were condemned to death; and we too must fear these things. For one must know, and not be ignorant, that what we promise to God no longer belongs to us, but pertains to God. Our promise is a treasure of God; and if we draw back from these things, we are no longer receiving that which is our own, but we are stealing as if they were God’s treasures, and truly we shall be judged as temple-robbers. A And the promise is not only a matter of money, but extends even to word and intention; "For every idle word," He says, "you will give an account on the day of judgment." For the divine and great mystery does not have its subsistence in money, but in perfect intention and the faith according to God; for we have all made promises, and we are all debtors to our promises. So it is necessary to render that which one promised: the virgin, her virginity, just as she promised; the temperate person, his temperance; and the one in marriage, his chastity and mutual love. For whoever promises to live in virginity or temperance due to necessity, but then tells a lie concerning the promise and crosses over into marriage, has judgment, for he has set aside his first faith. B And rightly the priest ought to render the priesthood well-pleasing, and the deacon his ministry blameless, not pilfering the things of the ministry, lest he be condemned as Judas was for selling them. There is need, then, of great precision here, that one might not lie to God by not rendering that which is the promise—or rather, the deposit—which each of us has promised. It is no longer ours; but thus we ought to consider it, that we received a deposit from God, and that we must, having kept the promise un-pilfered with prayer, present it at the fearful judgment seat of Christ, so that the sentence might not overtake us as ungrateful persons, after the example of Ananias. Therefore, there is need here for great security, that we might not stumble in anything, nor shrink from the promise, C but strive to render the promise with precision. Let us not think that Christianity is merely an outward form, nor let us remain satisfied with this, but by remaining akin to the truth and justice through the confirmation of our works, let us obtain the honors that follow after justice from Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
MONITION
to deny God; but because he ignorantly thinks that monarchy, or the unity of a principle or sovereignty, hinders the plurality of persons, he therefore assumes that this monarchy must be attacked. We have rejected the Latin interpretation of a certain unknown person, as being less accurate and for the most part faulty, and have prepared a new one.
AGAINST THE JEWS
and Greeks and heretics; and on the passage, "Jesus was called to a wedding."
The nestlings of the swallows sit in the nest awaiting the presence of their parents, who bring them food; and when they see them coming, they take wing with the light wing of the mind. In the same way, I also, about to approach this spiritual nest, proclaim beforehand and give glory to God, that He has given me such 821 affectionate children. But indeed, among swallows the food is given from mouth to mouth, but with us it is not so, but from mouth to hearing. For that food proceeds toward corruption, but this toward incorruption; that feeds bodies, but this fattens the soul. And all these things I have not said simply or in vain; but since the passage of the Gospel read today leads us by the hand to this teaching, it is necessary to instruct you. "Jesus," he says, "was called to a wedding." But brace yourselves, I beg you, and pay attention to what is being said: Since some use marriage as an excuse, others children, others military service, others merchandise, others a craft, others slavery, others wealth, others poverty, and whatever other things there are; I wish, therefore, to show you that neither wealth hinders, nor poverty, nor military service, nor merchandise, nor marriage, nor children, nor slavery, nor a craft, nor anything of that sort at all. Jesus was called to a wedding; did He go, or did He not go? It is clear that He went. If, then, He went, how is marriage evil? Do you have no defense? I say that He not only went, but also brought gifts; for He changed the water into wine. Do not, therefore, use marriage as an excuse. Your Master came to a wedding and honored the wedding, and do you insult the wedding and say that marriage is an obstacle? There is no obstacle to piety. Do you wish to learn that having a wife and children does not hinder one in anything? Did not Moses have a wife and children? Was not Elijah a virgin? Did not Moses bring down manna from heaven? Did not Elijah bring down fire from heaven? Did not Moses cause the quail to fly down? Did not Elijah close the heaven by his word? Did not God speak to Moses? And did not God speak also to Elijah? Did not Moses divide the sea and lead the people through? Was not Elijah taken up in a chariot of fire? Did virginity hinder him in any way? Did a wife and children hinder him in any way? You have seen Elijah the charioteer of the air; you have seen Moses the traveler of the sea; look also at Peter the pillar of the Church, that he too had a wife. It is not written that Peter had a wife; whence then is it clear that he had a wife? I say: "Jesus," it says, "entered into the mother-in-law of Peter; and she was sick, and He touched her, and her fever fled, and she was serving." Do you see that Peter also had a wife? For where there is a mother-in-law, it is clear that there is also a wife. Do you see that Peter also had a wife? Do not slander marriage. I say these things so that no one might use as an excuse a wife, or children, or military service, or merchandise, or a craft, or slavery, or wealth, or poverty; these are excuses, these are pretenses, these are snares of the devil. You use military service as an excuse, and say, "I am a soldier, and I cannot be devout." Was not the centurion a soldier? And he says to Jesus, "I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof; but speak a word, and my servant shall be healed." And Jesus wondered, and says: "Amen, amen, I say to you, I have not found such faith even in Israel." Did military service hinder him in any way? But what are you? Are you a craftsman? Paul was also a tent-maker of the Churches, and after that he became a herald and an apostle. But what are you? Rich? And Abraham, even he had a wife and children; "And he believed," he says, "Abraham
A to God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God." Did his wealth and his wife or his children become a hindrance to him? Do you lack a defense? Behold, this man has the very things you use as excuses: a wife, and children, and wealth. But what are you? A slave? Consider Onesimus; and Paul, writing to Philemon, said, "Onesimus, who was once useless, but now useful both to me and to you." But what are you? A king? Consider David; and Nathan the prophet came to him and reproved him for the sin which he had committed. Did the king play the tyrant? Did he pronounce judgment against the prophet? Did he not, even in his kingdom, admit his servitude, and say, "I have sinned against the Lord"? And the prophet, seeing his repentance, says to him, "The Lord has taken away your sin." Quick is the repentance, quicker is the forgiveness. Did the king pay attention to himself and say, "I am a king, I am clothed in purple, and I am wearing a diadem, and I have bows and arrows and shields and helmets and guards; and I fear this poor man, and I do not kill him, but bear with him"? But he said none of these things; but even though he was a king, he knew that he had sinned, and for this reason he repented, since he knew that he had committed a grievous sin. Did the kingdom hinder him? But what are you? A boy? Consider Daniel; he muzzled lions, and tore a dragon asunder, and overthrew Bel, and judged the elders, and saved Susanna, and the imperfection of his youth did not hinder such great virtue. But what are you? A brother-lover? Consider Joseph; and he showed how much philosophy and temperance he had in the presence of the Egyptian woman. He tore his garment, but he did not tear his faith; he conquered her shamelessness, but did not fulfill her desire. But what are you? B A widow? Consider the Sidonian woman, who welcomed the prophet Elijah, and fed him with bread and water; and the famine did not consume the cause of the famine. But what are you? A harlot? Consider Rahab, who hid the spies, and after the sons of Israel took the land of promise, she was saved, she and her house and her race. But what are you? A poor man? Consider Lazarus, and in his poverty how much philosophy and endurance he showed, and he did not grow despondent while in such great need! But what are you? A lover of women? Consider Samson; for even if he was betrayed by a woman, yet God granted him vengeance, and he was avenged by his enemies. But what are you? A lover of children? Consider Jacob. Do you see how many were saved? Do you have faith? You have everything; do you not have faith, but you are a king? The kingdom profits you nothing. But I have not forgotten the promise.
Jesus was therefore invited to a wedding. But when he arrived, they had no wine. His mother says to him, "They have no wine." Jesus says to her, "Woman, what is that to me? My hour has not yet come." And having said these things, Jesus says, "Fill the water pots with water." And they filled the water pots with water, and he made the water into wine. But why did he say, "Fill the water pots with water"? Was He, who by a word made the heaven, and founded the earth, and all things that are in them, whose look dries up the abysses, at whom all creation trembles and shudders—both of things in heaven and on earth and under the earth—unable to fill the water pots by a word? But he says, "Draw water." Why? I say, in order that, if they should deny it, their hands which drew C it, and their shoulders which bore the water, might convict them; since he did the same thing in the case of Lazarus. Before arriving at the place, he says to his disciples, "Lazarus our friend has fallen asleep"; then when the sisters of Lazarus came and said to him that Lazarus had died, he says to them, "Where have you laid him?" And they say, "Come and see." O, strange and paradoxical things! A little while ago you were saying to your disciples that Lazarus had died, and now you say, "Where have you laid him?" You manifest the death to your disciples, yet you do not know the place? He knew, but he said it for the sake of the Jews, since they were ungrateful; so that the saying, "Where have you laid him?" was not from ignorance; since even in paradise he was saying to Adam, "Adam, where are you?" Did he therefore not know where he was? But because the devil was saying to them, "In whatever day you eat of this tree, you shall be as gods," they assumed that they were going to be gods. And for this reason God was saying to him, "Adam, where are you?"—from when you ate, you remained a human; for this reason God was saying to him, "Adam, where are you?" So also he did in the case of Lazarus. Having approached the tomb, he says to the Jews, "Take away the stone from the tomb"; and they took it away. The sister of Lazarus says to him, "Lord, by now he smells, for he has been four days." And having cried with a loud voice, he says, "Lazarus, come forth"; and he came out bound in grave-cloths. Was He then, who moves mountains in the hearts of the seas, unable to move the stone by a word? He who broke the stings of death, he who shattered the doors of Hades, was he not able to tear even the grave-cloths? And he says to them, "Unbind him." Why? That, if they should deny it, their hands and their eyes might convict them; for this reason he said, "Unbind him." And at the wedding he did the same thing, because he said to them, "Fill the water pots with water"; and they filled the water pots, and he made the water into wine. For this reason, then, D [823] he was securing them from every side; for the Jews were always ungrateful and shameless. Do you want to learn how many things God provided for them, yet they became unmindful? Learn; but pay attention to me, I beseech you, listen to the things that are being said; for I want to show you that from the beginning the Jews were ungrateful. Seventy-five souls went down into Egypt, and they became six hundred thousand. Joseph died, and another king rose up for them, who did not remember Joseph; and he afflicted the sons of Israel greatly. They cried out, therefore, to God, saying, "Lord, you swore to our fathers that you would give to your seed a land flowing with milk and honey; and now, O Lord, remember the covenant which you established with our fathers, and deliver us from the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and from the slavery of the Egyptians." God therefore heard their voice, and sent Moses to them. But pay attention to me, I beseech you. God says to Moses, "Take a lamb, without blemish, a male of the first year, and sacrifice it, and each one shall smear its blood on the door, so that, when the angel comes having his sword drawn, and sees that the blood is smeared on that house, he might pass by; but if he sees that it is not there, he might enter, and destroy everyone." Moses therefore did so, and gave [it] to the people; and they having taken it, each one smeared their doors. And the angel was coming, having his sword drawn, and he was seeing the blood on the doors, and was passing by; but where he did not see it, he was entering, and was slaying everyone. And all these things were not happening simply; but because we were destined to be saved through blood and wood, for this reason God said, "Each one shall smear the blood on the doors." Why did he not say, "Smear the blood on the wall"? Because they were not destined to be saved except through wood. Moses therefore cast them out of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness, and they say to Moses, "Because there were no graves in Egypt, did you bring us into the wilderness to kill us? Was it not better for us in Egypt, when we were eating the cucumbers and the melons and the onions and the garlic?" Did you see their ingratitude? They themselves were saying to God, they themselves were demanding saying, "Lead us out of the land of Egypt"; and having come into the wilderness they were ungrateful. Did you see their ingratitude? But learn the greater and more extraordinary thing. For forty years they were in the wilderness; their hair did not grow, nor a nail; their garment did not become dirty, their sandal did not wear out; they did not toil, they did not dig, they did not yoke oxen, they did not draw a plow, they did not cut furrows, they did not pull out thorns, they did not sow seeds, and they did not wait for rain, they did not expect the hot rays of the sun, they did not await the time of harvest, they did not sharpen a sickle, nor did they reap, they did not bind sheaves and carry them, nor did they bring them to the threshing floor and toil, nor did they thresh, nor did they winnow,
nor did they knead flour, nor did they bake bread, but neither did they have any such thing; but they ate bread not worked by hands, A and a table was provided for them spontaneously, and by their lack of passion they imitated the angels; their nature forgot its own weakness. And after such great benefits, they said to Aaron, "Give us gods who will go before us; for as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." And they did great violence to Aaron. He, seeing that they were stiff-necked and uncircumcised, says to them, "Take off your gold [earrings], and cast them into the fire, and if anything comes up, this is a god." And the golden calf came up. Here, B tell me, you senseless, parasitic heretic, you Jew who says that God begat and endured a flux. O corrupted, wretched, and miserable man, do you suppose such things of God? But we do not; heaven forbid! But [we say] that the Father begat the Son, alone from the alone, God from God, perfect from perfect; for these are the sentiments of Christians. Since, then, you presume to scrutinize the things above, if you presume to know your own, tell me: How, when the gold was cast into the fire, did the calf come up? No coppersmith worked it, there was no refiner; how did the calf come up, dare you 824 say? If you do not know the things below, why do you scrutinize the things above? He who does not understand his own affairs, how does he scrutinize the affairs of others? And they bring before us the evangelical voice of the Son Himself, saying to the disciples: "I am the vine, you are the branches, My Father is the husbandman." You see, he says, that He worked the Son, for if the husbandman does not work the vine, it cannot be useful. And they think they are saying something great and virtuous. But tension your minds for me, I beg you. I spoke to the senseless Jews—allow me to speak also to the shameless heretics: Can you tell me, O senseless and shameless heretic, that the husbandman is not fed by the vine? From your own weapon I overcome you. Just as there is a husbandman who works the vine, so also is the Father who worked His own Son. Let us see, then, who is fed by whom: the vine by the husbandman, or the husbandman by the vine? According to you, the Father has His being from the Son; for there is no husbandman who is not fed by the fruit of his labors. What then? Does the Son feed the Father? No, heaven forbid; for this is the height of folly. It is better to say, just as a husbandman rejoices in the vine, so also the Father rejoices in the Son; for He did not say, that "My Father is He who worked Me," but "My Father is the husbandman"; for He rejoiced in the Son. Did you not hear Him say, that "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," when He stood by the streams of the Jordan? Did He say that "This is My Son whom I created or made"? But He said, "In whom I am well pleased." Do you even revise the voice? And again He says: "I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me." To whom was He speaking? Undoubtedly to the Jews, since they said to Him: "This is the son of the carpenter," and they regarded Him as a rival to God, for which reason He said, "I have come down from heaven." And because they called Him a rival to God, for this reason He said to them, that "I did not come to do My own will, but that of the Father who sent Me." Since they thought they were honoring the Father while they denied Him, for this reason He accommodated Himself to their weakness; for how could He have been sent, who exists everywhere and fills all things? You see, then, that for the sake of the Jews He said, "I have come down from heaven." Did He say it for His own sake? C Do you have no apologetic? But they also bring against us another D testimony of the Apostle, saying: "There is one God the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things." You say that there is no other God besides the Father; and I say to you that there is no other Lord such as the Son. Why, then, do we contend? No, heaven forbid! Let us see, then, to whom Paul was speaking, and for whose sake these things were said. But pay close attention to my argument. Since the Greeks worshipped polytheism, but the Jews monarchy, in order to do away with both the polytheism and the [erroneous view of] monarchy, for this reason he said: "For even if there are many so-called gods, and many lords, whether in heaven or on earth, yet to us there is one God, the Father." And by saying "one," he did away with polytheism—for where there is one, there are not many—and by saying "Father," he did away with the [opposing concept of] monarchy; for where there is a father, it is clear that there is also a son. For this reason, then, he said: "One God the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things." You see that Paul was casting off the Greeks and the Jews; for this reason he said: "One Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things"; because all things have come into being through the Son, both the visible and the invisible. And hear John saying: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not anything came into being." You see that He is the Creator of all things. Do you not dare to show me that the Son is numbered along with all things? But, O senseless ones, how long will you go about gathering flowers from the Scriptures, to somehow call the Son a creature and a product? Do you wish to learn? If they hear a lofty or God-befitting expression concerning the Son, they rave; they think that someone is casting dung into their mouths. I wish to tell you an example. Just as if someone were burning with sickness and high fevers, and when a little relief came to him, the doctors ordered his mouth to be anointed with honey; and they do as the doctors order; but as he is being cared for by his servants, the sick man thinks 825 that the honey is bitter; and then the bystanders say, "It is honey, sir, it is good," encouraging the sick man; but the honey seems bitter to the mouth of the sick man, not because the honey is bitter—for what is sweeter than honey?—but not because of the nature of the honey, but because of the weakness of the one who does not receive it; so also it happens in their case; if they hear "consubstantial," they think they are being given bitterness to drink, and not because of the word of the speaker, but because of the weak hearing of the one who does not receive it. The Father calls Him Son; the apostles likewise, and these [call Him] a creature and a product. How a creature? Is begetting and creating the same thing? If everyone who begets creates, and everyone who creates begets, we find all creatures to be offspring of God; for since all things have come into being through the Son, then by creating them, He also begat them. Do you see that they are offspring of God, as you say? How long will you be senseless? Tell me, in what manner is the Son honored? Because He is called Son? So are you. But in what [way]? Because He is God? So are you. But you can say to me: "He in reality, but you in name." If in reality, then He is the Son. Do you see that your mouth convicts you? [He is neither a creature nor a product.] For He is Son by nature, but you by designation; He was begotten of the eternal Father, but you were created from pre-existing matter. These things I have said to the Jews and Greeks and heretics. But let us glorify the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, unto ages of ages. Amen.