and was buried, and rose again, as he knows; and has reached the bosom of the Father, which he never left. To whom the Lord himself speaks prophetically: *Compass this new Sion, and embrace her* (Ps. XLVII, 13); that is: guard her, wall her about, fortify her with prayers, so that when I am justly angry, and shake the whole world, seeing your immortal sepulchre, and the stigmata which for my sake you willingly bear, I may overcome my wrath with mercy, and anticipate your intercession for this very cause. For when I see the priesthood and the kingdom weeping, I am immediately bent toward pity, like one who sympathizes, and I remember that voice of mine: *I will protect this city for David my servant, and for Aaron my holy one* (4 Reg. 19, 34). Who, being of like mind with you in faith, voluntarily covering their dignity with humility, and showing by their very garb the humility of their soul, brought thousands upon thousands of disciples to me, bearing me, and asking of me propitiation for the world. For I said: *Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find* (Matth. 7, 7). To him be glory and power, now and always, forever and ever. Amen.
TO THE ORATION ON SAINT THOMAS.
It is certainly the unanimous opinion of all learned men that this discourse is completely unworthy of Chrysostom. Tillemont, however, who supports the opinion of the opuscule’s content more than the others, believes this homily was delivered in the year 402 at Edessa in Mesopotamia. He says it seems this oration was delivered at the tomb of St. Thomas, that is, at Edessa in Mesopotamia. Here, God is said to have cast down the tower and head of Arianism, and to have freed Thrace from the tyrant. He also prays that the West might be rescued from the fury of the Arians, that that barbarian [Gainas] might be conquered and routed, that Arius [the heresy] be struck down, and that the victorious Emperor remain. These things, moreover, seem to refer to the year 402, that is, the year elapsed since Thrace was freed from the tyranny of Gainas, when Alaric was formidable to Italy. For both belonged to the Arian sect. Here the orator interrogates the Arians, asking whence they received their blasphemous words; or as if he had touched the wounds of Christ with Thomas: By what hand, he asks, or by what have you snatched these precious vessels? From whom did you plunder the apostles? From whom did you seize barbarous spoils? What wages of iniquity have you held? What blood-stained vessels have you forged? These things can certainly be referred to the plundering by the Arian Gainas, who surely spared no churches. Yet something more singular seems to be indicated. For since it is nowhere reported that Gainas plundered any famous church of the apostles, we believe that Arcadius himself removed the precious vessels of the Church of the Apostles in Constantinople, when, under the pressure of the barbarian and the urgency of necessity, he could not otherwise raise such a quantity of gold as he required for himself and for his soldiers. These words, "wages of iniquity you have held," favor this particular view.
These things are indeed, if not entirely proven, very probable. That this discourse was delivered before the tomb of St. Thomas, however, seems plain and asserted by these words toward the end of the homily: Receive the city beseeching thee for its dust, for I have sent them to undertake the office for all time: old men and youths are prostrate at the tomb.
SERMON ON SAINT THOMAS THE APOSTLE, AND AGAINST THE ARIANS, AND ON HIM WHO OCCUPIED THE TYRANNY IN THRACE AND WAS REMOVED, BEING HIMSELF AN ARIAN.
Obeying the law of the Church, I have approached, as I could, this tribunal; but, overcome by the magnitude of the subject, I am dizzy, and constrained on all sides, as to how to respond to the matter, and what path I might find for my discourse. Shall I proclaim Thomas as living? But the tomb proclaims death. Shall I recount him as dead? But I am refuted by the facts. He is both dead and immortal; he has died as a man, and he traverses the world as an angel; he accepted passion, and struggles against passions; and he lies below, and rejoices above. For nothing could hide him, no place caused him to vanish; he illuminated the whole world. He received a tomb, but he rises from everywhere like the sun; the relics of the righteous one have conquered the earth, and he appeared wider than the whole creation; grace sowed him into the whole world. Every corner has a part of Thomas, he has filled all the world.
and he remains entire in every place. A His sound has gone out into all the earth, and his trophies into the ends of the inhabited world. By what name, therefore, shall I call him? The sun? But he is not overcome by night. A star? But the day does not hide him; he illuminates the creation at every moment, driving all darkness from the inhabited world. Night does not remain with him, darkness does not obscure him, a river does not impede him; the sea cannot contain him, the ocean knows the man, barbarians honor Thomas; all nations celebrate the feast today, and offer this word as a gift to the Lord: “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28); my kinsman and my Creator, my Redeemer and my King. For Thomas taught this, and left it to us as an inheritance like a treasure; nature preserves this word, the whole race is strengthened by this saying: this word extends even to the angels; the angels hold this confession like an anchor: the B whole creation wears this doctrine like a diadem. Only Arius is deprived of this speech, only he falls away from the inheritance, only he does not confess Christ with Thomas as Lord: he does not acknowledge Him as God with him; he calls the Master a servant; the radiance, a creature; the true Son, a counterfeit; the Opifex, a figment; he does not say "Lord and God" to his Master, he does not favor the truth, he does not join himself with Thomas, he does not follow the just man; and this is while he celebrates his day, when he keeps the feast with the universal world C of the earth, and associates himself with the friends of Thomas. But wickedness does not deceive virtue, nor is the seducer aptly joined with the leader of truth: the shepherd knows the beast, the hunter knows the wolf, the pilot knows the wave, the harbor knows the storm, the general knows the enemy, Thomas knows Arius, and knows how to repel him. He does not admit the worship of the blasphemer, he does not enter into the den of murderers, he does not dwell with them; he turns away from the company of the impious, he detests the voice fighting with him; he hates the mouth that speaks iniquity against God (Ps. 74:6); D he turns away from the tongue that does not call Him Lord and God, and cries out to him from the whole inhabited world: "Arius, why do you flatter me? Why do you anoint my head with oil? Why do you celebrate my feast, O you that are wicked? I do not accept your blasphemous hymn: I do not assent to your vain faith: I do not acknowledge your impious doctrine. Do not honor me, you who bring reproach upon the Creator; I do not receive an honor that produces ignominy. If you heap reproaches upon the Master, how will you worship the servant? If you do not hold my faith, how will you celebrate the memory with a feast? If you do not think as I do, how do you share in my sepulcher? I was taught that Christ is Lord and God: I felt with my hand, and found the truth by my own fingers; no one else inserted the doctrine into me, I did not receive a miracle through my ears, I did not believe those who told me, 'We have seen the Lord'; I resisted the apostles, I stood against Peter when he attempted to teach me: I said to him, 'O man, why do you disturb me? Why do you offer me words instead of things? Why do you command me that I should be persuaded by words? Unless I see, I will not believe.' As you have seen, let me also see; as you were taught, let me be taught; as you learned, let me learn. That which I must preach, let me behold, and then I will preach. No one announces what he has heard by report, no one proposes a doctrine flowing from rumor, no one will receive me reporting your things. If he should ask how Christ rose, I do not know what to say. If I say, 'Peter told me,' who will assent as to one worthy of faith? Let me see, and I will preach; let me learn, and I will teach; let me be persuaded, and I will persuade." I will say also, Thomas the apostle who was not from men, nor through men. Why would I say these things? The Lord appeared, and immediately dissolved the battle, and said to me: "What has happened to you, Thomas? Why do you fight with Peter? Why do you contend with friends? Come, and know the miracle by experience; learn the resurrection by the thing itself: bring your hand, and see the body. If you are able, hold it; if you have clean fingers, touch the traces of the nails; if you believe, you will attain even more; but if you contend, you will not find; if you are incredulous, you will not know; if you doubt, you will not comprehend what is passible; if you are held by passion, you will not perceive what is not subject to passion." Hearing these things, I purged the soul of incredulity, and stripped off the ambiguous opinion; I assumed a credulous sense, I touched the body, rejoicing and trembling, I expanded with my fingers and the eye of the soul, and henceforth I knew two operations; I grasped, and I beheld, and by the hand indeed I held the body, but in soul I perceived God; and what was externally marvelous, I found; what was internal, was formidable; what appeared, was huge; and what was held, was to be admired. D I exclaimed, therefore, being astonished at what I had comprehended: "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28). For nowhere was I regarding a servant, nowhere did a humble species appear. And what was of the same nature as me was shining, divinity was radiating from it; and what was carried, was exalted; and what was carrying, appeared glorified; and while two different things were understood, there was one person, who was worshipped. These things I perceived by experience, these things I handled with my fingers, these things I understood in my soul: in truth, Arius, whence were you taught the blasphemy? Whence did you learn what you preach? Did you feel Christ as I did? Did you move your hand? Did you search the traces of the nails? Do your fingers bear witness? Did you hold Christ? With what hand, indeed? Is it with that with which you seized precious things? With which you plundered the apostles? With which you received the spoils of the barbarians? With which you held the reward of impiety? With which you fashioned the vessels of blood? Did you touch Christ with this same one? Far be it. The Lord is not so unjust, Christ is not so imprudent, that He would entrust His flesh to you: you did not grasp Him, whom you rejected; you did not touch Him, whom you hated; you did not search Him, whom you depressed. For if you had searched, you would not have humbled; if you had examined rightly, you would not have interpreted so perversely. Begone, receive the reward of your iniquity, fall with your fellow-soldiers. Already I have thrown down one of your towers, already I have freed Thrace from your tyranny. Yet a little, and I will utterly destroy you in every way; yet a little, and I will exterminate you from the inhabited world. Now I shall cut off your head, now with your pride I shall free the West also. Do thus, blessed Thomas, complete the sermon with the work, execute what you have said, confirm the splendid beginning with the end: as you freed Thrace, so also liberate the West. Let me also hear of the robber being cut off as well as the tyrant; crown the emperor with victory, grant peace to the world, receive the sweats of those who have gathered. Receive the city supplicating at your tomb: it has sent every age to perform the legation. Old men and youths we grovel at the tomb, virgins and adolescents we embrace your body, infants look on like sparrows with gaping mouths: do not scorn such a sight; do not let our labors be empty: give a reward appropriate to our sweats. We do not ask anything great of you: we request what you possess; we seek what you give; we desire what you wish to see: the barbarian subdued, Arius expelled, the Emperor crowned, the world converted, Christ exalted, and hearing from the universal inhabited world together, "My Lord and my God": to whom be glory, honor, and empire unto the ages of ages. Amen.
NOTICE
A Fronto Ducaeus rightly consigned this composition, whether it be called an oration or a homily, to the category of spurious works. For there is nothing here worthy of Chrysostom; neither the style nor the diction reflects him. None of the gifts with which that divine orator shone are apparent here. Indeed, whoever this little Greek may be, he has filled the entire oration with exclamations and, especially, with questions. Moreover, his memory lapses when, in a very long apostrophe, he introduces Stephen saying to the Jews: "But he who is of you, or rather against you, the chosen vessel, Paul, cries out: 'If they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory'." As if Paul could, at that time, have known Christ and the Christians...ON THE HOLY STEPHEN THE PROTOMARTYR
B 1. Let us crown Stephen with the flowers of praise and weave him with the roses of commendation; for he has already crowned himself with the contests of the faith. It was written indeed: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body" (Matt. 10:28); but the attachment to the body brought about difficulty. However, because this young man wished to receive the victories of martyrdom, all difficulty was removed; and cowardice and fear learned to be idle. He feared not the madness of the high priests, he was not dismayed by the brutality of the priests, nor were his spirits dampened by the words of the elders, nor did the threats of the scribes disturb him, nor did the arguments of false accusers obstruct his readiness, but with a noble spirit he hastened to the contests for Christ. Who, then, among mortals can offer worthy praise to the athlete? Who among men can weave a panegyric proportional to his conduct? What tongue will be able to utter the glories of the hero? What mouth will open for the praise of Stephen’s contests? What lips will suffice to tell the manly deeds of the protomartyr? For he struggled on earth, and gazed upon things in heaven; he was present in this life, and traveled through things in the highest; he conversed with mortals, and was numbered with the immortals; he fought against men, and danced with angels. C Let every age, therefore, hold this as certain: Stephen struggled, and the author of evil fell. Let him, therefore, who struggles in old age also hold to this certainty; and he who succeeds in his dotage receives the crowns, and the youth who has wrestled is crowned, and the lad who has struggled carries off the prizes, and infants who struggle receive crowns, and women who have stood in battle line are crowned with glory, and virgins who have wrestled carry off victories. Stephen, therefore, having opened the gates of martyrdom, let every age henceforth hasten to martyrdom. For Stephen was the first to stand against the tyrant, the first to receive the victories over him, the first to begin those glorious contests, the first to receive the sufferings of Christ for Christ; he showed mortals how death is played with; he showed men how decay shall be a laughingstock; he made known to those in this life the heavenly ascents. For "Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing signs and great wonders among the people" (Act. 6:8). The grace of the Spirit was urging Stephen on to greater progress; for the immeasurable quality of his faith encouraged his certainty. For, being appointed a deacon, he was shown to be a martyr; appointed to the need of widows, he rose to the grace of miracles; he was appointed a deacon of tables, and was shown to be a worker of wonders. D "And Stephen, full of faith and power." He has, he says, the crown of victory in his name; Stephen, who made known an unpracticed war to the world, who displayed a battle untaught to mankind. Nature was not accustomed to this, and Stephen alone stood in battle array against the incorporeal hosts. For faith brought his contests to a successful end; hope urged him to wrestle even after the finish. "Stephen, full of faith and power." Stephen, who showed the author of evil to be a captive, who raised trophies against him with a noble resolve, who prepared demons to mourn and men to dance; Stephen, the first trophy-bearer of the martyrs, the general of those struggling for Christ. For whoever begins to wrestle for Christ finds Stephen as his teacher; whoever reaches out for the contests of martyrdom imitates Stephen. Stephen is the first-fruits of those struggling for Christ, the foundation of those dying for Him. "Stephen, full of faith and power." The soldier of Christ was fenced in from every side, the pious commander was armored on both sides; "Full of faith and power." These, he says, sufficed for victory, these were able to provide the trophy. For faith and power both conquered the author of evil and struck the Jews with terror. "Full of faith and power, he was doing signs and wonders great among the people." The hero displayed multitudes of miracles, the soldier of Christ worked a multitude of wonders. He was doing signs and wonders among the people, granting running to the lame, sending health to the paralyzed, so that he might provoke the high priests to envy; thus he desired to taste of death for Christ. Then he is challenged by a pentapolis of most impious men against him. For they stood up, he says, some of those from the synagogue called that of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen. O what a crowd wickedness gathered! O what a populace envy brought together! O the Libertines, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia. An infinite crowd, he says, stood in battle-line against one soldier; measureless throngs rushed against one hero; men of five cities ran down one young man. O the incurable wickedness of the Jews! From the very sight they sought to terrify the hero, so that by the excess of the multitude his nerves might be loosened. Then the most wicked ones impose an order on the battle, and weave words of questioning for Stephen in the preambles. For they stood up, he says, some from the synagogue called that of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen. "Why," they say, "O young man, do you thoughtlessly cast away the divine, why do you persuade the crowd with rehearsed words? Why do you scatter the nation by the deception of miracles?" Here is the end of their questions: "Is the one born of Mary God? Is the son of the carpenter the Creator? Is not Bethlehem his village, and Nazareth his nurse? Do you imagine him to be God who was born on earth? God, who because of humility was swaddled in a manger; who fled from the angered Herod; who received the bath of the Jordan for purification; who felt hunger..."
and fatigue—the one who truly felt hunger and sleep, and not being able to flee, nor to defend himself; who was hung up, and not able to descend; who was found in death’s finality, and he proclaims life for the dead? The one who was placed in a grave, [while] you maintain that he is a phantom in the heavens? You, who are similar to the mortals, proclaim life to the dead? A Since he was condemned by God to suffer; since he did not command, nor strike dead those who attacked him; nor, by commanding, did he suddenly bring death [upon them]? Either cease from this imposture, or accept yourself a like death.
B Such things were being discussed with Stephen. But Stephen, did you not hold the writings of the prophets among you? Do you not peruse the books of the Old Testament? Did you not say to one another, "We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this fellow, we do not know whence he is"? We are disciples of Moses! Did not Moses say: A prophet will the Lord raise up for you from your brothers, like me; him you shall hear? Did not Micah prophesy from afar: And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, you are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you shall come a leader? Did not Isaiah announce the birth from a virgin: Behold, the virgin shall have [a child] in her womb? Did not Habakkuk predict the two animals standing at the manger: In the midst of two animals you shall be known? Did not Isaiah say of the flight into Egypt because of Herod: Behold, the Lord comes upon a swift cloud into Egypt? Did not David prefigure the flight of the waters of the Jordan: The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and were afraid? Did not Isaiah write beforehand of his toils and labors: He himself took our sins and bore our diseases? Did not the prophet David predict the violence of the nails: They dug my hands and my feet? Did not Moses preach beforehand of the suspension on the wood: You shall see your life hanging upon the wood? Did not Jacob write beforehand of the burial in a tomb: Resting, he slept like a lion? Did not David announce the resurrection: Arise, O God, judge the earth? Or [the things] regarding the ascension, did the same one not predict: God has ascended in jubilation? Therefore, either show the prophecies fulfilled in someone else, or worship him as God crucified. For you, O fools, ignoring the prophecy of Moses, thought you were crucifying a mere man; but the one who is of you, or rather against you, the vessel of election, Paul, cries out: For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. Regarding him, the leader of the apostles said: But you denied the holy and righteous one, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you; but you killed the author of life. Knowing this voice of yours from afar, Isaiah said: Woe to them who call bitter sweet, and sweet bitter. When Stephen was discoursing in this way, they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit that was speaking. And it is well said, "to resist." Because he had said above, "Certain ones from the synagogue arose," here he says, "They were not able to resist." Thus by silence their tongue was compressed; all were closing their own lips, C inhibiting the arrows of their arguments, restraining the bows of their words, hiding under their tongue the D lance of wickedness. They were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit who was speaking. O new and strange events! How rightly Luke wrote! How surely he brought about that the promises of Christ appeared! For Christ said: I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries will not be able to resist. By the wisdom and the Spirit, who was speaking. To what wisdom? To Christ, who was speaking in him; but that Christ is Wisdom, let him come forth who says, Paul: Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. But that he speaks in those who offer themselves as grateful [vessels], so that you may know, writing in another place, he said: Do you seek proof of him who speaks in me, Christ, who is not weak in you, but is powerful in you? And they were not able to resist the wisdom, that is, Christ. For who will resist him and endure? And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit. To what spirit? To the Paraclete, concerning whom he was saying in the previous [part]: "Stephen, however, full of faith and fortitude"; and again, "But since he was full of the Holy Spirit, looking into heaven, he saw the glory of God." Then, therefore, they suborned men, who would say they had heard him speaking words of blasphemy against Moses and God.
Successive to envy was false testimony. "They suborned men." With money they purchased a lie: "Come," they were saying, "O venerable men, supply your zeal to our affairs; let your tongue labor for our intentions; let your mouth serve our counsels. For a new defender of the Galilean has arisen; a champion of that one has risen up and an avenger. He honors him who lies in a tomb; he proclaims the Creator as confined in a tomb; he claims that he who was placed in a monument is in the heavens; he maintains that he whom the soldiers mocked is occupied with the heavenly host; he promises that he who was not able to save even himself will be the judge of creation. Joseph placed his body in a tomb, and this one pretends that he sits at the right hand of God, whose disciples denied him as a deceiver; and this one says that every tongue will confess him; he was not able to descend from the cross at all; and this one promises his second coming from the heavens; the [people] were hurling insults at him because he could not save either himself or them, and this one with a loud voice proclaims him to be the Savior of the world. Have you ever seen such a crime? Or have you truly heard words of such madness and blasphemy? You, therefore, apply your effort for the sake of appearances, and you will gain for yourselves glory that is famous among those who currently live." Then indeed the descendants of the calumniators, who once oppressed Naboth, used such words: "We heard him speaking words of blasphemy against Moses and God." Against him, they say, the lawgiver, he dared to speak: he was denouncing us, saying: Attend, my people, to my law: and this one cries out that Jesus will change the traditions, which Moses handed down to us. He blasphemed against Moses, who is venerable among the whole nation; against him who took to his aid the whole of creation, who liberated the nation from grievous servitude, who by a [staff] turned the waves of the sea into a wall, who by prayer cast the hosts of the Egyptians into the deep, who by prayer lit a heavenly pillar by night, who provided heavenly bread, made without any help of agriculture, who by a [staff] drew streams from a sterile rock. Against Moses. But why do I prolong the discourse on this, "Against Moses"? And against God. He casts arrows against the Creator himself; he stretches his tongue against the Creator himself; he proclaims him dead, opposed to God and the Creator. Against Moses and God. Therefore they moved the plebs, and the elders, and the scribes; and running together they seized him, and led him into the council. They incited the people to anger, and they seized him; they seized the sheep almost, and led him into a council full of hypocrisy and envy, alien to the truth, and devoid of equity, and they led him into a council, concerning which Jeremiah cried out long before: I did not sit in the council of their vanity. And they set up false witnesses saying: This man does not cease to speak words of blasphemy against the holy place and the law. The temple, they say, he was not ashamed to afflict with insults, this place where divine oracles are recited, where the writings of the prophets are trumpet-blasted, where the tablets and the heavenly manna, where the ark and the rod of Aaron, where the gray hair of bishops, and the dignity of the elders, and the honor of the scribes [are]; but he considers the temple place a mockery, he pronounces it vile. And he dared to make words not only against the place, but also against the law. He feigns that the law is a shadow; he proclaims boldly that the Old Testament is a figure; he says the Galilean is greater than Moses; he pronounces the son of Mary more powerful than the lawgiver; he did not respect the dignity of the elders, nor the crowds of the scribes.
A And learn the proof of his words. For we have heard him saying that Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us. He threatens us with a dead Master; he promises us a Lord who has died. Jesus the Nazarene shall rise again, and shall destroy this place. This youth, he says, has imagined visions; he has ignored the delight of the renowned temple; the labors of those who completed the works therein have escaped his notice. The wisdom of Solomon wrote of this house; the wise man had the grace from above as his ally, and he endured many struggles in the construction of the work. And eighty thousand were hewing stone in the mountain, and seventy thousand were cutting the timber, and thirty thousand were transporting the stone, and three thousand six hundred were overseeing the work. He extended a generous hand to the sanctuary, and in forty-six years he was barely able to construct the work, whereas this man says that Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place. B And not only this, but he says, "And he will change the customs which Moses delivered to us." He says that the most holy Sabbath will be destroyed by him; he declared that the legal circumcision will be overturned by the Nazarene; he says that our new moons are to be disregarded as worthless; he preaches that the delight of the Feast of Tabernacles will not be succeeded by the one from Mary; he imagines that our sacrifices are unacceptable to God; he declares that the one who has died will overturn our sprinklings and customary purifications. Who then does not know the end of the Nazarene? And when can a mortal take vengeance on the living? Isaiah was sawn asunder, and nowhere is he who exacts the penalty; Jeremiah was strangled, and he was not able to pursue the matter; Naboth was destroyed with stones, and nowhere is his avenger; Zechariah was slain, and we remain to this day unaccused. And yet, this man stands as a champion of the dead Nazarene. He threatens us with the dead man as a judge; he proclaims the one in the tomb to be a magistrate, deluded as he is. Then, while these men were making such false accusations, "all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him," casting a grim glance at him, darting eyes full of rage at him, wishing to strike the champion with fear by the very sight of them, fulfilling in their own wickedness the prophetic oracle: "The sinner spies upon the just, and seeks to put him to death." "Looking steadfastly at him, they all saw his face as it were the face of an angel." For the joy concerning the martyrdom, leaping forth from his visage, caused angelic graces to shine around the youth. And why the face of an angel? That the word of Christ might be fulfilled, which He said: "In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but they are as the angels in heaven." Thus did Moses and Elijah shine on the mountain when they conversed with Jesus, so that the disciples, upon seeing them, fell on their faces. Thus are all the just to shine in the kingdom of the Father. "They saw his face as it were the face of an angel." C The high priest said, "If then these things are so?" O words full of hypocrisy! O utterances dressed up with craftiness and envy! "If then these things are so?" You have dared, he says, O man, to insult the lawgiver Moses? Have you rebelled against God, O anti-god? Have you spoken shamelessly against the most holy place? Have you imagined that the law given by God is chaff? Have you deemed the Nazarene to be one who would alter the things of Moses? You have become the cause of great evils to yourself. Then the Protomartyr replied to these things: "Brethren and fathers, hear." Let every age, he says, have the honor befitting each. "Brethren and fathers, hear." Hear, I say, not "be persuaded," for I know the unbelief of your mind; but "Hear." "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham in Mesopotamia." Not in Jerusalem, not in the renowned temple, but "in Mesopotamia," where the region was full of idols, where the fatherland was drowned in godlessness; in Mesopotamia, D where honors were sent up to idols, where they placed the most holy Name upon wood and stone; there He appeared to him. For He knew that a rose grows among thorns, and in the midst of weeds noble wheat will sprout. Just as the much-suffering Job in the trackless land of Ausitis appeared as a rose among thorns, and as a lily among thistles, and as a light in the darkness of ignorance he shone by his virtues, and was as a tower in the destruction, manifest to all the powers above, augmenting his achievements from earth to heaven, sending forth the fruits of righteousness from the depths to the heights. Wherefore God, having smelled the fruit of them, as also Noe after the flood (for "the Lord smelled a sweet savor"), testified to His own servant: "Behold a man just, true, god-fearing, abstaining from every evil," fulfilling the things of the law before the law. For having the innate law, he did not need the written one; "for all His works are known to God from eternity." Then He says to Abraham: "Depart from your land, and from your kindred, and come into the land which I will show you." "Depart from your land." Why, he says, does a polytheistic land contain the father of the nations? Why does an idolatrous fatherland contain the progenitor of the race? "Depart from your land, and from your kindred." Difficult, among men, are the things commanded to the patriarch. Leave, he says, your fatherland, forsake the whole race; you have been separated from the land in which you were born, be divided from father and mother. But nothing of these things disturbed the patriarch; he did not consider with himself, as a mortal might: "Things uncertain, he says, are what the One who appears promises; these are uncertain things that He offers. Shall I leave the things in my hands, and pursue the invisible? Shall I abandon the things at my feet, and desire the uncertain?" But the father of the nations considered none of these things; rather, he was commanded, and agreed to the separation; he received commands, and longed to seek the uncertain. For faith kindled this love in him. For having fully considered the things promised, he hastened all the more toward the departure from his fatherland. For "Depart," He says, "from your land. From your loins I am about to be born for you according to the flesh." I promise you nothing, therefore; for it is enough for you only that you should be called my father. "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham." Then, having recounted the things concerning Abraham, that he obeyed the one voice of God calling him, that He foretold the slavery of his seed, and that they will serve in Egypt for four hundred years, and that they will be redeemed from the necessity by the right hand of God, and that He gave him the covenant of circumcision, he speaks next of the paradoxical birth of Isaac, and that he circumcised him on the eighth day, as he was commanded. Further, he speaks also of the birth of Jacob from Isaac, and that Jacob was shown to be the father of twelve patriarchs. He speaks also of his being sold by his brothers in Egypt, and that he found grace and wisdom before the king of Egypt; he speaks also of the fact that a famine arose over the whole world, so to speak, and that after the slavery he was shown to be lord and wise; and that Canaan surrendered its own dearest ones for the lack of food, and that Joseph manifested himself in glory to his own kinsmen, and that Joseph called Jacob the patriarch into Egypt, and that in seventy-five souls Jacob went down thither, and that Israel was multiplied immeasurably in Egypt, and that another king arose, who knew not Joseph, and that having acted cunningly, he afflicted the race of Israel, and that he sent the male infants to be exposed to the river Nilus. He speaks also of the birth of Moses the lawgiver, and that he was cast by his parents into the container, and that the daughter of Pharaoh the king took him up, and that he was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and that he was shown to be "mighty in words and works," and that after the fortieth year he went up to visit the nation, and that he saw an Israelite being wronged, and he avenged him against the Egyptian, and that he counseled the fighting Israelites to be friends, and that he was insulted by one of his own race as one who had committed murder, and that he fled to the land of Madian because of this word, and that there he was shown to be the father of two sons, and that an angel appeared to him in Mount Sinai, and that he saw the unconquerable friendship of fire and bush.
A that he heard the divine voice from heaven, and that he became trembling when he considered the miracle, and that he was commanded to loosen the sandals from his feet, and that he heard the place on which he stood was holy ground; and that with signs he led the people out of Egypt, and through the Red Sea, as though it were through dry land, he led the army of Israel across. He recounts also the idolatry of the wicked on the mountain, when those sea-travelers likened the Divine to a calf, and attributed the victories brought back from the Egyptians to the idol. He recounts to them also the captivity of the nation in Babylon, and how David was pleasing to God, because he found grace before God, and was called the father of Christ. He recounts also the house built by Solomon, and that God does not dwell in places made by hands. After he has thus run through the histories of the fathers, with the Holy Spirit called to his aid, he proceeds to rebuke them with reproaches, and says: "Stiff-necked, inflexible and indomitable; for what affliction, pray, bent your neck; what calamity inclined your head? Did you not serve Pharaoh for four hundred years in Egypt? Was it not for eight years that Chusarsath, king of Syria, brought you under his dominion? Were you not subject to the kingdom of the Moabites for eighteen years? Did you not, in turn, bear the yoke of slavery to the Canaanites for twenty years? Did you not again obey the Midianites for seven years? Was it not for eighteen years, yet again, that you were subdued by the Ammonites? Were you not obedient to the Philistines for forty years? Were you not given over to the servitude of the Babylonians for seventy years? Did not Salmanasar transport you to inhabit the mountains of the Chaldeans; and did no calamity ever change your minds? Stiff-necked [people], whom the Egyptian basket did not tame, whom the burden of straw did not soften, whom the violent necessity of making bricks did not bend." B Then truly, having heard these voices, they cast him out of the city and stoned him (Acts 7:57). Where they had crucified the King, there they strike the soldier with stones. "And casting him out of the city, they stoned him." But even after the throwing of stones, the athlete looked for victory, and called upon the Creator with such words as these: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" (Acts 7:59). Lord Jesus, who underwent the passion by the judgment of the Father, who endured death by the counsel of the Parent, receive my spirit. Separate now the soul from the body, transfer that incorporeal thing from here; receive my spirit, adorned with every kind of virtue; receive my spirit. For "I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7); therefore I beseech you, receive my spirit. For as long as I am surrounded by this mortal body, I am afraid; as long as I carry this earthly flesh, I tremble lest I lose the fruits after my labors; I fear greatly that after the struggle I may remain deprived of the crown, that I may lose the rewards after the contests. Receive, therefore, my spirit. Let the devil now mourn, as one who has lost the victory; let the author of evils lament, as one who did not prove superior to a mortal; let the incorporeal beings groan, because those who are in the body mock their passions. Receive my spirit. Having placed his knees, he cried with a loud voice: "Lord, do not lay this sin to their charge" (Acts 7:60). And, so that you may understand that he prays with feeling, he does not pray perfunctorily while standing and inclined, but with knees placed on the ground, he said with compunction and sorrow, with much compassion and affection: "Lord, do not lay this sin to their charge." And when he had said this, he fell asleep. For death is sleep to the just, and departure is rest to the wise. And for this reason sleep is death, that as if from a certain stupor, having been awakened in the resurrection, they may enjoy eternal goods; of which goods may we all become partakers, by the grace and intercession of Christ, through whom glory to the Father in the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, as from the beginning, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.
NOTICE
This, as well as many other orations ascribed to our Chrysostom, a certain recent scholar adjudicates to Severianus. But even if this author, whoever he may be, displays an iron eloquence like Severianus, he is nevertheless far more trifling than Severianus, and the oration is so inept that, in my judgment, it is unworthy of being read. Wherefore not without…ON THE TEXT: MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR THEE: FOR MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN INFIRMITY (2 Cor. 12:9).
C 24. On the text, "My grace is sufficient for thee, for my power is made perfect in infirmity."
a'. When God was creating this all-harmonious world from the beginning, He wrought miracles upon miracles, not serving the law of nature, but fashioning all things by the power of His might. For example: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). Do you see the order and the consequence? First the roof, then the pavement. For, as I said, He was not subject to the law of nature, nor to art, but worked by his power. The roof was standing, and the floor did not appear; for the power of the Artificer contained the whole. Question the heretic: "Tell me, I pray, how was the roof made, and the floor not made subject? Explain the reason to me, tell me the manner." But you are silent, and you take refuge in faith. What pardon are you worthy of, while you take refuge in faith regarding mundane and earthly things, and curiously and rashly scrutinize divine and heavenly things? He created the heaven and the earth: He created the earth as the floor, and placed the waters beneath it. Did you see the foundation of the building? The earth is higher, the waters are lower. Some architects do otherwise: they drain the waters, and then lay the foundation. But God placed the foundation upon the waters, so that you might not marvel at the power of the foundation, but at the power of the Artificer. But, as I was saying, listen diligently: for I am about to speak philosophically. When He fabricated this world, formed with such a harmonious order, He made all other things from one substance. But if the discourse is obscure, I will make it clearer, if you attend. He made all other things from one substance, both those that are above and those that are below (for that world, and this, is a world); but the individual works were from one substance. For example: all things above are incorporeal, all things below are bodies; things above are intelligible, things below sensible; things above invisible, things below visible. Things that are below are all bodies: heaven, sun, moon, earth, sea, trees, plants, oxen, sheep, horses; all are visible and sensible; all are subject to touch and sight. All things above are invisible and intelligible: angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, Cherubim and Seraphim. Nor are these things visible, nor are those bodies, nor are these incorporeal; but both are bodies, and those incorporeal—all things from one substance were made, both the things below and the things above; and some from bodies, and those [others]...