In Catechumenos
A In the external arenas many undergo the labor of the race, but only one carries off the crown of victory; though the labors and sweats of the contest belong to many, the joy of the prize belongs to one. In this spiritual arena of the Church, however, there is one race of piety for all, but the number of crowns is equal to that of the runners. And there is nothing surprising in this; for the Giver of rewards is not destitute, but Christ stands in the midst of the contestants, accepting the good intentions of each as a race, and distributing rewards with an equal scale. For He does not prefer the powerful and neglect the beggar; He does not admit the glorious and reject the weak; He does not crown the old and despise the young; He does not smile upon the just and look askance at the sinner who runs to Him, but toward all alike He spreads the net of His compassion; to all alike He draws them into the nets of piety. For He has proposed this as common to all, and, as we have just heard, that precept of kindness cries out to all: *Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you* (Matt. XI, 28). Come, all you who in traversing this salt sea of life have entrusted the rudders of your salvation to me: I have an art contrary to the devilish reefs; I bring you a trade superior to the waves. Come, all; a great storm of sin is pressing in: I have for men a saving harbor, a pool that suffocates the devil. O calling, which denudes sin! O voice, which snatches away the entire substance of the demon! O medicine, which pervades every sick person! O gift, flowing without obstacle to those who will! O fountain, which gives drink hastily to all who thirst for life! For He says: *If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink* (John VII, 37): if any man thirst for the streams of salvation, if any man desires living water, if any man speaks according to true knowledge, if any man thirsts for piety. For Judas thirsted for betrayal, Herod thirsted for the destruction of the children, the Synagogue thirsted for the slaughter of the prophets, Jezebel thirsted for the vineyard of Naboth, Delilah thirsted for the weakness of Samson, Herodias thirsted for the blood of the Forerunner, the Jews thirsted for the Savior; but they thirsted with a thirst that brings destruction, they thirsted with a thirst that brings fever, they thirsted with a thirst that is the cause of vengeance. But if any man thirst, as Zacchaeus thirsted for my sight, as the woman with the issue of blood thirsted for healing, as the harlot thirsted for the washing away of sin, as Matthew the evangelist thirsted for the dignity, as the thief thirsted for paradise, as Thomas thirsted for the touch of the life-giving wounds, as the Ethiopian eunuch thirsted for the baptism, concerning which, burning, he cried out to the Apostle: *Behold water, what does hinder me to be baptized?* (Acts VIII, 36). Hear, O catechumen: the fount of life not only calls, but even asks: *Come*, He says, *all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you*. I am prepared for the benefit of my whole race; I wish to emit a fountain of gifts like rain. Come, all; even if there are many thousands of the infirm, let them approach. Let no one think that the physician is failing while I offer a remedy to the whole world; I do not tire in healing, just as I was not slothful in creating; the world does not diminish my supply while it shares my gifts; I do not become poor when I distribute; when I am poured out I rejoice, when I am drawn from I am delighted; while I am poured forth I am not diminished; stolen away, I am pleased with myself, of which thing the woman with the issue of blood is a witness, who stole it; and therefore she was crowned in both soul and body. Come, all you who labor. Do you see, O lover of Christ, how great is the liberality of the Creator toward our race? Why then do you neglect, O catechumen? Why do you delay? Approach the Lord calling you. Do you not hear the wise man urging you and saying: *Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and do not defer it from day to day. For suddenly the wrath of the Lord shall come* (Eccli. V, 8, 9)? For He cuts off the time, while He sees the nature of men easily and in a short time changing. For many who deferred to a very short time thought that they had provided wisely for themselves on both sides, nor did they expect that they would fall from their hope, and thinking that they were meanwhile gaining a use of life, were snatched away before they could enjoy the necessities, and were delivered to eternal punishments and torments; and when they thought they were stealing a short time, they did not consider that their whole salvation was being snatched away, suddenly snatched away before old age. Therefore the Lord Christ called the death of man a thief: *As a thief*, He said, *in the night, so He will come* (I Thess. V, 2); so that, being troubled by those indefinite snares, we might not hope for a longer established time for ourselves. For that longer delay is not in our power, we cannot live as long as we wish. Therefore the knowledge of the hour of our translation was not entrusted to us, so that we might diminish the immoderate license to sin, induced to temperance by the fear of death. Let us number those who are daily carried to the tombs, let us observe how among the old a great number of youths is mingled. Why therefore, O catechumen, do you neglect the security of your soul, and, having dismissed the fear of death, do you bring before me time as a strong contestant? How many men enjoying the pleasures of life, and boasting of the good health of the flesh as if of an immutable power, were suddenly snatched into the tomb like dust by a whirlwind? And so, since we cannot define the time of life, let us not shake off the fear of death. How many negligent ones, who expected a long life, did a sudden conflagration reduce to dust? How many were swallowed by an earthquake? How many did the sea overwhelm as they sailed? How many did a chasm of the earth suddenly swallow? How many travelers did overflowing rivers snatch away? How many perished falling into wild beasts or robbers? How many did the sword of enemies harvest? How many were removed by sudden diseases? How many were led out of their country and underwent death, nor were they thought worthy of a common burial? Do you not hear the Lord frequently crying out, and announcing the nearness of the end: *The axe is laid to the root of the trees* (Matt. III, 10)? What axe? Death. What root? The life of man. Who cuts it down? The sentence of the Lord, which in cutting down cries out, *You are dust, and into dust you shall return* (Gen. III, 19). Therefore, departing from that, let us approach the Christ who calls; let us run, having been translated from darkness to light, let us run to the Lord who confers rest upon us, subduing the flesh to the spirit; let us run, let us hasten more swiftly than death; let us anticipate the angels who come to patronize us. This life is as a word; the span of life passes by like a shadow. Time is consumed, habits are not changed for the better; works go before, the judge awaits, the command urges, the angels are present, the conscience accuses. What shall we do when called to the judgment? Let us therefore love a good plan of life, let us have a hatred for the habit of sinning, let us take care for our future defense, let us obtain purity of life: for *they who are clean of heart shall see God* (Matt. V, 8): let us love the Lord’s crowns; with great alacrity let us run the race of life, having in the struggle Christ Himself as the coach cooperating: *For to them that love God*, He says, *all things work together unto good* (Rom. VIII, 28). But hear what is more wonderful: at the time of the contest the Lord fights with the contestants, and in the hour of victory B the Giver of the prize sits: He anoints for the fight, and a little later He Himself imposes the crowns; He struggles together, He gives strength to the one struggling, He provides the handles of victory, and a little later He renders the reward to the victor. Whence is this clear? Hear David crying out: *I am with him in tribulation: I will deliver him, and I will glorify him* (Psal. XC, 15). O ineffable kindness! O goodness surpassing all speech! For see what the Lord says: In the time of tribulation, He says, I am with him: I come into a share of the labor with him, I deliver him from danger. All these things I do, struggling together. Then as the Giver of the prize and Lord, He promotes liberality, saying: *I will glorify him. With length of days I will fill him*. This the Lord is accustomed to do in him who spends freely: He strengthens the hand
the poor man by receiving his benevolence. When you hear of “Christ’s hand,” understand the palm that holds the ends of the earth. He stretches out his right hand therefore in an ineffable manner, secretly receives the small coins, marks the face of the giver, accepts the good deed on earth, and prepares the rewards in heaven. And how and when does the repayment take place? When, he says, the Son of man comes in the glory of his Father, and all the holy angels with him, then he shall sit upon the throne of his glory: and all nations shall be gathered before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats: and he sets the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left: and he shall say to them on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father; for you have found the Judge to be a debtor; do not fear the throne, but run as to one who has been benefited, to him who is seated; what I have set forth for you, I bring forward—a promissory note; I do not hide the good deed, lest you be deprived of the philanthropy; I do not deny the gift; for I hasten to the repayment. Come, you who have shown the seed of compassion, I have prepared for you the harvest of joy. Say, Master, the cause. I was hungry, and you gave me to eat. Let no one therefore send away the poor man as if he were destitute; for in despising the hungry, he overlooks the Judge of the ages to come. Let us therefore acquire as a debtor him who is about to judge there. For he who has pity on the poor, he says, lends to God (Prov. 19:17). Let us strive to be worthy to be set on the right side, let us hate the loathsome kinship of the goats, let us pursue the communion of the lambs; for we have the power to choose the better part. For this reason the Judge foretold to us that terrifying tribunal there, and the severity of the sentence, so that we might avoid suffering evil by learning of the threat. Let us not pass by the command of Paul which says: Godliness is a great gain (1 Tim. 6:6). It is not subject to an account-taker (nor in the time of the Judge is it a matter of severity): he does not fear the accuser’s outcry at the throne; he does not await condemnation, but awaits an intercession; for it is an enjoyment of goods that lacks nothing, an inalienable wealth, an unending honor, an untreasured gain, a help that leads the way, a grace that accompanies, a healing of the heart, an exultation of the soul, a glorying of the conscience, an accessible apology, an occasion for boldness. Godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come; of which may we also be found worthy to attain, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
A MONITION ON THE FOLLOWING ORATION
This short oration appears to be a fragment; nor is it something we would venture to restore concerning those things which have perished. For we are not compelled to make a work worthy of darkness public, unless the earlier Savile had published it. We usually interpret a text that is generally obscure or corrupted by conjecture.
THE WRETCHED ARE PREACHED AGAINST WHO CORRUPT THE VIRGINS OF CHRIST
A What is this for us, O miserable and wretched guides of evil desires? How do you wish to escape the hands of the living God? What will you do when he who has betrothed this one comes to judge the living and the dead? And what defense will you make, having committed such lawless deeds against the brides of Christ? Have you so despised this? Have you not trembled? Have you not feared? Have you not shuddered? Have you not spared your own souls? Do you not know that there is no other lawlessness such as this? Do you not know that the virgins are the temple of God? Do you not know that the Spirit of God was dwelling in them? Those who daily converse with Christ concerning the dowry that is everlasting and remaining for ages, and whom Paul brought forward to present as chaste virgins to Christ, you have mingled with mire and stench? B O how have you dared to corrupt the brides of Christ, being procurers of evil desire? If one were to dare to commit such things against a fellow-servant maiden, he does not go unpunished; but against the bride of Christ—so to be armed, do you then expect to escape justice? Have you not heard the Apostle saying, "Judgment is merciless to him who has showed no mercy" (Jas. 2:13)? And what then is more unpitiable than this? For with one sword you work two murders, killing both yourselves and them; for this is death in the sight of those who are wise. O who would not groan? Who would not mourn? Who would not beat his breast and lament the untimely murder? Who would not weep for the premature death? Who would not feel pain at the unjust wound? Provision and dowries are guarded under the law for the man who is joined in incorruptibility to the heavenly bridegroom Christ; and is virginity betrayed to the adulterer? C But someone will say: "I was joined to Christ by necessity, not by choice to be joined to him, but to a fellow-servant." Miserable woman, have you dared at all to speak for yourself, that even if you did not have the intention or love toward him, the Master desired you? Hear, O wretched one, and I will speak to you, and be convinced even by the things of the world. I speak of worldly matters: D If one man carries off a girl in place of another, as the equality of status is tested, the abduction is authoritative for the one who did it, and the law and the king yield to the abduction. For he did not abduct and take in order to insult, but in order to honor, and the dowries and gifts prevail. If then for men there is no change, since it follows the original purpose, what will you plead, you who were abducted by the Master beyond all expectation? For I do not call that necessity by which you were deemed worthy to be joined to the Master, but the economy and philanthropy of the Master; so that under the guise of necessity you, the unworthy one, might gain the immortal marriage that is above you. Do not therefore say, "I chose to be a virgin by necessity"; do not be ungrateful to the heavenly bridegroom, because he deemed you worthy to be taken without a dowry, ignoble, and a slave; for you are his slave, even if you do not wish it. Wherefore I entreat, O virgin, that you become obedient without any contradiction and shameful thoughts. And if you have not yet renounced the spiritual marriage, guard the covenants securely; but if you have transgressed and fallen, rise up, rise up, I entreat. For the good and philanthropic Master stands by you, who was insulted by you; he does not cast away your living together; give him your hand. Since you have insulted the first right hand, do not renounce this one. He does not disdain your wounds; for he heals the wound of the soul and the body; for he is a compassionate physician. Uncover the passion to him through confession, so that he may invisibly place upon you the saving medicine; for he did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He came to you who are lying down; rise up then, take up your mat, and go into your house, that is, into the harbor of repentance. No longer give heed either to the carnal eyes, or to those of the mind upon that adulterer, the procurer of Gehenna and the undying worm. Take up, he says, take it up from there; for I do not want you to lie down. Tear apart the symbol of sin; wash yourself with tears, not in the font, but in the church; for God is able to grant you your first dignity. Do not teach the potter how he should correct his own vessel. Have you sinned? Be silent; do not say, "And how is it possible for me to arrive at my first dignity?" Do not say this, O virgin; for God is the one who justifies, and who is he that condemns? Hear the Master, how he upbraids despair through Jeremiah the prophet, saying: "Is there no balm in Gilead, or is there no physician there? Why then has the healing of the daughter of my people not gone up?" O the compassionate physician! He does not reproach for the transgression, but for the neglect; he did not say, "Why were you struck?" but, "Why were you not healed?" He did not say, "Why did you fall?" but "Why did you not rise?" That the Lord desires to present you more brilliant through repentance, hear him speaking through Isaiah the prophet: "If they be [scarlet]..."