OF TIMOTHEUS, PRESBYTER OF JERUSALEM, ON THE PROPHET SYMEON, AND ON THE GOSPEL PASSAGE, "LORD, NOW THOU LETTEST THY SERVANT DEPART," AND ON THE HOLY MARY THEOTOKOS
A The only perfect man among men, the man of justice, set among many as a possession of justice: light was always for those doing justly, the possession of justice; according to the divine saying: "Light is sown for the righteous" (Ps. XCVI, 11). What light? Not that which is succeeded by night, and is found doubled by solar rays, and is found in the present age only for a time. "Light for the righteous for ever." What light, then? That which dwells beyond the heavens and stands by the Master’s throne, which the righteous Abraham, having perceived, receives those who belong to it; but those who are not such, he sends away to the dark place of punishments. For this reason he who cries out exclaims: "Light is for the righteous at all times, but the name of the ungodly perishes." Nothing is ever more lively than the righteous; in discourses his image lives forever, according to the aforementioned divine Word: "The righteous shall live for ever, and their reward is with the Lord, and the hope of them is with the Most High." Nothing is sweeter than the righteous, compared to a palm tree, according to the Scripture saying: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree," because of the always-sweet flavor of faith; "and like the cedar in Lebanon he shall multiply," because of the always-venerable [nature] of the knowledge of God. Nothing is more protected by God in temptations than the righteous, according to the divine saying: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord shall deliver them out of them all."
B The righteous man, held fast in an ungodly generation, is lifted up together with his very body, being established in a praiseworthy manner of life. And the righteous Enoch bears witness to my discourse; the righteous man, in a world utterly destroyed by a flood, is snatched like a guest from a shipwreck, steered by the divine rudder, and the righteous Noah bears witness to my discourse; the righteous man, amid the downpour of fire sent down divinely, is preserved from the fire as if whole in the dissolute city by angelic guides, and the righteous Lot bears witness to my discourse; the righteous man, in the arena of diabolical madness, remains an invincible athlete, and the righteous Joseph bears witness to my discourse; the righteous man in C
transmigration, among his brethren, is clothed with the royal scepter, and the righteous Moses bears witness to my discourse; the righteous man, found in battle in the sight of the enemies, so that the possibility of escaping death A from all those opposing him might be taken away, stayed the course of the sun and the moon, and the righteous Joshua, son of Nun, bears witness to my discourse; the righteous man, wishing to convert the impious race, the worshiper of many gods, receives the four-horse chariot running through the heavens for an effortless ascent, persuading those who wish to contemplate that there exist not only earthly things, but also heavenly, and the righteous Elias bears witness to my discourse; the righteous man, though in the small stature of his body, cast down the giant Goliath—a brazen mountain—with a stone from the torrent, persuading those who wish to contemplate that it is not corpulence of body, but the strength of faith that brings victory, and the righteous David bears witness to my discourse; the righteous man, in Pharaonic times, surrounded by chariots, crossing the deep abyss as if it were a grassy meadow, beheld the one pursuing him suffering the very things he feared he himself would suffer, and the righteous Moses B bears witness to my discourse.
But let not time overtake us while we commemorate the virtues of all the saints; let us finally contemplate the last righteous man in our discourse. And who is the last righteous man? In the Gospel according to Luke, he is Symeon by name. He is the first and the last: the last of the Law, the first of Grace; a Jew in worship, a Christian in thanksgiving; according to the Law by instruction, an angel by knowledge. Symeon, who has just been read to us, who from Pharisaic impiety, like a lily plucked from among thorns, was the first revealed by the dignity of divine favor. Symeon, who attained such a degree of righteousness that it was divinely revealed to him that he would not leave the present temporal life while living in the body, unless he had first held in his own blessed arms eternal life, our Lord Jesus Christ. The righteous Symeon, therefore, having vehemently desired to see the Lord before the incarnation, in the incarnation he both saw and recognized and embraced Him; C and he longed to be set free from the guardianship of the body, crying out to the Ruler of all, who had become as an infant in the humble form of a servant, as you heard just now: "Now you dismiss your servant, O Lord, according to your word, in peace, because my eyes have seen your salvation." They have seen, dismiss me; do not detain me here. Dismiss me in peace; do not detain me in sorrow. They have seen, dismiss me; they have seen your glory, the choir of angels, the doxology of archangels, the creation exulting, the heavenly and the earthly having one bridge. Now dismiss me, do not detain me here; let me not see the audacity of my fellow countrymen the Jews, let me not see the crown of thorns woven, let me not see a servant striking you with a whip, let me not D see the lance touching you.
A Let me not see the sun darkened; let me not see the moon waning; let me not see the elements being altered; let me not see you nailed to the Cross; let me not see the rocks rending; let me not see the veil of the temple being torn. For, unable to bear the audacity, the very elements themselves suffer with the Master.] "Now you dismiss your servant, Master, according to your word, in peace, because my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared before the face of all the peoples."
What, then, of the evangelist? You heard him just now saying: "There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him; and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord; and he came in the Spirit into the temple." What does it mean, "And he came in the Spirit into the temple"? Listen intelligently. B While Simeon was sitting at home and praying by himself that the divine oracle might reach its fulfillment, Joseph and the Virgin only intended to bring the child Jesus into the temple, to do for him according to the custom of the law; immediately the Holy Spirit provided the event of the oracle, and stirred up Simeon, saying: "Rise, elder, why do you sleep? The oracle has arrived. Go quickly; He who dismisses you has come; shake off the sepulchers, prepare the burial, prescribe to those in your house what you wish to be done after death; He who dismisses you has come, Emmanuel has arrived; C pass quickly into the temple; in the temple, prophesy the sacred things concerning the sacred birth."
From there, Simeon, renewed by the swiftest wing of desire, as if lightened by the Spirit, preceded Joseph and the Virgin into the temple; but he did not precede the child who was being carried—for he who—
CONSIDERATION ON THE LAST JUST MAN
Age, my dearest, let us consider the last just man in our discourse. And who is this last just man? It is he whose mention was just now made in the reading of the Gospel according to Luke, by name Simeon. He is both the first and the last; the last of the Law, the first of Grace; a Jew in religion and worship, a Christian in grace; a Christian by acknowledgment, an angel in tongue, this Simeon D of whom a mention was just made to us in the Gospel reading; who, as a rose plucked from the thorns of Pharisaic blasphemy and malevolence, was the first to be ennobled by the fragrance of the gift of Grace; Simeon, I say, who was endowed with such justice and probity that he might receive as an oracle in his very body that he would not pass through this present temporary life before he had seen our Lord Jesus Christ.
That just and great Simeon, therefore, my dearest, when he had desired to see the Lord before He had put on human flesh, then, when he saw Him covered in human flesh, he recognized Him, he took Him into his arms, and, so that he might be released from the custody of the body, he begged with a servant’s mouth of Him who appeared as an infant boy, the Master of all, crying out, as you have heard: "Now you dismiss your servant, Master, according to your word, in peace. Because my eyes have seen your salvation."
I have seen your glory; let me be dismissed from this frail and temporary life; I have seen the choir of angels, the chanting of the glory of the archangels, all creation exulting, heavenly and earthly things having one consensus. Now let me be dismissed, let me not be detained here; the Holy Spirit is in me, and I see your divine things, and the things that are about to befall you. Now let me be dismissed, lest I witness the audacity of the Jews, my fellow countrymen and kinsmen, against you; lest I witness the crown of thorns woven; lest I witness you receiving a blow from a servant; lest I witness a lance driven into you; lest I witness darkness spread over the sun; lest I witness the moon waning; lest I witness the elements being changed; lest I witness you nailed to the cross with nails; lest I witness the rocks rending; lest I witness the veil of the temple being torn. For even the elements themselves, not bearing such audacity, suffer with the Lord.
A For how could one get ahead of, or where could one get ahead of, Him who is present everywhere? Symeon anticipated Joseph and the Virgin in the temple, and having arrived first, he stood near the doors, awaiting the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Now as Symeon stood in the temple, he saw many mothers entering with their own infants to perform the sacrifice of purification, among whom was also she who was carrying the birth that is to be honored and is devoid of defilement. But that just man Symeon, casting his eyes hither and thither, as he saw many mothers endowed with the private appearance of human condition, but the Virgin alone encompassed by an infinite divine light, Symeon ran to her, and parting the other mothers, he cried out before all: "Give me place, that I may take hold of Him whom I desire; I have seen Him by whom I was seen before; I have seen, and my spirit has revived and been recreated. Why do you, in the condition of handmaidens, contend with the free woman and indeed the Mistress? Why do you offer your little children at the altar? Turn your eyes hither, and offer them to this Boy, who is more ancient than Abraham."
Meanwhile, Symeon, holding the Lord in his arms, who was beheld in this form of an infant, blessed Joseph and the Virgin; and he appropriately added a prophecy concerning the Lord, saying to the Virgin: "Why are you gazing at this child, O Virgin, who is your own and not your own? For you have remained a virgin, as you were before. Why do you look at Him continuously, and frequently embrace Him? Why do you always offer the breast to Him, wishing to have a more flourishing child? He has no need of nourishment, being Himself the provider of manna and the dispenser of life. Why do you stir Him with tender hands, wishing to soothe the infant to sleep? He will not nod, He will not sleep; for the Prophet says concerning Him: He will not slumber, nor will He sleep who keeps Israel.
C Why are you gazing at this child, O Virgin? By the hidden power of His divinity, He stretched out the heavens like a curtain; He suspended the earth over nothing; He founded water as a support and stay for the world. This boy, O incorrupt Virgin, governs the sun, steers the moon, stores up the winds as in treasuries, and holds the power and dominion of all things. From this boy, O Virgin, do not hope for secular joy, but spiritual. For behold, He is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be spoken against; and a sword shall pierce your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." D These things did the holy God-receiver Symeon, by revelation...
of the holy Spirit concerning Jesus, who was looked upon in the habit of an infant, say to the Virgin Mary: "Behold, this one is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel." And why for a fall? And why for a rising? For the word concerning the Lord is true. For Symeon did not speak by his own power, but by the revelation of the holy Spirit, all that he uttered regarding the Lord while speaking to the Virgin: "Behold, this one is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel." For he said "for a fall" (of the unbelievers, indeed), A but "for a rising" of the believers; for a fall of the synagogue, but for a rising of the Church; for a fall of the demons, for a rising of the saints; Matthias rises, Judas fell. For a rising of the thief hanging on the right, for a fall of the other who hung on the left; for he indeed thought and spoke piously, but the other insulted the divine majesty with his words. "For the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against." The word is true. For our Lord became a "sign which shall be spoken against" regarding the birth of the Virgin; since it is a great sign that a Virgin, having given birth, remains a virgin nonetheless. But that the Virgin was a sign which would be spoken against, B hear Isaiah in his own work (saying thus) when the Lord said to Ahaz: "Ask for yourself a sign in the deep or in the height," and Ahaz said: "I will not ask, nor will I tempt the Lord" (Isa. VII, 11). "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. What is this? Behold, the Virgin shall have in the womb." Concerning this Lordly sign of the Virgin-birth, which was to be spoken against by many with a contentious tongue, Symeon pre-announced the future to the Virgin, saying: "Behold, this one is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against. And a sword shall pierce your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."
Hence it happened that some supposed the mother of the Lord to have suffered a martyr's end, C slaughtered by the sword, because Symeon said: "And a sword shall pierce your own soul also." But it does not stand so. For a sword forged by a smith divides the body, it does not bisect the soul; and from this the Virgin is even until now immortal, since He who dwelt within her translated her to the regions of the Assumption. What then does Symeon wish to say concerning death? "And a sword shall pierce your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." D
A Symeon calls the sorrow of the Virgin—which she was destined to endure—a sword in this place, [a sword] that would pierce the soul: for she deemed that she had lost Him who had come to seek those who were perishing. But as to the fact that sorrow invaded the soul of the Virgin, seeing that she supposed she had lost Him who was called her own, that is, the Virgin's, son: you heard just now the evangelist saying, *And when Jesus was twelve years old.* Intellect proceeds into intellect, and question is stirred by question. *And when he was twelve years old.* Who? God the Word, twelve years old: the only-begotten Son of God, who is before the world, the Artificer of the times of vision of long ago, not born after the times. *And when Jesus was twelve years old.* Regarding the birth from the Virgin, a time of twelve years is reckoned. For Jesus was progressing B by parts, in bodily age and stature; He did not become a grown man all at once, in a single moment of time. Therefore, so that the truth of the life of Christ—which He passed in the world in the flesh He assumed—might not be thought a vain imagination or a fictitious and invented thing, and [so that] He might dispose and manage those things which were written concerning Him, He progressed, as we were just saying, little by little, observing all the human modes of the flesh He assumed. Whence also the Evangelist said concerning Him: *But the child Jesus progressed in spirit and wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.* See the Evangelist’s careful caution; he did not say, "God the Word progressed," lest he provide Arius with material to injure the divine majesty, [and thus undermine] the intercession of the economy of Christ. For on that account He was twelve years of age.
Wherefore also the Evangelist said: *And when Jesus was twelve years old, they brought the child Jesus, according to the custom of their feast, into the temple; and when they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the child Jesus remained, and his parents did not know it. But supposing Him to be in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances; and not finding Him, they departed to Jerusalem seeking Him.* C See where the word of Symeon to the Virgin is fulfilled: *And a sword shall pierce your own soul also*, [the sword] of sorrow and of the searching, by which she sought those who had wandered, clearly, and the lost. For although she was a Virgin and a mother, nevertheless she had carried Him in her womb, she had offered Her breast, she had reared Him with solicitude, and she had been affected just as a mother is wont to be affected toward her own son and child. Therefore, when she thought she had lost Him for three days, seeking Him with the sorrow of her heart, D
A she cried out, saying: "Woe is me in my calamity! When I anticipated abundance, I then perceived the loss. Who is it that has plundered my treasure? No longer—‘Blessed art thou among women’—do I hear, nor will they say as they were wont, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore thee’; I have withered, for He has been separated from me. Who has robbed me? Elizabeth rejoices, but I am shattered. She has a soldier, but I have been deprived of the King; the servant is safe, and the Lord is nowhere to be seen. Where is that salutation of Gabriel? Where is the illumination of that star? Where is the adoration of the Magi? Where are the leapings of the shepherds? When I was looking forward to a time of reigning, then poverty seized me."
This sorrow B as a two-edged sword of the soul, Symeon, foreseeing the future, signified to the Virgin, saying: "Yea, a sword shall pass through thine own soul also." He did not say: "A sword shall prevail," or "A sword shall have dominion," but: "A sword shall pass through"—that is, for a little while you shall be grieved and afflicted, and straightway you shall be delivered from the sorrow. That the Virgin was indeed grieved, thinking that she had lost the One who had come for the salvation of the perishing, as you heard just now from the Evangelist saying: "And it came to pass after three days." See how much sorrow the Virgin endured. "And it came to pass after three days," C they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And His mother said to Him: "Son, why hast Thou done so to us? Behold, Thy father and I, sorrowing, were seeking Thee." See how the prophecy of Symeon to the Virgin was fulfilled: "Yea, a sword shall pass through thine own soul also." "Son, why hast Thou done so to us? Behold, Thy father and I, sorrowing, were seeking Thee. Why didst Thou not come down with us as Thou hadst come up? Why didst Thou sit in the midst of the teachers? Why dost Thou ask questions and teach, when Thou hast not yet learned letters? Why dost Thou play the sophist? Why dost Thou stir up envy against Thyself? Why dost Thou wish to make me childless? Behold, with burning eyes they look about for Thee; behold, they gnash their teeth against Thee, D as wild beasts stirred up against a tender lamb."
Son, why hast Thou done so to us? Behold, Thy father and I