A On the Beginning of the Indiction of the New Year, and for the Martyrs, and for the Woman with the Issue of Blood
A As if a rain of good things from Christ the Lord were poured forth, one wealth succeeds another. Behold, today also the victorious martyrs receive us with a feast, and set before us their own struggles as a common banquet of joy. For it was fitting, it was fitting that the martyrs, always flourishing with grace, should provide even at the entry of the year an occasion of feasting for the pious; it was fitting that we should receive the beginnings of the change of times with such blessing; it was fitting that we should receive the celebration of this day adorned by the choir of the saints; it was fitting that the circle of the year should be decorated by the crown of the martyrs; it was fitting that we should enjoy such joy at the beginning of the approaching year, B and heap upon it the honor of the martyrs. For these are all the generous soldiers of Christ, the authors of justice for the human race, and the heralds of his virtue even after death; they who trampled the deceiving serpent with the feet of wisdom, and stifled the tyrant-minded, tumid lion with hands of love for God, and revealed the truth; who loathed the present life as vain, and loved the kingdom of heaven as children love a mother; who through death unlocked the gates of immortality, and by their own death slew the generator of death; who in the body overcame the incorporeal demons, not by the strength of the body, but by the faith of the soul: for by faith they subdued all things that are of the world; than which there is nothing more desirable for Christians. For with faith having been summoned to their aid, they confirmed their words by their deeds. Indeed, the duty of justice is truly great; bright also is the virtue of temperance; useful likewise is the solicitude of love for the poor; excellent and beautiful along with these is the exercise of continence; but before all these the palm of the powerful faith is deferred. This formerly in Abraham rendered the sterile womb of Sarah, after much time, a fertile field; by this Moses made the sea, which was traversed by ships, passable that it might be walked upon; through this Elijah commanded the heaven, and was heard; this put to flight six hundred kinds of diseases in the time of the Savior; through this the leper shook off the scales of his malady; through this the blind man recovered eyes which nature had not borne; by its protection the Canaanite woman, when she was suffering violence for the sake of her offspring, tore her daughter from the invasive demon. Faith also, while it lay hidden, dried up the flux of blood; and in the case of others, indeed, when the petition had preceded, the gift followed; but here, the silent one stole the grace from the silent one, as she thought. O woman, miserable and blessed at once! Miserable on account of her state of suffering, blessed on account of this that followed. For behold, he says, a woman with an issue of blood for twelve years (Luke 8.43). If the number of days had been as great as the time of the years that had already elapsed, it could have consumed her, to say nothing of twelve years. The disease, I think, had turned into her nature; she who had expended upon physicians all her substance, added to the wasting of her body the loss of her money: and she could not be healed by any one (Ibid.). Alas, she could not! The woman had that disease for an adversary that could not be tamed; the belly of the woman, of course, was gushing like a fountain; that fountain was flowing perpetually; nor could the length of so long a time exhaust the fertility of the flow of foulness. C Moreover, her mind was vexed with pains and cares, in what way she might break the bonds of her grave infirmity, in what way she might shake off a twelve-year malady, in what way she might resolve the continuous pains, in what way she might stop those unbridled streams, how she might calm the insanity of the veins—going out by night to the doors of all the physicians, she was being consumed and distracted; for she avoided the light, lest by chance the falling drops of blood might reveal the hidden ignominy of her walking in secret. Upon those who wished to heal her, she poured out all her faculties in place of a reward, compelled by necessity to give: for the desire of health persuades that money should be spared not at all. And so all the physicians, attacking the disease, were sluggish; the various inventions of medicines could not mitigate the cruelty of the disease; for it remained as a certain deaf beast not hearing the art of the enchanters, and seemed to resist those by whom it was urged by saying such things as these: Why do you fight in vain against a stronger beast? So much time has not stripped me of the possession of the body; I do not yield to the skill of the healers; no one ransoms my virtue with money; none of those who dwell on the earth will exhaust my fertility. The Son of God, the only physician born of the Virgin, shall put me to flight; for his glory I also am reserved: that I may be a witness of his virtue along with the others, I am kept. Why therefore do you undertake so many labors in vain, and attempt to snatch away the victory from the Lord? I will not spare the creature, until I shall have looked upon the Creator. O how many things vexed the woman! The length of time, the continuous pains, the useless dissipation of goods, the annoyance of a wasting body, thoughts dissipated by vain hope. Nevertheless, so many adversaries did not snatch away the weapons of her faith, which was being cast into danger; so many insults of temptations did not overthrow the patient woman; overwhelmed by such great tidal waves of adverse circumstances, the woman did not suffer shipwreck. She saw, he says, Jesus. The one who had perished overcame the Savior; the captive saw the redeemer; she saw the anchor of the world, in which she was being tossed by the storm; she saw the king of sicknesses, who had come from the supernal seats; she saw the unexpected hope of joy, she saw the insuperable power of medicine, she saw the fountain of healings, dividing streams freely, she saw life dwelling among the dead; she saw, and began to turn such things as these in the joyful sense of her soul: I have found, she says, a sufficient physician now, and this physician will not demand a reward of gold; he will demand one reward, I think, a sincere mind; he will require one gift of faith from me. I, indeed, have that: for my disease has not stripped me of this alone. But I am distracted by the anxiety of thoughts to the contrary. For what? Running up, shall I touch him? I fear the danger that threatens from the crowd. Or shall I declare this state of mine with my voice? They will cast me away as unclean. Shall I hide the misery? But I do not bear the pain. Or shall I run up as to a physician of nature? But I fear him as a king. Will he receive me as a suppliant? Unless he avoids me as contagious. Will he have pity on the disease? Unless he condemns me coming into the midst. Shall I go forth boldly? I fear lest I remain unhealed again. I will not fear the crowd, I will cast away all fear, I will become a spectacle, I will escape the outer laughter; I will heal the inner war and evil. The law hates her as defiled; the legislator pities her as a sick woman. The desire and the fear were distracting the woman's soul: nevertheless, she found faith the reconciler of the aggression. When Jesus had approached from behind, she touched the hem of his garment (Matt. 9.20, 21). For she was saying within herself: If I shall only touch the hem of his garment, I shall be saved (Luke 8.43). O theft, which has found a parent in faith! O theft, which he himself praised, by whom thefts are punished! O theft, which delights him who has suffered the theft! O D plunder crowned by the judge! And behold the miracle: when she has stolen the gain, as if she had bestowed it, she is praised. For she was saying within herself. God, he says, is the Lord, who is ignorant of nothing; the Lord, who has need of bodily eyes not at all; he is a physician who heals souls; he is an eye surveying thoughts;
he sees me even if I am hidden, he hears me even if I am silent, he touches me, even if I have dared to approach as one unworthy. What then? If I secretly take hold of him, do I not obtain healing? For it is certain that the garment of life cannot but emit rays of salvation. Moses was great among the prophets, and a corrector of a difficult people, but still he was a man; this one is the Master of that one, and lover of mankind. If, therefore, the rod of the servant divided the Red Sea, making a wall in the waters, why should the hem of the Master not petrify the streams of blood? B Elijah was a zealot, and a fervent minister of God; yet he too was one of the same nature, and still his mantle was a worker of miracles. Again, Elisha, who inherited the grace of his teacher with an addition, bridled the streams of the Jordan with his mantle. If, then, the grace among the prophets was so great, how much will the power of the One prophesied by them be? Why do I not speak concisely? The shadow of Peter heals; and will the garment of Christ not heal? I perceive how much even the mere resolve alone curbed the running malady for me. O faith, which left no delay for the affliction! She believed only, and that which was warring fled; she believed, and the contentious beast did not contradict; she believed, and the fountain of blood, which was ever-flowing, was dried up, as if blinded by some invisible cautery. But she touched the garment, and whispered to those outside; He, however, knew the thoughts within. She drained the healing secretly in her body; the Savior, however, published her soul's beauty; for He did not allow such brilliance of piety to remain uncelebrated; He did not allow the spark of justice to be surrendered to the night of oblivion. The narrative of the Gospels has granted to the life of man the faith of one woman, who well despoiled God with an unwavering resolve. Who is it that is honored by theft as by faith? The faith of the woman anticipated the thief; the palm of this one is praised before the tongue of that one; before he who despoiled Paradise could speak, she, by her silence, plundered the Giver of the kingdom. For, "Knowing," he says, "the power that went forth from him, Jesus asked the disciples, 'Who touched me?'" How did you not know the theft, how did you not discern the robbery? Who touched me? Who became wealthy with health out of my treasures? Who touched me? What are you saying, O Master? You gave, and you do not know who received? You saw the faith, and you did not recognize the believer? You perceived the hidden resolve, and you did not observe the appearing face? Who touched me? Who touched you? To whom did you apply the medicine of the power? To whom did you send forth the healing, Master? You drove away the passion, and you did not know the one who was saved? Who touched me? Who in thought touched me before the hands? Who grasped my divinity in their reflection? Who is this righteous thief of my power? Who lit the lamp of his extinguished salvation from my light? Who touched me? Either I learn from you, or I teach. I wished to hasten to the end of the subject; but time now reserves another day of teaching for the miracle. For if she, having been warred upon by the passion for twelve years, did not loosen the tension of her patience, shall we not linger one more day for the long struggles of the woman? Whose faith the choir of the martyrs also emulated—not touching the hems of the Master, but stripping off their very body for the sake of Christ. And we, therefore, dear friends, let us arouse our minds to a zeal for like faith; let us not become worse than one woman of a foreign nation, if we have enjoyed a greater sight of piety than she. To her, it sufficed just once to touch the garment; we, however, each day, as you know, holding the body of the Savior, even as we are fed by the limbs of the Master, let us offer thanksgiving; for to him belongs glory to the ages of ages. Amen.
Catechetical Discourse on the statement of the Gospel: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard," and the rest.
1. C I see mingled with the flock of the pious some strange sheep, bearing the new seal of the heavenly Shepherd upon their foreheads; and I wish to find a pasture of teaching suitable for those who have already tasted of grace, and for those who are about to judge the richness of the Spirit; so that of the same instruction the pasture may be a reminder of the gifts of God to those already illuminated, and provide more encouragement to those about to be illuminated...