Holy Spirit. These things have been proclaimed by the Holy Scriptures; these things have been preached by the Holy Fathers. These things, therefore, we have received, these we have learned, these we hold. Why do we fight one another rashly? Why do we harass one another with war, we who are even commanded to love those who hate us? Why, abandoning the faith, do we dispute artificiously about the faith? He was begotten, he was not begotten; he suffered, but he did not suffer; he rose, but he did not rise. Why do we summon the Redeemer to court? Why do we demand accounts from our benefactor? Once it pleased Him, and as He willed, He came and suffered and died; and He rose again, and ascended into the heavens, and shall come to judge the living and the dead, just as He already came, with our form. For He did not strip off that which He loved so much; He did not leave the covering of His body in the tomb, but thus He shall come again as the judge of the living and the dead; so that Judas may see whom he betrayed to the murderers of the Lord; so that the Jews may see what head they crowned with thorns; so that, when they see Him sitting as judge upon the throne, and the Cherubim and Seraphim standing by with fear and trembling, and they say, "We did not crucify this one, we condemned some other man, Jesus the Nazarene the Bethlehemite," He may show them His side and they may see into whom they have pierced, and, even against their will, they may adore Him. A Why, therefore, abandoning the faith, do we reason about the faith with artifice? Why do we fulfill the desire of the common enemy? For the devil, that corrupter of the human race, calculating that if we lead our lives in peace, piety will flourish, if faith shines, the blessed life will prevail, and the pious course being successfully completed, happiness will come to those living in such a way, we shall be constituted friends of the Creator, and we shall run upward to that desired place, so that we may ascend to where He fell; see what he did, and how cunningly and deceitfully he prepared war against us, that artificious packager of evils, and wise in frauds, and various in snares, and rich in evil machinations: he prepared some who would war under the guise of piety, and armed the investigation of the faith against the faith; and to all the pious he injected a desire for contention that corrupts the soul, and set the members of the B Church in battle array against one another, so that he might emit a great laugh, seeing those who used his own counsels deceived by him, and, through the things which they did against one another, delighting him, and, not even after the experience of evils, recognizing the author of evils. Let us, therefore, turn against that wicked head the very thing that delights him, and let us change his joy into sorrow and inconsolable grief: let us desire the peace which he hates: let us cease to examine the words of dogma by a scale: let us no longer wish to be masters of our masters: let us hold in hatred those controversies which lead to the subversion of the hearers: let us believe just as the Fathers have handed down. We are not wiser than the Fathers, we are not more accurate than our teachers, we are not the shepherds of shepherds, but sheep: sheep do not pasture their shepherds; but shepherds, their sheep. C God has called us to peace, not to strife; as we have been called, so let us remain. With trembling let us return to the mystical table, in which we are participants of the heavenly mysteries, lest we be companions at the table against ourselves, and plotting against one another: lest we enjoy the common table here, and are given over to strife outside: lest we be of the same faith here, and strangers outside: lest Christ also say of us: "I have begotten and exalted and nourished sons from my flesh, but they have despised me." But He Himself, the Savior of all, the author of peace, may He drive away from you the devil who loves motions and war: may He also reconcile tranquility to His Churches, may He preserve this sacred flock, may He guard the president of the flock, may He protect our pious and Christ-loving emperor, may He gather the wandering sheep into His own folds, so that there may be one fold and one shepherd, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
X. By the same, on the saying of the Gospel, and on virginity, and an exhortatory discourse to the fallen virgins.
No enigma did the word of God deliver without purpose, nor [is it] alien to our salvation. Whence, however, I might explain my mind, I have frequently pondered, and I have examined the matter, in order to see what that which is said by the Lord in the Gospel might mean. For in many things He spoke by parable to many, explaining difficult things to some, but to others revealing those things which are clear to us, when He makes words concerning salvation, as one who is good and loves mankind, He has delivered a pattern of enigmas that is perspicuous and not confused; in some places indeed by daily things being able to explain the power of the discourse; D but in other places, in order that He might show the sense of what is said from the concept. The Lord was saying, "Narrow and strait is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there are that find it. Broad and spacious is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are that enter through it" (Matt. VII, 14, 13). It is a discourse of consternation, it is a figure of ignorance. Why does He say, "The way is broad to destruction"? Christ does not declare this way; for it was not made through Him. It is, therefore, a saying of commiseration, it is an enigma of healing. O benevolence toward men! O the care of our Lord! He proposes simultaneously both victory and defeat, simultaneously both clemency and such a sentence. "I know," He says, "how labile the human race is, how abject, how weak of eyes, how lubricious, how expugnable, how feeble, how easy to capture, unless it is bolstered by faith." It has heard that the way is broad, and it runs like a bird to the snare; it has heard that it is narrow, and it flees from salvation, without the utility of either being explored. For light is requested, and it flees with zeal; and especially when it hears that: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth them out of them all" (Ps. XXXIII, 20); it does not run to the helper, but takes to flight, being ignorant that it is fleeing the good, and adhering to the worse. O folly! When you heard, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous," you fainted, O man! When you heard, "Many are the scourges of the sinner" (Ps. XXXI, 10), you were not terrified! Nay, rather you feared the scourge,
A listen to me, you dancers of David, listen to me, you descendants of Elizabeth, listen to me, you companions of John, listen to me, you heirs of God, listen to me, you who carry about in the arena the arena itself, the victory, and the umpire of the arena, listen to me, you sisters of Mary, listen to me, you mothers and brides and servants of Christ; and do not listen to me, I beg, but to the Apostle saying: "I beseech you therefore... that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God" (Rom. XII, 1). He who beseeches is worthy of belief, and do not refuse the gift. See who it is that beseeches you, and tremble at the request: he who ascended unto the third heaven, he who was deemed worthy of the voice of God, he who heard unspeakable words, beseeches: "Present your bodies pure unto God." What do you beseech, Paul? What concern is it of yours regarding virgins? Did you not say, "Concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord" (1 Cor. VII, 25)? Did you not say, "Marriage is honorable" (Hebr. XIII, 4)? Did you not say, "Defraud you not one the other of the benevolence" (1 Cor. VII, 5)? Why do you now preach purity? And then, what concern is it of yours regarding the virgins? You snatched Thecla from carnal marriage and corruption, and saved her; what do you care for the rest of the virgins? Truly, he says, I am very concerned for the pure and passionless marriage. For if I acted as an intermediary for human marriage, much more shall I act as an intermediary for that of Christ with great zeal; I am the bridesman of Christ; my Master is not satisfied with one maiden, He does not desire one marriage; great is His dowry, great is His inheritance. Therefore He sent me to gather many for Him; whence he said, "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. XI, 2).
B See with what precision the Apostle spoke, so that you would not think the marriage to be carnal. O the blindness! O the madness! Who would not desire an incorruptible and tireless marriage? The chaste bed, the immaculate bridal chamber; the undefiled bringing forth; the immortal union; the passionless childbirth; the griefless love of her spouse; the peerless dowry; the eternal enjoyment; the life free from care; the cohabitation with Christ; the conduct with angels; the delightfulness of songs worthy of God; the all-virtuous fragrance; the all-bright lamp; the universal freedom; the journey toward God; the dance with angels; the strength of the body; the purity of the soul? For she who is joined in marriage to a husband worries how she may please the flesh that is decaying; she has not yet brought forth, and she laments the mourning; lamentation often because of the husband, lamentation concerning barrenness and childlessness, lamentation concerning the plurality of children, as these die; lamentation because of children walking in disorder. But the virgin of the Lord is careful how she may please the Lord. Listen with precision to the Apostle crying out, "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." And he did not say, "Thee," but "You," so that you would not think he is speaking of carnal marriage. "I beseech you therefore," he says, "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God."
The commandment is common, but it applies especially to those who practice holiness. For those who wish to approach the Holy One in a holy manner, if they succeed here, obtain great and brilliant crowns; but those who proposed it and did not complete it, their fall becomes extraordinary. For indeed, it is terrible to fall from a height, and facts bear witness, rather than to fall from the ground. If a poor man lives in poverty until the end, he bears the reproach more lightly; but for the rich who has been driven into poverty, the will becomes worse. Thus, I think the tear is more bitter and the mourning more lamentable for the loss of virginity, than for those who act like pigs wallowing in the mud and sinning daily, since for them the habit of sin has already become a skill for their livelihood; but for those who destroy the temple of God, I think it is worthy to mourn and lament, to beat the breast and to be torn, because such a great and significant treasure has been suddenly dug up. What is it regarding you, O virgin? When or what martial sight deceived you? What swords? What spears? What shields? What noise of soldiers compelled you so quickly to depart from safety? You were both city and temple of Christ, and a wall and guardian of the city and of the gate. But C O the lamentation! How did you allow the enemy to open it without need? How, being enticed for a short time, did you betray that through which Christ went out and sealed? O the evil war! You tore down the wall, you destroyed your holy temple, you broke the covenants of marriage, you erased the letters, you set aside the dowry, you insulted the bed of Christ; nay, more, you lost the pledge. Do you not see the laws here, what punishments await the adulteress? And what will you do, or have you not insulted the bed of a fellow servant, but of our Master Jesus Christ who lives forever, having been entangled in mud and corruption and stench? How I shall mourn you, I do not know; for no one having fought, you were wounded; without a sword, you were cut off. How I shall judge you, I do not know; as heartless, or as unconscionable, or as a soul-slayer, or as a self-murderer. For such is the sight of that madness, finding no reproach worthy of the mourning. Did you not remember the covenants of Christ? Did you not remember the purity, in which Christ day by day was invisibly and mystically leaping and rejoicing at your side and breast? And why? Because you also were Mary so long as you kept your virginity. What wax of wickedness melted your eyes? What darkness blinded you, so that you made the members of Christ members of fornication? O the mourning! You preferred the fornicating stench to the virginal fragrance? You exchanged the mud of pleasure for the myrrh? Did you not remember that full hour of contrition, in which angels together with men were escorting you while you held lamps into the bridal chamber of Christ, singing Davidic songs, and all were proclaiming the poor and needy bride of Christ and queen?
Oh, who shall not mourn her who leaves the King, having joined herself to the rottenness of worms, D and scorned Him with whom she was about to live and rule, and desired him who was about to be cast by the King into the fire of Gehenna? To what end did you dig such a pit for yourself? But the breadth of the way deceived you. What breadth, I ask? What did the guide of perdition, the procurer of Gehenna, promise you? What enjoyment of life did the man-slayer promise? Did you not hear, O virgin, the Master saying in the Gospels, "If you gain the whole world, but lose your own soul, what have you profited?" But O the blindness! O the madness! O the darkness! Consider, O virgin, the loss; consider whom you select, and whom you discard, and what is given to you by the deceiver: a moment of pleasure mixed in mud, and a drop of silt in a virgin womb mixed by sin, and carrying away Gehenna of fire and the undying worm. Tremble at that indecency. For can one call this pleasure an enjoyment of life? Is this luxury, is this breadth? What is this surrender to madness? But be sober in all things and say: for we are not ignorant of his devices. Rejoice therefore always, as it is written: "Let your moderation be known unto all men" (Phil. IV, 5); let the fear of God flash in your heart. Do not become a soldier who throws away his shield, do not be a cowardly and slothful worker, do not flee the crown. Life is short, but the judgment is long. Looking toward this, brother, lift up your heart together with the Holy One, and say: "Be of good courage, and let your heart be strengthened, and wait for the Lord" (Ps. XXVI, 14); imitate David, and with one cast of a stone strike down the enemy. Angels stand as spectators of your struggle. For, "We are become a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men" (1 Cor. IV, 9); if they see you conquering, they rejoice at the achievement; if defeated, they depart gloomy, but the demons laugh at you. Draw forth, therefore, instead of a sword, the fear of God; for the fear of God is as a two-edged sword, cutting off every evil desire.
Always, therefore, assume the fear of God, keeping in memory perpetually the last day, when the heavens shall be dissolved having been burned by fire, when the stars shall fall like leaves, and the sun and moon shall be darkened, and shall not give their light; when the Son of Man shall appear and shall descend from the heavens to the earth, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; when there shall be the running of angels, the voices of trumpets invading; when fire shall be before Him, burning and running through to burn up the world, and round about Him a violent tempest, earthquakes, and lightning flashes such as never were nor shall be until that day: so that the very powers of the heavens shall be shaken with great trembling. What kind of persons, therefore, ought we to be, my brethren? B What fear and what horror shall seize us? Consider Israel in the desert, how they could not sustain the whirlwind and the darkness and the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, but were eager that He should add no word to them. For indeed they could not bear what was commanded, although God was not descending in wrath, nor speaking to them with indignation, but comforting them with this consolation, that He Himself was with them. Hear therefore, my brother, if we could not bear His coming with consolation, when neither were the heavens dissolved burnt by fire, nor were the trumpets sounding as that trumpet is destined to sound, and to awaken those who have slept from eternity, nor was fire flooding the inhabited earth, nor was any of the terrors that are to be invading; what shall we do when He descends with wrath and intolerable fury, and shall sit upon the throne of His glory, and shall summon from the world from the rising of the sun to the setting, and from all the ends of the earth to discern His people, and to render to each according to his works? Woe is me! What kind of persons shall it be necessary for us to be, when we shall stand naked and exposed, about to be led to the C fearful tribunal? Woe is me, woe is me! Where then is the impudence? Where then is the strength of the flesh? Where is the false and useless beauty? Where then is the sweetness of human voices? Where then is the insolent and shameless boldness in speaking? Where then is the finery of garments? Where then is the impure and truly filthy pleasure of sin? Where then are those who have the dung of males as a delight? Where then are those who with drums and musical instruments drink wine? Where then is the contempt of those who live without fear? Where then is luxury and excess? For all things passed away and have dissolved like soft air. Where then is the love of money and of possessions, and the inhumanity born from thence? Where then that monstrous pride, which loathes everything, and itself is thought to be something? Where then is the empty and vain advancement and glory of men? Where then is empire and tyranny? Where then the emperor, where the prince, where the leader? Where are those in power, who are proud in the abundance of riches and despise God? Then the D *Vid-entes* (Seers) in this way were amazed, trembling seized them. *There are the pains as of a woman in labor; in a vehement spirit they shall be broken* (Ps. XLVII, 7). Where indeed then is the wisdom of the wise? Where are their empty wiles? Woe, woe to them! *They were troubled and moved like one drunken, and all their wisdom was devoured* (Ps. CVI, 27). Where then is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the searcher of this vain world? (1 Cor. I, 20). My brother, consider with yourself what kind of persons it behooves us to be, giving an account of those things which we have done, whether great or small: for we are to give an account even for an idle word before the just Judge. What kind of persons, therefore, ought we to be in that hour, if we are to find grace in His sight? What kind of joy indeed shall seize us when we are separated to the right of the King? What kind of persons ought we to be when all the saints greet us? There Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, Noah, Job, and the holy prophets, and apostles and martyrs, and all the just greet you, who pleased God well in the life of their flesh, and whomsoever you hear and whose life you admire, whom you would have desired even to behold—they themselves come to you, and embracing you, they greet you, exulting over your salvation. What kind of persons, therefore, ought we then to be? What ineffable joy to have, when the King shall say to those who are on the right with hilarity: *Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world* (Matth. XXV, 34)? Then, my brother, you shall receive the beautiful kingdom, and the crown of beauty from the hand of the Lord, and in the future you shall reign with Christ: then you shall possess those goods, *Which God has prepared for them that love Him* (1 Cor. II, 9): then at last you shall be without care, no longer fearing any consternation of spirit. Consider with yourself, my brother, what kind of thing it is to reign in the heavens: for as we have said, you shall receive the crown from the hand of the Lord, and in the future you shall reign with Christ. Consider again, my brother, what it is to behold the face of God perpetually, what it is to have Him instead of a luminary: *for the sun shall not be to you for light by day,* as Isaias says, *nor shall the splendor of the moon illuminate you by night; but the Lord shall be to you for an everlasting light, and God for your glory* (Isai. LX, 19). Behold, my brother, what joy is deposited for those who fear the Lord and observe His commandments. After these things, however, consider also the destruction of sinners, when they are led to the terrible tribunal, what kind of shame shall invade them before the just Judge, not having a word of excuse; what kind of confusion shall seize them when separated to the left of the King, what kind of darkness shall fall upon them, when *He speaks to them in His wrath, and in His fury shall trouble them* (Ps. II, 5), saying, *Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels* (Matth. XXV, 41). Woe is me! Woe is me! What affliction and anguish their spirit shall feel, when a cry shall be made by all saying: *Let sinners be turned into hell, all the nations that forget God* (Ps. IX, 18)? Woe is me, what a place is that, where there is *weeping and gnashing of teeth* (Matth. XXV, 30), which is called Tartarus, which even Satan himself dreads! Woe is me, what a hell of unquenchable fire! Woe is me, what a sleepless and venom-spewing worm! Woe is me, what kind of angels are those set over the torments, cruel and merciless? For they reproach and rebuke them gravely. Then those who are punished shall cry to the Lord, and He shall not hear them: then they shall know that all things pertaining to this life turned out to be vain for them, and those things which they here thought to be sweet shall be found to be more bitter than gall and venom. Where then is that pleasure of sin wrongfully so called? For there is no other pleasure except the fear of the Lord. This truly is pleasure, this truly fills the soul as with marrow and fatness. Then they shall condemn themselves, and the works which they did: then they shall confess, saying that the judgment of God is just. For we heard these things, and we did not wish to turn from our wicked works. And then they shall bring forth these things, saying: Woe is me, conceived in sins not to be equaled! I have sinned above the number of the sand of the sea, and I am weighed down by the weight of sins as if I were bound by many iron chains: for there is no boldness for me to look up to the high heaven. To whom therefore shall I flee, except to Thee, lover of men, except to Thee who dost not remember sins? *Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy, and according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity: wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin: for I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me. To Thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before Thee* (Ps. L, 3-6). To Thee I flee because of Thy great goodness and mercy: I have irritated Thee, and
A you can, impose upon yourself a necessity to occupy yourself with them more frequently, for they dissipate the reasonings which the enemy, through his wicked contrivances, scatters, or by bringing many afflictions, or by providing and offering many prosperities and freedoms. For he works these things through his craftiness and deceit, so that he may alienate man from God. For when he cannot often influence and cast him down through thoughts, then finally he brings upon him afflictions, so that he may darken his understanding, and then find he can sow what he wishes. And then he begins to suggest to the man such thoughts, and says with oaths, "From the time I do good, I have seen evil days; let us do evil, so that good things may come." Then, if one is not found sober, he swallows him alive, like Hades. But if even in these things he cannot influence him, then he brings upon him prosperity, and exalts him, and brings upon him a deceit greater and worse than all passions. For this is what makes man proud and without fear; this casts the mind into the abyss of pleasures; this makes man not to know God, nor to know his own weakness, nor to consider the day of death and judgment; for this is the path of all evils. He who loves to walk on this path of freedom and relaxation finds himself reaching the chambers of death; this is the path of which the Lord said: "Wide and broad is the path that leads to perdition" (Matt. VII, 13).
XI: Discourse of Saint John Chrysostom on the Knowledge of God, and on the Holy Theophany, and on the Newly Illuminated.
Just as those who have their bodily eyesight damaged need guides, lest by falling into a pit through ignorance they perish, so also do those who have the eyes of the soul darkened need those who will lead them to the piety of God, lest by falling into an abyss of evils through ignorance they be destroyed. And all humanity was previously enveloped in such an evil of blindness; and as it happens to those with blurred vision, that instead of things that exist they often see things that do not exist, so also those who have the eyes of the soul dazzled saw, instead of the one and only God, many that do not exist. But the physician of bodies and souls sent the Law and the prophets, healing the blindness of men, and leading them to the knowledge of Him, but men turned away from the healing through the Law and the prophets. For they shut their eyes so as not to see, and stopped their ears so as not to hear, according to the word of Isaiah, so that they might not turn and be healed. Similar things to these another prophet, Jeremiah, cried out, saying: "We have treated Babylon, and it was not healed; no cure has come up in it" (Jer. LI, 9). Babylon is interpreted as 'confusion'; for humanity has been confused by blindness. But the manner is that of the best physicians; the healing of chronic wounds surpasses the disciples. So also the only-begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, seeing that the impiety of men had not been healed through the Law and the prophets, arrives from the heavenly vaults, born of the holy Virgin Mary, first by the cross putting the devil to flight, second, capturing death, and by His three-day resurrection granting peace to those near and to those far off, He led all to the knowledge of Himself. B Where, O death, is your sting? From God is blessedness. And seeing this, the prophet David says: "Blessed are they whose iniquities were forgiven, and whose sins were covered" (Ps. XXXI, 1). Who is able to forgive sins, except God alone (Mark II, 7)? For men blessing men profit nothing, but they often even harm, as the prophet Isaiah says: "My people, those who bless you, lead you astray, and disturb the path of your feet" (Isa. III, 12); but He who blesses, together with the word, also grants the grace. And take the proof of the word. The Lord said to Peter, when He asked the disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I am?" "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but My Father who is in heaven," not the one who is considered earthly. You have spoken the beatitude, give the grace of the kingdom of heaven. Do you see the grace following the word? And lately in the beatitudes decreed to us we heard each one of them having the grace corresponding to it. But let us return to the set subject of the present feast. For the presence of an earthly king is accustomed to grant joy and gladness to those present; but a heavenly King coming down from heaven to earth here, not only do we who are present rejoice, but the whole earth is glad. For if when the sun rises, all that is beneath is illuminated, when the Sun of righteousness has risen, how will not every soul be illuminated in this light-bearing night, concerning which the prophet David, seeing by the Holy Spirit, said: "That darkness shall not be darkened from Thee, and night shall be as day to be illuminated" (Ps. CXXXVIII, 11, 12); and again: "As is its darkness, so is its light." Do you see that he is recounting concerning the present night? For just as its darkness is seen by the eyes of the flesh, so its light appears to the eyes of the soul. O light-bearing and wonderful night, brighter than every day. Night indeed succeeds every day, but night does not succeed this light-bearing night: "For the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it" (John I, 5). Do not attend to the letter, but understand by the Spirit. Light is the only-begotten Son of God; night is the works of darkness. Therefore, when you are illuminated in your soul that is in darkness by the present light, no longer do the works of darkness grasp you; for that is why the Light arrived, that He might put to flight the darkness; the Life arrived, that it might abolish death; and first He announces the good news to the shepherds through angels, not that they should append the miracles to mere words, but that the shepherds, having taken the opportunity regarding the rational sheep, should announce the good news of the philanthropy of God to the peoples. In the holy place of Bethlehem we hastened to render the owed worship to the Lord God of us all, who deemed it worthy to become man for our sake. For He Himself was seen upon the earth, having descended from heaven for our salvation, without having left those places devoid of His presence; "For I fill heaven and earth," says the Lord, says Isaiah (Jer. XXIII, 24); and again David: "If I go up to heaven, You are there; C if I go down to Hades, You are present" (Ps. CXXXVIII, 8). Not yet has He happened upon earth having become man, and already the prophet signifies the presence in Hades. It is no great thing, therefore, if we also, having traversed this small distance from the city, came to this place to worship.