Encomium on Saint John Chrysostom

^A Agite, come, let us all travel in spirit with her who is departing. Come, let us all in the longing of our hearts go down together to the tomb. Let us surround the most holy bed. Let us sing sacred hymns, chanting in this way: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you." Hail, predestined Mother of God. Hail, chosen before the ages by the counsel of God, most divine bud of the earth, dwelling-place of divine fire, most holy statue of the Holy Spirit, fountain of living water, paradise of the tree of life, branch of the divine vine, from which nectar and ambrosia flowed; river full of the spices of the Spirit, field of the divine grain, rose most radiant in virginity, and breathing the fragrance of grace, lily of royal vesture, ewe-lamb who brought forth the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, workshop of our salvation, higher than the angelic powers, handmaid and mother. ^B Come, let us surround the undefiled tomb, and draw from it divine grace. Come, let us carry the ever-virgin body with the arms of the soul, and let us enter inside the monument, and let us die together with her, indeed putting away the passions of the body, but living together a life free from passion and undefiled; let us listen to the divine hymns poured forth from the immaterial angelic lips. Let us enter to worship, and let us know the strangeness of the mystery, how she has been raised, how she has been lifted high, how she has been taken up to heaven, how she stands above all the angelic ranks beside the Son; for there is nothing between Mother and Son. This third eulogy for your passing I have performed, in addition to the two, Mother of God, out of reverence and longing for the Trinity, ^C whom you served by the Father’s good pleasure, and by the power of the Spirit, having received the beginningless Word, the omnipotent wisdom and power of God. Accept, therefore, my zeal, which exceeds my strength, and grant salvation,, alienation from soul-destroying passions, relief from bodily sicknesses, a solution to difficulties, a calm condition of life, and the illumination of the Spirit. Kindle the love for your Son, order our life to be pleasing to Him, so that, having become participants of the blessedness that is with Him, and seeing you shining with the glory of your Son, we may send up sacred hymns, rejoicing eternally in the assembly of those who worthily celebrate the feasts of the Spirit, in honor of Him who through you wrought our salvation, Christ the Son of God and our God; to whom be glory and power, with the beginningless Father, and with the all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto all the endless ages of ages. Amen.

XI.

Homily of our Holy Father John Damascene in praise of Saint John Chrysostom.

α'. It was necessary, O golden-tongued John, for those who possess your

^A golden tongue to offer up a discourse flowing with gold, when attempting to touch upon your praises. Indeed, your own voice would have been needed, for it alone could worthily set forth its own proclamation—and even that, in the present time. For as long as you were alive upon the earth, before your departure, the forgetfulness of your achievements served as its own primary accuser. For the achievements of the wise are, in a sense, hidden from them, lest the truth of their being should waste away through mere opinion. But since the babbling of children is dear to their parents, and two mites are more acceptable to God than the contributions of the wealthy and magnificent (because He assesses these things not by the power of the gift, but by the will of the giver), and since the exhortation of a god-loving man is not to be rejected—for such a one is worthy of respect and owed the greatest thanks by us—I lay hold of ^B the task of speaking. Yet I do not do so recklessly, nor without restraint, but rather drawing back in fear, and offering only the first fruits of your divine and sacred teachings. For in unraveling such a subject, if I happen to reach something near to its worth, it will not be an ordinary or undeserved praise; but if I fail, which is the best thing not to suffer, though it be impossible to avoid, I beg forgiveness, bowing to the justice of this defeat, and grant me, I pray, the fire-breathing grace of the Spirit. For you yourself became the mouth of Christ, bringing forth from the unworthy that which is worthy—not just once or twice (for that is something many might do), but for whole houses, and peoples, and cities.

^C β'. For having begun with yourself, and having truly made yourself a Jerusalem, a city of the living God, as a habitation for the divine Spirit, you traversed the ends of the earth with your word—the regions of East and West, of the North and the South—so that the divine declaration of the inspired David was most aptly spoken of you: *Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world* (Ps. XVIII, 5; Rom. X, 18). For you became a student of Christ, who is in very truth the Wisdom and subsistent Power of God and the Father; and by following His footsteps as much as was within your power, you became an imitator of God, as far as is possible for a human. For you built the bounds and pillars of nature, the model of every virtue, upon the deepest foundation of humility, through which alone God has willed to save, and man is saved. ^D For there is no support more firm than this. And that humility draws its origin from faith is clear to everyone. For how could anyone submit to the One who is greater, if he did not believe that the divine Power is indeed both greater and most high?

γ'. You were also full of arguments, as a minister of the Word, through which you proclaimed the divine and subsistent Word of God the Father, with the aid of the Spirit, to be consubstantial with the Father; so that the unity to be adored in the Trinity might be clearly made known, and the Trinity might be recalled to the sum of unity, bringing forth a paradoxical union...

^A and distinction. Neither is the unity confused, nor is the Trinity divided at once; but in each the other is preserved, the unity of substance in the union of the hypostases remaining undivided in nature. These things you have taught the whole world: one deity in three hypostases, which has been fully and perfectly communicated to us in one of its hypostases; and this is the Son of God and the Word, who, being impassible, was united to a passible nature, and in this manner subsisting, and beginning to be, and being incarnate and thickened, and he who is simple in nature becoming composite by the reception of a nature, and truly known as of two natures, as bearing two natures after the union, from which he is one which is preached; each possessing perfectly according to its own definition and principle, the one being without beginning and uncreated, and the other having a beginning and being created; the one impassible, invisible, intangible, and uncircumscribed, and the other passible, visible, tangible, and circumscribed; each having volition, and free will, and capacity for operation, he himself accomplishing this and that, the one Christ, and Son, and Lord, the one working organically, the other working with authority; each having its own proper energy and free movement; but he being one, accomplishing this and that through both, having wrought our saving renewal, for which he compassionately emptied himself.

^C 4. Having learned these things, you taught us to build upon them the golden and silver splendor of excellent works, so that when we approach the judging fire, we might not be consumed as if we were stubble; but rather that we might be purified more and more, having all dross consumed, and being made pure, we might dwell eternally with him by whose fire we are kindled and made gods. Who will give me a tongue worthy of your praises? Who might transport me to that former day, when that divine fire, fashioned in the likeness of tongues, rested in one form and in many ways upon each of the apostles, so that the one dogma of the faith might be proclaimed in many languages, gathering into one those things which were divided, having dissolved the multifaceted error into which those who once built the tower had ^D evilly conspired, receiving as the reward of their impiety the confusion of language and through it the division of understanding? Who might impart to me this tongue of the Spirit, so that I might proclaim the supernatural excellences of this man who was full of the Holy Spirit? Would that an ocean of words and an abyss of thoughts might flow to me. But the grace of the Spirit is not subject to words. For he who desires to speak of the things of the Spirit without the Spirit attempts to see without light, and has darkness as his guide for his vision. Wherefore I return to him whom I have now proposed to praise, kindling the lamp of knowledge from him as from a divine torch, that he himself might be both the subject of the praise and the provider of the praises.

5. For who has been of such copious eloquence, of such great prudence and sagacity? The comparison between these qualities ^A is truly incomparable, so that it is obscure in which respect he was the more admirable. Who has stood forth as such a model of virtues, or ever become so known, that he had no need of words for instruction? Who has ever poured forth such showers of words, which were the consequences of his actions and drew their power from them, so that it is permissible to say of him what the divine Luke says of Jesus our God: *Which he began to do and to teach*? For from Him he had obtained both his being and his well-being. Who has so devoted himself to action and contemplation that, having trampled upon the pleasures of the flesh, he lived as if without a body, and together with God contemplated divine things? Who in faith has so composed and subjected his works, as if they were limbs of the body, to the soul? Who has so animated works with faith and rendered them vivid? ^B Though one might not absurdly concede that faith excels, yet the one without the other is useless and of no benefit. Who has so driven away gluttony, having enslaved that mistress, and having muzzled her when she was raging with a pious reasoning, becoming the master of her rather than her servant, so that he might be freed by a religious soul?

6. And so great was his continence ^C that he knew not whether, or what, or how much food and drink he took. For nature is subject to fate, and this little flesh is fleeting, mobile, and in need of spirits. Since it is impossible that we should draw breath without respiration, the rest of our needs must likewise be replenished. For there are three things that are evacuated: the dry, the moist, and the spirit; the proper replenishment of each of which was determined by the Creator of all things, by which the nature of the body is constituted. But the grace of the Spirit is not subject to the limits of nature. *For man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.* Who is so pure in soul and thought, not only in body, as to bear witness to his own ^D dull disposition toward fleshly lust? Though it was not truly dull; for it was not some brutish thing, nor an infirmity of nature, but the continence of reason, by which the non-rational part of the soul was governed, so that all desire might be directed toward God, for whom he was created. He would flee from the sweetness of pleasure as from the tinder of a fire, and would value more highly the asperity of virtue, by which he was carried up to eternal tranquility. Accustomed to these things, progressing little by little, he became more continent each day than he had been, until he completely quelled the passion, having tamed it by the art of asceticism and bridled it, changing the habit he had contracted into his very nature over time. For labor, when it is favored by divine assistance, is born to calm the passions.

7. Who has so renounced avarice of possessions, with which he also renounced the possessions themselves, desiring not to have them as much as another desires to have them? It is the support of evil motions of the soul, the extinction of hope, the adversary of faith. Whence Paul, the heaven-sounding lyre of the Spirit, the multisonous mouth of the apostolic tongues, rightly—

^A calls this another servitude of idols. For whoever neglects to grasp the anchor of divine providence, relies instead on the accumulation of riches. Placing these before the Higher Power, as if he were to live forever, and being like the sea that is never filled, even if the greatest and most numerous rivers of gold flow into it, the one whom we now praise did not choose these things; but having rejected all of them, he leaves to others his glorious and conspicuous fatherland—I refer to Antioch, whose governance the East obeyed—and his notable lineage, gold, silver, the precious stones, the soft and splendid raiment, and indeed even the elegance and power of his oratory.

^B 8. He betakes himself to Meletius, the president of the Church of the Antiochenes, a man abounding in many divine gifts, and celebrated everywhere for his life and doctrine: who, when he received him—he being then about eighteen years of age—was struck by the love of his heart, as if, with the foresight of a seer, he beheld the outcome of that young man. Instructing him in the precepts of sincere piety, and composing his morals to the rules of uprightness, he delineated in him the beauty of truth. In this way, by the laver of regeneration, he fashions Christ in him, that One who is beautiful above the sons of men because of the effulgent glory of His Divinity. When he reached his thirtieth year, and had attained the perfect maturity of body and soul, and had been promoted to the rank of reader of the divine oracles, and indeed to that of teacher, moved by the impulse of divine love he migrates into the desert, desiring to wither the flesh that was luxuriating and foaming with passions, lest the better part be enslaved to the worse. For the two desire ^C against one another, and the destruction of the tabernacle properly transfers dominion to the soul. Thus, while he was dwelling in the nearby mountains, he is led to a certain elder who used the Syrian dialect but was not unskilled in knowledge, and who had cultivated the peak of supreme continence. Having expressed this man’s austerity for four years, and having risen above every kind of sensuous pleasure, with reason joining his labors, desiring obscurity, he becomes a settler in a remote region, eager to have a cave as his home, just like a wrestling school and stadium of virtue. How many struggles did he endure there, and in proportion to the multitude of his pains, how much did he receive the consolation of the Spirit! How many ascents did he set in his heart, and by the Spirit was he perfected! He progressed from virtue to virtue, so that through both—by which I mean action ^D and contemplation—he compelled every Egyptian thought of soul and body to go into exile.

9. Like another Moses granted to life, he had left behind Egypt, this present life, and the things of this life, and having in a certain way become outside of life, he saw God as if in a bush, shining forth in the roughness of this life. And just as a rose comes from thorns, thus it is established that from the labors of virtue, a sweet-smelling plant germinates to the scent of God. Thus, having been loosed from earthly thoughts, and having left behind, like sandals, the things of earth in the place of God, to the

^A extent that it is possible to behold God, he beholds Him. And again he returns to Egypt, so that he may lead the people, numerous and uncountable, out of Egypt and out of the bitter tyranny of Pharaoh, the ruler of this world, and bring them toward the supernal land of promise; and he leads them across the Red Sea of divine water and blood, living in a desert empty of passions; and, having turned aside Amalek by the stretching out of hands raised in the form of a cross, directed toward Him who for our sake stretched out His hands upon the cross, they received from Him the victory-bearing power. Having therefore spent two years in the cave, and having kept his soul as well as his body sleepless, as though now free from flesh, through study and meditation on the divine oracles he banished every ignorance, having welcomed into himself the light of true knowledge. And if it was necessary to partake of sleep for the recovery and restoration of nature, he performed this office of nature in such a way that during that two-year period, he never reclined, neither by night nor by day. By this method, the lusts of the lower part were put to death, the powers of the loins were unstrung, and the heat of the belly around the navel was extinguished, so that it had no strength by which it might be helped.

^B 10. Returning thereafter to his homeland, and becoming of the order of presbyters in the Church, and having repaid the nursing-wages to his nursing mother as a grateful son, by divine providence he is translated to the prince of cities, and takes to wife the daughter of the great high priest. For it was not right that such a lamp of religion, in which an ageless and eternal light rested, should be hidden under a bushel, but should be placed upon a high and conspicuous candelabrum, so that, from a high and central vantage point, like a trumpet of beaten gold, it might sound forth to the ends of the universe. Who so governed and ordered the Church, and yet manifested a humble mind in such a high prerogative of rank? Who so reined in anger and the vehemence of spirit as to have acquired a lawful gentleness, which shrank from everything contrary to virtue, and vindicated the just man from the unjust? Who was so excellent in that charity from which mercy is born, the symbols of whose virtue living monuments still bear to this day? ^C For every word of his was an invitation to mercy, so that whoever heard him speaking the word was immediately moved to the habit of compassion and liberality. For he persuaded them to lend their own possessions to God, by bestowing corruptible and fleeting things upon Him who would give back permanent and incorruptible ones in return, and to store up in heaven the storehouse of compassion, which would not be consumed nor exposed to the predation of thieves: that they might purge sins by alms, and iniquities by mercy toward the needy; that they might break bread for the poor according to the prescription of the Gospel, and give a cup to those who thirst; that they might cover the nakedness of the naked, and clothe those destitute of garments, and gather in those living under the open sky; that they might visit the sick, and ^D betake their feet to the prisons, and reap mercy with mercy.

^A And who has warded off wrath, and has persuaded the flock to be warded off, which shuts the divine bowels of mercies to those who possess them? For, "As you have done," he says, "it shall be done to you; with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you in return." For to him who forgives, it shall be forgiven. And again, the sequence has uttered: it shall not be forgiven to him who does not forgive. Who has condemned envy and spite, and taught condemnation; is it excellent to be envied? for every good thing is subject to envy. But the envious man is self-condemned, along with being most base, as the most unjust and most futile of all the passions, the opponent of mercy; for if mercy consists in grieving for the evils of others, envy consists in grieving for their good things—not for one's own sake, but for the sake of the one who is affected by them; and it brings about this, that by the increase of another's goods, the languor and decay of the envious person increases. So that the former person is avenged, who has been enriched with goods. In addition to these things, he warned not to judge a fellow-servant, lest we be judged by the just scales of the only Judge who weighs the trial for us; nor to seize the authority of the Lord. For there is one Judge, who is not subject to being judged, as He alone is free from sin, ruling and not being ruled. "Forgive," he cried in the evangelical manner, "and it shall be forgiven you." Who has warded off the sorrow that leads to death, and has taught the sorrow that is the occasion of joy? Of these, the one, as a mourning for sin against God, is salutary—if those who are skilled in these matters have interpreted sin as missing the mark; but the other, which results from the deprivation of pleasures, is truly soul-destroying and altogether ^B to be rejected. For it is not, it is not possible for sorrow to occur, except upon the deprivation of an appetite. Whatever, therefore, the appetite is, of such a quality likewise is the sorrow of missing it; if the appetite is good, it is the best, but if it is otherwise, it has an otherwise quality. And the best of appetites is the one that inclines toward the only Best. But the appetites for things contrary are also opposite. Did he not stir up the weakness of acedia or listlessness by the remembrance of death? Having taught how to shake off the nervous-cutting power of it from the soul itself, and having replaced this with the fear of God, and having urged the people to prayers with longing, and to shake off slothfulness utterly from their souls, and with all strength to guard their own hearts, so that death might not ascend upon them through the senses, as through certain windows.

12

^A that is devoid of fruit. For he knew that it is becoming for God to have all glory and exaltation, and for man to have humility, which is the road for the best of men to be exalted, and the ladder of Israel, which carries man up to God and makes God the guest of his heart.

13. He humbled himself before all creation for the sake of the Lord the Creator, except when Christ was dishonored and the divine law was slighted and overturned. He had cast away all arrogance and fierceness, and a supercilious gaze; he gave a gentle eye to those who spoke with him, and a mild and divine speech, seasoned with salt. His character was graceful, and the smile on his face was pleasant, yet not overflowing into unrestrained laughter. For knowing that vices are closely attached to virtues, and are in a way neighbors, he was obedient to the one who commands the best things, and paid attention to himself, becoming a discerning money-changer; he sent away all counterfeit coinage, while accepting the drachma stamped with the King's image. For he had driven every form of wickedness from his own heart by the impulse of the divine Spirit, and, being watered and fattened by the virtues that are the counterparts of the vices, he was known as an ^B evergreen olive tree in the house of God, the Church, and he offered to God a beautiful fruit—the multitude of those who were saved through him. Or like a palm tree of the best sort, he was fenced about by the thorns of reproof. He rebuked with strength those who, by joining house to house, hastened to snatch the vineyard of Naboth, as if there were no Elias ready to reprove them. But the Holy Spirit had raised up Elias again, who, since He willingly dwells in the souls of the just, raises up prophets throughout every generation—zealots for good works, who hate whatever is base and unseemly, and who harbor and introduce everything lawful and just.

14. Thus did this divine man become a judge of injustice—not judging by it, heaven forbid! How could that be? But by condemning it, and showing it to be worthy of rejection, and by keeping those who do injustice away from the divine enclosures. For ^C a widow was continually harassing him, troubling him, her heart consumed by the injustice done to her. She grasped this man of God as a refuge, like some strong and unassailable fortress, having taken counsel in a way that was safely guided. For whom else could she have found to take up her suffering? A magistrate? But the one who was causing these outrages ruled over the magistrates. The Emperor? But his mind was softened by his affection for his own kin. For she who was exerting this force was his own flesh and bone; and she who ought to have restrained those who commit injustice was herself carried away with all her might into iniquity. What are you doing, ^D you lawless woman? You are clothed in purple, as if set forth as a guardian of the law, and yet you trample the law underfoot! Oh, the inexplicable wisdom of Him who said: "Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor throw your pearls before swine!" For she, having trampled the divine and holy law—that is, the precious pearl—having turned [away] the needy one

has shattered the widow, having pillaged her daily sustenance. What are you doing, O insatiable and ungrateful woman? While you possess [lands] that the earth and sea provide as gifts, why do you invade the meager property of a needy widow, whose life it was just for you to redeem? Do you confirm the law with your words, while by your actions you make it void? Have you no reverence for the Father of orphans and the Judge of widows? ^A Indeed, he who is always nourished by the divine words has truly heard the divinely inspired utterance: "Judge the orphan, and justify the widow." And having Elijah as his guide—the one who breathed fire with his zeal—he emulates the boldness of John, saying to you: "It is not lawful for you to possess the vineyard of your sister." For you think that you have exceeded [the limits of] nature, even if you have surpassed her dignity through your tyrannical authority; for a kingdom that is established and patterned by law is a principality, but one that is founded upon lawlessness is not unjustly termed a tyranny. Have you not read of the villainy of Jezebel? Why do you enter this divine shrine? Depart far from the divine palaces. The divine temple is a basin in which sins are washed away. Did not the publican, who received Jesus into his home, duly scatter what he had ill-gotten through tax-collecting? And you, my daughter (for I cherish you, because you are a member—however useless and harmful—so long as there is hope of salvation; yet salvation is impossible without repentance), render back well what you have plundered badly.

15. Uttering these things, he did not persuade her. ^B For she had stopped her ears like an asp, not listening to the one who was treating her with religious and wise counsel. And when he saw that the malady was altogether incurable, he thrusts the one who did not have the wedding garment out of the sacred chamber. What then? Jezebel rises up again against the prophet. Yet the herald of the truth does not flee, nor is he handed over to custody, as one who is a "voice crying out," but he is condemned to exile. O what a perverse state of mind! Again, the serpent’s enchantment strives to banish the man of God from the Church, and it did not fail in its desire. ^C For a short time, while the divine eye patiently slumbered, he is banished from the royal city; or rather, by the providence of God, so that He might display the manly triumph of those servants of His whom He loves, and—as one who belonged to God, and in whom and with whom God was present—he wandered about with Abraham when he was called to a foreign land; he was expelled with Moses from royal palaces; he fled with Elijah to the cave of Horeb; he fled with Jesus, who is God, into Egypt, so that in these struggles his fortitude might be made known, and he might reap the fitting rewards. So that, in a way, he might imitate Job, and God might speak the very words to him: "Do you think that I have dealt with you for any other cause, than that you might appear righteous?" ^D and so that he might preach the Gospel to others as well.

16. But if some others have been accomplices in this unlawful exile, we honor them with silence out of respect for the Fathers, so that we may not...

^A be found taunting the Fathers. For these matters are related in many ways; namely, that some of the bishops gave their assent to this most wicked deed, while others utterly refused, even though the empress condemned them, despite her threatening the restoration of the pagan temples (which had long ago been destroyed) if they did not all unanimously agree to drive the holy man from his bishopric. Therefore, let that prevail which is held to better serve his reputation; for it would by no means be right to set the Fathers against one another, lest we constitute ourselves as their judges. ^B

17. Whether, therefore, the matter happened in this way or that, the president is torn from the Church, the head from the body, and the flock is widowed of the excellent shepherd who, through his zeal to imitate Christ, always laid down his own soul for the sheep. The Church was suffering from the longing for her preacher; the sheep, for their shepherd and flute; Christ’s soldiers, the chosen ones of the militia and the trumpet by which spiritual enemies were struck down, were mourning; the widow yearned for her protector, the orphan for his father, the sick for their caregiver, the stranger for his host; the queen of cities for the sincere gold with which it was decorated—him, I say, who had mingled the empire with the priesthood, and bestowed the scepter and diadem upon paternal beauty; the religious ears longed for the golden speech and the golden mouth. And, if it be not too bold to say it, Christ departed together with him whom he carried abiding within himself. ^C How then could I narrate this bitter calamity with dry eyes? For not even a heart, though it be fashioned of stone, can refrain from tears. For the rock, when struck by the Mosaic rod, poured forth waters; and a heart, even if it be hard, if it is struck by the magnitude of this tragedy, pours forth fountains of tears in rivers due to the monstrosity of the deed.

18. But suddenly the palace is shaken, and Pharaoh again summons by his cries the one who is gifted with divine sight, so that he might appease the plague that has been inflicted; which indeed comes to pass. For hardly had John turned his foot back by the emperor's command, when the trembling ceased. Thus, indeed, does God know how to honor those who are His: *For I live,* says the Lord, *but those who glorify me I will glorify.* 1 Reg. 11, 30. Again, therefore, the flock of Christ receives its former joy. For he who had become all things to all men is restored to all; and the whole people subject to Christ rejoices, and thrives, and grows on the good soil of the heart, receiving the words of John as ^D the fruit of the Spirit. But the devil is wounded, and again he rises up in his accustomed manner against the herald; and since he has no strength of his own, he demands a strong and mighty rampart of the Church in order to overthrow it and plunder the wealth that is inaccessible to robbers. He receives power over his body, as once he did over Job, he who previously could not even bear his indignation’s nod. Again the just man is taken away; the bridegroom is thrust out of the bridal chamber; the Church is despoiled of her nuptial adornment, and with it taken away, her head is shorn bare. For fire from the throne, like divine lightning, upon the Church...

^A also descends and is divided. And again, moans and tears; for the multitude desired either to go into exile with him, or to remain, and death appeared to them more desirable than the loss of John. But since God permits the escaping evils to prevail, according to judgments known only to Him, ^B 19. thus again, changing his abode and moving from city to city, he attained him whom he sought after in his pursuit; for he reckoned it a gain to live 78, and death a profit, having fought the good fight, kept the faith, finished his course, and received the rewards of his contests, the crown of righteousness. But not even in death did the beloved—lover of his bride and lover of the arts—forsake his own bride, nor did he leave his children deprived of his own grace; but by divine providence and judgment he is fittingly brought to the royal halls—the body to what is seen, but the spirit to the unseen; and he remains a herald of divine oracles until Christ shall come again, with whom he shall be glorified, exulting in His joy and beauty. These stutterings, O Father of Fathers, are mine to you; but may you look upon us who bear the same name, and grant us in return intimacy with the Creator, who is Christ, the eternal joy: to whom be glory and power, always, now and ever, and unto the unending ages of ages. Amen.

NOTICE REGARDING THE FOLLOWING ORATION

XII. Oration of our Holy Father John, Presbyter of Damascus, in praise of the holy and glorious martyr of Christ, Barbara.