despair, but ran to repentance; and because it had no assurance of salvation, it endeavored to appease and reconcile God. But what were the actions performed for the sake of reconciliation? It has been stated in part, but it is necessary for me to render the entire account to you; for they proclaimed a fast, and clothed everyone from the least to the greatest in sackcloth. A O strange miracle, fearful to men, but desirable to angels! Consider with me those many myriads of men, women, and children all wearing sackcloth, and gathered into one place; all pursuits and all human actions ceasing, with no work being carried out by anyone anywhere, but a wailing and lamentation from all together, and a cry sent up to heaven. Consider the distinction between masters and slaves, rulers and those ruled, cast aside; consider the king, present with the multitude in the same garb, and like a political phalanx, ordering the service of God. B For he says, "The word reached the king, and he rose from his throne and took off his robe, and wrapped himself in sackcloth, and sat on ashes" (Jon. III, 6). O wise king! He himself takes the lead in repentance, so as to make the whole city more earnest. For who would any longer remain lax, seeing the king himself struggling for their salvation? He heals the wounds of his purple robe with sackcloth; he washes away the sins of the throne with the seat on ashes; he cures the disease of pride with the humility of his garb; by fasting he treats the sores of luxury; and having demonstrated these things by his actions, he rouses everyone to the same earnestness through the herald's voice. For it was proclaimed, he says, by the king: "Let men, and beasts, and oxen, and sheep taste nothing, nor graze, nor drink water" (ibid. 7). C A new legislation from a king! As a physician, he imposes fasting upon the weak; or rather, that delicate legislator of a pious fast imitates the apostolic teachings, and commands the irrational animals to share in this for humans, so that by nature incapable of sin, he might draw God toward greater compassion. "And the men and the beasts," he says, "wrapped themselves in sackcloth" (ibid. 8). O heavenly array! O phalanx terrible to the devil! The devil stood weeping, seeing his army entirely turned toward God and warring against the demons; since children, and women, and infants were battling alongside men in this fight; and now the nature of the beasts was taken as an ally into the ranks. And see, a new spectacle for the devil: herds contributing justice to humans, and fasting for the salvation of their masters; "Let men, and oxen, and beasts taste nothing, nor graze." The king, casting aside the symbols of his rule, took on the order of priests. He stood addressing the people, and instructing the Ninevites to philosophize.
ON THE REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES
A instructing them. "Grave," he says, "O friends, are the circumstances that surround us. We who have conquered the entire inhabited world are perishing as cowards under divine judgment, and we who ruled over all men have been condemned, as the most worthless of all, to a strange manner of death. Once blessed above all others, we shall be seen to be more wretched than any; we shall be a fable and a story to all living, for our past brightness cannot hide the magnitude of our present evils. Now therefore, Ninevites, we who have conquered in many wars, let us contend more nobly for our own salvation. For formerly we did everything to bring others into our power, but now the prize of our struggle is not to perish utterly together with our women and children. Against the uprising of a foreign war, let us contend in a foreign manner. Let us shoot at the sky with hymns; let us cast at it, instead of spears, psalms; let us use prayers to sling at God; let us mollify His anger with unceasing tears; let us break the phalanx of wicked deeds; let us pull down the fortifications of malice; let us do battle with the armor of virtue. B The breastplate of justice is not wounded by any missile; the shield of faith cannot be burned by any lightning bolt; God does not suffer the helmet of hope to be crushed; the tunic of temperance is not torn by the wrath from above; the threat of destruction is not strong enough to pull down the wall of confession; when the sentence of perdition sees a fervent repentance, it is immediately dissolved like smoke. If in this way, O friends, and with such arms we fight, we shall master not only the earth but also the heaven. Take heart, Ninevites, take heart! The King who makes war upon us is most loving toward men; He only defeats those who are stubborn, and once easily reconciled, He becomes a benefactor to His enemies."
With such hortatory words the king stirred the people to repentance. And the Ninevites readily obeyed his commands. For, it says, the men and the beasts put on sackcloth and cried out fervently to God. It was not that their speech was ready while their thought remained aloft; nor that their tongue spoke while their mind wandered; nor that their voice was uttered while their purpose lagged. Rather, both with joined efforts entreated God. C The coming of night, while augmenting their fear, banished sleep and made their hymn-singing ever more eager. Day again, showing the sky dark and resounding with unceasing lightning and thunder, moved everyone to extreme tremor and a great cry. The earth quaking caused much agitation in their souls. All the infants, running from fear to their mothers' bosoms and wailing in their arms, caused an ineffable lamentation and mourning for those who saw them. Herds of oxen and sheep, and all the cattle, deprived of pasture and water, with varied cries moved even the most adamant souls to weeping. D Yet, although the threat and the dread troubled all things so that they might have abandoned their good hope, they could not be compelled to do so by any reasoning. "For who knows," it says, "if God will repent and turn away from the fury of His anger, and we shall not perish?"* Truly from the bottom of the heart—
A they shouted to God: "O King, Lord of life and death, we are indeed worthy of the sentence which Thou hast threatened, and we owe a penalty for each of our sins, having been ignorant of Thee, the true God, and having lived spent lives. But do Thou, using the ocean of Thy mercies, put an end to the punishment decreed against us: conquer the standard of justice with goodness, and our ingratitude with clemency. For if Thou hadst wished to inflict on us a sudden blow, Thy word would have been joined to the punishment itself, and since we were still strangers to Thee and impious, Thou wouldst have consigned us to death; but now, when Thou hast granted to us a fixed time for our good, if Thou slayest us after we have turned, Thou art not destroying strangers, but Thy own people. B When we were impious, Thou didst protect us, and now that we have returned to the faith, wilt Thou consume us? Didst Thou preserve us when we were alien to good character, and now wilt Thou take us from the midst when we are performing good works? Hast Thou increased the city that was addicted to idols, and made it the queen of other cities, and now wilt Thou destroy it, now that it is given to Thy dominion? We subdued the earth while we were ignorant of Thee, with Thy help; now that we adore Thee, shall we be cast out of this same earth? Spare Thy name, O King, lest when Thou demandest punishments from the Ninevites, Thou render Thy piety something useless and to be avoided; lest, by inflicting a just penalty upon us, Thou close the door of repentance to men. For if, having been granted a legislator and teachers, we had proceeded into much greater wickedness, Thou wouldst destroy us with inexorable ruin C and grant no pardon to those who supplicate, nay, Thou wouldst even induce a punishment graver than that which Thou hadst threatened: but if, not being instructed and not having learned, we persisted in malice and impiety, do not, O King, condemn our ignorance to such great ruin. Thou didst not destroy men without cause of old by the flood, for they would not lend their ears to Noah as he taught; Thou didst announce their destruction beforehand, but they did not abstain from sin. Justly didst Thou burn the Sodomites with fire, for they refused to accept the counsels of Lot. The Egyptians were submerged in a similar fashion with Pharaoh; for they did not have faith when Moses taught, although they were struck many times and had experienced D Thy right hand. But have we dared to contradict in anything? Just now Thou didst send to us only one, and him not a teacher, but rather a herald of evils, and we, believing, have honored Thy worship with the whole population. Thou didst give us a small amount of time, and in it we have shown the greatest change. When the voice of the herald announced our destruction, we recognized the love with which Thou embracest the human race. While the prophet announced subversion, we placed our trust in Thy mercy. Do not, O Best One, render our hope empty, nor restrain the tongues that desire to celebrate Thy beneficence. Do not permit that Thou hand over to death men who strive with every effort to report the proclamations of Thy goodness; nor hinder us from becoming teachers of piety to all those who are in any way joined to us. Do not persist in the same anger against us, who no longer linger in the same things. We have been changed, do Thou also change. Stop Thy anger, as
A we have restrained our error. Make the punishment cease, just as B He spares the herds lowing on account of hunger; He spares the innocent children suffocated by weeping; He spares the infants fading away from fasting. Do not destroy the guiltless along with the guilty. Have pity on the mothers who, because of Thy anger, do not provide milk to their beloved offspring; parents deny mercy to them, so that they might draw Thy mercy to themselves. All men are held by the same malice as we are; if Thou dost not accept us as we repent, Thou hast cut off the hopes of the whole world. In the beginning (of their repentance) perhaps the Ninevites used such words; but their works—fasting, sackcloth, continuous prayer, tears, flight from wickedness—were in harmony with their words. For they cried out, it says, earnestly to the Lord, and everyone turned from his own evil way, and from the injustice that was in their hands. They grasped wisdom from its very summit, and made the apex of virtue the basis of that same virtue; for everyone studied to perform whatever work was best and most pleasing to God. They saw the war sent against them from heaven, and fortified themselves with good works as if with a wall. They clothed themselves in sackcloth, truly a wondrous armor. Against the thunderbolts sent from heaven, they set their vows and prayers on earth. Against the crashing of the thunder, they set the sound of their hymnody. Fasting became for them a clear tower. With fountains of tears they extinguished the multitude of their sins. They bound their enemies to themselves with friendship so that they might reconcile God to themselves; they put away the anger they held against those who had offended them, so that they might appease the anger the Lord had against them. They tore up the scroll of debts below, so that they might obtain from above the forgiveness of their sins. They gave freedom to their slaves, so that they themselves might obtain freedom from punishment. They distributed their wealth to the needy, so that they might possess their own goods securely. Forsaking luxury, they pursued continence; shunning debauchery, they embraced temperance. Hating the arrogance of positions of honor, they all transformed themselves into a humble and mournful appearance. Ceasing from sales, contracts, and every business, they served only God. The wicked voluntarily confessed their robberies, nor did the judges demand penalty from those confessing. All confessed as if placed at the end of their lives. Riches were cast aside without a guardian, nor did a thief appear anywhere. Gold was supplied to the needy, and everyone fled from possession as if it were a loss. A single thing, namely salvation, was the care of all. To rich and poor alike there was one effort, namely the desire to preserve life before all else. Everything, however, that did not aim at this was rejected as worthless and useless. Salvation was uncertain, and was sought as if it were placed outside every risk. They could not promise themselves an end to their penance, and as if they were to live right up to the end, they occupied themselves in every good work. O philosophers of the barbarians! O wise unlearned men! Without being taught they knew what was necessary, without a lawgiver they were transformed, without teachers they were brought to self-control, from the deepest wickedness into the heavenly city
ran to retrieve their integrity. This is the transformation of the right hand A of the Most High. For a rain of threats, the Ninevites sprouted a harvest of ten thousand blessings; they were melted down like some ancient statues. They were refashioned by repentance; from sinners they became righteous, beloved by the angels, desirable to God. They steadied the city that was tottering, they raised up what was falling, they made firm what was shaking. They turned, and did not turn back; they were changed, and were not destroyed. "For God saw," it says, "their works, that they turned from their evil ways, and He relented concerning the evil which He had spoken of doing to them." Oh, paradoxical events! The Judge reviewed the trial; He annulled the vote that was bringing death, and He cast the vote that brings salvation. The Ninevites repented, and God repented. Repentance tore up the decree of destruction. They tore up B their wickedness, and God tore up the sentence. Oh, all-powerful repentance! It is accomplished on earth, and it causes a change in the things in heaven. In the same way let us also, friends, repent; in this way let us fast; let us join good deeds to our fasting; let us abstain from evil deeds; let us fear the threat of hell; through repentance let us attain salvation from God. To Him be the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY III. On alms, and on the rich man and Lazarus (5).
C A. Great is the benefit of alms. Nothing else is equal to alms. No other virtue has such power to wipe away sins. Therefore, divine Scripture also says: "He who has pity on the poor, lends to God." If you lend gold to a man, he binds you with bonds and written documents. But with God, it is not so. Rather, you give to the martyrs, to the needy, and God calls [you] to repay the loan. He hastens to resolve the security for what you lent the needy, and He does not simply repay, but repays with many blessings, saying: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." If you lend to a man, D there is no time when he repays the loan, nor does he even want to see your face; but God, having accepted the loan through those who attend the martyrs and through the poor, does not [merely] repay the loan and dismiss [you], but even makes the lenders co-heirs, saying: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." When did the Lord prepare it? When? When you were offering fruits in the churches and at the martyrs' shrines; when you were observing the memorials of the saints; when you were lending bread to the needy; when you were welcoming beggars into your home; when you were clothing beggars; when you were [visiting] the sick and in pri-