Christ to appear once for the abolition of sin through his sacrifice (Heb. 9:25–26). And while other priests daily stand ministering and offering the same sacrifices, Christ, having offered one sacrifice for sins, sits forever, awaiting until his enemies be placed under his feet. Does he then intercede? He sits: why do you insult the benefit? B I have attained the depth, having, by the power of the Holy Spirit, been able to swim across the sea of the holy Scriptures, not according to the dignity of the subject, but as far as my strength has allowed. Yet this, above all, I pray and beseech, and I will not cease from beseeching: search the Scriptures, seek the truth, learn from Christ the things that belong to Christ, lest you surrender yourself to heretical depravity. The devil has today many snakes in place of that ancient serpent: he sows the weeds of sin, that he may reap the corruption of impiety. Do not, I beseech you, let us listen; let us turn our ears away from heretical depravity. I know that I have already said this to you, but I say it again. The princes of any heresy are known: the Arians from Arius, the Macedonians from Macedonius, the Eunomians from Eunomius, the Marcionites from Marcion, the Sabellians from Sabellius, the Manichaeans from Manes, the Montanists from Montanus, and thus the other heresies. If the faith of the Church be heretical, let the heretics say who was its prince; let them say, "From this man your heresy began"; let them say it, if they know. For see the goodness of God: he did not permit the doctrine of the apostles to be given the name of a man. We are not called Macedonians, but even if they call us *homoousiasts*, they do not bring forward anyone's name, but manifest the consensus of faith. If, therefore, you ask them, "Who was the first to say *homoousion*, or consubstantial?" they cannot say "this one" or "that one," but three hundred and eighteen Fathers, breaking forth into one concordant voice, agreed in a pious confession. Notice how this confession of virtue shines. One or another did not begin to utter the word *homoousion*, but the whole synod of the East, the West, the North, and the South. For where truth manifests itself, all things agree. Question a heretic about what I am about to say. If you ask an orthodox person, whether a layman or an unlearned man, he says: "I confess the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one kingdom, one power." Say to the heretics, two or three: "What do you think?" If they bring forward the same words, they say the truth. One calls him uncreated, another begotten, another immortal, another eternal. If another arises, he says: "I know the Father created the Son, and the Son, the rest." Another corrects him, saying: "It is not so, but the Father created the Son; though through the Son he created all things." For where truth is not, but a corrupted garment, it is torn; and just as, brothers, if you tug at an old garment, it is torn; and if you pull anyone by their clothing into conversation, the corrupt garment is exposed, and it is torn at any pretext: such are the heresies; one confesses this, another that. Strange heresies, strange names, and these are disgraceful, the names of hucksters. This happened to the heretics that happened C of old to the Jews. The holy lamp of the Law was within the holy of holies, where the veil was, where the table was, where the law was, where the tablets were. Since they fell away from the truth, where is the lamp set? In the vestibules of hucksters. Where is the horn of the prophets? In the taverns. And they do these things, not out of love, but for gain; not that they might show the lamp honored, but that they might call in those passing by, that they might show there is Jewish wine. As, therefore, those holy things, having fallen from sanctity into such vileness, were possessed by the unworthy: so also here, from Paul and Peter, from that summit—(I am ashamed to say, I fear to speak the name of the baseness, though it is true, I blush to say it, and yet I am compelled to bring it forth)—after that voice, *Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it* (Matt. 16:18); after Paul said: *Do you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me?* (2 Cor. 13:3)?—from Peter and Paul, from the evangelist heralds and confessors, some others are called "Psathyriani." When did they remain in their state? When was their inveterate garment not torn? But when I have said the words of the prophet about them, I will stop speaking. *They were divided, and were not pricked* (Ps. 34:16). But this tunic of the Church is woven throughout, and not sewn. What is "woven"? Because many things are glued together; but this tunic was not glued together by ratiocinations, but it is woven from above throughout, and not sewn. Human reasonings did not sew our faith, but we have a sound tunic. We have completed the promise—great, indeed, perplexed, and subtle in contemplation. But let the auditor recognize that simple meanings are set forth in simple words, but deep things require much variety. When you see a metaphorical saying, lift up your mind; when you see a subtle thought, brace your mind for variety. Many of God’s meanings are brief; as, "Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness" (Exod. 20:15–16). When therefore he says, *The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us* (John 1:14), and *he appeared on earth and conversed with men* (Baruch 3:38); it is a varied garment, according to that saying, *The manifold wisdom of God* (Ephes. 3:10). In all these things let us glorify him who appeared, let us adore him who came, let us celebrate with hymns him who renewed and vivified, who raised up, who fortified, who illuminated, who granted to us the abundance of all good things, Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and imperium together with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.
ADMONITION TO THE FOLLOWING ORATION
Savile edited this very brief sermon among the spuria, and rightly so; for this orator reveals himself as far removed from the elegance of the holy doctor. He pursues certain ornaments, but, as it seems to me, sometimes puerile ones, as when he plays at the beginning and the end with the name "Stephanus," that is, "crown"; which plays in so short a discourse appear rather inept.ON S. STEPHEN THE FIRST MARTYR
The struggles of all the martyrs are glorious, and the contests of the just are celebrated everywhere; but where that conspicuous stadium of Stephen, the first martyr, is brought into the midst, there even a mute tongue is stirred to praise.proclaim: *Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth, the earth is full of his praise* (Isai. 6:3). For the earth did not bear the shock, the clouds did not endure the burden with trembling, the abyss, not bearing the injury, shuddered and vomited up the dead in fear. The doorkeepers, seeing you, were struck with terror; the Jordan, seeing you ascending, turned back in horror; and the bush, not bearing the divine spectacle, was consumed. The sea, fearing the rod that divided it, became the likeness of the hand that fashioned it; the fire in Babylon blossomed beyond its nature into the number of the Trinity; and it returned, full of marvels. It is impossible to recount the wonders, and to wonder at the victory of the Virgin: for him whom all creation celebrated with fear and trembling as a hymn, she alone received in her womb in an inexplicable manner. Truly, she surpassed all women: she had no part in the female gender's curse. She possessed the gender through which she surpassed the glory of the angels. She was cured of Eve; silent and missed by Egypt, buried without Delilah, consigned to oblivion like Jezebel, the memory of Herodias was blotted out—and now she is held in admiration in the catalogue of women. Sarah is praised as fertile in the field of nations; Rebecca is honored for having obtained the blessing; Leah is held in admiration, as the mother of the progenitor according to the flesh; Deborah is celebrated, as she exercised power beyond nature; Elizabeth is proclaimed, as she prepared the exultation of the Forerunner; and Mary is adored, because she is both mother and handmaid, and the cloud, and the bridal chamber, and the ark of the Lord. Mother; for she brought forth him who willed to be born: handmaid; for she confesses [her] nature, and confesses the grace: cloud; for she conceived him from the Holy Spirit, and brought him forth without passion: bridal chamber; for in her, as in a nuptial chamber, the Word of God dwelt: ark; for she bore the Law, and carried the Legislator in her womb. Wherefore we say to her, *Blessed art thou among women* (Luke 1:28), not by seed, not by a flower, not by passion, not by any creature; but with the Father, sharer of the throne, not servant; sun, not light; who is adorable, not a creature; the price of redemption, not [a] debtor. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. For enough praise of you is not had, as the prophet cries: *Behold, a Virgin shall be with child* (Isai. 7:4). The miracle was spoken, and the manner [of it] he did not yield. He proclaimed the birth, and the manner [of it] he did not make common. C The declaration is as it were thunder. Which is interpreted: the Word. He proclaimed God, and bridled the mouth of the Jews. With us is God, and the stumbling-block is gone: with us is God, and the demons are put to flight: with us is God, and the pool for healing no longer fails: with us is God, and the kings revere piety: with us is God, and the straits of the Church escape: with us is God, and death has become sleep: with us is God, and the dead of freedom exultantly cry: *No angel, no envoy, but he himself came and saved us* (Isai. 63:9): to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. D
AGAINST THE HERETICS AND ON THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD
1. Again, trusting in the Holy Spirit, intending to tear up the snares of ignorance, I ascend to the doctrine, and I do not fear poverty. Since you are lovers of the poor, you would have mercy on me. Though I am a poor man, and you are so rich, I do not fulfill your desire by empty labor; but I fill it with the desire of your religious souls. For my words, and your character, are delightful. And I do not feel poverty, nor do I feel destitution in speaking, seeing this beautiful and desirable theater with you. For I know, indeed, that you are not judges of words, nor did you come here as those who are professional spectators, but so that you might be strengthened by the holy fathers together with the Son. In the name of which I speak with my tongue, let that same word be given to you by God in the opening of your mouth (Ephes. 6:19): for with the children…
with men, and the frail female nature behaves manfully in the fight. The stadium of fasting is open to those who desire it. For Christ sits as the liberal bestower of rewards. Let us hasten to the middle contest of the fast: let no one disgrace this spiritual contest, let no one desert his post in these spiritual struggles. For the enemy has let down his ferocity; a great part of the struggle is removed; the enemy is vanquished by the judgment of God; he has been reduced to slavery, he has been driven out through fasting, cast to the ground by laughing little children, and presented with a shameful epitaph in his own disgrace. Let no one therefore hesitate, beloved, in proceeding into the midst of the fasts; let no one act sluggishly in the middle of these contests; for our generosity is his destruction. If one fights idly, he adds strength to him; if one struggles remissly, he emboldens him. Let us therefore stand strenuously in the struggle, so that the enemy may fall more heavily. Let us flee the desire for foods, let us persevere for a little while, that we may receive immortal grace. Adam ate, and was condemned to death; Elias fasted, and the keys of the heavens were entrusted to him; Noah drank, and was transformed in mind; Enoch acted temperately, and was translated by the angels; Pharaoh gorged himself, and was submerged in the sea with his chariots; Moses fasted, and he crossed the sea, and built new walls out of the fluid nature of the waters, and leading the people through a strange land, he crossed the sea with dry foot. Eve ate unlawful food, and all those who have sprung from her are delivered to death; but the Lord, who was born of Mary, abstained even from lawful food, and freed all from the condemnation of death. The fruit of the tree of paradise was a taste and a nourishment of death. "On whatever day," says God, "you eat of it, you shall die the death" (Gen. 2:17). The flight of death was the wood of the cross; for from there the immortal life flowed. From the cross, the thief passed over into paradise, and exchanged death for life. That eating of the fruit placed in paradise was the fruit of envy, and the sharing of the cross took away the envy. If Adam had fasted, he would not have been condemned to death, he would not have been cast out of a pleasure devoid of all labor, he would not have been subjected to corruption; for the divine Scripture says: *God created man for incorruption; but by the envy of the devil, death entered into the world* (Wis. 2:23-24). But Christ came, our B Peace, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, *the enmity in His flesh* (Ephes. 2:14), He nailed the handwriting of sin to the cross, *canceling the written bond of death against us* (Col. 2:14). Truly Paul cries out: *Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us* (Gal. 3:13). Therefore, let us make return to the Benefactor according to our strength, beloved; let us honor Him with small coins, who is rich in mercy. Our Lord was crucified for us; let us feed the poor man who was created in His image: He was concerned with death, so that He might free us from death; let us, for His sake, rescue our fellow men from destructive famine with small coins. For He Himself, He is the One who receives what is offered through the poor. Do not pass by, O man, when the poor man extends his hand, looking to the Lord whom you receive through him; but let the hand of the poor man be to you as a censer placed in the marketplace. For instead of fire, it has the coals of famine consuming themselves. Let us therefore throw in two coins instead of incense, and fill heaven with a good fragrance, so that we may hear Christ from heaven crying out: *Inasmuch as you did it to one of these least, you did it to Me* (Matt. 25:40): to Him be glory and power for ages of ages.