immaculate is the vessel, a treasure without blemish, an alabaster jar unspotted, a birth without seed, a maiden without a husband, a virgin without a bridal chamber, a rock not hewn, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed, a field not sown, a branch not planted, a birth not conceived by thought. If you do not believe me when I say this, wait for the time of the birth. But if Mary weeps and groans like other women, He who is born of Mary is a man and not God. Joseph answers: If these things are as you have said, O archangel, *Why did the nations rage, and the peoples meditate on empty things?* To whom the angel: If you wish to learn, understand quickly: for the Lord said to Him who is born: *You are My Son, this day I have begotten You* (Ps. II, 7). Amen.
On that which is said: "Whatever you bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven" (Matt. XVIII, 18); and on the parable of the hundred sheep, and on the saying of the Evangelist: "If two shall agree," et cetera; and on that which is said: "How often, if my brother sins against me, shall I forgive?" (ibid. vv. 19, 21)
The fountain of water, having one nature, provides a remedy for thirst to many and diverse creatures. For both herds of cattle and flocks of sheep run to it to drink, and troops of quadrupeds and approaching kinds of wild beasts hasten there and drink, and a multitude of birds flies to the same place and draws water, so that it may quench the heat of thirst. And it is not only for brute beasts that it provides use; it also supplies drink abundantly to rational men: in short, every nature of reptiles, winged creatures, quadrupeds, and rational men draws water from one source. Such, beloved, is the nature of the divine Scriptures, even though it is one. For because it springs from the one wisdom of God, it imbues with wisdom the many and diverse hearts of men. From it teachers draw wisdom, disciples are instructed, the good odor of the Churches flows, the thirsty receive drink, the darkened are illuminated. That these things are so, is easily learned from the Gospel just read. For what does the Lord say? *Amen I say to you, whatever you bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven.* It is one voice, which, divided in various ways according to the use of each person, is adapted to the aged, to the young, to women, to virgins, to men, to disciples, and to masters. B *Whatever you bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven.* To you He has given the power of binding and loosing: you have bound yourself with the chains of avarice, loosen yourself through the commandment of mercy toward the poor; you have bound yourself with the goad of pleasures, loosen yourself through temperance; you have bound yourself with the perverse faith of Eunomius, loosen yourself through an orthodox confession. Teachers, bind the doctrines of Eunomius, Arius, and Macedonius, and loosen for us the evangelical meanings of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; bind the demons who fight against the faithful through prayers sent up to God, and loosen the Gentiles who are being converted in baptism, breaking the chains of their own sins; bind by excommunication those who have sinned after baptism, and loosen them when they have done penance, and receive them again as brothers: for that saying is true: *Whatever you loosen upon earth shall be loosened also in heaven.* For the apostles also did this. Paul once bound him who had committed fornication at Corinth, and afterward loosened him when he repented from the heart; Peter bound him who after baptism wished to buy the gift of God with money, and afterward loosened him when he fell down from the heart C. Finally, they bound many who were sinning and not repenting, but others who were repenting they loosened. Peter bound Ananias and Sapphira, who were tempting the Spirit of the Lord, and he loosened Tabitha from death when he raised her from the dead; he loosened Cornelius the centurion who believed, and he bound Simon Magus in Rome, who was playing with magical arts; Paul bound Elymas the magician when he blinded him with a word, and he loosened the girl from the Pythonic demon; Judas bound himself with the rope of betrayal, and Peter loosened his own denial through repentance; Paul bound himself while he was persecuting the Church, but afterward he loosened himself on the road when he recognized the way of truth. The prophets also bound and loosened many things. Elias the Thesbite bound the clouds of rain, so that they would not provide rain to the impious, and he loosened them again when King Achab fell down before him; his disciple Eliseus loosened Naaman the Syrian from leprosy, and bound Giezi, who had lied for the sake of money, and through a curse brought leprosy upon him; Daniel loosened the dream of Nabuchodonosor, and bound the arms of the Chaldeans armed against them; he loosened the temple of idols, by overturning Bel and killing the dragon, and he bound the mouths of the lions devouring blood. The three children also bound the power of fire, not being burned by it, and they loosened the king’s command, not worshiping his image. More than all of these, our Lord Jesus Christ bound and loosened. For He loosened the enmity that had arisen between us and God, and bound the prince of evils, the serpent, through whom the enmity had arisen; He bound all the demons who were fighting against man, and He loosened all men who were agitated by them; He bound the flaming sword brandished against us, and He loosened the thief on the cross, whom He brought into the delights of paradise; He bound the fratricide Cain, condemning him to tremors, and He loosened the tremors of the paralytic, with the use of his limbs restored; He loosened Isaac from the binding of Abraham, and for him bound the ram held in the thicket of Sabec; He bound Judas, who loved silver, and He loosened the prince of publicans, Zaccharus, who distributed his money to the poor; He bound the Jewish swine, whom He handed over to demons, and He loosened the bound ass and her colt, having sent His disciples; He bound the unfruitful fig tree with its roots withered, and He loosened the woman who was bowed down, saying to her: *Be of good heart, daughter* (Matt. IX, 22), *thou art loosened from thy infirmity.* He loosened Peter, who was bound in chains, and bound the homicide Herod, handing his members over to be eaten by worms; He strengthened the orthodox Church founded upon the firm rock, and loosened the tabernacle of the heterodox, built upon shifting sand; the Jews also bound Christ, but Christ loosened their temple, He overturned Jerusalem, He dissolved their legal requirements, He abrogated circumcision, He destroyed their synagogues, He snatched from them the law and the prophets, and He scattered them like chaff through all the cities and regions. The devil also bound the Lord when He was put upon the cross, but Christ burst his insatiable belly, his voracious teeth; through His own firm rock He loosened his nerves, He crushed his clothing, He cast down his hair, He brought upon him eternal and dark mourning and lamentation, because he led man, who was moving in joy, into the mourning of sins. He extinguished his impudent eyes, He covered with shame his disgraceful face, He pierced him with sharp spears, He transfixed him with a triple sword, He dissipated his hope, He searched out his hidden nests, and scattered his treasure chests in every wind; He laid low his monstrous offspring of demons and grandchildren, He burned with inextinguishable fire his man-made idols, He cast his bed into the abyss, He tore asunder his dark wings, He opened all the gates of hell, and having loosened all the captives and having taken them with Him, He ascended like a giant into heaven to the Father, as the prophet says: *He shall exult like a giant to run his way: His going out is from the end of heaven, and His meeting even to the end of heaven.*
as a giant to run his way: from the highest heaven is His out-going, and His course even to the highest heaven, and there is none that shall hide himself from His heat." A He shall exult as a giant to run his way. He exulted, as was recently heard in the Gospel, because of the discovery of one lost sheep. For He left the ninety-nine sheep which were not wandering—that is, the angelic powers—upon the mountains—that is, in the heavens—and came to the wandering sheep, crying out and saying: "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I have not forgotten Your commandments." For having heard the voice of this wandering sheep, He bowed the heavens and descended and came to seek the wandering sheep, and having found it, He exulted. "He shall exult as a giant to run his way." He ran the path from the heavens to the earth exulting; then He ran from the earth to the nether regions; then having loosed all the souls there held by the devil, He ran down to the earth, and again from the earth B to the heavens to the Father, He leaped as a giant. "And there is none that shall hide himself from His heat." Hearing of Christ's heat, understand Him as the Sun of Righteousness. "And there is none that shall hide himself from His heat." For who, having been deadened by the coldness of death, will hide himself from the heat of the Spirit, and will not everyone rise from the dead? For He shall sound the trumpet, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.
Next, what follows, beloved? Although we have said a few words out of many regarding, "Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven," let us cast our minds upon the following verse: "Amen I say to you, that if two shall agree upon earth concerning any matter, whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done for them." Abraham, having agreed with Sarah his wife—he running to the oxen, and she hastening the bread—received a wondrous thing in their old age, reaping as fruit of the loins a child. Jacob the patriarch, having been of one mind with his mother, received the fruit of an eternal blessing. Moses and Aaron, having agreed, plundered the whole of Egypt, delivering the race of the Hebrews. Joshua and Caleb, having been of one mind, alone inherited the land of promise. Deborah with Barak, having agreed, defeated the most cruel tyrant. Judith, having been of one mind with her own handmaid, defeated the alien Holofernes. Tobias, having agreed with the angel, bound the homicide demon of his own bride, and opened the closed eyes of his father. Hezekiah and Isaiah, praying with one voice, laid low one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the aliens. Paul and Silas, C praying with one voice in the prison, caused the foundations of the prison to be shaken.
But it is also possible to understand the text in another way: "If two shall agree upon earth concerning any matter, whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done for them." If these two, which are much at variance and fighting—that is, flesh and spirit, for the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh—if these two agree, so that one may rule and the other serve, one be wise and the other not gainsay, then the Lord shall be between soul and flesh, and concerning any matter whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done for them. For many who practiced this were heard, as Elijah on the mountain, and Daniel in the den, and Jonah in the whale, and Hezekiah on the bed of his infirmity, and Peter in Joppa, and Cornelius in Caesarea. And many women also, even alone, praying were heard, as Sarah of Raguel in Ecbatana, and Judith in the upper room, and Susanna in the judgment of the lawless.
Then, he says, Peter approached and said to the Lord: "How often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" D And what does the Lord say to him? "I do not say to you, until seven times, but until seventy times seven." For since he heard the Lord saying, "Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven," he works out the promise of the Lord, desiring at once to learn, and how great is such philanthropic grace of the Lord. You said to us, "Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." How often, then, if my brother sins against me, shall I forgive him? Until seven times? And the Lord, having considered the poverty of his philanthropy towards his neighbor, said to him: "I say not to you, until seven times, but until seventy times seven. For you, as a poor man, have asked according to poverty; but I, as a God of great gift, have lavishly bestowed grace. Not only until seven times, but until seventy times seven."
But the word has a secret mystery. Unless the husbandman digs deep into the earth with a mattock, he does not find fruits suitable for the future season; so also we, unless we deepen our mind into the letter, we do not find the hidden treasure of the Spirit. "How often if my brother sins against me, shall I forgive him? Until seven times?" And why, indeed, did He not say, "Until eight times, or six times, or ten times, but until seven times?" Because God made all things in six days, and on the seventh day He rested from His works. Peter asks the Lord a mystery, desiring to learn ecclesiastical canons; for instance, "If my brother sins against me in all the days of his life, but on the last day of his life, for example, if on the seventh he repents, shall I forgive him?" The Lord answered, saying: "Not only in this age will you forgive him his sins, but also in the age to come you shall grant him [forgiveness], being longer than this age, seventy times seven." For He who said to you is true, that "whatsoever you shall lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
But let us work out the meaning even more deeply. "How often, if my brother sins against me—not against You, God, but against me—shall I forgive him?" The Lord to him: "Not only the sins against me shalt thou forgive until seven times, but rather even until seventy times seven." For what He said is true, that "Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven, neither in this present age, nor in the one to come." But thanks be to God, that we do not fear this sin; for we do not blaspheme the Holy Spirit, but we worship and glorify Him. But let us yet polish the word. For gold being smelted becomes brighter; so also the Scripture being polished is found clearer. "How often, if my brother sins against me, shall I forgive him, until seven times?" Since He knew that the law forgives sins to men in the week of this age; for it did not have the eighth day of the resurrection, for Christ, who has the resurrection day, had not yet arrived; whence also David, since he was under the law, seven times praises God in the day; for he says, "Seven times a day I have praised You;" not eight times—for Christ, the eighth day of the resurrection, had not yet come to me; I am still under the law, under the law I serve You; still I am a son of the handmaid, of the synagogue; for I have not yet been born of the free woman; wherefore he says, "I am Your servant, and the son of Your handmaid." For the mother of the Christians reborn in grace is free, as the Apostle says: "But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all."
How often then shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times? As if he were saying, "Do You command to forgive the offenses to my brothers, as the law (for this is what 'until seven times' means), or something more?" And the Lord superabounds the grace, saying: "Not only until seven times, but until seventy times seven." For as much as the Word excels the law, so much does grace [excel] the law; for the Word is not God from the law, but the law is from the Word. And it is possible to learn, beloved,
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.