David saying: “In Hades, however, who will confess to you?” Have mercy on me, and send Lazarus (Ps. VI, 6). Now you know Lazarus? Now you recognize him who used to lie in the dung, whom you once refused to honor even as much as the dogs? While you were spending your life in wealth, you closed your bowels to him; now I too close the bosom of refreshment in this time of punishment. Have you not heard God proclaimed through all your prophets, saying: “Keep mercy and judgment, and draw near to your God” (Osee XII, 6); because “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice” (Id. VI, 6); and, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matth. V, 7); and again, “He who has mercy on the poor lends to God” (Prov. XIX, 17). Where you have sown, there strive to reap; where you have lent, there strive to collect. But you never at any time sowed the seed of alms, nor did you lend to God through mercy toward the poor, but you stored all your treasures for your own belly. Where you have your treasure, there have also your heart. A “Have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am grievously tormented in this flame.” He is punished in the tongue, by whose ministry he fed on food; he asked for a drop of water, because he had never imparted even a cup of cold water in the name of a hungry disciple. If, while you lived, you had taken Lazarus as a partner in your goods, you would now be a partaker of the kingdom with him: if you had shown understanding for the poor, you would now have been freed from evil judgment. “Blessed is he who understands concerning the needy and the poor: in the evil day the Lord will deliver him” (Ps. XL, 2). Smooth out that burning chaos with a copious distribution of money to the poor: sprinkle mercy now, and you have extinguished the furnace; feed the orphans, and you have slain the restless worms; stop the widow’s tears, and you have wiped away from your soul the grief of your sins. For this reason indeed these things were read to you, that you might not, by walking in the footsteps of the same unmerciful rich man, fall into the same punishment of Gehenna. B But you, poor man, do not be broken in mind, nor despond in spirit, while you are tossed by the storm of poverty. Behold that most glorious Lazarus; let your eyes be fixed there night and day so that, governing your life with the rudder of patience, you may be carried to that same harbor of rest, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
MONITION
Although by the consent of all the learned this sermon is judged not to be Chrysostom’s, whether for the diversity of style or the use of certain words which are never used by Chrysostom, it is nevertheless of a somewhat better quality than those preceding. In it is cited a focus [a passage] from the Prayer of King Manasses, which always held a place among the apocrypha. Which note, even if there were no other things underlying it, would even alone be sufficient for us to remove it from the number of the authentic works. This homily also, like many others, a certain recent writer attributed to Severianus, bishop of the Gabalians.A SERMON ON THE PUBLICAN AND THE PHARISEE.
C People indeed behold the pleasantness of flowers from afar: but they truly recognize their beauty when, upon approaching near, they touch the flowers with their own hands. I would wish that you, beloved, consider the state of the Church to be such, since the readings of the divinely inspired Scriptures offer themselves to those who wish like certain amaranthine flowers. For it is permitted for anyone to see, in spiritual paradises and gardens, prophets leading choruses, apostles leading orders, martyrs acting as legates, angels helping, teachers fighting for religion, the grace of the Spirit overflowing, flocks endowed with reason sealed with the Dominical blood, and—what is greater than these things that have been mentioned—the summit of goods, the firmament of our hope, the head of delights, the consummation of joy: I mean the Gospels of Christ, in which the perfection of our life is stored. Come then, let us behold Christ the Lord pouring every pleasure upon his servants: in whom we see diseases put to flight, the sea terrified, winds calmed; death rebuked, hell despoiled, demons driven out and sent into exile, sinners converted to their Lord. For these are the gifts Christ proposed to be seen in the divine Gospels, in which he showed the just shining like the sun, the limbs of the languid strengthened, paralytics who were bearers of their own beds running, publicans ascending to the dignity of evangelists, leprosy shaken off like dust by his will alone, fever driven to flight by the word of the Lord, the dead receiving life without any exertion, graves releasing those whom they held to life, the height of the Pharisee humbled, the humility of the publican exalted. And indeed, having been satiated with such great goods, it will have been easy to have received the hospitality of crumbs. I, however, am of the opinion that you, with good grace, will again as usual also listen to this our discourse, you who have filled the storehouses of your souls with the abundance of the goods preached before. Since therefore you, by the benevolence of God, are content with a poor table, and I, following the pursuits of your charity, have subjected the neck of my soul to the yoke of teaching: come, let that which was read a little while ago be proposed to you by me; for I, a poor steward of the table, have arrived for all you affluent ones to prepare this feast of discourse. “Two men,” he says, “went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a publican” (Luc. XVIII, 10). A Pharisee boastful of his justice, a Pharisee who had not yet harvested the ripe crop of good deeds, he who was richer in arrogance than in money, who with a vain puff blew away the fruit of his virtues, a possessor of pride, an accuser of the whole of nature, an inhuman calumniator, an unmerciful reproacher, a tempest and whirlwind of the publican’s prayer. And let no one think that I cast these things for the sake of insult; but, having heard the words of the Pharisee himself, let him recognize that the things said are true. “God,” he says, “I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men.” Are you then… DA the one who is more just than all? "I am not like the rest of men." What are you doing, Pharisee? Do not look upon the name of shared nature: for the human being was made a lover of men, provided that you, where you ought to share with him, do not utter such arrogant words. Say rather, as some men say, and not others, "of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers." All are extortioners, except for one, Pharisee? All are unjust, and you alone are just? All are adulterers, and you alone are worthy of the praise of temperance? "I am not like the rest of men, adulterers": even this tax collector. But behold, the mind of the man begins to develop wings: now it is shaking its wings of the soul toward heaven. Why do you drag him down with the weight of your words, preventing him from flying toward the Philanthrope? Why do you trample upon the one who is prostrate? Why do you pile wood upon his fire? Why do you accuse the one who strikes his conscience without yielding? Or even just like this tax collector. For what, O man, did you see the tax collector doing? Robbing? Plundering the labors of others? Stealing the property of others? Reaping what he did not sow? Gathering where he did not scatter? Spreading his net for travelers? You have seen nothing of the sort, O Pharisee; but you see a pitiable form, worthy of pity and help. He lies upon his face, he torments his B chest as if it were a workshop of evils, he does not dare to lift his eyes to heaven; perhaps he is expecting an accusation even from the stars themselves, or rather he thinks that the multitude of his transgressions has been written in the firmament; from afar, as if judged, he stood away from the temple, and cried out as if he were already being condemned. Have you not read what is written, that "you should not provoke a man in his destitution" (Eccli. 4. 25)? For he is destitute, and thoughts have encircled him from every side like a multitude of accusers: his conscience used his right hand to scourge his chest; he acted as his own executioner. Does he not move you to tremble? Does he not stir you to sympathy, this man who is bowing his face downward? Does he not soften your inhumane opinion, by not daring to look up to heaven? For when he was collecting taxes, you ought to have shouted such words against him; for it was fitting for him then to be reproached not only by you, but by everyone. When, however, he condemned his own evils, when he beheld the wounds of his soul, he ran to the Physician who heals without a fee, when he remembered his transgressions and took refuge with the Master who does not remember wrongs, do you then attack him excessively, O Pharisee? C Or just like this tax collector. For are there not other tax collectors, who have not yet loved the sweet lament of repentance? If you have a great desire to accuse sinners, turn your tongue against those who are still caught in the nets of greed. Toward this man, however, your hostility is superfluous. For not only are you unable to harm the man, but you will only stir up the Master all the more, so that He might display His forgiveness more quickly.
2. "The tax collector," he says, "standing far off, was not even willing to lift up his eyes to heaven"; and he himself altogether uttered the voice of Manasseh: "I am not worthy to look up and see the height of heaven because of the multitude of my injustices." For at that time many evils were gathered in the soul of the tax collector: an insatiable desire for money, a lust for injustice that admitted no end, extortion that had no limit; a tax collector is a common evil for the nature of men, a lawful unjust man, a rapacious man beyond accusation, a fearless thief, a blameless robber, an unavoidable damage, a wolf of rational sheep, a beast in human form. With such evils the tax collector went up D into the temple. For when he had committed all these terrible things, and had made the weight of his transgressions heavy upon his soul, when at last he had bowed his neck, he sought to be lightened of the weight, and he did not know how he would shake off the burden; then he had a quick thought, he found a form of freedom; for he remembered the voice of the Master crying out to sinners: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11. 28). Remembering this voice, with the load of his evils he arrived at the temple of God; and having become weak, and no longer able to bear it, he immediately fell upon his face, and implored the Master, saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." I am, he says, destitute of every benefit, I am shaken by the terrible things that have befallen me, my lawlessness has multiplied beyond the number of the sand of the sea, they have been multiplied beyond the hairs of my head. I see your judgment seat already being cried out against by the things I have committed; I have heard that before your thrones, Master, books will be opened, in which the sighs of the oppressed have surely been written. There is no kind of injustice that has avoided your impartial knowledge; the time for my defense has not arrived, no place is left for my flight. I do not dare to look up to heaven, I fear even the earth as having seen these deeds of mine. For inanimate things accuse the extreme sinner. Therefore, having run to you, the Master of all, I found this only for help, this supplication: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Great is the summit of my evils; but what is that compared to the sea of your goodness? For me to be saved is impossible among men, but with you, Master, all things are possible. For if you have come into the world for the sake of the righteous, I have run to your temple in vain, loathing the tax collector; but if you have also made an account of sinners, or rather have dwelt in creation for their sake, do not show me my priceless hopes in you to be in vain, but heal my broken heart, make me who am dead in transgressions live. A harlot touched you, and washed away the filth of her evils; you lent the hem of your garment to the believing woman, and you dried up rivers of blood; you approached the paralytic who was lying there, and you showed him to be a worker of his bed; you saw, as you were passing by, a blind man, and you restored the grace to his sight; for it was missing from his body, you corrected the vessel with clay; and you opened the sight to the light, showing the man the beauty of creation; you saw a woman weeping, and having scourged Hades before the time of the resurrection, you brought Lazarus out from there, as if having snatched the man from the mouth of the lion of death. Seeing a man piteously falling before you, and terribly sinking in the shipwreck of childlessness, you immediately anticipated him with your prayers, and called the maiden; and for the one who called, the maiden indeed rose, but death fled away. To you also the Canaanite woman cried out, seeing her own daughter being torn by a demon, and having cried out, "Have mercy," she did not fail of her hopes; for having accepted her faith, you drove the wolf away from the sheep, and you expelled the mad inhabitant; and having granted the maiden sobriety, you stilled the lament of her mother. You fed a multitude in the desert with small loaves. I also, hungering for righteousness, seek a small crumb of your philanthropy; as one of those mentioned, have mercy on me. I am stained in my soul, as the harlot was before repentance; I am abhorred by all, as the woman with the issue of blood was considered unclean before her healing; I am paralyzed in my soul, more than the paralytic of the body; I have had the eyes of my soul blinded, just like the man blind from birth in his body; I am dead in transgressions, having my soul locked within my body, just as the tomb held Lazarus; I suffer from almost all the terrible things of all. But you who have had mercy on all, have pity on me also as I fall before you. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. What then does the philanthropic Judge do, the ambitious umpire of those who run the race of repentance? He endured the Pharisee boasting, and the tax collector turning…
himself into his own accuser, and distributed to each according to their worth. For the publican, who had become his own accuser, He dismissed free from all condemnation; the Pharisee, however, who had brought his own good deeds into the midst, He judged poorer than the publican himself. To both, their manners and the state of their souls brought forth their result: to the one, poverty gave the occasion for wealth; to the other, wealth brought a slip into indigence. For what says the Lord? “Amen I say to you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other” (Luke 18:14). O, what a great evil is the disease of arrogance! The Pharisee went up with a magnificent head, crowned as if with flowers by his good deeds; the publican accompanied him, deprived of any defense; but since the latter had opportunely humbled himself, he was exalted; the former, however, when he had raised himself to an immoderate height, was reduced to shameful nakedness. A Was it not better to use restrained and humble words? Was it not better to hear the prophetic voice which says, “Be humbled in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you” (James 4:10)? Was it not more useful to restrain the tongue and guard the wealth which he had acquired with many labors? Those virtues which he had gathered over a long time, he dispersed in a brief moment by his voice. Had the Pharisee perhaps not heard what is written: “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination before the Lord” (Prov. 16:5)? Had he not learned that excellent saying, “Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth” (Matt. 6:3)? Indeed, perhaps he knew both, but the power of the desire for vain glory overcame him. Let us therefore acquire for ourselves the humility of the publican, and let us cast away the burden of our sins: but let us hold in hatred pride, through which the Pharisee lost the wealth of his virtues: “For God resisteth the proud, but to the humble he giveth grace” (James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5). To Him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
MONITION TO THE HOMILY ON THE BLIND MAN AND ZACCHÆUS
That this homily was rightly relegated among the spuria, the thing itself declares; even though it is not by an inept writer, and contains certain things not to be spurned. The style is humble and abject, and is wonderfully alien to that spontaneously flowing eloquence of Chrysostom. We have amended the Latin interpretation of Fronto Ducaeus in some places.ON THE BLIND MAN HEALED BY CHRIST, AND ON ZACCHÆUS, AND ON JUDGMENT AND ALMSGIVING
B Many and diverse are the teachings of the Holy Scriptures, but the grace that shines upon all is one, and the source of doctrine is one, the Spirit of truth. And whatever the law declares, and whatever the prophets teach, whatever the apostles preach, whatever the Gospel of piety submits, they flow forth from the Holy Spirit as if from one abundant and fruitful source: nor is it permitted either to say anything illustrious, or to think anything wise, or to do anything admirable, unless what is said, and what is thought, and what is done, be confirmed by the Holy Spirit. For however much one may flourish in human wisdom, and have his soul instructed and fortified by human reasonings, yet if he turns away from and rejects the Word of God, he is nothing, and will return to nothing. Therefore the prophet says, “They have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them?” (Jer. 8:9). To us, therefore, the flowers of truth are the Scriptures of piety; and many indeed are the flowers, but one is the meadow that produces the flowers: many are the teachings, but one is the lamp of truth: many are the stars, but one is the heaven by which the stars are borne: many are the branches, but one is the root: many are the fingers, but the hand is one, which writes the work of the fingers: many are the strings, but the lyre of the Spirit is one: many are the doctrines, but the fountain of piety is one. But this seems truly wonderful to me, how this blind man, who had not read the law, had not run through the prophets, had not perused the Gospels, had not been confirmed by the apostles, thus invoked the Saviour of the world, saying: “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me” (Luke 18:38). Whence didst thou learn to call upon Him thus, who didst not learn whom to invoke? Thou didst not read books, deprived of the use of eyes: thou didst not dwell upon studies, since thou supportedst thy life not otherwise than by begging for thy food, or rather by asking alms from door to door. Whence therefore didst thou learn this light of the world, which thou didst not perceive in the heavens, nor upon the earth, being deprived of the light of thine eyes? But indeed in this was truly fulfilled what was said by David: “The Lord makes the blind wise” (Ps. 145:8). C There was a great crowd around Jesus, and the blind man did not see the light of truth, but he felt its efficacy: he seized by affection what his sight had not comprehended. What, he says, does this crowd mean? They tell him that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. O wondrous thing! He is taught one thing and he preaches another: he hears "Jesus the Nazarene," but he does not call Him Jesus the Nazarene, but Jesus Son of David. Those who saw, spoke what they had learned from suspicion; but the blind man spoke what he proclaimed from the truth. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” Now therefore, each one, rendering this voice for himself, should burst forth into such a confession from the heart, and each one should utter this voice for himself: “Son of David, have mercy on me.” Not otherwise, brothers, than when many have gathered for a funeral lament, and have seen the cadaver of the deceased lying there, who is wept for by his relatives, all shed tears, some indeed because they are moved with the same affection as those who mourn, others because they reflect upon their own affairs: and frequently a woman weeps and mourns, another indeed, not for him who is placed there (for he is a stranger), but for her own husband already deceased; and the stranger's occasion becomes a reminder of her own evils: so let each of you, brothers, when he has learned the things which are preached by the saints, accommodate the discourse to himself, and for his own wounds say: “Son of David, have mercy on me”: and let each one now also say, awakened by his own evils, one indeed that he is blind in mind; another that he has a deaf soul; another that his reason is lame for him; another that his judgment is leprous. D For the diseases which Christ healed in bodies, these also exist in souls, and require help from above. The soul is blind which is in need of the restoration of the use of its eyes; the soul is blind which does not discern the wonders of the law; the soul is blind which does not look toward the future age; the soul is blind which indeed beholds the body of Christ, but does not recognize His divinity. Now indeed that the soul is blind which is ignorant of divine things, Isaiah is witness, saying: “And the servants of God are blinded.” How are they blinded? For you have seen, he says, often, and have not kept; your ears were opened, and you have not heard. “And who is blind, but my children? and who is deaf, but they that have dominion over them?” (Is. 42:19, 20)! Andthe Savior, wishing to show the blindness of the mind, upbraids the Pharisees, who are blind regarding the truth, saying: *Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch* (Matt. 15:14). B The soul is deaf which does not obey the law, or which disregards the Lord’s voice; it is deaf not by nature, but by choice. For this reason the Savior said: *He that hath ears to hear, let him hear* (Matt. 11:15); not that some of those present did not have ears—for how could they have attended to the teaching, not having the instrument of hearing?—but he shows clearly that while the physical part is fashioned for hearing, the sense of the soul is not in harmony with the hearing of the divine law. Therefore, there is no benefit in external hearing when the internal mind is deafened.
There is one who is a leper in soul, not he whose body is defiled, but he whose soul is darkened. For what is leprosy in the body, if not a double color? What is leprosy in the soul? It is a double-mindedness. *Woe to the sinner that goeth two ways* (Eccl. 2:14)! When someone believes at one moment and disbelieves at the next, and inclines at one time toward almsgiving and at another toward inhumanity, he is a leper in soul, not having a healthy color, but dividing his mind; and just as leprosy divides the body, so an evil thought divides the mind. Everyone, therefore, should cry out for his own wounds and call upon Jesus, the physician of souls and bodies, just as the blind man cried out: *Son of David, have mercy on me* (Luke 18:38). C And those who were leading the way rebuked him; but his boldness was in no way hindered by those trying to stop him. Faith knows how to struggle against all things and to conquer all things. Men rebuked him, yet the faithful man does not shrink back, but follows the Lord, knowing that a holy impudence for the sake of piety is good.
2. For if many are shameless for the sake of money, is it not most beautiful to put on this holy impudence for the sake of the salvation of the soul? Jesus commands him to be brought. The voice of one calling with faith stayed the Lord Jesus; He ordered that the one who had first approached Him with faith be brought to Him and stand near His body. He ordered him to be brought and says, *What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?* (Luke 18:40, 41). He does not ask idly; for He could have sent the healing even to one sitting, but the Jews, who calumniated the truth, could have said, as in the case of the man blind from birth, *It is not he, but he is like him* (John 9:9). Therefore, He calls the one who received the benefit into the midst of the irrational crowd, so that He might first show the defect of nature, and then reveal the authority of grace. *What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?* He asks him, but teaches those present. And he says, *Lord, that I may receive my sight.* See how many pledges he receives from the one receiving the healing, so that he might close the mouth of the slanderers of those who are acting maliciously. He says therefore, *Go thy way: thy faith hath saved thee* (Luke 18:42). Do you see how what we said before is shown by the works themselves, and that the benefits are not sold, but are purchased by faith? D Jesus does not give the benefits for silver, but sells them for faith. If you do not pay with faith, you do not receive the benefit; grace is poured out, but faith comes forth. And just as there is one spring, but some draw from it with small vessels, others with larger ones, and one draws a little water, another much—not because the spring apportions the measures, but because each draws according to his own vessel—so grace is poured out like a spring, and the intention of the one approaching becomes the vessel and receptacle of grace. If, therefore, you bring little faith, like a small vessel, you draw out a small portion of grace; if you bring a great mind, you draw out a great benefit. For this reason the Savior says, *Dost thou believe that I am able to do this?* And he says, *Yes, Lord.* And the Savior says, *Be it done unto thee according to thy faith.* After this, the Apostle exhorts the Corinthians, saying, *Be ye enlarged* (2 Cor. 6:13), so that he might show that into an enlarged mind a larger grace enters; and the prophet: *Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it* (Ps. 80:11). The obstacle does not lie with the Benefactor, but with our own sloth.
The light-giver of righteousness, Jesus, has risen, the ray of the intelligible sun is spread everywhere; and one enjoys a lesser portion of grace, another a greater, not because the grace apportions itself, but because the measure of the mind places it so. For just as there is one sun for the whole earth, and one ray, and one brightness, but the whole world is not equally illuminated—for one has the light bright, another less so, another greater, one narrow, another broader—this is not because the sun apportions more to this house and less to that, but because the ray and the way it is poured in takes place according to the windows which the builders have opened; so, since the windows of our soul are our thoughts, when you open the thoughts wider, you receive a wider benefit; when you narrow the mind, you narrow the grace. Uncover your thought, so that you may receive the brightness. For this reason Paul says about himself, *But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory* (2 Cor. 3:18). One blind man was healed by the history, but the eyes of many are opened by the teaching. *According to thy faith be it done unto thee.* And the blind man, he says, *followed Him, glorifying God* (Luke 18:43). And Jesus does not hinder him. Here it is necessary to consider that when He healed the one possessed by a demon, he was entreated by the one who had received the benefit so that he might follow Jesus; for he wished, he says, to follow Him. But the Savior hinders him and says, *Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee* (Mark 5:19). Why does He hinder the one who wanted to follow Him, but does not hinder this one? Why does He permit this one to follow, but does not permit the other? To the one it was useful, and to the other it was beneficial. He did not permit the other to follow for another reason, because he was possessed; and of the one possessed, both his speech and tongue had been distorted. He sends him forth, therefore, as a herald, so that he might proclaim the Benefactor because of his restored state. For it was a strange spectacle to see the one who had once been unstable, now speaking in stable words. He makes that very instrument of the one who had been benefited the herald of the One who saved him. And look at the wonder, look at the Savior’s humility, look at the gratitude of the one possessed. The Savior says: *Go, and tell how great things the Lord hath done for thee.* He does not say, "How great things I have done for thee," but, humblingly, he attributes it to the designation of God. The one possessed went about proclaiming how great things the Lord Jesus had done for him. Him, therefore, He sends to preach, so that from his state he might show the magnitude of the benefit; but the blind man He permits to follow. Why? Because He was going up to Jerusalem to fulfill the great mystery, and to undertake the dispensation for the sake of the world, and the cross was about to follow, and mockery, and all the innovations of the God-fighting people; for this reason He makes the blind man follow, so that they might have a fresh memory of the miracle, so that the memory of the healing might support the mind of those who were about to slip. He makes the blind man follow, so that no one might deny the miracle, since the mind of the apostles was about to be shaken as in a storm, and the state of those looking on was about to be tempest-tossed, seeing the Only-Begotten of God upon the cross. So that, therefore, they might not stumble, looking at the suffering, He allows the blind man to follow, so that, having a fresh memory of the benefit, they might have an unshaken concept of the truth.
3. For Christ does many such things, because He came to undertake the dispensation for the sake of human beings. And so that no one might suppose that He suffers due to weakness, and not endure it for the sake of philanthropy, *before He entered into Jerusalem, He sees a fig tree. And He went, it says, seeking fruit from it, and found none. And when He found none, He rebuked it, saying, Never fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever* (Mark 11:13). What did the fig tree sin? For does it have fruition by logical authority? Does the Creator not provide the benefit when He wills?
Furthermore, it was not the time for figs, as the Gospel itself testifies. Who among ordinary men, let alone God, requires fruit out of season? Are You not, O Creator, the one who established the seasons? Did You not appoint the times and cycles of the year for the bearing of fruit? Why then do You require it outside the time that You Yourself ordained? Indeed, if it had been the season for figs and the tree had not borne fruit, would the fault lie with nature? Does it produce when it pleases, or does it bring forth fruit when it is commanded? Why then does He rebuke the fig tree? Because He was about to undergo His passion, and so that they would not think He suffered out of weakness, He displays His power upon a lifeless object, to show that He could have withered all who contradicted Him and destroyed all enemies of God. But because He did not come to judge the world, but to save it, as He Himself said, He shows His power on an inanimate object, but reserves His kindness for humanity. A Thus, even here, He granted the blind man the opportunity to follow Him, so that the recent memory might remove any scandal and they might possess a miracle that shone forth. But another miracle followed: for when the blind man received his sight, another became blind in his soul. Who is this? The chief tax collector, who was blind regarding money, who possessed a soul blinded by greed. For nothing blinds the soul so much as money. Therefore Moses says: "For gifts blind the eyes of the wise and pervert just words" (Exod. 23:8; Deut. 16:19). The chief tax collector came, and Jesus was passing by, He who takes away all sin, who destroys every vice, who turns darkness into light, and restores what is twisted to straightness. Zacchaeus was short in stature, but stretched forth and tall in desire; short in body, great in affection. For he sought to see Jesus, and could not because of his short stature, and by anticipating he secures for himself by a certain contrivance what was lacking in his stature: for he climbed into a sycamore tree and was watching Jesus pass by. But our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Paul says, "Who is able to do superabundantly more than we ask or think" (Eph. 3:20), did not merely grant him that which he sought, but did even more than he expected. For he desired only to see, but He Himself deigned to lodge with him; and He who had perceived his mind—for He had noted his intention even before he climbed into the fig tree—said to him: "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down." A good fowler is the Savior, who brings the soul down from the tree. "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down." He extended to him the reed of the word, He placed around him the birdlime and glue of charity; He caught him with the hooks of intellect and brought him into the assembly of His Church. And see what He does. In order that you might not imagine that this word brought force to bear upon him, but that it is the word of God which captures and takes him, blessed Zechariah (Amos 8:1, not Zechariah) says: "And the Lord showed me the basket of a fowler, and He said to me, I will not pass by my people, until, He says, I capture them by birdlime." Thus the truth has testified that the word of God is birdlime, for it implicates and ensnares souls with charity as if with birdlime; and as that glue cannot henceforth tear away what is held from what holds it, so too are souls united to the Savior glued together by a certain glue of the fowler. Therefore, that noble fledgling of David, once captured, used to say: "My soul has cleaved after Thee" (Ps. 62:9); and again the Apostle: "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17). B He captures Zacchaeus, and brings him down from the tree, and places Himself into his tabernacle, which he himself had formerly darkened with his sins, but today has illuminated with the lamp of piety. So when the Savior entered, the tax collector received Him rejoicing. O the outstanding goodness of the Lord! He who cannot sin associates with sinners: the fountain of justice with the matter and fuel of injustice; for the fuel of injustice is greed. He entered into the house of the tax collector, not to be harmed by the darkness of greed, but to destroy greed with the splendor of justice. And see a wonderful thing. Immediately Zacchaeus, standing before the vestibule, says: "Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor" (Luke 19:8). Are you not yet taught, and yet you obey? Have you not yet learned, and yet you have kept it? The Savior said nothing, taught nothing; He had not given commandments about almsgiving at that time, nor had He exhorted him to love for the poor; but He was silent, and was gradually radiating; and like the sun, which, poured into a house through beams, does not illuminate by word but illuminates by its very efficacy: so also the Savior, having entered, by the rays of justice cast out the course of injustice: "For the light shines in the darkness," as the evangelist says (John 1:5). He gives to the poor. Rightly he divides greed, he cuts asunder injustice. "Half of my goods." Everything that is whole is robust and powerful, but what is divided is weak. "Half of my goods." O notable voice, which conquers nature—or rather, which conquers habit; for habit is a second nature. He cast out insatiable greed, he recognized the truth: "Half of my goods I give to the poor: and if I have defrauded anyone, if I have extorted anything by false accusation, I return it fourfold." Here it must be carefully noted that Zacchaeus' wealth consisted and was acquired not only from injustice, but from ancestral means: for if it had been from injustice, how could he have returned fourfold what he had taken? For why does he say, "If I have defrauded anyone, I return it fourfold"? For even if he had spent his life in the impunity of crimes, yet he knew the law; for the law commands a thief to restore stolen goods fourfold. "If anyone," it says, "shall have stolen an ox or a sheep, and it shall have been found, he shall restore four" (Exod. 22:1). God quadruples the penalty, or rather the mulct, so that if the law does not strike fear, the mulct might affect him with shame: for very often many, who do not revere the law, do revere the fine. Therefore he condemns himself, and does not await the sentence of the law, but becomes himself the law unto himself: "For the law is not laid down for a just man" (1 Tim. 1:9). The Savior, therefore, receiving this voice, says: "Today salvation has come to this house" (Luke 19:9). He justified himself, not because he simply saw Christ, but because he obeyed the laws of Christ. "Today salvation has come to this house," in that he also is a son of Abraham. Before he performs the works of Abraham, He calls him not a son of Abraham, but Zacchaeus by a simple name; but when he fulfilled the works of the patriarch, having given faith that he would be a lover of the poor, and C having renounced all iniquity, at that time He says, "And this one is a son of Abraham."
And we therefore, brethren, if we are Christians, as we are called, nothing so demonstrates us to be Christians as the works of truth. Let us not, therefore, besmirch our name with the note of ignominy by our works, but let us adorn our faith with works. We have been called sons of Abraham because of faith; let us be called sons of Abraham also because of good works. For what I had already begun to say: it is not the nobility of the body that is sought, but the agreement of morals. For this reason Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs disavowed the synagogue, because they had not been heirs and successors to the faith of their fathers: Abraham disavowed his own, since they did not follow his faith: Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs disavowed them; for whoever has denied God, nature also denies him. But what place finally will prove with its testimony that Abraham disavowed the Jews, so that we might not appear to be hurling these things boldly against enemies, but rather to be convicting them as guilty of sin? Blessed Jeremiah (Isa. 63:16 and 64:11, not Jeremiah) speaks thus from the person of the people: "Lord, have mercy on us; the mountain and the city which our fathers blessed has been burned with fire: do Thou, Lord, have mercy on us. Because Abraham has not known us, and Israel has not recognized us: do Thou, Lord, spare us." Since, he says, those in whom we boast have been alienated from us, and have disavowed our race: do Thou have mercy on us, who surpass all in kindness. "Have mercy on us, because Abraham has not known us." For if he still considered our affairs his own, would he not have been an intercessor and advocate for his sons? He interceded for the Sodomites, and having heard D
A denied his own kin? When he sees those who fight against God and those who are strangers to piety approaching Him, he denies them, and the Canaanite does not deign to be called the father of the ungodly. Why does he deny them? If you impute this to the Canaanite and say, "Your father is a Canaanite," he will reply, "Is this my son, having denied the faith of his fathers? I am not an infidel, even if I am a Canaanite; for the Canaanite woman will attest to my faith, crying out, 'Son of David, have mercy on me.' Let them not be called sons of the Canaanites; for they did not keep the faith of the Canaanite woman; let them be called sons of stones and wood, who say to the stone, 'You are my father,' and to the wood, 'You have begotten me' (Jer. 2:27). Nay, I believe that even the stones deny and disavow the kinship of the faithless. A stone can also deny and say, 'The son of impiety is not my child; the son of injustice is not my child; for I, even if I am a stone, have heard the Scripture saying: "God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham" (Matt. 3:9).' Then, 'Yes,' you say, 'you are personifying the stone, and does the stone speak?' Hear the prophet saying that: 'A stone from the wall shall cry out these things, and a beetle from the wood shall speak' (Hab. 2:11). Even if you are silent, the stones will cry out (Luke 19:40). What then shall the race of the faithless be called, if they are neither sons of Abraham, nor Canaanites because of the Canaanite woman (for the light of the faith of the Canaanite woman blunted their infidelity), nor sons of the stones? For even the stones deny the kinship. What name for the faithless? Jeremiah gave them a name: 'Call them rejected silver, for the Lord has rejected them' (Jer. 6:30). Let us fear, then, brothers. Does the nobility of Christ exalt you? Let the righteous judgment of Christ strike fear into you. Yesterday it was preached concerning almsgiving, that all things must be placed second to almsgiving, that one must prefer the soul to all things. I marveled at another kind of ingratitude, how those who have no children take them by adoption; and the one becomes a son by law, the other a brother by law. You adopt a stranger, and do you flee from the Master? Adopt the One who gives you back the reward; let Christ become your son. 'It is a fearsome word,' he says. See what you say; lest by a pretext of speech you be led away from the Word, lest you be carried off into irrationality. Do you call Christ a son of man? But I call Him not only son, but also brother, not of my own accord, but following His own words. They say to Him at one time, 'Your mother and your brethren are seeking you.' The Savior says, 'Who is my mother, or who are my brethren? Whoever does the will of my Father, he is my brother and sister and mother' (Matt. 12:47-50). If she is His mother, then the son of the mother is he who B by title honored justice. Let therefore every soul become a mother of Christ according to its disposition. How a mother of Christ? Every soul labors in birth of Christ within itself; but if it is not transformed by piety, it cannot be called a mother of Christ. When you receive the word of Christ, and form Him in the mind, and just as in a womb you transform Him in your reasoning, you are called His mother. And that you may know that in each one Christ is formed, and becomes a mother of Christ—I say indeed of the word of Christ—the soul of each of us, Paul says: 'My little children, of whom I labor in birth again, until Christ is formed in you' (Gal. 4:19). Have you worked righteousness? You have formed Christ in the soul. Have you bestowed alms? You have formed the character of the truth; not that Christ is formed in each one piece by piece; for he calls the word of piety 'Christ,' through which we take up the character of the truth. Have you bestowed alms? You have formed Christ. Have you done righteousness? The character of the truth has been
A fixed upon you. B
ON THE PERSON WHO NEGLECTS THE JUDGMENT AND DENIES THE STRANGER BEFORE THE FATHER
For "I will deny him," He says, "who denies Me before My Father." C
§ 6. Consider Him saying, "This one has treated my faith with contempt, this one has persecuted My own; this one has insulted My Church, this one has slandered My own; this one has trampled My word, this one has spurned My preaching." He says these things not because He is unaware, but to convict the enemy through his accusation. Consider Him saying to the Judge, when He summons the glorious ones of the earth bound in shackles (for "To bind their princes," He says, "with shackles, and their nobles with iron handcuffs" [Ps. CXLIX, 8]), and their glorious ones stand before Him in fear, and the ones being judged, and those able to do it, and the Savior saying: "These ones have trampled the word of My truth, these ones have rejected My law, this one has made My doctrine void, these ones have vexed My apostles, these ones have tortured My martyrs." He says these things, and consider, when the King speaks, how the angels standing by are fearful, and how terrible are those who make threats, and with a mere glance consuming the sinners; consider how the angels are outraged, the archangels moved, the powers shaken, the Father angered, the Holy Spirit burning with indignation; and that man cast out with great shame, cast out not only from salvation, but relegated to condemnation.
But it is truly fearful not only not to be saved, and not to reign, but also to be delivered to fire. "But whoever shall confess Me before men" (not indeed the one who denies by word, but the one who denies by character), "I also will confess him before My Father" [Mt. X, 32]. Consider what glory, what honor, what a crown that will be, when the Judge shall say: "This one has kept My word, this one has preached My faith, this one has confirmed My word, this one has not despised My poor, this one has trampled avarice, and preferred righteousness, this one has derided the world as though it were nothing, and has loved the world to come, this one has spread abroad My kingdom, this one has honored My word—honor him, My Father." D
When we say these things, and express these affects, we are not dividing the dignity of the Godhead, nor are we partitioning the power; but under this guise of accusation, the indignation of the Judge is demonstrated; and all these things are referred to the salvation of those who confess, but to the condemnation of those who do not believe.
Yet that which is most fearful of all is when it enters your mind that Michael and Gabriel and all the angelic host are standing, but the sons of Zebedee are sitting, and Paul and Peter are sitting—those who are of men—while the angels stand by in fear, and men sit with confidence. Consider the angels standing by and the fishermen and tax-collectors sitting, and let us also say with them: "How great is the multitude of Thy sweetness, O Lord!" [Ps. XXX, 20]. Zacchæus is seated, Paul and Peter are seated, and Michael stands by. We are not commemorating strange names, but are following the tracks of those things which are written; for we do not learn the names of the angels, but we follow those things which are written. There is no envy, there is no emulation; for these are not earthly things; the angels do not take it amiss that they indeed stand, while men sit; for they are partakers of the glory of the saints. Hear the Lord saying: "Amen I say to you, there is joy before the angels over one sinner doing penance" [Lk. XV, 10]. Let us therefore love the glory of Christ, but let us spurn that which passes away like a dream. For it was said to you yesterday how the prophet called the glory of the world a dream. "The wealth of the ungodly," he says, "shall be as a dream" [Is. XXIX, 7]. For the present state of things differs nothing from phantoms. The one who yesterday was enjoying prosperity, today is struggling with sickness; the one who yesterday was powerful in authority, today is cast down to humility; the one who was yesterday abounding in riches, today is pressed by poverty; the one who yesterday was carried away with pride, today lies in contempt. Everything is shaken, everything is changed, and I do not speak of human things only; but "Heaven and earth," He says, "shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away" [Mt. XXIV, 35]. Therefore blessed are the Christians, even those placed in dignity
and my words shall not pass away. Wherefore blessed are the Christians, who even in honor are humble. Have you been humble in your honor? Humility does no injustice to you; for it finds you such as you ought to be. If, preventing it, you humble yourself before humiliation, then humiliation shall devise nothing strange against you, but having prepared your mind, you make yourself ready for the battle. Well, therefore, did David say: I was prepared, and was not troubled (Ps. CXVII, 20). Let us therefore flee arrogance, let us flee vain glory, let us love Christ, and for Christ’s sake the poor, that He who enriches all, who has mercy on all, may grant a multitude to the Church, so that it may abound in piety, so that it may have the tiller of justice, who having been absent yesterday by reason of another stewardship, is now with us because of this spiritual superintendence. For the people was not Jewish, that I should say that the people were as sheep not having a shepherd (2 Par. XVIII, 16); but it was apostolic, having an evangelical shepherd who said: Though I be absent in body, yet in spirit I am with you, rejoicing and seeing the firmament of your faith (Col. II, 5); to whom be glory and power, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
ON THE FOLLOWING SERMON.
AWe desired that it be published; for this being premised, the following parts fit together; without this, the beginning is maimed. But without authority we did not dare to add it. Savile, furthermore, rightly omitted this oration, as unworthy of being read; for it is the work of some idle Greek, as anyone can see. Latin interpretation by Fronto Ducaeus.
BY THE SAME, SERMON ON SAINT JOHN THE THEOLOGIAN.
A1. John in Ephesus of Asia, John the boast of Asia, or rather the pillar of the world, John the beloved disciple of Christ, and the trumpet of the Word of God, the glory of the Ephesians, and the herald of the ends of the earth, the lyre of theology, worthily called Theologian; the Cherubic mouth, and the Seraphic mystery-teacher, or even if one should say more than these, I shall not gainsay it. For Him whom the upper powers of angels glorify with trembling, John proclaimed with a loud voice and with boldness: In the beginning was the Word (John I, 1). Blessed art thou, city of Ephesus, that in thee first this God-taught thunder made its sound; blessed art thou, city of Ephesus, that in thee was composed such a scroll; blessed art thou, that in thee is such a John. BFor while other Johns have been in the whole world and in thee, yet there is no John such as this, neither in thee, nor in all the world. Wherefore he who understands the mind of men, and knows the hidden things of the heart, having found such a one, holy and undefiled, exalted in life, pure in heart, adorned with chastity, perfected in love,—to him, as faithful in all things, He entrusted His own mother, the undefiled dove, the spotless ewe-lamb, the unblemished heifer, incomparable among men, higher than all the works of God; a trust which no other of the saints has been deemed worthy of. Blessed art thou, city of Ephesus, that the feet of such a man have trodden thee, whose pure conduct and footsteps the angels admired; blessed art thou, city of Ephesus, that thou wast manifested Cas higher than every city, because of John the beloved; blessed art thou, that all the Churches of the world happen to be thy disciples, having been taught by thee to theologize: In the beginning was the Word. For just as if a lamp be burning in some place, and many running together from all sides, each, having lighted his own from it, departs thereafter confident, in no wise stumbling, nor wandering; so also it happened in Ephesus. Having first lighted the lamp of theology, all the Churches of the ends of the earth ran to thee, and each lighted its own lamp—the theology—and returned rejoicing: In the beginning was the Word. And Ephesus was not diminished of its own light of theology, and the world, possessing equal lights, proclaims: In the beginning was the Word. And it is necessary to bring his struggles into the midst, as much as in us lies, a few things out of the many; for all the time in the world would not suffice to tell of all his achievements. DFor the most part we heard from the book of Acts, how well he fought while with the apostles; later, having been exiled by Domitian the King of the Romans to the island called Patmos for the word of God and the preaching of piety, he writes the Church, which God showed him, and an Apocalypse of unspeakable and fearful mysteries, and then also his three holy Epistles. Look now on the unspeakable goodness of God, who is everywhere a fellow-sojourner with those who love Him; whether they are held in prison, or whether they happen to be in exiles, whether in the depth of the sea, or whether they be shut up in a pit, or wherever they may be cast, He is not separated from them, aiding and strengthening, and lightening their labors. Then returning from exile, he reaches Ephesus, and dwelling there he composes the Gospel being a hundred years of age, having lasted until a whole hundred and twenty. Dwelling there, he writes the theology, or rather in the heavens, whence he received it; for the citizenship of such men dwells in the heavens. Dwelling in Ephesus, in the flesh, he spread the dragnet of theology to the ends of the world saying, In the beginning was the Word. Truly great is our Lord, and great is His power, and of His understanding there is no number (Ps. CXLVI, 5): He who said to them, I will give you a mouth and wisdom (Luke XXI, 15). How many kings and potentates and wise men have cried out often with great power, yet their voice did not even reach the walls of the city? And the poor fisherman in Ephesus cried out: In the beginning was the Word, and the voice covered the whole earth. Did you see a mouth higher than any voice? Did you see a tongue sharper than lightning? Did you see a voice clearer than any thunder? Did you see such power? A teacher from Ephesus instructing all the nations, and teaching them to theologize: In the beginning was the Word. This voice fished the world, and made firm that which was shaking; this voice enlightened the world, and strengthened it against the adversary; this voice is for many the resurrection and the cause of salvation, but for some a falling and ruin.