourselves by thought, we have no need of another teacher for the understanding of the good; but if we apply the mind well to external things through sense, the invisible things of God are understood, being seen by the works, says the Apostle. C Having therefore opened the school of virtues through nature and creation, He set angels as guardians; He raised up Fathers and prophets for guidance; He showed signs and wonders leading to faith; He gave us the written law, helping both the law implanted by our rational nature and the instruction from creation. Finally, since we neglected all things—oh, what great negligence of ours! and oh, the generosity together with the solicitude of Him who loves us in return!—He gave Himself to us for our sake, and having poured the riches of His divinity into our lowliness, and having taken up our nature, and having become man for us, He appeared as our teacher; and He Himself teaches us concerning the magnitude of His own philanthropy, demonstrating it by work and word, at once leading us to the imitation of compassion and drawing those who obey away from an uncompassionate mind. D And since love is indeed present in the stewards of wealth, and in the shepherds of flocks, and in the possessors of their own properties, but not as much as in those joined by flesh and blood, and especially among those, in fathers toward their own children, from these He makes a demonstration of His own philanthropy, calling Himself man and the Father of us all; since He also became man for our sake, and has regenerated us through divine baptism and the grace of the divine Spirit within it. A man, therefore, He says, had two sons;
A for one nature was divided into two by the differentiation of intent, and the multitude was united into two by the distinction between virtue and vice. For we ourselves sometimes call one person double, when he possesses double-mindedness, and conversely, we call many one, when they agree with one another. ‹The younger son, therefore, coming,› said to the father; B rightly "younger," for he brings forward a demand that is childish and pregnant with foolishness. And sin, too, which brings about the apostasy he is laboring with, is younger, being a later-born discovery of our evil predisposition; whereas virtue is ancient, existing from eternity in God, and infused into our soul from the beginning by God through grace. "And coming," he says, "the younger son said to the father: 'Give me the portion of the substance that falls to me.'" Alas, what foolishness! He did not supplicate, he did not entreat, but simply said; and not only this, but he demands it as a debt from Him who gives to all through grace. "Give me the portion of the substance that falls to me, that which belongs to me according to laws, that which is our share according to justice." And what law, and whence the justice that fathers are held to be debtors to their children? On the contrary, nature itself shows that children owe more to their fathers, having received their being from them. But these things also reveal the youthful mindset.
What then of Him who makes his rain fall on the just and the unjust, and makes his sun rise on the evil and the good? He divided the livelihood between them, he says. Do you see C that this man and father is in need of nothing? For otherwise, he would not have divided it only between the two, nor into only two parts, but would have reserved a third portion of the livelihood for himself. But He, insofar as He is God, just as the prophet David says, having no need of our goods, divided the livelihood, he says, between these two sons only—that is, the whole world. For as one nature is divided by diverse intent, so this one world is divided by diverse use. One, indeed, says to God: "All D day long I have stretched out my hands to you" (Ps. XVII, 20), and "Seven times a day I have praised you" (Ps. CXVIII, 164), and "At midnight I would arise" (ibid. 62), and "I cried out in the darkness" (Ps. CXIX, 1), and "I have hoped in your words" (Ps. CXVIII, 42), and "In the morning I slew all the sinners of the earth" (Ps. C, 8)—that is, I cut off the appetites of the flesh that are set in motion toward pleasure. But another spends the day in wine, considers where the drink comes from, passes the night in lascivious and illicit works, and hastens to secret traps or open ambushes, to the plunder of wealth and wicked schemes. Did not these people divide the one night, and the one sun, and before these their own nature, having misused them in disagreement with one another? But God has undividedy distributed the whole creation to all, handing it over for them to use according to their will. A
"And not many days after," he says, "the younger son, having gathered all together, traveled to a far country." Why not immediately, but "not many days after," that is, after a few days, did he travel? The wicked seducer devil...
does not propose his own improper way of life and sin all at once, A but craftily steals it in little by little, whispering to us and saying: "Even you, living by your own judgment, and not attending to the Church of God, nor lending an ear to the teaching of the Church, are able of yourself to discern what is necessary, and not be far from the good." But when he has cut someone off from the sacred hymnody and from obedience to the holy teachers, he makes him far from divine supervision, handing him over to wicked works; for God is everywhere present; there is but one distance from the good, which is evil, in which, by means of sin, we become far and wander away from God. "For the wicked shall not stand in thy sight," David says to God.
Having thus been made distant, and having traveled to a country that is far off, the younger son, "There," it says, "he dissipated his substance, living luxuriously." How, then, did he dissipate his substance? Before all else, our natural substance and wealth is our mind. As long as we remain in saving ways, we have it gathered to itself, and to the first and highest mind, God; but when we open the door to passions, it is immediately dissipated, wandering at every hour about carnal and earthly things, about manifold pleasures and the passions arising from these thoughts. This is the wealth of the mind, which it has in itself, and it judges the better from the worse as long as it remains obedient to the precepts and counsels of the highest Father; B but if it becomes rebellious, it too is dissipated into fornication and folly, divided into both parts of wickedness. This is what you can see also in every virtue and power of ours, which are our true wealth; when, because of manifold wickedness, it leans toward it, it is dissipated. For the mind itself stretches its desire toward the one and truly existing God, the only good, the only desirable, the only one granting pleasure immune from all pain. But when the mind has become lax, the power of the soul toward true love falls away from the truly desirable, and being torn apart toward the various desires of hedonism, it is dissipated—hence toward the desire of foods that are not necessary, from there toward the desire of unshapely bodies, from elsewhere toward the desire of useless riches, and from another place toward the desire of empty and inglorious glory. And thus being fragmented, the wretched man, even being stretched out by the various cares concerning these things, neither joyfully breathes the sun itself nor the air, which is the common wealth of all, nor does he behold them. C
Our own mind, not having turned away from God, awakens the irascible power in us against the devil alone, and employs the manliness of the soul against the wicked passions, against the rulers of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness. But if it does not attend to the divine commands of the Master who has armed it, it fights against its neighbors, it rages against its fellow-citizens, it acts like a beast against those who do not consent D
A to its irrational desires, and it becomes a murderer. Alas! man becomes not only similar to unreasoning livestock, but also to crawling and venomous creatures—a scorpion, a snake, a brood of vipers—he who was set among the sons of God. Have you seen how he dissipated and wasted his substance? “And when he had spent everything,” it says, “the younger son began to be in need. He fell into a famine, yet he still did not look toward his return, for he was dissolute; therefore, “he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.”
Who, then, are the citizens and rulers of the country that is far from God? They are undoubtedly the demons, under whom the son of the heavenly Father became a pimp, a chief tax-collector, a chief brigand, and a ringleader of sedition. For every passion, because of its extreme uncleanness, is denoted by the swine; and swine are those who wallow in the mire of these passions, of which that ruler—because in his longing for pleasure he surpassed them all—could not be sated by the husks that the swine were eating; that is, he could not obtain satiety for his own desire. How can the nature of the body be enough to serve the impulses of the profligate? Gold or silver, having come to the lover of gold and lover of money, has increased his need, and as much as it flows in abundantly, it has prepared him to desire more; the whole world will barely, or perhaps not even barely, suffice for one greedy and power-loving man. Since, therefore, these are many, but the world is one, how then will any of them be able to find satiety for his own desire? So then, that one who had apostatized from God could not be filled; “for no one,” it says, “gave him” satiety. For who would have given it to him? God was absent, by whose contemplation alone satiety, which is pleasant to the beholder, comes to the one looking, according to him who said: “I shall be satisfied when your glory appears to me” [Ps. XVI, 15]. The devil does not wish to provide satiety for shameful desires, since satiety is naturally suited to bring about a change in the disposition toward such things in those who are mutable; with reason, therefore, no one gave him satiety.
Once he had finally come to himself, however, that one who had leaped away from his father, having realized the extent of the evils he had reached, lamented himself, saying: D “How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough to spare, but I perish here with hunger!” Who are the hired servants? They are those who, through the tears of repentance and humility, have bought back salvation as if it were a wage. But the sons are those who, because of their love for Him, have subjected themselves to His commandments, just as the Lord also said: “He who loves me will keep my commandments” [Joan. XIV, 23]. The younger son, therefore, having fallen from his sonship and having fallen willingly from the holy fatherland, and having encountered hunger, condemns himself and is humbled, and he repents, saying: “I will arise and go to my father, and I will say, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.’” Rightly, therefore, were we saying at the beginning that this Father is God; for how…
could the One who has apostatized from the Father be a son, if the Father were not heavenly? “I have sinned,” he says, “against heaven,” that is, against the saints who are in heaven, and whose citizenship exists in the heavens, “and before you,” who dwell in heaven with your saints. A “And I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired servants.” Well does he, having been brought to his senses by the present humility, say, “Make me”; for no one receives the degrees of virtue from himself, although he does not attain them without his own choice. “And rising,” he says, “he came to his father; but when he was still far off...” But how did he come and yet was still far off, so that his father, moved by compassion, went out to meet him? The man who repents from his soul reaches God by his good intention and by standing aloof from sin; yet, being tyrannicallyvexed by evil habits and presumptions, he is still far from God, and greatly needs B compassion and help from above, if he is to be saved.
Therefore, the Father of mercies also descended and met him, and embracing him, he kissed him, and commanded his servants, that is, the priests, to dress him in the first robe, that is, the sonship, which he had previously put on through holy baptism; and to give a ring upon his hand, that is, to the activity of the soul, which is made manifest through the hand, to place a seal of contemplative virtue, an earnest of the future inheritance; and furthermore, he ordered sandals to be given for his feet, to provide divine vigilance and firmness by which he might be strengthened to tread upon the serpent and scorpion, and upon all the power of the enemy. Then, he commands the fatted calf to be brought and slain and set for food. This calf is the Lord himself, who, having gone forth from the inner sanctuary of the divinity and from the seat that is above all things, appearing as a man upon earth, is sacrificed as a calf for us sinners, and as fatted, that is, as bread, is set before us for food. God then makes the joy and the banquet thereon common with his own saints, out of supreme kindness taking our nature as his own, and saying: “Come, let us eat and make merry.”
But the elder son is angry. C Understand this again as the Jews being angry at the calling of the nations, the Scribes and Pharisees being scandalized that the Lord receives sinners and eats with them. And if you wish to understand this also regarding the righteous, what is surprising if the righteous man is ignorant of the riches of the goodness of God which surpass all understanding? Therefore, he is exhorted by the common Father and taught what is fitting, as he says to him: “You are always with me, a partaker of immutable joy; but it was necessary to make merry and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.” He was dead to sin, and came to life through repentance; and he was lost, as not being found in God; having been found, therefore, he fills heaven with joy, as it is written: “There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.” Why is it that the elder son is particularly saddened? Because, he says, “You never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends, but...” D
when this son of yours, who devoured his substance with harlots, came, you killed the fatted calf for him.” So great is the abundance of the gifts of God bestowed upon us, that even the angels have longed to look into the gifts granted to us through His incarnation, as the leader of the Apostles, Peter, says. A Indeed, even the righteous, because of those benefits, longed in their own time for Christ to come, just as Abraham longed to see His day. But He did not come then, and when He did come, He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance; and it is for them especially that He who takes away the sin of the world is crucified. For where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
That God does not give even one of the “kids,” that is, of the sinners, to those of the righteous who ask for them, has become clear to us, not only from many other things, but most especially from the vision concerning the holy and blessed Carpus. For he was not only not heard when he was cursing certain wicked men and saying it was not just for men to live without God, turning aside the straight ways of the Lord, but he even experienced divine indignation, and heard very terrible words that urged him to recognize the ineffable and incomprehensible wisdom of God, and also persuaded him not to curse those living in wickedness, since God still grants them a time for repentance. B In order, therefore, that God, the Father of mercies, might show this regarding those who repent, and that He might further demonstrate that He bestows great and enviable gifts upon those who return through repentance, He arranged the parable in this way.
Let us also, therefore, brothers, apply ourselves through the work of repentance; let us renounce the evil one and his pastures. Let us abstain from the swine and the husks with which they feed, that is, from shameful passions and those things that pertain to them. Let us depart from the evil pasture, that is, from wicked habits; let us flee the country of the passions, which is unbelief and greed and intemperance, in which a powerful famine of good things occurs, and passions worse than famine. Let us run to the Father of incorruption, the giver of life, walking the way of life through the virtues; for there we shall find Him coming out to meet us in His love for man, and granting us the forgiveness of our sins, the token of incorruption, the earnest of the future inheritance. C For even the prodigal son, as we have been taught by the Savior, as long as he was in the country of the passions, although he was thinking and speaking words of repentance, nevertheless obtained nothing good until, having abandoned all those works of sin, he ran and came to the father, and, having attained things beyond his hope, he remained for the rest of his time with humility, living temperately and righteously, and preserving for himself the grace renewed by God, whole and intact—a grace which may it be granted to us all to attain and to preserve unimpaired, so that in the age to come, in the supernal Jerusalem, we may rejoice together with the once-prodigal, now-saved son, in that mother of the living, the Church of the firstborn, in Christ Himself our Lord, to whom glory is due forever. Amen. D
the saved prodigal son in the Jerusalem above, the mother of the living, the Church of the firstborn, in Christ Jesus our Lord himself, to whom belongeth glory unto the ages. Amen.
HOMILY IV
On the Gospel of the second coming of Christ, and on mercy and beneficence.
A Last Sunday the Church made memorial of the divine and beyond-comprehension philanthropy of God, through the parable of the prodigal who attained salvation. But today, it teaches about the most fearful judgment of God, making good use of order, and following the prophetic voices. For it says: "I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee, O Lord." And: "God has spoken once; twice have I heard this: that power belongeth unto God, and unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou shalt render to every man according to his works." B Therefore, mercy and long-suffering precede the divine judgment; for God, possessing and containing in Himself every virtue already in advance, is at the same time both just and merciful. But since mercy does not concur with judgment, according to the scripture: "Thou shalt not have mercy on the poor in judgment," God has fittingly divided the two times—appointing the present time for long-suffering, and the future one for retribution. And for this reason, the grace of the Spirit has so arranged the observances in the holy Church, that we, learning from this that we receive the remission of sins here through these means, might strive, while we still abide in this life, to attain the eternal mercy and make ourselves worthy of divine philanthropy; for that judgment is without mercy to him who has showed no mercy.
C Now, concerning that mercy of God toward us which is above all hope, we have already set forth some things recently. But today our discourse is about the second coming of Christ, and the most fearful judgment concerning it, and the things that will ineffably be accomplished at that time—"which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man," lacking the divine Spirit—surpassing not only human sensation, but also the human mind and word. For even if He Himself is the one who knows all things and is about to judge the whole earth, and the one who teaches us about these things, still He condescends to the capacity of the learners, providing words that are commensurate [with them]. D For this reason, lightning, clouds, a trumpet, a throne, and similar things are introduced, even though we await new heavens and a new earth according to His promise, when the present things are changed. And if even what is told, and told in a condescending manner, fills the soul of those who listen understandingly with terror and fear, who will endure when the things themselves are being fulfilled? How much, then, ought we to be in holy conduct and acts of piety, awaiting the coming of the day of God? Through which, as the divine Peter said: "The heavens shall be ignited and dissolved, and the elements shall melt with the heat of fire, and the works that are therein shall be burned up." Before these, the most grievous coming and assault of Antichrist against the faith shall occur, which, had it not been shortened to a short time, not a single [soul] would have been saved...
as the Lord says in the Gospels. Therefore, He also commands His own, saying: A “Watch therefore at all times, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
All those things are indeed filled with singular horror, but to those who spend their life in unbelief, injustice, and sloth, and to those mentioned above, an even more terrible fate is threatened, just as the Lord Himself says: “Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn.” The tribes of the earth are those who did not obey Him who came from heaven, and who neither knew nor called upon the heavenly Father, nor referred their race to Him through the likeness of their works. And again: “As a snare, that day will come upon all who sit upon the face of all the earth,” that is to say, upon those in debauchery, drunkenness, luxuries, and worldly cares, who are B nailed to the earth and things of the earth, and who attend entirely to the things that are visibly pleasant to the senses: wealth, glory, and pleasure. For by the "face of the earth," He indicated the pleasant appearance of these things, and by the fact that they are "sitting," He indicated their persistent and habitual state of attachment. By such words, He joins those who have sinned impenitently to the end with the ungodly, just as Isaiah foretold, saying: “The unrighteous and the sinners shall be burned together, and there shall be none to quench [them].”
But our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also expect the Savior, as the Apostle says; and, “You are not of this world,” the Lord said to His own disciples, to whom He again says: “When these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” C
Do you see how those living according to Christ are filled with joy and unspeakable confidence regarding what will come to pass immediately after those things, while those living according to the flesh are filled with shame, pain, and dejection? As Paul also cries out, saying: “God will render to each according to his deeds: to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil.” For in the days of Noah, when wickedness had increased, and had prevailed over almost the entire human race, a flood came from God, D destroying every soul, with only the righteous man being preserved with his house for the birth of a second world. And after him, God again cut away the wickedness that was raging by degrees, burning the Sodomites with fire, drowning the army of Pharaoh in the sea in an extraordinary manner, and exhausting the audacious race of the Jews with famine, sedition, diseases, and bitter punishments. Yet not with these harsh medicines
alone did the common physician of our race deal with us for our sake; he also let go those which are gentle and pleasantly beneficial, but he raised up Fathers, showed prophets, performed signs, gave the law, and set angels over us. But since even these were weak against the unbridled momentum of our wickedness, that great remedy itself, which allays great sins, the Word of God himself, bending the heavens, came down to earth; and becoming all things as we are, yet without sin, he abolished sin in himself, and strengthening us, he blunted its sting; and he openly disarmed its leaders and powers on the cross, having destroyed by death him who held the empire of death. A And just as in time of Noah he had washed away sinners by water, so later he washed away sin by his own justice and grace, and raised himself up immortal, as a kind of seed and first-fruit of the eternal world, and a demonstration and proof of the resurrection truly hoped for by us. But once he had risen and been assumed into heaven, he sent apostles into all the earth, threw forward countless hosts of martyrs, set in place a multitude of teachers, and showed the churches of the saints. But again, when he had done everything, and left nothing of what needed to be done unfulfilled, he saw wickedness once more reigning no less by the strength of our free choice—indeed, seeing it even more rampant, so that men would fall on their knees before the Antichrist and obey him, truly leaving behind the true God and his true Christ; then he himself will come again from the heavens with power and great majesty, B no longer intending to be long-suffering, but to punish those who, through wicked works, had treasured up for themselves wrath in the time of his long-suffering. Those who are incurable, like putrid limbs, he will cut off from those who are healthy and hand them over to the fire; but he will redeem his own from the aggression and attack of wicked men and make them heirs of the kingdom of heaven.
C Immediately, therefore, after the abominable boldness of the Antichrist, he who sustains all things will shake all things, according to what was said by the prophet: “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” Immediately, therefore, he shakes the world, and dissolves the highest boundary of the universe, and folds up the celestial tabernacle, and mingles the earth with fire, and overwhelms the whole. From above, he casts the multitude of the stars, like certain ineffable torches, upon the heads of those who rendered divine honors to the wicked one, so that by those things they may first be punished—those who believed in the Antichrist, on whom their mind was fixed, and by whom they were persuaded to view him as God, the adversary D of God. Then, appearing himself with ineffable glory, by the clear sound of a trumpet—just as once he did via the spirit to our first parent—he will quicken all, and will bring before him those who have died throughout the ages. The impious, indeed, he will not bring into judgment, nor will he grant them even a single word; for the impious will not rise in judgment, as it is written.
but in condemnation. A He will, however, bring all our affairs into judgment, according to the voice of the Gospel read today; for it says: "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him." For in his former coming, the glory of his divinity was hidden under the flesh which he took from us and for us; now, however, it is hidden with the Father in heaven along with his divine flesh; but then he will reveal his glory in its entirety. For from the rising of the sun to its setting he will appear shining, illuminating the ends of the world with the rays of his divinity, while the universal and life-giving trumpet sounds, summoning all things to him at once. He already urged on the angels even before, but invisibly, restraining their zeal against the adversaries of God; later, however, he will come openly and will not remain silent, but he will also convict and deliver the disobedient to punishments.
Homily IV
B "When, therefore, the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then," it says, "he shall sit upon the throne of his glory." For so also did Daniel foresee and foretell; for he says: "Behold, thrones were set, and the Ancient of days did sit, and I saw as it were the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, and he came even to the Ancient of days, and to him was given all glory and honor and power; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him." C The holy Gospel agrees with this, saying: "Then," it says, "all the nations of the earth shall be gathered before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." He calls the just "sheep" because they are docile and meek and have walked the smooth and beaten path of the virtues, and because they are made like unto him. For he himself was called a "Lamb" by the Prophet and the Baptist, who said: "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." He calls the sinners "goats" because they are bold and unruly and rush down the precipices of sin; and some, he says, he will place on his right, as workers of right-hand deeds, but others, not being such, on the left. "Then shall the King say," it says, and he did not add who or of whom he is king, since there is no other besides him; for even if there are many lords and kings there, yet there is but one truly, one Lord, one King, who is by nature the Master of all. The only King will therefore say to those on his right: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
D Truly, the foundation of the world looked toward this from the beginning, and for this reason the end is that heavenly and most ancient counsel of the Father, according to which the Angel of the great counsel of the Father made man a living being, not only in his image but also in his own likeness, so that he might one day be capable of receiving the greatness of the divine kingdom, the blessedness of the divine inheritance, the perfection of the blessing of the most high Father, through whom all things were created.
A For he did not speak of the sensible world, but simply of the world, as much as is heavenly and as much as is earthly. And B not of this alone, but also of the divine and ineffable emptying, the Theandric conduct, the saving passions, all the mysteries; for this reason the end has been wisely and most cleverly ordained, so that he who appears faithful in the present life through these things may hear from the Savior: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your Lord." He says, therefore: "Come, inherit also the present and enduring and heavenly world, you who have rightly used the earthly and corruptible and fleeting world according to my will. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."
Here it is asked for what reason He makes mention of almsgiving alone, and why for its sake He gave that blessing, inheritance, and kingdom. But those who hear with understanding know that He does not make mention of *only* this. For since He previously called its workers sheep, by this title He testified to their likeness to Him and to every virtue, and that they were always ready for death for the sake of the good, just as He himself "was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent," according to what is written. Therefore, to such as these He adds beneficence; for it is necessary—as this is a sign and fruit of charity, as a head standing over all other virtues—that he who is to inherit that eternal C kingdom possess it; which the Lord also showed through the parable of the ten virgins. For not everyone who comes to the divine wedding is brought in, but only those adorned with virginity—which could not be accomplished without exercise and temperance, and many and varied struggles for the sake of virtue. Moreover, to hold lamps in one's hands signifies to have one's mind and the attentive knowledge within it resting and supported by the practical part of the soul, which is signified by the hands, and consecrated to God through life, and joined to the illuminations from above. Yet, there is need also of abundant oil, so that they may burn and remain lit. Now, oil is charity, being the summit of the virtues. Just as, therefore, if you lay foundations and build up the walls, but do not place the roof on top, you have left all those things useless, in the same way, even if you acquire every virtue, but do not attain charity, all those remain useless and dead; and D the roof of the house likewise cannot be built without the walls upon which it rests.
Therefore, to such as these the Lord grants the inheritance, to those who have sealed the other virtues with the works of charity; and who have run towards it either through an irreproachable life, or through repentance
A of which I call some sons, as guardians of the mystical regeneration from God; others, however, I call hirelings, as those who call back grace as a wage through the multiform labors of repentance and through humility. Wherefore, having previously explained in the divine Gospels B the matters of judgment in many ways, He later brought forward the matters of charity, as that which perfects or brings on the virtues enumerated there. "But the just shall answer, saying: 'Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, and feed Thee? Or thirsty, and give Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger, and take Thee in? Or naked, and clothe Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick, or in prison, and came to Thee?'" Do you see that those standing at the right are called just? Therefore, mercy is given to them from justice and together with justice. Do you see also another virtue, humility, being witnessed to in the just with C the fullness of charity, like some fortification opportunely erected? For they struggle to proclaim themselves unworthy of the announcement and the praises, as having done nothing good, they who had left nothing undone. On this account, I believe, the Lord also speaks with boldness to them, so that such ones might be revealed, and by their humility be exalted, and might justly find grace from Him who liberally bestows this upon the humble; for "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble," Who even now says to them: "Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me." He calls him "least" on account of his poverty and lowliness; but "brother," because He Himself also lived thus on earth according to the flesh.
Hear and rejoice, all you who are poor and needy; D for in this regard you are brethren of God; and even if you are poor and lowly against your will, through patience and thanksgiving you have made the good thing voluntary for yourselves. Hear, you rich, and desire this blessed poverty, that you may become heirs and brethren of Christ, and more genuine [heirs and brethren] than those who are poor against their will; for He also willingly became poor for our sake. Hear and groan, you who overlook your brethren—or rather, the brethren of God—who are suffering evil, and who do not share with the needy from what you possess in abundance—food, shelter, clothing, and proper care—nor spend your surplus on their lack. But rather, let us listen and groan; for even I myself, who say these things to you, am convicted by my conscience that I am not entirely free from every cupidity; for while many are frozen and needy, I am satisfied and clothed. But far more worthy of mourning are they who even have and possess treasures beyond their daily need, or who are eager to increase them; they who are commanded to love their neighbor as themselves, yet hold him as dirt. For what else is gold and silver, which we have loved more than our brethren? But let us return, and repent, and share—providing from our own riches for the needs of the brethren in our midst; and if we do not choose to pour out all our wealth for the love of God, let us at least not keep all of it with us without mercy.
A Rather, let us do what we can, and for that in which we fall short, let us humble ourselves before God, and we shall obtain from Him forgiveness, His philanthropy making up for our deficiency, so that we may not hear the detestable—may it never be—voice: "For then," He says, "He will say to those on the left: Depart from Me, you cursed." How far have you been driven from life, shut out from the delight, deprived of the light! B But not just this, but "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels." For just as those on the right shall have life, and shall have it abundantly—life indeed in being with God, and abundantly in continuing as sons and heirs of His kingdom—so those on the left, failing to attain true life, shall have the removal from God, and shall have "abundantly" the evil of being numbered with the demons and being delivered to the punishing fire. And what kind of fire is that, which touches bodies and spirits existing within bodies and without bodies, inflicting pain and holding them fast in an immortal way, through which even our fire will be consumed, as it is written: "The elements burning shall be dissolved" (II Petr. III, 12)? And what an addition to the pain is the lack of any expectation of deliverance? For it is hopeless. That fire is such, but what is meant by the "violent" impulse? For it is a river, he says, dragging that fire, as it seems, ever further away from God; wherefore He did not say "Move away," but "Depart from Me, you cursed"; for long ago you were cursed by the poor; and even if they endured it, you are worthy of curses. Depart, He says, to them, into the fire prepared—not for you, but for the devil and his angels. For this was not My primary will; I did not create you for this; I did not prepare the furnace for you. The unquenchable fire was kindled for the demons who possess an unchangeable habit of wickedness, those to whom your impenitent mind has joined you. Therefore, your living with the evil angels is of your own choosing; for "I hungered, and you did not give Me to eat; I thirsted, and you did not give Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not gather Me; naked, and you did not clothe Me; I was sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me." C For as love, brethren, and the works of love are the fullness of the virtues, so hatred and the works of hatred—the uncompassionate manner, the uncharitable mind—are the fullness of sin. D And just as the virtues follow and accompany philanthropy, so the vices follow after hatred; for this reason they are condemned by this alone. I wished, indeed, to say that there is no greater sign of hatred than to prefer surplus silver to the brother; but I see that wickedness has found a greater sign of misanthropy; for there are some who not only do not show mercy from that which they have in abundance, but actually plunder the property of others. Let them conclude, then, from the sentence pronounced against those who do not show mercy, what they shall obtain, what
manner of inconceivable and intolerable judgment they deserve, and let them depart from injustice and, through works of repentance, propitiate A the Divine. Those ones will then answer, saying: "Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to you?" You see the ultimate evil, pride joined to a hard heart, just as humility is joined to compassion? The just, when praised for their good deeds, become even more humble, and do not justify themselves. These, however, when accused by the Truth-teller because of their lack of mercy, do not fall down humbled, but contradict and justify themselves. Therefore they also hear: "Amen I say unto you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, you did it not to me"; and thus, he says, "these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the just into everlasting life."
Igitur, fratres, misereamur nostri per misericordiam B erga fratres; let us acquire compassion through compassion; let us do good that we may fare well. For the recompense is equal; nay, rather, beneficence, kindness, love, mercy, and compassion are far eclipsed by the dignity and immense measure of the reward. For you bestow from what a man possesses, and as much as a man is able to provide, while you receive in return a hundredfold and eternal life from the divine and inexhaustible treasures, from which you receive as much as C God is able to bestow: "That eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it ascended into the heart of man" (1 Cor. II, 9). Let us therefore be eager to attain the wealth of His goodness; let us purchase an eternal inheritance for little monies; let us fear the sentence recently heard against the unmerciful, that we may not be condemned by it there; let us not fear lest we become poor by giving alms; for indeed we shall hear from Christ: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom." Let us fear, and let us do all things so that we may not appear outside the love of God through hardness of heart; for "he that loves not his brother whom he sees, how can he love," says the Evangelist, "God whom he sees not?" (1 John IV, 20). If, however, one does not love God, how shall he be with Him? But he who is not with Him will be removed from Him; and he who is removed from Him will surely fall into D hell.
But let us display deeds of love toward our brothers in Christ, having mercy on the needy, turning back those who wander—in whatever error or poverty you might describe—defending those who are wronged, strengthening those who lie in infirmity, whether they suffer this from sensible adversaries and diseases, or from invisible wicked spirits and shameful desires, visiting those confined in prison, but also bearing with those who offend against us, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another,
showing compassion to one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, just as Christ also has shown compassion A to us; and let us, simply in every way and in all our deeds and words that we possess, show love toward one another, so that we may obtain the love from God, and be blessed by Him, and inherit the heavenly and eternal kingdom prepared for us and for our sake from the foundation of the world. May we all attain to this, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Homily V
On the Presentation of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ; and also on chastity and the vice contrary to it.That ancestral curse and condemnation, common and the same for all, we all had before Christ, derived B from one first-father and poured out upon all, transmitted as if from the root of the race and inherited by nature; yet each individual, through the things he does himself, draws upon his own person from God either blame or praise, although against that common curse and condemnation—and the miserable lot descending from the beginning upon him and through him to his descendants—one can do nothing. But Christ came, the Liberator of our nature, C who converted the common curse into a blessing likewise common, and having taken up our condemned nature from the immaculate Virgin, and having made it new in His own person, a nature not participating in the seed of the old, He showed it to be innocent and justified, so that all who are subsequently born of Him according to the Spirit remain outside that curse pronounced against our first parents. What then, does He not bestow of His grace upon each of our persons, and does not everyone obtain from Him the remission D of his own transgressions? Since He did not take a person from us, but assumed our nature and made it new, being united to it according to His own person; and how could He not, He who wills all men to be saved, and for the sake of all bowed the heavens and descended, and through His own deeds and words and sufferings showed every path of salvation and returned to the heavens, drawing those who are persuaded there? Therefore, He provided perfect liberation not only to the nature which He took from us through the indivisible union, but also to each of those believing in Him; which He indeed accomplished, and has not ceased to accomplish, reconciling us through Himself to the Father, bringing each one of us back to obedience, and healing all our disobedience.
For this reason, therefore, He commanded divine baptism, and established saving laws, and proclaimed repentance to all, and bestowed His own body and blood. For not nature alone, but the person of each one of the believers receives baptism, and is governed according to the divine commandments, and becomes a partaker of the deifying bread and the cup.
HOMILY V
A Through these things, then, Christ B justified us hypostatically, and led us back to obedience to the highest Father. But the nature itself, which He had taken from us, He renewed; He showed it to be sanctified and justified, and in all things subject to the Father, through which things He Himself, being united to it according to subsistence, performed and suffered according to it—from which comes also the ascent, or rather the taking up, into that ancient temple for the sake of purification which is celebrated among us today, and the meeting of the God-inspired Symeon, and the confession of Anna, who lived her life attached to the temple. For after the birth of the Savior from the Virgin, and the circumcision on the eighth day according to the law, as the evangelist Luke says: "When the days of their purification were fulfilled, according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord." He is circumcised according to the law; He is led up according to the law; He is presented according to what is written in the law of the Lord; the sacrifice is offered according to what is stated in the law of the Lord.
C Do you see that the Maker and Lord of the law becomes obedient to the law in all things? What is He accomplishing through these things? He is making our nature obedient to the Father in all things, and is healing our disobedience according to it, and is converting the curse brought about because of it into a blessing. For as in Adam our entire nature was, so also in Christ; and as through the Adam from the earth all we who from him received life were turned back into the earth, and were carried down, alas, into Hades, so through the heavenly Adam, according to the Apostle, we have all been called back to heaven, and were deemed worthy of the glory and grace therein—mystically, however, for now: "For our life," he says, "is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ shall appear in His second manifestation and advent, then you also shall all appear with Him in glory." All? Who are all? Those who have been made sons to Christ in the Spirit, and who are shown to be His spiritual children through their works. "When the days of their purification were fulfilled, they brought him up to present him to the Lord." Of whom? Of them? The discourse of the law concerns those who have given birth, and at the same time those born from intercourse, as being in need of purification; since the Psalmist also says: "In iniquities I was conceived, and in sins did my mother conceive me." But where there were no ones who had given birth, but a mother alone, and she a virgin, and the child's birth was conceived without seed, there was by no means a need for purification; but this too was a work of obedience, which leads back the nature that had disobeyed, and [removes] the liability which brings about [punishment] because of that disobedience. When, therefore, the days of their purification were fulfilled, they brought him up to present him to the Lord, to dedicate [him], to make manifest that He was the first-born, as it is written in the law of the Lord: "That every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord."
A And yet, He alone is the one who opened the womb at the time of His conception, having been carried in the womb without intercourse, through the sole word and message of God, which the Virgin received into her ear through the angel. How then does the law say, "Every male that openeth the womb"? Just as many are called prophets and many are called Christs, as God says through the Psalmist: "Touch not my Christs, and do my prophets no harm" (Ps. CIV, 15); yet there is one Christ, and this one alone is the Prophet; so too, every first-born is said to open the womb, but the one who truly opened it is the only holy one of Israel. And they brought, he says, "in order to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." The pair of turtledoves, manifesting the purity of the parents, had a certain relation to those joined under the law of marriage, but the two young pigeons, being without marriage, clearly foreshadowed the Virgin, and the one born of this Virgin, and the fact that she remained a Virgin to the end. And see the accuracy of the law: for in the case of the turtledoves, it said a "pair," as if hinting at those joined in marriage, but in the case of the young pigeons, it avoided this, for both the mother and the one born were without a yoke. But the law, while proclaiming from afar the virginal birth, prophesied such things and prefigured it through these means; yet for Him who was born paradoxically and was now brought into the temple, the Holy Spirit B prepared other turtledoves and other young pigeons that were more fitting. Who are these? Simeon and Anna, whom one might reasonably call either young pigeons, due to their utter childishness toward malice, or turtledoves, due to the extreme degree of their purity.
Simeon indeed—that we may run through the evangelical steps cursorily—being just and devout and having been answered by the Holy Spirit, was led by Him at this time as well to come into the temple; and he met and took into his arms this child, heavenly yet earthly, offering to Him as God the hymn and the supplication, entreating to be loosed in peace from the bond of the body, and proclaiming that this was the saving light to all, and firmly insisting that He was set for the fall of the unbelieving and for the resurrection of those who believe in Him. Then, he also addressed the Virgin and Mother of the child, showing that she would be manifested as a mother according to nature to this child, the God-man, through the pain concerning the cross of the boy, C and that she would reveal the thoughts in hearts that were doubtful about this matter; for Simeon rightly recognized the true mother of the child in question through the pain concerning the child's passion and her vehement sorrow and sympathy for Him on that account. But Anna the prophetess, the widow of Phanuel, being about eighty-four years of age, devoting herself to fasts and prayers, and in no way departing from the temple, being at that time—more than ever—possessed by the divine Spirit, gave thanks to God, and announced the redemption to those who were awaiting it. D
showing this child to be that very redemption. Such A rational turtledoves the Holy Spirit sent forth to meet the Christ as He went up into the temple, and He showed us what sort of people those who receive Christ must be, and what sort of people they must be who, having left behind the life of human society, have cast off their spouses. For this Anna, daughter of Phanuel, was a widow, but also a prophetess; and how? Because, having departed from worldly and earthly concerns, she would not depart from the temple; because she lived an immaculate life, passing her days and nights in fastings, vigils, supplications, and psalms. Thus, she deservedly recognized the Lord coming, whom she served through her works, just as the prophet Psalmists says to Him: "I will sing and understand in a blameless way, when will You come to me?" (Ps. CI, 2).
Such, then, must be those who, from marriage, through honorable widowhood, approach or prefer to live the virginal life B. If, therefore, you have vehemently despised second marriages as something base, hold fast to your purpose, and follow in the footsteps of those who remained virgins from the beginning to the end. There was a time when Peter had a mother-in-law, yet he was not found wanting when John the virgin ran to the life-giving tomb; indeed, he returned again, having been appointed coryphaeus of the coryphaei by the common Lord. To such a height does desire raise one who has been transferred from the flesh to the spirit. But you, take care lest, by being moved away from one state because it is common C, while not desiring the other because it seems beyond your strength, you fall away, and, unmindful of your fall, act not according to the law, nor above the law, but against the law. If we declare those who remain in widowhood to be condemned if they do not live chastely, and if, even when they have lawfully flown to second marriages, we do not deem them altogether irreproachable—with Paul saying that they have "denied their first faith" (I Tim. V, 12)—how much more worthy of condemnation are those who prefer illicit pleasure to lawful wedlock? And those who live with women, yet do not abstain from fornication? Fornication, I say, which brought about that universal cataclysm even upon those first called "sons of God," and which brought the fire from heaven upon the Sodomites, and upon the Israelites the defeat by the Moabites, and that slaughter of a multitude of men, D and even now, in my judgment, brings upon us defeats by pagan nations and manifold calamities and woes, both internal and external. Scripture first called the descendants of Enos "sons of God," for he was the first who hoped to call upon the name of the Lord. He was the son of Seth, whose lineage was kept separate from the accursed progeny of Cain; and they lived in chastity, and for their sake the world still stood at that time, until, as it is written, the sons of men—that is, those of the lineage of Cain—seeing that they were beautiful, and being overcome by that fornicating beauty, took for themselves from all whom they chose, and they learned their works, and wickedness abounded upon the earth.
A And the flood came, and took them all away; and had not Noah and the sons of Noah been found chaste upon the earth (it is evident that they lived chastely, for each man was the husband of one wife, with whom he entered into the ark), no root or origin would have been left for the regeneration of a new world.
Do you see how, because of fornicators, this world would have perished of old, had it not stood fast because of the chaste? And since these men are not even worthy of the present world, because they have wrought such impurity, how shall they not be cast out of the world to come, delivered to the fire of Gehenna, because they did not resist the fire of carnal pleasures—unless they now hasten to extinguish it by repentance, and wash away with tears the filth that has arisen from it? And let them not be ignorant of this: that if they do not hasten to resist the passion through repentance, they will be delivered up, falling into worse things, to those disgraceful acts against nature, which are indeed the offspring of obscene concupiscence, while the fire of Gehenna, by which the insolent are apprehended into eternal punishment, seizes them from that point onward. Who does not know the Sodomites, and the burning of their fornication, which was more lawless than that, and the rain of fire and destruction that fell B upon them, which was newer than fire? And often an entire city has suffered because of one lewd man, as happened in the case of the Shechemites, who were utterly destroyed by the sons of Jacob when Shechem had ravished Jacob’s daughter, Dinah. But that we may omit what was before the Law: does not the Law itself command that a bride be stoned if virginity is not found in her? And that a priest’s daughter who has played the whore be burned with fire? Does it not forbid that the hire of a whore be brought into the temple of the Lord? And when the Israelites were shamefully corrupted by the daughters of Moab, was it not the work of the sword that three and twenty thousand men were [slain] in one day? Therefore, the great Paul also says to us: "Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand." Such were the penalties for fornication before the Law, in the Law, and through the Law.
C What then of us, who are commanded to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires, yet fall back into the very things on account of which the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience? We, who are exhorted to mortify our members which are upon the earth—fornication, uncleanness, evil passion, and desire—yet do not heed the exhortation? Shall we not fear, albeit late, the divine wrath which threatens us with both present and eternal punishments, both from below and from above? Shall we not fear the manifestation in the flesh of the Sun of righteousness, Christ, and shall we not walk honestly as in the day? Shall we not tremble at the apostolic warnings, and definitions, and counsels? For he says: "Know you not that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy." And again: "The works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, D impudicity,"
and the rest, which I forewarn you, as I also foretold, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And again: "Know this, that every fornicator, or unclean person, or covetous man, who is an idolater, hath no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." And again: "This is the will A of God, your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication; for God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto sanctification. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given his Holy Spirit unto us." And who could recount all the voices of the apostles and prophets concerning this? Yet to those who are of sound mind, and who therefore belong to the members of Christ, what does the Apostle enjoin? "I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators." For since those who are such do not feel shame before themselves, he exhorts others that they might convert them by putting them to shame, saying to them: "If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, with such an one no not to eat." Do you see that one who wallows in fornication is a common stain upon the Church, and therefore all ought to turn away from him and cast him out? Paul himself B even delivered the fornicator in Corinth unto Satan, and did not confirm his love toward him, nor re-admit him until he had sufficiently shown his repentance. O man, save your own soul from such evils, both those that are present and those that are to come, for these are twofold, both in the world to come and in the present world. For the race of Esau was rejected after he became a fornicator and insolent; and Rehoboam was stripped of the greater part of his kingdom after he became woman-mad; if, indeed, anyone ever was, his father Solomon would have perished from life, which he did not suffer on account of David, who washed away the sin he had once committed with rivers of tears and other works of repentance.
HOMILIA V
"Flee fornication, brethren," the Apostle again commands. If Samson had fled it, he would not have been overcome in the hands of Delilah, nor, together with the hair of his head, would he have lost his strength; nor would his eyes have been plucked out; nor would he have miserably ended his life, together with the aliens. If those who were led under Moses, the leader and lawgiver, had fled it, they would not have sacrificed to Beelphegor, nor eaten the sacrifices of the dead, nor fallen as they fell. If Solomon had fled it, he would not have departed from God, who had made him king and given him wisdom, nor would he have raised temples to idols. Do you see how the passion of fornication leads a man even to impiety? Neither would the beauty of Susanna have deceived the C elder judges of Babylon, nor afterward triumphed over them, nor covered them with the blows of stones, had they fled that odious passion from afar, and not previously observed her brazenly day by day. Nor would Holofernes, miserable, have lain prostrate on the ground, had not the sandal of Judith, as it is written, first caught his eyes, and her beauty [his soul] D
vulnerasset. Propterea Job dixit: "I made a covenant with my eyes, so that I should not think even of a virgin," A how much less of a bold, loose, or married woman? O Theophile, exercise either celibacy or marriage according to the divine will. Drink waters from your own cisterns, or, as it is more apt to say, from your own cistern, and with moderation; but abstain from every impure draught. The water of the Styx reaches the flow of Acheron, it is filled with deadly venom, and it carries the violence of poison, for it is accustomed to drag one into snares, or rather into the abysses of hell. Flee from the honey dripping from the lips of fornicators, B for it is known to stimulate the death that is an alienation from God; to whom David said: "You have destroyed all who go whoring from you." It is necessary, therefore, either to remain pure or to be cleansed, and thus to remain unblemished—continually restraining yielding pleasures—whose body has been made a temple of God through the Spirit, and the Spirit of God dwells in it, and to apply oneself to acquiring purity and holiness, as well as to the flight from fornication and every indecency, so that with the incorruptible Bridegroom we may all rejoice together in chaste chambers for all eternity, through the intercession on our behalf of her who brought Him forth in virginity for our salvation, ever-virgin and irreproachable and most glorious Mother: now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY VI. Homily of the same, hortatory to fasting, in which the origin of the world is also briefly touched upon; it was delivered C on the Wednesday of the first week.
The spiritual and perversely evil serpent is abundant in malice, and cunning, and multiform, or rather most treacherous. He knows how to elude our incipient proposals and good work. If he cannot impede those from the beginning, he employs other deceits by which he might suppress them once they are attempted; even if he cannot suppress them in the middle before they are completed, he knows still other sophistries and other arts, by which he renders them, even when completed, empty and useless, or rather damnable to those who do not attend with total mind. Therefore, first he brings forward the labor and difficulty of virtue, and from there he makes the soul fail and leads it to desperation, D as if it were attempting something troublesome and impossible for those who cannot bring the proposal to its end. Moreover, he begets diffidence regarding the rewards promised by God to those who contend.
But we, brothers, through the manliness of the soul, through fortitude and faith, let us pass over these snares, rightly considering that neither does the earth bring forth agreeable fruit without labor, nor does the soul attain anything pleasing and salutary to God without spiritual struggles;
and since, because of the ancestral curse, a sentence has been passed against us to spend our life in hardships and labors, and this we cannot avoid, let us make a virtue of necessity, let us offer to God voluntarily that which is present involuntarily; let us exchange the transitory for the permanent, and in place of hardships, let us B receive the most excellent things, procuring eternal rest by undergoing the transitory toil. For those who labor here for virtue shall surely attain the rest promised for the future age. For faithful is He who promised, and He is a ready helper to those who enter upon the struggle of virtue with readiness; and while He who strengthens all things is helping, what, among all things, will be impossible to achieve?
But when we reflect upon these things and set ourselves eagerly to the works of virtue, that wicked one, knowing that the good is not good when it is not done well, strives to persuade us not to perform the work of the good with a God-pleasing intent, nor with a view to the praise that comes from God, but to look to the praise of men, so that in this way he may deprive us of the reward from God and of spiritual and heavenly gifts. C We, however, should render this endeavor of his useless by considering both the magnitude of the rewards laid up for those who live in a God-pleasing manner, and the worthlessness of seeking human praise; and by comparing it not only with that future magnitude of divine glory, but not even deeming it worthy to be compared with the affliction and wasting away of the flesh.
But also after this victory over him, that prince of wickedness undermines us with pride, as if it were a final and most dangerous abyss, casting in thoughts of conceit and persuading us to boast, as if we had achieved virtue by our own power and sagacity. But let us call to mind the Truth Itself saying, "Without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5); and thus let us repel the manifold deceits of the wicked one, working D and doing the good well, and with the fitting humility, knowing that just as if someone possessed precious ointment in a vessel, whether he pours it upon dung, or casts dung into the vessel, he equally ruins and destroys the ointment, so also with virtue: whether one pushes it away and casts it from himself through inaction, or mixes wickedness with the practice of it, from either side he equally makes it useless and destroys it. And I say these things now to your love because of the season of fasting, so that we may preserve this for ourselves untainted by any wickedness. For that Pharisee in the Gospel, even though he fasted twice every week for his whole life, gained nothing from the fasting, because he had it mingled with pride and rash judgment of his neighbor. Is fasting, therefore, of no use? But how much profit there is in pursuing it piously and decorously, was shown not only by Moses and Elijah, but also by the Lord Himself. For Moses, when he was upon the mountain for many days...
A in fasting—but do you, I beg you, bestir your mind, and let us now, as the season permits, ascend along with Moses’ ascents to God upon the mountains, so that, by advancing through them step by step, you may be raised up with Christ, who is no longer ascending a mountain, but is ascending into heaven and taking us up with Him. Moses, then, leading a forty-day fast upon the mountain, sees God in form and not through enigmas, according to that which is written; and he speaks with Him and converses, just as if one were speaking to his own friend, and learns from God, and teaches all men concerning Him, as He is the Ever-Existing One, who does not tend toward nothingness, but calls the things that are not as though they were, and summons B the non-existent into being, and will never lapse into annihilation, and who by His Spirit and by the mere power of His will brought the entire creation of innumerable visible things out of nothing. For the Scripture says: “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth,” not altogether void, nor lacking any mixture. For the earth was mingled with water, and both were heavy by nature, with all the tribes of animals and plants; but the heaven was full of lights and fires, in which the whole consists. Thus, therefore, did God create in the beginning the heaven and the earth, as a kind of all-receptive matter, capable by power of bearing the whole world of lands, wisely refuting from afar those who would falsely argue that matter possessed its existence of itself. Then, for the decoration of the world, C he distributed to each its own proper and convenient order, and brought the world to completion in six days, discerning each by his will alone, as if drawing from hidden treasuries the species of things stored up, which, according to symmetry and perfection and nature, he discriminates and binds together—some things for the sake of others, individual things for the sake of the whole, and the whole for the sake of individuals; and around the immobile earth, as if around a center, he places the heaven on high like a circle, and wisely joins the heaven, which knows no rest, so that the same world may always remain both mobile and revolving at once. For since unquiet and revolving bodies were placed round about it, it was necessary for the middle region to remain immobile, being balanced D as if by a contrary weight through the stability of its motion, so that the world might never transgress its own sphere like a cylinder. Therefore, the Architect of the universe, having disposed the boundaries of the whole from without, established and moved this whole wonderful world. But between those boundaries He again distributed each thing conveniently: some things He orders to occupy the high regions, where they revolve through the highest limits of the world with no less order than the time is in its duration, worthy of admiration, in so far as they are light and swift and versatile for the utility of the things below, so wisely adapted to the center that they can sufficiently temper the sharpness of the cold, and also, by the force of their own heat, in their own regions con-
- A tinere, and likewise restrain the excessive impetus of the opposite limits of the extremes and restrain the incursions of opposite forces with a balancing measure in their own zones; but to us provide the pleasing measures of the seasons of the year and of the intervals of time, by which they give to those who understand a marvelous knowledge of God, the Creator, Arranger, and Adorner. God arranged some things in the high air to rotate with a dual impulse for the sake of the universal beauty and multiform utility, composing them to describe various motions; but others He established in the midst, since they were heavy and passible by nature, which, being distinct and coadunate, and moreover inclined toward change for our convenience, He most beautifully ordered among themselves, so that the universe might rightly be called a world—that is, an adorned.
B Therefore, some creature began to appear in the beginning, and after the first, another, and then among them another, and in succession; and after all things, man, who was deemed worthy of greater honor and providence from God. Thus, before he was fashioned, God created this sensible world for him, and after it was created, He ordered this entire universe for him, and furthermore, for his sake, He prepared the kingdom of heaven; intending him in all things with a special will, and deigning to create him with His own divine hand unto His own image, not indeed so that he should consist entirely of this matter and of this sensible world, as the other animals, but in body only, while he received his soul from those things which are above the world, or rather from God Himself through an ineffable insufflation, as something great and marvelous, and superior to the entire universe over which it presides, and excelling all things, and capable of both knowing and possessing God, and even of demonstrating Him, in a word, as the most absolute work of a supereminent Artisan of wisdom. C Moreover, He gave him paradise as a dwelling-place, planted by God Himself, that he might rejoice in divine contemplation and conversation and in that very face-to-face vision, and receive counsels from God: for he had an injunction of fasting, as much as his condition could bear, which as long as he kept and fulfilled, he would remain forever immune from death and labor and penalties.
But he, alas! having libernally put the counsels and divine mandates after the most perverse serpent, and having broken the fast, for eternal life accepted death, and for the most pure habitacle of pleasure, this most damnable region of sin teeming with miseries, and was condemned to hell and its darkness. D And our nature would have remained in the subterranean places under the power of that serpent who deceived us from the beginning, had not Christ come and, beginning His work through fasting, overturned his eternal tyranny and freed us and brought us back to life, which even Moses prefigured: for he, fasting upon the mount, received the tables built by God Himself, and at the same time the law of God written with the finger on two tables, according to which he immediately instructed the people, and prefigured and demonstrated in action all things that were about to happen concerning Christ, who became the liberator of the race of Abraham, just as afterwards He became liberator and Savior of the human race.
A Elijah, having fasted for forty days, also sees God on the mountain, not in fire as the council of Israel had formerly done, but, by reason of his God-pleasing fast, he moves beyond the vision in the fire and beholds the Lord in the sound of a gentle breeze passing by, having come closer to the divine voice. For "God is Spirit," and "those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." For the voice prefigured the truth and the proclamation of the truth itself, which has resounded to all the ends of the earth, while the whispering breeze prefigured the Spirit and the grace. Furthermore, Elijah received from that vision in his fast the power to anoint a prophet in his stead, and to bestow upon him the double portion of grace that he himself had been granted, and [the power] of being lifted up from the earth, altogether as a clear type of Christ’s later ascension from earth to heaven. But Christ Himself, having fasted in the wilderness, conquers the common tempter by force, and having stripped him of his power over men and destroyed his tyranny forever, He liberates our nature and exposes him to mockery before all who wish to live according to His Gospel. He fulfills the predictions of the prophets, and in those things which had happened typically among the prophets, He justifies through His works the grace and the truth.
B See the gifts of fasting, and with what sort and how many blessings it has enlightened us! But consider also its usefulness through its opposite, that is, through gluttony and intemperance. For in the two past weeks, luxury and intemperance were rampant in the city, whence came tumults, outcries, fights, dissensions, harlot-songs, satanic dances, and shameless laughter; C but in this week, fasting has adorned all things, and having dismissed the sumptuous pursuits of vanity and suppressed many empty cares for the sake of the belly, it brought us to the works of repentance and persuaded us to acquire not the food that perishes, but the food that remains for eternal life.
Where now are the slaughters of irrational animals, and the fumes, and the diverse preparations, and the artifice of cooks? Where are those traversing the streets and polluting the air with obscene cries? Where are those cheering homes and tables with songs and pipes, where those reclining and applauding, and those getting drunk with excessive drink to the sound of drums and flutes? Where are those spending the day and night in banquets? Where are those watching for occasions for drinking parties and dragging one another into drunkenness and the shameful effects of drunkenness? D All evils retreat, and all good things arrive, where fasting dwells. Instead of obscene songs, now a sacred psalm is chanted throughout the mouth; instead of immodest laughter, now a saving sadness and tears come to be; instead of the disorderly runnings and roamings, there is now a common gathering for all in the holy Church of God. For just as from the gluttony of the belly numerous sins
A sprout forth, so fasting is the root of all virtues and the beginning of the divine commandments. In truth, intemperance is a B both old and new evil, even if it did not precede the counterbalancing fasting in time. Through the intemperance of our forefathers in Paradise, and their contempt for the former fasting, death entered into the world, and sin reigned, bringing with it the condemnation of our nature from Adam until Christ. Through the intemperance of those who came after Adam and dwelt upon the same earth as we, and through their contempt for the former wisdom, the deluge came upon all the earth. For what did the Lord say to Noah at that hour? "My Spirit shall not abide in these men, for they are flesh." And what are the works of those given over to the flesh? Are they not gluttony, drunkenness, pleasures, and the evils arising from them? Because of the abominable luxury and intemperance of the Sodomites, the flame came down upon them from heaven. "For this," says the prophet Ezekiel, "was the iniquity of Sodom: they gorged themselves in the abundance of bread." For because of this gluttony, they forgot the laws of nature itself and burned with lust in unnatural intercourse. Why did Jacob deprive Esau, his elder brother, of his birthright and frustrate him of his father's blessing? Was it not because of gluttony and a foolish request for food? What condemned the sons C of Eli the high priest to death, and caused his own life to be violently taken from him at the message of his sons' death, because he had been negligent in rearing them? Was it not because they were not ashamed to feed on meat stolen secretly from the cauldrons? But indeed, the entire race of the Hebrews, when Moses was fasting on the mountain for their sake, while they themselves were always luxuriating — they ate and drank and rose up to play, according to that which is written; and their play was the worship of an idol, for then the act of calf-making was brought to pass for them. D Thus, luxury is the cause not only of sin but also of impiety. Therefore, fasting and temperance are profitable not only for virtue but also for piety and religion; for fasting must be joined with temperance. Why? Because the satiety of humble foods hinders the purifying sorrow, and the mourning according to God in the soul, and the compunction which produces repentance unto salvation that brings no regret; for without a contrite heart it is not possible to truly lay hold of repentance. But the restriction of food and sleep and the senses according to God breaks the heart and causes one to mourn for one's own sins. Just as that rich man in the Gospel, saying to his soul, "Eat, drink, be merry," made the wretched man worthy of eternal fire and unworthy of the present life, so let us, brothers, contrariwise say to ourselves to be temperate and fast, to keep watch and restrict ourselves, and to humble ourselves and suffer for our salvation; for thus we shall pass through the present life well and in a manner pleasing to God,
and inheritance of eternal life; of which may we all be granted to partake by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is due glory, power, honor, and worship together with his beginningless Father and his life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY VII
Another on fasting.
A Sweet indeed to the eyes is the spectacle of a tranquil sea, shining and glittering with bright light, and soothing the eyes with the smoothness of its surface. But much sweeter is it not only to see, but also to commune with a Church gathered according to God, removed from tumults, mystically illuminated by the divine light, and winged toward the light from above, lifting up both hands and eyes, all sensation, and the mind itself. Since, therefore, the grace of the Spirit has granted us today this desirable spectacle, and you are all present, spending the night and day together in the temple of God, and in your present, unfailing attendance upon Him in it, you appear to me like certain trees not of this world, planted by the channels of the waters of the Spirit. Come, then, I too shall cooperate to the best of my ability with the irrigation from thence, and, as if opening up the sluices for you, I will show B more clearly the arts by which the enemy of our salvation endeavors in every way to render useless not only our fasting, but our prayer as well.
There is, therefore, brothers, another gluttony and wicked drunkenness, which does not come from foods, nor from drinks, nor from the delights found in these, but from anger against one’s neighbor, from hatred, from malice, and from the evils born of these. Concerning which Moses says in the canticle: “Their wine is the gall of dragons, and the venom of asps is incurable” (Deut. xxxii, 33). For this reason the prophet Isaiah also says: “Woe to you who are drunk without wine” (Isa. xxviii, 1). And again the same one admonishes, saying: “Do not fast for quarrels” (Isa. lviii, 4). Verily, to those who fast in this way, it is said as if by the Lord: “If you bend your neck as a collar, you will not call this an C acceptable fast; and if you multiply your prayers, I will not hear you; and if you stretch out your hands to me, I will turn D my eyes away from you.” This drunkenness, then, which comes from hatred—the cause above all others for the divine turning away—the devil attempts to induce in those who are praying and fasting; he suggests the memory of injuries and stirs up thoughts toward ire, and pricks the tongue toward slander, making them such as David describes the man who prays in iniquity, saying: “He devised injustice all the day; his tongue is like a sharp sword” (Ps. li, 2). And from these he beseeches God to be delivered, saying: “Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man; rescue me from the unjust man; who have sharpened their tongue like a serpent’s; the poison of asps is under their lips” (Ps. cxxxix, 4). But we, brothers, in the time of fasting and prayer,
A I exhort you, if we truly have anything against anyone, or think we have, let us let it go, that we may become entirely of charity, rather keeping watch for the emulation of charity and good works, and speaking for one another and thinking in ourselves and considering what is good before God and before men, so that we may fast a praiseworthy and blameless fast, and our petitions concerning it may be acceptable to God, and we may properly call upon Him as Father by grace, and have the confidence to say to Him, “Father, forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.”
Again, on the other hand, through the craftiness of him who lies in wait for our souls, vanity arises in our prayer and fasting, which that Pharisee also had, who, though he fasted and prayed, was sent away empty. B But we, knowing that everyone who is high-hearted is unclean and unacceptable before the Lord, and realizing that we ourselves are debtors to God for many and great things, and that we have paid back only a small part of the debt we owed, let us forget those things which are behind as nothing, and reaching forward to those things which are before, let us fast and pray with a contrite heart and self-reproach and humility, that our fast, and our abiding and standing in the temple of God, may be pure and pleasing to God.
Another artifice of the wicked one, by which he renders the labor of our fasting and prayer useless, is to persuade us to perform these things for vainglory and with hypocrisy. C Therefore the Lord again warns in the Gospel, saying, “Enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
He says this, not because He commands that assemblies, supplications, and psalmody in the church be avoided; for otherwise the psalmist Prophet would not have said to Him, “In the midst of the church I will praise You,” and, “I will confess to You among the peoples, O Lord; I will confess to You among the nations,” and, “I will pay You my vows in the sight of those who fear You, O Lord,” and to us, “In the churches bless God,” and, “Come, let us worship and bow down, and let us weep before the Lord our God.” D But there are other more sublime things, for which the time now does not provide space; and the Lord is teaching this, that the arousal to prayer in secret in our homes and in the chambers themselves establishes the prayer to God in the church, and the interior prayer of the mind stimulates the prayer to be uttered by the lips; for he who wishes to pray then, whenever he arrives at the temple of God, if he takes no thought for prayer at home or in the roads or in the markets, does not truly pray when he is present at the temple of God. This is shown also by what He says after, “My heart is ready, O God,” adding, “I will sing and perform a psalm in my glory,” or otherwise, “If I remembered You upon my
bed, in the mornings I meditated on You.” But also: A “When you fast,” He says, “do not be sullen like the hypocrites; for they disfigure their faces, so that they may appear to men to be fasting; truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But you, when fasting, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you in the open.”
O the ineffable philanthropy! For the Lord has just now revealed to us, through these words, the discernment and sentence that will occur at the future judgment, so that we might from now on obtain the better vote and portion. B For to those who live for empty glory and not for Him, He will then certainly say, in accordance with what has now been said: “Receive your reward in your life,” just as Abraham said to that rich man in the flames: “You have received your good things in your life.” But to those who look to Him in the practice of virtue, He will “reward in the open,” He says, that is, in that universal theater, He will give back blessing and inheritance and pure, everlasting delight, from which He, who wishes no one to fall away, but wishes all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, now, as I said, shows that undefiled and immutable inheritance, declaring there that only those who despise human glory are sons of God. For this reason, He brought forth the statement for both together in the singular, saying: C “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you in the open,” in order to show that He makes those who despise vain and human glory His own sons and co-heirs, and that He casts out those who are not such from the adoption, unless they repent.
Such are the things the Lord says, so that, looking not to the eyes of men while we pray and fast—from whom there is no benefit for these things—we might endure the labor of fasting and prayer, but not be despoiled of the reward. But to anoint the head and wash the face, as He said, is nothing else than to refrain from showing a pallor, and from having a sordid and dirty head, as if through intense fasting and D bodily neglect one seems to suffer such things, and thus to hunt for praise from men; for such things the Pharisees used to do as they made a show of it; wherefore they were justly alienated from the Church of Christ, and the Lord forbids us to be assimilated to them. But if one should say, in an anagogical sense, that the head of the soul is the mind, as the governing faculty, and its face is the imaginative faculty, in which the seat of the powers concerning the perceptions of the senses is fixed, it is fitting for us who are fasting to anoint the head with oil, that is, to make our mind merciful, and to wash the face, or the imaginative power, from filthy and impure thoughts, and from anger and from all wickedness. For such a fast, and one so perfect, not only does...
evidently of the imagination, to cleanse us from shameful A and impure thoughts, from anger and all wickedness. For fasting, when practiced in such a manner and to such a degree, not only puts to flight the wicked passions and, along with them, the instigators and machinators of such passions, putting the demons to shame, but it also enrolls those who fast among the angels, turning the latter toward the former, making them their guardians, and persuading them to assist and cooperate with them. Thus, to the three youths in Babylon, who were adorned with self-control and fasting, a fourth appeared in the midst of the flame, shielding them unharmed and miraculously cooling them. Thus, to Daniel, who was keeping a long fast, an angel stood by, instructing him and foretelling to him the things to come. Thus, on another occasion, to the prophet who had stopped the mouths of lions by prayer and fasting, an angel transported him from a great distance, bringing him food. Thus, for us too, exercising spiritual and bodily fasting simultaneously and praying, by the cooperation of the good angels, the fire of carnal desire will be extinguished, and anger will be tamed like a lion, and we shall become partakers of prophetic food, through the hope and faith in future good things and through contemplation of the mind, and it will be granted us to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.
B But fasting that is not practiced in such a way and to such a degree has a closer affinity with the evil angels; for their nourishment is wrath and hatred and pride and opposition to the will of God, against whom we, as servants and ministers of the Good, contend: "For our struggle," says the Apostle, "is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness." Therefore, our struggle against them is not simply through fasting; rather, for our protection, we need also the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of saving almsgiveness, and the shield of faith; and furthermore, the most capable sword for vengeance, the sword of the Spirit, which is the saving Word of God to us. For so shall we fight the good fight and keep the faith firm, and we shall quench all the flaming darts of the evil one, and having appeared as victors in all, we shall attain C the heavenly and unfading crowns, rejoicing eternally with the angels in heaven, in the same Christ our Lord, to whom is due all glory, might, honor, and adoration, with his eternal Father and his all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY VIII.
On faith, and an exposition of the confession of piety.
We believe *to* God, and we believe *in* God; each of these is something different. For to believe *to* God is to consider the promises made by him to us to be firm and true; but to believe *in* God D is to think rightly concerning him. And it is necessary...
for us to hold both, and to be truthful in both, and to conduct ourselves in such a way that we are believed by those who see clearly, and are found faithful before the God in whom our faith rests, and as faithful, are thus justified by him. For the Scripture says: "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." How, then, was Abraham justified by believing? He received from God the promise that in his seed, which was Isaac, all the tribes of Israel would be blessed; then he was commanded by God to sacrifice Isaac, while he was still a boy, through whom alone the promise was to have its fulfillment. And the father, contradicting nothing, hastened to become the slayer of his son with his own hand, B and considered this very promise through him to be firm and unshakable. Do you see what kind of faith it is that justifies? But Christ has also promised us the inheritance of eternal life, and delights, and glory, and a kingdom, and then commanded us to cherish poverty, to fast, to live a life of humility and affliction, to be ready for death, and to crucify ourselves with our vices and desires. If, therefore, we apply ourselves to these things and believe that divine promise, we have thus believed God according to Abraham, and it will be reckoned to us as righteousness. C And see the consequence of what has been proposed; for not only was the surrender of Isaac for slaughter a powerful testimony and demonstration of the faith of Abraham, but it also became the cause for which he merited to generate Christ from his seed, through whom all the tribes of the earth were blessed, and the promise was fulfilled; for to him who had given his own only-begotten and beloved Son for the sake of God, God in a certain way became a debtor, on account of him and the promise made to him, to return his own only-begotten and true Son. Thus also in us, the holiness, justice, humility, D and patience in bearing whatever adversity comes, and the distribution of our possessions, which are practiced for the sake of the divine commandments, and the humbling of the body through fasts and vigils, and in a word, the crucifying of oneself with one's vices and desires, not only testify that we truly believe in the promises of Christ, but also make God in a certain way a debtor to return to us eternal and incorruptible life, and delight, and glory, and a kingdom. Therefore, he too, having cast his eyes upon his disciples, said: "Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven; blessed are they that mourn; blessed are the merciful; blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness' sake; and, Woe to the rich; woe to them that laugh; woe to them that are full; woe to you when all men shall speak well of you." Therefore, he who looks not to the beatitudes but to the cursings of the Lord, how, tell me, will he be trusted as one who believes in God? "Show me," says James, "thy faith by thy works. Who is wise? let him show out of a good conversation his works."
A That we truly believe in God—that is, that we know his promises and threats toward us to be true and firm and soon to come—is shown by our good works and the keeping of divine commandments. But that we believe rightly in God, that is, that we think well and safely and piously about him—whence is the demonstration for us? From our consensus with the God-bearing Fathers. And just as believing in God without falsehood B keeps us not only from the passions of the flesh and the opposition of the devil’s snares, but also from those passionate men who entice and drag us down into shameful pleasures, so too does believing rightly in the one true God keep us not only from ignorance and the suggestions of the adversary, but also from impious and deceitful men who steal away and drag others down to their own destruction. And there is a very great help for both faiths, not only from God himself and the cognitive power given to us by him, but also from the good angels and from those God-fearing men who live according to God.
A Therefore, our spiritual and common mother and nurse, the Church of Christ, today with a clearer and more general proclamation commemorates those who have shone forth in piety and virtue, and the all-holy synods held according to them, and the divine dogmas which were proclaimed in them; and she sums up the rejection of those who have indulged in impiety and of their evil studies and opinions, so that we, turning away from these and following the doctrines which are according to God, might believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, from whom and through whom and in whom all things were made, B who is before all things and over all things and in all things and above all things, a Monad in Trinity and a Trinity in Monad, united without confusion and divided without division. The same Monad and Trinity is omnipotent. The Father is timeless and without beginning and eternal, the sole cause and root of the divinity contemplated in the Son and the Holy Spirit; not the only creator of the world, but the only Father of one Son, and the source of the Holy Spirit; always being, and always being Father, and always being Father and source. His Son is co-eternal with him and, so far as time is concerned, co-without-beginning, C but not without beginning [in an absolute sense], as he has the Father as his begetter and root and fountain and beginning, from whom alone he proceeded before all ages, incorporeally, impassibly, immutably, and by birth, yet he was not separated. Being God from God, he is not one [entity] as God and another as Son; he is always being, and always being Son, and always being with God without confusion; the living Word, true light, substantial wisdom, the cause and beginning of all things that have come to be, as all things were made through him. Who, at the end of the ages, D just as the prophets foretold, emptied himself, taking our form for our sake, and through the will of the Father and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, was conceived and born of the ever-virgin Mary, and having truly become man, became like us in all things, without sin, remaining what he was. True God in one hypostasis and with ...
A the Incarnation; performing all divine things as God, and all human things as man, and being subject to the blameless human passions. Being impassible, immortal, and eternal as God, he willingly suffered in the flesh for us as man, and was crucified, and died, and was buried, and on the third day rose again, and by his own death and resurrection destroyed him who held the power of death. And after the resurrection, he appeared and was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of the Father, having made our nature a partaker of his honor and throne, as it is a partaker of his divinity, with which nature he is to come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, whom he shall restore to life by the power of his presence, and render to each according to his works.
This sensible and circumscribed body, which he assumed from us and which we acknowledge, we represent B and worship piously, as well as the Virgin who gave birth to him and those who were perfectly well-pleasing to him. The symbols of his passion, and especially the cross, we honor and worship as divine trophies raised against the common enemy. Making his memorial each day, as he commanded, we perform the most divine mysteries, and we partake of them. According to his command, before all things we are baptized and we baptize into the one venerable and adorable name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. For from the eternal and unoriginate Father the holy Spirit also proceeds, C being co-unoriginate with the Father and the Son in that it is timeless, yet not unoriginate, in that it has the Father as its root and principle and cause, from whom before all ages it proceeded impassibly, without flow, and processionally, being undivided from the Father and the Son, as proceeding from the Father and resting in the Son; having an unconfused union and an indivisible distinction. It is itself also God from God, not other as far as its being God is concerned, but other as Paraclete, insofar as it is a holy self-subsistent Spirit, having its existence from the Father and being sent through the Son D as an earnest of eternal life and a pledge of the good things that are to come and remain forever; it is also the cause of all things that have been made, because in it all things were made. It is the same as the Father and the Son, and it is not other, except that the Father has no principle, while the Son proceeds by generation. It was sent by the Son to his own disciples, that is to say, it was manifested; for how else could he who is everywhere present, and does not depart from the one who sends him, be sent? Therefore, it is sent not only by the Son, but also by the Father, and it comes from itself; for the mission, or rather the manifestation, is a common work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. It is manifested, however, not according to its substance—for no one has ever seen or declared the nature of God—but according to the grace and the power and the energy, which is common to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. For while the hypostasis of each is proper, and what pertains to the hypostasis is proper, the common reality is not only invisible
A and super-essential and unparticipated essence, but also grace, and power, and operation, and splendor, and incorruptibility, and kingdom, and all things whatsoever whereby God participates in and is united to the holy angels and to men; yet neither through the divided and distinct nature of the hypostases, nor through the divided and varied nature of the divine powers and operations, does He fall away from unity and simplicity. Thus let us believe in One God in one tri-hypostatic and omnipotent divinity, and let us proclaim those who have pleased God in such faith. But those who do not believe B thus, but have introduced their own heresies, or have stubbornly followed those who did so, let us reject. And know this, brethren, that evil passions and impious dogmas are introduced through one another, finding place through God’s just abandonment.
That, truly, the countless swarm of sin finds place through impiety, the great Paul has taught us, writing concerning the Greeks: "Because when they did not approve to have God in their knowledge, but having known God, they did not glorify Him as God, neither were thankful, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, covetousness, and C the rest." That, however, impiety in turn is introduced through sin, the wretched proof of many who have suffered this shows. Solomon, throwing himself into fleshly pleasures, slipped into idolatry. Jeroboam, overcome by greed, sacrificed to the golden calves. The traitor Judas, sick with the love of money, fell into deicide. For these reasons, therefore, since faith without works is dead and insubstantial, and works without faith are vain and worthless, the grace of the Spirit has joined together on this day—in this holy time of fasting wherein we are trained in virtue—both the proclamation of those who have received the D right principle of piety, and the rejection of those who chose to deviate from it, so that we, applying our mind to both, may verify our faith through our works, and receive the gains of our labors through faith.
Not only do evil passions and impiety introduce one another, but they are also like unto one another; and—that I may say a little to your charity—concerning those who have appeared in our own day as heterodox: just as Adam, having received from God the authority to eat from every tree in the garden, was not content with all those things, but, persuaded by the counsel of the most crafty serpent, ate of the tree which alone he had been forbidden to touch; so too, regarding the good and truly excellent gifts of God, which are set forth by Him for those who wish to partake—according to the one who said: "All things that are of God are communicated through His grace, except His substantial existence." There are those who teach that we are also participants in this very supersubstantial essence,
and proclaim that it is fitting to call her by a proper name, imitating the arch-evil serpent; for as he misinterprets and distorts the works of God, so do they misinterpret and distort the words of the saints. A But we, having received power from the Lord to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and having successfully crushed all his devices and struggles against piety and a pious way of life, and having appeared as victors over him in all things, shall attain the heavenly and incorruptible crowns of righteousness, in Christ himself, the incorruptible judge and the bestower of rewards; to whom is due all glory, honor, and adoration, together with his beginningless Father and the all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY IX.
In the time of fasting and prayer.The end of divine dogmas and of the meditation and laborious execution concerning them is truth and B certain praise consonant and agreeable with our divinely-inspired Fathers; but this is not the end of practical virtue, but rather a beginning, which, if it does not reach its appropriate end, will be the cause of greater condemnation to the one who has acquired it. For he says: "He who knew the will of the Lord and did not do it, shall be beaten with many stripes." Hence, to the concept of virtue, the intelligence and truth of this matter is not enough, but its end is the good. Therefore, if we were to look upon men conversing in the known goods, C and bringing these to work, and being made good through their works, and not sinning against the right reason which they have in their mind, truly we would not have a long discourse about justice, about chastity, about temperance, and other such things; for who does not know that each of these is beautiful, and in particular a temperate life, which is proven by the experience of all to be very beneficial to both souls and bodies at the same time? But since most people know, and know too well, that desire and anger prevail over that beautiful knowledge; (for the Apostle said: "I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and D bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members,"), therefore, brothers, we often exhort you with words, that with a right and pure intention you might complete the exercise of the good, by which you may attain to the best end of these knowledges. "A good understanding," says David, "to all that do it." And: "His righteousness endures unto children’s children, to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them." And Paul: "Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." And the Lord of both: "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." Therefore, brothers, let us apprehend with our works the precious benefits of fasting and temperance; let us prove...
A their fruits, of what sort they are; for the tree is known by its fruit. And it is necessary for the husbandman first to partake of the fruits. "Understand what I say," says the Apostle. For each of the other virtues cleanses and adorns either the soul or the body, or rather, some part of the soul or body: as prayer and knowledge [clear] the mind, gentleness [subdues] the anger, and temperance [calms] the concupiscence. But fasting and abstinence quiet the uprisings of the body, weaken the fury of anger and the impulses of concupiscence, and pour into the mind a serene sky, untroubled by any cloud, purifying it of the vapors rising from a multitude of foods B and the darkness arising from them. Through fasting and abstinence, the "outer man" is destroyed; and to the extent that this one is destroyed, the inner [man] is renewed, according to the Apostle. "A thick belly," said someone, "does not beget a subtle mind"; therefore, the one attenuated by fasting and abstinence necessarily also attenuates the mind.
Thus, every good and excellent thing is accomplished and perfected through this. Fasting and abstinence are a twofold fortification; and he who lives in these enjoys great peace, as being within Jerusalem. For Jerusalem is interpreted as "peace." Now, the chief cook of the Babylonian prince attacks this wall with sieges; and if he does not find those within holding fast to the walls C with strength, he destroys them, bringing up the inventions of cookery like siege engines. But if those upon these walls not only despise the variety of dishes, but also bake their bread the more frugally, they themselves rather, by temperance, overthrow the tent of Midian; for the story of Gideon typifies something of this sort. "For behold," it says, "a cake of barley bread was rolling into the camp of Midian." The barley bread of those who campaigned with Gideon demonstrated even in necessary foods the sobriety and temperance of the soldiers of Gideon. "And it came," it says, "even unto the tent of Midian, and smote it and overturned it." The tent, which would be totally overturned by the barley cake, is the concupiscence of the throat and belly, whose vehement D desires are taken away by fasting and a table simply set. Daniel, the man of desires, did not only destroy the dragon through the cake, *disdaining them whose god is their belly, and whose strength is in their loins and the navel of the belly, but also, not eating desirable bread nor drinking wine for many weeks, he saw wondrous visions and was granted the presence of an archangel.
Thus, then, [it was with] Daniel; but the petulant and ungrateful people, who said, "Who shall give us flesh to eat?" after they ate flesh until it came out of their nostrils, were smitten with a very great plague; for it says, "God was angered against His people, and their surfeit became..."
A the monument of desire and the uprising of the divine wrath against them. Looking upon this, let us flee gluttony, let us embrace temperance, and let us cherish these days of fasting, as they render the body obedient to the soul and lighten the mind to hasten toward God. John, the forerunner of grace, subsisted his whole life on locusts and wild honey. Peter used only salted provisions, olives, lupines, and a few vegetables. What need is there to speak of Paul, who says this regarding himself: "In hunger and thirst, in fastings often"? Yet for you, the interval of fasting is not your whole life, but forty days; and on each day, the sun sloping to its setting assigns the limit of your fast. Is this abstinence not easy and proportionate for almost everyone, provided that the taking of food is also proportionate? For by fasting moderately and eating moderately in this way, you will not fall far short of those who abstain completely. You fear the pains of the flesh and flee from fasting, as if it brought consumption; but the contrary is the case. For gluttony is more naturally inclined to beget gout, B heaviness of head, and other diseases; but fasting is the mother of health. As it seems, not only does the fornicator sin against his own body, but the glutton also offends against his own body, rendering it cachectic and diseased.
Since intemperance is committed through all the senses, let us impose continence upon them all. If you abstain from food, but have eyes prone to carry on adultery within the inner chamber of your soul, or to idle curiosity and envy; and if you have ears receptive to insults, lascivious songs, and evil whisperings; and if your other senses are likewise damaged by similar harms—what profit is the fast to you? None at all. For you flee one vice on account of another, yet through the former you open an entrance into the soul for the latter. Since we are composed of soul and body—not only body but also mind, which itself has many members of a different sort, namely the vegetative faculty, the appetitive, the irascible, and the rational—that is the true fast which extends C to all these faculties, purifies them all, and heals them all. For the remedy for the soul through fasting, brothers, is sweet and kindly; and for this reason our Fathers commanded it to us during these days.
If, therefore, we foolishly flee from this, avenging punishments, cuttings, and burnings will overtake us, since Christ will amputate the rotten member and deliver it to unquenchable fire, to exact eternal vengeance. For just as, because we did not fast in paradise, we were cast into this life filled with many toils, so, unless we fast here and live soberly according to our strength, we shall fall into that unquenchable and intolerable hell. But "Turn back, you backsliding children," says the prophecy; for nothing is so effective for obtaining mercy among those who turn back as the fast. D
A For it is a fast, as we learned from the conversion of the Ninevites; nothing produces death so much as gluttony, as he who spoke of the prodigal son returning shows: "This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found" (Luke xv, 24); for he had embraced a swinish life, and delighted in the mire of swine, having been joined to them and become like them, by putting aside the likeness to God. And according to the great Job, he was not only made like to unreasoning beasts, but also to those things that are in marshy places, utterly devoid of sense, the bulrush, the papyrus, and the reed, in which the voracious Leviathan sleeps. For in humid places this intellectual sea-monster rests. David, driving away this humidity through the temperance of his own life, says: "My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my bones are burned up like a faggot; my knees have grown weak from fasting, and my flesh is changed for lack of oil" (Ps. cii, 4-5). Therefore he also transformed the transformation of the right hand of the Most High, B dedicating himself wholly to Him, and ever foreseeing himself before Him, and keeping the meditation of his own heart, with Him always before his eyes.
Let us also imitate this, beloved, and not only restrain ourselves from a soft and dissipated life, but also perform our fasting, our psalmody, and our prayer as if God Himself were present and looking upon us; knowing that neither fasting, nor psalmody, nor prayer can save us by themselves, but only by these things being performed in the presence of God; for thus the eyes of the Lord looking upon us sanctify us, just as the sun warms the things illuminated by it. But these things happen in the presence of God when the mind gazes steadily upon Him, and because it looks to Him, it fasts and chants and prays. For when, during prayer or psalmody, C the mind at one moment is stretched towards God, but at another moment lapses and wanders, we must recognize that we have not yet surrendered ourselves wholly to God, nor is the whole purpose of our actions according to the law of the Lord; for this reason, as much as we fall away from the works of righteousness, by so much the more we are unable to remain before the eyes of God; for "The unrighteous shall not stand," he says, "before thy eyes" (Ps. v, 5). Nevertheless, being wounded, let us call upon the Lord, who can apply healers and bandages to our wounds.
Let us not therefore grow weary, I beseech you, but with fasts, prayers, and tears, and in all ways crying out to Him, until He draws near and heals us; let us show by our deeds that we are enriched by a bridegroom, Christ, and that, though He is now gone away from us and is hidden in the heavens, we expect Him with firm hope. D For He says: "When the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then shall they fast" (Matt. ix, 15). Hence it is clear that those who are called by Christ ought to spend their whole life in temperance and fasting, awaiting His fearful coming with good hope. Let us fast, then, all the more in these days, and let us fully shape ourselves for good morals, awaiting the anniversary day of the resurrection.
rection of Christ, that we may celebrate His passion purely, as pure [beings], and may attain that immortal and blessed life which the Lord has prepared for us through His passion—the which may we all be granted to attain by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom appertains all glory, honor, and adoration, together with His eternal Father, and His all-holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Homily X
A Held on the second Sunday of the Holy Forty Days, having as its subject the Paralytic healed by the Lord in Capernaum, and against those who converse indecently with one another in sacred assemblies at church.
I shall present these words of the Lord, or rather the very sum of the evangelical preaching, today as a preface to your charity: “Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And it has not only drawn near, but it is also within us; “For the kingdom of heaven is within you,” the Lord said again. And it is not only within us, but not long after, it shall appear more clearly, B destroying every principality and power and force that is hostile to those alone who live according to God and have lived piously here. Since, therefore, the kingdom of God has both drawn near and is within us, and shall soon appear, let us make ourselves worthy of it through the works of repentance; let us use force upon ourselves, lopping off wicked predispositions and habits; for the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. Let us emulate the patience, the humility, and the very faith of our God-bearing Fathers: “Whose manner of life you are observing, imitate [their] faith.” Let us mortify our members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, C passion, evil desire, and covetousness, and especially during these sacred days of the fast. For this reason, the grace of the Spirit, anticipating, has instructed us concerning the future most terrifying judgment of God, and then reminded us of the exile of Adam, and after this revealed the most firm faith to us, so that in fear of the former, and in lamentation for the latter, and strengthened by faith, we might rectify ourselves, and not indulge in intemperance, nor open the gates to all vices by giving way to an insatiable belly, or offer it a side, nor wander in the squares and the marketplace, D ruined, so to speak, by pleasure. But having loved the narrow and afflicted way that leads to eternal life, of which the first beginning and stage is fasting, let us complete this forty-day period of the fast with steadfastness. For if, as Solomon said, there is a time for all things, and a season for everything, if anyone also seeks an opportune time for the practice of virtue, behold, it is here.
A This is the season, this is the holy Forty Days. But if the whole of human life is suitable for the attainment of salvation, how much more so is this season of fasting? Since even the Prince and Leader of our salvation, Christ, made the beginning from fasting, and in the arena of this [virtue], He wrestled down and shamed the devil—that architect of passions—who attacked Him in every way. For just as the gluttony of the belly is the destroyer of virtues and the mother of impassioned conduct, so too temperance, by destroying the defilements of licentiousness, is the mother of dispassion. And if intemperance causes and has caused passions even when they were not yet within us, how would it not increase and fortify them once they are present, just as fasting will diminish and vanish them? Yet fasting and temperance are yoked together, and if one sometimes excels the other for those who prudently pursue them, they are nonetheless mutually beneficial.
These, therefore, let us not now separate from one another, B but rather, during the five holy days in the middle of the week, let us hold fast more to fasting, and on the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day, let us attend more to temperance than to fasting, so that we may intelligently listen to the evangelical words which today proclaim the wonderful healing of the paralytic, not the one in Jerusalem, but the one performed by the Lord in Capernaum. For at that time, says the divine evangelist Mark, "Jesus entered again into Capernaum after some days." Now Matthew calls this Capernaum the Lord’s own city; for he too, narrating the events concerning this paralytic, says, "Jesus came into His own city." For truly, after being baptized in the Jordan by John, and after the Spirit had descended upon Him from heaven, He was led by the Spirit into the desert for temptation, and after defeating the tempter, He returned and C walked about the Jordan teaching, having received witness from the Baptist many times, until John was shut up in prison by Herod. Then, as Matthew says, "He withdrew to Galilee, and leaving the city of Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea."
He used to go out from it into the deserts for the sake of prayer, and He would go about the neighboring towns preaching, and then return to it again. For this reason Matthew the evangelist called this His own city; but Mark said, "He entered again into Capernaum after some days. And it was heard that He was in the house, and immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door." For since He spent most of his time dwelling there, He was better known through many great miracles and words, and therefore He was especially longed for there. D When, therefore, they heard that He was present again, they flocked together from everywhere. And as Luke says, those who had gathered were from every city, among whom were also Scribes and Pharisees and teachers of the law, and "He spoke to them," he says, "the word." For this was His primary work, which He also revealed parabolically by saying, "A sower went out to sow his seed," that is, of doctrine
and, "I came," He says, "to call sinners to repentance," and this calling is through the word of doctrine. This also Paul, manifesting it, said: "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God." B Therefore, the Lord spoke the word of repentance, the Gospel of salvation, the words of eternal life, to all equally and without partiality; and while all indeed heard, not all obeyed; for while we are all fond of hearing and fond of seeing, we are not all fond of virtue; for by nature we are all inclined to desire to know saving things along with other things. Wherefore, the majority not only listen gladly to sacred doctrine, but also judge the words, so that each may have, according to his own ignorance or understanding, an examination of what seems to be. But to bring the words into action, or even to harvest a profitable faith from them, requires good intent and a good disposition, which is not easily found, and especially among those who justify themselves and are wise in their own eyes, such as were the Scribes and Pharisees of the Jews. Wherefore then, while remaining and hearing the word, and seeing the signs that were being performed, they blasphemed rather than praised Him who was bestowing good things upon them both by works and by words. For while the Lord was teaching, and all, or at least the majority, were receiving with attentive ears the words of grace proceeding from His mouth, C "There came," He says, "some to Him, carrying a paralytic borne by four, and not being able to approach Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was, and having broken it open, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay." It is possible for one to think that everything done was of the faith of the bearers, and that the Lord, being pleased with their faith, gave the subsequent healing to the paralytic; but to me, the truth does not seem to consist in this. For if even when the Lord was healing the son of the ruler of the synagogue, He did not demand faith from him, nor from the Canaanite woman, nor in the case of Jairus's daughter, but was content with the faith of those who had approached on their behalf—yet of these, one was dead, the other was a Canaanite and out of her mind, and the boy was not even present—this paralytic, however, was present and was master of his reasoning, even if he was paralyzed in body. Therefore it seems to me that it was rather from his own hopefulness and faith that those carrying him also received the faith in the Lord, and dared to approach, and, persuaded by this paralytic, carried and brought him up to the roof, and let him down from there before the Lord; for they would not have done these things had he not been willing. D And the paralytic, not being paralyzed in his mind, overcame the obstacles that stood against faith; for the love of human glory was moving the Pharisees away from faith in the Lord; and for this reason He said to them: "How can you believe in Me, you who receive glory from men, and do not seek the glory that is from the only God?"
A Others, however, are again kept back from approaching by fields and marriages and the cares of worldly affairs; yet the weakness of the body, insofar as it loosened and took away the paralytic’s thoughts, also loosened and moved all these things. And for this reason, to those who are sinning, sickness is sometimes better than health; it sometimes cooperates with them toward salvation. It dulls the natural impulses toward wickedness, and by the affliction, as though paying the debt of sins, it makes them receptive first to the healing of the soul, and then to that of the body—especially when the sick person, understanding that healing comes from God, bears the blow generously and falls before God with faith, and by works, as much as he has the power, calls upon the propitiation. This the paralytic also showed through works, as he was able, and the Lord brought it to pass with both works and words, even if the Pharisees, being unable to contemplate these things with the eye of the mind, blasphemed and murmured. For the Evangelist says: "When Jesus had seen their faith, both of him who was carried lying down, and of those letting him down from the roof, He said to the paralytic: 'Child, your sins are forgiven.'" O blessed address! He hears "child" and is adopted by the heavenly Father, and he clings to the sinless God, becoming sinless himself immediately through the forgiveness of sins. And so that the renewal of the body might follow, He first receives the soul—which was formerly above sin—from the One who knows that since the soul fell at the beginning into the nets of sin, both diseases of the body and death followed in accordance with His just judgment.
But the Scribes, hearing this, "reasoned," he says, "within themselves, 'Why does this man speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?'" But the Lord, as the Maker of hearts, and knowing the hidden thoughts of the hearts of the Scribes, says to them: "Why do you reason these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Arise, and take up your bed, and walk'?" It seemed to the Scribes that because the Lord could not heal the paralytic, He took refuge in the invisible—the forgiveness of sins—which, to say in word alone, and that in a lordly and imperative manner, is indeed blasphemous, but is very easy for anyone who wishes. Therefore, the Lord said to them: "If I wished to speak empty words that would not have an outcome from the facts, it would be of equal convenience to declare either the healing of the paralytic or the forgiveness of his sins. But so that you may know that My word is not ineffectual, nor did I take refuge in the forgiveness of sins as one unable to provide the healing of the disease, but that I have divine authority upon the earth as a Son consubstantial with the Father in the heavens, even if I have been made consubstantial with you ungrateful ones according to the flesh," then He says to the paralytic: "I say to you, arise, and take up your bed, and go into your house." And he arose immediately, and having taken up the bed, he went out before them all.
B Both this word and this miracle are opposed to C as regards the Scribes' reasoning. D
A For that no man among men can forgive sins by his own power, He demonstrates to be true. But that other notion of the Pharisees is false and absurd, namely, that Christ is a mere man and not God omnipotent; for He who was never seen nor heard has now appeared as God and man in one, possessing both natures and operations, speaking as a man in accordance with our nature, yet doing whatever He wills by word and command alone as God. And He proves this by His works, showing Himself to be the one who was from the beginning, by whom all things were made, according to the Psalmist: "He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created" (Ps. XXXII, 9). Therefore, the result followed immediately upon His word, for the paralytic arose straightway, B and having taken up his bed, he went forth before all, so that all were amazed. For while the forgiveness of faults is often accomplished even by men against whom one may have offended—and this is done by word—to drive away a disease, and such a disease at that, by the command and word of God alone belongs to God alone. For this reason, the Evangelist also notes that all who saw it were amazed and glorified God, for He is the author of this wondrous event, or rather, the one who brings about glorious and marvelous things without number, saying: "We have never seen it like this." But those men, while thus attributing praise in word and showing this miracle to be greater than those that had preceded it, said: "We have never seen it like this." C But we, who cannot say this—for we have seen many things much greater than this miracle, not only by Christ but also by His disciples and their subsequent successors, accomplished merely by the invocation of the name of Christ—let us, therefore, brothers, glorify Him now by our works, receiving with a pious mind an exhortation to virtue from this miracle. For whoever indulges in pleasures is a paralytic, lying on the bed of self-indulgence and the weakness with which his flesh is afflicted. But if, persuaded by the evangelical exhortations, he confesses his own sins and overcomes the weakness that has come upon his soul from them, he is carried to the Lord by these four: his own self-reproach, the confession of his sins, the promise to abstain from evil in the future, and his prayer offered to God. But these things cannot bring one near to God unless they strip away the roof, casting off the tiles and the mud and the rest of the material. D Now, the roof in us is the intellect of the soul, because it is set over everything within us; but this has much material piled upon it, namely, the inclination toward vices and earthly things. Therefore, when this inclination is shaken off and cast away by those four aforementioned bearers, then we can truly be "let down," that is, truly humbled, and fall down and approach the Lord and ask and receive healing from Him. But when do these works of repentance happen? When Jesus comes into His own city, that is, when
He who is by nature God, having become man, arrives into the world, which is His own A property because it was made by Him, just as the Evangelist says of Him: "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not; but as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in His name." Therefore, the paralytic mind, falling down in this way with faith, at once hears from Him "child," and receives both forgiveness and healing; and not only these, but it also receives the power to take up the bed and carry the thing upon which it lay. By "bed," you shall understand the body in which the mind lies, and through which he who follows the impulses of the flesh commits the works of sin. But after the healing, our mind takes and carries the body as an instrument under its control, and through it manifests the fruits and works of repentance, so that even those who see might glorify God, B beholding today the evangelist who yesterday was a publican, the apostle who was a persecutor, the theologian who was a plunderer, the son of the heavenly Father who previously lived among the swine; or if you wish, one who places in his heart advancements, and journeys from glory to glory, progressing each day toward what is better. Therefore, the Lord also says to His own: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." He says this, not commanding us to make a display, but to live in a manner pleasing to God; just as light attractingly draws the eyes of those who see without effort, so too does a life pleasing to God, along with the eyes, draw the mind. And just as again with the light of the sun, we praise not only the one participating in the brightness, C but the sun that possesses and imparts the ray of brightness, and even if we praise the air as luminous, how much more the sun? So too, regarding him who through the works of virtue shows the brightness of the sun of righteousness; for he, being seen, immediately leads to the glory of the Father in heaven, the Son of righteousness, Christ. And that I may omit the greater virtues for now, when I stand with you before God in the holy Church, and turning, I see those who with understanding and compunction send up to God hymns and prayers, or someone standing silent and deep in thought and listening, and at this sight alone I am immediately filled with divine fervor and joy, and I glorify Christ, the Father in heaven, without whom no one can do anything of value, and through whom all that is D right comes to men.
HOMILY X
But what are we to say now to those who neither stand in silence, nor join in the singing, but who converse with one another, and mingle our spiritual worship of God with some worldly chatter; who not only do not listen to the holy and divinely-inspired words, but also hinder those who wish to listen? "How long," O you people, "do you limp on both legs?" the Thesbite Elias would have said, you who wish at once to be at prayer, and to indulge in untimely, earthly conversations, who not long...
another, as is right, do you build up, or do you overturn others by means of others, or rather are you overturned one by another? How long will you not refrain from these words of vanity, but make the house of prayer a house of merchandise and of crowds? A house in which the words of eternal life are both spoken and heard—on our part, as we ask of God with unashamed hope for eternal life, and on God’s part, as He bestows it upon those who ask Him with their whole soul and mind, but not upon those who do not, so to speak, turn their entire tongue to the prayer. B It is not through fire that the sacrifice is now offered by us to God, brothers, as it was in the time of Moses, but it is accomplished through the Word. At that time, therefore, when God accepted the sacrifice being offered by fire, those who brought strange fire from without, having risen up against Moses with Korah, were consumed by the holy fire that broke out upon them of its own accord.
Let us also fear, lest by bringing foreign words into this spiritual censer of God—I mean the Church—we be condemned by the very words of God, making ourselves guilty of a dreadful sentence and condemnation. Amen, I beseech you, let us fear, and as long as we stand before God in fear, let us offer our prayers. But when we have gone forth from here, let us show our conversion of manners for the better, not being conquered by gains, especially unjust ones; fleeing oaths, especially those regarding falsehood; abstaining from shameful words, and how much more from disgraceful deeds, from cursing, from deceit, from pride; governing every member and every sense according to divine temperance; and carrying, or rather lifting up, the body with divine fear and words, and not being cast down and held fast by the body’s base and loathsome cravings; having learned from Paul and knowing that if we live according to the flesh, we shall die, but if by the Spirit we mortify the deeds of the body, we shall live forever. C And now, to the glory of God, let us stir up all who see us, having recognized that this house bears Christ within itself, causing the paralyzed in soul to be braced and commanding them to lift up and raise their bodily senses and perceptions toward Him by means of a spiritual and God-loving intellect, and not to be carried and cast down mindlessly by them; and thus let us make our way to our true house, I mean heaven and the supercelestial region, where Christ now reigns, our heir and testator; to whom be glory, power, honor, and adoration, with His unoriginate Father and His all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XI.
On the glorious and life-giving Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.The Cross of Christ was mystically proclaimed and prefigured from ancient generations, and no one ever D
A returned to God’s favor except through the power of the Cross. For after that primal transgression in the paradise of God through the wood, sin indeed revived, but we died, undergoing the death of the soul—which is its turning away from God—before the death of the body. And since we were exiled after the transgression, we were exiled into sin and into a life according to the flesh; but sin is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be, and those who live in the flesh cannot please God. Since, therefore, as the Apostle also says, "The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh," and God is Spirit, and is goodness and virtue itself, and our spirit is made according to his image and likeness—which has also been corrupted by sin—how was it possible for any at all to be renewed and reconciled to God in the Spirit while sin and the life according to the flesh were not yet abolished? This is the work of the Cross of Christ, in which is found the abolition of sin.
Wherefore, one of our God-bearing Fathers, being asked by one of the unbelievers whether he believed in the Crucified One, said: "Yes, I believe in Him who crucified sin." Many B were friends of God both before and after the Law, even though the Cross had not yet appeared, and they received testimony from God Himself; even David the king and prophet, who certainly was among the friends of God at that time, said, "To me, O God, thy friends have been greatly honored." How then could there be those who were called friends of God before the Cross? I will show you, if you offer me a God-loving and teachable ear.
Homily XI
As the Apostle beloved by Christ, the Theologian, says regarding the man of sin, the son of lawlessness, I mean the Antichrist, that he had not yet arrived: "And now, beloved, the Antichrist is coming," so too the Cross was among those of old long before it was accomplished. For the great Paul, teaching us more clearly how the Antichrist has not yet arrived among us, says, "For his mystery is already at work within us." C So too, the Cross of Christ, while not yet having come to pass among the forefathers, was nonetheless present; for its mystery was at work within them. And that I may now pass over Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Noah, and those who pleased God up until Noah, and whoever else was near them, I will begin with Abraham, who was called the father of many nations—of the Jews indeed according to the flesh, but of us according to faith. Let me begin, then, with this our father according to the Spirit, and with the very beginning of his virtuous conduct, and with his first calling from God; what was the first word God uttered when He spoke to him? "Go out from your land and from your kindred, and come to the land that I will show you." This word carries with it the mystery of the Cross. This is clearly shown by Paul, who boasted in the Cross, saying, "To me the world is crucified." For he who flees his country and the world for all time, to him his country according to the flesh and the world are D dead and abolished; this, however, is the true cross.
A But to Abraham, who had not yet fled the company of the ungodly, he says: "Go out from your land, and go to a land, not which I shall give you, but which I shall show you," as if by that one, another, spiritual land were being pointed out. But to Moses, after he had fled Egypt and ascended the mountain, what does the first voice of God say? "Remove the sandals from your feet." This is another mystery of the cross, one that follows most closely upon the former. For, he says, even if you have departed from Egypt, and have renounced the service of Pharaoh, and have despised being called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and as far as concerns you, that world of wicked service has been dissolved and abolished, yet you must also add something. What is that? "Remove the sandals from your feet"—that is to say, put off those skin garments with which you are clothed, and in which sin works, and which alienate you from the holy land. Remove, therefore, these sandals from your feet, which is to say, no longer live according to the flesh and in sin; but let the life that is contrary to God and the mindset of the flesh be abolished and put to death, and let the law in the members, which wars against the law of the mind and takes us captive in the law of sin, no longer hold sway, nor work, being put to death by the power of the vision of God. Is this not the cross? B For the cross, to speak according to the divine Paul, is again to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires. "Remove, therefore," he says, "the sandals from your feet, for the land on which you stand is holy land." By this word he was revealing to him the sanctification that would be on the earth after the manifestation of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, through the cross. For then Moses foresaw the future presence of Christ, when he beheld that wonderful spectacle of the burning bush that was not consumed. So, the contemplation of divine things is also a mystery of the cross, and one greater than that former mystery. For both of these mysteries are alluded to by both the great Paul and our divine Fathers: the former by saying not only, "The world has been crucified to me," but adding, "and I to the world"; the latter by warning us not to hasten to ascend the cross before the cross, as there are indeed two teachings and two mysteries of the cross. C According to the first mystery of the cross, which is the flight from the world and the separation from relatives according to the flesh—if they hinder piety and the life lived in accordance with it—and the bodily exercise, which, as Paul says, is profitable for little, through these, I say, the world is crucified to us, just as sin is, when we flee these things. According to the second mystery of the cross, we ourselves are crucified to the world and its desires, when these things flee from us. But they cannot flee from us completely or cease to work in us rationally, unless we contemplate God. For when by the exercise of virtue we come to that contemplation, when we D look inward...
to the treasure hidden within ourselves and contemplate the kingdom of God that is within us, then we are truly crucified to the world and its passions. A For a certain fervor arises in the heart through this meditation, which, like a flyswatter, drives away wicked thoughts, and produces spiritual peace and consolation in the soul, and provides sanctification to the body, according to the words of him who said: "My heart grew hot within me, and in my meditation a fire shall be kindled" (Ps. XXXVIII, 4). This is what one of our God-bearing Fathers taught us, saying: "Apply all your diligence so that your inner labor may be according to God, and you will overcome the passions from without." To this end, the great Paul also exhorted us, saying: "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the desire of the flesh" (Gal. V, 16). Therefore he also admonishes us elsewhere, writing: "Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth" (Eph. VI, 14), because through meditation on the truth good desires are nurtured and strengthened, and the concupiscences of the flesh are repressed. Great Peter explains this to us more clearly, showing what these loins are and what the truth is: "Girding up," he says, "the loins of your mind, B being sober, hope perfectly for the grace that is brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ" (I Pet. I, 13).
Since, therefore, wicked passions and the world of sin cannot be utterly fled from us, nor cease to work in us rationally, unless we come to the contemplation of God, for this reason such contemplation is a mystery of the cross, crucifying those who are deemed worthy of it to the world. Thus, then, that vision of the burning bush, of which Moses was deemed worthy, was a mystery of the cross, greater and more perfect than that mystery in which Abraham was placed. Was Moses, then, initiated into the more perfect mystery of the cross, and Abraham not? And how could that have any logic? But he was indeed initiated at the very time of his calling; and later, after his calling, not once or twice, but many times, C although the present time does not allow us to discuss everything. I, however, will call to your remembrance that most marvelous vision of the sight of God, when he beheld the one God clearly as three-hypostasized, while it was not yet proclaimed as such: "For God appeared to him by the oak of Mamre, and looking up, he saw and behold, three men, and he ran to meet them" (Gen. XVIII, 1-2). Behold, the one God who appeared is three! "For God," he says, "appeared to him; and behold, three men; and running to the three, he spoke as to one, saying: 'Lord, if I have found grace in your sight, do not pass by your servant'" (Gen. XVIII, 1-3). And the three themselves, as if they were one, converse with him. For he said, as it is written, to Abraham: "Where is Sara your wife? I will return to you at this time next year, and Sara your wife shall have a son" (Gen. XVIII, 9-10). D And when the old woman heard, Sara laughed. "The Lord said, 'Why did Sara your wife laugh?'" (Gen. XVIII, 13). Behold, the one God, and three persons, and one is the Lord: for he said, as the Scripture tells us,
A the Lord spoke.
Now, in the case of Abraham, the mystery of the cross was being enacted in this way. Isaac himself was a type of the One who was fastened to it, obedient to the Father even unto death, just as Christ was; and the ram that was given in his stead prefigured the very Lamb of God given up to slaughter for our sake; and the thicket in which the ram was caught held the mystery of the type of the cross—wherefore it was called the thicket of Sabech, that is, the thicket of remission, just as the cross is the wood of salvation. And in Jacob, the son of Isaac, the mystery and the type of the cross were also at work; for through wood and water he multiplied his flocks for himself. The wood, then, prefigured the wood of the cross; the water, the divine baptism, which contains within itself the mystery of the cross, as the Apostle says: B "We were baptized into the death of Christ" (Rom. VI, 3). And Christ, too, by wood and water—that is, by the cross and by baptism—multiplied his rational flocks upon the earth. Jacob also, in that he worshiped at the top of his staff, and in that he blessed his grandchildren with his hands placed in an alternating fashion, showed the type of the cross even more clearly. Moreover, since he was obedient to his parents from the beginning to the end, and for this reason was beloved and blessed, but also hated by Esau for these same things, he bravely endured every temptation and throughout his whole life kept the mystery of the cross in action. Wherefore God said: "I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated" (Malach. I, 2, 3).
Something of this sort happens among us too, brothers. For he who submits himself to his fathers according to the spirit and according to the flesh, in accordance with the apostolic command that says: "Children, obey your parents" (Ephes. VI, 1), is, insofar as he is conformed in these things to the beloved Son of God, loved by God; but he who refuses to obey, as one alien to that likeness with the beloved Son, falls into the hatred of God. And the wise Solomon demonstrates this, saying that it applies not only to Jacob and Esau, but generally and to all: C "'A son,' he says, 'who obeys will be for life; but the disobedient one, for destruction'" (Prov. XXIX, 27). But did not Jacob, the son of obedience, attain to a greater mystery of the cross—the contemplation, I mean, through which a man is more perfectly crucified and dies to sin, and lives to virtue? He himself bears witness to his own vision and salvation; for he says: "I saw the Lord face to face, and my soul has been saved" (Gen. XXXII, 30).
Where are those who applaud the shameful follies of the heterodox among us? Let them hear: Behold, Jacob saw the face of God, and yet he was not only not deprived of life, but, as he himself testifies, salvation was granted to him; D although God himself says: "No one shall see my face and live." (Exod. XXXIII, 20). Are there perhaps two Gods: one who has a face falling under the sight of the saints, and another who has a face that no eyes can perceive? Away with such impiety! But the face of God...
which can be seen is nothing other than the divine grace and operation manifested in the saints; and at the same time, the divine nature, which is placed above all manifestation and above all intuition, cannot be seen, for no one has stood in the person and essence of the Lord, as it is written, “No one has ever seen or declared the divine nature.” Thus, the contemplation of God and the divine mystery of the Cross not only ward off from the soul wicked passions and the demons who are the authors of them, but also refute and expel false opinions, along with their patrons, from the bosom of the holy Church of Christ, according to which it is our privilege today to celebrate and illustrate the grace and operation of the Cross, which God bestowed upon the Fathers A long before the Cross itself.
Just as, therefore, the mystery of the Cross worked in Abraham, while his son Isaac was at times a figure of the one to be crucified later, so again the whole life of Jacob was worked by the mystery of the Cross; and Joseph, the son of Jacob, was himself a type and mystery of the Word incarnate who was to be crucified afterwards. For he too was led to slaughter through envy, and led by his brothers according to the flesh, for whom and to whom he had been sent by his father, just as Christ was later. But if Joseph was not slaughtered, but sold, there is nothing miraculous in this, for neither was Isaac slaughtered. And indeed, they themselves were not the truth, but a figure of the truth that was to come. But if we must also perceive in these things the double mystery of the double nature in Christ, then by the fact that they were led to slaughter, they prefigured the passion according to the flesh of the God-man; B by the fact that they did not suffer, they prefigured the impassibility of the Godhead. You can find this very thing also in the case of Jacob and Abraham: for although they were tempted, they overcame, which is clearly written also concerning Christ. Of the four, then, who were renowned for virtue and piety before the Law, two, Abraham and Jacob, experienced the mystery of the Cross being worked in their lives; but the other two, Isaac and Joseph, miraculously prophesied the mystery of the Cross. And what again of Moses, who was the first to receive the law from God and transmit it to others? Did he not obtain salvation by wood and water before the Law, when he was exposed in the riverbeds of the Nile in a basket, and afterwards he saved the Israelite people by wood and water, prefiguring by the wood the Cross, and by the water the divine baptism? Just as Paul, the initiate of the mysteries, C clearly says: “All were baptized into Moses in the cloud.” The same Apostle also bears witness concerning the sea and the rod to Moses, as one expecting the Cross of Christ, saying: “He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.” Moreover, to the foolish the cross is the reproach of Christ, just as Paul himself says again concerning Christ, that “He endured the cross, having despised the shame.” D Moving forward, Moses also very clearly prefigured the type and the very form of the Cross and the salvation that originates from it. For having set the rod upright, he extended his own hands upon it, and thus in the manner of
the Cross, by shaping himself upon the rod, he—being seen as such—utterly routed Amalek. Moreover, having placed the bronze serpent upon a sign at an angle, and thus having shown clearly the sign of the Cross and the salvation that comes through that figure, he commanded the Israelites who had been bitten by the serpents to look toward it as being their salvation, and thus he healed the bites of the serpents.
Time would fail me if I were to relate the deeds of Joshua and those after him, the judges and prophets, and of David and his descendants, who, operating through the mystery of the Cross, checked rivers, made the sun stand still, overthrew the cities of the impious, became strong in war, turned back the camps of aliens, escaped the edges of the sword, quenched the power of fire, shut the mouths of lions, rebuked kings, reduced captains of fifty to ashes, raised the dead, shut heaven by a word and opened it again by a word, and rendered the clouds within it barren and then again fruitful. For even if Paul says that faith worked these things, yet faith is power unto salvation, wherefore all things are possible to him who believes. B Such, then, is the Cross of Christ to those who believe: "For the word of the Cross," to speak again according to Paul, "to those who are perishing is foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." But so that we may pass by all those who lived before the Law and under the Law, did not the Lord Himself, through whom are all things and in whom are all things, say before He suffered: "Whoever does not bear his own cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me"? Do you see how, even before the Cross was set up, the Cross was the source of salvation? C But even when the Lord was explicitly foretelling His own passion and death on the Cross to the disciples, and Peter, hearing such things, could not bear it, but knowing Him to have the power, besought Him, saying: "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You"; Jesus rebuked him as one who was thinking humanly, not divinely. And, having summoned the crowd together with His disciples, He said to them: "Whoever wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his own soul shall lose it, but whoever loses his own soul for My sake and the Gospel's, this one shall save it." D Therefore, He summons the crowd along with the disciples, and then He testifies and proclaims these great and wondrous sentiments—not, indeed, of men, but of God—to show that He does not require such things only from His elect disciples, but from every one who believes in Him. To follow Christ means nothing other than to live according to His Gospel, manifesting every virtue and piety; and for the one who desires to follow to "deny himself and take up his cross" means no longer, when necessity calls, to spare himself, but to be ready to endure the most shameful death for the sake of virtue and the truth of divine dogmas. And this, even if it is great and extraordinary, to deny oneself, and to deliver oneself to the utmost disgrace and death, is nonetheless not inconsistent. For even the kings of the earth do not deign to receive companions when they wage war, unless they have seen
them ready to die for them. What wonder, then, if the King of heaven, having visited the earth through his incarnation, seeks for himself such followers for the counter-battle against the common enemy of the human race? A But indeed, the kings of the earth have no power to revive those who have died in battle, nor can they reward those who have endangered their lives for them; for what could one who no longer exists receive from them? Yet even for these, if their death is on behalf of the pious, there is hope in the Lord; and thus the Lord renders eternal life to those who have endangered themselves by following him.
And while the kings of the earth seek B those who follow them to be ready for death for their sake, the Lord himself gave himself up to death for us, and he enjoins us to be ready for death, not for his sake, but for our own. And, wishing to show that this is for our own sake, he adds: "For whoever would save his soul will lose it, but whoever loses his soul for my sake and the Gospel's, will save it." What is this: "whoever would save, will lose, and whoever loses, will save?" Human nature is twofold: the exterior, I mean the body, and the interior man, namely the soul. When, therefore, our exterior man delivers itself to death, it loses its soul, which is separated from it; he, then, who thus loses it for the sake of Christ and the Gospel truly saves and C gains it, having procured for it heavenly and eternal life, and having obtained such a life in the resurrection, and through it, he himself also becomes such, and—I mean also according to the body—becomes heavenly and eternal. But he who is a lover of his own soul, and is not willing so readily to lose it, because he loves this present age and the things of this age too much, will condemn his soul, which he will deprive of true life; and he himself, along with it, will deliver both to torments—alas!—delivering it to eternal damnation; a person whom the most merciful Lord, as if mourning over the magnitude of the danger, admonished, saying: "For what, he says, will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss of his own soul? Or what shall a man give as an exchange for his soul?" D For there is nothing else among the things in this life that are deemed precious and delightful, which he has preferred to salutary death. And what could be found among these things that is an exchange for the rational soul, for which this whole world is not worth?
If, therefore, one man were able to gain the whole world, brothers, it would be of no profit to him while suffering the loss of his own soul; how much worse is it, when each one is scarcely able to acquire the smallest and most insignificant part of this world, if for the sake of excessive love for that small thing he suffers the loss of his own soul, not choosing to take up the type and the account of the cross, and to follow the author of life? For the cross is an adorable type, and the account of this type is
the life itself. A But since the account and mystery of this type have preceded, we shall also explain this first to your love; or rather, Paul explained this even before us, Paul who gloried in the cross, who decided to know nothing save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. What then does he say? "The cross is to crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts." Do you imagine he is speaking only of the passions of luxury, feasting, and the desires of the belly? Why then does he write to the Corinthians: "Since there is envy and strife among you, are you not carnal, and walking according to man?" Thus, even he who loves glory, or simply wishes to establish his own will, and thus wishes to conquer in contentions, is carnal and walks according to the flesh. For these are the causes of contentions, as James the brother of God says: "Whence come wars and fightings among you? Is it not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? B Ye lust, and have not; ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war." This, therefore, is to crucify the flesh with the passions and lusts, for a man to become inactive toward everything that is displeasing to God. And if the body presses down the soul and drags it to the depths, let us strive to lift it up—even if it be against its will—to the height of the cross. I say something of this sort: while the Lord was on earth, he lived a poor life, and not only lived it but preached it, saying: "Whosoever does not renounce all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple."
But let no one be discouraged, brothers, I beseech you, hearing us proclaim the good and acceptable and perfect will of God without adulteration, nor let anyone be vexed, thinking the commandments are difficult to achieve; C but let him first consider this within himself, that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. And let him hear Peter, the chief of the apostles of Christ, saying: "Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps." Then let him also justly reckon this: that each one, having learned truly how much he owes the Master, when he cannot pay the whole, offers what he can with humility—which is better and more excellent—and for the rest, he humbles himself before Him, and through such humility, drawing down mercy, he makes up for the deficiency. If, therefore, anyone perceives within himself the longing for wealth and many possessions, let him know that this mindset is carnal, and it is for this reason that it is moved; D for he who is nailed to the cross cannot be moved toward such a thing. There is need, therefore, to instruct him to reach the height of the cross, so that he may not cast himself down and separate himself from the one crucified with Christ.
How then shall he begin to lift him up to the height of the cross? I say: by hoping in Christ, the provider and nourisher of all; let him cast away from himself every gain of injustice, and whatever he possesses that was acquired justly,
A let him use it well, taking in the needy as partners insofar as he is able. For just as those who live for God and according to God possess the capacity to deny the body and take up their cross, as the commandment enjoins—yet, not being overly attached to it, they use it when necessary as a tool, and should time call for it, are ready even to surrender it—so too does one act regarding material possessions and needs; when he can do nothing greater, he is in a good and God-pleasing state.
Again, if one perceives within himself the thought of fornication being stirred more violently, let him know that he has not yet crucified himself. How, then, shall he crucify himself? Let him flee the curiosity of gazing upon women, and the illicit associations and untimely conversations with them; let him diminish the materials that nourish the passion, and abstain from excessive drinking, drunkenness, gluttony, and heavy sleeping. Let him mix with this abstinence from evils humility, in contrition of heart calling upon God against the passion; and then he too shall say: "I saw the impious one exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon, and I passed by, and lo, he was not; and I sought him through humble prayer, and his place was not found in me." B
Does the thought of vainglory vex you again? While in assembly or sitting among others, remember the counsel concerning this given by the Lord in the Gospels: in conversations do not seek to appear superior to others; practice your virtues, insofar as you are able, in secret, looking only to God and being seen by Him alone, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And if, even after you have cut off the causes of each of the passions, the thought still troubles you from within, do not be afraid; for it becomes the minister of crowns for you, since, though it troubles, it does not persuade, nor does it act, but is a numbed movement, as it is being overcome by your struggle according to God.
Such is the word of the cross; and being such, it is a great and truly divine mystery, not only among the prophets before it was fulfilled, but even now after it has been fulfilled. How? Because, according to the outward appearance, he who humbles himself and is lowly in all things seems to bring upon himself dishonor, and he who flees bodily pleasures and gives away his existing goods in order to become the cause of his own poverty seems to bring upon himself labor and pain; C but through the power of God, this very poverty, pain, and dishonor beget eternal glory, ineffable pleasure, and inexhaustible wealth, both for the present age and for that future one.
And those who do not believe this, and who do not manifest their faith through works, Paul reckons among those who are perishing and with the Gentiles themselves, saying: "For we preach, he says, Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling block, D because of their unbelief in the saving passion; but to the Gentiles foolishness, because they prefer nothing to earthly things, and in no way believe in the divine Gospels; but to us who are called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (1 Cor. 1, 23)
A This, then, is the wisdom and power of God: to conquer through weakness, to be exalted through humility, to be enriched through poverty. And not only the word and mystery of the Cross, but the divine and adorable type itself is a sacred, salutary, and venerable sign, by which the countless and ineffable supernatural and unspeakable goods bestowed by God upon the human race are sanctified and perfected; by which curse and condemnation are taken away, fear and death are removed, and eternal life and blessing are bestowed. It is the wood of salvation, the scepter of royal power, the trophy of divine victory against enemies both visible and invisible, whatever those who are raving in their infidelity may blaspheme. For they have not attained the Apostle’s wish B that they might be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth; for the Cross of the Lord manifests the entire dispensation of His coming in the flesh, and encompasses the whole mystery according to it, stretching to all boundaries, and taking in all things: those above, those below, those surrounding, and those between. Yet, raising some pretext for which they too—if they had understanding—ought to worship it with us, they turn away from the symbol of the King of glory, which the Lord Himself, about to ascend upon it, openly calls His own glory and exaltation. For He proclaims that this sign of the Son of Man will come in his future advent and manifestation, with great power and glory. But, they say, Christ died nailed to it, and for this reason we cannot bear to look upon the instrument and the wood upon which he was put to death. Yet that bond against us, which C was written for us through the disobedience of the hand of the first parent upon the wood—in what was it nailed? And by what was it taken from the midst and destroyed, so that we returned again to the blessing from God? In what did Christ strip off and utterly cast out the principalities and powers of the spirits of wickedness, who had taken their place against our nature because of the wood of disobedience, and put them to shame by triumphing over them, whence we received our freedom? In what was the middle wall of the partition broken down, and our enmity towards God abolished and put to death? And by whom were we reconciled to God, and the peace with Him proclaimed to us? Was it not in the Cross, and through the Cross? Let them hear the Apostle writing to the Ephesians: "Christ is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of the partition, the enmity in his flesh, so that he might create in himself the two into one new man, making peace, and reconcile both in one body to God through the Cross, having put to death the enmity in himself." D And to the Colossians he writes: "And you, when you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made alive together with him, having graciously forgiven us all our trespasses, having blotted out the handwriting against us,
writing the document, it was contrary to us, and he took it out of the midst, nailing it to the cross; and having despoiled the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, having triumphed over them in it. A Shall we not, therefore, honor and use this divine trophy of the common liberation of our race, which, merely by appearing, puts the primordial serpent to flight, triumphs over him, and puts him to shame, proclaiming his defeat and destruction, while glorifying and magnifying Christ and revealing his victory to the world? Furthermore, if the cross is to be despised because Christ endured death upon it, then his death itself will be neither venerable nor saving; how then, according to the Apostle, were we baptized into his death? And how shall we share in his resurrection, if we have become united with the likeness of his death? Otherwise, if there were one who worshipped the form of the cross without having the Lord’s name inscribed upon it, he might justly be accused of acting improperly; but since, at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and since the cross carries this adorable name, what great folly would it be not to bow the knee before the cross of Christ? But let us, bowing our hearts along with our knees, come, let us worship with the Psalmist and prophet David toward the place where his feet stood, and where the hands that created the world were spread out, and where the life-giving body was stretched out for our sake; and by worshipping in faith and embracing it, let us draw from it the abundant sanctification B and keep it, so that, at the super-glorious and future appearing of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, seeing him coming in glory, we may rejoice and exult without ceasing, having obtained the standing at his right hand and the promised blessed voice and blessing, to the glory of the Son of God, who was crucified in the flesh for our sake. For to him is due glory, together with his primordial Father, and the all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XII
*On the fourth Sunday of the holy Quadragesima, having as its subject the Gospel read on that day; and also concerning the guarding of one's inward thoughts.*I have often spoken to your love, D and especially during these holy days, about fasting and prayer, showing with what gifts they favor the lovers of them, and of how many good things they become the sponsors to those who use them; yet the testimony which the voice of the Lord in today’s Gospel gives to these very things, I have not yet deposited in your God-loving ears and souls. What is this? It is a great thing, and, it is not too much to say, the greatest of all; for in addition to the other things already mentioned, they have the power to grant authority over evil spirits, so as to cast them out and drive them away, and to free those who are possessed from their molestation. For when thedisciples said to the Lord concerning the mute and deaf demon: "Why could we not cast it out?" the Lord answered: "This kind can come out by nothing except
A by prayer and fasting." And perhaps for this reason, after his prayer on the B mountain and the manifestation of his divine radiance which occurred during it, he descends immediately and proceeds to the place where that person possessed by the demon was. For, it says, "taking with him the chosen ones of the disciples, he went up onto the mountain to pray, and he shone as the sun; and behold, there appeared to him Moses and Elijah talking with him," who among all men practiced prayer and C fasting most zealously; clearly showing thereby, through their presence during prayer, the harmony and mutual friendship between prayer and fasting, as if fasting itself were speaking to the Lord together with prayer. For if the voice of the blood of the murdered Abel cries out to the Lord, just as He Himself says to Cain, as we learned through Moses, surely all the parts and members of the body, laboring through fasting, will cry out to the Lord; and by speaking together with the prayer of the one who fasts, and as it were praying alongside it, they will justly make this prayer more acceptable, and will justify him who voluntarily endures the toil of fasting. After he had prayed and shone with divine light, the Lord descended from the mountain and went to the crowd and the disciples, to whom that person with the demon had been brought, so that just as he had shown on the mountain that the prize of fasting and prayer is not only great but beyond great—for he showed the divine radiance to be the prize of these—so too, by descending, he would show that the reward of these is the power against demons. But since on the present Lord's Day of the holy fasts it is the custom in the Church that the account of this miracle be read, come, let us pass through the entire Gospel passage that tells of it from the beginning.
"When Jesus had come," it says, "to the disciples and those present with them, and had asked what conversation they were having with one another, one from the crowd answered and said: 'Master, I brought my son to you having a mute spirit, and wherever it seizes him, it throws him down and he foams and grinds his D teeth and withers.'" How, then, did he foam, and grind his teeth, and wither? Of all the members of the body of one suffering from a demon, the brain is the first and greatest to suffer. For the demon uses the psychic spirit within it as a carriage, and from there, as if from an acropolis, dominates the whole body; and when the brain suffers, a certain vaporous and phlegmatic flow is released from it onto the nerves and the voluntary muscles of the body, blocking the passages of the psychic spirit. Thence arise trembling, and violent wrenching, and involuntary movement in all the members that are subject to the will, especially the jaws, as they are most adjacent to the part that has suffered primarily. And with much of this fluid being shed into the body, more and more, because of the flow of the humors and the proximity to the brain, and because of the force of the organs being immediately disrupted, the sufferer cannot breathe, but rather, through the sheer excess of the fluid, foam is produced in those who are ill. Thence
A he would foam and gnash his teeth, striking them together miserably and struggling violently. Just as vapors are stirred up by the sweltering rays of the sun; if they blow hotter, they are completely consumed and absorbed by those same rays; so too, when the humors of the vitals are agitated by the demon’s assault, if it becomes more violent, the native humors of the flesh are consumed with them, whence the one possessed by the demon would wither away.
The father of the possessed child approached the Lord, saying that he had asked the disciples to cast it out, and they could not. But the Lord, turning not only to him but to all, says, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?” It seems to me that the Jews present there took the opportunity—because the disciples were unable to cast out the demon—to blaspheme in no small measure; for what would they not have said, having taken such an occasion, they who, even when miracles were performed, did not cease from blasphemy? The Lord, therefore, knowing their murmurings, rebukes and confounds them from afar, not only by harsher words, but also by works and words full of philanthropy. B For He commands, saying: “Bring him to me.” And they brought him. And when the demon saw the Lord, it immediately convulsed the man, and he fell to the ground and rolled about, foaming; for it was permitted to manifest its own wickedness. The Lord then asked the father of the boy, “How much time is there since this happened to him?” The Lord makes this inquiry out of philanthropy, leading him toward faith and prayer, for the man was so far from believing that he did not even entreat for the salvation of the child; for this reason, he did not even entreat the disciples at all. “For I said,” he says, “to them that they might cast it out,” but he did not fall down, he did not entreat, he did not beg. Indeed, he does not even appear to have entreated the Lord at all. For this reason, the Lord, leaving the boy lying pitiably before His eyes, speaks Himself to the father, asking about the duration of the affliction and inviting his petition. He answers, “From childhood; and it has often cast him into fire and into waters, C that it might destroy him,” and he adds, “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Do you see how great the man’s unbelief is? For by saying, “If you can,” he entirely showed that he did not believe that He had the power. But the Lord said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” He says this not as one ignorant of his unbelief, but gradually drawing him toward faith, and at the same time showing that the cause of the disciples not being able to cast out the demon was his own unbelief. Observe the Evangelist, for he does not say that the Lord said to the father of the child, “If you can believe,” as if the Lord D almost always required faith from those who sought
A from Him the healings; for as He is Lord and guardian of souls, He was eager to heal these too through faith. But that father of the child, as he heard that healing follows upon his faith, said with tears, “I believe, Lord; help my unbelief.” Do you see an excellent progress of his character? For he not only believed concerning the healing of the child, but also that the Lord could overcome his own unbelief, if He would. While the crowd ran together at these words, the Lord, as it says, rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and dumb spirit, I command you: come out of him, and enter no more into him.”
B This demon seems to be most malicious and impudent; for the vehemence of the rebuke, and the command not to enter again, demonstrate the impudence of the demon; for without this, as it seems, even if cast out, it would have returned. It held much place in the man, and clung inflexibly, and he was both deaf and dumb, the nature of the man not sufficing to minister to the excess of that demon’s madness, and for this reason he was also suffering from nearly total insensibility; for it says, “And crying out and convulsing him greatly, it came out; and he became as one dead, so that many said that he was dead.” But the cry does not contradict the fact that the demon was dumb; for speech is a voice significant of some thought, but a cry is an insignificant voice; and the demon is allowed to convulse the man to such a degree, and to leave him as if dead, so that all of his malice might be manifest before all. But the Lord, taking the man by the hand, raised him up and he stood, C showing from this that He possesses great power; for to take by the hand was an operation of created power, such as we possess, but to raise him up belongs to the uncreated and divine and life-starting power. And the disciples having asked afterwards in private, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them that this kind of demon “can come out by nothing except by prayer and fasting.” Now some say that this prayer and fasting ought to be done by the sufferer; but it is not so; for a man possessed by an evil spirit, and being an instrument of that spirit, and kept under its power, how could he pray or fast for his own benefit? But this dread demon seems to belong to intemperance, D which sometimes casts the one it grips into the fire; for such are the strange and mad passions; and sometimes it casts him into waters, drowning him through gluttony and excessive and many drinks and drinking bouts. And this demon is deaf and dumb in such cases too; for he who is persuaded by the suggestions of such a demon endures the divine things neither to hear nor to speak with ease; but yet, one who does not have that evil spirit indwelling, but is led by its suggestions, when he rises up towards repentance—for he still possesses free will—needs prayer and fasting, in order that he may restrain the body through fasting and coerce its rebellious impulses, but through prayer [he may restrain] the preconceptions and inciting
thoughts that stir up the passions, and thus overcome the passion, having driven away the satanic assault and insult through prayer and fasting. A When, however, one is not merely acted upon by the instigation of a demon, but actually has the demon as an inhabitant, he is no longer suffering as men do, nor can he do anything of himself for his own healing, but whatever the free, or rather those also possessed by the divine Spirit, do on his behalf, will serve greatly toward the expulsion of the demon.
But we are not required to cast out demons, and even if we were able to cast them out, it would be of no profit to us while we lead a careless life. For many, He says, shall say to me in that day: “Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons?” And I will say to them, “I do not know you; depart from me, you who work iniquity.” Therefore, it is much more profitable to drive the passion of fornication, and anger, and hatred, and pride from the soul than to cast out demons; for it is not enough to have been freed only from bodily sin, but it is necessary also to cleanse the inner operation of the soul; for out of our hearts proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, and the like; and these are what defile a man. B And: “He who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart”; for even if the body is inactive, it is possible to commit the sin in one’s thoughts. But when the soul, inwardly through prayer and watchfulness and the remembrance of death, and through godly sorrow and repentance, destroys the assault of the wicked one, the body also shares in the holiness, having acquired the abstention from evils; and this is what the Lord says, that he who has cleansed the outside of the cup did not cleanse the inside too, but “Make clean that which is within the cup, and so it will be clean altogether.” For if you have made every effort so that your inner work may be according to God, you will overcome the external passions; for if the root is holy, so are the branches, and if the leaven, so is the lump: “Walk in the Spirit,” says Paul, “and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
Therefore, C Jesus did not abolish the Jewish circumcision, but perfected it; for He himself is the one who says: “I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.” How then did He fulfill it? It was a sign and an indication and a symbolic teaching of the circumcision of evil thoughts in the heart, to which the Jews then not attending, were rebuked by the prophets as uncircumcised in heart, and being loathsome to Him who looks into the heart, were rejected in the end; for man looks at the face, but God looks upon the heart. And if it is full of filthy and evil thoughts, that man becomes loathsome to divine indignation. D
A Therefore, the Apostle again exhorts us to pray to God without anger and without evil murmuring. And the Lord, teaching us to apply ourselves with our whole soul to that spiritual circumcision of the heart, declares blessed the clean of heart and the poor in spirit; and for the reward of such cleanliness He promises the contemplation of God, and for poverty He announces the kingdom of heaven. He called those "poor" who are pressed by destitution and necessity. He does not say that all of these are blessed, but those who are poor in spirit, that is, those who dispose of external goods in such a way as to foster the humility of heart and upright intention within. He forbids not only murder and anger, but commands us to forgive those who offend us from our hearts, and He does not accept the gift offered by us unless we are reconciled beforehand and lay aside our anger.
B Likewise, also concerning the passion of lust; for He declared that the very act of gazing out of curiosity and the desire arising from it in the heart is adultery. And discussing these things even more generally, He says: "If the light that is in you—that is, the mind and the intellect—be darkness, because of the dark impulses of the princes of darkness, how much more so are those things which are darkness itself—that is, the body and the senses—which have no spiritual light of their own from which truth is born and the soul's tranquility is acquired? But if the light within you be clean, not obscured by carnal phantasms, you will be wholly bright in soul, as when a lamp enlightens you with its radiance." Such is the circumcision of the heart in spirit, through which the Lord fulfilled the circumcision of the heart according to the Law, which was given to the Jews as a sign of that one, and to lead them toward it. But because they did not strive to attain this, their circumcision, as Paul says, became uncircumcision, and they were alienated from God, who does not look at the face—that is, at external justifications of the flesh—but who looks into the heart, that is, at the invisible and, to us, intimate movements of thoughts.
C Let us, therefore, also attend, I beseech you, brothers, and let us cleanse our hearts from every defilement, that we may not fall away together with those who were condemned. For if the message declared by Moses was firm, and every transgression and disobedience received a just requital, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Which, D having begun to be spoken by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and distributions of the Holy Spirit. Let us, therefore, fear Him who searches hearts and reins; let us appease the Lord of vengeance; let us cause peace, sanctification, and prayer mingled with compunction to dwell within us, without which no one shall see the Lord; let us desire in the firmness of faith that vision promised to the clean of heart, and let us do all things such that we may attain it with cont. 156 column begins with: ...humanity, and may we all do all things, that we may attain that, with which is eternal life, which is...
...in which is eternal life, unblemished beauty, inexhaustible riches, immutable and endless delight, and glory and a kingdom, which may it be granted to us all to obtain in Christ himself, the King of ages; to whom alone belongs all glory, honor, and worship, with his eternal Father and his all-holy and good and life-creating Spirit, unto endless ages. Amen.
HOMILY XIII. On the Fifth Sunday of the Fast, wherein he also treats of almsgiving.
B There are certain parts of the sea which nourish great whale-like beasts; so those who sail in them hang bells from their ships, so that, terrified by the sound of these, the beasts may flee. The sea of our life also nourishes many and more cruel beasts—I mean wicked passions, and their overseers, the even more wicked demons. The Church of God traverses this sea like a ship, and instead of bells it has spiritual teachers, so that through the holy sound of their teaching it may drive away the intelligible beasts. And this was surely typified by the vestment of Aaron, which had well-sounding bells hanging from it, and it was a decree that their voice should be heard when Aaron was ministering in the sanctuary. But we, rightly translating the letter into the spirit, have sounded forth for you just now in a spiritual manner, especially in this time of the fast, during which visible and invisible beasts C attack us fiercely: visible ones, such as gluttony and drunkenness and the like; and others lying in wait invisibly, such as vainglory, pride, conceit, and hypocrisy. Yet this same sound is both the hiding-place of such beasts and the safeguard of those who practice the fast.
Fasting and intemperance are opposed to each other, like life and death. Fasting is a commandment of life, being of the same age as human nature, given by God to Adam in the beginning in Paradise to be a guard for the life and divine grace bestowed upon him by that same God. But intemperance is a counsel of death, both of soul and body, given by the devil to Adam in Paradise through Eve, craftily, for his fall from life and his alienation from the divine grace of God; for God did not make death, nor D does He delight in the destruction of the living. Who, then, is the person who desires life and wishes to find the grace that is in God and from God? Let him flee from death-bearing intemperance and let him run to life-making fasting and temperance, that he may return rejoicing to Paradise. Moses, fasting for forty days on the mountain, flew up to the height of the vision of God and received the tablets of piety; but the multitude of the Hebrews, reveling below, slipped into impiety and cast an idol of the Egyptian calf, Apis, like unto a god. And if Moses had not stood before God, having first propitiated Him through the implacable slaughter of his own kinsmen, God would not have spared them at all. If, therefore, we too stand in need of God’s mercy, let us not become drunk with wine, nor let us be weighed down by overindulgence, in which are luxury and impiety. Elias also saw God, but first he himself...
A was purified through fasting. Daniel also attained the vision of God, and the sight of one of the archangels, who granted him knowledge of things to come, but only after remaining without food for twenty full days. Another prophet was put to death by a lion because he ate contrary to the command of God. You all know Esau, the son of Isaac, who, because of the gluttony of his belly, fell from his birthright and his father’s blessing. Let us also beware, lest we, by indulging our bellies, fall from that promised blessing and the inheritance of the heavenly Father. Nor are you ignorant of the three youths who, dedicated to fasting, walked with unburnt feet and bodies through the furnace in Babylon that had been heated seven times against them; if we too practice true fasting, we shall similarly trample down and quench the ardors of the flesh, and we shall pass through the future furnace unharmed, when the fire tests the work of each one. What need is there to mention the Lord of the prophets, who, having taken on flesh and become man for our sake, in order to show us the way to victory over the devil, conquered him by fasting throughout all the temptations with which he attacked Him? And He said to His own disciples concerning the mute and deaf demon: "This kind of demon is not cast out except by prayer and fasting."
B Come, therefore, brothers, let us show you what kind of fasting is pleasing to God and true. For be aware of this: we do not praise bodily fasting for its own sake, but because it contributes to other things more beneficial to the soul; for the divine Apostle says that bodily exercise is profitable for a little. Therefore, our God-bearing Fathers, who speak from long experience, do not approve of fasts lasting many days, but judge it more commendable to eat once a day, and not to the point of being full; and they say this is a temperate and reasonable fast—which the Scripture also advises—namely, not to be deceived by the gluttony of the belly and the pleasure of the throat, but to cease from food while the appetite is still present, and for the quality and quantity of this food to be appropriate for the strength and state of the nourished body, so that its health may be preserved as far as possible. For the weak person, according to the degree of his infirmity, to eat in measure from the food provided—if he does not add what is superfluous and useless to what is necessary, if he seeks nourishment and not pleasure, if he seeks drink and not drunkenness, if he seeks moderate use and not excess and intemperance and abuse—this in no way takes away from the sanctity of the one who uses it.
C D The beginning, therefore, of true and God-pleasing fasting is such, and the end for which it was ordained and honored by Christians is the purification of the soul. For what profit is there in abstaining from bodily foods, while being swollen with carnal thoughts and passions? What is the gain for one who abstains from wine and suppresses his thirst, yet is drunk—not from wine, according to the prophet who says: "Woe to those who are drunken, but not with wine," but with anger and...
of envy, such that the soul is disturbed? What is the profit in abstaining from a sumptuous table if the soul remains un-humbled? A And what is the profit if the flesh is changed by oil, but the soul is not humbled in fasting, according to David? What is the profit in being rid of the mist arising from many foods, while our mind is rendered useless by cares and vain reasonings, and our prayers to God are rendered useless along with them? Therefore, a good fast is that which is performed for the withering of desire, for the humbling of the soul, for the conversion from anger, for the quenching of wrath, for the blotting out of the remembrance of evils, and for the practice and purity of the mind and prayer. If you have an abundance of wealth, let the remainder of your food be for the consolation of those in need. If you fast in this way, you will not only be sharing in his passion and death, but you will also rise again with him and reign with Christ for B endless ages; for having become grafted into the likeness of his death through such a fast, you will also be a partaker of his resurrection and an heir of the life in him. The one who fasts, if he is tempted, conquers the tempter; but if he is not tempted, he keeps the peace of soul and body, "buffeting" his body, according to Paul, "and bringing it into bondage," fearing lest he should become a castaway. If Paul fears, how much more does it behoove us to fear? Therefore, the one who fasts brings the body into bondage and makes the soul approved; but he who fattens the flesh—which will shortly perish—not eating to live, but rather living to eat, like animals fed by us for slaughter, and adding superfluous things to the necessary ones so that the body is fattened, whether to stir up unruly desires or simply for C the sake of bodily pleasure, is preparing nothing else but a more abundant meal for the worms.
Rightly, therefore, the prophet David also sings: "What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to corruption?" Fasting, therefore, and eating with temperance, do not delay in abandoning what is useless; but just as the Lord, having become poor for our sake, made us rich, so also do you, being willingly hungry, satisfy the one wasting away from involuntary hunger. And your fast will be like the dove bringing an olive branch, happily announcing to your soul the cessation of the flood. "For if you take away from among you the chain," the great Isaiah says, "and the pointing of the finger, and the word of murmuring, and give your bread D to the hungry from your soul, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday." But if you do not wish to give your own things, at least abstain from those of others, and do not keep with you things that are not yours, stripping and growing rich at times unjustly even from those who are poorer, lest you justly hear from the Prophet himself: "I have not chosen this fast, says the Lord, nor even if you bow your neck like a hoop will your fast be acceptable, but loose every bond of wickedness, break up the bundles of violent contractions," and all unjust handwriting; then your light will break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily.
If, therefore, you do not give to the needy from your own possessions—and these being superfluous—at least do not possess them to the detriment of the needy. For the Lord of all, Christ, when casting those on the left hand into the fire and cursing them, does not condemn them as robbers, but as those who did not share [their] goods with the needy. B Therefore, robbers and the wicked shall not rise for judgment and trial, but straightway for condemnation and judgment; since, as it seems, they never even stood before God with their soul in this world. "For those," he says, "who devour my people as food for bread, have not called upon God." The rich man whose land was fertile, and who was clothed in purple and fine linen, is condemned by right, not because he committed an injustice to anyone, but because he did not share what he had acquired; for the treasures of God’s goods are common, taken from common storehouses. How, then, is he who appropriates common things not a covetous man, even if he is not like that one who openly seizes what belongs to others? Therefore, the one—like a wicked servant—shall suffer, alas! an awful expulsion, but the other shall endure worse and more terrible things, and neither of them will be able to escape punishment unless they welcome the poor; the one will manage well what was entrusted to him by God, while the other will scatter what was poorly gathered. The great Paul, writing to our ancestors the Thessalonians concerning brotherly love, said: "You have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another." C
Therefore, since the Lord said to some, "If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham," let us also fear this saying—not as spoken to us now, but as it will be said on that awful day, which God forbid, when kinship will be judged rather by the likeness of deeds, when all who have loved poverty in Christ—or at least the poor—those who despise glory, those who are lovers of temperance, and finally all who have not only heard the evangelical oracles but have also fulfilled them, will be one in a singular way according to the prayer of the common Father; for He says, "Grant that they all may be one, even as we are one"; when the most sharp sword of the Spirit will clearly divide man against father, and daughter against mother, and will make those who are disparate in their ways into strangers; for if these things happen now in this world, how much more so there, where He who knows all things will deny those who are not made like unto Him in virtue, saying, D "I do not know you." For they do not have, as it seems, the image of the heavenly Father; they were not merciful as the common Father; they did not make their possessions common to those in need, just as He made everyone a partaker of His own goods for free; they were not kind to their neighbors, nor did they bring those who stood far away near through humanity; for which difference He neither knows them nor introduces them into the house of the best One. But if such a one, when with Him...
are also living there and are partakers of the kingdom will say the same to their own relatives who are unlike them in virtue: If someone should say, "I am your son, I was your father, I am your brother," one will hear miserably, because a brother does not redeem a brother; another, "There is no father except God alone"; and to others, "If you were my son, you would be an imitator of me; but now you are of that father whose desires you fulfilled; go away with him to dwell forever, for I do not know you, since all things that are God’s are mine, but you are not of God. Mine and yours have been recalled from earthly things, which we hated for the sake of this future life; and therefore we have become heirs of this kingdom." As often as they behaved with this B harshness toward the holy Fathers, the bond of charity was absent from them, and Christ was rejected by them; those whom this desire for base self-love, avarice, hatred of brothers, and every kind of evil corrupted, now indeed likewise covers them with ignominy, which that passion formerly mastered, and which even then provided them a pretext, and now puts them to shame.
These things, therefore, brothers, I beseech you, let us fear; for they are truly full of horror. Let us administer our affairs as is pleasing to God; let us forgive, that we may be forgiven; let us show mercy, that we may receive mercy multiplied. For He who became poor for our sake, having accepted alms—since He is magnificent in His gifts—will multiply the reward. Therefore, be either poor in accordance with Him, and you will live with Him, or share your goods with those who are poor for His sake, and through these you will be saved. Let us acquire bowels of mercy; let us give from our own C store a pledge of our love toward our brother, and of piety toward our common Father and Lord. You will find no time more acceptable for such things than these holy days; for he who has joined mercy to fasting will wipe away every sin, and will worship the saving passion with boldness, and will rejoice with the resurrection of Christ, and will obtain eternal redemption; attain to which may we all, in Him, Christ our God, to whom belongs all glory, honor, and adoration with His unoriginate Father, and with His most holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Homily XIV. On the Annunciation of our immaculate Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary.
The psalmist prophet, enumerating the various works of creation, and observing in them the wisdom of God, being wholly rapt in admiration, D exclaimed while writing: "O Lord, how magnified are your works, you have made all things in wisdom." But to me today, who is there that will adapt a word of praise, as I attempt to the best of my power to proclaim the advent in the flesh of the Word who created all things? For if the things that exist are full of miracle, and if for those things that do not exist to pass into being is divine and most worthy of celebration, how much more miraculous
A and more divine, and more necessary for us to hymn, is it that some one of the things that exist should become God—and not merely God, but He who truly is God—and this, when our nature, though having fallen from the dignity in which it was created and for this reason deservedly cast down to the lowest parts of the earth, could not, or rather would not, even preserve what it was? For it is a matter so great and divine, so unutterable and incomprehensible, that our nature should become co-divine and that through it the return to a better state should be granted to us, that it remains a mystery entirely incomprehensible B even to the holy angels and to the prophets themselves, although these, by the Spirit, foresee future things, as it was a mystery hidden from the ages. And why do I speak of before it came to an end? For even now that it has come to pass, it remains a mystery—not in the fact that it has come to pass, but in the manner of how it has come to pass—to be believed, but not comprehended; to be adored, but not curiously investigated; and both to be believed and adored in the Spirit alone. For "no one can say 'Lord Jesus' except in the Holy Spirit," and the Spirit is He in whom we adore and in whom we pray, as says the Apostle.
That this mystery is inscrutable not only to men but also to the very angels and archangels, this day which we celebrate C clearly demonstrates. For the archangel announced the conception to the Virgin; but when she sought to learn the manner, and said to him: "How shall this be, since I do not know a man?", the archangel, being in no way able to explain the mystery, also took refuge in God, saying: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you." For just as if someone were to ask Moses how a man comes from the earth, how bones and nerves and flesh come from mud, how sensory faculties come from things devoid of sense, or how a human being like himself came from the rib of Adam, how the bone was extended and distributed and fitted and joined, how from bone came viscera and various humors D and all the rest—just as if someone were to ask Moses these things, he would say nothing more than that it is God who took clay from the earth and created Adam, and took one of the ribs of Adam and fashioned Eve; he would state the doer, but would not state the manner in which those things were made—so too did Gabriel say that the child was to be formed without seed by the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High, but he did not say "how." For if, regarding Elisabeth, when he mentioned that she had conceived in old age and barrenness, he had nothing more to say than that "no word is impossible with God," how could he have had a way to state the manner in the case of the one who was to conceive and bear in virginity?
There is, however, something more in what the archangel said to the Virgin, yet it is a matter of a greater mystery. For he says: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you." Why? Because that which is to be born is not a prophet, nor a mere man as Adam, but shall be called Son of God, and Savior and Liberator
A of the human race, and King in eternity. For just as not one abyss receives the stones falling from the mountain peak to the bottom of the hill, but many chasms lie in wait for them as they plummet, so too did many misfortunes take hold of us after we fell from the divine commandment in Paradise and from the blessed life therein down to the very depths of hell. B For the earth did not only bring forth sensible thorns and thistles in accordance with the curse placed upon the first parent, but we were sown much more with the multiform thorns of evil passions and the sharp thistles of sin. Neither did our race suffer only that grief which the first mother drew upon herself through the curse pronounced against her, condemned to bring forth children in pain, but our whole life has become, so to speak, misery and pain. C Yet after the Creator who fashioned us mercifully descended toward us through the bowels of His own compassion, having inclined the heavens, and took up our nature from the holy Virgin, He renewed it and led it back, or rather, He led it up to a divine and heavenly height. Desiring to accomplish this, or rather to bring to completion His pre-eternal deliberation today, He sends the archangel Gabriel, as the evangelist Luke says: "To Nazareth, to a Virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house and family of David, and the Virgin’s name was Mary."
God sends the archangel to the Virgin, and while she remains a virgin, He makes her His own mother through a mere address; because, if He had been conceived from seed, He would not be a new man, nor sinless, nor the Savior of those who sin; for the movement of the flesh toward generation, possessing an unruly impulse toward the mind ordained by God to govern our faculties, is not altogether without sin. Therefore David said: "In iniquities I was conceived, and in sins did my mother conceive me." D Therefore, if the Lord's conception had been from seed, He would not be a new man, nor the leader and forerunner of the new and never-aging life; for being of the old dough and an heir to that original transgression, He could not have possessed in Himself the fullness of the immaculate Godhead, nor made His flesh an inexhaustible fountain of sanctification, such that it had the abundance of power to wash away the defilement of those first ancestors, and suffice for all those who came after unto holiness. For this reason not an angel, not a man, but the Lord Himself came and saved us, being conceived and made flesh in the womb of the Virgin, and remaining God without change.
It was fitting also for the Virgin to have a witness to her seedless conception, and a helper for the things to be accomplished according to the economy. What are these? The journey to Bethlehem, where the child was to be announced and glorified by the angels; the arrival at the temple, where by Simeon and Anna the infant is testified to be the Lord of life and death,
A the flight into Egypt from Herod, and the return from Egypt according to the holy prophecies, and other things that it is not easy to recount now. For these reasons Joseph was taken as a betrothed husband, and an angel was sent to the Virgin who was betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph. You should understand the words “of the house and family of David” as referring to both; for the lineage of both the Virgin and Joseph was traced back to David. And the name, he says, of the Virgin was Mary, which is interpreted as “Lady.” This expresses the dignity of the Virgin, and the firmness of her virginity, and her life which was distinguished from others and worthy of being sought after by all, and, if I may say so, blameless in every respect. For truly and principally the Virgin possessed the total and absolute primacy of purity; being a Virgin powerful in body and in soul, and having her soul’s faculties and all her bodily senses unpolluted by any stain, and this firmly and principally, and as it befits a Lady, and in every way inviolably at all times, just as a closed gate guards the things that are stored within, and a sealed book keeps its writing hidden from eyes. Therefore it is written of her: “This is a sealed book... and this gate shall be closed, and no man shall enter through it.”
B Again, the Virgin is also in another way a “Lady,” in that she is the Queen of all by dignity, since she conceived and divinely brought forth in virginity him who is by nature the Lord of the universe. Furthermore, she is a “Lady” not only because she is exempt from servitude and partaker of divine dominion, but also because she is the fountain and root of the liberation of the human race, especially through a birth so joyful and ineffable. For a woman married to a man is dominated rather than a lady, especially in that painful and sorrowful delivery according to that curse against Eve: “In pain you shall bring forth children, and your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.” From this curse the Mother of the Virgin, in liberating the human race, receives in exchange salvation and blessing from the angel. For it is written: “The angel entered and said to the Virgin: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women.” He does not immediately announce what is to come by saying “The Lord will be with you,” C but he proclaims what he already sees invisibly perfected in her, understanding her as a seat of divine and human graces, and, adorned with all the charisms of the divine Spirit, he rightly proclaimed her “full of grace.” Moreover, seeing her, who had already conceived in her the One in whom are all the treasures, and foreseeing her pregnancy immune to pain and her birth free from labor, he rightly invited her to rejoice, and with good reason pointed her out as the only one blessed and glorified among women. For if you consider how great is the glory in which the Virgin Theotokos rejoices, there is no other person glorified who could be adorned by any amount of praise.
D And when the Virgin saw [this] and was afraid, lest some
A deceitful angel be present, stealing away the thoughts of Eve through lack of foresight, she did not accept the salutation without examination; and not yet knowing clearly the association which was being announced to her by God, she was troubled, it says, at his word, clinging as it were, to put it this way, tooth and nail to her virginity, and she inquired what this salutation might be. For this reason, the archangel immediately dissolves the God-loving fear of the graced Virgin, saying to her: "Do not fear, Mary; for you have found grace with God." What grace? The one possible only to the One who can perform impossibilities, and the only one reserved for you before the ages. "For behold, you shall conceive in your womb." For in hearing of the conception, she was pondering [it], not contemplating any perversion of her virginity, nor was she distressed or troubled on that account. For the "Behold, you shall conceive" B spoken at that time to the Virgin, who was then present, was simultaneously demonstrating the conception to her virginity. "Behold, then, you shall conceive," he says, "and bear a son." For, remaining as pure in your virginity as you now are, you shall have an embryo, and you shall bear the Son of the Highest. For this is what Isaiah also, foreseeing it, predicted many years before: "Behold, the Virgin shall have in the womb, and shall bear a son," and that "I approached the prophetess." How, then, did the prophet approach the prophetess? Just as the archangel today approached her; for what this one said today, that one had foreseen and predicted. And that the Virgin is a prophetess, rejoicing in the prophetic grace, her song in the Gospel toward God makes manifest to anyone who wishes. "I approached, therefore," he says, "Isaiah to the prophetess" (through the spirit of foreknowledge in all things), "and she conceived in the womb, and before the labor of birth arrived, she escaped, and bore a male." But the archangel now says to her: "You shall bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus" (which is interpreted Savior); "He shall be great." Isaiah had said again: "Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Father of the coming age." C In harmony with this, the archangel now also says: "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest." But why did he not say, "He is great and the Son of the Highest," but rather, "He shall be and shall be called"? As if he were making his statement concerning the humanity of Christ, while at the same time showing that He shall also be known to all, and shall be preached by them as such, just as Paul also later had it to say: "God was manifested in the flesh, was preached among the Gentiles, was believed on in the world." But he also adds: "And the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob unto the ages, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." He, whose kingdom has no end, is God Himself. But He also has David as a father, D and therefore the same is also man, so that the One to be born is God and man at once, both Son of man and Son of God, having received from God and the Father the royal power which He shall leave to no successor, just as Daniel saw and fore-proclaimed, saying: "I was watching until the thrones were set, and the Ancient of Days sat, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there was coming as it were a Son of man, and even until"
power and honor and the kingdom was given to him; his kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and it shall not be left A to another."
Certainly he shall reign upon the throne of David, and shall reign over the house of Jacob; since Jacob is the patriarch of all who fear God, and David, pious above all kings, the first, was, at once and in a way pleasing to God, a type B of Christ, who united both the patriarchate and the kingship into one heavenly and eternal authority. But the full-of-grace Virgin, having heard such strange and divine words from the angel to her, that "the Lord is with you, and behold you shall conceive, and shall have a Son," the Son of the Most High, who reigns into the ages, said: "How shall C this be to me, since I do not know a man?" For though you bring me a message that is overly spiritual and superior to bodily passions, yet you speak to me of conception in the womb, and pregnancy, and the birth that follows the conception; how, then, shall this be to me, since I do not know a man? The Virgin says this not because she did not yet believe, but because she desired to learn D as much as she could about how the matter would come to pass. Therefore, the archangel said to her: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you; therefore also the holy thing that is born shall be called the Son of God." For you are holy, he says, and full of grace, O Virgin, but the Holy Spirit shall again come upon you, through an increase of higher sanctification, instructing and preparing in you the divine operation; and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you, at once strengthening you, and through the overshadowing and union in you, forming for Himself the humanity, or, that I may say it so, that which shall be born holy, the Son of God, the power of the Most High clothed in human form. "For behold, Elisabeth your kinswoman, though she has spent her whole life in sterility, now in old age, by the will of God alone, has conceived a son, because no word shall be impossible with God." What then does the full-of-grace Virgin do, divine and incomparable in understanding, in response to such things? She runs again to God and is stretched out in prayer to Him, saying to the archangel: "If, as you say, the Holy Spirit shall come upon me, purifying my nature and strengthening me to receive the saving birth; if the power of the Most High shall overshadow me, forming in me according to humanity Him who is in the form of God, and creating seedless fruit; if that which is born shall be holy and the Son of God, and God and king eternal—for no word is impossible with God—'Behold the handmaid of the Lord, may it be to me according to your word.'" And the angel departed from her, leaving in her womb the Creator of all united to a body, and having through this union, to which she ministered, bestowed salvation upon the world. Thus surely Isaiah, through those things which he saw and
A graciously suffered to take place long before the event. For he did not see the Seraph take the coal from the heavenly mental altar without an instrument; for the Seraph took it with the tongs, by which he also touched his lips, bringing purification. This, then, was to that great vision the same thing as the tongs—that which Moses saw: a bush burning with fire and not being consumed. And who does not know that the Mother-Virgin is that very bush and these tongs, having conceived within herself the divine fire without burning, with the archangel also ministering there to the conception, and having united to the human race Him who takes away the sin of the world through her, and having purified us through this ineffable union? Therefore, this Mother-Virgin alone is the boundary between created and uncreated nature; those who truly know God will know her as the container of Him who cannot be contained, and those who sing hymns to God will sing them to her after God. She is the cause of those before her, the protector of those after her, and the steward of eternal things. She is the theme of the prophets, the beginning of the apostles, the foundation of the martyrs, and the bedrock of the teachers. She is the glory of those on earth, the delight of those in heaven, the adornment of all creation. She is the beginning, the source, and the root of the hope laid up for us in heaven; may we all attain to this through her intercessions for us, to the glory of Him who was begotten of the Father before the ages, and in the last ages was incarnate of her, Jesus Christ our Lord—to whom belongs all glory, honor, and worship, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Homily XV. Spoken on Palm Sunday.
C “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you,” God said through Isaiah. It is good, therefore, today to say to your love that apostolic word: “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light; let us walk becomingly as in the day.” For the memorial of the saving passions of Christ draws near, and the new and great and spiritual Passover approaches, the prize of dispassion, the prelude to the age to come; and Lazarus proclaims this, having returned from the depths of Hades, and having risen from the dead after four days by the voice and command alone of God, who possesses the authority of life and death. And the children and the innocent crowd, inspired by the Holy Spirit, sing beforehand of Him who redeems from death, who brings souls up from Hades, who grants eternal life to soul and body. “If anyone desires life, and loves to see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking guile; let him turn away from evil and do good.” Evil is the servitude of the belly, and drunkenness, and dissipation; evil is the love of gold, avarice, and injustice; evil is vainglory, boldness, and pride. Turn...
A away, therefore, from such evils, and work toward what is good. What are these? Temperance, fasting, purity, justice, mercy, patience, love, humility, so that we may worthily partake of the Lamb of God who was sacrificed for us, and receive from Him the pledge of immortality, which we shall keep within ourselves as a guarantee of the inheritance promised to us in heaven.
But, is good not difficult, and are virtues not harder than vices? I do not think so. For the drunkard and the intemperate man endure more labors than the temperate, the profligate more than the well-ordered, the one who desires many riches more than the one who is content with enough, and the one who ambitiously seeks the glory with which to cloak himself more than the one living in obscurity. But since, because of our own softness, the virtues seem harder to us, let us force ourselves: “The kingdom of heaven,” says the Lord, “suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” B
Therefore, we all have need of zeal and attention—the illustrious and the obscure, those who govern and those who are governed, the rich and the poor—so that we may cast out these wicked passions from our souls and settle in their place the list of virtues. For the farmer, the shoemaker, the builder, the tailor, the weaver, and, in short, everyone who provides for their livelihood through their own labors and the work of their hands, if they cast out the desire for riches, glory, and pleasure from their own soul, they are truly blessed; for these are the poor, whose is the kingdom of heaven; wherefore the Lord also says to them: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” And they are poor in spirit who, because of the humility, lack of ambition, and lack of desire for pleasure of their own spirit—that is, C their soul—either possess voluntary poverty, or endure it bravely, even if it be involuntary. But the rich and those who abound in luxuries, and those who pursue fleeting glory, who entirely satisfy these desires, will fall into more terrible passions and will fall into greater, more numerous, and more difficult traps of the devil. For he who has grown rich does not lay aside the desire to grow rich, but rather increases it, desiring more than before. Thus also the pleasure-seeker, the greedy man, the dissolute man, and the profligate, having filled their desires, rather inflame them, but never cast them aside. D And rulers and illustrious men take on power so that they may commit greater injustices and sins.
Therefore, it is difficult for a ruler to be saved and for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. “And how,” He says, “can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from God alone?” Yet let no one be troubled if he is wealthy or illustrious or a ruler. For such a man can, if he wishes, seek the glory of God and force himself, so that by breaking the inclination toward evil, he may practice great virtues, keeping back great vices, not only from himself, but also from many...
who are unwilling. For he is able not only to act righteously and be temperate, but also to restrain in many ways those who wish to act unjustly and licentiously; and not only to render himself obedient to the Gospel of Christ and its heralds, but also to subject those who wish to be disobedient to the Church of Christ and to those appointed over it according to Christ, not only through the power and authority which he obtained from God, but also by becoming a model in all good things to those who are subordinate. For the subject is made like the ruler. There is need, therefore, for zeal and force and attention for all, but not equally. For to those who are set in glory, wealth, and authority, and to those who are diligent about letters and the acquisition of the wisdom that matches them, if they wish to be saved, there is need of greater force and zeal, since they are by nature somewhat more difficult to persuade. B
79 This is also made manifest from the Gospels of Christ read yesterday and today. For of the miracle performed upon Lazarus, which clearly showed that He who performed it was God, the common people were persuaded and believed; but the rulers at that time, that is to say the Scribes and Pharisees, were so far from being persuaded that they raved even more against Him, and were seized by such madness that they plotted to deliver to death Him who, by what He said and by what He did, had manifested Himself as the Lord of life and death. For no one can say that the fact that Christ at that time lifted up His own eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you heard me," became an obstacle to them thinking that He was equal to the Father; C for He Himself brings this to bear to the Father, saying, "I knew that you always hear me, but for the sake of the crowd standing around I said it, so that they may believe that you sent me." For in order that they might know at once that He is God, and that He is from the Father, and in nothing contrary, but that He performs miracles according to the will of the Father, He indeed lifted His eyes before everyone toward the Father, but He said to Him those things which prove the One speaking on earth to be equal to the Father on high and in heaven. For just as when man was about to be fashioned in the beginning, counsel preceded it, so also now in the case of Lazarus, when man was about to be re-fashioned, counsel preceded it. But there, when man was about to D be fashioned, indeed the Father said to the Son, "Let us make man," and the Son Himself heard the Father, and thus man was brought into being; here, however, now the Father hears the Son speaking, and thus Lazarus was brought to life. Do you see the equality of honor and the unity of counsel? For the outward form of the prayer occurred because of the crowd standing around, but the words of the prayer were not of prayer, but of sovereignty and supreme authority: "Lazarus, come out," and immediately the four-day-dead man
stood before Him. Was he brought to life by a command then, or by prayer, A seeing that He makes alive? He shouted in a loud voice, and this was for the sake of those standing around; for He could have raised him, not by a great voice, but by a simple act of will, just as He could have even while being far away, and even with the stone in place. But He stood at the tomb and said to those standing around, and they themselves lifted the stone, and they perceived the stench, and He called out in a loud voice; and thus He raised him, so that it might happen through their own sight—for they saw Him standing at the tomb—and through their own sense of smell—for they perceived the stench of the dead man, who had been dead four days—and through their own touch, through which they used their own hands, first to remove the stone from the tomb, and afterward to loosen the bonds with which the body was bound and the napkin which covered his face. And through their own ears, the Lord’s voice reaching the hearing of all, so that all might understand and believe that He is the one who "calls the things that are not as though they were," sustaining all things by the word of B His power, and who brought all things into being in the beginning by a word alone from out of non-existence. The simple people, therefore, because of such things, believed in Him, so that they did not merely hold the faith in silence, but became heralds of His divinity by both deeds and words. For after the four-day resurrection of Lazarus, the Lord found a young donkey, which had been prepared by the disciples, as the evangelist Matthew says, and sitting upon it, He entered Jerusalem according to the prophecy of Zacharias, who had proclaimed beforehand: "Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, thy King cometh unto thee, just and saving, He himself meek, and sitting upon a beast of burden and a young foal of an ass." By these words the prophet showed that the previously mentioned King is he who alone is truly called King of Zion. For he says: Thy King is not to be feared because of any visible display, nor is He harsh, nor a wrongdoer, C dragging after Him guards and attendants, or a multitude of foot soldiers and cavalry, thriving on greed, exacting taxes and tributes, and imposing servile and harmful duties. But His insignia are humility, poverty, and frugality; He enters riding on a donkey, using no company of men. Therefore, this King is just alone, and saving in equity, and He is himself meek, for He possesses meekness as His very own. Whence also the Lord said concerning Himself: "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." He, then, who had raised Lazarus from the dead, as King sitting upon a donkey, thus enters Jerusalem; but all the crowds, almost everyone—children, men, elders—spreading their garments, and taking branches of palm trees, which are symbols of victory, D as to the Lifegiver and Conqueror of death, came out to meet Him, falling down before Him, and escorting Him, not only outside but even within the precincts of the temple, with one voice chanting, "Hosanna to the son of David; Hosanna in the highest." This "Hosanna" is a hymn sent up to God; for translated it means, "Save now, O Lord." But the part that is added, "in the highest," shows that He is celebrated not only on earth and by men, but also in the highest by the choirs of angels. Nor do they proclaim Him God only by singing thus, but also by...
their ill-willed and God-fighting judgment, the Scribes and Pharisees oppose Him against their murderous pretexts A in what follows. For some of them, distraught in mind, said concerning Him: "This man is not from God; and because he performs many signs, if we let him go and do not put him to death, all will believe in him; and the Romans will come and take away our city and our nation." But the people, what do they say? "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David." For by saying, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," they indicated that He was from God and the Father, and that He came in the name of the Father, just as the Lord Himself says of Himself: "For I have come in the name of My Father, and I have come out from God." But by saying, "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David," they demonstrated that this was the kingdom in which, according to the prophecy, the Gentiles and especially the Romans were to believe. For this King is not only the hope of Israel, but also the expectation of the nations, according to the prophecy of Jacob: "Binding his ass to the vine," that is, the people from the Jews submissive to Him; and to the branch of the vine the foal of his ass. B The branches of the vine are the disciples of the Lord, to whom the Lord said: "I am the vine, you are the branches." With this branch, therefore, the Lord bound to Himself the foal of his ass, that is, the new Israel from the Gentiles, who by grace have become sons of Abraham. If, therefore, this kingdom is also the hope of the Gentiles, how do they say: "If we believe in him, the Romans will punish us"? Thus then, like little children not in mind but in malice—having been inspired by the Holy Spirit—they sent up to the Lord a perfected and complete hymn, witnessing that He, as God, had brought to life Lazarus who had been dead four days. But the Scribes and Pharisees, having seen such miracles and these children crying out in the Temple and saying, "Hosanna to the son of David," were indignant and said to the Lord: "Do you not hear what these are saying?"—which He ought rather to have said to them at that time: "Do you not see, nor hear, nor understand?" C Therefore, even He Himself, rebuking those who were blaming Him—as if He were enduring a hymn of praise worthy of God alone—said: "Indeed, I hear those who are being made wise by Me invisibly, and are uttering such things about Me; but if these should be silent, the stones will cry out. Have you never read that prophetic word, 'Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babes you have perfected praise'?" For it was truly a miracle of the greatest kind that unlearned men and children and the ignorant should perfectly theologize about the God who had become man for our sake, taking up an angelic hymn upon their lips. For just as the angels, at the birth of the Lord, sang in concert: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth," etc., so also these, as He was entering, were offering the same hymn: "Hosanna in the highest." D
A Let us also, brethren, be like children in malice, both young and old, rulers and subjects alike, that we may be strengthened by God and set up a trophy, and bear the symbols of victory, not only against evil passions, but also against visible and invisible enemies, and may find grace for timely help. For the young colt, upon which the Lord deigned to sit, being but one, prefigured the nations that were to be subjected to Christ, from among whom we all are, both rulers and subjects. As, therefore, in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female, neither Greek nor Jew, but all are one according to the divine Apostle, so in Him there is neither ruler nor subject, but all are one by His grace through the faith which is in Him, and we are brought into one body of His Church, having Him as one head; and we were made to drink into one Spirit through the grace of the most holy Spirit, and we all have received one baptism, and there is one hope in all, and one God for us, who is over all, and through all, and in all of us. B Let us, therefore, love one another, and bear with one another, and care for one another, as being members of one another; for the sign of having become His disciple, as the Lord Himself said, is charity; and the paternal inheritance which He bequeathed to us when departing from this world is charity; and the final exhortation which He gave to us as He was ascending to His own Father confirms our charity toward one another. Let us, therefore, strive to follow this paternal exhortation, and let us not cast away His inheritance, nor the kingdom which He gave to us, lest we simultaneously reject His adoption, His blessing, and His teaching, and fall from the promised hope, and thus incur the hatred of the spiritual Bridegroom. C Just as before the life-saving passion, when the Lord was entering into the earthly Jerusalem, not only the people, but the true princes of the nations—I mean the apostles of the Lord—were spreading out their garments, so also let us, both rulers and subjects, spread out our own native garments, that is, our flesh, and submit its desires to the Spirit, so that we may be deemed worthy not only of seeing and worshipping the saving passion and holy resurrection of Christ, but also of rejoicing in communion with Him. D For if we have been united, says the Apostle, in the likeness of His death, it is clear that we shall be so also in the likeness of His resurrection, which may we all attain by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom belongs all glory, honor, and worship, with His beginningless Father and the life-creating Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XVI
AOn the dispensation of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and on the graces given through him to those who truly believe in him; and that although God was able to liberate man from the tyranny of the devil in many ways, he reasonably used this dispensation. Delivered on Holy and Great Saturday.
The eternal and uncircumscribed, and all-powerful Word of God, and the almighty Son, was able, by all means and even without his own incarnation, to rescue man from mortality and the slavery of the devil. For he carries all things by the word of his power, and all things are subject to his divine authority; he can do all things, according to Job, and nothing is impossible for him. For no created strength can resist the authority of the Creator, and nothing is stronger than the Almighty. But this way was more appropriate to our nature and infirmity, and most consistent with the agent—namely, the incarnation of the Word of God—insofar as it brings justice along with it, without which nothing is accomplished by God. "For the Lord is just, and he has loved justice, and there is no iniquity in him," B as the psalmist prophet sang. But since, in the beginning, man was justly abandoned by God, because he was the first to abandon Him, and running willingly to the evil one, and believing the one who deceitfully lay in wait for him, he was justly surrendered to him; and thus, through the envy of the wicked one and the just permission of the Good One, death entered into the world, which, from the excessive malice of the author of evil, became twofold in its nature: for not only the death that comes from nature, but also violent slaughter is accomplished through his assistance.
C Since, therefore, we were, by right and merit, surrendered to the slavery and mortality of the devil, it was absolutely necessary that the return of the human race to freedom and life should also be accomplished by God with justice. Yet, man was not surrendered to the envious one merely by divine justice, but the devil himself cast justice away from himself, and having become, unjustly, a lover of power and authority—or rather, a lover of tyranny—he fought against justice and used power against man. It pleased God, therefore, first to cast down the devil by justice, which is the very thing by which he continues to fight, and later by power, in the day of the resurrection and the coming D judgment. For this is the best order: for justice to precede power—and this is truly the work of divine and good lordship, not of tyranny, that power should follow justice. For just as he who is a murderer from the beginning rose up against us with envy and hatred, so the Prince of Life was moved on our behalf by extreme kindness and goodness; and just as he unjustly took pleasure in the destruction of God's creature, so the Creator justly delighted in the salvation of his handiwork; and just as he, by injustice and deceit, worked for his own victory and the ruin of man, so the Liberator, in justice and wisdom, brought about the eternal defeat of the most wicked one,
A and the renovation of His own creature. God therefore omitted what He could have done first, so that He might first accomplish what was necessary. Justice became more manifest thereby, having been preferred by Him who possesses invincible power; and it was necessary that men also be taught to demonstrate justice here through works during the time of mortality, so that when they have received power in the time of immortality, they may possess it immutably.
Furthermore, it was necessary for the victor to be defeated by the nature he had defeated, and for the one who had acted with craft to be outwitted. For this reason it was necessary, and indeed inevitable, that a man be born who would be untainted by sin. But this was among the impossibilities. For "No one," says Scripture, "is without sin, even if his life be but one day;" and "Who can say, My heart is pure?" And no one is without sin except God alone. For this reason the Word, God from God, proceeding from Him from eternity, yet existing in Him—for who could ever conceive of a God without a Word?—and being one God with Him; just as the solar radiance does not create another light apart from the sun, nor is the ray of the sun another sun than the one that alone shines. B For this reason, then, the only sinless Son and Word of God becomes Son of Man, immutable in His divinity, blameless in His humanity. "He who," as Isaiah foretold, "wrought no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth." And not only this, but He alone was not conceived in iniquities, nor was He nurtured in sins, as David testifies in the Psalms C concerning himself, or rather concerning every man. For the insurrection of the flesh, being involuntary and openly warring against the law of the mind, even if it is forcibly brought into servitude by those who mind [the spirit] and is directed only towards the procreation of offspring, nevertheless suffers the condemnation brought from the beginning, as it is corruption and is called so, and begets altogether unto corruption, and is a passionate impulse of one who does not know the honor which our nature received from God, but has been likened to the beasts.
Therefore, He was made not only God among men, but was also born of a holy Virgin—a Virgin who, according to the prophets, far excels those polluted thoughts that arise from the flesh—the conception of whom the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, not the insurrection of the flesh, brought about; the angelic annunciation and the faith of God's indwelling brought it about, D and not the consent and trial of passionate desire. For this latter being entirely removed, through prayer and spiritual joy, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word," the immaculate Virgin said to the announcing angel; and having conceived, she gave birth, so that the victor of the devil, the man who is also God, might draw from the race only the nature, but not the sin, being alone of all not conceived in iniquities, nor nurtured in sins, that is to say, [free from] the pleasure of the flesh and the passion and the base thoughts of nature from the transgres-
transgression; so that He might be in his assumption entirely pure and undefiled, and not in need of purifications for His own sake, but wisely receiving all things for our sake. And thus He is truly called the new Adam, and remains truly new and strong, in no wise growing old, and restores within Himself and by Himself the old Adam, and maintains [him] forever new, being powerful enough to cast off all aging. For that first Adam was created incorrupt at the beginning by God, and was new, until, voluntarily yielding to the devil and turning to the pleasures of the flesh, he fell into the filth of sin, grew old, and fell into that which is contrary to nature.
For this reason, the Lord B miraculously restores him not only by His hand, but also holds him within Himself, not only taking up and raising the human nature from the fall, but also, in an ineffable manner, clothing Himself in it, being united with it indivisibly, and being born at once God and man; from a woman, indeed, in order that He might take up that nature which had been fashioned by Him and stolen by the counsel of the evil one; but from a virgin, in order that He might make the new man. For if He had been from [corrupt] seed, He would not be a new man, nor the leader and author of a new and in no wise aging life; nor would He have been able, being of the old [leaven of the] dough, to receive within Himself the fullness of the unalloyed divinity, and to make the flesh an inexhaustible fountain of sanctification, such as to wash away the defilement of those forefathers through the abundance of [His] power, and to suffice for the sanctification of all who follow. C For this reason, not an angel, not a man, but the Lord Himself thus willed to save us through mercy, and to recreate us, remaining indeed God unchanged, whilst proceeding forth as a man perfect according to us.
Therefore, He is born of the holy Virgin, the only man from all ages who is without blame, the only one in no way deserving of God's abandonment. And before He knows to reject evil and choose the good, according to the prophecy, He lives a life that is in every way sinless, and, being found in no way deserving of God's abandonment (for He Himself, like the first Adam, did not abandon God by transgressing), He becomes a fulfiller of every divine commandment and every divine law, and thence is justly free from the slavery of the devil. And thus the devil, who at the beginning defeated man, is defeated by D a man; and he who had conquered the nature made in the image of God, and who for that reason boasted in his pride, is brought down; and man is recreated from the death that is of the soul and is truly death—the death in which he died immediately upon tasting of the forbidden tree—the death which was threatened to Adam and Eve by God before the disobedience, when He said to them: "In whatever day you eat from it, you shall die the death." For indeed, after the disobedience, we were condemned to the death of the body, God saying therefore to Adam: "Earth..."
A you are, and into the earth you shall return." For just as the departure of the body from the soul, and its separation from it, is the death of the body, so also the soul's abandonment by God, and the separation resulting from this, is the death of the soul, even though it remains immortal in another way; for it becomes unsightly and void, being estranged from God, and indeed more so than a dead body, yet it does not dissolve as the latter does after death, because it does not derive its existence from a composition of parts.
One might see this even in soulless bodies; for those among them that are simpler persist longer. For this reason, the rational soul, being estranged from God, not only begins to grow weak in its innate power toward the good, but it also receives a violence from the inclination of its own will toward worse things, until that wretched soul, living in such dissolute ways, is now, by its departure from the body, and subsequently at the time of judgment, handed over with the body to an indissoluble and unbearable bond of eternal B punishment, which God prepared for the devil and his angels; for all these are dead, even if they are active in malice, for which they were justly abandoned by God, the true life. Satan first underwent this death, as he was justly abandoned by God on account of disobedience, and he took us as participants in it, having dragged us down toward disobedience through his insidious counsel; but Christ redeemed our nature from this death, according to His own human life, by displaying all obedience through all His works. Yet it was altogether necessary not only to take up human nature in Himself, but also to commend the human race to immortality, and to lead it to the participation in this life, which also grants everlasting life to the body in time, just as that former death of the soul brought forth death for the body itself. Therefore, this dispensation was quite necessary C and most beneficial to be made manifest, and for His manner of life to be proposed for imitation. For there was a time when God was set before man, just as before the good angels, to be looked upon for imitation. But since we have fallen down from that contemplation, wherever we may have cast ourselves, out of exceeding philanthropy God descends to us from on high, in no way departing from His own divinity; and having lived among us, He sets Himself forth as an example for the return to life.
And not only this, but He also becomes our teacher, pointing out by word the way that leads to life, and confirming the discourse of His teaching by greatest miracles. And human nature is thus justified, in that it does not have wickedness from itself; and God is also justified, since He is not the author or maker of any malice. For if the coeternal Word of the Father D had not become man, sin would have seemed to be by nature in man; for no man from the ages was without sin, and it would have happened that the blame would be referred to the Creator, as if He were not the creator of good things, or not good Himself. Furthermore, He would have been convicted of having been an unjust judge, as if He had not justly condemned the man who had become, from himself, worthy of condemnation. Therefore, He took up human nature
A God, so as to show it to be so free from sin, and so purified, as to be able to be united to Him in subsistence, and to coexist with Him inseparably; and thus that it should be proclaimed by works to all that God is good and just, both the creator of good things and the overseer of the just. For from the fall of Satan and the angels who revolted with him from heaven, it was possible for the angels who kept their own order to understand that evil is not in angels by nature, but rather good is in them by nature, and that the One who created them is by nature goodness, from whom even Satan was condemned by a just judgment to eternal darkness, as he became to himself the author of evil through the turning aside from the good. But since Adam fell through the turning aside from the good to the evil, no one was left who was unturnable toward evil, nor did any appear after Adam. For this reason Christ appeared as the new Adam, who, according to Isaiah, committed no sin, nor did He even think it, much less speak it; for no guile was found in His mouth. He did not say "out of the mouth," but "in His mouth," that He might also attest to the blamelessness of His thoughts, as he says elsewhere, that before he knew evil, he chose the good. And thus God was justified, as it has been said, and was shown to be truly good, and the creator of good works, now that man had been made without sin, and the holiness inherent in human nature had appeared in Christ. Since, therefore, it was necessary for this ineffable dispensation to be revealed and set forth openly, B John, the Forerunner by name, is sent from the desert by God, baptizing those who approached and commanding them to be ready to believe in Him who comes, whom, he says, He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, but also that He is as much greater than himself as the Holy Spirit excels the water. For he testifies that He is the Lord and maker of all, the ruler of angels and men; and that all men are His spiritual field, and that the winnowing fan of such a field, namely the public powers, is in the hand of Him who comes. And not only does the Forerunner of the Lord testify that He who comes is such by himself, but he also points to Isaiah, who had previously proclaimed Him to be the Lord, while he declares himself to be a minister sent to announce His arrival and to urge the faithful to prepare their hearts to receive Him, saying: "I am the voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord." C Furthermore, he testifies that He existed even before He was conceived or born. For he says: "He who is to come after me has come before me, because He was before me," even though His conception and birth followed those of John. If, therefore, He was before, and was not so according to the flesh, then He was before the flesh. Proceeding, he also testifies that He is the Lamb of God, taking away the sin of the world, proclaiming in advance the sacrifice for the remission of our sins. But He also testifies that He is the Most
A High, and that He descended from heaven, and that He is infinite in power, in that He received not the Spirit by measure from the Father. And to those who believe in Him He promises eternal life, but to the disobedient He threatens the ineluctable wrath of God; for, being asked by His own disciples about Him, He answers: "He must increase, but I must decrease." And showing for what reason not only He, but all things, are inferior to Him, as much as the earth is to the heavenly things, He says: "He who comes from above is above all; separated from all, and preserving the paternal excellence as a beloved Son." And again: "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who B is unbelieving towards the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him."
Jesus comes, therefore, even to baptism, to exercise obedience toward Him who sent John, as He Himself said: "For thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." This He did for His own manifestation; moreover, in order to enter upon the way of salvation, and to make it certain for those who follow and are baptized, as He Himself showed and ordained, that the Holy Spirit is given. He wished also through Himself to institute baptism as a medicinal cleanser of the defilements clinging to us from our passionate birth and life; for although He, as man, had no need of cleansing, born of an undefiled Virgin and having lived apart from all sin, yet because He was born for our sake, He is also purified for our sake. He is therefore baptized by John, and as He ascends from the water, the heavens are opened to Him, and the voice of the Father is heard from thence: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And as a dove, the Spirit of God descends upon Him, C showing to those present the One witnessed from above. And thus He is manifested as the true Son; the Father in heaven is manifested as the true Father; and the Holy Spirit is manifested, proceeding in essence from the Father, yet resting upon the Father's true Son. The grace of Himself, and of His Father, and of the Spirit, dwells in the water of baptism, so that it may be instilled in those who are thereafter baptized by Him, divinely regenerating them, renewing them, and mystically refashioning them so that they are no longer of the old Adam, drawing the curse from thence, but having received birth from the new Adam, they have the blessing from thence, no longer being children of the flesh, but children of God, "who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God through Jesus Christ." D Even though they are still weighed down—for the sake of exercise, of testing, of correction, and of grasping the suffering of this present age—by the heavy burden of corruptible flesh, yet they have invisibly put on Christ, in such a way
A that they may study to attain his citizenship, eager to share, after their departure from here, in his blessedness, brilliance, and incorruptibility. For just as by one man, Adam, the responsibility for death passed down to his descendants by the necessity of generation, so from one, the God-man Word, the grace of eternal and heavenly life passes to all who are reborn of him. Therefore, heaven is opened to them, to receive them in due time, if indeed, being nourished in the faith in him and in the righteousness that is according to faith in God, they become heirs—as they have received the power [to do so]—and co-heirs with Christ, sharing in his pure life and immortality, inseparably remaining with him, and enjoying his glory. For heaven was previously closed to us, and we were children of wrath B —which is the just abandonment by God on account of our sin and disobedience. But because our nature in Christ was free from sin and most obedient to God, we who cling to Christ have become children of good pleasure, and beloved sons; and heaven has been opened to us, so that the Spirit of God may even descend upon us and remain in us, and that through him we may be taken up into the heavens in due time, when he who raised Christ from the dead shall also give life to our mortal bodies, through his Spirit dwelling in us, transforming the body of our lowliness and making it conformed to the body of the glory of Christ, through whom we have been enriched with immortality and recalled to the heavens; and our human nature has been enthroned at the right hand of the Majesty on high, above every principality and power. O the depth of the wisdom and wealth and divine philanthropy of God! C Thus does God know how to correct, in his wisdom and power, the slips of our voluntary wandering, benevolently transforming them into something incomparably better. For if the Son of God had not descended from the heavens, we would have been without hope of an ascent to heaven; if he had not been incarnate and suffered in the flesh, and risen, and been taken up for our sake, we would not have known the surpassing love of God for us; if he had not, while we were still ungodly, been made flesh for us and endured the passion, we would not have been raised up to such a height by him, nor would we have abstained from the pride that casts us down. For now, having been raised up without having contributed anything, we remain in humility; and looking upon the greatness of the promise and the benefit with understanding, D we become ever more humble, from which comes our salvation.
The Son of God therefore became human in order to show to what a height he would raise us; so that we might not be puffed up as if we had ourselves won the victory over our defeat; so that, being twofold, he might truly be a mediator, fitting for each part toward the other; so that he might dissolve the bond of sin; so that he might cleanse the defilement of the flesh resulting from sin; so that he might show God’s love for us; so that he might show into what a depth of evils we had fallen, so that the incarnation of God was necessary; so that he might become for us an example of the humility that the flesh and suffering have, and a saving remedy against pride; so that he might show our nature, created by God, to be good.
A For so great was its kinship to God, that it could unite with him in one hypostasis; so that he might honor the flesh, even the mortal flesh, lest the proud spirits deem themselves more worthy of honor than man, and deem and be deemed gods, being exalted through the first-fruits and their perceived immortality; so that he might join those separated by nature, men and God, himself becoming a mediator twofold in nature. And what more need be said, if the Word of God had not become incarnate? The Father would not have been shown to be truly the Father; the Son would not have been shown to be truly the Son; nor the Holy Spirit, proceeding himself also from the Father; nor would God be proven to be [God] in substance and in persons, but merely a certain power seen by creatures, just as the fools of old said, and those who now think according to Barlaam and Acindynus.
Therefore, by these things, the Lord manifested himself and his dispensation, in as much as, if I may so say, it was in his power; and he manifested the Father as truly being the most high Father. B He demonstrated the return to Him for those present and for those to come who would desire it, having summoned, called, and guided those who were willing through his own way of life, his teaching, his working of miracles, and his prophecy, or rather, through wisdom and knowledge truly divine and far surpassing nature, to which nothing is hidden, neither of things to come, nor of those stirred invisibly in the depths of the heart.
It was necessary, therefore, that those who were to obey should be free from the servitude of the devil; for since man had been led away into his captivity, having experienced divine wrath—and divine wrath is the just abandonment of the good one [by God]—it was necessary for him to be reconciled to the Author; for there was no other way to be freed from that servitude. Therefore, there was need of a sacrifice C that would reconcile us to the most high Father and sanctify us, who had been defiled by our wicked commerce. Therefore, there was need of a victim that was cleansing and clean, and there was also need of a priest who was undefiled and immune from sin. We had need of a resurrection that would be held not only according to the soul, but also according to the body, and this for the sake of those who would come after in time. Therefore, it was necessary that not only this freedom and resurrection be granted to us, but also that they be pledged, and furthermore, that there be an occupation and eternal city in the heavens. But there was need D of all these things, not only for those then living and those to come, but much more for all those born from the beginning of time; for those who were in Hades were far more numerous than those to come, and far more numerous than those who were to believe at once and be saved; and therefore, I judge, Christ came at the consummation of the ages. It was necessary, therefore, even for those who lay in Hades that the Gospel be preached, and that there be shown
A that great dispensation, and the freedom from the demons who had held them captive be granted to the end, as well as sanctification and the promises to come. Christ had, therefore, absolutely to descend into Hades; but also all these things had to come to pass with justice, without which nothing is performed by God.
Furthermore, it was necessary that the deceiver be justly deceived, and that he lose the amassed riches which he had acquired through deceit, by the wisdom of God outmaneuvering the wickedness in which the author of evil persisted in boasting; which boasting he would not have laid aside had he been defeated by divine power, rather than being cast down from his dominion by wisdom and justice. B And since all men, having turned toward evil in deed, or word, or thought, or all or two of these, had defiled the purity given to human nature by God, and were in need of sanctification—and sanctification is brought to perfection through the offering of each person to God from the beginning, but the offering must be pure, and we have nothing of the sort to offer to God—for this reason, Christ alone appeared unblemished and offered himself as an offering and firstfruits to God the Father on our behalf, so that we, looking to him, believing in him, and being joined to him through obedience to him, might appear before the face of God through him, and having attained atonement, might all be sanctified. And this is what the Lord says in the Gospels: C “For their sake I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” For it was necessary that not only the offering, but also the high priest who offers it, be pure and sinless, as the Apostle also says: “For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.”
For these reasons, therefore, and for such as these, not only did the Word of God become flesh and dwell among us, appearing on earth and conversing with men, but he also took on flesh like our own—though indeed D perfectly pure—yet mortal and passible. By this flesh, having as a divine lure for the arch-evil serpent suspended him upon the cross, he liberated the entire race enslaved by him; for if the tyrant falls, everything that was under tyranny becomes free. And this is what the Lord himself says in the Gospels: “The strong man has been bound, and his goods have been plundered.” Plundered, indeed, having been liberated by Christ, justified, filled with light, and enriched with divine graces. For this reason David chants: “Having ascended on high,” that is, either to the cross, or, if you will, to heaven, “he captured captivity; he gave gifts to men.” The devil, then, was thus wounded through the passion and the flesh; but having offered him to God and Father as an offering, as a blameless and most holy sacrifice...
O the A ineffable great gift! he reconciled him to his fellow-men. And since he underwent the passion according to the will of the Father, he became a model for us, who are being destroyed through disobedience and saved through obedience, as to how long one must obey. Since he also showed that this death was far more precious than the immortality belonging to the devil, as it procures immortality that is truly life, so that it might not fall into the second and eternal death—or rather, to one worse than ten thousand deaths, the coming punishment—but remain in heavenly tabernacles with Christ; for he himself, having risen from the dead on the third day, and after having presented himself living to his own disciples, having been taken up into heaven, and remaining immortal, both bestowed upon us and confirmed for us the resurrection and immortality, and the eternal, incorrupt, and truly blessed life in the heavens, healing our double death by the one death of his own flesh and by the one resurrection of it, and delivering us from our double captivity, that B is to say, of the soul and of the body. For that wicked one, having been abandoned for voluntary sin justly by God who is the true life, became a dead spirit; and being full of malice, a jealous prince of lies, a beginner of evil, he did not tolerate the human being living in the region of delight, I mean in paradise, but deceiving him with destructive plots, he made him a partaker of both sin and spiritual death. And this death of the spirit is necessarily followed by the death of the body; and thus that wicked one, through the one death of his own, brought a double death upon us, and having cast us down, and even lower than himself, he appeared great and exalted and boastful, rejoicing that he had cunningly deceived us with his counsels and reduced us to slavery, and as God, alas! appeared to us immortal, having in addition become after death the heir of our souls which God had abandoned—souls which, having been dragged down into Hades, he shut up, as it seemed, C in inescapable prisons.
Therefore, having pity on such great misery, God who created us deigned to descend to that place whither we had been cast down, so that he might summon us back from thence, uniquely appearing free among the dead, as he had descended thither with a living spirit, and not only this, but flashing with divine light and possessing a life-giving power, so that he might give light to those sitting in darkness, and spiritually give life to those who believed in him there; and furthermore, that he might give life to the bodies of all on the day he has appointed to vivify and judge the whole race, just as the chief of the apostles also taught us through his Epistle, saying: “For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the spirit like God,” D and a little way above in the same Epistle, showing who it was who preached the Gospel to the dead in Hades, and through whom, he says: “Christ, who once suffered for...
A sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, in which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison” (that is, to the souls of the dead from ages past). Just as the wicked one, through one death of his own according to the spirit, brought upon us a double death, so the Good One, through one death according to the body, healed for us this double death, and through one resurrection of his own body, granted us a double resurrection, having by his bodily death destroyed him who had the power of death over our soul and body, and having delivered us from his tyranny on both counts. For the wicked one enters into the serpent, so that through it he might deceive man; the Word of God assumes human nature, so that through it he might mock the mocker. But he takes it innocent and pure of error, and preserves it such even to the end, offering it to the Father as firstfruits, for our sanctification from among us. But if the Word of God had not taken a mortal and suffering body, how would envy itself have dared to attack and attempt to deceive him?
B Therefore, he did not investigate these things so long as he did not know that he was clothed in a body subject to suffering; for he fasted in the desert forty days and did not hunger. For although he was clothed in a suffering body, yet he was then doing and suffering things proper to it only when allowed by the omnipotent power conjoined to it. Having fasted, then, for forty days, according to the Gospel, he afterwards hungered. Then, at last, the prince of evil, emboldened and attacking, brought on the temptation, hastening to find an entrance against the Spirit; but as he was strongly repelled, and again attacking generally through every kind of pleasure, he was defeated with force, and having been unnerved and broken and put to shame, he fled away. Why, then, was he repelled, having been emboldened by the passion of the body and made an attack? Because he attempted to bring sin into a man incapable of sin. He flees, then, having been thus repelled with shame, but Christ, pursuing him, does not cease, casting him out of those who are possessed by demons, healing those held by him in diseases, raising the dead—not only those recently deceased, but those already rotting—and this by a command alone; and furthermore, driving them out of souls, preaching repentance, and showing that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and leading souls to faith and to a life opposed to the adversary; and converting and receiving sinners; and, not only that, but also granting strength against demons to his own. Was it, then, possible for Satan and the angels who revolted with him to endure these things with equanimity? Do you think that when he considered that he would stop such power being brought against him, he would have been indifferent? Indeed, is it tolerable for him that a man living among men should be the one to cast him out of men, and C from the D rage against Christ, since he knew that his soul, being of God and man, was victorious over temptation and capable of none of the vices of which he himself is the head—
and that his body was subject to pain and death, but that he himself could not inflict such death—he moved the minds of the unbelieving Jews, which, as wicked, were already convicted and reprobated by Christ, toward his murder. He moved and persuaded them to this murder, and to a shameful murder at that, one deemed suitable only for criminals and the impious, thinking in this way to cast him out from the earth and destroy his name upon the earth. He even hoped, once he was dead, to hold his soul locked up in Hades, just as he held the souls of all who had died through the ages.
B Thus the deceiver was deceived, by attacking the flesh of Christ, which was subject to pain and death; he brought light, against his will, into his dark and gloomy dungeons, and he set the Giver of Life before the souls plagued by spiritual death due to him. Furthermore, he mixed the body from which resurrection and immortality proceed with the dead, desiring to hand it over to death and worms. The Lord, however, was able to overturn even these plots of his, but he by no means wished to do so; he preferred instead to suffer on our behalf, and for this reason he became the God-man. For if he were not man, he could not have suffered; and if he were not God, remaining impassible in his divinity, he would not have endured death in the flesh for our sake, in order to grant us resurrection—or rather, a raising up again, and immortality. Nor would it have been believed that he was able not to suffer, yet chose to suffer willingly, so as to demonstrate his own humility that was to raise us up who had been freed, and to teach us, if need be, through deeds, to struggle for justice even unto death; and to promise those who believe the power of immortality through resurrection—not only that we should exist forever, but that we should exist apart from eternal C destruction, I mean the eternal and most horrific punishment prepared for the devil, and that we should reign with the holy angels, rejoicing together in the blessed and unending kingdom. Therefore he underwent for our sake a death which was not his due, so that he might deliver us, who were rightfully his debtors, from the servitude of the devil and from death; I mean the death of the soul and of the body, both temporal and eternal. For by shedding that innocent blood—innocent as being immune to sin—as a ransom for us who were held guilty because of sin, he redeemed us from guilt, having forgiven our sins and torn up the record of them on the cross, and he redeemed us from the tyranny of the devil. For that one, being enticed and, as it were, gaping for it, when he rushed to shed that precious blood, our ransom—a blood that was not only innocent but also rich in divine power—was not enriched by it, but was firmly bound, triumphed over on the cross of Christ; and thus we were snatched from his servitude D and passed into the kingdom of the Son of God. We who were formerly a house of wrath have been made by him a house of mercy, he who bound the strong man for our sake and plundered his house; he who by right, as it were, unjustly su-
slaughtered by the devil's machination, A reigned over us, having mystically conquered the author of evil by righteousness, and clearly manifesting his omnipotent power, while clothed in the body of death, rose again from the dead after three days, and ascending into heaven, sat at the right hand of the Father, with that same flesh which he bore for us and in which he died, assuring us both of the resurrection from the dead, and the restoration into the heavens, and the inheritance of the kingdom; which we also, imitating him as far as it is possible, should likewise wrestle down the author of sin through righteousness, warding off his assaults and his promptings toward wicked passions, and courageously enduring his machinations.
B For this reason, although the Lord has regenerated us through divine baptism, and sealed us with the grace of the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption, yet he permits us to possess a passible and mortal body. And though he had cast out the leader of wickedness from the storehouses of the soul, he nevertheless suffers him to attack from without, so that the renewed man, according to the New Testament—that is, the Gospel of Christ—living in good works and repentance, despising the delights of this life, enduring hardships, and being exercised by the attacks of the adversary, may be prepared for the reception of incorruptibility and the goods to be bestowed in that new age. The faithful man, therefore, ought to rejoice in hope; and because this life will have an end, he ought wisely to take pleasure, faithfully awaiting the beatitude which the life to come will eternally possess. C But by the intelligence of faith, he ought also to bear the misery which this life is justly condemned to suffer on account of sin, and to resist the very author and abettor of sin, and the ranks drawn up by him, even unto blood, if need be; for outside of sin, nothing in this life is truly evil, even if it is a cause of affliction, not even death itself. Therefore, the choir of saints indeed brought sufferings of the body upon themselves; but the martyrs made the violent death brought upon them by others most glorious, and a provider of life, glory, and an eternal, heavenly kingdom, rightly and God-pleasingly making use of it. For this reason, even after having abolished death through his own resurrection, D he left it to remain still with his own, and with it the other miseries in this world, so that the man according to Christ, struggling through these things for the truth in life and in doctrines, may be prepared for that future new and ageless age through the New Testament.
These miseries, then, are profitable to those who faithfully endure them, for the correction of sins, for exercise, for probation, for the comprehension of the wretchedness of this life, and for the incitement of a burning desire and perseve-
persistently seeking that eternal adoption and redemption, and that life and blessedness which truly endures. For since our adoption and renewal in Christ—both as to soul and body—is manifold, possessing as it does a beginning, an end, and states of transition between them, the grace of baptism sets the beginning within us, providing the remission of all sins and of the liability resulting from the curse, and it is called the laver of regeneration. The end will be provided by the resurrection—which is hoped for by the faithful—and by the promise of the age to come. The state between these is the life according to the Gospel of Christ, through which the man of God is nourished, grows, and is renewed day by day, advancing toward the knowledge of God, toward righteousness and sanctification, little by little diminishing and cutting away from himself the inclination toward lower things, and transferring his desire from visible, carnal, and temporal objects to those that are intelligible, spiritual, and eternal. B This threefold teaching concerning the resurrection of Christ, which the beholder of the ineffable mysteries of the Spirit, the chosen vessel, the great Paul, delivers to us, he writes to the Romans: "All we who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death; we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death." This is the beginning of our renewal; for Christ tore up the bond of our sins upon the cross, and through baptism He made those who were buried with Him guiltless. Hear also of the transition following the beginning: "In order that," he says, "just as Christ was raised from the dead, so we too might walk in newness of life." And he brings forward the end of the renewal, showing: "If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." Furthermore, in showing more clearly the beginning and the nature of the renewal and adoption, he says: "And we ourselves, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of sons of God." C He calls the sanctification and grace of the Spirit—which we receive in divine baptism, having turned from iniquities and been renewed, and having been justified freely by the grace of Christ—the "firstfruits of the Spirit"; for these are the firstfruits of those future goods. By saying, however, "waiting for the adoption of sons of God," he shows that he is speaking not of the adoption arising from baptism, but of that future, perfect, and unfailing one, adding: "the redemption of our body," which is clearly the liberation from its passions and corruption. For the adoption that exists here often fades away, whereas that which arises from the life and resurrection from the dead is indeed perfect and truly most steadfast. The same Apostle, writing to the Philippians, sets forth the end of such renewal more clearly, D saying, "We await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humility, conformed to the body of his glory." For just as Christ died in the weakness and ignobility of the flesh, but rose in the power and glory of God, so too those who have lived according to Christ throughout their...
lives are sown again through death, to speak with Paul, A in weakness and ignobility, but are raised in power and glory, having received a glorified and incorruptible body, such as Christ had after the resurrection, having become the firstborn from the dead and the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. But this renewal in the body is seen now more by faith than by sight; it is hoped for, but not yet present as a reality. The renewal of the soul, however, also receives its beginning, as has been said, in divine baptism through the remission of sins, and is nourished and grows through the righteousness that is in faith, being renewed more and more in the knowledge of God and by virtues in harmony with this. Its end, however, it will attain in the future, B when God will be seen face to face; for now we see through a glass and in a riddle. For this reason, also, John, who was uniquely beloved by Christ, grasping both renewals, that of the body and that of the soul, says, "Now we are children of God." This is the beginning of the adoption, but "It does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." This is the perfection of the adoption and renewal bestowed upon us by God through Christ, concerning which he says the same in the Gospel: "Christ gave to those who believe in His name the power to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." For by saying they are not born of flesh, but of God, he declares the regeneration and adoption through divine baptism, through which he also says in the Epistle that we are now children of God. But by saying that He gave us the power to become children of God, as if we were not yet such, he points to the perfection of the adoption; C for just as a newborn infant has the power by nature to become wise, and is wise in potentiality, but as its age progresses, if it also attains the things that contribute to knowledge, it will then be wise in actuality; in the same way, he who has been regenerated through divine baptism has received the power to be conformed to the body of the glory of the Son of God. If, therefore, he walks in newness of life, living according to Christ and His Gospel, this power proceeding to perfection in the resurrection, he will have—no longer by faith and hope, but in reality and truth—a glorified and incorruptible body, such as the Lord had after the resurrection, and how much more so the spirit? For the dead bodies of the ungodly will indeed rise, D but not in heavenly glory; for they will not be conformed to the body of the glory of Christ, nor will they see the promised vision of God given to the faithful, which is called the kingdom of God. For it says: "Let the ungodly be taken away, that he may not see the glory of the Lord." But those who have been regenerated and nourished according to Christ, and who have attained the measure, as far as was in their power, of the stature of the fullness of Christ, they will happily obtain the divine splendor, and as it is written, will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
is called of God. "For He says," the ungodly man, "that he may not behold the glory of the Lord." But those who are begotten and nourished according to Christ, and who have reached the measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ as far as possible, they shall blessedly attain to the divine brightness, and according to that which is written, they shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. A Adam, being a partaker of this divine illumination and brightness before the transgression, as one truly clothed in a garment of glory, was not naked, nor was he ashamed because he was naked, but was far more comely than those who said that they were adorned with diadems shining with much gold and precious stones. The Word of God, having mercy on our nature which had been stripped of this divine illumination and brightness through the transgression, and having assumed the bowels of mercy, showed it again on Mount Tabor, more gloriously clothed, to those whom He chose from among the disciples, revealing to all what we once were, and what we, who believe in Him and have attained to the perfection in Him, shall be in the age to come, manifesting it to all. You will find here the pledges of this perfection of those living according to Christ, which are clearly given to the saints of God, who already enjoy the good things of the age to come, according to the words spoken. And Moses, B to whose glorious face the children of Israel could not look, had manifested this beforehand; and after him the Lord Himself still more clearly, flashing on the mountain in the light of His divinity so radiantly that not even the chosen disciples, though they had received spiritual power at that time, were able to stand looking at that radiance. And the face of Stephen was seen, as it is written, as the face of an angel, and he himself looked from earth to the regions beyond the heavens, where Christ sat at the right hand of the Majesty, and saw the supercelestial glory of God. And it would be a long task to enumerate and recount the others in order, who from this time received the pledges of the good things to come, and blessedly attained to that divine illumination and brightness; the which may we also attain, by the grace and philanthropy of Him who for our sake became man, suffered, was buried, and rose again, and lifted up our nature C that lay below to the heavens, and honored it with a seat beside the Father, Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom is due glory, honor, and worship, with His beginningless Father, and the all-holy and life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Homily XVII
Showing the mystery of the Sabbath and of the Lord’s Day; and on the Gospel of the first Sunday after Easter.We celebrate today a New Sunday; or rather, we perform the consecration of the New Sunday. Therefore our discourse intends to go slightly [higher] from above, as far as the time permits, in order to reveal the mystery of the Lord's Day to your charity. D But since this is sublime, and for that reason not easily understood by all, we must give thanks to the Lord of all, after whom this day is also named, who by His presence in the flesh has granted to all who approach Him through faith those things which to some degree transcend both mind and speech. Having said these
things, A however, all of you attend to what is being said; for even if one should not be able to know the whole, from a few things he will possess the entire power; for the teaching of the Spirit has the nature of light. God, therefore, in six days having not only made and adorned all this which is seen, but also having formed and vivified man, who is composed alone of sense and mind, and having offered to him the sovereignty over the animals and plants upon the earth, on the seventh day rested from all His works, just as Moses taught us, who was a later spectator of the creation of the world that was far earlier than himself—or rather, the Holy Spirit who, through his tongue, has resounded humanely to our ears and souls. But he says, "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it." Why then did He bless and sanctify this day, in which He did nothing, and not rather the first B as being supereminent? For this reason also Moses called it "one," and not "first," the day in which God brought the whole from non-existence into existence, and illuminated it with new light, even if He had not yet placed the fitting order upon the world by bringing each thing into its proper arrangement and form. If not this one, why not the one after it, in which He established and stretched out this great expanse, I mean the sky around us, a second day after that first one? Why not again the one after it, or those following, during which the earth was established as the waters receded, and assumed all its connatural adornment, and the sky received two great luminaries as if eyes, and from the waters the birds and the fish arose by command according to their kinds? C But to pass over these days, why did God not bless the sixth, in which He brought forth from the earth not only a living soul of reptiles and quadrupeds, but also displayed a work worthy of His own counsel, summarizing the whole, gathering together sense and mind, and the greatest thing, that He also infused Himself through divine grace, and having shown man as a living creature upon the earth made after His own image and likeness, capable of knowing Him? Why therefore did He not bless and sanctify this day, but rather the seventh, which is a day of inaction? Having the desire to render the account and provide the solution to this difficulty, it is necessary, especially for the sake of the more learned among those assembled, to refute first those who have not rendered it well. For there are those D who treat this number with veneration, Josephus and Philo, and as many as say, following them, that it is unbegotten, but also a virgin, as not generating, such as is the Divine according to them; for they could not understand that God, even in generating, does not put aside His virginity; for He generates without union, without flow, and without passion. Because of this, they contend that the seventh day alone among the days obtained the divine blessing, lying not only about the Godhead by nullifying His productive power, but also about the seventh day itself; for every number is generated from unity; but seven is a number, therefore it is generative.
A It is not, however, unbegotten. "But," they say, "it is not generated by any other number multiplying after unity." But that which is not generated by many is not for that reason unbegotten, but rather that which would not be generated by anything at all, which is a property the hebdomad does not possess. Furthermore, if the day is blessed because of this number being such as it is, how much more would the first day be [blessed], especially since Moses called it "one"? For it received the blessing; for unity is completely unbegotten.
"But," they say, "this [unity] is generative, being multiplied by every number, and those within the decad; while the hebdomad produces nothing within the decad, and is therefore a virgin." Let it be a virgin, then, if it produces in no way; for this is not a matter of necessity, yet I grant it; but the more things it generates, the further it departs from virginity, does it not? Yet the hebdomad, being multiplied and composed, generates no number within the decad, but many above the decad; how, then, is it a virgin?
B Others, fleeing from our grasp, ascend to the moon and the poles, which they say are seven, and point to the moon, showing it to be halved in seven days, and full in as many others, and returning to its original state in the same time. They are ignorant, however, that if the seven is venerable for these reasons, the other numbers are none the less so, and especially the beginning of them all. For the whole sensible cosmos is one, and the whole heaven is one, and no more than two; and there is one sun in the universe, and it is a single moon—not to mention that all things consist in the One, Who is before all, and through all, and over all, the God Who is truly proclaimed to those who understand correctly as unified.
If, moreover, each of the stars and poles is circular, and the universe consists in a sphere, and a sphere is constituted of two things, a point and a line, and without these two nothing of the things that fall under the senses could exist, then the dyad is the most useful and necessary number for the universe. But because it is not only a line but also a plane surface that is seen in the universe, the triad, therefore, has an equal honor among the others; for I pass over the other excellences of this number. C And because each of the aforementioned is not only circular, but also a solid and a sphere, and these cannot exist without the tetrad—for there is an absolute necessity for another dimension for them—why is the tetrad not likewise among the estimable?
Further, indeed, the pentad is similar for other reasons, and especially the number six among all the others; for this one, when compared before the others to its own parts, is the first to be among the perfect; wherefore also all this was accomplished according to it.
D Those, therefore, who honor the hebdomad because of such things deceive themselves, venerating not only it, but any number whatsoever; for all numbers appear to have an equal claim to veneration. For since number was created together with all things that are, and all things created by God are good, and "good exceedingly," as the Creator Himself testified through Moses, whoever
might take a portion of such number and examine it with scrutiny will find it beautiful, and more than beautiful, owing to the proportion it uniquely possesses in relation to itself and other things. Yet it is not by virtue of the number itself that one day differs from another; for Moses did not recount that God praised number in any instance, but rather that He set forth the things brought into being by Him in each day as worthy of praise. Therefore, the seventh day is not to be praised on account of the number. A We say, then, why God blessed and sanctified it in distinction to the others, taking our starting point from the very words of Moses; for he says, "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works which He had made." Then, adding, "And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it," he immediately adds the cause of the blessing, saying again, "Because He rested from all His works which He began to do." Therefore, there are works of God which He had not yet begun, and from which He had not rested; B as the Lord Himself revealed to us, saying, "My Father is working until now, and I am working."
Wishing, therefore, to provide us with the possible knowledge of such works, and to show that these are to be sought after more than all things apprehended by sense, God blessed and sanctified the seventh day, on which He ceased from making sensible things, as if it were a return through this rest from things below to those better and trans-mundane things. For, to speak according to the great Dionysius, God goes outside Himself through the superabundance of His goodness, and from being transcendent over all, He is brought down into all by an ecstatic and supernatural power, C without departing from Himself; coming down, then, in His love for mankind, as much as He Himself willed and as was fitting, and having fashioned this sensible world of ours in six days, He ascended on the seventh day—in a way befitting God—to His own height, which He had never abandoned, and showed the rest upon that day to be more blessed, teaching us also to seek to enter, as far as is permitted, into that rest, which is our contemplation according to the mind, and the upward turning toward God through it. To which rest the Apostle also clearly exhorts us; for, having put forward what was said by God through the Psalmist concerning the race of the Jews: D "As I swore in My anger, if they shall enter into My rest," he subjoins, writing, "For He has spoken somewhere about the seventh day thus: 'And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.'" And a little later, "Let us therefore be eager also to enter into His rest; for he who has entered has also ceased from his own works, just as God did from His own."
But are you wishing to learn more clearly what this rest is, and how we also shall enter into it? If we learn the works which, as having no beginning, God did not begin, we shall even better understand this rest and how we shall enter into it. Where-
- A fore, let the Psalmist Prophet also give us the starting point, writing of God: "The works of His hands are truth and judgment." The work, therefore, of God which has no beginning is the knowledge of things that are, and the foreknowledge of things that will be, which, if one were to call "truth," he would not err from the word. A work of God that is both beginningless and unceasing is judgment and providence; for existing things had need, even before they came into being, of judgment and providence—first, that they should be, and after they have come into being, that they should not perish in accordance with time, but that some might be changed in accordance with reason for their own utility or that of the universe, while others might remain unchanged. An unbeginning work of God is the turning toward Himself; for He was moved from eternity by the contemplation of Himself. Many things, indeed, might one, examining intelligently, see to be coordinate with these energies.
If, however, each one of us, brethren, also withdrawing from the continuous and arduous earthly anxieties and from the works that are performed in accordance with them, should attend with ears open to the teaching of the Spirit, first he will be praised by the Lord, who does not approve of Martha, although she was anxious about many things, even though the concern was on His behalf; but Mary, He says, who sat and listened to the words of His teaching, "chose the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." B Do you see the work from which there is no rest? Then, having taken these words of the teaching of the Spirit into the mind, and meditating upon them, and preferring these in the reasoning faculty of the soul to every other passionate and earthly thought, and through them providing for one's own life unto salvation, one himself also shall have "truth and judgment" in his heart, according to the Psalmist and Prophet, "speaking the truth." But if you also remove your mind from every train of thought, even if it be good, and turn it entirely to itself, through persistent attention and unceasing prayer, in this way you entered also yourself into the divine rest, and attained unto the blessing C concerning the seventh day, seeing yourself, and through yourself being raised up unto the vision of God—for the end of prayer, he says, is rapture unto the Lord.
This, then, is one cause of the blessing concerning the seventh day, which Moses also, showing through the Law, commanded the seventh day to be a day of rest, not from works beneficial to the body, but a rest from the energy of works that are fitting for the soul. Yet there is another, which He who established the whole of this within six days foresaw: the inclination of man toward the worse, and the turning away toward the earth because of this, and the fall and imprisonment even unto Hades, and for the sake of man, the aging and wearing out of this whole world, but also the future renewal of these through His own assumption of humanity. This renewal was brought about according to the descent of the God who became man, through death into Hades, and the calling back of souls proclaimed there by Him during the Sabbath; and this indeed is the work of the seventh day, which fore- D
A-knowingly was worthy of this blessing alone. But while this was prepared in shadow on the seventh day—that is, on the Sabbath—the whole was manifested and clearly perfected, with the body recalled to incorruptibility, on the eighth day through the Lord’s Resurrection; for which reason it is significantly named by us the "Lord’s Day" [Kyriake]. Thus, just as the Preparation [Friday] is to the Sabbath, so the Sabbath is to the Lord’s Day, which clearly excels the former, inasmuch as perfection and truth excel origin, type, and shadow. So great is the surplus and veneration of the Lord’s Day, because of the super-blessed end on it, and the hope for the common resurrection of all on it, and the perfect entry of the worthy into the divine rest, and the regeneration of the whole world.
Therefore, whatever one might say in honoring the seventh day, this redounds with increase to the eighth; for this is the perfection of that one. The honor of this eighth—that is, of the Lord’s Day—Moses introduced, albeit unconsciously; for the year of Jubilee, which is called and named by him the year of remission, is not numbered among the weeks of years according to the Law, but is the eighth after all of them, shining forth after the passing of the last week of those years. Moses does the same thing regarding the weeks of days. Not only did the Lawgiver thus unconsciously introduce the honor of the eighth, which we call the Lord’s Day, as being consecrated to the Resurrection of the Lord, but he also calls it, in the feast which he named the feast of trumpets, the "last," meaning the end and perfection of all the feasts. On this day, therefore, he clearly says that the eighth day shall be holy to us, proclaiming in advance the divine, all-glorious, and venerable nature of the Lord’s Day, which was to be after the passing of all things legal. So, for this reason, he has honored the seventh day, as leading to this eighth which is truly honorable. And just as the Law given through him is honorable as leading to Christ, so the seventh is honorable as leading to the eighth, on which the Resurrection of the Lord took place, as it too is an eighth. For just as the eighth of the days is numbered after the seventh, so if you examine it, you will find that after the seventh of the resurrections from the dead recorded from the beginning of time, the Resurrection of the Lord was the eighth. Thus, it was not only brought to completion on the eighth of the days, but it is also the eighth, being numbered against those that preceded it. The same day is also the first in relation to the hoped-for resurrection of all in Christ; or rather, the "out-resurrection," for which Christ is also hymned as the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep and the firstborn from the dead. In the same way, the Lord’s Day is not only the eighth of the days, numbered from those that precede it B C D
A but is also the first of those that follow it, so that it is, by rotation, this very thing: the new and first of all days, which we call the Lord’s Day, but Moses called it not "first," but "one," as standing above the others and being the beginning of that one and unceasing day of the age to come.
Further, consider another excellence of the Lord’s Day over other festival days, which arises from this: the whole passing year brings in every other festival day only once, but the Lord’s Day each month brings in four times for us—by such frequent recurrence it works the whole year for us as a year of remission, a year acceptable to the Lord. Therefore, the Lord, proposing this to be celebrated by us according to each passing week of days, appeared first to the disciples in the upper room while Thomas was absent, and presented himself alive, and granted them peace, and by his own breathing renewed the inspiration given from the beginning, bestowing the grace of the divine Spirit, infusing into them the divine power of binding and loosing sins, making them partners in his own power which is in heaven, saying to them: "Receive the Holy Spirit; if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain B the sins of any, they are retained."
The Lord bestowed this power and grace, appearing on the very day of his resurrection, which was indeed the Lord’s Day; then, having left the intervening days of the week, on the eighth—that is to say, the Lord’s Day, which we are keeping today—he appeared again in the same way and in the same house, renewing the celebration to himself and leading the doubting Thomas to faith; for according to the beloved Evangelist and disciple of the Savior: "After eight days, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, 'Peace be with you.'" Do you see how on the Lord’s Day the disciples of Christ gathered, and the Lord came to them? For a Lord’s Day it was when he first appeared to the gathered, and after eight days, with the Lord’s Day coming around again, he appeared to those gathered. C The Church of Christ portrays these gatherings perpetually, especially celebrating the gatherings on the Lord’s Day, and we, living among you, speak to you of things pertaining to salvation, and lead you toward piety and a life according to piety. Therefore, let no one, because of laziness or constant preoccupation with earthly things, depart from these sacred and God-ordained gatherings of the Lord’s Day, lest, justly abandoned by God, he suffer something similar to Thomas, not arriving at the proper time; and if he is snatched away and once absent, let him henceforth draw near, let him approach the Church of Christ, lest he remain incurable, having fallen ill in his soul through infidelity in works or words, neither approaching the medicine of Christ nor, like divine Thomas, receiving salvation. For let them be—let them be—not only words and thoughts, but works and deeds: "Show me," he says, "your faith by your works."
If anyone falls away from these, completely distancing himself from the Church of Christ and giving himself over entirely to vanities, he possesses a dead faith—or, to speak more accurately, null faith—and he himself becomes dead through sin.
A But some ask how it is that Christ entered, though the doors were shut, while clothed in a body. They do not know, as it seems, how to compare spiritual things with spiritual and, by means of them, to perceive them, as the divine Apostle says. For if, when He was born according to the flesh, the Virgin’s womb was not harmed, but He remained, and left undisturbed the symbols of virginity in the very act of birth, even though at that time He was clothed in a passible and mortal body, what is surprising if, having granted mortality to the body He assumed, He now possesses an immortal body and enters through shut doors? Yet since He possessed a body that was entirely immortal and impassible, how then did He keep the scars and piercings on His hands and side? For the Evangelist says that the Lord spoke thus to Thomas: "Reach your finger here, and look at my hands; and reach your hand, and put it into my side, and do not be faithless, but believing." How, then, did He have the scars? A mortal and passible body could by no means show wounds and piercings and remain whole and sound; but that flesh, which is now impassible and immortal, is able to show the B wounds it previously endured to whomever He wishes, while remaining no less impassible and immortal. To me, this also permits the insight that the scars bring eternal adornment to those who have suffered for Christ. For just as the windows of a house, while in no way contributing to the stability of the structure, are by no means a disgrace, but are a most necessary ornament to the houses, both casting light inside and allowing the inhabitants to view the exterior, in the same way the sufferings endured in the body for Christ, and the consequent piercings, have become, as it were, windows for Him who possesses the light that knows no evening; and they are recognized not by the ugliness of the wounds, but by the divine beauty and splendor at the time of the manifestation of that light—not being harmed by such impassibility, in proportion to the fact that they are actually witnesses C of immortality.
Christ’s body, possessing the fountain of divine light within, shone forth from there and spiritually enlightened the doubter, so that Thomas immediately cried out, having perfectly expressed the theology: "My Lord and my God." And the Lord said to him: "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed," showing that those who have become eyewitnesses have nothing more in the way of glory than those who are led to faith in Him through them. For He did not say those who would not believe, but those who D
not to those who have believed, but to those who shall believe, and by the divine and foreknowing power of Him who knows all things before they come to pass, as if they were already accomplished. Now, the thought that came to my mind, I will express to your love. For when I saw Thomas, who was absent, having become faithless, but having subsequently joined the believers and by no means failed in his faith, I pondered that even a sinful man, if only he flees the conversation of the wicked and turns to the righteous, will never fail to attain righteousness and, through it, the salvation of his soul. I believe this is what the Psalmist Prophet also hints at, A blessing those who avoid the council and company of scoffers. And another prophet says: "Do not converse with many concerning wickedness," and the author of Proverbs says: "In the synagogue of sinners fire will kindle; but he who associates with the wise will be wise."B
Therefore, brethren, let us gather and approach the Church of God; for everyone who is truly religious hastens to her and does not depart from her. And when each of you comes to her, look for the more pious; you will be able to recognize them just by the sight of them sitting in silence and attending to prayer. Therefore, observe the more pious, and especially those who fear the Lord more than the rest, and approach and attach yourself to them, and stand with them in the sight of God. And if, after the service concludes and you leave, it being the Lord’s Day, keeping it free from earthly works for the sake of the Lord, from whom it takes its name, search with diligence if there is anyone who, imitating those apostles, remains for the most part enclosed at home, longing for the Lord through silent prayer, psalmody, and other appropriate conduct. Let him approach this man, and enter his little room, as if it were some heavenly region containing within it the sanctifying power of the Spirit; let him sit with the one who dwells there, and remain with him as long as he can, and converse about God and divine things, asking and learning with humility, and also imploring help through prayer. For Christ will surely visit him who acts in this way, invisibly, and will grant peace within to him who thinks on such things; He will add a reward for his faith, He will impart perseverance, and will place him with the elect in the time of the kingdom of heaven, which may He grant us all to attain, in Him who for our sake rose as victor over death and will some day come with glory, in our King of the ages, Christ, for to Him belongs the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.C
HOMILY XVIII
On the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women, and that the Theotokos was the first to see the Lord risen from the dead.
The Lord’s resurrection is the renewal of human nature, and of the first Adam, who was swallowed up by death on account of sin, and through death returned to the earth from which he was created, a revival and remaking, and toward eternal life…
A a return. Just as no man saw him when he was being created and brought to life in the beginning—for at that hour no man yet existed—but after he had received the breath of life through the divine insufflation, a woman was the first of all to see him, for Eve was the first of human nature granted after him; so too, no man saw the second Adam, who is the Lord, when he was rising from the dead. For none of his own people were present, and the soldiers guarding the tomb, struck with fear, had become as dead men. But after the resurrection, a woman was the first of all to see him, as we heard Mark announcing today: "Having risen," he says, "early on the first day of the week, Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene." B Now, the evangelist indeed seems to state clearly the hour at which the Lord rose, namely, "early," and that he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, and that he was seen at that very hour of the resurrection. But it is not so, as will be clear to those who attend to it a little. For a little further back, this same evangelist, in agreement with the other evangelists, says that this Mary came with the other Myrrh-bearers to the tomb, and that she saw it empty and left; so the Lord had risen long before the early morning hour when she saw him. And pointing out that specific time as well, he did not say simply "early," as here, but "very early." Hence, by that, he means the faint light preceding the rising of the sun upon the horizon, which John also indicates when he says that Mary Magdalene came to the monument C "early, while it was still dark," and saw the stone taken away from the monument.
But according to John, she did not merely come to the tomb at that time, but also left the tomb without having seen the Lord; for she runs and comes to Peter and John, and reports not that the Lord has risen, but that he has been taken away from the tomb, so she did not yet know of the resurrection. It remains, therefore, that the Lord appeared to Mary not at the first hour, but after one had passed. But that which was obscurely announced by the evangelists is what I will reveal to your charity. For the good news of the Lord’s resurrection, as it was fitting and just, the Theotokos received from the Lord before all other human beings. She saw him alive again for all; she was the first to rejoice in his divine conversation; she did not only behold him with her eyes and hear him with her ears, but was also the first and only one to touch his immaculate D feet with her hands—even if the evangelists do not explicitly mention all these things, because they did not wish to bring forward his mother as a witness, lest they give the unbelievers an occasion for suspicion. But since now, by the grace of him who has risen, our discourse is to the faithful, and the subject of the feast urges us to judge the actions of those bearing myrrh, prompted by him who said: "There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed," we shall make this very thing known.
A Bearers of myrrh, therefore, are those who accompanied the Mother of the Lord, and who endured by her side at the time of the saving passion, and who hastened to embalm the body of the Lord. For when Joseph and Nicodemus had asked for and received from Pilate the Lord’s body, and had taken it down from the cross, and had wrapped it in linens with the most viscous aromatics, and had placed it in a hewn tomb, and had rolled a great stone against the door of the tomb, there were present, watching, according to the evangelist Mark, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, sitting opposite the sepulcher. By saying "and the other Mary," he was certainly indicating the Mother of God; for she was also called the mother of James and Joseph, since they were born of her spouse, Joseph. But it was not only these who were there watching while the Lord was being buried, but also other women, as Luke recounted, writing: "The women who had come with him from Galilee followed; they saw the tomb and how his body was laid; and they were Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary of James, and the others with them." And, he says, returning, they bought spices and ointments; for they did not yet fully know him to be the true fragrance of life to those who draw near to him with faith, just as he is the fragrance of death to those who remain in unbelief until the end; and the fragrance of his garments—that is, of his very body—is above all spices, and his name is poured-out ointment, by which he filled the world with divine fragrance. But they prepared ointments and spices, partly in honor of him who lay there, and partly to counter the stench of the putrefying body, imagining B that by the anointing of these they might achieve their purposes. Having therefore prepared the spices and ointments, they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment; for they had not yet understood the true Sabbaths, nor had they recognized that first-blessed Sabbath on which our nature was translated from the abysses of Hades to that radiant, divine, and heavenly height. "But on the first day of the week, at early dawn," as Luke says, "they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared." Matthew, however, says, "As the Sabbath was drawing to a close, at the time that it was dawning toward the first day of the week," and he posits two women proceeding. But Mark says, "Very early on the first day of the week," and speaks of three coming. Finally, John: "Early, while it was still dark," and reports only Mary Magdalene approaching. All the evangelists called the first day of the week the Lord's Day; but the words "as the Sabbath was drawing to a close," and "at early dawn," and "very early," and "while it was still dark," indicate the time around daybreak when light and darkness are mingled—that C is, when the dawn begins to glow in the sky, announcing the day. Perhaps some, so as to define that more precisely, will think of the ninth hour of the night, so that three full hours remain before the day. They seem
A somehow to differ regarding this time and the number of the women—because, as I have said, the myrrh-bearing women were many, and they came to the tomb not once, but twice and three times, together it is true, but not always with the same ones; and although they all came at dawn, it was not at the exact same time. The Magdalene, moreover, having been left alone by the others, came again and remained longer. Each of the evangelists, therefore, having mentioned one of their approaches, left the others aside. But as I gather and infer from all the evangelists, as I have also said before, first of all the Theotokos came to the tomb of her Son and God, pressing onward with Mary Magdalene. And I am especially taught this by the evangelist Matthew, who says: "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary"—who was by all means the Mother of God—"came to see the tomb. And behold, a great earthquake occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and, approaching, rolled back the stone from the door of the monument and sat upon it. His appearance was as lightning, and his garment white as snow, and from fear of him the guards were terrified and became as dead men." B
All the other women came after the earthquake, and they found the guards having fled, the tomb opened, and the stone rolled away. But the Mother-of-God was present while the earthquake was happening, while the stone was being rolled away, while the tomb was being opened, and while the guards were present, even if they were shaken with fear. For this reason, after the earthquake, they immediately looked toward flight; but the Mother-of-God gazed upon the sight more fearlessly. It seems to me, moreover, that it was for her sake first that that life-bearing tomb was opened; for it is because of her and through her that all things have been opened to us, whatever is above in the heavens and whatever is below on the earth. And it is because of her that the angel shone so brightly that, while the hour was still wrapped in darkness, by the abundant light of the angel she might see not only that the tomb was empty, but also the burial linens lying in order, witnessing in many ways to the resurrection of the One C buried there. And that evangelist-angel was, in fact, that very Gabriel; for just as he saw her hastening to the tomb—he who from the beginning had said to her, "Do not fear, Mary; you have found grace with the Lord"—he hastened also now and descended to speak again to the Ever-Virgin, to announce the resurrection from the dead of the One born of her without seed, to remove the stone, to reveal both the tomb and the linens empty, and thus to confirm to her the Gospel. "For answering," he says, "the angel said to the women: 'Do not be afraid, you; you seek Jesus the crucified? He has risen; see the place where the Lord was lying.' For if," he says, "you see the guards shaken by fear, yet do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus the D crucified..."
he is the Lord of all things. For he," it says, "is not only Lord of Hades, of death, and of the tomb’s bolts and bars and seals, but also of our immortal and heavenly angels; and he alone is the Lord of all. 'See,' he says, 'the place where the Lord lay; and go quickly, tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead.' A And they went out, he says, with fear and great joy."
Again, it seems to me that Mary Magdalene and the other women with her conceived fear; for they did not understand the meaning of the words spoken by the angel, nor were they able to receive the light perfectly, so as to see and understand thoroughly. But the Mother of God, I believe, rejoiced with great joy; for she grasped the words of the angel, and having become entirely light, as one who is most pure and filled with divine graces, she apprehended the truth fully in all things, and believed the archangel, since he had long since appeared to her worthy of much faith through his deeds. And indeed, how would the God-wise Virgin, being present, not have understood what had been accomplished, seeing the earthquake—and a great one at that—and the angel descending from heaven, and he lightning-clad, the paralysis of the guards, the rolling away of the stone, the emptying of the tomb, B and the great miracle of the burial clothes, remaining together, glued by myrrh and aloes, yet seen to be empty of the body, and in addition to these, the joyful sight and announcement of the angel directed to her? But after this announcement, Mary Magdalene went out—as if she had not even heard the angel, and as if he had not even spoken for her sake—and sought only to ascertain the emptying of the tomb, having taken no account of the burial clothes; and she ran to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, as John says. But the Mother of God, the Virgin, having joined the other women, returned from where she had come; and behold, as Matthew says: "Jesus met them, saying, 'Rejoice!'"
Do you see that even before Mary Magdalene, the Mother of God saw him who for our salvation suffered in the flesh, was buried, and rose again? "And they came up," he says, "and took hold of his feet and worshipped him." As the Mother of God alone understood the force of the words spoken by the angel after C the announcement of the resurrection along with Mary Magdalene, so too did she, along with the other women, meeting her Son and God, see and recognize the risen One first of all the others, and falling down, touched his feet, and became his apostle to the apostles. That Mary Magdalene was not with the Mother of God when the Lord met and appeared and spoke to her as she was returning from the tomb, we learn from John, who says: "For she runs to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and says to them, 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.'" How D
A even if she had seen and touched Him with her hands, and had heard Him conversing, she said such things: "They have taken him away, and we do not know where!" But after the running of Peter and John to the tomb, and the vision of the linen cloths there, and their return, Mary was standing, he says, outside at the tomb weeping.
You see how she had not only not yet seen, but had not even been fully assured by hearing. And when the angels appeared and asked her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" she again replies as if about a dead man. And when she turned and saw Jesus, she did not even then recognize Him, but being asked by Him too why she was weeping, she utters similar things, until He, calling her by name, presented Himself as living. Then she too, falling down and seeking to offer a kiss to His feet, heard from Him, "Do not touch me." From this we learn that when He was seen earlier by the Mother and the women accompanying her, He permitted her alone to touch His feet, even if Matthew makes this common to the other women, not wishing, for the reason we stated at the beginning, to openly bring forward the Mother as a witness in such circumstances.
But since, after the ever-virgin Mary had first come to the tomb and had first received the gospel of the resurrection, many others arrived, and they too saw the stone rolled away and heard the angels, upon returning after such hearing and vision they were divided. And some, as Mark says, "fled from the tomb, and trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid"; B but others followed the Mother of the Lord, whose appearance and conversation they enjoyed. But Magdalene went off to Peter and John, with whom she comes to the tomb again alone; and when they had withdrawn, she remaining behind is deemed worthy of the Lord’s appearance, and she too is sent to the apostles, and she comes to them again, announcing to all, as John relates, "That I have seen the Lord, and these things he said to me."
Therefore, Mark says that this vision happened in the morning, that is, at the very beginning of the day, when the dawn had already entirely passed, not affirming, however, that the Lord’s resurrection and His first appearance took place then. We now have the facts of the Myrrh-bearing women accurately determined, and the concordance of the four evangelists, sought after above, regarding them. C But the disciples, on that very day of the resurrection, when they had heard from the Myrrh-bearing women, and from Peter, and according to Luke from Cleopas, that the Lord lives and was seen by them, did not believe; therefore they were also rebuked by Him, appearing to them later when they were gathered together. But after He had shown Himself alive to them many times and in many ways, they all not only believed, but they also preached everywhere; for "into all the earth their voice has gone out, and their words to the ends of the world," "the Lord working with them and confirming the message D by the signs that followed." For signs, until the word was preached throughout the whole earth...
were indeed most necessary; yet if it be necessary that, for the sake of setting forth and confirming the truth of the preaching, there be signs and wonders, it is also necessary that there be signs—but not wonders—to confirm those who have received the Word, as to whether or not they believe firmly. Which signs? Those which are demonstrated by deeds. For it is written: “Show me thy faith by thy works.” And: “Who is wise among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works.” For who will believe that one possesses a mind truly divine and great and sublime, and, so to speak, heavenly—such as is the pious soul—if he indulges in depraved works and, moreover, cleaves to the earth and to earthly things? B What profit is it, then, my brethren, if one says he has divine faith, but does not have works consonant with that faith? What did the lamps profit the foolish virgins who had no oil, that is, the works of charity and mercy? What did it profit that rich man, scorched in the unquenchable fire for his inhumanity towards Lazarus, to call upon his father Abraham? What did the obedience—if indeed one can call it that—in answering the call profit one who did not possess, through good works, a garment suitable for the divine marriage and that banquet and that immortality? For although he was indeed called and came, having believed, and was gathered together with those holy guests, yet being convicted and put to shame because he had put on a depravity of character and deeds, he was bound hand and foot without mercy and cast into the gehenna C of fire, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth—from which may none of those called by Christ suffer the experience; but rather, by demonstrating a life appropriate to their faith, may they enter into the bridal chamber of unalloyed joy, and attain eternal life with the saints, where is the habitation of all who rejoice. Amen.
HOMILY XIX. On the Gospel concerning the Samaritan Woman, and that we ought to despise things present.
Throughout all these days, which extend now to Pentecost, we celebrate the resurrection from the dead of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, demonstrating its excellence over D other feasts by this protracted duration. For although this cycle of days contains the annual memorial of the return to heaven, yet it also manifests how much the rising Lord excels those servants who rose at one time or another. For all of those who were recalled from death were raised by others, and having died again, returned to the earth; but as for Christ, having risen from the dead, death no longer has dominion over Him. For He alone, having raised Himself up after three days, did not return to the earth, but ascended into heaven, about to place our nature, as having been raised up to the divine nature, upon the throne of the Father; and therefore
A he alone became the beginning of the future resurrection of all, and he alone became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, and the firstborn from the dead, and the father of the world to come. And just as in Adam all die, sinners and righteous alike, so in Christ shall all be made alive, sinners and righteous alike, but each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then those who are Christ’s at his coming, then the end, when he shall have destroyed every principality and power and might, and shall have put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death in the common resurrection, at the last trumpet; for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
B Such a gift does the resurrection of the Lord procure for us, and for this reason we celebrate this one alone in such a progression of days, as being immortal and indestructible and eternal, foreshadowing through these things also the future happiness of the saints, from which all pain and sorrow and sighing have fled away; and in its place is joy and a festival, continuous, divine, and unchangeable; for there is the dwelling place of those who truly rejoice. Therefore, the grace of the Spirit has ordained that before these days we should pass the holy Forty Days in fasting and vigils and prayer and every kind of exercise of the virtues, showing through the Forty Days of those days the life of those being saved in this world, since it is nothing other than repentance and a God-pleasing life; and through this Pentecost which follows it, which we are now going through, it shows the life that succeeds it for those who have lived here in struggle for the sake of God, [granting] C rest and enjoyment. For this reason, that [period] is the Forty Days, and it has the memory of the saving passions of the Lord bound up with it, and it receives the end of the fasting after the seventh week; but this Pentecost, being what it is, includes also the transition from earth to heaven, and the descent and distribution of the divine Spirit. For this world is weekly, and it consists of four hours and parts and elements, and to those who in it make themselves participants of the passions of Christ through their works, it brings the feast of Pentecost, which begins from the eighth and has its end in the eighth, and having exceeded the revered week and the decad, and through the resurrection of the Lord and the ascension that followed it, signifies the future resurrection of the human race, and the raising up of the worthy by it in the clouds to the divine meeting, and thereafter the rest and D dwelling in God unto the ages.
This, then, will be in its own time. But the Lord, before his passion and resurrection, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and showing his disciples that the election of those worthy of the faith and of the eternal inheritance promised by him will not be from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles, according to what was mentioned today in your ears
A from the voice of the Gospel: "He comes to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph." He calls the well a fountain, for it had spring water, as will be clear as the discourse proceeds; and it belonged to Jacob, since he had dug it. The plot of ground that Jacob gave to Joseph is Shechem; for he says to him, breathing his last in Egypt and composing his testament: "Behold, I die; but God will turn you back from this land to the land of our fathers. And I give you Shechem, a portion beyond your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and my bow." B Thus, Shechem was later inhabited by the tribe of Ephraim, who was the firstborn son of Joseph; but the area around it was inhabited by the ten tribes of Israel, over whom Jeroboam the apostate reigned. Having frequently offended God, and having been frequently abandoned by Him, they were finally led away into captivity entirely, so that different nations brought together by the king of the Assyrians inhabited their place, and received the name of Samaritans from Mount Somor. Just as Jacob, as the history tells, traveling along, set himself near the city of the Shechemites, so now Christ, traveling along, drew near to Samaria. But he—as he himself said—in his sword and bow, that is, for the destruction and ruin of the former inhabitants, while Christ in word and doctrine, and consequently for salvation; "For Jesus, being wearied from his journey, sat thus by the fountain. It was about the sixth hour." C Both the hour and the fatigue invited him to sit, him who had put on a body by no means unlike our own. To demonstrate this, and looking forward to the future gain, he sat thus, as it is said, by the fountain, that is, simply on the ground, alone like one of many travelers; for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. While he was sitting alone by the fountain in this way, a woman from Samaria comes to draw water. The Lord, both thirsty as a man, and seeing that she who came to quench her thirst was disposed to be helpful, but perceiving as God that her heart was also thirsty for the water of salvation, and that she did not yet know Him who was able to provide it, makes haste to reveal Himself to a soul that was seeking; for He Himself also longs for those who long for Him, according to what is written. He begins from where he will be readily D accepted, and says to her: "Give me water to drink." But she, being sensible, and understanding from his clothing alone, and from his appearance, and from the decorum shining forth externally, that he was a Jew and a keeper of the Law, "I am amazed," she said, "how you ask for a drink from a Samaritan woman, for the Jews do not associate with the Samaritans as being pagans." The Lord, taking the opportunity, begins to reveal Himself, saying to her: "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, 'Give me water to drink,' you would perhaps have asked him, and he would have given you living water."
A Observe the testimony, that if she had known, she would have asked immediately, and would have become a partaker of the truly living water, just as she did after she had learned. Yet the council of the Jews, having asked and clearly heard, afterwards crucified the Lord of glory. But what is the gift of God? "For if you knew," he says, "the gift of God,"—to pass over other things—that God become man should not loathe those whom the Jews considered abominable and not even fit for sharing bread and drink, what an immense gift and grace! And to consider them so lovable that he would not only receive from them what was given, but would also himself impart to them his own divine gifts? What do I say, gifts? For he presents himself, and makes those who believe vessels capable of receiving his own divinity; for it is not possible for them to have a spring otherwise—as he promised, foreseeing it—leaping up unto eternal life. What mind will comprehend? What words will express the superabundance of the gift? And the Samaritan woman, not yet having understood the greatness of the living water, first is at a loss, wondering whence he who is speaking to her will find the water that he promises, since he has no bucket and the well is deep; and then she attempts to compare him with Jacob, whom she calls Father, boasting of the lineage from the place, and exalting the water of the well, as if no better could be found. But when she heard the Lord saying that the water which he would give would become in the one who received it a fountain leaping up unto eternal life, she voiced the word of a desiring soul, and being led toward faith, though not yet able to look clearly toward the light: "Give me this water, Lord," she says, "so that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." But the Lord, desiring to reveal himself to her little by little, commands her also to call her husband. And as she, both hiding her own affairs and hastening to receive the gift, said, "I have no husband"—having heard how many intimates she had had from her youth, and now being rebuked for not having her own husband—she is not vexed at the rebuke, but at once, recognizing that he who was speaking to her was a prophet, she takes up higher questions.
B Do you see how much patience and love of learning the woman had? "For our fathers," she says, "worshipped on this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where one must worship." Do you see what meditation she held in her mind, and how much knowledge of the Scripture she possessed? How many now, among those who have been believers from birth and nurtured by the Church, are ignorant of what the Samaritan woman knew, that our fathers, namely Jacob and the patriarchs descended from him, worshipped God on this mountain? C This knowledge, and this meditation on the God-inspired Scripture toward fuller understanding, Christ, accepting as an odor of sweetness, continued to converse gladly with the Samaritan woman; for just as if you place aromatics on burning coals, you attract and hold all who approach, but if you burn something foul-smelling and stench-filled, you push them away and drive them off; so also in
the mind: if you have holy meditation and zeal, you make yourself worthy of divine inspection—for this is the odor of sweetness, which the Lord smells; but if you nurture evil, foul, and earthly thoughts within, you become far from divine inspection, having made yourself worthy of God's turning away! For "The lawless shall not stand before your eyes," says the prophet the Psalmist A. For while the Law itself commands: "You shall remember the Lord your God in all things, whether sitting or walking, resting or rising," and the Gospel says: "Search the Scriptures, for in them you will find eternal life," and the Apostle exhorts: "Pray without ceasing," he who lingers in earthly thoughts is altogether a transgressor of the law; but he who dwells on evil and foul thoughts, how much more so?
But when did our fathers worship in this mountain? When Jacob the patriarch, fleeing from his envious brother Esau and yielding to the counsels of his father Isaac, went away to Mesopotamia, and when he returned from there with his wives and children; for upon his return he pitched his tents near that place where the Lord spoke with the Samaritan woman, and after the incident concerning Dinah and the slaughter of the Sichemites, God said to Jacob, as it is written in Genesis: "Arise and go up to Bethel, and make there an altar to God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from the face of Esau your brother B." Having heard these words, Jacob arose and went up to the mountain lying nearby and built there, as it is said, an altar, and he called the name of the place Bethel; for there God appeared to him.
Therefore the Samaritan says: "Truly our fathers worshiped in this mountain," adhering to the ancient law; for the prescriptions concerning the temple in Jerusalem were commanded later. And since that place was called "house of God" by Jacob (for this name interpreted expresses Bethel), the woman asks how it is said that the house of God is no longer at Bethel but at Jerusalem, where it was commanded to offer sacrifices and adorations to God. The Lord, however, bringing his words to an end and prophesying regarding the woman herself that she will be such as God seeks and accepts, and responding to her words, says: "Woman, believe me, for the hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father," and after a few words: "For God seeks such to worship him."
C See how he declares even of her that she will be such as God seeks, and that she will worship the most high Father not locally, but according to the Gospel; for the word is directed to her, that "neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father," and at the same time he openly announces to her the translation of the law; for when worship is translated, it is necessary that a translation of the law must occur. But in the meantime he adds: "You worship what you do not know." D
A We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews." By these words He answers the woman as much as He confirms His own statements. He says, in effect: We Jews—for He does not compare Himself to them, since He is of them according to the flesh. We therefore, He says, who do not deceive ourselves regarding the name, but recognize what is ours, in this we differ from your Samaritan worship, because we know that the worship commanded by the Law must take place in Judaea, because from the Jews comes the salvation of the whole world, that is, Christ. But because He was no longer to come, since He Himself was present, He did not say that salvation from the Jews *will be*, but that it *is*. "But the hour is coming," He says, "and now is." And these are prophetic; for "it is coming" means it is not yet fulfilled, but will be fulfilled; and "now is" means because He saw her as practically believing, and about to worship in spirit and in truth. "The hour is coming therefore," He says, "and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth." For the most high and adorable Father is the Father of Truth itself, that is, of the Only-begotten Son, and He has the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, and those who worship Him in them are those who believe in such a way and act through them. For the Spirit is, says the Apostle, "through whom we worship and through whom we pray"; and "No one comes to the Father except through Me," the Only-begotten Son of God says.
B Those, therefore, who thus worship the most high Father in spirit, these are the true worshippers. And since He had put aside both Jerusalem and Samaria, lest anyone think that some other place was intended to be introduced in their stead, by the words that follow He again leads the hearer away from all bodily conception, and from place, and from [a specific] manner of worship, by saying: "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth." That is to say, those who conceive the incorporeal Being entirely without bodies; for thus they will truly touch Him everywhere in His spirit and in His truth. For as God, existing as Spirit, is incorporeal; and that which is incorporeal is not in a place, nor is it circumscribed by local boundaries; therefore, he who says that God must be worshipped only in the holy borders of Jerusalem, or in the mountains of Samaria, or in any other of the places C of earth and heaven found anywhere, does not speak truly, nor does he worship truly. But as far as He is incorporeal, God is nowhere, but as far as He is God, He is everywhere; for if there were a boundary, or place, or created thing where God is not, then He would once again be found circumscribed in something. God, therefore, is everywhere and in all things. How then is God everywhere and in all things, not encompassed by a part, but by the whole? By no means; for then He would be a body again. Therefore, it is He who is the Whole, both sustaining and encompassing all things in Himself, being everywhere and above all things, to be worshipped by the true worshippers in His spirit and in His truth.
A For God is everywhere, not of the earth only, but also of those things above the earth, and He shall be worshipped by those who believe in Him thus, truly and in a manner worthy of God; He is the incorporeal Father, and as regards both time and place, He is limitless, in the holy and eternal Spirit and in the Son and co-eternal Word, who is the consubstantial truth of the Father. But soul and angel also, being incorporeal, are not in a place, but they are not everywhere; for they do not contain the whole, but even they themselves stand in need of Him who contains them. Therefore, they too are defined and limited B by Him who contains and encompasses all things, according to their capacity. The soul, however, while containing the body for which it was created, is everywhere within the body, not as in a place, nor as being contained, but as one that contains and encompasses the body, having this also according to the image of God. But the Samaritan woman, when she heard from Christ these extraordinary and god-befitting words, that God is in no wise truly to be worshipped except in His spirit and truth, just like the soul betrothed to God in the Song of Songs, having been made to soar by the voice of the Bridegroom of incorruption—remembers the One who is expected, and desired, and hidden, even while He is present, saying: “I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ; when He comes, He will announce to us all things.” You see how prepared she was for faith, as the One she desired was already drawing near, and how very ready she was? Was it not for her also to say with David: C “My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready; I will sing and psalm in my glory”?
But whence did she know this so firmly and so certainly, and whence did she revolve such things in her mind, unless because she had meditated upon the prophetic books with the utmost attention? For this reason she had a mind so sublime and filled with divine inspiration; whence, as I now marvel at the spiritual and vehement desire of this Samaritan woman for Christ, it comes to me to speak again about her those words of that Song: “Who is this that comes forth like the morning, beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun?” For while on the one hand she announces the spiritual Sun of righteousness, Christ, who was soon to rise, and through herself portrays the Church from the Gentiles D as if coming forth from a sacred source of that fountain by which she stood, and having been instructed by the Savior, I see her advancing like the morning, very lovely. But she is beautiful as the moon, because she shines while the night of impiety still prevails; and she is chosen as the sun, inasmuch as she was named *Photine* [the Luminous One] by the Savior, and she herself was completed in the number of those who are to shine like the sun according to the Gospel; since she also sealed her life, already shining, with a most blessed end of martyrdom; and now she has seen the true God, Christ, and has thoroughly confessed Him to be God; and that which He Himself later said to the disciples concerning the co-essential and co-equal Spirit, when He said, “When He comes, He will teach you all the truth,” she herself says long before: “When He comes, He will announce to us all things.” But when the Bridegroom saw that she was such, [Next page begins: ἐκεῖνες διδάξει πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν...]
A He said to her without ambiguity: “I am He who speaks to you.” And she, immediately becoming a truly chosen evangelist, leaving her water-pot and running to the city, turns everyone with her words and leads them to faith in the One who appeared, saying: “Come, see a man who told me all things that I have done; is this not the Christ?” She speaks in this way, not because she herself possessed any doubt, but because she thought that others would be more easily convinced and persuaded by seeing Him and through conversation with the Lord, which is exactly how it turned out in the event.
I have followed the highlights of the aforementioned matters concisely, and I now pass over the subsequent words of the Gospel, for I see that this hour invites you to the needs of the body and the works of life. But do you consider this Samaritan woman; for as soon as she heard the evangelical words, which we also have just related to your love, she immediately despised even the most necessary things of the body; B for she left her water-pot and her house on the spot, and ran to the city, and, having drawn the Samaritans to herself, she came back up with them again to Christ; for by saying, “Come, see,” she meant this outright: “Follow me, and I shall lead you, and I will now show you the Savior who has come down from heaven to the world.” Having thus brought them to Christ at that time, she teaches us, by abandoning both her house and her water-pot, to consider the benefit from instruction more precious than necessary requirements—what the Lord also called “the good portion” [*], reasoning with Martha in the Gospel about Mary, who was listening to the word.
If one ought to despise necessary things, how much more the others? For what, indeed, urges you on and draws you away from hearing discourses useful for the soul? Is it the care of house, of children, or of a wife? Is it some personal or domestic grief or joy? Is it the purchasing of property, or the selling thereof? Is it the use—or rather the abuse—of all your possessions? But listen and understand the doctrine of the Apostle: C “The time, brothers, is shortened; the rest is that even those having wives be as though they had none, and those weeping as though not weeping; and those rejoicing as though not rejoicing; and those buying as though not possessing; and those using this world as though not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passes away.” [*] What is “the time is shortened”? Life is brief, death is near, this world is corruptible, while the other is what always remains. The contempt of the present world securely leads us toward that one, if we are also prepared for the future, and if, withdrawn from these things according to our strength, we live according to that way of life; and its virtue consists in our fleeing from what is harmful in this world. Just as when enemies make an incursion D into the suburbs, we hold our fields as though not holding them, and for the most part, fleeing them, we walk safely within, and if the enemies retreat for a time, we use the walkways adjacent to the city briefly, but we do not abuse them; for we see that the time of use is contracted: so the Apostle exhorts us to use this world, and not to abuse it.
A For he sees the invisible enemies fiercely encroaching, and the expectation of corruption; for he says, "the fashion of this world passes away," and, although it has not stood fast in any essential way, but, as he said, the present things are only a "fashion," and they come into being but they do not *exist*, appearing for a little while and then passing; and even if one should wish to hold onto them, he will never be able, just as a dry summer cloud is driven by the wind and is a shadow that quickly runs past. This exhortation is given only so that the intention of each person might be made manifest, and to give a sign of the recognition of the teachings from God; for even if one should wish to hold onto them, as I have said, the present things are not holdable, and this in two ways: for not only does this world pass away, but also each of us who use this world sometimes passes away even before the things we have in our hands in this world. And just as every man walking on a certain road passes it, and it itself is moving in various ways and passing him, and necessarily one of two things results: either the things of the road pass him by first, and what he held he can no longer hold, or he himself arrives, having completely passed through this road of life, and he can no longer hold the things in this life; for man, being mortal, is joined to the things in this life, which are also mutable.
B If, therefore, he who is joined to mutable things is changed in many ways, C and he has lost what he held—wealth, perhaps, or distinction, or delight—if he does not die himself before that, bringing the change upon himself in a more chief way, he departs naked, having left behind the things that are now and the hopes based upon them. Will he fall, perhaps? But as for the pleasure derived from them, he himself no longer has any perception of the things here, and his children will perish in the same way or another. Therefore, the end of those who are attached to this world is always a calamity, being carried out naked and leaving behind all the things they previously loved in this life. But for those who despise the things of this world, and who seek to learn about the world to come, and hasten to do the things that will be of benefit toward it, death, upon arriving, brings no loss; rather, it transfers them from these vain and flowing things to a day that knows no setting, to a life immortal, to wealth inexhaustible, to delight unstained, to glory eternal, to the things that *truly* exist and remain unchangeable. May all of us attain to these by the grace and love for mankind of Him who bowed the heavens and descended for our sake, not only down to us, but even down to the souls shut up in the places beneath the earth; and from there, through the resurrection and life again, ascended, and granted to us through Himself D the illumination, and the knowledge, and the hope of heavenly and eternal things, in which He is glorified unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XX
AIn the eighth service of the matutinal Gospel according to John, in which it is also shown that they who persevere piously until the end in the sacred synaxes shall be deemed worthy of great gifts.
John the virgin, who alone by grace possessed as a most precious treasure the only mother who was a virgin among mothers, he who was loved by Christ in a distinct way, he who was Boanerges (that is, son of thunder, for Christ exalted him to heaven and he thundered), having been manifested as a son more than the other evangelists—and therefore having used a louder trumpet in his preaching—clearly explaining to us the matters of the Lord’s resurrection from the dead and narrating the manner of His manifestation after His resurrection, was heard in the church on the past Sunday, through the Gospel writing according to him, saying: "On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene comes early, while it was still dark, to the tomb; and she sees the stone taken away from the tomb. She runs, therefore, and comes to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved," revealing himself thereby. B Now, however, we have heard him saying: "But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping." For John himself and Peter, having heard from her and having run to the tomb where Life arose, saw what they saw, and having believed and marveled through the signs, they departed to their own homes. But Mary, having remained, stood outside by the tomb weeping; it is clear that she had not yet received any assurance concerning the Lord’s resurrection—although she had already come to the tomb twice with others. First, with the Mother of God, as Matthew narrated, writing: "Late on the Sabbath, as it was dawning toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb; and behold, C there was a great earthquake," and all that follows. Then, now she comes with Peter and John, who, having believed and marveled through what they saw, departed. Twice, therefore, although she had come to the tomb with others, and all those who had come with her believed and were assured, she alone, as if having received no persuasion, weeps inconsolably. One might see this fulfilled also in the struggles for the sake of virtue; for to some of those who are struggling, grace immediately meets them, provides them with assurance of the pledges, giving them a taste of the promised prizes, as if stretching out a philanthropic hand, welcoming them D and encouraging them toward what follows. For others, however, the end of the struggle awaits, and for these, rewards for their patience are altogether prepared, as one of the God-bearing Fathers also says: "Some are rewarded before their labors, some during their labors, and some at their departure." These things happen with the all-wise providence of God disposing our affairs in many ways, and philanthropically distributing what is fitting and useful to each one, both in works of virtue and in the contests of faith. Therefore, wisely and kindly providing for Mary Magdalene, the Lord judged that it would be profitable for her not yet to receive firm knowledge of His resurrection, and in this way he intends to lead those who would follow through her to perseverance.
Hear then of what she was deemed worthy after these things, because of her perseverance and her persistent attendance: A “As she wept,” he says, “she stooped into the tomb and sees two angels sitting in white, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.” Now, the stooping and the turning of her eyes with intense passion toward the tomb were signs of her extreme disposition. But one must first consider how, when there was still darkness, as the Evangelist said above, she saw everything precisely, and each part individually, and—what is more—saw into the interior of the cave from the outside. It is clear, therefore, that while there was still darkness outside, because the perceptible day had not yet shone forth completely, that cave was lit by the light of the Resurrection, seen divinely by Mary; it both raised B her yearning for Christ to a higher level and granted power to her eyes to perceive a vision of angels, and to be able not only to see, but also to converse with the angels. Such was that light. She saw them dressed in white, not only because of the purity and luminosity of the angelic nature, but also because they were whitening and clarifying the mystery of the resurrection, and at the same time, as it were, were celebrating together with us the truly light-bearing day of the Master’s resurrection. They were sitting so that she might know they had not come at that moment, but had been present even before, though they were not visible previously, and so that she might attain to understanding of their worth, pondering who these were who, though present, were not seen. C I believe they were sitting also because of the desire to draw closer to the place where the Master’s body had previously lain; for, as it were, they were clinging out of love to the tomb, sitting one at the head and the other at the feet, and showing equally the desirable and precious nature—to the angels—of both the Godhead of Christ (of which the place of the head is the symbol) and His incarnation (of which the place of the feet is the figure).
Homily XX
“And they say to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’” Do you see the cave as heaven, or rather as a heavenly temple, perfected in place of an earthly tomb and prison, filled with heavenly angels in place of earthly guards, D who treat as superlatively holy the place of the living God, the Life-giver, and who with joy attend this place, which is now empty? “But you, woman, why are you weeping?” They do not ask as if they were ignorant of what they were asking, but in order that, having stilled her mourning, they might make her mistress of her own thoughts, and might themselves obtain the opportunity to carry out their own task—for the task of the angels sitting by the tomb of the Life-giver is to proclaim the glory of the Risen One. But after the angels asked why she was weeping, “Because they have taken away my Lord,” she says, “and I do not know where they have laid him. And having said this, she turned backward.” What is it that prepared Mary to turn suddenly backward? Surely it was the servile bowing and attention of the angels toward the Master as He appeared. For while she was calling Him solely her own Lord and suspecting the theft of His body, revealing
A a disposition of soul toward Him, yet thinking nothing worthy of God concerning Him. The angels, however, by their actions reveal that He is the Lord even of the angels of God themselves; for while He was not yet manifest, they were sitting at the tomb, but when the Master appeared right before them, they immediately arose, and with reverence and awe they attended to Him in a manner befitting servants. B Mary, having turned around to see what it was that had struck the angels with such amazement—for it had only just appeared—saw Jesus standing there. She did not know, however, that it was Jesus, as she possessed a notion of the resurrection that was unheard-of and difficult to accept. And since the light of day was still faint outside, and the Lord was not at that moment displaying His divine radiance to her, so that He might be recognized as the very same One who had also suffered, Mary did not recognize Him, but mistakenly took Him for the gardener of the plants there—rather, for the Gardener of souls, the Creator of all. But when He spoke C and called her by name, saying, "Mary," she recognized Him and, turning her mind, answered and said, "Rabboni," which is to say, "Teacher." Even so, although she saw Him alive, she conceived nothing divine in her mind, but addressed Him as a mere man of God and a teacher of divine things. Therefore, she sprang forward not only to fall at His knees, but also to touch His feet with deep affection. But she hears, "Do not touch me"; as if to say: Because your mind has not grasped the height of the mystery regarding Me—for though I am God, I am now seen by you in a body suffused with divine glory—for that reason, "Do not touch me." D And this had to be reserved for the Mother of God, that she alone among women should be granted to touch the body of the God who for our sake became human and was born of her after the resurrection; which also came to pass, as the evangelist Matthew records. For he says regarding her, that they approached and held His feet. But to Mary He says, "Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father." This is connected with the things He subsequently said to His disciples, "I am ascending to My Father," for I will say "I have ascended." He says this, making them more solicitous and more diligent, and stirring them up to eagerness and the seeking of the sight of Him. But there is something further He says to Mary Magdalene; for "Do not touch me," He says, "because the body with which I am clothed is now more volatile and active than fire, such that it is able not only to ascend to heaven, but even to the Father who is above the heavens Himself. Yet I have not yet ascended to My Father, because I have not yet, since I rose from the dead, manifested Myself to My own disciples. Go therefore to these brethren of mine; for we are all of one, although not in the same manner; for I am of Him by nature and according to essence, while they have become sons to Him through Me."
Go to my brethren, and say to them, that I am ascending to my Father, and your Father, and my God, and your God.
For as He is our Father by grace through the Spirit of adoption, but His Father by nature according to His divinity, so He is our God, as the Creator of nature.A For this reason He spoke separately, that we might understand the appropriate distinction. By this sign—that He ascends to the Father—He led them to understand concerning His own body, that it is such as it was when it always walked on earth as before, and that it is always present with them. But Mary Magdalene, whom we honor as one of the myrrh-bearing women of Christ, in whom, after the seven spirits of wickedness had been cast out by Christ, the sevenfold grace of the divine Spirit, which works in us, had taken up its abode in their place, was—I say—Mary Magdalene, because of her persistent attendance, granted both the vision and conversation of angels, and having seen the Lord Himself, she becomes His apostle to the apostles; and, taught by the divine mouth itself and fully assured, she departs to the apostles, announcing to them that she had seen the Lord, and what He said to her. B Let us consider, brethren, how far Mary Magdalene was from the dignity of Peter, the chief of the apostles, and John, the theologian beloved by Christ, and yet how much greater grace she was deemed worthy of than they were! For they, running to the tomb, saw only the linens and the napkin; but she, through her well-disposed and persistent steadfastness, as one who remained until the end and lingered at the door of the cave, saw not only the angels, but the Lord of the angels Himself, risen from the dead in the flesh, before the apostles; and she became a hearer of His voice, and a minister of the commandments from His divine mouth. This temple is a symbol of that cave, or rather it even possesses more than the symbol, being almost another such place itself. For it has a place where the Lordly body is placed, within the veil, and the most holy table within it. Whoever, therefore, with such a disposition, hastens to this truly divine and God-receiving cave and sits in attendance and remains until the end, collecting and raising his mind to God, will not only discern the words of the divinely inspired Scripture within it, like certain angels C announcing concerning the divinity and the humanity of the Word of God who was incarnate for our sake, but he will also surely behold the Lord Himself with the eyes of the mind—I might even say with those of the body. For he who sees the mystical table with faith, and the bread of life set forth upon it, sees the Word of God Himself, who is essentially existing, having become flesh for our sake and having tabernacled among us. Moreover, if he renders himself worthy of reception, he does not only see, but also becomes a partaker of Him, and gains Him as an indweller within himself, and is filled with the divine grace from Him. As that Mary saw what the apostles then desired to see, so this man is deemed worthy both to see those things and to enjoy those same things which, according to the Apostle, the angels desire to look into, and through both the contemplation of them and their participation, he is made entirely godlike. D Therefore, brethren, lift up your hands that hang down for virtue, and your paralyzed knees, and make straight paths for your feet.
A walking in the straight ways of the Lord: justice, temperance, love, humility, truth. But the ways that are turned aside and crooked are altogether these: hatred, falsehood, deceit, murder, avarice, pride, and things similar to these, which make a man worthy of divine indignation not only when they are committed, but even when they are merely loved and revolved in the mind. For man looks to the face, but God looks to the heart; He is the one who searches the hearts and kidneys.
But you, gathered in this temple of God, B girding up the loins of your minds according to the voice of Peter, the chief of the apostles, and being sober perfectly, hope for the grace being brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ. For it is not possible that one standing in the holy church of God, gathering his own mind and raising it toward God, and meditating on the divine songs from beginning to end and paying attention, should not be changed by a divine transformation, in proportion to his meditation on God and the divine oracles. For a certain heat C is engendered in the heart through this meditation, which drives away evil thoughts like flies, and brings spiritual peace and consolation to the soul, and provides sanctification to the body, according to him who said: "My heart grew hot within me, and in my meditation a fire will be kindled" (Ps. xxxviii, 4). And this is what one of the God-bearing Fathers taught us, saying: "Make every effort that your inner work may be according to God, and thus you will conquer the external passions."
To this, the great Paul also exhorts us, saying: "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. v, 16). D Therefore, he admonishes us elsewhere, writing: "Stand, having girded your loins in truth" (Ephes. vi, 14), as if when the mind is turned toward God and remains in the truth which is according to God, it rules and tends to the desiderative part of the soul, and pushes away carnal desires. And when carnal thoughts have ceased from us, the grace of the Spirit, having taken hold of the soul now at rest, reveals those future and ineffable good things which the eye of a restless and troubled man has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which have not ascended into the heart of such a person. And this taste is an earnest of them, and the heart receiving such earnest payments becomes spiritual, and receives the assurance of its own salvation. Therefore, if anyone wishes to obtain this assurance and to learn accurately about these spiritual earnest payments, let him live just as the discourse has now instructed and pointed out. For thus he shall also be a fellow-citizen of the saints of God, and a partaker of those promised eternal and ineffable goods; the which may it be granted to us all to attain by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs glory, power, honor, and worship, with his beginningless Father and life-creating Spirit, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XXI. On the Ascension of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, in which it is shown how the legal Sabbath is fulfilled.
The Jews celebrated the legal Passover, the crossing from Egypt to the land of Palestine; we too have celebrated the evangelical Passover, the crossing of our own nature in Christ from death to life, from corruption to incorruption. Who then, with any discourse, could narrate the difference in better things between our own, and the sacredness of that ancient law and the matters of its proclamations? Human discourse indeed could not worthily express such great excellence; but the con-substantial Wisdom of the most high Father, the Word of God who is before the ages and above all natures, having been kindly united to us and having lived among us, has today manifested to us the cause of this festival and the singular excellence of this pre-eminence. For today we celebrate the crossing of our own nature in Him, not from the subterranean places to the earth, but from the earth into the heaven of heavens, and to the throne A even higher than that, of Him who rules over all things. For today, not only did the Lord stand in the midst of His disciples after the resurrection, but He also departed from them, and as they were watching, He was taken up into the heaven, and went up and entered into the true Holy of Holies, and sat at the right hand of the Father above every principality and power, and every name and honor, whether known and named in this age or in the age to come. B And just as many resurrections occurred before the resurrection of the Lord, so too were there many ascensions before His own ascension; for the Spirit took up the prophet Jeremiah, and an angel took up Habakkuk, and among others, Elijah is written to have been taken up in a chariot of fire. But not even he transcended the places adjacent to the earth; rather, the taking up of each of these was, as it were, a certain relocation, lifting them from the earth, and yet not removing them from the regions surrounding the earth. Just as those who were called back to life returned again to the earth, and all were to die again—whereas for Christ, who rose from the dead, death no longer has dominion—so too, with Him taken up and sitting in the heights, every height is beneath His feet, testifying to all that He is God over all. C This is that illustrious mountain of God, according to Isaiah, and the house of God at the summits of all spiritual mountains, the Lordly body; for it was not an angel, nor a man, but the Lord Himself who came through the flesh and saved us, having become like us for our sake, and remaining immutably God. And just as when He descended He did not migrate, but condescended, so too when He ascends He does not return to the Godhead [in a way of changing], but enthrones on high the nature of ours which He assumed; for it was necessary that our nature, the firstborn from the dead, should truly be offered there to God, as a kind of first-fruits of the firstborn for the whole race. Therefore, of the many resurrections that have taken place D
A and of the many ascensions, we celebrate none as we do the Lord's resurrection and ascension, since we are not, nor shall we be, partakers of those others. We derive no further benefit from them than that they are brought forward for the sake of the faith of our Savior's resurrection and ascension, of which we are all partakers and shall partake; for this is the resurrection and ascension of human nature, and not simply of human nature alone, but also of those who believe in Christ and demonstrate their faith through each one’s own works. For whatever the Lord became, He became for our sake—He who is unbegotten and uncreated according to His own divinity. The life He lived, He lived for our sake, pointing out to us the path that leads back to true life. What He suffered in the flesh, He suffered for our sake, healing our own passions; and for our sins He was led to death, and for our sake He rose and ascended, preparing in advance for us a resurrection and ascension for infinite ages. For all who are heirs of this life imitate, as much as they are able, the manner of His life during His dispensation upon earth.
The beginning of this imitation for us is B holy baptism, being a type of the Lord’s burial and resurrection; the middle is a life of virtue and a conversation according to the Gospel; and the end is victory through spiritual struggles against the passions, procuring a life that is painless, deathless, and heavenly—just as the Apostle also says to us: “If you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Those who live according to Christ, therefore, imitate His life in the flesh; each one dies in due time, just as He died in the flesh; yet they too shall rise according to His likeness, gifted with glory and incorruptibility, if not now, then when the time comes. Then they shall also be taken up, as Paul also says of this: “We shall be caught up,” he says, “in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, C and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
Do you see how each of us, if he so wills, shall be a partaker of the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, and an heir of God, and a co-heir with Christ? For this reason we rejoice, celebrating the resurrection, assumption, and installation of our nature, and the first-fruits of the resurrection and ascension of each of those who believe, bringing forward into our midst today the Gospel words that are to be read, how “the Lord, having risen, stood in the midst of His disciples.” Why then did He stand in the midst of them, and then also travel with them? “He led them out,” it says, “as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them.” D In order to show Himself entirely whole and sound; to present His feet as robust and walking securely, those which had endured the piercing of the nails; likewise the hands fixed upon the cross, and the very side that had been pierced, even though they still bore the signs of the wounds for the sake of the faith of the salutary passion. But to me, through these words: “He stood in the midst,”
A of the disciples,” it seems to be shown that they were also strengthened in his faith through such an appearance and blessing of his; for he stood not only in the midst of them all, but he also stood in the midst of the heart of each one, and was established through faith; so that it is possible to say of each of them that Psalmic verse: “God is in the midst of her, and she shall not be shaken.” For from that hour the apostles of the Lord became firm and unshakable. He stood, therefore, in the midst of them and says to them: “Peace be unto you,” that sweet, familiar, and customary greeting of his. Since peace is twofold—the peace which we have towards God, which is primarily the fruit of piety, and that which we have towards one another, which is naturally born from the evangelic voice—the Lord bestowed both here with one greeting; and just as he commanded them to do when he first sent them, saying: “Into whatever house B you enter, say, ‘Peace to this house,’” he himself also does this; having entered into the house where they were gathered, he immediately bestowed peace. And when he saw them astonished and troubled at the unexpected and paradoxical sight—for they thought, he says, that they saw a spirit, that is to say, that what they were seeing was a phantom—he himself once again, having made manifest to them the movements of their hearts, and having shown that he was the same one to whom even before the passion and the resurrection they had said: “Now we know that you know all things, and have no need that anyone should ask you,” he offered them assurance through investigation and touch. But as he saw that they had already received the truth, he confirmed it still further through investigation; at the same time, furthermore, he brought them peace and communion of food while they were watching. “For while they were still,” he says, “disbelieving and marveling,” no longer, however, out of discord, but out of joy, “he said to them: ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ And they gave him a piece of broiled fish C and of a honeycomb, and taking it, he ate before them.”
This immaculate body was indeed nourished after the resurrection, not because it was in need of food, but so that it might testify to his own resurrection and show that this was the very same body that had eaten with them before the passion. He consumed the food not according to the nature of mortal bodies, but by divine power; and, as one might say, just as fire consumes wax, except that fire requires fuel in order to persist, while immortal bodies do not require food in order to persist. He ate a piece of broiled fish and of honeycomb; these too are symbols of the mystery accomplished in him. For the Word of God, having united to himself in person our nature—which, like a fish, was as it were swimming in the moisture of a life of pleasure and passion—and having purified its constitution D, which was burning with the flames of the divine and inaccessible ardor of his divinity, made it a participant in the divinity and, as it were, ignited it. He took up not only the clay-molding which he assumed for our sake, but also [the elements] of his own communion
with it. Our nature is like a honeycomb; containing the rational faculty as though it were honey enclosed in a honeycomb, or rather, such is each one of those who believe in Christ: for he has the grace of the divine Spirit deposited in his soul and body, just like honey in a honeycomb. The Lord eats of these, because He makes the salvation of each one of those who partake of this nature a food pleasing to Himself; but He does not eat the whole, but only a part of the honeycomb, because not all have believed. And He does not take this portion by His own hands, but it is offered to Him by the disciples; for the disciples B bring those who have believed in Him, after having separated them from the unbelievers. Thus, indeed, even by eating of the fish and the honeycomb before His own disciples, the Lord called to their remembrance His own words, which He had spoken to them when going to His Passion, thereby showing Himself to be the true One; for as He had foretold, so also they came to pass. And He opened their understanding, so that they might understand the Scriptures, and know that it is so written, and so it came to pass, and that it was necessary through an immeasurable sea of philanthropy for the only-begotten Son of God to become man for the sake of men, to be manifested and testified to from above by the Father’s voice and the manifestation of the divine Spirit; to be confirmed and marveled at through extraordinary works and words; to be envied and betrayed by those who do not seek the glory of God, but that of men; to be crucified and buried, and to rise from the dead on the third day, and for repentance C and remission of sins to be preached in His name, with the preaching beginning from Jerusalem; and for these very men, who had been His eyewitnesses and ministers, to be His heralds and witnesses—to whom, having promised to send from above the promise of the Father—that is, the Holy Spirit—He commanded them to stay in Jerusalem until they should be clothed with power from on high.
124 Being thus engaged in discourse with His own disciples D concerning the things of salvation, the Lord led them out of the house and led them as far as Bethany, and having blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven, and using a bright cloud as a chariot, he ascended in glory, and entered into the uncreated Holy of Holies, and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having made our molding co-throned as it is co-divine. And as the apostles did not cease gazing into heaven, they learn from the angels standing by that He will come again from heaven, while they are looking on. For so the Lord Himself had foretold, and Daniel had seen before. "For I saw," he says, "as it were a Son of man coming upon the clouds of heaven." The Lord says, "They will see all the tribes of the earth the Son of man coming upon the clouds of heaven." Then the disciples, having worshipped from the Mount of Olives, whence he was also taken up, the heavenly Lord, who from whence he had descended in order to make earth heaven, to there he was ascending again, having joined the lower realms with the things above,
A and having established one Church, at once heavenly and earthly, for the glory of his own love for mankind; they returned with joy to Jerusalem, and were continually in the temple, having their minds directed toward heaven, praising and blessing God, and preparing themselves for the reception of the promised coming of the divine Spirit. But this itself is, in summary, the way of life for those called of Christ, brethren: to persevere in supplications and prayers, and to keep the eye of the mind raised angel-like toward the heavenly Lord; to praise and bless him with a blameless manner of life, and thus to await his mystical coming, according to the one saying to him: “I will sing and understand in a spotless way, when will you come to me?” B This also the great Paul, showing it, said: “Our citizenship exists in the heavens, from where also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus.” To this also the chief of the apostles, Peter, exhorting, says: “Having girded up the loins of your mind, being sober, hope perfectly for the grace being brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom not seeing you love.” This also the Lord hinted at, saying: “Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning; and you yourselves like to men waiting for their Lord, when he will return.” Thus, he did not abolish the Sabbath, but fulfilled it, showing that the Sabbath is truly a blessed day, being the day for the better C cessation from bodily works, and for this reason the blessing was allotted to it, because, resting from earthly and soon-to-be-destroyed works, we cling to God, seeking with unashamed hope the heavenly and incorruptible things.
In the old law, there was only one day of the week that was the Sabbath; therefore, to the foolish Jews, the Lord appeared to violate the legal Sabbath; but he himself says: “I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.” How then did he not abolish this Sabbath, but fulfilled it and the law through it? Having promised to give the holy Spirit to those who beseech him day and night, and having commanded them to be always awakened and ever-vigilant, saying: “Be ready, for you do not know at what hour the Son of man comes,” D he made every day a blessed Sabbath for those who intend to obey him perfectly, and thus he did not abolish, but fulfilled, the Sabbath and the law through it. But you who are entangled in worldly affairs, if you abstain from greed and from hatred toward one another, and strive to be truthful and temperate, you too will make all days Sabbaths through the cessation of evils. But when the day that is pre-eminently saving among the others arrives, it is necessary to refrain from even lawful works and words, to remain constantly in the church of God, to raise the ears with the mind toward doctrine and instruction, and with a contrite heart to indulge in prayer and supplications; for in this way you also will fulfill the Sabbath according to the Gospel of the grace of God...
in reading and instruction, and to give attention with compunction to supplication and prayers, and to psalms directed to God; for thus you too shall fulfill the Sabbath according to the Gospel, conducting yourselves A in the grace of God, and, having raised the eye of the mind to Christ, who is established above the heavenly vaults with the Father and the Spirit, who has made us sons of God, not [merely] adopted in name, but in the communion of the Holy Spirit, being intimately conjoined with his flesh and blood, to God and to one another.
Let us therefore preserve through indissoluble love this unity with one another; let us look always toward the Creator above; for we are no longer earthly as from the earth, like the first man, but as the second man, the Lord from heaven: such as the earthly [is], such also are the earthly; such as the heavenly [is], such also are the heavenly. As therefore we have borne the image of the earthly, let us also bear the image of the heavenly, and having our heart raised toward him, let us behold this great spectacle, our nature B eternally entwined with the fire of the Godhead; and having cast off the affection toward the coats of skin, which we had put on because of the transgression, let us stand on holy ground, each of us manifesting his own self as holy ground through virtue and a firm inclination toward God, so that we may have boldness, while he appears in the fire of God, and let us be illuminated as we hasten forward, and illuminated, let us shine eternally unto the glory of that highest light, of that tri-solar and most monarchical brightness; to whom be all glory, power, honor, and worship, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XXII. On the same festival, in which [we speak] also concerning vices and virtues.
Do you see this common festival and joy which our Lord Jesus Christ, in his resurrection and ascension, has granted to those who believe in him? C Through tribulation it has sprung forth. Do you see the life, or rather this immortality? Through death it has shone forth to us. Do you see the heavenly height into which Christ ascended, having been raised up, and the super-eminent glory with which he has been glorified according to the flesh? Through humiliation and disgrace he attained it. Just as also the Apostle said concerning him: "He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross; therefore God also highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."* If therefore God exalted his Christ because he was humbled, D because he was treated with ignominy, because he was tempted, because he endured for our sake a cross and a shameful death, how will he save us and glorify us unless we have chosen humiliation? Unless we have shown love toward our brothers? Unless we have [purified] our souls through sa-
* Philipp. II, 8.
tience in temptations? Unless we have followed, through the narrow gate and way that leads to eternal life, Him who heroically led the way to it? A For to this we were called, as the prince of the apostles, Peter, says: “Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow in his steps.” *
But why did the Christ of God pass through such sufferings? Why did God therefore exalt Him, and why does He call us into the fellowship of the sufferings of His Son? God alone is the same always, before the ages and into the ages and beyond, remaining without change; He is without beginning, without end, not made nor ruined, not increased nor diminished, changed in no manner or place; eternal, uncreated, not subject to motion, inconfused, infinite; He Himself changes all things for the better as He wills, He Himself permits those things which undergo this to be changed for the worse B; but everything that has a beginning undergoes change, for change is a sort of beginning. Since, therefore, every creature is mutable—as much the visible as the invisible, the sensible as the insensate, the rational as the irrational—the rational nature alone, possessing free will, has the change toward the worse or the better voluntarily, from itself and by itself, either holding fast to the will of God, from whom it receives progress and change and advancement toward the better into the infinite, or opposing the will of God and, by His permission, justly falling under it, and miserably slipping toward the worse.
Since two rational natures were created by God—the prior one that of the spiritual angels, the posterior one that of men, who participate in a body—none of these kept their obedience to the Creator and Lord of nature, but the heavenly rank of the spiritual angels itself, the prior C created, was the first to fall ill with defection from God. Those, therefore, who remained above this fall among the spiritual angels are light, and are always filled with light, and always shine with a more luminous radiance, happily using their innate motion, and dancing in joy around the primary light, always looking toward it and being immediately illuminated from it, and unceasingly praising the source of light, and sending down light-bearing grace to those of the illuminated who have taken a lower place, as ministers of light.
But he who rebelled and set aside the obedience D toward God, Satan, falling from the light, slipped into the darkness and was condemned to eternal gloom, and became a vessel of darkness, an artificer of darkness, an author and minister of darkness—first indeed for himself and the angels who apostatized with him, and then, to our ruin, also for us in the paradise of God, [when we were] unfaithful to God and believed him. But all the angels of wickedness, since they are like darkness itself, because they did not become this in part, but are the beginning and the fullness of infidelity, a bitter root and the source of all sin, especially because they are the authors of it for us, possess a sin worthy of no pardon, [and] inconsiderately cast themselves into thicker darkness, and [never...]
perpetually advance in their own harm, being turned away from that which enlightens the whole rational nature. But for us, who have not fallen into evil by our own autonomous movement, the discipline of God is brought to bear from the beginning with mercy; for even if we were condemned to death, it was not before we received a period of time for repentance—the many years that Adam lived after his transgression—and such as each of us lives out. B
Whence it is clearly shown that our salvation is not despaired of, nor is there any time of despair for us at all; for our whole life is a time for repentance, since God does not wish the death of the sinner, but that he should repent and live, as it is written. For why did death not follow immediately upon the transgression? Or how could we sinners deserve to live, if there were no hope of conversion? And where conversion is hoped for, there is no place for despair. But even Abel, the son of Adam, received testimony from God at the very beginning, as one who seemed acceptable and pleasing to Him. And, a short time after our fall, Enos began with confidence to call upon the Lord. Enoch not only pleased Him, but was even translated by God, having become a clear proof of the divine mercy toward us sinners. Again sin grew, and again there was an aversion of God from our race, and we were justly handed over to a universal flood; and yet again the wrath was not unmixed, nor was the condemnation without mercy, but, as if pruning the second root of our race, God wonderfully preserved Noah, who was found righteous in his generation, as if pruning with providence what was growing wild in an evil way, but not cutting it off, nor C uprooting and destroying the human race without pity. After him, Abraham was manifested as faithful and pleasing to God, receiving testimony from Him; and his son Isaac, and Isaac’s son Jacob, and the patriarchs who came from him, in whom was the promise and prediction of a greater mercy and loving-kindness, powerfully overcoming our sins, that the great Shepherd Himself should descend from the holy heavens to seek the lost sheep. Next came the lawgivers, judges, and the royal lineage from whom it was clearly promised that Christ would be born according to the flesh. D Now, however, Christ himself has come and appeared, the eternal Word of God who created us in the beginning, having become as we are and for our sake, that He might renew and refashion those who had become aged and broken by sin; for since our breaking was voluntary and our own, He wisely and lovingly effects our own restoration too in the man whom He assumed from the Virgin's womb for our sake, having dispensed the whole mystery of salvation, and having both strengthened us for our return by His union with us, and having opened for us the way to heaven through His own way of life, and having made clear the path that leads back through His own teaching to us.
Verum cum contraria a contrariis curantur, sicut pravo maligni consilio mortui sumus, ita
By the good counsel of the Good One, we are once again made alive; and since the...
counselor of death offered pleasure, glory, and ease—things which entice and drag our race down from the things above to the lowest depths—for this reason, the counselor of true life not only walks ahead of us as our guide, but also marks out for us the narrow and straitened way that leads to the life above. "Strive," he says, "to enter by the narrow gate"; and, "Narrow and straitened is the way that leads to life," since the way that leads to destruction is broad and spacious. This way of destruction he rejects more clearly elsewhere: "Woe," he says, "to you who are rich, woe to you who are full, woe when all men speak well of you," declaring "woe" to those who are lovers of fame, pleasure, and wealth through these A words. And again: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth"; and, "Take heed lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the cares of this life"; and, "How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that is from the only God?" By such words as these, he snatches us away from the way that leads to death; while another way of life he reveals elsewhere, pronouncing them blessed: "Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake"; and, "Sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven"; and, "Everyone who has left house or fields or anything else of earthly things for my sake and the Gospel's, shall receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life." B He so restrained anger that he declared it equal to murder, subjecting it to the same condemnation, and he said that he who is moved by anger to insult another is liable to the hell of fire. Meekness, however, he not only pronounced blessed, but also deemed worthy of the greatest rewards. He so restrained intemperance that he called an impassioned and inquisitive look at another man's wife adultery. As for the lover of chastity, by calling him blessed, he asserts that he will behold God. And so far is he from not censuring perjury, that he prohibits the swearing of an oath itself, and affirms that everything beyond "yes" and "no" is from the evil one, saying: "Let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: and whatever is more than these is of the evil one." C But what is this doubling? Let the things we say, whether "it is" or "it is not," be in agreement with the facts; for thus your "yes" shall truly be "yes," and your "no" shall be "no." If not, your "yes" shall be "no," and your "no" shall be "yes," which is clearly from the devil; for when he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, and does not stand in the truth. Thus, he has gathered together and concluded our deeds and words, our whole life, in truth, in righteousness, in meekness, in chastity, and in freedom from anger. But how does he wish us to be disposed toward those who are angry with us and who attack and assail us in word D and deed? "Overcome," he says, "evil with good"; and, "Give place to wrath. Do not resist the adver-
-Asario. Do not render evil for evil, or reproach for reproaches, but love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and slander you." What then is the end of this violent life? What is the prize for the struggles? "That you may be," he says, "sons of your Father who is in heaven," and heirs indeed of God, but co-heirs of Christ, and that you may possess immortal life, and receive a kingdom ineffable, unshakable, and that cannot be passed on, living and reigning with God through infinite ages. Do you see what the narrow and B afflicted way is? And why it is demanded of us, and to what glory and joy and gain it brings the one who chooses to walk through it? If someone were to promise you a long life, provided only that you obeyed him, would you not willingly undertake the obedience, unless he were demanding something beyond your powers? And if he were to promise in addition health and glory and pleasure extending through the long life, what would you not tolerate for this? And if he were to add a kingdom, and a kingdom free from war and free from injury with a long and pain-free life, would you not fly towards it, and consider any burden whatever as light that would lead you to that, nourished by hope, and rejoicing as if in the possession of the hoped-for kingdom, if you believed he was speaking the truth? What then? We desire long-lasting life, but do we regard eternal life as of no value? And a kingdom, if even it be long, yet having an end, and glory and joy if even great, yet nonetheless fading, and wealth that perishes with this life—these we so desire and for these we will labor, C but the goods that are exceeding and incorruptible and endless shall we not seek, nor endure even a little force that we may obtain their inheritance? And yet we have proposed a warless kingdom, which could not exist on earth, and a life without sorrow, which you would not find unless in heaven. So if anyone desires these things, let him run to heaven; and whether the way leading to it be easy or difficult, let him travel through it, rejoicing in hope and enduring in tribulation.
You all know for the sake of what things men are accustomed to deliver themselves to labors and deaths. Does not the soldier prepare himself for irreparable dangers and slaughters for a small salary? Does not the merchant despise the danger of shipwreck, and the D winds, and the hostility of savage men on land and sea for a small increase in wealth? Do not many often become slaves of inhumane masters for a small crust of bread? And shall we not serve the naturally benevolent Master? Shall we refuse to risk our lives? Shall we not cast away the superfluity of possessions, so that we may acquire the heavenly wealth? Shall we not endure the disgrace from men—for the most part a vice—so that we may attain divine glory, exchanging the mortal for the immortal? Shall we not hunger moderately, nor thirst, so that we may eat the bread of life descending from heaven, and drink the waters truly
living, of which he who is deemed worthy to eat and drink shall not hunger, nor shall he thirst for ever? Shall we not cleanse the eye of the soul, abstaining from all defilement of flesh and spirit, that we might see the Light far more splendid than the sun, or rather, that we may become children of that Light, and other lights by participation, holding fast the word of life? Let us not, I beseech you, brethren, prefer darkness to light, the devil to God, the servant of death and hell’s pleasure to divine and eternal joy, A the gain of corruption that enriches the charity that gives abundantly material for the flame in which those who have acquired it wickedly are burned eternally, as the Lord revealed to us through the parable of the rich man; but let us live as He Himself lived, and as He Himself showed and taught, having become like us; and taking up the cross, let us follow Him, crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires, that we may also be glorified together with Him and rise again with Him, and after the resurrection be taken up to Him, just as He was taken up this day to the Father. For standing in the midst of the disciples, as Luke says, or rather appearing, as Mark writes (for He was not then only standing by when He appeared, but was always with them, yet He showed Himself [visible] when He willed): standing then in the midst of His disciples, He gave them the mandate of preaching, and granted the promise of the Spirit, and added that He would be with them until the consummation. With these words, having lifted up His hands, He blessed them, and while they watched, He was lifted up, showing that those who have obeyed Him, B having lifted up their hands, He blessed them, and as they looked on, after having risen, they too shall be lifted up to God. C Having departed from them in body—for in His divinity He was with them—according to His promise to them, He was exalted and sat at the right hand of the Father with our nature. Just as He lived and died, and rose again and was taken up, so too we live and die, and shall all rise again; but not all shall attain to the assumption, but only those for whom Christ is life, and to die for Him is gain, those who before death have crucified sin through repentance and the evangelical way of life; for these alone, after the general resurrection, shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; for even He, as He was taken up, was received by a cloud, as Luke recounted in the Acts of the Apostles. But as the disciples, after He had been taken up, not seeing Him with bodily but with the eyes of the soul, rendered Him worship, so let us rest in peace, cultivating peace within D ourselves and with one another; for Jerusalem is interpreted as "peace"; and being in the upper room of our own minds, remaining there and praying, let us cleanse ourselves of passionate and earth-bound thoughts. Thus shall we obtain the coming of the Comforter, and in spirit and in truth we shall worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XXIII
A In the tenth morning Gospel; and concerning the war, both sensible and spiritual, waged against our adversary.Not all of the divine Gospels are "morning" Gospels; for those are called morning Gospels which are completed around the dawn, that is, around the rising of the day. But the visions of the Lord, God and our Savior Jesus Christ, by which He appeared to His holy apostles after His resurrection to demonstrate it—which these morning Gospels proclaim—did not take place only at the dawn of the day, but also at midday, in the evening, and even after evening. For when He approached Luke and Cleopas B as they were traveling to Emmaus and joined them on the way, it was not yet dawn. And when they approached the village to which they were going, "He appeared as if He were going further, and they urged Him," he says, "saying, 'Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day has declined.'" And after He had become known to them by the breaking and distribution of the bread, and He Himself had vanished from their sight, they arose at that selfsame hour, returned to Jerusalem, and recounted to the other disciples the things that had happened on the way. And while they were speaking of these things, Jesus Himself stood in their midst, when that day had already completely turned toward evening. At another time, He again conversed with Peter after breakfast, and committed to him the flocks of His spiritual sheep. For John wrote: "When they had eaten breakfast, He says to Simon Peter: 'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?'" And upon his agreeing, "Feed," He says, "My lambs, tend My sheep." How, then, are these also "morning" C [Gospels] and so called, since they did not take place at dawn?
Christ, the Sun of righteousness, existing without beginning and before the ages, immutable and unchangeable, as having neither variation nor shadow of turning, both exists as and is an unending, unsetting light; He is the true and super-cosmic light, and the dawnless day, in which are the souls of the righteous together with the good angels. But after the consummation of this age and along with their own bodies, the righteous shall be heirs of the light, being sons of the true day. This day, therefore, being dawnless and continuous, neither has nor ever had a dawn; for it is indeed without beginning. But night took hold of us, and the shadow of death encompassed us, because we fell into sin and lost the power of vision which we formerly possessed by grace from God, through which we perceived the light that leads to the true life. D Night, therefore, and death were poured out upon our nature—not because the true light had turned, but because we had turned away and no longer had the ability to look up of ourselves toward that life-giving light. But having had mercy upon us in the last ages, the Fount of eternal light and Author of true life, not only descended to us for our sake, having become man according to us, but also endured the cross and death for our sake, and by His own death despoiled the empire of death, and rose after three days, showing again in our nature the light of incorruptible and immortal life, having granted the same light of the resurrection.
A Verily, since his resurrection now has become the first-fruits of them that slept, and since his disciples are intended at his second coming to be clothed with the light of immortal life, and since at that time the true and unceasing day shall shine forth for all, for this reason the Lord’s resurrection holds a rapport with that day both as dawn and morning; and according to this principle, all the Gospels concerning the resurrection are matutinal and dawn-related. Wherefore, those things that were accomplished in the evening of this present day, as well as those accomplished during the day itself, are matutinal and are even so called. The Matutinal Gospel read today for the hearing of all is matutinal on both counts; for it discusses not only the resurrection of the Lord and the manifestation following it, but also clearly takes place at the dawn of the sensible day. For “in the morning,” he says, “having already come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples knew not that it is Jesus.” Although he says at the beginning that “Jesus manifested himself to his disciples, having risen from the dead, at the sea of Tiberias.” He did indeed manifest himself, but they were in the boat out on the sea, and removed from the land; and for that reason, although the sun had risen, they did not yet recognize him. Jesus therefore says to them: B “Children”—oh, what humility, what readiness, what sweetness this address contains! He says, then, “Children, have you any food?” He does not ask out of ignorance, but wisely makes a way for the miracle; and when they answered him, “No,” Jesus says to them, “Cast into the right side of the boat, and you shall find”; by saying “you shall find,” he showed that he knew they had been casting their nets all night long and finding nothing. As soon as they saw him knowing these things about them while he was not present, they were easily persuaded by what was said by him; they cast, therefore, and obeyed. And when they not only found fish, as he had said, but so many and so great that they could not pull the net into the boat (for he says, “they were not able to pull it due to the multitude of fishes”), John, who was more ready than the others for divine knowledge, he who was specially loved by the Lord and Master—remembering, of course, the beginning of that wondrous fishing on the Lake of Gennesaret, in which, when they had let down the nets at the word of the Lord, they had enclosed such a multitude of fishes that it was a wonder how the nets did not break under such a multitude—that disciple whom Jesus loved says then to Peter, “It is the Lord.” C And the most ardent Peter again, more ready for action than the others, “having heard,” it says, “that it is the Lord, girt his outer garment; for he was naked, and cast himself into the sea.” The outer garment is a type of linen cloth or sash which the Syrians and Phoenicians use over their clothing; for this reason it is called an outer garment, because it is worn over others. D With this they gird themselves when they are naked, just as
the young man A who followed when the Lord was seized by the Jews was clad in a linen cloth over his naked body, which he left behind for the young men who were holding him and fled naked. But Peter did not put on this outer garment; being naked, he folded it and girded himself with it, so that he might be able to swim, for he was two hundred cubits from the land. So Peter, out of warmth, anticipated everyone, but the other disciples came in the little boat, dragging the net of fish, and as it were offering them to him who provided this, so that they might even have occasion to say that holy saying: "Of thine own from thine own." When, therefore, they had climbed onto the land, it says, "they see a charcoal fire laid, and a small fish placed upon it, and bread." Some thought that this charcoal fire was of embers upon which the small fish was being roasted, but what follows, others say, does not allow one to interpret the charcoal fire in this way, for bread was not placed upon fire. Furthermore, he did not say B a burning charcoal fire, but a laid one; they say, therefore, that a certain hide used by travelers in place of a table is called by this name. When, therefore, the apostles had disembarked onto the land, they saw this other miracle, greater than the one upon the sea; for not from the deep, but out of non-existence, do they see fish and bread brought into being and set out ready, along with the delightful sight of the Lord; and having become confused by the miracle, they neglected the catch. For this reason the Lord says to them: "Bring of the fish which you have now caught," turning them back to the care of those things, so as to bring forth the prize and measure it, lest anyone say that the multitude of fish was a phantasm.
"Simon Peter therefore went up," it says, "and drew the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn." C Indeed, the power of Christ, which had preserved it so that the net might not be torn, could certainly have strengthened those pulling and made the burden light; yet He did not do so, in order that the apostles might feel the miracle more; for this reason also Peter, having climbed back into the boat, helped them as they were powerless. But the Lord, wishing to become manifest to each one, said to them: "Come, eat," and with His own hands distributed to them the aforementioned bread and the small fish, showing also by this service that He himself is the provider and dispenser of the future and eternal enjoyment, which will be after the capture of the apostolic net—that is, after they have gathered for Him, through the evangelical preaching, all the worthy ones from every nation; among whom at that time there shall appear one hundred and fifty-three great ones, whether they be numbered by thousands or by tens of thousands. He Himself saw this, He who performs miracles and brings to pass these things filled with mysteries; for the fruitless labor of the whole night D demonstrated the barrenness of the teaching that had occurred before His epiphany. But the casting of the nets on the right side in the morning and the catch showed the fruitfulness of the evangelical teaching to be spread after His presence; for when it was already morning, when He who is the Sun of righteousness appeared to us in the flesh, the second and effective preaching of divine doctrine took place, seizing and dragging to Christ the saved
A multitudes. The Evangelist, after having related that the bread and the fish had been distributed, says: "This is now the third time that Jesus showed Himself to His disciples, after He was risen from the dead." For He came to them gathered in the house on the evening of the day on which He rose; and after eight days He came again, when Thomas was with the others; and this is already the third time He did not come to them, but showed Himself, demonstrating that He was present with them, even if He were not visibly appearing. He gave them, however, [the opportunity] to see Him when He wished; for such is the power of immortal bodies.
Adest igitur cuique nostrum, fratres, etsi a nobis non conspiciatur, ideo ascendens apostolis dixit: B "Ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus usque ad consummationem sæculi." Igitur [let us act] as if we venerate Him as present, and do what is pleasing in His sight. If we are not able to see Him with the eyes of the body at present, we are able to see Him continuously with the eyes of the mind, if we are wise; and not only to see [Him], but also to receive great good things from this; for this vision takes away all sin, cleanses every stain, and overturns every evil. This vision itself works every virtue, gives purity and peace, and bestows eternal life and an everlasting kingdom. If we take care for this sweet vision, if we direct our eyes spiritually toward Christ as present, each of us will say, as David did: "Though a camp should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident." For there is an exterior war, brethren, which pulls [men] towards sin through the senses, C dragging on those who do not resist nobly; but this war does not arise against us always, for our senses are not moved without intermission. Moreover, even when the senses are excited, the sin remains imperfect for the lack of materials, or [because] opportunities, or places do not favor it—without which neither the thief, nor the robber, nor the fornicator, nor the adulterer, nor the plunderer, nor the avaricious man brings iniquity to its end. But there is another war within us, the intellectual one [carried out] through thoughts, which is by far more grievous than the sensible one; for it is always active and needs no material to complete evil, nor opportunities, nor places. And the former, I mean the sensible war unto sin, has its beginning from things, and from D the things heard or seen therefrom, and other things similar to these; but the spiritual one is moved within us, without mediator, by the spirits of wickedness, and by their attacks or instigations; and he who has conquered in that [sensible war] does not on that account become invincible in the spiritual war. But he who has conquered in the spiritual battle will triumph powerfully in the other; and this is what the Apostle has indicated: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."
A The old Law indeed instructed the human race rather to wage war externally against the senses, commanding them to avoid the occasions of sin; but the Law of grace, the doctrine of the Gospel, girds us for the internal battle within us. It forbids anger kindled in the heart, adultery committed in the heart, and desire stirred up in the heart by the diabolical onslaught, instructing and raising us up to resist that assault, just as the Apostle, writing to the Ephesians, said: "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places." For those who fell from these things consider it painful, and they move madly against us, who have our citizenship in the heavens through the elevation of the mind toward God.
Therefore, I beseech you, let us refrain with all zeal from drunkenness and luxury, and from shameful words—both speaking and hearing them—and from shameful spectacles. For these things rouse the flesh against us, summoning us to a struggle which is not ours, and do not allow us to attend to our own internal battle and endure it bravely; hence it is necessary for us to be defeated and to fall, and, for the most part, to be led into captivity to sin, since we do not discern our domestic enemies, while we exert ourselves entirely to ward off those from without. But as for us, abstaining from wicked and insatiable fleshly pleasures, let us prepare ourselves for battle against the principalities and powers of this terrible darkness; against those who inject into us from within shameful thoughts and wicked desires, who are in every way demons, and are themselves the chiefs of the wickedness of darkness, as they were the first to desire this. They are also world-rulers, but only over those in whom the word of the true Lord has no place: "Ye are not of this world, but I chose you out of the world," B and through my own grace I have regenerated and claimed you for myself.
Against those, then, these powers are indeed spirits of wickedness, as those who have willingly fallen beneath them. But we, if only we be sober, and lift up the eye of our mind to the Lord who delivered us from the bitter slavery of the devil, and if we always attend to Him as if He were present, we shall not be afraid, according to the Psalmist, of the arrow that flieth by day, nor of the thing that walketh in darkness, nor of the disaster and the noonday demon; C but those who attempt to approach us will fall, they will not draw near to us, nor will they shake us from our firm foundation of virtue and safety, as the same Psalmist says of himself: "I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I should not be moved." If, therefore, we too foresee Him always before us, at one time singing hymns, at another time beseeching Him, and at yet another time giving thanks according to our strength, whose
and will lead us by His will and His power; and He will rescue us from the power of darkness, and will establish us in His kingdom, granting us life incorruptible and eternal, which may He grant us all to attain to the glory of Him and His unoriginate Father, and of the co-eternal and life-giving Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XXIV
On the manifestation and dispensation of the divine Spirit accomplished at Pentecost; it also treats of repentance.
B We have beheld but a little while ago, with the great eyes of faith, Christ as He ascended, and we have in no way fallen short of those who were deemed worthy to behold Him with the eyes of the body, nor has their happiness surpassed our own. For “Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed,” the Lord says; these are they who have been instructed by hearing and have seen through faith. We have beheld, then, but recently, Christ taken up from the earth in the body, and now we see, through the Holy Spirit sent by Him to the disciples, to what dignity Christ has ascended, and to what height He has raised the nature of ours which He assumed; for He ascended absolutely to the place from whence the Spirit, sent by Him, has descended. And from whence the Spirit descended is shown by Him who spoke through the prophet, saying: “I will pour out from my Spirit upon all flesh,” and to whom David says: “You will send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth.” To the Most High Father, therefore, Christ has ascended, and He has reached that paternal bosom from whence the Spirit also proceeds; and by virtue of His human nature, He was shown as a participant in His dignity, in that He too, at that time, sent the Spirit who comes and is sent from the Father. But let no one think, upon hearing that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son, that He is excluded from this dignity; for He is not merely among those who are sent, but He is also among those who send and who consent.
This is clearly shown by Him who said through the prophet: “I with my hands established the earth, and I stretched out the heaven, and now the Lord has sent me and His Spirit.” And Christ again elsewhere through the same prophet says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me, He has sent me to bring good tidings to the poor.” Therefore, the Holy Spirit is not only sent, but He also sends the Son who is sent by the Father, by which it is shown D that He is of the same nature and dignity, of the same operation and honor, as the Father and the Son. By the good pleasure, then, of the Father and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, through an immense ocean of philanthropy, the Only-Begotten Son of God bowed the heavens and descended from above, and was seen upon the earth according to our nature, and conversed with us, and performed and taught things marvelous and great and sublime, and truly worthy of God, and divinely effective and salutary for those who obey Him.
A Then, having suffered voluntarily for our salvation, and having been buried and risen on the third day, He ascended into the heavens and sat at the right hand of the Father, and from thence He cooperated in the descent of the Holy Spirit to His own disciples, having sent Him forth together with the Father, just as He had also promised the power from on high. And He, sitting there in the heights, as it were cries out to us from there: "If any man desires to stand by this glory, and to become a participant in the kingdom of the heavens, and to be called a son of God, and to find life immortal, and glory ineffable, and delight undefiled, and wealth inexhaustible, let him hear My commandments and, according to his strength, let him imitate My manner of life, and let him conduct himself just as I, having come to earth in the flesh, both did and taught, setting down salutary laws and proposing Myself as an B example." For the Savior indeed confirmed the evangelical doctrine through His own works and miracles, but He perfected it through His passion; and He manifested its great utility and salvific nature through the resurrection from the dead, through His ascension into the heavens, and through the descent of the Holy Spirit from the heavens to His own disciples, which was accomplished at this time, an event we celebrate today. For after His resurrection from the dead and His manifestation to the disciples, He said as He was about to be taken up: "Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. For ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." And when the day of Pentecost was fully come—the memory of which we now honor—after the resurrection, all the disciples were gathered together with one accord in the upper room of that temple, or rather in their own upper room, each one of them being gathered in his own mind; for they were at leisure and were devoting themselves to prayer and to the hymns to God. "There came," says the evangelist Luke, "suddenly from heaven a sound as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting." C This is the sound of which Anna the prophetess foretold, when she received the promise concerning Samuel: "For the Lord ascended into heaven and thundered; He shall give strength, and exalt the horn of His anointed." This sound was also proclaimed by the vision of Elijah; for it says: "Behold, a sound of a gentle breeze, and in it was the Lord"; for the sound of the breeze is the sound of the spirit. One might also find the prefiguration of this sound and spirit in the Gospel of Christ. For on the last and great day of the feast, which is Pentecost, Jesus stood, according to the Theologian and Evangelist John, and cried out, saying: "If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink." This He said, he states, of the Spirit D which they who believed in Him were to receive. But even after the resurrection He breathed on His disciples and said: "Receive the Holy Spirit." Therefore that clamor signified that sound, and the breathing signified that Spirit, who now, blowing vehemently from above, sent forth a great and mighty roar from heaven, and rang through the whole earth under heaven, and bestows and pours out grace upon all who draw near in faith.
A For this, he says, was said concerning the Spirit, which those who believe in him were about to receive; but even after the resurrection he breathed upon the disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." That roar, therefore, prefigured this breath, and the breathing prefigured this wind, which now, having been poured out abundantly from above, and having made a great and widely heard sound from heaven, calls out to everything under heaven, and pours forth and bestows grace upon all who faithfully draw near. It is violent, as it conquers all things, and it overthrows the walls of the evil one, and destroys cities and every stronghold of the enemy; and it humbles the proud, but raises up the lowly in heart; and it binds together what was ill-dissolved, and breaks the bonds of sins, and dissolves what is held fast. It filled the house where they were sitting, making it a spiritual pool, and fulfilling the promise of the Savior, which He himself, even as He was about to be taken up, said to them: "For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." But it also showed that the calling which He had bestowed upon them was true. For through this sound from heaven, the apostles truly became sons of thunder. "And there appeared to them," he says, "cloven tongues as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, B and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." For the miracles performed through the Lord's body, which showed that He is the only-begotten Son of God according to His own person, who was joined to us in the last days, had reached their end; but now things began to be fulfilled that reveal the Holy Spirit as existing in His own person, so that we might recognize and contemplate the great and adorable mystery of the holy Trinity. For the Holy Spirit was at work even before; for this is He who spoke through the prophets and foretold things to come, and at work also through the disciples later on, casting out demons and healing diseases, but now He has been manifested to all in His own person through the tongues of fire; and having sat down authoritatively—as if enthroned—upon the disciples of Christ, He has made them instruments of His own power. C But why did He appear in the form of tongues? So that He might show His consubstantiality with the Word of God; for nothing is more akin to the word than the tongue. At the same time, it is also for the sake of the grace of teaching; for the teacher according to Christ has need of a tongue graced with favor. And why tongues of fire? Not only because the Spirit is consubstantial with the Father and the Son; for our God is a consuming fire, a fire that consumes wickedness; but also because of the twofold operation of the apostles' preaching; for it is able both to benefit and to punish at once; and just as fire is by nature both to give light and to burn, so too the word of teaching according to Christ illuminates those who obey, but delivers those who disobey to fire and eternal punishment in the end. D Yet they were not called tongues of fire, he says, but "as of fire," so that no one might think that that fire was sensible and material, but that the manifestation of the Spirit might be known to us from the example.
A Why were cloven tongues seen by them? Since to Christ alone, who came down from above, the Spirit is not given by measure from the Father; for He possessed entirely, even according to the flesh, the divine power and energy. To none of the others, however, was the whole grace of the Spirit communicable, but each receives one of the gifts in part, that no one might think that the grace given to the saints by the Spirit is His nature. B And the word "sat" implies not only the Lordly dignity, but also the unity of the divine Spirit. "It sat," he says, "upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." For even while being distributed according to His various powers and energies, through each of the energies the Holy Spirit is present in His entirety and acts—indivisibly divided and shared in its entirety, like the image of a sunbeam. "And they spoke in other tongues," that is, in dialects, to those who had gathered from every nation, as the Spirit gave them utterance. For they became instruments of the divine Spirit, acting and moved according to His will and power. Any instrument assumed from without is a participant not of the essence, but of the energy of the one who acts through it. It fulfills the role of an instrument in such a way that, as he who speaks by the divine Spirit, David says: "My tongue is the pen of a ready writer." Therefore, the pen of a writer is an instrument of the writer, participating in his power but not at all in his nature, carving out exactly what the writer wishes and is able to do. The writing pen is an instrument of the writer, participating altogether in the energy, but not in the essence of the one who writes, and carving out those things which the writer wishes and can do. C But how is the Holy Spirit the promise of the Father? Because He promised this through His own prophets, saying through Ezekiel: "I will give you a new heart and a new spirit, and I will put my Spirit within you"; and through Joel: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh." Moses, yearning for this, also proclaimed it in advance, saying: "Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, whenever the Lord gives His Spirit upon them!" Since, however, the good pleasure and the promise of the Father and of the Son are one, for this reason He said to those who believe in Him: "He who drinks of the water that I shall give him will become a fountain of water springing up into eternal life"; and, "He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." And the Evangelist, interpreting this, says: "But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him were to receive." Moreover, going to His saving passion, He said to His own disciples: "If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth." D And again: "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you; but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things." And again: "When the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit..."
of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me, and He will guide you into all truth." A Now, the promise has been fulfilled, and the Holy Spirit has come down, having been sent by both the Father and the Son, and given, and having illuminated the holy disciples, and having kindled them altogether as lamps through the divine power, or rather having shown them to be luminaries, placed above the world to illuminate the whole, and possessing the word of eternal life through them, He has illuminated the entire inhabited world. And just as if someone were to light one lamp from a light-bearing lamp, and another from that one, and continue in succession, he always keeps the light remaining, so too, through the laying on of hands of the apostles, upon their successors, and from these to others again, and so on, the grace of the divine Spirit is transmitted through every generation, and illuminates all those who obey the spiritual pastors and teachers.
Therefore, every one of the high priests who from time to time comes to the city brings this grace and this gift of God, and the illumination of the divine Spirit through the Gospel; but those who reject some of these people cut off the grace of God that has come to them, and tear apart the divine succession, and separate themselves from God, and are delivered over to harmful seductions and calamities of every kind, which you yourselves have recently known through experience. B But now, turning back to the shepherd of your souls who comes from God, if you obey me as I advise you for your salvation, celebrate with total joy the annual memorial of the coming of the divine Spirit, who descended for our salvation through an ineffable love for mankind, for the sake of whom and through whom the only-begotten Son of God bowed the heavens and came down, and took flesh from us. C For since He Himself ascended into heaven with His body, if He had not sent the Holy Spirit to abide with and strengthen His own disciples, and those who were to be their successors through the generations as teachers of the Gospel of grace, the preaching of the truth would not have been proclaimed D to all nations, nor would it have reached down to us. For this reason, the most benevolent Master has now shown His own disciples to be partakers, fathers, and ministers of light and eternal life, regenerating them into eternal life, and rendering those worthy to be sons of light and fathers of illumination; so that in this way He might be with us until the end of the age, just as He promised through the Spirit; for He is one with the Father and the Spirit, not according to person, but according to divinity; and He is one in three, God in one trihypostatic and co-equal divinity; for the Holy Spirit always was, and was with the Son in the Father. For how could there be a Father and eternal mind without the Son and co-eternal Word? And how could there be an eternal Word without the co-eternal Spirit? Therefore the Holy Spirit always was, and is, and will be, with the Father and the Son, creating the things that are made in time, renewing things that are corrupted, conserving things that persist, present everywhere, and filling all things.
for the Psalmist says to God, A "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy face?" But He is not only everywhere, but also above all things, and in every age and time, and even before every age and time. And the Holy Spirit will not only be with us until the consummation of the age, according to the promise, but will much more remain with the saints in the age to come, immortalizing them and filling them with eternal glory, and their bodies too, as the Lord also declared to the disciples: "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever." For, says the Apostle, it is sown—that is, buried and committed to the earth—a dead B psychic body, that is to say natural, being possessed of both soul and body, and having that by which it is constituted and moved; but it is raised, that is, it lives again, a spiritual body, that is to say supernatural, as being constituted and ruled by the Divine Spirit, and clothed with immortality and glory and incorruption by the power of the Spirit. For, he says, "The first Adam was made into a living soul; the last Adam into a life-giving spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthly: the second man is the Lord from heaven. Such as is the earthly, such also are the earthly; and such as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly." Who are these? Those who are firm and steadfast in the faith, and always abounding in the work of the Lord, and who have borne the image of the heavenly one through their obedience C toward Him. For, says the Lord’s forerunner, John, through the same Evangelist again, "He who is disobedient to the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him"; and who shall endure the wrath of God? It is a fearful thing, brethren, to fall into the hands of the living God. For if we fear the hands of enemies, even when the Lord says, "Fear not them that kill the body," who that has a mind will not fear the hands of God, raised in wrath against those who are disobedient? For the wrath of God will be revealed against every soul of those who have walked in wantonness and injustice without turning, and who hold back the truth in injustice.
Let us therefore flee from wrath, and let us hasten to attain the kindness and compassion D of the Most Holy Spirit through repentance. Let him who has hatred against anyone be reconciled, and return to love, lest his hatred and contention against his neighbor bear witness against him that he does not love God; for if "you do not love your brother whom you have seen, how will you love God whom you have not seen?" But having love toward one another, let us have the true, unfeigned love, and show it forth through works, enduring to say and do nothing, or rather not even to hear, that which brings insult or injury to our brethren, just as he who was beloved by Christ, the Theologian, taught us: "Brethren," he says,
A Christ as Theologian has taught us, saying: “My brethren, do not love in word and tongue, but in deed and truth.” B Let anyone who has fallen into fornication or adultery or any similar defilement of the body withdraw from this foul mire and cleanse himself through confession, through tears, through fasting, and similar practices. For God will judge and condemn fornicators and adulterers who have not repented and will cast them away and deliver them to Gehenna and the unquenchable fire, and to the other punishments that inflict penalty, saying: “Let the profane and the defiled depart, that he may not behold and enjoy the glory of the Lord.” Let him who steals or openly plunders and is greedy no longer steal, nor be greedy, nor plunder the property of others, but rather let him share his own goods with those who do not have. And to conclude, if you desire to see life, days of good things, and to be delivered from both visible and invisible enemies—not only from the barbarians now pressing upon us, but also from those punishments prepared for the prince of evil and his angels—turn away from every evil and do good. For, as the Apostle said to the Corinthians: “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor sodomites, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor plunderers will inherit the kingdom of God.” Whoever has no inheritance with God does not belong to God, nor has he God as Father.
But let us, brethren, abstain, I beseech you, from those works and words that God hates, so that we may call upon God the Father with boldness. Let us turn to Him in truth, so that He may also turn to us, and cleanse us from every sin, and make us worthy of His divine grace. For thus, both now and in the ages to come, we shall worship and celebrate in a divine and spiritual manner the fulfillment of the divine promise—the coming and repose of the most Holy Spirit upon men, the attainment and accomplishment of the blessed hope, in Him, Christ our Lord, to whom is due glory, honor, and worship, with His beginningless Father and with the all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XXV
Delivered on the Sunday of All Saints.C “God is truly wondrous in His saints.” For when someone considers the superhuman struggles of the martyrs, how in the weakness of the flesh they put to shame the one who is strong in wickedness; how, in becoming hardened, they endured pains and wounds while struggling in their bodies against fire, against the sword, against various and deadly forms of torture, resisting through steadfastness, being cut in their flesh, their joints dissolved, their bones crushed, yet keeping the confession of the faith in Christ sound and uncut, and uninjured, and unshaken—whence also the undeniable wisdom of the Spirit and the power of miracles were granted to them; when someone reflects upon the patience of the saints, how, as though incorporeal, [they endured] long-lasting fasts, vigils, and other varied hardships…
against wicked passions, against the varied kinds of sin, against the invisible war that is within and among us, against principalities, against powers, against the spiritual forces of wickedness, fighting to the end, and while the outward man was being consumed and mortified, the inner man was being renewed and deified—from which the gifts of healing and the operations of powers were granted to them—when someone takes these into mind and reflects that this transcends our nature, he marvels and glorifies God who bestowed upon them such great grace and power. For even if they had a good and most excellent will, still, without the power of God, they would not have been able to rise above nature and, being in the body, defeat the incorporeal enemy.
B For this reason, also the Psalmist Prophet, having said, “God is wonderful in His saints,” added, “He will give power and strength to His people.” And consider with understanding the power of the prophetic words. For He gives, he says, power and strength to all His people; for there is no respect of persons with God; but He is wonderful in His saints alone. For just as the sun from on high liberally pours forth its rays to all equally, but only those who have eyes that are not closed see them, and only those who are sharp-sighted due to the purity of their eyes enjoy the light clearly, and not those whose keenness of sight is dull due to disease or fog or something similar that has befallen their eyes; so too, God from on high liberally provides His help to all; for He is the fountain of salvation C and goodness, the source that is ever-welling with mercy and clemency. But it is not absolutely everyone who enjoys the grace and power from thence for the exercise and perfection of virtue, or for the manifestation of miracles, but those who have possessed a good will, and by their works have demonstrated love and faith toward God; and those who have turned away completely from evil things, and who hold fast securely to the commandments of God, and who lift up the eye of their mind toward Him, Christ, the Sun of righteousness; who not only invisibly reaches out a hand of help from on high to those who are struggling, but also, encouraging us through the Gospel, speaks to us today: “For everyone,” He says, “who confesses in Me before men, I will confess D in him before My Father who is in heaven.” See that we are neither able to speak boldly of our faith in Christ and our confession without the power and cooperation from Him, nor will our Lord Jesus Christ speak boldly for us in the age to come, and present and reconcile us to the Most High Father, without having received from us the occasions. For indicating this, He did not say, “Everyone who confesses Me before men,” but, “Everyone who confesses in Me,” as one who is able in him and through His help to express piety. So likewise: “I too will confess,” He did not say, “him,” but, “in him,” that is, through firm
A resolution and perseverance, which he demonstrated on behalf of piety. For see what He says next concerning those who have been slothful and have betrayed piety: “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” He did not say here, “Whoever denies in Me.” Why? Because when a man becomes destitute of the help from God, he who denies, denies God. And why was he abandoned and made destitute of God? Because he himself had first abandoned Him, having loved temporary and earthly things more than the heavenly and eternal goods promised by God. Thus, in turn, Christ will not deny him “in him,” but will deny “him,” as one in whom He finds nothing that He might use on his behalf. Since he who possesses love for God according to God abides in God, and God in him—just as the theologian beloved by Christ says—inasmuch as God abides in him who loves Him, he who loves God in truth naturally makes his confession in God; and as He also abides in God, God likewise will make His confession for him in him. The statement, therefore, “Everyone who confesses in Me, I will also confess in him,” B indicates the inseparable union of God with those who confess Him, from which the one who denies him has departed far. Thus, divine retributions contain within themselves divine justice, being drawn toward one another in accordance with their resemblance.
The similarity, then, of the rewards from God to the things we offer Him is such and exists in this way. But consider also the surpassing difference of the reward from God toward those who have confessed Him in this way. For each of the saints, being a servant of God, brought forth his confession in this temporary life and before mortal men, and furthermore in the brief moment of this age and before a few mortal men. Our Lord Jesus Christ, however, being God and Lord of heaven and earth, will confess them in that eternal and everlasting C world before God and the Father, with the angels, archangels, and all the heavenly powers attending, and with all men from Adam to the consummation of the age present; for all shall rise and stand at the tribunal of Christ. And then, with all present, with all seeing, He will proclaim, glorify, and crown those who have shown faith in Him unto the end. What need is there to attempt to show those exceeding crowns, the excellence of those rewards that shall be given, which neither an eye like ours has seen, nor ear has heard, nor heart has conceived? But to dwell upon the things that are now occurring and are seen, what speech could worthily express the glory which God bestows upon the tombs of the saints and the relics of their bones—glory that remains ceaselessly for all time—the D holy fragrance emitted by them, the fountains of ointments, the graces of healings, the operations of powers, and the multiform and salvific manifestations of them made to us in these things? Tell me, what could be compared to these?
In a short time, as I have said, the confession of the saints according to God has been made manifest before certain princes and kings; they sing the praises of others and glorify them, honoring and worshipping and venerating not only them, but also their images, as if they were masters—nay, even more than masters and kings. Kings and princes and all their subjects fall prostrate before them in this way, and possess them gladly and with joy, desiring to leave them to their children as a legacy above all else, as a kind of blessed inheritance and author of the highest happiness. B This is a token and representation, and as it were a prelude, of that future ineffable glory which the spirits of the just now possess in heaven, and which, in the age to come, those bodies that have waged the struggle for God shall obtain together with them. Showing this excellence of glory and of the good things to come, the Lord said to His holy disciples and apostles: "Amen I say to you, that you who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, you also shall sit on twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." And to all believers in general He says: "Everyone who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold and shall possess life everlasting; and he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." Since, then, God and the Father gave His own beloved Son for us, and the only-begotten Son of God Himself gave Himself for us, He rightly demands of us that we overlook all those C related to us by blood, whenever they are an obstacle to piety and to the life lived according to it. And what do I say of those related by blood? It is right and necessary, when the time calls for it, for each person to renounce his own soul, if he wishes to attain eternal life, since even the Son of God Himself laid down His own soul for us; wherefore He says again: "He that takes not his cross and follows after me is not worthy of me." Now, the cross also consists in crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires. D When, therefore, it is a time of peace according to piety, a man who, by virtue, mortifies his wicked passions and desires, in this way takes up his cross and follows the Lord. But when it is a time of persecution, he who despises his own life and gives up his own soul for the sake of piety, in this way takes up his cross and follows the Lord, and thus inherits eternal life. For He says: "He that findeth his soul shall lose it, and he that shall lose his soul for my sake shall find it." What does it mean, "He that shall lose his soul shall find it"? Man is twofold: the one is exterior—I mean the body—and the other is interior, namely the soul.
A Indeed, when one, according to our exterior man, delivers himself to death, he loses his soul, as it separates from him. He, therefore, who has thus lost it for the sake of Christ and the Gospel, shall truly find it, procuring for it heavenly and eternal life; and in the resurrection, having recovered such life, he himself, through it, also becomes heavenly and eternal according to the body.
But because these things are difficult and great—and pertain only to the perfect, and are, so to speak, apostolic—to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires, to be ready for the ultimate dishonor and to sustain the most shameful death for the sake of virtue, to lose one's soul for the sake of the Gospel—the Lord immediately adds, for the consolation B of those who might be unequal to such struggles beyond their nature: "He that receives you," that is to say the apostles, and the Fathers and doctors of piety who follow them, "receives Me," He says, "and he that receives Me, receives Him that sent Me."
Therefore, for those perfect ones, He prepares a reception into the heavens, while to others, not such as they, He offers salvation if they receive them. But do you see how great a reward is given to those who have received them who live according to God and are doctors of truth? For he who receives them receives the Father and the Son. How, then, is it necessary to receive them? Not only to provide hospitality and comfort, but also to obey. C Wherefore, elsewhere, striking fear into those who reject them, He said to His own disciples: "He that rejects you, rejects Me; and he that rejects Me, rejects Him that sent Me."
But he who provides hospitality and relief to those who come from God, if he does this for the sake of God, shall receive a great reward; and the Lord, declaring this, said: "He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he who receives a just man in the name of a just man shall receive a just man's reward." How shall he receive a prophet's reward and a just man's reward? As the Apostle said: "Your abundance may supply their want, that their abundance llbracketD also may be a supply for your want." For he who receives and relieves a just man as a just man, for the sake of God, even if he should not treat him honorably but should bestow only small gifts, gains great things; for He said: "Whoever shall give to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."
But in these words He exercises care not only for the just and the disciples, but much more for those who receive them. For if He had cared only for them, He would have commanded only hospitality, and would have prescribed the form and measure of the relief to be provided to them; but now, by adding these words, "in the name of a prophet and a just man," He shows that He cares more for the hosts, turning their mind toward better things, so that the reward may follow them along with virtue. The Church of Christ, therefore, honoring even after death those who truly lived according to God, on every day of the year makes a memorial of their holy
those who have departed from here, and, setting before us the life of each one for our own benefit, points out the end, whether they fell asleep in peace or concluded their life in martyrdom. Now, however, after Pentecost, gathering everyone together, it sends up a common hymn to them, not only because they are all joined to one another and are one according to the Lord’s prayer; for the Lord says to His own Father in the Gospels: "Give to them, Father, that they may be one, just as I am in You, and You in Me, that they also may be one in us in truth." B
We do not, I say, pay this common hymn to them all on this account alone, but also because by this effort, through the holy Quadragesima and the Pentecost that follows it, all the works of God are brought forth and celebrated with praise; so that you may know (to comprise all things in a brief sermon) how from the beginning this whole world was made by God; how Adam was cast out of paradise and from God; how the ancient people of God were called; how they themselves were also expelled for having transgressed the familiarity with God; how God’s only-begotten Son, bowing the heavens, descended for us, and performed wondrous things for us, and taught us the path of salvation, and suffered and died for us, and was buried as a man, and as God rose on the third day, and ascended into the heavens from whence He also came down, later ascending with His body, and having sat down at the right hand of the Father, sent from thence the all-holy Spirit. C Since, therefore, God’s Church has hymned all these things, to-day, also bringing forth the rest and at the same time showing how many and what kind of fruits the advent of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, and the power of the all-holy Spirit, have gathered for eternal life, it makes a memorial of all the saints together, and pays them all hymns and honor this day.
Let us also, then, brethren, honor the saints of God. And how shall we honor them? If, by imitating them, we cleanse ourselves from all pollution of flesh and spirit, and abstain from evils until, through this abstinence, we are brought to their sanctification. D If our tongue rests from oaths and perjuries, from empty speech and reviling, and if our lips have spoken neither falsehood nor slander, thus shall we offer good praises to them. But if we do not amend ourselves in this way, we shall rightly hear from them those words which God speaks to the sinner: "Why do you dare to take into your memory and to utter with your tongue the names of the saints, and to recount their manner of life, full of virtue and purity? You, indeed, hated a virtuous life, and cast far from yourself the purity of soul and body. If you saw a thief, you ran with him, and set your portion with adulterers. Your mouth abounded in malice, and your tongue wove deceits. Sitting, you spoke against your brother, and against your mother’s son you laid
scandalum. A God does not receive the hymn, brothers, from such mouths, nor do the saints of God; for if any one of us, should he touch dung with his hand, does not use [it], having first washed it off, how shall God accept gifts from a defiled body and mouth, unless we first cleanse ourselves? For sin is much more loathsome than dung: deceit, falsehood, envy, hatred, greed, betrayal, shameful thoughts and shameful words, and the foul deeds that follow these. But how shall one who has fallen into these become clean again? By repentance, by confession, by good works, and by assiduous prayer to God.
B Therefore, in these commemorations of the saints that we celebrate, when we are free from our arts and labors, let this be our consideration: how we may withdraw and be set free from those sins and pollutions into which each one of us has fallen. But if, even then, we indulge in sports or trifles or drunkenness against our own souls, how can we say that we are celebrating the saints, while we keep the day in a shameful manner? But I beseech you, brothers, let it be far from us to celebrate them in such a way; rather, let us also present ourselves, in body and soul, acceptable to God, at least during these festive days, so that by the prayers of the saints we ourselves may also become partakers of that boundless joy and celebration—to which may it be granted that we all attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs glory with his eternal Father, and the most holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and for the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XXVI
C Delivered at the time of harvest; where one speaks of the spiritual harvest.The Creator and Lord of all, who out of his goodness made all things from nothing, after all things, in accordance with the abundance of his power and the ineffable and even inconceivable riches of his wisdom and kindness, created man, having wondrously collected and, as it were, gathered together the whole of creation into one small work. Therefore, he created him last, composed of both worlds and adorning both worlds, I mean the visible and the invisible. For he ineffably joined the mind and the senses within him, D which he had united by means of most ingenious bonds, as if by links, namely fantasy, appearance, and the faculty of imagination. Thus he fashioned the same being as both intellectual and visible, just as he had adapted the restless heaven to the immovable earth through intermediate things, and had made the same world both ever-standing and ever-moving; for, like a machine constructed by a single craftsman, man and this world have a great affinity between them; they surpass one another, the one indeed in magnitude, the other truly in intelligence.
A And man is stored up within the world, just as a precious treasure is kept in a great house, being in many measures far more precious than that which contains him; and just as in a palace there are kingly vessels, various and highly prized—these being fashioned from the largest of stones, but cheap and common ones, while those are made of small, yet scarce and highly prized stones. How far superior to the heaven is the human mind, which is the image of God, and knows God, and alone among earthly things becomes—if it so wills—God, bearing along with it the body of humility. How far human sense excels the earth, not only perceiving its measurements and diverse qualities, but already having attained even the heavenly spheres with its knowledge, and having perceived their diverse and multiform movements, and having known the gatherings and positions of the stars and constellations—perchance also their hidden meanings—and from there having granted the starting point to the sciences according to the mind. And the things between heaven and earth, those on the boundary of mind and sense, are less in value, being analogous to these, B and differing in the highest degree from the masses that contain them.
For God thus adorned our nature, as something that was to be His own garment; for He was about to put this on from virginal blood and to transform it for the better, and to place it on high, above every principality and power, and every name that is named, whether in this present age or in that which is to come. Foreseeing and providing for this, God, wisely at once and humanely, thus honored it with many, or rather, with all kinds of gifts; and since He gave us twofold, or rather manifold, faculties of knowledge, mind and sense, having also granted the things between them, for this reason He made each one for knowledge and action.
Homily XXVI
Summer, then, is the annual season that has just arrived, yet summer is not lacking in us; for we have not only a sensible, C but also a rational and spiritual summer; and for both these kinds of summer, the cycle of the year is the season. Now, therefore, since we are standing within the holy precincts, having lifted our heads a little from there, let us fix our hopes upon Him, and having transferred our mind on high, let us be occupied with the understanding of the rational and spiritual summer; concerning which we shall now say a few words to your love, providing you from this very fact an incentive toward salvation.
For I, as I see the majority dispersed outside the city for each period of the year, when this season arrives, D and laboring at the summer, and at the gathering and harvesting of the fruits, turn such thoughts over within myself: since there is also a summer of men, and it cuts them off from this present, fleeting life, and brings them over into another future and abiding life, does anyone—reaping the soul-less stalks, or hiring others to reap, and selecting the fruits, or buying from those who have selected them, and gathering them into a storehouse—make mention of that harvest which is to overtake him, and care for this double and manifold harvest that is laid before us?
A Or has everyone entirely bowed down to the earth, like those who work the soil with their bodies, and thus possess a mind that does not look upward, nor stand apart from earthly things? But if this is so, we differ in no way from the Gentiles; for they are entirely occupied with earthly cares with all the power of their soul and body, for they have no word concerning things to come, and naturally neither faith nor any understanding of heavenly things. For this reason, it is written: “The whole life of the ungodly is in the thought of base and corruptible things.” Therefore, Christ also said to us in the Gospels: “Do not be anxious for your soul, what you shall eat and what you shall drink, nor for your body, what you shall put on,” and He added, “For the Gentiles seek all these things.” He does not take away from us the labor, but He wards off the anxiety, so that having placed our hope in God, we may not perform our work in despair, nor foolishly place our hope in it. Do not, therefore, be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?”—constantly revolving this in your mind, as if excusing yourselves because of urgent need, you strain and torture your mind in these things, disdaining to look upward. For this reason, God has so fashioned our nature, so that the body might not only be stationary, but also mobile and capable of moving from place to place, and doing all that is necessary, while the thought B can exist in other powers, so that the body may do what is its own, but the soul, looking up to God, may seek from Him heavenly things. Because He exhorted us not to be anxious for the soul, for that is the way of the Gentiles, He added: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” By this He showed that if you have your soul’s meditations attentive to God, you will suffer no loss from this regarding the things necessary for the body, but rather you will undoubtedly have them along with the salvation of your soul, as the Lord provides. For He is the one who opens His hand and fills every living thing with blessing. To Him David said: “You have fashioned summer and spring,” speaking not only of visible things, but also of invisible ones. Therefore, he preferred spring to summer; for unless you have attained the cutting off of the faithless, or of base deeds and men, you will not flourish in virtues like the spring.
C There is, therefore, there is, brothers, a harvest and a spring and a seed, not only corporal but also intellectual; and not only intellectual, but also spiritual, just as there is planting, and vintage, and similar things, as well as agriculture and fields. The husbandman of this field is God, as the Apostle also says to the Corinthians: “You are God’s husbandry, God’s building.” And the Lord Himself said to the disciples: “I am the vine, you are the branches; My Father is the husbandman.” And elsewhere, again concerning Himself: “A sower went out to sow his seed,” and this seed is the word of doctrine. Since, therefore, the word of doctrine D and of the Spirit has the nature of a seed, this seed certainly also has a harvest...
accomplished through faith. And showing this once again, the Lord himself, when people in their entirety were beginning to approach his faith, said to his own disciples: “Lift up your eyes, and see the fields, for they are already white for harvest; and he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit unto life eternal.” A For just as, under the heat of the sensible sun, the ears of grain dry out and, having put off the color derived from moisture, become white and are naturally prepared for harvest and gathering, so too, when the Sun of righteousness was then visiting the earth through the flesh, by the power of his presence the souls of men were becoming white, being cleansed; they were being transformed from the clouding and diffusion that arise in them from a life given to pleasure, and they were thus prepared for the spiritual harvest, so that they might be cut off more completely from impiety and unbelief and, through true faith, be gathered into life eternal. And if anyone wishes to grasp the truth of this word, how the power of the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at that time made the hearts of men as it were whiter and purer and prepared for the faith of piety, let him reflect that all nations at that time did not confess one God as Lord and Creator of the all, but were devoted to the sun and moon and stars and other creatures and their idols as to gods. But the power of Christ’s presence persuaded everyone to confess one God, the Lord and Maker of all. And that which Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and that Moses, and the law given by him, were able to accomplish only for the race of the Jews—persuading them to worship one God—and which they could not sustain to the end even for this race alone, although the divine dogma had been handed down to them from their ancestors from above, this the power of the Lord’s presence achieved for all families and nations. And thus the fields became prepared for the spiritual harvest, with those from every nation who believed that there is one Maker of the all approaching Christ readily, and arriving at true piety, those who listen with understanding to the prophetic and B apostolic preaching and search the Scriptures.
Thus, having appeared on earth, the Lord alone raised the whole human race from the error of idols, even if he did not make everyone pious. For indeed, even in the age to come, the power of his second coming will raise everyone up from death, even if he does not deem everyone worthy of true life. For the impious and the ungodly, and those who have not received here, through confession and repentance, the forgiveness of their sins—in that they have neither firmly kept nor cleansed themselves from the measureless desires of the flesh, which are gluttony, much drinking, drunkenness, and luxury, from which the intemperance of the passions of the stomach sprouts, along with effeminacy, fornication, adultery, and every licentiousness, through which are rendered desirable those shameful words and things heard, pleasant in
A themselves but demanding expenditures, and they make those who are caught by them into thieves, covetous people, the unjust, and plunderers. And what need is there to speak of the hatreds that arise from these things, the fights that follow from them, and the countless swarm of shameful passions and thoughts in the soul? Those, therefore, who have not kept themselves from these, or have not rendered God propitious through confession and repentance, shall indeed rise again, but they shall inherit a life more bitter than death, delivered over to endless pain, affliction, anguish, and shame, dwelling with restless worms B and being burned with a dark and unquenchable fire, just as the prophet Isaiah says: “The ungodly and the sinners shall be consumed together, and there shall be none to quench them.” Therefore also the Apostle says to the Ephesians: “Know this, understanding that every fornicator, or unclean person, or covetous man, who is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” And further securing the point, and muzzling those who teach otherwise, he adds: “Let no one deceive you with empty words; for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.” Just so, writing again to the Corinthians, the same author says: “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites, nor covetous, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor plunderers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
But those who rightly believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, C and demonstrate faith through works, and keep watch over themselves, or cleanse themselves through confession and repentance from the defilements of the previously mentioned sins, and practice the virtues that are contrary to vices—temperance, chastity, charity, almsgiving, justice, and truth—all these, having risen again, shall hear from the King of heaven himself: “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” And thus they shall reign with Christ, having inherited a heavenly and unshakable kingdom, and living forever in light ineffable and without evening, which is never interrupted by night, and dwelling together with the saints of all ages in unspeakable delight, in the bosom D of Abraham, where pain, sorrow, and sighing have fled away. For while for inanimate ears of corn there is but one harvest, for the rational ears—the human race, I mean—there is one, which we said that the harvester, gathering from unbelief to faith those who receive the proclamation of the Gospel, reaps. And the reapers of this harvest are the apostles of the Lord, and their successors, and the teachers of the Church in their own times, concerning whom Christ also said above that: “He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life.” For such a reward shall the teachers of piety receive from God, in proportion to how many they gather persuaded to eternal life. There is yet another harvest: the translation of each one through death from the present life to the future, which harvest has not apostles but angels as reapers, who in some way excel the apostles, because after
teachers of piety, gathering those who are persuaded unto eternal life. There is another transposition of each of us from the present life to the future life through death; and He who has not the apostles, but the angels—who possess something even more than the apostles, because they are chosen for the harvest—separates the tares from the wheat, the wicked from the good; and the good they escort into the kingdom of heaven, but the wicked they cast into the furnace of fire. But the presentation of this from the Gospel of Christ, He Himself providing the time and the word, shall be shown another time. B May it come to pass for us, just as now we are the chosen people of God, a holy nation, the Church of the living God, separated from all the ungodly and the impious, so also in the future age we may be found separated from the tares, and joined to the portion of those who are being saved, in Christ Himself our Lord, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
HOMILY XXVII.
Spoken also at the time of harvest; where it also treats of our future spiritual harvest."The word which I have spoken, that will judge him," says the Lord in the Gospels. This word, brethren, we proclaim to you. Let no one therefore receive it with his ears as if it were dispersed into the air, but as something abiding and destined to provide salvation to those who show their faith through works, but to those who set it at naught and demonstrate the opposite through their deeds, to rise up as an accuser in that future and terrible judgment. For just as each of us has a house and kinsfolk, and a field, and perhaps a vineyard, and furthermore cattle, C money, and various possessions, so God, because of His own philanthropy, considers us all these things. "For we are the house of God," says the Apostle, "if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." By means of the confidence, he shows piety, and by means of the rejoicing of the hope, he shows a life pleasing to God; just as God said through the Prophet: "Be ye holy, for I am holy." And John, the beloved of Christ, shows this, saying: "It does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; and everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." We are therefore and remain the house of Him who says: "I will dwell in them, and I will walk among them, and I will be their God," if we lead a pious and pure life. But if we live unjustly and without repentance, we shall hear from Him: "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate"; and we shall be abandoned, that I may speak again according to the Scripture, "as a lodge in a vineyard, D and as a cottage in a garden of cucumbers," which, when the time of use has passed, contain nothing of good kept within.
That the Lord also considers us as kinsfolk, He Himself is the one who says: "Whoever shall do the will of My Father who is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother." Do you see that to you he...
A procures the highest kinship? A life beloved of God, a life in virtues, is to live according to the divine commandments; for this is the will of the most high Father. But he who does not do the will of the most high and heavenly Father is so far from that kinship with Him, that he even has a connection of lineage with the adversary of God. Therefore the Lord said to the Jews: "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do." And when they boasted that they were children of Abraham, He said to them again: "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham." Now the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth is the house of Israel, according to Isaiah, B that is, everyone who has devoted himself to piety. This vineyard receives care and cultivation from God when it bears fruit pleasing to God; but if it produces thorns instead of grapes—that is, the stings of death, which are sins—it is left neglected and is truly handed over to be trodden underfoot by savage and wicked demons, and is cast into the fire to be burned. For this reason the Lord also, saying to His own disciples, "I am the vine, you are the branches, and My Father is the husbandman," added: "Every branch in Me that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit; and every one that does not bear fruit is cast forth as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and it is burned." And that He also C accounts us as His own flock, when He addressed the leader of the leading choir of the apostles, He said: "Peter, do you love Me? Feed My lambs, feed My sheep." For we all wandered like sheep, and we were lost like a drachma falling from the Lord's hand; but the good Shepherd came, the Master by nature, and He sought, found, saved, and joined us to Himself by an ineffable bond.
Let us therefore follow, brothers, the good Shepherd Christ, who leads us to the pastures and folds of eternal life. Let us preserve through the virtues our image and likeness with Him, so that we may not fall from the life-giving hand. Let us bear fruit for Him through good works, so that we may be the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth and a beloved D new planting. Let us do the good, and perfect, and well-pleasing will of God, that we may possess Him as our Father. Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, that we may be accounted worthy of being the house of God; for He, having our lineage not only as a vine and a house, but also as His own field and a planted acre—"The kingdom of heaven," He says, "is likened unto a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way." It is not out of season that the word has brought this parable into our midst; for through it we can pay the debt and fulfill the promise which we made to your charity in the preceding homily. For while teaching you concerning the mystical and spiritual harvest—since the spiritual harvest is the translation from infidelity into faith,
A I stated and demonstrated that the holy apostles and their successors, and the teachers of piety down to our own generations, are the reapers. But concerning the rational harvest—which is the transition of each of us from here to the future life—I said that the holy angels of God are the reapers, and that they have a greater role than the apostles, because even after the harvest they select and separate, placing the good in one part and the wicked in another; and they escort the former into the kingdom of God, while they cast the latter into the gehenna of fire. I said these things previously, but I did not demonstrate them; rather, I promised, God granting the time and the word, to provide the proof which is now sufficiently rendered through this parable of the Lord. For He says, "Seeing the tares in the field, the servants of the householder said to the master: Do you wish that we go and gather them?" And He said, "No, lest in gathering the tares you root up the wheat along with them; but in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather first the tares, and bind them into bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn."
The tares, then, as the Lord also says, are the sons of the wicked one; for by the likeness of their deeds they bear his character, and they remain his seed and adoptive sons. And the time of the harvest is the consummation of this age; for although it began long ago, and is even now being accomplished through death, yet then it shall receive its complete end. And the reapers are the angels; for they are, and especially at that hour shall be, the ministers of the heavenly kingdom. For, He says, "Just as the tares are gathered and burned with fire, so shall it be in the consummation of this age; the Son of Man will send,"—and He himself is also the Son of the most high Father—"He will send, therefore, His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all scandals." B For our Lord Jesus Christ, as God, is the Master and King of all, of heaven and of earth, and of those things above the heaven; but as man, having become such for our sake, and having through the cross overthrown him who through deceit enslaved our race, and having redeemed us through Himself, and brought us to His own Begetter, He has as His own kingdom the human race, and most especially the holy Church from every race. He will send, therefore, His angels, and they will gather out of this kingdom of His all scandals, and those who do lawlessness—that is to say, the heretics, and those who have not departed from sin through works of repentance; for all sin is lawlessness. Having gathered these, therefore, they will cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. See, brethren, a harvest and a separation indeed most fearful and terrible! C And it is true, therefore, that the angels are the reapers of this harvest, and that they perform a greater work than the apostles, as I said. Therefore, the servants of the householder, that is, the angels of God, seeing the tares in the field, that is, the impious and perverse men dwelling together with the good in the Church of Christ, and conversing with them, said to the Master: "Do you wish...
A that we should go and gather them?" That is to say, should we remove them from the earth by means of death? But the Lord said to them: "No, lest in gathering the tares you should root out at the same time the wheat."
SYNODICAL TOME II
A those who held and spoke in opposition appeared to be saying B, "Why do you say that the light on the mount, the light of the tri-hypostatic divinity in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a creature?"—utterly rejecting the voices of the holy Fathers and teachers that instruct that it is uncreated divinity and his natural glory and radiance, and an eternal and beginningless grace. For this reason I said that these things are full of all impiety and are alien to the orthodox Church of Christ. He indeed pretended in his words to yield once again to those things held by the holy Church of Christ—speaking this deceitfully and craftily, and not from an upright soul—yet he insisted, lying, that he did not know at all that the God-bearing Fathers and teachers of the Church said openly in this way that that light is uncreated. To which he heard from me again that, whether he knows this or is feigning not to know out of purpose, or even if, as he says, he happens to be ignorant, he is ignorant willingly. For if he had wished, he would have found this immediately lying openly in the writings of the saints everywhere. And it is not the act of an upright man, wishing to learn the truth, to pass by and overlook the utterances of the saints in which they clearly say this, and to bring forward others that perhaps admit of being explained in another way. But rather, if he should wish to satisfy us in all things, it is necessary for him both to sign the holy Tome, as we have done, and to overturn the things badly written by him, not by words only, but by writings. Since a word ought to be undone by word, and writings by writings. C But when he replied that "I am not able to write other things for the overturning of those which I have written, since I have written what I believed, and I have not the power again to write the opposite; I say what the Church says, and I do not overturn them by words"—saying this also falsely and deceitfully, and not truly, as later appeared—our humility said that it was necessary and indispensable for him to undo and overturn his previous writings with another small writing, making use of the words of the God-bearing Fathers and teachers of the Church; for he should not return immediately to the holy mountain, but ought to winter here. For which reasons I instructed him to read also the holy books, which can provide him with much benefit, and especially the *Acts* of the holy and ecumenical Sixth Council, the dialogue of the divine Maximus against Pyrrhus, and the dogmatic book of the God-bearing Father John of Damascus. My entire aim in this happened to be that, having read these, and having come into knowledge of the holy dogmas of our sound faith, he might then gladly receive our words, and remove every doubt from his own soul, and proceed to the undoing of his own impious writings through other, contrary ones. And he appeared to us to receive these things well, and as we wished, and the whole of his desire was perhaps committed to us, and to our judgment and discernment; but to all those outside he gave them to the patriarch, saying, "I have read the books, as if I had not seen them. I, having read these well and with much care, know also what is contained in them." The man does not solve my writings and the difficulties in them, but tells me to read the books of the saints. And he said many other such things and more than these, which I, hearing from many, pretended not to understand. D When, therefore, these things were in this state, he wrote a *pittakion* to the most holy abbot of the holy Laura, which, having been read there, all were troubled together—hesychasts, and clergy, and all the monks. And having gathered together with the most God-beloved Bishop of Peritheorion and the Holy Mountain, they anathematized him as corrupt and incorrigible. Then they sent the most reverend hieromonk Lord Joseph to our humility, with written reports from the said most God-beloved bishop, the most holy abbot of the hesychasts, and the priests, begging and entreating through the stated reports to receive the authority and the anathema from us, and that this man be cast out, and deposed, and not received in any way. Since they also did not do what they did of themselves, but rather following the catholic Church of Christ, and the holy Tome of the Council, declaring that the same things apply if anyone be found holding, and saying, and writing the same things as Barlaam and Akindynos. They sent also the *pittakion* written by him to the holy abbot, as proof of his impiety. Our humility, having seen all of these, had the necessity to show these to the holy and great council around it. For even though so much time had passed since he came here, it did not make known to it the matters concerning him, because our humility heard from him that he cherished what the Church of Christ cherishes, and was undoing his own writings, as he said. For these reasons, therefore, until now it did not share these things with the holy and great council around it, awaiting his pure repentance. But since it received the letters from the Holy Mountain, it had the necessity to share everything concerning these things also with it. And indeed, the most holy archbishops and metropolitans having been gathered—those
A who, and willingly awaiting their conversion. But those who have not repented here, then, being deprived both of divine forbearance and long-suffering, and of the enjoyment of the created things of God, and having thus become further distant from God and deprived of hope itself, shall be delivered to eternal punishment.
And now, being indeed outside the true light, A then, as we said, having become further removed from it, they are delivered to the outer darkness of the existing light, and to consolationless affliction and anguish, as also the Apostle says: “The goodness of God leads you to repentance, but because of your hardness and impenitent heart, you are storing up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Rom. II, 4, 5). Who, then, shall endure the wrath of the Lord? Who shall then endure that reproof and shame which the Lord pointed out to us in the Gospel through the parable, saying to him who was clothed in the unsightly garment of sin: “How did you enter here not having a wedding garment?”—which is the most graceful adornment of virtue? For he was struck speechless, having no mouth to open. B Who shall endure that divine sentence of wrath, and the most vehement impulse of the angels for the fulfillment of that sentence, as they snatch the condemned person away from the choir of the just, and separate them like tares from the wheat, and bind them mercilessly, and thrust them away into Gehenna! Who shall endure that outer and eternally lightless darkness, that ceaseless and consolationless agitation from vehement mourning, and the gnashing and clashing of teeth? The unceasing and unbearable pain from the burning of the unquenchable fire? And of what sort is that fire, which touches both bodies and those who exist in bodies, and embraces with immortal torments those spiritual beings who are not in bodies, by which even our fire shall be melted, according to that which is written: “The elements shall melt with fervent heat.” C But what an increase of pain is the unexpectedness of redemption! And what it is not even to see the abyss of evil in which we lie! For that fire does not emit light. For that harvest signifies the same thing as that threshing floor which Christ, holding the winnowing fan in His hand, will cleanse, as His forerunner and Baptist taught; and the wheat indeed He will gather into His storehouse, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire. For the Baptist called the angelic powers the winnowing fan existing in the hand of Christ; and the winnowing fan is the winnowing shovel.
Just as, therefore, this in the hands of the farmer D is moved whenever and however the farmer wills, so also the angels, being in the hand and at the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, are moved whenever and however He Himself wills, and they fulfill His will. And that which in that harvest He called a field, here He called a threshing floor; for on the threshing floor all things collected from the field undergo discernment. And the gathering of the tares there He called the cleansing of the threshing floor here. And the tares He here called chaff; for the tares, since they are light and empty of fruit,
are swept away by the wind along with the chaff. Perhaps something more is being hinted at here through the A chaff: that not only those who are harmful to their good neighbors—as the tares are harmful to those who have grown up with them—are worthy of fire, but also those who are not harmful to others, yet are unstable and useless in themselves due to their infertility, are also worthy of the fire. And where He there called it a furnace of fire, He here called it unquenchable fire, showing that the coming and remaining torment for those who, because of the lack of virtue and a life filled with passions and sins, have been likened to chaff and tares, is unending. And what He there called the barn, He interprets here as the kingdom of God: "For then," He says, "the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Why did He not say "in the kingdom of God," but "in the kingdom of their B Father"? To show that a man first becomes a son of God and is worthy to call God his Father, and so then justifiably becomes the heir of His kingdom. But how does man become a son of God? Through the likeness of his works. Therefore the Lord also said to the Jews who were saying that they were children of Abraham: "If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham." And when they said again, "We have one Father, God," He said to them: "If God were your Father, you would love me; for I proceeded and came forth from God; you are of your father the devil, and you want to do his desires." Do you see how through wicked desires and deeds man is made a son of the devil, and thus becomes an heir of the eternal fire? So also, through good desires and deeds, he is made like unto C God, and becomes a son to Him, and an heir of His kingdom. And showing that virtue is this likeness to God, the Lord says: "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also may love one another; and if I your Lord and Master have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet; for I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you also should do." And: "Learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." And: "Be merciful, as your Father is merciful." And: "Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward D will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked." Therefore, he who through love and the other virtues possesses the likeness toward God, this man, having obtained God as a Father through his works, shall be an heir of the Father's kingdom, from which he who falls away does not simply fail to attain it, but is also handed over to lightless darkness, and to fire that burns unbearably and endlessly. Whoever therefore wishes to be rescued
and of that unrelenting torment, and that eternal kingdom of God to inherit, let him not be tares, a seed wicked and harmful, so as to be a common blight to the bodies and souls of those who draw near, a God-hated example set before them of wicked works and words; nor chaff and stubble, so light as to be easily swept away by the breezes and assaults of the wicked spirit, and so useless as to be set out as food for irrational passions and demons; but let him be wheat, abstaining from all useless and wicked deeds and words, practicing the contrary virtues, and bearing the fruits of repentance. For thus would he be worthy of the heavenly granary, and would be called a son of the most high Father, and would enter into His kingdom as an heir rejoicing, illumined by the divine glory. May we all attain to this, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with His unbeginning Father, and with the all-holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, glory is due, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XXVIII
B Pronounced on the feast of the holy and chief apostles Peter and Paul.The memory of each of the saints, arriving on this their feast day, is a cause of common rejoicing for peoples and cities, and for citizens and leaders alike, and it becomes a cause of the greatest profit for all who keep the feast. For "the memory of the just is with praises," as the wise Solomon says, "and when the just is praised, the peoples shall rejoice." For just as when a lamp is lit at night, its light shines for the need and enjoyment of all who are present, so too the God-pleasing life of each of the saints, and his blessed end, C and the grace given to him by God on account of the purity of his life, becomes like a bright torch brought into the midst through their memory, providing spiritual joy and profit to those who are gathered together. And just as when a harvest occurs upon the earth, not only the farmers but all people rejoice—for the enjoyment of the fruits of the earth is common to all—so too, the fruit-bearing unto God through the virtue of the saints does not gladden only the cultivator of souls, but all of us as well, as it is set forth for the common nourishment and enjoyment of our souls. Since even in this life, all the saints present are an incitement to virtue for all who hear and see them with understanding; for they are living D images of virtue, self-moving pillars of all goodness, books that are alive and speaking of things leading to the better way. And having departed from this life, through the memory of the good things that were in them, they preserve for us an immortal profit from themselves. And the memory of their good works is an encomium for them, owed by us to them on account of their former benefit, but it is also useful to us even now, because of the benefit that still accrues to us from them.
A We do not add anything to their good deeds by calling to mind what they have done; for how could we, who are not even capable of presenting their total virtue? For they strove to attain those rewards promised by God that surpass speech, insofar as human nature was able, and they manifested a corresponding way of life that clearly surpasses every word. We do not, therefore, increase the things that have accrued to them by singing their praises—far from it! Rather, we increase the good things that come to us from them by directing ourselves toward them as toward some God-bright lamps, and by understanding and receiving more and more the beauty-making power dispensed from them. But if the memorial of each of the saints, as we have said, is celebrated by us with hymns and fitting encomia, how much more so should the memorial of Peter and Paul, the leading peak of the choir B of the apostles be? They are the common fathers and leaders of all those called by Christ—apostles, martyrs, holy ones, priests, hierarchs, shepherds, and teachers—and they are, as it were, the chief shepherds and architects of the common piety and virtue of all who are shepherded and taught. Just as lights in the world, holding the word of life, they shine above those who have shone through piety and virtue as much as the sun shines above the rest of the stars, or as the "heavens of heavens" telling of the highest glory of God; they surpass the magnitudes of the heavens, the beauty of the stars, the speed of both, and the order and power of all these, as much as they manifest things that transcend the senses—the supercelestial and supermundane realms—to these very things C themselves. They illuminate with a light in which there is no change or shadow of turning, not only leading men out of darkness into this wondrous light, but also making those who share in it, through its distribution, light themselves, and offspring of the perfect light; so that, when the chief-light and God-man Word shall appear and be manifested in glory, each of them shall shine like the sun. Such are the luminaries that have risen for us together today, brightening the Church. For their conjunction does not produce an eclipse, but a superabundance of light; for the one is not stationed on high while the other has descended so as to pass underneath and cast a shadow upon the other; nor does one lead the day while D the other leads the night, so as to fall into shadow when positioned opposite; nor does one emit and the other receive light so as to suffer alternation from elsewhere, experiencing the illumination differently at different times according to the measure of the distance. Rather, as both are partakers of Christ, the perennial fountain of eternal light, they have equally attained the same height, glory, and splendor. Therefore, the union of these luminaries is a conjunction that sends forth a twofold illumination into the souls of the faithful.
But the first apostate, who made the first man to apostatize from God, seeing that He who had created Adam, the father of the human race, was now recreating Peter as the father of the race of the
truly pious, and not only saw but also heard Him saying to him, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church." Having learned this, that author of evil, with his innate malice, also ensnares Peter, the leader of the race of the godly, just as he once did to Adam, the leader of the human race. And knowing that he was adorned with understanding, but was momentarily empty of love toward Christ, he does not dare to attack him face-to-face, but like one from the flank, and from that very right side, he sets himself to steal upon him with much cunning and incite him beyond what is proper. And at the time of the saving passion, when the Lord said to the disciples, "In this night all of you will take offense at Me," he himself contradicted and would not believe. And not only this, but he also placed himself above the others, saying, "Even though all take offense, yet will not I." B Being abandoned then, rather than the others, as one stolen by arrogance, so that having been humbled more than the others, he might appear more brilliant in due time—not like Adam, who was tempted and defeated at the same time and utterly brought down, but tempted and momentarily overcome, yet soon triumphant over the tempter. How? By his self-condemnation straightway, and by bitter sorrow and repentance, and by the effective remedy for propitiation, tears. For "A heart," he says, "that is broken and humbled, God will not despise." And sorrow according to God works repentance unto salvation that is not to be regretted; and he who sows in tears will reap forgiveness in exultation.
One might see, upon examining him, that he had not only sufficiently healed the denial into which he had been swept, by means of repentance and sorrowful mourning, C but that he had also cast out from his soul the very passion of arrogance through which he had been abandoned more than the others. And desiring to show this to all, the Lord, after His passion in the flesh for us and His three-day resurrection from the dead, used the words now read in the Gospel, saying to him, "Simon son of Jona, do you love Me more than these?"—meaning, clearly, than My disciples? Observe his change toward a greater humility. For he who previously, even when not asked, had set himself above others, saying, "Even though all, yet not I," now, being asked if he loves more than the others, agrees as to the loving, but omits the "more," saying, "Yes, Lord, You know that I love You." What then does the Lord do? Since He showed that he had neither fallen from his love for Him nor failed to acquire humility, He openly fulfills what He had long before promised him, and says to him, "Feed My lambs." For if He calls the gathering of those believing in Him an D "edification," He promises to set him as the foundation, saying, "You are," He says, "Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church." But when the discourse is about fishing, He makes him a fisher of men: "From now on," He says, "you will catch men." And when He calls His own people a flock, He appoints Peter as shepherd: "Feed," He says, "My lambs, feed My sheep."
A Consider, brothers, from this point forward, how greatly the Lord desires our salvation; for He desires it to such an extent that He seeks nothing else from those who love Him than that they lead us into salutary pastures and a fold of safety. Let us, therefore, also desire our own salvation, and let us obey those who lead us toward it, both by word and deed. For it suffices for each of us to knock at the door that leads to salvation, and at once a guide prepared by the common Savior will be present, standing in readiness on account of His excessive love, as if invited by us ourselves, or rather, needing no invitation. He asks three times, so that by answering three times, Peter may make a good confession, and by the threefold confession, may heal the threefold denial; and three times He sets him over His own lambs and sheep, placing under Peter the three orders of those who are being saved: servants, hirelings, and sons—or virginity, chaste widowhood, and honorable marriage.
B Peter, however, when asked again and again if he loved Christ, was saddened, thinking that he was being asked repeatedly because he was not trusted. But knowing that he loved Him, and not unaware that he was known more by the One asking him than by himself, constrained as it were from all sides, he not only confesses that he loves Him, but also proclaims that the One loved by him is the God over all, saying: "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You"—for to know all things belongs to God alone, who is over all things. The Lord, however, not only establishes the author of such a confession as shepherd and chief shepherd of His whole Church, but also promises to gird him with such strength that he would stand firm even until death—and that the death of the cross—a man who, before this strengthening, could not bear even the interrogation and conversation of a single servant girl.
C "Amen, amen, I say to you," He says to him, "when you were younger, and in both bodily and spiritual youth, you used to gird yourself," that is, you used to use your own strength, "and walk where you wanted," since you were moved by your own will and lived according to your natural choice; "but when you have grown old," having reached the end of both bodily and spiritual youth, "you will stretch out your hands,"—by these words depicting the end through the cross—"and another will gird you," that is, will strengthen you, "and lead you where you do not want," taking you out of the number of men, because nature shrinks from dissolution through death. By these things He shows that our nature desires life, and that Peter’s martyrdom stands above the power of the same. For those things, He says, you will willingly endure for My sake, and for the sake of My testimony, being strengthened by Me, which nature, being placed above nature, is not born to desire. D But such is Peter, that he is hardly known by a few. But what of Paul, and what tongue, or rather, what and how many are the [accounts of his] perseverance for Christ unto death.
A For he who was dying daily, or rather was always living dead, himself no longer living, as he himself said, but having the living Christ within himself. Because of the love of Christ, he considered not only all present things as dung, but he also placed the future behind that which is compared to love. "I am sure," he says, "that neither death, nor life, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus." He had such zeal for God, that he makes us zealous with the zeal of God. And to whom of all, if not to Peter alone, did he yield among his equals? But what was he like in humility? Let us again hear him speaking of himself: "I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle." What then, since he is the same as Peter in confession, in zeal, in humility, and in love, did he not also receive the same rewards from Him who places all things in the most righteous balance, and measure, and weight? And how is he not his equal? For this reason, to Peter He says, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church"; but what does He say concerning Paul to Ananias? "He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the nations and kings." What name? Certainly that which was called upon us, the Church of Christ, which Peter bears as a foundation. Do you see how Peter and Paul are equal in honor, and how the Church of Christ is supported by both? For this reason, she now grants one and the same honor to both, when she celebrates this festive day in praise of them both. B C
But let us, observing the outcome of these things, imitate their manner of life, if not in other things, at least in their correction through humility and repentance. For some things are great and lofty and appropriate to great men, and stir those who are great to imitation, and perhaps these are entirely inimitable by all; but correction through repentance is more appropriate to us than to them, inasmuch as we stumble in many things each day, and from nowhere else have we hope of salvation, if we do not grasp this through constant repentance. The confession of our own faults leads the way for repentance, which is a great occasion for forgiveness. "Have mercy on me," says the Psalm-singing Prophet to God, "for I know my iniquity"; for through the confession of it he receives mercy, and through confession and self-reproach he obtains complete forgiveness. "I said," he says, "I will confess my transgression against myself to the Lord, and You forgave the impiety of my heart." For after the confession of one's own sins, there follows one's own self-condemnation; and to this follows sadness over one's sins, which Paul called sadness according to God. From this sadness according to God, there naturally follows toward God, with a contrite heart, confession and supplication, and the promise of abstinence from evils in the future, and this is repentance. D
A And through this, that Manasses indeed was snatched away from the punishment due for his sins, although he had fallen into a multitude and greatness and depth of transgressions, and had wallowed in these for many periods of years. The Lord did not only take away the sin of David because of his repentance, but he did not strip him of the prophetic grace. Utilizing this, Peter also not only arose from his fall and obtained remission, but he was also allotted the supervision of the Church of Christ. B You will find Paul also claiming this as his own, both after his conversion and his progress, and his intimacy with God above others; for repentance, if it truly arises from the heart, persuades the one who possesses it to add no more to his sins, to be no longer melted away by things that decay, to be no longer cast down by unseemly pleasures, but to despise present things, to lay hold of those that are to come, to struggle against the passions, to claim the virtues as one's own, to be temperate in all things, to keep watch in prayers to God, to abstain from gain derived from injustice, to be merciful to those who sin against him, kind to those who entreat him, and to those needing help from him, to be most ready in words, deeds, and expenditures, C bending himself from the heart to all, in order that he may gain humanitarianism for the humanitarian, and may receive from God the love toward his neighbor, and may draw to himself the divine favor, and may possess the eternal mercy and the everlasting divine blessing and grace; of which may it be granted to us all to attain by the grace of the only-begotten Son of God, to whom belongs glory, power, honor, and adoration with his beginningless Father, and with the all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XXIX
On the healing of the paralytic in Capharnaum according to the evangelist Matthew; and on sadness according to God.D That the evangelical voice is comparable to a honeycomb is something one can learn from many places; for the throat of the spiritual bridegroom of souls, the one beautiful in beauty above the sons of men, is as it is written in the Song of Songs, sweetness and altogether desirable. And regarding the soul betrothed to him through the spirit of wisdom and incorruption, the same author of the Song speaks thus: "Thy lips, O bride, drop honeycomb; honey and milk are under thy tongue." All the evangelists are indeed such, whose discourse carries the narrative to be likened to a honeycomb, in which is included—or rather, is offered—the moral doctrine, similar to honey and milk, and suitable not only to the perfect, but also, as it were, as a certain spiritual milk to the imperfect and the weak. He says "to drip," not "to gush forth abundantly," the lips of the spiritual bride; for he reflects upon the immense abyss of the spiritual bridegroom's wisdom and power, and upon the multitude of his wonders.
HOMILY XXIX
A of that bridegroom’s wisdom and power, and the multitude of those things which came to be from such wisdom and power! "For if the things which Jesus did were written one by one, I do not think the world itself could contain the books that would be written," says the most theological of the evangelists. Yet for us, even this drop is a deep abyss and an inexhaustible sea. Therefore, although we have already finished discoursing before your charity concerning the miracle wrought upon the paralytic when Mark proclaimed it to the Church, and through the grace contained in it nourished your souls, now, as we study this same miracle as recorded by the evangelist Matthew, we shall again find in it a great wealth of spiritual food; or rather, we shall now reveal some portion of the treasure that lies hidden within it, and this little will suffice for all and abound, like those loaves with which the Lord fed the thousands in the desert, which multiplied as they were distributed. Then, indeed, I first set before you the honey with the comb as nourishment, unfolding the history along with the more refined and moral meaning that appeared therein; but now, extracting from the honey as much as time permits, I shall through this receive those gathered today for this spiritual banquet.
"At that time, Jesus entered into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own city; and behold, they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed." C There, indeed, we previously showed that this paralytic is not the same as the one who received healing in Jerusalem according to John, and that Jesus’ own city is called Capharnaum, and why this alone of other cities is called his. And, as we tasted the stored-up honey, presenting you as spiritual guests and considering the history anagogically as an example enticing us toward virtue, we said that the own city of Jesus to which he came was this world. For "he came to his own," according to the evangelist. And we said that the paralytic is each person’s soul, when it takes up the intention of turning back and is carried to the Lord by four things: by its own self-condemnation, by the confession of its sins, by the promise to abstain from evils, and by prayer to God. But here, hearing Matthew saying that Jesus entered into a boat and crossed over and came to his own city, we have from the history anagogically another meaning, which is again—even if it seems different to outward appearances—consonant with the previous one: that the common Savior of all, having clothed himself in our nature, crossed the sea of this life of ours and came to his own city, that supercelestial seat and dwelling, which is above every principality and power and every name and dignity known, whether in this age or the one to come; D for that truly is his own place, which is accessible to him alone. Declaring this, the Psalmist said: "The heaven of heaven is the Lord’s," as if to say
as one who is truly the Lord’s own place. But since the Lord did not put off our nature when he came to his own place, for this reason this evangelist, having said that Jesus entered into a boat and crossed over, did not add that he disembarked from the boat and thus came to his own city; but rather, by having entered a boat, he crossed over, and came to his own city—this suitable boat, I say, having assumed our body B while dwelling in the heavens.
When, therefore, he came to the city above, and entered into the true Holy of Holies, and sat at the right hand of the Father with our fashioned nature, so that, to use the Apostle’s words, he found eternal redemption for us, then those from among the Gentiles who had received the proclamation of the truth, and who, though troubled and confused within themselves by what they heard, still remained lying on the bed of sensual pleasure—being paralyzed and refusing to take the spiritual medicine for their diseases, that is, the remission of their sins, having bodies immobile for every good work—these the apostles lifted up; that is, having chosen and separated them from those who did not receive the word of repentance and piety, they brought them to Christ. And this is done more especially by those of the apostles who wrote the Gospel; and there are four of these.
But the Lord, seeing their faith—that is, the faith of the apostles who were offering them, for they are our teachers and mediators to God, and he bestows the grace of adoption upon the imperfect—says to each of those thus brought: « Take heart, child; your sins are forgiven. » Put away, he says, the fear regarding your sins; for they are forgiven. Put away the dread of threats: for by the concession of the promises you have become my son, my heir. This is accomplished in practice through holy baptism, in which we are reborn by the Spirit of adoption, receiving the remission of prior transgressions, and become, according to the promise, heirs of God, and fellow-heirs of Christ. C But if the Scribes and Pharisees, the Greeks and Jews, do not believe in the power and grace of the holy baptism in which we believe, saying: « Who can forgive sins? » we, however, who were formerly paralyzed both in soul and body by pleasures and passions, and remained immobile toward the good, hear each of us: « Arise, and take up your bed, and go to your house, » just like that paralytic. For, being strengthened by the divine grace and power granted to us in baptism, we become resolute and swift in virtue, and we bring under control the powers of the soul and body, and the materials subject to them in our deeds, by which we were previously held captive, D and we direct them where it is pleasing to God and to us, and we translate even that which is transitory into the truly
eternal and heavenly mansions. In thus disposing our affairs in a manner pleasing to God, we are admired by those who see us, and they glorify God who has given such power and authority to those who believe in Him, that even while living on earth they have their citizenship in heaven. A But the grace and power of baptism, through the human-kindness of Him who provides it, remain, even if we sin after baptism, but the health and purity of the soul do not remain. For this reason, we who have sinned are again in need of sorrow and sadness for our past sins, and of that falling down in repentance, so that we may again hear mystically, each one of us, like that paralytic: "Take heart, child," and having received forgiveness, we may exchange our sorrow for joy. For this sorrow is the spiritual honey that we suck from the solid rock, according to what was said types: "They sucked honey from the rock." And the rock was Christ, as Paul says. B But do not marvel if I called sorrow honey; for it is this of which Paul again speaks, saying: "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of." For just as, to one whose tongue is wounded, honey brought to him seems bitter, but if he receives healing for his wounds, he perceives the sweetness of the honey; so also the fear of God, arising from the evangelical preaching in souls that understand, causes sorrow so long as they are still covered with the wounds of sins, but when these are cast off through repentance, they receive the evangelical joy, according to that which was said by the Savior: "And your sorrow shall be turned into joy." What sorrow? That which the disciples of the Lord felt at the loss of the Lord and Master; that which Peter felt at his denial of Him; that which every pious man feels, sorrowing over his own sins and those omissions regarding virtue, into which we also fall, and for which we should accuse ourselves, and no one else among all men. For it did not help Adam, who had transgressed the commandment, to shift the cause to Eve, nor did it help her to shift it to the primevally evil serpent; for we were made by God with free will, and having received the royal authority over the passions, the ruling principle of the soul within, we have no one at all who overcomes and forces us.
C This, therefore, is the godly and saving sorrow: to accuse ourselves, and no one else among all men, for the wrongs we ourselves have done, and to feel sorrow over ourselves, and through confession of our sins, and through the weeping of compunction for them, to appease God. D Lamech of old began this self-accusation and compunction, and he confessed his sin openly, and judged himself, and condemned himself more than Cain. For, he says, "Vengeance shall be taken sevenfold of Cain, but of Lamech seventy-sevenfold." And having thus mourned for himself as liable, through the grievous compunction for himself he escaped the condemnation from God, as also the Prophet later said: "Declare thou first thy sins, that thou mayest be justified." The Apostle also says: "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged." Thus La-
- A mech is the first recorded as having escaped the judgment from above through repentance and the sorrow for sins. After him were the Ninevites, a whole city and a multitude beyond numbering. These people not only sinned, but upon receiving the prediction of vengeance, they dared to violate it through conversion and a bitter sorrow simultaneously. For they heard Jonah and believed him as he proclaimed the divine decree: "Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Having heard and believed, they did not cast themselves into the abyss of despair, nor did they place the stone of callousness upon their hearts, but said to themselves and to one another: "Who knows if God will repent and turn away from the fury of his anger, and we shall not perish?" Each turned from his evil way and from the iniquity in their hands, and they proclaimed a fast, and clothed themselves in sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them, such that the king himself sat with them in sackcloth and ashes, repenting; and they did not even let the infants suckle. For the mothers, moved as it seems by excessive grief, forgot even their suckling children, just as the Psalmist says: "I forgot to eat my bread, from the voice of my groaning." And the cattle were not grazed, for the herdsmen and shepherds, as it seems, left them enclosed in the sheepfolds and stables, being themselves held fast, motionless from excessive grief. Thus, shaping that salutary sorrow according to God, which brings salvation, they changed the divine decree against them, and stayed the wrath from above, and changed it into divine favor.
Since, therefore, almost our whole life is in C sins, it is necessary for us, brothers, to embrace this salutary sorrow and to spend our lives in repentance. For if we do not do this, as the Lord said, the Ninevites will condemn us at the resurrection, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and we have not repented at the preaching of Christ, who is the God of Jonah. And yet Jonah was not preaching repentance, but, as we have said, a decree of vengeance, a deprivation of life, destruction, death, and complete ruin. But Christ came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly, that we might receive divine adoption and the kingdom of heaven. Jonah then, preaching overthrow, did not suggest repentance, nor did he promise the kingdom of heaven; but Christ, while preaching repentance and promising the kingdom, also foretold the common and inevitable destruction. "For just as," He says, "in the days of Noah, men were given over to pleasures without fear or restraint, and suddenly the flood came and took them all away, so will it be at the consummation of this age." For the fashion of this world is passing away. Now Jonah was threatening the Ninevites at that time only with the loss of visible things, not D
A with an inescapable judgment after death, nor unquenchable fire, nor an unsleeping worm, nor outer darkness, nor the piteous gnashing of teeth, nor inconsolable mourning. But the Lord has threatened these things too, and has revealed what awaits those who lie here insensibly after the consummation of the world. Yet these things will not come to pass after three days, as Jonah preached, but after a long time, which arises from the long-suffering of God. The long-suffering of God is leading you to repentance, but you—see to it that, because of your hardness and unfeeling, uncontrite, and impenitent heart, you do not treasure up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. For the Lord will render to each according to his works: to those who in patience through the works of repentance, with a contrite heart, seek the forgiveness of sins, He will render rest and joy, and eternal life, and an unspeakable kingdom; but for those who lie in their sins unfeelingly and impenitently, there will be tribulation and anguish, and punishment B both unbearable and endless.
After the Ninevites, David has manifested himself to us as a pillar of sorrow according to God, a living pillar that speaks of that saving and godly sorrowful contrition. For he both committed the recorded sin and demonstrated what kind of mourning and repentance he showed toward God, and what kind of compassion he obtained from God. "For I said," he says, "I will confess my transgression against myself to the Lord, and You forgave the impiety of my heart." By impiety he means the root of wickedness, the passion dwelling in the soul; by transgression, the sin committed through action. Having triumphed over this before all, and through it having been stung with contrition and having mourned, he not only found forgiveness, but also received inner healing. How then did he continue mourning? Let us hear him saying again: "I was plagued all the day long, and my rebuke is in the mornings; and, I was humbled thus, as one mourning and having a downcast face; and, I will wash my bed every night; I will drench my couch with my C tears; and, I became like a pelican in a desert place, solitary as a sparrow on a housetop, and I ate ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping; and, My knees were weakened from fasting, and my flesh was changed because of oil; and, I was humbled, and the Lord saved me." He utters such cries to the Lord: "O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger, nor chasten me in Your wrath. Have mercy on me, O Lord; and, For I acknowledge my wickedness, and my sin is before me always; and, O Lord, hear my prayer, and do not enter into judgment with Your servant." Come, therefore, and let us, brothers, worship and fall down and weep, just as David himself again exhorts us, saying, before D the Lord who made us and called us to repentance, and to this saving sorrow and
of the Lord who created us and called us to repentance, and to this saving grief, mourning, and contrition. For he who lacks this grief has not heard God as He calls, nor will he be numbered among the called saints of God, nor will he attain the blessedness promised in the Gospel A and the divine consolation that is pledged. For He says, “Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” B
But someone might say: “I am without sin, so why do I need to mourn?” Now, that is something difficult and most rare, and it is to be counted almost among the impossibilities. For while it is of great value for a person to obtain moderation of the passions, the holy word has nevertheless shown us another cause for this saving grief. For the disciples were mourning because they were deprived of their truly good master, Jesus Christ, and we too are deprived of Him today; and not of Him alone, but also of the felicity of paradise. For we have fallen from it, and instead of a region without pain, we have received this region full of sorrows and hardships. We have been deprived of the face-to-face conversation with God, of the company of His angels, and of eternal life. Who, once knowing of such a deprivation, would not mourn? And he among the faithful who does not know this is not one of them. Therefore, let us, whom the divinely inspired doctrine has taught of such a loss, afflict ourselves, brothers, and wash away the stains of our sins through tears shed in accordance with God, that we may find mercy, return to paradise, and become partakers of the felicity of life and doctrine, which may our Lord Jesus Christ grant to us all by His grace and mercy, to whom belong all glory, power, honor, and adoration, with His unbegotten Father and most holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. C
HOMILY XXX
Regarding the blind men who received their sight in the house, according to the Evangelist Matthew; and that there is no true faith without the works of repentance.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, while conversing with the inhabitants of the earth in the body which He took from us and for our sake, healed many blind D men, both in body and soul. Or rather, if one considers the restoration of spiritual vision—which is the transition from unbelief to faith and from ignorance to the knowledge of God—the blind who received their sight through the incarnation of the Lord are beyond counting; they are numerable only to Him to whom even the number of our hairs is known. But if we consider the restoration of the sight of the bodily eyes, we will find many as well—some healed by word alone, others by touch alone; there are some who were healed by merely falling before Him and drawing near, and others who received healing through the Christ’s spittle or the application of clay. For when Jesus had come, as Matthew relates, by the Sea of Galilee, great crowds came to Him, having with them
A the mute, the blind, the lame, the crippled, and many others, all of whom He healed after they were cast down at His feet, such that the crowds were amazed at that time and glorified Him, seeing the mute speaking, the lame walking, the crippled made whole, and the blind receiving their sight. And even when, sitting upon a donkey’s colt according to the prophecy, He entered Jerusalem in a paradoxical way and was praised by children as God, He healed all the lame and blind who approached Him there, as Matthew also relates. And unto one coming to Bethsaida, they bring to Him a blind man, as Mark says, and they beseech Him that He might touch him; and the Lord, leading him outside the village, and spitting into his eyes and laying His hands upon him, caused him to see obscurely; then, laying His hands upon his eyes again, He restored him such that he clearly saw all things. And when Jesus was approaching Jericho, as Luke says, by a word alone He healed the blind man sitting beside the way and begging, saying to him, when he asked for healing, “Receive thy sight.” And departing from Jericho, as Mark also relates this, He healed another blind man, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, saying to him, when he asked for sight, “Let it be done to you according to your faith.” And in Jerusalem, seeing a man blind from birth, as John says, not even being asked, but moved spontaneously by goodness, He spat upon the ground and made clay, and having anointed the eyes of the blind man, said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”; so he went and washed, and came seeing.
But also after the raising of the daughter of Jairus the ruler of the synagogue, who had died, as C we heard Matthew today proclaiming the gospel: “As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David.’ And having entered into the house with them, and having touched their eyes, and said to them, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you,’ He healed them.” Therefore, besides those not included in the number, six are enumerated; and I suppose that no blind man among those who lived in Judea or the neighboring regions at that time was left without sight. For this reason also, Isaiah, as if in the person of Christ foretelling things to come, says that He was sent by the Father and His Spirit “To preach liberty to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind.” How then did the prophet not say that He was sent to give sight to the blind, which indeed also happened, but that He was sent to preach sight to the blind? Because the Lord did not come to the earth primarily to open the eyes of the body, but those of the soul, which eyes receive their sight through the evangelical preaching; D rightly, therefore, does the prophecy say that the Lord preached sight to the blind. Just as the Lord Himself instructs us to seek spiritual things, saying, “Labor not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides unto eternal life”; and He promises to add the temporal things if we seek the spiritual ones, saying, “Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added.”
A Thus He also acts concerning the eyes. For bowing the heavens and descending to earth out of love for mankind, so that through the evangelical preaching He might open the eyes of our soul and grant us the recovery of sight according to the mind, He also added the healing of B eyes that do not see the things of sense. For this reason, there is great correspondence in both kinds of recovery, I mean that which is according to the body and that which is according to the soul. For just as of those blind according to the body, some had a sudden recovery, like the one who heard, “Receive thy sight,” and was immediately healed; while others recovered gradually, like the one who said before he had completely received his healing, “I see men as trees walking”; so also among those who through faith have received the healing of the eyes of their mind, some found this suddenly, like the evangelist C who was called immediately from the toll booth, while others found it gradually, like the still nocturnal disciple, Nicodemus. And just as of the blind according to the body, some obtained healing by word alone, like Bartimaeus, but others by work—for the one at Bethsaida, He applied His own spittle to his eyes; for this man, as it seems, had eyelids, but they were empty, because the fluid of the eyes had flowed away, which was restored by the divine spittle—whereas he who was blind from birth did not even have eyelids, and therefore needed a certain formation, which was granted to him by the clay mixed by the D fingers of the Lord. Just as, therefore, among the physically blind, some, as I have said, were healed by the word alone, while others also by work, so also with those who received the healing of the eyes of the soul—which is, as we have said, the transition from unbelief to faith—some needed miracles in order to believe, like those who were sent by John to ask, “Are you he who is to come, or are we to look for another?” But others received this faith by word alone, believing from hearing only, like the centurion, who the Lord Himself testified surpassed Israel in faith. Such also are those who, according to the Matthew read to us today, received from Christ their physical sight. For they seem to have believed even before their healing; for being blind, they could not have believed except by hearing. For it says, “And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David.’” For how would they have followed, and how, while following, would they have asked, and with such a cry, for so great a mercy—the recovery of sight for blind eyes—if they had not believed? But the faith of the blind men will be shown by what follows. “And as Jesus passed on from there,” he says. From where? And for what reason does the evangelist include this? And not only here, but also a little earlier, “As Jesus was passing on from there, He saw a man sitting at the tax office, named Matthew,” this very evangelist, whom he won for himself by word alone at that time. To me, at any rate, it seems...
A that they were not speaking but, as if one Spirit were speaking within them, all declared the same thing, which my Majesty, by the grace of Christ, cherishes and supports, both now and formerly. However, after the arrival of my Majesty, although the tome of condemnation had been sent to him by the high priests, because they learned that he was still making excuses and resisting, as if he had been condemned in his absence, and saying that he was ready to be present and to offer a defense, I sat in session with the most high Emperor of the Romans, the most beloved son of my Majesty, and with the most holy high priests and the senate, and we sent word to him to attend the synod. But he appeared, making his absence a pretext in vain; for he was not justly condemned, and a synodal tome B proceeded against him, comprehensively cutting him off from the catholic and apostolic Church of Christ, and from the entire body of the orthodox, if anyone should appear again to be criticizing what had been said or written by Barlaam against the monks—specifically those of the master Gregory Palamas and those with him—of which I believe no one is ignorant; rather, after a short time, as some had fabricated [falsehoods] against my Majesty out of a wicked and power-hungry opinion—and you know this—and from there a grievous confusion seized the empire of the Romans. Acindynus, having used such villainy of the time as a windfall, and having deceived and drawn to himself many, with whom [he drew along] also the man who held the office of patriarch, stirred up sedition against the Church. C He dared not attend or enter into debate at all, even though he was summoned to the synod three and four times. For this reason, he is subjected to the same condemnations as before, with the just approval of my Majesty, which is also shown and confirmed through the present decree, and it is ordered to all to cherish such lawful and synodal judgments and decisions, and to shun those who think the thoughts of Acindynus, and all who again side with the aforementioned most holy hieromonk, Lord Gregory Palamas, and the monks with him, as these are deceivers who are again disturbing the Church. For this reason also, this present decree of my Majesty was issued for the sake of the peace and safety that is according to piety. It had also, by red letters of the imperial and divine hand, in the month of March, the 15th indiction, D a terrible [decree], lacking nothing compared to the one concerning the state, defending those evil dogmas of Barlaam, while he himself renounced only that man’s name for the sake of deception, even if it escaped no one who listened intelligently. But since the man who held the office of patriarch became a guarantor and protector of Acindynus and those of his party, and deemed the same Acindynus worthy of ordination, and promoted some of those who thought as he did to ecclesiastical offices, while at the same time speaking boldly regarding such dogmas to the most serene Lady of the Romans, the most beloved sister of my Majesty, and again sideing against the monks who had been justified by piety; upon learning this from there, she [the Empress], having previously examined the matters concerning these things many times with the most holy high priests, then also convened a synod, in which an accurate examination and judgment took place, in which all jointly subjected him to deposition, even if he were not to repent and cast aside Acindynus and those with him, and they cut him off from the lot of the orthodox. And when this God-pleasing work had been accomplished—for, according to the proverb, the punishment of wickedness is praiseworthy—the Lord dissolved the sedition that caused me grief and granted peace to the empire of the Romans. And thus, my Majesty, with God approving, having entered this great city, found him already deposed, and Acindynus and those with him again synodically excommunicated; which the ones who gathered here in this synod did not only practice, but also the most holy metropolitans who resided in their own cells, having written, voted in agreement, adding to this, along with the error in dogmas, his other lawless deeds committed against the Church and the Empire; which those outside who are with my Majesty, both the most holy patriarch of Jerusalem and the rest of the most holy metropolitans, having themselves convened a synod, declared, among other things, that for the sake of Acindynus’s communion, he should be stripped of all priesthood.
I have compared this present copy with the divine and venerable decree shown to me, and having found everything to be equal, I have signed it. The humble Metropolitan of Philadelphia, Macarius. Let the Papists see which patriarch—an heretical, vile, simoniacal, double-minded man, anathematized by so many synods and rejected by emperors—they praise, and [let them see them] saying that he cleansed Palamas along with Rome's Clement. See page 32. Since at different times scandals have occurred in the Church of Christ, and from there followed seditions and divisions, it happened that these things also came to pass some time ago in the Church of Christ at the instigation of certain wicked and heterodox men, Barlaam and Acindynus, who disturbed and confused it, some dogmas they asserted themselves, and others they criticized in others, and because most things were left unexamined by us while we were still in Ephesus, we judged it necessary to draw ourselves together and abstain from sacred communion. But now, as God shows mercy through the supervision and diligent care of our mighty and holy master and emperor, Cantacuzenus, an accurate examination has taken place through both the divine and inspired holy Fathers and teachers.
A Adam, therefore, before the experience of evil, believing the wicked counselor, rejected the counsel and commandment of the Good. Each of us, alas, does this after the experience and the fulfillment of the threats; and for this reason, we are each more blameworthy and deserving of condemnation than that Adam. But there is not among us that tree, nor is there now any command from God prohibiting us from tasting of it. The tree indeed is not among us, but the command of God is present with us even now, liberating those who believe in it and wish to live according to it from the guilt of their own sins and from the ancestral curse and condemnation, but sending those who reject it even now and prefer to it the counsel and assault of the wicked one into that eternal gehenna of fire promised and prepared for the devil and his angels. What then is this command of God now incumbent upon us? It is repentance, of which the main principle is to no longer touch the things that have been forbidden. For since we were cast out from the place of divine delight and justly expelled from the paradise of God, and have fallen into this abyss, and were condemned to dwell and live together with the irrational animals, and were rendered hopeless—insofar as it depended on us—regarding the recall to paradise, He who at that time brought the punishment with justice, or rather, who justly allowed it to come upon us, B now out of an excess of philanthropy and goodness, through the bowels of His mercy, descended even to us on our behalf, and having become man without sin, that by the like He might instruct and save the like, He brought the saving counsel and commandment of repentance, saying to us: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.” For indeed, before the incarnation of the Word of God, the kingdom of heaven was as far from us as heaven is distant from the earth; but when the King of heaven dwelt among us and took pleasure in the union with us, the kingdom of heaven drew near to us all. C Let us therefore repent, brethren, I beseech you, and let us show forth fruits worthy of repentance, so that we may inherit the kingdom of heaven; it has drawn near to us, let us not remove ourselves from it by our evil works. The sunless light has shone upon us; let us walk toward its brightness through good works. The eternal life has appeared; let us obtain it through virtues as far as we are able. Christ, who makes us blessed, has appeared; let us draw near to Him with eagerness. Let us flee the misery of those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. Let us seek and acquire the works of repentance: a humble mind, compunction and spiritual mourning, a meek heart full of mercy, loving righteousness, striving for purity, peaceful, peacemaking, D enduring, struggling for the sake of truth and righteousness, mindful of this word: “Blessed are the poor in spirit,”
A of the grace of Christ for the truth which is according to godliness. Thus, the volumes produced in those synods possess, as indeed they do possess, the safe and certain [truth]. But they [the opponents] themselves fell into many and great heresies, from which they attempted to distort and accuse in writing. For they persisted in openly contradicting the things expressly stated by the theologians, and dared to call the deification of the Lord's Assumption B created; and those who think thus concerning the substance of God, because it has been said by the saints to be unapproachable and inparticipable, they declared to be of impious daring, [thinking] it to be destructive—and this when God had said to Moses, “No man shall see my face and live.” But also the seven spirits which rested—according to the prophecy—upon the flower from the root of Jesse, that is to say, our Lord Jesus Christ, which [are] the energies according to the holy theologians of the Divine Spirit—as the holy Zechariah sang of the seven eyes of Christ looking upon all the earth, and the divine Maximus C theologized that these things belong naturally to the Son of God—these they ranked among created things; and these [other] things as well.
As these things so fell out, not without the cooperation and grace of the good Spirit, it remained, for those who were eager to remove every pretext from those wishing to hold these opinions, not to pass over unexamined even those things which the enemies of the Church made accusations about in the writings of the most holy [metropolitan] of Thessalonica, even if these had all been included among the things examined in the holy synod at that time. Having found these things, therefore, recorded in part by their hands and given to us by our most powerful and holy emperor and king, we read and examined each of these in the book of the most holy [metropolitan] of Thessalonica, assembling at the Great Church and spending the day there, not once, but twice and thrice and many times; and we found the most holy metropolitan of Thessalonica to be in agreement with the holy theologians even in these matters, and D [that he is] in harmony with the energy of God.
On whether it is written in the great Maximus that the works according to the will of the all-holy Spirit belong naturally to the Son of God.
It is uncertain whether it is written anywhere in the great Maximus that the works produced by the will of the all-holy Spirit belong naturally to the Son of God. For besides being contrary to Scripture, it is also injurious to the Son of God. For His nature would be, according to the things that are natural to it, an effect of will, and the very essence itself; which clearly shows it to be a creature. For by the will of God every creature was produced. And how is the impiety not manifest? Either, therefore, the saint did not write this at all, or, he having taken the saying in another sense, these men, according to their own custom, have attributed it to others through slander. For it is possible to say piously that they belong naturally to the Son of God according to His own humanity. For neither will the seven spirits rest in His supersubstantial deity; for this is infinite and all-perfect; and it is in need of nothing, that it might rest in it; but they rested clearly in the temple that was built by Him, which He made holy and spiritual immediately from the beginning.
The humble metropolitan of Bizye and Hypertimos, Neophytos. The humble metropolitan of Calliopolis, Joseph. The humble metropolitan of Examilium. The humble metropolitan of Sozopolis, Theodosios. There were also present by written opinion those of Adrianople, Stavropolis, and Didymoteichos. Present at the synod were also bishops from the province of Heraclea—of Panios, of Cariupolis, of Pamphilus, of Atyra; from that of Thessalonica—of Campania; from [the provinces of] Sardis, Synada, and Eleutheropolis. These two, having been overlooked, were added later. A My Sovereignty, intending to sign the present Tome, which was already enacted by my mighty and holy Autocrat and Emperor, my father, together with this program—[to wit], that my Sovereignty, and the holy and sacred synod, for the confirmation of the holy and catholic and apostolic Church of Christ, and for the condemnation of the godless heresy of Barlaam and Akindynos, establishes and decrees that this [Tome] be held by it unalterable and immovable, without any torture or trial whatsoever, as written by God through the saints speaking therein; my Sovereignty receiving and embracing the same things which the present Tome admits, I have signed, confirming it with anathema. B The humble metropolitan of Didymoteichos and Hypertimos, Theoleptos. The metropolitan of Didymoteichos, Theoleptos. The metropolitan of Dititsitsi. The Great Chartophylax of the most holy Great Church of God and Hypatos of the Philosophers, Emparis. The Great Skeuophylax, Euthymios Apokaukos. The Sakellarios of the most holy Great Church of God and Archdeacon, Michael Kabasilas. The Referendarius of the most holy Great Church of God, Manuel Silvestros. The official in charge of petitions of the most holy Great Church of God, Theodore the deacon, Perdikis. The Skeuophylax of the pious imperial clergy, George the deacon, Perdikis. The official in charge of the sacred establishment of the most holy Great Church of God, Michael the deacon, Maniakos. C It delivers as much as it itself has delivered to the anathema; and as for those who oppose this divine and sacred Tome, my Sovereignty decrees that they be resisted in both words and deeds and be driven out as common enemies of the Church; while those who remain in it are to be deemed worthy of acceptance and of the favor that is possible. My Sovereignty decrees these things, as having been established by God through His grace as the defender and avenger of His Church. For this reason, in order that the present decree of my Sovereignty may remain firm and immovable for all time, it has been signed by my own self, and I have offered it to the holy altar with my own hands as a sacred votive offering, in the presence of my mighty and holy Autocrat and Emperor, the father of my Sovereignty, and of my most holy master the Ecumenical Patriarch, Lord Philotheos, and of the divine and sacred synod around him, in the month of February, indiction 7. D Matthew, faithful in Christ God, Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans, Asanes Kantakouzenos.
CONFESSION OF THE ORTHODOX FAITH, SET FORTH BY THE MOST SACRED METROPOLITAN OF THESSALONICA, LORD GREGORY PALAMAS
One God, before all, and over all, and in all, and above all, worshipped and believed in by us in Father and Son and Holy Spirit—undividedly united and indivisibly divided. Monad in Trinity, and Trinity in Monad. The same Monad and Trinity is all-powerful. The Father is without beginning, not only as being timeless, but also as being in every way without cause; He is alone the cause and root and ...
source of the Son and of the Spirit. The Son is not without beginning, for He is from the Father, but He is without beginning in time; He is the Word and Wisdom and Power of the Father, and He is the only-begotten Son of God. The Holy Spirit is likewise not without beginning or without cause, for He is from the Father; yet He is not a creature, for He is the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ, who proceeds from the Father and is sent by the Son.
Synodal Tome III
A ...and communion and assembly, from Whom also the completion of the rites for others comes to be, in accordance with which, for the remembrance of Him who poured Himself out without emptying Himself, and took flesh and suffered for us, in accordance with the divine command—and his own working—the most divine mysteries are performed and worked by the Spirit, namely the Bread and the Cup. And this very life-originating Body and Blood is celebrated; and their ineffable participation and communion is granted to those who approach in a holy manner. All those, however, who do not confess and believe as the Holy Spirit foretold through the prophets, as the Lord ordained when He appeared to us in the flesh, as the apostles preached when sent by Him, as our Fathers and the successors of those have taught us, but who have instead initiated a heresy of their own, or have followed those who initiated it wrongly to the end, we cast out and subject to anathema.
B We also accept and embrace the holy and ecumenical synods: the one at Nicaea of the three hundred and eighteen God-bearing Fathers against the God-fighting Arius, who impiously dragged down the Son of God into being a creature, and divided into created and uncreated the Godhead worshipped in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the one following it at Constantinople of the hundred and fifty holy Fathers against Macedonius of Constantinople, who impiously dragged down the Holy Spirit into being a creature, and likewise divided the one Godhead into created and uncreated; the one following it at Ephesus of the two hundred Fathers against Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, who denied the hypostatic union of Christ’s divinity and humanity, and who by no means wished to call the Virgin—who truly gave birth to God—Theotokos; and the fourth, the one at Chalcedon of the six hundred and thirty Fathers, against Eutyches and Dioscorus, who wrongly dogmatized a single nature in Christ; and the one following it at Constantinople of the hundred and sixty-five Fathers against Theodore and Diodorus, who held the same views as Nestorius and supported his views through their writings, as well as Origen and Didymus.
We also embrace all the holy synods gathered according to the grace of God and according to the time or place for the confirmation of piety and the evangelical way of life, among which are those assembled in this great city in the renowned church of the Holy Wisdom of God against the Calabrian Barlaam, and against Akindynos who followed him and eagerly sought to defend his views—those who do not confess the common grace of Father, Son, and Spirit, and the light of the age to come, just as the righteous shall shine like the sun, as Christ also demonstrated beforehand on the mountain of the Transfiguration, and who simply deny every power and energy of the tri-hypostatic Godhead, and dogmatize that whatever differs in any way from the divine nature is created, and further impiously divide the one Godhead into created and uncreated, and call those who piously profess that most divine light and every divine power and energy to be uncreated—as being nothing recent among the things that naturally belong to God—ditheists and polytheists, just as the Jews, Sabellians, and Arians call us. But we renounce these and the others, as truly atheistic and polytheistic, and we cut them off completely from the fullness of the pious, as the holy catholic and apostolic Church of Christ also does through the Synodal and Athonite Tome, believing in one tri-hypostatic and all-powerful Godhead, which in no way falls away from oneness and simplicity because of the powers or the hypostases. Upon all these things we await the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come without end. Amen.
Report of the Archbishops to our most powerful and holy Lady and Mistress, Lady Anna Palaiologina.
Most powerful and holy our Lady and Mistress, the patriarch, caught by the terrible passion of avarice—and we, the archbishops sitting in our cells, shut away, the archbishop of Ephesus, of Cyzicus, of Alania, of Christoupolis, of Aprus, of Dodydus—having received from the grace of the all-holy Spirit the yoke of the Gospel, and having a debt to resist those opposed to the Gospel of Christ, both intelligible and sensible demons, and to remind your most pious and holy empire, and to urge your piety-loving self to cleanse every height that raises itself against God, we remind you and now report that he who currently, with irrational passion, has conducted himself as a hireling in the Church of Christ, gathering silver and gold for his sons and daughters, contrary to the canons of the holy ones and the sacred canons of Christ’s holy Church, selling without hesitation the widowed churches, selling the exarchates, trafficking in the abbacies, proceeding on the way to worse, and judging the just, and judging crookedly the ecclesiastical and political affairs that arise, as even double contrary notes are on many occasions from the same person,
A Adam, therefore, before the experience of evil, trusting the evil counselor, rejected the counsel and commandment of the Good. But each of us—alas!—does this after the experience and the fulfillment of the threats; therefore, each of us is more to be blamed and condemned than that Adam. Yet, that tree is not among us, nor is there now a commandment of God unto us forbidding the tasting of it. That particular tree perhaps is not among us, but the commandment of God is present with us even now, liberating those who obey it and desire to live according to it from the responsibility of all their own sins, and from the ancestral curse and condemnation, but sending those who even now reject it and prefer to it the counsel and assault of the Wicked One, into that eternal Gehenna of fire which is promised and prepared for the devil and his angels. B What then is this commandment of God now proposed to us? Repentance, the chief rule of which is to abstain entirely from forbidden things. For when we were cast forth from the place of divine delight and justly expelled from the paradise of God, and fell into this abyss, and were condemned to dwell and live together with brute beasts, and were destitute of every hope as far as reaching the restoration to paradise, then Justice itself—bearing the penalty, or rather, justly permitting it to come upon us—through the excess of goodness and love towards mankind, and through the bowels of His mercy, descended even unto us, for our sake, and having become man without sin, that He might teach and save the like by the like, He brought the saving counsel and commandment of repentance, saying unto us: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." For before the incarnation of the Word of God, the kingdom of heaven was as far from us as heaven is distant from the earth; but when the King of heaven dwelt among us and was pleased to have communion with us, the kingdom of heaven drew near to us all. C Let us therefore repent, my brethren, I beseech you, and let us show fruits worthy of repentance, that we may inherit the kingdom of heaven; it has drawn near to us, let us not withdraw ourselves from it by evil works. The light that knows no setting has shone upon us; let us walk in its brightness through good works. The eternal life has appeared; let us acquire it through the works of virtue as much as we are able. Christ, who makes us blessed, walked before us; let us follow Him strenuously. Let us flee the wretchedness of those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. Let us seek and fulfill the works of repentance: humility, contrition, and inward sorrow; a heart meek and full of mercy, loving righteousness, seeking purity, peaceful, peacemaking, long-suffering, enduring in persecutions, calumnies, injuries, and reproaches, and evils suffered for the sake of truth and justice, mindful of this word: "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted; blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth; blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," and all the rest. But for what reason, after saying "Blessed are the poor," did the Lord add "in spirit"? It was to distinguish blessed poverty from the miserable kind, to encompass every form of poverty that is content with few things, and furthermore, to point out to us the cause of this blessedness. For our spirit is the primary mover of all our passions; if it is in a good and God-loving state, it renders us blessed, but if it is in an evil and God-hated state, it makes us wretched. For this reason, the Lord made this the beginning of the Beatitudes. B There are three kinds of poverty: the first is that which concerns one's own livelihood and possessions, which is the lack of the necessities of life—to which riches are most contrary, according to the one who said, "Give me neither riches nor poverty." The second is the poverty that concerns the body, when it is weakened by very meager diet and lack of nourishment, according to the prophet who said, "My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh is changed for lack of oil." The third is the poverty that is the humility and depression of the disposition of the soul; this is the poverty of our spirit, to which pride is contrary.
Those aforementioned poverties—I mean the poverty of life and of the body—if they are joined to the humble disposition of the soul, are worthy of blessedness; but if they are severed from humility and exist with pride, they are truly full of misery. For one is poor either in life or in body either voluntarily or involuntarily. If one is poor involuntarily, but does not possess the good disposition of soul that comes from repentance—which is humility—he does not endure the poverty that is upon him involuntarily with nobility, but grumbles even against God, complaining against His most just providence as if it were not such. He harasses men in many ways, looking not toward God, in whom no one who has hoped has ever been put to shame; he does not reduce his expenses, nor does he seek his living with his own hands, nor does he beg from the well-off with humility, but instead becomes a thief, a bandit, D a grave-robber, or a plunderer, or acts as a parasite, slanderer, liar, or hypocrite, stooping to base and slavish flattery toward those who possess wealth in the hope of receiving some gain from them. Is not such a poor man most miserable? Or rather, are not such people the most distant from those whom Christ pronounced blessed? But if someone is found to be poor voluntarily, yet does so out of some kind of conceit, and not with humility, nor by despising luxury and wealth for the sake of the praiseworthy poverty of the spirit, this person is also not much different from the demons; for their need and hunger subsist alongside pride. Wherefore the Lord says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," that is, blessed are those who through their internal,
A humble self-estimation make themselves poor, pursuing that poverty which comes from the chastity of the body, esteeming deprivation more desirable than all riches; and if anything troublesome should happen to them, they turn it into a voluntary good through patience and thanksgiving, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Let us hasten, brethren, to become such poor ones ourselves, that we may obtain the kingdom of heaven. But if we do not choose to become such poor ones, let us at least, through almsgiving and the sharing of our goods, become partners of such poor ones. Let us make for ourselves friends out of the mammon of iniquity, that is, out of the things we have in abundance, as long as we are in this present life, so that after the resurrection, in the other life, they may receive us into their eternal tabernacles. I wished, brethren, to free your mind of all the beatitudes which the Lord offers in the Gospel, but now is not the time, and the beginning of this discourse requires an end. For we proposed to show you that God did not make death, nor diseases, nor infirmities; we demonstrated this regarding the death of the soul, of which sin is the primary sting. Now we must also seek and learn whence the death of the body takes its origin; for God, who is Life itself, and wholly Life, and the cause of every life—both the temporal and especially the eternal and divine—did not make this death. B He therefore neither gave, nor made, nor commanded this death of the body to be. But if even this death God did not make, nor is He the author of bodily diseases, whence then do we have bodily sicknesses and diseases? Whence the death of the body? Whence this very death? Attend and understand. The spiritual serpent and origin of all evil, when through malice he lost his principality, fell from the good and true Life, being justly deprived of that which he himself abandoned, and he became a dead spirit; not as to substance—for mortality is not a substance—but through the loss of the true Life. Not content with such evil, he makes himself a spirit that causes death, and alas! by his fraud he draws man into the participation of his own death. For our first parents, consenting to Satan against the will of the Creator, were stripped C of the luminous and vital garments of the supernal splendor, and they too became dead according to the soul, just as Satan. But since Satan is not merely a dead spirit, but also one who brings death upon those who approach him, and since those who shared in his death also had a body through which the deadly temptation driven into action had proceeded, they communicated the death of their dead and deadly souls to their own bodies; and the human body would have been dissolved straightway and returned to the earth, had not the providence and power of the One who sustains all things by a word only suppressed the sentience of it. He removed and deferred, as we said above, the sentence of bodily death, and in the height of His wisdom and the abundance of His mercy, He bore it in such a way that for Him in the future...
He stored up its actual execution. For He did not say to Adam, "Since you ate from the tree which I commanded you not to eat, return from whence you came," but after interposing many things that signify the interval of this bodily life, He then added, "For you are dust, and to dust you shall return," not then decreeing it, but foretelling it, and permitting and not unjustly preventing what was to happen. Do you see that not even bodily death is from God, but from sin, both it and the soul that committed the sin, and the one who deceitfully enticed the desire toward sin? Therefore, bodily diseases also had their passage from this source; for this reason, even the first one to possess a diseased body—Cain, who lived in constant trembling—came into such infirmity. For trembling, which some call the spasm of the physicians, is an involuntary movement in the parts of the body naturally fitted to hold and bind the limbs together; B and when this arises from a deficiency of the innate fluid, it does not yield to skill, nor does it admit of healing thereafter.
Since then Cain brought the bond which naturally exists toward one's own brother—that is, love—to a miserable end, having turned it into hatred, which was born of envy and ended in murder; for this reason, the passion being aided by the wasting away that comes from envy, he is disciplined by an incurable and appropriate disease, with an affliction upon the nerves and muscles, which is the bond of the body. Do you see clearly that not only death, but also the diseases and infirmities of the body had their beginning from sin? C The Lord also shows us this in the Gospel, for when He was about to heal the paralytic who was let down to Him before four men in Capernaum, He says to him: "Child, your sins are forgiven," removing the goad and casting out the cause of the disease, and only then bringing the healing. And to the one lying in Jerusalem beside the Sheep Pool, He says after his healing: "See, you have been made well; sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." Paul, knowing this—that most diseases are from sin—when speaking about the one who approaches the D mystic table unworthily, says that he eats and drinks judgment to himself, and then he adds: "For this reason many among you are weak and ill, and many have fallen asleep." But even all the calamities of mortal nature, from which every disease comes, have had their origin from sin; rare are those who suffer for the glory of God, like the one born blind who was healed by the Lord. The mercy of the Holy Fathers, since the summer is the pestilential one of the four seasons of the year, and this month of August is more so; for the matter within us, having grown hot from the preceding heat and the scorching rays, finds one or two of the elements in us, and acts upon the whole body, and rendering the rest useless, creates diseases. Therefore, the mercy of the holy Fathers, I say, seeing this pestilential season,
A commanded that we perform the blessing of this holy water, so that, being sanctified from this source, those who approach with faith might remain superior to the diseases that attack us from sins; and at the same time, they instruct us that if disease should happen to anyone, he must not run to enchanters and sorcerers, but to God, to the intercession of His saints, and to the entreaties, supplications, and prayers offered for us by those who are dedicated to Him and who have spent their lives in service to Him. For those who turn to incantations and sorcery deny that God is, associate themselves with the demons who kill their souls, and sometimes reap incurable diseases and death itself from their communion with them. For Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, having once fallen into sickness, sent, as it is written, to the god of Ekron; for these were idolaters, trusting in magicians and soothsayers. This son of King Ahab, then, B sent to such men to learn about his illness. But the prophet Elijah, meeting the messengers, says to them: “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you go to inquire of Baal, the god of Ekron? Thus says the Lord: The bed on which you have gone up, you shall not come down from it, but you shall die the death.” Do you see that those who go to sorcerers and diviners to learn or to experience something deny that God is among us, and reap death from it, most especially the death of the soul, and sometimes the death of the body C as well? But he who flees to God and His saints in necessities and infirmities is, if it is profitable for him, delivered from bodily necessities and freed from diseases; and he always obtains health of soul and the remission of sins. For so also speaks the apostle of Christ and brother of the Lord, James: “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.” D And it is necessary that you also cooperate with the prayers made for you through conversion, confession, almsgiving, and the other works of repentance; for the persistent prayer of a righteous man avails much. May it happen to us all that, having been delivered from the evils of soul and body, we might live here in tranquility, happily traversing the span of the present life; and, having traversed this, may we in due time become partakers of the eternal, blessed, and incorruptible life, which is utterly alien to all pain and affliction, in Christ Himself, the physician and God of our souls and our bodies; to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory to the ages. Amen.
HOMILY XXXII
A Homily of the same author on the Gospel of the eleventh Sunday according to Matthew; in which he also treats of temptations.
James the brother of the Lord says: "Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials," (Jas. 1:2). He did not say simply, "Rejoice," but, "Count it all joy," not exhorting us not to feel pain—for this is impossible—but suggesting that we exhibit ourselves as superior, which is a most pleasing service to God. He said "all joy," that is, perfect, greatest, unending, and especially when the temptations are manifold. Why? Because through the endurance of temptations we are exercised, and we become more approved toward God. And not only this, but we also become known as such; for thus also the Wisdom of Solomon says B concerning the saints: "Because God tested them and found them worthy of himself" (Sap. 3, 5). Is not, therefore, such a temptation worthy of all joy for them? God said this same thing to Job when He freed him from the sorrow arising from temptation: "Do you think that I have dealt with you otherwise than that you might be justified?" (Job 2, 10). What did the Lord say to him? "I have benefited you by making you known, showing your faith in me in favorable circumstances, in glory, in good fortune, and you appeared righteous, using these things according to my will, as I who bestowed these upon you—and as I myself willed, C bestowing and distributing them from you. I have benefited you by showing your confidence in me, in adversity, in reproach, in bad fortune, and you appeared righteous, saying: 'If we have received good from the hand of God, shall we not also endure evil?'"
Whence, then, comes patience in temptations? From the approval of faith in God; so that temptations are the testing of the faithful. Therefore, the brother of the Lord, James, having exhorted us to rejoice when we meet temptations, added: "The testing of your faith produces patience; and let patience have its perfect work" (Jas. 1:3-4). Do not, he says, let D any of the works of virtue be maimed in you, having become effeminate when temptations are brought upon you, but along with patience let the perfection of virtue be present for you. And since man is not perfected through involuntary things alone, but there is need also for voluntary things to be present, which are temperance, justice, love toward God and toward one another, and what follows this—since we have need of these too for perfection—therefore this divine Apostle, writing to us, adds: "And let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." Saying this directly: if you wish to show your faith in God as perfect, it is not enough that you endure bravely what is coming upon you from without, but it is necessary that you yourselves also perform works pleasing to God, even if they are very burdensome; for action and passion brought together for the good make a man perfect according to God. Why then did the Apostle not say, "Rejoice when you perform the good," but "when you are in temptations"? Because performing virtue depends upon us and is situated in our power; but to fall into temptations...
does not depend on us. Since, however, there is A no perfection or manifestation of faith in God without these, he who runs toward the perfection of faith, when he falls into temptations, will rejoice as one who has found the means whereby he shall attain perfection. For while temptations provide for the manifestation of faith unto those who are perfect, more wonderful than this is the fact that, by being brought upon them, they also perfect the imperfect; a truth which is clear even from those very words of the Gospel read today. Let us set them forth from the beginning to your charity:
Homily XXXII
"At that time, Jesus constrained his disciples to get into the boat, and to go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And having dismissed the crowds, he went up into the mountain alone to pray." Of what time do we speak? When he fed five thousand men, with women and children, with five loaves and two fish, so abundantly and copiously that they filled twelve baskets with the fragments that remained, as we heard in the Church on the past Sunday.B Someone might perhaps ask within himself for what reason Jesus constrained his disciples to get into the boat. One might say that he was ordering the externals as well, hastening toward the works for the sake of which he came upon the earth. But for my part, had he not constrained them, I would have questioned this; for since he, wishing to set himself forth to all as a pattern of every good through his deeds, showed how one ought to engage with the crowds—namely, C for the benefit of souls and bodies—he also needed to show how one ought to engage with God, by lifting the mind to him, stripped of everything below. And to this end, solitude and the desert, and the tranquility found therein, contribute greatly. Since, therefore, it was the right time to teach this also—that solitude, prayer, and withdrawal are good—it was necessary for him to ascend the mountain, so that he might pray alone. But the disciples loved to be with him always, and were loath to be separated from him; how then could he have ascended the mountain alone, had he not constrained them to get into the boat and go before him to the other side? D There is also something else to be discerned from this. For just as now, after having healed, taught, and nourished the multitude in an extraordinary way, he dismissed them, and as he ascended the mountain, he constrained his disciples to commit themselves to the sea and the waves; so later, after he had healed our nature through his own Incarnation, and had taught and nourished it with his own body, leaving us corporally and ascending into heaven, he sent his disciples into the whole world—that is, into the bitter sea of the nations, full of dangers—as if in a vessel, with the Gospel and the Church that is according to it, through which they were delivered to temptations. And he not only sent them, but he constrained them to go. If anyone knows what John, the Theologian beloved by Christ, recounts—why the tribulation of Stephen was permitted, and
A what is the persecution that followed, he understands what I am saying; for the apostles were unwilling to leave Jerusalem, but being driven by persecution, they were scattered through the world, and thus they fulfilled their mission.
They were not compelled simply to sail the sea of the world, where there is every tribulation and every kind of temptation, but to proceed across the sea, and to conquer, and to pass over the dangers. But they could not do so without Jesus; "For the boat," he says, "in the midst of the sea was being battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary." B The soulless wind was not more contrary to them then than Domitian, and Trajan, and Nero afterward; or rather, these men and those like them are wild waves, terribly stirred up against the Church, but the contrary wind that moves and stirs them up is the spirit of wickedness, the devil who is always at enmity with Christ's Church. "And in the fourth watch of the night," he says, "Jesus came to them, walking upon the sea," that is, after the ninth hour of the night; for those who keep watch of the night are accustomed to divide the interval of the night into four parts, by succession, so that the beginning of the fourth watch is at the tenth hour of the night. C And he allows them to be battered by the surge to such an extent, in order that he might train them for patience and accustom them to enduring labors. But after this, appearing to them, he permits them to suppose he is a phantom, and to be so terrified as to cry out from fear, even though he had come to save them. For you could see this same thing happening also in the case of that ancient people; for when the sea was about to be parted for them miraculously, and to provide a saving path, then they seemed to be in the greatest danger, caught by unavoidable evils due to the onrushing of their enemies from the rear. And now, at his presence, a massive tumult of those being liberated preceded the healing of the possessed; for in this way, benefits are not only welcome, but they live on in the memory of those who received them. D He appears to those who in that surge are calling upon the God of all, showing that he is the God over all, who stretches out a helping hand to those who invoke him. He walks upon the waves, while the sea is raging, showing superabundantly that he is the one who, according to the prophecy, walks upon the sea as if upon dry land, of whom David also says prophetically: "Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in many waters" (Ps. LXXVI, 20); and, "Thou rulest the power of the sea, and the surging of its waves thou dost calm" (Ps. LXXXVIII, 10); which he later brought about. For when he saw them trembling because they did not recognize him, although it was he, he immediately spoke to them, recognized by them by his voice, and saying, "It is I, do not be afraid." It is I who am always God, and in the last period, having become man for your sake, I have been seen and heard, and I can do all things; therefore I also walk upon the liquid waves with a body—a power which I can also impart to others; for to Peter himself, as he said, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you upon the waters," he commanded, and it was done. But concerning what follows next, let us discuss what we were explaining, stating that the apostles were sent upon the sea of the nations of the world, rising up
A to the heavenly height, as the Lord is elevated A like a mountain, and there offering up prayers for us, as He has become High Priest for us and has entered into the inner part of the veil, in order to make propitiation for the sins of the people, according to the Apostle.
The disciples, therefore, who were sent to cross to the other side—that is, to conquer and trample down those who cause temptation—did not conquer to the end; for the adversary is still active, and the nations rage against the Church of Christ. But the fourth watch of the night—that is, after the natural law, after the written law, after the Lord’s first coming, and after the law of grace which came with it B—will surely be the time of the second coming of Christ, rightly compared to the fourth watch of the night, when the Lord will come, trampling, humbling, and bringing into submission every principality, power, and might; for He is about to make manifest and to trample down the waves that are terribly rising against His Church. Remember, brothers, that the waves moved and raised up by the opposing spirit signify the rulers of this world, according to the anagogical meaning of the narrative. And, to leave aside the details of what occurred in between, when they had entered the boat, that is, Jesus and Peter who had been standing with Him outside the boat, the wind ceased, and having crossed over, they came to the land. For indeed, the Lord—and all the saints from among us who, as Peter prefigured, will be with Him—will be with us at the second coming of Christ; the intelligible, opposing spirit will be completely brought to naught, and we, having crossed the multi-surging sea of this life, will enter into the land of the meek, where all pain, sorrow, and sighing have fled away. And those who were in the boat, says the evangelist, came and worshipped Jesus, saying, "Truly C You are the Son of God." For then indeed "every knee will bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
But, leaving aside the anagogical interpretation, let us remember the beginning of the discourse; the beginning of the discourse was this: that temptations are profitable not only to those who are perfect in faith, such as Job, Peter, Paul, and their like, but they also bring the imperfect to perfection. For there, not only Peter and the disciples who were with him—who were themselves still imperfect—but also all who were in the boat, progressed so much in faith by that temptation that they came and worshipped Jesus and said to Him, "Truly You are the Son of God." Correctly, therefore, does the Apostle whom we cited at the beginning say: "Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life." D
A I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, that there is a twofold kind of temptation; but I do not now mean that temptations assail men through pleasure and pain, through health and sickness, through glory and dishonor, through abundance and want, in which those that assail us through pleasure, health, glory, and abundance are much worse, and this is true; but I am not speaking to you now of this twofold nature of temptations. But what is it that I wish you to acknowledge? Attend, and you will understand. This great James—who because of the kinship of the Virgin-Mother, by divine dispensation, with Joseph, is called the brother of the Lord—having said, "Rejoice when you fall into various temptations" B and, "Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life," then, just as if someone had said to him, "But there are those who blaspheme in temptation; others despair entirely of themselves; some even hang themselves; and if the temptation arises from natural and fleshly things, such as anger or desire, some have even fallen into murder, while others have given themselves over to licentiousness; how, therefore, is temptation from God, and the granting of crowns?"—in order to answer those who say such things, he adds: "Let no one, when he is tempted, say, 'I am tempted by God'; for God is untempted by evils." C Here, by "temptation," he clearly means evil and sin, and falling into the same—from which Christ remained untempted, even though He was tempted in another way; for he says, "In that He suffered, having been tempted, He is able to aid those who are being tempted." For even after His baptism in the Jordan, He went up onto the mountain to be tempted, according to the voice of the Gospel. Thus, the things that come upon men from without, as painful bodily trials, are also called temptations, as is the very assault of the enemy, even if it does not succeed against the person, since he even assaulted the Lord Himself. Sins are also called temptations, by which each one of us is tempted, as James himself says: "Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed; for desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death." D What death? The eternal one, which is the separation of the soul from God because of sin. To this, from Adam until the end, there followed the death of the body; and then in the age to come, for those who have not repented here, there will follow the unbearable and endless punishment of soul and body, by Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Let us flee from this temptation, brethren, as much as we are able; for it lies in our power to flee from it. Let us grieve if we see that we have fallen into it. If we grieve over this as much as we ought, we shall procure for ourselves a repentance that is not to be regretted, unto salvation. This is the temptation I desire you to learn about, not the one that harms and chastises.
in the present, but which harms us eternally. For our Lord Jesus Christ, whose ministers we are by his grace, is the high priest of good things to come, and not of present things; and by his own blood he entered into the holy things eternal, not having found a temporary redemption. This eternal redemption we also desire and seek—believe me—not from bodily but from spiritual temptations; for the weapons of our warfare, according to the Apostle, are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, not those that are sensible, but those erected against us by the spiritual enemy. But you seem to me neither to understand nor to seek this deliverance from spiritual temptations; for you grieve most of all for those temptations for which you ought to rejoice, as they provide, if you wish, eternal redemption; and you seek from me rather the deliverance from bodily temptations, which I, having disregarded, came to you, prepared to sympathize with you. Yet, if we were to grieve more for our sins than for the calamities that happen to us, not only would the salvation of the soul and the eternal redemption be ours, but also the deliverance from temporal temptations. For whence has our life become full of pains, groans, wars, and calamities? Is it not from the fact that we have cast ourselves by the transgression of the commandment into the forbidden temptation, I mean sin? If, therefore, we cleanse ourselves thoroughly from every sin through repentance, we shall then also be free from immoderate temptations, and at an appropriate time we shall enter into a life empty of pain and punishment. Turn, therefore, yourselves to this C salutary exhortation: let us not grieve nor be afflicted about bodily calamities and punishments, but about spiritual ones, which are truly temptations and truly worthy of grief, so that we may say to God, as he himself taught us: "And lead us not into temptation" that is forbidden and altogether evil, "but deliver us from the evil one; for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."
HOMILY XXXIII
Concerning the virtues and the passions opposed to them, and that the world, whose prince is the devil, is not a creation of God, but those who, having spurned the creatures, serve him. Spoken during a public supplication.
Just as whatever anyone sows on cultivated ground, that he will also reap; and if he commit to it fruit-bearing trees, or wheat, or barley, or some other useful thing, the earth will nourish, increase, and bring these to perfection; but if it be left without cultivation and seed, it brings forth plants, but useless ones, and especially the thorns and thistles of our curse; and if it bears a tree, it is also sterile and useless, and for the most part bristling with thorns; so, too, with the soul, whatever dispositions anyone has introduced into it, such...
is the fruit he gathers. If he uses profitable conversations and both hears and heeds spiritual instruction, and puts into action what it teaches, he cultivates the virtues and becomes useful to God, to other men, and to himself. But if he takes pleasure in conversations that are not good, and does not listen to spiritual instruction, but rather treats even what he has heard as something vile, he becomes wild and rank, and fosters evil passions, and brings forth from within himself the thorns and stings of death, of soul and body, which are sins. For the primordial serpent, as you all know, having stung man from the beginning through sin, rendered him mortal, and casting him out of the place of delight, transferred him into this corruptible and pain-filled world; and now, unless one hastens to heal his wounds through repentance, he will be sent away to eternal punishment and the fire of Gehenna. Just as in wild forests and in a thicket of thorns the beasts and reptiles of the earth lurk, so does this primordial dragon, that great and public beast according to Job, dwell beneath all the trees of pleasure; and after him, it says, runs destruction. Desiring that you all be free from this destruction, and omitting nothing, I strive for your sake, brothers, both in word and in, spiritual instruction, daily indeed for those present, and in church to all as time permits; for it cuts away the evil offshoots, extracts the deep roots of sins, blunts the stings of malice, triumphs over the primordial dragon, reveals the path that does not lead astray, and provides saving knowledge. C Since the Church of Christ, and especially that which is in this great city, has not only simple people, but also wise men, both by nature and by the study of external and our own disciplines; for this reason I do not make the homily overly simple, wishing rather to raise up the more lowly than to bring down for their sake those who are more sublime. But he who pays attention and listens to the teaching diligently, even if he is simple, will not be entirely ignorant of what is said; and whatever he is able to grasp and hold on to and put into action, even if it is very little, will banish all malice from his soul, and will grow and fill and save the heart that has received it. For since it comes from the God-inspired Scripture, it is likened to that stone of which Daniel spoke, that was cut from the mountain, very small indeed, and having struck the statue of those passing things, it ground it to pieces and dissolved it, but itself grew and filled the whole earth. D Now, however, it is necessary that not only the simple but also the wise pay close attention to what is being said, for although the homily conforms to the simple in its words, it does not have a low meaning, nor a light benefit. For I will point out to you the evil passions and the virtues, and having uncovered the root of each, I will show that this is not one and the same, but different, so that you may cut away the one, and [nurture the other].
For the love of God is the root and beginning of every virtue; but the love of the world is the author of every evil. Therefore these two loves are at enmity with one another, and are destroyed by one another, as the brother of the Lord cries out, saying: “Friendship of this world is enmity with God. Whosoever will be a friend of the world, becomes the enemy of God.” And John, the beloved of Christ, says: “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him; for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father.” Let us take heed, brethren, lest by loving evil desires, and having pride toward one another, we fall away from the love of the heavenly Father. For in these two he has encompassed every passion that separates us from God.
But for this pair of contrary roots, I mean the love of the world and the love of God, there is another pair—the root and source and author of love—that is at irreconcilable war with itself, and is hostile to that other pair. For the love of our own body is the cause of the love of the world; for it is for the sake of the body and the things that favor it that we love the world. The cause of the love of God, however, is the love of our spirit, that is to say, our soul; for it is for the sake of one’s own soul, and for the sake of the rest and the good inheritance to be received in the world to come, that each man loves God. And that these also are opposed to one another, the great Paul witnesses, saying: “The flesh lusteth against the spirit,” C that is, the soul, “and the spirit against the flesh.”
But how does the love of God grow out of the love of one’s own soul? The gehenna of unquenchable fire is threatened, and the eternal kingdom of God is promised; the eternal kingdom to those who hear and do the divine commandments, and the gehenna of fire to those who disobey the Gospel of Christ by their deeds. Those, then, who are truly faithful, and who love their own souls, and desire to keep them for eternal life, hearing these threats and these promises, immediately conceive within themselves both desire and fear: fear of the unending pain in the gehenna promised by the Lord to those who must endure it, and desire for the kingdom promised by God and the joy that lasts forever in it. Therefore, those who desire to obtain that untainted and divine joy, and who fear that torment of fire, are released from covetous, harmful, and earthly affections, and they strive to be joined to God through constant prayer, as He alone has the power and authority to deliver from the punishment of gehenna and to grant the joy that surpasses all understanding, which is everlasting. And thus they obtain the love of God, and through it, being more D perfectly united to God, they acquire every other virtue; for every form of virtue is instilled in us when God works. If, however, God does not work in us, sin is all that is done by us. Wherefore the Lord also in the
A Gospel says: "Without me ye can do nothing." And knowing this, they who truly practice the virtues are not puffed up by any success, but being humble, they glorify God, the source of virtues, from Whom as the Giver of good things they are filled. For just as air filled with light from the sun does not display its own, but the sun's glory and brightness to us, so those who, through the practice of the divine commandments, are united to God, are the fragrance of Christ according to Paul, and have the scent of Christ, and proclaim the virtues of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Thus, then, through spiritual teaching, the knowledge of things to come is acquired by us; and through a true love for one's own soul, the fear and desire for those things is acquired by us believers; and through these, the earnest and constant prayer and supplication toward God; and through constant prayer, love for Him and union with Him; and through this union every virtue is generated, bringing with it humility, with the knowledge of Him Who brings forth the virtues in us. But how is it that through the love of the body, friendship with the world comes to be, and through this friendship, the evil passions and the multitude of sins arise? B Just as the soul tends of itself toward the future pleasure, so the body towards the present and fleeting one; yet such pleasure is sensible and is realized through our senses, and comes from sensible things, which constitute the world; therefore, he who loves the body is a lover of the world. From this love of the body, desiring and pursuing and hovering after worldly pleasures immoderately, we clothe ourselves with the multiform ugliness of the passions. For since the pleasure according to the world is realized through the senses, and our senses are many and varied, there are many and varied pleasures according to them, and the passions corresponding to these are also many; for some belong to sight, others to hearing, and others to smell, and others again to touch, and others to taste.
Now of the evil passions regarding taste, food is not the cause, but the intemperance of it, which is gluttony; these are belly-worship, voracity, over-drinking, and drunkenness. And the belly, receiving immoderately from the taste, and discharging them C excessively to the outside through digestion, provides through the sense of touch an abundant supply of the material of evil, just like a filthy pool sending forth filthy streams, from which the base passions are formed: fornication, adultery, licentiousness, debauchery, and all the impurity of the flesh. And these, having enslaved the hearing and the sight and the smell, make the foul things desirable: the shameful words, the lewd songs, the satanic dances, the ointments that lead to uncleanness, the disgusting and D deceptive finery, the adornments through expensive garments and trappings, making oneself appear beautiful...
while underneath those who are passionate are covered with the foul mask of dishonorable passions, thus resembling whitewashed tombs which appear beautiful on the outside but are filled within with stench and all uncleanness. For these senses, enslaved to wickedness, both within and without, near and far, drag in the filth; and thus sin, which is death, not only goes out but also enters through the windows inherent in us. For "those things which proceed out of the mouth," he says, "are what defile a man," and "he who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
Such a soul, being a friend to the body, pursues in every way what is pleasant to the senses, and by gathering material for pleasure from every side—whether through touch, or taste, or other senses—gives birth to the love of possessions and love of money; and these give birth to thefts, injustices, robberies, and every kind of greed. There is also another sense besides these, without bodily organs, an internal and universal one, namely imagination, through which B other pleasures and passions are born for those who love the world, among which are considered presumption, elation of soul, and arrogance. Furthermore, other passions are formed mixed from sense and imagination; these are compliance with human judgments, vainglory, and pride.
The joy of the soul that comes from God and divine things is pure, passionless, and free from pain. But this world naturally brings pain along with pleasure, not only because of its manifold changes and vicissitudes, but also because, by granting the smallest portion to each, it deprives them of the rest. For since the world is one, it is divided among countless and innumerable people, each of whom desires and strives to have and rule the whole C of it. Therefore, the lover of the world, desiring the whole, even if he possessed almost everything, and even if he held a greater portion than all the rest, nevertheless sorrows because he is deprived of something, and he is distressed by one who is humbler than he in his own excellence. Conversely, divine joy and the pleasure of the mind are shared without division, so that even if one receives the whole of it, he does not in the least deprive others; for each of us receives the whole of piety, and is not saddened by the religion of his neighbor, but rather is increased in many ways. This world, therefore, as I said, brings pain along with pleasure; but our body accepts the pleasure while rejecting the pain; and for this reason the same world is to it both pleasant and harmful. D Those who are bound by the love of the body, because they do not know the nature of the world—thinking not only that it abounds in delights but also that it is free from pains, and not understanding that what they pursue vanishes—grieve over the pain innate in the world. Yet in this nocturnal battle, ignorant of the cause of the pain, they blame one another for the difficulties that arise on each occasion. Hence another series of passions, which bring no pleasure, agitates the miserable human race: insults, curses, malicious accusations, anger,
A hatred, contentions, envy, and every desire filled with bitterness, through which wars and murders are carried out over the whole world, and especially in our own generation, because charity grows cold and sin multiplies. But let us guard ourselves in harmony, binding ourselves to the peace we owe one another, and refraining from the madness against one another, which delivers both souls and bodies to perdition. Yes, brothers, I beseech you, let us forgive one another if anyone has a grievance against another, as Christ also forgave us; so that not only in the temples of God, but also in our homes and in the marketplace, remaining tranquil, we may with one mind and one mouth glorify our Father who is in heaven.
Indeed, there are other such things in the aforementioned evil list of destructive passions, which bring B neither pain nor pleasure, but have, as it were, a mixture of opposites in their origin, such as irony, flattery, deceit, and hypocrisy.
Do you see the error and deception of this world, how manifold it is? With how many evils it surrounds us? By how many things it separates us from God? For having made us suffer in ten thousand ways, in many manners it keeps us away from the passionless One. Therefore, the Lord himself said: “The whole world lies in wickedness,” and he called the devil the ruler, as the prince of the darkness of this age. For do not think that the wicked one rules over heaven and earth, and the creatures between them belonging to God, and that for this reason he is called the ruler of the world—far from such an ignorant C opinion! For this world does not lie in wickedness. For He who measures the heaven with a span, according to the prophet, and holds the earth in his fist, He alone is their Creator. But the misuse of things, the passionate governance of what is within our power, the world of injustice, evil desire, and arrogance—as the one beloved by Christ, the Theologian, says—are not from the Father. This world, then, lies in wickedness because of our misuse and faulty governance. And this is the world of which Satan is the ruler, along with the aforementioned mob of passions, which is built up from our sin-loving mind with the cooperation of the wicked one; through which those who have not liberated themselves by repentance make the devil the sovereign of themselves. D But let us, who have enlisted in the service of Christ, desire the world above; let us desire the kingdom promised to us by Christ; let us withdraw from the pleasures that drag down the soul; let us fear the hell of fire threatened to those who love pleasure; let us flee gluttony, drunkenness, fornication, greed, injustice, vainglory, pride, hatred, anger, and inhumanity. For because of these, alas! we ourselves impose the wicked one as ruler over ourselves and over the world. Let us flee
we use, and may we enjoy those goods which are promised and are to be given in time, which the grace and clemency of our Lord Jesus Christ may grant us all, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory forever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY XXXIV
A On the venerable Transfiguration of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ; wherein it is proven that the Light in it is uncreated.We also praise and admire, contemplating this magnificent work of God that is visible to our eyes, I mean the whole of creation. The wise men of the Greeks also praise and admire this as they study it; but we do so for the glory of Him who created it, while they, on the contrary, do so B against the glory of the Author of all things: "For they served," according to a foolish design, "the creature rather than the Creator." Thus, indeed, we too interpret the prophetic and apostolic and Patristic voices, but for the benefit of those who read them, and for the praise of the Spirit who spoke through the Prophets and Apostles and Fathers. But those who at various times stand at the head of a wicked heresy also attempt to explain these, yet to the ruin of those who believe them, and to the setting aside of the truth in accordance with piety, using the voices of the Spirit against the Spirit. And our God-bearing Fathers, softening the very teaching of the Gospel of grace—which is lofty and appropriate to ripe ears and C minds—through their own mouths, make it suitable and adapted even for us who are imperfect; just as loving mothers who have children, by chewing the more solid food, render it useful and easy to be accepted even by those who are still nursing; for indeed, the moisture and saliva from the mouths of fleshly mothers becomes food for children; and the thoughts from the hearts of the God-bearing Fathers turn into food suitable for the souls of those who hear and believe; but the mouths of wicked and heterodox men are full of lethal poison; when this is mixed into the words of life, it becomes deadly to those who listen unthinkingly. Let us therefore flee from those who do not accept the D expositions of the Fathers, but attempt to introduce the opposite from themselves; and who pretend to honor the words as they are written in the letter, but reject the pious understanding; and let us flee from them more than one would flee from the face of a serpent. For the serpent, by biting the body, kills only for a time, separating the soul, which is immortal: but these men, having fixed their bite upon the soul itself, separate it from God, which is the eternal death of the immortal soul. Therefore, with all our might let us flee from such men, and let us take refuge with those who teach what is pious and salutary, as being in harmony with the traditions of the Fathers. Such things I have said now, and these things as an exordium to
A your love, since we celebrate today the venerable Transfiguration of Christ upon the mount, and our discourse is about the light pertaining to it, concerning which there is even now much contention with the enemies of the light. Come then, let us briefly set forth from the beginning the Gospel words read today, for the unfolding of the mystery and the setting forth of the truth. "After six days Jesus taketh Peter and James and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun." It is necessary to perceive first from the Gospel after what day the apostle of Christ and evangelist Matthew counts the six days, after which the day of the Lord’s Transfiguration arrived. After what day, then? Surely after that on which the Lord, teaching his own disciples, said, "That the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father," and added, saying, "There be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom," calling the light of his own Transfiguration the glory of the Father and his own kingdom. B
This also the evangelist Luke, indicating and explaining it more clearly, says: "And it came to pass after these sayings, almost eight days, and taking Peter and James and John, he went up into the mountain to pray. And it came to pass, as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering." But how do they agree with one another, the one clearly stating eight days between the promise and the epiphany, and the other, "after six days"? Hearken and understand. There were eight upon the mountain, and six appeared. These three, Peter and James and John, who had ascended with Jesus, saw there abiding with him and conversing with him both Moses and Elijah, so that these were six. But the Father and the Holy Spirit were also entirely invisibly present with the Lord, the one bearing witness by His own voice that this is His beloved Son, and the other shining forth together in the bright cloud, showing C the conjunction and unity of the light of the Son with Himself and with the Father. For the wealth of these is a conjunction and a single manifestation of splendor. Thus, therefore, there are eight. As, therefore, there is no disagreement in these things between the six and the eight, so neither do the evangelists disagree—the one having said "after six days," and Luke, "And it came to pass after these sayings, almost eight days." But they have provided us, through both these sayings, a sort of pattern of those things which were gathered together mystically and at the same time manifestly on the mountain. For one might see, even by carefully observing the letter, that the heralds of God are in agreement with one another; for the blessed Luke said eight days, not disagreeing with him D who had said "after six days," but having, as it were, embraced both the day on which the words were spoken, as well as the day
on which the Lord A was transfigured. This also Matthew gives those who contemplate it intelligently to understand; wherefore the other also set down the preposition "after," indicating the day following, while [Luke] omitted it; for he does not say "after eight days," as the former says "after six days," but "it came to pass about eight days." Thus, there is nothing contradictory in the historical understanding of the evangelists.
But there is also something else, great and mystical, which they reveal to us through one another in their apparent disagreement. And so, pay attention to what is to be said, you who are more capable of moving through the intellect B. For why did one say "after six days," while the other passed over even the seventh and made mention of the eighth? It is because the great spectacle of the light of the Lord's Transfiguration is the mystery of the eighth day—that is, of the future age—appearing after the rest of the world created in six days, and transcending the sensation that works in us in a sixfold manner. For we possess five senses, and when the articulate speech according to sensation is added to these, it brings about for us a sixfold operation of sensation. Yet the kingdom of God, promised to the worthy, transcends not only sensation but also speech. Therefore, after the beautiful C cessation of those things that are performed in a sixfold way—the dignity of which cessation the seventh day enriches—the kingdom of God is revealed in the eighth day by the power of a superior operation. And the Lord, showing to the disciples this power of the divine Spirit, by which the kingdom of God is seen by the worthy, according to the divine Luke, had said beforehand: "There are some of those standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the kingdom of God come in power." That is, by granting to those who see it the ability to view the invisible things, having first cleansed them of the deadly and soul-destroying corruption which is sin—the tasting of D which is the beginning of evil in the mind. Those who have been cleansed of this do not taste of the death of the soul, having been kept undefiled in mind and soul, as I suppose, by the power of the future appearing, and [kept undefiled] in their intellect.
"There are some of those standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the kingdom of God come in power." The King of the universe is everywhere, and His kingdom is everywhere; so that the coming of His kingdom does not signify its arrival from elsewhere, but the manifestation of it by the power of the divine Spirit. For this reason He said, "come in power"—which power does not come to just anyone in any way, but to those who stand with the Lord, that is, to those who are firm in His faith and are kindred to Peter and James and John, whom the Word had previously led up to a high mountain—that is to say, [leading them] above our natural lowliness. For this is also the reason: "Why God is formed and appears on a mountain," as a certain person says, "partly descending Himself from His own watchtower, and partly lifting us up from our earthly lowliness, that
A His nature might be reached, even if only moderately, by created nature, and as much as it is safe for the Incomprehensible to be contained. Now, such an impression is not inferior to the intellect, but is far superior and higher, as it occurs by the power of the divine Spirit. Therefore, the light of the Lord’s Transfiguration neither comes and goes, nor is it circumscribed, nor does it fall under the faculty of the senses, even though it was seen by bodily eyes, and for a short time, and on a small summit of the mountain. Rather, the Lord’s disciples were at that time translated from the flesh to the Spirit by the change of senses which the Spirit wrought in them; and in that way they saw—both in what manner and to what degree the power of the divine Spirit granted them—that ineffable light.
Those who do not realize this, and who now blaspheme against it, have supposed that the foremost of the apostles saw the light of the Lord’s Transfiguration by a sensory and created power. And for this reason they attempt to drag down into the realm of the created not only that light—which is the glory and kingdom of God—but also the power of the divine Spirit, through which divine things are revealed to those who are worthy. For they have not heard, or have not believed, Paul who says: "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him, God has revealed to us through His Spirit; for the Spirit searches even the depths of God." B But upon the eighth day, as it is written, the Lord took Peter, James, and John, and went up into the mountain to pray. For whenever He wished to pray, He would withdraw even from them, the apostles themselves, and pray alone. Just as when He fed five thousand men, besides women and children, with five loaves and two fish; for immediately after dismissing everyone, and compelling all His disciples to embark in the boat, He Himself went up into the mountain to pray. Or He would take along a few, and those who excelled the others, with Him. For as the saving Passion was approaching, He said to the other disciples, "Sit here, until I pray," but He took Peter, James, and John with Him. Having therefore taken these alone here as well, He leads them up to a high mountain apart, "and was transfigured before them," that is, while they were watching. What is, "He was transfigured"? The theologian with the golden mouth says: "He opened up, as it pleased Him, a little of His divinity, and showed the indwelling God to the initiates." For while He was praying, as Luke says, "the appearance of His face was altered; and it shone as the sun," as Matthew writes. C He said "as the sun," not so that someone might think that light to be something graspable by the senses—away with the mental blindness of those who can conceive of nothing higher than the things that appear to the senses!—but so that we might understand that what the sun is to those who live by the senses and see through sensation, that Christ as God is to those who live in the Spirit and see in the Spirit; and that for those who are endowed with divine gifts, there is no need of another light in the vision of God. D
For to those who possess eternal things, He Himself is the light, and there is no other; for what need of a second light have those who possess the greatest? A While He was praying, He shone thus, and ineffably revealed to the choicest of the disciples that ineffable light, with the chief prophets present, in order to show that prayer is the foster-mother of that blessed vision, and that we might learn that through intimacy with God according to virtue, and the union of the mind with Him, that radiance is produced and appears—given to all and seen by those who, through precise good works and sincere prayer, are unceasingly stretched toward God. For, he says, true and most desirable beauty is visible only to the mind that has been purified, which concerns the divine and blessed nature; and he who has fixed his gaze upon its flashes and graces receives a portion of it, as though receiving a certain flowering radiance, and is dyed by it into his own; hence Moses’s face also was glorified while conversing with God. Do you see that Moses also was transformed B when he ascended the mountain, and thus saw the glory of the Lord? But he underwent the transformation; he did not operate it, according to him who says: "In this mode the tempered ray and beam of truth brings me to this, both to see and to undergo the radiance of God." But our Lord Jesus Christ possessed that radiance from Himself; wherefore He Himself had no need of prayer, by which the body is illumined with divine light, but He was demonstrating from where the splendour of God will come to the saints, and how it will be seen by them; for "the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matt. XIII, 43), and thus, having become entirely divine light, like offspring of divine light, they will see Christ, who shines super-eminently in a divine and ineffable manner, from whose divinity C the glory naturally proceeding was shown as common also to the body on Tabor, because of the unity of the person. Thus, even so, His face shone like the sun, by the gift of such light.
But those among us who boast in Greek erudition and the worldly, profane wisdom of this age, and who not only do not submit to spiritual men in the doctrines of the Spirit, but have actually determined to rebel against them—when they hear of the light of the Lord’s transformation on the mountain, which the apostles saw with their eyes, they immediately descend to sensible and created light, and drag down into that [category] that immaterial, unsetting, and eternal light, which surpasses not only sensation but also every power of the mind; these men, of course, are dwelling upon the earth, and are unable to think of anything beyond earthly things. D Yet He Himself who shone with this light showed it beforehand to be uncreated, having called it the kingdom of God; for the kingdom of God is not servile and created. For it alone of all things is subject to no one’s command and is invincible, and is beyond all time and every age; and it is not lawful, he says, for the kingdom of God to have been started or to be reached by ages or times. This we believe to be the inheritance of those who are granted salvation.
HOMILY XXXIV
A Since the Lord also, having been transfigured, shone forth, and manifested that glory and brightness and light, and will come again such as He was seen by the disciples on the mountain, did He then assume some light, which He will possess into the ages, that He did not have before? Away with the blasphemy! For he who says this will conceive of three natures in Christ: the divine, the human, and that of this light. Therefore, it was not another, but the brightness which He possessed hiddenly, that He manifested. For He had the brightness of the divine nature hidden under the flesh; therefore, that light is of the Godhead, and it is uncreated. Since Christ was also transfigured, according to the theologians, not by B assuming that which He was not, nor by changing into that which He was not, but by manifesting to His own disciples that which He was, opening their eyes and making them see from being blind. Do you see that, in relation to that light, eyes that see according to nature are blind? Therefore, that light is not sensible, nor did those who saw see with eyes endowed with sensible faculty, but those who had been transformed by the power of the divine Spirit. They were changed, then, and thus they saw the change—not one newly acquired at that moment, but one that our mixture had from the very assumption, having been deified by the union with the Word of God. Hence, she who in virginity, in an unheard-of manner, conceived and gave birth, recognized the God born from her in the flesh; C and Simeon, who took Him into his hands as an infant, and the aged Anna who met Him; for the divine power shone forth as if through thin linen veils to those who had the eyes of their heart purified.
And why does He take the leaders from the others, and lead them up, and by themselves apart? In order that He might certainly point out something great and mystical. How, then, is the vision of sensible light great and mystical, which those who were chosen had even before they were led up, just as those who were left below had it? And what need had they of the power of the Spirit, and of the addition or change of eyes through it for the vision of that light, if it were sensible and created? And how D is the light which is sensible the glory and kingdom of the Father and of the Spirit? And how will Christ come in such glory and kingdom in the age to come, when there will be no need of air, nor of light, nor of place, and such things, but, according to the Apostle, God will be everything to us? But if He is everything, He is certainly also light instead of light. Whence it is again shown that that light is of the Godhead; since also the most theological of the evangelists, John, manifests through the Revelation that that future and abiding city "has no need of sun nor of moon, that they should shine in it; for the glory of God lightened it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb." Did He not clearly point out to us there the Jesus who was now divinely transfigured on Tabor? Who indeed has, as a lamp...
a body; but truly in that place, for those who had ascended with Him, shone forth with the brightness of the Godhead. A Moreover, concerning the dwellers in that city, the same Scripture says: "They shall have no need of the light of the lamp and the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall shine upon them, and night shall be no more." What then is this light, in which there is no variation or shadow of turning? What is this immutable and unsetting light? Is it not the light of the Godhead? But also Moses and Elias, and especially Moses, who existed as a soul not in a body, how were they seen and glorified by a sensible light? For they too, when seen in glory, were speaking then of the exodus which He was to accomplish in Jerusalem. And how did the apostles recognize them, whom they had not previously seen, if not by the revealing power of that light?
B But that we may not draw out your mind for too long, we shall reserve the remaining evangelical words for the time of the most holy and divine liturgy; believing, as we have been taught by those who were illumined by Christ, for they alone know with certainty. "For my mysteries are for me and mine," says God through the prophet. Rightly, therefore, as we have been taught, believing and understanding the mystery of the Lord’s transfiguration, let us journey toward the shining of that light; and having become enamored of the beauty of the immutable glory, let us cleanse the eye of our mind from earthly defilements, despising everything pleasant and beautiful that is not lasting—which, C even if it seems sweet, yet causes eternal torment, and even if it brings beauty to the body, nonetheless introduces the foul tunic of sin to the soul: namely that, for which he who has it, bound hand and foot, is cast into that fire and the outer darkness, who lacks the garment of incorruptible union. From which may we all be freed by the illumination and acknowledgment of the immaterial and eternal light of the Lord’s transfiguration, to the glory of Him and His unoriginate Father, and of the life-giving Spirit, whose is one and the same splendor and divinity and clarity and kingdom and power, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XXXV
D On the same venerable transfiguration of the Lord: in which it is proven that, although that most divine light of His is uncreated, yet it is not the essence of God.The prophet Isaiah prophesied concerning the Gospel: "The Lord shall give a shortened word upon the earth." A shortened and brief word is one that in few words contains much meaning. Therefore, let us again consider what we have considered before now of the evangelical words, and let us add what remains, and let us be sated by the incorruptible sense which is still stored up, and let us drink in the whole divine inspiration.
A At that time, Jesus takes Peter and James and John, and brings them up to a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them, and his face shone as the sun. Behold now the acceptable time, behold now the day of salvation, brethren, a day divine, new, and eternal, not measured by intervals, not increasing and decreasing, not interrupted by night; for it is the day of the Sun of righteousness, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. It is He who, by the good pleasure of the Father and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, having shone upon us philanthropically, led us out of darkness into His own marvelous light, and He stretches forth to shine forever over our head, being the unsetting Sun. B Being the Sun of righteousness and truth, He does not endure to shine and be clearly known to those who cherish falsehood and speak injustice toward the heights, or who display it through their deeds; but He appears and is believed by the workers of righteousness and the lovers of truth, and He gladdens them with His radiance. And this is what the Scripture says: "Light has dawned for the righteous, and joy for those who are joined to it." Therefore, also, the Psalmist Prophet sings to God: "Tabor and Hermon will exult in thy name," prefiguring the joy that would later come of necessity on the mountain from that illumination for those who beheld it. And Isaiah says: "Loose every bond of iniquity, dissolve the knots of violent contracts, tear up every unjust document." And then what? "Then your morning light will break forth, and your healings will quickly arise, and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of God will wrap you." And again: "If you take away from yourself the bond, and the pointing of the finger, and the word of murmuring, and give your bread to the hungry from your soul, and fill the humbled soul, then your light will rise in darkness, and your darkness will be as midday." C For indeed He makes them also other suns, those upon whom this Sun has manifestedly shone; for the righteous shall also shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
Let us therefore lay aside, brethren, the works of darkness, and let us work the works of light, that we may not only walk becomingly as in such a day, but that we may also become children of day. And come, let us ascend to the mountain where Christ shone, that we may behold the things there; or rather, being such and having become worthy of such a day, the Word of God Himself will take us up in due time. But now, I beseech you, intensify and uplift the eye of the mind toward the light of the evangelical preaching, so that you may be transformed for the present by the renewing of your minds, and thus, having drawn down the divine radiance from above, you may become conformed to the likeness of the glory of the Lord, whose face shone today upon the mountain as the sun. How as the sun? There was a time when the
A solar light was not in this disk, for it is the primordial light; but the One who brought forth all things produced the disk on the fourth day, having kindled for it the light, and thus set it up as a luminary, simultaneously creating the day and manifesting the day. Thus, too, the light of the divinity existed when it was not in a vessel, in the body of Christ; for the former is without beginning, but the assumption, which the Son of God took from us, was later produced for our sake, the fullness of the divinity being received within it, and thus it appeared as a luminary that is both deifying and divine-shining. 196 Thus the face of Christ shone like the sun, and his garments became white like the light. And Mark says: "Shining, white as snow, such as no fuller on earth can whiten." B Therefore, that adorable body of Christ was illuminated by that same light, and the garments, as being near to that body, became luminous, and through these he showed what the stoles of glory are, which they shall put on in the coming age who draw near to God, and what those garments of sinlessness are, which Adam, having cast off through transgression, appeared naked and was ashamed.
The divine Luke, then, says: "His appearance was changed, and his clothing became white and glistening," C seeing everything that happened there as having no comparison. Mark, indeed, likens the garments, but by saying "shining, white as snow," he shows that the images and examples fall short of the sight of those garments. For snow is indeed white, but it does not also shine, since it always has an uneven surface, as if composed entirely of tiny bubbles formed by a windy spirit, on account of the trapped and intermingled air. For since the cloud has not yet fully settled, nor been able to press out the trapped air, it freezes by the D extreme intensity of the cold, and in such a manner it is carried and flies through the air, similar to foam, both by reason of the whiteness and the unevenness of the parts. As, therefore, the whiteness of snow was not sufficient to exhibit the sweetness of that spectacle, the notation of shining was added; moreover, that the Evangelist might show that that light was something superior to light, through which those garments were made splendid and white. For it is not the property of light to make those things upon which it is poured white and splendid, but to reveal what color they are. But it, as was fitting, overspread them: nay rather, it changed them, which is not of that light which falls under the senses. And what is still more unheard of, even when it had changed them, it kept them unchanged at that time, as will be clear shortly. On account of this, [was that] fire which is known to human custom? Therefore the Evangelist, not only [stating] the surpassing splendor of the face of the Lord, but also the beauty of the garments, showing them to be superior, [tells us] of those things which are by nature beautiful—
[871 A] ...stating and saying, as if by this alone they manifested themselves as Christians, having clearly erased themselves from the list of the faithful, and having willingly removed themselves far from the lot of Christ. But we, of His venerable Church, who together with the holy Gospels also revere those venerable synods of the Fathers, and consider them to be the definition, the canon, and the standard of our pious faith—come, let us also look in part at what was rightly dogmatized by this holy synod concerning the divine energy in Christ. For as for those followers of Sergius, and Pyrrhus, and Cyrus, and Theodore, who at that time stood against the orthodox with both words and writings, and said that the God-man Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, has one energy—the same for both the flesh and the divinity—the divine synod of the Fathers discusses many other and very great things with them by the divine Spirit, and among other things, also this: “We know,” it says, “that each energy belongs to each nature, the essential and natural and corresponding [energy], proceeding indivisibly from each substance and nature, according to the natural and essential quality inborn in it, and bringing with it the energy of the other substance simultaneously undivided and unconfused.” For this produces the difference of the energies in Christ, just as [it distinguishes] the beings of the natures of the natures. And again: “For in one way, clearly, and in [another] way, Christ acted, so that according to the divinity, what the Father does, the Son does these things likewise, and according to the humanity, what are peculiar to man, this same Person acted as man; since He is truly both God and man.” Whence it is also truly believed that this same Person, being one, has natural energies, namely the divine and the human, the uncreated and the created, as true and perfect God, and true and perfect man, one and the same Mediator of God and men, our Lord Jesus Christ. Behold then, the holy synod taught excellently through these few words both the oneness and the difference of the divine nature with respect to the divine energy, and at the same time the natural, and the unconfused, and the indivisible. And that the difference of the energies of Christ with respect to each other and with respect to the natures—which is, clearly, shown from the results—this also shows that the one Christ has two energies, as perfect God and perfect man, [871 C] just as, it says, the difference of the natures shows that the natures of Christ are two. But it is not possible to know the difference of the natures in Christ otherwise than from His natural [energies], according to the same theologians; just as the hypostatic characteristics belong to the hypostasis, so also the natural characteristics belong to the nature, of both the divine and the human likewise. And we call the wills and the energies natural; the same persons say this too. These things, then, having been safely theologized by the Fathers of the synod through the aforementioned pronouncements, and indeed also having declared the divine [energy] to be uncreated at the same time, and natural, and that it proceeds from the divine substance, and is indivisible from it—things which could never be said of creatures, for it is not in their nature, no more than flame coming forth from snow—then they also explicitly and in those very words added this, saying: “Christ, being one, has natural energies, namely the divine and the human, the uncreated and the created.” Wherefore also the particular divine synod which, after the second iconoclasm, demolished the [arguments of the] heresy and strengthened Orthodoxy by both words and actions, established that the acts of this ecumenical synod should be proclaimed annually in the church, along with other things: “Anathema to those who do not embrace the voices of the holy Fathers [put forth] for the establishment of the correct dogmas of the Church of God—Athanasius, Cyril, Ambrose, Amphilochius the God-speaker, Leo the most holy archbishop of elder Rome—and furthermore the Acts of the ecumenical synods, I mean both the fourth and the sixth.” With these things being so, and the ecumenical synods being thus connected, as it were, and grown together inseparably with one another, and breathing the same things both to themselves and to the all-powerful Spirit of God that moves them, and indeed these Fathers and teachers who came after them, being of the same tribe and breathing the same spirit, in such a God-inspired and fearful manner proclaiming their acts annually in the churches, and casting out and subjecting to anathema those who do not embrace them—tell me, Gregoras, and Niphon, and Dexios, and whoever else is like them, will you accuse the synodal tome, or this person or that, who stand at the head of the synod and of the holy Church, because after many synods, and long and continuous discussions, and many good words, and time, and the testing by words and by deeds, they both excommunicated Barlaam and Akindynos, the primary mystagogues of them and arch-heretics, and subjected those who disobey to the end and fight against the truth of piety to anathema, following those divine Fathers? And how will they not also here be slandering and treating us unjustly, just as they surely do in the discourse of faith? For the Fathers of the synod among us by no means set forth a definition of faith from themselves, [871 D] and then subjected those who do not obey it to that condemnation and those fearful curses—far from it; but having set forth the definition of faith and the common canons of the Church—I mean those holy synods of the Fathers—they, not we, subjected to the anathema those who disobey them to the end, just as they have done of old and now do. Which the synod of the Fathers among us also manifested, having performed the work of priests and angels of God, and having preserved their own order and form,
A that it is inaccessibile, as the holy theologians testify. For today, they say, the abyss of inaccessible light; today, the uncircumscribed stream of divine brightness shines forth for the apostles on Mount Tabor. And the great Dionysius, having said that the inaccessible light, in which God is said to dwell, is a cloud, says that everyone who is deemed worthy to know and see God enters into this.
Therefore, it was the same light which the apostles saw shining from the face of the Lord before, and which the bright cloud overshadowed afterwards. But at that time, it provided the vision shining more faintly; later, however, flashing forth with a much greater radiance, it became invisible to them because of its surpassing brilliance, and in this manner it overshadowed Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, the fount of divine and eternal light. For even with the sensible sun, it provides the same light and vision through its ray, yet it takes away the vision again whenever someone looks directly at it; for the brightness according to it is beyond the capacity of our eyes. But the sensible sun shines as it is by nature, not as it wills, nor only to those whom it might will; B but Christ, the Sun of Truth and Justice, having not only nature and natural brightness and glory, but also a corresponding will, shines forth providentially and savingly only to those whom He wills, and for as long as He wills. For this reason, willing, He appeared as the sun and was seen by the eyes of the apostles, and this at no great distance; then, having shone more radiantly as He willed, because of the surpassing brilliance, He became invisible to the eyes of the apostles, as if having entered into a bright cloud.
But also a voice came from the cloud: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to him." C When the Lord was baptized in the Jordan, the heavens were opened, and the same voice came from that glory, which Stephen later, being full of the Holy Spirit, saw as he gazed when the heavens were opened to him; but now it came from the cloud which overshadowed Jesus. Therefore, this is the same as the supercelestial glory of God. How then will the supercelestial light be sensible? The voice of the Father from the cloud taught that all those things before the coming of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ—the sacrifices, the legislations, the adoptions—were imperfect and did not come to pass and were not fulfilled according to the prior will of God; but were permitted on account of this future coming and epiphany of the Lord. For this is He in whom, as the beloved Son, the Father is perfectly well pleased and rests and is satisfied; D wherefore He commands us to listen to Him and to obey Him. And even if He says, "Enter by the narrow gate, for wide and spacious is the way that leads to destruction; but narrow and constricted is the road that leads to life," listen to Him; even if He said that this light is re-
Avealed to add the following points in the subsequent discourses, and to demonstrate more extensively the divine nature of the divine energy, and its uncreated quality, and the distinct and God-befitting nature of divine participation, and the ineffable and secret deification of those who are deified, since the venerable Tome of the Council also looks towards these things. The philosopher dared to oppose his own arguments against these, shooting them as into heaven, and we have promised above to support these points—insofar as it is possible—through the Fathers’ discourses once again. Now, however, it is necessary to add here in a few words the modes of union between the divine essence and its energy, and to show both their difference and their existence in equality, and that they do not harm each other in any way, which is what the argument of the adversaries always strives to do, attacking the united as if it were the distinguished of theology, and confusing both through each other. In this way, then, according to the aforementioned arguments, the essence of God and His energy differ from one another, according to which they have been called "one thing and another" by the theologians; but that they are united according to other arguments, and through these, and in what way they are said to be so, you might understand here. B There is, again, a difference between them, because the essence surpasses as essence, and exists by itself, but the energy is lower, as not existing by itself, but as if it were a quality or an accident according to the theological Fathers, or rather, to speak more appositely, as a natural property, having its existence in the nature. Furthermore, the divine essence differs from the divine energy in that the one is single, while the energies are many. For the energies of the Spirit, according to the great Basil, are ineffable in their greatness, and innumerable in their multitude. The divine Maximus says the same, and Dionysius the Great before them. Furthermore, the divine essence differs from its energy in that the energy is what characterizes and manifests its essence, while the essence itself is what is manifested and characterized by the energy as its essential and natural [attribute]. For from the energy, says the wise Maximus, the nature of each thing is characterized, the uncreated energy showing an uncreated nature, and the created [energy] the created [nature]. Furthermore, the divine essence differs from the divine energy in existence, and in-existence, and being, and presence. For the divine essence is that which exists by itself; but the energy in-exists and is present. And the "one thing and another," as the great Justin has already taught us, saying that existence and being are one thing, and in-existence and presence are another. Furthermore, the divine essence and the divine energy differ from each other in that their works are different, and not the same. This also the God-bearing Damascene taught a short while ago through the synodal Tome. For the work of the divine nature, he says, is its pre-eternal and eternal generation, while the work of the divine will is creation. C Furthermore, the divine essence and the divine energy differ from each other also in that the thing manifesting and knowing this and that is one thing and another. For the energy that inseparably accompanies the essence manifests the essence, which is hidden according to the theological Fathers; and the creatures manifest this divine energy by themselves. "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead," says the Apostle. Therefore, the great Basil also said: "The works are indicative of power, and wisdom, and skill, but not of the essence itself." And the divine Maximus again: "From the energy the nature of each is characterized, the uncreated energy showing an uncreated nature, and the created the created." These and similar points testify in a few words not only to the difference of the divine energy from the divine essence, but also to the divine, and infinite, and invisible, and natural, and uncreated, and creative, and all God-befitting [qualities] of the energy of God. But do you demand longer and more numerous proofs than those mentioned? Indeed, we were already taught all these things at length by the theologians, and especially when we were examining the sacred oracles with them, and especially those of the ecumenical D [councils]; I, however, will not hesitate but are in each other according to the uncreated, according to the incomprehensible, just as Anastasia the Great has already taught us, saying: "Wherever the energy appears, the essence from which it proceeds is considered with it; for each is incomprehensible, and for this reason they are absolutely inseparable from each other." And again the same: "But the distinction is by way of mental conception, while the union is real and inseparable; for the energy is about the whole," he says. "And the essence remains inseparable from this." The divine essence and the energy are in each other also according to the infinite; for both this and that are likewise infinite. Therefore, the fifth ecumenical council says something like this, making a discourse about the divine power, or energy: "If anyone says or holds the power of God to be finite, let him be anathema." Furthermore, essence and energy are united with each other also according to being common, and both belonging to the three hypostases. They are one in each other also according to being entirely inseparable and indivisible. For the energy proceeds from the essence, but indivisibly, just as the holy ecumenical council said previously, and indeed before it the divine Anastasius, whom it also called "the Great," saying: "The energy is around the whole, and the divine essence remains inseparable from it." And again the same: "I would say that His energy is inseparable from the nature of God." According to these discourses and modes—I mean both the former and the latter—the divine essence and the energy are two, that is, one thing and another, not in reality according to the theological Fathers, but with the difference being understood and spoken of by way of mental conception, and they are again these same things, not by mental conception, but by the reality of their union being considered and spoken of, according to which point the great Basil also said that in the simple
A logic being, it is testified to; for today, he says, the abyss of inaccessible light; today the uncircumscribed ray of divine brightness shines forth to the apostles on Mount Tabor. And the great Dionysius, having said that the inaccessible light, in which God is said to dwell, is a cloud, says that in this light, everyone who is deemed worthy to know and see God enters. Therefore, it was the same light which the apostles previously saw shining from the face of the Lord, and the luminous cloud which overshadowed them afterwards. But then it provided vision as it shone somewhat dimly; later, however, as it flared up much more brightly, it was invisible to them due to its exceeding brilliance, and in this way it overshadowed Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, the source of divine and eternal light. For even with the sensible sun, it provides the same light and vision through its rays, and in turn takes away the vision when one looks at the sun itself; for the brightness according to it is beyond the capacity of our eyes. But the sensible sun shines as it is by nature, not as it wills, nor [only] for those whom it might will; but Christ, the Sun of Truth and Righteousness, not only having nature and natural brightness and glory, but also a corresponding will, shines forth providentially and savingly only for those whom He wills, and for as long as He wills. For this reason, willing it, He appeared as the sun and was seen by the eyes of the apostles, and that not from a great distance; then, having shone more clearly as He willed, because of the exceeding brilliance, He was invisible to the eyes of the apostles, as if He had entered into a luminous cloud. B But a voice also came from the cloud: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Now, when the Lord was baptized in the Jordan, the heavens were opened, and the same voice came from that majesty, which Stephen later, with the heavens opened to him, being full of the Holy Spirit, saw as he looked intently; but now it came from the cloud which overshadowed Jesus. Therefore, this is one and the same with the supercelestial majesty of God. How then will the light that is supercelestial be sensible? But the voice of the Father from the cloud taught that all those things which existed before the coming of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ—the sacrifices, the legislations, the adoptions—were imperfect, and they did not come into being and were not fulfilled according to the primary will of God; but they were allowed on account of this coming and manifestation of the Lord which was to be. For this is He in whom, as in a beloved Son, the Father is well pleased and rests, and is perfectly satisfied; wherefore He commands to listen to Him and to obey Him. And even if He says, “Enter through the narrow gate, because wide and broad is the one that leads to destruction; but narrow and constricted is the way that leads to C life,” listen to Him; even if He said that this light is revelation. D
[theological] sentiments) and setting them aside, let us stand on holy ground, each one proving his own land holy through virtue and the upward ascent to God; so that we may have boldness while God is dwelling in light, and may be illumined by running to him, and may live eternally through being illumined, to the praise and glory of the tri-personal and most monarchical splendor, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XXXVI
AOn the Gospel of the eleventh Sunday of the evangelist Matthew, having as its subject the parable saying: "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants" B; in which also [it treats] of forbearance and sympathy.
God, in creating man with free will, accounted him worthy of great providence, so that he might bend not toward evil, but toward the good, using his free will well. Immediately, therefore, upon creating him, he makes him in his own image and likeness, so that, by looking toward the archetypal good, he might in no way fall away from goodness, and so that God, in turn, toward him—as toward his own image more than toward other things made by him—might justly manifest his own abundant clemency thereafter. From there, again, out of abundance he draws him through imitation toward the goodness suited and appropriate to him; for man can be good by imitating his Creator; but since God is good by far and to a great degree, it is entirely impossible for man to have equal goodness. Do you discern the multitude and magnitude of God's gifts to us, and how he has set himself before us as an example of good works? Now I will omit the natural benefits which he has given us, which David alone, when he contemplated them, said to him: "Thy knowledge is become wonderful from me: it is become high, I cannot attain to it" C; but I will speak briefly of what was done externally and for our sake. For he fashioned all visible and invisible things for the sake of man; not only heaven, earth, waters, air, fire, and the things that they contain, and all the species of animals and plants which we cannot even enumerate one by one, but he fashioned even the multiform and numerous multitude of angels for the sake of man, defining some as rulers of the world and leaders of the nations, as the prophets of God, having learned from him, teach us, and others as ministers D for those who are to inherit eternal salvation, as the great Paul himself, having learned from God, revealed to us. And why should I even speak of all the things created by him? For he even made himself man for our sake. And what tongue could recount the words he spoke for our sake through himself, the way of life, the virtues which he pointed out to us through himself, the magnitude of the miracles which he performed for our sake through himself? But, O wonder of wonders and the last of all wonders! He gave himself unto death for our sake, and rose again, and ascended for our sake, always living as God, dwelling in the heavens, or rather remaining everywhere and above all, before the ages and unto the ages and now.
A Plenary indeed is the piety in all that He did for us. For what else moved Him to such and so great benefits, if not clemency, love, and piety? But this piety is shown to be of two kinds: the one, that which, before we sinned against Him, pitied us and fulfilled with excellent gifts what our nature lacked; the other, that which remained B merciful and long-suffering after we had sinned against Him, and not only this, but also, through great compassion, increased the gifts and led them always to what is better, not only by not rendering evil for evil, but also by not simply providing good things in return for evil, but the very best of good things, and things than which there is nothing greater or better. For later He gave Himself for us, Who is the first and greatest and supreme of good things, or rather the only good and incomparable one. Therefore, since the good of almsgiving is twofold—the one part being the distribution of one's own goods to those needing shelter, covering, food, and help in their necessities, and the other part being long-suffering, forbearance, and compassion towards those who offend—the Son of God, having become man for our sake and having deigned to be our teacher, leads us toward that first form of almsgiving, which consists of the sharing of our belongings, saying, "Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not turn away him who wants to borrow from you." And, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes, and where thieves do not break in and steal." And in another place again, "But give alms, and behold, all things are clean to you." C He does not convert us to share our goods through these words alone, but also through a parable; He brings before our eyes, as it were, that future and very terrible coming, and presents Himself as King sitting on a throne of glory. Those who have shared their goods He places on the right, as workers of good deeds; those who are not such, on the left, whom, as having been ungenerous, He rebukes as having shown inhumanity to Him personally by not assisting the needy, and declares them cursed, and sends them into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. But those who have helped the poor He praises openly, and, acknowledging the kindness distributed to the needy as having been done unto Him, He testifies that they are blessed by His Father, and makes them heirs of the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Such things, indeed, does the Lord say in the Gospels, urging and leading us toward the one form of almsgiving, which is the distribution to the needy.
But concerning the other form of it, D which is patience and compassion towards those who have offended us, what does He say? "Do not render evil for evil, but overcome evil with good." "Do not judge, and
A you shall not be judged." And, "If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." As in that part He used words of exhortation and incited them by deeds themselves, proposing Himself as shepherd and king, so too concerning patience and compassion towards those who offend, not only did He say what we have demonstrated above, but He also added and proposed a parable which today we have recalled to your memory from the Gospel, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is likened to a certain man, a king, who wanted to settle accounts with his servants; and when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed ten thousand talents." B Here He calls his own Father a man, a king, just as He had called Himself when exhorting to almsgiving. To a man, indeed, He said it was likened, but through a parable. Yet He Himself was not likened to a man by a parable, but in all truth He became man; for the throne is one, and the kingdom of the Son and the Father is one. But since He had said, in those words concerning doing good to one's neighbor, "I was hungry and I thirsty," and so forth, and had called the needy brothers, and brought forth other matters proper to His Own incarnation, for this reason He there spoke of Himself as sitting as king. And there, because He had mentioned sheep and goats by way of parable, He had proposed Himself as king and shepherd; but here, whose mention He makes C of servants, of an accounting, and of riches taken from royal treasuries, as a king sitting and setting accounts and demanding debts, He calls His own Father. But by what logic does He there say: "He shall sit," and "They shall be gathered," and "He shall separate," and "The King shall say," all of which have a future signification; while here: "Is likened," and "He wanted to settle accounts," and "A debtor was brought," and "The Lord commanded," which words all indicate past time? Because the things there mentioned will come to pass in the future age; but most things that are proposed in today's parable are fulfilled already here. For when he was brought, He says, one who owed ten thousand talents and had not wherewith to pay: "The Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, D and payment to be made." But when he fell down and prayed for patience, and promised to pay it all back, the Lord had compassion and both released him and forgave the debt: of which none is to be in the future age; there is no procrastination, no promise from the debtor, no payment, no forgiveness in any way to be granted by Him who gives all things and then will demand of all the account.
Furthermore, that the debtor of ten thousand talents was brought, when the king had begun to settle accounts, is also not of the future age. For there, everything that begins here is brought to an end. The rest of the parable is also
A of the present age, it says: "And having gone out, he found one of his fellow-servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and taking hold of him he choked him, saying: Pay me if you owe anything." And he did not pity him even in the slightest, though he was falling down and entreating and promising; but having gone away, he cast him into prison until he should pay all that was owed.
What then is this "going out," once that time has arrived? What is this debt towards fellow-servants? What this demand? What this attack? But also, "Falling down," it says, "his fellow-servant at his feet, he begged, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay you all." But he did not listen, but cast him into prison until he should pay all that was owed. B But in the future age, it is not possible for us to suffer violence from one another, nor to fall at the feet of others, nor even to entreat; for there is one to whom every knee shall bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth. But because of such cruelty towards his fellow-servant, the other fellow-servants were very much grieved, it says, and reported all that had happened to their master. But he, being angered, and having rebuked that unmerciful servant, delivered him to the tormentors until he should pay all that was owed.
One might see this also being fulfilled in the present age, but it especially looks to the future; for there, the conviction is manifest, and the sentence is pitiless, and the torment is endless. "Until," he says, "he should pay all that is owed." But it is impossible for a payment to be found from us that is equal to our debts to God, so that this "until he should pay the whole" indicates eternal punishment. But how are all those words of the parable fulfilled here: the royal throne, the conviction of the debtors, the demand after the convictions, and all that follows? C This temple of God stands as another heaven within the sacred tent, just as in the supercelestial tabernacles, having the Lord’s throne, upon which sits the King of all, and invisibly settles the account with His servants, with all of us standing around here and praying. There are many, of whom I myself am one, who are convicted by the words that are sung and read here divinely in the hearing of all, because we do not use these ten thousand—that is, so many good things—according to God; each one of which is a talent, as it brings a heavy and numerous condemnation. For thus even Cain, who appeared to have committed one crime, the murder of his brother, had seven [to endure] the retribution, that is to say, many, according to what is written. D We are not convicted only of owing, but we also learn from the divine oracles the punishments awaiting the guilty; and having learned them, as long as we remain in the temple, we repent, we fall down, we entreat, we promise that we will live pleasingly to God for the future; and we also obtain forgiveness, by remaining here until the end and fervently entreating. For He said: "Turn to me, says the Lord, and I will turn to you, and I will no longer remember your iniquities."
B Then, upon going out from the temple, and meeting those who have offended us, even if they fall before us and beseech us, we are hard, merciless, and unrelenting toward them—and this even though their offenses against us do not count for even a denarius, when compared to our debts to God, which are equivalent to a talent or rather many talents. For this reason, the Lord, who had compassion on us when we repented and forgave us so much, seeing our unsympathetic and unyielding attitude toward our own kind, is justly angered against us and delivers us to unbearable torments—to temptations here, and endless punishments in the future—in accordance with this very word of Truth Himself: "So," He says, "my heavenly Father will do to you, if you do not forgive everyone his brother from your hearts."
What is even more terrible is that we shall even find the true servants of God—clearly, both the holy angels and men, whom we hope, by entreating them here, will be our intercessors and mediators before God there—to be those who provoke God to anger against us, if we do not show compassion here to those who have offended us. For they are, as we learned above, those who report to the Lord with great sorrow the harshness and unyielding nature of our disposition. It was therefore well said that we spoke at the beginning, that it is His own Father whom the Lord here terms king and judge through the parable; for He did not say here, "I shall deliver the unyielding man to the tormentors," but, "my heavenly Father." C Let us fear, therefore, brothers, the zeal of the saints against us at that time; let us shudder at the divine sentence; let us revere the long-suffering of God that precedes this toward us; let us ponder how great is our debt to God, even when compared to the debts that others owe to us. "How often," Peter said, questioning the Lord, "shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" And he heard: "I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." Yet, it is almost impossible for a brother to sin against us so many times. Our offenses against God, however, exceed even this number. And if you weigh the gravity of one of them and reflect upon whom it is that we have offended, you will find it incomparable to all those others, even if they were to have happened seventy times seven times. D Having, therefore, owed so many and such great talents to God, and having asked only for patience, and having received from Him the complete remission of the debt, will you not then willingly grant patience when asked by a fellow servant who owes a small debt—for such are these denarii—of money? Otherwise, everything would justly be exacted; for would it not be just for you to be stripped of all things and to undergo the condemnation for your guilt? Therefore one of the prophets says: "As you have done, so shall it be to you; your retribution shall return upon your own head." But let us not await the rebuke, the anger, or the sentence, brothers, but let us clothe ourselves, just as the Apostle said, with hearts of compassion, both in words and in
thoughts and in deeds, and let us be towards one another, just as he also teaches, kind, merciful, forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another, just as Christ also forgave us A. For in this way, this grace from Christ will firmly abide with us, and it will be for us all the more a pledge for the unspeakable promises to come. For it—that is, the person who offends us—will be the author of such great goods for us, if we are willing; and I see him as a ship laden with goods from which we can easily pay off ten thousand talents and acquire future goods, and I perceive him in the affairs of the soul to be of such a kind in my mind as that which we recently beheld with our bodily eyes in our city. The barbarians invaded, they surrounded the city, they cut off all our provisions, they brought upon us extreme danger, as though they would capture the city by famine; but there appeared and docked at our shores a ship laden with ten thousand measures of wheat, by which the incursions of the barbarians were made vain, the necessities of life were sold for a small price, and the provisions for our future were secured B.
Thus, invisibly, there attacks the whole race of Christians a spiritual enemy more ferocious than all barbarians; he interjects himself into all the paths of the soul toward salvation, he shuts it in with a famine of virtues, and as if it had performed no good work, he thrusts it into despair, as though he would overturn and prostrate it by this path. But lo! there appears the providence of Him who desires the salvation of sinners, who—as if He were the one who offended us—asks for compassion from us; and by obtaining this from us, He renders all the malice of the devil against us useless, He makes God propitious to us, He offers us many occasions for mercy and salvation, and takes thought for eternal life. May the grace and clemency of our Lord Jesus Christ grant that we all attain to this; to whom belongs all glory, power, honor, and adoration, with His eternal Father, and with the most holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XXXVII
COn the most holy Dormition of our most pure Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary.My homily today is made both by love and by duty towards your charity; not only because I desire to pour saving speech into your pious ears and thereby to nourish your souls, and I do this both because of my love for you, and I owe it according to the holy canons; but because if I owe anything, if I love anything, it is certainly—first and foremost—to recount with the praise of the Church the great deeds of the ever-virgin Theotokos. But while love, D which is double instead of single, raises up, excites, and converts, and while duty—implacable—urges on, the speech cannot...
works. A For the debt is inexorable and pressing, while speech has no power to approach things that are beyond speech, just as the eye cannot look steadily at the sun. But since, even though it is impossible to speak of things that are beyond speech, it is possible through love to hymn those who are hymned, it is permitted to touch even the unreachable, to pay the debt of words, and to dedicate our longing for the Theotokos through the best hymns within our power. If the death of the holy ones is precious, and the memory of the just is accompanied by eulogies, how much more fitting is it for us to celebrate with the greatest praises the memory of the holy of holies, through whom all holy ones were sanctified—I mean the ever-virgin Mother of God? This we do in this feast, celebrating her holy dormition or transition that took place today, by which she—who was made a little lower than the angels—surpassed the angels, archangels, and all the super-celestial powers above them, incomparably so through her proximity to the God of all and through the miracles written of and perfected in her from of old. For to this end were the divine predictions of the God-inspired prophets and the prodigies, by which the great miracle of the world, this ever-virgin Theotokos, was shown in advance, and the changes of generations and events that paved the way for the end of the new mystery concerning her; B they were the laws of the Spirit, set forth in various ways to delineate the truth that was to follow. It was the end, or rather the beginning and root, of the wonders that came to pass afterwards: God’s promise to Joachim and Anna, those elders endowed with such great virtue, that they who were barren from their youth would give birth in their deep old age; and indeed give birth to her who, without seed, was to bring forth the Son born of God the Father from before the ages, eternally. Then again, the vow of these parents, who thus contrary to hope gave birth to a daughter, and who herself would give birth contrary to all hope, to offer her to the Giver—by which most worthy vow the Theotokos, while still an infant, was translated from the house of her father to the house of God, and lived in a miraculous way for not a few periods of years in the Holy of Holies, where she was nourished with ineffable food through the intervention of angels, food of which Adam did not manage to taste (for he would not have fallen from life), unlike this all-pure one, even if she was shown to be his daughter, yielding for a little while to nature; just as her Son, she rises today from earth to heaven. C But after that ineffable nourishment, there was the dispensation of her betrothal—a betrothal concerning this Virgin that was most mystical—and the strange and beyond-speech salutation of the archangel flying down from above, and the counsels and words of God that overturned the condemnation of Eve and Adam and healed the resulting curse, turning it into this blessing. For the King of all, as David foretold, desired the mystical beauty of this ever-virgin, and bowing the heavens, He came down and overshadowed her, D or rather the substantial power of the Most High dwelt within her. For He did not manifest His presence through darkness and fire, as He did to the God-seer Moses, nor as He did to the prophet Elijah through storm and cloud; but without an intermediary, without a veil, the most pure power of the Most High
A deeds, without any veil; but the power of the Most High overshadowed the all-pure and virginal womb, with nothing standing between—neither air, nor ether, nor any of the objects of sense, nor anything higher than these. This, however, is not a mere overshadowing, but a direct union. And since that which overshadows is naturally accustomed to imprint its own form and proper likeness upon that which it overshadows, there occurred in the womb not only a union, but also a formation; and that which was formed from both—from the power of the Most High and from that all-holy and virginal womb—was the Word of God made flesh. Thus He dwelt ineffably within her, and from her came forth the Word of God clothed in flesh; and He was seen upon earth and mingled with men, making our nature a participant in the Godhead, and granting to us, as the divine Apostle said, things B "into which the angels desire to look." And this is the surpassing eulogy and the most glorious splendor of this Ever-Virgin, before which every mind and word is overcome, even if it were an angelic one.
But what word could ever express what happened after the ineffable birth? For having cooperated with and suffered along with the self-emptying of the Word of God enacted within her, she rightfully became a partaker of glory and exaltation, heaped with even more exceptional increments of great works. Yet even after He who had taken flesh from her ascended into heaven, she vied, so to speak—by her perseverance and the manifold exercises of her virtues, by her prayers and vows for the whole world, and by the counsels and help she gave to those preaching the divine Word to every corner of the earth—with the great works that He who was once in her brought to perfection, those works which are above mind and word. She was the sole support and consolation of all, both heard and seen, aiding the preaching of the Gospel in every way; and thus she manifested a life of extreme struggle and conduct, both in mind and word.
For this reason, therefore, her death was life-bearing, transferring her to a heavenly and immortal life; and its commemoration is a joyful festival and a universal solemnity, not only because it renews the memory of the marvels of the Mother of God, but also because it recalls to mind the common and new gathering of the holy apostles from every nation at her all-holy funeral D procession; the hymns of those god-inspired men, the heralds of God, sung over her; the angelic ministrations and the choral groupings and rites around her, as they accompanied and followed, assisted and opposed, defended and were defended; and with all their might they cooperated and sang in harmony, honoring with works and hymns in every possible way that life-giving and God-receiving body, the saving medicine of our race, the pride and veneration of all creation. They fought against and held back with a hidden hand those Jews who set upon her and rose up against her with a God-fighting hand and intention, while the very Lord of Sabaoth, the Son of this Ever-Virgin, was invisibly present, paying the funeral honor to His Mother, into whose hands her divine soul had been committed, and into whose hands
- A jus theophoric spirit was deposited, by which, not long after, that body which was its consort is transferred to an ever-living and heavenly realm, fittingly and correspondingly to the first-fruits concerning her until now. For many from the ages have obtained divine favor, and glory, and power, such that David also says: "To me, O God, thy friends are greatly honored, their rulers are greatly strengthened; I will number them, and they shall be multiplied beyond the sand." Many, according to Solomon, have acquired wealth, and many daughters have performed acts of power, but she rises above and has surpassed all men and all women, and that beyond what one can say; for standing alone between God and the whole human race, she made God the Son of man, and made men sons of God, heaven-izing the earth and deifying the human race; and she alone of all, a Mother by nature beyond all nature, became manifest as Mother of God, and Queen of every creature of this world and of the world above, by her ineffable giving-birth. And thus, having lifted up those under her through herself, and having shown the earthly subject of heaven to be heavenly instead of earthly, she, having participated in a merit of greater worth and of superior power, and of the ordination from the heavens through the divine Spirit, stands as a queen, the highest of the high and the most blessed of the blessed race.
Now, possessing heaven as a fitting dwelling, as a palace proper to her, into which she was translated from earth today, she stands at the right hand of the King of all, "clothed in raiment of wrought gold, surrounded with variety," according to that which was spoken by the psalmist Prophet concerning her. By the "raiment of wrought gold" you shall understand her divine-looking body, adorned with all kinds of virtues; for she alone now, with her God-glorified body, possesses the heavenly realm along with the Son. For earth and the sepulchre and death could not possess forever the life-originating and God-receiving body, which was a dwelling more beloved than heaven and the heaven of heavens. B For if a soul that has had the grace of God as an inhabitant ascends to heaven, loosed from the fragile bond of these things—as has been made manifest by many, and we believe—how should the body that not only received within itself the eternal and only-begotten Son of God—the perennial fountain of grace—but also gave birth to Him, not have been assumed from earth to heaven? Or if, being three years old, and having not yet received the ultra-celestial Inhabitant, nor having brought forth the One clothed in flesh, while dwelling in the Holy of Holies, she became so far superior in such great and many ways, even in body, and truly ultra-mundane, would she have been subject to corruption by the earth? And whence could this have any reason for those who consider matters with reason? Therefore, the body of the Parent is fittingly glorified with the Offspring by divine glory, and it rises again—according to the prophetic song—with Christ who previously rose after three days, as the ark of His sanctification; and the burial shrouds and linens, left alone in the tomb and found alone therein, became to His disciples a proof also of her resurrection from the dead. C D
A There was, however, no need for her to linger on earth even for a short while, as did her Son and God; for this reason, she was immediately taken up from the tomb into the supercelestial realm, from whence she shines forth even to the earth the most brilliant and godlike rays and graces, illuminating the entire earth from above, and being worshipped, admired, and praised by all the faithful. For just as God, wishing to set up an image of all beauty and to demonstrate His own [excellence] regarding these things clearly to both angels and men, fashioned her to be truly all-beautiful in this way—gathering together everything with which He had adorned all things, having established the universe as a common subject of visible and invisible goods—or rather, He exhibited her as the common mixture of all beauties, both divine and angelic and human, an exceptional beauty adorning both worlds, beginning on earth but reaching to heaven and even transcending it by her assumption today from the tomb to heaven, uniting the higher world with the lower, and encompassing the whole by the wonders wrought through her, in such a way that even in that which was said from the beginning, that she was "a little lower than the angels" because she tasted of death, she enhances the supremacy of the Theotokos over all others; whence all things rightly conspire together for her proclamation and compose it today.
C It was fitting, therefore, that she who had contained Him who fills all things, and who is above all, should transcend all things and be above all things in the virtues proper to her and the greatness of her dignity. And thus, that which sufficed to make those who had shared in it the best of all those from every age, and all that those who have been favored by God—both angels and men—possess in part, she, having grasped all, and alone having constantly possessed and exceeded everything—even to the point of saying that she possesses this too now above all, to be immortalized after death and alone to dwell in heaven with the body together with her Son and God, and from there to pour out superabundant grace upon all who honor her, granting the very gift of being able to desire her, having become a vessel of the most ample graces—it was fitting that she, adding to her egregious gifts a still more egregious clemency, should never cease from that abundant munificence and copious liberality toward us. D If one attends to this gathering together and collection of every good, one will say that the Virgin performs in virtue for those who live according to virtue what the sun does in sensible light for those who live in it. But if one should lift the eye of the mind toward the Sun who miraculously rose for men from this Virgin—who possesses everything by nature and surpasses those things that have been grafted onto her by grace—the Virgin will immediately appear as a heaven, so much more resplendent she is in all good things and divine grace than those who are adorned either under the heaven or above the heaven, just as heaven indeed surpasses the sun in breadth, but the sun surpasses heaven in brilliance.
A What tongue, Virgin Mother of God, shall describe your beauty, which shines with divine light? For we can reach you neither by mind nor by words; for you surpass both mind and word. Yet it is permitted for us to hymn you, since you graciously allow it; for you are the seat of all graces, the fullness of every goodness and beauty, the tablet and living image of every good and every kindness, as you alone were found worthy to receive all the gifts of the Spirit in their entirety; or rather, because you alone had Him, in whom are the treasures of all these gifts, dwelling in your womb in a miraculous way, and became His wondrous tabernacle. From there, having now passed through death to immortality, and being justly translated from earth to heaven, that you might dwell forever in the heavenly tabernacles with Him who became your inheritance, you render Him propitious to all by your prayers to Him on their behalf.
So much closer she is to those who draw near to God; so much greater are the rewards the Theotokos has been deemed worthy of than all others; I do not say only men, but even all the heavenly hierarchies themselves. For concerning the highest order of these, Isaiah writes: "And the Seraphim stood round about Him." But concerning her, David again says: "The queen stood at your right side." Do you see the difference in their standing? From this you can also perceive the difference in their rank according to dignity; for the Seraphim are indeed around God, but the Queen alone is closest to Him—she whom God admires and praises, declaring her to be like the hosts gathered around Him, and saying today what we read in the Song of Songs: "How beautiful art thou, my friend!"—brighter than light, more blooming than divine paradises, more beautiful than the whole world, visible and invisible.
Not only closest, but also, and rightly, at the right hand; for where Christ sat in the heavens, namely at the right hand of Majesty, there she too, having ascended from the earth to the heavens, has taken her stand, not only because she loves and is loved in return, more than all others, even by the very laws of nature, but because she is in all truth His throne; for where the King sits, there the throne stands. This throne Isaiah caught sight of in the midst of that cherubic choir, and spoke of as "exalted and lifted up," revealing how much the Mother of God surpasses the heavenly powers. For this reason he also brings in the angels glorifying God because of her and saying: "Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place." And Jacob the patriarch, having seen this in an enigma, said: "How terrible is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." But David, gathering to himself the multitudes of the saved from elsewhere, and by, as it were, strings and different tones, D fitting together those from different nations into one faith by this perpetual Virgin, sends forth a most sweet melody in her praise, saying: "They shall remember your name in every generation and generation; therefore the peoples shall confess to you forever, and for ages of ages."
A You see all creation confessing to this Mother-Virgin, and not only in these present times, but unto ages and ages of ages; for it is understood from this that, just as her praise shall not end throughout the whole age, so she makes all creation well-pleasing, according to that which I call the surpassing and transcendent hierarchies. For these, too, are with us, and they are participants of her alone and are made partakers of that unapproachable light. For Isaiah, having observed this long before, manifested it; for he did not say that a seraph took a coal from the altar, but that he took it with a pair of tongs, by which he touched the lips of the prophet, bestowing purification. This is the great miracle that Moses saw, which corresponds to the burning bush that was not consumed. B Who does not know that the Virgin-Mother herself is that bush, and the tongs, and the one who received the divine fire which does not burn, whose conception the angel ministered unto, and who, delivering the sins of the world, joined them to human nature, and through this ineffable connection, reconciled them to God? Therefore, she is the only boundary between created and uncreated nature, and no one comes to God, unless he is truly illuminated by her through the truly divine splendor, as Scripture says: "God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved." But if recompenses are made according to the measure of love for God, and if the Son is loved by Him, and also by the Father, as the dwelling-place of both, with them mystically dwelling in and walking within her according to the Lord’s promise, who has loved her more than the Mother? C Not only because she gave birth to Him as the Only-begotten, but because she alone gave birth without intercourse, so that the love of that duality because it is not divided by two parties is not present. But who is more loved than the Mother by the Only-begotten Son, who in these last times proceeded ineffably from her, just as before all time He proceeded from the Father alone? How, then, could it be multiplied with the proper disposition, symbols of honor, as she descended to fulfill the law with Him who came to fulfill the law?
D Just as through her alone He appeared to us on earth and associated with men, who before her was invisible, so in the future age she is the whole pathway of divine illumination, and the revelation of all divine mysteries, and the form of all spiritual charisms, which, without her, no one has received in their fullness. But she herself first received the entire fullness of Him who fills all things, and exhibits it to be held by all, distributing to each most congruously and according to the measure of their own purity, so that she is the dispenser and minister of divine divinity. For just as eternal things in heaven are for the greater to have a share in those who are lesser—of Him who is, and who sits in heaven—but the greater
Sicut non probaverunt Deum habere in notitia, [the English so far ends] to have in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind.” Those, then, who did not [retain God in their knowledge]—but let us proceed.
The Being that is before all things, and that made all things from nothing out of His goodness, is in all things, even though He is above all things. He was in the world before He arrived in the flesh, but the world did not know Him, because it did not wish to; for those who wished to know Him, did know Him and were accepted by Him. But those who did not wish to, were abandoned, as Paul says, he who wished and strove to comprehend, but was caught by Christ the Lord, writing about the Greeks: “Because they did not approve of having God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind.”
A Those, then, who did not wish to know, were abandoned, while those who wished, were taken up. And if someone says, “But how did He not make them know, if He is the cause of all good?”—we say: He is the light, but those who close their eyes hide themselves from the light. He is the spring, but those who turn away from the water remain thirsty. He is the life, but those who choose death remain dead. For everything that derives from God is good, but the misuse of our free choice—which is our own—is the evil. B Therefore, the Apostle says: “God gave them up to a reprobate mind,” not because He created them that way, or because He willed for them to be that way, but because He permitted the result of their own choice to take effect. For the very act of leaving them to themselves, when they had abandoned Him, shows His goodness, because He does not force the unwilling, nor does He drag those who do not wish to be drawn. C For if He forced them, He would not be the God of those who love Him, but of those who are under compulsion. But when He saw that they were unworthy of the light, He withdrew, and thus they fell into the darkness. D For just as the light, even though it shines upon all, illuminates only those who open their eyes—while those who keep them closed are not to blame the sun for their darkness, but themselves—so, too, has God, the Sun of Righteousness, shone upon all, but those who prefer the darkness of evil remain in their own darkness.
A “God gave them up,” as it is written, “to a reprobate mind.” Those, then, who would not and did not acknowledge Him—these, and all who are like them, are such; but who were those who acknowledged Him before His divine incarnation? Many, and indeed before all and above all, were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and for this reason they were justly taken by God. And not only they, but their entire race, so that they truly were—and were called—God’s people, and later, O ineffable munificence! God’s family. For since He was to be manifested to the world in the flesh, He not only received this from them, but also came principally for their sake, just as the Lord Himself says in the Gospels: “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Indeed, seeing the Jews fallen from that ancestral piety and virtue, and having turned away from the knowledge of Him, He did not disdain them for the sake of the religion of their fathers, but bending the heavens He descended, having become in the likeness of men, and dwelt among them, saying and doing the things of God. And He did not merely say and do these things, but also lavished upon them divine benefits, cleansing the lepers among them, illuminating the blind among them, strengthening the paralyzed, raising up those bowed down, casting out demons from those possessed, and healing every sickness and every infirmity and madness B whatsoever, and recalling the dead to life by His command alone.
But when they not only rejected Him, the Benefactor who had come to His own, but, to speak summarily, even handed Him over to death, and to the death of the cross—O the insanity!—condemning as an impious man the God who had come to them for their sake, they too were justly abandoned and condemned by Him who said to them: “Behold, your house is left to you desolate.” And their rejection became the reconciliation of the world, and mercy came to us through their unbelief; furthermore, O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!—to speak again according to the Apostle—“God has shut up all in unbelief, that He might have mercy on all.” For we have just heard the evangelist Matthew proclaiming that “the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had appointed them, and seeing Him they worshipped Him; but some doubted.” But as the Lord drew near and spoke with them, these too were confirmed. For He says: “Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth; go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.’” This is the reason for what I said a little earlier concerning that apostolic saying: that the rejection of the Jews became the reconciliation of the world, and mercy came to us through their unbelief. For He who previously said to His own disciples: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter into a city of the Samaritans; go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” now says: “Go,”
A teaching all nations.” For since we had been disobedient before, and did not wish to recognize God who was preached by the beauty of existing things, nor the Lord who was speaking to those who had gladly recognized Him by means of Himself and His prophets, now that those others are disobedient, nothing stands in the way of God’s just judgment, so that we too might partake in His mercy. Since we, who were previously unbelievers, now had a share with the believers, and were able to obtain mercy, and were called to heavenly things.
Now, concerning those who came first and those who came after, with both and all being shut up under disobedience, God, according to His inherent authority granted by His justice, willed to have mercy on whom He willed. And He willed and had mercy on us who are from the Gentiles, or rather on all, since He is God of all; for He wished to make the beginning of mercy for us now, but not from those who were now disobedient. He did not turn away entirely, nor did He even reject those; for even for their sake the door of salvation was opened, if they B would wish it, and He gladly welcomes those among them who approach the Church that is in our midst; for they do not stumble so as to fall, but so that by their offense salvation might come to us, and they might be provoked to jealousy, and be drawn to a similar salvation, so that they may not be those who have eyes but do not see, and have ears but do not hear, so that they might not see and hear and believe and be saved. It happened as if one were to carry a vessel containing a fountain of oil within himself and prepare to pour it over one side; but the plenteous stream flowing from it not only washes the part onto which it is poured, but also overflows to drench the other part. For the abyss of divine mercies, contained within the adorable body, was poured out upon the Gentiles, not only embracing those who believed from the Gentiles, but even those from the Jews who were refractory, with the Jews included. “All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth.” C This is to be understood according to human nature; for as God He has eternal authority, and power, and glory, and heavenly loftiness and dignity, which He now also receives as man. “All authority is given to me,” He says, having risen from the dead; for death no longer rules over the flesh, since its mortality has been undone. There is no longer an end and complete cessation of death; for the immortal life of Him who was in me took its place, and through me all who have died are transformed into life. Death no longer holds the bodies of those who have died on earth; for I, having enthroned my earthly body in the heavens, and reigning with it as King of the heavens, will come again and judge all the earth D as King of the universe. And I shall leave those who are worthy of the earth on it, but those whom I find to be righteous, together with their bodies, I will take up into heaven, and the kingdom of heaven
shall I grant them. A “Go therefore,” He says, “make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them.” And this too belonged to the authority He had received; for He did not say “teaching” only, but also “make disciples of all nations.” To teach was indeed the task of the apostles fulfilling the command, but to gain disciples and to baptize, and this by the multitudes flocking together from every nation and race, was no longer merely the work of those teaching, but of those obeying, or rather, of the divine grace and power of Him who commanded it; which the divine Paul showed when he said: “To me was this grace given, to preach [the gospel] among all the nations.” B “Baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Do you see the same nature and the same dignity of the three adorable Persons openly proclaimed? For there is one name of the three, one sanctification from them, one faith in them. C It had been spoken of often in the Gospel concerning these things, but more obscurely. When the Lord was baptized, the Trinity of Persons was indeed shown clearly, but the consubstantiality and equal dignity of them was not so clearly shown; now, however, the Lord commands for it to be preached and stored up in the hearts of the believers from the beginning, as it is impossible to lay the foundation of piety at all without this dogma and the faith according to it. “Baptizing them,” He said, not only that, but also “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you”; so that baptism alone is not sufficient to make a man a disciple of the Gospel, but it is necessary also that the divine commandments be kept, and these, all of them. For by saying “teaching them to observe them,” He does not refer to some, but to all things that I have commanded you. D Well, therefore, did James, the brother of the Lord, write, saying: “Whoever shall keep the whole law, but offend in one point, has become guilty of all.” For whoever has become guilty of any sin whatsoever, and has not delivered himself from the pit of sin through repentance, becomes a transgressor of the law of grace. "So speak," he says, "and so do, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty." For the law of Christ is the law of liberty; for it liberated us, through divine baptism, from the law of sin and death. If, therefore, we do not strive to preserve for ourselves until the end this liberty through works and words that are irreproachable, or, if it has been lost, to recover it through repentance, we shall be condemned by that very law which liberated us, since we will not have kept the liberty given to us. Therefore, the divine Paul said of himself: “So I run, not as uncertainly; so I fight, not as one beating the air; but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, after having preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” And to us, stirring up a similar zeal, he says: “Do you not know that those who run in a race, all run, but only one receives"
B the prize?” He does not say this as if only one person receives the prize of salvation, but as if all those who strive with great earnestness receive it, whether there be one or many; for that prize of the upward calling is inexhaustible, and it suffices for all, being imparted without diminution. Therefore, the same Apostle concludes for all, saying: “Run in such a way that you may obtain.” But by also indicating the manner of the race: “Everyone,” he says, “who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things,” C never surrendering himself entirely to any of the forbidden pleasures. Then, as if those who had been baptized were rising up and saying that by baptism alone, without works, they were acceptable to God, he demonstrates through types from the Old Testament and persuades them that God is pleased with no one unless, along with possessing firm faith, he also abstains from evil passions, words, and deeds. “For I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren,” he says, “that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, D and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from that spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased.”
All these things were types of our holy mysteries: the sea, of the water of baptism; the cloud, of the divine Spirit from above, mystically overshadowing those being baptized; the food and drink, of the body and blood of Christ, of which we partake daily, so to speak. For this reason, Paul called that inanimate and senseless substance, the rock, “spiritual.” For just as a body is called “ensouled” because it is strengthened and moved by a soul, so a body is “spiritual” when it is supernaturally energized by the divine Spirit. Since that rock, being miraculously energized by the Spirit, carried within itself a fountain of water and poured it forth abundantly from itself, it was justly called spiritual by Paul and was taken as a type of the body of Christ; for this, energized by the fullness of the Deity dwelling within it, both possesses and abundantly imparts the fountain of eternal life to those who approach with faith.
But let us return to that which is the subject of our discourse today. When the divine Paul had said that those who came before us were participants in all the mysteries in a figure, he added: “But with most of them God was not well pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness, and these things became examples for us, that we should not be lulled into desiring evil things, as they also desired.” By this, he says plainly that just as the types of the mysteries that were given profited those among them who inclined toward evil desires not at all, nor did they deliver them from divine abandonment, and for this reason they perished and did not reach the land of promise; so also for us, if we prefer to live in sins, the
A divine baptism and the divine mysteries that follow it will not rescue us from eternal condemnation; rather, we shall fall from the heavenly inheritance, B just as they did from the land of promise, since we live without repentance and do not obey the divine commandments. For this reason, he again addresses us, saying: "Let us not be disobedient, brothers, nor let us harden our hearts, as they did in the day of temptation in the wilderness." For he says: "With whom was he provoked? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? And we see that they were not able to enter." Let us not commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day; nor let us tempt Christ, being faithless regarding his promises to us, and disobedient to his commandments and precepts, as some of them tempted him, and perished by the serpents; nor let us murmur, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer. For it is possible for us to see C these evil deeds and these most terrible passions among us, and to perceive that it is because of our sins that we suffer evils, and are tempted by the same wicked solicitations as they were. For who does not know that the fire of avarice burns in us, and is fanned to the highest degree, reaching almost everywhere: into common expenditures, into the public markets, into agriculture, into exchanges, into trade? Indeed, it has even penetrated into holy places and has made our festive days not festive, turning our celebrations into times devoid of holiness through the eagerness and vanity of most people for profit. How do they differ from that serpent who once deceived Eve, and from those serpents that bit the people in the wilderness, who stir up internal divisions among us through lies and deceit? How many of our people neglect temperance, not satisfied with lawful marriages, but running instead to harlots and illicit beds? D Because of these things and others like them, many of our people have become victims of the sword or of robbery; and others will be, unless they repent. For if anyone avoids this present impending wrath here, after death he will certainly fall into the hands of him who will overwhelm the unrepentant. For he says: "Because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience," both the present wrath and the future. Let us therefore repent, brothers, each of us from our perverse works; let us not do evil, that evil may not overtake us; but let us learn to do good. Let us cast off our sins through confession and the repentance that is appropriate; and if we cannot completely devote ourselves to the virtues, let us draw down forgiveness from God through our humility toward him, through sharing the goods in which we abound with the poor, and through a forgiving disposition toward those who have offended us; and let us supply what is lacking in our good works through the kindness of God, so that the Lord may remain with us forever, according to his promise; for when he had commanded his disciples to baptize and teach
A Us; for God creates the entire visible and invisible creation, but from non-being, and by word alone. Where have you ever heard this even in the begotten? You, however, in observing this even within the natural properties of God, are doing so—obviously—according to divine laws. And you are subverting both theological and patristic [laws] with the arguments you use. For if, in the case of sensory things, no synthesis of the moving thing could ever occur through movement, nor of the learned person through learning—according to the arguments of my own philosophers and theologians—how could the God-befitting power and movement (for these are indeed the divine energy) make the almighty God composite, as you yourself would claim? But Acindynus and Gregoras, and the gang led by him, argue that since the sun's ray, and the heat naturally accompanying fire, and furthermore the intellect of the mind, and things similar to these, exist as parts within their own natures, even if they exist inseparably with them, then the natural properties of God also exist as parts within the nature of God; and according to you, God is subsequently composed of many things, which are different from one another and from [His] nature.
And yet, you have heard the opposite from the holy theologians: that they do not take things that naturally accompany the essence as essences or as parts of the essence, lest they construct God as not only compound, but even composed of dissimilar parts. For God is entirely essence, he says, and entirely energy; and it is not, as you have assumed, that one part of Him is essence and another part is energy, such that He might be divisible and composite on account of these. But just as the Father is wholly in the Son, and the Son is wholly in the Father, and just as the Holy Spirit is wholly in the Father and the Son, and the Father and the Son are likewise in the Spirit—according to the logic of essence and power, that is, and of co-divinity—so too is God wholly in the assumption of the flesh, in terms of the hypostasis of the Son, clearly, though not according to that logic of co-essentiality (for then the assumption itself would be God by nature), but by the energy, he says, of the incarnation, clearly working the incarnation according to the logic of the economy.
There is, moreover, present to those who are adopted and divinized by the Spirit, the whole simple and indivisible [God], working in them a supernatural and ineffable deification, because He is whole, he says, as working each of the energies, and present to every gift, whether greater or lesser.
C If, however, because natural powers in creatures exist as parts of their essence, you for this reason think that natural properties belong to the nature of the Creator of creation as parts, and for this reason you foolishly imagine Him to be composite, He who is beyond all simplicity—would not any righteous person with any sense rather be inclined to laugh at your ignorance, or to pity your lack of learning and your wretchedness? For we would more justly retort that the things of God are not so, just because the things of creation are so. And we would say that this too is a part of divine theology, the most beautiful and glorious one: that the logic of created things does not apply to the things concerning God, lest the creature be God, or God be a creature, as it might be poorly thought and said by the more rustic. For this reason, God begets from the essence, but not like bodies. God possesses natural powers and energies, but not as parts of His nature; for this belongs to creatures and to the composition below, since creatures, in acting, undergo something. But God is beyond all these—for He is God.
If you ask how, we say these things are beyond 'how'. Whence also many, he says, who have sought such things, were unable to learn the 'how' and fell from the faith. Tell me first, how is God born of a woman? How is a person composed from virginal blood without a man and seed? How, having been born of a virgin, does He keep the virgin a virgin even after birth? If you wish, [explain] these small and lowly things: I mean the principles and modes of your own birth and constitution, those concerning soul and mind, and the bond of this to matter, and this earthy mixture—to omit the many things for the sake of length—and then I too will render you an account concerning these things, and perhaps I will say how. But if you are not ashamed to testify to your own ignorance of those things and of things similar to them, how are you rash and contentious beyond measure regarding these [divine] things, and attempting to subject things beyond comprehension to comprehension, and, by poorly overstepping the logic and teaching of the theologians, falling into myriad and all sorts of absurdities?
And indeed, you hear from the most wise Maximus, again, now philosophizing briefly on the difficult-to-contemplate and incomprehensible nature of these divine things and words, and now again on the part of them that is accessible and expressible to you. For he says: If the divine energy, according to the true account, indicates God indivisibly whole through Himself in each thing, according to whichever account it possesses specifically, who is the one precisely able to think and to say how God is in all things commonly, whole, and in each of the beings, specifically—both indivisibly and divisibly—neither being distinguished in variety from the beings in which He exists, as in infinite differences, nor again contracting according to the specific existence of the one, nor contracting the differences of beings according to the one total unity of all, but is rather truly all in all, never departing from His own indivisible simplicity? And again: In the case of God, "Being," and "Good," and "God," and "Creator," and "Supra-essential," and "Infinite," and "Immortal," and such, we do not call essential differences—lest we dogmatize Him to be composed of these—but appellations, some of which are indicative of things contemplated around Him, but none are indicative of things concerning His essence and nature. Some things signify what belongs to the divine nature, but do not indicate the nature itself; which...
A Moses, having spent forty days on the mountain in fasting and having conversed with God on behalf of his people, received, not man-made, but written by the finger of God; and he was descending, carrying this gift to the Israelites. But when from afar he perceived from the tumult and obscene clamors that they were drunk, saying, "I hear the voice of those who are drunk," judging them unworthy of the tablets made and written by the work of God, he broke them. Then he armed against them those men whose minds had not been troubled by wine, and who had not fashioned for themselves a god of the drunkards, and with their help he killed many thousands, and thus placated the God of the sober. B And again, ascending, he brought down other tablets, written in the same way, yet not the same, for they consisted of inferior material.
Do you see how, from ancient times, drunkenness is shown to be lethal? How worthy of condemnation it is, and how it renders those given to it unworthy of the gifts of God and of present life? Drunkenness is a physical demon, an overturning of reasoning, a paralysis of the body, a life worse than death, a cause for the aversion of God. Moreover, it is a greater evil in that it bars us from the life promised by God: "Drunkards," says the Apostle, "shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
But what of fornication? The people of God went forth from Egypt entirely without arms, and a multitude of armed men pursued them. Therefore, when these fugitives and those pursuers came to the sea, by the power and will of God, and by the rod and hand of Moses, the sea divided before them both; splitting in the middle, it provided to the one a safe crossing, but falling back upon the pursuers, it overwhelmed them, and restored them as corpses to the neighboring shores. C It showed those who were unarmed to be fully armed, and cast out those who were fully equipped as corpses. What then? They traversed places and regions, both inhabited and desert, undefeated, overcoming all who dared to resist them. But as soon as they fell into fornication, they were so defeated that twenty-three thousand perished in war at that very time. Therefore, Paul also says to us, "Do not fornicate, as some of them fornicated, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day." And had not Phinehas, being jealous, with one blow killed the one working the filthiness together with the harlot, and by curbing the evil placated God, all would have perished, having all been tested by the wrath of God on account of the iniquity of fornication. D Yet who does not know that this lust, hateful to God, is rampant among us? And there is no one who restrains it: hardly a father his son, nor a brother his brother, nor a friend his friend; indeed, there are some who even cooperate, although the Apostle shouts, "With such a one, not even to eat." Therefore, we are all worthy of death and utter destruction. But if fornication is worthy of such and so great condemnation, how much more so is the crime of adultery? Which does not destroy only one or two, but entire houses and whole lives, whole...
A families, and makes them useless, rendering their souls filled with every malice and perversity. But since envy gives birth to murder, indeed it was through it that man knew the temptation of death from the beginning, and Cain became a fratricide. How then should it not deserve death, or a condemnation even worse than death? And theft, how much does it provoke B God! In the Old Testament, Achar was the only one who had stolen, and the whole army suffered the plague until they sought out the sinner, crushed him with stones from the midst, and cast him out.
These things, however, were all written for our instruction, that we might not fall into the same sins and cast ourselves into the same, or even worse, condemnations. For since we have been endowed with greater charity than those who came before, we are worthy of greater C punishments if we do not guard ourselves from the evils forbidden by God. "For if," as the Apostle says, "the word spoken through angels was made firm, and every transgression and disobedience received a just requital, how shall we escape if we have so greatly neglected such a salvation? Which, having begun to be spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by those who heard it, God bearing witness with signs and wonders, and with distributions of the D Holy Spirit and various powers, according to his will." Wherefore Ananias and Sapphira, who committed theft not in what belonged to others, but in their own, were put to death by Peter, or rather by God, on account of the lying which is always joined to theft; and this is why the prophet David said to God: "You [shall] destroy all those who speak a lie." Paul indeed delivers the fornicating Corinthian to Satan, and mandates to the Corinthians, writing: "With such a one, not even to eat." Nor did he confirm his love until that man, having departed from his wicked deed, demonstrated his repentance for the act by his works. But to the greedy man who, with overflowing fields, does not share at all with the needy, but merely increases his barns, what does the Lord say in the Gospels? "Fool, this night they shall demand your soul from you; and the things you have prepared, whose shall they be?" And lest anyone think that this sentence applies only to a single person, he adds: "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." And yet, that rich man had not been enriched by injustice; for what injustice had he committed if his land brought forth abundant fruits? But because he did not use well the abundance of things received from God, nor was he rich toward God by sharing them with others, he became worthy of death, his riches profiting him not at all. But among us are those who possess in their homes not only what has been justly acquired, but even what has been snatched from the poor, loving greed, which according to Paul is a second idolatry, and being sick with the love of money, which is the cause of all evils; and not only those among us who are leaders, but also dealers...
for how many injuries do the retail merchants and other traders among us invent against those who buy from them, not using fair measures and weights when they are able!
For these and similar causes we are chastised, and will yet be chastised; for while we desire and seek to be freed from our losses, we add to the offenses for the sake of which we are being chastised. Do you wish to know how great an evil that thirst for redundant wealth is? From the plague B which we now suffer, you will know this; for redundant blood, as you have seen, being one of the elements of the body, brings death to those who are failing. Therefore, just as in the body the excess corrupts the body, so the excessive thirst for wealth in the soul corrupts and kills the soul, having driven away from it the grace of God, which is the more divine life. But such death of the soul always precedes the death of the body which results from the abandonment of God; for also from the beginning, death entered into the world from sin and the rejection of the divine commandment; yet man did not die immediately after transgressing, C because God granted him a time for repentance. He was able to bring all men forth from nothing at once, just as He did for the angels, the archangels, the principalities, the powers, the authorities, the lordships, the Cherubim, the Seraphim, and the highest thrones; He merely conceived it, and His thought was an act, and they were all produced at once. He could, therefore, have made the entire human race in one moment of time, and again could have in a brief moment of an hour destroyed them by death from the face of the earth, as He did in the flood, D keeping only Noah with his children for the procreation of a second generation. But He did not wish this, for the sake of His loving-kindness; for He ordained that in another, or rather in many others, whether related by blood or strangers, each of us should see the death which we will by no means be able to escape, so that through this spectacle we might be led to repentance and to meditation on the things that follow death. But since He now sees that we are altogether unrepentant while living, and have no care for the things to come, He brings death upon almost all at once, as He does not endure that we should live in evil and prolong sin. And this is the final plague with which sinners are punished here, as we have learned from the Egyptian plagues.
We can, therefore, from the manner of this just chastisement, comprehend how much we have sinned against God; for when a man is chastising, it may happen that even without a just cause, or for a light offense, the offender might suffer a great penalty because of the unreasonableness or cruelty of the one chastising; but the supernal loving-kindness cannot be moved to wrath, nor bring in deadly plagues, unless we have sinned greatly, and continue in our sins without repentance. From this, therefore, let us recognize, brethren, the multitude and the gravity of our sins, and let each one turn away from his carnal thoughts, and be converted to the Lord. Let us do penance from
the soul, A and let us turn ourselves away from our evil habit and from the love-of-sin mind, and let us cause the divine wrath to cease, and let us be changed unto mercy. Let us serve our own salvation, lest we be consumed by vice. Let us imitate those who were in the flood, and not those who were saved by repentance in Nineveh; for those — even if they could not speak of the divine loving-kindness from many examples — nevertheless cried out constantly to the Lord, and turned themselves each one away from his evil way, and from the iniquity of their hands, saying: "Who knows if God will repent and forgive, and turn away from the fury of his anger, and we shall not perish?" We, however, know from many others, and from those very same people: "God saw their works, that they repented and turned, and God repented of the evils that he had said he would do to them, and did not do them." But Jonah was there preaching and threatening; and what is greater, B even though he was not drawing them to repentance, nor promising them compassion. Jonah, who went down to Joppa from Judea, and from there was tossed about by the storm of the sea and swallowed by a whale, and after three days was given back to Nineveh and preached. But how much greater is Christ here? For He is the eternal Word of God, whose figure Jonah was, descended from the heavens, as he was into Joppa, but He into the earth; and delivered to sufferings and pains, as he was to the swells; and by death descended into the lower parts of the earth, as he was swallowed by the whale into the belly of hell, and rising on the third day, He promised the heavenly kingdom to the repentant, and explained to all of us the works of repentance, which, if we reject, we are justly delivered to bitter death.
For death is indeed grievous, both when it is impending and when it is expected; but that which is very much more grievous is not to turn back from our sins; for therefrom the punishment will be increased, and afterward we shall be delivered to eternal torments, of which no one among us can have experience! For if present evils are seen to be intolerable, C even if they pass away, and if they only affect the body, what of those which torment the soul with the body, and have no hope of liberation? Let us therefore do penance, brethren, and let us be converted in deed and in word, exhibiting repentance; and let us fall before God with a contrite heart, saying: "Lord, do not rebuke us in your fury, nor punish us in your wrath, but deal with us according to your mercy." It is near to those who call upon Him, if they do not cry out with their lips only, but also with their minds, and with deeds, and with the preparations of their turning toward Him. "Turn to me, and I will turn to you," says the Lord, "and I will not remember your iniquities any more." For if we altogether flee from these things forever, either by confession and by works of repentance weighing heavily against the sins...
humilitatem propitium facientes; ut, sustinente Dei clementia, et defectus nostros supplente, nunc quidem ab hac ira Dei, ab intempestiva et crudeli hac morte et exitio per eam inducendo eximamur; in futuro autem sæculo vitam immortalem obtineamus in gloriam solius datoris vitæ, Christi; quem decet gloria, fortitudo, honor et adoratio cum æterno ejus Patre et vivifico Spiritu, nunc et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen. A
HOMILY XL. On the venerable Forerunner and Baptist of Christ, John.
If the death of His saints is precious in the sight of the Lord, and the memory of the just is with praises, how much more ought we to celebrate with praises the memory of John, the supreme pinnacle of saints and just men, who leaped for joy, ran before, and announced the Word of God incarnate for our sake? By whom, in turn, he himself was proclaimed and testified to be greater than all the prophets and saints and just men from the beginning of time? B For it is not because the things spoken of him surpass all human discourse, and because he received testimony and reward from the only-begotten Son of God, and therefore has no need of our recompense, that we should remain silent and leave him without the reward of our words—as far as it lies within our power—him whom Scripture has called the voice of the Word of the Most High. Rather, because he has received such a name and testimony from Christ, the Lord of all, let every tongue of the faithful be moved to a hymn, as much as it is able—not that we might add anything to his glory (for how could we?), but so that we might satisfy our debt, each one individually and all together, by chanting and recounting the wonders that have been wrought concerning him. C For the entire life of him who is greater than all born of women is a miracle of miracles. And not only the entire life of John, who was a prophet before he was born and the greatest of prophets, but also all the things that concern him long before his life and after his life are beyond all wonders. For the divine prophecies of the inspired prophets—those who were taken by God—do not call him a man, but an angel, a torch of light, and a star like the morning star shining with divine light, as the forerunner of the Sun of Righteousness, and the voice of the Word of God Himself. Moreover, what is closer and more akin to the Word of God than the voice of God? As his conception drew near, an angel flying down from heaven released the barrenness of Zacharias and Elisabeth, promising that those who had been barren from their youth would beget a son in their advanced old age, and that many would rejoice at his nativity; for he foretold that it would be salvation for all. D For he says: “He shall be great before the Lord, and he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb; and he shall turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God; and he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias.” For he shall remain a virgin just as he [Elias] did, and in...
A truth be a citizen of the desert more than he, and will rebuke kings and queens for their lawless deeds. But what makes this one even greater than that one is that he will also be the forerunner of God; for, he says, he will go before His face.
Having thought these things to be beyond belief, Zacharias is fettered in his tongue; for since he was not willing to preach it voluntarily, he cries out involuntarily—all while remaining silent—the strange conception of the child, until the very voice of the Word should come forth into the light. And having been conceived with such and so great promises, before he is born he is anointed a prophet, and, O the miracle! he communicates the grace to his mother; and according to Isaiah, he is clothed in the garment of salvation and the robe of gladness; and after the manner of Elias, he anoints a prophet in his place, and even while still in the womb he anticipates and surpasses the perfection of both prophets, showing such things as if before the face of the Lord. For although a fetus, after the articulation of the members, indeed possesses motion, it does not yet possess a voice, because it is not yet dwelling in the air. But because the Virgin B who was carrying the God at that time stood present, John, who was in the womb, was not without perception of the divine presence and dispensation, but rather celebrated it from thence by speaking divinely through his mother’s tongue, while he himself leaped within and rejoiced—O the miracle!—in the Holy Spirit, receiving the perfection of the age to come in his mother’s womb. For just as the great Paul, announcing the mystery of eternal life, says, “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body,” that is to say, one ruled and moved by the supernatural power of the divine Spirit in the age to come; so John, while indeed sown and formed as a natural body in his mother’s womb, yet by that same paradoxical anointing of the divine Spirit, was revealed as a spiritual body, leaping and rejoicing in the Spirit, and making his mother a prophetess. For with a loud voice, through her tongue, he blessed God, and he proclaimed the one carrying the Mother of the Lord to be a virgin, and he declared the one being carried within her to be the fruit of that selfsame womb, showing her to be at once pregnant C and yet a virgin.
Thus, not only according to what is written, “before he knew evil, he chose the good,” but even before he knew the world, while he was still in the womb, John was already above the world. And having been born, he filled all with joy and struck them with wonder at the miracles that occurred around him. “For the hand of the Lord,” the evangelist says, “was with him,” working wonders again as it had before. For the mouth of his father, which had been fettered because he did not believe the strange conception of the child, was opened and filled with the Holy Spirit, and he prophesied other things, and concerning this very child of his, saying: “And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High; for you shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people” (Luc. I, 76). And just as that divine child was, upon being conceived, an animated instrument of grace from his mother’s womb, in which he was D moving,
A and rejoicing in the divine Spirit, so also, when he was born, he grew and was strengthened by the Spirit. But since the world was not worthy of him, he dwelt in the deserts from his tender years, so to speak, passing his whole time in a life devoid of disquiet, free from anxiety, without turmoil, exempt from pain, empty of base passions, and superior to those earthly and carnal pleasures that only concern the body and the bodily senses; living for God alone, seeing God alone, and making God his own delight. He lived, therefore, as if in a place secluded from the earth; B “And he was in the deserts until the day of his manifestation to Israel.” But what is the day of this manifestation? It is when the time for the baptism of the Lord was at hand, a time about which it is written, “There is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God; they have all gone aside, they have together become unprofitable” (Ps. XIII, 3). Therefore, just as the Lord at that hour, for the sake of us impious ones, moved by ineffable clemency, descended from heaven, so also John at that time went out from the desert for our sake, to serve His benevolent will; for to men cast into the abyss of wickedness and too much in need of that divine indulgence of goodness, such a minister was required who would yield to no point of virtue, who would thus draw those who saw him, just as he did, turning them toward himself with wonder, being as he was unlike others, and exhibiting a way of life above that of man. He was also proclaiming a preaching worthy of his own way of life; for he was promising the kingdom of heaven, and was threatening an unquenchable fire, and was pointing out Christ as the King of heaven: C “Whose winnowing fan,” he says, “is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
But he manifested Him to all not only by words, but also by deeds, baptizing Him, and pointing Him out with his finger, and commending Him to his own disciples, and testifying through all things that this is the Son of the Father, the Lamb of God, the Bridegroom of the souls who approach Him, who takes away the sins of the world, and wipes away the stains, and furthermore brings in and bestows sanctification. But after he had thus prepared His way according to the prophecy of Zacharias, and had accomplished everything for which he was sent, and had run ahead and become the baptizer in the Jordan, he gradually yields before Christ his teaching and the discipline which he had regarding the disciples gathered to him, and departing from the crowd, he delivers them to the Lord. But since Herod, the son of that infanticide, had not indeed received the entire principality of his father—for he was a tetrarch—but had added to his wickedness, living in flagrant crimes, and having become an example of every wickedness to the Jews, D John could not keep silent; for how could he have kept silent, who was the voice of the Truth? But he rebuked him for all the other evils which he was committing, and especially for Herodias, the wife of his brother, whom he had illicitly taken away, saying to this evil man: “It is not lawful for you
A to have the wife of your brother Philip.” But he, not bearing this reproof, or rather these reproaches, added this to his other evil deeds and shut John in prison.
Now this Philip was also a son of Herod, being the tetrarch of another region. For when their father, Herod, after that cruel and insane slaughter of infants, had fallen into incurable and unbearable calamities and diseases, and had destroyed himself out of excessive anguish and pain—at the time when the angel said to Joseph in Egypt: “Arise, take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the child’s life are dead” B—Herod having thus wretchedly ended his life, the Caesar who was then sovereign over all divided his kingdom into four parts. He set others over two of them, and over the other two parts he appointed the sons of Herod as tetrarchs, namely Philip and this Herod. For this reason, the evangelist Luke says that he was tetrarch of Judaea, and that his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, when John stood by the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance.
Therefore, this young Herod, having seized power, bound and put John in prison; as Matthew and Mark say, having been reproved by him because of Herodias, whom he had usurped, she being the wife of his brother. C But Luke does not say it was only because of Herodias, but “and for all the evil things which Herod had done, he added this also above all, and shut John in prison.” Why then did the other evangelists make mention only of the reproof concerning Herodias? Because there were many other reasons for the imprisonment of John, or rather, it was all the works of the wicked prince, for all of which he, being reproved, could not bear the boldness of John. But the sole cause for his beheading was the adulteress, who, by her own wiles and machinations, plotted against him and brought the deed to its end. For she, being reproved and drawn away from her unlawful practice by John, held a grudge against him, and she wanted to kill him; for there was no other way to silence the reproof which seemed to be made against her. D Moreover, the abomination concerning her was not something simple, nor was it merely double, but it was manifold. For it was adultery, the most disgraceful of all sins, and not committed by some other person, but by the brother of the husband of the woman being seduced, and from whom she had received offspring, so that the child was still living, and even after the death of her husband, it was not lawful for the brother, even according to the law of Moses, to marry his wife. But he, while the brother was still alive and had a daughter, violated his marriage bed; nor did he do it secretly, as if working the lewdness with some hesitation, but he completed the shameful act openly and impudently. Thus, then, indulging in every kind of malice, and not bearing to be reproved for it, he locked John in prison. But the prison itself was a greater reproof
A both by being heard and seen, and by spreading everywhere through rumor. For this reason, Herodias also held him, evidently nurturing within herself a mania against John, and desired to kill him, but could not. "For Herod," he says, "feared John, knowing him to be a just and holy man." Herod feared John, indeed, on account of the excellence of his virtue, but he did not fear God, from whom virtue is infused into men. Nor did he fear John himself as such—even though he himself knew him to be a just and holy man—but he feared him on account of the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet, as Matthew says. For as the same writer records, it was not only Herodias, but Herod himself who, wishing to kill John, feared the crowd.
What Mark says about Herod—namely, that he heard John gladly—is to be understood as follows: B just as in medicinal potions we perceive the bitterness but nevertheless accept them, because we hope for benefit from them, so, conversely, with regard to spiritual teachings, those who are not persuaded by them are indeed delighted by them, as they are naturally sweet, but they do not accept them, knowing that they conflict with their own wicked desires. Thus he heard him gladly at first, and therefore, he says, he kept him and, hearing him, did many things. But since the wicked are accustomed to hate those who reprove them, and with hatred arising because of the reproof, despising all those things, he conspired with the adulteress regarding the plan for murder. And wishing himself to kill John, as Matthew says, he feared the crowd—not because he feared they would resist, but because he feared being rejected by them, since they held him for a prophet. For he knew—for these things were hidden from no one—the excellence of the virtue and grace of John, and C as he yielded to the praise coming from the multitude and sought glory from them, he feared lest he be condemned by them, and he was anxious to simulate a pious docility toward John. But Herodias, being wise in doing evil, released this fear for him and, as she thought—or rather, as she deceived herself—drew him blamelessly toward blood; for, raging and bloodthirsty in her anger, she strove to conceal the crime from the many and to bring her hatred toward the Baptist and Prophet into action. When, therefore, he says, a "convenient day" occurred—for the murderous plot, that is—while Herod’s birthday was being celebrated, and the whole multitude was gathered, and all those in positions of authority were reclining at table, D there entered into the midst of all of them her daughter, sent in intentionally, and before the eyes of all the maiden danced, and she pleased both the others and Herod. For how was it not going to be that she would please him? And having been brought forward to behave so, and to dance impudently, and to please Herod? To such a degree, then, was [she] of the unchaste...
dancing able to gain control over the king, so that he even said to the damsel, "Ask of me whatever you wish, and I will give it to you." And he swore to her, "Whatever you ask, I will give you, even to the half of my kingdom." She goes out to her mother and teacher of those immodest leaps and contortions, that shameless master, and reports the oath, seeking to be taught the petition. She is instructed straightway, and is most readily persuaded; and she returns with speed to the king, and brings forward the request shamelessly, saying, "I will that you should give me out of hand, as quickly as possible—that is to say, at this very hour—on a platter the head of John the Baptist." These things, then, the damsel requested shamelessly. But the adulteress was releasing, as she thought, the king by means of these things from the accusation concerning the B murder of the Baptist and prophet: "By reason of the reverence for the oath," she was saying, "you will seem to have committed the murder, and not because of hatred toward the righteous one." But the king, having become very sorrowful, says the Evangelist, on account of the oaths and those reclining with him, did not wish to dismiss her request; and therefore, having sent, he beheaded John in the prison, and the head was brought and given to the damsel. C Alas, of how many evils is the craze for glory the cause! He did not dare to kill because of the crowd, [yet] he killed again because of those reclining with him; he became very sorrowful for no other reason than because he thought he was deprived of the glory among the many. For the situation became straitened for the king on every side: if he should murder the righteous one, the reproach for the murder was to be expected; if he should not murder him, he would seem a perjurer. The oath was for the sake of ambition; the fear concerning the transgression of the oath was for the sake of vainglory; the murder for the sake of keeping the oath was for the sake of glory; the very banquet itself was arranged by vainglory. Well, therefore, does the Lord say in the Gospels: "How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that is from the only God?" Seeking this glory from men, the Jews also rejected the faith in Him, and they cut off the head of the sum of all the prophets who were among them, destroying Christ, the fullness of the prophets. Such are the works of a king ruled by adulteresses and dancing women; such are the things with which he is charmed and pleased, and for the sake of which he sells and betrays the kingdom, and is led to such an act. D Our own mind suffers something of this kind, brothers; for since it is the king and sovereign of the passions, established by God, when it itself is charmed by these, it is led into base slaveries and deeds, and thus each one of those who are enslaved to sin and the passions, being oppressed and vexed by their own conscience that reproves them, first of all, as it were, shuts it up, just as Herod shut up John, not wishing to hear it; and furthermore, they do not accept hearing the words that are written for the repelling of sin and the turning away toward all virtue. But when they have been completely mastered by the Herodias that dwells illegally with them—that is, by the sin-loving will—then they even [attack] the innate word of grace which is in them, I mean their own conscience.
A They destroy it, rendering it utterly void, and they disbelieve and contradict the divinely inspired Scripture, being altogether devoid of conscience and becoming opposed to the Word of God, just as Herod was to John. But even those who contradict the truth of piety suffer similar things—or rather, they also do them. For being convicted by the prophetic, apostolic, and patristic words brought forward by us, first they practically lock them away in books, saying, "Let them lie there, and let no one use them, nor let anyone bring them forward"—not even heeding the Lord when He says, "Search the Scriptures, for in them you will find eternal life." Then, prompted by the Herodias of their own impious opinion to proceed to worse things, they set them forth as if beheaded on a platter, destroying them through their own writings for the mockery and injury of those who agree with them.
Thus Herod is the pattern B of all wickedness and impiety; but John is the pillar of all virtue and piety. For Herod is indeed the fullness of malice, the power of impiety, the instrument of lawlessness, truly carnal, as one living and thinking according to the flesh; but John is the pinnacle of the God-bearing men from the ages, the manifest dwelling-place of the gifts of the Spirit, he whose name is rightfully derived from divine grace, the habitation of all piety and virtue. Two images, therefore, are set before us today, standing in extreme opposition and contrary to each other: one of which, though appearing to delight and honor for a short time those who choose to live according to it, hands them over to dishonor and to everlasting and intolerable destruction; the other, while causing a little labor to those who behold it, thereafter bestows upon them divine and ineffable, true and eternal glory and enjoyment. C If, therefore, we live according to the flesh, we are about to die in imitation of the earthly Herod, as the Apostle says. But if, by the divine Spirit, we stand against the wicked desires and works of the body with the zeal of John, we shall live forever. For the end of the life lived according to the Spirit is now hidden in Christ in God, and it is not yet manifest to all; but when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, heirs of God, joint-heirs of Christ, having attained those eternal and incorruptible goods which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have they entered into the heart of man, as they are above hearing, eye, and mind. But to those who live according to the flesh, not only are mortal and perishing things given, but they are so small and base that they are likened to carob pods and the food of swine. D
Therefore, if these present things were eternal, one would still have to prefer those others, as they excel them in every way beyond all comparison. Or if these were great and wonderful things compared to those, because these pass away and those abide forever, those would still be preferable because they endure. But since the former are base and perishable, while the latter are everlasting and incomparable, let us prefer, brothers, the permanent, ineffable, and heavenly things to those below.
A And let us justly pass by things that pass away, even if they entice the senses for a little while by their allurements; let us lay hold of things to come, as if they were abiding and never to be dissolved. Let us flee likeness to Herod; let us hasten, as much as we are able, toward the imitation of the grace of the Forerunner, and most of all we, whose life is monastic, whose way of life is separated from worldly customs and affairs, and approaches in some way the life of the prophet and Baptist in the wilderness. Having foreseen as a prophet that the solitary order would be able to imitate him at least moderately, he was beheaded, struggling not for piety but for virtue, B so that we too might be prepared to resist against sin even unto death, knowing that he who puts the passions to flight through virtue receives the crown of martyrdom. For how much less evil is sin when compared to impiety, so much the greater good it is to face danger for the sake of virtue. For how could he who has surrendered his soul for the sake of the lesser, not also have surrendered it for the sake of that greater thing, namely, piety, had there been need? Therefore, he who is greater among those born of women, the herald of repentance, the Forerunner and Baptist of the Savior, was beheaded while struggling for virtue; he who was not only the herald of Christ, but also of His Church, and especially—brothers—of our way of life. C He was born of the barren Elizabeth, and we from the Church of the Gentiles, concerning whom it is written: “Rejoice, O barren one who bear not; break forth and cry out, you who are not in labor, for many are the children of the desolate one, more than of her who has a husband.” After his birth, the infant-killing Herod sought to slay him, warring against him because of his hatred for Christ; but he found the desert a refuge, and deemed it sweeter than the world, and dwelt there. To us also, who have been spiritually born, the spiritual Herod presses, he also currently hunting Christ within us. D For this reason, we too flee the world, and find a refuge in these institutions dedicated to God, and thus we escape his cruel executioners and gladiators—the food of the passions—through which he brings about spiritual death, making man alienated from God. This is the death that ascends upon us through our doors, that is, the senses; for through them it entered from the beginning, and dragged our race downward, casting our first parents out of immortality. Eve heard the perverse counsel of the evil one; she saw, she felt, she ate, she perished, she drew her husband to her, she made him a participant in both the pleasure and the fall. They could not resist one temptation; they immediately lent their ears to one deceitful word, they were overcome by one pleasant sight, although they were not yet occupied by passions, but were immune to them, and were walking in a place free of passions. Shall we, then, nurtured in the world throughout our life, suffer no harm from talkative and no less shameful conversations and meetings? How will the inner man not be wounded and suffer ill-treatment by these things? It will not be; it certainly will not be. Therefore, the Fathers who...
A imitated the forerunner of grace, having renounced the world and having fled the assembly of those attached to it, some dwelt in the desert and drew many who came after them to it; others exercised themselves in holy enclosures and established spiritual communities within them, to which we, each in his own turn, conforming ourselves to their zeal, live in these holy dwellings.
But it is not enough to dwell in them; one must also live according to those Fathers; for neither does the tree of the knowledge of good and evil fail to exist in these other earthly paradises of God, nor the wicked tempter. But we, taught by ancient examples, must attend to the only wise and good counselor, and follow the footsteps of those who have obeyed him before and do so now, imitating—to speak according to the Apostle—their way of life, looking to the outcome of their lives. There are also beasts and brute animals in the desert and in these holy monasteries; and there is great fear that we might be compared to the senseless beasts and become like them if we do not, each according to our strength, imitate the life of John. What then? He always kept his head uncovered, as a sign of that B continuous prayer and of his boldness before God; for the man must pray with his head uncovered, according to the voice of the Apostle, so that with unveiled face we might mirror the glory of the Lord. Let those, therefore, who are bound to the world be veiled, because of the surrounding—or rather, the inborn—harmful things, and the snares constantly lying at their feet, as they are not able to behold the Lord continuously, as we are. But we who have well departed from the world, let us be estranged from it also in our mind, binding our mind to Christ with psalms and odes and spiritual prayers, and let us make ourselves a tabernacle of his saving name; remembering him for whose sake we departed from the world. For he who has departed from the world and the comforts of life for his sake, desires entirely union with him, which is given through his continuous memory, by the help of which the mind is cleansed. Let us, therefore, cleanse the eye of the mind, stretching forward toward God with works and words and thoughts; for we have nothing to weigh us down, if only we are willing, as much as is possible, to look to the life of John. He lived C without a roof; for us, a small hut should suffice; let us be content with the cell distributed to each by the superior, mindful of him who did not have a hearth throughout his life; he was content with wild fruits and wild honey—this is a plant that grows spontaneously in the desert, whose roots the Fathers who came after him in the desert used for food, and he called the wild fruits, fruits—he lived, therefore, on these fruits and roots of plants or wild honey; he was clothed in one tunic, and a leather belt was girded about his loins, at once D showing through enigmas the mortification of the passions carried about in his body, and at the same time possessing the good of poverty himself, and teaching us through his works. But we, in the midst of the many comforts with which we abound regarding food and clothing, are receptacles
possessing goods and showing us through his deeds; how we abound in the necessities for sustenance and clothing, having vessels, and storehouses full of grain and wine, bakeries and kitchens, and, in a word, all that is necessary. A Let us, therefore, give thanks to God, the dispenser of these things, and to His Forerunner, through whom these are gathered for us without labor, flowing down to us as if from a spring; and let us offer these to His glory, rendering thanks to Him through our deeds. For if we are content with these common goods that are in the monastery, we are not very far from the poverty and temperance of John. For if in all things he is incomparable, still, just as he was nourished by God, so too are we by the gifts of God; but if we possess private property and stores, this is the evil that makes us far removed from the communion of the saints. For he who has departed from the world and yet possesses private property—whether he brought it from elsewhere or acquired it here—carries the world around with him and never departs from the world, even if he were to stay on the Holy Mountain itself, even if he were to dwell in these monasteries which depict the heavenly realm; he makes this place common, like himself, and prevents it from being better than the world. Such a one will surely be condemned for having deemed the holy thing of God to be common. B But did not the Baptist and Forerunner of the Lord, John, go forth from that silence and desert? Indeed, but he was sent by Him to give knowledge of salvation to His people, and for the conviction of the unbelievers, for which reason he has been beheaded by them today; for he ought not to have undergone this natural death; for this is a sentence for the transgression of Adam, of which he was not a debtor, who had fulfilled the commandments, who from his very mother’s womb had been obedient to God. But it is right for the saints to lay down their lives for virtue and piety, according to the commandment of the Lord; and for this reason, such a violent death for the sake of the good is more fitting for them; and this is why the Lord also tasted death in this way. Yet it was necessary that the death of John should be the forerunner of the death of Christ, so that, according to the prophecy of his father, he might go before the face of the Lord, to give knowledge of salvation C also to those sitting in the darkness of Hades, so that they too might hasten forward and obtain the blessed and immortal life in Christ; which may we all be granted to attain, through the intercessions of him who attained it from his mother’s womb, and who proclaimed it to those on earth and to those under the earth, and guided—and continues to guide—all men toward it by deed, by word, and by prayers offered to God, in Christ Himself our Lord; to whom alone belongs eternal glory. Amen.
HOMILY XLI
On the Gospel of the fourteenth Sunday of Matthew; on the parable of one invited to the marriage of the son; in which those who say, "Why did God call those who in no way, or at least not by deeds, were to obey?" and "Why did He make those who were to be punished?" are also refuted.
I shall first speak to your charity concerning the end of the parable of the Lord read in the Gospel today: "For…
many are called, but few are chosen." A For the Lord demonstrates this through the whole parable, so that we may strive to be not merely among the called, but among the chosen. For he who is not of the number of the chosen, but of the called only, not only falls away from the light which knows no evening, but is also cast out into the outer darkness; and being bound hand and foot—the former because they did not run toward God, the latter because they did not perform the works of God—he is delivered to weeping and gnashing of teeth.
One might, however, first raise the question: how is it that the Lord called "many" the called, but not all men? For if not all have been called, those not called will not justly fall away from the promised goods nor experience the threatened torments; for perhaps they would have obeyed if they had been called. But this argument has merit, in that they would not justly have been rejected if they had not been called; yet it is not true that not all have been called. For the Lord, when He was taken up into heaven after His resurrection from the dead, said to His own disciples: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature"; and, "Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you." B That the disciples brought this command into action, Paul the great is sufficient to show: "But I say, have they not heard?" says he; "Yes, indeed; their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world"—namely, of the apostles—so that all have been called, and those who have not come to the faith will justly be punished.
Why, then, did the Lord not say "all," but "many are called"? Because His discourse now is about those who have come; and for this reason He placed this at the end, after the parable. For if someone is called and obeys the call, and is baptized and called by Christ, but does not walk worthily of the calling, nor, by living according to Christ, fulfills the promises he made when being baptized, he is indeed called, but not chosen. C
Furthermore, those who are earth and clay investigate—or rather, rebuke—the heavenly King, the yesterday's men the eternal One, regarding this: Why, they ask, did God call those whom He knew would in no way or, at least, by their works, not obey? And why did He make those who were to be punished, foreseeing this? They do not listen to Him who says: "As the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are My thoughts above your thoughts, says the Lord"; but they demand a reason and require an account from Him whom they cannot comprehend. How much do we differ from ants? Do we not have our composition—I mean this body—from the same things? Do we not feed on the same things? Do we not dwell in the same place? Do we not use almost the same faculties? D Yet there are ways in which ants even surpass us; for they are more provident regarding what is useful, and have more knowledge from afar of what is necessary for them, and
A we also surpass them by the reasonableness of our soul. But what is this superiority compared to the superiority of God toward us? If, therefore, all the ants gathered together throughout the world, surpassing us in all these respects, could not then know even the smallest work or thought of ours, how could we be able to comprehend the works and the mind of God, who surpasses us infinitely in an infinite way, and to conjecture accurately the sequence of things that have happened without faith? For just as the great luminary in heaven could not make the day if its brilliance did not transcend our sight, so God, the Creator of our nature, would not be the author of our salvation if He were comprehensible to us, and did not possess wisdom and goodness transcending our intellect. Nevertheless, those who reproach God, asking why He called those who were not going to obey through their deeds, how do they not consider that He would be the cause of their perdition if He had not called them? Therefore, He called them so that no one might be able to say that He is the cause of their punishment. But why, then, did He make those who are to be punished at all? Not to punish, but to save, B and this is evident from the calling; for if He wished to punish someone, He would not have called everyone to salvation. And if He, by His own goodness, both brought them forth and called them to salvation, while I appeared evil, was my wickedness, even when it was not yet present, to overcome and hinder the goodness that always exists? And how would this have any reason? He who says this, not merely speaking, but blaming the Creator, says exactly this: that a rational nature ought not to have been created; for what is the need for a rational being, if it is not endowed with choice and free will? And how can one be of free will and have power of choice if he is not able, if he so wishes, to be evil? And if he cannot be evil, he cannot be good either, surely.
He who says, therefore, that those who are to be punished should not have been created by God, says also that those who are to be saved should not have been created, and that no rational and free nature should have been created at all; C and if all other things were made for the sake of the rational nature, he says that God ought not to have been the Creator. Do you see how great this absurdity is? But since a rational and free race was created by God, and by the inclination of free will and its diverse use, some were going to be evil and others good, was it fitting for the truly good God, because of those who would be evil, not to bring the good into existence? And what could one think of as more unjust? For even if only one man were going to be good, it would not be right on that account to abandon the creation; for one person doing the will of the Lord is better than ten thousand transgressors. And what shall we say to those who select gold from gold-dust, D if they do not also gather the useless earth along with the flakes at the beginning? But let us hear how election could not otherwise occur, nor would there be any "chosen" if others had not also been called; and how would they be called if they had not been made? Rather, let us bring the argument closer and question those who reproach Him who wishes all to be saved, regarding those who do not wish for their own salvation. To us
mortals, the need for nourishment is pressing. Since, therefore, our nature selects from food what is for its own constitution and takes it into itself, while casting out the fetid part as useless through the excretory organs, would you, because it must end up as excrement, reject nourishment entirely? Or, because something must be selected and, through digestion, assimilated and appropriated for the constitution of our nature, would you partake of all food? Surely there is no need for reasoning; for we respond with our actions, eating every day, at once feeding on food that is appropriate to our nature and casting away that which is rejected by it. For the sake of what do we do this? For the sake of the life-love innate in us. A Likewise, therefore, God, because of His innate goodness and love of the good, did not, on account of those who would of their own accord turn out evil, prevent the good from being brought into existence; rather, it was for the sake of the good that He created even those who would turn out evil. Do you not see that the servants of physicians do not allow those who cannot retain food because of weakness of the stomach, but vomit it up, to suffer from hunger? Why, then, do they strive to feed them? Because nature receives something, albeit slightly, from the food, even if the greater part of the victuals is rendered useless through vomiting; for this reason, medicine is justly called humane. B Hence, the goodness and mercy of God are shown all the more by this: that although, because of the multitude of souls that will not be saved, few are those who attend to their own salvation, He nonetheless created the whole race, and, because of His excessive love, called everyone, even though few were to be the elect. "For the kingdom of heaven," He says, "was made like a human king who made a wedding for his son; and he sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding, and they were unwilling to come." Here, he calls "wedding" the union of the Son of God with human nature, and through it, with our Church. C For thus also Paul, having said that the mystery of marriage is great, added, "But I am speaking in regard to Christ and the Church." And elsewhere he says to us again, "I betrothed you to one man, to present a pure virgin to Christ." But why did the King of heaven, the most high Father, not say one wedding, but weddings for His Son? Because Christ, the bridegroom of holy souls, being mystically joined to each such soul, gives the Father cause to celebrate nuptial joy over this; for He Himself is the one who says, "There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents." For the fruit of the Holy Spirit, according to the Apostle, is joy, which fills all of God's friends, whether in heaven or on earth, as He again joins and unites those living in repentance to Christ through conversion; therefore, there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. By the grace of this ineffable union of His Son—who gave us repentance and is now perfect with human nature—and because of the immense joy celebrated mystically in heaven by God the Father on this account, D
A servants were sent: John, the Lord’s Forerunner; Zacharias, whom the Jews killed between the temple and the altar; Simeon, who received God into his arms; and in short, all those who, before the saving passion and resurrection, announced the Lord’s advent in the flesh that had already taken place upon the earth. These, therefore, were sent to call those who had been invited, namely, the Jews; for they are the ones who were invited, having been called earlier through the prophets, yet they were unwilling to come—that is, to believe and to become partakers of this ineffable communion and grace—even though they had been called many times, both then and now.
Again, therefore, He says, "O ineffable long-suffering!" He sent other servants, saying: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet; my oxen and my fatlings are slaughtered, and all things are ready; come to the wedding." But those who heard, some indeed neglected it and went off to their fields and business—how far do they differ from those who, making excuses about crops, vineyards, and the irregularities of worldly affairs, abandon holy assemblies and are unwilling to listen to sacred psalmody and teaching? Others, He says, even seized the servants, insulted them, and killed them. Those who even now deny obedience to the leaders of the Church and attack them with biting words as if they were enemies are not very far from these. But let us, even from this parable, extract for them the saving sweetness, gratis.
C "Behold," He says, "my banquet is prepared; my oxen and fatlings are slaughtered, and all things are ready." Truly, through the incarnation of the Lord, the best of God’s works was set forth; for all things that took place before it, wisely ordered by God for our sake, were beautiful and good, and aimed at this end. But the best of all—nay, the only one truly and incomparably the best—is the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and especially its end: the saving passion and D resurrection. For then all things became ready for our salvation: the perfect dispensation of the Son of God through the flesh, the divine teaching through Him, the works of both human and divine virtue, the communion of both divine and human body, that great, divine, and saving sacrifice, the resurrection from the dead after three days, and the beginning of eternal life and the divine joy therein.
"My oxen," He says, "and fatlings are slaughtered." For then the old things and the new were united: the latter were manifested through the slaughter of the fatlings—for it is the bread that is now sacrificed for us in the Church—while the former, the old things, were declared by the oxen and transferred, through the new Victim, into a sacrifice more worthy of God. Other servants, therefore, were sent—the apostles of the Lord—to preach these things also to the Jews, the Lord still having patience toward them. But they, having heard these things, some paid no attention, being wholly occupied with fields and businesses, with the earth and earthly things; others, however, seized the heralds—some they insulted, others they stoned—and all of them, as much as their malignity could, both reviled and killed. "The king," He says, "was therefore angry, and sent his armies."
A to destroy those murderers and burn their city." For since, even after the suffering they had inflicted, He still suffered long, and sent those calling them to repentance, promising amnesty and announcing the provision of great blessings, giving guarantees and pledges of these, and bearing trustworthy witness to the truth—yet they not only did not repent or pay attention, but even returned insults and rewarded the evangelists with murder—he then justly sends those who would destroy them and burn their city. And who does not know that these things were manifestly fulfilled in the case of Jerusalem, which he now rightly calls the city of the murderers?
B But since those who were called, both many times before and now, not only showed themselves unworthy of the calling, but also worthy of divine wrath and total destruction, at the command of the king the same servants—that is, the apostles of the Lord—went out into the highways, and, as He says, gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good, and the house was filled with those reclining. These are those called from the nations. For at that time there was but one city of God, Jerusalem, and but one house of His, that of Israel; but those outside this—whoever the nations were at that time—were as though cast out onto the highways, which were many and diverse; for their dogmas also were of such a sort. C He calls those who were found and gathered in the paths both bad and good, because of the diversity of their volition, by which some indeed become chosen, showing forth a manner and life consonant with the faith, while others are cast out from the chosen, having lived a life shameful and wicked, and discordant with the faith; and he shows this by what follows: "For the king came in to see the reclining ones," that is, those who had approached from among the called. And His entry to see and judge the reclining ones is the manifestation that is to take place at the time of the coming judgment. "The king, therefore," He says, "came in and saw there a man not clothed in a wedding garment." The garment of the spiritual marriage is virtue, and he who has not put this on here will be found not only unworthy of that divine bridechamber, D but will also experience unspeakable bonds and torments. If, indeed, the garment of every soul is the body to which it is united, he who has not kept it or has not cleansed it here through temperance, purity, and chastity will have it unworthy of that incorruptible bridechamber, and deserving of being cast out from it. Having therefore convicted and put to shame the one who was not clothed in a manner worthy of the calling, the king said to the ministers, "Bind his hands and feet, take him away"—that is, wrapping him in inescapable miseries—"remove him from the dwelling and company of those rejoicing. And cast him into the outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." For he is justly bound hand and foot who in this world is constricted by the bonds of his own sins, and is cast into the outer darkness, becoming far from God because he has not performed the works of light here. "There," He says, "shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth"; for it is not darkness
justly, and also from the chains of his sins here, and he is cast into outer darkness, being made far from God, as one who did not perform deeds of light here. But there, he says, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth; for it is not only darkness, but also unquenchable fire, that darkness, and furthermore, it is filled with sleepless worms A.
There is, then, wailing and gnashing of teeth there, on account of the intolerable pains that take hold of both soul and body, on account of the ceaseless lamentations, on account of the endless and useless repentance there. And having said these things, He added: "For many are called, but few are chosen," showing that it is not one person among those condemned who will experience that trial, but simply everyone who has clothed himself in a similar baseness from his works. For by this one instance, the Lord set forth what kind of evil persons are among those who have been called and have approached and been baptized, and who have not changed for the better, nor through repentance cast off the filth B from evil pleasures and passions. But let us, brothers, cast off the garment torn by drunkenness and by the satiety of the belly, and also contaminated by the flesh and the intemperance according to it, and let us put on, according to Isaiah, a garment of salvation and a robe of gladness through temperance and chastity; let us cast off the old man which is being corrupted according to the desires of deceit, and let us put on the new man, who has been created according to God in holiness and righteousness; let us cast off the clothing of life that comes from rapacity and greed, as something ugly and condemned before the eyes of God C. Let us put on, as the elect of God, hearts of mercy, humility, moderation, and gentleness; and let us strive with all our might, according to the apostolic exhortation, to make our calling and election firm; for by doing so we shall not miss out on the promise of future goods and the fellowship of those who rejoice eternally, which may we all attain by the grace and philanthropy of the eternal and heavenly bridegroom of our souls, Christ; to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is due glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XLII.
On the Gospel read on the third Sunday of Luke; in which there is the subject of the son of the widow raised by the Lord, and that we ought to show mutual charity and indulgence toward one another D.That faith is divine and useful to all, the great Paul shows, and by proclaiming its works and struggles and fruits and power, he begins from those ages than which nothing is more ancient; saying: "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible," and he ends at the future universal resurrection, and the perfection of the saints according to it, than which nothing is more perfect; and while making a list of those who were wondrous in faith and who bore witness to it by themselves,
A and saying that "women received their dead by resurrection through faith." These are the woman of Sarepta and the Shunammite, of whom the one received her dead son back to life from the prophet Elijah, and the Shunammite hers from Elisha; and each of them demonstrated great faith through her works. The woman of Sarepta, through faith, attained the increase of food promised by the prophet, and before her children, fed him from the handful of flour and the little bit of oil, which was all she had to eat before dying with her children. But even when her son became sick after the arrival of Elijah and died—for the Scripture says, "And his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him"—she did not reproach the prophet, nor cast him out, nor vituperate him; she did not abandon the piety she had learned from him, but accused herself and considered her own sins to be the causes of the affliction, and even while calling Elijah "a man of God" in the very midst of her misfortune, she argued with herself in a way more like an exhortation than like reviling, saying to him: "What have I to do with thee, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sins to remembrance and to kill my son?" As if to say: B You are a light by participation, inasmuch as you are a minister of the Sun of righteousness, and by coming from the invisible to the visible, you have manifested my hidden sins, and these have killed my son. Behold the faith of a Gentile woman; behold her humility. Therefore she rightly received the divine election from God from the beginning, and was deemed worthy to become an example of the calling and faith of the nations, and later she also received her son alive. The Shunammite also manifested her faith by what she said to her husband concerning Elisha, by what she prepared for the reception of the prophet, and by the wisdom she demonstrated when her son had died. For, hiding her grief, she ran quietly to the prophet and drew him to the house, saying to him, "As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." And through this faith she C received her son raised from the dead by the prophet, so that this outstanding miracle is no more of those prophets than it is of the faith of the mothers who received those raised from the dead; just as Paul also declared, saying: "Women received their dead by resurrection through faith."
But although the prophets had the faith and the God-pleasing conduct of the mothers as an assistant, Elijah nonetheless acted differently and cried out to God with much groaning: "Alas, O Lord, the witness of the widow with whom I dwell, you have afflicted her so as to kill her son!" And he called out and said, "O Lord my God, may the soul of this child return into him." And it happened so. Elisha, however, not only bowed himself over the child, walking back and forth until seven times, but he also prayed to the Lord D as it is written, and thus brought the son of the Shunammite back to life. And our Lord Jesus Christ, as we read in the Gospel of this day, moved with compassion for the widow whose dead son was being carried out, without delay, without prayer—
and without entreaty, but by a command alone, restored from the dead the only son alive to his mourning mother, and so he himself alone demonstrated that he is the Lord of life and death. For it happened, says the evangelist, *on the next day* that Jesus was proceeding to a city called Nain. A The Lord comes, self-invited, to this great miracle of the resurrection, in order to show that he possesses not only the life-giving power, but also goodness and incomparable compassion. For the widow of Zarephath, as it were, derided Elijah, urging him toward the revival of her child; and the Shunammite, having instructed Elisha—even though he had not foreseen the affliction—afterwards compelled him, saying, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." But the Lord—both foreknowing it of himself and being invited by no one—proceeds to the city from which the dead son was being carried out. And he was proceeding, he says, *on the next day*. And the evangelist signified this most wisely. For the resurrection of the widow’s son portrays the renewal of our own mind. For our soul, too, was a widow, having been deprived of the heavenly Bridegroom through sin, possessing, as if it were an only child, the mind belonging to each of us—which was dead, having lost the true life through the sting of sin. This, too, was being carried out, that is to say, having become alienated from God by the force of the passions that were carrying it away into the depths of hell and perdition; but the Lord, having come to us and being *already present* through his own incarnation, both restored and raised it up. But this did not happen to us from the beginning, but later, in the last of the ages. For this reason the evangelist did not omit this, saying that Jesus was proceeding *on the next day* in order to raise the widow’s dead son and to transform her grief into gladness. Be attentive to what is said, brethren, I exhort you; for each of you also, if he takes cognizance of the dead one within him, and laments and mourns his own sins, and becoming downcast in repentance because of them, the Comforter will also proceed toward him, providing life and eternal consolation. For "Blessed are those who mourn," he says, "for they shall be comforted." B
But, he says, Jesus was proceeding, and his disciples were traveling with him, a significant number, and a great crowd. For Elijah is left alone C when he is about to raise the son of the widow of Zarephath, and Elisha, having gone up to the upper room where the dead one lay, shut the door, as the history says, against both of them—both the Shunammite and his own disciple, Gehazi. Since there was need for them of most intense prayer to God, and men are by nature accustomed, when left alone, to disengage the mind more perfectly and to have it fully extended toward God, for this reason they also separated themselves from their closest associates. But the Lord, as one who truly possesses power over life and death, and who in no way had need of prayer in order to revive the child, had with him not only his own disciples, but also a great multitude—both the one that he was leading, and the one that he found around the one being carried out. And while all were watching and listening, by a command alone he restored the dead to life, having done this through the openness of his philanthropy, so that
A he might draw all men to faith in him, which leads to salvation. For, he says, "As he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out." For, foreknowing even the very hour of the funeral procession, he arrived at the opportune moment. A dead man was therefore being carried out, an only son to his mother, and she was a widow; these things multiplied the grief of her who was mourning, and they made the deliverance [that followed] even more wondrous. For the Lord, seeing the mother, and a mother who was a widow, who had placed all her hopes in her only son and, bereaved of him by an untimely death, was following his bier and beating her breast piteously, was moved with compassion, as it is written. For how could he not have been, he who is the Father of orphans and Judge of widows? And he said to her, B comforting her and foreseeing what was to come, "Do not weep." For he knew what he was about to do. But the woman did not know him, much less did she know what was to come. Therefore, she had no faith, nor did she ask anything of him, nor did he demand faith from her. But the omnipotent Lord, not being in need of the help of those who believe, approached and touched the bier, so as to show that even his own body, as united to his divinity, possesses vivifying power, and said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." And the dead man sat up. For that deaf dust heard the voice of him who calls things that are not as though they were; it heard the voice of Him who sustains all things by the word of his power; it heard the voice not of a God-bearing man, but of God become man. And not only did the dead man sit up, but he also began to speak. For even in the case of the son of the widow of Zarephath, when his soul C returned into him, the child immediately cried out, according to the history. This is a proof that the resurrection is not a phantom. Now, Elias raised one dead man through prayer, and Elisha, while still living, raised another, both testifying to and demonstrating in advance the vivifying energy of Christ, God and man. But the Lord, before he was crucified, restored three to life by his own command: this son of the widow, the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, and the four-day-old Lazarus; and furthermore, many on the cross who appeared to many. And afterward, having suffered death for us on the cross, he raised himself, or rather, he rose again on the third day, having become the sole forerunner of eternal life. For all others, even if they were raised, D yet partook again of the mortal life such as we have; but when Christ rose from the dead, death no longer has dominion over him. Therefore, only the Lord is called the "firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep," that is, of the faithful who have departed in the hope of the resurrection and of eternal life. He became, therefore, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep and the firstborn from the dead, and he pledged and promised to us not this life of ours, mortal and perishable as it is, governed by a psychic spirit, but that which is stored up for us in hope, divine, immortal, and eternal. For this is indeed a gift truly worthy of God. Since, therefore, he does not yet grant this to those whom he calls back to life, but restores a life that is cut off by death, he does not bestow this as a favor to them, but acts in this way for the sake of others, leading them to faith in the giver of eternal life. And indeed, not as a favor to the son himself, but for the sake of the mother, moved by mercy, he raised the son, as the evangelist aptly reports, and thus he gave him back to his mother, having called him back to life.
B But see how the Lord, moved by mercy for the widow mourning her son, dealt with her not only with comforting words, but also healed her through deeds. Let us also do likewise according to our power, and not be compassionate to those who are suffering evil in word only, but let us demonstrate our compassion toward them through deeds as well. For if we demonstrate our kindness with all our power, God, in return, will demonstrate his kindness toward us with all his power. Observe, then, how great is the excellence and the abundance of the reward. For by as much as God excels man, by so much also does his power excel human power, and [by so much] does the grace performed by that power excel that which is given by us. If someone were to ask for copper obols and give back gold staters in return, who would not welcome the exchange? But now, it is not a matter of exchanging copper for gold coins—metals which are almost of equal value in nature—but of providing human things and receiving divine things, and [providing] human things to men, which is a natural debt. For we owe compassion and mercy to others entirely by nature. And indeed, when we look upon the multiform clemency of God toward us, for which he demands nothing else from us but indulgence, generosity, and kindness toward our neighbor, saying, “Forgive, and it will be forgiven you; give, and it will be given to you,” how does the inescapable duty not weigh upon us to show, through deeds, compassion and piety toward those of our brothers C who are in need? And since we have not only been shown mercy by God, and have been benefited so greatly that it is not even possible to number them, but have also received pledges from him that we shall receive a return for the kindness shown to our brothers in a measure good and pressed down, why do we not hasten toward this with all our power? Why do we not even lay down our lives for one another, if it be necessary, in imitation of the Master, so that we may receive from him the life eternal? Yet this is also a debt for us—if not perhaps toward one another, yet certainly toward the One who gave himself to death for our sake, not for a ransom only, but also as an example and an effective teaching, in deed and word and every thought, incomparably more sublime. For, he says, “Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we might follow his footsteps,” and be ready, if necessary, to lay down our own souls to fulfill his commandments. For thus shall we share in the life and kingdom that endures in him, living forever with him and being glorified with him.
D Behold this Myroblyte, whose holy martyrdom’s memory we have begun to celebrate today; he willingly poured out the blood of his own body for Christ, and for this reason he has made it a perennial and inexhaustible fountain of manifold miracles, of the sanctification of the soul, and of the most fragrant and holy myrrh. Although the soul of the great martyr, having received eternal and unchanging glory among the angels, now justly rejoices in the heavens—
but his body has not yet truly become a partaker of that glory, but the present things are, as it were, a sketch, a type, and a symbol of that most divine and heavenly glory which shall be revealed around it hereafter. And if the sketch and the type are such, what will that future perfection be? It is surely altogether ineffable and beyond the reach of thought itself. May it be granted to us, by the intercessions of him who among the martyrs pours forth myrrh, that just as here we have been participants in that divine chrism poured forth from him, so also we may then be spectators and partakers of that glory, by the grace and loving-kindness of Jesus Christ, who is God over all, glorified in his own martyrs, to whom belongs all glory to the ages everlasting. Amen.
HOMILY XLIII. On the great martyr, wonder-worker, and myrrh-gushing Demetrius, among the saints.
B“To me, however, your friends, O God, have been greatly honored, their principates have been greatly strengthened,” cries out David, that most divine of the psalmists of all ages. CThe principates of the choir of apostles, because they are the coryphaei; of the order of prophets, who have their name from the beholding of divine things; and of the holy doctors and the whole assembly of saints, who were called great according to the promise of the common Savior—so too among the martyrs of Christ, there are the great martyrs, among whom shines forth conspicuously, and above most others, he who is especially hymned and honored by us today, our own fellow-citizen and patron, the great miracle of the world, the great ornament of the holy Church, the one great in all things, the wonder-worker and myrrh-gushing Demetrius. For indeed, among the martyrs, as among the stars, he is a great light, containing the Word of eternal life, shining forth in a distinctive way with divine-radiating beams, and outshining most others. DHas he not attained the grace of prophecy? Or, being illustrious in prophetic virtue, is he unworthy of the ministry and presiding office of apostles and doctors? Or, adorned with these gifts, has he yielded to the ascetic exercises of the saints and the nobility of life according to them? By no means; but following some, made equal to others, surpassing others, and exceeding not a few, he did not excel merely in small things, but accomplished all things with a few, and alone contained and held within himself the merits of all (as the discourse, God willing, shall afterward show), and he alone was deemed worthy to attain the blessings promised to all.
We ourselves, who are not capable of speaking of even one, I do not say order or choir, but not even of one of any order, what shall we say, and in such a composition of discourse, concerning him who divinely ordered in the divinity of one life the virtues of all, and in all things is exalted above all praise? Yet the desire to speak according to our power urges us, and the occasion seeks for a timely word, and the pressing duty makes us wonder in speech at the excellence of the martyr, which is above all speech. Seeking after the ineffable rewards promised by God, he maintained a manner of life as far as nature allowed—that is to say, all
A that he was from childhood to the end he strove to demonstrate; and he was indeed, almost from his boyhood, a firm and beautiful column, a most beautiful statue receiving its movement from itself, a seat of divine and human graces, a living book teaching what leads to virtue and the cultivation of life, a new tempering of all goods, a sum of individual virtues most useful to all, and—to speak with Scripture—a most splendid palm of flowers, an olive tree bringing forth fruit in the house of God, a tree planted by the streams of the spirit B—except that, according to the Psalmist, while that tree gives its fruit in its season, for him all time was and is a time of both flowers and fruit. And as the leaf of that tree, as it is written, does not fall, so he distributed not only leaves but flowers and fruits to those who approached him with faith. In short, to sum everything up in a few words, according to the dictum of Solomon: "In a short time he fulfilled many years." Demetrius was that rod of Aaron, a sprout of piety flourishing, a most desirable flower, a noble fruit pleasing to God—nay, rather, a rod and divine scepter of Christ, the eternal high priest; or if you prefer, a branch, ever-flourishing and godlike, was Demetrius, who was a type of Christ C as Aaron was. And the one was a type of Christ; but that rod was a type of Demetrius in all things beautiful and of the perfect scepter of the Savior, adorned at once with leaves and flowers and likewise bringing forth fruits which it brought to maturity by divine power. But Demetrius differs from that type as much as the prototype surpasses the type, and this he does fittingly for the better, not indeed in a small way, but by leaving behind everything honest and decorous in strength of soul and in the excellence of morals and works and miracles. So that he might unceasingly bring to those who approached him, so to speak, a superabundance of graces, he seemed to be a light-bearing tree, which, like the sun with its rays, brought forth fruit without end and bestowed upon those who came the best and most divine gifts with which he himself always abounded, just as the sun is of all-encompassing benevolence, a perennial fountain of graces, an inexhaustible sea of miracles, an ineffable abyss of goods both visible and invisible.
Why then should I attempt to adorn and celebrate with external praises that from which he was nourished? D Truly, to say that he is the ornament of all Thessaly, that he had his name rightly from the fortitude he manifested in his works, and to proclaim the celebrity of his ancestors and the nobility of his parents—all this would be entirely superfluous. For he is more a title of honor to them; but how could Demetrius borrow ornament from such things, he who was an ornament not only to the world but even to the heavenly realm? And what, then, is his ornament? An undefiled faith, infinite grace, the divine and irremovable riches of virtues pleasing to God, which he treasured in the heavens, being joined there to the assemblies of the blessed; or rather, he goes from earth to heaven, surviving in life, snatched from the number of men, a supreme increase to the eternal splendors, the most excellent Demetrius, that most beautiful and, indeed, more excellent beauty than any appearance. Whom
A David proclaimed blessed beforehand, exclaiming: "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and has not stood in the way of sinful men." For he did not in his mind ever allow anything that was not God-fearing, nor did he travel toward any action that was not pleasing to God; but having kept for himself the divine grace from the baptism according to Christ undefiled, he had his will in harmony with the law of the Lord, being like a book of God and a divinely inscribed tablet, and a slab or table inscribed by the finger of God, and set before all for common benefit. For according to Isaiah, before he knew evil, he chose the good, and in that very flower of youth he embraced the beauty of virginity, and he was entirely devoted to this possession, doing everything so as to be a virgin both in body and soul, and through this to have his citizenship in heaven, and with the bodiless ones to journey together while in the body, and for this he had all the other virtues as allies, and above all others the pursuit of wisdom, so that, having been perfected in discernment and purity in a short time, he might bear the praised gray hair in his youth; for gray hair, according to Solomon, is understanding for men, and an age of old age is a life unspotted. He was, therefore, a delicate youth, very fair to behold, not only the outward man, but much more the inward, whom the eye does not see. Seeing him, God, who searches the heart, was so taken with the love of that spiritual and invisible beauty, that he was pleased to dwell in him as in a most pleasing house and to unite his spirit entirely with him, and to bring all things to divine perfection through him. For David indeed found a man, but Demetrius, not yet having reached the age of men, but still a youth entirely, he found C as a worker after his own heart, unashamed, a fulfiller of his commandments; he found a vessel of election, according to Paul, to bear his name before nations and kings; he found an unspotted mirror that reflected the supercelestial and ineffable beauty. I also hear that voice spoken concerning him, brought mystically to him: "Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall proclaim judgment to the nations, and he shall transform and reconstruct the worthy from the unworthy, that he may be as my mouth; but he will put to shame those who have been convinced and will convict those designated for perdition." These things are indeed written concerning Christ, but they are also to be attributed to all those who live perfectly according to Christ, as if through him. He was then a teacher and therefore an apostle, wise, a virgin, and pious D Demetrius, and to speak briefly, in all things comely, most upright, and splendid in nature, in studies, and in grace, so that to Demetrius, according to what was said of Job the Ausite, there was no one like him on earth, or rather, this most divine Job himself was like to him, to whom then, as it is written, no one like him was found among men; for he was blameless, just, pious. And Job appeared as Demetrius did later; but the former did not have the praise of virginity—of virginity, I say, which in youth makes one a glorious victor, a conqueror of nature, and equal to the angels who stand around God.
A And while he, on the one hand, was struck by a heavy blow, wrestling against the contrary wickedness, the latter, on the other hand, stood firm even unto blood, fighting against evil to the very end. But neither did he possess the discipline in speech to which Job testified, B which this one had, tempered by the grace of the Spirit; it was like a weapon, an impregnable rampart, a builder’s hoe and plow, or if you will, a writer’s pen and a fisherman’s net, and whatever else of the like. Now he cultivates the Lord’s vineyard, scattering heavenly seeds upon the earth, or inscribing the words of eternal life, not on tablets of stone, but on the fleshy tablets of the heart, which are worthy of such an inscription; or, with the net of the word, he catches Thessaloniki, Attica, Achaia, and as many regions as he traverses today, and as many as he reaches through his ointments, through his miracles, and through the abundance of grace in all things. For Demetrius was even then a wonder among men in divine discourses, the good odor of Christ, according to Paul, both to those who are being saved and to those who are perishing; to the former an odor of life unto life, to the latter an odor of death unto death. I do not have a sufficient recompense for this good odor, nor for the ointments and miracles bestowed by God upon the tomb of our great martyr; for what are things present, even if great and wondrous, compared to those given and stored up for him by God in the heavens? And by the excess of glory, to speak with Paul, that which was glorified has not been glorified in this respect—yet these things are a most manifest proof to all of how he, while still living in this life, was the good odor of Christ and an odor of life to those who choose to obey. C Now indeed, thus cultivating the souls of men, or seeking to catch them like fish according to the evangelical words to Peter, he had the word as an instrument for that most holy and saving fishing; but now, building for God a temple of living stones, and truly worthy ones, he had the word as a fitting tool. But when he declared war against those who were opposed to Christ, and especially against those visible enemies of God who were impelled by invisible ones, his every word was inspired by the divine Spirit, and was uttered, and instructed, and adapted for each circumstance, so that, as it is written of the first among the martyrs, no one could resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which Demetrius spoke. I for my part believe that through that military tunic, through that ring on his hand, and through that consular robe which the martyr had received from the king at that time, he had received emblems of the teaching authority and presidency mystically bestowed upon the martyr by the true King. Therefore, the divine grace of God has performed not a few miracles through them later on. D But it was necessary that the deceiver should be wisely deluded from the beginning, so that he might not, by finding an opportunity before the proper time, contrive death for the martyr, and the fruit of the eternal storehouse, not yet fully ripe, be harvested and...
A fall to the earth, bearing no abundant fruit because of the untimeliness of the fall. But when the very embodiment of envy, as thou truly mightest call it, beheld the outcome of those signs, it could no longer endure it; it inflamed against the adversary of error those who minister to error and to the king of deceit—this was Maximian. Having seized him, they lead away the persecutor of deceit, and thus Demetrius is girded for the stadium of martyrdom, he who was from childhood full of ineffable graces, and wise in all things, and just, and holy, and an apostle, and a virgin, and immaculate. What more need I say? I will not merely call him a beloved disciple of Christ, or a servant, or a most constant and intimate friend, or rather—that I may encompass all in one—I say that he passed through all things well-pleasing to God, both in reasonings, and in words, and in actions.
B You all desire, I know well, the manner of his apprehension, and where and how he was sought out by the executioners and seized. There is a subterranean portico in the temple of the ever-virgin Mother of God, whose name is "Refuge," where, according to ancient custom, the eulogy of the great martyr is begun each year and the solemnity is brought to its conclusion. Therefore, when impiety was reigning and piety had no place beneath the sun, he would enter those subterranean areas and distribute heavenly doctrine to those who approached, and to those who had fled unto him from the mire of impiety, as if from a surging sea, he, the truly calm harbor of piety, safely proposed the Christian life, which was then being preached; and thus the most divine martyr existed as a refuge for all who chose a pious life, and for this reason the place was further called "Refuge." When those who had been established by Maximian Herculeus to hunt out the advocates of piety learned this, they set upon the martyr while he was teaching the people there, and, raging all the more when they saw the gathered multitude hanging upon the words of Demetrius as if they were the voices of God, they rushed against him as the ringleader, scattered the multitude, and, having seized him, they led him along this very thoroughfare and brought him before Maximian, who was lingering somewhere nearby and delighting with the utmost pleasure in the homicidal rites of Lyaios. He, being unable to tear himself away from his enjoyment, ordered the holy man to be locked up there, where he eventually completed his martyrdom. We, representing these things annually, quite rightly begin the festival there and finish it here, since the martyr himself was so disposed, being dragged off to slaughter at that time for Christ as if summoned to a feast and the greatest of banquets.
D The eagerness of the arch-wicked devil was thus to remove Demetrius from among men as quickly as possible. For he could not endure that such a one should still remain on earth, and be seen, and speak to men, and be heard at all. But God willed both to bring forward His prophet soon before all, and thereby to have him obtain the palm of illustrious martyrdom, and that he should not only have the grace of martyrdom himself, but, possessing it, should impart it also to others, having become, through his extreme and supernatural union with Him, a supernatural fountain of grace.
B And what must I say further, since the time does not allow for a long discourse? You know the delay of the tyrant, the imprisonment of Demetrios, and Nestor added to these, and the prophecy of the great martyr concerning him, and his victory over Lyaios according to that prophecy, and his martyrdom. But the perverse serpent, having observed the delay of the tyrant, could no longer bear to see Demetrios living on earth, distinguished even before the completion of his martyrdom; but, creeping into a scorpion, he approached the martyr, not in order to deceive or to charm him, just as once through the serpent toward that first pair of our forefathers he deceived the one and through her charmed the other. For he knew by experience that Demetrios was not to be deceived, and that he was noble in character, and trained to choose the better part. Therefore, he did not approach with the scorpion in order to deceive, but in order to strike mortally and to kill as quickly as possible, and to rid himself of an adversary of such virtue and power. But the grace and power residing in Demetrios anticipated his speed and eagerness. For using the divine sword of prayer by his own hand, the martyr killed the instrument of death, and covered him who had crept in with shame, having nullified his energy, and demonstrated from this that, had he not willingly submitted to his passion, he would not have suffered at all, being guarded and strengthened by the grace and power of Christ. But he is surrendered willingly, and is imprisoned, and is held by the hands of executioners, and suffers the sufferings of evildoers at the hands of evildoers, imitating Him who suffered for our sake. C For this reason, he also meets the spear-bearing killers sent by the tyrant, and with outstretched arms, as if to be struck in a vital spot, receives the final blow—or rather, the blows—passing through everything, the bowels, the bones, and the flesh, so that each of his sides received the piercings from the spears, the one from without and the other from within; and thus he doubled—or rather multiplied—the pain of the Savior’s side, filling up, according to Paul, [*] "the things that are lacking of the afflictions of Christ," and thus he burned with love for the slaughter, and thus he desired that his own blood should flow for the glory of Christ not only many times but also continuously, if it were possible, so that he, from whom the overflowing abundance of that love was not hidden, merited receiving in his body a fountain of myrrh, so that when the blood had failed, this might flow from the body in place of blood for all time to come for the glory of Christ, whom this martyr of ours not only glorified through his life, his death, and after his death, but continues to glorify perpetually; from whom he received, receives, and will receive glory divinely in return, both on earth and in heaven. D There remains for me now to say concerning him what the divine Paul said concerning Christ. For the great Demetrios also commends his love for us, because, while we were still sinners, he died in due time for the sake of the ungodly—not, however, except by the grace of the Master and...
his imitation, and the whole city was reconciled to God through his death. A For where is that former abundance of impiety, in which it is not incredible that many of our ancestors also lay? Where is the fear arising from piety, and the refuges sought because of it? Where are those who surpassed the wild beasts in ferocity in their madness against the pious? All the terrors have been dissolved, all good things have arrived, since Demetrius exposed himself to dangers for the sake of piety. Great and very beautiful temples, by their mere appearance turning all toward themselves, have stood in the place of those refuges; and kings, illustrious for their piety more than their power, stand beside us and with unanimous applause acclaim the noble deeds of the martyr; and the whole city openly celebrates his piety, exalting B over the martyrdom of the great Demetrius. For he pours out his own love not only into our hearts, but even onto our bodies, through the ointments which he sends forth from his body for our strengthening. The good odor of these, therefore, has driven out impiety from every part of the city and has offered this city to God as another paradise, or if something greater, pleasantly irrigated not with a river of water but of ointments—ointments, I say, in which and from which the grace of healings is preserved solely through the Spirit, the operations of the Powers, so that we too are able to say of the great Demetrius what is written in the Song of Songs regarding the soul betrothed to God by a chaste bond: "The odor of your garments is above all spices." You shall consider the body to be the garment of the martyr’s soul, whose cheeks, to speak again according to the same C song, are "as beds of aromatics," and his "fingers as lilies distilling pure myrrh." Much more so the side pierced by the sword, which, as if opened wide by the lances, no longer holds the ointments by itself like a flask, nor lets out fragrant drops like lilies, but sends forth a perennial and inexhaustible fountain, so that it is not for us to sing with the Psalmist: "The river of God was filled with water," but rather that the fountain of God (this is the body of the martyr) is filled with ointments and miracles and healings; and what was more wonderful than all these, flowing through channels, it loses nothing of its own fullness; so that it seems to me that the divine soul of the martyr, departing from the body, D addressed God with those words which the soul betrothed to God uttered in those songs. Which are they? "Arise, O north wind, and come, O south. Blow upon my garden, and let my spices flow." And thus, by the breath of the spiritual north wind, it drove out and dissolved the winter of impiety which had until then been raging in the city, and from there brought to us the spiritual warmth of piety, which the happy breath of that south wind introduced, which, as a most favorable breeze, propels on high the ship of those who intend to cross the sea toward the rising of the Sun of righteousness, and in the garden of virtues and graces—and this is the martyr’s body—it gave the signal to gush forth ointments and medicines. For those channels are as many as the perforations of his body made by the lancers. For the mouths of the sheep, in the midst of which, as the Gospel teaches,
A the Lord sent His own disciple, He opened up sources through the wounds, bringing great consolation to the flock of Christ, and many beneficial remedies, while gradually transforming all the wolves themselves into sheep. And thus, those gates of Hades, which are the death-dealing decrees of those tyrants, not only do not prevail over the Church of Christ, which is exposed to suffering, but they even provide for it, beyond that, the heavenly and eternal glory and the glory on earth.
Do you wish to know also what is intended by the Gospel of the Lord read today to those sent by Him to be in the midst of wolves: "Become prudent as serpents, and simple as doves B?" The serpent lives in his guile, and harms others; he is greedy for satisfaction and damagings, and attacks impetuously. The dove, however, lives in innocence and does not care for its own safety. The Lord therefore urges those of His household not to be harmful like snakes, nor careless like doves, but to be watchful while constantly coupled together in simplicity and wisdom, so that one may have the vigilance for guarding one's own piety and virtue and mildness, and be in such a way toward those who do injury as to be superior to them. For this is how they themselves will become life-giving to those who have been put to death by the intelligible serpent. Just as when the sons of physicians take the flesh of serpents, and having cleansed it C and with certain mixtures treat those who are snake-bitten, so also he who is prudent and watchful in the time of the temptations of the serpent’s malice against the faithful ones, having removed the harm from the serpent not only from himself but also from those who are snake-bitten—that is, the ones who have been led astray—making void the wickedness of the serpent, which is sin and impiety, he cures them. And the martyr is near, the great martyr Demetrios. Having finished the race, kept the faith, and stood fast unto death for the protection of piety, he was so far from avenging himself against those who were injuring him, that, by praying to the Lord for them, he put an end to the wickedness of some, and changed others; so that D there was not even a remnant of that impiety left in this city, but rather the city itself remains, in which and from which the divine martyr sustained violent death, and by his own-likeness of providence, and manifold good works, and incessant intercessions to God, he protects the city. And let us, showing ourselves even more grateful—for who can repay him for such a festival (for we ask to be deemed worthy by his intercession to God, and to be inscribed in the heavenly festivals)—may it come to pass for all of us to attain, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs glory, honor, and adoration, with His unoriginate Father and the life-giving Spirit, now and unto the infinite ages. Amen.