A can understand the ecclesiastical canons, whether the Lord commands in baptism to forgive the crime of homicide. For observing that Cain had treacherously killed his brother, and had fallen into seven crimes (for he was the first among men to kill, the first to feign, the first to lie, the first to pollute the earth with blood, the first to open the gates of death—for death had not yet leveled man, if Cain through envy had not rendered him thus), observing therefore that the murder committed by Cain was liable to seven faults, Peter approaches the Lord, asking in a mysterious way: "If my brother sins against me, how often shall I forgive him? Up to seven times?" That is, dost thou command that I forgive the fratricide of the Cainite in baptism? But what does the Lord say to him? Not only the crime of Cain seven times in baptism shalt thou forgive, but also that of Lamech seventy times seven: in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
CONCERNING THAT WHICH IS SAID, "THOU HAST A DEMON," AND, "DO NOT JUDGE ACCORDING TO APPEARANCE" (John 7:20 AND 24)
Just as the bright moon, tinting the darkness of night with a white color, and beautifully showing the way to sailors and travelers who journey by land and sea, gives them the faculty to proceed without hindrance: so also the teacher of the Church, like the moon, illuminating the brilliance of divine cognition with his words, leads both those who cross the saltiness of pleasures in the sea of this life and those who walk in the Christian life, over to the truth, Christ. Divine Scripture is wont to call the teachers of the Church, who lead an honest life, according to the image of the moon and stars, as the prophet David says: "The moon and the stars which thou hast founded" (Ps. 8:4). Moreover, it is clearer to see from the words of the Apostle the distinction of the saints, which is signified by a certain order by the name of sun, moon, and stars: "There is," he says, "one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for star differs from star in glory" (1 Cor. 15:41). Therefore, we show you the lightnings of the evangelical sentences. B They said, it says, to the judging Lord: "Thou hast a demon"; but He: "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." O Jews, you say that I have a demon: compare my works with yours, and subjecting them to the examination of your conscience, say, who has a demon, I or you? "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." You, passing through the Red Sea as through a grassy field, received in the desert in an ineffable way sweet water flowing from the rock, and the quail falling from the middle of the air; and after so many and such great and many other benefits received, when Moses ascended the mountain, having fashioned a calf, you adored a legion of demons; but I, coming, drove that legion of demons away from men. Who then has a demon? I or you? Say. "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." You sacrifice your sons and daughters to demons; I indeed raised from the dead the son of the widow and the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue; the former, lying in a bier, I restored to health by the touch of my hand, sending the power of healing into him who was placed inside; the latter, with a word, I aroused from death or from sleep. Who then has a demon? I or you? "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." You, from the fabricated words of Jezebel, having killed Naboth, changed the vine, the mother of joy, into a field of vegetables—the food of the sick, according to the Apostle: "But he who is weak eats vegetables" (Rom. 14:2); but I, to those who, like base vegetables, had fallen into infirmity, having restored them to health in the twinkling of an eye, gave the food of heavenly bread, and again restored them to the same order, saying: "I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15:5). Who then has a demon? I or you? C "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." You sawed and dissolved Isaiah with a wooden saw; I indeed, by the participation of the wood of the cross, joined together and raised up human nature dissolved by death. Who then has a demon? I or you? Say. "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." You suffocated the prophet Jeremiah by throwing him into a muddy pit; but I drew the prophetic word, dead in the mire of your pleasures, out, and established it in the souls of those who obey. Who then has a demon? I or you? Say. "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." You killed that great Zacharias between the temple and the altar; and Zacharias signifies "memorial of God"; but I, coming, established this Zacharias, the memorial of God, killed by you between the temple and the altar—that is, between body and soul (for the temple of the soul is the body, and the altar of God is the soul, in which the oblation of rational worship and the incense of prayers are sent forth)—I established this memorial of God, making it alive, in the hearts of men, so that all who received it might offer sacrifices to God. Who then has a demon? I or you? Say. "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." The disciples of the Lord were mindful of this saying. For when they were prohibited by the Scribes and Pharisees from teaching in the name of Christ: "Did we not strictly charge you not to teach in the name of Jesus? and behold you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching" (Acts 5:28); D then they answer them, at the same time warning them not to judge unjustly, and saying: "Whether it is just in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge" (Acts 4:19). See also, beloved, the prophet in the Psalm which was just now sung to us, clearly speaking about the Lord's coming in the flesh, and warning that one must not judge unjustly: "God," he says, "stood in the congregation of gods, and in the midst he will judge the gods" (Ps. 81:1). But who was the God who stood in the congregation of gods, if not entirely Christ, who stood in the synagogue of the Jews, who once had been gods? To whom the answer was given: "I said, You are gods." For as far as pertained to God's kindness, He called them gods; but as far as concerned their own wickedness, they were dying like men, and falling like one of the princes; not princes who are men on earth, but from those who had fallen from the heavenly vaults, of whom Paul says: "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, and powers, and world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12). Therefore, "God stood in the congregation of gods, and in the midst he will judge the gods." He will judge the gods from those who were once gods, the Jews. And the Holy Spirit says to them: "How long will you judge iniquity, and accept the faces of sinners?" (Ps. 81:2). "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." Then again the Holy Spirit: "Judge for the orphan and the needy." See for me how He brings everything around to Christ, how He teaches everything, wishing to take away their iniquity: for He says: "Judge for the orphan and the needy, justify the humble and the poor" (Isai. 1:17). We are not to be in doubt about the fact that the Lord is heard as an orphan. For that He is needy can easily be learned from the words of the Apostle: "Who though he was rich, for our sake became needy" (2 Cor. 8:9); but who is the orphan, if not He who has neither father nor mother? Indeed, hear the Apostle saying about Christ: "Without father, without mother, without genealogy" (Heb. 7:3). Without a father on earth is the Lord according to his humanity; without a mother in the heavens according to his divinity. "Judge for the orphan and the needy," who for our sake became needy. For He became all things to all men, more than an apostle, that He might win all.
and the poor. See how he gives instruction regarding Christ, how he teaches everything, wishing to rekindle the injustice happening at their hands. A For, he says, judge for the orphan and the poor; justify the humble and the needy. But perhaps one of the listeners will say, and we must show the solution to the problem, that the Lord has heard "orphan." For it is easy to learn the meaning of "poor" from the words of the Apostle: "Who, though he was rich, for our sake became poor." But who would be an orphan, if not one who has neither father nor mother? Hear the Apostle saying regarding Christ: "Without father, without mother, without genealogy." B He is without father on earth according to his humanity, and without mother in the heavens according to his divinity. Judge for the orphan and the poor—for him who became poor for our sake. For he became all things to all men, more than the Apostle, that he might save all. Justify the humble and the needy. "Learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart." But what does he say? "They have not known, nor have they understood; they walk in darkness." They have not known God the Word, who became flesh for our sake; for the Word became flesh, not through change, C but in the way that he dwelt among us. They did not recognize the eternal form of the divinity in the image of the servant; they did not know—for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But neither have they understood; for they did not understand the power of his miracles, of which he had images as symbols; they did not understand the treasure hidden in the field—that is, the divinity hidden in the flesh, and dwelling in the heavens with the Father; they did not understand the things that took place regarding Lazarus; D they did not understand the stone rolled away from the tomb, because he said that he was lifting away the senseless heart of men; they did not understand the tomb itself, and Lazarus lying inside for four days, of what it was a type—that the tomb was containing within the image of a body the mind that had died and been put to death. For indeed our body was a tomb before the coming of Christ, as he says in the Gospel: "Whitewashed tombs." Indeed we were tombs filled with dead sins, having within the mind put to death by pleasures, the four-day-old and already-stinking mind—the mind composed of the four general virtues: prudence, justice, courage, temperance. A Similarly, the body is composed of four elements: hot, cold, moist, and dry. They have not known, nor have they understood; for those who have not received Christ, the light, walk in darkness. "And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." "Let all the foundations of the earth be shaken"—not of the trodden earth, but of that concerning which he says: "For you are earth, and to earth you shall return." For the foundation of the body is the soul; once it departs, as if the foundation had given way, the house of our tabernacle falls. B "Let all the foundations of the earth be shaken," that is, let souls be moved and transferred from idolatry to the knowledge of God. Then, "Arise, O God," he says, "judge the earth." Arise, you who were crucified; arise, you who bound our sins upon your own head in the image of thorns. Arise, O God, judge the earth. He said "the earth," not "the heaven." Do not fear, beloved. If you have been reborn of water and Spirit, you are heaven; "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." As is the earthly one, such are the earthly ones; and as is the heavenly one, such are the heavenly ones. C "Arise, O God, judge the earth," for you shall receive as your inheritance all the nations. You are Christ, to whom the Father has given authority over all, authority to judge all. For indeed, "The Father judges no one; for all judgment he has given to the Son, that all may honor the Son, as they honor the Father." You shall receive as your inheritance all the nations. For to you the Father said: "Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession." To God therefore let us give glory in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
On Repentance
Wishing to adorn the heads of those who love to hear with a crown woven of gold-colored flowers, we pluck from the unwithering meadows of Christ flowers of surpassing beauty, and we invite the angels who are commanded to toil with us by the divine Spirit. D For worthy is the people of God, or rather his temple, to be adorned with such a crown, as many as have kept the temple of God unstained and undefiled, having illuminated the souls that were in darkness with purple lips and the bright pearl, and having flashed upon them the light of piety. Extend to them hands of love, and raise them as though from the depth of ignorance to the wondrous light of hope. And as many of you as, through lack of vigilance, have corrupted the temple of God with self-indulgent passions, do not despair of yourselves unto the end, but through repentance renew it again. For just as a prudent man, having diligently restored his house that had been ruined and corrupted through negligence, rebuilds it, so that nothing is lacking in the house that was built from the beginning; A in like manner, the mind which is the dweller in our soul renews through repentance the soul that has slipped and fallen because of sins. For repentance raises up the fallen soul, and makes the one who had become alienated from God his friend again; repentance drives away the darkness that has beset the soul and casts out death; repentance raises up the cursed soul, sets straight the one who is limping, heals the crushed, and makes healthy the wounded. Let us run to repentance, the sponsor of the kingdom, the eraser of sins, the mother of salvation. Repentance is the driving out of the devil, the tripping up of demons. B Repentance, for whose sake Jonah the prophet fled from the face of God, having overturned the death-dealing decree determined by God, and having shown the herald of death to be a liar; for you, by intercepting the counsel of God against the decree regarding the Ninevites, did indeed hinder it, and showered upon the Ninevites the springs of life in abundance. Repentance, falling before God with tears, granted to Hezekiah the king life in exchange for death. Repentance, running from earth to heaven, and surpassing the angelic powers, and approaching the divine throne of the Lord of Spirits, and becoming a companion in conversation with God, C and as if from its own treasures receiving life from the treasures of God, and bestowing it with confidence upon those who hold you. Repentance, the physician of the passions, who softens threats, and quenches the fire of anger, and calms the passions, and provides unquenchable lamps of friendship. O repentance, born in the heart of man, and immediately dwelling in the heavens! Finding you, the blessed David escaped the punishment of eternal torment for his two sins, I mean murder and adultery. Repentance, dissolving the bonds of sins, and saving those who have secured their souls. D Repentance, sending up from the midst of the heart a sigh, makes God look with favor; repentance, watering the eyes with hot tears, illuminates the stained souls with baptism. O repentance, the medicine bestowed upon mortal man that provides immortality! The soul that possesses you says: "I am black, but beautiful; black because of the gloomy mourning of sin, beautiful because of the good light from repentance." O repentance, the advocate of Peter, and the defender and co-avenger of Paul! If the Christ-killing Pharisee finds you, he becomes a Christ-bearing Galilean. Repentance, working like a mine upon the torn soul, immediately transforms the thorn-bearing heart. Some say that when the eagle has grown old, having ascended to a lofty height and let itself down into a most clear spring, it is renewed. Such is repentance; for, having raised the heart that possesses it to a lofty height, it wipes away the oldness of sins in the spring of tears, and clothes it in the newness of the Spirit. A For this reason, the Spirit also says to the soul that is in repentance: "Your youth shall be renewed like the eagle's." Knowing that this is more effective than all the virtues, the great physician of our souls provides counsel, saying: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Approach