Homily on the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste

depicted by painters—some adorning them with words, others engraving them on tablets—and both have stirred many to courage. For what the account of history presents through the hearing, that silent painting demonstrates through imitation. ^A In this same way let us also bring to the memory of those present the virtue of these men, and by bringing their deeds before their eyes, as it were, let us stir those who are more courageous and more kindred in their resolve toward imitation. For this is the praise of martyrs: the exhortation to virtue of those gathered together. For discourses concerning the saints do not deign to be enslaved to the laws of panegyrics. For those who offer praise take the beginnings of their praises from the causes of the world; but to those for whom the world is crucified, how can any of the things in it provide a base for their renown? ^B There was no single fatherland for the saints; for one had come from one place, another from another. What then? Shall we call them exiles, or citizens of the world? For just as in joint contributions at a banquet, the things given by each person become the common property of those who have contributed, so too in the case of these blessed ones, the fatherland of each is the common property of all, and all, having come from everywhere, share their fatherland one with another. But why indeed is it necessary to search for earthly fatherlands, when it is possible to know what city is now theirs? The city of the martyrs, therefore, is the city of God: whose artificer and maker is God, ^C the Jerusalem above, the free city, the mother of Paul and of those who are like him. And indeed, the human race is one thing and another, but the spiritual race is one for all. For their common father is God, and they are all brothers, not born of one man and one woman, but joined together in the concord of love through the adoption of the Spirit. A chorus prepared, a great addition to those who from the beginning of time have glorified the Lord, not gathered one by one, but translated in a body. What then is the manner of their translation? These men, excelling all their peers in size of body, in the bloom of youth, and in strength, were enrolled in the military registers; and because of their experience in war and the courage of their souls, they already held the first honors ^D before the emperors, being renowned among all for their virtue.

3. Since that impious and wicked edict was published, that no one should confess Christ, or [face] perils.

Then every form of punishment was threatened, and the judges of iniquity were inflamed with much irrational wrath against these worshippers of piety. Plots and deceits were being woven against them, and various kinds of tortures were devised; and the torturers were relentless. The fire was ready, the sword was sharpened, the cross was fixed; the pit, the wheel, the scourges [were prepared]. Some fled, some gave way, others wavered. Some indeed were terrified by threats alone before the trial; others, when they drew near to the hardships, grew dizzy; still others, having entered the contests but then, being unable to endure to the end of their labors, despaired midway through the struggle, and just like those tossed by a storm at sea, they suffered shipwreck of the rewards of patience they had already gathered. Then, truly, those invincible and noble soldiers of Christ, coming forth ^B into the midst, when the prefect displayed the emperor's letters and demanded obedience, with a free voice, courageously and bravely, neither shrinking at all from what they saw nor cowed by the things threatened, declared themselves to be Christians. O blessed tongues, which uttered that holy voice, which the air received and was sanctified; which the angels heard and applauded; by which the devil along with his demons was wounded; which, finally, the Lord inscribed in heaven.

4. Therefore each one, coming forward, said: "I am a Christian." And just as in the stadiums those who enter the lists speak their names and move on to the place of the struggle, so too did these men then, casting aside the names which had been given to them from birth, each one took his name from the common Savior. And they all did this, the next man joining himself to the one who had gone before. And so it came to pass that the name of all was one; for ^C it was no longer "this one" or "that one," but all were proclaimed Christians. What then did the governor do then? For he was cunning and versatile, in order to seduce them with flattery and to subvert them with threats. First, indeed, he sought to bewitch them with flatteries, attempting to break the resolve and constancy of their piety. "Do not betray your youth, nor exchange the sweetness of this life for a premature death. For it is unfitting that those who have been accustomed to act valiantly in wars should die the death of criminals." In addition to these things, he promised money. Again, he offered honors from the emperor, and the rewards ^D of dignities, and tried to entrap them with countless devices. But as they did not yield before...

this test, he passed to another form of contrivance. He threatened them with blows, death, and the trial of unbearable tortures. ^A And he, on one hand, did such things; but what were the martyrs' words? "Why," they said, "do you entice us, O enemy of God, to depart from the living God, and to serve destructive demons, by holding out to us your goods? What can you give us as great as that which you are striving to take away? I hate a gift that is the agent of loss; I do not accept an honor that is the mother of dishonor. You give money that stays here, and glory that fades away. You make us known to an emperor, but you alienate us from the true King. Why do you sparingly offer a few things from the world? The whole world is despised by us. There is nothing in the things seen that is equal to the hope we desire. Do you see this heaven, how beautiful to behold, how great? And the earth, how big it is, and the wonders in it? None of these is equal to the blessedness of the righteous. For these things indeed pass away, but ours remain. I desire one gift, the crown of righteousness; I am eager for one glory, that in the kingdom ^B of heaven. I am ambitious for the honor above; I fear the punishment in Gehenna. That fire is to me a thing to be feared; but the one you threaten us with is a fellow-servant. He knows how to respect those who despise idols. I consider your blows to be the arrows of children. For you strike the body; which, if it endures longer, is crowned more brightly, but if it gives up sooner, it departs, escaped from judges so violent, who, having received the service of bodies, strive further to rule over souls; and who, if you are not preferred even to our God, are enraged as if you were wronged by us in the extreme, and threaten these terrible punishments, charging piety as a crime against us. But you will not encounter cowards, nor life-lovers, nor those easily terrorized, for the sake of the love of God. We know how also to be broken on the wheel, and stretched, and burned, and are ready ^C to receive every kind of torture."

5. When that proud barbarian heard the plain speaking of these men, unable to bear it, and boiling over with rage, he considered what device he might find so as to prepare for them a death that was at once long and bitter. He found, then, a device, and consider how cruel it was. For having considered the nature of the region, that it was freezing, and the time of the year, that it was wintry, he waited for a night in which ^D the cold was most intense.

^A Then, particularly when a north wind was blowing, he ordered them all to be stripped and to die frozen under the open sky in the middle of the city. ^A Now, you who have experienced winter know completely how unbearable that kind of torture is. For it is impossible for others to understand it, unless those who have the examples of what we are speaking of already laid up for them from their own experience. For a body that is exposed to cold is first, surely, all livid, with the blood freezing; then it is shaken and heaves, with the teeth chattering, the sinews twitching, and the whole frame contracting involuntarily. And a certain sharp torment, and an inexpressible pain reaching even to the very marrow, makes the sensation ^B most intolerable for those freezing. Then, it is mutilated, as if by fire, with the extremities being burned. For the heat is driven away from the extremities of the body and retreats to the interior, leaving dead the parts from which it has departed; those to which it is pushed, however, it tortures, with death gradually approaching through the freezing.

Then, therefore, the sentence was delivered upon them that they should pass the night under the open sky, when the lake, about which the city where the saints were struggling was founded, was like a certain level plain, the ice having transformed it, and when, reduced by the cold to the nature of solid ground, it offered a safe passage for the inhabitants to walk upon its back; furthermore, the rivers that were flowing continuously, bound by the ice, had ceased to flow, and the softer nature of the water had been changed into the hardness of stone, when finally the sharp blasts of the north wind drove all living things to death.

6. Then, therefore, upon hearing the edict (and observe here the unconquerable constancy of these men), everyone, having cast aside even their last tunic with joy, went forth through the cold toward death, urging one another on as if to snatch up spoils. Nor ^C did they delay.

^A For it is not the tunic that we are stripping off, they say, but we are putting off the old man, who is being corrupted according to the desires of error. We give Thee thanks, O Lord, in that together with this garment we cast off sin. Since it was because of the serpent that we clothed ourselves, let us, for the sake of Christ, strip ourselves naked. Let us not cling to our garments for the sake of the paradise we have lost. What shall we render unto the Lord? Our Lord also was stripped. Was it a great thing for the servant to suffer what the Master suffered? Nay, rather, it is we who have stripped the Lord Himself. For that act of daring belonged to the soldiers; they were the ones who stripped and divided the garments. Let us, therefore, erase the accusation against us by our own hands. Bitter is the winter, but sweet is paradise; painful is the freezing, but pleasant the rest (35). Let us wait a little while, and the bosom of the patriarch shall warm us (36). Let us exchange one night for an entire eternity. Let the foot be burned, so that it may dance forever with the angels; let the hand fall away, so that it may have the boldness to be raised toward the Master. How many of our fellow soldiers have fallen in battle ^B guarding their faith for a mortal king, and shall we not lay down this life for the sake of faith in the true King? How many have suffered the death of evildoers, having been caught in crimes, and shall we not endure death for the sake of righteousness? Let us not shrink back, O fellow soldiers, let us not turn our backs to the devil. They are but flesh, let us not spare them; since it is necessary to die in any case, let us die so that we may live. Let our sacrifice be in Thy sight, O Lord (39); and may we be received as a living sacrifice, well-pleasing to Thee, being made a whole burnt offering by this cold. The offering is fair, the burnt offering is new, consumed not by fire, but by cold. Exchanging these words of consolation with one another, and exhorting one another, just as if they were performing a watch in time of war, they passed the night, bearing their present circumstances courageously, rejoicing in what was hoped for, and mocking the adversary. One, however, was the desire of all. We have entered the stadium as forty, forty let us be crowned.

^A στεφανώθημεν, Λέσποτα. Μὴ λείψῃ τῷ ἀριθμῷ μηδὲ εἷς.

Τίμιός ἐστιν, ὃν ἐτίμησας τῇ νηστείᾳ τῶν τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν, δι᾽ οὗ νομοθεσία εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον. Τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέραις ἐν νηστείᾳ Ἠλίας ἐκζητήσας τὸν Κύριον, τῆς θέας ἔτυχεν.

7. Ὡς δὲ οἱ μὲν ἠγωνίζοντο, ὁ δὲ ἐπετήρει τὸ ἐκβησόμενον, εἶδε θέαμα ξένον, δυνάμεις τινὰς ἐξ οὐρανῶν κατιούσας, καὶ οἷον παρὰ βασιλέως δωρεὰς μεγάλας διανεμούσας τοῖς στρατιώταις· αἳ τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις πᾶσι διῄρουν τὰ δῶρα, ἕνα δὲ μόνον ἀφῆκαν ἀγέραστον, ἀνάξιον κρίναντα τῶν οὐρανίων τιμῶν· ὃς εὐθὺς, πρὸς τοὺς πόνους ἀπαγορεύσας, πρὸς τοὺς ἐναντίους ἀπηυτομόλησεν. Ἐλεεινὸν θέαμα τοῖς δικαίοις ὁ στρατιώτης φυγάς, ὁ ἀριστεὺς αἰχμάλωτος, τὸ χριστοῦ πρόβατον θηριάλωτον· καὶ τό γε ἐλεεινότερον, ὅτι καὶ τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς διήμαρτε, καὶ οὐδὲ ταύτης ἀπήλαυσεν, εὐθὺς αὐτῷ τῆς σαρκὸς ἐν τῇ προσβολῇ τῆς θέρμης διαλυθείσης. Καὶ ὁ μὲν φιλόζωος ἔπεσεν ἀνομήσας διακενῆς· ὁ δὲ δήμιος, ὡς εἶδεν αὐτὸν ἐκκλίναντα, καὶ πρὸς τὸ βαλανεῖον ἀποδραμόντα, ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὴν τοῦ λειποτακτήσαντος χώραν ἀντικατέστησε, καὶ ῥίψας τὰ περιβόλαια, τοῖς γυμνοῖς ἑαυτὸν ἐγκατέμιξε, κράζων τὴν αὐτὴν βοὴν τοῖς ἁγίοις· Χριστιανός εἰμι. Καὶ τῷ ἀθρόῳ τῆς μεταβολῆς ἐκπλήξας τοὺς συμπαρόντας, ^C τόν τε ἀριθμὸν ἀνεπλήρωσε, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ καταμαλακισθέντι λύπην τῇ παρ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ προσθήκῃ παρεμυθήσατο, μιμησάμενος τοὺς ἐπὶ παρατάξεως, οἵ, τοῦ κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ἀσπίδα πεσόντος, εὐθὺς ἀναπληροῦσι τὴν φάλαγγα, ὡς μὴ τὸν συνασπισμὸν αὐτοῖς διακοπῆναι τῷ λείποντι. Τοιοῦτον δή τι καὶ αὐτὸς ἐποίησεν. Εἶδε τὰ οὐράνια θαύματα, ἐπέγνω τὴν ^D ἀλήθειαν, προσέφυγε τῷ Δεσπότῃ, συνηριθμήθη τοῖς μάρτυσι. Τὰ τῶν μαθητῶν ἀν

speratis gaudentes, deridentes hostem. Unum autem erat omnium votum. Quadraginta ingressi sumus in stadium, quadraginta ^A στεφανώθημεν. For he who was betrayed by the kiss of the traitor, fleeing to the Master, was numbered among the martyrs. He renewed the deeds of the disciples. Judas departed, and Matthias was introduced in his place. He became an imitator of Paul; having been a persecutor yesterday, today he is a preacher of the Gospel. He too received his calling from above, Not from men, nor through man. He believed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and was baptized into him, not by another, but by his own faith; not in water, but in his own blood.

8. And thus, as the day was beginning, while they were yet breathing, they were delivered to the fire, and the remains of the fire were cast into the river; so that the struggle of the blessed ones might pass through every part of creation. On the earth they competed, in the air they endured, to the fire they were delivered, and the water received them. Theirs is that voice: We went through fire and water, and you brought us out into a place of refreshment. ^B These are they who, having taken possession of the region around us, like certain continuous towers, provide security against the incursion of enemies; not enclosing themselves in one place, but already having been received as guests in many places, and having adorned many homelands. And—O wonder!—they do not come to those who receive them having been divided one by one; but mingling among themselves, they dance in unity. O the wonder! They neither fail in number, nor do they admit of increase. If you divide them into a hundred, they do not exceed their own number; if you gather them into one, they remain forty, according to the nature of fire. For just as that fire passes to the one who kindles it, and the whole is with the one who has it, so also are the forty; and all are together, and all are with each individual. ^C Most abundant beneficence, a gift that is not consumed, ready help for Christians, a church of martyrs, an army of trophy-bearers, a chorus of those celebrating divine praises. How much toil would you have expended to find even one person who would entreat the Lord for you? There are forty, sending up a harmonious prayer.

στεφανώθημεν.

^A sending their prayers upward. Where two or three are gathered in the name of the Lord, there is He in the midst of them. But where there are forty, who would doubt the presence of God? He who is oppressed by any tribulation flies to the forty martyrs; he who is rejoicing runs to them—the one that he may find a release from his distresses, the other that his prosperity may be preserved for him. Here a pious woman is found praying for her children, seeking the return of her husband who is traveling abroad, and health for him who is infirm. Let your petitions be made with the martyrs. Let the young men imitate their contemporaries; let fathers desire to be fathers of such sons; let mothers learn the example of this good mother. The mother of one of those blessed ones, when she saw that the others had already been perfected by the cold, but that her own son was still breathing—both because of his strength and the sharpness of his spirit in bearing evils—and when the executioners left him, thinking that he might perchance change his mind, she herself with her own hands lifted him up and placed him upon the cart on which the others, lying together, were being carried to the pyre; truly a martyr’s mother. For she did not weep in womanish fashion, nor did she speak anything lowly or unworthy of that moment, but, "Go," she said, "my son, upon the good journey with your contemporaries, with your companions in the tent; do not be left behind from the choir; do not appear second to the others before the Master." ^B Truly a good sprout of a good root. The noble mother showed that she had nourished him with the dogmas of piety more than with milk. And he, being thus educated, was thus sent forth by his pious mother; but the devil departed in shame. For having moved all creation against them, he found everything overcome by the virtue of these men: the night shaken by a harsh wind, the cold region, the storm of the season, and the nakedness of their bodies. O holy chorus, O sacred order, O most packed and unbroken company, O common guardians of the human race, good partners in cares, helpers in prayer, most powerful ambassadors, stars of the world, flowers of the Churches! The earth did not cover you, but heaven received you; the gates of paradise were opened to you. A sight worthy of the army of angels, worthy of patriarchs, prophets, and righteous men, since, in the very flower of youth, having despised life—setting the Lord before parents and before children—they loved Him. While they were passing through that age in which the hope of living is held, they spurned this temporary life, so that they might glorify God in their own members, becoming a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men. ^C They erected their trophies even in the midst of their sufferings, entreating the Lord on your behalf. Forty…

^A uno tropæo pro pietate erecto, una etiam justitiæ corona exornati sunt, in Christo Jesu Domino nostro, cui gloria et imperium in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

HOMILY XX. De Humilitate

1. Would that man had remained in the glory which he had with God, and possessed a sublimity not feigned, but true: rendered noble by the power of God, illuminated by divine wisdom, and gladdened by eternal life and its blessings. ^B But since he changed the desire of the divine glory, and hoping for something greater, and hastening to grasp what he could not obtain, he lost what he was able to have; the greatest salvation for him, and the remedy for his disease, and the return to his former state, is to be humble, and not to imagine for himself any apparatus of glory, but to seek it from God. For thus will he correct his error, thus will he remedy the disease, thus will he return to the sacred commandment which he abandoned. ^C But the devil, who cast man down with the hope of false glory, does not cease to provoke him with the same incitements, and to contrive innumerable machinations for this. And indeed he shows him an abundance of riches as a great thing, so that he may be puffed up by it, and place his endeavor in this; which, however, contributes nothing to glory, but rather leads to great danger. For the acquisition of money is indeed the matter of avarice, but the possession of it contributes nothing to good repute; nay, rather, it blinds one in vain, puffs one up to no purpose, and produces in the soul a passion not unlike some inflammation. For a tumor in inflamed bodies is neither healthy nor useful, ^D but rather diseased, harmful, the origin of danger, and the cause of destruction. Such, too, does pride do in the soul. For elation is not born of money alone; nor do men become proud only because of money, by means of pretentious living and clothing, setting before themselves tables more sumptuous than necessity requires, and delicate ones at that, putting on unnecessary garments, building large houses and decorating them with variety, and dragging behind them a huge crowd of attendant servants and countless sycophants; but they are also lifted up beyond their nature by elective dignities. If the populace gives a title, if it grants some right of presidency, and decrees for him a dignity of preeminence; and there, indeed, as if exceeding human